"It is. Master Gorog promised me we'd be together again." Juliet continued.
"You joined the dark side?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Oh, it's not that bad, Justin. Come on, join us." Justin suddenly had an idea. Gorog would give him his wand back if he thought he would do his bidding. He was pretty sure Alex and Max would follow suit if he led the operation.
"I'm sorry Max." He put up a good front as he received his wand.
"Alex, there's still two of us. Please stay with me." Max begged as his sister "quit."
"What's the point, Max? Our combined powers won't be strong enough." Gorog was jumping for join as he got them on his side.
"How could it end this way?" Max reluctantly walked over to join his siblings who seemed to be under the power of Gorog. He caught onto the plan, though.
"Hear these three Russo cry, be gone, Gorog, vaporize!"
The Russos gave the residents who lost their homes a temporary place to stay, and Justin was busy catching up with Juliet while everyone else seemed to move forward.
Alex noticed how Juliet had matured. She looked a bit older, like she had more wrinkles than before. At least she didn't appear to be a grandmother anymore, but she did seem to be different.
Alex didn't like seeing her wooing her brother over again.
"Justin, can I talk to you?" She finally pulled him aside.
"What's up Alex?"
"Do you still want to be with Juliet? I mean, so much has happened. Do you really want to be with her?"
"In all honesty, I really do care about her…but my heart is kinda with someone else."
"Oh." Alex's face fell when she heard that.
"What about Mason?"
"What about him? I mean, we broke up because he couldn't control his anger or jealousy when he was with me. Plus, I'm kind of in a similar situation as you right now." She added on, hoping he picked up on it.
"Oh," Justin said, a small smile appearing on his face. "You meant me, right? I'm the person you have the situation with, just so we're on the same page?" Alex nodded, laughing as he got it.
"Yes."
"So what do we do now?" He asked, not moving an inch from his spot.
"I don't know. Maybe we should run to the bathroom for a couple minutes." Justin took her hand.
"Sounds like a good plan."
They ran off to engage in business that no two siblings should, but they were happy to finally be where they belonged.
They kissed desperately at first, slowing down as they settled in a pace that was just right for them. Clothes began to come off, Justin's shirt disappearing as Alex had started undoing her own pants. Despite his hair being disheveled, she thought he looked downright gorgeous. She had never noticed how blue his eyes were. They were brighter than their father's, but held a sort of mystery behind them that he lacked.
He took good care of his figure ever since he lost the love of his life but Alex never once looked back. She was his lover now, and she knew he couldn't replace her in his heart even if he tried. Which he did by the way, with Juliet, and it ended up not working out.
"Mmm, you taste good." Alex whispered, as he kissed her collarbone.
"You do too. God, I wish we'd done this sooner." He yearned for her as they clashed, and he'd been wanting her for a while now. They finally made it happen, releasing all their emotions in the comfort of the family bathroom.
Justin had been careful enough to cast a spell that concealed them, so that no one could hear them even if they were a bit loud.
They didn't take it too far, but they did make out. A lot.
When time came for the Family Competition, they were terrified. If one of them won, then they would be separated by the laws of the Wizard World. Incest was illegal, but they were still attracted to each other.
They seemed to exist outside of the law, and they were very deeply in love. Justin had never even felt this close with Juliet. She still came to support him in the competition though, even if they were broken up. Same with Mason.
Max had no clue about their forbidden relationship but he was clueless about other things too. It would be a miracle if he ended up being the final victor.
Justin and Alex decided not to say anything. Silence was key. They acted like they normally did with their bickering and kept the competition fair.
Until they lost the chance of inheriting their full powers.
"We're late?" Alex looked around the empty room.
"I told you it was a bad idea." Justin was genuinely angry at her, so much that he demanded a break.
Alex felt hopeless. For the first time in her life, she truly felt alone. Her own parents shut her out as they were worried about making ends meet with the kids refusing to work together in harmony, and her dad was even more disappointed in her because she couldn't make him proud by inheriting full powers.
They didn't even realize the depth of her emotions. She already had trauma to deal with at the ripe age of fifteen, when she cast a spell with a wand that was far too powerful for a Wizard as young as she was, and after a perilous journey, she lost her brothers and her parents lost their memories.
If she hadn't found the stone of dreams, she just might have accidentally erased her existence too. But she won in the end, and she did become a full wizard. Yet that didn't change the fact that she reset everything and was transported back in time to a timeline where that didn't even happen, so it was futile to reflect on it at all.
Everyone around her was falling. The shop was almost shut down, the Russos wanted to leave Waverly Place, and she was fighting with her brothers. Well, one brother and the other was her boyfriend but still nonetheless, this was her life now.
"Knock knock." Justin walked into her room as she was curled up in bed one day. No magic to keep her at bay this time.
"What do you want? Have you come to yell at me again?" She dried her tears as he slowly walked towards her.
"Not at all. I actually came to check up on you. What's wrong? I can tell something's been bothering you." He asked her.
"A few years ago…I lived through something really scary. And then I used magic to fix it, but I was all by myself. And now the same thing is happening again but I don't know how to find a solution without magic!" She was tearing up out of frustration but Justin just offered her a shoulder to cry on. "Everyone forgot who I was and then you disappeared. I won the competition but you disappeared." Justin shushed her lightly.
"It's okay. That was an emergency. What happened in Puerto Rico wasn't your fault. We both took a powerful family heirloom and paid a horrible price for being selfish."
"Justin, why do I always screw everything up?" He looked at her tenderly before sweeping some stray hairs behind her ear.
"So that I can fix them."
A few days later, they passed the test with flying colors, and were teleported back to the arena. The Russo siblings still had a powerful bond that kept them close even without magic.
For the final test, as Justin fell, Alex helped him up and he crossed the finish line first.
For her bravery, she was made the family Wizard, and Justin was named the new Headmaster of Wiztech. So they both got to keep their powers.
"We're full wizards!" Alex hugged him, jumping up and down in excitement.
"I'm so happy. We should celebrate tonight." Justin adds on.
"Let's!" His parents invited everyone to their house and they celebrated in the loft, with cold beers and Italian pizza.
Just as they were celebrating, Alex felt a sudden wave of nausea.
"What's happening to me?" She wondered when her period had last come. Then she remembered she didn't get it all this month. But she also hasn't slept with anyone.
Was it possible that she was pregnant? Even then?
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Teresa sought her out first.
As Alex looked at her mother's beaming face, she realized what it was. Guilt. For hiding the fact that she was madly in love with her brother.
"I'm sorry for being a disappointment, mom." Alex cried on her mother's knee.
"Sweetie, what are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Mom, you really don't know?" Alex looked up at her as Teresa admitted the truth.
"I thought something like this would happen. I told your father it was a bad idea to have a surrogate have a baby for us." Teresa explained.
"…What?"
"Now I've told you before we sat you down, great going Teresa," Alex didn't understand. Her mother wasn't making any sense. "Me and your father had trouble conceiving when we were younger, so we went to go see about getting a surrogate. But it seemed like it was a problem with your father, so we had to get a sperm donor. In other words, Justin is not your brother. You guys aren't related by blood at all. Granted, we had you by accident and Max was another medical miracle but by then we didn't know we could even have children. We should have adopted a kid instead of spending so much money on having another woman give birth to him with another man's seed instead too. And now, watching you grow up, I know you've felt an unexplainable attraction to him, Mija. I mean, look at him."
Alex felt a little bit disgusted by the last comment, but more relieved that her feelings weren't completely misplaced.
"Does Justin know?"
"No. Your father wants to make sure he's ready first, so don't tell him." Alex agreed to keep it secret for his sake, but she had her mother's blessing now to go for it.
"Mom, I think you should know that me and Justin have been dating for a couple weeks now."
"I know."
"I'm so sorr—Wait, you knew?" Alex was in complete shock.
"You guys were so obvious about it. Please, anyone could see through it." Teresa smirked as her daughter nearly passed out.
"Wait, then how is Justin a Wizard?" Alex asked.
"That gets a bit complicated but it has to do with the fuse box and his real birth certificate." Alex couldn't believe they managed to forge his birth certificate. This explains so much, like why Teresa and Jerry couldn't remember the hospital he was born at. They weren't there.
"Now I guess I know where I get my sneakiness from." Alex folded her arms as her mother helped her up.
"Now wash your face. If you keep feeling nauseous, come talk to me. And we're talking about this whole you and Justin dating thing. We have to set some rules for you guys. You can't just do whatever you want." Alex understood. Her mother was just looking out for her, no matter how bossy she may seem.
Justin seemed to be completely in the dark about everything.
Even months passed before Alex forced her parents to come clean or else she'd tell Justin herself.
"You're right, we have to tell him Teresa. Justin, come have a chat with your old man." Jerry sat him down.
"I'M NOT A RUSSO?!" Justin broke down, rocking himself back and forth on the couch.
"You might not be a Russo by blood but you're still our son." Teresa says, comfortingly stroking his hair.
"And you're dating our baby girl so you might as well be like a son." Jerry adds.
"Dad, not helping. Look, Justin, we might have been raised as siblings but we have so much chemistry that even an usher at the movie theatre thought we looked good together!" Alex explained. "Who cares if you're not a Russo? We still love you."
"And I love you guys. It's just bizarre to think that I could have grown up somewhere else. Who are my real parents?" Teresa and Jerry shared a look before explaining.
"…Your mother was a surrogate and your father donated his sperm. We know the woman who carried you but not your father, sorry." They gave him a file and sent him on his way as Justin opened it up to reveal its contents.
"My birth mom's name is Jenny Cooper, and my father's name is Micheal McDonald."
"Old McDonald had a farm…" Justin glared at her as Alex sang in a teasing tone.
"I want to find them. I wonder who I take after."
"Who cares? Those people just helped make you. Mom and dad are the ones that raised you."
"I want to know, Alex." He sounded so sincere that Alex had to help him out.
"Okay, then let's pay them a visit."
