Real Jalex:

Chapter One:

"Alex, can you do me a favor and get the mail?" Theresa asked as she rushed into the kitchen and back out carrying a customer's lunch.

"Sure mom." Alex was leaning on the checkout counter and blowing her hair out of her face.

Theresa nodded and whirled around the tables delivering sandwiches. It was noon on a Saturday, their busiest time. Jerry was in the kitchen making sandwiches and both Justin and Max were waiting on tables like their mother.

"Hey, Justin!" Alex didn't bother to move, just hollered to her older brother.

"Yeah?" He cam over and answered.

"Mom told me to tell you to go get the mail."

"Oh, okay. Can you cover my shift while I'm gone?" Justin reached for the knot in his apron to undo it when she stopped him.

"Justin, I am very busy right now. I'm sorry but I just can't." She shook her head solemnly and patted his hand.

"You're reading a magazine and eating raw sugar." Justin stated.

"Pfft, no! I'm waiting for customers to pay!" Alex scoffed.

Justin rolled his eyes and left.

Fifteen minutes later Justin came back with a stack of letters, flyers and bills.

"Can you give these to mom for me?" He handed his sister the pile and went back to work.

"Hey mom, got the mail for you!" Alex called to Theresa, ignoring Justin's outraged look.

The Russo made it through the day mostly unscathed. Later as they sat around after dinner watching wrestling on TV, Theresa went through the mail.

"Oh, Jerry. We need to talk." Everyone turned to Theresa to see her face bone white and her hands shaking.

"What's wrong?" Jerry's usually carefree tone of voice was now serious and stern.

"Kids go upstairs!" Theresa didn't sound like her usually self either. Her voice was shocked and quivered with fear.

No one argued, they just left.

At the top of the stairs, Alex stopped. She quietly pulled out her wand and whispered the hearing spell.

"Alex what are you doing?" Justin grabbed her arm but she shook away.

"I want to know what has Mom so panicked." She whispered.

"Maybe it's the fact that you're not going to university like Harper and everyone else your age." Justin smirked.

"Shut up! I just don't know what to do with my life yet!" She snapped.

"You're just going to be here for the rest of your life. Serving sandwiches and living with mom and dad. While I'm at Harvard." He still had that self-satisfied smirk on his face.

She shoved him and he was about to retaliate but surprisingly, Max shushed them both.

"I want to hear what their saying!" By now, Max also had the ear of a bat spell on.

They all fell silent and listened.

"He's old enough to know." Their dad sounded so serious.

"No! He's just a baby! My baby! I don't care who-" after that their mothers voice dropped so low, even their bat ears couldn't pick it up.

"Theresa! Maybe with Eleanor's death, it's the perfect time. We could do it now." The dad's voice rose suddenly.

Their mother sniffled. "Alright. Call them down."

Jerry shouted, "Kids! Come down here!"

Max, Alex and Justin winced at the volume the bat ears weren't used to. The reversed the spell and went to their parents.

Theresa had tears in her eyes, and Jerry had never looked more solemn.

"We have something to tell you." Jerry began, "We just got a letter in the mail saying your Great Aunt Eleanor just died."

"Oh, that's too bad." Said Justin, the most mature out of the three children. They recognized that it was a sad occasion, but couldn't summon up any emotion for them woman they had never met.

"She died from a rare blood disease passed down by genetics. You all and your father have to be tested." Theresa finally spoke.

Alex groaned and moaned and rolled her eyes and Max complained about hospitals and needles and doctors.

"But that's what we want to talk about. Alex and Max will have to be tested……. but not you Justin." Jerry sounded hesitant and glanced at his wife. She nodded and he continued.

"You see Justin, you're…… adopted." Jerry said quietly.

Alex gasped. Max also looked shocked. But Justin had this blank expression on his face, like he couldn't even hear them.

Theresa jumped in, "We love you so much, and you're still our son even if I wasn't the one to birth you! You're still my little mijo! You're still Justin Russo!"

"Why did you lie to me?" Justin sounded confused and hurt.

"We thought you were too young to know before now. And you're mother- your birth mother- never wanted you to know." Jerry responded.

"What's her name? Who is she? Is she a wizard? Why did she give me up?" Justin's confused questions burst from his mouth.

"Her name is Emma Arden and no, she is not a wizard. But your birth father is. She was only eighteen when she had you, and not ready to raise a son. She was my neighbor growing up, and my sister used to baby sit her all the time. Our families were very close. So when you were born, she knew that we wanted kids, and she wasn't ready yet, and we adopted you."

Alex felt sick to her stomach, so she could only imagine how Justin felt. She sat next to him on the couch and half-consciously grabbed his hand. She felt his hand squeeze hers and she squeezed back for support.

Max sat on the other side of Justin. It was like they were supporting their brother without words.

"So wait- Justin's not really my brother?" Max still didn't get it.

"No, no! He is! But just not genetically." Theresa sounded so afraid and sad.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight Max and Alex. Goodnight Jerry and Theresa." Justin said this coldly and robotically. He turned towards the stairs.

His words were like a slap to the face for Theresa. She flinched and blinked back tears. She walked onto the terrace and Jerry followed.

Alex raced up the stairs to Justin's room. She knocked quietly on the door. "Justin, it's Alex. Can I come in?"

He opened the door and smiled a smile full of sarcasm and scorn. "I think that's the first time you've ever knocked on my door."

"Yeah, well, there's a first for everything." She tried to make him laugh, smile at least. But his face didn't change.

"Are you okay?" She was scared of what she had witnessed downstairs. It was foreign and twisted. Justin was her brother. He loved and protected her and put up with all her crap. There wasn't any question.

"I'm fine, Alex." She hated the way his voice sounded. It was too mechanical and cold. It sounded nothing like Justin Russo.

"No, you're not. Do you want to talk about it?" For once, she didn't mock him or tease him.

His eyes filled with tears.

"Justin-"

"It's my allergies, okay?!" He turned away from her and gripped his desk chair.

Without a word she wrapped her arms around him. She just held his shaking body. Eventually he turned around and hugged her back. He hugged her hard and rested his head on hers. She could feel his tears wetting her hair.

Alex didn't know or care how long they stood in each others embrace. Justin needed her. He sniffed and let go of her.

"I'll see you in the morning." Alex said to Justin.

"Um, yeah. I'll see you then." He said. She turned to go but at the sound of her name she stopped, "Alex-"

"What?" She asked.

It seemed like he changed his mind. He just shook his head.

Alex left his room and went into her own. From her bed she could hear her mother's sobs from downstairs and her father trying to comfort her.

She turned off the light and sat in the dark. Nothing was as it was before.