How Green Becomes Wood

"She is worth it," Daizi agreed readily, knowing that, of course, all of the pain for that time was absolutely worse suffering through since it brought her Ivy, but it did nonetheless amuse her that someone who had barely even witnessed what it took declared it worth it. "But I am glad she is so perfect, I have no desire to do it again."
 
Dark looked down at the floor to hide a little smirk. After he and Daizi decided, definitively, their family was complete and there would be no more children, he had gone ahead to make certain there wouldn't be any more surprises. But he wanted to tell them it wasn't really the twins' decision one way or the other, and they didn't need to be happy about it. And he wanted to mention maybe they might have another baby in the future, since they've successfully managed it once now, even though it would've been a lie.

"Well," Daizi laughed, willing to be more outwardly amused, "I'm glad we're all in agreement. I don't know what we'd have done had you come to us begging we have a fourth child."
 
"First, you would have questioned our sanity," Xander said dryly.

Alec snickered. "Well, that would have be a good deal easier than if we begged you not to have one, don't you think? But that's okay! If we decide we want a fourth, we can just wait for a stray to pop in, right?"
 
"To be fair, you didn't want Ivy either, so if you didn't want this fourth child, I'd probably just decide to wait a few months for when you changed your mind," Daizi replied casually, "I promise I'm more stubborn."
 
"That seems like a fair assessment," Alec grinned. "It's just nice to know how much weight our opinion has in this matter."

Xander nudged him. "Which is no weight at all."

"Exactly as it should be."

"Agreed."

"But what if we brought home a fourth kid?"

"I guess it'd be no different than finding us."

"Or a stray dog."

"I think a stray dog might have been a little easier."

"Hmm, true, true. Cat?"

"Then they'd have given it to Cooger."
 
Raising his head and pushing back his hair with one hand, Dark asked, "How often do you consider adding new life to this home?"

"At this point if you brought home a stray human, we would simply call Lance," Daizi shrugged, "He would know what to do better than either of us."

"Or we would find another couple struggling with infertility and adoption," Dark added dryly, "let them share the *wonders." If you found a stray dog, we may allow it temporarily into the backyard, but we would take it to the vet to see if it was microchipped, and if they truly had no owner, we would call Cooger who would call the shelter to see if they had a spot there or if there was a dog foster family. I like dogs, I adore Enkidu deeply, but unless it was, say, a pomeranian, I would feel uncomfortable bringing a dog with an unknown history into a home with another dog and a baby. There is too much risk."

"If you brought home a stray cat we would also check if they were microchipped and call Cooger," Daizi said, in agreement with Dark about the dog, "I'm less scared of bringing a cat inside, though. I can't recall the last time a baby was killed by a house cat... although for my own peace of mind I'm not looking up that statistic."
 
Alec shuddered. "I got bitten by a pomeranian once. And a chihuahua three times. Got nipped at by three or four mut dogs about Enkidu's size. I think I fear little dogs more than big ones. I'd rather a cat."

Xander shrugged. "I'd rather a dog, but a cat's probably easier to fit into our house than any dog."

Alec brightened and looked between Dark and Daizi. "Does this mean we can consider a cat?"
 
"It is about bite strength and damage." Dark replied, "any animal can cause injuries and any animal with a mouth can bite, but if Enkidu decided to bite down, it would be a lot more difficult to get him to let go than it would be to get a seven pound dog."

"Cats actually do more damage when they bite, because of their teeth," Daizi said idly, before hesitating. Neither she nor Darl wanted to answer first. Alec was certainly excited about the possibility. "Well... I think..."

"Daizi and I would need to... discuss... considering it." Dark said.
 
"That's fair, it's a big idea," Alec agreed readily, quickly backing off. "You think about thinking about it as long as you need." After all, Daizi had just lost her favorite rat. It might be a little soon to be bringing this up. He'd just gotten a little carried away by the possibility.

Xander eyed him warily. "A cat? Where would we put a cat?"
 
"Cats don't typically require an enclosure," Daizi pointed, "The most complicated part would be figuring out where to put the litterbox. Besides that, the cat would be allowed to go more or less anywhere, just like Enkidu."

"I would not want to install cat doors, though, I do not like the idea of permanently drilling into our doors," Dark said, "so cat-friendly areas would need to keep the door open during times the cat needs to access that."

"We would need an extra gate, then, to keep Ivy out of the litter," Daizi pointed out.
 
Alec bit his lip to contain his excitement. They were actually considering the idea! Otherwise, why talk like this? No, he couldn't get too excited. It was early days yet. "I think I'd rather keep it indoors than have an outdoor cat for the sake of the local native wildlife as well as the cat's safety and health," he said meekly, "so maybe I could build it a catio? I've seen them on the internet. They are a good compromise for not letting cats go fully outside."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Cooger has loads of cats outside all the time. They'll be fine outside. If you get one at all."

"Cooger lives out in the woods and not near any major roads or other animals that may or may not be vaccinated," Alec pointed out.
 
"Cooger only lets certain cats outside and never out of his eyesight," Dark explained to Xander, "Those allowed outside typically stay near the house and follow people, they are all also brought inside at night. I would not be comfortable with having an outdoor cat, it could easily slip through the fence."

"There are coyotes where Cooger lives," Daizi pointed out to Alec, to disavow him of the idea it was safer by him, "I'm not sure cats necessarily need to go outside. Our girl never did."
 
"They are usually happier and more cat-like when they are allowed outside according to a lot of cat expert people, but those same people also say it's better to keep them indoors. But you have to make sure that they are properly stimulated. Play time, 'cat tv,' and stuff like that," Alec said thoughtfully. "I'm glad we can keep ours inside."

"Ours? Cat tv?" Xander asked, somewhat disbelieving what he was hearing.
 
"We have not decided we are adopting a cat yet," Dark cautioned, feeling it extremely necessary to talk to Daizi about if they were okay with it privately before deciding if it was something they were prepared to do. Liking cats was one thing, actually going forward with bringing someone new into their home, introducing it to their baby, it all needed to be heavily and carefully considered.
 
"I understand!" Alec hastened to say, holding up his hands. "I understand. You have to talk about it and decide what you think. I accept that. Anyway, it's not like we'd be ready to take one in tomorrow. If it's agreed to get one at all. We'd need preparations! If we got one at all. Anyway, what milestones is Ivy coming up on?"
 
"She might start clapping and waving soon," Dark answered, lifting Ivy out of her high chair and setting her in his lap, "some people say she will learn around now that if she cries, she can get us to do things for her, but I have read others say babies do not learn that until they are at least two."

"She may also start pulling to stand anytime between now and a year," Daizi added, "Then we're really really in trouble, because that means she's approaching walking."
 
"No she does not," Dark replied defensively, smoothing the back of Ivy's hair and looking into her sweet little face, only vaguely aware of how wrapped around her finger he was. She was just his little girl, she'd never do anything wrong, he was certain of it. Another thing he was certain of was it was delusional of him to believe she'd never do anything wrong, but he didn't care, because look at her! Look how lovely her eyes were!

"We are going to be constantly chasing her down, but we do that already. The hard part will be keeping her from grabbing things she shouldn't have, but we keep the house fairly neat. It should be okay." Daizi said, trying to convince herself as much as anyone, "but it is a big moment for her. She can't spend her entire life crawling around on the floor."
 
Xander just smirked at Dark and didn't say anything. He doubted anything he could say would matter in this moment.

"Oh, yeah, this place is so safe!" Alec assured her. "There is nothing at her reaching height that she could hurt herself with."
 
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