How Green Becomes Wood

"Isn't she?" Daizi asked, pulling her legs up onto the couch, "In eleven days, she'll be a full year old."

Dark nodded and got up to follow him, but then stopped at the door and asked, "Walk or run?"
 
"What are we going to do with you at a full year old? Are you going to turn into a fairy?" Alec asked Ivy, gently spinning around in a light dance. He looked toward Xander, watching him leave and tensing a little, but then he looked between Daizi and Ivy and settled a little.

"Start with a walk and see where it goes from there?" Xander suggested.
 
"I'm not sure there's anything more spectacular she can do than be here," Daizi sighed, enjoying the sounds of her children playing.

"Sounds like a fair idea. Just in case, let me put on something more mobile," Even being at home all day, he dressed well, so he quickly dashed upstairs to put on sweatpants and a t-shirt so that, if Xander decided he wanted to run, he was able to. "Right, I hope Enkidu did not mind the wait."
 
"Look at that, Ivy? Your mere existence brings such delight and joy! You don't have to worry about performance anxiety at all," Alec told her, swaying to music he heard only in his head.

Xander waited while leaning against the wall, and when Dark returned, he straightened. "He was dying of boredom and wondering why humans always need to change their fur. Right, boy? Come on, let's go!"
 
Ivy gurgled at him, holding firmly. "You know," Daizi said carefully, "You don't have to do anything special to make me happy, either. I'm glad just to be near you."

"He will be forgiving," Dark said simply, tying his shoes and stepping outside with them, "We do not have many days like this left."
 
Alec didn't answer right away, dipping and swaying with Ivy. "I know," he said at last. "Still, I always want to strive to make you proud. I know you're proud of me as-is, but I want to make you... prouder."

"Back to the treadmill, then?" Xander asked. He set off at a brisk walk. He could go faster, but he knew better than to try to move too fast before he'd warmed up yet. "Treadmills are so boring. But better than freezing your n- face off," he corrected the word quickly.
 
"That's very admirable of you," Daizi told him, "and I have no doubt that you will. I think you're pretty remarkable. And remarkable people continue to impress."

Xander's brisk walk was Dark's normal walking speed, due to their difference in stride length, and it was nice to not have to take care to walk slowly, "I do not particularly enjoy them either. I care less about the cold, although I still do not like it, being from the desert, but it is the ice and snow. Hitting a patch of black ice while running is an easy way to break something."
 
Alec smiled and started humming to Ivy as he danced. Surrounded by warmth, good smells, and the love of an infant, he felt... okay. Not great, but okay. Fragile, but not broken right now. He still missed Xander's presence but knew his brother needed some time for himself. It would be okay eventually.

"And at your age, you need to be very careful not to bust a hip," Xander quipped. He moved faster, challenging Dark's walking speed.
 
"Probably. The little buggers are really annoying, so it'll be good to lose one," Xander told him. "Better than tripping over invisible ghosts and ending up in the hospital."
 
"Ouch, dude, just because you're jealous of my youthful awesomeness is no reason to make it personal," Xander snorted. He'd reached his top walking speed now. He held it, pushing his legs to go as fast as they could while still technically walking.
 
"If you break your nose, it will likely end up crooked, or end up otherwise looking different," Dark mused, speed walking but not maxing out his walking speed yet, "Would it be strange if one day your face was different than Alec's? Forever?"
 
"When I was really young, I wished I had a twin. I think most people without them do. Now I am glad, I do not think we both would have survived," Dark said, "but given what I have done to myself," He turned one arm over, "It is unlikely people would have an issue telling us apart if I had an identical twin."
 
"Unless he decided to get a bunch of tight tattoos, too," Xander pointed out. "You'd have to figure out which of you had which tattoos." He was up to a jog now, just short of a full run. "What if you did have a twin and you both survived? Think you'd have stayed cool with each other?"
 
"I would hope so," Dark answered, just entering what he considered a jog, "but it is difficult to say. He may have grown to be similar to me. Or whereas I left the faith to save myself, he may have gone to it for comfort, and had he done so, I do not know how well we would get along. The problem with where I grew up is lives can go in so many ways. We may have been separated, in the war. Only one of us may have made it to the US. I left the country shortly before turning fifteen. Had I stayed only a bit longer, I may have ended up in the military, like my father, uncle, and grandfather. Or my twin may have done. The year I was born was when the Gulf War began, and my father and uncle both fought in it. My uncle did not come home and my father was wounded. He had this horrible scar and chronic pain which worsened his temper. But in that war, which ended when Daizi's mother would have been pregnant with her, Egypt fought against Iraq. I think it is part of why Saladin has such strong negative feelings towards me, he knew people who fought in it, too, although he himself did not. But our fathers, nationally, went to war against each other when we were babies. I wonder what my twin would think when I married a woman whose countrymen may have been the ones to wound our father, increasing our torment."
 
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"That's a lot of possibilities," Xander said, his words short as he tried to control his breathing. "Might have been he found a different faith. Maybe loved Daizi and been jealous of you. Might have stuck by you no matter what hell because brothers first. Maybe hated you from the start and tried to use you to distract your father. Stuff like that. Who knows?"
 
"I think it is for the best it was only me." Dark exhaled, focusing more on his body as they picked up speed. This conversation, and everything from yesterday... Yes, it was good to be moving like this. He was ready to run.

At Xander's side, Enkidu tugged slightly at his leash, antsy to take the run the were working towards.
 
"Probably best for you. Me? I'm lad I had a brother. Kept me out of trouble," Xander stated. He glanced down at Enkidu. "Ready, boy? Alright. One. Two. Three!" He took off in a sprint like he'd heard the starting gun.
 
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