How Green Becomes Wood

"Don't let Dark hear that, he's already talking about which preschools we should put her in, and how she'll do," Daizi chuckled, settling back down, assured everything was just fine. "She's quiet, she must be sleepy." Ivy looked out the window with big, tired eyes that kept closing, and her tiny fist was holding onto Alec's shirt, but it wasn't particularly tight.
 
"She is very tired." Alec gave her a little bounce. "Just a little longer! Baba will be home soon, and he'll want to see you smile. After you smile, then you can sleep." He glanced at Daizi. "Not that she isn't cute asleep, too."
 
"Be careful about keeping her up too long, she'll get grumpy... But she sounds alright now. And he'll be home any minute now." Daizi commented, then stood up and came to join Alec and Ivy by the window. "I do adore her... It makes me really glad you and Xander are warming up to her. I had been worried for a long while." She stroked Ivy's cheek, and smiled when Ivy instinctively turned her head, "Soon she won't do that anymore. Not reflexively, anyway."
 
Alec smiled at Ivy's response. "Maybe, but it'll be a while. A long while. I would bet if you did that to me, I'd look at you too. Maybe not like that, but I would. And I bet she'll do it for a long time. Maybe not when she's super distracted, but she will. Why wouldn't she? You're her Mama."
 
Daizi laughed softly, stroking Ivy's cheek one more time for good measure, "I'm sure she will look, but it'll be voluntary. Right now its reflexive, like when the doctor hits your knee with the little hammer. It just means she's getting older."

When Dark came inside, he caught them standing together by the window, so he took off his shoes, touched the salt, and started to join them, when he spotted Xander in the kitchen, "Hello... How was school?"
 
"Maybe so, but I prefer to think she'll always do it involuntarily, even if it's not," Alec grinned.

Xander glanced toward Dark then away. "S'alright. Got any plans for dinner tonight?"
 
Daizi lightly and carefully bumped against Alec, "I can't believe she's already five months old. That's just over a third of a year we've had her. We're closer to half a year, now."

"Better than yesterday?" Dark asked, "And no, no real plans. No firm ones, anyway. I was thinking about doing leftovers tonight."
 
"Time flies when you're having fun!" Alec said cheerfully. "And sleep deprivation."

"'Kay," Xander said as he started hunting through the fridge. "I guess better. I dunno. Little bit better. Wasn't worse."
 
"I feel like I only gave birth to her the other day. Isn't that funny? But so many of my memories of those days are hazy. I always thought I'd remember every second."

"Sometimes 'not worse' is the best we can hopeful." Dark mused, rolling his shoulders back to shake off his own day, "What are you looking for?"
 
"I think it's good you can't remember every second," Alec said soberly. He gave Daizi a quick smile even if she couldn't see it and nudged her lightly.

"Leftovers," Xander said, putting a couple of containers on the counter. "There's a few to pick from."
 
"You're probably right." Daizi agreed, resting against Alec for a little while before touching Ivy's face again to check if she was still awake, "Hummingbird," she cooed, "Baba is home. You have to say hello to Baba before you take a nap."

"Well, thank you for setting them out for us. I should probably greet the rest of the family," Dark said, loosening his tie and heading towards the living room.
 
"Ready to go see Baba?" Alec asked, giving her a little bounce. He turned and headed toward the kitchen, stopping when he saw Dark coming toward them. "Hey, look! Look there, Ivy! Who's that?"
 
"Oh, there is my baby!" Dark cooed when he saw them, and after a moment his eyebrows flicked briefly together, and he took Ivy from Alec, "My dear, but you are so tired! How long have you been awake for, hm?" At her quiet coo and sleepy smile, Dark's eyes lit up, he adjusted how he held her to provide more support and comfort, and he murmured gently to her in Arabic for a few moments. Then raised his head, "Hello, Alec, and hello my darling. How were your days?"

"How was yours?" Daizi asked, stepping forward to kiss him on the cheek.

"Better now. I told Xander we should just have leftovers tonight, so I suppose we can all eat whenever we wish to."
 
"Oh, I love leftover nights! We can mix and match all sorts of things!" Alec crowed excitedly before bouncing toward the kitchen. "Leftovers!"

Xander had just finished sorting out all the leftovers and lining them up on the counter. "What's your hurry? Did you skip lunch again?"

"No, I'm just happy things are slightly better," Alec told him. "Although," he poked his brother in the shoulder, "you didn't finish your lunch. Not even close."

Xander shrugged. "Wasn't very hungry. Still not, but I thought I'd get stuff out. It's something to do."
 
Dark eyed his wife, who just shook her head before asking if he was hungry yet, to which he replied, "A little... but I want to sit with her for a little while."

"You can eat and hold her, I do both all the time," Daizi pointed out, but he shook his head before saying:

"I know. But I only just arrived home, I would rather take some time to relax and hold her than rush into my evening. I am not cooking, so there is no hurry." He told her, and she wasn't going to convince him not to spend time with his baby, and instead sat with the two of them.
 
Alec frowned, staring at the row of containers. "But it's not dinner time yet, so now that it's all out, I feel compelled to eat. Should we eat?"

"It's not going to all go bad in five minutes if it sits out for a bit," Xander said, rolling his eyes. "We can wait."

Alec turned to Daizi. "Do you want to eat, or to wait?"
 
"I'll wait," Daizi replied, "I'm so used to eating about an hour after Dark comes home, it's kind of been our routine for most of our marriage, since for most of our marriage I'd come home about an hour after he did. But I don't really think there's a necessary schedule to leftover night, so if you're hungry now you can go ahead and eat. Or even eat here, if you'd like."
 
"We'll wait," the twins said simultaneously. Then they lapsed into silence. It was an awkward silence that neither seemed willing to break. Xander stared moodily off into the distance, and Alec glanced between Dark, Daizi, Ivy, and his brother. There seemed to be nothing to say right now, but not in the comfortable way.
 
The growing awkwardness in the room was not lost on either adult, and peace Daizi felt when the twins took Ivy upstairs with her was quickly dwindling. Dark found himself longing for the days before the twins spoke any Arabic, because then he'd be able to ask her if she knew anything abut what was going on in a tone that sounded like he was talking to Ivy without them realizing. It was not a proud thought.

"Ivy helped the boys with their homework," Daizi said quietly, breaking the silence.

"Did she?"

"Apparently she is an absolute genius at math."

"Well, no wonder she is so tired, she had to do a lot of thinking," Dark said, shifting how he held her. Then he looked up at his sons, "Did she eat your homework? I am sure if she did your teachers would have no choice but to believe you if she did, since they know me."
 
"She tried, but I protected my work," Alec told him with a smile. "She did crumple a lot of paper, but I figure it's worth a bit of paper loss for her enjoyment. Although she did also throw a pencil at Xander unintentionally."

"Then wanted it back," Xander grumbled.
 
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