It was late. Zuko and Izumi were both sitting at Zuko's desk in his office, finishing up work on the National Budget for the upcoming month. The curtains behind them were closed, but it was clear that it was dark outside. Izumi, who was growing tired, scooted her chair closer to her dad and placed her head on his shoulder.
Zuko glanced down at her "Don't worry, we're almost done." He said. "You can still leave any time you like though," He added gently.
He had actually told her about an half hour ago that she could leave if she like. After all, she didn't need to be there. The reason she was there was to learn about the National Budget. And while he loved having her at work with him, he could certainly manage the budget without her, so he wasn't going to force her, his 15 year old daughter to stay up late into the night with him while he completed it.
"No. I said want to stay until it's finished."
"Okay." Zuko accepted her answer.
Zuko looked down at Izumi resting her head on him. It was informal for the setting, but he didn't mind. He was happy to provide his shoulder as a pillow for his daughter. She knew nothing of formalities around him and he intended to keep it that way.
When the budget was done, Zuko stood up from his desk.
"Alright, I'm going to put a copy of this in an envelope to send to the treasuer tomorrow. Why don't you head to the kitchen for dinner and I will be there in a few minutes."
"Ok." Izumi got up at headed to the kitchen, where the dinner her dad had earlier instructed the cooks to save for them would be waiting.
Zuko arrived to the kitchen a few minutes after Izumi. When he entered. he found Izumi standing over a plate of food that evidentally had fallen on the floor.
"I'm sorry. I was grabbing some spices and accidentally knocked one of the plates off the counter. There is only one left now." Izumi motioned to the remaining plate on the counter.
Zuko sighed. "It's ok. It was an accident. That one is yours." He pointed to the plate remaining on the counter. "I will make myself something else to eat. Let's get this cleaned up first though," he stated, referencing the mess on the floor.
Izumi nodded and turned to grab some towels, out of one of the drawers behind her. She tossed one to Zuko and they knelt down to the floor, wiping up the mess that was splattered on the tile and running down the cabinets below the counter.
"Here," he said when they were finished. "I will go put these towels in the wash room," Zuko gathered the towels and exited the kitchen.
When he returned, Izumi was at the table eating her dinner. She looked up at him.
"I'm sorry."
He walked over to her, gently taking her chin between his thumb and fore finger.
"You already apologized." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Letting go of Izumi's chin, he headed through the set of doors on the opposite side of the kitchen, which lead to the cooking area. He put a small pot of rice on for himself and began cutting up vegetables.
A few minutes later, Izumi walked in and placed her dish in the sink. She then walked over to where Zuko was standing at the stove, frying vegetables.
"Can I have a few?"
Zuko turned to Izumi, "Hold on, let me get this straight," he said in a joking matter. "You knock my dinner on the floor, and now when I'm making myself a new dinner, you ask if you can have some of my vegetables, even though you already had dinner."
Izumi put an exaggerated smile on her face, "So can I have some?"
"Sure. Can you get us some bowls?"
"Yeah." Izumi walked across the room to the cabinet where the bowls were and pulled two bowls out of the cabinet.
When she returned, Zuko poured his rice and vegetables into one bowl, and then put some vegetables into a bowl for Izumi. They each grabbed their bowls and headed into the dinind area, where they sat at the table.
When Izumi was done with her vegetables and had put her bowl in the sink, she walked back over to Zuko, who was still at the table eating.
"I'm going to head to bed," she said, leaning down to hug him. Zuko wrapped his arms around her.
"I love you," he said.
"Love you to." She responded, before pulling out of the hug and leaving the kitchen.