How Green Becomes Wood

Dark stood, rising up to his full, towering height, "They are both wonderful people. It was not difficult to want to be there for them."

"Thank you for telling us that," Daizi said as Dark helped her to her feet, "We received some of their medical history from your brother, but he hadn't mentioned the anesthesia. Dark is religious about sunscreen, but we'll keep that in mind, too." Then, she opened her bag and unfolded her white cane.
 
Tristan had done well to hide any thoughts about Dark and Daizi's outward appearances, but he couldn't help widening his eyes in surprise at Dark's full height. He managed to smooth his expression quickly, but not fast enough that Dark wouldn't notice. He nodded to Dark and Daizi. "It was nice to meet you. Have a good evening, and I hope to hear from you soon."

He rolled back to his car and locked the wheels before pushing himself up, using his hands to help guide his knees into a locked position long enough to hold him upright while he held onto the tap rack on the car. That left one hand free to use the button on the key fob to open the side door. While the door opened, he folded up the chair with a few practiced twists of his arm and slid it into the empty space where the back seat usually sat. Once that was stored away, he slung himself into the driver's seat and situated his legs before focusing on the hand controls in the retrofitted vehicle.
 
"It was nice meeting you too," Daizi said, holding Dark's arm with one hand and her guide came in the other, while Dark watched Tristan long enough to catch the look, and by the slight narrowing of his eyes followed by a short sigh, made it noticeable that he had noticed, but what he thought about it was a mystery. And really, he was just pleased that Tristan reacted to his height rather than Daizi's blindness.

Then they returned to their car, arm-in-arm, and discussed their opinions about Tristan as they drove home.

At home, Ivy hadn't made mealtime easy on her brothers, first fighting the spoon and then knocking the food over, and overall making quite the mess before finally allowing herself to be fed.

But, by the time her parents were walking back inside, she was back to being a perfect angel, sleepily snuggled up against her brother.
 
Alec, not realizing he had mushed baby food still on his left shoulder and a bit on his right cheek, sat snuggling Ivy while reading her a story in a voice that only slightly trembled from shock and exhaustion. Xander was in the kitchen still scrubbing the floor and making certain every crack of the highchair was perfectly clean.

Alec looked up and smiled in relief. "And then Mama and Baba arrived home!" he said happily.
 
"Was everything okay for you?" Dark asked, touching the salt, while Daizi hurried out of her shoes, hurried to touch it, and then went straight to where she knew her baby would be.

"Oh habibti," Daizi cooed, stroking Ivy's hair before lifting her up from Alec and snuggling her in tightly, "Mama missed you so much! Were you a good girl for your brothers? Hm?" In between her sentences, she peppered Ivy with kisses, feeling completely whole again.
 
"She wasn't wild about dinner time, but, yes, she was a very good girl," Alec said. He was pretty sure he and Xander had found and scoured every bit of food off of Ivy.

Xander walked in, still holding the wash cloth. "So, how'd it go?"
 
"Oh, silly baby," Daizi cooed, swaying from side to side with her little girl, and when she was ready, took a breath, sat down, and said, "He seemed nice. Actually nice, not the fake-nice his brother gave. He does want to meet you, but said he'd respect your decision if you didn't agree."

"He also said he hadn't spoken to his brother in, I believe, four years before he learned about the two of you," Dark said, joining them, "Apparently, his brother came and asked for help paying child support, which was the first time he had ever mentioned the two of you."
 
"That tracks," Xander said dryly. "What's his deal with wanting to meet us? If he didn't know about us for sixteen years, what's the big deal now?"

"What's he like? Outside of nice?" Alec asked curiously.
 
"He feels guilty for not having been there, even though there was no way to. He feels a sense of responsibility. And although he didn't say as much, I think he's curious." Daizi answered him.

"He is a mortgage lender, which he said is more ethical than people believe it is," Dark explained, "and he thought to give us advice about your health given your family history--you will likely need extra anesthetic if you ever undergo a procedure, and skin cancer runs in your family, so do not forget to apply sun screen--he definitely was testing our reactions to some things, and he is also in a wheelchair."
 
Xander scowled. "Where's he get off thinking he gets to test you? And what makes him think we're going to satisfy his curiosity?"

Alec cocked his head curiously. "A wheelchair? That's not something I expected."
 
"He tried to be subtle about it," Dark said, trying to defuse his son, "He asked what we thought you would do if someone offered you someplace else to stay, if we thought you'd take it. I said you would not, Daizi said you specifically would laugh at the question."

"He was trying to figure out if we were good foster parents or abusive ones. Which I suppose I can't exactly fault him for, but I didn't love feeling like I was being cross-examined, and I told him so. I didn't think it was fair to us a year ago, and I definitely do not think it is fair to us now." Daizi said, pulling her legs up onto the couch. "and I suspect he expects you both to be curious, too."

Referring to the wheelchair, Dark said, "It was somewhat awkward. I suspect he would be about your heights when standing, but when he is sitting I am significantly taller. When I stood, he looked like Laura Dern in Jurassic Park when she first saw a dinosaur."
 
Alec giggled. "Now that's a dinosaur of a reference!"

Xander snorted and turned toward the kitchen. "Well, jokes on lame guy, we're not curious one bit. He can take his curiosity and cross-examination and shove it."

Alec scrambled off the couch to follow Xander. "Come on, don't be rude. I'm kind of curious, and are you really not curious at all?"

"Nope," Xander said firmly as he kept going. "Besides, if we entertain him, when's it going to stop? How many more so-called family members are we going to have to put up with?"
 
"He said that he does not think that his brother," it was so much easier to refer to Declan as Tristan's brother rather than the twins' biological father, "will tell his parents or other siblings about you, and by the excitement in his face when he referred to himself as an uncle, I would guess, at present, none of his other siblings have children, or if they do, he is distant enough with them he is not in their lives either. So although you do, it seems, have a larger family than any of us anticipated, they do not know about you, and Tristan said he is not going to alter that."

Daizi thought about this for a few moments, rubbing Ivy's back, and then raised her head to ask, "But if there were more blood relatives who made themselves known, presuming they were good people, why would that be a problem for you? If the whole brood wanted to get to know you, what do you think would happen?"
 
"Because if a whole brood wants to get to know us, then they'll start mewling about being our real family and slowly try to push you guys out of the picture," Xander stated. "I'm not falling for that again. We did just fine without them before, we'll be just fine now. And if Triscuit wants to uncle somebody, he can go find some other kids."
 
"If you aren't going to fall for it again," Daizi said gently, "Why does it bother you if they try? You're allowed to tell them to shut up if they start trying to convince you of something you know isn't true. You've never refused to make your opinions known before. I'm not saying you need to meet him, or anyone, but if you did, and he did start suggesting he's more of your family than we are, what are you afraid would happen?"
 
Xander grumbled something unhappily and tossed the cleaning cloth into the kitchen sink.

"I want to meet him," Alec said gently. "He might end up being a jerk, but even if you aren't curious, I am. He's been a lot more polite than even Aunt Ciara was in the beginning, and that worked out okay. He doesn't have to be family, and nothing and no one is going to replace our real family, but I'd like to know more."

Xander still didn't say anything immediately as he adjusted a chair to sit straighter. "I'm not interested," he said at last.
 
"That is okay," Daizi told Xander, "You do not have to be, and we'll tell him that you don't want to meet him."

Dark looked at the other twin, "What about you, Alec? You want to meet him, Xander does not, are you still going to decide to speak with him, by yourself? Not alone, we will still be there, but is that something you are willing to do?"
 
"We can wait for as long as you need." Daizi promised him, putting her hand on Alec's knee. "You both are in control, here, and I think he respects that."

"And if he does not, that is more than enough of a test." Dark added, wishing he had prepared more of his own test for this uncle. It was beyond frustrating to try and navigate trying to tell if someone was safe to be around their kids while also trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, because if they didn't grant the stranger that grace, they may well storm off and then it's their mistake. At least Tristan seemed to view them more positively from the beginning than Ciara or Declan had.
 
"Thanks, Mama." Alec hugged her gently. "Thank you, Mama and Baba, for going and talking to him and being at the forefront. We appreciate the discomfort you felt doing it." He stood and turned to follow Xander. "I should go talk to him."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top