How Green Becomes Wood

"No, I will, it's my gift to him," Daizi said, with surprising adamance. It didn't really matter, Dark knew who it was from regardless, but it felt strangely important to be the one to physically hand it to him, "It's just a little thing anyway."

The box, which was wrapped well, although the paper was the wrong way around, was about the width one would expect to be if it held a single Christmas ornament, but flatter, and once Alec gave it to her, she got up off the floor and handed the box to Dark. "I love you, Goose."

"I love you too," he replied, and took care in unwrapping it, revealing what looked like an oversized black velvet ring box. Inside was a a gilded pocket watch with something engraved on the inside lid, but the text was in Arabic, and after reading it, Dark made no move to translate the text.

Instead he looked at her with the look he had when Ivy was newly born, and when she wore the red dress, and, not that Alec would know (but presumably he would guess) when they got married.
 
"You hush," Daizi replied with a brief laugh. After Alec left, Dark thanked Daizi briefly and sincerely, but too quietly for anyone outside the living room to hear. Whatever conversations they had were just for the two of them, except for the occasional laugh from Daizi.

After a little while, everything seemed perfectly calm and quiet, perfect for the sort of birthday Dark deserved. Then, Ivy began to scream as if she was being slain right there in her cot. This was quickly followed by the sound of two parents making prolonged shushing sounds, payment for the crime of setting her down.
 
Once Ivy had stopped screaming, Alec and Xander walked into the room with the birthday cake. It was a smaller cake, but decorated to the best of Xander's cautiously budding abilities. They had one candle stuck in the top, lit, and sang a speedy version of "Happy Birthday as they walked, getting it in as fast as they could before Dark could do something like run away. THey finished the song as they set the cake in the middle of coffee table and looked at Dark expectantly.
 
Hearing the birthday song, Dark looked up awkwardly, and felt a bit trapped between the desire to fade away so he was no longer the center of attention and feeling touched that the twins put in an effort to bake him a cake. Daizi, unable to see the cake, but hearing the brisk song and smelling the unique smell of birthday candle wax, she figured it out, so she grinned and squeezed his hand.

When the cake was in front of him, Dark glanced up at the twins and then down at the cake before cautiously and awkwardly closing his eyes and blowing it out. He did, as expected, make a wish, but obviously there were no external signs proving it to be so. Then he sat back and opened his eyes, "Thank you. You did not have to go through so much trouble."
 
"Of course we did!" Alec said happily. He reached out to take out the candle and got the sleeve of his shirt in the frosting.

"We just did it for the cake," Xander said. He shooed his brother aside and retrieved the candle easily.

Alec licked the frosting off his sleeve. "Can't have a birthday without a cake! Or some kind of facsimile thereof."
 
Dark repeated his gratitude and Daizi did her very best resist, but she gave in and squealed slightly, "You two are so sweet! They're so sweet, Goose."

"I know they are," He murmured.

"Is the cake cut? Dark, you get the first slice! Obviously." She kissed his cheek, "Happy Birthday, darling. What kind of cake is it?"
 
Xander cut the cake and slid the slice onto the plate Alec provided while naming Dark's favorite flavor. Alec handed the first slice to Dark, the second slice to Daizi with a tiny extra piece that was in honor of Ivy, and then he and Xander each got their pieces.
 
The cake was delicious, and Dark was silently content, enjoying listening to the conversations his wife and sons had. For so long he had tried to avoid his birthdays and downplay them, and it was partly because he knew the day they celebrated was probably not the actual day he was born, but it was also because although he had no objective qualms with aging, getting older always made him feel like everything was catching up to him. Like he was running out of time.

This year didn't feel like that, or at least not as deeply. It was different. The realization he was enjoying himself, enjoying being celebrated, stirred up emotions he couldn't quite deal with. Amty Zeinab called, and he spoke to her for a time, and later in the day Cooger came in, bombastically greeting Daizi, Ivy, and the boys, but sat with Dark in his shed for about an hour or two, so they could spend time together in the way Dark valued most.

Then, within two weeks, it was the beginning of the second part of the semester. Dark didn't voice it, but it made him nervous, because he knew it meant his paternity leave was reaching its end. He had twelve weeks, excluding winter break. Now that the semester was starting back up, he had three left. But he sacrificed a little bit of sleep that morning to make the twins breakfast and pack their lunch for them, before setting them off on their way.
 
The twins tried not to show it too much, but they were excited to go back to school. Alec had his resolution to try to make at least one new friend, to put himself out there and not wait for people to come to him, and to join the drama club. Xander hadn't made any ambitious plans or resolutions, but he was looking forward to shop class. There was also driver's ed, which Xander couldn't wait to get started and Alec was trying hard not to think about. Mostly, both just really, really wanted out of the house and to have a little space. As much as they cared for their parents and new sister, it had been a long winter break.
 
Daizi slipped downstairs before the left for school, wanting to say goodbye. She didn't know for certain they wanted to go to back to school, but she guessed it. Still, when she hugged Alec goodbye, she told both boys how much she'd miss them, because she loved having them home and around with her. After CPS stopped coming around all the time, she had really hit her stride, she felt, and now Ivy had an AA of 8 weeks, she was showing much more of her personality, and last night had only woken up twice! If that pattern continued, she'd finally have a bit more energy just in time for the twins to be at school everyday, so she couldn't even dedicate more awake to me to them!

As she had been doing for October and November, Sloan waited for her friends, and when they climbed into her car she asked, "How is it that we live across the street from each other but it feels like I haven't seen either of you in months?"
 
Xander squeezed Daizi's arm briefly, told Dark and Daizi goodbye, and all but dashed out the door with his lunch. Alec took his time telling them goodbye, giving them both a hug and kissing the top of Ivy's head. It had been a special time. Then he followed Xander out the door.

Xander groaned as he flopped into the front seat of Sloan's car and buckled up. "Because it feels like we haven't been outside in months. I hate winter."

"Maybe you should take up a snow sport," Alec said, climbing into the back. "Hi, Sloan!"

"I'll do that when you start selling gourmet chocolates," Xander said dryly.
 
"I do gymnastics, and we don't have an off season, so I spend a lot more time at the gym over winter." She said, waiting before they were buckled before driving to school, "I applied for a summer camp, though. I had to film a video and everything, it's a big deal. Besides the lack of winter sports and gourmet chocolate though, how was your break?"
 
"Moderatey hectic, but not too bad," Alec said, leaning forward to talk to her. "We had a thing over Christmas where everyone made a dish from their country of origin, and we would have invited you, but we didn't think your mother would like it. Oh, and Mr. Dark had his birthday, a big one. Ivy is smiling now. Things like that. Lots of reading. And Xander had Judo."

"Thank goodness or I'd have gone mad," Xander grumbled.
 
"That sounds like fun, I would've enjoyed it in a purely secular way. But Christmas Day was the second day of Hanukkah, so I was busy. It's cute that she's smiling now, though. Does she still look like meatloaf? I always think babies look like meatloaf until they're, like, six months old." She laughed at her joke, "I hope you were at least able to relax, Xander. You sound like it was miserable."
 
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"Peter's parents don't really celebrate Christmas either, so you wouldn't have been alone there," Alec said cheerfully. "Ivy is really, really cute! And not like a meatloaf at all."

"Nope. More like a potato," Xander said with a smirk. "Mixed with a meatloaf." As Alec sputtered, he answered Sloan, "Yeah, it was pretty good. Nothing to complain about except crying babies."
 
Sloan laughed at Xander's comment and then said, "She's helped by the fact she has hair. My cousin had a baby a few years ago, he's four now, and I swear he didn't grow hair until last year. Kid looked like an alien. Still kinda does, he's all forehead. I'm glad you're away from the crying though, I can't stand the sound of a crying baby. I'm glad I'm never having kids."
 
"You've already decided that for definite?" Alec asked curiously. "What if you change your mind later?"

"Not exactly your business if she does or doesn't," Xander told his brother, pushing him back with a pinger to the forehead.

"She brought it up first, and I'm just wondering," Alec grumbled, rubbing his forehead.
 
"I dunno," she shrugged, "I feel like when you meet someone our age who says they're definitely having kids, nobody asks them if they're going to change their mind some day. But it's not like I'm getting my tubes tied or a hysterectomy, so it's not that deep if I do change my mind."
 
"If I met someone our age who said they were definitely having kids, I'd ask them if they'd lost their minds," Xander remarked.

"Cool. I was just wondering," Alec shrugged. "It seems like a really, really big decision either way, but particularly the choosing to have them."
 
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