A/N: I want to start off yet again with a great big "thank you" to all of you who are reading, reviewing, and otherwise enjoying this story. Having said that, I want to say that there was a reason for my delay in updates, but I'll get to that at the end of the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar!

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Ch. 6-Gravity

Zuko stood motionless staring at Toph with a horrified expression on his face. "W-what did you say Toph?" he reiterated trying desperately to keep his voice steady in the hopes that he had heard wrong.

Toph didn't even flinch, "I said Katara would probably be really ticked if I killed the father of her—" it seemed things had finally clicked in the small bender's head, "Ah…I take it neither of you knew. Umm…well…SURPRISE!"

Zuko didn't laugh, he didn't cry, he didn't run…he didn't move at all. After a few seconds of awkward silence (mostly for the firebender) he managed to ask a question, "How?"

Toph sniggered and arched an eyebrow. "Not the most articulate of questions Sparky, but I get your drift. Although, I am surprised you have to ask; you see, when a boy and a girl really like each other—"

"TOPH!" the prince barked as he face palmed, "I love you like a sister I really do, but I'm going to kill you if you even think about finishing that sentence."

"Sorry," Toph whispered, her eyes darting to the ground.

Sighing, Zuko knelt in front of the blind girl, "I'm sorry Toph, I didn't mean to snap at you it's just…in this particular situation I fail to see the humor, you know? Now if it were Sokka and you…well that'd be hilarious!"

Toph growled at him and gave him a punch in the gut, which served to shut him up. "Enough about me and Snoozles Zuko. What about you and Katara? What were you guys thinking anyway?"

"To be honest we weren't really thinking anything," Zuko paused, a small grimace crossing his face, "It was a few weeks after Aang…and well, she was completely torn up about it. She was convinced that it was all her fault; that she should have been able to save Aang and she was even against letting herself laugh and…" he trailed off here as a soft smile broke out on his face.

"Yeah, you can stop there Sparky, I think I know where it went from there. Actually, I know exactly where it went from there, you two kept me up the whole time!"

Zuko blanched at her statement, "Um…uh…what?"

Toph shook her head, "I see through the earth remember? Vibrations?"

"Oh dear Agni…I'm sorry about that Toph I didn't—"

"Save it Princy, I don't care anymore. It's over and done with. I'd just appreciate it if you two waited until I was out of range next time."

"Of course Short Round."

"Zuko," the small bender started, "Your not going to up and leave now, right? You won't leave Katara all on her own with a child will you?"

Concerned, the firebender looked Toph right in the eyes, "Toph…I know that things just kind of…happened, but I love Katara and there is no way that I would abandon her! Even if the whole damned world was ending I still wouldn't leave her alone."

The conviction in his voice, and the fact that she was a human lie detector, was all Toph needed to believe her brother in everything but blood. "Good, just…just making sure."

Zuko smirked, "And even if this crazy situation wouldn't have happened, there's no way I'd leave my little sister behind."

A bright smile lit up the earthbender's face as she threw her arms around his neck, a few tears running down her face. "You rock big brother!"

Chuckling, Zuko whispered, "Besides, who'd help you get things you couldn't reach if I wasn't here—OW!"

Another punch to the gut had quieted his teasing.

Now it was Toph smirking, "Don't let your new status go to your head Sparky. I still know how to keep you in line."

An awkward silence fell then as soon as Zuko had gotten back to his feet, "Toph…I have absolutely no idea what to do. Well I mean….I know what I should do but…how?"

"Sparky you are asking the worst person for the job," Toph groaned, "I have a hard time censoring every day conversation, you think I'm going to be able to figure this out for you?"

"I know, I know!" Zuko growled rubbing his temples in frustration, "I'm sorry I just…Agni this is not how things were supposed to go!"

The snort he received from the earthbender brought a scowl to his face, "How were things supposed to happen Highness? You two didn't exactly "court" in the most proper of fashions. From what I could tell, and what the vibrations showed me, it was kinda…intense. You two went from point A to point Z in a matter of minutes."

Zuko felt a hot flush creep its way up his neck at Toph's words, "I know that Metal Head, I was there! What I meant was that Katara and I, while I don't regret a single thing that has happened in the last month, should have been able to ease into the thought of children after we figured out how the hell we were going to deal with my psychotic family not bring one into a world where nothing but horror most likely awaits!"

This seemed to quell the blind girl's taunts and she heaved a defeated sigh, "Zuko I don't know what you want me to say. I think you should tell Katara—the sooner the better—because if you don't there is gonna be unholy hell to pay. And then the two of you need to figure out how to tell Snoozles and Chiefy," she paused for a moment, a look of deep thought on her face, "without bodily harm being inflicted on you in the process."

His already pale features became ghostly white as the prince blanched. He had absolutely no desire to inform Sokka or Hakoda that he had gotten Katara pregnant out of wedlock. The line between bravery and insanity was extremely fine and, although he might have toyed with it on occasion, it seemed to the firebender that only his premature demise would come from that confrontation.

"Suddenly," he gulped, "things have gone from bad to worse Sis. I…I can't even…I mean what—what can I say? W-what do…what do I do?"

Even if Toph hadn't been a blind earthbender with the ability to tune into a person's heartbeat she would have been able to tell that Zuko was on the brink of losing it.

"Hey Sparky settle down!" she barked rapidly blinking her sightless eyes and shaking her head violently to try and clear it, "Your heart is beating so fast I can't feel anything else! Geez you'll probably kill yourself from a panic attack before you get to tell Sugar Queen about it!"

"Tell me about what?"

For a minute there was nothing but dead silence. Zuko's heart had stopped and his eyes grew wide, Toph stood with her mouth agape and a dumbfounded look on her face, and Katara's eyes were darting back and forth suspiciously between the two.

"I'll uh…I'll just leave you to it then Sparky," Toph squeaked slowly stepping away from the inevitable confrontation. She stopped just as she was about to vanish over the small hill.

"Hotman? Good luck."

And just like that Katara and Zuko were alone on the beach, the waves lapping silently at their feet.

"Zuko?" Katara whispered softly, a hundred different questions being asked all at once, "What was Toph talking about?"

The prince swallowed nervously and tried desperately to wipe his sweaty palms clean. This was not how he'd imagined this conversation going; maybe after he'd wrapped his head around the idea a little better, gotten to plan out his ingenious approach at telling his girlfriend she was with child. But not like this.

"You're pregnant."

And definitely not like that!

'Oh dear Agni why did that just come out? What did I do to deserve that little moment of word vomit? Honestly…not even a little preamble: 'Katara you may want to sit down'? I just want to vanish right now, just completely disappear…dammit.'

Katara looked at him in confusion for a moment before comprehension dawned on her face, "I keep forgetting that Toph hears and sees things that we don't." She laughed lightly, "And here I was hoping to break the news to you gently."

He didn't know what kind of reaction he'd been expecting from the waterbender but calm acceptance with a side of humor had not been one of them.

Zuko knew his face must have looked ridiculous as Katara let out a full-fledged laugh before stifling it with a delicate hand, "I'm sorry Zuko but utter bewilderment is clearly not your look."

Somehow managing to regain his motor functions, Zuko croaked, "You…you know?"

She nodded slowly taking a step closer to him, "Yes."

"B-but how…Toph only found out about it recently and…and I…I…" his question died on his lips as Katara took his hand gently.

"Ever since that run in with Hama, when I inadvertently learned how to bloodbend, I've become a lot more intimately aware of my body and everything that's going on within it."

She paused briefly to take his other hand in hers, "It's a subconscious thing most of the time, when it's my own body at least. If I concentrate enough I can get a reading on others but…anyway it came as a bit of a shock when I woke up one day and felt two hearts beating inside of me.

"And I've been meaning to tell you Zuko, I really have, but I was just so afraid! I didn't know how you would react to the fact that your girlfriend of one month was pregnant and…and I was scared of rejection."

Her explanation came to an end and she turned away trying desperately to hide the tears that were running down her face.

Zuko stood frozen as Katara finished, still finding it hard to believe that she had known she was pregnant and that she wasn't trying to kill him. Slowly, tenderly he put a finger under her chin and turned her head to look her in the eye.

They stayed like that, just staring deep into the other's eyes, as everything seemed to settle in their minds.

And then he kissed her softly.

Pulling away slightly, Zuko rested his forehead against Katara's, "I love you Katara. I do. I'm going to be here for you every step of the way. I am not going anywhere understand? "

Her eyes shone with unshed tears at his words, a beautiful smile lighting her face as she nodded. She sniffed quietly, "I do. I love you too Zuko."

Katara wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly and breathing in his scent. As she nuzzled into his neck she sighed in content; she knew she could stay in his embrace for the rest of her life.

Zuko kissed her forehead before resting his chin atop her head. They stood in a loving silence before he spoke.

"So what do we name it?"

Katara smacked his arm and giggled, "Zuko please don't refer to our child as an 'it'."

"Well how else am I supposed to refer to the kid? I can't exactly say "our child" all the time, can I?"

The waterbender pouted cutely, "Yes you can! Doesn't just saying that make you feel unbelievably happy? Like you're just going to burst with joy?"

A small smile made its way onto Zuko's as he thought about it, "You know…it does. It really does. Our child." He shivered, "I think I just got happy chills."

"See?" Katara teased, poking her tongue out at him, "It does feel good. Now, as to what we're going to name our child I think we should wait until we know the sex that way we're not constantly going from male to female."

Now it was Zuko's turn to pout, "Where's the fun in that? I think the fact that we don't know the sex just makes it that much more special. We can think of any name we want, narrow it down to the ones we love and then, when our child is born we'll have the perfect name ready to go boy or girl."

Katara blinked, "That…that actually makes a lot of sense."

The prince snorted, "I actually tend to make a lot of sense. People just never seem to want to listen to my reasoning."

Biting her lip to keep in the laugh that was bubbling to the surface, Katara kissed him again, "Come on hot man, let's get back to camp and think up some names for our child."

Lacing their fingers together, the two turned to walk back only to come face to face with Hakoda, his arms crossed and eyes boring into both of them.

"Do either of you two care to explain your child?"

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A/N: There's another chapter ladies and gentlemen! Now, my explanation regarding the delay! For the past three days I've been working a choir camp at my old high school that ran all day long, so I didn't really have too much time to write. BUT that was only a small part of it: the real delay came by way of a review I got that sparked a whole different way for me to see this fic.

The review referenced the "psychotic bloodbender" paragraph in the last chapter and whether or not there was going to be an explanation as to how the group encountered her. Well that got me thinking and thinking got me writing and I lost track of time while creating that little side story as well as spawning the potential for several others that are connected with this story.

Now I'm just stuck on exactly how to get you guys those stories. Thoughts? Until next time!

-HakushoRurouni