A/N: Thank you guys for your lovely reviews, I always love hearing from you. This took probably longer than it should, but I hope you enjoy it!

Sokka's POV:

Eventually we reach the door to Suki's house and smash it open, startling Katara whose sitting on the sofa reading a magazine. I sigh in relief.

"Thank the Spirits you didn't go to sleep. You have to help Aang." Katara lurches to her feet and her eyes zone in on Toph whose still cradling the Airbender. She's at her side in seconds, feeling Aang's forehead.

"What happened?!" I shake my head uncertainly and Zuko steps in instead.

"We found him in the forest unconscious. He's freezing and wet." Zuko states systematically to which I nod thankfully. Katara takes him from Toph and lies him on the sofa.

"Zuko get me some warm blankets, Toph get me some clothes from Aang's room and Sokka towels!" We all scramble to different parts of the house, snatching what we need. I arrive back to the living room first, followed by Toph and then Zuko. We enter the living room to find Katara Waterbending the water out of the young Airbender's clothes.

"We need to get him out of these clothes, they're too cold for him and are still damp." Just as Katara reaches for his top, Toph moves in front of Katara, blocking her access to Aang. Bewildered the master Waterbender drops her hand to her side. "Toph what are you doing?" My sister questions, confusion written clearly on her face. I watch as the usually confident Earthbender fidgets in discomfort.

"Is this the only way to heal him?" Katara blinks twice in surprise.

"Yes, Aang is suffering from hypothermia. We need to take off the clothes he's wearing and replace them with new ones and warm blankets." Toph takes in a deep breath.

"Then let me do it." At this all of our jaws drop in unison.

"Toph..." My sister trails off at Toph's stare.

"Aang wouldn't want you to. I'll just put a top and trouser on him and you can do the rest. Ok?" The three of us share a look and Katara turns back to Toph.

"I don't know. Do you even know how to dress someone else?" Toph snorts and crosses her arms across her chest.

"I'm blind sugarqueen not useless. Now you guys go, I'll call you as soon as I finish." Katara's eyes trail to Aang and then back to Toph before she finally sighs and nods.

"Ok. Don't take long, we need to get some warmth in him as soon as possible." Toph nods and we leave the room in bewilderment. As we leave the room and enter the one adjacent, the kitchen, we take a seat at the dining table. Now that there's silence, I allow time for my brain to think and suddenly I realise the cause of Aang's state. Turning to my sister I find her eyes glued to the table.

"Katara, what happened?" Katara glances up at me before returning her gaze to the wall beside me.

"What do you mean?" My sister's quiet tone makes it hard to rein in my anger.

"I mean what happened when you were with Aang? We found him soaking. You didn't Waterbend at him during your argument did you? I accuse and Katara's eyes snap back to me with fire dancing in them.

"You know I wouldn't do that!" She defends, her tone raising an octave.

"So you're suggesting that you had no hand in his condition?" I watch as Katara bites her lip and averts her gaze away from me again.

"I may have shouldered him when I walked past him as I left and he...fell into the water." I widen my eyes at my sister's confession and scowl at her. Pushing myself up from the chair I walk away from her to the other side of the room.

"For the love of spirits Katara, he obviously didn't bother to dry himself off and he's been left freezing to death in those woods for hours! If we didn't find him or if I didn't notice he was gone, what do you think would've happened to him? And for what?! An argument?!" I glare at the master Waterbender and she suddenly wilts.

"I know it was a selfish and wicked thing to do. I'm so sorry." I turn my head away from her.

"Don't tell me you're sorry; tell him you're sorry." I say with a pointed look to the closed door that separates the living room from the kitchen. Zuko walks over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Ok that's enough. Blaming each other isn't going to change anything." The Firelord says but I make a show of looking away from him. He sighs and leans against the wall beside me. "Sokka you've had 3 years of staring, ignoring and pushing Aang. Katara hasn't had that time, she's only responding the same way that you and Toph were." The Firelord says reasonably and I slump at Zuko's logic.

"I guess you're right. It's just ever since Aang told us he hates himself I'm worried he'll do something drastic. I'm just worried." I turn to face my sister, her eyes filled with unshed tears as she gazes at me. "I'm sorry Katara. I didn't mean to lash out at you, I just..." The master Waterbender shakes her head, stopping my words in their tracks. She gets up from her seat and walks over to Zuko and me.

"You don't need to apologise. I understand. I'm in the wrong and I'll try not to lash out at Aang again. I'll wait until he comes to me if he'll ever come to me, considering what an awful friend I've been." I place a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it encouragingly.

"Don't worry about it. And if it makes you feel better Toph and I have done some pretty bad things to him for the past 3 years. He'll forgive you." She nods and we fall into a calm silence, before Zuko decides to break it.

"Why do you think Toph didn't want us to be around?" I wince at Zuko's question, having had that thought already popping up, so I shrug.

"Aang talked to her; maybe she knows something that Aang doesn't want us to know, so she's protecting his secret." I state monotonously trying to hide the hurt of Aang not wanting us to know. Katara sighs heavily beside me.

"I think I know." She whispers softly and I turn my head in surprise.

"You do?" I question in shock.

"Well I don't know for sure, it's just a guess. But I think he's hiding the scars he got from those assassins." Zuko and I gulp audibly at this.

"What makes you say that?" The Firelord asks wearily.

"Yeah do you have some evidence to back that up?" I say unsurely, wondering if I really want to know.

"Usually in Waterbending practise he takes his shirt off and rolls his trousers up, but all he did was take his shoes off." I shrug at Katara's statement.

"So what? Maybe he was embarrassed to undress in front of you, I mean we're not kids anymore." I state reasonably.

"But also, I noticed a mark just above his collar, it's small and not really noticeable unless you stare."

A soft "Oh" escapes me. "Do you think it's bad?" I ask nervously, looking back and forth from Zuko to Katara. The Firelord places his hand on his face.

"I think it is. For 3 years I've never seen him wear anything that isn't long sleeves, even in the middle of summer in the Fire Nation. He must have been trying to hide it." I gulp again and stare at the ground, 'oh Aang, I really hope it's not as bad as my gut is telling me it is.'

Meanwhile...

Toph's POV:

'I can do this.' I mutter as I inhale deeply and reach for Aang's top. As quickly as I can I remove it and grab the warm one that I brought. My movements speeding up as the unsettling cold radiates off the Airbender at alarming rates, thinking about it I don't recall a time where Aang has ever been cold or even complained about the temperature. As I pull the top down my hands brush against something ragged and then a noticeable slope, my intake of breath is sharp as I retract my hands immediately, 'what on earth was that?!' I take a deep breath and going back I'm just about to pull down the top over his stomach when curiosity makes me investigate the area that felt shockingly abnormal.

As my hand outlines the mark more carefully I flinch, 'this must be one of the scars that Twinkletoes was talking about,' but I frown when I notice the strange slope where his stomach should be. I bite my lip hard until the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. Shaking my head I finish dressing him with as much care to avoid coming in contact with Aang's skin, fearful over coming across any other unpleasant sensations. I close my eyes briefly to compose myself and throw several blankets over the Avatar. I fumble around until I press a hand to his forearm, relieved to sense a slight warmth emitting from him.

"Toph?" I jerk my hand back at the nasally croak that must've come from the Airbender. I force a smirk to my face.

"About time you woke up. Do you enjoy staying unconscious or something?" I joke, but the quiet that follows makes me want to punch myself for realising how close that joke is to the truth. Fortunately Aang seems to notice my sudden discomfort and breaks the silence.

"As long as you don't tell me I've been out for a week then I won't have a heart attack." I grin and begin tapping my chin.

"Oh I'm not sure it could've been..." I hold back a laugh as I hear Aang shifting off the sofa slightly until he allows his feet to touch the floor.

"Toph, seriously?!" This time I can't help but snort at the Airbender's exasperated worried tone.

"I'm joking, sheesh. I don't know how long you were unconscious but we found you about an hour ago now, so probably a few hours." I say half reassuringly.

"Thank the Spirits." I hear the sigh of relief passing from the Airhead's lips and I suddenly take on a serious expression.

"Are you thick or something?" Silence once again falls for a few moments, before the Airbender clears his throat.

"What do you mean?" he whispers, his tone implying he knows full well what I mean.

"You know exactly what I mean. What were you thinking?! Leaving yourself wet, out in the cold all day. You might not care about yourself, but there are some people out there who does!" I growl at him, unleashing some of the anger that I've kept pent up regarding everything that's been happening over the last 3 years.

"I'm sorry Toph." I shake my head vigorously.

"No! You don't get the right just to say sorry and hope that changes everything!" I shout. I sense as Aang drops his head down in shame.

"I hurt Katara. Heck I've hurt you all. I just keep thinking maybe it would be better if I wasn't in your lives any more. At least that way I couldn't hurt you all any more, you'd be able to get on with your lives." He states sadly and somewhat bitterly. I snap my jaw closed when I realise I've subconsciously left it hanging. Taking a step towards him I slap him roughly on the head. "Ow Toph! What was that for?!" He whines as he rubs his head. I cross my arms.

"I'm not even going to answer that. What part of 'we care about you' do you not understand? I knew you were ignorant, but it seems you're deaf too."

"But...!" I put a hand out, stopping him from saying whatever was in his mind.

"Stop blaming yourself for everything. You have us to carry the burden with you, so stop trying to do everything yourself for once!" I stop ranting to hear my own raspy breath. When I hear Aang sigh I'm sure that my words have got through to him.

"You're right. I've been trying to do everything myself for so long, that I forgot how much I've got done when you guys were with me." The young Airbender admits.

"Since when have I ever been wrong?" I grin triumphantly and then he starts scratching his neck.

"Well there was the time when you..." I growl menacingly.

"It was a rhetorical question Airhead."

"Oh." Shaking my head I turn round to fetch the others. "Where are you going?" The Avatar questions in surprise.

"To get the others. They'll probably be wondering what's taking so long." I reply nonchalantly, refraining from telling him why they aren't here in the first place and I ignore the obvious confusion radiating off him. Just before I leave the room a sharp intake of breath stop me in my tracks.

"What happened to my clothes?! I wasn't wearing this earlier?!" I take a deep breath at Aang's frantic questions and walk back to the sofa, until I stand less than half a metre away.

"You were wet. Sugarqueen said we had to get you out of those clothes because you had hypothermia." I say carefully and then take notice of the sudden violent shivers consuming the Avatar.

"She changed me?!" He squeals in a high pitched voice, getting more frantic by the second. I shake my head vigorously.

"No no! She didn't." My words seem to penetrate through to him and his shaking slows down a bit.

"Then who did?" He accuses, though I can tell his tone is laced with fear more than anything. I hesitate for a moment and turn my head away from him.

"I did." I whisper softy, worried about his reaction.

"With no one around?" I nod my head at his question. "How did you even manage to persuade them to leave?" I breathe out, once I realise that he isn't mad or at least doesn't sound like it.

"You know me, doesn't take a lot to get people to listen."

"That's true." A second later. "Did you see...anything?" Aang asks tentatively causing my heart to thump painfully against my ribcage. I swallow.

"Yep."

"What?!" The Avatar yells in apprehension. I smirk.

"I saw everything a blind person could see." The Avatar lurches off the back of the sofa before sitting back down again.

"Toph that's not funny!" I laugh at his whine.

"It's funny to me." I state humorously. Quietness spreads and although I can't see, I get the uncomfortable feeling that Aang is scanning me too closely, 'he can't possibly know, can he?'

"You saw didn't you?" I gulp and push away the twisting feeling I have in the pit of my stomach.

"I told you I can't..." Aang shakes his head and interrupts me.

"You know what I mean. You felt something. You might be good at detecting lies, but you're awful at telling them. Your face looks so guilty." I sigh heavily.

"My hand may have accidentally brushed against one of your scars." I say quietly, the jagged feeling flashes before me and I close my eyes to compose myself so that no tears would threaten to build up, 'I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world, I can't be crying for spirits sake! Who cares what happened to him? It shouldn't affect me right?!' A hand wraps around my wrist which pulls me out of my thoughts and I open my eyes again.

"Toph are...are you alright?" I take a deep breath and pull my arm out of his grasp and quickly turn around, to make my way to the door.

"I'm fine. I'll just go and get the others." I reach out for the handle.

"Toph we should talk about this!" I shake my head stubbornly, with my back to him.

"There's nothing to talk about." I say monotonously and turn the knob.

"For what it's worth Toph? Thank you." Aang's sincerity makes my eyebrows furrow in puzzlement and my hand freezes on the door knob. "You didn't have to keep my secret but you did and I appreciate that. When you want to talk about it I'll be waiting." I don't say anything as I twist the handle and opening the door I go through to get the others.

A/N: I know it's slow going, but it will be like that for a few more chapters before we get to the really good stuff, though I hope that this chapter was still good enough. As always I'd love to hear your thoughts, so review away. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me so far!

16/6/19