I know you guys had questions about how Mitchie could leave Alex like that, but I didn't want to spoil the entire story, so I skipped into the future and questions will be answered as we go along. If you have any unanswered questions by the time I end the story inbox me and I'll answer them. Now, enjoy.

Chapter ten

Three years later.

There was a knock on the door of the Russo home. Theresa grinned as she thought of another friendly neighbor coming over for a hangout session. Ever since Alex had been sent to military school, everyone was much friendlier toward the family. Going to the door with a large smile on her face, Theresa opened her mouth to greet whoever was there.

She froze and the smile slid off her face when she caught sight of a tanned, heart-shaped face and brown eyes. Taking a step back, Theresa took in the full person and gasped; it was Alex. Alex was wearing a simple camouflage uniform with simple black combat boots. Her hair was cut short and her eyes were completely unreadable, different from the expressive brown orbs Theresa had been used to.

"Permission to enter the premises, Ma'am?" Alex said in an audible voice that still seemed to sound like a mumble.

Theresa merely nodded and stepped aside to let her daughter in. Alex moved fluidly into the apartment and gazed around her, taking in the differences; the couch was gone, replaced with a leather brown one that seemed to have a lot of stuffing, all of the pillows had been replaced with feather pillows, The walls had been painted white and the place looked neat and tidy. Alex turned back to her mother and stood there, waiting to see if she would get an order of some sort. Theresa merely stared, taking her daughter in. Alex stood straight as a board, different from her old, slightly slouched stance and she seemed tense and hyperaware of everything around her.

"How have you been, Alex?" Theresa asked slowly.

"I have been fine, Ma'am." Alex replied in the same tone she'd used earlier.

"I'll call your father and your brothers. Max will be eighteen in three months so your father will have to get you a new wand by then."

Alex merely gave a short nod and stood in the middle of the living area as Theresa shouted, "Jerry, Justin, Max! Come downstairs!"

There was a thundering of feet as three bodies pounded down the stairs. Justin was the first one to stop just short of the living area. Next was Jerry, too shocked to move away from the stairs, thus causing Max to slam into him and send the two of them tumbling along the floor toward Justin. One of Max's flailing arms caught Justin's leg and all three Russo males tumbled down the few stairs into the living area. Alex turned to face them and looked down at the mess that was her brothers and father. Jerry and Justin untangled themselves from Max and stood straight, brushing themselves off and staring at Alex, still in shock. There was a long awkward silence for the four members of the family as they stared at their missing link. Alex merely stared straight ahead of her, neither acknowledging her family nor ignoring them.

At last, Justin cleared his throat and said, "Hey Alex, where've you been?"

"I have been at military school, sir. Learning discipline, sir." Justin looked taken aback and turned to his parents.

Jerry was dumbfounded. "My little girl…"

Max simply shrugged and went over to throw an arm around his sister's shoulders. As he tried, the entire family realized that Alex had grown taller, even taller than Justin and this only served to make them more nervous. Max shrugged again when he couldn't put an arm around Alex's shoulders and simply pulled her into a hug. Alex visibly stiffened and her eyes widened in horror. Before anyone could say anything, she screamed and picked Max up by his hair, flinging him across the room and into the door. Everyone stood in shock as Max slid down the wall and lay in a dazed heap.

Alex tried to calm down her breathing and stop her body from shaking as she turned back to her mother. Theresa gulped and took a step to hide behind her husband, who in turn hid behind Justin. Justin was trembling as Alex fixed him with an emotionless stare and he slowly said, "Alex, go to your room so that Mom, Dad and I can figure some things out."

"Yes sir." Alex nodded before walking smoothly up the stairs.

Justin watched her go, shocked that she actually did what he told her to do, before turning back to his brother, who was just picking himself up off the floor. "Well, she was happy to see me. She even used my favorite wrestling move."

Justin shook his head and turned to his parents. "What was with the scream?" he queried, looking at the stairs where Alex had disappeared.

"Maybe they had her run war drills and she still hasn't gotten over the shock, fear and horror of it?" Jerry suggested.

Theresa nodded, still a little frightened by the slightly wild look Alex had held. "I'm going to start on dinner," she said at last. "Alex looked almost starved. They must not have fed her enough, my poor baby." As Theresa began making dinner, Jerry and Justin went to make sure Max didn't have a concussion.

Upstairs

Alex looked around her old room nervously. Everything was so different than her boarding room at the reform school. The wallpaper seemed too bright and the posters were staring at her. Alex missed her boarding room. A flash of the last time she'd been there came back and the brunette was hit with a wave of nausea. Alex wanted to rush to the bathroom, but Justin had ordered her to stay in her room.

The nausea continued to grow and Alex opened her mouth to take deep breaths only to have the thing she was trying to stop come spewing from her lips all over her floor. As she wretched, more visions plagued her mind, causing her to completely empty her stomach until there was nothing left. Alex gave several dry heaves before the convulsions finally stopped and she just knelt on the floor, shaking and holding her stomach.

Just then, someone barged into her room followed closely by two others. One of them covered their nose and backed out of the room as soon as they saw what had happened while the other two stared at the mess and their sister. Slowly, Max came forward and knelt next to Alex, putting a soft hand on her shoulder. Slipping that hand under her arm, Max guided his sister to her feet and led her out the door while Justin used magic to clean up the floor and Jerry took deep breaths to keep from creating the same mess as his daughter.

"You okay, Alex?" Max asked quietly.

Alex gave a curt nod and whispered, "Yes sir."

Justin walked up behind them and slowly knelt beside Alex as well. "You sure?" he asked. "If you're sick, you can sleep until dinner is ready. Mom says they didn't feed you enough so she's making a big dinner. More food, huh?"

He was trying to get her to smile, but Alex merely stared at him blankly, emotionlessly. "I-it was meant to be a joke." Justin said softly. He was getting a bit unsettled with this new Alex; she didn't scorn him for his lame jokes and she didn't look like she would be pulling pranks anytime soon.

"Permission to help Mom cook?" Alex asked, going back to the way she had spoken earlier. Justin nodded and let his sister stand. Alex marched gracefully down the stairs and out of sight.

"How does she make marching look graceful?' Max wondered aloud. "Isn't it supposed to be really stiff?"

"I don't know, Max." Justin sighed. "I just don't know."

Downstairs

Theresa looked up at the sound of someone coming down the stairs, expecting to see her husband or one of her sons back from checking on what was making the strange sound upstairs. Instead, she was met with a slightly disheveled looking Alex making her way toward the kitchen area.

"Justin said I could help you cook, ma'am." Alex said, standing straight as her mother cocked her head in confusion.

"But Alex, your cooking is awful, not to sound rude or anything honey, but it is."

Something flashed in Alex's eyes and Theresa grew scared for a moment, but then it was gone and Alex simply nodded. "Yes ma'am. I will be in the bathroom cleaning up if you need me, ma'am."

Theresa watched as her daughter marched fluidly back up the stairs and sighed, not sure what to think about the situation. Moments later, Justin, Max, and Jerry strode down the stairs the younger of the two looking worried.

"Hey Mom, did you see Alex?" Justin asked as he walked over to the counter.

"Yes, she looked a mess and asked me if she could help me cook. I told her that her cooking wasn't the best and she said she was going to go clean up. What happened to her?"

"When we got upstairs, she had just finished puking and she was kneeling on the floor, shaking like a Chihuahua."

Theresa's features grew worried. "You don't think something happened to her at military school, do you?" she asked with a large amount of concern coloring her voice.

Justin's eyebrows knitted together. "I don't know Mom. The only way we'd know would be if she told us and I doubt she'd be able to do that any time soon. One thing's for sure though, something happened to her and she's traumatized."

They all looked up hurriedly as footsteps sounded on the stairs and Alex appeared a moment later wearing nothing but a sports bra and a pair of jeans. Her family stared at her in utter shock as she came closer, carrying her dirty clothes in one hand and a clean shirt in the other. Her body was much more tanned than when she left, probably due to having to work in the sun in warm-up clothes in the heat. Her stomach wasn't flabby as it used to be. Younger Alex had a soft stomach with a bit of loose skin but there was no loose skin to be found on this Alex's hard-worked abs. But even though the abs were there, so were the ribs, poking out noticeably as Alex walked forward to stand a few feet away.

She held up the dirty clothes and said, "Permission to speak, sir?"

Justin assumed she was talking to him and nodded curtly.

"What would you like me to do with my dirty clothes, sir?" Alex asked slowly.

Justin turned to his parents and Theresa said, "Just put them in the basement next to the washing machine, Alex."

Alex gave her a curt nod and turned on her heel, heading out the door and down to the basement. Theresa glanced at her husband uncomfortably. "She just walked out the door without a shirt on and didn't seem at all fazed about it." she murmured. "Are they supposed to teach them that in boot camp?"

"Not as far as I know." Jerry mumbled, watching as Alex walked back through the door and stood before them, shifting her weight slightly.

Justin walked over to her and slowly placed a hand on her shoulder. Alex's head shot in his direction and a feral snarl ripped through her teeth, making Justin jump back. Alex took a deep breath and turned her body to face him fully.

"Yes, sir?" she asked softly.

"Is everything alright with you Alex?" Justin asked, his voice just a little higher than normal as he calmed down. "You seem out of it. Did something happen at military school?"

Alex's eyes widened as her mind flashed to bright teeth and dark, haunting eyes. Alex visibly gulped and shook her head frantically. "N-no sir." Her voice had taken on a higher pitch than before and everyone stared as her breathing became shallow.

Theresa cautiously made her way forward and put a hand on Alex's shoulder. Even though the growl Alex gave her scared her, she held firm; she couldn't be a chicken while her daughter needed her because there was obviously something wrong with Alex.

"Mija, maybe you should eat?" Theresa cooed softly. "That should make you feel better."

Alex took a few deep breaths before nodding and saying, "Yes Ma'am."

The family sat down at the table as Theresa finished up the last of the hurried dinner and brought it to the table. Alex immediately began scarfing her food down and still managing to maintain table manners. Her family, even Jerry, stared as she basically inhaled her food.

"Uh, missed Mom's cooking?" Justin inquired half-heartedly.

Alex paid him no mind and within minutes her plate was empty even though she had the largest portion. When she finished, Alex merely stared at her plate without emotion. The rest of the family began eating again, but they sent frequent glances at Alex, wondering why she didn't move. One-by-one the members of the family finished until Jerry was the only one left.

As he made to stand, Alex's hand shot out and caught his arm. "P-please stay." she pleaded.

"Alex," Jerry said slowly. "I just need to put my plate away."

"No! Please!"

Jerry sighed and sat back down as Theresa began washing the dishes. The Russo Matriarch shot frequent glances at her husband and daughter, wondering why they were still sitting at the table when there was nothing left at their plate.

At last, Theresa finished with the dishes and sat down at the table with them. "Why are you still here?" Theresa questioned her husband.

"Because Alex wanted me to stay." He replied simply.

"Alex?" Theresa prodded.

Alex shook her head, but Theresa wasn't giving up that easily. Reaching over, she took hold of Alex's chin and stared into her eyes. There were many untold secrets hidden within those eyes and Theresa shivered at the pain and terror hidden behind the stoic mask set in place.

"Tell me, Alex." Theresa commanded gently.

"I-I c-can't do that Ma'am." Alex said softly.

"Alex, I need you to tell me why you won't get up." Theresa said, her tone getting sterner. Alex shook her head and wouldn't talk.

"Tell me, Alex!" Theresa finally commanded, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders and shaking her slightly.

Alex's eyes went wide, but she remained at the table and gasped, "I-I-I c-can't t-t-tell you!"

Theresa's face darkened and she huffed. "Then we're going back."

Alex's eyes widened to the size of the table she was sitting at and she looked hurriedly around before making a run for the stairs. Before she could get there, a hand clamped down on her wrist and she froze. Her vision began swimming and before she could even turn around, she fainted.

Writer's block! For MORE than ONE story! I need help... I really do, I need help. Review please.