Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not. -Iroh

Now

"Yes, I had a crush on Katara," Aang confirmed, his deep voice exasperated." I don't know why that is hilarious Toph."

Toph snickered and took another long swallow of fire wine. "Because, Twinkle-Toes, you were So Obvious."

Aang's cheeks heated in the dark despite the fact that he was now 24 and not 12; that he was sitting on a beach with his friends, to keep a promise that they would always find their way back to each other. That was a promise that was starting to seem like a terrible idea given the current bent of conversation.

He blew out a breath that made the fire dance. "She was, is ," he corrected, glancing at the waterbender, "beautiful, smart, and fierce. Powerful and brave. Incredibly kind. She saved my life. She was there for every hard thing that happened after I woke up. She …."

Sokka gagged, interrupting the defensive litany. "The year you two dated was the worst of my life."

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother. "We dated for one year after the war ended and that was somehow worse than the year we spent as fugitives?"

Sokka didn't even pretend to think about it. "Yes."

"And it was because we dated and not because it was the same year we traveled around with Azula?" Aang asked pointedly.

"No doubt. It was definitely because of you two kissing and calling each other sweetie." Sokka shuddered visibly. "Oogies." Sokka took a swig of his own drink as if it would cleanse his pallet of the remembered oogies.

Aang and Katara exchanged wry looks across the fire, any oddness about having dated at the ages of 13 and 15 having dissipated in the years between then and now.

"Sokka, you can't ruin this for me." Katara stretched her legs out on the sand, the pulse of the ocean like the pulse of her own blood. She felt loose and warm and lovely, such a rare feeling. "I'm pleasantly buzzed and the moon is full and if you don't shut up I'm going to dump half the ocean on your head."

Toph snorted a laugh in time with Aang.

"Cheater," Sokka grumbled.

Before Katara could retort with more than sticking her tongue out, a familiar raspy voice said, "Just like old times, I see."

"Zuko!" Sokka, Toph, and Aang cheered the Fire Lord and lifted drinks in an impromptu toast.

"Well, almost," he corrected himself wryly as he took note of the adult beverages.

It was Katara who came to her feet and went to him, sliding right into a hug. "You made it," she breathed against his ear. She was barefoot and on her tip-toes which still meant he had to bend. "And you're alone?" Now she eased back, her brow tugging in concern.

But Toph snorted. "'Course not, Sweetness. His guards are up the beach. And I bet there's a ship out there too." She pointed toward the vast sweep of ocean under the bright moon.

Zuko nodded and pulled his hands from around Katara, though hers remained looped loosely over his shoulders. "And Izumi?" Katara prompted.

"She's with Iroh, Lan took her to Ba Sing Se for the weekend." Mention of Iroh had the three by the fire shouting his name and toasting the owner of the Jasmine Dragon while Katara lifted her hand to pat Zuko's cheek.

He couldn't help but look down at her and when their eyes met she said, so surely, so sweetly, "You're such a good Dad, Zuko."

Lucky for him, his back was to the moon and cast him in shadow so none of them could see the way his cheeks warmed at the praise. "You're drunk, Katara."

"I know!" She laughed and threw her hands out to her sides, then twirled on her toes and nearly knocked him in the head. "Isn't it glorious? Young and drunk and not working!"

Toph was laughing so hard she was doubled over. It was Sokka who said, "You might want to catch up, Fire Lord," and held a bottle out to their too sober friend.

"I can't really—-"

Katara was at his side again, one hand on his shoulder and the other lifting to pinch his chin between her fingers. She turned his head down to her. "You can. Once a year. We promised."

His gold eyes stared down at the bright blue ones pinning him. They didn't look blurry to him; they looked knowing and lovely, as deep and tempting as the ocean in the moonlight. "Once a year," he murmured back to her. He took the bottle Sokka offered and, giving into drunk Katara's affectionate nature, settled with his arm around her on the other side of the fire, their backs against a log they'd drug around the weekend's fire pit.

"We may now officially begin," Aang said solemnly. They raised their drinks, glasses or bottles, "To Team Avatar!"

Then

It was the third time in as many months that there had been an attempt on Zuko's life. There were many who hated the idea of the United Republic, even though there were many more who were thankful not to have their lives turned upside down thanks to the revocation of the Harmony Restoration Movement. His friends, his family had rallied but he hated that he needed them to come, to stand between him and a fight.

After they'd descended from Appa, he bowed low and formal, but Toph wasn't having any of it. She punched him. "Hey, Hot Pants." Zuko's cheeks warmed even though by now—two years since he'd been crowned Fire Lord—his personal guards were accustomed to the earthbender's tendency to eschew protocol or even basic civilities.

Katara, ever the group elder, sighed slightly. "Fire Lord Zuko, we're so pleased to be here." She fisted a hand against an open palm and gave him a formal greeting, followed in it by Aang, Sokka (with a slight smirk), and Suki.

"Thank you all for coming. I have a lunch ready for us, but if you'd rather rest from your journey..." He trailed off, still awkward in this new role of host and national leader.

Toph snorted. "We want to eat. And figure out who's trying to kill the Fire Lord. Let's go, gang."

Katara slid her arm through Zuko's when he offered it; he felt calmer almost immediately. He'd forgotten that about her. Or maybe never fully appreciated it. Aang settled at his other side and murmured the kind of pleasantries that, from almost anyone else, would seem forced. With Aang, Zuko knew it was all genuine. The Avatar wanted to know how Ursa was doing and his sisters, yes, even Azula.

Once they were closeted in Zuko's private sitting room, Sokka broke his unusual silence. "So what are we up against and why didn't you send for us sooner?"

Zuko went to the tea and began pouring because it was an action that soothed him, one he could do, like his fire bending forms, from muscle memory alone. "I sent as soon as I needed to. Uncle and I only just realized it has to be someone on the inside." The faces around him turned grim and he felt his own mouth pull in a wry look. "An assassination attempt is weekly fare, but they've gotten too close."

Katara looked worried, her big eyes almost painfully expressive as Zuko handed her a cup. Her hand caught his wrist, cool and firm. "How close, Zuko?

He touched a hand to his ribs without thinking and Katara was immediately on her feet, passing her tea to Suki. "Let me see."

Zuko shook his head. "Katara, our healers saw to it already."

Katara's stare said clearly that she wasn't going to take no for an answer and that she had about as much faith in their healers as Sokka did Aunt Wu's predictions. He glowered back at her. Aang interrupted the staring contest, lightly touching Zuko's shoulder. "We'll all feel better if she looks." He tipped his chin in the direction of Zuko's bathing room. "We'll wait."

Annoyed, but having expected this, Zuko gave a curt jerk of his head then gestured as sarcastically as possible for Katara to precede him. She rolled her eyes and did exactly that, leading the way as if this were her home and she was in charge.

Once they were closed in the room together, Zuko moved towards the screen in the corner to change. Katara's sudden laugh stopped him. "Zuko. I've seen you in your short pants. It may have been a couple of years, but I think I can handle it."

Zuko let out a Very Zuko sigh and muttered, "There's no dignity with you people around."

"Is that peasants, waterbenders, women, or family?" She asked, unperturbed.

"All of the above," he muttered but began disrobing. When he struggled, though, Katara's amusement vanished and her hands gently brushed his aside. "I can undress myself."

"No," she said softly, "you can't. Which means your body man is dressing you, so you must trust him."

"I do." His jaw was firmed and his words curt, even though this wouldn't be the first time Katara had tended his wounds. He didn't know what about now was making him so frustrated-feeling vulnerable and exposed. She knew his secrets. She was one of his best friends. With a short huff of breath, he released some of his tension. "I do trust him and I do need the help.

Katara didn't smirk as she once might have, instead nodding encouragingly. "Good. Toph should still talk to him." She paused, lifting a hand to his robe but not touching it. "May I?" Together they maneuvered his formal robes off, leaving him in pants that clung to his sharp hips and a bandage darkened with blood. Katara didn't like the look of that at all. "How long ago did this happen?"

"The day I sent the hawk."

"Four days and it's still seeping blood?" She was talking more to herself than to him, though. She nudged him gently to the edge of his tub and had him sit. "How often are the bandages being changed?"

"Twice a day. Katara, they're taking care of me."

She made a noncommittal sound and opened a small roll with healing essentials. She didn't need much more than water but even she had limits. She cut through his bandages and eased them off. The gauzy linen stuck to his wound and her body ached with empathy as she peeled them back though Zuko did little more than furrow his brow slightly more than normal in response to the pain. "What did this?"

"Sword."

She glanced from the wound to his face, but he offered nothing else. Returning to the deep wound, to the bruising around it and scattered elsewhere on his pale skin, she ached but she didn't let him see that. She opened her water skin and pulled the water to her hands.

Zuko watched her work, feeling the familiar coolness of her healing. He shouldn't be surprised anymore, not after all the time she'd eased his wounds, starting with the lightning he'd caught for her nearly two years ago now, but he always was. Something in Katara's healing transcended knitting his skin back together. Eventually, his eyes drifted shut and he let himself get lost in the ebb and flow of her work. He didn't know how much time passed before she murmured his name, her fingers stroking lightly over his forehead. Zuko opened his eyes to find her close and intent. "I can take a deep breath," he said it softly as if he needed to whisper as if this were a sacred moment. Or an intimate one.

"Good," Katara's voice was as quiet as his and gentle. "You'd broken two ribs. It wasn't just the cut."

Trying not to lean into the fingers stroking across his brows, Zuko murmured back, "There was a fight before I got cut." She made a low sound then; Zuko felt it in his bones. Her concern warmed him straight through like a talk with Iroh over tea.

"We did good work, but I still want a bandage on that. We'll do another session later, okay?"

He wanted to argue, knew she would expect him to balk, but he already felt so much better. She didn't have to tell him infection had been threatening, he'd felt the swelling and the heat. He'd seen the sickly colors of the wound, smelled...but now it smelled different, clean. Zuko surprised them both by agreeing to another session.

As she wrapped fresh bandages around his ribs to hold the thick padding in place Zuko drifted again. Katara had such a soothing touch, her hands sure and light. It made him smile, thinking how he also knew she could slice through a man's skin with a water whip.

Katara caught the upward tilt of his mouth as she moved towards his discarded robes. "I wasn't expecting to see a smile so soon."

But Zuko shook his head and kept his own counsel.

Now

Zuko burned off alcohol faster than his companions. Knowing this quirk, they were urging him to drink twice as fast. He was pouring some into the sand at every pass to keep them appeased and Katara, the best person to have your back in a ruse, gave him a knowing look but held his secret

"What did I miss?"

"Sokka and Suki are on the outs again." Toph offered.

Sokka groaned. "She won't move to Republic City!"

"And you won't move to Kyoshi Island," Katara reminded him.

"Whose side are you on?"

Katara didn't answer, instead lifting her wine glass and drinking the last of the deep red liquid. Zuko was quick to begin pouring her another.

"Long-distance is the worst," Sokka lamented.

"That's rough, buddy," Zuko murmured and Sokka nodded companionably. "That's it though? No other news?" That hardly seemed likely given who his friends were.

Sokka smirked. "Toph's got a boyfriend and Aang has a harem."

"Uh, what?" Zuko slid a sideways glance to Katara but she was nodding vigorously, her mouth just turned at the edges and laughter gleaming in her eyes. Forgetting himself for a moment, he reached out to tuck a loose curl behind her ear, thumb stroking the ridge of her cheekbone as he did.

"I don't have a harem," Aang disagreed quickly, his cheeks warming. "The Air Acolytes..it's not…"

"It so is. Listen to this, Sparky," Toph sat forward because this story had juice. "The Air Nomads didn't get married. They had had sex with whoever they wanted whenever they wanted."

"Toph, you're making it sound sordid! It wasn't like that." Aang protested, insistent and indignant.

"And," she continued over the Airbender, "all the kids were raised by the monks. All of 'em. No one had to stop having sex because they had kids to take care of."

Aang groaned and dropped his head into both hands. Zuko wasn't sure how to respond, drifting his eagle bright gaze from Aang-clearly in distress, to Toph-clearly viciously delighted, and back again.

"You didn't explain how that makes them Aang's harem," Sokka protested, bumping Toph with his shoulder.

"I'm getting to that, Snoozles!" Toph punched Sokka's thigh, then continued. "So, now Aang has the Air Acolytes learning all about the Air Nation and they are all in on the happy fun times. And we need a new crop of Air Benders cause one isn't Balanced and the Avatar Cycle, blah, blah, blah. So, Avatar Hot Bod over there has a whole bunch of ladies and gents lining up to—-"

"That's enough," Aang interrupted finally, irritation and embarrassment clear in his voice. "The Air Nation sees relationships differently. I'm not...they're not...It just isn't like that okay. Can we drop it?"

Toph definitely didn't want to drop it but she had gained some restraint in the intervening years. A Very Little Restraint. So she chortled a laugh at his discomfort and settled back. "Sure, sure, Twinkle Toes. We got days to discuss."

"About this boyfriend," Katara prompted and gave a slight nod to the thankful Avatar as she pointed the inquiry directly at the one who'd been making him so miserable.

Toph smiled, secretive and pleased with herself. The flicker of light from the fire over that expression was just a little sinister. "What's to tell? He thinks I'm awesome. I am. We'll see what happens."

"So we're caught up on everybody but Katara and Zuko," Aang offered, knowing any more engagement about Toph's social life would deteriorate into her flipping the tables back to his harem (though, they were not a harem) or into details about her own that were a step or twelve past the line of Information It Is Okay To Share. Neither the Fire Lord nor the Waterbender offered to jump in and dish on their respective love lives, however. In fact, Katara gave him a sharp look of betrayal.

But, this was the gang and the gang was fairly inebriated so the awkward silence was really more of an awkward beat before Sokka jumped in. "I vote Zuko," slurring just a little. "Katara's love life is booooring. And I approve of that."

"Boring?" Zuko repeated, glancing down at the woman half-curled into his side. Her hair was wild around her, her eyes deep and dark. She was always more beautiful than she had been the last time. How could anything about her life be boring?

"What he means is, I don't have one. Turns out if you were romantically linked to the Avatar and the Fire Lord by the age of 18 things go pretty much one of two ways: One," She pointed a finger upward, "Why wasn't she good enough for them? Or two," a second finger darted up, "how can I be good enough for her? Makes for short relationships."

Sokka laughed. "If they even show up for the first date. Her last one was a setup and the person didn't tell him who she is. He walked into the restaurant, recognized her, and bolted!"

"Yeeeeah. That's hilarious, Sokka." Katara deadpanned just before Sokka's drink smacked him in the face; that was, in fact, hilarious to everyone else. "It doesn't even matter. I'm good. I'm fine. I'm great!" She sat up straighter, getting more insistent with each escalation. "I do not need a man in my life." She smiled, just a little slyly, "Although a harem might have its appeal."