They made short work of the apparent zombies at the mall and Max let the kids go shopping as, surprisingly, Ben had suggested.

Max handed each of the kids a little money. Although they had money of their own doting on his grandson, and the girl who was like a granddaughter to him was part of the perks of being retired.

"You two go have fun. Just be back at the rustbucket by sunset, okay."

"Okay grandpa," Ben said, as the two went to shop.

They stopped at almost every clothes store in the mall. Ben was bored to tears, but watching Gwens excitement was entertainment in itself. She tried on some things she wanted to buy and even modeled some for Ben. Ben had to admit he didn't mind that part, particularly when she tried on some dresses.

For all of her tomboy interest in things like martial arts; and all of her geeky interest in things like museums, this, clothes shopping brought out the girly girl in her. Ben was surprised at how appealing that was. It extended apparently to shoes. They got to a women's shoe store and Gwen tried on several pairs to find things that would match with the clothes she had bought.

"Boy, I'm glad we don't have to wear this kind of thing," Ben said as Gwen modeled some high heel dress shoes. "How do you walk in those?"

"Some girls can run in them if you can believe that. I wouldn't try though. I'd break my ankle."

"HA, The awesome Lucky Girl undone by her own fashion sense."

They both laughed a little.

Ben then picked up one of a pair of clear plastic shoes and said, in a deliberately over dramatic way. "I shall marry none but the girl who fits this slipper."

Gwen smiled and played along. "Okay Prince Benjamin, try it on," she said as she crossed her legs.

Ben didn't expect that but, what the heck, why not have a little fun. He knelt down, in his best imitation of a Disney Prince, to try on the shoe. Might even fit, he thought to himself. But then his mischievous side got the better of him.

"Eeeeeeeeehe," Gwen squealed as she jerked her foot away, then scolded Ben. "Benjamin Tennsyon, the prince didn't tickle Cinderella's foot."

"Ha, maybe he should have."

She smirked at him. "You get one more chance...Prince. No tickling this time." She crossed her leg. He tired in on. "What do you know," he said to her. "It fits." They looked at each other, both slightly red in the face.

Gwen broke the awkward silence. "We should, um, go check out."

"Uh, yeah." Ben said putting back the shoe they had been playing with. But Gwen called back. "Bring the clear shoes to."

Ben smiled. "Whatever you say Cinderelly."

They dropped off the things Gwen had bought then decided to go to a movie. Ben had let Gwen pick. At first she wasn't sure why he kept deferring to her but she picked up on it. After what happened with the wild vines, it was his way to tell her how much she meant to him. Maybe she shouldn't but she had to see how far this would go. She told him what she wanted to see.

"Ugh, 'Leader of the Pack?' Isn't that one of those rom coms or whatever they call it?"

"Yes, you've heard of it?"

"Yeah, standard chick flick stuff. Friend zones this guy to go out with the bad boy, then at the end she sees that the right guy was always there with her, roll end credits."

"It's what I want to see," she said with pleading eyes

"Alright, we'll go."

She smiled and took his hand as they went back to the mall.

A few more adventures and the summer was over, and so were their adventures...Or so they thought.

They arrived home. Ben was dropped off first. His parents noticed that he hadn't followed them into the house. They saw him still at the curb waving to Gwen, as she waved back.

Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson looked at each other knowingly.

Ben found the regular routine boring. It didn't help that he had to put up with Cash and JT again. He didn't need his aliens to deal with them and Ben had no doubt it wouldn't take long for them to give him an opportunity to show that he wasn't the push over they remembered. But that was interrupted by Vilgax. He had found Ben and attacked him in his home.

Ben, Gwen, Max and Ben's dad bested Vilgax. Possible even killed him. Although they knew not to relax unless a body was found.

Also Ben's secret was out. He had to admit there was some satisfaction in seeing the looks on Cash and JT when they realized who had done all of those heroic things over the summer.

But best of all was the fact that Gwen was in his class now. Oh, they kept up their usual banter, but it was clear that they were just having fun with it.

Class ended early one day though when Animo attacked. Ben and Gwen went into action as the whole school watched.

The outcome was never in doubt and Animo was taken away again.

Ben turned to Gwen. "I think we have a problem. All of our enemies know where to find us...and the people we care about."

"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "I think we need to talk to Max."

Gwen then noticed all of the other students and the teachers were watching. She decided this was a good time to pick up on a dormant subject with Ben.

"Ben."

"Yeah."

"You know we never did get back to that talk we were having on the way back to Earth."

Before Ben could say anything in response Gwen put her arms around him and kissed him. He returned the kiss.

She pulled back and whispered in typical playground sing song "Benny's got a girlfriend."

He smiled at her. "He sure does." and with that he kissed her again.