A/N: I have returned, bearing a long chapter! This is where the fun begins so strap in for a ride with laughs and feels. I was originally going to have this chapter be two parts, but I chose not to. Be happy I didn't. No promises for future chapters though because we have two stories going on here ( AKA two couples at completely different relationship levels ). As always I don't own a single thing. Bryke - keep doing whatchya do! Please review. It's pretty much the only thing keeping this gravy train rolling.

Aang was the first to wake up that morning, as usual. The pink dawn looked innocent enough but brought with it an even hotter day than the previous. He snuck off into Katara's tent and lay beside her, leaning over her to kiss her on the cheek. The pressure of his lips made her stir until her blue eyes fluttered open, focusing on his grey ones. She smiled sleepily and reached her fingers up to her face, combing back the mess of hair out of her eyes,

"Good morning ,Sweetie."

"Good morning, Beautiful." He replied with his own smile, meaning every word.

She was in her own happy little world until she realized that they were alone together in her tent, unsupervised by her brother.

"You shouldn't be in here. Is Sokka still asleep?" She asked, awfully panicky for so early in the morning.

"Can't you hear him snoring? He's out like a candle." Aang affirmed with a chuckle.

She was quiet for a moment and then actually could hear him snoring on the other side of the camp. She relaxed and laughed softly, sitting up to stretch. When she did her covers feel around her, revealing that she was only in her bindings. Aang blushed and tried to look away, but the seventeen-year-old had blossomed into a water tribe goddess. Although he had seen her many times like this, he yearned to know what she looked like under those thin, tight strips of fabric that barely contained her developed chest.

Now is not the time for those thoughts! He scolded himself, looking away finally.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around her tent for her tunic top.

"Are we leaving already?"

"Yeah. We'll see how far we get. It's not like we're in a rush to get there, and we have to think about Appa. It's already so hot out and the sun has barely risen..."

"That's okay. Sometimes half the fun of a trip is the journey." She said, getting up on her knees to wrap herself with the long navy shirt and tie it at the sides. Aang didn't look where he wanted to look, her rear end. He was blushing when he decided to leave, having had enough of a view of her.

"I'll see if the others are up..." He said, exiting her little tent while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

The sun's rays hit him and he instantly decided it was going to be another shirtless and rolled up pants day. He strolled over to Sokka's tent and suddenly didn't hear snoring he had just a few moments ago.

"Hey Sokka, you up?" He said, poking the tent a few times. It was a few moments before a groggy response came.

"Yeah..." He yawned inside the tent and stretched on the ground. "Just trying to wake up all the way..."

"Alright, well, we're leaving soon so when you can, start packing up."

"Mmkay..."

Aang then made the trip over to Toph's little earth tent, but before he arrived, it was bent down quickly to his shock.

"Good, you're up!" He said with a squeak of surprise.

"Yeah, I've been up for a while actually." She said softly, folding her legs flat and grabbing her ankles.

"Oh, is something wrong? You and Sokka are usually the last ones up."

"No nothing important. Just thinking about stuff..." She trailed off into an uncomfortable silence.

"Okay... well we're leaving soon so pack when you can. We're gonna stop at the nearby village for supplies and then we're off."

"Alright. I don't have much really... I think my clothes are already packed, so I'm pretty much ready when you all are."

"Okay, good. I want to get going soon before it really heats up."

The group packed at a lazy pace, the heat really bearing down on them. Once everything was pack they all climbed onto Appa and flew to the village. They bought supplies that consisted of mostly food, fishing bait, and medical bandages. Katara stopped to buy a few blocks of a perfumed soap she liked. It was a setback money wise as it was a luxury, but she couldn't help it. After the village they headed northeast toward the fire nation, making their way across more earth kingdom territory then they had previously. By the time the sun was starting to set, Appa was exhausted from the heat. Aang apologized to his companion and landed them at the base of a huge mountain peak, a river carving a small canyon down the side and passing nearby from where they landed. It was always a good idea to land near a source of water. When they did land, Appa just collapsed onto his belly, completely overheated. Everyone climbed down and was quick to unpack his load to give him some breathing room.

"Is it just me, or is this the hottest summer we've ever experienced together?" Aang complained as he saw Appa panting.

"It's not just you." Katara huffed as her and Sokka set Appa's saddle on the ground along with their supplies. "I really envy you boys. You get to go around topless while Toph and I have to suffer through shirts and bindings!"

Aang didn't even think before speaking to her. "You can take off your tunic, I won't mind." It was like he had no shame.

"Aang, dude, that's my sister." Sokka said with his 'Oogie' face.

"Hey, look who's actually talking today!" Toph said from behind him, crossing her arms under her chest with a smile.

"I have to say something! I can't have him ogling my baby sister!" He yelled defensively, sounding much more like himself.

"But she had bindings on. And they waterbend like that together all the time, so how would this be different?"

Sokka just stood there for a second, unable to find a good reason. Instead, he chose to evade the situation.

"I don't have time to deal with this banter. Someone has to go get firewood!" He said, stomping off into the forest in his rolled up pants and no shirt, leaving Aang and the two girls laughing like children at his clear defeat. When the laughing fit was over, Katara put on her scolding face.

"You really shouldn't provoke him like that, Aang. Especially in the state he's been in."

"I wasn't trying to make Sokka upset. Sometimes I just think out loud."

"Ah, don't worry about it Twinkletoes," Toph interjected, waving her arm in the air. "Something tells me he's going to be acting a lot more like himself."

The two were curious about why that was, but didn't press her for details. With everything unpacked and the sky growing darker, Katara turned to Toph with an idea.

"Hey, there is a river not far from here that's coming down from the mountains. I bet the water is nice and cool." She sang with suggestion in her voice. Toph picked up on her hint.

"Normally I don't care about being that clean, but I hate hearing you nag at me and it's so hot... so yeah, okay. Let's go take a bath." She conceded easily, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright! Bath time!" Aang shouted enthusiastically, assuming he was going.

"Nu-uh Mister Arrowhead! This is girl time." Katara stated.

"Hey, I need a bath too, we've been sweating all day!"

"Exactly. And ladies always go first." She said firmly, going through her supplies for one of the bricks of soap she purchased and a comb.

"So what am I supposed to do? We have tons of food and it's getting dark out." He said, pretending to be afraid of the dark.

"Sokka will be back soon and then you can light a fire for light and have some guy time. Besides, it's a full moon tomorrow night so it won't be that dark out." She said firmly again, ending the conversation and taking Toph's arm, leading her towards the river.

"Fine!" He called to their backs. "Your plan sounds boring anyway!" He huffed and crossed his arms, acting a little childish.

"Ooh this water feels so refreshing!" Katara sighed as she slipped her dark unclothed body in the water up to her waist, holding Toph's hand as they waded in together. Toph let go and sunk her nude body down, sitting on the sandy river bottom, the water coming up to her neck.

"Yeah, I'm not so hot anymore. I can't see, but I'm not dying from heat exhaustion. If it wouldn't bother anyone I would have been naked all day." She said with a laugh. Katara giggled uncontrollably, sinking herself into the water beside Toph.

"Can you imagine their reactions?" She snorted and laughed even harder.

"Poor, innocent, Aang would be scared for life!" Toph laughed out, holding her sides.

Katara's laughter fell in intensity to a small chuckle as she came behind Toph with the soap, beginning to wash her friend's hair.

"He's not that innocent... I don't think..." She trailed off, suddenly becoming very concerned with Toph thick dirty hair, lathering it up from root to tip and scrubbing hard, rinsing and repeating. Toph was unsure if she wanted to know and was quiet for sometime before the curiosity bubbled out of her and made her ask.

"You two haven't..." she could bring herself to ask, not wanting to say it out loud.

"No. But I know he thinks about it a lot." She said quietly, rinsing Toph's hair one more time before washing her own.

"Do you want to?" Toph inquired rather boldly. Katara was surprised at the sudden turn of this conversation. She blushed, trying to focus on her hair washing,

"I do... and I know he does... don't you ever...?" She dropped off wondering if Toph had ever has those types of feelings.

"I want to someday... but right now I don't have anyone to give me those feelings.." She said softly. They stopped talking for a while, the only sounds were that of Katara washing her hair and body with the soft splashes of water and drippings off her body in the moonlight. When she was clean she handed the soap to Toph. She stood to clean her own body when she paused.

"Can I ask you a question Katara?"

"Anything." She said, feeling closer to Toph in this conversation than she ever had. Toph washed herself while she spoke.

"When did you know you liked Aang?"

Katara smiled. "I've never not liked him."

Toph chuckled. "I mean it. When did you realize you loved him? That he was the one?"

Katara was quiet as she rinsed her hair out again, thinking for a while.

"There was this one time... I saw a fortune teller-"

"You actually believe in that crap?"

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" She snapped at her.

"Okay, okay... go on."

"Anyway, I saw this fortune teller in a village and she said I was going to marry a very powerful bender. As our stay there continued, she read the clouds to tell if the nearby volcano was going to erupt. She gave good news, but her prediction was wrong. Terribly wrong. The volcano erupted with amazing and terrifying force! We had to dig a trench around the village to stop the lava flow from pouring over the village but it wasn't enough. It was overflowing, about to destroy the entire village. That's when Aang used his amazing bending to cool the lava flow and saved the entire village. Sokka and I saw the whole thing. Sokka said that he forgot sometimes how powerful of a bender Aang was... and it just clicked. Aang is the most powerful bender in the whole world, and I didn't figure out her prediction until that very moment."

Toph was silent for a while, rinsing herself in the cool water before responding and handing her the soap back.

"I wish I could have been there to feel that. Must have been pretty profound moment, despite the fortune teller mumbo jumbo."

They both smiled and relaxed in the water for a while, not wanting to leave the crisp river and go back into the hot night air. Toph starting thinking again and became curious about something else.

"Katara... what does it feel like when you first start to like someone?"

She came behind Toph and combed her hair out, thinking.

"It's hard to explain... I think it's different for everyone. But for me... it started out that he was all I could think about. Not in a sexual way, just constantly worrying about him or just thinking of things to talk to him about. Soon I started to over think everything I said and did around him. Then every time we would touch my stomach would do flips and everything he said to me completely captivated my attention..." She paused, realizing she was probably giving way too many details. "Sorry for gushing, you probably didn't need that."

"No no, I asked..." She said quietly, thinking about her own life and if she ever had any of those symptoms. It was quiet again before Katara changed the subject.

"We should probably wash our bindings and clothes while we're out here."

"Probably."

Katara raised her naked body from the cool water and grabbed all their clothes from the shore, washing them with the help of waterbending and Toph.

Aang sat with his hands hanging over his knees in a slight pout, waiting for Sokka to return to camp. Toph had a point to her argument; there was no difference between seeing Katara while they were waterbending practice and seeing her on dry land without her tunic.

Although lately he had been finding it harder and harder to focus on the waterbending part of their practice sessions. He was having all of these explicit thoughts about her, so much so that it was at the point where he had trouble looking at her fully clothed without feeling shame. He was even having dreams about her. Very, very detailed dreams. Dreams he wished were real. He felt so disgraceful about all these thoughts and feelings he was having about her. He didn't know it was normal for a young man his age to have these urges. Often when he woke up in the morning after those amazingly real imaginings and he would have to meditate for hours to calm himself - and certain parts of his body - down. He held his head in his hands until Sokka came back, his arms full of nice thick logs. Sokka eyed him curiously.

"What's wrong with you? Get shot down by my sister for a make out session?' He asked jokingly.

Aang thought to himself that while he was happy Sokka was starting to feel better, he was in no mood to joke about his relationship. He responded by glaring at him until he put the wood in a nice pile, ready for it to be lit. Sokka caught his stare and threw his hands up in defense.

"Okay, sorry I asked... you gonna light the fire or make me do it?" He changed the subject.

Aang shot a tiny fireball into the pile baring the same disgruntled look on his face. When the fire caught on the logs finally, he grunted and flung himself on his back, spreading out and looking at the sky, lost in thought. After a while, Sokka asked again.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" He inquired across the fire that lit the otherwise dark campsite.

"I can't talk about it..." He said in a miserable tone.

"Look buddy, not talking about things doesn't make them go away, and that's coming from me." He pointed a thumb to his chest and paused. No response.

"What's the problem?" He tried again, really concerned about him now.

"I can't tell you... you'll think I'm a freak..."

"Aang. You can bend all the elements, have access to the massive power of the universe at your fingertips, and you have thousands of past lives. You are as freaky as they come."

"Gee thanks. I feel SO much better Sokka." He huffed, turning his head to give him another glare.

"What I mean is that whatever you are dealing with, even if it's weird Avatar stuff, we are here for you... so please talk to me."

Aang pulled himself up and sat with his legs folded flat, not looking him in the eyes.

"Okay... so I've been going through this weird thing... it's all I can think about... and sometimes I have to meditate for hours just to calm down... and I've been having these dreams..."

"So like nightmares?"

"Not really... it's like the exact opposite."

"You lost me."

Aang sighed with frustration. "It's like a nightmare because I wake up and I'm covered in sweat and breathing heavy, but nothing scary or terrible happens. They are really, truly good dreams..." he tried to explain.

"Oh... OH! Oh Spirits no!" Sokka screamed, shaking his head.

"What?" Aang asked, wondering what he did wrong.

"I am NOT having this conversation with you! Nu-uh!"

"See! I knew you would think I was a freak!"

Sokka groaned in annoyance at Aang's naive ways. "You are not a freak, but I am NOT going to have a conversation with you about your crazy sex dreams that include my baby sister!"

"Wait... you know what they are?" Aang asked, feeling some level of relief.

"Yeah. I'm a guy! All guys have them. Or was that not covered in your sex education at the air temple?" He asked, really uncomfortable with this discussion.

"Sokka, I was 12 when I left. No one ever took the time to talk to me about all this becoming a man stuff..." he said sadly, looking down to the ground. Now Sokka felt like a huge jerk. He sighed and came over to his side of the fire, sitting next to Aang and putting an arm on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry... I forget sometimes that even though you are so incredibly powerful, you have to go through the same changes I had to go through."

"I thought my voice was the only thing that changes."

Sokka groaned and turned to him, looking him in the eyes. "What do you need to know?"

"Are you sure you want to talk about this still? Because it mostly involves Katara..."

"I realize that... but who else are you going to talk to, Zuko?"

Aang shook his head. "I don't know him like I know you... it would be more awkward than this is right now."

"Let's get this over with then. One night, right now. Ask any question and I will answer to the best of my ability." Sokka said, feeling preemptive regret that he is allowing this conversation to continue.

"Give me a second..." Aang's mind buzzed with questions. He couldn't decide what to ask first. he decided to start with the real problem. "How do you not have those dreams?"

"Uncontrollable. Even if you actually do it, you'll still have those dreams, just not as often." He stated, speaking from experience. Aang was quiet as more questions tried to bubble forth.

"Oh okay... how do you know when... if she's ready to..." He couldn't bring himself to actually ask.

"Can't and won't help you there. This is purely informational. I'm not going to help you get laid."

"But how am I supposed to know if she's ready for that!? Aren't I supposed to make the first move? What if I do! Then what? What if she's not ready and she gets upset and our whole relationship starts to crumble in right before me?!" He was working himself up into a panic.

"Whoa, calm down. Calm down Aang." He said putting his hands on his shoulders to keep the airbender grounded. "You'll be fine."

"How can you possibly know that?" He raised, still in reality anxious.

"As much as this grosses me out to know and say this, I can tell in the way she look at you." Sokka trailed off and Aang calmed down a little more.

"How do you mean?" He asked, trying to think if Katara had ever given him a special look before.

"I can see it. She's 17 Aang... and don't tell anyone I told you this, but I think they want it as bad as we do."

Aang was speechless. He couldn't picture Katara, his Katara, having those types of thoughts about him. Which brought him to his next question.

"In the morning... after those dreams, is there a faster way to... calm down?" He asked with a gulp of hesitation, both curious and extremely embarrassed.

"You can take for that yourself."

"I know, but meditating takes so long..." He replied, so naive.

"No... I mean TAKE CARE OF IT YOURSELF."

Aang just stared at him in confusion. Sokka groaned and leaned forward, whispering what he really meant in his ear. Aang jerked away from Sokka in surprise.

"You can do that?" his eyes were wide with both horror and amazement.

"That or wait for her to be ready. Those are your two options."

Aang was quiet for a while, trying to muster up some more courage to be bold. "I'm still having trouble with my dreams though..."

"Like how?"

"Well... we're not exactly... because I don't know how..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck with complete awkwardness.

"Wait. You're not even having sex in your dreams because you don't know how?"

"It's not my fault! I've never exactly seen a naked woman before!" He said, blushing like crazy, crossing his arms defensively.

Sokka just busted out with laughter. He couldn't help it. The all powerful Avatar, who singlehandedly defeated Ozai, of whom had the power of Sozin's comet, had no idea how a woman looked naked.

"You are the worst confidant ever." Aang huffed and looked away from him. When Sokka could breathe again, he looked over to the pouting Avatar.

"I'm sorry, I guess I just thought you had."

"When have I had the time?"

"True. But then what do you even dream about?"

Aang gulped hard and looked away. "Her... touching me..."

Sokka suddenly felt sorry for him and his lack of experience. "It will happen when the time is right." He said calmly.

"But what if I don't know what to do?"

"Trust me, if I know my sister, she'll tell you exactly what to do. Now no more talking about this. my skin is crawling with oogies." He said with a shudder.

"Okay, thanks Sokka."

"Yeah yeah..." He said getting up from the ground and going through their supplies for food.

"Hey, can you grab me a melon? I'm starving." Aang asked, hearing something behind him. He turned his body to see Toph and Katara walking into the camp, clothes and bodies dry and clean. Katara caught Aang's eyes and they both swiftly looked away from each other, both a little embarrassed about the talks they had just had. Toph was the first to speak as they approached.

"Hey, what do we have for food tonight?" She said, rubbing her stomach with longing for food. Sokka responded to her while going through the supplies.

"Tons of dried meat, and of course melons for the Melon Lord." He laughed, walking over to Toph and handing her a big juicy melon and then Aang his.

"All hail the Melon Lord!" Toph laughed and sat near the fire. Katara stood for a second before she sat awkwardly next to Aang, avoiding his eyes.

"Here." Sokka said, handing her some food and sat next to Toph, chowing down.

"Thanks, you boys can go take your baths now. And wash your clothes while you're down there." She nagged. Still the mother hen.

"No, it's not like we don't have more clothes packed. You're the waterbender, you wash them. That's girl's work anyway." Sokka said, nonchalantly.

"Excuse me?" Katara fired back, forgetting her previous embarrassment now enraged.

"He's just joking... right Sokka?" Aang said, giving him another glare.

Sokka hesitated. "Yes. Ha. ha." He flatly lied, of which Toph knew.

"You're such a sexist pig. And here I thought you had improved." Toph said, wiping her mouth from the melon juices.

"Hey, I have gotten way better. I just think someone who can magically swirl around soap and water should do the washing of clothes."

Katara opened her mouth to yell at her idiot of a brother but Aang put a hand on hers.

"I will be more than willing to wash our clothes." He said smoothly, finishing his fruit and patting Katara's hand. Aang stood up and stretched. "Come on Sokka." He waved and walked off towards the river. Sokka grudgingly followed and Toph snickered, getting a look from Katara.

Soon the boys were back, as clean as the girls, and as night had now fallen they were all ready for bed. Sokka and Katara went to their tents, Toph bent up hers, and Aang lay out under the stars, everyone passing out very quickly in the still steamy night.