A/N: The second prompt was "Beginnings." For this prompt, I really wanted to focus on Katara and Toph's friendship, which developed nicely throughout the series. Thanks for reading and please review!

At least once every other month, Aang and Katara invited Sokka and Toph to dinner on Air Temple Island for a reunion of Team Avatar. Zuko also had a standing invitation, but Firelord duties almost always prevented his attendance. In fact, it was often a miracle that they had the dinner at all, what with juggling Katara's clinic rounds, Aang and Sokka's meetings, and Toph's police responsibilities. However, as Katara entered her seventh month of pregnancy, she was pulling back on the amount of time she spent at the clinic, which helped with the scheduling.

Katara chopped up the celery as Toph settled herself at the table. Aang had just returned from dropping Bumi and Kya off with the air acolytes, and he lit the stove with a burst of flame from his fingers.

"Kanto couldn't join us?" Katara asked over her shoulder.

Toph put her hands behind her head and tilted the chair back until it balanced on its back legs. "Nah. He had too much going on."

Katara tilted her head at her brusque tone, but she knew better than to question it with Toph. Distractingly, Aang wrapped his arm around Katara's waist. "Need any help, sweetie?" he asked.

She grinned wickedly at him. "You know, there is something the stew is missing . . . maybe you could fetch some sea prunes from the pantry for me, sweetie."

Aang's face blanched, but then he plastered a huge smile on his face. "Of course! Anything for you, sweetie."

"Would you guys knock it off?" Toph snipped. "We all know Twinkletoes isn't going to eat sea prunes." Aang groaned at the nickname, but Toph continued on, "And I can only handle so many oogies without Sokka here to help stave off insanity. When's he getting here anyway?"

Katara glanced at the clock on the wall as she dumped the celery and carrots into the stew. "He should be here any—"

The door banged open. "Let's eat!" Sokka crowed, barreling into the room.

Katara rolled her eyes, but she wiped her hands on a towel and turned to greet her brother. He moved to wrap her in a bear hug but was blocked by her stomach, so he leaned up on his tiptoes and hugged her around her shoulders. As he withdrew, he patted her stomach companionably. "How's it going in there, little guy? You're starting to make your mom awfully fat!"

Sokka yelped as a snowball smacked him in the face. He wiped the snow away and saw Aang and Katara laughing at him. Even Toph smiled from her place at the table.

"All right, all right, you're not fat. So are we going to eat or not? I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Toph quipped.

Katara returned to the kitchen, brought out a salad, and placed it in front of her brother. "The stew needs a little longer, but you can have this so you don't collapse. Aang, could you help me with the rest of the salad and the bread?"

Toph jumped up. "I'll help."

Katara paused a moment and then smiled. "Thanks, Toph."

Toph found the salad bowels easily enough. She held two in her hands, but she lingered in the kitchen as Katara sliced the bread.

"So . . ." the metalbender started. "How's the pregnancy, Katara?"

"It's all right. It's annoying that I can't bend over anymore, but this baby is much calmer than either Bumi or Kya, which is a relief," she laughed.

The knife sawed through the bread, and Toph still lingered. They could hear Sokka telling a story about one of the councilmen, and Aang started laughing.

"You're still working at the clinic, right?"

"Yes. One or two days a week."

"Could I come see you?"

Katara glanced up at her friend. Toph's dark bangs hung heavily over her eyes. She still wore her police uniform, and the metal shone in the light, impenetrable and strong. Katara put the knife down and started arranging the slices in a bread basket.

"Are you not feeling well, Toph?"

She turned her head and shrugged. "Just . . . it's been awhile since I've had anything checked out, you know?"

Katara bit her lip to keep from commenting. Whatever it was, she would find out soon enough. "I'll be there on Thursday."

Toph gave her a sharp nod, then turned abruptly and took the salads out to the table. Katara soon followed with the bread and stew. The four friends talked merrily after that, but Katara couldn't shake the memory of the strange conversation, and her eyes kept flicking to Toph. When Toph and Sokka left after dinner, Toph punched her arm and Sokka hugged her warmly, but Katara felt cold the rest of the night.

Thursday couldn't come fast enough as far as Katara was concerned. When it did come, she was grateful for her other patients. Focusing on their concerns helped divert her anxiety. A woman who had twisted her ankle and had significant swelling, a young boy who had scalded his hand on the stove, a woman with migraine headaches. She eagerly wrapped the water around her hands and felt the energy pulsing through her fingers, transferring the warmth to the areas of pain. However, Katara kept glancing at the clock, urging time to move faster so she could see to her friend. Of course, Toph was her last appointment of the day.

When her second to last patient left, she checked the waiting room but found it empty. Katara returned to her desk and tapped her foot. She picked up a pen and tried to start another article condemning bloodbending. She put the pen down, tapped her foot some more. Eventually, she huffed, stood, then wrapped an arm around her pregnant belly and waddled to the bathroom.

Katara just eased herself back into her chair when a nurse knocked on the doorframe. "Katara, your last patient arrived. I showed her to the room."

"Thank you."

Katara moved as quickly as she could to the room down the hall. She knocked, then entered. Toph sat on a chair near the pool of water with her hands clasped in her lap. Her metal uniform gleamed in the light, and her hair was a little mussed. She turned at the sound of the door opening.

"Hey there, Sugar Queen."

Katara smiled and sat in the other chair. "Hey, Toph. How was your day?"

The police chief chuckled and reached a hand to smooth her hair. "Ah, you know. Chasing bad guys, snatching them from rooftops with metal cables, the usual."

"Sounds like quite a day."

"Run of the mill on the beat, sweetness."

Katara couldn't hold her curiosity back anymore. "Why'd you make this appointment, Toph? Are you sick?"

Toph looked away. "Not . . . sick, no. Could you just check me out? With your waterbending, or however you do it?"

Katara resisted the urge to grab her friend's hand and ask for her confidence. Apparently Toph wanted to do this a specific way, and Katara knew she wouldn't win against Toph's stubbornness.

"If you'll lie in the pool, I can examine you. Take your armor off, but you can keep your underclothes on. I'll bend you dry afterwards."

Toph stood, crouched, and swung her arms forward in a powerful bending motion. The metal armor detached itself from her and clattered to the floor. Katara blinked in surprise. Underneath the armor, Toph wore a simple white tunic and loose green pants, but Katara could not remember the last time she saw Toph without the metal uniform. Katara was shocked at how small and fragile her friend looked.

Toph treaded carefully to the edge of the pool and hesitated before stepping into the water. As she sloshed down the steps, she shivered. "Ugh. Everything's blurry now."

Katara couldn't help but laugh.

Once Toph settled in the pool, Katara swirled the water around her. She concentrated on the ebb and flow, the soft support of the eddies, the way it caressed Toph's form. She felt its strength and power, and she drew that power into her hands. The soft blue glow lit the room.

Katara moved her hands slowly over her, starting at her head. She sensed Toph tense. Stressed, guarded thoughts. Knots in her neck and shoulders. Katara tried to smooth out the muscles. Normal heart, normal lungs. Stomach and intestines normal.

When Katara moved to the top of Toph's legs, she sensed it. Something different. A fluttering. Katara was reminded of Aang's descriptions of the Spirit World – a swirling dream-world that pulsed with its own energy and mystery.

She suddenly realized where she had felt that power before. In herself, in the bath, when she first discovered—

The water splashed back to the pool in her surprise.

"Katara?"

Toph sighed and sat up in the water. "So it's what I thought then, isn't it? I'm pregnant."

Katara stared at her friend and replied, "Yes. You are." She swallowed. "Kanto?"

"Yeah."

"I guess there's going to be a wedding then soon, huh? I can help you plan."

Toph rose abruptly from the pool. Katara quickly returned the water from her clothes to the sloshing basin. The metal uniform flew from the floor and quickly encased her form, but Toph remained with her back facing her friend.

"There's not going to be a wedding, Katara."

"What—what do you mean?"

Toph shrugged. "We're not together anymore. Things just—weren't working. Kanto—hasn't been coming around anymore. Not for awhile now."

Katara placed her hand on Toph's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Toph."

She shrugged again but turned her face away. "Doesn't matter."

Katara pulled on her shoulder so that Toph was forced to face her. She kept her head down. "Of course it matters. You cared about him. You shouldn't just force those feelings aside. It's okay to grieve the end of that relationship. It'll take some time to deal with the loss . . . especially now that things are more complicated."

Toph still hung her head towards her bare feet.

With a deep breath, Katara finally spoke the question that had lodged in her throat since she felt the fluttering. "Toph," she murmured, "do you want Kanto's baby? We can arrange for adoption—"

Toph's head snapped up, and her glazed eyes blazed with anger. "Of course I want the baby! And not because it's his—because it's mine!"

Katara raised her hands and took a step back from Toph's exclamation. Her friend took a deep breath and then sat on the chair again. Katara eased herself into her own seat, and Toph pressed her hands against her stomach.

Her voice was softer when she spoke again. "I've been thinking a lot about all this the past few weeks, ever since I thought I might be pregnant. And I know that I want things to be different for my baby. My parents definitely wanted me, but the Toph they wanted wasn't me. They wanted the quiet, demure daughter who was happy to stay in Gaoling all her life. And even after I showed them who I really was, they never understood. But I want this baby, no matter who he or she turns out to be. It doesn't matter if they want to be a rambunctious adventurer or the quiet kid my parents always wanted . . . as long as it's who they really are, then I will love them. And I want to find out who that person is going to be."

Katara leaned forward and hugged her friend. "I can't wait to meet your baby too, Toph." She pulled back, a smile plastered across her face. "And you certainly won't be alone in this. We're all here for you—me, Aang, Sokka, everyone. And your baby will have so many friends; he or she won't be far behind this one, after all," Katara commented, rubbing her hands over her swollen belly.

Toph's face pinched. "I'm not going to get as fat as you, am I?"

"Hey! I'm not fat!"

"You kind of are though."

Katara sighed. "Well, you're definitely going to have to bend your uniforms into a different shape after a few months. But for now, you just need to watch your diet."

Toph groaned. "See how much I already love this baby? I'm willing to give up junk food for nine months."

Katara laughed. "That's just the beginning of a whole bunch of changes, but it's all worth it for your child."

Toph reached over and punched her shoulder. "I'm glad you're around, Katara, for the beginning of all of this."