Woop Woop! Another chapter here for you guys!~ Enjoy~~~

Disclaimer: So I kind of forgot to make one of these in my other chapters ...opps. But yeah I do not own any of the characters or avatar, I only own my imagination and this story~!

Chapter rating: T+ Mild language and sexual content
(I'll start rating the chapters too so you guys know what to expect in case some of you dont like the M stuff.)

Secrets

Katara's POV

"Don't even bother you guys, just call the police. I can't believe you were dumb enough to come here!" I screamed.

Jet's shoulders slumped, obvious exhaustion in his body language. "Katara, it's been years. The restraining order isn't valid anymore, I just want to talk to you."

Zuko pulled me further behind him, "Like hell she will!" He growled. I clutched the fabric of his shirt, pushing myself up against his back. Jet was not the person I wanted to deal with right now. All the shit he did…Everything I had to go through….

"You will get off my property before I call the police to get your ass back in jail. Now." My father warned. Jet's eyes looked back to me, sighing heavily he took a step back.

"Please Katara, I just want to talk." He begged.

I shook my head vigorously, "Get the fuck out Jet." He stared into my eyes for a good five seconds before making his departure. My father followed him and stood by the door watching him until he was gone. I didn't want to let go of Zuko, my heart was racing and the fear finally set in. I could feel my hands trembling and my throat swell, the tears forming on the corners of my eyes. Zuko turned around pulling me into his chest, his hands caressing my hair gently, whispering soothingly into my ear.

"Katara your fine. Breath, it's okay. I'm here."

I nodded still not trusting my voice. "He won't get you while I'm here. I promise."

My mother came up next to us, her hand brushing my cheek gently, "Dear, I think it would be best if you stay here for the night. Zuko, you are more than welcome to stay as well."

"Thank you Mrs. South, but I'm afraid I have work in the morning. Katara will you be okay staying here for the night? You know, spend some time with your family?"

I shook my head clutching him more, "Please…please don't go."

His shoulders slumped, "I'll stay, but I really can't miss this meeting in the morning. Do you have school?"

I shook my head, I wouldn't have classes till Tuesday, tomorrow's classes were cancelled. I was off work too according to Toph, which left me a completely open day. "Okay, Mr. and Mrs. South, would it really be alright for me to stay the night?"

My father sighed, "I guess so, but I want you on the couch, I don-"

My mother hit him harshly on the shoulder, "Hakoda! They are grown adults they can stay in the same damn room."

Everyone looked at her with their mouths wide open, no one had ever heard my mom cuss. Well maybe only me and my dad, other than that she had quite a clean language selection. She blushed and pushed my father upstairs. "Katara you can stay in your old room, that bed should be large enough for you both. Sokka, honey are you staying too?"

Sokka shook his head, wrapping an arm around Suki's shoulders, "Nah we better head back home. Suki's grandpa is coming in the morning."

"Yeah sorry about that Mrs. Kya, we appreciate the offer though!" Suki said.

My mother smiled sadly pushing my father up the stairs again after he had tried to skip around her to make one more threat to Zuko. Then ran down to give them hugs. "Okay be sure to visit again soon. It's one thing talking in the restaurant and talking in our own home."

"Will do mom. G'nite sis, night Zuko."

Zuko and I waved, "Goodnight!" I called out to them. They got into Sokka's truck and drove off.

My mom sighed and headed upstairs to retire for the night."Good night you two."

"Good night Ms. South." Zuko smiled.

"Good night mom." I shivered from the cold wind. Zuko pulled me back inside gently, then closing the door and locking it. He pulled on the handle a couple of times to make sure it was locked.

"Come on, let's go to bed."

I chuckled, "Eager are we?"

His face turned bright red in embarrassment, his hand covering his face. "I didn't mean it like that."

I kept laughing, feeling much better after all of the activities that had occurred. I sighed knowing that I definitely had to speak to Zuko about my past…as much as I didn't want to.

We walked up the stairs taking a left into the hall where my bedroom was. My parents were on the other side of the hall and most likely had gone to bed. I opened the door to my room. It hadn't changed a bit, the same furniture with dark blue accents. I looked around my room noticing how clean it was, nothing had been changed. I sighed closing the door and locking it behind us. "So, this is your room then?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, nothing much to see since I moved out. I took most of my stuff with me besides the furniture, I wanted more white."

"You have a nice sense of style in here and in your apartment." He began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing his toned abs and alabaster skin. I blushed knowing that it was just to be comfortable during the night. I looked at my own attire, feeling pretty uncomfortable. I had some spare clothes here, unless my mom got rid of them. Zuko took off his belt making his pants fall off his waist just slightly, I blushed more.

"Are you okay with me taking off my pants?"

"W-what?"

He chuckled tugging at the waistband of his pants, "If I take these off, will you be okay?"

I blushed nodding, I didn't want him to be uncomfortable, and it wasn't like anything was going to happen. I opened the top drawers and found my black shorts from volleyball and a tank top. I looked to see Zuko folding his clothes, his pants now off and only a pair of black boxers were blocking my view of the rest of his body. I quickly turned away. "Uhm, I'm going to change. Don't look."

He chuckled pulling the covers back and facing the wall, "Is this okay?"

"Yes," I pulled my shirt off and my pants quickly changing into the tank top and shorts.

"You know, I should be able to watch. I mean you did get a look at me."

I shook my head, "Please, I did not. Don't be full of yourself."

"Yeah you did. Did you like what you saw?" He raised an eyebrow giving me a mischievous look. Oh so he wanted to be playful.

"No, because I didn't look." I climbed into the bed as well, pulling my covers over my body. I tried to calm my heartbeat, feeling his heat radiating under the covers. I felt the bed move and a warm arm wrap around my waist. My back was pulled against a strong chest, and Zuko's nose tailed up my neck. I shivered at the close proximity and our increased body temperatures.

"What happened between you and Jet?" He asked quietly.

"It wasn't pretty. Do you really want to know?" I asked.

Zuko clutched me tighter, "I don't think you realize how protective I am Kat. I told you this, I play the good guy, but I am far from perfect. When I saw you struggling against him I wanted to kill him. He was touching what was mine, and I wasn't okay. I was fuming with anger. I'm a hot head, temperamental, jealous, and controlling. I won't warn you again. I need to know what he did to you. I'm in love with you and I want nothing more than to keep you safe."

I placed my hands over his, rubbing my thumb over the top of his hand soothingly. "Zuko look… stop worrying about your flaws. I'd rather have someone who's going to protect me then pretend to care and leave me in the dirt."

"Is that what he did to you?"

"Just about." I sighed.

Zuko remained quiet, silently urging me to tell him. I took a deep breath and began. "Fine, Jet and I knew each other in my first year of college. Around the same time I started talking with Zula. We would hang out, grab a few meals. Then, Jet wanted to just hang out alone. We did, then you know we started dating. Things were great for like the first few months…"

I grew quiet holding onto Zuko tighter than what we were already. "Until?…" He asked.

"Until he wanted more. We went over to his house one night. Just to sit down, eat dinner and then watch some movies. He wanted to move forward in our relationship, but... I-I wasn't ready. I wanted to take things a little slower. I don't know why I wanted to. Maybe instinct. When I told him "no" he got mad, I left and I thought that was it."

"But it wasn't…was it?"

I shook my head. "We broke up, well I wanted to break up, but he kept acting like my boyfriend so no one thought it was weird. Zula tried to stay with me as much as possible. Then one day she couldn't come because you guys had some family outing."

"Ah, that must has been when we went to Switzerland."

"Yeah, she told me. Last thing I thought was going to happen was Jet stalking me. I had to have Sokka go places with me. But when I got home there wasn't much anyone could do. It was simple things at first. He would send me texts, asking to hang out. Then it progressed to calls, emails, notes, everything. People finally caught on that we were no longer dating, but he didn't take that well. Someone confessed to me, and I thought it would be nice. You know start again and not worry about him anymore. Too bad after the first date the guy stopped talking to me. Spreading rumors about how I was a liar and that Jet and I were really together. I had no idea what was going on. Zula went and spoke with Jet, telling him to back off. Sokka even had a word with him, but he claimed to not know anything. It was quiet for a while, but people would ignore me. Saying bad things would happen if they got too involved with me. Apparently a rumor went around that I was a slut and that my boyfriend would hurt anyone that tried to take me from him. Jet acted like the nice guy in classes, always asking if I was okay. But I knew it was him, I had never dated anyone else!"

I felt my voice get caught in my throat. "Then one night my house was broken into. I was sat watching TV, on the phone with Sokka when my front door opened. Jet was there with his friends. I knew something was wrong. I mean I never really talked with him and they just came into my house uninvited. Sokka and I had a code word for when things got weird. So when Jet came in he told me to hang up the phone. I acted like the good girl and told Sokka "I have to go Sokka, send my love to Dad and Mom. I'll see you at the restaurant."

"What was the code word?" He asked quietly.

"Restaurant. I would never go see them there, at the time all I wanted to do was get away from that place. To get an office job. Sokka would know that something was wrong."

"What happened Katara…"

My voice trembled, remembering the painful experience. "Jet and his friends tied me up. Put duck tape over my mouth, stripped me of my clothing. Took pictures, just- the things they said to me. The things they did..."

Zuko turned me to face his chest, his arms encircling me and resting his lips against my forehead. I took a deep breath and continued, "You can probably guess what they did. They called me names, took one of the knives on my kitchen counter, carved into my skin every time I kicked or cried. Jet would, kiss my body, trying to arouse me when I was so obviously scared. I wanted to move. To escape! Anything! Anything! I just wanted it to stop…"

I started sobbing remembering all the things I really wanted to forget. "I was helpless, bound and scared. I could see their faces as they touched me. I-I wanted to die, to just die before they could take my virginity from me. I could only pray someone would save me. Then Jet- he started to touch me, telling me how he was going to mark my body as his. I could hear his zipper, the shuffle of his clothes. I wanted to give up. I closed my eyes, tried to block everything out."

"Then the door was knocked down. All I could tell was that I was saved, that my brother had called the police and had come before anything had happened. They were arrested and given two years in jail for attempted rape and murder. I got all three of them under a restraining order. Jet isn't allowed at the college or to contact me. I didn't think that there was a time limit on the restraining order…"

"How long ago was this?"

"Two years. Which is why he is out."

Zuko growled, "The fucker should have gotten longer! Why only two years!?"

I shrugged wiping the tears from my face. "I don't know, the only thing I knew was because it was 'attempted', not actually done. I just wish that I could have gotten him in there for longer."

Zuko pulled the covers over us, all the way up to my neck. "Kat, I promise I'll protect you. He's here but he will have to get through me and your family. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not this time, not under my watch."

I felt relief wash over me as he spoke into my ear softly. "Thank you Zuko…I'm sorry, this is why I can't…"

"It's fine-"

"No it's unfair, I wasn't actually…you know, but I shouldn't do this to you. You shouldn't have to be patient for my sake..."

"Katara I want to have sex with you. You know that, but I don't have to. I can be patient. We won't do anything you don't like."

"Zuko no, I have to get past this. I want to as well, I'm just. I'm just scared. I don't want to lose you and I'm worried what might happen if I never face my problem."

He dipped his hands lower to the dip in my back. "I want to wait. At least for tonight, let's just sleep."

"This isn't done yet though Zuko. I had something terrible done to me, I know. But I'm not weak. Don't treat me like a broken child."

Zuko sighed, "I'm not Kat, look it's not like we can do it tonight anyways. Your parents are kind of down the hall."

I chuckled and pecked him on the lips, "Fine, I will back off for tonight. But, you better come up with better excuses to avoid me from now on."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled with me. "It's not like I don't want to have sex with you Katara! I do, but I think we should wait longer than that."

"No."

"Katara…"

"No." I continued stubbornly.

"Haa, this is pointless you're too hard headed to listen to reason."

"No you're just to stupidly kind to know that I'm up for it."

"Katara, no you're not."

"Yes I am! Damnit Zuko, most guys don't even get that luxury of a girl announcing that she wants to do it. I'm here, in your arms, in a perfectly sized bed-"

"Katara no."

"…and you said you loved me." I muttered almost breathlessly.

"That's a low blow Kat."

"…" I remained silent. I really felt hurt by that. Was he disgusting now that he knew I had been touched by three guys before? That my body might be slightly scarred by the thin cuts from the knife. I turned my back to him, refusing to cry.

"Kat I know what you're thinking. It's not that. I want you." His hands trailed down my sides. Lifting my tank top up slightly.

"I want to learn all the curves on your body." His lips started ghosting down my neck, causing shivers of pleasure down my spine. His breath was hot and heavy against my skin.

"I want to learn every sensitive spot, memorize it, and make you scream my name." His voice seductive and lustful in my ear. I moaned. "Hmmm, found one. Are your ears sensitive Katara?"

I groaned again as his teeth grazed the underside of my ear. "Interesting…"

"Zu-Zuko..." I breathed.

"Katara, Zuko. Go to bed."

Both of us stopped and listened to my father's voice outside the door. Zuko held a hand against my mouth as he continued kissing the back of my neck and went back to my ear. "Shh, we've been speaking quietly. He's just testing us. Trust me my father did it a lot too." I looked at my door and noticed my father's feet on the other side. We listened quietly and heard him sigh.

"Guess, they really are sleeping."

I held my breath waiting for him to leave. He stood for another minute before walking off. Back to their bedroom. I heard my mother's voice outside in the hall also."Are you satisfied now? I told you they were going to bed. It was probably an animal outside."

Zuko chuckled against my skin, removing his hand from my mouth.

"Even if you wanted more, you're too loud. Let's just sleep for tonight and we will discuss this tomorrow."

I sighed, my heart still racing from the chance of getting caught. "Okay. I'm not happy but we will discuss this later..." I turned around so that my body was flush against his. "Good night Zuko."

"Good night." He kissed me softly, "Hey Katara…"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

I blushed feeling his racing heart rate against my skin. He was nervous, which surprised me. He was always so composed. But, when I thought about it. I had never told him I loved him too. I chuckled to myself knowing that it probably ate him on the inside. He was too cute and I'm the only one who gets to see him like this. I smiled, knowing my answer better than anyone else, finally after thinking about it.

"Yeah, I love you too."

*wipes sweat off forehead*
Well another chapter done and ready!~
I really liked writing this chapter, heheheheh Drama drama drama~ Sorry it took so long to appear but this story will gain way more momentum from this point forward. Don't worry it wont be ending any time soon there is much more to come!~

Again thank you to the wonderful InfinityFistTheMonarchOfMen for doing another fabulous revision of this chapter for me~ 3

Reviews:

LadyJane025: Hahah yeah trust me this is just the beginning of the drama!~ I have SOOO Much more planned for Zuko and Katara. I love how you guys were pretty spot on with the abusive Jet. I mean it was kind of obvious but am I the only one who thinks he would've ended up that way? I mean in the avatar he seemed like the type of person who would just grow up pretty twisted. Heheheheh Akward Zuko is the best Zuko. I have much love for his character and in all honesty he was the best character out of all of them. He has great character and I hope that I am expressing him well enough~ Thank you for your review!~!

IriannaMarie: Literally I read your review right after I finished writing this chapter and I couldn't stop laughing at how correct you were! Literally you guessed what Jet did spot on ahahah. Yeah he didn't rape her. I didn't want Katara to be raped but still have some sort of emotional turmoil in her life. I don't think people noticed that I did in fact state that Katara was a virgin in the earlier chapters. I believe it was like chapter 4? I could be wrong but year so Jet definitely didn't rape her. He did get close, and that was enough to get his ass in jail!

Also thank you Spleendude222 for faving me as an author and also faving and following my story!~ 3

*** So in case some of you don't read the replies I send to people I wanted to clear up a few things. No Katara was not raped. I wont be that mean to her. Also I don't want you all to confuse Katara's past and how she is acting in this chapter. She fears Jet enough to hate him and to hide behind Zuko and her family. However, she isnt that weak that she lets it control her life. I feel like this is how Katara is. Throughout the show she faces hardships but instead of crying over it she makes herself stronger. That's why she had that little quarrel with Zuko about sex. The fact that she had such a thing happen to her isnt going to make her refuse any sexual contact or let it make her weak. I hope you guys like the way I have made her and that she is still in character!~ If you guys have any questions please ask me!~ I'll be sure to answer them in the next chapter!~***

That's all for today~

Please please PLEASE review you guys!~ Your feedback really helps me out~

Ciao

Rae