The first 16 chapters belong to Avatarfan792, and I take no credit for them. Here is a link to where the story was originally posted: s/14303822/1/The-Aftermath

Chapter 2: Confessions

AN: Wow! I am so humbled that someone took the time to review my first Chapter. This is mainly a project to practice my writing on, but for people to enjoy my writing brings me so much joy. Thank you for reading!

This chapter is a really sweet one. I wanted to touch on some emotional moments for Katara and Aang that are kind of left untouched by the show. I hope I did a decent enough job :)

I apologize again for any grammatical errors or things not making sense- English is not my first language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

"Well, Aang, this is your room for the night. The group decided they wanted to spend the night together, so one of my assistants has a bedroll waiting for you on the floor."

Aang smiled as he looked at Prince Zuko and let out a soft laugh. It was hard to imagine that they were in this current situation, especially considering that Zuko had been hunting him down ever since he woke up at the iceberg nine months ago. Aang bowed, and then brought Zuko in for a hug. "Thank you, Zuko, I am more than honored to be by your side for your coronation." The two exchanged a few more quick pleasantries before finally leaving each other for the night.

As Aang stepped into the room, a small smile crept to his face. Toph had created a small earth tent to sleep in the corner of the room. Sokka and Suki were on the other side of the room, cuddling into each other. Sokka must have been feeling better from a healing session with Katara as he was loudly snoring. Katara then had her own bedroll right by the door that led to the balcony, and Aang recognized the empty bedroll that lay next to her that was meant for him. Aang was exhausted from today's events. He and Zuko had properly gotten both Ozai and Azula to their cells, and then spent the next two hours meeting with generals and the fire sages on planning for the peace meetings tomorrow. However, he just quite wasn't ready for sleep yet. He tiptoed across the room, and lightly stepped over Katara's sleeping body as he made his way outside to the balcony.

Aang let out a small gasp as he took in the view. The balcony had a centerpiece fountain, the water humming its quiet song in the night time. The balcony gazed out to the Fire Nation Capital below. Rooftops were covered with a beautiful red tapestry to help conceal the heat that was currently brought in by the summer. At the edge of the balcony sat a small bench for two, giving a proper viewing spot of the beautiful city below. Aang gingerly walked over to the bench and winced as he sat down. He was looking forward to sleep, but his mind was drawing his attention to its aching need for a healing session. Aang allowed himself to finally take a deep breath and soak it all in. It's over. The war is finally over. He did it. 100 years later, he had come back and fulfilled his destiny as the Avatar. Aang's mind still had a hard time jumping over that hurdle . . . what if he had that strength 100 years ago? Could he-would he have stopped the Fire Nation raid on his people?

Aang's thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sounds of footsteps coming from behind him. He turned his head and saw Katara coming to join him on the bench, smiling at him. He returned the smile half-heartedly, his mind still racing about his shortcomings a century ago.

"Couldn't sleep?" Katara asked. She had noticed that the usual sparkle in Aang's gray eyes were gone. She couldn't exactly tell what emotions were all hiding there, but she could see the pain in the trembling eyes looking back at her. Aang gave a slight shrug.

"Just a lot on my mind I guess." Aang took a deep breath and looked back out into the city. His attention was quickly brought right back to the person next to him when he felt her fingers intertwine with his. He looked at their now joined hands together, then back up to Katara, both of them furiously blushing.

"Well, I'm up Aang. What's on your mind?" Katara looked at Aang softly, her ocean blue eyes bringing a sense of comfort and calm to him.

"I wonder what my people would be thinking of me right now." Aang let out with a sigh, getting lost in Katara's eyes. "I just wonder every single day if I could have saved them." Aang was starting to get choked up, there were a lot of emotions that he's been holding onto this past week, and he finally was feeling free to let it all out. The tears slowly started to well up before softly falling down his face.

Katara responded by giving a gentle squeeze. As she looked at this boy in front of her, she couldn't believe how much he had grown. Physically, his body was becoming quite muscular from the strenuous circumstances of the past year, but emotionally. . . he was already almost a man. The way the wind gently rippled through his clothing combined with his stature and demeanor, it was very obvious that this wasn't a 12 year old kid anymore. With her other hand, she gently brought Aang closer to her. "Aang . . ." she whispered softly.

"I just don't know why I get to be the one who is celebrated. Why I survived. The only reason why I'm even here is because I was too scared of my duties to the world, and now the world worships me like I'm some hero!" Aang croaked out. The tears were flowing now, and he coughed as he let out a dry sob. "I miss them so much Katara, I want nothing more than to just go home and celebrate with my family." With those words, he lost control, letting his emotions freely run out of him, weeping for the nation he had lost.

Katara just did what she knew how to do, comfort him. Katara brought him in and held him tightly against her. He had placed his head right into the crook of her neck, his heaving sobs leaving gentle stings as they made contact with her body. She slowly massaged his back, using the other hand to softly scratch the temple of his head. Aang had shivered at her touch, bringing a slight smile to Katara's lips. Only one thought was running through her head at the moment. I chose the right person to fall in love with. She didn't want to get too distracted though. She leaned and softly whispered into his ear, "I can't even imagine losing so many people you love, Aang. Losing my Mom was hard enough. But I am so proud of you Aang, you're no longer the kid that I found at the iceberg, you've grown up and accepted a responsibility that was far too unfair of you, and you succeeded. We're your family now, Aang, and to me, you're more than just family. I will always be here by your side. Through the best moments, and the bad moments, I promise you, I will never leave you again." Katara felt her own tears coming down her cheek now. She took this moment to just hold Aang tighter against her frame, the two of them taking the time to mourn the loved ones they had lost to the war.

After a few minutes, Aang slowly pulled away. Tears were still streaming down his face, but he was able to control his breathing a lot better than he had before. Though neither of them had made a conscious effort to do so, once again their hands were intertwined. "Did. . . you really mean that?" Aang asked, sniffling.

"Of course Aang . . ." Katara smiled as the gray eyes were slowly starting to bring back their sparkle. "As I was healing Sokka and you were away dealing with Ozai, I couldn't help but notice the huge emptiness in my heart. All I wanted was to be with you. I know it's selfish of me, but after the way I treated you . . . I feel I need to spend my whole life making it up to you." Katara started to look down at the bench, a sense of shame starting to wash over her. She suddenly gasped and looked up to meet Aang's eyes once he felt him squeeze her hand and place his other hand on her shoulder.

"Don't apologize Katara. I was a jerk and I was clouded by my own emotion. That stupid play made us all crazy I guess. That doesn't matter though. The way I was attacking you and then kissing you when you weren't up for it, that's not okay, and there are no excuses for that." Aang's eyes closed as he winced at his previous actions. "But, you don't need to make anything up to me, and as much as I would love to spend more time by your side, I don't want you to spend time with me because you feel guilty. I will be fine. I just want you to be happy, Katara."

Katara gasped as she realized that her words were being taken out of context. "No, you don't understand Aang. I am no longer confused about how I feel about you. To be honest-I never really was. I was just scared, and every time that I allowed myself to get close to you, the war would mess things up." She didn't realize it, but her grip on Aang's hands were getting tighter as she continued to speak. "At the invasion, when you kissed me, it felt like my dreams were coming true. Then before I could say anything, you were gone. I planned on telling you how I truly felt after the battle, but then we lost, and all those people got captured . . ."

Aang nodded at her and gave her a gentle squeeze, showing he understood. He became confused however, when the warmth from her ocean blue eyes quickly turned into a cold stare, her eyes full of pain.

"Then at Ba Sing Se . . ." Katara continued, "I noticed that you were telling me how you felt about me, and Sokka cut us off. So I gave you a kiss on the cheek to try to convey to you that I felt the same way, and once again was going to wait until you came back to fully share how I felt. But then . . . then you . . ." and once again, the tears came back to her eyes, and she started sobbing into Aang's shoulder. She could feel his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her in tight. He gently rubbed her back and rocked her back and forth in his arms, his eyes closed as he leaned his head forward to softly nuzzle into her hair.

"I guess we never have really discussed that day" he whispered. Aang knew that no words that he could say could possibly fix the trauma that was placed upon Katara that day. All he could do was hold her, show her how much that she means to him. He softly stroked the back of her head with his free hand as he continued to massage and rock her back and forth with the other. After about 5 minutes, he could slowly sense her breathing become more controlled. She didn't move however, clearly content where she was. He smiled as he began to confess in a whisper just loud enough for her to hear.

"Katara . . . when I first met you, I couldn't believe that I was saved by such a pretty girl. I immediately tried to do whatever I could to impress you, but more than anything you were always the one who impressed me. The way that you love the people who are close to you, how you fight so passionately for what you believe in, and finding the self-confidence in yourself to become the greatest waterbender in the world, you became all I could think about. Whenever I was away from you it felt like a piece of my life was missing. I always knew that no matter what the situation was, that I could face it because I had you. You deserve the world Katara, and –"

Katara threw her arms back around Aang and pulled him into the tightest embrace she had ever given him. She was smiling from ear to ear, but it slowly disappeared when she heard a yelp from Aang. She quickly let go and looked up to see his gray eyes almost dancing in the moonlight from their sparkle as he gave her his signature smile, but he was also holding his side where she had hugged him. Katara threw her hand over her mouth and let out a small giggle. "Oh my- Aang I totally forgot that you needed a healing session!"

The next half hour was spent with Aang sprawled over the bench, relaxed. Katara was using the fountain as her source for the healing water and slowly began to ease him of his physical burdens. She was highly focused in making sure he was completely healed, smiling at the groans and moans that came from the release of pain and pleasure from his body. She finally finished healing his last wound, slowly helping him sit up. "Better?" she asked with a gleam in her eye.

Aang smiled right back at her, "much better". Katara came and sat next to him, looking out at the city with him. She stifled her yawn, as she had expended a lot of emotional energy in her talk with Aang and healing. She turned and looked at Aang, an evil grin almost forming across her face.

"So Aang . . . is this where we kiss now?" she asked in a playful tone. She smiled when she saw Aang's skin turn bright red from blushing.

"I thought you'd never ask," he responded with a grin. The two slowly leaned closer towards each other, Katara raising her hand to meet his cheek, and they closed their eyes as their lips finally touched in unison for the first time. For the first time, it wasn't a spur of the moment feeling, they both let out the same passion for each other with one simple action. When they pulled apart, both of them blushing, Aang was the first to break the silence. "Sit with me for a while?" he softly pleaded.

So the two of them sat there together, just enjoying each other's presence. Katara leaned her head against Aang's shoulder and curled up next to him, allowing their heartbeats to connect. It wasn't long before Katara was softly breathing into Aang's shoulder, asleep. Aang smiled as he mentally processed all the events over the past 24 hours. Slowly and carefully, he put one arm under Katara's waist while he took the other arm and placed it around his shoulder. Once he had her in the air, he tip-toed back into the room where everyone else was sound asleep, and gently placed her down on her bedroll. He took her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, and rolled it down so it covered her. He smiled to himself as he leaned down and kissed her forehead lightly. "Good night, Katara," he whispered. Katara let out a soft hum with a smile in her sleep, and Aang finally allowed himself to rest next to her in his own bedroll. He played the events of their conversation over and over in his head as he drifted off into his own sleep, with a smile plastered on his face.