"Sokka..." Toph whispered, clutching her swollen belly. She let out a moan and winced.
"I'm here, I'm here," Sokka said. He squeezed her pale, slender hand. "It's okay."
Toph nodded, the effort clearly taking a lot from her. She let out a wail. "Augh!" She let go of his hand and punched him. "You did this to me!"
Sokka looked surprised. Behind him, Katara laughed.
"Well, Toph, I'm proud to say that you are eight centimeters dilated now," she said. Sokka gave her a puzzled look.
"That's good, right?"
She nodded. "She'll need to get to ten before the actual pushing begins." She went back over to the makeshift changing table they'd set up in Sokka and Toph's apartment and rearranged a few things.
Toph shrieked in pain. "Get...it...out!"
Sokka chuckled. "Sorry, Toph, but you've still got two more centimeters to go."
"Urgh," she groaned. She tensed and squeezed his hand tighter. "It hurts, Snoozles."
"I know, I know."
"No, you don't," Toph sighed. She fell back onto her bed, breathing heavily.
Katara glanced over. "If she's feeling up to it, we can bring the rest of them in."
Sokka nodded. "What do you say?"
"Okay."
Katara walked over to the door and opened it. Aang, Zuko, and Suki were sitting in the living room talking. They all fell silent as she approached them.
"How is she doing?" Suki asked nervously.
"She's fine," Katara answered. "In fact, she's doing well enough for a quick visit, so if you all wanted to -"
She was interrupted by a hurricane of people rushing past her and into
Toph's room. She was sweating on her bed under her blankets. A large bump was visible under the covers.
"Toph!" Suki shouted. She ran over and gave her a hug. Toph moaned and she blushed. "Oops. Sorry."
Aang gave her a huge grin. "How you doing?"
"How do you think?" she grunted. "It's about as fun as getting a beating in the backside."
"I'll bet," Zuko commented. "Good to see you still have time to insult us."
"So what have you all been doing?" Sokka asked, gripping Toph's hand tightly as she let out another moan.
Aang shrugged. "Talking."
"Aang had to slip out for a minute to talk to the babysitter," Suki said.
Katara popped her head over, her eyes flashing in the light. "Why? Are the kids okay?"
She waved her arm. "Yeah, they're fine. Just that she had to pull Lin and Tenzin apart, they were beating each other up."
Katara blushed and Toph paused birthing long enough to laugh hysterically. "Oh, man, that's my kid all right. She threw first punch, right?"
"Unfortunately."
"Izumi almost got involved too, but luckily Bumi and Kya held her back," Aang added.
"And that's our kid," Suki sighed, patting Zuko on the arm. "At least she didn't get involved."
"Are you kidding?" Zuko said, eyeing his wife incredulously. "I'm upset that she didn't! We're gonna have to have a talk with her."
