"Katara - ahem - Katara… no, that's not right. Katara, do you want to accompany me on a date this evening," Zuko rehearsed to himself as he sat in the mid-afternoon Ba Sing Se traffic. "Ugh, why am I so bad at this," he chided himself. With Mai, he hadn't even had to ask her out on a date. Azula had set them up, and well, the rest was history.

He stared down at the blue necklace in the center console, admiring the craftsmanship in the carved stone. She'd somehow left it in his Uncle's car the night before, and Zuko was thrilled to have found it. He'd planned on going to the reserve anyway to apologize to Song and try to see Katara again, but this gave him even more of an excuse to meet the water-bender who'd saved his ass the night before - and sober this time.

His Uncle had offered him his car since Zuko was still waiting on his rental, so Zuko had dropped him off at the Jasmine Dragon and promised to return to pick him before the dinner rush came and Iroh couldn't get away for a break if he wanted to.

As he pulled into the reserve, he felt himself begin to sweat under his collar a little. He loosened his red tie before slipping his jacket on, bracing himself for the cool Ba Sing Se weather despite the fact that the sun shone brightly above. Something about the winds in the Earth Kingdom chilled him a bit, and constantly focusing on his inner fire was more work than just wearing a coat.

He walked up to Reserve Management and found Song's mother at the desk. She smiled as she handed a family a map of the park, calling after them, "Have a great visit!" When Zuko approached her desk, her face fell.

"Oh, it's you."

So Song had told her mother, great.

"Um, yeah," Zuko said. Ugh, could you be any lamer? "I came to return something to Katara and I had hoped to get a chance to apologize to Song for my behavior last night."

"Hmmph," came her response as she stared at him flatly. "Song is doing her rounds, but Katara's apartment is just across the way if you'd like to wait for her."

Zuko gave her a weak smile and began to back out. "Thank you," he offered.

"Ass," he heard her mutter as he turned around.

Yeah, I know.

As soon as he walked out the door, the reason for his journey went racing by, skidding to a stop in front of her apartment door.

Well, that was easier than I expected it to be. He started walking in Katara's direction and saw her turn in his direction. If he didn't know any better, he'd say her face got a shade lighter when she saw him walking towards her.

"Hey, Katara, Zuko here," he said as he came to a stop in front of her. He mentally smacked himself. Yep, you definitely could be a lot lamer.

She was staring at him with obvious discomfort.

So, she does remember last night. And apparently isn't as happy about our time as I am. This just got a lot harder.

"What do you want?" she asked. "To hurt Song's feelings some more? And give me that back!" she snapped, reaching out to take the necklace from him.

For reasons unknown to Zuko, his body moved without his brain telling him, moving his hand out of the way and avoiding her snatching fingers.

"Hey now," he said, holding the necklace behind his back. "I came here to apologize to Song for last night. I shouldn't have been such a, well, such an emu-donkey." Katara looked surprised at this, and ceased her grab for the jewelry.

"Really?" she retorted, crossing her arms and cocking her hip out.

Keep your cool Zuko, he thought, trying to ignore the way her pose accentuated her lovely curving figure. It's just a body, you've got one, Azula's got one, there's nothing special about this gorgeous, athletic - ugh, stop it!

"Yes, really," he said, a little offended at her tone. "I'm a man of class, and I don't like leading ladies on or hurting their feelings when they've done nothing to deserve it. Song is a nice girl, I didn't mean to cause her any pain."

"Hmm," came Katara's response, her posture relaxing a bit. "Well, I guess I can respect that. But you still haven't given my necklace back."

Alright, Zuko, time to shine.

"Well, uh, you see - ahem. Katara," he began, feeling like his tie was too tight again. "I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner at my Uncle's restaurant tonight. He's got a really great menu and the best tea in Ba Sing Se, maybe even in all the Four Nations."

Katara's face fell and her posture tightened back up again.

Damn it.

"Listen, Zuko, I know we probably had a great time last night, even though I can't really remember any of it," she admitted. "But I didn't come to Ba Sing Se to meet anyone, I came here to finish my education and start my career. I just… I don't think it's a good idea, I'm sorry. Can I have my necklace back now?"

Once again, his mouth moved of its own accord before his brain had the chance to stop it.

"No you cannot."

What did I just say?

"What did you just say?" came her incredulous reply.

Well, no going back now.

Clearing his throat, he repeated himself. "No, you can't have your necklace back until you agree to have dinner with me tonight. Please," he added quickly.

She laughed. "I can't believe this," she said, "You really are a typical rich guy. Can't take no for an answer." She pursed her lips at him for a moment, and he almost lost his cool remembering the image of them kissing the night before before she threw her hands up and gave a sigh.

"Fine."

"Wait, really?" he said, before quickly recovering, "I mean, great! Awesome. I can pick you up here around 6?"

She sighed again and nodded. "Yes, 6 is fine. Do I need to wear any fancy clothing or anything?"

Zuko was smiling from ear to ear, amazed that it had worked. "You don't have to wear anything if you don't want to - I… I mean to say you don't have to wear anything you don't want to, that's what I mean." Go ahead, Zuko, dig the hole a little deeper. You're doing great. "Just, wear whatever you're comfortable wearing, and if it's a dress, great, if it's casual, even better."

He could see her fighting a smile at him stumbling over his words, and his heart threatened to pound out of his chest.

"Well… okay," she said finally. "It's a date then. Listen, I have to feed my owl-cat and get back to my teacher, I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, tonight," he replied, turning on his heel and walking back to his car with a grin plastered on his face.

Maybe staying in Ba Sing Se wouldn't be so bad after all.