How Green Becomes Wood

"Good," Dark said again, unbothered by how repetitive he was being, "You should have done that." Then, he chuckled a single time, and moved a piece in a tantalizing position, one that might look like a stupid mistake.

"I've heard of that," Daizi said, "I'd do it with you, even though it sounds horrendous."
 
Alec studied the board suspiciously a glanced at Dark. He debated for quite a long time before choosing to pass over the offer and moved a different piece.

"Really?" Xander asked with a half smile. "You'd go jumping into freezing cold water voluntarily?"
 
Dark nodded, "You are learning." Then he relaxed a little bit, adjusted Ivy, and moved a piece.

"Why not?" She asked, shrugging, "You already said you would. I'm not going to make you do it alone, and I have to spend some of my shenanigans budget now that I don't have to be walking on eggshells with myself."
 
"Why do you like to hold Ivy so much?" Alec asked in genuine curiosity as he studied his next move. "If it were me, I'd constantly be afraid of moving wrong or turning weird and either hurting her or myself. Not to mention waking her up." He picked his move and made it.

"Good point," Xander said, knowing exactly what she meant even if he couldn't relate. "Have you thought about trapping a certain someone in more closets?"
 
That was a question Dark had never really considered before. Not really. Sure, they had discussed it a few times before she was born, but then it was all theoretical. He fell silent for a long time as he considered why, while looking down at Ivy's small, peacefully napping face, "I suppose it makes me feel closer to her. She cannot talk yet, I cannot ask her how she is doing, or feeling, and she cannot really understand me when I talk to her. But when I am holding her, we can look at each other, and she can actually see me well, and it is like talking to her, almost, because Ivy can see in my face--I hope--I am glad to see her, and she knows that she is safe and warm and all of those really basic things we all want to be, and I get to watch her take in all the information about the world, and see that she is happy to be with me, too." He tore his eyes away from his daughter and moved a piece, "and I could set her down when she sleeps, and often I do, but then when she wakes up, she has to figure out where she is, and where her family has gone, but if I am holding her, she knows those things immediately, and she does not have to worry."

"Not too often," She replied, nudging Dark with her foot, "All our time together is so fractured and sleepless it feels almost a waste to spend it locking him up. But that doesn't mean I'm not plotting for when we're back to regularly scheduled nonsense." What she didn't say, and avoided it for his sake, was that part of why she hadn't been pranking him was because the gentleness he had been displaying with their baby struck her too deeply and made her love him just a little bit too much to torture him like that. They were best friends, and normally her playful side had a fighting chance against her adoring and faithful side, but currently it was losing wildly.
 
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"That makes a lot of sense. I'm reading a parenting book," Alec commented off-hand. "It's interesting and weird, but I read that when you put the baby down, if you keep your hand on her for a minute, it'll help settle her. It's a bit proponent of the holding and stuff, too. Something about the heartbeat." He moved his piece. "I wonder if she'd be able to hear a heart murmur. Like the bad kind."

Xander snorted. "I'm beginning to think regularly scheduled anything is a thing of the past now." He picked up his phone. "Maybe when all three of us have moved out and you two have the place to yourselves again."
 
"I've read about that... The keeping your hand on her stuff, and the heartbeat bonding. I have read so many parenting books, I was reading them before she was a life to be concerned about, understand, and I have read books to deal with teenagers too. Because I, well," he squinted at the board and moved his piece, "check. I know I am going to make mistakes as a parent, I know it is inevitable, but I really, really do not want to. It is an impossible desire, but you three are all worth striving for that unaccomplishable goal. Do not tell me what mistakes I have already made." He sat back and looked at Alec, "I am not sure. Maybe. If she can, she cannot tell us, so I hope she of all babies does not hear one. I do not want any of us to have something like that. My circulatory system is already at risk."

Daizi sighed but was content, "You're probably right... I don't like to think of that though, you know? I've dreamt of you for so long, now that I have you, I don't want to imagine you leaving. Going back to a house with just two of us. We were very, very happy as a family of two, but..." She shrugged, "Five is the number of points on a pentagram. And it makes me feel... Oh, I don't know. I don't want to make you feel weird by being 'sappy' with you."
 
Alec looked up and smiled at Dark. "Don't worry. You haven't made a single mistake yet. At least, nothing that I've noticed. You're doing a lot better than I would have expected." He looked down and tried to figure out if he could take any of Dark's pieces without leaving himself open. "I didn't know they made teen parenting books." He took one of Dark's pieces and set it aside, slightly worried.

Xander raised his brows at Daizi. He knew what she meant, but he couldn't help teasing her. "Really? You dreamed of having two high-maintenance, high-stress teenagers just pop into your life unexpectedly? Who interfere with every aspect of your life?"
 
"Of course there are," He nodded, moving a piece that put Alec back into check, and telling him so, "Parenting does not get easier after infancy, there are only different challenges. Or so I have been told, I have only seen teenagers and babies. Baby." Again he looked down at Ivy, and now bent to kiss her forehead, smiling just slightly at the way she squirmed when he did.

She snorted and pulled a loosely knit blanket over her lap, not because she was cold but because it was cozy, "First of all, I don't think there has ever been a child of any age or situation who has not been high stress, high maintenance, and who has not interfered with every aspect of their parents' lives. You two are not the cause of as much trouble as you think." After allowing that declaration to sink in, she sat back, picking up a pillow to hold in her lap, because after eight months of pregnancy and another twelve weeks of having an infant, she didn't know what to do with her hands. She didn't have a belly to rest them on anymore, and since Dark was holding Ivy, her hands weren't occupied with supporting an infant, either. Xander didn't like to be touched, which only left hugging a pillow to herself, "I also just have wanted a big family. I haven't always, for a long time Dark and I were practically anti-natalists, then after the first time, we thought maybe one. It wasn't until we lost the second that I realized I wanted children, plural. And I was left believing for a long, long time it would never happen. But then you two came, and I had been waiting." She reached behind her to touch the wall, "We built this house for children and possibly grandchildren and extended families, and so we had so many rooms stand empty for so long. It felt like it was full the absence of ghosts. Except for what we have in the garden." She hugged the pillow more tightly, "If it makes you feel better, Ivy popped in unexpectedly, too. We can't even argue she gave us time to plan, because she came early. But I'm okay with that, you know? All three of you came into my life when the cosmic timing was right, and that's a comforting thought."
 
Alec scowled at the board and rubbed his chin. Check again. Hmm. He lapsed into silence for a long while before finally choosing to move a piece. "I thought most adults just wanted to stick new teens in pickle barrels until they were adults. I'm not even sure what a pickle barrel is, but it does not sound comfortable."

Xander thought about Daizi's statement. The absence of ghosts? That was a really depressing thought, and no wonder they had this big-old house for just the two of them. It was just sad, but also nice that they had Ivy now. And himself and Alec, he supposed, though it was hard to put themselves on the same level. Then he shook off the vaguely gloomy thoughts and turned to Daizi. Gently, he poked her shoulder. "How come you always turn my jokes into a Kodac, Hallmark, cosmic lesson moment? I mean, it's really nice to know you actually like having us around, problems and all, but I thought we covered that already and were ready to move onto when would be the best season to trick you-know-who into joining us for a polar bear plunge."
 
"Doing that is what leads you to sour adults." Dark replied, moving another piece without taking much time to deliberate, "and that takes a lot of time, effort, and money to undo."

She rubbed the spot on her arm where he had poked her, "Why do you think Dark and I are such a perfect match? Neither of us ever learned how to be casual. I'm just better at hiding it." She laughed noiselessly and allowed herself to move slightly closer to him, "Honestly, I think he'd be easier to convince than your you-know-what would be. Mine has spent, collectively, days of his life lying on plastic-covered chair having needles pocked into his skin. Do you think cold water is his greatest foe?"
 
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Alec paused and laughed out loud at that comment. "Sour pickled adults!" he cackled merrily. "That's a good one." He glanced at the board and moved a piece. "Check?" he said cautiously, studying the board. He'd forgotten to guard his own king in his excitement to possibly finally put Dark in check.

"Well," Xander said, leaning closer, "it is a completely different kind of pain. It's a lot of cold for a big, warm-blooded person. As for my you-know-what... I think you still might be right about that."
 
For the last time of the game, Dark said, "Good." But then he looked up at his son with an odd expression, almost hungry but still playful, like a domestic cat preparing to pounce. It was a look which suggested, had Alec been someone else, and the stakes more severe, it would not have been the face of a house cat, but a much larger beast. "In both ways, this time. Good for you, putting me into check. And good for me. As planned." He moved a piece, "Checkmate."

"You speak like you've done it before," She replied slyly, "but you're right, it'd be a shock to his system, certainly, I was just saying if we dared him to do it, he would not hesitate. I know he's very serious and often grim and sad, but do you think I would love him so strongly if he wasn't also daring?"
 
Alec stared at Dark, horror rising in his chest as he realized his mistake. "Nooooo!" he moaned. When Dark checkmated his piece, he laid his king sideways and then slumped back dramatically. "I am slain! Oh, woe is me!"

"Not the full polar plunge thing," Xander assured her, "but, you know, really, really cold water. And I dunno. I guess you might. Seems unlikely, but I don't really get relationships of any level yet." He paused and turned to look as Alec "died" dramatically. "Looks like the game is over."
 
"Your kingdom is forfeit," Dark said, intentionally coldly. Then, setting up the pieces again, he cracked a tiny, satisfied smile, "You take too many art classes with Mr. Major."

"It sounds that way too," Daizi said, "I guess that means it's our turn."
 
"Thank you very much," Alec said brightly, sitting up straight. "I've been considering joining the drama club. It does mean staying later, though, so I'm not sure."

"Well, let's get this slaughter over with," Xander said, standing up and moving to kick Alec out of his chair.
 
"You would probably enjoy it. As long as you still had time to do your homework I see no harm in it," Dark said, cautiously getting up to take Daizi's place on the couch while she sat down by the board.

"Aw, I'm sure it won't be too bad," She said cheerfully, "Do you want me to help you through it like Dark helped Alec?"
 
Alec shrugged as Xander half-shoved him out of the chair to take his place. "I'm not sure about transportation, though, especially on days when Xander has his Judo lessons." He joined Dark on the couch, giving him plenty of space.

"Nah, I'm good," Xander told Daizi as he sat across from her. "And I didn't say the slaughter would be one-sided, did I?"
 
He shrugged, "You will be at school, they have late buses for those in activities. And I am sure you would make friends, who have parents or cars who could help transport you. And soon you will both be able to get your licenses, which will help."

"Oh, wow, are we going there?" Daizi asked, hunkering down in her chair, "In that case, I won't go easy on you. Are you black or white?"
 
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