Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA.

Chapter 2

"So… Does that mean we can't spar?"

Everyone turned to Toph, oddly shocked by her response. Though, their shock was erased when they saw she had a wide smirk on her face. Then the entire group broke into laughter. Sokka stood and gave Katara a huge hug, then shook Aang's hand. Suki kissed Katara on the cheek and smiled widely, telling her that having a baby is one of the best things in the world. Toph punched Aang in the arm and nudged Katara in the shoulder, trying to be gentle for the mother-to-be.

But Zuko stayed sitting, staring up at his friends. He didn't know what to feel at the moment. Shocked? Yes. Scared? Yes. Worried? Most definitely. This couldn't be happening. She was pregnant... Katara, the woman he slept with two months ago, was pregnant. Could that mean-

"Zuko!"

He snapped out of his train of thought when Aang approached him. He stood and clapped the airbender on the back, giving him a hallow congratulations. He saw Katara break away from Sokka and Suki and walk towards them. Aang turned around and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as he gave his wife a huge kiss on her temple.

"I hope it's an airbender," he beamed, smiling wider than the Fire Lord had ever seen.

"You'll hope all of them are airbenders, Aang," Katara replied sarcastically. Zuko stared at the two with a soft smile, though it was almost forced. Katara noticed his silence and kicked him in the shin softly. "You thinking about her?"

He caught the knowing look in her eyes, seeing she wasn't quite talking about his wife back in the Fire Nation, and nodded. He had to play along for Aang's sake. So he plastered the most sincere smile he could muster and said, "It's a magical thing, guys. Truly, I'm happy for you."

Katara smiled sadly and Aang continued to grin brightly. The Avatar was about to say something, but turned around when Toph called his name. He gave Katara a quick peck before bounding over to his friend, hugging her when he arrived at her side. Katara looked up at Zuko and smiled sadly again, but he just stared at her with blank eyes, his thoughts taking over.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

He kept staring at her, but nodded stiffly. Together, they headed out of the mess hall and walked across the compound to the rocky harbor facing the city. They were silent for the entirety of their walk, but as they reached the shore, Zuko felt like he was going to explode.

"Is it mine?"

"What?"

He turned and faced her, agony present in his features as he stared down his love. He couldn't take it. He knew the math. It was very plausible that the fetus she was carrying had his blood, not Aang's. She turned away and stared back at the ocean, taking a deep breath as she contemplated her answer.

"I don't know," she whispered, hugging herself.

"How can you not know?"

She shook her head, tears starting to appear in her eyes. "Aang and I hadn't slept together in a long time... And when I came to visit you, it had been months-"

"So you only came to me because you were horny?"

Katara faced him again, the tears falling as she cried, "No! No, I did it because I wanted to. And I had wanted to for a long time. It's just-"

"We went down different paths and never got the chance. I get it," Zuko turned his gaze back to the ocean and the bustling city across the harbor. "What I don't get is how you don't know if it's mine. You and Aang hadn't slept together in so long, it has to be my baby."

There was silence. He glanced back to her out of the corner of his eye and saw she was chewing her bottom lip. She wasn't looking up at him, just moving her eyes anywhere but his own.

"You slept with him afterwards."

It wasn't a question. He stated it outright, seeing it written all over her features before she could even confirm or deny. Just another perk of being her best friend. She nodded slowly and tears came out of her eyes as she whispered, "I felt so guilty…"-Zuko scoffed and turned away-"No! Really I did!"

"Right. I was just a tool for you, is that it?" he faced her and saw the sorrow and guilt she had been feeling. He knew he should have been feeling the same, but when he thought back to laying with her and that night, he felt no regret whatsoever. Instead, he felt the shame of knowing she had felt the regret and it killed him inside.

"Aang doesn't deserve someone like me," she whispered. "I'm a horrible wife for him. We only slept together once since I came to you and it was right when I got back to Air Temple Island. The only way we'll know who the father is when it's born. Actually, probably not until it bends…"

Zuko stared at her for a few moments then turned back to the sea, whispering, "And if its mine?"

Katara shrugged and another sob escaped her throat. The Fire Lord turned back to her, forgetting any of the spite that had boiled his blood and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, letting her bury her face in his chest. They were friends, no longer lovers, and right now she needed him as a friend. She sobbed quietly for a few minutes, soaking through his shirts and wetting his skin with hot tears. When she quieted down, she didn't move away. Instead she took a deep breath and nuzzled her face closer to his body, causing a shiver to run down his spine and his heart to beat faster. He hated this.

"I'm so sorry."

He shook his head and rested his chin on the crown of hers. "No need to be sorry. I'm here to comfort you. As a friend. And if anyone sees us, we'll just say that you were having baby jitters and were asking me about mine."

She nodded and laughed a little bit, "Baby jitters?"

"Hey, I still get them."

She squeezed his middle and sighed heavily, "You don't have to help me."

"I want to."

Katara pulled away and looked up into his eyes, the pain still evident on her face. "No you don't. For all we know, I could be carrying your baby. A testament of my infidelity. What will I do if Aang finds out?"

Zuko shook his head and pulled her back into a hug. "That doesn't matter right now. Whoever the father is, this baby will be loved more than any baby on the planet. I promise you."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do. I mean, no matter what it will have a wonderful mother and a father that will love it unconditionally."

She smiled and pulled away, keeping her head down as she wiped her tears away with the inside of her wrist. "You're too good for me, too."

He leaned down and looked in her eyes, speaking softly, "You are more worthy than any love I can give. Same goes for Aang. You may have been adulterous, but so was I. In all honesty, if Aang was giving you the love you deserved, you wouldn't have come to me."

"I would have anyway," she mumbled.

He smirked and stood up straighter. "What was that?"

She looked up at him and smiled bashfully."I was planning on visiting you for months. I didn't want to be fighting anymore. Iroh writing me and saying you were having a tough time was just my opportunity to leave."

"What exactly did Uncle tell you?"

She shrugged. "He said you were stressing out about a lot of things, me being one of those things. And he suggested that I go and have a talk with you so you didn't get in over your head. He felt that I'm the only one who can talk sense into you."

"How well that old man knows me scares me sometimes…"

Katara laughed and he joined in with her, feeling all of the dread momentarily wash away. Zuko gave her a quick hug and pecked her on the crown of her head, murmuring, "Don't worry about this. We'll figure out what to do when the time comes."

She nodded and they turned around and headed back towards the temple, her arm looped with his. Toph greeted them at the door, arms crossed and a mischievous grin plastered on her face.

"I told Twinkle Toes back there that Katara was asking you for some advice. I hope I was right in the matter," she winked at the duo. Zuko rolled his eyes and Katara blushed furiously as she pulled her arm away and passed the earthbender, bidding a tight-lipped farewell to her friends. Zuko watched as she headed towards their others, who had now taken up drinking some celebratory wine. Toph turned to him and smirked widely. "So what did she say? Is it yours?"

Zuko's good eye went wide and his mouth gaped open. He somehow couldn't form any other words except sputtering out, "TOPH!"

She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and punched his right bicep. "I think she's yours."

"She?"

"Yeah it's a girl."

"How do you- Never mind," He stared down at the Chief and smiled widely, but then turned it quickly to a frown, "We won't know whose it is until the baby is born. And if not then, until she bends."

"What if she looks exactly like Katara and is a waterbender? What will you do then?"

He shrugged and headed towards the inside of the building, mumbling mainly to himself, "We won't ever know, then."

That night, Zuko was tossing and turning in his bed, his thoughts jumping from Katara's baby and the baby about to be brought into the world back in the Fire Nation. Fire Lady Mizzou would be devastated if she knew of his unfaithfulness. But for some reason, he didn't care. A bitter thought entered his mind and he felt like shoving it away deep in the corners of his subconscious, never to be found again.

She produced you an heir. She did her job. You can sleep with other people, hell Ozai had a harem even when mom was around. What makes you think you can't, too? You're the Fire Lord.

He shook his head and rolled over, just to find himself staring into the blank eyes of Toph.

"Stop tossing and turning or I will pummel you."

"How did you get in my room without me hearing you?"

She scoffed and sat back in her seat. "Your senses are getting dull. You'd think that after all of those assassination attempts after the war you would be more keen to people sneaking in your room."

"The last time someone tried to assassinate me was ten years ago, Toph," he replied as he rubbed his eyes.

"Doesn't mean someone won't try again," she smirked. "You're losing your edge, Fire Lord. What's on your mind?"

He sat up and shook his head as he stared in his lap. With a big sigh, he looked at the woman he began to call his sister and spilled out, "What if the baby is mine and Aang finds out? Everything he and I worked for in the past fourteen years will crumble. I don't want the peace we worked so hard for to be shredded because we're fighting over a woman."

"You're not technically fighting over her, Zuko," Toph reasoned as she crossed her arms and legs. "She chose him, but decided to sleep with you and stay with him. Yes, being pregnant changes a lot of things, but she is going to stay with him no matter what. And if that baby is yours, I feel like Aang will figure out a way to peacefully settle this all."

"How so?"

"He probably will hate you for the rest of your days, but he will love that child just because it came from Katara and is a part of her. Because he loves her so much that he would do anything to be with her… Even if the girl he's in love with is the one who busted him out of the iceberg. Not the one he married."

"What are you saying, Toph?"

She shrugged and leaned forward, resting her forearms on her knees. "I'm saying that Aang loves Katara for who she was when he met her, not who she has grown to be and chooses to ignore those changes. He will do whatever it takes to be with her. And Katara chose Aang because she felt that was what she was supposed to do. She doesn't love him. She loves you. And frankly it bugs me that you two have been dancing around the subject since the comet passed. But she will stay with him unless he makes her leave. Which is unlikely."

Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you're saying no matter what, everyone will be hurt in the end?"

"Not no matter what. If the baby is Aang's, you'll be the only one hurt because I know you're secretly hoping it's yours just so you can know that what you feel for Katara has at least some type of reward. If the baby is yours, Aang will be hurt. Katara maybe, too, but that depends on how Aang takes it."

"What if we never find out who the father is?"

"Then this will be just a little hiccup in the road of life," Toph stood and brushed some dirt off of her night gown. "You won't ever end up with Katara in the end, just because of how the world is and how the people see it. You're both married. And unless your spouse's die, you probably won't ever get to be that happy couple you could have been if either of you made a move at the right time."

She turned and left his room, but lingered in the doorway, "I could probably tell you who the father is once the baby is born judging on the heartbeat and their body structure. But unless you really want to know and take action if it's yours, I'm not telling."

tbc