A new disease has come around in Republic City. The Avatar, his wife, and the council are left to try interpret what it is, with the help of the Biology and Other Sciences Unit's help ("fanon" association I made up, it kind of plays the roll of the CDC, here in America).
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA (or LoK)
1. The Quarantine
For the first time in a year, Aang and Katara had finally gotten the chance to go on a date. The young couple hadn't left their home together since before their son, Bumi, was born. Every time they planned to go out they were left having to cancel. Either Aang would have emergency meetings or crime to solve, Sokka or Suki would cancel on babysitting due to similar reasons, or Katara would have an emergency call-in for work over at the clinic. The two finally could leave the house and not feel guilty, just relieved.
Aang took her on a formal date to Kuong's Cuisine. It took a short while to get them seated since the restaurant was nearly full. Once they sat down at table near the back of the restaurant, they started off with ordering drinks. They were already given small glasses of water, but they wanted to order something different. Together they decided on a bottle of red wine.
"So have you thought about where you want to go after dinner?" Aang asked.
"Not really," Katara said. "Is there any place that you would like to go to specifically?"
"I'll go where ever you want to go," Aang said with a smile.
Katara sighed, "You're too sweet."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Aang said.
"Sometimes it can be a little... Annoying," Katara admitted.
Aang was puzzled. How was being nice annoying? He thought. He was a bit taken aback. He really didn't want to have an argument on their first night of freedom in a while.
"How is that annoying?" Aang scoffted, shocked, but a faint hint of humor was thrown in.
Katara honestly didn't know how to explain it. When he would be too nice, it just set her over the edge sometimes. Sometimes she wouldn't find it flattering like she usually would.
"I guess sometimes you over-do it." Katara said.
Aang looked up at her, one eyebrow raised, trying to figure her out.
"Ugh, never mind," Katara said, exasperated.
Katara still had an annoyed, ticked-off look on her face that Aang strangely found adorable. He began to laugh. Katara looked up with an accusing glare.
"What's so funny?" She asked, still annoyed.
"You're cute when you're mad," He teased with a smile.
Katara scoffed in disgust, and rolled her eyes, "Stop."
Aang sneaked a kiss on the cheek then quickly scooted back to the spot where he was before. Katara couldn't help the light blush that rushed to her cheeks.
Then, their waiter came over with the wine and two empty glasses. He put them down on the table, then grabbed the wine and poured it into the first glass. He was just about to pour the second glass until he jumped from the sound of a high pitched scream, spilling it all over the white table cloth.
"Oh my goodness!" He shrieked, "I am so sorry. It's just- that noise- it scared me half to death."
"Oh it's no problem!" Aang said, waterbending the wine stain back into liquid form.
The waiter glanced from side to side frantically, "Yeah sorry, we're not allowed to bend in here. Boss is strictly against it for some reason. I wont tell though."
"Your secret is safe with me," Aang said with a chuckle.
Suddenly, half the restaurant was screaming too. Some people were even trying to run out the door, but others were just jumping out of their seats. Katara stood up to see what was happening. There was a circle a people who were screaming and rashly acting out.
"He's coughing up blood!"
"He's foaming from the mouth!"
Katara was already running over to the man. She cleared everyone away, and immediately asking the man, who was just hanging onto his consciousness, questions like "Can you hear me?", "What did you eat?", "Are you staying with me?"
The man stopped twitching, and had lost all consciousness. Katara checked for a pulse, and felt nothing. Then put her ear over his nose, and watched his stomach to see any signs of breathing. Nothing.
"Someone call an ambulance!" A cry from the crowd yelled.
Someone had already called for one, since paramedics came rushing in the second after the person yelled that. They took over and did everything they could to try and revive him. They unfortunately did not succeed. They took the man out on a stretcher and put his body in a body bag. Before they left, one paramedic stopped Katara on her way back to the table.
"Did you come in contact with any of his bodily fluids?" The female paramedic asked.
"No, ma'am," Katara answered, "I just tried to save him before he slipped."
"Thank you, miss," the paramedic said before walking away.
Katara sat back down at her table, sighing with relief. Aang watched her as she chugged down her glass of wine.
"What happened?" Aang asked.
Katara shrugged, "I tried to save a man from death, failed, and I have no idea what caused it to happen."
Aang raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay? You just downed that in like one sip."
"I'm fine," Katara said, "I don't think we should eat here. We should get a health inspector in here for sure, and test all the people in here for anything."
Aang sighed, annoyed, "I'll call Toph."
Katara frowned, "I'm sorry, sweetie."
"For what?" Aang asked. "Once Toph gets here we can go somewhere else."
"Oh, okay," Katara said with a hopeful smile.
"Trust me, I'm not going to let this night; the only night we could get a sitter and have time together, go to waste," Aang said, stealing a passionate kiss on the lips.
Aang put in a request to have a health inspector check out the place as soon as possible. The health inspector would be there in three days, and until then, Toph had Kwong's Cuisine shut down. It only took a short five minutes to explain the situation to Toph, and to figure out a solution it took about another ten. Katara at the time had just stood off to the side, and while she was standing there she pictured the man still laying there at a nearby table. The table was next to a window, and was a couple seats down from the right side of the doors. Katara had her head bowed down and she was staring at her feet, trying to distract herself from the thoughts of the man.
After about 20 minutes, Aang had rejoined her by her side. He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side.
"Everything okay, sweetie?" Aang asked, kissing her on the cheek.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about what happened with that guy," Katara said, "and I've been trying to figure out how this all happened."
Aang pulled her closer into his embrace, where she felt protected and safe. Katara turned around and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tight.
"The coroner is going to examine him, and take him to the morgue. They'll take care of the situation there, and once they find everything out they'll give us the information," Aang said.
Katara rested her head on his shoulder, "You're right."
He kissed her on the top of her head, "So what do you say we finish our date."
"I'll take you up on that, Avatar," Katara said, and together they left the restaurant.
It was a rare morning where Aang had not been called into work. There was surprisingly no new court updates, no new court date for that day, no meeting, etc. Aang could spend a nice morning with his small family and just feel somewhat relaxed. Aang got to serve and feed his two year old son and his wife breakfast for the first time in what seemed like forever. Katara got to sit back and relax while Aang took over the kitchen. Bumi would get a little fussy if he didn't get his parents attention. He'd stand up out of his booster seat and climb into Katara's lap. And of course, Katara would let him. She'd play with him by bouncing him in her lap.
Aang had served them pancakes, and even though he was a vegetarian he served them bacon. He figured since they both loved it, he'd be generous and give them some. As long as he didn't have to eat it he was fine.
He sat down with them and buttered his pancakes before drowning them in syrup. Katara helped Bumi with his plate, then sat him back in his booster seat next to Aang, where he ate them all on his own.
"I'm honestly surprised they haven't called you into work yet," Katara commented.
Aang had a mouthful of pancakes, so all he could do was nod. For some reason, Bumi found this hysterical, and he burst out into a fit of giggles and laughter. Katara and Aang found this to be adorable, even though Bumi had chunks of pancake flying out of his mouth.
"Bumi, finish chewing," Katara said, trying not to be too stern.
Once Bumi got the chance to calm down he obeyed. Aang gently patted his son on the head then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then, there was the familiar ring of the telephone from Aang's office, followed by the Avatar letting out a very annoyed and over exaggerated groan.
"I think I know who's that for," Katara said, with a sigh.
Aang gave her a look of sorrow, and apologized.
"I know, it's not your fault," She said, twirling her fork in the few left over pieces of pancake.
Aang rushed into his office to pick up the phone.
"So now it's just you and me, Bud," Katara said.
"No daddy?" Bumi asked.
"Sorry little man, daddy has to go to work," Katara said.
"Awww," The boy sulked.
"I know," Katara sympathized. "Finish your breakfast and we can go say goodbye to him."
Bumi then scarfed down the remaining chunks of his pancake, and gulped down the milk from his sippy-cup. Katara stared blankly into space, hoping that Aang still had a couple of minutes to finish his food together with them. Then, she couldn't help but think of the future, and how this would affect them when they'd have more kids around the house. She knew it was going to happen, since they'd found out that Bumi was a non-bender when he was born.
"I have to run," Aang said, "it's another death. Same thing happened with the blood and foaming at the mouth."
Katara gasped and put a hand at her mouth to stop her from screaming, "Another one? So is this some sort of contagion?"
"We haven't gotten the autopsy report back yet," Aang said, kissing Katara on the cheek, then the head. He walked over to Bumi and kissed him on the head.
"But they sounded really panicked and annoyed on the phone. I don't know why they want me, but they think since I'm the Avatar I can just solve this with the snap of a finger I guess. If anything, you should be out there instead of me."
Katara kind of shrugged off his snarky comments, "Just- Please stay healthy." She stood up to give him a hug and a kiss on the lips.
Bumi then stood up and leaped into his father's arms.
"Why you have to go?" He asked.
"I'm sorry buddy, it's work." Aang said, hugging him.
"But I don't want you to go," Bumi cried.
"I know kiddo," Aang said. "Trust me, I don't want to go either."
Aang put Bumi down back into his seat. He waved to them, and headed out the door. When Bumi heard the door shut, he immediately burst into tears. Katara did her best to calm him down, but at the same time she just wanted to break down into tears and cry too. Aang was right; why wasn't she out there? After all, she's the best healer in the world.
Two weeks had gone by, and the city had about thirty more cases. Whatever this was, it was highly contagious, and it was spreading fast. The public found out, which only led to panic. The city was in quarantine; no one could get in or out. Shops closed down, most citizens rampaged the market and no one besides the homeless were roaming the streets. Everyone was staying in home, huddled around radios and waiting for important phone calls. Only very few people were still at work.
And Aang happened to be one of those people still at work. The council finally agreed to have Katara in their meetings. Katara would leave Bumi in the hands of the acolytes, and feel terribly guilty. They didn't sign up to babysit when they became acolytes, and she'd spend half the time in the meetings thinking of ways to make it up to them.
She sat beside Aang at the main desk in the court room. There were guards outside the court room doors; but that was just protocol. They had every possible entrance locked up since the meeting was entirely confidential. In the courtroom, sat a representation of each nation. From left to right sat Kaito from the Northern Water tribe, Haruto from the firenation, Ela from the Earth Kingdom, Sokka, Aang, then Katara.
"We've been in touch with the Biology and Other Sciences Unit. They've been working hard to find a cure for this disease. They also found a name for this, and so refer to it as I-16. I'm not sure what the name means, but we're waiting to release a name to the public," Sokka announced.
"So this means the medical assistants around the city can't necessarily "heal" the patients until we get a vaccine or cure?" Katara asked.
"Sadly... Yes," Sokka responded. "But the scientists get closer and closer to figuring out what exactly this disease is, and whether or not it's curable."
Everyone in the room fell silent, and exchanged glances at each other.
"So any further questions?" Sokka asked.
The silence in the room answered that question.
"How would you all like it if I treated you to some noodles at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery?" Sokka suggested.
The small group of people perked up and all nodded their head excitedly. Haruto, the firenation representative, however stood up and told Sokka that he had to go home to his wife and daughter. Sokka understood, and told him it was okay and to stay healthy.
When they arrived at the small restaurant, they were surprised to see no one else there. Despite the size of the place, it was very popular, and very successful financially. There were only two workers there, making Katara feel guilty about walking in with a group of people. But she couldn't help but smile as she observed the walls of the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant was heavily decorated with authentic Water Tribe relics, art, and tapestry, though it maintained some modern touches alongside some traditional ones.
The group of council members and Katara gathered along the counters to order. Aang, realized that the only thing he could order was seaweed noodles, due to him being a vegetarian. He ordered it with a small cup of water and waited for the rest of them to order. He cringed when he saw Katara come back with a bowl of seaprune stew. Katara laughed at his reaction, shrugged it off, and together they found a near by table for the five of them.
When everyone came back, instead of talking about the contagion and possibly being overheard by the two workers, they decided to just talk about some of their personal lives. Katara just talked a little about Bumi, and then about how annoying the press was towards him. Aang added that most of the times he'd have to storm into the editor's office himself and demand them to not be such a bother to him and his family. The other council members found that to be quite amusing, since they receive the same kind of attitude from the papers and other press related stuff also.
"It's not as bad for me as it is for my daughter," Ela, the Earth Kingdom representative shared.
"Eek," Katara winced. "That's right cause she's a probender, right?"
Ela nodded, "Yep. I feel so bad for her all the time. She's only six-teen, she shouldn't have to deal with it. It's bad enough that all of us here have to deal with it."
The group nodded in agreement.
"And she's our only daughter, too."
"It's so bad when I'm actually here in the city," Kaito then shared his story. "I'm usually back home up in the northern tribe with my family. But when I'm here on emergency meetings and such, it's a pain."
"Oh I was wondering which tribe you were from!" Katara said, "I always love it when we visit. I'll never forget how amazing it was when we first visited."
"I return every other week and each time I return I feel like the place just gets bigger and bigger," Kaito said with a laugh.
The group shared a round of laughter. Then Aang added, "That's what I thought the last time I was there, a couple of years ago."
They continued to laugh, but it was more soft. Eventually, the laughter died down, and it was silence while everyone finished their food.
Ela was just about to share a new story, when she was interrupted by rounds of screams coming from the kitchen, followed by the sounds of pants and stirring instruments hitting the floor. The group shot up from their seats and rushed over to the counter to see if everything was okay.
"Is everything all right?" Aang called from behind the counter. The kitchen doors were shut, and both employees were in there. Then, the one female employee came running out, flailing her arms.
"He just collapsed!" She cried, "I don't know what happened! He coughed, there was blood, and then he just fell over!"
A paralyzing chill ran down Katara's spine, and she was sure the rest of the group was feeling the same burdening, terrifying, feeling, or at least something similar. Behind Katara and Aang, the council members exchanged the same panicked, and worried looks, as they all knew exactly what was going on. And each of their stomachs churned, thinking about how someone who was infected, and had just died, served each of them their food, that each and everyone had just finished.
I hoped you liked this! I really like sci-fi related topics with virusy type of scenarios, and figured it'd be really fun to write one! The information on Narooks Seaweed Noodlery came straight from avatar wikia, and I just spun around the information, changing it around into my own words. This fic definitely be one of my main focuses until further notice! Please review, telling me what you thought.
Any suggestions for a one shot? Shoot me a private message letting me know.
