How Green Becomes Wood

"You look good, both of you," Dark nodded, feeling a bit fidgety without a good reason to be. He a suit, and like Xander he wore mostly black, but he accented it with colour--not that it mattered, Daizi was blind--, and he clearly had spent a lot of time on his hair. Although he was still a bit unsure of it, he did wear the snake belt.

Enkidu sat by the front door, sadly wagging his tail, upset that all of his people were leaving again, and all without him.

"Remind me," he said, as he went to the car, "are we driving or taking the train?"
 
"You look really good, too," Alec assured Dark. He knelt to give Enkidu a good ear scratch before they left. "We'll be back soon, I promise! And then we'll take you on a walk to make it up to you. Be good until we get back, okay?" He stood and followed them out quickly.

"I don't know. That was your plan," Xander reminded him, amused. "I guess we could drive. I mean, why not? We'd have to drive to the station, anyway. A car would be more comfortable, and we don't have to worry about the train schedule."
 
"Thank you," he nodded, "and I was just checking, I have been juggling a lot. Good, get in the car, then, we need to go. He ushered them in after a quick goodbye to his dog and then after they were all buckled.

The drive to the actual museum was uneventful, and when they pulled up the museum, he pulled a parking pass from the glove compartment to hang on the rear view mirror. All employees, of course, received free parking, but since Daizi was blind she had casually snuck the pass off to him, and although her boss definitely knew about it, she didn't make a fuss.

"We will go in the back way, so we do not need to go through security," Dark said, parking the car and getting out, "Daizi's boss is going to meet us by the door to let us in."
 
"This is so exciting!" Alec grinned, clambering out of the car after Xander. "It's like Mission Impossible: Birthday Edition!"

"I feel like we're missing balloons and a cake, which is kind of dumb," Xander grumbled, stretching after the car ride.

"I should have worn more black to blend it," Alec said, practically bouncing. "Xander had the right idea."

Xander glanced at him. "What are you blending into? The asphalt? What you have on is perfect to blend into the crowd, which is your mission, not blending into the environment."

"Oh, right," Alec nodded.
 
"Daizi is blind so you could come dressed like a princess and she would not notice you. We are visiting with permission, just not her permission."

The back of the museum was lovely like the front, but less well maintained, and by the door, a middle aged woman, probably in her late fifties, was waiting for them, and when Dark spotted her, he hurried over, bringing the twins along.

"Hello, Clara," Dark said, "thank you for allowing this. I hope we are not putting you out of your way."

"Oh, not at all!" The woman replied. She wore chunky turquoise jewelry and smelled strongly of lavender hand cream, "It's good to see you again, and looking so well! With the things I've heard, I'd have thought you'd show up here grey and haggard. Are these them?"

Dark nodded, and introduced Alec and Xander, before turning to them and saying, "This is Dr. Clara Blake."
 
"Which is exactly why you dress up super nice, because she won't notice at all," Xander mumbled under his breath so Dark couldn't hear.

They followed Dark, nearly trotting to keep up with his long strides. They stopped, standing a step behind Dark, eyeing Dr. Clara Blake speculatively. Alec was the first to respond and stepped forward with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Blake," he said, offering his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Xander hung back, watching, and gave a polite nod.
 
Clara willingly shook Alec's hand and said, "You both are very much like how you've been described to me! But Daizi is a wonderful writer, so I can't be surprised. It's nice to meet you too. Both of you! So, tell me, am I the first one to meet the unborn one before meeting these two?"

"Her doctor," was all Dark said in response, which made Clara lightly smack the heel of her hand against her forehead.

"Ah, of course! Hadn't thought of that. Silly me, well. Come on then, we have people to see, don't we?" She turned and unlocked the door, standing to the side to let Dark and the twins enter before her, "And you don't need to worry or anything, in case you were--Daizi has been working here for years, and she so rarely takes time off, so--everything with the baby, and when she's needed to be home for you two, it's not a problem. We need to keep our best employees treated well, otherwise they'll go somewhere else, and she'll probably have my job when I retire some day, so if she needs to take some personal time," Clara shrugged, "I just adore her, you know, we do great work together. I met her when she was still in school, actually."
 
Alec and Xander glanced at each other as they stuck close to Dark's heels. Alec bit back a smile, and Xander looked a little wary and uncertain. Neither of them had expected a museum director or whatever her official title was to be so bright and chatter. Bubbly, even. They'd been expecting something more like the stern, humorless intellectual. Dr. Blake had caught them completely off guard. Neither of them said anything as they weren't sure she was talking to them, but both were pleased that she thought so highly of Daizi.
 
Clara led them up a flight of stairs and down through a hallway. It was a fairly nice looking office area, in the back, and was clearly originally built for other purposes and transitioned into being the space it now was.

"Alright, this is her office," Clara said at last, indicating to a closed door, "stay here for a moment, stay quiet. Let me speak to her for a moment." After making sure she'd be heeded, she knocked on the door, and in a much more authoritative voice than she had used with them, said, opening it before being told she could come in, "Hey, Daizi. I know your day is just about over, but there is an urgent meeting you need to take."

"What?" Daizi asked, and there was the rustle of some papers, "It is a really inconvenient time for me, if I take a meeting now I will need to take a later train home. What is it even about?"

"I know it's not ideal, but it's necessary. It's just a few students who had some questions about ceremonials and coming-of-age rituals for a project. I said they could talk to you, and this is the only time they could do it."

"Why didn't you send them to Anderson? That's more his field," Daizi began to argue, but then sighed, "Now?"

"Yeah, they're just down the hall, I'll send them in. Thank you."

"Of course... Let me just let my husband know..." Even though at that moment Daizi couldn't be seen, it was easy to imagine her pushing her hairback in mild frustration while Clara leaned back so Dark and the twins could see her and waved them over to come into Daizi's office.
 
Alec clamped a hand over his mouth to keep himself quiet as he and Xander stuck close to Dark. When Dr. Blake waved to them, Xander gently pushed Dark forward, urging him to go in first. They waited to say anything until they were in the room.

"What is the coming-of-age ceremony for a Celt versus a Pict?" Xander asked, throwing out the first thing he could think of and waiting to see if Daizi would recognize his voice first, or if she'd answer the question before her ears told her brain it was a familiar voice asking the question.
 
Dark followed them, and was about to speak until Xander asked his question, then he stayed silent, also curious to see how Daizi would respond.

The inside of her office was fairly similar to her home office. It was full of comfortable seating and crystals, and she certainly had used essential oils in the room fairly recently. But it was much more professional and neat, and here her desk faced outwards, rather than being against the wall. Her diplomas hung framed on the walls, and in the back corner she had a mini fridge, an electric kettle, and a microwave.

She only raised her head at her desk and said, "Oh, we're just jumping right in, then! Please have a seat, it's not really my area of expertise but--" Daizi froze, the hand she used to gesture towards the extra seating in the room hovering in the air, "Xander?" She asked, "What are you doing here? How did---"

"Happy Birthday," Dark said, while Daizi put the pieces together in her mind before hurrying (only a bit awkwardly) to her feet.
 
"Happy Birthday!" Alec cheered, coming around and waiting his turn to hug her. "We decided we didn't want to wait until you got home to be able to see you again."

"They were truly unbearable. They just couldn't wait," Xander told her, smirking as he made it sound like he hadn't been looking forward to it at all.

"Your office is lovely," Alec couldn't help adding.
 
"Thank you," She breathed, hugging Alec and then Dark, "oh my god. I thought Clara was just being awful," She pulled back from Dark, "and I can imagine they were! Oh..."

"We didn't tell her to lie to you," Dark said. The shock and elation on her face made this plan extremely worth it, "so you can take that up with her."

"Oh I will, don't worry! But is that it? You just wanted to see me?"
 
"Do we need another reason?" Alec asked, genuinely puzzled. "We wanted to bring you some happiness on your birthday." Then he frowned. "We haven't ruined your workflow, have we? Should we not have?"

Xander gave him a gentle tap on the top of his head. "Dude, did you have your eyes closed when she realized who was here? Of course she's happy to see us. Mostly him, but us too."
 
"No, I was finishing up my day this is better!" She exclaimed, reaching out to touch Alec's face again. Her hand briefly went up towards Xander's, but she set it down again, "And I was excited as soon as I realized it was you, I just didn't know how you got here so I was also concerned! And I just--I didn't expect it, that's all!"
 
Alec grinned widely. "Just a nice, normal car ride here. No magic involved, sadly, but I sure wish we could just poof ourselves from one side to the other with a snap of our fingers."

Xander watched Daizi's hand reach to him and then fall to the side. He hesitated, staring at her hand for a long moment. "Fudge it," he muttered. Then he glanced over his shoulder, made certain the door was shut, and stepped closer to Daizi. Gently, he took her hand and lifted it up to his face. "I'm glad you're happy to have us here, and I hope you had a good day," he said awkwardly.
 
"That would be something," Daizi agreed, chatting gladly with him, but once more had to halt when Xander took her hand. She knew it was him, because it was the only touch she didn't recognize. By then, she had learned how Alec's hands felt, and she knew Dark's maybe better than she knew her own, but Xander's she had only scarcely felt, and never for long.

She ran her hand along the side of his face, and rubbed her thumb across his cheekbone, still hesitant, but glad for the chance, "I'm ecstatic to have you here," she murmured, "and my day has been perfect. Thank you..." Of all of the surprises of the day, this one was the least anticipated, and from the look on her face, the most important.
 
Xander smiled hesitantly, letting her hold her hand to his face and feel it. He couldn't take it for too long, but he resisted the urge to pull away for as long as he could. Finally, he had to pull away, holding her hand for a couple of beats longer before dropping it.

Alec nudged Dark in his excitement, giving a tiny squeak. Xander had done it! Xander had let Daizi "see" him! Alec didn't think he was ever going to see this day come. He was so proud of his brother!
 
"You're very handsome," she murmured, touching her fingertips to her thumb, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I know you and your brother are identical, but..." She trailed off, and then swallowed, and whispered, "Thank you," before going to lean against Dark.

He looked at Xander, only briefly, because he didn't want to embarrass him, and his pride and appreciation of the gesture was clear on his face, but said nothing.

After a few moments in Dark's embrace, Daizi said, not wanting to torture Xander with prolonging the moment, "So. Did you just come here to say hi and then all drive home together or are we doing anything in the city?"
 
Xander blushed, but the gratitude and joy in Daizi's face was enough to make him feel like he'd been given the gift. He caught a glimpse of the pride in Dark's face, and his heart couldn't take it. He moved away and pretended to study something on the wall while he got himself under control. Get a grip, man, it was just a touch! It was more than that, and he knew it, but he didn't have to admit it.

"It depends on what you're up for," Alec told her. "If we exhaust you, then it won't be fun, which defeats the entire purpose, but we thought we'd bother you here for a bit while you try to be professional. Then a nice dinner entirely of your choosing since it is your day, after all, and then we can either take a walk, go somewhere, or head home. Also, you two are allowed to do as much reminiscing and cute lovey-dovey stuff as you want, and Xander and I promise not to say a word."

"I reserve the right to make faces," Xander added, rejoining them.
 
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