Skinny Love

Truth Hurts Pt. 2

Time stopped in that moment. I could feel the color flee from my face.

"Zuko, I-"

"She's mine isn't she?" The question came out as more of a statement. He looked utterly dumbstruck— face frozen in a blank stare.

I picked up Ember, cradling her on my hip like a safety blanket. The gurgling noises coming from her moist lips stopped as she sensed the thick tension.

Tears welled up, watching him open and close his mouth, debating whether to speak.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The words that came out of his mouth were strangled yet unsettlingly calm.

His gaze remained on the floor, his eyes darting rapidly. Color quickly took over his face and steam came from his mouth, nostrils, and ears.

"How the hell could you do this to me, Katara? After all we have been through together, why couldn't you tell me I had a daughter?! How could you have been so selfish? Did you even think for a second about me? I missed two years of my own flesh and blood's damned life because of you. We could have figured it out together— this was our mistake."

I flinched at his angered tone and Ember sank into my breast, whimpers escaping her lips. The fear that I felt quickly morphed into motherly protectiveness.

"It's best that you stop at once. This is not a discussion that we should be having in front of my child." I say coolly.

"Our child."

••

Zuko POV

••

The rage that had built in my chest disintegrated when I saw the fearful look on Katara's and Ember's faces.

I felt nauseous.

But I couldn't help but feel frustrated when I saw the fire light in Katara's cerulean eyes. She was not the one who had been wronged.

"Fine, but don't think we're done here." I spat in a low tone.

••

"Ember's gone to bed now. You can chastise me all you want now." Katara swayed into my chambers, elegance apparent in every step.

I rose from the blue decorated canopy bed and met her gaze.

"I don't even know what to say to you, Katara. You can't feel guilty for yourself when the second mistake you made was self inflicted!"

"A mistake? That's all you think she is? You're angry because I didn't tell you, yet all you see her as is a mistake?" Hurt burned in her eyes and as furious as I wanted to be, I couldn't when she looked at me like that.

"You know that's not what I meant." Those melting eyes continued to bore into my soul.
"Stop looking at me like that, you make it too hard."

"You're not the only victim here, Zuko. The complications of having parents that belong in different nations was too much. I was fourteen and I was scared and embarrassed and confused. You broke my heart, Zuko. And it still breaks my heart to know the wrong I have done you, but don't think for an instance that this was an easy decision. We were so young, and I didn't know."

"You didn't know what? That I may have wanted to help raise our child? You clearly don't know me at all if you think I would have let you fend for yourself. We could have made it work and it would have been much easier if you had told me. I would have made arrangements for you to stay in the palace with me-"

"And you think that's what I wanted? You think I, a water bender, wanted to live in the Fire Nation as the girl you knocked up. You think I would want to watch you and Mai love each other and make my daughter your own?"

"Katara-"

"She reminds me of you everyday, you know? I haven't forgotten you. I still feel that guilt." Katara sounded utterly defeated.

"I remember that day vividly. You said I broke your heart?" I sat down on the bed, a new feeling taking over.

"You still do."

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