Woo. Final chapter. Sorry it took a little longer than I expected.
This one is a lot longer than the others. I was really happy with how it turned out.
Katara POV, of course.
I dont own Avatar.

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Did You Mean It?

I made my way back towards Aang's room, planning to actually talk to him. I took stairs two at a time, my heart beating at an incredibly fast rate, and my body shaking quite a bit from nervousness. I grumbled at myself quite a few times under my breath, wondering what I was thinking and if this was really the right thing to do now.

But when I finally got to the room he was staying in earlier, he wasn't there.

Glancing around the room, I expected him to be somewhere. I frowned a bit and sighed when I didn't catch any hint of him. Turning, I made my way back out of the room, but I stopped mid stride when I heard a voice close by.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Aang was standing a good distance away, leaning against the railing that was around the balcony. He was simply staring off into the night sky, barely even moving.

Everything I was thinking about only moments earlier left me. I had absolutely no idea what to say to him, how to say it, or even when to. I simply started messing with my hands in an incredibly distracted manner, forcing myself to look away from him.

"Um… Yeah, I guess. I've had a lot of things on my mind…" For only a moment, I thought about leaving it like that, but I nervously continued. I took a few steps closer to him and said softly "How about you?"

He nodded slowly, shrugging slightly "Same… kind of…" I remembered that he was only pretending to be asleep a while ago, and it made me grin.

I took a few steps closer to him, also looking out at the dark sky, not trusting myself to look at him. An awkward silence fell over us, and I used it once again, attempting to compose my thoughts. I leaned against the railing on my forearms, bringing my hands together. I looked down at my hands and twiddled my thumbs in an absent-minded manner.

Come on, Katara, just say it. I thought as I only barely glanced at the boy standing next to me. He was looking straight out, not even letting his eyes fall on me. Strike up conversation! Something! I shook my head just barely, closing my eyes tightly. How did I even think any of this would work? I wasn't ready to talk to him about this.

But I decided that it was going to be now or never. The awkward silences that had been held between us over the course of the day were too much for me to handle. If I couldn't talk to him about this, what could I talk to him about?

I pushed myself up off the banister and leaned on it against my hands instead. Tapping my fingers along the stone, I took a few silent breaths, trying to shoo away all the clouded thoughts in my mind. When I was finally about to say something and taking in one final breath, I was cut off by him speaking.

"How could we lose?" After my initial jump at his voice, I grasped his meaning. Oh, the invasion. Right. Relief washed over me and I exhaled deeply, making it a bit more audible than I originally intended. He looked at me for a moment, and one of his eyebrows rose just slightly in confusion.

I forced myself to change my thought process, my mind completely lost in the other direction. "I don't know…" My voice changed pitch slightly with every word, which made me cough. He didn't really notice, so I decided to continue. "It was as if they were one step ahead of us the entire time…"

He leaned against the banister on his elbows, allowing his head rest in his hands. "It was supposed to be more like a surprise to them." He let his hands fall over the side of the railing and shook his head. "This should have moved how we planned…"

"I know it should have…" I shrugged and leaned on my forearms like I was earlier. "But, it didn't. And then it was a surprise to us instead." I sighed, adding "There's nothing we can do about it now…"

I turned to look at him, and he simply nodded, looking down at his hands again. Despite everything, I smiled, blushing just a bit.

I don't know how long I was looking at him, or why I was, but I only turned away once I realized how awkward the silence became between us. I began drumming my fingers against one another, staring at them, my thoughts clouding over again.

What is stopping me from saying anything right now? My insecurities were, I suppose. Maybe I wasn't really sure of how I thought about him still, and maybe all of my thoughts about the entire situation were as spur of the moment as his confession was.

Yet, I didn't know anything about his side of the story. I don't know what he was thinking when he told me, or why he chose that moment over all others. I still don't even know if he truly meant it! That's what I'm here to find out though… right? I thought and I nodded. That was true, that was the main reason: to find out if he truly meant it.

The silence between us was so intense that I could hear every little change in his breathing as he stood next to me in equal silence. It might have been selfish of me to think so, but one of the only things I wanted to hear from him right that moment were those three words that I didn't hear him say correctly the first time around. They were surrounded by uncertainty and drowned out by the anticipation of battle that time, so they weren't clear enough to me, and my mind wanted them to be there forever. The thought of hearing them again made me blush deeply.

I once again leaned my hands against the banister for support, taking in a deep breath. Okay, Katara. You can do this. Now or never, right? I just nodded and turned back to Aang.

"Aang…" I started and I was almost surprised that he didn't start the conversation again. He jumped slightly at the sound of my voice but didn't turn towards me, which I was immediately thankful for. "About what you said to me before the invasion happened…" I let my voice trail off, turning my gaze away from him.

"What's there to say?" He answered quickly, which made me look at him again, slightly surprised. He was fidgeting quite a bit just like I was a little while ago, so it made it obvious that his abrupt answer was due to nervousness.

I sighed and shrugged, looking down. "I don't know… I just…" Words escaped me after that, and I had no idea what to say despite all of the thinking I'd done.

"It was really spur of the moment, I guess…" and the moment he said this, it made my heart sink. I was about to comment, but he continued. "And it was obviously the worst time in the world to say it, considering…" I noticed that his voice picked up quite a bit of speed in this sentence, making him seem more nervous than he already did. "And even though I said it… It j-just… didn't…"

"…Did you mean it?" I asked softly, taking all of my willpower to even ask that. It bothered me when he didn't seem to take any notice.

"How was I stupid enough to think that would work?!" he continued, his voice still gaining speed, shaking through every word. "It was just wrong all around! I can't even begin to explain-"

"Aang!" I broke him off loudly, reactively taking hold of him by the shoulder. All of my nerves suddenly came back to me as I looked at him and turned him towards me.

Our eyes met just then, and a blush almost instantly flared on my cheeks, his as well. I could almost feel all of my walls come crashing down around me. I lifted my hand off his shoulder and let it drift down his arm, hovering only a short distance away from his skin the entire time, making him shiver.

"Did… did you mean it?" I took his hand, and he smiled at me just a bit, eyes still locked through all of this. Our fingers just naturally laced together, and it made me laugh softly.

It took him a few moments to do anything, but he soon nodded his head slowly, not once breaking eye contact with me. Out of slight embarrassment, I turned my head downwards, my blush deepening.

I looked at him and realized that he was blushing deeply as well. I noticed that he moved just a few inches closer to me, and it made me laugh in a nervous fashion.

Thoughts started swarming around my head, all of them asking what I was doing. To answer them truthfully, I didn't know. I let my eyelids close slowly, watching for just that last moment as his did the exact same. After a few seconds went by, I could feel his warm breath on my lips. Then, for the first real time, our lips brushed against each others. It was really light at first, as if neither of us wanted to do anything more.

I wasn't sure who, but one of us just melted in to it a bit more, making it feel full. Then the other one did, and it molded in to something I'd never experienced before. Every coherent thought left me right then and there, as if the only thing that mattered in the world was me and Aang, right where we were.

Although the passion between us seemed to grow as our kiss deepened, it was more than that. The whole thing just seemed to make me feel complete, like my yearning for him wasn't completely grasped until that very moment our lips touched. It was powerful; there was no other way to describe the sensation. And I knew just by the way his lips pressed against mine that he felt the exact same way.

We finally broke off what seemed to be decades later. His lips not being against mine gave me this new empty feeling, even though the action itself filled in a vast portion.

Aang never really said what he meant, and I still wanted to hear him say those three words again. But for now, I think I'm content with how it is at the moment. His kiss said it all and screamed it louder than any words ever could.

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Thanks everyone. I hope this doesn't, you know, really suck or anything.
I'd like to thank everyone on Kataang Forever for helping me with my grammar, cause the world knows I need it. Thanks to all my reviewers (sorry I dont point out by name, but I love you all). You all just make my day when I come on and see a new one in my in box. Just.. thanks.