"I want her."

"Korra."

"I want her."

Mako really should have expected this, if only because he could count on Korra being unpredictable. Not in a million years would he think she'd adopt an orphan when she was barely eighteen, which is exactly why it wasn't all too weird. Like he had said the day he met her, this girl was crazy.

The woman running the Ba Sing Se orphanage (Daiyu, as Mako recalled from his last report) seemed to pick up on Korra's determination and didn't bother to try and sway her. "How old are you, Miss Korra?"

"Eighteen."

"Just old enough," the woman announced without one ounce of enthusiasm. She cocked her head to the back room. "Kid's back there. I'll go get your paperwork."

While Korra chose to immediately go and find the kid which she had grown so infatuated with over the past week, Mako decided to follow Daiyu to her office in the back of the building. "It's real nice of you and your girlfriend to be taking that one," she told him.

"Oh," he scratched at his cheek nervously. "She's, uh, not my girlfriend."

Again, the woman took it in stride. "So she's taking this one on by herself. Strong girl."

Even though Mako wasn't Korra's boyfriend, it didn't mean he wasn't going to help her. She'd have tons of other people too: Asami, Bolin, Tenzin. The list went on. "She won't be doing it by herself. Me and all my other friends will be around to help."

Daiyu smiled faintly. "That's nice to hear," she plucked a few papers from a large accordion folder and started shuffling back out towards the front of the orphanage. "Miss Korra knows all them airbenders, right?" Mako nodded. "Good, good. She needs airbenders."

"What do you mean?"

The woman sighed. "Well, the girl was dropped off here back when all them airbenders were popping up around the city. I guess her parents were 'fraid of gettin' caught up with the Dai Li and didn't want to deal with it. So they dropped her off here in the middle of the night. No trace of the parents. Poor thing. She don't even airbend that much, she's too tiny. A couple of sneezes that send her sky high, s'all."

While Mako hadn't been around much of the week when Korra was getting to know the little girl, he thought Korra would have at least mentioned that the girl was an airbender. "Does Korra know she's an airbender?"

"Hmm, yes, I told her that. I tell all prospecting parents that. Usually, it's what sends them running. They don't want to deal with trying to teach airbenders, don't want to get a kid and then ship 'em off to those sky high temples, you know?" Daiyu's face bloomed a soft smile. "But Miss Korra just got happier the second I told her. Those two are a good match, you know."

As Daiyu filled out her part of the forms, Korra came back to greet them, the two-year old propped up on her hip. "Luli, this is my friend Mako. Say hi, sweetie!"

Luli was absolutely adorable, a fun fact Mako kept to himself. She was a bit on the skinny side, as orphans tend to be, but she still had a healthy color to her tan skin; her eyes weren't the bright green like his brother's, but more pale and soft like the Chief's, and her hair was a wavy bob atop her head.

Mako leaned down to Luli's eye level. "Hi," he said softly, waving his fingers.

"Not you, sweetie," Korra laughed as Mako blushed bright red, standing straight again. "Luli, say hi to Mako!"

It took a minute but she finally gave a tiny little smile and waved back. "Hi."

"Okay Miss Korra," Daiyu announced, sliding the papers over her way on a clipboard. "All you gotta do it fill this out and sign at the bottom, and you'll be all set."

Luli still propped to her hip, Korra managed to grab the papers, but she had a hard time writing and holding it with one hand. "Mako, could you…?"

Whether or not she wanted him to grab the clipboard or Luli, he didn't know, so he grabbed the clipboard since it was closest. He filled out all the regular information and he was almost embarrassed at the fact that he didn't have to ask her for any of the answers to the questions. He already knew everything. He only paused at the very bottom when it asked for printed name and signature of legal guardians.

Beside him Luli giggled. He turned his head and saw Korra lifting her in the air and making gibberish noises while kissing her nose repeatedly over and over again. Korra was good with kids, he'd seen it time and time again with Tenzin's children, but this was a little different. She didn't look like a big sister, she looked like a mother and the whole idea had his head spinning and his heart racing.

"You finally got stuck on a question?" Korra teased, her eyes entirely on her soon-to-be daughter.

It was crazy. It was ill-advised. It was something only Korra would think of doing. But something in his heart told him to do it anyway.

He scrawled his name under one of the spaces for legal guardians.

As if he hadn't just signed his name away to the biggest commitment of his life, he handed her the clipboard back in exchange for Luli. It took a moment for her to notice as she scanned the information for any errors, but her eyes went wide when she saw his name at the bottom. She looked up at him, stunned. "Mako…?"

He held Luli close to him, her head in the crook of his neck as she started to doze off for an afternoon nap. "Just in case," he murmured, unable to meet her eyes. "Just in case."

.

.

Even though he was legally Luli's father, it didn't change his relationship with Korra, and for that he was grateful. They remained friends. With Korra's busy schedule as the Avatar, Luli's time spent away with her was evenly divided between Asami, Bolin and himself. At times, it was much easier for Luli to spend most of her time with Bolin or Asami since she could tag along to wherever they were going without problems (Lin didn't like Mako bringing her to the office on his days to watch her) but Mako wouldn't stand for a minute less of his given time with her. Besides the fact that he adored her, Mako also felt more obligated to watch her due to his status as one of her legal guardians (a fact no one knew aside from Korra and the Chief).

"Mako?" the three year old asked from his lap as he finished writing a report.

"What is it, Lu?" he asked absently, his attention on the details of a robbery from last Tuesday.

"Who's that?"

She had pointed to his family portrait his grandmother had mailed to him awhile back. "That's me and my brother with my parents." He leaned down and whispered, hoping not to disturb his coworkers beside him. "See? Recognize us?"

Nodding, she wiggled out of his lap and climbed up on the desk; he narrowly managed to swipe his report before she sat on it. Taking the frame in her hands she stared at the picture and announced, "Your mommy's pretty."

"I like to think so, too."

"Can I meet her?"

He smiled sadly. "No, I'm afraid she died a long time ago." At Luli's frown, Mako plucked her off his desk and set her back on his lap, settling the frame on his knee so they could both look at it. "But if she were here, I know she'd love to meet you, too."

"Mako?"

"Yeah, Lu?"

"Can I have a picture?"

It took a minute for him to rewrite the meaning in his head. "You want your picture taken?" he asked, and Luli nodded. "Well, why don't you ask your mom? I'm sure she'd be happy to get one with you."

She took the frame from his hands and pointed to his father in the picture. "It can't just be me and Mommy. We need a Daddy to be a family. Will you be the Daddy, Mako?"

His heart sped up and three metalbending officers looked his way, including the Chief.

"Well," he started, careful to watch his words. From the corner of his eyes he saw Chief Beifong eavesdropping on his conversation. Nosy chief. "Families are all very different. They don't always have mommies and daddies, but they do have people who love them very much." He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, and Luli beamed, giggle and all. "You have your mother but you also have me. As well as Asami, Bolin, Jinora, Tenzin and all your other friends. All part of your family."

Lin walked by his desk and dropped a small candy on top of his report. "You even have me, kid," she smirked, before making her way back to her office.

"You even have Lin," Mako repeated with a chuckle and the shake of his head. He looked back down at Luli, who was already unwrapping the small chocolate. "Understand?"

"Mako?"

"Hmm?"

"…Will you still be the Daddy?"

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her chin as he tilted her face up, meeting her eyes. "Yeah," he said, breathless. "I will."

.

.

"Okay, okay, everyone get in formation! Just like we practiced."

Mako rolled his eyes before he looked at Asami, begging for some sort of help (as if she could do anything to reel Bolin back in). She simply shrugged before she let Bolin guide her by the shoulders to the mock-stage he had set up for their portrait.

"This is big." Bolin told them, "Huge. One of the first ever color photographs!"

At the mention of color, Mako was forced to look down at his outfit and frown. "Bo, that doesn't mean we have to wear every color."

Bolin looked offended. "It's not every color!" he squawked. "It's only shades of red. Jeez, I try to put you in something that's not grey and you freak out. It'll look great when you firebend in the photo. Contrast and all that." He paused, stroking his new goatee in thought. "Or would it be complimentary…"

"I'm not firebending in the photo," Mako deadpanned.

"Mako, don't be a killjoy."

Luli went over and tugged on the hem of Bolin's shirt. "Do I get to airbend?"

"No!" Korra and Mako shouted simultaneously. At Luli's shocked and hurt look, Korra kneeled to her level. "What I mean is, you still need a lot of practice before you can airbend –you might break something." Which was true. Her practices at the air temple had already broken a few "relics" of Tenzin's, which he was still pretty peeved about.

Mako ruffled Luli's hair affectionately, a habit which wasn't appreciated since Asami spent 20 minutes braiding it; she came over and slapped his forearm in retribution. "Next time we get a picture, okay Lu?"

"Okay, Daddy," she mumbled dejectedly, but Mako did his best to wipe that sour look on her face by swooping her up in his arms and running over to the stage where there were chairs for their pictures.

"Alright!" Varrick announced from behind the camera. "Everyone gather around. Let's make history!."

How they managed to stuff 15 people in a photo, Mako will never know. It wouldn't be much of a picture in terms of detail, but to a once-was orphan like himself, like Luli, the more people in the picture, the better.

"One," Varrick announced, "Two, Three!"

Just as the flash went off, Luli sneezed and flew twelve feet into the air.

With much practice, Korra managed to catch her with ease when she came tumbling back down. "Did you get the photo, or had Luli already sneezed herself to the Northern Air Temple?"

Varrick was contemplative but eventually he decided, "Don't worry, I got it! It'll be the best picture ever!"

A few days later, when the photo was developed, Korra and Mako discovered it had definitely not looked like what they had planned. Half of Luli's body was out of the frame, Lin wasn't smiling (was she ever) Bolin looked scared out of his wits, all of Asami's hair had blown into her face, and a 7 year old Meelo had managed to moon the camera.

"We're some family, huh?" Mako mumbled.

"You bet we are! But you know," Korra said, unable to stifle a laugh. "I think this really is the best picture ever."

When he set a framed copy of the photo on his desk next to the one of his parents three days later, Mako was inclined to agree.

.

.

Over the next couple of months, they got more pictures.

He put them on the mantle at his and Bolin's apartment, hung copies on his rear view mirror in his car, and even snuck some into Beifong's office when she wasn't looking. While Mako didn't really care much to see himself in pictures, it wasn't the point. He liked constantly looking at his family, his odd ragtag team of friends. It had taken so long for him to get a family back once he lost his parents that now that he had one, he wanted everyone to know.

So, Mako decided to send one of their first photographs along with a handwritten letter back to the orphanage to let Daiyu know how they were all doing: Luli's airbending has gotten better, she eats green vegetables now, Korra taught her how to swim last week. And before you ask, no, Korra's still not my girlfriend.

Weeks later, he had gotten a reply back in the form of a tea stained note, and a blank marriage license.

Just in case.

—Daiyu

Mako smiled.

.

.

AN: this isn't a continuous story, just drabbles, but both drabble occur in the same universe so I decided to put them together.