Thank God that the Giants won!!!
(I'm a Steelers fan. Anybody but New England could have won.)
Running
She had woken in the middle off the night from a dream that told her she needed to go back to Aang and Sokka for a while and help finish the war and Aang's training. She, after all, was a water bending master and Aang's teacher.
Katara had slipped off the ship easily. It wasn't too hard because most off the guards were asleep and the ones at the door to Zuko's room weren't even there. Lucky her. She went down the drawbridge and hid behind some barrels as the harbor patrol went past. This is so not my thing; it should be left for the blue sprit.
They passed and Katara ran as fast as she could. She wasn't used to running like this and because of her new condition – she knew she shouldn't go too hard for too long.
She slipped off the docks and into the forest; it wasn't too hard after she passed the guards. Katara ran to a small stream and sat down and took a long cool drink.
After she was done she looked up at the stars. They were so much brighter in the earth kingdom than in her water tribe. She knew she could only appreciate them for a minute because she knew Zuko would be after her in a minute. Or would he be after her after she had left that note? Just to be safe she walked for the rest of the night.
At around day break she saw a clearing threw the trees. I'll rest there for a while. Then I can go and look for Sokka and Aang.
But after Katara was at the edge of the clearing she started to hear voices and she saw the smoke from a fire. Making sure she was extra quiet, Katara crept up to the very edge and looked into the clearing. Sitting there in deep conversation were Sokka and Aang.
Katara could barely believe her luck! She couldn't believe how close she had actually been to her family. "SOKKA, AANG!" Katara screamed at the top of her lungs. Aang and Sokka both shot up from their seats, Sokka grabbed his boomerang and Aang bent and orb of water from the water skins next to him. "Who's there?!" Sokka demanded.
Katara came out of the forest; she was at the opposite side of the small clearing as them. They all just stood and starred for a minute then Sokka and Aang dropped their weapons and stated running to Katara; Katara did the same. They met at about half way in the clearing.
They all hugged each other for what felt like hours but what actually was ten minutes. Then Sokka held his little sister at arm's length and then Katara realized he was crying, "Katara I can't believe we found you! We've been looking for months." And he again hugged her. They hugged and cried in each other's arms for a little while then Aang came over and added his tears to the crying fest.
"I'm the worst brother. I let my baby sister get kidnapped by the fire nation prince. And I couldn't find her for two months!" Sokka gurgled through his tears.
"And I'm the worst Avatar for not being able to stop him." Aang sobbed.
Katara wiped away some of their tears and said, "You are not the worst brother." She looked him in the eyes and held his cheek, "And you are not by any means the worst Avatar! I don't want either of you to think you failed me. Do you understand?"
They both nodded. After another crying fest Sokka asked, "If you're here Zuko can't be far, behind can he? We got to move."
Aang threw his hands up to get their attention and to keep Sokka from ranting, "Katara, how did you find us?"
"The crew members were talking about seeing Appa. I just figured where you where and you were close to where I figured. I only have less than half a day ahead of him. We should move."
She didn't want to tell them that he was nicer now that she had gotten to talk to him and that he was the father of her unborn child.
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They quickly broke camp and packed up Appa. Aang took the reins and yelled, "Yip, Yip!"
Sokka held his little sister in his arms. They had missed each other so much. After Aang had gotten Appa on course he came back and sat with his friends.
"We were so worried about you Katara. We looked forever. We were talking about possible locations when you found us." Sokka said in a heavy voice. It was one of the few times that Katara had seen her brother cry.
"Yah since you weren't here Sokka had to cook and we both did the laundry. And let me tell you, you are a way better cook and laundress." Aang said trying to lighten the situation. It was apparent that the boys didn't want to talk about where she had been. Or so she thought.
They traveled several hours in silence just holding onto each other. Every once in a while Sokka would kiss his sisters head and move her hair out of the way of her face but nothing else.
They stopped at about dusk to eat dinner and to rest for the night.
As Katara was getting food out of their packs Sokka came over with the wood to make a cooking fire. He set the wood up and then just stood there looking at his sister. She was too busy to notice this at first but then she did, "Sokka what's wrong?" She said with concern and sadness.
"You were with…" He didn't want to say it Katara could tell by the look on his face, "the fire nation. You were with Fire nation soldiers that probably haven't seen or touched a woman in…well forever." He sat down with his head in his hands.
Katara rushed to his side, she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Oh Sokka. I never really saw anybody but Zuko and his uncle. There was an occasional soldier that brought me a meal but that was it." She felt super guilty not telling him then about her being pregnant right then. But it could wait a while. He was obviously so pained by the thoughts of men dishonoring her. Or so she hoped she could wait a while. Just then Aang came back from getting water from a nearby stream. He gave Katara a comforting smile as she comforted Sokka.
A while later after they ate Katara bid her brother and friend good night. She after all hadn't slept very much the night before and she had done a lot of physical activity.
Katara didn't fall asleep immediately though her thoughts went back to Zuko. She was sure she did the right thing by leaving Zuko. Katara was planning on going back to him after the war was over. But she was just very mixed up inside.
--------------------------------------------------Katara thought that her morning sickness had gone away but she was sadly was wrong. The next morning around dawn, She had gotten used to waking at that hour seeing as she lived with fire benders for two months. If it were up to her she would sleep until noon or later and stay up late into the night.
Katara scrambled out of her sleeping bag and sprinted to the nearest bush, yet again she emptied her stomach this time onto a plant. Aang feeling the sudden motion of Katara's sprinting jumped out of his sleeping bag thinking they were being attacked. But then he saw it was Katara.
He walked over to her, "Are you ok Katara?" He placed an unsure hand on her back, "Can I get you anything?"
Katara stood up and walked to a nearby log, "Just some water Aang. That would be great if you could." She gave him a weak smile. He gave her a weak one back. Aang walked over to Appa's saddle and got some water skins. While walking past he woke Sokka. "Wah ue doin up Aauunnnggg?" Sokka asked half conscious.
Aang stopped and answered, "Katara's sick I'm getting her some water." That woke Sokka up. "What do you mean 'sick'?"
Aang just stood there and scratched his bald head with his lips mixed up in confusion, "I don't know just 'sick' she wants some water so I'm getting her some."
They both walked to where Katara was hanging her head between her legs trying to breathe easier.
"Here Katara." Aang handed her a water skin, "Are you going to heal yourself?"
Katara just froze up at that comment. There was no way to heal herself. She careful spoke the next few sentences. She looked up at her brother, the brother that tried his best to protect her on their journey and the brother that she loved so very much no matter how much of a jerk he could be. Then she shifted her eyes to Aang. He was in love with her, she had known that for a long time and he would be heartbroken at what she was about to tell them.
"I can't heal myself." She replied in a small voice. The boys looked at her confused. "Why don't you both sit down while I tell you this?" She took their faces in her hands like a mother does to her children. "I know you both see Zuko as a monster and the enemy, but I got to really know him when I was on the ship."
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" Sokka nearly screamed. "You're telling me you talked to him and you want us to change our minds about him?" He bellowed.
"I'm telling you to listen to me."Katara stated with an aura of command. "We had very little to do but talk so that's what we did." She looked at Aang. "He told me he only wants you so he can live his dream of running the Fire Nation. He doesn't want to hurt you. He just needs you."
"What does this gave to do with you being sick?" Aang asked confused.
"Well we did argue a lot in the two months that I was there. And one night I started yelling at him about not having feelings and being heartless." She shifted her eyes to the tree's behind the boys indulged in the memory she was about to share with them. "He stormed over to me and kissed me."
Sokka looked as if he was gonna barf, and poor Aang just looked confused. She continued not caring about then at the moment. "It was like best kiss I've ever gotten. He said some stuff I said some stuff we ended up in bed." She paused for emphasis and to reminisce, "And I'm pregnant. That's why I can't heal myself."
She was right Aang was absolutely heartbroken at what he had just heard.
"You're carrying the Fire Nation Princes' baby?!" Sokka stated in disbelief, "I can't believe it! My pure angel baby sister is having a baby out of wedlock and it can't even to be to a descent man! It has to belong to the Fire Nation!" He threw his hands up in disbelief, anger and agony.
"Yes Sokka I'm carrying Zuko's baby. And when you get to know him like I do you will realize what a great man he actually is. He doesn't want to fight this war. Zuko wants' to end it as soon as possible." She looked at her brother with a hard face, "And we love each other. And will you please just shut up and leave me alone!? I don't need you to make me feel worse than I already am. You have no idea what it's like to carry a baby! It's NOT easy!" She screamed the last few sentences. Aang snuck away while Katara was screaming at her brother. He went and sat at the bank of the stream near them.
He sat there thinking to himself, why would Katara let him touch her? Did he hurt her? Did she struggle against him? Does she actually love Zuko more than she does me? I should have fought harder to get her back and I should have fought harder when they took her. I'm a failure as an Avatar if I can't even protect my family how will I save the world?He could hear Katara and Sokka screaming at each other. He had expected their reunion to be happy not at all like this. "Avatar Roku can you please help me?!" Aang yelled to the sky. After that he went and meditated. He needed to make sense of all this.
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Okay there it is finally! I'm so sorry for not updating I've just been super busy with high school. And I've been helping out a lot of other authors. (If you read The Twilight series I recommend Vampire Kisses. I'm the beta reader for that and in the Japanese version I'm a character.) Also whenever someone reviews I go to their profile and see if they have any storied worth reading and I bookmark them and read them. My list is down to like 4 more stories so I can start updating all my stories sooner.
Now review!!!
