A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've gone on a lot of trips since I last updated (Disneyland, NYCC (MIKE REMEMBERED ME! (I will tell this story forever)), and Thailand) and work got crazy but here it is! Hopefully there won't be too long between updates and I'm sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Toph had to deal with Aang. She didn't need him to start developing a stupid crush on her now! They'd been friends for years and she helped him get over Sweetness! They'd traveled together. Nothing had happened until he saw her in that stupid dress her mother insisted looked good on her (really, people needed to stop telling her how she looked, it was getting rather old). But airbenders were good at avoiding confrontations. Which meant Aang was currently avoiding her.

Which was actually stupid, in her opinion. He basically hung on to Sugar Queen while he had a crush on her. Shouldn't he be trying to be around her? Obviously not because after their little sparring session he'd run away. And continued to run away as quickly as possible whenever they had to be in the same room together. She'd had enough, even though it hadn't been going on for that long.

She found Aang outside with Appa and quickly earthbent a circle of stone around him. "You're coming with me," she said as she pulled him out of her cage and dragged him off to a corner of the barn. She threw him (as gently as she could) against the wall and encased him in earth again. "Look here, Twinkletoes, I know you've started developing a silly crush on me."

She felt his heart rate speed up as he mumbled "What?! that's silly Toph! You're one of my best friends!"

"Duh, I know that but you are starting to get this stupid idea that you like me and that's not an option at the moment."

"I don't understand," Aang said.

Toph sighed. "We are maybe married and we have to keep my parents distracted so we can still run out of here and I have to make sure the timing works so that Sugar Queen and Fire Lord Grumpy have enough time to stop being idiots and admit they like each other!"

Aang blinked. A lot. "What?"

"Gravel you were not supposed to know that!" She let the earth drop from around Aang. "Well now you do and if you're going to complain about me wanting Zuko and Katara together then we leave right now and you drop me off really far away from my parents."

Aang rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I mean, I did really like Katara but you know about that already and Zuko is my friend," he paused, "and I guess if it would make Katara happy to be with Zuko then I can help."

Toph was all ready to yell at him when he finished. "Wait, what?"

Aang shrugged. "I want Katara to be happy and if this will make her happy then I'm for it. You know we tried dating and it didn't work," Toph snorted, "but that doesn't mean I can't help her."

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"So what is this plan?"

Toph smiled and cracked her knuckles. "Well, it's simple, we wait here so the two love birdparrots realize they like each other or until the day before this stupid party, whichever comes first."

"Why are we even here with your parents?"

"Because it was actually an easy way to distract you, so I guess we could leave now." Toph thought about it. Her parents had already announced her party and this would also teach them to put her in a dress. "Go get the cup and pack up Appa, we're going to leave after dinner."

"Why not the morning?"

"Because I hate mornings."

Katara was not, she repeated, was not avoiding Zuko. That is something one did as a teenager and not as a basically adult which is what she was. And Fire Lady. Actually she shouldn't be avoiding Zuko considering she's Fire Lady but, well, that doesn't count when she was avoiding him.

She waved her arm and the turtleduck pond ripped. Hiding in the garden wasn't her first choice but her alternatives weren't really Zuko free. She couldn't hide in her room and she couldn't hide in her office. Luckily Ty Lee was off doing whatever she did and Iroh was...somewhere. She wasn't sure where that was but she knew it wasn't with her.

Which left her time alone with her thoughts and the fact that Zuko had kissed her. Twice. They weren't bad kisses, far from it, but they were confusing. After her terrible date she'd placed Zuko firmly in her 'never going to happen again' column of her love life. He resided there with Aang and Jet. Now, however, he was worming his way into the 'maybe' category and the only one in residence in her 'husband' category. He wasn't going to be there long, she reasoned. Sokka would arrive soon, followed by Aang and Toph and everything would be sorted out. She'd be husband free soon enough, she had no doubt that Zuko would keep his promise to sign their annulment papers and everything else would be settled.

Fair was fair. That didn't mean that the nagging voice in the back of her head was slowly growing louder about how Zuko wasn't so bad and living with him for the rest of her life couldn't be that terrible.

She bent a larger wave, startling the turtleducks with her frustration. She wanted to talk to someone about this. Someone who wasn't Ty Lee or Iroh or the cause of the the frustration himself. Suki was coming in a few days, Toph would be following her soon. Everything would work itself out soon.

She lay back on the grass and closed her eyes. She could avoid Zuko while thinking about him. His kiss was actually pretty good and she'd like to do it again.

Not that she'd ever tell him. That would just be silly.

Zuko knew Katara was avoiding him. Usually she'd be in his office annoying him but she'd run off as soon as they'd arrived back the palace. He was beginning to think kissing her was a mistake. Things had gone so well and he didn't think things had been awkward after that. They'd stayed for awhile after, finishing the food and talking about everything but their kiss.

This was all so stupid. Soon they wouldn't be married anymore and he could forget about this whole thing. Really.

"You and Katara kissed and now she's nowhere to be seen and you're holed up in here," Ty Lee said as she walked into his office on her hands, followed by Iroh.

"I don't really want to see either of you," Zuko said.

"Really, Nephew, I'd like to hear about your date," Iroh said.

"We had food, we went into the ocean, we kissed, and we finished the food. That was that, nothing more," Zuko said without looking up.

"You kissed?" Ty Lee gushed. "Did you kiss her or did she kiss you please Zuko let me know before I go chi block Katara and make her tell me."

"It was just a heat of the moment thing, no big deal and it's not like it was the second time or anything."

"Zuko! You've kissed her twice?" Zuko bit back a groan.

"I'm surprised Mom didn't tell you but yes, I've kissed her twice since we've been married and I ran way the first time and now she's run away the second time." Zuko looked between Iroh and Ty Lee. "Did you two really come to see me just to ask about my date?"

"No," Iroh said with a slight chuckle. "We came to tell you that there's a Water Tribe ship just outside the Gates of Azulon and thought you and Katara might want to greet them at the dock."

Zuko did groan because the last thing he needed right now was more people criticizing his kind of relationship with Katara.

For all that Suki didn't like the Fire Nation she had to admit the Gates of Azulon were impressive.

"There's a fire net that goes between them to keep intruders out too," Sokka said as he stood next to her. She smiled and tried to hide her discomfort. There was some very unsettling about going back to a country whose former princess had imprisoned and did things she only told Sokka about to to get her to talk. Other than that the Fire Nation was a nice place, when not trying to conquer the world.

As they passed through the gates Suki took a step closer to Sokka. "I know," he said as he wrapped his arm around her. "But we shouldn't be here too long." Suki hoped he was right. As they neared the dock she could just make out Katara, standing next to Zuko, arms crossed.

"Katara doesn't look happy," Suki commented.

"If Zuko did anything to her I'm going to make him sorry," Sokka said as he cracked his knuckles.

"I'm sure its nothing but if you want I can talk to Katara for you," Suki offered.

"I'd like that. I have to go help bring the ship in." He kissed her quickly before hurrying off to help.

Suki waited patiently as the crew brought the ship in, carefully tying the boat to the dock and securing the gangplank. She followed the men down and was quickly engulfed in a hug by Katara. "You're here, I'm so happy you're here, we need to talk. Now."

"I missed you too, Katara," Suki said.

"Come on," Katara said as she dragged Suki away from the dock.

"Girl talk," Suki called over her shoulder. "We'll see you later." She watched Zuko and Sokka nod at this and then Sokka glared at Zuko. "I hope Sokka doesn't kill Zuko."

"What? Oh they should be fine." She waved her hand. "So girl talk Zuko kissed me twice and the second time I think I kissed him back what do I do?"

Suki laughed. "You're worrying because you might like Zuko?"

"Yes! This is a terrible thing!"

"I don't see why it's so bad."

"Well you're not married to him!"

Suki smirked. "That's it, you're worried you might actually like your husband?"

"I-you-that' not-" Katara sputtered. "We're getting an annulment and Dad is here to make sure he'd never be a fit husband according to Water Tribe standards!"

"That doesn't mean you can't like him and, you know, maybe get married again," Suki teased.

"You're supposed to be my friend!"

"I am. I'm just trying to get you to admit how you feel about Zuko before everything happens." They walked quietly for awhile. "So how do you feel about him?"

Katara bit her lip. "Confused."

"It's a start."

"No advice? No thoughtful words?"

"I'm not you. You're confused and I'm here to talk if you need it. If you don't want to talk I'll stand by you tomorrow when Zuko is failing all the tests your dad is giving him."

Katara hugged Suki. "Thank you."

This was it. Katara couldn't run away from him now. Unless she decided to not come to bed. She could do that, he reasoned. He'd done it before, more times than he'd like to count but that was due to paperwork not due to avoidance. She'd stuck by Suki all day and tactfully ignored him. He'd actually been very impressed with her ability to be in the same room as him without actually speaking or looking at him. He'd have to ask her to teach him how she'd done it.

"I thought you'd be asleep," she said as she walked in the room.

"Really? I go to sleep that early?"

"I guess I wasn't really paying attention but I kind of hoped." She walked into her closet. "Are you going to bed soon?"

"No."

"Oh, well, that's nice." She walked out of her closet in one of the nightdresses Ursa bought her. "So goodnight."

"Are you going to explain why you're ignoring me?"

Katara scoffed. "I'm not ignoring you."

"You are."

"You have no idea what idea you're talking about!"

"You ran away as soon you could after we kissed!"

"Because you kissed me!"

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"No it's not, you're Sokka's friend!" They were both breathing heavily as they shouted.

Zuko broke first. "You really just compared me to Sokka?"

She smiled. "I guess I did."

"That's never happened before."

"Being compared to my brother?"

"Yeah."

"Well if it makes you feel better I don't think of you like Sokka."

"Oh?" He asked hopefully.

"I," she paused. "No. I don't think of you like Sokka. In fact I'm not sure really how I think of you but I did like kissing you."

"Good. Can I do it again?"

She folded her arms across her chest and glared. "After a question like that no. But I'll consider it again in the morning."

I hope it was worth it.