i'd like to take you to a higher place, where we won't ever have to leave the ground

[unrestraint]

It starts off as just a thought. Not really something that's been on her mind regularly, and definitely not something she's ever pictured as being in her immediate future. Just an errant consideration after a long evening of feeling sick, and feeling cranky, and wandering through the still halls of the convenience store down the block. She picks up a few things — grapefruit soda, mint chewing gum, a small bag of rice and chicken stock for stew. Things that will cleanse her palate and keep her nausea under control.

A brisk walk down the drug aisle has her picking up anti-emetic medicine, and in the process of trying to make out what the many colored and shaped boxes are supposed to be for, she happens across it. A long, thin box, not at all intimidating or standing out from the others. An errant puzzle piece that possibly, just possibly fits in place with the pattern.

The cashier hesitates for only half a second when scanning the item, and for some reason, doesn't seem to meet Korra's gaze. Which is fine.

It's just a thought, anyway.

She almost forgets about it once she's back at the house. Time is one of those funny things that slips easily through her fingers if she isn't careful, and there's always something that needs to be taken care of now that they've moved into a bigger space. Naga needs a bath, and the kitchen needs to be tidied, and the trash needs to be taken out — which is no longer a trip down the hall, but instead a matter of dragging the cans out by the curb, where the collection truck will see as it drives down the road. By the time she finds the three minutes she needs in the bathroom, it's practically when Naruto is due home, and Korra's biggest concern is whether or not he had the forethought to bring something home for dinner, or if she has to start thinking about what she can do with what's in the fridge.

Until she glances at the test she's carelessly left on the counter, finding two pink lines down the tiny window in the center.

Frowning, Korra reaches for the box, her skin buzzing uncertainly as she rereads the instructions on the back and finds herself a seat on the couch. It doesn't sink in. Can't, really, without someone else there to ground the moment.

Naga huffs slightly as she pads into the room, laying herself parallel to the couch and staring up at Korra. Korra stares back, pulling one knee up to her chest.

"Don't tell me that you knew all along and just couldn't find a way to tell me."

Comments

[outfoxy]

Naruto smiles at Korra, but lowers his eyes, lashes hiding his gaze as he stares into the small space between them. It's a far-away expression, but not one of pain or regret or frustration. She's right, he probably should have asked; but he never has been good at knowing how to communicate what he needs from other people. He knows it's important, just as he knows it's also important to understand that people have to meet their own needs in the middle, can't expect the world to always bend totally in their favor.

"We'll be okay. I don't see any reason that we won't be okay. I mean, as an us, I know we're okay, and as parents, I think it's hard to do the wrong thing if you do whatever you do because you really loved your kids. I can't think any other way."

[unrestraint]

"Oh, I don't know," Korra says with a wrinkle of her nose. "I've heard of loving parents who still made... some pretty big mistakes."

She's never had any issues with her own parents. If anything, she wants to emulate their example as much as possible — supportive, but capable of encouraging restraint whenever Korra's needed it. But neither of them ever tried to hold Korra back from her dreams, and what she wanted to accomplish as the Avatar. It's not easy, she knows. Her parents have always preferred a simple, contained life, and having their daughter turn out to be the Avatar gave them anything but.

Korra raises her free hand to Naruto's jaw, cupping it gently. Not trying to pull his gaze away from wherever he's concentrating on at the moment.

"But we're both pretty open to taking advice, so I don't think we'll have that problem. And we've got friends who'll help us. You know, maybe I'll freak out in a couple of days, but right now... I'm pretty excited. I kind of hope we have a boy."

[outfoxy]

"A boy?" Naruto says. He rolls it over in his mind at first, but quickly comes to the decision that it isn't what he'd prefer. It's too hard, so early, to shake the picture of a little version of himself, in every way, and he finds he's not sure his patience can take it. The noise, the attitude, or the hair. Korra's just got better hair.

"Wouldn't a girl be better? Whether she looks like you or she looks like me .. I think a girl would be better."

[unrestraint]

"Are you kidding me? Boys are so much fun. And it'd be cute to see if he ends up like you," Korra points out, settling back down fully on the couch. Now that they've had a few minutes for the thought to sink in, Korra finds her strength slightly sapped. "I mean, both of us are pretty loud and I guess we must have been obnoxious kids, so maybe this one will be, too. Boys seem to get away with that a lot more easily than girls, though."

Taking a deep breath, Korra reaches out for Naruto's hand, threading their fingers together and tugging him in her direction. "Do you think you can take tomorrow off work? I want to go to the hospital and see how far along we are."