Sam

It had been a month since we met with the girls that Zuko freed. We had been working with them regularly to try to get any information that may help us nail the bastard who was doing this. As for Zuko's health, he was back to normal now. I was surprised he healed so quickly - it was like it had never happened.

I had pulled everything together and had it all spread out on my desk in our office. Zuko was dealing with an important meeting with his military officials. He said he didn't expect it to take all day, which was odd. They usually did. Either way, I was glad for the time with him. I was pouring over the documents when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I called out. The door opened to reveal…"Iroh! What a nice surprise but, what are you doing here?" He looked at me questioningly. Almost like he expected me to say something else.

"It's good to see you too, Fire Lady Samyah." he said bowing.

"Iroh, please, just Sam. I'm glad to see you, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Uhh…I…needed to get away for a little while and thought it would be nice to visit my nephew's family. Where is he?"

"He is in a meeting with the military officials. He should be done any minute actually."

"Good, good. I want to see him. And your daughter?" Iroh hadn't seen her in a long time. I wasn't even sure she would remember him.

"She is at school. She should be done in a few hours."

"Wonderful! I want to see her too. Tell me, how much is she like Zuko?" I chuckled.

"So much it's eerie." I mused. Iroh and I sat and chatted for a few minutes when the door to the office opened and Zuko appeared.

"Zuko! Look who's here!" I said.

"Uncle! I'm glad you made it! It's good to see you." Zuko said. Glad he made it? What was that about? "You and Sam been catching up?"

"Yes. It's always a pleasure to see your wife, Zuko."

"Sam, why don't you set that aside for the rest of the day? So we can all catch up until Izumi gets home."

"Zuko, I'm going over everything with the houses. I'm trying to put things together."

"There is always tomorrow, Fire Lily. Please?" Zuko asked. I hated it when he did this. I couldn't say no.

"Alright. I guess it won't hurt to wait for a little bit." I said. We all went out to the Turtleduck Garden where there was a picnic ready for us. It was becoming more and more obvious that Zuko knew he was coming. But why did he keep it from me? After a while, Zuko looked at the sky and started to stand.

"Izumi will be home shortly." He looked at Iroh, "Sam and I always greet her when she comes home. You want to join us?" he asked Iroh. Iroh stood and Zuko helped me to my feet.

"That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see her." Iroh said. We worked our way to the entrance of the palace where we waited in our usual spot. After a few minutes Izumi and Geshna rounded the corner. Izumi was excited when she saw us, as she always was, but then was puzzled by another man waiting with us. She came up to us and hugged us, eyeing Iroh.

"Mommy! Daddy! I missed you!" she said, hugging us.

"We missed you too, Zoom. How was school?" I said as I stooped down to her level.

"It was great! The teacher telled us that next month we will be reading a whole book!" she said excited.

"Teacher told us." Zuko corrected her.

"Told us." Izumi amended. "Who is that?" she asked.

"Now, Izumi, is that anyway to greet a guest?" Zuko scolded her, amorously.

"No, Daddy." she said. She walked over to Iroh and bowed respectfully, "it's an honor to have you visit the Fire Nation." she said. She looked over at Zuko. He smiled and dipped his head granting the approval she sought.

"How polite, Princess Izumi." Iroh said. "You don't remember you, do you?"

"No. Should I?" she asked, worried she had offended the stranger.

"You were quite young when I last saw you. I'm your father's uncle." he explained. Izumi was excited to meet someone else from the family.

"Really? It's nice to meet you…uh…" she didn't know how to address him. She looked at Zuko again for guidance.

"If Uncle is ok with it, Grampa will work for me." he said. Iroh's face beamed at this. Iroh had lost his son to war, so he never got to be a grandparent. Even though Iroh was Zuko's uncle, he was his father bar none. I always told Zuko that Ozai is Zuko's father. Iroh is his dad.

"Grampa! Wait. Like Gramma?" she asked.

"Yes, well, sort of." Zuko said, not sure how to explain it. I went over to Izumi and knelt down at her level.

"Izumi. Grandma is your Daddy's mom. Grampa Noren is his…father." I didn't know how else to explain it that she would understand. She certainly wouldn't know "step-father." "But Grampa Iroh…he raised your daddy. He is your daddy's daddy." I explained. I glanced at Zuko who gave a sigh of relief at my saving him.

"Oh, Grampa Iroh. So if you're my daddy's daddy then…" she didn't really know where she was going with it so she resorted to her usual display of affection. She threw herself at Iroh to embrace him. Iroh stumbled, but hugged her back.

"Easy, Turtleduck. We don't want to break him." Zuko laughed. Izumi quickly climbed off of Iroh, concern in her eyes. "Don't worry, hunny. He's ok." he said, coming over and resting a hand on her shoulder. It was silent for a moment as I dismissed Geshna and gathered Izumi's things. I glanced over at Zuko and he and Iroh were communicating through eye contact. What on earth was going on? Zuko looked down at our daughter.

"Izumi? Would you mind going with your Grampa? Your mother and I need to talk in private." Zuko said. Izumi, excited about this potential new friend, took Iroh's hand proclaiming she was going to show him her room and all of her toys.

"What is it Zuko? Is something wrong?"

"No, my love. Everything is perfect." He grabbed my elbow and steered me in the direction of the Turtleduck Garden. Strange. We had just been here. He sat me down at the bench by the fountain.

"What is today?" Zuko asked. What kind of question was that?

"Um. Thursday?" I said. He chuckled.

"You really don't remember? I'm surprised at you. Your memory is like a steel trap."

"What is it? What did I forget?" I asked. Zuko had a playful look on his face.

"Think REALLY hard." I pondered for a second.

"Well, it isn't Izumi's birthday. That isn't for another four months. It isn't your birthday either. That was just last month." I said. Zuko smirked and glanced at the fountain.

"Does this mean anything to you?"

"The fountain? Should it?"

"It should." he said. A fountain. Well, we did come out here often and sit here but I didn't think that's what it was. I thought harder, painfully aware of Zuko watching me. I was starting to feel a little embarrassed that I couldn't think of it.

"Maybe this will help." he said, putting his arm around me and pulling me close. How was this help? He literally did this everyday "Perhaps it would help more if the fountain was black." What? Then it hit me. The fountain! In Ba Sing Se!

"Oh! Today is the anniversary of when we met! Dammit! How did I forget?" I asked.

"You have had a lot on your mind. You've been waist deep in the trafficking situation." he said. He pulled something out of his robes and handed it to me. It was a drawing of Ember Island.

"What is this for?" I asked.

"It's Ember Island."

"I know what it is. Why are you handing it to me?" I turned it over and saw that it said dates, the first date being tomorrow. "What are these dates for?"

"Us." he said simply. I raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think Uncle Iroh is here?"

"He said he was visiting." I said.

"Yes, because he didn't want to spoil it. I had asked him to come to the palace for two weeks. He is going to be taking care of the nation while we are away."

"Away? Where? To Ember Island?" Zuko shook his head.

"You know, for someone as smart as you, you're not good at this." Zuko said. I blushed in embarrassment. "Don't be embarrassed my love. I know I'm being cryptic. Iroh is going to stay here for two weeks and Azula is going to join him to help take care of Izumi. You and I are going away on a second anniversary for being together ten years." Ten years? I stopped to think. Wow, it had been ten years. My years here had been so happy sometimes it felt like I was always here.

"Your plan is to go away just the two of us? Really?" I smiled at the thought. We hadn't really had much time together alone since Izumi was born. "And what do you mean second honeymoon? Have you forgotten? We never had our first honeymoon." Zuko thought for a moment.

"You're right. We didn't. All the more reason to get away for a little while. No servants and no guards - well, minimal anyways - no interruptions. No distractions. Just you and me." I closed my eyes and smiled. Oh, that sounded nice. "Everything is packed and ready to go. The house is all ready for us as well."

"How?… How long have you been planning this?"

"Since I was able to be vertical again after my accident." Wow. So for about a month. That was crazy. I felt a bit ashamed I didn't remember.

"So…when do we leave?"

"As soon as we say good-bye to Izumi."

We went to find Izumi and Iroh. They were in her room and she was showing off her toys to Iroh.

"Oh, this is a magnificent doll, Izumi! Where are her clothes?"

"Well, I tried to put them on my other doll then I couldn't get them off." she explained. We walked up to them. Iroh looked up and smiled at us.

"So I take it you told her." Iroh asked Zuko.

"Yes, we are going to leave early tomorrow morning," Izumi perked up at this.

"Leave? You both are leaving? What about me? Am I coming?"

"No, Turtleduck. You are going to stay here with your Grampa Iroh and your Aunt Azula is coming too. She is going to spend lots of time with you. You won't even notice we are gone." Zuko explained.

"But I'll miss you!" she said starting to get tears in her eyes.

"We will miss you too. But sometimes Mommy and I need to have time alone together."

"So you can kiss?" she asked playfully. Zuko chuckled.

"Something like that."

Azula finally arrived and we had dinner, spent some time together as a family and all went to bed. We tucked Izumi in like we did every night. Zuko and I sat down on her bed.

"Now, after we leave tomorrow, you'll be a good girl for your grampa and your aunt?"

"Yes, Daddy." Izumi said

"Good, and remember, no back-talking. And you will go to bed on time with no arguments, right? And go to school with no complaints? Your grampa will be taking care of the nation while we are gone so he will have to work. You won't bug him while he's working, right?"

"Yes Daddy! I mean, no Daddy!" Izumi giggled, "I'll be good, I promise!" she said. Although she wasn't looking forward to us leaving, she was looking forward to playing with Iroh and Azula. Zuko looked at Iroh.

"Good girl. Good night, Turtleduck." he said, kissing her nose.

"Good night, Daddy."

"Good night, Zoom." I said. I kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Mommy."

The next morning, Iroh was with us when we left. Azula and Izumi were still sleeping. The sun wasn't even up yet.

"You'll thank Azula for me?"

"Of course, my nephew."

"Thank you Uncle. For everything. As always. I think this will be a good thing for you and Azula. You haven't really spent time with her since before I took the throne."

"Yes, I look forward to getting to know my niece again. Now you two get going! No time to waste!" Iroh said. Zuko and I hugged Iroh good-bye. Zuko and I walked down to the dock. This was new for me.

"I've never gone by boat here before."

"Don't worry, it's drawn by walrus-seals. We won't have to do anything."

"Well, I sure like the sound of that."