Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger. (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)

Julie really deserves more credit. She's such a good character with so much potential, but the writers just leave her out.

WEE! MY FORTY-FIFTH STORY!

The title makes no sense, I know. I happened to be listening to Owl City's "Vanilla Twilight" while I was writing this and it just kind of stuck to it. Oh well… Here's the link for the cool Ben 10 and "Vanilla Twilight" video I was watching. You know the drill, remove spaces: http: /www. youtube. com/watch?v=4rO5w4VBZOQ

~Wednesday, November 15: Morning~

"Dating a superhero… Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson (1) make it look so easy. Sure, they occasionally get used as bait for a deadly trap for their dearly beloveds, but then they're rescued, share a sweet and passionate kiss with their heroes, and that's that. They made it look so freaking easy!" the young woman snapped at her reflection in the mirror, fingering the fresh bruise that had started all this.

Her alien pet, Ship, quietly asked her what was wrong in their personal private language.

"The reality is…" she sighed, her brown eyes welling with tears, "It isn't easy at all…"

Again, he inquired what was bothering her.

She sighed heavily to herself, sat down on the bed, and petted the little alien. "Wait… maybe I should start from the beginning…"

And so she did.

~Two Days Before, November 13: Early Morning~

For Julie Yamamoto, the day started out rather promising and slowly went downhill from there. Her boyfriend, Ben Tennyson, was coming over for a quick morning study session before a massive physics test, then they were going to walk to school together, and after that they were going to hang out. Julie didn't have tennis practice. Gwen and Kevin were in charge of any alien activity that happened to blow in, but it had been a quiet week so Ben was confident that they wouldn't need him for anything. (But he once again had to tell Julie that if something did happen and they needed him, he would have to go. She agreed with him.) Everything was set up. Everything was perfect!

Yeah, right. Not when dating a superhero was involved.

Everything was fine until they left for school. They were chatting, laughing, just enjoying the bright morning sunlight and each other's company. Then, there was a massive crash. Ben reacted with his usual grace and dexterity—he positioned himself in front of Julie protectively, yanked up his sleeve, and had his hand over the Ultimatrix before Julie could even blink. But, it had been nothing more than the paperboy knocking over some trashcans up the street.

She put her hand on his elbow. "Ben, it's nothing," she said, smiling cutely.

Ben blushed, rubbing the back of his head shyly. "I know," he said with a light laugh. "I'm sorry, Julie. It's just that… with nothing happening all week, I'm a little wound up. I feel like something's going to happen only I don't know what it is. That makes no sense at all, right?"

She giggled. "It's alright, Ben. You're probably just worried about the test."

"Yeah," he agreed, but his green eyes still scanned the street carefully.

Together, they helped the young paperboy gather up the scattered papers, straighten up the trashcans, dust himself off, got him back onto his bike, and continued their walk to school. The morning air was crisp and wonderful. The leaves were all in colors of flames, rattling lightly. Soon, they would be falling and winter would be upon Bellwood. This would be Julie's first Christmas with Ben. Last Christmas, they had planned to be together, but some superhero stuff had come up on him suddenly and he'd had to leave.

"Hey Ben?" Julie murmured, slipping her arm through his.

He looked down at her, his grass-green eyes softer than they had ever been. Was he thinking about all the times he had had to leave her for something dangerous too? Was he sad?

Julie looked away. "No, never mind."

There was another crash. After the last false alarm, Ben didn't immediately respond. He glanced away from her face, looking back over his shoulder, and Julie saw his expression abruptly change. Then, he shoved her aside, out of the way into the soft grass, and slapped his hand down on the Ultimatrix. There wasn't even time for him to proclaim the alien he had chosen before the giant tank of the Forever Knights smashed into him sidelong.

"Ben!" Julie shouted as he was thrown backwards, his body breaking into a nearby car. "I mean, Swampfire!"

"I'm okay!" he shouted back, his voice garbled by the alien transformation. "Get out of here, Julie!"

This was one of those times where dating a superhero was a terrible burden. She knew Ben could take care of himself, but she still worried about him. Even worse, she was no help to him—in fact, she was more likely his Achilles' Heel. If he was protecting her, he wouldn't be able to destroy the Forever Knights before they hurt someone. She nodded, grabbed his discarded backpack, and ran for the relative safety of the high school building.

Already, a crowd of students, teachers, and media were gathering to watch the spectacle unfolding. No one took notice of Julie. They were busy watching Ben fight and didn't swamp her with questions and for that she was grateful. She hated the spotlight on their relationship and she knew Ben did too. She stood on the stoop with the crowd, watching as Ben easily defeated the single tank and sent the Forever Knights running back to whatever little hidey-hole they had sprung out of.

The moment he was human again, the media circus was all over him.

Julie saw his face pale in worry and his eyes sought out hers even over the great distance between them. She sent him a small nod and his lips curved downward into sorrow and disappointment, with himself, she knew. Once again, his hero business had gotten between them. As the news anchors approached with all their microphones and bright lights, Ben turned into Goop and didn't even speak the alien's name before sliding through the cracks in the manhole cover.

Just like that, Ben was gone.

Though Julie waited for him to return to school all day, he never showed. He didn't even come in to take his physics test. She ate lunch alone, forcing back the pain in her chest. Ben was a superhero, she reminded herself, so it wasn't his fault that he was once again breaking a promise he had made to her. If it had to be his promises to her or the life of a couple thousand people, even Julie knew what she would pick. Even so, it didn't make it hurt any less.

She muddled through the rest of the day, hoping that she would at least get to see Ben tonight. There was that at least for her to look forward to.

The Forever Knights weren't hell-bent on destroying or taking over the world. They just had something against aliens and were often only after new ways to take them down. It was in everyone's best interest that Ben, Gwen, and Kevin continue to keep the Forever Knights out of order, though, as most of the Plumbers' Kids were aliens or part-alien after all. But there was a pretty good chance that Ben would hand them their asses on a plate and that would be that.

Yeah, Julie was certain she would at least get to see Ben tonight. She smiled all through her Physics test.

…

Sure enough, looking guilty, Ben was waiting for her after school with the black and green Omnitrix-esque car Kevin had built him. She got into the passenger seat quickly and they pulled away from the high school before any media or fans could be alerted that the 'Great Ben Tennyson,' the 'Hero of Heroes' or the 'Menace to Beat All Others' was there. He had already had a enough commotion and attention with his small skirmish with the Forever Knights that morning.

"I'm really sorry," Ben began as he pulled out of the school's parking lot, but Julie cut him off.

"It's alright," she said softly, smiling at him. "I understand. Hero stuff." She sighed to herself. "You have to save the world."

Ben looked unspeakably relieved. "Yeah, but still… it's not fair that I have to run off on you all the time. I wish I could just take a day off or something."

"It doesn't quite work that way, Ben," Julie murmured. She laid her hand over his on the steering wheel and he squeezed her fingers gently. "It's not your fault."

"I'll make it up to you," he murmured.

"I know you will," Julie said and then looked out the window at the passing scenery.

She knew it wasn't Ben's fault that he was always running off and she might have told him that it was alright, but it really wasn't—not for her. She wanted the kind of superhero boyfriend she saw on TV. She wanted the ones that got a day off from monsters to be with their loved ones and just be normal in their secret identity, but they only got those days because it was scripted that way and the media had found out Ben's secret.

Ben was a real hero. He had obligations that couldn't just be ignored because she wanted him to herself. He didn't have a choice.

In reality, she supposed, Ben was the one who was really getting the short end of everything. He had no time for anything anymore. He had had to quit playing soccer, something she knew he really liked and was good at. He didn't have any time for a relationship with her. He didn't even had time for any friends outside of the Plumbers' Kids, Gwen, and Kevin. Squeezing in time to study and keep up in his schoolwork was a constant struggle. He didn't even have time for sleeping much anymore, pulling all-nighters with some frequency which was so visible in his face.

"Julie?" Ben murmured and squeezed her hand, interlacing their fingers and pulling her from her thoughts. "I am sorry. I'll try to make it up to you. Gwen and Kevin are taking care of the Forever Knights, but if they need me…" he trailed off, his face falling.

She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, rough from the few punches he had thrown in his human body. "I understand."

They rolled to a stop at a stop sign. Ben looked away from the road, met her eyes deeply, and squeezed her fingers. His green eyes shone, desperate and guilty and oh-so wanting. "But we have this," he whispered. "We have this moment…"

"I know," she whispered.

It would be so easy to lean forward and kiss him, to kiss him on the lips for the very first time. She had only kissed him on the cheek, once, one quick time when he was really down after everyone had discovered his identity. He had been afraid everyone would hate him, but she never could. His cheek had been so soft and warm then and Ben had just stared after her, his eyes wide, as if he had never expected to be kissed by anyone. He was very different from all the other boys, what with the Omnitrix and all.

God, how easy it would be to kiss him now. He was right there, inches from her, gripping her hand softly, leaning in. She had absolute control over one of the universe's most powerful forces for good in that small moment. She wondered what he would taste like. She wondered if she would taste any of the adoring fans that had attacked him and managed to steal a kiss. She wondered if his lips were as soft and warm as they looked. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she could feel Ben's soft nervous breath on her lips, teasing her, tantalizing.

Then, sharply, a horn blasted.

Just like that, the moment was shattered.

Ben jolted, shooting a glare into the rearview mirror and simultaneously pulling at his jacket sleeve in case it was an alien after him again. But it was nothing more than an angry human driver. Apparently, while they were stopped, another car had rolled up behind them and was impatient for them to get moving again. Ben rolled through the stop sign and Julie pulled her fingers away, missing the moment of hurt and regret that flashed across his pale features.

Ben drove them to his house, deserted since his parents were still at work, and carried both their backpacks inside. Julie closed the door behind them, leaning lightly against it a moment in the dimness of the hallway as Ben groped out the light switch from behind a large potted fichus. Warm amber light flooded the hall and he led her to the kitchen, setting down their stuff and opening the fridge.

"Do you want anything?" he asked.

Yeah, a normal boyfriend who can be with me, she thought, but she could never say that to Ben. "Nah, I'm okay," she said instead.

Ben closed the fridge. "How much homework do we have?"

"Not that much. I took notes for you in English."

"You're a life saver," he said with a smile. "Do you want to work in the kitchen or the living room or…?"

Julie's brown eyes met Ben's as he trailed off. "Can we go to your bedroom?" she asked.

Ben stared into her eyes a moment, his throat working furiously, and he wet his lips. "Sure, whatever you want."

"Cool," Julie said to break the tension and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

Ben gathered up his and followed her upstairs. Thank god he had kind of cleaned today while he was hiding out from the media and fans. (Ever since Humungousaur had roared them away from the lawn, the Tennyson house was considered off-limits to adoring fans and snooping reporters alike. No one wanted to get roared at again and Ben really didn't want to have to do it either.) Julie sat down on his neatly-made bed, folding her hands in her lap. Ben set his backpack on his cleared desk, closed the door, and started to sit in the desk chair, but Julie met his eyes, pleadingly. Instead, Ben came to sit beside her.

The air between them was tense and thick with expectation.

"Julie," Ben murmured. "You don't have to… do anything you don't want to… with me…"

"What if I want to?" she whispered.

Ben met her eyes and they took Julie's breath away. He might have been a hero, but she hadn't realized how much he was suffering too and even haunted by insecurities and doubts. By the look of it, Ben was suffering a lot more than she even knew or could have even realized. His bright green eyes were bloodshot at the edges, red-rimmed, and there were faint dark circles beneath them from not sleeping enough. His lashes were so long and thick that they shadowed his handsome face. There was a thin scar through his eyebrow. Even, his face also looked tired and drawn, his thick chestnut hair tousled, and the dark pulse of blood in his throat beating swiftly.

"Are you nervous?" she whispered.

He jolted and she caught his hand, pulling him closer with that connection.

"Are you?" she asked again.

Ben shook his head. "No."

She closed her eyes, beginning, "Then wh—"

The gentle press of his lips cut her off. Immediately, before he could even think about pulling away, she wrapped her arms around his narrow shoulders and pulled him close. Ben's arms went around her waist, hugging her and sheltering her. He kissed her hard and deep, angling his head to have complete access to kissing her. Julie opened her mouth before he could and begged entrance. She felt Ben hesitate and brushed her thumbs over the exposed flesh at the back of his neck, her fingers tangling in his soft hair. He welcomed her in, their tongues darting nervously together.

When Ben guided her down and covered her own body with his own, she didn't protest in the least. She pulled his jacket from his shoulders, eager to touch him and almost desperate. He helped her pull it off without ever breaking their contact and tossed it over the desk chair behind him. She ran her hands down his strong shoulders and arms, even fingering at the Ultimatrix a moment, holding his biceps as he hung above her like the beautiful pale moon. She lifted her chin, kissing him harder, deeper, pouring all her feelings into him, and he drank all of her into himself.

Ben was a gentleman as he kissed her, never touching her inappropriately. His soft fingers only traced her collarbones and felt the pulse of her throat and gently flit across her toned stomach. But his mouth was far more fearless than his hands. She, on the other hand, was more than eager to explore and touch him. She slipped her hands beneath his shirt, feeling the musculature of his stomach and back and strong shoulders. His body was so warm, too, she just wished she could bask in him forever. Deeper, he kissed her, his tongue tasting every inch of her mouth.

Julie never wanted this to end. "Ben," she whispered into him, clutching his back and pulling him closer.

The wrist with the Ultimatrix on it was resting right next to her head, his fingers stroking her dark hair, and the unknown material of the watch was cool against her forehead. When the signal came in, Kevin's voice went right into her head like a shot.

Ben immediately leaped backwards from her, turning so that his friends wouldn't be able to see what they had been doing. "What's going on?"

"Tennyson! We could use a little help here!" Kevin Levin shouted, his voice echoing in the silence of Ben's bedroom. "Ouch! Damn it! Stop!" he shouted at someone else, then back to Ben. "I mean it! They had something lying in wait for us!"

"What is it?" he asked. He really didn't want to leave Julie, not now.

"Ow! Damn you!" Kevin either decked something or something decked him with a lot of crashing around. Then, the communication plummeted.

"Kevin? Gwen? Kevin!" Ben shouted at the watch.

Gwen suddenly had the Plumbers' Badge they used to communicate. "Hi Ben. Sorry. Kevin dropped it. I know you're with Julie, but we really need you. The Forever Knights have some kind of mechanical dragon or something. We really need your help."

Ben's face fell and he choked back his disappointment. "Okay," he murmured. "I'll be right there."

"I'm sorry, Ben," Gwen said softly. Then, she let the connection drop.

Ben turned to Julie, unable to speak.

She had been lying back on his bed, still frozen in place and breathing hard from when he had been kissing her, her dark hair strewn like coal on the creamy white sheets and her lovely coffee-colored eyes hazy with emotions. She had looked so beautiful—the epitome of his girl. But now, she was sitting up and straightening herself out. The moment between them had passed, shattered again.

"Julie, I… I have to go," he whispered.

"I know," she said softly.

"I'm sorry—"

She cut him off. "It's not your fault, Ben. You have to go help Gwen and Kevin."

He didn't have anything to say to that. He knew he had to go and there was nothing he could do. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't stay here with her, kissing her on his bed and enjoying it like he had never enjoyed anything in his life. He took a step towards her and the bed, considering kissing her quickly before he left to save his friends, but then he backed away. Instead, he said, "You can stay here. I'll drive you home when I get back."

She nodded, bangs shadowing her eyes so he couldn't even see her expression.

Ben went to the window, opened it, dialed up Jetray on the Ultimatrix, and was gone into the darkening sky without even his usual exclamation.

Julie closed the window and the curtains after him. In the dark, she made her way back to Ben's bed, toed off her white tennis shoes, and lay down on the soft mattress, inhaling the scent of her boyfriend. She pulled his pillow against her chest, holding it tightly, and fought back tears. She pressed her fingers to her lips, tender from being kissed so hard and so much. God, she loved Ben so much but this… this just was so hard! Why did it have to be this way?

The window slid open.

She sat up, hastily wiping her face. "Ben?"

It wasn't Ben.

~End Part I~

(1) For anyone who doesn't know, Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson are Superman's and Spider-Man's girlfriends, respectively.

STORY NUMBER FORTY-FIVE, EVERYBODY! WOO! (I'm a little too excitable.)

Questions, comments, concerns?