Title: Influence
Rating: T
Summary: Gwen's perspective on the events that happened in "The Gauntlet," and what might have happened afterwards. Slight BxG (more friendship than romance).

Author's Note:

Top 8 reasons why "The Gauntlet" is my favorite episode of B10: AF so far:

8. Kevin gets his ass kicked by an alien robot.

7. Kevin's car gets trashed.

6. Kevin gets his ass kicked by Cash.

5. Gwen realizes Kevin hasn't changed much and that she doesn't have much influence over him.

4. Ben is awesome when he stands up to Cash at Mr. Smoothy, both times.

3. Ben has a sense of humor (belching, the smoothie craze, "No juice for you!").

2. Gwen saves the day by reasoning with J.T., recognizing that he has a lot of influence over Cash.

And…

1. Ben and Gwen totally forget about Kevin and go off to have smoothies together!

"Hurry up, Tennyson!" Kevin was honking the horn impatiently, as usual.

Gwen glared at him. "Just give him a minute, Kevin."

Ben had gone home to change his clothes after Cash had spilled the smoothies on him. They were waiting for him to come back out so they could grab some dinner at the diner.

Kevin grumbled something under his breath but stopped honking. He'd been in a bad mood ever since the fight with the alien robot earlier, probably because she'd saved him from being crushed in its fist, and Ben had been the one to finally destroy it. Kevin didn't like having to be rescued.

She wasn't going to let him take his irritation out on Ben, though. Ben had already taken enough crap today from Cash and J.T.

She grimaced. Cash and J.T. were so pathetic. They were bullies, just as Kevin had been and in some ways still was. She'd been worried for a moment at Mr. Smoothy, but she hadn't interfered. Ben was her cousin and her best friend, and she would always stand up for him, but there were some battles he had to fight on his own. She'd let him know that she was there for him if he needed her help, but she'd understood that he'd needed to confront Cash one-on-one.

She was proud of Ben for using his wits to fight back with words rather than using his alien powers. It would have been so easy to do that, but unnecessary. He'd learned to think things through and use good judgment.

He'd learned that from her.

Ben had remained calm, told Cash, "You're not worth it," and walked away. He'd done the same with Kevin years ago when Kevin had wanted to annihilate him. Kevin had always believed that using violence, fear and intimidation was the way to solve problems. He still did, to some extent.

"I would have decked him," Kevin had said derisively afterwards, implying that Ben had wimped out by not fighting Cash. Kevin had just wanted to fight someone. Anyone.

But Ben had learned it took more courage to take the high road and be the bigger man. There was no point in fighting just to prove something to a bully. All it would prove was that you were vain and stupid.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Ben running out of the house and Kevin yelling, "It's about time!"

Gwen was exhausted. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. It had taken a long time for the tow truck to arrive and get Kevin's car back to his house. The three of them had managed to push it back up the hill on their own with their combined powers, but they hadn't wanted to be seen using their powers in the residential district.

Kevin had been furious. His car was so important to him. He didn't have much that he cared about. Sometimes it seemed like possessions and image mattered more to him than people did.

He'd spent the entire rest of the night working on the car. When she had arrived that morning, he was still working on it and couldn't be convinced to even take a break.

Ben had wanted to go to Mr. Smoothy to get them all smoothies for breakfast, and she'd told him she'd meet him at Kevin's. She could tell that Ben felt guilty about what had happened to Kevin's car and was trying to be especially nice to him. He'd even offered to help Kevin with the repairs.

It made her mad that Kevin had yelled at him. Clearly he held Ben partly to blame for what had happened to his car. He always needed someone to blame.

Then J.T. had shown up to warn them that Cash planned to come after Ben. Kevin had seemed more concerned with finding Cash and pounding him into the pavement for trashing his car. He'd immediately run off as soon J.T. had told him where Cash was so he could settle the score. She'd tried to stop him, but it had been pointless. He wouldn't listen to her. At that moment she'd realized just how little influence she had over him.

Not like she did with Ben. She could always reason with Ben. When they'd been younger, she'd had many good ideas, and he'd usually listened to her. She'd always been able to influence him.

She still could. When he'd wanted to go after Cash and J.T. last night after they'd trashed Kevin's car, she'd convinced him not to. He knew she was right. They had more important things to worry about than two 15-year-old bullies.

Cash was so petty, wanting revenge against Ben for humiliating him in front of the other kids. It wouldn't have even happened if he hadn't bullied Ben in the first place. Ben had only been standing up for himself.

She hadn't been too concerned at first, but now she was starting to feel frantic. It had been several hours since Kevin had gone off to fight Cash, and she hadn't been able to find Ben, either. Something was not right. She sensed that J.T. was holding back and hiding something, but she didn't know what.

All she knew was that she had to find Ben.

They finally found him at Mr. Smoothy, of all places.

She was worried about what had happened to Kevin, but she was even more worried about Ben. If Cash had somehow been able to defeat Kevin, then his threat to exact revenge upon Ben might be a lot more serious than they had previously thought.

J.T. led them to the abandoned mannequin factory, where they found Kevin, injured and barely able to move. Cash had become dangerous, possessed by the alien tech he and J.T. had stolen from Kevin's car.

Now she was really alarmed. She was starting to think maybe it hadn't been a good idea to tell Ben not to go after Cash last night. If he had, he might have been able to retrieve the robot glove before it had started to take over Cash. She wished Kevin hadn't thrown it in the back of his trunk in the first place. It hadn't occurred to them that it might be dangerous, but it should have. They should have locked it up right away.

Unfortunately, it was too late to change any of that now.

She didn't want Ben to have to fight Cash, but she didn't want him to get hurt by refusing to fight, either. It was a no-win situation.

She had to take matters into her own hands. Gwen was well aware that Cash was not that bright and that it was J.T. who usually came up with the ideas. He had a lot of influence over Cash, and he was the key to getting through to him. She had already reminded J.T. of how he and Ben had been friends before, and that he didn't have to be a jerk and a bully. He could choose to be different, and he could convince Cash of that too.

Ben stood his ground, refusing to fight until it was absolutely necessary.

In the end, J.T. was able to reach Cash and convince him he could fight off the alien armor's hold on him. Amazingly, he did, and the robot glove became harmless once again.

She gave up trying to remember what it was they had forgotten and fell into step with him.

"Okay, I'll buy you a smoothie," she told him. "You deserve it, after all you've been through today."

"All right!" Ben looked thrilled. "Here, take my Mr. Smoothy Rewards Card. I'm only three away from getting a free one!"

That was a little disturbing, considering that he'd gotten the card only yesterday.

She let him pick out the flavors – blueberry for him, peach for her. He'd tried them all by now, and she trusted him to choose something she'd like. It was her first smoothie of the day, since Kevin had grabbed the one Ben had brought for her when they were in the garage. It was refreshing. The flavors blended together perfectly, and it was exactly what she liked.

Mr. Smoothy was mostly deserted because of the fight, so they had their pick of seats – the ones that hadn't been destroyed, anyway. Half the sign had been destroyed, too. It would have been an improvement if it had been blown to bits entirely, she thought. The Mr. Smoothy sign depicted a giant smoothie with arms and legs, holding… a smoothie. One with a face. It was kind of creepy.

They set the robot glove in the middle of the table where they could keep an eye on it.

"Blueberry's my favorite now," Ben said happily. "Chocolate's pretty good too. And so's carrot. They don't taste so great together, though."

Gwen could only shake her head. Honestly. What had possessed him to think that chocolate and carrots would ever be a good idea together?

She adored him but couldn't help feeling completely exasperated with him sometimes. The smoothie craze was just the latest thing that had captured his attention. She knew from experience that the best thing to do was to wait it out. He had kind of a short attention span. It had gotten better as he'd gotten older, but he still had a tendency to get really excited about something then become totally bored with it just days later. When he was 10, he'd gone through a Sumo Slammers cereal phase and had eaten it for practically every meal for three days straight just to get all the collectible action figures inside the boxes. Even his interest in the girls he liked never lasted for long. When she'd asked him about Julie the other day, he'd merely shrugged.

She predicted the smoothie phase would last a week – two, tops. He'd soon get tired of it and move on to something else.

It was a good thing she liked smoothies, because she was going to be drinking a lot of them for the next few days.

She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, though. He'd been so serious lately, and she'd been a little concerned. She was glad to see that he seemed to have regained his sense of humor.

As he continued talking about the best smoothie combinations, she gingerly picked up the alien glove and studied it carefully. The alien armor had made Cash almost invincible. It had seemed to feed off of his desire for power and revenge. He'd wanted everyone to know how powerful he'd become, announcing to them all that he had kicked Kevin Levin's butt. He'd even fired at his best friend J.T. for ratting him out, which she was certain he never would have done if the armor hadn't overtaken him.

She thought J.T. and Cash's friendship was strange, but it seemed to work for them. They were both outcasts and stuck together because no one else wanted to hang out with them. J.T. seemed afraid of Cash but also clearly admired him and had faith in him.

All that mattered was that J.T. had been able to help Cash finally break free of the alien armor's grip on his mind.

"Gwen."

She suddenly realized that Ben had stopped rhapsodizing about the smoothies. His expression was serious, and a little puzzled. She put the alien glove back down on the table.

"What is it, Ben?"

"Do you know what J.T. was talking about when he said we should get together sometime and eat paste?"

She laughed. "Oh, that. I reminded him earlier that you two used to be friends in first grade and eat paste together."

He made a face. "I'd forgotten about that. I guess we were friends once. It seems like a long time ago."

"That's because it was a long time ago. People change, and so do friendships."

"I wouldn't ever want to have a friend like Cash," he said. "It's a good thing his best friend is a good influence on him."

"No kidding."

"And mine too," he added softly. "Thanks for looking out for me." He knew it wouldn't have turned out so well if it hadn't been for her quick thinking and ability to talk some sense into J.T. Seeing J.T. and Cash's peculiar friendship had also given him new appreciation for his best friend. Their friendship was based on mutual respect, loyalty and affection. The bond between them had endured for years and would continue to grow stronger over time.

"Anytime," she told him.

"Do you think Cash and J.T. will tell anyone about seeing me turn into Chromastone?"

"I don't think so," she said thoughtfully. "But some of the other kids might have seen you."

They had to face the possibility that the secret was out. Some of the kids knew he had the Omnitrix because he had turned into aliens in front of them before, when he was 10, but no one had seen him use it for years. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out that he had put it back on and was using it again.

"We'll just have to be more careful about how we use our powers in public," she said. "For our own safety."

He nodded in agreement. "I know."

They finished up their smoothies, and he picked up the alien glove and tucked it under his arm. "Come on. Let's go lock this thing up, and then I'll walk you home," he said.

"Sounds good to me," she replied.

They walked off together, happy to have each other and enjoying each other's company, as always.

The End