How Green Becomes Wood

Alec helped him take in all of the bags and put them away properly. Once that had been taken care of, he went upstairs to change into something more comfortable and settled down to do his homework. It felt strange to be home at this time, and he found himself missing Xander more than usual. He worked slowly, concentrating on his homework to the best of his ability, one ear listening for when his mother left her office. He had a decent amount of work to do, but nothing that couldn't wait. He got anything that needed to be done immediately out of the way first so he could leave as soon as she came out. Until then, he was stuck in a practice of focus and patience.
 
Once Dark came home, he collected Ivy from Daizi, who had been doing her best to work while occupying her. Normally, he just took her shopping with him, but she had been a bit fussy that day, and it seemed better to let her stay in a familiar environment, and it really worked out for the best with what occurred. But, it wasn't easy to parent a fussy baby and do her job, so it made things much, much easier when Dark collected her again after the groceries were put away.

A few hours later, Daizi's workday officially ended, and she gladly vacated her office, stretching deeply.
 
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Alec heard the door open, having left the door to his room open, and he poked his head out. "Hi, Mama. How was work? You look ready to be done."
 
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"It was fine," Daizi replied, "but I am glad the day is over. Nothing really happened, but it's one of those days. What about you? Dark said there was some... incident at the shop? I didn't really have the time to hear all the details because I was just about to go into a meeting."
 
Alec walked over and wrapped her in a hug and just held on for a moment. "It wasn't fun," he admitted to her. "I'm okay, just... I feel a bit low from what happened. Did Ba tell you I got to meet my grandfather today?"
 
Daizi hugged him back rubbing his back, "I'm glad you were able to come home afterwards, I hope Tristan is taking care of himself too. And he did, although he phrased it more as meeting Tristan's father."
 
"Yeah, he's a jerk," Alec stated. "I'm glad he's not really my grandfather. I mean, genetically, sure, but not in any way that counts. None of that nonsense." He heaved a sigh. "I need to go volunteer at a retirement home or something and find myself a grandmother to adopt. Can I do that? Adopt a grandma?"
 
"That's what my aunties are for," Daizi replied, smoothing his hair, "but I'm sure you can find an elderly person who needs company if you want someone closer. You'd technically be doing something good."
 
"It may be a difficult night for him, but I am sure he has his systems he copes by," Daizi assured him, "As for my garden, I've been working on it. It is really coming up to the replanting season now, so for the flowers that don't regrow on their own, I need to start ordering and getting ready. But it'll be a good year."
 
Alec happily trotted downstairs and started making tea. He set everything up at the table and even brought out some cookies on a little plate. He remembered at the last minute and ran to get a notebook and a pencil. Then he told Daizi everything was ready and sat down, ready to take notes.
 
Daizi joined him, glad to sit and talk about her plans for the garden. She clearly thought about it regularly and had been really thoughtful about what work she intended to get done and what she was planning to plant that year.
 
Alec asked a lot of questions, picking her brain about what plants liked what, which ones meant what, and all sorts of similar questions. He enjoyed talking to her, and he'd always meant to ask more about the garden, but when they weren't actively weeding or similar, he simply didn't think to. There was always something else, and it was difficult at times just to carve out music sessions with her. Not that he begrudged her in the slightest. They were both busy, and Ivy got into everything.
 
It was difficult to find one on one time like this, sometimes. Having a full-time job, despite it being remote, a husband, three children, a spider, and a dog (technically now a cat, but Kiki wasn't really her responsibility), finding time to dedicate to anyone in particular, not to mention herself, was a challenge, especially since all of them except Neith, Ivy, and Enkidu had a job, and Ivy also had her sole "hobby" of baby-group. But they all had to try, and it was nice to find a way to steal these small moments, even if today's had a bit of a cost. It was still nice to know Alec chose to spend his surprise extra free time with her.
 
After spending a good amount of quality time with his mother, Alec cleaned away their tea things, put away the notebook, and went to play with Kiki for a while so Daizi could have time with Ivy. After he'd thoroughly tired out the black kitten, he went to see if Ivy wanted to play with him, or if she was in Mommy mode. He'd accept either.

When Xander got home, he found himself instantly glomped. They went to Alec's room, and Alec told him everything that had happened, finally able to fully process his tangled feelings. They still didn't effect him as deeply as it might have a few months ago, but he was still having some trouble understanding everything without talking it out, and Xander was the easiest to do that with.

Xander, for his part, was reasonably enraged and highly annoyed. Why did it seem that they weren't allowed any decent grandparent figures? It made him actually want to be on a call with Daizi's aunts just to prove there were nice older people around. Apparently no males, but some females were nice.
 
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