Daddy Zuko

1. Where it all began

*flashback to Ember island 4 years and 10 months ago (S.3E.5 The Beach)*

(Even though the story is set in the idea of AtLA, most of the story will have present time items such as electricity and such, the story will still contain bending of elements and such.)

•The following is a recap of the episode•

"TY LEE: What are you doing?

ZUKO: What does it look like I'm doing.

T: But it's a painting of your family.

Z: You think I care?

T: I think you do.

Z: You don't know me, so why don't
you just mind your own business?

T: Ah, I know you.

Z: No, you don't.
You're stuck in your little Ty Lee world
where everything's great all the time.

Mai: Zuko, leave her alone.

Z: [MOCKING] I'm so pretty, look at me.
I like to play and i'm so bubbly, whoo!
Childish girl.

T: Yes, I'm a childish.
Go ahead and laugh all you want.
You wanna know why i'm so childish?

M:Here we go.

TY LEE: Do you have any idea
what my home life was like
growing up with six sisters
who look exactly like me?
It was like,
I didn't even have my own name.
I left because
I was scared of spending
the rest of my life
as part of a matched set.
At least, I'm different now." -From AtLA

"Now I don't have to worry about being in a matching set, i'm free to be me. I'm different in ways you wouldn't even understand." Tylee said. Mai looked at Tylee and Zuko, she knows Tylee is childish, but she thinks it's just because of her family and the lack of attention she received.

"Whatever, doesn't matter anyways, you'll always just be bubbly Tylee" Zuko said quietly as he walked down the beach back towards the vacation house.

"I'm going to head inside, i'm quite tired after such a long day. Goodnight girls" Azula says while yawning. She makes her way back to the house as well, following Zuko's footsteps.

"Tylee he didn't mean it in a bad way, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't understand." Mai calmly tells Tylee, trying to help her as she can tell the gir looks quite sad.

"No no it's fine, he's right. I am childish, but I can't help it, it's just a part of me." Tylee rises from the rock she was leaning agasint. "I'm going for a walk, i'll be back in a bit, you should get some rest. We'll be headed  back home tomorrow."

"Alright, but don't be out too late please."

"I won't don't worry!" Tylee walks in the opposite direction of the house while Mai puts the bonfire out and heads back.

Tylee walked along the shore of Ember island until the sun came up.  She was up pretty late as it was so (this was only about 2 hours after the incident at the bonfire). She would let the water touch her toes every now and then but wouldn't fully submerge her foot in, it was really cold. The dawn area was just hovering above freezing temperatures and she didn't have a jacket with her. Since she couldn't firebend she couldn't keep herself warm but she didn't mind. Her thoughts were distracting enough to keep her mind off the problem at hand. She wanted to know why Zuko had to be so apathetic sometimes, it couldn't bother him to be a little nicer about things.

As the sun began to rise more, Tylee made her way back to the house shivering as she climbed the stairs onto the deck.

"Why aren't you wearing a jacket or something?"

Tylee jumped at the sudden noise, the sun was shining on the other side of the house so it was quite a bit darker in the shade. She couldn't quite see who it was.

"Oh I uh, I d-didn't really think I ne-needed it." She replied turning to where she heard the voice coming from.

"Come here, i'll warm you up quicker than a blanket." Zuko gestured for her to come sit on the bench with him as he scooted more to the left to make room for her.

At this point Tylee could tell that it was Zuko sitting on the bench. She shuffled over to him and sat down, while Zuko pulled out a blanket from the storage bin next to them. He wrapped the blanket around them as she leaned up against him pulling her legs underneath of her with her feet to the side. He used his firebending to warm the warm air around them to keep the cold away.

"Why were you out so late, Mai said you weren't going to be gone long and the sun's already up ." Zuko said sternly as he concentrated on keeping the temperature at a steady level.

" I just went on a walk, I didn't realize what time it was until I saw the sun rising. Were you waiting for me to come back Zuko?" Tylee said as she yawned and shut her eyes.

"Well, yeah, I had to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry about earlier, I was being a jerk. I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just so confused about life and yours seems so much simpler. I guess i'm just jealous of how you handle it so well. I wanted to make sure you came back, that you didn't get lost or anything. When you came back and I saw you shivering and I was hurt that you stayed out in the cold so long, I felt like I wanted to protect you in a way. I'm not sure how to explain that to you. But anyways, i'm sorry for tonight." Zuko spoke as he looked out into the trees while petting Tylee's hair. She had fallen asleep pretty quickly and laid her head down onto Zuko's lap. He looked down to see her sleeping and sighed. She probably didn't hear much of that.