A/N: Something happened between Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10,000. Something between Kevin and Gwen.
This was just my way of angsting out my theory of what could've happened.

I don't claim any rights to Ben 10 or any of the characters or shows. I write for fun, not profit.

Loss

Kevin wrapped the redhead in his arms possessively. "I'm so sorry about this, Gwen. I've only brought pain and misery to your life. Forgive me for what I'm about to do." he gently laid his unconscious wife back into her hospital bed.

The doctor put a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "This is a brave thing you're doing, son. She simply won't survive if the child is near her." Kevin nodded but the doctor continued shaking his head. "I tell you, this is the strangest thing I've ever run across. I've seen pregnancy allergies before, but never ones that took this form. The longer she's in contact with the child, the less time she has."

Kevin grimaced, this wasn't news to him. The doctors had said it all before, but they only knew the half of it.

It had all started out so wonderfully with the exciting news that Gwen was pregnant. For once Kevin'd felt like his life was finally going to be normal. Then Gwen's behavior started to change, causing everyone, including herself, to worry. She was starting to forget. It was little things at first, like what day it was, or if she'd finished the book she'd been reading. It progressed to the shocking day he'd spent an hour telling her that she wasn't "suddenly" pregnant.

She was slipping away and Kevin did everything in his power to find the cause, and the cure. Every day it hurt when he lost a little more of her. Eventual she had to move in with Ben because she'd regressed to the point that she didn't even remember dating Kevin, much less marring him.

It'd taken a visit from Grandma Verdona to get to the real cause of the problem. It turned out that the addition of Kevin's DNA within Gwen's body was causing a bizarre reaction within Gwen. Every second the child was within her she was having her memories erased. Starting with the most recent memories and working backwards.

In one of Gwen's more lucid moments she'd made Ben and he swear that they let her take the child to term. It was vitally important to her. Neither had the will to withstand her request.

But it ate Kevin away. He blamed himself, he blamed the child, he even blamed Gwen in his darker days of depression.

Finally the day came and they could wait no longer. The doctors had advised taking the child a little early so as to give the mother a chance. All were in agreement. That was why they were at this hospital. Gwen had long since had to have been sedated into a stupor just to get through the days. The agitation over her pregnancy was stressing both mother and child.

They had hoped once the child was separated physically from it's mother Gwen would be fine. The events of the last four hours had told them all that that wouldn't be the case. They had awoken her after surgery to find even more loss of memory. They tested her memory an hour later, after the baby'd been sleeping in the bassinet nearby, and it was again worse. There was no denying the fact Gwendolyn Levin would never hold her child in her arms. They had to be separated.

The damage, Kevin knew, was irreversible. Gwen only remembered up to her first year of high school. Even seeing him was stressing to her and she'd had to be re-sedated.

That's why Kevin had to go.

Another voice broke into the black-haired man's thoughts. "Kevin, if you ever need..."

Kevin cut of Ben's proffer with a wave of his hand. "I can't do that Ben, and you know it. I don't want her regretting her old life. We will return if it ever becomes safe for her. If she remembers..." he halted that thought before finishing. They all knew it wasn't possible to regain her memories at this point.

"Don't try to contact me." he handed a green glowing disk to Ben.

"Kevin, this is your Plumber's badge. I can't take this. It's all you ever wanted." Ben looked from the disk to his friend.

Kevin turned to pick up his newborn son. "Not all I ever wanted." he mumbled, not caring if the other man'd heard him. He focused on the baby in his arms. A shock of black hair peaked out of the blanket he was wrapped in, and stood out against his fair skin.

Kevin looked up at the green-eyed man standing next to his beloved. "Take care of her, but never tell her about me."

"You have my word." Ben said solemnly.

Kevin nodded, and with his son, left the hospital. Never to look back.

When he got to his car Kevin took a moment to look at the sleeping child comfortably strapped into his car seat. The tears he'd been holding back for months started to roll down his cheeks. "Someday, Devlin I'll tell you all about your beautiful mother. She would've loved you so much."

****

Kevin never did tell Devlin about Gwendolyn. At first it was because he didn't want the child to pine for a mother he'd wouldn't know. Later it'd become easier for Kevin not to speak of her.

Unfortunately as time wore on Kevin fell back into his ways of crime to get by. When he was finally caught and returned to the nulvoid he'd become bitter, this was compounded by another shift in his powers. Whereas he had more control now, he'd been shoved into a dimension that was a candy store of alien powers to absorb. He'd withheld himself before from absorbing aliens for the sake of not wanting to turn into a monster accidentally. Now that nothing in his life mattered he didn't hold back.

End

A/N: That's my version of what happened. Disagree or agree at your leisure. 8D