Three words that became hard to say,
I and love and you.

-I and Love and You, by The Avett Brothers

It's not exactly abnormal for Katara to be found awake during the night. She is a child of the moon, after all. Sometimes she finds herself restless, sometimes she finds that she needs to focus her mind, sometimes she finds that she needs to clear her mind.

Tonight she is all three of these things.

The silence of the palace is almost eerie, and Katara would be nervous if she didn't know that Prince Zuko (he would be Fire Lord Zuko in just two days) is down one hall and that her brother and the Avatar are down another.

They have conquered Ozai; they have conquered Azula. Katara feels as if they've conquered the whole world.

There is nothing but darkness under the doors, indicating that everyone else is currently asleep. Katara pads down the halls gracefully, careful not to make much noise, or any sounds at all.

The more she walks, the further she gets away from her bedroom, and Katara really doesn't want to get lost in the Fire Palace in the middle of the night.

She turns around to go back, but not before something catches her eye.

Light, underneath a door.

She frowns because she's pretty sure it's the door that leads into the Fire Lord's office, which would mean that Zuko is awake.

She debates for a moment over whether or not she should turn around and continue making her way back to her bedroom, or if she should go see what Zuko is up to.

She hasn't spoken to him much since Aang had returned. She always finds herself not quite sure what to say. Whenever she sees him words seem to stick in the back of her throat.

Before she can make a decision it is made for her. Shadows suddenly appear under the door and a moment later it creaks open and Zuko steps out, fire blazing in his palm.

He freezes when he sees her, and she notices his gaze widening slightly. "Oh," he says. "It's just you."

She crosses her arms across her chest, but more because she is feeling unsure rather than defiant. "Who did you think it was?"

He shrugs and gives her a half smile, not answering her question.

For a few moments there is silence and Katara feels her cheeks heat up. "Um. I'm sorry I disturbed you." She moves to leave before frowning and turning back to him. "What're you doing up this late, anyway?"

He's leaning against the doorframe, watching her. "I could ask you the same."

"I couldn't sleep," she answers truthfully.

He nods slowly in understanding. "I…have a lot of stuff to do before my coronation. It's been time consuming."

Katara now notices the prominent, dark circles underneath his eyes. Something tightens uncomfortably in her chest. She thinks it must be worry.

"Zuko, is there anything I can do to help? You need to get some rest—"

"No," he says, cutting her off. But his voice is soft. He shifts a bit, and then winces. Katara's eyes immediately flick down to his torso, and she's instantly struck with that same breathless, constricting feeling she's always overcome with when she remembers what he did for her. What he took.

"Is it hurting?" she asks, feeling her heartbeat speed up. "Do you want me to look at it? I'll—"

"No," he interrupts for the second time. "It's fine, Katara." She shivers at the way he says her name.

"You should go back to bed," he continues. "It'll be morning soon."

She stands there and simply watches him. It has been plaguing her since he took the lightning bolt—how she hasn't been able to show her thanks. She's said it, of course. But it just doesn't feel like enough. He deserves a proper thank you, although in reality he deserves so much more.

He's watching her as intently as she's watching him, the flames in his palm contorting his face with shadows.

"Goodnight," she finally says, a vague idea forming in her head.

He simply nods and steps back into his office.

The new ribbon feels funny against her neck.

She can't stop reaching up to touch it, can't stop adjusting the knot in the back to make sure it's tied securely.

The old ribbon is clutched in her right hand. It's worn and thin, and there's dirt along some of the edges, but it's still precious to Katara. It used to sit around her mother's neck—an image of her mother wearing it is one of Katara's earliest memories.

But things change, and sometimes you have to replace what is old and fraying in order to usher in something new.

And yet, Katara cannot stop shaking.

It's night time again; Katara made sure that everyone else was asleep before she left her room. Tonight she knows exactly where she's going.

As soon as she reaches Zuko's office she freezes, not quite sure what her next move should be.

Her heart pounds in her chest with anxiety.

What if he thinks that this is weird?

Before she can properly work up a cold sweat, the office door opens and Zuko steps out, a fire in his palm, just like last night.

Except this time he doesn't look remotely surprised to see her. He cocks an eyebrow and waits for her to speak.

"Um. Hi."

He opens his mouth to return her greeting, but she plunders forward, nerves making her impolite.

"I want to show you something."

He looks confused and turns his head to glance into his office before turning back to look at her. "Can it wait?"

She rapidly shakes her head. There's no way she would be able to gather the courage to do this again. "Nope."

"But—"

"Nope."

Zuko grumbles something under his breath before allowing his shoulders to slump in defeat. "Alright. What is it?" Katara can't help but catch the utter exhaustion in his voice.

"Can we actually go inside your office?" she asks, voice shaky.

He frowns but nods before stepping aside and letting her walk into his office.

It's a complete mess. Katara decides that if she has a spare moment in the next few days she'll have to help Zuko organize it. It would be her coronation gift to him.

She shoves a few papers off of an end table near the door and ignores Zuko's sharp intake of breath when the papers hit the floor.

Oh well.

Katara gently places the old ribbon across the table. She knocks on the wood. "You're not attached to this table, are you?"

"Uh, no? Why?"

"Just checking." She waves Zuko over so that he's standing right next to her.

Her whole body is trembling.

"Turn off the lights," she says softly. A moment later they're in darkness.

She waits a moment and forces her breathing to steady before she speaks.

"Zuko," she begins, but just like that the words stick in the back of her throat again. She lets out a slight huff of frustration.

She hears him shuffle his feet beside her and knows that she's making him nervous.

"Zuko," she begins again, taking a deep breath. "I have to thank you."

He stiffens beside her and she figures that he now knows where this is going. He lights a fire in his palm again and stares at her.

She forces the words out of her mouth. "In the Water Tribe, when someone makes a sacrifice for you—a big sacrifice—it is sometimes customary to sacrifice something important in return."

Zuko notices for the first time what's lying across the table.

"Katara, no, that's your—"

"It's just the ribbon," she assures him, and before she realizes it she's touching his shoulder in order to calm him down. She gestures to the necklace around her neck. "I still have the pendant."

Zuko's jaw is clenched and he's looking at her with an unreadable expression.

"Sometimes," she continues, "people would cut off fingers or toes to show their gratitude, things that were irreplaceable—"

"I'm drawing the line." All the blood has drained from Zuko's face. "You're not cutting off anything for me—"

"I'm not!" Katara exclaims, narrowing her eyes. "It's just the ribbon, I promise."

Zuko eyes her for a long moment before relaxing. Her hand is still on his shoulder.

"So, I'm going to, um, sacrifice the ribbon for you. My mother's ribbon."

All the lights turn back on and Zuko is walking towards the door. "This is a great gesture, Katara, but you don't have to sacrifice anything for me." He opens the door and gives her an expectant look. "It's late. Tomorrow is going to be hectic. You should go back to sleep."

Something boils over in Katara's chest and the next thing she knows she's stamping her feet and shouting. "Just let me do this, okay?"

Zuko stills, eyes wide.

"Just let me say thank you! Just let me thank you for what you did, because I don't know how else how!" She clamps her mouth shut and tries to force her fingers to stop shaking. But, since Zuko looks so horrified by her shouting, the only thing she can think of to do is to continue to shout.

"I know that the situation was crazy, I know that everything worked out in the end, and I know that you would have done it for anyone…"

It's the look of contradiction on his face that makes her breath catch and her eyes fill with unbidden tears. They're both thinking the same thing. Zuko is a good person, but Zuko is not a saint. Only saints jump in front of lightning bolts for anyone.

Katara sniffs and looks away, suddenly feeling weary. She's tempted to hide her face with her hands and run out of the room.

Even after the lights go out again she can still feel his gaze on her.

He moves to stand beside her and after a long stretch of silence he says, "Are you planning on burning it?"

Katara nods, even though he can't see the gesture in the darkness. "Yeah."

There's a snap and then the ribbon ignites.

They watch it burn together.

After the ribbon is nothing but ashes, Katara finally says the thing that has been haunting her ever since that battle with Azula. "Why did you do it?" she asks into the dark.

It's quiet for so long that Katara starts to think that Zuko isn't going to answer her.

Then there's a sigh. "Because."

Katara nearly smiles. "Because why?"

The fire lights in his palm again, but Zuko isn't looking at her. He's staring at the wall in front of them. "It's selfish."

Katara frowns. "I bet it's not."

"It was just this feeling," he continues, voice so low she can barely hear him. "The idea of you dying…I just couldn't allow it to happen. Not you." He squeezes his eyes shut and swallows hard, as if chasing away some image in his head. "Not you," he repeats.

The tears are hot as they trail down Katara's cheeks. There's a weight that's pressing against her chest, a weight of a thousand things that she can't quite comprehend. She thinks that the only person that can help her understand is the person standing next to her.

Zuko closes his hand and snuffs out the flame. A moment later Katara feels his fingers find her arm. They gently trail up it before tracing along her shoulder. They hover at her neck and then find her cheek.

Then he's swiping away her tears in the dark.

The sun shines down onto her skin. She's dressed in her best, and can't help the feeling of pride that overwhelms her when she sees Aang as the realized Avatar.

Then the Fire Lord's crown is placed on Zuko's head and Katara's grin softens into something much more intimate.

But sometimes in the sunlight everything is illuminated.

There's another girl standing a ways off. She doesn't look anything like Katara, she doesn't think anything like Katara, and she doesn't come from a world remotely like Katara's.

But yet their intimate expressions are the same.

There's suddenly a bad taste in Katara's mouth, something akin to bitterness.

She can't even hate Mai. She doesn't know her well enough.

The sun is bright and beautiful, but all Katara wants to do is crawl back into a place where she can't see what's supposed to be right in front of her face. It would be a comfort.

There is no candle lit in her room tonight. Katara can barely see three feet in front of her. She's starting to like it like this.

She sits up in her bed, once again unable to sleep, and contemplates whether or not she could go and see Sokka.

Such is the bond between them; Sokka doesn't need to know her secrets. He chases away her problems anyway. And right now Katara thinks she could use a hug from her big brother.

She stiffens when she hears a shuffling of feet outside of her room and a moment later someone taps a knuckle against her door.

Her heart in her throat, she scrambles out of her bed and opens the door to find the person she hadn't really expected to see, but had hoped would show up none the less.

Zuko still hasn't changed out of his coronation clothes, but he has pulled the crown out of his hair. It's clutched in his right hand and his hair falls about his face in a state of disarray.

He looks scared.

Katara quickly peers around him to make sure there is no coming danger before turning her gaze back on him.

"Zuko? Are…are you okay?"

He jumps slightly at the sound of his name, but this his golden eyes focus on her face. He raises his left hand between them and a second later there is fire.

"It's dark," he explains.

She nods slowly. She supposes that she should feel exposed, since she's in her underclothes that she sleeps in. But she decides that she likes the way Zuko's gaze flicks over her body and lingers at the curve of her hips.

Then he quickly looks back up at her face and Katara spies a flush crawling from his cheeks down to his neck.

He opens his mouth a couple of times before he finally speaks. "I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I," Katara answers, suddenly aware of how little space there is between them. "It's weird; normally I don't suffer from insomnia three nights in a row."

The corner of Zuko's mouth quirks. "Same. There are just too many things that I want to say." His voice is low, almost hushed, as if he's just admitted something that he had previous trouble spitting out.

"Like what?" Katara asks, slightly breathless. Her skin feels tingly and something clenches pleasantly in her belly.

The rest of Zuko's mouth pulls up in an actual smile, albeit a small one. "Just things."

He leans forward and Katara's heart speeds up in anticipation.

Zuko hesitates at the last second and kisses her cheek instead. His lips are warm and soft, and Katara feels so many things at once that she's sure she'll burst.

Before he can properly pull away she turns her head and kisses him full on the mouth.

A few minutes later they're on her bed, she is curled up against him because he is warm, and the dark shrouds them in a protective and loving embrace.

They are asleep within moments.

A/N:

This was written for wafflexstars for the Zutara Secret Santa exchange at kz_secret_santa on livejournal.

The four prompts wafflexstars gave were:

1. Giving a new ending to the original series involving Zuko and Katara together
2. Showing forbidden love
3. "love is brightest in the dark" meaning with them
4. Showing them having a family

The ones in bold were the ones I tried to incorporate into this piece, and I hope you enjoyed, wafflexstars! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year!