Forever Family

Katara groggily lifted her head as she was woken up by light spilling into their bedroom. The door closed and the room was pitched into darkness again, but she could hear the little paddling of feet and some sniffling. She felt the bed move as Zuko sat up, calling fire to his palm.

"Mommy?"

Katara felt her heart break a little bit at her son's whimper. She could barely make out his shape in the dark room- even with the flickering light of Zuko's flames. She reached out her hand to him as he drew closer, "What's wrong baby?"

"I- I-" Kai took shuddering breaths, tears overflowing his eyes and running down over her hand.

The room went dark again as Zuko reached over her, hooking under Kai's arms to drag him up into their large bed. He sat his son in his lap, Kai immediately snuggling into his chest as he hiccuped small sobs. "Shhh, you're okay, buddy. You're okay."

Katara sat up and reached over to light an oil lamp on her nightstand. It let off much more light. Finally she could see Kai's face more clearly. The tears in his golden eyes were making her heart twinge. Her poor babe.

"I had a bad dream." Kai whined, burying his face in his father's tunic. Zuko kissed his head.

Katara reached out and ran her hand up and down his back, trying to calm him down. She scooted closer to them. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kai shook his head stubbornly. Katara smoothed her hand over his curly hair. "Okay, sweetie. Do you want to sleep in here with us? Or Daddy can go tuck you in again."

The young prince clung harder to his father, shaking his head again. Katara and Zuko met eyes and Katara shrugged helplessly. In moments like these, she always remembered what her mother did to calm her when she was younger, what she often now sang to her own children rocking them to sleep. So she began to hum a Southern Water Tribe lullaby.

Eventually the soft tune and his parent's gentle caresses soothed the child back into sleep. Zuko carefully leaned back with Kai on his chest. "I'm glad he didn't wake his sister at least."

Katara rubbed her abdomen. "Oh one of them is awake. And kicking me."

Her husband placed his warm hand to her slightly bulging stomach. He pouted up at her, "I don't feel anything."

She smiled at him, "She's still too small for you to feel anything yet. But trust me, she's kicking."

His deep voice chuckled and the room pitched into blackness again as she turned off the oil lamp. She shifted to lay back... If she could get comfortable again to fall back asleep now (and she knew her insomnia and discomfort would only grow as her stomach did). She turned on her side, admiring her husband and son. Zuko was already falling back asleep- he'd been working hard lately to quell some fighting towns.

She caressed her stomach, "Well, Zuri, looks like your papa can't keep his eyes open. He's such a hard worker. But don't worry, he'll make plenty of time for you, like he does for me and Kai and Izumi. We're really excited for you to join our family."

Katara kissed the top of Kai's head, snuggling closer to them both. She reached over his small body to cradle Zuko's face, her thumb absentmindedly caressing the edge of his scar. "I love you." She whispered.

Her family was all she needed.

Tomorrow is the last prompt in the December Drabbles Challenge and I'm sad about it. I had so much fun writing these! (I hope you had so much fun reading them!)

Feel free to send me some prompts to write! I might continue posting my own one shots within this 'Prospects' story, just not daily!

I appreciate the kudos and comments friends.