Last day of Zutara Week 2009, guys! 
I really enjoyed it. The prompt today was lick, and when I couldn't come up with anything good, I found THIS definition:
"Last licks: a final turn or opportunity"
So I came up with this. Hope you like it.
*************************************************************************
This is it. My last chance.
It seemed to Zuko like he was usually stuck in this position. In a position where he’d done everything wrong, and now he only had one chance to make it right.
Flames licked out of the bonfire and around Katara’s cooking pot, which Zuko was supposed to be watching. He stared into the fire, still amazed by all the colors…all the life…he could see since he and Aang had gone to see the dragons. He stared deeper, and swore he saw the exact shade of her eyes there.
The quiet, nervous chatter of the Gaang drifted in and out of his ears without processing. His palms were slick with sweat. This was the last night the Gaang had together before the Final Battle. No one knew what was going to happen. Zuko wasn’t sure he was ready to face Azula himself.
Katara was especially quiet today, no doubt worrying about everyone except herself. Which didn’t surprise him at all; she thought of everyone here as someone she needed to nurture. They were all too young to have this kind of weight on their shoulders, so Katara tried to wield it all for them.
“Zuko?” Katara’s quiet voice broke through his thoughts. “Is the soup ready?” The dark circles under her eyes stood pronounced on her caramel skin in the firelight.
“Almost,” he sighed. Wordlessly, Katara sank to the ground next to him, her arms holding her knees to her chest. Zuko gulped. Now or never.
“Are you ready?” Katara asked, almost in a whisper. “Are you ready to take on Azula?”
Inwardly, Zuko shuddered. That was the last thing he wanted to think about now, he wasn’t sure he could take on Azula by himself. But then a thought struck him; he wasn’t going to be by himself. “We can handle her…together. As long as it’s you and me, Katara.” A small grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. You and me.
A small spark of hope lit up Katara’s eyes. “You really think so?” she asked, brightening. Zuko was glad to be able to give her some good news, brighten her mood just a little bit.
“I really do,” he said, letting his smile grow a little bigger.
And then she smiled.
It was as if the whole world was a little brighter, a little more hopeful. The rest of the Gaang relaxed a little bit, without even noticing. The affect Katara had over all of them…over Zuko…was amazing.
Zuko gulped, his heart fluttering in his chest. Now or never…
“Katara, I…I love you.”
