A/N: Okay, this is the sequel to Part of the Family, so if you haven't read that, this won't make a lot of sense. Also, Katara's mother's name is KYA. Not Kaia. Goodness, that irks me. -sigh- On with the story. Review...

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.

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Learning the Ropes

Sequel to Part of the Family

Requested by: Water and Air

"You are just so cute!" Katara cooed to Kya. The little polar bear dog was living with her for a little less than a week now, but she was warming up perfectly.

"Ugh," Toph whined, "I'm leaving. Aang is gonna be back from his stupid trip any minute now and I don't want to be around when you go all mushy. I'm not cleaning up the puddle of waterbender on the floor again."

Katara nodded, a smile still on her face as she played with her puppy. The dog had it's front legs to the ground and it's butt in the air, taunting it's owner with adorableness.

"Okay. Bye, Toph."

The master earthbender sighed and rolled her pale green eyes, slowly making her escape from the house. She spent too much time there, anyway.

After Toph had gone, Katara began to feel nervous. How would Aang really deal with her spending thirty gold on a pet? It was a lot of money, but it was worth it. She really felt at home with Kya around.

The puppy swished her tail back and forth and darted past Katara. She jumped over the couch and skid under her master's legs before coming to a stop on her back side. With paws in the air, she stuck her pink tongue out to the side and panted. Soon, Katara joined her on the ground and began to rub her belly. The dog flipped over and closed her eyes, her paws tucked neatly under her head and torso. Katara again followed suit and closed her eyes to relax.

Quite some time passed before the door opened. Neither girl moved, for Toph's words didn't click in her head. Toph was always coming over, and didn't even knock (which she would soon regret by walking in on something she didn't want to "see"), so Katara was used to it.

Aang smiled at the sight of his forever girl. She was sitting with her knees below her head and her back against the bottom of the couch, absentmindedly scratching a sleeping puppy. The sight would definitely be kept with his precious memories, but that was pretty much every second he had with Katara, if only just looking at her.

"Hey," he whispered. He didn't want to wake her if she was asleep, but he doubted she was. Aang didn't know many people who could continue petting a dog while in slumber. He was also a bit leary of disrupting the perfect moment, but his body ached with the need to hold her again.

Katara's eyes slowly opened, and when she saw what she imagined she heard, she almost choked on her intake of oxygen.

"Aang!" she exclaimed and shot up from her place on the floor to throw her arms around him. Kya lifted her head and looked in there direction, but didn't budge from her position.

After Aang regained his posture from almost being thrown to the ground, he hugged her back. She made a sound into his shoulder that was supposed to come out as a sigh, but turned into a shudder well at the beginning. This only caused him to laugh and hold her tighter.

"How are you?" he asked her. Small talk was always easy for them, but the same went for comfortable silences.

"Wonderful, now. How was your trip?"

He pulled her hand from his body and intertwined her fingers with his own.

"It was okay. Zuko's guards stopped a group of bandits before I even got there, and the meeting went by flawlessly. It was pretty boring without you, though. I got a good kick out of it too. The Earth King recommended retirement to Chief Arnook, but Bumi was granted the title 'King of Omashu' until his dying day."

Katara giggled. "I'm glad you had a good time."

"I did," he confirmed with a nod, "But, I missed you so much..."

"Oh, don't let me get in the way of your fun. You need to do things that don't involve me, too, you know." She pulled back from him and caught his eyes with her own. "But, I missed you, too."

Aang leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on her lips before hugging her again and getting a good long glance at the puppy. He studied her for a moment and smiled.

"So, who's our new friend?" Aang questioned, looking down at Katara as she turned to watch the dog as well.

"That's Kya," she replied, "She's the new addition to our family."

Family.

Aang liked that.

Katara made a come hither motion with her whole hand to the dog. She didn't move, but when Katara did it a second time, she sprung over to the couple. Kya looked up at them, tail wagging enthusiastically, and spun in a circle once before watching them.

"She's a beautiful dog," Aang complimented, bending his knees to get closer to her. "I know I've seen something like her before. I just can't recall when..."

Katara smiled and went to his level as he scratched her behind the ear.

"Probably at the Southern Water Tribe. We use them as pets there all the time," she explained.

Aang smirked. "Well, she's gonna be pretty jealous when I constantly give all my attention to you."

"Oh, no you don't," responded Katara, "This is to get us ready for a child. And when we do have one, you have to share the attention. So start now."

Aang shook his head. "No, Katara. This is to get you ready for a child. I've been ready. But while we don't have one, I'm going to bathe you in affection."

She laughed. She was glad he could talk about children so loosely. When it was first brought up he would blush and stutter continuously until he decided he didn't want to talk about it anymore and changed the subject. This was surely a good sign.

"So, what? You're not going to treat me the same after we have a kid?" she asked, playfully pushing him.

"Of course I will." The smirk returned, accompanied by his famous, devious look. "There'll be plenty of time to bathe you."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."

"Ka-ta-ra," he said, laughing, "I didn't mean it like that. You have one dirty mind."

He leaned forward and pushed her backwards on the ground. After kissing down from her lips to her collarbone, she stopped him.

"Aang! Not in front of Kya!"

Aang regarded the dog for a moment and furrowed his brow.

"She's a dog. She doesn't know what we're doing!"

"See?" Katara sat up and looked at him. "This is what makes you ill-prepared as a parent. You can't do crude things in front of children."

Kya sat on her hind legs, her head cocked to the side as if she could understand every word. For a moment her eyes shifted between them, but settled on Aang.

"Fine, fine. Is kissing considered crude?"

Katara couldn't repress her giggle. "Not if it's on the lips," she replied.

Aang shrugged.

"I can deal with that."