Justin shifted his weight from one foot to another, leaning on to the shiny oak surface, he drummed his fingers against the reception desk. Whilst nibbling on to his blunt fingernails, Justin cleared his throat as he glanced over his shoulder, checking for any familiar faces. The time was dragging, and he hadn't seen nor heard from anybody. Apart from his Dad of course, when he found out about the crystal ball…

He waited eagerly for the doctor, though he also kept a vigilant eye in the direction of Alex's room. He'd yet to muster the courage to go in and check on her, but he also felt he had a duty to get all of the information he could on hybrids. After all, as Justin always thought to himself, it would be better to know too much rather than not know enough.

"Yo Justin!" Max called strolling up behind him, "got you a surprise!"

His eyes rolled, "not now Max, I'm waiting to see if there's any news from the doctor."

Max's shoulders sagged as a heavy sigh escaped his lips, "okay then. Sorry Juliet, looks like you'll have to go…"

Justin's ears pricked up, "Juliet?" He spun around, Juliet stood behind him smiling timidly clutching a pile of leather-bound books in her arms. "What are you doing here?" Justin wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly.

"I brought the books you asked for, that's alright, isn't it?"

"Yeah of course! I just wasn't expecting you this soon. What did you find?" He scooped the books from her embrace and placed them on the counter, carefully investigating every title and blurb in eyeshot.

"Not a lot really, sorry. But how's Alex?"

"We've not really heard anything for a while, but she's definitely going to have a baby sometime today..."

"This is crazy," Juliet stated shaking her head in disbelief, "so has her water broke?"

Max glanced at Justin and snickered as he noticed his nose wrinkle, "god I hope not I want Justin to see it," he joked. "Hey, maybe you'll pass out again, like when you saw Dad pop that thing on his shoulder."

Justin's wrinkled nose instantly flared, "shut up max, it's not the time to joke around!"

"Well, how many centimetres dilated is she?"

A cold shiver ran through Justin's spine, "I can't remember…"

"Has she lost her mucus plug?"

Max stumbled back, clutching his stomach and bellowed laughing as Justin's face radiated pink. "Uh," he mumbled narrowing his eyes at Juliet, "I don't know," he respond sheepishly. "Okay, I know that's makes me a look like a bad brother. But I have no idea if her waters broke or how dilated she is, and I'm not even going to pretend to know what a mucus plug is. In fact, I don't want to know okay! It's just all-"

"Disgusting?" Max interjected.

"Yes! Thank you Max, it's disgusting! And that is why I don't know all of this, and why I've not even gone to see her because it's gross, and I'm scared!"

Juliet felt her jaw drop, "you've not been to see her!"

"Well, not since before she got her diagnosis…"

"Justin Vinchenso Pepé Russo, she is your little sister! She needs you!"

"I know-"

"And I don't care if it's 'gross' or if you're scared, imagine how scared Alex is!"

"I know but-"

"No buts mister! You're going to go in there and support your sister!" Spinning him around by his shoulders she marched him towards the delivery rooms.

"Wait, wait!" Justin dragged his feet and tried to wriggle out of Juliet's grasp, "you're not listening to me! I need to help research! I need to find out everything I possibly can so I can make sure Alex is going to be alright!"

Juliet softened, "Justin, she'll be okay. Besides, we're all here to help okay it's not just on you."

"I know, but learning stuff and reading books is the only thing I'm good at! I can't deal with all the gross stuff, this is the only way I can help her."

"But Justin, it's not like if you go in there you'll be expected to deliver the baby! Alex has doctors helping her, and she has Mason and your mom. So just go and see Alex, make sure she's ok and let her know that everything will be alright. Then, after that you can read as many books as you want!"

Justin smirked, "as many as I want?"

A small giggle slipped from Juliet's lips, "yes, hundreds of them if that's what would make you feel better! But just go and make sure she's alright, then you can go back to being the geeky professor. Deal?"

"Deal," he said winking as his lips curled into a smile. "Max, you coming?"

"Yeah, I want to see if anything gross is happening yet. Do you think they'll let me clean the goop off of the baby?"

Both Justin and Juliet stared blankly at Max, "you are disgusting, you know that right?"

"Obviously!"

Deep moans escaped Alex's lips as she positioned herself over the bed, propped up against the foot boards and squeezing her eyes tightly shut as the pain burned though her abdomen. Alex tried to relax into Mason who was stood behind her massaging soothing circles into her back, but she could only grasp the bed frame tighter, gritting her teeth as she gave an even louder groan.

"Okay so this contraction's longer than the last," Harper announced reading the stopwatch on her cell, "You're up to twenty-eight seconds so far."

Mason's eyes widened, "is that all! Surely it must be longer?"

Alex gave a whimper, her toes curling beneath her, "this hurts like a bitch…"

"Language Alex," Theresa called nonchalantly from her seat as she remained fixated on her hands, delicately filing her pointed French manicure.

"I think it's easing," Alex leaned back on to Mason as he enveloped her in his arms. "How long was that one Harper?"

"Thirty-two seconds!"

Mason whipped his phone from his pocket, "right, I'll start timing how far apart they are."

"Oh, do you have to?" Alex whined, "I can't deal with all this fussing, just work out how long it's been when the next one comes!"

Harper gave a bellowing laugh, "yeah right! Alex, we're not taking any chances with this, we need to know the exact time to help track how dilated you are!"

"I think the doctor will know when she examines me Harper..."

"Yeah, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Mason interjected. "Especially considering… Well, pretty much everything about this."

Rolling her eyes Alex exclaimed, "you're both being dramatic, look at mom. She's clearly not worried!"

"Alex, of course I'm worried about you!" Theresa gasped looking up from her nails, "But, you know I've had three kids," she stated as she continued to file again, "so I know how this all goes down. And believe me, you've got bags of time!"

"No, she must be at least six or seven centimetres by now," Mason protested. "Especially considering how the contractions have been, she's been in agony!"

Harper winced, "yeah they look really bad."

"Well duh!" Alex yelled, "that's because they are!"

"But Mija, they're only lasting thirty-two seconds."

"Yeah, but it's a really painful thirty-two seconds! I mean it can't get much worse, right?"

Theresa tried to supress her laughter, sputtering like an old water faucet before bursting into a deafening spout of laughter. Masked by the thunderous laugh, Harper recognised a light knock on the door. She yanked it opened, revealing Justin stood clutching a gossip magazine and Max next to him shielding his eyes. "Is it safe or girl stuff happening?" He asked peeking in between his fingers.

"Nah, you're good. The babies already popped out of her chest like in Alien, so you've missed all the good stuff."

His hands dropped from his face, revealing a solemn expression, "oh, really?"

"No! God Max, did you even go to sex ed?"

"Yeah! I only stayed for the good bits though, am I right?" He presented Justin with a high five, but Justin shrugged him off, striding quickly into the room and approaching Alex.

"How are you feeling?" He asked apprehensively.

"Like someone's hitting me with a sledgehammer in the gut but apart from that, I'm okay."

Justin grimaced, "harsh…" Glancing down at Alex's stomach he dithered awkwardly, eyes widening when he noticed her new bump, "th-they didn't have your Art magazine," he stuttered, "so I just got a copy of Genie Gossip for you." He placed it down on to a nearby table only for it to be swept up again by Theresa, tossing her nail file aside as she began scanning the pages.

"So, what happens now, we just wait?" He probed.

"Pretty much…"

Alex winced, in the silence that followed, she could feel a lecture brewing as Justin's eyes locked on to her. His foot tapping gradually building as he became more agitated.

"I just don't understand, why didn't you tell us something was wrong?" He asked, Alex could only muster a grumble in response, "Why didn't tell someone that your magic wasn't working? Alex, don't you know how serious this is?"

"Like I said earlier, if I knew I was pregnant I probably would have said something! But I didn't, so how was I supposed to know that it was dangerous?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Justin took a calming breath, "Dad taught us as soon as we got our powers that if anything happens to them, we should tell someone! Or did you conveniently forget that piece of vital information?"

Alex snarled, "did you forget that piece of vital information?" She mimicked whilst she leered at Justin, she felt a sense of satisfaction. Especially as she observed his eyes narrowing, and his fists clenching together.

"This isn't funny Alex," he spat through gritted teeth, "it's actually very, very serious."

She held her hands up in defeat, "yeah, yeah okay I get it!"

"This isn't the time to be immature and joke around!"

"God, alright Dad I said I get it!"

"And what were the werewolf symptoms have you been experiencing?" Alex rolled her eyes at Justin's question, "yes that's right, Dad told me! So, what did you get? Fur, paws, claws?"

"No!" Alex huffed, "None of that, I just got a headache, and my eyes did this weird thing…"

Alex stood sheepishly as the clogs began to turn in Justin's head, "weird thing?" He eyed her suspiciously, Alex felt a nervous sweat overcome her as her brother stared intensely, "what thing?"
He asked calmly.

"They glowed," Harper's cheerful tone cut into Alex, grimacing at her words her head snapped towards her direction and Alex snarled. Coming into eye contact with Alex's glare, Harper felt the sudden urge to run and hide, "well, apparently…" she dithered.

Max chuckled to himself, "that's so cool…"

"Max it is not 'so cool!'" Justin hissed, he turned back to Alex, "I'm trying to be sympathetic here Alex, but do you have any idea how bad this could have been? We have no idea-" Justin was stopped dead in his tracks, putting a finger to his lips Alex went rigid. Her face distorted and clutching on to the bed frame again, she rocked herself in time with her sluggish pants.

Justin and Max stared dumbfounded, "oh my god," Justin whispered in disgust, "is this a-"

"Timing contraction!" Harper proclaimed gluing her eyes to her cell, "how far apart was that one?"

"Twelve minutes," Mason declared shoving his cell back into his jeans pocket, he instantly returned to massaging Alex's back and whispering soothing words into her ear. But Alex could only frown and wince as painful whines were let slip from her lips. She turned away from Mason, as helpful as he thought he was being if Alex had to hear about how beautiful and brave she was, or how much he loved her one more time, she was pretty sure she'd end up punching him in the face. She envisioned her fist colliding straight with his nose or even better his mouth, who knows, it might keep him quiet for longer. The more she thought about it, the more tempted Alex become…

Justin and Max remained silent, strangled by the air around them, they stood frozen in their spots. "Oh my god," Justin watched on nauseated at the sight of Alex in pain, bit by bit he felt himself dither. Then in an outburst he exclaimed, "Where is the doctor? This is an emergency! Look at her, she's in agony! She needs the drugs and the potions and-"

"Justin calm down!" His mother stressed, "Just relax, she'll be fine this is natural!"

"How can I relax?" he cried, "she's my little sister and that's my niece or nephew! I'm going to have to go back to Juliet and start looking through those new text books, we need to find something! We can't just leave her like this!"

"Juliet?" Mason turned to Justin, "she's here?"

"Is that even safe with all the blood in this place?" scoffed Harper.

Alex gave a tired groan, "shut up! God! All your yapping is making my head hurt, I don't know what feels worse my head or the contraction!"

Silence shrouded the room, everyone shot glances between each other with their brows furrowed, and Theresa cautiously placed down the magazine on the table beside her. "Maybe looking at those textbooks isn't a bad idea hunny."

A burning blow rushed through Alex's head, and she let out a low grunt at the pain, clasping her head in one hand, whilst strangling the footboard with the other.

"Where about does it hurt in your head love?" Mason asked softly, he caressed Alex's arms delicately before lowering himself to match her height. "Show me."

Alex's trembling hand lifted, with a single finger she pointed to her temple and groaned as another burst of pain ricocheted from one side to the other.

"Try to open your eyes love, let me see…"

Bit by bit, Alex prised her eyes open. Mason braised himself, but soon released a sigh of relief when he spotted her dark hazel colouring. Not one spec of luminous colour in site. "Thank god! She's okay, but I think we best get the doctor in case…"

"I don't get this," Justin dithered, "the books I've read so far have never even hinted at any of this happening so quickly. They all make it seems like it'd be like any other pregnancy."

"Obviously not!" Alex growled through gritted teeth.

Max edged closer to Justin, but found himself unable to remove his eyes from Alex. "I know what you mean," he interjected as he continued to watch her, "I didn't read anything like this either…"

Theresa's jaw dropped, "you read something?"

"Yes Mom," Max shook his head, "I read something, Alex is having a surprise baby. I think we've already established its crazy day. But what we really need to work out what the hell we're going to do next, before Alex goes all Wolverine on us."

Justin's snapped out of his trail of thought, "it's a full moon tonight… We need someone with more power to deal with this, or more experience…" he snapped his fingers, "I've got it! Max come on, you can come too."

"And miss Wolverine?"

Justin hooked his finger on the collar of Max's shirt and pulled him along as he walked out the door, Max stubbornly dragging his feet with him.

Hello!

I'm so sorry it's been so long, I've been crazy busy! But I'm so happy to share this new chapter, please let me know what you think!

Hopefully more chapters will be coming soon! xx