When Katara started to hear birds chirping, she realized she didn't sleep at all. As much as she wanted to close her eyes, get a good night sleep, and try to put what happened last night behind her, it was impossible.

She vaguely remembered Appa dropping her off at her place and stumbling into her home to see her brother awoken from the commotion. He asked how everything went, but Katara didn't bother acknowledging him. She went straight to her bedroom, locked the door, and plopped onto her bed still wearing the disguise from the previous night.

Every time she tried closing her eyes, vivid images of what happened kept flashing in her mind. The look of Yakone's face of as Katara controlled him was haunting. But that didn't hold a candle to the look Aang gave her. He thought she was a monster and there was no reason for him to believe otherwise.

Even though he told her he would see her the next day, she figured he said that just to be nice. Whenever he came, it would be to inform her that they have no choice but to lock her up. How could they possibly feel safe when a waterbender was on the loose with the power to control people's blood? Before she could continue to dwell on these thoughts, she heard a knock on the door.

"I'm not in the mood to talk Sokka."

"It's me," came the voice she was dreading to hear.

This was it. Everything she had done with her life was about to end. Maybe he would at least give her the dignity of being imprisoned in the Southern Water Tribe so she would at least be able to be visited by her friends and family. That is if they would even want to visit her after finding out about all of this. She sighed, stood up, and took the painful steps to the door.

When she opened it, she saw Aang still wearing the disguise minus the wig. Judging from the bags under his eyes, he didn't get much sleep either.

"Can I come in?"

She nodded and walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge. Aang observed her for a moment before closing the door and taking a seat beside her. "How are you holding up?"

Rather than answering, she simply shrugged and kept staring at her feet. She didn't have the courage to look at him as she could only imagine the disappointment on his face.

"I'd thought you like to know that Yakone has confessed to everything. I was at the station with Toph all night to help interrogate him. Now that we have him, the drug game is going to be reduced to practically nothing," he said joyfully only to realize Katara's mood hadn't changed at all.

"Are you sure you are all right?"

Still nothing.

"Katara can you please-"

"Can we just get this over with?" Katara muttered dejectedly. She'd rather have the band aid ripped off rather than Aang easing her into shattering her world.

When he didn't respond she continued to break the uncomfortable silence. "Can I at least keep my bending? I know it's your call, but I love being a waterbender so much and I don't know what I'd do with myself without being able to bend."

She finally mustered up the courage to look at Aang who was staring at her in disbelief.

"Is that what you really think I came here for?" he asked softly.

Somehow Aang saying that hurt more than the thought of him actually taking her bending away. The silence and tears that started to fall from her eyes was all he needed to know. Gently, he put his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry you thought that. But I promise that thought never crossed my mind for a second. Taking away someone's bending is not something I take lightly. I've only used it twice as a last resort for-"

"Monsters like me," she cut him off.

"You're not a monster Katara."

"You saw what I what I was doing," she spat a little more venomously than she wanted.

"I did. But it still doesn't make you a monster."

"Aang, I'm able to bend people's blood and control them to my will. What do you call that?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I never even thought that was possible before last night. But having that capability doesn't automatically make you a monster. People like Yakone use their abilities for fear, intimidation, and violence. You clearly don't. You saved my life."

Katara huffed in response. "I know you're trying to help Aang, but you have no idea what it felt like for me to be able to do that."

"You're right, I don't know what it's like to bend people's blood. But I do know what it's like to be afraid of the power I am capable of."

For the first time in the conversation, Katara turned to look him.

"You are aware of what the Avatar State is correct?"

"It's where you are empowered with all of your past lives' wisdom and skills."

"Yup. Before I mastered it, I was afraid of it and I did some things I'm not proud of."

"Like what?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I'll tell you the incident that haunts me the most. After I left the South Pole, I went to the Southern Air Temple. It didn't take too long to figure out what happened a hundred years ago there. What once was a place full of life and happiness was reduced to a bunch of run-down structures.

For whatever reason, I still believed things weren't as bad as they appeared. But once I found my master's corpse surrounded by a bunch of firebenders' corpses, it finally hit me. From you telling me there was a war going on for a hundred years to the fact that no one has seen an airbender since then, I truly understood that I was the last Airbender."

Now Katara felt the need to comfort him so she put a hand on his knee. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone."

"I think it was for the best nobody was with me," he said sadly. "I went into the Avatar State for the first time and everything else happened in a blur. Once I calmed down, I realized I destroyed everything. My home was gone forever."

There was a long stretch of silence and Katara could tell that Aang was trying to keep his tears at bay.

"Despite mastering the Avatar State, I'll always have the capability to inflict a mass amount of damage if my emotions get the best of me. But instead of fearing what I am capable of, I accepted that it will always be a part of me no matter what. I know you're scared by what happened and what you are capable of, but you need to accept that you will always be able to bend people's blood."

She removed the hand from his knee and thought about what he said before responding. "I don't think this quite like you and the Avatar State though. I don't think this is something I'll be able to fully control. And it's something that I don't want to ever control," she said dejectedly and returned her eyes to the floor.

"Then don't. This has always been a part of you; you just didn't know it yet. For all we know, you and Yakone are the only ones who can bloodbend. However you decide to handle it, it's your call," he said while giving her a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure you don't look at me differently after what happened last night?," she asked still not quite sure if he was just trying to be nice to her. "I would've killed Yakone if you didn't stop me."

"Of course not," he replied immediately. "I didn't stop you because I was disappointed of you or because I was mad at you. I stopped you because I had your back. I saw you get lost in the moment and I stepped in to ensure you wouldn't do something you'd regret with a clear head."

Katara felt like such a fool. She misinterpreted everything about Aang last night and assumed the worst-case scenario. Instead of verbalizing it, Katara simply leaned her head onto his shoulder as a gesture of thanks and understanding.

"I informed the council you'll be out the next few days due to what happened. Take time some time to relax and clear your head."

Panic struck in Katara and she removed her head from his shoulder. While Aang was understanding, she doubted the rest of the council would be. She felt like she was establishing herself rather nicely as their peer. Would this incident ruin it?

Sensing her panic, he rubbed her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, they don't know the full details. It's just me and you who knows what went down last night. All I told them was you were a little shaken up helping the Avatar take down a dangerous criminal," he said and stood up and began to walk towards the door. "Take as long as you need before heading back."

Before he was fully able to exit her bedroom, she burst from the bed and captured him in a firm hug. "Thanks," she said into his shoulder. "You didn't have to do all of this just for me."

He returned her hug and chuckled. "Of course I did. I care about you and I want to make sure you're ok."

When their hug ended and Aang eventually left, she sank into the bed and finally was able to close her eyes without being haunted by the frightening images of the previous night.

Katara awoke the next day feeling a lot better. After her morning nap the previous day, Suki stopped by to see Sokka and offered to take Katara to the spa. While she felt ok to go back to the council, Aang probably was right about taking some time off and decided to take Suki up on her offer. It would be nice to be treated like royalty for a few hours and it would also give her a chance to get to know Suki better considering how close she was with her brother.

When they arrived at the spa, it was clear that Suki came there often as the front desk attendant immediately recognized her and knew her by name. Katara gave her a confused look and Suki told her that from being the city's main security as a Kyoshi Warrior to her rigorous training and teaching, her body needed to decompress at least once a week.

After getting massages, the two girls headed to the sauna and it gave Katara the perfect opportunity to pick Suki's brain for a bit without being interrupted by anyone.

"How's my brother doing in his training?" Katara asked.

"To be honest, he was kind of awful when he first started," Suki answered which caused both girls to erupt in laughter.

"I can tell that his style is more focused on brute force whereas our focus is on precision. You know more than me how stubborn your brother can be, so it took longer than usual for him to accept that what I was teaching was far different than what he was used to."

Katara laughed. "I bet. Although, I guess that is something we have in common."

"To his credit though, once it clicked, he progressed very quickly and is working extremely hard. He should be finished with our training in a few months or so."

Katara caught the tint of sadness on her last part. "So… what exactly are you and Sokka?"

"I don't think either of us are really sure. We both know we are attracted to each other, but we know that this probably won't be a long-term thing. I guess we are just trying to have as much fun as possible for the time he is here and live in the moment."

"I know it's none of my business, but you seem to make him happy and I think he likes you more than you think."

This caused Suki to blush. "Thanks. He makes me happy too. It's been a while since I've been somebody's girlfriend so I'm just going with the flow."

"Was it Aang?" Katara asked and regretted it immediately when Suki gave her an evil grin.

"Now why would you be interested in knowing if I dated the Avatar?" Suki said in a teasing tone.

"No reason," Katara answered as calmly possible and looked away from Suki's piercing gaze.

Suki laughed knowing she caught Katara before responding. "Aang and I are and always will be just friends. Although, there was a moment after Toph's 18th birthday party where we both were a little drunk and things got a little steamy. Luckily, he stopped himself before things escalated too much between us. Aside from that, we've never come close to becoming more than friends."

"What about Toph?"

"Aang and Toph!?" Suki exclaimed before laughing hysterically. "I think you and me would have a better shot at her than him!"

After their laughter died down, Suki shot her smug smile sensing what Katara wanted to know. "All you need to do is ask Katara."

Katara looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"Ask me advice on how you should pursue Aang to be his girlfriend."

There wasn't any reason for Katara to beat around the bush anymore and given the fact that Suki is one of Aang's closet friends, this might help her out.

"Ok, what should I do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing!? What do you mean nothing? How is that supposed to help?"

"Relax Katara," Suki said reassuringly noticing she got a little irritated. "I can already tell he likes you. Whatever you have been doing, keep doing it."

Katara did her best to hold back a massive grin, but it was impossible. She felt like a giddy teenage girl finding out her crush likes her.

"You think so?"

"I know so. I've seen Aang interact with hundreds, if not thousands of girls who want a piece of him, but there have only been a handful of times I've seen him actually reciprocate that interest and you're one of them. My guess is that he is waiting for the right opportunity."

At this point, Katara was speechless. While she could tell that she had some affect on the Avatar, to have it reassured to her by one of his closest friends was encouraging to say the least.

"So why doesn't he have her a girlfriend or anything? I'm sure he has had plenty of options over the years."

"Honesty," Suki paused trying to come up with an answer, "I'm not sure. It certainly isn't for lack of trying on his part. He's been on lots of dates over the years and most end up with nothing coming out of it. I never really probed him too much about how the dates went, but I guess he would never really be interested in another."

"I bet a lot of guys in Aang's situation would take advantage of it and sleep around," Katara said.

Suki hummed in agreement. "Definitely. I remember when he turned 16 and he really started to attract the attention of the ladies, it got so bad sometimes that I would have to pretend to be his girlfriend to keep the girls off him. Heck, even Toph would agree sometimes to pretend just so we can have some peace. If he wanted it, he probably could have slept with half of the women in the world by now; and that might be a conservative estimate."

"Excuse me," one of the workers interrupted the girls from their conversation, "the nail specialists are ready for you."

The girls nodded in agreement and exited the sauna. Katara thought a lot about her and Suki's conversation the rest of the day. Whenever that "right opportunity" was, it couldn't come fast enough for her.