How Green Becomes Wood

"No, I understand. Thank you." Dark said, made his goodbyes, and hung up. Then, quickly, he explained what had happened with both calls to Daizi.

Then, she felt it was her turn, so she quietly slipped upstairs and knocked on the door, "Hey, Alec? Habibi? Everything is okay, but would you mind coming downstairs for a moment?"
 
It took him a moment, but Alec finally opened the door and looked at Daizi worriedly. "I can come... are you sure everything is alright?" he asked slowly. Something was definitely wrong, though he wasn't sure what it was. He moved out of his room slowly.

Xander leaned back in his chair to look out through the open doorway. "What's up?"
 
"Habibi, I promise," She said earnestly, holding out her hands to him, "There's nothing I can say to make 'we just want to talk' not intimidating. But it's okay. Mrs. Anderson just wanted us to ask you something." She paused, "I know that makes it seem more stressful, it's not."
 
Alec hesitated, his heart sinking. Mrs. Anderson? He could guess why she had called. Why couldn't she leave well enough alone? Then again, he supposed that was her job. "Alright," he said quietly.

Xander scrambled to his feet. "Hey, what's going on?"

"It's okay," Alec assured him. "You wait here. I'll be right back."

"You don't want me to go with?" Xander glanced at Daizi. "Anything they have to say to you, they can say in front of me, can't they?"
 
"We can," Daizi replied, dropping her hands down to her sides, "I'm not going to tell you not to come, I had expected you would." She paused for a moment, looking at Alec, "If he would rather we speak privately, though, that is more his buisness than it is ours."
 
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Alec patted Xander's shoulder. "It's okay. I promise. But I guess you can come if you want."

"Damn straight I am," Xander grumbled.

Alec followed Daizi downstairs, and Xander stayed right on his heels.
 
Daizi gave them a little smile and then walked down into the living room, sitting lightly down on the couch. It was uncomfortable, not knowing who was meant to speak first.

After some hesitation, Dark began, "Mrs. Anderson just called us," he said, after the twins had sat down, "she suggested we have a family session and seems to really believe it would be a helpful idea. But it is your health, your appointment, and we will not force you into it." He took special care not to mention Mrs. Anderson had told him to bring it up to them.
 
"Why does she think we all need to be involved?" Xander demanded. "Isn't her job to keep secrets and all that jazz? Why would she be calling you about it?"

Alec glanced at Xander, his hands carefully folded in his lap, but he only asked, "I am not sure I understand why that would be necessary."
 
"You would have to ask her that," Daizi replied calmly, "She did not tell us anything confidential."

"What she said to us is she wanted to address the problems with 'our family dynamic,' and addressing that sort of problem does require us all to be there. If there was a miscommunication somewhere, it will not be discovered if we do not talk about it, and she has an objective eye on the situation." Dark explained, also speaking calmly, understanding this was a difficult proposition.
 
"Our 'family dynamic?'" Xander repeated, confused. "What's that got to do with anything?" He glanced at Alec. "What have you been telling her?" He was confused, not accusatory.

"Nothing!" Alec hurried to tell him. He hesitated, realizing what he'd said. "That is, nothing she could take as being bad. She's certainly not the reason the CPS are here. I would never tell anyone anything like that."
 
Daizi leaned forwards, pressing her hands together, "Hey. It's not Alec's fault, and it's not a bad thing. Honestly, we should have had sessions like this before. Dark and I have been to couples therapy before, not because we were falling apart or something had done or said anything wrong, but because sometimes it helps."

"Generally speaking," Dark said, "if a therapist you trust and who has been helping you suggests something, it is good to try their suggestions, even if you do not understand their reasoning. If it does not help, it does not help, but there is little sense in deciding not to try it, because it is very, very unlikely to hurt."
 
Alec glanced between them and then away, focusing on something halfway between Dark and Daizi without actually looking at either of them. "If you think it is a good idea, then I suppose it is for the best that we do it," he agreed politely with a little nod. "I suppose it cannot hurt, can it?"

Xander grunted and folded his arms, leaning back. "I certainly can, but I guess there's nothing for it but to face it."

Alec smiled vaguely. "Of course. Therapists are our friends, after all. Well, not literally, but I am sure you know what I mean."
 
"It won't hurt," Daizi did her best to assure him, "She's not going to try to seperate us, she's not going to be insulting, she's not going to take sides or try to lecture us. All she wants to do is help." She smiled, and wasn't forcing it, because she did, truly, hope this family visit would help them. There was so much she had tried to do to help him, and none of it seemed to work, so maybe this would. Hopefully it would. It needed to.
 
Alec nodded slightly. "Then I suppose we'll be doing it."

"Hang on, I never agreed," Xander protested.

Alec frowned at him. "So... you won't go?"

"No, I'll go, it'd just be nice to be asked," Xander grumbled.

"Alright, Xander," Alec sighed, "will you please come to the family meeting with the therapist?"

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not? I don't have much else going on right now."

"Good. Now that that's settled, is there anything else?" Alec asked, glancing at Dark and Daizi.
 
Dark glanced at Daizi, even though she couldn't see it, and following some hesitation said, "Your school also called us. They said you are struggling and want to meet with us to talk about it."

"They said they had been sending notes home," Daizi added softly, wanting to ask what was going on, but also feeling like it would push him too far.
 
"It's fine," Alec said far more bluntly than he normally would. "They are overreacting to a few low grades, that is all."

Xander glanced at him and away, muttering, "Told you they'd find out."

Alec elbowed him hard. "I saw no reason to worry you about it since it's nothing. Just a bit of slipping, that's all. There's a lot of distractions going on right now, but I'm sure it'll be fine."
 
"They made it sound more serious than that," Dark replied. He remained calm but matched Alec's bluntness, "I have been there longer than you, I know what they send letters for, and I know what they call for." He softened his voice, "Alec, we are not upset with you, only worried. We understand needing extra help, and we understand struggling with the adjustment. We will do whatever we can to help you, but..."
 
Alec shook his head, his chest tightening. He took a steadying breath before answering. "I don't need help. I really don't. You two need help. Ivy needs help. I'm fine. I am going to school. I'm eating regularly. I'm not getting into fights. I'm not even getting bullied. I'm not into drugs or alcohol or anything like that. I'm fine. It's just a bit of a low time. That's all. It'll turn around. You just need to focus on keeping yourselves together and looking after Ivy. I'm fine."

Xander glanced sideway at Alec, but he wasn't going to argue with him in front of Dark or Daizi, and he certainly wasn't going to point out the fact that he'd spotted the backpack at the end of the bed. For one thing, he doubted they'd recognize the importance of that.
 
"Alec," Daizi said, leaning forward and tucking her hair back. She tried to smile at him, but now it was difficult, because it hurt to hear him so definitively shut them out, "We were able to worry about both you and Xander at the same time. We're more than capable of worrying about the three of you, and Ivy, she's out of the woods, now. She's a perfectly healthy, normal, baby now. Habibi..." Her voice broke, but she pulled herself back together, "It's okay if you need space, you can have as much space as you need, but don't shut yourself out on our account."
 
Alec almost flinched at Daizi's words and the obvious concern in her voice. She sounded so sad, so tired, so concerned. He didn't want her to be concerned! He wanted her to be happy. It just... didn't seem to be working out the way he thought it should. "Space is fine," he said quietly, at a loss as to what else he should say. "We really don't need... to be doing this. Any of this. You have so much stress on you already, I don't want to add more. I know you're capable of it, that you want to worry about us, me, but you don't need to."
 
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