How Green Becomes Wood

"I don't envy people who are trying to date now," Daizi agreed, taking another sip of water, "I hear the dating world has changed a ton. But at least now you're somewhere new, there are new options, right? And--I was... 22. And engaged to Mohid Al-Khatib, and my father chose him for me. I was back home in Egypt, Dark and I convinced ourselves we were better as friends--we've never been platonic, who were we fooling?--but I invited him to my wedding, because he's my best friend. He said he couldn't come, but did, and at that point, I had never felt more joy in my life than when he showed up suddenly. I hadn't been around him in four years, so I didn't expect him to be so much stronger, and I spent a week with him, not doing anything untoward, and being a good fiancée to Mohid, and Dark came to me one day and told me I couldn't marry him. I told him I was going to, but... I was in my dress, and I couldn't do it. So the morning of my wedding I went to his hotel room instead of the venue. My dad didn't speak to me for a few years, and still hates him, but... We've spent all of time loving each other. There was no-one else."

~~

When she was set down, she did stir slightly, and for a moment seemed like she'd wake, but then she stretched and stayed down for the night. Or, at least, the time being, with a peaceful, sleepy smile on her tiny face.
 
"Wow, that's quite the story," Lex said, suitably impressed. "You don't do anything by half, do you? I knew that from the moment I laid eyes on your house. That was one of the reasons why I bought that house even though it wasn't in a neighborhood I loved. I thought, like you or hate you, you'd be the kind of folk who'd always be honest. Dramatic, and I love it, but honest."

~~

Alec sighed and slid down to sit on the floor. "Made it," he whispered.

Xander sat next to him and leaned against the crib. "You don't think we forgot anything?"

Alec shook his head. "And she's already asleep, so I guess it doesn't matter. Maybe we should sing her a song?"

Xander paused and thought for a moment. "Alright..."

I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy
"Not that one," Alec said, shaking his head. "Not for her."

"I was thinking it was for someone else."

"Maybe, but still not for her. Besides, that song has the F-word in it."

"Sorry." Xander paused and then began to sing tentatively one of the songs Peter had asked him to listen to.

Sittin' here in my problem
What am I gonna do now
Am I gonna make it
Someway, somehow

Maybe I'm not supposed to know
Maybe I'm supposed to cry
And if nobody ever knows
The way I feel, that's all right
That's okay

I'm gonna make my world a better place
I'm gonna keep that smile on my face
I'm gonna teach myself how to understand
I'm gonna make myself a better man, yeah

Alec listened in silence, leaning over to rest against Xander. Better.
 
"No, not really." Dark agreed. He may not have spoken up during Daizi's retelling, but he listened. He turned his face towards her, seeing the anxiety written into the lines on her face, and regretted that this is where they were sitting that night.

"You can thank the fact my father eventually forgave me for the house," Daizi said, "We wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. But all things considered, we've had a very happy life together. I hope you'll be very happy in our neighborhood, too."

Not long after, Dark was finally called back and finally given something for the pain in his hand. At Daizi's insistence, they did have the plastic surgeon do the stitching, for the sake of Dark's tattoos, and all the while Daizi sat beside him, now squeezing his left hand, because they were working on his right.

After he was bandaged back up and given care lnstructions, they were allowed, finally, to go home.

"Thank you for helping us," Dark said, sufficiently medicated enough to be in a headspace to give thanks.
 
"That's what neighbors are for," Lex told him. Once they were in the car, she made certain they didn't need anything at any of the stores before driving them home. "Call me or text me if you need anything, okay? Night or day. I'm a light sleeper, so I'll hear it. I know you've got loads of family and friends, but if speed is needed, you know where to find me. Clearly." She gave Dark a wink and opened the door for them.

Upstairs, Alec and Xander had fallen asleep on the floor of the nursery, curled up together like puppies. They'd left the door slightly cracked for Enkidu to come and go, and while they hadn't meant to, they'd drifted off and ended up sound asleep on the floor, looking after each other and their baby sister.
 
"We'll keep that in mind, thank you." Daizi sighed, glad to be going home. Even though she didn't have to hold Dark's hand anymore, she still was, albeit more gently than before, since now she wasn't trying to stop the bleeding.

Once home, she and Dark said goodbye to Lex and thanked her for the hundredth time that night and then went back inside of their home. As soon as the door was shut, the salt was touched, and their shoes were off, they both stood in the center of their living room and realized they had no idea what to say to each other. They both had a lot they wanted to say, but neither knew how to get the words out. So she turned in towards him, wrapped him up in her arms, and pressed her ear against his chest. Eventually, and with great effort, they parted, and Dark commented, "I wonder if our boys have gone to bed."

"They must have," She replied, taking his uninjured hand and leading him upstairs to check on Ivy.

Upon opening the door, Dark smiled slightly, "Well, there they are. Asleep on the floor. Should we wake them?"

Daizi shook her head, "Ivy will. She's a better alarm clock than anything else. Let's get blankets though." Together, they got up to fetch their spare blankets and then draped them carefully over their boys so they wouldn't wake, but would stay warm over the night. They'd probably be sore in the morning, but waking them would probably startle them, so this seemed like the better option.

At last, both adults retreated to their own bedroom, silently moving about their own bedtime routines, before Dark could not take it anymore and he hugged his wife tightly, and his voice breaking, "I am so sorry," he told her, "It was an accident."

"I know, Goose," Daizi promised, turning around to face him.

"I know I scared you,"

"You did," she replied, draping her arms around his neck, "but it's okay. We're okay, darling."
 
Much later, Ivy did wake the twins, who sat on the floor bleary-eyed and highly confused. What had happened? Where were they? What time was it?

Alec eventually peeled himself up off the floor and leaned over to talk to Ivy, not sure what time it was and if she was awake to be fed and changed, or if she'd woken not long after they'd fallen asleep.

Xander groaned himself upright and wandered to the door to see if it looked like Dark and Daizi had returned.
 
Shortly after Ivy started crying, Dark came bleary-eyed into the nursery, wanting to drop back into bed immediately. Daizi had encouraged him to stay in hed and let her get their daughter, but he had refused because of how guilty he felt for the previous evening's chaos.

Over the course of the night, he had forgotten the twins were asleep in the nursery, so when he stepped inside, there was a brief second before he obscured his expression. Then, tired, he said, "Sabah al-khair."
 
Xander jumped when he came face to face with Dark, and he eneded up standing and staring blearily while Dark stared back at him with a strange expression. "Sabah al-khair or sayi'?" Xander asked blandly, asking if it was a good morning or a bad morning. "Glad you're home."

"Sabah al-khair, Baba," Alec yawned, rubbing his eyes as he came to join Xander. "We'll get out of your way."
 
"sabah al-noor," Dark responded, correcting their response to good morning as he picked up Ivy, shushing her, "What is this noise?" He asked as he bounced her, knowing she needed a changing. "What do you have to fuss about, my dear?" Then he looked again at the twins, "You may be able to get a bit more sleep before you need to be up for school if you hurry."
 
"Eh, why bother? It's the last day. We can get all the sleep we want after," Xander shrugged, walking out.

Alec paused and looked at Dark worriedly. "Will you be coming? Are you alright? Were you hurt too badly? Did it affect one of your tattoos?"
 
"To work?" Dark asked to clarify, lying Ivy down on her changing table, "Yes. I have nine stitches on my right hand, it went through one of my tattoos, but we requested the plastic surgeon be the one to put them in, so he lined it up properly. I will see when it heals if I need to get it touched up or covered. I am alright. There is no real, permanent harm done. No nerve damage, all tendons remain in tact. I have to keep in bandaged, in a week or so they will take the stitches out. I am more worried about my knife, I have not had the chance to clean up the shed."
 
Alec breathed a sigh of relief and started to leave. "I'm glad it wasn't bad. Don't worry about the knife. Xander said he'd clean it."

Xander had not forgotten and was actually heading out to clean the knife and otherwise clean up Dark's shed while Alec and Dark talked. He'd meant to do it the night before, but neither twin wanted to leave Ivy alone even for that long, and they were not separating from each other. That was for certain. So he went out to the shed to clean things up rather than stay and talk to Dark.
 
"That is kind of him," Dark said, positioning his body so he could change Ivy's diaper while preventing Alec from seeing anything, mostly for Alec's comfort, "He does not need to."

On his workbench was his damnéd puzzle box and a mechanism he had presumably been shaping, left unfinished and dropped haphazardly on his table. There was some blood on his knife, placed sort of calmly. Some of the now-dried drops of blood on his work bench were smeared or swirled, like he had drug his finger through them. It wouldn't be precise to say there were designs in it, he hadn't been finger painting, but it looked almost like when someone ran their finger threw water droplets on a window. It followed, then, that there were fingerprints on the box with his rags, because he had to pull the box out from its place to get the towel he needed to staunch the bleeding.
 
"I know. But he will." Alec left then with the extra blankets to allow Ivy and Dark privacy. He knew Dark liked spending time with Ivy, especially in the morning. He'd give them time.

Xander frowned as he looked over the mess. What did this mean? Did Dark sit here and play with the droplets rather than immediately trying to help himself? He glared at the table for a moment as if demanding answers before grabbing a rag. It took a bit to get everything cleaned up and the blade polished, but he scrubbed until it was all clean. Then he picked up the puzzle box and everything else and placed them on the table in a neat line.
 
When Alec left, Dark directed his focus to Ivy as he readied her for the day. "What do you want to wear today, my dear? Let us find something nice for you. And then you can have your breakfast."

After dressing her for the morning and washing his hands up, Dark brought Ivy to his bedroom so Ivy could nurse, and then he went into his closet to dress himself, since he was already up. Again, though, he came to Daizi to let her do his hair, after Ivy had a full tummy. He cited his hand as the reason, but he just liked her touch.

Then, finally, they went downstairs to prepare breakfast.
 
Xander was already banging around in the kitchen looking for breakfast before going to work out. He still couldn't quite reach his normal level of work-out, but he was getting closer. When Dark entered, Xander finished grabbing his pre-breakfast snack and quietly went out.

Alec sat on the floor of the kitchen giving Enkidu a good scratching, sinking his fingers deep into the dog's fur and trying to get those elusive iches.
 
"Good morning!" Daizi said, cheerful because somebody had to be, and went to prepare breakfast, "It's your last day of school for the year, how wonderful is that?"

"It is very wonderful." Dark replied. He was still only allowed to do light-workouts, which he hated. It had been two weeks, but he know he had lost some weight, purely because he hadn't been working out at maintenance. As soon as he had the all-clear, he'd regain it easily enough, but it was still an irritation. And now that his hand was injured, he wasn't sure how that affected his plans, which increased his listlessness. But, at least, beginning the next day, he would be home until August. And that was something to hold onto.
 
Dark watched Alec for a few moments, trying to figure out if he was prepared to crush him so early in the morning. He was. "You and your brother are both smart boys, and we are unlikely to have an intrusion to the level we have had this past year. I hope in your Junior year you will be able to really focus on your schooling."

Their entire time together, he had emphasized grades weren't important, and he stood by it. But he also, on occasion, looked over the twins' grades, and wondered, perhaps, if they still weren't applying themselves as much as they could be, given how touch-and-go things still were, at times. The fall semester he had given them a pass, but now he was concerned about potentially bad habits forming.
 
Alec looked up from his seat on the floor and gave Dark a pouty look. "Are you implying that we aren't applying ourselves? That we aren't schooling hard enough? That we're slacking off and riding on the coattails of our teacher father?"
 
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