December 25 2014, Thursday
06:38 PM.

It's a fresh and very quiet evening in the suburbs. The snow that Max gave to his family using the machine he built to freeze the water supply, was still out there covering the whole city, no matter what the news said before. No one could say that there wasn't a good Christmas in the Thundermans house. This day everything went better than Phoebe expected, even if she thought she was having a weird dream last night, in which Max tried to steal all the Christmas decorations and presents from the house. But now, she was sure that he would never do something like that.

Phoebe was trying to remember the last time they had a Christmas all together and happy, but she couldn't. When she saw with her own eyes that her brother was dressed as one of Santa's elves smiling and hanging out with the family, she could hardly believe it. He even gave a nice gift for Nora and baked some figgy pudding for everyone. He looked like a completely different person.

Without a doubt, Phoebe was still surprised with the "new Max Thunderman" but some hours ago, she decided to stop thinking about why he was acting like that, and preferred to focus on enjoying the day with her family. She didn't even care to think if he was just temporary changing due to holidays, or if he was truly changing his life. One way or another, seeing Max all nice and caring with his family, was making her very happy. It was something she wanted so much since a long time ago.

Now the whole family was at the kitchen's table, playing Monopoly. Almost 4 hours has passed since they installed the board and none of them seemed bored yet , specially Max, and much to Phoebe's surprise, now he had all the chances of winning, something weird for her because most of the times, she commonly win in this game. But in less than two hours, Max has bought almost every property on the game, and the money in his bank account was rising up to the sky. Normally, he wouldn't be playing with them, he used to say that he wasn't that good but now he looked like an expert. Besides, Phoebe had the impression that he was holding his abilities. Once again, no one thought this was weird.

"Max, stop torturing us. You can buy all the properties left and win the game." Billy says a little disappointed.

"Of course not Billy, everything can happen. If Phoebe gets a double 6 she could buy them and things can change. This is not over yet." Max replies, while analyzing the board.

"Just keep an eye on ThunderGirl, to see if she's not using her telekinesis to move the dices." Nora says without stop looking at Phoebe, after she took the dices to throw them.

"Nora! Phoebe would never do that." Max states, and right after he turned to face her and with a soft smile, he says: "Isn't that true twinnie?" making her nervous as she lowers her eyes.

"No... no, of course not." She answers smiling back, but trying to escape from his sight.

7:05 PM

The game lasted for 1 more hour, and just like they previously guessed, the ultimate winner was no one else but Max. After Barb, Hank, Nora and Billy fell into bankrupt, Phoebe managed to recover some of her money, and she stayed there for some time, but she couldn't defeat the financial empire that Max has built with his properties. At the end, she lost as well.

"Well it looks like Max has won. Very good son, thanks for having mercy this time." Hank congrats him, as he begins to put the board and all the other pieces in the box.

"Yeah, I love playing with my family, and well... what can I say? if Monopoly were real life, I'd possibly be the richest men in the world, and maybe Trump would be my butler." He says in a joking tone of voice, standing up from his chair.

"If you were the richest man, you would have planned something to take over the world right?" Phoebe said, staring right at him, not being able to hide her smile.

"Take over the world? Who do you think I am Pheebs? A villain or what?" He sarcastically asks, and after that he turned around to take an apple from a basket and take a bite of it.

Phoebe could not find the proper words, his answer didn't sound like something he would say. Changing his path knowing he was wrong, and acting like if he never wanted to be evil, were two different things. The confusion on her face was very clear because a couple years ago, he was still saying that he wanted to become the greatest villain of all times, but now, he seemed like he didn't care at all. She hadn't realized it yet, but Max and her little siblings has left the kitchen. She had been thinking deeply for some seconds, until Barb's voice brought her back to reality:

"Phoebe, while I prepare dinner, can you please go to the mailbox and bring the letters?" She says while she takes everything she needs for Christmas dinner.

"Uhmm... yeah, sure." She replies, with difficulty.

Right away, Phoebe walked to the entrance and crossed the door. She walked through the yard till she found herself in front of the house. Once she was there, she took out all the letters from the mailbox, and took a look on some of them but the snow was still falling, so she rushed to get back to the house. When she walked in the living room, Hank was watching T.V. and Barb was dealing with the dinner. She thought her siblings were gone to their rooms, so she went to see her dad, and taking one of the letters, she says:

"Hey Dad look, Aunt Maggie has sent us a letter. I bet she has good news about my clone and Colosso's."

"That's great, can I see the letter?" Hank asks without moving from his favorite armchair.

Phoebe put the letter in his hands and after that, she placed the rest of the correspondence in the room table. But after remembering her clone thanks to Aunt Maggie's letter, she begins thinking about Max, once again, and she realized that there were past 7 and she hadn't gave the Christmas present to him. The present she hide in her closet last night. So without thinking twice, she quickly goes to her room to take it and personally give it to him.

A couple minutes later she was walking out of her room with the box in her hands, and she walked down the stairs very fast. She was anxious to see her twin's reaction as soon as she opened the gift.

7:18 PM

Once she got to the living room, Phoebe walked near the kitchen and it was impossible for Barb not to see the present she was carrying, and she couldn't hide her curiosity:

"Is that your twin gift?" Barb asks, as she sees her daughter with a smile.

Phoebe always used to call the present she gave to Max every Christmas "twin gift", even if he never give anything back to her, she didn't care about it. Regardless, every year she was still secretly hoping that her true show of affection could finally be reciprocal, one day.

"Yeah, I hope he'll like it." Phoebe says, lowering her gaze.

"He'll love it sweetie, and I'm sure you'll love his gift too. Really, I swear sometimes you seem like you read each other's mind." She answers, turning around to take a look on the oven.

After hearing her mother's words, Phoebe didn't know what to say, because she couldn't understand what she meant when she said all the 'mind reading' thing. She knew better than anyone that Max never gave her anything, but she wasn't feeling good to talk about the hurting details, and she only tried to know one more thing:

"Is Max in his lair?" The teenager asks.

"Well... yeah, he said he would be down there but... Lair? You think your brother has turned into a villain or something?" Barb says, almost laughing after Phoebe's insinuation.

At that very moment, Phoebe realized that every time she says something related to Max, she notices some inconsistencies. She wasn't sure why everyone seemed to forget about his old intentions. But just like she did in the morning, she tried to ignore what was happening, and she just pressed the button for the slide's door. Once it's opened, she threw herself while holding Max's present with her bare hands.

7:20 PM

After sliding down, she finally arrived at the lair and landed on Max's bed, but she threw herself with such strength that she lost control and rolled a couple times until she fell. However, she didn't touch the floor because in a split second, someone stopped her from falling. Max was near the bed and after seeing his sister was in danger, he reacted just in time and rushed to catch her. Now she's safe and sound in his arms.

"Phoebe, are you okay?" Max asks her, very worried.

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine. Thank you." She replies, not being able to stop looking at his eyes.

For a second, she almost forgot why she walked down there, and when she could finally move, she nervously tried to get down from his lap. Max understood what she was trying to do and put her down immediately. Suddenly, Phoebe had an awkward feeling but she tried to ignore it and focus on what she had to say.

"I... came here to give you this present." She says trying to get rid of her anxiety.

But after seeing her hands, Phoebe could realize that she didn't have the present anymore, because after she her falling, it rolled across the floor and stopped in the middle of the room. She spotted it by the artificial rocks, and walked there to grab the box, and then she put the box in Max's hands.

"Merry Christmas Max, I... dropped it when I fell off, sorry." She explained, a little ashamed.

"Thanks Pheebs... and don't worry, you're okay that's all that matters." He says, making Phoebe's heart skip a beat after hearing what he just said. This concerned side was completely new.

Right after, Max begins to open his gift, without stop smiling while doing it. He took off the red present bow and removed the tape to unwrap the paper. Once he opened the box, his smile has grown after seeing the content of the box. There was a black leather jacket inside of it.

"Wow! It's awesome Pheebs! I love it!" He excitedly says.

"I'm glad you like it. But... put it on." The girl suggests him, as she helps him with the box.

Max has the jacket in his hands, and he carefully watches it, just before unfolding it. Some seconds later he was now using his new jacket, and he couldn't be happier with it. It was his exact size.

"Max you look so... good." Phoebe said, unsecure of the words she was pronouncing.

For a short second she was about to tell him "you look so hot" but she managed to realize it, just in time to say something else. Phoebe could not understand why she was getting so nervous in Max's presence. She had experienced this in the past, but not like this.

"Thank you Pheebs. Uhmm... I guess it's my turn." He said, and after that, he goes to his desk and from a drawer, he takes an elegant black box with a grey bow on it. He hands it to his sister, as he says with a big smile: "Merry Christmas Phoebe."

She sees the little box he gave her, and for some reason she didn't doubt of his kindness. A sincere smile was drawn on her face. This Christmas, she wasn't expecting any presents from Max. Normally he won't give a present to her, but this day he seemed so different. It was like Max was finally showing the side she always wanted to see. And when she looked directly at him again, he quickly say:

"Come on! Open it!" Max says, very enthusiastic.

Then, Phoebe takes off the top of the box, and what she saw there, left her speechless. There was a necklace with a small gold pendant with a 6 letter word "PHOEBE". The young hero could hardly say a single word after this, and she could only make her smile grow after seeing the cute gift he was giving to her.

"Max thank you so much! It's perfect!" She said when she could finally speak.

"I'm glad that you liked it." Max replies very happy, after seeing her reaction.

None of them had realized it yet, but after that, they stayed just right there, looking at each other for several seconds. It was like if they were waiting for the other to do something. But suddenly, Phoebe breaks the silence:

"Can you help me with it?" She excitedly asks him, as she hands him the necklace.

"Of course Pheebs." Max replies, taking the necklace form her hands at the same time.

Right after, she turned around and took her hair with both hands. She placed it on her left shoulder to help him with his task. Max put his hands around her neck to buckle the necklace, but in the meantime, it gave Phoebe the chills with the simple contact of his hands on her neck. She felt Max was strangely close to her and she was even more confused. Especially when she thought she was feeling his breath against her skin, very softly.

"Okay, It's ready." Max says, after buckling the collar.

Phoebe turned to face him, but Max didn't move from his position, so they ended up face to face, with a few inches between them, which got Phoebe very nervous, and she quickly took a step behind, putting some distance from him.

"So... how do I look like?" Phoebe asks with a soft smile.

"Well, just like you said, perfect." He replies, as he looks directly in her eyes.

But before she know it, Phoebe got really blush after she heard what he said, but no matter how much she tried, this time she couldn't escape from his eyes. They stood there, just staring at each other, it was like if there was some kind of strange force that was calling for them, keeping them close to each other, and barely able to move. At that very moment, they heard someone calling them from behind:

"Max, Phoebe... dinner's ready." Barb says, as she opens the room's door.

To be continued...