A/N:
Last chapter of the week! Enjoy!
Chapter 26:
It was just another afternoon in the Phoenix King's office, taking notes on him. Katara had made him the only thing he seemed to like that she made. He talked about his work to which did interest the waterbender. She laid on her side on the sofa writing in her notepad that laid on the armrest. One hand holding the quill, the other rubbing her belly. She was currently listening to him tell her about his idea to make travel much easier throughout the southern Earth Kingdom. It was fascinating.
As he told her about his idea for a system he would call a 'railroad', using a 'steam engine' that pulled carts of people along metal railing that moved faster than a ostrich-horse from one place to another, Ozai saw the way the waterbender was staring at him. Like a child listening to their favorite bedtime story. He didn't think she would be interested in what he had to say and in all honesty, he was sort of just thinking out loud and she just so happened to be listening. She had shown interest in the things he did before but he had never gone too much into detail with her because of the war and her previous allegiances. And she had never been this enthralled by what he had to say. So it was new and he was really liking the new her. Even if she didn't remember everything.
"So when are you going to put it into work?" Katara asked him excitedly.
Sighing as he adjusted his spectacles and pulled one side of his hair behind his ear, "I've already mapped out the blueprints but that's as far as I've gotten."
Setting her notepad down, Katara managed to stand to her feet and waddle up to his desk. "Can I see the blueprints?"
"Are you going to steal my idea and write them off as your own?" He raised his brow.
Chuckling as she shook her head, "No way, I'm not as smart as you. I couldn't pull something like that off."
Ozai smirked as he moved his chair back to pull open his desk drawer. Pulling out a long scroll and setting on top of his desk, he spread it out for her to see. He saw her eyes light up as she came around his desk to look at it. Her lips slightly parted as she seemed utterly intrigued.
"You thought this up by yourself?" Katara asked him. "Where in the world did you get the idea?!"
Ozai told her how he often went to Bei Seng Sei to discuss the consistent dispute of the boardering territories of the Northern and Southern Earth Kingdom. And every time he traveled there, he'd have to take that train system they use to travel between the rings of Bei Seng Sei. He said that's where the thought came about. But he figured it would be even better if it were on a massive scale. A massive scale and manned by a machine. Of iron and fire.
"It's not only good for travel but think of the growth in the economy. You could have not only people moved from place to place faster but goods, merchandise, and etc. You'd also be making more jobs for people too!" Katara had really gotten herself absorbed into his idea.
Glancing over at her, Ozai watched her hold her hair back as she leaned over to look at every detail of his work. He was about to say something. But he stopped himself. She was after all married to Arnook and pregnant with his grandchild. As much as he wanted to tell her that he wanted to kiss her, he knew it was inappropriate. But...that didn't stop him from checking out her backside as she leaned even closer. He was safe to say whatever he wanted in the confinement of his head.
Guess again, you pervert. Hama said in his head just moments before she came barging into his office.
Ozai's eyes fell dead on her and he didn't seem too pleased to see her.
Hama grinned, "Hey, sweetheart, what did I tell you about having your backside in his field of vision?"
Katara suddenly looked from the blueprints to Ozai and slapped him in the back of the head.
"Pervert!" She yelled at him.
Wincing at how hard she hit him, Ozai glared at her. "I'm not a pervert!"
"Then why are you looking at my ass?!"
"Because it's practically in my face. You act like I touched it!"
Katara scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, "Whatever."
Ozai returned to glaring at Hama, "And what the hell do you want?"
"Zuko's here." Hama said folding her arms with a smirk.
…
Having Katara go be with their son, Zhiar, Ozai had Hama bring Zuko to his office. Seemed he was upset. Still.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ozai asked as he sat there indifferently at his desk, looking at his son.
"I want to see Katara." Zuko told him.
Scoffing while finding his oldest son's request to be humorous. "You think I'm letting you near her? You must have lost your mind."
Zuko growled, "She's carrying my child!"
"And you hate her, so what's your point?" Ozai asked him. "You were about to jeopardize that when you tackled her and was about to strike her with lightning."
Clenching his fists, Zuko explained that he was just upset that she attacked him. He wasn't thinking straight. He just wanted to see her so that he could know his child was alright. It was still his intention to take the child as his heir.
However; while understanding the need for an heir as Fire Lord, Ozai wasn't going to tolerate his son's treatment of Katara. Especially not after learning that the woman was nothing like her former self now. If Zuko cared so much about being a father and claiming his child then he was going to have to show a little more respect towards the woman carrying his child. Otherwise, he was going to learn another cruel lesson of life.
Besides, Ozai was very angry with Zuko about what he did to his brother. Zhiar was only just waking up two days ago after being unconscious for two weeks. At this rate, Zuko was about to find himself on his father's bad side yet again and this time, it would be well deserved.
"You've done this to yourself, Zuko. This person you've become. You think I don't know the road you're going down?" Ozai narrowed his eyes at his son. "I'm warning you now that you're going to lose everything if you keep this up. Is that something you want?"
Zuko looked away from his father, "I'm not like you-"
"Damn right, you're not like me! Not even with your mother had I been so cruel while she was pregnant!" Ozai yelled.
Yelling back, "You hated my mother!"
"Because she was a bitch! A judgemental lying bitch! And if you knew your mother so well then you'd think I was a saint compared to her!" Ozai spat. "Remember that your mother left you and your sister! She didn't give a damn about either of you! I'm the one that was there! Not her!"
"It would have been better if you hadn't been! You treated me like shit!"
"Because that's what you were to me then and that's what you're about to be again if you don't stop this nonsense! You want to talk about how I was a terrible father well you're about to be no better!"
"I'm not you!"
"And I'm not my father but what made me any better than him, Zuko? I didn't rape any of my children, I didn't beat you endlessly, you never spent entire months in bed recovering from me nearly crippling you. But how was what I did better than that? You still can't even fully look me in the eyes. You look in the mirror and the evidence of my hate for you is present for the world to see. I wasn't my father but I sure as hell wasn't better than him. And you may not be me, but what's going to make you better? Not treating Katara like shit and blaming her for leaving you. Not trying to kill your younger brother. Not stealing a child from their mother. None of that shit makes you better than me. It just makes you a part of the same cycle of abuse and bullshit that made me who I was. You're not me but you're not going to be any different."
As much as he didn't want to agree with his father or acknowledge that his father was right, Zuko couldn't help it.
Ozai scoffed as he stood up from his desk, "You're not to go near her unless I'm around and if you disobey, I swear to Agni you will never even see the child!"
"You wouldn't-"
"Test me, Zuko."
…..
"Does it look bad?" Zhiar asked.
Katara shook her head as she wrapped a new bandage over her son's head. It looked a lot better than before. He must really be healing fast. Must be a phoenix thing he gets from his father. Ozai explained to her that Zhiar took after him and he only just found that out.
Smiling as Zhiar told her that he rather have her cook for him than the servants, Katara told him she can cook for him every night if that's what he wanted. When he was all wrapped up and his mother rustled his hair before kissing his forehead, she sat down on the edge of the bed. Her face slowly went from the pleasant smile that would warm him up to the look of worry that deeply concerned him. She looked at him with a somber look before looking down at her hands that she held in her lap.
"Why do you hate your father, Zhiar?" Katara asked him.
Zhiar was a little confused as he didn't know why his mother would suddenly ask him this.
"What are you talking about, mom?" He asked her.
Sighing as she looked back at him, "I was being nosy and took a scroll from your father's office. He wrote me a letter but never intended for me to read it." She said as she cleared her throat a little. "He said you killed him in the South Pole."
Zhiar furrowed his brows as his eyes widened and he looked away.
"So it's true?" She was a little surprised.
"He did bad things, mom, okay? He was a monster and everyone wanted him gone." Zhiar said. "I was doing us all a favor."
"Zhiar-"
"I'm trying to be a better son. It's not like he ever did anything to me anyways. Plus, everyone else is okay with him." Zhiar said.
Katara sighed and ran her hand through her hair. Well, at least things will be getting better from this point forward. So that was a relief.
Leaving her son to get some rest, Katara waddled to her chambers. Her feet were starting to swell. She wondered how she was able to carry twins. Just one was proving to be a lot for her. And her back was killing her. Maybe she had just been on her feet too much lately. She probably just needed to lay down or sit more.
When she made it to her chambers, Katara slipped off her slippers and plopped down on the sofa. She exhaled heavily as she put her feet in the seat beside her.
From his bedroom with a glass of wine in hand, Ozai watched the flames of his firepit. Just as Hama, Kya, and Katara used their element to see what was far from sight, he could do the same with his. And at the moment, he was watching the waterbender.
"Are you still perving, Ozai?" Hama said as she took a seat beside him, cuddling up on his arm.
Not bothered by her touching him, Ozai tilted his head as he watched the waterbender getting undress. He knew he shouldn't be looking but no one but him knew what he was seeing. Besides, he had seen her naked plenty. He had after all fathered her first two children. So it went without saying that he still felt some sort of entitlement to her and her body. Kill him for thinking so but he did. And most of it was curiosity.
"What did Zuko want?" Hama asked.
"What do you think?" Ozai looked away from the flames and rubbed his temple. "That idiot wants his child."
Hama sighed to herself, "Are you going to let him take the child?"
"Hell no." Ozai replied. "Nothing good comes from separating a child from their mother. I've seen it twice. Once with you killing all of Shin's household. And then again with how deranged my oldest two became when their mother left."
Hama couldn't argue with that. She remembered how angry she felt when they took her from her daughter in the South Pole. Then when Ozai was taken from her after she had raised him for all those years. Shin was the last straw. She lost it. And her children didn't turn out all that well. Kya was killed, Ozai became a tyrant, and Shin was a monster.
Pulling away from him, Hama suddenly felt an odd feeling wash over her as she thought about Zuko coming here just to take Katara's child from her. Swallowing hard, Hama stood up and began walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ozai asked her.
"Nowhere." Hama said.
Somehow, Ozai doubted that. He didn't bother to read her thoughts. He didn't want to know that badly.
…
Zuko was staring at himself in the mirror. He had pulled the tie from hair and let his hair down. It reached a little past the middle of his back. Clenching his fists as he looked at his reflection, he saw just how much he had started taking after his father. He always seemed to look like him when he wore his hair down. Agni, he hated it.
It's not like I still hate him, I mean...I forgave him, right? So why is this still bothering me?!
Maybe it was because the person he saw in the mirror wasn't him or his father as he currently was, but his father as he once was. He placed his hand and hair to the side of his face that had been disfigured since he was thirteen. It was like looking directly at his father years ago. The only difference was Zuko was not as tall as his father or had the same build as his father. He was thinner due to his mother's side. But his face, this was his father's face.
Removing his hand and hair, Zuko felt a little bit of gratitude that he was disfigured. If he wasn't then it would be unbearable looking in the mirror.
Scoffing at himself, I guess I did Zhiar the same favor. Zuko felt Zhiar looked even more like their father. He'd probably grow to be just as tall. Zhiar was eye to eye with his mother. No doubt about to surpass her. One day to be eye to eye with their father. And Zuko believed out of all his father's children, Zhiar took the most after him both in physically attributes and personality. He was an asshole just like their father and even as a teen, he already had their father's looks. It made Zuko sick to even look at Zhiar sometimes.
Zuko reached in the small bag he brought in the bathroom with him and pulled out a small blade. He took the length of his hair and was about to cut it when he suddenly felt a hand fall on his wrist to stop him.
"It's the one good thing you get from your father. Don't cut it." Hama told him.
Eyeing her in the mirror, "Didn't know I needed your permission, Hama."
"No but it would be a shame for all the women that admire you to lose interest because of your haircut." She told him.
Zuko rolled his eyes, "All the women steer clear of me."
Hama chuckled as she watched him put down his knife, "And why's that, I wonder. Couldn't be that you're brooding, could it?"
Scoffing, "Everyone still thinks I'm a rapist and it doesn't help that Katara was the person they think I raped. She was my father's wife. What does that make me look like?!"
Sighing, Hama wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his back. "You forgave your father but you won't forgive her. What makes her any less deserving?"
Zuko furrowed his brows as he hung his head and shook it.
"You were there for her and I know you tried your best to make her better. I know you did. You loved her. You still do. It's why you're so angry with her." Hama told him. "You feel like the least she could have done was stay by your side but you know deep down that wasn't going to work for either of you."
Tearing himself away from her, "Shut up, Hama! You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Actually, I do, Zuko." Hama said folding her arms.
"No, you don't! Katara swore she wasn't going to leave me and she did! She left!" Zuko snapped. "And to make it all worse, she was pregnant! She was pregnant with my child this whole fucking time! What if she had it and I never found out?!"
"Zuko-"
"Fuck her and fuck you for trying to defend her! You know that she was wrong!"
"Yes but she was probably scared, Zuko. You can't-"
"I can't what?! Blame her?! I can't take my own child?! Why the hell not?! Because my father and Arnook say no?! Because Katara's feelings are going to get hurt! Well fuck her! She didn't care about my feelings! Why the hell would I care about hers?!"
"Z-"
"Hama, leave! Please for the love of Agni, leave!"
The siren didn't need to be asked twice. She'd leave. Clearly, her powers of persuasion didn't work on him or at least not against his strong feelings of resentment towards Katara. She tried. She really did but Zuko was beyond her capabilities.
…..
Katara groaned as she tried cooling herself off and soothing her energetic baby. Between the hot flashes and the constant kicking, not to mention her swollen feet, aching back, and growing irritability, the waterbender felt she couldn't take another moment of this shit. She wished the baby was coming sooner.
Waddling through the corridors, Katara placed herself as best she could. Her belly heavier than yesterday, feet more swollen than just a few moments ago. This was starting to become more than she could handle.
"Your majesty?"
Turning to see the man from the other day, Katara paused and waved at him with a small smile, hoping to hide her pain.
"Need help getting around?" Shin asked her as he approached her.
Nodding her head, Katara hated to admit she needed help but she wouldn't let her pride talk her out of assistance now.
"Where to?" He asked as he took her arms in his.
Catching her breath, "The kitchen."
"The kitchen?" He raised a brow.
"The Phoenix King likes the sweets I make. So I make them for him whenever I go to spend the afternoon with him."
Shin went onto help her there. Seemed like Ozai wasn't being very subtle about wanting his ex-wife's attention. She had not only cook for him but keep him company during the day. Shin could laugh. Even with her memory gone, she was still that caring woman that Shin remembered catered to her husband despite hating his guts.
Grinning to himself, Shin glanced down at her as he walked her to the kitchen area. The servants all cleared out of Katara's way when she showed up. Some remembered her from working in the Fire Nation palace as they had followed Ozai here. While others had only known her by reputation. And while she was the sweetest soul you could meet, she was the Phoenix King's one and only love. Ex-wife or not. She was his woman and they wouldn't dare get in her way.
As one of the servants gave her an apron, Katara asked them what they were making today. The head of the kitchen brought a sample to the pregnant waterbender for her to try and she immediately liked it.
"La, this is good! What is it?!" Katara asked him.
The head of the kitchen smiled, "It's boar steak in mud sauce with potatoes and carrots. It's good for building up strength. Heard the Phoenix King's boy was not well."
"Zhiar. Yes, he's recovering. I was going to make him something else but if this is for strength then I guess I only need to make sweets for his majesty." Katara smiled back sweetly.
After Katara made sweets and she spoke with Shin the entire time, him asking her how her life was going for her. She told him with no problem. Telling him how she's still adjusting to knowing the former Fire Lord had been her husband and they had twins together. Shin chuckled and told her when they first met. He admired her. She was a strong and adapting woman. A compassionate person and a very tender wife.
"I used to be very jealous of his majesty. To have a wife that was once his enemy be so loving and compassionate towards him. You were a good wife, your majesty. A very good wife indeed." Shin told her.
Katara blushed. It was nice to hear that despite everything she learned, she at least was a good person to her ex-husband.
"Even now, not remembering a thing, you still are kind to him when not long ago you saw him as the enemy. You're an amazing woman, your majesty."
Flattered, Katara placed all the sweets she finished on a tray. She carried it by where Shin was.
"If I were still a young girl, I'd be fooled by that silver tongue of yours. Here." Taking one of the sweets off the tray to hand to him. "Gives you something to do besides run your mouth."
Shin laughed as he held the pastry to his lips, "Even as a mere girl, you never fell for it." He said before biting into the sweet. He immediately liked it and looked at the waterbender.
"Like it?"
Shin nodded.
"Good." Katara smiled and was about to walk off before a thought suddenly came to mind. "Ah, I've been talking to you all day and haven't caught your name."
"Shin. Shin Yong."
"Yong? Isn't that the name of the dynasty of Fire Lord Sozin?"
"Ozai and I are related on our mothers' side." Shin told her.
Oh, okay. Katara could faintly see the resemblance or maybe she was just seeing the Fire Nation features. Who knows?
…
"You're late." Ozai told her as the waterbender was just showing up.
Katara rolled her eyes as she placed the sweets in front of him. "I move a little slower now. My feet and back are killing me. Not to mention this belly is heavy."
"Why women continue to have children, I will never know." He said.
Going to the sofa to sit down so she could rub her feet, Katara told him that she wasn't going to be able to make him sweets everyday as she was tiring. He didn't seem to mind. Telling her, he was gaining more weight than he liked from her pastries. She laughed.
"From what I've seen you don't look like there's an ounce of fat on you. You're just all muscle."
Ozai begged to differ. He was definitely gaining weight. She didn't see the aftermath of him eating these damn sweets. He could pinch his stomach and have a handful of fat. Exercise would get rid of it but he had too much work and other things to concern himself with. When he found a moment to breathe, he'll get rid of it.
"I have a question." She said out of the blue after Ozai went silent to think up a workout routine to shred his fat.
"Hmm?"
"How were you while I was asleep?"
Ozai looked up from his work, "What?"
"Were you fine while I was asleep?"
Scoffing, "What the hell does that mean?"
Sighing as she felt she was going to get a migraine from even attempting to have this conversation with him. She repeated the question but explained herself a little better. Putting into words how he told her how they maintained a friendship, she wondered if he had been fine seeing as she was possibly his only friend and was asleep for seven years.
Roaring with laughter, Ozai dropped his quill and fell forward as he felt his gut killing him from how funny he thought her question was. She eyed him the entire time, waiting for him to stop. It was starting to get annoying. For someone that seemed to be serious all the time, he sure did seem to have a large sense of humor. Almost everything she said and every question had him like this. Was it that funny? Seriously?
Wiping a tear from his eye as he continued laughing, "What?! You think- *Still laughing hard* I was-" he could barely breathe.
And Katara was going to make it so he couldn't breathe at all in a second if he didn't shut the hell up.
Finally gaining himself but still very amused, "I'm fond of being by myself, waterbender. You needn't worry yourself."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"So you didn't...I don't know, have a falling out with our son and kill yourself a few times to make it better?"
Suddenly, the amusement wiped clean from his face.
"I thought so." Katara said as she stood up and walked to his desk, pulling the scroll she took from her pocket and lay it in front of him. "You wrote me but you never intended for me to get the letter. Why?"
Snatching the letter and setting on fire right before her eyes, Ozai narrowed his eyes at her. "Snooping through my things."
Crossing her arms, "I'm curious by nature. You should probably write that down."
"How about nosy and invasive." He snapped. "You shouldn't have read that! That wasn't for you to see!"
"Well, it had my name in it. So, I'm confused about which part I wasn't supposed to see. Plus, it concerns our children. I think I have a right to know that regardless."
Ozai stood up and scowled down at her, "So what, you think I'm ill fit to be a father?!"
"Hey, what are you getting defensive about? I'm concerned not just for them but you too. That's why I'm confronting you about this." Katara said furrowing her brows as she looked up at him with pure worry.
Narrowing his eyes even more, "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
Shaking her head, "I think you're sad. A very sad man."
"So you pity me?!"
"No, Ozai. I just wanna help. I'm your friend, right?" She said as she walked around his desk to stand right in front of him. "Let me help. Please?"
Ozai looked down at her and really didn't know what to say to her. He was still angry that she went through his things and found that letter of all letters. And most of his anger wasn't even directed at her. A lot of it came from him being embarrassed that she read it. Like she said, it was never intended for her to read that letter.
However; she didn't seem to be judging him. Not with that look in her eyes. And not only that but he just heard her use his name. Not your majesty or whatever other name she use to refer to him. She used his name. Agni, he hated that something so simple could be used to make him go from feeling like something so damn abstract and out of reach to feeling like an actual person. She made him feel that way. And not just now. But every time she was around. Even when she was mad at him. She treated him like a person.
Fuck!
Katara could see his guard was coming down and reached to hug him around his middle.
"You can talk about it, not talk about it. Whatever. I don't care. I'm here, okay?" She told him. "Just trust me. Please, I won't hurt you. I promise."
As much as he wanted to hug her back, Ozai wasn't very sentimental nor was he feeling too comfortable with this situation. It felt a little odd and made him want to fidget or cringe. But at the same time, he knew she was hoping for a gesture that would show they could move past this little moment of theirs. So he patted her head. It warranted a giggle from her as she then hugged him a little tighter.
"You ARE getting a little chubby. Wow." She said.
"That's it. Get off."
….
Once Zhiar was cleared to be on his feet, Katara wanted the family to eat together at every meal. And by family, she didn't include Zuko. Ozai added him. Neither Katara nor Zhiar wanted to sit beside him. Kya would. She seemed to be the more understanding and forgiving one out of the bunch.
As she didn't dare look to Zuko's side of the table, Katara stayed quiet the entire time. Afraid to say anything as it would warrant her ex-boyfriend's wrath, the waterbender focused her attention on her plate. Though she barely touched anything.
Zhiar didn't much give a fuck because if he could stand up to their father, he could do the same with Zuko. He didn't care that his brother injured him. At the end of the day, Zhiar was going to get even. Soon.
"Could you see to it that Hama stop showing up in my chambers?" Zuko asked his father.
Ozai cocked a smirk, "I thought you liked Hama."
"I do." Zuko replied as he poked at the noodles on his plate. "But I'm not in the mood for her right now."
"Why's that?"
Zhiar muttered something as he sipped from his cup about Hama getting tired of being called out of name. Zuko immediately glared at Zhiar and Ozai looked between the two of them.
"Eyes on me, Zuko." Ozai said.
"Tell your runt to shut his mouth!"
"Why the fuck would I listen to him?! You're dad's bitch not me!"
Katara's eyes widened as she was about to tell Zhiar to take it back but Zuko replied back.
"How about you go suck your mother's tit and shut the hell up?!" Zuko slammed his fists into the table.
"At least I have a mother, scarred-face bitch-boy Fire Lord!" Zhiar spat. "I know your mother's just glad she doesn't have to look at your fucked face!"
Before Zuko or Ozai could say anything to Zhiar, Katara slapped the boy across the face as she stood. Zhiar's eyes were wide as he hadn't seen it coming. His brother and father were taken aback as Kya tried not to giggle.
Pointing at Zuko, "Apologize now, Zhiar!"
"What?!" Zhiar looked at his mother, "He started with me!"
Raising her hand again, "Apologize NOW!" Her words and tone didn't betray the wrath in her eyes.
Zhiar reluctantly looked back to his brother and muttered apology.
"Fuck you." Zuko hissed as he stood from the table and turned his attention from his brother to Katara, glaring at her for a moment before excusing himself from the table.
When Zuko left, Katara continued looking down at Zhiar.
"Now apologize to your father." She said in a calmer but stern tone.
"What for?"
"This is his table. You disturbed the peace. Apologize. Now. I won't say it again."
Zhiar apologized and Katara dismissed him from the dining room. Kya bursted out laughing and Katara sent her on to her room as well. This wasn't a joke. They were all misbehaving like they didn't know any better and quite frankly, Katara was annoyed by it. This was her family. And when she thought of family, this was not what she envisioned. Things were going to change. A lot of changes were going to take place around here.
Ozai looked at his ex-wife and chuckled to himself behind his wine glass.
"You captivate me, waterbender." He told her.
Sitting down as she felt she had exerted the little bit of energy she had left. "Those kids are out of control. How could you let them go on like that?"
"I had a way of disciplining but I knew you'd object, so I became the more lenient parent. If you want them to be disciplined, that's your job now." He told her as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table.
"What?!"
"I don't mind throwing each of them off a balcony or crushing them into the floor under my boots but then I'm sure Zuko would have flashbacks, Zhiar would have a valid reason to hate me, and Kya- I don't really know about Kya." Ozai wasn't saying their daughter was a masochist but he did remember him literally kicking her out of his bed one night when he found she snuck into his room. She fell with a loud thump and crawled out. Next morning she was more clingy than he had known her to be.
Katara watched as her ex-husband was lost in thought. He really didn't want to discipline the children. She could see he knew where he went wrong before and was trying to avoid a repeat. So she wasn't incredibly upset that he was forcing this onto her. Being the disciplinary parent.
"Fine, I'll see to it that the twins are better behaved but Zuko's yours to deal with. I'm still mad at what he did to Zhiar. Besides, he's a grown man. That's not my field of expertise."
Shrugging, "Fair."
Standing up, Katara shook her head in disappointment. "I can't believe someone like you is trying to be the cool parent while making me the one the kids will res-
"Respect. They don't much respect me but I believe they respect you." Ozai tilted his head to the side.
Rolling her eyes as she walked up to where he was sitting with his feet up on the table, Katara flicked him in his forehead. "You're being lazy."
Rubbing his forehead as she grinned at her, "You think?"
"Yes, it's probably why your getting a little chubby." She then poked him in his side.
Ozai didn't seem to like that, grabbed her wrist wrenching her down into his lap. She tried to get up but he wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug and smirked as he pressed his lips to the back of her head.
"Don't tease me, waterbender. You make it very hard to respect the sanctity of your marriage." He whispered in her ear and a very husky voice.
Katara gulped. She could tell that she was making something else very hard too because it was pressed against her bottom with how she was sitting. Her face completely red and heated. As much as she wanted to get up. She was afraid to wiggle against it and make things worse.
"Umm...can I get u-"
"Shhh, stay like this." He told her as he closed his eyes. "Just a little longer."
That waterbender swallowed even harder. It's just a hug. It's just a hug. It's just a hug. She repeated this over and over again to herself as she let him continue to hold her.
…
Zhiar didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit. His parents were getting to close. Way too close. His mother was in his father's office every afternoon. They were always friendly and playful with each other. Borderline flirtatious, if you asked him. His mother seemed to side with his father on a lot of things and was becoming strict in how he or even Kya interacted with him. Zhiar didn't like this.
One day, Zhiar goes to see Kya to talk with her but she's hanging out with that stupid stuffed toy, Mr. Fluff or whatever she called that thing, and Zuko. He really hated how his two siblings got along with no problems. Even after Zuko tried to scar him and was mean to their mother, Kya didn't seem to care.
"How can I help you, Zhiar?" Kya asked as she moved her Pai Sho piece.
Glaring between Zuko and Kya as they didn't look up from their game. This was just like last time he spoke with them. They were playing that stupid game and half-way ignoring him.
"You told me if my relationship with dad got better than he'd leave mom alone! But their all buddy buddy now and I don't like it!"
Kya looked over at her brother, "What the hell do you want? For them to fight?" She scoffed and looked back to her game. "You know dad's really just trying to rekindle his friendship with mom. They didn't just fall in love, Zhiar. They were friends first."
"My point exactly! They'll just fall in love again! And then mom's going to choose him over Arnook!" Zhiar yelled.
Kya rolled her eyes and looked at Zuko, "Do you think my mother is going to choose our father, Zuko?"
Zuko shook his head, "Katara doesn't care about her feelings in the end. She's going to do what she thinks is right. And leaving her current husband for her ex, while she might want to, she won't see as the right thing to do." He said, moving his game piece to take one of Kya's. "I might not care for your mother now but I'm aware of how she thinks. Honestly, I wish she was a little more selfish and did what she wanted. She let's others convince her that what she wants is wrong and is easily manipulated."
Zhiar looked at Zuko, who then looked at him. "But who knows? Your mother seems more like how I once remembered her and knowing that, made she will pick our father. Secretly that is."
"What?!" Zhiar said.
"Katara and I were seeing each other when I joined the Avatar. But she knew how that would look to everyone else and she kept me a secret. Did it again several years later. So who knows? She's probably fucking our father right as we speak."
"Son of a bitch!" Zhiar yelled and ran out of the room.
Kya burst out laughing as she looked at Zuko, "You really hate Zhiar, don't you?"
Smirking, "As much as uncle and father hated each other."
Zhiar raced to his father's office to hopefully stop his parents from trying to get back together. However; when he got there, opening the door to stop his parents, he saw his mother was asleep on the sofa. Laying on her side. Above her was his father putting his outer robe over her as he then went back to his desk.
When he sat down, adjusting his glasses, Zhiar saw his eyes lay directly on him.
"Here, I thought you genuinely wanted to get along with me, Zhiar. How disappointing." His father said.
Zhiar glared and balled his fists, "I just want you to leave mom alone."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because I know you're planning to take her for yourself! You still want her!"
Ozai chuckled, "Of course, I still want her. But only if she wants me back. Otherwise, what's the point?"
"She's never going to share your feelings!" Zhiar spat.
Shrugging, "And if that's so, is that supposed to bother me?"
"Well...ye-"
"How about you go be a child and stay out of adult matters, hmm? You don't seem to know too much outside of what you overhear which isn't all the details." Ozai clasped his hands together. "You hate me and I don't very much care for you either, Zhiar. I'd say Zuko was a better son than you. So how about you worry about yourself, Zhiar, and be warned that there is only but so much I'm going to take from you before I snap and give you a real reason to hate me."
"But mom-"
"I love her but I've broken her heart before and she's forgiven me. Try me and I'll do it again." Ozai narrows his eyes. "If you don't take me seriously, I'll give you a little lesson in why I've held back from putting you in your place."
"My place?!"
"Yes, Zhiar, your place. You're just my seed. I can have plenty more of you and it wouldn't make a difference. Understand that your only value lies in the fact that you're the son of the woman I love and that's it. Outside of that, you mean very little to me."
"What about Kya?! Is she just that to you?!"
Smirking, "Kya and I have a relationship. So of course, her value is more than that to me. Just because I fathered you doesn't mean I have to care about you, Zhiar. Ask your brother how little I care about family obligations. If you don't like me, fine. I really don't care. You're not hurting my feelings. I've had people hate me my whole life. This is nothing new to me. So if you're done expressing your feelings of loathe, please do excuse yourself. Your mother is sleeping and needs her rest."
When Zhiar ran from his father's office, Ozai ran his hand into his hair and groaned.
Katara sat up and looked at him with narrowed eyes. "The only reason I didn't speak up while you were tearing into our son is because I can tell you didn't mean a single word."
Ozai rolled his eyes, "Go back to sleep."
"You're hurt. Admit it. Our son hurt you and you're afraid to admit it." Katara said as she stood up from the sofa.
Glaring at her, "I'm not afraid of anything. And our son didn't hurt me, he disappointed me."
Scoffing as she folded her arms and walked up to his desk, "Ozai, look at me."
Ozai refused.
"Please."
"Go back to taking your nap. You're disturbing my work." He told her as he shuffled his paperwork in his hands.
Katara felt she was going to have to resort to what she knew would get him to yield. She used to do it to Aang to get him to open up about how he was feeling. It worked on her brother, Toph, and even Zuko when he couldn't sleep after joining the group.
Walking around his desk, she was at his side and plucked the quill from his hand. Before he could tell her to leave him alone, she pulled his head to her chest and breathed in softly.
"Shh." She whispered and placed her fingertips to his scalp, massaging it as she controlled her breathing to be more soothing. She tried not to grin when she felt him melt against her.
"You're hurt, aren't you?" She asked him.
When he nodded his head, she felt his arms wrap around her and sigh.
"Who hurt you, Ozai?"
"My father when he beat me." He told her. "And then my brother when he would just watch. The nobles that laughed at me for years until I was Fire Lord and had them executed. My first wife when she looked at me and asked me to kill her because she didn't want to sleep with me on our wedding night. My mistress when she killed my third child before it was born. The people that treated me like an experiment and a wild animal. You, when you looked at me with loath. Our son when he looks at me that same way."
Katara hugs him to her breasts and continues to caress him. "I'm sorry we hurt you."
Nuzzling himself to her, "You sure you don't want to come to bed with me, Waterbender?"
Katara's eyes widened as her hand stopped. He looked up at her and grinned.
"Not in that way. Just lay beside me."
"Ha! Not happening." Katara grabbed his arms and pulled them from off of her. "That's crossing the line."
Ozai chuckled, "Fine. It would be too tempting anyway. You might actually leave Arnook if we-"
"Whoa, you don't know who I'll pick." Katara raised a brow at him.
Scoffing, "You're going right back to him when this is said and done. I do not doubt that. Besides, you're a goodie goodie. You wouldn't dare."
Katara felt she should be offended by the way he called her a goodie goodie. He made it sound like an insult.
"I'm not a goodie goodie!" Katara hissed. "I've almost killed a man."
"Correction, you didn't almost kill a man. You killed a man and a few others." He said as he refocused his attention on his work. "And if your not a goodie goodie, then you can just agree to sleep with me."
Slapping him upside the head, "I'm not sleeping with you! Especially not like this! I'm pregnant with your grandchild!"
"I'm sexually deviant that sort of thing doesn't bother me. Once I had…" Telling her about a few trysts he's had with his concubines and even a few encounters he had with her.
For the rest of the day, Ozai wore a red hand print in his face.
….
A/N:
Ozai wants his waterbender. He's not even trying to pretend. But Katara's not falling for that shit. As for Zhiar, just when you thought he was going to try to make things better. Nope. F is for Family :p