Katara’s heart was pounding in her ears. The beating radiated down through her jaw and throat, all the way down into her fingertips before filling up her chest and stomach and then down to her knees and finally her toes. The entire room had fallen silent at her announcement. She could hardly stand it.

She had stepped up before her entire family, before everyone she had ever met in her entire life and told them that she, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, was pregnant with an illegitimate baby.

Open-mouthed gapes and wide-eyed stares seemed to bore into her soul. She couldn’t even bare to look to her side, knowing the looks she was receiving from Sokka and her father would simply break her heart.

“Now if you’ll excuse us…”

Katara felt a hand on her back and she was pushed into a bow before being turned and marched towards the exit just behind the table. She was taken out into the hall and then out to the icy courtyard that sat in the middle of the newly made ice palace.

It was there that Katara fainted.

Had Zuko not already had his hand on her back, she would have hit the ground hard. He scooped her up and carried her to one of the benches. He turned her so her head was resting against his leg and he began to push the hair from her face. It wasn’t long before her eyes fluttered open and she began to cry. She sat up and twisted herself around so that she had one leg on either side of the bench. Zuko did the same and held out his arms for her.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He said, resting a cheek against her hair as the tears started to fall. She pushed her face into his chest and held her arms close to her body as Zuko curled his hands around her. “I’m still here.” She sniffed and shifted. “And you were right to say that it was mine. I’m sticking through with this.” Katara relaxed noticeably but otherwise she was still rather tense. He shoulders continued to shake and she was still sobbing and gasping for breath.

“Katara?”

Both of the benders froze. Katara took a few deep breaths and wiped at her eyes to try and push away the tears. She was still taking rough breaths and her shoulders were shaking when she sat up.

“Yeah Dad?” She was still sitting very close to Zuko, possibly out of self-preservation. When she saw the look on Hakoda’s face, however, all of the fear about rejection melted away and was instantly replaced with an overwhelming guilt. She fought back more tears and lost completely. She slumped over, covering her face with her hands. She pulled her legs up to her chest and tried to just disappear.

Hakoda walked over to the bench and sat down beside Katara. He sat as if he didn’t know what to do with himself, he slouched, elbows on his knees, and stared at the ground.

Zuko’s eyes darted back and forth between Hakoda and Katara as if he was trying to read the situation. He placed a hand on Katara’s back to comfort her and kept his gaze on the Water Tribe chief. As he watched Hakoda, he began to catch on to the one subtle movement he was making. He was, without turning his head, looking between Zuko and the door. He wanted to talk to Katara alone.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Zuko leaned forward and kissed the side of Katara’s head before getting to his feet and walking towards the gate back to the Palace. As he closed the door behind himself he saw Katara fall into her father like she had done it a thousand times. Hakoda wrapped his arms around her as she erupted into sobs.

Zuko jammed his hands into his pockets and started down the hall towards his room. Well, no way to honestly tell what the reactions of each person in the ballroom was, although the collective poll seemed to be shock and potentially dismay.  He had been just as anxious about telling everyone as Katara, although he was more empathetic for her as she was the one who would have to carry the evidence for six more months.

Things to worry about for the upcoming days: Sokka’s reaction, Hakoda’s reaction, Aang’s reaction. No matter if Katara and Zuko had planned this, gotten married and then gotten pregnant, he was fairly certain Sokka would brutally murder him. Hakoda was being calm (for now at least). Something told Zuko that may have just been so his daughter didn’t get even more overwhelmed.

Aang’s reaction… that was where the real danger lied. Everyone and their mother knew that he was in love with Katara, so how was he going to take the news? He had learned to control his temper in the past few years so it wasn’t likely that he would get openly angry. He would be hurt, that was a given. It was how he would express it that caused hesitation. He could simply wear one of his heart-broken smiles and say he was happy for them, causing everyone even more guilt than they needed, or he could just ignore the entire situation, say his congratulations and “move on”.

Zuko rubbed the bridge of his nose before continuing on down the hall. He pulled the small key from his pocket as he came to the door and stuck it into the lock. Down the hall he heard footfalls and people talking. He scrambled to unlock the door and threw it open. He darted inside and shoved the door closed behind him. He let out a sigh of relief as the passing sound of those people didn’t even linger at his door.

He dropped the key on the small table by the door and proceeded to take off his jacket. He draped it on the back of his chair and kicked off his shoes. He sat down at the desk in the corner and lit the candle. He took up the brush from the ink well and spread a piece of paper out before him. He began to write in quick yet elegant strokes. As a member of the former Royal family he had been trained in calligraphy. His handwriting was neat and formal, but he managed to achieve such delicacy quickly.

He wrote for quite some time, having to move on to a second scroll before leaning back and rubbing his neck. He glanced out the window and placed the brush back in the ink well. It was getting rather late. He rolled up the two scrolls and set them by the door to go out with the morning mail.

Zuko ran a hand over his hair before a yawn managed to sneak out. He cleared his throat absentmindedly and took off his shirt. He tossed it aside and flopped down onto the bed. He didn’t bother getting under the blankets before drifting off to sleep.

“Well, that was a complete disaster.”

Zuko opened his eyes to see Katara lying down next to him. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was puffy from crying. She looked completely drained.

“How’d Hakoda take it?” Zuko asked, sniffing and blinking to try and wake himself up.

“Fairly well…” She turned onto her side, resting her chin against her hand. “I mean, he’s hurt that we had sex before getting married.”

“Like he and your mother didn’t.” Zuko smirked as Katara hit his arm.

“Otherwise,” Katara glared playfully as Zuko rolled over to look at her. “He’s excited about getting another grandchild. He just—“

“Wishes we were married.”

“Yeah…”

Zuko lifted up his arm and Katara took the hint. She moved closer and positioned herself so that her back was against his chest. He draped his arm over her side and pulled her closer.

“We won’t be able to do this for a while…” Katara mumbled, looking down at Zuko’s hand.

“Says who?” Zuko lifted himself enough so that he could look at Katara’s face. She turned her head and kissed him before they both settled back.

“We can deal with all of this in the morning, okay?” Zuko said, beginning to fall back asleep.

“Okay…” Katara mumbled, tracing the creases of the sheets with her finger.

Her eyes began to lull closed as she watched the candle in the corner burn. It flickered about on what was left of the wax and wick, slowly dying as it grew closer to the base of the would-be candle.  She was asleep before it finally went out.

That night she dreamt of two people, sitting in a garden. The garden was filled with fog, which made it hard to see exactly what was going on. The two people sat together, one man and one woman. They leaned close and talked nonsensical things like people in dreams always do. They were both void of any clothing or covering, but neither of them seemed to care. They were sitting facing each other, the more feminine of the two sitting with her legs crossed. The other, the man, was leaning forward on his hands with his legs bent beneath him. The fog began to grow stronger and thicker, engulfing them both. They moved closer, kissed and the fog overtook them both.