Ok, I am a day later than I promised, but here is chapter 10. It is my least favorite, but its needed. I hope it doesn't bore you to tears hahaha! And I would like to thank everyone that has read and reviewed! Your reviews have given me the motive to keep writing this story:) Thank you 1000000000000000 times 2!

I do not own any ATLA characters, but Salji is all mine!

Zuko walked across the beach on his way back to the house. As he did so, he replayed what happened on the beach in his head.

"Is she ok?" Salji asked Zuko after Katara ran away.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's fine"

"She doesn't look it Zuko. Maybe you should go see what's wrong." Salji said with an encouraging voice.

"Will you come with me?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea Zuko." By this time they were standing up. "I think you need to talk to her by yourself."

Zuko didn't understand why she was being like this. "I'm not leaving you. I just found you three years after being told that you were dead. I'm never leaving your side again." He said with the threat of tears rising in his voice.

"Zuko, I'm not going anywhere. I just found you too and I'm not going anywhere."

"Will you at least come to the house with me?" he asked.

"No, you need to go talk to Katara, and me being there will probably make things worse."

"Why would you being there make it worse?" he was puzzled.

She looked into Zuko's eyes. "Zuko, that girl cares for you a lot. I can tell by the way she looked at you, and seeing us like this probably upset her. Me being there wouldn't help in any way. I'm going to go to my house and try to wash some of this sand off me." She said with a smile tugging at her lips. "Let's meet here at sun set, after you've talked to Katara."

"I don't want to be away from you."

"Zuko, I will still be here when you come back. Go and talk to Katara." After she said this she kissed Zuko on the cheek, and left.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't go back to the house right away because he needed some time to think. He walked around the beach trying to figure out what happened today.

"Hey Sokka, have you seen Katara?" Zuko asked as he entered the house.

"Yeah, she ran up to her room crying. I tried to ask what was the matter and she froze me to the wall. Suki just freed me."

"Thanks." Zuko said as he ran up the stairs.

Zuko knew that Katara had feelings for him. They almost kissed, when he jumped up and ran to Salji, of course she was upset. He didn't know what he was going to say to her when he got to her room, so he softly knocked and hoped something would come to him.

"GO AWAY!" she yelled from inside the room. Zuko could hear that she was crying.

"Katara, it's me, Zuko."

"GO AWAY!" she yelled again.

"Katara, I just want to talk. Will you please let me in?" he asked in a pleading voice.

"I don't want to talk to you Zuko. Go and talk to Salji, I'm sure ya'll have a lot of catching up to do."

"Katara, I need to talk to you. Please open up."

Zuko stood there and waited for her to yell at him to go away, but then the door opened. Katara stood there with tears running down her face, her eyes all puffy and red. Zuko quickly grabbed her and hugged her. He hated to see her in so much pain, and knowing that he was the one who had inflicted it on her. He remembered their conversation from yesterday. I promise I will never do anything to hurt you.

And now he stood there holding Katara realizing that he had hurt her in the worst possible way.

"Katara, I'm so sorry" was all he could say.

"Don't be sorry Zuko. The girl you loved and thought was dead just showed up, I understand." She said against his chest.

"I promised I would never hurt you, and here I am hurting you. I can't just turn away and pretend that I don't notice."

Katara collapsed and fell to the floor. Zuko picked her up and carried her to the bed. He knew that she didn't get a lot of sleep last night and that she was in a lot of pain. He laid her on the bed and sat beside her stroking her hair.

"You really do love her don't you?" she said suddenly.

Zuko didn't want to answer this question. He knew telling her the truth would only hurt her more than she already was.

They just sat there in silence. Then Katara jumped up. Zuko was wondering what in the world she was doing.

"Where are you going Katara?"

"I've got to go make supper for everyone. Just because this happened doesn't mean that I can let everyone go hungry." She started to walk to the door when Zuko grabbed her arm.

"Katara you can't avoid me forever" he said in a small voice.

She just jerked her arm away and started walking out of the room. Zuko just sat there hoping that she would turn around and come back into his arms. But she never did.

"What have I done?" he murmured to himself.

He looked out the window and realized it was past sun set. He jumped up off the bed and made his way down the stairs. He gave Katara a small smile before he walked out the door. She didn't return it.

As he made his way to the beach he couldn't help but to think about Katara. He loved Salji, but he also had feelings for Katara. He was just about to kiss her and all of a sudden Salji shows up. What were the odds of that happening? The universe must be playing a sick joke on him.

Then he saw Salji. She was standing there waiting for him to show up. She was wearing a beautiful red dress with pink accents. Zuko looked at her and his breath was taken away.

"Your late" she said in a playful voice.

"I know" he said smiling at her.

"Did you get things worked out with Katara?"

"No." he said in a sadden voice.

"I'm sorry Zuko, it's all my fault that she's upset." She said looking down at the sand.

"No Salji, it's not your fault. It's mine."

She looked into Zuko's eyes. She could tell he was in pain about hurting his friend. She didn't know how she could help, but she had to try.

"Zuko, do you love her?" she asked.

Zuko couldn't answer this question, just the same as he couldn't when Katara asked. So they just sat there looking into each other's eyes. Why was it so hard? He had feelings for both girls, but he couldn't choose which one he had more feelings for. Salji had been missing out of his life for three years and yet he had the same feelings for her that he had for her back then. Then there was Katara. They had really just met, and she was the first person he told about Salji, so they bonded over that. And he could tell that she had strong feelings for him. But Salji said that she loved him back. Dear Sages, what was he going to do?

"Zuko I can tell you have strong feelings for this girl" Salji said, bringing him out of thought. "And even though I love you, I will give you up if you love Katara more." She said in a small voice.

"Salji, I love you. I've loved you since we were young, and I never got to tell you. I spent the past three years trying to get over you and try to be happy, but I couldn't. And now I have found you and you're telling me that you would give me up just like that?" he was confused.

"Zuko, I love you too, and that's why I can give you up. It won't be easy, but if you love this girl then I don't want to keep you away from her. I went through the same thing you did, I thought I lost you before I could tell you I loved you too. But now that I've found you and it's obvious that you and Katara have strong feelings for each other, I think I can let you go."

Zuko took her hands in his and couldn't believe what she was saying. After years of thinking she was dead he couldn't just leave her. He loved her for crying out loud!

"Salji I love you" he said in a whisper. "I'm never going to let you go."