"We're Not a Family Without You." (A Thundermans Return AU)

Chapter 3: Worst Birthday Ever

A.N. This part is a bit shorter than the other two parts I've already posted. I'm still uploading stuff I already have done. I wasn't writing this in chapters on the doc I'm using, so I'm trying to find good places to break it into chapters, so bear with me here. Enjoy!

—————————————————————————

Back in Hiddenville, Hank and Barb woke up to their alarm. They walked downstairs to see Billy and Nora were in the kitchen, each eating a bowl of cereal.

"Kids, we need to talk to you real quick," Barb started, sitting in a chair across from Nora.

"What's up, Mom?" Nora asked.

"Do you guys know what today is?" Hank asked, standing behind his wife.

Billy and Nora shared a look.

"Friday?" Billy answered.

"Yes, and?" Barb prompted.

"March 22nd?" Nora guessed.

"Yes, and do you know what that means?" Barb asked.

Billy and Nora knew the answer their parents were looking for, but they didn't want to say it. "Max's birthday," they answered at last.

"Exactly," Hank confirmed.

"This is Max's first birthday without Phoebe," Barb sighed. "This is going to be hard on him. We all just need to be aware of that."

The air was silent after what Barb said. Finally, Nora nodded. "Right. We know, Mom. Now, we gotta get to school. Come on, Billy."

The two grabbed their school bags, then they left through the side door.

"Billy, what are we going to do?" Nora asked. "I know we all miss Phoebe, but I can't even begin to imagine how much harder all of this is on Max. I mean, we haven't even seen him in two months, and we live in the same house as him."

"I know, Nora. It's really bad," Billy agreed.

"We need to do something," Nora decided. "I know that losing Phoebe was hard on this family, but do you really think she would want to see her family like this?"

Billy thought for a moment. "No. She wouldn't."

"Exactly," Nora said. "And we're gonna make Max realize that. After all, with Phoebe gone, Max is now the leader of our team."

"You're right. But, we can't just make him get over this," Billy pointed out.

"And we aren't going to. We just need to remind him of who he and Phoebe were. Leaders. And we just have to make him see that without his leadership, this family is falling apart," Nora explained.

"Right," Billy said, nodding in understanding.

"We'll talk to him after school today," Nora decided.

With that, they kept walking to school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in Metroburg, it was clear that a fight was starting. Max put a protective arm in front of Chloe. "Chloe, get behind me," he advised.

Chloe did as he said, and hid behind Max. Then she paused, and poked her head out a little. "Wait. You were already in our house. Why did you come all the way back to Metroburg instead of just destroying us at our house?"

"For dramatic effect, duh!" Balfour argued.  

"How'd you even know we would come back here?" Max asked.

"Yeah, this doesn't seem like a very solid plan," Chloe pointed out.

"Ugh, could you guys just shut up and let me destroy you?!" Balfour whined.

"Max, use your freeze breath," Chloe whispered to her eldest brother.

Max had forgotten that he even had freeze breath. He tried to use it, but it wasn't working.

"What's wrong? Why isn't it working?" Chloe asked.

"I haven't used it in two months; that's what's wrong!" Max admitted. "Man, this is the worst birthday ever," he complained.

"Oh, it's your birthday?" Balfour asked, putting down the ray gun temporarily. "Happy birthday!" Balfour then remembered he was supposed to be a villain, so he raised the blaster again. "Too bad it'll be your last."

Max hid Chloe behind him, putting a protective arm in front of her.

"Now, say goodbye, you two," Balfour said, holding up some sort of ray gun, aiming it at Max, with Chloe standing behind her older brother.

Max wasn't sure what to do. Phoebe was always the one who really made the calls. Without her, Max didn't know how to lead. Max glanced at his youngest sister. He had to protect her. That, he did know. Max faced off against Balfour. He stood protectively in front of Chloe as Balfour fired off the ray gun.