Chapter 10:

Katara came into work at twelve on Saturday. When she arrived Maya was already there and super hyper, running around playing with her dolls. Zuko was in the dining room supervisor Maya.

"Ms. Katara!" Maya immediately ran up and gave Katara a big hug. Was it even possible to be upset around this girl?

"Good Morning Maya! How are you today?" Katara asked pushing the young girl's ebony hair behind her ear.

"I'm fine. I'm excited for ice cream! Will you play dolls with me Ms. Katara?" Maya questioned, her big golden eyes shining bright.

"Yes." Maya pulled Katara over to the living room floor and handed her a blonde haired and blue eyed doll. Maya had a tan male doll in her hand.

"You be the Mommy and I be the Daddy. Now we work." Maya bounced her doll around and Katara followed.

"How old will you be this year Maya?" Katara asked to make conversation as she continue playing house with her doll.

"Eight. I want a big party with unicorns and princesses." Maya said showing her teeth. Katara noticed she was missing another tooth in the front.

"Oh Maya you lost another tooth!" Katara exclaimed. "What do you want for your birthday?"

Zuko came over and started picking Maya's toys up from the other side of the living room.

"I want Mommy and Daddy to be together." Maya exclaimed. Katara's eyes widened. She looked at Zuko then back at Maya. Obviously Zuko had heard her because he looked so uncomfortable. From what Katara heard of their past arguments that was never going to happen.

"Maya, ready for ice cream?" Zuko inquired in a quiet tone. He seemed really distressed at the moment. What Maya said must really have bothered him. I guess it would. How could you possibly explain to your daughter that you and her mother didn't love each other anymore? Tough pill to swallow for a young girl, but that bridge would be crossed by Zuko later. At the moment Maya was bouncing off the walls.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Maya said giddily, while jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Katara couldn't help but smile at the extremely happy girl. "Daddy! Can we go now?!"

"Yes, of course."

~/~

The trio arrived at the ice cream shop at 12:30. The closed sign was on the door. It was completely empty, except for one worker and the windows were covered. Zuko did a firm knock on the door and immediately the door was unlocked and open. Apparently Zuko was such a celebrity that we both had to wear dark sunglasses. According the Zuko the media would blow this entire situation out of proportion. One photograph and Zuko and Katara would be a married couple of 5 years with an adopted daughter. Once inside the shop they stripped of their disguises. As the owner locked the door behind them.

"Daddy! Why is no one here?" Maya asked curiously

"I bought out the whole place for you today Maya. You can have whatever you want. You want to have Mr. Goldman show you how to make a sundae?" Zuko replied tapping his daughter on the shoulders. Maya nodded enthusiastically and in seconds she was behind the counter with Mr. Goldman.

Zuko and Katara took a seat at the many open booths, across from each other. Katara looked down at her phone she had two missed messages. She would check them later when she didn't have a child to attend to. From her home screen she saw that the messages were from Aang and Toph. The fact that he messaged her the next day after their first date gave Katara hope that he really liked her. She couldn't wait to see him again. Toph was probably checking her like she usually did. Toph had better brought back her robe though

"Do you want anything? Maya isn't the only one that can enjoy herself today." Zuko stated, peering at Katara.

"Um no. Thank you though."

"What are you trying to watch your weight or something? Share a sundae with me."

Well that was slightly rude but she didn't want to argue with him today. Even he did order her to share a sundae with him. Maya was gleeful enjoy her twenty scoop, massive ice cream sundae by herself in her own separate booth. Zuko and Katara hopped behind the counter and began making their tasty creation.

"What ice cream do you like? I like pistachio." Zuko said getting an ice cream boat and a scooper.

"Ew. Pistachio. Seriously? Nothing beats butter pecan."

"I'm allergic to pecans. Try again?"

"How about classic vanilla?"

"Fine." Zuko replied as he scooped two scoops of vanilla into the large bowl.

"What, are you counting calories? If we are going to eat this we're going big." Katara snatched the scoop from Zuko and scooped ten more scoops of ice cream into the bowl.

"Don't snatch from me." Zuko said grabbing her wrist. For a moment time almost stopped. Katara could feel Zuko's touch through her spine, in the bottom of her feet. Why were his hands so warm? Why was he looking at her so…lecherously? Pull yourself together Katara! You will defeat these dreaded hormones!

"Ummm so more toppings?" Katara moved her hand. Even then she could still feel the warmth on her wrist.

"Caramel Sauce and peanuts?"

"Go for it. Chocolate chips and sprinkles?" Katara suggested.

"Sounds good to me."

By the time they were finished the ice cream dish was heavy. The twosome made their way to the booth behind Maya, placed the sundae in the middle of the table, and began to dig in. Maya had already finished her ice cream and was now prancing around and dancing around the ice cream shop. Katara had to admit Maya's pirouettes were very graceful. Zuko could have a future ballerina on his hands.

"All those ballet classes I pay for are paying off." Zuko said admiring his precious daughter.

"Mmmm." Katara moaned, enjoying the tasty treat. She heard Zuko's let hit under the table and was startled by it. It completely took her out of the guilty pleasure. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Yea. I'm fine. Just, just hit my knee." Zuko scooped up a glob of ice cream and stuffed it in his mouth. "So what do you do? I mean outside of working for me Ms. Sapphire."

Well, that was weird.

"Besides sleeping and watching Buffy I spend time with my family and friends."

"Oh I see. Do you have siblings?"

"One brother named Sokka who likes to make terrible puns and burn the house down when he tries to cook. Suki, his fiancée, seriously needs to block the Food Network."

Zuko smiled, "I'm sure I'd rather have your brother than Azula any day of the week. Azula makes me be her wingman when she's drunk then throws up all over me when I tell her it's time to leave."

"Speaking of Azula what was going on the other day? She seemed really upset."

"My father said something I didn't like about Mai. We aren't talking. She's mad." Zuko delivered at a fast, brief pace.

"What's really going on? She said you threatened to kill him?"

"I'd prefer to not get into it. It's really none of your business. But what I will say is that despite Mai and I had a tumultuous end to our relationship, I have to respect her as the mother of my daughter and I won't allow anyone to ever call her out her name."

Katara found Zuko's willingness to defend Mai at any costs as extremely admirable. He had a nice side, Katara was beginning to see.

"We all have that one crazy ex we love despite everything they did in the past." Katara had thoughts back to Jet. If he needed her she would help him with anything he needed yet she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him.

"You had a crazy ex too? Really? You don't seem like the type."

"What's that supposed to be mean Mr. Agni?" Katara didn't know whether to be offended or to be weirded out that Zuko had put her into a set category already.

"You seem like the type that likes nice guys, goody two shoes type of guys who worship the very ground you walk on type of guys."

Aang immediately popped into her head. He wasn't THAT perfect. I mean he seemed nice so far but that didn't mean he was necessarily a nice guy.

"What's wrong with a nice guy? Don't think a woman deserves to be worshipped or something?" Katara had Zuko pegged down a T. He was one of those guys who loved to control his women and had no respect for them at all. Maybe that was why he and Mai didn't work out, despite Maya.

"No, but I do believe a woman needs a certain amount of… excitement in her life." Zuko smirking at her was single handedly the most attractive thing she had seen all day. Katara didn't know why he didn't smile more often. She also wondered why he didn't have his shirt off more often. "Don't act like a nice guy could possibly satisfy you. It HAS to get boring. Nice guys don't know the first thing about spontaneity or excitement."

"Oh yea and I'm sure YOU know everything about pleasing a woman." Katara stated sarcastically. Consider he had been with more women than most would be with in a lifetime it was very debatable if he knew the first thing about making a woman happy. His track record with women was terrible and that was just a fact that he couldn't deny.

"Well to be completely candid: I haven't had any complaints as far as pleasuring was concerned. I did get far enough to create a baby after all."

Katara's face was bright red. She couldn't believe he just openly bragged about his exploits of pleasure. She suddenly felt twice as more awkward as she did before around him. They definitely weren't talking about the same type of satisfaction. Truthfully Katara needed a little bit of both types of satisfaction right now. She absolutely had to call Aang when she got him. Maybe Aang would prove Zuko's little theory about nice guys wrong. She hoped.

"What's the deal with you and Mai anyway? I overheard you guys arguing. Seems like no amount of pleasuring times could save that relationship."

"You share about your ex and I share about mine." Zuko reached out his hand. Katara shook it in confirmation. "Mai and I have basically grown up together. She was my first love. Her dad was an important investor in Agni Corp, so our parents knew each other. It was Azula's Sweet 16 and let's just say we had a great time. After that we started dating publicly and it was great in the beginning. I was in love with her. We were happy together, but I was messed up. I started drinking heavily and probably said some horrible things to Mai. We weren't being careful and she told me she was three months pregnant on my 17th birthday. She told me that and I didn't know how to handle it. The drinking increased to everyday and so did the other women. I avoided her for a month. From my father's ignorant advice I told her to get an abortion, told her I never love her, and told her if she went to tell anyone about the pregnancy we'd fire her dad and sue her family for all they were worth. She broke down said she never wanted to see me again. She looked heartbroken and I felt terrible, but I wanted to only obey my father's wishes. I wanted joint custody but Mai who felt jilted, petitioned for custody knowing I would lose due to my then recent troubles with the law. We paid her 4.5 million to keep quiet. She took the money but she's always been cold to me. Deep down I don't think she's ever forgiven me and thinks I didn't want our daughter and like I lied to her. That's why everything now is the way it is."

"Wow. I don't think my ex story is nearly as rough."

"Go for it. Your story will probably be more interesting than mine anyway."

"I met Jet in my sophomore year of college. He approached me one day in the quad and asked me out. I said yes, though skeptical of taking a date from a random guy. We hit it off great. He was funny and charming and smart. He was a typical nice guy. We got into a relationship and it lasted three years. He was my first everything and it was blissful until I found out he was sleeping around on me with every girl that had a nice pair of breasts and could lay on her back. Ever since then, I haven't been the same."

"Ms. Sapphire, can I be honest with you?"

"Yes?"

"A real man would cater to a woman's every need and desire, make her feel like she was the only girl in the world for him. He would make love to her every night like it was the last time he would ever see her again. He would empower her when she wanted it and protect her when she needed. He would praise her body like the beautiful fruit it was and enjoy her mind like a rare delicacy. No self-proclaimed Nice Guy is ever going to give a woman the things she needs to thrive. You keep picking 'Nice Guys' like Jet who want to idolize you and not love you you'll never be happy in your love life. While I'm sorry he cheated on you it was only in his 'Nice Guy' DNA to find something else new to idolize when the beauty wore off and couldn't dare to tell you the truth. A 'Nice Guy' will lie at any cost to keep up the fantasy. Guys like me, guys with flaws and who've made mistakes, we love hard. It may not be the conventional or romantic way, Ms. Sapphire but we would rather entice a women with our humanity than our false sense of humility. We take risks, we're passionate lovers, and we'll be damned if we aren't as honest as possible. There's no fantasy involved, its raw and open intimacy the whole way through. Stop picking the Nice Guys and pick someone who can handle all the scars and baggage you may come with. I promise you'll be so much happier in the long run. That's my honest advice as a man and as your boss Ms. Sapphire."

Maybe she should take Zuko's advice. His words had so much conviction she was in chills when he finally finished. She was seriously considering not going back out with Aang even when she lying in bed that night. Katara just had to know for herself if Aang really was the nice guy.

Author's Note: What do you guys think? ~Brie