A/N: I got the amazing framework for this idea from telleroftails-weaverofdreams, so a huge thank you to her for that! I hope you love the fic!
Warning: This is an AU where Katara and Zuko (ZUTARA) are married and have a daughter with another baby on the way. Also, Aang did not take away Ozai's bending during Sozin's Comet, he spared him when Ozai surrendered.
Zuko's POV:
"Good morning." I smiled over to my beautiful wife. I kissed my hand and placed it on her swollen belly, Katara was almost eight months along with our second child and had to stay in bed for the remainder of her pregnancy, despite this she was still the same sweet, loving waterbender that I married.
"Good morning Zuzu." She smiled back at me, covering my hand with her own. She sighed softly when she realized I was already dressed, ready for a day of conferences as the Fire Lord. "Do me a favor and make sure Zari gets her breakfast before you go to your meetings. She won't eat for the guards and I don't need her going hungry."
"I know what to do." I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You worry too much, it's not good for the baby." I teased her, she smiled again, picking up her scrolls from the table beside our bed.
"I know. I'm sorry." She looked up at me innocently and I knew she wanted something.
"What else?" I asked, kneeling on the floor and resting my head on my arms by her face.
"I just wanted to tell you how much I love you." She grinned, leaning over to kiss me sweetly, I kissed her back gently.
"I love you too. I'll see you for lunch." I stood, running my fingers through her hair as I left the room. I crossed the hall and knocked on my daughter's door.
"Coming!" She yelled, I heard her little feet scamper across the floor before she opened the door. "Daddy!" She flung her arms around me, happy to see me instead of the guard she had been expecting this morning, she hadn't been particularly thrilled when I told her that I wouldn't be able to play with her today.
"Hi baby girl." I lifted her into my arms, straightening her little crown for her. "Are you ready for breakfast?"
"I thought you had to do boring Daddy stuff today." She sighed, I kissed her head.
"Fun Daddy stuff like eating breakfast with you comes first. Besides, the meetings can't start without me."
"Really?" She smiled, that same devious glint in her eyes that I saw so often in my wife.
"That doesn't mean you should take longer than you need to have breakfast Zari…" I watched a small pout form on her face and I laughed. "You're just like Mommy."
"I wasn't!" She protested. I laughed again and carried her to the kitchen, placing her down in her chair.
"What do you want to eat?" I asked her, opening the cupboard to get a glass for her like I did every morning.
"I want juice!"
"I know honey, I'm getting it. What do you want with the juice though?" I got her favorite juice out, making a mental note of asking one of the guards to go out and buy some more ingredients to make more when I noticed we were almost out of the drink.
"Umm… a papaya!"
"A papaya?" I looked at her quizzically. "That's all?"
"Yes." She propped her head up on her elbows, leaning against the table. She smiled as she watched me hand her the glass of juice before pulling out the piece of fruit and start slicing it.
"Are you sure? I don't want you to be hungry later…"
"I just want a papaya. I'm not really hungry." She was concentrating hard on her cup, bending the juice out of it in a little stream. I smiled, I had been right about Azaria being a waterbender. Katara hadn't believed me about it until the day Zari first manipulated a little bit of water from the turtle-duck pond a few months before. I was so proud of my little bender.
"Your form is getting a lot better." I complimented, putting her breakfast in front of her, she grinned at me.
"I've been practicing!" She bit her lip, thinking for a minute. "Daddy if I promise to be a good girl can I go play near the turtle-duck pond with one of the guards? I promise I'll listen and be a good little Fire Princess like you always tell me!"
"You promise huh?" I thought about it. Azaria was only four but already she was worthy of my trust. It would keep Azaria from bothering Katara while she was resting if she was outside. "Well, okay. I expect you to be on your best behavior though. No bad reports."
"Never Daddy! Thank you!" She hugged me tight, jumping down from her chair, I caught her in my arms.
"After breakfast though. Eat at least half." I placed her back in her seat.
"We can share!" She picked up a piece and popped it in her mouth, holding one out for me, I took it from her even though I really wasn't hungry either. Together we finished the papaya and Azaria drank the rest of her juice. I sat and talked to her for a few more minutes before two of our guards came in, Zari's frown mirrored my own.
"Well, it looks like I have to go. You be good. I'll come get you for lunch." I kissed her head and hugged her to me, she wrapped her arms around me and I looked up at my guards, letting them know that there would be severe consequences if anything were to happen to my sweet baby girl.
"Sir, you're late for your first meeting." One of the guards called over to me.
"Don't interrupt!" I growled at him. I knelt before my daughter. "Have a good day. I love you."
"I love you too Daddy!" She kissed my scarred cheek, making the guards cringe, I didn't mind though. Katara and Azaria were the only two allowed to do something as bold as drawing attention to the scorch mark on my face because they did it out of love, never to make me feel uncomfortable.
"Have fun." I messed her hair up as she ran to the guard that would be watching her.
"I will!" She pulled at the guard's coat. "Come on!"
Azaria's POV:
"I'm going to bend the water in the turtle-duck pond okay?" I asked the nice guard that was watching me.
"Do whatever pleases you Princess Azaria, your father has given me orders that you're my superior today."
"Yay!" I ran ahead of him to the pond in the backyard, tossing my robe into the grass, revealing my pretty red bending dress. Mommy and Daddy got it for me the night I first bent water. For a while I worked on moving the water in the direction I wanted, a move Mommy called 'streaming the water'. I didn't even notice the guard didn't join me again until a strange man came into the backyard. I frowned slightly. I dropped my water nervously.
"It's okay." The man was wearing Fire Nation colors and had a crown like my Daddy's. He held his hands up, trying to seem less scary. It didn't help.
"Who are you?" I asked, taking a cautious step back.
"I am the Fire Lord." He told me, looking annoyed.
"You're not the Fire Lord! My Daddy is the Fire Lord!" I yelled at him taking a few more steps away from him. I noticed his eyes got big when he noticed my crown.
"What?" He dropped his hands. He looked really, really mad.
"Guard!" I yelled, backing away from him again when nobody answered me.
"You're Zuko's daughter?" He laughed. "It can't be! You're a waterbender."
"Just like my Mommy…" I couldn't help telling him. I was proud of my waterbending. I liked having the same element as my Mommy.
"Your mother is a waterbender? Zuko is unbelievable!" The man shook his head, I thought I saw smoke coming from his hands, but it might've just been my imagination, but I was really scared now.
"Guard!" I screamed, tears forming in my eyes.
"And your father is the Fire Lord? That means you're the Fire Princess!" A big ball of fire exploded from the man's hands and I jumped out of the way and fell into the grass just as the fire landed on the robe I'd left laying in the grass earlier.
"DADDY!" Tears were streaming down my face now. The man laughed, walking towards me. "DADDY PLEASE HELP!" I screamed even though I knew he wouldn't be able to hear me from all the way inside the palace.
"I bet your pathetic Daddy would do anything to get you back! Wouldn't he?" Another fireball whizzed past my head, I felt the heat rush by me. "He's always been too soft for his own good. He's a sorry excuse for a man. I should've killed him when I had the chance!" The man wrapped his hands tight around my wrists pinning them behind my back, hurting me.
"Let me go!" I cried, trying to pull away from him.
"Oh shut up!" He held me tight against his chest, ripping the bottom of my pretty dress, tying it over my eyes so I couldn't see.
"HELP! MOMMY! DADDY! GUARD! HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could just before his hand came down over my mouth so I couldn't yell anymore. I felt him pick me up and start running. I kicked against him trying to break free but it was no use. More tears came when I felt his hot breath whisper something in my ear.
"We'll just see if your precious little Daddy loves you enough to come find you. If he wants you back he'll have to fight for it."
