Disclaimer: We own nothing!
Zuko sat at the end of the table, he had one arm on the arm rest and the other held his head up. The generals were discussing something that Zuko obviously had no interest in. He depended on Iroh to deal with the nation's government.
Katara was in the library, she read books while Zuko had his meetings. Katara decided to do some research on pregnancy, so she searched for a medical book while trying to stay unnoticed. She found a book on pregnancy and put it under her arm. She quickly walked out of the library and back to the bedroom. When she reached the bedroom she shut and locked the room. Katara laid on the bed and began to read the book. She flipped through the pages and looked at illustrations of births, and she began to feel sick. After a few seconds of nausea she ran to the wash room and vomited.
Back at the meeting Zuko was thinking about Katara and wanted to be with her. Zuko thought about the marriage and when he was going to make it public.
Katara sat on the bed after cleaning her face. She glanced at the book and threw it to the ground. She sat up and walked out of the room, she wanted to be with Zuko so she began walking to the meeting room.
Katara knocked on the door of the meeting room, a solider opened the door and looked at her. The meeting became silent and Zuko's head perked up when he saw her.
"May I please speak to Lord Zuko?" Katara nicely asked the solider. The solider glanced back at Zuko who was already standing up.
Katara watched Zuko speak to the group of generals before leaving the table and walking towards her.
"What's wrong?" He asked her. Katara looked up at him, and then looked back at the generals who were watching them. Zuko glanced at the generals and they all began talking again. "Come with me." Zuko told her and grabbed her hand. Katara followed Zuko out of the room, and the meeting continued.
Zuko lead her out of the meeting and brought her to the throne room, he knew that no one was there, and if some one did come they would need to knock.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Zuko asked her. Katara looked up at him.
"I need to see a midwife." She told him.
"You can, as soon as I announce the marriage." Zuko told her.
"No, I need to see a midwife now." Katara told him with orders hidden by her tone.
"Can't it wait?" Zuko asked.
"Zuko, you try getting pregnant, and not letting anyone know for weeks!" Katara yelled at her selfish soon-to-be husband.
"Okay, okay. Don't shout. I'll take you to see someone." Zuko said trying to calm her down. He grabbed her hand and they left the throne room.
They walked through the palace, and Zuko brought her into a small room. There was an old woman, her name was Omana and she was the midwife for Zuko's mother, eighteen years ago.
"Hello Lord Zuko, and hello miss." Omana said to the young couple.
"Omana, this is my fiancé, Katara." Zuko told Omana. She looked at Katara.
"Nice to meet you, Katara." She said and gave a respectful bow.
"Nice to meet you too." Katara said.
"Lord Zuko, I did not know you were engaged." Omana said to him.
"We haven't made it public yet. That is why I trust that you won't tell anyone." Zuko said. Omana looked back at Zuko.
"You can trust me, but I still don't understand why you are here." Omana said.
"Katara is pregnant." Zuko said to Omana, and she looked at Katara.
"Oh that explains what you are doing here." Omana said with a smile. She took Katara's hand. "Come with me darling, and we will have a look at you." Omana kindly said, and Katara looked back at Zuko.
"I have to return to my meeting." Zuko said and Katara nodded and followed Omana to a bed.
Zuko left Katara with the midwife and walked back to the meeting. When he opened the door the meeting was just ending.
"Then it is settled. We will send our troops to the Southern Water Tribe, and bring them to their knees." General Suoh said just as Zuko shut the door. He quickly turned around at look at Suoh.
"What! You can't destroy the Water Tribe!" Zuko yelled at Suoh and he walked back to the table.
"We just decided to, haven't you been paying attention these past few weeks, Lord Zuko?" General Suoh said and stood up to look at Zuko. Iroh also stood up.
"Look at what destroying the Air Nomads did." Iroh said to take sides with his nephew.
"That was over one hundred years ago, things are different now." Suoh said to Iroh.
"I won't allow this, General!" Zuko commanded.
"We already decided, Lord Zuko." Suoh said.
"No, I haven't decided. I won't allow it." Zuko said again. Suoh grew confused as to why the Fire Lord would care so much about another nation.
"Why would you care about the southern tribe?" Suoh asked Zuko.
"Because… Katara." Zuko answered.
"That southern filth?" Suoh asked. Zuko's eyes became filled with fury and he pointed as Suoh.
"Don't ever call her that!" Zuko said, in a scary tone.
"What does she matter? She is just another one of your whores." Suoh said.
Flames appeared in Zuko's hands, and Iroh placed his hand on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko knew that Iroh always told him that keeping a level head was a sign of a great leader. The flames disappeared and Suoh signaled the other generals to leave the room.
Zuko took a few calming breathes and watched the other generals leave. Suoh waited until Zuko, Iroh and him were the only people in the room before he began to speak.
"Are you considering marrying this southern woman, Lord Zuko?" General Suoh asked. Zuko thought a moment before telling Suoh the truth.
"Yes, what does it matter to you?" Zuko asked in an angry tone, but he remained calm.
"She is not a Fire Nation noble. She will never be accepted as our Fire Lady." Suoh told Zuko.
"Yes she will." Zuko said in a commanding voice.
"General, you are only thinking about power." Iroh said to Suoh.
"I am thinking about Lord Zuko's reputation." Suoh said.
"What?" Zuko asked General Suoh.
"The people of the Fire Nation will think you are weak." Suoh said, trying to get to Zuko's deepest fear, losing his honor.
"The people of this nation, see me as their leader, and if I do marry Katara they will see her as their leader too." Zuko said.
"My nephew fought in the war and helped stop it." Iroh said. Suoh thought for a moment then began to walk away.
"It is your choice…" Suoh said and continued to leave the room.
"I choose Katara." Zuko said quietly. Suoh heard him, but left the room with a smirk on his face. Zuko took a deep breath.
"You made the right choice, nephew." Iroh said to calm him down.
"But what if he is right? What if I lose my honor?" Zuko said. Iroh rolled his eyes and sighed.
"You can't let people control your life." Iroh told his nephew.
"So, you think I should continue with this marriage?" Zuko asked Iroh.
"Yes, you should marry Katara." Iroh told Zuko.
"Thank you uncle." Zuko said before bowing to his wise uncle.
"You're welcome nephew." He said and bowed in return.
Zuko left the meeting room and walked to the bedroom. When he arrived Katara was sitting on the bed resting.
"Hey." Katara said as she saw him open the door.
"Hey." Zuko said and shut the door behind him.
"Omana said that the baby is fine, and that chances of it being a bender are very high." Katara said happily. Zuko walked to the dresser and began to dress for bed. "Did you hear me?" Katara asked him.
"Yeah." Zuko said as he took off his shirt.
"Isn't it great news?" Katara asked.
"Yeah." Zuko said as he kicked off his shoes and laid on the bed. Katara looked at him.
"Is anything wrong?" She asked in an innocent voice.
"Something happened at the meeting…" Zuko said.
"What happened?" She said and laid beside him, she placed her head on his arm and her hand on his chest to comfort him. Katara knew he liked it. "You announced the marriage?" Katara asked.
"Well… no… it wasn't really announcing it, but people are going to know." Zuko said and put his hand on hers, he didn't want to tell her the other part of the meeting.
"Okay." Katara said. Zuko pulled the blankets over them, and burnt out the flames on the candles. They both closed their eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning Zuko woke up, Katara was still laying beside him. He wrapped his arm around her, and she woke up.
"Good morning." Zuko said to her as she opened her eyes.
"Good morning." She said and closed her eyes again. "Do you have a meeting to go to this morning?" She asked.
"No." Zuko said.
"Okay… so I get you for a few more minutes." She said and curled up beside him and Zuko felt like a personal heater.
"Zuko…" Katara asked him after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah." He said.
"Did anything else happen at that meeting yesterday?" She asked, Katara could always tell when Zuko wasn't telling her everything. Zuko sighed and knew he had to tell her.
"General Suoh is planning an invasion of the Southern Water Tribe." Zuko said and waited for her reply.
"What!" Katara said and quickly sat up and Zuko also sat up.
"I told them no!" Zuko said. Katara got out of bed and walked to the dresser she opened it and dressed in her light blue outfit. Zuko watched her. "Where are you going!" Zuko asked her, he also got out of bed.
"This is my fight not yours." She said as she braided her hair.
"You are going to make things worse." Zuko said as he tried to explain things to her.
"Zuko, trust me, this is not your fight or anyone else's. I need to have a talk with General Suoh." Katara said as she placed her hair loops in place, and reached for her shoes.
Zuko grabbed her shoes from the floor and held them out of her reach. "Katara think of the child." Zuko said, and Katara glared at him.
"Don't use the baby against me." Katara said and snatched her shoes from his hands. She put on her shoes and turned to leave.
"No!" Zuko said and he grabbed her arm.
"I have to stand up for my tribe." Katara said and tried to pull away from him.
"I can take care of it, really." Zuko said and continued to hold onto her. "If you do this, there is no chance of our marriage ever happening!" Zuko said and looked at her.
"Right now my tribe is more important!" Katara yelled at him. Zuko's heart sank, and he let go of her arm.
"Fine… then leave." Zuko said and turned away from her. Katara opened the door and left their bedroom. Zuko sat on the bed to think.