How Green Becomes Wood

"I'm alright, thank you," She squeezed his shoulder and then got back onto the couch, "go do your homework, and check on Xander, see if he's feeling better. And let me know if you need something, if you need a snack or something."

After Alec went upstairs, she fished out her phone to call Dark and tell him what had happened.
 
Alec and Xander stayed in their room for the rest of the afternoon. Xander did calm down pretty quickly, especially once Alec told him Daizi had promised to tell them everything once Dark got home. They did manage to do their homework, although Alec was falling behind and still didn't catch up.

As they waited for dinner, Xander idly sketched a few things in a lined notebook while Alec sat on the floor with a little hand mirror propped up in front of him. He had a thing of eyeliner he'd gotten from a dollar store and was trying to figure out how one used it properly. Xander was ignoring him. And they waited, each one trying to pretend to be calm for the other one's sake.
 
After Daizi's phone call, she tried to rehearse what she was going to tell the twins, and hoped it'd be received well. She wouldn't be surprised if they didn't take it well. She was preparing for their anger, or their hurt, or even their desire to run away from them.

Then Dark returned home, and he made dinner, since Daizi was in no state too, although thankfully, she was doing relatively okay with the smells that night. When it was finished, she texted the boys to let them know dinner was done, and sat anxiously at the table, holding Dark's hand tight enough that she left crescent-shaped divets in his skin.
 
Xander glanced at his phone and read the text. "Well, it's time." He glanced over at Alec. "Are you going like that?"

Alec stared mournfully at his face in the mirror. Seen from the right side, he looked like a perfectly ordinary and rather innocent fifteen-year-old boy. As seen from the left side, he looked like something Alice Cooper would wear on stage. A thick circle ran around his eye with four drips of black running down perhaps an inch or so, and one line going up. "Actually, I can't get it off," he admitted.

"Well. That's going to be fun," Xander sighed. "Just try to keep your left side toward Daizi and maybe Dark won't notice."

Alec nodded, and with Xander in the lead, they headed toward the dinner table. Xander tried to keep just in front of Alec to block direct sight to his face, but they had to sit down eventually. Alec kept his head down so his red hair somewhat hid his eye and fiddled with the utensils.
 
At the table, both adults suddenly realized they had no idea how to begin the conversation, even with all of their rehearsing. Thankfully for Alec, they were currently too focused on breaking the news.

"So..." Dark said, taking a sip of water, "should we eat dinner first and then... share?"

Daizi shook her head, "if we wait until after dinner, I think we will all die from anxiety."

He put his hand over hers and looked squarely at her, "If you are sure."

"I am," Daizi replied, although she wasn't. Her heart was pounding in her chest, "when I said nothing was wrong, and that I'm not sick, I'm just currently unwell, I was telling the truth. Nothing is wrong, nothing is... I'm not sick, I'm pregnant." She opened her mouth to say more, but Dark squeezed her hand to encourage her to wait a moment to see how they responded before saying more.
 
Alec kept his head down, confused. She was pregnant? But how? That didn't make any sense. He stared at the spoon in his hand as if willing it to explain for him.

"Wait," Xander said, voicing both of their confusion. "I thought you said that you couldn't get pregnant? That you'd tried and it didn't work before. If that was true, then how can you be pregnant now? And if you were lying before, why?" He frowned deeply, trying to understand, but not angry. Just confused.
 
Daizi sighed, relieved that they did not immediately begin yelling or storming off. She sat up straighter and with more confidence explained, "Well it, it's a little bit more complicated than that. I didn't expect when I said I couldn't have kids that it mattered how clear I was or not. But, basically I have scarring in my uterus which basically makes it more difficult for everything to stay where it should be. So I'm able to conceive, which means I'm able to become pregnant, I've just always been told it's unlikely I'll be able to stay that way. But, the..." Oh it was hard to talk about. Even feeling more confident about letting them know it was hard, her knuckles where white as she squeezed her husband's hand, "Our newest doctor, though, they found I had a smaller problem, that hadn't been caught before, and that's what my operation was for, because they put in some stitches to hopefully help keep..." She paused and tried to think of the right way to phrase it, "the goldfish in the bowl," that was not the right way to phrase it, "and that's why we didn't plan on telling you both yet, because even though our doctor has put in those stitches and is closely monitoring my hormones and working as hard as she can for us, it's still considered high risk, and we don't know what will happen. We wanted to wait until we hit twelve weeks, if we did, to..." She turned towards Dark and softly said, "Please say something, darling, I don't care what."

Dark had been exclusively watching Daizi as she spoke, rather than focusing on the twins' reactions, because he wanted to make sure she was doing okay. When she asked him to speak, he kissed her hand and continued to pretend very well that the death grip she had on him did not hurt, and said, "The baby is due in November but her doctor's goal is to at least make it to viability. And, so far, it is going well. We heard the heartbeat, yesterday, and the doctor says it it strong, so we are... cautiously optimistic."

"We're hopeful," Daizi murmured, but then added, "and we understand if this isn't something you feel particularly thrilled about, or if you have complicated feelings about, or even if you find it entirely upsetting. But we promise it won't affect you both living with us, we want you here."
 
Neither said anything at first. Xander looked down and fiddled with his spoon as he tried to absorb it all. Alec still hadn't looked up.

"Well, that all sounds complicated and kind of gross," Xander finally said. "I guess I can see why you didn't want to talk about it if it's not a certainty yet. Makes sense why you were sick so much and puking all the time. Is that going to get better later?"

Alec glanced away toward the hallway leading to their room but didn't make a move yet.
 
Finally Daizi released Dark's hand, and he shook it out and stretched his fingers. All things considered, this went far better than he either of them expected it too, although when Dark finally looked at the twins he suspected it had not been perfectly taken.

Upon hearing Xander's question, Daizi sighed heavily and her face clouded over with annoyance, "My doctor says it will. I don't believe her. Every day I wake up and pray I won't feel like my insides are in revolt, and every day I am disappointed."

"Well, she said by fourteen weeks..." Dark suggested, trying to instill in her faith it would end.

"You have no lines in this play."

"Okay," The corners of his eyes ever so slightly crinkled in amusement at how she had cut him off, but then he turned towards Alec and said, "Are you alright, Alec? I know it is a lot to take in."
 
Alec looked down at his plate then stood slowly. "I, uh, I need to be excused," he said softly. "I'm not hungry. I'll be in my room." He turned and hurried away before anyone could try to stop him.

Xander watched him go, hesitating. Should he follow or stay? It seemed Alec needed a moment alone, so he remained in his seat, watching after his brother.
 
When Alec left, Dark and Daizi both fell silent. Dark watched after Alec too and Daizi lowered her head. All things considered, only one of the twins leaving the room after their announcement could be counted as a success. They knew, without speaking, that one of them would need to talk to him, at some point. But they didn't know when. If they went too soon, they would seem pushy and like they didn't care he needed time to process. If they waited too long, it'd seem like they didn't care at all. His absence was felt.

But, since running right up after him definitely seemed like the wrong thing to do, eventually Daizi stirred and asked Xander, "Are you okay? You can be honest, we both have complicated feelings about it too."
 
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"I think complicated pretty much sums it up," Xander said guardedly. "I mean, you said it's kind of early to really feel anything, right? At least yet. I guess I'm happy for your chance." He flushed, feeling really awkward, like an elephant trying not to step on a bunch of mice. He lifted himself into a half-standing position. "Is it alright if I be excused?"
 
"Of course," Dark said, not going to force him to stay. At least the secret was out, he figured, so at least they could be honest with the twins again, "if either of you get hungry later, we will leave dinner out. You can help yourselves."

After Xander left too, Daizi slumped against Dark, having absolutely no idea if that conversation went well or not, "And then there were three," she mumbled, rubbing her middle with one hand, "Don't you excuse yourself from the table too, or I'll never recover."

"Are you talking to me or the baby?"

"Both, I guess. Except the baby hasn't developed hearing yet, so I guess just you." Daizi nearly laughed at her own joke, but felt too emotionally drained to find anything funny. At least she wasn't totally physically exhausted for once.
 
Xander walked in to find Alec with his backpack on the bed hastily shoving stuff in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here?" he demanded. "What are you doing?"

"Packing. What does it look like I'm doing?" Alec snapped, not looking at his brother as he tried to shove in his favorite jacket.

Xander frowned and sat on the end of the bed. "I got that part, but why are you packing?"

Alec tossed the jacket aside in frustration. "Isn't it obvious? They are going to have one of their own. They won't need us anymore. We were just a-a-a stand-in for something they wanted but couldn't have. Now they are going to have it, and they won't need us anymore." He started pushing in his hairbrush.

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, probably, maybe," he agreed, "but that won't be for a while, right?"

"It won't be long until they're trying to fix things for the new baby and all of that. They don't need us," Alec said again. "Soon they won't even notice if we're here or not."

"Then we'll leave when they aren't noticing us any longer," Xander said reasonably.

Alec paused and looked at him. "Really. You want us to just hang around here and wait?"

"At least it's a good place to be," Xander pointed out. "Sheltered and all that. Besides, if we leave now, then you know she'll get all worried and want to come find us. If we wait until they aren't noticing us any longer, then she won't get worried. Worry's bad for people with babies."

Alec frowned. "You mean if we left, and she got too worried, she might lose the baby because of us?"

Xander shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I know I don't want to risk it. Whatever happens next, they've been good to us, right?"

Alec hesitated a moment longer before sitting down next to Xander. "I suppose so. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen, but I still don't like it." He looked down at his hands. "Does that make me a bad person?"

Xander put an arm around his brother. "Nah, it just means you've got feelings."

Alec smiled and leaned into Xander, hiding his face against his shoulder. "When did you get to be the reasonable one?"

"I have no idea, but I hate it," Xander groaned.

They both let out soft, awkward laughs then fell silent, leaning on each other silently.
 
"Do you think they're okay?" Daizi asked quietly, still leaning against her husband, "I'm worried they probably both hate me, now."

"Why would they hate you? And, why would they only hate you?" Dark asked, fiddling around with her hair. She just had so much of it, and he fought tirelessly to keep it neat.

"Because they're kids and even though I'm sure they both know you're involved in making this, I'm the one who is actually carrying the baby, so if they're going to direct their upset somewhere, they'll put it onto me. Your job is complete until I give birth, presuming we make it until then, so you can just stand at a distance." She wasn't mad at him, because she wasn't upset enough to become unreasonable. But she was concerned, she didn't want to become, in their eyes, the villain who tore their comfortable little family apart. And worse, she didn't want their baby to be viewed that way, because they had no control over any of it. But if anyone is would be viewed as an interloper, it'd be the raspberry she was smuggling. And as the raspberry became much larger than a raspberry, and she expanded to accommodate, it would be a constant visual reminder of what had changed.

"What I think," Dark said, considering it, "is they can't possibly be more upset about you being pregnant than they were when they thought you were dying. I think they both like you too much to be upstairs thinking, 'oh no, she is pregnant, why could she have not just been dying?' and if I am right about that, then I think they will eventually accept it, and maybe one day even decide they are excited about it."

Daizi hadn't thought about how their baby was, in a way, the alternative ending to her telling them she was very ill and dying, and she hoped her husband was right and the twins, somewhere in the back of their minds, saw it that way too. "Are you excited about it? I don't think I've asked you that since my procedure."

"Spider," he smiled-- and actually smiled, like normal people do, although for him it was his more subtle version of a grin, "I cannot express how excited I am. And I really, really hope that it is a girl," they already had boys, and he couldn't help but think of getting to braid her hair before school or the surprise on all the boys' faces when some girl is just as tough as any of them. But all that was a long way away, "but dinner is getting cold, and I think we should eat, especially if you are not nauseous tonight, and because if everything goes well, who can say how often we will ever be alone at dinner again."
 
"You hungry?" Xander finally asked Alec.

Alec shook his head. "No, but you should go eat. I can hear your stomach growling."

"Alright. I'll bring you up some toast or something," Xander said. He stood and walked to the door, glancing back at his brother. "Hey, it'll be alright. Okay? Maybe not as good as it used to be, but still way better than it once was."

Alec smiled slightly. "Thanks." He set his half-packed back pack on the floor at the end of the bed where it had taken up residence since they'd arrived. "I'm going to try to get this stuff off my face."

Xander stepped out and started slowly making his way down the hallway, tense and uncertain.
 
Dark and Daizi were eating and quietly chatting in their native tongue. Daizi was careful when she ate. She wasn't feeling poorly, but she anticipated it, and the fear of suddenly taking a turn compelled her to have just a tiny, little amount and to eat it slowly.

Their conversation, at the very least, sounded normal. They were actually just talking about how Dark's day had gone, since neither could really handle talking about the twins or the baby anymore for the moment. At some point, Dark said something that made Daizi crack up laughing, and as she laughed, Dark caught sight of Xander standing in the hallway.

"Hello again Xander," he said, intentionally using his name so Daizi would know who was standing there, "how are you doing?"

"How is Alec doing?" She asked simultaneously, and wondered how long everyone would be asking everyone else how they were doing. Every day, about a thousand times a day, Dark asked her that question, too. There was scarcely a good answer for it.
 
Encouraged by their response and the somewhat lighter atmosphere, Xander walked the rest of the way into the kitchen and sat down. "Hungry," he stated. "Alec said he wasn't hungry, but he's fine." He hesitated a moment. "What are we talking about?"
 
"I'm glad he's fine," Daizi said, although she wasn't sure she she believed him, "we were talking about how some student, what was her name, Madison?"

"Addison," Dark corrected.

"Right, Addison, is definitely purposely getting detention because she's got a huge crush on Dark." Daizi explained, still very amused by the situation. And it seemed good to talk about--not because she wanted to mock the poor, heartsick girl, but because she thought it was good to show that yes, some things were going to change, but not really, and this was the exact sort of conversation they would have had in February.

"Okay, not definitely, I am sure there is another explanation for it," Dark pushed back, "and I do not know if we should discuss this with Xander, he might know her."

"Okay, babe, babe. Babe. She literally asked you what days do you watch detention and after learning your schedule, on days you don't, she's miraculously a perfectly well behaved student," She turned to Xander, completely ignoring Dark's point that perhaps they shouldn't discuss this with him, "What does that sound like to you?"
 
Xander snorted as he started stabbing things randomly on his plate. "Oh, yeah, I know Addison. Never spoken to her, but I have a class with her. Everyone knows she likes the professor." He smirked right at Dark. "I think she's hoping you'll invite her for a, what did you call it, the Frenchy thing. Ménage à trois?" He butchered the pronunciation, but he got the point across. "Personally, I don't think you've got anything to worry about, Daizi. She's totally not his type. Way too pink Barbie doll, if you know what I mean. Although, I think she did get some black streaks in her hair the other day."
 
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