How Green Becomes Wood

"You're welcome!" Alec grinned. "I hope you have fun with it without getting hurt."

Xander handed over his box. It was a set of twelve pairs of socks, all food themed. Sushi, fries, burgers and more!
 
Laughing as she sorted through the various socks, Sloan said, "Okay: I understand why the socks, I remember having a conversation about how you didn't want me to end up with a million pairs of socks, but you have to explain why they've all got pictures of food!"
 
"Because everyone needs some dorky socks to wear now and then," Xander said with a short nod. "The food ones were just the ones that I thought were the dumbest and the most random."

"There is a beer pair. You might not want that one," Alec remarked.

~~

Lex was saying goodbye to Cooger, but as he was getting dressed, she asked, "Did you know your shirt has a smilie face on it?"
 
Sloan shook her head, "They are pretty dumb. Thanks dude, I will still wear them. Although, yeah, I don't know if I can really make beer socks work for me."

~~

Cooger paused, turning around to Lex, "I have what on my shirt?"
 
"Good. I expected you to," Xander said, satisfied. "Alright, well, unless you want to go another round with snowballs, I guess that's everything."

Alec grinned. "Do you want a snowball fight?"

~~

"Several small glittery things in the shape of a smile on the bottom of your shirt," Lex told him, pointing. "At your back."
 
Sloan shook her head, "You two need to stop pulling me out of my warm house without warning. What if I'm busy or sick?"

~~

Cooger took his shirt back off and looked at it with a frown, "I'm starting to think that bedazzler was a mistake."
 
"Then you wouldn't be standing here, or you'd just walk right back in," Xander said promptly.

"Are you?" Alec asked worriedly.

~~

Lex cackled in glee. "Oh, I cannot wait to see what havoc that boy wrecks, and it'll be all your fault!"
 
"Not particularly, but it's also freezing," Sloan replied, and would've pulled her coat more tightly around her had she not been holding gifts.

~~

"I figured he'd be, you know, willing to respect other people's property." Cooger grumbled, examining the dazzles.
 
"Then you get inside and get warm. We're going to do the same," Xander said.

"We might come out with Ivy later and give her a few sled rides," Alec added. "See you! Enjoy the school holiday!"

~~

"He could have done your sweater, so I think he was respecting something," Lex said. She kissed his cheek. "You should get home to the cats."
 
"See you later, thanks again for these!" Sloan said cheerfully, "Tell your family I said hi!"

As the twins headed back inside, Milo sent them both a few pictures of himself and his mom, ones just taken on a simple phone camera. He looked really happy and his mom looked a lot better.

~~

"I guess so," Cooger said, picking up his sweater but not bothering to put it on, "You need to come visit the cats again. I know I send you pictures, but it's really something special to see how they've grown. I'm about to start having 'em spayed so them babies cain't have babies."
 
"His mom is looking really settled and happy," Alec commented with a smile. "I think, as awful as it was, this break between them was good, and now they can go from good to way, way better together! They are going to be so happy."

"Yeah," Xander agreed quietly. "They do look happy." He stuck his phone into his pocket without responding immediately as they walked inside. "We're home."

Alec sent Milo a few emojis and a comment about how awesome things looked then kicked off his shoes.

~~

"Alright. I'll come by next week. How's that?" Lex asked.
 
"Welcome home," Daizi said, down in the living room and helping Ivy play with her rocking horse.

~~

"That's perfect, just let me know the date and I'll be sure my calendar is clear." Cooger replied before kissing her goodbye and heading to her truck.
 
"Sloan is alive and well and says hi," Xander reported.

~~

Lex watched him go through her front window. "Damn that man. He's a keeper," she murmured to herself happily. She turned away. "Now to see if I can keep him."

~~

Later that day, Rumy texted Sloan, asking if she wanted to get out of the house anytime soon.
 
Rumy set up a later time for them to get together and grab a coffee and maybe go to a movie if there were any good movies to go to. It was something to look forward to during a rather gloomy season.

The rest of the day after Christmas went well. Mostly quiet, but well as the twins enjoyed their new gifts. Alec made a start on his junk journal, mostly trying to plan things and looking up examples. Then he bedazzled one of his collars. Xander sat in his room for several hours reading contentedly while music played. He finally dragged himself upstairs to commune with the family some, but he genuine enjoyed his space and his gifts.

The next day was a lot more tense, and the tension only grew as the morning turned to afternoon. Alec found himself tempted to hover and tried not to, but he was worried.

"I could watch Ivy," he offered. "If you wanted."
 
The very first words Dark said in the morning was, "I do not want to do this." It wasn't accurate to say they were the first words he said upon waking, because it wasn't quite accurate to claim he had slept.

"We can cancel," Daizi told him.

"No, we cannot," He replied, shutting his eyes, "It would be rude, they are driving such a long way. I just do not know if I am strong enough."

"You are. And I'll be there with you the whole time."

The whole morning Dark was quiet, too anxious to do much else, although he really, truly tried, especially with his daughter who did not understand why her Baba was different. He dressed himself in his usual vampiric clothing with all his standard accoutrements, but then looked in the mirror and wondered if it was too much. Maybe he should dress down. Maybe he should be simpler. He felt almost silly. Then again---this was meant to capture who he was, right? Who he had grown up to be. Well, this was it. He changed his outfit half a dozen times before ending up in what he put on originally, except with only his wedding ring on for an accessory. It still felt wrong, but everything did.

Into the early afternoon he was restless and couldn't sit still for very long, regardless of how he tried to distract himself. When Alec offered to watch Ivy, it was Daizi who responded, "Cooger agreed to come over, he should already be here soon. But you're welcome to join him upstairs."

"None of you need to sit in if you do not want to be," Dark said distantly, "I do not want to upset any of you with it."
 
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"I want to stay!" Alec insisted. "If I'm not watching Ivy, then I want to stay."

"We'll sit somewhere out of the way," Xander said calmly. "If things get upsetting, then we can leave. If we can handle it, we'll stay. Either way, this is about you, Ba. You got this."
 
Dark looked at them hesitantly, torn between wanting to respect their wishes and wanting to shield them. "Okay. Thank you."

Daizi lightly touched his back, wishing she had the words to take away all his anxieties about this. "Let's go sit, we have a bit of time. I can make tea, if you'd like."
 
"Try not to worry about us, Ba. We're not exactly little kids anymore," Xander assured him. "Mama, how about I make the tea?" That way, she could stay with Dark and focus on him.

"I'll help," Alec volunteered.
 
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