(A/N: ahhh I reached 100 reviews! wow it's a dream. Really. I used to dream of this 3-6 months back. THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS, I LOVE YOU!)

Warning: Long (8 pages in MS word at font size 12) and emotional chapter ahead. I rewrote this. And I'm personally VERY happy with this chapter.

Disclaimer: I dont own wowp or the song i've used in the beginning.

Chapter 7: I'm letting you go

"Touch me and I will follow in your afterglow,

Heal me from all this sorrow as I let you go.

I will find my way,

I will sacrifice.

Till the blinding days when I see your eyes…

Now I'm living in your afterglow…"

-Afterglow by ??INXS (I'm not sure, sorry)

//////

The vacation was finally over, and they finally returned home. He had never been so happy to return home before, but this was different, because this time, he wasn't sure if he'd ever return home again.

Taking a deep breath, he dropped his head backwards and rested it on the arm of the couch, stretching his feet up to the other arm. Nothing felt better than being home. It had been a week since they'd returned, and everything was going back to the way it was again… well, almost everything.

"Wow, look, the king of dorks is napping in his thorn", she teased, walking down the spiral staircase and standing in front of him, hands on her hips.

"What do you want Alex?" He asked in an exasperated tone, not in the mood for a fight.

"I want to sit in my couch in my living room?" she replied in her sarcastic tone, tapping her foot on the floor, waiting for a comeback.

He simply nodded and got up. "Okay... I'm just gonna go rest in my room..." he said as he headed towards the staircase.

"Wait!" she yelled, walking up behind him.

"What?" he asked, stopping in his tracks but not turning around to look at her. I thought you wanted the couch." ("He wasn't looking at my eyes for days." She complains now.)

"I do." She assured, biting her lip. "I was just wondering if… you know…" She sighed. It had been a week since they returned home, yet she still couldn't say the words to him, she still couldn't confess. She had never been scared of Justin, never had any problems with expressing her thoughts and feelings to him. But this time, something was different. She felt like there was some piece of information that she was missing, some kind of fact that she was trying to ignore. Things were going exactly the opposite way than she had planned. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?" She finally asked.

"Not really." He replied quickly, beginning to climb up the stairs again, taking two steps at a time, to get away from her as quickly as he could.

"Justin!" she yelled again, running up the stairs behind up.

"Not now Alex." He said sternly, opening the door to his room and slamming it shut behind him.

She stood thunderstruck in front of the door that was slammed at her for the first time in her life. "What's wrong with you?" she whispered as she gently touched the hard wood door-frame. She could still see the initials of her name, curved in her childish handwriting in the lower corner of his door. Memories of their childhood came rushing back to her again, and she remembered all the moments when that door was the first place she'd rush to whenever she got into trouble. She had lost count of how many times she had stormed into that room, without even knocking, sometimes crying, sometimes panicking over some spell she messed up, sometimes simply annoyed with him… But at that moment, her hands shook and she couldn't turn that all too familiar door-knob. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes, as she ran away to her own room.

By that time, he had sunk to the floor, tears flowing down his cheeks. His eyes were fixed on the bed, the same bed that they shared when they were kids, and now he knew why he never wanted to get a new bed. Memories of their childhood came rushing back to him as well, those stormy nights when he was terrified by the thunder and lightening, those winter nights under the cozy blankets... Every memory haunted him again. "What's wrong with us?" he whispered, as he threw his head back harshly and slammed it against his doorframe.

////////

"Justin!" Juliet greeted, rushing into his arms. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too", he whispered, a small smile on his lips, but the usual goofy grin missing.

"So, how was the vacation?" she asked, enthusiasm dripping in her voice. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah, it was great." Alex lied, walking inside the door and heading upstairs. "Justin was screaming like a little girl when he thought he was caught in a spider-web." She added, smiling to herself.

"What? Really Justin?" Juliet asked, smiling as well.

"Yeah..." he admitted, clumsily grabbing Juliet's hand. "Come on Juliet, let's go downstairs."

Alex stood frozen in the staircase, as they left the room. What wasn't he fighting with her anymore? Heck, why wasn't he talking to her anymore? What happened?

///////

The next time clouds covered the sky, she was back in front of that door again. Taking a deep breath, she knocked twice with her shaking hands.

"Come in, Alex."

She sighed in relief, and turned the doorknob, walking inside his room for the first time since they had returned. "Hey", she greeted, spotting him standing near his study desk, rearranging his action figures.

"Hey", he greeted back, looking at her nervously, his hands tucked in the front pocket of his pants.

"Playing with your dolls again?" she teased, trying to ease the tense atmosphere between them.

He frowned and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. "Action figures".

"Yeah, right." She scoffed, trying to hide the smile from her face. At least something was still the same. "Only you'd still have dolls in your room."

"You do too." He snapped, reminding her about the two dolls still hidden in her closet.

"I don't play with them." She snapped back, walking further inside and sitting on the bed. "You're such a geek", she said, glancing at the books on Robotic Engineering scattered in his bed.

"You took the trouble of walking into my room just to annoy me?" he asked, eyebrows raised in amusement and annoyance.

"What! No. I would have just poofed myself then. Pfft..." she scoffed, settling down more comfortably on the bed. "Oh my gosh, is that my nail polish stain?" she asked, grabbing the handkerchief lying in his bedside table and examining it carefully. "I can't believe you still have this! You've kept this for three years!"

"I do need evidence of your anarchy in my room." he snapped, walking up to her and snatching the handkerchief from her hands. "And that was my favorite handkerchief, by the way. Thanks Alex" he mumbled sarcastically.

"There you go! You're fighting with me again!" Alex yelled in excitement, running into his arms to attack him with a hug. "I was scared that you are mad at me!"

He stumbled a bit backwards as his knees grew weak, trying to balance himself, taking in deep breaths and praying that the feelings would go away.

"Justin?" she asked in confusion, pulling away when he didn't return the hug.

"Hmm?" he asked, trying to regain his composure.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked, her brown eyes desperately searching his gray ones for answers to those questions that she didn't even know.

"Why will I be mad at you?" he asked, smiling and trying to play casual.

She shrugged and took a deep breath. "Are you mad at me because I won the competition?" she asked again.

"What?" he asked in surprise, retreating a few steps.

"Look Justin, I know you should have won… and I'm sorry if I hurt you. But the important thing is, everything is all right now. We will have the wizard competition again and then-"

"Alex", he cut her off, shaking his head in frustration and defeat. "I'm not mad at you because you won."

"Really?" she asked, studying his face again as he nodded. "Then why are you behaving this way, Justin? Why are you pushing me away?"

"I'm not pushing you away…" he lied, not meeting her gaze.

"Justin, please, don't…" she shook her head. "Ever since we returned, nothing has been the same between us... what is wrong? What's going on?"

He sighed, turning away. Ever since they returned, nothing had been the same between anyone. He and Juliet were slowly falling apart. "Sit down", he ordered, motioning to his bed with his index finger.

She quirked an eyebrow questioningly, but complied never the less.

He slowly walked towards her and sat down on the bed. "Do you trust me?" he asked, gazing into her eyes.

"W-w-what?" she shuttered, taken aback by this unexpected question. "Yeah, of course, you are my brother."

He gulped hard, and tried to hide his pain. "Listen to me carefully okay?"

She nodded, unsure what to say.

"Look, I don't know how to say this…but… I am going through a weird phase now, a horribly weird phase… and I… I can't explain it to you but…I want you to stay away from me till it's over, okay?"

"Justin, no, please, let me help you, please", she pleaded, taking his hands in hers.

He inhaled sharply, mentally cursing himself again. "The only way you can help me is by staying away…"

Her hold on his hands loosened, and she suddenly pulled away. "Oh…So you don't want me like I want you..." she whispered to herself.

And his world ended. His worst nightmare came true.

She felt it too. She wanted him too.

"You're my little sister", he replied sadly, shaking his head, trying to remind himself why this was wrong and why he couldn't give in.

And finally she understood what she had forgotten-what was the crucial piece of information that she was ignoring.

She was his sister.

She was Alex Russo. She had done a lot of wrong things in her life, pulled pranks on innocent people, broken the rules, but this? This was different, this was unthinkable, this was unacceptable- she had fallen in love with her brother. Why didn't she think about this before? How could she be so blind, so naïve, so stupid? And how could she think he'd break the rules for her? He was Justin Russo, he never broke the rules.

"Look, Alex-" he began again, but she cut him off.

"Help me Justin…" she whispered, the tears that she didn't know she had been holding back flowing down her cheeks. "Tell me what to do…"

"I…I don't know…" he whispered, sighing, as he wiped her tears away. "It'll go away..." he assured, gently stroking her moist cheek with his thumb.

"What if it doesn't?" she asked, staring into his eyes again.

What if it doesn't? That was the same thing that he asked himself each and every day. That was the very question that had been haunting him every single second. What if it doesn't?

"You're my sister Alex", he repeated again, hopelessness and desperation mingling in his voice, but his voice lacking any conviction, his hand freezing as his thumb reached the corner of her mouth, as he stood at the last shred of self-control. ("You guys are so easy", she still teases.)

"How long have you been…?" she asked, tears brimming in her eyes again.

"I don't know..." he sighed again, his eyes drifting shut with her closeness, his mind screaming at him to move away.. "Ever since the kiss, I guess…" he confessed, as his thumb traced the outline of her lips.

"Justin…" she whispered, her body trembling at his touch, as the sound of the raindrops falling echoed in her ears, and the faint scent of flowers overwhelmed her senses.

"Hmm..?" he whispered back, as their lips lightly brushed, and he couldn't think clearly anymore. Memories of the first kiss came back to him again. Her lips still tasted like strawberry, chocolate, magic, and a bit like sin….

Thunder roared outside his window, and she placed her hands around his shoulders, just like she did when she was still a kid.

"Scared?" he teased, his voice full of smugness.

"Only you'd be scared of lightning." She shot back.

Their lips brushed again, none daring to begin the kiss, none sure who should take the first step.

The wind blew through his open window, rattling the action figures in the table.

"Your dolls..." she whispered, mere centimeters away from his lips. Even in a moment like this, she managed to make fun of him. ("This is what years of practice does to you, see." She tells everyone whenever they're narrating the story.)

"Action figures", he whispered back, his voice hinting at slight annoyance. "And you're my doll… my-"

"Justin! Alex! Close your windows! You'll break all the lamps that I bought for you guys AGAIN!" their mother yelled from downstairs.

He immediately jumped back, the voice bringing him back to reality again.

"OH MY GOODNESS WHAT WAS I DOING!" he shrieked, pulling his hair with his hands in aggravation.

"Justin…" she whispered, getting up from the bed, trying to reach out to him.

"STAY AWAY ALEX!" he yelled, jumping backwards immediately. "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING…? I WASN'T THINKING, OKAY?"

"Justin..." she tried again.

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE ALEX… AND STAYAWAY FROM ME…" he yelled again.

She covered her mouth with her hands, as the tears broke free again, and ran out of his room crying.

The wind blew furiously again, throwing his action figures from the table and scattering them on the floor, as his world scattered as well…

He looked down at the scattered dolls on the floor and mused…. Do dolls really have happy endings?

///////

"Are you two all right?" their mother asked during dinner that night.

"Yeah, we are fine mom", he assured, offering a forced smile. The sound of lightning, thunder and rain must have blocked out his yelling from being heard downstairs. Phew!

Their mother frowned as she saw through his smile. "Are you two fighting again?"

"It's nothing mom..." he assured again.

"Yeah, it's nothing mom." She assured too, emphasizing on the word nothing.

It was nothing. They were nothing. They would never be anything (or so she thought...)

////////

That day was the most painful day of his life, as he finally fully comprehended what happened.

He loved her. She loved him too. But they could never be together, thanks to morals, laws, society and genes.

"Justin, are you all right?.. Justin?" Juliet asked from the other end of the phone, anxious at not getting his reply.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm listening to you", he replied, wiping the tears from his face and staring into the ceiling again.

He had a thousand options. They had a thousand options. But all those options would involve running away, moving from place to place, leaving behind family and friends, giving up everything they ever wanted.

He could take a thousand roads. They could take a thousand roads. But all those roads were full of suffering, hiding, lying and pain.

For the first time in his time, he was ready to take all of this. But he couldn't- because he wasn't ready to make her suffer as well. She shouldn't suffer for him. She shouldn't suffer for them. She was just a little girl… a little doll.

"Justin?" Juliet asked, and from the tone of her voice, he knew he had zoned out again.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "I think I need some rest now. It's already past my self-imposed bed time. Goodnight Juliet."

When he hung up the phone and slumped into his bed, his sleepless nights began.

///////

Alex twisted and turned in her bed, still trying to comprehend what happened.

She loved him. He loved her too. But he was pushing her away. He was being the older brother.

She sighed, as more tears flowed from her eyes, and rolled over again. Her gaze fell on her closet, and she got up from her bed. She opened it, and reached her hands into a hidden corner. Her hands instantly found their destination; two dolls were brought out after a long time.

Alex clutched the dolls closer to her chest, as she sank on the floor, the crying finally weakening her, and her legs failing her. Memories of her childhood rushed back to her again, and she remembered Justin's words-"Who said dolls couldn't have happy endings?" (A/N: if you've read the prologue, it's there.)

She had grown up believing him. She had grown up believing this. But sitting alone on the floor, tears flowing down her cheeks, her nose running, hiccups bothering her every few seconds, she couldn't help but wonder- Do dolls really have happy endings?

(A/N: please review! Please please please! Again, thanks a lot for all the reviews. Review please! :-s BTW, I'm reaching my first 100 reviews. Time to party. So I'm posting a new one-shot called 'Dysfunctional'. Of course it's a jalex!)