A/N

Thank goodness for good composers. All hail Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, and Klaus Badelt!

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Folle, who's been an avid reviewer of mine since the wee chapters of Rising from the Mist. Folle has had the maturity that most of us only dream of having, and I greatly respect each review she (or he… I don't know… heh, my apologies, Folle) gives. Thanks for sticking with me!

xxx

Katara fell asleep against Zuko's shoulder just as the moon rose directly above them. Zuko stayed awake, watching over Katara and letting his eased mind wander through various thoughts. Finally, his eyes drooped close and he ebbed into sleep.

Bright rays reached his cheeks as the sun rose above the crowns of the houses of Ba Sing Se. Zuko jerked awake. He shook Katara until her own eyes focused on his own.

"What…" She glanced at the sun, a smile forming on her lips. "We didn't miss it."

"No," Zuko answered softly, pulling her to her feet and leaning her against him. "We didn't."

She tore her eyes from the blaze of color and studied Zuko's concerned face. "What is it?"

"If you don't want to tell them about… us… Then I suggest we go inside and pretend like this never happened."

Katara swallowed uneasily. "I'm not sure I want to just… forget about it-."

"We won't." Zuko shook his head. "We won't, but according to them, we were in our beds the entire night innocently sleeping the night away…"

Katara frowned, taking his hand that was holding her elbow. "I wish it didn't have to be this way… I'm sorry."

"It's not your-."

"It is my fault." She kissed him lightly, lingering close to his face to savor the bright amber light of his eyes. "And I'm sorry."

Somewhere from within the apartment a door slid open, and Zuko started, flicking his eyes nervously inside the abode. He relaxed slightly as he saw his uncle pass through the hall into the bathroom, unaware of his nephew cradling Katara on the balcony.

Zuko turned back to Katara and embraced her briefly, wishing it could last longer.

"I won't ever forget." Katara murmured, then slipped into the apartment and rushed to her room.

xxx

"Hey, sunshine, wake up." Sokka nudged Zuko's foot again.

Zuko opened one eye. "What?"

"Why are you in the lounge, anyway?" Sokka looked around him. "Isn't your own bed good enough?"

"Couldn't sleep." Zuko muttered, bringing his knees to his chest to cradle his head.

"Good morning, everyone!" Aang said cheerily, seating himself at the table and digging into breakfast. "How did you sleep?"

They'd kill me… Zuko thought numbly. They'd kill me if they knew.

He crawled over to the table, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Sokka sat opposite from him, grabbing a few tarts from the stack and piling it onto his plate. He eyed Zuko.

"I slept alright, Aang. Thanks. How about you, Zuko?" Sokka took a bite of tart. "How'd you shleep?"

Iroh emerged from the hall, stretching his arms before sitting at the head of the table. Zuko swallowed uneasily.

"I didn't sleep very well."

"Why's that?" Aang asked.

"Um… I was just… thinking, I guess."

"Uh-huh." Sokka snorted. "I don't trust that answer."
Aang rolled his eyes. "It's a little early to start the paranoia, Sokka."

Katara finally rushed in, tucking the free strands of hair into her bun. She looked worried until she saw Zuko, then her shoulders relaxed and she smiled. He returned a small grin.

"Good morning," Katara muttered to everyone, padding to Zuko's side of the table and folding herself up beside him.

"Morning, Katara." Aang answered brightly.

"Mor-." Sokka froze and extended a shaking finger towards Zuko and Katara. "What's that?"

Katara frowned, looking wildly between herself and Zuko. "There's nothing-."

"Knees." Sokka growled.

Zuko glanced down to see their knees brushing and looked back up at the boy pointing to them. "What?"

"They… are… touching!"

"Get over it." Zuko said angrily, returning to his breakfast.

Sokka twitched and sputtered in quiet, but obvious, pain at his observations, until finally he gave up looking for any sympathy.

xxx

"Aang."

"What? I'm kind of busy, Sokka. Can't you tell Iroh?"

"He went out in the market." Sokka huffed. "You and I have to talk about something extremely important!"

Aang sighed. "I told you yesterday, I'm not letting you do anything with Momo's tail!"

"No, no, forget the tail! This could affect the entire future of the world!"

Aang finally jerked up from his scroll and stared at Sokka, fully attentive. "What?"

Sokka glanced over his shoulder, inspecting the empty hall behind him. He leaned closer to Aang. "I think Zuko is acting normal!"

Aang's face fell. "Why is that important?"

"Because Katara is normal, too! Two normals make… make… Bad!"

Aang leaned back against the wall, unconcerned. "Sokka, would you say I'm normal?"

"No."

Aang frowned. "Okay, suppose I am! Would Katara and I make 'a bad'?"

Sokka scratched his chin, thinking. "I don't know. You're a little short."

"I'm still growing!" Aang flushed.

"Anyway, if you ever want anything to ever happen with you and my sister, I suggest you follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"Listen, no offense Aang, but I'm the plan guy, okay? You, the action guy, get filled in when you need to be… You don't necessarily need to be filled in right now."

xxx

"It seems… surreal." Katara sighed.

Zuko shrugged, raising her hand clasped in his up with his arm. "It doesn't to me, but I've also had awhile to think on it."

"Sokka jumped on us this morning."

"I know."

They stopped in front of the apartment. In little less than an hour they'd circled the entire block searching for an answer to their dilemma in the swirling crowds of the city, but to no avail. They'd succeeded in gawking at each other once in awhile, a short kiss at the northeast corner of the block, and passing a few comments that might lead to a discussion of Aang and Sokka but never got too far.

Katara stepped closer to Zuko, hoping that his military strategist mind might rub off on her. "We need a plan."

"I know."

"Please say more than just 'I know'."

"Okay."

"Zuko!"

"Look, I'm trying to think, Katara, and all I can come up with is that however we tell them it won't end picturesque."

"Is there blood involved?"

Zuko scowled. "Mine."

"Then scrap it. There's a way to resolve this peacefully, we just have to find it."

"Well, it's not on this block."

Katara rubbed her temple with her free hand. "What would be the consequences if we just told them our story?"

Zuko shook his head. "I'd rather not… What if we 'accidentally' had them find out?"

"That would be even worse."

"…Well, what if we staged it? What if we re-fell in love?"

"That's…" Katara froze, eyes widening. "That's brilliant! We can 'confess' while still 'falling'!"

Zuko smiled, pleased. "So we'll do that?"

"Yes…" Katara searched his eyes, wondering. "Yes, we'll do that." She stood on tiptoe and caught his lips with hers. "You're quite the thinker."

xxx

"Maybe it was…a…" Aang gulped, hoping that his gaping mouth wasn't spilling drool down his shirt.

"A mutiny?" Sokka growled, fingers gripping the balcony railing so hard his knuckles were a blur of white.

Aang shook his head. "I don't understand."

"I do." Sokka clenched his teeth. "He tricked her!"

Aang shook his head once more. He felt numb, opposed to the anger radiating from Sokka.

Kuzon kissed a water bender once… Aang remembered. The three were meeting at a youth ambassador convention (Gyatso had pulled Aang into it), and Kuzon thought it would be funny to see the girl squirm. To his surprise, the girl hadn't resisted, but had grinned shyly and trotted away. It was Kuzon who had done the squirming afterwards.

Aang had never thought he'd see the day again when a fire bender kissed a water bender, and he wasn't sure if he enjoyed the sight or not.

A/N

Short, I know. But I've got to stick with my 'twenty' plan, and if I didn't make this short, then ya'll would have one mell of a hess of a last chapter.

In other words, if I didn't make this short, I'd have to put a teaser as the last chapter, and believe me, the teaser would do nothing but torture you poor souls.