Everything comes to a head on a particularly cold day in mid-November. Zuko has a hellish day at work. He loses two straight cases when they go to court, meaning that all his work to prepare for them was for nothing, and then he gets absolutely reamed out by the Captain, for a whole variety of things, including both the court losses, and giving up on the prostitution ring. His favorite lunch place gets his order wrong and then when goes to leave for the day, his tire is flat. By the time he finally gets home, feeling exhausted and fighting a burgeoning headache, all he wants is Kyoka. It's not even that he wants to have sex, either. He wants to see her smile up close, dimples spreading. He wants to lay with his head in her lap and listen to her telling him that tomorrow will be a better day.
Zuko takes a single second to marvel at how well and truly fucked he is. Then he picks up his phone and hits dial.
She answers after only a single ring. "Hello?"
Even the sound of her voice is comforting. It washes over him, bathing him in warmth. He closes his eyes and takes several breaths, letting himself relax.
"Sugar? You okay?" Kyoka asks.
Zuko glances over at the time. It's so early in the evening. It doesn't seem like an appropriate time to pick up a hooker. Still, he swallows. "I need to see you," he says, all in a rush. "I'm sure you're busy but I need to. I can pay-"
"I'll be there soon," she promises. "I just need to wrap up at work."
That makes Zuko's stomach lurch- the reminder of her work. If she's leaving a client early for him though, then he needs to be happy about that. That's the best he's going to get.
Less than thirty minutes later, there's a knock on the door. Kyoka is on the other side, hands tucked into the heavy shell of her jacket.
"Fuck," Zuko breathes out, blinking at the sight. There's snow dusting her hair. She looks ethereal, otherworldly, with her dark skin contrasted against her vivid eyes. "I can't believe you came."
He closes the distance between them, curling both hands around the back of her neck and letting his thumbs brush her cheeks. Then he kisses her until he can barely breathe anymore, feeling all of the tension melt out of his body. This isn't about shielding her from the law anymore. Zuko would do horrible things for her—would break even more laws for her, besides the one he's already made his peace with- and it would scare him, a little, if he didn't see the same magnitude of feelings reflected back in Kyoka's eyes when she steps away, catching her breath.
She reaches up, laying a hand over one of Zuko's resting on her neck. "My name is Katara," she says quietly.
"Katara," Zuko repeats, liking the way it rolls off his tongue.
He kisses Katara again, heartfelt, fully able to appreciate the magnitude of the trust that shows, for her to be so honest with him. He keeps kissing her, too, until he feels the sharp sting of a punch to the arm.
"Ow!" He complains, rubbing at the spot. "What was that for?"
"What's your name, asshole?" she demands.
He grins. "It's Zuko, but I'm fine if you want to keep calling me sugar."
Katara snorts a bark of laughter, even though her eyebrows knit with something strange. "Next time you should just ask them to give you cutesy nicknames, if you like it that much."
"There won't be a next time," Zuko tells her sincerely.
::
Late into the night, he's woken up by two phones going off in unison. Both are playing the standard Apple ringtone, but slightly off from each other, making for a jarring contrast. Zuko's hands slide on warm, naked skin when he leans across the bed to fetch his work iPhone.
"Hello, this is Zuko," he answers.
Next to him, Katara asks, "What can I do for you?", voice sleep rough.
"Deputy," the person on the other line says curtly. "There's a situation I want to make sure you are aware of, in case you get called for back-up."
"What's going on?" Zuko asks, coming more awake with each passing second.
By the time he hangs up, he's sick with nerves, stomach churning. His limbs are thrumming with adrenaline, making him think it's going to be a long time before he gets to sleep.
"Katara," he says urgently. "I don't want to tell you to stop seeing clients, but you have to be careful. The police are beginning a massive raid this week. They're going to be arresting hundreds of people. One of them could be you, if I found you so easily."
Katara is staring back at him, mouth half open in shock. "Let me call you back," she says slowly, to the person on the other end of the line.
"I couldn't stand it if something happens to you," Zuko continues, clenching his case. "I don't want to be put in a position of trying to stop you from going to jail."
"What the fuck?" Katara says, sitting up straighter.
"I'm sorry," he insists. "I haven't been entirely honest with you. I'm a deputy in the police force. That was someone in my Department warning me about the bust."
"What?" Katara repeats.
"I never should have started this thing to begin with, but I couldn't help myself. I'm so sorry I've been lying to you," he continues, willing her to believe him.
"No, you don't understand," she says, waving at him for him to stop talking. "You just stole my line. I was going to tell you to be careful."
Zuko drops his phone. "I don't understand."
"I was about to warn you that we're going to be arresting any johns we find this week, out soliciting for sex. I was worried about you."
"You're a cop?" Zuko asks, disbelievingly.
"You're a cop?" Katara shoots back.
Zuko is starting to smile, relief substantially more pronounced than the shock. "So you were going to let me pay you for sex and never say anything? Shitty police work, sugar."
"You were going to pay me for sex!" Katara counters. "You suck at your job, too!"
She's still naked in Zuko's bed, sheets pooling around her waist. There's a rash of red at the base of her neck from Zuko's stubble. She's gorgeous, and he doesn't have to feel guilty wanting to keep her around anymore.
"So you don't have other clients?" he checks, heart starting to race. "Just me?"
"No!" she says. "And you don't go picking up hookers on the regular?"
"Fuck no!" he says. "I hated that awful assignment when I got it."
"God, me too," Katara says. She starts laughing, a choked off, wheezing sound that's pretty contagious.
"What's up?" Zuko asks, even as he starts giggling too.
"We're going to have to come up with a very different story for how we started dating," she tells him. "My family can never hear this one."