A/N: Hi guys! I wasn't supposed to be writing fanfiction, but man did episode 4 get me going! I'm sorry but Ava and Sara taking care of kids was the best thing ever, so much character and relationship development! And it got me back to writing Avalance KidFic. I started small - read only 2 chapters of 3500 words each - but I'm working on something bigger now, and it's going to be awesome, trust me! I'll be posting part 2 of this story tomorrow, so keep an eye out! I hope you'll enjoy!

Chapter 1
Sara handles the Tornado

Ava slid her dark blue jacket on hurriedly. She was running a bit late for her meeting.

"Don't forget about the laundry," she instructed. "And if you have time and pick up the clothes from..."

"the dry cleaner, I know," Sara continued.

She was standing against the kitchen doorway, her arms crossed. Between them, Lena was seating on the wooden parquet, her mother's briefcase in her hands. She was playing with one of the locks, closing and opening it repeatedly. Ava pulled her long hair out of her collar and leaned down, to pick up both the bag and her daughter.

"Don't play with that, honey, you'll pinch your fingers."

She placed a kiss on the girl's head and the three-year-old giggled. She put her back on the ground.

"I should be home after lunch unless the meeting runs late."

"We'll be there when you get home," Sara assured with a smile, before planting a kiss on her wife's lips.

"Happy work, mommy!" Lena declared excitedly.

Ava mettled a little at her daughter's words. She could have stayed there watching the little girl smile at her all day, but she remembered she had a meeting.

"I'll be home soon. Love you."

"Love you too!" Sara replied as Ava ran out the door.

Once the door was closed, Sara turned to her daughter.

"Alright, what do you want to do today?"

"Er... I want to draw!" Lena declared.

"Hum, feeling artistic today, aren't we?"

Sara picked up the little girl with ease.

"Alright, drawing it is."

She carried Lena to the living room, but her smile fell when she saw how much of a mess it was. Lena's toys were cluttering the coffee table and shelves. A few plushes occupied the couch. Clothes were left hanging on the back of the sofa.

"On second thought, I think mommy was right. I think laundry is a priority."

She placed Lena down on the sofa and turned on the TV.

"Can you stay put for ten minutes? Mama's gonna clean up a bit, but then we can do some drawings. How about that?"

Sara put on one of the children's network and Lena nodded, her gaze glued to the TV screen.

"We're good? Alright, I'll be right back."

She picked up the clothes in the living room and ran out to her and Ava's bedroom.

Ten minutes later, as promised, Sara returned to the living room, the dirty laundry having been dealt with.

"Who's ready to draw some awesome drawings?"

She stopped behind the couch and found it empty. The TV was still blearing some cartoon – she didn't know which one – but Lena was nowhere to be seen. She sighed. Ten minutes was quite enough time for Lena to rick havoc around the house.

"Lena? Sweetheart? Where are you?" she called.

Light giggle responded. Oh great, she was playing hide and seek again. Sara should have expected it. Lena had been in her hide and seek period for a while, wanting to play it at least twenty times a day. The good news was, Lena hadn't understood how to play yet, so she always hid in the same spot, the closet in her parents' bedroom. The irony wasn't lost on Sara.

The bad news was, apparently, Lena had gotten her hands on the crayons, and she'd started drawing everywhere on the parquet. Sara sighed. As expected, the trail of small doodles led to the bedroom. Crayons had been left on the way as if Lena had been trying to carry them all at first but realized she couldn't, so she dropped them as she went.

Sara went to the kitchen and picked up the special sponge Ray had made for this special occasion. Lena had drawn on just about every surface in this house at this point. A single swipe was enough to erase all of Lena's drawings. Thankfully ten minutes wasn't enough to make anything elaborate. No real harm was done in erasing this mess.

"Lena? What did we say about drawing on the ground?"

No answer. The drawings stopped at her bedroom's entrance. Sara left the sponge there, just in case. The door of her closet was ajar, which she knew for sure Ava would not have left open.

"Lena?"

More giggles. She opened the door. Lena was sitting there, under a bunch of jackets.

"You found me!"

Sara sighed.

"Yes, I found you. I also found a small trail of doodles leading straight to you."

Lena suddenly stopped giggling, which Sara realized worried her more than it should.

"Oh no!" the little girl gasped.

"What? What's going on?"

"I'm a bad ninja!" Lena let out, her smile turning to a frown.

Sara knelt in front of her daughter, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. I was a bad ninja too when I was your age."

"But you become better!" Lena added excitedly.

"Yes, I did. I became better."

"I'll be a better ninja too, then."

The three-year-old, once again confident in her ability to play hide and seek, hugged her mother quickly. Sara hugged her back, but when Lena began to push her away she pulled her closer.

"Mama, I can't breathe!"

"Yes, you can. See, you can talk. If you can talk you can breathe."

"Mama!"

"Alright. Fine."

She let the little girl go. Lena quickly asked, her blue eyes shining happily:

"Can we make drawings now?"

Sara stood up.

"Well, we could have made drawings, but you've already made quite a few in the living room..."

Lena began to pout, and she did the puppy eyes thing, the one Ava swore was exactly like Sara's and Sara swore she didn't do, but neither of them could resist.

"Fine. Half an hour."

"Yeah!" Lena jumped up happily and ran out of her parents' bedroom and into the living room. Sara followed with a smile.

They spent exactly half an hour sitting around the coffee table, with sheets of papers and crayons scattered around them. Lena was going through pieces of paper with haste as if she needed to fill them all before the end of the time she'd been allowed. Sara had been doodling little things here and there on a single sheet of paper. Cats and bear cubs and birds. She wasn't much of an artist anyway.

Sara looked at the clock on the wall and put her black crayon down.

"Alright, time's up. We've got to go to the dry cleaner to pick up mommy's power suits."

Lena looked up at her and pouted. She was doing the puppy eyes again.

"Please, mama? Just a bit more?"

Sara looked at the table, covered with her daughter's drawings.

"How much more time do you really need, baby? You've already drawn on every single piece of paper we have!"

The little blonde held out her hand, her tiny fingers spread out.

"Five, mama."

"Five more minutes? Alright, but just to finish your drawing. Don't start a new one," she warned.

Lena nodded vigorously, making her tiny ponytail jump up and down. Sara smiled and checked her phone while her daughter started coloring her drawing frantically once more. The sound of the crayon running quickly on the piece of paper intrigued Sara. She looked up from her phone and asked:

"What are you drawing, baby?"

Lena gave a few more strokes before rising the paper for her mother could see. A stick man was holding what looked like a gun with big strokes of red coming from it and submerging a bunch of other stick figures.

"It's uncle Mick. See? He's using his supergun and putting everything on fire!"

Sara's brain went blank for a second. Should she compliment her daughter on her drawing or reprimand her for drawing a man dowsing another one in flames. Good Parenting 101 never talked about that sort of things. This was why Mick had been banned from babysitting Lena, along with Charlie. Or the both of them at the same time.

"Hum... and what about this one?" Sara asked, randomly picking up one of the papers on the table.

Lena instantly forgot her first drawing and quickly explained:

"It's mommy fighting the mean money man!"

Sara gave the drawing another look. Indeed, there was a stick figure which vaguely resembled Ava, with her long blond hair and navy blue suit, punching a monster with red angry eyes and made of what seemed to be dollar bills.

"Oh wow. It really is. I think we're going to frame this one, don't you think? Give it to mommy so she puts it on her desk."

"Can we?" Lena asked, her blue eyes shining.

"Of course. But we have to go out if we want to find a frame. So why don't you go get dress while I clean up this mess, hum?"

Lena nodded and quickly ran to her bedroom. Sara began picking up all of her daughter's drawings, to make a neat pile of them. There was one of Ray, flying in his Atom suit, one of Nate – his skin was colored gray – one of Charlie punching someone, one of Zari with her totem necklace. One of her too, hitting people with her staff. She'd just found the one with her and Ava holding hands, with Lena between them, when she heard Lena calling:

"Mama! I'm stuck!"

Sara stood up with a smile. She walked in her daughter's bedroom, only to find the little girl struggling to get her tee-shirt past her head. Lena was pulling on the pink shirt with stars on it, without having undone the button at the back of the neck first. Sara couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's predicament. The three-year-old huffed and whined:

"Mama! Help!"

Sara let out one last laugh and stood above her daughter, to undo the button.

"Here you go."

As soon as the button was undone, Lena forced the shirt passed her head. Her blond hair was all mussed up on the other side. Sara kneeled down and helped her daughter fit her arms through the sleeves.

"And done."

Lena smiled, brushing a few loose strands away from her eyes. Sara sat down on the tiny bed and pulled her daughter towards her.

"Come here. Your hair is a mess."

Lena giggled as Sara undid the ponytail. Lena's hair was soft and long, well past her shoulders by now. She somehow had the uncanny ability to always mess up her hair, even when it was tied up. Sara combed through her daughter's hair with her fingers, trying to sort them out.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what mama?"

"Maybe it's time we take you to the hairdresser."

"What did I do, mama?" Lena asked again.

"Well, you... turned your hair into a mess. You're a real tornado, aren't you?"

Lena gasped.

"Is it my superpower?"

"I guess it is."

Lena's eyes were sparkling happily.

"I have a superpower!"

She tried running away but Sara wasn't done tying her hair, and she held her back.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down!"

Lena fidgeted to get away. Sara finished tying the elastic band, and as soon as she let her go Lena ran out of the room screaming:

"I'm a tornado!"

Sara sighed. Yep, she was a tornado alright.

It took another ten minutes for Sara to calm the little blonde enough to put her shoes, scarf, woolen hat and jacket on. Lena now looked like a little berry, with her thick purple jacket around her and the little green pompom on top of her head. Once she was ready, it took another few minutes for Sara to convince Lena to leave Mr. Rabbit home. Sara almost caved in, but then she remembered Ava would probably kill her if she heard Sara had let Lena take her plush outside. In the end, she convinced Lena that Mr. Rabbit had to stay home to keep an eye on the house. Lena finally agreed and they could be on their way.

The dry cleaner was just a short walk from their apartment. It wouldn't have been a problem if Sara had been alone. However, she was with a three-year-old, and the way to the dry cleaner was full of opportunities:

"Oh, mama! The park! I want to make a sandcastle!"

Lena pointed excitedly at the entrance of the park, pulling on Sara's hand.

"No honey, not today."

"Please mama!"

"You don't even have your tools right now. We'll go tomorrow, okay?"

Lena nodded. Sara continued to pull her daughter away from the park, slowly but surely. She inwardly sighed. One crisis averted, many more to go.

To her surprise, Lena behaved herself rather well during the rest of the trip. She didn't even ask to go to the toy store. Instead, she asked about the coming Christmas:

"Mama, how does Santa Claus know if I was nice?"

"Well, he can see everyone everywhere, all the time, so he knows when people are good and when they are bad."

Lena was silent for a moment, her thin eyebrows furrowed. Finally, she asked:

"Like Gideon?"

"Hum... Yeah, you could say that," Sara replied in a chuckle.

"Does Gideon knows Santa Claus?"

Sara laughed again.

"Why don't you ask her next time?"

Lena nodded, determined. Sara could see the dry cleaner just a few shops away. Almost there.

"Mama! Mochi!"

Lena suddenly pulled her mother toward the Japanese restaurant. Sara sighed. She'd forgotten about the last trial before the dry cleaner. The mochis. Nate had introduced them to Lena one afternoon while he was babysitting her. It could have been the end of it if the Japanese restaurant right next to the dry cleaner didn't sell some, something Lena never seemed to forget.

"Lena..."

"Please, mama, I want mochis! The pink one! Look!"

Sara sighed. They were so close to the end. Sara took her phone out of her pocket. Almost 11 a. m.

"How about this: we can get mochis for dessert, but you'll have to eat your lunch first, okay?"

Lena smiled brightly at her mother.

"Yes, mama!"

"Even if it's avocado."

Lena seemed to consider it for a moment. Her smile faltered.

"But I don't want avocado."

"Well, then you won't have mochis."

"No!"

"So, will you eat your avocado?"

Finally, she nodded.

"Yes."

Sara smiled. And Good Parenting 101 dared to say bargaining wasn't a solution!

They walked into the shop and stopped at the counter, where a smiling cashier welcomed them.

"Hello! How can I help you today?"

"Hi. Can we order now and then come pick it up in a few minutes?"

"Of course. What would you like to order?"

"Mochis!" Lena shouted from the bottom of the counter.

This made the cashier giggle.

"Pink mochis, yes. And something with avocado," Sara reminded her daughter.

Lena grimaced but didn't protest. Sara ordered for three, thinking Ava would probably return straight from work without stopping for lunch like she usually did. Once she'd paid, the cashier told her she would get her order ready while they were gone. Sara took Lena's hand they went back to the task at hand. The dry cleaner.

As it turned out, Ava had five power suits to pick up, and it took quite some time for the woman at the counter to find them, even though they were basically identical. Sara waited, her arms crossed, while Lena played behind her. She'd found the squared tile floor amusing, and was jumping from one square to another, trying not to touch the lines between the squares, while singing:

"I'm-a-little-tea-pot, short-and-stout, here's-my-han-dle, here's-my-spout, when-I-get-all-stea-med-up-hear-me-shout, just-tip-me-o-ver-and-pour-me-out!"

Sara was grinning without even realizing it. Once all five of Ava's suits were collected and thrown over Sara's shoulder, she took Lena's hand again and led her out.

"Alright, little teapot, let's go home."

"The mochis, mama!"

"After we get the mochis, obviously."

Lena smiled and led her mother back to the Japanese restaurant.

They made it home in one piece, though between Ava's suits, the bag of takeout and Lena, Sara was filling just a bit overwhelmed. She set the food on the kitchen counter and went to place the clean clothes in her bedroom. When she came back, Lena was seating on the ground, still fully clothed and struggling to get her shoes off her feet.

"Need a hand baby?"

Lena nodded, still pulling on the shoe in her hands. Sara kneeled in front of her daughter and began undoing the laces. Once her shoes were off Lena struggled with her jacket, which Sara unzipped for her. Once all of her outdoor gear was off, Lena ran into the kitchen.

"Mochi!"

Sara shook her head.

"Lunch first, baby, okay?"

"But what if I'm not hungry after lunch for mochis!" Lena replied.

"Then we'll keep them for the afternoon snack, okay?"

Lena still wasn't convinced. Just in case, Sara extracted the small plastic box with pink balls inside and placed it in the fridge. Lena pouted.

"But mama!"

"Nahah, we had a deal, Lena. You eat all your lunch, or the mochis will stay in the fridge. That's the deal."

Lena continued to pout. She crossed her arms and tear began running down her cheeks.

"But I want mochis!"

"And you'll get them, but you can't eat only mochis all the time."

Sara took a deep breath. Trying to stay calm when Lena had a tantrum was very difficult.

"So, are you going to eat like a nice girl or are you going to continue to be a bad girl?"

Lena seemed to consider the situation for a moment. She rubbed her sleeves on her cheeks, brushing her tears away.

"I'm a good girl," she replied.

Sara let out the breath she was holding. Usually calling Lena a bad girl would elicit two types of reactions. Either she would calm down and act like a good girl, or she would have a complete meltdown screaming that she wasn't a bad girl. It was a double-edged sword with a fifty percent chance of instantly calming her.
Sara took her daughter into her arms and hugged her.

"I know you are."

Lena nodded against her mother. Sara assumed she must have been a bit tired and needed a nap, probably. The thought of a nap for herself wasn't so bad either.

"Alright. Do you want to help me set the table?"

Lena's smile had returned.

"Can we get the grown-ups glasses?"

"Sure, why not?"

Lunch went rather smoothly, in Sara's opinion. Sure, they were eating sushi on the couch and drinking water from tall wine glasses – Lena loved them because they were grown-ups glasses – but at least Lena ate all of the veggies in the sushi, and the fish too, which didn't happen often. She even ate all three mochis, which impressed Sara quite a bit. Very quickly afterward, Lena leaned against her mother and began to yawn.

"I think someone should take a nap."

"No, no naps..." Lena replied as she yawned.

"No, I think a nap is in order."

The little girl was powerless when her mother picked her up as if she weighed nothing and carried her to her bedroom. She barely struggled, resting her head on her mother's shoulder instead. Sara placed her delicately on her bed and tugged her in.

"Mommy should be home when you wake up."

"Yeah..."

Sara smiled and kissed her daughter good nap before leaving the room. She let the door ajar, just in case, and yawned. Yep, a nap for her too wouldn't hurt.