Feeling Better?

Zuko awoke to a pleasantly cool weight on his forehead. His eyes slowly creaked open and two fuzzy blue orbs swam into his vision. He screwed his eyes up and squinted at the spheres of color that floated above him. What were those things, and why wouldn't they focus?

He groaned, head throbbing violently, and the orbs seemed to zoom closer, taking up his entire vision. The cool sensation on his forehead seemed to be humming gently, and he felt some of the pain wash away. Confused, Zuko raised an arm and experimentally swung it in front of him. Something soft gave way as his arm heavily hit it, a surprised exclamation sounded and Zuko and felt something very wet splash onto his face.

Well. Now he was awake.

The blanket slid around his shoulders slid down as Zuko propped himself up onto his elbows and blinked rapidly at the water running down his bare chest. Wait, what happened to his shirt?

It was then that he noticed Katara kneeling next to him with an exasperated look on her face. She twitched her fingers and the water on his chest flew back to her palm. She raised her glowing water glove to his forehead and Zuko felt the pain still beating into his skull recede.

Zuko glanced around and saw that they were on the floor in Sokka's room. Sokka, at the moment, was sprawled nearby on his bed grumbling in his sleep. Katara took her hand away and Zuko gave a her grateful smile before asking, quite bewildered,

"What am I doing here?"

Katara smirked and quickly coughed to hide her laugh.

"Seriously Katara, what happened?"

"Next time Sokka challenges you to an eating contest, make sure you know what you're shoving into your mouth before you say yes."

Zuko furrowed his brow, and vaguely remembered shoveling some interesting mushroom-ish plants down his throat while Sokka stuffed himself nearby. ("I could eat loads more of these zingers than you could! Water tribe, baby, water tribe!") He grimaced and looked embarrassedly at Katara.

"I thought Sokka knew what they were."

"Huh! Sokka will eat anything, you should have seen him on cactus juice. Hey, if you had you might've known better."

Great, Zuko thought dimly. Another one for the "Reasons I Should Have Joined The Avatar Sooner" list. Avoiding fungus and Sokka induced hangovers.

"How long was I out?"

"Oh, only a couple hours. You're really very entertaining when you're unconscious," she grinned.

Horrified, Zuko paled.

"What…what did I say?"

"Not too much actually. Mostly nonsense."

Visibly relieved, he sighed.

"You're a lovely singer though."

Zuko immediately turned scarlet and he buried his face in his hands.

"I'm never taking food from Sokka again."

Katara laughed good naturedly, and reached for the stool beside her.

"Here, eat this. It should take the edge off any more hallucinations."

One arm still busy covering up his blush, Zuko reached for the bowl. He spooned a bit of the mush into his mouth.

"Bleck!"

And promptly spat it out again.

"Ugh! What is that stuff?"

"It's medicine!"

"Yeah, but what did you put in it?"

"Hey, it's just fruit!"

"Fruit?" Zuko peered suspiciously at the orange mush and pulled a face.

"Look, whatever it is, I really can't stand it. You can take it back."

"What? I'm trying to help you, so you need to eat it! Besides, what am I supposed to do with it?"

"I don't know, you could eat it!"

"Bleh! But I hate papaya!"

"Then what are we doing with papaya anyway?"

"Well, since Aang's a vegetarian he brings things like this back, but I've never liked the stuff, so I figured now was a good time to put my share to good use!"

"You mean you don't want it, so you're forcing your leftovers on me?"

"C'mon, it really will help you!"

Zuko looked into her wide blue eyes, staring ever so earnestly at him, and he sighed in defeat. He supposed he was being rather childish about the matter.

Katara watched as Zuko hesitantly tasted the loathsome fruit mix she'd prepared. She was determined to be sure that he really was eating enough of it. She watched the spoon slowly rise and pass into his mouth, and out, and down to the bowl, and up again as he forced down the taste she personally knew to be unpleasant. She watched his reluctant expression as the spoon slipped past his parted lips, and her eyes caught on the subtle movement that his mouth, and no doubt his tongue, was making when the tip of the spoon left his mouth, left his lips, left his mouth, his lips, his lips-

"What are you staring at?"

Katara jumped and guiltily wrenched her gaze to his perplexed eyes. Suddenly terribly self conscious, she felt her face start to heat. Katara scrambled to her feet and tried to look offended.

"You finish that before I finish checking Sokka, or I'll feed it to you myself!" With that, Katara turned and hastened to her brother's bedside.

Zuko frowned and stared crossly at the bowl. The threat was highly unnecessary in his opinion. Especially since he now remembered the content of some of his dreams, and he was eternally grateful that no one…especially Katara had made any sense of whatever he'd mumbled in his drugged stupor. Not that he recalled all his hallucinatory dreams, but…he got the gist.

Zuko sternly reminded himself that waterbending was for fighting, not exotic dancing.

And attractive water tribe girls did not whisper enticing things into his ear while leading him to a secluded spot to –

Zuko rapidly shook his head in an effort to banish the surprisingly vivid scenarios painted into his mind. Hmm, the medicine would supposedly blunt those memories and suppress any more…He peeked from the horrible papaya mush to the girl in blue a couple feet away…and felt a mischievous blush sneak to his cheeks as he remembered his dreams.

Choosing the lesser of the two evils, Zuko began shoveling the papaya into his mouth.

Katara shook her head and turned away from the still unconscious Sokka (apparently he had won the contest) and sat back down by Zuko, content to see the empty bowl next to him. Zuko glanced at her; the last thing he'd seen before he passed out and the first thing he saw when he woke up. Something occurred to him.

"I'm sorry you had to drag me all the way back here."

Katara smirked a little at the thought of actually dragging him to Sokka's room, and told him,

"Don't worry. Right after you collapsed Toph came by with Sokka, and she earthbended you both here pretty easily." Katara suavely controlled her features as she recalled Toph walking in on her and Zuko's awkward embrace. She'd been prepared for a mountain of friendly teasing, but Toph had been towing a babbling Sokka, and was preoccupied (worried, even) enough to ignore the fact that her friends were tangled quite interestingly with each other. Then Katara's face softened.

"After that I just brought your fevers down and waited for you to wake up." Her brow pinched and her expression darkened as she remembered hovering over their weakened, tense bodies, carefully monitoring their breathing while Aang and Toph anxiously waited nearby.

"You looked like you were in a lot of pain." Katara's hands drifted over to one of Zuko's and she grasped it. Zuko didn't miss the slightly haunted expression in her eyes, and he realized that she'd suffered along with them. That was Katara. She always forged such a strong connection with those she cared about, no matter the size of the problem. Zuko's heart ached and warmed at the depth of her incredible compassion, and he felt a surge of fondness for the water tribe girl.

Katara started slightly as she felt Zuko squeeze her hand, fingers trying to convey a sense of comfort. She gazed into the warm gold of his eyes and felt her limbs, though she knew both hers and his were weary, relax.

There was something so genuine in his smile, a window of pure emotion that was almost strange to see on her old enemy, who had once been so embittered. But that didn't matter. It still looked beautiful on his face.

"Thank you." She could hear the honesty ringing in his voice, but before she could pull him into a hug or even murmur a "You're welcome", a noisy grunt sounded from behind them. Surprised, both their heads turned towards the bed.

"Looks like Sokka's awake," Zuko said. Katara nodded in agreement and got up to see her brother.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty!" Katara chimed. Sokka blinked blearily at her and absorbed his surroundings, sparing an odd glance at the distinctly out of place firebender on his floor.

"Katara, do I even want to know what happened?"

"Probably not. You never learn, do you?" Sokka shook his hair out of his eyes and reached to accept the bowl Katara was offering, but suddenly groaned and pressed both hands to his forehead. Katara was quickly ready with a water glove in a second. A turquoise glow and a mumbled thank you later, Sokka swayed sleepily and leaned back.

"Sleep now. We can talk later."

Sokka gripped the covers, but before he pulled them up he peered at Zuko, who was staring at him from the floor, and jabbed a finger in his direction.

"Whatever happened, I blame you when I wake up, mkay?"

With that, he yanked the covers over his head and flipped towards the wall.

Zuko stared, slightly open mouthed, at Sokka's now snoring back. Katara laughed kindly at his insulted expression.

"Wow. 'I blame you.' Those are some harsh accusations there, Zuko. How can you ever defend yourself after that?"

Zuko glanced loftily at her, and said,

"Well, even though I might never get over such a reasonable (and articulate) argument, I for one think I'm just tragically misunderstood."

Katara tried to contain her grin as she furrowed her brow in mock concentration.

"Misunderstood, eh? We'll just see if that one works again."

"It would probably work better if I had innocent puppy dog eyes like you. Besides, if you're the jury I'm doomed anyway."

Katara smiled and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, you have been a jerk in the past, and you're not very good at gathering food – "

"And you're wonderful at making me feel like an idiot – "

"–but, overall I'd say you're pretty nice guy. And I'm glad that you joined our group."

Zuko looked taken aback; it was the first time she'd openly welcomed him into their family. He smiled gratefully at Katara, and the honesty of her words shone fiercely in her eyes.

"Now, be a good boy and go back to sleep like Sokka over there." At this, Zuko sat up further, but felt a telltale shake in his still unsteady limbs. He supposed sleep would do his muscles good. Zuko paused, then crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"Only if you do too."

"What?"

"You're more exhausted than either Sokka or I am. You should take your own advice and rest." Zuko tried to look stern, but gave her a small, almost apologetic smile.

Katara looked a bit surprised, but then she rolled her eyes and acquiesced.

"Hn, and they say I'm bossy. Alright, alright, I'll rest if you will. Just feel better, hotshot." With that, Katara pulled him into a quick hug and hopped to her feet to leave.

Once her arms left his shoulders, Zuko felt a small, foolish smile grow on his face. He sunk into his blankets and watched Katara's feet trod once more to Sokka's bed, then away to get some rest. He rolled onto his side and let a pleasant sense of peace wash over him. I'll have to thank Sokka for those stupid mushrooms when he wakes up. Oh yes. He would most definitely be feeling better.

A/N

Gah, this wasn't supposed to take so long to get out...sorry! It goes with the previous drabble.