"Ben 10: The Wintarian Race" Chapter 2

"So how was your first day? You came home and took Bri pretty quickly with out telling me where you were going." Ella's mom was sitting across from her daughter, who was reading for the assignment that the English teacher wanted her to catch up on with the class. Brielle was asleep with her head in Ella's lap, her long chocolate hair sprayed over her face and Ella's lap in a wild fashion.

"I was meeting some friends at Mr. Smoothies." Ella answered, absently stroking her daughter's hair as she read.

"You've already made friends?" Her mother smirked. "I told you that you would do fine today. So what are they like?"

"Well... You actually wouldn't believe who one of them is, mom." Ella marked her place in the book and put it down and looked at her mother with all sincerity.

"Who is it?" Her mom grinned in excitement, already having a feeling of who she was talking about.

"Ben Tennyson." Her daughter confirmed with a smirk. "He's so cool, mom. Nothing like I thought he was going to be when I first heard about him."

"That's great, honey!" Ella's mom clapped with delight.

"Bri is real taken with him, too." Ella smiled slightly. "He lent her his jacket, and she hasn't taken it off since. I have to remember to bring it back to him tomorrow."

"I can tell you that he's probably a better figure in her life than Briyar." Her mother rolled her eyes, thinking of her granddaughter's father. "If he doesn't have a girlfriend, maybe you should go after him." She smirked mischievously.

"No mom. I don't want a boyfriend right now, and besides, he has a girlfriend." Ella shook her head fast, refusing to let her inner blush surface.

"So you do like him?" Her mom smiled even more.

"Just a little." Ella hid herself behind her hair. "You should have seen him with Bri. It was so attractive to me to see someone treat her like a princess." She said in a muffled voice.

"Does he know that Bri is your daughter?"

"Yes! That's another great thing about these people I met today." Ella grinned, obviously on cloud 9. "And they said that they would keep it a secret from the others at school. They're so... awesome!" She squealed with delight.

"Calm down, El." Her mother laughed, pointing to her granddaughter who was beginning to stir.

"Oops." Ella covered her mouth, still grinning with excitement. "I'm glad we moved here, mom. I'm away from him and those crappy people that were at my old school, and I also have a fresh start with great people."

"I'm happy for you, El." Her mother stood and brushed her hand through her hair.

"What do you say we call it a night?"

"Just what I was thinking." Ella carefully took Brielle in her arms, making sure that she didn't wake her.

"That jacket looks like it's going to swallow her up." Her mom laughed, brushing the hair out of Brielle's face.

"I'm going to take it off of her when I put her in her PJs." Ella giggled. "If she'll let go of it for two minutes."

After saying their good nights, the mother and daughter duo went to their own rooms.

Ella put her book for English in her open backpack as she walked into her room with her daughter asleep on her shoulder. She softly shut the door with her foot and laid Brielle on her bed.

After she changed into her night gown, she turned to her daughter so she could remove her clothing. Brielle was clutching Ben's green jacket for dear life.

Ella slowly unclenched her daughter's fingers from the fabric and lifted it from her tiny body. She neatly folded the jacket and placed it next to her bag, hoping that she wouldn't forget it the next morning.

Now the tricky part was next. She carefully took Brielle's clothes off, recoiling her hands from time to time if she stirred, and finally had her in her own night gown.

Ella jumped back suddenly when her daughter's blue eyes fluttered open with out warning and focused themselves on her mother.

"Mommy." The two year old whined, obviously exhausted still. "I want my jacket." She finished, sniffling and tears threatening to form in her icey eyes.

"Baby, that's not yours." Ella tried to explain. "That's mister Ben's jacket, and you know it."

"I want my jacket." The little girl whined again, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Ella rolled her eyes and swiftly grabbed the jacket. A breeze hit her in the face and with it came the irresistible scent of... Ben Tennyson?

Ella stood there for a moment, not realizing what she had just done. Her cheeks began to turn pink and she covered her mouth, mortified by the sudden thoughts and feelings she had as the scent hit her.

She lifted her daughter up and gently put her into the small bed across from Ella's own, catching more of Ben's scent.

Ella shook her head fast and turned the light off. He's taken El. She kept telling herself. You don't need a guy in your life right now anyway. You just got here.

(Break)

"Hey." Ben greeted Ella the next morning as she was walking out of her house. It turned out that the guy from the day before on his bike was actually Ben.

"Good morning." Ella smiled and shyly held out his jacket. "Brielle wouldn't let go of it at all last night, so it probably smells like baby lotion now."

"It's cool." Ben said as he put the garment on and zipped it up. "So did you get all that reading done last night?"

"As if!" Ella giggled. "I love books, but please! I can't read the old English translation of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet all in one night. Brielle also wanted me to read it to her in a British accent, and kept stopping me when she wanted something. I finally got her to stop paying attention to me and had her watch cartoons until she fell asleep."

"She's a cute kid." Ben laughed.

"And she knows it, too." Ella smirked, looking down at their feet as they walked.

"So... What about Bri's dad?" Ben finally asked, addressing the obvious tension between the two. "Is he around?"

"Briyar..." Ella sighed. "I haven't seen him since she was born to be honest. The thought of having a kid at 15 really freaked him out. I was 13 at the time, and I didn't understand why he would leave after he had said all the casual 'I love you's and what not. He won't help out with her."

"He doesn't know what he's missing, that's for sure." Ben said. "Brielle is a great kid, and smart too. I don't think he knows what he gave up. You included."

Ella didn't know how to respond to what Ben had said. She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and bit her bottom lip. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, so she quickly looked away from him.

No one, not even Briyar, has ever said anything like that to me. She thought to herself.

"Did I say something to make you upset?" Ben looked at Ella with worried eyes.

"No, not at all!" Ella forced a smile and beamed it at Ben. "I was just deep in thought, that's all."

"Good. I'd feel terrible if I did something to make you upset." Ben said, sighing with relief.

"No no no." Ella giggled. "I space out sometimes is all."

"Glad I'm not the only one."

Ella looked down at her phone and gasped. "Crap."

"What's wrong?" Ben asked, raising his eyebrow. "Why'd you stop."

"Sorry, Ben. I won't be making it to school today." Ella said turning around to go back to her house. "Can you get my assignments for me, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Ben nodded.

"Thanks, you're a life saver!" Ella said as she took off.

"Hmm... Wonder what's with her."

(Break)

"Mom, is it true?" Ella asked as she walked in the door.

"Yes." Her mother nodded, a grim look on her face. "After almost sixteen years... He's requesting to have contact with Earth."

"I'm going get to really meet my father..."