Alright, I'm so sorry I didn't get this up sooner! I had writer's block and I've been reading a lot of books. So yeah, but please review and tell me what you think of this chapter... It's a bit different from the others I've done... But I like it!

(PS, thank-you to my loyal readers who've reviewed and read all my stories! YOU GUYS ROCK!)

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Shoulder deep in the cool refreshing water, Katara ran her fingers through her dripping hair as she thought. She was bathing in a spring fed lake a good ten minutes walk from their camp site. Though she hadn't acted like it at the time, Toph's question had a real impact on her. She had never really given a second thought about her feelings toward Aang. She knew she cared deeply about him and that she was protective of him. And of course he was her best friend, but did it go further than that? A tiny noise interrupted her thoughts. She sank lower in the water before turning to investigate.

"Aww! Aren't you cute!" she said with a smile. Behind her, a little baby turtleduck paddled along all alone. Katara slowly extended her hand and rubbed it's fluffy little head.

"Aang would love this!" Suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She grimaced as she realized that she hadn't told the others before she left. Now they were searching for her.

"Katara!" came Aang's voice again.

"I can't let him see me like this!" Katara glanced around and saw a large tree that hung over the lake, just barely brushing the water - the perfect place to hide! She quickly hid beneath it, making it just in time.

"Katara?" said Aang, as he emerged from the surrounding forest. Walking to the edge of the lake he spotted the baby turtleduck.

"Well hello, little one," he said softly. "I don't suppose you know where Katara is?" It quacked and paddled closer to him. He smiled and scratched it's head gently, sitting on the bank as he watched it paddle around. Katara watched them silently from beneath the tree branches. Aang looked troubled as he spoke to the little creature.

"Toph just doesn't get it. She keeps pushing me to tell Katara, but I just can't. Not with the possibility of it ruining our friendship." Katara raised an eyebrow.

"What could he possibly tell me that would ruin our friendship?" Aang stroked the turtleducks shell.

"She's my best friend. I don't wait to risk losing her. I...I love her too much..." Katara placed a hand on her mouth in shock.

"He loves me?!" Some strange movement to her left caught her eye. She glanced over and let out a blood-curdling scream. A large snake was hanging from the tree she was hiding under. Aang jumped up, heart racing with adrenaline. He saw Katara duck out from the branches.

"Katara! What's wrong?! Are you ok?!"

"Don't come any closer!!" she said urgently.

"What?! Why?! What's wrong?!"

"JUST GO!!" she yelled. Aang hesitated, but turned and headed quickly back to camp.

"Why would Katara yell at me like that?" Aang wondered sadly. It was a few minutes of wondering before he 'figured out' what it was that made her so upset. He stopped walking and clenched his jaw. "She must have heard what I said to the turtleduck. This is just what I was worried about! She knows how I feel and now she hates me!" About five minutes later he arrived back at camp.

"Hey Aang! Did find my sister?" Aang sucked in his feelings and tried to act normal, rather unsuccessfully.

"Uh, yeah... She's fine..."

"Well, where is she?"

"Um, she'll probably be back soon."

"Oh, ... well, okay..." said Sokka as he went back to reading his 'master schedule'. Toph 'watched' as Aang leaned against the nearest tree and slowly slid down the trunk to the ground.

"What now!" she thought, before walking over to him.

"Okay, what happened?" Aang glanced up at the question.

"Nothing! I found Katara; she told me to to go back to camp. So here I am..." Toph was already piecing together what happened based on his heart rate.

"Come on! Something else happened or you wouldn't be so depressed!" Aang faked a smile, and poorly at that; he was a terrible liar, mostly because he didn't get much practice.

"I'm not depressed! See? I'm just sitting here enjoying nature. Nothing depressing about that!" Toph felt Katara walking toward camp.

"Hmm, looks like Sugar Queen's on her way back..."

"Oh... well... uh, I'm just going to find a better place, somewhere else... to umm, enjoy nature for a while." Aang got up and wandered off. Just as he left, Katara came into view.

"Hey! There you are!" said Sokka. "Where were you all this time? We were worried about you!"

"Oh, umm, I was just, cooling off, that's all. Sorry I worried you."

"Yeah well, next time tell us before you go 'cool off'!" Katara nodded a yes to her brother before going and sitting next to Appa, who was conveniently out of hearing range from Sokka. Toph walked over and sighed before saying,

"Look, I don't know what just happened with you and Aang, and I don't want to know. But I do know that you need to go talk to him and work it out." Katara looked away, pretending not to hear what Toph said. But Toph knew she had, so she left it at that and went off to do her own thing, leaving it in Katara's hand to fix. Katara was still undecided about her feelings about Aang; it was a big thing to decide. She sat there for a while processing the whole thing, trying to make sense of it.

"Maybe if I give it time, it'll just blow over and things will go back to normal. Anyway, we've got the war to think about, I'd just be in Aang's way... It's better if we just stay friends." She nodded in agreement with herself before getting up to make lunch.

"Everything will be over and forgotten by tomorrow. And we can get back to,..." she shook her head at the thought, " The plan."

If only she knew how wrong she was...

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End of chapter! Please review and tell me if you liked it. I think it turned out well. I edited it SOO much while typing. (I hand write every chapter before typing.) Was Toph in character? I think she was but I need to hear it from you, the reader.

Also I know many will think it shallow that she's screaming over a snake. I love snakes, but If that happened to me, Out of pure shock I would scream. So there. And just in case it wasn't clear, YES, Katara was naked, I just felt it didn't need to be said in the chapter itself.