A/N: I know I've been switching between Aang and Zuko's POV's for this, but I couldn't come up with an idea for a Zuko chapter that didn't require all the cranes being done. Also, this takes place about a month after Chapter 5.

Aang worked feverishly on the paper cranes. He was up to nine hundred and seventy nine now. He only had twenty-one more to go. Which was good, because Iroh had called a few hours earlier. Zuko's health had taken a drastic turn for the worse. The doctors weren't permitting any visitors at the moment; otherwise, Aang would be there right now.

He swiped away a tear then pulled on the wings, producing crane number nine hundred and eighty. Twenty more to go. God, he hoped this worked. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost Zuko.

"Aang? Come eat lunch. I know you're upset about Zuko, but you need to eat." He looked up at his uncle's voice. "You need to find a place to store all these cranes, Aang. Good heavens, I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place." Aang smiled sheepishly at his uncle.

"I'll be right there, Uncle." Uncle Gyatso had a point. As much as it pained Aang to take a break from folding the cranes, he wasgetting a little lightheaded. He figured it was a combination of crying and skipping breakfast.

"How many cranes do you think you've made, Aang?"

"That have come out successfully? Nine hundred and eighty. Non-successfully? Um, maybe two or three hundred more. I haven't been counting those." Gyatso just stared at him.

"Nine hundred and eighty? You're going to try and make a wish for Zuko to get better aren't you?" Aang blinked, startled.

"Yeah. How'd you guess? Do you think it will work?" Gyatso nodded.

"Yes. I do think it will work. Did you honestly think someone as old as me wouldn't have heard that if you fold a thousand paper cranes and make a selfless wish that does no harm it will come true?"

"I didn't know about the selfless part. Mrs. Paddywhacker never mentioned that when she was talking about it in class."

"Wishing for your friend to get better is selfless, Aang. So don't worry, it will work." Aang managed a bright smile. Was it selfless to wish for your friend to get better because you were in love with them, and didn't want to lose them? Aang hoped so. Gyatso had made it sound like the wish wouldn't work, otherwise.

"I'd better get back to folding. I only have twenty more to go. Thank you for making me a sandwich, Uncle." Aang was usually responsible for making his own lunch. Gyatso smiled.

"If I hadn't you would never have eaten lunch." That was true. Food had been the last thing on Aang's mind since Iroh's teary phone call had woken him up. Aang nodded and then made a quick pit stop in the bathroom on his way back to his room.

An hour later, he folded the one thousandth crane. 'Finally! I wish I could have gotten these done sooner. Then maybe Zuko's health wouldn't have taken such a negative turn,' he thought. Did he just hold the last crane and make his wish? Or was there some special ritual he had to follow? He'd better ask his uncle. He was probably still in the living room. Aang walked down there.

"Uncle? I'm done with the cranes. Do I just make the wish now, or do I have to do anything special?"

"Light a stick of incense to purify the air, clear your mind of all thoughts except ones of Zuko being healthy, and concentrate on your wish." Aang repeated the instructions in his head. He was glad he had asked. "Hold the first and last cranes you folded in your hands, and make your wish. The incense is in the cabinet over there. Be careful with the matches." He was also glad he'd been numbering the things.

"Thanks, Uncle Gyatso. And I will be."

Back in his room, Aang followed his Uncle's instructions to the letter. Holding the cranes, one in each hand, he focused on Zuko, the way he had been ten months earlier. Healthy, with a full head of silky looking black hair, still pale but not as sickly pale as he had been the last few months. "I wish that Zuko Ohasi, my best friend, would recover from his illness, and that he would recover completely." Aang figured it was best to be specific. Weren't stories full of people who made vague wishes and had them backlash horribly? How long would it take to work if it did? There had been a brief rustling sound when he finished making his wish, but that was it. His phone ringing almost gave him a heart attack. Picking it up, he saw it was Iroh. News of Zuko? Was his wish too late? Or had it worked, and Zuko was now miraculously on the road to recovery.

"Iroh? What news do you have of Zuko?" Iroh was crying. That was not a good sign. Aang felt tears slide down his cheeks at the thought his wish had been too little, too late. The thought that Iroh might be crying tears of happiness never crossed his mind.

"He's getting better. His vital signs are climbing. The doctors don't know what to make of it. They're going to test his white blood cell count in a few hours, but the doctor I spoke to, Dr. Alvarez, said that they're almost positive that it's going to be much higher. They don't have the foggiest idea of what happened. One moment, he was on the brink of death, the next his vital signs are climbing steadily towards normal." Aang's heart almost stopped at the good news. His wish had worked! Zuko was getting better. "Dr. Alvarez says it's a miracle. He's asleep at the moment, but they said he can have visitors again."

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Iroh. I have to tell Uncle Gyatso." He raced down to the living room as fast as he could.

"Uncle Gyatso! The wish worked! Iroh just called, Zuko's getting better! The doctor said it's a miracle, and that they're almost positive his white blood cell count is going to be higher when they test it again in a few hours." Aang was almost bouncing in place with excitement. Gyatso chuckled. "Iroh say's he's allowed to have visitors again, too, and that's he sleeping right now."

"Would you like me to give your friends the good news, or do you want to call them yourself on the way over to the hospital?"

"I'll tell them myself. I don't know if Iroh plans to call them or not, so I'll ask if they've had any news from Iroh first."

He called Sokka's number first. With any luck, Katara would still be at home, and could kill the proverbial two birds with one stone.

"Sokka? Have you gotten any news from Iroh?"

"Not since this morning, sorry."

"He called me about fifteen minutes ago. Zuko's getting better! Is Katara with you?"

"That's great news, Aang! Katara's in the living room. I'll get her." Aang heard Sokka yell to his sister that he was on the phone with a Zuko update. "She's been worried sick ever since she heard Zuko had taken a turn for the worse," Sokka confided.

"Aang? What news do you have?" Katara did sound worried.

"He's getting better. Iroh says the doctors say it's a miracle." Aang was glad he only had to make one more call after this. He was almost to the hospital, and there were only certain areas he could use his cell phone.

"That's wonderful! We'll be over to see him later, then."

"OK. See you later then, Katara." As soon as he got off the phone with Katara, he called Toph.

"Hey, Toph. Have you heard from Iroh since this morning?"

"No. How's Sparky doing?" Toph sounded worried, too. Unlike Katara, she was doing her best to hide it, though.

"He's doing great! The doctors told Iroh it was a miracle."

"Ha! I knew Sparky wasn't going to die. I had a dream last night where you were all dressed in white and you were all glowy. You placed your hand on Sparky's chest and bent low over him like you were gonna kiss him, but you just breathed on him instead, and told him that his suffering was almost over."

"How'd you it was me and Zuko? You're blind. You've never seen either one of us."

"I just knew, Twinkles. And it came true in a way, didn't it?"

"Yeah, Toph, it did."

"I'll stop by and see him later. He's allowed to have visitors again, right?"

"Yeah. Sokka and Katara are stopping by to see him later, too."

"OK. I'll coordinate with them, then. Bye Twinkles."

"Bye, Toph." Aang turned off his phone and entered the hospital. He thought about asking the nurse if Zuko was still in the Reverse Isolation Ward, but he figured if he weren't Song would tell him where he was if he wasn't. He knew the way there by heart now, after having gone there so many times the last ten months.

Iroh was waiting outside Zuko's room when Aang arrived.

"How is he?" Iroh smiled at him.

"Still sleeping. He looks so much healthier now, doesn't he?"

"Yeah." Zuko was still pale, but Aang could no longer see his veins through his skin. That alone was a definite improvement, but there was also something more…insubstantial about that just seemed…healthier somehow. It wasn't something that Aang could put his finger on, but something had changed, so that instead of looking at Zuko and getting the impression, 'gee, that kid's sick', he got the impression that Zuko was healthy. "When do you think he'll wake up?" Iroh shrugged.

"Dr. Alvarez said it could a few minutes, or a few hours. It all depends on when he's all done sleeping."

"Since this isn't our normal visit time, we don't have to pretend that we just got here when he wakes up, do we?"

"No, I wouldn't think so." Zuko woke up as Iroh was speaking so he flipped on the intercom. "Zuko! How are you feeling?"

"Better than I have in months. You've both been crying."

"You gave us one hell of a scare, Zuko. We were afraid you were going to die. Of course we've been crying." Zuko looked a little sheepish, and then he pressed both hands against the glass. Aang and Iroh each pressed a hand against one of his.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I have a huge hug for each of you to make up for it." Aang's stomach did a happy little flip at the thought of a hug from Zuko.

"Dr. Alvarez says you'll be released from the reverse isolation ward as soon your white blood cell counts are higher. They should be testing you soon."

"I hope I they do that soon." Aang was going to have to pick up the light blue face paint on his way home. If Zuko was going to be released soon, then he would be able to paint those arrows on Zuko. If, that was, Zuko remembered, and still wanted too. It had been a few months since they had come up with that idea. He could tell that Iroh and Zuko wanted to talk in private, so he decided to give them some privacy.

"I'm going to go get something from the vending machine. Do you want anything while I'm there, Iroh?"

"No, thank you, Aang." Aang took his time deciding what he wanted from the vending machine so he could give them more time to talk in private. As soon as he returned, Iroh decided he wanted something from the vending machine.

"I could have gotten something for you, and you could have just given me the money, Iroh."

"I didn't want anything when you left. I do now." Aang rolled his eyes as the older man walked away.

"If he'd had you get him something from the vending machine he would have had to come up with another excuse so we could talk alone."

"You two knew I was trying to give you time to talk alone?"

"You were about as subtle as a steamroller, Aang." Zuko hesitated a moment before continuing. "When I was in the operating room, I heard your voice, Aang. I looked around, but I couldn't see you anywhere. I could see the doctors, and I could see myself. I don't remember what exactly you said, but I do remember that I felt better after you whatever you said. That's when one of the doctors said that my vital signs were starting to return to normal." Now would be the time to tell Zuko about the cranes, about the wish, about all of it, if he was going to. Aang thought it for moment, then decided to keep it his little secret.

"You were being operated on?"

"No. They were getting ready to, I think. I don't know what they were trying to accomplish. They don't even know what's wrong with me." Aang decided to change the subject since he had no idea how to continue that subject.

"Do you remember that idea we came up with a few months ago? To use face paint to give you arrows when you got out of here?" Zuko nodded. "Do you still want to do that?"

"If they let me out of here before my hair starts growing out, then yeah."

"OK. I'll buy the face paint today then. Hopefully we can use it tomorrow. Sokka, Katara, and Toph will be coming by later today, by the way." Iroh returned from his trip to the vending machine at that point.

"OK. I'll look forward to seeing them." He was starting to fidget. As bad as being isolated must have been when he was sick, being isolated when he was healthy again must be sheer torture for Zuko. "Hopefully I'll get out of here soon, so I can give you those hugs I promised." Aang hoped so.