A/N: Hello beautiful world, I bring another one-shot for your enjoyment!

Sorry for being MIA these last few months, my life kind of got turned upside down (again) and now I'm having to re-evaluate and make some hard decisions for the future (sounds like fun, right? not). Anyways, thank you guys for your continued support. I am my worst critic and it always brightens my day to see how many people actually enjoy what I write. As for this one-shot, its not meant to go anywhere, just something for the feels.

Take My Hand

..

"Here, let me do it."

"Are you sure? I'm not that tired, I can easily—"

"Katara.."

Meeting his eyes, she knew there was no use. With a defeated sigh, she relinquished the young child in her arms to her husband, being careful not to wake the sleeping girl. With both Kya and Bumi safely balanced in his arms, Aang cut through their dark living room and disappeared into the hallway that led to the bedroom their kids shared.

Her gaze followed him until it could no longer, and then it flicked to the opposite hallway, where her and Aang's room was. Despite feeling the weight of the night on her heavy eyelids, the room seemed so far all of a sudden and her sore feet ached. Forcing her legs to move, she only made it as far as the chair by the fireplace and breathed a sigh of relief as her body sunk into its soft cushions.

She would just wait for him instead, she resolved, silently chastising herself for thinking that wearing heels while six months pregnant was ever a good idea. Unfortunately, with nothing but the silence of the room to engage her now, her mind wandered aimlessly back over the nights undoing.

Truthfully, she'd been less than thrilled about the idea of attending one of Republic City's presidential galas. They had been fun when she was younger, when she and Aang could dance the nights away instead of participating in the idle chatter around them. But, the older they got and the more involvement they undertook within the city's council, the more the years seemed to boil down to gab and gossip on the social scene and the harder it was to avoid it.

And, despite going into the night prepared for a scene given that her children would be there since Sokka and Suki were away on family vacation in Kyoshi and babysitters were usually scarce given the event's popularity, she'd still managed to somehow underestimate the sheer gumption of her own energetic son.

Even though her and Aang tried to tag-team watching their kids the entire night, their efforts were mostly in vain as the Avatar kept getting whisked from conversation to conversation and Kya wouldn't unhitch her shy self from Katara's leg. That only meant that at any given minute, there would always be anywhere from one to a half dozen women cooing and awing over her, and Katara's rounded belly carrying another young one hadn't helped the situation out either. It was a miracle in itself that she'd even been able to keep track of Bumi as much as she had.

By the gala's end, they'd somehow been able to leave unscathed and with only three ice sculptures shattered, a servant's robes stained with the house wine, and a trail of bean paste connecting their table by the windows to the dessert table clear across the giant room.

To say the night had been somewhat of an embarrassing train-wreck was putting it lightly.

She was sure her cheeks were still simmering.

Of course, the president and his wife had been rather graceful when dealing with the unfortunate happenings, to her great relief, but by the volume of whispers circulating before she'd even left the building, she figured it would be the hot topic of the genteel for weeks to come. The sheer thought of that was simply icing on the cake now as she rolled her eyes, still able to hear their hushed voices with clarity. She could feel a headache coming on because of it, seeping in as her brows scrunched together out of reflex.

Re-adjusting her spot on the chair, she propped her elbow up on the armrest and sunk her fingers into her temple, massaging it gently to keep the pain at bay. It helped somewhat as she shooed the fresh memories away. There was really no point in entertaining them any longer, what's done is done.

With her mind now as quiet as the rest of the room around her though, she realized there was a faint, but oddly melodic murmur coming through the wall beside her. A warm smile picked up the curves of her lips as she listened closer, eventually recognizing it as her husband's soft singing though his words were lost onto her ears.

The wall blocked any semblance of words she could hope to make out, but she also knew there was a good chance she wouldn't even know what they were even if she could. On the few nights where their kids were too tired for a bedtime story, Aang would often sing them an old traveler's song in his native dialect instead. It was one that he'd heard many times as a young boy in the monasteries, and while not conventionally sung as a lullaby, it was still lulling with its warm tone and idyllic rhythm. Something that was calming enough even now to ease her tense nerves a room away.

She had asked him about it the first time he'd sung it, but he never told her the words exactly, only that it was the story of a man who wondered from village to village trading what little he had to help people along his path. While it was a somewhat unsatisfying answer in its vagueness, she never found it important to push the matter because even if she didn't know the story word for word, it never failed to come to life in his silvery voice.

How every dip and cascading note reflected the man's endless journey, and every airy counter the gratitude to his kindness. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and hearing it never stopped her heart from picking up on the wistful love that laced every syllable. It made it turn uncomfortably in her chest, the sudden need to hug her husband always surfacing in times like these but... she stayed seated. Instead she closed her eyes and leaned further into his sound, listening with a soft heart as the story went on...

When the sounds of soft snoring from both sides finally managed to overwhelm his gentle singing, Aang smiled as he chose to hum the last note. He stood from his spot on the nightstand that separated their beds, and with the quietness of only an Airbender, he tucked both children in, laid a sweet kiss to their foreheads, and turned the lamp off on his way out of the room. He paused at the door, taking one last glance between Kya and Bumi in the dim light of the hall before gently closing the door and shaking his head slightly.

Their faces were so innocent as they slept, it made him wonder whether the night had even progressed as roughly as it had.

With his footsteps padding lightly against the hardwood floors, he turned the corner from the hall that opened up into the main area of the house and paused again, this time out of slight confusion. Had he not closed their door all the way?

Leaning back into the hall and cocking his head back towards the room he'd just left, he made a face seeing that, indeed, he had closed the door. Straightening back forward, he rubbed his bald head. Airbenders were known for their great hearing but... snoring?

He listened with more intention this time around and realized it wasn't coming from behind but actually from his side, by the fireplace. Curious now, he turned on a nearby lamp and was surprised to see his wife sitting there, gently snoring away as she cradled her head in her hand while her other rested lightly atop her belly. In the soft glow of the lamp, he could see clearly the wear of the night on her.

Despite the meticulous hour she'd spent pinning her hair into an impressive bun, her waves had come loose in a few areas and several pieces now framed her face more than the two she'd left out on purpose. Her makeup, although not as light as she usually opted for, had all but been rubbed off with only some leftover mascara and a faint tinge of rouge on her cheeks to show for it.

Still looking at her from his spot across the room though, he smiled. While there was no denying how breathtaking she had looked by the start of the evening, he'd be lying if he said she still couldn't take his breath away looking as she did now. She always did have that effect on him though, even when their biggest concern had been ending a century old war, and he knew it would never stop. Even when the day came that her dark brown locks turned to gray, and deep lines set in where none had been before, she would still be as beautiful as the day she had set him free.

After a few moments of simply drinking her beauty in, he decided it would be best to wake her up sooner rather than later. But, as he drew closer, he hesitated. She looked so peaceful; it elicited a tinge of guilt from within him.

He knew she hadn't been the most excited to attend the gala, but she'd gone anyway. Being the Avatar, he'd never been able to truly excuse himself from one of the presidents' social events, no matter how frivolous they'd been, but Katara had always been his relief during them. She kept him sane the same way he did for her when it felt as though conversations had the power to turn the brain to mush at any second. Even with two children and another one on his or her way, she still chose to be there with him despite his assurance that no one would fault her for wanting to stay home.

He couldn't count the many ways in which she supported him so selflessly, nor the many ways he wanted to thank her for it but knew all of them could only pale in comparison to the feelings he had for her. Of course, he did as much as he could so she didn't have to, but sometimes he wondered whether she truly knew how much he looked up to her. She was so strong, determined, so passionate. He knew the world looked upon him as a hero for being the Avatar, but what they didn't know was that she was his hero.

She had always been.

At that thought, he quietly steadied himself with both hands on either armrest and leaned forward towards her, ever so softly placing a kiss upon her forehead. As he leaned back, he took the opportunity to brush aside some loose hairs from her face before letting his fingers softly caress down her temple to cup her cheek.

As he did this, Katara stirred at his touch with a displeased grumble before finally leaning into his hand with a sigh. He chuckled at this and her eyes cracked open, revealing dark sapphire orbs.

"You stopped singing," she whispered with a bit of a sleepy rasp, pouting slightly at him. He chuckled again, smiling a bit wider at the face she was making. It was too adorable for him not to.

"I did; the kids tuned me out with their snoring." He smirked. "But, I can see now that they weren't the only ones I managed to put to sleep."

What started out as light laughter quickly morphed into a yawn only moments later as she asked, "can you blame me?" And he looked away. She moved to adjust her position in the chair and winced at the sudden dull pain that shot through her neck and down her back when she'd straightened up somewhat.

"No," he replied, his tone reflective of the forming frown on his lips as he righted himself also, pushing a breath through his nose as he did so. Katara paused the massage of the now tender part of her neck to look up at him, a bit concerned.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

He didn't look at her right away, choosing to bore holes in the rug that laid beneath their feet instead. "I'm sorry tonight didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped. I know bringing Kya and Bumi along wasn't ideal, but I should've helped out more. Maybe then we could've saved that second ice sculpture or..."

He trailed off as he felt something sturdy poke him in the thigh all of a sudden. Looking back at his wife, her face was set as she shook her head and shifted back onto the chair fully after reaching out to him with her still heeled foot.

"Aang, don't apologize. Nothing about what happened tonight was your fault. What's done is done and I don't want to see you beating yourself up over it." Though she didn't like it when he did this over things she felt didn't really deserve it, it still made her smile nonetheless seeing just how much he cared. As a reassurance, seeing that his frown still hadn't lifted from his lips, she added, "really, it's fine."

"But we never even got the chance to dance together and—"

His expression changed only in his brows drawing closer together as he made way to argue, but then he stopped himself. After a dawning glance around the room, it was as if a lightbulb went off in his head and Katara could only watch as a small smile spread across his face. Moving efficiently through the room, he turned the lamp off before heading over to the fireplace and sending a few fiery sparks onto the logs that sat within.

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked him, watching as a fire soon came to life within the small space, looking as if it were dancing across its wooden base. As its warmth began creeping up her legs, she turned her eyes back onto her husband, and his now outstretched hand towards her with a confused look. He only smiled back at her with a warmth that could rival the newly lit fire.

"I can't change what happened, you're right, but there's nothing to say I can't change how tonight ends. And, I just figured.. it would be a shame to let the most beautiful woman I've ever seen go to bed without at least one dance tonight."

She looked at his hand before looking back up at those smoky gray eyes of his, ones that reflected the dancing flames so well with specks of silver to draw her in. She had lost count so long ago of how many times she'd lost herself in them. His stare stirred something inside of her and she bit her bottom lip uncertainly.

"I don't know, Aang. It's already late and we can't wake the kids up playing the radio, not to mention these shoes are killing me and it's hard enough getting up out of this chair as it is and... Aang?"

Before she could even finish her thought, he was kneeling on the ground and slipping off her heels. He only broke eye contact with her once to get the single strap on them loose enough for her feet to slip out, but once done, he slowly rose back up to his original stance, once again outstretching his hand towards her as he said simply, "take my hand."

Looking at it silently for a few moments though, she still didn't take it as those three words slowly sunk in and brought to the forefront of her mind a rather old but dear memory. Snorting lightly at the parallelism of the situation, a small smile came to her lips.

"You said that exact thing to me the first time we danced.. do you remember that?"

Hiding the smile that wanted to show, he closed his eyes as if to remember, and hummed thoughtfully before answering her. "Hmm, dark cave, Sokka was my father, and the Flame-o's were playing their hit song while I showed a class of Fire Nation kids how to express themselves?" Cracking an eye open, he smirked. "Vaguely."

She rolled her eyes lightheartedly with a chuckle. "Vaguely my butt." She gave him her hand and his smile grew, the sound of her laugh being enough to send his heart fluttering as if he were twelve again.

Unsurprisingly, he was able to pull her to her feet effortlessly, and once she was safely balanced on them, he slipped his hands around her waist and drew her as close as her rounded stomach would allow. Slowly raising her chin up and inviting him in with eyes holding the depths of the oceans in them, he almost forgot how to breathe seeing the way her features just lit up in the amber glow of the fire.

"Did you know there was something I really wanted to do that night but I never did?" The words slipped off his tongue without a second thought as he glanced down to her lips.

Catching the smallest of quirks at their edge, he had a feeling she already knew the answer. She didn't say anything, only meeting him halfway with a growing smile, sighing contently once he closed the little distance left to reach her in a sweet kiss. It didn't last for very long, but it still left their lips tingling when Aang pulled away only moments later and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I remember wanting to do that so badly the moment the music had stopped and you were still in my arms."

"Really?" She nuzzled his nose before tilting her head once more to meet his lips, murmuring a simple, "me too" against them.

Once her words registered in his mind, he quickly pulled away, a bit stunned at the rather late revelation.

"Wait, really?"

She nodded, shrugging one shoulder slightly and he groaned.

"Now, you tell me."

His reaction made her laugh, seeing the adorable pout that quickly surfaced on his face. After a few moments, he watched as her laughter died out and she leaned further into him, sinking her face slowly into the soft layers of his robes. His grip around her waist tightened ever so slightly as he leaned down and kissed the top of her hair, easily feeling any leftover tension of the night melt away at the sound of her sighing so contently into his chest.

With nothing more than the silence once again filling the air around them, they slowly began swaying, letting their feet follow an unheard tempo. Without thinking twice, he began to hum along to it, its pace perfectly matched to the song he'd just been singing to their children not long ago.

It was low and nearly overcome with the crackle of the fire beside them, but at the sound of it, Katara relaxed even further into him.

"I'm glad you asked me to dance," she said after a few beats had passed between them, her own voice softened against the cloth of his robes. She was almost glad for it, it felt like anything louder could shatter this moment of peace.

He didn't say anything right away, wondering vaguely the double connotation in her simple thanks as a warm smile pulled at his lips. "Me too."

..