How Green Becomes Wood

"Do they know how far away from home you got?" The cop asked, still looking carefully at the pair of them. They were saying just about all the right things, but it made him uneasy.

~~

"Um," Daizi said, her voice still a bit raw and tired, "You know how things get here. So, I guess the same as it's been."
 
"I don't think we discussed exactly how far we'd go," Alec said pleasantly, still keeping his distance. "They trust us to know the area."

~~

"What is wrong?" Sally asked, instantly serious. "Are you alright? Are you or the children in trouble?"
 
"I think you should maybe call them. I'd want my kids to call me, if they were out this late." The officer suggested.

~~

"It was an accident," Daizi said immediately, almost defensively, "It was an accident, but Xander, he..." It hadn't been easy to admit to Dark, but saying it to her friend felt impossible, "He hit me. I startled him, I guess, and he swung at me. And he yelled after, saying he didn't mean to, so I--I asked him to walk away from me." She took a long pause so she could try to get the words out, "Now he and Alec are gone. And Xander isn't answering his phone. Alec doesn't have his, and Dark is out driving around trying to find them."
 
"You'd want-" Xander started, but Alec stepped on his foot - lightly - to silence him.

"Sir, with all due respect, you are getting awfully personal for having no grounds for that suspicion," Alec pointed out. "Our parents know we are out, so what would be the point of calling them? And besides, neither of us has a phone. I am sorry to go against the stereotype, but not all teenagers have cell phones. Also, the longer we spend standing here discussing your suspicions, the later we will be getting home, thus worrying them more. You are free to call them yourself if you do not think a call from a police officer will not unduly worry them. As for us, unless you are going to detain us, we'll be on our way. Thank you for your concern, sir." He gave a slight nod. He had no idea if the officer would know how to contact their parents, but he was fairly certain there was a way to do it, and fairly certain the officer wouldn't try. Fairly certain. He turned and started to walk.

Xander raised his brow at Alec, surprised.

~~

"Do you want me to come over? I can be there in just a few minutes," Sally said, already moving to get her keys. She reserved judgment over what she thought of Xander hitting Daizi for latr.
 
The officer stared at them both and checked the time, unable to hide his irritation, "If you two end up on the news dead in a ditch somewhere, don't say I didn't warn you. If it hits curfew, and I see you both still out here, we're gonna do more than talk. You boys have a nice night. Go home." Then, he drove off.

~~

"I don't know," Daizi said, rubbing her face, "Dark told me it's not my fault, but I keep thinking, if I hadn't told him to go away from me, this wouldn't have happened. I just wanted him to go to his room, we were in the garden, I thought someone had broken in, I thought I was going----" Her voice broke, "Now they're out somewhere. I don't know if we should call the police and report them missing or if they're just... I don't know what to do, and I wish I had said anything else."
 
"That was cool," Xander said.

Alec made a face. "I doubt I did the right thing, but we should listen to him and go home."

Xander didn't answer. He turned and started walking again. Alec rolled his eyes and followed.

~~

"I am coming over, and I'll stay on the phone with you," Sally said. She paused long enough to let her husband know what was happening and then headed to her car. "I might cut out when my phone connects to my car, but, darling, you can't think like that. It was an emotional moment, and you were scared. You handled it as well as you could."
 
Dark was circling the neighborhood, trying to figure out what street the teens could have gotten to by now. They hadn't brought anything with them, so they couldn't get far. At least, when he opened their bedroom door, he didn't notice anything immediately missing. Who knows what they may have taken, if they had money with them....

~~

"I know, I know," Daizi replied, frustrated with herself, "I know what it sounds like, and I know what I would tell my friends if it was them, but I told my child to go away, and now we don't know where he is. And his brother went with him."
 
Xander kept walking. And walking. His feet were starting to legitimately hurt, but he could barely register the pain with the stress in his mind. He struck someone! Someone who hadn't been asking for it. A woman. His mother. It had been a sheer reaction after getting scared, but it happened. It happened, and now what was he going to do? He couldn't go back. Not after that. He couldn't pretend like it was all okay. It was not okay. It was not okay, and it was never going to be okay again. And it was all his fault again! All his fault.

~~

The phone went a bit staticky as it swapped over to Sally's car. "Is it unusual for Alec to follow Xander?" she asked. "Maybe Alec went to try to calm him down and bring him back."
 
As Dark continued to scour the neighborhood, suddenly blue lights appeared behind him, and he swore as he pulled to the side of the road and rolled down his window, trying not to seem tense. He knew someone like him appearing tense and weird at a traffic stop was not a good look, so he tried to make himself seem pleasant and safe.

After the initial pleasantries, Dark handed the officer his license and registration and when the officer noticed the street name, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at it and repeat it back, almost surprised Dark lived there, which Dark misinterpreted, but he was good enough at muscling down what he had perceived had just happened.

But from the officer's perspective, although at first when he saw the way Dark had been driving, he had some suspicions, after seeing the address, and having it repeated back to him, he asked, "Do you have any children?"

"I do," Dark nodded, not knowing where this was going, "I have two boys and girl."

"What do they look like?" The officer asked, peering casually in Dark's car and eyeing the baby seat. Judging by the address, and his statement about the two boys, he could make a guess about what was going on between the two. But what he didn't know was if those teens were trying to escape this man because he was dangerous, or if this man was trying to find his kids who had snuck out late.

Dark shifted uncomfortably, "I do not know if that is a question I should answer, Officer... I do not want to seem difficult, but..." Although, Dark thought, if he had seen his sons walking around, describing them might help...

"See... I'm asking, because I saw two boys wandering around, and they don't look much like you, but here we have one man, who has two boys and lives on this street, cruising around, and we've got two boys, who live on that street, going on a walk far away from that place. And I want to just make sure everything is on the up and up." The cop explained casually, watching for the other man's reactions.

"You have seen them? Two red-heads?" Dark asked, "We are in the process of adopting them, they would not look like me."

After talking for a little while more, the officer agreed to drive back where he saw the twins with Dark. That way, he could see the boys' reactions when the man pulled up and intervene if he needed to.

~~

"I guess he normally does," Daizi replied, "but they have been gone for awhile, and it is late."
 
The twins didn't notice the car immediately, Alec because he was tired and Xander because he was distracted, but when Xander spotted and recognized Dark's car, he swore and moved as far beck from the street as he could without leaving the sidewalk. Alec stayed where he was but kept an eye on his brother. When he saw the cop car, though, he tensed with a clear, uh-oh. Great. Now they were really in trouble.

~~

"It is very late, but they are savy boys," Sally tried to reassure her. "I am nearly to your house, so I am going to hang up now, alright? I will see you in just a couple of minutes."
 
When Dark actually saw the twins, he sighed from relief and pulled up right beside the curb, barely remembering to stop the car before getting out, absolutely speechless for a few moments. "What are we doing here?" He finally asked, for once unable to hide his exasperation.

The officer didn't say anything, choosing to stand outside of his car just in case, but not really inserting himself until he needed to, and he hoped he didn't need to. These were supposed to be the easy shifts.

~~

Daizi told her to just let herself in when she arrived, the door was unlocked, she was in the living room.
 
Alec looked up at Dark and couldn't hide his relief despite knowing he was likely in a lot of trouble. Especially now that the offer knew he'd basically lied to him. "Hoping to cool down heated emotions?" he offered weakly.

Xander looked away and folded his arms. "Forming a cancan line. What do you think? Moving on."

~~

Sally arrived in moments and let herself in. She remembered to take off her shoes but forgot the salt as she hurried inside. She went straight to Daizi and sat by her, taking her hand. "I'm here now, Darling. I am sorry it took so long."
 
Dark rubbed his hands over his face, "Cooling down emotions, moving on. Y'hmar, we have talked about this." He looked at Xander, "Today we have talked about this," To both of them again, "How many times have we talked about this?"

~~

"It's okay," Daizi said quietly, wan and tear-stained, "I just... I never expected..."
 
"I stopped counting," Alec admitted tiredly. He just wanted to go home, but he doubted that would happen in the next three seconds.

"Does it matter?" Xander snapped. "It doesn't matter," he answered himself. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Not really. We say it matters, we pretend it matters, but then something happens, and everything falls apart! Which means it doesn't matter!" He turned and started walking again.

Alec considered following but hung back to let Dark take the lead.

~~

Sally slowly put her arm around Daizi and pulled her in for a hug. "Of course you didn't. Of course not. You poor thing," she murmured, truly upset by what had happened. "How could you have expected such a thing? But Dark is out there, and he will find them, and then you will sort this all out. Just breathe and take a moment to rest."
 
Dark did not follow, he stood tall and firm, but instead slightly raised his voice--not quite yelling, but more forcefully than he had spoken with them before, "Xander, get back here."

~~

Daizi allowed herself to be pulled in, because she knew she didn't something, she just didn't quite know what that was. "I know it was an accident," She murmured, "He was startled, and he's been struggling with a lot lately... but..."
 
Xander stopped walking, but he didn't turn back toward Dark. he kept his arms folded, gripping them tightly as he tried to keep it all in. To keep it all contained.

Alec inched away and went to stand by the car, waiting in silence. Dark's tone made him flinch slightly, but he wasn't frightened.

~~

"But that kind of thing is still not okay," Sally finished for her. She squeezed gently before letting go. "I am going to make you some tea. I will be right back, and then I want you to tell me all about what happened."
 
"You are sixteen." Dark said sternly, still not moving from where he stood, "You do not get to decide to get up and walk out of the house, into the night. Where do you think you are going to? You do not even have shoes. Where are you going? You do not get to make a grand plan as if it does not affect anybody else."

~~

"Okay," Daizi nodded, pushing her hair back and trying to make space for her on the the couch.
 
"I don't have a grand plan," Xander snapped. "I don't have a medium plan. I don't have a kiddie-sized plan! Go ahead and tell me that's stupid, because I know it is, but what do you expect me to do? Huh? I can't go back! It's not home anymore." His voice wobbled just a little like he was about to cry, but then he took a deep breath and shoved it back down. "It's not like you're going to want me around anymore."

~~

Sally got up and went to make the tea. Soon, she was back with a relaxing blend for them both and gave Daizi her cup before sitting down. "So. Xander's been struggling with something, and he hit you?" she prompted gently.
 
"I do not?" Dark asked flatly, "I will repeat myself: You are not the arbiter of all things. You do not decide what I want. If I did not want you around, would I be out here having this conversation with you? Or would I be sitting at home with my wife, who is scared, and who knows what happened was an accident?"

~~

"I guess," Daizi replied, rubbing her thumb along the side of the cup, "I don't even know what he's been upset with. He won't talk about it at all, when we try to get him to open up, he just gets angry with us, so we give him some space, but that doesn't seem to help him, either. And he can't be touched, so it's not like we can just sit with him. He just wants to be alone." She took a slow sip of tea, and after a few moments said, "Then, tonight, I went outside to the garden, not to try to talk to him, just to be outside, and I heard someone pacing around. Dark was putting Ivy to bed, Alec was playing piano, so I knew it was Xander. I walked up to him, saying I had missed him at dinner, and I guess I said his name, and then he..." She swallowed, and unable to repeat what he had done again, pulled her shirt to show Sally the still-forming bruise.
 
"You say that now!" Xander yelled, spinning around abruptly to face Dark. "You say that now, but you're going to be watching every move I make, aren't you? Every little twitch. You're never going to trust me again. She sure isn't! So why waste the time waiting for it all to build up again until you decide that it's 'best,'" he made massive air quotes, "that I find a new 'housing situation,' huh?"

~~

Sally hissed at the sight of the bruise. "Oh, that's impressive," she finally said. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but Daizi had already said she didn't know much. "Has something changed recently?" she finally asked. "A new friend, a pet of some kind, perhaps odd comings and goings?"
 
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