Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Chapter 2

Thoughts

Hands shoved deep in his pockets, Zuko walked a steady pace, pondering his life's events. He was deeply involved in his thoughts, not paying attention to too much of anything, though his instincts were still in tack, enabling him to react to any sudden attacks.

His trail had become lazy and sluggish as he thought about all the shit he was going to have to go through. His legs moved on their own accord, moving him to a place he thought he would never have to re-visit.

A few feet away he could hear a twig snap, and as if on impulse, turned to see what it was. He wasn't surprised at all to find his friend, the little frog/toad thing that had been bothering him when he first came to join the "Aang Gang".

"Oh, its you…." He sat on the log of which the small creature sat on. After noticing it he paid no more attention to his noisy friend, engulfing himself back in his dazzled thoughts. Nothing but thoughts of him. Him and Katara. Him and Katara and the baby. His baby. Their baby! He ranked his head for a possible solution. He was in a hell of a lot of trouble.

He dreaded the day to come when he would have to sit and watch Katara tell her family and friends that she was…with child. His child. She was pregnant with his sperm. Everything was a terrible mess.

Blowing hair from his face, he sighed and raised his fist to the innocent creature next to him and let out an infamous grunt. A blast of fire escaped him, headed for the poor creature that stood by. He felt a slight glint of relief and smiled happily. What a good way to blow off steam.

The member of the forest family had been mocking him ever since he came to the place. "Damn animal…." he hissed, watching it leap away using his head as a pathway.

Maybe it would be better for him to go and associate with his fellow group members, or better yet go there and sulk in his head, not talking to them at all.

--

"Sifu Hotman!" Aang's wide and happy grin faded as he sensed the gloomy vibe from his newest comrade. He looked…dead
"Hey Aang…" Zuko greeted in a dull monotonic voice, passing him without a second glance.

Aang, being Aang, automatically tried to brighten up his current teacher's mood, putting on his biggest smile.

"Hey! I did all my homework. Wanna practice?" His exterior self showed joy but the interior cringed at the thought. Zuko was a…strict teacher. Comparing him, Aang would have chosen Toph any day. He even gave homework--which he practically lied about finishing--and it sucked! It seemed that Zuko was happy to see him suffer (school wise). What a perfect way to make him feel better.

"That's great Aang. I'm sure you're doing fine, but I'm not really up for it today. Maybe tomorrow." Zuko's small smile was forced. He brushed passed Aang once again, heading for his room to sulk until dinner.

Aang let him leave, his sad expression pained harshly on his face. He wished Zuko could talk to him. After all, he was his friend. Right?

--

"Wow, Katara, this is…different." Sokka of all people was at a lost for words, poking at whatever it was that his sister decided to feed the group that day.

"Uh, what is it?" Toph's nose crinkled to her useless eyes as if the food in front of her smelled bad. It didn't exactly smell bad it just smelled weird.

The whole group sat with folded legs around the stone table starring at their chef, so to speak, in question.

"Its food!" Katara answered, noticeably annoyed, while picking up a spoon and slurping the watery substance down.

Every one watched, excluding Zuko who had his head down the whole night and Toph who couldn't see with her eyes, as her eyes rolled to the back of head in pure delight.

Judging from his little sister's reaction of the taste of the food, Sokka took the initiative to be the second to taste what was in front of him.

The scene seemed to take place on slow motion. Spoon-hitting bowl seemed to be the only sound made as every one observed him lean forward and take a spoonful of the greenish watered down substance. Everyone at the table anticipation grew as his mouth made contact with the stone spoon. No one seemed to blink because it was so interesting.

It was important to judge Sokka's reaction to the weird food. How else would they know if they could eat it or not. Not everything was edible. And they knew for sure that it wasn't edible if Sokka found it disgusting. He practically ate anything, but apparently not what Katara made, because of the way his face went from calm and mocha to irritated and green.

Everyone ducked for cover as he spit the contents of his mouth out onto the table. Starring at his sister wide eyed, he practically screamed. "What the hell did you just feed me!?" He pointed toward the bowl that was now on the ground from when he got up so quickly like a mad man (typical Sokka).

Katara sat at her end of the table calm and collected, not really noticing that everyone had scrambled away from the table to the wall, trying to avoid being hit by Sokka's sputter of food.

Aang, Haru, Teo, The Duke and even Toph' s head went back and forth from Katara to Sokka. Sokka to Katara. Katara was eating her food savagely, like she hadn't eaten in days and Sokka looked as if he were going to die. Which one to believe?

Taking a few wipes of her face with her napkin, Katara answered. "It's a lot of foods mixed together." She finally looked up to find the disgusted faces of her comrades.

Zuko was the only one still sitting at the table, head still bowed, stirring his soup (or whatever it was) with a lazy hand while the other was preoccupied holding his head up.

"Wow, Katara, just Wow! It's perfectly fine to mix foods together and feed it to us." he waved his hands over his head frantically. "Kill us all--" The king of sarcasm's wraft finally died down as he felt the content of his stomach scratch at the back of his throat. One hand held his mouth closed as the other grabbed his stomach as he ran out into the forest to let it all out.

That did it for the guys on the wall; they defiantly weren't going to eat whatever was made for them. They made no move to go back to their seats.

Katara's face saddened as she looked around the table, finding all the bowls still very full. "I…" she sniffed on the verge of tears. Hormones were a bitch on her part. "I thought you guys would like it." She didn't look at them; instead she kept her attention on the hem of her dress and fiddled with it.

Everyone along the wall looked at each other for guidance. It wasn't a usual site to see Katara cry.

Zuko had finally looked up from his bowl as soon as he heard her voice crack. He had been trying to avoid her all day and it would have worked if she wouldn't had decided to be weird and experiment on dinner.

It wasn't that the food was weird that he didn't touch his food, it was just the fact that he wasn't in the mood to eat.

A lot had been on his mind lately and Katara sitting right in front of him with that sad expression on her face made things worse.

"Katara--" Aang was the first to say something but he didn't get a chance to say what he intended to because Katara cut him of as soon as she heard her name. "No, Its okay, Aang." She tried not to get too emotional. She cursed her pregnancy for making her so weak.

Not waiting for any protest, Katara pulled her self from her chair and hurriedly gathered the full bowls to clean. Aang, The Duke, Haru and Toph all offered their helpings but Katara wholeheartedly denied the help and told them all to rest.

Zuko was the only one left.

"Sitting they're stirring your food like that doesn't make me feel any better." She stated after everyone left the room. "Not that I care." She quickly added, lowly. She walked over to him, ready to clean up after him and be done for the night. One of the many things she didn't do before they became "close".

Quietly, Zuko stopped stirring and ate a spoonful of the food. Katara couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"You don't have to eat it." She said irritably. It seemed as if he were mocking her.

"I'm hungry." He stated, not bothering to look up at her.

"No you're not." He hands were already stranded one their favorite place, her hips. Her scornful face saddened once again.

"I haven't eaten all day." He told her mater-of-factly, picking up a piece of bread from the side of his food tray. A long pause filled the room. "Ya know," Zuko began, he voice without emotion. "Pregnant people have weird taste in food." He still had faint memories of when his own mother was pregnant with Azula. She would have the servants bring in all different types of foods when they had their evening dinner. Foods that didn't go together were mixed with each other to make a whole meal. It seemed to make his mother happy but she was the only one who would eat it. He and the Firelord would always have a separate dinner.

"You can't go off getting mad if," He took another spoonful of the so-called soup before finishing his sentence. "If un-pregnant people find what you like…unappealing." He tried to explain to her the best way that he could. He didn't want her crying over things that couldn't be helped.

He mouthed another spoonful before sliding his chair out, picking up his bowl gesturing that he'd clean it himself.

Katara's hard gaze became soft and she starred at him in bewilderment.

A soft sigh brushed passed her lips as she took a last glance at him and walked towards her room.

--

Light drops of water dripped from the pillar after the evening's rain. The cool breeze caressed his cheek as he almost reached his destination. It was pretty late and he wondered whether or not he should wait until a more reasonable hour, but thought less of it since he probably wouldn't have gotten any sleep if he waited. His thoughts had been eating at his conscience for hours.

The way he reacted when she told him of her pregnancy was just so unmannerly. Ahem, unmanly. He hadn't meant to seem so cold towards her.

The night before, after he told her he really didn't want it; he slouched outside her door, not intentionally listening in on her. He hadn't expected the sound of her weeping, and everything just went down hill from there. His thoughts had invaded his sleep, crudely awaking him to suffer in guilt. Why did he feel so badly about making her cry?

Her cries still rung like horrible sirens in his ears. He never wanted to make her cry but it seemed that he always found a way to do so. Saying sorry had long since stopped working.

He needed to talk to her and he couldn't bring himself to say it when they were left alone at dinner.

--

After dinner, Zuko laid in his bed for hours thinking about that one faithful night when they gave in to each other, physically. It wasn't intentional; of course, they didn't even like each other. Well, it was kind of one-sided. You could say…she hated him.

Zuko still had a very visual imagery of the whole fiasco. He could still remember the greatness of her silhouette as she stormed her way into his room only clad in her white training clothes to chastise him. She had obviously been doing some late night water bending judging from her style of fashion.

He could still see the brilliant crimson blush that spread like wildfire from her cheeks to her neck when she saw that he was half naked, getting ready for bed. He smiled at the memory.

She had only come to argue, explaining in a hiss that she checked in on Aang and found a burn on his shoulder. She was furious that he hadn't come to her to heal it. Why was she
to be in the dark?

Zuko tried to explain that it was no big deal, that the small burn was just a scratch. Nothing to worry about, just a minor injury, if you wanted to call it that.

Zuko remembered talking, but it wasn't him doing the talking. It was Katara. She hadn't listened to him and kept rambling on and on about hurting Aang and whatever it was she was saying.

Everything that she said went in Zuko's ear and out the other. They'd been over the same thing for weeks and she still gave him the little lecture about injuring Aang. It wasn't his fault Aang didn't dodge his blow quickly enough, but maybe he should have told her about the incident, then she wouldn't had been so bitchy.

He had already had a headache and she defiantly wasn't making it feel any better. If she had kept going, it would have gotten worse and he would have lashed out on her.

So, he did something quite stupid. He kissed her.

He snaked his hands to the side of her face and pulled her in and kissed her. He had caught her way of guard and took full advantage of the moment. He was surprised that she did not resist, letting him steer a long enticing kiss.

He didn't know it could be so easy to shut her up. Seconds later, the once innocent kiss turned more passionate than what it was intended to be. It was a blur of how they got in the position but one thing lead to another and he had her against a side wall ravishing her with intoxicating kisses along her chin and neck.

"'Idiot." He could still hear her moan in his ear calling him all the insulting names in the book.

Zuko's memory of the night was so real that he could still feel her silk smooth skin against his tongue. He could still feel the faint touches he received from her out of her shyness. He could still smell her sweat from the anticipation of him fulfilling her.

His favorite memory was the way she arched her back when he gyrated his hips in to her and the way she screamed his name so innocently, yet so wanting.

Her taste was at the tip of his tongue, all her flavor savoring in his hot mouth. Her smell lulling his nose and her touch teasing his skin. He had wanted her so badly that day. So very badly. He wanted to fill her walls and exited her to no ends. He just wanted to slip inside her and rock her world.

Two things that stuck out most in his reminiscence were the most important things of the night. The point in which they were so hot for each other that he had to slow it down a little to suggest "maybe we should stop" in the most lust filled whisper ever in the middle of his ministrations and her agreeing mentally. But they couldn't help themselves and couldn't seem to stop the steamy kisses between them. "'Oh, Zuko. Sto—don't stop." He hadn't lied when he said she said that. He had licked his way to her bust and bit through the fabric of her under clothes, sucking on an erect nipple, rubbing his thigh between the crook of her legs. Music to his ears.

The other was the point in which he came inside her, too involved in each other's pleasure and passion to even notice that he could be impregnating her. The sexual aroma still flowed around his nostrils, sending him into lala land. Smelling such things sent him back to when he was thrusting inside her, feeling the close of her walls around him.

The scratches and pulling of his back was yet another memory of their passion. She clawed at him as her legs snaked around his back, pushing them closer together. He took in all of her and she would have screamed her head off if he wouldn't had muffled them with long sloppy wet kisses. They bathed in the essence of their hunger of lust. Their ecstasy was so alluring.

Although, it was something that shouldn't have happened, he regretted nothing. It was one of the most memorable nights of his life and he would have did it again if he could go back. He was just…scared.

A baby was not really in his short-term goals. He wasn't all like 'Hey! I'm gonna get a girl pregnant today' it just happened. It would just have to work because they couldn't get rid of it. They couldn't have it killed. It wasn't in his nature to kill innocent lives neither was it in hers. It wasn't the baby's fault that two teenagers were stupid enough to go of and have sex and not think about the consequence that would follow.

Another flashback that poked at his head was the most heartbreaking one. The soul crushing reality. It was in the middle of the night of the intense 'love' scene. Zuko had awoken from the shuffling of clothes and turned in his bed to see Katara scrambling for her things.

Her perfectly shaped--in Zuko's eyes--body was even more luscious in the dark.

"Katara." He sat up on his elbows.

He must of had frightened her because she became clumsy and dropped all her things. She looked up and caught his gaze with her own.

He was at a lost of words, no words seemed to fit. He hadn't anything to say. There was an awkward silence. Katara was the first to break it.

"Zuko…" She put on the 'its not you, its me' voice. Zuko's happy mood dropped. 'Let's…pretend this didn't happen?" It came out as a question. She didn't notice the hurt circling in his eyes.

Not wanting to show any emotion and wanting to keep the last once of dignity he had, he turned his back towards her and pulled the cotton sheets up to his neck. "Yea…" was all he said and tried his best to go to sleep after hearing the wooden door click behind him.

Why did the most painful memory have to be the most realistic? Why did it have to be that certain memory that could be played in your head like a movie? Zuko wished he could forget that certain part but now he defiantly couldn't forget it. He was about to have a real life reminder of it.

--

Knock Knock Knock

Katara answered the door, fully awake. One hand clenched a brush while the other held the door handle. Her eyes were big in question.

"Can I come in?"

A/N: Okay, I know. I was supposed to be writing a chapter to my other story. I'm still having a hard time with that, but I'm not abandoning it. Ideas are just flowing better in my head for this story.

I tried something different for this chapter. It tends to jump around a lot. Let me know if you get confused. I'd be happy to explain.

Please review...

Smooches,

Whopper23