How Green Becomes Wood

"She might not have," Dark agreed, glancing up at the stairs, "It probably would not hurt to go knock on her door, if you would like to. If not I can go. She may have fallen asleep."

He kept a close eye on Alec, making sure he was getting a sufficient amount of food. He had a difficult day, which was the exact thing which made him less likely to eat, and if he slipped back into old habits, everything with CPS would start again, Dark was sure, and it may not be so easily resolved a second time.
 
Xander headed up and tapped lightly on Daizi's office door. "Hey, Daizi? The food's here. It's really hot and begging to be eaten! I got you Pad Thai and a couple of other things. You wanna come eat while it's hot? Not much worse than cold noodles that aren't supposed to be cold."

Alec sat at his usual spot and poked at the mound of noodles. "I wonder who invented noodles," he said to Dark. "Who thought rolling dough into long, thin snakes sounded like an excellent meal plan?"
 
At first, behind Daizi's door, there was silence, and then shuffling, and eventually she opened the door. It was obvious she had been crying, but she stood as if she was completely fine. When the emotion was negative and real, she didn't like it when the twins knew. It was too much, Daizi felt, to give to them, "Is it that time already?" She asked, her arms folded and shoulders slightly hunched, and with a slightly forced smile said, "I hadn't noticed... it came quickly. Thank you..."

"I think they were invented in China, but I have no idea," Dark replied, "I am glad to have them though. Have you had thai before?"
 
"Do you want to walk down with me, or do you need a minute?" Xander asked her awkwardly. He'd stay and wait if she asked him to, or he'd leave. Whatever she wanted him to do.

Alec shook his head. "Not that I can remember, no. It looks a lot like Chinese, but not really at the same time. It smells good. Some of it smells really spicy."
 
"I think..." She said slowly, and then sighed, rubbing her arm, "I'm not mad at Alec, you know. Not really. I know he's probably really upset, and that's not..." Daizi turned her face away and closed her eyes, "I think I may take a few minutes before coming down."

Dark began filling his plate, "It is similar. The food has a lot of influences... And some of it is really spicy--and humid spicy, not desert spicy, so it hits harder than what Daizi and I grew up with. We have adjusted to it now, though."
 
Xander hesitated a minute before cautiously reaching out and resting just his fingertips on Daizi's elbow. "He is upset, but just because he upset you and hurt your feelings," he said. "He just... really cares and really worries, and like how I get mad when I worry, he fusses. He knows he didn't say the right things, and he didn't mean quite what he said. He knows you're capable, we both do. Just, fussing is his way of dealing. And it's dead annoying. And that's me speaking who's used to it."

"I read that Thai is considered the spiciest food in the world, particularly authentic Thai, which is hard to get because most Americans don't have that kind of tolerance, and there's a heavy emphasis on the chilis being fresh," Alec told him. "I don't know how true it is, but it smells true."
 
At the touch, Daizi inhaled slightly, and not just from surprise. Until he finished speaking, she said nothing, and then, "I can understand that... Especially since..." She hesitated, and changed her mind about what to say, "It wouldn't bother me, but since I was born everyone underestimated me, told me all the things I couldn't and shouldn't do. Being doubted all over again... And I wonder how it would be if this were different."

"It probably is. I doubt I've really had truly authentic thai food, but I do know that Thailand's government sponsers their people setting up Thai places here. I forget all of the details, but it is rather interesting, I think. I have said it before, and Daizi can talk a lot about it, but food means a lot more than nourishment," He looked at his plate and wondered if he should start eating or if he should wait for the rest of them.
 
"Honestly? Not much different if you could see or couldn't, at least with us," Xander replied with blunt honesty. He considered his words before saying, "I kind of get where you're coming from, always being told you can't do something. It's not the same, I'm not saying it is, but I get the idea. We've been told our whole lives the best we can hope for is flipping burgers at a greasy diner, and that's only if we really lucked out. I've heard teachers tell me to my face they didn't expect me to amount to anything, and they didn't even expect me to graduate high school. I'm supposed to be a gang-banging drug addict by now." He shrugged. "Not the same, but then you showed us that it doesn't matter what other folk say or think. If we really want something in life, we can achieve it. Our limitations might mean we achieve it differently, but just because I'm the son of an unwed mother from the wrong side of the tracks doesn't mean I couldn't be a well-respected businessman with a penthouse office and a different suit every day, if I wanted." He grinned. "Not that I want to. But you showed us that just by being yourself." He dropped his hand and looked away bashfully.

Alec looked toward the stairs, wondering the same thing as Dark. "Should one of us go check on them?" he asked uncertainly.
 
She was confused for a few moments, and then realized what Xander thought she was talking about, and what she was talking about, were two different things, but she said, "No? I would notice the difference. But..." She shifted, and again decided against saying what she wanted to, "Well, thank you. I'm glad to know that if nothing else, I've been able to be an inspiration to you. I mean that, I do. It's just..." She swallowed, picking at her clothes, "I wish sometimes I didn't need to be an inspiration. There's always this silent, 'for someone like you' snuck in behind all of my accomplishments. And you will probably learn a bit about what that's like too, I'm afraid. In a different way. But you know... And I'm speaking generally here, not specifically about you and Alec, but the list of things people sees before seeing me as a person only ever grows... You should go down and eat, I can only imagine you're starving."

He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, considering Alec's question, and after taking the time to think about it, said, "No, I am sure they are fine. They will come down when they are ready, it is not like either of them loves missing meals."
 
"Okay." Xander turned away but paused. He started to say something, hesitated, then continued downstairs. "I'll make sure not to eat it all before you can have something." He shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling confused. He felt both like he'd said something to make her feel better and to make her feel worse. Had he made her feel better or hadn't he? He had no clue. Women, especially pregnant women, were really confusing.

"Oh, here they come!" Alec chirped. He paused. "Well, here comes one of them, anyway."

"Daizi said she'll be down in a minute," Xander said, plopping into his chair. "Let's eat, I'm hungry!"
 
"Thank you," She said, distantly, and let him leave.

"Is she alright?" Dark asked, raising his head. Still he believed in letting her come down in her own time, but he worried. Out of everyone in his life, he loved her the best, and if he was even meant to feel guilty about that fact, he didn't. In theory, he knew that if it came down to saving her or one of the twins, he'd save one of the twins, even though it'd crush him to do so, but he knew if he chose her, it'd probably destroy their relationship.
 
"I have no idea," Xander grumbled. "She seemed alright, and then she said she needed more time. I think I either made her feel better or worse. I can't tell."

Alec sighed and shoved a forkful of noodles in his mouth. Why couldn't just one day go by nice and quietly? Just one?
 
"Sometimes both of those feelings are the same," Dark mused, and wondered if the twins understood that. But still he worried. How could he not?

Mercifully, after only a few more minutes, both Daizi and Enkidu came downstairs. She seemed weary, but smiled at them while she took her seat, "It smells amazing," her voice maintained its usual breezy quality, despite how tired she seemed, now.
 
Xander studied her suspiciously but said, "I hope it tastes as good as it smells. I saved you a big portion."

"There's no way even you could possibly eat all of this by yourself," Alec said.

"Don't underestimate my eating ability!" Xander warned him with a smirk. "But I won't take you up on that challenge right now. Loads of spicy Thai wouldn't be my choice of last meal."

Alec rolled his eyes. He felt more uncomfortable now with Daizi at the table, feeling the weight of the unaddressed issue between them, but he couldn't just address it now, could he? Right in the middle of eating? He slurped up a single noodle to distract himself.
 
"Thank you," she said softly, reaching down to scratch Enkidu behind his ear, "I'd make some joke about my eating ability, but I could never be so boring as to stoop to clichés."

With her back beside him, Dark lightly put his hand on her knee, a gesture blocked from view by the table, but it was enough for her to smile again. Everything would be okay.

"It is good you have become more accustomed to spice," Dark nodded, "life is easier that way."
 
"Spice is pretty nice," Xander agreed, waving a piece of orange chicken for emphasis. It wasn't the spiciest thing at the table, but it was the thing currently on his fork, so it'd have to do. He shoved it into his mouth before attacking the next thing on his plate.

"Spice is nice, but it's not life. Perhaps, instead, a pretty wife, for all may be toil and strife, one need not take fright or flight, but for the touch of the one so wise," Alec said, pushing the broccoli around on his plate. He stabbed one and started nibbling its florets.
 
Both Dark and Daizi noted with mild amusement that in Alec's little ditty he espoused the virtue of a pretty wife, considering despite all of the virtues Daizi had, and which vastly improved Dark's life, 'pretty' was not one. Even if she could be convinced she was beautiful, in her own, private and secretive way, pretty would always be a bridge too far. But they didn't make that comment, and instead Daizi asked, "Did you write that yourself?"

Dark was more or less glad to see Alec was still eating, even with Daizi there. He had been concerned... The remaining tension he didn't know how to break. It wasn't like he was a light-hearted jokester, "Trying to figure out rhymes when I was first learning English was impossible," was all he could say, "or seemed that way. The fact 'vow' and 'bough', like the trees, rhyme, but 'bough' and 'though' do not was inconceivable to me."
 
"Hmm, just came up with it," Alec said, frowning at a second broccoli piece, "but it's not quite right. The second half doesn't fit the first half. The first half is short and sharp, and the second half is longer, rounder. Oh well. I'll try to remember to write it down and fix it later. I don't blame you for your difficulty. English is a strange language since it's just a bunch of bastardized languages and words thrown into a pot to melt together."

Xander nearly choked on his noodles. "Alec! What did you just say?" he demanded in horror. Alec never swore!

Alec blushed but stood his ground. "That is a perfectly legitimate word. It means to lower the quality or value, typically by adding new elements. That's why English has words that are still essentially French, Latin, German, and even a couple of Spanish words. Old English was an entirely different language than it is now."

"I know. Shakespeare is rough," Xander groaned.

"Old English died out a few hundred years before Shakespeare was even born. Shakespeare isn't Old English, just old," Alec said dryly.
 
"You've been studying," Daizi remarked, "did you know Arabic heavily influenced Spainish? It's why so many Spanish words begin with al-, it's an Arab prefix. A lot of our surnames begin with it."

"My original one did," Dark admitted, a bit cautiously.

"I wish mine did. I like the rhythm of that slight pause," Daizi side, but didn't make any mention of Dark's original name. She knew it, but of course she would never share it, so instead she switched topics, "I do like Shakespeare, though. It's easier if you hear it spoken aloud than if you read it. There's a lot of really good jokes if you listen close enough."
 
"I haven't learned much about Arabic yet," Alec told her. "I have been trying to read Shakespeare. I wonder if there's an audio book version?"

"It has to be more interesting than trying to wade your way through the monologues," Xander mumbled around a mouthful.
 
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