Author's Note: Like many Kataang shippers, I felt a little dissatisfied with how Katara treated Aang before they kissed at the end and how the show never had her apologize or explain anything to him.

1. This story is mostly written or outlined already. I have about 6 or 7 chapters planned and I've written up to Chapter 4 already. However, I have yet to decide whether to end this with Kataang together or not. I have some idea of how I want their relationship to progress but whether or not they get a romantic happy ending is still undecided.

2. This is mostly consistent with canon up until the kiss at the end. The last minute or so of the finale did not happen in this fic. Everything else, I've tried to keep consistent with canon but in my story, Aang never went to Ba Sing Se with the gaang. He left on his own before that.

3. Reviews and Feedback are much appreciated. I haven't written fan fiction in years actually so I'm probably very rusty.

Chapter 1

The fire nation capitol was lit up like a candle in the dark of night, the city could barely contain its restless energy, for not only were citizen celebrating the upcoming wedding of their Firelord, the first great festivity since the end of the war, but the city also was abuzz with rumors that the Avatar would be returning to the fire nation for the first time in over a year. The streets were bustling with excitement and anticipation at the prospect of once again seeing the young Avatar who was now approaching his sixteenth year and with that milestone, he would soon be of marrying age. Noblemen and political figures from every nation desperately wanted to introduce their beautiful young daughters to the boy. The young man had made something of a reputation for himself over the last years, traveling from town to town, rumored to have at least one girl in each of the nations, perhaps even three in the earth kingdom.

Firelord Zuko shuffled out of his bed, stealing a loving glance towards Mai's sleeping form before quietly slipping from their bedroom to his private study. For reasons unknown, he could barely contain his energy these past weeks. Perhaps he was simply experiencing pre-wedding jitters but more likely, it was attributed to the fact that for the first time in his life, he was in a state of true contentment. The war was long over, the unpleasant business with the colonies had been resolved by the Avatar creating a new shared nation, he had even reunited once again with his beloved mother and in a few short days, he would be married to the woman he loved. Zuko couldn't deny that things were finally going well for him and after a life of emotional turmoil, he also couldn't help but feel anxious that something would come along to ruin his life again.

Before Zuko's thoughts could wander to more even more disagreeable uncertainties, an all too familiar sound rumbled through his ears. Appa.

He never imagined that he would miss that sound so much or his friend. It wasn't that he saw Aang rarely but they mostly met under political circumstances. Rarely were they able to enjoy each other's personal friendship without the undercurrent of politics between them.

Zuko rushed quickly to dress himself in something more appropriate than his silk pajamas and headed down to the courtyard to greet his friend, alerting the guards and servants that an important visitor had arrived.

Her mind always seemed to come back to this place in sleep, no matter how long hard she tried to bury that part of her past. The warm summer night. A pale full moon shining over clear blue water. A boy she once called her best friend. Her own tears soaking her pillow that night. And then the scene changed to a dark red sky, lit up by a raging comet. The same boy stepping off an airship in tattered clothes.

"Katara! We are leaving in 10 minutes with or without you. Remember, we have a schedule to keep and you know how slow traveling by ship is. If you don't get your butt moving, we won't even get there until Zuko's first child is born."

Katara snapped from her dream, marveling at the fact that her brother still had the unique ability to irritate her even at their age. She rubbed her eyes and pushed away the layers of pelts surrounding her body. At that moment, she deeply regretted that she even agreed to go in the first place. She would much rather stay in the South Pole with her waterbending students than wake up before the crack of dawn for long sea voyage to the fire nation. But her friends were getting married; there was no way out of this one and although Katara was happy for them, the occasion also brought to the surface her own lack of prospects in the marriage department. No, it wasn't that she didn't have prospects, she amended herself. She had in fact received several marriage proposals in the two years since she reached marrying age, from all over the world even. Most of them were decent men, several even came from money and prestige, but none were right for her. Katara often felt foolish for holding onto hope but it was simply in her nature. For most of her life, she was likely the only person in the world who believed the Avatar would return and even now, she couldn't abandon hope.

"Alright, I'm up! Your precious schedule is safe," she yelled back.

She prepared only a small pack of belongings. It was only a week long trip and if she found herself lacking in anything, surely Zuko's grand palace would more than likely provide her with what she needed. Far more likely than it would be to find it at the South Pole.

Katara emerged from the ice hut to find Sokka, flustered and cross, trying to organize his ridiculously large pile of effects he had packed, mumbling to himself about how girls were impossible and took too long to get ready and they were going to be late for Zuko's ship that was personally sent to pick them up. She also found Suki standing nearby, rolling her eyes at her often times embarrassing fiancée, and her father, Chief Hakoda, speaking to his second in command about his duties to the tribe in his absence.

"Well, it's about time. I thought you were going to skip out on this trip last minute," he muttered quietly.

"You know I wouldn't do that. Zuko's our friend. I would never miss his wedding because of..." she stopped. Probably a good idea to stop talking, she thought.

"Because of what? Because of who might be there?" her brother replied with a grin.

"Sokka, stop teasing your sister," Hakoda admonished in his protective fatherly tone, "we should get going now. The ship will be here at any moment."

"Aang!"

"Long time no see, Sifu Hotman," the sixteen year-old Avatar responded with that infectious smile on his face, airbending his way down from Appa's head.

The two young men moved quickly to hug each other, a sign of their strong friendship in the years after the war, their old animosity long forgotten.

"Something's different about you, " Zuko wondered aloud, "but I can't put my finger on it. Did you get new robes?"

"No, same old clothes. You know me, I don't care about stuff like that," Aang replied.

"Wait a minute! You're taller than me! How did that happen?" the Firelord realized. This was Aang, the little boy with puppy dog eyes who was a head shorter and still had baby fat in his cheeks. The young man in front of him at the moment had no baby fat anywhere and now stood at least an inch taller than the Firelord himself. Where had all the time gone?

"I am? Wow. You're right," the Avatar answered gleefully. As a boy, he always lamented his short stature, especially compared to his taller companions, one particular companion especially. Lately he did start to notice that he towered over most people when he entered a room but he never imagined that he would ever overtake his firebending Sifu.

"I can't believe how much you've grown up since we last saw each other. It was only a few months ago. You've always been like a kid brother to me and now you're practically a grown up," Zuko reminisced, leading his friend to the stables to settle Appa down before heading back to the palace. "Are you tired? I could have a servant prepare a room for you right away."

"Not at all. We should catch up! Have anything to eat? I'm pretty hungry from all that traveling," Aang countered, filled with his usual energy.

"You know there's always food around here," Zuko said as he signaled to a servant and led Aang to the lavish sitting room. "Have a seat, Avatar."

"I can't believe you're getting married in a week. How does it feel?"

"Honestly, I've never happier. I guess I should thank you for that."

"Why me?"

"Well, I wouldn't have any of this if it hadn't been for you. You were the one who gave me a chance and accepted me into your group, even when I hadn't given you much reason to trust me," Zuko thought back to times before the war had ended and how much he still regretted his poor decisions. "How are you, Aang? I mean, I've heard all the rumors and I've read your letters but really, is everything okay?"

Zuko couldn't help but notice that his friend started to look away at the wall, but the Avatar maintained his cheerful smile. Zuko should've been reassured by it but somehow couldn't shake the feeling that Aang was putting on a mask for his sake.

"I'm great, Zuko. Really, "Aang replied sincerely.

"Speaking of my wedding... well, any plans to settle down? Find yourself a nice girl and get started on rebuilding those airbenders?"

"Hey, not all of us are in a rush to be tied down to the old ball and chain. And I have the acolytes to help now. I'm happy the way things are. I don't have anything tying me down right now. I'm free to do my Avatar duties wherever they take me and I can have fun too. What's not to like?" Aang said, trying to convince his friend. He didn't blame Zuko for trying though, even if it was a pretty easily recognizable veiled attempt at getting at another issue altogether.

"But what about, you know," Zuko hesitated, conflicted as to whether to bring up this topic. The hour was late, and he felt as though he owed his friend, whether out of a sense of guilt or generosity.

"What about what?"

"Come on, Aang. You know who I'm talking about. I just don't understand why you two aren't together. I thought, well, when I first joined you guys, I thought for sure that I'd be at your wedding before you'd be at mine. That is if I could get Katara to stop hating me long enough to even get an invite," Zuko attempted a bit of humor to break the tension. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. Talking about feelings and giving advice was his uncle's territory but he felt as though he had to give it a try. Aang was his friend, a good friend who helped him through his own tough times, and no matter how jolly his letters were, Zuko refused to believe that the Avatar didn't miss the girl.

Aang's smile had slowly faded, his expression replaced by a pensive and regretful look. He wasn't surprised at this line of questioning. In fact, he had fully expected it at some point. He just didn't realize it would happen just minutes after his arrival. He always had his prepared responses at the ready, as this was a question he faced many times from many people. What about that lovely waterbender girl? Weren't you two quite close during the war? It wasn't meant to be. We had different goals after the war.

It didn't matter if Aang believed those excuses himself, as long as he convinced everyone else. In fact, Aang had pushed thoughts of Katara out of his mind long ago.

"Look, Zuko. I appreciate the concern but it wasn't meant to be. We had our chance and it's long past."

"But why? You know that I was with Katara the day you fought my father. I watched her wait for you to come back. She was going crazy and she was starting to drive me crazy. She kept going on about how she messed up everything and crying about how she might never see you again. She loved you."

"That was a long time ago, Zuko. Can't we just put it to rest?" Aang replied, exhaustion settling in.

"Fine. I won't press any further. Except one more thing and be honest with me. Am I in any way to blame?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that I might have also talked to Sokka and Toph about this," Zuko mumbled guiltily. "And when we got into the topic of you and Katara, they said that something changed after I joined the group. Naturally, I had no idea what that could possibly mean but then one day, Mai and I went on a trip to that beach on Ember Island and I thought of that awful play we saw. Remember that? I remember you disappeared after that ridiculously embarrassing scene of me and Katara in Ba Sing Se. Katara went out looking for you and when you guys came back later, you both seemed kinda different. At the time, I thought maybe you were just worried about having to face my father but something happened didn't it?"

"Yeah, something happened. But what does that have to do with me blaming you?"

"You know that there was never anything between me and Katara right? All that stuff in the play, it was totally ludicrous. Sometimes I wonder if the reason why you aren't with her is that you thought I was in the picture or something crazy like that. You should just know that Katara's like my sister. I have never ever in my life thought of her as anything else and I'm even more sure she never thought of me that way either," Zuko explained. He had been waiting to get that off his chest for some time now, afraid of jeopardizing their friendship and what Aang might say.

"Look, it might have crossed my mind a few times back then. I was a kid with an overactive imagination, okay? But trust me, Katara and I aren't together for a lot of reasons. You had nothing to do with it," Aang reassured, "I appreciate the concern, really I do. But I'm not a little kid anymore. I think we should call it a night."

And with that, the conversation was over. Zuko showed Aang to the guest bedroom and left him alone to think over the bothersome questions himself.

Hours after he left, Zuko slipped back into bed, hoping that Mai hadn't missed his presence but his highly observant fiancée was already awake. She turned to face him.

"We're not even married yet and you're already sneaking out of bed. Should I be worried?"

"Of course not. Aang just got here, I was helping him settle in."

"You know, the palace will be full of guests soon. Maybe we should take advantage of the privacy."

"Maybe we should."