How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi got up to pour drinks since Alec was entertaining Ivy, who was laughing at her brother and trying to make the same faces as him. When dinner was set out, Dark carefully clipped her bib onto her and set down her plate, which by now included finely cut finger-foods instead of just a mashed paste, although she was still given foods she needed to practice with a spoon to eat, to about the same results she had been displaying.

Throughout the meal, Dark was quiet although technically that wasn't too uncommon for him. Ivy was babbling enough it made up for it anyway, and all of the adults responded to her as though she were having actual conversations in between Cooger and Daizi both talking with the twins.
 
Xander and Alec took turns talking and responding to both Ivy and the adults in the room. When it was his turn, Alec told Daizi and Cooger about the customers at the shop, random funny things that had happened at work, some of the latest school gossip, and about a couple of the projects he was working on. Xander talked a little bit about the horses at the stable, some of the commissions he'd gotten for work, how Judo was going, and about the skateboard trick next-door-neighbor Toby had been pulling off in the school parking lot. There were a lot of little things going on in their worlds that tended to be forgotten in the business of day-to-day life.
 
Although he wasn't particularly talkative that evening, Dark still listened carefully to everything that was being said. It was very clear, if anyone glanced his way, he completely focused on the conversations happening at the table and was not lost in his own thoughts. Occasionally, Daizi would ask him a question, just so he knew he hadn't been forgotten about or reach around Ivy's high chair to touch his arm.

After they finished their main meal and had taken a bit of time to rest, Cooger brought out the (store-bought) dessert he had brought over with him, because if he was coming over without much warning, the least he could do was contribute to the meal.
 
Alec and Xander both cheered the inclusion of sugar, store-bought or otherwise, and were only too happy to help set it out. Alec lightly teased Cooger about how he brought something store-bought because that was the only way to be certain there were no cat hairs in it. Xander asked Dark if it was too sweet for him. If so, he'd happily finish his father's share.
 
"Hey, you weren't bothered by my pumpkin pie!" Cooger pointed out with a laugh while Dark assured Xander he was more than happy to finish his portion all on his own.

After everything was cleaned up, Cooger invited himself along with Dark when it was time to take Enkidu out for his walk so the two of them could talk alone for a little while and ended up going on a longer than usual walk.

While they were gone, Daizi cleaned up Ivy and then said to Alec, "Come on, let's try to get her to repeat your name!"
 
"Alright!" Alec agreed eagerly. "Xander? Would you be-"

"The cameraman to catch her talking?" Xander asked. "Sure."

"Perfect!" Alec grinned.

Xander got his phone ready and made sure he was in a good spot to catch Ivy's babbling without interfering. Alec stood in front of Ivy and talked to her lightly, drawing Daizi into the "conversation" with him and talking about Mama and Baba and flowers.
 
Like always, Ivy was absolutely loving the attention and was happily babbling to them. She had one toy in her hand and she was showing it off to them, occasionally also trying to crawl towards Xander to show it to him, too. When Daizi called her back, though, she typically listened pretty quickly.

"Ivy," Daizi cooed, tickling her daughter's tummy to get her attention before pointing at Alec, "Who is that?" Ivy stared at her Mama, with a hand in her mouth and then turned to look at Alec, "Who is it, habibti?"

"Ack!"

"Great job, Hummingbird! Can you go give Alec a hug?"

Giving a little squeak, Ivy crawled into Alec's lap and flopped against him, her head turned so he could only see the slightest bit of her face as she pressed against his torso.
 
"Hello, Ivy! Hello!" Alec cooed, his face radiating joy as Ivy proved that she did, indeed, mean to say his name. He wrapped her in a gentle hug. "I love you, Ivy."

Xander ended the recording and gave a satisfied nod. "Got it." He glanced at Alec. "You are now Ack. Sounds like a cry of surprise." He was joking, but truly pleased for his brother.

Alec snickered. "Wait until she tries to tackle your name."
 
"Yeah, maybe she'll call you Drr," Daizi chuckled, sitting back and letting Alec have his moment with his sister, "Ack and Drr."

Rather than pulling away from her brother, Ivy held tighter to him and very much snuggled in.
 
Alec giggled and lightly rocked Ivy, singing, "The Ack and the Ivy, when they're both full grown, of all the children in the world, will play till the setting of the sun."

Xander brought his phone over to Daizi and played the video for her. "Can you hear it okay?"
 
Ivy stayed snuggled in, swiveling her head slightly to look up at her brother with big, sleepy eyes.

"Yeah, I can," Daizi smiled, not at all surprised it made her a bit emotional to hear, "You should also share it with your aunt, she might like to know about it. I know my aunties will be delighted."
 
Alec didn't know the words well to the song he was completely butchering for his sister, but since she seemed to be enjoying it, he continued singing and making up words were he couldn't remember. "The running of the babe, the playing of the harpist, sing sweetly in a choir, as the Ivy wears a crown."

"I'll send it to you so you can send it to the aunties, and then I'll send it to Alec and Ciara. Oh, and Ba might light it, too," Xander said, making sure not to miss anyone.
 
Ivy watched him with love in her face and had absolutely no interest, at least in that moment, about moving away from him. It was her first time hearing the song and she wasn't really swaying to it, but her eyes stayed focused on her brother... when they weren't beginning to close.

"Thank you, your father would love it." Daizi said, "You'll have to tell me what your aunt says about it."
 
Alec kept going, rocking gently and getting farther and farther away from "The Holly and the Ivy" as he made up more and more verses. He wasn't sure if it was actually bedtime or not for her, but he wasn't going to be the one to wake her up! It was probably close enough.

"And... sent," Xander said, typing in the last text. "I'll let you know. Something tells me she won't know she's supposed to be impressed."
 
"You're probably right, but I like to include her," Daizi said, not knowing Ivy was falling asleep. Even if she did, though, Alec was right that it was close enough to her usual bedtime that it wasn't a big deal that she fell asleep now.
 
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