Zuko walked out into the narrow prison corridor. He let out a deep sigh as the Earth Kingdom guards flanking the door earthbent it back into place. Azula was secure and, barring some disaster, she would remain in the palace dungeons until the war was over. Zuko crossed his fingers, it was Azula after all. If anybody could escape the Earth King's dungeon it was her.

Zuko walked along the narrow corridor leading back to the main palace building from the dungeon. He passed Mai and Ty Lee's cells, ignoring them. He made his way into a small dining room where the victors of the attempted coup were having dinner.

"Zuko!" Iroh turned to greet his nephew, picking up a cup of tea and offering it to him, "we were just talking about you." Zuko's raised an eyebrow at that as he looked over the Avatar and his friends seated with Jin. Great, he thought ruefully, they've probably been turning her against me this whole time. It surprised him then, when they all stood up and made their way over to him.

"Yeah," Sokka spoke up, "and how your totally awesome girlfriend knocked out Azula!" Sokka mimed a few punches in the air, smiling broadly. "Kickapow!" he added with a last exaggerated knockout punch.

"Geez, Sokka," Toph scolded, "where was all this enthusiasm when I took out a whole battalion of the Earth King's guards myself when we broke in here, huh?" She said it with flat sarcasm but Zuko thought he could detect something else...jealousy? Huh, he frowned. These are some weird people.

"Actually, come to think of it," Katara mused, "it was all Jin who stopped Azula...you didn't really do anything." She fixed Zuko with a sarcastic glance which made him bristle.

"Hey!" Zuko fumed, "I helped!"

"Sure you did," Katara gave him an exaggerated wink and Zuko made a sound like a frustrated snarl.

"Yeah," he paused for a moment while he tried desperately to think of something clever to say. When nothing came he blurted out, "I could have betrayed all of you but I didn't! Isn't that worth something?"

"Yeah," Aang said cooly, "because not being a jerk for once is the same thing as being the hero of the day." Zuko shrank with embarrassment.

"It's worth something to me," Jin said warmly, coming over beside Zuko and taking one of his arms under hers. "It means you have changed," she continued, "you had a chance to go back to being who you were before you came to Ba Sing Se and you chose not to." Jin looked down for a moment as her cheeks flushed red, "You chose me."

"Awkward," Sokka coughed. He got a punch from Toph for his troubles that sent him sprawling back into a chair.

"Not the time, meathead," she scolded before offering an apologetic shrug to the couple.

"Of course I did," Zuko told Jin softly, "and now that Azula's been beaten we can have a life here." Jin's eyes went wide with shock before Zuko realised what it sounded like he was saying. "Oh," he stammered out quickly, "no. I meant that my uncle and I can become tea servers…" Jin's face fell instantly, "no! I mean I still want to be your boyfriend, of course!" Zuko groaned loudly. "Agh! I just meant that...I'm here to stay." Jin smiled warmly and despite his poor delivery she couldn't help but feel happy at the sentiment.

Katara made a retching sound, "I don't know what you see in him." This got a laugh from Aang that was tinged with relief that Zuko's awkward charms weren't having any effect on the girl of his dreams.

"He's got plenty of charm," Jin said, taking Zuko in a big hug which he returned. This got a warm laugh from Iroh and a few embarrassed looks from the others as they made their way back to the table.

"So now that you've captured my sister, what are you going to do?" Zuko asked, as he filled a bowl with rice for himself.

"We've got some big plans," Sokka said slyly, "don't you worry."

"Good grief," Toph shook her head as if she was embarrassed by Sokka's antics. "I think we can tell him."

"I don't know," Aang hesitated, "no offense Zuko," he gave him an apologetic look, "but the less people who know about the invasion the better."

"Invasion, eh?" Iroh perked up at this. Aang slapped himself in the forehead for giving away too much already.

It was after dinner and Zuko and Jin were standing out on the balcony of the dining room. The others were still inside, talking about their adventures with Iroh.

"I think we should go with them," Jin said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Zuko wasn't all that surprised. To the uninitiated, trekking halfway across the world on some insane quest probably sounded like a lot of fun. Zuko knew better, after all he had chased Aang and his friends from the south pole to the north.

"Yeah," Jin continued, "they'll need all the help they can get. And after all, who single handedly took down the princess of the Fire Nation?" she gave Zuko a knowing smile. "And turned the prince to the side of good?"

"But what about your life here?" Zuko asked, "What about mine and my uncle's?"

"I think he would be willing to put it on hold if it meant helping the Avatar save the world," Jin said seriously. "Think about it, if we could end the war...if there was even a chance, we should take it."

"I don't know…" Zuko said, slowly conceding that she was right. She walked over to stand right in front of him before reaching out to take his hands in hers.

"Sometimes, you just have to take a risk," Jin smiled up at him, "sometimes it'll surprise you." She leaned up and kissed him deeply before pulling back. Zuko gulped, his cheeks heating up. I could get used to that, he thought dumbly.

"Okay," he began but he was interrupted as the door to the balcony burst open and Aang came running out.

"Azula's escaped!" Aang shouted without ceremony.

"What? How?" Zuko tried to think of some way that she might have gotten away.

"We don't know," Aang said, his usually animated demeanor deflating.

"If we hurry, maybe we can catch her," Zuko said as he and Jin parted.

"Wait, 'we'?" Aang's face visibly paled.

"We're going with you," Zuko said, his face determined, as the three made their way back inside to plan their next move.

The End.

Author's Notes:

Hi everyone! Sorry the chapter was a day late, I've been sick all week so I haven't been able to write it until now. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed the conclusion. I wanted to leave the story open to continuation so I hope the end doesn't seem too flaky.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your tremendous support and encouragement as I wrote this fic. It was the highlight of my days to come home from work and read the reviews left by all of you :) I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. I also hope you enjoy whatever it is that I write next! :D

Reviews:

To bunjeepanda: Thank you :) It's been tough posting everything on time but it has been well worth it!

To Mr. Tux: I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much :) from the beginning I wanted to take the story in a really different direction from the show because I think that Jin would have had a really big impact on Zuko had they seen each other more.

To Veritas1995: So Zuko and Jin have joined the Gaang. I hope you liked the ending :)

To Anonymous Rex: Thank you for your kind words and your encouragement throughout the story :) I hope you liked how it ended.

To ZukoWithHair: Yeah, Azula's defeat was pretty anti-climatic but I thought it was funnier that way :) also how the Dai Li totally ran for it! I'm glad you've enjoyed each chapter, I write for the readers so it makes me happy to hear that it's been such a fun ride for you :D so Jin is now on Team Avatar along with Zuko!