Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA.

Chapter 3

They all sat at the table, eating the succulent breakfast whipped up for the important guests. Zuko was amazed every year at the elaborate measures Aang and Katara would go through in order to make this event special. It almost seemed like every year, they topped the last one. This one was no exception.

"So Zuko," Aang started as he turned to the Fire Lord, who perked up while taking a bite of fruit. "How's the family?"

Zuko swallowed and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. Grinning, he replied, "Well Mizzou should be having the baby soon. She's due in a month." The father-to-be beamed, the continued, "And Azula is pretty good. She and Chan managed to get in another the fight. The idiot doesn't get that she's one of the most powerful firebenders in the world. Chauvinist jerk just won't get his head out of the ground, so she spends a lot of time at the palace. She and my mother have been going to visit Ozai, though."

"How's that been?" Toph asked with a mouth full of food.

Zuko shrugged. "He's decent. Still an ass, but alive. My mother pities him, Azula just keeps her mouth shut. I'm afraid if she didn't he'd be dead."

He chuckled nervously and took another bite of food while the group all stared at him.

"It's a good thing he won't be out any time soon," Sokka added, a tint of typical sarcasm lacing his voice..

Zuko shook his head and slumped his shoulders while rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. With a deep sigh, he replied, "Even without his bending, Ozai can be considered a threat. It hasn't been long enough since the end of his regime and the tyranny of my forefathers that he would be able to walk freely without causing some rebellions. The Fire Nation is too fragile for him to not stay behind bars, not that I'd ever let him out anyway. They're already apprehensive about Azula, even with the knowledge of her psychotic breakdown and recovery. Some citizens think she's going to have another episode, but she's been well behaved for a long time."

"So she hasn't been having any lapses?" Katara asked, tactfully steering the conversation away from the ex-Fire Lord.

He rose his eyes and shook his head. After he swallowed, he rubbed his temple. "I know it's been a while and she claims to be okay enough to come back to court, but I'm still wary. Especially with her and Chan fighting all the time. Luckily mother is around or Azula would be a mess."

"I'm glad she's better," Katara said, smiling at the Fire Lord. "Now she gets to be the sister that you always deserved."

Zuko chuckled and shook his head. "Oh no, she's still a bitch to me. Just not as bad as she had been. Besides. I've got Toph to be the sister I deserve."

"Yeah because I don't try to kill you at any chance I get," Toph muttered with a full mouth, earning a low chuckle from the Fire Lord. Zuko reached over and patted her on her back and she grinned widely, showing off all of the food she had been chewing.

"Sokka, how's life on the council?" Zuko asked the warrior.

He shrugged and smiled at Suki, replying, "It's actually really great. We're going to be voting for a new leader, and I'm hoping it will be me."

"Don't we all?" Toph said with a smirk. "Then we get to whoop some crime boss butt together, like old times!"

Sokka chuckled and waved her off, "I won't be kicking any one's butt, Toph. I will be diplomatically delivering punishment."

Zuko rose his goblet and smirked, "Hear, hear."

Toph crossed her arms and grumbled under her breath, "Wusses."

"We don't have to make speeches, do we?" Sokka asked under his breath as they crossed the harbor heading into the city.

Zuko shook his head and leaned towards his friend, "Just me and Aang. You still scared of public speaking?" The warrior nodded. Zuko frowned and crossed his arms. "How will you ever become Lead Councilman if you can't speak in pubic?"

"Lots of whiskey," Sokka replied flatly.

Zuko laughed and patted him on the shoulder, causing him to grimace. "Don't worry. It's not as bad as it seems."

"Coming from the guy who made an epic speech at the age of sixteen!" Toph turned around and glared at the duo, obviously suffering from seasickness again.

Zuko shrugged, "Hey some people are born with the gift."

Sokka growled and wrapped his arm around Suki's shoulders. The group watched as the city approached slowly. As they passed Aang's statue, Katara walked back to the Fire Lord. She stood to his left and nudged his shoulder with her own.

"So you excited?" she asked.

He smirked down at her and then looked up to the sky, closing his eyes and breathing in the sea air. "Depends on what you're talking about."

He dropped his gaze back to her, a mischievous glint in his eye. She pouted at him and nudged his shoulder. He smirked and turned his head over his shoulder towards her so he could whisper in her ear.

"I'm excited about plenty of things. One of them being the image of a naked waterbender in my mind. If only I could see it for real soon."

She gasped and slapped his bicep playfully, which just made him smirk even broader. She hissed up to him with a grin, "You'll do well to remember that I'm married.'

"As am I, but that didn't stop us before," he purred back friskily as he strode away towards Toph, who was leaning over the edge of the boat, spitting up her breakfast. He rubbed her back and turned towards Katara, who was frozen in her spot, an expression of shock on her face. Then, for good measure, he winked at her. She blushed and made her way back to the bow of the ship to stand next to Aang.

Toph stood up straight and wiped her lips with her wrist. Then she looked up to Zuko and moaned in disgust, "Don't you think that was a little overkill?"

"Hmmm?"

"You laid it on pretty thick, Sparky," she snickered. "I wasn't throwing up because of being seasick."

Zuko glared at her, knowing well she couldn't see it. "I can't help that I don't think some things through, okay?"

"Think you might see her tonight?"

He leaned over the edge and sighed heavily, "I highly doubt it. Aang won't let her out of his sight for five minutes."

"That's true," she drawled out. "I would help, but I don't think he's going to budge now that she's pregnant."

Zuko looked over his shoulder to the front of the ferry to see Katara looking over hers right at him. They locked eyes for a few seconds then she turned away and answered a question asked by Aang. Zuko frowned and turned back to Toph and sighed, "I guess you're right."

After the festivities, Team Avatar made their way back to Air Temple Island. It was late at night, and the adults were tired. No longer the teens they had once been, a late night of light-hearted fun was enough to make them all slump and drag themselves back to their rooms. But for some reason even with his fatigue, Zuko couldn't sleep. He pulled himself out of bed after tossing and turning for almost an hour and decided to roam the hallways. Dressed in just his sleeping pants, he padded along the halls towards the cafeteria. After stepping out into the brisk summer evening, he took a deep breath and walked across the courtyard.

He strode slowly through the covered walkway, not really sure of where he was going, and stiffened when he heard voices. Looking up, he could tell that the voices were coming from the tower above, a lone window where the light was still on and shadows danced against the thin curtains. His old habits made him dart to the shadows and listen carefully.

"…So I see you and Zuko are getting along again," Aang's voice said. He sounded a little perturbed, which heavily confused Zuko. Weren't they all friends?

"Yes we did. After my trip to the palace, we settled our differences and made up."

"What kind of differences were they?"

"Why is that any of your business?" she replied a little angrily. Zuko began to feel nervous for her, as he heard the anxiety in her tone of voice. "You ask me every single time he's brought up and I tell you the same thing. It's not something you should worry about."

"Well considering you hadn't spoken to each other in six years, I didn't think that one little chat over tea was going to solve it all."

Katara scoffed and there was a scooting, most likely a chair moving across the floor as she stood. "It turned out the issue at hand was just a misunderstanding. We were both under stress and acted stubbornly. You know how we both get."

"Yeah... I do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Another scoot, probably Aang standing now, "I remember how it was when we were still fighting during the war. The way you guys were always at each other's throats and then suddenly after you confronted your mother's killer, you guys were chummy. Like Ba Sing Se never happened and you have best friends your whole lives. You told him things you wouldn't tell me, Katara. How do you think that makes me feel?"

"He understands me. And he's always been a good listener when it came to things that I just needed to vent about. And when he finally talked, it turned out we have a lot in common, Aang."

"You really don't anymore. His mom is still alive."

Zuko knew that was a low blow, and by Katara's silence it obviously had been. When she spoke again, her voice was low and dangerous, "Well back then we didn't know that. And that doesn't matter. Ursa is like the mother I never had. She's so sweet to me. Being friends with Zuko got me a mother as well."

"She won't ever be a mother to you, Katara, come on."

"Aang, she's offered to be a surrogate mother for me. I think that's good enough. And besides, what got your robes in a knot where this is suddenly an issue?"

Aang was silent.

"Are you jealous of my friendship with Zuko? Yes, I tell him things I wouldn't tell you. Because he actually listens and gives me legitimate feedback, even if it's something I don't want to hear. You? You just wait until I'm done talking and then talk about yourself. And when I ask for advice you just tell me what you think I want to hear, nothing helpful."

Aang was still silent.

"And I hated not speaking to him for the past six years. He's my best friend, Aang. Not Toph, not Suki. Zuko is. We've been through a lot together-"

"Like when he saved you from Azula's lightning?"

Zuko rose his hand and fingered the star-shaped scar on his chest. He took a deep breath as the memory swarmed his brain.

"Yes. And I'm in debt to him because of it. But that's not why we're friends. We just get each other. I don't know why you're so threatened by it."

"It's because I see the way he looks at you!"

"What?"

"His eyes, he just stares at you. He never looks at Mizzou like that. He adores you like no one else."

Katara was silent and Zuko could feel his heartbeat pick up. If Toph was the one in the argument, she would have stopped and told him to buzz off.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"It does for him. How do I know it doesn't for you?"

"Do you not trust me?"

"Actually I don't."

Zuko grimaced and pressed himself against the wall even more. He was sure Katara's wrath was about to come, but he was surprised when she stayed silent.

"How do I know that nothing happened when you went to visit him?"

She mumbled something that even Zuko's acute hearing couldn't pick up. Obviously Aang couldn't either, even at his close range, because he asked her to repeat herself.

"You don't."

Her answer was curt and cold, chilling even Zuko to his bones. He was going to be caught. Aang was going to know. Zuko was going to be dead in the next five minutes, he knew it. Before risking exposure, Zuko turned around and high-tailed it back to his room, sliding the door closed and locking it for good measure. Tomorrow, he was going to face his death. He was sure of it.

tbc