How Green Becomes Wood

When he shouted at her, Daizi flinched away, and as hard as she tried to stop herself, she began to sob, all of the confusion, fear, pain, and relief catching up to her all at once.

Upstairs, Dark heard Xander shout, he went first to the window and then, after only a moment of looking outside, he hurried out of the nursery to see what on earth was happening outside.
 
"I didn't," Xander gasped, even more flustered and confused now as Daizi started to cry. "I didn't know it was you! I didn't mean to!" He turned, looking for a way out. A way to escape!
 
"Xander," Daizi managed to make herself say, "I think, right now," she squeezed her eyes shut, "please go away from me."

Once outside, Dark didn't linger for a second before crossing the yard to them, face drawn in concern which only grew when he saw Xander's face and the way his wife flinched away from him. "What happened?"
 
Xander shoved past Dark and ran. He dashed through the house and went straight out the front. He didn't stop running blindly until he couldn't run any farther. He finally staggered to a stop several blocks from home. He stood on the sidewalk, still barefoot, and stared at the stars.
 
For a moment, Dark didn't know who to go to, the teen who had just pushed past him or his sobbing, trembling wife. Having no way to know Xander had run out the front of their home, he went to Daizi. Having heard his voice, she was able to collapse against him, holding tightly to his shirt as she cried against his shoulder until she was calm enough to talk.

"He hit you?" Dark asked, sitting on the grass with her.

"I startled him, I think," She said through a shuddering breath, "and I thought, I thought that he... I thought it was someone else, and I thought..." The words stopped coming, and he rubbed her back, trying to calm her in the same gentle way he calmed their baby daughter. When she steadied herself she said, "I know it was an accident, I know it was an accident, but it scared me. It really scared me. And it hurt."

"I will get you an icepack," He told her, but she didn't want to move yet. She wanted to stay small and safe in his arms, in his lap, and that overrode her desire to put something over where she had been struck.
 
Alec stayed in his room watching it all unfold. He heard the front door close,and he went down the stairs to look out the window. Should he go after his brother? He didn't know. He really didn't. He went back and forth a bit, checking out back and then out front before finally going out after Xander. He didn't think until after he'd walked out that he should leave a note for Dark, but he was already so far behind! He made the decision to not go back and tell Dark or leave a note and hoped Dark would understand. He followed after Xander at a fast trot until he nearly caught up.

"What are you doing here?" Xander growled, not looking at him.

Alec slowed down and stopped a few feet away. "You left, so I came with," he said simply.

"Idiot," Xander growled. He turned and started walking, picking a direction at random.

"Probably because I'm still mad at you, and you are acting completely insane, but I love you," Alec stated, following at a safe distance. "We've always been there for each other. That doesn't stop now, but you sure are making it difficult."

"Then maybe you should take a hint!" Xander yelled.

Alec shrugged. "I'm an idiot. I don't know any better."
 
"I will carry you inside," Dark promised, kissing her hair, "but we should not stay out here. It is nicer inside, we can sit on the couch. We should be able to hear Ivy, just in case."

"I want her," Daizi murmured into Dark's shoulder.

"She is sleeping," He replied, shifting her out of his lap so he could lift her.

"I don't care," She sniffed, her back occasionally still shuddering, and she held tightly to him as he carried her inside, only letting go when he set her gently onto the couch with a kiss.

"Enkidu," He whistled, and in Arabic commanded him, "Watch Mama, okay?" Then he brought her an ice pack for her shoulder and sat back down beside her, pulling her back in.
 
Alec's feet were starting to get tired, but he stubbornly followed after Xander. At least he had shoes. If he'd thought about it, he would have grabbed Xander's on the way out the door. As it was, he was following along behind Xander in his nicer shoes that he'd worn to his interview, which were not good walking shoes, and Xander was barefoot. And they were slowly inching farther from home.

"We should go back," Alec finally said.

"Can't go back," Xander said bluntly.

Alec waited a few more steps. "Are you sure we can't go back?"

Xander finally stopped walking long enough to round on Alec. "Dude. I. Punched her. There's no going back after that!"

"You could at least apologize," Alec said.

Xander snorted and started walking again. "There's no apologizing for something like that. There's no going back. There's no making it better. Sorry doesn't make a hole in space-time and stop it from happening."

"It was an accident, wasn't it? Accidents happen. Even stupid, bad ones that hurt people. It might take time to heal the trust, but an apology is how you start," Alec pointed out.

"No woman should ever trust a guy who smacks her around. Ever," Xander said flatly.

Alec heaved a sigh. "Fine, be difficult, but we are going to have to go back eventually unless you plan on stealing a pair of shoes."

Xander stopped and looked down at his feet. Then he shook his head and kept going.
 
"Goose, please get Ivy for me," Daizi asked again, by now feeling more tired than anything. "I know she's sleeping, but I just... I want to hold her. She's perfect, and I want her."

Despite really thinking it was a bad idea to take her out of her crib, he could tell how much this mattered to Daizi right now, so after kissing her on the forehead, he promised to do as she asked. On the way to the nursery, though, he stopped and knocked on the twins' door, "Look. We can talk about what happened in the morning, I do not think Daizi is ready tonight, but she knows it was an accident. Okay?" He asked, resting his forehead against the door. "Xander?" When he really could not get a response, he gingerly opened the door and swore to see it empty. Immediately, he took out his phone to try and call Xander, while opening other doors to look for Alec without any luck. So when Xander didn't pick up, he tried calling Alec, too, and while the phone was still ringing he went downstairs to Ivy, "They are not here. Neither twin is here."

Immediately Daizi sat upright, "What?"

"They are not hear. And they are not---" He heard Alec's phone ring inside of the house and swore, roughly running his hand over his face, "His phone is here. I cannot get ahold of them. I think I just need to drive around looking for them."

"Oh my god..." Daizi paled, wrapping her arms around herself like she had done earlier, "I---I told Xander to go away from me. I didn't--- This isn't---"

"Spider," Dark said seriously, crouching down in front of her, cupping her face in his hands, "This is not your fault. You were upset, you had been hit, you were allowed to ask him to give you space while you processed. And I want to stay here with you, but I need to find our children."

She nodded, feeling a bit nauseous, "I know. I know. I'll be okay."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Goose.:

Dark kissed her goodbye and quickly left the house, continually trying to call Xander.

While all of it was unfolding at home, a police car pulled up on the rode where two certain teenagers were walking, "Good evening," The officer said, "Where are you two off to?"
 
The twins froze when they saw the cop car. Instinct said "scatter," but scatter where? They were in a suburb! Xander started to snap out an answer, but Alec quickly caught his arm and pulled him back.

"Good evening, officer," he greeted the officer politely even as they both stepped back away from the car. "We're not heading anywhere in particular, sir. It's a nice evening for a walk."
 
The officer looked over the two of them, noting Xander's bare feet, "Seems a bit of a last-minute decision." They were clean, didn't have anything with them, but he couldn't help but feel suspicious as he looked over the pair of them.
 
"What, you never had the urge to get out of a stuffy house in the middle of summer?" Xander grumbled.

Alec gave him a hard nudge with his elbow. Not! Now! "It wasn't well thought out, but he's used to bare feet. It's hard to get him to wear shoes," he said lightly.
 
Alec hesitated, but he couldn't think of a reason to not tell the officer. So, he told him their address. He didn't even realize how far from home they'd gone since his sense of direction was terrible and Xander wasn't paying attention. "We're... just taking a bit of a stroll to enjoy the night air," he said cautiously, deciding not to admit that they were fosters. That might worry the officer more.

"If there's nothing else, we'd like to keep enjoying the night air?" Xander asked, trying not to sound too harsh and (mostly) succeeding.

"We appreciate your concern, sir, but we really are alright," Alec added quickly.
 
The officer repeated the address to them with a raised eyebrow, "You must have been walking a long while. It doesn't look like you're heading back in that direction, either. How long are y'all planning to be out?"
 
"Does it really matter?" Xander asked, exasperated. "It's not like we're loitering or-"

"Xander," Alec warned quietly. He smiled at the officer. "I apologize. He has anger issues after his concussion a few months back. We're working on it, and it has been noted by a medical professional. Sometimes a walk is good for the soul. We were thinking of turning back here shortly."
 
"Look," The cop shifted uncomfortably, "I really don't know if I'm comfortable leaving a pair of kids out wandering this late at night. I know this is just the suburbs, but that doesn't always mean too much these days."
 
Last edited:
"We're sixteen, we're not little kids, and we're not doing anything illegal or even disturbing the peace," Xander stated. "What's the difference between now and if we were out ridiculously early in the morning? Comfortable or not, you ain't got nothing on us to take us in, so why don't you leave us alone."

Alec just sighed.
 
"Look, I'm just tryna do my job and make sure you're safe, okay?" The officer sighed, clearly used to this, "Do your parents know you're out here?"

Back at home, Daizi wandered upstairs to the nursery and bent over the crib to caress Ivy's cheek. She was sleeping peacefully, at least, safe in the bed her Baba made her. As much as she wanted to lift her up, hearing her breathe so soundly made it impossible. How could she disturb her? So, after spending some time with her hand resting on Ivy's chest, she bent over the rail to give one more kiss, and returned to the living room, bringing the baby monitor with her. Once back on the couch, she called Enkidu up to her, so she could hold him instead, and unable to take the silence any longer, called Sally.
 
"Yep," Xander said firmly. After all, he'd been told to leave.

"We're safe," Alec assured him, "and they are aware we are out." They had to have noticed by now, and if they hadn't, they'd know soon enough.

~~

Sally answered after a couple of rings. "Daizi, Darling, how are you?" she greeted her cheerfully.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top