Sweating and choking on a scream she's only barely managed to keep in her throat, Toph sits up in bed. Panting hard, she clutches her heart as she wills the sounds in her head to go away. For a long time she sits like this, waiting for her pulse to slow and the sounds in her head to dim and fade. When they do, she realizes she's not alone and she whips her head around in confusion and panic at being seen in this state. Cool fingers touch her hand making her jump and lash out with her other hand, but the blow is deflected and another hand clenches her wrist to keep her from striking out again.
"Relax, it's me, Toph." A voice says and the blind girl calms down slightly.
"Katara, why are you in my room at this time?" She asks without knowing the time and not caring.
"I heard thrashing around coming from your room so I came to check on you. It looked like you were having a really bad nightmare." Katara says, her hands still on Toph's. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. You can get out now. I'm fine."
Toph tries to pull her hands away from Katara's but the Waterbender holds on tighter.
"Let me go." She growls.
"No. You aren't fine. The panic's still on your face. The best way to confront a nightmare is talk about it and analyzing it so you can understand why you're having it."
"I don't need to analyze it. I already know what it means." Her voice is quiet, her face reddening.
"Tell me." Katara's voice is soft and soothing. Toph wants to tell her, because she knows for sure the nightmares will go away if she does, but she can't.
"Get out of my room!" Toph shouts, because its the only way she can think of making Katara listen to her. "I don't need you psychoanalyzing my dreams, princess."
Even without sight, Toph knows she's hurt Katara and it hurts her in return. Her hands are released and she quickly pulls them into her lap to keep them from being grabbed again. After a moment, she's surprised by the fact that Katara hasn't ran off crying yet. The younger girl is even more surprised by Katara sitting on the bed next to her. No, not sitting, she's wrong. Katara's moving about on her bed, she can feel the shift in the bed owing to the older girl's extra weight on it. Arms encircle her, pulling Toph into Katara's body. Her head rests on the older girl's chest so she can listen to Katara's heartbeat thump calmly. Katara rests her chin on Toph's head and quietly sits there, not caring that Toph might explode in anger at given moment.
"Don't you listen? I said to leave me alone and get out of my room." Toph growls even as she feels her resistance start to break.
"No. Either you go back to sleep or you tell me what's the problem. I'm not leaving before then."
The Earthbender raises her hand to summon some rock and dirt to her so she can form a weapon to knock Katara out of her room, but to her annoyance, she can't. It's not that the element isn't obeying her, she just can't bring herself to do it. So with a very deep and heavy sigh, she pulls away from Katara, placing her hand on the tanned girl's chest so she can feel her heartbeat on her palm. She smirks because she knows without a doubt that Katara is blushing, judging from the slight increase in her heartbeat.
"I've been dreaming about my parents." She starts and pauses for a second before continuing. "They're always arguing and screaming about the same thing."
"What?" Katara's voice is almost inaudible.
"Me. They're fighting because they know my secret and they're calling me all these horrible names. Someone grabs me, not my parents, but someone strong who I can't break away from. They drag me away from my parents. Away from..." She refuses to continue.
"Your secret?"
Knowing that she can't say it out loud, Toph suddenly grabs Katara's face in her hands and pulls her down just enough so she can kiss the older girl. There's hesitation and shock in Katara's reaction, but with little fight she kisses back, feeling Toph's tears touch her face and finally understanding. They remain lip-locked for a long time, them kissing and Toph crying. Then just as suddenly as she started, she pushes Katara away; angry that she's been crying.
Wiping at her face, Toph sniffles as the recurring nightmare begins to play out again in her mind.
There's screaming and cursing as Toph tries to get away, but she can't. Somewhere in the growing distance, Katara's screaming and crying for her. Suddenly the hands stop pulling her and she hears, with immense horror, Katara's scream abruptly cut off. They've killed her. All because Toph was in love with a girl.
In real time, Katara takes Toph's hand gently and covers it with her other. When the blind girl looks up, unseeing but still questioning, she smiles. Katara gets it and she accepts it because she's been feeling the same way for the younger girl.
"Get some rest, I don't think your nightmares will haunt you anymore tonight."
Toph opens her mouth to argue, but Katara's already under her blanket and pulling her down to the bed. She presses her body to the shorter girl's and hugs Toph, who's too surprised to fight back. Quickly returning to her senses, Toph hesitantly allows herself to succumb to Katara's presence. In the morning, she'll go back to pretending she doesn't care and isn't afraid of losing the one she loves the most in the world. It's the only way she understands she can protect Katara. She doesn't yet understand that Katara doesn't need protecting. That's it her herself who needs to be protected from her own fears. Katara will be there to silence her screams.