"You're holding my hand."

Alex yelped and jumped three feet away from her brother. She ferociously shook her right hand, as if it was on fire and she had to put it out (like maybe stop, drop, and roll or something.)

Justin laughed. "You were so scared."

"I was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not! Ugh, Justin, you foot! You're so annoying."

"Then why were you holding my hand?"

Why was she holding his hand? Well, first of all, it totally wasn't her fault that the two of them got lost at the state fair because she thought they should make a right turn but no, Justin said they were supposed to go straight. And the fair is all fun and exciting but once the panic of being lost sets in, the loud sirens of the game booths become daunting and the voices on the speakers start to sound ominous and every stranger walking by only heightens the paranoia. It's never been more apparent to Alex that she's so, so small in a world of big, big, adults. She didn't want to hold his hand. But her dorky older brother was all she had then, so you get what you get.

"It was an emergency." (At age six, she thought that was the most viable excuse in the world.)

"You're holding my hand."

"Yes, I know that."

"I thought you were embarrassed by any physical contact with me."

"Shut up."

"Whoa, check out that needle."

"Justin! You're not helping."

Here's the thing: Alex really wanted to ride Justin's new bike, even though it was slightly too big for her.

Here's the other thing: some other boys were also biking in the street and they had a plastic mini-ramp. Of course someone had the bright idea to put the ramp at the top of the steps and of course Alex would be the first to try it. She didn't break any bones, thank goodness. But she did sorta kinda crash into the newspaper racks and got a gnarly cut down the entire length of her right calf.

"What, the bold and brave Alex Russo isn't afraid of some itty bitty stitches, is she?"

"Pssh. No."

"Then why are you squeezing my hand so hard that my knuckles are white?"

"…sorry."

She let go of his hand and stared with wide eyes at the doctor who was threading some blue string into a needle. She took a shaky breath. It's going to be okay, really. What are some tiny stitches compared to the huge cut she already had, right? If she didn't cry when she crashed the bike, there was no reason she should cry now. Right?

The doctor walked over. She sniffled.

Justin noticed how tense she was and offered his slightly numb hand back. "Um, you can still hold my hand if you want. I promise I won't tease you about it later."

"Okay. But only because this counts as an emergency." (At age nine, she discovered that it was okay to have your older brother as your worst enemy as long as he is your best friend too.)

"You're holding my hand."

"Yeah, because we were just freefalling from the sky three seconds ago!"

"No, we started falling because you let go of the carpet to hold my hand."

Making sure both hands had a tight grip on the flying carpet this time, Alex turned to glare at Justin. He stuck his tongue at her and she did the same, but then the quick wind blew her hair into her face, causing some strands to go into her mouth. While Alex tried to shake the hair out of her face since she didn't dare let go of her hands again, Justin laughed into the night air. After watching her struggle for a few minutes, Justin finally reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear for her.

"Look, it was an emergency, okay?" (At age fourteen, she couldn't help but notice that sometimes, she just holds his hand for no reason at all.)

"You're holding my hand."

"Oh." It's funny because she didn't even realize it until he mentioned it.

"Well, I mean, you don't have to let go."

"Oh."

"Because, like, we just went through hell and back to get that Stone of Dreams and I was sucked into a tornado and I lost my memory and I lost my powers and I lost you and we were almost doomed for good. So, technically, that was the biggest emergency of our lives."

"Yeah."

They both sighed in relief that it was all over, finally, and life was normal again. Then Alex looked down at their intertwined hands and wondered if normal was actually possible.

"Hey." He poked her stomach. "What was the whole I'm your little sister, I taunt you and I tease you and I make your life miserable but you love me anyway spiel all about?" He mimicked her in a high voice.

She punched him in response. "One, I don't sound like that. Two, it was an emergency." (At age sixteen, she learned what a real emergency felt like and really, there was nothing wrong with holding hands after something as traumatizing as that.)

-::-::-

"You're holding my hand, again."

Alex groaned. "Way to ruin a moment, dorkster."

"What?"

"I'm trying to comfort you. Because you're all gloomy and stuff from breaking up with Rosie and I'd rather you hold my hand than go around smashing vases."

"But smashing vases is fun."

"I know."

They sat in the lair in silence, hand in hand, pondering the spiraling turn of events. But thinking about all that stuff is stressful, so Alex would rather go upstairs and sleep instead. So she stood up and tried to yank Justin up as well. "Come on, it's late."

He wouldn't budge though. His eyes were still unfocused, regretful, and much too sad.

"You did the right thing in letting Rosie go. And there will be other girls out there. Maybe it didn't work out with your vampire and maybe it didn't work out with your angel, but hey, third time's the charm, right?"

He still wouldn't move, but he grinned, slightly.

Alex tugged on his arm once more. "Seriously dude, get up."

Finally, he rose from the chair. "You, Alex, are a weakling."

"Am not!" She pouted. To prove her point, she put both palms on his chest and began pushing him backwards, leaning all her weight against him. Her actions were quite fruitless however, since Justin didn't step back at all, not even a little. Chuckling, he reached up and bent Alex's elbows, causing her to lose balance and crash into him.

"Thank you," he whispered, enveloping her in his arms, "for comforting me."

"Yeah, well, it was sort of an emergency." (At age eighteen, she was enjoying his hugs perhaps more than she should, and she was starting to worry.)

"You're hol—"

Justin was promptly interrupted when Alex grabbed his hand, forcefully pulled him closer, and wrapped her arms around his neck as tears filled her eyes. She felt him sigh and rest his head on hers. Over his shoulder, she saw her family, Harper, and Mason, especially Mason, all watching them with matching smiles.

"Thank you, Justin. Thank you for everything."

"Hey, it was an emergency after all." (At age twenty, she became the family wizard even though Justin won the competition.)

"You're holding my hand. Why?"

"Because…"

"Because?"

"Just because."

"Let me guess. This somehow qualifies as an emergency?"

"Sure. Whatever."

The look on Alex's face told Justin that something was seriously wrong. She wasn't yelling back insults. She was sitting there, limp and helpless, holding his hand like it's the only thing she can hold onto.

"Alex, what's wrong?"

"I broke up with Mason."

"…what?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Justin!" At that, she exploded and she moved onto his lap, clinging to his chest. "I know you gave your powers to me just so I could be with Mason, since a mortal can't be with a werewolf, and I know that was a huge sacrifice, and I'm sorry for just throwing it all away. I'm sorry. I can give you the powers back, if you want. I can—"

"Whoa, back up. Why did you break up with Mason?"

She didn't reply, just held his hand again.

"Alex?"

"I don't know," she finally replied. "I don't know why I broke up with him. I just did it. That's the scary part. If anything, that's the emergency." (At age twenty-three, she knew full well why she broke up with Mason, but she wasn't going to admit the reason, not even to herself.)

"You're holding my hand."

She ignored him. "Congratulations, Justin! I'm so happy for you."

"Why are you so happy? It's not like she said yes. I didn't even ask her yet."

"But you bought the ring! Aah, my brother is getting married!"

He chuckled. Alex is so over the top sometimes. But as he looked at her smile, he noticed that it didn't reach her eyes. So he drew her in for a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," she replied cheerily.

"No, I meant are you okay with me proposing to my girlfriend?"

She paused for a second too long. He noticed.

"Of course I'm okay with it. Why wouldn't I be?" She sighed and grabbed his hand again, their fingers instinctively intertwining together.

"So, no emergency?"

"No emergency." (At age twenty-five, she put on the best smile she could fake while her heart simply shattered.)

"You're holding my hand."

"Hey, that's my line," Justin said half-heartedly, dragging Alex into the empty dressing room.

"Okay, but seriously," she said. "Why are you bringing me here? You're supposed to be out there getting married."

"It's an emergency."

"Oh?"

Justin let go of her hand and walked around the small dressing room. He ran his fingers through his hair and a vein was popping out of his neck from anxiety and frustration.

"Justin?" she asked cautiously. She's never really seen his so torn before.

"I need your help," he finally said. "I need you to do magic."

"Why? What's wrong?"

Justin didn't answer her questions but instead walked right up into her personal space. "Do you love me?"

"Um, what kind of a question is that?" she replied, nervously taking a step back.

"Just answer it." He took a step forward.

"Yeah, I love you. You're my brother. Are you okay?"

"That's not what I meant. Do you love me?"

It couldn't be. Not here, not now. He couldn't possibly be implying what she thinks he's implying.

"I…" Alex took another step back and hit the wall. Once again, he followed with another step closer, trapping her against the wall. He leaned forward and kissed her and nothing made sense anymore. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to do?

"Say something!" he shouted. "I'm about to get married—"

"Yes, you're about to get married so why are you here kissing your sister?" she yelled back.

"Because if you feel the same way then I won't get married."

So many words rushed to the tip of her tongue but none could get out.

"I've loved you since I was seventeen years old," he confessed softly.

She never thought this day would come. She never thought they would actually have this little heart-to-heart and she certainly didn't think it would be in his dressing room seconds before his bride would walk down the aisle. But then again, Justin always had horrible timing.

"I've loved you since I was fourteen," she replied. "I win."

His eyes lit up and he kissed her again. Then the door burst open as Zeke poked his head in. "Justin, are you in here? Everyone is…looking…for…y-you…" He trailed off and his eyes widened as he took in the compromising position Justin and Alex were in.

"Zeke, wait!" Justin called, but his best man was already running off to tell the world. "Okay Alex, this is where your magic comes in."

"Already one step ahead of you." She took the family wand out of her left boot and held Justin's hand.

"The forbidden spell?" she suggested.

He shrugged and tightened his grasp on her hand. "Well, it is an emergency." (At age twenty-six, she twirled her wand; when Zeke and everyone else came running back into the room, Alex and Justin were nowhere to be seen.)

Yeah, that ending came out of nowhere. This was mainly inspired by these two kids that I was babysitting and the little girl called her brother a foot and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. The rest just kinda happened. Oh well, I hope you somewhat enjoyed it :)