"Come on, Appa. It's time to head back." Aang called. His bison emitted a long, low growl.

"I know boy, I disappear for two weeks, and as soon as I come back we're heading off again," Aang said, "I know I'm not being fair to you, but I've been away for way too long. The others are probably worried sick by now." Secretly, Aang was hoping that they were worried. He wasn't exactly the pinnacle of self-confidence at that moment and what he really needed was confirmation that they needed him as much as he needed them. He told himself that, after all they'd been through together, there was no way they didn't care about him. But he was having trouble believing himself. He wanted to hear it from the others, as silly as that sounded, even to him.

Appa stood at his master's words, but he was slow and lethargic, exaggerating every movement. If Aang didn't know any better, he'd have sworn that Appa was making fun of him.

"Thanks, boy. I'll make it up to you, I promise. I know it's hard to leave, but we'll come back here one day. We'll have to if the future air nomads are going to live here." Aang's talk with his past lives the previous night had done him a world of good. Their encouragement meant so much to him because, in a way, their support indicated that he was supporting himself.

"It's funny how past lives work, huh, boy?" Aang immediately felt very silly. Not because he was talking to a ten ton sky bison, whose grasp of human language extended to 'Yip yip', or 'stop', but because he remembered that he was the only person in the world who would know about what it felt like to have past lives. He was the only Avatar, and in that respect he was totally and irreversibly alone. But recently he had begun to realise that, in so many wonderful and important ways, he was not as alone as he had once thought. He wasn't the only person left alive from before the war, there was still Guru Pathik and King Bumi. He didn't have to keep the world in balance all by himself, he would have help from Fire Lord Zuko, Earth King Kuei, and the water tribe chiefs.

But perhaps most importantly of all, he had a family. Family like he had never had, even before the war. His friends were his family, and they meant more to him than anything. But there was one person in particular that he would sacrifice anything and everything for. His entire trip back to Ba Sing Se was filled with thoughts and memories of her. The girl that he couldn't live without, his hero, his best friend. What would he say to her? Would she forgive him? Would he, no, should he forgive her? Did he want to? One moment he felt like he would fall apart if she rejected him, and another, in his anger, he felt like he wanted herto fall apart. He quickly stamped down his negative thoughts, but they continually reared their ugly heads. Though he wanted desperately to forgive her, the truth was that she had hurt him immensely. The idea that she would question his love for her in the first place was bad enough. But that she thought that he wasn't thinking about her every waking moment, that she didn't think that everything he did was for her, was infinitely worse. He could understand if he was failing her, he wasn't perfect after all, but what he couldn't understand was how she could feel like he wasn't trying. It pained him to admit that he was angry with her, but he was, and she had some explaining to do. They both did.

His journey to Ba Sing Se should, perhaps, have been the scariest he had ever made, but his mind was so consumed with other things that before he could formulate the idea of turning around in in his mind, he was there.

For a certain waterbender, it was just another ordinary, boring day in Ba Sing Se. Her father had long since departed for the Southern Water Tribe, and her friends Zuko and Mai had been forced to return to the Fire Nation on 'Fire Lord business'. Zuko and his uncle had said an emotional goodbye, which had ended with Iroh tersely informing Zuko that if he did not visit the Jasmine Dragon soon then he would be forced to hunt Zuko down again, and this time he would bring his Tsungi Horn. Zuko paled when his uncle told him that it would be the Fire Lord who would be playing it, but after their joking was over they shared a final, extended embrace, Zuko hopped into his airship with Mai, and, just like that they were gone. With even fewer people around her to keep her occupied, Katara found it increasingly difficult to keep her mind from wandering to thoughts of Aang. She still missed him intensely and painfully. Just because she had found the strength to wait for him did not mean that the pain of his absence was not affecting her.

She found every activity suggested to her to be exceedingly boring, and her friends joked that it was like Mai had never left. But Katara forced herself to keep busy. She didn't want to go mad before Aang arrived back, after all. Who in their right mind would want an insane waterbender for a girlfriend? She prayed that the answer to that question was Aang. She reasoned that, if it was, then she only really had Hama to compete with, and she knew Aang wasn't into that kind of thing.

She shook herself from the daze she had spent the last few minutes in. Wow, she thought, my mind is weird. The more she pondered the situation, however, the more she realised just how reliant she had become on Aang over the past two years. He was always there for her, whether with a smile, and ear, a warm pair of arms, or a kiss. He had never stopped supporting her, and everything he did was for her benefit. He was always around to protect her from others, and more importantly, herself. It shocked her to think that she had been so blind as to miss all of that.

She had taken him for granted, just like she had done with her mother, and now that he was gone she felt lost, just like she had as a little girl, like she had until she had met Aang. She swore that if Aang ever took her back, then she would never take his love for granted again. Aang had given her many things, big, important things, but it was his love, and the sense of security that knowing he loved her gave her, that she had treasured above all. Now that it was gone, she was frightened.

One of her favourite activities recently had been watching the sky. She watched and waited, hoping that one day she would see Appa up there, carrying her favourite airbender, and her life could go back to some semblance of normality. Her heart would leap at the sight of anything remotely Appa shaped, but every time she was met with crushing disappointment. She felt ridiculous, jumping at the sight of a cloud, welling up when she realised that that was all it was. Her feeling of idiocy was compounded by the fact that every cloud looked like Appa. Truthfully, she felt more at home inside the tea shop than outside straining her neck with all her upwards gazing, but she missed Aang every day, and didn't want to miss him when he arrived.

Aang and Appa arrived in Ba Sing Se very late at night. Even the drunkards had found their way home, or had fallen asleep in the street, and Aang decided that, as much as he wanted to see Katara and the rest of his friends, he would leave the monumental task of facing them until the next day. Aang steered Appa to a nearby hill and lay down against his friend's foreleg. But, try as he might, he just couldn't fall asleep. His head was swimming with anticipation and anxiety, and so he decided that it couldn't hurt just to check the Jasmine Dragon, to see if his friends were still awake. Aang was struck by how quiet everything was on his walk. He could hear his own footsteps, his own breathing, his own heartbeat, but beyond those things there was simply no sound at all. The silence was comforting and, simultaneously, unnerving.

Aang was disappointed, but not surprised, to find the Jasmine Dragon closed, and find that all of his friends were fast asleep. He was unsure of exactly what he had been expecting, but he let out an exasperated sigh nonetheless, and was about to turn and leave when he noticed that one of the shutters to an upstairs window was open. Through it, he could hear what sounded like a snoring competition between Sokka and Iroh. As the snore of one ended, so began the snore of the other, as if they were locked in some kind of endless struggle to prove once and for all which one of them was the most difficult to sleep around. He smiled at the thought and silently airbended himself up, and into the window.

He was startled to find that the room he had so rudely broken into was Katara's. He was about to leap back out of the window and run, before he noticed out of the corner of his eye something in Katara's hands. It was the flower necklace he had made for her as a substitute for her mother's, and Katara fingered it lightly in her sleep. He had forgotten all about it, but the sentimentality got to him instantaneously, and he found himself tearing up. He gazed longingly at Katara. To any normal person, she would have appeared to be the paragon of health. But Aang knew her better. Her breathing was ragged and unsteady, she was ever so slightly thinner and her eyes were red and puffy. Aang knew that she had been crying. He knew that it was a horrible thought, but deep down he hoped that it had been about him, and his unannounced departure. Seeing his beloved waterbender, and best friend, again after three long weeks melted his heart, and all the pain and rage he was harbouring in his heart was swept aside, as he sat for several minutes, admiring her sleeping form. She looked so sweet, and innocent, and beautiful that he just couldn't tear his gaze away.

His breath caught in his throat when, to his horror, she began to stir. He was terrified that she would wake up at any moment, and discover him there, spying on her. For a heart-stopping moment, it looked as though she might, but in the end she simply turned over, and was now facing him. He afforded himself a small sigh of relief, and he turned to leave once again. With one leg out of the window, he heard Katara mumble something in her sleep. He strained his ears to try and decipher her words, and what he heard had a deep, profound effect on him.

"Aang… please… don't go… come back to me…"

Aang felt tears welling in his eyes, and he bent his head down to whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I have to go now, Katara. But I promise, I'll see you tomorrow, and I promise we'll make things right," he breathed into her ear, as quietly as he possibly could. As soon as the words left his mouth, Katara's restlessness appeared to cease, and a warm, content smile spread across her face.

Seeing this, Aang stamped down the familiar fear that was growing inside him, and he leant down to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. To his unending relief, she still didn't wake up, but instead let out a sigh that sounded remarkably like relief. He slipped silently out, returning to the hill to sleep by his bison. At that moment, he felt strangely content, and, despite the burgeoning knowledge that the next day would be one of the most significant in his life, fell asleep looking forward to the morning.

"Breakfast, Katara!"

Katara was finally stirred from her deep slumber by her calling brother. She was appalled to discover that she had slept in, and that the others were awake before her. For days she had been up before dawn, and often lent a helping hand with preparing breakfast for her friends. Anything to occupy her lonely mornings. But that particular morning she felt different. She wasn't feeling the crushing loneliness that she felt every morning knowing that Aang wouldn't be at breakfast with them. She couldn't feel the debilitating sadness that had kept her awake for so many nights. She felt… safe. It was a very strange feeling, one that she hadn't felt in weeks, and it felt good. The previous night, she recalled, she had been in the peculiar situation of having a terrifying nightmare. Everything she loved was being torn from her grasp, when all of a sudden the raging waters of fear had calmed. She remembered begging, pleading with Aang not to leave, and to her immense surprise and relief, he didn't, and it was at that point that her dream had taken an altogether more pleasant turn. She didn't know what the dream meant, if it meant anything at all, but she was strangely optimistic for the day that lay ahead.

"Come on, don't make us wait any longer!" her brother called.

"Morning everyone," she said as she came down the stairs. Her friends didn't miss the marked improvement in her disposition. For weeks they were lucky if Katara would go more than five minutes without letting out a sigh or saying something self-deprecating, but this morning she was… smiling, and none of them could formulate an explanation.

"What are you so happy about?" prodded Toph.

"Yeah, Katara, did something happen last night?" added Suki.

Katara almost laughed at their perplexed expressions, but she too could tell that she was being oddly positive that morning. She began to wonder to herself if perhaps something had happened the previous night to put her in such high spirits.

"I don't know," she started, "I just feel… good."

"Really? I mean, you've been moping around for weeks, and then suddenly you're acting like Aang's back and everything's perfect and you're giddier than ever," Toph drawled. Her mention of Aang earned her a flick to the head from Sokka and a hard glare from Suki, but incredibly Katara was not disheartened by the reminder of his absence.

"Honestly, I feel fine, guys. I just feel like things are looking up."

"You mean, like… like you're over Aang, or something?" Sokka asked sheepishly, fully expecting his sister to experience another emotional breakdown. To his relief, she simply gazed at the ground, her features inscrutable.

"I don't mean that, Sokka. I still miss him, all the time, and I really wish he were here. I'm just feeling better, stronger." Her voice betrayed the painful longing that her friends had grown all too accustomed to seeing her express over the last few weeks, but when she looked back up she looked as calm as ever. She sat down and eyed the meal hungrily, and it surprised her to discover that she was consumed with a Sokka-sized appetite.

"Well," she said to her gobsmacked friends as she picked up two large handfuls of food, "are you guys going to sit there staring at me all morning, or are you going to join me?" As she proceeded to almost shovel in mouthfuls of food her friends exchanged a few uneasy glances before slowly joining her in her fervent consumption.

The fourteen year old Avatar slowly made his way through Ba Sing Se's upper ring. As expected, he found himself mobbed by packs of admirers, but he was too distracted to talk to them, fight them off or even acknowledge their existence. Aang's indifference was not enough to deter them, and they formed a large crowd around him as he walked. Thankfully, Appa was proving to be quite the capable bodyguard, and every so often when the crowd became too large for the bison's liking, he would emit a humongous growl and scatter the latest pack of admirers that was badgering them. It took them almost an hour to reach the Jasmine Dragon tea shop. Aang had awoken before sunrise with the express intention of arriving before his friends could wake up, but by the time he and Appa had managed to force their way through their crowds of followers, the sun had risen and morning was in full swing.

Aang made his way up the stairs to Iroh's shop, but it seemed that with every step he took his confidence bled from him until by the time he had reached the courtyard, and he could hear his friends' voices, he was on the verge of losing his nerve altogether. For minutes he stood, wrestling with his indecision, before Appa decided that he had seen enough and nudged his master with his head. Aang was so deep in consideration that the light push was enough to send him toppling over. As he untangled himself from his robe, he sent a pointed glance in Appa's direction.

"What was that, boy?" he hissed, "I was just composing myself, and I was going to head in a minute anyway!"

Appa eyes seemed to say "Yeah, right" even as he put on as innocent a face as a bison could muster. Aang softened immediately.

"I know, you do it because you care," he drawled. "Aww, I can't stay mad at you," he chuckled as he patted his friend's nose, "I know you were just trying to help."

With the help of Appa's 'pep talk', Aang turned to face the entrance to the tea shop.

"Well," he said quietly to himself, as his confidence again began to shrink, "here goes nothing."

With that, he swallowed shakily and swung the doors of the tea shop open. They let out an audible 'bang!' as they each hit their adjacent walls, such was the force of Aang's arrival. For a moment Aang stood, glowing with both pride and embarrassment at his entrance, when he suddenly found himself feeling extremely self-conscious. His friends just sat there, speechless. Their mouths, half full of food, were wide open, and he struggled to supress the laugh that surfaced as the looks on his friends faces got to him.

"Hey guys," Aang said timidly after several tense seconds, "How's it going?"

At his friends' maintained silence, Aang began to grow disheartened. He found himself once again to be flip-flopping as to whether he should stay or go. Eventually, however, Sokka was able to compose himself, and he walked over to envelop his friend in a warm hug, dragging Suki with him and forcing her to awkwardly join the embrace.

"Aang, it's so great to see you!" he gushed, "Where have you been all this time? Did something happen to you? Or was it more 'spirit shenanigans'?," the warrior inquired with a chuckle.

"It's great to be back Sokka, and no, it wasn't 'spirit shenanigans', I just needed to sort a few things out in my head," he answered with a grin. At that point he turned his gaze towards Katara, and was shocked to see her eyes swirling with a mixture of uncontainable happiness and crushing regret and insecurity. It took all of his willpower not to rush over to her and take her in his arms and tell her that all was forgiven. He knew that they needed to have a proper talk, so he resisted the urge to kiss her senseless and instead focus his attention on Toph.

"Hey, Toph," he crowed, "you must be getting rusty, I'm surprised you didn't sense me outside and give the game away."

Toph played along, and sent him a wide smile. "Hey, I knew you were there the whole time, Twinkle Toes, I'm disappointed, you're not exactly living up to your nickname right now." Toph could feel Aang beaming at her, and as he did so he felt Katara's heart rate spike. Jealous much? She thought sardonically. However, as much as she enjoyed riling Katara up, she wisely shifted the focus of the conversation to the waterbender.

"It's really good to have you back, Katara's been going crazy since you've been away. I swear, it was like you'd died or something!" Katara and Aang both blushed at Toph's blunt summarisation of the situation, and Aang decided to close the distance between them. He walked up to Katara's chair and gazed at her with his stormy, grey eyes. Her breathing hurried as she reacted to their proximity, and she stubbornly avoided his gaze.

"Katara, I never meant to make you worry about me."

At that moment, she was terrified to look into his eyes, fearing that if she did she would be faced with the same emotionless visage that she had been presented with on the day after their argument. She had to force herself to look up, but when she did her breath caught in her throat. Instead of the cold, hard stare she had anticipated, she found his eyes to be full of the same soft love that had always inhabited their grey depths before she had ruined everything. But she could also see great sadness and… fear. It pained her to think that she was the cause of his emotional turmoil, but she offered him a small smile, and he gave her the same.

"If you two are done making googly-eyes at each other," interrupted Sokka, "then we have a lot to catch up on. Come an Aang, spill the beans, where have you been."

Aang spent the next fifteen minutes explaining the event of the past few weeks; his mysterious departure, his conversations with his past lives, and his late night/early morning arrival (naturally leaving out a few key details). When he was done, he stood up and turned to the door.

"Wait, Aang! Where are you going?" cried Katara, her voice choked with emotion. "You're not leaving again, are you?" to her horror she felt herself tearing up, again.

"No, silly," Aang reassured her with a smile, "I'm just going to grab my things from Appa. I'm here to stay, so I'm going to need a room, unless you want me to sleep outside."

"Oh, right, of course," Katara said meekly, her cheeks flushing red as she realised just how ridiculous she must have sounded.

"I'll be back in a minute, I promise." Aang's words were more than enough to comfort her, just as they always had been. She couldn't help but smile at the thought that he really hadn't changed. He was the same boy she had fallen in love with, and it looked to her that he loved her too.

When Aang went up to his room, he was more than a little surprised to find Katara sitting on his bead, waiting for him. She was dressed in her signature blue water tribe get-up, but Aang's heart still leapt when he saw her. To him, she was as beautiful as she had ever been, but her eyes were filled with such intense emotion and sadness that he found himself unable to meet her gaze.

"Hey," he said, lamely.

"Hey," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. In reality, she was worried that her voice would betray the feelings that her face had long since betrayed, but she tried in vain to maintain her neutral tone. Meanwhile, Aang busied himself with rearranging his room. Several uneasy moments passed before she spoke again.

"It's good to see you again," she began, "I really missed you."

"I missed you too."

The two lapsed back into silence once more, and seeing as how neither of them wanted to begin the difficult conversation that they both knew was necessary, they remained that way for some time. After what felt like an eternity of fidgeting, and quick glances from half lidded eyes, Katara decided that she had seen enough and opened her mouth to speak. However, before she could even draw breath, Aang spoke.

"Katara," he sighed, "we need to talk."

"Yeah…" she conceded, half annoyed with Aang for beating her to the mark, half annoyed with herself for letting him, "I was just going to say that."

"I feel like there's a lot unspoken between us."

"I know there is, Aang."

"Well if that's the case," he said tentatively, carefully, "what's going on between us?"

"I don't know, Aang, you tell me."

Aang gritted his teeth at Katara's instruction, and swallowed hard before beginning.

"Well, I know how I feel…" he started, before seeming to lose his nerve.

"And how's that?" she asked, her voice thick with emotion.

"I know that I'm hurt," he told her. It pained him to admit it, but he knew that he had to tell her how he was really feeling, even if in the short term it would be uncomfortable to hear. "What you said to me really hurt me, Katara." She visibly flinched at his admission, and her eyes glazed over with guilty sadness, and she was forced to avert her gaze. Aang took a step forward, determined now more than ever to set things straight.

"It hurt me so much to hear you say those things because, well… you mean so much to me. You've always been the first person I go to when I need to talk about something, and I've always thought of you as being my safe place. I've never been afraid to go to you totally vulnerable, Katara, and that's why what you said affected me so badly. I'm used to hearing things like that, I hear it all the time from people who don't think I'm doing a good enough job, but I never thought that you would say something like that to me," he took a fortifying breath before finishing, "I never thought that you would even consider saying something so horrible." Katara was crying now, tears rolling slowly down her face. She had kept a tight rein on her sobs, but she feared that if Aang went on then they would quickly slip out of her control.

"It's more than that, though Katara," he continued. "I do feel hurt, but at the same time I feel… sorry." Katara looked up at him through her wet lashes, with a blazing hope in her eyes. "I know that you care about me, I really do. I know that you would never get as angry at me as you did if you weren't hurt too. When I ran away, I was as angry at myself as I was angry at you." She was stunned by his quiet revelation, but remained in a shocked stupor for so long that Aang decided to elaborate.

"At first I thought I was angry because I had let myself rely on you. I thought that I had been foolish to think that you cared about me, but I should never have questioned that. I was angry with myself because I had hurt you too, and by hurting you I hurt myself, do you understand?" She managed a dumbfounded nod.

"But more than both of those things, I know that I love you. During my time away, you were all I could think about. I was agonising over how I was going to live without you, and the truth is I don't think I can." He met her eyes with an earnest, penetrating stare. "I don't know if you love me anymore Katara, or if you ever can again, but I want you to know that I love you, and I always will, no matter what happens. I promise."

At that quiet admission, Katara lost all sway over her emotions and leapt up to drape her arms around Aang, sobbing her heart out. Her violent lunge, compounded by her shaking form, was nearly enough to knock Aang clean over, but he valiantly regained his balance and gently took Katara in his arms. She crushed her face into his neck, as her tears ran down her face and onto his shirt. Her fingers dug hard into his back, and she clung to him as if she might die upon release. In that moment, he knew that she was just as sorry as he had been, and that the pain of separation had been just as unbearable for her as it had been for him. Her emotions told him far more than her words ever could, and he couldn't help but smile at what her actions were telling him, but he managed to bite it back before she caught him. He ran a reassuring hand down her back as he whispered soft reassurances in her ear.

"You know I would never really leave you, right Katara?"

"Stop it, Aang, stop it please…" she pleaded into his ear between sobs.

He drew her back to gaze into her eyes. She grabbed onto his upper arms so hard, that it was almost painful, but he held in his instinctive wince of pain when he saw that her eyes were wide with panic. His heart sank in one, terrifying moment.

"Stop, what Katara?" he queried, his voice wobbling.

"Stop being so kind to me, please," she wailed, "I don't deserve it, Aang, I really don't." Her voice was almost totally strangled as she garbled her heartfelt feelings of inadequacy.

"I don't deserve you, Aang. I would have deserved it if you had left me. After all I've done, how can you blame yourself?" she stammered, incredulously. "How can you, Aang?" When he didn't have an answer, for her, she gripped him tightly once more, so that her mouth was right by his ear.

"I didn't need you to apologise Aang, that was the last thing I wanted."

Aang decided that, as much as he was enjoying his proximity to Katara, that it would be easier for them both if they took a seat. He slowly unwrapped himself from Katara's vice-like grip, and led them over to the bed. They sat down, and Aang swept up both of Katara's hands and silently implored her to meet his gaze.

"Say what you feel, Katara," he told her, "I'll listen."

Katara gulped down several fortifying breaths, as she sat sniffling and sobbing, fighting off the last remnants of her near-breakdown before continuing.

"I need to apologise to you, Aang. I didn't mean what I said. I felt bad and so I wanted you to feel bad, and I'm so sorry."

"If you really didn't mean it, then why did you say it, Katara?" His eyes were clouded with confusion as he waited on Katara's response.

"I guess I felt betrayed when you chose to side with the Earth Kingdom, and not us. I just thought that you would support us because we were a couple, and that was totally unfair of me, Aang. I forgot that you were the Avatar, and I forgot that you don't just have a responsibility to me, but to the whole world." She paused before finishing reassuringly, "I was being selfish and stupid. I don't want to stop you doing the right thing just because you're with me."

This caught Aang off guard. He was surprised that Katara still considered them a couple, even after all that had happened. Deep down, he thought it to be uncharacteristically arrogant of her, but he was so hugely relieved that he was able to overlook that minute detail. He felt secure in the knowledge that Katara cared so greatly about him that she would consider them to be together, considering the circumstances, and decided to ask her to confirm his hopes.

"Are we together, Katara? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't think we were, after all, I wasn't exactly gracious in my departure." She noticed that his eyes were practically egging her on, begging her to confirm her feelings for him. She winced at the idea that he thought that they weren't, in fact, together, and was saddened that she had given him the impression in the first place.

"Of course we're together, Aang!" she cried, startling herself with the force of her admission. "I was totally lost without you! I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't even bring myself to waterbend. I couldn't do any of those things knowing that you weren't here with me."

"Katara…" he whimpered guiltily, "I'm so sorry, I never would have left if I'd known…"

"Don't apologise, Aang. I'm the one who needs to apologise. I'm so, so sorry I hurt you, and I'll never do it again, as long as I live. I love you, and I really, really want us to be together, I mean... if you still want me."

Aang didn't bother to stifle his laughter that time. Beaming, he told her, "Katara, I could never want anyone else."

When he saw that she was close to tears yet again, he chose that moment to assuage her fears and affirm his love for her. He gently cupped her face in his hands and wiped away the first tear that fell. And the second. And the third. His sweet gesture had been enough to send Katara over the edge, and soon the tears were coming far too quickly for him to wipe away. He chuckled and smiled at her.

"You're not making this easy, Katara," he grunted in mock-annoyance. When she giggled at him, he decided that he couldn't hold on any longer and kissed her.

It was intended to be a slow, gentle, reassuring kiss, but when Katara grabbed hold of his shirt front, the kiss took an altogether different turn. She pressed her mouth to his with reckless abandon, and he responded in turn. They sat there for several minutes, breathing through their noses so as to avoid having to break the kiss even for a second. They kissed as though they might never see each other again, as though it were there last moment on Earth together, and after several more breathless kisses, Katara threw her arms around Aang, and he moved his hands to her waist. They pulled themselves as close as physically possible, and Katara moved to straddle Aang's lap. They breathed together, their chests rising and falling in sync, and Katara could feel Aang's heartbeat against her, such was their proximity. After several intense minutes they finally managed to pull their lips apart and gaze at each other with wide, besotted smiles. Every ounce of love they had ever felt for each other was present in them at that moment, and it was clear that all was forgiven.

They lay in each other's arms for what felt like an eternity. They hugged and talked and joked and laughed, and everything felt wonderful. They were eventually snapped out of their lovers' trance by the calls of their friends. They glanced at each other sheepishly, and Aang made to roll off the bed, but was stopped by Katara, who tugged incessantly on his hand.

"What is it sweetie?" he asked her, never once dropping his gaze.

"Never leave me again, Aang. Promise me you'll never leave."

"I don't know if I can promise to never leave," he told her woefully. He had always known that he would have to spend extended periods of time apart from Katara owing to his Avatar duties, and eventually death would claim one of them. But then an idea sprung to his mind. "What I can promise you is that I'll always come back." He offered her a reassuring smile.

She looked pensive for a moment before smiling at him, "I guess that'll have to do," she teased, and pulled him down for one final kiss before they faced their inevitable interrogation from Sokka.

"I couldn't stay away if I tried."

Well, there you go. You read it and you're still alive, so congratulations. It ain't spectacular, but I ain't a spectacular guy, so thanks very much for the read!

Just as a clarification: I was trying to go for a kind of vulnerable, regretful Katara vibe, but I went a bit over the top. The trouble I found was, since Katara is such a strong character anyway, making her so vulnerable makes it easy to make her OOC. I couldn't strike a good enough balance, but in for a penny, in for a pound.