How Green Becomes Wood

"Thank you," Dark said, feeling fairly satisfied, "They do look alike... It is very fortunate for me."

Daizi laughed, "Yes, habibi, the drawing is beautiful. The sound of the paper rustling is really carefully done."

"I thought you'd appreciate it," Alec said with a satisfied nod. "Ylur really are excellent at faces, Ba."

"Thank you," Dark said, putting his crayon down, "I have worked hard to become so. What have you been drawing?"

"Mostly shapes," Alec said, showing him an assortment of simple to complex shapes. "It was a lot of fun to keep things 'preschool.'"

"That is very interesting," Dark replied, "Ivy-Qadira, what are you drawing? Can you show Baba?"

Ivy shook her head and did not lift her head, still too busy scribbling on the page.

"Looks like someone is really learning to love drawing," Alec remarked, watching her. "And a love of color!"

Ivy mumbled to herself like Dark often did when he was really focused and continued to ignore them.

"She really does go for many different crayons," Dark commented.

Alec laughed. "She is just like her father." He set his crayon down and stretched. "I should be getting on with my homework."

"Alright, thank you for colouring with us," Daizi told him.

"I will get you when dinner is ready," Dark said, checking the time. He probably had to start cooking soon.

Alec put away his things properly and then headed down to Xander's room to do homework. Normally, they worked in Alec's room, but since Xander was already down in his room, Alec went down to join him. They didn't have a lot to do, especially since both of them worked hard to keep up with their homework, and Alec was determined not to fall behind again. He was doing things properly. All for Kiki's sake. Well, his own, too, but it was more fun to say it was for the sake of the cat that sat on Xander's pillow and watched them as if making sure they worked hard.

Partway through their work, Alec grabbed something from Xander's bag for him, and he saw the career questionnaire. He picked it up and looked it over. Xander had filled out the "what my life looks like now" section in his usual succinct manner, but the rest was blank. Not even an Alaskan Fisherman was on the page. "Hey. Why did you say you wanted to be a fisherman in Alaska?"

"I was just joking," Xander said, filling out a section on geometry. "I don't really. It's an intense job and fun to watch videos of, but I wouldn't really want to be one. Sounds miserable."

"So, how come you didn't write anything down that you actually want? Like Milo said, it's just something to put down," Alec said.

"I dunno. Just don't really know much about what I want," Xander replied.

Alec frowned and set the paper down in front of Kiki, who immediately moved to sit on it. "I thought you did know what you wanted to do. Work as a handiman with Uncle Cooger while doing your leather business." He watched as Xander continued to write. "Or is that not what you actually want to do? You're just settling?"

"We aren't all obsessed with the future like you are," Xander said bluntly. "Some of us are content to just see what happens."

"Sure," Alec agreed, "and there's nothing wrong with that, but my twin senses are tingling and telling me that's not all there is to it."

Xander looked at Alec, annoyed, but Alec just kept looking right back. "Okay," he finally huffed. "I don't mind working as a handiman. I'm learning a lot of skills, Uncle Cooger's a cool boss, Rumy's not bad to work with, and sometimes it's even fun."

"But?" Alec prompted.

"But it's not like a dream job. It's just a job."

"Alright. That's fair. And your business?" Alec asked.

Xander didn't answer at first. "It's not going to last," he finally said.

"Really? Why? I thought sales were so good you were pulling in better profit than your paycheck with Uncle Cooger?"

"This month, yeah. Last month was kind of lean. Father's and Mother's days are coming up, so people are buying gifts for that, but then it'll probably be dry again right after." He shrugged. "It's just so... inconsistent, I guess. I don't think I can depend on it or if it'll really last. I keep waiting..." He shrugged again. "Each month, I expect to be the last. Anyway, I guess I'm just enjoying it while it lasts and waiting until I can't do it anymore."

"That's fair, and wise to have a backup plan, even if I do find it rather Dark-y to be so pessimistic about it all," Alec said after a moment. "But you do have one dream. I know you do."

"You do, do you? What dream is that?" Xander challenged dryly.

Alec pointed to the horse toy acting as a decoration piece on his shelf.

Xander looked at it and back at Alec. "That's definitely not going to happen. It's impossible. There's no way I could ever afford a horse, and no way I could ever be good enough in anything to earn a horse or... no. There's no possibilities."

Alec sighed and scooted over to hug him. "Xander, I love you, but you are so down on yourself. You tell all of us to dream, you help us to achieve our dreams, but you never once give yourself a chance. If you told Sloan, she'd probably say something like, "Yeah, sure, if you want it bad enough, you might make it happen.' Peter would give you financial advice and help you do research. Becky's... well, Becky. Milo would-" He paused there, remembering how dour Milo could be and then rallied, "He'd say it could maybe happen because it's you. And I think that if you really want it, I'd help you try for it. Besides. There's no harm in writing it down. It's just a piece of paper."

Xander huffed but returned Alec's hug. "You are too optimistic."

"Someone has to be," he said with a smile.

"I'll think about it," Xander promised, and they went back to work.

Later, after dinner, he did pick up the paper - now with kitty paw print wrinkles on it - and filled it out. In the ten-year goal, he wrote in, "Own a horse/work at a ranch of some type." Then he quickly folded it up before he could change his mind.

Late that night, after they had all gone to bed, the rain outside turned into a thunderstorm, and Dark and Daizi both rolled over with a groan to the sounds of Ivy crying fearfully on the baby monitor. When Daizi shifted to get out of bed, Dark put a hand on her shoulder, "You have work tomorrow, I will get her."

"thank you..." Daizi sighed, dropping her head back down onto her pillow, but after a few moments, hearing Dark climb groggily out of bed, she put her hand out and said, "Just bring her in here."

Dark nodded, quietly going in the nursery and sighing softly at the sight of his toddler crying in her crib, squeezing her stuffed rabbit close. "Tifla," he told her gently as he crossed the room to her, "It is okay, my darling girl."

"Baba!" Ivy whimpered, already holding her arms up to him before he even made it to her.

"I know, I know," Dark murmured, hugging her closely, "The thunder can be really scary, and the lightning. But it cannot hurt you, not when you are safe inside with Baba. Hm?" He dried her face with one hand before he kissed her on the forehead. Then, after making sure she had her rabbit with her, he brought her out of the nursery, "We are going to see Mama, okay?"

Once they returned to the bedroom, Dark pulled back the curtains of their bed, and the curtains to the window, and then shuffled back into bed besides his wife, who propped herself up slightly and said, "Oh, habibti, what's the matter? Are you scared?" Soon finding herself snuggled up between her parents, Ivy nearly settled until another big crash of thunder started her crying again, "Do you know, sweet Ivy-Qadira," Daizi yawned, resting her head against her husband's chest, "It was storming like this the night you came into the world. So Mama likes big storms, because they make me think of when I first got to meet my little baby."

"Look," Dark said, pointing out the lightning flash, "That is all it is, a little bit of light." Ivy still flinched when she watched it, but she did watch it with her father, wedging herself in as tightly as possible between both of her parents. Daizi did her best to hum a lullaby to her before she couldn't stay awake any longer and fell back asleep. When he noticed this, Dark took over singing to Ivy, until he noticed she, too, had finally fallen back asleep. Lying back, he told himself he'd just give her five more minutes, then he would get up and carry her back to the nursery. Just another five...

Next thing he knew, his eyelid was being pried apart by tiny fingers as sunlight streamed in through the window, "Sabah Al-Khair," He murmured, his voice gravelly.

"Sabah," Ivy chirped, climbing over him, in the process accidentally kneeing her mother awake. All told, they came down to breakfast a little later than usual, but they presumed their teenage sons could cope with the delay.

At school that day, during the career aptitude test, Milo stared in surprise when all of his results were jobs like surgeon, engineer, and physicist. He supposed, in a way, he understood why they may work for him, but they were all so... intelligent, that he looked at Xander and said they really should factor in a student's GPA before giving these results, although he was selling himself short. His grades had risen significantly now that he had mostly been caught up to this school's curriculum, and he never had been an unintelligent boy. It still struck him as odd.

Then, on Monday of the next week, Daizi woke up feeling anxious and excited. She was going back to work that day, and although she had been looking forward to it all month... now that it had actually arrived, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of dread as she went downstairs to breakfast, for once not still in her pajamas. Since it was her first day back in the office, and didn't want to immediately push the boundaries, she went with a simple dark burgundy shirt-sleeved top and a black ankle length skirt, belted at the waist. Her many accessories still suited her usual styles, and she had a black cardigan with The Moon tarot card on the back in case it was cold in the office or on the train, but the last thing she wanted was to go back to her first day of working in the office, rather than remote, and get fussed at for her clothes---although, for the most part, her boss was pretty lenient on the standard day. Or was, before she transitioned to remote.

The twins did, indeed, cope with the delay, and when they saw Ivy with their parents, they figured they knew why they'd been delayed. They said their goodbyes, leaving before their parents had finished breakfast for the first time in who-knew-when.

At school, Xander and Alec were neither of them surprised by Milo's results and told him so. Xander pointed out his steadily increasing grades when he commented about the GPA. Xander was shocked when his top result was Professional Athlete, which Alec laughed about. His other results made more sense to him. They were blue-collar jobs like electrical line worker, sheet metal worker, and masonry worker. The masonry worker did sound like it might be satisfying. Alec, unsurprising to anyone, got a lot of arts-related jobs. Such as music and art director, museum director, actor, writer, and interpreter. He was a little surprised by the interpreter idea, but he did like the idea. Becky got similar suggestions, minus the interpreter, as well as a wedding/event planner. She was quite pleased with the idea of being a wedding planner. Austin got similar results as Xander, but without the athlete. Peter got results suggesting he go into business as perhaps a CEO or similar. He wasn't surprised, but clear that he wasn't interested.

On Monday, Alec let out a quiet whistle when his mother walked in. "Please take this as a compliment, Mama, but you look like a gorgeous professional! One with personal style."

"Oh, thank you," Daizi said, passing a hand down the front of her outfit, "Dark helped me pick it out. I feel sort of... plain, but I guess that's the idea."

"Mama, your plain is most other people's fancy. You look magnificent," Alec assured her.

"Nice sweater," Xander stated.

"Thank you," Daizi sighed, sitting down, "I'm going to do my hair after I eat. I know if I do it before, when your father brings Ivy downstairs, she's going to mess it up. I don't want to look too frazzled on my first day back, most of them haven't seen me in person since I was pregnant."

"You'll make a good impression," Xander assured her.

"You really will!" Alec grinned. "Should we all see you to the train?"

"If you'd like," Daizi said, "and if it won't make you late for school."

Dark, meanwhile, was just coming downstairs with Ivy, reminding her about how Mama was going to work today, so they had to give her a big hug and a kiss before she left. When he walked into the room, he wished them good morning before handing Ivy to Daizi so he could make coffee, "Are you sure you do not want me to make you a lunch today?"

"I'm fairly certain my coworkers will take me out to lunch to celebrate my return," Daizi said, "It would be a waste to bring something in."

"Even if we are a few minutes late, it'll be worth it for one time," Alec said. He looked at his father and emphasized, "One time. A special time. For Mama."

"I'm totally up for going. We can take the van, see you to the train, drop Ba and Ivy back home, and then get to school. Max ten minutes late with good traffic," Xander said, calculating in his head.

"Would it not be easier for me to drive and simply drop you off at school after taking your mother to the train station?" Dark suggested, "That is what we would do after dropping her off when I worked there, I could just pick you up after school. It is a Monday, both of you just come straight home after school."

"That's a great idea!" Alec approved.

"Alright, if you want to bring Ivy with you to come get us," Xander agreed reluctantly. He loved driving his van. It meant freedom! And it was just a really great van.