MERRY CHRISTMAS (Here is your early present haha)! Ah It's almost funny to see myself here, on this side, cuz I know perfectly how annoying it is to wait for the author's update… Sorry! At least it is the last time I made you wait! Thank you for bearing with me, for waiting, for liking and coming back to see this story finish. I hope it does your wishes justice (although, I know, endings usually don't)! Goodbye and Thank You! (The story is over 12k views and that is almost a dream to me, it's so many people that I touched through my writing I have nothing but good feelings! Also I'll be posting a thundercest oneshot I wrote sometime ago in the next few days ^-^)

"We crave what we can't have.
And now I know how Juliet felt about her Romeo"

Closing Max's door behind her Phoebe couldn't think of anything other than the night before. Nothing happened, but it did… It was all so innocent, as she told him she wanted to be with him, he hugged her and then suddenly when she came to her senses, it became something else and a soft trail of kisses overwhelmed her, there was the first moment she could have but did not stop it, not when it left her neck and made its way to her face and got so close to her lips, so close. But suddenly Phoebe mastered all her will, because she couldn't kiss him, not yet, she knew there would be no way back from that, so she took his hand and they slept, only that, nothing else, nothing more, and yet it still feels like she betrayed it all, her family, her friends, herself.

A muffled sound brought her back to the present and, even if for only a moment, made her forget the shame she felt. As Phoebe reaches the living room, she realizes both kids weren't in the sofa and as much for her own surprise she finds herself upset, only now coming to realize she was counting on looking at them sleeping peacefully, clearly happy for being together, at least one more time before reality struck her, but she didn't get the chance and for all she knew wouldn't be getting again.

She found them easily, holding hands in the kitchen aisle looking as lost as one can be. Her eyes travelled from their hands, untangling as they noticed her presence, to their faces and caught the fear in them. "- Good morning guys… what's going on?"

"We just can't, it won't work" - Barb said before glancing one last time to her brother, getting up and angrily walking past Phoebe to the sofa, her hurry hiding momentarily the tears falling silently in her face. Hank sighed "we think we found out how to go back, but it doesn't work. Something is missing and we can't understand what it is…" maybe he should be mad but for now all he could reason was his frustration, he really thought he got it.

"Already? You were going back already?" - Phoebe put her thoughts in order of what she had just heard "worst, you were going back without even saying goodbye?" She could cry of how much that one realization hurt but instead she held her guard and waited for an answer.

"We were going back to you, mom" Barb's voice was barely louder than a whisper and still it managed to break the girl's heart, to streak her like a tornado, yes they were going back to the parents they knew, not her, the girl that they thought was ashamed of them. She couldn't let them leave yet, not before they had a chance to talk. She turned to the young girl in the couch covering her face with her hands, slowly she walked over and kneeled in front of her. "Barb, darling, I'm the same as her in the same ways I'm not, I need you guys to understand that. That I already love you, unconditionally somehow, and even if this is all too much and too new for me to comprehend it all, my fear isn't bigger than my love and will never be. I'm sorry." - Barb looked up with eyes sparkling and Phoebe turned to Hank silently waiting as he sat next to his sister and took her hands in his. "- I'm sorry for how you grew up and how me and Max couldn't be the perfect couple you imagined, that could give you a family with aunts, uncles and grandparents, I'm sorry that we put this burden on your shoulders. But I can't be sorry for you. I already love you two too much to even consider not being able to love you one day, to see your little faces in my arms." - She was crying now too. "- Please try to understand us someday, I don't dare to ask you to forgive us, but please try to understand.

"We already have." - Hank said it looking in to his mothers eyes but turned to his twin to be sure he was speaking for both of them, she gave him the smallest confirmation, he continued "- It was the biggest betrayal of our lives getting here and learning the truth learning why talking about the past was a taboo we couldn't dare to touch all throughout our lives. Now we know. Now we understand. Now it makes sense all the protection, the powers we had and couldn't use. The powers you two hid from us for 16 years for our protection. We understand Phoebe and we can forgive you, it hurts, of course it still hurts, but if all the unforgivable things you did was so that we could be alive today, how can we not forgive you?" He only stopped when she heard it all, his voice broke but he continued, her tears didn't stop and his sister was squeezing his hand harder but still he needed to be sure she knew her kids would never hate her or be disgusted of them for feelings they had no power over, no choice of stopping.

Everything happened at once

One second Phoebe was getting up and putting her arms around them, hugging her yet to be born kids, and in the next their hands were shining, there in the middle of the hug intertwined together and with a gold glimmer around them. Phoebe let go and as soon as she saw the light she knew her goodbye was cut short. "- I need to get Max!"

"There's no time mom, I'm sorry..." Hank squeezed his hand tighter "Tell dad we forgive him too and will never stop loving both of you, not for any reason"

The last thing Phoebe saw was her daughter mouthing a last "I love you" before she was blinded by light and everything vanished.

Their house definitely had way too many places to hide and between them all, the little hallway between the mudroom and the living room was the most obvious one of them, and that's where the twins found themselves as soon as they came back. Before they could move any muscle they heard their mother's voice mumbling and shortly after, their father's. Soon they could make out words "- They can't know, not yet, I'm not ready to lose them yet Max" "- It's coming sooner or later darling, we both know we can't keep lying forever the past will catch up to us" "- I know, I know but I can't, not yet, I prefer she hates me for not knowing than telling her and seeing the hurt and being the one who caused…"

"You don't need to" Before Hank could stop or even process everything their parents were saying, his sister walked in and interrupted their whispered conversation. "- We know, we were there. Well you should know too, you were also both there"

Their mother's face went to a thousand expressions before settling for a painful look. "- We calculated we still had a year left before you went back, before you had to know" - she grabbed her husband's hand and looked to the ground to continue "- I'm sorry you guys had to find out everything like this"

"I'm not, now that the shock is over, I'm beginning to understand every why I ever had while growing up and most of all, now I know all you had to give up to be able to love each other and us and I can never blame you for that" Her mother was crying again "Oh mom! You still cry for everything!"

"I can't help it, I can't believe how much you two grew up… thank you"

Thank You