The Last Airbender is not my creation, the people at the Nickelodeon Studios created it, but that will not stop me from making my own little episodes of excitement and romance.

The only thing I own is the plot on your screen. If you plan to take my ideas and put them into your own fanfic, claiming to be your own mind that thought them up, get a hobby. Plagiarism is wrong, don't do it!

"I did it," Atar said venemously and stood at the door of the dark room. "I tricked him, kissed him, and blamed him. And I made sure she saw it. There were no screw ups and she's probably crying her eyes out, thinking that her beloved husband lied to her." She crossed her arms defiantly and smirked evilly. "Where's my pay?"

The figure laughed wickedly when the woman finished talking. "Very good. Very good," they praised coldly and reached for a small silk bag. "You can have half of the money that I offered." They dropped the bag with a loud clang on the table and leaned back against the chair that they were sitting upon.

"Half? What do you mean 'half' ?" The maid walked up to the desk and slammed her hands upon it. "I risked my neck in there! I could have been condemned for adultery, and you're giving me only half of my pay?" she asked furiously and sighed angrily.

The vengeful being stood up at once. "Listen, the deal was to seperate them! You haven't done that yet! You'll have your full pay when Katara leaves the palace. Understand?" They grabbed the bag and threw it at the woman. "This should be enough for you. Once the Lady leaves, you can have the rest!" They sat down on the wooden chair and sighed deeply. "Leave before I change my mind and not pay you at all."

Atar humphed in disapproval and stomped towards the exit. A small amount of curiosity bit at her and she decided to feed it before she departed from the room. "Why do you want to seperate the Fire Lord and Lady? What have they done to you that's so awful?"

The dark person sat in silence before answering her questions. "If I can't be happy, they can't be happy."

That answer seemed sufficient to the maid because she did not ask anything more and left.

Katara walked into her room and closed the door behind her, leaning heavily against it. Her chest throbbed as she thought about everything that had happened just a few minutes earlier. "I hate tea!" she yelled and fell to the floor with a giant cry. She brought her knees up to her chest and screamed in pain. Pain because her heart was broken.

A soft knock on the door interrupted her moment of misery and she moved from the door's way, wiping her nose as she did so. "Who is it?" she stammered and took a deep breath.

"It's me," a man's voice answered softly. "Can I come in?"

The Lady got to her feet and opened the door widely, revealing the horrible mess that she was to the man who waited for her outside. "Aang?" she asked shyly and stood at the entrance of the door with her shoulder's slumped.

The teenage Avatar gasped quietly and walked closer to her. "Katara? What happened?" he asked quietly and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Why are you crying?"

The waterbender immmediately wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed him as hard as she could as she cried loudly into his shoulder. "Oh Aang..." she sobbed and buried her face in his neck. "Why did he do that to me?"

Aang passed his hand over her backside and sighed. "Here, lets go inside," he suggested and gently pulled himself away from the suffocating embrace. He led Katara to her bedroom and walked towards the large bed. "Seat down." The boy watched Katara follow his orders and took a seat in front of her. "What happened?"

"I love him so much Aang. So much. More than my life," Katara explained and covered her face with her trembling hands. "Why would he do this to me? Why are men pigs, Aang? How come they can't be happy with just one woman? ...Why?" she asked desperately and grabbed the collar of her companion's shirt. "I love him so much."

"Zuko?" he asked strangely and took a hold of her wrists. "Calm down Katara. Tell me what happened. Just calm down." He stood up and walked towards her vanity set to grab the large pitcher of water that rested upon it. He gently poured a glass full of water into a cup and returned to Katara's side, passing her the soothing drink. "Drink this and calm down," the Avatar ordered softly and watched as she gulped down her element.

Katara took several deep breaths and put the empty glass on the night table next to her. "Thank you," she whispered and sat up straighter on the bed.

"Tell me what happened but calm down, alright?"

The Lady nodded and passed her hands over the wrinkles on her dress. "Well...today Zuko and I decided we were going to spend the day together because I've been spending too much with you, but I got a sudden craving for some tea so I left him for a few minutes to fetch some." She felt a soft prickle behind her eyes and exhaled heavily to soothe herself. "When I came back from the kitchen, I saw him in the study...kissing some maid." A couple of tears escaped her eyes but she continued her tale after taking a few short breaths. "He tried to explain but I really didn't want to listen to him lie to me. What am I going to do, Aang?"

The Avatar looked sympathetically at his hurt friend. He shook his head in part confusion and disappointment. He just couldn't believe that the Fire Lord would be unfaithful to Katara. Everybody around the palace thought that Zuko and Katara were so much in love, it was disgusting. "Are you sure you saw the right thing? Maybe it's a misunderstanding," he considered and frowned when Katara sighed in, what seemed, frustration. "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't like Zuko at all, but I don't think he would be with another woman while he's with you. It's not him. He doesn't play those kind of games."

Katara shook her head in denial. "Aang, I saw him! I saw him kissing another woman. I know what I saw."

"Alright," the teenager breathed. "...Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No, no, no. If you guys talk, it'll turn into a fight, and...no, I don't want you to talk to him. It'll just make things worse." The waterbender took a deep breath and glanced at the door. "I can't believe it," she whispered to herself and rubbed her temples.

"So what are you going to do? Are you going to stay here with him? What's going to happen?"

"For Luna's sake I'm staying here at the palace. I'll have to stay in here with him and just deal with it. But I won't leave, I won't give Zuko that convenience," Katara said angrily and stood up. She walked over to her mirror and straightened her composture. "Nobody will find out about what happened."

"Are you going to tell Sokka?" Aang asked as he walked up behind her.

The Lady hesitated. "Yeah. I will," she answered and sat in front of her vanity set.

"OK. I'll leave you alone to think and do whatever else you have to do," the young Avatar said and patted her shoulder softly. "Don't cry anymore, alright? ...He's not worth it." And with that piece of advice, he smiled and left the room.

Katara looked at her reflection and undid her braid. "He used to be," she whispered to herself and passed the comb through her long brown hair.

...about three years ago...

"I can't believe I'm finally returning home," Zuko whispered as he laid his chin upon Katara's shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. "After two long years of suffering, I'm finally returning to the palace." He stared into the sunset as he stood behind his wife. He couldn't explain in words how ecstatic he was about leaving the dreaded metal ship and stepping upon the land that he grew up on. His home. The home his father selfishly took away because he didn't want his son to feel compassion for others.

"And you didn't have to capture Aang to do so," Katara added happily and palced her hands over his, which were placed over her abdomen. "I knew Aang could do it."

"Yeah, I guess he did." The Prince kissed his wife's cheek and sighed. "You're going to make such a great Lady."

Katara walked out of her husband's embrace and turned around to face him. "Lady?" she asked uneasily. "What do you mean 'Lady' ?"

The teenage firebender chuckled softly at her expression. "Katara, my father is dead. Someone needs to take over the throne and that will be me. ...And you, because you're my wife. That makes you the Fire Lord's wife, the Lady of the Fire Nation."

The Princess gulped at the thought of having the giant responsibility of ruling over the Fire Nation. Of course, she wouldn't be doing it all by herself, actually Zuko would do most of the work, but it was still a lot of responsibility. Being the wife of one of the most powerful men in the world can't possibly be easy, right? No, she wouldn't be able to do it. "Zuko...I can't be 'the Lady'. I don't fit in with your people. I won't fit in with your people...they wouldn't accept me."

Prince Zuko looked confusedly at Katara. "...My people?"

"Yes...Fire Nation citizens, firebenders, nobles, royalty. Your people, Zuko. I won't fit in. I'm a poor waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. I'm The Enemy. I know nothing about your culture or history or anything. I can't help you rule a nation I know nothing about."

"Don't worry about fitting in, alright? You'll fit in. If anything, I should be the one worrying." He let half a smile crack through his lips as Princess Katara gave him a questioning expression. "I haven't stepped in my home in two years. I have to earn everyone's respect and loyalty all over again. It's not going to be easy for me. People won't know if they should follow me or not. The Fire Lord didn't plan to die anytime soon, he didn't leave any orders for the next heir. Naturally, I am...but because of my banishment, the Fire Nation is confused about my return. You should worry about absolutely nothing. I promise that you'll do fine." He grabbed her soft hands and brushed them both with a gentle reassuring kiss.

Katara sighed in hesitation as something else began to bother her. Something more nerve-wreaking than fitting in with firebenders. Zuko's faithfulness. "You know, there's going to be a lot of women in the Fire Nation that'll want to...to be with you. Beautiful women. A million times much more beautiful than me," she said quietly and stared down at her feet. It was only normal for her to say such things. Lords and Kings have been known to have a woman or two on the side, besides their wife. Extra concubines, if you will.

Prince Zuko smiled and lifted his wife's face, looking into her cerulean eyes. "No one is more beautiful than you. ...And yes, I know that there will be women who will want to...keep me company," he said, laughing out the last three words of his sentence. "But I only have eyes for you, Katara. Promise."

His words soothed the waterbender's mind and she reached forward, wrapping her arms around Zuko's muscular waist. "Thanks," she whispered and pecked his soft lips lightly. "I love you."

"Tell me something I don't know," he stated with a smirk on his face. "...I love you too."

Lady Katara finished braiding her hair and stood up, brushing off imaginary filth off of herself. "I only have eyes for you," she mocked sadly and stepped outside of her room, after opening the room. "Yeah...right."

Fire Lord Zuko sat sadly in his study. We're through Zuko, Katara's voice rang in his head, causing a lump to form in the back of his throat. He couldn't believe it. His beloved wife thought the worst of him. He sighed deeply and rubbed his temples in frustration. I didn't kiss her. She kissed me. Why did you have to walk in at that exact moment? Why didn't you walk in when I burned her to a crisp? he thougt desperately and slammed his fist on the desk. "I won't lose her because of this," he said to himself and set his head upon his desk. "I won't."

"You won't what?" an exasperated voice asked, making the Fire Lord look up.

"...Sokka," Zuko stated, avoiding the glare that he was sending him.

"Katara just finished telling me," the warrior explained and took a seat in front of brother-in-law. "So what's your excuse for doing something so heartless and stupid?" he asked and crossed his arms.

"Not you too," the Fire Lord whined. "Listen, I didn't--I'm not and never was with that maid."

"Uh huh," Sokka responded and crossed his arms. "Like Katara, I'm not interested in your dirty lies."

"I'm not lying!" Zuko yelled and stood up with a start. "That stupid maid tricked me. She said she had some stupid book that my uncle wanted me to read. Like a fool, I believed her and walked up to get it from her. Somehow, without realizing it, she cornered me...then kissed me. I didn't even have time to push her away, because she did it first, telling me that she couldn't betray Katara. I don't even know what she was talking about because I turned around to see your sister standing there. But I didn't do anything Sokka! You should know me well enough to know that I would never even do that to Katara. You and I have been friends for two years, you know how much I love her."

The Water Tribe warrior raised an eyebrow in suspicion and leaned back against his chair, crossing his arms as he did so. "How come you didn't tell her what you just told me?"

"Because she wouldn't listen to me," Lord Zuko responded glumly and sat on his seat again. He buried his face in hands and took a deep resentful breath. "All she did was cry and accuse me of cheating on her. She even questioned the love I have for Luna."

Sokka softened his gaze on his brother-in-law and smiled. "I'd tell her what you told me, but she's not speaking to me." He uncrossed his arms and sat straight on his chair. "I believe you. The whole 'cheating thing' isn't you."

Despite the circumstances, the teenage Fire Lord smiled at the warrior who had once annoyed him beyond anything. He felt better. Not much better...but better in its' own right. "Thanks," he said and sighed in slight relief. "Wait, if you believe me, why did you pretend you didn't?"

"Because I wanted to see your state before letting you know I believed you. And let me tell you, you seem torn up about all of this," he paused to consider what he said, "...Really torn up."

"I am. Katara said we were through and that we have to fake our relationship in front of our daughter." A prickle in the back of his eyes threatened to let tears leave him. "My family is falling apart and I don't know what to do." His voice cracked and he rubbed his eyes, restricting any tears to escape.

"I do," Sokka said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"Don't give up on her."

A/N- Zuko wasn't lying to Sokka -- he really didn't cheat on Katara.

A/N- I said this in Unsuspecting Love and I will say it here. If I have Zuko and Katara together right away, it will make this FIC boring. I don't like to get bored with a story. Do you? I don't think so. I like to make my stories exciting and frustrating and sad and...well, you get the point. Believe me, in the long run...when Zuko and Katara are back together...you will jump in complete happiness. Trust me and my ways of torture.

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