I do not own Ben 10.

Ok, I got the idea for this story after reading another fan fiction by 'loveablecub' the story was called 'A Year Love and Trials' I tried to just take the idea of the story and make it my own but I am still giving credit where credit is due.

Chapter 1

It has been four years since Gwen left to go to a university, naturally, Kevin followed. Ben and Julie have been separated for two years now; no one knows why they split up. A month ago, Gwen and Kevin split up, they tried to get Gwen home afterwards but Gwen insisted that she would be staying until the end of term, December 1st, after that she would transfer to an online school.

December 1st rolled around and Ben waited at the train station to pick up Gwen. Gwen's mother wanted to pick her but couldn't because her husband was off doing something with Ben's father. Neither Ben or Gwen's father would be home during the holidays so Ben's mother agreed to set up his old room and Gwen would stay there until she got her own apartment.

Ben sat on the hood of his car looking cool but, on the inside, he was nervous waiting for his cousin. The train rolled in and Ben fought the urge to stand up, opting to look as cool as he could. She stepped off the train and Ben couldn't believe his eyes, she was so beautiful, she had grown her hair out again and it was tied back in a high pony. She was wearing a navy-blue sweater vest and a tan pencil skirt. But Ben knew he looked cool in his signature green jacket with the Omnitrix symbol on the back and the number 10 on his chest.

"Hey Gwen how are you doing?" Ben asked, getting off the car and giving her a hug. He was shocked when Gwen started to cry on his shoulder, shaking with silent tears. He just stood there, running his hand through her ponytail until she stopped.

"This last month has been hard, Kevin has been a pain in my ass trying to talk to me all the time. Finally, I got fed up and told the security guard that he was stalking me and not to allow him on campus." Gwen said, looking Ben in the eyes, a smile warmed her face.

Ben let go of Gwen and walked to the passenger door, opening it. "After you." Ben said, with a slight bow.

Gwen giggled, "Look at you being so civil, since when have you opened the door for me?" Ben just shrugged and closed her door and got into the driver seat. Gwen couldn't help but to stare as Ben drove away from the train station.

"So, where are we going first?" Gwen asked.

"I was thinking of taking you out to a nice restaurant, you know, as a welcome back kind of thing." Ben said, his voice was casual but his heart was racing, he was thinking of all the things he wanted to say to her, for so long he said nothing because she was dating Kevin, but maybe now, his brain thought, maybe now he could tell her he loved her.

He remembered confessing his feelings to Grandpa Max sometime after Gwen left for college, he wasn't shocked, in fact Max said he saw it coming ever since that first summer vacation when Ben got the Omnitrix. Now that she was coming back Grandpa Max warned Ben not to rush into telling her as Gwen would still be hurt over breaking up with Kevin, Ben could see now that Max was right.

"Where are you taking me?" Gwen asked, seeing Ben pull onto the Highway.

Ben pulled out a blindfold and said, "You have to wait and see." Gwen kept trying to peek and get Ben to tell her where they were going for the whole 25 minutes it took to get to the restaurant. "You can take off the blindfold now." Ben said, as he pulled up to the valet.

Gwen took off the blindfold and let out a small gasp, they were at a very nice restaurant named 'RPM Italian'. The valet helped Gwen out of the car while Ben got out too. Ben gave the keys to the valet along with a tip saying, "Don't scratch the paint, please."

In the restaurant Ben confirmed his reservation and the host lead them to a room marked private. It was a decent sized room, there was ivy growing up wall planters and small white lights were draped around the room, giving everything a nice glow. They sat down on a long, plush booth in front of a flattop grill.

Just as soon as the host left Ben's phone rang. "Hello?" Ben answered, Gwen gave him a nasty look and Ben mouthed "Grandpa". "…yeah…I figured after what happened…okay, just taking Gwen out to dinner. Tell everyone that I'll be home late and not to worry I got my keys." Ben hung up the phone and sighed.

Gwen looked worryingly at Ben, "What's wrong?" She asked

Ben sighed again, "You remember Rook?" Ben asked, Gwen nodded. "Well I just got told that he's leaving the plumbers and going back home." Ben let out yet another sigh, "I don't blame him, he hasn't been the same since our last mission when we lost Rebecca." His voice cracked when he mentioned Rebecca, he could feel tears forming in his eyes.

"Are you going to be ok?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry about it; tonight, is all for you." Ben said, wiping his eyes and putting on a gentle smile.

Gwen kissed Ben on the cheek then said, "Look at you, you're probably hurting inside from your loss and you're still trying to make me happy."

Ben smiled, "It's just because I've already made my peace with her death. And as for you and Kevin; I know what you're going through, I went through it when Julie and I broke up." Gwen started to say something but Ben cut her off, "I caught her having sex with Cash, in my bed, at my old apartment."

"Old apartment?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, I bought an apartment and put it in her name because I couldn't see not spending the rest of my life with her until then so now I own a house." Ben said, seeing the cook come in to take their order.

"Oh, so that's why you and her broke up. I always wondered, now I see why you didn't tell anyone, really sorry to hear that." She paused for a second, "So," Gwen started up again, looking away nonchalantly, "you said you have a house. I was wondering if you had room for a roommate." She tried to sound uninterested in the answer but she failed miserably.

Ben chuckled and said in a playful voice, "Well, I suppose I have room, if you don't want to live on your own or with your parents." Ben looked Gwen in the eyes and said more seriously, "Of course you can come live with me, I got plenty of room."

Gwen threw her arms around him saying, "Ooh thank you!" Ben hugged her back while thinking of how to get her stuff without alerting Kevin.

The cook finished cooking the food and put it on their plates. "Thank you." Ben said to the cook as he turned off the stove and left while it cleaned itself.

"This was so nice." Gwen said as her phone started to ring. She looked at it, Kevin was calling.

"Let me see that." Ben said, taking the phone and turning it off. "Now, what do you want to talk about?" Ben asked, putting the phone down onto the table.

They sat there and ate, Gwen kept trying to get Ben to tell her about the house and all he would say was, 'you'll find out after Christmas.'

Ben said, "Just so you know, I'll be taking you up to get your stuff after the holidays."

"Thank you, I don't think I could do it on my own while he's still trying to talk to me." Gwen replied sullenly.

Ben payed the bill then they started to leave when some girls came up to him and asked, "Can we have your autograph?"

Ben looked at Gwen and she said, "Go ahead." Gwen started to blush, she was so unused to Ben caring about how she felt about him doing all that celebrity stuff.

Ben signed their books then they gave him their numbers. Ben and Gwen walked out to the Valet who already had his car pulled up. Ben helped Gwen back into the passenger seat.

Before Ben got into the car he ripped up the numbers and gave them to the valet to throw away. When Ben got into the car Gwen asked, "Why did you throw away the numbers? You could have dated one of them."

"I haven't been on a date since Julie and I ended our relationship. Before you ask, I'm waiting for the perfect girl. I know where she is but I don't know if she feels the same for me." Ben said. Gwen started to blush hoping he was talking about her, because she loved him but she couldn't tell him herself.

Ben started driving to his mother's place where Ben and Gwen will be staying. Both of their moms planned this arrangement after they found out that Gwen was coming home.

Ben pulled up to his mother's house and said, "Okay, why don't you head up to my room. Don't worry about your bags; I got them." Ben said, and then in a playful tone said, "Wouldn't want you finding your Christmas present." He chuckled a little.

"You got me a present, you never give me presents." Gwen said shocked and, starting to blush.

"Well I did this year, now go, I want it to be a surprise." Ben said, getting out of his car. He stood by the car with his arms crossed as he tracked Gwen's movements to the house.

Once she was inside Ben got her bag out of the car and walked into the house. He made sure all the doors were locked and he went up to his room to find that Gwen was already in bed, but awake. "What are you still doing up, you must be tired after such a long day." Ben asked, placing Gwen's bag next to the couch that Ben was planning to sleep on.

"I just wanted to say goodnight" Gwen said. Ben walked over to the couch and laid down, smiling at Gwen.

"Goodnight Gwen." Ben said in a yawn. The last thing he remembered as he fell asleep was Gwen replying softly.

Around 1 o'clock in the morning Ben woke up to get some water, when he passed by the bed he could hear Gwen softly crying in her sleep. After drinking some water Ben pulled up a chair next to the bed and held Gwen's hand the rest of the night, falling asleep in a very awkward position.

TBC…

I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think. To 'loveablecub' if you read this I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think. (GD)