How Green Becomes Wood

"The company Tristan orders flowers from made a mistake and sent him far, far too many," Dark explained, "What are you going to do with the second bouquet, if only one can go to your chickens?"

"I dunno, actually. Haven't decided yet." Cooger replied before rolling his eyes at the way Dark raised his eyebrow at his response. So, Dark angled his chin towards the window, and Cooger scowled at him until Dark patted his shoulder.

"I told Tristan he should sell them to the school and do flower-grams," Dark said, changing the topic, "he needs to get rid of them, and teenagers love ruining their lives before big dances."

Cooger looked at the twins, "Are you two going to homecoming?"
 
"You sound like your dad." Cooger grinned, but then paused, "and your mom. And me too, I guess."

"Homecoming is only enjoyable if you like bright lights and loud, top 40 music," Dark replied, moving into the living room so they could sit, "I hated chaperoning it more than prom. I had to break up so many 'grind trains' at homecoming."

"Yeah, I don't regret not going to homecoming," Daizi agreed, "Prom was nice though. After-Prom was better."
 
"After Prom?" Alec asked before he could think. Then he caught himself and said, "Nevermind, I don't think we want to know."

"I'm not going to prom, either," Xander stated.

"Not even if someone asks you?" Alec asked with a grin.

Xander snorted. "As if anyone would ask me. And if they did, I doubt it'd be anyone I'd want to go with. You can go with your entourage."

Alec wilted just a little but maintained face with Cooger there. "Did you go to prom, Cooger?"
 
Daizi made a face, "No, ew, we went back to the dorm and had a tiny party the three of us where we could play the music we liked and spike our drinks without worrying about getting caught." After-after prom was another story. "Lots of people have a party after prom."

Despite blinking slightly at the 'ew' from his wife, Dark only said, "I would not have gone were I not pressured, but it was not my worst high school memory. I felt like a Real American."

"Yeah, I went with these two," He nodded, "I had a date but I don't remember her name. She wore pink and ditched me halfway through."
 
"Ouch," Alec winced. "I'm sorry. That sounds terrible."

"Another reason not to bother with Real American nonsense that I don't even know why it exists," Xander huffed.

"Anyway, now you have lovely flowers that maybe you should put in water if you aren't going to feed them to your chickens," Alec said, eyeing the slightly squished flowers.
 
Cooger shrugged, "I was really not that into her anyway. It just seemed like something I should do, you know? People got it into my head that I'd be a third wheel, and I think they got it into hers. So we went together so we wouldn't be losers and then realized it's better to just hang out with our actual friends."

"I think prom started as a debutante thing," Daizi mused.

Rising to his feet, Dark took the daisies from Cooger, "I will put these in a vase for you for the time being. Until you figure out what you are doing with them." He brought the flowers to the kitchen and a little while later came back with refreshments since Cooger was still technically his guest.
 
The twins each took a seat as far from each other as possible, but they were staying in the same room together and interacting with their guest and with each other. It was better than it had been in the past several days.
 
Cooger sort of noticed the tension between the two of them, and knew a bit about it, but didn't address it, instead just kicking back and enjoying the time with his family. He definitely noticed Dark was off, so when Ivy's little cries came over the baby monitor, and Dark stood to get her, he agreed to go with, as an easy excuse for the two of them to be alone together and he could check in.
 
Alec waited until Dark and Cooger were out of hearing before asking Daizi, "Do you think Uncle Cooger will take the flowers next door?"

"Doubt. I bet Lex doesn't even like flowers," Xander remarked.
 
Daizi snorted gently, "I don't know if we should gossip about that."

~~

Inside the nursery, Cooger went over to the window to look down at the garden while Dark changed Ivy's diaper. "Are you okay, dude?" He asked, "You have that look about you."

"What look?"

"The look wolves get when they're put in a cage and then the cage is put on a plane."

"I have no idea what that means."

"You know," Cooger waved his hand, "Tense, anxious, but emotionally bereft."

Dark exhaled through his nose, "Who taught you the word 'bereft.'"

"What's going on? You worry me more than anyone." Cooger said, turning away from the window and sticking his hands in his pocket, "When you're not good, it's unpredictable how not good you are."

Dark sighed, only looking at what he was doing, "There was just... a lot. Yesterday."

"The sexual harassment?"

"That," He agreed, "but the twins have been fighting, so Daizi and I have both been tense as we deal with it. When I got home, Xander was ignoring Alec, who yelled at him, and chased Xander outside, so Daizi went to talk to Xander, and Alec went outside, but he left his sketchbook. I opened it up, and..." His shoulders slumped slightly.

"And?" Cooger asked, frowning. It didn't even occur to him to say he shouldn't have gone through it, because he knew he absolutely would've too.

"I think he is afraid of me. That he thinks I am going to hurt him." Dark admitted, even though it was difficult, "He has been drawing this comic, and... That is what it looks like, anyway. And back when that man assaulted them, and I... fought him off, he--both of them, actually--looked at me with terror in their eyes. I know that look, Cooger. I have seen it in my own reflection."

Scrunching his face up, Cooger took time to consider this, but then shook his head, "Nah, that doesn't make sense, though. He sure don't act like he's afraid of you."

"No," Dark agreed, snapping Ivy's onesie shut and bringing her to his shoulder, "but that is what I saw in his illustrations."

"And that's all that's got you like this?"

Dark took a heavy breath and looked over at Ivy, "I lost her for a minute. Had absolutely no idea where she was."

"And you catastrophized."

"I catastrophized."

"You gotta stop doing that."

"Why have I not thought of that?"

Cooger nodded, recognizing it wasn't helpful. "Sorry. So you catastrophized."

"I thought I was going to find her dead. Or with injuries which would lead to her death. And I was imagining needing to call the ambulance, I was imagining having to tell Tarot..." When his voice got tight, Cooger came nearer and squeezed him on his shoulder. Dark took a deep, careful breath, kissed the top of Ivy's head, and then continued, "Then we found her, and she was completely covered in paint."

"I saw."

"And for a split second--just a moment--I thought she was covered in blood. And it brought so much back." Dark finished, and Cooger swore empathetically, indicating he understood just how upsetting that would be. They stood silently together for a few moments, then Cooger took Ivy from him while he explained the fight the twins had, how the noise had startled him again, and just how, physically exhausted he was after another night without sleep.
 
"Do you have something else we could gossip about?" Alec teased.

"Or we could all sit here in meditative silence and wait for them to come back," Xander remarked.

Alec glanced at him sidelong. "Since when did you meditate?"

"Off and on for the last month," Xander replied. "There's a lot of it in Judo, too, believe it or not. Just looks different."
 
"So our only two options are meditative silence or gossip?" Daizi asked with a little laugh, pleased at the mild, tense conversation between her children, because it was a start, "I think there's probably something partway between those two extremes."

~~

"That sounds like a rough f****** day, dude." Cooger said eventually, lifting Ivy above his head.

"It was not my favourite." Dark agreed, "Today is better, I am just... tired. The twins getting into their fight affected my ability to process the way I needed."

"Isn't that some s***."

"What?"

"Just that," He waved one hand, "You wanted kids for years, then one of them triggers you, and the other two make it so you don't have time to process your own damage, 'cause you gotta focus on their damage."

"It is worth it," Dark told him.

"Hey, I never said it ain't." Cooger replied firmly, "But it's still hard."

"Yeah," Dark sighed, "It is." He ruffled his hands through his hair and then said, deciding it was his turn, "Those flowers. What are you going to do with them?"

"Dadgummit," Cooger huffed, "Do you always gotta be that way?"

"Bring them to Lex. She will appreciate them."

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked, turning Ivy around to face him, hoping she'd miraculously know she should also frown at her father (she missed the memo, and instead grinned at him), "Knock on her door and go, 'hey, got ya these.'"

"Yes! It is called being romantic and spontaneous. She will be pleased you thought of her."

"It's so creepy, dude."

"No it is not."

"It is!"

"You knock on her door, you explain you were doing some work in a flower shop, and you thought she might like some flowers," Dark explained, "and then, when you're there, you can ask to see her again. You want to see her again, yes?"

"...Yes."

"Then bring her the flowers."

Cooger rolled his eyes, "If it pisses her off, I'm telling her you peer pressured me."

"Yes, I am sure that will make her very endeared to you. My brother told me to do this."

"I'd hit you if Ivy weren't here," Cooger grumbled, "but I respect her too much to beat up her dad in front of her."
 
"I think singing songs may be a totally unrelated thing," Daizi chuckled, "but maybe we'll make a plan to go to karaoke again. We can sing songs then." She took a deep breath, allowing herself a moment to think about it, and then asked, "Do you know what I think we should do?"

~~

"You keep threatening me with that," Dark replied, crossing his arms, "I would win."

"Dude, I almost was a college level wrestler."

"Yes," Dark grinned, "Almost."

Cooger frowned at Ivy, "Your father is so cocky. He forgets the only reason why I wasn't a college wrestler was because I didn't go to college."

"I am also outside your weight class." Dark replied cooly.

"Are you sure about that?" Cooger asked, laughing mostly at himself, "I don't take good care of myself."

Dark frowned, "I know. You have to start. I keep offering to help."

"Eh," Cooger replied, going to the door, "I'm satisfied. And I can still kick your ass, and women still like me, so it's whatever."

"One woman likes you, and she will stop if you do not bring her flowers." Dark replied, bumping lightly against Cooger as they headed downstairs together.
 
"I think it would be nice if we planned one day where Dark and I went somewhere with each of you, but individually." She said, "We've had days where one of you go with Dark, and the other one stay with me, but I think it'd be nice if there's a day where you both can pick something you want to do, and then you do it with both Dark and I. But it's just the three of us, so it can just be about you individually. I mean, Ivy spends five days a week with just the two of us and no siblings. You both deserve time with just us and no siblings, too."

As Daizi finished up this idea, Cooger and Dark came downstairs, joking with each other as they did, still debating who would win if they actually did spar.
 
The pair blinked, shocked by this idea. It had never occurred to them and likely would never have occurred to them.

"But, then, who would look after Ivy?" Alec asked cautiously.
 
"Cooger," Daizi replied, "Or Sally. We wouldn't do it on the same day, so it'd really be no problem. One Saturday, Dark and I would take Xander, and you, Alec, would stay home, and we'd ask someone to babysit, and Alec, you could do whatever it is that you'd like on that day, either with Ivy or wherever, and then the next weekend, we'd switch, and we'd take Alec, and you'd stay home. And we'd call in a babysitter again."
 
"Whoa. That's the coolest idea ever!" Alec breathed, his eyes shining, his mind already churning though possibilities.

"Yeah, it could be pretty cool, you know," Xander agreed casually, but he was already wondering if he could get Dark and Daizi up on a horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top