A/N: Been a little while, but here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!

4 Years Ago

Aang: 14

Suki: 18

Aang was on his way back to his home in the South Pole after two grueling weeks in Ba Sing Se. Meeting after meeting had drained Aang's energy, but the thought of seeing Katara again was fueling his drive to hurry back. After getting back together, things felt solid between them and they only got better once Aang decided to make his personal residence in the Southern Water Tribe.

As much as he loved living in the Southern Water Tribe, he'd be lying if he said it made being the Avatar easier. With so much change happening throughout the world, Aang's presence ws needed in so many places. Although needed was a liberal use of the word as for the vast majority of instances ended up with him sitting on his ass and not doing anything besides looking like the Avatar. But if it meant being able to spend more time with Sokka and more importantly Katara, the hard travel was worth it. He landed Appa by his hut and quickly threw his things inside.

"Alright buddy, I'll see you later," he said as he began the short trek to Katara and her family's hut.

Along the way, he pondered when it would be appropriate for him and Katara to have a hut of their own. Things have been going well for them and their relationship had become significantly more physical lately. He couldn't pinpoint the exact time it happened, but their kisses had a new sense of desperation and hunger in them that they hadn't had before.

The tip of the iceberg occurred the night before he left for Ba Sing Se when Aang unconsciously ventured his hand down towards her womanhood and rubbed it through her bindings. The sounds she made sent a thrill down his spine and the bite marks he had on his shoulder from her attempting to suppress those sounds was something he wanted more of. Unfortunately, the moment was totally ruined when they heard Pakku and Kanna start arguing about something in the other room.

As he approached their hut, he was greeted by the sight of none other than his beautiful girlfriend.

"Aang!" she squealed and ran up to him to give him a big hug.

Aang melted into it instantly. His favorite place in the entire world was within Katara's arms and always did his best to savor every second of it. Once they disengaged from the hug, he was about to say something to her only to be interrupted.

"I know you just got back, but Pakku and I have a lot of work with our students. I'll probably be gone all day so don't wait up."

Aang did his best to hide his disappointment as he knew how much teaching the next generation of waterbenders meant to her. Couples' time could always wait so he simply gave her a smile and watched her run off towards the dojo.

"Oh," she said as she talked over shoulder. "There's leftover rice in the kitchen if you're hungry. Bye!"

Aang let out a big sigh as he walked towards the hut. He was in fact hungry so he might as well eat while he was there. When he walked in, he saw Suki taking a nap on the sofa. If she could see herself in this position, she'd be utterly embarrassed as her mouth was hanging open and she had a long line of drool that was connected from the corner of her mouth to the floor. Part of him wanted to run back to his hut and grab his drawing stuff and draw her a picture of this glorious pose and give it to her for her birthday. He decided to spare her the embarrassment, and go to the kitchen and eat. After he was done, he saw Suki who looked groggy from her nap.

He gave a quick smile. "Hey Suki."

"Hey," she mumbled back, clearly groggy from her nap. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah."

"How did the meetings in Ba Sing Se go?"

Aang let out a massive groan and took a seat next to her on the couch. "Horribly. Watching grown men and women argue about nonsense is exhausting after a while. It's like these people don't even care that they're wasting everyone's time."

"Isn't that the reason you're there? To keep everyone on track and maintain peace."

"Believe me I did my best. If I kept my mouth shut, these meetings would go on forever. I'm just glad to be back here."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you do an excellent job at maintaining peace around here when it comes to Katara and Sokka."

Aang let out a chuckle and looked around the living room and noticed someone was missing. "Speaking of which, where's Sokka?"

She did her best to hide the hint of sadness in her face, but knew it didn't go unnoticed by Aang. "He's fishing with some of the other men in the tribe."

His brows furrowed at that statement. "You didn't go with them? I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"They offered me to come along, but for whatever reason I felt a bit…"

"Out of place," Aang finished.

"Yeah," she agreed regrettably. "It's no one's fault of course. Everyone is so nice here. And Sokka puts in a lot of effort to make me feel comfortable."

Aang could only nod his head in understanding. Even though he made the Southern Water Tribe his home, he still felt like an outsider at times. Katara was always vocal in trying to make him feel welcomed, but sometimes, even that wasn't enough.

"Well, if you aren't doing anything, I was planning on doing something with Katara, but she has to be with her students all day. You can come if you want."

"I'm game," Suki replied excitedly. "Give me five minutes to get ready."

"Great! I'll go get Appa."

Suki looked at her surroundings. The mountain that she and Aang were on must have been thousands of feet tall. As brave as she was, heights were certainly not something she was very fond of.

"Aren't we a little high up?" she asked nervously.

"We sure are." he agreed with a massive smile. "This is the highest peak in the entire South Pole."

"Where are the penguins?"

A quick laugh escaped Aang's lips. "It's too high for them," Aang replied. "We're going down on these."

Suki yelped as she felt the snow beneath her shift until she was hooked onto some sort of ice board.

"What the heck is this?!"

"That's how we're getting down." Aang said as he bended his own board.

"I'm not a waterbender! What if I fall?"

"Don't fall," he replied simply with a smirk.

"Easy for you to say." She took a peek at the mountain and her heart raced frantically. The mountain was extremely steep and there were obstacles littered throughout. "I'm sorry but I can't do this. I'll meet you at the bottom on Appa."

As Suki tried to stumble her way to Appa the worst thing that could've popped out of Aang's mouth happened.

"Meet us at the bottom buddy."

Suki watched in horror as Appa flew off leaving just her and Aang by themselves on top of the mountain.

Her eyes narrowed at her airbending friend. "I'm going to kill you Aang!"

"To do that, you're going to have to meet me at the bottom," he replied with a sly grin.

"Fine," she huffed. "But if something happens to me it's on you."

"Nothing is going to happen Suki. Just trust me."

As much as she wanted to strangle him, she couldn't help but believe in the sincerity of his words.

"So how does this thing work anyways?" she asked.

"You'll figure it out," he reassured and promptly pushed her gently so she started to glide towards the steepness of the slope.

"Wait!" she yelped and grabbed onto Aang's torso for dear life.

"Suki," Aang said calmly and removed Suki's hands from his body. "I can't get to the bottom with you strapped onto me. You can either freeze to death up here or you can use that iceboard I bended for you and have the most fun you ever had gliding down the mountain. I'll be right behind you the entire time. I promise."

She nodded and took a deep breath. Once again, she felt Aang gently push her so she started to glide towards the slope. This time however, she didn't grab Aang and began her descent.

She was terrified at first, but as Aang promised, she got the hang of it quickly. Not only was she getting the hang of it, but she was loving it. When she turned around, she saw Aang looking at her with a huge smile.

"I told you!" he shouted just loud enough so Suki could hear him through the thick wind as it roared past her.

She rolled her eyes at him even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see her reaction. Suki did have to admit that riding down this mountain was the most fun she had in a while. The perfect blend of thrill and excitement.

After a few minutes of riding down, they finally reached the bottom where Appa had been waiting for them.

"I have to say," Suki said, "That was pretty awesome."

"You think I'd drag you all the way over here for something mediocre?" Aang teased.

"So now what do we do?"

"We can either head back or-,"

"Head back?!" Suki countered. "I'm just getting started."

"Excellent."

After hours of iceboarding, Suki and Aang returned to Katara and Sokka's hut. They had no idea what time it was, but given that it was pitch black out and the moon was shining bright, it had to be the middle of the night.

"Thanks again Aang," Suki whispered as they approached the hut's entrance. "I really needed that."

"Me too," he agreed thinking about all the laborious hours he had spent in meetings and reading through documents. "We should do this again sometime."

"I'd like that."

As Aang began to regain consciousness from his sleep, his eyes remained closed. However, he felt warmth pressed against him. His left hand in particular was grasping something incredibly soft and he gave it a little squeeze which elicited a delightful sound. He continued to massage it to decipher what it was. He froze once the events of the previous night came into his stream of thoughts.

Aang opened his eyes slowly as if it would somehow change what he was about to see. As expected, he saw Suki's Auburn hair underneath his chin and his left hand groping her left breast. He took a peek at her eyes and was relieved they were closed indicating she was still asleep.

As carefully as he could, he slowly untangled himself from her and sat up on the opposite side of the bed. After what occurred between the two of them the previous night, he didn't remember falling asleep. But he did remember not being all over her and groping her breast.

With a sigh, he got up and began to search for his clothes which were scattered across the floor along with Suki's. Once dressed, he contemplated his next move. He always meditated first thing in the morning outside, but that wasn't an option right now as he didn't want Suki to wake up alone in his room wondering where he ran off to. He and Suki needed to discuss what just happened and it needed to happen as soon as possible.

As Aang went towards the kitchen to begin brewing a pot of tea, a few quiet knocks stopped him. Luckily, they were just loud enough for him to hear as he took a quick look at Suki and saw she was still in a peaceful slumber. As cautiously as possible, he tiptoed his way to the door.

Instead of cracking the door open to have what Aang expected to be a brief conversation, he burst through the door and shut it immediately behind him to shut down any possibility of anyone catching a glimpse at what transpired the night before. He sighed in relief that it was just Haru.

"Hey Haru, what's up?" Aang asked as calmly as he could muster given the circumstances.

Aang saw the earthbender eye him up and down and kicked himself for not checking himself in the mirror before greeting Haru. Did Suki leave something on him that Haru was seeing?

"You're not dressed?"

Aang looked at him confused. "Dressed? Dressed for what?"

"We're leaving for Crane Fish town to meet up with Sokka to celebrate his 21st birthday," the earthender responded, still eyeing him curiously. "Everything ok? You look a little-,"

"Yep! I'm all good. Great even! I guess I accidentally forgot about Sokka's birthday. Sometime's this Avatar stuff makes my head spin," Aang concluded frantically.

"Ok… well hurry up. Ty Lee is trying to find Suki, but she is having trouble finding her. Have any idea where she is?"

Aang gulped and was glad that Haru never took any earthbending lessons from Toph, otherwise he'd have zero trouble in discovering that Aang knew exactly where Suki currently was.

"No. No clue. Why would I know where she is? Have you checked her room?"

"Um, yes. That is generally the first place someone looks when they are trying to find someone. You sure you're alright? You seem a bit flustered."

"I said I'm fine!" Aang snapped, but immediately regretted his unnecessary harshness towards his friend. "I'm sorry Haru, I just had a bit of a rough night."

"I'm sure it was," Haru responded coyly with a little wink.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Haru shrugged. "I don't know, what is it supposed to mean when a babe walks into a guy's room in the middle of the night and doesn't come out?" The gasp Aang let out signified to Haru that he was right.

"Please don't say anything," Aang begged. "This-this wasn't something I intended to happen."

Haru placed a hand on Aang's shoulder to calm him down. "Hey man, I'm not judging you. You're a single guy. Sometimes these things happen. I won't say anything to anyone."

Aang let out a nervous breath. "Thanks Haru. Give me about 15 minutes to freshen up and I'll meet everyone with Appa and we can head out."

"Sounds good," Haru relied. "I'll go help Ty Lee try to find Suki."

Aang gave Haru a forced smile to the earthbender as he walked away. Once Haru was far enough, Aang quietly opened the door to not wake Suki. His heart dropped when the Kyoshi Warrior was up and frantically putting her clothes on. He coughed to alert her of his presence and Suki's eyes darted straight into his own before looking away a split second later.

"Hey," she said uncomfortably.

"Hey," he responded. Aang at this point was also unable to look at her.

An awkward silence fell over the two as neither knew what was the best course of action. As the seconds ticked by, Aang decided that as uncomfortable this inevitable conversation was going to be, someone had to start it.

"So about last night,-"

"I should get going," Suki said quickly before he could continue. "We're supposed to head to Crane Fish Town today and I don't want to keep everyone waiting."

"Right," Aang replied sadly. It took all the courage he had to try to look her in the eye, but was disappointed when she was still looking at her feet.

Without another word, Suki walked past Aang leaving him alone to try and figure out what the next steps would be.

When the door closed behind her, Suki speed walked to her cabin. She could feel hot tears roll down her cheeks. She felt horrible about herself as she knew that she and Aang needed to discuss what happened, but she took a page out of his book and left before they could.

"There you are!" came a high pitched voice Suki immediately recognized as Ty Lee's. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Suki brushed the tears off her face before looking at her friend. "Sorry. I just needed some alone time. I'll get dressed and I'll meet everyone on Appa." She turned away from her, but felt one of Ty Lee's hands grasp her shoulder.

"Is everything alright? Ty Lee asked. "You look like you've been crying."

"I-I'm fine. I just had a bit of a long night."

"I see." Suki jumped a little when she felt Ty Lee's hand grasp her shoulder lightly. "If you ever want to talk to someone about this kind of stuff, I'm always around."

Suki nodded as it didn't take a psychic to know what Ty Lee was alluding to. "Thanks Ty. I'll see you on Appa."

When she finally made it to her room, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible. Her hair was all messy and the bags under her eyes weren't doing her favors. She wondered who would want to be with anyone who looked like this. But thinking along those lines got her thought process back to Aang. What occurred the previous night wasn't just some one night stand where two horny people get drunk, have sex, and never see each other again. This meant something and that was terrifying to her.

Since her breakup with Sokka a year ago, Suki had put all her time and energy into being the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Any thought of being in a relationship had been put to the wayside and she hadn't even kissed a guy. Why now and why Aang? Those questions could've been answered or at least explored, but she ran off like a coward. And now there was going to be an inevitable awkwardness between the two because she was afraid.

After getting dressed, she made her way over to Appa to find that everyone was already on board. She looked at Aang who didn't acknowledge her presence as he normally would and it didn't take much thought to realize why. The second she secured herself in the saddle with the help of Ty Lee and Haru, Aang yelled Yip Yip and started their journey to Crane Fish Town.