Perfect Day:
Too good to be true. He should have suspected that something was up. But then wasn't that the idea, to keep him content while they work on the omnitirx. It had worked so well.
Good thing Gwen and Grandpa had found him. Just another example of how far they were willing to go for him.
After it was over Gwen was struck by an epiphany, It wasn't academic work that made school the worst place in the world for Ben. It was kids like Cash and JT. She wondered if the monster versions she saw were kind of what they looked like in Ben's eyes.
Of course Kevin was never there at Ben's school but, well, this was supposed to be Ben's hell. And maybe he kind of represented everyone who looked down on Ben...like she had sometimes. She felt awful when she thought about that.
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Divided We Stand:
Ben just wanted to have fun.
Funny thing, that was the same swim suit that she wore last year but it just looked better on her now.
Gwen's main reason for avoiding Ben at the beach was that she felt...strange, seeing him in his swim trunks. She had some things she really needed to sort out for her self, they might lead to a difficult place.
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Don't Drink The Water:
Playing together had been fun. Then they had to find that dunking game.
She was struck by the resemblance between ten year old grandpa and Ben. Grandpa was taller but they could have been taken for brothers.
"Little" Ben was unbelievably cute. It took all of her self control not to scoop him up in a hug.
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Big Fat Alien Wedding:
She hated to admit it but he looked good in that tux. As outdated as it was he really looked handsome.
She had been disappointed to find out that she wouldn't be the flower girl but at least she seamed to have found a friend in Lucy. A nice girl, if a little bit hyper.
Ben had finally relented and let her teach him how to dance. She felt a little strange at first holding hands in the back of the rustbucket, but soon they had both relaxed and Ben was able to learn. In fact he was getting good fast.
They were having fun just being together. She found his touch...nice. Then Grandpa had to come in and ruin it. Ben had pushed her in a panic.
She tried to tell herself that it was just the moment but she really felt a connection. She had to admit, at least to herself that being close had made her happy. She was also finding herself facing the fact that she was starting to develop a crush on, of all people, Ben. What was she to do?
Ben had felt it to. He had been enjoying being with her, no aliens, no arguments or pranks, no insults. Just being together. Why did grandpa have to come in when he did.
At the wedding reception he had to dance with Lucy first, now cousin Lucy. He had found that he liked his new in-laws. He hadn't steeped on her feet but had slipped on, well, part of her.
Later he and Gwen were able to have a dance together. In fact most of the dances for the evening. They swayed in each others arms; looking into each others eyes and just feeling ...right.
They started to cut up later. He dipped her a couple of times and they tried some jitterbug moves. Then, since everyone here knew about the omnitrix now, He changed to stink fly and took her dancing in the air. She couldn't stop laughing.
When they made it back to the rustbucket they were too tired to make it to there bunks, They collapsed on the couch and fell asleep with there arms around each other.
Later Ben decided that weddings weren't so bad after all.
At the reception dance Max saw it. Although he wasn't sure they saw it yet.
He had thought that the dancing lessons were cute but now he saw much more than that. He might have tried to stop it had he recognized it earlier but it was too late now, at least not without hurting them, and loosing them. He decided, don't worry kids, when you're ready, I've got your back.
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Ben 4 Good Buddy:
Gwen had said it before and she was right, knowledge is power. He had beaten the road crew because he knew more about the rustbucket than they did.
They both smiled at the look on grandpa's face when they had each put a spoon of half melted ice-cream in his mouth.
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Ready To Rumble:
She had taken advantage about what he didn't know about computers to get him to do her chores for the rest of the summer. After a couple of days thought she was starting to have some second thoughts. Dancing together had been nice, maybe doing chores together would be to.
Ben was working on some more dishes when Gwen stepped in beside him.
"What are you doing Gwen?"
"I'm trying to help."
"Don't worry about it, I made a deal." he was still a little angry about it.
"I am altering the deal." they both laughed at the movie quote. "Listen, you were going to do my chores for destroying my laptop. But you didn't destroy it. You did use it without my permission though. So what I want for that is for you to help me with my chores. We can do it together, okay?"
He smiled, "Okay." he said just as he was hit by a hand full of soap suds. He returned the favor. By the time they were done the dishes were clean and they were covered in soapy water.
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Ben 10 vs. The Negative 10:
Cooper seemed like a good kid. And he defiantly had some useful abilities. Ben found that as much as he wanted to see the movie it was more that he didn't want Gwen to go with Cooper. He was enjoying his time with her more than ever and, well, he didn't want to share.
At one point he was alone with the negative 10 and the omnitrix timed out. They were closing in on him. He meant to go down fighting but he knew that he wasn't going to survive this. He found his thoughts going back to Gwen again, knowing that he had already seen her for the last time. Take care of her grandpa. But then, the gun emerged from the side of the mountain and he was able to escape the situation.
When it was over and they had discovered Coopers lie about the tickets. They went back to the rust bucket. He didn't need to lie to them to make friends, they both liked him well enough. And Ben had another name for the list grandpa told him to make of potential recruits in case the plumbers needed to reform. It was looking like that might be necessary.
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Secret of the Omnitrix:
She absolutely would NOT leave him to face this alone. So she had stowed away on Tetrax's ship.
Ben had wanted her as far away from him as possible if the omnitirx detonated; but he was glad to see her anyway. They might have a strange dynamic but there was no doubt that they were a team.
When Tetrax told Ben that he had assumed that Ben was mostly interested in the glory of being a hero and not really in helping people it stung. That had once been the case, and, in spite of several "lessons" on the subject, he kept going back to that mentality. He really did want to help, but he also enjoyed the mantle of "Hero"
Gwen had shown what a hero was. She had pushed him out of the way of those wild vines and they had taken her.
He had worked with all of the strength fourarms had but still couldn't get to her. Rage, desperation and grief overwhelmed him. He discovered a profound sense of sadness and loss. He discovered how much she really meant to him.
He had to honor her sacrifice and save the universe, but he would never be happy again. He loved her, as his cousin, yes but also more. He had felt what a crush is with Kai but this was so much more. Cousin or not he would never love anyone like he loved her.
But sadness was replaced with profound joy when he saw her again. He ran to her and held her tightly. She returned the hug.
Gwen was surprised at Ben's enthusiastic greeting when she returned. Surprised and happy. Then when she had said "What would you do without me?" She had heard his response but asked him what he'd said anyway. When he wouldn't repeat it she just smiled inwardly, Okay, we'll play that game. At least for a while.
She was so proud of him for proving to, well, everyone that he was the right person to have the omnitirx. And she was touched when he had said that they should go to the mall to shop for clothes. She wanted to kiss him. He was thinking of her! That meant the world to her.
They would go to the mall but not to shop. That would wait till later. They had work to do.
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Goodbye and Good Riddance:
Saying good bye to her was so hard. He watched her in the rear window as they waved to each other. He felt a profound sense of loneliness and loss. He missed her already.
Gwen felt the same loss and loneliness as they drove away. She loved him with all her heart and it was breaking now.
It made him feel smaller than ever, to have everyone talking about how cool heat blast was, or diamond head, or XLR8, while they looked down at him like always.
He had resigned himself to keeping his secret just like grandpa but then Vilgax had shown up and blew his cover.
They had destroyed a good part of the town in the battle, and it turned out that his dad would probably have made a good plumber himself.
Supposedly Vilgax was dead but they had thought that before. He would not assume that the threat was gone.
The next day Gwen sat down in the desk next to him. She had been thrilled to find out that she would transfer to his school. When he found her there they exchanged their usual banter. It had kind of become a game now but both were glad to be back together.
Once they had taken Animo down, with only minor damage to the school, at least no more than the drones had already done, they walked back into the class room.
"Nice work back there Gwen."
She smiled. "Thanks. Not to bad yourself."
"Hey, I have an idea. Space Pirates 4 is playing at the mall. Want to go this weekend...my treat."
She paused for a minute. "Okay, it's a date. 'Why did I have to call it that?' She asked herself. "But on one condition."
"Alright, what's that?"
"You have to take karate classes with me."
"Uh, why, so you can show me up?"
"Yeah, I guess I will at first, but I think you'll be a quick learner."
"It's a deal"
For Ben and Gwen a new adventure had started.
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One more chapter; Other worlds. Then the sequel.
