Fatherhood

A piercing wail brought the Avatar out of his slumber while his wife was awoken by the gentle prodding of a very new and tired father.

"Nope. Not going to happen. It's your turn. I am going back to sleep." Katara's response was laden with drowsiness.

Aang couldn't help but smile as he stretched. Weary bones creaked audibly along with the bed as the lanky airbender sat up. Bumi was extremely energetic just like his namesake, and sometimes Aang wished they had named him after someone just a little less fussy. He chuckled to himself as his feet finally touched the smooth temple floor, "Bumi is still finding a way to be a pain in my neck even after all these years." Katara rolled on to her back in response taking up more of the side previously occupied by her husband.

"No, no, really sweetie. I insist, take up more space."

She replied with a sleepy smile, "You're so kind when you're tired."

Aang held a smirk on his face for a moment before leaning down to kiss the forehead of his wife, "Seriously, sleep. I'll take a look at Bumi."

Katara's breathing evened out before Aang even took his first steps away from the bed. He began his trek to the room housing the crib. They had decided to permanently reside in the Southern Air Temple for a while until Bumi could start traveling with them. Aang and Katara had claimed one of the bigger bedrooms for themselves, and now three months after Bumi's birth had decided to place him in a room directly next to theirs. Neither parent had truly appreciated a full night's sleep in quite some time, but hopefully that would change as Bumi settled into a schedule.

Aang kept one hand on the cool walls of the temple to help him navigate. While he had been raised here, Aang never spent much time in the monk's quarters, so it could get dicey during the night. He had stepped on Momo one time and it was sufficient to say that the lemur was not particular happy with him that day. It only took about a minute to reach the room and by then Bumi had mostly settled down.

Moonlight streamed through the open windows, illuminating the crib that housed his son. The crib itself was a bright blue with the symbol of the watertribe carved on the side of it, a gift from Bumi's uncle and grandfather. Aang slowly approached the baby before peering inside to witness a look of what could only be called disappointment cross his son's face.

"Yeah I know its me. I would be disappointed too if I were expecting Katara." Aang joked to himself as he wrapped his hands around Bumi.

He cradled his son closely as he couldn't stop himself examining him. In that moment he could only think how much his son truly looked like his mother. The moonlight caught his son's eyes putting their baby blue brilliance on display, all the while his long and unruly hair that was the same water tribe brown seemed to have a mind of its own as it jostled. Aang loved how much he resembled Katara. Without realizing it the airbender began to hum quietly to the child in his arms as he slowly waltzed across the room. His thoughts drifted aimlessly as he danced with his son.

Aang couldn't help but wonder if someone held him like this when he was a baby. In the distant past, maybe there was a mother who sang to him at night while a father sat in the doorway to a bedroom watching the two most important people to him before he was sent to the temples. He felt relief that he was here for Bumi now, but Aang was also ashamed. The duties placed on him would eventually mean that he would miss things, like milestones and birthdays. Aang dreaded that day. He wanted to be there for all of it.

Aang didn't even realize that he had started to talk, "I hate that I'm going to have to leave you one day Bumi." The infant just stared back up, puzzled at his father. "I guess that you don't really understand now, but you will one day. Being the Avatar is a curse and a blessing because without it, a beautiful waterbender would have never pulled out of an iceberg and you would have never been born, but it means that eventually I'm going to be needed by the world." The baby just cooed back in response.

"I guess that means I should just say something that's been on my mind for a while now then Bumi." Aang suddenly felt tense as he was about to spill his secret, "I don't know how to be your father." He cringed at his own words; what kind of father even admits to something like that? "Its just that…I didn't have a dad or a family growing up. I guess I had brothers, but there were hundreds of us and none of us were related. I didn't have my father Bumi and I don't know what you need from me." He stopped his gentle waltz before finally placing his son back in the crib once he realized that Bumi had fallen asleep. He took a moment to just admire him before finally starting to speak again.

"I just want to do the right things. When you're feeling down, I want to say just the right thing to cheer you up, and when you're happy about something I want to be the first one you run up too to tell me the good news. I want you to be safe. I want to make the world safer for you. I want to make you proud Bumi, so that's why I'm so scared to let you down." The words couldn't stop pouring out of his mouth as he stared at his son, "I wish you could have met Gyatso, just once. I didn't have a dad Bumi, but he was the closest thing to it. I think he would have loved to meet you and your mom. He was so good at all this. At being a mentor, and a guide, to make sure you never took that wrong path and when you did, he was always there to make sure you took the right path back. He was more than that to me though Bumi, he was a friend always. So… maybe we can start there. I might not be very good as a dad yet Bumi, but let's start as friends and maybe I can learn to be a dad, just for you Bumi."

Aang didn't even realize tears were falling gently from his face until that very moment. It was hard for him to think about Gyatso, but it was even harder for him to think about the fact Gyatso would never meet his son or wife. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. She embraced him tightly from behind and fit like a puzzle piece as she nuzzled into his shoulder.

"How long have you been standing there?"

She took a moment to reply, "Long enough to hear you hum to him, and then to hear him talk to him."

Aang felt exposed and scared, he hadn't meant for Katara to hear his confession to Bumi. He didn't want her to think any less of him, "Look Katara, about what I said I jus- "

"Aang. Stop. I understand, don't worry sweetie." She cut him off while rubbing her hand down his arm. "I don't think any less of you for being scared. I'm scared. I've never been anyone's mom before, its okay to be lost."

A smile appeared on the airbender's lips. Katara always knew what to say to reassure him she was good at it, and right now Aang was more than thankful for some reassurance. He chuckled softly, "Well…you were pretty good at mothering us while we were traveling as kids." She replied by softly smacking his arm, "I did not!"

Aang quickly turned around and pulled his wife even closer. He looked her in the eye before speaking again, "Seriously, you'll make a great mother. You're kind, caring, full of all kinds of wisdom, and a pretty good disciplinarian if all this time together serves my memory right." A smile and a blush crept up Katara's face. Aang's own smile dimmed a little, "I just don't want to let you or Bumi down. I didn't exactly have a normal family growing up. I don't want to mess things up or disappoint him."

Katara's hand rested on Aang's chest, and for a moment she hesitated. In an instant she seemed to find her words, "You're going to be a great father. I knew it from the second we started talking about having kids." A blush flourished on her skin before she started talking again, "Actually… I knew it before then too."

Aang raised an eyebrow.

Katara stifled a laugh, "Spirts, this is embarrassing. I may have…on occasion…daydreamed about having a family with you when we were younger. You were always a very good father in those dreams and considering that I'm a very good judge of character I think you'll be fine."

It was Aang's turn to stifle a laugh before wiggling his eyebrows, "So you used to daydream about me. Huh?"

Katara slapped his chest this time while pretending to wear a frown, "This is the thanks I get for trying to make you feel better?"

"You're right. I'm sorry, I appreciate it sweetie, really I do."

"Good. Now, I am very tired and cold. Would my warm husband please return to our bed?"

Aang slipped his hand around her hips as they strode out of the bedroom, "Of course. Maybe we could see about some of those daydreams of yours becoming a reality while we're at it."

Their stifled giggles echoed in the hallway as they walked back to their room.

AN: Hey everyone! So I have a love/hate relationship with this one, mostly because I really love the concept of Aang talking to a Baby Bumi, but I feel like this is my weakest one from a writing standpoint. I've been using this project as a chance to practice my dialogue for my multi-chapter stuff, so that's why these have been so dialogue heavy. Fun fact, originally this one-shot was suppose to have a conversation between Hakoda and Aang but I felt like that would basically be like a rehash of "Prestige" just with different characters. There are two more one-shots in the collection, and once those are up I'll start posting my over projects. Let me know your thoughts on this one!