A/N: After being so good about getting these up at least every other day, here I make you guys wait a few days for this one. The last chapter at that. I've got to be evil. Hopefully, finally getting the answers will make up for the wait.

Last Chapter. Please enjoy.

Four days passed. Zuko wasn't entirely sure how they passed, only that they did. The process was slow and agonizing, but some how, it didn't matter how painful it was, the world unforgivably kept turning. Mai had forced him to take time off. It was the first time she had ever imposed it on him, but even he knew his head wasn't on the job. When your job was watching someone in a potential life threatening situation, people died if your head wasn't all there. It wasn't an option that was debatable.

He was to take a solid week off from duty. Mai at least kept him updated about work, taking time to tell him who was pulling what clients and some how managing to make it work with only Ty Lee and Sokka. Suki and him were set to return at the same time. Mai didn't want him to rush though. Zuko knew if he showed up after a week's time and he wasn't ready for the job, Mai would send him back home for another solid week. He sighed heavily at that thought. If that happened, he knew he'd have to take up some sort of hobby just to keep from going crazy.

The urge to go curl up in bed had repeatedly crossed his mind, but Zuko found he rarely spent much time in the bed room. There was a quiet internal struggle to avoid the room. The few times he had been forced in there, his eyes always made their way to his untouched watch that lay on his dresser. Instead, Zuko found a great deal of his time recently had actually been taken up learning how to cook. Zuko refused to admit any other reason why he might be spending so much time in the kitchen. Never mind the fact that he was utterly terrible at it.

Zuko's phone went off with a text. He walked over to the counter and picked it up. It was from Mai, he read it.

Ok, two people out, is so not cutting it. We have got to hire another person.

Snorting at the phone, Zuko threw it back at the counter. He didn't make it a step away, before it went off again.

I'm serious! Don't ignore me!

Sighing, Zuko texted her back.

Fine. I'll start interviews when I get back.

He stood there waiting, knowing that Mai was never happy unless she got the last word.

Good! I've got the perfect candidate.

Zuko rolled his eyes at his phone. Mai always seemed to know just the right person. His phone chimed alerting his to picture mail. Zuko clicked it only to see the picture he had sent Mai right after Aang had showered and dressed. Zuko felt his heart clench. He typed in the words.

Not funny.

The next text came quickly.

Wasn't meant to be. I'm serious. Let's hire him.

Zuko punched in the reply.

I'd gladly hire him if he wanted the job.

It took a moment for Zuko to realize that his phone was actually ringing and it wasn't just a text. He picked it up.

"Yeah," Zuko said by way of greeting.

"Are you serious, Zuko? I think I'd like to work with you."

Zuko dropped his phone on the counter and didn't even take the time to pick it up. He was out the door and in his car as fast as his legs would carry him. The drive across town seemed to take longer than ever before, even though Zuko was sure that he was well past speeding. Frantically, his heart beat and stuttered about in his chest. A million different scenes playing out in his head that he had to brush off as tried to focus on the road. Pulling up out side, Zuko didn't even bother properly parking or turning off the car, he left it running as he climbed out. His legs covered the distance in quick purposeful strides.

Aang stood there waving at him. Goofy grin locked in place. Zuko took in his beige cargo shorts, sneakers, and simple tee shirt. The sight was lost on him though as he crossed the office in a few quick steps and wrapped his arms around him. Aang began to say something, but Zuko cut him off as he pressed their lips together. Aang eagerly returned the kiss. Tension melted from his body and he could feel from the way Aang leaned into him, that he wasn't the only one.

"Wow," Mai said.

Zuko pulled away from Aang and looked over, catching her taking pictures with her phone.

"What is with you people and taking pictures of us?" Zuko asked.

Mai thought for a moment, but then finally responded, "Every time I've seen you with someone, you've looked like a triangle block that fit in a square hole. You fit, but that wasn't where you were meant to go. Looking at you both together, I just feel like you've found where the triangle actually goes."

"That's oddly insightful of you, Mai," Zuko said staring at her.

"Yeah, I know. Now, get back to kissing so I can take more pictures."

Zuko grabbed hold of Aang's wrist and dragged him from he office, much to Mai's complaints. They climbed in his car and Zuko set off for his place. Aang tried a few times to open his mouth and speak and Zuko hushed him every time. When they got to his place, Zuko dragged him inside.

"Shirt off," Zuko told him.

"Zuko, I..."

The look Zuko gave him was enough that Aang pulled off his shirt without trying to question. Zuko walked over and pulled a blanket from the couch, where he had been spending most nights recently. Grabbing Aang's hand, he led them back to the kitchen. As he reached the room, he pulled off his own shirt and dragged Aang to the floor with him. He curled them both up in the blanket.

"You know this doesn't erase the last week, right?"

"It was four days and I wasn't asking you," Zuko told him to which Aang threw up his hands in mock surrender.

Zuko's hands came up and traced across Aang's chest, much the way they had when they danced. He felt the warm body under his hands and had to tell himself that it wasn't just some dream he had come up with. This was Aang, here and breathing under his fingers. Warm and pressed against him. Zuko had to cut that thought off, less he end up pressing Aang against the floor and fully making sure he was there.

"We were here and I thought that things were going along great. I thought we would at least be able to talk in the morning, but you were gone," Zuko said and wrapped his arms tightly around Aang. "You didn't even say goodbye."

"Saying goodbye means I'm leaving. I'm here now. I just had some things I had to take care of," Aang explained. His voice grew quiet as he said, "I had someone I had to actually say goodbye to."

"Aang."

"I left the order. It really didn't surprise them. They had been expecting this day since they took me."

Aang pulled away from him and turned around. He opened his legs and propped them over Zuko's. Inching closer, He rested his head on Zuko's chest.

"I had to go break my vows at the Order. This allows me to break my vow of silence. I had given up my worldly possessions and renounced who I was. Renouncing who I am with them, I can take up the mantle of whoever I want to be, including that person I denied so long ago. As I'm no longer under my vows, I'll tell you want you deserved to know that night...from the very start," Aang explained.

The urge to ask all the questions that formed was a difficult to stuff down. Zuko knew though that Aang needed to get this out of his system. He nodded his encouragement.

"Since I don't know how much you actually know about monks, I'll start with the basics. The most important thing being that people are not born as monks. I'm no exception in that. Only in that becoming a monk wasn't my choice. I'm an orphan. My parents were advocates in China. They were working to get China's history to the rest of the world, but some people didn't like that. They saw my parents as traitors who were ruining China's national treasures. My parents were killed one day, most likely for their beliefs. Nobody knows for sure as the killer was never caught. It was that reason that the Order went along with my parents last wishes. They left me to the temple where I was raised to be a Shaolin monk."

The information sunk in heavily. Zuko had suspected that Aang would have some sort of background before being a monk, but that was far from what he was expecting. It at least explained why his Elder believed that Aang was in need of a bodyguard.

"They never expected me to stay. The monks worked hard to teach me everything, but they were only hoping to give me a basis for life, not a way of it. Whenever the monks had to go out or deal with people in general, I was always asked to be there. Many times I was asked to go among towns and even leave the country. I didn't realize the monks were preparing me. I should have realized that they were pushing my education and English so much, because of this. I found this out a couple of years ago when I heard the Elders talking. When I asked them about it, I told them I had no one and nothing, but that was when they explained that they had kept my parents accounts set aside for me. In their job, a lot of risk comes with a lot of pay, not to mention their life policies. They had set them all up in some over seas account to just collect more money. They told me I could leave and live what ever kind of life I wanted."

That explains the endless accounts and eduction, Zuko thought to himself. He rubbed Aang's back comfortingly. He was really at a loss for what to do, but a part of him said just being there was helping.

"My Elder, Gyatso, he left the order often. He had gotten to know my parents well and that was why he was put in charge of me. He knew English and he made sure I was well studied. When he left and I couldn't, he always brought me back things. He was always going on about preparing me for the outside world. I thought if I took the next step in my vows they would see that I wasn't going to leave them. Gyatso was ready though. He told me that I hadn't had enough of a taste of the world to give it up yet."

Personally, Zuko felt inclined to agree with the old monk. Even with leaving the temple from time to time, Aang hadn't gotten to see what the world had to offer. Zuko could easily tell by the way Aang reacted to things.

"I was told, if I could leave and choose later to come back, I would be a more humble and better person for it. I would know what it was like to be a true monk. I would be doing more than just living my parents wish and doing the rest out of a sense of obligation. I never once realized I thought of it that way until the words were in front of me. Gyatso raised me like a father and I love him like one, but he was right. I left and in one night I felt more content and like I belong than I did in my life there."

The slight shaking told Zuko that Aang was struggling against tears. He pulled Aang closer to him. He pressed their bodies flush. Aang's head came to rest on his shoulder. Hands clutched at the bare flesh of his back.

"Being with you, I realized, I couldn't do it. They were right. There was a whole world of things I had no idea of. I had to go back. He deserved no less than me coming in person and telling him. The longer I spent without telling, the more it felt like I was lying to him. I felt like I was already lying so much to you and I didn't want to any more. I left to make that feeling stop. When I saw him, I expected so many things from him, but he just smiled and told me that he knew. He knew I would be leaving him. He acted like I was telling him the sun would rise the next day. I promised to come back and visit him. We both agreed it would be great to see each other. I came back on the first plane I could after that. I made my way over to the office and you know the rest."

"I'm sorry, Aang. I didn't know," Zuko said.

Aang gave a laugh through tears saying, "You didn't know, because I couldn't tell you. No more secrets. You can ask me anything now."

Zuko pulled back from him and look him in the eyes, asking, "Do you regret leaving the Order?"

"Do you think I'd be sitting on your lap if I did?" Aang asked back.

"Good point."

"Enough about me now. Mai told me she forced you off of work. What have you been doing?"

"Uh... I've lived mostly on my kitchen floor. I've learned I really have no idea how my kitchen works. I think I finally learned how to make scrambled eggs though. Just took me four days and a few cartons of eggs."

Aang gave another small laugh.

Pulling further back, Aang looked at him seriously and said, "So, did you mean what you said about hiring me? Because I'm kind of homeless and jobless right now."

Zuko managed his first real laugh in days.

FN: For those of you kind enough to take the time to read the story, I would highly appreciate it if you could take the time to press that little review button and let me know what you thought. I do accept Anon reviews.

Lastly, and most importantly, Thank you very much for reading.