How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi nodded, putting her hand over Sally's, "I'm sure I will. It's just one of those stressful things we hadn't thought about before."

After finishing their meal and driving home, Daizi hugged Sally goodbye, and walked inside her home. She took off her shoes, touched the salt, and then walked up to Dark, threw her arms around him, and cried over the possibility of Sally moving away.

The following Saturday, Dark was walking through his house and looking intensely at the floor while bouncing Ivy, and after some time doing this, he walked into the living room and said, "Would you all mind getting out of the house for a little while so I can mop? The grout is horrendous."
 
Xander frowned from his position on the couch with a sketchpad. "Are we getting kicked out? Over dirt?"

"I think so," Alec remarked, sitting on the floor with the last of his homework from the week before. "Although, do you really want to complain about that? He could be handing you a toothbrush."

"Good point," Xander grumbled. He glared at the sketch he was attempting and snapped the book closed. "I guess getting out wouldn't be the worst."

Alec nodded. "I am happy to procrastinate my math homework."

They cleaned up their stuff and went to get ready to go out.
 
"Whenever I mop the floor with you all in the house, someone walks through it," Dark said flatly, and as Daizi stood up, she took Ivy from him.

"In my defense, I can't see where you've been," She said, kissing his cheek, "but it'll be good to get her fresh air." Then she called for Enkidu as she bundled up Ivy and put her into the sling, knowing he should go with them too.
 
Xander put a leah on Enkidu even though the dog barely needed it and stepped outside, holding the door open for Daizi.

"Are you sure she's bundled up enough?" Alec asked Daizi worriedly as he followed Xander out.

"Dude, it's sunny out with barely a breeze. She'll be fine," Xander said, rolling his eyes.
 
"Yeah, she's alright, aren't you baby?" Daizi murmured, letting Ivy hold onto her finger, "and she's right up against my body so she'll be cozy. Her biggest issue will be that she doesn't get to look out at the world yet, she just looks at Mama. But your neck just isn't strong enough yet, Hummingbird!" She grinned down at Ivy who cooed back at her. Still, she quickly grabbed a light blanket, just in case, and stepped outside with her boys, "The stroller is sort of useless for me, I'm not sure what I'll do when she gets too big to be held like this."
 
"One of those backpacks for long hikes," Xander grinned. "They make them for kids."

"They are also ugly and look incredibly cumbersome and heavy!" Alec protested. "I bet there's other ways of strapping her on with the sling thingy."

Xander snickered and started jogging with Enkidu just to let out a bit of energy. He'd return to Daizi and Alec after a block of running.
 
"I know some people pull the stroller instead of pushing it, and the stroller we have works pretty well in that way, but I always imagine someone coming up quietly and snatching her." Daizi laughed, knowing it was a silly fear, but nonetheless feeling that way about it.

Enkidu was thrilled to have a bit of a jog, and Daizi was content to walk comfortably alongside Alec, chatting with him, happy to be enjoying warmish weather and to not feel physically encumbered anymore. "This time last year," she hummed thoughtfully to Alec, "I was already pregnant with her. And you didn't know, yet."
 
"I guess that could happen if you were alone," Alec agreed, "but I think it'd be safe with us. Either way, I can totally understand the fear." He smiled and turned his face up toward the sun. "It's so strange to think that we've been together as a family for so long!"
 
"I was so afraid of how you both would react... I do wish I could've told you in a better way, but someone," she lovingly stroked Ivy's hair, "had decided she wasn't going to make it easy on me. This year will be much easier on us, I think. I hope." Saying this, she reached out and squeezed Alec's shoulder, "and I'm glad you get to learn more about who I am when I'm just me."
 
"Well, you still kind of have her stuck to you a lot," Alec lightly teased, indicating Ivy even though Daizi couldn't see him. "But I'm glad, too. I just hope you didn't jynx us by saying that. I really want to actually have a quiet summer. Or, you know, a non-stressful one."

Xander came jogging back toward them, panting, with Enkidu. "What's stressful?" he asked, only hearing the tail end of Alec's comment.
 
Daizi chuckled, "I do, yeah. But I'm able to hand her off, too. We were just saying that we hope this summer won't be stressful. Fingers crossed, right? Although, Dark and I were talking about how nice it might be if we took a little trip. Nothing dramatic, no airplanes or anything. Just some mild change of scenery. It hasn't been discussed more than that."
 
"You mean a vacation?" Alec asked. "I don't think we've ever been on a real vacation. Not like how you hear about in books and movies anyway. Does this vacation include camping?" he pulled a face and reached out to pet Enkidu.
 
"Probably not," Daizi replied, "I like camping, but camping with a baby sounds absolutely miserable. Maybe if we were staying in a cabin and not a tent, but at that point does it really matter? No, I think we were talking about visiting the ocean. We haven't been in years, and only seldomly before then."
 
Alec's eyes widened in delight. "Can we really all go to the ocean? Yes, please!"

"No, thanks," Xander shuddered. "There's sharks, seaweed, and jellyfish in the ocean."
 
"Then don't go swimming in it. There's more to do at the beach than that," She said, "But if we do decide to go on a trip, then we'll all figure out together where we want to go and what we want to do. I think it'd be nice to, though, now that we're settled and I'm not afraid of getting too far away from my wizard doctor."
 
"Will Enkidu get to come with us?" Alec asked curiosly.

"People don't take vacations with their pets. They get pet sitters and stuff or dog hotels," Xander said as if he knew more than Alec.

"Hmm, then I guess you'll have to stay behind as the sitter," Alec told him.
 
"Honestly it depends on what we do and where we go. If we rent a van, probably he will. Otherwise Cooger will watch him." Daizi said, unintentionally revealing they may have discussed it more than she had let on, "Like I said we wouldn't take a plane, because Ivy is way too little, and a road trip as crammed in as we are would be miserable, so we'd need something larger anyway. I don't even think we could fit five people's luggage into our car."
 
"Maybe if you strapped it on top," Xander said with a suspicious look at Daizi.

Alec reached out and gave Enkidu another pet. "I wish I had a dog."

"You have a dog," Xander said, distracted from his suspicions. "What else is Enkidu? A mouse?"

"No, Mama has a dog, and Da, and you have a dog to a lesser degree, and I have a tiny part of the dog, but Enkidu is almost entirely Mama's," Alec pointed out reasonably. "And so are the rats and the spider."
 
"He is, and it drives Dark insane, because he did most of the training. And he's who took him out at night when he was being potty trained. And nobody loves Neith like I do." She sighed, very fond of her spider, "I think the rats prefer Dark, though, because he's so warm. But I'm worried for them. They really only live two years, and we already had them when you both moved in. We need to take Adrienne to the vet."
 
"That's not a very long lifespan," Alec said with a sad frown. "At least it's a happy life."

"I thought you wanted a cat," Xander pointed out, wanting to talk about the death of anything, even a rat.

Alec nodded. "The cat at Cooger's, but he said a cat wouldn't be good with a blind person."
 
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