The Tennysons continued their summer road trip. They saw the reconstruction at Mt. Rushmore and went on to spend a couple of days at Yellowstone.

It was nice to just relax. The whole time they never saw a sign of Animo, circus freaks or Kevin. It was hard to let their guard down but it was nice to have a little peace.

Max sat in a folding chair in front of the rustbucket watching his grandchildren just be kids, well teenagers, but they were playing tag like little kids, in the woods nearby.

Max watched as Ben was running from his cousin. The sight brought his thoughts back to how they would deal with the feelings they had found for each other, considering their existing relationship.

Max was taken out of his thoughts by Gwen lifting herself with her magic to fly at Ben, tackling him to the ground.

It didn't escape Max's notice that they seamed to spend a little too much time on the ground tangled around each other. Gwen leaned over and gave Ben a quick kiss. She then sprang off of him announcing "You're it"

Gwen was quick and agile but she had underestimated Ben's stamina. He stayed right behind her until she started to tire. He then closed the distance reaching out for her. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her as Max heard her start to squeal and try to struggle away, finally Ben brought her down in a giggling heap.

Ben finally stopped tickling her, she gave him a mock slap. "That wasn't fair." She said.
"All's fair in love and war Gwen"

From there they went south toward Arizona to visit Aunt Vera. They stopped to see the Grand Canyon and rest for the night. The hike tired them out too much for more games. Max decided he needed to talk to his sister to get some advice about what to do about these two.

A day latter they were at Vera's house. She loved having these kids here. She'd never had children of her own, her nephews were the closest she had gotten. The need to take care of them was how she came to know what her brothers really did for a living.

Now she was part of it to, as were her great grandchildren.

The kids went by stinkfly to the superstition mountains. They planed a day of hiking and promised to be back before dinner.

When they left Max and Vera sat in the living room talking about all that had happened since they had spoken last. Then Max brought up a more serious point.

"Vera, I guess you've noticed that the kids are getting along a lot better."

"Yes, I guess their starting to mature. Probably makes things easier on you."

With a sigh he answered. "Not really. It's just gotten a lot more complicated."

"How so?"

"The bond between them seams to have gotten stronger than I'd ever expected."

Vera's expression didn't change. "Really, how so?"

With another sigh, he told Vera what Natalie had seen and heard when Ben and Gwen had returned from the carnival and he told her about the last few days on the road.

Max was stunned when Vera said, "I wondered if it would go that way."

"You saw this coming?"

"Well I saw the possibility. They have a natural bond. Almost like it was meant to be that way all along."

Max caught something in her expression. "What do you mean by that?"

"Just what I said, they fit well together. I'm not saying that this is the ideal situation. I'm not necessarily condoning it, Just not condemning it either...at least not at this point."

As they were talking the kids returned from their day of hiking.

Vera turned to them, "Did you have fun?' she asked.

"Yeah, it was great." Gwen answered.

Max added, "Glad you guys had a good time." He paused. "Kid's, we need to talk about some things."

"Okay... what did we do." Ben asked.

"You didn't do anything. We were talking about some...personal things."

The kids went pale.

"Relax kids." Vera reassured them. "Couples like you are not so odd on a lot of planets...and on parts of this one.

Your problem is that it is frowned on in this part of the world."

Gwen spoke before Ben could. "We know about that, and we really aren't sure what to do."

Ben then spoke. "Maybe this shouldn't have happened, it's not like we planed it, just..I trust her, I feel good when we're together."

Gwen interrupted, "It's like this the way it should be." She paused, "I've wondered if we should just try to forget about this but I don't know if I can. I do know I don't want to."

"Kid's I wouldn't worry to much." Max said. "Considering that your cousin married an alien, I married a sorceress...and now I'm involved with an alien."

"Oh, by the way." Vera added. "She'll be here later. She told me to tell you that she's looking forward to seeing you again."

"That's great news, it'll be good to see her." He returned his attention to the kids. "You need to talk to your parents but I'll be with you. I might even be able to get a few others there for moral support."

"Really, like who?" Ben asked.

"Vera, Joel and Camille, Xylene maybe some others."

"Cool" Both kids said.

The two adults laughed. Vera told them, "Well, you kids wash up and relax for a while. I'll have dinner ready soon. Max would you stay our here and wait for Xylene.

The kids went to the wash room as Vera stepped into the kitchen. She called out to to Max. "I hope Xylene doesn't mind a meal that isn't trying to get away.