Zuko wasn't expecting to see her awake so soon. He had come in to simply watch over while she slept yet here she was, fully conscious with a look that was just dying for information. He opened his mouth but no words came out. She looked just as incapable of speaking as he was.
Katara wasn't sure how to break the sticky silence but she didn't need to; Zuko suddenly flashed a smile and put his hand up.
"Hi, Zuko here."
That set them both off and they simultaneously burst into laughter. Katara marveled at the raspy sound of Zuko's laughter, wondering how long it had been since she heard such a sound. Katara found comfort in the memory of Zuko's first greeting as a "good" guy and as soon as she stopped laughing, she ached for more comfort, to feel close to a person again. In that same instant, Zuko took a step forward and encased his arms around her. His touch felt so familiar to her that suddenly she didn't care about her lost memories-all she wanted was to remember this one. His arms felt like home to her and she wasn't ready to move just yet. He sensed her distress and hugged her tighter.
"How's your memory holding up?" he whispered into her ear
His breath lingered down her neck and left a tingling sensation that rendered her thoughts utterly incoherent.
"Umm..it's not."
He pulled away abruptly, with a look of concern. "You don't remember anything?"
"No. I mean I do. I remember you and everyone else. The last thing I remember was all of us playing volleyball at the beach. I have no idea how I got here."
"Oh…" he trailed off.
"Zuko, please, tell me what happened. Aang is being weird and won't tell me anything. I need to know. I need you to tell me."
Zuko deliberated for a moment but he knew the time had come.
"Katara," Zuko said. "You once told me the story of how Aang played with fire and you got burned. Well this is the story of how you played with fire and Aang got burned."