Chapter Two: Baby Hijinks (Part Two)
"Okay, it looks like the coast is clear," Zhán whispered, seeing nobody in the rear courtyard upon their return to the house.
"Well that's good, but how do we get him in there without anyone noticing?" Ty Lee hissed back in inquiry.
Zhán glanced at Ty's tote. "Maybe we can smuggle him in with your bag. Put him in and toss some of your stuff on top?"
"No way," Ty protested, "I'm not gonna have baby drool all over my clothes!"
The soldier crossed his arms and frowned in reprimand. "Ty, don't you think you're being just a little selfish?"
"No, but I think you are! You just wanna get back at me for making you shop with me!"
"No I don't," Zhán quickly denied. "I wanna get back at you for making me carry all your stuff."
"See, I told you, you're being selfish!" Ty rebuked.
Zhán rolled his eyes. "I never said I wasn't."
"A gentleman always carries a woman's stuff," Ty pointed out with a discontented sigh.
Zhán scoffed. "Hey, I'm all for being a gentleman, but there should seriously be a weight limit amended to that rule."
"You know-" Ty and Zhán both winced in shock "-with all the time you two have wasted arguing about carrying the bag, you could've snuck him in there by now."
Following the voice, they saw Mai standing behind them, leaning against one of the trees that ringed the house.
Zhán frowned in agitation. "I thought Ty Lee was supposed to be the sneaky one."
"Told you I was the ninja of the group," Mai rebutted dully.
"How long have you been there?" Ty asked.
"Long enough. If you want, I can help you all get past everyone."
"Really?" Ty beamed.
"Sure, but it'll cost you."
Not at all concerned with the consequences, Ty immediately replied, "Sure! Name it!"
Mai smirked. I've been waiting for this…
Zhán sat in his room, leaning against the wall as he rocked the baby in his arms. It cooed and fussed, fighting off sleep. To Zhán's relief, he saw that it was a losing battle for the baby as his eyelids began to droop heavily. Zhán started to hum, hoping to nudge the tike along into the World of Dreams.
"I wonder what little guys like you dream about?"
The teen looked up when he heard the door creak open and saw Ty Lee shuffle inside. He barely contained a snicker.
"Hmm. That definitely is not one of your outfits."
Ty Lee scowled at him. "Mai made me wear her gloomy clothes and act gloomy all afternoon. I've never felt grayer in my life."
"I think that's Karma getting back at you for buying all that stuff."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"
Zhán smirked. "Not in this life or the next."
The baby began to squirm in his arms, fussing lightly as if to say 'Shut up, I'm trying to sleep, here!'
"We might wanna keep it down," Zhán whispered, pointing to the infant. Ty Lee slapped a hand over her mouth dramatically as she whispered her apologies.
"Tell you what. Since you're suffering because of Karma shining its beaming smile upon me, I'll let you treat me like a punching bag tonight after dinner. How's that?"
She smirked. "As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll pass. I just wanna talk it out, this time."
Zhán gave a small smile of relief. "Deal."
After supper, Zhán allowed Ty to vent about the horrors of her torment endured of Mai and how it all disrupted the cheery brightness of her aura. When she finished, he decided to swallow his pride and apologized for being so unrelenting and hypocritical in his criticism of her purchasing choices. She smiled at this and accepted the apology.
They then looked over towards the setting sun; it was easy to spot from the roof as it drew nearer the horizon, their vision unencumbered by the tree line below them.
"So, how's the baby treating you?" Ty asked.
"Pretty good, really. I must admit, you were right. Once I calmed down and thought peaceful thoughts, he lulled right to sleep."
"Told ya'. When you're calm, they're calm," Ty Lee said, "unless they went potty in their pants, or something."
"Of course," Zhán smirked. "And I thank you for teaching me how to deal with that."
"One of the benefits of having six sisters, 'specially when you're not the youngest." Her smile grew stronger. "You know, I think he's helped you just as much as you've helped him. You seem to be more at peace today."
Zhán lay back on the sloped roof. "Well, I guess a baby would help take my mind off of worrying about training an immature Avatar and prepping for a doomsday comet," he admitted. "Though we shouldn't forget, it's only been one day, and we haven't even gotten to bedtime. Plenty can still go wrong."
"I'm sure everything will turn out fine… Wait, bedtime? Didn't you put him to sleep when we went to dinner?"
"I'm talking about our bedtime. I'm really hoping he sleeps through the night."
"I think he'll be fine," Ty said with a warm smile. "He's very content around you. He feels nurtured and safe…hey, speaking of safe, where's he going to sleep?"
"No worries," Zhán assured lightly, "I set up my covers on the floor by the bed and gave him one of my pillows to put that big head on."
"Wow. I'm impressed, Dad," she teasingly praised.
Zhán rolled his eyes, acknowledging the lighthearted jab. "Well, it's not like I need the covers. I'm a firebender, I'm always warm when I sleep." He looked to the sun, silently giving it thanks for his elemental blessing.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Yeah. Plus with it being sum-" Zhán ripped his gaze back to Ty Lee. "You noticed? When?"
Ty Lee's blush was so red-hot that it matched the color of their setting star. "I- i-in the cave! When I w-wa-was nursing you back to health!"
"Suuure." The aghast in his voice was gone and his tone normalized. A smirk slit his face. "So were you nursing me back to health when you were sneaking into my room, too?"
"Well it's not like I did anything to you in there! I…I really need to stop talking."
Zhán laughed as she buried her head into her arm-laced knees in shame.
"Kid, relax. It's no harm done, no foul," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, we're best friends. It's kinda obvious you're not trying to poison me or anything, don't worry about it."
Ty Lee raised her head and smiled graciously at Zhán. "Well, since I'm busted now, do you mind if I hang out with the baby for a little while?"
The boy shrugged. "Sure. I need to spar with Aang and Zuko anyway, before we all turn in."
Ty simply nodded, then got up and started towards the roof edge, to the window of Zhán's room. The soldier walked along the roof towards the back of the house. He reached the pagoda's center when he turned back to Ty, who was about to jump off.
"By the way, just what do you be doing in my room when I'm asleep?"
Ty grinned sincerely. "I pray to the Spirits to keep you safe and healthy." Zhán looked slightly confused at this confession, and was even more confused when Ty Lee spanned the space between them to hug him. He simply looked on as she released her embrace and cartwheeled to the roof edge before flipping herself into the room. When she was gone, he couldn't help but smile.
"Ty's got a lot of heart. That's for certain."
"Yup, that she does."
Zhán rubbed the temple of his head with his thumb and groaned. "Mai, would you quit with the ninja stuff?"
Morning began as it always did on Ember Island. The sun broke over the horizon, the birds chirped merrily, and the sound of the morning tide ushered in the time for waking. Zhán awoke in his bed and stretched and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Well, I slept well last night. How 'bout you, buddy?"
Zhán looked down beside the bed and his heart sank when he saw a sprawled mess of coverings with no baby in sight. Immediately he ran through the room, looking in every possible, probable, and even ridiculous place for that infant, but turned up with nothing. Then something told him to look at the door. It was ajar.
"Oh no."
The soldier shoved his legs into a pair of pants, threw on a shirt and darted out the room and into Ty Lee's, which was only two doors down. When he reached the room, he burst in and rushed to wake her.
"Ty, get up! Get up!" he demanded, rocking her roughly.
The acrobat's eyes flew open and she shrieked, immediately jabbing at Zhán's throat. He quickly responded by blocking the poke with a closed fist. Feeling exposed in only her sleeping gown, she retreated to the far corner of her bed with the covers drawn to her chest. She then looked at her intruder long enough to make an ID.
"Zhán? What are you doing in my room?"
"Ty, did you come into my room last night?" the boy asked shortly.
"What?"
"My room. Did you go in there last night?"
"Well, yeah…for a few minutes," Ty answered. "I was checking up on you and the baby."
"Did you close the door when you left?"
Ty Lee's face turned a sickly white. "Oh no, the baby's loose?"
I'll take that as a yes, Zhán thought. "Okay, try to calm down, Ty. We need to find him before someone else does." She nodded and they both ran out and into the hall.
"If we can just find the little bugger before anyone else wakes up, we'll be okay," Zhán reassured.
"Okay, where do we start looking?" Ty asked.
"WHAT'S THIS BABY DOING EATING MY SEAL JERKY?"
Zhán and Ty Lee both winced at the outburst. Zhán's neck creaked with dread as he turned to address Ty Lee's concern.
"I guess we could start in Sokka's room…"
They didn't have to look long because the meat-aholic stormed into the hall, holding the baby by the back of the shirt and looking dead at the duo with a face that could possibly even slay Ozai.
"You… YOU TWO BROUGHT THIS JERKFACED JERKY-EATING JERK HERE, DIDN'T YOU?"
I don't know what's worse; the fact that everything just fell apart around us, or the fact that Sokka's actually scaring me, Zhán thought.
Suki and Katara shuffled to join the tribesman. "Sokka, would you keep it dow- what's with the kid?"
"Kid?" Zuko stormed into the hallway. "We're supposed to be prepping for the comet, not babysitting!"
Now it was Toph's turn, her hair spiked like a boar-cupine. "Whoever caused this ruckus is gonna be stomped six-feet under!"
Sokka pointed to the guilty party. Zhán and Ty Lee simply stared back at the seething mad Sokka, fear paralyzing them where they stood as death literally surrounded them.
"We're not gonna live to explain this, are we?" Ty Lee whimpered.
"Nope," Mai answered, standing behind them.
Zhán simply sighed. All this because the girl wanted a hairclip.
