If you had told him at age fifteen that one day he would be a father of three children, Sokka would have told you that was predictable. With his bloodline status of soon-to-be chief of the Southern Water Tribe (and not to mention his handsome looks and manly flair), that was to be expected of him. Heck, he would probably have more than three! And all of them would be boys, of course. No doubt about that.

If you told Sokka when he was eighteen, the young man would have puffed his chest up with pride. As a war hero and a newly engaged man, the mere thought of Suki carrying his child made Sokka feel tingly and warm inside. However, they were planning to hold off on having kids for a while. What with helping Zuko and Aang rebuild peace between the four nations, they already had quite the load to handle. Besides, they were still young. They still needed some more time to spend together. Babies could wait…oh, and he wouldn't mind having at least one girl…

If you told him at age twenty, Sokka wouldn't have even listened to you. He was just too in total awe of his baby girl. Suki absolutely glowed during her pregnancy. Sokka never thought she could look anymore beautiful. Just the way her stance was made him blush, the smile that crept upon her face whenever she glanced down at her swelled stomach.

Sokka would never forget how Suki practically lit up the whole tent as she swaddled their newly born infant in her arms. Tears streamed down the Kyoshi warrior's pale face as she caressed her daughter's auburn tuft of hair. She glanced up at her husband sitting next to her on the cot, her blue eyes glistening as more happy tears formed.

"Oh, Sokka…she's beautiful..." Suki held her baby closer to her chest as the baby let out soft cooing sounds.

Sokka's eyes welled up with his own tears of pure joy, leaning down to press his lips to his wife's temple. He then softly began to glide his palm up and down his daughter's warm cheek as she continued to make tiny, little sounds.

"Yeah…she is…" Sokka then cracked a grin, putting his arm around Suki. "The boys are gonna wish they had never met you, Atka, 'cuz your daddy has already decided that no one is good enough for you, baby girl!"

If you told Sokka at age twenty-eight, he would believe you in a heartbeat. It made perfect sense…

That year had been the couple's tenth wedding anniversary, a big one in their book and everyone else's. Zuko treated them both to a week's get away at his family's newly revamped vacation home in Ember Island, plus Auntie Katara and Uncle Aang offered to take care of Atka and Tikani. At first, Suki felt guilty for leaving her children with Aang and Katara, what with them already taking care of two children of their own and Katara just finding out another new baby was on the way. But the water bender simply smiled and waved Suki off, claiming that it honestly was no trouble. And so with that, Sokka and Suki took off for their adventure in Ember Island, finally having 'true' alone time together…

Their days consisted of lounging around on the beach, swimming in the crystal clear ocean, cliff diving (much to Sokka's chagrin), shopping around town and picking out souvenirs for their little girl and boy. Their nights usually started off with dinner, a walk on the beach, and sometimes they dared to venture off back into the town. Nightlife on the island had become more popular throughout the years, which intrigued Sokka more so than his wife.

"C'mon, Suki! It'll be fun!" Sokka begged to his wife on their second day on vacation, dramatically pleading with her with his hands clasped together. Even though he was technically an adult, Sokka still acted like the same goof Suki had met all those years ago. The warrior crossed her arms and gave her husband a look that read she wasn't buying into it. She turned to a mirror and began to let loose her bun, a signal to Sokka that she was getting ready for bed. Sokka quickly stepped in front of the mirror and grasped his wife by the shoulders with pleading eyes.

"Come on, honey…for me?" Sokka played up, giving his wife a tender kiss on the cheek and sliding a wandering hand down her back. Suki didn't fall for his usual 'ooey gooey' romantic tactics in order to get his way, raising a thin brow up in disapproval. Sokka knew he was failing miserably and let out a sigh, moving his hand up to her warm cheek. He knew that she was worrying about the kids; he could see it on her face. It seemed to affect her more at night than during the day.

"Suki, this is like our second honeymoon! Listen, I know you're thinking about Atka and Tikani—and I am too, don't get me wrong—but we should be living this vacation up! I mean, this time next week we'll probably be trying to stop Tikani from picking his nose and telling Atka to put away her books and go to bed all through the night. Besides, I hate to say this, but…we won't be young forever. We don't get to relax and be carefree too much anymore. I wanna see the girl who was with me the last time we were here over ten years ago…can you find her inside you?" Sokka placed his forehead to his wife's, cracking a loving grin across his lips as he spoke nostalgically. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist his smolder not matter how hard she tried.

Yet again, Suki tried her best not to succumb to Sokka, but what he said hit her straight to home. They weren't going to be this young forever; they were on the cusp of thirty, which was difficult for both of them to believe. Tikani would soon be turning five years old and Atka would be eight, and the beginning of her training to become a Kyoshi Warrior was nearing. Sokka would be performing his council duties and visiting the Southern Water Tribe off and on throughout this time while Suki would be staying in Kyoshi Island with her children for Atka's training. The couple would be parting ways in just a matter of weeks. Sokka would be in Kyoshi as much as he could, but it would not be very often. Suki knew that she would be able to handle her children on her own, but she could not stand being away from her husband for too long. Their relationship always had distance to it, even after the war had ended. She was stationed to help guard Zuko and Sokka was off with Aang and Katara. A part of Suki thought that marriage would sore this wound in their relationship, but they both knew that that just would not happen.

All of these thoughts jumbled into Suki's mind, clustering up her brain. Without warning and much to her own surprise, she scrunched her face tightly as hot tears rushed quickly down her face. The cheeky grin on her husband's face changed drastically to a look of total shock as Suki busted into tears. She hated crying. Especially in front of Sokka. But she couldn't help it this time around.

"Wha-? Oh, Suki, I'm sorry—I wasn't implying that you're not fun anymore, in fact, you're really fun! And you're not old! Far from it, honey! Aang is older than you and you look a flameo lot better than him!" Sokka bent down to Suki's level, clutching her face in between his warm palms.

"No—no, it's n-not t-that." Suki looked into Sokka's dark eyes as he tried to wipe away her tears in a rapid speed.

"Then why are you upset? I know we've been married for ten years now, but women are still confusing to me, believe it or not." Sokka was expecting some sort of reaction from Suki after trying to joke around with her, but he still had no response besides tears continuing to flow down her face. He gently guided her over to their bed, plopping down with his wife in his lap.

Suki closed her eyes and managed to take a deep breath, knowing that she needed to get what she wanted to say off her chest. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw her husband looking even more concerned.

"Do you wanna go home? I'll do whatever you want to do, honey. I just want you to be happy." Sokka planted a kiss to Suki's cheek, brushing back her auburn hair in a calming manner.

"No, no, I want to stay here. This vacation has been the most fun I've had with you in a long time. It's just…" She took another deep breath. "It's just…things are going to change…again…in a little over a month."

Sokka gave his wife a puzzled look.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I'm moving to Kyoshi Island with the kids for Atka's warrior training, and you're going to be away, too. We knew this would happen eventually, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. We've been away from each other so much over our years together, that I guess I finally got comfortable being in the same place with you every single day."

Sokka frowned deeply at what Suki had just said. This had been bothering himself to the point of some sleepless nights over the past few weeks. He agreed with his wife that he too had finally gotten used to what should be a 'normal' marriage, as in where husband and wife were always together, but for them it was different. It always had been much to their distaste. But it was part of who they were as individuals. They were both leaders and wanted to make a difference in the world. Even though the war had ended, things were still difficult.

"We knew this would be hard, Suki. We talked about it before we got married," Sokka said calmly, still stroking her hair in between his long fingers. "But you know what? We make it work, no matter what. Always. That's what makes our bond so strong, our love so strong…we always come back for each other." Sokka gave her a firm squeeze, trying himself not to let his emotions get to the best of him. "Spirits know that I love you, Atka, and Tikani more than anything in the entire universe and beyond. I want our little girl to become a strong warrior like her mother. I won't deny her the opportunity to train with such an elite group of honorable women with you as her master. She deserves the best. And I want to be there for as much as I can for it, so I swear to you that I will be, my love." Sokka pressed his lips firmly to his wife's forehead, holding back his own set of tears now. "I promise you that I will be there as much as I can. I want you all now to come first."

"But for us coming first, at times you'll have to look into our best interest. As in our children's interest. For their future." Suki pulled back slightly to look into Sokka's face, her own now tear stained. "I want Atka and Tikani to live in a world even more at harmony than it is now. You have such an important position, Sokka. You help make a difference each day, and our children will thank you for it in the future."

Sokka grinned and puffed his chest, not helping but feel somewhat proud of himself. Suki was right, everything he did was for their kids. She curled up closer to her husband, hugging him tightly as her lips pressed against his neck.

"You're right, you know…we always come back for each other," she murmured in a loving voice.

Boldly, Suki pushed herself upwards to lock her lips around Sokka's, grasping onto his body tightly. Sokka immediately reacted to his wife's actions, kissing her back passionately as his hands traveled up to hold her face in place. He laid down slowly onto the comfortable bed, now his touches traveling to Suki's hips. He murmured 'I love you' more times than he would care to admit, but Sokka couldn't help it after the conversation that just took place, and Suki repeated the same time after time again through the rest of the evening. They made love with as much they could possibly muster for the rest of the night, completely forgetting about their previous plans. Sokka dared to utter once they were finished for the night, "Hey, at least I didn't want to go see the Ember Island Players…"

To make it up to Sokka (as if the night before had not been a reward enough), Suki agreed to go out the next evening. There was a Sake bar that sparked Sokka's interest immediately when they were out on the town. After they were done dining at a popular noodle restaurant that Zuko and Mai recommended, Suki finally caved in and decided that they both deserved at least one drink. Since they were recognized war heroes, nearly everyone in the bar offered to buy them drinks. At first, Suki refused. She had a feeling that she would need to watch over Sokka, who was eating all this attention up and gladly accepted the free drinks ("You know what free sake means? More presents for the rugrats, honey!"). Throughout the night, his vision became blurred and his judgment was not quite as clear as it should be, and Sokka claimed the next morning that he would never drink again…or at least that much again. Cactus Juice was nothing compared to cups and cups of Mango sake.

For the rest of their vacation, the couple mainly stayed in the firelord's home. They received about five letters from Atka and Tikani by messenger hawk not even halfway through their week of paradise, which made Suki miss her little ones more and more.

"We should have brought them for at least for a few days." Suki examined a picture drawn by Tikani of what looked to be a sky bison, with the name 'APPA' etched underneath the elementary drawing. The two were sitting in their bedroom late on Wednesday evening; the tall windows opened which allowed the soft oceanic breeze to make its way into the room. A few more drawings were scattered on the husband and wife's bed, including a short letter that Atka had written them with help from her Auntie Katara.

Sokka had his arm loosely wrapped around his wife's back, smiling with pride at the drawing of Momo his son made for them. "Yeah, I miss our little rugrats. Maybe we can ask Aang to bring them on Friday and we'll stay until Sunday afternoon. I don't think Zuko would mind, either." He picked up another drawing Tikani made their family, labeling each figure with their name. Suki was dressed in her Kyoshi warrior uniform while Sokka was in traditional Southern Water Tribe clothing, the words 'MOMMY' AND 'DAD' spelled out in a sloppy manner. Sokka could not help but laugh at the figure Tikani drew of Atka, though he knew he would have to reprimand his son about it. He painted his sister having a huge head and a somewhat scary looking appearance, her dark auburn hair sticking up everywhere and fangs for teeth. Sokka was pretty sure he had drawn a similar picture of Katara back when they were kids.

"This kid has got some spunk!" Sokka showed his wife the picture of their family, practically shoving it in her face as he continued to laugh. "I have no idea where he gets it from," he added jokingly.

Suki took the drawing out of his husband's clutches, trying to keep a straight face at the sight of Atka portrayed on paper. After a few moments of trying to be motherly and proper, Suki couldn't help but let out a tiny chuckle. She had to admit, it was funny…however, her little boy would definitely be having a talk with his father.

"He's definitely your son," Suki said, placing the drawing back onto the bed with the others.

"And you're definitely his mother, unless you have anything you'd like to tell me that I don't know about," Sokka teased, nudging his wife with his elbow.

Suki smiled up at her husband, brushing back his long hair with her delicate hand. She loved it whenever Sokka let his hair down from his usual wolftail. It was something that she only saw every night and morning while no one else did. Sokka gave her a cheeky grin as he glanced down, wiggling his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"What's on your mind?" he asked his wife, perking up a brow.

"Hmmmm, only that we have yet to try out that huge stone bath downstairs…oh, and we haven't had our spa day yet." Suki winked at Sokka, getting up from the bed in a slow manner as a way to show herself off.

"First of all, you're so right and we're doing that tomorrow, and secondly—race you to the bathhouse!"

And with that, Sokka hopped off the bed and practically leapt into the air while grabbing Suki's hand, busting open the door and running down the stairs. Suki couldn't stop laughing at her husband, feeling as if she were fifteen again running through the firelord's old house trying to find a room for privacy with her then boyfriend. She could have sworn she saw a glimpse of a younger Sokka as well as they passed by long mirrors down in the hallways of the vacation house, his smile the biggest she had seen it in a long time.

And that was why when Suki confirmed to Sokka that she was pregnant about three weeks later, her husband did not even try to deny it. He took Suki into his arms, pressing a kiss to first her soft lips and then down to her lower stomach, as he did when she told him she was expecting two times before.

"I'm coming with you to Kyoshi Island," Sokka stated firmly after giving her belly a kiss. He kept a hand on the spot, his other under his wife's chin.

Suki immediately looked taken aback, not expecting Sokka to say that at all.

"But, Sokka, you have dut—"

"My main duty is to be a father and husband. I can be a delegate for both the Southern Water Tribe and Kyoshi. We can travel together—as a family. I'm not leaving you three, or should I say four." He gave her stomach a gentle pat, placing yet another kiss to her lips. "Zuko can deal with it," Sokka added in between the kiss, making Suki giggle as their lips touched.

"Only if you think that's truly the right thing to do…" Suki whispered after their kiss broke, their lips still only inches away from each other.

"I don't think, I know. Now come on! Let's go tell the rugrats that there's gonna be another one of them!"