Hey, hey! So tis time Sokka get's a bigger appearance and I hope I'm doing okay with him. And sorry if he seems a little disrespectufl here but I figured...they are guys after all. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

"So," Sokka leaned back against the couch and grinned at Zuko, "you married our Blind Bandit."

"Yeah…," Zuko was suspicious. Sokka's grin wasn't exactly of the reassuring kind, "and? I'm sure she told you the whole story."

"Oh yeah," the Water Tribe boy nodded slowly as he took another one of the cakes that were sitting on a plate in front of the couches the two were sitting on. Toph and Katara should be coming soon and then they would do something but for now it was just him and Zuko, "I especially liked the part on how you proposed. Did you really serenade to her?"

"What??" Zuko yelled then realized he had taken the bait, "I mean, of course. If you're going to woo a lady you should do it properly."

"Woo a lady, that's a good one," Sokka chortled through a mouth full of cake.

"How's Suki?" Zuko said trying to change the subject.

"Fine, fine. So tell me," Sokka wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "have there been any…marriage type things going on between you an-" He was silenced by a pillow that hit him full in the face and he reappeared howling with laughter.

Zuko's face was bright red, "Of course not, you idiot. You know how it is." Not to mention I'd be buried alive if I tried, he added silently.

"Ah well," Sokka shrugged, "I was just thinking…Toph's growing to be quite pretty, in her own way."

"She's beautiful," Zuko said stiffly.

Now Sokka's gaze was sharp, "beautiful, eh?"

"Yeah," Zuko shifted uncomfortably.

"What else?"

"What?"

"What else is she?"

"She's strong," Zuko was confused; this seemed out of context, "confident, caring, intelligent and independent. She's fun to be around and doesn't care what people think about her. She- WHAT?"

Sokka was grinning very widely and knowledgably, "Oh man Zuko, you've got it bad. And for Toph, no less. Well, I would suggest singing-" the pillow cut of the rest of what he had been about to say and he doubled over in laughter.

- - - - - - -

It was stupid, Toph thought. It was stupid and childish and absolutely without any reason. But it didn't stop her from feeling that way. It didn't stop the hot, burning jealousy from coursing through her when Zuko hugged Katara, held her so close in his arms.

It was dumb of her to be feeling this way. She didn't want to feel this way, didn't want her heart to start beating louder every time Zuko touched her, didn't want to listen for his footsteps, didn't want to feel jealous of Katara, didn't want to need him. It made her so dependent and that, more than anything, made her angry.

But she wasn't going to let this go on, Toph told herself fiercely. She was going to stop it, to control it. She had learnt her lesson with Sokka.

Not that anything had happen with Sokka. But that was just the point nothing had happened. She had fallen for him; he hadn't seen anything in her and gone off with Suki. Heartbreak, anger, but that was all in the past now.

But you're his wife, there was the voice in her head again, whispering, you're married to him.

I'm also his friend, she answered fiercely, and apparently people just don't fall in love with their friends.

You did.

I don't count.

"Toph?" that was Katara's voice.

"Yeah?" Toph answered. She was sitting in the bedroom she shared with Zuko. Now that Iroh was sure to get better Zuko had agreed to move out of his Uncle's room and let a servant take care of the night nursing duty, though they were under strict orders to wake him if anything at all out of the ordinary happened.

Katara opened the door to the room and stepped inside. Toph was sitting on the wide double bed clutching a pillow to herself and scowling fiercely. The brown-haired girl walked hesitantly to the bed. She didn't want to do anything wrong now, "Can I sit down?"

Toph half shrugged which Katara took this as a positive answer and climbed next to her sitting cross-legged on the neat sheets. They sat in silence for a moment, Toph's fingers digging into the pillow.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Katara asked.

"I don't need you to mother me," Toph's scowled.

"Yeah, I know," Katara sighed inwardly. Toph never did want to let herself be helped, "but isn't this the kind of thing girl-friends talk about?"

Toph shrugged again, "maybe that's why I'm more of a guy-friends person."

"Unless you fall for them?" Katara asked. Maybe teasing would make her spill.

"No."

Ah, stubborn, stubborn Toph. So the direct approach. "Look Toph, I know you had a thing for Sokka and," the Waterbender ignored her friend's squawks of protest, "now this with Zuko. Why don't you just come out and admit it?"

"Shut up right now," the blind girl growled at her, "or I'll start on you and Twinkeltoes."

But Katara wasn't about to be intimidated, "All I really wanted to say was: you know that you don't have to be jealous of Zuko and me, right?"

Toph was silent for a moment, stilling trying to keep her well-meaning, meddling friend out of her business, but then she sighed, "I know."

"Then why were you?"

"I don't know!" Toph pushed the pillow away from her angrily, "I just was, okay? I can't help it."

"Toph…," Katara seemed on the verge of a sigh, "are you in love with Zuko?" The Blind Bandit remained silent, face clenching angrily. "You are," her friend continued, "come on, admit it." No reaction. "It's nothing you have to fight-"

"Fine!" Toph threw her hands in the air. There was no point in denying anything if Katara was going to be like this, "Fine, I'm in love with Zuko. And?"

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Katara's practicality could be so unnerving in situations about this.

"I don't know," Toph moaned and gripped the pillow again to bury her face in it, "leave with you and Sokka?"

Katara shoved her, "oh no you don't! You're not going to just run away from this!"

"But I can't tell him either, okay?" Toph raised her head from the pillow and there was an intensity burning in her sightless eyes, "I can't tell him and have him break my heart."

Suddenly Katara pulled her into a tight hug, holding her close to her chest. The long brown hair tickled Toph's face as she pressed it into Katara's shoulder. She wasn't going to cry, there was nothing to cry about.

"But if you don't tell him," the Waterbender's voice was soft, somewhere near her ear, "then you'll never find out if he feels the same way."

Toph gave a short laugh, her shoulders hitching up slightly. But she knew Katara wasn't going to give up. She'd made the mistake of admitting what she felt for Zuko. But maybe there was some truth in what Katara was saying. Maybe there was just a tiny chance that Zuko actually returned her feelings. Not likely, Toph thought bitterly. But she wasn't a coward. She didn't run away. She wouldn't. She would walk and face her doom and then she could run.

"Okay, I'll tell him." There was a slight pause, "But then I'll leave with you and Snoozels."

So. The next chapter is the last chapter by the way.