WARNING: Reference to past miscarriage.

It was very late at night when Azula finally made it back to her rooms. To her surprise, light was still shining from under the door. When she opened it, she saw Tom-Tom sitting in his armchair in the living room, reading.

"Well?" was the first thing out his mouth as he stood up.

"A healthy girl," Azula informed him, trying to keep her voice completely normal. "They're going to name her Rinko…in honor of Zoren's aunt, I believe. Kiyi's doing well, too." She sighed. "You dolt. I told you that you didn't have to stay up waiting for me."

"You did tell me that," Tom-Tom agreed. "But I decided I wanted to anyway. I knew that you…that this would be tough on you."

Azula knew that there was no denying it now. She sank into her own chair, mumbling, "Was it really that obvious?" It had indeed been difficult, to see Kiyi holding her first child; she herself would have been due within days of her younger half-sister if she hadn't lost the pregnancy six months ago.

"Oh, Azula…" was all Tom-Tom said. He rushed over and knelt at her feet, just as he'd done during his first proposal attempt.

She felt the urge to burst into tears, but decided that today, she wouldn't give in to it. Instead, she forced her voice to remain calm, and remarked, "You remember that I saw Dr. Liu a few weeks ago, right? And how she said that enough time had passed that we can try again? Today would actually be the ideal day for that cycle-wise." She'd been meaning to mention it to him this morning, but Kiyi had gone into labor before she could find the right moment. It wasn't like they could afford to wait much longer; Azula was almost thirty-four, and not getting any younger.

Tom-Tom placed one of her hands in between his. "Are you sure? That's putting a lot of pressure on yourself. You don't need to have children; I'll love you whether we have any or not. Don't you know that?"

In response, Azula rose from her chair and pulled her husband to his feet.

"Of course I know that, dum-dum," she said. "But what about what I want? Just like you wanted to stay up till who-knows-when tonight."

Tom-Tom smiled sheepishly. "Point taken." Neither of them saw fit to mention that staying up late wasn't quite the same as bringing a whole new life into the world. But they'd already done all the planning the first time around. Granted, making financial arrangements for a baby was a bit easier when one lived in a palace.

Azula leaned forward and kissed him; despite the fact that this was a spur-of-the-moment attempt at procreation, she was beginning to feel the first whisperings of desire.

Tom-Tom held her face in his hands. "Just promise me one thing."

"And what is that, dearest husband?"

"If this does work, and you start to feel like something's wrong at any time…see the doctor right away, okay?" He was referring to how the evening Azula miscarried, she hadn't wanted to trouble Dr Liu when she first started feeling unwell, saying it could wait until morning. By the time she had realized something was very wrong, she'd been incapacitated so quickly that she'd had no time to seek help. Tom-Tom had likely saved her life when he came back early from dinner to check on her.

Azula looked straight into his eyes, so he'd know she was taking this seriously. "I promise."

"Should I do something? You know, to make it more romantic?" asked Tom-Tom. The two of them were sitting on opposite sides of their bed, taking off their outer layers of clothing.

Azula shrugged. "If you want to. Just no singing, please. Last time, the mirror almost cracked." Her husband had a very many good qualities, but musical talent was not among them.

"Hey! I'll have you know that komodo rhinos find my singing to be the finest of mating calls."

Azula put on an air of mock offense. "Tom-Tom! Do I look like a komodo rhino to you!? The nerve!" Tom-Tom backed off immediately.

"No, no, of course you don't! Did it sound like I did? I'm sorry." Poor, sweet Tom-Tom. Sometimes Azula forgot how sensitive he really was.

"It's okay, dear husband. I knew that," she reassured him, shedding her tunic. "Although if this goes well, I might be about as big as one in nine months. Now scoot over here and help me take off my bindings, will you?"

One thing that would never, ever get old was seeing how big Tom-Tom's eyes got whenever Azula bared her breasts for him. Her eyes closed in pleasure as he held them in his hands. His ministrations were almost reverent: first stroking, then quickly progressing to licking. Who could have ever guessed from his perfectly proper courtship of her that he'd be such a raging boob man? However, he was no longer the blushing innocent he'd been on their wedding night. In a mere thirteen months of marriage, he had learned an incredible amount. All too soon, Azula grew too aroused from his expert touching to keep it restricted to above her waist.

She fell back onto the bed, removing her underwear and spreading her legs. Tom-Tom immediately redirected his attention, oiling his fingers well and tending to the area without her having to say a word. He knew exactly where her "spot" was, and the exact moment when she was close enough that he could switch to using his mouth to finish her. As Azula cried out in fulfillment, she wondered which lucky servants got to overhear her vocalizations tonight. Apparently, they were a topic of much amusement and gambling amongst the palace staff.

On other occasions, Azula would return the favor; Tom-Tom was young enough that he could be ready again in almost no time at all. However, this time, she wanted to take every chance at impregnation that she could get. As Tom-Tom lay on his side, awaiting her next move, she made as if to stretch her arms, "accidentally" brushing her hand against his still fully-clothed groin.

"Oh! Someone's still in need!" she exclaimed. "We can't let that continue, now, can we?" He appeared to have gotten fully erect simply from touching her.

Once any and all interfering articles of clothing were gotten rid of, her husband lay on his back out of habit with an anticipatory smile on his face. However, rather than straddle her husband as she usually did, Azula lay on her back, rolling him over on top of her. Tom-Tom looked mildly surprised.

"I read that the chances of conception are higher this way," she explained to him. "Now get on with it before you explode, silly."

He did just that. Azula was so well-lubricated from her recent orgasm and the oil that his hardness slipped in almost of its own volition. She gave a contented little hmmm as she felt him inside her, and she wrapped her arms around him as he slowly started to move. When she'd been younger, she'd thought that all sex had to be rough and fast and heated to be worth it. But if she'd taught Tom-Tom a lot of things, he'd done the same for her. To be fair, he wasn't averse to rougher sex if that was what was needed at the moment. However, he'd helped her see that sex could also be enjoyable even if it was leisurely and gentle; lovemaking in every sense of the word. Her husband seemed to take the most pleasure from hers, as counterintuitive as that had once seemed to her. He liked nothing so much as her whispered words of praise and encouragement, telling him what felt especially good.

After he finished, sighing her name (he tended to be a lot quieter about the whole thing than she was), Azula lay still on her back as long as she could before she inevitably had to get up to pee, to help the sperm get started on their way. When she returned to the bed, Tom-Tom had moved back onto his side, and the two of them probably looked for all the world like the cover image on a cheesy romance novel.

Winding a wisp of her husband's wayward hair around her finger, she thought on how once she may have scoffed at anyone who had told her that this was how she'd find happiness. Indeed, many people at court didn't get it. They thought in terms of Tom-Tom "domesticating" her, or of her "outgrowing" her attraction to women. But that wasn't what it was like at all. After Ozai's abuse of her, which had led to her being hospitalized for most of her teens, she'd had to start her whole emotional development over almost from the beginning. And the experimentation in her youth had been an integral part of her quest to find out who she truly was. She'd never for one second regretted it; neither had she ceased being attracted to women simply because she was married to a man.

They'd all had fun, and then had moved on with their lives. Sokka had reconnected with his Suki, and the two of them had married almost three years ago. Ty Lee, on the other hand, had decided after trying several relationships that she preferred the single life with her pet cat-owls; she often joked that she was married to her career. And now Azula had her own future to look forward to, as a diplomat, spymaster, tactician, and expert firebender…but now also as a wife, and, hopefully soon, a mother.

"What're you thinking?" Tom-Tom asked. Azula smiled and told him the truth.

"About how lucky I am."

A/N: I'm really hoping that I was able to do the momentous chapter number of 69 justice with these scenes!