How Green Becomes Wood

Dark raised his cup and tapped Daizi's glass so she knew to do it too. "Best two years so far," He said, which was for him extremely optimistic.

Watching them all with their glasses held in the air, Ivy picked up her little sippy-cup and held it up with them. In response, Dark gently clinked his cup against hers and said, "You are only just learning what a second year is like, my darling." Then he clinked his cup to the rest of theirs and took a sip.

Sitting there that morning, listening to the sound of glasses being tapped together, to her sons affirm how glad their time with her had been, and to her husband express something rather like hope, made Daizi beam while simultaneously making her heart squeeze in her chest. This was it, she knew, the family she had been hoping for all these long years. It wasn't a new realization, her sons carried her surname now, but it still... Even though she didn't have wild and unpredictable hormones anymore, being able to sit amongst her baby daughter, her older sons, and her husband, all of whom, despite catastrophes and struggles mental and otherwise, could sit together on a cold day and enjoy breakfast overwhelmed her with joy and stabbed her into a deep, unhealed wound.

Daizi tried to play it cool while she took a sip of her juice, but she loved everyone at her table so much and she felt so deeply, deeply grateful. She got to be their Mama. And she had to turn her face in towards Dark's shoulder to obscure how hearing her boys say their time with them were the best of their lives filled her eyes with tears. It was too precious, this moment and every other moment with them, to feel any other way. This, she knew, was what loving to the point of bursting was. Dark didn't even look down at her before he shifted to have his arm around her.
 
The twins noticed Daizi crying a little - or at least looking like she was crying - and both hesitated a little. Should they draw attention to it? Or move on and let her recover?

"Ivy makes pretty good French toast," Xander said, choosing to move on. "I think these get better every time they're made."

"Especially when it's someone else making them," Alec added.

"True. Not having to make it yourself definitely ups the good taste," Xander agreed.
 
Without saying a word, Dark set down his fork and in one smooth motion reached across his chest to brush Daizi's hair back and dry the half of her face which wasn't pressed into him before bending to kiss the top of her head. As he did, she inhaled shakily and pressed more deeply against him. It was such a comfort to know he always had her. Their whole family only existed because their two souls were so perfectly entwined, Daizi was certain of it.

"Ivy did do a very good job," Dark agreed, the rumbling vibration of his voice in his chest making Daizi smile, "You are a very good cook, my darling girl."

Having mostly recovered herself, Daizi sat back up without pulling out from beneath her husband's arm, "When I prepare her snack, I let her help peel the bananas. She's very good at it now."
 
"Not yet, but once she's walking we'll work on that," Daizi said, reaching over to fluff Ivy's hair, making her squeak and grin brightly at her Mama.

Considering this carefully, Dark looked over at his daughter and said, "I am not sure it is a good idea yet. I think if she were taught to put things in the trashcan, we would soon find her digging things out of the trash. It took us long enough to train Enkidu not to do that."
 
With both of her brothers laughing, Ivy started laughing too and soon Daizi joined in, "Toddlers and dogs are very, very similar!"

Dark didn't laugh, but he smiled in his muted way. It was a lovely thing to enjoy a meal with his family and see all of them laughing.
 
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"I suppose since her most constant companion is a dog, you will have to teach her that she's not a puppy," Xander smirked. "She'll be sniffing the visitors soon."

"That'd be really weird to see," Alec cackled.

Xander stood and started cleaning up the breakfast table.
 
"That is why we go to baby group," Dark said, taking a sip of orange juice and finally releasing Daizi, "so she can learn she is a human baby and not a puppy."

"I don't know what that says about me," Daizi chuckled, pausing slightly as it reminded both herself and Dark of their argument with Saladin, "She does adore Enkidu, though, and I think he's finally decided he likes her. She confused him for a long, long while."

"He had never met a baby before her," Dark said, casually tossing a bit of egg to their beloved pet.
 
"You're not closer to baby size, so I don't think you count," Alec told her. "Don't worry. There are way worse things to emulate than a puppy!"

"True. She could start acting like a racoon," Xander smirked.
 
"Like you used to?" Dark asked coolly.

"Sometimes she acts like a little shark," Daizi sighed, "You don't expect her tiny little teeth to be so sharp."

"She bit me the other day," Dark said, "she was over-tired because she was refusing to nap and bit me."
 
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"We are working on it," Dark said, peering at Ivy who was curiously messing with her sippy-cup, "I think it is related to her teething, so anytime she bites I give her something she is allowed to chew on."

"And if it is when we are playing, we tell her we don't play with people who bite and walk away for a couple minutes, but thankfully it isn't all that common," Daizi said, "The second time it happened, we went looking for advice, and there are some people who are bit constantly by their toddlers, with Ivy it's pretty rare."
 
"I'm glad it's rare. Biters aren't fun to play with." Alec gave Xander a significant look. "Are they?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "I grew out of that fast! Besides, those other kids were brats."

"Was I a brat, then?" Alec demanded.

"Sometimes," Xander replied.

Alec threw a dishcloth at him.
 
"They deserved it," Xander said as primly as he could manage while picking a dishcloth off his shoulder. "Besides, he-" he threw the cloth back at Alec, "bit back!"

"You started it!" Alec defended himself, ducking so the cloth flew over his head and landed in the sink. "I just returned the favor!"
 
"Ivy-Qadira," Dark said, leaning over to her, "Do not take lessons from your brothers."

Your poor mother, Daizi thought, but only said, "Thank God you've both grown out of those phases."
 
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"I'd still totally bite someone if they deserved it and were in a position with me where I could bite them," Xander replied blandly.

Alec giggled. "I have no doubt that you would! I, however, only ever bit you!"

"Eh, that's not true!" Xander protested. "There was that girl in first grade! Or kindergarten, I forget. Remember her? Mom Girl?"

Alec made a face. "She kept trying to force me to play house and kept grabbing my arm! And leg when I tried to crawl away. She stopped trying to do that after I bit her."

"Yeah, and then you got in serious trouble," Xander smirked.

"That time out chair is actually pretty comfortable. I can see why you never fought against your time outs," Alec told him.
 
"Ivy-Qadira, look at Baba," Dark said seriously, doing her best to catch her attention, "Do not listen to your brothers."

"If I was in a fight, I'd probably start biting," Daizi mused, "I mean, if it was a really serious one. I don't have a lot of options."
 
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