By the time Aang and Sokka get back, they're both convinced that the kid they found has to be Zuko. There's just no other explanation. He told them who he was himself, after all.

They just need to convince the girls.

Or not. Katara is asking Zuko to help set the table for lunch when they get back, handing him bowls to carefully take over to the table, and the boy is doing just that, his face screwed up in concentration as he carries each bowl.

Sokka cannot get over how absolutely adorable Zuko was as a kid. Or how sweet.

Zuko looks up as they arrive and offers him one of those smiles that just seem to light up his entire face, and Sokka doesn't understand how they guy could have gone from this to the grumpy, surly, scowling firebender they all know (knew?) and-

Well, they didn't exactly love him. Some of them didn't even like him.

But this kid? Even Katara seems to be melting around him.

"No luck?" Katara asks. She sounds like she already knows the answer to that question. Sokka shakes his head.

"Face it, Katara," Aang says as he sits down at the table. "That's Zuko. It has to be."

"We know," she says. "We talked a bit more while you were gone." Something in her voice puts Sokka on edge. She looks away, but not before he catches sight of the worry in her eyes. Something happened earlier that she doesn't like.

Sokka figures she probably won't talk while the kid's here, though, so he doesn't ask.

Lunch is friendlier than any meal has been since Zuko joined them. Katara is more relaxed, worried or not, and tiny Zuko is precious.

Everything he does is done with this quiet, deliberate concentration that is too cute for words. He sits just so at the table, even though he can't quite reach, and every bite of food is carefully contemplated beforehand. When he's finished, he sets his chopsticks almost gracefully beside his empty bowl, then sits quietly, waiting for everyone else to finish.

Once the meal is over, they're all at a bit of a loss. They're not really sure what to do now. Aang has more or less lost his firebending teacher, it's not really safe to stay in one place for too long, but it's also not really safe to go wandering around with a Fire Nation kid who also happens to be a young version of the Firelord's son.

Not to mention the fact that they have no idea how this happened in the first place, or how to turn him back.

They also have no idea how to care for a three-year-old.

The kid goes back to drawing in the dirt for a while. It keeps him busy, at least until his stick suddenly breaks, and he stares at it for a moment before throwing it-it nearly hits Toph in the face. When Katara says something about being more careful he glares at her.

"I'm sure it was an accident," Aang suggests. "Right, Zuko? Maybe tell Toph you're sorry, so she knows you didn't mean it?"

He turns to glare at Aang instead, arms crossed over his chest, and is somehow still the cutest thing Sokka has ever seen.

Aang tries again. "Come on, Zuko. Say you're sorry."

"No."

"But that's what we do when we accidentally do something that might hurt someone."

"No."

Katara sighs and decides to get involved. "Why not? You didn't want to hit Toph, did you?"

"No!" The boy stomps his foot and scowls at her. "Go away!"

"Zuko!" Katara stands up. She's switching to mom mode, Sokka can hear it in her voice. "Apologize right now."

Zuko takes a deep breath, balls his tiny hands into fists, and glares up at her. "No!"

Katara takes a step forward. Sokka has no idea what she thinks she's going to do, but even she's surprised when the kid launches himself at her, tiny fists flailing.

"Leave me alone!" he yells.

Katara catches one of his fists and scoops him up off the ground, and the next thing anyone knows the kid is burying his face in her shoulder and bawling.

Katara stares at Sokka over the dark-haired child sobbing in her arms, her own eyes wide. Sokka takes a moment to think, trying to remember back when Katara was this young.

The problem is, he wasn't much older at the time.

"He needs a nap," Toph says. They both turn to stare at her. "What?"

"I thought you didn't like kids," Sokka says. Toph scoffs, as if he's just said something particularly dense.

"Sparky always gets cranky when he's tired."

"What?" Katara asks.

"What?" Sokka repeats.

Toph looks caught. For a moment Sokka gets the crazy idea that she's going to bolt, but then she sighs.

"Fine." She purses her lips. "You know how I can tell when people are lying?"

"You mean where you can feel the vibrations and how their pulses speed up and stuff?" Sokka asks. "What's that got to do with this?"

"If you shut up, I'll tell you." Toph growls. "Look, Sparky's always really high strung anyway. His heartbeat on a good day is usually pretty fast. But when he's tired he has trouble keeping it steady, because he has trouble keeping his breathing steady-because he uses his breathing to stay calm, just like in meditation, right?"

They all nod.

"Well, meditation and breathing and all that also help with emotional control, right?" Another nod. "So he also has trouble with that. He gets irritable, is more easily startled, and gets angry a lot more quickly. And all that-the stick breaking, the throwing, the anger-and stubbornness-that's textbook overtired Zuko, but even more so, because this kid's like, three, and not much more than a baby."

"I'm not a baby," Zuko hiccups into Katara's shoulder.

"But you are tired," Toph says.

"No."

Sokka does remember that when Katara was that age she was vehemently opposed to naps. "That's okay," he says, and gets a dirty look from both girls. He shrugs. "He doesn't have to take a nap if he doesn't want to."

"No," Zuko reiterates.

"See?" Sokka says. "You know what sounds really fun, though? A story."

Katara rolls her eyes at him, but Zuko raises his head just a little. "What kind of story?" he asks suspiciously.

"Oh, you know, the best kind of story," Sokka tells him. Tiny Zuko considers this.

"Dragons?" he asks.

"Uh, sure," Sokka agrees, though he doesn't really know any stories about dragons. Maybe he can make something up. "A story about dragons. Here," he holds out his arms, hoping the kid goes along with it.

He does. The next thing he knows, Sokka has an armload of soggy, exhausted child. He manages not to make a face at the boy's tear-soaked shirt.

"Come on," he says. "We'll go inside, and I'll tell you all about the dragons. And the girls can't come, because girls are gross."

Tiny Zuko giggles, just a little. Sokka keeps talking about how great the story about dragons is going to be as he heads inside, keeping his voice soft and quiet.

He must have been truly exhausted, because the kid's already asleep by the time Sokka reaches his bedroll.

"What about the statue?" Aang asks suddenly, breaking the silence. "The lady said it was cursed."

"You really believe that?" Katara wants to know. Aang shrugs.

"Something turned him into a baby."

"But I'm the one who bought it." Katara reminds him.

"Maybe it got mad at him for knocking it off the ledge?" Aang suggests. "I mean, it's not like you touched it or anything. It was all wrapped up in that pretty cloth."

"No, but Zuko did." Katara's eyes widen, even though she doesn't believe in curses. "He knocked it away before I could."

"With his hand?" Aang's getting way too excited about this.

"How does this help us figure out how to get him back to normal?" Toph wants to know.

"Maybe if we can figure out what caused it we can just do that in reverse and un-do it?" Aang doesn't sound entirely confident. Still, it's not like they have any better ideas.

"We couldn't find the statue though," Toph reminds them. "And we looked and looked."

"We could look again," Aang says.

"We looked everywhere," Katara argues. "We're not going to find it. And it's not like he's hurt." She's angry all over again, thinking about that night. "So maybe he deserves it, for knocking it out of my hand like that."

"Or maybe he saved you from becoming Baby Katara." Aang's getting annoyed, which isn't helping. At all.

"I didn't ask him to save me," Katara snaps, then turns and storms off. She needs some space.

Aang lets her go.

By the time Baby Zuko wakes up from his nap he's all smiles again. Aang, still frustrated from his not-quite argument with Katara, accepts his return as a welcome distraction, and proceeds to wow the three-year-old version of his firebending teacher with all his best airbending tricks.

Baby Zuko is an amazing audience. He's absolutely delighted, clapping and laughing and never seeming to tire of any of his tricks, which is nice because grown-up Zuko never seemed to like any of his tricks.

Now Aang wonders if maybe he just didn't like him doing them while they were supposed to be training.

The kid loses interest abruptly, and without warning, standing up and looking around for a minute before turning his attention back to Aang and blushing.

"I need to-um-I need to-" he fidgets, takes a breath, and starts over in a near whisper. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Oh," Aang says, looking around. "I'll take you." He hesitates. "Do you...need help?"

He gets a dirty look for his trouble. "I'm three."

"Sorry?" Aang lets out a nervous chuckle. "Come on."

By dinner the novelty of having a three-year-old version of Zuko running around has worn off and they're all worried. Nobody knows how to fix this-or how it even happened in the first place. Aang's suggestion that it might have been the statue after all is ridiculous, but so is this entire situation in the first place.

The rest of the evening is tense. It's almost a relief when night falls and it's time to turn in for the night.

Not that Toph's able to sleep, and it's not just because she misses the warmth of a certain firebender at her back.

Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender does not belong to me.

Author's Note: Baby Zuko. Enough said.