How Green Becomes Wood

"I think movies would do it better," Abbey said casually, "It wasn't really some big dramatic whirlwind, we just gradually became friends and realized we liked each other more than that. It'd be a boring move, and thank god. I wouldn't want a big dramatic thing where you feel butterflies and anxiety. I've always just wanted someone trustworthy and reliable."
 
"Trustworthy and reliable," Lex mused, glancing toward Cooger. "Those were two descriptive words I was looking for, as well, and at least in those terms, like father like son."
 
"Jasper is like a mix of my mom and my husband, and if he weren't such a good boy, that sentence would terrify me." Abbey sighed, looking at her son who was still just her little boy.
 
Abbey paused wistfully at her son, trying to think how best to answer that question. It was more difficult to think of ways they were different, so narrowing down their similarities took a good deal of thought. Finally she said, "My mom just always loved being outside and working with her hands. Every time he'd visit over the summer, they'd spend the whole time outdoors. You were just her little buddy, weren't you?" Abbey asked, looking up at her son.

"Yeah," Cooger said, in a rare moment seeming pensive.

"It always made me laugh, because I spent all my childhood wanting to get out of those mountains and into the city, and all Jasper wanted to do was go out there. I was trying to get rid of my accent, he was coming back home saying y'all and you'uns and talking about how Nana had taught him how to gut a fish or about what they had planted together..." She chuckled to herself, a bit of sadness in her eyes to think of it. "Mom was always really steady. The kind of person who you meet and you know she was made of the mountains she was born and raised in."

Cooger stood with his hands in his pockets, thinking about his grandmother and shifting his foot, looking down at the ground and then over towards the lake, "I wanted her house. Breaks my heart her property ain't in the family. Breaks my heart she never got to see this place, but I was only able to buy it with my inheritance." He glanced at Lex for a second, looking a little less like the happy, carefree, man he normally was, and then he looked back towards the lake, "Nana Lucy... hell..."

Quickly standing beside him and squeezing his shoulder, Dark just said, "She was probably the toughest woman I ever met."

"She'd kick anyone's ass," Cooger chuckled, shaking his head.
 
Lex reached over and caught Abbey's hand, squeezing it gently. "She sounds like an amazing woman. I'm sorry I won't get to meet her, but it sounds like she lives on through her grandson."
 
Abbey looked at Lex, a bit surprised, and gently placed her hand over Lex's, "She was something else. Honestly, the two of us always struggled to see eye-to-eye, but the moment Jasper was born, they were best friends."
 
Lex wondered if that had been difficult, to see her son create a bond she'd never had, but she didn't think now was a good time to ask that. Instead, she smiled and said, "It's good to see friendships like that inside family, and Jasper certainly loves you. It's sweet the way he talks about you both."
 
"He's a very good boy," Abbey said, with a smile, deciding she really did like his son's new girlfriend.

Patting Cooger on the back a couple times, Dark leaned in to whisper something in his ear, and in response, Cooger gave him a grateful smile and then playfully shoved him away and said, "Well, if y'all promise to not share all my embarrassing childhood stories behind my back, I can start grilling for everyone."
 
"Do you need any help?" Lex offered, moving to stand. "I've flipped a burger or two in my time." Then a stream of water hit her in the side of the face, and she froze.

The distant cry of, "Sorry, Mom!"

Lex's eyes narrowed as she stood. "Never mind. You're on your own, Sheriff. I need to go hunt down my son."
 
Cooger laughed, and taking his water gun out of his holster, he handed it to her and said, "Go get 'im. Consider yourself deputized." Had his parents not been right there, he would've smacked her on the behind when he sent her off.

Meanwhile, Ivy began to stir, whimpering slightly until her eyes fluttered opened and she saw her Mama, at which point she mumbled happily and snuggled back in. So, of course, Abbey and Russ started asking Dark and Daizi about how Ivy was doing until Ivy was awake enough to want to go back to running around, excited to play outside.
 
Lex went off to hunt down and totally soak her son, who took it completely good-naturedly and managed to give her a few squirts in response. They eventually tired themselves out, and Toby went over to help Cooger with the grill after he'd dried off a little. He liked Cooger, and while he did not view Cooger as even a possible father figure, he enjoyed hanging around the older man and picking up a few skills from him. Skills like how to man the perfect grill. His own uncles lived far enough away and had a complicated enough history with his mother that that sort of thing did not really come up with them. Toby didn't let it bother him, and he was happy to pick up what he could from Cooger, and he would be happy to head out on his own, knowing someone was around to look after his mother.

Lex joined another knot of Cooger's friends, some of the cat rescue people, and was happily talking and getting to know them. Cats came up, of course, but other things, too, like Cooger stories, hobbies, and other adult topics.

The twins had gone down to the lake and were feeding the fish and turtles, enjoying the outdoors.
 
Cooger took his grilling duties seriously, especially since he had so many people to cook for. He didn't mind chatting with Toby and teaching him, although it was a little awkward at times, especially when he spotted one of his parents looking at them. Sometimes Dark would stop by with Ivy to chat, and when Ivy followed off of Daizi, Dark would stay behind. Whenever Dark was separated from his wife, he glanced longingly at her, still weakened by the sight of her in that red corset. It was killing him how little time he had been able to spend with his hands on her waist and hips. Cooger stole similar glances at Lex, and both men would occasionally glance at each other and silently agree they were the lucky ones, but with Toby right there, they didn't say a word of it, and instead both engaged him in conversation.

Daizi, meanwhile, squatted down beside Ivy as she was exploring in a patch of dirt. It made her think back to the stories she had heard about Cooger when he was small at his grandmother's house, hoping this place would mean something special to Ivy in that way. Ivy deserved a place where she could be wild and adventurous. Suddenly she shrieked and took off toward the shore where she had seen her brothers, yelling, "Ann! Ann!"

"Ivy!" Daizi called, "Where are you going, habibti!?"
 
Toby was possibly one of the few people that Dark did not intimidate. Toby looked at him with some awe, but no intimidation. He was flattered when Dark talked to him like "one of the guys," highly proud to be seen as someone worth talking to by adults. He didn't notice Dark and Cooger's glances at all, completely oblivious to any awkwardness as he did his best to man the grill to Cooger's standards.

Alec popped up out of the long grasses, a bit of weed stuck in his hair. "Hey, Ivy. What is it?" he called to her, confused.
 
Since Dark and Cooger had different grilling techniques, they both chimed in with different, sometimes opposing advice. Whenever they did disagree, Cooger usually pointed out they were cooking American food, so his techniques were better for it, and for once, Dark didn't argue this. If it was a day earlier or a day later in the year, he might have.

Ivy held her closed fist close to her chest, and when Alec popped up, she shook her head, "No! Ann!"
 
"Ann? Oh, okay. Let me get Ann for you," Alec said, looking at Ivy's fist curiously. "Wait here." He stepped down closer to the water where Xander was trying to refill a bunch of abandoned water guns without getting wet or muddy. "Ivy wants you."

"Eh? Why?" Xander asked, stuffing the plastic stopper in his current water gun.

Alec shrugged. "Dunno, but she's determined."

Xander stood and brushed himself off before stepping up and out of the weeds. "What's up, Mini?"
 
By the time Xander was coming up, Daizi had caught up with Ivy, thinking maybe they should have put the leash on her today. "Ivy-Qadira, you can't run away from Mama like that," she said seriously, "That is very, very naughty."

Ivy grinned at her brother and held out her closed fist to him, "This! Look!" but she did not open her hand until Xander put his out to take whatever it is she had found.
 
"Mama's right, Mini. You shouldn't run away from her," Xander said sternly as he crouched down in front of her. "But since you are here, what have you got?" He held out a hand to take what she had.
 
Ivy put a live snail into his hand. Thankfully, the snail was unharmed, as it had made the right decision to curl up into its shell the second it had spotted a toddler hand reaching towards it, and it's shell prevented it from harm while in her palm. Once she handed it to Xander, she scrunched her face up and bent towards his hand and made an excited, "Ooooooo!!!" sound, mimicking the sounds she heard people make when they saw something cute.
 
"Oooo," Xander said dutifully, trying not to laugh. "Look at that! You found a snail." He examined it with care and showed Ivy. "Snail. It's a snail. You have to be gentle with snails."

"Oooo, let me see!" Alec grinned, leaning over to look. "Very nice snail!"
 
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