AN: What's up! This your Christmas present! Enjoy! And a special thanks to all who have stuck with this story since the beginning and I hope you all continue to stick with it!

DISCLAIMER:

Me: Look, it's the holidays, so I really don't want to say it…any volunteers?

Zuko and Katara: I'll do it!

Me: SHUTUP KATARA NO ONE ASKED YOU! Go on, Zuko…

Zuko: zutara4evr doesn't own ATLA she only owns her made up characters and this plot. Don't steal.

Me: Thank you…now after the chapter, how about you ditch the caramel girl and hang with me?

Zuko: umm…you ARE a caramel girl…so…

Me: you know I mean the other one!

Katara: hey!

L2LTE

Written: December 25, 2010-December 26, 2010

Posted: December 26, 2010

Previously in L2LTE

The wind caused my hair to fly upwards as I was falling. It actually felt nice to float in the air. It literally was about 3 seconds later that I was in Zuko's arms completely. He smiled at me as I buried my head in his chest.

"You trust me."

"Of course I do," I said sweetly, kissing his neck. He smiled even bigger.

He carried me to his motorcycle and handed me the spare helmet. I took it, placed on my head and hopped on. I wrapped my arms around his waist as my head lay on my back. Somehow, this just seemed right; like my arms were always meant to be around him.

"So where are we going?" I said, as we drove down a familiar street.

"To my uncle's shop."

Within minutes, we were pulling up to a familiar tea shop: The Jasmine Dragon. The name rang a bell, but when my hand was in Zuko's I was completely oblivious. We walked into the shop which was surprisingly busy. A portly cheery old man came out smiling with a batch of tea in his wrinkled hands.

"Nephew! What a surprise!" he said to Zuko. He then turned to me. "Hello, young lady. Haven't I seen you before?"

"Uh…"

"Katara, you made it!" I heard someone call out to me. I turned around to see Jet walking towards me and Zuko.

Crap. I forgot Jet invited me to come here to this exact same tea shop. Zuko's Uncle's tea shop.

Chapter 6: I wanna know more about Jet

My heart sank into the deep pits of my stomach as the chocolate haired boy approached me, my hand still in Zuko's. Speaking of him, his bright smile completely faded as he saw Jet coming up to us. He scowled deeply and pushed me behind him.

"What do you want?" Zuko glowered.

"For you to let go of my date," Jet spat, obviously not expecting to see me here hand in hand with another dude.

"Date?" Zuko's eyes widened and he looked at me to confirm Jet's words. "Katara, what the─"

"No, Zuko, not like that! We─"

"Oh, I remember you, now," the old man said looking from Jet to me. "You were here with this young man last night, weren't you? I remember telling you all about the wonders of tea making."

"You went on a date with him," Zuko pointed a pale finger towards Jet as he looked at me. "to my uncles' shop?"

"Yeah!" Jet yelled.

"No! Zuko, it wasn't a date! I only went with him because I was ticked off at you for making out with that Gothic freak, and I wanted revenge. It's not my fault," I crossed my arms and stared at the floor.

"Nephew, this is the girl you told me about? Why would you─ WAIT? Mai? Why are you dealing with her? Zuko, ─"

"Uncle, please! The customers want refills," Zuko said, his head in his hand.

"Thank you for reminding me, dear nephew. Excuse me," he babbled absentmindedly as he wobbled away with the pitcher.

"What's the matter, Zuzu? Mad that another one comes running to me when you mess up?" Jet cooed as he came to put his arm around me. Before I could push him away, Zuko blasted him across the room into a table.

"Don't you ever touch her," he growled. His husky tone sent chills don't my spine and I loved it.

Jet sputtered up from the floor and wiped the smidge of blood on his lip. He gave Zuko a menacing glare.

"What if she wants me to?"

"Trust me, she doesn't," Zuko spat before blasting several fireballs towards the chocolate eyed boy. He quickly dodged them and counteracted with three good swings. Customers soon began to encircle them.

"Guys, stop! It's not that serious!"

Zuko blocked the hits and punched him in the gut, causing Jet to hurl backwards and tumble onto the floor. I noticed as he hit the floor, a piece of folded up paper fell from his pocket.

Zuko was just about to finish him off when his uncle came rushing from the back, wearing a very angry scowl. With just one hand, the man pulled Zuko behind him and told him to stand by me. Zuko did as he was told, but did not stand beside me; he instead came straight up to me and wrapped his arms around my waist to confirm that I was his. I wrapped my hands behind his neck and hugged him. He made me feel so secure and safe.

When we broke apart, Zuko told me to wait in lobby so he could speak with his uncle, who dragged Jet to the back to fix any damage Zuko had done. The rest of customers returned to their tea, and I decided to sit down. My eyes roamed the floors for no particular reason until I saw the paper that had fallen out of Jet's pocket. I picked it up and mentally debated opening it. Should I? But that would be invading privacy…oh who cares!

I unfolded the paper and readied my eyes for the contents. There, in scratchy writing said:

pick up file 00377-458G:Southern Tribe

Southern Tribe? As in Southern Water Tribe? Why does Jet have this? And what exactly is in this file?

Just then, Zuko came back out, his expression softer than before. I stuffed the paper in my pocket and stood up to greet him.

"Everything okay?" I asked, rubbing my hands on his broad shoulders.

"Yeah. He's uh…fixing him. Come on, there's something I want to show you." Zuko took my hand and lead me outside to his motorcycle. I put on the spare helmet and wrapped my arms around Zuko's waist as I buried my head into his back. I inhaled his sweet scent of cinnamon, woods, and cologne. When we came to a crossing, he looked back at me and smirked through his helmet.

"Were you sniffing me?"

"No…maybe…yes. You smell good," I felt my cheeks heat from embarrassment and giggled to cover it up. He laughed, too, before saying thanks and continuing down the street. Eventually, Zuko parked in front of a large boulder that stood in front of these woods.

"Where are we?" I looked into the depths of leafy green as he guided me forward.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," I replied, looking him in the eye.

"Then close your eyes."

Hesitantly, my lids slid shut. Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted from the ground, a yelp of surprise in response. He ssshhhed me and told me not to peek. I only smiled and buried myself in him, wanting to be devoured by his being.

I felt him going down a steep hill and the crunching of a few twigs. I wonder what he's taking me out here for. Maybe he just likes it here; a place for him to get away. Finally, he put me down.

"Open your eyes now," he whispered in my ear, making my breathing jagged. As I opened my eyes, I felt his chest meet my back and his arms slide in front of me. I was so hypnotized by his movements; I barely noticed the scenery before me. We were on a cliff, overlooking a bright blue waterfall that crashed against the shore roughly about thirty feet below.

"It's beautiful," I whisper to him, placing my hands over his.

"Yeah, you are." I blush at his remark and begin to sway to the sounds of the water.

"Do you want to go for a swim?"

"In this? I'd be all wet on the way home." I secretly wished that I had worn a swimsuit under this. The water was begging me.

"Say hello to your personal drier," he joked, pulling away from me to pull me to the edge.

"I don't know, Zuko. It's pretty high."

"You know I won't let anything happen to you. I know you want to be one with your element for a while." I was about to retaliate, when he pulled off his shirt. Seeing his pecks on a computer screen is one thing, but in person…I couldn't resist. I began to approach him.

"Katara, what are you doing?"

"I want to swim with you."

"Okay, well…what made you change your mind?" he asked coyly. He knew what to do to get to me.

"You know exactly what did."

"Oh I do?"

When I reached him, I slid one hand behind his neck and laid the other on his bare chest.

"Yeah, you do."

Those were my final words before eagerly crushing my lips onto his. He returned the kiss but quickly pulled away when he realized we were on the edge of the cliff. Too late.

I screamed. It felt like flying, but I screamed. After two seconds, my screams of fear turned into shrieks of delight. The way the wind soared through Zuko's hair made him look funny and I couldn't help but laugh. He must've thought the same thing, because he too, was laughing. We hit the water softly. I opened my eyes as I sank deeper into the lake before surfacing. I looked around to see where Zuko had gone. He had not still been under when I was down and he wasn't on shore. I began to panic.

"Katara, what are you doing?" I turned around to see a shirtless Zuko lounging on a boulder in the middle the lake. I sighed in relief and swam over to the rock to join him.

"I was looking for you," I told him, crawling onto the rock to lay on his chest.

"You found me." He began to lightly stroke my hair and started to hum a too familiar tune. It was soft and gentle and sometimes made me want to cry. The only way I'd stop myself from crying was to actually sing it. I know, weird.

-Zuko-

"My love, leave yourself behind. Beat inside me; leave you blind," Katara sang.

I can't believe she knew the song I was humming. She sang it beautifully, too. It almost made me want to break down in tears, right here. But I decided to sing it, too.

"My love, you have found peace. You were searching for relief."

"You gave it all, into the call. You gave it all and you took the fall for us."

It was supposed to be my turn to sing a line, but I ended the song early.

"How do you know that song, Tara?" I asked, still tangling my fingers in her thick locks.

"It was the song that played at my mom's funeral," she said quietly.

"Really? When my mom died, I played this all of the time in my room." This time, she sat up and looked at me with pure concern.

"Your mother's dead?"

"Yeah, she and my dad got into a argument one night when he came home drunk and he claims that she slipped going down the stairs and cracked her head on a glass vase. I went into a state of panic and blanked out after seeing her on the floor, crying in pain. I was only ten. I couldn't do anything.

" When I woke up, my father told me that a piece of glass got wedged in the side of her face, cracking the skull and that she died and that I had been asleep for weeks, meaning I had missed her funeral. Oddly enough, when I woke up, I had this on my face." I reached up to feel my scar. "He says when I blanked out, I fell on a freaking candle. A candle didn't horribly disfigure my face."

Katara swatted at my hand that lay on top of hers and drew it back, rubbing it.

"What was that for?"

"Zuko, you are not horribly disfigured or disfigured at all! Do you know how many girls are crazy in love with you? They wouldn't be if they thought wrongly of your scar! We think it makes you look mysterious and edgy. Believe it or not, we think your scar is hot," she smiled brightly at me, her cheeks turning a light pink.

"What's with the 'we'?"

"Well, I am a girl…"

"And you're crazy in love with me?"

"Hey, I just admitted that I like you…isn't that a bit too fast?" I laughed at her inward shyness and rocked her back and forth, humming that same tune. Just then, Katara jumped and turned to face me.

"What is it?"

"I just remembered: we have something to find out," she began digging in her pocket when she finally revealed a wet piece of folded paper. "Crap! Think you could…?" I understood what she was hinting at and dried the paper. "Read it."

"Pick upfile 00377-458G:Southern Tribe," I read aloud. I looked at her, confusingly. "You have to pick up a file about your home?"

"No, Zuko! That's not mine. It's Jet's."

"Why the heck does he need this? And where is he getting the file from?"

"I don't know, but I don't like where things are headed. How did you know Jet?"

"We were friends a long time ago."

"What happened?"

"Azula─"

"Say no more. Well, since we really don't have anyone that knows him personally, I guess we'll have to do the work ourselves."

"What?"

"I don't think he has that file just for a project, I'm sure a book would be more decent, but a freaking government file?"

"You're right. It doesn't add up."

"I wanna know more about Jet."

AN: Happy Holidays! Here is your gift! Next chapter needs 7 and more reviews to be posted! Thanks!

Hey did anyone know what song that was? It's called "My Love" by Sia. It's so beautiful. It was misused(my opinion) in Eclipse for an Edward/Bella makeout scene when the song is about someone who died. Shame. Look it up. You might cry.