How Green Becomes Wood

"I know," He agreed, going to sit back with Xander. What he had just seen, he knew firsthand. "That is why I was wary of you driving with Ivy in the car for a time." Lifting a onesie, he said, very intentionally, "It is interesting the textures they make these in. And now with the bells, they have even more." He hoped saying this would make Xander notice the different textures, too, and help him to ground himself.
 
"Yeah, I can understand that," Xander agreed. He picked up one of the onsies and ran a hand over it, feeling the texture. This one had a maned lion sitting with a cub, and the mane was made out of some sort of fuzzy material. "I bet Mama likes these ones," he remarked, brushing his thumb over the mane. "Isn't there one with a zebra or something where the stripes have different feels?"

He felt a little more settled just talking fabric with Dark, though the dark feeling lurked deep down. It was resisting being shoved aside. It had found a crack in the door, and it wanted out.
 
"We have a whole safari set." Dark nodded, "I like the giraffe the best, it is the easiest to clean. I do not know who decided to put white on baby clothes but they should be put in the stocks. But you are correct, Daizi adores them." He turned his head to the side, thumbing through the stack of clothes, "I like very little of what we dress her in. I do not hate it, but there is only about a third I truly adore." Even as they spoke more casually, he paid extra attention to Xander, but took his cues from him.
 
"I guess it doesn't really matter since a lot of this stuff will only fit for like a couple of months before it's too small," Xander said, picking up another bell. "It's not like Mini will care, either, except what feel good." He poked at the fabric with his needle almost listlessly, his mind elsewhere. Or trying to be elsewhere while he was determined not to let it be elsewhere.

Alec came bounding down the stairs and bounced to a stop in front of Dark and Xander. "I want to get a false rose of Jericho as a family plant!"

Xander stared at him blankly. "A what now?"

"A resurrection plant!" Alec announced.

Xander continued to stare without comprehension. "Is that... something to do with Jewish stuff?"

"No, they don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus, that's Christianity."

"Okay. Still no idea what that has to do with a plant."
 
Dark looked up at him, poking the needle through the onesie again to make sure he did not lose it, "What do you mean a family plant?" From out the back door, he caught sight of the rose bushes and the apple tree. To his eyes, they already had family plants. "Would it be indoors or outdoors?" Daizi would be hard to convince.
 
"Indoors!" Alec chirped. "It's like a fern or a moss, kind of, and is a desert-type flower. It's a sellag... selagoo..." He paused and pulled it up on his phone. "Selaginella lepidophylla," he attempted, pronouncing it badly.

"That's a mouthful," Xander smirked. "What's so special about it?"

"The fact that it can survive ridiculously harsh conditions and then come back to life with just a little water!" Alec told him. He pulled up a time-lapse of the flower and showed it to Dark and Xander. The so-called flower started out looking like a brown rock about the size of a fist, but as it soaked up the water, within a few hours it had gone from brown rock to a lush, green mat.
 
"If you want one and we can find it, I have no problem with getting one," Dark said, "Daizi is always glad to have more plants in the home. It is thrilling to her you are really beginning to take an interest in plants like she has. I think she even prefers gardening to her harp, and you know how she feels about that."
 
"Yeah," Alec smiled. "I really should make more time to play with her. I miss those days. Those were the days, my friend," he started to sing, "we thought they'd never end!"

"Nope, nope, nope, you're ending now before I get that stupid song stuck in my head for eternity!" Xander scolded, throwing a non-belled onsie at Alec.

Alec caught the onsie and laughed. "Our mum used to sing it all tragic-like whenever something inconvenient happened," he told Dark. "Xander always got it stuck in his head."
 
Dark watched the two, thinking about how alike Alec and Daizi were. "I think she would appreciate it if you did. Do not misunderstand me, she recognizes you are now a big-time star, but it is good to acknowledge your roots. For a time she wanted to play in an orchestra, you know." He was teasing, Daizi would never guilt her son like that, but Dark couldn't resist, "It only makes sense to get the song stuck in your head if it is sung every time something is inconvenient occurs because getting a song stuck in your head is itself inconvenient."
 
Alec winced, truly feeling a bit of guilt that he hadn't spent more time with Daizi even though he knew Dark was teasing. "I will definitely make more time for her. And you are absolutely right! Getting a song stuck is such a horrible inconvenience!" He started to sing again, but Xander threw another onsie at him before standing.

"Can't hear you!" he called, putting his hands over his ears. "I'm heading out. Bye!" He marched out toward the back, intending to go work with his leather.

Alec giggled and took Xander's spot next to Dark. "So! What are we doing? Still bells?" he asked, waving the two onsies.
 
"Yes, still bells," Dark chuckled as Xander scurried away, "but we are almost finished. At least for now. She will outgrow all of these by the time I set the needle down. And I've worked on what we have for the next few sizes. I had been warned, yet I am still surprised by how quickly babies grow."
 
"Of course," Dark nodded, talking Alec through the steps and demonstrating how firm the bells needed to be, "The hardest part is getting the knot correct. It does not necessarily need to be pretty, but it needs to be secure."
 
Alec was a good deal clumsier than Xander, and while he did eventually figure out how to make the stings work for him, it was a messy affair. Still, when he finished the first bell, the only way Ivy or anyone else was going to get it off was if they ripped off the fabric, too.
 
Dark nodded approvingly at his work and picked up another onesie to work on when the sounds of fussing came over the baby monitor. He waited a few moments to see if it was temporary or if Ivy was actually awake, but when it seemed like she was and he stood up, Daizi's voice came over the monitor. With a little smile, Dark sat back down, "She is thanking Ivy for distracting her from her work," he told Alec, knowing Arabic over the baby monitor was likely even more difficult for him to understand, "I believe she is being genuine."
 
Alec chuckled as he tried to get the second ball on his onsie. "I guess working from home is a bit more boring and tedious than the office. There's only boring paperwork to do! And probably emails."
 
"She has meetings, sometimes," Dark said, unable to stop himself from turning up the volume on the monitor to listen in on what his wife was saying. It was too endearing. "Even at the office I know she needs to take breaks, everybody does, but breaks are much more alluring when someone like that is waiting. I cannot blame her."
 
Alec eyed Dark, somewhat amused and a tiny bit jealous. A tiny niggle said, "I could have this." To that voice, he told firmly to be quiet. Nope. Not going there! "You know," he said, choosing the teasing path rather than the serious path, "some people might think it's creepy that you're stalking a woman. It does make it a little better that it's your wife."
 
Dark glanced at Alec and rolled his eyes, settling down, "I am not stalking her. At most I am stalking my daughter. I cannot help it if my wife is one of the people my daughter interacts with."
 
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