How Green Becomes Wood

"I am not proud of it," Dark replied, "I have since apologized to most of them. I was unhappy with myself and was not opening myself up to anyone, so the relationships were not fulfilling, and my way of trying to fix that problem was wrong. I thought I needed excitement. It was never keeping two girls on the hook or maintaining these long elaborate affairs, it was always one-night stands or the like. It was a terrible thing. I think I cheated on four people, but I would also break up randomly or leave without saying goodbye..."

"It was all during the five years we were broken up," Daizi explained, "I heard all about it in the letters I got from him."
 
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"Wow, you were a real dick," Xander said bluntly. Then he looked at Daizi. "And you had other people, too? When you knew he was the one for you?"

"This isn't a very good birthday topic," Alec cut in. "Why don't we talk about something else? Something happier? Like bird calls. What are your favorite bird calls?"
 
"I know I was," Dark agreed, "which is why I have tried very hard to make amends."

Daizi nodded, "Of course I did. I was engaged to someone else, remember? But I didn't know it, then, about him. Both of us were very certain we had our little time together and that would be all. I wasn't as skilled or as conscious of our long history as I am now. I felt something pushing us together, but I didn't know what it was. And being fated does not mean you cannot stumble along the way---why do you think we've had to chase each other for so long? Because we hadn't been able to get it right. There was always something in the way of us. But I think without those five years apart, we wouldn't still be together, because it gave us a chance to see we really wanted each other, we weren't just settling because we were too lazy to explore."
 
"That sounds like a fair thing," Alec lied. He smiled and nodded to Dark. "You've been doing a great job at making amends. It's good to see that you've both figured things out and settle down to a peaceful life together."

"Kind of peaceful," Xander said, following Aelc's lead. "Not exactly all that peaceful since we arrived and all our trauma and drama."

"Not to mention other surprising factors," Alec agreed with a nod toward Daizi though she couldn't see it.
 
"From December until now has been nothing but surprises," Dark agreed, and even without being able to see the gesture, Daizi knew what Alec had meant, and her hand caressed her middle.

"Today has been a nice surprise, and now that this seems to be going properly--next week, even if I go into preterm labour--sorry Alec," she paused, "no, wait, Xander, sorry--the baby has a good chance of surviving. Or at least a chance. Her facial features all finish this week. But, what I meant to say was, from this point on, nice surprises only. And preterm labor," this was clearly not directed at anyone outside of her, "is not a nice surprise."
 
Alec and Xander glanced at each other, momentarily confused by her mix-up of their names, which nicely distracted Xander from the topic.

"Nice surprises only!" Alec agreed with a little cheer. "SUrprise ice cream, surprise presents, surprise days out, surprise visits from nice people, surprise ice cream..."

"You said ice cream twice," Xander pointed out.

"I like ice cream, and it's hot. People who like ice cream think about ice cream a lot when it's hot," Alec told him.

Xander frowned and muttered, "Great. Now I want ice cream." At normal volume, he said, "How about surprise water balloon fights?"
 
"Oh I love icecream," Daizi sighed, speaking entirely from her hormones, "Goose we should get ice cream. Oh! We should go to that fancy place with all of the toppings! So I could add the salted caramel sauce and the cheese cake bites and oreos and walnuts, and I don't remember, babe, do you remember what else they have? The flavours change out monthly, once they had lavender honey, and it was so good."

Out of all of the changes Daizi had been through over the past 23 weeks, her new appetite was one he had failed to adjust to. Crying all the time for no reason? That he quickly learned to handle. But the carvings and constant hunger... Once he had come downstairs to her eating a bowl of Froot Loops alongside bread covered in ketchup and apple slices. Another time it was ham and a chocolate muffin, "We can get ice cream, it is your birthday."

"I'm so excited," She chirped, "and you're right, it's so hot. I wouldn't mind a surprise water balloon fight, except I think I'm an unfair target because I can't see where they're coming from and I can't aim to return fire."
 
"True, but the fact that you don't aim and just throw wildly would mean you'd be difficult to dodge, too," Xander pointed out. "Complete surprise and hard to predict."

"Are you craving ice cream now?" Alec asked. "I remember overhearing our mum tell someone the worst thing we ever did to her was make her crave dirt and dish soap at random times. She took to sucking on peppermint sticks because she was paranoid she'd follow through on the craving at some point."

"She never touched anything that tasted like peppermint after that," Xander agreed. "At least you only crave real food."
 
Daizi ducked her head, a bit embarrassed, "I am now. I hadn't been. But, you know, if your mom wanted to eat those things, she probably had a nutrient imbalance when she was having you both. I'm not sure about the dish soap, but I know that's where dirt cravings come from. It's your body's lust for minerals. This baby just really likes dairy and mixing really salty foods with really sweet foods. And sometimes I want to eat an entire lemon like it's an orange."

"And you have eaten entire lemons." Dark replied, which made Daizi laugh.

"Well, maybe if I use Dark as a human shield the water balloon fight would work."
 
Both twins shuddered violently at the thought of eating a lemon so casually. So. Tart! Neither of them could even think of what to say to that other than to be glad they'd never crave anything that intensely.

"He'd would totally be your human shield no matter what," Xander pointed out.

"Of course, she'd still get hit by the splash, probably, as it explodes all around him," Alec remarked.

"Probable, yeah. Might be more fun to just get a hose, but that's not as tactical," Xander mused. "Hey, is it dinner time yet? I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry. You'd ask what's for dinner right after breakfast and again after lunch if you didn't keep an eye on the time."
 
"That's true," Daizi grinned, squeezing his arm, "Do you know he always has me walk on the inside of the sidewalk rather than on the curb, just so if there's a puddle I won't get splashed?"

"I block more than you do, it only makes sense," Dark replied mildly, feeling it was a very obvious thing to do. Why would he want her to be at risk?

"Maybe you used to, but I'm wider than you are now," Daizi teased, "and we're only just making it to the park. We'll get ice cream soon, then we'll eat."

Dark looked down at Daizi with mild wonderment, "You know the area well."

"No," she held up her cane slightly, "I just touched grass."
 
"You mean we get ice cream before dinner?" Alec demanded, his eyes wide. "Yuor birthdays are the BEST!"

"And that wasn't me saying it," Xander grinned. "Life's short, eat dessert first and all that!"

Alec stepped onto the grass and gave a little twirl. Then he realized what he was doing and stopped, not because he was worried about what people would think, but so he could look for any signs that said to stay off the grass. Was it okay to be on the grass?
 
"My birthday when I'm pregnant are the best," Daizi corrected, "normally I am much more reserved. But this year? This year there's no harm in it. I am more or less at the complete mercy of my little hummingbird."

"Comparatively, hummingbirds do eat a lot," Dark remarked, which Daizi found it amusing (after all, it wasn't a comment directed at her, really), and he watched Alec twirl, "You act like you have not seen grass before. But I am glad to see you are having a good time today."

"The ice cream parlor should be just up this way, I think."
 
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Alec stopped and looked at Dark. "When you stop enjoying the little things in life, you stop enjoying life itself," he told Dark simply. "Gras is the most vibrant sign of life I can think of, and it is so very simple."

Xander stepped up next to Daizi. "I think I see the sign. It's just down a couple of doors. Or shops, I guess. Do you go there often?"
 
Dark paused, putting one hand in his pocket, thinking about what Alec had said about the grass, "I am from the desert. There was grass by the river, but we did not live near to it. Do you know my mother and father both worked, but they made no more than what would here be $6 a month? When I got older it got a bit better but then the war." He shrugged his shoulders. To him, grass, a lot of grass not small adamant tufts, had always a sign of wealth.

"More often than I used to, but no it's just a very familiar place. It's a well known place in the city, it's been here since, like, the 40s, I think," Daizi explained.
 
Alec chuckled and gave a half spin. "No, I didn't know that. How could I have? That is not much money at all." He spun back in the other direction and smiled at Dark. "Here, grass is still a sign of opulence, and people always cut it way too short so that it struggles to live in the summertime, meaning you have to water it more. Even people who don't have much money try it, but they are just throwing their money away because they refuse to have 'scraggly' grass. I think it looks better longer. Do you ever dance?"

"Wow, so, it's like a hundred years old," Xander said, impressed. "That's a long time to be serving ice cream to the citizens of the city."
 
"I do," He admitted, "I have said that before. Not recently, but if you remember when you and Xander were questioning the dates Daizi and I go on. I said the dancing is more for me. And you certainly have seen our portrait on the wall of us dancing at our wedding."

Daizi nodded, "Closer to a hundred years than not. There's all sorts of interesting history in this city, and I always try to shop at places that have that history, rather than at, like, Olive Garden. Although I do go feral for those breadsticks."
 
"Sorry, I'd forgotten. Then, you should dance on grass and sand!" Alec told him with a grin.

"History is pretty cool, but some places forget that some changes are good. I just follow the food," Xander told her.
 
"Maybe if there was music," Dark mused, looking down at his wife. She clearly wasn't paying attention to what he or Alec were saying, but still holding his arm, she would rub her finger slightly against his bicep. Because, what else? Never would Dark dance alone in the park, like Alec was suggesting, he didn't like people staring at him. But if he wasn't alone...

"Did you always think history is cool, or has living with Dark all these months began to warp your brain?" Daizi teased.
 
"We should have a dance part then, sometime," Alec said, coming to walk beside Dark like a normal person. "They are really so much fun! Although the living room is a bit crowded for all of us."

Xander shrugged. "More like a vague appreciation for something that's stuck around longer than most people. Not really a deep interest, really. Just appreciation. Sometimes the new stuff is cool, too, but I like looking at old buildings."
 
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