How Green Becomes Wood

Saladin had yet to determine if he was glad his grandchildren had their father's surname, for tradition's sake, or upset by the fact they had that man's name. But, for all of his traditionalism, he did believe in the validity of adoption. If children needed homes, and parents needed children, he didn't understand not allowing them to be family. It was not his place to say otherwise. Still, family ties were important, lineage was important. So he asked, "And your original name? What did you do with that?"

"I think it's a beautiful thing," Zeinab told the twins, "Siblings should have the same name."
 
Alec's face lit up at Zeinab recognizing the fact that they and Ivy were all siblings. He took just a moment to savor the warmth of that sensation, of an outsider recognizing what they were, and then answered Saladin's question. "We moved it to be a second middle name. We didn't want to lose it entirely, so we decided to both take it as a second middle name."
 
"Oh. Good." Saladin nodded, evidently satisfied with that answer, "You would not want to lose that. Although American names," he waved one hand, about to make a point, but then sighed, "Ah but my grandfather chose to Westernize our names, so my family cannot talk."

"Your grandfather my father," Zeinab delicately corrected him, although she knew he had been trying, "And what a special thing that is, now even his great-great grandchildren an ocean away all have his name."
 
"It is a really special thing to be able to share just a small bit of that history," Alec said. "I do mean really special. I am glad that we, especially I- Qadira, can share in that." Calling Ivy just "Qadira" was awkward, but he wanted to try for their sakes.
 
"And now so much of the family gets to be here to be part of it," Daizi said, beaming and squeezing her aunt's hand. She wanted to say more about how much it meant to her, but it was difficult to find the words to, so Zeinab just leaned in and hugged her gently.

"It is a beautiful family," She murmured, smoothing Daizi's hair. Then she sat back and looked at Dark, "Zalmi, you can let your poor dog of yours free, he looks so sad sitting there kept away from us all."

"What? With the baby crawling around?" Saladin asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Why not?"

"Is that even sanitary? Letting a dog around a baby like that, they are filthy."

"Are you calling dogs or babies filthy, Baba?" Daizi asked blandly.
 
Xander snickered and got up to release Enkidu into the living room so he could have fun and join the family.

"Zalmi?" Alec asked, looking at Dark. "I'm not familiar with that word."
 
Saladin could not hide the displeasure on his face as the German Shepherd trotted happily into the room and sat himself right by Daizi, who gladly began petting him. It wasn't his first time meeting Enkidu, but he couldn't stop from feeling like dogs were horribly unclean animals. He had mostly forced himself to accept it, but it seemed they allowed his granddaughter to crawl around on the floor with one.

Looking over at Alec, Dark hesitated for a few moments before answering, "It is a nickname."

"Zalam means 'darkness and gloom,'" Zeinab explained, reaching up to pinch Dark's cheek, "but he's sweet, so we call him Zalmi."
 
"I'm going to have to remember that," Xander said with a faint smirk.

Alec grinned. "Don't worry, Ba. We won't use it."

"Much," Xander muttered just loud enough to be heard.
 
"You did not remember it from last year," Dark pointed out stiffly.

With a little grin, Daizi bumped her shoulder against his and said, "We had a few things going on last year."

Zeinab only tutted at the twins, "You don't make him feel embarrassed. If he feels embarrassed by it, he won't let us fuss over him, and it took so many years to get him to let us fuss over him. Don't you go and undo my hard work."
 
Alec laughed and nodded in agreement. "Alright. As long as we can still sometimes sparingly tease him and make him feel embarrassed. I don't think I could live with never, ever embarrassing him."

"He's not easy to embarrass, anyway, so it's a challenge," Xander added.
 
"Yep," Xander agreed with a slight nod. "Shame's not a bad thing for all men to feel when they're in the wrong about something."

"Yeah, it's not fun to feel shamed, so if shame is an emotion that is a part of your play, then it's not play any longer, is it? It's torment, and torment is not a cool thing," Alec agreed.

"Or if someone can never move past something, that's not cool," Xander remarked.

Alec smiled at Dark. "All to say that we promise not to use your special name. It's precious. We won't abuse it."
 
"Thank you," Dark told his twins cautiously, knowing exactly what they were doing. On the other side of the room, Saladin scowled, knowing it too.

Clearing her throat and moving to stand, Daizi asked, "Is anyone hungry? It was such a long trip, I can cook something, and we have snacks, also, if you aren't ready for a full meal."
 
Xander considered reminding his mother that he was always hungry, but now didn't seem like the right time. Besides, he wasn't the one to have gone on a long trip. "I can do it, Mama. You should hang with your family," he said, standing up. "I got this. Alec, wanna help?"

"Do you trust me to help?" Alec asked with a grin.

"No, but I'll ask you to anyway," Xander teased.
 
"Thank you, Xander," Daizi said, settling back down. Since Ivy was getting a bit squirmy again, Dark set her down. He knew it'd disgust Saladin, since Enkidu was around, but he also knew if he restrained Ivy, she'd start screaming, and then Saladin would have other accusations. Since in either case he was bound to be called a bad father, he decided to make the choice that would make Ivy happy.

As expected, Saladin immediately said, "You should at least put the dog outside if you are going to let my granddaughter crawl around."

"She's fine, Baba. We bathe Enkidu regularly and Ivy is very healthy." Daizi told him, "Plenty of children grow up with dogs."

Free to roam, Ivy pulled herself up on the couch and stared at Amty Zeinab curiously and her great-great aunt was more than happy to play along, quickly winning over her niece and making her laugh.
 
The twins quickly put together a nice snack, a small meal, really, of everything they could think of that was quick and easy to put together. Then they took it out to the gathered family.

"Ivy has a little plate of her own," Alec said, giving the tiny plastic plate to Daizi. "I thought she might get jealous seeing other people eating."
 
"Oh thank you, that's very thoughtful!" Daizi said, feeling the plate and setting it on the coffee table while Dark got up to shoo Enkidu from the room. He didn't enjoy it, but Saladin was his guest and deserved to feel comfortable. God knows the man wouldn't eat if a dog dared to be around.

Watching her puppy go, Ivy squeaked, and holding onto the furniture, tried to take a few steps towards him. She did better than last time, inching around the coffee table, but she still didn't quite have the hang of it yet.

"Where do you believe yourself to be going?" Saladin asked, lowering himself to look at her with a genuinely kind smile on his face, "Your brother brought you a snack, you should go eat it." Ivy stared wide-eyed at her grandfather and began chewing on her hand. With a little laugh, Saladin bent and lifted her up into his lap and she squirmed, uncertain about this man.

"It is okay, Hummingbird," Dark said, "He is your Jaddi."

Saladin looked into her tiny face, "When you were born, you would not let me hold you without crying."
 
"She's a lot friendlier now, but sometimes she gets it in her mind she does not want anyone but her mama or her baba," Alec told Saladin. "She is really smart. She knows how to fist bump! Xander taught her so they can say hi without mushing faces together."

"She's pretty good at it, too," Xander admitted.
 
"Fist bump?" Saladin asked, looking at the twins and then down at Ivy, "What's your fist bump, Qadira?"

Rising to her feet, Daizi walked around to the chair, demonstrating the gesture. "Fist bump, habibti? Show Jaddi."

"Mama?"

"It's okay, Ivy," Daizi promised, holding out her fist again. This time, Ivy completed the gesture and afterwards Daizi reached out to smooth her hair, praising her for being such a clever girl. "Can you show Jaddi?"

This time, Saladin attempted the gesture to her, and after some clear hesitation, Ivy fist bumped her grandfather before immediately fussing for her mother.

"You are a smart girl," Saladin praised, impressed, handing Ivy off.
 
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