AN: In the last chapter, David managed to save Kelbo Russo (Jerry's brother) from the Yazuka by faking his death. Everything has been returned to their rightful owner, but that doesn't mean that everything is over with. In this final chapter to the story, the unthinkable happens, and no one saw it coming. This will parlay into the next story that I am going to do involving this storyline. With those things in mind, here is the conclusion.

Just a quick note, for the outfits that everyone wore, think of the episode, Wizard of the Year.

Chapter Six: The Price We Pay For Love

Needless to say, David Falcone was more than a little off his game. After he left the Waverly Place Substation, and more so after the hug between he and Alex, his thoughts were not able to be on one thing. Well, they were able to be on one thing, or person, and that was Alex Russo.

After the situation that caused David to up and leave in the first place, Alex believed that was it for their friendship. Alex thought that, but David didn't. He was angry for a long time, and that anger came from years of pent up frustration at Alex and her family to an extent.

Louis and VIllo, the guys that raised David, and longtime friends of Jerry and Theresa, they always knew that David had a thing for Alex. David never mentioned it, or said anything to confirm or deny this, but they knew from the way that they both acted around each other. Then the restaurant incident happened, and that blew up their friendship right there.

David himself always held out some sort of hope that he and Alex would become friends again, even more than that at some point in time. He is thinking this now, but before, he did not want anything to do with the Russo family, but obligation to do the right thing brought him back to old friends and family.

Then, the hug between David and Alex. As he hugged her, all of his old feelings came roaring back, and David was unable to ignore them, even after all this time. David could only wonder if he should try and talk to Alex, and see where he stood with her? Fear of possible rejection were keeping him from doing so, and that is what kept him from doing that in the first place. It kind of was a scary thing to deal with, but David knew that he had to do something before she got away from him again.

It was a few days after David and his crew saved Kelbo from a very painful and untimely death. David was sitting in his office, Michael was across from him. David was thinking about Alex, but he did not say that is what he was doing. Of course, Michael knew it all too well David was thinking about her.

"Mike, when are you heading back to California?" David asked out of the blue.

"I have no idea." Michael answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I figured that I might hang around here for a few days."

"Why?" David asked him.

"I figured that if I stayed in New York for a few days, I might see something interesting." Michael said. "That, and I am not in a real hurry to get back home."

"I should have guessed." David sighed, turning and looking out the window.

"Let me guess, still thinking about Alex, huh?" Michael asked him.

"Yeah." David said.

"Look, why don't you go and just talk to her?" Michael asked him.

"Because, after how things ended between us the last time, I am not sure that we can recover from it." David said sadly.

"I knew that you still had feelings for her. It was too damn obvious, really." Michael said with a smirk.

"Oh really? What gave it away?" David asked his friend sarcastically.

"The fact that you were all too willing to jump into this mess with Kelbo." Michael said. "You had the perfect opportunity to get rid of him, and you didn't. The only reason you would have done that is that you probably believe that there is some hope for you and Alex to get together."

Damn, when he's right, he's right. David thought.

"Alright, clear out, I got to go talk to someone." David said, reaching for his jacket.

Michael was going to question it, but given the present time and situation plus the conversation that the two had just shared, he decided against it.

"Alright, do what you need to do. I will keep my ear out in case something big or troubling might be heading our way." Michael said.

"Good looking out." David said.

Where was David going? The only place that he could think of at this moment. Not Waverly Place, but the one place that he knew was going to, to get some advice at this point.

Home.

Not his high class apartment that he has now, but his home before all of this mess happened.

David arrived about twenty minutes after he left his apartment, and he stood before the doorway, taking a deep breath. He opened the door with the key he still had, and entered the home.

He took a deep breath, and looked around. He remembered the home the night that he left, and it looked as though it didn't change at all. David wondered what his room was like, but he decided against entering his old room, knowing that wasn't going to help, and he was here on business.

David went over to the living room couch, and took a seat on it. Even there, he thought of all the times that he and Alex sat here and watch TV.

"Yeah?" Louis said, coming out of his bedroom. Villo did the same, coming from David's old bedroom.

Louis and Villo froze in their tracks once they saw David standing in the living room. Louis and Villo shared a look, and then turned their gaze back to David.

"Um, David? Why are you here?" Louis asked him.

"I came here, because I wanted to talk to you. About Alex." David said. Louis knew by the tone, that this was serious. The three sat in the living room area, and almost instantly, the tone changed.

"Okay, what's up?" Louis said.

"I think that I still have feelings for Alex." David said.

"Okay, why are you here talking to us about it? Go and tell her this." Villo said.

"I don't have the nerve." David said. "I want to go and tell her how I feel but after the way things went down years ago, and this Kelbo situation, if I talk to her now about this, it won't go well."

"Okay, I figured this. Here." Louis said, taking out an envelope, and handing it to David.

"What's this?" David asked him.

"Alex won Wizard of the Year, and she wanted you to come." Louis said. "That is an invitation for the banquet that she is having. She gave that to me to give to you."

"Thanks. I have to go and talk to her in person about it, though." David said.

"Well, good luck with that." Villo said.

David smiled at his family, and left the home. It felt good to come back to a place that he once called home. Before he got too sentimental, he remembered that he had something important to do.

Sometimes simple is the best way to go about things. That is what David thought after he requested Alex come and talk to him. Neutral territory, somewhere where neither of them would feel uncomfortable, and David thought about Central Park. David sat there, and waited for Alex to show up. As the time past, he sat there, thinking about what he was going to say to her once he saw her.

David sat there, and sure enough, David looked up, and saw Alex slowly walking towards her.

"Hey." Alex said softly.

"Hey yourself." David said. "Congratulations on winning Wizard of the Year."

"Thank you." Alex said. David could feel that Alex felt uneasy sitting there, talking to him.

"Sorry, you know for what happened then." David said, breaking the silence that was there.

"It kind of stuck to me that there was more to a reason as to why you did that." Alex said. "Why did you do that? And why did you help Uncle Kelbo?"

"To do the right thing, that, and I always held out hope." David said.

"Hope for what?" Alex said.

David stopped, and he realized what he just said. Figuring that he was caught, he went ahead and said what he was going to say anyway.

"For us. For us." David said.

"David..." Alex said, knowing what he was going with the conversation. "David, I-I don't know what to say?"

"Sorry for coming out of the blue with that. I had to say it before I lost my nerve." David said. He stood up, bringing Alex with him. He felt all of his emotions coming out at that moment. Then he felt himself leaning in to kiss her.

"I have a boyfriend." Alex said, more like blurted out.

"What?"

"I have a boyfriend. Sort of." Alex said again.

"Oh." David said, feeling his heart break. "What's his name?"

"Mason." Alex said. "David, I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"No. No. It's alright." David said. "Look, I just remembered I have something to deal with, and I'll see you later."

"David, wait." Alex said. She tried to catch up with him, but he was already gone. He didn't want her to see that she broke his heart once again...

David was stomping back and forth in his bedroom, tears falling from his face, and anger in his heart. He was mad at Alex for waiting until now to tell him that she had a boyfriend. That made him feel like that night all those years ago.

More importantly, he was mad at himself. What he feared was going to happened, happened. Alex was taken and he didn't have an opportunity to get a chance to be with her.

Anger and heartbreak still was on his mind as he sat on his bed. He looked around his room, and saw the invitation that Alex gave him was on his counter. He had the urge to walk over and tear it up into a million pieces. He didn't, of course, because something told him that it was going to come in handy in the future.

The night of her award banquet arrived, and Alex felt nervous about the event. Or at least that's what her family thought was going on in her mind. She kept thinking about David, and how he reacted when she told him that she had a boyfriend. She never saw him like that, and he must have been like that all that time ago.

"Alex?" Max said, coming into the room. "Come on. Everyone's waiting on you."

"I'll be there in a few minutes. I just have to fix my make up a little bit." Alex lied.

Max sighed, knowing what this was about. He didn't press the issue. He just gave her a nod to signal that he understood, and left.

Alex wiped the last of the tears out of her eyes, and stepped outside.

Alex sat nervously next to her family as they began to talk about how the evening was going and why they were here. Then came the time where it was announced that she won Wizard of the Year, and she was going to give a speech.

Alex smiled, and slowly made her way to the podium, and began to speak. It was obvious that she was nervous. She began to speak, and as she spoke, she would glance into the crowd.

Anyways, as she went on, she glanced around one more time, and saw an all too familiar face standing near the entrance.

David stood there in a black Italian suit, and black hat with matching shoes.

He had a smile on his face, as he motioned her to keep going.

David made his way towards an empty seat...

BANG.

A single gunshot was so loud, everyone hit the floor. David glanced around, to see if anyone he knew was hurt. He then glanced towards where Alex was standing.

David saw her fall to the ground, and she was motionless.

"Alex!" David screamed rushing to her side. He held her close as he saw the blood spot grow bigger in her stomach area.

Alex opened her eyes, and saw the concern on David's face. At that same moment, David turned to face her.

Alex gave him a weak smile, and closed her eyes once more.

"Alex? Alex!? Alex!"

THE END?