WOOOOH! Finally finished. My obsession with Avatar can now die happily.

Anyways, I wrote this story pretty quickly, considering how much of a huge procrastinator I am. I know, I know, it's not too long, but come on. Give it a chance.

hope you like it

THIS STORY IS RATED T FOR BRIEF COARSE LANGUAGE AND HEAVY SUGGESTIVE THEMES

Chapter One

"…but there's a dispute between the Suma and Gen-she clans on the southern side, they both claim that the other is infringing on their property, we've got a few people on it, but it seems as if they both have a right to the land, we haven't been able to-"

The door opened and Zuko looked up. Sokka strode right in and Aang paused by the door and bowed once. "Sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt; we were just wondering if-"

"Come on your Fire Lord-iness, we're throwing you a party," said Sokka, pulling Zuko up from his seat.

"You can't just march in here and disrupt an important meeting to take the Fire Lord to a party," protested one of the men at the tables.

"Yeah, your Fire Lord's first kid is being born in a month," replied Sokka sharply. "Cut him some slack."

Sokka pulled Zuko out of the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Zuko, finally remembering how to speak. "I was in a meeting!"

"No really," said Sokka sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You're wound too tightly, Zuko, if you keep it up like that, you're gonna crack, and BAM, you kill yourself."

Zuko stopped walking and looked at Sokka.

"It's a possibility!"

"This was Katara's idea," said Aang. "She said we should throw a party for you, seeing as a baby is probably going to make it hard to have much fun."

"Who did you invite?"

"Everyone," said Sokka. "And hurry up!"

"Everyone? What do you mean everyone?"

"I mean freakin' everyone, so come on."

When they arrived, there were already a horde of people there. "Oh no!" said Aang, rushing in. "That's an antique! Don't touch that!"

He dived for something someone had pushed off his mantel. He managed to get it just before it hit the floor. He sighed in relief.

"Holy flubbernuckles, I can't believe I even know him," said Sokka, staring at Aang.

Zuko glanced at him.

"Flubbernuckles?"

"Old expressions die hard."

Zuko laughed.

"Well go on," said Sokka, pushing Zuko forward. "This is your party!"

"I don't like parties."

"You don't like anything, Zuko." Sokka grabbed a drink and thrust it into Zuko's hand. "This is your one last night of freedom!" he said. "Take advantage of it!"

Zuko made a face. "I'd rather not."

Sokka let out a sigh of frustration. "You are maddening, I hope you know that."

"You have told me many times."

Aang shouted and dived for another antique.

Sokka rubbed his temples. This was going to be hard.

Meanwhile, Katara, Toph and Suki were laughing as Mai and Ty Lee told a story. "But it turned out he didn't even care about the salamanders, he was just sick of hearing those munchkins babbling on and on!"

Once their laughter died down, Katara said, "I think it's time for a toast!"

They raised their glasses.

"A toast to welcome the new baby princess! Or prince, of course."

The girls laughed and downed their drink.

Ty Lee laughed. "Wow, I'm so happy for you Mai! This is so amazing!"

"Ty Lee," said Toph. "Didn't I tell you that that was creepy?"

"Sorry."

Suki laughed. "You should have babies more often, Mai, we need to do this more."

"I know, we do. I'll talk to Zuko about that."

Toph snorted, and her drink flew out of her nose.

The girls fell off their chairs in laughter.

That night, after her friends had gone home, Mai was almost asleep, when she heard the door open. She got out of bed and went into the main room, where Zuko was just closing the door, rubbing his head.

"How was your night?" she asked him, sliding her arms around his waist. He smiled and hooked his arms around her waist.

"Exciting. Sokka really knows how to throw a party."

Mai laughed softly. "I'm glad you had fun. And they got you back before three o'clock, I'm impressed."

"Sokka was all for keeping me until dawn. Aang made everyone leave after he found out they broke one of his air temple vases."

"Sounds like fun."

"How about you? Do anything interesting?"

She shrugged. "Not much."

He smiled at her and touched her forehead with his. He took one of her hands in his and placed it gingerly on her incredibly swollen belly.

"I can't wait," he whispered.

She smiled. "Neither can I."

"I think we're supposed to pick a name before it's born, though."

She laughed. "Oh, we have a girl's name, don't we? And I'm sure we can just flip a coin if it's a boy."

Zuko kissed her forehead. "I love you, Mai."

"I love you too, Zuko. Now come on, let's go to bed. I was supposed to be asleep hours ago."

He smiled and kissed her, on the lips this time.

The next evening, when the sun was sinking behind the edge of the horizon, a guard visited a small cell in the most heavily-guarded section of the prison with a dinner of bread and water.

He unlocked the first door, then slid the tray under the second door.

"Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Mai announced their pact with the Water Tribes today."

"I heard. What a pity."

The guard paused, glanced behind him, then muttered, "There are still many who are loyal to only you. If your brother and his wife die in an unfortunate accident without any surviving children, you have a strong claim to the throne."

Silence. Then, "Are you suggesting the murder of my own brother?"

The guard froze. "…yes…"

She laughed. "I like it. That would be very unfortunate, wouldn't it?"

The guard took a deep breath of relief. "Yes, it would be."

"Hmm," said Azula. "Let me think about it."

The guard nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow morning."

She heard the door slam behind him.

"You wouldn't do that to him."

"Shut up," she whispered, lying down. Her mother's face flickered in front of her.

"He's your brother. You love him, don't you remember?"

"He betrayed me. He betrayed father, he betrayed our whole nation."

"You betrayed me."

"Oh, don't go there Mother, I won that argument weeks ago."

"I'm not arguing with you, Azula."

"Actually, yes, you are," muttered Azula. "Now shut up, I'm trying to go to sleep."

"Oh," whispered the apparition of Ursa that Azula's mind had conjured up, stroking Azula's hair softly. "My poor baby."

The weekend after that, Zuko went to talk to his sister. For some reason, he couldn't stop himself from returning to her, however much he hated her…

"Guess what, Azula?" he asked softly, when he got to her cell.

"Let me see…," she said dryly. "You're going to be a daddy, aren't you? And the child could be born on my own birthday. Congratulations. I heard it days ago."

"You did?" asked Zuko. "Who told you?"

"Mother. She hasn't left me alone for one straight year."

Zuko paused, then said, "You're insane."

"And you are still hard to look at. I would have thought that scar would have faded a little, don't you think?"

He sighed.

"I wish I didn't have to lock you up, Azula. You could have been so much more."

He turned and left.

"I could have!" she called. "I could have had everything, Zuko! But you stopped me! I COULD HAVE BEEN EVERYTHING!"

She shut her mouth, listening for her brother.

"He left."

"Shut up Mother."

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Ignoring his ill-disguised laughter, Aang explained his situation to Sokka.

"…I know you and Suki didn't really care about that-"

"Hey, we cared. I mean, we waited until we were at least nineteen. I think. Maybe it was eighteen. Wait, you're eighteen, right? Yeah, I think it was eighteen. I don't think it was seventeen. Oh, no, I think it was."

Aang sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, anyway, Suki would remember. Aang, seriously, if she's got you all worried about it, just freakin' marry her already. You know you're meant to be together. I mean, we knew that since you were twelve. Why wait any longer?"

Aang nodded thoughtfully.

"I don't know. It's just – the monks always said-"

"Screw the monks, Aang. Or, haha, don't screw the monks, screw Katara. That's what she wants, isn't it?"

Aang made a face at Sokka. "I'm trying to be serious here, Sokka."

"I am serious. I give you my full blessing. Whether you choose to just cave and sleep with her, or finally ask her to marry you, it's completely cool with me."

Zuko opened the door. "Have you seen Mai?"

"Yeah, she went out with the other girls to look for baby stuff. Suki said they'd be back in a few hours."

"Zuko, could I ask you something?" asked Aang.

"Yeah, anything," said Zuko, sitting down with the two others.

"Well…"

Aang paused and Sokka filled in the blanks for him.

"Katara wants to get Aang to sleep with her, but unfortunately Aang's moral compass is telling him not to." Zuko took some fireflakes out of Sokka's hands.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Zuko, as Sokka grabbed the fireflakes back. "I mean, if I were in your position, I would so do it, but you know, I'm not."

"You would sleep with my sister?"

"Oh, no, not anymore. I liked her for awhile way back before I was crowned," said Zuko. "But then I got back together with Mai, and everything was right with the world."

Sokka laughed. "So how old were you when you gave up on your vow of chastity?"

"I never took a vow of chastity."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Oh. I can never tell with you. Well, I was sixteen. I remember it very clearly."

"Spare us the details."

"It was very hot."

"Oh, dang, I didn't need to know that."

Zuko smiled.

Sokka was rubbing his eyes.

"Oh great, thanks Zuko, now I have that image permanently stuck on the back of my eyelids."

"It's hot, isn't it?"

"You're not helping!" said Aang.

Zuko laughed.

"Aang, you're ready when you're ready. Katara is a very understanding person. If you just talked to her, I'm sure she would agree that it's best to keep you in your comfort zone, and if you don't want to take the next step in your relationship, I bet she'd be fine with that."

"I wish it were that simple. I mean, we're so young…"

"If it helps, you're actually one hundred and eighteen years old."

Aang smiled. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?"

"Ew, no, that's sick. You can't be one hundred and eighteen years old and dating my sister. That's disgusting."

Aang let out a sigh of frustration and covered his face with his hands.

After a moment of silence, Sokka asked, "Wait, Zuko, you were sixteen? Was it before or after you joined our group?"

Zuko grinned at him. "Before."

"No way! You weren't a virgin when you joined our group?" Zuko shook his head. "I so would have never let you join if I had known!" Sokka sighed. "That is so gay."

"You're gay."

"Your mom is gay."

Zuko looked at him.

"Oh, yeah, that's probably not funny to you."

"No. It's not."

"Speaking of mothers, how's Mai doing?" asked Aang.

Zuko shrugged. "She's excited, I guess. I mean, it's a little hard to tell with her, but it seems like she's really happy. She's using being pregnant as her excuse for everything, though. Which, of course, is justified but…annoying."

Sokka laughed at him.

"That is the reason you use protection."

Zuko threw a fireflake at him.

"I'm happy too, okay? Just as long as it's not a boy."

"What, you don't want a son?"

"Well, seeing the trend of fathers and sons of my family, I'd say that if I had a son, I'd for some inexplicable reason scar him, or order him to kill his firstborn. Something like that."

"You could break that trend!" offered Aang. "It can't be that hard too be nice to your son, can it?"

"Haha, wait, I could so totally see you doing that, Zuko. Poor kid."

Zuko glared at Sokka.

"Oh come on. You stopped a war, the whole world loves you-"

"-and I put my father in prison."

Sokka paused.

"Okay, that's a good point. But what if your daughter is like Azula?"

"I don't even want to think about that."

There was a knock, then someone opened the door and poked their head in. "Hi boys," said Katara. "Sokka, Suki wants to see you in the courtyard." Sokka nodded and stood up.

"Later," he said and he left.

"Katara," said Aang, seeing his chance and seizing it. "Can I talk to you?" She smiled at him.

"Sure."

He left with her.

"Okay," called Zuko after they closed the door. "You can just leave me. That's fine. I don't mind."

The door slid open again and Mai stepped in.

"Hey, Mr. Fire Lord."

"Hello, Mrs. Fire Lord," answered Zuko with a smile. She almost laughed. "Did you have fun with your friends?"

"Yes," said Mai, slowly lumbering down and snuggling into his chest. "But I would have much rather been with you." Zuko put her arms around her.

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" asked Zuko.

Mai looked up at him, smiled, then shrugged. "I don't mind. I will love the baby either way, and I know you will too, even if you're convinced that having a baby boy would suck."

Zuko laughed softly. "How did you know?"

"Because I was worried too for a while. You never really had a decent father-"

"Hey. He was decent until about the time I turned ten."

"He was never decent."

Zuko looked into her eyes.

"Okay, you're right. Continue."

"Anyway, I was worried, because you really have no idea how to treat a child, and you used to be so nasty, Zuko, always so angry."

"I wonder why that was."

She smiled.

"Whatever…but Zuko, I know you'll be a great father."

"How?"

"Because…you're a great friend. You're a great husband, and you were a fantastic boyfriend-"

"Except for that time I broke up with you."

"-except for that time you broke up with me. But that was to protect me, and, once I had resented you long enough to get over it, I realized how sweet it was."

She squeezed him once.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Thanks, Mai."

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"I don't know, Katara. Wouldn't it just be easier to not?"

"It would be easier just to break up, but I don't think you want to do that either."

"You're not listening to me! You never listen to me, Katara! I am saying that I don't want to sleep with you, I'm not ready to take another step in our relationship!"

"And you're not listening to me!"

"Don't make this about you!"

"Oh, I forgot, it's about you, it's always about you!"

"That's not what I meant! Please!" Aang took Katara's hands. "I love you, Katara. But I'm just not ready for this. We're too young."

"What could convince you, Aang? I love you; is there anything else I can say?"

"You could tell me you understand! You could actually understand!"

"Will you just marry me already, Aang!"

Aang, about to retort, stopped and stared at her.

"You know we were meant to be together! It's meant to happen, what is the point of even waiting?"

Aang said nothing.

Then, "We should see other people."

"What?"

"It's not that I love you, and it's not that I don't want to be with you, Katara, it's just that I think we should take a little break from each other. Just to make sure there isn't someone else out there."

"Oh, no way. I can't believe you're saying that, Aang."

"It's just a suggestion. I'm not saying you have to."

"And I'm not saying you have to sleep with me."

"So what's the problem with me refusing?"

"There is no problem, Aang! You created the problem! You always do that! Everything will be going fine, and you'll find something, you always find something!"

"See, this is exactly why we should see other people. So I don't have to deal with you when you insist on being like this."

"When I insist on being like this? Well let me tell you – you know what, fine, let's see other people. We are officially broken up."

She stalked away.

"What?" he called. "I didn't say we were breaking up! Katara! Wait!"

He ran after her.

Sokka sighed and shook his head when they ran past him and Suki. "Poor guy. He has no idea what he's doing."

Suki laughed and kissed Sokka on his neck. "They'll figure it out. Let's go find somewhere dark and cramped."

"What are you suggesting, Suki?"

"I wasn't suggesting anything. Just mentioned my sudden lust for somewhere dark and cramped."

"Whatever. Let's go."

He took her hand and pulled her away.

At that moment, Zuko and Mai were back in their quarters, and Zuko was laying his head in Mai's lap, and she was stroking his hair affectionately in the silence.

There was a knock on the door – Zuko shot up and called, "Yes?"

"Fire Lord Zuko," said a man, peeking around the door. "There is a visitor who wishes to see you."

Zuko, who hoped it was someone unimportant so he could spend more time with wife, asked, "Who is it?"

"Well," said the man nervously. "She claims to be…your mother."

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"I don't believe it."

"Then why are you going?"

Zuko stopped and looked back at Mai, who was at the door.

"You have to come too," he took her hand. She smiled and followed him.

He was nervous. He was so nervous, and he had no idea why. It was his mother. But how could it be his mother? One hundred thousand of his mothers had come to the palace when he first sent out the news, and the reward. None of them could answer his question. It had been more than five years since then. How was he supposed to believe it this time?

Zuko entered his throne room first, and Mai sat next to him, holding his hand. The door opened and a woman stepped in. She must have been pushing fifty; she walked with slow but dignified grace.

Mai glanced at Zuko. As far as she could tell, this woman looked more like his mother than any of the others.

She strode to the throne, then dropped to a kneel.

"Zuko," she whispered.

Zuko stood up.

"Mother?"

The woman looked up. Mai saw she had tears in her eyes.

"It has been too long, son."

Zuko twitched slightly towards his mother, and Mai could see how badly he wanted to go to her.

But he stopped himself.

"The last woman who claimed to be my mother came here more than four years ago," he said softly. "Why have you waited so long?"

"I was far away. I didn't get the message until only a few months ago. I have been journeying here ever since."

Mai wondered where she had been. Zuko said, "Fine. Then answer me this." Mai knew what was coming. He had shared the answer with Mai, and Mai alone, because if anyone else knew, they could use the knowledge, and…

"The last night I saw you," began Zuko. "What did you tell me?"

The woman looked at him.

"I told you…I told you to never forget who you were, no matter what ever happened."

Mai stared at the woman.

She was right.

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Mehehehe! Cliffhanger!

Ah, not really. Just clicky clicky onto the next chapter. But first, why don't you leave a review about your first impression? Advanced critique desired, but even if there is nothing to critique, I'd like to hear from you anyway. :)

~DragonWriter444