How Green Becomes Wood

"I have many. Maybe too many. But they always say babies grow up too quickly and that you will miss it, so I end up taking very many." He commented, taking out his phone again and handing the gallery to him, "You can look. She photographs well." They were pictures from nearly every activity Ivy did: sleeping, tummy time, bath time (these pictures were very carefully taken so they were only from the chest up), when she was held, when she was in the cradle... Being shown Enkidu, being held by Daizi, by Alec, her hand being lightly touched by Xander...
 
"I like this one," Alec said, pointing out one of the ones with Xander in the shot. "I think they are going to get along swell." He frowned and scrolled to the top and then the bottom again. "There's a couple missing, though. Really important ones. The first one missing is one with Cooger. We'll have to remedy that."
 
"I think so too," Dark said with a tiny little smile, "Cooger has asked me to take a few on his phone. He forgets to send them to me... Daizi says I should start scrabooking since I take so many."
 
"Scrapbooking always looked like fun to me," Alec agreed. "There's something else missing, too, though. Where are you in all these? Oh, wait, here's a thumb!" He smiled at Dark and shook his head as he handed the phone back. "We need to get some of you. Xander and I are just bad at pictures in general, but if you're going to have a zillion of us three kids, then you have to have at least a couple of you with us kids. Agreed?"
 
Dark leaned over to look at the picture, and exhaled quietly through his nose, "I never think to take pictures of myself. I do not really take 'selfies,'" the word sounded somehow anachronistic coming from him, "and Daizi cannot take photographs. At least, not clear ones with the subject guaranteed to be in frame... I have a few where she took an unknowing picture of herself from over the years... but I, well, I suppose I can... agree to be in a couple."
 
Alec nodded in agreement. "That'll work. And we'll try to remember to actually take pictures for you. Then you don't have to worry about taking selfies." He managed not to smile at the word.
 
"Good. I have tried before, they make my nose look giant and I do not like it. But I do not like how I look in most of my pictures. Except for my wedding pictures." He looked up and beyond Alec out at the window, "We still need to take those professional pictures with all of us."
 
"Do you want them with snow on the ground or flowers? I think Daizi would prefer flowers," Alec mused. "But then Ivy will be much bigger and older. I suppose you can take them indoors instead." He finished off the scoop and started nibbling on the cone. "Raspberry is refreshing, but I don't think it's my favorite. I'm going to get a different one next time."
 
"I do not think it is matter if she is bigger by then," Dark mused, "we do not have professional photographs of us when she was brand new, but we have that family picture of us at her Sebou, and that is enough for me. We should wait until we have flowers... The pictures will probably be more fun to take, too, because she will be more able to play." He hummed lightly, "I like the raspberry sorbet, but it seemed too much like summer."
 
"You are probably right," Dark agreed, finishing the rest of his cone. Before getting up and throwing away his trash he took a small, flat, compact mirror from his wallet to check to make sure there was neither ice cream nor cone in his beard. Once satisfied, he threw away his trash and headed back to the car, "Do you feel any better?"
 
Alec followed Dark, wiping his fingers carefully with a napkin before tossing everything away. "Yes," he told his foster father. "I do. Ice cream is a good bandaid, isn't it?" He glanced at the car and suppressed a sigh. Ugh. Driving. He'd almost forgotten. Now it was going to nag him every time he saw a car. Oh well. At least for now, he didn't have to worry about it.
 
"It can be." He agreed, opening Alec's door for him before getting into his own side and driving home, taking special care to play music he knew Alec liked.

Once making it home, the moment they walked through the door they were greeted with the now-common noise of a baby crying harmonized with a woman shushing. Despite this stress, Daizi still walked up to the door, performing the methodical squats that tended to help, and asked, between shushes, "Hey you two. I was wondering if I needed to call someone. How'd it go?"
 
"Um, it went... I didn't hit anything," Alec said, slipping out of his coat and then his shoes. He tapped the salt gently. "Hi, Ivy. What's the matter?"

Footsteps pounded upstairs as Xander heard the front door and dashed down the stairs. He slowed as he approached and walked across the front room. "Hey. How'd it go? You weren't gone long," he said casually as if he had not been pacing around and checking the front window constantly.
 
"Honestly, I think she just wants to cry," Daizi said, sounding mildly exasperated.

Dark frowned, and gently took Ivy from her mother, murmuring "Oh my sweet girl, my darling Ivy, you do not have to cry, Baba has you," in Arabic, pausing in his comforting words to kiss Daizi's cheek. After a little bit of focusing on his baby, he asked, "Has she been truly bad?"

"Not really, but she had fallen asleep, I set her down, and--" She gestured, "I tried for a little bit to just let her cry, but I'm too weak and couldn't take it. And I need to change my shirt."

"The cradle is very cold compared to Mama's arms, yes, Hummingbird?" Dark asked, "January is evil, I know my darling, but it will get warmer soon."

Daizi smiled warmly at Dark's comments to their daughter, but then smiled even brighter at Alec and took his arm, "Well that's good! See, you're definitely doing better than me, now! What an improvement."
 
Alec tried to smile, knowing Daizi could hear it in his voice, and said, "Yes, I suppose it is. And it means that you don't have to worry about getting a new car!" He pulled away gently as Ivy's wails hurt his ear. He wished Daizi would stop saying how whatever anything someone sighted could do was better than what she could do, especially when it came to driving. He knew she was joking and trying to lift his spirits, but it was doing the opposite. He could drive better than a blind person, yay! That was not very encouraging.

Xander studied him for a moment and stepped aside, holding out an arm. Alec went to him and quietly leaned into a solid hug, finally letting himself relax and breathe out the stress. Ice cream had helped a lot, but there had still been that tiny amount of stress lurking in his belly.
 
"Oh my dear, I despise a cold bed too. Come come, my baby, I will take you upstairs and rock you back to sleep," Dark mused, slipping upstairs with Ivy to make good use of the rocking chair.

"Oh I don't really care about the car," Daizi said cheerfully, "I just want you to be safe. And to feel safe. I think it's really brave of you to keep trying, Alec, sincerely." Again, she lightly touched him, "You're very resilient, you know."
 
"Thank you, Mama. I don't feel very resilient right now, but maybe if I pretend I do, I'll start to believe myself," Alec murmured. "Thank you for letting me borrow Da-Ba- the professor for a bit."

Xander bit his lip to keep from snickering at Alec's little verbal stumble.
 
"It's okay if you don't," Daizi replied, resting both hands on his shoulders but not pulling him into a hug because of her damp shirt, "You're courageous, habibi, and I've been called that just for existing the way that I am, so I hope you can understand I don't use that word lightly. I really don't, I don't want you to feel patronized, but you don't have to be rushing into burning buildings or anything, you chose to go out and do something that scares you, and that's amazing." She lifted her hands from his shoulders and instead cupped his face in her hands so she could kiss the top of his head, "I'm sorry, I'm always going to make a fuss over you. And you are free to borrow him, " She chuckled, releasing him, and not calling attention to the way he stumbled over his words, "I don't think it technically even counts as borrowing."
 
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Alec managed a genuine smile at Daizi's words. "Thank you," he said, and this time he meant it. "I appreciate your belief in me." He patted her arm gently. "You should probably go and change your shirt."
 
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