Natalie: I'm not judging them, but let's face it - polite people don't glow.
Gwen: I glow.
Natalie : Not around me.
It's Not Easy Being Gwen, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien
Chapter 4
" Not a word about this, or you may kiss all the Summo Slammers goodbye." Kevin menaced his friend, as they walked through the door of the control room.
"Somewhere over the rainbooowww..."
The little music started the two men like a lightning falling between them. When Ben realized where the song came from, he burst into a laughter.
"And you pick on me because my phone plays Summo Slammers theme!" he teased.
"You think that I would use THIS in my phone?" Kevin protested embarassedly " Yesterday, when I was at Gwen's and those cousin of hers pushed her away from me, someone touched my butt! One of those bitches must have picked my phone and messed it up"
Kevin realized he was talking by himself. Ben had ran to the hangar. It was a lie, anyway. Well, partly: Kevin really had been gropped, but anyone stupid enough to mess with his cell phone without knowing the password would receive a nice shock. Kevin himself had downloaded Over the Rainbow, in a moment of complete boredon. The Wizard of Oz had been one of his favorite childhood movies, before little Kevin ran off to live on New York streets. When Ben finally showed up, Kevin had forgotten to restore his usual call, a heavy rock. It took the eternity of minutes to find the shitty cell phone and, when finally Kevin checked on it, his glare deepened. It was Frank Tennyson.
"He must want me to get another brat for a ride. Dream on." Hanging up the call, he flicked the phone to silent mode and ran to the hangar.
Kevin and Gwen almost never could go out without a chaperon tagging along, under the excuse that she or he wanted to see Bellwood. And all of them where the kind of person that nobody wants around; Kevin could bet that all those guys teased them on purpose because it was too much coincidence that ALL OF THEM were so damn annoying!
"Any mall in my city has more shops than this dump. No wonder you are always so underdressed."
"When Ben's not punching some aliens, there's nothing to see here. Face the facts."
"Cousin Gwen, nobody told me that you were so beautiful. Why won't you give up this stupid commitment, so we... hey, calm down, Melvin! It's just a joke."
All the things the Wilkes said and did were disguised as jokes - to hit on Gwen in front of Kevin, to swap his name, to needle him right and left. He couldn't even glare, or he would be taken as rude and humourless. The cherry on top happened when the infamous Aunt Joyce made the couple miss a Super Bowl because she was craving to see a very ancient monument at Bellwood outskirts. Even Gwen, with all her wits and tricks, took an eternity to find the junk, which rested at an old square at the top of a tall stony staircase. Fortunately, Kevin's car had special wheels to climb rocks and stairs; but, when they finally reached the top, the old woman calmly refused to step out of the car to see the damned thing. She asked them to take her back home and said: "I've seen this old statue a thousand of times, Dustin. I just wanted to see if you would be able to take me here. You did much better than Frank; the poor fool carried me with him all these stairs and needed artificial respiration when we reached the half part." When they returned, Frank confirmed that he had been Joyce's victim, too, back when he was dating Natalie. It was a Wilkes tradition, to put pranks on suitors in order to see how serious and determinated they were. There wasn't another way but being a good sportsman. Kevin had to storm off, so he wouldn't say what Frank, Aunt Joyce and all the rest of Gwen family deserved to hear. Only his fiancée, of course, kept him from giving up. Gwen went to see him the next day, full of embarassement. She tried to tell them off, but it was useless; even her mother, whom usually hadn't any sense of humor, found Aunt Joyce's prank amusing. Well, at least Kevin had nailed it – that meant he was now part of the family, right?
Kevin couldn't kill her illusions. It would be more probable Argit doing charity than Kevin Ethan Levin, the former conman, half-osmosian whom lived in the shadow of the universally famous Ben Tennyson and whose mother still lived in a suburban street, to be accepted by that bunch of stuck-ups. But that wasn't what worried him most. He was used to deal with prejudice of people he didn't care about; however, those guys picking on him were related to Gwen. They saw her growing up and expected great things of her. What if she ended up thinking they were right? What if their plan worked and she realized she was committing a big mistake, by marrying him?
"Finally!" Ben complained, as his cousin trudged out of her car "I was starting to think that you had forgotten how to get out of the city."
Kevin shook his head. Years could have passed, but Ben still had his moments of cluelessness. Probably he'd never change. And he didn' t know why Julie had dumped him for good... But, when the Osmosian looked at Gwen, he fastened his pass. Even from the distance he was, he could see there was something wrong with her.
"Sorry, Ben. It's just... I had some trouble..." Gwen was explaining to her cousin.
"Don't" Kevin cut her off as he quickly reached them " Ben also had me all worked up with his 'it's an emergency' talking, and... ouf!" he lost completely his air because Gwen jumped at him and hugged him tight.
They hadn't touched each other for such a long time. There was always something around to sneer or frown at any display of affection deeper than holding hands. Kevin was completely caught off-guard, so he didn't react at the first seconds; but, soon, Gwen felt his caloused fingers running on her back and touching tenderly her hair. She looked up at him, to notice, in shock, how downcast he looked. He had deep circles around his eyes and his chin was blue with stubbles. Even Kevin's hair, whch he was so proud of, looked opaque; stray matted hairs escaped randomly from his ponytail. Kevin, by his turn, wasn't much happy with his mate's aspect, either. Gwen could look immaculate at first sight (well, with all those hyterical women hovering and fretting around her, she wouldn't be allowed to look bad at any moment), but she was pale and looking about to faint any moment.
"You had serious trouble, I see," Ben broke of their enchantment, like always "I'm sorry if I annoyed aunt Lily..."
Grudgingly, Gwen turned her head to look at him.
"Don't. You made me a great favor. " she said as she took her hands off Kevin " But I'd like to talk about that later, if you don't mind. Has someone called you, guys?"
"No" Kevin lied, trying to look as innocent as possible. Ben gave him a sided look.
"Uncle Frank called me before I came here. He asked me if I had seen you and told me to call him as soon as you showed up." He supplied.
"They must be trying to muffle the scandal" Gwen thought "As if it was possible. I bet that grandma's telling all the neighbourhood that you two have kidnapped me."
Her thoughts were interrupted by a weight on her shoulder – Kevin's hand. She looked up to see his worried face close to hers.
"Now you need some food and rest. Ben's 'urgent' subject can wait, can't it?" he shot a warning look at his friend, who just showed the palms of his hands, in defeat "Your cousing had me all worked up with this 'it's an emergency' stuff, too. But he made me wait a lot... just to show up here camly calmly and sit to play Summo Slammer!"
"You never change, don't you?" Gwen teased her cousin, grateful for the chance to keep her mind off her problems.
" Kevin didn't look that 'worked up' when I came. Actually... " Ben trailled off with a baleful smirk. Kevin quickly changed the subject.
"Damn, I'm out of hamburguers. What about ham sandwich?" he offered.
That was their mood when they reached the kitchen – the most important part of the ship besides the control room, according to Kevin. It was a little cramped, but it had enough room to allow the young Tennysons to sit confortably around a table pinned to the floor, as their host rummaged his frigobar. The room had also a few devices to cut and process food and something like a microwave oven. IN a few minutes, Kevin had a plate full of sandwiches of different tastes. He offered to make some juice for Gwen, but she preferred a soda, instead.
"Enough diet!"she vented "If I lose more weight, I'll lose my pants, too!"
"Hubba! Then I won't let you eat this!" Kevin teased as he pretended to push the plate away, but Gwen stopped his hand and defiantly picked up a chicken sandwich. It was on a whim, because she didn't feel like eating. There was something like a ball in her stomach. However, at the first bite, she had to keep herself from pushing the entire thing into her mouth. In instants, the breads and their contents disappeared and she picked up another from the pile.
"Go Gwen! That's the way to do it! " Ben laughed, before gnawing at his sandwich and spilling most of its content over the table.
"C'mon, Tennyson! Who do you think that'll clean up this mess?" Kevin lectured.
Ben opened his mouth to aphologize, but the Osmosian smirked and added in "You're doing it wrong. Just look at me!" With one hand, Kevin pushed an entire sandwich into his open-wide mouth. The two cousins almost gasped from laughing. Gwen told that Kevin was the champion of bad manners in the mess hall of his university."
"Almost", he correct her sheepishly " I told ya I lost for a mouth open and full with egg paste. It was more disgusting than Goop. And don't you think of doing that here!" he warned Ben.
That was the starting signal for a bad manners party, which included straws in noses and burp competition. It was a big relief for them, after weeks of formal, boring meals at Frank and Natalie's. In the first days, Gwen and Kevin's friends invited them to eat out, but soon the invitations stopped because of the couple's unavoidable chaperons. There were always someone tagging along, supposedly to make sure Gwen wouldn't slip of her diet, though this wouldn't keep the chaperon to stuff her/his face with chilly fries and other stuff at the expense of whoever was paying. The only night Kevin and Gwen went out by themselves was a disaster. He had planned to take her to a pizzeria, but his mother nagged so much about "growing up" and "responsibility" that Kevin changed the program for a sophisticated natural restaurant. Gwen couldn't hide her disapointment and they spent their night fidgeting with steam-cooked pieces of broccoli and beet.
In a complete contrast, this snack in the ship kitchen brought them back to the good old times, when the trio used to eat and chat at the Burger Shack or Mr Smoothie parking lot. Except for a big difference. Back in the good old days, Ben, Gwen and Kevin used these moments to talk about their problems and find mutual support, to endure the dangerous missions they were scheduled or even for their usual teenagerhood troubles. Now, their efforts to look cheerful and careless tried to hide each one's personal elephant in the room.
Ben finished his meal with a Humungosaur burp.
"Gee, Kevin... " he started happily "Subway's lucky that your business is machines and not sandwiches. Seriously, you would gain much more with them."
"No way. I'm kinda out of shape already. If I would invest in food, I would end up fatter than Max." Kevin dismissed the suggestion as he tapped on his six-pack "Just cut to the chase, Tennyson. What's so important?"
"A robbing in a lab. It was..." Ben started to explain.
For the sake of secrecy, we'll let the true name of the planet where events happened out of this fic. You just need to know that happened in Cassiopea. A group of thieves invaded an labhorathory, killing and hurting several scientists and guards on their way. Among other precious things, they stole a sign-blocking device. It was a prototype, but strong enough to make a ship arrive to a planet without getting detected by its radars, sensors or any kind of defense system.
"I thought that the Galvanians had forbidden this kind of thing, after the Highbreeds blew up Galvan I" Gwen stated.
"As if. Some Earth lands keep bulding nuke weapons, though they signed anti-nuclear agreement"Kevin cynically "And you want us to help you to find where these robbers are?"
"Actually, I kind of know where they are" Ben said, as he took a holovision out of his pocket
Even Gwen forgot temporarily her inner turmoil to gape at the vision.
"All the paths are entwined. Just like a lace fabric!" she exclaimed in awe, as she bent to see it better.
"It's just the entrance," Ben explained as helped himself of a picles jar "Most part of the labirinth never has been put on a map. The plumbers who ventured themselves there had to be rescued six days later by local guides. Even the people living around won't go much further in there."
"So the thieves are probably lost in there... if they're still alive." Gwen concluded with a shiver.
"Maybe not " Kevin retorted "These guys who saved the plumber must be touristic guides; of course they step only where it is safe. To know the deep insides of the labirinth, you'll have to hire a local smuggler, and it's not easy to find one. The lab's secret has been passed from parents to kids in mugglers families, for over 1.000 years."
The young Tennysons stared at him.
"I was there only once. With Argit. It was the best place to hide some illegal stuff " Kevin explained smiling sheepishly " He knew a few local bootleggers. We had to stick around all the time, so we wouldn't get lost. I stuck on Argit's clothes a tracking device, just in case, so he wouldn't forget me there... it almost wasn't necessary." he finished with a giggle.
Gwen was shocked that Kevin would treat something so horrible like a prank among kids.
"I'll never understand how you could be friend of that alien rat, after all the times he betrayed you." She admonished him.
Kevin dropped his smile.
"When you have the kind of life I had, you can't stay on your own all the time. Sometimes, you have to rely on someone, and cannot choose." He stated grimly.
Maybe it was just Gwen's imagination, but both his sad tone and expression sounded like a lecture for her. Muttering an aphologize, she looked away. Kevin just stared at her. Ben didn't take his eyes off the couple. At the moment he deployed the hologram, it was like Ken and Gwen had both came back to life, after a long time in the dark. Gwen was visible fascinated by the labyrinth and even Kevin, in spite of his fear of getting lost there, looked entusiasted as he talked about his past. Now a simple comment had brought them back to that grim mood. What was eating them?
"Kevin, do you think that Argit still have these contacts?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.
The young mechanic immediately woke up from his trance.
"I can ask him, but it won't be cheap", Kevin answered. His face dropped again as he remembered something important "We can't go with you. Our wedding rehearsal is in two days and this is not of those missions that we solved in an afternoon and got back in time for dinner."
To conceal his frustration, he turned around and started rummaging the frigobar.
"Good! I thought I had no more any of these" Kevin said with fake animation as he picked up a soda can.
That was more than Gwen could handle. She definitely couldn't delay anymore.
"There'll be no wedding rehearsal" she stated "We'll have to postpone our wedding, Kevin."
Kevin's hand squeezed the poor can, producing a geiser of soda that splashed on his face. Sputtering and gasping, he rubbed his face, trying to clean the stinging liquid off his eyes and nose. Ben hurriedly gave him some paper towels.
"Kevin! I'm so sorry" Gwen aphologized in a very contrict tone " I shouldn't have said that so abruptly. But some things... terrible things... happened."
"In the bridal shop", Ben offered.
Grateful for that, the young woman nodded as she dropped herself on a bench.
"While I was in the dresser, my mom and grandma talked aloud. I couldn't understand what they were saying because there was much traffic out there, but I heard Kevin's name, so..."
"So you used your magic to snoop and learned that they didn't see me as the best catch in the market." her fiancée finished, still gasping.
Gwen spun her head to look at him. In Kevin's now reddened eyes, there wasn' any reproach for Gwen's indiscretion, just sadness because he hadn't been able to spare her from the truth.
"Kevin didn't tell you because you had enough trouble " Ben hurriedly defended him " But all those folks of aunt Natalie are very awful to him... well, worse than when you are around. Rachel made a point of calling him a faggot because he rejected her advances.
Gwen frowned when she heard Rachel's name (why, from all her cousins, Ben was the only one she could get along with?).
"So, she started all that gossip about Kevin with Emily for revenge!" she exclaimed, before realizing she had spilled the beans. There wasn't another way but telling the two men about her grandmother's accusations, but making clear that she hadn't believed a single word. Initially, Ben cracked up at that; even Hex with Mother Vreedle would a couple more probable than Emily with Kevin! Emily was practically commited to one of her fellow musicians, besides! However, when the hero realizes that was serious, he became really mad. By other turn, Kevin, the victim of all those lies, received the news with calm.
"At least mom didn't buy it", Gwen continued, trying to confort herself "She insisted that Rachel invented all that because she was angry at me and Emily, since we didn't allow her boyfriend's band to play in the wedding. Still, I expected that she defended you, Kevin! Do you remember how much she helped us with Dad, when we started to go out? But she said... horrible things about you " Gwen stared at the floor, trying hard to not her feelings of that terrible moment in the shop. At least, she wouldn't hurt Kevin more by telling him the things Natalie said about his mother "Both she... and dad... I truly believed they had learned to like you, at least a bit. But they were just tolerating you as they waited for me to dump you for one of my classmates!"
"Of course" Kevin agreed bitterly "With all those full-of-future students in Harvard, why would you keep your mechanic boyfriend? That's the way the cookie crumbles..."
Immediately, he realized that was not the right thing to say. Gwen's eyes were downcast, her arms resting loosely on her knees, tears streaming down her face. Kevin knelt in front of her and took her hands.
"Hey, you weren't the only one who wanted to believe " he lied "I wasn't that optimistic, but, but back in your college days, your parents looked happy to see us together. And, if it makes you feel better, Ken refused to take part in this mess. He made a point to defend me, but nob..." he trailled off, because Gwen tossed herself in his arms. She hugged him in a vise grip, muffling her sobs in his soda-drenched t-shirt. Sitting on the floor, Kevin tenderly cozied her into his lap, feeling grateful because Ben had walked away to give them some privacy. When Gwen calmed down, he helped her back to her feet and they hugged again, finding confort in each other's arms.
After a few minutes, she reluctantly looked up and around. "Where's Ben?"
"Who cares," Kevin moaned as he kissed her neck, sniffled on her hair " I missed this shampoo smell..."
"I missed you, too", Gwen said "But I don't feel like being sanded by stubbles." She gibed, touching his chin and noticing again the dark circles around his eyes. This is my fault, she chastised herself mentally.
"I'm so sorry, Kevin. It wasn't supposed to be like this. You and Ben must think that I was a complete idiot all these last weeks because I didn't notice what was happening. It's just..." "I haven't felt like myself these last weeks. Everytime I protested against something, mom ranted how patient she and Dad were with me back when we started working as plumbers. She insisted that it wouldn't hurt if I spent some quality time with her side of the family. I lost my account of how many times I had to hear how I helped mom to make amends with Grandma Grace!" she outbursted.
Kevin clenched his teeth in disgust. When Frank and Natalie were young, they had lived a typical soap opera situation. Her parents didn't approve the younger couple's relationship, but her old man had a change of heart when Frank started nailing it in court. However, Grace, the "sweet" mother of Natalie, never disguised her frustration for her precious daughter marrying the son of a plumber (one who supposed fixed , since the Tennysons kept Max's secret well). Unluckily, Natalie's father died one year after her marriage. Grace took the advantage to have an argument with Frank. She used that as a pretext to press Natalie to divorce, but her daughter refused and 'broke Grace's heart'. As a result, for almost two years Natalie was ocstracized by the rest of Wilkes, since nobody, even her daring sister Joyce, hadn't the guts to provoke Grace's wrath. To learn that most of Frank's relatives were shining or slimy aliens certainly didn't make Natalie feel better, so Kevin understood pretty well that her first years as Mrs. Tennyson hadn't been easy. After Ken was born, Wilkes slowly made their approaches, but it was when little Gwen showed an uncommon intelligence that Grace changed her mind and 'forgave' Natalie and Frank. Because of that, Gwen had to shoulder her burden of being the peace pipe between Tennysons and Wilkes. To make the soap opera complete, all it needed was someone showing up to reveal that Gwen was in fact a princess of a distant planet that had been sent to Earth in order to not be murdered by terrorists, but Kevin didn't dare to say that to his fiancee.
"Mother Gothel knows best" he hissed angrily " And it's not true. You worked your fingers to the bone, so you could keep track of your grades and our missons, and your parents found more stuff for you to do. Remember when we had to babysit your cousin Sunny? I'll never forget her squealing 'Antoooonioooooo'! " Kevin moaned with his hands together, to mock Sunny's behaviour.
Gwen waved off his try to make fun.
"I remember that. It's just..." the Anodite trailled off, thinking if she should say something, but gave up "No, I can't say that. You gonna laugh" she sighed.
"Laugh at what?" Kevin asked.
Gwen didn't answer stubbornly, so he started to tickle her to make confess.
"All right, all right!" she protested as she pushed Kevin away "Gee, I had forgotten this annoying side of you! It's just that I thought that all the pressure we had to deal was another Wilkes test. Don't stare at me like this, I know it sounds silly, but that made sense for me... I thought that, if we got everything they tossed on us, they would see you as worthy to join our clan. Of course that not everybody would take you in, but thought that maybe some of my cousins would make friends with you..."
"So that's the true reason why she talked me into this mess? She wasn't testing me? I should have known... I'm really a dork. How could I stop trusting her?" Kevin mentally scolded himself. Gently, he held one of her hands and raised it to his face.
"Gwen", he started sadly "You can't force anybody to love another. My stepdad, for example; my mom married him because she thought that I would need a new dad. She never asked my opinion."
"You were four years only."
"I was old enough to be hurt. They ignored my protests and said that Harvey and I would eventually become the best friends ever. But all I could think was that Mister Wishy Washy had taken my dad's place. Nothing that Harvey did was good for me: if he was nice, I thought he was trying to bribe me. If he grounded me..."
"You saw him as a tyrant" Gwen completed, understanding what Kevin was getting at "But you respect him now, even if you and Harvey never became 'best friends'. Even if some members of my family don't like you, they have to learn to respect you."
"Some?" Kevin echoed sarcastically.
"I'm sorry if I'm rude! " Bens voice yelled from the corridor, breaking the moment "But how do you call yanking a cell phone off someone's hand and hang up? Etiquette?"
"He likes you" Gwen replied to Kevin as they vin rushed to the control room.
Natalie's voice hit them like a blast of hot air. Ben was using the terminal to contact his uncle and aunt, and visibly regretted doing that.
"You're taking too much liberties here", Kevin lectured.
"My phone's dead! "Ben yelled, so his explanation could be heard above his aunt's ranting "I just wanted to warn uncle Frank that Gwen's with you, but aunt Natalie breezed in..."
Grudgingly, Gwen gave a step into the room, but Kevin barred her way.
"Don't. They've caused you enough pain." he stated.
"'They' are my parents..."
"Exactly. You'll never be able to tell them what they deserve to hear."
She frowned and thought of a good retort, but shrugged in defeat. In fact, the last thing she wanted now was another fruitless, strenuous arguing with her parents.
"Try to not go overboard, okay?" she conceded, before turning around and walking away.
Luckily, the angle of the terminal screen didn't allow Natalie to see the door, thus she never noticed her missing daughter had quickly showed up. So, she kept chewing Ben out.
"... always messed up with Gwen's life! I never should have allowed her to go with you and Max in that summer vacation..." the old woman ranted.
"Because like this Gwen never would have learned about her magic powers, thus she wouldn't learn she is in fact an Anodite, so she would spend the rest of her life wondering why she feels unfitting everywhere?" Kevin asked as he stepped in "How like you."
He never had been (intentionally) rude to Gwen's parents before. It was exactly like turning a radio off; Natalie clammed up so abruptly that the sudden silence was like a shock on everyone's ears. Anxiously, the couple turned their eyes to the newcomer, although none of them was happy to see him. In passing, Kevin noticed that Natalie and Frank were in Frank's home office. The same place where Kevin had spent an afternoon trying to write his wedding vows. And where, years ago, Frank had once warned him to never give Gwen a car, or Frank would put an end on their relationship for good. Now there was nobody standing around, besides the old couple. "Funny" Kevin mused "I wonder if Natalie's relatives packed their stuff and gone because of the scandal? Nah... they must be listening through the door"
Natalie's surprise, however, didn't last more than a few seconds.
"Where is Gwen?" she demanded "Why didn't you answer our calls?"
"Answering your first question, she's resting, after eating her first decent meal this month. Question two, I didn't answer because Levin Free Tourism Agency is closed for good." Kevin responded, his voice full of sarcasm.
"Good!" Frank interjected unexpectedly. His wife glared at him and he quickly fixed it up "I mean, I'm happy that Gwen is feeding properly. I feared that she would have to be sent to a hospital with desnutrition. " he finished, glaring back at Natalie.
If her eyes could burn, the lawyer's office would now be in flames, but he ignored her angry looks and focused on his future son-in-law.
"I told Lily and her mother that you take good care of her" Frank added in gently.
The young Osmosian lowered an eyebrow in suspect. "He must be really anxious, if he's trying to butter me up. Until yesterday, I could have dropped dead in front of him and he'd never care less." Kevin thought.
"As I always did" he agreed bitterly "To take care of your daughter, Kevin Levin is the one; to become the father of her kids, yuck! Ben told you that Gwen asked me to postpone our marriage, right?"
Frank shut up, but Natalie didn't let herself to be intimidated.
"Yes, he did. And he said that's because you're leaving in another 'mission'" Anybody who heard her talking would think that this mission consisted into something disgusting, like cleaning the city's sewage "Even when you two are going to marry, you can't..."
"Don't be such a hypocritical," Kevin cut her off "You never wanted me for your son-in-law. Instead of glaring at me, you should be celebrating the delay with your beloved family. By the way, I think it's funny that whenever you talk about family, you always mean the Wilkes gang. Don't your children and husband count?"
His question hurt Natalie pretty bad. Several times Frank and their children had complained about this more or less discretly. Even Aunt Joyce had hinted Natalie to be more concerned about her "Tennyson side". But it was the first that someone rubbed the unpleasant subject on her face, without any roundabouts or insinuations.
"Of course they do!" she protested in outrage "Why do you think that I didn't allow Gwen to throw the lame party she wanted so much? She is special for all of us! Since Gwen was small, my mother, my aunts and I have dreamed of giving her the perfect wedding... no matter who is the groom." she finished, gathering as much disdain as she could in that last phrase.
"Good for me" Kevin retorted in the same tone "If I was special, nobody would care what I want."
Ben nudged him, so Kevin would give a step aside and allowed the younger man to bend over the terminal.
"That's right. You guys don't have any respect for Kevin and Gwen's wishes" Ben scolded the couple "But, for aunt Natalie's relatives, Gwen's groom matters a lot, and you two knew that. You pretended to agree with the wedding, as long as aunties' side of the family was invited, because you knew pretty well that they would try to shoo Kevin away. All you had to do was to turn a blind eye on their pranks, or put some order if someone went too far. If even then Kevin and Gwen insisted into marrying, oh well, at least your mother and aunties would have their dream wedding – 'no matter who was the groom'."
"Ben," Frank warned him "I don't care if you the great protector of universe; we still are your aunt and uncle. You owe us respect!"
"RESPECT?" Ben echoed "For backstabbing parents?!"
"Ben..." Kevin started, but his friend ignored him.
"Gwen burst out crying when she told us what happened in the shop!" Ben carried on, his eyes wide in fury "How many times have you seen her cry? Tell m..."
"TENNYSON!" Kevin yelled in Ben's ear. Even the old couple jumped with a start; it would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. Ben backed away, as he resently rubbed his buzzing ear.
"It's not their fault!" Kevin explained "Well, it's... kind of... But not in the way you're thinking."
All their attention was focused on him now. Ben just gagged "It's not? " as Frank and Natalie demanded to know how Kevin knew it. Finally, they allowed him to explain.
"Gwen told us that her grandmother accused me of cheating on her with Emily, but that Natalie insisted that was not true. So unlike Gwen's mom, whom says "amen" to everything Mrs. Wilkes wants. I bet that M... that Natalie invited her relatives because she thought Gwen would be embarassed to introduce me for them. Or that I would run away, whatever came first. But Mrs. Wilkes found your plan too subtle and decided to overclock it. And, since Natalie and Frank started this mess, they could do nothing but shut up and watch."
"At least one of you has brains" Frank agreed, relieved "It was Rachel whom tried to slander you – and, by the way, nobody believed in her. Even Grace, although she loved that. Emily is like another daughter for us. Such a scandal would ruin her life."
"And mine, thanks for caring!" Kevin added in angrily.
"Anyway, this is horrible" Ben stated. To say he was shocked would be an understatement; repulsed would be the closest word of his feelings "You don't have to love Kevin (I know he's not someone easy to like), but you don't give a damn about Gwen's feelings? She complied to all your demands because she loves you! She wanted you to accept Kevin in your family! How could you ruin her dreams like this?"
"Ruin..." Natalie echoed, her last pieces of politeness shattering into dust. In her defense, she had spent the last days under tension, under her relatives' constant pressure and her concern about her daughter's aphatic attitude. Gwen's escape had caused a big turmoil in the house, of course; by one side, her mother and the rest of elder Wilkes accused her of haven't given Gwen a good education; by other turn, Ken had given Natalie a good dress-up about her insensitivy towards his little sister. Not to mention the resentment she had concealed for years against Ben, for ruining the plans of a perfect, shining future for Gwen. So, no wonder she finally outbursted.
"You're not anyone to talk about ruining others' dreams, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! Specially Gwen's! Her life would have been completely different, if it wasn't for you and that horrible watch!"
Such an impactful accusion... if Ben hadn't heard something alike from her, minutes ago. Not to mention all the insinuations and resentful comments he had to put up from his aunt, through the years since he had teamed up with Gwen and Kevin.
"Not that again, auntie," he moaned "First of all, you and uncle Frank never should have concealed Gwen's Anodite heritage from her! I understand that you wanted that she and Ken had a normal life, but if Gwen had known it all from the beginning, she'd never feel forced to hide her magic studying from you! If she got away from you, it's YOUR fault, not mine!"
Adding fuel to the fire is always a mistake. If there was something still holding Natalie, it shattered once to all.
"I always forget that you can't understand that not all the people stare in awe at your weird tricks. "she hissed hatefully " Some of us actually enjoy a calm, monotonous day life. Never ocurred you that your parents, in spite of how proud they SAY they are of you, they must have wished sometimes that your device would break for all the time? Why Frank and I'd supposed to be happy whenever Gwen risks her life in another galaxy or floats with her eyes glowing, just like Verdona? " she added in tearfully "She doesn't look my daughter when she's like this! Back when Gwen was in high school, she spent all her free time with you and Kevin, instead of having fun like a normal teenager! And we had to watch in silence because you three were 'saving the world'"!
"She had fun with us, too," Ben tried to add, even though he knew it was useless. Natalie wouldn't listen to nobody now. More than once, Frank tried to stop her, but she ignored him.
"I had to invent all the sorts of excuse to my family to explain why Gwen never was at home when they came, or why she couldn't visit them! And then you secret identity was exposed... and the world learned what you three were doing... I just wanted to die! Fortunately, my people found interesting to have super-heroes in the family, but..."
"SHUT UP, YOU BITCH!"