Chapter 5: Unexpected Complications Part 1

Hey guys! Sorry I've been taking so long to write this. I've had a bit of writer's block along with not having much free time lately, but I'll try my best to put more effort into it. Also, I should mention that I'm doing something different that I've never done before in this story. I don't want to say anything about it otherwise it might give it away, but you'll see as you read. Anyway, thank you guys for being patient and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Katara slowly awoke as she felt something pressing against her arm. She was tired, however, and decided to ignore it as she laid her head back down on Aang's chest. Another jab at her arm made her groan in annoyance as she sunk further into Aang's embrace, but the poking just continued as she tried to go back to sleep. After finally having enough, she sat up tiredly and looked at the intruder and realized that she had been caught as she looked at Toph. "Toph? What are you doing here?" she asked tiredly, hoping that Toph wouldn't notice Aang on her bed.

Toph snorted with a roll of her eyes. "Oh please, Sugar Queen. The real question is what are you doing in bed with Twinkle Toes over there?" she shot back.

"Twinkle Toes?" Katara asked in confusion, so bewildered at the name that Toph had chosen for him she had forgotten to worry about being caught.

"He's really light on his feet," she explained as she gestured to him. "I could barely read his footsteps on the ground, so I'll call him Twinkle Toes."

Katara let out a long sigh and rolled her eyes. "Okay, what do I have to do to keep you quiet about this?" she asked, a little scared at what Toph would demand.

Toph smiled sheepishly. "Well… Sokka already knows." Katara's eyes widened in shock. "Before you go all 'What?! How does he know?!'" she mimicked in her voice, she walked out of the room and brought along her boyfriend who she had promptly knocked out.

"What did you do to him?" Katara asked curiously as she noticed her brother breathing softly. A loud snore came from him before he resumed his regular breathing.

"I just hit him on his head with my fist," she shrugged. Katara looked at her in confusion. "I'm an Earthbender, Sugar Queen. I'm a strong girl," she explained with another shrug.

Katara laughed a little despite the situation. She never imagined Sokka would get a girlfriend who was stronger than him. Then again, she supposed everyone was stronger than him. "Wow, that's impressive," she admitted before she remembered that her brother would likely flip out. "What are we going to do?" she whispered, not wanting to wake either of the guys up. "Once Sokka wakes back up, he's going to freak out."

"Well, for starters I'll make sure that he can't talk," she told her as she took some Earth from her pocket and made it into a muzzle which she promptly put on Sokka's mouth, making Katara laugh a little as he continued snoozing. "And then when he wakes up, he'll have to hear you out before we'll allow him to talk, I guess," she shrugged.

Katara took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay… I guess that's all we can do."

"So," Toph started with a smirk. "You get lucky last night?" Katara glared at her, but it fell upon blind eyes. Literally, Katara thought with a little laugh before she resumed her glare.

"No. Nothing happened last night," Katara assured her as she looked over to Aang with a smile. "He just came up and talked for a little bit before we fell asleep."

Toph smirked and rolled her eyes. "And would you mind telling me how this happened in the first place? No wonder you seemed so eager to let them stay here. You wanted your boyfriend to stay the night," she teased with a smirk.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Look, it's a long story. Let's just say that… we talked it out and decided that we have feelings for each other," she whispered, still trying her best not to wake anyone else up.

"You don't have to decide anything, Sugar Queen," Toph snorted as she pointed down at her feet. "I can feel your heartbeat through the floor. It's pretty much off the charts whenever he's around."

Katara smiled sheepishly and looked over to Aang with a blush. "Yeah, I guess so. Wait. You knew that I liked him and you didn't say anything about it?" she asked in bewilderment.

Toph snorted with nod. "Yeah. I'm not a snitch. Besides, I didn't know that you guys were doing anything about it. I figured you two just would end up sneaking looks at each other and accidentally flirt with each other and stuff like that."

"Yeah, that's probably how it would have gone if we hadn't talked about it," Katara laughed a little as she looked back over to her boyfriend. "It's not like we meant for it to happen, but… we're together now, and Sokka's just going to have to deal with it."

"Whatever you say Sugar Queen," Toph simply shrugged with a yawn before she felt her boyfriend start to wake. "Though you might want to make your explanation good, because he's waking up right now."

Katara felt a wave of fear roll off her, but she pushed it down and started waking up her boyfriend. "Aang," she whispered into his ear. "Aang, wake up."

Aang let out a long yawn, making her smile at how cute he was as he sat up and looked around. "Hey," he greeted her with a tired smile. Looking past Katara, he saw Toph there and his eyes widened. "Does she…" he whispered.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Katara whispered back before she pulled him over to the edge of the bed and took his hand in hers. "My brother found out too."

His eyes widened in complete surprise with a noticeable amount of fear. "What?! How did he find out?" Katara looked to Toph who shrugged.

"For some reason," Toph started. "He was awake and decided to come talk to you, but then he walked in and found you snuggled up against Twinkle Toes there. If I hadn't knocked him out, he probably would have passed out," she half-joked.

"Yeah," Katara agreed with a sigh. "Probably." She shook her head and got back to business as she turned to Aang. "He's apparently going to wake up any second, so we're just going to have to tell him."

Aang assessed the situation and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess we'll have to." He laughed a little as he remembered something. "I guess he's smarter than I thought."

Katara shook her head. "Nope, you're still right. He just happened to walk in at the wrong time. That doesn't make him smart," she assured him, making laugh again with a kiss on her cheek, making her smile before she turned back to her brother who was finally awakening. They all waited there in silence, wondering what exactly he would do, or try to do since he was gagged and being held back by his girlfriend, anyway. As his eyes fluttered open, he looked around until his eyes settled on Aang and Katara's joined hands.

"Mmmphhmm!" he yelled into the muzzle. "Mmmpphhmmmmmmmm!"

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother. "Sokka, calm down. Just let me explain, okay?"

"Mmmpphmmm!" he tried to speak angrily, but could not the muzzle on his face. Realizing that, he let out a frustrated sigh and didn't speak.

"Thank you," Katara laughed a little before she became serious again. "So, where to start…"

"How about when you and Twinkle Toes started doing it?" Toph joked, making Sokka's eyes widen angrily as he glared at Aang who gulped nervously.

Katara glared at Toph before she looked back to her brother. "Sokka, nothing happened," she assured him. "He just came up here last night and we talked for a little bit and fell asleep. Nothing happened," she repeated herself to make sure he knew.

His eyes didn't lessen in anger for a few moments, but he took a deep breath and slowly nodded, indicating that he believed her. "Good. Now, I should probably explain what happened, but you have to promise that once I'm done explaining that you won't freak out, okay?"

Sokka didn't look like he was going to agree. "Okay?" she asked more forcefully. He let out a long sigh and nodded reluctantly. "Okay. Well…" she looked over to Aang with a smile. "It started when I went out on my walk last night. He found me and we decided we needed to talk After getting to know each other a little more, I guess we decided to be together," she finished with a shrug.

Sokka tried speaking, but his muzzle was still on. Katara sighed a little. "I'll miss not having to hear my brother talk," she joked to Aang, making him laugh before she returned her attention to Toph. "Go ahead."

Toph nodded and took his muzzle off, finally allowing him to speak. He was silent for a few moments, deciding on what to say. After a few more moments, he finally decided to speak. "Are you crazy?" he whispered angrily. "You're going to date the guy who has orders to kill you? What are you thinking, Katara?"

"Sokka, relax," Katara sighed with a roll of her eyes. "He's not going to kill me. Right, Aang?" she asked as she turned to him.

"Of course not," he laughed a little and kissed her cheek, making her smile as she leaned against him with his arms wrapped around her.

"See?" she gave Sokka a smug look. "We really like each other. He's not going to do anything."

Sokka rolled his eyes. "He could be lying, Katara! What if he's doing all this just to get you to let your guard down so he can complete his mission?"

Katara was about to snap back at her brother, but she realized that he may be right. What if that was what Aang was trying to do? But that wouldn't make sense, because he could have ended her in the jungle. She looked over to Toph. "You can tell when people are lying, right?"

Toph nodded with a snort. "You bet, Sugar Queen. I'm a human lie detector."

She looked back over to Aang with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but if it makes Sokka feel better, then would you mind if you said that you like me and don't want to kill me? Someone here," she looked over to Sokka and tried to hide her doubt, "doesn't believe me."

"Of course not," Aang smiled warmly at her, making her smile back before he looked over to Toph. "I really like Katara. She's the most kind, beautiful, and amazing girl I've ever met. I don't want to kill her. I never really wanted to in the first place, anyway. I was just doing what I was told."

Toph read his heartbeat and nodded. "Yeah, he's telling the truth," earning Aang a kiss on the cheek from Katara since he was being truthful about what he thought of her. Though she didn't want to admit it, Katara had truly been worried for a second. Even if it wouldn't have made logical sense, there was always that doubt in her mind that made her question if something was true or not. It had been mostly a thorn in her side, but every once in a while it proved to help.

"See?" she repeated smugly with a smirk at her brother. "Aang doesn't want to hurt me, so do you think you can not be angry if we let you go?"

Sokka was silent for a few moments, making Katara annoyed that he couldn't do this simple thing for her before he let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine," he grumbled. "Just let me go. I swear I won't get angry." Katara smiled and nodded to Toph who nodded and let the Earth restraining him go, making him sigh in relief as he felt the circulation restart in his body. "You couldn't think of a better way to restrain me?" he complained as he felt his sleepy limbs start waking up.

Toph snorted and punched him in the arm. "Sorry Snoozles, I was kind of pressed for time."

Katara laughed a little and smiled as Aang kissed her head, feeling completely at ease in his arms. Sokka glared over in Aang's direction, making the Peacekeeper gulp a little and wait to see what he would do. He slowly rose to his feet and walked over to stand in front of the couple, Katara glaring at him and Aang looking like he might pass out. Without another word, Sokka leaned over and looked Aang dead in the eyes.

"Now," he began with the protective fire in his eyes. "I know I can't do anything to get my sister to not date, but I can still warn you. If you hurt my sister, I will maim you and feed you to my pet wolf. Got it?" he poked Aang in the chest menacingly.

Aang had never nodded so quickly before in his life.

"Good," Sokka smirked, feeling satisfied at his reaction before he started walking out of the room. "I'll be watching you two," he called over his shoulder before he was finally out the door.

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother. Even as an adult, he still couldn't just let her live her life without having to threaten her boyfriend. She smiled as she thought about it. I have a boyfriend, she thought happily. Although she hadn't really thought about it before, she had always had a kind of loneliness that she had dismissed as missing her mother. But now her loneliness had lessened, and she realized that it was the void of romantic love in her life that had been causing her to feel that way. Though she knew that she would be perfectly fine on her own, she enjoyed the fact that she had someone. "Sorry about that," she apologized as she looked up to him. "He's always been protective over me."

"It's alright," Aang assured here with a smile. "I understand. If I had a sister as beautiful as you, I would probably be protective over her too." Katara blushed and smiled up at him before leaning up to capture his lips, reveling in the sweetness of them as Toph coughed into her fist, making them split apart with heavy blushes as they were reminded of the blind Earthbender.

"Well now that you guys are done making kissy faces," she taunted with a smirk. "I'm assuming that you don't want your friends to know about this?" she asked Aang. He nodded, then remembered that she wouldn't be able to see it.

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind," he spoke to her softly, hoping his friends hadn't woken up yet. "I plan on telling them eventually, but now's not the time."

Toph snorted a little and shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say Twinkle Toes," she replied with a laugh and promptly walked out the door, leaving Aang with a confused look.

"Twinkle Toes?" he asked in utter bewilderment.

Katara laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah, she said she's going to call you that because you're so light on your feet," she explained with a grin.

Still looking confused, Aang nodded slowly and thought about it. "Okay… I guess she can call me that. Does she come up with nicknames for everyone?" he wondered.

"I'm not sure about everyone," Katara said thoughtfully. "But she has for you, me, and my brother, so I can only assume she does it for all her friends."

"I guess so," he smiled before he kissed her again. Letting out a long sigh, he got up from her bed, making her pout as she missed being in his arms. "As much as I don't want to, I should get back downstairs so my friends don't get suspicious."

Katara nodded sadly. "Yeah… I guess you should." She stood up and kissed him again, not wanting to let him go without getting another taste. After a few moments, they slowly pulled apart and smiled at each other. "So when can we do this again?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well… if we're not out on a mission tonight, then I can sneak up here," he offered.

"Great," she smiled and kissed him again. "I'm looking forward to it." He smiled in return and they kissed one last time, not wanting to let the other go, but Aang knew he had to back before his friends woke up. Finally making himself pull away, he smiled at her as she smiled back.

"Bye," he said with a goofy smile on his face, making her heart flutter like a bird.

"Bye," she smiled happily back before he finally was out of the room. She flopped onto her back and stretched across her bed, completely unable to hide the huge smile on her face. Even if they had only been dating for not even a full day, she was so happy whenever she was with him. Something about him just made her feel… alive. Something that made her happier than she had ever been. Almost like she… No. She couldn't possibly love him yet, could she? Not only had they just met, they had only started dating the night before. There was absolutely no way she loved him already. Right?

Shaking these thoughts from her mind, she decided to get some more sleep, knowing they had a long day ahead of them.

Aang crept his way down the stairs and was relieved to see Suki and Zuko still asleep together, making him laugh as Suki was completely sprawled over Zuko. It amazed him how all it took sometimes was the right encouragement and a couple could become real. Grinning at his friends, he laid back down on the ground and pretended to be asleep. It proved to be a wise decision too, as his friends woke shortly after.

Suki sat up with a long yawn before she looked over to her boyfriend and then to her friend. Deciding they had all slept long enough, she got up and nudged Zuko, making him groan until he finally woke up. Satisfied with her work thus far, she turned to Aang who was still pretending to be asleep. Smirking a little, she crouched down and looked over to make sure that Zuko wasn't looking and kissed Aang's cheek, making him inwardly roll his eyes before she started poking him in his gut. Letting her do it a few more times, he finally decided to 'wake up'.

"What?" he asked with a fake yawn as he sat up and stretched, doing his best to pretend like he had just woken up. Fortunately for him, one of the many things that his agency had taught him since he was young was to give a believe performance, and this was certainly no exception.

"Come on. You need to wake up," Suki whispered to him. "We need to figure out what the plan for today is." He nodded slowly and rubbed his eyes, making her satisfied before she returned her attention to her boyfriend who was once again sleeping. Rolling her eyes, she once again nudged him until he was awake.

"Huh?" Zuko murmured tiredly as he sat up and stretched, making Suki smile a little at her boyfriend. The word was still sort of foreign to her, as she had never had one before, but she was happy with him. They had always been good friends, so it wasn't too surprising to her that she was dating him. "What's up, Suki?"

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Come on, Zuko. We need to get ready for the day. There's a lot we need to work out before we go out and do some recon." His tired eyes glanced at her and then Aang before he nodded slowly, though not without letting out another yawn.

"Okay, if you say so," he agreed while getting up and stretching, his hair a complete mess from the static being against the couch had given him. Suki laughed a little and smoothed it over, making him smile at her as they stared into each others' eyes.

Aang laughed a little at his friends and put his jacket on. "Come on, let's go see if they're awake yet," he gestured for them to follow as he led the way upstairs where Katara, Sokka, and Toph were all talking. Katara was the first one to notice them and smiled at him to which he smiled back before she noticed his friends behind him, quickly resuming her fake indifference. "Hey guys," he waved to them as they reached the top of the stairs.

Katara smiled again against her better judgement but quickly shut it down, letting out a secret sigh of relief as his friends didn't seem to notice. "Hey," she nodded to him. "Should we take this downstairs?"

"Sure," he nodded back to her as they turned around and went downstairs and sat down at the table in the center of the building. Despite the building being made for a few people, there were conveniently enough chairs for everyone to sit in as Aang sat next to Katara, who sat next to Suki who surprisingly sat next to Sokka with Toph and Zuko to his right. Aang wondered Suki had chosen not to sit next to her boyfriend, but Zuko didn't seem offended by it and shrugged it off.

"So," he started as he folded his hands and looked to his right at Katara who had to hold herself back from kissing him from how cute he looked. "Now that we're going to be working together, we should plan out our first steps. Any suggestions?"

Suki decided to speak up. "We should do some recon. That way we know what we're dealing with and can figure out how to get in there."

Aang didn't look like he was very happy about Suki interrupting Katara, but Katara gave him a quick reassuring smile, so he eased back into his normal demeanor. "Yeah, she's right," Katara agreed as she looked at Suki and then back to Aang. "We should split up and look around the perimeter to see if we can't find a hole in their defenses."

"Or an area where we can create one," Sokka put in, making Suki look at him with a smile.

"Hey that's what I told Aang last night," she laughed a little as he laughed in return before they both remembered themselves and looked back to their leaders. The other four gave them all questioning looks, but eventually let it drop as they got back to the topic at hand.

"Anyway," Katara continued with a weird look at her brother who simply shrugged in response. "We should split up into teams to cover more ground. And this way we can learn to trust each other more."

Zuko childishly raised his hand, making Aang chuckle. "Yes, Zuko?" he asked with a grin.

He smiled sheepishly and put it down. "No offense to you guys or anything, but why do we need to trust you? After this mission is over, we'll probably end up going back to being enemies," he pointed out, clearly still having no clue about Aang and Katara, much to their relief.

"We don't know that for sure," Aang argued with a look over to Katara who looked a little worried. "Maybe by the time the mission is over, maybe my agency and her agency can be friends again. Until then, though, we have to at least act like we're not enemies. It's the only way this is going to get done."

"Okay," Zuko shrugged before he relaxed again.

Aang laughed a little and returned his attention to Katara. "So, what did you have in mind for splitting up on teams?"

Suki gave him a weird look. "Isn't it obvious? You, me, and Zuko go on one end while the others go on the other end," she said as if it was obvious.

Letting out a long sigh, he shook his head at her. "No Suki, like I said, we need to build trust in each other. The only way we're going to be able to do that is if we work together." He turned back to Katara with the most serious look he could muster. "What were you thinking?"

She pretended to think about it for a moment, despite already having had the answer for several minutes. "Well… to make sure that we get along and all… we should probably have one person from each group go together."

Everyone else's eyes widened in surprise as Aang nodded in pretend thought. "Okay, that could work," he agreed before he looked back to her. "So who goes with who?" he wondered, hoping she would say what he was hoping for.

"Well... since we're the leaders of our groups, you and I should probably go together to build our trust in each other," she responded as nonchalantly as she could, making Sokka roll his eyes at her idea. "Then to make sure everyone else gets along, I'd say Toph go with… Zuko, right?" she asked, to which Aang nodded. "Okay, then Sokka can go with… Suki?" she asked again to which he nodded to once again.

"Yeah, that could work," he decided before he turned back to the group. "Do you guys think you could do that?"

They were all silent for a few moments, somewhat hesitant to spend time with these strangers, but they knew there was no getting out of it, so they let it go as they nodded in acceptance. "Great," Aang smiled and looked back to Katara. "Looks like we've got a plan. How about Sokka and Suki take the East side of the Fortress, Zuko and Toph on the West side and We'll check the back?" he questioned her fake-seriously.

She saw right through his fake seriousness and nodded with equally fake seriousness. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." She looked at the time and saw that it was already approaching noon. "Okay you guys, go get your gear and head out to your assigned location. We'll all get in contact once we've reached our spots."

"We're going to be a little longer," Aang broke in with an apologetic smile to Katara. "I need to grab something from our base, so we'll be running a little late."

"Okay," Sokka shrugged, shooting him a secret warning glare when he was sure no one else would be able to notice. Aang could practically read his face. He might as well have been holding up a sign that read, Don't get any funny ideas with my sister. Aang just gave him a nod, afraid anything else would betray the fear that was coursing through his veins. Satisfied with the evident fear on his face, Sokka and Suki along with Zuko and Toph started making their way out of the base, much to Aang's relief. Once he was sure they were gone, he looked over to Katara with a smile. "Well, if nothing else at least they'll hopefully learn to trust one another."

She smiled right back at him as she walked up and took his hand in hers. "I'm sure they will. Sokka and Toph might be a little headstrong, but they're easy to get along with… for the most part." Aang laughed, making her laugh as they enjoyed each others' presence.

"I guess so," Aang finished laughing and grinned. "How about we go to my base and then we'll go see if we can't find a way inside?"

"Sounds good to me," she smiled again and allowed him to lead the way out the door. As they walked, she couldn't help but be reminded about what had been on her mind earlier. She knew she liked Aang… a lot, if she was being honest with herself. But there was no way she could love him… right? Granted, she had heard about stories where two people fell in love at the first sight of each other, but surely that was just for stories, not the real world. Though no matter how much she tried to push it down, she couldn't help but wonder if she really did love him. She had never been in love before. Hell, she had never even liked a boy before, so she had no point of reference to go on. No. Now's not the time for this, she chided herself in her mind. First get this mission done, and then you can worry about whether you love him or not.

"Katara?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to see him with a concerned face, touching her heart at how much he obviously cared for her already. "Yeah, Aang?"

"I tried talking to you, but you didn't seem to hear me," he told her as concern only grew on his handsome features. "Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she gave him a reassuring smile. "Sorry, I was just thinking a little bit."

"What were you thinking about?" he asked curiously as they continued walking, pausing when they heard a strange noise behind them, but resumed walking once they were sure that nothing was there.

She laughed nervously and looked down at her feet. "Um… nothing?" she asked more than answered. He didn't believe her for a second. "Nothing important," she amended. "It's just something silly. I promise."

He still looked concerned and a little suspicious, but he simply shrugged and smiled at her. "Okay, if you say so. If you ever want to talk, I'll always be here for you. I've been told that I'm a good listener, so if you ever have anything you want to get off your chest, just let me know."

Katara smiled back and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Aang. That means a lot to me. Not even my own brother would be willing to do that for me."

"Hey, it's no problem," he replied with a grin, making her heart flutter as she stared into his eyes. "That's what I'm here for." They both smiled at each other and were so lost in each others' eyes, Aang did not notice the fallen branch in his path, not-so-coincidentally causing him to fall on his face.

A laugh escaped her lips as she quickly covered her mouth, trying her best not to laugh at her boyfriend. "Sorry," she apologized with a sheepish smile. "But you should've seen the look on your face when you tripped."

He fake gasped and put a hand over his heart, overly exaggerating being offended. "How dare you? I'm sure that I looked brave as I fell," he said in a clearly-joking tone.

She giggled a little and offered her hand. "Come on, how about I help you up Mr. Brave?" He reached out to grab her hand, but not without an evil plan forming in his mind. Katara noticed the evil smirk that found its way onto his face. "What are you thinking?" she asked suspiciously. His smirk remained in place as he finally took hold of her hand, but instead of pulling himself up as she expected him to, he pulled her down with him, eliciting a shriek as she landed on his chest. "Hey!" she complained with a playful slap on his shoulder. "That's not funny!"

"Yes it is," he smirked.

"No!"

"No!" he said while inching his face closer to hers, making her will to fight crumble as he grew closer and closer.

"Yes!" she replied distractedly, making him grin in triumph as his lips were centimeters from hers.

"What's wrong Katara?" he asked as his hot breath was on her face, sending shivers down her spine as she found herself completely captivated by him. "Cat got your tongue?"

She would have responded, but she found that she couldn't. The only thing on her mind right now was that his lips were so close, if she could just lean in the rest of the way… Deciding to do just that, she attempted to close the gap between them, but Aang had other ideas. Without another word, he started tickling her stomach, making her shriek with laughter as he flipped them over and tickled her mercilessly, making her laughter ring throughout the jungle as his attack continued.

"Aang!" she begged through her tears. "Please! Stop!" More fits of giggles prevented her from continuing her pleading, especially with the need for air becoming more and more desperate. Seeing this, Aang finally relented and stopped tickling her, allowing her to take a deep breath and for her head to regain its bearings. Once she was finally back to normal, she playfully glared at him. "I'm going to get you back for that," she warned him.

He simply smirked in reply. "Oh yeah? How do you plan on doing that?" She smirked as well and flipped them over, not wasting a second and started tickling him. His laughs made her smile. He had one of the most beautiful laughs she had ever heard. So full of joy and mirth, as if nothing could ever make that laugh go away. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" he spoke through his laughter, doing his best not to let the tears flow. "Will you please stop?"

"Why should I?" she asked with a smirk. "You didn't stop when I asked you to. What's stopping me from doing this for as long as I want?" She gave him a challenging look, knowing that he was completely at her mercy. She didn't, however, notice that Aang had another plan in mind.

Without another word, Aang reached up and started kissing her neck, making her gasp and then moan as he kissed his way down to her collar bone where he started nibbling, making her moan loudly as he worked on her. Once he was satisfied that she was completely under his control, he flipped them over and leaned his face centimeters from her lips, making her amazed at how badly she wanted to taste his lips. "What was that?" he asked fake-curiously, a proud grin on his face as Katara finally realized what had happened.

"Hey!" Katara complained, though not as much as she wanted to due to the fact that he was still so close, making her unable to think clearly. His scent, an odd mix of air and pinewood, flooded her system and made her lose herself as she struggled to regain herself. There was nothing she could do, however, as she found that no matter how much her brain resisted, every other part of her wouldn't let up. "You… you can't just…" she finished weakly, staring into his eyes.

"How about we call a truce?" he offered, not wanting to 'fight' with her anymore. The part of her that was a fighter didn't want to give up so easily without making him pay a little more, but the part of her that was completely entranced by him won out as she nodded in agreement. "Good. Because I'd much rather be doing this," he told her with a smile before he leaned down and captured her lips, making her head swim as she kissed him back roughly, not being able to get enough of the feeling he gave her. After a few moments, they reluctantly pulled apart and smiled at each other. "See? Isn't that better than tickle fights?"

She smiled again and kissed him. "Yeah, it is… but I'm still going to get you back for that, just so you know," she warned him.

He just laughed and kissed her again, making her sink back into that amazing feeling he gave her before he pulled away, making her want to reach back up and bring his lips to hers once again. "Whatever you want, Katara. Whatever you want." She smiled again and allowed him to pull her up before they continued walking towards his base. After a few more minutes of walking, they finally arrived as Aang opened the door and gestured for her to come in with him. She nodded and followed him in as two robotic animals came running up to him, tackling to the ground as they nuzzled him affectionately.

"Hey guys," he laughed as Appa started licking him, making Aang surprised at how real his tongue felt. Fortunately for him, though, it didn't leave any slobber like a real dog would. "Sorry we kind of left you guys here. You guys want some food?"

Appa barked and wagged his tail while Momo simply chriped. He smiled and walked over to the kitchen and opened the cabinet, pulling out some oil that he had found and refilled each of them. Satisfied with his work, he put the oil away as Appa and Momo finally noticed Katara. Appa growled, making Katara nervous before Aang came back and pet Appa until he calmed down.

"Appa, relax," he ordered while stroking his head. "She's a friend, not an enemy." Appa continued to growl as Aang remembered that Katara was officially marked as the enemy of the Winds. "Appa, activate protocol 35." Appa did as he was told and a panel came out of his side. After a few moments of uploading some info into his system, Aang closed the panel and allowed the info to go through Appa's matrix. Once it was finally completed, Appa stopped growling and walked up to nuzzle against Katara.

"This is my dog Appa," Aang gestured to the dog with a smile. "And this," he pointed to the Hawk who was staring at Katara with emotionless eyes, "is Momo."

Katara smiled and pet them both. "Hi Appa and Momo. I"m Katara." Appa barked and tackled her, licking her roughly as she laughed, making Aang smile at his girlfriend and his dog.

"Looks like he likes you," he laughed a little before he remembered what they had to do. "Come on guys, let's go!"

Katara looked over at him in confusion. "We're going now?"

"Yeah," he nodded with an equally confused look on his face. "Why?"

She blushed a little and looked away, making him smile at how cute she was. "Well… I thought we were coming her first to have some… alone time together."

He blushed a little and smiled at her. "I think we got that alone time on the ground earlier, don't you think?"

"I guess so," she laughed before she nodded. "Okay, let's go then." She attempted to start walking out the door, but before she could get the chance, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her roughly, making her moan against his lips as she kissed him back, loving the sweet taste of his lips. After a few moments, they reluctantly pulled apart and smiled. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly.

"Well, you wanted some alone time, right?" he shrugged. She simply nodded. "Well, here's a little more alone time," he grinned.

She laughed a little and looked at the animals behind them. "I would hardly call this alone time, but I'll take what I can get." He laughed and kissed her again, making her sigh in contentment as her arms wrapped around his neck with his around her waist. After a couple minutes of kissing, Appa barked, snapping them back to reality as they pulled apart.

"We should probably get going," he told her breathlessly, not wanting to, but knowing that there was work to be done.

She let out a long, disappointed sigh and nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on. Let's get out of here." He took her hand with a smile and led the way as they walked out of the base and made their way to their spot. "I wonder how everyone else is doing?" she wondered.

"I have no clue," Aang laughed, making her laugh as well as they walked, not knowing that something they would never have expected was happening as they spoke.