Later, Alex was putting away her armor in her room when Zuko walked in and shut the door behind him. As Alex turned around to see who it was he rushed forward and kissed her soundly, moving her towards him.

For a second Alex was too startled to move, but when she realized what was happening she pushed him away.

Standing back in shock she demanded, "Why did you do that?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"You do if you don't want your ass kicked,"

He laughed, "You got me there," he stepped closer to her, until they were only a few breathes apart, "You owed me,"

"I understand that, but why?" she demanded, oblivious to what was going on.

He responded by pulling her against him until he was staring right into her eyes, "I rather enjoyed our—previous activity," he whispered against her face.

"If you mean the duel then I'm with you on that,"

He laughed and tipped her chin up, kissing her again, she did not resist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself into his kiss.

He kissed her for a long time, as if he was afraid he would never be able to do it again.

Will he? She wondered as he gave her a quick kiss goodnight and left the room.

Outside, Luke had hidden behind the door as Zuko had exited, looking thrilled. Luke had come down to finally tell Alex how he felt. And what did he find? Alex making out with the Fire Nation prince. Oh how he felt so stupid right now. Why would she pick him over the prince?

He remembered her pushing him away and that gave him some hope.

He nodded, it was GO time.

He snuck into her room, closing the door softly behind him. She was sleeping peacefully, and he walked across to her bed silently. He knew he was going to do this, even if she never knew it was him.

Gently, as not to disturb her, he crawled across the top of her bed, hands and knees on either side of her. Gently, he lowered himself to her sleeping body.

She stirred for just a moment but resumed sleeping.

Taking a deep breath, he bent his head a little, and kissed her softly.

Even in her sleep she kissed back happily.

He opened his eyes and wondered about what he had just done. Had he really done it? Had he finally kissed the girl he had longed for? Had he really done it? His memory didn't lie. And as he grinned to himself he did it several more times before murmuring a goodnight and leaving.

He assumed Alex had been asleep. On the contrary, she had been awoken when he had mysteriously lain on top of her. In the dark she managed to safely open her eyes a bit to see who it was. She had been shocked, yet somewhat pleased, to see Luke there. And when he had kissed her in that sweet, sensual way that was so unlike Zuko's the thought of resisting never came to mind.

She finally went to sleep, happy memories filling her mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Alex awoke in the night to the ship rocking violently back and forth. It seemed like the captain had let go of the wheel. As she quickly got up she looked outside and saw the enormous storm that was taking place outside.

Pulling on her jacket – replaced with her pay – she hurried out of the room, leaving the door open so that the hawk – which she had named Watcher – could escape if the time was needed.

She stumbled her way to the deck. Her hair was blowing all around her, the situation was too odd for her too worry about dress code at the moment.

The moment she stepped onto the deck she was soaked to the bone. She quickly ran to the wheel room, slipping a few times on the wet stairs.

To her horror, when she pushed the door open she discovered that no one was there. Panicked she raced back to the deck, only to collide with Zuko.

He gripped her shoulders to prevent her from falling. As they looked at each other the ship was thrown violently and they were thrown across the deck, sliding until they hit the metal wall.

Or at least, she did.

Zuko grabbed at the railing, but he missed. He had slid towards the opening for the anchor and was gripping the edge.

Alex looked up and saw his hand on the edge. She gasped and made herself slide over there. She knew that one quick pitch would send him to his death in the icy waters below.

After making sure she had a good grip on the hand rail, she grabbed his clenched hand with her free one.

Taking a deep breath, she helped him onto the deck.

He wanted to thank her, but yet another toss sent them sprawling across to the other side. She stood up quickly and he did the same.

"What's happening?" he shouted over the noise.

In any other situation she would have replied with a witty remark such as, "It's a storm you idiot." But now was not the time.

"The ship captain is gone!" she cried, "and I haven't seen the crew anywhere!"

Zuko immediately ran to the room to see for himself. As she held on tightly she got an idea. Whistling sharply, she heard the rustle of wings as Watcher landed securely on the railing in front of her.

"Search the ship, come back and report any signs of other crew besides me and Zuko!" she told the bird. It understood and flew below deck.

Zuko came back with a wet note clutched in his fist, "I found this!"

She nodded, "let's get below deck!"

They rushed down into the slightly drier area. The floor was flooded, but at least it wasn't raining.

Zuko unfolded the note and read it to himself. When she saw the increased look of anger that came over his face she touched his arm gently, "What's wrong? Where's the crew?"

He clenched his fists, "Pirates," he whispered, "Pirates were here. They—they snuck on and took the entire crew, even my uncle. They meant to leave me alone to die." He looked at her shocked face, "I think the only reason they didn't find you was because they ran out of time. Or else they would have taken you."

Suddenly, the ship stopped rocking and the storm resided. Rushing out onto deck they were relieved to see the pirate ship in front of them, only about a hundred yards.

Angry, Zuko yelled to a pirate who was standing nearby, the head pirate from when he had made that deal to capture the avatar, "Give me back my crew!" he shouted.

The pirate leered, "Give us the girl and we will!" the other pirates laughed in agreement.

Zuko clenched his fists in anger and looked at Alex, who was staring at the Pirate with a blank look on her face, she too recognized the pirate from the episodes. But she also knew why they wanted her, and it disgusted her immensely.

She looked at him, "If I don't get a chance to, will you tell my brother and—and Luke, that I love them?" she asked shakily.

He stared. Two things were running through his mind. The first was that she loved Luke. Did she really? Of course she did, he had never hurt her the way he had. Then it hit him. She thought she was going to give herself up to the pirates!

He grabbed her wrist and made her face him. Pulling her close to him he said firmly, "You're staying here, with me."

She looked up at him, "I have to. It means saving the crew, saving your uncle—and the people I love. If it means having to suffer for that, then that's fine with me.

"You care about them, don't you? Your brother and Luke?"

She gave a shaky breath outward, "It's what people do when—when they're in love." She couldn't look him in the eye.

He closed his eyes. He was right after all. He had taken too much out of that first kiss, he had taken it too far. She didn't love him, who ever would?

He opened his eyes and saw she was gone. But moments later she reappeared, wearing her armor.

He wanted to strangle her, to tell her she was crazy, to tell her he ordered her to stay put—to tell her he loved her.

He had finally admitted it, but it felt all too true. He rushed forward and took her in his arms, kissing her firmly.

She eagerly kissed him back, causing him to get the message that he should go even farther. He opened his mouth a little and his tongue collided with hers excitedly.

He was pulling her right against him now, and she had her hands around him neck tightly. He was both disappointed and relieved that she was wearing armor and not her usual clothing. He was disappointed for different reasons, but he knew that if she had not been wearing her armor, he might have gone a lot farther with her, going into a full on make out session with her right on deck.

The thought that he would never see her again caused him to become more aggressive in his kisses. This was where Alex noted the startling difference between Luke and Zuko. When she kissed Zuko it was both exhilarating yet frightening. But with Luke she knew he would never hurt her, never push her too far. When he had kissed her he had silently asked permission first.

But she didn't fight Zuko's passionate kissing. She knew deep inside that he was only doing it because he could, but she didn't care. She knew she would never see him again.

He reached to kiss her again but she pulled away, "I have to go," she looked at him, "Goodbye sir,"

That hurt. Not a hug goodbye, a farewell even. And she hadn't even called him by name. just "sir".

He nodded and wrote a shaky note saying he agreed and sent it with Watcher to the ship.

They received a reply moments later that said a small rowboat would be by to pick her up. And then after that the crew would be returned.

When the boat arrived the young pirate said, "It is requested that you remove your armor miss."

She nodded and did so, trying to ignore the hungry looks he was giving her as she stripped, she had stupidly forgotten her jacket. And she felt overly exposed to this creepy man.

She climbed into the boat without a backwards glance at Zuko.

And he watched his first love drift away out of his sight.

She was really gone.

And nothing he could do could bring her back.

I'm sorry Alex, please don't be gone

I forgive you. I'm not going anywhere.

He remembered this promise and felt a stab of pain at knowing she was really, and truly gone.