How Green Becomes Wood

"She was petting Kiki through the gate and got her arm stuck," Dark explained, not looking up as he tried to help her. It wouldn't be difficult, because all he had to do was move her arm to the side, but Ivy was not cooperating.

"It only happened a few minutes ago," Daizi added, rubbing Ivy's back.
 
Kiki stood back out of the way, watching everything with her scruffy black fur sticking out in tufts all around her face.

"Ah, poor Ivy!" Alec winced.

"Can I help?" Xander asked. He moved over to crouch near Daizi and tried to catch Ivy's attention. "Hey, Mini. Look here, Mini." He held up his phone, having put it on a video of a bright disco ball. He figured it wouldn't keep her attention forever, but maybe it would catch her eye enough for her to hold still for the moment Dark would need to get her arm out.
 
"I think she's mostly just frightened," Daizi said, continuing to smooth Ivy's hair, "It's okay, habibti, Baba is going to get you free." Still absolutely screaming her little head off, Ivy looked over at the video Xander showed her, and as expected, it gave her enough pause to make her stop wiggling just long enough for Dark to gently slide her arm to the side.

"Daizi, she should be free now, you can pull her arm back through the gate," Dark said, sitting back in relief while Daizi made sure Ivy's arm was the rest of the way through the gate. Losing interest in the video, Ivy turned away, completely ready to start crying again, but then she saw her arm was free, and therefore had nothing to scream about. This confused her immensely.
 
"Yay! She's free!" Alec cried, clapping his hands. "Poor Ivy! Did that scare you? You're okay now."

"All free," Xander agreed, moving out of the way. "Gates are dangerous."

Kiki wiggled her way through the gate and trotted over to Alec. She gave a little leap, caught onto his pants, and started climbing. Alec let her get higher up and then reached down to pull her off with great care.

"Hello! Did you miss me? I missed you. But what do you have to say about getting the human kitten stuck?"
 
"It did scare her," Daizi said, rubbing Ivy's back and staying right on the floor with her while Dark stepped back over the gate to stand on their side again, crouching down to make sure Ivy wasn't actually hurt, but she looked fine. "But she's okay now."

"It was rather unpleasant to just hear her start crying like that. But I suppose it was inevitable."
 
"The world is a very scary place," Alec said, holding Kiki close as she investigated the new smells on his shirt. "At least you were here to save her."

Xander gave a nod. "She'll be alright. I bet tomorrow she'll try again.
 
"Yes we were," Daizi sighed, drying Ivy's poor, tear-stained face. "Poor girl, she didn't know."

"I certainly hope Ivy is clever enough to not have a repeat of this catastrophe." Dark said, standing up again, "How was the trampoline park?"
 
"It was so much fun!" Alec grinned.

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Xander agreed, "and there's a little place for tykes, too."

"It's a really great place for kids! As long as they are properly supervised, which she would be with us. And there's soft surfaces everywhere! Which is a good thing when you do fall." He told them about the unsupervised child that Sloan narrowly avoided smashing.
 
"Ivy would definitely be benefited from a place she can fall safely down in," Daizi nodded, finally getting up off the floor but still holding her baby who needed a bit of comfort after her very scary ordeal, "I can't believe someone would just let their child nearly be annihilated like that!"

"I can. All children want is to risk grave bodily harm." Dark said cynically.
 
"That's what I say," Xander agreed, nodding to Dark. "It's crazy what they do."

"Maybe they just snuck away from their adult," Alec said. "But if we went with Ivy, we'd never take eyes off of her."
 
"Probably a little older than she is now," Alec chuckled. He reached over and ruffled Ivy's hair. "But you'll have to stop sticking your arms in places where it shouldn't be, okay?"

"Gymnast or not you should do that," Xander told her, amused.

Alec asked her, "Do you want to pet Kiki?"
 
"We'll have to look. At some point there are so many fun classes she can take, so far all she's done is take baby swim classes, and she loved those," Daizi said, turning to Alec.

Lifting up her face, Ivy looked at the black kitten and after making the most pitiful little sound, she reached out to try to pet Kiki again.
 
"Most of them are just her learning how to move her body, right? Which will be super awesome for her," Alec said. He moved close to Ivy and presented Kiki. "Here you are, Ivy. You can pet her."

Kiki blinked at Ivy and purred softly, just happy to be the center of attention.
 
"It is very important for her to learn such things," Dark agreed, watching as Ivy pet Kiki as carefully as she could manage, still sniffling. It had been a very difficult afternoon to be a baby.

"I still can't believe that she's walking, even though she's been doing it since Christmas."
 
"She's growing so quickly," Alec agreed happily. It didn't strike him as big of a deal, but he recognized it was a big deal for his parents, so he tried to be as supportive and upbeat as he knew how.

Kiki licked Ivy's fingers and then rubbed her little head into her hand, enjoying it.
 
For her part, Daizi remembered that this tiny person capable of speaking and walking is the same person who grew inside of her. It was impossible for her to not be amazed by how much her daughter could do now. She remembered excitedly handing Dark a bag of flour and telling him how, after twenty-some weeks of pregnancy, their baby weighed one full pound. Now she was learning to run. "Her growing has slowed down a bit," She said, smiling at the happy noises Ivy made as she pet the kitten, "But she's learning so quickly. It's the bulk of what she does all day."
 
"That's what we do for the bulk of our days, too. Especially school days," Xander remarked.

"I don't think it's quite the same," Alec said, shifting his arms so Kiki could walk back and forth on them like a platform, still in Ivy's reach.

Xander snorted. "Says the man who tripped over his own feet yesterday and still runs off in the wrong direction when going somewhere new. Heck, when going somewhere familiar! It's amazing you can find your way around school."

Alec pouted but did not argue.
 
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