How Green Becomes Wood

"They haven't really spoken to me about it much," Milo replied, staring intensely at the street, waiting to see the car pull up, "They don't really like my mom, they're my dad's parents. But I think they don't know I know they don't like her. Which is why we haven't spoken much about it. I guess they seem kinda sad."
 
Xander shrugged. "It's because they don't want to see you hurt," he said simply. "And disliking your mom hurts you, so they try not to show it. That's the best they can do right now, that and hope to hell that you'll be alright." He shifted to lean on a school sign. "But at least they're trying not to blast her, right? That's better than some divorced people I know. Anyway, you said red truck, right?"
 
He nodded. "That's what she said. I've not seen it before. She said it's old and beat up but it runs really well." Still keeping his eyes on the street, "I wish they'd give my mom more credit. For all of her problems, I always had food of some kind to eat, and I don't mean food out of a trashcan or something, and she never forgot my birthday. That's not nothing."
 
"Definitely not nothing," Xander agreed, fighting the urge to say anything about 'bare minimum.' Nope. Not going there. If Milo said he was happy with that, then he was going to have to accept that. Things looked differently from the outside. He should know that better than anyone, so stop judging! "A good running car is a great thing to have."
 
Briefly taking his eyes from the road, he looked at Xander for a moment, knowing what was in his head, but he didn't address it. Even good people struggled to get it. Now, they were just waiting for her to come and get him.

And waiting.

At fifteen minutes, he said there was traffic.

At thirty, he said she probably had the time wrong, and stepped aside to try to call her.

He tried again at forty-five, he tried a few times.
 
Alec glanced over at Milo a few times but remained silent as he continued his homework, his work slowly spreading out over the grassy patch. He didn't say much, though he did start up a couple of brief conversations.

Xander didn't move from his spot, just adjusted his position a few times. When Milo called his mom a few times at the forty-five-minute mark, he frowned in concern. "Maybe we should head to your grands," he suggested. "You can leave her a message that you're waiting for her there. Maybe she got held up somewhere or something. Maybe she got a flat tire."
 
Milo shook his head, "No, she said she's going to meet me here. If I'm at my grandparent's house, she won't know where I am, and if I text her I'm there, she still is going to have a worried few moments. So it's better just to wait." And saying so, he looked back at the road, doing his absolute best not to clench his jaw.

Just shy of fifteen minutes later, a beat-up red pick-up truck that looked like it was at least a decade old pulled up in a hurry, parked at the curb, and a thin woman with tanned skin and dyed-blonde hair with grown-out roots stepped out. She was in ripped jeans and a simple t-shirt, and she hurried up to Milo, who hurried to his feet.

"Oh my god, Milo, I am so sorry," she said in a raspy voice before hugging him tightly for a brief moment.

"Where were you?" He asked. He was taller than her.

"Your grandparents--" She looked behind her, as his grandparents' car pulled up, but parked in one of the space, "I'm sorry, they just really wanted to talk to me when they picked me up. ...I guess we lost track of time, I kept telling them I needed to get here."
 
Xander raised his brows at her. They lost track of time for an entire hour? He doubted that, but he took a deep breath and suffocated the thoughts. It was possible. He glanced toward Milo's grandparent's car and gave them a nod. Other than that, he stayed where he was.

Alec hastily shoved everything into his backpack, lossing a couple of pencils and one paper along the way. He sprang to his feet and hurried over. "Hi! You're Milo's mom? We've heard a lot about you! He's been looking forward to seeing you again."
 
If Milo doubted her story, he didn't make any indication, nor did he ask any follow up questions, although he certainly had them. Instead he said, "I'm just glad you're okay. I was worried."

"I didn't mean to worry you, I'm sorry," She said, taking a few moments to really study his face, holding onto his arms. She had the same look on her face that he had when he had questions he wanted to ask, but didn't feel like he could, and for a moment, she looked terribly sad. "I love you, Milo."

"I love you too, Mom." Then he swallowed, dipped his head, and turned towards the twins, "These are my friends. This is Alec, and that's Xander."

For the first time, she seemed to even be aware of the two red heads, and she smiled at them, a look of relief coming into her eyes, "It's good to meet you both. I'm El. I've heard a lot about you both, too. It made me really happy to hear Milo had been making friends."
 
"He's a really great guy. We're going to miss him," Alec said with a smile, "but he's been looking forward to this so much!"

"Hey," Xander said quietly, lifting his hand cautiously. She was disturbingly like her son and yet not, and she showed him genuine love, it appeared. It made it harder to dislike her on sight.
 
She swallowed, shifting her weight, and then said, "He is very easy to miss. I don't think anybody could ask for a better son... no offense." She patted Milo lightly on the arm and looked up at him, "Sweetheart, can we talk for a moment?"

"Um. Sure." Milo replied, confused, but walked with her out of earshot of the twins, and looked at her as she squeezed her hands and struggled a little bit to figure out what to say.

"I spoke with your grandparents," She said, eventually, taking a deep breath, "and... they think..." Again, she took a breath, steeling herself, and she looked at her son in the eyes, "They think it is unhealthy for you to move around with me, all the time. They think it is unsafe, and they don't trust me."

Milo only looked at her, more confused than ever, but his back was to his friends, "They don't like you, that's why they don't trust you."

"I think they've got good reason not to trust me, I've not got a very good track record."

"I don't care about that," He replied quickly, "You got help, so it's going to be different this time."

El swallowed, squeezing both of Milo's arms, "It is going to be different, Sweetheart. It is. And I told your grandparents that."

"But they don't believe you? That's stupid, they never know what they're talking about, Mom, they just want everything to be a certain way, that's all." He told her, and she squeezed his arms more firmly.

"They're your father's parents, don't talk badly about them. They just worry about you, just like I do, baby. They just want to know for sure I'm not going to make the same mistakes before I take you back with me."

Milo took a step back, briefly standing up straight as he realized what she was saying before dropping back down to his normal height, "Are they not letting me go with you? They can't do that, I'm not their kid."

"I agree with them, Milo," She told him, although it was probably the hardest thing she'd ever done, "I don't want to put you through anything like that again, I put you through so much. So your grandparents think it's better if I go and get myself settled first and prove I can do it. That I won't just... make the same mistakes again."

He stared at her, "You aren't taking me with you?"

"I--"

"You've always taken me with you."

"Milo--"

"You can't go all the way to New Mexico without me," He told her, crumpling, "You've always taken me with you."

"It's just for a little while, Milo," She grabbed his arms again, rubbing her thumbs gently against him, "I already signed a lease there. I didn't want to tell you like this, but your grandparents said it was better to do it first thing. But they got me a hotel room, baby, so I'm not already leaving tomorrow, okay? I'm gonna be here for a little while before I drive down."
 
Xander moved to stand next to Alec. "It's not good news, is it?" he asked quietly.

Alec shook his head. "I don't think so," he murmured. "I don't know what's happening, but..."

"Milo's real upset," Xander finished worriedly.
 
"Why are you letting them convince you to leave me?" Milo asked and his mom stood on her toes to hold his face, trying to figure out how to respond to that. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she didn't want to make him hate his grandparents. On the drive over, she had said she wasn't going to mention them at all, she was going to tell him it was her decision, that she didn't feel ready to take him, to make certain he didn't hate them, but she couldn't go through with it. It wasn't her decision, not really, and she had argued with them for almost an hour until she couldn't keep fighting anymore. She wanted to, she still wanted to, but she didn't want to fight hard enough to force them into fighting from a position she couldn't defend herself from. And she knew they were right. At least mostly right.

"I'm not letting them do anything," She said instead, "We talked about it, and we thought it was in your best interest."

"What about what I want?" He asked, actually raising his voice.

"You have friends here, Milo, and family, and I want you to be secure. You deserve to have security."

"Why can't I have security with you?"

"You can! You will. I just have to prove it, first. That's all, Milo, I just have to prove it first."

"Twenty seven hours away."

"It's only a seven hour flight," She said, trying to find anything positive, "and once I'm settled in, and I can prove to everyone I'm not going to relapse, I'm going to come and get you. We'll figure it out. Okay? Let's talk after dinner, okay? We'll stay up all night talking about it. I'm really sorry, Milo, I know this is a shock, I know. I didn't want to tell you like this."

He raised his arms and dropped them, upset and bewildered, "We're still going to dinner?"

"If you'd still like to... Your grandparents want to take you home and talk with you first, and then I still wanted to go to dinner with you. And I've got my hotel, so I'm gonna still be around, okay? I'm still gonna be here, because I love you, I just want to make sure you're okay before I unsettle your life again."

"I'm not okay."

She reached up to hug him, although he didn't really react. She squeezed him as tightly as she could, "I love you, Milo. I love you so much." When she finally let go, she grabbed his head, kissed his forehead, and then let go, patting his arms again. "I'm going to go tell your grandma I spoke to you about this, okay?" There was far too much to say to get through it all in public, and when he didn't respond to her, she hugged him one last time and walked to her former in-laws' car, and Milo stared blankly after her before sitting down on the sidewalk.
 
Xander watched El walk back to her car. Alec started forward toward Milo, but Xander touched his arm, stopping him. Xander walked forward and sat on the sidewalk next to Milo. He didn't say anything. Didn't ask questions. Didn't try to make it better. Just sat with Milo.

Alec watched for a bit before hesitantly stepping toward Milo's mother. "Ma'am?" he questioned quietly. "Did you ask him to stay here?"
 
Milo cried.

She turned to him, wiping her face with both hands before taking a breath to pull herself together slightly. "Oh. Hi. ...I don't know if it's... really something I should be discussing with you." She looked back at her son, feeling her heart shatter once again, "But we discussed where he would thrive the best."
 
Xander hesitated. He lifted his hand. Hesitated a little longer. Then carefully put his hand on Milo's shoulder and squeezed lightly. He still said nothing and was ready to move his hand at a moment's notice, but his heart hurt to see his friend like this. It reminded him of a time months ago when he was alone on a bench after someone had revealed their true colors. Dark had come then. He was no Dark, but maybe he could be a sliver like Dark and be here for Milo. Somehow.

"I think it's really brave what you're doing," Alec told her gently. "Really brave, really hard, and really loving, and I just want you to know that Xander will look after him. My brother is really good at looking after people. He'll make sure Milo's okay until you two can be together again." He smiled at her. "Because you will be. I'm sure of it."
 
He couldn't speak for a long while, or move much besides rock himself while burying his face against his arms, smushing his glasses against his face. His mom was leaving him, nothing was ever going to be okay again. He was going to have to stay here, around these people, and they were going to have to know him. Really know him. He wouldn't be able to hide anymore. He was going to have to be exposed, everyone was going to have to know him, and his mom wouldn't be there.

She blinked excessively and continued to force herself to breathe (thank god she had just been in rehab, she thought, all those therapy techniques were still fresh in her mind. Although, she also thought, this was the worst possible way to spend your first day out of rehab, this was the most stressful thing she could imagine), and with one hand gestured to her son before dropping her hand again. Then, rubbing her face, she looked again at Alec, "Thank you." It didn't feel brave. She looked at Milo's grandparents, still sat in their car. His grandmother was looking at Milo, but his grandfather was watching her.
 
"He knows you love him, and he'll understand better in time," Alec told her. "He just needs time. You both do, but I have faith in you both." He nodded toward the grandparents in their car. "And they adore him, too. I just don't think he knows how many people love him." He shrugged. "Well, I should probably stop sticking my nose where it's not wanted. I just wanted you to know that at least one person believes in you and what you're doing is the right thing." He turned and started toward Milo.
 
"Thank you." She replied, and then, trembling, got into her pickup truck. As soon as she did, Milo's grandfather got out of his car and got into the passenger side of hers to talk with her about what just happened.

Milo flopped helplessly against Xander, because there wasn't anything else he could do, and hoarsely said, "My mom doesn't want to bring me."
 
Xander tensed a little when Milo leaned against him but refused to move no matter what his instincts said. After a moment of careful thought, he asked, "Did she say why?" in a cautious tone.

Alec sat on Milo's other side and turned toward him, listening worriedly.
 
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