The Return - A Zutara Fanfiction

Truce

Now

Katara nurses a cup of instant coffee and wishes it was tea instead, perhaps for the first time in her life. The ghost of hazelnut and cocoa lingers on her tongue. Zuko lingers in her head. The way he hugged her when she left the café, the way he didn't feel or smell anything like she remembered. The way he was simultaneously exactly the same.

She shifts and the plastic breakroom chair squeaks beneath her indignantly. She should just go home, really. A glance at her watch tells her that her shift has already been over for ten minutes, and yet she cannot remove herself from the least comfortable chair she's recently sat in. She still has half her coffee left, anyway. Her apartment will be just as cold and empty as when she left it this morning no matter when she gets there. No matter if she is there to occupy it or not.

There is a soft tap at the doorway, despite the breakroom being available to all hospital staff. Katara lifts her head. Smiles when she sees Ty Lee. Shrinks a little when she realises Ty Lee is smirking in a way that can foreshadow only trouble for her and thrilling entertainment for everyone else.

"Katara? There's someone at main reception for you."

"For me?" She sips her coffee, doesn't move. Tries not to consider for a single moment who her surprise visitor may be – or, more accurately, who she hopes it may be.

"I'd get a move on if I were you." The mischievous excitement is positively oozing from Ty Lee's entire person. "He's already become quite popular with the admin girls."

As if she were searching for yet another reason to loathe herself, Katara feels her pulse kick up, feels the hot stab of adrenaline spiking along her neck and into her cheeks. She sets down her cup with a hand that trembles.

"Thanks, Ty Lee. I'll be right down."

And Ty Lee winks as she slips back out the doorway.

There is a veritable crowd of hospital staff to greet Katara at reception. Certainly a superfluous amount for this time in the late afternoon. The first thing she has the capacity to notice is the enormous bunch of flowers crowding the front desk, which would appear to be the nexus of this spontaneous congregation. And then her eyes flick upward to the dark knot of hair above a pale neck, the jacket spanning narrow shoulders, and she doesn't know what to do or think or say or feel.

"Zuko?"

He turns with a grin already in place, lazily, like he had forgotten her presence was what had precipitated his own. The thought has her crossing her arms to contain the newest surge of adrenaline it inspires.

"Hey." With his eyes on hers his grin softens and for a millisecond she wants him to pull her close again and fold her into his arms. She wants to rest her head on his shoulder. She wants to breathe in that spot beneath his jaw that smells so unmistakeably like him.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?" She cannot think of a single reason why Zuko would be here, aside from a mission to deliver inexpressibly bad news, but the somewhat lethargic curling of the corners of his mouth has her discounting that as a possibility.

"Well, I heard congratulations were in order, so I come bearing gifts." And he gestures with a sweeping hand to the flowers that first caught her eye. Not a single gaze in the room misses the movement. Katara is suddenly aware of all the other beating hearts in the vicinity, all the other witnesses to this most puzzling – and likely soon-to-be painful – occurrence.

She doesn't have to excuse herself as she crosses the room – the loitering staff members shuffle aside for her, and try as she might, she cannot ignore the way each of their expressions is set in an impressive imitation of Ty Lee's triumphant smirk.