Hey. Thank you for reading. I hope that you like the story so far and will enjoy the rest of it.

The room was in silence, the sun was setting and with it the warmth of the day was replaced with a cool breeze. Toph was sitting on a table in the centre of the den room that lead out onto the gardens of the palace, while Katara healed her cut. She had insisted on healing the slightly self-inflicted cut, even thou it was a rather small one. She did this because she felt like all of this was her fault. Zuko was leaning on the back of a chair facing Toph as his wife finished healing the cut. A million thoughts went through his head. Aang couldn't bring himself to look at Toph. He kept his eyes on the floor, as he leaned against the wall by this still open door out to the garden. He was going to have to tell her what he knew, and she was going to hate him for keeping it from her.

"Okay, so what is going on."

Sokka now entered the room. Gently closed the door behind him. Something told him this was going to be a very long and very heated conversation. He and Suki had just put the children to sleep, as it was starting to get late. He stopped in the centre of the room. His eyes roaming over everything sitting or standing in silence.

After a short silence Zuko finally spoke up to answer his brother in law. "What about Suki, we should wait for her"

"She wants to watch the kids, I'll fill her in." There was a harsh tone to his voice. One that let everyone know that he was not going to rest till he got an answer. His eyes stopped roaming the room and now focused on solely on Aang. "So what is this about." Like Zuko he worried about Toph, and he erratically blamed Aang for most of what was going on.

Even thou she couldn't see, Toph could tell that Sokka was directing his anger at Aang. Who was slummed against the wall at the other end of the room. She had not really be focusing on what was going on around her since they got back to the palace. Now the world started to come into focus again.

"Stop it Sokka, it's not his fault. It's no one's..."

"It's mine."

Katara turned away from Toph, after she spoke. She couldn't look at her or Aang. Behind her she hear the sound of Zuko starting to get up from his chair, so she went on. "I got a letter from a guard. It was from him. He said he wanted to see his grandchildren, to be a part of the family again...I went to see him...and he….he just wanted his bending back."

"You went to see him." Zuko took a step towards his wife. All Katara could do was nodded "But why didn't you tell me."

"Zuko leave her along. She didn't tell you because she didn't what to hurt you." Toph was still sitting on the table. She had remained calm throughout the whole thing. There was a lot that she still didn't understand, but as far as she knew there was no one to blame. She also didn't like the impression that she had, that everyone was talking about her, without talking to her.

"Toph I'm sorry." Katara turned to face her friend again. "I told him Aang loved you more than..."

"Anything is this world." An unused voice said. "And that made him realise...you are the fated spirit."

This was the first thing Aang had said since they returned to the palace. It was Toph sitting there defending him and Katara, when as he saw it, they had just put her in real danger that made him speak up. He just couldn't stand to hear her defend him. Not when he had lied to her for so long.

Sokka now moved towards Aang. "And what is a fated spirit, and what does that have to do with Toph and him getting his bending back."

Picking up on Aang's discomfort Zuko step in between the two men. "We don't have to worry about that yet. We just have to find him and stop him before he has a chance to..."

"I want to hear what he has to say." Toph had now pushed herself off the table, and was walking towards Aang. "What am I."

Aang couldn't look her in the face, even thou she was now standing just a few feet in front of him. He kept his eyes from her. "The other half of the avatar spirit. It's too powerful, so it is split in two. The other half is the fated spirit. They are the human side of the power." He now finally looked his wife I the eye. Putting a human face to all he said. "You are different. You also have part of the avatar sprit as well, so that you would be able to help me more"

Everything he said, every words that left his mouth was true, and yet it didn't feel true. Toph knew that she had to remain controlled, and calm. She couldn't afford to fall apart now. Not with everyone watching her. She felt all of their eyes on her.

"How long have you known." When he didn't answer right away a horrible thought crossed her mind. "Did you always know. Is that why you tracked me down to help you…is it why you came back." In a much quieter voice she added. "Am I only meant to help you, is that all..."

"No!" he moved towards her. Arms outstretched to take hold of her shoulders. "It's not like that, we are connected..."

"How long have you known." She quickly stepped back away from her before he could make contact.

Everyone was waiting for Aang's answer. They wanted to know if in some way had all of his been planned, them all coming together. They all felt that it was fate, finding each other, but they didn't like the idea that is all out of their control.

"Not long. When you thought you might be pregnant again. I spoke to Roku, he told..."

"Over half a year. You have known for all that time…..and you never told me." Toph turned away from him.

"It wasn't the right time." Aang moved forward again, following her.

Before he could reach her, Toph spun round to face him again "Because you didn't think I could cope. You think I am too weak to handle..."

"No! I thought you would get yourself caught up in something, because of it. Because you are the most stubborn, reckless person I know. You never listen to anyone, you think you know best. Well sometimes you don't. Sometimes you are wrong and you should listen to those that know more than you. People that care about you, want to help you. People that love you…..do you know how hard it is to love someone that is so reckless. It's painful. It is painful to love you."

Aang could stand Toph being mad at him, if he knew that he was in the wrong, but he had only been trying to protect her. He didn't see anything wrong with that. Toph didn't flinch as he yelled at her. Once he was done she simply turned and walked away. As the anger left him just as suddenly as it took him over, Aang felt an empty feeling wash over him.

The room was again plunged into silence, until Zuko spoke "We are all tired, and this is a lot to take in. We can talk about what to do tomorrow."

Sokka was the first to leave after Toph. He still had to fill Suki in on this new information. Zuko took Katara's hand and they left too. Aang was sure he heard Katara apologizing again to Zuko, who he knew would tell her it was okay he didn't blame her.

All Aang could think about was the look on Toph's face when he had yelled at her. It reminded him of the time he yelled at her, blaming her for Appa being taken. She hadn't yelled back at him then ether. He knew she kept silent, because she knew him well enough to know that he needed to vent his anger. That he didn't really mean what he said. She took his anger on herself because she knew she could take it. He had to do the same for her, she had a lot of anger that she couldn't hold onto.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to maybe reading any comments that you may have.