How Green Becomes Wood

"Both," Dark said, wiping his hands on his pants, "We want to go to the spa in the afternoon on Friday, and then spend Saturday and Sunday in the forest. If we cannot book it that way, then we will only go to the forest. Is that a satisfactory answer?"

Noticing how Dark wasn't immediately sent out back to her, Daizi got up from where she sat and headed inside, "And we were hoping for the first weekend in August."
 
Xander shrugged. "Works for me."

Alec smiled up at Dark wistfully. "It sounds so peaceful! I think you are going to have a lovely time." He turned when Daizi walked in. "That's a good week. Plenty of time before school starts. Have you made the appointments yet?"

"Of course, they haven't. They just now finally settled on the where and when," Xander pointed out. "They haven't even been near the phone."

Alec took the phone from Xander's hand and put it in Dark's. "There we go!"
 
"Are they even still open this time of night?" Dark asked while Daizi just sighed lightly and sat down on the couch.

"Is this how we sound to you?" She asked with a slight laugh, folding one leg beneath her. They were visibly grateful for the effort the twins were putting into it all for them, but the reversal of authority was difficult for them both to adjust to, even if only for a night.
 
"Yep," Xander said.

"Maybe sometimes," Alec agreed.

"Now and then."

"Upon occasion."

"But it's alright."

"Sometimes we need it."

"The hours of operation are one one of those papers we gave you," Xander told Dark, "Maybe they're open, or you can call tomorrow."

"As long as you don't forget," Alec warned.
 
"I promise we won't forget," Daizi said, leaning over to hook her arm around Alec, "I've just been at work all day and would love to just relax with my boys."

"You can relax," Dark said, with mild amusement, "it only takes one of us to make the booking, dear, you stay there, I will go take care of this."

Daizi beamed and stayed exactly where she was, "Thank you, Goose... So... How long were you two planning this for us?" She asked the twins.
 
Alec grinned and snuggled into Daizi, only too happy to return her affection. "Relaxing is awesome! And not long. Only about a month-ish. A couple of weeks. Not too terribly long."

"I'm happy it's over and done with," Xander grumbled. "That one wouldn't talk about anything else whenever you weren't in hearing."
 
"A couple of weeks feels like a very long time," Daizi said, "At least, over the summer it is, when you have so little to occupy your time... I really don't know what to say, it's not many people your age who would put in so much effort for their..." She still wasn't really sure how to describe their relationship. Obviously it was easy enough to say 'fosters,' but it didn't feel quite right. Maybe because she still had a mental image of foster parents having children bounce in and out of their lives constantly, and being a temporary home, but this didn't feel like 'simple' fostering, "But I'm glad, Xander, that you're free of it, now, and I promise when we come back to only say how nice and relaxing it was, and spare you all the sappy details."
 
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"Perfect. Sounds like a deal," Xander smirked.

"I do want to hear about the spa. It sounded a bit like an adventure," Alec commented. "I didn't know you could do that many different things to smear on your face and make it shiny. Or clear or whatever option you chose."

"The hot rocks sounded nice, but I don't want anything else that goes with it," Xander frowned.

Alec chuckled. "You could go to a magic spa where they levitate the rocks onto your back."

"Lovely," Xander said dryly. "Lemme know when one of those opens."
 
"The hot rocks do sound nice, but I don't think I can get that treatment myself," Daizi said, "but the facials are nice. Dark and I used to put on face masks together every week, we would do it Sunday nights, but that is just another thing we have sort of lost the time for. But I've not had a professional one since about a week or two before my wedding. So much effort went into preparing me for that day... But the henna night was fun, and when it dries, before you take off the stain itself, I was able to touch it so I actually knew what had been painted on me."
 
"Why don't you do it anymore?" Alec asked her curiously. "Surely it cannot take that much time, and it's good to take care of yourself. Mentally and physically." He smiled faintly. "We could get the type that are supposed to look like animal faces and all do them together. You'll get a nice facial, and we'll all laugh at each other."

"No way am I doing that, and you just invited yourself into their special time," Xander pointed out.

"Oops, so I did," Alec winced. "I didn't mean it like that. More of trying to make it easier for you."
 
"I'm not sure why," She shrugged, "I guess we're just distracted. Routines are easy to break, I guess. When you came in we were so caught up in it all, we didn't really feel like we had time to lounge around drinking wine and wearing our face masks together. And things didn't really calm down until very recently, so... But maybe we'll find the time to do it again. At least for a few more months."

Dark returned to the room, then, "Okay, the spa is booked for that Friday, but the forest's office is closed, so we need to call back tomorrow. I could do it online, but then we have to make sure our special accommodations are met and that is easier on the phone." Mostly, he was saying this for the twins', since obviously Daizi had long since learned booking on the phone was easier for them.
 
"Nice," Xander nodded to Dark. "And now you have the freedom to just chill for the rest of the evening."

"It is a good evening to chill," Alec agreed. "Your trip is going to be so much fun! Relaxing, rejuvenating fun. With a lot of rest. And rejuvenation."

Xander glanced at his brother. "You said that."

"Right. I'm just excited for them!" Alec admitted. "It sounds like a lovely weekend. For them. I'd get bored, I think."
 
"I'd get bored if I was alone," Daizi said, and reached out her hands to bring Dark to her side.
Later that week, on her cab ride home from the train station, her driver mentioned a certain traveling event had come to town, which sparked a little private idea in her mind.

On Saturday, while Dark was in the process of making lunch, she came wafting into the room, sat down at the table, and holding her chin in her hands said, "We should do something today. It's too nice to stay home."
 
"I'm all for that," Xander said, watching Dark with bored eyes. "As long as it's not shopping."

Alec was in the living room and not paying attention as he tried to capture Enkidu's essence on his sketchpad. Art was still not coming as easily as it once had, but he was sticking to it.
 
"Who said anything about shopping?" Daizi asked, sitting up straighter and doing her best to keep her smirk hidden, "It's too nice a day to waste it inside shopping."

"What do you want to do, then?" Dark asked, turning slightly over his shoulder. He was never a great lover of spontaneous plans, especially not after so much uncertainty this year.

"Oh, I don't know," She shrugged, "The carnival's in town... but nobody here would care about that."

Instantly, Dark froze where he stood.
 
Xander tipped his head. "Carnival? You mean like the thing Dark is massively obsessed over? The magical sparkling place of wonder and crooked games?" He turned slightly. "Alec! Come'ere!"

Alec scowled when Xander yelled for him and closed his sketchbook. He gave Enkidu a gentle ear scratching as thanks for being his subject and went into the kitchen. "What are you caterwauling about?"

"Daizi wants us to-" Xander stopped and frowned. "Caterwauling? Never mind, carnival."

Alec stared at him blankly before turning to Daizi and Dark. "Would someone care to elaborate on that?"
 
"There is not a carnival in town," Dark said, still not turning to them. He hadn't heard of one, anyway. The food he was making stole all of his attention, now. It was fat to embarrassing to look at them with how silly and excited he knew his face must be.

"There is, today is it's very first day opening!" Daizi replied, "and it's a wristband day, I checked. It's right by the train station, like it always is."
 
"We're going," the twins stated simultaneously.

"I mean, we can, right?" Alec asked hopefully.

"It sounds like a blast!" Xander grinned.

"It still gets cool at night, so we should wear light jackets," Alec mused.

"No jacket for me. I want to try to beat some of those games!"

"Can we get cotton candy and go on the Ferris wheel?"

"No, one of those Zipper things! The fast ones!"

"And a fun house!"

"Definitely the fun house."

"Corn dogs for dinner!"

"And deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos!"

"How about one of each to share?"
 
"Oh, we'll do all of it! Or, you all will. I can't go on most rides presently." Daizi said happily, "and we're definitely going. Today. Or, now."

"You can ride the Ferris Wheel," Dark said. At last he turned to face them, and although he only had the slightest of smiles, his eyes were shining, which made him look much younger.

"I'll go on that one with you then. But come on, eat lunch in the car if you haven't already eaten."
 
"Carnival!" Alec cheered. He dashed around to hug Daizi gently. "This is going to be fantastic!" Dark got a much tighter hug. "Who needs lunch? Let's go!" He started for the door.

"I need lunch!" Xander yelled after him. "And lunch is right here, can't we just... never mind, he's not listening. Lunch in the car it is. I'm going to go change my shirt." He was currently wearing a white tank that was just a little too thin but perfect for hanging out in the house or working in the garden, like he'd been doing early that morning. He headed upstairs and soon came back with a black shirt with an Iron Maiden logo, wearing a red plaid shirt open over top. It went well with his worn black jeans. "To the carnival!"
 
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