How Green Becomes Wood

"I just want to go back to live with my mom again 'cause she doesn't just expect me to be okay with everything, but Dad says I don't get to do that," She replied, her face still crumpled, "and they just yell at me all the time and tell me to grow up but they never even talk to me! And I just wanted to cool off and then you started telling me that I'm bad too when I'm trying!" Then she began to cry all over again.
 
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"I was here first, and you started yelling at me about being mean," Xander pointed out, still calm. "I'm just hanging out here while my foster parent's baby sleeps. Maybe you should cry to them. Or just run away to your mom's. If they complain, just tell them you grew up old enough to pick which parent you wanted to live with." Xander huffed and crouched down. "Look, kid, grown-ups are just like us kids. Just bigger and with more power. I bet your dad does love you, for real, but he's just really, really lousy at showing it. Just like I'm lousy at being nice. You can either spend the time and the effort to remind him that he's forgetting his own little girl, or you can say 'to hell with him' and focus on things that make you happy. Like other people who do actually love you and hobbies you like. He might or might not love you, but he's sure as hell not going to be the only one to ever care about you."
 
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She scowled and slumped her shoulders, "I only called you mean 'cause, 'cause you were teasing me... and my dad forgot my birthday... it was two weeks ago, and it wasn't like how some people have their babies all sudden, they picked it, my step mom had that surgery, you know, and they knew they were having it on Thursday, 'cause next year they can have their first birthday on a Friday. But he still forgot all about me." She leaned against the wall, staring at the ground, "Is your foster parents' baby real sick? Mom said that I'd have to be really really good since lots of these babies would be sick. My stepmom's babies aren't sick."
 
"She's kind of sick. She was born too early, so she's mostly just weak," Xander told her. "She can't keep herself warm and sometimes forgets to breathe, so she might be here a while." He paused. "How many babies did your stepmum have?"
 
"Oh." The girl paused, frowning, "I hope I didn't bother her. I promised my mom I wouldn't bother the sick babies. But she can't come here because she and my dad don't talk... My stepmom had two. A boy and a girl. They thought the girl was gonna be a boy, but they said Dylan is also a girl name so they didn't need to think up a new one. They were saying they're early too, but only by six days. Everyone keeps talking about those six days. But they planned it. I don't understand it."
 
Xander leaned closer. "Just between you and me, I think Dylan is a stupid name for a girl, and she's going to hate it when she gets bigger," he nearly whispered. "But don't tell anyone because then they'll yell at me for being mean, too." Pushing himself up straight again, he said, "Well, babies... they don't really plan well, and when there's twins, they run out of room, so instead of coming when the grown-ups think they should, they just sort of... happen. It's not really their choice, though, and these poor kids, they didn't get to pick this. Your dad sucks for forgetting your birthday, your stepmom, too, but try not to take it out on them, even if they do get spoiled. It's not their fault. Just like it's not your fault that this just kind of all sucks right now. Yeah? What's your name, anyway?"
 
She smiled a little, "I think it's stupid too. I said they should name her Matilda, like in my favourite book, and then they could call her Mattie if they still wanted to have a boy name, but my stepmom said it wasn't my choice." She kicked her foot against the linoleum, scuffing her shoe, "They did plan it. They did a big count down for today, because they knew there wouldn't be enough space..." She looked up again, tucking her hair back, "My name's Alice. Like, from Wonderland. My mom said it's nice to name your children from books that matter."
 
"That's a good one, Matilda, and Alice is good, too," Xander said with a thoughtful nod. "Can't tell you what the countdown and all that was for. No idea. My name's Xander. I don't know what I was named after, if anything, and I got a twin, too. Alec. Hey, what's your last name?"
 
"Xander's a cool name. Someone named Alec used to tease me, though... I guess the countdown wasn't for today, it was for Thursday, 'cause that's when she had the surgery to get them. It's just today I got to meet them, because she wanted to rest for a day." Alice looked up at Xander and squinted at him, "I'm not telling you my last name, you're a stranger."
 
"Fair enough, then what's your dad's last name?" Xander asked calmly. "If I ever bump into him, I gotta be polite for at least two seconds, right?" He would also need it if he wanted to tell someone else. Just mentioning a girl named Alice wouldn't do much good, but if he could get a last name, he might be able to do something about it. Otherwise, he'd just have to let this go as a random run-in he could do nothing about.
 
"Yeah... yeah, I guess." She was still very hesitant, apparently taking those stranger danger lessons to heart, but eventually she said, "My dad's name is Emmett Reed. But you have to tell me your last name, so it's fair."
 
"Fair enough. Cunningham. Xander Cunningham," he told her. "Happy tenth birthday, kid. In four or five more, you can insist on staying with your mom, if you want, and in eight more, you can have your very own place and make your own rules. That'll be pretty darn good birthday present, won't it?"
 
She sniffed, wiping her face with her arm again, "Thank you..." She was about to say something else when the door opened and an average looking man stepped out, frowning down at her.

"Are you done having your tantrum?" Then he noticed Xander, "I'm sorry, was she bothering you? Were you bothering him?"

She shook her head and said, "I'm done. I'm sorry."

"Good girl. Come inside." He sighed, scratching the back of his heads, "I'm sorry about her. Kids, you know."
 
"How's it going?" Xander asked, rising to his feet. "Nah, we were just having a chat about the new kids. Congrats and all that. Say, do you know the date today? I'm a little mixed up."
 
Emmett, Alice's father, eyed Xander, trying to figure out if he was a new uncle, father, or brother, "Thank you, we're all very happy. And it's, uh... The 14th. Guess everyone here's a bit tired."
 
Xander watched Emmett for a bit as Emmett watched him, waiting to see if any kind of realization would set in. Not seeing any, he decided to take a more direct approach. Glancing at Alice, he said, "So, that means your birthday is, what, the first? Nice. Great birthday date."
 
"September 30th, actually," Alice said softly, not really looking at anyone.

Emmett stood blankly for a few moments, confused by this conversation until suddenly it occurred to him, "Oh! Right, you're ten now. Happy birthday kiddo. See, you're a big girl now, so you don't need big parties. Justine and I have little birthdays, only little kids get birthdays. Right?"

She gave a quick look to Xander and then said, "Okay, dad."
 
"Wow," Xander said, drawing out the word as long as he could. "I can't wait to hear how it goes with your wife when you straight-up forget her birthday and then shrug it off like it doesn't matter. Good luck with that, seeing as it says she doesn't matter enough for you to remember one day of the year. Man. I never thought I'd get to say this, but at least my dad doesn't even bother pretending. He pretends I don't exist. That's actually better. Cool. Thanks for making my dad actually look cool.for once."
 
Alice's father stood blankly, too surprised by Xander's reaction to jump to anger or defensivenes. Down by his side, Alice smiled a little and then looked down at the floor so he wouldn't see.

"We've been... sort of... busy," Emmett stammered at last, "I'm sorry about it and all, but there's not much we can do about it now." He awkwardly shrugged and then realized he didn't really need to explain himself to some stranger, so he took Alice's hand, "C'mon pumpkin, let's quit bothering people out in the hall."

He lead her back inside their room, but Alice quickly swiveled before the door was shut and said, "Bye Xander. Congratulations to your foster family."
 
"Thanks, kid, hope you get a cake or something," Xander said, giving her a bit of a salute.

Alec had come to see what Xander was doing and where he had gotten off to, and he caught the end of the exchange. When the door closed, he smiled and moved up next to Xander. "Good job for not punch anyone or yelling."

"Thanks, I think," Xander said. "Let's go check on our own kid, yeah?" He turned and led the way back into the hospital room.
 
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