Zuko and Katara walked back into the ball a few minutes later. He made eye contact with his mother and she looked to Katara's neck and saw the engagement necklace. She nodded her head in approval. Zuko held Katara's hand the whole time as they danced. Neither of them had had so much fun in their lives. The night felt like it could go on forever it was so perfect.

During one of the dances, Katara was mid twirl when she felt someone bump into her really hard tripping her forward. Zuko caught her before she hit the ground. Gritting her teeth she looked to see who had knocked her over and saw Azula with an evil smirk. Her arms around an older man. Zuko growled. "Oops. Katara, you need to stay on your toes, not tripping on your own two left feet." She cackled.

"Don't listen to her Katara, she's just bitter." He grumbled.

She looked at him with hurt in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." She said shaking her head and smiling big.

The two danced the night away until every last guest left. Katara's feet were aching as she walked to her room her shoes in hand. Katara peeled off her gown and without even changing she fell onto the bed and fell into a deep slumber. Her dreams were scattered all over the place. At one point she was dreaming of a wedding to Zuko and then her last one became a nightmare.

Katara was running in the dark. She was alone on the beach. She looked down at herself and noticed a swollen belly. She felt her heart quicken. She heard someone running behind her. A female voice was laughing shrilly as she was chased. Lightening struck in front of Katara stopping her. Clutching her belly she felt the baby move in her belly. A sharp pain took over in her abdomen. She quickly turned around and kept running. The water lapped at her feet and tried to grab her. The water was becoming her enemy. Trying to suck her in. Another bolt of lightening struck in front of her again. She screamed. Her belly shook. She fell to her knees in the wet sand and felt something wet between her legs. She touched her thigh and brought her hand back up to be covered in blood. She heard a dark laugh in front of her and she looked up. The water began to go around her in a funnel. The laughing got louder and was all around her. Then she heard the thunder. This was it. The final blow. Katara screamed as the bolt of lightening hit her. The ground was shaking and she felt herself shaking along with it.

Waking up she felt someone had a hold of her shoulders. She was screaming. "Katara! Katara! Wake up! Shh! Katara! It's okay!" Someone yelled.

Opening her eyes she saw Zuko. Her screaming died down and turned into whimpering. Zuko crushed her to him. "You scared me you stupid stupid girl." He said softly stroking her hair and kissing her head.

Tears streamed down her face. "I was so scared. So scared." She said over and over in a tiny voice.

"It's alright it was just a nightmare. I'm here. You scared me. I heard you screaming and I thought someone was hurting you. Please don't scare me like that again." He said still stroking her hair and touching her cheeks to wipe away the tears.

"I'm sorry. I was so scared..."She said trailing off.

"Alright. Go back to sleep. I'll be right down the hall." He said looking down and noticing that she was wearing practically nothing but her bindings. He felt himself flush.

"No!" She screamed desperately.

"What?" Zuko asked astonished.

"Stay! Please! Just for tonight!" She begged taking both of his hands in hers and bringing him to her bed.

"Katara. I'll stay just for tonight but please...do you mind...uhm...putting on some clothes?" He asked trying to keep his eyes from her alluring figure.

Katara blushed a deep red forgetting what she was wearing. Getting up quickly she ran to her dresser drawer and pulled out a night gown. Pulling it on she smoothed it down and walked back to the bed. Crawling back into the bed and underneath the covers. She looked to see Zuko still hadn't moved.

"Zuko, come on." She said grabbing his hand and pulling him into her bed. Getting underneath the covers with her he pulled her to him and snuggled into her.

"What was your dream about?" He asked her in the dark.

Katara shook her head. "It was horrible...I heard dark laughter and there was a storm...the lightening kept striking at me. I lost...I lost..." She couldn't finish her sentence without almost breaking into tears. She just shook her head. Zuko stroked her hair.

"Shh...it's okay I'm here. Nothing is going to hurt you. Not here. Not now. Not ever." He assured her.

"Thank you Zuko." She said quietly before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Zuko stayed awake a little bit longer. He was thinking about what Katara had told him. She had scared him to death. He thought someone was hurting her. He had never reacted so fast to anything. Not even when he had been attacked by anyone. It couldn't be possible that maybe he was falling in love with her. But that would explain a lot of feelings he had been having lately.

Why would he love her though. He had only been having conversations with her for one day. Then again he had always had a crush on her since they were young, but just didn't want to say anything. Ever since they were thirteen he had his eye on her. For two years he had harbored this crush. Ever since he bought her the dresses. This was it...he loved her...and he was going to do his damnedest to keep her safe and marry her as soon as possible. Tomorrow he would talk to his mother and the council about the possibility of pushing the wedding up. He would then talk to Katara if it was approved.

Tomorrow was going to be a very long day.