Author's Note: I was gonna wait for Jammies, but I was just so excited to post this, she'll have to tackle me later. :( I love you, Jammies!
There was more to this, but it just. Didn't flow well with the flash back, so it got pushed back a chapter. Anywho, enjoy. (:
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Jerry was sick. Alex could remember waiting impatiently, mentally cursing her parents for taking so long to have their pre-meeting meeting. So Random was coming on in five minutes. In retrospect, she probably should have realized that something was seriously wrong if Theresa was missing Mackenzie Falls to have a family meeting. She hadn't missed a single episode of the over-the-top drama show since it had started, since the main star was her nephew. She didn't let any of them forget it either.
When Theresa and Jerry had finally entered the wizard den, Alex didn't take notice of her parent's somber expressions. She had simply groaned and leaned her head back in an over dramatic manner, and whined.
"Finally! What took you guys so long?"
"Alex, be quiet!" Alex flinched at the tone in her mother's voice. Theresa never snapped at her, not even when she managed to turn her and Jerry into Guinea Pigs and unleash them into Max's room. They'd sprayed themselves with Lysol for nearly two weeks afterward.
"Theresa..." Jerry gently squeezed his wife's shoulder and she sighed.
"I'm sorry." She was shaking. Her mother never shook. Hell, her breathing rarely got out of control. She was the calm and collected one, always thinking at least four steps ahead of everyone else. Alex nodded and pulled her sleeves down past her thumbs, balling them up in her fists so she didn't start shaking too. "We have something to tell you guys." None of them responded. When Alex glanced at her brothers her stomach fell. Max didn't look like Max. Max was always out of it, always in his own little world. Max didn't have problems in his world. But his eyes were dark, his jaw set and his knee bouncing. Alex could remember the last time she'd seen him this way. He was seven, and his hamster had gone missing. She remembered him crying so much that she was surprised he didn't die of dehydration. They never did find Cuddles.
Justin wasn't looking at any of them. His hands were balled up so tight that his knuckles were turning white. His nostrils were flared and he reminded her of a volcano just before it erupted. He knew. She didn't know what he knew, but he knew something.
Her eyes reluctantly returned to her parents and her stomach lurched. Whatever he knew had to suck. Were they getting their powers taken away? Were they losing the sub station? Were they flat broke because of the recession? Would they be forced to live out on the dirty streets of New York City, sleeping in boxes and eating off of-
"I have cancer." She remembered her fingers twitching and her heart coming to a screeching halt. She remembered the look on everyone's face, how Max's face had shattered and Justin's eyes were turning red. How her mother's eyes were downcast, how her chest was heaving with the sobs she was trying so hard to keep her children from hearing. But Jerry was the worst. He looked ashamed.
"Hey." Alex jumped, effectively knocking her out of the flashback, and turned to smile at Theresa. "You ready?" She nodded enthusiastically, linked arms with her mom and walked up the flagstone walkway of their new townhouse. She needed to get out of this clean air anyways.
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