When We Were Young

Chapter 5

Tenzin was twisting and turning in his sleep all night, making incomprehensible sounds, while Lin was lying next to him thinking about the future. He was a bit more reserved than usual since he returned from the Fire Nation and even though he didn't say anything she knew things he'd witnessed were weighing on him. Lin saw how many men left Republic City and how many returned. It must have been a slaughter out there.

Despite all that, she couldn't worry about Tenzin's bad dreams right now. She was having problems with her own, mainly that they didn't stop when she was awake. But worrying about hypothetical situations wasn't doing anyone any good so sometime after midnight she gave up on trying to sleep and decided this had to be settled right now.

"Get up!" Lin pulled the covers off Kya. The waterbender ignored her and buried her face in her pillow. Considering how worked up Lin was that wasn't such a good idea, since Kya found herself on the floor in seconds.

"I just need ten minutes, then you can go back to sleep." Lin shook her up once more just to be sure and then took her place one the bed, with her shirt pulled up. She also made a hand movement to lock the door.

"I told you I'm not good at this. I have no idea what I'm doing!" Kya rubbed her eyes trying to adjust to the light.

"Please, Kya, I... There's no one else I can go to with this. You can do it." Lin didn't like the fact that her level of panic was beginning to show. Kya ignored the sudden vulnerability and simply nodded. She got out her bending water, took a few deep breaths and lowered it to Lin's stomach.

"This is going to feel a little chilly. I think..." Kya remembered her mother always saying that while doing this. She spent the next minute being completely quiet and moving her hands around while Lin tried to lie perfectly still.

Then suddenly Kya put away her water and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"So? Did you do it? Do you finally know?" Lin asked, not even trying to seem calm anymore.

"I think... If you're forcing me to give an answer... Knife to my throat, I'd say you're pregnant."

"How sure are you?" Lin sat up and pulled her shirt back down.

"I don't know. Eighty percent?"

"Eighty percent?! Than what use are you to me if you're just guessing?!" Lin unlocked the door and tried to storm out, but Kya stopped her.

"Hey, this is hard! As is keeping this a secret from the people that I love. But I did it. For you."

"This is a disaster! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!"

"This happens to be my niece or nephew! I get that you're worried, but I don't think anyone is going to make a big deal about it. Yes, you're both young, but you love each other and you have all of us to help you with everything. The stress is not really good for the baby."

Lin wanted nothing more than to explode at Kya after that, but she was right! No stress, no fighting from now on.

"And I think Tenzin could really use some happy news now," Kya continued, "He seemed really... I don't know, traumatized after the battle. I was a bit shocked too, by what these people were willing to do, but nothing like him. And you know this would make him so happy."

That's exactly what Lin was afraid of. Tenzin would love this, he would just see the positives of the situation, he would finally get his way. They'd have to get married if Katara had anything to say about it, move in together and do the same thing every day until they die...

"Easy for you to say! You're older than me, do you feel like being a mother? Giving up on everything you ever wanted to do? Being tethered to one place for the rest of your life?" Lin lashed out.