He was just lying there, unmoving on the hospital bed. Katara had done all she could to help, utilizing every single drop of healing knowledge she had, and still he wouldn't wake up. Why won't he wake up? Toph had had this same thought running through her head every single minute of every single day of the past week. Ever since he had collapsed. Ever since he had been poisoned. I should be out there. I should be trying to find whoever poisoned him. Yet she wasn't. For whatever reason she couldn't leave his side. It was as if a part of her was lying in that bed, and if she left that piece would be gone forever. Woah, where did that come from? I'm just worried about him, she told herself, because I care about him, as a friend… right?

She felt the others entering the unnaturally clean room, yet she didn't give any sign to indicate she knew they were there. She kept her blank blind stare focused on Aang's face. As the others gathered behind her, they couldn't help but notice Toph gripping his hand, her fingers intertwined with his. Sukki was the first to notice, and immediately pointed it out to Katara, who pointed it out to Zuko, who pointed it out to Sokka. No one said anything. No one wanted to disturb her. No one except for Sokka, who hadn't fully grasped what was going on.

"How is he?" he asked, startling Toph so badly that she jumped from her seat. She didn't say anything while she recovered from her shock. She didn't get mad. She just sat back down in the seat that was pressed next to Aang's bed and grabbed his hand again. Assuming that he wasn't going to get an answer from her Sokka leaned back against the wall, resigning himself to another silent day.

"He won't wake up," Toph said, so softly that the others had to strain to hear her. "Why won't he wake up?" she said, tears starting to run down her face. "Who would do this? Why would they try to take him away from us? Why would they try to take him away from me?" A waterfall fell from her eyes as she screamed, agony lacing her every word. "Why won't he wake up?" she said again, her voice so quiet only she could hear the words. No one said anything, even Sokka was stunned into silence. They had never seen Toph like this. Toph was never sensitive. Toph never cried.

The day crawled along at a snail's pace. A bit of idle chatter would sometimes start between Sokka and Zuko or Sokka and Sukki, but it never lasted very wrong. Everyone seemed to be lost in thought, especially Katara. No one noticed as she slipped from the room, all of them were so focused on Aang, that they didn't pay too much attention to her as she quietly left. She wandered the maze of halls that was the small hospital until she finally found what she was looking for, the exit. As she opened the door to leave, she heard someone call out to her.

"Where you going?" It was Zuko. Of course he had noticed her leave. Of course he had followed her.

"Just getting some fresh air." She said as she stood awkwardly, half her body already out the door.

"Want some company?"

"No!" she blurted out before she could stop herself. Zuko raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Sorry, no I'm okay. I just need to be by myself right now." Her sadness was palpable. Everyone around her could feel it. "You go back to the others. Let me know if anything changes."

"Okay…".

She watched as her boyfriend slowly walked back the way he had come. As soon as he turned the corner, she flew through the door, startling the other people who were also using the exit. Once she was out the door she started to walk around aimlessly. She couldn't be in that hospital any longer. She was so worried about Aang that she had thought of little else over the past week, but that wasn't the reason she had to leave. She couldn't be in the same room as her. Not when she was by his side.

It had been two years since she and Aang had broken up, and while at first it was hard for either of them to be amicable, over the span of a year they had slowly repaired their friendship, eventually bringing it back to where it had been before they had gotten together. During that time she had started dating Zuko, and for a while everything had been perfect. She was happy. She was with someone she loved, and Aang was back in her life. Unfortunately, that didn't last. Her perfect world had come crumbling down upon her when Aang was poisoned. While she had been able to heal his body and cleanse it of the poison, she had not been able to get him out of his coma. Nothing had worked, and she was out of ideas. She felt so helpless. She couldn't even do the one thing she was supposed to be an expert at, healing. And then there was Toph. It wasn't that she was jealous per say, she had moved on from Aang and was happy with Zuko, but something about seeing Toph at his bed side upset her. She hadn't been able to pin-point it until Toph had had her freak out. Until Toph had started to cry uncontrollably. Until she had cried so much that she couldn't make any more noise, so it was just a look of seer agony upon her face and tears leaking from her eyes in one continuous stream. She was bitter that it was her best friend by his side. She was bitter that her best friend seemed to care more about Aang than she did. But most importantly, she was bitter because her best friend was in love with her ex, and because she knew, that even now, Toph loved Aang more than she ever had, ever could.

The sun was setting when Katara finally returned to the hospital. As she made her way back to Aang's room she braced herself, knowing full well that Toph would be by his side. As she turned the corner and entered the corridor that contained Aang's room she was stopped in her tracks when she saw Zuko, Sokka, and Suki standing outside Aang's room. She ran as fast as she could down the hall, a sinking feeling developing deep inside her stomach. "What's wrong?" she shouted. "What happened to Aang?".

"He woke up," Zuko said calmly.

"He what?" Katara asked, a look of disbelief showing on her face.

"He woke up," he said again.

"Then why aren't we all in there? Why aren't we celebrating? And where is Toph?"

Sokka took Zukos place and answered her with one simple sentence, "He told everyone to leave… everyone except her."

No one moved during the few hours that Katara was gone. And while no one talked everyone was thinking the same thing, what if he never wakes up? Everyone but Toph. Toph hadn't given up hope yet, but that hope was decreasing every day he remained asleep. Nurses came and went as the hours filled with nothingness ticked by. It wasn't until the third hour that Katara was gone that it happened. A small groan pieced the eerie silence of the room. At first, they thought that it was one of the machines that Aang was hooked up to. Then is happened again, this time louder. Everyone's head snapped towards the bed, just on time to see Aang open his eyes.

Everyone came crashing down upon him at once, their loud voices shocking his senses and making his head pound. He couldn't even hear what they were saying. "Water" he croaked, his throat so dry after having not spoken for a week. Everyone stopped talking as they focused on the word that Aang had spoken. After a few seconds Sokka pressed a glass of water into Aang's hands and helped him lift it to his face so he could take a sip. Once he had quenched his throat to the point that it didn't feel like sandpaper, he managed to say, "Out. Keep everyone out. I need to rest. All this commotion is giving me a migraine." No one protested. Everyone had left the room when Toph started to get up from her seat. Before she could even take a step towards the door, she felt someone grab her wrist and heard a faint, "Stay," come from behind her. "What'd you say Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked a gentle voice that Aang had never heard her use before.

"Please stay with me." He said in response.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He waved his hand, prompting Toph to sit back down.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a truck," he said weakly.

Toph didn't respond. How could she? What would she say? Should she tell him how she's feeling? No, that was absurd. She was just worried about her friend. But if that were true why haven't you left his bed side? a small voice within her head questioned. Before Toph could come up with a retort to the stupid voice in her head, she heard Aang start to speak again and her full attention was back on him.

"Did you know that people in comas can hear every word that is spoken around them while they're out?"

"N-n-no," a nervous stutter started to develop when she heard this. She had said a lot of stuff over the past week that she never thought Aang would ever hear, most of it embarrassing.

"Hey, can I tell you something?" Aang asked. A small smirk emerged on his face, and it became more and more visible with each passing second.

"What is it Twinkle Toes?" Toph said dejectedly.

"No, you need to come closer, I don't want anyone else to hear." Toph leaned in to put her ear as close to his face as possible, but she never got the chance. She was too distracted by Aang's lips softly pressing against hers. She let them sit there for a few second, before she realized what was happening and pulled back faster that humanly possible. Aang looked mortified by the encounter, so mortified that he was barely able to get out an apology.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry Toph. I thought that… I mean I assumed… Because you said all those things… I'm so-".

"Shut up." Toph interrupted, cutting off his nervous apology.

"Wha—". But he never got the words out, because in that moment Toph placed her lips on his. She kissed him softly, as if she was afraid she was going to hurt him. After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds, she reluctantly pulled away from him. She slowly rose from her seat and motioned for Aang to moved over. She lay down next to him, and pulled him towards her, not wanting there to be any space between them. Unbeknownst to Aang, as well as the others, Toph had made a habit of doing this every night after the others left. Once she had wrapped herself around Aang, she looked up at him, wishing for the first time that she could see, just so she could see him and his reaction to all of this. Luckily, she soon got an answer to her question.

Aang looked down at the woman who was now lying with her head on his chest. After a moment she looked up at him with her milky eyes. He had never noticed how beautiful they were. He had never noticed how beautiful she was. Suddenly the urge to kiss her became too much. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, harder this time. It felt right. It felt like this is what he had always needed in his life, and by the way she kissed him back, he was sure she felt the same. It continued like this for a few minutes, until they finallyhad to break in order to get some air.

"That was fun," he said as he slid his arm under her, pulling her even closer to him. "Yeah, it was" a giddy look erupting on Toph's face as he started to lean down for another kiss. Unfortunately for him his lips were met by a finger that started to push against them. "You need to rest," Toph said, her tone making it clear that she wanted nothing more than to kiss him.

"But…" Aang whined, hoping that she would relent. She didn't.

"No buts Twinkle Toes. You need to rest, as do I."

"Okay, but don't even think about getting up." Toph laughed as his response. "I wouldn't dream of it Twinkle Toes," she whispered, telling by his heartbeat that he was already asleep. She followed soon after.

"What do you mean he told everyone to leave?" Katara was fuming. Why would Aang want them all out? And why would he want her in there with him? Unless… No that was impossible, surely he didn't…

Katara moved towards the door to Aang's room, despite the protests from her friends. She flung open the door and stopped. She wasn't expecting what she saw. None of them were. She stared in disbelief at the two people clinging to each other as they slept. She stared at the smiles that they both had. Then she turned on her heel and shut the door gently, leaving Aang and Toph undisturbed, bitterness welling up inside her.