How Green Becomes Wood

"For me?" Dark asked, confused, but quickly understood when he read the card, "No, it is for Daizi. The card is just to me, probably because they could not make it readable for you. It is from Sally Hollis, and she wants to apologize because she has a weakness for cute things, and wants you to touch the top of the 'goodie'."

Daizi smiled, and went to into the kitchen and Dark helped her to where he had set the baked good down, and then to where on the cake she was clearly meant to touch. Feeling the message, and enjoying the new experience of actually getting to read the design, she said, "It says Happy Birthday! That's so thoughtful of her!"

"Now you have to open her other gift," Dark reminded her, handing her the large top-hat sized box.
 
Inside the box was another, flat box on top. It did not have a lid, meaning as soon as Daizi opened the big box, those with sight around her could see three necklaces and three matching bracelets. They were no ordinary pieces of jewelry. In fact, they were specifically designed as wearable baby toys. Subtle padding on the inside of the items made it more comfortable for the mother should the baby yank on them, but they were strongly made, and each one was different. One was natural woods cut into chunky designs that still looked flattering while offering something for the baby to play with and explore. One looked like brightly colored beads, but were actually soft but firm silicone for chewing. The last one was a woven chain that felt like silk with a large silver ring at the end. The small card in the box from the supplier said, "Just because you feel like a mess doesn't mean you have to look like one! Charming, child-safe jewelry for mommies on the go with curious-fingered babies."

Under the flat box, tiny clothes filled the rest of the large box. Baby clothes! Ranging from tiny newborn to six-months old, each outfit different and unique. Three or four had a definite feminine flair to them, but most had only maybe a nod toward the female gender if anything. Each one had something tactile on it, some small feature to help distinguish one tiny shirt from another tiny onesie. Some had outlined slogans like "Eat, sleep, be cute" with a picture of a panda, or "Little ray of sunshine" with a sunflower, and some just had animals, flowers, or other cute patterns in some raised fuzzy material or another.

"There has to be like twenty outfits in here!" Xander said, staring in shock.

"I don't think he's exaggerating," Alec said uncertainly. "At least it's a range of sizes."
 
Seeing the jewelry, Dark helped Daizi to feel the jewelry and read the card to her. After learning what it was really for, she went back and felt each piece of jewelry more closely. At first, she thought they were just tactile for her, but understanding their purpose made her love them so much more.

"Clara would love those," Dark said, always in awe of his wife's boss' very strong jewelry tastes.

Daizi, however, laughing at herself asked, "Why do I feel an urge to chew them to test them out?"

Then, finding the clothes, she set about the task of feeling all of the difficulty little pieces, and laying them out by size. Feeling how much smaller a onesie for a newborn compared to one for a sixth month old was made her lip quiver, "Oh god... She's not even here yet and I can't believe how big she's going to get." She held the large one up, "Look at this, look how big she'll be!"

"I know," Dark murmured, a bit shell-shocked from seeing the big one next to the little one.

"I guess that's one less thing we need to worry about," Daizi said (although Dark intuitively knew he was still absolutely going to buy little outfits for his daughter too), setting down the 6th month onesie and picking up the newborn one again, now really focusing on it, "I can't imagine how much money she must've spent for this... Oh," she squeaked, clasping the tiny little outfit in one hand and breaking down a little, "And my hummingbird is still so tiny, even this little thing would be a tent on her. I can hardly believe... And we've never had any baby clothes here, but now--!"
 
"Baby clothes are really, really cute," Alec said, holding up a tiny shirt with what looked like the lifecycle of an acorn inscribed in a circle. Acorn to sapling to tree to mega tree to acorn. "I like this one particularly."

"Do babies really need this much clothing?" Xander asked, trying to hide the fact that he, too, was absolutely overwhelmed by the tinyness of the outfits. Inwardly, he was squealing just a bit.

"Probably more," Alec told him. "They spit up and poop themselves a lot."

"Gross," Xander said, making a face.
 
"If you think about it," Dark said, staring down at the clothes and feeling the deep reality, but now with excitement and not only fear. Seeing the clothes, the size of them... And one day the little life inside of his wife would be able to wear them, "these go up to, what, six months old? So, even if we have twenty here, that's only three or four for a month."

"It's a good start... Oh, we get to pick the first outfit she'll ever wear! I hadn't thought of that before. What she'll wear on her very first day."
 
"That's a pretty important day," Alec agreed, poking through the items. "At least you have time to choose."

"I thought the hospital had stuff for them," Xander remarked. He stepped back and stretched widely. "But like he said, at least you have time to pick now. You're going to need all the time you can get."
 
"We're having her here, not at the hospital," Daizi reminded, "so whatever they have we don't have access to."

"That is another thing we need to set up," Dark mused, thinking about what putting together a birthing room would even require, while he packed away the clothes, "I need to wash all of these. We need to get the dresser and closet ready... On Wednesday Cooger is coming over so we can break down the furniture we have in the nursery so we can start getting baby furniture for it."
 
"Still super gross and unsanitary," Xander grumbled, moving away.

"At least we won't be here for it, and it means less moving about," Alec told him. "Everyone will be right where they are supposed to be." He swiped a tiny bit of the brownie frosting and nodded in appreciation. "Daizi, can we try your brownie?"

Xander snickered at him. "You're stealing my lines."
 
Daizi sighed, knowing this was always going to be a debate between them, "Up until, like, the 60s hospital births were extremely uncommon, and in most of the world they're still more regular. In Egypt, about half of the births are done at home, and depending on socioeconomic factors, many end up being unassisted. And it's not unsanitary, everything will be cleaned up."

"I am very positive I was born at home without any trained professionals," Dark said. He was mostly neutral on the home birth, he only wished they had a good room for it that wasn't his bedroom. Although he wasn't all that afraid of Daizi dying in the process, this was more her own private anxiety, he did know it was a possibility, so the concern about where in the house, for him, was how he'd manage to ever sleep in his bedroom if it was the room his wife died in.

"You're both welcome to have some of the brownie," Daizi said, "but don't eat too much, you already had ice-cream."
 
Xander managed to keep himself from putting his hands over his ears. He really, really didn't care about the socioeconomic factors of births anywhere, hospitals, or how Dark and Daizi were born. He really didn't want to know or thing about it. Ever. Was that really too much to ask? Well, yes, considering the circumstances, but he could still wish and hope for a world where he could remain blissfully ignorant.

Alec happily helped himself to a small piece and dished out equal portions to each of them. Why waste fresh brownie? It smelled delicious! Xander sat next to him, and they both took a bite. Two pairs of eyes closed, and two soft sighs moaned out. This was the most delicious brownie they had ever had the pleasure of eating! Ever.

"Man, that's good," Xander said, finishing his in two bites. He looked at his plate sadly. Then looked over at Alec's, where he still had half of his. Xander reached out with a fork.

"Touch my brownie, and I'll stab you with my fork," Alec said levelly without even opening his eyes.

Xander's brows bounced upward, but he backed off. "Wow. Okay. Sir, yes, sir, message received."
 
Daizi laughed maybe a bit too hard at Alec's firm response and then urged Dark to go and fetch her some of the brownie, which he did, but didn't get any for himself. Icecream was quite enough for him, and considering the horror stories he had been told by fathers he knew about sympathy weight and dad-bods... Extra precautions seemed necessary.

"Oh this is really good," Daizi agreed emphatically, "I need to call Sally and thank her for all of this."
 
"How'd they make it light and fudgy at the same time? That shouldn't be possible," Xander muttered, studying Alec's since he'd already eaten his own.

"I don't know. Maybe you can figure it out," Alec said. He frowned at Xander's contemplative expression and turned away, hunching over his plate protectively. "There's more brownie for later. You can have that, not mine."

Xander pulled a face but got up and started tidying up while Alec finished his second dessert far more slowly than strictly necessary. He handed Xander his plate with a thank you, and Xander used the rim of the plate to gently tap the top of Alec's head. They grumbled at each other but got the area cleaned up and started moving in the direction of bed.
 
Daizi finished her piece, and then after cleaning her own plate said, "Thank you all for a wonderful birthday, I'm going to go up to my office and make that call."

She gave a simple wave and then left the kitchen for her bedroom, only so she could change into something more comfortable for the evening. Then she went to her office, and after getting settled, she took out her phone and called her friend, "Hi, Sally, it's Daizi!"
 
"I did!" Daizi replied, "That's why I'm calling, I wanted to thank you. It feels like too much, all of those clothes, and the jewelry... I feel like I've not done anything to deserve it all."
 
Sally laughed, her voice practically sparkling with glee. "In truth, I should be thanking you for not being upset with me. I was worried I was overstepping my bounds with buying your little precious thing clothes, but I will never had an excuse to buy baby clothing for myself again. I do hope you will allow me a few indulgences there, but be honest with me if I am overstepping. And, Daizi? I am so grateful to have a friend like you. That's what you have done to deserve it. Other than you, I have no friends outside of work, and it means I want to spoil you a little."
 
"Oh no please!" Daizi replied, laughing along with Sally, "We are so behind on all of the preparations, and I doubt we'll have a baby shower, so having the clothes is such a relief. I think we spent the entire first trimester expecting another loss, and I was terribly ill the entire time, and then we were dealing with their biological father, so it was pushed off, and now we're closer to the end than to the beginning and I have no idea how to get caught up. I know that we will, but... My hummingbird has been left to the wayside. We don't even have a crib yet. But, no, the clothes weren't overstepping at all."

She fell silent, then, listening to what Sally said, and laughing again, she half-squeaked, "Sally, I'm way too pregnant for you to be earnest with me! Everything makes me cry! But, I'm glad to have a friend like you too. I've got my friends, even ones who aren't in my work, but... I haven't really had any close friends in a long time. I'm really glad you were hired in a hurry like you were."
 
Sally chuckled softly. "I remember when I was pregnant with Peter, I once sobbed my eyes out in a restaurant because my water was too cold. Hormones are a strange, unstoppable force. But, listen, if you need anything, anything at all, please do ask me. I will do whatever I can to help you and your little hummingbird for her sake. No strings attached, I promise. I can ask around and see if any of my coworkers have any paraphernalia left from any of their little ones they'd be willing to part with on either a short-term or permanent basis. It's about time to put yourself and that little one first, don't you agree?"
 
"I can't even recall the ridiculous times I've begun to cry. These poor twins, I'm sure they must think I'm wild. They only knew me for a few months before this, so they haven't really had much of a chance to learn who I am at a baseline, they've had this crazed lady who cries at everything..." She chuckled, but saying it outloud, she had a moment where she found herself worrying if the twins would like her less once they knew who she was really like, "But thank you. I will. I'll let you know if we need anything, too, but I think we'll end up okay... I'm sure it is time to change the priorities, we'll see if the world gives time for it. Whenever things have seemed to calm down, there's been another calamity. This one's been navigating it well enough, though, and she's demanding enough. Ever since she's gotten strong enough to be felt, she makes her presence known."
 
"That's Peter than the alternative, I would say. Little Peter wouldn't move unless I ate something spicy, and I swear I had an anxiety attack every week fearing he'd passed. He made up for it after he arrived. Such lungs on a child! And he let me know he had figured out how to roll over by rolling off the couch when I'd stepped away for ten seconds," Sally said dryly. "Once he started figuring out how to move on his own, he never stopped. I wonder if your little one will be quiet, well-behaved, and barely make a fuss." She paused for effect. "Likely not, knowing her parents," she teased.
 
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