"Hold still, Kat," Korra told the stocky, squirming mass that was her four-year-old daughter. A small hand grabbed the collar of the nightgown and pulled it down, winning smile peeking through the opening.

"I wanna go back in," the girl said, pointing at the tub that Korra just dragged her out of.

"No more water time tonight," Korra said. "It's time for bed."

Kat looked up at her mother, obviously contemplating whether a pouty lip or tears would work better on her mother. Korra took advantage of the brief stillness to slip the dress over her daughter's head.

"I'll tell you what," she said. "Mommy has tomorrow off. I bet we can convince Daddy to go swimming with us. But first, you have to go to bed."

That was all it took. Kat's amber eyes lit up. She bounced on her toes, clapping her hands together under the nightgown. Korra couldn't help smile as she tried to wrestle the child's arms through the sleeves. Kat's love of water was a little ironic after today's events.

Korra had to grab Kat to keep her from leaping off the bathroom counter as they heard the front door open and shut.

"Daddy!" Kat called. Suddenly, she was much more interested in getting her nightgown on. Quickly, she slipped her remaining hand through the sleeve and gave Korra an exasperated look, as if it was her mother's fault that getting dressed was taking so long. Korra put her down, following as her daughter barreled down the hallway and into their living room.

Mako swung Kat up into his arms as Korra entered the room.

"And how is my little Kitty Kat tonight?" he asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed? "

"I let her play in the tub a little longer tonight," Korra said, leaning in for a quick kiss.

"Daddy," Kat said, placing a chubby hand on either side of his face. "Daddy, Mommy says we can swim tomorrow. Can we? Can we?"

"Well, if Mommy says we're going swimming, then I guess we're going swimming."

Kat giggled delightedly, clapping both her hands together. Mako kissed her temple and then put her down so he could take of his jacket. The four-year-old tugged on Korra's pants, gesturing for Korra to bend down. Pretty sure she knew what Kat would ask, she crouched down to her daughter's level.

Kat cupped her hands to Korra's ear and failed to whisper, "Can I show Daddy?"

Korra smiled. "Yes, you can show Daddy."

Mako paused, raising an eyebrow. His eyes met Korra's first and she knew what he was expecting, but he didn't say anything as Kat took a deep breath and held her hand out.

A small flame appeared in her little hand. Both of Mako's eyebrows shot up.

"Guess who's a firebender?" Korra said, smiling up at him.

"Let me see that," he said. Mako knelt in front of Kat, cupping her hand in his big ones. "That's very good. I bet you worked really hard with Mommy today."

Kat nodded vigorously. Scrunching her mouth, she concentrated on the flame and it slowly died down until she put it out by closing her fingers around it.

Korra ruffled her daughter's hair. "Okay. You showed him, now what time is it?"

Kat bit her lip, glancing between her parents. "Bedtime?"

Korra nodded.

"Can—" Kat focused on Mako, fidgeting with both hands clasped behind her. "Can Mommy tuck me in tonight?"

Mako laughed. "Of course she can." He scooped her up, kissing her feathery, brown hair. "Good job with that fire," he said. "I'll teach you some more stuff tomorrow, okay?"

"Before swimming?"

"Yes. Before swimming," he said.

"Okay! Night, Daddy." She kissed his cheek, making a face at the scruffy stubble.

Korra reclaimed the little girl from her father. Kat sighed and put her arms around her mother's neck. It was way past her bedtime, but her daughter had been so excited to show Mako the firebending trick they'd practiced.

Grabbing a book from Kat's little bookshelf, Korra helped her daughter clamber beneath the covers and settled in next to her. Reading was a bedtime ritual that Korra didn't get to participate in nearly as often as she wanted. It didn't take long for the child to fall asleep. Kat was a bundle of energy as long as she could keep moving, but if you could get her to sit still she usually nodded off right away. It was the sitting still that was the challenging part. Hence the bedtime stories.

Tucking the blankets around Kat's small shoulders, Korra kissed her forehead and turned off the light.

Mako was on the couch, already changed out of his work clothes, looking exhausted.

"Looks like I owe you ten yuans," he said with a tired smile as Korra plonked down next to him. He lifted his arm, letting Korra lean in against him.

"Yes you do," she said.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes," Korra said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I just thought I was picking Kat up this week."

Korra laughed. "Yes, well, your daughter might have set Rohan's hair on fire at lunchtime."

"What?!"

"She just singed him a little. He was teasing her, from what Pema told me."

"Sounds like something her mother would do." He tried to pull a serious face, but he couldn't hide the grin.

"So, when they called me, I told them I'd come and get her. I just had boring meetings today, nothing they actually needed me for. You know how they are, they think having me there makes it super-official." She elbowed him. "Besides, turns out it was a good thing, since you had to work late."

Mako grimaced. "Yeah, well, I would have been off on time if the chief hadn't found out I didn't need to pick Kat up. How'd her first less go?"

"Pretty well." Sighing, Korra shifted, stretching out a little more. "I would have waited for you before I started teaching her, but I was afraid she'd burn down the apartment if I didn't let her try something."

"Ye of little faith."

"I nearly did. Had a good blaze burning by the time my mom smelled the smoke." Korra covered her face, laughing. "I don't even know how my parents did it."

"Was she disappointed?"

From the time she could comprehend what benders did, Kat had been obsessed with waterbending (once they'd explained that only Korra could bend all four elements, of course), insisting on practicing the forms with Korra and pretending to waterbend constantly. Her unusual (for her age) love of any kind of water was part of the reason Mako had thought she'd be a waterbender like Korra.

"Not really," Korra said. "Not once I reminded her that Mommy was a firebender too."

Mako shook his head. "I was so sure I was right."

"You can't be right all the time, love," Korra said, patting his cheek.

"Easy for you to say when you're the one winning the bet."

"She has your eyes." The eyes were the one feature that their daughter had inherited from Mako. That, and now her bending. "Besides, it's better this way." Korra grinned up at him. "Now we can teach her together."

"There is that," he said, kissing the top of her head. "So you aren't disappointed."

Korra shook her head. "Of course not."

They sat in silence for a little while longer. She was getting hungry and Mako was probably hungry too, but this was the first time she'd gotten to sit down all afternoon. Not counting dinner with Kat, but that had been a short affair. Her daughter hated sitting still.

Her stomach rumbled. Mako laughed.

"Food?"

"Food," she said hopping to her feet.

Mako got up and followed her into the kitchen, rummaging around in their fridge while Korra pulled out a pan and bent some water into it. Taking last night's leftovers from Mako, she set them to steam for a few minutes while he pulled out the plates.

"We're going to have to be careful about using fire around her," Korra said.

"Nah. We just have to teach her to be careful."

"And no fire when we aren't around."

Mako nodded. "Not until she's older." He put his arms around her waist, letting her relax against him. "I'm still betting on waterbender for the next one."

Korra leaned back, biting back her smile. "Next one? Who told you there's going to be a next one?"

"I have my sources." He leaned down to kiss Korra.

"Ooh, Mr. Detective has his sources," she said, pulling away enough to talk, but staying tantalizingly close. "I bet I have better ones."

Mako took a breath, cupping her face in his hands. His eyes were sparking. "Oh really?" he asked, trying to sound cool, but she knew this is what he'd been waiting for all day. "What do your sources say?"

"They say Katara needs to get ready to be a big sister."

Her breath left her in a huff as Mako lifted her off her feet and spun her around. Korra laughed, trying to stay quiet so she didn't wake their daughter. When her feet were back on the ground, she pulled him down for another kiss before he could say anything else. They backed up until Korra was pinned between him and the kitchen cabinets. Not a far distance in their little kitchen.

"When?" he asked breathlessly.

"Late fall, I think," she said.

"We'll need a bigger place."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Korra said. "I know the Avatar. She can probably pull some strings for us."

Mako opened his mouth to say something else, but their dinner started steaming right then. With a sigh, Mako reached for the pan, spooning their dinner onto the plates Korra held out. Kissing his cheek, she took them out to the table.

Neither of them stopped smiling.

And there you have it. This story has come to it's conclusion...sort of.

If you are familiar with any of my other Korra fanfics, I've actually structured it so that it sort of fits with this one. If you ignore the difference in Korra and Mako's ages between this and some of the later stuff I've done. But as far as the age difference between Katara and San (their second kid), that still fits with this story. You are welcome to go check that out if you enjoyed this one. I think it will end up involving a lot of Makorra family moments...

Thanks for sticking with me this long. I've really loved working with this fic and I loved delving into the character of a Makorra baby for this chapter. (Seriously, I love this child so much, you would think I'd birthed her myself.)