How Green Becomes Wood

"Me, absolutely not," He replied, holding up both his hands, "If you being from Jersey was a deal breaker, I wouldn't be here, but my dad always told me, Jasper, I wouldn't care if you were gay, but don't you bring home anyone from Jersey."
 
Lex folded her arms and eyed him skeptically, but she couldn't quite hide her amusement as a smile fought to break through. "Well, you don't see me pitching a fit about his New York roots, so ya?"

The twins and Toby returned then. Toby came over to give his mother a water pistol and glanced between her and Cooger with mild curiosity. "Are you two fighting at his birthday party?"

Xander gravely presented Dark with the smallest water gun, a tiny little thing with barely any water.

Daizi received a regular one.
 
He nodded his chin towards where his parents were, "I gotta deal with my dad more than you've got to."

Dark took the watergun solemnly from Xander, turning it over in his hand, and then as he tucked it into his inside breast pocket and grimly asked, "I suppose this is for when the plan to never be taken alive leaves one final option? It could not hold more than one bullet."

Daizi took hers, and propping her foot up against the firewood cutting stump said, "I could probably fit this under my garter, I think? It might stay."
 
"All right, that's fair," Lex relented. "I can try to soften my tongue, but it's going to come out sooner or later, you know. Like trying to hide a pet from the landlord."

Xander gave a nod. "One must always be certain to have an opinion in case of exactly that scenario." He waited a beat and then pulled a second, larger gun out from behind his back. "Or you can give that one to your daughter and keep this one for yourself."

Alec eyed the garter skeptically, trying not to think about it too much. "Yes, I think that could work."
 
"Do you consider yourself my pet?" Cooger asked, taking her hand again and walking towards his parents.

Dark considered this, momentarily considering if keeping the ridiculously little gun was worth it for his one-bullet joke, but then took it back out, and with surprising ease, took it out his breast pocket again and switched it for the larger one, "She will enjoy this, I am sure," He told Xander. Whistling in a familiar way, he then said, "Ivy-Qadira, ta'ali huna," waving her over. She quickly toddled over, and he knelt down by her, "Here you go, Tifla."

Ivy, in her prairie dress, looked very cute holding the little plastic gun in her mouth. She had no idea what such a item was, and being very little, decided to try what she often does with new object. Frowning deeply, Dark gently put his hand over it to prevent her from this exploration.

"It's all I can think of," She shrugged, situating it, "It's a little uncomfortable, but I'll keep it for at least a little while."
 
Toby rolled his eye and went to see what the twins were doing with their guns. Maybe there was a spot for target practice!

"I could be," Lex murmured under her breath for only Cooger to hear as she allowed him to lead her forward. She put on a proper, meeting-the-parents smile and prepared to behave. Mostly.

Xander hid a smile and chose not to remark on the fact that Dark had whistled for his daughter.

"It looks pretty good. Hopefully, we'll do pictures soon, and then you can do something more comfortable with it," Alec suggested.
 
Cooger chuckled and then led Lex to his parents. His mother was in purple prairie dress with an apron and his father was in a pretty standard cowboy outfit, visibly purchased for the occasion. "Mom, Dad," He said, letting go of Lex's hand and touching her lightly on the back, "This is Lex, who I was telling you about."

From a look at his parents, it wasn't clear quite who Cooger looked more like. His face, at least what parts of it weren't obscured by his beard, looked a lot like his father's, and his father's hairline gave some suggestions as to where Cooger's was likely to end up, but his father was thin as a rail, with heavy, unstylish glasses. Although the effect was obscured by his costume, it wasn't hard to imagine this man in an 90s courtroom making his case. He and Cooger were just about the same height. His mother, by contrast, was softer and stokier, but still with shrewdness behind her kind eyes. There was enough red left in her hair to show where Cooger inherited his.

Extending her hand, his mother said, "I'm Abbey, it's nice to meet you." A trained ear may have been able to detect the hint of a West Virginian accent in her voice, but she had very carefully trained it mostly out.

"I'm Russ," His father said, giving a much more vigorous handshake to Lex.
 
"It's nice to meet you both," Lex said with a smile, accepting their handshakes with a firm one of her own. She did downplay her accent as best as she could. "I've heard a lot about you both, and it's great to put faces to names."
 
"We've heard a lot about you too," Russ said, "You do blacksmithing right?"

"With how Jasper talks about you, it makes me wonder why you've been kept from us for so long," Abbey added, glancing to her son.
 
"That's right. I make a lot of artistic sculptures and useful things like drawer handles and gates," Lex said. "It's incredibly fulfilling." She smiled at Cooger briefly. "The timing has just never lined up right, I'm afraid."
 
"Well better late than never, right?" Russ said, his Brooklyn accent still very strong after these years out of the city.

"He said you live next to Ghalib and Daizi?" His mother mentioned, "That's a nice house."
 
"That's how we met," Lex said with a nod. "I bought a cheep, rundown house next to a kooky, epic old-looking place, threatened the owner with a bat, and then met his sweet, hunk-of-a-brother later, not that i knew they were brothers at first. He helped me out a lot with my house.
 
"That's sure some story," Russ said, impressed, taking a glance at his wife while they silently acknowledged Lex's word choices. Neither of them were sure they had heard their son be called a 'hunk' before, but they were... glad? They supposed?

"You threatened Ghalib with a bat?" Abbey asked, recognizing it couldn't have been that serious if Cooger chose to date her after that.
 
"My sister and her kids were over, and my little drama queen of a nephew got over into their yard and started bawling because he was 'lost.' Ghalib went to try to help him. I'm from a big city, lots of crime, so when I came out and saw a big, strange man hovering over my little nephew, I made some assumptions," she said frankly with a shrug.
 
"Back East," Lex said vaguely. "Anyway, we hashed it out, and Ghalib still talks to me from time to time, so I think it ended well. He made my son a skateboard, bless him." She hoped that by throwing out the fact that she had a son would distract from the city question.
 
"Oh god, you're not from Philly are you," Russ laughed.

"Right, Jasper mentioned you had a son," Abbey said, "How old is he? He's a teenager, right, like Alec and Xander?"

"He is a little bit older," Cooger answered, only a bit pale from the stress of this conversation. He knew what his parents could be like.
 
"No, not Philly, not there," Lex chuckled. "Toby's turning 18 at the end of May." She turned and let out a whistle, which caught Toby's attention. She waved to him, and he trotted over willingly. "Toby, Abbey and Russ Cooger."

"Howdy, ma'am and sir," Toby grinned, awkwardly tugging his hat in what he hoped was a respectful tip of his hat.

Lex put an arm around his shoulders, a little difficult as he was a few inches taller than she was. "And this is my trial and torment, I mean my pride and joy, Toby."

Toby grinned, clearly not at all offended by his mother's teasing.
 
"Okay, good," Russ said, holding up a hand, "I can't tell you how relieved I am. I already knew you weren't from Boston!" Then he shook Toby's hand, "It's good to meet you." Abbey also greeted them, but the pair had a slight air of awkwardness as both recognized that their son had always said he didn't want kids, and had told them, apparently, he and Toby weren't going to be father-son even if he did ever marry Lex, and, frankly, they didn't know where that left them.

"How is school going for you, Toby?" Abbey asked.
 
"Okay, ma'am. School's not my strong suit, but I'm doing my best," he said with a lopsided smile. "Only one year left!"

"He's a good kid. Does better than me when I was in school," Lex said proudly. He didn't pull straight A's, far from it, but he really did work hard and do his best. That meant more to her than the best grades.
 
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