How Green Becomes Wood

"Do you want a big swan bed?" Dark asked Xander in a falsely sweet tone, teasing him, "I can make you one. Would you like that? Or a racecar?"

Then chuckled in a low voice to himself and walked out after Alec, putting his hands in his pocket to hide the way he fiddled with his wedding ring. Objectively, he knew she would love it, but it was always stressful presenting something so major without talking about it at all.

Blessedly, he had very little time to wait on her, because soon enough she had opened the door and come inside. Quickly Dark strode up to her and took her hands, waiting just long enough for her to touch the salt, "Hello, darling."

"Hey, babe, are you that excited to get away?" She laughed bewildered by his intensity.

"No. Well, yes. But, I have something to show you first. It is important," He kissed her cheek, "Really important."

"O...kay?" Daizi replied, and would have glanced at the twins for clues were she able to see.

"I made something for you."

She blinked, "For me?"

"No," Dark said, and to help explain what he meant, lay his hand on her stomach. With this gesture, Daizi was able to recognize whatever he did, it was for the baby, but couldn't guess what it was (the mobile, maybe?), so intrigued, she allowed him to lead her upstairs.
 
"What if I do?" Xander muttered to himself, smirking, but then Daizi was home, and he let the idea go, following the others downstairs.

Xander and Alec weren't sure if they should be a part of this, but they were curious how Daizi would accept the surprise. Not that Xander would admit it, of course, but he wanted to see how happy she'd be.
 
"It is in the nursery already," Dark said, leading her by the hand. At the top of the stairs he paused and said, "Well, there are two. One is in our bedroom, so you get the full effect. But the other is in the nursery." He waited to see if she'd say anything, but upon hearing he had made two things for the baby, that were in two different rooms, Daizi felt even more confused than she already had, and resultingly, said nothing. Therefore, Dark continued, "We should go to our bedroom, then. See them in the right order."

He brought her inside their room, and lead her over to the swan, gently laying her hands on it. She slowly felt the shape of the neck and the head, "Did you sculpt a giant swan?" She asked, feeling it carefully, although not comprehending, "It is beautiful, but, I don't..."

"Here, feel lower, feel the body," He urged her, too excited about finally revealing months of his work to her to think about how weird that phrasing was, and he moved her hands down towards the wings, and walked them in towards the bed. It was when she touched the little mattress inside and Dark rocked the bed for her that it clicked.

"Oh my god," she murmured, standing closer to it and feeling it more intently, "Babe, did you make her a bassinet? Goose," she looked towards him with a bright grin on her face, "In a swan? Oh, it's beautiful, darling."

"I wanted her to have something special," he said, and Daizi slowly made her way all around the creation to learn all of the details of it. Carefully she rocked it, and the look of joy and amazement on her face plainly showed how deeply she was imagining laying her child down to sleep in it.

"It is special..."

Dark put his hand over hers, "Come on, let us go to the nursery. There is more in there," and with some hesitation, he managed to pull her away from the swan. Daizi would gladly have stayed right there for ages, just getting to know the cradle, but Dark's insistence was enough to lure her away from it. Barely.

Like in their bedroom, he walked her up to the crib and put her hands on it, but this time she almost immediately figured out what it was, and se sucked in breath and failed to find the words to express how she felt about it. After a few moments of tracing the ivy with one hand and feeling the slats with the other, she managed to laugh through tears and say, "I'm so stupid, how did I not realize this is what you've been doing?"

"You have been preoccupied," he replied sweetly, putting one arm around her.

"I'm an idiot," she laughed, "it's so obvious! God, and I bet they knew too!"

"They did."

"And you've been working so hard, clearly! How long did it take you?" She asked, and Dark revealed to her how many months he had been working on this project, which would have made her laugh more, but it was cut short by her finding the symbols he had engraved. She read them right to left with a hand that trembled increasingly as she recognized the meaning of every one perfectly. She fell silent, then, and remained so until she managed to squeak, "Dark... you did magic for her."

This comment surprised him--although he would later realize it shouldn't have, considering her proclivities--"What?"

"You did, all of these signs for love and connection and protection... You put your intentions into this for her," her voice caught in her throat, making her speak very quietly as she turned to him, feeling the symbols again and again, "You imbued her crib with runes for her, this is enchanted. You enchanted it for her, for us." The light trickle of tears on her face became a torrent because of how truly significant she found this action, but her entire face glowed from deep within. The crib was perfect, but she let go of it to throw her arms tightly around her husband and bury her face deep in his chest. In Arabic, through the heavy stream of her emotions, she told him, "I love you so much," and then in a whisper, this time in English, repeated only the words, "so much."
 
Alec and Xander watched quietly from a distance, peeking around the corners and eavesdropping on their conversation. They tiptoed away as Dark and Daizi turned to each other, wanting to give them privacy, and headed down to the kitchen. Alec sat at the counter while Xander made some tea.

"He should have carved a goose instead of a swan," Xander finally remarked.

Alec smiled slightly. "That might have been funny, but I think too focused on him instead of something new. Plus, swans carry their newborns on their backs, so it is sort of symbolic, I suppose."

"Maybe a crocodile, then, and make the mouth the bed," Xander smirked, putting the water on to boil.

Alec didn't smile this time, though he recognized Xander's joke. "I think you are being a little hard on them, especially Dark. It's a bit unfair of you," he said quietly.

"I know," Xander said without turning around.

"I know you don't mean badly," Alec began, fully prepared for Xander's denial. He stopped himself short as his brain registered what Xander had said. "Wait, you do?"

Xander shrugged. He focused on getting the cups out and lined up, picking out each person's favorite mugs. It was easy since Daizi had so many textured ones with raised patterns and images. "It's just... It was hard to accept even one room as ours, you know? Then we had a whole house for us. A house and two people. It was nice. Especially, you know, having a dad. Daizi is fantastic, but we had one mum already, so having a dad... a real dad... one that's just for us and only ours... Well, I get it, and I'm happy for them, I really am, but this kid... it's her house. Her mum. Her dad. They'll love us, we'll love them, and her, but she'll be first. I don't begrudge her, it's right and proper, and those two have every right to be head over heels and obsessed over every second of the day with her. It's just hard to go backward. No more house for us, just the room, while she takes over the rest of the place. And... not no dad, but less dad." He glanced at Alec and gave an awkward smile. "We still end up ahead of where we were, but it's hard to give up anything after feeling how good it is." He turned his gaze to the teabags as if the placement of the bag within the cup was the most important thing in the world.

Alec rested his chin in the palm of his hand and watched his brother. "I know," he agreed softly. They lapsed into silence thinking of all that they had gained, what they were going to gain, and what they were going to lose.
 
Last edited:
Slowly, Dark and Daizi pulled themselves from the nursery, stopping briefly by the twins' bedroom to chat, and then went back down to meet them again. Dark gently indicated for his wife to stop, because he had spotted the pensive look on their faces, and he didn't want to immediately interrupt them. He wondered what they were thinking about so deeply, but didn't deem it correct to ask, so he, in his usual tone, broke his rule about not talking about the twins in front of them, and in Arabic let Daizi know that there was something up with them. Since he didn't use names, it sounded essentially like they were continuing a conversation from upstairs.

Daizi spoke cheerfully, then, in English, as she came into the room, "You two are quiet! I don't know where you are, I don't want to bump into you."

"We were talking upstairs," Dark said, helping Daizi navigate the kitchen, "about how you are using your room as a workshop and how you are both going to catch whatever the leatherworker equivalent of black lung is, and we normally prefer the people we love to not cough up an organ and die, so we think we need to find a new place to do that. I offered giving some space in my shed, but I think Daizi would divorce me if I smell like leather."

"Oh, no, yes, I absolutely would," She replied, "but we have the space near Dark's shed to put up another, if you would like one. I'm not sure where else we can have a ventilated enough space, we'd change up part of the basement but that is more enclosed than your room."
 
They both jumped when they heard Dark's voice and quickly shook off their dismal expressions. Xander opted for something neutral, and Alec, as usual, smiled. Both of their expressions turned a bit quizzical when Dark mentioned the workshop.

"Wait, you mean Xander would have somewhere else to do his leatherwork besides our room?" Alec asked, brightening.

"I'm pretty sure that's what they just said, yeah," Xander said dryly.

"I know, it's just such a wonderful thing to think about! No more leather smell!" Alec sighed wistfully.

Xander set the mug of tea in front of Daizi. "Careful, it's still hot. Don't you guys have something a little more important to plan for than a new shed?"
 
"You made me tea?" Daizi asked, wide eyed as she bent over the cup to smell it, "Thank you." Then she raised her head and smiled at Xander, "You're important too. You matter just as much. Clearly what you have isn't working, so you need something else. We'll hire someone to build it, or we'll buy one of those premade ones you just slap down temporarily until everything is more settled. But you need a safe to work." Her voice was pleasant but firm: if Xander had a different solution to not risking his health with his leather, she would gladly listen, but if she would not allow him to stay working cramped up in his bedroom.

"Everything else we are getting for the baby comes pre-built or is a kit you can assemble in an hour or too," Dark said, "and we have until the end of November to get everything for her. We have the rest of August with the three of us," he meant himself, Alec, and Xander, "home every day, there is nothing stopping us from putting something up for you."
 
"Alright," Xander agreed, ducking his head, looking a bit bashful at their assistance, but it did mean a lot to him. It struck deep. Plus, it would be a place that would be his and his alone, like Dark's workshop. Not quite the same, but close.

"What about me? Do I get a shed for music practice?" Alec asked, teasing. The preexisting music room was more than enough for him. "How did you like the crib? And the cradle? They are so amazing in their spaces, don't you think?"

"And solidly built, too. I should know. I had to lug the thing up there all by myself," Xander told her.
 
"We already have a space for music!" Daizi laughed, and went to take a sip of her tea before remembering it was still too hot and setting the mug down again, "and I don't think we have the space for a third shed, I simply cannot have my garden overrun."

"And a third shed would be ugly," Dark added, "getting a second one in there will be a slow and cautious project."

At Alec's question, Daizi smiled brightly, and moved one hand to her bump, "I love them both. They're so..." She searched hard for the right word, but they were too magical and important to describe, so ultimately she shook her head and just said, "They make me feel like we have a good space for her. Like this old house actually can support and keep a baby."
 
"You've developed a good habitat for your new addition?" Xander smirked, thinking it sounded like setting up a good cage for a new pet. He supposed it was not far off, though no pet he could think of would be this important or complicated in bringing into the home. He wasn't about the call the baby a "pet," but the thought amused him.

"Be nice," Alec scolded. "I am glad you like it! He put in so much work, and it's so smooth! I think it feels like satin."
 
"We're getting there," Daizi agreed, evidently not offended by the comparison, "It was easy with you two. You two weren't easy, no kids are easy, but having things set up for you was. We had a room with beds in it, and you both... Well, you came to us alive, and able to tell us what you needed. You didn't, and you still don't, but you could have. So I knew, once it was decided you'd stay here with us, I knew we would figure it out and you would be okay. I could just focus on getting to know you and getting to love you and not on keeping you alive..." She shrugged, and the warmth on her face was not for her baby, "I wish this could be more like that. But since it can't be, having the crib... It feels better. Less tenuous."
 
"I can get that, and at least we can talk," Xander mused. "Not that we really did, but we could. If we wanted to."

"Sorry we are so horrible with communication," Alec said quietly. "I like to think we are getting better."

Xander held up a hand. "I think we are, and we can prove it. I'll start. I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"
 
"If you wanted to," Daizi replied, "and you are getting better. But I'm not upset that you weren't communicating much, Alec. I mean, have you met who I've been living with?" She made a big, sweeping gesture towards her husband, "The early basis of our relationship was him hardly speaking. You couldn't have come to better home if you needed to be somewhere that wouldn't force you to talk."

Dark rolled his eyes mildly at Daizi's comment and then kissed her head, "As for dinner, I think you both are on your own. We have to get ready to go for our weekend away, remember?"
 
"That's fair," Alec murmured.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you were leaving before dinner," Xander muttered. "Well, I guess boiled eggs, Ramen noodles, and Kraft cheese for dinner it is!"

"Don't forget the mac and cheese," Alec told him.

"Right, can't forget that. And we'll stir it up in a big, sloppy slurry."
 
"Whatever you like," Dark said simply, "as long as you clean it up. Really, you expect me to cook for you before I leave for the weekend?" He made a long drawn out process of walking to the cabinet as if he were going to give in and cook for them before they left, "Honestly, I spent so many months carefully teaching you to cook, and suddenly when it comes to me leaving for a moment, all at once it means you are going to have me do all of the work?"

Daizi laughed where she sat, and said, "I'd help, but I don't want you all to panic over the sight of me on my feet."
 
"That's a good point. You doing anything other than sitting is a source of extreme panic," Xander agreed. He took a dishtowel and snapped it at Dark with an expert flick of his wrist, making a nice little "pop" noise in his direction without coming even close to hitting him. "Go on, ya martyr. Go have fun with your wife."

"We won't starve," Alec giggled. "We were more concerned about you. Go and have fun. Enjoy yourselves!"
 
Daizi laughed loudly while Xander reacted to them, finding the unexpected pop far funnier than she logically should, while Dark just sighed, and raising his hands in surrender, "Oh, if you insist," He sighed, but had a glimmer in his eyes when he turned back towards Daizi, "the bags are already packed in the car, so we should go. I think we are already running late."

"Ah, let me finish my tea," Daizi replied, and quickly finished the last few sips and then hurried to her feet, "and I need to use the bathroom. Then we can go." Saying that, she hurried off. Dark inhaled slowly, and knew they were going to arrive later than they should, but didn't say anything until after she had left.

"Oh, Xander?" Dark said, strangely serious as he turned back towards them, "I just wanted to say--do not stress, it is nothing bad, I just thought of this earlier today--when the baby comes, at some point she will end up wanting and seeking hugs and kisses and all those sorts of things, but I know you do not like that sort of contact. I want you to know now, in advance, that it is okay, and when she reaches the point where she toddles up to you looking for a hug or whatever, if it is not something you are comfortable with, you can tell her no. It is never to early to start teaching boundaries."

Shortly after he had said this, Daizi came hurrying back into the room, cheerful, "Okay, Goose, now we can go, and you cannot dare complain that I made us late, because you were the one who surprised us first. And if you try to be like, 'oh but you had to go to the bathroom first,' no I didn't, that's the baby's fault, not mine."
 
Xander looked at Dark in surprise. He hadn't thought of that. He hadn't really thought of anything about the baby past her initial arrival, but it made sense. He sobered when Dark told him it was alright not to have to be physically affectionate, remember all the people in the past who had tried to make him feel guilty for not hugging this-or-that teacher or another parent or a fellow student when he was really small. It would have been so easy to tell him that a baby needed the physical contact, that he needed to show her that type of love, that he was a bad person for denying a tiny little child for just wanting to show him affection. Instead, Dark told him it was okay. That his boundaries mattered. He didn't have time to answer before Daizi returned, but a tiny speck of appreciation glimmered in his eye.

"You'll both be that much later if you argue about who's fault it is," Alec said, coming to walk them to the door. "Drive safe, let us know when you arrive, and don't take candy from strangers. Especially if they drive big white or black vans."
 
Small as it was, Dark caught that glimmer, and gave a slight nod his way, but all he said was, "I am not arguing, I have not said a word!" as they were sheperded to the door.

"I just needed to get in ahead of things," Daizi replied proudly, but then just before leaving stopped to say, "We'll call you. But you too be safe too, remember to take care of Enkidu, the rattie girls, and Neith, don't answer the door, unless you ordered food, but let us know if you're ordering food. Do you need money to order food? I can--"

"Spider, we need to go," Dark said, cutting her safety talk short, "They will be fine, we will be fine, everything will be fine. Goodbye, both of you... Make smart choices. And bye Enkidu, you good boy" Then he went towards the car, with Daizi following behind him, while she made her goodbyes almost frantically before finally getting into the car.
 
"Bye!" Alec called, waving happily.

"See you later!" Xander called after them.

They both stood watching Dark and Daizi get into the car. It was going to be strange without them, but it was also kind of nice to have just them in the house. They doubted that was going to happen again for a long time.

Xander glanced at Alec. "Wanna call Peter and Sloan and see if they want to come over for a pizza party?"

Alec held up his phone. "Already texting. Movie?"

"Movie or music, but no sleepover."

"Perfect. I'll ask Sloan to bring a movie and Peter the music."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top