A/N um yeah i know i abandoned this for more than a year but my inspiration just died. Like seriously, it was sad. But i've decided to continue it and i really hope people read it and like it!
Alex held her breath as she tip-toed down the hallway past her parent's room. She winced as she stepped on the creak in the floor. She froze for a second but all she could hear were her father's snores. She slithered down the stairs and ran over to the fridge. She opened it and snatched the slice of triple-layer, double chocolate, cake with extra icing sitting there.
"Come to mama." She whispered pulling a fork out of the cutlery drawer.
"Alex?" A voice said from behind her.
She jumped in surprise, almost dropping her cake. She flipped on the light to see Justin standing by the bottom of the stairs.
"Oh, hey Justin." She said calmly.
"What are you doing down here?" He asked.
"Um..." She said, glancing down at her cake. "Nothing much. You?"
For the first time she noticed that he was wearing real clothes and shoes even though it was after two AM and he should be in his PJs. He had a duffel bag with him and was even wearing a jacket.
"What are you doing?" She asked him in confusion.
"Just gonna go for a walk." He said nonchalantly.
"Really?" She said in total disbelief. "Why do you have a bag with you then?"
"Uh, I like to feed to birds and this is a bag of bird seed." He said awkwardly. He always was a bad liar.
"Oh really." She said dangerously. She slowly walked towards him and as she moved closer, he backed up. "I think you're lying."
"Well, I think you're going to eat dad's – Mr Russo's – special chocolate cake that he was saving to eat tomorrow. The one he said he'd kill us for if we ate it." Justin said.
Alex just rolled her eyes. "I wasn't planning on eating the cake until dad said if I ate it, I would be past dead. I never back down from a challenge."
It was Justin's turn to roll his eyes. "Alex-" He started to say but she cut him off.
"And you don't have to call him 'Mr Russo'. He's still your dad." She said softly.
Justin's eyes turned hard. "He isn't my father. And I want to find out who is."
"What? What are you talking about?" Alex asked in confusion.
"I looked up Emma Arden on the internet. I'm going to see her and ask her about her and my father and why they gave me up. I'm going right now." He whispered.
"No!" Alex said, startled. "You can't. You're so messed up by this, it could hurt you more. Just give it some time. Wait a little while."
"I have waited!" He said furiously. "I waited all week! I was going to go the night they told me, but I wanted to make sure you and Max weren't sick from that blood disease. So today when you found out it was negative, I started packing my bag."
"Justin..." She said helplessly. She didn't want him to go.
"I'm sorry Alex." He said, picking up his bag off the ground. "But I have to do this."
"Then let me come with you!" She said suddenly, grabbing onto his arm.
"No! I'm sorry Alex, but I have to do this alone." He shook her off and started to walk to the door, but she just grabbed onto his arm again.
"But we've always done things together! And you always save my ass so maybe this time for me to save yours! I know you're hurting and I just... I just don't want you to be alone." She whispered softly. And to her extreme embarrassment, she felt tears rising in her eyes.
Justin's expression seemed to soften a bit. He slowly reached out and patted her shoulder. "I'm not coming back, Alex."
She gasped. "W-what?"
"I said, after I talk to Emma, I won't be coming back. I'll get a job and my own apartment and maybe in time, I will have saved enough money to finish University." Justin said coldly.
"No!" Alex cried. "Why would you say something like that? You can't possibly mean it!"
"But I do. This isn't my family. This is your family. Your parents lied to me for twenty years. I don't owe them anything."
"But what about me?" She asked.
He turned away for a second then looked back at her. "I'm sorry, Alex."
She felt tears running down her face and might have seen a shimmer of a tear in Justin's eye as well. She took a deep breath then said, "Then I'm coming with you!"
"What? No, you can't." Justin cried.
"Yes I can! I don't have anything here! I'm not going to university and I don't have any plans past eating that cake. You're my brother, Justin. Even if we aren't technically related." She finished softly.
"Alex, I can't let you do this." Justin muttered.
"You're not the boss of me." She snapped. "I'm eighteen and I want to help my brother."
She thought she saw the ghost of a smile on his lips before he said, "Well, if you're sure, go pack a suitcase quickly."
She smirked at him and waved her wand in the air. Suddenly, there was a hot pink duffel bag the size of a hockey bag sitting beside her and she was wearing a deep purple peasant style top with a black vest overtop and skinny jeans and black flats. Justin just rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so we're going to take the IPP." He said. "It's in the lair."
She flashed them both down with their suitcases. He shot her an irritated look. She grinned.
He grabbed the control and punched in the digits. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"Faireville." He replied. "It's in Florida, near Tampa."
She nodded and bit her lip. For the first time after impulsively volunteering to run away with Justin, she was feeling a little bit nervous. But when he asked her, "Ready to go?" She didn't say no.
He took her hand and the IPP sucked them up and took them all the way across the country. They landed outside a little house on a dirt road. The house was old looking but well cared for with a pretty veranda outside it with a rocking bench and potted flowers. There were trees all around and flowers and Alex could smell the ocean very strongly. The house was probably on the beach. There was an old car sitting in the driveway and there were no lights on in the house.
"So now what do we do, genius?" Alex snapped. "It's the middle of the night! Obviously she's not awake!"
"Hmmm... I didn't think this far ahead." Justin murmured. Alex sighed.
"Well," Justin said. "We could wait out here for her, but someone will probably see us and call the police so I think we should go into town. There's probably a 24 hour restaurant or something we can chill in until morning."
Alex flashed them again into the town. It was tiny, as far as she could see in the darkness, but sweet looking with beach front stores and bars and palm trees everywhere. There was indeed a 24 hour restaurant. They were the only ones in there. Justin ordered a coffee and a blue berry muffin and Alex ordered chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs and a strawberry milkshake. They ate in silence for a bit with the sleepy looking waitress lazily wiping a booth down behind them.
"Thank you, by the way." Justin said quietly. "For coming with me. It means a lot to me. I really would've hated being alone."
She grinned. "I knew it! And it's okay, because it gave me a free vacation!"
He rolled his eyes but she could see a tiny smile on his lips. She tried to stay awake but she did soon fall asleep. She woke up hours later with her head resting on Justin's shoulder and his jacket wrapped around her like a blanket. She felt a little embarrassed but quickly shook off that feeling.
"Come on," Justin said. "It's eight thirty. She'll probably be awake by now."
He helped her up and they walked outside the restaurant. The sun was up by now, but still not very high in the sky. All the stores were opening and people were just starting to walk around. Alex flashed them back to Emma's place. Now that she could see it in the sunlight, she really liked it. It was bright yellow with dark blue shutters. There were flowers everywhere and palm trees swaying in the breeze gently. There were other houses like hers on that dirt road, all looking old but well cared for.
They walked up the cement walkway right to her door. The stood on the front porch for a minute. And then another minute. And then another.
"Justin." Alex prodded. "Aren't you going to knock on the door?"
"Oh yeah, right." He murmured. He raised his fist, just to lower it again. "I can't. It was stupid to come here."
"No, it was brave." Alex said kindly. "Just knock on the door. You didn't come all this way to chicken out, did you?"
"No, no you're right." He said. He took a breath and quickly knocked on the worn wooden door.
It opened right away. In the doorway stood a woman in her late thirties with curling brown hair that looked like it had a touch of red in the morning sun. She had silvery green eyes, just like Justin and was petite and slender. Her hair fell just to her shoulders and she was wearing yoga pants and a light blue t-shirt.
"Uh, Emma?" Justin asked, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Emma Arden?"
"Yes?" She said kindly. "And who are you?"
"Justin Russo." He whispered. "Your son."
A/N dun dun duh! Lol okay pretty please review and tell me what you think? this story is so old and was it was a mistake to revive it or did you actually like it? Review!