How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi held him tightly, stroking his hair with one hand and rubbing his back with the other, "Then that's all that matters," she whispered. She was fairly certain she had heard what Alec said correctly, but she wasn't going to call attention to it, "I love you too, baby. I love you too."

"Well, I mean--" Dark began, not sure the fact it helped was all that mattered, but Daizi turned her head sharply towards him.

"Babe, what were we doing at 15? He's safe, he's home, he's feeling better, that's all that matters." She waited a few moments to see if Dark would have anything else to say--he didn't--and then she rested her chin ontop of Alec's head after kissing it first, "The littler baby loves you too. Everybody here loves you. I'm really, really glad speaking to whoever it was helped." She gave him a gentle squeeze, "and if it was fae or a eudaemon, or some other supernatural entity, there was nothing you could have done to not go outside and speak to them anyway."
 
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Alec hugged Daizi as tight as he dared and hoped he didn't get her robe too wet as he cried silently. This had been waiting here the whole time, just waiting for him to come to it. He was the one avoiding it. Why? It seemed even more stupid now. No, that didn't matter. What had happened had happened. What mattered now was moving forward. He took a deep breath and used the sleeve of his shirt to dry his eyes.

"You should get breakfast," he told Daizi. "Or something, at least. I am going upstairs to get ready. I still need to meet Crytal, and... and I do not think it is going to be a happy meeting."

Xander made sure Alec's back was to him before raising his eyes skyward and mouthing, "Finally!" Only Dark would have seen, if he noticed.
 
Daizi waited patiently, holding him tight and swaying from side to side to gently rock him. She could wait until he was ready. When he finally did pull back, she dried her own eyes, completely ignoring the wet spot on her robe, "You're right, I will. You go get dressed, we'll be there to support you, okay?" As Alec left, she sat down, "babe, we need to get dressed too."

He gave Xander a nod, sharing his sentiment about what good news it was Alec had finally come to his senses about Crystal, but also did not relish the thought of leaving the house.

"We did not get home until probably 2 am, or a little past," Daizi explained.
 
"I'm surprised you two are even moving at all after a night like that," Xander remarked. "You're lucky Alec is out of it or else he would have scolded you like you two were the teens." He smirked at Dark and headed upstairs. He was already dressed, but he wanted to see Alec.

Alec was standing by his bed considering three shirts laid out. He couldn't pick which one.

Xander stood next to him and looked them over. "Hmm, black for the somberness of the moment, or bright because you're free," he suggested.

Alec glanced sideways at him. "Black feels more respectful for whatever it is Crystal may be feeling," he decided.

"Right, like she's going to feel anything," Xander drawled.

Alec clicked his tongue at Xander. "There's no need to be rude and stoop to her level. She was actually pretty nice to me. Not great, but nice enough. I think that deserves a little respect. Besides, showing respect whether you like the person or not speaks more about you than it does about them."

Xander looked at Alec and smiled briefly. "There he is. I missed him." At Alec's puzzled look, Xander expounded, "The rational, nice brother." He put his arm around Alec and gave him a sideways hug. "I'm proud of you."

Alec smiled briefly and decided to wear the outfit that had caught Crystal's attention in the first place. It seemed fitting. Once dressed, he and Xander went downstairs to wait for when Dark and Daizi would be ready.
 
"We are adults we can," he yawned, "stay out however late we want."

"That's right," she chuckled, leaning over to kiss Dark's cheek. They finished eating and dressed themselves much more quickly than they had the night before. Whoever this mysterious stranger was, he certainly succeeded in resettling the house, which they were deeply grateful for.

"Are we bringing Enkidu?" Dark asked.

"We are going to the park, we might as well. And we've got space in the car." Daizi said, heading slowly towards the leash. If the twins were very much against it they'd leave him behind, but he was a good boy and it was a nice day. Plus, depending on how things went, it could be good to have a sweet loving fellow there. For moral support.
 
Alec noticed Daizi going for the leashes and smiled. "Oh, are we taking Enkidu? Excellent! He deserves a good run in the park, don't you, good boy?"

"Just make sure he doesn't get a sniff of Crystal. He probably wouldn't like her," Xander remarked, tugging on his pair of heavy boots.
 
"It just feels wrong to go to the park and leave your dog at home," Daizi said, and Enkidu, hearing 'park' and 'dog' and 'Enkidu', and seeing his leash, hurried up to them wiggling with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

"He looks so noble when he sits properly," Dark remarked as Daizi leashed their bestest sweetest boy, "but he never does."

"No, why would he?" Daizi asked, handing the leash to Xander, since the dog would sit in the back with them.

When they went out to the car and all piled in, and Dark, looking behind him at the two teens and the excited dog realized something for the first time: If they ever wanted to go somewhere as a family and wanted to bring their dog, they would actually need a bigger car. That... Well he would fret about that later. So he drove to the park.
 
"Enkidu is smacking me in the face with his tail!" Xander complained.

Alec giggled and got the dog to sit down. Soon enough, they arrived at the park. Crystal wasn't there yet, so Alec wandered about with Enkidu while Xander followed boredly.
 
"He's not trying to!" Daizi replied with a laugh, shifting in her seat. Dark said nothing, because he really, really, really did not want to have to buy a new car.

When they arrived, and Dark got out, he asked, he said, "Right, so you wanted us to wait under the pavilion, right?"

"I'll meet you there," Daizi said quietly, mostly to Dark, "I have to run to the bathroom first,"

"Do you need me to walk you there?"

"Goose, we we literally here last night," She stretched up to kiss his cheek, "I can find my way. But thank you." So then, while Daizi scurried off as quickly as someone as pregnant as her could, Dark headed to where he had agreed to wait while the twins wandered about with the dog, who was absolutely and undeniably thrilled.
 
The minutes ticked by. Alec occasionally checked his phone, but there were no new messages. Five. Then ten. Fifteen. Finally, a car slowed to a stop, and after a minute Crystal got out and sauntered across the grass in her high wedges. Alec sighed in relief and gave Xander the leash before going to meet Crystal.

"I was beginning to think something had happened to you," he called out.

Crystal giggled, her eyes wandering over Xander, Dark, Enkidu, and lingering on Daizi. "What a sully thing to think. I was just delayed, thats all. Fashionably late!"
 
Daizi was sitting next to Dark, with her head on his shoulder and her hands resting on her belly. Since they were sitting, her cane was folded up and resting on the picnic table behind them, which meant there was no way of telling she was blind. Beside her, Dark held up in a muted wave, similar to how one neighbor greets another when they want to be polite, but have no intention of talking. Being her teacher and the father of the person she was hanging out with was too complicated, especially considering what Alec had gone there to do, and he had to make it very clear his involvement at the park was in no way professional.

Enkidu, meanwhile, got up and walked in as wide a circle as he could on the leash, wagging his tail, since Crystal was too far away to sniff.
 
"Come on, Enkidu. We're not wanted here," Xander told the dog, heading toward the pavilion.

"Interesting family, though i can't say I expected to meet them on our first date," Crystal teased Alec, taking his arm and leading away from the pavilion. She glanced back toward Daizi once.more before ignoring them. "So! Where are you thinking of going?"

Xander sat on the end of one of the uncomfortable benches and watched with a scowl.
 
"She sounds like I imagined she would," Daizi said quietly in Arabic as Crystal and Alec walked away. Dark smiled in his way, which meant Crystal, had she been looking, wouldn't have been able to see it. But he had been looking at her, and saw the way she kept peering at Daizi. The opinion of a teenage girl didn't bother him any, or it shouldn't, but... He wasn't so strong that the knowledge of anyone judging his wife for something she couldn't control didn't irritate him. Beauty faded, Daizi was so far beyond those confines. He turned to look down at her, although the angle was a bit awkward, since her head was on his shoulder, and then rubbed his cheek against her hair.
 
"Actually," Alec said slowly as they walked away, "there was something really important I wanted to talk to you about." They were quickly out of hearing range to the others.

"Sure!" Crystal chirped, steering him toward a dense group of shrubbery that would hide them from the view of the others. "What do you want to talk about?"

Alec hesitated, eying the bushes warily. He would rather talk a walk at midnight with another stranger and not be in sight of his house than go into the bushes - or by them, he couldn't tell where she was going - with Crystal. He tried to steer her on to the side near Dark and Daizi as gently as he could. "I don't think this is going to work."

Crystal frowned, the motion barely moving her face. "What do you mean?" She tried again to move him on the far side.

Alec just stopped and pulled his arm free so he could end the weird game of tug-of-war he'd found himself in. "This," he repeated, gesturing between himself and her. "This is not going to work. I appreciate that you took an interest in me, I am very flattered, but I do not want to date you. If you want to be friends-"

"FRIENDS?" Crystal shrieked at a volume and pitch that could have shattered glass. "YOU want to friendzone ME?" She glared at him, furious. Then, unnervingly fast, the expression disappeared. "Oh, I see. Do you think you're gay? I have helped more than one guy with that illusion if you must know. That does not have to come between us." She reached out again.

Alec stepped back out of reach and held up his hands. "The point is," he said firmly but quietly, "I am in no way attracted to you, and I do not think we would work as any kind of couple. I wanted to be honest with you rather than hurt your feelings later."

Crystal stared at him, her eyes flashing furiously. Then she dug into her designer bag until she found her cell phone and pulled it out to call someone, still glaring at Alec. "Hello, Mark? Yes, it's Crystal. That thing I said I had to do? The end of the world? Well. I changed my mind. If you come pick me up, I'll let you take me out." She turned and stalked away toward the opposite end of the park.

Alec stared after her a moment. Then he turned and started walking back toward his family. "Well. That was a weird and sudden end," he muttered to himself, still a little stunned but also immensely relieved.
 
Hearing the distant shriek of FRIENDS? made Daizi sit up a bit straighter and Enkidu bark, "I don't suppose he just asked her what her favourite sitcom was," Daizi commented.

"Alec may well be the first person in her life to have turned her down," Dark said, his amusement well hidden. In the name of professionalism. When Alec came walking back towards them, he said, "That was quick."
 
Alec shrugged. "Apparently, she had other plans," he remarked, his tone dry. He sat next to Xander and sighed, leaning forward. After a moment, he said, "I feel so... free, now, but also... sad. Why am I sad?"

"Because of what might have been?" Xander suggested, shrugging.
 
"It is part of growing up," Dark said, scratching Enkidu behind his ears, "Even if you are absolutely certain it is the right thing, which I was," he looked at Daizi, the reason why he had always been certain breaking up with whoever he was with at the time was right, "everytime I broke up with someone, it does not bring you joy. But it is better in the long run, and I am confident in saying so, because I have a long history of dating mistakes."
 
"We agree," Daizi said, and clearly did not mean Dark, but as she stood, she winced, put her hand on her side, and swore.

"Are you okay?" Dark asked, instantly putting his hands on her to keep her steady in case there was a problem.

"Yeah," She replied, nodding, and then the amusement of whatever happened kicked in for her, "She's just going to be strong like you are. That one hurt."

"Really?"

"Mmhm," She swore again, and then flipped her hair over her shoulder, and found Alec's arm, "Come on, let's get some icecream. And feeling bad just means you care about other people's feelings, and that is never a bad thing."
 
Alec smiled and half-hugged Daizi's arm when she took it. "You should teach your daughter not to hit," he said softly, teasing her a little.

"No, that's my job," Xander said, stretching before he got up. "Come on, Enkidu. I bet we can find something for you, too. Why leave you out? Do you want a final run before we go? Or are you good?"
 
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