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Katara was in denial.
Aang had known her for enough time to know that this wasn’t a worrying sign. It was natural. It was how Katara dealt with things. She’d be in denial for a few days and then they would talk about it and get on the same page.
He just really, really, wished time would pass faster. Because it was kind of lonely being the only person knowing his wife was pregnant— especially when the wife in question was included in the statement.
It started when Katara’s period didn’t come. Aang, usually very in tune to when Katara needed space and warm (NOT hot) tea at that time of moon, was the first to notice that, while Katara did get increasingly tired, it wasn’t a curl-up-in-the-corner-of-their-couch tired. It wasn’t a tired that glared at interruptions and loud noises.
Nope. It was more of a pass-out-sprawled-across-the-bed kind of tired. It was a kind of tired that whined at lights turning on and made him late for meetings because she “wasn’t done snuggling”.
That, plus the fact that there were no bloody rags in the bathroom bin, told Aang that something was different.
“Do you think you might be pregnant?” he asked over a cup of tea (ginseng, because Katara suddenly couldn’t stand jasmine).
Katara’s eyes widened, and she immediately shut him down. “No. Probably not. Why are you asking?”
“Your period hasn’t come yet. You’re usually pretty regular.”
She waved him off. “That can happen sometimes. It’s been a stressful couple of weeks.”
Not more than usual, Aang wanted to interject. He knew better, though. He already clocked what was happening, and there was nothing he could do to help other than be generally supportive.
So he threw blankets over his napping wife, kept jasmine tea leaves out of sight, and didn’t make a mention to pregnancy or babies in any way. It was only a matter of time…
Katara woke him up in the middle of the night.
“Aang. Aang. Sweetie, wake up.”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m pregnant.”
Aang sat up so fast his head started spinning. “Yeah?”
Katara nodded, wide-eyed and beautiful in the warm bedside-lamp light. In the back of his mind, Aang wondered why he felt so shocked. Hadn’t he guessed at this?
It was different, though, when the suspicion came from Katara’s lips. “Sweetie, you have to say something.”
He opened his mouth to oblige her, to say the right thing, to say anything at all, but the words didn’t come to him. So he pulled her in and kissed her deeply, carefully, the way he usually kissed her after one of them got injured. Katara craddled his face and he felt her smile against his lips.
“Very eloquent,” she teased, giggling as they broke apart. “I take it you’re happy about this? It’s a little bit earlier than we expected…”
“Happy isn’t a strong enough word,” Aang said. He ran a hand through her loose hair— it was so often tied up and styled that seeing it cascading down her back always took his breath away— “We’re going to be parents.”
They stared at each other, part wonder, part disbelief, and burst into a new fit of small giggles.
“Oh my goodness, how am I gonna tell Sokka? He’s going to be so annoying,” Katara whined.
“Maybe we can get Toph to do it for us.”
“Toph is going to encourage him to be more annoying.”
Aang couldn’t argue with that. “Maybe Suki can keep both of them in line.”
Katara considered that. “Maybe we can vacation on Ember Island and enjoy the secrecy a bit. Get Zuko to lend us the beach house for a few weeks.”
“Reparations,” Aang joked.
His wife— his wife! his pregnant wife! the mother of his child!— laughed. “Use that exact wording when you ask Zuko, he would never turn you down.”
She paused. “Or maybe we could invite everyone. Do a retreat. Zuko finally found a suitable chamberlain, right? Someone who can take the reigns when he and Mai are away?”
“You’re forgetting something, Councilwoman Katara,” Aang laughed.
Katara leaned in and kissed him again, which was quite easy to do since she was basically on his lap at this point. “Sometimes I hate that we saved the world and people need us.”
“The woes of being war heros,” he quipped.
But there was no way Aang was going to let their status or their duties get in the way of their family. Family took priority. Aang made up a half-resolution to write to Zuko in the morning, making sure that they did get that retreat, making sure that they remembered to breathe a little, in between fixing the world.
It would be perfect. Sokka, Suki, Toph, Zuko, Mai… All of them in one place again, catching up, laughing together and getting to hear the news.
Katara squeezed his hand. “I’m glad we did, though. Our baby won’t know a world of war. His biggest problem will be bad grades in school, or something.”
“His?”
“It’s a boy. I can feel it,” Katara told him, matter-or-factly.
Aang smiled. “I’m hoping for a girl, myself. An adorable, perfect mini-you with my huge ears.”
“We have huge ears on both sides of the family, I think that’s kind of inevitable,” she mused, tracing a finger over the bridge of his nose. “But this one is a boy. I just know.”
Aang grinned. “Well, who am I to question a mother’s intuition?” he said, and punctuated his sentence with a kiss to her forehead. Katara took the opportunity to hold him closer, wrapping her arms around his back and settling her chin on his shoulder.
“We have to do this now,” she said, her voice vibrating pleasantly against his skin, “because when I’m nine months along and as big as a house…”
“You’ll take maternity leave and we’ll cuddle all day,” Aang finished. Katara hummed.
“Wish we could do that always. Sleep forever.”
“Eh, sleeping for long times is overrated.”
“Don’t ever say that to a tired pregnant woman ever again.”