How Green Becomes Wood

"I put Enkidu outside first," she corrected, wincing as he disinfected her foot, "because I didn't want him to step on the glass. And I can't really use tweezers to get the glass out of my foot, I can kind of feel around for where the glass was, and if I'm lucky get there with the tweezer, but I'd also be at risk of just jamming them into an open wound. And that's in the best of times, trying to do it while a baby was screaming and my--" she stopped herself, for his sake, "I controlled the things I knew I could control."

Ivy looked curiosly at his face, gripping his finger tightly. She stopped crying as he moved her arm around, occasionally making a tiny little gurgle. She was too young to smile, and too young to laugh, but she kicked her feet occasionally, remaining very focused on Xander's face.
 
Alec reached up and squeezed her arm gently. "You could have maybe wrapped a towel around your foot, but you did well. You are fine. Ivy is fine. Enkidu is confused but fine. And the glass is cleaned up. Everything is fine." He let go and carefully bandaged her foot. "This is going to hurt for a while."


"That's better, ya mini mess maker," Xander said, stopping when he saw she wasn't crying anymore. He let her hold his finger and wiggled it gently. "Feel better? No more crying?"
 
"I'll remember that for next time." She said, setting the pillow down on the counter, "I don't mind if it hurts, I'm on week five of healing, this will probably heal in less time." Daizi sighed, pushing her hair back with one hand, "I'm sorry about the vase. I really liked that one, it had a really nice texture."

Ivy kept her (comparatively) big eyes trained on Xander's face, especially when he was speaking, and occasionally jerked her free arm or tightened her grip on his finger, but soon began to suck on her free hand. She hadn't exactly realized they were hers, or that she could control them, but if one happened to be near her mouth, it would be in her mouth. Her eyes had shifted colour from a very pale grey to a slightly more opaque blue-grey, but it'd be months before the colour settled, and it was still anyone's guess to say what colour they'd end up becoming. Her father's eyes were amber, her mother's were hard to tell the colour of, her paternal grandparents were, essentially unknown, and Saladin's were brown. But like the vast majority of babies, they were going through their normal colour shifts.
 
"It was a nice vase," Alec agreed. "I'm just glad that you only got a tiny cut. We can get a new vase. New feet are harder to do." He smiled at her and moved to sit next to her now that her foot was wrapped up. "I was very scared something really bad had happened to you."

Xander made a face at her. "Yes, suck that tasty fist. Get all the tastiness out of it, eh? You're a silly little mini bean, you know that? Good thing you're cute. I dunno how you'd survive otherwise. All you do is cry, eat, poop, and sleep. A real drain on society." He wrinkled his nose playfully.
 
"I'm sorry I frightened you," Daizi said softly, sitting up straight and remaining careful not to rest her injured foot on anything, "It all only happened recently before you came home. I had only just finished burping her about five minutes before you stepped inside. I would have tried to reorder everything if I had more time. I just wish Dark had beat you home, to save you the scare."

Ivy snorted, kicking her feet. There wasn't much else she had learned how to do, yet, but with what she had, she was being very engaged.
 
"I think it would have scared him even more than-" Alec paused. "Oh, I should go bring Enkidu inside! I'll be right back?" He stood but moved away slowly in case Daizi didn't want him to go.

Xander snorted back. "You know I'm right," he told her. "You'll have to learn that about me. I am always right." Since she still clutched his finger, he carefully used that finger to bend her arm and gently bump her cheek with her own fist. "Xander's always right. And super cool."
 
"Oh, right!" Daizi agreed, and was about to step up herself before deciding that probably wasn't smart, "Poor dog, he was so upset when I forced him out, I should've put him in the backyard but the front door was closer."

When he bumped her cheek, she turned her face towards it and then stretched out all her limbs before yawning and sneezing. Then she barely curled back up: after five weeks outside of her mother's body, she had slowly stopped staying scrunched up all the time.
 
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"I'll get him," Alec assured her. He went to the front door, opened it, and quickly untied Enkidu, praising him enthusiastically and telling him he was such a good boy for sitting outside so properly. He let the dog back in, closed the door, and led the way back to Daizi. "Here he is!"

Xander smirked slightly. Her sneeze sounded like a little mouse squeak. "Alright, you mini mouse. You should be sleeping, right? So what's all of this energetic nonsense?"
 
"Oh sweet poor boy," Daizi said, bending to scratch her dog who was so thrilled to be back inside, "I'm sorry, I know I probably scared you too. I didn't mean to, I was just a little freaked out. Yeah, there's my good big sweet guy named Enkidu."

She yawned again, still holding tight to Xander's finger---all things considered, she seemed pretty strong. It was hard to tell if she actually was, compared to babies in her situation, but with her fingers curled around his finger, she seemed like she was.
 
Alec rested his hand gently on Daizi's shoulder. "Do you feel a little better?" he asked softly, brow still furrowed in deep concern.

Xander pulled gently, but his finger didn't seem to be going anywhere. "Hey, no fair arm wrestling me now," he complained, keeping his voice low. "You know I am going to win, but how would it look if I beat a baby, hmm?" He settled back, letting her hold his finger. "Fine. You win this time, but I ain't going to let you win every time. Keep on your toes, Mouse!"
 
She shrugged, lightly touching the bandage, "I guess so. I'm relieved." She turned her head slightly, feeling stupid now that the adrenaline was wearing off. But when she heard that knock at the door--which she guessed was a mailman, but she didn't actually know--she had this intense fear CPS would hear Ivy crying and invite themselves in, only to find Daizi trapped by the sink, unable to do anything. And she knew they wouldn't find her there and whisk Ivy away... but she also knew it'd be noted. "I'm glad Ivy quieted..." she mused, falling silent to listen for the baby, and when instead she heard Xander gentle voice, a smile spread across her face, one that came from somewhere deep inside. Placing her hand over Alec's, she leaned in towards him and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Finally, even though Ivy looked like she was fighting it, her eyes began to shut, but she didn't losen her grip any. Yawning a third time, her tiny hand curled around Xander's finger: Her nails had gotten longer. Dark had been trying to work up the nerve to cut them for the first time, because soon they'd be too long for her delicate skin, but he found it strangely nerve-wracking, despite how often he had spent carving tiny, delicate things.
 
Alec glanced toward the living room, a little confused. All he heard was Xander talking, and he didn't immediately get why that would bring such a happy smile to Daizi's face. "Um, I'm not sure," he said, thinking he must be missing something Daizi was hearing. "What do you hear?" Whatever it was, he was glad it made her smile, because her smiling was making him smile.

"You have little mouse claws, too," Xander said with a wince, though it didn't really hurt. Reaching in with his other hand, he gently disentangled his finger but continued to hold her hand so she wouldn't freak out again. "Go on. Go to sleep. I know you want to. Dream your little mousy dreams, Mini. You're fine. You're never going to find yourself truly alone."
 
"I think he's been talking to her," She said, still keeping her voice down, "who else would be be talking to? Enkidu is here with us." Five weeks, and she was pretty certain she hadn't heard him say a word to Ivy. Even though now she could only make out tone, not his exact words, she knew he was, and she could hardly believe it. Gently and subconsciously, she squeezed Alec's hand, straining her ears to hear a single word.

It took some time, but eventually Ivy's eyes stopped fluttering open, and with one final squirm, she fell asleep at last, worn out after a long afternoon of learning how to be a person.
 
Alec started to say something but bit it back with a little smile. He touched Daizi's hand with his free hand and stayed quiet so she could listen to Xander talk to Ivy. He'd always known Xander liked Ivy, but some people needed a little more than a strong feeling. Here was proof positive.

"That's better you howling siren," Xander said warmly. "Now, you stay asleep and let your mum rest, yeah? Good job." Carefully, he let go of Ivy's hand and stood up. So far so good, so he headed for the kitchen to see how Daizi was. "How's the foot? Any stitches or doctor's visits needed?"
 
As Daizi listened, she was pretty sure she was about to cry. For over a month she had felt so terrible about it, because it really, truly seemed to her like Xander wanted nothing to do with the baby. And she might've, but then when she heard the teen's voice in the kitchen, she had to surpress nearly every urge she had to hobble over to him and squeeze him in a hug, and the effort it took to refrain from doing it kept her tears in. Just that little bit she heard filled her with such indescribable relief.

"Yeah," she said, still squeezing Alec's hand, "I mean, no. No stitches, thankfully. I... I don't think I could've handled going back to the hospital."
 
Xander frowned and moved a bit closer though he didn't sit down with them. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem really shook up." He glanced around and asked. "Do you want me to get you some fresh flowers? I can find you another vase."
 
"No, no, I'm okay, I promise I'm okay," She did her best to assure him, hoping he'd one day learn how hard she had to fight to respect his boundaries in that moment, "How is Ivy? She seemed to quiet fairly quickly." It wasn't what she wanted to say, but she didn't want to embarrass him.
 
"She's good," Xander assured her, relaxing a little. "I sat with her a bit, and she calmed down pretty quick. She's asleep now." He didn't even think to mention he'd talked to her, not because he was embarrassed, but he didn't think it was that big a deal. He didn't realize just how worried Daizi was about him and his connection with Ivy.

Alec smiled. "I guess you bored her to sleep."

Xander snorted. "Yeah, I'm a real snooze fest. Anyway, I'm positive I got all the glass up, so we should be good, but I can mop and sweep again just to be sure if you want. Do you need anything else?"
 
Daizi was still beaming, "Good. Good. Yeah, I, I heard her stop crying. It was a relief, it's really hard for me to focus when she gets going." She turned her head to the side, trying to hear her daughter's breathing, but obviously being unable to, "I don't know if it's necessary to sweep again, but I won't stop you if you're moved that way. I think I'm just going to go upstairs and put on a pair of socks so that when Dark comes home, he won't immediately see my bandaged foot and panic. And I should probably change my shirt, if I have anything clean." She sighed, "Thank you. I doubt either of you wouldn't have helped, but I'm still going to say thanks."
 
"You're welcome," Alec smiled, squeezing her hand. "While you do that, I'll get a load of laundry going."

Xander shrugged. "Might as well do it again, I guess, since we all walked around with shoes on. Might as well get it clean for when everyone goes barefoot again."

THe pair moved away to their appointed tasks, but both kept glancing toward Daizi just to be sure she was alright.
 
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