How Green Becomes Wood

Fridays always seemed to take forever, especially when Sloan had plans after, so the afternoon seemed to drag on, but finally, finally the bell rang and she was able to hurry out to her locker and head home, just in time to drop her stuff off, change, and head to the thrift store.

Dark, meanwhile, met the twins by their lockers, "I noticed this earlier. They look nice. How was school today?"
 
"School was long but good," Alec said as he shuffled some things in his locker. "Sloan decorated the lockers! How long do you think is appropriate to keep it up? She put so much work into them! When I do take it down, I'm going to try to save it as much as possible."
 
"Yes!" Alec chirped and bounced ahead.

Xander glanced at the lockers thoughtfully. "Like a big birthday card," he mumbled in approval before following after Alec. "Can I still drive home?"
 
"Of course you can," Dark said, taking out his keys and handing them to Xander, "if you still want to, of course. We should have just enough time to change for the party before heading to the thrift store, although I suppose it does not really matter what you both wear since you will be changing into new clothes at the store anyway. But it is always good to freshen up."
 
"Do you think Ivy would like a new outfit?" Alec mused.

"Ivy has so many clothes she can wear five outfits a day for a month before running out of clothes," Xander siad dryly. He grinned and hopped in the car, waiting until everyone was in before starting it. The drive home was quiet enough, and it wasn't long until they arrived home. Alec ran in excitedly to say hello with Xander sauntering along behind. He figured he'd have to get in his hellos before Dark monopolized Daizi and Ivy.
 
"That is not even true," Dark replied flatly, having washed so many tiny little baby onesies over the past sixteen weeks, "and she outgrows everything rapidly. Imagine sixteen weeks from now you weigh almost twice as much as you do now. You would need a mountain of clothing too--we have already began packing up what she cannot wear and is not utterly destroyed, and we are bringing it to the store tonight."

When they arrived home, Daizi couldn't help but snicker and presented them with Ivy dressed in a brand new outfit--a knit Frog onesie complete with a hat. Even Ivy looked a bit confused by it, but Daizi seemed thrilled, "Ivy, say hi to your brothers! Say, 'Happy Birthday!'"
 
"Ivy! You are so adorable!" Alec squealed, hurrying over. He played with her little feet, making ribbiting noises then smiled at Daizi. "Today was a good day, but even if it wasn't our birthday, I'd still be happy it was the weekend and I could be home. How was your day?"

Xander paused just inside the door and snickered. "When did Robin the Frog come to join us?"
 
Seeing her brothers for the first time all day, Ivy smiled as big as she could and kicked her legs: she didn't know what these weird noises Alec was making were, but they were certainly very silly.

"It's felt like a really long week, hasn't it?" Daizi agreed, "I'm glad you're all home until Monday. But Ivy and I had a very fun day, didn't we, baby? What did we do? We did... tummy time, and bathtime, and we took a nap... We played with Enkidu, didn't we?" She beamed at her daughter and peppered her with tiny kisses, "And we called Jaddi and our Amties and Khalaties, right, Hummingbird?" She chuckled, knowing she was definitely making it seem much easier than it actually had been, "They all said Happy Birthday, by the way."

Then, Dark came in, spied his baby, and almost melted on the spot, he murmured, "She is a frog," and hurried to take off his shoes and touch the salt.
 
Alec grinned and tickled Ivy's feet once more before moving out of the way. "Sounds like Ivy had a fabulous time. How did Mama do?"

Xander glanced at Dark, amused. "Get ahold of yourself, man," he pretended to scold before going up to Ivy and Daizi. "Hey, Mama. Mini." He reached out and brushed a hand across Daizi's arm. He lightly tapped Ivy's hand with his finger as if fist-bumping her before heading into the kitchen.
 
"I'm alright," She said, a little less enthusiastically, "I'm a little tired. Hey Xander," She turned towards him, grateful for this compromise they had fallen into about touch, "How was school?"

"Hello darling," Dark said, kissing Daizi's temple when he came up to her. Then he looked down at her face and the way she smiled and a deeply sincere look passed over her face, "I missed you."

"I missed you too... Ivy did too."

"And I missed her. You should go rest before we go to the party, I can watch over her." Daizi did not need to be told twice, and passed Ivy over. She loved her daughter, she adored her, but she needed a break, and was trying to not feel guilty about it.

Following Xander into the kitchen, she said, "Cooger dropped off presents for you two, and cookies."
 
"School was fantastic when it wasn't boring," Alec told Daizi. "Sloan decorated our lockers like giant birthday cards, and they are fantastic! I'm going to try to keep as much of mine as possible. After that, it was boring. I'm going to take the backpacks upstairs." He scampered away, leaving Dark and Daizi to exchange the baby.

In the kitchen, Xander was poking around for an after-school snack. He spotted the cookies just before Daizi mentioned them, and he grinned. "Nice." He helped himself to one and leaned on the counter. "I can't remember if we told you. There's a new kid coming. Haven't known him long. He's a little weird, so should fit right in unless he's the wrong kind of weird. Thing is, though, he tends to be really quiet and kind of sneak around. He'll probably freak you out at least once. Maybe I'll give him a bell to wear, like cats."
 
"Thanks for the warning," she replied, resisting getting a cookie for herself until after both twins had one, "I think all of you are liable to startle me at least once, when we're at the arcade, anyway. But if you make sure to warn him about me, it'll be fine. It is good to know you are making new friends though," She smiled at him, very quickly nudging him, "Is he the one you got into a fight over?"
 
"I haven't mentioned you to him yet since the Professor likes to keep a lid on his personal life, but if he actually comes, I'll consider him worthy of the information," Xander said between cookie bites. "Yeah, he's the one... but maybe don't say it like that? Sounds like two dudes in a duel over the affection of some lady. He doesn't fight for some reason, not even when he's getting pummeled. Sloan thinks he's part of some religion that restricts stuff like that. Non-fighters. I dunno. I think he's just terrible at standing up for himself."
 
"Hey, I'm not one to presume about your sudden bout of heroism" Daizi teased lightly, "Do you think he may not come? And there are a lot of reasons why someone may not choose to fight back, even when it may not make sense. Have you spoken to him about it at all?"
 
Xander snorted lightly at Daizi's teasing comment, vaguely amused by the idea. "No, not yet. Haven't even had the chance, really. Talking to him is like talking to... to the energizer bunny. You get about three sentences, and then he's gone. Alec thinks a birthday party is the perfect opportunity to get to know him better."
 
"He's probably right. It's good that you're trying to get to know him better, though. In my experience, a lot of the most talkative people are talkative because they haven't really been given opportunities to say much. That, or they're self-centered, but I doubt you'd be inviting him to your party if you had that feeling about him." She rested against the counter, "And if he is just a naturally talkative person, it'll balance you out, right? I don't mean that in an insulting way, but it's like how Dark is normally very quiet and I talk for him."
 
"I've already got that in Alec, but I see what you mean," Xander said. He might have said more, but Alec came trotting into the kitchen then, dressed in loose-fitting grey clothes. Xander frowned. "What are you wearing?"

"Something comfortable and easy to change in and out of," Alec replied. "Ooo, are those cookies?"

"From Cooger. I didn't even know you owned grey," Xander said, pushing the plate toward him.

Alec took a cookie and hummed in delight. "Oh, so good! And, hey, we got a letter! It looks like a card from Mr. Lance."

Xander took the square pice of paper and sniffed it. "Why does it smell like maple bacon?"
 
After Alec took a cookie, Daizi helped herself to one, "He didn't know if he was invited to the party, and I told him it seems more like a teen-event. He'll probably visit you this weekend." She turned towards Alec, "It's nice he sent a letter, you should open it! There might be a strange candy inside."
 
"Oh dear. I didn't think to invite Cooger because I didn't think he'd enjoy himself. Should I have invited him anyway and let him say no if he didn't think he'd have fun?" Alec fretted. "At the very least, he could have hung out with you and Ivy."

"I think Cooger's a big boy and can get over not getting invited to a teen party," Xander said as he opened the card. He pulled it out of the envelope. There was a droopy-eared dog on the front and a humorous, standard birthday greeting. The card did not want to open immediately, but inside was a continuation of the standard birthday greeting and a scrawled message. Also, a smudge of what looked like maple syrup. "Happy Birthday Alec and Xander! Hope your 16th birthday is awesome. Regards, Lance. P.S. Sorry about the syrup."

"Oh, so that's why it smells good. He must have written it while eating breakfast," Alec commented, leaning over to sniff the card. "It does smell nice."
 
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