A/N: Normally, I don't tolerate alcohol or drinking, but I wrote this years ago for a friend who'd had a dream like this and asked me to write about it. It doesn't take place in a specific universe. However, I do picture Sokka and Hakoda wearing Water Tribe garb. Is that a spoiler...? ;) I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own A:tLA in any way, shape, or form. Unless the box set DVDs count! No? Okay, then I don't own it.


We're Married

I woke up this morning to blazing sunlight streaming through my window and my head immediately started pounding. I wondered why I had such a bad headache and felt like I had to vomit when I rolled over and saw a sight I never expected to see.

A ring with two large diamonds and a larger sapphire was on my ring finger, my left ring finger. Then I turned over in bed and saw a sight I really never expected to see.

Zuko was lying next to me, sleeping like a rock. And we were both naked. I screamed, which didn't help my aching head any, and pulled the blanket up to my chest and wrapped it around me. My scream apparently woke Zuko up, because he jumped out of bed, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Oh my gosh! Katara, why are you yelling?" He then put a hand up to his forehead. "And why is my head killing me?"

Instantly a flood of memories ran through my mind. "Oh no," I muttered.

"Not so loud, Katara," my equally hungover friend groaned. He sank back onto the bed. "We got drunk last night at that party, didn't we?" he asked quietly.

"Yep," I replied curtly. "And apparently we got married." I showed Zuko the ring I was wearing and he blanched at the sight. He and I looked at his left hand and saw a gold band on his ring finger.

"We're married," Zuko said slowly, almost as if he couldn't believe it. "We must have gotten really drunk last night."

"It explains why neither of us is wearing any clothes," I said dryly, tightening the blanket tighter around my chest. The firebender looked down at himself and shrieked. A fierce blush appeared on his cheeks as he tried to find his clothes, or at least a sheet, to cover himself. I couldn't see our clothes anywhere in the room. "What are we going to do about this, Zuko?" I asked, slightly desperate.

After tying a bed sheet around his waist, Zuko sat back down next to me. "I don't know, Katara," he said gently, putting his arm around me, "but we'll figure something out." We lay back down on the bed, still wrapped up in each other's arms.

"What if we," I began hesitantly, "stay together?" Zuko turned his head to look at the top of my head. I was almost afraid of how he would answer my question, when I felt him softly kiss the top of my head.

"You would want to be married to me?" he asked. "Including living with me?" He almost seemed as if he didn't believe I could want such a thing. I sat up and leaned over him so I could look him in the eye.

A blush formed on my cheeks. "Yeah," I said somewhat sheepishly, "I would." Disbelief made its way on his face, which gradually turned into a smile. I leaned down as he sat up slightly, our lips meeting in the sweetest kiss of my life.

Sleep was tugging at both of us, due to our drunkenness, so I settled myself against Zuko's side comfortably and we let sleep take us. Just before I let myself succumb to slumber, I mumbled, "I love you, Zuko."

I felt Zuko's lips brush the top of my head in a soft kiss and heard his voice in my ear just as I drifted into sleep. "I love you, Katara."

I don't know how long Zuko and I had been asleep when Dad and Sokka burst into the room. "Katara, are you-?" Sokka didn't even get to finish his sentence when he and my dad saw Zuko and me lying curled up together on the bed of my hotel room, wearing nothing but a blanket each.

"What is going on here?!" my dad yelled as loudly as he could. Zuko and I both sprang up, regretting it immediately as our heads started pounding again. I heard Zuko fall off the bed and hit the floor, but I didn't think anything of it since my head was too busy hurting.

"We're hungover," Zuko mumbled as he crawled slowly back onto the bed, "and we're married." I put my hands over my eyes to keep the sunlight from hurting them.

"Katara!" Sokka seemed scandalized by the fact that he caught me in bed with Zuko. "Don't you know that you're supposed to drink water before you go to bed after a night of getting smashed?"

"That's why he isn't hungover this morning," I thought as I took in Sokka's cheerfulness. He drank more than Zuko and I did.

Zuko and I looked up at him as if he had grown a second head. "Oh yeah, and why are you and Zuko in bed together?" He seemed to have just noticed the situation Zuko and I were in.

Dad gave Sokka the same look Zuko and I gave him, then shook his head and turned his attention back to us. "I hope you two have an explanation."

Zuko looked at me, and I met his gaze. "We got drunk, then we got married," I grumbled softly. I was too hungover to care about giving my dad a detailed explanation. So the one I gave him was the best I decided to come up with at the moment. "Can I go back to sleep, Dad?"

"Please," Zuko said exasperatedly. Without waiting for an answer, we both flopped back down and buried ourselves under the blanket. We were asleep in seconds.

Fin

A/N: I doubt this is really any good since it was written years ago when I first started reading/writing fanfiction. Reviews are welcome as long as they're polite. I don't like bad words or rudeness. Thanks!