How Green Becomes Wood

"Babies like them," Daizi shrugged, "and they're supposed to protect against SIDS. They also help with tongue development and her sucking skills." She laughed lightly and beamed at the way Alec was speaking to Ivy, "He is a grumpy pants... Nobody wants to silence you, don't worry. Mama can't wait until you start making more noises."

"She just has to be weaned off of them by six months, because then they would start being a problem," Dark said, but then paused and frowned, reaching for his phone, "Unless she can have them longer because she was preterm. Are pacifiers an adjusted age thing?" He tried to google the answer, but to his frustration he couldn't get the search terms right and kept getting the same information about how babies born when Ivy was are able to use one.
 
"Maybe it's the same amount of time no matter when they are born because that's how long it takes to develop tongue muscles?" Alec paused and opened his mouth slightly. "Huh. I eh-er eel-ized 'ow 'uch us-ckle ung ih."

"You never realized how much muscle tongue is?" Xander translated uncertainly. "Well... yeah. It's one solid lump. It's a tongue. And if they're supposed to be off them by six months, how come you see like four-year-olds wandering around with them?"

Alec made a face at Ivy. "That's when your silencing theory comes in, or, more likely, they just can't deal with taking it away for whatever reason. Does it matter? Ivy's not going to be like that, so unless you're going to go shaming other parents..."

"Fine, fine, fair point," Xander grumbled.
 
Dark did more searching on his phone, "I guess it has to do with when they get teeth," he commented, "and she'll get teeth later, because when she is one month old, she still would not have been born yet if she had not come early." He looked up at the twins, "Until she is six weeks old, we should not expect her to be doing all the things a newborn baby would do, so most of her milestones will be delayed by about six weeks."

"But she'll catch up eventually," Daizi said with confidence and some other feeling that was hard to place.
 
"That makes sense," Alec agreed. "That's okay, though, because the late bloomers are always the best, right, Ivy? Well, you won't know yet, but you will soon." He looked up at Dark. "Would you take her now? My arm is starting to cramp in this position, and I'm scared to move it."

Xander shifted, tired of standing, but not wanting to sit anywhere. He decided to casually wander out into the hallway to at least move a little.
 
"I'll take her," Daizi said, disentangling herself from her husband and going over to Alec and picking up Ivy from him, "Hey sweet girl, how is the baby? Huh?" Daizi hummed and kissed Ivy's head, "Mama loves you, baby." She nestled Ivy against her skin, and then took a deep breath and said, "I can't believe this entire person was inside of me, and that if she wasn't born early, she would still be just like this, but curled up in my belly."

Dark leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, "I can hardly believe any of it. I never thought..."
 
Alec stretched out and stood, putting the pillow back where it belonged. "Well, one thing is for certain, Ivy is never once going to doubt that her parents are devoted to her!
 
"Hey, I went through a lot to bring her here," Daizi laughed, "and I think it's pretty impressive to grow a new person. You put my garden to shame, don't you, Ivy?"

"I think we get a week or two to be embarrassing about it," Dark said simply, "Do you want to see the picture I took of you holding her?"

Out in hallway, almost everyone was a nurse or a doctor, who didn't really acknowledge Xander beyond a polite nod or a brief hello. They all had very fragile patients and very frightened parents to contend with, so a healthy, calm teenager didn't really command their attention. There was the occasional parent, who looked about as, or more, exhausted than Dark and Daizi. Then, at the very end of the hall, a child who looked about the age of ten stormed out of a room and slammed the door shut.
 
"I think you should have at least a month or more," Alec told Dark seriously before edging closer. "Yes. Yes, I do. Is she cute?"

Xander leaned against the wall outside the door to Dark and Daizi's room, and he frowned at the kid who slammed the door. He thought about saying something about slamming doors in a place where a bunch of delicate people - big and little - were trying to sleep, but he couldn't quite bring himself to say anything. He wasn't used to meddling in other's affairs, but he did keep an eye on the kid.
 
"I think that might kill your brother, he is bothered enough by our 'sappiness' that I fear to know what might happen should we spend too long like this," Dark replied, pulling up the pictures, "She is. But that comes naturally to her... I took a few, you can scroll. You look nice in them too... I think you are a natural with her."

Outside the door, the kid looked like they probably wanted to yell something, but knew enough about the rules of the place so instead they punched the air and mouthed yelling silently. Then they just crossed their arms and sat down on the floor, apparently also knowing enough to not wander off.
 
Alec blushed faintly. He looked at the pictures and smiled, but he only looked at Ivy, never himself. "I think you should fuss anyway. You've certainly earned it, and you deserve it," he replied. He flipped through a few pictures before handing the phone back to Dark. "Are you going to get those professional ones done? Where they pose the sleeping baby on like clouds and things?"

Xander eyed the kid. "That's one dirty floor, kid," he remarked blandly. "There's a chair just down there." He rooted through his pockets until he found the bag of trail mix he'd brought along and opened it. He only kept half an eye on the kid, vaguely curious but not really wanting to ask any questions.
 
"Not on a cloud, no," Dark replied, "but I do think we will get some professional pictures taken. Just not cheesy ones, a few of her, some of her and Daizi... That is it, I think. Mr. Hollis said months ago he would not mind taking them. And when she is a bit older and has more personality, we might do a full family picture."

"I don't care." The kid replied, crossing their arms. Their brown shapeless hair fell into their face as they slumped down, "Maybe I'll contract MRSA. Or typhoid."
 
"Those will look really nice," Alec said with a thoughtful nod.

Xander shrugged. "MRSA, probably, but I doubt typhoid." He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at her. "You got a burning desire to die a slow and horrible death? Or at least suffer a lot for a long time? I can help you find the psych ward if you do." He doubted the kid seriously wanted to be sick. It looked like a good old-fashioned tantrum to him.
 
Daizi curled up on the chair, holding Ivy close to her chest, "Dark needs one with her, too. And you can have some done with her too."

The kid looked up at Xander, "Yeah well nobody would even care if I did! 'Cause my stupid dad married my stupid step mom and she decided they needed to have their own family, but she's old, she's like, forty so they needed to go to the doctor and they had two dumb kids so now it wouldn't even matter if I got typhoid."
 
"Oh no, how horrible, however will you cope?" Xander said, keeping his voice low but the sarcasm heavy. He raised his brows at her. "Does the evil stepmother beat you and refuse to feed you while your dad laughs?"
 
She scowled at him, "No. But it's always been about the new babies the whole time and my dad kept saying, 'oh don't worry you're still my baby girl' and then they went and had a girl anyway even though they had been saying they are boys and I went in to see them and my dumb stepmom said, 'look, we have a daughter, isn't that wonderful' so it's like, I don't even matter I guess."
 
"Nope. You don't matter one bit," Xander agreed almost cheerfully. "Only one kid at a time can matter, so that means your other siblings don't matter, either. I guess you can all run away somewhere and not matter together. After all, you mattered so little they left you home, right? Didn't bother to bring you to the hospital to meet the new kid, didn't bother to try to be happy with you, just forgot all about you."
 
The little girl looked up at him with big upset eyes and then buried her face in her arms, "You're mean. You don't understand. They just don't need me anymore because they have their new family and I'm just from the old family and they made me give away most of my toys to them and I know they're just toys but why have a baby if they can't afford toys for the baby?"
 
"Sorry, kid, I don't do sympathy," Xander said flatly. "Your parents probably told you to give the toys to the baby because you outgrew them, not because they couldn't afford them, and you're the one who is choosing not to be a part of the family by being out here whining instead of in there. It's your choice to be a part of the family. I bet you they want you and love you and can't wait to hug you and all that sappy stuff, but you're so busy focusing on how things ain't the way they were, you can't see how awesome they can be. You have a kid sister you can play with now. Or you can hate her and be bitter and angry and waste your life. Your call. Not your dad's. Not your stepmom's. Not the other kids'. Yours."
 
The girl stared at him and her big eyes filled up with tears, "You don't get it! Why do you think you know when you don't know? You don't even know them! You don't know what it's been like!" She visibly tried to keep her tears from spilling over, but failed spectacularly. Pushing herself to her feet, she did her best to stare Xander down. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but in a choaked voice she just squeaked out, "You're mean." With one arm she roughly wiped her face, but then kept crying anyway, "I tried to be nice to the babies, even though my dumb step mom kept saying how great it is that they get to have a daughter and I went to speak to the babies and washed my hands and everything and kept my hands up so I didn't touch anything like what doctors do on TV and my stepmom still yelled at me for getting too close when I didn't even touch either of them and then my dad told me I need to be careful when I didn't touch them because they only want their family without me!"
 
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Xander shrugged. "Then go yell at them, not me, and tell them how you feel. Or just run away. Sitting out here isn't going to solve anything. Unless you want me to yell at them for you."
 
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