How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh, I don't really have a strong preference," She replied, "I'm starving so food is food. And no, I don't need juice, I can wait." She went over to where Dark liked to sit, and like every morning, she hugged him from behind and kissed his shoulder. Then she went into the pantry, took out a closed bag of coffee beans, and smiled to herself before handing it to Dark, "Feel that," she murmured, before selecting a mug for the morning and getting her vitamins and her chosen variety of tea for the day.

"If you worked so hard to make the omelette, you should eat it yourself," Dark suggested, holding the bag of coffee beans, but clearly not understanding why his wife came downstairs and handed it to him.
 
Alec gave them both a curious look but didn't ask. Instead, he asked Daizi, "Is the ability to choose literally any career path relatively new historically speaking, or is it pretty standard?"

Xander set the table with eggs for everyone, keeping the actual omelet for himself. He made sure the condiments were on the table and sat while Alec finished the toast.
 
"Relatively new. For a long time people just did what their parents did and crafts and skills were passed down generationally, which was part of why having children was so important, and where we get surnames like 'smith' and 'fletcher.' Those were the jobs their people had worked." She explained. It was a bit surprising Alec asked her instead of her history major husband, but she was glad to answer. Then, wrapping her arms back around Dark, said, "That is how much the baby weighs now."

"Oh," Dark remarked, as if it were simply an interesting fact, and was about to set it down again when he really realized what that meant, then he held it more in his hand, really feeling how heavy it was, "Oh. Really?" He looked from the bag to her and back again.

Daizi squeezed him and then sat down to eat her breakfast, "Mmhm. One full pound, and still growing."
 
Alec was going to ask her more questions about the impact having job options had on society, guessing she'd have more information on that kind of thing as a - sort of, not really - archeologist, but he bit his tongue at her announcement to Dark. Their minds were on other things. He didn't want to interrupt, and, really, a full pound was quite the milestone! That was more important than garnering random knowledge.

Xander glanced at the bag curiously. "Really? A pound?" He very nearly said, "that's it? it looks like more," but caught himself just in time and did not utter the horrid words. He shoved a bite of eggs into his mouth instead. Then mumbled, "Doesn't look that big."
 
"A pound," Daizi repeated, taking the coffee bag back, and responded to Xander's comment by saying, "Doesn't feel that small. Funny to think it took this long for her gain what I've needed to put on each week." She rubbed her hand over her belly, thinking about how big the baby was now, "She's the size of a papaya. I should have brought one home. I guess she's supposed to be about seven and a half inches long, too."

Dark held his hands up to estimate about how long that would be, and said, "She is still so small, but has gotten so big," He turned to the twins, taking another look at that 1lb bag, "and to think, when we told you Daizi was pregnant only about, what, fourteen weeks ago? The baby was only the size of a raspberry."
 
Xander looked sadly down at his eggs and fought the urge to sigh. He was very much not hungry now. And he dared not say anything at all. He wanted to, but he was afraid if he did, Daizi would get her feelings hurt, and Dark would be angry.

"Your water is ready," Alec told Daizi. "Do you want me to pour it for you so you don't have to stand up? Might as well save your feet and back while we can before you go into work."
 
"If you would like to, but I really don't mind doing it myself." There was more she wanted to say about the baby--and something she wanted to test--but she did still know it bothered Xander. It was all just too exciting when she realized they had reach that point to wait until the end of a day. Her stillborn she held in the palms of her hands, this meant too much to keep quiet about until the timing was better. And the fact he had commented on it at all felt really special, even though she knew it bothered him.
 
Alec poured Daizi her tea and made certain it was steeping properly before setting it near her plate. He warned her where the cup was and that it was very hot before returning to his seat. He and Xander were finished and ready to go at the usual school time, but there was nowhere to go. Neither or them felt particularly drawn to accompany Daizi unless she asked, and they had their project to work on. Every now and then it was fun to go, but today they had paper to shuffle.
 
"Thank you," She smiled, "You're both so good to me..." Alec bringing her tea was such a simple little thing, but it clearly hit her in one of her new emotionally-vulnerable, crying-at-a-pin-drop spots, which she had hopefully trained her boys to ignore, because whenever they fussed over her crying over something simple, when she pulled herself back together and her normal adult brain took over again, she felt incredibly stupid if they fussed.

Still, Dark reached over to rub her back while he ate, although he otherwise ignored her weepy spell, as per her wishes. When she did recover, which only took about a minute--these weepy spells were quick--and she had wiped her eyes and laughed at herself, she asked, "Why do you both get up so early over the summer? I thought teenagers liked to sleep in until one."
 
Xander shrugged, not even really noticing Daizi's weepy moment. "It's a waste of day. You can get a lot more mischief done in a day if you get up early."

"More to the point, we got in the habit, and it's hard to break," Alec admitted, noticing but not commenting on Daizi's emotions. "Now that we aren't trying to cram four hours of homework into two, we get a lot more rest and it isn't as badly needed. That, and I like eating breakfast with you."
 
"I understand that completely," Daizi smiled, being very much a mischief maker, "and I like eating breakfast with you too. It has always been easy for me to wake up in the morning, although I am a very light sleeper. Dark could still sleep in until the middle of the afternoon."

"And I would, if I were not a responsible adult," He nodded. He did not fight it, "although I hate you need to wake up early to be considered responsible: I would be quite content to wake up at 1pm and stay up until sunrise."

"I know Goose, the world isn't made for you. You're too tall for everything and you're a night person." This was truly sincere, she knew he hated waking up early.

As he began clearing their dishes, Dark shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "I have adjusted. And it means I get to see you in the morning and take you to work, instead of making you get a cab twice a day."
 
Alec glanced Xander, who said nothing but did give a tiny nod. He'd caught that, and they'd both filed it away.

"Speaking of cabs, don't you need to start getting ready so you won't be late?" Alec suggested to Daizi.

"Same to you, mister driver," Xander pointed out.

"We can do the dishes while you're gone," Alec promised.

"We can?"

"Yes, we can."
 
Daizi groaned slightly, but heaved herself up. It was so much easier when it was just Dark she was leaving behind. She loved her job, but worried she wasn't able to put the time into bonding like he could. And always once she was in her building, and at her desk, work didn't seem so bad, but the actual leaving was tough, "I only need to get dressed, I'll be back in five minutes."

"If I had a mind for conspiracy theories, I would suspect you were trying to get rid of us." Dark replied, getting up to follow his wife, "although I am dressed, or dressed enough, I work out when I come back from dropping her off, it would be absurd to dress in my day clothes for it only to change back out of them later."
 
"You still have teeth scrubbing and things like that to attend to if not dressing," Alec pointed out cheerfully. "We aren't trying to get rid of you, just ensuring that everyone has a good day, and a good day rarely involves being late." He started picking up the dishes and carting them to the sink.

"If we really wanted to get rid of you, it'd hardly just be for the trip to the train and back," Xander said dryly as he started wiping things down. "Besides, you two need time to talk about all the stuff you can't talk about when we're around."
 
Dark squinted at them, but brought his coffee cup to the sink and went upstairs. He supposed they could be honest. He supposed they probably were. But anytime someone was adamant he should leave the room he had his doubts.

Still, he went upstairs after Daizi, if no other reason than to talk to her privately, since he was in the habit of washing his face and brushing his teeth before coming downstairs in the morning, and not after eating. She told him about what she had learned she could do with a flashlight, and naturally he wanted to go and test it right away, but as much as she'd like to, she knew it'd make them late, because regardless of the outcome, she'd probably end up sobbing. There was no arguing with that fact. After work was better.

Not too long after, they came back downstairs, and Dark decided to come down quietly, as quietly as he could, and peek into the kitchen, curious to see if he'd catch them up to shenanigans.
 
The twins had not actually been planning anything - at least, not at that moment - and they were busily washing the dishes and chatting innocently as they went. After Dark and Daizi were out the door, that was when they'd be up to their shenanigans. For now, Alec washed the egg pan and Xander wiped down every surface he could find while they talked about potential careers.

"What would you even do in the circus?" Alec asked Xander.

"Well, the wooden me is a fire eater, so I could do that. Maybe be one of those shock artists and creep everyone out," Xander grinned. "What about you?"

Alec paused and turned to eye his brother. "After a lifetime of dealing with you, I think the lion tamer's act would suit me just fine."

Xander snickered then lowered his voice. "Are you ready for the thing?"

"Shh!" Alec warned. "Yes, but just wait a bit longer."

"They're upstairs. They can't hear all the way upstairs."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't put it past them, and they could walk in on us at any moment."

Xander shrugged. "Okay. No talking about the thing unless we're alone, but that's getting difficult lately."
 
On normal occasions, Dark did not like to eavesdrop on the twins. It felt like an invasion of privacy. Okay, it still felt like an invasion of privacy. But he was right, and they were up to something. In his defense, he had only come down just in time to catch them murmuring about the thing.

Naturally, he couldn't let them know he had been spying, so he silently moved away from where he was standing so he could come downstairs a second time. Thankfully, any of his movements back up the stairs were disguised by Daizi (who knew what he had tried to do) coming downstairs. She wasn't ridiculous loud, and even now her footsteps weren't heavy, but she wasn't trying to be silent, so she could be heard.

"Alright, we're leaving," She said, coming into the kitchen, now dressed and ready for work.

"And we are not running late," Dark added. He didn't go to the kitchen, and instead went to get his shoes and keys.
 
Alec dried off his hands and hurried to give Daizi a hug. "I hope you have a great day at work! Be safe on the train."

"Anyone tries anything fresh, chop them in the throat," Xander called to her.

"Be safe and try not to be too violent on the train," Alec sighed. "See you soon!"
 
Daizi hugged Alec back, squeezing him more tightly than he could squeeze her, "You have a good day too. I'll be safe," she released him, and waved to Xander, since of course she wasn't going to hug him, "I would, but I'd probably miss, and I don't want to put anyone else at risk. I'll just keep my spikes up, right?" She smirked, and then followed Dark out of the house, who only made a mild goodbye since he'd see them again in a short time.

Her train was actually delayed, so they got to spend a little extra time at the train station together. When it was just the two of them, he'd wait with her on the platform, to just enjoy those brief moments alone. And since her train was running behind, they had a little bit longer. Dark spent the time feeling Daizi's bump, and she reported the baby's actions, since he couldn't feel her movements yet, and it was nice for the three of them to bond while they waited, although it made it more difficult for Daizi to leave when her train arrived.

Eventually, though, Dark came home, alone, and hung up his keys.
 
Once Dark and Daizi were out of the house, Xander and Alec instantly ran for the computer. Alec manned the keyboard and did most of the searching. Xander alternated between offering ideas and keeping an eye out for Dark's return. He even got out his leather kit and spread out his things on the living room table just to make it look like they'd been doing something else. They discussed various options, writing down quite a bit in an old notebook, and keeping records of everything they found. They were just narrowing down their choices and had almost made a final decision when Xander spotted Dark's car pulling up.

Alec cleared the search, closed down the computer, and vaulted into the nearest chair, grabbing a book as he went. Xander skidded over on his knees and knelt next to the table as if he was deep in concentration with his latest project. When Dark walked in, they looked up and gave him a nod.

"You're late," Alec remarked. "Was there traffic?"
 
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