Always attract

Disclaimer: I don't own avatar: the last airbender.

The golden eyes stared straight into mine, piercing straight through my heart and into my soul. His pitch black hair moved along with the wind, while I ran my fingers across his scar gently. The feeling of that part of the skin had gone damp, and I could see him raising his eyebrows, with a slight smirk on his face. He ran his fingers slowly up towards my face and cupped my cheek, intending on pulling me in for one of his soft kisses. I didn't pull away, I'd always dreamed of this scene, feeling his soft and warm lips pressed against my cold ones.

He didn't wear a shirt, and my fingers carefully traveled across his naked skin, forming after the shape of his muscular body. He would bring me a warm feeling in my gut, and I'd pleasantly enjoy his body pressed against mine. I smiled and pulled away from the kiss.

"Do you love me?" I asked the fire bender. He looked concerned, and looked straight into my clear blue eyes.

"I do." He replied, with a deep and slightly hoarse voice. It sounded so appealing and I just wanted to kiss him. "We shouldn't be doing this Katara."

"Isn't that why we're doing it?" I asked and giggled a bit, stroke his chest gently again, feeling an even stronger attraction than before.

The second his lips pressed to mine, and the clash of emotions, mainly attraction and love, came crashing I woke up from my dream by hearing the upset sound of a baby, doing hiccups and crying. 'Bumi' I thought, and sat up slowly. I'd just given birth to the newborn a few days ago; I was still rather stiff and had slight pain in my lower belly. It was still shaped as my pregnant belly, only smaller. And I rubbed my eyes, and stood up.

My husband, Aang, slept peacefully in our bed, not moving an inch and breathing heavily. The birth of Bumi had taken a toll on him, too. He'd been running around to fetch things for his birth, and he held my hand and whispered into my ear, hoping to console me from my cries of pain. I giggled, he'd even cried when he saw Bumi. So did I, of course, but I cried out of pain, and happiness. He'd cried out of pride, and I don't think I'll ever be able to wipe that grin off his face when he holds him. The sound of gran-gran announcing "it's a boy", was put in repeat in my head.

I slowly moved towards my son, my pace was not of choice; If I moved faster I'd feel even more pain. He was lying in his bed in the ice globe, wrapped in warm blankets and clothes. I carefully lift him up, placing him in my arms, with my arm supporting his head. He cried still, his face growing slightly red from how upset he was over being woken up in the middle of the night. Poor boy, he can't sleep.

Aang flinched in the background and sat up. "Katara you shouldn't have gotten up." He said, and I turned to him, seeing him rubbing his eyes, and sitting up in the bed. He slept without his shirt on, and that's what my gaze fell upon. Once again my thoughts went back to the fire bender.

"Katara?" he asked, trying to get my attention back. I looked up at his face instead, and carried Bumi over to the bed, and sat down. I was still very tired, even though Aang always had taken care of Bumi whenever he woke up from her peaceful sleep. He only woke me up when he needed to be fed. I felt very bad for taking away his sleep from him, and resting while I should be the one getting up and taking care of him. "I can take a walk with Bumi, don't worry." He said, and gave me a smile, and cupped my face the same way the fire bender had in my dream. He leaned in and gave me a kiss on the forehead, before he got out of bed, and pulled on a warm blue jacket. I'd made it for him when we'd moved from the air benders temple, to the South Pole. I had asked him to bring me home so I could be close to my family during my pregnancy and Bumi's birth.

"Are you sure?" I asked Aang, still concerned. And while he dressed I made sure the blankets kept Bumi warm. It was after all winter season outside, which meant it was much colder than it usually was.

Aang nodded as a reply, and lift Kaya into his arms, she was still crying loudly. "I won't go far. I'll come back with this one once she's back to sleep." He said. "You should sleep. Make sure you get a lot of rest for those nine months."

With that, Aang walked out of the igloo, left me to my loneliness. This wasn't a very good idea because it'd bring me back to my thoughts of my beloved fire bender, who barely noticed me anymore. He was married, awaiting his first child from another woman.

The fire bender was my forbidden love, and that's probably why it hurt so much to have such strong feelings towards him. I couldn't believe such strong love hurt this much, it was hard to watch him be with his wife, when I know I should be in that position instead of her. I lay back down on bed with a heartbroken sigh. I knew I'd have no other choice, because our time has passed, our chance to be together was already gone.

I didn't even know if he thought about me, or used to think about me. I barely even know if he still remembers who I am, or is he always thinking about his wife only? Am I a part of the fire benders life in any way? Does he even realize what we could've been?

The fire bender wasn't just any man, he was the fire lord. His wife was the fire lady, and he was of royal blood. He was fire lord Zuko, while I was a peasant of the south water tribe. I wasn't worthy of him in that way. Once we used to be really good friends, and we probably still are if I reached out and contacted him.

At first glance I hated him, more than anything. Because he was out to hurt my husband in his younger years. He'd grinned, mocking me for my weakness. I was a child back then, just merely touched at my water bending powers. Today I was the greatest water bending master excitant, and I was married to the avatar, the master of all elements. The bridge between this world, and the spirit world. He is also the man who keeps the world at peace.

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and returned to my hopeless dreams about Zuko, the fire lord. The man I wished I would spend the rest of my life with.

I was woken up again when the sun was rising and fed Bumi, only half awake. He seemed to be perfectly awake and had a great night, waking both his parents up 5 times so he could be changed two times and fed once, the other two he was just uneasy and couldn't sleep. Aang every time just took a short walk with him, and by now he had dark rings under his eyes, and he sat down on the bed by me. I was growing irritated, but realized that I shouldn't; Aang has gotten less sleep than me, and it wasn't fair of me to be angry with him.

Aang carefully petted Bumi's back and butt to burp him, and I watched him. It was fascinating, I can't recall seeing so many fathers being this committed to their child. Most of them wouldn't even change their children because of the stench. I was rather shocked when Aang offered to change him the first time. I noticed on him that he was about to throw up that time, and I smiled at the thought.

Aang looked down at me and frowned. "What're you looking at?" he asked, and Bumi burped, and he put him down in his arms.

"You." I said, and giggled a bit. "You look cute."

"Cute? I'm not cute anymore, I'm the manly and very strong avatar." He said and grinned at me. I knew that If I wasn't in this state; he'd probably tickle me and tease me now. Now that I think of it, he's very careful with me after we found out of my pregnancy.

"Yes you are. You're cute with Bumi." I said, and sat up carefully, giving him a kind smile. I was honest, it looked adorable.

"Do you want to hold him?" Aang asked, the muscles in his lips pulled slightly, almost into a small smirk. "Then we'll see something really cute."

I blushed, and shook my head. "I'm alright thank you. Besides, I think he likes you more."

"Why would he like me more? You're his mother. You're the one who feeds him and carries him and cares for him." He replied, and quickly placed Bumi into my arms, before I could protest.

"No, you-"

"You should spend some time with him Katara. He depends on you." Aang said, and ran his fingers through my hair, placing a lock of hair behind my ear.

"But Aang, you're probably gonna have to leave soon, the world needs you too. You should spend the time you have with him. I have time with him when you're gone." I said, and was about to hand him back too Aang, before my son made a squeak in protest. I looked down at him, and he stared up at me, intensely, almost like he wanted to say that he would like to remain there, in my arms.

"Mothers are beautiful things." Aang said, he was looking down at his son. "I never had a mother, but I'm happy my son has you as a mother. You've always been good at taking care of people, including me. I'm happy to be with you, and I'm the luckiest man in the world. And so is he." He said, making a gesture towards Bumi. "I'm so proud of him, and of you. I'm proud to have a family with you. You're so beautiful, and such a powerful bender." He looked down and grinned. "Heh, I'm just happy."

I couldn't do anything else but crack into a big wide smile. It wasn't like I didn't love Aang at all; things were just complicated with my emotions. I was still confused after all those years with him, and uncertain of if I've made the right choice or not. But right now it was too late; Aang and I were already married and had a child together. We had a child that depended on me, as he said. I got rather warm in my stomach and looked at Aang for a few seconds, before I realized that the appropriate response was a kiss, so I leaned in and kissed his lips. Like so many times before. I didn't feel any sparks, or butterflies in my stomach. I didn't feel anything actually. Except for his lips pressing back against mine, but I wasn't sure if that was enough for me.

I closed my eyes and the second I did I heard Bumi protest once again, fussing and moving his hands. I pulled away from the kiss. We weren't giving him any attention anymore and it made him really grumpy. He did like to have attention, and being taken care of. Bumi actually liked almost everything as long as eyes were on him. He didn't like baths though, for some reason. I had almost hoped he was going to be a water bender, but considering how much he disliked the cold I could only assume that he was an air bender. It was important for Aang, so he could carry on his people's culture somehow.

I looked down at my son with joy, and rocked him carefully in my arms, hushing him softly. He was probably exhausted and needed his sleep.

The name Bumi was chosen from Aang's best friend, who was an earth bending king. He died a couple of years ago from old age, and he was important to Aang. I personally liked the name and thought it was adorable, so I went along with it. If Bumi meant so much to him, then of course he should be named after his best friend. Next time it'll be my turn to choose a name I think is important to me. And hopefully there will be a next time, but just not anytime soon.

It didn't take more than a few minutes before Bumi's eyes were about to close. He was fighting his exhaustion but he couldn't fight forever. And eventually his eyes were completely shut and he was sleeping peacefully. I slowly got up, and placed him back in his bed, carefully. I pulled up his blanket and kissed his forehead. "I love you." I whispered.

When I turned back to the bed I noticed Aang was asleep. He must've lain down while I was busy trying to make Bumi fall asleep. Aang too, must be completely exhausted. I quickly hurried over to the bed, my body protesting against the fast movements by aching. But I ignored it and laid down next to Aang, and pulled the blanket up to my own shoulders. I crawled closer to Aang and put his arm around me any lay my head against his chest carefully, I didn't want to wake my exhausted husband up.

It's not that I'm complaining, I'm happy with Aang, I find him attractive and he's a great man, a great husband and a great father. But if I could go back in time, I would've done it differently. I would've chosen Zuko above Aang; I would've given it a try. So at least when I grow old and have wrinkles and watch my grandchildren play around in the snow, I could remember that I tried. I tried to be happy and be with the one who was right for me, I tried to have my dream and I tried to be the way I wanted to be. But I guess it wasn't for me to become the fire nation's first fire lady from the water tribe. And I didn't try.

Hey guys! Thank you for reading, I would love to hear your reviews on this short piece. I'm not sure if this could've been continued in any way. Sorry about that.

I hope you enjoyed! I will write more of these in the future. (hopefully)