How Green Becomes Wood

"If you are sure," Dark replied, sitting down to give his baseboards some needed attention, "I will make sure you get the time. It may be good for her, she has not been sleeping well. You have a good night too, okay?"

For a few moments he watched Xander's hesitation, only turning back to his wall after the teen was out of sight.
 
"Night. See you in the morning. Don't stay up all night polishing baseboards." Xander headed to his room and let himself in.

Alec heard him but didn't look up from his book. Xander got ready for bed, dusted his prized horse display, and checked the level of the bird feet on the bird feeder. It was a good thing Dark didn't feel the same way about the area under his bird feeder as he did his baseboards or else they'd have been in trouble. The level looked good, so he flopped into bed and started checking random online sights for used tools for his leather work. If school didn't work out, at least he'd already have a toe in the money-making business, and maybe Cooger would let him work for him. Be an heir to his handyman empire and all that. He had options.

Neither twin said anything as they finished up their evening activities and finally turned in to actually sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
 
"I will not." Dark promised, and actually kept his promise. In fact, he only ended up cleaning for about an hour, which was a line he had to learn to draw with himself, because after a certain point, the light just wasn't there to support what he needed to do. When he felt satisfied with the the night's work, he stretched, put the cleaning supplies away, washed his hands, and went upstairs to check on Daizi.

"Has she gone down yet?" He asked softly, having made sure to shut off the hall light before opening the door.

"Only just," Daizi replied, "I'm afraid to move. I think she'll wake up again."

"You will have to eventually."

Daizi sighed, rubbing Ivy's back, "I know. But not yet."

For a few moments, Dark stood still in the doorway, his form just becoming another shadow in an unlit house, then he asked, "May I join you?"

"You never have to ask, Goose."

When he came in, Dark sat on the footstool, so when Daizi felt ready to attempt to lie Ivy down, she wouldn't have to risk jostling Ivy as she got up around her husband. Somehow, it was almost nostalgic as they found themselves repeating what had worked when their daughter was new to the world. Daizi's fears were confirmed when not long after setting Ivy down in her crib, she forced herself awake and needed to be soothed back down again, so both of her parents decided to settle into the rocking chair and wait it out, and come morning, Daizi woke up stiff in the rocking chair, and found her husband still very much awake, holding their daughter.

"I guess I'll go and make breakfast," She yawned, rubbing her face, "You shouldn't stay up all night like that."

"It was worth it, she slept as long as I held her." Dark replied tiredly.

"Let me take her now, you go and lay down," She commanded, and went downstairs as soon as Ivy was awake and fed to make breakfast for their other children.
 
The twins went down at their usual time, dressed and ready to go. Xander was definitely leaning more on the punk side with his treasured leather jacket, and Alec was a little more toned down while bringing the 70's to mind. They were still avoiding each other as much as was possible while sharing a room, a bathroom, and a breakfast table. Alec set about making their lunches, like usual, and Xander did the morning chores to prepare for going to school. The atmosphere was heavy with Awkward.
 
"Did you sleep well?" Daizi asked, sensing the tense mood and willing to risk getting emotionally bit if she could even slightly diffuse it as she worked around them, doing her best to handle cooking dinner while also keeping Ivy occupied. Following his instructions, Dark was not downstairs that morning because he was attempting to catch up on the sleep he missed the night before.
 
"Yeah, yeah, slept pretty well," Alec said with vague nods. "How about you? Did you sleep well? And good morning, Ivy!"

Xander mumbled something in the positive realm and focused on what he was doing.
 
"I fell asleep in the rocking chair with her and Dark, so I'm a bit stiff, to be honest with you," Daizi confessed, "We're really having a problem with Ivy wanting to cosleep even though it's not safe. Safety isn't really something she's decided she's interested in worrying about, yet."
 
Sounds like it's potentially detrimental to your health, too," Alec said with a wince.

"Why not lay her down in her crib for the last story?" Xander asked. "She'll cry, but not be left to do the whole cry it out thing you hate."
 
"I can definitely say with full confidence that I am very stiff, yet not as stiff as you'd expect, because it is a comfortable chair." Daizi replied with a tired smile, "I just wish cosleeping was safe. I wouldn't mind putting her in bed between the two of us until she's out of this phase, our bed is big enough, we'd all sleep fine, and it'd side step the issue, but because it's not safe, we need to figure something better out." She came back to the island counter to set the food out, "It's worth trying setting her down to read the last story, but I'm not sure she'd find it acceptable. We've had serious discussions, your father and I, about potentially trying the cry it out method, but we can't shake our discomfort with it. It's an absolute last resort."
 
"If you do it until the phase is over, it'll never be over," Xander pointed out dryly. "She knows you're there, she knows you love her, and you'll be right there with her as she goes to sleep. She'll get over it faster than you will probably."

"Thank you, Mr. Baby Expert, for weighing in your valuable knowledge," Alec muttered.

Xander scowled at him. "You do stuff like that all the time. Why's it different when I do it?"

"Because I don't get repulsed by every other aspect of babiness!" Alec shot back at him.
 
"Hey." Daizi said firmly but not angrily, "It's okay. None of us are experts. There's no sense in arguing about something that did no harm." She moved Ivy, "I always appreciate when either of you take an interest in her, it can be really helpful to get out of my head."
 
The twins subsided guiltily and focused on their own tasks until they'd finished.

"Do you want me to look after her for a bit?" Alec offered to Daizi. "So you can eat and stuff."
 
"Alright, but don't let her convince you to stay home just to keep holding her. She is very persuasive in that way," Daizi joke, and just before passing Ivy to Alec said, "Your big brother is going to hold you for a little while, okay habibti?"

Then she sat down to eat her own breakfast while it was actually hot, "I don't know if your father will be down before you leave."
 
"That's alright. If you didn't sleep well, he likely slept worse," Alec said, happily snuggling Ivy.

Xander finished checking that they had everything they would need for the day and put their backpacks next to the door. "We're ready to go whenever you finish that hug session," he told his brother.
 
"I sent him straight to bed the moment I woke up. You'll be proud, he barely argued that he didn't need to." If they weren't, she certainly was, resting her cheek in her hand and listening to Ivy's happy coos and gurgles as she grabbed at Alec's face.
 
"I am very, very proud of him!" Alec approved happily. He let Ivy play with his face until the last minute. Then he handed her back to her mother, told them both goodbye and to have a nice day, and then dashed out the door with Xander.

They got to school exactly on time, and Xander led the way toward their first class.
 
"I'll tell him that," Daizi replied, bringing Ivy in close, "Have a good day today, okay?"

Milo was already sitting in the classroom when the twins came in, looking straight down at his desk and doing his best to ignore everything else that was happening. The day had just started, and he already wished he was able to skip, but that had been ruined for him. So there he was, waiting and fidgeting.
 
Xander walked over to his seat next to Milo and plunked down a new stress ball onto Milo's desk before plopping into his own seat and pulling out his own fidget toy, which consisted of silent buttons to push and weird things to pull. He liked pulling more than squeezing, though squeezing was also good. Milo's stress ball looked solid, but when squished, it thinned out transparently and revealed a bunch of glitter with tiny school-themed bits like books floating around.

Alec sat down on Xander's far said and said nothing as he tried to figure out what to do with his backpack.
 
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