How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi chuckled, making a face, "I don't think you should find him cute in the same way I find him cute."

Rolling his eyes, Dark came into the living room with his arms crossed, "I believe she said 'can be' and even that is questionable."

Ivy looked a bit upset when Xander pulled away from her, but then she saw her Baba and forgot everything except for getting his attention, which she quickly achieved and snuggled into the crook of his neck while babbling at him.
 
"Then he's back to being adorable," Alec grinned at Dark. "His friend thinks so, too! I herd him call Dark 'mahbub!' That means adorable, doesn't it?"

"It means 'loveable,' and are you sure they weren't comparing pictures of their kids?" Xander asked as he got up from the floor.

Alec hesitated. "Maybe." Afterall, he'd thought the rash cream was something else entirely, so maybe his grasp was shakier than he realized.
 
Dark rolled his eyes, unconsciously swaying from side to side because he was holding Ivy, who was digging her fingers into his beard, "We were talking about Ivy. His sons are between eighteen and twenty, so he was talking about how sweet babies are and how briefly they remain babies."

"I love taking Ivy there, he is excited everytime he sees her," Daizi commented.
 
Alec wrinkled his nose at Ivy, not in the slightest bit serious when he told her, "You'd better enjoy these years! People get excited and give you all sorts of praises just for existing. It gets a bit harder to elicit that kind of response as you get older."
 
"Not just for existing," Dark retorted, untangling Ivy's fingers from his beard and accepting his fate when she then grabbed his hair instead, "also for learning to do so many new things all the time. A few days ago, she did not know how to point, now she can. It is very impressive."
 
"Maybe, but I doubt you'd so willingly accept me pulling at your hair and beard all the time," Alec teased lightly. "Which looks like a lot of fun, so enjoy it for me, Ivy!"

Xander rolled his eyes. "You are so weird."

Alec stuck his tongue out at him. "I think you mean enthusiastic! Quirky. Interesting. Awesome. Colorful!"

Xander walked away, and Alec followed him, still reciting all the words he "could" be.
 
"She is exploring," Dark answered simply, allowing his head to be dragged where Ivy wanted it to be.

"Aren't you the one who spent a week wanting to touch his curly hair?" Daizi asked Xander with a sly grin. After the twins were gone, Dark sat down beside her, and after Ivy refused to be set down, shifted so he could have one arm around his wife while still keeping his daughter happy.
 
Xander ignored Daizi's quip, and he couldn't hear all of it anyway with Alec chasing after him and babbling incessantly. He tuned back in when Alec said he wanted to invite Tristan for dinner and frowned. "Why?"

Alec shrugged. "Family get-together?"

"He's been your boss for almost as long as he's been your family, and we've known Aunt Ciara for longer and haven't done that," Xander pointed out.

"We did that one time!" Alec reminded him.

"Oh yeah." Xander paused, thinking about it. "Give it a couple more weeks, and then maybe."

Alec agreed to this, and they settled down to other things.
 
Daizi sighed, melting into Dark's side, "I'm glad you're home."

"I only went to the store," Dark replied, making sure she had space to curl up with him, "Was she difficult?"

"No, and Xander and I had a healthy talk, I think, but I still need you. It's easier with you." She raised her head and murmured his new first name before commanding him, "Don't die."

"I was not planning on it."

"Good." She took a deep breath and relaxed on the exhale, "I couldn't do it without you."

"You will never have to. I promise."
 
It wasn't long until Xander had to head off to his therapy session, and Alec had Cyr wheel practice. When Alec got home, he was too tired to talk much, for once, and went to take a shower and then collapsed on the floor in the living room with Ivy. Today's "lesson" had actually been entirely drills and learning new exercises to prepare them for, essentially, the real deal. It was exhausting. Good, but exhausting.

Xander came home at his usual time and paused on his way to the stairs to get cleaned up and dehorseified. "What's up with him?" he asked, indicating Alec on the floor.
 
Ivy found it very very silly with how her brother was splayed on the floor, so naturally, she was working on crawling all over him.

"I believe he encountered truly demanding exercise," Dark commented, and turning his head to the side added, "But now, at least, it appears he has a personal masseuse."
 
"Ow," Alec grunted when Ivy's knee found his side a little harder than he would have liked, but overall it wasn't bad. "She's working all the knots out in my spine."

Xander snorted, amused. "Good to see those two keeping each other entertained. Good exercise for the mini, too. By the way, you remember Big John?"
 
"Ivy, be gentle my darling," Dark advised her, but she was too little to understand.

"I'm expecting it will help her sleep better tonight, she woke up yesterday," Daizi sighed, stretching her legs out, "Of course I remember Big John. How is he doing?"
 
"Better. They put that shirt you donated on this little grey pony. It's pretty hilarious to see," Xander told her. "It's not like a tiny pony, he's a bigger pony, and he's blind in one eye. Big John is still a little suspicious of him, but he followed the pony outside for the first time the other day."
 
"My clothes can fit a bigger pony?" Daizi asked, not certain how to feel about that, although she quickly shook it out of her head, "I'm glad it gave him the courage to go outside. I've basically emotionally adopted Big John, and I want the best for him. What's the pony's name?"
 
"More like kind of a blanket, not a great fit," Xander assured her. "His name's Daisy. Apparently, the people who owned him before thought he was a girl for five years. The therapy folks thought it was so funny they kept it."

"Who do you think a boy horse is a girl for that long? It's not like it's hard to tell," Alec laughed, rolling over and catching Ivy to hold her up over him. He pulled a face at Ivy.
 
"Good," Daizi replied, genuinely relieved regardless of what that said about her. It wasn't like she had donated that giant shirt she wore regularly at the end of her pregnancy. She was still too emotionally attached to it.

Dark couldn't ignore the coincidence,"The pony in with Big John is named Daisy?" Ivy, meanwhile, only giggled both at being up in the air and at Alec's face, which she attempted to make back at him.
 
Xander nodded at Dark. "Yep. And he's half-blind, don't forget that. I'll get you a picture next time along with updates."

Alec looked upside down at Dark and Xander. "What's so important about that?"
 
"Oh. Huh. I hadn't realized that," Alec mused. He wiggled Ivy gently and then began lowering and lifting her like a weight training session until his tired arms told him to stop. He lowered her down to his chest instead. "It is pretty obvious when you put it like that."

"At least Mama doesn't keep trying to figure out how to open the door to the grain shed," Xander said dryly.
 
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