Chapter Two:

Katara Agni was fast asleep in her bed when her alarm clock AKA Sokka barged into her room Monday morning at 5am. He opened the curtains, so the sunlight came beaming on Katara's face.

"Come on Katara! Get up!" Sokka yelled. Katara groaned. He was worse than an alarm, worse than a bull horn straight to the ear. "Get dressed. You asked me to take you to work and I woke up at 4, skipping breakfast might I add."

Sokka was Katara's older brother, who happened to be the craziest natural born genius she knew. He was an engineer and designed numerous buildings, bridges, and any other thing his mind could invent. He only lived 15 minutes away with his fiancée, Suki. Sokka, who was now 28, still had some childlike tendencies like his odd obsession with sugary foods.

Katara groaned again as she lifted herself from the edge of her body. Her hair was all over the place and she was extremely cranky.

"First day of work with one of the richest CEOs on the freaking planet! Look excited!" Sokka stated slapping Katara on the shoulder. Katara glared at him scornfully. If anything didn't wake her up it was that forceful pat on the shoulder.

Katara got up and grabbed her blue bathrobe and headed to the bathroom to shower. After a 15 minute shower she went back to her room to get dressed. What was she supposed to wear to this job anyway? She settled for a pair of black leggings and her blue, oversized off the shoulder tee shirt. She grabbed her black tennis shoes and then threw her hair into a high bun. She headed downstairs to see Sokka eating a bowl of cereal on the couch.

"Sokka let's go. It's almost 5:30." Katara said grabbing the bowl from him.

"Well don't you look like a cute little maid. " Sokka was snarky in the morning and Katara hated it. She wasn't a maid for the 50th time. She was a respectable, sexy cleaning lady. Katara rolled her eyes once again at her annoying brother.

"Let's just go. I have to be there by 6."

~/~

20 minutes later and Sokka's car pulled up to the Agni estate absolutely in awe. His eyes almost popped out of head.

"Katara! This is where you work! This is insane!"

"I don't get to LIVE here Sokka. I have to clean."

"Sounds like a good deal to me." Sokka shrugged as Katara opened the door to the car. "Bye Sokka."

Katara knocked on the door. Zuko came and answered the door a couple minutes later. To Katara's surprise he was shirtless with a toothbrush in his mouth and a towel around his waist. Zuko certainly had a great body, which looked even better since it seemed like he just got out of the shower. His six pack abs were glistening and his muscular chest which sat under his broad shoulders just made Katara distracted, even his arms looked strong and sexy. Katara wondered how he even had time to work out in between raising a daughter and running a company.

"Um Ms. Sapphire, are you coming in or are you just going to stand there looking clueless?" Zuko narrowed his eyes at her and took the toothbrush out. He snapped her back into reality quick as soon as he opened his smart, stupid mouth.

"Yes. Good Morning Mr. Agni. It's a pleasure to see you again." It certainly was a pleasure to see all his god like body. No wonder the ladies in town loved him.

"I see you've signed the forms I've given you. Leave them on the island in the kitchen. I am getting ready for work. You can start by making breakfast, I only eat egg whites and whole wheat toast. I have a protein shake in the fridge that I have with my breakfast as well." Zuko walked up the staircase probably to get dressed leaving Katara downstairs alone.

"Well Good Morning to you too." Katara said under her breathe. "And since when did I become the chef too?"

Katara went into the kitchen and open the fridge. It was full of vegetables, eggs fruits, water, and a row of smoothies in cups labelled by the day of the week but nothing was cooked. This fridge was a chef's dream, everything was fresh and vibrant. She grabbed and carton of eggs and searched for a pan. He forgot to say how he liked his eggs cooked. Katara put the pan on the stove and went upstairs to ask.

"Mr. Agni, how do you like your eggs?" Katara called. As she near the last door on the left she heard talking. He must have been on the phone. She couldn't help but overhear his conversation.

"You can't keep my daughter from me Mai! I only see her once a week because you claim to be too busy to drop her off Friday so I can have my full weekend. I will go to court and get custody of her if it's the last thing I do. Oh really well who buys all her school clothes? Who pays to get her hair done? Who pays for dance classes? You continue keeping her away from me and violating my visitation rights I will take you to court." Zuko sounded belligerent from the phone call. Who would've thought the most eligible bachelor had baby momma drama. He sounded so upset and hurt, Katara wished she could help.

"YOU CANNOT KEEP HER AWAY FROM ME!" Zuko yelled and startled Katara. She heard something break and hit up against the wall. She had to get in there and see if he was okay.

"Mr. Agni, I-"

Before she could finish her sentence he screamed at her, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

Katara was genuinely afraid of him. He looked like he could punch her. On the floor there were broken pieces of glass from the picture frame that was now on the floor, broken in half.

"I'm, I'm sorry Ms. Sapphire." His tone was now the same monotone, emotionless voice it was before. Zuko was still shirtless but in his boxers now.

"I, I just wanted to know how you liked your eggs." Katara asked in a quiet tone.

"Scrambled. No cheese." Zuko walked into his walk in closet probably to pick out his clothes for the day. Katara saw the glass on the floor and started to pick it up.

"Don't do that. Just go back downstairs." Zuko came back into the room with a white shirt and grey pants and a suit jacket in his arms. His tone was dry and authoritative.

"I don't want you to cut your foot. You don't have shoes on." Katara continued picking up the shards of glass. She reached for the broken picture frame with the picture still inside

"I said", Zuko was very firm and stern this time. "Go back downstairs Ms. Sapphire."

Katara listened to his order for fear he was going to lash out over her touching the picture. She wondered what was in the frame anyway. Maybe a picture of Maya? No matter how much of an ass he was he still didn't deserve to have his daughter kept away from him that's for sure. At least she now knew he had some sort of emotions other than the stoic, nonchalant or nonexistent usual ones.

Katara went back into the kitchen and cooked Zuko's egg whites then she popped the toast in the toaster. Once done, she placed it on a plate and pulled his smoothie out from the fridge. The eggs and the two pieces of toast just looked so unappetizing.

Katara remember her dad used to give her sliced bananas with her breakfast and she remember it was a fruit that helped reduce stress. Zuko certainly needed less anxiety in his life, then maybe he wouldn't be such a stick in the mud. She went in the fridge and got a banana. She sliced that and put the slices on the plate too.

Zuko came downstairs 15 minutes later dressed in his grey business suit with his red tie. Man, did Katara love a man in a nice suit. Zuko was no exception. Katara was washing the dishes and wiping done the counters when Zuko came to sit and eat his breakfast.

"What is this?" Zuko asked staring at the plate confused.

"Your breakfast, Mr. Agni."

"I didn't ask for bananas. I always eat the same thing for breakfast Ms. Sapphire."

"Well I figured that the plate looked very plain, needed color. Plus, bananas help reduce stress and I'm sure you will have a stressful day at the office today."

Zuko blinked hard, looked at Katara and looked back at the plate. "Next time I ask for something you follow my instructions. Okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Agni."

Zuko was exceptionally cold in his voice, but he put a piece of banana in his mouth. That was a win enough for Katara. She smirked to herself as she scrubbed a pan out. Maybe he wasn't a complete asshole.

Zuko finished eating a few minutes later, left the plate on the counter, and was out the door. He didn't say a single word to Katara, not even a bye have fun cleaning my house. Katara sighed. Okay, so he WAS a complete asshole.

~/~

By the end of the day Katara was aching and sore from scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and wiping the whole house. She was completely exhausted by 10pm when Zuko came back home. She smelled like sweat and bleach. In the back of her mind she had to remember the money she was getting for this.

Zuko once again came in and said absolutely nothing to Katara when he came in. He dropped his briefcase by the door and headed straight up stairs. It was only the first day and already she was frustrated with him. Maybe they needed to lay down some ground rules.

Katara marched upstairs and barged into his study, where he was sitting at his desk writing. The lighting was so dim in here she couldn't understand how he could possibly see what he was writing.

Zuko didn't even look up from what he was doing just said, "You may go home now Ms. Sapphire."

That pissed Katara even more. What did he think she was? His slave?

"You listen to me! I know this is the first day but I don't know what your problem is! You won't treat me like a slave."

Zuko started laughing at her and loudly at that. He had this sarcastic, chip on his shoulder attitude. "I hardly think you are a slave Ms. Sapphire. For one thing slaves don't get paid nearly as much as I'm paying you."

"It's not about the money! If you want me to continue being your employee you have to respect me. I don't know how you treat your other employees but you could at least acknowledge my presence. Say good morning. Hell! Thank me for my services. I'm here to help you but you can't treat people like they don't matter." Katara maybe let off a little more steam than she was supposed to. She actually raised her voice at him. Oh no! Maybe she said too much.

Zuko was absolutely silent and staring hard at her. He finally spoke up after an awkward moment of silence.

"You certainly are a different kind of girl." Zuko smirked slightly at her. A different kind of girl? What did that even mean? No apology! He didn't even hear what she said. Katara was fuming so much she was speechless. She probably was twitching uncontrollably at this point. She was about two seconds away from walking out the door and not coming back.

"Good night Ms. Sapphire. I will see you in the morning." Zuko said softly as he went back to his paperwork.

Katara was so angry she couldn't even bring herself to say anymore to him, but something about his good night made her feel less tense.

"Good night Mr. Agni." Katara left his house and got to the bus stop so fast you would think she was a track runner.

Tomorrow is a new day, Katara thought to herself as she collapsed in bed. 6am would be here soon enough.