My Heart was a Home Built Just for You
“You don’t look so hot,” Li Meiza noted.
“Yeah, I wonder what gave it away,” Lin replied sarcastically.
Li Meiza looked at her critically, noting her limp, unkempt hair and dark bags underneath her eyes. “Well, at first I thought that you hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep lately. That would explain the hair and eye bags.”
She paused and took a sip of her tea, ignoring the glare sent her way. “But, you hold stress in your shoulders. Your hands are shaking with the effort to stay calm and focused. You’re falling apart.”
Lin forced her hands to stop shaking. “I’m fine. I have to be,” she said, rolling her shoulders out.
“That’s the thing Lin,” she said, placing her tea down. “You don’t have to be okay. Yes, you are a police chief but you’re human. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Lin sighed. “Well, I had to arrest one of my cops. We found explosives in his apartment and...and they were the bombs used to blow up the Cultural Center.”
“You think something’s off,” she noted.
“Well yeah. Mako has a damn good moral compass. I-” Her voice trailed off and her eyes filled with tears. “I let him in.”
Li Meiza placed a soft hand on hers, offering silent support. “I let him in. I care about the kid. He was running himself ragged and I forced him to come back with me to the apartment. I made him sleep and get cleaned up. I...I even felt mother-like protectiveness over him.”
The tears in her eyes spilled over. “He connected the dots about me and Kya. He even helped me come up with an idea for a bethrothal necklace. It makes no sense that he would show me this smart, dorky little kid and then just go crooked like that.”
“If you felt like this, then why did you arrest him?” she asked, not offering judgement but just asking.
“We had to follow a lead given to us by the Triads. He worked with them for some kind of sting operation, so we had to follow up and search his apartment. We found a shit ton of yuans and explosives in his closet.”
She stood up and began pacing in anger. “It doesn’t make any fucking sense! The evidence is there but I can’t believe he’s guilty because-”
“Because you care about him.”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I only care about a handful of people: Kya, Saikhan, Bumi, Tenzin, Pema, and their kids. I’m fucking terrified to let new people in. Korra and her friends are already coming in, but Mako was the first. I-”
She ran a hand through her hair, further tangling it. “I hate this. I fucking hate feeling vulnerable like this. I’m not used to it.”
“I think this is a good thing Lin,” she said, pouring a cup of tea for the stressed earthbender.
“This is forcing you to be honest with yourself. You just admitted you’re not used to being vulnerable and that you care about other people. This is so much progress from when you first came in. It might not seem like much, but it really is. I’m proud of you,” she said, handing her the warm cup.
She took a long drink, letting the tea warm her up and calm her down. “I want to propose to Kya when she gets back. I love her so much and I know she feels the same way.”
“Have you two talked about marriage before?” Li Meiza asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. We wanted to go through some therapy first and work through some of our trauma first. Do..do you think we’re ready?” she asked, looking away in nervous anticipation.
Li Meiza walked over to her and sat next to Lin on the couch. “Hey,” she said, placing a hand on hers. “You two are so in love with each other. You care so deeply for each other and have made immense progress. When you first came in, it was obvious that you were there because you two wanted to fix and strengthen your relationship. Safe to say, you’ve achieved that and more. I think you two have been ready for a long time, but needed to come to terms with it.”
“Thank you,” she said, showing one of her rare sincere smiles. “I couldn’t have gotten here without you.”
“Hey, what else are therapists for?” she replied. “I think you two were meant for each other.”
Lin gave a tearful nod, throat too tight with emotion to speak. She projected as much thanks as she could into a teary smile. Based off of the pure grin she received, it was obvious she succeeded. Shit might be rough right now, but it will pass and she’ll recover, as long as she has her other half: Kya.