Man that last chapter really ended with a twist. I seriously felt so bad for putting Aang through all of that. My poor baby :( Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this chapter... actually you might want to hold on to a tissue box. Again I don't own ATLA or most of the characters in this story.

11 months since Aang's disappearance

Toph was in a large patio of the Fire Nation Palace. She was getting rocks from the ground and breaking them repeatedly with her earthbending.

From a far you could see Sokka observing her. He knew that something was wrong since she only earthbendt like this when something was bothering her. "What do you want Sokka?" The blindgirl finally asked after she felt him watch her for the past 20 minutes.

"I was just admiring you and your earthbending," he replied with a soft smile. "Toph, what's wrong?" Sokka asked with a worried tone as he walked closer to her.

"Nothing's wrong," she replied with a shallow voice and proceeded to hit more rocks. "Come on we both know that's not true."

Toph paused her earthbending and turned to face Sokka. "Fine! You caught me! You wanna know what's wrong with me, Sokka? I hate being here!" she yelled as she opened her arms to point to the palace around them.

"I hate being stuck in this stupid palace, just waiting to see if Azula will come and take us out! I feel like a prisoner! I spent most of my life being kept away from the world. And I want to live my life to the fullest now! I don't want to spend it here stuck in one place in fear of what might happen." The eathbender let out and tears began to stream from her face.

"And everything is just so different now! Twinkletoes is nowhere to be found, and we've been waiting here for almost a year now! Katara is in a depression state that no one can get her out of except for maybe Liang. And Zuko hardly talks to anyone other than Katara. I keep running into Suki almost daily now and everytime I can feel all the hatred she has for me! I also haven't been to my metalbending academy for so long now." She paused. "I just want to go home!" Toph let out with tears filling her voice.

Sokka put his arms around her and held her tight as she wet his shirt with her tears. "If that's what you want then it's done. We leave tomorrow and we go back to your home in Yu Dao, or the South Pole, or if you want we can just travel from place to place."

Toph began to sniff, "Are you sure? What about Katara?" The watertribe warrior nodded, "What I care most about in this world is your happiness. If you're not happy here, then we leave. And as for Katara, we'll come visit at least once a month to check up on her and Liang."

Toph then let out of Sokka's embrace and punched him in the arm. "Ow!" he complained. She smiled and then pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

1 week later

Katara awoke to the sound of a crying baby. She looked at the other side of the room where her baby's crib was kept. The waterbender got out of bed and walked over to her.

"Shh! It's ok, it's ok. Mommy's here," she said softly as she held her daughter close to her and swung her around in slow motion. Katara closed her eyes and just kept holding tight to her baby girl to make sure she felt protected.

The bedroom door opened and Katara turned to find Zuko. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zuko blushed to her question, "Well I came to see if Liang was okay." In the past 3 months since Liang was born Zuko had gotten very attached to her. Even though he wasn't her father he sure acted like it. He had also grown very attached to Katara in the past year. With everything he had been through she was still there with him. She was the only one he wanted to talk to, he felt so safe sharing things with her. And little by little those feelings became stronger on his side. However, Katara didn't seem to catch this yet.

"You know you don't have to do that right? I'm Liang's mother and I will protect her at all times." Zuko looked down and gave a small smile to the taught of how strong Katara is and how protective she would get if someone were to mess with her baby. She reminded him of his own mother.

Katara placed sleeping Liang down on her crib and began to walk back to her bed. "I don't doubt that you do, but I still want to look after her." He paused and walked closer to Katara's face. "And I also want to take care of you." Katara raised an eyebrow at his words and then widened her eyes to find his lips pressed onto hers. She felt paralyzed in this moment, he took her by suprise. She oust the even closer her eyes. She felt scared to move or breathe or do anything.

Then after a minute she came back to her senses, and suddenly backed away while her face turned to anger. "Zuko! What is your problem?!" The firelord looked down and frowned, "I'm sorry, I just needed to show you how I feel about you."

"'How you feel about me'? Zuko you're not allowed to feel anything for me! I'm with Aang remember?!" she yelled out. Zuko looked up to her and snapped. "Katara, Aang isn't even here! He's been missing for nearly a year! Don't you think it's time to accept the fact that he might never come back?"

Katara's face got even angrier, "Oh and who's fault is that?" Zuko's face went blank at her words, "What?" he asked with a low voice.

"Aang is gone because of you! You let your psycho sister escape prison! You sent a letter for us to come here because you wanted our help in looking for her! You told me to stay in the Fire Nation with you instead of looking for him!" She snapped and tears began to flow from her eyes. "You begged me to stay here with you when I wanted to go back to the South Pole to be with my family! And now you're here kissing me and telling me you have feelings for me? How dare you!"

Zuko couldn't believe the words that just came out of her mouth. With all the love that he had towards this woman and knowing how much resented him. He couldn't help but think that she was right. He did cause all this anguish in her life and he couldn't feel worse for it. He turned around and walked out the door knowing she needed some time for herself.

When Zuko shut the door on his way out, Katara's heart sank. She pressed her fingers to her lips and began to tear up about what she let happen. Katara fell to the ground and took out the betrothal necklace Aang made for her out of her pocket. She then held it close to her chest as if she was hugging him. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."