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"Hey Mako, remember when you told me you know how to sew?" Korra asked almost immediately after he came home from work.
"Yeah, why?"
"DADDY!" their four-year-old daughter cried. She ran into the room, clutching a stuffed tiger-monkey in one arm, and one of its legs in the other. A few pieces of stuffing fell to the floor as she looked up at Mako, trails of old tears running down her cheeks, and new ones threatening to escape her shiny, gold eyes. "Happy's broken!"
Sticking out her lower lip, a habit she inherited from her mother, she held out her toy and its severed leg to Mako. "He needs surgery, daddy, before the rest of his guts fall out!"
Mako took the tiger-monkey and its leg from her, trying not to let any more stuffing fall on the floor. He smiled at his daughter. "Don't worry, Tori, Happy will be alright."
Tori sniffed. Korra picked her up.
"Come on Tori, let's go listen to Uncle Bolin's pro-bending match while daddy fixes Happy."
Tori sniffed again and looked up at Korra. "O-Okay mommy."
Korra took Tori into the living room to listen to the radio, while Mako went into the kitchen and set Happy on the table. Looking through the closet next to the back door, he pulled out and dusted off an old sewing kit.
He tried to think back to the last time he used it. He probably had to break it out more than once last year, when they first discovered that Tori was a firebender, but most of his memories consisted of when he use to patch up his and Bolin's old clothes, back when throwing them out and buying new ones wasn't an option.
Setting the sewing kit on the table next to Happy, he pulled out a needle and hunted for a thread that would match the tiger-monkey's orangeish-brown material closest. He settled on a light brown color, and quickly got to work repairing his daughter's favorite toy.
A half hour later, Mako was just a few stitches away from having Happy's leg sewn back on. Without making a sound, Korra came up to him and sat down next to him.
"You almost done?" she asked.
"Almost." He kept his eyes on his work. "How's Tori doing?"
"Better. She's calmed down now, but she's still worried about Happy. She sent me in here to make sure you remembered to knock him out before 'operating' on him."
Mako snickered. "That kid has an active imagination." He gave Happy another stitch. "How'd Happy end up like this, anyway?"
Korra shrugged. "I think she was throwing him around her room, and his leg tore off."
"What ever happened to that 'no throwing things' rule?"
"Hey, the twins finally fell asleep, and she was being quiet. Well, she was until Happy's leg came off."
"Did she wake the boys up?"
"Surprisingly, no."
Mako made the final stitch connecting Happy's leg to his body. He cut off the leftover thread, and secured the stitches he made with a knot.
"Tori," he called, "Please come in here."
Tori poked her head into the kitchen. Mako held up Happy, and the little girl's face instantly lit up.
"Happy!" She ran up to the table and took Happy from Mako, giving the tiger-monkey a big hug. "Thank you, daddy!"
She ran out of the room, still holding Happy in her arms. Mako looked over at Korra.
"So about the no throwing things rule?"
"I think she learned her lesson."
Suddenly, a loud crash came from the living room, followed quickly by crying coming from down the hall.
"Oops," Tori said.
Korra sighed and looked up at Mako. "Take your pick."