Chapter 1: A Girl

There was a girl.

It was unexpected. Not to mention unwanted.

As a hero, he held responsibilities that balanced the scales of the Universe's stability - its safety. Sometimes he just had to conform to certainties. What was certain was the future needed to be on this particular pathway - with Kai, who'd grown up to be a beautiful, remarkable woman - to ensure that stability.

There was a girl. A newbie into the Plumbers' organization. Originally just another one of the gaggles of girlfriends Kai chatted with. He never knew her until a Galvanic Mechamorph symbiote decided to rub itself against her leg. It was not long until she was integrated into the Plumbers, due to this symbiote and the fact that she showed she could handle the physicality.

There was a girl. She had a good rapport with him. They talked of innocuous things - smoothy flavours, Sumo Slammers. She was able to click in so easily into his conversational patterns. More than Kai. He worked hard to get Kai to notice him and while his persistence paid off, their discussions never seemed to flow as smoothly. Not like this girl. Kai had a favorite alien - Benwolf. No surprise there. This girl said her favorite was all of them. Because they were all him. And his stupid, stupid heart dared to flutter at that comment.

There was a girl. He would talk to her for hours on end. He would constantly volunteer her to participate in missions he was in, just to spend a bit more time with her. He would call her on his phone constantly - and, oh did she know about this Japanese animated show? Yeah, he loved it too! Always behind Kai's back. He did it so much that he felt the need to keep the conversations a secret. He locked the bathroom and sneakily talked to the phone in there. He deleted the messages - always with a little bit of sadness. He wanted to look back and reread her texts, with the smiley faces that said she was laughing at his bad jokes.

There was a girl. And she wasn't the one who was going to spend the future by his side.

There was a girl. This girl was breaking his stable future. This girl was breaking his perfect relationship.

This girl was tearing his heart in two.

---

Gwen had her suspicions from the start. Maybe it was her husband's or her baby boy's absence in the scene that made her start honing in on her cousin. Her two boys were off having some bonding time by - surprise, surprise - training.

She's always been the protective type. Unable to stop for a moment until she found something to barricade with her own body and fight for. Ben could very well take care of himself. He was the Hero of Heroes - the most powerful Plumber in the known existence - for a reason. Nonetheless, she felt inclined to come to his rescue even at the smallest indication of hurt. Her suspicions continued to grow.

She had some form of contact with Kai. Oh, their interactions were strained, true enough. Two strong-willed women in the same room could only lead to tensions and discomfort. Opposing beliefs and stubbornness were very explosive combinations. They were simply a good example of that. When they do have their moments of interaction - civilized, without the need to bite off each other's heads - Kai was surprisingly eager to share information on her life. Gwen wasn't like her at all in that respect. She kept to herself and shouldered her problems. The red-haired magician, however, had ears that were perfect for listening. And she picked up on things even at the start of conversations. Many people believed it was because she was smart. She thought it was just because she paid attention.

"He's always out nowadays. I'm starting to think that he doesn't even wanna be home."

That was suspicion number one. Nevertheless, Gwen was amicable enough towards Kai that she chose to reason out all those stereotypical, "Oh you know how it is, he's busy," and "I bet he regrets being out a lot," and "He's trying his best. Being a hero makes that harder." Of course it felt like tiny lies. She knew Ben. More than anyone because of their shared experiences. He'd try much harder if he wanted to. He wasn't trying.

"He's hiding his phone calls, you know. It's so stupid. He doesn't need to hide in the bathroom just so I wouldn't hear. I don't care about his stupid missions anyway." So much resentment and anger. Kai didn't mean all of that. She was just unsure, frustrated and feeling left out of something. Gwen didn't want to tell her that she might just be on the right track. She hadn't seen her cousin then for a while, except talking to him through a holo projector. Machines don't have much in the way of expressing a lot of sentiment.

But it added to suspicion number two.

They were able to have a mission together. That was when it all rolled into a massive, nagging, cancerous suspicion. She had forgotten her conversation with Kai until she focused on noticing everything about her cousin. She wanted to be innocent of it all. But she picked up on things. Because she paid attention.

He had suggested they bring the new girl - Julie, wasn't it? - to their next mission. Good explanation, though. The Galvanic Mechamorph was a wonderful piece of weaponry - it could turn into a complex battleship now. Where they were going, confrontation against massive numbers were expected. That particular section of the Galaxy was a volatile war-torn area. There were others very against their attempt at striking up a peace treaty amongst the big players of the fight.

That dissipated her suspicion for all of two seconds. Then the two started chatting. All the way to their destination. It's as if the two never ran out of things to discuss. There was a way of taking notice of chemistry. It was the atmosphere. It was something that clicked inside your head that said these two really want to take each other's attention and they were doing it seamlessly. That was chemistry.

Horror was beginning to run down her spine at their constant need to get physically close. This Julie girl always had to slap playfully at his arm after a stupid joke and her cousin leaned his head so ridiculously close just to say something. They seemed oblivious to their own actions. Their words were focused on friendliness, but their actions were certainly not what Gwen would call friendly. Based on the reactions of the other Plumbers, this was becoming normalcy. No one batted an eyelash at the two's closeness.

Gwen's suspicion boiled over when Ben actually started to talk to her. They were separated from the rest of the group, forming a two-person tag team that was going to be at the forefront while the rest of the Plumbers covered their backs. They were just talking. Stupidly, she had to bring up Julie. It was out of curiosity. What she heard for next few minutes made her heart pound in her ears. Ben was practically doing a shopping list of how 'awesome' and 'cool' this girl was. He had no idea he had said more for Julie than he had of Kai. Gwen ignored the itchy inclination to bite out, "Your crush needs more subtlety."

For the moment, they were thankfully distractedly with the fight that ensued. In the end they were successful in patching up the unstable government that had formed from years of war and insurgency. Ben had discussed the possibility of democratic re-election for the multiple planets' governing body before they could start restructuring the government to the one they please. They were allowed to borrow some finances from neighboring planets with the help of Ben's rallying speech to said planets. Everyone seemed enthusiastic to assist when the Hero of Heroes suggested they do so.

The first thing he did was what returned her suspicions. He was looking at Julie, who had her hands in a thumbs-up sign to congratulate him. His eyes glittered more than Gwen had ever seen them, even when he and Kai had gotten together.

Gwen could only think of what Kevin would say at that time. "This's all gonna go to pot."

All the events earlier that day continued to bother her. But she did ignore it to spend some time with her family.

Coincidentally, the holo projector popped out the woman's familiar image. She didn't want to talk to Kai. She could still hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Kai looked scared. Frustrated. Sad. "He's talking on the phone again. He barely said a 'Hi' to me when he came home. I want to stomp on that stupid phone."

Telling Devlin to go to his room for a minute, with much protesting until his father said, "Get!" and ushered themselves out of there, Gwen watched the girl in the holo's bedraggled form. Gwen bit her lip. She had no idea what to say or where to start. Instead, she enumerated another one of her set of comforting answers.

If her suspicion was correct, she would have to talk to her cousin first. Gwen didn't particularly like Kai. But her heart broke at the sight of the woman, looking for all the world like a lost child in the rain.

---

"You're worn out. Again," Gwen noted, frowning disapprovingly.

Rubbing the back of his head, Ben responded sheepishly, "Too much to do. Lots of places to go. Lots of people to save." He yawned. "Sleep's not that important."

"You're going to ignore your health for the sake of saving the Universe," she stated flatly, staring at him incredulously. Chuckling, he waved a hand dismissively as if this was going to assist in removing the sardonic expression on her face. It didn't. "I know, I know. I'm dumb. Lucky I got my smart cousin to watch my back."

"Ever heard of taking a break?" she suggested, smiling sadly.

"I've heard of it." He wiped his eyes of the need to sleep. "Don't really subscribe to it."

With a thoughtful expression, Gwen finally decided to suggest, "How about a walk?"

"No hoverboard?" he questioned, his eyebrow raised.

"You're always on the run, Ben." From everything. From your enemies. From yourself. The red-haired female Tennyson stood up from her seat. "Let's walk this time."

They started strolling down the Plumber's HQ. After some time, they passed by one of the offices. When they stop at a particular glass window, they could easily view Helen sitting on one of the tables while Julie leaned on her own table. The two girls then laughed at something, though the Tennyson cousins couldn't hear because of the glass window.

Ben mustn't have noticed his face suddenly adorning a wistful expression, but Gwen certainly didn't miss it. So she asked, "Are you doing okay?"

"I can't imagine what it would be like if the Omnitrix wasn't on me," he narrated distractedly, smiling when Julie giggled behind her hand. Gwen's expression changed minutely as she also took a glance at where her cousin's looking. She silently formed a conclusion. "No means of protecting everything I ever cared for or believed in. I don't think I'd like not being a hero. And it's not because I want people to be looking up at me or something stupid like that. To me, it feels like you or Grandpa Max would be falling off a cliff and all I can do is watch." Looking away, he was determined to start walking again.

She grabbed his arm before he went any farther. Surprisingly enough, it was the same arm the Omnitrix was wrapped around. "It must feel horrible to place that much responsibility on your shoulders."

"I want it," Ben said with steely eyed determination. "I won't complain."

Squeezing her fingers on the bridge of her nose, she tried to suggest, "Don't you ever wonder about a world outside of that responsibility?" His expression wavered for a moment. She could have missed it if she wasn't Gwen. "You can't micromanage the Universe and hope that it comes to perfection if you do."

Annoyance made him scrunch his eyebrows. Ben retorted gruffly, "Weren't we supposed to be walking?"

"Ben, listen to me," Gwen continued in a firm tone. "You are the hero. Even I can't imagine a Universe without you saving it. But what about you? You're always looking out for everyone. Can't you consider yourself at some point?"

Out of irritation and frustration, he shook his arm off of her roughly enough she had to let go. "And watch the Universe burn because I wanted to be selfish?"

"This is your grand plan to save it?" Her voice was unconsciously getting louder from her own frustration and desperation. When she noticed the surrounding Plumbers staring at them, she lowered her voice to almost a mere murmur, "Hurting and punishing yourself so that you can heal something else is no more a good decision as letting what you're supposed to be saving to bleed to death. Ben, you'll save them. But you'll kill yourself."

"Fine I'll go get some sleep," the owner of the Omnitrix said exhaustedly, evasively. He tried to hide that he was catching another glance behind the glass window, but he failed to take into account that his cousin was intelligent enough to see through it. "You're so bossy." He decided to just stomp away from her, angry at the fact that she noticed and felt the need to point it out. Angry at himself for being stupid enough to let it happen.

Watching the figure of her cousin disappeared off into the distance, Gwen remarked sadly to herself, "And even then, I can't watch out for you. Because you won't let me."