Labor Work

Another day came as the night ended and the sun rose. Morning light shed into the bedroom. Alex stirred as she started to awake and slowly opened her eyes. With her eyes still full with sleep, she tiredly noticed it was morning by the light in the room. She turned to her side to see the time. She had to lift her head a little to see over the body that laid next to her. She looked at the time and it took a few seconds for it to register. Once she realized what time it was, with a groan she laid her head back to her pillow.

"Not again." She moaned.

She lightly swatted the body next to her with her arm.

"Justin, that stupid alarm didn't work again."

"Wha?" Justin looked at the clock with tired eyes. His eyes flew open and threw the blankets off. "Oh, crap I'm late!" He said as he rushed out of bed.

Alex rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up. "Seriously, why do we still have that piece of junk?" She said and got out of bed.

Justin quickly went through his morning routine while she changed and made them something to eat. When she was done Justin walked into the room and she could tell he had rushed through everything. His clothes were messily put on and his hair was still drenched from his shower.

"That's the fifth time this has happened." Justin argued as they sat down to eat.

"Hey, you're the one that suppose to wake up without needing an alarm." Alex complained.

Justin glared at her while he ate as fast as he could without chocking. "Well sorry I was up half the night doing laundry or we would had nothing to wear since someone forgot to do it." Alex scowled and made a face at him. It was a normal morning as Justin complained about Alex behavior and she ignored him. They didn't have time to wash their dishes so they just left them in the sink. "If you just learned how to wake up on your own you wouldn't have to rely on that broken thing. And another thing-"

"Yeah, yeah, you can yap all you want on the way." Alex said, getting her backpacking and dragging him out the door by his hand.

This has really been a normal morning for them, even the part of sharing her bed. It has been three weeks since Justin had that fever. It had all started the first day Justin finally recovered from his fever.

Flashback

It was dark outside as they were getting ready to go to sleep. Justin couldn't feel any better as he walked into the bedroom after changing. He found Alex sitting at her desk doing her homework, but by her expression he had a feeling she wanted to claw her own eyes out.

"Need any help?" He asked, walking over to her.

"No, I'm almost done with this stupid thing." She said, annoyed.

Justin decided not to bother her. She always was in a bad mood when she did homework. It probably took all her will power not to burn her books every time she opened them. He went to his side of the bed that he has gotten used to. With a thud Alex closed her book and stood up.

"Finally, I'm done." She exclaimed.

After turning off her lamp Alex turned around ready to go to bed seeing Justin was already there, but stopped when a thought came to her. Her attention went back to Justin as she stared at him.

"What?" He asked.

After a few moments, it seemed she was going to say something, but decided against it. Alex walked around to her side and lied down. She covered herself with the covers and faced her side with her back to him. "Night."

In the dark Justin was thinking about what she was going to say until it came to him. He wasn't sick anymore. The reason he was there was because Alex was surprisingly nice about letting him sleep there when he was sick. Maybe, that was why she stared at him earlier. He started to feel uncomfortable under her blanket. He was fine now, he should go back to the couch and let Alex have her bed back. He started getting up with his elbows when suddenly Alex grabbed his arm with her back still to him. Justin stayed in place, watching his sister's back, not knowing what to do. She lightly squeezed his arm and he knew. It was a silent, unspoken word.

Stay.

Justin relaxed and lied back down. He shut off his brain from all thoughts and let sleep take over him.

Flashback

It was a quiet walk to Alex's school. The sound of the city was all they needed. It was a comfortable walk after their usual arguments. Nothing had seem to change to them. As they neared her school she slightly frowned, but that was just a reflex to school. Alex squeezed his hand before letting go. They had been holding hands since Alex dragged him out of the apartment, but hadn't let go after. Neither of them said anything about it and hadn't plan to.

"See ya." Alex said, walking the rest of the way. Justin waved goodbye and went his own way.

The day went by and soon night came. Justin grumbled as he walked down the street. He looked up at the newly night sky as he walked completely annoyed. He was tired, hungry, and wanted to go home, but instead he was doing this. He was tired mostly because he was hungry and why was he hungry? Because Alex was supposed to buy groceries from her way from school, but she didn't come home. After worrying and getting a hold on her friends, they told him Alex stayed at the library after school. Alex and library in same sentence still freak him out a little. So instead of having a nice meal and rest, he was going to her school to go get her and get some food. He really wanted to just leave her there and go get some food himself, but he knew he couldn't do that.

"She better be at the library." He grumbled as he approached her school.

The room full with stands of books was covered in silence. The bookstands stood tall in the darkness as no sound could be heard except for the light breathing coming from one of the tables. Alex slept soundly with the light of the monitor in front of her illuminating her. She slept peacefully in the silence until someone shook her awake. She immediately jumped up and threw a fist at the direction of her sleep violator. Her hand connected with something hard, making her cringe. Holding her hurt hand she looked up with a scowl and saw a glaring Justin with a book in front of him.

"This is what you call doing homework?" He said, putting the book down.

"No, sometimes I call it me time." She said, glaring back.

"You've been sleeping this whole time?" Alex ignored him and stood up after turning off the computer. She walked over to the printer and started organizing her papers.

"For your information I decided to take a small break after working none stop on this stupid paper. I just lost track of time." She said, stapling.

"Did you forget it was your turn to buy the groceries or did that just escaped your mind?" He asked as he got her things ready in her backpack.

"I'm gonna go with escaped my mind." Alex smiled as he tossed her backpack at her.

"I've been starving all day!"

"Oh, quit your whining and let's go get something to eat. I'm hungry." She said, heading for the door.

"So now because you're hungry we have to rush and get some food." He said, following after her.

"Um, yeah." Alex said like it was the most obvious thing. Justin shut his mouth, struggling not to yell as he walked out the door. He knew it was pointless. He calmed himself down and met her outside.

"How did you even manage to stay in there so late?" He asked as they started to walk.

"It pays being friends with the janitor."

It would be easy to assume that choosing what to eat would be a no brainier since they both were starving, but knowing them nothing was simple. After arguing they settled with pizza. He had to fight with her just to get half of the pizza with the topping he wanted. She knew they would end up with half-half, but she was his little sister and it was her job to make his life hell. Justin was just happy he finally ate something. After getting rid of their hunger, they walked for a bit until they found a bus stop.

"Why are taking the bus again?" Alex asked as they waited at the bus stop.

"It's way to dangerous to walk all they way back home at this hour." It was such a Justin thing to say.

"You're such a baby it's not that far." She rolled her eyes as the bus came.

"Do you prefer to actually walk?" He asked as they stepped inside.

Alex paused for a second. "Good point. It's your money anyway."

The bus was almost completely empty, other than the driver there was only one woman sitting at the back with her hand on her round stomach. Alex and Justin sat on the middle as the bus went back into motion. However, as time passed, waiting and doing nothing was something Alex was not good at, especially when they were stuck in heavy traffic.

Justin quietly sat and focused on the extremely slow cars that passed, or more like didn't, trying to ignore Alex's poking. He swatted her hand away a few times, but she kept coming back. After the fifth time swatting her hand, she started repeating his name while poking him. Justin had the strongest urge to hit his head against the window.

"Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin, Jus-"

"What!" He couldn't take it anymore. Lucky for him the driver wasn't paying attention and the woman was fast asleep. Alex was startled at first, but then calmly rested her chin on his shoulder.

"I'm bored." She said. He could tell from just looking at her face and how close it was. The moment he looked at her eyes his annoyance was momentarily forgotten. Between her eyes that were full of boredom was a strand of her. He slowly raised his hand while she gazed at him not moving an inch. He suddenly stopped and dropped his hand back down. He looked away as his annoyance came back. It must've been a trick of the light because he thought he saw a speck of disappointment in her eyes.

"I…am…bored." He sighed and wondered how old she was. He reached down for her backpack and took out a notebook. Alex watched with mild interest as he wrote some weird words. When he was done, he dropped the notebook on her lap.

"Since you're so bored you can use the time to learn something new." Alex looked down and raised an eyebrow.

"What is this? Italian?" She asked as she looked at the strange words he listed.

"No. It's an old language and they're spells." He whispered the last part even though no one could probably hear him.

"Huh?"

Justin sighed and pointed at the words. "Back in the old times wizards didn't rhyme spells in sentences to cast them. They only spoke one word to do spells. You can say the rhyming is a modern thing."

Alex narrowed her eyes as she looked at each word. "I can see why they started rhyming. Who could pronounce these?" She questioned and then started reading the first one.

"Abe-"

"Don't say it!" Justin interrupted. "They're spells which means something will happen if you say out loud."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Like I can actually pronounce these words." She ignored his warnings and started saying the spells. Justin watched as she said them with a scowl. She was right. She wasn't even close at pronouncing them right.

After finishing she threw the notebook down. "It's like it's a different language."

"Didn't I just say that?"

She looked at him. "I zoned out through some parts." Now it was Justin turn to stare at her. It wasn't that long of an explanation! A few minutes later she tried again, but then gave up. The more she said them the more frustrated she got.

"Are you sure you didn't make this words up? Because they sound like words someone could make up." She said, frowning down at the words.

Justin rolled is eyes. "I'm sure."

Alex picked up the notebook, took a brief glance and then thought for a second. "I mean, I could say something like…abripio-" A white flash suddenly spread throughout the bus. As soon as it appeared it was gone. The bus driver jumped slightly and looked back behind him. He shook his head, thinking it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Just as the light disappeared the woman's eyes snapped open.

Justin had his mouth wide open as he looked at Alex, who had a stunned look on her face.

"That did not just happen." Alex said. Justin took the notebook from her and started searching his own words.

"Was that really a spell?" Alex asked

Justin dropped the notebook with a surprised look. "It's not one of the words I wrote down."

"Of course not. I made it up." She said. Justin shook his head and she saw he was starting to panic.

"You didn't make it up, it really is a spell, but I can't remember what it does!" He exclaimed holding his head.

"Justin calm down! Nothing's happened." She said as she watched Justin close his eyes, trying to remember.

"Abripio, abripio, abripio. It's something, something opening or maybe…um."

"Open something?" Alex looked at the doors and saw them closed. "Well the doors are closed. Maybe I said it wrong."

Justin shook his head. "No, that's no it. Maybe it was pushing something open or forcing something out…um." Justin groaned in frustration. "I can't remember!" Alex rolled her eyes. He was over thinking this.

"It was probably nothing." Just as she said that a moan echoed from behind them.

"I think my water just broke."

Justin's eyes snapped wide open. He slowly turned his head at Alex, who looked at him with equally disbelieving expression. They slowly looked back at the woman as she held her stomach.

"Lady, you're joking right?" The driver asked.

Justin literally climbed over Alex and walked over to the woman.

"Uh, are you sure it broke?" Justin asked, nervously we he looked at the woman. The water dripping to the floor from the seat drew their attention.

"I'm sure." She said as a wave of pain came. Justin stood there with his mouth hanging open and his brain having a meltdown. Suddenly someone tugged his shirt from side and saw Alex staring at the woman.

"What do you know? It did do something." She said nonchalant. Justin looked at her in disbelief and then the situation came down on him and who's fault it was.

"ALEX!"

A few minutes later…

After giving Alex loud, yet discrete lecture about responsibility and how much this was her fault, Justin went up to the driver.

"We need to go to the hospital." Justin said.

The driver laughed. "Yeah and I need a new job."

"This is serious. The woman is giving birth!" Justin shouted, pointing behind them. The driver looked at him irritated.

"Have you forgotten where we are kid? Look." He said, motioning him with his head. Justin looked out at the line of cars they were surround with. There was no way they were going to get anywhere soon. Justin walked back to the pregnant woman in pain and Alex sitting next to her looking at her nails like nothing.

"Where stuck in the traffic."

Alex looked at the moaning woman and then at Justin. "Well, we're screwed."

While Justin covered his eyes and groaned, the woman was trying to stay calm, but the situation wasn't getting better. "I hate to say this, but I don't know how much longer I can stay sitting here." The woman said.

Justin looked at down at her and at her seat. She was right this wasn't a good place for her. "She's right. We need to put her in a more comfortable place." He said.

Alex looked around them. "Where are you going to put her? On the dirty floor?" Justin furrowed his eyebrows.

"No. Just let me think." He said, holing his temples.

"Justin just go get a blanket and we'll spread it on the floor." Alex said.

Justin gave her a look. "Oh really Alex? And where exactly am I suppose to get one? Is it magically going to appear out of thin air?"

Now it was Alex who gave him a look. That's when Justin realized it. "Oh." He turned around and started walking, but stopped. He took out his phone and threw it to Alex. "Call an ambulance while I'm gone."

"And how exactly are they going to get here? Fly over the cars?" She asked holing the phone.

"It's going to be a while, but they'll eventually get here." He said as he went to the front of the bus to explain to the driver what they were doing, as in telling him some kind of lie. As he walked outside into a small alley, he looked at the noisy cars that barely moved. "I hope."

Back in the bus, it was getting hard to ignore the cries of pain. After calling for an ambulance Alex stared at the woman as she wriggled in pain on her seat. "So, is it really that painful?" The woman opened her eyes and stared at Alex.

"You have no idea." She answered as she started to sweat. "But it's worth it…so I've been told."

Alex watched as the woman panted and moaned as the pain came again. " Yeah I don't see the attraction."

The woman even though she was in pain smiled. "When I told my mother I was pregnant and she finally calmed down, she said to me that the happiest moment in a mother's life is when she holds her baby for the first time. That's why all this pain is worth it." Alex stared at her, but her mind went somewhere else. She wouldn't have that. She will never be able to talk to her own mom about all those special moments in her life.

"My name is Rachael by the way." The woman said as Justin came back with a large blanket.

"Did you call?" He asked as he spread the blanket on the floor. There wasn't much space because of the seats, but it was better than sitting. Alex came out of her stupor and nodded.

"Alright, help me with her." They both helped Rachael lay down.

They both looked down at Rachael as she breathed deeply. Alex took a side glance at Justin and saw how he was trying to stay calm, but on the inside she knew he was probably freaking out. "Maybe you should get her a pillow." She said. Alex watched as Justin mindlessly nodded and left.

The corner of her mouth raised a little.

Justin came back with a pillow and helped Rachael put it under her head. Alex thought for a moment and looked at Justin. "She's starting to sweat a lot. Can you go get a small towel?" Again he nodded and left. This time a small smile grew on her face. When he came back, he wiped Rachael's sweat from her face and then handed it to Alex. She stared at him for a few moments. "Justin she's going to get dehydrated at this rate. You should go get her some water." Once more he left and her smile grew. This should be good.

"She's going to get hungry, get a sandwich."

"How about a soda?"

"Dutch tape."

"A stuffed bunny would be nice."

"…keychain."

It was around the time when he came back with a water gun and a scowl on his face, she had to try hard not to drop to the floor and laugh. The driver snickered and looked the other way as Justin walked in. Alex smiled innocently as he walked over to them and threw the water gun on one of the empty seats. Rachael couldn't help, but laugh a little even though she was in pain. Justin sat down and gave Alex a death glare.

"Justin, she needs another pillow."

If looks could kill…

Rachael smiled apologetically at him. "I'm sorry Justin. I really do need another one."

Justin stood up and grumbled as he walked away. The driver by now knew the drill and this time laughed as he opened the door for him. Alex couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing hard. "He's so easy sometimes." Rachael shook her head as she giggle before another wave of pain came.

"That was a mean trick to do." She said.

Alex waved it off. "He's used to it. Besides it's how we have fun…or more like I have fun." She said, smiling.

Rachael smiled and stared at the ceiling. "Just don't have too much fun." Alex looked at her a bit confused. "I bet you two have another kind of fun too." She said as she looked down to see Justin coming back into the bus. "Just remember me the next time you're alone with your boyfriend. It'll help you on the long run." Alex stared at her as Justin attended her. Did she just get 'The Talk' from a woman giving birth? Alex shook her head. This was turning out to be a strange day…Okay, maybe not so strange for them considering how they ended up in this situation.

Time passed as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. Alex sat with her back on the window once more bored. She didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt like hours. She turned her head to a few seats behind her. It was probably worse for Rachael, being stuck on the floor instead of a nice bed. She looked over at Justin, sitting across from her.

"Justin, how much longer until the ambulance gets here?" She asked, bored.

Justin looked out the window. "The cars are starting to move more. The traffic should clear up soon."

Alex groaned and banged her head against the window. "I just want to go home." She whined.

Justin narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah, but because of someone we can't and I don't mean Rachael."

"It was your idea to take the bus in the first place." She argued.

"And it's your fault we're stuck in it." He took a worried glance behind at Rachael. "It's a good thing going into labor takes hours, otherwise, we would have been in serious trouble."

"Yeah, we are really lucky." Alex said, sarcastically. "How was I supposed to know my made up word was an actual spell." She mumbled. "I mean what were the chances of that happening again? I could probably say something like…adcileres-" A bright light flashed around them.

Suddenly Rachael started screaming.

"ALEEEEEEEEEEEEEX!"

The next day wasn't as eventful as the day before, which was fine by Justin. He could have died of happiness when the ambulance arrived short after Alex's second slip. No, today wasn't as troublesome, but it was still a very hard day of work. Ralph had a lot of boxes full of antiques that had to be moved for new items. They weren't exactly weightless either. Then Zack had to double their usual routine for reasons he didn't even know. Something about a date going wrong and didn't get any…tension release. He just happened to be at the receiving end. It was no wonder Alex came home to a dark apartment. After locking the door she dragged her feet to her room and then to the bathroom without a word. Apparently Justin wasn't the only one that had a rough day. She took her time with the hot water, relaxing her tense muscles. When she was done she changed into something more comfortable and headed to the kitchen.

"Justin, did you eat already?" She tiredly asked. She looked through the fridge, seeing if there was anything to eat. She took a few things out and put them on the small counter. It was then when she realized nobody had answered her. Alex's drowsy eyes looked over to the living room, where the only light was coming from the television. Justin was fast asleep on the couch laying on his side. Alex shrugged and tiredly made her sandwich.

When Alex was done eating, she cleaned everything up and moved out of the kitchen. In her tired state she looked between the hallway and the living room. She walked over to the couch and without a word dropped on it with her back towards him. She laid her head on his sprawled arm and her back pushed against his chest to make room for her.

"Move." She said in a tired voice.

She felt him stir, but other than that, he didn't gave a sign that he was awake. Satisfied that she had room, Alex closed her eyes and relaxed. Minutes later his arm snaked over her stomach and not a word was said until…

"You have a bed you know." He said in a sleepy voice.

"It's too far." She said, equally tired.

Justin lightly sniffed her hair with his closed eyes. "You showered."

"Well duh." She sighed and snuggled closer into him.

"Hard day at work?" He lazily lowered his hand down her stomach and his thumb found its way under her shirt. He lightly started brushing her skin soothingly.

She hummed in response and at the feel of his touch.

"You didn't do anything you weren't supposed to right?"

Alex lazily smiled and turned her head back to him. "I don't know, maybe. I am a naughty girl after all." Whether it was intentional or not, her butt pressed back to a certain part of his body.

Justin smiled tiredly. "Maybe I should punish you then." He didn't know if it was because of the state he was in, but he responded in return by pressing that certain part back into her.

She giggled when she felt him press back. Alex rested her head back on its original spot on his arm and went back to catching sleep. "Maybe you should, but right now sleep."

Alex didn't know it, but at that moment she developed a new habit.

I don't know how long it takes me to update chapters, but it feels like a while, sorry about that. Thanks to all those who review my story, it really motivates. This chapter hopefully is to be enjoyed...does that make sense?...I'm just going to leave it there anyway. Reviews are good yes, yes they are.