A/n: I have never written anything this smutty before. O.o Wow. I hope nobody thinks it sucks! (Also, I don't own Avatar, but I AM excited for the finale airing Saturday. Excited and sad. And if you spoil me in any way I will go to the Western Air Temple, find Sparky Sparky Boom Man, put him back together, and sic him on you. So don't.)

Escape

In the years since the end of the war, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph had spent so much time in the Fire Nation helping to resolve conflicts and lingering resentments that Firelord Zuko had finally had quarters specially constructed for them in the Royal Palace. The four bedrooms leading off of a central common room were very luxurious, and normally they all enjoyed using them, especially considering all the camping that they were still doing in other parts of the world. Tonight, however, Katara was lying awake, staring up into the red canopy above her bed. Sokka and Toph had both gone to bed hours before, but Aang was in yet another meeting with Zuko and various ministers and officials over Something Important That Required the Avatar's Immediate Attention to Resolve. This particular Something Important had taken up the past week with meetings that lasted late into the night. The others had hardly seen Aang at all in the past several days except when they, too, had been called into the meetings, which hardly counted.

Thinking of this, Katara sighed and rolled over in the moonlit darkness. As much as she wanted to drift off into slumber, she just wasn't tired. She had spent the past hour tossing and turning, and her sheets were horribly tangled. She decided to get out of bed and straighten them. At least it was something to do.

As she finished fixing the blankets, she heard the door to the central common room open and close, then the sounds of a body flopping down onto something, groaning slightly. She opened her door and saw Aang sprawled on the red couch in the conversation area. In the flickering lamp light, Katara could see that his eyes were closed and he was rubbing his forehead. She left her bedroom and went over to sit down next to him. He looked up as she sat down, and smiled broadly once she came into focus. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, and he grinned even more and sat up properly, returning her greeting with one of his own. After a minute or so, they broke apart, and Katara spoke.

"I thought Zuko was going to keep you for another hour or two at least. This is by far the earliest you've gotten back all week. Did everybody finally reach an agreement?"

"No, no agreement yet," Aang half groaned. "Zuko just adjourned the meeting early. A few of the ministers weren't exactly pleased, but Zuko insisted he was really tired, and he is Firelord. They couldn't exactly say no."

"What, you don't think he was tired?" Katara asked.

"No way! It was obvious he was lying," Aang laughed. "We all know Zuko is a terrible actor." Katara snorted, and Aang continued, "I think he just wanted to go to bed."

"I thought you just said he was lying about being tired," Katara said.

"He was. But it's been a week since he's had any time alone with Mai. Who is probably in bed right now," Aang said pointedly.

Katara blushed slightly at the thought of Zuko and Mai, then reminded him, "It's been a week since we've had any time alone, too. A long week."

She closed the distance between their mouths again and soon all other conversation was forgotten. Instead, Katara started to rub the tension out of Aang's shoulders as his hands flew to her waist, trying to undo the ties to her nightgown. He got them untied, and his hands scrabbled up under the fabric and began to work at the material binding her breasts, loosening it enough that he could get his hands underneath it. In a few moments he was feeling the warmth of her familiar flesh under his fingers.

Katara's hands were now drifting downward. As she gently nibbled at Aang's bottom lip, her hands found their way under his tunic, one creeping back up to continue to rub at his shoulders, the other working at the knots of his belt. Aang brought one of his own hands down to help with this, and began nibbling at her collarbone. He let out a soft moan as Katara finally got the knot undone and let her hand slide slowly down his lower belly and into his pants. His free hand drifted to her hair and they kissed again, hard, and slid from the couch and onto the floor, kneeling, Katara's hand still working between Aang's legs, her other hand running along the outline of his shoulder blades.

Moaning softly again, Aang made to remove her breast bindings completely from under her nightgown. Katara pulled away suddenly and said, alarmed, "Aang, we can't, not out here. You know how angry Sokka would be if he woke up and found our clothes all over the common room!"

"Oh, right, Sokka," Aang said, coming to himself. "Yeah, we don't want him mad at us again. Remember Omashu last spring? He was practically incoherent."

"Exactly," Katara said, standing up and helping Aang up with her. "So let's go to my room, okay?" she said, smiling.

Her hand reached for him again and Aang happily let himself be led as she tugged gently at the top of his pants and his loose belt to urge him forward into her moonlit bedroom.

o0o

They lay curled around each other in the pale moonlight, happily exhausted. The sheets of Katara's bed were hopelessly tangled again, but neither of them cared. Aang looked down into Katara's clear blue eyes, running his fingers through long, soft, brown hair that had come loose in the hour since Zuko had dismissed the meeting, and asked an important question, his eyes twinkling.

"So, how early do you think I can pretend to be tired tomorrow night and get away with it?"