I won't be including any more disclaimers because we all know I own nothing. I'm late again–sorry, folks.

CHAPTER 11

"I'll take over up here for a while. You should get some sleep."

The airbender glanced back from his position on Appa's head. "Thanks, Sokka, but I'm fine." He wasn't fine. In fact, Sokka was reasonably confident he would tip over and fall off the bison if someone didn't intervene.

Sokka shook his head and held his hand out. Aang eyed it wearily, and for a moment, it looked like he might argue, but he sighed in defeat and handed Sokka the reins. Aang slumped against the back of the saddle and fell asleep almost immediately. The sound of Toph's snores accompanied with the airbender's breaths was an indication to Sokka that he would be alone with his thoughts for the time being.

They were well on their way to the Earth Kingdom, but after their most recent run-in with Sparky Sparky Boom Man—newly dubbed Combustion Man—they decided it would be best not to stop for breaks. Now that they were over the open ocean, there was no choice in the matter anyway.

Sokka settled into his new position with a huff. At this rate, they would reach land within the next five hours or so—enough time for him to overthink the plan and stress himself out even more than he already had.

It was a wonder the other two could sleep. Though, he supposed exhaustion could overpower just about anything after a certain point. But the pressure to get to Katara in time for the eclipse was an invisible hand pressing down on each of their chests. It made the journey feel more laborious, and sleeping in shifts didn't help much when everyone was too anxious to actually rest. Needless to say, they rode mostly in silence. Even Momo was unusually quiet.

Of course, it wasn't the first time the group had traveled between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom on a time crunch. But Sokka would rank saving his sister from the Fire Prince as a higher-stakes mission than, say, Aang needing to have a conversation with a dead guy.

Toph and Aang had been on board with Sokka's plan without too much convincing needed, but even he could admit that it was probably less to do with it being a particularly good plan and more to do with the fact that they had no other ideas. It wasn't remotely close to airtight—something Sokka became more uncomfortable with the more he thought about it. But there was no going back now.

Appa let out what Sokka assumed was an exhausted groan. He scratched the bison's head. "I know, buddy. We'll be there soon." He wasn't actually sure about that, given he wasn't yet sure where 'there' was, but he didn't think Appa would call him on his bluff.

Sokka flew Appa through the night with only the sounds of sleeping children and the temperamental spray of the sea to soothe his whirring mind. His target destination was the first seedy Earth Kingdom tavern he could find.

When she could put it off no longer, Katara made the phone call. She decided that it would be easier to give Hakoda the news. He reacted about as well as she thought he would, which was to say, not well. But it was still better than having to worry her mother. The conversation didn't last much longer once she had finished relaying Zuko's story.

Iroh had then taken the phone from her to briefly speak with Kya regarding those logistical things that flew over her head. After Katara and Zuko each wrote a list of every item they could remember having seen in the apartment, he hugged them fiercely and begged them to come by for tea once things had settled down.

"I better see you before you go back home to the Water Tribe," he had admonished Katara lightly. In response, she could only offer him a sad smile.

Katara now sat in the back of a death machine—Iroh had called it a car, but she preferred her own terminology—with a small bag that he had kindly packed for her in hand. It held more of the women's clothing that he mysteriously possessed and more of the almond cookies. Other Katara's parents awaited at whatever location Iroh had punched into her phone.

Next to her, the Fire Prince fidgeted with the straps of his own bag.

Zuko's acknowledging nod when Iroh gave him the next several days of work off had been his last attempt at any form of communication. Iroh had sent them off, and since then, the firebender had maintained an oddly vacant look in his eyes. Though at the moment, they were covered by his shaggy dark hair as he stared out the window.

She didn't try to coax anything out of him. While she had no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his mother's death, she knew enough from her own experience that he would need time to process their current state of affairs. And, well, it didn't feel right to probe after she had already unwillingly pulled…other things from his past.

As for the topic of having his sociopathic sister for a roommate, they would probably need to have a conversation at some point. Katara would rather not have her throat slit in her sleep. But for the moment, she had her own family to worry about. One thing at a time.

Katara closed her eyes, allowing herself to stew in her preoccupations. She should have known that the dreamlike bliss of being in her mother's presence again would be fleeting. Reality—or, some version of it—was always going to catch up to her. But her mother was still here, and even in these dire circumstances, that was something. She would have to take what she could get, despite the nagging thought that living Other Katara's life was beginning to feel like an exercise in method acting.

It was a life that, less than 24 hours ago, had literally gone up in smoke.

Though, part of her couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if it had been the Other Katara and Zuko in this situation. Sure, Zuko had mentioned something about his bending not working correctly during the fire, but if he hadn't at least partially shielded himself with it—if Katara hadn't healed him with waterbending…

If it was a gas leak, wouldn't the explosion have happened regardless of which versions of Zuko and Katara lived there? She shuddered at the thought of how things may have turned out differently had it been Zuko's non-bending counterpart trapped in the building.

Maybe he had been right about where they were meant to be right now. She risked a glance at the firebender, whose knees had begun to bounce—a nervous tic that she'd seen him display several times since their arrival in this place. He had abandoned his bag of clothing in favor of fisting his hands in his lap.

Deciding that they both needed a distraction, Katara spoke quietly. "Do you want to hear about my theories?"

For a moment, she thought he ignored her question. She followed his eyes to where their driver sat at the wheel. The man spoke in an unfamiliar language in the midst of what sounded like a phone call, but Katara couldn't see the phone. Either way, he paid no mind to the occupants in the back of his vehicle.

Once Zuko seemed satisfied that they would not be overheard, he reluctantly met Katara's gaze for the first time since breakfast. "Okay."

Biting back her concern at the hollowness in his voice, Katara cleared her throat. "Well, I have two, but I think one is more likely than the other."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Start with the one that's less likely." His words sounded mechanical.

Katara took a breath and let her eyes drop to her lap. "I was trying to find a pattern in the slips—something about both of the situations in which they happened that could have potentially triggered them. But there wasn't really anything similar about them. So, then I thought maybe it doesn't actually have anything to do with you, in a manner of speaking. What if the other versions of us are now stuck in our lives?"

She paused to gauge Zuko's reaction to her words and continued when his pensive expression remained unchanged. "What if the other version of you is fighting this—fighting it so hard that sometimes he manages to break through for a short time? It doesn't necessarily explain why it hasn't happened to me yet, but maybe Other Katara is trying to solve it in a…different way?"

"Solve it, how?" A slight change in his posture was the only thing that gave away his interest.

Katara floundered a bit at that. She'd been more focused on distracting him from whatever was bothering him than further fleshing out her theories, but she stumbled through an answer anyway. "Maybe she's trying to bargain with that spirit that pulled us in here, assuming they're in the Spirit World."

Zuko's left eye twitched. "So you're saying that you are trying to solve this logically while I'm just…banging on walls?"

"Well, technically it's Other Katara and Other Zuko doing that—"

He didn't let her finish. "That theory doesn't work. What's the other one?"

Katara huffed, though she admittedly wasn't particularly confident in that one, either. Didn't have to be such an ass about it, though… "What makes you say that?"

"Besides the fact that you've based it almost entirely on your assumptions about my personality, it has a major hole." He was a spitting viper bat, and Katara shot him a look that said 'lose the attitude before that guy decides we're more interesting than his phone call.'

He took the hint, exhaling gustily before he continued at a lowered volume. "If Other Zuko—" he grimaced at the phrasing— "was stuck in my body, in theory, I should be temporarily back in my own life during these…slips, right? We'd switch places. But we don't, and I'm fully aware of what I'm doing when the slip happens. Something just comes out of me. It's like the two forms of my consciousness aren't separate. Sometimes the other guy just takes over."

Katara opened her mouth to respond, but he continued as if she hadn't. "Even if your theory was somehow right, it doesn't really help us figure out how to fix the problem."

She pursed her lips, mentally conceding his points. Though, it wasn't as if he'd given her any insight into his headspace during these slips until now. She had just been working with the information she had. At least I'm coming up with ideas.

Thankfully, nothing he had said disproved the second theory.

"Okay, fine." She worked to keep her voice level. "Next theory."

Zuko nodded for her to continue. As if I need Prince Prickly's permission to speak.

Suppressing a scoff, she pressed on. "This one is a bit more simple, but it might more accurately explain why it's happening to you instead of me." She paused, biting the inside of her cheek. He wasn't going to like this. "You've…immersed yourself in this version of your life more than I have."

"Uh. Yeah, I guess." His hand bit into the dark leather of the seat between them.

"More specifically, you've been going to work every day. Doing things exactly as the other version of you would. Maybe the more you do that, the more slips you'll have."

A pregnant silence filled the air while Zuko absorbed her words, his molten eyes burning right through her for a moment before he closed himself off again. Katara hadn't realized he had angled his body toward her until he was shifting away again. The small space between them in the back of the vehicle suddenly felt like a chasm.

"So, you're saying I should stop going to the teashop with Uncle. With Lu Ten," he murmured, eyes glued to the floor. Maybe she imagined the cluster of sparks that flew up from his clenched fists.

Well, at least he hadn't immediately shot down the idea.

"I'm sure your uncle will understand," Katara soothed, wincing slightly. She didn't know if she could say as much for his cousin. "And you can still go see him at home—just maybe take a little break from the tea shop and see what happens. We don't even know if I'm right."

If he heard her, he didn't acknowledge it as he turned his attention back to his window. Katara glowered out her own window, reminding herself that she had no reason to bother with the placating gestures. He didn't deserve them. It was his fault his actual uncle was in prison, after all. Why was it her problem if he felt guilty about it?

Unbidden, thoughts of his silent understanding and a whispered "good luck" swirled in her fatigued mind. They flowed into memories of solid arms around her waist and warm breath in her hair that kept her from either collapsing or doing something stupid—or both.

Ugh.

Katara had just begun to consider opening her door and making a run for it at the next stop when he spoke again, his voice almost too low for her to hear.

"What about you? We're on our way to see your parents right now, aren't we? By doing that, aren't you immersing yourself?" The last question dripped with vitriol.

Katara whirled on him. "What did you just say? Are you not the one who encouraged me to see my family in the first place so that you could be selfish and stay here longer?"

Smoke curled from his flared nostrils, but he wisely kept his mouth shut and avoided her boiling eyes.

Conveniently and rather loudly, the driver announced their arrival before Katara could freeze that fucking firebender's spit in his throat. Shooting him one last icy glare, she hastily clambered out of the vehicle, Zuko following behind her silently.

Once they were safely on the sidewalk, Katara took a moment to admire the massive, ostentatious building in which her parents were evidently staying. It was nestled amongst intimidating glass structures like the one she had seen on one of her first nights exploring Da Ping Guo, but its stone-carved elegance with gold trimmings and aged moldings made it somehow even more imposing. Needless to say, it was nothing like any Earth Kingdom inn she had ever seen. In fact, it reminded her more of the palace in Ba Sing Se.

Fittingly, a red carpet was laid out in the street at the foot of the vast entrance. Two men in matching green uniforms stood ready to open the doors for new arrivals. A woman wearing the same uniform approached to greet the two gawking idiots, eyeing their small overnight bags. "Welcome to the Ammann Hotel. Are you checking in with us?"

With effort, Katara peeled her eyes away from the stately edifice. "Oh, um. No? We're here to visit someone."

The woman's meticulously-painted eyes narrowed slightly above her brilliant smile, as her gaze slid past Katara to presumably appraise Zuko. Suddenly acutely aware that they were both still dressed in Iroh's borrowed nightclothes, Katara cut the woman off before she could speak to provide her the room number Hakoda had sent her.

"What's the last name on the reservation?" she said as she opened a small booklet and began to rifle through what Katara assumed was a list of guests with their corresponding room numbers.

"Oh, um…" What's my last name? she thought in a panic.

"Alainga," came Zuko's assured voice from behind her. Her eyes widened at the tonal shift, but she didn't dare turn around.

With an approving nod, the woman directed them inside toward a set of shiny metal doors situated behind a large, ornate desk that would have looked ridiculous anywhere but in this ritzy establishment.

Before Katara could take a step, a warm hand took hold of her wrist. She turned to find Zuko staring at their connected limbs with a furrow in his brow. His voice was a quiet rasp. "I'll think about what you said."

She pulled out of his grip and offered him a curt nod before turning to make her way inside, ignoring the lingering ghost of his fingers on her wrist.

Katara's narrow shoulders rose and fell with a shaky breath before she brought her knuckles to the door. It nearly flung off the hinges when someone opened it less than a second later and threw their arms around the waterbender. Zuko looked away to give them privacy and had contented himself with melting into the background when the same pair of arms suddenly engulfed him in a suffocating embrace.

"I'm so glad you're okay," the voice—Katara's mother, he now realized—whispered in his ear. Zuko could only stand frozen as he gaped at the woman's daughter over her shoulder. After a moment, he awkwardly brought his hands up to hover somewhere near the middle of her back.

Katara watched the exchange with an odd look on her face, but then her mother was pushing them both through the door before he could think any more of it.

"Hakoda's just gone out to grab us all a late breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Ahead of him, Katara shot Zuko a silencing look—as if he had anything to say to begin with. "Starving!"

Hakoda…where had he heard that name before?

Katara moved to sit on the bed—the only piece of furniture available to do so in the surprisingly plain room—so Zuko did the next best thing and went to stand stiffly by the window, half-wishing he could open it and escape. Instead, he stared pointedly out of it while Katara and her mother fussed over each other behind him.

The buildings in this neighborhood were much newer-looking than the ones near the apartment and the teashop. Most were made of glass, and many jutted out into strange shapes. The architecture's contorted angles were enough to make his head spin—especially if he attempted to imagine how the structures managed to stay standing. In truth, this elaborate inn—hotel?—in which he currently stood was the most conventionally-constructed of any in the general vicinity. Though, the one glaring commonality it shared with the others was its height, which was significantly taller than anything Zuko was used to. He should have guessed, based on the amount of time they spent in that box that carried them up here. He closed his eyes against the urge to check exactly how far above the ground he was standing. To think he'd once considered the size of Royal Palace intimidating—

He was pulled from his thoughts when Katara said his name. Except when he reluctantly turned to face her, she was not looking at him. Instead, it was her mother watching him expectantly.

Zuko blinked several times and did his best not to stare, but mostly failed. Katara's mother looked exactly like her, down to the dimple on her right cheek. Evidently, their voices were also similar.

He swallowed dryly. "Yes?"

She gave him a patient smile, concern flashing briefly in her eyes before she spoke again. "Would you like to stay here with us for a few days before you head over to your mom's place? We've already asked the front desk to send up a rollaway bed for Katara."

"Oh, I…" He looked desperately toward the waterbender, but she was busy hanging on the other woman's every word. "I…think I should just go back to stay with my uncle for a few days until we're both ready to go to my mother's." He felt himself stumble over that last word.

"Come on. I insist. We never get to see you, and in light of the situation, I think you two should stick together." She looked pointedly between him and Katara.

Zuko opened his mouth and closed it again a few times before eventually nodding numbly. Katara said nothing, though the slight downturn of her lips as she watched her mother was enough to reveal that she wasn't particularly pleased by the arrangement.

At that moment, Katara's father arrived with their second breakfast. He kicked the door open, arms full of steaming packages. His eyes—as strikingly blue as his daughter's—lit up in what looked like relief at the sight of the firebender fidgeting uncomfortably by the window. But Zuko was no longer paying attention because it was also at that moment that he remembered where he had heard the name Hakoda.

He leveled his open-mouthed shock onto Katara, whose focus had shifted to Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe—her father—as he set the bags of food on the small desk in the front of the room. The man then immediately knelt before her at the foot of the bed to take both of her hands. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

Scowling despite himself, Zuko turned away from the sight of Katara's loving, concerned family. He'd never so desperately wanted to disappear than in that moment. But of course, that wasn't possible, and from the corner of his eye, he could see that the chief was standing to make his way toward him.

With a steadying breath, Zuko turned, instinctively sinking low into a traditional Fire Nation bow. If Uncle Iroh had taught him anything, it was to treat leaders with deference—regardless of nationality and, in this case, propensity for stirring up trouble with the Fire Nation. He examined the patterned carpet, and shame gripped him like a vice over his disrespectful response to the chieftess's earlier greeting. As if I were an old friend.

There was a startled sort of chuckle from somewhere above him. "You okay, son?"

No. As if I were a son. He suddenly felt rather nauseous, and the jarring reminder that this Hakoda was not, in fact, chief of the Southern Water Tribe wasn't enough to quell the feeling.

Of its own volition, his mind traveled elsewhere. He was back in the palace when he first heard about the Southern Water Tribe chieftess's death. His father had smirkingly mentioned in passing over the dinner table that the last Southern waterbender had finally been defeated. He'd referred to the fact that it had been the chieftess—Kya, he now remembered—as 'killing two birds with one stone.' There had been a brief celebratory toast in honor of the Southern Raiders.

Shaking off the memory, Zuko straightened out of his bow. He mumbled an apology, feeling his jaw involuntarily clench when a large hand clapped him on the shoulder. Despite their similar heights, Zuko couldn't help but feel like he had to crane his neck to face the other man's perturbed expression.

Behind Hakoda, Katara's unreadable eyes were trained on his back while he inspected Zuko closely as if checking for damage. Zuko felt his lips twitch into a slight grimace as he realized that it was probably exactly what the man was doing. He sent a silent prayer to Agni that there would be no comment on the fact that Zuko didn't appear at all like someone who had recently been caught in an explosion. The look on the waterbender's face told him she was likely doing the same.

Hakoda's brows slid up his weatherworn forehead, but he didn't look unhappy with whatever conclusion he had drawn from his scrutiny. When he finally spoke, it wasn't what Zuko expected to hear. "Kya talked to your uncle earlier this morning. He mentioned that you've already filed the insurance claim."

Zuko released the breath he had been holding, but the tension didn't leave his shoulders. I've already done what?

Katara spoke up then. "Yes. Well, Iroh did. He's taking care of everything while we…get things back to normal."

Zuko barked out a humorless laugh. Normal. He steadily ignored their pitying glances but allowed himself to be grateful that no one had yet asked him to repeat his story of how he failed to stop the fire.

Kya rubbed soothing circles into her daughter's shoulder. "Let us help you do that." She shared a significant glance with Hakoda. "I know it's probably the last thing you want to do right now, but why don't we go get you both some new clothes after breakfast?"

Katara opened her mouth to respond—

"I can't." The words tumbled out of Zuko's mouth. He quailed slightly under three pairs of blue eyes. "I mean, I don't have any money. I—I lost all of it. Everything."

The full gravity of the situation seemed to dawn in Katara's expression, her gaze finding the floor, where the purse that she had taken to her family dinner and the bags from Uncle lay—all they had left, save for the clothes on their backs.

Zuko flinched when Hakoda slung an arm over his shoulder. "Don't worry about that."

Kya stood then and disappeared into the small closet near the front door, emerging moments later with a white bag that looked similar to those on the desk which held their food. "I already went out to get you both some toiletries this morning. These are just the essentials—hopefully, enough to get you by for the next few weeks."

Katara took the bag from her and glanced inside, her eyes widening. She shot Kya a watery smile. "Thanks, Mom."

Zuko resisted the urge to look away, instead squaring his shoulders to meet the woman's gaze when she turned to him. "Thank you."

The chief's arm tightened around his shoulders.

Breakfast number two was a mercifully brief event, laced with valiant efforts at small talk by Katara's parents and Zuko's mounting discomfort. It was made worse by the fact that they had all crowded together on the bed for lack of a better place to eat, towels spread underneath them to prevent spills. Zuko had perched himself stiffly on the very edge of the bed in his effort to maintain a safe distance from everyone else. Under any other circumstances, Katara might have thought it comical. The whole painful affair was punctuated by Kya's concerned glances in his direction.

She found herself momentarily wishing for the appearance of Other Zuko if just to put this one out of his misery. But after it became clear that that wouldn't happen and that pleasantries with the Fire Prince were impossible, the four of them ate their soggy egg sandwiches in silence. It wasn't the most delicious meal Katara had ever had, but it was over quickly, for which she was thankful.

Katara could, at the very least, get by with her pretense, given that these were her parents, and she had practiced the night before. Zuko, on the other hand, was another story. Whoever the…doting boyfriend? that Kya and Hakoda knew was, this was certainly not him. The good news—if Katara could call it that—was that the events of the previous night were, in the minds of her parents, a perfectly viable excuse for his sullen behavior.

Said behavior continued well into the morning, only to be replaced with awe that mirrored Katara's when they were steered out of the hotel and into one of the massive glass buildings nearby. Inside was a clean, open space, lined on either side with seemingly endless rows of what could only be storefronts. Kiosks with salespeople touting even more wares lined the center of the area, and in the distance, two sets of stairs led to a second level of more stores.

Katara blinked and scrubbed her eyes. The stairs were moving.

The hundreds of people with bags and packages idly milling about didn't seem to notice or care about the moving stairs. Well, at least Zuko seemed to care, judging by the utter incredulity written on his face.

There was no more time to absorb that because Katara was now being whisked in one direction by Kya, while Hakoda dragged Zuko the opposite way. She couldn't help the sly smirk that stretched her face as she watched Zuko's decidedly terrified expression fade into the crowd. Katara wouldn't be the first to admit that she believed in karma, but she was starting to see why Aang did.

"Let's start with Jianxi. We can get you the basics." Kya was leading her into one of the larger, more crowded stores as she spoke.

'Basic' was not a term Katara would have used to describe the room they had ventured into. It was roughly the size of a small Earth Kingdom village, filled to the brim with racks and shelves of color-coordinated clothing. Some of the clothing was displayed on tall, faceless statues that stood under brightly-lit signs. Shoppers flitted between the racks, combing through fabrics and examining their selections in mirrors spread throughout the store.

When Katara picked out one dress, a top, and two pairs of loose pants—all blue, of course—her mother shook her head disapprovingly. "Katara, come on. We're not leaving this store with four things. Let me take care of you. Are you forgetting that we need to build you an entirely new wardrobe? Also, underwear, sweetie."

Katara couldn't argue if she tried, because Kya had started piling her arms with articles of clothing. When she could carry no more, she was steered by the shoulders into a small dressing room at the back.

Nearly an hour later, they walked out of the store, each carrying a shoebox and two heavy bags of clothing. Katara had changed from her borrowed sleep clothes into a lavender sundress that Kya had picked for her.

"Done after only one store! I wonder if the boys got that lucky." Kya chuckled. "Probably not. Zuko isn't quite as low-maintenance as you are."

Katara couldn't help but chuckle lowly at that and offered her a tight smile in response.

"I think this will give you a solid foundation. The rest, we can send you. I'm sure there are plenty of old t-shirts for you to sleep in lying around in your old room. We'll send you some winter coats, too."

"Thanks, Mom. For everything," Katara breathed. The more time she spent with the woman, the harder it was becoming for her to accept that she would soon have to let her go.

Kya pulled her into a brief side hug. "Let's go wait for them in the food court. All this walking around has me craving a smoothie."

Katara quickly learned that a smoothie was essentially mashed-up fruit in a cup, but she had no complaints about that. She sipped at hers slowly while they sat at a table in the center of the crowded food court, shopping bags stacked haphazardly in the chairs they'd saved for Zuko and Hakoda. Her mind did a backflip if she overthought about that, so instead, she drummed her fingers on the table, watching other shoppers with idle interest.

Besides the obvious disparities, she was beginning to notice a significant difference in the way people carried themselves in this reality. There were a lot of determined expressions and rigid postures amongst the sea of shoppers. Almost everyone that passed by appeared to be in some great hurry to get to wherever they were going. Was shopping not considered a leisurely activity here?

Her mother's voice pulled her from her musings. "Have you let work know about your situation?"

"Yeah. I think I'm going to take a leave of absence. My coworker is taking care of it." Kya's brow quirked at that, and Katara wondered not for the first time if she was perhaps asking too much of Meili.

"Oh, hon. I wish we could stay longer." Kya rested her hand on hers as she spoke.

There were no possible words that could convey how strongly Katara shared that wish, and she was beginning to feel more and more that the spirits were simply trying to torture her by putting her in this specific alternate life.

She landed on "Me, too, Mom." But it would never be enough.

"I know what you're going to say when I tell you this, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Your dad and I are going to give you some money when we leave. You and I both know that insurance check won't be enough to cover you."

Katara wasn't sure what her other self would say to that, but one glance at the massive shopping haul was enough to know how she would respond. "No. This was more than enough." She cracked a small smile. "And, well, now we don't have to worry about paying rent."

Her smile was not returned. "And what about student loans?"

She could only stare at her mother, blankly. Student loans? The spirits were definitely trying to torture her.

Evidently reading Katara's reaction as something else, her mother's expression softened. "We'll talk about it more later. But Katara, I hope you know that this is just a blip. You'll get back on your feet in no time like you always do."

Katara felt her eyes begin to well up and bit down hard on her lip. She knew better than to attempt a verbal response, so she settled on a nod.

"I've said it before, and I'll repeat it. I couldn't be more proud of you, sweetheart. You've built a wonderful life for yourself, and you've done it on your own."

The hand over hers squeezed. She swallowed thickly and returned the gesture before Kya's phone made a sound, and they both pulled away. Katara had felt her own phone buzz several times since they'd started shopping, so she took her mother's momentary distraction as an opportunity to check it.

She had a missed call and a voicemail from the same person, but the name was unfamiliar. That, in itself, wasn't a new experience. With no small amount of guilt, she had ignored many of Other Katara's friends' messages and invitations. But no one had left her a voicemail. Remembering the steps she had taken when opening Zuko's voicemail, she put the phone to her ear.

"Hi, Katara. It's Ursa. I tried to call Zuko, but nothing would go through. Sounds like he needs a new phone. I wanted to check in with you on what day and time you plan on coming, and if you need me to come to pick you up. I'm also going to make a grocery store trip soon, so let me know if you want any specific kinds of snacks. As much as I wish it were under better circumstances, I can't wait to see you both! Give me a call or shoot Azula a text when you get a chance. Thanks. Bye."

It was when they were walking into the fifth store of the afternoon that Zuko decided he was ready to call it a day. Well, he had been ready after the second store, but his opinion wouldn't have made a difference after the second store. But he could see now that Hakoda, too, was beginning to wear down.

Admittedly, the shopping was a welcome distraction from the small talk. Though, Zuko suspected that Hakoda had given up on that after his dismal performance at breakfast. So to his intense relief, they went about their task in companionable silence, save for Hakoda's periodic insistence that Zuko stop trying to sneak clothes back onto their racks.

The longer this went on, the more the guilt ate at him. He simply couldn't swallow allowing this man to do him this service, and he had half a mind to tell him why—unused to this easy acceptance from a member of the Southern Water Tribe. It was undeserved, and Zuko knew it.

So it was when Hakoda wordlessly handed him a pair of black shoes to try on in the fifth store of the afternoon that he said, "I think this is plenty."

The older man hesitated, but there was unmistakable relief in the slump of his shoulders as he nodded his agreement. "Okay, but try on the shoes first."

It was when they approached the register of the fifth store of the afternoon to purchase said shoes that he heard an all-too-familiar voice drawl, "Did you find everything you were looking for today?"

Hakoda smiled and answered for them both, but Zuko didn't hear the words. His focus had zeroed in on the woman standing behind the register in all of her pale, beautiful glory. She paid Zuko no notice as he watched her methodically pack the shoes into one of the store's decorative bags and instruct Hakoda to insert his card into the little machine on the counter.

There was no mistaking that it was her. But she was…different, besides the obvious, that she dressed in the style of someone who lived in this reality and did her hair differently. There was something else.

"Mai?" He choked.

She paused and looked up at him, and he searched in vain for any spark of recognition in her sharp gaze.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

He shouldn't have been surprised, really. "I, uh…" He could feel Hakoda's eyes on him now. "I guess you don't."

Her expression betrayed a hint of alarm as she handed over the receipt. "How do you know my name, then?"

Realizing his mistake, Zuko shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Hakoda. "It doesn't matter. I'll, uh. See you around." He didn't wait for her response as he turned and practically bolted from the store, silently resolving to see her again before he left this place.

Hakoda's eyes were still burning holes in the side of his face as they made their way to the food court, and Zuko found himself holding his breath while he waited for the other man to break the silence. Instead, he stopped Zuko with a firm hand on his shoulder and turned him to face him.

"Look, Zuko. I care about you, and this has been a rough 24 hours for you. I can tell this is all really getting to you." He paused briefly to search Zuko' s—deliberately—blank expression. "I don't like to involve myself in other people's business, but I'll make an exception for my daughter. Is there something else going on that you're not telling me…or Katara?"

Zuko absorbed the words, and his immediate reaction was, Does he know I'm not who I say I am? But then he followed the path of Hakoda's gaze, now fixed on the store from which they had just come. Realizing what was being insinuated, Zuko began to sputter incoherently, which he knew was not helping his case as the stern blue eyes narrowed incrementally.

"What—no, sir! I wouldn't—there's nothing else going on." The reminder of exactly who he was supposed to be to Katara was a painful smack to the head after he had just been rendered speechless by his actual girlfriend—in front of Katara's father, no less.

Agni.

Hakoda released his shoulders and didn't push the subject further, but his silence spoke volumes. Zuko found it inexplicably harder to breathe as they picked their way across the food court toward where Katara and her mother waited.

After they had dropped the shopping off at the hotel, they met up with Sokka at a large, green park near where he worked. He had, thankfully, already been filled in on the details of the previous night's incident, so Zuko only had to endure one of his bone-crushing embraces before he went back to fawning over his sister. As he watched the siblings, he tried to imagine what Azula would have done in this situation and quickly drew the conclusion that she would have been the one to set the building on fire.

Dinner was from one of the many food stalls that littered the park, and they ate by a small pond in one of its more secluded areas. The presence of Sokka—aside from his irritating disposition—was both comforting and disquieting in that Zuko could more easily fade into the background, but he was also constantly on edge about Other Zuko making an appearance. After all, his last major slip had been when Sokka showed up on their doorstep yesterday.

He was beginning to notice now that he had been having smaller, more frequent slips—the latest one being when he had somehow known Katara's last name when they arrived at the hotel. These were even more concerning, he thought. How many of them had escaped his awareness entirely while they were happening?

As much as it hurt to think about, he worried that Katara's theory may have been correct. Even worse was that she had not been wrong to call him out for his selfish reasoning for denying it.

In his peripherals, he could see Katara's frequent attempts to catch his eye, but he steadfastly ignored her in favor of watching a family of not-quite-turtle ducks cut lazy currents through the pond.

Zuko had to physically restrain himself from asking Sokka if he could sleep on his futon when they parted ways later that evening. "See ya tomorrow," Sokka said brightly, clapping him on the shoulder before bidding his family a goodnight. The question had been half-formed in Zuko's mouth when he watched him walk away.

They all piled in a car to head back to the hotel. Hakoda sat in the front and struck up a conversation with the driver while Katara and her mother talked quietly next to Zuko. He was uncomfortably aware of the press of Katara's thigh against his in the small space. His thoughts wandered back to Mai, and he replayed their brief meeting in the back of his mind. She had looked…relaxed. At ease. That was what had been different, he realized. There was none of the stiff coldness that so encompassed the Mai he knew. He frowned and closed his eyes, the memory of her confused expression painted on the backs of his eyelids.

The moment he had been dreading all day was, somehow, worse than he expected when they arrived at the hotel to find the tiny rollaway bed waiting in the room. Small as it was, it still took up most of the floor space, meaning sleeping on the floor wasn't an option. He exchanged a glance with Katara. They were expected to sleep on that together.

Blissfully unaware of the tension stealing the air from the room, Katara's parents made quick work of their nightly routines before proclaiming their exhaustion and passing out within moments of hitting their pillows.

Zuko gingerly stretched himself out on the very edge of the rollaway, not bothering to change clothes or pull the covers over himself. He stared at the strip of artificial light seeping into the otherwise dark room from the edge of the curtained window, his gaze flicking to Katara only briefly as she emerged from the washroom with wet hair. He felt the mattress dip when she lowered herself onto the other side of the bed but didn't turn to face her.

For what felt like hours, he lay awake listening to the light snores coming from the bed where Kya and Hakoda slept, until Katara shifted her weight next to him.

"I got a call from your mom today," she whispered.

Zuko froze, and an absurd part of his addled mind wanted to laugh. He had almost forgotten the tiny detail of his mother amid his anxieties about Katara's family and his run-in with Mai.

"What did she say?" His voice sounded tiny to his own ears.

"She said she can't wait to see us. And she wants to know what kinds of snacks we like."

Why that nearly sent him over the edge, he wasn't sure, but he found himself burying his face into his pillow and trying not to cry.

He stayed that way for a long time. Katara said nothing further, and he had a feeling sleep had claimed her shortly after she had spoken. With a sigh, he tucked himself under the thin blanket. Focusing on the even breathing of the slumbering girl next to him, he managed to drag himself into a restless sleep.

Wakefulness tugged on his senses much sooner than it should have. He sat up, momentarily forgetting where he was, staring around blearily and raking his hands roughly over his face. Groaning internally, he flopped back onto the pillow. Still dark.

He turned to Katara, whose face remained peaceful with rest, her full lips slightly parted. Each breath blew thin strands of damp hair off her face. His mouth curled upward in an involuntary smile. She was a sight he would never quite get used to, even after so many years.

"Beautiful," he breathed, carefully shifting himself closer. He slid his arm over Katara's waist, resting his hand on the small patch of her cool skin that had become exposed beneath her shirt during the night. With a contented sigh, he pressed his face to her neck, letting the smell of her shampoo wash over him, and—

Zuko blinked once. Twice. He gasped and threw himself off of her so violently he cleared the bed, hitting the floor with a painful thud. For several minutes he could only sit with his head between his knees while attempting to get his heartbeat under control.

After somewhat collecting himself, he risked a glance at the waterbender and released the breath he had been holding. She was still asleep. Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose to quell his growing headache. It would be impossible for him to go back to bed, and he couldn't stand to be in the room any longer.

Stealthily, he rose and grabbed the card to unlock the room from the small desk next to the rollaway. Stepping into his new shoes, he slipped out the door and made his way to the metal doors at the end of the hallway.

When he stepped outside and breathed in the crisp morning air, he decided he had no choice but to test Katara's theory.

AN: Another long chapter. I hope it was worth the wait! I'd really like to hear thoughts on this one, be it theories, constructive feedback, anything. I finished it almost a week ago and decided not to reread it before posting, so *shrug*

Do we think either of Katara's theories about the slips are right? What's Sokka planning?

As always, thank you for reading and I love all of you so much who review. Sometimes writing is really hard, and validation makes it a whole lot easier. Until next time (I swear I'm working on the delayed update times)!