AN: And the week we Zutarians have all been waiting for-ZUTARA WEEK! (confetti rains and horns blow) This is my first Zutara Week, so tell me how I'm doing!

DISCLAIMER:

I don't own "ATLA"-if I did, I'd make it Zutara.

DAY ONE: FAMILY

Sometimes Zuko was sick of it all. He was sick of the old geezers in Court insisting that he should be more like Ozai and should have married Mai, a noblewoman of noble Fire Nation blood, instead of his "barbarian Water Tribe wife." He was sick of the endless papers-begging him to kick off Fire Nation citizens that had lived generations on Earth Kingdom land, bickering over trade, death threats on him and his "half-breed" family, and countless other complaints on how he ran his nation. The formal way his Court was still run, so boring he couldn't even say hello to his wife in public without giving her the proper greetings, and vice versa. The stiff, hot required ceremonial robes he had to wear every day and the cursed Fire Lord crown, worn for generations of hated Fire Lords.

And sometimes-dare he say it?-he hated being Fire Lord. He knew he was doing the right thing. He knew he was good for putting an end to the horrible war that Sozin had started. But even after five years, things were still bad. Rebels, ceremonies that required everything to be dictated and boring, paperwork, no freedom, and some Fire Nation citizens still wanting the war.

"Zuko." his wife touched him on the shoulder as he sat at his desk with the scratching brush and ink spots. Zuko couldn't take the stress anymore. He furiously began scratching out his signature on papers.

"What?" he snapped.

"Come on. It's our family picnic night. Remember?" Katara had arranged it usually at the end of the week, where the family (their three children, Katara, him, Ursa, and Uncle Iroh) relaxed and ate dinner by the turtleduck pond.

"I don't want to." he grumbled.

"You skipped it all this month!"

"Because I have too many things going on to do some stupid family picnic!" he growled. Katara stepped back, hurt glistening in her eyes, but she closed them. Stiff and disappointed, she shook her head and called the three little ones to go to the turtleduck pond.

She swept out of the room in her loose blue sundress, her hair flowing loosely down to her waist, with a hurt and angry expression on her face. Zuko noticed she placed a hand on her stomach with a sigh.

A few minutes later, a little girl's voice piped up in the room.

"Daddy?" his youngest child, Kiana, tugged on his sleeve. She wondered why Daddy was skipping their family time and why Mommy was sitting by the pond with a sad face. Did they not love each other anymore?

Zuko looked at Kiana. She was the spitting image of her mother-brown hair and those blue eyes that made him melt like a marshmallow dripping into the ashes of a cooking fire. He scooped her up onto his lap and stroked her hair. "Yes, sweetie?"

"Why aren't you coming? Mommy is sad." Kiana wiggled in his lap, tugging on some loose strands of hair that had fallen from his Fire Lord topknot.

"Daddy has a lot of work to do." he explained simply. How could he explain to his three-year-old child that he couldn't stand anything anymore and how he thought he wished he was never Fire Lord?

"Grandpa Iroh said to Mommy he is worrying you're aba-aban..." she struggled to pronounce the word.

"Abandoning?" Zuko whispered, remembering the hurt look on Katara's face.

"Yes. What's it mean? Do you hate us?" Kiana's eyes began to fill with tears. She began to sob.

"No, no..." Zuko rubbed her back, ignoring her snot and tears dripping down his robes. "I love you all, very much."

"Then aren't chu coming, Daddy?" Kiana whimpered. Zuko sighed, bouncing her on his lap.

"I don't know." he answered. Why wasn't he caring anymore?He swore he was never going to be like Ozai...was he? No. He saw Katara's loving smile beside him in the early morning and himself kissing her; Kiana laughing as she Waterbended the pond to make little ripples; Tui (his oldest child) practicing his Waterbending and splashing his father when he watched; Hu (the middle child) screaming when he burnt his fingers while Firebending, but Katara soothed it with Waterbending and a kiss; Iroh and Ursa playing Pai Shao and drinking tea; Zuko spinning his children around in the air, the little children shrieking with laughter and Katara giggling at Zuko grunting, struggling to pick them up as they got older.

He loved his family. And he thanked, with all his heart, that he was Fire Lord and that he finally had the family he wanted.

Zuko threw on a simple shirt and pants, took off his Fire Lord crown, picked up Kiana, and joined his family under the shade of the tree near the turtleduck pond.

Katara smiled with joy when Zuko arrived, throwing her arms around him. They kissed, gentle and long. She drew back and placed Zuko's hand on her stomach. A small flutter kicked Zuko's hand, and he looked up with a small smile on his face at Katara's tearful face. A single tear rolled down his own face.

Tenderely, he embraced her.

AN: Hope you all liked it!