Hey ya'll….I thought I'd update this on the same day as part five of FWR, since this particular chapter happens right with part 5. Just some honest (or perhaps not so honest) Kataangy-ness with some more on the technological progression going on in the Avatar world.

Enjoy!

Drive

"It seems so lonely around here, doesn't it?" Katara mentioned. It was true, ever since Zuko, Mai, and Azula had headed home to the palace the Jasmine Dragon was a much quieter place, and it became even quieter when Toph and Yuexi decided they had been away from home for a little too long, as well.

So it was just Iroh, Sokka, Katara, and Aang there for the moment. Katara, though, had felt slightly saddened for her older brother. He would spend most of his days helping out Iroh in the shop and running errands for him, but nothing very exciting and certainly nothing very social. Sokka had taken quiet a liking to Yuexi and the two hung out often, but when Yuexi left with Toph Sokka was back to being alone again.

Katara knew he didn't feel like himself without Suki around, she had easily became one of the most important things in his life, so having her gone must've been hard on him. Katara knew that being away from Aang was always too much for her to bear, whether it was a few hours or few weeks, so she could relate. Still, she hated seeing her brother so sad.

"Yeah, I guess so." Sokka answered lazily. He was simply sitting at one of the tables and drinking some tea once Iroh gave him a "break".

"Come, on, Sokka, you've got to snap out of this fog. I know it isn't helping much since everyone's gone home, but maybe you should take this time to find some new friends?"

Sokka just snuffed, and looked away. Katara just rolled her eyes and smacked her brother lightly on the head.

"You're so difficult," Katara sighed. "Well I'll be going now."

"Where?" Sokka asked suddenly.

"I have to go to the doctors again…" Katara answered softly and Sokka just raised a brow.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's wrong?" Sokka asked. "You know, why you've been going to the doctors so much and why you've insisted that I don't tell Aang or else you'll freeze me to the wall?" He glowered over at his sister before pointing his gaze down to her stomach. "You're not pregnant are you?" He asked rather bluntly.

"Wh-what!" Katara exclaimed, her cheek quickly coloring. "No Sokka, why-why would you even think that!" Though as she yelled Katara realized the irony in his accusation and her face immediately saddened. "You don't have anything to worry about anything along those lines, Sokka, trust me." She told him more seriously. "I couldn't get pregnant by Aang no matter how hard I tried."

Sokka didn't answer her, even with his usual "huh?" He just looked away, meeting his sister's eyes before staring into his tea cup. He had a serious look on his face that Katara was starting to notice was becoming more and more of a common state on him. He was always maturing, but ever since Suki left him, he had seemed to lose his inner spirit, and it just left behind his maturity. The look he gave her then was no different, though it left her wondering if he had already picked up on her problem or if he was just worried. Or both. She swallowed hard and stood.

"Let's talk later tonight, okay?" She asked him.

"Sure," he answered, sipping some more tea and waved as his sister left to go to doctor Peng's office.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well your prolactin levels have seemed to go down slightly." Dr. Peng mentioned.

"Uh, is that good?"

"Yes…it's good. But not enough to have any real change."

"Ugh," Katara sighed and dropped he head down. "This is really happening isn't it…I'm going to have this issue forever?"

"I wouldn't get so dramatic about it, hyperprolactinemia gets worse with stress, I've already told you that."

"I know…I'm sorry." Katara apologized.

"Alright, well get dressed, we're done here."

Katara just sighed as she got dressed and looked down at her stomach as she was about to leave.

"Are you going to be alright, Katara?" Peng, in one of her odd moments of affection, asked before Katara made her way out the door.

"I just…I don't know how I'm going to tell my fiancé…he's so excited about having children."

"Well, better sooner than later." Peng offered. "Later might results in more problems. "The present is a gift, Katara, use it."

Katara just sighed and thanked Peng before leaving quietly.

Once outside, Katara was fully ready to walk home and bask in her own sorrow on what to do about the matter. But she never got the chance for as soon as she got out the door of Peng's office she heard a rather loudly annoying horn being honked and looked up to see Aang sitting in an automobile and waving to her.

Along the sidewalks everyone was marveled and a little star struck at seeing the Avatar in an automobile, and driving it none the least.

"Katara, over here!" Aang called, honking the horn again.

"Aang," Katara quickly ran over to him, feeling slightly embarrassed at how much of a commotion he was creating. "What are you doing in an automobile, you know you can't drive?"

"I beg to differ," Aang smiled and held up a small scroll and unrolled it. On it was a painted picture of himself and some information, stating that he was a legal driver of Ba Sing Si.

"You got a license!" Katara exclaimed.

"Yeah, cool, huh?"

"But I thought you hated driving, and besides, Gan Mo said the Avatar didn't need to get a license."

"I know, but since Gan Mo gave us this automobile for free, we might as well use it. It's a shame to let it go to waste, and I know I don't need to have a license, but I hate feeling like I don't have to do anything, so I went and got one anyway, plus the instructor gave me some good pointers."

"Are-are you sure you can drive this thing?" Katara questioned before climbing in the automobile. "The instructor might've just given you the license because you're the Avatar."

"Maybe, but I made it from the automobile instructor's to here just fine…" He told her softly before looking at his fiancé with a mischievous gaze. "…and I only hit one person."

Katara's eyes widened. "What! You only hit one person!"

"Calm down, I'm just kidding. Get in, you'll be fine."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Katara wasn't very surprised that her and Aang didn't head straight back to the Jasmine Dragon, but she wasn't complaining. Despite her initial fear of having Aang driving, she had to admit that she was quite impressed with how good he was at it. He seemed so much older behind the wheel and staring intently at the road so as to not run over someone for real. There were the frequent stares that Katara saw on the sidewalks when people noticed that the bald, arrowed boy driving was none other than the Avatar and they immediately waved and stopped in their tracks. Aang would smile nervously at her and then turned his attention back to the road. Katara just returned his nervous smile and decided that she could relax a little a lean back in her seat. Besides, she didn't mind watching him drive….it actually made her a little excited for whatever reason. She blushed at the thought.

Aang finally put the automobile with to a stop when they reached the Ba Sing Si local park near the edge of the middle ring. It was an oddly placed park and but it was brimming with trees, fresh grass, and couples with the same idea Aang probably had for Katara.

Aang got out first and then opened Katara's door once he got to her side. He reached out his hand which she happily took and led her gently to a non-occupied area in the park and sat accordingly. Aang had brought a few dumplings in a local shop before picking Katara up and the two shared them happily, but he did notice how distant Katara seemed, even as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"You seem kind of tense these days, Katara," Aang mentioned casually, staring blankly forward as he spoke. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Katara told him hurriedly, laughing wistfully. There was a pit of silence between them as Aang turned his eyes to look at her, then continued to stare forward.

"You can tell me, you know, if there's anything bothering you."

"Why….what do you mean?" Katara stuttered, feeling a rocking in her stomach that made her uneasy. Did he already know and was just waiting for her to tell him? She wouldn't be surprised if that was the truth. Her and Aang were so close, maybe they were beyond the point where they could keep secrets from each other? She exhaled slowly and lifted her head from the warmth of his shoulder, he seemed shocked when she pulled away.

"Katara….?"

"Aang….I…" Katara tried to start, but when her breath suddenly left her for whatever reason. Aang frowned as her intentions dance and sparked across her face in turmoil and placed a gentle finger over her lips, hushing her.

"Are you having doubts about us being engaged?" He asked her sorrowfully, looking more sorry for himself then Katara had ever seen him.

"No, Aang," she immediately reassured him and cupped his jaw to turn his head towards her. "I'm not having doubts at all. Why would you even think that?"

"Because I see the way you've been looking at me lately. Like you have some kind of pain inside you. You try to hide it, but I still notice it." He explained to her. Katara felt she had been punched in the stomach. Aang could see something was wrong so he immediately thought he was the problem when, in actuality, she was the one with the issue.

"Are you sure you want to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"Yes." She answered immediately. "I'm more sure about spending the rest of my life with you than I am about anything else Aang…I promise."

After a few minutes of silence Aang slipped her hands in his, soothingly running his thumb over the backside of her hand, Katara closed her eyes and hummed in affection.

"Then what are you hiding from me?" Aang asked her sometime after but there was only silence on Katara's part. She couldn't bring herself to tell him, not in a beautiful place like the park.

"I…I'll tell you later."

"You will?" Aang asked her sternly.

"Yes, I will."

"…Alright." Aang said in a rather dry tone. Katara could tell he wasn't mad at her, but the fact that there was an obvious lack of communication between them was frustrating to him, she could see it in his eyes whenever he switched his gaze to her when he thought she wasn't looking on their drive back to the Jasmine Dragon.

It was hard between them, the fact that Katara wouldn't tell him what was wrong with her was hurting them both spiritually. That thought alone should've been enough to make her just tell Aang what was wrong, but the thought of him being with other women to give him children pushed any want out of her head.

She was being selfish, and she hated herself for that.

Aang opened the door for her again after he parked in front of Iroh's teashop, but his eyes didn't meet hers as they walked to the entrance, he stared determinedly down at his feet, obviously deep in thought.

"Aang…" Katara whispered and he held his gaze sadly up at her, stopping their trek. "You're angry."

"I'm not angry," he averted her accusation with a flicker of his eyes in another direction. "I just don't like knowing there are secrets between us. I tell you everything."

"I know….but some things aren't that easy to tell. Just be patient…..please?" She embraced him then, only hugging him harder when she felt him go stiff within her arms. "Aang, please….I love you."

"…..I love you too." Aang finally admitted and hugged her back loosely and gave her a quick peck on the lips before re-entering the teashop.

Katara walked back in to see Sokka sitting on the couch and went to join him when Aang ran to go answer the telephone in one of the rare moments it rang.

"What's going on with you two, you're not as annoyingly sweet as usual?" Sokka joked bitterly and Katara just glowered at him.

"It's all my stuff, nothing to worry about." Katara rolled her eyes and flopped down next to her brother, her body as if it were dead weight to all of her problems.

"Now who needs to snap out of a fog?" Sokka teased.

"Shut up Sokka." Katara groaned.

"I thought you said we were going to talk later?"

"I'm too tired." Katara sleepily admitted, rubbing her eyes. She honestly wasn't tired in which she needed to rest, but she was physically and mentally drained by her conversation with Aang. Her heart was pounding, her mind throbbing, and her stomach doing more flips than Ty Lee ever could.

And yet, she was still selfish.

"Well, maybe you need a change of scenery?" Sokka suggested. "We've been in Ba Sing Si for a while, maybe we need….to go back home?"

"Home?" Katara echoed. "Maybe you're right, I haven't been home in forever it seems."

"Yeah, and Aang hasn't been home since the first time he was there." Sokka mentioned and Katara immediately smiled at her breaking the news to her father that she was engaged. It would certainly be a shock to him, but she figured things would go well enough.

"Alright, home sounds good."

And as if irony manifested itself and knocked on the door Aang came running up after his telephone call rapidly ended with interesting news.

"I just got off the telephone with Zuko," Aang said. "'I'm needed at the capitol."

"What!" both Sokka and Katara exclaimed simultaneously.

"Apparently there's some meeting being held and I'm needed." Aang explained. "So we need to be ready to leave on Appa by tomorrow."

"Uh…." Sokka lingered, darting his eyes around the room in awkwardness.

"What?" Aang questioned. "What' wrong?"

"Well…" Katara started.

"Me and Katara were thinking that we could all go home, you know, to the South."

It took a while for Aang to get exactly what Sokka meant, but when he did his eyes widened before closing. "Oh….eh." Aang managed to blurt out. "Well, I suppose you two could go and I could meet you guys there after I'm done with whatever Zuko needs me to do at the palace."

"No," Katara immediately protested and stood up from the couch. "I'm not letting you go off on some duty by yourself again." Katara well remembered how that turned out the first time. The last thing she needed was Aang getting himself into another mess like he did with the Black Jade, and even if he was, she was going to be there that time around.

"Katara…." Aang started but she went up and placed her fingers over his lips, shaking her head in further protest.

"No, Aang. I'm coming with you."

Aang couldn't protest, he didn't want to be separated from her, and any duty he went to, meeting or not, could always lead to him going on another mission.

"Alright….we should be ready to leave by tomorrow." He told her, looking at Sokka as well.

"Have fun." Sokka said instead, though. Aang and Katara's attentions immediately turned to him, blinking a bit.

"Wait…aren't you coming?"

"Look, I know Aang has to go and you want to be with him, and even though I'm not too keen on you two running someone by yourselves, I need to go home." Sokka told the seriously. "Besides, Dad and I have some things we need to talk about."

Both Aang and Katara knew very well that Sokka was referring to his issue with Suki and knew that Sokka was correct. They both nodded.

"Well, I guess that's that." Katara said. "But how will you get there?"

"With all this progression I'm sure I can find a way to get to the South. Maybe I'll take an airship or a steamboat….who knows?"

Katara just smiled in the motherly fashion she always did and went over to hug her brother, Aang joining the embrace a little time later. Sokka sighed as the younger couple embraced him but couldn't help but smile.

These two were his family, after all.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Sokka?" Katara asked. She had been a part from Sokka before, but she could honestly say that, like Aang, she would never get used to being without him.

"I'll be fine Katara. I'll take the steam train to the edge of the mainland then take a boat to the South…as planned."

"Okay….are you sure you packed everything….you didn't leave anything here did you?"

Sokka just smiled at his sister, placing his arms around her shoulders and hugging her warmly.

"I'll be fine." He told her. "You just take care of what you've got going on, alright?"

"…Alright."

"Good."

"Be safe!" Katara called as he boarded the train.

"You too!"

And as Katara watched the train pull away she knew that his words of 'just take care of what you've got going on' would haunt her the entire way to the Fire Nation capital. But hopefully she would find the courage to tell Aang soon.

Maybe even on the trip there.

Well for those of you who have read chapter 44 of FWR, you can see how it fits into that, and for those of you who haven't…then read it to find out.

Thank you, Pengwens, Kataanger476, Kataang4ever14, Kataang36, Pandalily22, and Kimjuni2…..for your reviews and kind words about chapter 3.

You guys/gals rule!