Pairing: Zuko and Suki
Rating: T
Suki paced the length of the living room in Zuko's apartment, one hand on her stomach, the other at her mouth as she bit her thumb nail. Each time she heard movement she would turn in the direction of it, a hopeful look on her face. It was dashed each time for almost an hour before his familiar dark form finally walked though the open door.
"Hello Dumpling." He gave her his usual warm smile, the one that was reserved for no one other than her. "I ordered dinner for us, should be here in a bit." He walked to her, going to kiss her.
"Good." She said quickly, looking at him with large nervous eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
She looked at her husband-to-be, shaking a little bit, "I'm late."
He looked at the window, trying to gauge the time by the angle of the sun. "Not really, it's not yet dusk."
"No." She said slowly, "Not that kind of late."
He looked at her for a long moment, the wheels in his head turning as he looked into her blue-grey eyes. "Oh…" His eyes opened wide, his jaw dropping a little bit. "That kinda late."
"Yeah." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking away.
"How late are we talking?"
"Two weeks."
"Is that... normal?" His hands went to her upper arms, holding her there gently with his thumbs grazing her skin.
Suki shook her head, making eye contact with him again. "I've always been regular."
He nodded slowly, "How can we know for sure?"
"A healer should be able to tell for sure."
"Katara?"
Suki nodded, "She is the only one I trust."
"Me too." Zuko leaned in and kissed her on the forehead softly. She wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tight. "I mean… it would be ok, right?" He sounded a little unsure as he said this, his voice shaking softly, "If you… were."
"I would not mind." She mumbled, kissing him on the cheek.
Zuko nodded nervously. "So we head for Republic City. We can leave in the morning."
She smiled up at him, "Alright."
His arms went around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace. He frowned softly, his face flushing over.
Zuko folded his hands together and breathed deeply, the air of Yue Bay filling his lungs. His eyes were closed but his one eye brow twitched lightly.
Aang opened his one eye, looking over at his friend as they sat in the Meditation pavilion. "You know…" Aang closed his eyes again, not breaking his meditation stance. "If you're going to meditate you should try and relax."
Zuko frowned heavily, opening his eyes and looking over at him. "What makes you think I'm not relaxed?"
Aang just shrugged, a smile on his face. "Just a feeling."
"I'm perfectly fine." Zuko groaned.
"Is that why you guys arrived unexpectedly?"
"Hey." Zuko snapped. "You told us that we can come over at any time."
"That we did, but this is the first time you've come over with out any word first." Aang looked over at his friend, "And its not often that you want to meditate and Suki pulls Katara aside and asks for something right away."
Zuko rolled his eyes.
"So what is it?"
"Its just something." Zuko held his head in his hands, taking deep breaths.
Aang raised an eye brow to him, "Listen Sifu Hotman," The nickname drew another groan from Zuko, making Aang smile again, "If something is going on we can help you."
"Nothing is going on, Aang." Zuko looked back out at the ocean.
"I mean if you guys need support, or help…"
"It's nothing like that."
"Its ok if Suki's pregnant."
Zuko's hands went to his hair, pulling it as he gripped his teeth in anger. "No it's not."
"Why not? A baby is a great thing." He smiled comfortingly at his friend.
"I like my life now, if we had a baby things would change."
"Things would change."
"And It has me worried."
Aang frowned a little bit, looking over at him with a frown, not really sure what to say to him.
"Well you don't have to worry anymore." Suki's annoyed voice came from behind them. They both looked back at her. She was frowning heavily, her arms crosses over her chest with her hip popped a little bit. "It was a false alarm."
"I think I will leave you two alone." Aang stood, excusing himself as he walked out of the pavilion.
He stood up, looking at her with a soft frown, "I'm sorry."
"Are you really?" She only spoke when she was sure that Aang was out of ear shot. "Or did you think that a baby would fuck things up."
"I didn't say it like that." He insisted, shaking his head.
She walked into the pavilion, standing in front of him. "Then what was the issue?"
"There is no issue. I just really love the way our life is now and I don't want it to change."
She frowned heavily, her thumb rubbing on her upper arm. "Its going to change at some point in time."
"Well yeah, but I'm in no hurry for it to do so."
She looked at him and twisted her jaw in a frown.
"I'm sorry if that bothers you but it's the way I feel. I don't feel there is a rush."
She laughed at his comment, rolling her eyes.
"Is there some kind of deadline that I was not made aware of?"
"Its not about a deadline." She sighed, running her fingers though the tips of her hair.
"Then what are you pissed off about?"
"I'm pissed cause I thought for two days I was going to have a baby, our baby, and you acted like it was the worst thing you had ever heard of."
"I never said that Suki." He stood closer to her, frowning heavily.
"That's a lie, I just heard it what you said to Aang."
"I just like the way things are, is that so bad!?"
"YES!"
"Why? You seem happy and to be enjoying yourself."
"And I am but I eventually want us to move forward, to get married, to have children."
"And we will, just not right now."
"Why not right NOW!?"
"Cause I don't want to right now, I have all the time in the world to worry about that shit!"
"WELL I DON'T!" She reached out and grabbed his shirt, looking at him with fierce eyes. His hands went on top of her clenched ones, holding them tight. "I don't have all the time in the world Zuko!"
"Suki we are only in our twenties, we still both have long lives ahead of us."
"I just don't want to miss anything." She looked at him with her big blue eyes, "The longer we wait the less time we will have with our children and grandchildren and great grand children." Zuko frowned as she spoke, seeing the tears welling up in her eyes. "The less time we will have with one another."
"We have plenty of time with one another." His hand went to her hair, brushing it with the tips of his fingers.
"Do we?" Her voice shook, tears rolling down her cheeks.
He nodded, brushing away her tear with the side of his thumb, "We do."
"Zuko I know the life expectancy of a Fire Lord, and I know the life expectancy of someone from my Island. They don't exactly match up." She was crying now, tears streaming from her eyes.
"I know." He leaned in and kissed the tears on her cheeks, feeling the salty liquid on his lips.
Her hands went from his shirt to his shoulders, holding them comfortingly. "I will leave you one day and that fact keeps me up at night."
He shook a little bit, pressing their foreheads together. "I don't want you to worry about that," He held her jaw in his hands, leaning up and kissing her forehead. "Ever."
"I can't help it. It worries me."
"Me too, but we can't let that bother us. We can't let it get us down."
She nodded, her hands going to her stomach, "Do you really think that a baby would have been such a bad thing?"
His hand went on top of her's, "Want me to be honest?"
She nodded, looking down at their hands on her with a smile. She thought about being pregnant for real, about feeling the warmth of a tiny Fire Bender from the inside out. "I do." She pulled his hands away from her, intertwining their fingers.
"I would have been upset for a bit, just because I would have to start sharing you." He smiled down at his hands that were now in her's, "Then I would have just been excited. I would have been happy that we were going to have a baby." He looked into her eyes, a smirk on his face. "Just like I will be when we do have a baby one day."
"And we will, right?"
"Or course." Zuko sealed his promise to her with a kiss, wrapping his arms around her. "We will make our own army of Kyoshi Fire babies."
Suki giggled, kissing him quickly. "I like that idea."