How Green Becomes Wood

Dark shook his head, slowly standing up, with one hand over his side as he did. "Thank you, but I will be alright." He nodded again, squeezed Alec's shoulder, "It is time we go home. Your mother is worried." He thanked the paramedic one last time and headed to his car, choosing to just leave his school bag inside the school overnight. He had his wallet and his phone, nothing else in there he needed that evening. As he walked past Milo, he stopped to squeeze his shoulder, also, and thank him.

He opened the back doors for the twins to get in, handed his sunglasses to Xander in case the light bothered him, and shut the door to deafening silence. After buckling and starting the car, he glanced in the rear view mirror and flinched when he saw himself. He looked the same as he had that morning, except his hair was more dissheveled, but that is not what he saw.

However, as he said, he was able to get them all home safely.
 
Xander accepted the glasses, and the twins huddled in the back in silence. They noted that Dark didn't start any music, and that spoke volumes. Neither asked for anything, choosing to travel in complete silence. Alec leaned against Xander, trying desperately to find his way out of the hole he'd fallen into, but he couldn't. Internally, it was as if he'd found a large blanket and curled up underneath where no one could hurt him. It was something he'd learned to do over the years, and it had worked then, but he didn't want to hide from Dark and Daizi. But he was tired. Very tired. Maybe it would be okay to stay hidden just a little longer.

Xander held onto his brother, his mind a complete blanket. His ear rang, and he had a headache now, but it was no worse now than it had been before. He didn't want to deal with anything. Didn't want to think. Didn't want to feel. It was so much harder to deal with something like that when it came out of nowhere, catching them off guard. It was easier when you were ready.

When they got home, they peeled themselves out of the car and walked to the door. Xander started to be a little more aware, and kept one eye on Dark as a sensation of guilt started creeping into his mind.
 
When they parked, Dark slowly and intentionally got out of the car, and opened the back doors to the twins to let them out. It wasn't something he had to do, but he needed it. He needed to help them. Then he walked inside, touched the salt for longer than usual, and took off his shoes without bending, even though he knew it risked destroying the backs of them.

The inside of the house smelled like the early stages of Daizi's soup, and she hurried over to the front hall when she heard the door open. "Hi," She said softly, not knowing who to go to first. She wanted to hold and protect all of them at once.
 
Alec looked up at Daizi and bit his lip. He went straight to her and wrapped his arms around her, desperately craving her comfort. He knew he was being selfish. Xander needed comfort, too, and Dark, but he couldn't help himself.

Xander mechanically kicked off his shoes and trailed his fingers through the salt a few times. Then, remembering, he handed Dark back his glasses. He didn't say anything, only then realizing that he had no idea where his school bag was. Thankfully, there was nothing in it of actual importance, only school importance. He wandered slowly into the house, feeling lost and a little foggy.
 
Daizi wrapped her arms firmly around Alec, rocking him, "You're home safe, baby," she murmured, "everything is going to be okay, now. I promise. I've got you, now."

Tucking his sunglasses away into his shirt pocket, Dark walked alongside Xander, "You should sit down," he told him, as Enkidu came up, sensing the mood in the house and wanting to make sure they were okay, "Let me get you an ice pack."
 
"I'm sorry," Alec apologized, gripping her tightly. "I'm sorry." He wasn't entirely certain what he was apologizing for. Scaring Daizi? Hogging her attention? Not reacting better to the situation? Everything?

"Okay," Xander agreed. He followed Dark a bit like a puppy, not fully thinking through his actions and following Dark's lead. Once he was seated and holding the ice pack to his face, he stared in the general vicinity of Dark's stomach. It would have been chest if Dark was a bit shorter. "I should have been able to stop it," he said at last. "You shouldn't have had to do that."
 
"You don't have to apologize," Daizi told him, kissing the top of his head, "You are doing the absolute best you can."

Dark shook his head, sitting down cautiously on the couch and grunting slightly as he did. In a serious tone he told Xander, "I never want to hear you say that again. Okay? He could have killed you. That man is dangerous. If there are no other options, yes, by all means, fight like hell. Go for his eyes, go for his groin. And make as much noise as you can during it. But if I am there, let me handle it."
 
Alec flinched at her kiss but didn't let go. He couldn't say anything else, just buried his face against her and fell silent. Eventually, he'd go join Xander again, but right now, he craved Daizi's comfort.

Xander finally looked at Dark, lifting his eyes slowly, though he had a little trouble focusing. "Thank you," he said, quiet but sincere. "Thank you. I don't know..." He trailed and looked away. "It felt like we were back. Nothing had changed. Just a pair of useless kids always in the way. Couldn't ever do anything to fight back."
 
Daizi was willing to stand there with him for however long he needed. Ivy was sleeping, the soup was simmering, there was nowhere else she needed to be.

"I understand." Dark replied. The same, not-quite burning look in his eyes he had when he told Alec about how he understood yearning for blood family. "I understand wanting to fight back. I understand feeling powerless. I understand--" The terror in Xander and Alec's faces when he came to them flashed through his mind and he swallowed hard, "You are still only sixteen. It has been, what? A year and a half, two years? Since you were last in that situation? Anybody would freeze. You did what you could. One day you may be able to do more." The rearview mirror flashed in front of his eyes. "The important thing is you survived."
 
Alec slowly pulled away, taking a few deep breaths as he tried to orient himself. He was safe here. Safe and loved. Here was home. Here was family. Here were people who would never, ever hurt him or let him be hurt. "I don't think I want to go to school tomorrow, please," he said in a quiet, meek voice.

Xander would have nodded, except that his head still hurt. The pain medication the paramedic had given him was helping, but it still throbbed. "Yeah," he murmured. "We survived. Because of you. You saved us." He glanced sideways at Dark. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of us, but thank you. I don't think... One of us wouldn't have gotten out that time. Probably both."
 
"No," Daizi said, stroking his cheek while shaking her head, "You'll stay home. Right here with me, and Xander, and Ivy, and your father. And we'll keep both doors and the gate locked. You'll stay right here."

Dark looked down at his bruised and bandaged hand, clenching his jaw until that hurt too much to maintain. Then he took a shallow breath, because it's what he could do, and lay a throw blanket over Xander's lap. "Do not think about that now," He said softly, "You did get out in time. That is what matters tonight. You are safe, you are home, and you are alive. Hold onto that, at least for tonight. Can I get you anything?"
 
Alec smiled waveringly and rested against Daizi lightly. Then he jerked upright and looked around anxiously. "Xander?" he called worriedly. Where'd he go?

"I'm good," Xander said, gripping the blanket in one hand. "Thanks." When he heard Alec call out and responded, "Here."

Alec hurried over, his flash of anxiety easing when he saw his brother. Gently, he walked over and sat down, leaning into Xander.
 
"Let me know if you change your mind," Dark told him, "Get some rest." Then he stood, having to sort of push himself up off of the couch, and once he was on his feet, he exhaled and headed towards the hallway to find Daizi, but she already met him there.

"Goose," She murmured, hugging him, but he winced and pulled away, a little motion which filled Daizi's face with concern, and very gently she placed her hand on his side, but before she could think of what exact question to ask, he just kissed the top of her head and said:

"I am going to lie down."

"Use my pregnancy pillow," She told him, putting her other hand over his. He looked down at her, feeling absolutely torn between wanting to lie with his head in her lap until he felt like a person again and wanting to completely isolate himself.
 
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Xander sat with Alec, both quiet and still, leaning on each other as they had many, many other times before, but this time, it was different. They had other people to lean on. Sometimes, their mother had sat with them, holding them, telling them it would be okay, but then she would be busy. Busy moving them, busy getting a new job, busy getting food, busy screaming out the guy or his friends or both, busy fixing the problem. There wasn't time to just Exist. The moment they had with her... they were precious, but they weren't many. Now they knew that if they needed something, they had two parents that would drop everything, including fixing the problem, to come to sit with them. Just the mere knowledge made things better.
 
Daizi rocked onto her toes, took Dark's head in her hands so she could lower him enough to kiss his forehead. "Go lie down, darling," She said, stroking his cheek with the lightest touch. It was swollen beneath her hand, "I'll bring you some ice, and get you when dinner is ready."
 
After a bit, when they felt more prepared for Daizi's inevitable questions, the twins slowly made their way into the kitchen and sat where they could watch her.

"Ba is supposed to go get his ribs checked out," Xander said, feeling a bit like he was tattling but that it was necessary.
 
"I'll make sure he does," Daizi said softly, giving the soup a little stir. She struggled knowing he was hurt, really hurt, and was trying to seem like she was strong. But she felt him wince away from her. "He said he won the fight."
 
Xander nodded. "He tried to tell the other guy off. Tried to make him leave, but... he wasn't leaving. He hit Ba a couple of times. Ba just punched him once."

"Ba laughed" Alec said quietly, remembering the echo of the sound.
 
"It sounds like he was as furious as he gets." Daizi commented quietly. By the tone of her voice, she didn't like to think of Dark that way, either, "He's got fires and hurricanes banked down in him. There's a tempest swirling in his soul, but gods help him, he tries. He must have been hit hard, his jaw is swolen underneath his beard."

Daizi sniffed softly, touching one hand underneath her eye, and then she turned towards them, "What happened? It's okay if you can’t tell me, yet, but... You're all so hurt. And I'm so worried. I heard him say that he saved you, that you both probably wouldn't have made it if he wasn't there."
 
Xander fell quiet, glaring at the nearest cupboard for something to look at. It was Alec who picked up the threat.

"Our Mum's last boyfriend was a guy by the name of Dax Clark," he said quietly. "He was... not a nice guy."

"Like most of them. Probably all of them," Xander grumbled.

Alec didn't argue that. "He was a special kind of not nice, though. Probably had some kind of drug problem, though we never explicitly knew. He showed up at school today. I didn't see him coming. I wasn't prepared. I should have..." He trailed off, looking at the floor.

"He grabbed Alec before either of us could respond," Xander said. "We didn't think he'd know stuff like where we went to school, but he said we owed him for the money he gave our Mum and that because now we lived in a nicer place with fosters, we could afford it. I don't think he knew exactly where we lived or anything, but he knew we'd eventually turn up at school. So, he grabbed Alec 'cause he knew I wouldn't try anything if he had him. Then he started threatening." He stopped, not wanting Daizi to know exactly how hurt he was. He was used to taking his punches.

"Milo was there," Alec picked up after a second. "Xander warned him away, and he went to tell Baba. Baba came and made Dax let go of me and stop hurting Xander."
 
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