A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! It makes me so happy to know how much you like this story! You guys are the best!
Special thanks to Codecrash for all your great ideas, inspiration, advice, everything. You are truly amazing, and I can't wait to see what you come up with in your stories! You're right, by the way, insanity helps A LOT. =)
Kenny was sleeping soundly in his bed, snoring loudly. He was having a very good dream about being Earth's greatest hero sometime in the near future, and wasn't planning on waking up any time soon.
In the dream, Hex, Charmcaster, and her daughter, Allura, were attacking the town. His father had trusted Kenny to take care of the problem, and now the young boy was making the most of it.
Just as he, having turned into Four Arms, dodged another blast of magic from the older sorceress, the young hero landed on a building next to Devlin, who was battling Allura. The girl looked like a smaller version of her mother, who looked just like the Charmcaster in the parallel universe, but was ten times as vicious. The raven-haired boy, now in his mutated form, had her in a chokehold, and she was clawing at his arms, doing quite a bit of damage.
"I've got her," Devlin spat out, trying not to pay too much attention to the fact that thin tricklets of blood were flowing from the scratches her claws had made, "Take care of Charmcaster and Hex!"
Over the alien's shoulder, the mutated boy could see that Jenny was fighting both of them, and he obviously didn't like it.
"Hang on a second," Kenny muttered. There was something different about Allura this time. She had added another accessory to her outfit: a witch's hat. The boy lifted it off, sensing that something was wrong, and the girl went limp in his friend's arms.
"Ugh," she groaned.
Devlin immediately let her go and set off to help Jenny. Four Arms caught the witch in two arms, and she struggled to make sense of what was going on.
"Kenny?" she whispered, "What happened?"
Suddenly, the 10-year-old was hit in the face by a jet of cold water, effectively waking him up and ending his wonderful dream.
"Aah!" he screamed, scrambling to get up and as far away from the freezing cold water as possible. He fell out of his bed, entangled in a heap of blankets and soaking wet. The young boy heard laughter from behind him and fought to get rid of the blanket. A pair of small arms lifted it off him easily and tossed it away somewhere in the corner. "What was that for?"
"Good morning, doofus," Jenny greeted him brightly, ignoring his question, "Ready for your dance lesson?"
"Dance?" the younger bearer of the Omnitrix asked, eyes widening. He had been momentarily afraid that his cousin had eavesdropped on his dream, but all fears diminished when he heard that one word.
"Yep," the girl confirmed, nodding furiously, "Get dressed and meet me in the living room in 10 minutes."
"Wait!" her cousin cried, just as she started heading for the door. The red haired girl stopped in her tracks immediately and turned back slowly. "I am not taking dance lessons. Especially not from you."
This earned him one annoyed look an eye-roll.
"You'll look stupid out there if you don't dance," she whined, coming back to the bed and putting her hands on her hips in a very good imitation of her mother, "Everybody's gonna dance. Probably even the parallel versions of Kevin, Mom, and your dad! Why won't you let me teach you?"
"Because guys don't dance," Kenny stated, clambering up to his feet and looking down at his cousin, "We fight aliens, play video games, do cool stuff. And dancing definitely doesn't fall under that category."
"Oh, really?" Jenny asked, now crossing her arms on her chest and raising an incredulous eyebrow, "Then how come your dad, my dad, great grandpa Max, Devlin, the parallel version of your dad, and even Kevin Levin all know how to dance?"
"Um because… well they, um…it's not really…" Kenny found that he couldn't find a reasonable explanation, and he knew his devious little cousin could see that.
"Uh huh," she said, a knowing smirk on her face as she turned back to exit the room and called carelessly over her shoulder: "Ten minutes!"
Kenny groaned and fell back on his bed. He would have given anything to be able to crawl back into bed at that very moment, but he knew full well that Jenny would be having none of that. His beloved red haired cousin could be very stubborn when she wanted to be, and apparently, this was one of those times.
He hadn't noticed that the door hadn't closed behind the girl yet. Her sing-song voice calling out his name noted him to that fact, and the younger bearer of the Omnitrix lifted his head, only to find the blue-eyed girl's head just barely peeking out of the doorway.
"About your dream," she said, with a wide smile on your face, "It's never gonna happen with you and Allura."
The young anodite ducked out of the room as Kenny's shoe came flying at her head.
Several hallways away, Devlin was sitting at the desk in his room, putting his hair up in his usual ponytail, getting ready for the day. He liked the fact that he now had a bed to sleep in, and could wake up without worrying about monsters, gangsters, or any of the other stuff he had had to deal with when living with his father. True, there was the occasional run-in with the local alien criminals or really dangerous ones like Dr. Animo or his dad, but the 10-year-old couldn't say that he minded. It was almost fun dealing with the law when you were on the right side of it. The boy cringed when he thought of what his father might do if he ever heard his own son say that out loud.
Dealing with Mrs. Tennyson, though…that was something he could live without. He made a mental note to ask Dad – he meant Kevin – whether or not the greatest hero in the universe was dating Kai in his universe. And if he was, if she was as bad there as she was here. The woman could be nice and kind when she wanted to, but, over the few times Devlin and Kenny had 'accidentally' overheard the conversations Ben 10,000 had with his cousin, Gwen, it had been proved otherwise, too. And, call him crazy, but sometimes the boy got the impression that she only cared about her own children and their dad's fame.
Dad. For some reason, thinking of his new family always somehow led back to the idiot who had used him to escape the Null Void. Kevin 11,000 was a murderer, but did that mean that there was absolutely no good inside him? That didn't seem likely, even though previous experiences had deemed it otherwise. There had been times when Kevin had been something of a good father. Like, for instance, he had helped Devlin master his powers when they were just starting to develop.
Devlin startled. He hadn't thought about that, since it had been such a long time ago, but now old memories were beginning to resurface. Kevin Levin might have only shown up yesterday, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy. Maybe that's why he was actually remembering something good about his childhood.
Devlin sighed. How different would everything have turned out if his father had actually gained control of his powers and stopped absorbing energy? Would everything have happened just as it did in that universe? Would he have dated and eventually married Gwen Tennyson, become Ben Tennyson's best friend, and started working for the Plumbers? Would Devlin and Jenny be brother and sister, have a sort of normal life with both parents working for the intergalactic police? Jenny's life would certainly be better. The boy would have bet a month's allowance on the fact that Kevin would never make Gwen do anything she didn't want to, such as moving to the country. He cared about her enough to not force her to do anything, but when it was necessary, to put his foot down.
Just then, as if though thinking about the girl had somehow triggered something, the ceiling opened, and dropped Jenny Goldstein onto the boy's bed.
"Oof!" she cried as she hit the mattress.
Devlin smirked, putting all his thoughts of family away, and directed all his attention to the red headed girl entangled in a heap of blankets on his bed.
"You know, some people use doors now," he informed her, and stood up from his place at his desk.
"Yeah, thanks," the anodite said, sitting up and tossing the blanket to the foot of his bed.
"So, what are you doing here?" he asked gruffly.
The girl glared at him.
"Good morning to you, too," she said, her eyes narrowed. Honestly, people could be so rude sometimes.
"Sorry," he apologized, a small smile on his face, "Force of habit. But really, what are you doing here? Kai usually sends Eunice when breakfast is ready."
"I'm not some sort of servant," the girl scoffed, crossing her arms on her chest indignantly, "It's not my job to tell you when breakfast is or is not ready."
"Right, sorry," the boy muttered and then sighed. He usually didn't apologize to anyone, save for his new family, and yet he had apologized to this little red head twice in one minute.
Jenny noticed the change in him. She was good at reading people, and could tell that something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" she asked, standing up and walking slowly over to where the blue-eyed boy was sitting slowly and cautiously, as if though approaching a wounded animal.
"Nothing's wrong," Devlin stated, looking at her in confusion. Why on earth would anything be wrong? Just because he had lived his whole life believing his father was locked up for some unjust reason, and now found out that he really was an evil psychopath, only to find out a week later that there was a parallel version of him that was good and decent and even had a good life something just had to be wrong? Get out of town.
She sat down on another chair by his desk. The 10-year-old's room looked exactly like hers, only without the vanity table, the blanket on his bed was midnight blue, and the walls were a more metallic shade than the snowy white Jenny was accustomed to.
"It's Kevin, isn't it?" the anodite guessed gently, her eyes full of compassion.
"Yeah," the boy admitted.
"Are you still hung up on what he said yesterday?" she guessed again. This one wasn't as close as her last guess had been, but Devlin was curious as to what she meant. After all, he had said a lot of things.
"He says a lot of things," he stated with a resolute shrug, "Which one did you mean?"
"What he said about you losing your humanity," Jenny clarified.
The boy's eyes widened. How could he have been sitting here, brooding over everything in his life, when the threat of his humanity being taken away loomed over him? The girl's words were like a slap in the face, and he hadn't even been thinking about that!
"I…wasn't even thinking about that," he muttered, surprised at how gruff his voice sounded.
"Oh," the red head said, jerking up in her seat quickly, like an electric current had just passed through her, "Well, good, then. Don't. I mean, just because it happened to him doesn't mean it's gonna happen to you, and besides, what does he know? He was trapped in the Null Void for years, then came out and started going out with his worst enemy's cousin and-"
"Jenny?" Devlin interrupted her babbling, a slightly amused smile on his face.
"Yeah?" the girl said, halting her little pep speech.
"Shut up," he chuckled. The girl opened hr mouth to retort, but then closed it, narrowed her ice blue eyes and turned away, arms and legs crossed, nose turned up in the air.
"Fine," she grumbled, making the boy laugh even more.
"So, what were you doing here?" he asked when his laughing fit was over.
No answer.
"Jenny?" he called, frowning. Had he really upset her that much?
"You said to shut up," she answered in a quiet, insulted voice.
"Sorry," he apologized for the third time in ten minutes, "You can un-shut up now."
"Thank you," the blue-eyed girl said, a wide smile on her face as she turned back to him, "I'm teaching Kenny how to dance. Thought you might like to come and see."
"Are you kidding?" the 10-year-old cried, shooting up out of his seat and starting to head for the door, all thoughts of their earlier conversation gone, "Miss out on an opportunity to watch my brother make a fool of himself and videotape the whole thing to be used as blackmail? Of course I want to come."
She remained seated and gave him a pointed look.
"I mean watching you teach something cultural to my sort of brother?" he edited weakly, "Yay."
A wide smile broke out on the girl's face. She gave a firm nod and walked over to him, stopping to scrutinize the boy's clothing. The smile was immediately replaced by a frown.
"What?" he asked, not liking the way her blue eyes ran up and down his thin frame. Was there something wrong? Had he forgotten to put on pants? No, the 10-year-old distinctly remembered putting on pants a few minutes ago. What then?
One of the anodite's small, thin hands quickly ran up to his hair and pulled out the rubber band there.
"Hey!" the boy cried as all his black hair spilled around his face, and he shook it out of his eyes.
"Much better," the girl stated and smiled brightly again, turning to head out the door.
Devlin rolled his eyes. Girls. Who knew what went on in their mind?
By the kitchen door, the adults were still gathered around the teenage Kenny, trying to get him to calm down and stop screaming his head off.
"Kenny, Kenny, calm down," Ben 10,000 coasted him gently, putting his large hand on the boy's shoulder to try and calm him, "It's us, your parents! And my cousin Gwen, but she doesn't really matter."
"Shut up, you doofus," the red haired woman snapped at her cousin, hitting him on the back of the head.
"Both of you quit it!" Kai cried, pushing past the two other adults and crowding her teenage son's space, "Oh, baby, what happened? Did something hurt you? Oh, it doesn't matter. You're safe now!" She crushed the boy's head to her chest, causing him to squirm in her steel-hard grasp. The boy's father pulled his hand away just in time.
"Kai, that's enough!" he exclaimed, trying to get her to let the teen go, "You're suffocating him!"
Finally, the woman let go of the 16-year-old. He sat back, taking deep breaths, one hand on his heart.
"Are you okay, kiddo?" Gwen asked gently.
"Yeah," he gasped. It took him a moment to meet the anodite's eyes. "But what happened yesterday?"
"You, your cousin, and Devlin traveled back in time because, apparently, Edwin did something to upset him," Earth's greatest hero informed the boy, "Now, do you remember what attacked you?"
"Nothing attacked me," the brunette boy answered, a confused look crossing his features. Slowly memories of yesterday came flooding back. The two ten year olds accidentally bringing them back in time, meeting the parallel version of his adult self along with Gwen and their spouses, and Jenny and Gwendolyn, getting chased around the huge maze-like house by Kevin at least five times, the blackout, the rained-out dinner, and his 13-year-old daughter getting attacked by Darkstar. How on Earth did he get here, anyway? "Jenny gave me some false room-code."
"So, why didn't you just use the code to another room?" Gwen asked suspiciously, "One you did know."
"Because…in our time," the 16-year-old said slowly, trying to come up with a good excuse, "all the codes are different and none of them would work here."
"But no one around here ever changes the codes," the adult Ben said with a frown.
"Well, um, you didn't have a choice because Animo broke in here and, um, he…" the brunette teen trailed off, not knowing what to say next. He had to give Kevin some credit. Lying was hard!
"What did he do, sweetie?" Kai prompted, her beautiful brown eyes looking into his intensely. Her eyes, they reminded him so much of a doe's…and does were animals…and Animo's sole mission in life had something to do with animals…and most of the time he was chasing Ben to get a DNA sample…
The bearer of the Ultimaterix took a deep breath to steady himself, and looked into his parallel wife's eyes steadily.
"Because he had a DNA sample hidden somewhere here from when he attacked this place," he explained calmly, "and also, the key code to the room, so in order to make sure he never found the sample, we had to change the codes."
"What sample was it?" the red head asked, her eyes now hard and calculating.
"It was from one of my aliens," the brunette teen told her, holding out his watch.
"Kenny, how many times have I told you," Ben 10,000 snapped, helping up his son while the two women stepped back and straightened up, "you have to be careful with the Omnitrix! There are lots of criminals out there who want to steal it, and being so reckless could get you hurt!"
"You're right," the parallel version of him agreed with a sigh, "I'm sorry, Dad."
There was a moment of silent surprise as the three adults gapped at him. Kenny never admitted his father was right, since, well, he almost never was. But this time was different. It wasn't Kenny they were dealing with. This was Ben Tennyson, a guy who hung out with an ex-con, and who had been lying to his parents about his watch for an extremely long time. He knew how to handle his folks, much less himself.
The boy wanted to smirk at how ridiculous the adults looked, but didn't dare. He wanted to see this thing to the end, and smirking would just ruin everything.
"Well- well, you should be sorry," the adult Ben stated, "When did this little run-in with Animo happen?"
"Well, I'm not allowed to tell you anything about the future," the green-eyed teen said, pulling up a sad smile, "Sorry, but those are the rules."
"What rules?" the man cried, throwing his hands up into the air in exasperation, "Devlin built a time-machine so you could go back in time because Gwen's husband made him mad! There are no rules when it comes to stuff like that!"
"Actually, there are," the 16-year-old intervened, silently thanking God that Kevin wasn't there. His friend never would have let him live this down. "If I tell you anything about the future, then it could mess with the space-time continuum. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
Ben 10,000 started sputtering and his wife wrapped both her arms around his and started tugging him away from the scene.
"Come on, honey," she said gently, as they both started walking in the direction of their room, "We need to get to breakfast. Hope you feel better, sweetheart!" The last part she called over her shoulder to the teenage version of her son.
"But I feel-" he started to call after her, but was interrupted by Gwen putting a hand on his shoulder. She started leading him in the other direction, to the living room.
"Don't bother," the anodite advised, "We should get to breakfast, too. Your brother was already there and had a conversation with my husband." Her hand tightened around the boy's shoulder as she practically growled the last words.
"Kev- I mean, Devlin and Edwin?" Ben cried, looking up at the adult, parallel version of his beloved cousin, "Is he okay?"
"Devlin said he's fine," the woman assured both him and herself, "Or, alive at least."
"No, not Uncle Ed," the 16-year-old stated, shaking his head, "Devlin. He cares about Jenny a lot and I know it's hard for him that her parents hate him. He might act like a jerk, but in the end he wants the same thing as you two: to keep someone he cares about safe. Isn't that what the Plumbers were about? Protecting the universe and the people we care about?"
A wide smile spread across the red head's face and she loosened her grip.
"You know, your dad doesn't give you enough credit," she said, "You're pretty smart to be the son of the world's biggest doofus."
"Thanks," the teen said, slightly unnerved at hearing his old nickname, "But maybe you should stop making fun of my dad. I mean, Jenny and I stopped doing that when we were twelve."
By now they had reached the living room. The anodite stopped in her tracks and looked at the boy in shock for a few seconds. Was he actually lecturing her on treating her family members with respect? When her parents had told her to stop making fun of Ben, the green-eyed young woman hadn't listened, and eventually they had decided to leave her alone. But now, a 16-year-old, who was almost exactly like her moronic cousin, had told her it should stop. Maybe it was time she listened to what people had been telling her for years…
"Um, should we go in or what?" the boy asked, bringing the young woman out of her thoughts.
"Yes, of course," the red head agreed, and pushed the door open to reveal her husband and Eunice setting the table, while he sat on the couch, a dazed and confused look on his face.
"Edwin?" the man's wife said, hurrying over to sit beside him, "What's the matter?"
The raven-haired man blinked his ice-blue eyes once and turned his attention to the anodite.
"Nothing," he assured her, "Everything's perfect."
Back in their room, Gwen and Kevin were getting ready for breakfast. Gwen had already brushed out her hair and gotten dressed in her usual black mini skirt and red sweater, while Kevin searched for his ID mask. He finally found it under the bed.
"There it is!" he cried and reached under the bed to pull out the piece of alien tech. When he finally got it, he waved the mask up over his head, still on his knees, showing it to the red head looming over him, her arms crossed on her chest. "Got it!"
"That's nice," the anodite said distractedly, tapping one foot, "So, can we go now? I'd like to see how much damage you caused to my husband."
The osmosian stood up and shuddered.
"If you ever say those words again, I swear I will punch the living daylights out of whoever the hell you're talking about," he threatened and clenched his fists, nearly breaking the energy mask.
The girl rolled her eyes and stepped forward so that she was directly in front of her boyfriend. With tentative hands, she slowly pried open the 17-year-old's fist and removed the mask, holding it gingerly in both hands.
"I'm sure you will," she said gently, and held the alien tech up for him to put on, "Now put this on before Ben 10,000 decides to check the security cameras."
The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes and put the mask on, this time making sure that the only thing different was his eye-colour. He didn't want anyone getting suspicious.
"Speaking of security cameras, what are we gonna do about our little guest?" he asked. His girlfriend sighed.
"We'll deal with Michael after the party," she stated, looking down at the floor. She didn't want Kevin to know how worried she really was about this. How had Michael found them, anyway? Why was he here? Why had he taken energy from Gwendolyn, when the real prize was any one of the red heads? No, scratch that one. The anodite knew the answer to that. Michael liked to play with his food. (She shuddered at the word.) It was the reason why he had used the girls from his high school. But she knew what he was really after: her. And the girl didn't want her beloved boyfriend to know just how much it scared her that she could be dragging her little daughter into this, too.
Unfortunately for her, the said boyfriend was very observant. He knew there was something wrong. With a sigh, the osmosian wrapped his arms around her, enveloping the red head in a warm embrace. He knew the matter was serious when she hesitated to wrap her slender, pale arms around him, too, and pulled back to ask her about it.
"Gwen, what is it?" he asked, frowning down at her, "You know we can handle that low-life energy-sucking vampire."
"Yeah, I know," the green-eyed girl agreed, "It's just with the kids and everything-"
"Hey, don't worry about them either," Kevin told her, just barely brushing her forehead with his lips, "They can take care of themselves, too. You worry too much."
A small smile danced on the corners of the girl's mouth.
"This from the guy who just ten minutes ago carried me back to my room," she reminded him, looking up and smiling at his now midnight blue eyes.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, smiling back, "Let's get down to breakfast. I'm pretty sure Tennyson's awake by now and I don't want to miss seeing him mess something up again."
The red head rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she said with a resolute sigh and let him lead her out of the gorgeous bedroom, "Let's go."
Back at the living room, everyone was strangely quiet. You could hear a pin drop. The only sound was Eunice occasionally clattering the plates.
"So, happy anniversary," was Ben's weak attempt at conversation, "How long have you guys been married now?"
"Eleven years," Gwen answered promptly.
"Well, that's…something," the boy muttered, "And you only have one kid, Jenny, right?"
"She's your cousin, Kenny," the blonde laughed, "Shouldn't you know that?"
"Um, right," the 16-year-old stated, "I guess I should."
Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing a very out of breath Kenny. Everyone turned to stare at the 10-year-old as he staggered in, grabbed a waffle, and turned to face the room.
"Is Jenny here yet?" he gasped between huge bites of waffle.
"No, and slow down!" Eunice cried, pulling the waffle out of the boy's hand, "You'll choke yourself."
"Sorry, Eunice," the youngest bearer of the Omnitrix muttered and stretched out his hand, while wiping his mouth clean of crumbs with the other one, "Can I have it back now?"
"After you go sit down," the maid told him sternly, the hand holding his food on her hip, the other one pointing at the coffee table.
The green-eyed boy muttered something unintelligible and stalked over to the couch where the parallel version of his father disguised as him sat.
"Good boy," the blonde stated with a smile, and handed over the waffle.
"Is she like this in the future, too?" the brunette boy asked the bearer of the Ultimaterix once his parents' employee had turned her back on them and back to the plates.
"Like what?" the teen asked, frowning at the parallel version of his son, genuinely confused.
"Like Aunt Gwen or Jenny," the boy supplied, unable to find any other characteristics that would fit.
"Ahem," his godmother cleared her throat, bringing the boy's attention to her glaring, green eyes, which were just daring him to say something bad about her or her daughter. Both her arms and legs were crossed.
"So kind and sweet and nice and caring," he immediately poured out, eyes widening in fear of his aunt. She smiled and sank back into her seat.
The parallel version of the red head's cousin laughed. It was good to know that some things, like Gwen being one of the most terrifying people on the planet, didn't change in any universe.
"Of course she is," he stated, smiling at the blonde as she came up with a huge glass pitcher of orange juice. "She practically raised me."
"Aw, sweetheart," the blonde smiled, "That is so sweet of you to say. But I ran into Devlin earlier, and he said something about me not working here in the future…"
"Oh, he did?" the teen asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Kenny, didn't you say that there were some sort of rules about what you can and can't tell someone about the future?" the anodite asked, leaning forward so that she could better see the boy's expression.
"Um, yeah," the 16-year-old answered, "But from time to time things like that just slip out. I'll have to talk about that with him later."
"Hey, what's with him?" the 10-year-old suddenly asked, pointing at Edwin with his waffle. The man was just sitting there, staring off into space like he was in shock.
"Devlin," the green-eyed woman said, slight concern visible in her voice as she turned to look at her husband. She'd gotten enough wisdom from her cousin's son for one day, and had no desire for any more of it. However, luck didn't seem to be on her side.
"Devlin and Uncle Ed?" Kenny cried and turned from his favourite aunt to the teenage version of his father, "What happened?"
This seemed to bring the black-haired man out of whatever world he was on and back to reality.
"I asked him to leave my Jenny alone, and he said no," he croaked out, turning his head to look at all the faces in the room that were fixated on him, "He said that I had no say in her life, and that I was an idiot."
"That doesn't sound like Devlin," the raven-haired teen's best friend commented, "Are you sure that's what he said?"
"I'm sure," Edwin answered, nodding his head. This was, of course, not true at all. The teen had barely even said anything about the man. But he was more convinced now than ever that Devlin Levin was no good for his daughter. His father was a liar and a murderer, so why should his son be any different?
If Edwin was being honest with himself, though, he knew that the raven-haired teen was sincere, that he cared about Jenny, and that he was also right. Jenny was his daughter, but that didn't mean she was his. The man was just too afraid of losing his little girl, and didn't want to lose her. He had only had his daughter for 10 years, and wasn't ready to lose her yet. Even if that was in the future. Edwin didn't want to see the red head kissing any boys until, well, he never wanted to see her kissing anyone in general. In his eyes, she'd always be a little girl, and little girls shouldn't be dating boys whose fathers were locked up in extra-dimensional jail! So, Edwin would do all in his powers to break the couple apart. The fact that he had to lie to his wife, who he truly did love, was just a minor set back.
"I'll talk to him after the party," the said wife said in a hard voice as her husband's words sank in. No one talked to the people Gwen Tennyson cared about that way, even if they were dating her daughter. She sighed and brought herself out of her dark thoughts. "Anyway, Kenny, what did you want with Jenny?"
"She said she's gonna teach me how to dance," the boy said, cringing at his own words.
"I remember when she taught me how to dance," the teen laughed, remembering the night before that wedding six years ago, "It was…not the most humiliating thing I've ever been through."
"Really?" his son asked in surprise, "Then what was?"
"If I told you, it'd really mess with the space-time continuum," the green-eyed teen said holding up his hands in dismissal.
Just then, the door swung open again, this time revealing Jenny and Devlin, a wicked smile on the girl's face, a smirk on the boy's.
"Alright, doofus," the brunette boy's cousin said, standing in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips, "Time to learn how to dance."
"Ugh," the boy groaned, "You brought him? Are you trying to kill me?" He was furiously pointing at Devlin, his green eyes fixated on the laughing young girl.
"Don't worry, man," Devlin chuckled, stepping forward and placing a pale hand on his friend's shoulder, "I'm here to support you one hundred per cent. No matter how utterly humiliating this will be, no matter how much you stink at this, no matter how-"
"Alright, I get it!" the 10-year-old interrupted his adopted brother, "Dude, what happened to your hair?"
Devlin gave a small shrug. "Jenny," he said, as if though that one word explained all the questions in the universe. Kenny gave a firm nod before waving him away and walking over to his cousin. "Alright, dweeb, let's get this over with."
The red head smiled and looked over his shoulder at Eunice.
"Eunice?" she said in a sugar sweet voice, "Music, please."
The maid smiled and grabbed one of the thousands of remotes in a bowl next to the TV and hit a button. The lighting immediately dimmed and the ceiling shifted to reveal a disco ball. Music from Shag Carpet started to play. Everyone stared at the maid in surprise.
"Oops!" she cried, pressing that same button again and making the horror disappear, "Sorry. Wrong button." She pressed another one, and piano music filled the large room.
"Oh, I wish I had a camera," Jenny's mother laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
"You're never gonna let him live this down, are you?" Ben asked Devlin, who was sitting next to him and watching the show before him like a hawk.
"No chance in hell," the raven-haired boy agreed.
Out in the huge space in the room that no one had bothered occupying with any furniture, Jenny was busy trying to teach her cousin how to dance, and so far, he was hopeless at it. After nearly every step, he would step on her toes. Soon the young anodite was wondering if he wasn't doing it on purpose.
"Just step in a square," she coached, "Step, and step, and – ow!"
"What?" the boy cried, stopping his stepping and frowning at his cousin, "I was doing what you said!"
"You stepped on my toes again, you moron!" she snapped.
"Ugh, I suck at this dancing thing," the 10-year-old declared.
"No one's great at first," the blue-eyed girl said, trying to be encouraging.
"Well, at least Kevin and Gwen aren't here to see this," he said, trying to put things in perspective. There was no way he'd escape without at least fifty tormenting words of anything but encouragement from the osmosian. He shuddered at the thought.
And then, as if though someone out there had heard him and was trying to make this the worst day ever, the door opened again, and in stepped Kevin Levin, Gwen Tennyson, and Great-grandpa Max Tennyson.
"Good morning everyone," the old man laughed, smiling at his two great-grandchildren.
"Ah!" Kenny yelled and jumped back from his cousin, tripping over his own feet and landing on his ass.
The red head put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
"You really need to work on your landings," she told him, rolling her ice blue eyes.
The two teens laughed with the retired Plumber as they sat down at the coffee table, too. Extra chairs had been brought in, but none of them were occupied yet. Max took a seat on the couch next to Devlin, while Kevin sat down in the arm chair, his beloved girlfriend leaning against the arm.
"This is stupid!" the 10-year-old cried, getting up and throwing his arms in the air in exasperation, "I am not doing this!"
"Would you do it if your dad told you to?" Ben asked, looking at his son with wide, innocent eyes.
"No," Kenny declared, shaking his head furiously.
Kevin frowned and tapped his chin. Like everyone else, he wanted to see this happen, and didn't want the adult, parallel version of his girlfriend to suffer the humiliation of having someone in her family who couldn't dance. The kid just needed some motivation. For him, taking his beloved red head to the dance was enough, for his best friend, it had been enough to not want to look stupid in front of a bunch of people at a wedding. Now, what could motivate Kenny…
"Hey, does the kid have a crush on a girl, or something?" he wondered, looking directly at Devlin.
"Yeah," the raven-haired boy confirmed, a confused look on his face, "On Charmcaster's daughter, Allura. Why?"
"No reason," the osmosian said with a shrug.
"I do not!" Kenny cried, glaring at his best friend. Everyone ignored him.
"They are coming to the party, aren't they?" the teenage Gwen asked, catching on to her boyfriend's malicious motives.
"Why would they?" Edwin asked, frowning at her.
"Charmcaster still hates your mother, remember, sweetheart?" Grandpa Max said to the red haired girl.
"She meant that she'd probably just show up to use the opportunity to humiliate Gwen again, as usual," the 16-teen-year-old boy said. His friends looked at him in surprise. His left eye was twitching, as it normally did when he lied, but no one noticed. Since when was Ben a good liar? Oh, well. Hanging out with an ex-con was bound to have some side effects.
"That's true," the adult red head agreed, "She has showed up to ruin a lot of the past celebrations."
"But what does thhat have to do with anything?" Edwin asked, frowning at the teen, momentarily forgetting that he was still supposed to be mad at him.
The osmosian smirked and turned to the young boy on what was now the dance floor.
"Hey, Kenny!" he called. Both of the kids snapped their attention to the 17-year-old. "You know, Allura and her mom are gonna be staking out the party tonight."
"Yeah?" the bearer of the Omnitrix croaked out, trying to seem indifferent and failing miserably, "So?"
"So, what's she gonna think if you can't dance?" a wicked smile now adorned the raven-haired teen's face.
Kenny froze. What would Allura think? Probably that he was some sort of loser sitting in the corner all by himself. Usually, at these parties, the guests brought their kids along, too, to make it more fun, and sometimes it was. Now everyone would no doubt have mastered the art of ball room dancing, and he really would be the loser stuck in the corner all by himself. But, if he learned how to dance, and Allura really did show up, maybe he could even make her jealous by dancing with Emma, the prettiest girl in his class. Her mother was a human, but her father was a Galvanic Mechamorph, like Upgrade.
"From the top, Eunice!" the boy cried, waving at the maid over his cousin's shoulder.
Jenny turned back and gave Kevin a grateful smile, which he returned, as well as a nod.
Fumbling with the remote, the blonde finally hit another button, making one of the walls burst into flames.
"Ah!" Kenny cried as he and Jenny both jumped back.
"Sorry!" she cried and pressed the same button again, making the wall disappear.
"Maybe you should let someone else handle the remote, Eunice," Ben said gently, taking the piece of technology from the young woman's fingers and staring at it himself, "How the heck do you work this thing?"
"Give it," the teen's friend demanded, holding out his large hand across the table, "before you kill us all."
The bearer of the Ultimaterix handed over the remote, pouting slightly.
"So, how'd you know that would work?" Devlin asked the parallel version of his father, eyes wide with wonder, a slight smile on his lips.
"Simple," the osmosian stated, shrugging and leaning forward in his seat, "Why'd you learn to dance?"
"Because of Jenny," the boy replied simply.
"And why'd I learn how to dance?" the raven-haired teen prompted.
"Because of Jenny," he repeated.
"And why's Kenny learning how to dance?" the 17-year-old continued.
"Because of Allura," the 10-year-old finished.
"Exactly," the teen confirmed, "You see a pattern in the makings here."
"Sort of," the boy admitted.
"By the way, dancing is not gonna impress Allura," the teenage Gwen stated, "She's the daughter of an evil, magical sorceress. He'd have to rob a bank or something."
"Babe, you know that, and I know that," her boyfriend told her, looking up into her azure eyes, "But young Kenneth out there doesn't know that."
The red head rolled her eyes.
"You have got to be the most conniving person I have ever met," she smirked.
"Oh yeah?" the teen asked, smirking slightly, "Even more conniving than your beloved ant Kai?"
"Yes, even more conniving than her," the anodite confirmed, and leaned down to press her lips against his. What started out as a small peck, turned into a heated, passionate make out, and everyone averted their eyes.
"Jenny!" the adult Gwen suddenly snapped, causing the two teens to break apart. Gwen was now on Kevin's lap, and both of them turned to the woman in surprise.
"Yeah, Mom?" the youngest red head called in a pained voice. Kenny had stepped on her foot again.
"Not you, sweetheart," the girl's mother called back and turned her attention to the couple, "You two – cut that out. I swear, if I see you making out in a public place again, Jennifer, you are grounded for a month. Understood?"
They just stared at her in surprise. Gwen was never hostile. It wasn't in her genes. Sure, she could be pretty scary when she wanted to, but never like this. And yet, here she was, spewing venom at her own daughter. The 16-year-old was so surprised that she didn't even bother to correct the woman's use of her name.
"Um, sure," she managed to croak out and disentangled herself from Kevin's arms.
"Good," the oldest anodite stated and got up, "Now, I'm gonna go double security at the party tonight. Who knows what spells Charmcaster's gonna use to get in?"
With that the young woman left the room.
"What's with her?" the 17-year-old asked everyone at the coffee table.
"You'll see after the party," his best friend said miserably, knowing full well that the osmosian was in for a boatload of trouble.
A/N: Hope you liked it! Again, I am so sorry this took me so long! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner, though! Don't forget to review! =)