Author: moor / beyondthemoor on LJ
Title: Merits
Part : Twenty four
Genre: Romance/humour/vamp/Modern AU
Fandom: Avatar: TLA
Pairing: Zutara, Jetara
Length: 5500 words, approx...
Rating: M
Disclaimer : "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and all related rights belong to their original creators… I am not among their ranks.
AN: In response to hyperoo' s vampire/Zutara challenge, I present…

History. Herstory. Our story.

Part Twenty four

"This is the one who's to become our Maiden? But…" the Crone's voice lowered perceptibly, "how is she to have the visions?..."

"The prophecies told that someday the Coven would have a blind Maiden and she would still have visions."

"But that was one of the doomsday prophecies – the oldest, the core of our Arcana!" exclaimed another.

The young girl stood a little aside, listening but not speaking. She wasn't to speak unless spoken to. How often they'd drilled that into her, along with her manners, her schooling, her nannies constantly smothering her…

"It was said that when we'd face our darkest hours, a blind maiden would save us. She will find those to stand with, she will protect the light, and she will know the right path."

There were murmurs from the group, and still she stood alone, listening.

"Does she have the gift? Training? Can she learn?"

The little girl's hands clenched.

"Does she need help looking after herself? Should we get her an attendant?"

Her cheek twitched and her teeth ground together behind tight lips.

"Aunt Wu, you are our Crone, what will you have us do? Shall we send her back? We don't even know if she understands her position, her role. Perhaps we won't need a Maiden; we won't be impotent—."

That was the last straw.

The little girl's head tipped back and she stuck out her chin proudly. It was time to teach these old bats a lesson.

The petite girl threw out her arms to either side, fisting her fingers, and then brought them together fiercely before her as she lunged forward.

Every window exploded, lightning crashed outside thought it was a beautiful afternoon, and the earth rumbled before a chasm erupted outside the front door, effectively separating the building like a moat from the countryside beyond.

Above the shouts of surprise & a few screams of terror, Toph Bei Fong smiled.

"Now that I have your attention," she declared casually, standing again. "Perhaps we can start talking about how you're all gonna start doing as I say."

Jun, the 'Mother' (though she had no children) of their Maiden, Mother, Crone council, smirked and finally spoke for the first time that afternoon.

"She's the one." A few leisurely strides brought her before the tiny magical powerhouse, and she leaned forward to take and shake Toph's hands. "Welcome. You're Toph, right?"

"Yes."

"How about I call you Toph-inator?"

Toph smiled happily. "I kinda like that."

A friendship was born; and a legend was made.

Aunt Wu, for her part, brought a hand to her head as her own 'visions' filled with how much trouble the new pair were no doubt soon to start unleashing…

"You need to learn not to expend so much energy," said Jun, and Toph thought it sounded like Jun had her arms and legs crossed again in front of her. The younger woman had overdone it in practice that morning and her arms and legs were numb while her heart seared in her chest. "Remember," lectured Jun not unkindly but with a hint of exasperation, "magic isn't unrooted, it is balanced. What you take to use you need to replenish. Energy is everywhere, but you need to learn how to balance what you take and what you use."

"Does everybody feel like this when they overuse their magic & energy reserves?" she gasped, clutching at her shirt as if it would release the pressure on her chest cavity.

Toph heard Jun chuckle slightly. "You're the only one I've ever seen survive to this point; you have more raw talent than any witch I've ever met. You just don't understand the sheer extent of your magical strength – you need to temper yourself a bit and learn some control. Too much raw talent is just as bad as too little talent."

Still breathing harshly, Toph pushed herself up and felt her bangs brush the top of her head. "So I need a deeper, richer energy source to really spread my wings, huh? To see my full 'potential'?"

Jun glanced over at the young woman thoughtfully.

"Hi, I'm Katara, Sokka's sister. Sokka told me to look you up when I arrived here for camp," the girl sounded about her age, and Toph felt someone with soft, but strong hands reach out to grasp her hand in hers to shake it. "Sorry if I'm putting you out of your way. Sokka said he was sorry he'd be at basic training when I'd first arrive. He wants to follow our dad into the military. You made a real impression on him when he met you last year," she chuckled. "Is it really true you tricked him into armwrestling and won?"

The corner of Toph's mouth quirked up. "I couldn't let an engineering student outdo a native wrestler. He was just lucky it was me instead of my old pal Jun. She'd have made him buy her a drink."

"He was only sixteen!" gaped the visitor, and Toph thought she heard her spew out the water she'd been drinking.

"Jun overlooks the petty stuff."

There was a pause.

Then Katara was laughing, and Toph joined in, and finally, Toph thought she'd found a friend who'd like her for who she was, not what she was.

He kept a tight hold on her hand, threading his fingers through hers to make sure they wouldn't lose each other in the over-sold bar.

"Stay close!" Sokka called back to her, and she could tell he was smiling, excited.

Jostled by the crowd, Toph nearly fell when a large man carelessly turned and shoved her out of the way.

"Oomph," she grunted, and turned to 'glare' at him, feeling the familiar, warm power rise within her and crackle down to her fingertips. "Hey, watchit you--."

"Uh, Toph, look!" interrupted Sokka, yanking her closer to him and up against his chest while he pointed to a random spot in the distant crowd. "Sorry 'bout that," he said to the man who was hulking over them. "My bad!" The man shuffled away and Toph felt Sokka's breath whoosh out of his lungs.

"Sorry about that," he said again, but to her this time, his mouth against her ear so she could hear him. "I should have been watching. I invited you out tonight!"

With that, he picked her up and carried her, moving through the herds of people until he reached the very front of the stage where the metal fencing kept the crowds a few short meters from the stage. Here he let Toph down and put her hands on the fence in front of them, and stood behind her, encircling his own arms around her. He'd come back from his basic training in perfect physical condition. It still surprised her, pleasantly, though she'd never admit it. She couldn't let him know what she really thought of him, now. He'd never speak to her again.

Just then, Toph's favourite bad, the Rough Rhinos, strode onto the stage causing the crowds to go crazy and surge forward.

"Hold on tight and don't let go!" Sokka half-yelled, half-laughed in her ear, and she realized he was bracing himself around her so she wouldn't get squashed by the moshing mass behind them.

"I won't!" she hollered back, but it was lost in the cheers and screaming behind them.

His warm arms surrounding her, her back pushed up against his chest, the feel of his breath over her head & shoulders when he'd glance down to check on her, Toph would never forget how amazing it felt that night. She felt the warmth flood her cheeks and she bit her lip to keep from smiling too widely at all the excitement. She was finally being treated like a real, normal girl.

But what she wouldn't forget, either, was the surge of magic, power, energy that rocketed through the room when the band started playing the first riffs of their latest hit song.

Her eyes went huge, a wave built and crested inside her, her back went rigid and Toph screamed as the power filled her to overflow and explode, like a mega-watt of ecstasy, deep in her core. If she hadn't had the fencing to grab hold of, she would have fallen to her knees as the aftershocks rocked through her slight frame.

This power, she thought numbly, and leaned back against Sokka for support, this is from the crowd's excitement… This feeling… I could do anything with my magic right now…So powerful…

"Y'ok?" asked Sokka with concern. Toph wasn't one to lean on anyone. And… had that really been what he thought it'd been going through her a moment ago? Holy crow… Don't do anything, she's way too young, his conscience railed at him. At least wait until she's 18 you horny toad…He couldn't let her know what he thought of her; she'd never speak to him again…

"I'm fantastic," she sighed, and knew exactly how she was going to get the energy she needed to seize her full magical potential.

"Great show tonight, Toph!" Sokka clapped her on the back as if she were one of his buddies. "That crowd just didn't stop!"

Hiding her insulted pride behind a reciprocating slap that nearly sent him flying, Toph grinned back. "Toldja I was good."

"I can't believe how amazing you are sometimes," he admitted sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Her skill, and how many different things she was good at, period, intimidated him more and more. "I feel like I'm lagging behind at times. Or holding you back."

As Toph tossed her backpack into her car where the Boulder waited patiently to take her home, she stopped a moment and turned her head towards her closest friend, her energy high from finishing such a successful guest appearance as the 'Blind Bandit' wavering and clouding her mind. It always felt so good to load up on the crowds' energy. And now here her best friend was, trying to pull her down?

"What are you talking about, meathead? You're the one in university. I'm the one that has to catch up to you – and you know I'm not interested in the school-thing right now."

Shaking his head, Sokka smiled patiently, and walked towards her to pull her jacket shut.

"Nothing. You keep warm, they say we're due snow tonight." His hands rested on the lapels of her coat a second longer than they needed to before he let go.

Planting a quick, decidedly paternal kiss on her forehead he turned to walk away, footsteps crunching on the fallen autumn leaves. The air was sharp and cold and she could feel the promise of snowflakes on it, just as he'd said. As he walked away from her.

Anger exploded within the petite woman and her cheeks flared crimson.

"Now you wait a cotton-picking minute, Sokka Kuruk!" she screamed, and chased after him.

"I'm not teaching you that," stated Jun coldly.

"It's not a big deal, I can handle it," insisted Toph.

"They never work out, trust me, and it is better to leave things like that to the natural order. Magic should never interfere with personal feelings. You know that, Toph. It's one of the first rules I ever taught you."

"Pssshht, you never taught me any rules," the young woman blew her bags up out of her face and folded her arms in front of her.

"I taught you what was right and wrong," countered the experienced 'Mother'. "Now don't ever ask me about this again. And I will find out if you ask any of the others."

The threat was unnecessary, and they both knew it, since Toph would never be comfortable asking anyone else about how to perform a love spell.

It hadn't been obvious, the first time they'd met.

More like a growing recognition over time, as gradual as when night dawned to morning, the colours shifting and melting together before turning into a beautiful, clear blue sky. Day comes, and in light one can see the world laid out before them.

You're the one, Toph felt it so deep in her bones as she listened to her best girl friend laugh at her brother's ridiculous antics as he and her boyfriend tried to get the Christmas tree righted in Toph's condo living room. You're the one who's going to save the world. She knew it with complete certainty.

As the tree fell over again, this time pinning Sokka to the wall and Aang apologized and tried to figure out how to lift the oversize conifer off him, Toph felt both peace and anxiety war for dominance, before accepting peace.

Beside her Katara rose from the box of decorations and overflowing bowls of popcorn she'd been turning into garlands, and she went to help brace the tree.

You're the one. And I'm the one.

The prophecy was coming true.

"So, this is my new place!"

Going by the way the air around them moved in a rush, Toph wondered if her friend had thrown her arms out proudly to show how amazing the place was. Toph owned the building and already knew – hence why Katara was getting such a strangely fantastic rate for rent – but she thought it best to act surprised anyway.

"I love what you've done with the decorating!" the petite woman exclaimed.

"Yeah, it took me ages to get the wallpaper down, but the light-coloured walls have totally opened the place up—," she stopped short. "I'm not Sokka."

"Heh, you still fell for it."

The others, Sokka, Aang, Katara and Jet, were in the living room chatting about Aang's travels and how reassuring it was to finally be back in Katara's apartment eating 'home-cooked' meals again.

Toph was on a 'bathroom break'; really, she was snooping in Katara's room and grumbling about having to re-tune the wards to add another 'safe' person.

There was something about Jet that wasn't sitting right with her; but if he was the one Katara wanted, she had to make sure she wouldn't accidentally kill him with an over-protective ward charm.

She tilted her head to the side. Then again, she was getting a funny feeling off the guy…

Katara will cry, her inner-voice warned her. That's time away from earning energy that you have to expend on girly guacamole spa nights.

The ward was re-tuned, re-sealed and put back in place within a few minutes.

"Toph, are you ok in there?" Sokka called from the hallway. He sounded awkwardly concerned. "Is something not, uh… sitting well?" he hedged.

"I'm just fine, meatbag," she called back in a huff. "Can't a girl get some privacy?"

"Sorry!" he called back quickly, and she heard him patter back to the living room with his tail between his legs.

Checking all the wards one last time as she meandered back to her friends, she flopped onto the sofa beside her boyfriend and gave him a loving kidney punch.

"The back-up's already on its way to Suki," said Aang, grabbing his jacket and hers, too, as they strode towards the awaiting helicopter. "Zuko said the wards had been tampered with, though, and that's why things went--."

"They couldn't have been tampered with," said Toph, grabbing her jacket from him and shoving her arms through the wildly-flapping garment. The rotors atop the chopper were already swinging 'round bringing up a strong wind that pushed against them.

"Zuko said as soon as she touched them, they--."

"I know, I felt it!" she yelled.

"So who could have--."

"Only someone who was tuned into them," she explained in basic terms, to make sure he understood, "could have even touched the ward without it killing them instantly. As for who knew how to reverse their 'polarity'…"

They hauled themselves into the cockpit while Hee Po handed them each a headset. Slamming the 'pit door shut, they were airborne in seconds.

"So you're saying it was one of us who messed with the wards?" asked Aang over the headset radio. His voice held a great deal of incredulity – and just a hint of suspicion.

"You didn't do it; I didn't do it. Zuko isn't tuned into it, so he couldn't have done it. Katara doesn't even know about it, so she couldn't have done it; and Sokka hasn't left the compound since our big talk, so he didn't do it, either." The list was fairly short.

Aang was quiet a moment, considering.

"How many male witches are in the coven?" he asked quietly.

"Jet isn't one of them," she answered.

"But he's the only one left who was keyed into it, right?"

"He's not a witch. I don't know what he is, since I've gotten the not-human vibe off him since the moment we met, but he's not a witch."

"…Can you make them not love each other?"

The headset crackled, and his words didn't come through without a great deal of distortion, but even over the loud mechanical grinding of engine and rotors, Toph heard the request clearly.

"I wish I could," she said, remembering Jun's words. "Believe me."

As he stood there watching the black and grey smoke billowing out of her bedroom window in the bitterly cold afternoon, Jet wondered.

He wondered if Katara was ok.

He wondered why Long Feng had asked him to collect from Katara's room the little decoration the older man had said he'd given Katara, and then why the same man had asked him to go put it back later.

He wondered, most of all, why it had been Zuko who'd rushed from the building with Katara, his girlfriend, cradled in his arms and why he'd raced away in his car without taking her to see a paramedic first.

And he wondered why the other man wasn't picking up his calls now, either. Just like Katara hadn't.

Jet kept his hands in his pocket and felt around for the familiar cellphone. He'd gotten it after first seeing Katara at the centre, and wanting to have a way to contact her, to have her contact him. He'd turned his life around for her.

And now…

He pulled it out and flipped patiently, one by one, through each of the numbers in the phone's memory until he reached the one he was looking for.

Long Feng seemed to be the one in the know about Katara at this point, and Zuko.

"Hi, Mr. Feng?" he said, and turned towards his home. "Do you have a few minutes?"

Suki's breath heaved in her chest, and she felt rather than saw the remaining soldiers surround her.

She had taken out at least a third of them, but she was still outnumbered by a discouraging margin.

Again, she sent out the silent prayer than Zuko had found Katara in time; that the soldiers were trying to keep her busy instead of helping her charge escape; because if they were fighting her they obviously hadn't retrieved Katara yet, or they would have left.

That, or they had been told the slayer was their prime target.

Lifting the bloody fans back up to protect her front and side, both of which were bleeding, Suki straightened as much as she could and tried to come up with a new strategy to defeat the vampires around her.

In the background she heard the first helicopter approach but didn't dare shift her attention to it.

The vampires around her circled tighter, and started closing in.

Suki took a deep breath; then she swept to the side like a whirlwind, slashing and taking out another two soldiers before breaking through their perimeter and running for freedom. If she could just space them out so she was fighting them one on one instead of as a group, she had a chance to escape, to live.

But these soldiers weren't stupid; they re-formed their group and followed as an organized unit, not a band of independent mercenaries like she was used to engaging.

Her feet dragging in the slushy snow on the ground, Suki rounded a corner of the building and gasped at the pain in her side. Unable to keep running full-tilt, she put an arm around her stomach and another on the wall to steady herself. Her blood was probably leaving a trail for them to follow, if not by sight then by scent. It wasn't hopeless yet, but it was definitely approaching that desperate border.

Through her sharp blue eyes she looked up and saw another organized unit of soldiers coming closer, at a dead run, but this time from in front of her.

"Vamp reinforcements?" she wheezed. She'd been wrong. It was definitely hopeless now.

She turned to lean her back against the wall, breathing hard through her mouth, ignoring the blood stiffening on her clothes. Raising the blades of her fans she noted they weren't coming up as high as she wanted them to. And they weren't as steady as they usually were. But still, she wasn't going to stop fighting.

The sound of footsteps from both directions got louder and louder, and Suki kept darting her head from one side to the other, trying to figure out which side would reach her first.

Just as the last group of vamps she'd been fighting rounded the corner, she caught clear sight of the reinforcements who lifted their weapons – weapons? she wondered – and pointed them.

Straight at the vampires she'd been fighting.

Her heart clutched in her chest. Could these be...?

"Suki, get down!" she heard Sokka yell, and she dropped to the ground as he led his troops to engage the vampire guard. Hunched over she moved to the rear of the guard to catch her breath before returning to the fight.

The last thing she remembered before she passed out from blood-loss was Sokka's bright blue eyes smiling down at her while letting her know they'd won.

"But what about Katara?" she asked, but he didn't hear her.

In the meantime.

The Audi squealed to a stop in the garage, the automatic door already closing behind him.

The vampire prince activated his security system on the keypad before he opened his door, and before he heard it beep into activation had already flown around to Katara's side.

Unbuckling and picking her up, he noted her heartbeat and pulse had both stopped. She had ceased breathing a few minutes before. He refused to give up, though.

I'm not losing you again, he vowed.

He rushed from the garage up the stairs to his bedroom and placed her on the bed before straightening & stripping the rest of his shirt off and taking a few deep, calming breaths.

He lay down overtop of her, taking care to balance his weight on his elbows and legs and not on her.

"Looks like we're back to this again," he whispered to her, reaching his hand up to his neck. With a thought his nails sharpened to claws and he didn't bother flinching to break the skin at the base of his throat.

Balancing his weight mostly on one elbow, he pulled her head up to him, and placed her mouth over the wound on his neck when the blood seeped up.

"You'll forgive me later, right?" he wanted to ask her, but with his arm around her, what he wanted most of all wasn't her forgiveness, it was just to hear her heart beat again. Night fell outside the windows.

Downstairs in his garage, in his car, his cellphone buzzed again and again, unknown to him.

When he felt he'd given her enough of his lifeblood, he bent his head forward and held onto Katara, turning onto his side, and then his back and pulling her on top of him. He pulled the blankets up over them both and closed his eyes, rubbing his hand over her back to try and help move his blood through her cold body.

He didn't fall asleep, but the motions soothed him into a lull and he continued through the night.

It was a long, long time… but he felt it the moment it started again.

Her heart beat.

Katara? His eyes opened again in the darkness and he sat up a bit, still keeping her close to his naked torso.

Another beat.

She took a breath. It shuddered, then flowed smoothly into an exhale.

Wake up. He pleaded, gazing at her face.

She breathed again, and her heart beat stronger.

Wake. Up.

He felt her breath flow softly through her open mouth, over her lips that had been cracked and blistered from the fire.

The lips were smooth now, her cheeks slowly getting their colour back, her skin as clear as the day she'd been born.

Zuko couldn't pull his eyes from Katara's mouth.

The entire house was quiet, and he had no idea what time it was.

But the more he looked at her, the more he wanted her, and he felt longing grow in his belly.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his hands moved to her sides, and he pulled her up higher on him. He stifled a groan as her body slid over a particularly sensitive organ. Sitting up a bit against the headboard, he held her close and let her legs fall on either side of him, and buried his face in her hair a moment. He breathed her in, the way he hadn't been able to do in generations. Even through the smells of smoke and fire, he knew it was her.

His teeth lengthened in his mouth, and automatically his head turned to her neck.

No, no not yet…

Pulling back, he forced his teeth to behave themselves, even if he couldn't keep other areas of his anatomy from obeying him.

He settled his head back against the headboard, thinking.

Over a hundred years… and she was finally back in his arms again.

He closed his eyes a moment and breathed deeply.

What would she say? Would she remember?

Would it come back to her, as clearly as his memories haunted him?

"Katara?" he said in a soft, low voice. He held her close and brushed a lock of her hair from her face. "Katara, can you hear me?"

She stirred.

He sat up straighter and pulled back so he could look at her clearly, hopeful.

Katara's dark eyelids flickered then scrunched shut.

"Katara?" he repeated a third time, and brought a hand to her cheek.

Her eyes flickered again.

It was agonizing; he waited with baited breath for her to wake. Several minutes went by, but her eyes remained stubbornly shut, and her breathing evened out into sleep.

He couldn't stand it anymore. He brought his face closer to hers.

When he brought her mouth to his she moaned in her sleep, unhappy at being stirred. His lips closed over hers, sealing them together. She stopped moaning unhappily. It became the very opposite of unhappy.

Katara, he thought. Finally…

He felt her loosen in his grasp, soften, and her hands moved up, up along his still-exposed chest, under the blankets.

He deepened the kiss when he felt her tilt her head slightly and accept.

Finally.

Katara slept and dreamed, but felt confusion, anxiety. It wasn't a restful sleep, not really. She knew she'd been hurt but now she wasn't; she was in her apartment and then she couldn't remember what happened next.

But wherever she was now, she was warm, and wanted to keep resting, but she knew she wanted something else more. She felt something growing, a heat, an expectation inside her, and she clung to it, fed it, did as it bid her to do to feel more of it move within her. It was coursing through every part of her…

It was as this warm, pleasant urge filled every inch of her that she noticed she was warm on the outside, too. Someone was holding her preciously; she was wrapped in blankets. Someone was touching her, rubbing her back and squeezing her hips, and kissing her like it was nobody's business.

A part of her brain figured out that much, but not who.

Jet sure doesn't treat me like this, she thought fuzzily to herself, and then felt whoever it was growl in his throat and turn them both over, until he was on top, pinning her to the mattress and sinking into her, his mouth moving from hers to nuzzle at her throat.

This guy knows exactly what he's doing, and he's doing it all right. Her urge became more primal, more base, and Katara felt her hips move against his of their own volition. Oh crap, I need to wake up. I at least need to know who the hell can make me feel so good, because if this is a crazy one-night stand I will kill this guy if I never see him again. She thought this even as she found their hands suddenly both fumbling for their trouser zippers.

Sighing, she pulled her head back and away from the man with the magic hands and opened her eyes.

Even in the dark his scar was obvious.

She choked on her next breath.

"Zuko!?"

Her hands were moving along his front and latched onto his fly. Breathing harshly he groaned and ground against her before helping her undo his top button, then moved on to help her remove her own pants.

Too long, far too long, he thought to himself. Just another few inches and we'll be…

He heard her suck in her breath, and gasp.

"Zuko!?"

Yes, and? He thought to himself in frustration, eyes still closed. Come on, we were thisclose…

The next thing he knew he was flat on his back on the floor, and he was almost sure she'd punched right through his chest it ached so badly.

"Mph," he mumbled, and lay there a moment so she wouldn't attack again. He was glad he'd landed on his back and not his front. The dull ache in his head disagreed, but the throbbing in his still-attached, confining trousers insisted.

"What the—where am I—How dare you—Just what the—."

She couldn't seem to decide on what to think or do.

But he didn't want to attract her attention too quickly either and have her land a second beating on him, so he moved slowly into a sitting position. And he stayed on the floor.

Zuko waited while she ran through all the motions of an affronted female.

As she became increasingly incoherent, he closed his eyes. Laid back down on his back on the floor. Put an arm over his eyes.

"What are you doing? How dare you go to sleep? Did you bring me here? What are you thinking? What were you planning to do? Do you know who I know? Do you know how much trouble you're going to be in when Toph finds out about this—."

"You keep the bed," he said finally, taking his arm from across his arms. "I'm going to the guest room down the hall. There's a phone beside you. Call Toph."

He rolled to his feet and walked slowly to the door, holding onto it with one hand, and turned to look at her. From where he stood, the way he was angled, all Katara saw was the un-scarred side of his profile in the semi-darkness. Some memory? Part of her imagination? superimposed that unblemished profile onto the other side of his face, but he wasn't at a solid door, he was opening a tent flap and saying goodbye to her; she was wearing animal skins and kneeling on a woven pad.

Katara tilted her head slightly to get a better look, but the image disappeared and all that was left was a half-naked Zuko looking at her as if he wanted to eat her whole… and deep down, she started and recognized that part of her wouldn't mind that at all.

Of course he had to ruin it by opening his mouth, and it was back to normal-Zuko again.

"I'm going to leave a message on Bumi's extension that I'm sick and you're looking after me today, so we won't be in at the office for the next while. Go to bed."

With that, he turned away and she heard his light footsteps pad down the hall until a door closed with a quiet, perfunctory click. The sound of his low, raspy voice for a moment or two flowed down the hall to her, and then was silent.

Katara looked around and saw a clock that glowed 6:37 on the bookshelf across the room.

She wanted to keep looking, but she felt like she was invading Zuko's privacy. He brought me here, though…

She picked up the phone receiver and dialed Toph's number. It rang straight through to her voicemail.

"Hi Toph, this is Katara. I'm with Zuko. I mean, at Zuko's," she corrected herself immediately and felt her neck tighten in mortification. Slip. "I'm going to rest here for a bit. I'll call you later. You'll have to get his number from your Caller-ID, sorry, I have no idea what it is." Oh this is going to settle Toph's overprotective feelings real well, she thought sarcastically. "I'm fine. I'll call you later," she promised again. "Bye."

She hung up, feeling a bit more balanced. Not much, but a bit.

A little bit later she lay back down to sleep, staring at the ceiling and telling herself her body did not still feel thrilling fires in every single spot Zuko had touched her.

TBC.

AN: Kudos to those who catch the LJ Smith references. ;)
AN: Also, thank you to Avatargirl92 for bringing up something I forgot to add in a previous chapter -- I hope this chapter helped clear up a few things.
AN: Thank you for reading!

/this chapter first posted October 4, 2008.