ALTERNATES

Here's an alternate to what happened in the jail cell when Katara went to visit.

Zuko remained silent. She put her hand on his cheek and brought her face up to his. She tried to read his eyes the way he was reading hers but his emotions were well masked behind his blank expression. "Zuko..." her voice trailed off and she brought her lips to his. He didn't kiss her back and she pulled away when she realized he wouldn't respond. She looked up at his blank face and searched his eyes. Tears poured out of hers and she turned away. "I'm sorry."

She hurried to the door but then his voice stopped her. "Katara." She turned around with tears in her eyes.

"Yes?" she breathed.

"Why are you so stupid?" he demanded suddenly. "Come here." Katara started crying openly but she didn't move from her spot. "Come. Here." he repeated darkly. She covered her tear-stricken face and walked towards him slowly.

"Did you really think, that by coming down here, giving me some lame ass explanation, and a sad little apology, everything would be better?" His face had changed and he was scowling down at her now. "Did you really think that your tears, and your trembling, would make my knees buckle and welcome you with open arms?"

"Zuko please-," Katara sobbed but Zuko stopped her.

"Come closer!" he commanded. Katara stepped towards him until she was in front of the bars facing him again. "Look at me." She kept her face in her hands and cried even harder. "Look at me!" He reached through the bars and took her wrists, prying her hands away from her face then he took her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Zuko-," she started but then suddenly her lips were covered with his. His arms reached through the bars and wrapped around her waist and shock ran through her body. What the-?! But then she sank into his embrace and fire exploded between them and engulfed them in a fierce passion that had remained dormant for a year but had built up day by day.

So how was that?

Version #2: Bit of Humor Mostly Sexy

She dropped her bag on the coach and pulled her hair out of the bun and shook her head so that the dark locks fell all around her shoulders and her face. Then she dropped tiredly into a chair and sighed. Thank God that's over!

Then came a knock on the door.

Katara groaned. It was nice while it lasted. She got up and looked out the peep hole. Her heart stopped for a second in her chest and her breath fell short. Oh come on! I don't want drama right now!

Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.

"Katara?" he knocked again. "Katara I'm not leaving until you talk to me."

Maybe not. She opened the door.

His eyes widened at the sight of her. Her hair was loose from it's bun and her suit jacket was open and the sleeves clasps undone and rolled up. Her blue shirt was unbuttoned at the top showing a peek of cleavage and her lips were still very red, but her eyes were big with irritation.

"I tried talking to you already and you made it clear that you didn't want to talk to me so what the hell are you here?"

Zuko blinked and he stopped staring at her. "What?"

"Why are you here?" she demanded again. There was no trace of the former weakness he'd seen when she'd visited him in his holding cell; now she was strong again.

"We need to talk."

"I already told you-,"

"Well maybe your stubbornness is rubbing off on me because I'm not leaving until you agree to talk to me."

"Oh really?"

He put his foot in the doorway to keep her from closing it. "Really."

She opened the door all the way but when he stepped up to come inside she kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. "OOOOOOOOOW! What was that for?!"

"For making me cry you jerk!" She pushed him over the railing backwards off of the porch into the rose bushes then went back inside and slammed the door as he shouted and cursed in pain.

When he finally got out of the roses and pulled all the thorns out of his skin Zuko backed away looking at the house. That girl's so damned stubborn!

That's why you love her stupid.

Shut up.

Hold on... He remembered something Katara had shown him once when they'd accidentally been out too long and Sokka hadn't known...

Katara dropped back down on the big cushioned arm chair and sighed.

Maybe I shouldn't've done that, she thought guiltily.

Hey he started it! You did try to talk to him. She ran her fingers through her hair and thought how childish that sounded but decided she was too tired to argue. Whatever... She closed her eyes...

BANG!!

Katara jumped and fell out of the chair. "What the-??" She got up and ran upstairs and heard a groan come from her room. She opened the door and gasped.

"Zuko!" His face was cut and scratched from the thorns in the rose bushes and his suit was covered in dirt.

He stood up and took off his jacket slowly then looked up at her. "My jacket is torn. And my suit is dirty." he tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "Katara, you are going to talk to me," he didn't demand it, or ask it; he said it.

Katara put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"I tried to fix things already, but you-,"

"Are you just going to keep blaming me for everything?" Zuko interrupted. "This whole thing isn't my fault!"

"Well a large portion of it is!" Katara yelled.

"Stop that!" he yelled coming towards her. "Just stop! You know neither of us wanted to break up it was a big misunderstanding and you overreacted!"

Katara's mouth dropped angrily. "I overreacted?! How dare you! How am I supposed to act after finding out my boyfriend was a part of my parent's murder?!"

"I tried explaining to you about a hundred times-!"

"I didn't want an explanation!"

"Well what did you want?!"

"I didn't know what I wanted then! I didn't know anything!"

"Then what was I supposed to do?!"

"Nothing!"

"I did nothing for eleven months and now look at us!"

"Well then do something right now!"

"Fine!" He grabbed her face and kissed her viciously. She squealed in surprise then slapped his cheek and he pulled away. "OW!"

"I didn't mean that!" She yelled. But then she rushed at him and put her hands on his shoulders then hoisted herself up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her fingers gripped his hair and she pressed her mouth hard against his and their lips moved together hungrily.

Then he wrapped his arms around her and slammed her hard into the wall. Katara gasped and pulled out of their kiss and stared at him. He smirked. "That was for pushing me in the rose bushes."

He kissed her again and this time Katara bit his tongue hard making him draw back in pain. "OOOOLLLWW!" He yelled with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Katara's turn to smirk. "Oops," she said batting her eyelashes sweetly. Zuko glared at her. So you wanna play like that now? Katara's eyes narrowed. Oh yeah baby, just like that.

He slammed her into the wall again, this time harder and she grunted then fell away from him. "That all you can do?" she said slightly short of breath. She glared at him as if she were challenging him.

Zuko gave her a look as if accepting her challenge. His hands dropped from her waist suddenly and Katara gasped and gripped his shoulders hard. He smirked at the surprise on her face then he squeezed. She gasped again and gripped his shoulders harder as her breath fell short. Too much? he asked her wide eyed expression. She stared at him still breathing hard then suddenly she drew her fist back and-

"AAAAAAAAH!" He let go of her and grabbed his area.

She smiled cutely. "I'm sorry babe did I hurt you?" she asked standing with one leg behind the other and her hand behind her back while the other twirled a lock of her hair.

Zuko looked at her then straightened up and forced a smile. "Of course not."

Katara raised an eyebrow and her expression became smug. "Good." Next thing he knew she'd busted open all the buttons on his shirt and was clinging to him, digging her fingers into his back and kissing and biting his neck so hard she left red marks.

He responded by wrapping his arms around her then squeezing her tightly until she gasped for breath. "Zuko!"

"I'm sorry hon am I hurting you?"

Katara wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Of course not," she said in a light voice. "You'd never hurt me Zuko. And I you." Then she pulled his shirt away from his shoulder and bit him as hard as she could.

"OOOOWWW!"

Zuko dropped her deliberately and she fell to the floor on her back and grunted. "I'm sorry was my kiss to hard for you?" Without waiting for him to answer she kicked his legs out from under him but he fell right on top of her forcing all the air out of my lungs.

"Sweetheart how many times have I told you not to kick yourself in the face?" Zuko asked putting one hand by either side of her head and smirking down at her.

Katara opened her eyes which had automatically closed when he'd fallen on her. "Baby how many times have I told you it's dangerous to wear your shirt open?"

Just as his face changed to a questioning expression, she grabbed his shoulders underneath his shirt and thrust her hips up then rolled onto her side ending up on top of him.

"What does that do for you?" Zuko asked frowning. Then he slid up so that he was sitting up and she was sitting on him with one leg on either side of him. He reached over her and grabbed her jacket at the base then pulled it up and off of her and he threw it away.

"What does taking my jacket-," she gasped when he reached his hands up her shirt and pulled her flush against his body. He wrapped one arm around her waist and his other hand reached up under her hair to her neck. Katara wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed as if they'd been craving the others lips forever.

Then Zuko rolled over on top of her and their bodies molded together moving in unison.

They pulled away for a brief moment both gasping for breath and Zuko kissed the corner of her mouth lightly moving his lips quickly down to her neck sending a burning sensation all throughout her body.

"Zuko..." she breathed. He unbuttoned her shirt as his lips moved lower then she grabbed his face and forced him to face her. She grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down hard.

"EEEEEERRRRGGG!!"

She pushed him off of her then scrambled up and he stood before her. "What was that for?!"

"Trying to seduce me!"

"What?!"

"You always do that! Any time we argue you would start making out with me as if it could make everything all better!"

"Oh give me a break!"

"So you want a break now?!" She glanced around the room then picked up her brush and threw it at him. Zuko caught it and she screamed then picked up her straightener and threw it at him. He ducked out of the way then he ran at her suddenly and caught her around the waist lifting her up over his shoulder.

She kicked and screamed at him and he ran through the doorway into the wall on the other side of the hall.

"What do you suppose is going on in there?"

"I don't know, that girl was supposed to be alone for a week but I don't see how she could be making all that racket alone."

"But there was that boy remember? I think he was her ex."

"He must've snuck in through her window..." the woman gasped and clutched her husband's elbow. "Oh sweetie what if he's hurting her?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "I don't think-," there was suddenly a series of thumps and short screams and yells then there was a loud THUMP and all was quiet.

The woman's eyes widened as she stared at the house. "Oh honey do something I know that boy must've hurt her!"

"Alright, alright I'll go!" Then man with the woman holding his arm made his way up to the porch and he knocked on the door. For a tense moment they didn't hear anything then they heard a set of footsteps coming towards the door. The door opened and their eyes widened as a tall boy with long black hair and no shirt on answered the door.

"Oh my God you raped and killed her!" The woman gasped covering her mouth.

"What?" The boy's brow wrinkled and the man calmed his wife down.

"Now, now dear I know there must be a plausible explanation," he turned to the dark hair boy. "We heard some very loud noises coming from this house and we were just wondering if everything was okay?"

The boy nodded then he looked behind him and Katara poked her head out from behind him.

She grinned. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Saul! How's your garden coming along?"

The woman looked at her in confusion then she looked from her to the boy and back to her. "It's coming along great but, Katara what was going on in here?" She tried to look inside but Zuko moved in front of her and she backed quickly behind her husband again.

Katara laughed. "Oh you mean all the crashing, and the yelling and the screaming and the cursing?"

Mrs. Saul looked at her expectantly. "Well, yeah?"

Katara and the boy looked at each other and she giggled. "We were redecorating," she said looking back at Mrs. Saul. "And we had a little argument about whether a picture was straight or not."

Mr. Saul looked at his wife. "I told you there was an explanation." he turned back to Katara and Zuko. "sorry to have interrupted your, um, redecorating. Mt wife was just a little concerned-,"

"Oh that's okay I'd be worried too if this guy snuck into my neighbor's house!" Katara said squeezing the boy's shoulder.

Mrs. Saul looked at them both with a strange expression. "You sure everything's alright?"

They both nodded. "Yeah, everything's perfect thanks for your concern bye!" They closed the door quickly and the couple stood there for a second then made their way back down from the porch.

"Redecorating?" Mrs. Saul repeated confusedly.

"Honey, remember when we were teenagers what redecorating meant?"

Then woman froze. "Ooooooooh."

Zuko and Katara were both leaning over with their ears pressing against the door.

"Redecorating?" Zuko asked straightening up when they heard the Sauls leaving.

"Oh would you rather I said 'oh nothing bad Mrs. Saul just partially raping each other!'" Katara straightened up and crossed her arms glaring up at him.

"No we weren't!"

"You squeezed my crotch!"

"And you bit me more than if I'd been attacked by a rabid raccoon!"

"Zuko what's the point we will argue every day for the rest of our lives if we get back together," Katara said throwing up her hands.

"Yeah..." Zuko said stepping towards her. "But we both know how miserable we'll be if we don't get back together." He reached into her pocket and pulled out her promise ring. "And..." he pulled her close to him and took her ring finger slipping the promise ring onto it. "The more we fight, the more we make up right?" he said smiling seductively.

Katara smiled then touched his cheek. "Zuko, are you sure we'll work? I just-" her smile fell and she looked down.

Zuko understood and he took her chin to make her look at him. "I could never hurt you again Katara," he looked deeply into her eyes. "I love you."

Katara smiled. "Never hurt me again?" she said softly. "No more smashing me against the wall, no more dropping me, no more tripping and rolling down the stairs with me?"

Zuko chuckled. "I might do that again."

Katara laughed and took his face in her hand. "I love you too."

"I know."

They finally kissed, no biting, no grabbing, not screaming, no shrieking, and no yelling. It was a sweet, pure, and final. They were together again, this time, forever.

So how was that?