Chapter Twenty Two

They all sat in one of the opulent sitting rooms full of plush furniture and a large fire filled the fireplace sending out heat and light into the dark room. Katara nursed a cup of steaming tea, sandwiched between her brother and Aang on a large couch. By the time they had arrived back at the palace, the sun was beginning to set and they were greeted by Sokka and Suki, who had gotten a letter from Iroh of the situation and they had set out from Kyoshi Island as quickly as possible. Toph had been waiting for them upon their arrival too, summoned from her earth bending school. There had been a touching reunion for all and then Katara and Zuko were hustled off to their respective rooms to clean up and change clothing. Shortly after Zuko had called a meeting to brief everyone of their experience; the torturing and more personal bits were glossed over, of course. Aang had hugged Katara closer and Sokka had put a hand on his little sister's shoulder.

Suki broke the tense silence. "So now what are you going to do?"

Zuko exhaled and rubbed his face tiredly. "I don't know."

"We need to find her and bring her down!" Sokka exclaimed thumping a fist into his open palm to emphasize his point.

"Sokka!" Katara chided.

"Sokka, that's Zuko's sister." Aang said, sounding appalled.

"Well Zuko's sister kidnapped my sister and Zuko and tortured them! And in case you forgot, she tried to kill us too!" Sokka argued.

"You can't just kill her!" Katara shouted at her brother.

"I never said anything about killing her!"

"But we can't just let her run free. What if she tries this again?" Suki added.

"Oh she'll definitely try again. That girl is nuts." Toph chimed in from her spot in an armchair near the fire.

"We should do what Zuko wants to do." Aang persisted. They all turned to look at the Fire Lord, but Zuko had his head in his hands.

"Zuko…?" Katara asked softly. The only sound in the room for a few moments was the crackle of the fire.

Slowly Zuko raised his head, his face rife with indecision. "I don't know what to do."

Shortly after everyone retreated to their rooms, the problem of Azula weighing heavily on their thoughts. Time had passed but Katara couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, but sleep eluded her. She sat propped up in bed and listened to the cricket frogs in the garden outside her window as she tried to clear her mind. In the near silence of the night she could hear strange sounds coming from the other side of the wall. She strained to hear, but couldn't really make it out. She tossed the covers back and crossed to the secret panel, pausing to listen again. She heard rustling and some muttering so she made up her mind and gently pushed open the panel as she crept silently into Zuko's room. The soft light from the fire in the sconces revealed the large, plush bed where Zuko lay upon it, covers twisted and tangled while he tossed almost violently in his sleep, muttering unintelligible things that sounded desperate.

He was having a nightmare so Katara made it quietly to the side of his bed where she gently called out his name. He continued to thrash in his sleep so tentatively she reached out; calling his name again as she gently shook his shoulder. It all happened so fast she wasn't sure what had taken place. One moment she was standing beside the bed, leaning over to rouse him from his night mare, the next thing she knew, Katara was laying on the bed on her back, Zuko was atop her keeping her pinned with a dagger at her throat.

She stared up at him wide eyed and his eyes stayed on her face as he heaved deep breaths. He focused on her and the position they were in before he flung himself backwards on the bed, scrabbling as far away from her as he could, hand pressed to his face and his hair making a curtain to hide his face. She heard the dagger fall to the floor with a dull thud and it took Katara a moment for her brain to catch up to what had happened. Slowly she sat up, fingers going to her throat where the cold blade had pressed, but she was uninjured. She gathered herself together, pushing the long wavy hair behind her shoulder and straightening her bed clothes, all to buy time to let Zuko settle down, or maybe the few extra seconds were for her.

"Zuko..." She called out again, reaching towards him.

"Don't." He snapped. She quickly withdrew from him, almost in fear. She shook her head at the idea of being afraid of Zuko and tried again.

"Zuko." Her voice was more firm this time.

He gave a little shake of his head, still hiding his face from her. "I could have killed you…" He whispered into the still air.

Her tone softened to a consolatory whisper. "But you didn't. I don't even have a scratch, see?" Still he refused to meet her gaze. "Look at me. Zuko." This time she reached out again, hand on his shoulder. "I'm alright, look." She shifted closer and used her other hand to gently guide his face in her direction. His expression was so agonized it almost hurt her to see him like this. She forced a warm smile as she kept his head turned towards her with a hand upon his scarred cheek. His eyes darted to hers and down to her neck before staring into her eyes again. He seemed to deflate a bit once he realized she was unharmed.

He brought his warm hand up to cover the one she had pressed to his face and he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry." He found himself enfolded in her embrace and he shifted to hold her close, running a hand soothingly through her hair. They stayed that way for several heartbeats before they parted.

She kept a hold of one of his hands and he stared down at their entwined fingers, deeply tan and pale white. "I came in because you were having a nightmare. A really bad one I'd say." She said softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He remained silent so long, thumb stroking her hand absent mindedly, that she thought he wasn't going to answer her. "Some of it was the old night mares, but this one… I don't know… This one I was trying to figure out how to stop Azula."

"We'll figure something out." Katara soothed. He merely nodded. There was a long pause so Katara decided to break the silence. "You should get your sleep, I'm sure we have a long day tomorrow. I think everyone is sleeping on ways to help."

"You're right." He stood up off the edge of the bed and walked around to tug the blankets straight again.

Katara watched him for a minute, feeling at a loss for some reason. "Well… good night." She turned to pad back to the secret panel but turned as he caught her hand.

"Stay. Please…?" He couldn't quite meet her eyes, but she could see the longing in them. Something in her seemed to relax as well. She nodded and allowed herself to be led back to the giant bed as he tugged back the covers and slid over to make room for her. He laid down with his back to her and she with her back to him, feeling almost awkward now that they were back in the palace. She started to fret when the bed shifted and suddenly she was enwrapped from behind. Strong arms encircled her and pulled her close so her body molded to his and she felt him nuzzle into her hair and the back of her neck. Any concerns she had melted away with the heat from his body and the feeling of security that came from his embrace as she quickly drifted off to sleep.

Sarahplainntall here! SO SO SORRY it took so long to update; my computer crashed and took forever to fix. Anywho, enjoy and I'd appreciate any reviews/thoughts. Thanks!