How Green Becomes Wood

"I cannot blame her for that," Dark said, smothing Ivy's hair with his thumb, "I prefer her mother too. Ivy has good taste, don't you? Yes you do!"

"Oh no, nothing like that, thankfully," Daizi said hurriedly, sitting down at her desk, "and I never thanked you enough for getting those agents out of our house... Honestly, Ciara, the CPS was horrific and stressful, but those agents, the few questions they asked... It left Dark and I very shaken. But that's not why I called. We wanted to invite you over for Christmas, if you didn't have any plans. We're trying to make it nice for the boys, and we thought we'd invite you at least to dinner."
 
"I'd think you'd put up more of a fight," Xander said.

"Why? That seems like a strange thing to fight about," Alec replied.

Xander rolled his eyes. "For fun, not for real."

"Not everyone finds it fun," Alec said with a little sniff.

"Am I the only one here with a competitive bone in my body?" Xander sighed.

"Oh," Ciara said, sounding genuinely surprised. "I... do not have plans... for that day. I hadn't really thought about it." After a pause, she said, "I suppose I could join you."
 
"I am competitive, just not about that. If you had said, 'Ivy is more of a Baba's girl' I would argue that, but how am I supposed to argue with someone who prefers my wife to me? She is a living ideal. I am just me." He stroked Ivy's cheek with his finger, "If she were a normal woman, then I would argue. But I was never going to marry a normal woman."

"We would love it if you did. We're making dinner, it'll probably turn out to be a large buffet-style thing, Alec suggested we have holiday foods from all of our cultures." Daizi told her cheerfully, "I'll send you the details when I know what time we're eating, but you're welcome at our house for as long as you want. There's no pressure to bring gifts! I'm sorry it's such short notice, we didn't discuss it here until today."
 
Alec and Xander both snickered and chortled at Dark's statement. "Just him," they muttered to each other, laughing a little harder each time. "Just him. Just him. Ju-st hi-m. He's just. Him."

"I think I could make it," Ciara agreed. "Please just let me know the time. Would you like for me to bring anything?"
 
"What?" Dark asked, looking first at one and then at the other, "I am. I mean, comparatively."

"I'll text you as soon as Dark and I decide. We're inviting our dear friend Cooger and another family who may not have somewhere else to go, so it may turn out to be a nice, small, little party." Daizi confided, making sure Ciara knew exactly what she was agreeing to.
 
"Nothing, nothing at all," Alec grinned.

Xander shook his head. "Nope, not a thing. You are just you. Yep. That is all there is to it."

"I cannot say I am particularly good company at those sorts of parties," Ciara admitted, "but I would be honored to attend. Thank you for inviting me."
 
"Tifla," Dark said, holding Ivy up again, "What are your brothers talking about? Hm? What are they talking about?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'd guess the twins will spend the party with their friend Peter, Cooger and Jack-- that's Peter's father--will run off together... They've never met, but I imagine they'll get along, and Cooger will drag Dark along, and then the party will be cut down to myself, my friend Sally, and you, and Sally is a brilliant scientist who is very easy to get along with. And of course you're only expected to stay for as long as you're enjoying your time, when it's time for you to go, you just go. But I'll let you go, I'll text you all the details and who is coming so you're prepared. Bye, Ciara."

After all the goodbyes were made, Daizi hung up, rubbed her face, and stretched to decompress before calling Sally.
 
"She'll agree with us when she gets older," Alec said, his eyes twinkly as he smiled at Ivy.

"Thank you, Daizi, I shall expect to attend," Ciara assured her before saying her farewells.

"Sally Hollis speaking," Sally answered vaguely, sounding distracted. "How can I help you?"
 
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"I do not even understand what point you are trying to make." He said flatly. Then, leaning back, he briefly lifted Ivy above his head again before settling her back down, "Beautiful girl. Your brothers like to tease. They do, it is true. Everybodys knows it."

"Hi, Sally! It's Daizi! I'm sorry if this is a bad time! I just wanted to ask if you have any Christmas plans?"
 
"We know. That's okay. We'll explain it to you later," Alec giggled, resisting the urge to pat Dark's shoulder.

"Oh, Daizi, darling!" Sally said, brightening. She said the typical Arabic greeting to Daizi and continued in English, "Now is a fine time. I was just reading a frightfully boring article. Christmas... we actually do not have any plans."
 
He squinted at them and rolled his eyes, knowing he clearly is not getting any explanations anytime soon. "What are you thinking about, Hummingbird?" He asked, but all Ivy did was sneeze. Frowning, Dark stared into her eyes and in a flat voice said, "Ivy. I am going to eat you."

"Good!" Daizi replied, but then caught and corrected herself, "I mean, that's what I had guessed to be the case. We wanted to invite you three over to our house for Christmas Day. We're also having our good friend Cooger and the twins' aunt Ciara, and a global array of holiday foods!"
 
"I doubt she'll fill you up much," Xander said blandly.

"That sounds like a delightfully good time!" Sally agreed readily. "I'll have to talk to Jack about it, but I am certain he will agree to come as well, and we'd love to contribute to that array of food!"
 
"Eh?" Dark looked at him, gently raising one of Ivy's legs, "I do not care, look at this, look at her tiny foot. It just makes you want to eat it. She is too cute, it cannot go unchecked."

"Wonderful! Alec had the idea to have foods from all our different cultures, so if there's some special British or Australian Christmas food you enjoy, you're welcome to bring it, if you'd like to. Dark and I haven't really done a big Christmas before, at least not one we've put together... But Cooger took the twins today and got a tree for the house."
 
Xander stared at Dark. "Fatherhood has made you really weird."

Alec nodded. "I hate to agree, but... I agree."

"In truth, " Sally said, "we haven't really celebrated Christmas much, either. Jack's family doesn't celebrate at all for their own reasons, and with constantly traveling, we haven't had much of a chance to do anything large even if we wanted to. So, we normally do something small to mark the occasion and that's it. Spending a meal with some of our favorite people sounds like the perfect halfway point to me!"
 
Dark looked at them blankly, "You two are the ones who are strange, not me." He simply could not imagine looking at Ivy and not feeling an innate desire to lightly and playfully nibble on her arms and legs and feet. He was never a particular playful or silly man, but anytime his baby did something particularly cute, like her tiny little sneezes or noises or when she maintained eye contact with him or yawned or stretched, he just wanted to either squeeze her or nibble on her.

"No, I understand," Daizi sighed, "sometimes we have been invited along with Cooger to join his family, because he wants to have us around, but it's always kind of awkward because Dark and I were both raised Muslim, he grew up to be an atheist, and I'm sort of... culturally Muslim, and I guess he is too, but the twins celebrate Christmas, so we do too, now. And now Dark and I will have to decide if we're going to do Santa Claus for Ivy, which hasn't ever been something we've discussed before. It'll be really nice to have you all join us."
 
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"Two against one," Alec said cheerfully. He stood and stretched. "I'm going to my room, but the door's open if you need anything."

Xander nodded. "I got some stuff to take care of, too. I'll be out in the shed."

"I'll let you know as soon as I talk to Jack, but I am certain we'll make it," Sally told Daizi. "It will be so good to spend with you and your family."
 
"I'll ask Daizi, she'll agree with me," Dark replied, but stayed exactly where he was, so that once the teens stepped out, he could, in fact, nibble playfully on Ivy. She was spending longer periods awake, but they still weren't all that long, he was going to utilize them as much as he could.

"I can't wait to have you over again," Daizi confessed, "I don't want to keep you too long, I'm sure you're busy, but... Ivy is wonderful, and she's gotten so big, and Dark is the best father in the world, and the twins are doing better, but it'll be nice to be in a room full of adults I don't live with again. It'll be less nice finding something to wear, but I'll accept it."
 
Sally laughed at that. "Daizi, darling, your taste is impeccable! Whatever you wear, it will be fabulous. And I am looking forward to getting together with an adult friend who is not in some way linked to my work. Oh, the wonders! I should be going now, I am afraid, but I'll speak to you again soon."
 
"I appreciate the vote of confidence. I'll let you get back to work now, and I'll text you all of the details when I have them!" She said cheerfully, making her goodbyes before hanging up. Then, she stretched again, and went back downstairs to rejoin her family. Finding only Dark and Ivy left in the living room, she sat with them and assisted her husband in playing with their baby until it was time for all three of them to fall asleep. Of course, they made sure Ivy was in her cradle first, but the two adults fell asleep essentially in a pile on the couch.
 
The rest of the time flew by in the twinkle of an eye. In no time at all, it was Christmas Eve. Alec absolutely insisted that they watch A Christmas Carol and A Christmas Story. He didn't mind if the others didn't watch it with him, but he sat watching the two movies in wide-eyed joy. Xander groaned and complained, but he sat and watched too, occasionally glancing at the gifts set neatly under the tree. That night, neither one slept well. The excitement was too much! What were they going to get was one question, but the even more burning question was, would the recipients of their gifts like them? Had they done well? They could only hope!

At five am, both twins bolted from bed and scrambled down the stairs. They didn't try to wake Dark and Daizi, but they did descend on the kitchen to make a mad-slap-dash of a breakfast and then sat eating and facing the tree excitedly as the lights lit up the dark room.
 
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