Warning! This chapter contains a cliffie at the end and for those who can not stand to be kept in suspense they should read this chapter on Thursday so they only have to wait one day to find out what happens!

Lol, just kidding of course! I just thought of that and decided to write it here, but it's true, there is a cliffie at the end. This will be a very important chapter in the story. Read and review please!

Chapter 11 The Question

Katara opened her eyes wearily as she heard a soft tune being hummed next to her. She brought her hands to her head and let out a moan. Her eyes widened as she looked at her hand, there wasn't a chain attached to it! She attempted to sit up only to be pushed down by a strong hand. "No, Miss. Katara, you mustn't try to sit up just yet. You are still too weak," Iroh removed his hand off of her as she gazed at him with a confused face.

"General Uncle," Katara's hoarse voice rose from her mouth as she laid her head back on the pillow. "Where am I?"

"You're in Zuko's bedroom, on his bed to be exact. It's been a full day sense you... you passed out." Iroh reached behind him and held out a glass of water to Katara. He lifted her head up slightly and titled the glass so that the cool liquid slid down her throat. "We've been taking care of you ever sense, especially Prince Zuko, he's been so worried about you. He hasn't eaten or slept enough this week already and so far he's just refused to anything but leave your side. We finally got him away from you for a couple of minutes. He's out on the deck getting some fresh air, I'll go and tell him the good news."

Iroh stood from his chair beside the bed but Katara reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "Wait, not yet. I'm not sure that I understand what you're saying. Explain it better, please." Katara begged. Iroh nodded his head and sat back down. "You're saying Zuko's been worried about me?"

"It's like I told you before, Miss. Katara,Zuko was only trying to act like he didn't care, but he's been causing himself as much pain as he has to you. We had to force him to eat and sleep this week, he's been making himself sick over you." Iroh handed Katara a tray of food and helped her sit up so that she could feed herself. "He's made sure that you got all of our vitamin water that we had left. We had a lot left, no one seems to like it even though it is quite healthy for you. It puts back nutrients and vitamins that most people don't get enough of, especially when they don't get any for a week." Iroh chuckled lightly as he watched Katara scarfed down the chicken that was on the tray.

He stood up and Katara watched him as he pushed stood behind a table that was filled with food. Katara's jaw would had dropped if it wasn't full of precious food. Iroh continued to chuckle as he saw Katara's eyes widen and she swallowed the food in her mouth. "Zuko wanted to make sure that when you woke up, whatever you were hungry for you could have." Iroh motioned his hand over the table filled with pastries, pastas, seafood, meats, fruits, and any other food she had ever seen and even some she never had.

Iroh bowed and walked toward the door. "I'll go and tell Prince Zuko that you're awake now." Katara nodded as she removed the tray off of her lap and stumbled over to the table. She felt herself drooling and she immediately grabbed for the chocolate cake.

This is all my fault! Zuko mentally scorned himself. If she dies, I will have lost all of my chances for a happy life and I will never be able to forgive myself. Zuko held on tightly to the railing as his shoulders began to quake as he looked across the ocean. Oh Katara, please survive, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. He felt a tear on his right cheek and quickly wiped it away. I'll be strong for you Katara. I was so close, why did it have to be ruined? Why couldn't you just have been happy with me?

What makes me keep taking this? Zuko pulled out of his pocket Katara's necklace and sighed. It reminds me of all of the times I watched her in the forest, with him. He glared as he thought of all the time that the Avatar had spent with Katara. He was jealous, he knew it and he was pretty sure Katara knew it too.

He heard the door creak open and he shot a fireball behind him, hitting the left wall to the door. "Fine, if you don't want to hear what I have to say I'll just go back downstairs," He heard his uncle say.

He stood up straight and calmed his nerves as he placed the necklace back into his pocket. "What do you have to say?" Zuko asked as held his breath. If she's dead I'll throw myself over the side of the ship.

"She's awake and doing fine, Prince Zuko." Iroh smiled as he placed his hands into his sleeves.

"Wha...What?" Zuko turned around and stared at his uncle in disbelief. Did he say she's fine?

"She's okay Prince Zuko, she's in your room eating," Iroh repeated as Zuko started to beam and placed a hand on his head to steady himself. He has such an innocent smile, I'm so glad that that scar wasn't able to ruin that at least. Iroh thought happily as he stepped to the side as Zuko raced past him down to his room.

Zuko slammed open his door and sure enough, there was Katarasitting on the floor eating the food he had left there for her. She looked up at him startled as her mouth was filled with food and she had more in her hand that she was just about to eat. She had some food on her mouth, her hair was a mess, and she looked pale, but he had never seen anything more beautiful.

He stood in the doorway beaming at her as she swallowed her food quickly and placed the food she had in her hand back on the table. She wiped her mouth and cleared her throat, but she didn't have anything to say to him. She just continued to stare into his golden eyes that held a hint of red. Has he been crying? Over me? She mentally cursed herself for starting to forgive him. No, it doesn't matter how much Zuko may have cried, if any, he's the one who caused this in the first place for being so jealous. If he really cared about me, he wouldn't have made me go through all of that just to prove something.

"Katara..." Zuko whispered as he gazed at her blue eyes and took a step into his room. He walked across the room, toward the table that was near his bed, and walked around the table. Katara flinched as she felt Zuko's cold hand on her arm and she closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes as she felt his warm embrace. He wasn't angry with her, he was just happy that she was okay. "Oh Katara..." He whispered into her ear as he pulled her even closer to himself. Katara sat there stunned as Zuko placed his hands behind her head and on her back. "I thought I would never see you again." Zuko's voice cracked as he cooed into her ear.

He does care, he really does. Katara felt her guilt as she finally realized how much she had hurt him by what she had said. She placed her head on his shoulder and began to sob. "It's okay now, Katara, nothing like that will ever happen again. We'll be okay from now on, we'll never hurt each other again, never." Zuko rubbed her back and placed his head on top of hers.

Zuko held her in his arms until she stopped sobbing then she pulled away from him and he sat next to her. "Zuko, they told me that you didn't really eat anything this week.You have to be hungry, so eat." She ordered as she motioned to the table.

"I'm fine, Katara,that food is for you, not me. So you eat," He placed his hand on her face and she placed hers on top of his and weakly smiled.

"There's no way I could eat all of this even if I wanted to," She removed his hand from her face and placed it on top of a chicken leg on the table. "So, eat." She grinned as he nodded and began to eat the chicken. "By the way, the ship's not moving anymore, where are we?"

Her question took him by surprise. He didn't realize that she could tell that the ship was docked and when it wasn't. "We're on a small island just east to the Fire Nation's main lands." Zuko retorted as he swallowed.

"Oh," Katara took a sip more of the vitamin water and had a look of disgust on her face as she stuck her tongue out. Zuko chuckled and she chuckled along with him. "So, why are we here?"

Zuko grinned. "You'll see later tonight," He beamed as she stared at him. "It's a surprise and you'll just have to wait because I'm not telling you anything else." He took another bite of the chicken and stood up. He walked to the door, still eating the chicken leg and reached into his pocket. He threw the necklace to Katara and she caught it. She opened her hands and sighed as she looked up at him.

"Why do you keep taking this from me?" She asked, her tone starting to get angry. He shrugged his shoulders and swallowed as she tied the necklace securely around her neck.

"I'm not quite sure myself. Maybe it just bothers me that it blocks your neck," He turned around and took two steps into the hallway before he turned back around and gave her a heart melting smile. "Your neck is just too beautiful to cover up with anything." He walked away and went up to the deck, leaving Katara sitting in his room, blushing.

She raised her hand up and touched her neck then shook her head and took a big bite out of an apple. I'll remind him of the bet later tonight than, Katara reminded herself as she wiped a piece of apple off of her face.

"Oh Miss. Katara!" Iroh sang out as he walked into Zuko's room. He found Katara sitting in a chair and looking out the window, watching the sunset. Oh how she had missed seeing the sunset while she was chained up. She had also missed bathing and was so glad when she had taken a nice long bath in the main bathing room that had consisted of only a large bath with lots of steam. A guard had stood outside of the doorway the entire time of course, under Zuko's orders. She looked into the doorway and raised an eyebrow at Iroh's peculiar grin.

"What are you up to, General Uncle?" She asked as she stood up and stretched her arms. He walked over to Zuko's dresser and pulled open the top drawer. He took out the beautiful red dress Katara had seen before and held it up in front of himself.

"You'd better get dressed. You won't want to be unprepared for Zuko's big surprise in an hour. So hurry up and make yourself even more beautiful than you already are!" Iroh teased as he handed the dress over to Katara. He then left the room and closed the door so she could get ready for Zuko's big surprise.

She gazed at the beauty of the dress and wished that it would only be in blue instead of the red color that it was in. She quickly slipped into the dressed and went to work on her hair and makeup.

By the time the guards had come to escort her she had been ready for quite a while. It didn't take her that long to do her hair and she had only put on some slight lipstick and blush that Zuko had bought her.

She stepped onto the deck and was surprised to not see Zuko, but Iroh waiting for her. Behind him was a chair and four guards that stood around the chair. "Okay, what's going on here?" She asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

Iroh chuckled and motioned to the chair behind him. "Your chariot is waiting to take you to your destination." He bowed as she walked past him and stared at the chair.

"Can't I just walk to where ever we're going?" She asked as Iroh shook his head and pushed her onto the chair.

"No, Prince Zuko has ordered that you don't see anything before it's time to unveil your surroundings to you." Iroh wrapped a blind fold over her eyes. "Hold on tightly to the sides of the chair." He whispered into her ear as the chair was lifted into the air. She immediately clung onto the sides of the chair and heard Iroh chuckle.

After a few minutes of rough travel, she was finally placed back down on solid ground and she let out a sigh of relief. "Can I remove my blindfold now?" She asked as she reached up to her eyes and grabbed onto the blindfold, ready at any moment to pull it down.

"Yes, go ahead." She heard Zuko respond and she tore off her blindfold. She gasped as she looked around at her surroundings. She was underneath a opened red tent and she looked around at the beautiful scenery that surrounded her at all sides.

There was a waterfall to her left in the distance and the gentle rhythm mixed with the sweet chirping of the birds above in the treetops. There were flowers that gave off a lovely scent all around on vines that crawled up trees and on the lush, green ground. A little path lined with rocks led down toward the ocean that was lined with white sand. In front of her was a white clothed table with three candles in the center and two covered plates, one in front of her and the other in front of Zuko who sat across from her.

He was wearing a black tux with white undershirt and black tie. Even though his outfit was rather plain, he looked absolutely handsome beyond belief. He had another heart warming grin on his face as he gazed at her as she turned her head around.

"Zuko, this is so beautiful!" She exclaimed.

"I'm glad you like it," He beamed. "I want you to remember this night for the rest of your life and it needs to be perfect." It's going to be perfect, Zuko thought as his optimistic side shown through.

"Why? What's going to be so special tonight?" Katara began to feel uneasy. Does Zuko remember the deal we made or not? He can't possible be celebrating that I won the bet and he can't think that he won the bet. Katara reached out and grabbed the glass in front of her and took a long sip of water. She felt a bit more relaxed as the cool liquid slipped down her throat but all of her relaxation quickly turned back to tension when she noticed that Zuko was watching her every move with the same smile on his face.

"Tonight, many events will be taking place. Including some that may decide our destiny, Katara," Zuko eyes sparkled from the reflection off of the flames coming from the candles and the torches that surround them.

Katara couldn't hold it in any longer, she wasn't one to let her feelings not go expressed, so she asked the question that had buzzed in her mind since Zuko sat down next to her that afternoon. "Who won the bet?" She blurted out as Zuko grabbed his glass of water. She had never seen his expression change so drastically. No longer did his face hold a grin but instead his lips formed a frown.

Did she have to bring that up? Well, I suppose it's best that we discuss this now and get it over with so we can move on faster. "About that, I'm not so sure myself." Zuko cleared his throat. "You see, you didn't exactly last the week since you fainted and came close to death."

"But you unlocked my chains and took me out of the room. You also gave me water and food," Katara stated as she locked her eyes with his.

"Yes, but only after you had fainted," Zuko replied with a matter of fact tone in his voice.

"I never asked you to though,"

"Of course you didn't, you were fainted,"

"Well maybe I could have regained consciousness on my own if you didn't interfere."

"Or maybe you could have died if I didn't react so quickly. A thanks would be in order, you know?"

"A thanks? Okay fine, thank you so much for finally caving in! Now my brother and I get our freedom and we'll take our freedom now." Katara pushed back her chair and stood up. She began to walk down the stone path when Zuko pulled her back.

"I wasn't actually planning on starting a fight tonight and I really wish that this night won't be ruined so fast. Could you please sit back down and listen to what I have to say?" Zuko pleaded as he led Katara back to her seat. Katara stood by her seat and looked up at Zuko then sighed as she reluctantly sat down. Well, he did say please, Katara smiled as she remember that she had once called the Fire Nation ill-mannered pigs. Zuko proved her wrong.

"Okay, I'll hear what you have to say, but no matter what you say, you didn't win the bet." Katara argued as she scooted her chair back in. Good, Zuko let out a breath of relief, I even had to say please.

"Now then," Zuko sat back down in his seat. "I don't think that I won, nor do I think you won." Zuko stated as he looked her straight in her deep azure eyes. The candles illuminating in her eyes caused him to stare more deeply at them as she took in his words.

"So...it's a tie?" She asked as she came to the realization of his words. Zuko nodded and she frowned. "So what do we do when it's a tie? We never really thought of this,"

"Exactly, and that's the problem. Since we never decided the outcome of a tie, we have none and to make one up now would be unfair, so I think we shouldn't change anything." Zuko stated as he sat back in his chair. "No one will be forced to do what the other one says, but no one will be let free either. We'll just go on acting before this week happened, we can just have this entire mess be only that of a bad memory and just move on." Katara nodded her head in agreement and Zuko grinned again as he stood up and removed the silver lids from the plates.

Steam arose and filled the air with the smell of fish. Katara looked at the plate before her and could feel herself begin to drool. The fish looked excellent next to the side of steamed rice and cooked carrots. It reminded Katara of the way her mom use to cook, back when her whole family was still around.

Zuko placed the lids on the ground to the side and sat back down. They both began to eat in silence until Zuko spoke up. "Katara," He cleared his throat and she looked at him with questioning eyes. "I want to know, what are your feelings for the Avatar?" Zuko looked at his food.

Katara felt dread overwhelm her as she took a gulp of water. "Well, I'm not exactly sure at the moment," That was stupid to say! Katara mentally scorned herself. How can you not know what you feel?

"Are your feelings for him stronger than your feelings for me?" Zuko inquired, his eyes never leaving his plate.

This must be killing him to ask, but I've got to say how I actually feel. I won't lie about my feelings just because I may have a slight pity for Zuko. Katara cleared her throat and looked at her own plate. "Well, I'm not sure. I know that he cares about me, that he loves me, and that he would never do anything to hurt me, but I'm not sure how you feel about me. You--"

Zuko cut her off. "How can you not know how I feel?" Zuko yelled. "I have never felt this way about anyone ever before and so I didn't know how to respond to it but now I know." Katara looked up from her plate and stared into his golden eyes as he continued. "I love you, Katara, I love you so much that I want to protect you from everything, I want to give you a life filled with everything, and I want to spend the rest of my life always with you. That's why," Zuko stood up and reached into his pocket and took out a black box. He walked over to Katara and knelt down next to her. "That's why, I'd rather have you chose than be forced to marry me." He opened the box and held it up to her. "It's not like the necklaces your tribe gives out, but it's close enough."

Katara gasped as she stared into the box. Inside contained a ring with a white diamond in the middle of a smaller red diamond and a smaller blue diamond. Zuko took out and ring and grabbed her left hand. He placed the ring on her finger and she could fought her feeling to cry as she held back her tears. "Katara," Zuko whispered up to her. "Will you allow me the privilege to spend the rest of my life with you?" Katara held her breath. "Will you marry me?"

What do you think Katara will do? Do you think Zuko was a bit ooc? Was he rushing too much or not? I personally don't think he was, he really loves her and he was close to losing her. He doesn't want that to ever happen again and he was already going to force her to marry him, but he knows shes too stubborn to be forced to do anything shereally doesn't want to do at all. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please don't flame me for the cliffie, I did warn you guys!