A/N: Hey! Sorry if this chapter's no good, had/have a bit of a writer's block as how to approach the rest of this story, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. And thank you guys so much for reviewing, seriously. It makes my day :

Hope you enjoy!

"Where's Aang?"

Katara's eyes were still stinging and puffy from her tears, but she'd managed to compose herself to a presentable state. She now stood with Zuko in the parlor just outside the dining room, glancing between the two Earth Kingdom girls.

Suki looked towards Toph's glassy eyes with a twisted look, then back to Katara. She sighed.

"He...left. With his glider. So…"

Dammit.

The waterbender hung her head, shaking it slightly. She should've known. Of course he'd leave. The airbender had a habit of running off when his emotions were too intense, it seemed. But she hoped it was a good thing. He'd come back with a level head and an open mind, and he'd listen to Katara. He would, she knew he would.

But it didn't make it any easier to bear. She'd still have to explain her marriage to Zuko, and although he might've assumed it meant that they were breaking up, it'd still be tough. But he was the Avatar, the only one who could restore balance to this world.

Katara prayed to Yue that restoring balance to the world included restoring the balance inside of her, and inside of Aang himself.

When she realized the silence had become thick and oozing, she scrunched up her eyebrows. Suki was waiting for a response, but there was something more on her face, something like…

"Where's Sokka?" Zuko inquired, the scowl obvious in his voice. Again, a look of guilt shed over Suki.

"He went to send a hawk."

Katara frowned. "To who."

"To your father, who else? He's tattling about your baby and your, er….You guys are getting married, right? "

Suki gasped slightly at the earthbender's words, and Katara blushed furiously. Her blush sooned turned to a sickly pale as the rest of Toph's words fell into her.

He's telling their dad. Oh no.

Suddenly, it felt as though the world had been flipped on it's side as Katara's stomach lurched. She wrapped her arms around her waist, hitching on a breath as her mouth began to taste of copper.

Her insides squirmed. She should've eaten something.

"I have to…."

And Katara dashed down the hall to her bedroom, where she then proceeded to expel bile into the porcelain toilet.

Zuko was about to rush after the girl as the worry and fear rolled around in his chest, but he stopped when he saw one of his servants walk into the room. He fell into a low bow before he began to speak.

"Fire Lord Zuko, it seems as though Lady Mai will be arriving sooner than we expected."

Zuko frowned. Agni be damned. He'd never had the best of luck.

"And how soon would that be?"

"We just received a hawk...within the hour, it seems."

Dammit.

He dismissed the servant with a grunt and a wave, then turned back to his uncomfortable guests. His frowned deepened. He didn't have time for this, and more than that, he wasn't prepared to break up with Mai, not right now with Katara in a such a state and….well….

it seemed as if that was reason enough. He wanted to comfort his future wife, but it seemed as if he had preparations to make. Preparations for a conversation he was absolutely dreading.

Suki, as if sensing the conflict stirring within him, offered him a small smile.

"I'll go check on Katara. You go do….whatever you need to do."

Zuko nodded, smiling slightly. It's amazing how far she'd come, accepting him after he'd burned down her village.

Well, it was an accident.

He shook his head as he rushed down the hall that led to the Royal Family's wing.

Right.

break

"Katara, are you alright in there?"

Katara blinked, rolling her head slightly to move her gaze from the bottom of the toilet towards the door. Or, in the general direction of the door. Her head was too heavy to pick up.

The floor was so comfy, anyways. Was marble always this comfy? She should invest in some for her home back at the South Pole.

Oh, wait. This was her home now. She almost wretched again, but she let out a sharp laugh instead.

The door burst open, and Suki's wide eyes fell onto her. Or well, it could've been Sokka. She couldn't really tell through her spinning pupils.

"Well I guess that's a no. Can you get up?"

She tried to pull her body off of the floor, grasping at Suki's outreached hand, but she slumped. Too much effort. She'd rather lay here for the next few years or so.

Shaking her head, the girl in front of Katara reached down, awkwardly scooping the waterbender up into her arms. Suki grunted slightly as she half dragged the waterbender towards the bed, setting her down as gracefully as was possible.

Katara sighed into the thick crimson blankets. Marble was comfy, but blankets? Amazing.

"I'm gonna go get you some food, but I'll be back to check on you, okay? Just try to get some rest, seems like you could really use it…."

Katara nodded, already drifting off into unconsciousness.

Katara slowly began to feel the world drift back to her, after what seemed like only seconds of sleep. Still half asleep with closed eyes, she felt a hand pressed across her waist. It was warm, so warm that it made the rest of her body uncomfortably cold. She wanted more of that lovely warmth.

The girl began to shift her body, closing in on the source of heat. She found her chest meeting with a wall of sorts, hard yet gentle. But it was pleasantly heated. She sighed as she snuggled in closer.

She stayed like that for an uncountable measure of time, stuck in between her dreams and reality. But as reality began to grasp a better hold on her, she felt a set of fingers run through her hair, gently passing over any knots.

She cracked her eyes slightly, and red filled her vision. A red clad chest, to be more specific.

Pulling back her eyelids further, she let her gaze wander up, and found gleaming gold staring back at her.

She blinked. So did the gold.

She then reached up, her hands delicately tracing over the angry red outline of one of the shimmering eyes. Katara felt Zuko stiffen at this, which led her to pull back slightly. He sighed, placing one of his own hand onto hers, leading it back towards his face.

"No….it's okay. Really."

She traced his scar again, but soon found her hands grazing across the right side of his face; down his temple to his cheekbones, then to his chiseled jawline. When she reached his neck, his breath quickened.

When he leaned closer into her, she did the same.

When his lips fell towards her neck, she stopped breathing completely. He didn't kiss it, but his lips were only millimeters away. She wanted them closer, she wanted them….

Aang. Mai.

She pulled back. He frowned.

"What about….?"

"She came back a day early. I just ended….things with her. She should be at her father's house by now."

Katara frowned, sitting up in the bed slightly, refusing to meet the firebender's eyes. Not only had her careless actions ruined Aang's life, but it had ruined Mai's too.

She'd say it'd also ruined Zuko's, but well….

"And she's….okay?"

He shrugged as he too sat up a bit. "She'd not happy, obviously, probably just mad if anything. But somewhat surprisingly, she understands. She wants to be a mother herself and understands your….position."

Katara nodded.

"And she also told me she doesn't want to be raising someone else's kid."

Katara let out a sharp laugh, still staring into her lap. She closed her eyes, rubbing them with her fists.

"And Aang?"

"No one knows where he is right now. He'll return though, Katara, I know he will."

"Me too."

Silence filled the room, Katara struggling not to fill it with her sobs. She'd had enough of crying for one day and she was sure Zuko had had seen enough of it himself.

She did however, let out a sharp cry when a set of needles lodged themselves in her abdomen.

"Katara!" Zuko jerked towards her, his eyes wild as the girl clutched her stomach, grimacing as she fell back into the bed.

"Just….cramps. I think it's normal though."

Zuko wasn't convinced however, for she could still feel him tensed up beside her. Clenching her eyes shut, she gripped harder around her middle as if it would somehow relieve the pain.

"Suki brought some food, do you….?"

Katara shook her head, the mere thought of food worsening her pain. She knew she needed to eat, but now….

"Just...sleep. More sleep."

Katara half expected Zuko to drape a blanket over her curled body, but instead of cloth wrapping around her, it was Zuko who did so.

"Is this okay?"

She thought for a moment. Things were over with Aang, that much was obvious. And Zuko was so warm, his heat seemed to ease her pain.

Katara sighed her back into his chest as a response, which he then proceeded to nuzzle her neck. Despite having performed a similar act the previous night, she still found herself surprised at how right it felt.

Zuko found himself jolted awake by a harsh wail that was far too close to his ear. He jumped out of the bed, blinking at his surroundings. This wasn't his room. It was Katara's. And she was curled up on the edge of the bed, trembling out of her skin, clutching her abdomen.

Oh no.

He didn't know much about what women….went through, but whatever this was, it was obviously very bad.

Zuko leaped over the bed, lowering himself as he reached for Katara's shaking body. Her jaw was tight and her eyes wrinkled shut. He tried to even his breath, to calm his nerves enough to say something, anything that would help.

"...Katara?"

She stilled for a moment, and after a horribly agonizing thirty seconds or so, her eyes botled open. And they struck him like lightning.

In a similar fashion, she snapped upright, flinging the blankets away as she scrambled to her feet. He didn't like this. He didn't know what this was, but he sure as hell didn't think it was okay.

"I can't do this, Zuko."

He furrowed his brow, moving towards her. She flinched away, and Zuko's chest seized.

"I, I just can't. I've hurt so many people, Zuko, I can't possibly do this. Don't you see? I….I woke up shaking because my dad was screaming at me and my dad is so nice and he would never scream at me like that…."

She paused.

"But now I'm not so sure."

Zuko stood there, arms halfway outreached, his eyes wide and pleading. His mind was drawing a blank, he was never good at this and if there was a time to be good at this it would be now but his brain was failing him.

Except for the obvious truths. But would it help?

He didn't have many options.

"You haven't hurt me."

She freezed, eyes slowly moving up to meet him. Her lips parted slightly, and her look, it was so painful. It was so full of emotions Zuko that couldn't process it all and then she was walking towards him and she was trembling in his arms and he was hoping that somewhere some way that the spirits were watching over Katara and helping this compassionate woman because Zuko didn't know what to do.

"Katara."

But the voice wasn't Zuko's. It was Aang's.