Whad'up bitches, guess who made a new outline!? From the looks of it, we're getting down to the final 9 chapters, 10 if you include the short epilogue.

Also in terms of specifics on Suki's pregnancy: She got pregnant in May via prom night. As far as I recall, I didn't mention when the baby was conceived so I wanted to put that out there.

gemsofformenos:

"They do for me. And yes, small steps like this could lead a way to something bigger and even if not, they're something, which makes my day always a bit brighter and more interesting. And this fact counts as well for me." I wholly agree with this.
"She finally dares to push her pride aside and she starts to accept the challange in a positive way. Azula has got a plan, she has accepted the support and she hates to fail and in this case I think this is a good sighn." It's a working mentality for her. Azula likes competition so she made this sort of a competition with herself and that kind of helps her to reach out. "She starts to realize at some points, that she seems to be her toughest enemy and that her missmatch between her own former point of view and the picture other people might have from her, beside Ozai, are one of the reasons for her problems. And she dares to allow herself to rethink her own standarts a bit." Yes, this was something that was very important for her to recognize. It was a hard thing for her to recognize. But it is going to do her very well to do so. "I like the trainings sequence. It was good for her to see, that she is so welcome in this new team. They're interested in her, they want to train with her and they want to get her known better." It is a much healthier team for her at the moment. They are a group that won't push her in the way Ozai did. They just want a good time. "She dares to talk to Yue about her weakness" She does see it that way, yes. I was a moment where she almost caved, and this doesn't bode well with her. And yes, speaking about it is very big for her. It's one of the things that will help her heal in the long run. "Both have recognized the damage the other sibling has taken from Ozai." And so far they've only scratched the surface. I do have a plan for the two of them so I'll let the story speak for itself. "Azulas reaction seemed to be so unconcerned, but with a closer look on her character I think it's a typical reaction from her, when she cares at most but wouldn't want to show this reaction in public." Exactly, this. Azula is still Azula, she cares but it is still weird for her to be openly affectionate with Zuko. "And like you have written, her family is a subject with so many complex and complicated layers. She had cleaned the air between her new freinds but with Zuko she is still at the point, when he had left home." Which is the other reason why she isn't open with him yet. But, as you said, it's a start."If he dares to speak out loud about what Ozai had done to him and to Azula, their father might get in deeper trouble, than he is expecting, in case that he truly thinks, that Zuko would never get his drug issues in line again." This is another subject where I'm going to have to let the story speak for itself. :P

Katara hurried to her locker, Suki trailed behind her, struggling to keep pace. Katara slowed herself and let her catch up, it seemed like the girl's pregnancy was finally putting a bit of a hinder on her physical abilities. But then again, she was nearing the end of her seventh month, it had to have been taking its toll. Heaven knew, Suki had complained over and over again about the onslaught of maternity and labor prep classes that have been consuming almost every hour of her after school life. With a healthy dash of sadness, Katara recalled Suki mentioning that she'd be taking maternity leave starting December. It was probably for the best, she'd have more time for the maternity classes and less anxiety over the possibility of going into labor in the middle of class.

Still, despite the prickles of resentment, she was going to miss having her around at lunch. At least she would have Teo.

"Geez, Kat, you can hold a grudge." Suki huffed, propping herself up against Azula's old locker.

"It's not that." Katara insisted. "I just forget sometimes. Me holding a grudge is doing things like burning your waffles."

"You did that on purpose!?"

"Yup." Katara smirked. "You shouldn't have let me cook our sleepover breakfast." She put her textbooks away and slung her backpack over her shoulders. This time she had no books to bring home. Usually she wasn't one to work on homework in class, but she had to make sure her weekend was completely free so that she could throw her get-together without worry. She was going to have to work on homework in class next Friday too. After that, she promised herself that she would never do it again and go back to being the good, rule-abiding student that the faculty loved so much. "Are you able to take a drive with me up to Sokka's dorm?"

"Today?"

"Yeah, as soon as I drop my stuff off and say hi to mom."

"I'd love to, but I have a check up."

"Another one? You just had one two days ago. Do you mean that you have a maternity class?"

"That too." Suki grumbled. "Since I'm so young, they're monitoring me super closely now. It sounds like everything is going good though."

"Alright." Katara replied, she tried not to let her annoyance show. Leave me on my own again, it was more or less an intrusive thought. She shook her head, this time was different. It wasn't like Suki was running off to drink or have sex. She was going to a check up and a class. She was being responsible this time around.

Perhaps Suki had a sense for it because she added, "I'm totally free on Saturday, I made sure of that. I'm gonna got to Sokka's welcome home party and we're going to have a blast, I promise. It won't be anything like Chan's party."

"Yeah, because I'm the host." Katara rolled her eyes.

"Exactly." Suki beamed. She looked at the clock. "I gotta get going. I'll see you tomorrow night."

"If you want to help with last minute touches, you can come by in the afternoon."

"I'll do my best." Suki replied. "The baby usually has me out until at least 12:00 on the weekends, but I'll really try."

Again, Katara found herself fighting off waves of exasperation. She was trying to be understanding, she really was. Suki left her in the middle of a thinning after school rush, thinking about whether or not the girl should be a mom at all. She and Sokka couldn't watch her at a party and they expected her to believe that they could watch a baby? She startled herself to think about such, but she thought that it might have been tickling the fringes of her mind for quite a while now.

.oOo.

Katara applied a dab of deep blue, shimmery eyeshadow. She smiled at her reflection, she had to say that she looked pretty good for a full-blood nerd.

"You never wear makeup, Kat." Sokka remarked.

"I used to…" she trailed off. "Before Jet's rumors." It was time to reclaim something she liked. If she couldn't get a handle on her dreamscape, she could at least take back her enjoyment of a touch of mascara and eyeliner. "I want to look nice for your welcome party."

Sokka smiled. "You already look nice, Kat."

"I want to make this a special night. And we'll have an even better one after your trial." She hoped that she wasn't jumping the gun. She gave the dorm lounge one last once over; the balloons were in place, the snacks and beverages arranged nicely, and the stereo was ready to play music with meaning. Granted, she would give everyone a chance to play DJ so she might have to put up with some less pleasing musical numbers.

Suki re-entered the dorm. "I know you said to pick up a few more streamers-and I did-but, look, party blowers!"

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you know how to please a man's soul!" Sokka exclaimed picking up a silver one.

"Stop messing around and help me hang up these streamers! Our friends will be here any minute now." Katara said, passing each of them a roll. For herself she took the deep blue, she gave Sokka the silver, and Suki the gold. She eye'd the pink and green balloons. She probably should have told Suki which color streamers to get. This was going to be the least color-coordinated party ever thrown.

Oh well, she thought, this party was for fun not for some suave, high-end dinner party.

"We have a whole hour, Kat." Sokka replied, taking the roll anyhow.

A few minutes in, Suki climbed down from the stepping stool with a sharp, "oof." Her hand clutching at her belly. "Okay, no more streamers for me, I think I pulled something."

Katara's face softened. Maybe she had been a little too hard on Suki. It was becoming apparent that she wasn't just making up pregnancy related excuses. "That's fine, why don't you just take door duty."

Suki gave a weak thumbs up. The hand gesture barely had time to settle before Katara heard a knock. "On it." Suki stood up.

Katara heard the door open and looked up from her work. "You came!" She greeted. "Aaand you're really early."

Azula shrugged. "I wasn't sure how long the drive would take."

"We're putting up some last minute streamers."

"They don't match." She noted. "I hope you realize that, that is going to bother me the whole time I am here."

"That's why I bought 'em." Suki muttered passive-aggressively.

To Katara's luck, Azula ignored the bait and tugged her coat off.

"There's a coat rack over there." Sokka pointed.

Katara stepped down from her stool and gave the room another glance. "That should do." She remarked to herself. She turned back to Azula who was pulling a pair of gloves off and stuffing them into her pockets. "Is it really that cold out?"

"It is to me." Azula shrugged, tugging her hat off. Her hair fell over her shoulders.

It looked like she wasn't the only one who had dyed her hair. Granted, Azula's choice was much bolder, black bleeding into bright red. It was probably one of the best ombre jobs she had seen in awhile. "You dyed your hair too?"

"I had to get Ikue and Ryoko to quiet down a bit." Azula rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't let them dye it completely red though."

"Your friends did that?"

"Ikue wants to be a stylist. But 'a cool stylist who does edgy haircuts'." Another, more pronounced, eye roll.

"It looks nice."

She watched Azula sweep her hands over her hair. "Thanks." She paused. "Yours suits you."

Katara hoped that Suki was making note of the conversation. Katara jumped at the sound of the radio coming to life.

"Sorry, guess I forgot to turn it down." Sokka muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "My dorm mates and I had a pretty wild one before this whole trial mess."

With the party yet to officially start, Sokka took it upon himself to give them a grand tour of the dorm. Granted, it was mostly aimed at Azula, who had never been there before. But he took the time to point out the brand new hole in the wall made by one of his drunk dorm-mates taking a hammer to it in an attempt to kill a spider. "It was a huge bastard!" Sokka exclaimed.

He led them back down to dorm lounge where they talked amongst themselves until the rest of Katara's guests arrived. TyLee was the first to show up she hugged Katara first. "How have you been holding up?

"As good as I can." Katara replied. "What about you?"

"Same. I think that I'll do better once all of this is over." She agreed. Her focus wavered when she caught sight of Azula. Katara watched her dash up to her and throw her arms around her. "Your hair is so pretty!" She ran her fingers through it. Something, Katara was certain that only TyLee could get away with.

Toph, Aang and Haru arrive in a group. "Hey everyone!" Toph announced. "I'd like you all to meet Appa!"

TyLee's eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh! He's so cute, I love him." She was grinning from ear to ear. "Can I pet him?"

Toph let Appa lead her to TyLee. "Go ahead."

"I didn't realize you were blind." Azula remarked.

"And I didn't realize you were hanging out with us now."

"It's a...recent development."

"Yeah, same." Toph returned. Appa sniffed TyLee and then Azula before retutrning to Toph.

Teo was the last to arrive, leaving Katara to imagine that his father had helped him out of the car. Azula held the door for him. After he had a chance to get situated Azula leaned down to hug the boy. "When are you going to visit me?" And it occurred to Katara that the pair hadn't seen each other in awhile. It would explain her last minute decision to come.

"How about next weekend?" He offered.

While she was on the topic of couples. "Suki tells me that you and Haru are together now."

"We're testing the waters." Haru replied as Sokka changed the track on the radio.

"So far it's going good." Aang added.

"Better than Moo-Chee would have been." Katara stated.

Aang's cheeks colored. "Much better."

Things progressed rather pleasantly. They played a few rounds of uno, noticing a few rounds in that Toph was just throwing random cards down and hoping for the best. A few more games in and Azula was still the only person to win. Sokka, ever the sore loser, posed a vote to exclude her from the next round. He let her continue with a promise from her to let someone else win. Katara wondered how she would manage that. It humored her to see the girl only utilizing blue cards. She would keep drawing cards until she could throw a blue one down.

Uno turned into truth or dare which Toph mastered splendidly. Katara never imagined that Aang would lick Appa back nor that Teo would agree to a makeover from Toph. Toph dominating truth or dare, the game shifted to twister. Toph and Teo sat that one out, debating over which album should be played next.

After a brief cooldown, Katara offered up slices of cake. Sokka helped himself to a particularly large slice. "They don't serve this in jail." He noted. Azula was much the opposite, passing on eating any of it at all. And Katara recalled Teo mentioning her discomfort. She couldn't imagine that Chan's party had done her any favors. She did, however, help herself to some of the popcorn.

"I have punch and soda to go with that. I got some water for you, Suki."

Suki waved her off. "No thanks. Actually, I think I'm gonna go to Sokka's dorm and lay down for a bit."

"You okay?" Sokka asked.

Suki nodded. "Just a little woozy. I think that I've had too much excitement for one day."

"Well if you start to feel better, you can join us again." Sokka offered.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

.oOo.

Suki climbed onto Sokka's bed. Her lower back was killing her, the feeling was almost constant these days. And the belly cramps were from hell. She was beginning to think that she should have mentioned that to her doctors. But then, she might just be anxious because this was her first time. She rubs her belly, trying to coax the baby to let up at least a little.

"Come on, don't do this now." She whimpered to herself.

She couldn't help but to think that this was karma for skipping out on Katara at Chan's party.

She rolled onto her side, hoping to sleep it off.