New Parents
"Push!"
"What do you think I'm doing? If you tell me to push one more time, Doctor Katara, I swear I'll earthbend you- eeeyargh!"
Toph's screams carried over into the hall. Teo stared at the closed door, biting his nails down to the quick.
"Aw, don't worry, Suki screamed even more than this when she had her first," Sokka reassured him, clapping Teo on the shoulder.
He jumped and turned pale, though, when another blood-curdling scream echoed through the house. Aang and Zuko, standing off to the side, were looking pretty pale themselves. Even stony-faced Mai looked a little green, clutching her husband's hand tightly, her other hand resting on her swollen stomach.
Suki kept bustling in and out of the delivery room, brushing past the nervous men, carrying boiling water and bloody rags-
"Bloody rags? Is that blood? Is Toph bleeding? What's going on in there?" Teo stuttered nervously, gripping the wheels of his chair so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Suki, get back in here right now," Katara shouted, her voice accompanied by another loud scream from Toph.
Suki gave the father-to-be an apologetic look before hurrying back into the room.
After what seemed like hours to Teo, his chest tight and stomach heaving, Toph's screams were suddenly replaced by a loud, screechy wailing.
Teo's eyes lit up as Suki opened the door of the delivery room and ushered everyone in.
"It's a boy!" Katara announced excitedly, holding up a squirming, wailing red baby.
Teo's breath caught in his throat at the sight of his son.
Katara wrapped the infant in a blanket and gently handed him to Toph. Teo rushed to her side, staring down at the tiny red face. Toph's hold was hesitant, as if the baby was a fragile object her tough earthbender hands might break.
"His eyes," Toph whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. "What do his eyes look like?"
Teo looked down into alert, vibrant green eyes.
"They're perfect," Teo answered, and he could see his wife's whole body relax.
He understood her relief. Although he knew it was ridiculous- he'd been paralyzed as a young child, it wasn't genetic, there was no way his handicap could have been passed down to his child- he'd breathed a sigh of relief when he'd seen the infant's tiny legs flailing, very much functional, before Katara had swathed him in a blanket.
"He's perfect," Teo repeated in awe.
Iroh burst into the room suddenly, carrying a tray of tea.
"Tea!" he announced, "To celebrate, to calm the nerves, to dull the pain…"
"What pain?" Toph demanded, but she grudgingly let Teo cradle the newborn infant in his arms and accepted the tea Iroh offered her.
"So have you decided what you're going to name him?" Katara asked once she'd cleaned everything up.
"Well, if it was a girl, we were going to name her after Teo's mom," Toph said, because Teo was too busy staring down at his son to answer. "But if it was a boy, we'd name it after someone else who died too young and is still missed… Lu Ten."
The teapot Iroh was holding crashed to the floor, making everyone jump. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.
"T-Toph… you didn't have to…" he whispered, his hands shaking slightly.
"Oh, c'mon, old man," Toph said with a laugh that made her wince a bit. "Come give me a hug. I'd get up and give you one myself, but Doctor Sugar Queen'll turn me into a popsicle if I- mmph!"
Iroh nearly threw himself at the young woman, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"You made me waste a perfectly good pot of tea!" he complained as they finally pulled apart.
Toph laughed, punching the old man in the shoulder.
Suddenly, Lu Ten started crying again, wailing surprisingly loudly for someone so small.
"Waaah! What do I do?" Teo cried, looking down at the child nervously.
"I don't know!" Toph answered, sounding almost as panicked, as Teo tried to hand the baby over to her.
"Calm down," Katara told the panicking new parents. "He's just hungry."
"Which means it's time to learn how to breastfeed," Suki said, not without a hint of mischief in her grin.
Toph's face turned a delightful shade of purple, and Teo's was almost as bad.
"Okay, that's it," the earthbender said, carefully cradling her son in her arms. "Everybody out!"