Day Four, Part Two

Sokka leaned in the open doorway looking winded, sweaty and more than a little grumpy. "I couldn't find your purse, Suki," he panted stumbling inside and kicking the door closed behind him, "I looked everywhere. Are you sure you left it in the car?"

"Actually, I found it," Suki chirped, bending over to yank her bag from behind the sofa cushions, "Would you believe that it was here the whole time?" Just as he was about to launch into a full-fledged righteous rant about the whole thing, she added quickly, "Your sister and Aang would like to talk to you about something."

His brows drew together in a deep frown. "Aang?" Sokka did a double-take, noticing the airbender for the first time since he entered the apartment. "Hey. You have no hair."

Aang smoothed his hand across his prickly scalp. "Yeah…I'm aware of that."

Sokka bounced a curious glance between him and Katara, noting their reddened faces. He blinked at Aang in expectation. "So…when did you get here?"

That simple question was met with resounding silence. Suki consulted her nonexistent watch. "Would you look at that?" she whistled, "It's time for me to do something important." She hopped over to peck Sokka on the cheek and then sauntered past Aang and Katara, staunchly ignoring the silent pleading in both of their eyes. She wiggled her fingers at them in a jaunty goodbye. "Have fun, you two."

She only chuckled when they growled in response. Aang and Katara watched her leave with a mixture of annoyance and desperation. They should have known better than to hope for any kind of pity or leniency from her. Suki seemed to be enjoying their misery far too much.

When they swung around reluctantly to acknowledge Sokka again, they found him appraising them with keen and dissecting eyes. One glance at his expression confirmed that he was already putting the situation together in his head and the conclusion he was coming to was not making him happy. Katara flailed around mentally for the most appropriate way to begin her explanation, but Sokka cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Did he spend the night here, Katara?" he demanded flatly.

"No, he didn't spend the night," Katara replied, but before Sokka could wilt with relief over that she added, "But we are together now."

"Together? What exactly does that mean? When did that happen? You barely know each other!" He cut a sharp glance towards Aang. "What are you intentions for my sister?"

"His intentions?" Katara snorted indignantly, "Are you seriously asking him that? Sokka, aren't you about 300 years too late with that kind of thinking? Aang and I want to be together. That's all you need to know."

Sokka firmly ignored her, his eyes fixed on Aang in an unwavering stare. "I'm asking you. Is this some way for you to pass the time or are you serious about Katara? I'm not going to let you treat her like a groupie!"

"A groupie?" Katara sputtered in outrage.

"I watch the news," he maintained stubbornly, "I know how the girls are all over him! How do you know he's not running a line on you, Katara?"

Katara buried her face in her hands with a heavy groan. "I can't believe this…"

"I'm not using your sister, Sokka," Aang informed him firmly, "I really care about her." He hesitated in saying that he loved her, not because he believed that was too forceful a description for what he felt, but because he suspected it might be a little hard for Sokka to swallow given that he and Katara had only known each other for a short time. "What I share with her is very precious to me. I won't hurt her."

"You'd better not," Sokka grumbled, but it was clear that he was far from mollified, "Or you'll have me to deal with."

"I don't blame you for being protective."

"And I don't need your permission to care about my sister!" Sokka retorted, "What I want is to know what's going on here! Besides the fact that you're the Avatar, I really don't know anything about you. Who are your people? Where were you born? What kind of childhood did you have? Why are you bald right now? I need these answers!"

"Would you quit grilling him?" Katara fired.

"Let him answer, Katara!" Sokka growled back, "He doesn't need you fighting his battles for him!"

Katara groaned anew. "It's like a never-ending nightmare. Sokka, it's not Aang's judgment that you're questioning right now. It's mine! So, stop it! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"I know you're not a kid, okay!" he bit out, "But obviously Aang is important to you and if he's going to be in your life then I want to know who he is, Katara!"

Aang caught hold of Katara's hand when she would have shot back another snarling retort, hoping to soothe her ire towards Sokka. At his gentle touch, Katara clamped her mouth shut, but her expression remained hostile. "It's okay," he murmured, "He has a right to ask, Katara."

"You see?" Sokka drawled in a haughty tone, "He gets it."

"What do you want to know?" Aang asked him.

"Start with the basics."

"Okay…my mother and father are named Lasya and Tenzin," Aang provided quietly, "They met when my mother was fourteen and married four years after that. I was born in the Fire Nation while my parents were traveling. When I was three and a half, they dedicated me to the Southern Air Temple so that I could train. I stayed there until I had mastered airbending and, after that, I went to live with my parents full-time. We moved to a small township outside of Ba Sing Se shortly after that. I had a very happy childhood and my family is extremely close. Three months ago, I learned I was the Avatar."

Sokka mentally turned over all the information Aang had just given him. "And that's it? Essentially, except for the master of the four elements thing, you're like a normal kid?"

"Pretty much."

"So why you'd shave your head? You look really different and it's freaking me out."

Katara emitted a mortified groan over that but Aang merely laughed. "That's a tradition among my people. When I leave for the North Pole, I will be expected to live as the monks do. Shaving one's head is part of that." He smiled at Sokka. "Anything else?"

"Eh…you got any money?"

"Sokka!" Katara cried in consternation, "What is wrong with you?"

He shrugged; refusing to be cowed by his sister's disapproving tone. "It's an honest question." He threw a glance at Aang. "So, are you loaded or what?"

"I'm afraid it's 'or what.' I'm not rich, if that's what you're asking."

Sokka clucked in disappointment. "You got a car?"

"Also a negative."

"So other than being the Avatar, you don't have much going on for you in the financial department, huh?"

"No. Not so much."

"Okay then," Sokka sighed in satisfaction, "Wanna hang out and play some video games then?"

"Uh…sure."

An hour later, the two young men were slouched together on Sokka's dilapidated sofa, engrossed in a rather spirited game of Airball Pro while Momo darted back and forth between them in a bid for attention. Katara and Suki watched them from behind the kitchen island while they prepared a late lunch. As Katara shredded cabbage for a warm salad, she was hardly aware of the besotted expression on her face as she watched Aang with her brother, but Suki was hardly oblivious. She studied Katara with an amused, sideways smirk.

"You really like him, don't you?" she remarked softly.

Katara snapped erect at the tiny thread of surprise she detected in Suki's tone. "Of course I do. You walked in us earlier. I would have thought that was obvious."

Suki lifted her shoulders in a noncommittal shrug. "That could have easily been hormones. I mean, it's not like Aang's a bad looking guy or anything."

"Well, that did have a little something to do with it," Katara confessed in a sheepish tone.

"No kidding," Suki joked, "But I've been watching you two today and it's really obvious that it's more than that. I don't know…there just seems to be something really deep between you two."

"There is something really deep between us, Suki," Katara revealed in a dramatic whisper, "You're going to think I'm crazy when I tell you this, but…I think Aang and I might have loved each other in a past life."

As expected, Suki snorted a short laugh. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm not. I already told you that sometimes I see things when we're together. Well, he does too. We see these people and they look like us and the feel like us, but they are obviously not us."

Suki squinted at her. "What are you talking about?"

"It's like we have their memories and we're seeing the life they lived together."

"Katara, I'm not going to pretend to know what that is or what it means, but…reincarnation?" Suki considered in a highly dubious tone, "I know Aang is the Avatar so the weird, spiritual stuff comes with the territory, but this idea that you two were lovers in a past life seems like a leap to me."

"I thought I was jumping to conclusions too," Katara admitted, "So I decided to do some research this morning on past avatars just to be sure."

"And?"

"I actually found an airbender named Aang in those records and you know what else? He was actually married to a woman named Katara."

Suki suppressed an amazed shiver. "That…is…really…freaky."

"You're telling me. I know that's who Aang and I see in those visions. It has to be them."

"What else did you find out?"

"Not much at all. Aang came over while I was in the middle of my Net search and we…um…kind of got distracted after that."

"Uh-huh…I'll bet you did," Suki grunted with a knowing smile. Katara expelled a nervous cough, her cheeks suffusing with heat, but that didn't deter Suki from pressing her on the subject. "So what was it like anyway?" she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"What was what like?"

"Having sex with the Avatar?"

Katara choked, this time going into a coughing fit so violent she actually distracted Aang and Sokka from their game. After reassuring them both that she was fine and not in need of the Heimlich, she shot an incredulous glower Suki's way. "I cannot believe you just asked me that," she hissed, "How adolescent are you?"

"What? I'm curious."

"You've been around Sokka too long. You sound just like him!"

"Don't try to distract me with insults. Spill the details, my friend."

"There are no details to spill. We didn't finish…" Katara confessed with some embarrassment, "You walked in on it, remember? And, for the record, you should know that you are the worst cockblocker in the history of cockblockers!"

"Oh," Suki chirped, reddening with chagrin, "Sorry about that."

Katara rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Whatever."

"Well, I didn't know how far you'd gotten!" Suki cried defensively, "When I came into the room you guys were in the bed and all I saw was naked a—,"

"—I get it," Katara interrupted dryly, "You've made your point."

"I was just wondering if it would be a different experience, given that he's the Avatar and all."

Katara doubted it had much to do with Aang being the Avatar at all. She had gleaned enough from the odd flashbacks she'd experienced to discern that sexual intimacy with Aang was an incredible experience and something thoroughly enjoyable. She couldn't imagine that reality would be much different. However, it was also something she found thoroughly private, something special between her and Aang alone. While she had grown to love Suki very much in the past year and had even come to think of the older girl as a sister, that aspect of her relationship with Aang was something she wanted to keep to herself. So, despite Suki's girlish need to gab and her own girlish need to gush, Katara ignored Suki's nosy prodding and smoothly changed the subject.

She was in the midst of a long-winded monologue about the wonders of salad, thereby avoiding Suki's rampant curiosity but incurring her scowling "what" face, when Aang sauntered over to the island. He offered her an adoring smile. She responded with equal adoration. "To what do I owe this honor? Did you get bored?" she teased him.

His grin widened. "More like I was missing you."

"Ugh. Don't mind me," Suki grumbled good-naturedly, "I'll just be over here gagging."

Katara flicked her with a glance devoid of pity. "After all you and Sokka have put me through, I'd say you had this coming, Suki."

"Actually…" Aang drawled, "Sokka is the one who sent me over here. He was wondering if we could switch out. Apparently, there's some bending match about to come on and he wanted to know if Suki was interested."

In answer to that, Suki quickly set aside her slicing knife and dried her hands on a dishtowel. "Later, you two," she sang out airily before hopping to join Sokka on the sofa. Aang and Katara hardly noticed her exit. They were too busy smiling at each other.

"So, basically you only came over here because Sokka dumped you, is that it?" Katara teased him with a mock pout, "Frankly, I'm a little hurt by the fact that you seem to like my brother more than me."

"Not at all," Aang reassured her, "I've wanted to come in here for the last half hour but you and Suki seemed like you were having girl talk so I didn't want to disturb you. But, for the record, there's no way I like Sokka better than you. You have…uh…certain attributes that your brother definitely can't touch."

"Yeah…I'll just bet," she laughed.

He bobbed his eyebrows at her before asking seriously, "What can I do to help?"

"You can finish slicing the fruit since Suki abandoned ship." They worked side by side in companionable silence before Katara asked, "Did you enjoy your game?"

"Yeah…your brother's hilarious. We actually have a lot in common."

Katara went to check on her steamed cabbage and mulled that over, undecided on whether that made her happy or not. "He didn't interrogate you anymore, did he?"

"He asked some more questions," Aang admitted, "He wanted to know how serious things had gotten between us."

She went still. "And what did you tell him?"

"The truth." She lurched around with a stunned gasp when Aang added with a short laugh, "Not that. Do I look crazy to you? I don't have a death wish!"

Katara shoved him, huffing in laughing exasperation, "You're such a jerk! You knew I was going to jump to the wrong conclusion."

"The Avatar is many things," Aang said with the utmost seriousness, "But, a teller of the future, he is not."

"Sometimes, I don't know whether to kick you or kiss you," Katara grumbled.

Aang batted his lashes at her. "I'd prefer option B."

The look Katara shot him clearly stated that would not be happening anytime soon. "So what did you tell Sokka?"

"I told him that I'm really falling for you and that I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

In an instant, her mild annoyance with him melted away and a slow smile dawned across her face. "You do?"

His cheeks reddened with a shy blush. "Yeah. You make me really happy, Katara."

"You make me happy too," she whispered.

"Sokka just wanted to know that my intentions towards you were honorable."

Katara whacked her cleaver against the cutting board with a narrowed glare at the back of her brother's head. "Ugh! Again with the 'intentions!' What is with him? He's so annoying!"

"Whoa there now." Aang reached over to pry the knife from her white-knuckled grip and set it aside. "Let's put away the sharp, pointy objects and simmer down a little, shall we?"

She glared at him. "I don't like how he treats me like a child! What happens between us is really none of his business!"

"You and I both know that's not true," Aang argued softly, "If I had a sister and I came home to find her in my apartment with some boy that I barely knew, I'd ask questions too. He cares about you, Katara."

"I guess you might have a point…maybe…" she admitted in a grudging tone.

"Besides…considering what we were doing before he got here, I don't feel like either of us is in a position to be resentful with him. Can you imagine what would have happened if he had walked in on us instead of Suki?"

Katara shuddered. "Suki was bad enough."

"Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing."

Upon the mention of what happened prior to Suki's arrival and the strange thread of regret she detected in his tone, Katara's belly clenched with uncertainty. She managed a spasmodic swallow before she asked rather timidly, "You don't regret what happened, do you?"

His reply was nearly inaudible, but unquestionably powerful. "No. I don't regret it." He favored her with a sultry look, his desire for her prominently displayed in his expression. "I still want you, Katara."

"I still want you too," she confessed softly, "I wish we could have finished."

"I do too." He cast a furtive glance at the backs of Sokka and Suki's heads, mentally calculating his chances of having some alone time with Katara. "Do you think they're going to hang out here for the rest of the day?"

"Probably so," Katara surmised glumly. "Sokka's overprotective brother senses are on high alert now. The chances of him leaving us alone together are slim to none."

Aang bit out a soft, frustrated curse. "Do you think that maybe we could go somewhere else then? I feel like I need to be alone with you right now otherwise, I'm going to explode."

Not knowing whether to blush or grin in reaction to that candid statement, Katara did both. "Somewhere like where? You mean like a hotel?"

He dropped his head forward and released a self-deprecating groan. "I sound desperate, don't I?"

Katara giggled. "Just a little bit," she teased him, "But I like it. It's good to know that you want me so much."

Aang favored her with a dour glance. "This is really going to your head, isn't it?"

She giggled again. "Aww, don't pout. All is not lost. Maybe we can try again tomorrow. It's our last day together before you leave. I want it to be special."

Rather than making him smile, the suggestion brought a deep frown to Aang's face instead. "I don't know if I'll be able to get away tomorrow, Katara," he said in a regretful tone, "I still have a lot of preparation to get done before I leave for the North Pole. I've been putting it off all week."

His words set off yet another mood swing in Katara. Tears immediately welled in her eyes. "So you mean this is our last day together?"

Aang crossed the small bit of distance between them and reached out to cup her cheek. "It's not our last day, Katara," he whispered, "Don't think of it that way. It's just the beginning of us." He leaned down to kiss her, giving no regard to the fact her brother was less than twenty feet away because he needed that intimacy between them and he knew she needed it too. It took a few seconds to coax her into responding to him but, when she did, Katara kissed him back without reservation.

They were still kissing when Sokka announced in a grave tone, "Aang, I think you'd better get over here."

Katara groaned against Aang's lips. "Sokka, what do you want? Aang's very busy right now."

"This is serious, Katara. There's been a bombing. It looks bad."

Alarmed by the urgency in Sokka's tone, Aang shrugged out of Katara's loose hold then and made his way towards the living room. The news bulletin on the television immediately caught and held his attention. "…a coordinated attack on all four air temples," the announcer was saying, "The resulting blasts from each explosion was felt as far as a two mile radius. Countless are dead and still more are missing. Rescuers continue to search for survivors. Again, at approximately 1:15 p.m. E.K. standard time, a coordinated bombing attack was made on the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Air Temples…"

Aang felt as if he had been swept up into a vacuum. He could hear the words and see the horrific images but none of it made any sense. He couldn't process anything beyond the fact that the temple where he had spent the majority of his childhood had been left in burning ruins. The color drained from his face. He gripped the edge of the sofa because, for a minute, he was sure he was going to fall to his knees.

Katara worriedly placed her hand on his trembling shoulder. "Aang? Are you okay?"

The question mobilized him, unexpectedly kick-started his ability to think again. He swept up his jacket from the sofa armrest, already heading towards the door. "I have to go," he said, "I need to get back to the hotel."

Her stomach lurching with helplessness and dread, Katara trailed after him. "Can I do anything to help? Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. I need to be by myself for a while." He placed an absent kiss on her forehead. "I'll call you later."

He left without another word, disappearing down the dim corridor without a backwards glance. It was a long time before Katara regained enough composure to step back inside the apartment and close the door. She stood there for a moment, her forehead pressed against the painted wood before finally turning to face Sokka and Suki again. She wasn't surprised to find them both watching her with varying degrees of pity and concern. They both were at a loss as to what to say, but Sokka was the first to recover his power of speech.

"Are you okay, Katara?"

"I'm not the one you should be asking that question," she replied woodenly. "I can't understand who would do such a sick and twisted thing."

"There's a terrorist group who call themselves the Equalists who are taking credit," Suki revealed.

"But why?" Katara cried, "The Air Nomads are a peaceful nation!"

"It's because they're all benders," Sokka interjected softly, "According to these Equalists people, that makes the Air Nomads too powerful, especially now because the Avatar has been reborn as an Air Nomad. They called their actions a 'preemptive strike.'"

"And they say that benders are the threat to society?" Katara scoffed bitterly, "We're the ones being terrorized!"

"Katara, don't do that," Suki urged, "Don't make all non-benders into the enemy."

She locked her jaw stubbornly, obviously past the point of reason. "I gotta go," she declared, "Aang needs me! He shouldn't have to deal with this alone." Sokka moved to block her when she would have whirled for the door and made a quick exit. She had to stamp down the inclination to shove him. "Get out of my way, Sokka!"

"Katara, no! It's too dangerous! Aang is a target right now. You don't need to be with him until this whole thing is resolved."

"You're not going to stop me," she growled.

"This has nothing to do with you!"

"It has everything to do with me! I love him!"

That passionate admission did what nothing else had done. It stunned Sokka into complete silence. It stunned Katara as well. She had never bothered to put a label on what she felt for Aang. She had never sought to examine anything beyond her encompassing need to be with him. But now that she had said the words out loud, Katara knew that they were true. She had fallen in love with him…and it had taken less than four days.

"I love him, Sokka," she said again, this time in a softer tone, "He needs me."

"Maybe that's true," Sokka replied gruffly when he found his voice again, "But I need you too. I don't want you to get hurt, Katara. I can't let you leave."

He set up watch in the living room, determined to thwart any attempt Katara made for escape. Bitter and resentful and left without much recourse, Katara retreated to her bedroom, slammed the door and locked it behind her. Her options were limited. There was always the window, but they were four flights up. She supposed she could bend an ice slide down to the ground level, but that was going to take a great deal more water than what she had on hand in her bedroom. She knew if she even dared to set foot outside of her room, especially after the tantrum she had just thrown, Sokka would be all over her.

Frustrated with herself and with her brother, Katara flung herself down onto her bed with a heavy sigh. Just a few hours earlier, she and Aang had been planning to make love right on the very spot she lay and now she wasn't even sure if she would ever see him again. She stared intently at her cell phone where it lay on her nightstand beside the two unused condoms from before, silently begging it to ring. When it didn't, she impulsively grabbed both the phone and the foil packages and shoved them into her purse so that she wouldn't have to look at either. And then she flung the bag across the room, buried her face into her pillow and cried her eyes out.

Three hours later, Aang still hadn't called and Katara had gone past the point of being sick with worry. She paced the interior of her bedroom like a caged mountain-tiger while casting pensive glances over towards her window. The idea of using that as her escape route was looking better and better. She was just about to unlock the windowpane when her bedroom door opened and Suki slipped inside. Katara quickly spun away from the window and glared at the older girl with open hostility.

"I thought I locked that door."

"You did," Suki confirmed, "I picked the lock. What can I say? Once a Kyoshi Warrior, always a Kyoshi Warrior. The Yu Yan Girl Scouts have nothing on us."

"Did Sokka send you in here to spy on me?" Katara demanded flatly.

"No. I came in here because I was worried about you. We are both worried about you, Katara. You know Sokka is only trying to protect you." Katara grunted. Suki heaved an aggravated sigh. "Can't you try to see this from his perspective?" she cried, "As far as he can see, you met a boy four days ago and now you're willing to risk your life to be with him. Don't you think that's scary?"

"He's not just a boy," Katara replied hoarsely, "He fixed something in me that I thought would be broken forever after my mom died. He gave me hope again. I love him so much, Suki. I just want to help him."

"I know you do."

The commiseration and understanding in Suki's tone took Katara by surprise. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

An uneasy expression flittered across Suki's features. "If I let you borrow my car, will you promise to take care of it and not do anything foolish?"

Katara melted with gratitude. "I promise! Thank you so much, Suki!" She threw her arms around Suki's neck in a grateful hug. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"Just don't make me regret it," Suki grumbled, "Sokka's going to kill me."

"No, he won't. He'll forgive you," Katara whispered before taking a step back, "He loves you. He'll understand."

"I think you underestimate just how protective your brother is of you, Katara. If anything ever happened to you…"

"It won't," Katara interrupted firmly, "Aang will take care of me. We'll take care of each other." She threw a furtive glance at her door, her mind already bouncing to her potential escape. "How am I supposed to get past Sokka?" she wondered, "He's practically set up camp in the living room."

"Leave Sokka to me," Suki said, "Give me twenty minutes."

It proved to be the longest twenty minutes of Katara's life. An eternity seemed to pass before she finally heard the telltale squeak of Sokka's bedroom door as it closed. After that, Katara didn't waste any time gathering her purse and winter coat before creeping out into the darkened hallway. Unfortunately, the instant she stepped into the living room and clicked on the lamp to search for Suki's car keys, Momo set up a wild chittering.

Katara shushed him frantically. "Please, Momo…" she begged, "I will bring you back your weight in lychee nuts if you just keep quiet." The lemur was sold. He tucked his ears and settled back down against his pallet.

Sagging with relief, Katara swiftly located Suki's keys and quietly dashed for the door. She yanked it open, only to stop short when she found a disheveled and despondent Aang standing on the other side of it. He looked like he had survived a war. His eyes were swollen and rimmed with red. His face was blotchy and sallow. It didn't take much to discern that he had been crying. Katara threw her arms around him in a fervent hug.

"Are you alright? What are you doing here? You can't be walking around like this! It's dangerous!"

He held onto her like a drowning man. Katara could feel his body trembling and that only heightened her anxiety. "I know I shouldn't have come here but, I had to get away," he whispered gruffly, "I had to see you, Katara."

"It's okay. I'm here."

"I don't know what to do. Everything's a mess."

"Just tell me whatever you need, Aang."

"I can't stay here," he said, "I don't have much time because they're looking for me and I'm pretty sure Gyatso will tell them where to find me."

Katara leaned away from him then, noticing the pack slung across his shoulder for the first time. "Aang? What are you planning? You're not running, are you?" She was shaking her head in absolute disagreement before he could even begin to explain. "No! You can't do that! That's not a good idea at all!"

"I don't have a choice. I have to get away from here, Katara, and… I want you to come with me."

"Aang, I don't know if you should do this," she whispered.

"Please…"

"This is so bad. I…I don't know if you should do this."

"I've made up my mind about it," he told her, "I'm going…with or without you, but I'd prefer it if you came with me." He held out his hand to her. "Please come with me…"

Although she was unsure and frightened and almost completely sure they were making a terrible mistake, Katara did the only thing she could do…she gave him her hand. "Where are we going?"

"To the place where I was born. Ember Island."