Authors note:
This thing has been sitting on my computer for a bit just waiting for a good reason to post it. So with Valentine's Day coming up it was perfect timing. This is my mush for that day… I don't like Valentine's Day personally. It sucks for me, even when I was dating someone it just didn't work for me. The day just seems too forced… but a good true love Gwevin fic is always enjoyed (::

I know there's still like four days until Valentine's Day… but I want to be ahead of the others… so I'm just early.

Disclaimer: I own nobody. This story is purely for fun

Ben raced through the chapel searching for his best friend. The wedding had been scheduled to begin ten minutes ago but with the groom missing in action the ceremony was placed on halt. He had checked every room in the church in hopes of finding the man while Julie was busy trying to keep Gwen occupied until they could find the missing ebony. Ben had seen Kevin only an hour ago, he couldn't have gone far. The wielder of the Omnitrix prayed that Julie could keep his cousin distracted long enough for him to do his job.

It wasn't like Kevin to do something like this; not when Gwen was involved. The red head was his world, his universe. He'd been head over heels in love with her since that moment in the train yard, the same for Gwen. So why was he missing on the most important day of his life?

Where was he?

Sighing Ben turned on his heels and dashed to the parking lot in hopes of seeing the familiar black and green Challenger pulling back into the lot perfectly fine, Kevin stepping out wearing that cocky grin of his. But slamming himself against the door he stumbled outside in disappointment and anger.

Why was Kevin doing this to himself?

Why was he doing this to Gwen?

How could he lead her on making her think that he actually cared if all he was going to was run and leave her?

He couldn't believe it. He'd seen Kevin change so much over the years but at that moment the ebony wasn't Ben Tennyson's best and most trusted friend, he wasn't the guy about to marry his cousin, he was just another liar and traitor. Ben felt a kind of hate and anger that he hadn't felt towards Kevin since they had been kids. Part of him wanted to find the man and beat him to a pulp for what he was about to do to Gwen. Yet part of him was really worried about where his friend was and knew that something must have set Kevin off for him to do something like this.

Sliding into his own car he pressed the communicated device sitting on his dashboard. Kevin and him and made the supped up walky talkies for whenever their missions had begun to take them to farther places in the universe. The device had been a means of checking on each other when the trio was spilt on different missions. It had also been a way to find the others of the group in case something was to go wrong. Ben had only one of the devices; the other three were on Kevin, Gwen and Julie. If everything went right then Kevin would have left his in his car which would allow Ben to track him since he was obviously no longer on the property.

Seeing the green dot symbolizing Kevin flash on the screen that appeared Ben turned the keys in the ignition and headed for his friend.

The Osmosian better have a wonderful excuse as to why he was missing.

-oOo-

Gwen knew something was wrong the moment Julie slid back into the room sweat on her face. The worried look in her friend's eye as she told her everything was alright clued her in. Her biggest fear had come true; Kevin wasn't waiting for her at the altar.

She had given him her heart years ago. It sounded stupid but that moment in the train yard when the two of them had made eye contact was when she had fallen for him. Every sign told her not to trust him, everything told her not to feel the way she did, but she couldn't change her heart. Kevin was her world, her everything.

She tried to keep her face composed as Julie continued to fix her hair and talk words of comfort to her. But no matter how many times she told herself that he was still waiting for her she couldn't help but let a silent tear cascade down her check.

She was his perfect disaster, and Kevin was her happily ever after.

-oOo-

Kevin let his feet dangle over the ledge just watching the water flow beneath him. He'd spent plenty of nights sitting on the wooden bridge with nothing more than his thoughts. The area was completely deserted, as it almost always was; no one came through here since the new bridge had been built.

He thought he could do it. He thought he could make it through the wedding, but he had been wrong. He just couldn't do it; he couldn't ruin Gwen's life like that.

What was he doing here though?

He was stalling that's what he was doing.

He couldn't go back. Gwen would be better off without him to complicate her life. She deserved someone who could take care of her, someone who would be there for her. Gwen deserved a knight in shining armor, and he just wasn't that. He was the beast that ended up alone or dead at the end of the fairytale. He was nothing more than a monster, it was his very being. And no matter what the story book said once a monster always a monster.

But he couldn't leave her just yet. After so many years of being alone, he didn't want to forget the best thing that had happened to him. No matter what he told himself he knew he couldn't live without the red head, she was like a drug to him. He loved her more then he loved anything else in the world. But if he really loved her he'd do what was best for her.

He had two choices, forward or backwards. There was no yellow brick road to follow, no fairy god mother to help him chose. He only had one chance…

He was a walking disaster, and Gwen was his only chance at a happily ever after.

-oOo-

Ben rolled the car to a stop a few feet from his friend. Kevin sat still as a statue on the ledge, his legs dangling below him. Opening the door Ben climbed out and slowly walked towards the other man nervously.

"What are you out here?" Ben asked trying to keep his voice flat. He was worried about his friend but he needed to keep a level head if he was going to find out what was running through the others mind.

"I used to spend my Saturday nights sitting on this bridge." Kevin didn't turn his eyes from the slow moving water below him. "I used to just sit here and think about the past week and what kind of trouble I would cause when the sun rose in the morning and a new week began. That was before I met you guys and my Saturday nights got filled with saving your sorry butt… and spending the nights with Gwen."

An awkward silence fell over the two as Ben climbed onto the ledge as well. Gripping the banister he realized how unsteady it was.

"Promise me that you won't let anything hurt her, Ben." Kevin turned to his best man. Ben looked him in the face taking notice of the red around his pleading black eyes. Kevin had been crying. Kevin never cried. It was the Levin rule, Levin men don't cry.

"Nothing's going to hurt her Kevin." Ben placed a comforting hand on the older man's shoulder. "She's got both of us to keep an eye on her."

"I need you to promise that you'll keep her safe when I'm gone."

Ben could hear the desperate tone in his friend's voice. He was really going to leave. Anger and frustration built up inside him once more. He pushed the emotion back, getting angry won't help Kevin, or Gwen.

"You have to answer a question for me first. And you have to answer it honestly." Ben could read the emotions on the others face. Exhaustion, confusion, vulnerability, desperation, each emotion flashed by for a second, Kevin unable to fully mask them. "Do you love my cousin?"

"You already know the answer." Kevin supplied his answer immediately.

"Then why are you leaving?" Ben pushed farther.

"Don't do this Tennyson." Kevin threatened.

"It's just a question. If you really love Gwen you wouldn't do this to her."

"Stop it Tennyson," Kevin's attempted anger failed to hide the desperation in his words.

"When we were kids Gwen would always talk about how her future husband would be this rich knight in shining armor who dressed all nicely and how she would live in a big house in the woods. But when she started to fall for you I thought I was losing my mind. There was no way that my perfect cousin was in love with bad boy Levin. And then when I realized that she was indeed in love with you I thought I was too late. I thought you'd be like all the other guys who have only used her and then thrown her aside."

"Ben please…"

"But I convinced myself that you were what she needed. Then when we really got to know you I knew that Gwen had picked a good one and that you'd never hurt her."

"Ben stop…"

"And whenever she told me that you'd proposed to her I couldn't have been happier. She'd finally found someone who would take care of her and treat her right."

"Just stop!" Anger was building up in the Osmosian as his friend continued.

"I mean she turned down going away with Verdona and learning how to use her powers properly all because you said that it was a dumb idea. She turned down immortally and unimaginable power all in hopes that you felt the same way that she did."

Kevin turned to his supposed friend to beg him to stop but found his mouth unable to open. He knew all this already; he didn't need his friend putting it in his face.

"She told me what happened on that Highbreed ship. How she was going to go full out Anodite and whip the floor with the Highbreed but you told her no. You told her that if she did that then she wouldn't come out of it, that you couldn't risk losing her like that. You managed to pull her out of it before it was too late.

"Then whenever you touched my Ultimatrix to stop Agragor and went on a revenge spree almost killing us…"

Ben regretted saying those words the moment he saw Kevin's body grow ridged. But his friend had to see that he was making a mistake in leaving. He had to get through to Kevin before it was too late.

"We all thought you were gone, I thought you were gone… but Gwen didn't. No matter what you did, no matter what we said she still believed that you were still in there. She put her own life out on the line in hopes of saving you…"

"Can't you see that's why I have to do this?" Kevin's words cut Ben off guard. The younger boy turned to find his friend staring back at the water. "As long as I'm around she's in danger."

"Kevin she's a plumber she's always in danger. But she can handle herself." Ben grinned slightly realizing he had gotten to what was bothering his friend.

"You don't get it Ben!" Kevin spun off the ledge and stood on the bridge his fist tightly clinched. "I can't always protect her! I can't give her everything she wants, everything she deserves! She deserves so much better than me, and all I'll do is drag her behind. Gwen's got the whole world at her finger tips and all I'll be doing is holding her back."

"You still never answered my question properly. Do you love Gwen? Do you honestly love my cousin as much as I know you do?" Ben slipped off onto the bridge and looking at his friend.

"Do I love her? She's the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love her more than I have ever loved anything else. I'd give my life for her. That's why I have to leave. I can't hurt her again."

"You have a choice then Kev," Ben spoke looking his friend in the eye, "you can either leave and break her heart and trust… or… you can stay and realize that you're what Gwen wants… flaws and all. Gwen doesn't care about what you've done in the past. But if you leave right now then you'll hurt her worst then anyone ever has."

-oOo-

Julie had left the room moments ago, to see how things were, allowing Gwen a chance to let the tears fall. The wedding was meant to happen almost an hour ago. If Kevin was still here then it would have started already. She wasn't about to be married to the only guy who had ever found the real her. She wasn't about to enter her happily ever after.

Hearing the door slowly open Gwen quickly dried the tears to see Julie and Ben standing in the doorway, a smile over both of their faces.

"We had some technical difficulties. But everything's ok now" Ben chuckled reaching a hand out for his cousin to take. She allowed them to guide her out into the hallway where she spotted her father ready to escort her down the aisle. Her ears picked up the bridal march playing softly in the chapel causing her heart to flutter.

She almost ran down the aisle when she saw Kevin standing at the altar waiting for her.

I feel like the end is a bit weak… maybe it's just me.

Inspiration for this fic comes from "Ever After" by Marianes Trench.