How Green Becomes Wood

"You just have to be honest with us about how you're feeling," Daizi cautioned him, knowing how he could be, "But it won't be until Saturday, so even though you won't be healed, you'll hopefully be feeling a bit better."

Dark stood and lifted Ivy from her high chair, "What do you think, miss Ivy-Qadira? Are you excited for it?" He asked, holding his expression exceptionally still when she kneed him directly in one of his bruises.
 
"Since before she was born," Daizi said from the kitchen.

"I am glad she has the opportunity to experience events like this, I think it will be good for her," Dark commented, looking into his daughter's face.
 
Dark pressed his lips together, not knowing if he liked other people's babies enough to host a party full of them. "I... suppose that is an option."

"I think next month we have our first child's birthday party we've been invite to," Daizi commented.
 
"Now that's fun," Alec said, pretending he wasn't enjoying the look on his father's face. He stretched and said, "I have a book I want to finish. If anyone needs me, I'll be in a forest on an alien planet speaking to fuzzy people."

Xander contemplated. "I have no idea what I'm doing."
 
"Enjoy it," Daizi said, thinking she may have discovered the source of her son's odd dreams. The rest of the evening fell back into their usual, comfortable routines.

Late that evening, Dark and Daizi both lay on their sides in bed, facing one another. After everything that had transpired, once they were alone and comfortable, they naturally fell into talking deeply about what had transpired that day. Dark had carefully shown her the places he had been bruised, and she expressed relief it had not been worse. But she could tell it was still weighing on him, and so gently prodded him to be open with her.

"I just hate there is some part of me who enjoys it," He confessed to her while she curled his hair around her finger, "It makes me feel like I am no better than him."

Pausing for a moment, Daizi rubbed her thumb against his cheek before running her fingers through his thick hair, "That's ridiculous."

"He liked to hurt people," Dark replied, carefully watching the expression on her face, "And I enjoy it, and I hate what that says about me."

"It's a completely different situation." She told him, still lovingly petting his hair, "Your father hurt you, and he might have derived some sick pleasure from it, but who were you?" She asked, tracing her finger down the side of his forehead, over his cheekbone, and down to his jaw, "You were little, you couldn't fight back. He hurt you because he could, because he wanted to, and because he was a coward who could not hurt anyone else."

"Except for my mother."

"Right," Daizi agreed, running her thumb along his chin, stopping only to lightly touch his lower lip, "And she couldn't fight back either. And sure, maybe it is better if everyone alive is disgusted by the idea of violence, finds the idea abhorrent, and would never raise a hand to another person. But ask yourself, Eayni, who do you fight? Because in all my years of knowing you, I have never known you to hurt anyone who is not trying to hurt you or hurt somebody else. I know you better than anyone," she again began to tenderly stroke his hair, "Sometimes, I know you better than you know yourself. And what I wonder... is if you enjoy it not because you enjoy hurting someone, but because you enjoy hurting someone who hurts others. I have never needed to be afraid of you, my love, you have never tried to hurt me, or our children, our our pets. With us, you are only gentle, and that is what makes you different. He enjoyed hurting the vulnerable, and you enjoy defending them."

"Daizi..." He murmured, shutting his eyes while his voice caught in his throat.

"Oh, my beautiful man," She sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his, burrowing her hand deep in his thick hair to hold his head against hers.

"What about when I was younger?"

"When you were younger you fought to try to be hurt," She murmured, feeling his body shudder, "so even then you did not fight with anyone powerless, because it would not give you what you sought. You know that. It is only the cruel voice in your mind which tries to convince you otherwise."

After kissing him on the forehead, his strong arms encircled her, so she kissed him again on the mouth, and whispered, "Go to sleep, Goose. You will feel better in the morning."

"I do not know what I would do," He began, and kissed her when she tried to shush him, "Let me, this is important. Spider, I do not know what I would do without having you to talk to. You are half my soul."

"As the poets say," Daizi murmured, completing the quote for him, and the pair fell peacefully into sleep.
 
Unaware of the drama and the conflict going on with their father, so they went about their merry, happy ways. Inasmuch as they could when one couldn't drive and wanted to go everywhere, and the one that could drive wanted to go nowhere, mainly because of his injured foot. Xander was almost entirely off of pain medication and only taking the over-the-counter stuff by now, so he could drive if he wanted to. He just didn't want to. So, they came up with a compromise: Xander would take Alec to one place a day, and Alec would help him out in his shop for half an hour per ride. It worked out well. Alec got to go hang out with his other friends like Becky, and Xander got extra work done in his shed.

On Tuesday, the pair of them went to Peter's house and had a gaming session with Milo. It was a lot of fun, and while the twins were not really gamers, they really enjoyed dipping their toes in the world of games, and Peter was pretty good about picking games that they could all enjoy, even at different levels. Peter did challenge Milo to one dual of a harder game the twins had no idea how to play, but that was only a few minutes long out of their entire time there, and the twins had fun cheering on their friends.

Later that week, Xander and Milo went out together to a few different small cafe-style places to eat. Xander wanted to expand his cooking abilities, which meant trying things out in the real world and not just guessing what they tasted like. At least, that was what he told himself and Milo. It gave them plenty of time to talk about things, serious and not serious, and for Milo to take candid photos of random things, if he wanted. A couple of the places even had a live musician playing, so they stayed there the longest and talked music.

The pair of them invited Sloan over one evening, and Alec got out his nail colors and an assortment of spa treatments. Xander joked it was like a sleepover from a chick flic, but that didn't stop him from letting Alec paint his nails deep purple and wearing a face mask. Daizi was, of course, also invited to join in on the spa treatments and chilling.

The week seemed to fly by, packed with fun and games and friends. Alec almost didn't want to go into work on Thursday, but he knew he definitely couldn't skip work just because he was having so much fun!
 
Dark came downstairs the next morning feeling mentally and emotionally much better than he had the night before. Physically, he was sore, but after his talk with his wife, he wasn't in the same low, quiet mood he had been in the previous day, although he was still not quite how he was prior to his fateful trip to the store. Throughout the week, though, he gradually seemed to shake off more and more of that day's events. That day Daizi reached out to Tristan to offer her comfort and to see if he needed anything. While the twins were with their friends, he took Ivy to the park when he could, and on walks with Enkidu when he was a little bit too busy with household chores to make it there. It was nice to be able to let her get a lot of her energy out.

Milo enjoyed both the video game night, where he tried to play a little bit worse when he was playing with Xander and Alec and tried to play as best as he could when it was just himself versus Peter. As someone who spent a great deal of time alone, he was pretty good at video games, although some of the ones Peter chose he was unfamiliar with. He also had a lot of fun when it was just him and Xander going out to places, once joking that it was almost like going on a date. He told him a lot about the places he was applying to work at, how nervous he was for an interview he had coming up, and what he had been up to now that his mom lived there. He really did seem a good deal happier now that he could see her whenever he wanted, even though he was only living with her on the weekends.

When Sloan came over, she did enjoy the nail painting and spa treatments, saying that it was something Claire would absolutely enjoy and suggesting Alec invite her next time before taking a sly glance at Xander. Daizi did come in for part of it, not wanting to intrude amongst the teenage group, and teased about how jealous Dark would be regarding his exclusion. Sloan asked her a few questions, and after learning more about Daizi's practices, almost shyly requested a reading. This was something Daizi was all too happy too oblige in, and she went upstairs to prepare her office like she had on Halloween, so she could give a reading Sloan and Xander, and Alec if he was interested. Sloan left her reading feeling a little bit shaken, and she slipped over to Xander to whisper to him, "How did she know all that?"

Finally, on Thursday, he drove Alec to work, feeling a little glad to be out of the house and also feeling, a little bit, like it was important he actually saw Tristan safe in his store.
 
Milo's presence had an oddly calming effect on Xander, very odd considering how nervous of a person Milo usually was, but his nerves seemed to be affecting him less and less these days. Still clearly there and likely always would be, but it felt less like his nervousness was in constant control. That made Xander happy for him. When Milo made the joke that it was almost like a date, it gave Xander a funny feeling inside that he could not define. He didn't dwell on it, easily distracted by the treats they were trying, but it was a different feeling than he'd ever had before. He dismissed it and listened attentively to Milo's concerns about the upcoming interview and empathized with him. Not having ever had a job interview, he had no advice to give, so he just listened.

Alec agreed to a tarot reading, not wanting to be a downer. He didn't believe, but if his father could agree to things like this, maybe he could, too. Just for a few moments here and there. He listened politely to what Daizi said, hearing it more as his mother giving advice than a reader offering mystical readings, and he felt like he enjoyed it and got something out of it that way. Xander still held a nugget of skepticism, but he listened with an open mind and full seriousness to Daizi. Maybe it was Daizi's belief in it that made it real, and his openness that would give more realness. At Sloan's comment, he just smirked and said, "Sight is her gift. That's all I know."

Thursday. Alec had dressed up nicer than usual just because he felt like it, but he'd fallen into a habit of keeping his makeup very toned down and simple, maybe giving his eyeshadow a little something, but mostly focused on accenting what he felt were his best features. It made him happy. He hummed to himself and tugged at his seatbelt, thinking about what Sloan had commented about Claire and wondering if it would be weird to invite her. Probably not since Sloan suggested? And if Sloan was there, too, that would make it just a friends thing. Arriving at the shop jolted him out of his thoughts, and he hopped out of the car happily, noting with some interest when Dark followed.

A couple of customers exited as Alec and Dark arrived, leaving the store empty except for Tristan and a large, muscular man talking in front of the counter. Tristan turned when he saw Dark and smiled. "Ah, Master Dark! I am glad you came in. I was hoping to see you. Alec, welcome back for another weekend. This is Noah. He'll be working with us for a while."

"Oh," Alec said in surprise, looking up at the burly but very well-groomed man. "Hello, Noah! Nice to meet you." He offered a hand to shake.

Noah smiled, showing no teeth, a professional smile but still friendly, and shook Alec's hand. "Good to meet you, Alec." Alec did not clock it as he was not experienced with some things yet, but for those who were observant and had seen some things, Noah, in his late-thirties to mid-forties with close-cropped brown hair liberally sprinked with grey and polo shirt tucked into his belted pants, had a very distinct military bearing. He turned to shake Dark's hand. "Mr. Dark."

"I need to grab my apron, and I'll be out in two shakes," Alec said cheerfully.

"I'll be in the back in just a moment. I wanted to talk to you about some potential changes in some of our arrangements," Tristan told him.

Alec nodded and headed back.
 
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Dark eyed Matt a bit warily, at once recognizing why he would be working here and, he guessed, his career history. He felt no more comfortable around members of the military than he did around the police, but he was himself, which meant none of those private feelings were detectable. "Good to meet you," He said, firmly shaking the man's hand and then turned to Tristan, "I see you have everything settled here."
 
"It was a truly serendipitous meeting," Tristan told Dark, nodding to Noah.

Noah grinned briefly. "We're ships passing in the night, as it were. We both attend similar meetings in the same building, but at different times. A friend of a friend mentioned certain issues, and we met up and discussed how to handle some things."

"I wanted you to be able to meet him since he will be working here alongside your son, and it will not be in a typical employee relationship. I should go and show Alec what I need done while you two acquaint yourselves." He excused himself and rolled into the back.

Noah waited until Tristan was in the back before turning to Dark. "He said you were a bit concerned about who might be working with your kid and how much your kid gets told about what happened. I'm former army, discharged on medical grounds." He shifted his left leg and tapped it against the counter. The leg clanged metallically, and he smiled briefly. "I have a concealed carry permit, up to date, and can still grapple pretty decently even if I'm missing a few bits now. I don't intend to tell your kid anything, and, with any luck, he'll never know I'm anything other than a bit of help and meant to dissuade the vase breakers."
 
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