He hadn't been sleeping.
It had been a few days since he'd gotten a full night's rest. Usually Mako slept fairly well, especially when he was sleeping with Korra wrapped up in his arms, but lately he was too nervous and excited to sleep properly. This had happened before when he and Bo had been orphaned, he spent years sleeping for a few hours, waking up to make sure they were still safe where they'd holed up for the night before getting a few more hours of sleep.
Now it wasn't fear that was making him wake up, he was too excited to sleep.
Because in a matter of mere days he was going to be a father.
Korra was nearing her due date and he was getting more and more nervous while she was getting uncomfortable. It was making for plenty of tense moments between the couple as her mood soured and his seemed to be soaring, but it was getting easier for him to shut up and leave her alone. She was nine months pregnant after all, she deserved to rest easy.
But at night he could be paranoid and hover over her as much as he wanted and she couldn't do a thing about it. So he was awake whenever she needed something.
"Mako."
"Yeah?" He'd learned to pretend he was tired and sleepy or else she'd get mad if she knew he was hovering.
"I can't sleep."
"Do you feel ok?"
"No." She rolled onto her back and he turned to face her. "I ache all over." She moaned and pressed her face into his shoulder.
"You're almost done, you're doing great." Mako assured her, rubbing her arm and planting kisses in her hair. "What, four days left?"
"You know it's four." Korra snorted. "You've been obsessing."
"Well do you blame me? I'm going to be a father." Mako grinned. "Aren't you excited?"
"Yes, but right now I just want to get him out." Korra shifted again, unable to find a comfortable position. "I just don't want to be pregnant anymore."
"Just a few more days." Mako promised.
"No I don't think so." Korra shook her head. "I don't know, I just have this feeling that the baby's going to come sooner." She shifted again. "I don't know, maybe I'm wishing it."
"Hey, if so, that's great." Mako was very ok with the baby coming early. In fact he was definitely on board with getting the baby out of her and of getting his wife back to normal. She was pretty cranky since the hormones were causing her emotional distress. And he wanted his son. That was a fairly selfish reason but to hell with that selfishness, he wanted to know for sure that it was a son. Or daughter. Either way.
"I just don't want to feel like this anymore." Korra whined, but seeing as she was carrying another person inside of her, she had every right in the world to. "I want to run again, I want to have energy. I want to be able to walk and not waddle."
"You will." Mako wasn't sure how to comfort her right now.
"Oh that's disgusting."
"What?" He frowned at her.
"My water broke." She frowned and moved her legs. Mako sprang from the bed and shuddered at the sight of it. Their instructions from Pema had been clear. Korra goes into labor, then they were to clean up and try and get her to Air Temple Island quickly. She had a bag packed and things would go quickly.
Within an hour Korra was lying in a bed on Air Temple Island with Air Acolytes and a Water-bending healer nearby in case she needed them. The women tried to shoo Mako from the room, claiming it was women's work, but Mako refused to leave his wife's side. He ignored their noises of disapproval and gripped Korra's hand tightly as she started experiencing the discomfort and sheer pain of contractions.
"You." She snarled as the pain increased and the contracts were only minutes apart. "I don't like you." Korra glared at him when she didn't have her eyes screwed shut. "I love you, but I really don't like you."
"They say you're doing great." Mako wasn't entirely sure how to keep her from entirely hating him. "A few more hours and he'll be here."
"Not soon enough." Korra moaned loudly as a contraction hit quickly. The healers and acolytes seemed to have an influx of murmuring.
"Korra." Pema moved to the side opposite from Mako. "Honey, you're doing great, do you feel like pushing?"
"Yes!" She was already feeling it, squeezing her husband's hand tightly. One of the acolytes scowled and asked Mako to leave the women to it, but Korra interrupted her this time. "No! Don't you dare make him leave!" She snarled and let out a loud scream as she pushed hard.
"You're doing great." Mako repeated himself, not knowing what else to say. He was terrified at how much pain she was in, she was right, he'd caused this, he'd gotten her pregnant. As irrational as it sounded, he was so terrified of how much pain she was in he was willing to be insane.
"Just a little more." The women were encouraging Korra as Mako held her hand and tried to tell her everything he could think of to soothe her. And to calm himself because part of him didn't think she was listening to the words he was saying at all, possibly just the tone of his voice.
"One more, one more." Pema was beaming. "Mako do you want to see?"
"No, I'm ok up here." He paled at the idea of actually seeing his child be born, but Korra needed him more.
"Oh!" Korra's final scream faded into a gasp as the telltale screaming of an infant filled the room. Instead of relaxing and falling into the bed, Korra struggled to sit upright to see the baby. "Is it? Is he?"
"It's a boy." Pema grinned and held him up for his parents to see for a brief second. "We'll just get him cleaned up." The baby's cries started to fade as Mako kissed Korra's forehead. She fell back on the bed with a delirious smile on her face.
"It's a boy." She grinned up at her husband. "He's beautiful."
"He is." Mako agreed with a nod, though his vision was clouded with tears of joy and relief that the baby was healthy and screaming. "I love you." He whispered and she immediately smiled up at him, tears sliding down her own cheeks.
"I love you." She sighed. "I want him." She said that louder.
"Ok." Pema was beaming at the young couple as she carried the tiny baby to his parents. "He's perfectly healthy." She set the infant in Korra's arms and she held him close to her, beaming.
"Hello." Korra managed as she was a complete emotional wreck looking at her son. "You're beautiful." She told the tiny little perfect person in her arms. He was moving his mouth, still getting used to the new environment he was in. "Mako look at him." She beamed at her husband who moved as close as he could to her. His wife and their baby.
"He's beautiful." Mako agreed and reached out to touch his little cheek gently. The baby shifted at his touch and worked open his eyes, peering at his parents.
"Oh!" Korra smiled at the amber colored eyes. "They're yours. Think he'll be a fire-bender?"
"I don't care." Mako kissed her cheek. "Bender or not I love him."
"Oh me too." Korra smiled and shifted the baby toward him. Mako took the little boy in his arms and smiled at the bundle of his son. The acolytes had cleaned Korra up and arranged her exhausted limbs to be more comfortable in the bed and were slipping out of the room quietly to leave them with their child.
"He needs a name." Mako smiled at his son as the little baby struggled to look at his surroundings. Korra took a deep breath and turned o her side toward her husband and son.
"I want to name him after your father." She murmured. "Ryu."
"Korra." Mako couldn't help the tears welling up in his eyes. "Thank you." He barely had the voice to get the words out so he mouthed them, leaning over to press his forehead to hers. "For him, for everything, I love you."
"I love you." Korra beamed up at him. "Ryu, I like it."
"Me too." Mako passed the baby as he started to squirm back into her arms and moved so she was resting against his chest, smiling at their baby. He was holding the two of them at the same time. His wife and his son both of whom he adored beyond reason.
He was excited to see Ryu grow, to teach his son things. To love him, play with him and give him all the love and attention in the world. If there was one thing that Mako knew he and Korra could do was love their baby beyond any reason or doubt. That helped ease the anxiety of being a good parent and being able to raise a good child.
In his first hour of life Ryu was doing pretty well, he'd calmed after his first protests and was sleeping in his mother's arms. Mako was excited to teach him things, to find out what Ryu's personality would be. If he'd take after his father or his mother of if he'd be entirely his own person.
In some ways Mako couldn't wait, but he was content, in this moment, to hold his wife and let her drift into a doze in his arms while she held their son.
But he was too excited to sleep.