My eyes snapped open and as I looked around, I realized that it was dark. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I tried to get oriented once again. I was in bed, but this wasn't my room. I looked over the side of my bed to see none other than the person who I wanted to be farthest away from. Oh no, I thought, How long was I asleep? Was Aang even still alive? I jumped down from the bed, kneeled down next to Aang and put my head on his bare chest.

There was still a heartbeat. Thank God. I hadn't hurt him yet, but who knew what I would do when I was asleep. I had to leave. I had to leave and never come back. I had to protect Aang, even if it meant leaving him.

I quietly removed my head from his chest, and sneaked out the door and over into my room. No one was in there, and so I gathered up all I would need for my journey away from the Western Air Temple.

I decided before I left, to at least say goodbye to Aang, even if I didn't say it clearly. I sneaked back into Aang's room, and quietly closed the door, crouching down next to Aang. "Aang," I whispered softly, "Aang," I whispered a little louder, shaking him awake. The touch of my hands on his arm jolted him awake and he sat up straight, his head whipping to face me, and had I not reeled back in time, we would have smacked heads.

"Katara!" he cried joyfully, throwing his arms around my neck. I hugged him back as hard as I could, almost squeezing the air out of him, until I realized what I was doing and released my grip, not wanting Toph's prediction to come true. Though I had almost just strangled Aang, he looked overjoyed at the thought of me being by his bedside in the night, which worried me some. "Katara, I'm so happy you're awake!" He said grinning at me. I smiled back at him, a real smile despite the circumstances. Seeing Aang completely happy like this just made me feel the same. It was a shame this would be the last time that I got to feel this way. I vowed to make it the best night with him I would ever have, even though it would be short.

"Aang…" I said slowly, almost savoring his name, a name I would seldom ever use after tonight, "I…" I tried to tell him the truth, but the words caught in my throat. Maybe if I didn't tell him, it would be easier.

"Katara, when you collapsed yesterday, I… I was wondering what… what if you didn't wake up? What would I do without you?" He looked down at his hands as he said this, and the words that had gotten caught in my throat began to form a lump, and with nothing left to say, I did what I had been longing to do since I had woken Aang up. I kissed him. I kissed him as hard as I could, pulling him in close, knowing that this might be the last time I ever got to see him, ever got to feel his soft hands entwined with mine. His lean, smooth body pressed into mine, and I knew instantly that I had done the right thing by ending the use of words. Actions were all that was needed now.

We kept kissing each other, and even though I was enjoying it immensely, tears began to leak from eyes, because I couldn't get the thought from my mind that I would never get to do this again, never even get to see Aang's face. Aang broke the kiss, feeling the tears running down my face. "Katara what's wrong?" he asked tenderly.

Once more I tried again to tell Aang the truth, but once more the words wouldn't come out. I couldn't ruin this happy moment for him. For us. "I love you, Aang," I said, "And I want you to remember that." I pulled him into another kiss, and felt him sink closer into me, and once more, he broke the kiss. "I love you too Katara," he whispered into my hair, "I love you too."

We sank onto his bed, and in Aang's arms I slowly began to drift off to sleep. No! I've got to stay awake. I can't hurt him now. Not after that. I was getting more and more tired as I lay there in the epitome of my fantasy, not able to enjoy it. I felt Aang's breathing grow deeper and more steady as he slowly fell asleep.

I slowly detangled myself from his arms, left the warmth of the bed, and silently crept down the hall to my room. I grabbed my bag, and ran into the courtyard, and then farther into the forest, taking one last look at the temple, knowing it would be the last time I would see it, and the boy soundly sleeping inside, still thinking he had me in his arms. I tore my eyes away from the temple, and began to run as fast as I could, trying to forget that any of this ever happened. I kept running until I was a great deal away from the temple, somewhere that they couldn't see me when flying above on Appa, and wouldn't find when searching for me, and I collapsed in tears.