How Green Becomes Wood

"It is not so much a seven month 'celebration' as much as it is that because seven is lucky, it is an important time to give gifts to the baby, and you will see that at seven days there will be a big celebration and it will be a whole thing." He shook his head, "It is a good thing, and Daizi is excited for it, but it is loud and the house will be very busy. The food will be good, though. Anyway, the package is probably something for the nursery, I cannot even begin to guess what, we still have a million items in the mail. And I am not a hyperbolic person."
 
"Oh, I wonder what it is. I hope it's cute, whatever it is," Alec said with a smile as he finished with the table.

"I'll keep a lookout for packages and boxes and stuff," Xander promised Dark. "It'll be no trouble."
 
Dark thought about what they were expecting in the mail, and hummed slightly, guessing what the package likely was, "It might be. But there are also all sorts of not-cute essentials like bulb syringes and bottle sanitizers. But thank you, Xander, that is kind of you."

He put the prepared meal into the oven, and just before it was ready to come out, Daizi came home, "Hello," she said tiredly. She wore slip on shoes today so she could easily take them off without bending over, "How was work? How was school? I hope you didn't make anyone cry today, babe. And also Xander. Alec I'm not worried about."
 
Alec flinched at her words, thinking of how upset Sloan was, but he smiled and greeted her as sincerely as he could. "Welcome home! School was fine, I think, and as far as I'm aware no one cried."

"A girl sitting next to me in science cried because she got 60, but that wasn't my fault," Xander supplied thoughtfully. "I guess I'm loosing my touch. I'll work harder to do better tomorrow."

"Funny," Alec said dryly.
 
Daizi chuckled, coming to sit down, and joked, "As your parent, I'm glad you didn't make anyone cry. But still I'm a little disappointed. How about you, Goose?"

"No, not today, I am sorry to admit. I have not given my first exam yet." He told her, feigning shame.

"You've gone soft," She sighed heavily, putting her hand over her heart, before smiling crookedly and pulling him closer to kiss him, "I love you."

"I love you too." At school, the twins, and especially Alec, were dealing with something that weighed heavily on them, and both parents knew it, and both felt a bit guilty about being so damn happy. Their relationship hadn't been struggling, but with the nursery mostly together, a pediatrician selected, and all major, family-shaking calamaties with the twins seemingly resolved... It was just easier between them. They had less stress pressing on their relationship. Daizi couldn't resist a soft giggle when Dark said he loved her, but quickly sobered as Dark leaned in and whispered, in Arabic, without using his name, that Alec was upset and they needed to talk to him.

She nodded, and then smiled brightly, so the twins wouldn't suspect what he had said, "Did Dark give you a copy of today's sonogram, Alec? I hope you aren't too disappointed that we aren't pulling you out of school so you can go. Sorry, Xander--I won't talk about the appointment more than that, I know it bothers you."
 
Xander shrugged self-consciously. "Nah, it's cool. I get it." He hated that he was this way. Hated it because he saw the strain it put on others. He hadn't really thought much about it initially, some part of him assuming everyone felt this way, but then, as time when on, he saw more and more, unlike others he was. He didn't want to be this way, but the moment he tried to think about... the thing... no. Just, no. His mind and body shut down or prepared to flee.

Alec shook his head, brightening. "No, he didn't! Can I see?" He looked to Dark, legitimately excited and his usual self for that moment.
 
"Sure," Dark said, and after setting their dinner down to cool, he fetched one of the pictures from his wallet and handed it to him, "She is really beginning to look like an actual baby, now. Do you remember the earlier ones? Where she more or less looked like a blob?" He looked at the image, and in quiet tones pointed out interesting features, including the shadow of what was probably hair, "which explains Daizi's heartburn."

Daizi shifted, feeling in her own way self-conscious, and said, trying to find some compromise, "Well, she's healthy, still, and so am I. That's the important thing. Anything more than that is too sciency to really matter in any practical way."
 
Alec grinned as he held up the picture and looked at it closely. "She's starting to actually look kind of-sort of cute. Do you want to see?" He held out the picture to Xander.

Xander hesitated only a moment before gingerly taking the picture. If he focused only on the tiny being in the center of the picture and nothing else, it was bearable. At least long enough to look. He studied the image briefly. "She has your hands," he told Dark and handed the picture back to Alec.

"Can I keep this?" Alec asked Dark.
 
"My hands?" Dark asked, looking down at his. He had long, slender fingers, not short and stubby ones like many men had. He supposed it wouldn't be the worst thing for his daughter to inherit from him... But in all the ultrasounds, Dark had never seen a resemblance between hers and his. Daizi also had elegant hands, so it seemed just as likely she'd inherit them from her mother, Dark thought, peering over Alec's shoulder at the picture, trying to see if he could see himself in it.

Daizi, meanwhile, grinned brightly and wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to hug her belly, since she couldn't since it was the closest she had to hugging the baby growing inside of it. "I hope she does," Daizi murmured dreamily. He had strong, trustworthy hands.

"You are welcome to it," Dark answered Alec, "we have others. I made sure to print extras."

"We need to send one to Sally. I had thought I didn't care if I could see her again before she's here, but if you all get to, I'd like to too."
 
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Alec squinted at the picture. "I think that's her nose? If so, she has a cute nose. Very small and surprisingly round. It will be a good nose."

"Excellent for tapping and stealing to annoy her," Xander said cheerfully. He noticed Alec hadn't gotten the drinks yet and started getting the cups.

"I'm going to show this to Sloan and Peter tomorrow," Alec told Daizi. Then he remembered, and his smile faded. Sloan wasn't talking to him right now. He tried to bolster his spirits. Well, she did still seem interested in Daizi and the baby, so maybe he could lend the picture to Peter, and Peter could show her.
 
"That is her nose, yes," Dark said with a tiny little smile, "it is good, from these images I do not think I have cursed her with mine."

"Babe," Daizi groaned, tipping her head back slightly, "You've got to stop worrying about that. You have a great nose."

He huffed as he went to bring dinner, guessing it was cool enough to eat now, to the table, "I have nothing wrong with it on me, but she is going to be much smaller than I am, and she would look absurd with it. Just this tiny little thing, with such a feature."

"Noses do not even mature until puberty, it is one of those adult features, so if she has your nose it's not like she'd be born with it, so you don't need to worry about it." Daizi pointed out, genuinely trying to help him, again, with this one highly specific concern of his. She had noticed with quiet joy Xander's little remark, very much enjoying the thought of him playing with her, and the fact he was engaging with it, but Dark's bizarre anxiety seemed more pressing.

"I just think I have better features she could have--"

"All of your features are good, what are you talking about? You have a strong face, she will too." She waved her hand, wishing she could have seen Dark's parents to help figure out if maybe it's a feature one of them shared and that was the real reason it bothered him--every so often, even before this, she would find him upset at night after seeing his father's face in the mirror--because she knew (considering who Dark married) he loved all types of faces. But if that was true, she knew he may not have put it together yet, "I think that would be really sweet, Alec. It makes me really happy that you're excited about the pictures, and about her."
 
Alec gave Dark a quizzical look. "What's wrong with your nose? It looks perfectly suited to your face, and I think I've seen a picture of a model with the female version of your nose."

"Can we stop talking about noses and come eat?" Xander complained. "It's not like you have much of a choice, anyway, no one presented a binder of potential features and had you pick. Just be happy she doesn't have two noses, like that kid in Peru."

"Rude," Alec sniffed. "Just because you're hungry is no reason to dismiss someone's concerns."
 
"No, like I said, I have no issues with it on me, I just think, on a baby..." He shrugged.

"But she wouldn't have it when she's born," Daizi laughed, "we've been over this! You need to stop stressing over things you cannot control!"

"Well I do not know what I looked like as a baby!" Dark replied, "I have seen your baby pictures, so I can imagine what she will get from you, but I cannot imagine--" He held up his hands and then exhaled, finding this one hyperfixation somewhat amusing when looked at from the outside, but also recognizing it, now, as another way his past held onto his present.

Daizi nodded, and began serving the food while Dark sat back down beside her. Gently she said, "I promise she will not be born with adult features, and she will grow into anything she gets from you, just like you did. Okay?"

He sighed, "Okay. I know."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Then Daizi leaned closer to Dark and made a joke in Arabic, which made him laugh, and then rub his hands over his face, "I am sorry," he said to the twins, "I know we try not to speak in Arabic in front of you, but... You would not have enjoyed hearing that."
 
Xander and Alec waited in silence for Dark and Daizi to finish their discussion, both of them feeling awkward. This nose thing seemed to have some kind of deeper issue to it, something they weren't aware of, and they felt a bit like intruders as Daizi spoke to Dark. When they finished their conversation, the twins pretended almost like it hadn't happened, not sure how else to deal with it.

"That's alright, I think you are entitled to your moments of private conversation," Alec assured him.

"If we knew a language you didn't, you can bet we'd have a few conversations in it," Xander smirked.
 
"They won't be private long," Daizi sighed, "out little girl is already learning Arabic, so one day we'll have a double agent on our hands."

Dark smirked, nodding towards the twins, "It will be worse than that. Because until she reaches a certain age, she will not be able to differentiate the two languages as separate, which means they will end up learning basic Arabic from trying to figure out what she is saying."

"Oh perfect," Daizi chuckled, rubbing her belly. Neither of them would either express it around the twins, but they did worry about having two people in the house who didn't speak the language would affect their ability to successfully teach it to their baby, since they couldn't exclusively speak Arabic at home with them around.

The conversation shifted, then, as they do, until they had all finished eating. Then, as Dark was cleaning up, he said, "Alec, I think some of our early-fall-late-summer flowers have begun to bloom. Have you seen them yet?"
 
Alec looked up from his barely touched dinner and brightened. "Really? No, I haven't. After I help clean up, maybe I could go see them?"

Xander grunted as he started collecting dishes. "You're falling down on your gardening obsession. You'll have to work harder to keep it up during school time."

"I will," Alec promised even though he knew Xander was joking. "We don't have much time left in the growing seasons, so I should take advantage of what time the plants have left."
 
"I can go with you," Daizi said, "Help you find them and figure out what they are. I know all the plants back there very well. But you don't have to worry about the growing season, we have autumn blooming plants, and holly and ivy are green all year around. I don't know the colour, but I know how the leaves feel when everything else has gone dormant."

"Our big oak tree in the yard is beautiful when the leaves fall and our autumn flowers bloom. And the weather is much milder. But in a few weeks we can start decorating the house for Halloween, since it is September, and I need to have everything up before the first of October, so I need to begin during late September. I know we are only in the first full week of the month, but we are almost at the end of the week, and the end of next week is mid-September, which means we are practically almost there. And we need to figure out our," he meant himself and Daizi, since he remembered Xander saying he hated Halloween, "costumes, since it is our last year without a baby to account for."

Daizi ran her hands down the front of her dress, "By Halloween I'll be 37 weeks, and I have no idea how to begin to dress for that. I feel like any costume we get will be too small by the 31st."
 
"You could get a flowing costume that won't matter as much," Alec suggested. "Perhaps a, um, what do you call them, Madam Fortune Teller? That would suit you well. Or a Fate from Greek myths!"

"A pregnant 'normal' woman with your hair all up in a ratty bun, yoga pants, and a stained shirt that used to belong to your husband," Xander smirked.

"How unflattering," Alec sniffed. "But rather amusing to imagine."

Xander shrugged. "The fortune teller is too normal for her. She already looks kind of like a fortune teller."
 
"We like to do costumes with each others," Daizi explained, "not every year, but it's fun for us. And this year feels very limiting. Next year will be fun, though, because the baby will be almost a year old and too young to have an opinion of what she wears."

"I still think you can dress as Gaia," Dark suggested as he began cleaning up.

"It just feels very self-important. Plus then you'd be obligated to go as Father Time which makes it seem even more like that." Daizi pointed out, stretching, "I don't want to embarrass ourselves."

"We have time to figure it out," He replied, kissing the top of her head as he picked up her empty plate.
 
Alec and Xander glanced at each other and shrugged before finishing up their part of the cleaning. While Alec did enjoy the dressing up and creativity aspect mildly, neither had been big fans of the holiday. They didn't mind Dark and Daizi doing their thing, but they didn't fully understand it, either. Not that that bothered either of them.

Alec wiped down all of the flat surfaces and moved toward the back door, looking out at the flowers.
 
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