How Green Becomes Wood

Finally, they arrived at the house, and Cooger got out practically at the exact moment he put the car into park.

He let himself in, and Dark had come to greet them at the door. Immediately, without saying a word, both men hugged each other tightly, and after a few moments, they pulled themselves away.

Then, he looked at the twins, and asked, "Would you like to meet your sister?" Having torn himself away from what happened upstairs weighed heavily on him. All he wanted to do was go back up, be there. The lights in the house were all dimmed, but even in the shades of the pre-risen sun, it was impossible to miss the wetness on his face--the glow from within him, uncommon for the man who had literally named himself after the absence of light--illuminated it. He made no move to dry it, and without another word, led the twins and Cooger upstairs to where his, their, newest family member waited.

Their bedroom was dim as the rest of the house, and it smelled of sweat and, subtly, of blood, but a pervasive sense of calm emanated throughout the space. In the corner, a woman, a stranger, was packing up her things, and on the dresser was a bowl covered in an old tea towel.

Daizi sat on the bed, and the light radiating from her overwhelmed all other sources. She was pale, with exhaustion heavy on her face, and her hair was matted down with sweat. Like her husband, she had been crying. When her family entered, Daizi did not raise her head: all her attention was bent towards the little bundle she cradled.

The baby was swaddled in a white cotton dress, many sizes too large for her--it had fallen slightly off her, and her skin was pressed against her mother's. But it had been sent by her relatives, and so they dressed her in it.

Daizi held her just below her partially exposed breast, and was tracing the outline of her features with one index finger. The baby's eyes kept closing, but she wasn't quite asleep yet, lying safe and warm in her mother's arms. Both were serene, thankful to at last know each other after working so hard to meet.

"Spider," Dark murmured, and greeted her in Arabic. He did not pull her from her reverie, he entered it. Presuming he had ever left, "The twins are here, and Cooger too."

At last she raised her head and smiled, shining brighter. They would be welcomed into her dream too, if they wanted to be. "Come sit by me," Daizi murmured, in a quiet, far away voice, and running her thumb through the baby's dark hair, corrected herself, "by us."
 
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Alec and Xander hung back behind Cooger, tightly holding hands. They were intruders in a sacred sanctum. Did they really belong here? Should they really be allowed to step foot deeper into the quiet serenity? It didn't feel right. How could they dare to disrupt the sanctity of this place? They stayed back, letting Cooger go first. It was his niece, after all.

Alec leaned forward, feet still rooted just inside the door, and peered at the baby. Right now, it didn't really look like either Dark or Daizi in his opinion. Right now, it mostly looked like a squished and wrinkly prune. A cute prune, but a prune. She was so red! With dark fussy hair! He hadn't thought she'd have hair. It was so fine!

Xander held back, practically holding his breath in fear that anything he did would disrupt this moment. He was a rough-and-tumble fighter. He had no place here. Besides, what if he did or said or reacted in some way that would hurt Daizi's feelings? What if he scared the baby? What if he did something that might hurt her?
 
Cooger lacked the hesitation the twins had, he gladly strode right up to Daizi and the baby, and sat down on the edge of the bed after leaning over and hugging Daizi as best he could, "How're you feeling?" He asked, taking the time to look at her before gazing down at the tiny newborn.

Daizi opened her mouth to answer, and then her serene expression broke as her eyebrows flicked together, and she answered truthfully, "I don't know."

"She's got a lot of hair," Cooger commented, and was about to touch the baby when Dark quickly handed him alcohol-free hand sanitizer.

"It justifies the heartburn I'd been having."

"Is that a thing?"

"They correlate," Dark explained, barely, and Cooger lightly rubbed the baby's face, and she turned her head towards him. It was just an instinct, one all babies had, but it didn't make it feel less special.

"She's cute," Cooger commented, suddenly understanding why they'd been crying, although he himself wasn't, "What's her name?"

At this question, Daizi sat up straight, and holding her daughter closer, said in a voice both gentle and proud, "Ivy-Qadira Hala."

Dark looked at his baby, like it was the first time, because everytime he looked at her... She was just too new to be looked at any other way, "It is too big for her."

Cooger looked up at him, "She'll grow into it. Is Hala her middle name?"

Daizi nodded, "It means the glow of light around the moon. I've never been able to see it before."
 
Alec and Xander stuck to the sides of the room as they inched around, getting a little closer, but still keeping well out of the way. Not being able to see the hyphen, the name confused them. Ivy Quadira Hala? Did she have two first names or two middle names? Why would they want to give her multiple of either? Wasn't the two first name thing a Southern American thing? Although two middle names made sense if they couldn't choose or wanted to honor multiple family members. Of course, they could have just asked, but instead, they kept silent and watched. They didn't want to interrupt.
 
"It's pretty." Cooger said, and then for a few moments it was silent, until he looked up at Dark and asked, "So. Did you faint?"

"No."

Cooger squinted at this response, "Tarot, did he--Ah hell I can't ask either of you," He turned to the midwife, "Excuse me, ma'am? Did he, you know, look? Did he faint?"

The woman chuckled, and told the truth, "No, he didn't. Sorry." She picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder, going over to Daizi's side of the bed just long enough to double check how the baby was doing one last time, "Like I said, I already called the hosptial, you should probably head over there soon." Dark and Tarot both promised to do so, and then the midwife left, only stopping in the doorway to say, "Congratulations." But she'd be involved in after care, so it wasn't goodbye.

Daizi paused, then, and a confused look came over her face, "Are the boys here? I thought you said they were coming with you."

"They are here," Dark said to her, and then to the twins, "You can come closer, it is okay."

"Yeah, come here," Daizi said, adjusting how she held Ivy so she could reach out one hand, "You've been so quiet, I didn't even realize you came in."
 
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Alec moved forward first, still holding Xander's hand and gently pulling him along with him as the pair approached the bed. "We didn't want to startle you or break the peace," he said softly. He hesitated only a moment before reaching out and taking Daizi's hand. "Are you sure you're alright? Oh. Xander's here. He's just trying not to panic."

"Am not," Xander mumbled, though it was mostly true. It wasn't even necessarily the birth that had him so worked up. It was a baby! A teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy baby! And he was in the same room! What if he sneezed? Or coughed? What if Daizi told him to hold her? What if he dropped her? What if she didn't like him? What if she hated his voice? What if he bumped into Daizi and hurt her?
 
Daizi smiled at him, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand, "Trust me, the peace is very recent. And we're okay. I'm..." She paused, "I think I'm tired and hungry, but I can't imagine being able to sleep. You can both breathe. Everything is perfect."

Dark leaned slightly towards Xander and whispered to him, "Do not worry, I am trying not to panic too."
 
Alec sighed in relief. He shifted to peer down at the baby's face. "Hello. You are early, you know that? It's quite rude to arrive early to a party. Then no one is ready for you, and everything is quite awkward," he crooned gently. "Even so, we are very happy you've arrived."

Xander glanced at Dark, trying to decide if that made him feel better or worse. Little bit of both, he decided. Awkwardly, still not ready to speak, he reached up and patted Dark's arm in a congratulatory manner. The man finally had his Mini, and no one had died. That was something worth celebrating.
 
The baby shifted slightly, turning towards this new voice. She was barely awake, and her tiny pink hands were curled into little fists.

"She is early," Daizi murmured, running her finger down the baby's face again, "I was supposed to be giving that talk today..." She paused and then smiled brightly, "I don't care. This is better... but you're very very impatient you know? Sweet girl..." She raised her head and smiled towards Alec, "She was born this morning, you know. Friday the 13th."

Dark briefly put his hand over Xander's and gave him a slight nod, "She cried when she was born. We did not know if her lungs would be strong enough yet."
 
"Oh no, talk about an omen of things to come," Alec chuckled, smirking a little at the child. "You are going to give your parents grey hairs, always early, never on time, and constantly getting into trouble. But it'll be worth it because you'll be sweet and kind and able to talk your way out of a lot of trouble."

"Are you talking about her or you?" Xander whispered. "And is crying a good thing?"

"It means she can breathe on her own without help," Alec explained.

"Oh, right."

Alec backed away from Daizi and gently tugged Xander forward. "Come say hi!"

Xander still hesitated, leaning back away from Daizi and the baby.
 
"Leyla says they will probably still give her oxygen at the hosptial," Dark explained, keeping a close eye over his three kids and wife, "but she thinks her biggest problems are temperature regulation and blood pressure."

Daizi turned her head down towards Ivy again, "I don't want to talk about that right now."

Dark apologized and came a bit closer, and told Xander, "It is okay."
 
Daizi hesitated for a moment, wanting to comment that it seemed like Xander was afraid of this four-and-a-half pound person, but didn't want to sound mean or uncaring, so she just said, "Thank you... I think we should probably just take her to the hospital, though. We probably should've taken her first thing, but the rain..."

Cooger sat up, he had gone to a chair to watch from a distance, "It's better now."

"Good," Dark said, looking out the window, "the house was rattling earlier. I was worried."
 
Alec smiled and touched Daizi's arm. "Little Ivy is going to grow up to be even spookier than you," he teased gently.

"I'll get the umbrellas and another blanket," Xander offered, hurrying out before anyone could say otherwise. Blankets and umbrellas he could do!
 
"She just might," Daizi chuckled, snuggling her baby, who had fallen asleep after a very, very long day.

Nobody tried to stop Xander. The sound of him leaving didn't feel great, but Daizi was too tired and too thrilled to have any strong reaction. He just wasn't ready yet. He was still helping, that was enough. They were probably tired too.

Dark looked down at his wife, and suddenly had a problem: He wanted to help her up, but to do that he needed to take Ivy from her. That wasn't a problem, he had held her before, they had transitioned her between them before. When she was born, Dark cut the cord, and he was who first gave her to Daizi to hold. But if he was holding his baby, he couldn't help his wife stand up. And she had just given birth, he wanted to help her stand up. So he had to either pass Ivy to someone else, or let someone else help Daizi stand up out of bed. And he had no idea which to do.
 
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"Um, are we leaving any time soon?" Alec asked, watching Dark waver uncertainly. "Perhaps one of us could help?" He nudged Cooger. "Does the proud uncle want to hold the baby or help the new mother?"

Downstairs, Xander neatly lined up every umbrella he could find by the door and laid three blankets of varying sizes on the back of the couch. He wasn't sure who would want what, so he got everything, including a glass of water for Daizi. Just in case.
 
"Oh." Cooger said, standing, "Right. Yes, of course." He went over to them, and wavered uncertainly himself for a small while before saying, "I'll help you up, Daizi, don't even worry."

She inhaled, passing Ivy to Dark, but said, "You don't all have to be so afraid to touch her."

"She's just very small!" Cooger exclaimed, "You can hardly see her at all when Dark's holding her!"

"Do not yell you will wake her," Dark fussed, turning slightly, looking intently down at her face. He touched his finger to her hand and his face crumpled slightly when she wrapped her tiny fingers around his.

Daizi stood slowly, feeling very sore, and leaned a bit against Cooger, "You good to go downstairs?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine. I'm just tired, it's been a long..." She frowned, "I don't even know how long.'
 
"A really long time," Alec confirmed. "It's okay, though. That part's all over. And I'd hold her, but I've never, ever even touched a baby before, and she is extra small, even for a baby. It's like I could blink and she'd disappear. Besides, It's much better that her father holds her. Much, much better, though he does look like he wants to clone himself so he can help you too, and I'm sure he would if..." He hesitated. "I'm babbling, aren't I? Sorry. I'll be quiet now. I don't want to wake Ivy or stress you out. You're plenty stressed already. And tired. But soon, we can all be home and... Sorry." He put a hand over his mouth to get himself to quiet down.
 
"No, it's okay," Daizi said, reaching out and finding Alec's shoulder. Once she did, she let go of Cooger and held onto him again, "I'm sure you're stressed too, and Xander, and everyone. And she has to learn to sleep when there's noise around." She kissed the top of his head, heading downstairs with him, doing so slowly, "And we'll help you to hold her, if you'd like to, don't worry about that. We'll sit you down so you wouldn't be standing or walking or anything... and she's nice to hold."

Dark took the stairs even more slowly than Daizi did, because he was, suddenly, carrying his newborn premature infant baby daughter down the stairs. It was good, he thought, he was carrying her, that he was the one to do it, because she was his, so no one except for Daizi would be as careful. He wouldn't trust anyone except her to bring her down the stairs when nobody else had even held her yet, besides the midwife. But still, what if...

His sigh of relief reaching the bottom of the stairs could not be understated.
 
Alec concentrated solely on being completely steady for Daizi as they walked down the stairs, honored and terrified that she would choose him to help her down, even if Cooger was right there with them. "I'd like to hold her. Maybe later, once she's used to being, well, you know, born. Then being held by me might not be so frightening. I do want to hold her, just... not yet. I mean, obviously, since she's going to get checked over." He bit his lip to keep from babbling more.

Xander came over, holding the water out. "I have some water, if you want it. I thought you might need some. And blankets, extra blankets." He hesitated. "We can't all go in your car. Should we all go? Who stays behind?"
 
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