A/N: So, I hope this story won't extend as long as my other one will. I'm on Chapter 14, I think, and I'm not stopping ANY time soon on that one. My goal for this one is maybe ten chapters. Thirteen, tops. What do you guys think? More? Less? I'm unsure. Well, have fun, enjoy my chapter, and since I haven't written it yet at this point, it may get steamy later. Maybe. Maybe not. Enjoy :]

Something smelled awful. Toph coughed, and wrinkled her nose. The normal fuzziness of not having her feet on the ground told her she was on a bed...HOLY CRAP! What did she do last night?! She...oh Spirits, she ran away from Oro...to Aang! Holy crap.

Eh.

She could have done worse. She could have beat the ever-living snot out of Oro. She shrugged inwardly, remembering now why she had made the decision to leave in the first place. The feeling of being stifled, molded, utterly alone in crowds of people, the same parties, the same faces, the same damn meaningless chatter and gossip...and now she was no longer constricted. She felt freer than she had in years.

But something still stunk. She reached her head back, and sniffed Aang - his mouth was hanging open, his breath blowing right into her face. She coughed again - his morning breath (after a night of drinking) was terrible. She disentangled herself, and left the room to change into something gloriously simple. Oro had let her keep a few things that didn't require three maids to put on. She was digging through her bag, trying to find the over-piece to what she had on, when her hand hit a familiar metal object. Her face broke into a smile. She pulled it out, and then found her top-piece.

Luckily, the top and bottom pieces of this outfit were the same color on both sides, and were sewn in such a way where the seams never jutted out. They were wonderful. She finished dressing, and then pulled her hair into a bun. She marveled at the nostalgia. How great it was that she never needed to see to be able to put her hair up. She fumbled a little - her skills were much out-of-practice. She then took her green (or so she was told) hairband out, and tucked it gently behind her ears.

But she had no bangs! She had let them grow out - Oro had said that it was improper for married women to wear bangs. Well. Without Oro around, who was to say she couldn't have bangs?! She wanted them and dammit, she was going to get them! She undid her hair, and shook it out. The dresser in this room was made of stone; she took a piece from it, and bended its edge to have a razor-blade feel on one side. She took the front part of her long hair, and swiped the sharp rock across it. She felt and heard the hair hit the floor. She then hastily put her hair back up, her band back on, and left the bangs out on purpose. She smiled as she felt the softness of the white poofs on the sides; they were still silky.

She then dug around for her space-rock bracelet. She found it, and clamped it to her upper arm, Fire Nation style. She smiled, happy for the recent change in her life that let her be twelve again, even if in some small way. She turned from her bag, and went back to the room where her would-be lover still lay sleeping.

"Wake your face up, TwinkleToes!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Aang jumped up, surprised and half-asleep. He went into battle-form, but must have accidentally put air into his move, because he was blasted into the air and landed three feet away from the bed with a loud thunk. Toph could hardly see any of this; she was laughing way too hard.

"Twi....twinke.....!!! You...so still....have it!" Toph managed to say between the fits of laughter that make your stomach ache. She hadn't realized she was crying until Aang wiped a tear away, laughing himself. Wow. She hadn't cried for laughter in years. That shocked her into silence. Aang leaned down to kiss her, but she leaned back, disgusted. She felt his hurt, and then explained.

"Your breath reeks of whatever you drank last night" she complained. He gave a nervous laugh and covered his mouth with his hand. He pulled some water from a jug across the room, and bended it so that it would clean his teeth. Toph always wished she could do that, but Earth seemed to make things dirtier. Aang smiled, his teeth and breath fresh.

"Wow, Toph, you look...exactly like you used to" he said, sounding somehow half-way thrilled and half-way disappointed. She couldn't figure out why.

"I thought you would like it?" her statement turning into a question.

"I do. Of course I do! I like everything on you. In fact, I'd wager that I'd like nothing on you just as much, if not more" he joked.

"Aang, I've missed you"

"I missed you, too, Toph. Like hell"

Toph reached up and kissed him. He kissed her back enthusiastically. They lost their balance and fell to the floor, breathing heavily around each others' lips. Their hands were everywhere; in her hair, clutching his shoulders, squeezing her waist, exploring their bodies in wonderful lust. Eventually though, he broke the kiss, panting. Toph didn't like this, and tried to go back for a second round, but Aang stopped her.

"Toph...I hate to say this...but you were right. You have a husband now"

"And you're just now starting to care about that?"

"You don't?"

"Aang...I hate living with Oro. I'm not me with him. I'm me with you! I want to be me! I want to be yours! I want to not have to deal with being his...his pet every day! I'm so sick of my life over there!" she exclaimed, sitting up. Aang sat up with her.

"Are you sure that you're not the old 'you' with me, and the new 'you' with him? How do you know you're not 'yourself' all the time? How can you be sure that you're not just...chasing the past because your new life didn't turn out how you wanted? Because if you are...you should just go home. Your husband will probably be happy to see you back" he asked, pain evident in his tone.

This brought Toph up short. She still loved Aang, most certainly...but was she reverting to her old ways just for the sake of it? Maybe the bangs was a bit much. Did Aang really think she was just messing around? Playing? Where did this random sense of fidelity come from? Didn't he want to be with her?

"I'm not messing around here, Aang. I've wanted to be by your side since I was twelve. You just weren't around...but do you think it's the right thing to do, going back there?" she asked, hurt.

"I never want you to go back to that!" he said, voice coming out like a whip. Her eyes widened.

"I hate to say it, because it's so damn selfish of me, but I want you all to myself! When I think about his ring on your finger, his bed being your bed, his hands on you...urhg, urhg, URHG! I can't stand it!! I want you to be mine and only MINE, Toph! And I can't take it if you're just....just using me to get back at your husband for something, or you're just doing this because you're wondering what could have happened....Toph. Tell me the truth, Toph. Why are you here?"

"Because I'm still in love with you! Why can't you get that through your head?! I didn't even want to marry Oro! It was arranged! You knew that! How dare you think that I would come to you just because my life isn't going where I want it? This! Here! This is where I want my life to be! So either you get that through your head right now or dammit I will walk right out that door and go stay at a hotel or something!"

Aang sat there, stunned.

"You mean all that?"

"Of course I do"

And then he jumped up and hugged her. She let him, and a small smile crept onto her face, despite still being irritated. She'd forgotten how much he over-thought things. A certain few days before the Day of Black Sun came to mind...she sighed. How could she blame him for making sure she was here for the right reasons? Hell, she'd do the same thing if she wasn't so dead-on sure that he loved her and never stopped. His arms slid from her back, to the floor behind her. His forehead was leaning against hers, their breath mingling.

"So, you're still married" he said, as if he just realized this.

"Well, not for long"

"But the laws - "

"I know about the laws. And a way around them. You're still in contact with Katara, aren't you?"

"Yeah" he answered, confused.

"And she can still bloodbend, right?"

"Whoa, Toph, hold on! We're not killing your husband!"

"Who said anything about killing anybody?! Jeez...actually, here's the plan..."

A/N: How'd you like it? Comment pretty, pretty, pleeeeeeaaase? It takes like, thirty seconds, and I love comments ^^ Oh, and phych about the steam stuff, unless you count them making out for like, a paragraph. And I could make it a whole hell of a lot steamier, but I'm not sure how suitable that would be...hrmmm....let me know what you think :]