Zuko was in his room gathering some of his belongings to take with him on the long trip ahead. He didn't know what he may or may not need, so he decided to bring along only what he felt to be the most important things to him. After all, he didn't know when he would be seeing this room again.
"Are you about ready to get going?" Katalina checked with him from behind. He turned to see her standing in the doorway. "Well?"
"I'm not so sure about this anymore," he admitted in reply.
"What? C'mon Zuko, we've been planning this for the last four months. Don't you want to find your mother?"
"Of course I do. But really, what are the chances?"
"Ozai told you where she is, so that's where we'll go to look."
"What are the chances of actually finding her, though?" he asked again.
"What were the chances of us meeting again?" she asked in response. "Zuko, if this is about the changes you've gone through since the last time you saw your mother then you shouldn't be worrying about that. She loved you before the scar and she will love you now, after the scar."
"I'm just afraid of what she might think of me."
"She won't think any different of you. If anything she'll be even more proud of you now than she was before she left."
"Why do you think that?"
She smiled, shrugging. "I just know it."
He sighed. "Well, you're ready, right?" he then checked. "I mean, no matter what happens now, we're still returning to the Fire Nation after this trip."
"I'm well aware," she stated. "I've said goodbye to Jet and Jin and Yolanda and Hakara and Shion. And they've all promised to visit us as soon as they hear we've settled there."
He nodded. "Good." He looked down. "Ugh, I can't believe we're really doing this."
"Zuko, you know that I love you, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I love you, too, Lina."
She smiled again. "And that's all that really matters. Sure, finding your mother would obviously be great, but even if we don't or even if she doesn't accept you anymore, we will still have each other. And we'll still have Iroh and all our friends, too."
"I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right," she confirmed. "I'm Katalina Palmer, damn it." He laughed and so did she. "So are you ready to go? Or do you wanna call it off?"
"No, I-I still wanna go," he decided.
"Good," she said shortly. "Let's head out, then." She turned to leave.
"Before we go," he said, taking her hand to stop her and pulling her into him, still smiling, "thank you for everything, Katalina."
Her smile returned. "You don't have to thank me for anything, Zuko."
Then he kissed her and she kissed him back. And in that perfect kiss was a promise of forever.