Thank you all so much for your awesome reviews! I want to dedicate this chapter to you all, especially you, Ryujin! I think I actually cried a little when I read your review and PMs. I will do my best to live up to your expectations! Hai, douzo!

Little bit of back ground info:

-Aang was born about 6 years sooner in this universe, so he was 18 when the monks told him he was the Avatar. After they tell him that he would have to give up his attachment to Gyatsu, he ran away, and we all know the story after that.

Ages for all characters are:

18 - Aang and Suki

17 - Sokka and Zuko

15 - Katara and Toph (just so she isn't so many years younger then everyone else)

In the last chapter...

Katara wakes up and the kids explain what their goal for coming to the future was- reuniting two soul mates!

Chapter Twelve

"What do you mean, you are stuck here? You don't know how to get to your own time?" Katara gaped incredulously.

Kya shook her head, "no, we don't. We don't even know if it's possible. The spirits said that when the time came, they would call us back to our own time stream, but until then we had to make sure that things started on the path that they are suppose to."

"Well, what's the point in you staying here?" Zuko asked, "We know that we are suppose to be together, so your purpose is served."

"Just because you know that you are suppose to be together doesn't mean that everything will work out itself," Bumi snorted.

"More then likely it's just the opposite. Now that you know that you are suppose to be together, you may feel pressured to speed things along, but forcing it will only make your relationship one big lie. We're here to make sure that the two of you truly fall in love with each other."

There was a knock on the double wooden doors at the face of the room and a serving girl peeked her head in, bowing deeply.

"Fire Lord Zuko, the refreshments you ordered are ready."

"Actually," Bumi yawned, "I don't know about you, Kya, but I'm really tired. Would it be alright if we went to one of the guests' rooms, Fire Lord?"

Zuko inclined his head in agreement, "of course. See to it that these two have anything they want, and see them to the guest's rooms directly across from the nursery. Also, send a message to the royal physician that he is to report to Master Katara immediately fallowing the mid-morning meal tomorrow."

"As you wish, your majesty."

Bumi and Kya bowed in the formal way of the Fire Nation to their father, and then gave their stunned mother a kiss on the cheek each before seeing themselves off to their rooms. Zuki sat back on the settee, trying to rub the head ache from his temples.

"Our lives are never boring, are they?" Katara sighed before placing her hands on the young man's temples.

Zuko snorted, "no, never."

Katara slowly withdrew her hands from her companion's face and set her hands back in her lap.

"So, I guess this means... we're parents."

"Yeah," he agreed, "but not in anyone's eyes but our own, and those two kids'. Katara, we have to fix this."

"Zuko, I don't think falling in love is going to fix all of our problems. I mean, even if we did, no one would ever except me as your wife, little alone the Fire Lady! I'm a Water bender, for Tui's sake!"

"Which is why you'd be a prefect Fire Lady."

Katara laughed humorlessly.

"I'm serious. The people of the Fire Nation need to get it in their heads that they are not the only people in the world, or even the most powerful or most important. Having a Water bender as the Fire Lady will not only teach my people that there needs to be diversity in the world, but it will also show the world that the Fire Nation realizes the worth of the other nations."

"So," she snorted, "you want to make everyone think we'd have an arranged marriage, or at a political one."

"You know I'd never want that, Katara. And I hate to say it, but not just I, but YOU are one of the most important people in the world. You are the Avatar's Water bending teacher, his best friend, and soon, the mother of his first child. You are no longer some peasant, or even the daughter of a chieftain. You, Katara, of your own doing, have become a very important person in this world."

Said teen blushed and looked away from her future lover.

"Zuko, I don't WANT to be important. I'm just... me."

"And that's all the world sees, is you. You in all your glory. Don't worry about what they thing, just do what you feel, what YOU want. Be your own person."

"But, Zuko, what about the rebellion they spoke of? Surely you don't think that it's going to just come up out of the blue. There's going to be a trigger. What if that trigger... is me? What if I'm the one who caused all that, just like in their time, I'm the one who caused the next war."

Zuko frowned at the girl. She looked close to tears, and he wanted nothing more then to scoop her up in his arms and hold her against his chest.

Which is exactly what he did. Katara gasped, eyes wide as he became aware of the warm body surrounding her.

"I promise, Katara, that won't happen. It won't be your fault, because I won't be stupid enough to turn into the one thing I swore I'd never be. I won't become my father, and with you by my side, I know that the Fire Nation is going to be in good hands."

Katara nodded and curled into his warmth, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned into his hold. She closed her eyes and breathed in the deep, earthy smell he'd aquired while traveling the Earth Kingdom, along with the warm, smoldering smell of smoke and sun that had first caught her attention all that time ago when he'd first come close enough to her for her to smell him.

"I'll save you from the pirates."

Katara smiled, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to allow the Fire bender to woo her heart into his keeping.

I know it's still a bit short, but I'll do my best to update often to make up for it! Look for an extra long chapter some time in the next 36-48 hours!