Author's Note: I had no Beta for this chapter. I never got around to asking my girlfriend, and my other two were busy, but I think it's decent. So. (: I'm sorry this one took so long. I suck at updating, I know. I hope you guys think it was worth the wait. (; Because backwards smiley faces are so much cooler than proper ones.

"No, stop!" Alex screamed, leaned over and ripped the remote out of Max's hands. She grinned at the TV screen and bounced a little in her seat.

"Hey!" Max yelled, but he didn't move to grab the remote.

"I told you we shouldn't have gotten that channel." Justin grumbled from the arm of the couch. "We'll never get to watch normal TV again." Alex didn't look away from the screen as she reached out and shoved Justin off the couch, smirking to herself when he landed with a loud thud.

"Alex." Jerry warned as he walked into the living room from the kitchen. Alex's eyes widened and she turned in her seat to smile shyly at him.

"Sorry, Daddy." She said quietly. Justin jumped up from the ground and wiped the nonexistent dirt off his shirt before sitting on the love seat, far away from Alex.

"Aren't we supposed to be getting our new wizard portal today, Dad?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, it should be here any minute now." Alex jumped at the loud BOOM that came from the back of the house and Jerry smiled.

"Oh, that should be it now." Justin's face lit up. He bolted off the loveseat and through the sliding glass door in the kitchen. Alex chuckled as she got off the couch to follow her brothers and Jerry out into the back yard. She hadn't really thought about the wizard competition since her parents told her they were moving. At the rate her life was going, though, the competition wasn't her biggest problem.

They all knew Justin would win anyways.

An old man with a white beard that refused to stop stepped out of their shed, waving away the blue and pink smoke billowing out of the open door.

"Professor Crumbs!" Jerry greeted, shaking the professor's hand. "Thank you so much for giving us another portal. I know each family is only supposed to get one."

"Don't worry about it, Jerry. Desperate times call for desperate measures." The old man replied with a sad smile. Alex's smile dimmed and she walked away from the conversation to inspect the new portal with Justin and Max.

Jerry sighed as he watched Alex walk away.

"How are the children taking it?" The professor asked, absently stroking his snow white beard. Jerry shrugged with one shoulder.

"We're all handling it a little differently." Jerry glanced at the professor in thought. He'd known Professor Crumbs since he was was a young boy. At times, the man was like a close relative that lived far away. "Justin's been drowning himself in books. Max has gotten quieter. He hasn't pulled a prank in God knows how long. Maybe that's a good thing, but..." Jerry paused and shook his head. He'd much rather have Max's normal antics than have Max behave because of him.

"I know what you mean, Jerry." Crumbs said, giving him a reassuring smile. Jerry nodded and attempted to smile back. "What about the girls?"

"Theresa cries every night." Jerry admitted, shoving his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants. "She tries to be strong around the kids, but when it's just us..." He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She clings to me in her sleep, like she's trying to keep me from slipping away." He knew that was exactly what she was doing. "And Alex," He stubbed the toe of his shoe in the dirt and sighed. "Sometimes when I look at her, she just seems so lost. She'll stare out the window and her eyes will look so empty. I don't know if it's because we moved, if she just misses Harper or if it's because of the cancer, but..." He shook his head and gave Professor Crumbs a sad look. "I hate it." The old man frowned at him and patted his upper arm.

"It's not your fault, Jerry." Jerry smiled at him in thanks and fought off the tears stinging the back of his eyes. He knew it wasn't, but it didn't stop him from feeling like it was.

"Thank you." The professor smiled before straightening his back and taking in a breath.

"I must get going. A dragon got out in London early this morning and the European Magic Council needs my help with the clean up." Jerry nodded and chuckled.

"Have fun, Professor." The old man smiled at him again before saying goodbye to Alex and the boys and stepping into the wizard world.

"We're leaving!" Theresa called from the open kitchen door.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked Max as he ran by her.

"Studio. Mom wants to see Chad."

"Why are you going?"

"Hang out with Nico and Grady. Wanna come?" Alex shifted on her feet as she thought about it. It would definitely give her a reason to talk to Sonny, but was she ready to? The very thought of seeing Sonny again made her want to scream, but...

She shrugged and walked with him into the house.

"Sure."

-x-

Sonny groaned and flopped back into the couch in the middle of the So Random prop room. She used to be Tawni Hart's biggest fan but since she started working with the girl, she'd had the strangest desire to strangle her.

"We're just running our lines, Tawni. You don't have to reapply your lip gloss every two minutes." She was sure that Tawni knew this, and she was almost sure she was doing it just to piss Sonny off.

"I have to look good to perform good!" Tawni defended. "Oh, look at the time! Time for my break!"

"What? Tawni!" But the blonde was already off the couch and out the door. Sonny took a deep breath through her nose and tightened her grip on her script. "She's driving me insane." She announced to no one in particular, but Grady paused the game he was playing with Nico to smile at her.

"Congratulations. You're officially a Random." She smiled back at him and loosed her death grip on the paper.

"Wasn't it official when I signed the paper work?"

"Well, if you want to be technical." He grumbled jokingly, turning back to his game. Sonny chuckled and shook her head at him. If it wasn't for him and Nico, she probably would have quit by now.

Or Tawni Hart would have suddenly gone missing. Whichever.

"Hey guys." The unfamiliar voice made Sonny jump and she turned around to see who came in. Her eyes widened when she saw Alex Russo standing just inside the room, smiling nervously at her. Sonny swallowed hard and tried to smile back. "You ready?" Max asked, repositioning the duffel bag on his shoulder.

"Ready? Ready for what?" Sonny asked as Nico and Grady shut off the game and grabbed a duffel bag from beside the TV. Nico grinned at her and patted the bag.

"Pulling some pranks on Mack Falls and friends. Wanna come?"

"Uhm..." Sonny glanced at Alex before shaking her head and smiling at the boys. "No, I'm good. You guys go ahead."

It felt like all the air was sucked out of the room when the door clicked behind Grady. Sonny's lungs froze up in her chest and she watched Alex with wide eyes. Neither of them moved for several long, painful seconds before Alex smiled nervously and made Sonny's stomach do a flip. Sonny ducked her head, blushing furiously and let her hair fall around her face like a curtain.

Alex smiled despite herself and crossed the room to sit on the end of the couch that Sonny wasn't on. Sonny didn't look up from her paper and Alex swallowed the lump in her throat. She did her best to shake off the awkward tension and looked around the prop room, at the random mannequins and the creepy sarcophagus and fought down the urge to pull her wand out of her boot and flash out.

"Congratulations." Was all she could manage to say. Sonny gave her a confused look. "On the show."

"Oh, yeah." Sonny chuckled and looked back down at the paper. "Thanks." Alex smiled at her, even if she couldn't see. She pulled and twisted her fingers in her lap as the quiet sat between them like a brick wall.

"I always knew you'd make it some day." Alex said quietly, pulling out a single brick at the bottom of the wall. Sonny blushed and smiled up at her.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're too good not to, from what I remember." Sonny seemed to remember what happened between them and she looked down at the cushion between them.

Neither of them said anything for several painful moments and Alex's stomach twisted. This was so much harder than she thought it would be. She tried to say something, anything, but each time she opened her mouth her voice died in her throat and she remained quiet. The awkward silence stretched between them and settled on her shoulders like stone.

"Look, about the other day..." She knew Harper said not to apologize, but she was running out of options. And she didn't have many to begin with.

"It's okay." Sonny said quickly. She took a deep breath and the look she gave Alex almost made Alex feel guilty. "I deserved it." Alex looked at Sonny sadly. She wanted to disagree. She wanted to go back to that day and stop whatever made Sonny leave. She cleared her throat and shook off those thoughts. Thinking like that wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Do you want to, maybe, go out for coffee or something sometime?" Sonny asked, pulling at the white script in her hands, pulling out another brick.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." Alex answered. Butterflies erupted in her stomach when Sonny smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

Alex cleared her throat nervously when she realized that they'd been staring at each other with goofy smiles on their faces for way too long. Sonny blushed and tried to stop smiling.

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, no. I'll, uh..." Alex stopped for a second and save Sonny a curious look. "What time do you get off work on Friday?" Sonny bit her lip as she consulted her mental calendar.

"Five, I think."

"Awesome. I'll be here at five, then." Sonny gave her that same face-eating grin that used to set her heart ablaze back in New York. Alex tried to ignore how her heart warmed now. Harper words echoed in her head and even though Sonny wasn't even doing anything, she stood up. "I should probably get going though." She ignored the disappointed look on Sonny's face. Tried to, anyway. "See ya on Friday." It came out more like a hopeful question than a neutral reassurance.

"Yeah." Sonny answered, grinning.

Alex slipped out into the hallway and took a deep breath as she walked towards the set of Mackenzie Falls to wait for her mom.

What the hell was she getting herself into?

Pretty, pretty please review? (Insert heart here that won't work with FF formatting.)