Disclaimer: Sigh. Don't own. If I did, I'd be the happiest person alive.

Note: Challenge fic.

Warning: You guys know already. It's the fifth chapter, jeez. You must've memorized the warnings already.

Thanks for those who review. I enjoy reading them! -

It was almost night when Iroh, Aang, and Katara returned, followed slowly by Appa and Momo.

"Finally!" Sokka exclaimed rather loudly. (He had just returned a few minutes earlier from his…walk…) "Did you bring me something to eat?"

Aang laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Well…about that…" He glanced at Zuko who was coming towards them. "We need to talk." Aang said in a low voice as he dragged Sokka off towards the edge of camp. Katara quickly followed a strained smile on her face.

Zuko blinked as he watched the two drag Sokka off, talking in low voices. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, nephew." Iroh quickly replied smoothly. "They are just deciding when we will leave, I suppose."

"And they can't talk about that while I'm here because…?"

Iroh shrugged stiffly. He hated lying. He was horrible at it. "Maybe they still do not trust us completely…"

Zuko frowned. "We've been traveling with them for a month now Uncle! Almost two... They—"

"And we have chased them for two…almost three years before that." Iroh pointed out.

Zuko sighed as he let the topic drop, seeing the point his uncle was making, but not believing it to be the case. But…his uncle would tell him if it was something really important, right? He hoped so.

"So nephew…what happened while I was gone?" Iroh asked pleasantly, but carefully looked Zuko over for any tell-tale sign.

Zuko resisted the urge to hit the old man. "Uncle! Nothing happened!" He almost screeched, then lowered his voice. "He spent most of the day sleeping, and after that, I spent most of it bathing!"

Iroh raised an eyebrow at that. "Bathing?" He glanced at the Water Tribe boy. "I wonder…"

Zuko rolled his eyes. For Spirit's sake… "He didn't watch me, Uncle. I would've known."

"Of course not." Iroh replied calmly, but didn't look convinced.

"I'm going to pack." Zuko growled, throwing his arms up in the air in surrender. Spirits! His uncle was so good at getting under his skin at times…

Iroh watched him go before noting something on the ground. Footsteps, and old ones at that. They were heading towards the woods, right where the river was. They were joined by another set of footprints that weren't made by standard Fire Nation footwear. Iroh's eyes narrowed.

"All right, what's going on?" Sokka asked, jerking himself free of Aang's grasp. Aang turned to face him, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Listen, we don't want Zuko to know about this."

"About what?" Sokka asked impatiently. Maybe Zuko was starting to rub off of him.

Katara sighed. "While we were shopping, we heard rumors…" She trailed off, looking at the ground.

"Sokka," Aang started. "Azula's heading this way."

"WHAT?" Sokka almost shouted, but was quickly shushed by the other two.

"Listen, Azula knows Zuko and Iroh have joined us." Katara quickly explained. "We don't know how she found out, but it doesn't really matter anymore. She knows. And the fact is, she's tracking us now to get to them."

"Great." Sokka groaned. "Just great. And why don't we want Zuko to know?"

"Well…we were kinda thinking…Iroh sort of suggested this…but Zuko already has enough pressure on him now… I mean, come on, he just found out he's pregnant…" Aang tried to explain.

"And?" Sokka questioned, not really seeing what Aang was getting at. "Azula's his sister. Shouldn't he know about it?"

"He will!" Katara exclaimed. "Just…not now. We were sort of thinking of giving him a few weeks to come in terms with everything and then we'll tell him."

Sokka stared at his sister and the Avatar. He wasn't sure he really liked this and he wasn't sure he was supposed to be telling them this, but more and more it seemed like he was becoming the voice of reason in this group. "Is that really…I don't know…wise?"

"Well, I don't know about that," Aang began, "But it wouldn't be really good if Zuko suddenly broke down from the pressure, now would it?"

No, it wouldn't. Sokka had to admit to himself. He saw their point, but still…

"Please, Sokka?" Katara begged, looking pleadingly at him. "Think about it. Think about how hard it must be to find out that you're pregnant and if anyone knew about it, they'd most likely kill you? Think how stressful that would be to have to change most of your habits and—"

"Okay, okay!" Sokka cried. Damn his sister for being so logical! "I won't blab, okay!"

"Thanks Sokka!" Aang cried, grinning widely. "Now let's tuck in for the night! We're leaving early tomorrow!"

Iroh managed to corner Sokka after dinner. Now, they were standing far from the campsite, in the dark woods.

Sokka shifted a bit, looking from the crescent moon to the retired General, who had fixed his most intense gaze onto him. "So…" Sokka started, trailing off quickly at the intensified gaze…if that was possible.

Iroh didn't even blink. "My nephew told me how he went bathing this afternoon." He paused, studying the other carefully. "But he neglected to mention where you were."

Sokka had sensed danger ever since he heard the words 'nephew' and 'bathing' in the same sentence. Uh oh. Overprotective uncle… "I was…out…" At the glare, he quickly added the first thing that came to mind. "Fishing!" Immediately he winced. Wrong thing to say…Definitely the wrong thing. "But in a different river!" He quickly tried to add. "Just ask Zuko! I came from the other side of the woods!"

"Fishing in another river, eh?" Iroh hissed. "Interesting. Why did you not bring back any fish?"

Sokka fumbled for words, trying very hard to keep from blushing. "I couldn't catch anything…" He said lamely, "They weren't biting…"

"Really." Iroh could see the faint blush creeping onto the boy's face. It also did not help to hear the blatant and obvious lies. Spirits, the boy was worse than Zuko! "You do know that in the Fire Nation, spying on another while bathing is severely punishable? Even by death if the person being spied upon is of high rank…" He paused intentionally to let it sink in. "But since you were obviously fishing, I cannot assume things, now can't I? Even with two sets of footprints going towards the same river…" He added that last part quietly, but made sure it was loud enough for the other to hear.

Sokka blanked at that. Paling slightly, he opened his mouth to say something, anything, in his defense, but nothing came out.

Iroh turned a little away from the gaping boy. "Personally, I do not approve of this relationship. Yes, I have always wanted grandchildren, and yes, I love my nephew dearly, but I cannot say I am very fond of you. Especially not after the way that you did it."

"Wha…what do you mean?" Sokka found his voice at last, but that first part came out as no more than a squeak.

"You know what I mean. I do not mind much that my nephew is pregnant, but he told me how it happened, and I cannot say I like that." Iroh fixed a cold, hard gaze on the Water Tribe boy before him.

Sokka took in a sharp breath, suddenly knowing what Iroh was referring to. That night… "He told you?"

Iroh nodded once. "After we found out he was pregnant, yes." Iroh paused. "I do not know how you viewed that particular incident," He paused as his nostrils flared, "—nor do I care. Zuko has already told me what happened and how it happened, and let's just say that was enough." He paused once more, before continuing. "I do not know what exactly you feel towards my nephew, but if you hurt him in any way, or if he complains one bit about you…" He let his threat hang, not finishing it completely. The boy was smart enough to fill in the blanks.

Iroh turned to go, but stopped. "And I'll have you know that when it comes to my nephew, I can be very dangerous."

And he left the poor boy shivering in the dark.

Zuko settled himself comfortably beside Appa, ready to take first watch despite protests from his uncle and the Avatar. Just because he was pregnant, that didn't mean he had to halt everything he normally did. Scoffing silently, he patted Yun, who was curled up in his lap. The little fox purred at the touch and licked his hand with a tiny pink tongue and yawned cutely. Zuko smiled at the little animal, feeling his heart melt. It was just so cute…

Quickly, though, he berated himself. A Firebender wasn't supposed to show emotion to anything…it was too dangerous. What if the enemy saw?

But then, he paused. Enemy? What enemy? He was in a camp, surrounded by a snoring old General, a sleeping Waterbender, a lemur, a bison and a dozing Airbender. The Water Tribe boy hadn't shown up yet. Dully he wondered why. The idiot should have been back by now. Great. What had his uncle gone and done now? He really didn't want to try to explain to the idiot's sister that his uncle had gone and fried the said dolt…

But some crunching to his left drew his attention. He stilled, but relaxed when he recognized the footsteps. He let out a sigh of relief. Never mind. He was saved from the explanations.

"There you are." He growled, petting Appa on the nose as the bison nuzzled against his side soothingly.

Sokka jumped and glanced wide-eyed around the dark camp, before noticing the golden-eyed Firebender staring at him. "Oh. Hey." He said as he edged towards the tent. "Night!" He quickly rushed in, afraid that the retired General (although fast asleep) may somehow wake up and find something wrong with the situation.

Zuko blinked. What was that about? He sighed as he leaned back into the soft fur, frowning. Everyone was acting weird now. Aang and Katara were acting as though hiding some important information, uncle was being an overprotective annoying parent-like figure, and Sokka was either trying to hit on him or avoid him. What was up with them?

He was beginning to hate this pregnancy thing more and more now…

The next morning, almost everyone woke up bright and early for travel. It was going to be a nice day to fly, with clear blue skies and a bright, warm sun. Of course, it was still chilly, but that was expected since it was early spring.

Sokka rubbed his eyes sleepily as he stumbled out of the tent to find the camp in chaos. "Wha?" He muttered, looking around.

"Finally!"

Sokka almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice. Whirling around, he came face to face with Zuko, who was holding a rolled up sleeping bag. "I was contemplating setting your sleeping bag on fire, but I doubt your sister would have been very happy. Now, make yourself useful and help uncle with the tents." Zuko hinted towards Iroh, who was just folding one of the two tents.

Sokka glanced at Iroh, who looked up. For a moment, they stared at each other, before Iroh's gaze hardened. Sokka gulped, remembering the threat. Him…work with the General who would… Images filled his mind of what could happen. Scary images involving a lot of pain and fire… He paled considerably. Finally he couldn't take it any more…it was just too much…

Zuko was just picking up another sleeping bag, when he heard a dull thud behind him. Whirling around, he looked around before looking down and blinking at the sight before him.

"What happened!" Katara asked in surprise, as she came up beside him, and she too, stared at her brother.

Zuko shrugged. "He just fainted."

Aang glanced over and snickered. "Sweet…blackmail…" And turned back to work, the image fixed in his mind.

Katara rolled her eyes at that, before turning. "Well…let's just leave him there. He's horrible at packing anyways. We'll wake him when we are ready to leave."

Zuko shrugged and hoisted the sleeping bag over his shoulder. "Wonder what I said…" He thought out loud as he walked towards Appa.

They were all sitting on the bison now. Aang was guiding Appa, while talking quietly to Katara, who was sitting beside him on Appa's head. She giggled a little.

Zuko was sitting next to Iroh near the head of the saddle, playing with the little fox. He was teasing Yun with a little fireball, always keeping it out of reach of the little fox as it chased the ball. Iroh was watching him calmly. Sokka, meanwhile, had placed himself at the rear of the saddle, near the supplies. Currently, he was rummaging through them to find something to eat…he was hungry. Again.

"Hey, Aang?" Sokka spoke up as he drew out some brown cloth, looking confused. "What's this?"

Aang blinked and glanced back. "Oh those…They're cloaks."

"Cloaks?" Sokka drew the brown cloth out and found that, indeed, they were two cloaks. They were sewn Earthbender style, and they had hoods. "For who?"

"Zuko and Iroh." Aang said as he handed the reins to Katara and slid down beside them. "Here." He took them from Sokka and handed one to Iroh and Zuko. "You could wear them whenever we go to a village or something."

Zuko took the cloak and unfolded it. Then he stared at it. And stared. "Aang…? I think you seriously mistook my size." He held up the cloak. "This is big enough to fit Uncle…twice."

"Oh that was kinda intentional…" Aang stated, scratching his head nervously. By now they had all come to know that that was a nervous habit of the Airbender monk's. "With the baby and all—"

Zuko's temper flared. "With the baby and all? What do you think I'm going to do! Swell up over night?"

"I hope not…" Aang said, looking a little worried.

Zuko slapped his forehead. "Uncle!"

"What?" Iroh asked, looking at his cloak calmly. "It will last you a good nine months, hopefully. We were just thinking ahead."

"But…but…"

"Now, Zuko. We won't be able to change cloaks every day, you know."

"But…but…"

"Zuko, it's not polite to refuse a gift."

"UGH!" Zuko finally yelled, throwing his hands up in mock defeat, causing Yun to squeak in confusion, as he was jolted out of Zuko's lap. "FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY! I'll wear the stupid cloak…"

"Great!" Aang said. "You can try it out in a few minutes! We're landing!"

Zuko blinked. "Landing? What for?"

"We need supplies." Katara replied.

Zuko stared at them. "But you all already got supplies!"

"No, not exactly…" Aang nervously scratched the back of his head again. "You see…they were kinda…out of some stuff that we really need…so we need to go get them…"

Zuko snorted. Right. "And you couldn't tell me this before because…?"

"We…uh…"

"We didn't know we needed them until this morning!" Katara interrupted quickly.

"Right." Zuko said. "Whatever. So what's really going on?"

"Well…anyways, there's a good place to land!" Aang pointed at the ground below them, quickly changing the subject.

Zuko snarled, but a gentle glare from Iroh kept him from saying anything. Fine. Let them be that way. He thought sulkily. Like he cared…

But he couldn't help but wonder.

Zuko fixed his best-honed glare at the silver fish swimming below him. Snarling, he tried to grab one, but the stupid fish just slipped through his fingers, its tail splashing him. Growling, Zuko threw a fireball at it, but the water just extinguished it before it came in contact with the fish. In response, the fish swam quickly away, but not before splashing him again.

Hearing laughter behind him, Zuko whirled around, but almost lost his balance on the slippery rocks. Luckily, he managed not to fall, not that it would've mattered. He was already soaked to the bone.

Catching sight of Sokka near the edge of the woods holding a fishing pole and some bait, he childishly crossed his arms and glared, raising his head just a little higher. "What!"

"That's not how you fish." Sokka pointed out, snickering at the sight of the wet Firebender. He had been watching him for the past ten minutes now before finally taking pity and intervening.

They had camped near the river. Katara had decided that it was too late in the afternoon to go down to the village, so they settled on having fish for dinner. One problem. They needed fish. So naturally, Sokka had offered to go down to fish, and Katara hinted that maybe Zuko should go along to help. Zuko had protested, but Iroh had thought it was a good idea (of course, after he had quietly threatened Sokka not to try anything). So while Sokka had gone off to look for bait and a stick, he had left Zuko by the river to start fishing. Of course, that was before he realized that the Firebender had absolutely no clue what he was doing…

But it was pretty funny to see how a small fish could irk a Firebender though…and how a tiny fish managed to get the best of him. Now, the said Firebender was standing in the river, with water up to his thighs, and dripping wet while trying to keep his dignity.

Zuko snarled at the fish, which had teasingly swam in front of him, lazily splashing its tail at the Firebender. "Fishing is stupid." He whined as he clambered out of the water.

Sokka snickered. "That's 'cause you're not doing it right."

"I was too!" Zuko defended himself, trying to save what was left of his dignity. "I was just doing it differently than you!"

"Sure…" Sokka answered. It wasn't often you got to see Zuko completely suck at something. "And we can tell from all the fish you've caught…"

Zuko snorted, breathing smoke. "You fish then if you're so good at it."

"Fine. I will."

"Fine!"

"I know it's fine!"

"Well that's fine with me then!" Zuko snapped as he kicked the water. "You and your bloody fish."

Sokka rolled his eyes as he tied the bait to the painstakingly carved hook and tossed it into the water, before settling himself down onto a small ledge that reached over the river. Stripping off his shoes, he let his bare feet dangle into the cold water as he calmly began the wait for the fish to bite.

Zuko snarled at the fish for a bit, hoping silently that maybe his glare was enough to kill it. Sadly though, the fish just kept on lazily swimming around, occasionally slapping the surface with its fins.

After a little while though, Zuko sighed, giving up. Stalking sulkily over to Sokka, he sat down beside him, folding his knees underneath him as he glared at the flowing river.

Sokka couldn't help but smile a little as he carefully glanced at the bender beside him. Hopefully, the senile old General wouldn't find them like this and wouldn't burn him to crisp…

But…

It was worth it to be able to sit beside the golden-eyed teen. Sokka smiled happily to himself, feeling calm and peaceful.

End chappie.

:growls: My parents aren't letting me watch Avatar… But, I am one step ahead of them! I have taped the episodes! Mwahahahaha! They cannot control me! For I am…the MASTER OF THE VIDEOTAPES! MWAHAHAHAHA! BEWARE MY AWESOME RECORDING POWER!

Ehm. Sorry. A bit hyper…

But is it just me, or does that recording power actually sound cool?

Okay…

Stopping now before labeled insane…

R&R please.