DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters, themes, and dialogue are the property of Nickelodeon, or whoever owns this epic awesomeness.

Note from me: LOL YES! AANG AND KATARA FINALLY MEET AGAIN! I've been planning this for a while. It'll be very talky though. Very talky.

And who loved a Kataang mention in Ch. 4? I only got one review about that! XD

Previously on Running:

As she walked to her room in a heated rush, Katara angrily fumbled over what Zuko had told her.

"I think he left you to protect you."

Could that be true? Could Aang possibly, maybe still love her? It seemed too good to be true, too fairy-tale-like. Happy endings like the one Zuko had planted into her head didn't happen.

Not to her.

When she reached her door, she was confused to find it unlocked. She could've sworn she had locked it.

She opened her door.

"Oh!"

Chapter Six - Caught

He was there. Sitting on her bed, his fingers nervously dancing over the sheets.

He had grown too, and Katara could tell even better, now that she wasn't just looking at his shadow. His muscles flexed naturally, more developed and though his face was still just as boyish as it had always been, it was slightly leaner and carved.

He was taller. Thankfully he wasn't towering over her, but he was now about an inch higher than she was.

For an endless moment the two watched each other, trying to think of what to say.

Katara considered running out of her door, but at seeing Aang's face, his round gray eyes and his boyish smile . . . she didn't have the heart to anymore.

She was tired of running.

Her mind went over all of the times she had run away out of fear.

The bakery. She had heard Aang's voice for the first time in three years. She had been clumsy, unsure of what to do as she was so panicked.

Her room. When she had run to Mai since she was too scared of what Aang would say to her about their relationship.

She knew she owed Toph and Zuko big time.

Toph had made her admit her love to herself.

Zuko had made her understand that love.

She racked her brain for something, anything to say to Aang that would express the depth of her love for him, how solid, how concrete, how right it was.

Words were not enough.

Aang seemed at a loss for words as well. At her entrance he has stood up, and then sat down again.

Was this it?

Katara had been so focused on running away, she hadn't planned what to do if, or rather when she came face-to-face with her lost love.

The meeting could go two ways.

Their relationship wasn't just one either of them could walk away from.

They either hated or loved each other.

It was a set-up for disaster.

They would argue tonight. Aang had explaining to do.

But then again, so did she.

Katara cleared her throat.

"Hi," she said awkwardly.

"Hi," Aang replied roughly, rubbing his neck with his hand, seeming just as petrified as she was. Katara struggled to think of what to say next.

"So, um . . . how was your trip?" she asked, pronouncing the words carefully and slowly. Aang shuffled on her bed, his fingers now tapping his knee.

That's it? That's what you're going to say to him after all this time?

The tension was agonizing.

"It was okay I guess," Aang replied, shrugging, "I was pretty lonely," he blurted.

Katara's eyes widened for a second.

So did Aang's.

"Cool," was all Katara could muster.

"And what did you do?" Aang asked.

Oh, nothing, just grieved like a widow and try and heal my broken heart with my power.

"I traveled too."

"Nice."

"Yup." She popped the "p" as she always did. She saw a smile tug at Aang's lips at the action. The two watched each other for another long moment, the silence hanging in the air, threatening to choke her. Aang glanced at the window.

"How's Sokka?"

"You saw him recently," Katara pointed out.

"Oh, um, right."

Katara was sick of the pretenses.

Get on with it, Aang.

Katara figured she might as well get some answers, as they were getting nowhere.

"Why are you in my room, Aang?"

"Well, um, Zuko told me to meet you here, so I-"

"That's the only reason?" Katara asked, her voice rising.

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"No! I mean yes!"

"What?"

"I don't know, I um . . ."

He is so clueless.

"Zuko told me you would be here, so I decided to wait on you."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Then why are you here? Really here?"

This time, Aang took a moment to think. Katara felt her stomach swelling with nervousness, and her breathing grew ragged.

"Where else was I supposed to talk to you, since you ran away whenever I came within a mile radius of you!" Katara's mouth fell open in anger.

"Oh yes, because I had no reason to do that!" Katara replied sarcastically, her eyes narrowed into slits. Aang flinched.

"Look, Katara, for once can you just listen to me?"

Katara stumbled into the door, stung by Aang's frustration. She quietly nodded.

"Since the moment I met you, I was infatuated with you. I would do anything and everything for you."

"As you've told me," Katara said slowly, growing uncomfortable with the depth of his words. Her heart couldn't take so much emotion. Not anymore.

Not ever again.

Aang was standing now, and pacing.

"It was always you who took the first steps when we were together, never me. You know why?"

"Oh, I think I do."

"No you don't!"

"Oh yeah?"

"I never took the first step because I was afraid."

Katara was mystified.

"Afraid?" she whispered.

"You always rejected me, every single time I made the first move, you said no. I was afraid of you saying no."

She flinched.

He was so right.

Ember Island, the Invasion, the bakery . . .

"So that's why you left?" Katara asked quietly

Their eyes met.

Silver to sapphire.

Regret to desperation.

Lover to lover.

It can't be. He can't love me. I don't- no . . .

She decided to totally expose her soul to him. She had nothing to lose.

And possibly everything to gain.

"Aang, saying you broke my heart is an understatement of gigantic proportions. You didn't simply break it, you shattered it and scattered the pieces. For three years I traveled around the Nations, searching for the pieces, and finding some of them in my family and friends, but there was always a hole. A wide, gaping hole right in my heart. I was empty. Without you, I was nothing. I didn't have anything, not even your friendship. You left me bare. I had nothing to feel, nothing to live for."

Aang watched her, his eyes wide with shock at her utter confession. When he opened his mouth to speak, Katara's breath caught in her throat.

"I left because I wanted you to have a life that wasn't about roaming around. I wanted you to be safe from the dangers I bring about. I thought you deserved so much better than me, so much more. Never would I intentionally hurt you, Katara. Doing so would kill me.

"Then why aren't you dead?"

"I-I-"

"That's it," Katara said flatly. After all he had put her through he could only explain it in one breath.

She felt empty. This wasn't the emotional closure she had craved. This was stupidity.

And now she was truly empty. She had let him have her soul, in that confession, and now she was empty.

Aang spoke again. "No, it's not it," he said, getting up and walking towards her. He took her head in his hands and kissed her softly, the tenderness in his lips expressing all he felt.

Katara didn't hesitate in kissing him back.

All she had felt at being abandoned, supposedly, was in the movement of her lips. All of the heartache and pain was in her quick breaths.

The two broke the frantic kiss at the same time, their foreheads touching.

But the idiotic instinct in Katara took over. She pushed him away.

"And now what?" she asked, "Do you expect me to run into your arms and take you back?" Aang couldn't seem to produce any words.

She hadn't heard the words the stubborn side of her wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry, Katara."

Her soft side wanted to hear the three magic words. She raised a suggestive eyebrow.

He knew her well enough to know what he had to say next.

"I love you." Aang's voice was soothing and warm, and suddenly the past three years disappeared from Katara's memory. Instead, without pain this time, the memories of every kiss, every word, every smile replaced them, sending a warm and secure feeling through Katara, making her almost giddy with contentment.

He was her best friend, her companion, her protector.

Her lover.

Katara closed her eyes, a smile creeping along her lips.

Ugh! I wish I could make it longer, but this chapter went through major changes. I am very unhappy with this though, I wanted to make it epic but it had a personality of its own. It pretty much wrote itself.

I haven't had to dig this deep since Ch. 2!