Ring, ring.
Zuko shuffled in his sleep, but aside from movement he stayed completely asleep.
Ring, ring.
He was now on the border line of awake and asleep. He raised his arm and sort of clawed at the noise his phone emitted.
Ring, ring.
And like a cat in cold water, Zuko jumped up from his bed in a heat of anger. He grabbed his phone, ripped it open and growled, "WHAT?!"
"I didn't mean to wake you."
Zuko sighed at the voice on the other line. As quick as it came, his irritation dissolved.
"Sorry about that Hun. I was napping. What time is it?" He asked as his eyes searched for his alarm clock.
"It's 8:37. But hey, I'm sorry to ask but can you please come over? It's important."
"Sure, but what's going on? You sound worried. Are you okay?"
"I-can you just please get here?"
At this request his eyebrows quirked.
"I'm on my way."
Approximately twelve minutes later, Zuko knocked at his girlfriend's front door.
She answered at his second knock, yanked him in by his collar, and ran upstairs with him.
After dragging him into her bedroom and practically shoving him onto her bed, Zuko finally spoke up.
"Katara! What is going on?"
She had already vanished into the bathroom. He noted a few things as he caught his breath. The lights were dim, her door was locked, there were tissues everywhere, and lightly playing in the background was one of her favorite movies: Love Actually.
Before he could even put all of these thoughts together, Katara came out of the bathroom and he got a good look at her face. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were marked with tear tracks. Her nose was running and her clothes were all disarray. So it was obvious that something was wrong.
"Katara...Katara what's going on?" Zuko asked wearily. As if he was over-stepping his boundaries, afraid of some damn to break.
She sniffled and took a few deep, deep breaths.
"Zuko…"
He sat on the edge of her bed, fearing the worse. What could possibly make her this upset? Was she breaking up with him?
Suddenly his lungs didn't seem to have enough air.
She looked him straight in the eye and said it.
"Zuko, I'm pregnant."
There was no air for him to breathe.
Telling the family had really taken some balls to do. I mean courage. It took a lot of courage to do. Sokka reacted worse than Hakoda did in Zuko's opinion. Sokka went on a rampage, lecturing, yelling, throwing small little physical fits, and aiming his punches wildly at Zuko.
Hakoda was silent for a while, but his angry booming voice erupted and cleared any once of decency in the house. Katara was near tears but held her head high. Zuko stood next to her trying to defend himself from Sokka. Suki was trying to hold back Sokka as he fought Zuko on. Rather, tried to.
Gran sat in her chair and shook her head but said nothing. And that, to Katara, was the worst of it all.
However, after Gran Gran had enough of everyone's antics, she raised her voice to catch all of their attention.
"Sokka, stop trying to kill the boy! Hakoda, I'd believe you best go take a walk before you do anything you'll regret. Katara, I can't say I'm happy to hear about this but I do understand. Things happen and getting angry, upset, and all worked up about it won't do a damn thing. We need to start setting up some appointments. And you, boy," she pointed to Zuko, "are you staying involved in this mess you helped create or do you plan on leaving?" Her eyes burned a hole right where his were.
He gulped and nodded.
"I'm here to stay."
She nodded.
"Good."
And just as Gran finished speaking, Sokka caught everyone by surprise by breaking Zuko's nose.
Telling Aang was another difficulty. Katara could barely sputter a word of truth to him, and Zuko had known well enough that this was something she needed to do on her own. Everyone knew that the boy harbored a crush on Katara since he'd first met her. And now that she was pregnant with one of his good friend's child, Katara was prematurely removing any chance he ever thought to have with her.
She took deep breaths but did not cry. She had done enough of that the past few weeks. Aang didn't say a word until she was through talking. He hid his anger quite well, but his tears were a different story.
"But I loved you Katara. And now I can never be with you."
"Aang, I never returned those feelings. And I'm sorry it had to be like this, but we were never going to be together."
He walked away from her.
"Come on Katara! You can do it! PUSH!" Suki shouted at her sweat mopped friend sitting awkwardly on the hospital bed with her feet up high. Nothing mattered at that moment. It didn't matter that they had all been at the hospital for fourteen hours, it didn't matter than the room smelt horrible due to Katara giving birth and all, and it didn't matter that no one had eaten or slept in hours. All that mattered was getting that baby out of her belly and into this world.
Aang, Toph, Sokka, Hakoda, Iroh, and Zuko all sat in the waiting room outside just pacing and thinking about the inside of that room. Well actually, Zuko did all of the panting. Hadoka kept gritting his teeth together but stayed put. Sokka slept loudly with a magazine over his face. Aang was nursing a bottle of water and a few snacks while he read through a sentimental book. Toph was making small talk with Iroh who just happened to have a cup of tea in his hands and Zuko wore a track through the floor as he paced.
"WHY AM I NOT IN THERE?!" Zuko shouted to the remaining audience.
"Because son, she'll kill you." Hakoda answered with a chuckle.
Zuko gripped his hair between his fingers and shouted to the ceiling.
Three more hours passed by until a nurse announced the birth of a beautiful baby boy to the waiting room family. There were cheers, applause, and an ecstatic father rushing to his lover's side.
He walked over the threshold and almost stopped in his tracks. His beautiful girlfriend, all sweaty, dead tired, etc, yet STILL beautiful, held a small wrapped up bundle in her arms.
She glanced over to him with a smile and nodded him to come over.
"Hey." He whispered before bending down to capture her lips in a sweet, sweet kiss.
"Hi. Want to meet your son?" She asked with a glowing smile.
Then with a tilt of her arms she displayed to him a beautiful baby with stark white skin, a mess of dark hair ruffled atop his tiny head, and beautiful blue eyes just like his mothers.
And just like once before, there was no air for Zuko to breathe in.
"Do you still love me?
I am dying to know."
[One Hundred Sleepless Nights - Pierce The Veil]
This drabble is actually a re-write of my other piece titled "2 A.M."
The re-write was inspired by PTV's song.
I just twisted the way it ended.
I wanted a happy ending.
Pierce The Veil didn't have a happy ending.
No reviews necessary.
Just for your enjoyment.
-Durrr.
