Okay - it took too long. I am sorry. ^^;; Author Notes to follow. Enjoy!

PS: Gets risqué at the end. Just so's ya' know. ;-)

Aang glided over the ice floes in the general direction Sokka had pointed him. "After a while, all the ice starts looking the same. I don't even know if it would have survived – Hey! There it is!"

Aang glided into a slow, downward spiral, landing at last on the edge of a odd protrusion in between two larger floes. He grinned, looking up at the curving walls. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" With a blast of air, Aang floated himself to the rim. Then with a wave of his hand, he blew the snow out of the center.

He surveyed the nearly perfectly spherical cavity, and the faint crack that traveled up to the rim on one side and down from the rim on the other. He settled himself in the center, and ran his hand over the strands of white he found there.

"Hey, it's Appa's fur! I wonder how the calves are doing, by now?"

Aang felt his eyes tearing up, before his sniffed and wiped his face on his sleeve. "This isn't what you came here for, Aang. Pull it together, and let's get this done with." Aang settled down into Lotus, and began the breathing exercises that would help him enter a meditative state.

He had tried to avoid Katara's request for two days. He didn't want to think about losing her; didn't want to face that he had lost his first love when he wasn't even looking. Katara, for her part, managed to give him all the space he could ask for. Aang hadn't seen her for more than 5 minutes total since their discussion.

His eyes closed, he could still feel the echo of their bending, the ebb and flow reminding him sharply of how interacting with Katara made him feel. He shook his head, recovered his breathing pattern, and began working into his meditation again.

It was finally Sokka who had brought him out of it. Aang grinned, remembering. Sokka had caught Aang '...moping around like an otter-penguin whose mate had been eaten by a seal-lion...' one too many times, and demanded Aang come with him for some 'Manly Man Time'. Apparently, that meant sipping at a cup of ice water while Sokka binged on sea plum wine whilst, and at the same time, baring his soul to his friend who was rapidly becoming inebriated.

And so it was last night, just before Sokka had drunkenly told Aang "...Whelp! It's time for me to get home. *hic* Suki said she'd wait up for me tonight with a shu- a shepshi- … a bonus treat! Ya wanna come with me?" Sokka waggled his eyebrows in a way Aang didn't even want to guess at the meaning of. He'd just blushed, thanked Sokka for the drinks and that he'd find his own way to patch things up with Katara.

"S'your losssh, liddle buddy! Suki makes *great* shaved ice cones!" and staggered off to find his wife, singing an old Earth Kingdom love song a little too loud and a little too off key.

Aang giggled again at this memory, then frowned. "Spirits! How am I supposed to meditate when I can't even achieve basic focus?" Aang shook his head again, slowed his breathing and continued fighting to clear his mind.

Zuko prowled the deck of the clipper, one of the few metal ships that remained seaworthy after the long disarmament. His bodyguards, after spending the first day on board jumping to keep up with their charge's sudden and unpredictable changes of direction while pacing, had taken up slightly more sedentary positions where they could still jump to Zuko's protection if needed but not end the day exhausted from the extended cardio.

The ship was newly christened the /Constant Flame/ and flew, at Zuko's repeated command and over the Captain's strong objections, the normal blazon of the Fire Nation rather then the Royal Banner that custom dictated. Zuko paused in his pacing as the command tower caught his glance. He stared at the tower, remembering an unadorned con and a simple red pennant. He shook his head and stalked to the bow, rested one foot on the railing and gazed out over the ocean towards the Colonies.

Zuko's eyes closed as he shivered, a chill wind seeming to blow up his spine despite the casual red and brown tunic belted securely at his waist. He sniffed the air - it smelled of salt and cold. He opened his eyes and took in the icebergs moving past the ship and the bright blue beacon on the horizon. Excitement bubbled up inside him. He turned back to shout "Uncle! The Avatar!"

Zuko froze, noting the peach sunset, flat watery horizon and utter lack of icebergs or Arctic breeze. He blinked, then turned slowly back to gaze at the sea, hoping the sunset disguised the color he could feel heating his face and neck. "Well. That was odd. I spent half my childhood on the sea. Now I'm hallucinating after three days- with another four to go until landfall."

Zuko ran his hand up his face and through his hair, stifling a groan. He turned and walked briskly towards his room for the voyage, not stopping to see if his bodyguards would follow. "I am retiring to my room to meditate. Bring a serving of dinner when it's ready." His guards shared a glance as the Fire Lord whisked past, shrugged at each other, then turned to follow.

Katara looked up as she noticed Aang's breathing change its rhythm. As she watched him, a fond grin tugged at the corner of her month while Aang slowly pulled himself out of his meditation. The grin fell when Aang reached up to wipe stray dampness away from the corner of his eye. Katara knew it was time to say something.

"Aang... it's Katara." Katara whispered not moving from her seat against the wall of Aang's Iceberg. She knew that Aang wasn't always aware of his surroundings coming out of deep meditation and sudden shocks could sometimes result in unintentional bending.

"Hey, Katara." Aang croaked, his voice hoarse from disuse. He cleared his throat with a 'harrumph' and continued, "How long was I in this time?"

Katara stood, collecting the packet of Aang's trail rations she had brought with her. "I'm not sure. I've been here for most of a day; but you've been away from Camp for three." Katara walked over to Aang while he began moving his arms.

Aang slowly stretched his arms out, making sure to work every muscle slowly to get the kinks out. "Two days is all it takes, then, to reverse eight years of building a relationship? Seems a little too easy, don't you think?"

Katara felt a twinge from Aang's words. "Aang, I-"

Aang made a dismissive gesture. "It's okay, Katara. I didn't mean that the way it came out. It's just... hard, I guess."

Aang stood and Katara offered him the rations. Aang accepted the packet without looking up and let his arm fall to his side, clutching it with his other hand. Katara looked away as well, desperately wishing she could think of something to say. Finally-

"Aang, I-"
"Katara, I-"

Aang and Katara both started and glanced at each other, embarrassed. Katara moved to turn away, but Aang reached towards her. "No, wait-"

Katara stopped and turned back to meet Aang's gaze. Aang looked back, his lips slowly turning up into a grin. He reached his hand up to Katara's face and laid it gently against her cheek. "You are beautiful, Katara."

Katara did look away this time, blushing furiously. "So you've said. Many times."

"That doesn't make it any less true."

"It doesn't change our situation any less, either."

Aang lowered his hand, gaze moving to the ice between them. "I know. ...I know."

Aang growled lightly and turned away, avoiding Katara's gaze. "W- Would it make a difference if... if..."

Katara reached out and placed a hand on Aang's shoulder. "If what, Aang?"

"If-" Aang sighed, his shoulders sagging. "I don't know."

Katara moved her other hand onto Aang's other shoulder. "In two years of thinking, I couldn't come up with a way, either. The only way we would work out; is if I'm not leading my Tribe, or if you're not the Avatar- and neither of those can happen."

Aang met Katara's gaze, a strange look in his eye. "Maybe not forever- but what about temporarily?"

Katara searched Aang's gaze, then swallowed hard. She started remembering every moment she had spent with Aang – times spent playing, fighting, comforting. The torches dying in the Cave of Two Lovers. Aang's limp form falling to the ground under Ba Sing Se. The sunset over the city from the balcony of the Jasmine Dragon where they shared their first kiss.

Katara tried to speak; but her voice eluded her for a moment. Aang's emotions ran bare across his face and Katara swallowed to try again. "Aang – I love you, and all that you are. My most painful wish is that I could spend the rest of my life with you. Painful for how deeply I want it – and how ruthlessly the World you've done so much for seems dedicated to denying us."

Katara's gaze shifted away from Aang's. "If I gave in... I don't know that I could ever give it up..."

Aang placed his hand gently to Katara's cheek and turned her face again towards his own. Katara saw the wet trails running freely down Aang's cheeks. "I am aware, for the most part, back four Avatars. Roku; Kyoshi; Kuruk and Yangchen. Beyond that, there are only flashes, here and here."

Aang took a breath, his face moving to a grin. Katara waited for him to continue, confused. "There are five flashes, going back centuries, of women and men We have loved so strongly that- despite the passage of time, despite the death of both lovers- I can still recall with crystal clarity."

Aang's grin grew into a full smile, although his tears still ran and his eyes still showed his sadness. He moved his other hand down Katara's cheek tenderly, tracing her face with hand and eye, not avoiding the streams on her cheeks that matched his own. "I know that- in another thousand lifetimes- We will still be remembering you the same way."

Aang leaned forward and placed a gentle, lingering kiss on Katara's forehead. "I don't know if I'll be able to give you up, either- But I also know that if I don't at least try, We will feel the pain of not trying for just as long."

Katara inhaled sharply and felt her face smile even as her tears continued, unabated. She slipped her hand behind his neck and pulled him down to kiss his lips. "Aang, I- We-" She shook her head, laying it against Aang's shoulder. "So, we just pretend that we're not who we are, for a bit. Is that... okay; as the Avatar?"

Aang gestured, pulling a sheet of water over the bubble and causing it to freeze clear. The wind that had started stopped almost immediately and their combined body heat began warming the space. Katara watched through the ice as an aurora began to color the sky. "No- but I can handle it for one night."

Katara looked back to Aang's face, she knew she was about to give in to what had scared her for years- and she found herself oddly at ease with it. "For one night?"

Aang's stomach flip flopped as he felt his chakras dis-align and some of his access to the Avatar state slip away but; as he gently moved a strand of Katara's hair back into line with the loop it had escaped, he felt a sense of peace settle in despite the disquieting sensations. "For one night - I'm just Aang, the boy from the iceberg."

Both Aang and Katara's hearts were beating fast, their heads light, their cheeks flushed. Katara grinned, and with a husky tone to her voice she had never heard herself speak with before, "Then let's make it count, Aang."

Aang pressed his lips against Katara's, hungrily. Katara surprised herself with the urgency it awakened in her as she returned his every effort. She passed her tongue roughly across Aang's lips and stifled a moan as his tongue darted against her own. As they fenced, gasping noisily for breath between sorties, they tore at each other's clothing – not always bothering with the buttons and catches provided.

Every time their skin touched – Katara's hand hooked behind Aang's neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss; Aang's fingers slipping beneath Katara's sarashi to caress her shoulder blade; Katara's knee intruding deliberately between Aang's legs and upward; Katara's breasts pressing deliciously against Aang's strong chest – sparks of pleasure seemed to explode between them.

Katara was vaguely aware of a cold breeze blowing from heel to neck that threatened to bring her from the haze of 7 years' passion denied, but relaxed as she felt herself laid down gently against an expanse of quickly warming fur. She smiled as she pulled Aang down to lay against her. Finally, with a shared gasp, Aang and Katara joined- the first time of what would be many that night.

Their shared knowledge that they would never again be together as lovers lent an urgency to their lovemaking that, whenever one of them would pause to reflect on the past, would make it both the happiest and saddest moment in their long lives – but never a moment either would ever regret.

Okay - I've only written hot hetro action once before this - and that was between Relena and Duo.

.

Don't ask.

Anyway, my sincerest thanks to anyone still reading this rag. This was the chapter that's had me blocked for months - I hope to have the rest written and up at a much quicker pace.

Big new thanks to DayMoon89, and her decision to add my story to her favourites - glad you like it. ^_^

Next chapter should be a quick drabble based on an idea that came to me while writing Aang's de-powering for the evening - what happens to the Avatars while they're sans their mortal host. =) After that... *checks storyboard* We're on to ~Day 16 since the start of the story wherein Zuko arrives at the Colonies, Azula makes a decision, and Toph makes a triumphant(?) return to the story. Stay tuned! ^_^ Vm

What's this? Is I back? Maybe! =P