AN: I'm here again! Enjoy and leave a review! I've made some changes to the original timeline in the movie.

Warning: Mature

Chapter Ten

I broke the link. Yes, like a coward. But it was the only thing I could think of at the moment. And besides, the pain was getting a bit too much and I was seconds from falling unconscious anyway.

I heaved myself out of the pod, barely nabbed the trash can before I was puking my guts out. Believe me, near death experience does that to a person's stomach.

"River!" Grace's voice called out in alarm and I groaned mentally. Great. "My god, are you ok? Is something wrong?"

I took my sweet time rinsing the bitter taste of stomach acid out of my mouth before turning to her, trying not to panic.

"Grace, I... messed up..." Okay, so my voice wasn't really up to standard levels yet, I sounded like one of those old ladies in the hospital who had their food fed through a tube in their throat. It was all wheezy and fluttery. Well, you get the idea.

She gave me a massive frown, her arms crossing over her chest, the standard move she made when she was starting to get the picture but didn't like it one bit.

"River, what did you DO?"

I groaned and slumped against the sink, trying to get my heart and my legs to stop shaking. The phantom pain of the broke rib still made my chest ache and tingle like crazy, and a throbbing headache was starting to settle behind my eyes.

"Grace, I messed up... Like really bad... Is there any way I can, you know, drop out of the program?" I ventured and slumped down on one of the chairs. She stared. Then she calmly lit a cigarette and sat down next to me.

"No. Unless you can somehow produce a compatible twin out of nowhere, like Jake."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Grace sighed and I felt her hand wrap around my shoulders.

"River, what's wrong?" She murmured softly, stroking comforting circles on my back. I took a deep breath.

"I may have parked my 'car' in a no parking zone..." I muttered.

She blinked. "Your car? You mean your Avatar?! You left it? I told you you were supposed to get back to the Hometree before you break the link! It's standard procedure. River, what were you thinking?"

"Umm, do you think it's gonna get snatched up by an animal?" I wondered out loud. Grace smacked me in the back of the head with a sharp thwack.

"I swear. I. Will. Kill. You. If. Anything. Happens. To. It." She gritted out and stood up. I watched her hurry off to a nearby pod, obviously going to connect with her avatar to check if mine was still in one piece.

Yeah, so I had messed up big time and chose to run and avoid confrontation again. Great. But still...there was that tiny part of me that was glad I had kissed him, just a tiny bit. But there was no way T'sutey was going to return my feelings, so it was probably going to be so awkward I would die from over exposure to pure awkwardness. Totally not going back into my avatar again.

Ever.

"Are you okay?" Jake stared at me with obvious concern over his plate of microwaved nutritious slush. I looked down at my own pathetic puddle and scooped a spoonful into my mouth. It tasted like liquified cardboard box.

"Yeah, dude. I'm fine. What makes you think I'm not fine?" I babbled, trying to occupy my mouth with the grey puddle, but there was much you could do with something that didn't need chewing. I missed beef jerky so much sometimes. Everything was starting to taste like cardboard and plastic around here.

Jake shrugged lightly, his wheelchair parked next to the table, and played around with the porridge-like food on his portable table. He had this really neat folding table on the left side of his wheelchair like something out of a commercial airplane, complete with a cup holder. He narrowed his eyes at me and I tried to look innocent, catching the last few drops of the porridge on my spoon and shoving it into my mouth.

"Your avatar was hurt, I heard. I don't really know much. I was out hunting for the clan when T'sutey carried you back. I heard he was pretty pissed off, but Grace came by later and checked, you were banged up but functioning. They were thinking of getting the LifeTree to heal you faster. River, are you listening to me?"

My mind had screeched to a stop at the part where T'sutey apparently carried me back to the Tree like a fucking princess. Okay, maybe I was aiming a little too high with that metaphor, maybe a sack of potatoes?

"Your face is really red. Is everything alright?" Jake sounded alarmed now.

"Yeah, umm, I'm fine..." Except for the bit where T'sutey apparently didn't abandon my cold dead corpse to the tender mercy of the animals and bothered dragging me back, wait, 'carrying' me back...

I took a deep breath and tried not to sound too curious. "What did he say?"

"Who?" Jake asked blankly.

"T'sutey, who else?!" I rolled my eyes. He blinked and caught on.

"Oh! Umm, nothing. He kinda dumped you in front of Mo'at and left in a hurry, looking all angry and upset." Jake licked his spoon thoughtfully. "How did he find you in the first place?"

"I don't know." I lied, my words clipped. Jake stared at me for a few moments, and was about to open his mouth when Grace came in, slamming the door with a loud bang. She gave me a dirty look and turned in the opposite direction.

"She still won't talk to you, huh?" Jake looked sympathetic. My phone buzzed in the back pocket of my uniform pants and I glanced at the caller ID. My stomach dropped. Great.

"Gotta go take a call, J. See ya in a sec." I muttered half-heartedly, strapped an oxygen mask to my face and stepped outside.

"Sir."

Quatritch's voice came across the line scratchy and irritated. "Report."

"We've been trying to bing up the subject of negotiations, but we have to take it slow, sir. It's going in the direction we want, though."

There was an impatient growl. "Not the negotiations, stupid boy. I meant Sully. Is there anything suspicious that you would like to report, son?"

I thought about it and shrugged mentally. "No, sir. Jake has been doing the same routine stuff everyday. He's pretty much gotten the layout of the Tree."

"Is he conspiring against us?"

I considered his definition of 'us'. "No, sir. I think he's not up to anything suspicious."

A few vague answers later, he hung up. I knew he was frustrated with me but I had enough trouble on my plate without having to worry about whether Jake was planning some weird rebellion in secret o something.

I looked around, suddenly feeling nervous, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. The forest was suddenly dead silent and I slowly walked back a few paces. During the conversation, I had wandered away from the camper and was now standing in an unknown part of the forest. Large purple leafy things dotted the rocky gritty ground and I had no idea where I was. The foliage to the right ruffled slightly and I tensed, waiting for some unseen assailant. Nothing. I took a deep breath of filtered air and went sprinting in what I hoped was the right direction.

The rustling sound grew louder with every step as if something was beginning to get excited about the chase. I bit my lip and concentrated on not slipping and cracking my skull open.

Then the world went black.

"River! River, wake up!" Warbled noises filtered through the foggy haze and I groaned, trying to bat at my assailant. There was an angry hiss and I was lifted off something and handed over to someone else. A low male voice and cautious female voice seemed deep in conversation. I moaned and tried to pry my eyes open. Everything hurt. I struggled for a while before finally allowing myself to slip back into darkness.

"What were you thinking?!" Grace growled, pacing angrily before the bunk bed I was sitting on.

"You seem to be asking that question quite a lot these days..." I muttered, looking down at the red marks on my arms, result of being dragged through the forest no doubt. Norm silently handed me a bag of frozen something. I winced and pressed it to the back of my skull, the hair there still stained a rust-colored red.

"If it weren't for T'sutey, you would have died!"

"Yeah, you know I'm hearing a lot of that lately too..."

She stared at me in disbelief. I avoided her gaze.

"What were you thinking? Why did you wander outside without any weapons or full oxygen? Don't you know it's dangerous out there?"

I looked away. Norm gave me a sympathetic look and shuffled off to his work station.

So, T'sutey had saved me again. But why had he even been there? I knew the research labs were placed deep in the mountains, and hardly any warriors bothered to come so far to pursue prey.

So why had he?

Three days later, Grace forced me into a pod with the warning that if I didn't behave myself, she would let me die out in the open without any oxygen. She was strangely intimidating when she wanted to get the point across.

Jake was spending more time in his pod now than ever, a strange feverish look in his eyes whenever he left it. And he was acting all squirrelly and irritated when I tried to pry. Grace promised me he would be there to greet me when I returned.

I closed my eyes and allowed the link to take over, and opened my eyes to the sun dancing across the thick leaves of the HomeTree, casting golden flickering shadows over lush green foliage. I blinked and sat up.

"Good to see you up and moving again." An amused voice said next to me. I jumped.

"Mo'at?!"

She gave me a sidelong glance. "You broke three ribs in the fall. I helped heal them."

I flexed my fingers and touched my chest. The thick bandage was still there but the pain was gone.

"Thanks. I owe you big. How do I repay this favor?" I asked her curiously. She stopped grinding the herbs in her bowl and looked at me.

"Go to him. Relieve his worry."

My stomach clenched. "Uh, who?"

"You know who, River. Go to him. Make amends."

"You're certain my ribs won't get broken again if I do?" I asked her skeptically.

Mo'at turned to face me once more, a strange look on her beautiful angular face. "The way he looks at you sometimes..." She shook her head with a resigned smile.

I didn't really understand the words, but she pushed me out of the Tree and threatened four ribs if I didn't obey, so I did the math and left, heading for the clearing she said T'sutey would be in today. Besides, Jake hadn't been around the Tree when I linked in.

I trekked silently, enjoying the sounds of life around me, feeling the strong body respond so easily under my instructions. I had missed this, missed being exposed to Mother Nature, missed T'sutey...

The sound of laughter reached my ears and I ducked under a thick branch, peering out from under a leaf. T'sutey stood tall and straight-backed, facing four blue-skinned Na'vi children. They circled him, each holding a long tapered staff. One of the boys lunged and T'sutey twisted around, blocking with his own weapon, a blunt staff. They laughed again and another two boys joined in. I watched the spark of amusement in his eyes as T'sutey missed on purpose and let one of the boys strike him. I smiled and sat back, letting my body relax as I watched them. The foliage behind my back crackled and I barely had time to look up before the blunt staff was embedded deep in the soft bark of the tree I had been leaning on.

"Uncle! Uncle! Dammit... You almost took my head off!" I tipped sideways and wriggled out from under the still quavering pole in the tree.

"River?!" T'sutey sounded so confused. I looked up and saw him approach me, crouching down with a rapidly darkening expression. "RIVER!"

Okay that had practically been a roar, so I tried to wriggle my way back only to have him fasten a giant hand around my ankle and drag me out into the clearing. The four boys were staring at me with expressions of doubt.

T'sutey was furious.

"Mo'at said you promised not to break my ribs!" I said before he could open his mouth. A skeptic brow rose and he crossed his arms.

"I'm not going to break your ribs, River." Then he turned to the four boys and said something too fast for me to follow and the boys turned and ran out of the clearing. I gulped nervously from my spot on the mossy forest floor.

Silence fell over us like a blanket. I twiddled my thumbs and glanced down at the ground, watching a bright beetle-like creature scuttle past. He stood towering over me, weighing me down with his heavy accusing glare.

"I thought you had died." He finally broke the silence. I blinked in surprise at the weariness in his voice. "When I dragged you out there was so much blood. Then you slumped and I thought for a second that you had died."

"I'm sorry." I said, still unable to look up at him. I was sorry. I was sorry for thinking that I could take the beast on my own, I was sorry I had involved T'sutey, and most of all, I was sorry I had kissed him.

"Eywa has answered my prayers to keep you safe." T'sutey said simply. I looked up and stared at his face in wonder.

"So you do care?" I exclaimed excitedly. "You do care about me! I mean I thought you hated me and wanted to kill me in private or something... Wow, I'm touched. Thank you."

I knew I was babbling, but the warmth bubbling over in my chest made me feel light-headed. He had cared enough to pray to their god for my safety. Someone had actually felt worry for me. I looked down at my fingers, feeling my eyes burn. No, I was not going to shed a tear in front of him. No. Not happening.

I faked a yawn and tried to wipe at my eyes, but warm calloused fingers stopped me. T'sutey tipped my face up and crouched in front of me. A thumb rubbed at the moisture in the corner of my eye. He studied my face closely, a frown etched on his.

"Why would I want to hurt you?" He asked softly and I closed my eyes.

"T'sutey, I have to tell you something..." I began, but a loud rustle from behind announced the entrance of Jake and Neytiri. Their forms flashed by us, not even stopping to say hello, hands entwined.

T'sutey stiffened in anger and stood up, dragging me up with him. He looked furious, ears flat against his skull and teeth bared.

"Come, River." He growled and pulled me into a sprint.

"Don't. Wait up for me...just...go on without me..." I was holding my side and gritting my teeth against the pain when we finally arrived at the HomeTree. T'sutey, in his anger had practically dragged me along. I leaned against a branch and tried to catch my breath.

People were gathered around the hollow clearing in the center of the Tree, curiosity and interest aroused by the two standing in the middle. Neytiri had woven bright yellow flowers in her hair and she was still holding Jake's hand. They seemed to be vibrating with happiness.

I watched as T'sutey pushed his way angrily past the other natives and came to a stop next to Eytukan. The leader looked curiously between the two of them and his eyes widened in shock. I stumbled closer, not really understanding anything yet. Grace and some of the children had also gather around to see what was going on.

"You mated with him?!" T'sutey roared at Neytiri, his face twisted in fury and grief. I blinked, put two and two together and understood.

Oh shit. Jake you dumb fuck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grace cover her mouth with a hand and close her eyes in despair. Neytiri stood proud and firm, Jake at her side. Mo'at moved closer, her eyes narrowed.

"Is this true?"

Neytiri held her head proud and stood her ground. "We are mated before Eywa. It is done."

T'sutey closed his eyes, his face going through a number of expressions before finally settling on anger. I knew that look. He was going to attack Jake. I started forward, but not nearly fast enough, because they were tumbling on the ground in a heap, daggers flashing and hissing insults at each other. I pushed my way forward, trying to get past the general mayhem and the excited onlookers. Neytiri was trying to pull them apart, her voice frantic and high. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

"T'sutey, STOP!"

He looked up for a fraction of a second, eyes scanning the roiling crowd of people for my face. Jake saw his chance and punched T'sutey across the jaw. They broke apart, still cursing under their breath. Blood dripped through T'sutey's fingers as he covered his mouth. Jake scrambled to is feet and I finally broke through the crowd, going to crouch beside T'sutey.

"Jake, seriously?!" I hissed at him. "What were you thinking?"

T'sutey stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving Jake's. I tried to stand between the two of them, so they couldn't get to each other. Neytiri pulled Jake behind her, her hand fastened around his wrist.

"I love him, T'sutey. And you know that is not why you are angry."

I felt T'sutey stiffen behind me, his posture screaming rage now. I turned around to stare at him with confusion. What in the world did the princess mean when she said that? His eyes flicked to me and despair crossed is face for a second before he was pushing his way out of the crowd and running toward the trees.

"What was that about?" I asked in the dead silence. A heavy hand smacked me upside the head. I winced and turned to see Mo'at had somehow snuck up behind me during the confrontation.

"What are you still waiting for? Go find him." She said to me, as if it was only natural for me to be the one to coax T'sutey from one of his many tantrums. She turned to the newly mated pair, her expression grim. "Don't think I am finished with you two."

She gave me a dismissive gesture and I sighed in resignation and set off after T'sutey.

It wasn't hard to locate him. In his rage, he had thoughtlessly forgotten to conceal his tracks and it was pretty easy to find him sitting under a huge purple plant. He had dug his knife into the bark of the tree and was gouging out big chunks of spongy wood like a small angry child. I sighed and gingerly walked over to him.

"Hey..."

He jumped in surprise and tossed the dagger at me. I ducked just in time, feeling the air whistle past my ear.

"Seriously?! Stop throwing sharp things at me every time I say hi!"

He scowled at me, teeth bared and ears flat. "Do not linger if you want to live. I am in a foul mood."

"Yeah?" I sat down next to him despite his hostile words. "I'm sorry you can't marry Neytiri."

He snorted, hands clenching around nothing. I could see he kind of regretted throwing the dagger away because he looked on the verge of stabbing my face repeatedly with his bare hands.

"Come on, cheer up. There is a lot of other beautiful girls out there. You don't see me crying and throwing random tantrums when I get rejected." I pointed out.

And instantly regretted it because I was suddenly aware of the reminder that I had kissed T'sutey. Totally not the best example to use in this case. I stood up quickly before he could remember the embarrassing incident.

"So, let's get back, shall we? Mo'at will have my hide if I don't get you to come back or something."

A hand wrapped around my wrist. My heart skipped a beat. Oh boy.

"You were not rejected." T'sutey said quietly. I blinked.

"Dude, I don't think we are on the same page here. I wasn't talking about all the girls that rejected m-"

Another hand slapped itself over my mouth and I hadn't realized he had stood up. I was backed against the tree, rough bark digging into my back. T'sutey was studying me like I was a particularly mystifying bug he wanted to dissect. I tried to speak but he pressed harder.

"Why did you kiss me?" He asked. My face flushed darker blue and I looked away.

"Why?" He demanded again and this time I managed to roll my eyes, gazing down at his hand, which was still firmly sealed over my mouth. He pulled his hand away, eyes never leaving my face. I sighed warily.

"Look, sometimes humans do that...like when they survive after a dangerous experience. It was a heat of the moment. Thing, don't think any of it..." I tried to sound convincing and offered my trademark heartless grin. T'sutey hadn't let go of me. His eyes narrowed as he studied my face and I cocked a brow.

"Is this moment heated?" He asked, totally knocking me off my feet with a random question. He was probably going crazy due to prolonged exposure to me. I looked around us at the quiet beauty of the forest.

"No." I said miserably. He surprised me by smiling.

"Good."

Then, soft lips pressed over mine and I gasped in shock. T'sutey's hand canted my head to the side, and he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue skim over my lips. I froze for a second, and shoved him off.

"Okay, this is insane! You just said you loved Neytiri. What is going on? I thought you people were supposed to be loyal to your lovers or something? If this is pity, I swear to god I'm going to..."

He was watching me with a soft open expression, something I have never seen on his face.

"River, Neytiri was right. I was not angry at her or Jake. I was angry at myself." He said suddenly. I stared back. He moved closer, his fingers tracing the swirls on the bark next to my face.

"I was angry at myself because the thought of marrying the princess, which had been something I took pride in, had changed. I was angry because I felt none of the jealousy and anger I should have felt. Just relief."

"Why?" I asked, barely a whisper. He stopped and looked at me, really looked. I held his gaze.

"Because, somehow along the way, I had given my heart to another." He whispered back, fingers tentatively brushing against my cheek.

My breath came out in a whoosh, my heart pounded and my knees suddenly felt weak.

"W...who?" I asked without thinking. He rolled his eyes in fond exasperation.

"Need I say it out loud?" He asked softly, leaning close to nuzzle at my neck. I shivered and tried to pull away.

"River..." He murmured against my neck, pressing open-mouth kisses along my neck. I blinked up at the canopy above us, trying to think how events had led to me being pressed against tree and being kissed by T'sutey, the grumpy guy who was supposed to hate me.

"River..."

I cried out as his thigh slid between mine, grinding against me and sending sparks of pleasure down my spine. His kisses and gotten harder, more insistent, and I felt something hard pressed against my abdomen.

Oh god.

T'sutey fastened a warm hand around my neck, pulling me close and pressing his lips over mine again. I tasted blood. His lip was bleeding again. I groaned into his mouth and clutched at his shoulders, rubbing myself shamelessly against T'sutey's thigh. His other warm hand slid between my legs and I sob wordlessly when he grabbed my aching shaft. We moved against each other, seeking pleasure from each other's body. I trembled apart under his ruthless hands, warmth squirting over his fingers, and I felt him stiffen as well. We panted, coming down from the high, our foreheads pressed together and breath mingling. The stones around my neck throbbed in tune with our hearts and I laughed shakily, pressing my face into his neck, pleasant sparks still tingling down my body.

"I love you." I whispered.

He laughed softly, fingers carding though my golden hair.

"I know."