Acceptance
"You actually showed," Neo smirks as I enter the room.
"Yeah, well I wanna prove you wrong," I retort.
"Alright," Neo chuckles and I give him a glare which he just laughs off. "Here you go," Neo says and tosses me a piece of fruit that's in the shape of a plum except that it's lime green and has orange dots on it. I take a bite of it.
"Wow, that's sour," I say blinking so my eyes don't water.
"Yeah, sorry, should have mentioned that," Neo says humbly and I realize that the inside is a red color.
"This has got to be the strangest fruit ever," I say softly as I finish eating it.
"Alright, so I guess we'll have to see how you are in the morning," Neo smirks.
"Yeah, whatever," I sigh.
"What's wrong?" Neo asks looking at me as I head for the door.
"Nothing," I lie. "I don't want to be pregnant. Not now anyway?"
"Hey Haley," Neo starts and I stop with my hand on the doorknob. "Are you nervous about maybe being pregnant?"
"What if I'm not a good mom? I don't know if I can do this," I say and tears begin to fall.
"You are a great person. If you are pregnant I think that you would make a great mother," Neo says as he walks toward me and pulls me into a hug. "You are going to be just fine. Remember, you have friends all around the world that would stop to help you anytime; including me. I have a kid and if you or Zuko want any advice, just stop by and ask," Neo says.
"Thanks, Neo," I say and dry my eyes.
"Anytime," he says and smiles at me.
"Goodnight," I say as I open the door.
"Goodnight," he waves and smiles.
I smile back before I head down the hallway. Turning to head toward the staircase I see Jackie and Cheng making out.
"Get a room," I say as I start to head up the stairs.
"Haley, I didn't hear you coming?" Jackie starts.
"No kidding, I don't think you two would have heard a stampede coming, the way you were going at it," I smirk at her and she just smiles back.
"Sorry, milady," Cheng says.
"It's okay, and you don't have to call me milady; that's just weird. You can call me Haley," I ensure him again.
"Yes, um Haley," he says hesitantly.
"Okay, goodnight," I say and head back upstairs. As I reach the top of the winding stairs I look back down and see them kissing again. I smile and head toward my room. Opening the door I find Zuko with his eyes closed in bed. I sneak quietly into bed. He opens his eyes and they meet mine. I smile at him. He throws an arm around me drawing me closer.
"So how'd it go?" Zuko asks.
"Fine, so what'd Iroh have to say?" I ask changing the subject.
"Nothing much, something about tea and Pai sho," Zuko says.
"Okay, goodnight," I say giving him a kiss.
"Goodnight," he says before kissing me back. After awhile about worrying about the morning, I fall asleep in Zuko's warm arms.
I wake up hearing commotion outside. I get up silently and look out the window into the darkness. I see Jee walking behind his half of the people who are about to head down to the ships. Wanting to say goodbye I jump out the window and use my airbending to land.
"Hey," I yell running toward them. He, Ling, Cho, and Neo turn around. "Just wanted to say bye and good luck," I say smiling.
"Yeah, you too," Jee says and gives me a hug and waves goodbye hearing Hakoda call him. Ling and Cho each give me a hug before following Jee.
"So how are you feeling?" Neo asks once the three are out of earshot.
"Good, unfortunately," I murmur the last word.
"Well, if you don't get sick; I left enough fruit to last a month in the medical room. They're under the middle floorboard," he says.
"Why are they under the floorboard?" I ask confused.
"Because they are for you and they may be a little illegal here," he explains and seeing my confused face continues. "They're only grown in the Fire Nation," he adds.
"Oh," I say.
"Good luck," he says hugging me. "I know you'll be just fine," he adds.
"Thanks," I say before he heads down the mountain side.
I turn back after waving goodbye to Neo.
"Hey, Haley, wait up," I hear Katara yell from behind me. "I was saying goodbye to Dad," she explains seeing my confused face.
"Oh, I was saying goodbye to Jee and them," I say.
"Yeah, I know I heard ya," Katara asks now looking at me strangely.
"Heard what?" I think worryingly.
"Haley, why do you need illegal Fire Nation fruit?" Katara asks raising an eyebrow.
"Um, because I have this one thing which makes me get sick in the morning and it helps me not get sick," I explain weakly.
"What sort of thing?" Katara asks.
"Just a thing," I say hoping no one else shows up.
"Haley, you can tell me. I promise not to tell anyone else," she promises.
I bite my lip thinking to whether or not tell her. "Okay," I say and pause for a minute and stop walking.
"Well," Katara says.
"I'm uh pregnant," I say quietly.
"Really?" Katara asks with a huge smile.
"Yeah," I say softly and Katara squeals.
"So how is Zuko taking this?" Katara asks.
"I haven't told him yet," I reply.
"Well when are you gonna?" she asks.
"After this battle," I inform her.
"Haley, I think you should tell him now," Katara says.
"Why? What good will that do?" I ask.
"Don't you think that this is something you two need to figure out together?" she asks.
"No," I state back and she gives me a look. "Okay. Maybe, but what if he won't let me fight this battle. I really want to contribute to this," I say.
"Well, maybe he'll let you as long as you have someone both of you can trust is with you," Katara plans.
"I guess that'd be okay. Just don't tell anyone about me, okay?" I say.
"I promised and I never go back on my word," Katara says and we continue walking back toward our room.
"Thanks, Katara. I owe you one," I say as we head into our separate rooms.
"No problem," she says as we close the door.
I look at Zuko who's still sleeping. I sigh and begin pacing the room. "How am I going to tell him?" I think.
"What are you doing?" Zuko asks humorously and I freeze. Pivoting around I smile at Zuko.
"Come with me," I say and grab him out of bed and out of the room. He grabs a shirt before he closes the door. I lead him down the stairs and into the medical room.
"Okay, why am I here?" Zuko asks as I try to find the loose floorboard. Without answering Zuko's question I open the floorboard and he looks inside it.
"Okay, why is there Fire Nation fruit in the floorboards?" he ask confused.
"Because they're illegal here," I state surprisingly calmly.
"Then why are they here?" Zuko asks.
"Because Neo gave them to me because I need them," I reply.
"Why would you need them?" Zuko asks raising an eyebrow.
"Zuko, do you know what kind of fruit they are?" I ask and he walks toward the open space in the floorboard and I sit down on a bed. Suddenly I see him tense then turn to look at me then back at the fruit. Now he begins pacing and begins putting his fingers through his hair. He abruptly stops and turns to look at me.
"Are you going to say something?" I ask after a minute of complete silence.
"How did this happen?" he asks unbelievably as he sits down beside me.
"I'm guessing that one night after the festival," I say smirking at him.
"Yeah, I kind of figured that part out, I mean how could this happen, now?" he asks. "When did you find out?"
"The morning you brought me to Neo," I reply looking at him.
"I knew I should have stayed," he replies. "Who else knows?"
"Just you, Neo, and Katara," I say saying the last world quietly.
"Why did Katara get to know before me and why didn't you tell me before know?" Zuko asks in a confused anger.
"I was going to tell you after this battle and Katara only knows because she overheard Neo and me talking about the fruit. Katara was the one that told me to tell you," I say not wanting him to blame Katara.
"So why did you want to tell me after the battle?" Zuko ask.
"Well, partly because I didn't want to believe I was pregnant and partly because I still want to fight in this war," I say.
"Well you aren't going to," Zuko says standing up.
"What? I can if I want to. You aren't the boss of me," I say shouting.
"You're pregnant," Zuko says.
"So," I say before he can continue. "I can still fight. If you're worried about me getting hurt, then I'll be with Iroh or someone the whole time," I say and Zuko sighs heavily.
"Fine," he says.
"Thanks," I say hugging him.
"I'm glad you told me," he says giving me a kiss.
"Yeah, me too," I say wrapping my arms around him.
"So, do you think he is…," Zuko starts.
"Or she," I say interrupting him.
"Or she is a firebender, an airbender, or perhaps both," Zuko says smiling.
"Dunno," I say. "Now come on, we need to smuggle these fruits onto our ship. By the way, which ship are we on?" I ask.
"We're not any ship. The ten of us aren't on any ship. We're traveling on Appa," Zuko says.
"Well, where are we sleeping then?" I ask.
"Oh yeah, we all are sleeping on one of the three ships we came on," Zuko says.
"Okay, which one are we on?" I ask,
"The same one we were on when we got here," Zuko states as a matter of fact.
"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" I ask annoyed.
"Revenge," Zuko says smirking. "Wait here, I'll go get a bag or something to put the fruit in," Zuko says and I glare at him as he walks out.
I sit down waiting for him to come back. He reappears with a bag and we put all the fruit in it.
"I'll go put it in our room in the ship," I say taking the bag from Zuko.
"I'll go I'm a faster runner," Zuko says taking the bag back.
"I think you're forgetting something," I say and take back the bag. "I'm an airbender," I say and use my airbending to run to the cliff and down it. Hurrying to the boat I put the fruit in our closet. After closing the door I head back to the top of the cliff.
"Done," I say to Zuko. "Told you, I was faster," I say giving him a smirk.
"That's only because you're an airbender. Without that you'd be slower than me," Zuko says smirking back.
"So, you're just jealous you can't airbend," I say smiling.
"Yeah, sure I am," Zuko says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.
"Anyway, I'm starving. What about you?" I ask realizing that the only thing I ate last night was that weird fruit.
"Yeah," he says and we walk inside just as the sun begins to ascend into the sky.
"So what do you want to eat?" I ask rummaging through the cabinets looking for anything edible.
"Doesn't matter to me," Zuko says looking through some cabinets.
"How about a fruit salad?" I ask not wanting to bake anything.
"Ok," Zuko says and we begin cutting up some various types of fruit.
"So you nervous about what you have to do?" I ask looking at Zuko as we begin eating.
"You have no idea," Zuko says softly.
"You want to talk about it?" I ask.
"Not really," Zuko murmurs.
"Okay," I say feeling down.
"It's not that I don't want to talk to you about it. You are the only person I'd want to talk about this with. It's just that if I do talk about it, I don't know if I can go through with it," Zuko says looking at me.
"At least you understand now how I felt after hearing I might be pregnant," I say as I finish eating. "I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it," I say giving him a small smile.
"Thanks, you're the best," he says and kisses me.
"So are we gonna tell anybody about us?" I ask cautiously.
"I don't think anyone needs to know, yet," Zuko says. "Uncle's still kind of giddily happy about us being engaged and I don't want to add this to that. That alright with you?"
"Perfectly fine," I say hugging him.
"We should probably go see who else is awake," Zuko says.
"Alright," I say and we head back out of the temple.
"There you two are," Katara says coming up. "Everyone is starting to head to their ships now so we're gonna leave soon," she informs us. Pulling me aside so Zuko couldn't hear she asks," Did you tell him yet?"
"Yes," I tell her.
"Oh," she says quietly and looks toward Zuko who's raising an eyebrow. "Congratulations," she says.
"Thanks," Zuko says and Katara nods before walking away.
I look toward the side of the mountain and see an enormous amount of people walking down it.
Zuko and I join the gaang who are standing by Appa and waving goodbye to everyone.
"So you all ready for this?" Aang asks as soon as the last few people are out of our sight.
"Too late to back out now," Phil says.
"Yeah and besides it's all for the good of the world, we have to do this," Sokka says.
"Thanks for the pep talk. Let's just get this over with," Toph says and earthbends herself onto Appa. Following Toph's example we all get onto Appa much to Zuko's discomfort.
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Thanks for reading. Please review.
School starts tomorrow. Just great.
I promise to update as soon as I can.