Chapter 2: Beautiful Days

Several hours later, Zuko awoke to a warm sensation and Katara's slim, or not so slim, figure came into focus as he blinked away the sleep from his eyes. He heard her mutter something as she moved closer to him and subconsciously placed a hand on her belly.

He secretly smiled knowing that inside her was their child, hers and his. He never imagined that he would ever find himself in his current situation. Not only was he the ruler of the Fire Nation, but he was also married, to a waterbender that was his complete polar opposite nonetheless. As if that wasn't enough, she was also expecting his child.

He clearly remembered the day that she had told him she was pregnant like it had happened yesterday

Flashback-

He was in his study thinking over Katara's idea of forming an alliance with the Water Tribe when he heard a faint knock at the door. He didn't even get a chance to say "come in" before the doors swung open to reveal a weary looking Katara. She closed the doors behind her feeling his gaze on her every movement. She then turned to look him in the eye and tried to smile, but failed miserably.

"Zuko, we have to talk," she said, taking a few steps toward him.

"Can it wait?" he said coldly not bothering to look up at her.

"No," she responded, making him look up at her in surprise.

It was then he noticed her. He looked her over once, twice and saw something was really bothering her. Her form didn't radiate energy as it usually did and her blue orbs weren't as bright. He got up from his desk and walked over to her, lifting her chin to make her look him in the eye.

"What's wrong, Katara? You look pale," he spoke with a hint of concern. Had be been so caught up in his own world to not notice his own wife?

"Zuko, I'm..."

"Yes?"

"I'm pregnant," she immediately looked at anything but him.

He was at a lost of words and Katara took that as a bad sign, "I can get rid of it if you want."

"What? No! It's just... Are you sure?"

"Yes. I went to the clinic a couple of days ago and it was confirmed."

He didn't need to think about it any longer. Although his exterior didn't betray anything, inside he was ecstatic. He tried to act like a sensible man would but that was soon out of his mind as he picked Katara up and gave her a passionate kiss.

End of Flashback-

His memory was cut short when he felt something warm push hard against him. He looked down to see Katara trying to snuggle closer to him, pushing him to the edge of the bed at the same time. At this rate, he would fall off before she felt comfortable enough. He pulled her as close as humanly possible and noticed that even in her sleep she positively glowed. And he was proud to say she was his.

He bent down and nuzzled her neck making Katara let out a content sigh, but not waking her, much to Zuko's disappointment. He then decided another method of waking her. He climbed on her, as much as he could while she was pregnant, and nibbled her earlobe. Katara moaned softly beneath him. Her eyes flew open when she felt something hot on her neck and then a bite.

She tried to sit up but he task was impossible with Zuko on top of her. And he had recently busied himself with placing butterfly kisses on her neck. When he felt her relax he bit her playfully.

"Zuko, get off," she said, gasping as he repeated the bite.

"Why?"

She quieted down trying to think about a reason. Zuko looked down at her and saw that her expression was contorted into deep concentration, "You know, you don't have to answer that."

She blushed realizing that he knew she had actually been thinking about the answer to that. She tried to push him off but only succeeded in getting uncomfortable.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Her skin felt like porcelain against his, and he would know, "Your so delicious, Katara."

She playfully slapped him and gave him as mean of a glare as she could, "You pervert!"

He laughed, pretending like her slap had really hurt. He placed his hand over his abused cheek and put on a sad face. Katara ignored him and tried to get him off once more, "Zuko, come on!"

He ran a hand through her slightly tangled hair and placed his cheek next to hers. She rubbed her own cheek against his and sighed in defeat as he pulled her closer to him.

Eventually he left the need to let her go, especially since she had taken to hitting his chest, quite painfully. When he released her she sighed in relief. She got up and tried to smooth out the wrinkles that had formed in her robes but after running her hands over them for the 20th time she decided it would be best to just change.

She looked at Zuko, who was sitting on the edge of the bed yawning and stretching, and went to the dresser to pick out a new set of robes. She took her wrinkled ones off and was about to put on the new ones when she felt his hand run over her back. She stood frozen as he took the robes out of her hand and slipped them on her wordlessly. Then he wrapped his arms as best as he could around her and her inflated belly.

"You're beautiful," he said softly, placing his cheek next to hers.

"I blame you," she answered playfully, putting a hand over Zuko's.

They headed out hand in hand. Katara had pulled him into the kitchens where he watched her eat making the occasional comment about manners not fit for the fire lord's wife. All his comment resulted in, however, was getting a spoon thrown at him. He had dodged easily but wasn't so lucky the second time when she decided to throw her drink at him.

All in all, Zuko was enjoying his time at home. Each day he woke up next to his lovely wife and felt like he was in paradise. They would go out sometimes and it was often because she would take a reluctant Zuko with her shopping ("Are you done yet, Katara?"). For the most part they would just lounge around the castle enjoying each other's company. He knew Katara liked to spend time in the gardens, and that's where he found her today.

He tiptoed behind her, hoping to scare her a bit but it didn't exactly work. Just as he was about to pounce, she moved to the side enough to avoid him and make his stumble.

"Hello to you too, love," she said carelessly not bothering to look at him, but she did hear his groan of frustration and smiled.

He sighed in defeat and gave up on his surprise attacks. They never worked anyway.

"Let me guess, you sensed me with your bending?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I'll get you one of these days."

She bent down to pluck one of the many flowers, "Maybe sooner than you think."

He sat down on one of the man benches in the garden and motioned for her to do the same. She moved almost lazily and seemed to take her time.

"What's wrong?" He took no effort to hide the concern in his voice.

"My waterbending is fading." She gazed at some far away object and felt warmth wash over her as Zuko snaked one arm around her.

"How?"

"I don't know. The doctor said it might be due to the pregnancy, but I'm still not sure about that option. I mean, why would my pregnancy affect my bending?" She turned to him with curious eyes as if hoping he had the answer.

He shook his head, indicating that he didn't know the answer. She smiled weakly at him and laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. He entwined their fingers thinking about the fact that Katara would be vulnerable without her waterbending and at the rate things were going, that would definitely be a disadvantage.

He failed to notice when she removed her head off his shoulder and gazed at him.

"Don't worry Zuko, I'll be fine," she said reassuringly. She gave him a peck on the cheek before getting up to walk over to the water fountain.

He wouldn't worry for her sake. At least not in front of her.

"Maybe... We could go to the South Pole to see if they know what's wrong." He watched her eyes light up at the mention of her once home.

"And maybe we could visit your brother while we're at it." He saw her coming up to him and waited expectantly for her embrace, but it never came. Instead, he felt the coldness of water leaking through his clothes.

Katara laughed as she splashed some more water, making him stand up and stomp toward her.

"Katara, you know how much I hate water."

"Apparently not a lot if you married me."

"That's it, this means war."

"Let's see what Fire Lord Zuko has," she giggled but stopped abruptly when Zuko splashed water on her. She glared at him while he was busy laughing. She bended the water and threw a water ball at him. He growled and charged after her.

She ran as fast as she could, laughing the whole time. By the end of it all they were both soaking wet. She shivered as the sun set and the air became chilly. Wrapping his arms around her to keep her warm, Zuko led her inside to get cleaned up and ready for dinner.

When nighttime fell, they were both exhausted. Thy climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly, Katara in his arms and her head resting on his chest.

Morning came all too soon and he found himself burying his face in the pillows willing himself to fall back to sleep. He heard Katara, who was still sound asleep, mumble something. There was a knock at the door and he jumped out of bed to answer it before the person knocked louder and woke Katara.

He opened the doors to reveal the face of his Uncle Iroh.

"Uncle, what are you doing here?"

"I live here. And its nice to see you too."

"Shh! Not so loud! Katara's still asleep," he whispered pointing at the bed.

"Katara? Hello, Katara! Rise and shine sleeping beauty!"

Zuko glared daggers at him before turning to see Katara, who was now awake, yawn. HE looked at his uncle with expression that said "you are so dead" then went to greet his wife.

"I heard your uncle," she said as she stretched.

"You heard right."

"Good morning, Katara!" Came Iroh's cheerful voice from the doorway.

Zuko growled and Katara giggled.

"I'll be back." He placed a kiss on her forehead and left to talk to his uncle.

He motioned for Iroh to follow him to his study, where Katara couldn't hear him yell at his dear uncle. Once inside, Zuko looked ready to kill. Iroh wasn't phased though and continued to look as calm as always.

"What in heaven's name gives you the right to not only wake Katara up, but probably the whole castle!" Zuko shouted, sparks emitting from his tightly clenched fist.

"Commander Zhao took it upon himself to attack the Earth Kingdom. They have just declared war against our nation."


OoOoOoh, my first cliffhanger! Well, not really. I had unintentionally made one in my first fanfic ever. I didn't even know I had doneit untilI got a review saying that it was a cliffie and I was like, "It was?" (lol). Anyway! This was pretty much a Zuko/Katara time chapter. And don't you just love Iroh? He's so hilarious! I seriously wonder how Zuko is even related to such a funny guy. Oh! They're showing that new Avatar episode tonight! Zuko was hot (no pun intended this time)! Not that he's not hot now (wink, wink). I can't wait! Oh, sorry, off topic. Things should get interesting in chapter 3. Don't forget to review! And remember, Commander Zhao is EVIL, capital letters and all.