How Green Becomes Wood

"Daizi had been napping upstairs. I guess I will go and wake her, if you would wait in the living room." He said flatly, walking them first to the living room. He was about to offer getting their papers, but then decided, no, this was absurd, and he wasn't offering up any information.
 
The agents stood quietly in the room while Xander stood leaning against the wall staring at them. Occasionally, Marks tried to make conversation with Xander, but it was painfully clear he had no idea how to talk to teens. Xander didn't quite cross the line into impudent, but the sarcasm was leaking through in his answers.
 
After about ten minutes or so, Dark came back downstairs, bringing Daizi with her. She had clearly been dead asleep and was putting her hair up in a bun as she came down to hide how messy it was, "You're here about our status?" She asked, "Did our neighbor send you? Mrs. Harwood?"
 
"Ma'am, I can assure you, I have no idea who 'Mrs. Harwood' is. Despite our reputation, the FBI does not know everyone," Briggs replied mildly. He gestured to the couch. "May we sit down? I would like to try to get through this as quickly as possible."

"I'm sure you would," Xander said dryly.

"It might be best to do this in private," Marks said to Dark and Daizi.

Xander didn't wait for them to respond before shrugging and heading to the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, keep the secrets to yourself."

Briggs picked up the conversation as Xander disappeared. "When did you both arrive in this country?"
 
"Was it an anonymous report, then?" She asked, sitting down, "Because she has been calling in anonymous reports against us to CPS."

Dark wasn't quite comfortable sitting down, but he forced himself to, and he sat very near to his wife, "I arrived in 2005 and have lived here since. Daizi arrived first in 2006, but returned to Egypt a few months into 2009. Then she did not come back to the United States until 2013."
 
"I understand," Briggs said. "When you arrived, Mr. Dark, did you-" he was cut short by the ringing of his phone. He glanced at his partner with a frown but reached into his jacket and pulled out the cell phone. "Please excuse me. This is important." He stood and stepped away, moving toward the door for at least the illusion of privacy before answering his phone. "Briggs."

Marks looked a little confused for a moment then turned back to Dark and Daizi. "Have you ever returned to your country, Mr. Dark?"

"Ma'am? Yes, Ma'am. Apologies. We- Yes ma'am," Briggs was saying into the phone.
 
"No, I have not." Dark replied, glancing up at Briggs as he went to stand aside to talk on the phone. "I have not had the opportunity, and I am fairly certain if I had, it would not affect my residency here, considering I have earned citizenship in the intervening years."

"We have both lived here for over a decade and now we're being investigated?" Daizi asked, "Our baby has citizenship here--we do too, now, but even if we hadn't, she does, and we are from two different countries, and she is a citizen of neither. What do you--" She paused, wondering if that was the intention, a last ditch effort to seperate Ivy from them. If they were deported, which they couldn't be, but if they had been, they couldn't deport the baby and, theoretically, she'd go into state custody.
 
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"I'm afraid I can't answer why, but it seems that some questions have arisen concerning your citizenship," Marks replied. "Now, I know those words are cause for alarm, but I want you to know that it doesn't necessarily mean anything is going to happen any time soon. Sometimes-"

"Stop the questions," Briggs said, closing his phone as he returned to the group without sitting. Despite his darker skin, he looked pale and a little queasy. "We're done here, Marks."

"What?" Marks asked, looking completely thrown off.

Briggs ignored him and turned to Dark and Daizi. "Mr. Dark, Mrs. Wahid, I want to extend my deepest apologies. It turns out we were acting on bad information and got your names confused with another couple's. It was completely preventable and should have been caught. On behalf of both the bureau and ourselves, I apologize. I know that does not negate the inconvenience and fright we must have given you, but I want you to know that I am sincerely sorry that this happened. Marks, we need to go."

Marks scrambled to his feet, confused, but willing to accept his partner's guidance and wait for an explanation later. "We aren't supposed to be here? Oh cra- Sorry, I mean, right, sorry."

They both backed toward the door for their shoes.
 
"If one more person tells us that they know it's scary and that it doesn't mean--" Daizi had begun to say before Briggs hung up the phone and said they needed to leave and stop asking questions.

At the apology, Dark stood, fully intending to walk them to the door, making sure they left, "Yes. Thank you for apologizing. Next time, it would probably be good to triple check your information before coming to visit, yes?" There was, again, a great deal he wanted to say, but it was still the FBI so he tried his best to remain courteous despite the aggravation.
 
"I completely agree," Briggs said with a nod. "Again, we are sorry to have disturbed you. I will personally ensure that it does not happen again unless for very good reason." From his tone, that reason had better be something along the lines of video and photographed evidence of Dark and Daizi building a doomsday device in the backyard while conspiring with all the terrorist group leaders at the same time.

Awkwardly, the two wrestled on their black business shoes while muttering awkward apologies until they could finally get out the door. Marks started to offer stickers representing an FBI badge "for the kids," but Briggs practically hauled him down the walkway before he could finish.
 
"Yes that is a great idea, goodbye." Dark said, gladly closing the door behind them and for his own sanity, locking every lock it had. Then he swore, and although he didn't fully yell, it was by no means under his breath, which was a rare enough phenomenon.

"For godsakes," was all Daizi could think of to say. She laughed, after, purely from the absurdity. Her brain couldn't respond in any other way. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe they did genuinely confuse them with a different couple. But the chances of that meant they should probably go out and buy a lottery ticket.
 
"Are they gone?" Xander asked, tromping down the stairs with Alec trailing a few steps behind. "Darn. I really wanted one of those badge stickers. It'd go perfect with my fireman pjs."
 
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"Yes. They are gone." Dark replied, leaning against the door and holding his hands over his face.

"Do we get Bingo for that?" Daizi asked, getting up and immediately taking her hair down so she could run her hands through it, "I'm smudging the house, and I've got to replace the salt in the bowl."
 
Dark fished around in his pocket until he found his phone. He sounded as cordial as he could manage, "Hello, Ciara. How are you? I believe I just met some of your friends."

In the meanwhile, Daizi was heading upstairs to get the supplies she needed.
 
Ciara's tone was clipped and no-nonsense while still remaining polite. "I heard. Alec called me. I apologize for that. As per Bureau policies, your family was investigated and backgrounds checked the moment familial bonds were established between myself and my nephews. The paperwork should have been on file, but it appears it was delayed. Even so, a quick check with the records should have brought up a flag that your family was already associated with one of the agents. This never should have happened. However, since it did, I will be looking into why. I do see there was some sort of phone call or report made, but I will need to look deeper to see the reason behind it."
 
"I have my suspicions," Dark said flatly, closing his eyes, "We have a crazed neighbor who desperately wants Ivy taken from us. She thinks we are unfit and has been repeatedly reporting us to CPS, but we found out it was her only yesterday, and our agent was... displeased, and expressed this displeasure with her. If I were to guess, I would say she tried a new tactic."
 
"I see." Ciara's voice took on new layers of chill. "I will see what I can do about that. In the future, if anyone from any branch of authority harasses you like this again, please let me know. My influence is not all-reaching, but I will do what I can to lend you aid. For now, I need to launch an investigation of my own. Is there anything you need in the meantime?"
 
"Thank you," Dark leaned against the front door and slid down slightly, forming a sort of triangle between himself, the door, and the floor, "it had not even occurred to either of us to have called you about the CPS problem. Thank you, sincerely. I have no idea how this might have gone had..." He trailed off, not really wanting to imagine the worst case. It could have gone really, really badly, and it was only now, as he was talking on the phone with Ciara, that he realized why the agents had asked if he had returned to Iraq. "No, I do not think we need anything, well, nothing quick to be provided, anyway. We just... I just very much would like my home to feel secure again."
 
"I understand," Ciara assured him. "I will see to it that no one else bothers you, at least not for the immediate future. Call me if anything comes up or if you need anything." She didn't bother with long goodbyes as she hung up to go deal with things.

Alec watched Dark anxiously. "I hope it's okay... that I called her. Xander indicated that it would be a good idea." Which was why Xander had been speaking loud enough to catch his twin's attention and stalling the agents as best he could since he didn't realize it would take Daizi a full ten minutes to come down.
 
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