Author's Note: Hey guys, I know it's been a long time and I'm so so so sorry for that. Life hasn't been the same for me in past weeks. My niece has recently diagnosed with Leukemia. She has been hospitalized since then. But I still managed to post this chapter, mostly because I had it typed a long time ago.

In this chapter we are facing less conversations than the precious one (as I promised). I hope you will enjoy this chapter, and leave a review if you want. I know I need them, as an inspiration capsule.

Review response:

Ashley Barbosa: Hi. I know you from other Kataang fics review section. Thanks for reading and leaving a wonderful review. I am happy that my story matched your types. I wanted to give you a PM but you don't have an account. :(

WarriorKataang: I hope it will. Though till chapter 5 is ready already, I'm writing this story as I go. So it might be a big story. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. It's always appreciated.

Words count: 2628

Chapter 2: A New Guest

When they finished all of their chores, the girls were way ahead of their lunch time. There wasn't much to do in the morning other than bringing breakfast or changing the sheets. Thank God that it wasn't a summer or winter, so few people were residing here. This made the workers job much easier. It was almost like a vacation to them, and they enjoyed as much as they could. Because only three or four months from now on, people would be pouring all over this place and sparing a breath to sit and relax might be hard.

Katara and Toph were glad. It was nice to have a mini vacation before you go knee deep into work. It keeps your mind ready and fresh for the upcoming late night shifts. But something must be done to pass this lazy times. Katara thought of making a new set of socks and a sweater for her dear brother. Toph bought a new PS3 to play almost all the FPS's and a new DVD to play her favorite movies. They would sit together idly while eating fresh cookies and soda when Katara was doing her wool work and Toph was beating up an army by herself. They had their time planned out.

But sometimes things are too stubborn to work along with perfectly scheduled plans.

Toph was getting to her room after a lazy shift when Katara called her out, "Hey, wait!"

She turned to see a running Katara with hands full of wools. She waited until her friend was in front of her and waved a hand, "What's up, Sugarqueen?"

"Nothing." Katara replied, "I just… can I come to your room? They are repairing my Air Conditioner right now and I want to finish this sock before dinner."

Toph looked over her friend, paying a close attention now. If Katara thought of knotting this amount of wools before dinner, she might be delusional and/or robot. But would that be any problem to her? Toph pondered for a moment. Nope, it wouldn't. As long as she didn't help her friend in her knitting mission.

"Of course you can use my room as a temporary residence to do your handiwork." Toph smirked, pointing the huge mass of wools. "Just don't except any help from me, regarding that."

Katara smiled. She knew better than ask her rather tomboyish friend for help. "You don't have to. I just need a quiet place to sit and concentrate."

"You can sit all you want, but quietness? I don't know."

"Yeah I get that in our sleepovers. That's why I bought my Ipod."

"Good for you." Toph remarked nonchalantly and suddenly changed her tone, "That reminds me, you didn't ask anything about me that night. Why?"

"I did. I asked you about your life."

"I mean about my romantic life." She tilted her head to glance at Katara. "Why?"

Katara was a bit surprised that Toph would ask her about this. It wasn't like a big deal or something. Toph asked almost everything about her life and as some sort of payback she should've done it too. But it probably slipped out of her mind at that moment. She was mentally exhausted and just wanted their conversation to end. Or maybe she didn't want to know. Not because she didn't care but she wasn't someone who would pry to others personal life, without any reason.

Maybe it was the latter, probably.

"I – I guess I forgot." Why was she stammering?

Toph squinted her eyes, "Really? Or maybe you didn't want to?

"No Toph." Katara sighed, "You pealed me out of my skin last night, with questions. I just wanted the night to end."

"Not sure if I should agree with your metaphor but I understand." She really did. "We all have sore spots Katara and somethings are better left alone."

They fell into a relative silence, until Toph murmured suddenly, "Love sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." Katara agreed wholeheartedly. But… "Wait, Toph?!"

The girl just shook her head, "You don't have to tell me about it. I've seen worse."

Now that's interesting, and… quite surprising. "You mean… you lo – like… somebody?!" Katara stammered as it was highly unlikely to her.

"What's up with that face?" Her green eyes flashed, clearly annoyed. "You don't think I can like somebody? I have a heart FYI."

Katara shook her hands and head at the same time, "What… no… I don't mean like that. I just... it was highly unlikely to you to have a boyfriend. I mean… you told me that last night."

"I don't have or had a boyfriend." She said quietly. "I once liked a boy."

Katara didn't say anything, just stared, silently asking. What happened between you two?

"But I never reveled my feelings, neither did he." Toph continued. "So you can't call it a breakup. Hell, it wasn't even a relation to begin with."

The dark skinned girl didn't argue. "You're right Toph. Love does suck, really bad."

"Well it's life." Toph waved it off, trying to ease up the weight of their conversation. She tugged Katara along, "Now come on. You have works to do and I have a brand new game to finish. We don't have time to become upset over something that could've happened. We are too awesome for that."

Katara smiled letting herself dragged along. You're right.

Beep… beep… beep…

Katara groaned in annoyance and pulled out the pager in order to see the caller. You think she could get a five minutes of peace without interrupting? No, that's not happening. Not when we had Toph playing a gory action game with state of the art sound effects and constant cursing if something didn't work out as she planned. Toph was right saying she knew nothing about quietness. This little problem had solved when Katara moved to the kitchen with her earphones and closed the door. Just when she thought it was okay to start knitting, the pager broke out. The peace was a wistful thinking.

The little screen on the pager was showing the managers name which in turn increased her frustration effectively. Probably some new guests just checked in and he wanted her to show them their rooms. It wasn't her specific job. But almost all the time it was her or Toph who were greeting the customers. Sometimes having a good face and easy smile had its own downside.

Katara stood up and dropped the wools on the counter. She could worry about Sokka's sweater later. Despite her reluctance to go, she had to remember that she worked here and work came first. She entered the living room where Toph was battling with the controls. "Hey, I am going to the reception. The manager wants me to receive some guests. Even though he knows it's my off period." She finished with a scoff.

Toph rolled her eyes at the screen, "Like he wouldn't do that to me. Go, and I will baby sit your precious knitting kit, so that no harm comes to it by any way or form. They are completely safe here with me."

"Oh ha ha." Katara replied sarcastically. "Or maybe you could help me down there. Who knows how many guests have come." Come to think of it might be a good idea.

"And miss my game? Thanks, but no thanks." Toph turned to face her, "I am fine."

Katara had her best puppy dog face, despite knowing that it wouldn't effect Toph that much. "Come on Toph, please? For the sake of sisterhood?" What was she doing here? Saying those things to her will gain nothing. Still, the thought of wasting time and concentration over multiple guests with attitudes of Kings all alone made her nose scrunched up. "You should help your friend in time of need. Don't you know? 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' Can't you be the friend who helps her good friend Katara who is in desperate need of helping?"

Toph just laughed in response, "Really? You thought that would convince me?" Then she laughed some more. "You really need to work on your negotiation skills. And by the way, you and I are not sisters. But I get it. I will help you on one condition." She stopped as she stood up. "You owe me for this."

Katara sighed, nodding her head. Still not sure if that was worth it.

"You go. I'll catch up in a minute." Toph said as she went to the bathroom.

To her utter relief and disappointment, there was only one guest. Man, she almost kissed Toph's ass to bring her down to help and it seemed all was a waste. Now her friend had a leverage over her for nothing. The guest was a man, or boy? He was roughly nineteen or twenty years old, tall with shaggy jet black hair neatly brushed to the side. A chocolate brown leather jacket, a pair of faded blue jeans and white shoes looked good on his well-built body. A traveler's luggage was on the floor beside him with a small hand bag on top of it. It seemed like he was here to stay. Silly her, everyone came here to stay. Maybe he would reside for a little longer than average. Katara could take the hand bag and the luggage would be the bell boy's problem.

She couldn't see his face, as he was filling the registration from while facing away from her. In spite of that she thought he would be handsome. It's just the way his back looked with the jacket and jeans and his young age, he should be the one to catch young girls' eyes more often. At least he should be cute.

Katara shook her thoughts off of her head. Who cared if he was good looking or not. He's bound to have a girlfriend of his own, not that she was interested. She always admired their guests if they had any admirable qualities but didn't show anything more than that. She was professional. And like one she should just do her job and receive him with a fake smile.

She took the handbag without him even noticing. He was writing intently when Katara glanced over the form to get the room number and took two steps backward, waiting for him to finish.

She bowed politely when he did, trying to muster the most cheerful voice she could, "Welcome to the 'Blue Moon' sir. We're pleased to have you as our guest and we certainly hope that you will have a great time here. Now if you kindly follow me, I'll take you to your room." Not the best greeting lines, but at least they were decent. She turned around, walking towards the lift. She could feel a raised eyebrow from the Manager. Her lines were never this short and forced, but he should know it's her leisure and she was allowed to do anything.

Her walking came to an abruptly stop, due to the lack of sounds of foot steps behind her. Apparently the guest wasn't following her. Why? Sure he couldn't be mad for the greetings. It was passable. He should thank her for not letting her previous mood to take over the lines. Though that mood was currently slipping through her cool demeanor. She was about to ask him again when…

"K – Katara?!"

She froze. Her name wasn't alien to her nor that she disliked it. She was surprised to find that a complete stranger knew her name (Maybe the name tag had something to do with it.). But she was unable to move because she could somehow recognize the voice.

It couldn't be…

"Katara? Is that – is that you?"

But it was. She heard it clearer this time and her throat was closing. She knew the voice, or least a younger version of it. So many times she heard it in her dreams. To confirm it she just had to turn around and look up to his face. But she couldn't. How many times had she dared to hope just to have it wash away in the next minute? Her mind didn't agree with her, just kept playing those words over and over again, making her defense crumble. She growled inwardly, The hell with the pain.

She turned around and gazed at the stranger's face.

Her whole world burst like a balloon full of confetti. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. To scream to the world and stay quiet to savor the moment. She wanted to flung to his arms and hold him as tight as she could and breath, because Finally! But she also wanted to stay away from him. Her mind was swaying on both ways.

Unfortunately, (or thankfully), the reality came crashing down and she couldn't do any of those things she wanted. She parted her lips to whisper, but it was loud enough to reach the guest's ear.

"Aang."

Toph almost collided with the bell boy while entering the lift. "Hey watch it!" She frowned.

"Oops sorry. Didn't see you there." He said sheepishly, knowing exactly who was standing there.

"But you saw the doors opening. Somebody must've pressed the button and was waiting patiently to get in. Or maybe you didn't think about that too?"

"Oh no no. This floor is my stop actually." The young boy shook his head, pulling a large traveling bag after him.

"Is this belongs to the new guests I heard about?" Toph said, pointing the luggage.

"Yes and Katara is receiving him at the moment."

She grinned. That girl was really quick to work and it was good for Toph's benefit. Maybe she could wait a bit more to let Katara do most of the receiving, considering her talents in the field. But that depended on the guest's quantity and Toph wasn't heartless.

"Yeah it was my job. But hey, who am I to complain?" She shrugged. "How many are they anyway?"

"Just one."

Really? All those fuzz just for one guest? Poor Katara… owing me over nothing.

"Good. More time to spend with my zombies." She smiled, "You go and open his room. I'll bring the towels."

"Ok."

Toph pushed the button again to open the lifts door.

She emerged from the lift while shaking her head. Lift music always got to her nerves. Was there any rule against putting some hard rock tunes there? Her musing did not go far and her feet came to an abruptly halt, courtesy of a shell shocked Katara. Her friend just stood there, staring in front of her without even moving a muscle. Anyone could walk through the front door and think of her as a manikin. The reason of her paralyzed state was obscured from Toph's vision, as a giant pillar stood there. She walked to her stunned friend, a smirk hanging from her lips. "Hey, what are you staring at? Did the aliens finally come to rescue you?"

This seemed to break the spell. She gasped audibly and turned to her friend, who just chuckled, "What?"

Katara tried to say something but nothing came out. Her mouth opened and closed silently, trying to form words. Toph started to laugh quietly at her miserable expression. This was gold. Her ammo box which contained materials to tease Katara with, just got bigger.

Now that the pillar wasn't blocking her view, Toph turned to see their newest guest. Her laughing stopped and she grimaced inwardly. The face was too cute, too pure, too painful to forget. She narrowed her eyes to really look at him, not wanting to mistake the person for somebody else.

One word came from her mouth and it surprised them all.

"Aang."

A New Guest

End Note: That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed it as much I did while writing it. Reviews are always welcome.

Chapter 3: The Aftermath