How Green Becomes Wood

Dark nodded, rubbing Ivy's back, "Well... If you do run out of other possibilities, you may want to apologize to my wife for dismissing her fears." He wasn't sure if it was exactly the right thing to say, but he still felt it was right to say it.
 
"Perhaps," Mrs. Smith said vaguely. "For now, I have other appointments to make. Have a good afternoon, Mr. Dark." She gave him a little nod then let herself out, heading down to her car. That was possibly the least dramatic encounter she'd had with them yet. She really hoped it would be the last.
 
A few minutes after Mrs. Smith left, Daizi came downstairs: she had been in the shower, "Who was that?"

"CPS," Dark sighed, "but she only stayed long enough to ask if there was anything we were withholding or if it could be a family member. I told her there was not, and it could not be. Then she left."

"That's all?" Daizi asked, taking Ivy from him.

"Yes," Then, after a moment, "she also asked if there was a possibility it was the twins calling. I told her I very much doubted it."

She didn't have to think about it, "They would never do something like that."
 
Much later, at the usual time, Alec and Xander walked up to the front door and let themselves in quietly. They didn't call out in case anyone was sleeping, but they didn't disguise their thumps and bumps as they dropped their backpacks, took off their shoes and coats, touched the salt, and picked up their bags again. Alec didn't have as good of a hold as he thought he did, and his bag fell from his hand. The bag opened, and a handful of papers slid out. Some looked suspiciously like school notes.
 
At the sound of the thunk, Dark came around the corner, "Welcome home," he said, and seeing the papers scattered on the ground said something quick like, "Oh, let me help you," before kneeling to help him clean everything up, "How was school?"
 
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"Good, good, the usual," Alec said, quickly shoving the notes deep into his bag. It looked like his zipper had given up. "Nothing much to report. How about here at home?"

Xander grunted and stepped around Alec to head toward the stairs.
 
Dark watched Alec closely as he put the papers away, but focused mostly on his face. He had been a struggling fifteen year old once upon a time, and he had been keeping a close eye on Alec. But he knew he couldn't come right out and express his worries, so he said, "I can probably fix that zipper, or replace it. Unless you would prefer a new bag. Today was fine here, mostly. CPS came again, but left quickly. They actually asked if it was possible one of you were making the calls, but I told them there was no chance of that. I think they are just trying to find any answer."
 
"I think the zipper is fixable, maybe. I'll look at it upstairs," Alec assured him.

"They wanted to know if it was us? Should have just said yes and solved your problem," Xander told Dark. "They'd have their scapegoat, and maybe whoever really is calling would think justice was done and leave you alone."
 
"Are you sure? It is really no problem for me to help you," He said, really just hoping to get some time alone with him to try to ease into a conversation. But if he didn't work, maybe he'd try to talk to Xander, "To be honest, that never occured to me, and I would not want anything to happen to you. I do not the repercussions of that would be. I am not Abraham." His expression broke just barely, showing a glimpse at how abhorrent he found the idea of throwing his boys into the fire, even if Xander was joking.
 
Xander paused, frowning in confusion. "Abraham?"

"Biblical figure who was tested by being asked to sacrifice his son," Alec told him. "He was going to go through with it, but then he was told to sacrifice an animal instead. The test was just his willingness to give up what was most precious, not that he actually had to."

"Oh. Bible myths are weird." Xander glanced at Dark. "Good for you. So glad you wouldn't purposefully sabotage someone." He turned and started up the stairs."

Alec winced and glanced at Dark. "I'm sorry. For him."
 
Dark was about to say something, but instead took a few moments to process what Xander had said before asking, "Have I done something...?" He glanced up at the stairs, more disheartened than frustrated that one son was struggling, but wouldn't talk about it, and the other seemed irritated with him... pretty often, for reasons he couldn't figure out. It was like the twins had regressed to a year ago, and, well. It hurt.
 
Alec very lightly patted Dark's elbow. "I'll try to get him to talk to you, bit it's... it's not you," he tried to reassure Dark. He hurried up the stairs after Xander. It was likely not going to be easy to get Xander to open up, and he was likely going to point out how Alec was not exactly a font of forthcoming information, but it was his duty to at least try to mend the peace. Wasn't it?
 
Dark frowned, not all that reassured. From the other room, Ivy began to cry. Again. He knew that Daizi had her and he knew that this was normal, but he couldn't help but push his hair back and for the first time feel genuinely a bit annoyed by it, because for godsakes, could one of his kids just be okay? Please? It was her due date, November 23rd, which meant that even though she was approaching two months old, they had really only just started the counter on her life, meaning they still had, more or less, a month of this.

He softened quickly when he walked back into the living room and saw Ivy's tiny face, but just that moment it all felt very overwhelming.
 
Upstairs, Alec and Xander argued softly. As expected, when Alec gently encouraged Xander to talk to Dark about why he was upset, Xander instantly pointed out that Alec wasn't one to talk considering the fact that his backpack currently held six letters from his teachers politely requesting some kind of call or a meeting. It wouldn't be long before the school just directly called Dark or Daizi, but Alec felt they would hold off. Besides, that wasn't affecting his homelife, unlike Xander's cranky mood.

"Oh really?" Xander snapped when Alec brought up his latest point. "You don't think they've noticed that you're basically slinking around in the shadows and not the happy-smiley fellow you pretend to be? They aren't stupid."

"Then why are you pretending like they are?" Alec countered as the pair circled each other in their bedroom - which was increasingly feeling too small. "You know they are doing their best with this mess."

"No, they aren't! They are making it worse, and you know it!" Xander growled.

"Do I, though? Do I?" Alec countered.

Xander glared at him. Unable to find an answer, he turned and walked out of the bedroom, ignoring Alec trailing along after him.
 
Downstairs, Daizi was nursing Ivy, and was angry. Not angry at Ivy, not angry at Dark, not angry at the twins, but just... Angry. It was, to put it bluntly, a shit situation. Everyone, except for Ivy, was stressed, everyone was tired, everyone was irritable. But it was the day Ivy was meant to be born, it was a big day for her. For both of them. And she was able to hear, from the living room, how Xander had spoken to Dark, and she was able to hear Dark's tone, and Alec's, and CPS visited again and--She rocked gently while Ivy fed, because she always seemed to find the motion comforting, and smiled lightly at the curl of her hand against her breast. Daizi was so angry that she decided, just that day, she refused to care. If the twins were struggling and refusing to talk? Just for that day, fine. They didn't have to. They could stomp and mope around. If CPS was going to come, fine. Apparently there was nothing they could do to prove to whoever was reporting them that they were good parents anyway. But it was an important day, and Daizi refused to pretend like it wasn't just to preserve the tenuous state of the house. Tomorrow she would again, and the next, but she just really, really, wanted to be happy about her baby and how far she had come.

So she sat on the couch, and rocked, and sang (not the lullaby, a different song, although still in Arabic), and if someone had a problem with it, they would just have to tell her, because she wasn't going to spend this day with her daughter worrying about if loving her was upsetting people.

But still, she couldn't rid herself of the guilt she felt for thinking that way.
 
"Why can't you just mind your own business?" Xander demanded to Alec as he went down. He turned the corner, saw Daizi, and blanched, squeaking a little in shock and surprise. He turned on his heel and started toward the back door instead, growling angrily.

"Gee, I am so sorry that I consider my brother a part of my business!" Alec snapped, still following Xander. He was starting to finally get fed up. It was too hard to keep everything straight! To keep everything calm! Why did it have to be his problem? But it was, so he was going to fix it! Somehow!
 
Dark milled about, not really knowing what to do. The twins were fighting upstairs, obviously. They weren't subtle. Daizi, he had noted, was clearing forcing herself into a peaceful state. And Ivy calmed down once she was eating.

There was a thought. Walking into the kitchen, Dark washed his hands, and then took out a frying pan and dropped some butter into it. He didn't know if the twins would still be fighting in about twenty minutes, but he was prepared to take the hit if they were, and when everything was ready, he went up and knocked on the door, carefully balancing grilled cheese and tomato soup, because he remembered them expressing that they liked it and missed it, "Hey," he said calmly through the closed door, "I thought you both might be hungry."
 
Two agitated twins glared at Dark. Glaring was highly unusual for Alec. Not so much for Xander.

After a tense second, Xander stood up. "I could eat."

"I guess," Alec said, even though he didn't feel like it. Mostly, he was going to follow Xander until the other broke down.

Xander stumped down the stairs moodily, hands shoved into his pockets. He reached the kitchen and took two strides into it before stopping abruptly. He caught the smell first. Then he saw it. Freshly grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Just like when they were kids. He stood staring for a bit before carefully walking around to the table and sitting down.

Alec peered around Xander, wondering what had stopped him. He caught sight of the meal, too, and his heart squeezed painfully. Gingerly, he went to his place, and a silence fell over them both.
 
Seeing the glares, Dark did not blanche, and stood there calmly and quietly while they made up their minds, and then followed them downstairs. He smiled a bit to himself at their reaction to the food and set the plates in front of them, "I hope you do not mind your sandwich is smaller, Alec," he said, speaking gently, "but I figured you may not be as hungry as your brother, and I did not want to waste food." He joined them, setting half of the sandwich that had originally been Alec's and some of the tomato soup in front of himself.
 
"I don't mind," Alec said quietly. He picked it up and nibbled lightly on the corner of the sandwich. "Mmm."

Xander took a couple of bites, taking his time eating. "Thanks," he finally said. "This is good." He dipped his sandwich in the soup and even smiled a little at the soupy bread. After another slow bite, he muttered, "It's just not fair."
 
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