Author's Note: airichan623 pointed out that the jumps in time might be confusing, so I'm adding how long it's been since the war ended, and the location of each chapter.
Fire Nation: Five years after the war
The Firelord announced his Fire Lady. Zuko and Mai stood side by side, smiling in their regalia. He wore his formal red and black robe, shoes that came to a point at the toe and curled upward, and his hair in a topknot with his crown firmly in place. Mai was in an astonishingly feminine dress, black and red silk. It wrapped around her thin body, flaring at her hips and falling softly to the floor, with oversized sleeves that hid her hands. She wore a crown of her own, placed in her hair by her new husband. She smiled thinly, her hand on his chest. The crowd cheered, and the nobles clapped politely. Katara's heart felt stretched thin as Aang gave her as kiss on the cheek and led her to the dance floor.
"Aang, no. I'm pregnant. I don't want to fall and hurt the baby." Her belly was large. She had about a month to go. Gran-Gran told her it was going to be a boy, and Gran-Gran was never wrong about the sex of children still in the womb. She thought about names, but she knew if it was a boy, Aang would want to name him after someone important in his life. Gyatso was her first guess, in hopes that he might be an airbender.
He frowned. "Okay. Can I dance with Toph?" He held her hand gently, smiling at her. Kind, gentle, soft. That was her husband.
"Of course. Though I wonder if she'll accept." She laughed at the thought of Toph dancing. Though she would know where to put her feet, Katara imagined the young woman stomping on her husband's on purpose and calling him Twinkletoes. Toph's affection was shown through nicknames and playful physical attacks, though it was only Toph that considered them playful.
"She'd never miss the chance," he said, grinning at her. As he walked off to find her, Katara saw Toph moving around in strange patterns to throw him off. She tried to blend in with strangers until he caught on to her and she took off again. After a few minutes of looking under the tables, accidentally walking in on a stranger in the bathroom, and causing a cook to burn a whole batch of appetizers-and consequently being banned from the kitchen-Aang stood still to sense the mischievous earthbender.
Realizing she was going to be caught, Toph darted outside to hide from him. Aang caught sight of her and chased her through the garden.
Katara laughed and sat down carefully. Her child wriggled around, causing her discomfort as he stretched out his little arms and legs. She reached for her drink when a hand grasped hers before she could move away.
Looking up, she saw her sister-in-law, smiling widely at her. Suki was wearing a simple green dress, similar to her Kyoshi uniform, though her face was not covered in warrior paint. Instead, she had on pale pink eye shadow and dramatic winged eyeliner. "So," she said, gossip saturating her voice. "How is Aang?" She sat down next to her so they could be more secretive.
"Oh, he's fine. He just went out to find Toph. He wants to dance with her, but I bet Toph will slip out of it." She took a sip of her drink and frowned. "Do you think they have drinks without alcohol?"
Suki took the cup from her. "Ugh. Excuse me!" she called to a servant. He came over to her and listened intently. "My sister here is pregnant. Can you get her a drink without alcohol?"
"Of course. Is there anything particular you would like?" he asked Katara.
"Just water is fine."
"No it's not. Can you get her the hibiscus juice, Pao?"
The man bowed deeply. "Yes, my lord."
Katara and Suki turned, seeing Zuko.
Suki grinned. "Zuko, are you trying to fatten us up with all this extravagance?"
He shrugged, his arms raised as if to say he had nothing to do with it. "Mai's family wanted it to be extravagant, so here it is." He looked at Katara and his face softened. Though he would never admit it, he was a sucker for kids. "When is the baby due?"
Katara touched her stomach. "A month. He's getting too big; I'm afraid I won't be able to get him out." She laughed, blushed.
"Do you want to have him here? We have midwives that could help if you're worried. I know you have a few in the Southern Water Tribe, but if you'd like, you and Aang can stay here for the birth."
"Wow, royal treatment. You should do it." Suki lightly nudged Katara's side.
She looked conflicted. "I don't know. I'd have to ask Aang. Would Mai be okay with it?" They'd never been close, and Katara knew she didn't want to be on the Fire Lady's bad side.
"I'll ask, but I'm sure she would be fine with it," he reassured her.
Nodding, she let out a breath of relief, until more conflict came her way. Aang had Toph strapped to his side, carrying her like a load of lumber.
"Toph won't dance with me. You're no fun, Toph, you know that?"
She shrugged, uncaring. "Some people think I'm fun. Like Sokka. Where is he? And who are you talking to?"
"I won't let you down unless you agree to dance with me."
"You know where Sokka is: stuffing his face as usual."
"Suki!" Toph had an advantage now. "Get Sokka over here."
"Aang, I don't see why you don't just-"
"Suki, I need Sokka as my back up. He's an idiot but he knows how to get stuff done."
"Okay," she giggled, heading off to get him. She wanted to see what would happen between the three of them.
Aang looked from Katara to Zuko, torn. He bit his lip and bounced on the balls of his feet. "I'm holding Toph captive! Don't tell them which way I'm going." Toph sighed exasperatedly as he sprang off in the opposite direction, leaving them alone. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, until Pao arrived and handed Katara a glass filled with a red, sweet-smelling juice. "Thank you," she said. He bowed and left them.
She took a sip and widened her eyes, looking to Zuko. "This is delicious."
He smiled, gestured to the seat beside her. "May I sit?"
"Of course."
He took Suki's seat and watched as Katara drank the nectar. "Why doesn't Toph get out of his hold? It's not like she isn't strong enough."
She shrugged now. "Maybe they have a crush on each other," she said without thinking. She bit her lip and looked down. "Well, in a friend-way, I guess. Those exist, right?" She looked to him for approval.
He looked away. "I don't know."
Katara continued to sip in silence, her chest aching with milk, but more so from the look on the Firelord's face. She wasn't sure what to say, so she changed to topic. "I really admire the Fire Nation's marriage traditions. They're very different from the Southern Water Tribe's."
Zuko nodded. "It seems people always want what they can't have. I would have preferred a wedding similar to your's and Aang's. No uptight decorum or nobles."
She smiled at him. "Well, there was one particularly uptight noble at my wedding."
He made a face at her. "Aang wanted me to go penguin sledding with him, and I really didn't feel like killing any animals for sport at the time." The Avatar had grown, though so had Zuko, who was still several inches taller and quite a bit heavier. Aang had remained lithe enough to not weigh the animals down, but if Zuko had tried, he certainly would have squashed them.
Katara shook her head and let out a joking tsk sound. "The Firelord refusing to appease the Avatar? How could you?"
His eyes glazed over as he recalled the scrolls he'd read just before the end of the war. Avatar Roku and Sozin. The blood of both flowed in his veins, that of the traitor and the betrayed. He thought it fit well with his history: a banished prince, that once accepted, turned his back on his family to seek redemption for his ancestor's misdeeds. Aang had held no grudge against him for the painful betrayal, which was more than he could have hoped for after the way Zuko personally had treated him. He silently vowed that he would never harm the Avatar again.
"Zuko? I was just joking."
He looked up to see Katara, her face lined with worry, eyebrows pulled up in the center. "I know," he said. "It just made me think of something." When he attempted to smile, it worked, and it was genuine.
Suki reappeared with Sokka in tow. He had his mouth full, and had to guzzle down a full glass in order to swallow. "Where'd they go?" she asked.
"That way," they said pointing outdoors to their right.
"Got it!" Sokka grabbed Suki by the hand and led her away. She flashed a grin at Katara on their way out. "Boys," she mouthed.
By the time Suki and Sokka found their friends, the party was winding down and most people had left. Aang smiled nervously at his wife and waved. She knew he loved her, but sometimes she just wished he would stay by her side instead of finding something else to do. He could only be calm during meditation or sleep, and if he wasn't doing one of those, he was on the move and unable to sit still. A true nomad, she thought.
When he sat beside her, he took her hand. She explained that Zuko had invited them to stay for their child's birth. "Is Mai okay with that?" he asked.
"He said that he would ask her, but she'll probably say yes. We don't have to, but-"
"No, that's a great idea. I have plans to go with the rest of the gang to take care of some problems in Omashu. You can stay here and by the time I get back, our baby will be here too." He smiled widely at her, happy with the news.
She gave him a thin smile when he kissed her, looked down to her belly and wrapped her arms around it.
"I'm going to go to tell Sokka!" He ran off to find her brother, leaving her alone.
Slumping in her chair, she stared at her belly. "I don't know what to do," she said, quieter than a whisper. This is not the life I anticipated I would have, she thought. I'll ask him to come back earlier, that way he'll be here for the birth. That is a compromise he'll accept.
Unfortunately, Aang did not make it back in time to see the birth of their child. His duties as Avatar were placed higher than fatherhood by the rest of the world, and he could not let them down. By her side were Mai and Zuko. Azula helped the midwife, but refused to touch Katara in anyway. When the baby was out, Katara held him in her arms, and a voice slipped from her lips. Looking at his wild hair, she said, "Bumi."