Runaways.
"Are you sure about this Bo?" Korra asked with a smug look on her face as she held Anali in her arms – the infant sitting on her mother's arm and facing her uncle. "Anali have been preparing herself for something like this ever since day one."
"Oh I'm plenty sure." Bolin nodded his head with a confident smile on his face as he held Ama the same way. "Blue Eyes is going to leave Sunshine in the dust."
"Then why don't we let the girls decided for us?" Korra smile as she looked up at her brother-in-law.
"Let's." Bolin agreed quickly.
The two gently laid the twins down on the giant rug in the living room of Korra and Mako's apartment before hurrying over to the other side and sitting on their knees.
"Not too late to back out now Bolin. It'll save you from the shame of defeat." Korra said, trying to get him to admit defeat.
"Oh, I think you will be the one feeling the shame." Bolin replied, confident that he was going to win.
The two stared intensely at each other for a moment before snapping their heads toward their choice of twin and began to coax them forward. The two girls looked at their babysitters with wide eyes, neither of them making a move.
"Come on Ana! Come to mommy!" Korra cheered as she waved her hands toward herself to motion Anali towards her.
"Come on Ama! Come to Uncle Bo! Win this for all the younger siblings in the world!" Bolin cheered as he smiled at his niece as she stared at him.
The twins just blankly stared at their mother and uncle, confused about why they were acting like they were. "This is going know where." Korra thought to herself as she took a small break from cheering. She then looked over and found Anali's pink teddy bear and quickly grabbed it. "Look sweetie! Mommy has your bear! Come and get it!" Korra cheered as she held up the little pink bear in front of her and making it dance.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Bolin complained as he looked at his sister-in-law in shock.
"I said no bribing with food or making them move!" Korra snapped as she took a break from bribing her daughter to correct Bolin.
As the two bickered, Anali caught the site of her teddy bear and started to pull herself forward on the rug; her sister soon following close behind.
Korra looked over at the twins after winning her argument and instantly jumped. "Yes! That's it honey! Come to mommy! Get your bear!" Korra cheered as she shook the teddy bear in her hands, making Anali squeal with matched excitement.
"No! Come Ama! Come to Uncle Bo! You can win this, I know you can!" Bolin panicked as he started to wave his hands toward himself at an inhuman speed.
While the two cheered on, no one noticed the front door opening and closing in front of them and Mako walking in on the scene. The newly promoted Captain looked on the situation confused at why his wife and little brother were coaxing his daughters to crawl toward them. "What are you two doing?" Mako chimed in, wanting an explanation.
Both Bolin and Korra snapped their heads up and looked at him with eyes as big as saucers. Korra quickly threw the bear to the side and put on a huge and innocent grin on her face. "Nothing."
"Yeah, what she said." Bolin added quickly as he pointed at Korra.
Mako raised an eyebrow at the two giant children. "So, you two weren't racing Ama and Anali against each other just now?" He asked as she pointed down at his still crawling daughters.
"No," Korra drug out the simple word as she turned her eyes away from her husband's. She then felt a small hand tap her knee and looked down to see Anali's amber eyes smiling at her. "Yes! I won!" Korra cheered as she threw her hands up in the air and slightly startled her daughter. "In your face Bo…" Korra continued, but then trailed off her sentence when she saw her brother-in-law give her a worried look and point at his older brother with his head. "I mean, good job honey. I knew you could do it." She added quickly as she picked up the infant and patted her back.
Mako just looked down at the two and let out a long sigh as he started to take off is jacket. "Bolin, didn't you and Opal have plans today or something?"
"Yeah, but she told me that she had to stay on the island for a little bit. So I told her I was going to hang out here till she called to say she's done." Bolin said as he stood up from the floor, Korra rising with him.
As Korra stood up, she noticed a slight bruise on Mako's shoulder. She looked at the mark confused and shifted Anali on her hip as she walked forward to get a closer look. "What happened here?" She asked him as she made Mako turn around so she could get a good look at the red mark, seeing that it covered the top of his shoulder and all the way to the tip of his shoulder blade.
Mako looked over his shoulder as Korra moved the back of his tank top out of her way to see what she was talking about. "Oh, I kind of crashed the bike today during a chase. It's no big deal, it doesn't even hurt that much."
"Wait a minute! You wrecked the bike?" Bolin asked completely in shock from hearing his brother actually had an accident on his motorcycle. "Isn't Beifong going to kill you for that?"
"I didn't wreck it Bo, I just scratched the paint. And I caught the guys so she didn't kill me." Mako replied as he let his wife look at the bruise. As Korra quietly inspected the wound, Anali watched her and decided to touch it – not as gently as Korra did – to see why her mother was so intrigued with it. "Ow! Korra!" Mako jumped as he spun around to face her, Bolin laughing his off in the background.
"Wasn't me. It was your grabby daughter." Korra said in defense as she held Anali back, the infant smiling at her father as she chewed on her fingers. "Besides, I thought you said it didn't hurt." Korra added with a smile, pointing out Mako's lie.
"It doesn't hurt unless you hit it." Mako corrected her as he started for the kitchen to get an ice pack.
Korra smiled as she turned to set Anali back on the floor. "You're daddy's crazy." She mumbled to her daughter before giving her a kiss on the cheek. As Korra looked down at the carpet she instantly noticed that something was wrong. "Uh, Bolin?"
"Yeah?" Bolin smiled as he stopped his small conversation with his brother to see what Korra wanted.
"Wasn't there a baby here just a minute ago?" Korra asked as she pointed at the now empty rug as she looked around the room for Ama.
She then handed Anali to Bolin before looking around the living room – behind the couch, under the coffee table, and in anything that she might have crawled in. Mako walked back in the living room with an ice pack pressed against his shoulder. "What's going on?" He asked Bolin as they both watched Korra looked around the living room.
"Korra lost Ama." Bolin said as he held Anali close to him, but only ended up handing her to his brother after she pushed away and leaned towards him.
"I didn't lose her!" Korra snapped as she stopped her searching to look at the brothers, trying hard to hide her rising panic. "She's just, slightly missing at the moment." She added before going back to looking.
Mako shook his head at her, finding Korra's reaction a little cute. "This is a small apartment, she couldn't have gotten far." He said as he set Anali down on the rug and started for the small hallway to the only two rooms in the apartment. "She's either in here or in one of the bedrooms. I'll look there while you two search up here." Korra and Bolin both gave him an understanding 'ok' – Bolin adding a salute with his reply – as Mako walked away. He did a quick check of his daughters' nursery – looking up the cribs and in any corner Ama could be hiding in – before moving on to the master bedroom. When Mako walked into the room, he could instantly here a soft cooing from the other side of the dresser. In the floor were scattered bits of clothing here and there, and when Mako walked over he could fully see that a sneaky little infant had knocked over the flimsy laundry hamper and was now trying to put on one of her mother's nightshirts on over her head, not being too successful in her attempts. "There you are." Mako smiled, causing Ama to stare up at him with wide blue eyes as she held the shirt over her head like a hood. Mako knelt down and put the hamper upright and started to clean his daughter's mess before picking up the seven-month-old and kissing her head. "I hope this messy phase isn't here to stay. Your mother makes a big enough mess around the apartment already." He said as he poked her chubby stomach, making the little girl squeal and reach out her tiny hand to touch her father's face.
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