May 28th, Friday, Ba Sing Se

20 days. Less than one month. Less than one moon cycle. Sure, for the ordinary person, twenty days passed by in the blink of an eye. It's not a lot, and she knew it.

But for a pregnant woman with an ever-growing stomach, on the other hand, everything could change in twenty days.

That was made very clear to Katara when the dress she had picked to wear at Suki's birthday party laid in her hands, the zipper torn apart. She thought that, maybe, with a little bit of force, she could get it to fit but, no, it didn't. The brand new dress, which she had bought only 20 days prior, didn't budge, but ripped.

Katara understood that her bump would get bigger, and she was thrilled that it meant her baby was growing healthily. Every day, when she looked at herself in the mirror, she felt nothing but pride and joy. And ever since the gender-reveal party, knowing that she was having a son made the pregnancy feel even more real to her.

However, having an ever-growing bump meant she'd need to buy maternity clothes, and that was something she had been trying to avoid.

It hadn't been a problem to her at first, but when she took a look at the maternity fashion line at one of her favorite stores, she was disappointed. Instead of finding comfortable and beautiful clothes, everything she saw seemed to have come out of Gran-Gran's closet. Since the ninety-year-old look wasn't exactly Katara's preference in personal style, she had been putting off shopping for as long as she could.

But the dress had been ripped, and none of the party outfits she owned seemed to fit her anymore either. Every single item she had available was either too tight or too casual.

All these facts, unfortunately, led to the point where she stood in the middle of Suki's birthday party wearing pajama onesies.

It wasn't as bad as it could've been, she thought. They were plain onesies, didn't have many patterns, only some embroidery ones Gran-Gran had made, though they were rather discrete. Layering a jacket over it seemed to make it presentable at best, and with a nice belt, she could almost hide it and forget the fact that she was wearing pajamas.

Plus, the colored lights and the crowd also helped in her camouflage. Ty Lee, who had dragged her to the dance floor, was moving in front of her, mingling in the crowd, and Katara was suddenly very grateful that Suki chose to have a birthday celebration in a club. Despite not being able to drink anything, and having to be careful not to trip over while dancing, at least her pajamas were hidden.

Until Sokka appeared to remind her of them.

"Hey, Kat, aren't these the matching pajamas Grams got us for the Winter Solstice last year?" Her brother said, clearly inebriated. He seemed to be on the verge of losing his balance and falling over his head. He snorted, tripping slightly and leaning over her shoulder. "Ha, I still have mine. Suki likes them, she said I look hot in them."

Katara glanced over him, a frown on her face.

"Yeah, they are the onesies." Sokka snorted again as she said that, which further accentuated her features. "Hey! Nothing else fits!"

He continued chuckling, but fortunately for her, she already had experience with Drunk Sokka. She shooed him away, and he went straight to his wife, the birthday girl, who seemed to be having a lot of fun dancing with some of her friends from her hometown of Kyoshi Island. A little to their left, Toph played arm wrestling with a man twice her size, a wide grin on her face.

Pulling the jacket closer to her body, trying to hide the layer underneath, Katara excused herself from Ty Lee and walked to the back of the club, looking for a couch to sit down on, away from the loud dance floor.

The area in which the sofas were located usually wasn't the nicest place in the club, but her feet were already killing her. Many drunk people were feeling the effects of alcohol there, and multiple couples were passionately making out on the cushions. Mai and Zuko were one of those, though Katara tried to avoid looking at them in what was supposed to be a private moment.

Katara had been very happy when she, Sokka, and Suki received invitations to their wedding in Ember Island. After getting to know the couple better during the gender reveal party, she concluded that they were an incredible pairing, and she found that they fit very well with each other. But alas, having heard from Aang how long they had been together already, it wasn't a surprise. After dating for almost nine years- or so she heard- they seemed to still be just as passionate about each other. Zuko and Mai barely acknowledged the people around them, totally involved in their activities.

Sitting down beside them, however, was Aang.

He looked just as uncomfortable to be next to his friends as they sucked face, but upon seeing Katara, his eyes lit up ever so slightly. He nodded at her, the shining colorful lights of the club over his face, and gestured at the spot next to him for her to sit down. She took upon the offer, grateful for the opportunity to rest a little.

After the kiss that they shared at the Jasmine Dragon, during the baby's gender reveal party, neither of them said a word. The last twenty days were spent trying to avoid each other, always accidentally missing calls or interacting awkwardly. Small talk had been their best friend at the time, and he always appeared polite and caring, but she could see that his eyes had been foggy. It was a hard thing to notice, but Katara didn't miss it. The spark he usually had seemed to drift away from her.

Although she really wanted to be the first to reach out, to talk things over, she didn't mean to confuse him even further. They had a lot of baggage, and that was hard to handle.

"Hey. Enjoying the third-wheeling?" Katara said, a plasticized smile on her face, motioning to the couple beside them.

Aang chuckled, his voice muffled by the loud music in the club and the light in his eyes returning for just a moment. "Not really, but I'm used to it. Zuko and Mai were even worse back in our college days. I don't know if I find it romantic or just plain disgusting."

She hummed at his comment, only a slight tug at her lips, then she looked away and scanned the club, silence settling over them. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sokka at the bar for the fifth time in the span of an hour, excitedly waving at the bartender. Aang saw the scene too, his brow raising in concern, which she found justifiable. Her brother did enjoy getting a little too wasted whenever they went clubbing.

Katara glanced over the bar again, realizing that now, Sokka was surfing through the crowd with two drinks in his hands. He made his way to the back of the club, getting near them and flopping down on the couch next to her. When he did so, he spilled some of the contents of the glass onto his pants.

"Aang, buddy! Here, I noticed you weren't drinking and I grabbed you a shot!" Sokka lifted the cup, but the man raised his hands, apologetic.

"Oh, sorry Sokka, I'm not drinking tonight." Aang replied.

Her brother's expression fell, his pupils still dilated. "Why, are you driving?"

Aang looked at the girl next to him, his eyes lingering over her. "Uh, no. I'm sober in sympathy with Katara."

She turned, frowning.

"I don't mind you drinking, Aang. Don't stop on my account." Setting her hand over his shoulder, Aang tensed but shrugged it off.

"I don't mind either." His lips curled into a smile, the first one that night that seemed genuine. "Besides, it's fun to watch your drunk friends do embarrassing stuff."

That made her giggle. Having spent the last four or so months pregnant, she did have some experience in the subject. In one of her friends' get-togethers, her brother was so inebriated he'd forgotten his own name, calling himself Wang Fire instead. It was, for sure, one of the funniest moments of her entire life, and fortunately for her, the gang kept Sokka's new nickname running for a long time.

Her brother, however, upon hearing Aang's decision to stay sober that night, stared at him with narrowed eyes, not seeming very pleased.

"Party pooper." He groaned, chugging both the drinks himself instead. Then, directing his eyes to his sister, Sokka muttered. "Bye, Gran-Gran."

As her brother disappeared again in the crowd, Aang glanced at Katara, an eyebrow raised. "Gran-Gran?"

She looked down and pressed her lips in a thin line, embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm wearing pajama onesies my Gran gave me. She gave Sokka a matching pair, and he's been bugging me about it."

He leaned back, observing her figure and the clothes she was wearing. Suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, Katara fidgeted with the hem of her jacket.

"Wait, really? Those are pajamas?" He had a quizzed look on his face. His features softened again, a smile tugging at his lips. "Wow, I didn't even notice. You look pretty. I think you pulled it off."

She blushed violently, hoping that the colored lights from the club would help hide it. As their eyes locked, she felt like she could forget the noisy club, the alcohol stench imprinted on the couch, and her pajama onesies.

But then, after a while, his expression fell again, not changing for the rest of the night.

It was the weirdest, most quiet cab ride he'd ever taken in his life.

The silence in itself was already unbearable. Katara only ever tried to make small talk, about the weather and the party. In the background, some awful song about a secret tunnel was being played on the radio. The driver danced and hummed along with it, occasionally breaking the stillness of the passenger's conversation.

"This is a nice song, huh?" The man said, turning around from the driver's seat to look at them when the traffic lights turned red.

"Uh, yeah, it sure is." Aang mumbled, nodding.

And then the silence returned, staying like that for the next ten minutes.

It wasn't as if he didn't want to talk to her. He did, very much so. It wasn't about the lack of things to talk about either. It was actually the immense amount of things left unsaid between them, and it was suffocating.

Did she really mean to kiss him? What exactly did that mean? Where were they standing?

The turmoil in his mind made his stomach go into knots. Trying to find a distraction, he kept looking out of the taxi window, to the scenery of the city during the AM. The streets were empty, save for the occasional party people going back home. The traffic lights blurred his vision, his eyes almost dropping.

He was, however, suddenly very alert again, when they got to Katara's building. After paying for the cab, Aang insisted on walking her to her apartment, just to make sure she was safe. Right before she grabbed the keys to open the door to her place, he took a deep breath and leaned against the hallway walls.

"Katara, wait, I... need to talk to you."

She quickly turned, her piercing eyes staring at him quizzically. "Yeah?"

Nodding, he decided to rip off the band-aid.

"I am really, really glad we're getting along again. The time we spent apart because of our, uh, break up was very hard on me, and I'm truly happy to be your friend again, but... that day at the Jasmine Dragon..." He saw Katara take in a sharp breath, and he looked down, fidgeting with his hands. "It got me confused. So, look, I just need to ask you a question. And please don't laugh."

She stepped closer to him, nodding. "Oh, of course."

"Did you only kiss me because you're hormonal? Was it just something physical to you?"

Her blue eyes gleamed back at him, and she seemed confused. The air seemed to vanish from the hallway, and time slowed down.

"What?" Katara gave the smallest chuckle, but his face was still

"I'm serious." Her eyes widened and she frowned. For a split second, Aang's heart stopped.

She pulled her jacket closer to her body, her eyes still glued to his. Looking down, she took a deep breath.

"No, it wasn't just physical." Only above a whisper, she replied.

He shifted in his feet, and they stood in the hallway, now only a few inches apart. Aang's face reddened, but he frowned. "Katara, I... I need to know where we're standing now, if we are on the same page. I just don't want our lack of communication to get both of us hurt again."

She leaned against the closed door of her apartment, biting her lower lip.

"I would be lying if I said that I don't want to be with you. But, Aang..." Katara pressed her lips together as her eyebrows furrowed, her expression hardening. "I can't risk messing up our relationship like I did when we first broke up. Not when there is just so much at stake."

He stared deep into her eyes, his heart pounding against his ribcage. Looking down, Aang pursed his lips together.

"Our son?"

Her eyes started to redden.

"Yeah," She whispered. "Amongst other things. "

He tried to be mad, but he found it hard. In fact, he understood it. When she refused his proposal and shut him off, Aang had feared for the future of their baby. He didn't want his son to have parents who didn't get along, or who barely talked to each other.

But it still hurt, deep down. A part of him was still hung up on her, on the wish to marry her and spend the rest of their lives together.

"So… What now? We focus on being friends?" The words seemed sour.

Katara brushed strands of her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, that's… For the better."

Aang nodded and stepped back. When she motioned for her keys again, opening the door, he made his way to the end of the hallway.

She said it back and went inside. Before closing the door behind her, however, he noticed how a single tear fell from her eyes, and his gut twisted.

Turning back one more time, only to find an empty dark hallway, he sighed.