How Green Becomes Wood

"Hi baby," Daizi said gently, turning around to face him, "Breakfast is almost ready. How are you feeling?"

~~

Bernice inhaled in the quiet manner of someone who has had too many identical phone calls before it was anywhere near noon, "Good morning. Our district is still investigating the incident. Until we have all of the objective facts of the situation, we do not have a firm response planned."
 
Alec made sure she wasn't doing anything before going in for a gentle hug. "Hmm. I'm not sure yet. Not dreadful, at least. How are you feeling?"

~~

"Oh? I was truly hoping to hear plans for some sort of award ceremony, but I suppose you do have to dot your Is and cross your Ts," Sally said lightly as she walked across the apartment foyer and toward the parking lot. "I know you cannot give out any names, but I would personally want to thank the teacher for endangering himself on behalf of the students."
 
"I'm okay," She told him, stroking his cheek since she couldn't stroke his hair, "Is Xander awake? Is he doing okay? Or, better, at least? I'm going to have all of you visit a doctor today. Just to be safe."

~~

"Oh." Bernice replied, truly taken aback. It would seem not many calls she had received yet that morning had been gracious about the teacher. "Well. We only have pieces of what happened. It would be. Premature to. Plan anything of such a nature."
 
Alec smiled, feeling a bit wilted and shaky, but a little more grounded. "He's awake. He says his head hurts, so I got him some pain meds already. He says he'll be down in a little bit."

~~

"Really?" Sally said, infusing as much innocent shock into her voice as she could as she got into her car. "But I had a conversation with an absolutely wonderful police officer who told me that they had evidence that that dear man acted to defend two students at the school from a violent offender. Of course, they are not allowed to give out any further details than that, but I would have thought that would be enough to at least have him up for some sort of award. Perhaps at least a bonus of some kind? Being a teacher is so difficult just on the day to day, but to put oneself in harms way like that, the man is truly a hero, wouldn't you say? Is the budget an issue for the award? Perhaps we parents can raise some funds for it!"
 
"Make sure he isn't doing his homework," Daizi told him, "That's a good reason to go to the doctor, his teachers can have a note excusing him from his assignments. But he shouldn't do anything mentally taxing."

~~

"We are still waiting on access to the police footage, Ma'am." Bernice answered, "When we found out about the situation, it was after most of the school board had gone home for the day. I appreciate your passion in this matter, and I will be glad to take note of your suggestion. May I have your name and a callback number so I may keep you informed with this developing situation?"
 
"Yes, ma'am," Alec agreed readily. "Should I take breakfast up to him?"

~~

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Sally said cheerfully. "And my name and number are in the school's system, so it shouldn't be hard to look up, and you can always ask my son, too. Now, I hope you have a lovely day despite all the hard work you are doing, and I hope you remember how much good you can bring to these children. Goodbye for now." She hung up the phone, feeling just a touch guilty. Oh, her accent probably gave her away, but at least now they could truthfully say that the parent didn't give their name. She started the car and headed for Daizi's house, stopping to pick up a few things on her way.
 
"Yes, see if he'll eat." Daizi said, making a plate for him. She had put together a fairly light, easy breakfast, because she didn't know how any of them would cope with anything particularly heavy that morning. As she prepared some food for Xander, Dark came slowly down the stairs. "Hey, Goose. How are you feeling?"

"I am fine," He said, "I am tired." His gaze focused on Alec, "How are you?"

~~

"Goodbye," Bernice replied, and promptly went through the system to find who she had just spoken with, and taking down a note of her suggestion. It could be a good PR move.
 
Alec looked at Dark hesitantly. He really, really wanted to hug Dark, but he wasn't sure if he could with how Dark was standing. He looked in pain. "I think I'm okay. I'm going to see if Xander wants breakfast." He smiled at Dark before scooting around him to head up the stairs. He should be ravenous!"

Xander was not ravenous. Now that anything even remotely resembling adrenaline had drained from his body, he was feeling fuzzy-headed, sore from top to bottom, and a little bit sick. Plus, his ear kept ringing. It was so annoying!

"Hey," Alec called softly from the doorway. "Do you want to come down for food?"

Xander grunted. "Not really."

"Okay. I'll bring some up for you, okay?"

"Is it soup?" Xander asked with a touch of hope.

"No, it's not soup, but it is good," Alec promised.

"Okay," Xander said. "Guess I have extra time to study."

Alec clicked his tongue. "No, now is a good excuse to not study. You aren't supposed to, and you lost your homework, anyway. Legetimately this time."

"Alright," Xander sighed, not exactly disappointed.

Alec smiled and went downstairs.
 
Like Alec, Daizi wanted to hug Dark, but she learned the night before it was a bad idea, so she made him sit down, handed him their daughter to distract him, and said, "Sally is coming over. I told her what happened. She's as upset as we are, and you know how when there's a tragedy she likes to bring tea."

"It is early," He replied, watching as Ivy curiously looked at the bandage on his hand.

"Well, I'm sending all of you to the doctors, so she wants to be here first," Daizi said, setting his breakfast down in front of him.

"Darling..."

"I don't care how certain you are, babe, you're going. You always make me go, and fuss at me when I'm being stubborn. It's your turn."

"I would rather they make a housecall," He grumbled. There was no part of him that wanted to leave the house.

Daizi sat down beside him, resting her chin in her hands, "And do you think your boys will want to go to the doctor if you don't? You've got to do it for them."

The fact she used the same logic he had used when he let the paramedic look at his hand the day before frustrated him, because it was a very good argument for why he should leave the house. When he heard Alec's footsteps, he turned only his head toward him, "How is he?"
 
"He's happy he doesn't have to do his homework," Alec reported. "Other than that, not great. He looks worse than yesterday. I don't know if that's because he actually is worse or because he's not trying to be tough anymore. He did say he'd take some breakfast."
 
"It might be both," Dark said, petting Ivy's dark hair with one hand. "I will check on him after breakfast. And I have to call your doctor, still."

"I can call the doctor. You need to rest, too." Daizi reminded him, rubbing his back.

"I am resting," Dark answered her, "Right Ivy? Tell your mama I am resting."

"You wanted to go to work today," She pointed out, standing up to get Alec his breakfast while gesturing for him to sit, "Sally is going to stop by, she is worried."

"Yes, but I did not go, I stayed home."

"Only because Bernice made you."

"No, I also stayed home because I knew you would make me."
 
"You are doing a reasonable job of resting, but it could be better," Alec told Dark soberly. "Mama, shall I take Xander his breakfast up?"

Sally opened the door, barely able to resist knocking on the door. "Yoo-hoo!" she called softly. "I'm here." She set her basket inside before taking off her shoes and lightly touching the salt. "Has Dark left yet?"
 
"I think that's a good idea. Don't forget to eat your breakfast, too," She urged him before going to the front hall to greet Sally, "Hi, come in. No, they're all still here. We've had a bit of a late start. We're just having breakfast, now."
 
Alec took the plate up to Xander and came back down, pausing to wave to Sally before going to eat his own breakfast.

"Perfectly understandable," Sally assured Daizi. "I am the one crashing into your morning, after all. First, I have something I wanted to give you. I was going to wait for later, but I thought I would take advantage of already being here." She picked up the largest of the items she had brought, which was dwarfing the basket. "Here. Careful, it's heavy. It is your early Mother's Day gift."

It was a massive quilt, handmade with different textured pieces all throughout and distinct stitching. It would easily cover a King-sized bed with some lovely draping on either side. The main color was varying shades of black, giving it the look of a visually interesting night, and all made of similar-feeling fabric. Worked in throughout the quilt were apparently random pieces of silver that looked like stars at first glance. Closer inspection showed them to be tiny spiders. The spiders were all a silky smooth fabric, some the size of Ivy's hand and some as tiny as a thumbprint. Here and there, geese made from a furry yet silky smooth fabric took up their places. There were only a handful of geese. Along the edges were sun and moon symbols made from gold and white fabrics respectively.
 
"Mother's Day?" Daizi asked, feeling a sort of whiplash from jumping from all of the heavy, complicated emotions they had gone through to reacting to an immensely kind and thoughtful gift, "You didn't need to get me something for Mother's Day, thank you so much!"

She could feel it was a quilt when it was first put into her hands, and she set it down on their counter so she could feel the designs better, and when the recognized what they were, she grinned brightly, "Oh, Sally, this is gorgeous. Goose, look, it's for our bed!"

Cautiously turning his body, Dark unfolded a bit of the blanket so he could also look, "This is lovely, Sally," he said, stopping Ivy from immediately putting it into her mouth, "Thank you."

"You don't get to thank her, it's my present," Daizi teased.

"It is for our bed," He replied, smiling just a tiny bit, but genuine smiling.
 
Sally chuckled. "You two can fight over it later. I know, it's early, and perhaps not the greatest of timing with what is going on right now, but I thought a bit of comfort might be just the ticket. Now, Daizi, it seems as though most of your breakfast preparations are complete, so why don't you sit down and enjoy yourself while I take over your kitchen?"

Alec finished eating, forcing himself to eat the last few bites. He wasn't hungry, but not eating wasn't a good answer. He ate less, but still a properly sized portion. "That is really beautiful quilt. I love the stars in the night sky!" He hadn't looked close enough to realize they were spiders. "Do you want me to put it somewhere where it won't get dirty?"
 
"Squabbling is our favourite pastime." Daizi replied, bending to kiss Dark's head. "Only if you are going upstairs, habibi, otherwise I'll put it away." Folding the blanket back up, she turned to Sally and said, "It's good I'm not still pregnant. I'm not sure how we'd manage if I was, we'd get nothing done because we'd all be arguing about who needed the most rest."

It was difficult to tell if Dark was eating his usual amount or not, but he was definitely eating more slowly than usual. His left hand was usable, he hadn't broken anything in it, gratefully, although his ring finger and knuckle certainly hurt. It wasn't a smart idea to punch someone with a ring, and he had to use it to eat with, because he was holding Ivy on his right side, so she wouldn't be pressed against his probably broken ribs. "You still should not run yourself ragged."

"Wallah, he spends eight months fussing over me, but I fuss over him for less than a day and listen to him!" She clicked her tongue.
 
Sally tutted at Dark. "Listen to your wife, darling. She knows what's best for you." She shot him a week and started making tea. Daizi had an amazing selection of teas from one part of the world, and Sally had a carefully curated selection of teas from another part. It wasn't long before the scent of calming tea filled the kitchen.

Alec took the quilt and hauled it upstairs. He wasn't already going up, but he wanted to be useful. It felt nice and distracted him from the unsettled sensation in the pit of his stomach.
 
"I am listening," Dark replied, "Ivy, tell them I am listening," he paused so she could coo, "Thank you, my darling girl. I can still want her to sit down, too. I have not refused any request she has made of me."

Daizi shook her head, sitting back down beside him, but her worry for him was evident in even the way she touched his bicep. "I know. You are doing your best. He just never likes to slow down, he never stops moving, really."
 
"Ah, he's one of those type," Sally said, waiting for the tea to finish steeping. "I understand that. Unfortunately, if we do not allow our bodies to rest, they will choose a time to force us to do so." She poured Daizi and Dark both cups of calming tea. "There we are. This will do for now until you are back from your visit, yes?"
 
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