How Green Becomes Wood

"You are welcome to move out at any time after you turn eighteen, I will not be hurt if you choose to find your own place, " Dark told Xander, "although I hope you would not choose to leave at eighteen."

"And if you move out but then decide you want or need to move back home, you can do that too," Daizi promised, loving the idea that her children would move out and then maybe move back when they wanted to have their own children. They could convert the library into another bedroom, and probably the music room and other places. Or, maybe they could build an extension. She'd need to alter her garden, but it could work... they may not have space for all of her children to live at home with their spouses and their families, should they choose to have spouses and families, but if just one did, they could easily make that work. Easily.
 
"I don't know what I'll be doing a year from now, let alone two," Xander replied. "I doubt I'll want to just up and leave right then unless I had a reason."

"I don't know that I'll ever want to leave, but just in case I have a reason to, I'll be coming back," Alec assured her."
 
Both Dark and Daizi noted that each twin was discussing a different future for themselves, but chose not to address it, worried pointing it out would cause them to back-peddle.

"Even if you do not move back in after you leave, you're obligated to visit us monthly if you move nearby, and if not, you need to call us every week," Daizi told them, knowing how anxious she'd end up being if they moved far away but didn't call regularly.

"What about you, my darling girl?" Dark asked, watching as Ivy waved her spoon around, "Have you thought about when you will move out? Not until you are eighteen, I know, but what are your life plans?"
 
"I would," Daizi agreed, "wherever you went. And now we know an FBI agent, so it'll be easy."

Dark gently took the spoon back from Ivy so he could feed her again, since she wasn't quite managing it, "Look at you, refuses to even feed herself. No plans, no prospects, you are fortunate to be so cute, because you are quite the freeloader, my dear."
 
"Hm." Dark replied, waving the spoon slowly to catch Ivy's attention so she was enticed into opening her mouth, "I do not know. Ivy-Qadira, Baba thinks you should start pulling your own weight around here."

"Aw, she's just a baby," Daizi playfully chided, "Don't listen to your Baba. In two months when you're one year old, then we'll revisit your responsibilities."

Dark looked at Ivy's face for a moment and then shut his eyes for a moment, "You cannot phrase it that way, she was only born a week ago."
 
"Not really. Aging is kind of what babies do," Xander admitted. "It's pretty cool, but I dunno about stunning."

"I think it's totally awesome!" Alec grinned. "Completely stunning!"
 
"Then this ten months have gone by much more slowly for you than they have for me," Dark replied, handing Ivy back her spoon and took out his phone. After a few moments, he pulled up a picture of Ivy as a newborn and handed his phone to Xander so he could look at the impossibly tiny, pink, wrinkly baby hooked up to machines compared to the chubby baby sitting up in her high chair, trying to figure out how to feed herself. "This is why I find it stunning." He gestured to Ivy, trying to find a way to express how she's the same baby but feels so separate from the baby they brought to the hospital, while also being the exact same. It was ten months ago, but it was a lifetime ago, her eyes weren't even the same colour.

Daizi chose not to speak up, knowing if she did it'd make Xander uncomfortable, but she found it hard to believe this clever, stubborn, loud person used to live inside of her. Although... She laughed softly to herself and reached over to smooth Ivy's hair. No, upon reflection, some of those kicks definitely seemed like Ivy. "Everyone is talking about you again, habibti. You're so popular!"
 
"I'm mote impressed by the fact that she doesn't look like a potato anymore," Xander said with a smirk. "She's doing pretty good for a sentient meatloaf. Really coming Long quite well."
 
"I think she's more than meatloaf now," Daizi commented as Ivy accidentally knocked her food to the ground and stared at it for a few moments before beginning to wail.

After pausing to process his innate irritation at the mess, Dark took a breath and stood to get a towel to clean the chair and Ivy's face while saying, "For someone born six weeks early, she is coming along more than well."
 
"Alright, then, she is coming along very, very well," Xander said, amused. He looked down at the spoon and the mess. "So are her mess-making skills."

"We'll just have to work together to keep up!" Alec said cheerfully.
 
Dark pushed one hand back through his hair as he tried to shush Ivy. Enkidu, delighted, was doing more than his fair share of the clean-up.

"That's because she's also fighting out cause and effect, as well as how to voluntarily let things go." Daizi sighed, "Don't worry Hummingbird, Mama will feed you after she finishes her dinner, okay?"
 
"I know all that, but it's more fun to say she's discovering mess making," Xander grinned. He'd finished his dinner, so he stood and cleared away his area before turning to help with the floor.

Alec was the farthest from Ivy, so he couldn't reach her to help. Instead, he hurriedly finished his dinner and then started cleaning up everything else.
 
"In a way, she is doing that too." Dark grumbled mildly.

After Daizi finished eating, she brought her dishes to the sink and came back, lifted Ivy from the high chair, gave her a kiss, and told her, "Alright, sweetheart, let's go have the rest of your dinner, okay? I know baby, you're very hungry and you knocked your food over! It's okay, it was an accident." She rubbed Ivy's back and headed upstairs while baby hands tugged at the neckline of her shirt.
 
"Mama's going to need a whole new wardrobe of shirts in a few months the way Ivy pulls," Alec remarked as he started on the dishes.

"Maybe you two can go on a shopping spree, then," Xander said.

"That'd be fun!" Alec grinned.
 
"That is why she has been wearing lower necklines," Dark replied, but left it at that. It didn't seem like either teen would enjoy it if he explained the need for 'easy access,' which had the added benefit of not stressing the fabric too much. "She may enjoy that. I know it was frustrating her to find something toned down to wear for the Bridal Shower, she needs something for the rehearsal dinner."
 
"You should take her shopping for the rehearsal dinner, Baba, and turn it into a nice date afternoon or evening," Alec encouraged. "Go out shopping for something nice, give her the praise she loves to hear from you, and then take her out for a nice little meal. It doesn't have to be a five-star restaurant to be a date, right? And you could use a bit of time away, too, doing something fun. We can watch Ivy for a couple of hours."
 
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