How Green Becomes Wood

Ivy turned, holding tightly to two fistfuls of her mother's hair as though she were an animated rat in Paris and, thankfully, smiled her biggest smile, having not quite figured out how to hold a grudge yet.

"You can have her if you want," Daizi replied, stepping away from the stove and doing her best to disentangle her hair while taking Ivy out of the sling, "Do want to play with your brother, sweet girl? How about you play with your brother while Mama cooks."
 
"Come on, Ivy! Let's go play while other people work," Alec grinned, whisking her off to the living room. "Play time!"

After a bit, Xander came in and glanced around. Alec wasn't there. Good. He didn't want to talk to him yet. "Need help here?"
 
Ivy held onto Alec, doing her best to get her fingers up to his hair, babbling at him as though he had not absolutely crushed her spirit earlier. That was in the past, it didn't matter now.

When Xander came in, both Dark and Daizi were hard at work cooking and having some conversation in Arabic which was both clearly good natured and particularly passionate, particularly on Daizi's end.

"I think we have it covered, thank you," Dark told him, turning to try to gauge by the look on Xander's face how he was doing now, "but if you could set the table, it would be very helpful."
 
"Alright," Xander agreed. He went to do as asked, his expression remaining neutral. He felt better after his talk with Daizi, but he still wasn't happy. Fighting with Alec always left a sour taste in his mouth and an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.
 
"Alec is playing with Ivy," Daizi mentioned, trying to figure out where Xander was at just like her husband was, "She was very upset when she did not get a big hello. I think she missed you a lot while you were at school, I'm not sure if she remembers the last semester."
 
"I'll give her some attention after dinner," Xander promised, and he meant it. He didn't like upsetting Ivy. He might not play with her like Alec, but he did like being around her.
 
"There is no worry, really. I think she's already forgotten, but I know she'll also be thrilled to see you. She's got such a big heart." Daizi assured him, because even though it sounded pretty evident in his voice that he meant it, she still felt it necessary to reaffirm it was always his choice.

"I hope it is never beaten out of her." Dark said, "Besides what happened, how was your day?"
 
Xander shrugged and played briefly with the forks just because they were there. On a whim, he swapped where the fork and the spoon always sat. "It was alright. Dull. Same game questions each new class as if any of us are actually going to make friends with each other because of those questions. Other than that, pretty typical."
 
"I never liked the first day of school," Daizi said, shutting off the oven and taking their food out, "I always had to have disability support meetings, which I valied, obviously, because they did help me significantly, but it was also a really irritating step. I'd rather have it than not, but it took ages."
 
"That sounds like something better done the day before, don't it?" Xander asked, slightly puzzled. He paused for a moment thoughtfully. "I wonder if Tristan ever had to have those." Then he shook his head and kept going. "Nah, he was out of school before he was in a wheelchair, I think, or close to it. Maybe in college." He forgot that the conversation he'd had with Tristan had taken place where Dark and Daizi couldn't hear.
 
"Our school had a disability coordinator who I would meet with, so it was just easier to do it during my first day." Daizi explained, "and if was in college, he probably did. At least, if he scheduled one, it wasn't mandatory at my colleges like it was in high school, but I always had them because I literally cannot learn without accommodation."
 
There really wasn't a lot they needed done, so when they finished cooking, Daizi went to get Alec and Ivy and then came to the dining room, sitting Ivy down in her high chair while Dark made her special dinner--this time it was largely what the rest of them were eating, because she had tried and liked all of the ingredients before, just puréed. It looked awful, but there was nothing to be done about that.
 
Alec and Xander tried to ignore Ivy's dinner, knowing that it was the best anyone could do in this situation. It still looked nasty. They were also ignoring each other. They were polite, but strained, and not their usual selves. They didn't want to deal with things right now. They'd both rather eat, which they both did hungrily.
 
Partway throughout dinner, after Ivy had eaten all of her meal (that night, she was pretty good about it, and only threw about a third of it to a extremely grateful dog), Dark shifted slightly, and after taking a quick sip of his drink said, "There is actually something I want to announce."

"No, I am not pregnant again," Daizi said, knowing exactly what his announcement was.

Dark turned to her, slightly, "You can never resist that joke, can you?"

"No, I absolutely cannot," Daizi grinned crookedly, reaching across the table to squeeze Dark's hand, since they had Ivy's high chair placed between them now.
 
Daizi made a face, laughing in a surprised, horrified, and amused way, "Oh, god, Dark would be horrible pregnant!"

"No I would not be," Dark protested, turning to look at her.

"Goose," She grinned, bouncing slightly in her seat, "Your nesting was intense when I was pregnant. If you were pregnant, you'd scrub our black stones white. And you would have absolutely no control over your emotions, your hormones would wreck your mental health."

"I---" He attempted to think of a valid rebuttal to that, but instead in a weak voice and an adorable smirk said, "no"

"And god forbid the doctor try to put you on bedrest, when you received your instructions about how your exercise regime had to change, your head would pop open, you'd spend the nine months bemoaning the loss of your abs and muscle mass." Daizi leaned closer towards him, knowing she had his number.

"You are going to upset Xander," Dark said slowly, looking only at his wife.

With a nod towards to her son, Daizi replied in a similar tone to Dark, "Xander brought it up. He did it to himself."

For a few very brief seconds they sat grinning, gripping each other's hand over the table as if they were two words away from arm wrestling to settle things, while Dark attempted to think of a good response to that. Thankfully, Ivy saved him by squeaking Ivy, and he pointed at her, "Yes, my darling, kind Ivy-Qadira, Baba did have announcement."

"Using my baby against me..."

"Our baby."

"Not fair."

"Perfectly fair." He looked at Alec, "It is good news. Or neutral, depending on your perspective. But good, I think."
 
Xander was doing his best to ignore them, knowing full well he'd brought it on himself and only slightly regretting it because Dark and Daizi's expressions had been hilarious. He checked back in when Ivy reminded Dark of his announcement. "Okay, so, what is it?"

"I'm hoping good news, but neutral is perfectly acceptable," Alec said. "So.... what is it?"
 
"My name." Dark replied, taking a breath as the comedy of the previous moment faded. He had complete confidence in this decision, but it was also the first time in many, many years he had said something like this. "My name is Ghalib Marzuq. It was not always, but it will be now." Again, Daizi squeezed his hand, but it meant something different now.
 
Xander and Alec glanced at each other in confusion. They didn't understand what Dark was saying at first.

Alec caught it first. "Oh! You decided to give your initials an actual name? That is amazing! How wonderful!"

"Ghalib Marzuq?" Xander asked, making sure he understood it correctly. "Sounds good. Does it have a background, or just sound good?"
 
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