#them screaming and crying is not only extremely nerve grating but often physically painful for me

[ashenxrogue]

Can’t believe it took the psychiatrist’s office I got referred to for an autism assessment nearly a month just to send me the following email

Like how fuckin back logged do they have to be for them to have taken this long just to tell me they couldn’t take me for an assessment (not additional repeat therapy visits)

[atypicalkataangist]

Responsibility

Type: Oneshot [Romantic] Summary: Aang and Katara get in a big fight. Word count: 1747 Author’s note Hey there! Soo, I’ve been writing about so many good things now, and even though I believe they came along pretty well as a married couple, I think it’s inevitable to get into a bigger fight from time to time. So that’s what today’s story is about ^^ Funfact: props to my guinea pig Hannibal for giving me the original idea for the reason of their fight. But you’ll see :D

"And I'm telling you he's got nothing to do with it!"

Aang was pissed off. Even worse, he was pissed off about Katara. The young couple didn't use to fight very often, but like in every healthy relationship the one or another bigger fight was included. In the last few weeks it's gotten progressively worse however. Katara had given birth to their first child only a few weeks earlier, and as much as their sweet little man constantly reminded them of their love for each other, it could become really exhausting. None of them could really handle the severe sleep deprivation caused by young Bumi's very light sleep, so he kept both of them awake most of the nights.

And like most other young parents it still took them a while to adjust to their new role. They, especially Katara, didn't want to mess anything up, so they felt like they were under a lot of pressure. The combination of stress and sleep deprivation had both of them really tensed, frequently causing them to freak out at each other without much of a reason. Even their sex life began to suffer now, either they didn't find enough time, or if they did, they were too exhausted or not in the mood to let off some steam.

"Oh Aang, you're ridiculous! Stay and talk to me!", she demanded, follwing her husband out of their home. He was too angry with her to talk to her in a constructive way. On her arm she carried their baby son, crying desperately for attention.

They were out in the open now, on the stone path leading to Appa's stable near the coast of air temple island. He couldn't bear with that situation anymore, at least not for the moment. He needed to get away, even if only for a couple of hours.

"I'm the one who's ridiculous?! Katara, you know Momo as long as I do, he would never, ever bite Bumi!"

"I can't believe it!", she moaned obviously pretty damn annoyed as well, "So you're taking your lemur's side and not your son's?!"

"No, that's not what I..."

"I couldn't care less about Momo right now, Aang!", she screamed, "I only see my - OUR son crying in pain because of an animal bite and you're not doing anything to help me! Instead you're too focused on defending your precious lemur to even consider the fact that he might have harmed Bumi!" The small boy on her arm didn't stop to sob, seemingly feeling the turmoil and agitation within his mother. She cuddled him closer against her chest, carefully as not to disturb him anymore. Lowering her voice, she added, "at least we have him long enough to eliminate the thought that he has any dangerous deseases with which he could've infected Bumi. His immune system is still extremely fragile, Aang, don't you realize that? Or do you just not care?!"

Deep inside, she immediately regretted saying that, but she was too angry and too aroused in that moment to take it back.

"Ka...Katara..." He could do nothing but standing there in bewilderment, his mouth agape and his eyes sad and hurted. She could see how much she had hurted his feelings with that comment. Of course she knew how much Aang cared about his son.

"How could you say something like that?" He turned around, fighting back tears that tried to break free. Slowly, he followed the path to Appa's stable. He needed some time alone.

She followed him. She didn't mean to hurt him like that. He didn't deserve that.

The Avatar whistled to call Appa out of his stable, preparing the saddle even though he was about to do this trip alone.

"Aang!"

He turned around from Appa, looking at her with hurted, disappointed eyes.

"I'm just saying that you can't be the child anymore. You have a child now. WE have a child now, Aang! You have to take on your responsibility as a father! You're carrying the responsibility of a tiny life, so you have to take this seriously!"

Without another word, he turned around again, airbended himself on top of his bison and took place on his head.

"I'm doing my fucking best, Katara." He never swore, so he must've been extremely aroused. "I'm sorry I'm not the perfect father right off the bat, but I'm doing my fucking best! Yip yipp."

"Where are you going, Aang?!", she screamed while the bison slowly began to levitate.

"I'll blow off some steam. I'm back when I'm back.", he yelled while Appa carried him away from his crying child and his baffled wife.

----

"Shit, Shit, SHIT!", he screamed, letting out all of his anger against the trunk of a tree. He didn't want to hurt anyone, be it human or animal, so he chose to land in a small forest near the coast of republic city, were barely anyone else was ever around.

His knuckles began to hurt as the tree bark splattered off the trunk. "I'm SUCH an idiot!", he screamed, walking in circles and falling onto his knees. She was right, she was absolutely right. He needed to get a hold of himself. What kind of father would leave his crying newborn alone and just leave in the middle of a fight?

"Oh, spirits, I messed up big time..."

Indecisive what to do, he changed into the lotus position and tried to calm his nerves by meditating. He had still way too much on his mind to detach himself from the world. He needed to step up to his responsibilities. He needed to go back home and apologize to Katara. He wanted to make her happy again. And he wanted to make Bumi happy as well.

Katara couldn't stop crying after Aang had left. She felt horrible. Did she really blame Aang to not care about his son's well being? She loved Aang, she really did, and she didn't stop loving him after Bumi was born. But she needed him. Of course she had so many things yet to learn as well, but she couldn't do this alone. She needed Aang. She missed him. Emotionally and physically. Maybe she had underestimated the effort to raise a child as well, but she knew that she chose the right husband to do so. She would've never want to do this with anyone else. Aang was perfect. He just needed some time to get used to his new life.

---

The sun was already setting when Aang returned home. He instantly made his way to the meditation pond in the back of the island to get his thoughts in order and prepared what he wanted to say to his wife.

He watched the peaceful koi fish swimming in their pond as dire thoughts began to cloud up his mind again.

'They don't deserve someone like you. You're the worst father a newborn child can have.'

Stop. Stop!

'You're nothing but a huge letdown for those who love you.'

"Stop!", he screamed, sad and confused.

"Aang? Aang, are you alright?" He quickly turned around to see his wife standing across from him, barefoot and already in her nightdress, carrying her sleeping son on her arm. She watched him with sorrowful, yet loving eyes.

"Katara! Sweetie...", he ran towards her and hugged her with her tears in his eyes. "Katara, I'm so, so sorry...I feel so bad for bailing out before... I can't just leave you two alone."

"Oh Aang..." her eyes began to tear up as well, "It's okay, I said things I shouldn't have said as well."

"You were right about most of it though. I have to take my role as father more seriously. I'll double my efforts from now on, I promise. I love you and I Bumi more than you could ever imagine, the last thing I  want is to drive you away from me."

"Sweetie...", her trembling lips kissed his cheek while her free hand rested on his chest. "Of course I know you love us, and I love you now more than ever. But I need you for this, Aang."

"I know, Sweetie. And I promise I'll be there for you from now on."

She smiled at him just as warmly as she did after freeing him from the iceberg. "Thank you, sweetie. I love you. And I'm sorry for what I said."

He kissed her and his bad thoughts finally began to drown in a wave of dopamin and euphoria.

"You look tired, sweetie. Come, let me take Bumi out for a small good night walk around the island while you go to sleep. Alright?"

She could stop herself right before beginning another discussion, simply nodded after realizing that she lingered after some sleep.

Carefully she gave her son into his father's arms, who couldn't let his eyes off of the tiny bundle of joy that was about to wake up from his light sleep again, whining for attention.

"I got this. Good Night, Sweetie.", he whispered. "I love you."

"I love you, too.", she answered, kissing her husband first and pressing a few quick kisses in her son's tiny forehead. "Both of you."

Not without feeling a tiny ache in her heart after letting go of her baby, however realizing that he was in good hands with his father, she left to finally go to sleep.

Her family stayed at the pond and especially her husband enjoyed the last beams of sunlight that illuminated the sky. Bumi was very calm again, rocked to sleep by the gentle motion of his father's arm.

"Women, he?", Aang whispered more to himself as to his sleepy son im his arms. "They drive you crazy and they feel right about everything, but in the end of the day  you just can't but love them more than anything else in the entire world. Except you, Bumi. Your Dad loves you more than you could ever imagine.", he whispered and carefully as not to wake him up kissed his forehead. "You and your Mom give my life a purpose. And I'll be forever grateful for that."

Hope you liked it! Writing the reconciliation turned out to be a lot harder than I expected, I hope it didn’t get too cheesy in the end. 

Oh, by the way: I’ll soon be on a vacation in greece until the 24th, so I might not be able to write anything during that period. Trying my best however! :)