Title- Revelation
Rating- M for later chapters
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Summary- Remember when team Avatar split up to find Aang and Momo, what if when Toph goes with Zuko, something happens, something better than Toph's idea of a life changing experience.
A/N- The long awaited chapter nine. I sincerely apologise for the wait. I really do. Thanks to everyone who's still waiting, I will try to update as often as I possibly can. The next chapter will be much longer.
It took Ursa a few weeks to get used to the royal treatment again, but she didn't let it go to her head, she was as compassionate as ever. She sat in the garden for hours, watching the turtleducks and remembering how her life had been before she gave everything up for her only son. She preferred it now.
Life went on normally for Zuko and Toph until a little over a month later when she woke up early one morning with a strange feeling.
She sat up, waking Zuko. He sat up as well. "What's wrong?"
"There's something off." she said.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I just feel weird." she said.
"Do you want a physician?" he questioned. "For a checkup or something?"
She nodded. "I've never felt like this before. There's definitely something wrong with me."
Toph sat still as the doctor looked her over almost annoyed with how long it was taking. He took out a tool of some kind and put it in his ear, placing the other end to her chest to listen to her heart. He moved down to listen to her stomach. "Have you missed your time of blood?" he questioned.
Toph frowned. "It's late if that's what you mean."
He nodded and put his equipment away. "I have good news and bad news." he said. "Well, it might be bad news."
"What's the good news?" Toph questioned.
"You're perfectly healthy, there's nothing 'wrong' with you."
"And the bad news?"
"You might be pregnant."
The room went deathly silent. "Pregnant?" Zuko questioned from his seat next to her.
"Yes, her time of blood is late, and it seems to me like she's gained a little weight. She may be, don't get your hopes up. I'll be back in a few weeks to check on her again. If she starts to get sick during the day, or even at night you can probably assume for sure that she is pregnant." the doctor said, picking up his bag.
Toph sat in stunned silence, her expression blank as she took in the news.
Zuko escorted the doctor to the door, before returning. "How do you feel about this?" he questioned.
Toph blinked. "I might be with child..." she breathed. "I-"
Ursa stood and moved over to her, placing her hand on Toph's shoulder. "I'm here for you if you need any help." she said. "this will be a hard time for you."
Toph nodded. "Thank you. Please excuse me for a few moments."
She stood and left the room. Zuko could hear her out in the hallway calling loudly for Mayana. She went silent and he assumed Mayana had arrived and Toph was telling her something. Toph entered the room again in a few minutes.
"Pardon me, but I'm tired, I think I'll go and sleep for a while."
Toph laid awake on her bed, her hands resting lightly on her stomach. Could it be true? Was she with child?
She remembered the conversation she'd had with Suki about wanting a child. It seemed so long ago, before there was a possibility. She let out a sigh and rolled onto her side. She wanted to be happy, she really did but something was stopping her. She couldn't get over the fact that not even the doctor knew for sure. She refused to get happy and then have someone tell her that she wasn't pregnant, she was just getting fat.
It wasn't until the next day that she began to cheer up slightly. She sat at the table for breakfast, picking at her food, for some reason she didn't have as much of an appetite as usual, but then it could have been because she didn't like the look of the food at all. She wanted something else.
Mayana moved up beside her. "Pardon my lady, is breakfast not to your liking?" she questioned.
Toph could feel everyone's eyes move to her. "Not really." she replied.
"Did you want something else, are you perhaps craving something?"
Mayana was testing her to see if she was pregnant and Toph knew it. She just went along. "I am." she replied. "I would like bread with honey, fireflakes and milk."
"Anything else?" Mayana questioned.
"Yes, put them all together in one bowl."
She felt everyone's surprise and hid a small smile. "And sliced raw sugarroot on a separate plate."
Mayana nodded and left, coming back a few minutes later with what Toph wanted setting everything in front of her.
Toph began to eat. It was surprisingly good and brought back her appetite. Zuko cleared his throat.
"Is everything okay Toph?" he questioned.
"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"
"Your eating habits are a little strange, yesterday you wanted badgerfrog soup with sweets." he said.
Toph shrugged. "That's fine." she said. "I'm okay."
Zuko shook his head and continued eating. Finishing his plate quickly and standing. "Please excuse me, but I need to be getting to a meeting."
Ursa shook her head as he left. "The firelord is always in some kind of meeting." she commented. "I'm sure it's hard to be away from him so much."
"It's okay, I miss him a lot, but I don't mind, it's for the good of the world after all." Toph replied, pushing her empty plates away. "Mayana?"
She stepped forward. "Yes?"
"Take these to the kitchen, and then come and help me change. These clothes make me feel quite uncomfortable." she said.
Mayana did as she was told, before following Toph back to her room. "You know Toph, I do believe you are pregnant." she said as they entered the changing room.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, you have strange eating habits, you're uncomfortable in clothing you wear all the time. I'm sure you're moody and easily depressed. It sounds to me like you're pregnant."
Toph shrugged. "Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath."
Mayana shook her head as she helped Toph undress, looking her over. She had gained a few pounds, but since she usually ate what and when Zuko did, it didn't make sense. He hadn't gained or lost any weight.
A few weeks later the doctor returned and even just listening to what Zuko said on the way to Toph, he was sure that the royal princess was pregnant without a doubt. He entered the room and saw Toph sitting on a soft chair, leaning back with her eyes closed.
She looked slightly sick and he was sure it was because of morning sickness. "How are you?" he questioned as he sat near her on another chair.
She shrugged. "I'm okay I guess." she replied. "I feel a bit sick, that's all. I can feel it doctor."
"Feel what?" he questioned.
"The baby."
Everyone stopped to stare at her.
"It's too early my lady." he said softly. "You wouldn't-"
"I can." she insisted cutting him off. "I can feel it moving, I know I'm pregnant, I knew a while ago."
Zuko moved to sit next to her. "We all know you are." he said. "And I'm so happy about it. I just want to make sure you're healthy and if you say you can feel the baby, I'll believe you."
She smiled. "Thanks."
The doctor stood after checking up on her and exited the room closely followed by Zuko. They stopped in the entrance hall near the door.
"My lord, this may be a strange thing to ask, but are you and the lady still sexually active?"
Zuko frowned. "No, not really." he replied. "At least not as much as before."
The doctor nodded. "since this is her first pregnancy, a sexually active life will make the birth much easier for her, that and she must get lots of physical activity. Make sure she goes on walks and earthbends regularly. Make sure she doesn't eat fattening foods, she shouldn't gain too much weight that isn't from the baby. She can't be lazy and lay around being pampered, she has to exercise." the doctor said.
Zuko nodded. "I'll make sure she does all that." he replied before showing the physician out the door and returning to the sitting room where Toph was.
He entered, closing the door quietly behind himself as he saw Toph and his mother talking softly.
"Don't worry." Ursa said. "It's going to be hard, but you've always got me, an Zuko here for you."
Toph nodded. "I know, it's okay, I'm fine. I don't know what you're so worried about."
Ursa smiled. "I remember when I was pregnant with Zuko. Ozai didn't seem too excited about it, but then he didn't seem too excited about anything other than Azula being a prodigy. There was always something wrong with that girl, something off." she said, her smile fading. "I suppose it might have been because Zuko was always my favorite. A lot of mothers who have more than one child favor the younger ones, or the girls, but I could always see that Zuko would make me proud."
Toph smiled. "I assume he did just that?"
"He absolutely did." Ursa replied. "I've never been more proud of him."
Toph was active, and quite happy most of the time. She continued with her bending exercises and went for walks each day. The only thing she didn't do was become physically active with Zuko again. She was never in the mood anymore, and though she wanted to, she could never actually go through with it. Their bedroom life was boring, filled with long winded conversations or silence.
When they slept, Toph would sleep away from him because she was always too hot at night and soon they actually began growing apart. It scared Toph, it made her think that she might actually lose her husband, the one she loved more than anyone else. Finally she just decided to do it, to go through with it. If she couldn't get into the mood herself, she was sure that Zuko could help her to.
That night when he was ready to turn the lights out and go to sleep, she moved over toward him placing a soft kiss on the side of his neck. He paused staring at her for a moment before brushing his hand over the side of her face, pulling her up for a soft kiss.
She went easily, opening her mouth to him without coaxing. He let out a breath and slid his tongue into her mouth, tasting her.
"I missed that." he said softly when he pulled away.
She smiled. "So did I."
He moved his hand down over her shoulder to gently cup one of her breasts, kneading it softly. She let out a moan, and he continued.
It didn't take long for them to get undressed, and soon they were right in the middle of it. Zuko couldn't help but notice that Toph was a little bigger than before, but it would make sense since she was carrying his baby. She was much more sensitive and responded very well.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, she began to cry. She threw her head back and that's when Zuko saw the glistening trails of moisture. He paused. "Are you okay?"
"Of course." she replied breathlessly, squirming slightly. "Please don't stop."
He continued, not sure what to think. It didn't take long for them to reach completion after that.
They lay together sometime later, and for once they didn't have to have a long boring conversation. They lay in comfortable silence before Toph finally curled up against his side and went to sleep.
Days passed into weeks, weeks into months and finally when Toph's delivery date was getting near Katara Sokka and Aang came to the palace. Katara would be Toph's healer in case of complications with the birth. Though, the palace physician did say that she would make it through just fine because she had been exercising and doing everything he'd said to do. Katara was taken to a room quite close to Zuko and Toph's. Once she'd unpacked and got settled in she went to take a look at Toph.
Toph was standing at least, walking around the palace slowly with obviously pained steps. Her earthbending was dumbed down since she couldn't do anything too complicated. Every few steps she would stop and just stand there, rubbing her lower back with a grimace of pain. Katara walked over to her.
"Hey sugarqueen." Toph said, sounding tired and worn. Up close she looked worse than she did from afar. Her hair which had been meticulously put up that morning by Mayana was falling down. Her dress was loose and baggy, nearly falling off her shoulders and it was obvious by her slouch that she didn't have much back support without a corset. Katara wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"I'm here to take care of you." she said.
Toph nodded. "I'm well aware of that, I'm the one who asked Zuko to send you a message asking you to come here. It was my idea not his."
Katara smiled. "Well I'm glad that you would trust me with something like this."
Toph shrugged, pushing her off. "I think I'm going to go and take a nap, I'm always so tired."
"Can you still feel it?" Katara questioned as Toph walked away.
"He's going to be beautiful." Toph replied with a smile. "Just like his father."
Toph couldn't sleep again as much as she tried. The baby was too restless, he was moving around, kicking. She let out a sigh and sat up, sitting cross legged with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She sang softly, feeling Zuko shift as he woke.
He turned to look at her, a soft, worried expression on his face. She was exhausted why was she up in the middle of the night singing? She sighed as the baby grew still, listening to her and she lay down rolling onto her left side facing Zuko. She closed her eyes and within a few moments her singing faltered and stopped as she fell asleep.
The next morning she woke by herself, feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. She sat up and threw the covers back, standing.
She rifled through her dresser finding a long shirt and a pair of pants, getting dressed quickly. She walked out of her room and down the hall, feeling much stronger after having slept for one night. She followed the sounds of her friends to a small sitting room.
The all paused as she opened the door and Zuko stood immediately, hurrying to her side. "I thought you were still sleeping." he said gently.
She shook her head. "I'm well rested and just fine."
Katara smiled, knowing that tone. It's obvious that Zuko did as well because he released her and allowed her to go on her own. "I'm not glass I won't break." Toph said.
"Of course you're not, you're just in a very delicate condition." Zuko said.
Toph rolled her eyes. "I don't feel delicate. If anything I feel slow and hindered by the weight. I feel fat most of the time."
Zuko sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "You're not fat Toph, you're beautiful." he said.
Katara watched the exchange knowing that the woman that Zuko saw was quite different from the girl others thought she was. Toph smiled. "Thanks, but you're lying." she said.
Zuko frowned. "I'm not lying." he said.
She smiled again. "I know, don't worry."
A scream woke Katara from a peaceful sleep. She shot out of bed and ran to Toph and Zuko's room seeing Toph sitting up screaming. Zuko was trying to calm her down, his hands catching her face. "Toph! Please stop!"
Katara moved over to the bed. "What's wrong!?"
Toph's hand shot out and wrapped around her arm, pulling her forward forcefully. By this time Sokka, Aang and Mayana had appeared in the room. Mayana rushed to Katara's side. "It's too soon for the baby." she said, her voice loud even though she was just speaking.
Katara nodded. "If she's having him now there's a good chance he'll die."
Toph's screams faded to be replaced by the ragged breathing of everyone in the room and her small pained sounds. Zuko brushed his hand over her face, pushing her hair out of the way. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head and took his hand, placing it on her stomach. The skin beneath his hand was hot to the touch as though someone was pouring boiling water over it.
"Go and get my mother." he commanded softly seeing Mayana rush away to do just that.
When she returned Ursa trailed behind her, immediately rushing to Toph's side when she saw the predicament. "What happened?"
Zuko shook his head. "I don't know, I don't think Toph does either."
Ursa reached out, placing her hand over Toph's stomach. She leaned down and in a language no one in the room had ever heard, she began to speak before switching to English after a while.
"You're hurting your mama little one. I know you think it's cold in there but it's much too hot for her. You only have to wait a little longer."
There were a few glances cast around the room and Ursa stood with a smile. She reached up, brushing her hand over the side of Toph's face. "Better?"
Toph let out a breath, leaning back onto her pillows.
Zuko frowned. "What's going on with him?"
Ursa smiled. "He's just like you were. Believe it or not the baby can hear everything you say and do. Toph must have done something to make her body temperature drop during the night and without realizing it the baby rose her internal temperature to his comfort which was much too hot for her. Any hotter and we would have had a real problem on our hands."
Without another word, she pulled her shirt up, showing a few whitened scars.
"Are those-?" Mayana began.
"They're from Azula. Sometimes I think she did it on purpose." Ursa replied. "These are from after she was born, but the damage she did internally made it impossible for me to ever conceive another child."
Toph listened silently, her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach.
"If you're a non bender like myself, or if you aren't a firebender, carrying one can be hard. I'm surprised this hasn't happened before. This baby is going to be like his father, Zuko always did listen when I told him he was hurting me in any way. Azula seemed to ignore me."
Everyone had gone silent and it seemed that Toph had fallen back to sleep. "Keep her warm Zuko."
It was maybe four days into her ninth month and Toph was in one of the sitting rooms, Katara and Zuko near her. She had her arms crossed over her stomach and was leaning back with her eyes closed.
She felt something strange and sat up immediately. "Katara?"
The waterbender was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"
"I think there's something going on." She replied.
Katara placed her hand on Toph's stomach feeling the muscle tense and release a few times. "It's almost time." she said with a smile.
The moment she said that Toph's stomach contracted and her water broke. She was taken to a spare room and laid on the bed. Katara was with her all night, measuring the length of her contractions. They were quick and far apart at first and finally began to get closer together and longer. Katara took Toph's hand in hers.
"Squeeze when you feel a contraction and let go when it's over." she said softly as to not wake anyone else in the room.
Toph squeezed almost instantly and kept squeezing until finally her grip loosened slightly. Not even two minutes later she squeezed again letting out a soft cry of pain.
Zuko who was sitting on her other side, sleeping lightly woke instantly standing. "Is it happening?"
"Not yet." Katara said. "Sit down you're making a fool of yourself."
Toph's breathing was irregular and labored, and soon she began to make sounds of pain. Her contractions got longer and longer until finally they were just less than a minute long with breaks of maybe a few seconds in between. Katara pulled the blanket down and knelt between Toph's legs pulling her dress up and over her knees.
"It hasn't started yet, but it will soon, very soon." she said softly mostly to herself.
A few minutes went by and nothing happened while Toph's contractions continued to be the same. Finally Katara's expression brightened. "There he is."
"Get me water and cloths!" she called to Sokka and Aang who were sitting across the room.
They both jumped to their feet and did as she said, setting the bowl beside her along with the cloths. She bent some of the water out of the bowl and cleaned some of the blood with it.
"Okay Toph, on your next contraction I need you to push okay?"
Toph nodded and after a moment she began to push letting out a scream.
"Push with your contractions!" Katara called over her screams hoping the words would reach her. "Don't exhaust yourself too soon."
Toph did as she was told and the delivery went smoothly. At eleven six o'candle that night a boy was born. He was beautiful, big and healthy. Katara cleaned him and wrapped him in a soft blanket giving him to Zuko to hold while she tended to Toph.
So that's the end of chapter nine, I'm so sorry it took me so long to upload this, but I kind of lost inspiration for it. It's back now though and I think it'll soon be done.