A/N: Hey everyone! I expected to have this up sooner, but I ended up editing it a lot and it just kept getting longer and longer. Thanks to all who reviewed, it keeps me motivated as I write! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter!
Sokka woke early the next morning as the sun crept through his window. He knew the others probably wouldn't be up for a few hours, so he decided to get some of his morning chores done.
He climbed over the snoring earth bender that was next to his bed. She was sprawled out on the mat facedown. Her legs and arms were protruding from the blanket, as if she was free falling and trying to slow down.
He smiled as he got dressed. It comforted him knowing that no matter how much of a beautiful woman she had grown into physically, she certainly didn't act it. It made him wonder how she presented herself during meetings at Zuko or the Earth King's palace, laughing at the idea of her sitting barefoot on a chair next to important people, picking her toes as the leaders discussed worldly matters.
A couple hours passed as he worked. He salted and hung the meat he had procured the evening before, started the fire back up and cook some breakfast, and began sharpening his machete.
He sat on a stump just outside the door, running the sharpening stone delicately over the edge of his blade. The sun was getting higher in the sky, and he watched the rest of the village go about their day.
"Good morning, Sokka! " He heard his sister call. He looked to his right and saw her and Aang walking closer to him, their gloved hands waving. He set down the stone, and stood, hugging his sister.
"Morning, guys. Are you hungry?" He asked, turning to go inside. They followed him into his house, and sat next to the fire.
"No thanks." Aang said, making licks of fire dance around his hands absent mindedly.
"We ate with Dad." Katara finished. "Spent some time with him after his meeting, we didn't think you or Toph would be up yet."
"Well I've been up since dawn," he began, gesturing behind him. "But sleeping beauty over there has been knocked out all morning." A sharp pain grew in the back of his head as he heard his sister and the Avatar start to giggle. He looked to his left and saw Toph's space rock bracelet lying next to him.
"You're lucky that's the only earth I had to throw, Snoozles" she grumbled sleepily, flicking her wrist as the bracelet shot back into her hands. She had rolled over to face them and was rubbing her pale eyes. "Sheesh, you guys are loud."
"We're sorry Toph," Katara began sweetly, but her tone quickly changed to motherly. "But it's nearly noon, and it's time you got up anyway." She stood up and grabbed some bread and meat that was sitting by the fire. She brought the plate over to the girl and placed it in her hands. "Eat up, you'll be less cranky."
"Thanks." Toph mumbled, beginning to eat. "It's freezing in here, how do you people live like this?" She asked pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
"Well, they probably wear shoes for one." Aang began.
"And we wear coats." Sokka finished, bringing the furs she had discarded the night before over to her. He helped her slip it over her head and reached for her hand. "Come sit by the fire, it's warmer over here." He led her closer to the flames and sat her down next to where he had previously been seated.
"I hate not being able to see, will you to just tell him why you came here so we can get going?"
Sokka had completely forgotten the previous night's conversation. "Hey! Yeah! What is it you wanted to tell me?" He looked quickly between the couple sitting in front of him, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Toph smirk and she chewed her food.
"Well Sokka…" Katara began hesitantly. "We came here to tell you something. Something important. Something we wanted to tell you in person." She was stalling. Aang placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and nodded. She sighed. "We want to tell you that…" she stopped again, looking at Aang nervously.
"Katara's pregnant." Toph blurted, through a mouthful of food.
"WHAT?" Sokka shrieked looking at Toph, and back at his sister. He stared at her, shocked.
"Thanks, Toph." Aang muttered, putting his hand on his forehead, rubbing it.
"What?" She asked, as though she had done nothing wrong. "You guys were taking too long." She shrugged and continued eating.
Sokka pointed at her accusingly. "They told YOU this?" He yelled, in a high pitched voice.
"They didn't have to tell me." She said looking at him, her brows furled together, annoyed at the volume level of his voice. "I knew the second Sugar Queen stepped down off Appa. I felt two heart beats right away. And don't yell at me, I'm not even involved in this."
"But you knew!" He said, still pointing at her. "You knew last night and you didn't say anything! What the hell, Toph."
"Listen, yell at me all you want, but I'm not the one that did the nasty with your sister. And you know, they've been together since the end of the war, so I'm sure it's not the only time they've done it!"
Sokka's eyes widened. "Toph, you aren't helping." Katara snapped, glaring the blind girl.
"I didn't come here to help." She laughed. "I came here to be a witness so ponytail over there didn't try to kill the Avatar."
Thoughts were racing though Sokka's head. He didn't know who to be mad at. He was trying to process everything that had just been said. He looked between a smug Toph, a glowering Katara and a nervous Aang, who was purposefully avoiding eye contact with him.
Katara's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Sokka…" she began leaning around the fire to place a hand on his knee. "Please say something."
He shot a look at her, and then back at Aang. Without saying a word he lunged for the boy, who shot back against the wall of the hut. Sokka felt a pull on his collar as he fell back down hard. Toph was holding his shirt with a firm grip shaking her head. He slumped, dejectedly. He put his face in his hands and mumbled into them. "You aren't even married yet, Katara. What would Dad say?"
"Dad knows." She said quietly. "We told him this morning at breakfast. And we are going to get married, that's the other reason we're here, why Toph came with us. We're going to have a ceremony at the Western Air Temple in a few weeks. Dad's given us his blessing, why can't you?"
He sighed, looking at his sister. She had tears in her eyes. He knew his approval meant the world to her. He pulled her into a hug. "You know you have my blessing." He whispered. "It just would have been a lot easier to hear the wedding part first."
She laughed into his shoulder, a tear escaping her eyes. "Yeah…don't do that again Toph." Katara said, muffled by Sokka's fur coat. She pulled away from him and smiled. "Thank, you Sokka." She placed a hand on his cheek, causing him to smile wider.
"Come here, you pesky little airbender." Sokka said to Aang, who still had his back firmly against the wall. Aang jumped over the fire and pummeled Sokka with a hug.
"Am I missing out on one of those moments?" Toph spoke up and leaned her head on Sokka's arm. They all laughed; enjoying the first group hug they had had in a very, very long time.
The rest of the day had passed by with discussions of the wedding and other plans. Sokka had decided to travel with Aang, Katara and Toph on Appa, to help set up for the ceremony, instead of traveling there later with his Dad and other notable tribesman who were invited.
They decided to leave that night, to at least get to warmer, earthier areas where Toph could 'see'. The more she whined, the more everyone wanted to climb on Appa and get a move on.
As Aang was loading the rest of everyone's things onto the bison, Hakoda approached the group. He pulled his son and daughter into him with either arm. "Behave you two." He began. "Sokka, be nice to your sister, she's done nothing wrong. She fell in love, and she's going to bless this family with a beautiful child. A son I hope, but I'll settle for what she gives me." He kissed her on the top of her head, smiling, and squeezed them both before releasing them.
He stepped forward and placed a hand on Toph's shoulder. "Keep an eye on my son. He'll never admit it to you, but you really bring out this best in him. I'm glad to see you back in his life." He leaned closer to her, ignoring Sokka's moan of embarrassment from behind him. He whispered in her ear "He needs you more than he realizes."
She smiled, leaning her head down so her long black bangs covered her already rosey cheeks. Hakoda patted her head briefly before reaching for Aang's arm and grasping it firmly. "Look at me, soon to be Father-in-Law of the Avatar. I'm honored. Travel safe, son. I'll see you in a few weeks."
Katara was beaming. She kissed her father on the cheek once more before climbing onto Appa. Aang grabbed hold of Toph around her waist and airbended them into Appa's saddle.
Sokka clasped arms with his father. "See you in a few weeks, Dad." He said. Hakoda nodded, smiling and began to let go. Sokka held firm and whispered, "And quit giving Toph a big head, she inflates it enough on her own as it is." Hakoda winked at him.
"Go on, get up there. I'll see you all soon."
Appa kicked off as soon as Sokka had settled in. The group looked back at the shrinking village behind them.
"Looks like Team Avatar is back in business!" Aang shouted over his shoulder, smiling. "Are you guys excited?"
"I'm just excited to go to a place where I don't have to wear boots." Toph muttered.
"We'll fly until we hit somewhere warmer, a few hours maybe, and then we'll camp for the night."
"There!" Aang shouted, jerking everyone else out of a nap. Katara had curled up just behind the airbender, and Toph and collapsed, her head in Sokka's lap, who was leaning his back against the saddle. He thrashed at the sound of Aang's voice, throwing her body off of him.
"Who? What? Who's attacking? What's going on?" His hand was groping at his own leg trying to reach his knife.
Aang jumped into the saddle next to Katara, kissing her quickly on the cheek. "Relax, Sokka, I just found a place to set up camp. Appa's going to take us down."
No sooner had Appa thumped onto the rocky island had Toph ripped off her boots and slid down the bison's side.
"Land! Sweet land! I can see again!" She wiggled her toes against the hard earth. She stomped the ground, causing it to lurch beneath her feet. She fell backwards, causing dust to fly up around her.
Katara was laughing as she climbed down from Appa.
Toph rolled a couple times back and forth, ending on her stomach, arms spread out wide. "I missed you earth!"
"You know Toph," Sokka said, laying out his sleeping mat. "You have a strange relationship with the dirt."
She glared at him, sightless eyes somehow finding his. "At least I have a relationship with something other than my weapons." She jeered.
"Well, to be fair." Aang interjected. "Earth is your weapon."
"No one asked you Twinkle Toes!" She slammed her fist against the ground, shooting a pillar of rocks at him, but he quickly dodged them.
"Come on Katara, let's go grab some firewood." Aang said smiling, leaving the two behind, who were glaring at each other.
"You should be nicer to me you know." Sokka snapped at the blind girl, who had laid her head back onto the earth.
She grunted in annoyance and in two swift motions she formed her signatory earth tent, slamming a wall in between them.
"Hey!" He shouted at her, stomping over and pounding on the rock wall. "What did I do?" He was leaning his entire weight against the rock tent trying to push it back into the ground.
Without warning the front of the tent disappeared. He collapsed forward, and landed with an "ooph" on top of the girl inside. She had flipped onto her back while she was inside, and when he landed on her, his face was inches from hers.
He watched smiling smugly, as a blush formed on her face. But the shock on her face quickly turned to anger as she tried to shove him off. "Get off me, Snoozles!" She pushed hard but he didn't budge. Years of living and working back home proved useful, as he had become exponentially stronger than he was when he was a boy.
He laughed warmly at her efforts. With the hand that wasn't supporting him, he grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head. She struggled beneath him, squirming, which just caused him to laugh even more. Deep down, he knew she could easily earth bend him off of her, even without her hands.
"Ugh!" She screamed. "Get off!" She half-laughed the last two words, frustrated at the situation.
"Nope!" He said back defiantly. "Not until you tell me why you're being such a grump!"
"I'm not being a grump" she shot back, emphasizing the word as if it left a nasty taste in her mouth. "I'm just tired and you won't let me go to sleep." She sighed, giving up the struggle against his weight and pouted.
After she became still he became overwhelmingly aware of the way her body felt under his. He slowly released her wrists, bringing his arm slowly back to match his other. She didn't move her arms from where he had put them, even free from his grasp. He shifted his weight so it was even on both arms. She breathed in so sharply when he moved, it almost sounded like a gasp. He was looking at her still-pouting lips, almost hypnotized by them. His eyelids felt heavy. He knew his heart was pounding against his chest, and he knew she could feel it. He also knew she could feel the other physical reactions happening to his body. He leaned in, his mind going blank, only wanting to do one thing.
"What the spirits are you two doing?" Katara shouted, peeking into the earth tent, with her motherly tone, hands on her hips.
Sokka had been thrown so off guard by the noise he shot up, hitting his head hard on the top of the tent. Toph burst into laughter, curling into a ball, hugging her stomach as Sokka crawled out of the tent.
"What the hell Katara? You scared the crap out of me!" He was kneeling just outside the tent rubbing his head.
"Well, sorry." She snapped. "I saw your legs and her feet sticking out. One minute she was moving and the next she wasn't. I thought you finally had enough of her teasing and ended her." He could tell she was only half joking.
"Sokka? Kill me? Yeah…right. I don't even think Twinkle Toes is powerful enough for that!"
"Hey!" Aang shot back. "I could if I wanted to! You just count yourself lucky I was raised by monks." He laughed, placing the firewood into a make-shift pit. "Besides, Katara's right. If you both live to see our wedding day, it would be a miracle."
Sokka, still rubbing his head, crawled over to his mat and flopped down. Toph managed to quell her laughter enough to take the plate of food from Katara.
"Let's eat and then get some rest." She said, handing Aang and Sokka some food. "I want to make it to the Temple by tomorrow evening so we can get to work setting up, which means we'll have to leave as soon as the sun comes up."
"Ugh." Toph sighed. "I knew as soon as you two showed up on my doorstep it'd be nothing but getting up early and work, work, work!"
Aang smiled. "Yeah, but you're happy to be out of the city right?"
"Good point." She quietly slid backwards into her tent. "Night, guys." She said as the earth shot back up, closing off the tent.
Aang and Katara were both staring at Sokka. "What?" He said through a mouthful of food. They looked at each other smiling, but said nothing. "I hate you both sometimes."
"Yeah, we know." Katara said, glancing over at the earth tent before taking the last bite of her food.
Sokka followed her gaze, lingering just for a moment before looking back at his food.
He took another bite and stared at his sister, who was talking about nothing with Aang.
Damnit, Katara, you ruin everything.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you all like this chapter ^_^ Please review…hope to have the next chapter up shortly!