"Katara?" Zuko knew that voice. He had heard it every night in his dreams. He only hoped that this wasn't a dream too.

"Over here Zuko." Katara emerged from a small stand of trees, blue eyes shining sadly in the moonlight. She looked so beautiful.

"Katara. Why are you out here?" Zuko asked. "The party, Aang, it's all inside." Zuko waved his hand in the direction of the palace.

"You don't get it Zuko. I'm not here for the party. Or Aang." The Fire Lord watched as Katara walked closer to him. "I'm here for you."

"No Katara. You're lying." Zuko turned away from her, hiding his face, hiding the tears building up behind his eyes. "If you are here for me, then why leave in the first place? Why? I needed you Katara and you disappeared." Zuko turned angrily back towards Katara, the anger in his eyes meeting the sadness and guilt in hers.

"I had to leave Zuko. I didn't have another choice." Zuko could see tears disappearing behind Katara's mask.

"But why?" The words were almost lost in the night, Zuko had whispered them so quietly.

"Because I…" Katara stopped herself, biting her lip.

"Why Katara!" Zuko, shouted. He grabbed Katara's arm and pulled her into the trees. His hands moved to her upper arms, pinning her against the trunk of one of the larger trees.

"Because I was falling in love with you!" Katara gasped when the words escaped her mouth, as though she wanted to take them back. She had never meant to say them. She had meant to lie.

Zuko's hands dropped from her arms. He wanted to believe her so badly but knew that it shouldn't be that way.

"Please Zuko. I didn't want to love you. We aren't supposed to be in love. I thought I was supposed to be with Aang."

"You are with Aang." Zuko's voice was dead in the night. He had seen them sitting in the garden when she was here, alone. They were always so close, always joking around.

"No Zuko. No I'm not. I was never with Aang." Katara closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if it would make him believe her.

"I saw you. On the balcony of my Uncle's tea shop. You were kissing." Zuko had turned away from Katara. He had ripped a handful of leaves from a nearby branch and was slowly burning them in his closed fist. That kiss was one of his most painful memories.

"I told him to stop Zuko. I tried to tell you." He could hear the tears in her voice. "But you wouldn't listen. Whenever I brought it up you left the room. I tried so hard." A sob tore from Katara's throat.

Zuko went back to her, pinning her again against the tree. The waterbender averted her gaze, keeping her eyes tightly shut.

"Katara look at me. Look at me!" Zuko put a hand on Katara's chin and forced her eyes up to his. "I always loved you."

With that, Zuko pulled Katara into him and wrapped his arm around her waist. Their lips met in a burst of passion. Katara had never been kissed like this before. Aang was so tentative, and even the stolen kisses with Jet had never been like this. She could feel the heat emanating from Zuko and met it with her own fire. This was what she had always wanted, what was always supposed to happen. She finally understood.

Pulling away, Zuko looked into Katara's eyes. "Katara, I love you. I dream about you every night when I actually manage to sleep. Ask Uncle. I spend most of my time walking around in his garden, staring at that fountain, at the water, thinking of you. I put your water over my scar because my scar is my past, and I want you to be my future. Katara please stay here with me. I can't bear to lose you again. Please."

Katara looked up at Zuko's pleading gaze. She did love him. And she knew in that moment that she would stay. She pulled off her mask, dropping it to the ground. She no longer needed to hide behind it. She didn't need a mask to express her longing. Zuko was hers. He always had been.

And now she knew that he always would be.