There were times Mako wondered how they thought trying for one more had been a sane idea.
As if Katara and San weren't handfuls enough.
As if their lives weren't complicated enough.
As if anything was ever that easy for them.
Because they'd tried for one and ended up with two.
Most days neither he nor Korra considered this a bad thing. Having twins had stretched them, but if anyone dared ask four kids was too many the answer would always be "No". Or a watersmack on the mouth, depending on Korra's mood.
Right now, however, Mako felt stretched a little too far at the moment.
Korra had been out of town for three days, leaving Mako in charge a ten-year-old, a six-year-old and two four-year-olds. A bit of a daunting task even with two parents. Mako had wisely asked off for the few days Korra would be gone. He looked forward to spending time with his children.
The first two days went by fine. Until Umi started running a fever. And of course, since the twins refused to spend the whole night apart, Mako woke that morning to two crying children with runny noses, upset tummies and ear aches.
With four kids, Mako had plenty of experience with sick children. Katara had been especially prone to fevers when she was little (a fact that made a lot of sense now that she'd turned out to once they discovered she was a firebender), but this was his first time dealing with sickness when Korra wasn't around to ease some of the symptoms. Korra's skill as a healer had been tremendous help with the little childhood ailments like the sniffles and the occasional earache. Even if she couldn't make the sickness go away, she could help with pain and discomfort at any hour.
Some relief could be provided through herbs and medicines (and with four kids, Mako and Korra knew almost all of them), but Mako hated seeing his babies in pain when he could to do so little about it.
At the moment, Mako was just concerned with getting Umi and Kanna to nap.
Umi had been so worn out that she fell asleep soon after her head hit the pillow. Mako hoped that meant that her ear infection had dimmed somewhat. Kanna was a different story.
"I'm not tired, Daddy," she whined when he tried to leave her with her sister.
"I know, baby," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking her dark hair. "But if you have to take a nap to get better." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
When he tried to leave, Kanna's golden brown eyes filled with tears and she started crying pitifully. Afraid she might wake her sister, which would land him with two crying children, Mako picked her up, walking up and down the hallway like he used to when she was a baby and a little colicky. Kanna laid her head against his shoulder, her little arms around his neck. It took thirty minutes, and a few unsuccessful tries to put her down, before Kanna stayed asleep.
He tucked the blanket around his two daughters and hoped they would get some sleep so he could get some sleep. He was exhausted.
"You two staying out of trouble?" he asked, peeking in the living room where Katara was keeping an eye on San.
Katara looked up from the book she was reading—nearly the only time she stayed still was when she was reading—and nodded. San sat nearby, playing with a set of blocks. He was at the stage where he liked building things and then knocking them down, providing all his own sound effects.
"Your sisters are sleeping," he said. "Be quiet until they wake up okay?"
Katara sighed. She hated being quiet. "Sure Dad. Are they feeling any better?"
"I think Umi's ear ache is getting better," he said. "But Kanna is still really sick, so make sure you and San don't bother them. I'm going to try to take a nap too."
San, a solid nap-hater, scrunched his nose up, "Why, Daddy?" he asked.
"Because even grown-ups take naps when they get tired," he said, kneeling down next to San and ruffling his chocolate-colored hair. Of all their kids, San was the one that most resembled Korra, fitting that he would be the waterbender in the family. "I'm sorry we didn't get to go to the beach like we planned. Maybe when your mom gets home tomorrow one of us can take you." He was pretty sure Korra would want to stay home with the twins, but she might also want a little time to relax with their oldest children after the hassle of being in the Earth Kingdom for three days and the travel in-between.
Katara huffed. "I bet Aunt Opal would take us if we asked." She looked longingly at the telephone.
Mako shook his head. "I don't want you bothering your aunt. The doctors want her to rest until the baby comes."
Shutting her book, Katara asked, "Can we at least go in the backyard and practice our bending?"
"Yes," Mako said, heading for the hallway and his room. "But Kat, stay in the backyard. And no fighting."
Mako fell into bed, slightly concerned that his throat was a little scratchy. He hoped he wasn't catching whatever the twins had. That would be just great. Korra would love coming home to two sick kids and a sick husband. Not to mention his boss' reaction. Taking time off so that he could watch the kids while Korra was gone was one thing. Taking time off to be sick? Beifong would be offended that he dared to get sick in the first place.
He woke to someone poking his shoulder.
Umi's blue eyes stared back at him. "Kanna's crying."
She seemed to be feeling a bit better as she stuck her thumb back in her mouth and watched him.
Umi was the calm twin. Even at four, she tackled problems very much like he did. Observe. Plan. Act. She, however, tended to be a night owl, like her mother. Both he and Korra agreed that this one would be a waterbender. Theoretically, that meant Kanna was also a waterbender. He had never heard of bender twins having different elements, but Korra was adamant that Kanna would be a firebender like him. It was all in the eyes, she said and the fact that Kanna was continually dragging her twin out of bed early in the morning to get into to trouble. He remembered being that way, back before his parents had died.
Sometimes, Mako felt like someone had split his personality in two, thrown in a dash of Korra (all their children were as stubborn as can be) and given half to each one of his youngest daughters. All of their children showed their watertribe heritage in their skin tones, not as dark as Korra's, but also not as light as his. Mako loved that. It was a perfect testament to how well opposites could mix. But while Katara and San looked more and like their mother, it was like someone had flipped a switch and the twins had gotten his dark hair and sharp features—at least, that's what Korra said, Mako couldn't see it in their b toddler faces.
Mako swung out of bed, "Thank you, Umi. What a good sister."
He headed for the door, pausing when Umi didn't follow him. She held her arms out to him.
"Carry me, Daddy." So she was still feeling a bit under the weather.
Mako picked her up and carried her to her room, where he found Katara with Kanna propped on one hip. The four-year-old was nearly too big for her to hold.
"She was crying," Katara said, "and you were asleep."
Kanna whimpered as she saw him. Her head stayed on Katara's shoulder, but she reached for him with one arm.
Umi whined, but didn't protest as Mako put her down and took Kanna from Katara.
"My ear hurts, Daddy," she said.
"I know, baby," he said. He looked at Umi, who sat on her bed, sucking her thumb. "How about we go in the kitchen and I'll make you some warm milk?"
Kanna nodded against his shoulder. Mako held his hand out to Umi, who scrambled up and grabbed it. Making the milk proved to be a little difficult when Kanna wouldn't let go of him, but luckily, he had Katara to help.
"Thanks, Kat," he said, as she heated up the milk for him. "You're getting really good at that. You'll leave your old man in the dust if you keep learning so quickly."
Katara blushed. "You're not old, Dad." She poured the milk into three cups, two for the girls and one for San who had trailed after them from the living room.
"Okay, Kanna, let's sit at the table like a big girl now," Mako said.
Reluctantly, Kanna let go her hold on his neck and let him put her down in her chair.
Umi and Kanna stayed clingy for the rest of the day, but they went down almost as soon as dinner was over, giving Mako a little time to watch what his older children had practiced that afternoon. It amazed him how much about waterbending he'd picked up just from watching Korra and San. He might not be able to bend any water, but he still knew enough to be able to help San correct his forms. The boy did everything with a serious face, concentrating as hard as a six-year-old could concentrate.
Katara on the other hand, had a very expressive face as she practiced. Grinning most of the time, biting her lip when working with the newer forms and scowling when she didn't do as well as she would have liked. Mako read with them after practice and sent them both to bed with happy smiles on their face.
He checked on the twins and since they were still fussy, curled up on Umi's bed (apparently it was Kanna's turn to share tonight) and fell asleep.
That's where Korra found him late that night. At some point, both girls had woken and joined him, climbing on top of him so that one was curled up on either side, with his legs hanging over the end of the bed. She tried not to laugh, he'd called her yesterday to tell her the girls were sick and she didn't want to wake them.
It was moot point, because he woke a few minutes later as she was trying—unsuccessfully—to put Kanna back in her own bed.
"Hey," he mumbled.
Korra rocked Kanna and smiled at him. "Hey."
"I thought you weren't home until tomorrow," he said, sliding out from under Umi. Pushing a hand through his hair, he leaned in for a kiss, which Korra returned lightly.
"Yes, well, it's amazing how quickly the moms on the council will push to finish early once they hear that the Avatar has sick children at home," she said. "Plus, since I'm best friends with the woman who makes the trains, getting a ride home was easy. Sorry you had to deal with this on your own."
"I didn't mind," he said. "Though I think we'll have to make it up to Kat and San. They've been cooped up in the house all day."
"Let me guess, you promised them some beach time tomorrow?"
Mako nodded.
"Okay. I'll stay with these two and you can get out of the house for a few hours."
"You don't have to," Mako said. "I don't mind."
"No, you've been stuck with this for two days, it's my turn." She smiled. "Besides, it kind of hard for me to heal them if I'm at the beach." She tried to put Kanna down again, but the child started crying, which woke Umi and then Umi started crying.
With an exasperated sigh, Mako scooped her up—he was getting some sleep tonight, even if it was only a few hours—and jerked his head towards their room. Korra took the hint and followed, carrying Kanna.
Getting everyone settled took some doing, because first Kanna wanted to sleep next to Mako, but once everyone was comfortable, she changed her mind and decided that she wanted to be next to Korra. Umi wanted to be next to Korra too, so they ended up with Kanna between them, letting Umi lay on Korra's outside side until the child finally fell asleep. Thankfully, she was heavy sleeper like her mother, so she didn't stir when Mako picked her up and moved her into the middle next to him while Korra sang softly to Kanna, who hadn't let her go yet. At last, her sniffles ceased and Korra and Mako fell asleep.
The next morning, Mako woke to four perfectly healthy children and one very stuffed up Avatar.
"Figures," Korra said. "You deal with this for two days and escape completely unscathed. I'm home for a few hours and I catch it."
"Do you want me to stay?" Mako asked. "I'm sure I could talk Jinora or Ikki into taking them."
"No," she grumbled. "Go. I'll just get you sick too and I'm going to spend all day asleep anyways."
Mako went to kiss her goodbye, thought better of it and placed a kiss on her cheek. Korra waved at him as he was dragged out the door by three children, followed by a fourth, who was lugging a bag full of beach goodies. The last thing he heard was Korra blowing her nose loudly as the door closed behind them.
Written for a prompt that I received on tumblr (if you want to follow me, just search "thegladelf" on tumblr). Basically, I was given permission to explore some of my Makorra kid headcanons. I think I explained it pretty well in the story though, so I won't say much here.
Am I the only one that thinks that bending is linked to eyes color? For example, I've yet to see a waterbender with anything but blue eyes. So far, I think Opal is the only one that breaks this tradition, but I'm not sure how that fits in with this theory since she was born a non-bender and became and airbender after Harmonic Convergence.
Reviews are loverly!