Part 2: Family Matters
"Surprise!"
Katara nearly jumped out of her skin as that word was yelled into her ear.
"Sokka!" she squealed, throwing herself happily into her brother's arms, forgetting her desire to throttle the screamer in the joy of seeing him so unexpectedly. He hugged her tightly, spinning her around until she laughingly warned him she was about to throw up. He dropped her to her feet then just stood there, grinning foolishly at her.
"Wow, what are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you for a couple of months!" For Mai and Zuko's cancelled wedding, as a matter of fact; that thought sobered her. It had only been three weeks since Zuko's impetuous proposal, and she was still dealing with the snarl of emotion her change in relationship with the Fire Lord had caused. A change in relationship she hadn't told her family about, and now here they were, sooner than she'd expected to have to deal with them.
Sokka was apparently bursting with news; he was grinning from ear to ear and didn't seem to notice the fading of her smile as Katara tried to figure out the best way to tell him everything that had happened in the past few weeks. "Suki and I decided to travel up now because, well," he ducked his head and looked at his sister bashfully. "We won't be able to in a couple of months because we're having a baby!"
"Oh, Sokka, that's wonderful!" Katara exclaimed, tabling her own news for the moment. She hugged her brother again. "So you and Suki are staying here to have the baby?"
"Yup, we're staying for a nice, long visit. Suki's getting our stuff settled into our house." At the war's end Zuko had assigned private rooms to all of the "Aang Gang", but Sokka and Suki, as a newly married couple, had been given a private house of their own on the palace grounds near the gardens, a lovely cottage with ample space for a baby, now that Katara thought about it.
"What about Father, is he still coming?" Katara asked anxiously. Her father was going to be even harder to explain this to than Sokka.
"Yeah, but not for a few months, just like we originally planned. Too much stuff going on at home politics wise for him to leave right away." Sokka's grin faded. "Stuff I should be helping him with, but he insisted that we concentrate on the baby and the wedding and just visiting with you, since we don't see you as much these days."
The last time Sokka had seen her was to rescue her from Azula and the few weeks afterward he stayed to visit, Katara realized with a guilty start. "I know I was supposed to come home for a while, but there's just so much to do here, and Aang and I were doing a lot of traveling..." Her voice trailed off as she realized she'd opened a subject she wasn't quite ready to discuss.
"Hey, yeah, where is the little guy?" Sokka still persisted in calling Aang things like that, even though they were almost the same height now. Katara blamed Toph; she was the one who started the nicknaming, and Sokka had happily taken it up as well.
"Actually, he's visiting the Earth Kingdom right now," Katara replied. "Shouldn't we be helping Suki? In her condition, she really should be resting and not unpacking."
Sokka shot a guilty look in the direction of their unseen house. "Yeah, you're right. But she did promise not to lift anything too heavy and the servants are helping her--" He broke off to chuckle at that. "Imagine, us with servants! But you must be used to it by now."
"Not really," Katara admitted, threading her arm through his and walking him firmly toward his house. "I think they've given up on me. There's this one maid who comes every day to clean my room and make up my bed, only of course I've already done it all, so she just comes in, looks around, sighs, and walks back out again. But she keeps coming back." Keeping to light chatter, steering clear of questions about Aang and Zuko, Katara managed to keep her brother distracted until they reached the pleasant cottage the new Fire Lord had gifted them with.
"Suki! I found her!" Sokka yelled as he threw open the front door.
Katara followed him in, rushing up to her sister-in-law and giving her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before stepping back to look her up and down. "Suki! You look wonderful!"
Suki looked down at herself. She was wearing an old tunic, had dust smudges on her face, her hair tied up in a kerchief with dark strands straggling out here and there, and a definite bulge in her middle. She looked back at Katara doubtfully, then they both burst into laughter. "Well, I don't know about me, but something about the Fire Nation must agree with you, Katara; you're practically glowing! It can't just be because of us!"
"You two being here and a baby on the way is more than enough reason for me to glow," Katara deflected the implied question hastily. "Shouldn't you be taking it easy?" She led the other woman over to a chair and sat her in it. "You don't have to do everything yourself!" She gave both her relatives a mock exasperated glare.
"I'm all for not doing everything myself," Sokka had the cheek to reply. He leaned forward and planted a noisy kiss on his sister's cheek before plopping onto the divan next to his wife and giving her an equally noisy kiss. "You hear that, little man?" he said to her belly, eliciting giggles from both women. "We're supposed to be taking it easy. Let the servants do their jobs, right, Katara?" he added with a sly grin.
She had the grace to blush. "Well, in this case, yes. Will you come to the main building and eat with us tonight, or do you need some alone time?"
She secretly hoped Suki would be too tired to even think about leaving the house, if only to give herself more time to figure out how to tell them about the change in romantic circumstances, but by the way Suki's face lit up, she was doomed to disappointment. "Dinner in the palace? Great, less work for me! Besides, they'll be sure to have enough to cover Sokka's appetite."
"Hey, I'm eating for two now," he protested, then blinked in confusion at the identical glares his sister and wife aimed at him. "What?"
"Never mind," Suki sighed with an affectionate squeeze of his arm. "So, Katara, what have you been up to lately? Fill us in on all the gossip!"
"Uh, why don't we save that for later, when we all have more time?" she said hastily. "I'm supposed to be, uh, in the gardens right now, that's where I was on my way to when Sokka ambushed me. Plus you probably should rest up for a couple of hours, maybe take a nice bath in the hot springs."
"Hot springs? On a day like today? I'd melt!" Suki protested.
"Oh, right, I forgot." Katara blushed. "But I really do have to run, I'll see you both at dinner, bye!"
Sokka and Suki traded startled glances as she practically raced out of the room. "What was that all about?" Sokka demanded.
Suki shrugged. "She's your sister, but I'm betting something's happened that she doesn't want to tell us about, at least not yet. I guess we'll just have to find out at dinner."
"Or ask someone else," Sokka said grimly, all trace of amusement gone. "At least we know Azula's dead, so it can't be about her." He shuddered. "At least, I hope not," he added fervently. Azula's ghost was one haunting he wouldn't want to face. "I think I'll get you settled in for a nap and take a stroll to see our good friend, Fire Lord Zuko. If anything is going on, he's bound to know about it."
Suki started to protest, then stopped when she saw the determination on his face. "Fine," she sighed. "I'll take a nap. Right after I finish cleaning." She brandished the dust-cloth she'd been clutching the whole time. "And yes, I'll get the servants Zuko assigned us to help with the heavy stuff," she added, correctly interpreting the expression on her husband's face. "You just make sure and tell me what you find out. It could be nothing, of course," she added doubtfully.
"Yeah, right. Nothing," Sokka repeated before kissing her good-bye. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He bent down to press his lips against her stomach. "You hear me, little guy? I'll be right back!"
Suki chuckled as he strode out of the room. "I don't have the heart to tell him I think you're a girl," she said, addressing her stomach as well. She patted it absently, then yawned. "Hmm, maybe a nap wouldn't be such a bad idea," she added, flopping down onto the divan Sokka had just abandoned. "I have a feeling I'm going to need to keep my strength up." She closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.