"Hey kat so I'm kind of dumb and we know this but what's the difference between a Carmel latte and a Carmel macchiato? Cause I forgot what you wanted and got both?" Zuko walked into the house with two cups but paused seeing Sokka and Hakoda looked at him from the kitchen.

"... and a manly black coffee for me?" He pursed his lips awkwardly.

"There's two cups..?" Sokka raised a brow.

"Well tell Katara I said hi, and I'll be on my way out," Zuko set the cups down as she ran down the stairs.

"Bring them up and you too, I gotta show you something!" Katara smiled smugly at him as Zuko grabbed the coffees and escaped her brother and father.

"Door open!" Hakoda called.

"I'm locking it!" Katara yelled back as the door closed when Zuko got inside.

"Does Your dad even like me?" Zuko handed her the coffees as she looked at the labels.

"You got two?" She asked flatly.

"What's the difference?"

"Here you can have the latte," Katara snorted as she sat on the bed and he sat on the floor. He sipped the coffee suspiciously but was surprised how good it was.

"So what did you want to show me?" He asked happily sipping more of the latte.

"So there's the whole Christmas break thing coming up and I don't celebrate Christmas," Katara smiled pulling her laptop to her.

"Neither do I," Zuko agreed.

"Really? Why?" She asked curiously.

"Not religious," and trauma.

"Oh gotcha, I use to celebrate it when my grams but stopped when we moved away," she understood and went back to her laptop.

"So I was thinking what if we had a movie night with everyone that are all holiday themes but Christmas? I really want to bake these cheese cake cookies and I think making them look like pumpkins would be cute," Katara showed him the recipe with a bright smile. He smiled a little at her loving her enthusiasm for something that was silly but genuinely seemed like a fun time.

"I'd be down," he agreed.

"Also my dads going back to Alaska to visit my gran gran and Sokka is going to be sleeping at suki's a lot more," she hummed turning on the tv and grabbed her nail polish.

"So we can finally build a fort?" Zuko perked up.

"Well I was thinking nerf war but fine," Katara pouted a little as she shook the nail polish a little.

"You shoot a gun once and suddenly you think you can beat me with one," Zuko scoffed rolling his eyes but watched intrigued with her painting her toes.

"You think your experience isn't going to make me try beating you even more? Your a funny guy," she snorted sarcastically and saw he was watching her paint.

Katara smiled smugly and grabbed his hand to paint his thumb knowing he wouldn't fight back.

"Aw now we're matching," she teased holding her blue painted nails to show him. Zukos eyes lit up in awe.

"I thought guys can't wear nail polish?" Zuko asked confused as he let her paint the rest of his hand, he didn't care that much, he's never had painted nails. It felt weird, like his fingers were heavier almost.

"Anyone can wear nail polish, it's just paint," Katara chuckled as she stuck out her tongue concentrating.

"Azula didn't like nail polish, and my mom didn't wear it often, nothing against it, but I just think my father didn't like it on her either," Zuko shrugged a little as she finished, he held his hand out and cocked his head to the side.

"Don't touch anything for a few minutes," Katara told him and he gave her his other hand when she motioned him to give it up.

"My mom use to paint my nails, Sokka was always curious so she painted his sometimes too when we were kids, we'd call it mini girl dates since we couldn't go to a spa, she'd curl my hair and show me how to put on make up a little, usually tinted chap stick and whatever eye shadow," Katara smiled at the happy memories of her mother.

"Do you have pictures?" Zuko asked and Katara thought for a moment but nodded brightly as she finished.

Katara jumped off her bed as Zuko waved his hands a little to make them dry as she ran out of the room. He wondered what his uncle would think about his painted nails, he just thought it was sweet that Katara said they were matching. The smiled was worth whatever judgement he'd get.

"I have a picture book from when I was little, mostly Sokka baby pictures cause you know, oldest child shit," Katara set a large book on the bed and flipped through it where he saw naked baby Sokka in a tub.

"He drools just as much," Zuko pointed out but gasped a little when he saw baby Katara in her mother's lap with a big gummy grin and a bow in her curly brown hair.

"Here, my dad loved taking pictures, I was like four in this one," Katara pointer to a picture of her and kya in the kitchen with Katara on the counter as her mother was painting her nails, cheap rollers in both their hairs as it looked like they were laughing.

"You look a lot like your mom," Zuko looked at the pictures softly.

"Thanks, my dad says I have her smile," Katara smiled back as they went through the pictures. One was a crying toddler Katara with Sokka holding up her one pig tail that he chopped off as he was missing a tooth. They had to give her a little bob when Sokka cut her hair off.

Zuko looked at another picture and pursed his lips seeing it was Hakoda holding new born Katara as Kya was in the hospital bed with two year old Sokka in her lap, curiously looking over in his fathers arms. They were a happy family.

"Hey kat, is it okay to ask what happened to your mom?" Zuko asked quietly. Katara paused at the question, she gulped a little.

"Can I ask what happen to yours?" She asked but he nodded.

"I honestly don't know, just one day she was gone, I didn't think she was dead, my dad said she left us because she didn't love me anymore, until we had a funeral for her, when we came back to America I got a hold of her records when they found her body.. she was found in a ditch by a mailman," Zuko gulped a little as he rested his chin on his hands that folded over the bed.

"But no cause of death, it's blank, I'm guessing my father had something to do with her death," he nodded softly and Katara pursed her lips.

"She was shot in front of me, a man broke into our house when Sokka and my dad were in the backyard playing, my mom told me to go outside as the man held a gun at us, I did and just as I came back inside he shot her in the head," Katara closed her eyes.

"My dad covered my eyes when I saw her body hit the ground but I could hear my dad scream, telling Sokka to go to a neighbor as he shoved me outside before I could look back at my mom, I stayed at the door in shock as Sokka ran to get help, when the ambulance and police arrived the guy was gone," Katara inhaled a shaky breath as Zuko listened with his full attention.

"They found him six months later, he's in prison now," she sniffled a little. "I miss her still,"

Zuko got on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, he shouldn't have asked, he didn't know she was murdered in front of her. He held her close as Katara leaned against his shoulder wiping her nose a little bit didn't cry.

"I'm sorry," he whispered kissing her forehead.

"I'm sorry, you don't deserve that," Zuko gulped a little as he rubbed her back.

"I was going to tell you sooner or later, it kind of helps when you understand it too," Katara sighed a little nodding, he was warm.

"People sometimes make fun of me because I brought her up a lot, saying that i just was horrible for bringing her up to make them feel bad for me... and maybe I did bring her up, I was just trying to sympathize cause I know what people go through, sometimes they yelled at me cause I-I was young to know what it was like to have her around," Katara gulped a little. She didn't mean to invalidate people, they'd cry because they lost their grandma or a relative and she tried to make them feel better but...

"You knew what that pain was, not everyone does, they say they understand but they don't, not like that, it's different and more difficult, I'm sorry people were assholes to you when you were just trying to help," he pulled her close and Katara rested her legs across his lap.

"So how long does nail polish last? It feels fragile," Zuko held his hand up frowning confused at it and Katara burst out laughing.