Summary: Katara considers herself to have a big family, but it started out small. How her family and definition of family has shifted and changed over the years. Katara centric.

A/N: Day 3: Family! Because ohana means family. That was random but OKAY!

Disclaimer: I own stuffed animals, a computer, books, and a mouse. That's it. A:TLA is not on that list. :(

Katara considered herself to have a pretty big family, that much was obvious.

During her travels and 32 years of living, she had made many friends, and the amount of people she considered her family expanded drastically.

"But how?" she wondered.

"I started with only 4 people, not including myself," she thought, "How did it all change so fast?"

Loss

Katara POV

When I was younger, around 3 or 4 until the age of 14, my definition of family was just the people related to me by blood, which only included my brother, Sokka, Dad, Gran Gran, and Mom. I wanted it to always be like that and never change, but change is inevitable.

The first change that my family went through was losing my mother. I remember it like it was yesterday.

A torrent of emotions were constantly sweeping through me. I felt numb. I cried myself to sleep each night. I felt lost. I wished I had gone with that evil firebender myself, and saved my mother. I sometimes still wish that. I remember that everything hurt, and everything reminded me of her, from the ice lilies that were always her favorite, to snowmen that reminded me of when we made them together.

Gone was the person who would massage my feet lovingly when I got snow in my boots and my toes were frozen, gone was the person who would always be on my side against Sokka and Dad when we had snowball fights, gone was the person who made Dad smile more than anything, gone was the amazing, loving person that was my mother. I always considered it my fault, my fault that she was gone, and had a constant fear that Dad, Gran Gran, and Sokka would hate me because I let it happen. It took years and years, until I was nearly 20, for me to realize that there was nothing I could've done at that moment to stop it.

The pain certainly didn't go away completely, but it did fade, going deeper and deeper into my mind until I almost forgot about it. Almost.

I missed her more each day; I still do.

And though my idea of family didn't change, my family certainly did. But together, we were able to get through the terrible disaster that fate had struck upon us.

Additions and Evolutions

When we broke Aang out of that iceberg, and really got to know him, that's when my definition of 'family' started to change.

I remember thinking on Appa, after we left the Southern Water Tribe, that I was absolutely crazy. I had only known this boy for a few days and yet, I was already going on a trip to the other side of the world with him. I felt a incredible, tremendous connection to him in just a short amount of time and, like Gran Gran said, our destinies were intertwined.

I considered Aang my family even before we got to the first Air Temple and he went into the Avatar State. But that moment, when I called him my family, that's when I realized that 'family' isn't just your blood relatives; it's the people who you trust, who you feel safe with, who you can depend on. Aang was that to Sokka and me and we were that to him.

Over our travels, when we met Toph, Suki, and Zuko, after he turned good, they became my family too.

I could trust them during hard times, they supported me, and made me feel at home.

When I was little, my idea of a perfect family was much different than what it was right now. My 'perfect family' had been just myself, my dad, my mom, Gran Gran, Sokka, my husband, our kids, and so on. It was small, but close-knit and tight. Never in a million winters would I have thought that I would consider an airbender, who was also happened to be the Avatar, a blind earthbender, the Kyoshi Warriors, who I didn't even know existed at the time, or a firebender most astonishingly of all, part of my perfect family.

My family had started to grow above and beyond what I could've ever imagined as a young girl in the isolation of the South Pole. And for that, I was thankful.

Third Change: Bittersweet Additions and Losses

When Aang and I got married, on our 4th anniversary, in both the South Pole and After Aang and I got married, we gained the 3 best additions to our family. When I first saw Bumi, our eldest, and held him there in my arms, tired and dreary from 14 hours of excruciatingly painful labor, I couldn't imagine a greater joy than welcoming my and Aang's child into the world, regardless of how hard it was.

After experiencing that 2 more times over, I felt on top of the world, as if nothing could ever bring me down from this joy.

Aang had made me feel complete by being my husband and the father of my children. All was perfect...

...until Tenzin was about 18 months old. Gran Gran and Pakku had died in each other's arms and I was unconsolable. I closed myself off to my children and husband and stayed in our bedroom all day.

I nearly destroyed our marriage by doing so, but at the time I didn't care.

But when Aang, Sokka, Suki, and the kids all talked to me that one night, begging me to come out and let out my feelings, I let my insecurities go and collapsed, sobbing in their arms.

But once more, they showed me that they were there for me, and they would help me get past any obstacle, no matter how big.

Normal POV

Katara was crying by now, after reliving all those bittersweet memories.

"Creeaaaak," went the door.

"Katara? Sweetie, are you okay?"

She looked up to see Aang looking at her with concern in his eyes.

Katara wiped her tears away with her hands and then leapt up to embrace Aang, a soft smile on her face.

"I'm fine, Sweetie."

Aang raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously, joining her on their bed and accepting her embrace.

"Really?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Really."

"What were you doing?"

"Just reliving some memories," Katara said quietly, burrowing her head into Aang's chest.

Aang inquired softly, "What sort of memories?"

Katara grinned.

"How I got the most loving, supportive, amazing family in the world," she said, smashing her lips to his in a passionate, loving kiss.

A/N: THE END! Also, so far I've been trying to make each oneshot at least 1000 words, so don't let that effort go to waste, review! There's this beautiful box right below where you can tell me how you like it!

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