Separation.
"I don't know about this." Korra said in a worried tone as she watched Ikki and Jinora play with her two daughters.
It was the night of her and her husband's third anniversary and the Airbender family volunteered to watch the twins so they could have the night to themselves. Even though the twins have been babysat before, Korra was still nervous about letting them stay the night. She nervously watched on as Jinora and Ikki played with the girls, making Anali laugh till her little cheeks were read and keeping Ama's eyes off her mother.
"Korra, don't worry. They'll be ok here. Jinora and Ikki will watch them and if they need any help, I'll an earshot away." Pema said, trying to calm her.
"I know, but still, I'm going to worry." Korra said as she crossed her arms tightly in front of her body.
Pema smiled and rested her hand on the young mother's shoulder. "I know you are. It's your first full night away from the girls. If you didn't worry, then I would."
Korra looked at her second mother with small smile. "You promise you'll be close by incase they need help? Ama can be a handful sometimes."
"I promise." Pema smiled.
Korra smiled at Pema again till she felt a hand on her waist. She turned her head to see who it was, but was stopped half way when her husband kissed her cheek. "Hey honey." He smiled, happy that his surprise worked.
Korra looked up at him for a second before smiling. "Hey." She said as looked away to hide her slight embarrassed blush and rubbed her cheek.
"Are you the girls all settled? We didn't forget anything, did we?" Mako asked as he looked at Pema.
Pema smiled at the two before looking up at Mako and then to where her daughters were playing with the twins. "No, everything looks to be fine. Besides, even if you did I'm sure Jinora and Ikki can handle it."
"Ok then. We'll come pick them up tomorrow morning after breakfast." Mako smiled as he rested his hands on Korra's shoulders. Pema nodded and gave a simple 'ok'. Mako smiled and then looked down at his wife, who was caught staring at the twins with a worried look. "Don't worry, they'll be fine. Jinora and Ikki know what they're doing." He said in attempts to calm her.
"I know." Korra mumbled as she rubbed the side of her arms.
"Ok then, come on. We're going to miss our reservations." Mako said as he rubbed her shoulders and made her turn around and walked her toward the docks. "Let us know if anything happens." He said back to Pema as a good-bye.
The couple quietly made their way to the dock, with Mako still walking behind his wife barely pushing her forward. Just before they walked onto the ferry ramp, Korra put her foot down and bent a small rock wall in front of her feet so Mako couldn't push her anymore. "Wait!" She said suddenly before turning around. "I don't know if I packed enough formula for the girls. What if they get hungry but there's no more. I need to go check and make sure." She then tried to make her way around Mako to head back to the temple but was stopped right away.
"Honey, they have enough. I packed the bag, remember?" Mako said after stepping in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "You really need to stop worrying. We're leaving the girls with, in your words, the best babysitters ever. They're going to be fine." Korra quickly let out a small 'but' to interrupt him, but Mako just gave a stern look and covered her mouth. "Listen," he said as he took his hand off her mouth and put it back on her shoulder. "This is our first full night away from the girls in five months and our anniversary night. We both need some alone time and time to get used to being away from the girls. I mean, what are you going to do when they get older and want to spend the night at a friend's house? Say no and keep them locked up at home?"
"No." Korra mumbled as she sunk her head between her shoulders slightly and looked away from him. She always said since day one, she would never let the girls have the secluded childhood she had.
"Ok then. Are you going to enjoy tonight and not worry about the girls?" Mako asked as he bent his knees a little so that he could look his wife in the eyes.
Korra looked at him out of the corner of her eyes for a few moments and sighed. "Yeah." She mumbled as she looked away from again.
Mako smiled after finding his wife's actions a little humorous and kissed the side of her head. He then turned her around and started to nudge her toward the waiting ferry, being mindful of the small wall she made earlier. "Don't worry. You're going to be happy you went through with this." He said as they both walked up the ramp.
Back at the temple, after Mako made Korra walk out, Pema walked into the family room where her daughters were. "Girls I'm going to get started on dinner, ok? Yell if you need me." She said as she walked toward the kitchen.
Her daughters replied with happy 'ok's and continued to play with the infant girls. Jinora was Airbending Anali's light pink teddy bear in the air to make it look like it was dancing. Anali laughed and clapped happily over the show before leaning back far enough to make herself fall back over her boppy pillow. Jinora instantly dropped the bear from the shock of seeing the infant fall over. When she picked Anali back up, the little girl was just laughing about the event. Jinora just smiled at the little girl and settled her back in her seat.
"Ana's one cheerful baby, isn't she?" Ikki said as she paused for moment from keeping Ama from noticing her mother was missing.
"Yeah. Kind of like how you were." Jinora responded as she went back to playing with Anali's teddy bear.
During the girls' small conversation, Ama took the time to look around her surrounding while she lightly chewed on her fingers. Once she realized her mother was not in the same spot she was before, her little blue eyes started to water up and face reddened. She then let out a loud scream with her hand still in her mouth as tears rushed down her face. Ikki snapped her head to the little girl and started to panic. "Ama, don't cry! Look at the rattle! Look at the rattle!" Ikki said in a slight panicked tone as she shook a small rattle that she found in the girls' bag earlier. Ama just kept screaming her head off like she usually did when she cried, keeping her eyes shut and ignoring Ikki's pleas.
Jinora covered her ears during Ama's fourth or fifth scream. "Ikki calm her down. What did you do to make her cry?"
"I don't know!" Ikki responded in a panic. She then picked Ama up from her boppy pillow and stood up to pace around the room and bounce her in her arms, something she saw Korra do whenever Ama had her tantrums. "Jinora what do I do? She won't stop!" Ikki asked after a few quick paces.
"I don't know!" Jinora responded back, honestly not knowing what to do because all the children she handled before were never as fussy as Ama. She then picked up Anali, whose smile had faded while she listened to her sister cry. Jinora walked over to her sister and switched the twins. She then did a quick check of the baby's diaper, but found nothing.
"Maybe she's hungry?" Ikki suggested as she settled Anali on her arm.
Jinora just looked at her sister as she bounced the screaming infant in her arms. "Korra said she just fed them both before coming over."
"It's something to try." Ikki retorted.
Jinora then rolled her eyes at her sister and went to the twin's overnight bag and pulled out an already prepared bottle. She then pushed the top against Ama's mouth, opening that once she realized that she was about to eat she would stop crying. But that's not what happened. Ama pushed the bottle away from her face and started to scream even louder. Jinora groaned in annoyance before putting the bottle down. "Now what?" She asked Ikki and she settled Ama over her shoulder to rub her back.
"I don't know. Call mom?" Ikki suggested.
Just before the girls could call for their mother's help, their father stormed into the family room they were in, his face red with frustration. "What is going on here?" He snapped once he stormed in.
"Ama started crying for some reason and won't stop." Ikki confessed in a panic over the infants screams.
"We've tried everything. Her diaper is clean, she's not hungry, and her stomach is not upset. We don't know what else to do." Jinora added on as she continued to bounce the infant in her arms and rub her back.
Tenzin looked around the room for a moment before letting out a long sigh to calm his nerves. "Give her to me." He said as he walked over to Jinora and took the infant from her. He settled the screaming child in his arms and asked for one of her pacifiers. Jinora did as she was told and dug through the twin's bag and gave her father one of the pacifiers she found. Tenzin stuck the pacifier in Ama's mouth and paced around the room while rubbing her back. The child soon started to calm down and stared up at Tenzin while sucking on the pacifier. "There," Tenzin sighed, happy that there was peace in the house once again. "Girls, Ama has slight separation anxiety from her parents. She's not as trusting as her sister is with strangers. Korra even has said that she has trouble being left alone with Bolin from time to time. You have to be patient with her and show her that everything is ok." Tenzin then handed Ama back to Jinora. Ama looked at Tenzin to Jinora a few times after being settled in the eldest Airbender's arms. When Ama looked like she was about to cry again, Jinora rubbed her back and bounced her in her arms to calm her.
Ikki let out a loud sigh of relief. "Thanks for the help dad." She smiled up at him, happy about the silence.
"You're welcome. But please, next time if either of them look like they are about to cry, call for me or your mother for help before you try to figure out what is wrong with them just so we can prevent what just happened in the future." Tenzin said as he stood in front of his daughters. The girls agreed to his suggested before he walked out of the room to leave them alone to babysit the twins like they were asked to.
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