Zuko ate a light breakfast and joined Aang in the bedroom. Katara's condition had worsened while he was away. She was once more thrashing and Aang looked at her fondly. Zuko merely watched just praying to the spirits he could save her. That old tinge of jealousy was there but his need for her life was greater.
Aang took some water from the basin and tried to calm her with some healing. She seemed to fight some more and he stopped. He was there just staring at her and touching her skin. He touched her more intimately than Zuko cared.
The Avatar's hands touched her face and then her arms and her hands and on her sides and then his hands settled on her abdomen and he stopped. He took his hands off as if he had been burned. Slowly he turned to Zuko who had been waiting in the far corner.
"I think I have an idea of why she's sick, but I'm not sure." Zuko walked closer to Aang prepared to listen to his suggestion. Aang took some water in his hands and bended them into the shape of a small woman.
"Katara is a waterbender right? But you are a firebender." The figure of a man was produced in the Avatar's other hand with fire. He clashed the two figures together and steam ensued.
"I think Katara is sick because she is carrying a firebender child in her. The baby is naturally hot but she is naturally cold. The balance of her body is upset. When you held her, it calmed her because the child was finally getting the warmth it needed to grow. That's the only thing I can think of." Aang shook his head. Neither of them had foreseen this. The whole idea of a firebender and waterbender mating was unprecedented. It just did not happen.
"Will she be alright?" Zuko asked exasperated. Aang shook his head uncertainly.
"It's hard to say, two opposites are at war within her. Until the baby is born or until one conquers the other she may continue on like this." Zuko cursed and backed away from her. Aang didn't bother to follow him.
He touched Katara's face with a little firebending heat to help warm her. She calmed a little and he took his hand away.
"It's not your fault Zuko. We should have foreseen this at the council."
"There is a taboo against mixing the nations, we should never have been." Zuko whispered quietly, trying to fight his own battle of guilt within him.
"No, this would not have happened between two normal people, maybe not even as severely between other benders. The fact that you are opposites of bending elements and both masters has made it worse. I heard this happened to her when she was at the South Pole. The cold air must have triggered it then. Firebenders are just not meant to be cold. If a firebender is constantly with her to warm her, I think she should be fine." With that Aang moved away from Katara. Zuko stopped him.
"Aang I know you loved her and I'm sorry." Aang stopped and turned around.
"For what?" Zuko bent his head down and turned to look over his shoulder back at his sleeping wife.
"For taking her away from you. You deserved her more." Aang seemed to almost flush and then his face turned stern.
"You didn't take her away from me, I did that. I left her. It could never have been. I don't think she would have been nearly as happy with me as she is with you. I don't need Avatar powers to see how much you love her and that's all Katara ever needed. You can give her that. You can give her everything she has ever needed or wanted. I couldn't have given that to her." With that Aang left and Zuko went over to Katara to hold her more gently. She seemed to stop squirming instantly.
He heard a knock at the door and his uncle entered. He seemed slow to enter and walk to the young couple.
"What did the Avatar say?" He asked quietly.
"She's carrying a firebender." Zuko whispered. Realization came to Iroh's face as he understood the difficulties of a waterbender bearing a firebender.
Zuko stayed with Katara all that day and into the next when she started to come around. He had ordered a blazing fire be set up in the room to make her warm and it was. With the help of his uncle he interviewed older firebender women, most of them retired soldiers from the army. They would hire three of them and have one of the firebenders with Katara to provide her warmth at all times. That was their only job, but at night Zuko sent them away and he would wrap her in his arms and keep her comfort. The warmth he could provide her riveled even the strongest of the women.
After a week she began to become conscious. Zuko forbade her to leave the room for at least another week which did not sit over well with her. He checked on her constantly and made sure she was eating enough. Her welfare was of the utmost concern to him.
"Zuko?" She whispered one night as his warm arms wrapped around her.
"Hmm?" He groggily affirmed his lack of sleep with a grunt.
"What's wrong with me, why are you so worried?" Her whispers tickled his skin and he hugged her closer not wanting to say a word.
"It's the baby." He said as his muscles tensed around her. Instantly she sat up in a second with a hand over her swelling belly.
"What's wrong with the baby? I swear I've felt movement. Is it ill? Have I done something wrong?" He shushed her and sat up and placed a warm hand on her cold cheek. She reveled in his hot touch.
"No Katara, you have done nothing wrong. It's my fault you're in pain." Her brows knitted together in concern. She hated it when Zuko talked like this. He tried to bear the whole weight of the world on his shoulders when he didn't have to.
"Zuko, everything can't be your fault and it's selfish of you to think so. So seriously, what's wrong with our baby?" Her concern shot through him and he groaned again.
"You're carrying a firebender and it's killing you." Her face flushed at his harsh words. She wrapped her arms about him.
"Well at least one problem is solved. Now all we have to do is a have a boy and everything will be alright." She sighed in relief a small smile coming to her lips. His body jerked upright and he stared at her with eyes that could kill.
"This is no laughing matter! You could die and I could lose you forever. All for a child, a child that will hate me anyways. The spirits forbid it should be a boy!" She smiled and he wanted to scream. Had she no care for her own life? Did she not care what losing her would do to him? What just the thought of it was already doing to him?
"Zuko if I die, my only wish is that our baby lives and I do hope it is a boy. For you, so you can finally be Fire Lord. It's what you've always wanted." He grabbed her arms and shook her slightly his face beginning to lose composure.
"I don't care about that anymore Katara. All I want is you! All I want is for you to be safe. So help me I will never touch you again if it means you won't be in pain. If it's a girl than we don't have to worry about anything. I won't have to worry about being Fire Lord. We can go live wherever you want, do whatever we want and no one will care." She moved so quickly he missed it in a blink. A sharp pain rose on his cheek and he looked to see Katara shaking her hand that was beginning to turn red. She looked him square in the eye.
"Zuko, I am doing this for you. I love you and I love our baby. Stop worrying about being Fire Lord. I won't allow you to run away from your responsibility and I thought I knew you well enough to know you wouldn't. I guess I was wrong. As for not ever touching me again, we'll see how well that goes. I will get another baby off of you Zuko, even if I have to tie you down myself!" She licked her lips thrilled with her own challenge. He stared wide eyed at her for a moment and then forced her down crushing himself on top of her. She could see the need in his eyes and she was excited her bloated figure still incited him to passion.
"I hope you don't mean that or you're going to be having a lot of firebenders." He pressed his lips heatedly against hers.
"Oh I intend to make many waterbenders with you Zuko." He found her erotic. Even with her belly plump with child the fact that it was his child nestled deep within her made him all the more excited. His feelings were almost obsessive, she was his now and the whole world knew it.
They lay awake sweating and when he touched her skin he felt it warm to the touch. She smiled lying in his arms. Their blood still raced through them enough to keep them awake a little while longer.
"Zuko, how did you figure out it was the baby making me ill?" He froze and she felt him tense beneath her hands. She moved her head to look at him waiting for a response.
"They were thinking of killing you Katara, to put you out of your misery. I had them call Aang. I had to know if there was any way he could help you before I would let them do that to you. It took him only a few minutes to figure it out." She sat upright.
"Aang was here and you didn't tell me? Did he leave a note or anything for me?" She didn't realize how she sounded, desperate. She sounded desperate for Aang. The woman he had just made love to and the woman who was carrying his child was desperate for another man. He couldn't take it right now. Not now.
"Damn it woman, I'll never be good enough for you! You lying…" He couldn't force the accursed words out of his mouth. He loved her too much. Looking upon her gentle features and soft innocent curves he had to look away. One of the downfalls of being a firebender was the terrible temper that came with it.
"Zuko, please I was just wondering. I haven't seen Aang in so long. I just wanted to know he was okay." The fire crawled up his arms and she stared almost frightened at him. She jumped and he went from fiery and angry to concerned in a moment. He came closer and she placed his now smoking hand on her belly. The child moved within her kicking impatiently. She smiled up at him gleefully.
"Zuko that's our baby, not Aang's baby, ours. You gave me the option when we were married to never sleep with you, but I did. I chose to do so knowing full well what the consequences might be. I love you Zuko and no one else and if your little impatient brat isn't proof enough that it's yours, you are heavily mistaken. I want to see you on that throne Zuko, so help me if I have to give birth to a hundred babies." She grinned and he shook his head.
"I will not allow you to have a hundred babies, that would definitely be monstrous of me. Why do you want me on the throne?" He grinned back at her and pecked her on the lips.
"Zuko, you're ready for this. No one deserves it more."
"Spirits help me Katara. I love you."
"I know and I love you." He kissed her in the dark again.
After another few weeks had passed he let her walk around a bit to help rebuild her muscles which had been weakened from the bed rest. With the elderly firebenders with her she didn't experience much illness after that.
One night she rested in his arms, loving the feel of him around her. She thought an amusing thought just then and smiled.
"What's so funny?" He asked watching her curious smile. She giggled in his arms.
"Oh nothing really. I was just wandering which of those glorious nights we conceived our child." He grunted and stood up on his elbow regarding her lovingly. He played with a little lock of her hair.
"Oh really and what has your devious little mind come up with?" She smiled roguishly.
"Remember the night we were bending together?" She knew by the look on his face he remembered and all too well.
"Oh yes. That I have got to say was the best night of my life. Note to self, never replicate it. It might just cause another monstrous parasite to attach itself to your beautiful form." He grinned and she punched him playfully in the chest, laughing at his jest when he squinted in pain. She sat bolt upright. She looked at the scar on his chest and wondered how she had missed it. She thought she knew every scar on his body, how could she have missed this new one.
"Zuko, where did you get this scar?" She eyed him suspiciously daring him to make up an excuse. He gulped knowing he shouldn't.
"Right before you fell ill when I left the palace for a little while. There was an uprising and I got hit with an arrow. It's not a bad wound, it'll heal with time." She shook her head in annoyance. She muttered under her breath and began to reach for the water to bend it when he stopped her hands, grasping them in his.
"Zuko, if this is another one of those honor things you can forget it. One day your whole body is just going to become one giant scar and I will not allow that to happen. Release me now so I can heal you."
"No Katara," His voice was flat and emotionless, "I can't let you put our baby at risk. If I have to hire three old women to watch you and keep you warm, what do you think waterbending will do? It's just a scratch, I will not have you putting our baby in jeopardy for it." She smiled at him.
"You are going to make a wonderful father Zuko. A little over bearing, but wonderful. I can't imagine any other man on earth who will love his children more." She bent down and snuggled against his warm body.
So life for Katara was pretty drab while she was confined from doing waterbending and anything else that could potentially harm their baby. She had not expected such things to occur while she was pregnant and often promised herself she would never let Zuko touch her again if it meant another confinement. The firebender women often giggled at her foolish exasperations but she didn't care. She knew she was being foolish. She wanted more children, if not now then later.
When her ninth month came around the corner she went into labor earlier than expected by the physicians and she was in labor for a long time.
As she was once again confined to her bed she sat and waited. All three of her firebender nurses were present in case she should need their assistance and she had even heard threats that Aang was on his way just in case the birth should not be an easy one.
They tried to soothe her whenever she felt another birthing pain. Although the little firebender had given her problems all throughout the pregnancy it was calm now, patient and waiting. She took the time to wonder if it could possibly be related to Zuko with such inherent patience.
She smiled in amusement as she heard another bang from the door. Zuko was not too happy to be kept out waiting as impatient as he was and she could only picture how Uncle Iroh's tea was helping matters.
"Zuko, you should sit down and have a nice cup of tea. You are going to wear a hole into that spot if you keep pacing like that. Relax these things take a while." Aang sat next to Iroh sipping away at the tea smiling thoughtfully.
"Iroh's right Zuko. Besides this is great tea, what's your secret?" Iroh perked up and began explaining about his jasmine tea. Zuko rolled his eyes. A game of Pai Sho was brought out to entertain them but Zuko was too worried to concentrate and his uncle and Aang both delighted on beating him numerously.
"It is always like this for the father the first time around. I remember when my son was born his mother was in labor for at least half a day. You wonder where all my hair went?" He pointed to his bald head and Aang laughed. Zuko smirked at the comment.
"What did my father do when my mother had me and Azula?" His uncle laughed.
"I've never seen the like. Your father waited through the whole day while your mother birthed you. There were at least ten scorches in the ceiling by the time you were born. I don't think he was even around when your sister was born. He had his son and heir and he did not care what came after." Iroh was smiling and sipping his tea carelessely. Zuko smirked.
"The one time he liked me more than Azula." The irony of it atll made Iroh grin.
"Yes funny how that ended when you started talking." For some reason even though they were dead it wasn't difficult to speak of such matters. For years after their death no one could even mention their names without a twitch. But the lightheartedness fo the conversation was not at all dishonorable and it helped to put Zuko at ease.
They wasted the better part of the day doing nothing but waiting and Aang even managed to slip away for a nap. As evening neared the worry began to permanently place itself on Zuko's brows. She had been in labor all day and still nothing. His uncle's and Aang's attentions could only keep him occupied for so long and he was sick of tea.
Finally hours after dusk a maid came to them to say the child had been born.
Zuko had moved swiftly past her and she trailed behind him trying to keep up. He demanded entrance into the room and was finally admitted after the physician gave his permission.
Apparently the room had been cleaned before he was allowed to go in, but he could still smell the stench of blood. He looked to the bed at the other side of the room and within a couple of long quick strides he was by her side. Her hand was cold and she seemed so still he almost thought the worse. Her hair was disheveled and her face was pale and thin. He heard the physician ordering some food in case she should waken.
As he pulled a piece of wild hair out of the way of her face, her eyes fluttered open. She smiled up at him.