Weep Not Too Much – Alternate Ending
Chapter 21: Turnaround
Mai wondered if perhaps it would have been more prudent to keep that bit of information to herself. Nothing was certain or sure and she didn't want to raise her husband up only to make him crash back down again. But, damn it, their lives had been in such turmoil for the past month or so; any possible good news should be shared.
"What do you mean 'different'?" Zuko asked. He was afraid to hope that Mai's words might mean something positive. But still, he couldn't stop the little spark from igniting.
Mai stared into the fire, thinking carefully before she spoke again. The cool ocean breeze blew her hair about and caused a shower of sparks to fly up from the flames. It was beautiful and Mai got lost in watching them for a moment. She sighed then and glanced over at her husband. "I think that maybe I'm getting better. I'm not certain, Zuko, and maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But, I feel hopeful for the first time in weeks."
Her gold eyes were shining and she looked excited. Instinctively, her hands went to her abdomen. The pain had lessened just a bit over the last day. It was tolerable now, still present and strong, but she could handle it without any great difficulty.
Instantly, Zuko seemed lighter. The slump of his shoulders disappeared and a tentatively hopeful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Do you mean it, Mai? You feel better? That's the best news of my entire life. We'll get Katara to take a look at you. Maybe she'll be able to sense a difference too." He got up from his spot on the sand, bent down and scooped his wife up into his arms. "Please," he whispered. "Please let it be true." He kissed her with unrestrained passion then, covering her face and neck with his lips.
"Zuko." Mai giggled huskily and the sound went straight to Zuko's groin. It was a sound that he still found thrilling after fifteen years. "Nothing is for certain. Maybe I'm just feeling a bit better before things get worse. I don't want you to be disappointed, that's all," she added when she watched Zuko's frown return.
"You're right, of course, but it's something positive. I need to latch on to it. Are you up for a bit of celebrating?" He had a mischievous glint in his gold eyes now.
"Maybe." Mai drew the word out long and slow. "What do you have in mind?"
"There's some wine in the pantry. It's old and it's good. Let's have a drink." He put Mai back down on her feet and extinguished the fire.
"Remember, you and alcohol are not friends." The Fire Lady recalled the few times that her husband had imbibed too much liquor. The results had not been pretty.
"I know; one or two glasses, not any more. Maybe it will help you sleep."
"Okay, I'm game."
They walked arm and arm back to the beach house and entered the kitchen quietly. Zuko found the wine and two glasses, pouring a generous amount for each of them. It was strong and slightly bitter but with an underlying spicyness that was intriguing. Zuko was right. It was very good.
"Mmmm, delicious." Mai sipped at the deep red liquid and looked across the table at her husband. "Thank you, Zuko."
"For the wine? It's not a big deal."
Mai rolled her eyes. "No, for being everything that I need, I couldn't ask for more."
The Fire Lord blushed, partly because of the alcohol and partly because of Mai's words. "You're my wife and I adore you," he replied simply.
They sat quietly then and continued to drink until the bottle was finished. "Maybe we shouldn't have done that." Mai watched as Zuko stumbled up from his seat and banged into another chair.
"Sssokay. We'll sleep it off. It's not like we drink often." He laughed, grabbed Mai's hand and pulled her into his arms. "C'mon, there's something I want to do upstairs."
Mai didn't argue. She wanted to do the same something.
Everyone arrived eventually the next day, with Ty Lee, Sokka, Suki and their two sons coming first, sometime late in the morning. Zuko's and Mai's children were already outside with Tom, Toph and Iroh, busily playing on the beach.
"Can we play too, Dad?" Sokka's eleven year old boy, Qiu, pleaded with wide blue eyes. He grabbed his nine year old brother, Xing, by the hand and waited for the word.
Sokka and Suki exchanged a look and then they both nodded.
"Yay," the boys exclaimed and took off for the section of sand where the others were having fun.
"I guess Mai and Zuko are still in the house," Ty Lee inferred. "I'm going inside."
She began the short climb from the beach to the house, Suki and Sokka following.
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Suki asked her husband worriedly. "We never asked Iroh or Tom to watch them."
"Don't worry, babe. Iroh wouldn't let anything happen to them and neither would Tom or Toph. They're fine and I'm hungry. I hope the place is well stocked."
"You can always go fishing," Suki teased and gave her husband an affectionate swat.
"I wonder what Mai looks like?" Ty Lee asked over her shoulder.
"You mean you still don't know," Sokka joked.
"I mean her aura. I can tell a lot about someone and how they're feeling from that. How many times have I read yours?"
"Let's not get into that," Sokka replied uneasily. "It's creepy and you always see things that I haven't figured out myself yet."
"It's not creepy. It's beautiful. Some of the auras I've seen are amazing."
"Twi and La, she'll never stop now," the Water Tribesman whined.
"Sokka," Suki said warningly, "be nice."
"When am I not nice? I resent the implication of your words." He pouted exaggeratedly as they approached the large front door and knocked.
Zuko, hair still damp from the bath, pulled open the door and gave everyone a welcoming smile. "Hi, guys, it's good to see all of you. Are your kids down at the beach with mine?" He turned to Suki and waited for her reply.
"Yep, couldn't wait. You look tired Zuko and slightly hung over."
Sokka clapped his friend on the back and grinned. "Been into the good stuff, have you?"
"Yeah, Mai and I had a bottle of wine late last night, or early this morning. I'm not much of a drinker."
"So where is Mai?" Ty Lee's big grey eyes were full of worry and concern.
Zuko glanced over his shoulder to the staircase. "She's just finishing up her bath. We slept in and she's still really tired."
"She told me in her letter how serious this illness is and that death…." The former circus performer dabbed at her eyes. "She wrote that death is very possible. Oh, I'm sorry, Zuko. You don't need to hear that." She embraced her friend then, hugging him close to her.
"It's okay, really." Zuko hugged back then wriggled away from the enthusiastic woman.
"How are the kids dealing with everything?" Ty Lee's hand touched her belly fleetingly.
Zuko took note of the action and frowned thoughtfully. "Areyou pregnant, Ty? Mai did that…that belly touching thing with each pregnancy."
The woman couldn't help herself. She beamed, happiness positively radiating from her. "Yeah, I am; I'm due in about five and a half months. Gao and I are ecstatic." Her face fell then as she caught Zuko's wistful expression. "Geez, here I go, talking about my happiness, when you and Mai are having such a hard time. I feel terrible."
"I don't expect your lives to stop because Mai is ill. I'm really glad for you, Ty Lee. Congratulations."
"What's going on? Why are you congratulating Ty Lee?" Mai joined the little group, a slight smirk on her face. No one had heard her glide gracefully down the stairs.
"Mai, I'm so glad to see you!" Ty Lee leapt on her friend, encircling her thin frame and hugging with all her might.
"Um, that kind of hurts, Ty Lee. Glad to see you too. Hello, Sokka and Suki," she stated, peeking over her friend's shoulder at the couple.
"Hi, Mai; we're glad to be here." Suki gave her a warm smile while the Water Tribesman waved.
"Agni, I'm stupid. I always squeeze too hard. Let me look at you." Ty Lee stepped back and examined Mai carefully, muttering under her breath.
"She's reading your magical aura, Mai, watch out." Sokka gave Ty Lee a poke and laughed.
"Seriously, don't you ever learn, Sokka. Ty Lee takes auras very seriously and you have to admit that she's usually right."
"Fine, fine, I'll leave her alone. What do you see?"
"Yes, what do you see, Ty Lee?" Mai didn't believe in auras but was curious despite her doubts.
"There's a hole in your aura and that means disease. Makes sense, obviously. But there's a lot of green around your middle and green means healing. Agni, if I'm reading you right, I would say that you're healing, Mai. It will be slow but I think you're getting better." She shrieked with joy then and jumped up and down.
Mai shot her husband a knowing look and he smiled. Was it actually possible? Could they be that fortunate?
"I, that's wonderful news, Ty Lee. I've felt a bit better just over the last day or so."
"See, I am right. Oh, this is amazing. I was so worried and sad, Mai. The thought of you leaving your family behind was killing me."
"No offense, but I'm not certain of anything yet. We'll see how I feel in a few weeks and we'll see what Katara says. Hey, you never told me why Zuko was congratulating you. More good news would be great."
"Oh, yeah, I'm going to have a baby, Mai. Can you believe it? I know that Gao and I aren't married…"
Mai raised a hand to stop her friend. "You're together. That's what counts. And you should know that none of us care about things like that. I'm so happy for you, Ty Lee."
"Well, we were being careful…."
"Too much information," Sokka moaned. "Please, Ty Lee…."
The Kyoshi Warrior chose to ignore him. "We were being careful, but it happened anyway. I'm thrilled, though, because who know how long we would have waited and who knows if I would have been able to get pregnant in a few years. They say it gets harder once you're in your thirties. So, Gao and I are getting married in a few months. I'll be big but I don't care. He's got a sweet little house that's perfect for him and me and the baby. Is it wrong to hope for a girl?"
Both Zuko and Sokka stared at her with wide eyes. She hadn't paused once during her little speech.
"I know," Sokka said conspiratorially to the Fire Lord. "I'll never get used to that. I have a lot of headaches; a lot."
"Don't worry about them, Ty Lee. They just have a hard time keeping up." Suki glanced over at Mai and the two women laughed.
"Yeah, yeah," Sokka drawled. "Now, perhaps Zuko could show us our rooms so we can dump our things. I hope lunch is soon. I smell something good."
"Zuko can do that. The kids are all sharing one huge room. We thought it might be fun for them. There are futons spread out on the floor for everyone."
"That sounds perfect, Mai. Thank you." Suki embraced her friend and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Why don't you go get a cup of tea? We'll be down to join you shortly."
"I will," Mai replied and headed for the kitchen.
Zuko watched his wife as she walked, enjoying the sight of her and silently praying that he would be able to enjoy that sight for many years to come.
The remainder of their guests arrived at sunset, flying in on a happily bellowing Appa and landing in the back courtyard. Akihiko, Natsumi and Yasahiro along with Suki's and Sokka's boys ran through the house shrieking about the bison and the lemur that had most certainly made the journey as well. The adults followed behind, wearing grimaced smiles as the shouts echoed painfully through the hallways.
"C'mon, Mommy, Appa's here." Akihiko ran back to his mother and tugged on the leg of her wide pants.
"Yes, I think that I've figured that out," the Fire Lady replied with a wink.
"Momo too?" the little boy asked.
"I'm sure," Mai said and stroked the boy's hair. "Go on ahead and see."
Sure enough, Momo was perched on Tenzin's shouler and surveyed the crowd that filled the courtyard with wary green eyes.
"It's okay, Momo, you know everyone here." The nine year old airbender gave the lemur a comforting pat before setting him down on the ground.
The intelligent creature immediately went to Mai and ended up on her shoulder, tail curled loosely around the woman's neck. Perhaps Momo sensed her illness and wanted to provide comfort or perhaps he simply liked Mai. The gentle way he played with her long black hair seemed to imply the former.
Mai gave the animal a stroke and then shrugged. "What's up with Momo?"
"He's always liked you, Mai." Aang leapt off Appa and approached all his friends with that cheerful smile they had all learned to love years earlier. "How is everyone? How are you, Mai?"
The Avatar was twenty eight years old, tall and lean but strong looking with finely sculpted muscles that rivaled Zuko's. His face was more angular and a bit more serious than it had been when Mai and Zuko first knew him, bit his eyes, huge, grey and always so full of emotion, remained the same.
"Hello, Aang. You look great. Me, it's been a difficult and painful time but there's hope that I may be getting better. I'd like Katara to have a look at me."
"That's amazing, Mai. Zuko, you must be ecstatic. Katara, did you hear?"
The waterbender was helping her daughter, Kya, seven years old, down from the air bison. She gave Mai and Zuko a warm smile. "I heard. And I think that I should look at Mai right away. Tenzin and Kya, you can play with your friends."
Everyone exchanged greetings then, family hugging family and friends hugging friends.
"Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen!" Toph declared as she gave her oldest friends resounding punches to the upper arm. "I've missed you guys. " She moved on to the children next, giving both Tenzin and Kya a hug.
"It's delightful to see you, Aang and Katara." Iroh's gentle voice was full of wisdom and kindness. He beamed at the couple and spoke a few quiet words to their children.
Katara grabbed hold of Mai's arm. "There will be lots of time for talk later. Let's go to your room. I'm anxious to see what is happening. Are you all right with that?"
Mai nodded. "I've been waiting for you."
They slipped through the throng and headed back into the beach house and up the stairs to the bedrooms. Mai's stomach was coiled into tight knots. 'Let the news be good,' she repeated in her mind over and over again.