Waiting

“What does the test say?” Mako asked, “Positive or negative?”
“I…” Korra said, squinting at the thin plastic stick, “I don’t know. It’s too light.”
“What? Let me see.”
Korra handed her pregnancy test over to him, but he had no more luck figuring it out than she did. The box said that a pink plus or minus sign would appear after ten minutes, but unlike the image on the box, the pink was barely visible against the white background.
“I… think it’s a plus? Oh, no wait, it’s…” He squinted some more at the test. “I don’t know either.”
Korra huffed.
“Great.”
Mako set the test down on the bathroom counter. They hadn’t been trying to have a baby, but they hadn’t exactly tried to prevent it either. It was only an hour ago that Korra told him her period was late, and he went and got the test for her right away. He wanted to believe his wife was pregnant, but he knew better than to get his hopes up.
“You know what, forget this,” Korra said, throwing the test in the garbage, “I’m calling a doctor.”
Mako followed her into the bedroom and watched as she hastily dialed the phone. When she finally hung up a few minutes later, she still didn’t look at all satisfied.
“Well?” Mako asked.
Korra huffed again.
“He said that since I’m only a few days late, he wants me to wait a couple more days before coming in for an official test,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest, “I don’t see why I can’t come in for an official test now, but apparently it’s policy or something.”
Though clearly frustrated at the moment, Korra was in the same boat as Mako as far as her possible pregnancy was concerned. She wanted to believe she was pregnant just as much as he did, but the last thing she wanted was to get attached to a baby she might not even be expecting.
“It’s just a couple days,” Mako said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in attempt to stop her from pouting, “We’ll know soon enough.”
Though in reality, he’d prefer to know now himself.
--
After her shower the next morning, Korra cracked the bathroom door open to let some of the steam out, when she noticed Mako sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through the newspaper. It wasn’t as if he never read the paper, but the circling things and taking notes was new. Still in her towel, Korra walked over to him and looked over his shoulder.
“What’re you doing?”
“I was thinking; if you are pregnant, we’re going to need more space,” he explained, still looking through the paper, “I wanted to see how much a two bedroom cost.”
Korra took a quick glance around the apartment. Having been trying to remind herself that she might not even be pregnant, she hadn’t thought about where they would put the baby if she was. They’d probably have it sleep in their room for the first couple weeks, but now that she thought about it, there wouldn’t be enough room for even a bassinet in their current bedroom.
With that in mind, another thought came to her.
“You’re only looking at two bedrooms?”
“Yeah, why?”
She tried to think about how she wanted to word this.
“I dunno, I guess… I know this is way in the future, but… You don’t wanna have just one kid, do you?”
Mako looked up at her.
“I… No, I was thinking we’d have at least two. I mean, eventually, you know.”
“Well, then maybe we should look at three bedrooms.”
Mako thought for a minute before he spoke again.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself. We don’t even know for sure if you’re pregnant yet.”
“Well, let’s say I am pregnant. Are we going to move every time we have a baby, or should we just get a bigger place now and get it over with?”
“We can decide that once we know if you’re actually pregnant. In the meantime, I still wanna see what it would cost to move.”
He went back to reading the paper. Korra then turned around started for the bedroom, but stopped for a second and looked back at him.
“Just look at three bedrooms too, okay?”
“Alright, alright,” he grinned.
--
“You still seeing the doctor today?”
“Yeah,” Korra said, sliding her shirt over her head, “I still haven’t gotten my period, so it’s time to see if I’m pregnant.”
Mako looked at the clock. He wanted to go with her to her appointment, but Beifong wouldn’t let him take the time off. Once Korra was dressed, he walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss.
“Tell me what the doctor says as soon as I get home,” he told her, “I love you.”
With that, he left for work.
All throughout the day, Mako had both possible outcomes in the back of his mind. He’d come home and Korra would have a big smile on her face. After all day of waiting to break the news to him, she’d run up to him and tell him they were going to have their first baby.
Or he’d come home and Korra would have a slightly sad look in her eyes. She’d tell him she wasn’t pregnant after all, and he’d respond by giving her a gentle kiss right before reminding her that they could always start trying to have their first baby. Maybe she’d perk up a little after that.
Twenty minutes before Mako was scheduled to go home, a call came into the station about a break-in in the Dragon Flats borough. The break-in turned into a hostage situation, and though everyone came out of it alright, Mako didn’t get home until well past midnight.
Part of him hoped Korra waited up for him, but that hope was short-lived when he came home to all the lights off and the apartment dead quiet. To tired to even heat up leftovers, Mako went straight to the bedroom and changed into his pajamas. Seeing Korra already asleep, he was tempted to wake her up and ask what the doctor said, but quickly thought better of it. He’d for sure pay for it if he woke her up at this hour.
Just as he was about to get into bed, he noticed a note on his pillow. Not wanting to turn on a light, he lit a small flame in one hand and picked the note up with the other.

Welcome home, daddy!