EPILOGUE:

"He's beautiful," Suki said in a hushed voice, pacing back and forth at the foot of Katara's bed. She had the baby in her arms and Sokka could see one of his little fists sticking out of the blue blanket, along with a tuft of dark hair. "Katara, he's perfect."

Katara smiled tiredly from the bed, the crisp winter sunlight streaming in through the window. Sokka studied his sister's face. Her hair was still damp and pulled back in a tangled tumble. There were high blooms of red in her cheeks. She looked exhausted, but there was a healthy glow about her. Zuko, who had found a shirt at some point that morning, was fussing with Katara's blankets and pillows. Sokka sat beside her on the bed, holding her hand.

"What do you think, sis? You think he's a Bender? Or do me and Boom-Boom have company on the non-Bending part of the family tree?"

"Can you even tell so early?" Zuko asked, coming up beside Suki and peering down at the baby, his hand resting on Suki's lower back.

"I knew Kya would be a Waterbender when she was born. I don't know how I knew, but I did, the same way I knew Bumi wasn't," Katara said, sinking contentedly back against the mountain of cushions Zuko had arranged behind her. Her eyes danced. "He's an Airbender."

Sokka's grin widened instantly as everyone in the room took that in. Aang was no longer the last Airbender in the world. This was…huge. Sokka's fingers squeezed Katara's and their gazes met. He gave her a gentle smile and lifted her hand, gently kissing the backs of her fingers.

"Good job, sis."

Suki looked down at the baby and touched his tiny fist with her fingers. The baby gave a soft, wet cry. "Did you hear that? You're an Airbender, little guy." She lifted her gaze back to Katara. "Have you guys settled on a name yet?"

"Tenzin," Aang said from the doorway, a soft smile on his lips. He glanced at the baby and then over at his wife as he stepped into the room, Kya in his arms, Bumi clinging to his free hand. There was an apprehensive look on Bumi's face. "We've decided to call him Tenzin."

"I like it," Zuko said as Aang put Kya down. She ran to Katara, calling her name. Katara held out her arms and embraced her gently.

"Mommy, where did your tummy go?" Kya asked, patting the blankets over Katara's stomach.

"I had the baby. Remember we talked about that?" Katara said, smoothing Kya's hair back. "You have a new little brother now."

Sokka watched Bumi, who had let go of Aang's hand and was hovering at the doorway, watching as Suki handed the baby over to his father. There was a look of wonder in Aang's hazel eyes as he twitched the blanket around the baby. He touched Tenzin's small forehead, drawing the faintest of arrow shapes. Bumi's gaze flicked down to the floor, his expressive little mouth flattening into a thin line.

"Daddy, I wanna see the baby," Kya said, getting off of the bed and tugging on Aang's pants. He started and then grinned down at his daughter.

"Sure, honey," Aang said, crouching down in front of her. Kya peered at the baby for a moment and then wrinkled her nose.

"He looks like an old man!" she declared, backing up a step as they laughed. Aang turned to Bumi and gestured him forward with a jerk of his tattooed head.

"What about you, Bumi? You wanna see your baby brother?" Bumi's feet dragged a little as he cautiously approached Aang. His eyebrows rose as he looked over the edge of the blanket and his lower lip pushed out a little bit. "What do you think?"

"Hiya Tenzin," Bumi said shyly, which was very unlike him. Then fled back to the doorway. Sokka's brow furrowed. He had a feeling he knew what was bugging the six-year-old. Aang stood smoothly and looked around the room, a grin on his face.

"Who hasn't held him yet?" he asked.

"Me," Katara lied, holding out her arms.

"You held him for nine months. Come on, give someone else a turn," Toph said, speaking up from a chair in the corner. She'd been very quiet ever since the midwife had let them into the room. Aang chuckled and brought Tenzin over to her. He gently passed him over, making sure that she cradled his head. Toph hitched in a breath, her mouth flattening nervously. The others might not have noticed, but Sokka did. She lowered her face and kissed his forehead gently.

Sokka watched her, a little smile on his face. He knew exactly what was going through her mind.

She's going to make a great mother, he thought with wonder as Aang came over and kissed Katara's forehead. Suki picked up Kya, who was babbling away about the baby to Zuko, who was listening patiently. Sokka cut his gaze back to Bumi, and watched at the boy slipped out of the room.

Sokka immediately got to his feet and followed him out into the hallway, only to find his boisterous nephew looking oddly grave, his arms crossed over his chest, a dark expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Boom-Boom?" he asked, though he knew, of course.

"Nothing," Bumi said sullenly, toeing the rug.

"Kinda feels weird, doesn't it? Not being a Bender like your mom and dad," he said gently. Bumi's head shot up. Sokka smiled and sank to his eye level.

"Mom's got Kya and now dad has the baby. I heard them talking. He really wanted an Airbender like him. I can't do that stuff. I've tried. I'm not like them."

Sokka shrugged. "I can't either. Neither can Suki. And that's okay, cuz we do other stuff. I can sail and I'm on the City Council and I can fight with a sword and I once made a guy blow up with just my boomerang."

"You did? He blew up?"

"Yep! Took half the Western Air Temple with him. It was pretty awesome."

"Cool!" Bumi declared, but grew serious when he looked over Sokka's shoulder at the open doorway. "You think Dad'll like the baby more than me?"

Sokka's mouth flattened. "Of course not. He loves you. But…don't be surprised if your dad spends a lot of time with Tenzin. He's got to teach your brother all about Airbending and what that means. Until today your dad was the last Airbender in the whole world, and now there's your brother too. He's going to have learn everything. Personally, I don't think that sounds like fun, do you?"

"I don't know," Bumi said, shrugging.

"Tell you what, how about I teach you how to use a boomerang like me? And when you're old enough, I'll teach you how to use a sword. And how to sail. You're half-Water Tribe, after all. You gotta learn these things. Your dad doesn't know how to do any of that," he added in a conspiratorial whisper.

"I thought Dad knew everything."

"He knows some stuff. Boring Avatar stuff. Dad stuff. I'm cooler though. And I have better hair."

A laugh bubbled up out of him. "Dad doesn't have hair!"

"Yes, he does! Have you seen his legs?" Sokka said, reaching out and tickling Bumi's sides. He giggled and squirmed away from him. Sokka laughed and then stood. "Why don't you go back in there and give your mom a hug, okay? She had a rough day."

"'Kay," Bumi said easily, the seriousness that was so unlike him slipping away as easily as clouds across the sun. He practically skipped into the room, leaving Sokka standing in the hallway alone. He smiled to himself, crossing his arms over his chest, listening to his friends—his family—in the other room.

After a long moment, he caught movement out the corner of his eye and looked up to see Toph standing there. She didn't say anything as she walked toward him. He held out one arm and pulled her against him. She sank into his embrace with a sigh.

"You're gonna have one of those, you know."

"What if I mess it up?" she mumbled as she tilted her head back. He pushed her bangs out of her face, his thumb brushing her cheek. He felt incredibly at peace with the world right now. Absolutely content. Because I have her. "I'm not like Katara…"

"You'll do fine. We both will," he said, his forehead pressing against hers. "And if we mess up, then my sister will probably be happy to tell us exactly what we did wrong. In detail."

She smiled a little. "I love you."

"Love you too," he said and then kissed her gently, slowly, lingering. Toph's hands flattened on his chest and hooked in the collar of his shirt. He smiled against hers lips and kissed her harder.

"Hey, you guys—" Aang started, stopping as he peeked around the doorway at them. They broke the kiss as Aang stared at them. A smirk hit the Avatar's lips as he met Sokka's gaze. There was a savage amusement in his eyes, but also a bit of a violent gleam. Sokka was forcibly reminded of the punch Aang had delivered to his face last week. He braced himself for another one. Instead Aang's eyebrow quirked. "Well, it's about time."

"Oh, go play with your baby, Twinkle Toes. I'm trying to get some," Toph said and kissed Sokka again. He heard Aang chuckle and duck back into the room. Sokka didn't care. Pleasure spreading through his body and down to his toes; he kissed Toph back with everything in him.

He didn't plan to ever stop.

(end)