Note: Anything in italics is a flash back.

Background: In Wizards of Waverly place, the three Russo siblings Justin, Alex and Max are all "wizards in training". They live with their parents Jerry & Theresa in NYC and live above the family owned "Waverly Sub Station". Early into their wizard training, the siblings are told that eventually the three will have to compete and that only one will end up being able to keep their wizard powers, thus becoming the family wizard or full wizard.

Characters:

Jerry Russo: Father to the siblings and their Wizard teacher. Although he teaches wizardry, he no longer has his powers. It's revealed in an episode that when he competed against his brother to keep his powers he actually won but later gave up his powers in order to marry a mortal, Theresa.
Theresa Russo: Mother to the siblings. She works along side her husband at the family owned Waverly Sub Station. She's a typical mother trying to deal with all the craziness conjured up by her children.

Justin Russo: The oldest of the three. Justin is the most studious both in his regular education as well as his wizard training. He is often the butt of pranks and jokes pulled on him by his younger sister, Alex. Justin wants to ultimately win the competition for wizard powers and is extremely driven. He sometimes lacks common sense but has the book knowledge to get out of sometimes sticky situations.

Alex Russo: Alex is the middle child. She's smarter then she appears to be. It seems as if she could get the same straight A's as her brother Justin, she just chooses not too. She's pretty, street smart and is better at relationships then her older brother. In the Wizards of Waverly Place movie, it's revealed that she can do magic easily as opposed to Justin who has to study and apply himself in order to do well. She can be a bit of a smart ass but when push comes to shove, her family and friends are her top priority.

Max Russo: The baby of the family. His mother has a hard time letting him grow up and it appears at times that he's just fine with that. He's a bit of a slacker, at least in the earlier seasons but it seems as if he's starting to buckle down and really learn how to use magic in a way that would make him a viable threat when the three compete for powers. He thinks big but doesn't necessarily know how to deliver. At times he's needed his siblings to bail him out of jams.

Kylie De Lena: (original character) for the purposes of this story she is Justin's girlfriend/fiancée/wife. Kylie and Justin met in college during their freshman year and have been together ever since. She lives with two of her girlfriends in a shared apartment and is going to be a first year law student at Columbia. She works part time to support herself. She's self sufficient and independent though a trust from her late father allows her the ability to attend law school. She has no magic abilities at all and was with Justin for about a year when she learned that he was a wizard.

Summary: Set four years after the series finale. I wrote this during season 3 so the family wizard hadn't been decided yet. I'm not changing it now, as it would ruin part of the plot line. So for the purposes of this story Justin is now the family wizard after beating out both Alex and Max to keep his powers. He entered college, met Kylie and fell in love with her almost immediately. Now they're getting ready to graduate and he has a full time job waiting for him, he's ready to take the next step. But seeing as Kylie's a mortal, will he actually end up marrying her?

Justin Russo thought he had it all figured out. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life; he knew the course he had to follow to get there. He had even achieved one of his goals, becoming the family wizard. He had also achieved happiness on another level when he met Kylie De Lena.

To Justin, Kylie was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. He had been careful with his heart after losing the first girl he ever loved years before. Since then he had shied away from all things romantic. But with Kylie, it just couldn't be helped. The magic (no pun intended) and chemistry between them had been beyond clear when they met during freshman orientation. He had wanted to ask her out immediately but his old battle wounds had prevented that. Instead, he spent the first semester of their college life together just getting close to her.

Shortly after they returned from holiday break their freshman year, he had gotten up the nerve to ask her out. Although she too felt the connection they shared she had pretty much given up all hope that they'd ever be more then just friends. So when he finally asked her out, she was both surprised and thrilled.
It didn't take long for them to become the couple amongst their friends that all admired. In some ways they seemed too perfect. Both were highly intelligent and hard workers. They took pride in their grades and had a ceaseless desire to do well. They challenged one another and got along great. They rarely had
arguments and almost never had full blown fights. That's not to stay they didn't disagree or have shouting matches that more then once had threatened the demise of their relationship. They did, and in those rare moments it could get ugly as they were both two strong willed people who didn't always give in easily. As a matter of fact, they went through a short period of time where they did break up. Neither of them called it that, however. They called it a cooling off period, a chance to reassess. But their friends saw through the façade and saw the toll it took on both of them.

It seemed as though it were fate that brought the two of them together and being apart was the hardest thing for either of them to endure. The break up didn't last long, much to the relief of those around them. Aside from that, they had spent the past three and a half years falling more and more in love as time went on.
It hadn't taken Justin long to decide to tell Kylie about his Wizard powers. Being a Wizard was something that he had taken very seriously since he first was told about the powers. He spoke to no one about it outside of his family. It was a family secret that he had originally intended to take to the grave with him. But once again, with Kylie, things were different. He felt that he owed it to her to be honest with her. They both wanted an open and honest relationship with no secrets. She had opened up to him about her father's death and her mother's high powered career in Europe that really had no room for her in it. In return, he told her about his family and the wizard powers he possessed.

Bringing her home to meet his family was an extremely nerve wracking event for them both. Kylie never had the type of family upbringing that Justin had grown up with. Her father was gone and her mother, a high powered attorney, simply wasn't around much. It wasn't that her mother didn't love her, it was just that she never really *wanted* her. She was married to her career first and foremost.

Before his death, her father had told her that following Kylie's birth, her mother had tried to be the doting mother he had wanted her to be but just couldn't do it. Some people, he had told her, just weren't meant to be parents. Thankfully, they were well off and could afford to have nannies do the raising and the fussing while Kylie's mom was free to do as she pleased.

Justin was worried, not so much about his parents but about his younger siblings. Alex was the one he worried about the most. She lived to taunt and torment him. She had embarrassing pictures of him, stories that to her were extremely entertaining and a knack for saying or doing whatever it took to make Justin flush with embarrassment. Max was just as bad in some ways though not as daring as Alex. Justin made impassioned pleas to the both of them to behave the weekend that he brought Kylie home. Miraculously both complied and the weekend went off with out a hitch.

Kylie and Alex hit it off immediately and in each other found the sister they both had wanted but never had. Max was in high school now with a girlfriend and life of his own and no longer took as much joy in tormenting Justin as he once had. In fact the first time Kylie came to meet the Russo's he wasn't even home. It seemed to Justin that the Gods were smiling down on him.

Three and a half years later, Kylie was a permanent fixture among the Russo's. Whenever a family event was coming up, she was always expected to be in attendance. Jerry and Theresa were aware that she was a mortal and knew what would have to happen in the long run if the two were to marry. They were smart enough however to leave the subject alone. Justin was a smart young man and he would come to them if need be, when he was ready.

Unfortunately for Theresa, that moment came far too soon. Justin had come to them recently with the most serious expression she could ever remember seeing on his face. He had asked to speak with them privately and as a mother, she knew. He was going to ask Kylie to marry him. They had a few months left of college before graduation which made Theresa a bit nervous but Justin assured her he wouldn't propose before them and he wasn't proposing a shot gun wedding.

Jerry reminded him of the laws surrounding a wizard marrying a mortal. He strongly urged Justin to think about it before going out and buying a ring. Justin looked at his father and spoke to him man to man, probably for the first time in his life.

"Justin, this is not about Kylie. You know that your mother and I think she's wonderful. I don't have doubts that she'd be a terrific wife for you. I just want you to be absolutely sure. Being the family wizard meant so much to you and marrying her would mean you giving that up. I don't want you to make a decision that would eventually cause you to resent her."

Justin looked his father in the eye and nodded. "Dad, I've thought about this over and over again. Kylie is my soul mate. I know that sounds cheesy but it's the truth. When we broke up a few years ago, even for that short period of time, I swear it nearly killed me. I finally understand why you gave up your powers to marry Mom."

Jerry nodded, a tear coming into his eye. "I'm proud of you, Justin. You've always made your mother and me so proud. If you love Kylie and want to be with her for the rest of
your life you know that we stand behind you. She's already a part of our family; this would only make it official. Congratulations."
Justin smiled and stood up to hug his father.

"Don't congratulate me just yet. I still have to find a ring and actually propose." He frowned. "There's always the possibility that she'll say no."

"Do you really think she'd say no?" He asked with concern.

Justin shook his head. "No. But if there's one thing being a Wizard has taught me, it's that stranger things have happened."

Jerry nodded, and let the subject rest at that. "So, when do we go ring shopping?"