A/n: It's Kataang Week time! Please read and review! God bless!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender."

Kataang Week Day One - Hands

"I'm sorry, Master Katara."

The apology was said with much sympathy, but the waterbender showed no acknowledgement of it. The only thing Katara was aware of was Aang's strong hand firmly squeezing her own before he quietly dismissed the healer.

Her ears were ringing, the woman's words from earlier still registering within her mind. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, but at that moment she could do nothing to slow it. This news had just about broken her. Something she would have never thought possible to do.

Words were just words, how could they hurt anyone to the point of physical pain?

Her aching stomach and pounding head proved that words most definitely could cause some harm.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to conceive again, Master Katara."

Those words had caused the rational side of herself to burrow back in the furthest corner of her mind, while the emotional part of her was still trying to cope with this new information. She doubted it even had the ability to cope with it. Everything had happened so fast.

They had never had trouble getting pregnant before, their children all being planned and wonderfully anticipated. Her first pregnancy was rough, as was expected, but she couldn't remember having any issues during her two other ones. Even this fourth pregnancy had been going so smoothly, with barely any morning sickness or back pains like before.

Perhaps that's what should have alarmed her though. Things were too perfect, and when they became that way, something just had to come and mess it all up. There was only one thing in her life that she could recall not ending up that way and that was the person sitting beside her on the bed, holding her fingers tightly within his own.

It was Aang who had first noticed that something was wrong. He had arrived home late from the council that night, his wife and children already tucked away in their beds and snoozing peacefully. After quietly checking on each of his kids, the man made his way down the hall to the master suite where Katara was already sleeping.

He entered the room, went through his basic night routine, and gently pulled back the covers on his side of the bed so he wouldn't disturb the mattress' other occupant. That's when he noticed it. There was a red liquid staining their usually pristine white sheets.

Alerted, he woke his wife up.

Katara, being a healer, was relatively familiar with miscarriages so she realized what was happening right away. But never had she thought that she would be going through it.

Aang had left to get the healer from the city after some quiet prompting from Katara, and the woman herself had gone into the master bath in order to clean herself off. Though her hands and legs shook, she refused to cry. She couldn't cry. That would make everything that had just happened,
much more real.

She had been laying in the freshly changed bed Aang had prepared before he left for the city, when the Avatar re-entered the room with a young healer following closely behind him.

The woman hadn't said anything Katara didn't already know. She told her that many woman were faced with this challenge in life and that there is next to nothing anyone can do in order to prevent it. It's just natural.

But she hadn't expected the woman's outlook on her chances of conceiving once again to be so pessimistic. Though, perhaps she should have. From her early years of working in the clinic within Republic City, she had seen many women in the same condition as her. She knew that some of them had a very difficult time getting pregnant again, suffering miscarriages sometimes until they just decided to stop trying all together.

Her cerulean eyes were becoming misty, something that Aang most definitely took notice of.

"We can try again, Katara. What she said isn't necessarily true."

But it could be, and that's what scared her.

Shaking her head, refusing to speak, the waterbender simply turned her face to the side and nuzzled it into her husband's neck. He laid his cheek against the dark, silky tresses of her hair, tilting his head slightly so that he could kiss the woman on the forehead. She could hear him murmuring sweet words of love to her, but she couldn't bring herself to respond. The waterbending was still in shock.

They sat in silence for awhile, both trying desperately to process what had happened that morning. She was only about a month and a half along, they shouldn't have allowed themselves to get so excited over something that was so shaky in early development. They weren't that old, Aang being only 35 and Katara being 37 so they hadn't seen any reason to worry. There really was no explanation to why this had happened to them.

The sun was beginning to rise, the light casting shadows across their room. Air Temple Island was slowly beginning to buzz with life, proving to the two that time wasn't simply going to stop just because of some tragedy that had struck their lives. It would continue to go on and so would they.

"I need to get the kids up and ready," Aang murmured to Katara, placing another kiss on her forehead and readying himself to rise. The man hadn't slept the night before, making his movements relatively sluggish, but he still retained that grace he always had. The grip on his hand though didn't loosen, even as he took a step towards the door.

Looking down at his wife sitting on the bed, Aang could feel his heart breaking.

He had figured she would want some time alone to process everything and to relax after what had just happened, but the look that she was giving him said otherwise.

She needed him.

Sitting back down on the bed, Aang took her into his arms. His hands gripped at the silk of her blue night gown, pulling her closer to his chest as she grabbed desperately on to his robes. She needed this support. She couldn't face this alone.

"I don't wanna try again," She whispered finally, the words muffled by the fabric of his vibrant, red robe, "I can't risk losing another, Aang."

The Avatar didn't say a word, he only held her tighter within the circle of his arms.

"It's just hard to imagine, not ever being pregnant again," The tears were slowly beginning to fall now, the woman finally allowing her emotions to flow, "It's hard to think that you and I won't ever sit here again and count another ten little fingers and toes."

Aang could feel his own emotions catching up with him, having been strong that entire morning. Warm tears fell down the length of his pale cheek, on to his wife's tanned arm. This only prompted her to cry more.

She hadn't just failed herself or the baby, but him as well.

"I just need you right now, Aang," The woman expressed, slightly ashamed of how weak the statement had sounded, but not really caring.

Aang gently pried her fingers from the fabric of his robes, holding tightly to her hand with his own tattooed one. Their joined hands squeezed each others'
in a sign of support as Katara looked up at her husband with teary eyes.

She was met by Aang's stormy gaze, the tears still sliding down his face, but a gentle expression on his features. His whispered words were enough to keep her heart from breaking completely.

"I'm here."