How Green Becomes Wood

"We cleaned her with a wash cloth when she was born," Daizi said, getting up to move Ivy's incubator closer to where they were sitting, "but her real first bath? I held her before she was cleaned off, because I was impatient, so I know what she's like when she's slippery, but I'm still nervous." It was nice to talk about the little moments she had experienced with Ivy, and spend a long time describing that first, quiet little cry, that she knew would remain the most beautiful sound she'd ever hear. Even when she was really sick of Ivy crying, that first one would always be special. And she spoke about waking up after her first sleep to remember where she was and that her baby was in the room with her, but not inside of her. She also talked about her experience in labour, mentioning the retroactively funny moment where, in the middle of one particularly strong contraction, Dark made a panicked comment that she should bite down on something, and because her mind wasn't fully firing on all cylinders, her response was to bite him, making her midwife immediately shriek, "No!"

Dark, meanwhile, had finally made it back home. Cooger had his truck parked outside of the house, having trusted one of his other friends to drive it over so Dark could have his car back without having to drive all the way to Cooger's cabin to get it. They made their goodbyes in the driveway, knowing they'd see each other soon, and then Dark walked inside, took off his shoes, and touched the salt, "Hello," he called out, not knowing where the twins would be, "I am back. Daizi is still there. But she is admitted too, technically."
 
Sally laughed at Daizi's story of biting her husband and fully enjoyed talking to Daizi about little, tiny Ivy. It was truly amazing to witness a new mother, especially one with a miracle baby. She didn't say anything, but she realized she had never been with a mother who was this new to motherhood. By the time she came around, it was usually at least a couple of days after and some of the adrenaline and afterglow had faded. It was lovely to see.

~~

Alec came bounding down from his room upstairs and ran to Dark. "Hi! Welcome home! How is everything? How is everyone? How are you?"
 
The whole time they spoke, Daizi never broke contact with Ivy. She wasn't holding her then, but she kept one hand inside the incubator resting on her. Since Ivy had been so recently born, there wasn't all that much she could say about her, because although just about every moment was a first, the majority of them had blended together.

She was really glad to have someone there to talk to. Eventually, she knew, her boss and coworkers would come through, and her other friends in their time, but all her coworkers were busy presenting her work, and her other friends did not get up this early. And her family were probably in some shady government official's office, trying to bribe them to get their visas rapidly expedited so they could arrive in time for Ivy's seventh day out of the womb. But Sally was there. And it made it a little less scary.

~~

"Hello, Alec," Dark smiled and quickly put one arm around Alec before releasing him. He still wasn't a hugger, but it felt that in times like this, he needed to really emphasize his undimmed love for his boys, "Everything is unchanged. Daizi and Ivy are still both doing very well." He knelt down, hearing the thunder of paws rushing towards him: Cooger brought Enkidu home, and now the dog, hearing his dad had returned, came rushing to greet him, and Dark knew if he did not lower his center of gravity, he'd he thrown over, "How have you and Xander been? Is everything okay? Emotionally?"
 
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Alec grinned at the hug and quickly moved out of the way for Enkidu. "We are alright," he assured Dark. "We knew if anything bad had happened, you would tell us, so we have been focusing on not worrying. Oh, Xander is out back in the shed. I'll go get him." He turned and trotted to the back. "Xander!" he called out the back door. "He's home!"

Xander came out of the shed and walked up to the house, still smelling strongly of the leather he was working with. There was another smell underneath the leather smell, but it was faint and impossible to identify. "Everyone still good?" he asked Dark when he got inside.
 
"Yes, everyone is still doing well. And all of us have slept." He looked around at the house, perfectly decorated for Halloween, and thought it was too quiet, "It is strange, it has not even been a full day since we left, but it feels different in here. I am glad to hear you are both doing okay on your own here. I wish the two of you could stay there with us."

Dark paused, frowned, and corrected himself, "I wish all of us could be home. What are you making, Xander?"
 
"We are looking forward to everyone being home," Alec agreed soberly. He followed Dark's gaze. "Is everything alright here? Should we be making some changes? Less Halloween?"

"She was born on Friday the thirteenth. She'd better like Halloween," Xander said dryly. "That, or she's going to come to hate all things spooky." Turning to Dark, he said, "I was making a belt for Daizi, but I was too slow. Maybe it can be salvaged anyway." He pulled a wide piece of leather off his shoulder where it had been hanging and held it out for Dark to look at. It was an extra wide belt with the words, "Don't Touch the B" engraved on it. "It was supposed to say Belly, but I can change it to say Baby."
 
"No, keep it," he said, referring to the decorations, "I like the decorations. It would be sad to come home and find the house normal. And since now her first Halloween will be this year, she deserves to have the full experience."

Dark took the belt from Xander and turned it over in his hands, "She would have liked it. I am sorry she will never get to make use of your original vision. But if you make it say baby she will be able to wear it longer than she'd have been able to otherwise. Just be sure to add a lot of holes."
 
"I can do that," Xander agreed. "I meant to have this finished a long time ago, sorry. If she doesn't like it, she can maybe sell it or give it to a friend or something."

"I think it looks fantastic!" Alec told him. "Right? And she'll love it. Especially what it says."
 
"No, she will love it. Do not worry about that." He handed it back to him, "and you do not have to apologize about anything, either. You are doing a kind thing, for no other reason than to be kind. And I think the entire family has very recently learned that our intended timelines do not always work out, yes?"
 
Xander snorted and slung the belt back over his shoulder. "That's for sure," he mumbled.

"Can I tell Sloan and Peter now?" Alec asked Dark. "Sloan likely saw some of the hustle and bustle over here, so it'd be nice to tell her she doesn't have to worry."
 
"Yes you can tell them, and you can send them the picture I sent you," Dark replied, "we just wanted to wait to know everything would be okay. And Daizi wanted to be the one to tell Sally, she was worried if you two told Peter, she'd learn it from him first. I still have to call the school and... I should tell Ciara, right? It would be strange if I did not?"
 
"I can tell Aunt Ciara if you don't want to," Alec offered.

Xander rubbed his chin. "I don't know about telling Sloan. I'm thinking we should just invite her over all casual-like and let her figure it out."

"Sounds kind of mean and kind of fun at the same time," Alec replied, smirking.
 
"It is not that I do not want to tell her," Dark explained, "I just do not know... her... well enough to know if she would be confused why we were calling her. If one of you were adults and had just had a baby it would be intuitive, but I do not know what our," his and Daizi's, "relationship to her is. Because there are some people I call, some I text, and some I just wait for other people to tell."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "You can invite Sloan over if you like. I was going to ask if you wanted to come back with me to the hospital, though."
 
"Well, she is a part of our lives, and you are also a part of our lives, so what you do impacts us, so therefore, it would make sense to tell her about things that impact us," Alec mused.

"I meant invite Sloan over when Ivy gets home so she can see the baby without any kind of forewarning," Xander explained.

"We can certainly come back with you if there's room for us!" Alec agreed eagerly.
 
"That is true," Dark nodded, and then chuckled at Xander's plan, "That would be a shock for her. But then we would have to commit to not getting one of those tacky baby announcment yard socks signs Americans love so much, and what is the point of having a baby if you cannot put a massive pink stork in the yard?"

He did not need an excuse to not set up one of those signs, they seemed dangerous to him. Publicly revealing the name, birthday, and address of a person like that...

"There will be room for you, there is not much I will be bringing back with me, really just some clothes and toiletries."
 
"Why would you want to do something like that?" Xander demanded, looking revolted. "That's just... wow."

"I think he's joking," Alec told Xander uncertainly. "Anyway, do you need a shower and a change? Do you need food? We can get food while you shower."

"I'm not packing your toiletries," Xander said flatly.
 
"I am going to do both of those things, yes," he nodded, "You are welcome to cook, although Sally brought us soup. I have not eaten since breakfast. And I would not want you to pack them, you would forget something." He bent back down and gave Enkidu long, loving scratches and pets, "I wish I could bring you, my friend, but for some reason people have an issue with a dog in a hospital."
 
"Gee, I wonder why," Xander mumbled.

"You go and take a shower," Aelc said, gently nudging Dark in the right direction. "We'll fix you a little something to eat. You do what you need to do."

Xander headed into the kitchen, rightly guessing that the "we" in "We'll fix you something to eat," referred to him.
 
"I know why," He replied, giving his dog a big hug, "I just do not like leaving him for so long. He does not understand like you two do. And what will he do without Daizi? She is his favourite person."

Still he allowed himself to be nudged, and so he went upstairs to shower. It was very strange walking into his bedroom, which was now so still. It needed to be cleaned. But he didn't know when he'd have the time. And it wasn't like he could have the twins do it--Xander would faint, and Dark didn't want the twins to risk finding anything he didn't want them to find.

But it wasn't the time to deal with it, so he showered and then he went to pack for himself and Daizi. They had the hospital bags, but since he knew they'd be there for awhile, he needed to increase what he was bringing. And he had no idea what to bring for his daughter, if anything. It wasn't like she could have a whole lot. Then suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he went into the nursery and packed the clay rainbow Alec had made. To make her hospital room feel more like home.

Once he had everything he could think to pack, he hauled the suitcases downstairs, setting them in the front hall before going into the kitchen to see what the boys were up to.
 
Xander hadn't gone overboard since he knew Sally had brought them food. He'd just made three types of sandwiches - egg salad, assorted meat, and PB&J - to try to cover all the cravings he could think of. Alec had put together a small box of fresh fruits.

Alec smiled when he saw Dark and held up three CDs and a CD player. "They should have music! Don't you think?"
 
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