How Green Becomes Wood

"I know that you're scared," Zeinab murmured, "It's okay to be scared, habibti. It just means you care. There's nothing wrong with you. Trust me, Daizi. You know I'd never lie to you, right? You know that."

Daizi nodded as she gasped for air, but then shook her head, "I'm so scared."

"I know... I know, sweetheart." She swallowed, kissing Daizi's head again, "But you aren't alone. I know I'm not nearby, but you can always call me. Or any of us. And you have so many friends here who love you, and Dark loves you and wants so desperately to help you. You are not alone, and nobody, nobody, would hear what you have told me and think any less of you. You aren't weak, habibti. It's just hard, but you can do hard things. You have proven that time and time again. I think you're courageous."

Trembling, Daizi curled up against her aunt, "I keep saying--we just need to get past this one last thing," she gasped, "and then we'll be okay. But then what's around the corner is even worse. I want to say I can face anything, that I can handle it, but it's so hard, and I'm so tired."

"You are doing everything you can," Zeinab said, holding Daizi tightly, "I know you, and I know you've never in your life not put your whole heart into something. I know it's been difficult, but you've survived so much, habibti. I can't fix everything tonight, we can't fix everything tonight, but we will, okay? We'll put the work in, and I'll help you. I promise."

Daizi took a shuddering breath, "Okay..."

"Okay. It'll be okay. This is all just growing pains. You're doing so well, Daizi. You really are."

"Okay..."

"You are." Zeinab promised, once more drying her niece's face, "You have nothing to be ashamed of. Tonight, I want you to do three things for me, okay?" She waited until Daizi nodded and then said, "I want you to finish this glass of water, and I'll get you a second one, and you'll drink that one too. And then you'll curl up in this bed, and I'll stay here with you for as long as you like, but you'll go to sleep. Can you do that? Okay."

As promised, she handed Daizi the glass of water and while she drank it, Zeinab continued to walk her and rub her back. When the glass was finished, Zeinab walked away for just long enough to pour a second glass from the bathroom sink and then cuddled her back up, singing softly to her until the glass was empty and Daizi's hiccups had stopped.

"I love you so much, Daizi." Zeinab whispered, "and I am so, so proud of you. Things will look better in the morning, and I mean that."

"Amty?" Daizi asked softly.

"Yes, habibti?"

"We--we should let Dark inside, s-so he can go to sleep, he's t-too big for the couch."

"You're probably right," Zeinab chuckled. She wasn't strong enough to lay Daizi down in the bed, so she waited until Daizi had crawled out of her lap before tucking her back into bed and then going to the door, chuckling sadly at the sight of Dark sitting there like a dog who had been locked outside, "Come on, Zalmi, it's bed time."

Quickly, Dark scrambled to his feet and went inside to see his wife lying there, causing his heart to break all over again, and he climbed in beside her, not caring he was still dressed in his day clothes, and stroked her cheek, "Spider..." he whispered sadly, and once he was under the covers with her, pulled her into his arms, sighing softly as she melted against him. Being absolutely exhausted, but now feeling safe, Daizi fell asleep almost immediately, curled against her husband's chest with her aunt's hand on her back, listening to her sing a lullaby. Zeinab stayed until she was absolutely certain her niece was asleep and then left her to her husband's care and dropped into 'her' own bed, exhausted along with the rest of them.

Come morning, she was once more cooking breakfast, waiting until it was a decent enough hour to call the other aunties, unaware that Dark had already spoken to Neha, and either through her or through Saladin, the rest already knew.
 
The twins woke with grumbles and groans, feeling very rumpled since they'd slept in their clothes. The dragged themselves out of bed, or rather, off the couch, and started slowly ambling around, secure in the knowledge that they had all day to sort through things since they were on break.

Then Alec remembered.

Then Xander remembered.

"SCHOOL!" they both suddenly yelled and started scrambling to get ready.

They were not on break! They had school today because today was Monday! They needed to shower, change, eat, and get their stuff!
 
In the kitchen, Zeinab jumped slightly at them yelling and then hurried to the stares, hands on her hips, "What's all of the yelling, do you want to wake your baby sister? Because when she wakes up, she's going to wake your parents too."
 
"Amty, we have school today!" Alec gasped as Xander scrambled upstairs. "We have to get ready for school! We forgot! But we'll be quieter." He chased after his brother.

Alec showered while Xander got everything ready that he could. Xander then showered while Alec got dressed and took their bags to the front door. Xander took far less time than Alec to dress, so in only a few minutes, they were back down and ready for breakfast. Time to go back to school!
 
Zeinab tutted her tongue at them and went back to cooking, fully prepared to hit them with a slipper if they woke her baby, despite the unfortunate knowledge babies loved to wake up absurdly early so there was very little chance at Daizi sleeping in. But she needed it, so Zeinab would defend her chance to her dying breath.

"Are you excited to be going back to school?" Zeinab asked, once they were ready to eat.
 
"Yes," Alec said, "but it kind of snuck up on me."

"Meh. I wish 'stay-at-home-brother' was an option," Xander grumbled. "I promised Ba I'd at least pass high school, but it feels farther and farther away."
 
Zeinab shook her head, "You do not know how lucky you are to get to go. I'm old enough to remember when school was made compulsory for Egyptian children, and still school is only required until age 14. You have such opportunities, being born where you were. You have to take advantage of it, I have had such little schooling."
 
"So we've heard. A few times," Xander said dryly. "Remember what our mum would say? Stay in school or you'll end up like whatever the current boyfriend's name was."

"I remember that! It was... mostly effective," Alec giggled.
 
"Yes, ma'am," the twins chorused, for what other reply could there be to one such as Zeinab?

The pair scared down breakfast as quickly as they could manage, feeling certain they were late when they were actually a bit ahead of schedule, and then did the usual pre-school checks while waiting to see if either of their parents would appear before they had to leave.
 
Dark did, in fact, come downstairs before the twins had to go, bringing Ivy along with him while she cooded and babbled happily at him. "Good morning," He said tiredly while Ivy grabbed at his face.
 
"Good morning, Ba. Good morning, Ivy," Alec greeted them, giving them a joint hug. "We forgot that today is a school day."

"Morning," Xander said. "We gotta get going here soon."
 
Dark hugged Alec back, pulling away first to keep from Ivy trying to be transferred over because with how soon it was before the twins needed to leave, he didn't want Ivy to start screaming when Alec couldn't hold her for as long as Ivy would demand. "I am glad you remembered, it would have been rather embarrassing for you to show up late your first day after break."
 
Alec hugged Zeinab tightly. "See you after school! Bye! Tell Mama we said bye?" He turned and scampered toward the door to get his shoes.

"No promises, but I'll do my best," Xander replied. He followed Alec out and gave Dark a salute before closing the door. Another day, another lesson.
 
Daizi had woken up before the twins left because Ivy had and she needed to be nursed. When she did, her entire body felt heavy from the weight of everything the night before and from the realization it was all real. The whole time, Dark sat on the edge of the bed, watching her quietly and before bringing Ivy downstairs.

Then, after the twins left, he passed Ivy off to Amty Zeinab and prepared a breakfast for Daizi, bringing it up to her in bed. He would have brought their daughter, but it seemed likely she would negatively affect Daizi's ability to actually eat, Ivy would probably end up with her little hands all the way in her mother's breakfast.

"I'm not sick," Daizi murmured softly, holding Dark's hand while he sat across from her.

"I know," He replied softly, rubbing her thumb against the back of her palm, "but you had an awful day yesterday, and I love you. More than anyone. So I am going to make it my personal mission to spoil you today. You will be adored, resistance is impossible."

His phrasing just barely succeeded in making her smile, "Thank you, Goose." She squeezed his hand, "I'm so grateful for you."

"There is no length I would not go for you, my darling." He replied softly. "And you have done so much for me over the years. So. You enjoy your breakfast, Zeinab has Ivy, if you want after this we can go downstairs, or I'll draw you the greatest bath I can achieve."

Daizi shut her eyes, letting herself enjoy the loving way he caressed her hand, "A bath could be nice... Is the weather nice enough to go to the park, do you think?"

"I think it is the perfect day for it." Dark told her. He offered to go get the bath ready then, so it'd be ready by the time she finished eating, but she requested he sit with her, so instead they sat together, chatting lightly, and after she had finished breakfast, he got up to draw her a bath. When she felt satisfied and relaxed from it, she dressed herself and quietly went downstairs, still feeling largely like a ghost of herself but definitely better than she had when she woke up. Daizi scooped her baby into her arms to play with her for a little while Dark and Zeinab cleaned up the kitchen. Then, Daizi stretched and stood on her back porch for a few moments before deciding it was extremely necessary to smudge the house and replace the salt by the door. The entire house was heavy with bad energy, and she needed to remove it.

When all of this was done and her hair was dry, she, Ivy, Dark, Zeinab, and Enkidu all went to the park for a few hours because Daizi wanted to enjoy the outside and---importantly---get some distance from the home.

To her shock, she came back home to all of her favourite aunts in her home and the smell of her special soup.
 
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School was school. It was always a bit awkward going back to school after a longer break. Alec loved it as he got to see people at school he never saw outside of school. He even took a few minutes to talk to Emma and hold her hand while Xander was distracted talking with Milo. Xander struggled to really see it as anything more as being shepherded from one class to the next. He did his best to pay attention and do well in school despite his dislike of it, and because he was paying attention, some subjects, at least, were getting easier to do. Some things made more sense and some subjects easier to comprehend. It didn't mean he enjoyed them, even now, but easier meant faster when doing the homework. Sometimes he even snuck in doing homework during different classes. Some teachers called it being distracted. He called it better time management.

The day flew past, and neither Xander nor Alec made anyone cry. They managed not to get into any trouble, and they didn't even argue with friends in the cafeteria. Rumi joined them at their table halfway through, but she was there to talk to Sloan about something, and then she stayed to talk to Peter about Jazz.

Finally, it was time to head home.
 
At school, Sloan did her best to subtly check on how they were doing without prying or letting anyone else know something had happened, but no part of her could fathom not checking in on them after they showed up like that at her house.

When the twins made it home, all of the aunties were still over and Daizi was sitting on the couch with a bowl of freshly completed soup in her hands. It had been so many years since someone had last made her this soup, and she sat in grateful surprise, enjoying the warmth of the bowl, almost afraid to have her first spoonful of it because of how much it meant to her.

When the door opened, Dark rubbed her back and then went to greet the twins, "Welcome home--Daizi's aunts are visiting."
 
"I smell soup," was the first thing Xander said when he walked in the door.

"I hear people." Alec sniffed. "And smell soup! Someone made Daizi the soup? Good!"

Xander nodded. "Very good." He glanced around as he unshouldered his backpack. "That's a lot of aunts." He touched the salt and noticed it felt different. He didn't comment on it, thinking it was in his mind and took off his shoes.

"Is there anything we can do?" Alec asked as he took off his shoes and touched the salt.
 
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