A/N thank you for all the great reviews! I will try my best to make this story great!
Emma stood on the doorstep to her home with her mouth hanging open like a fish. She stepped closer to them and reached her hand out to touch Justin's arm, as if to make sure this wasn't a dream.
"Justin?" She whispered.
He nodded mutely with tears in his eyes. Emma burst into tears and pulled him close to her. She was crying as she hugged him tight. Justin was crying as well and Alex was rolling her eyes. Emma was as emotional as Justin. Like mother, like son.
Finally, Emma sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Why don't you come in? I was just about to make breakfast."
"Yum!" Alex said. "Can you make pancakes?"
"You just had pancakes." Justin admonished gently.
Alex shrugged. "Yeah, but I want more."
Emma was giving her a strange look so Justin quickly said, "Oh, this is Alex, my... adoptive sister."
Alex flinched. That hurt more then she thought it would. How could Justin say that about her? They were still brother and sister! They were raised together and have treated each as brother and sister ever since Alex was born! She loves Justin just the same as she loves Max!
But instead of lashing out at him, she just bit her tongue and smiled. She wouldn't embarrass him at the first meeting with his birth mother.
Emma held the door open for them and ushered them inside. The front door opened to a little living room painted celery green with wicker couches and chairs in it. The furniture had blue cushions and there was a vase of fresh flowers sitting on a table by the couch. There was an old TV by the far wall and the light from the window shone through the room. A staircase was at the back of the room with a couch by it. It separated the right half of the house. Behind the stairs was a room where the walls were an off-white colour and the wooden floors were the colour of honey. There were huge windows reaching almost from the floor to the ceiling on the outward facing walls which showed an amazing view of the beach. The furniture was simple and white and there was a painting easel by the far wall.
There was an archway leading into the kitchen. It was sunshine yellow with an old wooden table by the back wall, underneath a picture window facing the ocean. The cupboards were made of light wood and there were post-it notes and lists all over. Emma did seem a lot like Justin. There was another archway in the kitchen leading the dining room. It was dark blue with a long wooden table the colour of sand. Another archway led out of the dining room and back into the sitting room at the front of the house.
"Your house is lovely." Justin said to Emma.
"Thank you." She said kindly as she poured coffee into three different mugs. Alex took a sip of the coffee and grinned as Emma put a plate of blueberry pancakes in front of her.
"So, why didn't you want me to know about you?" Justin asked eagerly.
"Well, I told your mother not to tell you that you were adopted until she felt the time was right. I did say I would prefer to not be talked about at all. But it was really up to your parents." Emma said.
"They aren't my parents." Justin said bitterly.
"They raised you. They may not have been the ones to conceive you but the love you. I know they do. They are good people." Emma said earnestly.
"How did you know them again?" Justin asked.
"I lived next door to them. We lived in Queens, in these little houses right next to each other. Our mother's were close friends and your father and uncle and aunt and I grew up together. You're father was eight years older than I was and Megan was six years older, and Kelbo was four. Kelbo and I were closer than your father and Megan were to me, but I still felt as if they were my cousins." Emma said quietly.
"Tell me more." Justin said eagerly. He was actually leaning forwards in his earnestness to hear more about his birth family.
"Your Aunt Megan would babysit me all the time when my parents went out. She was a little lazy so your father and uncle, who would usually tag along with her, would keep me entertained by their magic. I knew about it, and my parents did too, even though we weren't wizards. When I was seventeen and your father was twenty-five, he went on a vacation with a couple of his friends where he met your mother. It was love at first sight. He gave his powers to Kelbo, Megan ran off and he had a shot-gun wedding to Theresa." Emma explained with stars of nostalgia in her eyes.
Justin was quiet for a moment. Alex was staring at him. He looked very lost and confused. She didn't know what to say to him. He was usually the one who was strong, not her. He was the one to help her up when she falls down or fix all her mistakes.
Justin cleared his throat and Alex could actually see tears in his eyes. She sort of wanted to drag Justin away from Emma who was obviously hurting Justin as much as she was helping him, but Alex knew that Justin needed to hear what she had to say. And besides, she was curious as well.
"So how did dad and mom end up with Justin?" Alex asked.
"Well, they had been married about a year when I found out I was pregnant. I was only eighteen and I didn't know what to do. My friends suggested getting an abortion and your real father even said he would marry me. But I didn't want to do either of those things. I was going to give it – you – up for adoption but I didn't want a stranger having my baby. Theresa said that they would like to adopt you, Justin. So she did." Emma said tearfully.
Everyone was quiet for a second. Emma was crying softly and Justin just looked stunned. Alex sipped her coffee and stared out the window to the ocean that was crashing against the shore. She was broken out of her reverie by the ringing of her cell phone.
"Oh, it's dad!" She said, about to answer it.
Justin ripped it from her grasp and ran out of the kitchen, through the back door, down the porch, down the beach and threw it into the ocean.
"What the hell, Justin?" Alex screamed as she chased after him.
"They could track us with your phone! That's why I didn't bring my phone or laptop." Justin said.
"You are such a freak! You didn't have to chuck it into the ocean!" She shrieked.
They heard a phone ringing from inside the house and Emma answer it. She leaned out the kitchen window to where Justin and Alex were standing on the beach.
"It's your parents," She said with a knowing smirk on her face. "They want to talk to you."
She dangled the phone out the window and Alex gave Justin a dirty look as she ran over to answer it. She heard him mumble, "Of course they would have her phone number. Of course."
"Hey." Alex said into the old white cordless phone.
"Alex, you get the hell back here right now!" Theresa screeched into the phone.
Alex sighed and dropped down on the steps of the back porch. Justin was still pacing on the beach and running his hands through his hair.
"I can't mom, sorry." Alex said.
"Is Justin there with you?" Theresa asked worriedly.
"Yes he is." Alex said.
"Let me talk to him!"
Alex moved the phone away from her face and gestured to it to Justin. His eyes widened and he shook his head furiously. 'No, no!' He mouthed quickly and waved his hands.
"He's busy right now, sorry." She said into the phone.
"He's busy?" Theresa shrieked. She swore loudly in Spanish then shouted into the phone, "I don't care if he's busy! Put him on the damn phone!"
"Mom, Justin is still upset. I don't think he's ready to talk." Alex said quietly.
Theresa was quiet for a minute before exploding again, "Fine, but he has to talk to us sooner or later! I am so upset! I never meant for this to happen! And for you to just disappear as well! I mean, it didn't take a genius to figure out you were with your brother but you could've at least left a note like he did!"
"Justin left a note?" This was news to her.
"Yes, it's here somewhere." Alex could hear Theresa rustling some paper around. She cleared her throat before reading the note.
"Dear Theresa and Jerry Russo,
I'm going to find my real family and meet them for myself. I know you didn't mean to hurt me but you still did. I can't stay here any longer knowing that I don't belong. After I talk to my birth parents, I will get a job and my own apartment. I can't imagine coming back here. This will probably be the last time you see me.
Sincerely,
Justin"
Theresa's voice cracked at the ending and she was sobbing again.
"Let me talk, honey." Jerry said and Alex could hear her mother pass the phone to her father. She could still hear Theresa crying in the background.
"Alex, come home." Jerry said.
Alex shook her head even though she knew that her father couldn't see her. "I can't." She whispered. "I have to be with Justin."
"Then both of you come home!" He said.
"Maybe in a bit, dad. Justin is dealing with things." Alex whispered.
"Alright." Her father agreed. "Come home soon."
"I will." She said. They hung up the phone and Alex shut her eyes to stop the tears. It hurt, lying to her parents. She knew she would never go home. Not as long as Justin wasn't there.
"Have you finished talking to your parents yet?" Emma asked, holding the back door open.
Alex cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah."
"Then go get Justin! I have something to show him!" Emma said and ran back into the house.
Alex got off the steps and wandered down the beach. Justin was a little ways away from the house, throwing rocks into the ocean.
"Hey." Alex said.
"Oh hi, Alex." He said gloomily.
"Emma wants to show you something." Alex said.
"I think you should go back home." Justin blurted out.
"No!" She immediately cried. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at Justin. He was standing in front of her. He wouldn't meet her eyes and kept shuffling his feet.
"Alex, you're giving up everything to help me with this. I can't let you do that." He said quietly. She knew he felt guilty.
"I don't care what you want!" She snapped. "You need me so I'm staying! Now shut up and get back to the house, your birth mother wants show you something!"
She stomped away from him but stopped when she noticed he wasn't following her. She turned around to see him with a big grin on his face.
"Thank you." He said.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. He ran over to her and swept her up in a hug.
"Okay now put me down, weirdo. Emma wants see you." Alex said.
They walked back to Emma's house and in through the back door to the kitchen.
On the kitchen table was a dusty old box. Emma was standing beside it and grinning.
"I found this in the attic when Alex was on the phone." She said, gesturing to the box. "It has pictures of your father and baby pictures of you and stuff."
She reached in and pulled out a framed picture of a much younger looking Emma standing beside a man. It was snowing in the picture and there was a snowman beside them. Emma was laughing and the man wasn't looking at the camera, but at her. You could tell just by the look in his eyes that he was in love with her.
"Who's this?" Alex asked. But when she looked up from the picture, she already knew. Justin and Emma both had tears in their eyes. It was Justin's father.
"Jake Thomas." Emma whispered.
The man had Justin's black hair and long, straight nose. He actually looked a lot like Justin. But his hair was long and scraggly to his shoulders. His eyes were hazel and he was about the same height and weight as Justin. His eyes were more mischievous and he was smirking like Justin never did. But he was clearly Justin's father.
"So where is he?" Alex asked.
Emma took a deep shuddering breath and whispered, "He's... he's dead."
A/N so what did you guys think? pretty please with candy on top review!