Aang left the palace the next day. For reasons she refused to acknowledge, Katara felt an ache in her heart at his sudden absence. Of course, she'd told him to leave her alone, to stay away. But she hadn't quite expected him to leave without saying goodbye.

Zuko busied himself with regular Fire Lord duties, spending entire days in meetings and doing his best, Katara felt, to avoid her. No words were exchanged, and nothing was formally announced, but one by one the wedding planners and dressmakers and decorators and guests disappeared from the palace. After a few days, Katara found it was easier to stay in her room for the better part of the day. She stopped going to the dining hall for her meals because sitting alone at that long table was too painful a reminder of her mistakes.

Even Sokka left her. That, she had to admit, was her own fault. He offered to stay because their father had not yet arrived, and he wondered if she might need the company. But she smiled ruefully and told him to go home to his wife. Suki was probably missing him.

Katara hated to cry. Especially in front of other people. Yet every night, she found herself tossing and turning miserably in her bed, consumed by her heartwrenchingly overwhelming thoughts, until she finally gave in and cried herself to sleep.

On the day she would have wed Zuko, she could take it no longer. She burst into his study, disregarding the palace guards who vainly attempted to detain her. Zuko glanced up from his paperwork, the surprise thoroughly evident on his face, and sighed in resignation. "It's fine, guards. She can stay."

Katara was sure she heard mumbling as the guards left the room. Zuko returned his attention to his paperwork, and she suddenly felt very awkward. All the speeches she had rehearsed in her head as she charged towards his study had vanished from her mind. It was one of the few times in her life that she was genuinely at a loss for words.

She took a deep breath.

"Were you going to ignore me for the rest of your life?" she demanded, struggling to maintain her composure. "I deserve at least some sort of acknowledgement if you... if you don't want to..." She couldn't make herself say it.

Zuko sighed heavily and dropped his writing brush. "I haven't been intentionally ignoring you."

Katara huffed. "Oh really," she said disbelievingly, folding her arms in front of her. "I suppose it's just an accident I haven't seen you in two weeks. That I only get to see you by barging into your study on what would have been our..."

He looked up at last. When their eyes met, she froze. "Katara," he said softly. She didn't know what to say. His eyes seemed tired, almost weary. Quite honestly, he looked as if he hadn't slept in days, with his shaggy dark hair hanging loosely in his face. Katara began to finally notice her surroundings. His office was cluttered and unkempt, unlike its usual pristine organization. And his lunch tray was still sitting on a divan near his desk.

"I..." She wanted to apologize, but she had no idea where to begin and what words she ought to say.

He stood, moving slowly around his desk as he brushed his hair from his eyes. Without a word, he took her hand and guided her to the divan. Carefully, he placed the tray on the floor before pulling her down to sit beside him. The sigh he heaved was long and resigned. She began to feel uneasy.

"Are you breaking up with me?" she blurted before she could stop herself.

Zuko gave her a wry, weak smile. "Katara. You and I..." He paused, casting his eyes to the floor. A weighty silence ensued. Katara focused on her breathing, doing her best to ignore the gnawing in her chest.

"I haven't been... fully honest with you," he finished at last.

Her heart dropped to the floor. "What are you saying?" she pressed immediately, unconsciously tightening her grip on his fingers.

"I told you that I was the one who broke up with Mai... but that's not... exactly how it happened," he began slowly, clearly enunciating each syllable.

"Well? What did happen?" Katara prodded at his lengthy pause.

Zuko sighed again. She was tiring of the sighing quickly. "She left me. I proposed, and she told me she wasn't ready. I think I scared her because the next day, she was gone."

Realization began to dawn on Katara slowly. "So when you told me you asked her to leave because you didn't love her anymore..." Her shaky voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "You were... lying?"

Zuko hung his head. "I didn't want you to think..."

"That I was just a rebound?" Katara finished in a shrill voice, startling Zuko into lifting his head.

"But you weren't," he insisted, his needy eyes begging for understanding. "It's true, you were there for me when I needed it most but... you were more than that."

"I filled an empty hole," she said numbly.

"Well... didn't I do the same for you?"

Katara's eyes flashed as she shook her head vehemently. "NO. Aang and I had been over for almost three years. I had moved past that."

"Are you sure? It seemed to me that you missed him quite a bit."

"Zuko. That's not fair," Katara quavered, her chin trembling uncontrollably.

"Then how would you explain what happened?" he asked her calmly. His steady gaze only served to unnerve her further.

"I... I..." Her thoughts were suddenly too muddled to comprehend. "It meant nothing. He means nothing to me." Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie.

Zuko shook his head. He was not fooled. "You love him, Katara. You always have."

"I love you," she corrected him firmly. "I've chosen to spend my life with you. I made you a promise I had no intention of breaking."

"Stop kidding yourself, Katara. If I'm totally honest with you, I still miss Mai," he admitted quietly. "She was my first love. She was by my side through all those bad times, through the war. She stood up to my sister for me."

It almost felt like an assault on Katara's ears, to hear how he really felt about Mai. But she made no move to stop him.

"I... I do love her, I guess," he said as if he himself was surprised by this revelation. "But I threw myself into our relationship that much more so, to make up for the way I still felt for her."

"Am I to understand that..." Katara cleared her throat nervously. "That every time you told me you loved me, you were thinking of her?"

Zuko shook his head firmly. "Not at all, Katara. I do love you," he assured her. "I love you so much... but not as much as you deserve."

She dropped his hands at that moment. It was all too much to process. Had their entire relationship been a farce? How had she not seen it? "I don't believe it..."

Zuko took her chin in his hands, gazing down at her with an intensity that shook her to the core. "Listen to me. If I thought I was what you really wanted - if I really thought I could make you happy for the rest of your life - I would marry you in a heartbeat. And I'd not have a single regret." He kissed her forehead gently to punctuate his words. "But you would not be happy. You would always wonder what if."

Katara's eyes were beginning to burn. "How do you know?" she pleaded helplessly.

He answered her with a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. For a moment, she lost her breath. He pulled away, but only barely, and rested his forehead on hers. "Because I know you, Katara. Because I know how it feels. And I love you enough to let you go."

The tears that had been burning her eyes were now threatening to fall. She cradled his head in her hands, desperately pulling him nearer. "Zuko," she whispered urgently. "I... I can't."

She felt his warm hands on her cool, wet cheeks and realized that the tears were, indeed, spilling over. "You can," he told her softly. "You need to."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I don't... I don't want this to be over."

He smiled wryly. "Neither do I. But it's already over."

She kissed him then, hungrily and forcefully, as if trying to prove a point to him. He kissed her back, and though his kiss felt loving, it had a bittersweet taste. And, finally, she knew he was right.

As she slowly pulled away from him, he wiped the tears from her face. "I will always love you, Katara. You know that. But we both know where your heart belongs."

Katara nodded numbly. "I love you, too. I really do."

He took her hands in his again, squeezing gently. "I know. I'm not so foolish as to doubt that." His smile was genuine and strangely calming.

"I... I guess I should go," Katara concluded hesitantly.

"Go," Zuko encouraged her with a slight nod of his head. "And do me a favor, okay? Be happy. Don't settle for anything less. Deal?"

Katara enveloped him in a tight hug, nodding her consent. "Deal."

A/N: Well. Did you see that coming? I hope not. Cuz if so, I suck at writing. Heh heh heh.

I couldn't just leave Zuko all sad and miserable and pining away. I love him too much. So here is our compromise. And yes I recycled a phrase from another of my stories... Hee. I wonder if y'all will catch that... If so I know who my true stalkers are. (And rest assured, I love you back.)

BUT the question IS: will our heroes get their happy ending? Hmmmmm... stay tuned!

XOXO,

Penny