How Green Becomes Wood

Alec stepped inside and quickly skipped far out of Dark's reach. "My error was being too close when I told you how fabulous you look in your suit! The pinnacle of fashion, for sure!" He scurried back, laughing, making certain to always keep something between himself and Dark.
 
Dark couldn't help but laugh how he had swindled, and he ran after Alec for a bit before needing to actually back off and let Alec win---only because he didn't want to ruin his hair, risk tearing the suit (because he was, after all, in the wedding party, and he didn't want to be a distraction), and it was coming up time to go. Watching them run around the house, Ivy giggled and flapped her hands slightly.

"Baba and Alec are very silly, aren't they?" Daizi asked Ivy, kissing the top of her head, "Goose, I think we need to go. If we're late, Ellis will actually murder us."
 
"At least it'd be a short mystery to solve," Xander said mildly.

Alec came trotting over and swooped Ivy up in his arms. He held her up high and crooned. "It's a wedding! A happy, new-beginnings party! Yay!"
 
"Right," Dark said, smoothing the front of his suit back down, "I am sure you have already been through all of Ivy's care, so I will not repeat it myself, but I have taped to the fridge her schedule." He rolled his shoulders back, "And we are going to leave very quickly so Ivy is not stressed too dreadfully. Be smart, be safe, call us if you need anything."

Daizi raised one finger and after saying the hours for the wedding ceremony and told them, "If it's between those hours, call Cooger if it is a big emergency, or Sally if it is a smaller one, because we are standing and won't be able to check our phones."
 
"Got it," Alec assured her cheerfully. "We have all the necessary information, we have all the food, the toys, the... the everything we could need! We'll be good, and we'll have fun."

Xander gave Dark a salute. "I will keep things under control. Don't worry about it."
 
They both sighed, because it still wasn't exactly easy to leave Ivy home without them. They really wanted it to feel like nothing, but it seemed like babies were really, really easy to accidentally hurt. But, they knew it was something they had to learn to adjust to, too, so they hugged Alec and Ivy goodbye, waved to Xander, and left before they had a chance to hear more than the first few notes of Ivy's distress at the realization her parents were leaving again.
 
Alec kissed Ivy's cheek and showed her the toys he'd set up in the living room, acting as though Dark and Daizi leaving was no big deal.

Xander double-checked Ivy's schedule and then went to take care of the chores for the day.
 
It was still a difficult and frightening thing for Ivy every time her Mama and Baba left without her. She had learned to adjust to Alec and Xander leaving, because they left all the time, but Mama and Baba were there all the time, basically. And she didn't like it at all. So, of course, she clung as tightly as she could to Alec and cried.

As they sat there in front of her toys, Enkidu came around curiously, looking down at the crying baby, and began to sniff her face. This briefly distracted her, but it wasn't until Enkidu licked her that Ivy was startled out of her upset, and after feeling the dog's nose against her cheek again, began to laugh.
 
Alec patiently let Ivy cling to him as much as she wanted, calm and collected as he pretended to play with random items with one hand while the other supported Ivy. When Enkidu came over to sniff and lick her, he smiled. "Good boy, Enkidu. Thank you!"
 
With Enkidu's face so close to hers, Ivy happily reached out to pet him, soon laying down near them, much to Ivy's delight. Enkidu fascinated her, and him being there made her interested in more than just clinging to her brother. She already loved digging her fingers in hair---he had so much!
 
Alec supervised Ivy to make sure she didn't get too carried away or pull Enkidu's fur, but other than thay, he was happy to let them do what they wanted. Ivy was happy. Enkidu didn't look troubled. It was all good!
 
Ivy slowly crawled out of Alec's lap, trying to show off her toys to Enkidu, who watched them, but didn't try to take them her. He was a smart enough dog to recognize how she was different from the other humans.
 
Xander came over after a while and plunked down on the couch on the opposite end where Ivy was playing. "What are we playing?"

"Toy recognition with Enkidu, I think," Alec told him.

"Cool. Good boy, Enkidu."
 
When Xander came around, and specifically sat away from him, Ivy naturally forgot about Enkidu and crawled over to him. Using the couch to pull up, she stood right by him, and looking solidly at him, said, "Ah!" It seemed to be her favourite vowel.
 
Xander looked her dead in the eye and said, "Ah, to you, too. Ah, eh, oh, and uh. Sound good?"

Alec giggled. "You sound like you're about to break into song. What's that one we usually hear around Halloween time? Eee, ah, oh, oh, oh?"

"You're thinking Ooo, ee, oo, ah, ah, ting, tang, walla-walla, bing, bang," Xander told him.

"Yeah, that one! Maybe we should include that in our band line up," Alec laughed.

Xander didn't return his laugh.
 
"Ah," Xander repeated to Ivy. "Ah, ooo, Uh."

"Hey," Alec said slowly, "I know you aren't exactly... thrilled... with the band and stuff, but are you really... Do you hate it? I thought you at least kind of enjoyed singing. We used to sing together a lot, but now we never do outside of band practice or gigs."

Xander shrugged. "I don't know if I'd say 'hate.' I just don't like it. I don't like performing. I don't like being up there on stage doing it for real. It's not fun, and it kind of takes a bit of the fun out of singing just to sing, you know?"

"Not really," Alec admitted.
 
Naturally, Ivy didn't understand pretty much a word of the conversation, so she bounced on her toes, nearly fell over, and babbled more at them, while trying to eat her hand and the couch.
 
Xander sighed and reached out to gently tug at Ivy's hair and flip it around before withdrawing again. "It's just... the band, all of this, it's your dream and passion. That's cool, and I'm all for it, but it's not mine, and there's a lot of things I'd rather be doing with that time. I guess I feel put upon with how much you expect this of me. I don't want you to lose it, but I don't really want to be in it, either. So. I'm stuck."

"Oh. I see," Alec said quietly. "I guess I just thought you were, I don't know, playing hard to get. Or at least didn't mind. I didn't think how much you wouldn't like it." He rubbed Ivy's back lightly and put a soft toy for her to chew instead of the couch. "I guess I have kind of taken you for granted in that way. I just really, really love performing, and having you there makes me incredibly happy, but you're right. You do have other things you are more passionate about, and I haven't been nearly as supportive of you as you have been of me."

"It's alright. It is kind of hard to be equally supportive of a craft you can't help with versus literally playing an instrument in a band," Xander admitted.

Alec smiled slightly. "Will you stick around until I can think of a solution to replacing you?"

"Oh, I'm replaceable now?" Xander teased.

Alec hit him lightly with a pillow. "You know what I mean!"
 
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