Chapter Text
Katara had been on her feet for fourteen hours straight, but she was nearly done. Nearly meaning she was standing outside of her last patient's room, vigorously rubbing sanitizer into already dried hands. She’d worked longer shifts than this, but after a full week off it felt like hell.
Everyone had been shocked when Katara had called her brother asking him to pick her up from the airport a day early. Except for Pakku, of course, who was happy to simply start assigning patients to her without questions.
She’d been dodging Suki’s calls for the last two days. Unfortunately she couldn’t say the same of the nosy patients who would smile at her and say, “Dr. Katara, You looked awful pretty in the papers. Hardly even expected to see you again.” or “Should you be walking around? I saw on the internet that you hurt your foot.”
The cheekiest among them would say, “Those royals sure are pretty. You should have secured a title while you were up there.”
They were not shy, especially the elders who had been gossiping with her grandmother before their admissions. Katara would have preferred brain surgery to this. Even better if she was the one under the knife.
“Hey, Dr. K,” A resident two years her junior appeared beside her, their hands shoved securely in the pockets of their white coat. “Dr. P is lookin’ for you. Says you’re not answering your phone.”
She had felt it buzzing in her pocket, but she’d opteted to ignore it while she spoke to her patients.
“He told me to tell you that you need to go down to the main lobby.”
“Oh. Why? And– don’t let him hear you calling him ‘Dr. P’. He is probably the least cool attending here. And he will make your life a living hell.” The resident laughed, not realizing how serious she was about Pakku.
Katara tightened her ponytail and started for the staff elevators. She hoped this was nothing serious. Technically, Katara’s shift was over. She didn’t want to stick around any longer than was necessary if possible. Her couch, a pint of ice cream, and an overwatched copy of ‘Love Amongst the Dragons’ was calling her name.
The crowd in the lobby immediately dashed her dreams of a quick departure. The silver-haired receptionist behind the desk was watching for her when she came through the doors so Katara made a B-Line for her.
“Hey. Any idea why I was getting called to come down here?”
The woman behind the desk lowered her glasses and pointed with the frames towards the crowd. “Yeah, honey. That’s for you.”
“The-the crowd?” She turned towards it fully now, and that's when she saw him. He was hard to miss, standing tall enough to be seen over most of the gathered people, but she hadn’t really looked before. But there he was, wearing a perfectly tailored gray suit and turtleneck. Even without his crown he was hard to miss.
He hadn’t seen her yet. The poor prince was being held captive by visitors who wanted to snap a picture with him to remember forever. When his gaze did snap in her direction, the smile that crossed his face was tentative but genuine. He started ignoring the clamor of people who hadn’t gotten a photo yet and walked instead towards her.
“Katara. Hi. I’m glad I caught you. I was getting worried I’d missed you completely. You look nice.”
She didn’t. She knew that. Katara looked tired, her ponytail was starting to go limp even after continued tightening, and the scrubs and orthopedic shoes she was wearing weren’t the most flattering things she owned. But he didn’t seem inclined to tell her she looked terrible.
“What are you doing here?”
Zuko reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar velvet box. “You left this behind. I wanted to make sure you got it back.”
She blanched. She had left the necklace he’d gifted her. Truthfully, she’d felt bad doing it. Ungrateful for such an expensive gift. Katara accepted it, holding it tight in her hand. “Thank you… But you didn’t have to fly all the way down here just to give this to me, Zuko.”
Zuko’s jaw clenched, “When I went to your room the day after the gala, you’d already left. Why?”
“I told you,” She shoved her hands in her pockets, “I was tired. I missed home.”
He bit the inside of his cheek, watching her for a moment. “I was expecting at least a goodbye. It kind of sucked not to get one.”
“Well—“
“Can we go somewhere private?” Zuko interrupted, having realized that the crowds had been slowly converging on them.
Without a word Katara turned and led him through the labyrinthine hallways to the internal medicine residents lounge. It was blessedly empty - though, to be honest, it was usually empty. She stood with a table between them, her arms crossed under her chest.
“So, why’d you go?” He prompted again.
This time she answered more candidly. “Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I liked you. Like you. I thought you liked me, too. I’m sorry if I overstepped or if I crossed a line…”
“If? You don’t think you crossed a line? With Mai?”
“Mai?” His single brow pulled inward. “What does she have to do with this?”
“Seriously!” Katara threw her arms up. “Your sister told me. She told me you and Mai were together. That you were planning on getting engaged soon.”
Zuko coughed suddenly, his eyes going wide. “She what? Katara… What Azula said… only one part of it is true. Mai and I were together.”
Katara scoffed.
“Were.” He emphasized. “Almost a decade ago. We broke up when I was seventeen. Azula and Mai have been friends forever, and I don’t know if Mai has ideas or something - I doubt it. She’s never been shy when it comes to me. But Azula has always held out hope that we would get back together. She lies when she thinks it’ll get her what she wants. She probably thought she was protecting me, and the family. But it isn’t like that between Mai and me. I never would have pursued you otherwise.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes, Katara. Agni, I know you have no reason to believe me. But if you’d just give me the opportunity to make it up to you. To prove to you that I’m not that guy… I like you. Alot. Like. A lot, a lot. I’ve barely known you a week, but I think I’d regret it ‘til the day I died if I didn’t give this a shot.”
“Zuko. I like you, too. Like, I really like you. The last guy I was with cheated on me, and I haven’t dated at all since. So when Azula told me… I believed her. I should have asked you, but honestly… All I could think was that I was already leaving. That you’d probably never see me again. A fling is a fling, not a proposal.I shouldn’t have had expectations.”
“I like expectations. Expectations are good.” He’d come around the table and now he was standing just in front of her.
“Is it a good idea?”
“I think it’s a damned good idea.”
“You’re in the Fire Nation. I’m way down here,”
“Way down here isn’t that far away. And this is the future. We can video call and text all the time when we can’t visit.”
“Please don’t call modern day the future,” She couldn’t help but laugh.
“Besides. I don’t have a real job. I can be here all the time.”
“Zuko?”
“Yeah?”
“Fine.”
“Thank Agni. Because I know I said I could be here all the time but I actually booked my return flight already and—“
Her lips were on his before he could finish the sentence. “Cancel it.”
She felt him smile against her lips, his arms wrapping around her middle to hoist her closer to him. “Or I could cancel it. I’ll do that.”
“Zuko?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for chasing after me.”
“I’ll chase you around the world anytime, Katara.”