Morning had arrived at Stone House, though it seemed most of the residents were still in bed. Katara, usually an early riser, had opted to let herself sleep in a little that day. As the sunshine gradually began to fill her bedroom, she drifted from her dreams to waking.
Unwilling to open her eyes just yet, she stretched out luxuriously underneath her blanket. Her muscles ached pleasantly from her training with Suki, and she reached her arms out to loosen them up.
With a yawn, Katara finally opened her eyes and moved to sit up in the bed. As she swung her feet over the side, she noticed something flutter to the floor. In her groggy state it looked like a piece of paper. Whatever it was, it must have been resting on the top of her blanket while she slept.
“That’s weird,” she mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. As she reached down to retrieve it, she realized it was actually a photograph. “What the-”
Whatever she was going to say dried up in her throat as Katara looked down. At first glance, a jolt shot through her as she thought it was a picture of her mother. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest for a moment or two before she realized it couldn’t possibly be. No, it wasn’t her mother…it was her.
Katara’s mouth dropped open in absolute shock. The picture in her hand was definitely of herself. But she was older. A grown up. And she was holding a baby. Her eyes darted around the photograph to absorb every little detail. She and Aang were adults, standing close together with his arm around her shoulder. Katara held a baby with dark hair in her arms, and two other children, a boy and a girl, stood in front of them. All of them were smiling happily into the camera.
“AANG!” She shouted at the top of her lungs, completely forgetting that others were likely still asleep in the house.
She leapt from the bed, picture still clutched tightly in her hand and practically bolted from her room to his. She didn’t knock. Or, she might have knocked- but then she just walked in without waiting for an answer. Her hair tousled from sleep, still in her pajamas, and waving the photo in the air. “Aang! Wake up!”
Aang was a creature of habit. He woke with the sun and he meditated. He fed himself and the animals and then he went to the Sanctuary. Or he fed the animals and then waited for his friends to wake up for whatever excitement the day would bring. Or he prattled at anyone who happened to have woken up at the same time as him, all of his energy concentrated on one person. Often enough that was Katara, because she woke as early as he did and he was always drawn to her anyway.
Today would likely have gone the same. He’d woken and was currently in the meditation stage of the day. He was in an inverted pose, propped up on his forearms, and his feet resting against the wall above him. When Katara came flying into the room, she startled a squawk of surprise out of him and he crashed into a tangle of limbs on the floor.
He groaned and unraveled himself to sit up. “I’m awake! I’m awake. What—what happened? Is something on fire?”
Katara cringed as she watched Aang crash into the floor. Her hands flew up to her face. “Sorry!” She quickly rushed over to help him and make sure he hadn’t seriously injured himself in the fall. “Are you alright? Nothing’s on fire.” That, at least, she’d know how to handle. But this? Katara was still in a slight state of shock.
She settled herself into a cross legged position across from him on the floor and held the photograph out to him. “I found this in my room this morning.”
Aang huffed an awkward laugh and curled his legs under him to sit cross legged. Despite the surprise, he was excited to find out what brought her here yelling his name so he grabbed the photo without any hesitation.
His entirely too expressive face froze as he stared at it.
There was no denying the man was him. The arrow gave him away first, but all the details of his face lined up as well. Katara was even easier. He knew the details of her face even better than his own. His eyes grew cartoonishly large and he blinked at least twelve times before he managed to say anything.
"You found this? In your room?" His voice was an octave higher than usual. "Did you...do you have any new memories?" She looked the same age but his thoughts were flying.
Katara felt like she could hardly contain herself as she waited. She tried not to fidget, but her eyes scrutinized every bit of his face to watch his reaction. He was never the greatest at hiding his emotions and she was keen to catch any indication about how he’d feel about this.
She nodded in response to him. “Yes. I think it must have been on top of the blankets while I was sleeping. It fell to the floor when I woke up. But no, I don’t have any new memories. Just this.” Katara scooted closer to him. “It’s us, isn’t it?” She knew it was. She just … needed to hear someone else say it so she didn’t feel so crazy. “Our family?”
He felt her attention on the side of his face like a hot sun in the middle of the day and as hard as he tried to keep internal vibrating from showing, Aang was starting to forget how to be normal. If he'd ever really known how.
"Iiiiii mean, I think so? It looks like us??" He shot a quick glance at her, eyes hopeful and not quite as naive as he normally seemed. Korra's time here had given him a few hints at their future, but the visual was still lighting up exclamation points in his brain. His big-eyed stare was hopeful and a little terrified, but mostly just full of eager sincerity. "Would you want it to be our family?"
There was zero hesitation in Katara’s response. She looked into his wide-eyed expression and smiled gently. “Of course I do!”
Aang was her best friend and she knew that she loved him. Of course, they were both still extremely young. Too young for marriage and babies and all of the rest to have ever really crossed her mind much. Katara was content just to be here with him. Now that she’d been given this glimpse into their future however, she realized that the idea of it made her happy. “What about you?”
Aang immediately lit up, sitting a little straighter and beaming a grin at her. He dropped his gaze to the picture again and his grin softened into something more sincere. There'd been a time when a future and a family had seemed impossible for him. Something that other people got. Even though the Avatar had plenty of lives with loved ones; Aang hadn't been sure he'd ever live that long.
"I think I'd be incredibly lucky to have this family," he whispered. "I'm already so lucky to have this family." He gestured vaguely towards the rest of the house, its sleeping occupants. His heart was still beating a little too hard and fast behind his ribs. "I mean, it's kind of crazy! Thinking about us, I mean, about that, about kids, about us..." His rambling died out as he covered his flaming red face with his hands. "It's just a lot."
Something about him being flustered seemed to have calmed her down. Or maybe it was just that now she knew they were on the same page? However far that particular page was into their future. Katara laughed softly and leaned forward to kiss Aang on the part of his cheek not currently being covered by his hands. “It is a lot,” she agreed. “But in a nice way. We’d both be lucky to have this family together.” Now her cheeks were burning too.
“How about we finish meditation together this morning?”
Aang couldn't get any redder but it helped that she looked flushed too. He breathed out a flustered little laugh and mirrored her cheek kiss with one of his own. Her face did feel a little warm and that made him stupidly pleased. He pressed the photo into her hands and then leapt to his feet.
"I think that's a great idea. But let's do it outside." He reached out a hand to her and smiled shyly. "It's uhhhhh, a little warm in here now," he joked.
She accepted the photograph back from him and held it tightly against her chest. She’d have to find a special place for it. Katara didn’t have many things, but this? This she would always cherish.
She extended her free hand to Aang and let him help her back to her feet. Cheeks still pink and her head feeling a little light with giddiness, Katara nodded. “Outside sounds perfect.”