Lovely readers, I am in awe! We have six new readers after the last chapter; wow! Welcome to Lady Krystalyn, Kiren, JemiLover101, Biffel, Alecplz, and AnnaDruvez!

I also want to thank everyone for the lovely, encouraging reviews. Last week was really crappy for me, but seeing those lovely reviews cheered me up so much. So thank you! Really.

Now, this post gave me some trouble, only because writing Iroh is really hard. Hopefully I did him justice. And hopefully ya'll will enjoy it!

Pause to Plan

Zuko paced the length of his office, trying not to set anything on fire, and calling himself all kinds of stupid. What had possessed him to say those things to Katara? He didn't blame her for evoking a pause; he had caught her so off guard. She had only broken up with Aang the week before after all. Of course she wouldn't be ready to hear that sort of thing from him.

He let out a growl of frustration. He really needed to hit something. He was so angry with himself. He should have known better.

A timid knock at the door interrupted his pacing.

"What?"

One of Zuko's guards entered the room. "Sire, you have a visitor."

"Not now," Zuko replied. "Whoever it is, they can come back tomorrow."

"Well yes, I suppose I could, but I would really rather see you now," said a voice from the behind the guard. The visitor stepped into view and Zuko felt a great sense of relief wash over him.

"Uncle! What are you doing here?" Zuko asked as the guard quickly left the room.

"What, I can't plan a surprise visit to see my nephew?" Iroh teased as he wrapped Zuko in a warm embrace.

"Of course you can," Zuko muttered. "I'm glad you're here."

"So how are things?" Iroh inquired as he took a seat in front of Zuko's desk.

"Politically, things are fine for once," Zuko answered as he finally took a seat in his desk chair.

"I sense a 'but' coming."

Zuko knew he wouldn't be able to keep this from his Uncle; Iroh could always tell when something was troubling him. "But personally…I've messed things up."

Iroh sighed. "With Mai?"

Zuko slowly shook his head and forced himself to tell the truth. "Mai left. We had a fight last month and she went off to Kyoshi Island. I thought that maybe she would come back at some point so we could talk things out, but she sent a courier to collect her things this morning."

"I am sorry Nephew," Iroh said sincerely.

"I am too. A little," Zuko admitted.

"May I ask what the fight was about?"

This was the hard part. "Katara,"

"Oh?"

"We've gotten close," Zuko tried to explain. "Too close for Mai's comfort I guess."

"What about your comfort?" Iroh asked.

Zuko's confession came out in a rush of jumbled words. "I admit, I have feelings for Katara. Strong feelings."

Iroh's face remained calm, but inside he was joyfully shouting, I knew it!

"But she was with Aang and I was with Mai…but then Mai left and then Katara broke up with Aang after he caught us in bed together. Not like that! She had a nightmare and I overheard and she wanted me to stay and I did, only when Aang found us he jumped to the wrong conclusions and then Katara dumped him. And then I was an idiot and told her how I felt after I found out Mai wasn't coming back and I must have freaked her out because she put me on pause and then she left."

It was a testament to how well Iroh knew Zuko that he was able to follow that rant. "She left?"

"Not like Mai did. Katara took some time to go help set up hospitals in the Earth Kingdom."

"I see. What did you mean when you said she put you on pause?" Iroh questioned.

"It's this thing we do. When we get into an argument or are overworked we take a pause and move on to something else so we don't blow up at each other. I was telling her how I truly felt and she paused me. She said she couldn't deal with it right then; she said she needed time."

"I see." Iroh was quiet for a few minutes. Then, "Well, the solution is simple!"

Zuko stared at his Uncle. "It is?"

"Of course! She said she needed time to think about things. She never even hinted at the possibility that she didn't return your feelings. So, you give her the time she needs, but you still show her that your feelings remain unchanged."

"How?"

"Write to her, but keep it completely professional. Show her that you are taking her pause to heart. It will show her that you listened. And a woman appreciates a man who will listen to her."

For once Iroh's advice made complete sense to Zuko. "That could actually work."