A/N: Timeline – Directly after The Fortuneteller

Pillow Talk

Chapter 16: Chasing Panda Lilies

The gentle breeze blowing off the nearby river had done much to comfort the suffering airbender. Only hours before he had stopped a volcano from destroying Aunt Wu's village, but the close proximity to the lava hadn't done him any favors. His clothing was scorched in places and much of his skin not covered by the protective garments was blistered from the intense heat.

He had battled a volcano and proved himself more powerful. But his victory had cost him. And thus, this was where they chose to set up camp, Aang snuggling beneath the blankets as his body shivered from the heat stroke that resulted from his efforts. Katara had insisted on gathering water from the river in the hopes of healing Aang while Sokka made the choice to set up camp.

It was a quiet, picturesque scene the small party of friends would have enjoyed more had Aang not fallen ill. Still, as the young warrior continued setting up the cooking fire, his mind was perplexed by a thought he couldn't quite dismiss.

He hadn't even considered it really until just now, or perhaps his mind had been working it out all this time and he was simply more concerned with other problems, like saving a village full of fools from being dunked in a lava bath. But now that the crisis was over and this strangely revealing, if not peculiar thought had taken root in his over-active mind, he found that he simply could not let it go.

And so, having completed setting up the camp, the young warrior walked toward the form of his bundled friend and plopped himself in the dirt and grass beside him. "So Aang," Sokka spoke in an overtly cheerful way that, had the young Avatar been feeling better, would have put in on an immediately defensive countenance. "Ever since we left the village, something's been bothering me."

"Ugh…" Aang groaned as he turned his face towards his friend and made an effort to sit up, giving up before his blistered skin caused too much discomfort. For his part, Sokka did not seemed perplexed in the least. "What is it Sokka?"

"Well, its just, well you know that girl Meng from the village right?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Okay, well here's what I can't figure out," the older boy said as he leaned back on his hands and fixed the bundled teen with a poignant stare. "While we were in the village you were asking me all these questions about how to get a girl to notice you. Naturally I thought you were talking about Meng. I mean, she seemed pretty interested in you, and well, giving you all that advice and climbing up the mountain to get a Panda Lily, I just assumed you were wanting to give her the flower…"

"Where are you going with this?" Aang asked, his eyes shining worriedly at his friend while trying to piece together his logic.

"I guess it's just that, if you really Meng, then you would have told her goodbye or at least been a little broken up over it. But nope, nothing at all, which makes me wonder if I wasn't wrong about the whole object of your interests. So the question is…who were you trying to impress if not Meng?"

Aang visibly paled under the scrutinizing eye of the older boy while Sokka fixed a suspicious glare at the nervous young man. He had him cornered, and from the look in his eye, Aang understood Sokka was not about the let the issue drop. It seemed at that moment however, Katara returned from her task of gathering water from the river, saving Aang from answering Sokka's question while at the same time damning the young airbender by inadvertently causing him to reveal his feelings for the beautiful young waterbender.

As soon as she returned to the clearing, she smiled in her cheerful way at the pair of them, causing Aang to both flush with shy embarrassment while waving to the returning young woman. The reaction however was not lost on Sokka, and as he turned his face from his sister to his best friend and back again, the pieces of this puzzle tumbled into place and left him shaking his head in silent understanding. "I should have known," he said simply as he turned his attention back to Aang, a look of unrepressed terror shining in his eyes as though afraid Sokka would beat him senseless or worse yet, tell Katara his true feelings.

Sokka however understood all too well how much Katara meant to Aang, and felt a small slither of regret that the fear expressed through the Avatar's eyes were meant for him, because Aang had no way of knowing how Sokka would react now that he knew.

"Katara," Sokka called out, ignoring the blanching cower of the young man beside him. "Did you bring enough water for the stew?"

"We've got enough water for dinner Sokka, this is for Aang," the waterbender said, placing the three large waterskins on the ground and putter her hands to her hips.

"Actually, I accidentally knocked it over, can you get some more?"

"Why can't you get it some water then Sokka, Aang needs this water to feel better."

"Just GET THE WATER WOMAN, I'M HUNGRY!"

"FINE!" Katara screamed, her face flushed with anger as she turned her back on the pair and stormed back into the woods, mumbling to herself about pig-headed brothers. Sokka was certain she was going to burn his meal tonight, but it couldn't be helped, he needed more time to talk to Aang.

For his part, the Avatar flashed a look a both relief and gratitude towards the older boy as he sat up a little straighter. "Y-you're not going to tell her?"

"It all depends," Sokka said shrugging as he turned back towards the boy.

"On what?"

"On whether you tell her or not." When the words caused Aang to pale even further until his skin looked doughy and pallid, Sokka continued. "I think she has a right to know, don't you?"

"But…I can't do it Sokka," Aang moaned, throwing his hands over his face, "You heard what she said about me? I'm just a friend, a 'cute little guy'. She even compared me to Momo."

"Which she said in response to my teasing. You can't take that as a legitimate argument."

"And what if it is? What if that's all she'll ever think of me?" Aang bemoaned his lack of confidence. It seemed wholly unfair that he could face down rogue Spirits and erupting volcanoes, but had no confidence in speaking candidly with the young woman he was deeply infatuated with. He wasn't smooth or suave. He was certainly shorter than Katara which made it all the more awkward and…well, he didn't think he was particularly good looking either. If only he could look like Jet or Haru, but no, he wasn't blessed with natural good looks, at least not the kind that Katara obviously found attractive. He was just himself, goofy, awkward, big-eared and short stature Aang. How could Katara ever look at him as more than a friend?

As this all seemed to work itself out in his mind, depressing Aang further into his own melancholy, Sokka seemed to understand his thoughts and offered a sympathetic smile. "I'm going to tell you something Aang, and I want you to listen because I'm being completely honest and truthful with you, but Katara….she needs you."

This certainly confused Aang as he, for the moment, abandoned his lamenting thoughts and fixed Sokka with a confused look, prompting the warrior to continue. "See, when our mother died, it was the worst time of our lives," the older teen said, running his hand agitatedly through his hair. "Our family was in ruins, and really, if not for Katara, I think me and my dad would have fallen apart.

"She saved us Aang, but in doing so, she gave up being a kid and grew up too fast. I miss her," Sokka said, more to himself than for the younger boy next to him. For a moment, Sokka fell silent as he was absorbed in his own thoughts, his eyes misting slightly as haunting memories played themselves across his mind. But he never allowed himself to sink too deeply into that strangling grief that always threatened to overtake him whenever he remember the darker days of his youth and rather turned his attention back to the airbender.

"She sacrificed everything for me and my father, and it wasn't fair. All I ever wanted was for her to be happy, but somewhere along the way I lost sight of that. I spent all my time training and preparing for a war with the Fire Nation, that I forgot to be a kid. And Katara spent so much time taking care of me that she forgot all that too. Some big brother I was."

"Sokka, I don't understand…" Aang began but fell silent when Sokka raised his hand, asking for him to be quiet.

"This is something I never told you Aang, but when Katara released you from the iceberg, I resented you. I was angry you were at our tribe and I wanted you gone. Not because I thought you were a threat. I may have said that, but it wasn't true. I wanted you to leave because you gave Katara something I couldn't. You made her laugh again Aang, and I was jealous that some outsider could give her something I wasn't able to. Before you arrived, I don't know, I guess it must have four…five years since I'd even seen Katara smile. Now she smiles all the time, and I resented that, but I'm also thankful because you gave me back my sister.

"After all she's done, she deserves to be happy."

"But…you said she needed me. How can I make her happy?"

Sokka offered no answer however and simply shrugged his shoulders. Whatever more he might have said on the issue would only have further confused the younger teen. He had his suspicions, had his own theories on how everything would work itself out, but this was not the time to compile an already stressful situation with more complications. Instead, he simply stood up and dusted himself off.

"Really Sokka, you uh…you're not mad about all this?"

Shrugging in response to the Avatar's question, the boomerang expert offered a wane smile in response. "I already told you Aang, all I want is for Katara to be happy. She's spent most of her life taking care of me and my father, that it's nice to see someone taking care of her, looking out for her and protecting her without smothering her. As long as you care for her as much as she deserves, that all I'd ask."

Reaching into the folds of his clothing, Sokka removed a delicately shaped flower and tossed it gently to Aang who caught it in an uncertain hand. "You seemed to think it was important, so I got one of those flowers you wanted off the rim of the volcano before they were all destroyed. You said it was special, that it signified everything you wanted in the one you wanted to be with, right?"

"The Panda Lily," Aang said, his eyes wide with reverence and disbelief as he couldn't help but smile at the gesture from his best friend. "Thank you Sokka!"

Waving him off, Sokka rolled his shoulders as he moved to walk away. "Whether you give it to her now or next year, just make sure that when you do give it to her, you mean it."

As he walked away, Sokka couldn't help but feel a little saddened. His gesture was the mature thing to do…the right thing, and yet he couldn't help but feel that his sister had grown up without him. That she no longer needed him when she had Aang to protect and care for her. Still, even if he was a little sad, he was also a little hopeful, because he knew if there was anything Katara deserved was to be happy. That's all he wanted.

End

A/N: Okay, not sure about this one. The beginning started kind of blah, but I liked the dialogue between Sokka and Aang. I always found it strange when reading fanfiction that has Sokka being a complete overprotective jerk when it comes to Aang and Katara's relationship, even though he never seemed to mind about Katara's interest in Jet until learning he was nuts. So, this was a dialogue I thought up for Sokka and Aang having that talk.

As always, reviews are appreciated, so if you were kind enough to read, I welcome your input. Thank you.