Third Time Lucky

Zutara Month: Relief

A twenty-three year old Zuko fidgeted nervously outside the door. His thoughts were all a jumble of anticipation and anxiety. On the other side of the door was Katara, and she was pregnant. A lot of people thought this would be a time for Zuko to be jumping for joy. To shop for baby clothes, invite the entire family to celebrate and to drink tea with Uncle Iroh daily. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple, not with their history anyway.

This was the third time Katara was pregnant. Zuko vividly remembered the first time it had happened. Him and Katara had been entirely blissful and bursting with excitement. Already, at that moment, Zuko had been completely full of love for his unborn child. Neither him, nor his wife though that anything could go wrong after the point of getting pregnant. How wrong they were, five weeks into their pregnancy Katara had a miscarriage.

At the memory, Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. That definitely had been a horrible time of his life. Katara had been utterly destroyed with the news; she hadn't gotten out of bed for days on end and refused to talk to anyone. Zuko had been upset as well, turning cranky and temperamental with anyone who spoke to him. Eventually he persuaded Katara that they could try again, and so they did.

The second time was worse. Despite the vicious blow they received from the first pregnancy, Katara and Zuko both remained hopeful. They went to the healers working in Zuko's palace every week to be updated on progress of their growing child. On the eighth week, Katara suffered another miscarriage. This had led to stupid fights between him and Katara on whose fault it was, almost resulting in the end of their marriage. Having underwent that strain; Zuko had been reluctant to try again soon, but this time, it was Katara who insisted.

So here he was, waiting for news that would make or break him. Katara was in her thirteenth week of pregnancy and the healers were, at that moment, telling her if she had a miscarriage or not. When Zuko got Katara pregnant for the third time she was determined that they wouldn't check for a miscarriage until the thirteenth week.

"It'll be almost risk free to get a miscarriage after twelve weeks of pregnancy" She'd informed him. "If I'm okay when we check, we can stop worrying about it. If it happens again then…"

She'd stopped there. What was she supposed to say? If she suffered another miscarriage, Zuko's council would force him to leave Katara.
"What good is a wife who can't give you heirs?" They'd say. They'd barely accepted her as it was. Preferring a Fire Nation noble woman to be Fire Lady, they'd dismissed Katara completely. The only reason Zuko was married to her was because he went against his council's wishes and they let him get away with it. But if she couldn't produce heirs… He'd have no choice.

Zuko sighed heavily as he sat on the floor. Even if he remained married to Katara it wouldn't be a happy marriage. They loved each other, but that love would always be overshadowed if they couldn't have kids. And both of them wanted children. Katara had wanted children all her life; it had just been in her nature. Zuko was more reluctant, having experienced one of the worst childhoods in Fire Nation history, but with Katara by his side, he changed his mind and ever since then, he's been just as eager as her.

Zuko nervously twiddled his thumbs; the suspense was doing his head in. He needed this child to survive. He absolutely without a doubt needed it. Like a fish needed water, like fire needed oxygen, like is Uncle needed tea. Many people would want to be inside and hear the news from the healers. But, for Zuko, not this time. If Katara had a miscarriage he didn't want to hear it told to them with professional, coated words like the last two times. And if his baby were to survive… He wanted to hear it from his wife.

Suddenly the door moved and Katara emerged from behind it. Zuko shot up to his feet and his eyes seared into hers. Standing two metres away from one another, they just stared. Zuko noticed tear marks upon Katara's cheeks.
'Not a good sign, definitely not a good sign' he thought. And his heart dropped.

Then, slowly, Katara began to smile.
"I didn't have a miscarriage Zuko!" Katara announced, fresh tears running down her face and brimming with ecstasy. "The healers told me that I'll be having a healthy pregnancy from here on in, we have nothing to worry about!"

At that moment Zuko swept Katara up in his arms and kissed her with such fervour and passion as he felt tears gather at the corner of his eyes. He loved Katara. He loved her. Relief filled him, it surged to every part of his body, so powerful he felt as though he would fall to his knees right then at that moment. Nothing could take way that moment from him; nothing could take away his wife and his child.

He set Katara down who was still beaming at him with adoration and happiness in her eyes. She wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and grinned up at him.
"Do you want to go tell Uncle Iroh?" She asked, for they had agreed not to tell anyone of Katara's pregnancy until they were sure the baby would be all right. Zuko, in turn, grinned right back at her.
"Tell Uncle Iroh? We're telling the entire Fire Nation." He replied, smirking slightly.

And as they walked away, hand and hand, to tell his Uncle the news and the rest of his people, Zuko glanced down at Katara's stomach and thought:

Take that, councilmen.