Here's the next chapter! So I hope you like it too and be prepared for more Jalex after this chapter :)

Just as Alex promised, the next Saturday, they all began to prepare for their special guest. Surprisingly, Alex noticed that kids didn't talk much about this "friend" and wanted to learn more about him.

Alex placed herself on the couch, holding Mikayla in her lap, and the boys on each side of her, "So…do you want to tell me about this friend of yours?"

"Okay!" They all exclaimed.

"First off, how do you even know this person? Even when I told you not to talk to strangers?" Alex raised her eyebrow.

Zach simply replied, "We met him after school one day…."

Elliott added quietly, "Because he noticed no one was picking us up."

Alex felt a pang of guilt as she heard those words and said, "Guys, Mommy is really sorry about that. She didn't mean to forget you…..I was just….not myself. You understand, right?"

The boys nodded and Elliott continued, "It's okay, Mom. We forgive you. But anyways, he…"

"Wait, guys, you haven't mentioned his name yet. Mind sharing?"

"Oh, it's Mister Justin." Elliott replied.

Zach cut him off, "Elliott! Remember, it's Justin only. He thinks he's old when we say mister!"

Alex laughed and muttered, "Nice name…."

"Yeah! And he's nice too! Before you picked us up each day at school, Justin would take us out to cool places." Elliott exclaimed.

Zach nodded, "We went to parks and McDonalds a lot! And he gave us lots of snacks sometimes too."

"Me play!" Mikayla clapped her hands together and smiled innocently at Alex.

Alex couldn't help, but smile along with her children, "Sounds like the perfect guy."

"He is! He's the best!" Elliott sighed in awe. "You'll love him, Mom!"

"I hope so."

The doorbell suddenly rang and the boys jumped up to open the door, but only for it to reveal the mailman.

"Aww….man. It's just the mailman. Mom!"

Alex chuckled and took a small package, along with the mail, to the kitchen. She mentioned, "Zach, Elliott, calm down because your friend Justin won't be here until tonight. Why don't you go and get ready?"

Being mischievous, Zach first asked, "What's in the box?"

"Hmm…good question." Alex picked up the small packaged and opened it. It happened to reveal a small car toy, labeled with Zach's name on it. "Oh, Zach, it's for you…"

Zach immediately took it out of his mother's hands and read the little note out loud, "To Zach- I'll be home soon. Keep out of trouble, buddy. Love, Dad….it's a little car from Dad! Cool!"

Elliott innocently asked, "Do I get one?"

Alex knew Mason probably didn't and wouldn't send something for his other son. To him, it was like Elliott never existed. She hated him for making their son feel that way, "Uhh…not right now. Maybe it got lost in the mail or Daddy is sending one."

Elliott shrugged and quietly said, "It's okay…I don't need one anyways."

Alex sighed and decided it was best to distract him, "Elliott, why don't you and your brother go upstairs and get ready for tonight? Don't forget, a guest is coming over!"

"Yeah!" Elliott's green eyes shined with excitement once more as he ran upstairs. "Come on, Zach!"

Alex watched Elliott, with Zach behind him, run upstairs before going through the mail. It basically consisted of mostly ads, a few bills (who knows where the money was going to come from), and one envelope with very familiar writing spelling out her name on it. She knew this was one of her "special" letters and opened it. It read:

Letter Three.

Family.

Alex-

This letter took me awhile to write- because I wanted you to fully understand how much this concept means to me. It is at utmost importance that you realize how "touchy" this subject is for me. Family. As human beings, it has always been understood that family is important and one of the many needs of this world. So this basically means that family can be defined in many ways, but here's the definition I found in a dictionary (hah, I'm a nerd for looking that up, but whatever)- a social unit living together. I, and probably a lot of other people, disagree with that. Sure, it's a close, literal meaning, but it means WAY more than that. To me, family means the people in your life who have always loved and will love you forever. They are the people you can always count on when you're in need. As I've mentioned before, something happened years ago and destroyed everything I thought of in terms of family. I counted on my family to support me and take care of me during this time, but no one did- they pushed me away instead. So out of anger, I retaliated by doing the same to them. Does that mean I have no family? Well, I honestly don't have an answer to that because I don't know what family is. But recently, I've been so lucky to have met some children who just blow me away. They are so adorable, which is a great bonus, but are also very down-to-earth and witty- all under the umbrella of innocence of children. They are absolutely brilliant and I love spending time with them. We go to parks together, eat out, and just talk- it's like I've know them my whole life. And through them, I've realized how much I miss and need my family. I'd love to see them again one day, but the "something" that happened years ago has changed so many things that I don't know if I'll be able to even face them again. So I better finish this letter off, but I hope you've realized how complicated, yet imperative, family is to me. But most of all, I hope you think of your own family and cherish every moment you have with them- because you never know if they might just detach themselves from your life.

Alex was completely taken back by this letter. This guy seemed so sincere and honest- it seemed almost impossible for him to be in the situation he says he's in. The only part that got her really thinking was when it said to "cherish" your family. To really tell you the truth, Alex broke away from family affairs a long time ago. She didn't want anything to do with them after the accident, but now, it didn't really matter. Lately, she wanted to see her family again, but wouldn't know what to do one she was with them. Would they blame her and never welcome her back? Although she has seen some relatives every once in a while and talked to them whenever they called, she hadn't kept in touch with one family member- her brother, Justin. She had no idea where he was today and wanted him back in her life. The first few years after Will's death was extremely hard and she blamed it all on Justin. When she was younger, family meant the world to her. So what happened to that? Suddenly, she acted on impulse and grabbed the nearest phone- and dialed her brother's cell phone number

After a few sets of rings, she could've sworn that someone picked up on the other line and exclaimed, "Justin?"

However, Alex was greeted with the annoying ladies' voice saying that this number was no longer available- Justin must've changed his number. Alex sighed in disappointment and wanted to try again, even though she knew there was no way to get in contact with him. Before thinking about it anymore, she heard Elliott calling her name and immediately ran upstairs to help him- thus, distracting her from the letter.

An hour later, everyone had gotten ready. Alex dressed Mikayla in a cute pink dress and she herself wore nice, dark, jeans with a dressy blouse on top. Zach, of course, wore jeans and his favorite navy polo that had the words "Pilot of My Life" plastered on the back- Alex was grateful he wasn't wearing shorts and a t-shirt (at least he was decent enough to wear a polo).

However, to Alex's surprised, Elliott dressed quite nicely, "Hey, buddy, you clean up well."

Elliott's face brightened, "Really?"

Alex smiled, "You know, you don't have to dress so nicely. It's just a dinner." Alex was referring to the outfit he wore. Elliott stood before her in a soft blue dress shirt, with a navy sweater on top, tucked into his nicest black jeans- all held together by a dark brown belt.

"I know. But I want to look good for Justin! He always dresses nice." Elliott explained.

"Oh…alright." Alex laughed as she ruffled his hair.

Zach shouted, "Justin's here!"

Elliott immediately ran after Zach towards the door and Alex followed slowly behind them. A tall figure appeared in the doorway, greeting her kids.

Alex finally reached the doorway and began, "Hi, I'm…."

I was greeting the kids when I heard a familiar voice speak, so I looked up- to face the last person I wanted to see on this earth. Boy, her face contained so much shock that I prayed to God that I didn't look that stunned.

Alex stuttered, "J..J..Justin?"

You would have never believed what was going on in my head- it felt like a freakin' bomb, a nuclear bomb, of emotion exploded. Fortunately, my screwed up mind was able to pull it together somehow and "evaluate" the situation in a matter of seconds. This was basically my thought process: Holy…wait, Justin, it's not good to cuss. But it's your sister! What's her name? Justin! How can you forget her name! Alex. Oh. My. Life. Who am I? Should I act surprised too? Crap. Wait, she's probably still mad at you…don't reveal who you are! Ohh…secret identities! In cognito! Stop fooling around, Justin! This is the plan…don't reveal who you are and act…cool. Alright, got it. Act cool and smooth. I totally got this.

I muttered confusingly, "Yeah…that's my name?" Nice going, idiot.

"It's really you, Justin?" Alex asked in complete shock.

I'll fix this- don't worry! I replied slowly, "Yesss…..but….how do you know me?" Good one, genius!

Alex's excitement decreased, "Wh..what do you mean? Don't you remember me?"

"Uhh..no? Am I supposed to?" I played along.

"Well, yeah…I'm your…hold on, what's your name? Like your full name?" Alex questioned.

"J..Ju…Justin..Letters…." Where the hell did that come from! I panicked! I've been thinking about the letters a lot so…oh, stop yakking in your head and do it in reality! I continued, "Letter…Letterman. Yup- that's me! Justin Letterman."

Alex sighed and realized that maybe this guy wasn't her brother. Maybe he just looked like him- you know, the same face shape…and hair…oh wait. She looked at him closer.

Why is she staring at you, Justin? Let's just say I was really freaking out. Alex looked convinced…yet not convinced. So confusing….but hopefully I changed over the years to make her think that I'm not the Justin. I was even wearing special contacts that changed my eye color. Bonus!

Alex finally came to the fact that this was not her brother. He had scruff- Justin hated scruff. She remembered this because she always found him shaving his face every day. And second of all, this guy had dark brown eyes- Justin's eyes were green. She muttered, "Oh, right…sorry about that…"

"No problem." I smiled

Elliott looked weirdly at the two adults and asked, "Do you guys know each other?"

I played along, "No…but who do you think I was?" Don't push it. Ugh...just leave me alone! Fine- we're gone!

"Umm…just forget it. Never mind." Alex quietly said, but then introduced herself, "Uhh..I'm Alex. Alex Greyback. Welcome."

"Thanks. Nice to meet you too, Alex." I said as I followed everyone into their house.

I never thought I would be "introducing" myself to my own sister! How odd! But dang…she was still married to that wolf-dude- Mason. God, I hate him so. Eureka! I just realized something….Elliott, Zach, and Mikayla…are family. They are my nieces and nephews. Okay, done freaking out.

After an unusually quiet dinner, they all headed to the living room to talk. Alex started, "So…Justin, I hear you're a teacher at the High School?"

"Yeah...I teach physics and chemistry." I replied.

"That's nice…." Alex couldn't find anything else to say.

Luckily, Elliott chimed in, "Yeah, Mom, guess what?"

"What, sweetie?"

"Justin is going to help me with my science project!"

Alex nodded, "That's nice of you, Justin…so do you all just hang out after school?"

"Yup. We do lots of things together when you don't pick us up." Zach said innocently.

I suddenly remembered the kids waiting out in the rain and asked politely, "If you don't mind me asking, was there a reason why the kids were never picked up at the required time?"

"Uhh…sorry about that. I was going through some things…with my husband…"

I immediately asked, "Your husband? Where is he?"

"Oh…he's gone…on a trip. That's all." Alex muttered and looked away.

I knew Alex was lying…and I would find out what was bothering her. Before we could talk anymore, Zach came running to them. "Justin, look what I got!"

"Wow, that's awesome, dude!" I admired the model airplane before him.

"It's my favorite airplane." Zach smiled.

For the next few hours, I ended up playing all sorts of games with mostly Zach and Elliott. I actually had a great time…I just didn't talk to Alex. I know that sounds rude, but I had NO idea what to say and I think she was still deciding whether or not I was who I said I am. Anyways, it got late and everyone was getting tired.

"Oh, look, Mikayla is asleep." I noticed.

Alex was playing with Elliott when she turned around to see Mikayla sleeping soundly near her toys and smiled, "She's exhausted. I better get her in bed."

I quickly interrupted, "Allow me." He smiled at Alex and walked over to Mikayla, bending down to pick her up. He carried her gently in her arms up the stairs.

Alex watched Justin and noticed how careful he was with Mikayla. It was actually kind of cute when she saw the way he held her close- definitely different from Mason…he never offered to put any of kids to bed. As he came back, she muttered, "Thank you…"

"No, thank you, guys. I had an amazing time tonight, but I better get going. I don't want you all sleeping too late." I said.

Alex agreed, "It is way past your bedtimes, boys. So why don't you say goodbye and head to bed?"

"Aww…mom. Can't we stay up for a few more minutes?" Elliott and Zach whined.

I sternly advised them, "Boys, listen to your mother…she knows what's best for you. Besides, we'll see each other around."

"Fine…" The boys gave and said their goodbyes to me before heading upstairs.

"Let me see you to the door." Alex said.

I stood at the doorway and smiled, "Thanks a lot for having me tonight. I really enjoyed spending time with you guys."

"You're welcome…the kids really adore you." Alex said.

I complimented truthfully, "They are absolutely wonderful. I haven't been around such smart and caring kids before. They're great."

Alex smiled, "Thanks…."

They ended up staring at each other for a few seconds more, but each ran so many thoughts through their minds. Alex couldn't believe how much he looked like her brother and how sophisticated he was. He seemed like a true gentleman, but something about him seemed…almost mysterious- like he, too, was going through some "things." Justin, on the other hand, was nervous, but extremely glad to finally see Alex after all these years. However, Justin couldn't help, but notice, that she seemed…vulnerable. It's like something could just snap her in half and change her mind in an instance.

I noticed our "awkward" silence and said, "Umm…I should get going."

Alex nodded, "Yeah…bye…" Justin started walking towards his car when she called out, "Wait, Justin!"

I slowly turned around, "Yes?"

"Will I…uhh…see you again?" Alex asked in a hesitant tone.

"Umm…sure, why not? We'll figure something out." I replied.

"Good." Alex smiled back.

I'll figure out something- I promise. Hopefully, Alex has been receiving those letters..I guess this is another bonus for me. I'm trying to mend our relationship and this is actually helping…I think. But as I walked back to my car and began driving home, I couldn't help, but chuckle when I found myself confused to whether tonight was good or bad.

Personally, I really think it went alright.

Reviews are very much appreciated! And don't worry, more Justin and Alex is sure to come!