How Green Becomes Wood

"I want to be comfortable during the process, so, yes, I want to have it here. I want to be somewhere familiar to me," She understood his concern, and she knew it wasn't the most popular plan anymore, so she didn't mind reasserting her reasons, "it's perfectly safe, we're going to have a trained midwife here. And as for the cleanliness, you know that Dark is a neat-freak and also women used to give birth in caves and out in fields and all before people knew to wash their hands, so I think my clean bedroom will be just fine. I'm having a baby not open-heart surgery, it doesn't need to be perfectly sterile."

When Dark heard Xander's plan was to just go to a park he couldn't help but look at him bewildered, "We will not... send you both to a park, you understand labour can last for an entire day, right? And it will, hopefully, be at the end of November, it will already be snowing. I know last year you were living out in that, but we are not going to put you back into it, that would be insane and could get us into a lot of trouble."
 
Xander looked a little queasy by the end of it. "Not as insane as pushing out... as the... ew." He shuddered hard and stood up. "I'm just going to go... elsewhere. Anywhere else." He headed out of the kitchen at high speed.

"I think you should do whatever makes you feel the safest and most comfortable," Alec assured her. "We'll go wherever you think will be best so you don't have to stress about anything at all." He pointed after Xander. "We had to watch the most deplorable video for sex-ed. I think it made that class more afraid of babies than sex."
 
"I mean it's gotta come out somewhere," Daizi murmured as Xander left. She didn't feel upset that he left, because the actual birth was generally something that bothered people, and he had already told her the mechanics of pregnancy made him uncomfortable. She felt bad for him that it was that bad, but unfortunately there were some conversations they couldn't avoid entirely so she just sighed and promised herself she'd check in with him later, "and thank you very much for calling the inevitable outcome of this deplorable, it feels very good," she laughed, although she knew entirely well what she was in store for.

"Cooger bet me $50 that I will faint," Dark said, taking a sip of his drink.

"What did you say?"

"I said that will be the first $50 in my daughter's college fund."

Daizi nodded, looking very proud, "That's right."

"Mhm," Dark nodded with her, and when Daizi heard his little vocalization, once again she broke out into a big grin, "we will find where is the best place to send you and Alec when it is time, but we have five months left so we do not need to rush, it is just good to talk about these things in advance."
 
Last edited:
Alec turned red and stammered out, "I didn't mean that the b-birth is deplorable! Not at all! Just the video, I promise! My guess is if all b-births were like that, there'd be no more people around!" He felt absolutely horrible that he'd accidentally offended her, but her smile said that she hadn't really meant it, and he relaxed some. "Sorry. So, are we going to the garden today?"
 
Dark rubbed his face and began cleaning up the table when Alec said he figured all births couldn't possibly be that bad, not going to be the one to break the news to him that all births were pretty rough, not then, so he just--went about his work.

"I would like to go," Daizi said, "the last time I was there I was way too anxious to enjoy any of it, and there's a lovely little restaurant there, but we should probably make sure Xander is okay first, he ran out of here in a hurry."
 
"He'll be fine," Alec smiled. "He's just squeamish. Are you sure you want us to go with you? We don't mind doing something else to occupy ourselves if you two want to go by yourselves and enjoy some quiet time. Oh! I should get your gift. I don't want to forget to give it to you." He started cleaning up his area swiftly so he could go fetch it.
 
"If you would like to go, it would be nice to have you along with us," Daizi replied, "but if you would prefer more time alone in the house, you are very welcome to stay behind."

Dark walked over to Alec and helped pick up his side of the table, "I will do this, you can go and bring her the present," the teen seemed so excited about it, he was more than willing to help out.
 
Alec moved out of the way and smiled at Dark. "Thank you! We will go with you, sure! I'm going to go get it." He scampered away to go fetch the gift.

He returned a moment later with Xander in tow. He'd wrapped the gift in white, almost fluffy paper, no tape, just a loose wrapping so she wouldn't be able to tell what it was the moment it touched her hand. The colors still showed through. It was a clay rainbow he'd sculped from extra molding clay during art class one day. He'd then painted it with the appropriate colors, going over it several times with sanding paper as he worked to get everything as smooth as he could. Then, as a final touch, in the center of each thinly outlined stripe, he'd placed the braille word for that color. The braille had taken him the longest as he was terrified he'd get it wrong and it'd just be gibberish. Both ends of the rainbow had been flattened so it would stand up on a flat surface.

"Here it is!" he said, holding out the four-by-four rounded object to her, ready to put it in her hand.
 
"I'm excited," She said, and gently received the item. She gingerly unwrapped it and then turned it over slowly in her hands, feeling out the shape of it. She was surprised by feeling the braille, and very slowly went down the different colours, and actually felt them all a few times. To be honest, it took her a little bit to recognize that it was a rainbow, which was no fault of Alec's, it was just that since she had never seen a rainbow before, obviously, although she had been told what they look like, feeling one out was a different story, so she looked confused for a few minutes, but then all at once it clicked in her mind what it was, and she quickly went to feel the colours again. Then she raised her head and smiled brightly at Alec, "Do you know, I've had so many people try to explain a rainbow to me. Dark gets really philosophical about it, he talks about how they look like how silk feels and how even if it's your darkest hour, if you see one, you feel some level of calm, and so they look like comfort, and all of those things, but think this, this is the closest I've ever come to understanding. Thank you, this is really thoughtful..." She ran her fingers over the braille again, and then after a moment said, "we should put it in the nursery. I didn't want to start decorating it yet, but... but I think it would be really lovely there, on a nice little shelf... Unless there was somewhere specific you would prefer me to put it."

She added this last bit as an after thought, because she didn't want it to seem like she was immediately regifting it to the baby, but her first thought was how having it there would mean the baby would grow up with this reminder that even though her mom was different in this one way, she'd still be able to help her, and as the baby got older, she'd be able to use it to teacher her daughter the colours of the rainbow, even though she had never actually seen them.

Dark looked over Daizi's shoulder at the little clay rainbow and was fairly impressed at the added braille. After Daizi suggested putting it in the nursery, he said, "Alec called her a rainbow baby, once."
 
Alec smiled shyly. "Well, I knew that you'd never have been able to see a rainbow before, so I wanted to be able to show you. I always thought they looked like glass because you can often kind of see through them, but of course I couldn't make it out of glass. I tried to make it as close to the right texture as I could so you could 'see' it for yourself. And, well, I once overheard a conversation that I was, truthfully, not supposed to overhear between two women, and I learned that a rainbow baby is like a miracle. A baby born after... well, unfortunate circumstances. I just... I wanted to say that I'm happy for your miracle. Your rainbow baby."

"You are getting sappier hanging around this crowd," Xander grumbled, but he put his arm around his brother's shoulders in approval. "I think it'll be perfect in the nursery."
 
"Thank you," Daizi repeated. Her hands hadn't stopped turning it over, she wanted to really feel over single millimeter of it. When he said he wanted to tell her he was happy for her, though, she stopped, and just held it still, because she couldn't find any words to express just how much it meant to her to hear he was happy for them. Dark felt the significance of the gesture as strongly, and when he put his hands on Daizi's shoulder, he looked Alec in the eyes, and even though he didn't say anything, it was clear that he deeply appreciated the gesture too.

"It will be the very first thing in her room," He said softly. The importance of that sentence may or may not have struck the teenagers as significant, but to himself and Daizi, putting anything in that room meant they were starting to decorate it, which meant they were starting to prep it for when the baby would actually... be here, with them. Sure, he had designed her crib and bassist, but those plans were still conceptual. This was real.
 
The true significance of the statement didn't fully sink into either of the twins, but Alec did understand that it was important. He blushed at Dark's deep look and ducked his head, smiling shyly. A warm glow filled his chest. Dark was proud of him! Someone important, someone who mattered, someone as incredible as Dark was proud of him! Thought he did the right thing! He smiled at his feet, feeling a bit foolish but unable to help it.

Xander nodded. "It looks fantastic. So! Are we going out to smell the roses, or are we going to sit around all day admiring Alec's handiwork? I mean, it's a mighty fine rainbow, but it doesn't smell as good as a rose."
 
"We will," Daizi said, standing up, "I still need to get dressed, though. I'll be right back."

She went upstairs, with Dark following her, and brought the rainbow with her. They had never talked about which of the still-available guestrooms they wanted to use for the nursery, but they didn't need to. The ends of their house didn't end on square corners but rather on octagonals, to give the house its more gothic, castle-like feel. Near the stairs, they had a west-facing bedroom overlooking the garden, with big, beautiful windows at the end of this polyhedral shape. Inside was a simple bed with bedside tables and nicely sized closet, but little else. It used to have a desk, but it was now in Alec and Xander's room, so they had two. It was decorated for a adults staying over for a night or two, that was all, but then Daizi and Dark walked in, and she set the rainbow down on one of the little tables, and suddenly it wasn't a guestroom, anymore.

Never before had they begun to actually decorate a nursery, never once. They had their stillbirth at twenty weeks, and had begun discussing themes, then, but hadn't made any firm determinations and hadn't bought anything when it ended. It turned out to be easier on them, ultimately, to not have to take anything down. They had no room with half-painted walls or with a sad, dust-covered, unused crib, although they had no idea that would be the outcome. This time Daizi had emphatically sworn off nursery planning until she hit twenty one weeks, which Dark had secretly gone against by designing baby items, but it wasn't like he had sat down with the intent to go against her wishes, he had just been in his shed and the idea came to him, so he sat down and began to sketch.

But now they had begun to decorate, and when the little rainbow was set down, Daizi couldn't help but turn to Dark and bury her face in his chest. She soaked the front of his shirt, and he kissed the top of her head, swaying slightly while he held her. Then they separated, and they kissed. Looking at her, standing in their baby's nursery, he couldn't help but bend down and kiss her belly, because he was just so overcome. Normally, he only ever kissed her there if he was lying down, because he felt very silly crouching down to be low enough to do so, but there were times it was worth it. Beginning to decorate the nursery was worth it.

Daizi took her hand and then went to her bedroom to finally--finally--get dressed. At last they came back downstairs to meet the boys, after finding something Daizi both liked and could still wear, "Okay, are you ready to go?" She asked
 
Both of them were dressed reasonably nice for their individual tastes. Xander wasn't even wearing anything with holes in it, and Alec's color choices actually matched.

"We're ready!" Alec chirped, already pulling on his shoes. "Come on! Let's go and smell the roses!"

Xander yanked on his shoes and opened the front door. "How about I drive?"

"I'd rather walk all the way than ride with you," Alec told him as they headed out toward the car.
 
"You do not have your permit. Until you do, you are not driving my car," Dark replied firmly, "and you are never driving while the baby is in the car, pre or postpartum." He trusted Xander with a lot, but not with that.

Daizi chuckled, climbing into the passenger seat, "But when she is here, one of you will get to sit in the front seat, because I want to sit in the back with her. So that will be almost as good, right?" She asked, knowing fully well it was not.
 
"Sounds like the world's most amazing compromise," Xander said dryly as he got in the car.

"I'm happy to sit in the back," Alec said, buckling himself in. He looked around the backseat and frowned. "I do see one problem, though. Professor, how are you going to be able to buckle in your briefcase?
 
"It really is not as bad as you think, when Tarot is on Maternity Leave, we obviously will not have to drive her to work so neither she nor the baby will be in the car, so you can drive to and from school as often as you like." Dark replied. He understood driving was a big thing, but he couldn't help but be wary of letting someone just learning be in control of a car with either his pregnant wife or newborn baby as a passenger, even though he presumed Xander, given his experiences, would be a fairly safe driver.

"I guess he'll just have to put it in the trunk or have it on the floor," Daizi said while Dark began to drive to the botanical garden. It was a lovely day for it, they had been very fortunate.
 
Xander and Alec piled out of the car the moment they arrived, nearly running over each other in their eagerness. It was good to get out of the house! Good to get away from the complicated feelings and the undercurrent of tension as everyone waited for something to happen. It wasn't all bad, and quite a few issues had been addressed, but it was still nice to get out and do something other than practice nonstop for the talent show or school. Even grocery shopping was starting to seem like a fantastically fun thing to do.

After a bit of roving out on their own like puppies, the twins returned to Dark and Daizi to walk beside them through the garden, still chatting and going off a bit.
 
Daizi loved the botanical garden. She couldn't see the colours, but she could smell the flowers just as well as anyone else could, and feel the shape of the blooms, so she could enjoy it almost the same as everyone else. And, there generally seemed to be less screaming at a botanical garden compared to a zoo, which was also a wonderful difference.

She and Dark chatted quietly while the twins ran around, enjoying the beautiful place. Butterflies, curiously, seemed strangely attracted to Dark, and kept trying to come and land on him, which didn't exactly mesh with his general vibe.

"It's because you always smell faintly like cotton candy," Daizi mused, holding his hand.
 
"I think it's the patterns," Alec said, overhearing her. He held out a hand and held perfectly still, hopeful. "Butterflies are attracted to patterns as much as colors. It tells them what flowers have which kind of nector. Some butterflies can only drink from certain flowers."

"How do you even know this stuff?" Xander grumbled, avoiding the butterflies and watching them suspiciously. He had seen a documentary once where butterflies drank tears of caiman, even purposefully agitating the caiman's eyes so it would water more. The fact that those had been African butterflies and not botanical North American butterflies didn't really occur to him. He just didn't want a butterfly in his eye.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top