A/N. I think this chapter was getting better quality wise! I had to get back into it after my vacation, but I think this is quite good!

Oh… And next chapter will purely be… yeah.

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

"I thought it was through here." Katara whispered. She actually didn't really know why she whispered, the dark villa was empty. But it was… thrilling. To be walking into the home of the Fire Lord, and to be living there as if they were using his own possessions against him. So, that was good.

"I haven't yet had time to look through here…" Aang answered, and, casting a look back to where the airbender was standing in the corridor, she smiled at him.

"We got here while cleaning up this morning. It seems that this corridor was for the larder and the servants' quarters, because, of course, the Royal Family couldn't go on vacation without a whole lot of servants." She muttered, feeling slightly angry. These people had been given everything from birth… And yet they were still fighting for more.

Opening yet another door, she looked inside, only to be met with a small room, with a narrow bed that was rotting away and a small window that looked out on a part of the rocky outcrop. Not the best view in the world, with other words… Spirits, these people treated their servants even worse than the Earth Kingdom's nobles did… And to think that on the first floor were more than a dozen spacious bedrooms, each more comfortable than the other… On vacation, they wouldn't need hundreds of servants, would they? Why not give them some of the rooms there, instead of putting them in here?

Katara knew the answer to that… It was because the clans and the nobles felt themselves superior to their "underlings". So, they needed to show that difference. In the Earth Kingdom, there had been social classes, the masses, the artisans, and finally the rich and the nobles. But here… here, it was just one distinction. Either you were nothing, or you were everything.

"Was this what you meant?" Aang's voice called from the other side of the corridor, and, turning around, Katara saw him stand next to an open door, with a small smile on his face. Taking a few steps towards the airbender, Katara smirked when she saw that he was right. The walls of the small room were filled with holes, out of which stuck several tops of bottles.

"Yes, it was." She softly kissed his cheek, and let how the skin beneath her lips warmed up slightly. Smiling at the fact she could still make him blush, even if it was not that easy as before, she entered the room. To be honest, it was only big enough for one person to stand in, but that didn't matter.

She didn't plan on staying here.

Katara didn't look, but just took two of the bottles that were within her reach. There was nothing written on it, only the cork was sealed with a greenish wax. She guessed that that meant it was good, because she had only seen such bottles on the table of the Bei Fongs, or at that party the Earth King had thrown for his pet.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked, showing it to the airbender. Aang held his hand up, and the waterbender placed one of the bottles in it.

"No idea." He spoke, after a moment of examination, "But only one way to find out!" He suddenly grinned and took off. Shaking her head, Katara stepped out of the small room and followed the sound of the airbender's footsteps.

"Do you know if there are any glasses or cups?" His voice called from the other side of the corridor, where the kitchen was.

"We found some this morning!" She called back, making her way towards the sound, "The clean ones are on the table I think". They had cleaned the few unbroken glasses they had found, but it was still surprising to her how the villa seemed… Beaten up. As if someone went through it with a mace, and touched anything they fancied. Everywhere were traces of vandalism, and for some reason… She suspected that it hadn't been some children from the town… It seemed personal. There were no items in the house that could make her think of a family… only cold, impersonal stuff. And even those were damaged.

"Got it!" She heard a soft plop as she entered the kitchen, and saw the airbender stand next to the table with a proud smile and an open bottle. Katara took two of the undamaged glasses from the wooden table top and gestured her head towards the door that led to the courtyard. It was still light outside, and so, so warm… So why not sit outside?

"There are chairs on the patio in front of the villa… If you want. Next to the stables." Aang suggested, and suddenly, Katara thought back how Suki had told her that Aang had not actually slept in their bedroom that night.

"I meant to ask you… Did you sleep there last night?" She spoke softly, trying not to sound harsh or hurt. She knew why he had done it, but she still wanted to talk about it. For… Yeah, a small part of her heart feared he had done that because he was afraid of what had happened, how she had shown him her raw pain and hurt… And that that may have scared him away.

"Oh… Yeah… I did. I meant to tell you!" He said, as the door was opened to the patio. She walked outside, and saw the chair the airbender had been speaking of.

"Why?" Katara asked as she sat down in the closest one. It creaked hard under the weight, probably because it was old and hadn't been used in a long time. There was also a small table between the two chairs, and the waterbender put the glasses on it.

"I didn't want to impose." Aang spoke, and she was surprised by the openness of that confession. Not that he normally lied… But most of the time he tried to avoid painful subjects.

"You would never do that." She answered. And that was true… Katara knew that if she had woken up during the night… She would have lied to feel Aang close to her. But he had been there this morning… he had been there when it truly mattered. And that was the only important thing.

"I know… But I preferred to be sure." The airbender held the bottle above her glass and a red liquid fell into it. He didn't put much into it, and then put the same quantity in his own glass. The bottle was put on the table and he handed her the glass.

"On less shittier times." Katara held up her glass, and took a sip. It was not bad… but it was not what she would have expected from the wine cellar of the Fire Lord. Looking at Aang, she saw a small frown on his face.

"Not that good, is it?" He raised his eyebrows, with a smile.

"Who would have guessed, Ozai had a shit taste in alcohol." She rolled her eyes, because, of course, the Fire Lord was not going to enjoy good stuff. He would probably only like expensive stuff, and then again… Would a man like Ozai actually enjoy anything?

"It's not that bad… just not that good either." Aang laughed softly, and Katara could hear the genuine amusement in his voice. She had seen how his emotions were kind… all over the place. At one moment, he was happy, and at a moment's notice, that could change into slightly depressed and afraid. And she understood. He may not know how afraid he truly was… But his mind did. And if she wasn't mistaken, the airbender was terrified of what the coming days might bring.

A comfortable silence settled between them, as Katara leaned back into the chair, with the glass in her hand. Closing her eyes, she let the last rays of sunlight graze over her skin with a smile. This… and only this moment, truly mattered. She was with Aang, and that was all that mattered.

"It has been an interesting summer…" She spoke without thinking.

"You could say that." The airbender laughed, and Katara opened her left eye to look at him. He was sitting in a similar position as she was, eyes closed. From the corner of her eye, she saw how Momo had appeared and was discreetly trying to get close to Aang. He probably had treats in his pockets for the lemur, and the animal had smelled them.

"A year ago, it was all so different… A year ago, I couldn't have imagined what natural warmth would feel like!" Katara spoke, closing her eyes once more.

"A year ago… I was a hundred years in the past." Aang chuckled, and the waterbender smiled at that. Yeah, not weird at all.

"Well, at least it has been… interesting." She tried to make it sound slightly sarcastic, to make sure Aang understood her meaning.

"You can say that! I travelled around quite a bit before… before you know what… And never has it been so hectic!" She heard the soft hesitation when he meant to say before I got frozen for a century. And yeah… This year had been hectic.

"But it had its moments." Katara answered.

"Oh yes… The Unagi, finding Bumi as king of Omashu… The North Pole…" Aang began to list their good moments.

"Finding Toph, some parts of Ba Sing Se…" She continued the list.

"A barn in Ba Sing Se, for example?" Aang suggested, and Katara couldn't help but laugh aloud.

"I was thinking about finding Appa, but sure, that too." She shook her head. They had slept together for the first time in that barn next to the Palace, the night after finding Appa and convincing the Earth King to help them defeat the Fire Nation. It had been the beginning of everything between them… At least, officially.

"You know, I came to that barn to tell you I loved you… But it kind of went in another direction than I had planned." She admitted, and it was true. She had never intended to immediately sleep with the airbender, but it had just… happened.

"I kind… Well, the moment you entered, I knew I wanted to… But that was perhaps because… Well, I fantasized about it quite a lot…" Aang spoke softly, sounding a bit shy. And… Well, she knew he had thought about it before they got together. She had too…

"At least it made everything a lot clearer." She spoke. Before, Katara had known the airbender liked her, perhaps even more than liked… But after that night, she had known for certain.

"I hated the fact that the next day we had to separate… And I was foolish enough to go to your dad…" Aang groaned. Katara shook her head, knowing he probably still felt bad about it.

"Everything worked out my love. We didn't need permission, remember? Only we two are able of taking decisions about us."

"I know… And in the end, I got it, even if it was probably just to please you… But that didn't matter. At least we had a good time in the Fire Nation, didn't we?" Aang spoke.

Yeah… their time undercover in the Fire Nation had been one of the happiest she had ever been… Aang didn't have the pressure of being the Avatar, of being the one who needed to end the war… And she had been able to just live her life as she had seen fit.

"You mean, in the hut and it that cave?" She teased, knowing he was probably thinking about that.

"That… but also the dancing with those students. And our week close to Piandao's castle… I liked that very much."

Katara smiled, still with her eyes closed. Taking a sip of the wine in her glass, she agreed with Aang. That week had been interesting, for it had been awkward at first, but at the end they had agreed to be together… To be just them.

"I liked other things too…" She whispered, "Helping Jang Hui was nice… and the part just before the Invasion, when everyone got together at the Black Cliffs."

"I didn't…" Aang's voice suddenly sounded slightly sad.

"What? Why?" She asked, startled. What had not been nice about seeing their friends once more? Oh… Wait…

Katara realized why he had not liked that part of their travels… He had given her that necklace that day, and she had… Well, she had not said no! But neither had she said yes. And even though they had talked about it, and kind of agreed that this was all for the best… She assumed he was still hurt about the rejection.

"Not important…" He sounded tired, but then, switched quickly to happy, "But then we got other things, like meeting dragons, and freeing Hakoda!"

His goal was quite clear.

Let's not talk about that, let's focus on the good stuff!

The classic Air Nomad in him… Evade the painful stuff… But yes… He was right. It was not the moment to discuss that part of their relationship.

"An eventful year…" She agreed, taking one more sip, before realizing that there wasn't actually any wine left in the glass. Opening her eyes, she put the glass down on the table, next to the drained one of the airbender. She had not realized that he had already emptied it before she had.

"It is nearly a year ago we met." Aang whispered, and, looking sideways to the airbender, she saw how he had his eyes open too, and was staring into the sky, where the orange hue was getting chased off by the ever-growing darkness of the night.

"Ten months…" She agreed. Summer was ending in twelve days, and Sokka and she had found the airbender just when autumn was halfway done. Meaning that they had met around ten months ago.

"I can't believe that it has been such a long time… But at the same time, it's not long enough… It's never long enough."

He had just voiced the exact feeling she had been experiencing these last few hours… That pure desire to stop time and be able to at least have this time together, before the inevitable fight that would take place.

"No… it isn't." She answered. What else was there to say? The fact that the comet was coming in twelve… no, maybe it was eleven now… days, was hanging above their head as a great dark cloud, besmirching each conversation with apprehension about what will happen after the last day of summer…

Without answering, Aang took the bottle and filled their glasses once more. She took the wine gratefully and took a sip.

"We could run away." The airbender suddenly said, half laughing, but Katara could see in his eyes that he was also half serious.

"No, we can't… We need to defeat the Fire Nation… And you won't run. I know that." Katara knew it wasn't an option… He had already run once before… And it had cost him everything he ever cared about. So no, he wouldn't run. And even though Katara wanted nothing more than to hide away from their duties… It wasn't an option.

"Remember… We have things planned for after the war." She added, hoping that that dream would at least make their conversation a little easier.

"What will we do… if we lose? If the comet comes and goes, and we would still be alive… What will we do?" Aang sighed, clearly not realizing she had said those words to make him think of the possibility of victory… He only saw the possible defeat in their future…

"Then we continue our fight. But Aang… my love… what if we win?" She steered the conversation back to the hopeful side of all the possibilities.

"If we win? Oh Katara… if we win… There is only one thing I would like… Find peace. With you. Always with you. Spirits, my love… If we would win, there is one thing I would like to do… Give you that necklace once more." Aang put his face into his hands, and she heard the sigh that came from the hidden face.

"Aang…" She put down the glass, bend forward on the chair and reached her hands out to take the long pale fingers of the airbender in hers. Pulling his hands from his face, the waterbender saw the pained expression in his eyes. As if he thought that that dream wasn't an option…

"Aang, listen to me. We will win, do you hear me? We will. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even before the comet comes… But we will, eventually. And it won't matter what the Fire Nation has threatened to do in that case. Azula won't matter, Ozai won't. We will win… And when we do… Everything will be alright."

She didn't dare say yes. What if she said it, and the Fire Nation would learn of it? Spirits, that would make everything so much more complicated… If they knew to what extent they could hurt Aang by hurting her… No, she didn't want to be responsible for that. And, even though deep in her heart… She knew it didn't matter to the airbender, but then again… Katara knew that the Fire Nation made a great distinction between "companion" and "wife".

And that distinction could mean life or death for them both.

"We will win…" His voice sounded so sure suddenly, "Eventually. That, I promise you."

Katara smiled at him. When he promised something… he kept those promises. He never went back on his word.

"And when we do, it won't matter what happened. We will only have our future in front of us." She answered.

Our future. She had said our future. Katara felt her smile widen even more, realizing that… That was exactly what she wanted. To have a future with Aang. Winning the war, restoring balance to the world, helping the people who had suffered because of the war… Those were… important. But not what she wanted to do. At least not for herself.

She just wanted that future. Their future.

His hands released her own, and she felt the long fingers softly travel up her arms, stopping just above her elbows, to travels back down towards her hands once more. Her skin prickled softly underneath his touch.

She didn't know what it was. The desperation of their situation, the fact they were able to open up about even the things that were slightly embarrassing without feeling shy… or just the fact he was Aang.

But Katara knew one thing.

This night was not over.

As his hands travelled back to her own tanned fingers, she approached his face and pressed her lips against his. It had been… so… so… long. Well, not really. They had done so before Sokka left to go to the Boiling Rock, so… A week? A little more? But still, it felt longer. Their days seemed longer, but at the same time, time was flying… So, why not life a little, as long as that was possible.

"Tara…" Aang's lips disconnected from her own, "We… If the others come back…"

"Screw them." She said, more forcefully than intended, "They knew about us… So why not?".

Indeed, why not? It was not like they would truly have another chance before the Comet. Zuko would probably train Aang until that moment, or until the moment the airbender dropped dead from exhaustion. So, why not?

Why not let it be their night? Suki had been planning the same thing with Sokka! So. Why. Not?

"We could finally do it on a bed…" She hinted. Yeah… The three… Well, three and a half… times they had done it, it had never been in the most comfortable places. On the airbender's tunic in the straw of that barn in Ba Sing Se… Then, on a thin blanket on an earthen floor in the hut… And finally, on a blanket on the rocky floor of a cave, with sand getting everywhere…

And of course… they had begun something at the Air Temple, but that had been rudely interrupted by her brother…

"The bed hmm…" Aang sounded tempted. Seriously, why was he even hesitating…

"And… There is a lock on the door…" That was the best, no? No one could even interrupt them… Even if they wanted to.

"A wooden one I hope?" The airbender's hands travelled up her arms once more, but this time, he didn't step at her elbows… No, he went further up… and up…

"Yes… Toph can't bend it open…" Maybe she had checked, alright?

"In that case, screw them." Aang whispered, and Katara had to hold in her own triumphant laugh. Spirits, he didn't swear that often… but she had begun to observe that he did… Whenever he wasn't quite as controlled as usual. When his mind was somewhere else.

She felt his hands on her shoulders and had a suspicion what he wanted to do. She was wearing her Fire Nation disguise, the one with the top under which it was impossible to wear her bindings… And indeed, she felt his fingers go underneath the strap of the top, trying to tug it down. Before he actually managed to do so, she took his hand.

"Come on!" Katara got up quickly, having forgotten the more serious part of their conversation. This was important, now! Grabbing the airbender's hands that, moments before, had been trying to remove her top, she pulled him up too and turned to the doors. A soft chittering underneath Aang's chair revealed that Momo was sitting there, munching on the sweet he had managed to sneak out of the airbender's pockets during their conversation.

Smiling because the mischievous creature, she opened the door and Aang didn't need all that convincing to follow her inside.

"Tara…" He whispered as the waterbender felt his arms come around her from behind. Turning in the embrace, she faced the airbender. Their faces were merely two or three inches away from each other…

"I love you." He whispered, making Katara smile once more.

"I love you too." She answered, quickly kissing his lips. The arms around her began to search more purposefully, and Katara could feel his fingers go underneath the waistband of his skirt.

"Can I…"

"Yes."

The skirt was pulled down and fell to the ground. Katara felt the soft air caress her legs and sighed. Finally… Finally, this was going to happen again. It felt slightly weird to just stand in her lower bindings and that crimson top, but at the same time… it was so good.

"Get that off." She lifted her hand and took off that ridiculous hat he had been wearing, tossing it into the darkness of the common room.

"Zuko sai…"

"I don't care." She interrupted him, opening the clasps of the dark vest he wore above the shirt. Katara began to shuffle backwards, towards the staircase.

"I don't care what anyone has said or done. I only want… want you…" She managed to breathe. The last clasp opened, and she let the vest slide of the airbender's shoulders. There. He was beginning to look more like himself.

"Get that shirt off." She tried to hitch it up, but after a few attempts, Aang removed his arms from around her and removed it himself. As his torso became visible, Katara could feel the slight tremble in her own knees. Spirits…. He was so… so… attractive.

Hot.

Attractive.

Hot.

There. He looked like Aang again. The tattoos were visible, and she didn't see anything remotely Fire Nation about him. She liked him this way. Even though his disguise was quite good too, but it wasn't exactly Aang.

"I'm half-naked here… That isn't quite fair…" The airbender suddenly whispered, and Katara felt a hand snake up her waist.

"Oh no, not here, Air Head!" She grinned. They needed to get to the bedroom…

"Anywhere." He whispered back, the hand going upwards. Katara quickly stepped outside his reach, turned around, and saw that they stood underneath the staircase.

"Catch me if you can!" And with that, she ran up the stairs… Followed by a laugh and light footsteps.

Answers:

Jjsmith103: Exactly, I really want to show that the Kataang is progressing from crushes to an established relationship! And indeed, Aang is the one that is getting slightly worried, so his thoughts and actions go from happy to sad rather quickly! And oh yes… the festivities will continue lol!

Indeed! I saw it in several movies, and I'm from another country then the one I live in actually. I always put my thumb up to say one, but here, they use their index. So I thought I would include that!