How Green Becomes Wood

"I would say Cooger might force it on you," Daizi said, "but he's very intense on not watching recordings of it, only catching it live, so we might be safe."

"Thankfully."

Daizi chuckled and leaned close to Alec's ear, "He's just mad because he knows he's a lot like the main character. And he doesn't like to think about that."

"I heard that."

She raised her head and sardonically replied, "Oh no." before breaking into her classic grin.
 
Alec broke into a laugh and glanced at Dark. "At least he has more hair than poor Charlie Brown."

"And he's probably a good enough friend to sit out in the pumpkin patch with his crazy friend instead of going trick-or-treating and getting rocks," Xander agreed mildly.
 
As they spoke, Daizi had been doing her best to hold Ivy so she could see everyone as best as her still-developing vision allowed. She still didn't really understand a thing, but she was learning to recognize her mother, father, and brothers, and so spent much of her awake time studying their faces. Dark and Xander were a bit too far away to see closely, but she could hear them, and Alec and Daizi were near enough to see. For the first time, then, after Xander had made his comment, Ivy made a noise that was a little bit less like a gurgle and a little bit more like a coo.

"You're so right, Ivy!" Daizi cooed back excitedly, the sound immediately registering as something new, "Baba would absolutely sit in the pumpkin patch all night!"
 
Alec grinned at Ivy. "Yes, he would, because he's a much better friend than Charlie Brown, but Charlie is still learning to be a good friend."

"Even though Linus is an awesome friend and deserves better," Xander grumbled.
 
Dark rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could muster at her and asked, "You too?" In response, she repeated the same sound. Dark frowned and, with a huff, said, "Ah, come here." before reaching over and taking her from Daizi. Very briefly he held her up just slightly above his head. Even though she had grown noticeably since her birth which was now ten weeks ago, when he held her, she still looked impossibly small, despite now being the size of a normal one-month old. "Watch yourself, Ivy-Qadira," he cautioned, and then kissed her tummy as he lowered her before holding her normally again.

"You should have expected this," Daizi chided lightly with a grin.

"I did," He replied, "Just not so soon."
 
"I do not know yet," Dark said, holding up Ivy to give everyone a good look at her face, "I kind of feel like we should already be reading to her, but we have not been, so maybe I am going to make her behind. But I do tell her stories, Daizi and I both tell her stories."

"She's not going to be behind because we haven't already begun to read to her," Daizi said, "we talk to her all the time, that's what she needs now... Her first book will probably be in Arabic. We haven't really talked about which one that will be... And for Christmas gifts... Toys and clothing, I guess. It's better if they're designed for what she'll use a few months from now, probably, since she doesn't do much yet and grows so quickly. Or cute new pacifiers."
 
Xander made a face. That sounded really boring to him! But he knew Ivy wouldn't really care. Still, he had to try to find something unique.

Alec sighed and leaned against Daizi, smiling faintly as he watched the tree. "This is perfect. It's lovely."
 
"Yeah, it is." Daizi said, naturally wrapping her arms around Alec and moving closer to him as soon as he leaned against her.

Seeing the look on Xander's face, Dark told him, "Next year will be more fun with her. She is still a slug now," he smiled vaguely, and then, since Ivy was looking at him, forced himself into a big smile for her, "but a very cute slug. Yes you are, tifla. The cutest." He kissed her head and brought her to his chest, "Are we having Ciara over?"
 
"You know, if you keep making fake faces at her, she's going to have no idea how to read your real face," Xander pointed out. "I don't think she's lacking in smiling faces to learn what a smile looks like."

"I'd like that, just for like a dinner or something, if that's alright," Alec said. "Of course, that's assuming she gets Christmas off."
 
"My plan has been to slowly stop," he said, letting Ivy grab his finger and moving her arm around, "I do not want her to feel insecure or like I am not very very happy to see her. She's very small."

"Of course it's alright, habibi. Especially since she's who got those agents out of our house," Daizi said, squeezing Alec's shoulder, "I can call her now."
 
"Even if you didn't smile one tiny bit, there is absolutely no effing way she could ever think you are not happy to see her," Xander said flatly, his intent to try to ease some of Dark's insecurity.

"Alright!" Alec agreed. "This is going to be fun. We should have a combination of American Christmas foods and some Egyptian and Iraqi celebratory foods, too."
 
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He shrugged, freeing his finger so he could trace Ivy's cheek, his eyes brightening when he looked into hers, "Maybe. But there is an experiment I saw where a mother was instructed to keep a still face and it was distressing for the baby. The main takeaway was not engaging emotionally makes the child pull away physically and then emotionally and then they are damaged. If everyone else gives her big smiles I do not want her to think there is some problem when I do not do the same."

"We can do that," Daizi said happily, squeezing him close and relishing the fact he wasn't pulling away, "It'll be lovely. We'll have biryani for Dark and fatteh for me, and... well, whatever you and Xander want, I guess. I think Cooger makes ham."
 
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"Yeah, except you aren't still-faced and non-expressive. Just minimally expressive," Xander pointed out. "Just be you, man, and don't overthink the experts. If you want to keep baring your teeth at her like you got colic yourself, go ahead, but she's going to know just how much you care no matter what you do."

Alec smiled, leaning into Daizi's hug gently and enjoying the close contact. "Is Cooger going to join us, too? Or will he be doing something with his own family?"
 
Dark glanced at him and then back at Ivy, who was contentedly looking up at her father. For a little while he just stared right back at her, not saying a word, then he sighed and held her close. Maybe he wouldn't be so afraid had he not been forced to grow up as someone damaged by his parents. But he was overwhelmed with the dread of it, of the possibility of somehow doing to her anything remotely similar of what had been done to him. Even a fraction of it felt like too much.

"He'll join us. His parents booked a cruise this year, so he and the cousins are doing Christmas Eve together and then he's coming to us for Christmas Day." Daizi explained, resting her cheek against Alec's head, "He'll probably bring a can of cranberry sauce."
 
Xander moved over and gently fist-bumped Dark's shoulder. He didn't say anything else, just gave a little nod. Dark was doing fine. Better than fine. Xander figured it was the mark of a good parent to worry if you were doing it right, but the man needed to have a bit more confidence in himself. He was far better than he gave himself credit for.

"I've never actually had cranberry sauce," Alec mused. "I don't think our mum knew how to use it, so she never bothered. Then we never bothered. We'll finally get to try it! And see if we hate it."
 
Dark nodded back and gave the teenager a small, grateful smile, and then shifted Ivy again so she could see everyone again. She grunted cutely and kicked her legs, swiveling her head as best as she could to look at Xander, since now she was near enough to him to get a better look at his face. "I know, there is two of them," Dark said to her, "it is really good to be with all of your family, yes?"

"Oh she loves it," Daizi confirmed, and then continued to speak with Alec, "I do not like it when it comes pre-made in a can, but when it is homemade I do. But Cooger rarely brings a homemade dish somewhere... Oh, do you think we should invite Peter and his family? Their relatives are all across an ocean, right?"
 
Xander gave Ivy a little smirked and tapped her foot with one finger. "If you keep that up, you're going to be able to best me at kickboxing, Mini Mouse," he teased her. "Right after you beat a nice pattern of bruises on Baba's chest."

"We can ask!" Alec agreed happily. "Peter didn't say they were going to visit them over the break, so they are probably still here. They might enjoy coming for dinner."
 
She made a small little noise and kicked again, this time including her arms in the motion. As she did, Dark's eyes lit up, "Oh, I do not care if I get a few bruises from her. You are my strong girl, yes, Ivy? Baba's strong girl?"

"I will invite them too, then." She said, and squeezed Alec one more time before getting up. Christmas was only a few days away so she wanted to call them so it wasn't last minute, and because it always felt weird for her to be on the phone where many others were talking, she retreated to her office. Since Ciara was fully family, Daizi called her first, "Marhaba, Ciara? It's Daizi, is this a good time?"
 
Xander snickered at Dark and turned to watch Daizi leave the room.

Alec scooted over to smile brightly at Ivy. "No, she's Mama's girl!" he teased, reaching out to touch her hand but not grab it.

On the phone, Ciara greeted Daizi. "Ah, hello. Yes, now is a fine time. Has someone begun giving you a difficult time again?"
 
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