While It Lasted

Summary: The night before Justin's twelfth birthday, Jerry and Theresa nervously anticipate telling the kids about their wizard heritage.

A/N: I'm having a lot of fun with these childhood stories, and highly recommend writing them. It's so different exploring the Russo's past – there's tons of untapped potential.

Oh, and this was inspired by the line Alex had in the latest episode "Doll House," where she mentioned that she didn't know she was a wizard when she was five. That got me wondering, when exactly did the kids find out they were wizards?

2003

His son next to him on the couch, Jerry kept his eyes on the baseball game while he kept up a steady stream of explanations. Of course, by the age of almost twelve most boys knew how baseball games worked. But Jerry had been a little disappointed to realize early on that his oldest son wasn't going to be one of those boys. Justin had always been the type to read or play with action figures rather than watch or play sports.

So when the season started and Justin started to watch the games, Jerry couldn't be happier. True, his son sheepishly admitted that he only wanted to learn because the other boys in his grade were into sports, and he wanted to fit in. But Jerry thought he detected a hint of genuine interest, so he was doing his best to encourage that.

"Okay, so see how the Mets are winning by two?" Jerry asked and pointed at the screen. When Justin nodded, Jerry continued, "That means that the Yankees now have to score at least two runs, or else the game is over."

"What about the second part of the inning?" Justin asked, his forehead wrinkled in confusion. It amazed Jerry that his son could be so smart in school, but be so overwhelmed by a simple game of baseball.

Jerry shook his head. "There's no reason for it since the Yankees won't have a chance to score anyway. All that would be able to happen is that the Mets gain more runs. While that would be fun to watch, there's no reason for it."

"Oh, okay," Justin said, then yawned. "Is it going to be over soon? I'm tired."

A quick glance at the clock told Jerry it was a quarter to eleven. While at first Justin had been thrilled by the idea of being allowed to stay up past his bed time, he was getting sleepy. "It should be over soon, son. Hopefully they'll get one more quick strike out and it will be over," Jerry replied. He was even a little tired as well – it had been a long day at the shop.

"Well it better be over by eleven, because you're not staying up later than that," Theresa called from where she sat at the kitchen counter. She was staying up with them in order to finish frosting the cupcakes she had baked for Justin's birthday party the next day. Even though she had been talking to Justin, her gaze was directed at her husband, who had been the one to convince Justin to stay up late in the first place.

"I'm sure it will be…" Jerry trailed off as just then a pitch was thrown. "See? The first strike. This should be over in five minutes." Sure enough, the game was over with the next two pitches. "There you go! Game's over, the Mets win!" he cheered.

"Yeah! In your face, Yankees!" Justin exclaimed. It was a little overenthusiastic, clearly to please his father, but there was some real excitement there too.

After he'd turned off the television, Jerry turned to his son. "Alright, get up to bed. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yup. Hey Dad, thanks for getting me tickets to the Mets game tomorrow," Justin said on his way upstairs. "The guys are really excited about it. And everyone else at school is really jealous that I get to go to a Mets versus Yankees game for my birthday." Jerry had gotten him tickets for him and a small group of his friends, and a couple of their parents had also bought tickets to help supervise. Afterwards they were all going back to the Russo loft for the actual party.

"No problem, son. Good night," Jerry said.

"'Night Dad. Good night, Mom."

"Good night, honey. Happy early birthday!" Theresa replied, a smile on her face as she watched her eldest child run up the stairs.

"Tomorrow should be a great day," Jerry said while he went over to sit next to his wife at the counter. "You should've let me surprise him with the tickets! He did ask for them."

His wife's smile had quickly turned into a contemplative frown in her son's absence, the spatula she was using to ice her current cupcake still in her hand. "I know you wanted to, but…I thought he would have enough surprises to deal with tomorrow."

Her sullen demeanor enveloped him as well and successfully toned down his happiness from his team's victory. "Oh," Jerry replied. He knew this had been bothering her, but for the past few months they had been fairly successful in their effort not to talk about it. However, their time had finally run out, and they didn't have a choice.

"Do we really have to tell him on his twelfth birthday?" Theresa asked as she put the unfinished cupcake and spatula back on the tray on the counter. "There's no rule that says we have to…unless there is? You know I don't know wizard law."

"Well, there isn't a law, but we should. A wizard's powers can come in any time between his twelfth and thirteenth birthdays," Jerry reminded her. After an entire magic-free decade, he and Theresa had tentatively brought the subject back up again around Justin's birthday last year, which was when Jerry told her they should think about how they tell the kids. But Theresa had been so anxious about the subject that they'd let it drop.

However, Theresa wasn't going to simply give in. "But he might not even get his powers tomorrow! We could be telling him for nothing!"

"But his powers are going to come in soon, and we want him to be prepared, right?" Jerry argued. To be honest, he wasn't too thrilled about the idea either – exposed secrets were never easy to deal with at first. "What if he gets his powers, but keeps it from us because he thinks he's just different? Do you want that?"

"No, of course not," Theresa grumbled. "But do we have to tell Alex and Max too? You know it's going to be total chaos around here once they found out and Justin starts using magic."

"Actually, that is wizard law," Jerry explained. "All siblings have to start training at the same time, to make it fair." He could understand her desire to prolong the inevitable though. She was right – there would be chaos. For now they only had to deal with one kid having powers, and it was the good kid at that. But in two years, Alex would get hers, and he had a strong feeling that she would be a handful. He could already tell she was the type who would want to use her powers for every little thing. And who knew how Max would use his, he was so unpredictable.

"Well, the peace and quiet was nice while it lasted." Her hand on her forehead, Theresa asked, "Jerry? How do you think they'll take it? I mean, what was your reaction when you found out?"

Jerry shrugged. "I didn't. My parents are both full wizards, so they kept their powers. I grew up knowing about the wizard world. Who knows how our kids will react?"

"Do you think they'll be mad? You know, that we kept this from them?" Theresa said. She had her head almost buried in her hands with worry. "Should we have told them when they were little? Maybe that would have been better."

About to reassure her, Jerry hesitated. Why had they kept it a secret? He knew this was mainly because of Theresa's dislike of magic and anything related to it, which he hadn't really blamed her for since magic was what tried to break them apart. It had just been…easier to keep everything a secret, especially since he didn't have his powers anyway.

"Maybe," Jerry finally replied. "But we can't do anything about it now."

Upset, Theresa managed a small nod. "I guess. But let's not tell the kids until tomorrow night at least. Let Justin enjoy his birthday."

"Yeah," Jerry agreed. He then picked up a cupcake and an extra butter knife lying on the counter. "Now how do you frost these so that it looks like the others you did…and not the one Max did when he tried to 'help' before?"

Theresa laughed and demonstrated, so the frosting looked smooth and perfect. "There. Think you can handle that?"

"No, but I'll try anyway," Jerry joked.

They continued to frost cupcakes in comfortable silence for the next fifteen minutes. When they were done, he helped her arrange them all on the tray and put them in a cabinet, so the kids wouldn't be tempted to sneak one during the day. "Well, that's it," Jerry said. "We should get to bed. Like I told Justin…big day tomorrow." He began to head for the stairs, then stopped and turned around when he realized she wasn't following him. "Honey?"

She was standing in front of the counter, tears in her eyes and her arms crossed. "I'm sorry, Jerry," she whispered. "I don't know if I ever said that."

"Sorry? For what?" Jerry asked as he went to her, concerned.

The tears broke free, though she tried to wipe them away. "For making you give up your powers. This has all got me thinking…remembering. You loved being a wizard, but you had to give it up for me."

"Hey, don't think that way," he insisted, and wrapped her in a hug. "I didn't have to do anything. Don't ever forget that."

They broke apart, his arm still around shoulders. "Thanks. I'm sorry, but…telling them all this tomorrow. It isn't going to be easy."

"You know…maybe we shouldn't tell them everything. At least not right away," Jerry suggested. She nodded in agreement, and they headed up the stairs to bed.