Apologise

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

This was written for Round 4 of alyssialui's Probending Circuit Writing Competition

My Prompts:

(dialogue) "If I could take it all back, I would" (2 point)

'Ugh, how could I be so stupid?' Zuko wondered to himself, taking a sip of his beer.

He had gotten into a huge fight with Katara, and it ended with Zuko storming out the door.

He growled, holding his head in his hands.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," a voice said.

Zuko looked behind him and saw a young, muscular man with short black hair and green eyes.

"Is this seat taken?" the man asked, pointing to the stool next to Zuko.

After a moment, Zuko shook his head, and the man sat, holding out his hand.

"Name's Bolin," he said.

Zuko hesitated, then gripped Bolin's hand with his own.

"Zuko," he replied, shaking Bolin's hand.

Bolin smiled and turned away, ordering his drink.

Zuko sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet. He opened it and saw his favourite picture in there-a picture of him, his wife and kids. He stared at the picture for a few moments, regretting everything he'd done that day.

"Ooh, who are they?" Bolin's voice startled Zuko-he had though their conversation was over.

"My family," Zuko replied when he noticed Bolin was staring at the picture in his wallet.

Bolin watched Zuko expectantly, as if waiting for him to talk about his family.

Zuko noticed this and sighed. "This is my oldest son, Kaede," he started, pointing at a little boy in the picture. "He's nine years old. And this is my second son, Lee, who is five," he said, dragging his finger across the photo to the little boy named Lee. "And here's my little girl, Teegan. She's three. And her..." he paused, running his thumb along the photo where his wife's face was. "She's my wife, Katara. Mother of all three and soon four children," he sighed. "And I walked out on them all."

"What?" Bolin asked, shocked.

"I walked out on them. Katara and I got in a fight and I just walked out. She's three months away from having the baby. What kind of husband am I?! I probably scared my kids, too," Zuko babbled, then pressed his forehead to the bar. "I'm an idiot, Bolin. If I could take it all back, I would."

"Aw, you aren't that bad."

Zuko looked up at Bolin. "I abandoned my three kids and my pregnant wife. That's bad."

"Well, when you put it that way, it does sound pretty bad..." Bolin trailed off when Zuko put his head back down.

"What am I gonna do?" Zuko asked.

"Apologise."

"... What?"

"Apologise," Bolin repeated.

"How am I supposed to apologise? Why would she forgive me?"

"Okay, let's practice. You can be Katara, and I'll be you."

"What? Why do you get to be me?"

"Fine. I'll be Katara, you be you."

Zuko couldn't believe he was taking relationship advice from someone he just met.

He sighed. "Alright, come on."

"Okay," Bolin cleared his throat. "Zuko, what are you doing back here?" he asked, imitating a high-pitched girl's voice.

"That is not how Katara sounds," Zuko said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's not the point. Just go with it."

He rolled his eyes and sighed again. "Fine."

Taking a deep breath, Zuko knocked on the door of his house. But when the door open, he felt like he couldn't breathe at all. Katara was glaring daggers at him, and she looked about ready to snap his neck.

"Hey…" he started.

"What are you doing here, Zuko?" she snapped.

"I came to apologise."

"Then do it," she urged. "I need to tuck in Lee."

"Uh, right. So, listen. I'm really sorry about earlier. I was such an idiot for walking out like that. It was stupid of me to even start that fight. I'm really sorry."

"Do you expect me to forgive you that easily? You ripped out my heart and stomped on it by saying what you did," Katara crossed her arms.

Zuko sighed, mentally beating himself up. "I know. I'm an idiot. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry. I'll leave now," he turned around and began walking back down the path.

"... Zuko… wait," Katara said so softly that Zuko almost didn't hear her, but he did.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around.

Katara's facial expression had softened, and she was leaning against the door. "Uh, it's past Kaede's bedtime and he won't go to sleep unless you tuck him in… so… I was just thinking… maybe you could tuck him in?

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said, walking slowly into the house and to his son's room upstairs. The door was slightly cracked open, the lights were on, and you could hear Kaede speaking softly.

Zuko knocked lightly, opening the door even more, and poked his head in. "Hey, bud."

"Dad!" Kaede yelled, jumping off of his bed and running over to his father, hugging him tightly. "Tuck me in?"

"Of course," Zuko said. They walked over to Kaede's bed and he climbed in, smiling at his dad as he was tucked in. "Are you staying for good?"

"I don't think so, bud," Zuko told him, and both their faces saddened.

"Maybe you should," a voice said from behind.

Zuko turned to see Katara, smiling softly at her two favourite men. "I forgive you."

D'aww. It sucked, I know D:

Word Count: 877