AN: If there are any blatant mistakes in this one shot just ignore them :) I would LOVE to hear what you thought!
The Western Air Temple was just how she remembered it. Except, it couldn't have been more different. She remembered waking up and smelling the clean smell of mountain air. Damp fog would rise from the ravine below in the early morning and the sun would pinken the low cloud. Katara stood on the edge of the flat of stone they used to live on. The fountain still trickled quietly and the dust particles still floated in the rays of sun. Everything was just the same, but so very different. The waterbender rest her hand on the swell of her belly. Her first child. Their first child. Katara sighed and closed her eyes, soaking in the sun. She stood there for a long time, simply listening to the sounds of the Temple. A bird sung from somewhere in the distance, a small pebbled tumbled down the cliff side somewhere else. She loved this place. Sure it might have been host to some bad times, but in total, it was a place of fond, happy memories. She felt a gust of wind across her body, tugging it's fingers gently through her hair, ruffling her loose-fitting air acolyte robes. A glider snapped shut and she opened her eyes. Aang floated down the stone floor a few yards away. He was no longer that wispy twelve years old, but a man. He was so much taller now, his frame filled out with lean muscles, light like the air he bent, but strong like the earth. He stood with the confidence of a master firebender, confident and fierce. But his eyes were the same stormy grey that looked so much in love and so much like water. Peace and balance settled over him, like the robes he wore. She was so deeply in love with this man.
He sent her that huge, beautiful smile and headed towards her. Katara sighed happily when his strong arms wrapped around from behind her and rest on her stomach. "How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.
"Fine," she lied. In truth, her pelvis had been cramping all morning. Luckily, Aang didn't rely on seismic sight like Toph did, otherwise, he would have sensed her white lie. He sighed against her neck, his warm breath sending shivers over her skin. She tilted her head and nuzzled her nose under his jaw. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too."
It was mid morning and Aang had swept off to explore the rest of the Western Air Temple. He wanted to restore it, but there were other pressing matters, especially in the newly-founded Republic City. However, Katara had noticed how much he had been pining over this place so she proposed a trip to go scout it out, see if it the repairs needed would be minor or more elaborate. He had looked guilty before he jumped off the edge of the cliff this time, feeling as though he was abandoning her. But, Katara smiled and told him to go on, saying she just wanted to walk around for a little while. It had been hard to keep a straight face as a contraction had screamed through her. She knew they were no longer just cramps but full blown labor pains. She had been by the side of countless pregnant women throughout the course of their pregnancies, she knew it could be hours before her water even broke. There was no need to worry Aang. She gave him a reassuring smile and he took off.
She knew that it might help if she walked through the contractions, ease her pain.
Katara had been walking for the better part of an hour when it happened. She had been revisiting a room, deep inside the cliff face where she used to go and get a moment of peace. Her palm skirted across the mural on the walls when something warm and wet suddenly flowed down the inside of her legs. She gasped in shock and stared at the puddle at her feet. A grin broke over her face, it was happening, it was really happening. She flipped the cap off her water skin and ran her hands over her belly, a blue glow filling the room. She couldn't really see a clear vision of her baby as Sokka insisted she must be able to. But, she could feel the blood of her child and the general position it was in. She returned the water to her waterskin and started to waddle out of the room to shout for Aang, but a horrible, clenching pain seized her groin. Her sharp yelp echoed in the large, stone room and out into the halls. She stopped in her tracks, her hand grasping the underside of her belly. The pain was so intense so suddenly it had startled her. She sucked in a deep breath only to regret it when it tightened her muscles even more. Katara decided it might just be best if she sat down for a minute.
This baby was impatient, Katara quickly discovered that little fact. Agonizing contractions seized her body, making her cry out or stealing her breath away. She had been sitting on the old cot in the corner for over an hour now. She hadn't mustered up the courage to walk all the way to the edge of the temple and call for Aang. She kept telling herself the baby may not even be born for several more hours and that she was fine, no rush. She gripped the bed post with one hand as her body clenched again. She bit her lip through the pain, her eyes shut tightly. When it was over, after what seemed like hours, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She growled, frustrated with the seemingly never-ending pain and tore her satchel from her shoulder and tossed it on the floor. It was so hot, why was it so hot in here? She bent a ball of water from her waterskin and sated her thirst. The cool water made her feel a little better, a little less anxious. She would get up in just a minute, she told herself. Just a minute to give her a little time to catch her breath.
Everything was calm for the next few minutes, perhaps a quarter of an hour. She had been trying to keep track of the contractions and see how far apart they were, but so far that were erratic with no pattern. That only fueled her belief that the baby was not coming soon and she shouldn't worry so much. She had made it as far as the door when her muscles started to squeeze again. She scurried back over to the bed, one hand under her bulging stomach. This cramp was not as bad as the others, it was manageable. She would go find Aang in just a minute. Just a minute.
That minute quickly turned into a full hour, and then two. Katara was in tears at this point, both from pain and fear. She had long since given up the hope that her baby would be patient. She was all alone, there was no one to hold her hand or coach her breathing. Her own husband wouldn't even been present for the birth of his first child. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and bit her lip. She felt so horrible for telling him to go ahead and search the temple because that meant it would be her fault if he missed the birth. Searing, agonizing pain bit into her muscles and clawed it's way through her skeleton, tangling it's ugly fingers into every fiber and cell it could find. It seized her lungs and thieved her breath. The monster ripped through her blood, screaming and snarling, biting at her as it wound its way into her belly and clenched her stomach with its fist. Katara leaned over the side of the bed and vomited. The evil creature settled on the floor of her pelvis and devoured any peace or calm left in her body. "Aang!" She cried out, deaf to her own cries. She screamed at the top of her lungs, tears pouring from her eyes. She was so scared. Was it supposed to hurt this much? How was she going to do this alone? Her mind reeled in pain and she cried for joy when it passed. She pleaded with the spirits for Aang to find her and help her. If he was with her everything would be ok.
But the spirits did not answer her pleas. Another hour passed by agonizingly slow. She had been writhing on the old straw mattress for nearly three hours. Sweat dampened her face and neck, her hair curling and sticking to her forehead. Tears streamed down her face, she had given up trying to hold them back. Her chest shook with each sob. She wanted her husband so badly, she needed him to be here. She cried his name quietly between contractions and screamed it during. But he never came. She was too deep into the temple for her cries to be heard. She lay there for what seemed like a lifetime. Her contractions were starting to become more regular and much closer together now. Perhaps only ten minutes apart. She had lost track of time with the agony that swept through her body. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine and pooled in the small of her back. She knew it would be time to start pushing soon and she was sure she couldn't do that alone. Who would help her baby into the world? Who would cut the umbilical cord and wrap her child in a soft blanket? Who would watch it when she became overcome by exhaustion and fell asleep?
She would have to do it by herself. She had not imagined it this way, she had not wished it this way, but it was happening and she had to get herself together. The labor pains were very close now. Katara pulled herself from the dusty cot and stood weakly. If she were in Republic City or in the South Pole there would be other women to help her. Maybe Suki or, dare she say, Mai. The already knew what it was like to have a child. They knew what they were doing. But, her Gran-Gran had prepared her in case she were to fall into a situation where she were alone. And oh, how she was alone. Her grandmother had delivered her mother, Kya, all by herself. In fact, in quite a similar situation as Katara herself was in. Gran-Gran had been with her first husband on the ice, searching for the Southern Water Tribe. They had fled her husband's village when a pack of artic wolves had overtaken it. They had not even yet reached the only city in the South Pole when Kanna went into labor.
Katara unwound her bindings from her hips, tossing them with her yellow and orange robe, already having peeled them from herself a while ago in hope of cooling herself. She pulled herself together and thought rationally. She tried to remember everything Gran-Gran had told her. She would used the bed post for support, and she had packed a few things in her satchel on a "just in case" basis. She pulled the leather bag from the floor and pawed through it's contents until she retrieved two blankets; one to wrap her baby in and the other to clean herself afterwards. She placed them aside, on top of the bag and wrapped her hands around the bed post. She couldn't believe she would be doing this. She stayed standing for a little while, until the urge to push came. She had to rely on her body to tell her when, for she was without a mid-wife. She bent her knees and settled into a crouch when she felt pressure begin to push on her from the inside out. Her fingers curled tightly around the bed post when her body started to bear down. She cried out when the pain reached its peak. But, it wasn't over, she knew that. When another tense, awful pain seized her, she cried out, her ears popping and blocking out her own screams. "Aang!" She sobbed. "Aang... please..." She cried softly.
She pushed again and in the thick of it a gust of air filled the room. Katara cracked her eyes open and saw Aang, in all his wonderful, saving glory come rushing across the room. A sob of happiness broke loose from her throat. She felt hands under her arms supporting her now and allowing her concentration to focus solely on delivering their baby. "What's happening? What's going on? Are you alright? Is the baby coming?"
"Yes," she choked out.
Everything happened rather quickly after Aang arrived. Katara pushed hard, confident she must be dying. She could feel her baby passing through the birth canal. Katara tugged her arms against Aang's hands gently. He got the message and let go, crouching so she could lean against him. She put her hands between her legs and waited. Her body pushed mightily and Katara felt like her hips would break apart, but suddenly, the pain just vanished from her thoughts when a shrill cry pierced the air. Her hands were suddenly full of a wet, squirming creature. Tears of joys spilled down her cheeks as she lifted her baby away from her body and cradled it in her arms. A girl, they had a little girl! She wasn't sure when she told Aang that or when he cut the cord with what she suspected was a gentle but precise puff of air. She sunk onto the floor, Aang cradling her shaking and sore body from behind. "She's beautiful," he barely breathed. Her husband snatched his robes from his back and lay them across the old cot, and then lifted his wife and squalling child onto the bed. He propped Katara up the best he could with her discarded robes and satchel. He stood and stared, mystified at this beautiful miracle that lay in Katara's arms. His wife had made that, he had made that. Her, he meant. Katara looked up at her husband and smiled softly. He was smitten. Aang didn't think something so beautiful could be a piece of him. His child was wet and screeching her discomfort at having been torn away from her cozy abode inside his wife's belly. He absently grabbed the blankets that had been on the bag and knelt next to the cot. He felt like he would break her if he touched her. She was so little. How could a human being be so small? He lifted a corner of a blanket to his child and gently wiped away the afterbirth from her arms and pinched face. Katara's eyelids started to fall as exhaustion caught up with her. She lifted her child to her breast, silencing her cries promptly.
The edge of the straw mattress sunk gently. "I think we should name her Kya," the Avatar spoke softly.
Katara looked up at him with love-filled, sleepy eyes. "It's perfect." she whispered touching her finger to Kya's nose. "Our little waterbender."