I do not own Ben 10.

Kevin watched as Ben took in another stray, someone who he was sure was trouble. Gwen tried to convince Ben not to and after she failed Kevin knew he had no chance. But that didn't mean that he didn't make his objections very well heard by the two fast friends.

"Ben, this is a bad idea even for someone of your IQ level, moron. This guy is bad news!"

"That guy is right here and he can hear you Kev! Why can't you see that he is not a bad guy?"

"Because he is!" Kevin defended. Why couldn't he see just see it?

"Ben," Gwen started. "Kev's right, we don't know anything about this guy. He could be another Mike complete with superpowers and we wouldn't know until too late."

"Or he could be another Rad, another Kevin. We don't know. Why can't we just believe the best in people?" Silence met his statement. Kevin just stared at him, he did not just go there.

"Why can't you just trust me?" Ben whispered and turned and walked away. All Gwen and Kevin could do was stare after him. What kind of retort could you make to that when you had the option of trusting him with your life and everyone else's almost daily?

….

The latest alien looked down at Ben, lying on the ground groaning before he slipped into unconsciousness. This last fight didn't seem like much until they discovered it was an ambush for Ben. Kevin was restrained and Gwen was behind a field of energy both desperately trying to free themselves and both knowing that it wasn't going to happen. Ben himself was doing well enough until some random alien distracted him with a blaster. From there it went downhill, Ben taking more and more hits, with Kevin and Gwen not being able to get away from their own opponents to help, until the final fatal blow. Ben transformed back to his human form from his injuries they caught Kevin and had some kind of field for Gwen.

This alien made it even worse by deciding to toy with them after Ben tried to get back on his feet. Suddenly Ben found himself flying through the air from one side of the industrial warehouse to the other before hitting the wall painfully and sliding down to a heap on the ground. The alien proceeded to grab Ben and throw him to the middle once more before kicking him to the wall and bringing him back to the middle, which is where Ben slid into the welcoming embraces of darkness. Reaching down to grab the unconscious hero, the alien suddenly found his hand blocked by a silvery metallic looking light, a light familiar to Gwen and Kevin.

"Don't touch him!" A voice snarled from the shadows, taking the form of Jake Keynes, the stray that Ben had found in the midst of fight, a fight where they were fighting for the same thing without knowing it while fighting each other. His blond hair shone over his tan features as he strode to Ben, strengthening his shield all the while. When he reached him his rage was clear in the way he tensed, his fists clenching and his eyes sparking silver. Looking up he said, "What have you done to him?" and brought his arms up to a folded position and spread them out wide, shouting. Silver exploded out blowing back everyone but Kevin and releasing Gwen from her cage of energy. Shield no longer needed, Jake focused his energies on healing Ben, but only being able to fix his ribs. Kevin and Gwen rushed over to the other side, lifting Ben to take him home.

….

Ben was healed as he could get, but still unconscious in the med room of yet another abandoned army base. Gwen stayed with him while Kevin and Jake left to get something to eat. Driving in silence along the road, Kevin could not take it anymore.

"Why did you stay? You almost did leave, but why didn't you?" He finally asked.

Jake looked at him for a moment, and then said, "Ben told me that once he met a boy who his family disliked, said he was trouble, but Ben stayed with him, trusted him, and became his friend. And when his family was right he tried to get the other to turn back until he couldn't anymore. And years later he met the boy again and gave him another chance. And I think we both know how that ended Kevin. I stayed for the same reason that you did. I stayed because Ben was the only one to give me a chance, the only one to believe that we could be good, not automatically the bad guy. We both know that behind that façade of his that he wears so well is a serious person, a person born to be a hero, one who believes in the goodness of someone until he can't anymore and then gives them another chance if they only ask for it. And no matter how annoying or strange he can be we stay because we know that's there anyway."

Kevin merely nodded, but both knew what that meant. And the next time a stray came and saved the day, they looked to each other knowing what the other was remembering. And when one came that turned against them and Ben was beating himself up, Jake sat down in silence next to him for a while as Kev claimed a chair and Gwen was out. The silence could stretch for minutes or hours, but eventually Jake would say, "You did your best, Ben. You gave him a chance, that's more than many ever get. Ben, we still trust you and we always will." Kevin would sit there but silence could convey a message as well as words if one knew how and Kevin did best with that. And somehow, though everything wasn't completely fixed, it was. If Ben believed in people enough to go through what he did and still give a stray a chance then all would be right with the world and with everyone that fought behind Ben. He was just the kind that inspired that kind of loyalty Kev and Jake agreed.

And when Ben rubbed it in that he was right or some other airhead 'I told you so' thing Kev would do his normal act, but look at Jake and know that they were both in agreement that in the end they would do what Ben decided if only to have his back. Though that didn't mean that Kevin suddenly did not want to kill him sometimes (or a lot).

Thanks for reading this, tell me what you think of it please. I wonder if you would like me to write another with Jake in it? Tell me that as well please. For my Narnia readers, know that I have a one-shot coming up.

Audemus,

SMM

P.S. Audemus means 'Let Us Dare' in Latin.