How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi went to bed that night feeling more relaxed and special than she had felt earlier in the evening, and come morning she had rebounded without much of a trace of the previous night's distress.

They said goodbye to the twins, made them promise to let them know where they were, and then set them free to have fun. This was going to be a day they really focused on giving a fun day to Ivy, although they also planned to stop into the Fascination Parlor for a few hours.
 
The twins spent their hours exploring the town from one side to the other, finding all the games and curious sites to see. Xander climbed all the random areas, and Alec nearly got stuck in a fun house until Xander got him out. They found a few random snack shacks and treated themselves, but didn't go overboard.

When it was time for lunch, Xander texted Dark where they should meet up while Alec tried to fish his phone out from under a boardwalk where it'd fallen when he took it out.
 
Dark and Daizi spent the first part of the day playing with Ivy, taking her to swim a little bit, but also doing all of the other activities she enjoyed: tummy time, singing, and just really enjoying the time they got to spend with their daughter, although they did fairly regularly check their phones to make sure both twins were okay.

When Xander texted where to meet up, almost immediately Dark responded with, "No, come to the rental first! We can go there together, but come here first!"
 
"Have you got it, yet?" Xander asked Alec. "Ba said to head back."

"Almost." Alec used a stick to tap the phone slowly sideways. "Got it!" He held up his phone triumphantly.

"Nice. Let's get going," Xander said.

Alec carefully put his phone in his pocket, and the pair headed back to the rental.
 
When the twins stepped inside, Dark and Daizi were sitting on the floor of the living room, which was also the front hall, and they had moved the central coffee table out of the way to have a more open space.

"Stay there, stay there!!!" Daizi told them, waving her hand at the twins to try to get them to not come any further in, and both she and Dark were grinning.
 
Dark set Ivy down, and then pointed towards the twins, "Who is that?" he asked, crouching down slightly. "Are those your brothers?"

Absolutely beaming, Daizi bent in a similar position to her husband, "Ivy, say hi!"

After a few tense moments looking over her shoulders at her parents, Ivy looked back at her brothers and crawled towards them. It was slow, and a bit awkward, because she did not have the movements down perfectly yet, instead relying a bit more on her left side, but she was doing it! And she did it only toppling over a few times!
 
"Ivy!" Alec squealed, squatting down. "Ivy, you're crawling! Hi! You're such a big girl now!"

"Well, we're all doomed," Xander smirked, watching her, but there was no small amount of pride in his eyes.
 
"We are in a lot of trouble," Daizi agreed, grinning from ear to ear, nearly bouncing from excitement.

"Yes, we are," Dark said, busy taking another video of Ivy crawling, but she stopped once she reached Alec, since he had squatted down to her, and sat down in front of him with a big smile on her face. She didn't know what she had done, but she knew everybody was cheering for her, and that was the best thing in the world, so she squeaked at him and lifted up her arms.
 
Alec lifted Ivy up and held her high. "You are crawling! You've grown so much! You're going to get into everything and everywhere!" He held her close, snuggling her excitedly, and then set her down facing Daizi. "Look. There's Mama. Can you reach Mama?"

"Of course she can!" Xander said with a firm nod. "She'll totally make it."
 
"Come here, Hummingbird!" Daizi said excitedly, holding out her arms to Ivy, who cooed, and began her slow, clumsy, but determined back to her mother. The absolute moment Daizi's fingertips brushed against Ivy, she scooped her up and dropped onto her back, lifting her above her head, "You did it, baby!!! Mama is so proud of you! Yes she is!!! Good job, Ivy!!!" Bringing Ivy back to her chest, Daizi squeezed her close, covered her in kisses, and sat back up, "I love you so much, my sweet girl." With her eyes squeezed shut, Daizi spent a few moments just holding her daughter, practically exultant that after so many painful years of wanting to have a baby, hers was big and strong enough to crawl. She had already cried when Ivy had done so for the first time, but she was so proud. Swaying her body, she said, "It's hard to believe that the little four-and-a-half pound baby who couldn't even keep herself warm is crawling."

After giving Ivy just one extra kiss, Daizi set her down on the carpet again, and just let her go where she wanted to go, knowing there were three pairs of eyes in the room who could keep an eye on her.

"I am going to send those videos to Saladin and your cousins too," Dark said, eyes gleaming with pride, "And Cooger."

"Send it to Sally, too. And all my other friends." Daizi said, trying to listen to where Ivy was going, but it wasn't too hard, because when Ivy was set free, she decided to crawl to her father and climb into his lap, and he couldn't stop himself from making the softest little whimper at that being what she chose to do.

"She crawled into my lap," Dark said so Daizi understood, while helping Ivy to sit up.
 
Xander moved to sit on the couch and pulled his legs up to keep out of the way. "She's like the world's tiniest super hero," he confirmed, serious as always.

"The world's cutest, sweetest superhero!" Alec giggled. He glanced at Dark. "Incredibly powerful, too."

Xander smirked, knowing where his brother was going. "Mental powers to bend even the biggest men to her will."
 
As much as he wanted to, Dark could not argue the twins on that point as he looked down at his daughter, "I do not even know she needs mental powers for that. She has a very persuasive smile."

"We were out on the beach when she started crawling," Daizi said excitedly.

"There was a little crab, and it went--shambling," He meant scuttling, "across the towel. She must have really liked it, because she decided to go after it."

Daizi laughed, "I think she wanted to eat it."

"She saw how much her brothers loved eating crab, she wanted to try it. I cannot fault her for that, crab is delicious." Dark pointed out, rubbing his daughter's cheek with his thumb, "I think we can let her try a little bit of crab. Or shrimp, maybe."

"I've seen conflicting information," Daizi grumbled, scooting over to the two of them, "Nothing is ever straight forward about babies. I was reading it before we came, some sources say it is okay beginning at six months, others say wait until a year because of sodium..."
 
"Flip a coin and see what it says," Xander suggested. He wasn't serious.

"We could wait until we're home just in case, but the fish would be better here," Alec commented.

"You could ask for a heart friendly option. They're always low in sodium," Xander suggested.
 
"Oh, we can give her a little bit of fish, can't we?" Daizi said, standing up, "She can have some fish. Maybe not restaurant fish, unless there's a fish on the menu cooked exclusively with foods we know she isn't allergic to. But, come on, we should actually go get lunch. I'm sure you are both starving."

"What have you gotten up to today?" Dark asked, standing up with Ivy on his hip.
 
"So hungry!" Xander confirmed, practically catapulting himself off the couch. "I could eat a crab without cooking it."

"We found a couple of arcade type places, some snack shacks, and some supposedly historical landmarks, although they looked like just more sand," Alec told them, heading out.
 
"Ivy will catch it for you," Daizi joked, picking up the diaper bag and walking with them out of the house. She had wanted to joke about how specifically Xander had probably been sitting there like, Yeah, she can crawl, that's great, can we go eat? but she had refrained out of concern for making him uncomfortable about his very natural appetite.

"That sounds like a lovely morning," Dark said, and asked a few questions about the landmarks, even knowing a bit about a few of them. It was true he had quit his job, but he would always be a history major. As they walked to the restaurant, he spotted a nail salon, and glanced down at his fingers for a few seconds as they walked along, but he didn't say anything about it.
 
"I wonder if they have a spa around here. I've always wanted to try a spa," Alec remarked as they walked, also noting the nail salon but not his father's look. "The sand is magnificent for bare feet, but what about facials and mani-pedis?"

"They have a spa, I saw it earlier, but I guarantee you'll have to sell a kidney to afford it," Xander told him.

"Ugh, true. It just sounds so relaxing," Alec smiled.

"Tell you what: We'll find the cheapest store we can and stalk up on home-done spa treatments and you can lay out on the beach listening to new age music with cucumbers on your face," Xander told him.

"I know you're joking, but that actually sounds fantastic."
 
"They have a nail salon," Dark told them, indicating to where it was, "they probably are not too expensive, if you cannot afford a full spa treatment."

"It was nice when we went to that spa before Ivy was born," Daizi hummed, realizing she had almost forgotten it had happened, it felt so long ago, "I swear it was the only time the full eight months where I was ever fully relaxed. If you do your mini spa at home, you should do it at night, so it is not too hot, and you can see the moon and all of the stars over the water. I bet it'd be beautiful." Dark looked out of the corner of his eye at Daizi and bumped lightly against her shoulder, not speaking any words, but saying a lot to her.
 
"Hmm, not a bad idea. Say! Why don't we all get our nails done as a family thing?" Alec suggested eagerly. "Except maybe Ivy. She might not be ready for that."

"I'm not getting my nails painted," Xander said, but he didn't fully say no.
 
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