LES: Well, here's the next chapter! In case you didn't know, I spent all last week absorbed in Kataang Week. I had a lot of fun, but churning out those one shots really left no other time for writing. And then I took a break from all writing, and now I'm back to this story. I know that it's been a while since I teased this chapter, but here it is now! Enjoy!

Chapter IV: Tea Party Gone Wrong

It was a quiet day that found Avatar Aang sitting at a large desk in his private office pouring over his work. It wasn't like he wanted to be there. It was just an unfortunate duty of being both the Avatar and the leader and teacher of the Air Acolytes. Endless, mind-numbing amounts of paper work. It was so annoying that he had active fantasies of Airbending a breeze to blow all the paperwork out the window and into the bay.

The controlled strokes of his brush as he wrote a reply to Firelord Zuko about the state of Republic City paused when he heard the heavenly sound of his young daughter playing outside.

They had only just discovered that she was a Waterbender a few weeks ago, and Katara had all ready started teaching their little girl the simplest of moves, Waterbending games, really.

Aang understood her joy. He would feel the same exact way if Kya had turned out to be an Airbender. Katara never said it, but Aang knew that she was just about as eager to have another Waterbender of Southern blood born as he was to have an Airbender. Katara had been the only Waterbender born to the Southern Tribe in nearly sixty years. And, even though the population of Southern Waterbenders was slowly returning thanks to the immigration and mixed marriages between the Northern and Southern tribe, Aang knew that Katara was glad to not let her tribe down.

He tried to block out the sound of his daughter's laughter and focus on the task at hand. It was harder than it looked to do so.

Several minutes passed, and Aang was nearly on the edge of giving up the paperwork as a bad job and going to join his daughter when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Aang replied to the knock, and smiled when the door opened and Katara stepped in.

"Aang…" Katara smiled, walking over to her husband and giving him a short kiss. "I have to make a quick trip to the market. We're missing some things that I need for the dinner I had planned tonight."

"Okay."

"I'm taking Appa. It will be quicker that way." Katara finished.

"That's fine, Katara." He stood up and gave her a proper kiss. He pulled away, gazing into her eyes, and brushed a strand of her hair back to tuck it behind her ear. "Be safe."

"I'm always safe." Katara said with a laugh. "I'll be back soon. I told Kya to stay inside the house. Mind her for me, will you."

Aang smiled. "Thanks to Toph, my feet know all. She'll be safe."

"Thanks." Katara turned and left.

Using the seismic sense that he learned from his Earthbending teacher, Toph, Aang watched as Katara left the house, and he also was able to pin-point Kya's location. She was inside the house, just like Katara wanted, playing with her tea set on the sitting room floor.

Aang smiled to himself. If only Iroh knew how much use that tea set was getting. He turned his attention back to Zuko's letter, wondering if he should add a post script to Iroh thanking him once again for the tea set. He decided that he would and got back to writing.

He was so focused on his work for several minutes that he lost most contact with Kya. He knew that she hadn't left the house, but he wasn't keeping a very close watch on her. She was inside and all right, and not getting into trouble, and that's what mattered.

Aang was just about to start a letter to the Earth King when the door was pushed open, and Kya peeked in. She was not surprised to find her Daddy at his desk, because he was there a lot, almost all the time to her toddler mind. She was not old enough to realize that Aang, in reality, spent a majority of his time with her. She just knew when her Daddy was there, and when he was not, and that the times he wasn't there seemed to last forever.

She stepped into the room. "Daddy?"

Aang glanced up from his work, smiling. "Hey, sweetheart." He stood up, walked briskly over to his daughter, and scooped her up into his arms. "What is it?"

"Wanna play now." Kya said, burying herself into his chest.

"Oh, Kya… I'm so sorry, but Daddy can't play right now. He's got a lot of important work to do."

"But I wanna play." Kya insisted.

"I know, sweetie. And if Daddy had his way, he would play with you all the time." Aang told her. "Daddy's a very important man, and a lot of people depend on him. I'll be done in an hour. I'll play with you then."

"How long is an hour?" Kya asked.

"Just go play, Kya, and it will pass before you know it." Aang said, setting her down. Kya gazed at him sadly for a few more moments before she stepped out of the room. Aang sighed. He felt terrible for sending his daughter away like that, but he really had to concentrate on his work right now. He had all ready gotten some complaints about the delay in his responses after Kya was born. He'd been too fascinated by his new daughter to do his job and got criticized for it. He couldn't let that happen too often.

He was able to finish one more letter before the door opened again and Kya stepped in, holding one of her little toy tea cups. Aang glanced up when she entered. "Kya…" He began.

"If you can't come and play with me, I'm gonna bring you this." She moved over towards him as swiftly as she could and handed him the tea cup. Aang glanced down. It was filled with plain water. "I made it myself." She said proudly.

"That's really sweet of you, Kya." Aang said, accepting the cup. It was no different from their regular tea parties, except that she had water now instead of just pretend tea. He drank the water. "Mmm! It's delicious, Kya! The best tea I've ever had!" Aang praised.

Kya smiled as she took the cup back from her father. Now she had a hop in her step as she shot out the door.

Several more times she returned with a cup filled with water, and Aang kept on playing along with Kya, drinking every cup that she brought him while praising her for her tea making abilities.

Aang felt when Katara returned. She made a quick stop by the kitchen to set down her purchases and then made a bee-line for Aang's office. She pushed open the door, smiling. "I'm back, Aang." She moved closer to give him a kiss.

Aang stopped her before she made contact. "Just wait a few moments, Katara. This will be the cutest thing you've ever seen!"

Katara stopped and waited. Sure enough, like clockwork, Kya rushed back into the room. She smiled when she saw her mother was back. "Momma!" She moved over and embraced her mother's legs, and then she turned her attention to Aang. He offered her little water-filled cup. "I made some more for you, Daddy."

"Thanks, Kya." Aang said, accepting the tea and drinking it. "You definitely take after your great-uncle Iroh!"

Kya laughed with happiness and then left the room again.

Katara watched the whole episode, and then she turned to Aang. "Aang? Was there water in that cup?"

"Yes." Aang said. "Isn't it cute? I guess the days of imaginary drinks are over."

Katara stared at him, a little shocked, and suddenly very glad that she hadn't kissed him. In fact, she made a mental note not to kiss him for the next week or so. "Aang… sweetie…?" She began.

Aang laughed. "You haven't called me 'sweetie' in years. What's the occasion?"

"Nothing, but… you do realize that Kya just barely discovered her Waterbending abilities. She doesn't have a lot of control over her abilities. She can make splashes, but that's about it."

"Yes, of course I know that." Aang said.

"And she hasn't left the house at all?"

"I'm positive." Aang said.

"Well, then, sweetie, did it occur to you that there is only one source of water in the house that she is big enough to reach?" Katara began leadingly.

At first, Aang didn't understand. He stared at Katara, confused. And then he realized… Kya was not big enough to reach the washing basin or the sink on her own. And she didn't have the Waterbending ability to stream the water out of the pipes like Katara could. That meant the only source of water in the house that Kya could reach was… was…

The toilet.

Aang suddenly felt sick. Had he really just consumed half a dozen cups of toilet water? Katara knew that he came to the same conclusion as her when he started to go green.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Aang moaned.

Katara took pity on the poor man and was at his side to help him up. "Well, better take you outside then. The fresh air should do you good, and if you want to… you know… just do it." She let his arm drape across her shoulder as she began to lead him outside to purge himself, if needed.

On their way out, Kya stopped in the hallway, holding another cup of toilet water, staring innocently at her sick father. "Is something wrong with Daddy?" She asked.

"Just too much tea, Kya." Katara said, quickening her and Aang's pace as he started to retch. "He'll be fine in a minute." She rushed her husband outside. They barely made it in time before Aang was emptying his stomach in the bushes.

Kya stared from the doorway, her face twisted in disgust. "Eww!"

LES: This story was based on a story that came to me, chain-letter-ish, via E-mail years ago; about a father who was unwittingly fed toilet water by his daughter just wanting to play tea-party. Poor Aang. At least the experience will give Katara an embarrassing story to tell about her husband and daughter when they get older. Can't you see it?

Katara: One time, when Kya was three years old…

Kya: Oh, Mom, not the tea story again!

Aang: I agree, don't tell that story again!

Katara: But it was so funny!