A/N: Enjoy!

"Morning," Zuko mumbled out softly as he noticed Katara finally beginning to open her eyes, finally beginning to stir out of her slumber. She had of course been using his arm as a pillow during the night and he remained still as to not wake her, even if his arm was numb and tingling.

The waterbender sighed and gripped his shirt. She felt a flutter in her stomach as the memories of the day before crashed onto her. She was sure the feeling in her tummy was just fears and nerves, but a part of her wondered if it was the little life moving about inside her.

"I'm scared, Zuko," She admitted as she lifted her head to look him in the eyes.

"Don't be." He kept his voice soft as she cupped her cheeks into his palms. The light from the window poured onto her dark tan skin and into her deep blue eyes. Her bed hair looked absolutely perfect as it rolled down over her shoulders. He felt a sudden wave of pure bliss surging throughout his veins, coursing through his entire body. He realized just how much he loved this girl, the amount honestly scaring him a bit.

"How are we supposed to tell them?" She whispered, sitting up and pulling her hair up in a pony tail, ripping him from his thoughts.

Zuko shrugged and got out of bed to begin changing into a new outfit for the new day. "Dinner?" He asked, pulling on a clean shirt.

"Out in public?" She asked as she handed him a pair a pants that would match the shirt perfectly. "What if Sokka freaks out? No, I mean, what are we going to do when Sokka freaks out?" She fixed her question, putting emphasis on the 'when'.

"Maybe he won't if we're out in public."

"He will." They both let out huff, frustrated with their situation. Katara hummed, thinking of something they could try. "Maybe we should ask Toph. Maybe she could think of how to do it." She hopped off the mattress and secured her belt around her robe before pulling the sliding door open, poking her head out, looking in both directions before stepping out this time.

She tip-toed out the room and into the hall, unsure just how early it was. She made her way into the living room, noticing her brother sitting the middle of the floor sharpening his boomerang. He looked at her over his shoulder.

"Morning." He grumbled before returning his attention back to his sharpening. He must have just woken up not too long ago.

Katara whispered him a good morning as well and kept light on her feet as she made her way to the other side of the house, where Toph, Sokka and Aang's room were.

She slowly opened the door, seeing Toph in the middle of the room still asleep on her mat.

Katara huffed and prepared herself before making her way over to the sleeping earthbender, gently shaking her a bit.

"Toph," She called out softly, earning herself a mumble from the girl. "Toph, wake up." Toph groaned and furrowed her brow, swatting Katara's hands away from her as she turned onto her side, facing her back towards the waterbender. "Come on, please? I gotta talk to you."

"What?" Toph dragged out lazily, still half asleep.

"Do you have any idea as to how we're supposed to tell everyone else about the little bundle of joy I have growing inside me?" Katara asked, leaning over Toph to look at her face.

"Just tell them."

"I can't just tell them!"

"Sure you can."

Katara huffed and ran her hand over her face, totally frustrated. Toph wasn't helping. Her attention went the door as she heard it being slid open. It was Zuko. He came in and sat next to her, asking if they had any ideas.

"No," Katara barked out. "Toph isn't helping." She said, jabbing the girl in the arm.

Toph huffed and turned over onto her back, lacing her fingers together behind her head. "What are you guys so worried about?" She asked, shrugging.

"Well," Katara began sharply, annoyed by how simple Toph was thinking this situation was. "First off, Zuko and I are both far too young for this, we're not married or even engaged, - even if we plan to be one day - and we're in the middle of a war. Everyone is going to flip out." She reminded and informed Toph as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well," Toph began just as sharp as Katara has. "You and Zuko love each other, right? And you're going to be married, right? We're going to end the war, right?"

"Yes," Katara sighed out as she rolled her eyes.

"Then why are you so worried? What did I tell you, Katara? Everything is going to be fine."

Zuko smiled and put an arm around Katara's shoulder. He had said pretty much the same exact thing the night before. Toph was right about all that, though he felt that Katara did have a right to be so worried about how her brother was going to react to the news they had for him.

Zuko was even kind of worried about how his uncle would feel about it, even though he knew he would understand completely after they explained about what happened. He wasn't too sure about Sokka, though. He would still probably be angry about it and think Zuko took advantage of Katara in her vulnerable state or something.

Toph sat up suddenly and pointed towards the door. "Wow, what a great prank idea, you guys!" She said stiffly. "We should pull that off at dinner tonight."

The door was pulled open abruptly, Sokka standing on the other side before them.

"What's going on in here, you guys?" The warrior asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned up against the door frame.

"Nothing!" Katara stood, smiling sweetly up at her brother, understanding what Toph was setting up.

"Really?" He asked, keeping his eyes on her as she walked around him and out into the hall, making her way to the middle room.

She nodded to him over her shoulder before she slipped behind the corner.

Sokka turned back to face the firebender and earthbender, who were both still sitting in the middle of Toph's room. He raised a brow at them. Zuko stood, smiling awkwardly as he took his turn pressing pass him.

After Sokka was sure Zuko had made it out of the hallway, he looked back towards Toph and walked over to her, sitting down at her side.

"So, what's really going on?" He asked.

"Nothin'." She shrugged.

"If there were, you'd tell me, right?"

"Of course I would, snoozles." She smiled and patted his shoulder before she stood and shooed him out of the room, informing him that she needed to get ready for the day. He hurried out and joined the rest of the group out in the living room.

Katara was standing there, a bunch of parchments rolled up into her hand.

"I know how we're going to see the Earth King!" She exclaimed, looking towards her brother. "He's throwing a party tomorrow night for his pet bear!"

"His pet bear?" He asked. "You mean skunk-bear?"

"Nope." Aang shrugged. "Just bear."

"This place," Toph called out, making her way out of the hall and into the living room, already dressed and ready for the day. "Is weird."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, shoving himself off the wall he had been leaning on. "Ready to go, Uncle?"

Iroh nodded as he passed his nephew and opened the front door.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked, uninformed that they had made plans.

"We're going to go get some," Zuko trailed off in thought. "Tea." He said, putting emphasis on the word, informing her on what he planned to discuss with Iroh while they were out.

"Oh," She nodded, understanding and approving. "Toph," She called out, turning towards the blind earthbender. "Would you like to go to the market with me?" She asked, putting emphasis on the word 'market'. "We should pick out some nice dresses for the party tomorrow," She paused and swallowed, glancing up at her brother for a split second before looking back at towards Toph. "And the dinner tonight."

"I would love to, Katara." Toph smiled and made her way over to the door, only to be stopped by Sokka's voice before she could reach it.

"Aang," She heard him say. "We should go with them."

"No!" Katara protested, a bit too harshly. She gave a small smile, laughing nervously. "I mean, Toph and I should be the ones to pick out your outfits. Toph knows what would be customary and I can describe what they look like for her."

"Toph is blind, she doesn't care what we look like." Aang said.

"Oh!" Toph exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "So because I'm blind, you feel as though you don't have look presentable around me?"

"No, no!" Aang cried out, waving his hands. "That's not I meant!"

"Well then what did you mean, twinkletoes?"

"Well, I just meant that- I mean I- well-"

"Save it," Toph said, holding her hand out in front of his face. "You guys should go look for Appa again or something."

Aang sighed and slumped over, defeated. Toph was right. That's what they should be doing.

"Alright." He said, following them outside, stopping in front of the house to exchange goodbye's. Aang went to start walking in the other direction when Sokka caught him by the upper arm, stopping him. "What?" He asked, looking up at him.

"Something's going on." He said, watching as the girls walked off in the distance, toward the market.

"What do you mean?" Aang asked, following his gaze towards the girls.

"I don't know," He admitted slowly, narrowing his eyes as he turned towards the direction Aang had chosen to search in. "But I don't like it. Stay on your toes, private! I smell a prank war a'brewin'!" He announced, smacking the young monk on the back before he began marching off down the street.

Aang ran his hand over his mouth in thought. He hummed as a smirk began to stretch across his face. He had pulled off so many great pranks with Gyatso and his other friends so many years ago. He was sure this was going to be fun.

!

Iroh watched carefully as Zuko slowly pried the crust off the finger sandwich he had plucked from the large dinner plate that was placed in the middle of the table as appetizers while they waited for their main course.

Instead of going to the tea shop Iroh had been working at, they figured that they should find a nice place to have breakfast. They had managed to find a nice, small, quaint little place to eat at on this fine morning.

Now, Zuko has had some rather odd eating habits and rituals since he had began recovering from his mother's disappearance, but Iroh could tell something was on his mind, causing his anxiety to extra intense.

Iroh took a small sip of his tea before asking his nephew if anything was bothering him. Zuko shrugged as he finally pulled off the last bit of the crust.

"I've just," He paused, noticing the waiter arrive with their food. He pushed the sandwich plate out of the way, making room for the new plates. Iroh continued sitting in silence as he watched Zuko arrange the food on his plate in a way only he understood. Something was seriously bothering him. "Got something to tell you." He sighed out.

"So tell me."

Zuko huffed and looked up towards his uncle. "I don't know how." He admitted, looking back down to his food. Katara had done is so cleverly.

"Take your time." Iroh insisted, smiling towards his troubled nephew before he picked up his chopsticks, plucking up a nice sized piece of the tamago in front of him.

"After we do all this," Zuko paused, glancing around before leaning towards his uncle. "You'll take your place on the throne, right?" He whispered.

Iroh paused. "No, I think you should." He admitted before taking a sip of his tea.

"Well," Zuko sat back down and bit his lip. "My," He paused again. Agni, this was hard. What would his uncle think? Would he be angry? Disappointed? How would he react? "Bloodline would already be secured." He spoke so quickly Iroh almost hadn't caught what he had just told him.

Zuko watched as his uncle leaned back into the chair, carefully placing his chopsticks down onto their rest, staring at him intensely.

Iroh stared, then swallowed, stared some more, blinked, stared some more, took a sip of his tea, then stared some more. "What?" He finally asked.

Zuko swallowed hard and took in a breath as if he were about to speak, but then he remained silent, keeping his eyes on his uncle.

Iroh leaned forward and laced his fingers together as he placed his hands onto the table. Zuko nodded slowly. His uncle sighed and used a cloth to wipe the crumbs and tea from his mouth and lips.

"We think it's time you guys learned what all happened on the pirate ship." Zuko said lowly.

Iroh chucked. "I think I know all about that, nephew."

"No, no. It wasn't like that." Iroh gasped and his eyes went wide.

"Zuko," He breathed out sadly, realizing what must have happened.

"They had us do things," Zuko started slowly. "For their entertainment." He concluded, knowing his uncle would easily put the pieces together.

"So, it is yours, right?"

"Yes," Zuko nodded. "We got out of there before they started using her for themselves."

Iroh's features filled with sadness and concern for his nephew. "Zuko, I am so sorry." He said, placing a hand over Zuko's.

"Don't be," Zuko said, very much to Iroh's surprise. "Everything happens for a reason, right?" He asked, shrugging with one shoulder.

Iroh smiled proudly, so happy that his lessons had seeped into Zuko's mind and helped him cope with things. He still felt so terrible, and that smile quickly faded into a smaller one, still wearing it for Zuko's sake.

He felt so terrible and guilty. He felt as though he had allowed it happen. Would things been different had he not fled when Zuko had told him to? The two of them would have easily out-matched the pirates. Zuko never would have been captured, used, or physically and mentally abused. He would not be the Zuko he was today.

This brought a smile to his face. Had all that not happened, Zuko would still be that angry, troubled, frustrated boy controlled by his father. Probably still hooked on capturing the Avatar and ending the war in the most absolute of wrong ways.

Zuko had changed and grown in to man he was supposed to be. Sure, he was still troubled, but he was happy, and he had found a perfect, beautiful someone to spend the rest of his life with. Zuko had been smiling and even occasionally laughing far more than Iroh had seen or heard him done in literal years.

Zuko was happy and Iroh was happy for him.

"Yes," Iroh began softly, a large smile upon his face. "Everything does happen for a reason."

!

"So, sweetness," Toph began, teasing Katara with a nickname. "What's the plan?"

Katara hummed and plucked a fancy looking rope up, holding it over her body, imagining herself in it. "I don't know," She admitted, placing the robe back, beginning her search for another. "He probably thinks we're going to pull a prank on him now. I thought you had a plan and that's why you said all that."

"Well, I was jut asking if you had any other plans."

"Oh."

"My idea is to say something about you while we're having dinner, like, 'make sure you eat extra for the baby' or something like that." She shrugged, reaching out to feel the fabric of the dress she felt the waterbender holding out to her. "Too scratchy." She informed.

Katara huffed, looking around for another robe of yet another fabric. Toph was so picky about the fabrics! She had thought this was going to be an easy trip. "Well, then he'll think that's the prank."

"Maybe that's good. Maybe it'll let him down easy."

"I don't know, you love he loves a good joke. What if it brings him down even more because he thought it was a prank and he gets all exited for a prank and then it's not?"

Toph laughed. Yeah, that sounded like something Sokka would do. "Well, how else are we supposed to do this? Oh, I know. How about you just tell him!" She raised her voice a bit, shoving a robe towards Katara that had been made of the kind of fabric she liked, making her search for a proper robe easier.

"I can't." She said sharply, finally finding a robe that was perfect for Toph.

She had already picked both of her dresses and the head dresses they were going to wear to the King's Party. Just one more dress to go and they could finally get out of there. They had visited many different shops and it was about time to start heading back to the house if they wanted to be able to get to dinner at a reasonable time.

"Yes you can." Toph groaned out. She felt as thought Katara had nothing to worry about. With a little explanation, she was sure that Sokka would understand.

Katara huffed and snatched up a robe, not caring what it actually looked like. It was the fabric Toph liked and it was her size, so she would wear it.

"Come on." She ordered after showing the lady at the front desk her pass. Toph huffed and followed her back to the house, surprised to see Sokka and Aang sitting out on the front steps.

"Any luck on finding Appa?" She asked sadly, figuring she already knew the answer.

"No." Sokka tilted his head back, looking up towards the sky.

"We did find a printer, though!" Aang exclaimed, always looking on the bright side of things. "He's going to make up a bunch of fliers that we can put up around the city."

"That's great, Aang." Katara smiled. "Are you hungry? We should start getting ready for dinner. Are Zuko and Iroh back yet?"

"Yeah, they've been here." Aang said as he stood up, trailing into the house after her and Toph.

Sokka huffed and figured he should go start getting ready as well.

!

"So, we're going to that steakhouse Toph and I found, right?" Sokka asked as he examined himself in the mirror, tightening the belt around his waist.

"Do they serve anything... not meat?" Aang asked. Sokka paused and furrowed his brow. He turned towards the young monk and shrugged. Aang sighed. "Great."

Iroh sighed as he stood next to Zuko, noticing him messing with a stray string from his robe nervously.

"I'm sure everything will go smoothly." He whispered over to him, knowing he was nervous about what was going to be said at dinner.

"I sure hope so." Zuko admitted, shoving himself off the wall at the sound of his bedroom door being slid open.

Katara poked her head out from behind the corner. After noticing him noticing her, she stepped out from hind the wall, holding her hands out to her sides.

"How do I look?" She asked, watching Zuko make his way over to her.

"Beautiful." He assured, taking her into a hug, holding her tightly in his arms.

She narrowed her eyes. He hadn't even taken a moment to get a good look at her.

She had pulled the top half of her hair back behind her head, placing a small clip that was adorned with a light pink, fake flower at the place where the two pieces of hair met. The rest of her hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back. The rosemary tea had been helping, though she wished her hair would grow even faster. It still wasn't at the length she liked it to be.

Her dress was dark green with gold details and trimmings and she didn't put on any makeup, figuring this wasn't as upscale as the King's Party would be. This was just a fancy outing for everyone.

"Is everyone ready?" She asked as she pulled away from Zuko, dismissing her brother's glare.

Toph had joined them in the middle room and they all nodded.

"Wait." Katara said, stopping dead in her tracks after going down the front steps. "We're going to that steakhouse?" She asked, looking towards her brother. He nodded. "But what about Aang?"

"It's fine," Aang said, holding a hand up. "I'm sure there's something there I could eat." He shrugged, smiling up at her, trying to assure her that it was okay.

"You shouldn't have to wonder. That's not fair." She protested, placing her hands on her hips.

"But you said we would go to the steakhouse!" Sokka exclaimed, turning around to face his sister.

"We can go another place!" She held a hand out, motioning towards the large market area.

"But they give you little bags of jerky for when you wait and leave!"

"What?" Zuko piped in. "You've been holding up on me?"

"Oh, please." Sokka waved him off. "All the jerky you buy is gross."

"Really? Then why do eat it all every time I buy some?"

"Because I have to make sure all of it is gross!"

"You guys!" Katara stomped. "Zuko and I saw a place we had wanted to go to dinner to. Let's just all go there." She grabbed Zuko by the wrist and pulled, giving him no chance to refuse.

The rest of the group trailed after, Sokka hanging his head in defeat as he followed.

!

Zuko gulped and wiped away the sweat from his forehead once he saw Toph sitting up straight, clearing her throat as she did so. She was about to do it. She was about to say it. She was about to tell Sokka and Aang the news. He had been informed on the way they had planned to do it before hand, but this still scared him terribly.

He was sure Sokka would be livid and he was probably going to cause a scene. He wasn't sure on how Aang would react either, even though this wasn't as direct to him as it was Sokka, he still cared about Katara and wanted the best for her. Zuko had spent some time meditating with Aang, doing some breathing exercises and sometimes the boy would even join him for physical training, but that was about it.

Zuko knew he was on rather good terms with Sokka. They joked around and got along nicely, but this was his little sister he had impregnated! Every older brother had the right to get ticked about some guy coming in and bedding their little sister.

"So, uh, it's a great thing we have these passes," Toph began. 'Oh, no'. Zuko thought, swallowing hard. He felt Katara take and squeeze his hand. She must be terribly nervous as well, it was her brother they were going to have to be dealing with.

"Yeah." Aang agreed before he took a small bite out of his Daikon Salad. Sokka's mouth was too full for him to coherently say anything.

Katara gulped. Here came the punchline.

"Especially now, since Katara is eating for two."

Zuko and Katara both tensed up, their hearts racing as they carefully watched Sokka.

He looked up from his plate and slowly but surely his chewing came to a stop. He made a noise, he must have tried to ask 'what' but his mouth was still too full for anything to be made out certainly.

"Because she's pregnant." Toph huffed out, annoying with trying to beat around the bush.

Sokka swallowed all of the food in his mouth, properly chewed or not. He glanced around the table, noticing that Aang was the only one who seemed like he hadn't known the information either.

"Oh!" He droned out as he leaned back up. "I get it! This is the prank!" He smiled and continued looking around the table, seeing that no one was laughing, all their faces were covered with a serious expression.

"It's not a prank." Katara forced out, messing with her nails beneath the table.

"But, I heard Toph saying-"

"I just said that as a cover up."

"So, wait-" Sokka paused and thought about what he had just been told, staring down at the table. When he looked back up, the anger was obvious on his face.

"Sokka," Katara began softly. "We think it's time everyone knew what happened-"

"Oh, I know what happened!" He barked out. "What- what you think- you think 'ooo Katara you're so sad and lonely here let me comfort you so I can get between your legs'!" He said frantically, lifting his hands and wiggling his fingers as if he were pretending to be some kind of monster.

"It wasn't like that!" She cried out, wanting him to calm down desperately. He slammed his fists down onto the table. Had they not gotten a private a room, he would have surely earned himself a couple of jumps and odd looks from anyone sitting around them. "Just listen," She pleaded, struggling to hold back tears. He pressed his lips together and glared at her, waiting for her to continue. "They made us!" She cried out, not knowing how to tell him faster than that.

Sokka shook his head and slammed his eyes shut before snatching up a cloth and wiping his face. "I'm done." He declared, throwing the cloth down as he stood, storming his way out of the room.

After hearing the door slam shut behind him, Toph spoke up. "Well, that went a lot better than I expected." She admitted before taking a bite out of her dinner, Iroh nodding in agreement before he took a sip of tea.

Aang looked around, seeing Iroh take a sip of tea while Zuko comforted Katara silently, wrapping an arm around her and telling of comfort into her ear.

He honestly didn't know what to think or what to do or to say. What was there to think? Or to do or to say?

It was obvious the two loved each other and he was happy for them for that, even though he still had a crush on Katara, he was happy that she was happy.

Apparently, from her words, the pirates had forced them to perform sexual acts on each other. Aang felt terrible for both of them. The monks hadn't explained to him in detail, but they had informed that one day he would find someone he loved and cared for deeply, and only then should he give himself to that person. If it did in fact happen on the pirate ship, that mean they hadn't loved each other yet, at least not the way they did now.

But at least they did love each other now, right? Even though the situation they were in wasn't exactly the most comfortable or secure, they still had each other, and he was sure that Iroh and Toph would remain by their side, helping them and supporting them along side him through thick and thin.

Sokka just needed some time to let everything sink in. It was different for him, Katara was his little sister, the one he had been told specifically by his father to protect.

Aang huffed out. 'Oh, no.' He thought to himself. Sokka had expressed to him, though vaguely, but he had expressed to him about how horrible and guilty he felt about letting Katara being taken prisoner, then the whole thing with Princess Yue happened, and now this. He knew the guilt was eating Sokka alive and he hoped he would be able to fight it off and get through this.

Katara was technically alright. She had shown great progress since she had returned to them. She wasn't as paranoid anymore and it wasn't so often that she would stop in her tracks and stare off into space. During their travels, she had began to stop waking up crying or in a sweat, or woken up Zuko with kicks and shoves.

She wasn't physically hurt, either. So that was good.

He didn't know how far along she was, she had gotten a bit thicker, but she wasn't exactly Mrs. Pregnancy Pants over there just yet. He was confident in himself, his teachings, and his group. The war would be over by the end of the summer, he would make sure of it. If she still had a few good months to go, the war would be over by the time the baby was due.

He was sure Zuko would marry her and make her his Lady. She'd have a home, a palace to be exact.

Aang bit his lip, still wondering if he should say something.

"It'll be okay." He said softly, wondering if anyone had even heard him. He took a sip of his tea, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

!

They didn't spend too much more time at the restaurant, they had barely touched their food after everything went down.

Aang knocked on Sokka's door, telling it was him. He pressed his ear up to the door, hearing Sokka's muffled voice telling him to leave him alone. He sighed and watched as Toph knocked, telling him it was her this time and no one else. Sokka remained silent and she slowly slid the door open only enough for herself, slipping into his room and closing the door tightly behind herself.

Aang huffed and turned back around, collecting a bunch of pillows cushions to sleep on for the night, seeing as that he wasn't going to be getting into the room he had been sharing with the now troubled warrior.

He picked a spare blanket and curled up onto his make-shift mattress, thinking of the days events, only to have them shoved out by thoughts of the future. More like worries, actually.

A/N: Tamago is a usual Japanese breakfast and Daikon Salad can be made in many different ways, including with or without meat, so I figured that was perfect for Aang.

Please tell me what you think about this chapter!

I've always known Toph was going to tell Katara while they walked home from the spa, even though I didn't know how they were going to tell Sokka. As I was trying to figure out how I thought he would react, I came up with an alternative I almost wrote. I nearly had Toph ask Sokka about Katara being pregnant while they were eating at the steakhouse they found. Then, Sokka was going to storm out and go to house and punch Zuko in the face, yelling about how he needed to stay away from his sister and then of course everyone would be asking what was going on and then Sokka would screech about Katara being pregnant. But yeah, that didn't happen. If it did, I don't think the Big Bro/Lil' Sis scene that happens in the next chapter would be the same..