How Green Becomes Wood

He shook his head, "There is any number of people it could be. There is really not much we can do. I hope not to see you soon."

Even though she felt somebody sit down on the couch with her, Daizi didn't immediately respond, but eventually in a very quiet voice said, for probably the hundredth time, "Two weeks. It took two weeks."
 
Lance smiled, not taking offense at the statement and nodded. "I'll get that card in the mail." Then he headed down the walked and got in the passenger seat of Mrs. Smith's car.

"Two weeks for someone else to make a bad judgment call," Alec said calmly. "It certainly took them long enough, didn't it?"
 
She was silent again, holding Ivy's hand. "It's not a little thing. It's not a little thing." After a moment she hung her head and sighed. There wasn't really anything else to say, and she was so, so tired. She had already barely been sleeping, and this already meant she missed some time where she might have been napping, but the emotional toll of it increased it to a new level, "It's not fair," she whispered, not caring how immature the sentence was.

Dark stood in the doorway and watched until they drove away. It was only when they were fully out of sight that he shut the door, and just for his own mental health, locked it tight.
 
"No, it's not, but few things are," Alec said with a shrug. "What is good, though, is that you still have Ivy. She's not going anywhere. If other stupid people say otherwise... just don't receive that. It does not matter. What matters is that you and her and her daddy are together and family. That's what matters. Things will look better after a nap. Why don't you take Ivy upstairs? I bet you'll be joined soon, and you can have a good nap together."
 
"You and Xander are here too," She said, and smiled slightly just at that, and then finally turned to be more towards Alec, "Don't go anywhere, okay? Grow up and move out if you want to, but don't leave. It's not just me and Dark and Ivy, you and Xander are with us too, and you always will be, okay?" It wasn't lost on her that if it had gone wrong, and dominoes fell leading to the removal of Ivy, they'd take the boys too, or she thought they probably would, at least, and the whole time she was fearing for her daughter, underneath she was also fearing for her sons.
 
Alec smiled softly and reached out to lay a hand on her arm, squeezing it gently. "We won't be going anywhere at all anytime soon," he assured her. "None of us. Even Xander, but he's sitting on the stairs grumbling. He'll be around later."
 
"I can't blame him for grumbling," Daizi said, leaning against him, "None of us are happy about it... I do love you Alec. And Xander, if you're listening. I'm always going to love you, that's not going to change."
 
Alec smiled a little shakily and put his arm around Daizi so he could rub her shoulder. "You need your rest," he urged gently. "Please? You're already missing scheduled sleep time. You should go upstairs with Ivy and lay down at least. You look so tired."
 
"I am tired," She sighed, but didn't pull away from Alec immediately. Exhausted as she was, it was good to have him there, and she was glad he came to check on her. She thought about how hard it might be to convince Declan to give up parental rights, and not for the first time, "I don't want to risk disturbing her... but..." She touched the back of Alec's head, "I'll go, you're right. You're right." She pushed herself up and went to pick up Ivy, but then stopped, "Actually, could you watch her?"
 
Alec stared at Daizi in absolute shock. It took him a second to find his tongue. "Yes! Sure! Of course! I'd be happy to." Daizi was going to leave Ivy down here? Under his care? Maybe she wasn't as paranoid as Alec - guiltily - had thought her to be.
 
"I just don't want to risk waking her," She said, "she gets a little grumpy if she's woken up mid nap. But who doesn't?" She bent down to smooth Ivy's hair and then sighed lightly, "Thank you. If she gets fussy, you can just get me. I'm going to try to get Dark to get some sleep too."
 
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Daizi went to the front hall and lightly took Dark's arm, murmuring to him they need to get some sleep. He was hesitant, but eventually allowed himself to be dragged upstairs, and between all their kinds of exhaustion, for once they both actually fell asleep.
 
A couple of days passed, and a card arrived in the mail for Dark and Daizi. It was a congratulations card for their new baby. It was a very nice card, but it was also slightly bent, the flap was closed with a Harley Davidson sticker, and one corner bore the edges of a coffee mug stain. Inside, the script was careful and deliberate with a swipe of red crayon that did not look intended.

"We have the best social worker ever," Xander decided, studying the card. "He's like Cooger on a bike but with even more hair. If anyone says I said that, I'll deny it."

Things seemed to settle down. Then one afternoon a week after the unfortunate visit, Dark's phone rang. It was Lance Constable's number.
 
The return to new normalcy after the visit gave some comfort. It was strange to think over a month had passed since Ivy was born, but it brought Dark and Daizi immense pleasure to realize Ivy had officially been at home with them longer than she had lived in the NICU for. And she was still doing really, really well. They had started doing tummy time with her, only for very brief periods of times that she screamed through, but they did it all the same, and it was going to help her get stronger still.

But when the call from Lance came through, Dark inhaled and after letting it ring for a little while, he answered, "Hello?"
 
"Hello, Mr. Dark," Lance greeted him. It sounded like someone was speaking very loudly somewhere in the same room. Not yelling, but higher than normal volume. "I wanted to let you know that we got another call and - hold on." His voice moved away from the phone. "Sir, I have told you to stay on your own side. Do it, or I'll see you tossed out by the bailiff, got it?" The other voice got belligerent but moved farther away. Lance returned to the phone. "Right, sorry. Anyway, we got another call, and Mrs. Smith is about fifteen to twenty minutes from your place, so she said she'd follow up. Now, as your official case worker for the boys, you can ask her to wait until I arrive if you want, but I'm about to walk into court. That's going to take at least an hour, probably longer. She'll wait if you ask, no problem, it's whatever will- Hey!" His voice moved away again briefly. "Same goes to you, ma'am!" And back again. "Whatever you are most comfortable with."
 
There was a prolonged silence on Dark's side of the call, but a lot could be heard in it. At that exact moment, Ivy was sleeping against his chest and making mouth movements that made it seem like she was probably dreaming about milk.

Finally, he reassembled his thoughts enough to speak, "Are you serious? It has been one week since the last time. And ask her to wait until you arrive to what? This is ridiculous."
 
"Oh, trust me, I agree," Lance growled. "She'll have to have another conversation, make sure nothing's changed, and that's that. It shouldn't take too long. Look, I'm sorry to rush you, but I need to know if you want me over there or not. I have to deal with this other thing."
 
"I know you do, but I do not know if it is better to have you over or not," Dark replied, earnestly, "Would she be waiting at our house for that hour, do you think it is better to have two sets of eyes, I have no idea what the 'right call' is." He tried to sit upright while barely moving his torso to avoid waking the baby. He couldn't even ask Daizi her opinion, because she was asleep upstairs, and he didn't have the time to sneak up there, wake her, and explain the situation before Lance needed to hang up, "It would be over more quickly if we do not wait for you. Do you think it would be a mistake not to wait?"
 
"I trust Mrs. Smith to make the right call.when it comes to you guys and your family," Lance said. "It would be over a lot quicker if you told her yes and let her continue, but if you're not comfortable with that, she'll either wait in her car or.come back. She won't wait in your house. Me being there is just for your comfort, nothing else."
 
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