It seemed like they were constantly cleaning up. He supposed it was only to be expected with a five-year-old running about and figuring out how bending worked. It was amazing the messes that one small earthbender could make, but when she smiled up at them and wrapped her tiny arms around their necks it was absolutely impossible to stay mad at her. Bolin sometimes worried, though. The pregnancy had been difficult, very difficult. If Tenzin hadn't brought Katara up from the South Pole, Korra might not have made it, and Katara had told him privately that she doubted that Korra would be able to conceive again.
That was hard to hear. Korra had told him from the beginning that her childhood was so lonely she wanted at least four or five children to make sure they'd always have someone to play with. The years had stretched on, and there had been no more babies. Before, they'd made up stories about the trouble their children would get into and put together a long, long list of names to draw from. He'd finally burned the list so that it couldn't remind her of what they wouldn't have. Korra never asked him what Katara had said, but she must have guessed. They both loved their little girl to distraction, but there was sometimes a sadness in the back of Korra's eyes and there was nothing he could do to fix it. All he could do was take her into his arms and hold her close as she sighed.
Today, she was strangely distracted as she moved around the house. She seemed to sometimes forget she was holding a broom, and other times he caught her re-sweeping a place she'd already been over. He thought he could see her watching him out of the side of her eye, but when he turned to face her she'd look away and act like nothing was going on. Finally, he managed to put together a cautious question. Was something wrong? When she looked up at him, he was worried that there would be tears, but instead there was a slow smile spreading over her face. She reached up and pressed a hand to his cheek, and her voice shook as she spoke.
"Bolin, I'm going to have a baby."
He couldn't find words. He dropped one careful hand to rest against her stomach. Suddenly she was crying, he was crying, and she held him close as he buried his face in her hair. When she finally pulled away and smiled up at him through the tears, her face was radiant. He softly kissed her, as if she was something fragile he might break, and was absolutely certain that here stood the most beautiful woman in the world.