[Legend of Korra] like walls (Lin & Pema gen)

[storypaint]

Title: like walls
Fandom: Legend of Korra
Length: 1437
Prompt: For rosabelle in the 2013 galentinesday fest. Originally posted here.
Pairing: Lin and Pema gen; mentions of current and past canon relationships
Other: Title from a quotation, author unknown: Friends are like walls. Sometimes you lean on them, and sometimes it's good just knowing they are there.

Excerpt: Lin climbed down off Oogi, already looking back towards the familiar skyline. Pema caught her sleeve. "Stay for dinner?" she offered, and Lin found herself nodding.

Everything in Republic City was changing nowadays, and no one knew that as well as Lin did. The Equalists had split families and reunited friendships. The Avatar was in the city again. She was talking to Tenzin, almost like they used to. And terrible things were happening that Lin was going to stop.

It had been a long time since Lin had gone through her older records. They tended to pile up when she wasn't looking. But she needed to file them or dispose of them now. This would be Saikhan's office soon, not hers. And maybe this errand was pointless, but she wanted to spend a few more minutes in here before she handed him her badge. So here she was, looking at paperwork she had ignored for years. Her small box of personal items were on her desk.

The pile of paper was easily sorted, but at the very bottom, she stumbled upon the paperwork for a few petty arrests she'd made during the early days of her career.

Officer arrived on scene to observe the suspect jaywalking across Pao Street. Immediately attempted to detain suspect. Suspect resisted arrest, claiming that she had not done anything wrong, despite being in clear violation of city ordinance 13.019. Arrest made at 3:05PM.

Officer arrived on scene to observe the suspect loitering in violation of city ordinance 24.111. Suspect resisted arrest, claiming to be waiting for shop to open. Arrest made at 7:25AM.

Officer on scene engaged in arguing match with suspect. Suspect arrested for violation of city noise ordinance 05.678 at 1:20PM.

The last entry in the folder was a disciplinary record for said officer, scolding her for baseless attacks against a civilian. It was signed with her mother's fingerprint. Lin closed the folder firmly, a little embarrassed by the memories. It was definitely time to expunge Pema's arrest record.

They'd both appreciate that.

*

There was absolutely no reason that one toddler should be so slippery. Or that a police officer should be giving him a bath. Meelo was exhausting, and as Lin poured him out of his bath and back into his underpants, it reinforced her desire to never have kids. No wonder Pema was so eager for help.

Finally she let him go and climbed to her feet, wincing as she stretched and her joints popped.

"I'm freeeeeeeeeeee!" Meelo shouted, disappearing down the corridor, and she wasn't inclined to follow him. It wasn't long before she heard the measured footsteps of someone else in the hallway.

"I really didn't sign up for this," Lin said, turning toward the doorframe. It was Pema, as she'd suspected. She recognized the other woman's gait. It was just a habit of hers, remembering things like that. Her mother had taught her to train her memory for non-visual cues, which was often a help on police investigations.

Pema just smiled. "I know. Thank you, Lin. You didn't have to be here, and I really appreciate it." She rested a hand on her belly.

Lin turned away to let the water out of the tub.

"It's my duty," she said, even though it wasn't, and she watched the liquid drain.

*

Lin had never been quite comfortable at the South Pole. She'd visited plenty of times before, but it seemed that her mother's distaste for snow had been passed onto her. She didn't need the cold ground to see where she was going, but the chill seemed to seep into her bones, and her armor only compounded the problem. She wouldn't take it off, though. Before they left Republic City, she'd talked one of her still-bending officers into modifying it so that she could put it on herself without metalbending. The new hooks were uncomfortable, but she needed the weight on her shoulders. She felt more rooted to the ground that way, and she'd take anything she could get to make her feel like that right now.

Katara and Korra had disappeared into Katara's sickroom about an hour ago. Lin had seen Katara's healing powers work time and time again. She couldn't count the number of scraped knees and scratched shins that Katara had repaired when Lin was a child. Lin had grown to appreciate her calluses and scars, but she would never forget Katara's hands, cool against her skin.

But this was something else entirely, and the threat of failure was very real. Lin had been leaning against the wall, meditating on darker and darker thoughts, when she pushed herself upright and went to the kitchen. She wasn't hungry, but she was tired of intercepting Tenzin's worried glances.

Pema was in there, with the baby in a sling, peering at the contents of Katara's icebox. She made a face at Lin when Lin walked in.

"I don't know what I'm going to feed everyone," she said. "Normally we bring our own food, but we left in a hurry. They're not used to eating meat, and I don't want to have three sick kids on my hands along with the baby."

Lin thought it would be nice to have something small to be concerned about. It must have shown in her expression, because Pema bit her lip.

"I've never been able to bend," she said, sitting down heavily at the kitchen table. "So I don't really know what it's like for you guys out there. I have to deal with what I can."

Lin sat down at the table as well, feeling a little embarrassed. There were benders and nonbenders on the police force, and they were all capable men and women. She certainly wasn't going to fire her metalbending squad just because they couldn't bend anymore.

"People are going to be hungry whether or not Korra gets her bending back," Lin said. "Do you want some help?"

Pema sighed in relief. She handed Rohan to Lin without hesitation. Lin tried to figure out how to properly hold a baby while Pema puttered around the kitchen. For a few moments, she actually felt warm.

*

It wasn't that Lin had intended to stick around after their return to Republic City. She had plenty of things to do, including returning to the force and getting her position back. That shouldn't be too difficult. She expected the elections for Tarrlok's replacement to temper the council quite a bit.

But that would take some time. She climbed down off Oogi, already looking back towards the familiar skyline. Pema caught her sleeve.

"Stay for dinner?" she offered, and Lin found herself nodding.

Somehow, the dinner invitation became a weekly thing. Lin had Sundays off, anyway, and it wasn't too much trouble to head out to Air Temple Island for a few hours. After the meal, the adults would sit around and talk while Korra took the kids out to play.

At first, it was weird. There was too much history for it to be otherwise. Lin and Tenzin could reminisce for hours about things that had happened before Pema was born. And Tenzin and Pema had plenty they could say about their children, but really, Lin wasn't interested in the small details.

But there was the city, and there was Korra, and that was enough at first. Pema turned out to have a sharp tongue about politics, and sometimes discussions continued late into the evening. It all worked pretty well, especially once Pema stopped trying to set Lin up on dates with Air acolytes.

"Next week I'll tell you the one about the play we put on when we were ten," Lin told Pema as she made her goodbyes one evening.

Tenzin stiffened in horror. "Lin, that's not even fair!"

She smiled, just a little, as Pema laughed.

"It's your own fault," she told him, clapping him on the shoulder. "If Pema and I had gotten to know each other earlier, I would have already run out of these stories."

"You two are dangerous together," he said, shaking his head, but then he smiled and wished her well.

She looked forward to it all week.