How Green Becomes Wood

"I do, but I can get it myself. It only takes one hand, and she's awake so it won't bother her," She said, carefully standing, "Although I want to know where your Baba is, Ivy, he doesn't normally spend so much time away from you."
 
"He's out on the back porch," Alec told her as he got down the plates. "I think he's processing. If you go out to see him, will you tell him dinner will be ready in," he checked the timer, "eight minutes? And Xander should be out there somewhere, too. If his nose doesn't lead him in here first, he'll want to know."
 
"I will, yeah." Daizi replied, "Thank you. Come on, Ivy, let's go see Baba. Yeah? See your Baba?" Daizi always used a sweet, musical, high voice whenever she spoke to Ivy, and always slightly bounced her when she did. She was still too young to smile or laugh, but definitely looked intently at her mother and sucked on her fist while Daizi talked her through getting a glass of water and walked to the back porch.

Before she left, though, she paused, and turned back towards Alec, "If Mrs. Smith is right, and whoever is reporting us thinks Ivy is malnourished, whenever we're outside we should make a big stink about how Ivy is premature. Just to be safe."
 
"It's a good idea. And she is really big for how little she was," Daizi agreed, "Right, Hummingbird? You've gotten really big, over six pounds, now." She gave Ivy a kiss and then touched her nose to hers before saying, "I can't believe she's still technically supposed to still be inside of me. She's a whole functional person, and I would've just been carrying her, exactly as she is, inside of my body. It's hard to imagine."
 
Alec glanced from Daizi to Ivy as he counted out forks. "That is really bizarre to imagine," he agreed, wincing at the thought. He didn't say it out loud, but he was pretty certain women were made of rubber.
 
Daizi chuckled lightly and then kissed Ivy's head one last time, "Okay, habibti, let's go find Baba." Although unspoken, Alec's rubber comparison felt apt, because being five weeks postpartum, her uterus had almost made it back to its old size, although not quite, so although she absolutely still had a belly, if someone spotted her on the street, and she wasn't with Ivy, it was unlikely someone would guess she had recently given birth. With everything going on, Daizi hadn't even realized it, though, because she still felt so different. Anyway she didn't really feel like she had time to reflect on that kind of thing.

Dark was still outside, but turned and smiled when he saw his wife and baby come looking for him. "It's getting cold out here," Daizi said after stepping out, "You should come inside, I don't want you getting cold. Dinner will be ready, soon."

"I kind of like it. Come stand with me," He replied.

"Not with Ivy, it's too cold for her."

"Just for a moment? You will hold her, I will hold you, and we will share enough body heat that nothing will go wrong in a minute or two," Dark asked, and there was a tone in his voice that Daizi couldn't bring herself to ignore, so she obliged him, allowing him to wrap her up in his strong arms.

"Are you okay, Goose?" She asked as he rested his chin on her head.

"I--" He began, because he was, normally, very honest with her about how he felt, but then he realized he just... didn't know. There was just too much to name. So feeling tears fill his eyes, he pressed his face into Daizi's hair, and after taking a breath said, "I really, really love you. And I really, really love our family."

"I love you too, Goose. We love you."

Dark squeezed her tightly and securely, wishing he could find useful words, but instead simply pressed himself against him, and let himself cry into her hair. He was certain he could keep himself together, but then Daizi had turned her head to kiss his upper arm, just because it was the closest part of him.

They couldn't stay there long, because it was cold, Ivy was young, and dinner was nearly ready, but they stayed long enough that when they went back inside to eat, Dark was feeling a little bit more settled.
 
Xander had made his way inside now and plunked himself down in his usual seat with a cup of juice. He said nothing to the others as Alec pulled dinner from the oven and set it on the table.

"Food's ready!" Alec announced. "Here's the scoop. Did I miss anything?"
 
Daizi came into eat, and Dark about ten minutes after her, because Ivy needed to be changed. They didn't move the swan into the dining room, but they moved it to where it was within eyesight.

When she sat down, Daizi pushed her hair back and asked, "What do you think are the chances she lets me get through a meal undisturbed?"
 
"Zero!" Alec said cheerfully. He was missing his own cup. Frowning, he went looking for it and finally located it in the sink. It still had freshly poured juice in it. He carried it to the table. "This was one of the oldest things in the freezer, so I thought we should probably eat it."

Xander picked up his fork and started poking indiscriminately at the food.
 
"That is smart," Dark sighed, coming to sit down. He, too, rarely finished his meals uninterrupted, because even if Ivy just needed to eat, it felt weird to keep eating as if nothing had happened. He ate in a tired way, clearly not caring much about the flavor as much as he cared about how it was hot.

Daizi ate slowly, and let her head rest on Dark's shoulder, and neither of them said anything for some time.

Eventually, though, Dark looked up at Xander, and after a moment or two, said, "Are you doing okay?"
 
"Yeah, fine l," Xander mumbled, still stabbing his food more than he was eating it. He was eating, he wasn't going to get a little thing like emotions get between him and food, but with excessive stabbing.

Alec glanced between them and bent over his plate.
 
Dark squinted, certainly not believing Xander even a little bit, but also not sure if pressuring Xander was the right course of action. Actually, he was pretty positive that it wasn't, since it, historically, never worked, "Alright." He said slowly, taking a quick little look at Alec.

"You've been in your shed all day," Daizi mentioned, "is there a new project in the works?"
 
Last edited:
"Yeah," Xander said. He didn't go into details. While never the chatterbox, he nearly always said at least a few things about it. He'd mention if he was trying a new technique or what the item was or even what patterns he was making it. Now it was just, "yeah" and a further mutilating of his dinner before eating it.

Alec stirred his dinner on his plate, carefully twisting it in and up to make a pointy little mound. He had some idea of what was going on, but he didn't want to touch on it. That, and he thought it was really unfair of Xander to be acting like this when Dark and Daizi were in such mental and emotional distress already. He nibbled half-heartedly at a bite, not tasting it.
 
Dark looked at Daizi this time, and then, hesitant, asked, "How is it coming?"

Daizi, meanwhile, as she ate her food, wondered if the CPS visit might be affecting him too? Or if there was something going on at school, or if he felt neglected since they were so focused on the baby. She ran through major dates in her head, trying to figure out if they had missed something, but it wasn't the anniversary of their arrival yet, their birthday was in February, and they had already celebrated their mother's birthday that year. When did she die? She thought they had been on the street for more than three weeks, though.
 
Last edited:
"Fine," Xander muttered, "good." He polished off his plate and stood up. "I should get back to it."

"No desert?" Alec asked meekly.

"Not in the mood for desert," Xander said a touch sharply.
 
"Okay," Daizi said in a little voice, "If you change your mind... And I'd love to 'see' it when it's finished. I--" She was about to say something else when Ivy stirred in her cradle and began to cry. True to Alec's guess, she refused to let her parent finish eating.
 
Last edited:
Xander headed out as Ivy distracted everyone else. He went to his little shed and closed the door firmly behind himself. After a little bit, he opened it again to help with a through draft of air. Leather was not always the most pleasant of smelling things to work on.

Alec moved to clean up everything that he could clean up, leaving dark and Daizi's plates as they were so they could come back later to eat. Then he started the dishes, keeping busy.
 
Ivy was hungry, so Daizi had little choice but to sit down on the couch to nurse, "Babe, go finish eating," She told Dark, "there's no point in both of us eating a cold dinner." Having to constantly reheat her food every night was probably her biggest irritation regarding breastfeeding, but even so, she found it a willing trade off. Overall, she found the experience enjoyable, if sometimes uncomfortable or a little painful. It made her feel really close to Ivy, and it was such a vulnerable thing.

Dark watched for a few moments, smiling a bit at the way Daizi swayed. Then he got up and brought his food and Daizi's to the couch, figuring why couldn't she eat and nurse at the same time? It hadn't occured to her, but there was no reason why she couldn't. She couldn't do it at the table, but that was really just because the twins didn't like to see it.
 
Alec glanced over a couple of times to make certain everything was going alright and made a note to himself that he should talk to Xander about foods that would be easier to eat at places like the couch or wherever Daizi chose to go. That might make it easier. Of course, he'd disguise the request under another pretense, but he figured his brother would enjoy the challenge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top