Delivery Time

“Hurry up! Out of bed!”

Katara was practically bouncing out of her shoes as she shook Suki and Sokka awake.

“Sit down before I get out of bed and put you in the chair. You’re pregnant, you idiot.” Sokka grunted, pointing to the chair in the corner. Katara giggled and trotted back over to the chair. She sat down, but her knees were bouncing beneath her belly. “No moving of any kind, Katara.”

She moved to tapping her toes as Suki rolled over with a deadpan expression that seemed to say all that she was feeling.

When the door burst open and the two little girls came sprinting in, however, her mood changed.

“Momma! Papa!” The younger, Jia cried, taking a flying moosemonkey leap onto her father. Her sister, Wei was in the air right behind her sister, landing on her mother instead.

“Guess what!” Wei cried, wrapping her arms around Suki’s neck.

“What, baby?” Suki asked, leaning her daughter back and brushing her hair out of her face.

“Uncle Zuko gets back tonight!” Jia and Wei chorused, humongous grins across their faces. Sokka and Suki turned to look at Katara with such disdain that she smiled nervously.

“What? They woke me up first.” Katara grinned sheepishly.

Half an hour later, Suki and Sokka joined Katara and the girls for breakfast in the dining room. There was food in at each of the five places and the girls were happily eating.

“You did all this?” Suki asked, yawning. Katara nodded.

“It’s a classic Fire Nation breakfast. Iroh taught me.” She smiled and watched as Sokka sat down at the head of the table. Suki sat across from Jai and Katara took her place next to her sister-in-law.

They were on Kyoshi Island again. Not long after Zuko had left, they loaded up and moved back to the island. They were all far too tired of being in the cold (plus Suki had Katara convinced it was too cold for the baby) so they moved back to Kyoshi.

In the meantime, Katara had started packing up her things. As she was bearing the Fire Nation Heir’s son, she was to move to the Fire Nation. Not in the palace, but in a small town not far from the capitol. Every few months they would go visit Kyoshi and the South Pole for a while so that the child would know both cultures.

“How’d you get the energy to make all this?” Suki asked, taking a sip from the tea placed before her. Katara shrugged and smiled.

“I slept really well last night, I guess.” She took a sip of the tea herself and sighed. “Plus, I’m excited to see Zuko again.”

“Are you su—“

“Girls, why don’t you go play outside, you’ll be the first to know when Zuko gets here.” Suki interrupted Sokka quickly, gesturing for the girls to leave their dishes and go.

“Okay, Momma!” Wei said, smiling. She grabbed her sister’s hand and they ran out to the yard.

“What was that about?” Sokka asked, watching the girls playing though the window.

“They still don’t know that Zuko and Katara aren’t married.” Suki hissed, as if trying to hide the exchange from Katara. It was no use though. The Waterbender sighed and looked down at her plate.

“You don’t need to hide it from them.” She said, pushing her food around. “Zuko and I talked about it… He’s not ready for marriage.”

“But he’s ready for kids.” Sokka told his cup.

“Sokka!” Suki glared at him across the table before looking back to Katara. “Are you sure this is what you want? I mean, if you want, you and the baby can just live here instead of at the Fire Palace.”

“We’re not living in the Palace.” Katara corrected, placing a hand on her belly and frowning.

“Who’s the we?” Sokka asked, looking over at his sister.

“The baby and I.” Katara said, looking down. “Zuko has to live in the palace, but he plans on coming down to visit as much as he can.”

“Katara! You’re raising his child and he’s hardly going to be there! That isn’t right!” Sokka was on his feet, staring down the table at his sister.

“Sokka… Can we talk about this later?”

“Why not now?” Sokka glared at her, leaning with his hands flat on the table.

“Uhh… Well… My water just broke, so let’s deal with that first.” Katara said, staring daggers into her brother, who then proceeded to nearly faint.

“Sokka, get the girls and attach the ostritchhorse to the cart; we’ll meet you outside.” Suki said, taking command. She rushed to her sister-in-law and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, we’ll get your bag.” She pulled Katara across the house into her bedroom. She snatched the bag off of the drawers and they were out in the yard in seconds flat.

Sokka had scooped up Jia and Wei and was bouncing them back and forth until his wife and sister came out. He tossed the girls onto the cart with Katara’s bag before helping the two women to sit with him in the front and they were off towards the midwife’s home.

“Oh spirits!” Katara cried suddenly, groping for Suki’s hand. Once she found it, she squeezed hard, clamping down on her sister-in-law’s fingers.

“Okay, that’s your first contraction.” Suki explained, wrapping her hands around Katara’s. “Stay strong.”

“Yeah, it only get’s worse.” Sokka mumbled.

After a punch from both Suki and Katara, they finally arrived at the midwife’s. Katara was ushered into one of the birthing rooms and Sokka was left in the waiting rooms with the girls. The girls began playing together once again while Sokka set about writing a note to Zuko to tell him to hurry.

What felt like hours had passed before Suki joined her husband. The girls had drifted off into their nap.

“There’s a problem.” She said, staring at her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Sokka’s heart began pounding.

“Katara blacked out and the baby’s going to die if we don’t get it out soon.” Suki’s face was puffy and red, as if she had been withholding tears.

“Is she okay?” Sokka asked, chest beginning to heave.

“She’s just drifting in and out of consciousness. The pain is too much for her.” She pushed her hands down on her knees before getting to her feet. She grabbed Sokka’s hand and pulled him towards the birthing room.

She pushed the door open and lead him over to Katara. She was panting and her face was covered in sweat.

“Did you… Did you send a note to Zuko?” She asked as her brother walked over. Sokka nodded and knelt down next to the bed. “Good… Let’s just hope he gets to meet his son.”

“Don’t say that, Katara.” Sokka was trying to keep his breath steady. He’d gotten so used to the idea of a niece or nephew that this was breaking his heart.

“I won’t anymore.” Katara smiled and lost consciousness again. "Let's get that baby boy out."



Katara slowly began to fade into reality once again. The feel of the cloth sheets beneath her and the heavy blanket on top, the cold air blowing on her face. There was a soft murmur of people just beyond the door and it seemed like the lights were finally on. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself on her side, looking over at a candle. The flame bent back and forth, dancing and reaching towards the ceiling.

She smiled.

“My mom used to tell me stories like this.”

Katara’s ears perked at the hushed voice. Her heart beat a little faster. She stayed where she was and listened, hearing his footsteps a few times before hearing him speak.

“Stories about how I was born and looking at me for the first time.” Zuko cooed. “Your mother’s going to tell you this story over and over again, about how I showed up after you were born, about the letter, but I’m going to tell you my side.”

Katara’s heart began to beat a little faster again. She knew who was there. Zuko was holding her son and rocking him to sleep.

“When I first got the note about you coming along, I was with my Uncle Iroh. You’ll meet him soon enough. I ran out of the room without saying anything and I ran and ran and ran all the way down to the docks. When I got there, I jumped on the boat and woke up the entire crew, we had just gotten to land a few hours before and everyone was so tired. I woke them all up and we all got the ship moving.

“It felt like just forever sailing down here. We sailed for ages, until the sun started to go down. We sailed and sailed and the sun went down and it got dark, but we kept sailing. When we finally put into port, you were already here. So I ran to the hospital but they wouldn’t let me in to see you two so I waited and waited until they finally let me in and here we are.”

Katara smiled to herself as she listened to Zuko’s story. She was about to alert him to her conscious state when he started to speak again.

“But before I met you, before I even said hello to you, I had to give your mother her present. I had to finish it on the way down here. It took me so long to find the right stone and the right ribbon and then to pick a design that I liked…”

Katara froze and her eyes grew wide as teacups. Beneath the blankets she moved her hand up towards her neck to touch her necklace. The fabric felt different against her skin and the small medallion was replaced by a larger one. The pattern was different, and the feel of it hadn’t worn it worn by the years.

She sat up, fingers still locked around the necklace. She spun around until she found Zuko, standing with his arms wrapped around the baby. He glanced over at her with a smile on his face before looking down at the child again.