elvenavari

Mismatch | Truth | Instict

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Zuko/Sokka
Prompt: Healing

Sokka gritted his teeth, sweat pouring off his face. “Will someone get this damn kid outta me?!”

Katara rang out a cloth of cool water and rubbed the sweat from his face with it. “I’m sorry Sokka. I wish I knew what to do!”

“I don’t care what you do, just get it outta me!”

Katara closed her eyes as she wetted the cloth again. It was all she could do until the moon rose and Yue could tell her what to do. Sokka had been in; well what she could only guess was labor for the majority of the day. But there wasn’t anywhere for the baby to come out like there was on a female’s body. He was just lucky that he had gone into labor the day of the full moon. All they could do was try to keep him as comfortable as possible until Yue came.

After a few more minutes Sokka went still. Katara panicked thinking he had died. Her only comfort was the steady, if labored, rise and fall of his chest. Aang did his best to help but he was as clueless in this situation as her. The hour was the most stressful yet. Katara had never been more relieved than when the moon’s gentle light filled their igloo.

“Yue, thank goodness!” She exclaimed. “What do I do?”

“Be calm Katara, that is the first thing. Sokka needs you to be strong for him,” Yue stated. “Next you need a sharp knife. You’re going to have to remove the child.”

xxx

Zuko’s eyes widened. “You almost died?” He repeated.

Sokka nodded. He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. “A lot of this is just from what Aang and Katara told me. I don’t remember a lot from those first few months after Nazomi was born.” He looked up at Zuko to make sure he wanted to hear this.

“Everything,” Zuko stated.

“So Yue came and walked Katara through the steps to remove Nazomi because my body didn’t create a way for her to come out.” Sokka pulled his tunic apart and showed Zuko the pale scar in the middle of his stomach. “Aang said Nazomi came out crying as loud as he ever heard. I lost a lot of blood. Gran-gran took care of Nazomi while Katara turned her attention to me. She healed me as best she could but I was still really weak. Yue told her that I would be weak for the first few months and she was right. I guess it was where my body wasn’t really… equipped to handle having a baby.”

Zuko listened, unable to believe what Sokka had went through. “Katara and the Avatar… one of them could have told me about my daughter.”

“Our daughter,” Sokka corrected.

“Right, our daughter.” Zuko gave Sokka a little smile before he looked back down at Nazomi.

“I guess they were too worried about me to really think about it,” Sokka explained with a shrug. He had honestly never asked his sister or Aang why they hadn’t told Zuko about Nazomi. “Or maybe they thought it was my duty to tell you.”

“Nazomi…” The baby girl blinked at her name and looked up at Zuko.

“It means ‘hope’,” Sokka told him. “Yue named her. I thought it fit, being your daughter… and heir…”

“I’m not sure how to explain this to my advisors. I can tell you I’m relieved that it’s you and not some random woman I had to take as my Lady.” Zuko moved closer to Sokka. “Are you going to stay?”

Sokka shivered at the chill that went down his spine at Zuko’s sudden warmth beside him. “I-If you want me to. I’d like to be here with you and Nazomi, watch her grow up.”

Zuko shook his head. His smile grew wider as he looked at Sokka. “Stupid peasant,” he murmured.

“Hey!” Sokka cried out indignantly.

“Sokka, you wouldn’t just be here in the background. You would be my consort,” Zuko stated. “You would have the second most power in the Fire Nation.”

Sokka’s blue eyes widened. “O-oh!”

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