Petrichor

Neteyam

One Year Later

Jake's eyes widened as Ilhia's grip on his hand got so tight that he thought she'd pull it off. 

"Jesus fuck," he mumbled. 

"Don't you dare complain! You did this to me!" his wife groaned. 

That he did. 

He'd been a true Na'vi for a year now. The ceremony to transfer him to his avatar body went well. They buried his human body Na'vi style, with a woodsprite on his shoulder. 

He'd felt no sadness. The only thing he really missed was Tommy. Everything else was a distant memory. Like his past life had never even existed. 

His grasp of the language was getting better. He still couldn't speak fluently fast, but he knew enough to understand that his wife was not happy with him. 

Ilhia's groans turned to little puffs of breath as she tried to breathe through another contraction. 

"You're doing so well, baby. So well, babygirl," he praised, lifting her hand up to kiss it. "You're almost there." 

Mo'at gave him a look out of the corner of her eye as she hovered her hands over her daughter's swollen belly. 

"I need to walk," Ilhia announced, her face slightly flushed. 

They were in Mo'at's space at Hometree. Jake had rarely been in it, because he respected the Tsahik and since the battle, there hadn't really been any major injuries. He had initially been surprised at how spiritual it was. Plants of all kinds hanging to dry, mixtures of salves in little pots, beads and feathers everywhere, tapestries and teeth and bones. It was kinda like what he imagined a very old fashioned apothecary to look like. 

Neytiri was sat behind Ilhia, rubbing her back under her mother's instructions. She immediately leapt up however, and gave a hand to his wife, who gladly took it. 

Jake and Neytiri helped her up to her feet, Jake feeling slightly nervous as he did so. He wasn't stupid, and knew it was no way possible, but he feared that the baby would fall out and hit its head. 

The baby. His baby. He still couldn't really believe it, to be honest. 

And there was another one on the way. Grace's avatar body had been placed back into the liquid filled tube, Norm had tried to explain it to him so many times but he'd purposefully tuned him out, to preserve it, as the body was technically still alive. Her conception was a mystery, but Mo'at seemed sure that the baby would arrive not long after theirs.

So their family of three would soon be a family of five. And he couldn't fucking wait.

Ilhia, Jake and Leypa had been a little family trio ever since they sent the humans back to Earth. He loved the little boy with all his heart, and Ilhia did too. He was five now, and he was growing up too fast. 

Leypa loved to learn English. Jake hadn't been teaching him the bad words, not yet, but just as Jake was learning Na'vi properly, Leypa was learning his father's language. The two often sat with each other and compared words in their own native tongues. It was a good way to teach each other, and Jake felt it was a good bonding exercise too. 

"You are almost there," Mo'at said softly, after Ilhia had done four or five laps of the room. "We can still make it to the pool if you'd like, maite." 

Ilhia's eyes narrowed slightly, and she let out a deep breath. "I'm worried about the baby," she admitted. 

One of Neytiri's hands moved from her sister's arm to her shoulder, rubbing it gently. Jake just circled his thumb on the back of Ilhia's hand, gazing at her in awe as she decided what to do.