How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi hugged him back, holding him close, "How else should I be?" She asked, rubbing his back, "It's a hard day. You deserve support." The little one was active, and she didn't want it to detract from the moment Alec needed, so she tried to awkwardly shift away without pulling away, hoping it would be enough to not pull focus. It was strange to be carrying new life on a day set aside to mourn someone who had died, like she was rubbing it in their face.

"How are you, Xander?" Dark asked, not eating with his usual vigor either. It wasn't the greatest question, since it wasn't really answerable. It wasn't like he could possibly be feeling anything easy to describe. So, Dark followed his question with, "It is okay if you do not know."
 
"I know it's deserved, but I want you to know it's not taken for granted." Alec looked up at Daizi and smiled shyly. Leaning close, he whispered, "I think I might have felt her. Maybe! That, or I just really want to and my mind is making stuff up."

Xander shrugged. "Alright, I guess. Just weird. The whole thing is weird. Not good, not bad, just weird."
 
"You probably did," Daizi replied, whispering back to him in hopes Xander wouldn't catch wind of their conversation. When he expressed his desire to really feel the baby, she gently took one of his hands and lay it where her activity was most focused, "I think she wants you to know that she supports you too," he didn't need to know the baby was most active early in the morning and late at night, "and now that she's strong enough... If you want to feel it, you can always ask."

"Now that is a feeling I am very familiar with," Dark nodded, folding his arms, "it does get easier, as the years go by. But that does not help it feel less weird today. There is nothing wrong with not feeling like yourself on days like this."
 
Alec blushed deeply as he felt the belly move under his hand. It was such a bizarre sensation! Not that he was going to tell her that, she might take it wrong, but he'd never felt anything like it before. "I wouldn't want to do that too much. You already have one child constantly pressing on you from one side. I wouldn't want you to have to deal with another from a different side."

Xander shrugged and stood up. "I'm going to go figure out dinner plans. Alec, are you good for clean-up duty and flowers?"

Alec looked up at Xander's comment and nodded. "I can do that. The flowers will be fun to put together."
 
Daizi nearly laughed at his response, "I hadn't thought of it like that. It's strange to remember when she kicks against your hand, I'm the only thing seperating you from actually touching her... Well, but he is always going to be pressing from the outside, now that she can be felt," She doubted she needed to explain who she meant, "but soon you will be able to see her move, if you can't already."

Dark watched Xander stand and frowned only slightly. It was about what he had expected to happen, and he worried for him. At least Alec talked, "I will help clean up," he said, standing, "Daizi, you should probably start getting ready for work."

"Ugh, you're right," She quickly finished the juice and stood up with a soft grunt, pulling down the front of her t-shirt. It hadn't ridden up, but it had become a habit, "I'm really sorry I didn't realize what today was, I would've taken the day off. Please call me if you need anything, okay, even if you just need to talk. I don't have any meetings, so I'll answer, it doesn't matter when."
 
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Alec fought hard to keep his initial reaction of horror from his face when Daizi said he would be able to see the baby moving. Life and the way it was created was truly a miracle, but that sounded like some kind of horror movie, seeing something, a creature, moving inside of another living creature. He forced down his initial reaction for Dark and Daizi's sake and focused on her comment about work.

"It's okay, you don't have to worry," he assured her. "And you needn't take time off. You're saving your days off for a far more important occasion, remember? Just focus on having a good day at work."

"Ride safe, drive safe, walk safe, be safe," Xander commented as he headed upstairs for his room.
 
"I know," Daizi replied, "but this is important too. So call me, okay? Even if you aren't having a problem, even if you just want to talk. Dark will be here, but there are two of you. So... I'll be an hour away, but you won't be alone. If you need anything." She lingered for a moment, especially after Xander's comment, but felt there wasn't much else she could do besides remind them they could speak to her, so she went up to her own room to get ready for work.

Dark found it a bit more complicated without her. He wasn't out of touch with his emotions by any means--they didn't show up on his face but he felt them deeply. But since he felt better with his wall, keeping his feelings private unless he really wanted or needed to share them, he didn't know how to approach other people's walls. In his own case, people forcing their way in only made things worse, and he didn't want to do that to the twins... But he also didn't want them to feel like he was ignoring them, "I think the flowers would look lovely if you include some of the tinier flowers and some of the greenery we have. You can take some fern fronds, or myrtle.'
 
Alec appreciated Daizi's insistence that he - they - call her if needed, her assurances that she would be there for them, but he was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by it all. It was her way of showing she cared, he reminded himself, and they didn't have the greatest history of open communication, so it was only natural. He knew that. Yet, he guiltily felt a tiny bit relieved she was heading for work.

At Dark's comment about the flowers, Alec gave him a timid smile. "I like fern fronds. They have such small, little curly shapes and delicate leaves. I think, unless you need help here, I'll go walk around the garden and pick some flowers. Or, rather, select the flowers for future picking since it's far too early to pick them." He sighed softly. "English is weird sometimes. A lot of the times."
 
"One stage of fern growth is called the fiddle head because the curl looks like the head of a violin..." Dark remarked while rinsing the dishes. Then he laughed in his low, muted way and said, "Trust me, Alec, you do not need to tell me about how strange English is. You started learning it before you were born, I learned it at 14. I still do not fully understand it..." He sighed, and looked for a moment or two at the teen, "Go on. I do not mind cleaning up, go find the flowers. Whichever ones you like, even some of our roses." Those were seldom cut and brought inside: They had five bushes. One red, one white, one yellow, one light pink, and one coral, and all were planted near each other, and near to the apple tree. After giving permission to Alec, Dark paused and said, "but do not leave them bare."
 
Alec looked at Dark in shock for a moment. Even the roses? That was a huge, massive thing! "Thank you, I will look carefully," he promised, knowing he could never, ever pick the roses. "Don't worry. I will keep it a small bouquet, and no bush will be bare." He headed outside, grabbing a baseball cap as he went to shield his face and eyes from the sun. Some quiet time out in the garden was exactly what he needed right now. This day didn't hurt as much as he expected it to, but it did feel... different. Like a storm cloud hovering just at the edge of his vision. Silent, heavy, but not painful. Just there.

Xander sat at the desk in the room he shared with Alec going through a similar thought process. It was all so very strange. First to forget the day, then to remember, then to be surrounded by love and support. It was a lot to handle, and he took his time looking through the internet's thousands upon thousands of recipes for one fairly simple dish, letting his mind wander and go blank. He had all day to deal. No need to do it all at once.
 
Dark, for his part, stayed quiet. Daizi said the house was clean enough, but it did not look it to his eyes, so with Xander upstairs and Alec outside, after straightening the kitchen, he set about cleaning the house so it looked more prepared to receive guests. He might have let it be if it were Declan, and he definitely wouldn't have bothered if it were Cooger, but Ciara seemed enough like him to notice the faintly settled dust and the slight accumulation of dog hair on the couch.

So, he cleaned. Enkidu was sleeping in the sunlight, unbothered, and unwilling to move, so the rug by the door stayed as it had been, but everything else he could feasibly do, he dedicated himself to. Dark paused on occasion to look outside at Alec or to listen to hear if Xander was up and about upstairs, because never once did they leave his mind.
 
Alec came in eventually with four flowers he'd chosen as representatives. He spotted Dark cleaning, paused, and made certain his feet were clean and the flowers not dropping anything before coming inside. He found a small cup to use as an impromptu vase and carried it upstairs to show Xander, leaving the door open when he went in. "What do you think of these together?"

Xander looked up from the computer and eyed the flowers speculatively. "I like the green with them. Kind of helps pull it together."

"The professor's idea." Alec set the cup carefully on the edge of the desk and sat on Xander's bed where he could face him. "I was thinking of two small bouquets. One for us, one for Aunt Ciara."

Xander frowned. "Why her? It's not like she cared enough to get them herself."

Alec returned Xander's frown. "That's not fair. She has a long drive, and fresh-cut flowers wouldn't last well in a car like that. She offered to bring the cake because that's what she could do."

"More like stated she was going to," Xander grumbled, turning back to his research. "Seriously, why invite her? She hasn't bothered to come any other birthday."

"And she said she regretted that," Alec pointed out.

"Did she say that?" Xander asked mildly.

Alec hesitated. "Well... she implied. Besides, she's here now. She's here without someone else forcing her to be, and she's the only link to our mother we have. Maybe it won't work out, and I'm okay with that, but I think that for our mother's first birthday after she... passed... we should make an effort. Just this once."

Xander grunted and clicked something on the screen with more force than was necessary. "Fine. I suppose you're right. And don't say 'passed.' I hate that phrase. She's dead. She died. It sucks, but cotton-wrapped phrases don't help."

"Sorry," Alec said meekly.

Xander glanced at him and wilted. "Nah. I am." Turning around to face him fully, Xander said, "If you really think we should give this a try with Aunt Ciara, alright. I'll try. But I make no promises beyond trying to behave."

Alec smiled and hopped off the bed to hug him. "That's all I need. Thank you."

Xander hugged him back then ruffled his hair. "Now, help me figure out what the difference is between these two recipes. They look the same to me, but one has like a zillion good reviews, and the other has two."
 
After about an hour and a half passed, and Dark had deemed the house slightly more suitable for company, he went upstairs and knocked on the twins' door, "Hey," he said calmly, hoping he was not interrupting anything important, "Have you found a recipe? Or at least figured out the ingredients? There is no rush, but we need to see what we have and what still needs to be bought, so..." He trailed off. Moments ago he had told them he wasn't going to rush them, and then immediately found himself beginning to explain why time was of the essence, and catching himself, fell silent.
 
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Xander and Alec looked up at Dark. "Just found the right one," Xander told him, pointing at it. "We have a printer around here somewhere, right?"

Alec found his phone in the desk drawer and held it up. "I can take a picture of the ingredients and start looking to see what we have!"

"Nice," Xander approved. He moved the screen so Alec had a good shot and waited for him to take a picture.

Alec got a good picture and held it up to Dark. "Treasure hunting in the kitchen?" he offered.
 
"We do have a printer," Dark said, "but I suppose you can save printing it until you actually need to cook. Just send me the picture, we can go look together."

Instinctively, he wanted to remark in amazement that Alec actually knew where his phone was... but it didn't seem right to tease them today, so he kept quiet, and turned to go downstairs to search for what they needed. Carrots and potatoes he was certain they had, since Cooger grew them both in his garden, although he wasn't certain if they had enough potatoes. They had an absurd number of green beans, so if those were needed, they were covered. Ground beef they had, but it needed to be defrosted, but that would not be a problem, he suspected. He had already moved it to the fridge, and hoped he had moved enough.
 
Alec followed Dark down to the kitchen. "I remember sometimes it was mostly just potatoes, meat, and tomato sauce. Sometimes corn. Other times, we had carrots, peas, and just about every other veggie imaginable!" He looked at the picture on his phone. "This one has a lot more spices than I remember. Thyme, rosemary, garlic... onions, ketchup, mixed veggies... I bet we can substitute fresh veg if we have it, right?"
 
"We should have most of this, I think," Dark remarked, going through the list, "We have all of the seasonings, ketchup... We need tomato juice and worcestershire sauce. Fresh vegetables will not be a problem if used instead of frozen. And I think we should have enough mashed potatoes... So, really, we have the vast majority." He went into the fridge to go through the vegetable drawer, "what vegetables do you want? The sparse one or the one with nearly everything creative minds can dream up?"
 
"I think something in the middle," Alec said, looking over what the drawer had to offer. "Carrots, peas, and maybe... corn? That we might have to do frozen. I don't know about green beans. Xander and I never liked them, really, but they are easy to pick out."

Xander came down into the kitchen and leaned on the counter. "Let's skip the green beans. They always come out tough and chewy. Corn would be good."
 
"We can skip the beans," Dark agreed, and found a scrap of paper to take notes on. Still, he wrote in Arabic, "We need to buy the corn and peas. But we have carrots, plenty of carrots... Is that all? And onion, like the recipe says... How about mushrooms, we could add them, if you like. For some textural difference," He paused for a moment, and then shook his head, "No, nevermind. It is your recipe, your meal, however you want it to be, it will be."
 
"I don't think we've ever had it with mushrooms, but it sounds good," Alec said gently. He got the feeling, perhaps he was wrong, but it seemed almost like Dark and Daizi were having a harder time with this day than the twins were. "Perhaps if we make it again we can try adding mushrooms. What do you think, Xander?"

"No mushrooms this time, but maybe next," he agreed. "I think that's everything." He paused, frowning. "Um. There's the grave visit. Were we supposed to all go together?" He really didn't want to, especially with his reservations about their aunt.

"I didn't really think of that," Alec murmured worriedly.
 
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