Alex woke up slowly. She looked at the clock, saw it said 6:03. Sitting up, she rubbed at her eyes for a moment. I don't remember falling asleep, she thought. This whole thing must be wearing me out some. Then again, she realized, she hadn't slept much the previous night, so maybe that was natural.

A light knock came on her door then, with Justin's voice following immediately, quiet as well. "Alex, are you up?"

"Yeah," she answered through it. "Just a second." She got up and hustled over to her mirror, checking herself quickly. What are you doing? It's just Justin... Somehow, though, it was important to her to look good to him right now. Not that she'd probably notice, she thought, but she adjusted her clothes anyway, ran a brush through her hair a few times, then came over and opened the door, saying, "Yes?"

The first thing she noticed was that Justin was smiling, a happy smile that didn't quite match up with his words. "Come on. We're going to go get groceries."

"Oh." Alex blinked, feeling a little put out. He wants to get groceries now? Douba-you-tee-ef? "Do I have to go?"

"Have to? No." Justin reached his hand out, his smile fading as he took Alex's wrist. "But it needs to be done, and I didn't want to leave you alone here, with you feeling down. Please?"

Now that was a word that she rarely heard from Justin. And it, with the smile, made her wonder if he had anything else in mind besides groceries. No. Not Justin. But Alex's heart beat a little faster at the idea that he might, and so she nodded slowly and rolled her eyes, feigning reluctance. "Okay. If it'll give you a happy, I'll come. Along," she added suddenly, blushing as she realized what she'd just said.

Justin raised an eyebrow at that, but his only other response was to release Alex's wrist and move away from the door, letting her out. As she came out, she looked around, then frowned. "Isn't Max coming with us?"

"No. He's gone over to visit a friend for a while. It's just you and me."

"Oh." Alex's mouth felt dry. That wasn't expected.

"Is that okay?" Justin turned to look back at her, frowning a little.

"Yeah. Yeah." She smiled, caught up to him, put her hand on his arm. "Thank you. For worrying about me."

"Of course. Now, let's get going."

"Oh, oh, oh! Justin! Yes! I like that!"

"Are you sure? I don't want to do anything that would be bad for you..."

"Yes, I'm sure! Please! Please give it to me, Justin!"

"Mmm... I don't know. Do you want it really bad?"

"I want it! Now give it to me!" Alex lunged forward and grabbed, reaching up for the box of Choco Puffs Justin was holding up out of her reach.

"I don't know, Alex... it's not good for you..." He was grinning and standing on tiptoe, and she jumped again, trying to reach the box. "Do you really want it?" Around them, shoppers were staying away, most of them looking annoyed, a few smiling amusedly at their antics.

"Please?" She was smiling, knowing that he was going to give in. So far, he'd gotten her five bars of chocolate - not the cheap stuff, but the good German chocolate - a gallon of strawberry ice cream, and two new DVDs. "Pretty please?" She stopped jumping, folded her arms, and put on her pout. "Don't make me use the pouty face. You can't take it."

"Ohh... oh... all right." Justin smiled, brought the box down and held it out to Alex, who promptly grabbed it and put it into the cart. "I was going to hold out for being called the best brother ever, but you're right - I can't take your pout."

"Oh, is that what you wanted? Well..." With a smile that bordered on a grin, Alex moved up to Justin, stretched up a little, and kissed him on the cheek. "You're the dorkiest brother ever." Then she ran.

"Ahh! Take that back!" Justin shook his fist at Alex playfully as she danced away from him, turning to stick her tongue out quickly, but he couldn't keep a grin off his face at seeing her happy again.

Hours later, with the groceries put away, and Max returned and off in his room, Justin went to find his little sister. "Alex."

She turned from the show she was watching, looked at him. "What?"

"There's something I want you to see. Out on the deck." He gestured toward it, turned and walked to the door, then opened it. Curious, Alex went out to the deck, then stood and looked around at the city lights around them. Nothing seemed any different than usual.

"What did you want me to see?" she asked, turning back to her brother. With a small smile, he walked to her, put his hand on her shoulder. Alex felt a little tingle at the contact and swallowed, looking at him and wondering what was going on.

Justin pointed upward. "Look there." She did, and barely half a second later, the fireworks started.

"Oh!" Alex watched the show, put her own arm around Justin's waist, moved in a little closer to him. Then one burst formed into a flower, and the next into a climbing rose. Starting a little, Alex turned to look at Justin. Her brother's brow was furrowed in concentration, his lips moving as he said things under his breath.

"That's... you're doing that? But half the city can see it!"

"It's okay," he answered quickly. "Keep watching." The next one burst, and the glowing motes scattered through the air, formed into a picture of her, falling slowly through the night sky. Another went up, exploded further down, became Justin - who caught the falling Alex and set her on her feet.

The real Justin moved then, stepping behind Alex, hugging her from behind. "I'm always here for you Alex. Whenever you need me."

"I know," she said, and her voice cracked a little. He broke the rules for me. Just to show me this. "You didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to," he answered, and kissed her on the back of her head, still holding on. "And it's not that big a deal. It was all illusions - I've been practicing on them. Nobody could see them but you and me."

Alex turned around in Justin's arms and returned his hug. "It doesn't matter. That's even better - it's just ours. Thank you." It's ours, she thought. Just our little secret. And... and I'm his. The realization startled Alex, and what she did then surprised herself even more, as she tilted her face up toward Justin's, then stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the mouth.

Justin started, as if to pull away, and Alex felt a surge of panic. No! Don't leave me! But then he returned the kiss, and her panic faded away, replaced by a warm tingle that spread throughout her body. To Alex, it felt like it lasted for minutes, but still, somehow, not long enough. His lips were warm, and they pulled gently on hers, moving across, making the kiss a series of smaller ones.

She tastes so sweet... Justin tightened his arms about his little sister, felt his hand slide down to cup her butt - and then he broke the kiss and stepped away from her, and his face was white as a ghost. "Alex... I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." He swallowed, looking half-panicked, and Alex couldn't take it. She moved forward, before he could move away, threw her arms around him and held on as tightly as she could.

"Justin - don't go. Please. I need you. I really, really, really need you, and... and I wanted to say thank you, and I want to be more than just your bratty little sister who you have to get out of trouble all the time."

She lifted her face up to him again. It was streaked with fresh tears. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again if you don't want me to. But don't leave me. Please don't leave me."