For Gwendolyn Tennyson, spring break wasn't a vacation; it was a chance to catch up. With an Ivy League workload and the responsibility of protecting the study body as Lucky Girl on her plate, there wasn't enough time in the day to finish everything. She had been selectively sacrificing assignments to spread the damage evenly over all her classes, but her GPA had still declined more than she would like to admit. Now was her chance to change that.

She had returned to Bellwood only hours ago, but her face was already buried in a textbook. She wasn't in her own room, unfortunately. Kevin insisted on stopping by Ben's place so he could try out the new Sumo Slammers game. Uncle Carl had let Gwen use his work room so she could theoretically study in peace, but even from the other side of the house she could hear the boys whooping and hollering and trash-talking each other.

Just when she managed to drown the noise out, another sound caught her attention. A loud thump came from the window to her right. By the look of it, whatever hit the glass had cracked it on impact. She panicked. Her aunt and uncle were not going to be happy about this.

Upon closer inspection, Gwen realized that it wasn't a crack at all. It was a small burst of ice crystals, like an oversized, misshapen snowflake stuck to the glass. Not a normal sight for spring, especially in California.

She made her way to the back door, her eyes flashing magenta as she scanned the mana of whatever was outside. It didn't seem like much of a threat. It was small, maybe the size of a cat, and didn't have much of an aura around it. Its life force was draining fast.

She found it outside, sprawled belly-up on top of an azalea bush. The tiny creature whimpered and weakly twitched its leathery wings in a vain attempt to turn over. One of its legs was covered with a stinking blue liquid, which confused Gwen at first, until she saw that it was dripping from a deep gash on its thigh. Blood.

"Suck it, Tennyson!"

Ben clenched his jaw and threw his controller onto the coffee table. Kenko the Shapeshifter beat his chest in victory on the TV. Kevin looked close to doing the same.

"Best four out of seven?" Kevin asked, nudging the other with his elbow. Ben looked away and tried not to snarl. Kevin had never even played this game before, but had already wiped the floor with him three matches in a row.

Before Ben could respond, he was distracted by a sharp scent, a mixture between metallic and sour. Usually strange smells didn't bother him—probably his mom trying some new vegan recipe—but this odor tugged at his stomach and tightened his throat. At first he read the feeling as disgust, but that wasn't right. It was closer to terror.

Kevin was saying something, but Ben wasn't listening. He turned towards the source of the smell and saw his cousin coming down the hallway. Something blue was cradled in her arms.

"Guys, we have a problem," Gwen said. "I found this outside. It's hurt. I patched it up the best I could, but I don't know if—"

Ben didn't let her finish. An invisible force which he could neither comprehend nor control was driving his body. He got up and snatched the object from her, only realizing what he had done after he had it in his arms. Whatever it was, it was freezing cold.

"Ben, what the heck!" Gwen shook his shoulders, snapping him out of his trace.

Ben blinked at her. "What?"

"Be careful with it," she scolded, reaching out to take it back. "You're going to hurt it even more."

"I am being careful!" He recoiled from her hand, turning so that his body was between her and... whatever he was holding. What was it, anyway? He had a gut feeling, and one glance down confirmed his suspicions.

In Ben's arms was a tiny baby Necrofriggian. It was still in the larval stage, pudgy and compact, with stumpy limbs that it waved around in an silent cry for the human boy hold it closer. The segments of its bulging green eyes had contracted in a way that was meaningless to a human, but Ben had spent enough time as Big Chill to identify it as an expression of fear.

He couldn't resist its signals. He hugged it tight to his chest, rocking forward and back slightly to soothe it. He wasn't sure why that motion occurred to him, but it seemed to be working. The baby vibrated in contentedness.

"Oh my god." Kevin got up and looked over Ben's shoulder. "Is that yours?"

That wasn't something Ben wanted to think about. He was positive it was one of those babies that Big Chill had birthed over a year ago, and seeing it again caught him completely off-guard. His mind wanted to forget that the whole embarrassing ordeal ever happened, but his heart was screaming for him to keep holding on to the larva and never let it out of his sights again.

He just nodded.

Kevin burst out laughing. "Holy crap!" He slapped the other boy teasingly on the back a little too hard, making him stumble forward. The sudden motion made the larva cry out in pain.

Ben cringed at the sound and pulled away from Kevin, then glared at him. "Watch it!" He stroked the baby's head to calm it down. It purred and snuggled up to him, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Awww, isn't that sweet," Kevin cooed. "You're such a good mommy."

Heat rushed into Ben's face. The embarrassment overpowered his instincts, and he pried the larva off himself, holding it at arms length. He noticed a blue-stained bandage wrapped around its leg. "How'd it get hurt?" He tried not to sound concerned, but it didn't work.

"No idea," Gwen said. "I patched it up as well as I could. The cut's pretty deep."

The larva stared at Kevin, growing increasingly agitated and squirming so much that Ben had to put it down on the coffee table. It limped to the far side, away from Kevin, and covered its head with its wings.

"I don't think it likes you," Gwen said, trying not to smile.

Kevin frowned and shrugged. "It's probably just hungry or something."

Ben nearly objected, until he realized that Kevin had a point. Even if it wasn't hungry at the moment, it would be soon. "You think there's enough solar radiation on Earth to feed it?" he asked Gwen.

She shook her head. "I doubt it."

He started scrolling through the Omnitrix playlist, considering each of his aliens as their icons came up. "Maybe there's an alien that can do it. NRG?"

"NRG radiates different kinds of particles than the sun," she pointed out. "You would probably kill it."

He stopped fiddling with the Omnitrix. "Maybe we should go the all-natural way." He stared expectantly at Kevin.

"No way." Kevin crossed him arms and snarled. "I'm not flying you all the way into space so you can feed that thing."

Gwen shot him a distraught look. "Kevin! You're just going to let it starve?"

"It's Ben's kid, so it's Ben responsibility. Besides, I'm low on gas."

"Yeah right, you have three weeks of fuel stocked in the back."

"That's for emergencies."

"This is an emergency!"

Ben sighed and flopped onto the couch. Gwen and Kevin were still arguing about the spaceship, but he wasn't listening.

If all else failed, he could go Jetray and carry the larva into space himself. He liked that idea better, even if he ran the risk of turning back to human while in space. At least he wouldn't have to deal with anyone else. He still couldn't decide whether he was mortified or elated about the larva showing up, and he wanted some alone time to work that out.

The baby peeked out from under its wing at Ben. It tried to crawl towards him, but its injured leg was making that too difficult, so could only drag itself along on its stomach. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Usually he wasn't a sucker for cuteness, but there was something irresistible about the larva.

Unable to stop himself, he gently lifted it into his lap and rubbed the base of its wings. It squealed with delight and snuggled up against his stomach. Happiness in its purest form filled him, a feeling that he hadn't experienced in a long time. He couldn't stop grinning.

"It's alright, little guy," he murmured to it. "Everything's gonna be fine now, okay?" He brought it up to his chest, and it pushed its head against the bottom of his chin and purred.

He spent a whole minute cuddling the baby and cooing sweet nothings before he realized that his friends had stopped arguing and were staring at him. Gwen seemed overjoyed by the turn of events. Kevin looked on in disbelief, and as soon as Ben noticed him, he started laughing his head off.

"I knew you're more in touch with you feminine side than most," Kevin said between chortles, "but this is ridiculous!"

Gwen gave him a glare that might as well have been a punch in the face, but he ignored it.

"Hold on, I need a picture of this." He rifled through his pockets in search of his phone. "This is gold."

Before Kevin could get a shot, Ben put the larva back onto the table, resisting the urge to pet it again. His face turned deep red. "Shut up!"

Gwen put her hand on Kevin's phone and lowered it. "Seriously Kevin, quit it. We have to figure this out."

Kevin huffed. "Fine. Say, Rook has a ship, doesn't he? Why don't you—"

"No!" The loudness and suddenness of Ben's response made the larva retreat under its wings again.

His cousin raised an eyebrow. "Why not? It's a good idea. And we're not getting into space any other way, apparently." She glowered at Kevin again.

Ben went silent. As far as he knew, Rook didn't know about the whole Big Chill incident—it wasn't in his Plumber file, he had checked—and the last thing he wanted was his new partner bugging him about the larvae. A year of dealing with Kevin had been bad enough.

"Fine," he said. "I don't know if he's up for it, but... I'll ask."

"But what are we going to do once we get it up there?" Kevin asked. "Do we just leave it there?"

"No way!" Ben shouted.

The other snickered. "Aww, Ben doesn't want to let go of his little baby!"

"I didn't say that." He looked away and gritted its teeth. "I mean, it's still wounded, it might not make it. We'll give it a few days and then leave it. Just because I don't want to keep it doesn't mean I want to kill it."

"So you're gonna fly up to the sun every day so it can eat?" Kevin crossed his arms and sighed, a mocking grin still on his face. "I sure hope Rook's up for that."

"He won't have to be," Gwen said, making her way to the front door and grabbing her bag. "I think I have a spell that can help. I can make a talisman that will store solar radiation for later. We'll be able to feed it for a week." She opened the door and gestured for Kevin to follow her. "Come on, I need to get a spellbook from my room. And I need someone to quiz me on the way," she added, pulling a stack of flashcards out of her bag.

Sensing that any further resistance to his girlfriend would land him in the doghouse, Kevin obliged without argument, and met Gwen at the door. Just before leaving, he turned to look at Ben one more time, shook his head and smirked. "Have fun with your new baby, mommy."

Whether Kevin left in a rush or Gwen yanked him out the door, Ben couldn't tell. What mattered was that they were gone, and it was just him and the larva.

Ben took out his phone and was about to dial for Rook when his gaze drifted back to the baby. It was shifting from its side to its stomach, trying to get comfortable on the hard wood of the table. The poor thing needed somewhere more comfortable to sit. Glancing around to check if the coast was clear, he picked it up and carried it to his bedroom. He tried not to look it in the eyes along the way.

Once or twice he caught himself stroking its wings, but he always stopped himself, much to the disappointment of the Necrofriggian. Initially it was because of embarrassment; no matter how many times he checked that the room was empty, his gut kept telling him that he was being watched, that people were laughing at him.

Besides, he couldn't afford to get too attached to this thing. He had to let it go in a few days. A part of him desperately wanted to keep it, but he knew that was a bad idea. He was a superhero, he didn't have time to take care of a baby alien.

Once he was in his room, he placed the larva on his bed and left immediately. It was probably doing something adorable, like burying its fat head under the blankets or something, and he didn't want to see any more of it. Well, maybe he did want to, but he couldn't afford to. He had things to do, and if the larva got him in its clutches again, he'd be stuck babying over it for hours.

He made a mental to-do list in order to distract himself as he walked to the kitchen. One, get something to eat. Two, call Rook. Three, do some battle training with Whampire. That would keep him occupied until it was time to leave. He was in the middle of step one when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He closed the fridge and answered. "Hello?"

"Hello Ben," Rook greeted from the other end. Speak of the devil.

"Just the dude I needed to talk to," he said. "Think you could do me a favor?"

"That would depend on the favor. But first, there is business to discuss."

"Business?" Ben leaned against the fridge and raised an eyebrow. "Is something up?" Ben had dealt with his fair share of common crooks and standard alien havoc that week, but there hadn't been any signs of activity from the bigger intergalactic criminals.

"That is one way of putting it. You remember those reports of Psyphon running free that we received earlier?"

Ben snorted with laughter. "Oh right, those." The guy who had come in to make that report has been a total whackjob. There was video evidence that Psyphon had been in prison that whole time.

"Well, it appears that they were not as unfounded as we thought," Rook continued. "The prisoner turned out to be another of the same species, and Psyphon was caught on a security camera within our sector. He is, in fact, running free."

"So I guess we're going after him?"

"Magister Tennyson has given us the coordinates of where Psyphon was spotted. We are to track him down and capture him. I am on my way to pick you up now."

"Awesome!" Even if this wasn't the most exciting mission, Ben was still pumped to get out of the house and do something. There would be time to practice with Whampire later.

"What was that favor you wanted?" Rook asked.

"Oh, right." Ben glanced down the hall in the direction of his bedroom. "Well, since we're going into space anyway, I was wondering if we could take a little detour..."