How Green Becomes Wood

"Thank you," Daizi replied, "we've worked hard to make it so. We would have put out snacks, but we weren't told when you were coming."

In the living room, Dark and Daizi sat together on the couch, unsure exactly what to say or what the intentions of these strangers were. After an awkward pause, Dark said, "So, Ms. Cunningham, I suppose you are their aunt. And you, Mr. Walsh, may I ask your relation?" It was obvious from the look on his face that he knew, and Daizi suspected, but they wanted confirmation.
 
"I apologize for the inconvenience of our arrival, but I was not certain of when I would be able to come. It was an opportunity I was forced to seize in the moment rather than plan." Her expression said that was not something she relished doing. Miss Cunningham sat and neatly tucked one ankle behind the other, feet off to the side. "Yes, it appears I am their aunt," she said with a bit of a sigh. She raised her hand, the thin gold band of her watch glinting in the light. "Forgive me for assuming, but to set your mind at ease, I have no interest in taking the boys away from you." She lowered her hand as she continued. "Even if I had an interest, I am simply not prepared or situated to take on one child, let alone two, and from all appearances, you seem to be decently situated in ways that I am not." She clasped her hands in her lap and turned toward Declan, who was seated in one of the other chairs, lounging so much he seemed equally probable to fall out or ooze over the sides. "I believe you have some explanations to give?"

He raised his head to look at her. "Oh, is it my turn now?"

She said nothing, but her lips thinned a little.

Declan glanced at Dark, letting his eyes wander over him and Daizi. "I'm told I am responsible for the kids," he drawled. "I'm told some kind of DNA stuff happened, and that proves they're mine. Of course, I never clapped eyes on them, not once, so it's a shock to me." He kept his gaze steady, eyes half closed.
 
When Ciara said she no interest in taking the twins away, a visible wave of relief washed over Dark and Daizi, and the death grip they had on each other's hands loosened. Daizi felt as if a fever had broken, and all of the heat and shivers had at last melted away.

But then Declan spoke, and they tensed again. They tried to make sense of what he was saying, but he wasn't nearly as well spoken as the aunt.

"So... what are you saying?" Daizi asked, wondering if she was stupid or in denial or if he just hadn't gotten to his point yet, "You're their biological father, and you haven't met them, and...?"

Dark looked hard at the younger man, and after a moment said to both Ciara and Declan, "Forgive me if this question comes across rude, my wife and I are trying to make sense of all of this, our social worker told us nothing, are you saying you did not know about them?" His tone indicated he wasn't blaming Declan if he didn't know, but he was confused.
 
"Tara told me about them, yeah." Declan lifted his hands in a loose shrug. "What can I say? I was an idiot kid with no interest in getting tied down with kids and a woman. Besides, she had a family. Right, Ciara?" He smirked as if he had scored a point against her.

Ciara lifted her chin slightly, her eyes narrowing, but she seemed to choose not to respond.

Declan gave up waiting for Ciara to answer his jibe and said, "To be honest, I forgot all about it. Never heard from her and figured everything was fine."
 
"You forgot you had children." Daizi said dryly, without a hint of softness to her voice.

Dark squeezed her hand once to encourage her to reign it in. Maintaining a much more neutral tone, he said slowly, putting the pieces together as he understood them to fit, "So, you... impregnated a woman and left her to raise the kids on her own, and now, six months or more after her death, after fifteen years of no contact you come here to...?"
 
"Do what she tells me to," Declan said, hooking a thumb toward Ciara.

Ciara's lips thinned again. She took a moment to smooth her unwrinkled skirt before saying, "Tara had to face the consequences of her actions, and some may think it overly harsh, yes, but much of it was by her own choice. You, on the other hand, decided to abscond to parts unknown so as to not be held responsible for child support payments, as is the legal right of these children. Now that their mother is deceased - God rest her soul - ensuring their well-being and doing what you can is the least you can do."

Declan raised his eyes to the ceiling. "So you said. Many times. Look, doesn't it automatically go to, like, social security or something? And it's not like she fought to find or keep me, so I don't see how any of this is my fault. Still," he raised his hands again, "I'm here, aren't I? I didn't have to let you drag me along, and I didn't have to come, but I'm here now to make amends and see what I can do as a deadbeat dad."
 
"We do not need money," Dark said simply.

"And I'm not sure it's a good idea for them to meet you yet, if ever," Daizi added, "They're going through a lot, and it wouldn't be right to just bring them downstairs and tell them. They need warning, they need time to prepare, they need to decide if they want to speak with you at all, and I do not believe they should be forced to if they decide they would rather not meet you. None of this is about you, either of you, it should be about them, and them alone."

Both she and Dark sat tall, inherently distrustful, and still were not entirely sure what this man's intentions were. Or, they supposed, what Ciara's intentions for him to do were.
 
"Sorry, folks, but apparently it's my 'legal obligation' to pay up child support, and it's my 'legal right' to see them unless I choose to sign away custody," Declan said with a shrug.

Ciara gave a tiny sigh. "As for the child support, that is about the children and the responsibilities of the parents," she said calmly. "You will have to speak with a lawyer concerning details, I am afraid. All I know and can tell you is that there are times when it can be waived if you desire, but it is a complicated legal hassle best dealt with via the courts and written contracts, not a handshake in a living room. How little or much you have monetarily is not the point. However, since I am not a lawyer, I will move on to the legal rights of the parent to visit the children. Yes, as their biological father, and you are the foster parents, you are legally bound to give him visitation rights unless you have viable reasons not to allow it. Again, another messy court session. As it stands now - and you can check with your social worker about this - Declan has the legal right to walk out of here with both children should he so desire, no matter how ill-advised any of us believe that to be."

"Including me," Declan snorted. He straightened up and looked serious for a moment. "Look, I'm ready to pay my dues and do the responsible thing, but I get that these kids are teens who haven't had a dad in their lives. Even if I could, I'm not going to just walk out of here dragging them by their ears. We'll take some time."

"None of this is to threaten you," Ciara said firmly, "only to inform you of how things legally stand. I am only here to ensure the necessary responsibilities are dealt with. Nothing more."
 
"If he demands to see them we will be forced to let them," Dark replied, his heavy eyebrows coming together slightly, "but if he wants to do the right thing by them,' Again, he squeezed Daizi's hand, because he knew she wanted to cut in with some comment that would make it worse, "he would allow it to be their choice. They are not toddlers who know nothing about the world, and their opinion should count for something. If you do not want to respect what should be their right to choose, we can do nothing to stop you, but morally we would hope you would put some stock into how they may feel about all of this, rather than forcing it upon them. Have they not had enough decided for them and taken from them?"

Daizi leaned forwards a little bit, frowning deeply. She kept rubbing Dark's arm with one hand and sort of swaying, thinking through what Declan had said, "What do you mean, 'we'll take some time'?" Her voice remained strong, but she felt dizzy. Ciara said she wasn't threatening them, but it certainly felt like it, which was absurd, because the only opinion they expressed was that it should be the twins' decision if they wanted to connect with their biological father, and the response was to warn them that this man who didn't exist for them and had never been there for them could, if he wanted, whisk them away.
 
Declan looked between them and huffed softly. "You guys are acting like I'm some kind of monster when all I'm trying to do is the right thing," he stated. "I already said I wasn't going to drag them off or anything like that." He glared at Ciara. "Would you stop putting ideas in their heads?" Then back to Dark and Daizi. "I don't have a fart in a hurricane's idea of what they've gone through or haven't because no one has bothered to tell me. No one! Their mother chose to live her own life. Yeah, I walked out because I was eighteen and she was a couple months shy of eighteen and didn't want some trumped-up abuse charge on my record. Yeah, it was selfish. I was a kid! If she'd bothered to reach out, she could have found me and told me if life was hard, and maybe we could have worked things out. But she didn't. I spent all this time thinking she'd found a guy willing to support her and the kid, and I wasn't going to ruin that for her. No guy wants his wife's ex showing up and butting into their lives. Then her sister shows up on the doorstep of my hotel right after I get into town for a trip and tells me, surprise! Your ex is dead and you have not one but two kids needing your help. So I'm here. So instead of looking at me like a villain, maybe you should give me a chance before deciding if I'm a crap father or not 'cause I don't know myself. I wasn't ever invited to give it a try. Yeah, I got rights, rights assigned by a faceless organization that doesn't know shit about the little guy. I'm not putting much stock in those so-called 'rights.'"
 
"You wouldn't have been busting into her life, you would have been getting into your children's life, but you chose not to do that. For fifteen years you chose not to do that," Daizi said unsympathetically, "and what? First you say you left because you weren't interested in being tied down, next you say you were scared because she was just under 18 and you had already turned 18? And now that they're settled and maybe even happy you think, 'Now, now is the time to introduce myself'? You cared so little for fifteen years that you never even bothered to learn you had twins, and now you show up expecting a beautiful reconciliation, entirely on your own terms? You say we aren't giving you a chance to show what kind of father you are, but you are already showing us your quality. What we've been pushing is leaving it up to them to decide what they are ready for, and you sit there like a scolded child as if we unreasonable for thinking about their emotional state. Even if you do not force them away today, forcing them to even speak to you, without warning, without giving them time to prepare or decide if that's even what they are comfortable speaks volumes.
Al’ama."

"Easy," Dark murmured, putting his hand on her knee, although he agreed with her, "Look, Mr. Walsh. All we want is to do right by those boys upstairs. And you really do not need to tell me about faceless organizations."
 
"Gee, a person can't have more than one reason for the choices they make," Declan said dryly. "And none of this has been on my terms. Maybe if you two-"

"Enough," Ciara said firmly, raising her hand. "That is enough." She placed her hand back in her lap and gave Daizi a stern look. "I have no children of my own, so I will not pretend to understand what you are going through, but I do understand that you are currently fearful that something you love very much is going to be taken away at worst, and at best is threatened. I understand. This is a highly sensitive and explosive situation we are dealing with. So let's take a nice, deep breath and take a moment to calm down." She sat back and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

Declan's eyes smoldered, but he sat back as well and made a show of breathing.
 
Daizi obliged her in taking a breath, although Dark frowned a bit seeing the way Ciara looked at her. Whatever her reasons, he couldn't help but feel like she was being just a hair patronizing. She was certainly more understanding than Declan was, but it still seemed to him there was something not quite right about her. Daizi burned beside him. She wanted to know, desperately wanted to know, what this stranger was going to say.

"Did you know, Ms. Cunningham," Dark said slowly, still not accusatory, "that before we took them in, they were living on the street? May I ask where you were during that time? Or where you were in the nearly six months they have been under our care? As far as we knew, they had no relations, but you knew about them. They did not even know who might be coming."
 
Ciara met Dark's look without blinking. "When my sister died, I was out of the country burying my mother and dealing with the gold digger trying to steal the estate she willed to a church. Tara and I had not spoken since two days after she told the family that she was with child. She went her own way, and I went mine. I was not aware they were twins, nor was I aware of any housing situations. She did not choose to share her life with me, and I admit that I did not push very hard to stay in it as we had never been best friends as children. I do not think you need to know any more beyond that." She took a moment to brush her hair behind her ear, fiddling with her earing briefly and breaking eye contact. Then she returned her attention to Dark and Daizi. "Now, instead of looking to the past and trying to find who to blame for the things that have happened, let us speak of their future. Declan? What do you intend to do?"

Declan shrugged. "I never got passed meeting them. I'd like to see them, see who they are, and maybe go from there. I don't even have a house right now because I'm on the road all the time, so what do you say we start with planning a, uh, what-do-ya-call-'em, play date or something like tomorrow?"
 
Dark inhaled, held his breath for a few moments, and letting it out said, "Look. I am sorry for your loss--both of them--but you have had to expect we were going to ask those questions. We care about them, and about their well-being, and knowing even the little bits we know about what they have been through, we need to be cautious. We need to ask these questions, because for whatever reason, we have been the only people in these boys' lives to advocate for them. I found them freezing in the snow, and if I had not found them, they would have died this past winter. So of course we are going to question why their blood-family was not there. What would you think of us if we did not?"

Again, Daizi rubbed his arm, when she took the time to be calm about it, it all felt like too much. It was more than she was prepared for, and all she wanted to do was protect Alec and Xander. She loved them. They were hers. And she couldn't... They kept saying they didn't plan on taking them away, but she felt such a strong undercurrent of yet. Declan kept saying things like, 'and we'll go from there,' and 'start with,' but he never said what he wanted to end with. And it just wasn't fair. She wondered, honestly, had she accidentally run over a child in her past life? Had she committed some atrocity?

"We will speak with them," Dark told Declan, after seeing his wife was not about to speak, "if they want to meet you, then we will oblige. But I will not force them. If they say no, you are welcome to be the one to force them into the meeting, but we will not be the ones to say they have to."
 
Ciara rose and straightened her skirt. "Well. I think this has gone better than it might have. I think it would be best to leave things as they are for today. I would strongly suggest that you contact a lawyer and possibly a mediator to hash out the legal aspects. I doubt they will be concise. I must return home as I have some responsibilities that will not wait, but it is only a two-hour drive away. You may call me if there are any emergencies, and I will make myself available later this week." A card appeared from nowhere, and she offered it to Daizi between two perfectly manicured fingers. It was simple yet elegant on heavy, expensive paper. It bore her name and number, no business title or other identification.

"I have a room at the Gateway motel at the edge of town," Declan said, standing as well. "Room two-oh-seven. Just call the motel and ask for my room. I'm pretty much free, so just let me know the time and place."
 
"Right," Dark sighed, and took the buisness card, knowing Daizi didn't know it was there. He didn't respond to her suggestion about getting a lawyer or a mediator. He already planned to call his lawyer, and it was just another thing about her that made him feel like she was patronizing them. He judged her card, somewhat, and he knew it was petty. But it wasn't accessible to the visually impaired. "Let me walk you both to the door, and I will let you know what they say." He stood, but Daizi stayed sitting. In hushed tones, he asked if she was okay, and she nodded.

Swallowing, she raised her head, but still without any warmth said, "Have a safe trip home. We'll talk to them."
 
Declan Walsh shuffled to the door, getting there first, and quickly yanked off the foot covers before opening the door. "See ya'll later! I look forward to meeting the kids." Then he was gone out the door.

Ms. Cunningham walked to the door and stood awkwardly trying to get the shoe covers off without pulling off her shoes or falling over. When she succeeded, she straightened and nodded to Dark. "As I haven't met them yet, I have no idea what sort of condition they are in, but from all appearances, you have been taking good care of my sister's children. I appreciate your hard work." She moved to follow Declan out the door.
 
Dark swallowed, and glanced up to the stairs. For a second, and only a second, when he looked back at Ciara, his true love for the twins could be seen in his eyes, before it was reabsorbed into his usual stern expression, "Thank you. We have been doing our best by them."

He didn't try to keep them in her house a moment longer, and when they left he closed and locked his front door. Then he took a breath and went back and sat by his wife, who swiveled towards him and with one hand clutched his shirt over the center of his chest, but couldn't find words to say. Gently and loosely, he draped his arms around her slender form and touched his forehead to hers. They sat there like that, unspeaking, until at last her grip on his shirt loosened, and they shifted into a tight, but brief embrace.

Then, together, they went upstairs, having recollected their strength, and knocked on the twins' door, "May we come in?" Dark asked, "There is something we need to speak to you about."
 
The door opened almost instantly. Both twins stood there, Alec looking a little guilty and Xander looking sullen.

"Are they gone?" Xander asked.

Alec looked down. "We were trying to listen at the door," he admitted. "It wasn't a very clear audio."

"Sounded like a bit of a fight, though," Xander finished.
 
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