A/N: got a date with my boyfriend tomorrow and I wrote a little bit of this yesterday and this morning. This song that I used is perfect for this part of the fic. At least the last part of it anyways. Btw, Carson's POV

'Broken hearts and last goodbyes,
Restless nights by lullabies,
Help to make this pain go away.'
~'Sorry', Jonas Brothers

Mesmerized

I stalked close behind Ben. He was silent. Which was amazing. He didn't make a sound as we got closer to this hideout. Just a massive clock tower.

So old school villain.

Ben said this was good for us. The girls were going after Dr. Animo. Whoever that was. We had Sublimino. Again, whoever that was.

But Ben suggested that we use mind control right back. Which made sense. Kind of. Except that we had no experience in mind control and Melody had been working on Kevin for a year. She had time and experience. We had a kid with a watch (a very special watch according to Mandy), a brokenhearted redhead with Anodite powers that could possibly get out of control, Mandy (not a great advantage if she wasn't armed and dangerous), and me, failing powers and all. Yeah, this team was perfectly fine and dandy.

Note the sarcasm!

Ben looked at it, green eyes squinting. There. Midnight struck and the clock tower rang loud and clear twelve times. Ben moved forward and lunged through the brush like a ninja.

I walked like a normal person, just crouched down a little bit more so that no one could see my head. And I looked over Ben's shoulder as a small guy came from the bottom floor. A massive clock was around his neck, seeming too heavy for his small neck to hold up. Very funny.

Doing a long series of hand motions, Ben looked back at me.

Not knowing what the heck that meant, I just blinked a few times and stuttered, "What?"

"Object of mission: the-"

"Ben, English before my head explodes. I don't care what we're doin' we just gotta work fast and pray that this helps Kevin." Let's just say I have a zero patience level for class A idiots. Ben definitely falls in that category. Without even trying.

"Okay, okay." He leapt out of the bushes and charged for the small person.

Wow. What strategy...

More sarcasm. Keep that in mind.

Ben stared at the small dwarf-like man. Okay, this was sickening. He was drooling. I wrapped up the little man in an orange bubble of mana. He was out cold and unconcious in a matter of seconds because I drained his air. I'm totally smart, right? So I hauled Ben over one shoulder and dragged the small man by his shirt behind me.

Drooling idiots and small hypnotic men. A strange yet funny night...

We met up with the girls who had a horned (well fake horns) man trapped in a bubble of mana and a helmet in Mandy's hand who was tampering with it, fingers working impossibly hard on it like it was all that mattered. To her, it was all that mattered. And it made me worry about her a little bit.

"Got Animo," said Gwen as she saw me approach. "And you have Sublimino and my doofus cousin." She put a hand to her forehead and began to massage her temples. "He's a great teammate, isn't he?"

Chuckling, I nodded. "He's great with random strategizing. Mostly charging, becoming a victim and leaving the rest to someone else so they can clean it up." I dropped Ben on the floor against a wall. The little Sublimino guy was wrapped with Gwen's pink glowing energy close to he Animo dude.

Mandy put down her little squirt gun. "You don't realize how threatening I am with one of these things when no one knows what it actually is," she giggled, coming to my side and poking me with it repeatedly in the shoulder.

"Yeah, I definitely see how that works." I took it from her and dropped it on Ben. "Now how's this supposed to work again, Red?"

Gwen gave me a slightly irritated stare before sighing real quick and explaining. "The watch around his neck is a hypnotic device. Take it, use it on Melody, get her to fix Kevin and then set her as a nicer person before letting her run off and whatever. If the watch doesn't work, we can try setting Animo's equipment to her DNA signature and hope that it works because it's actually meant for animals, not people."

I blinked a couple of times. "You're hilarious."

"What?"

I shook my head and sighed and looked down at Ben. "Gwen, you don't get how powerful Mel really is. She could kill him on a whim. Whenever she wanted to. If he figures out something that she doesn't like, he'll drop dead the second she says something. We could try this, but if she catches on and it gets violent or something, Kevin could be killed. Just out of spite." I gave her my best sympathetic look. "Sorry, Red, but this is a kind of dangerous plan."

"Not if she's unconscious." Gwen ripped away the watch necklace from Sublimino as Mandy worked on Animo's headgear to switch the DNA signatures and the mind control settings. "I've got spells that could put her out cold for long enough-"

"Kevin might fight back," I responded. I knew what she was getting at though. "All he knows is that me and Mandy are taking care of him and that Melody loves him and he loves her, but if he sees us hurting her, it could get ugly."

"We don't want to fight him," said Mandy, looking up from her work. "We care about Kevin too much. And Carson knows exactly how to take him either down or out. It wouldn't be a problem, but it's morally wrong to try and fight the ones you love."

Gwen sighed and leaned on the side of Ben's house where we had met up. "Because we're supposed to fight for them, not against them."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Red, but if it comes down to us fighting Kevin, we're out. I won't fight him."

"Me either," murmured Mandy softly, eyes trailing back down to her work. "Sorry, Gwen." She kept tampering with the equipment, quieter now.

"Guys..." I heard her voice cracking and shaking and breaking. "You can't just leave me and Ben to save him."

"There are other ways," I told her. "But I won't fight him."

Mandy repeated, "Me either."

Gwen stared at us. "It'll work. I promise that this will work, Carson. You have to believe that it will. Please just believe me." Her emerald eyes were welling with sapphire tinted tears. "I love Kevin and I won't fight him either. Not unless I really, really have to." She was ready to just break down and crash and cry and just let it all go. So I guess it was good that she had two pretty sympathetic people with her. "And I need you guys to help me. Please. I believe it will work."

I smiled at her, knowing that all she needed was some reassurance. "Alright, Red. We'll help you as much as we can."

Her face lit up like the night sky, bright and twinkling, eyes sparkling. Gwen started gushing out thanks and how grateful she was and it all just blew over my head. I figured out why Kevin liked this girl so much. She had this little shine about her, one that was hard to find. Inner beauty and outer beauty. And she was kind.

Which led me to ask myself: how the heck did Kevin get this chick?

Moments later, Ben came to, groggily opening his eyes that were practically matted shut with exhaustion. His head lifted and lolled for a few seconds. "Watch out for the trouble dolls," he muttered, voice still half asleep. Then it fell back against the wall and his shoulder as a soft snore escaped him.

And Mandy grinned her fierce grin. "Your cousin's funny."

Gwen rolled her eyes and gave a snort of a laugh. "Funny looking maybe."

Oh yes. I think I could get used to hanging out with these guys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin's POV

Melody and I had been curled up and laying on the couch in my garage for nearly an hour now. She just liked laying wrapped in my arms and her head buried in the crook of my neck as she breathed in and out. "Kevin?"

I could only respond with a "Hmm?" as I stroked her hair sweetly running my fingers through it and feeling the soft as silk texture against my skin. Melody was what I wanted and what I needed.

"Are you okay?" She pulled her face from my neck. Her hand found it's way to my cheek and traced my jawline. "Something just feels wrong." Her long hair flowed across my black shirt. "I don't know what it is..."

In all honesty, it was guilt. I felt bad for leaving Gwen like that without the answers she wanted. And she was the kind of girl who would search for the answers as long as she had to until she could unearth something that she wanted. But that was just Gwen.

And to be even more honest, I still wasn't over her yet.

I kissed Melody's forehead, letting my lips linger there until the tension and stress of worry had drained from her body. She sank down on me again, a soft sigh escaping her. And I pulled away slowly. "Everything's fine, Mel. Just relax."

I'd been lying to myself this whole time. Nothing was fine. Nothing was good. I couldn't just relax. I wanted to see Gwen again. And not just to settle things with her.

Her form melted once again, falling limp. "Alright," she said with a slight huff to her voice. And I knew she was still worried.

My arm tightened around her. "Relax, Mel."

She did. "Want me to sing a little?" Her eyes brightened up a little and she snuggled closer into my chest. "Just for you?"

And I nodded. Whenever she sang, all I knew was that it felt like heaven just to hear her voice so sweet and angelic and perfect and wonderful and incredibly amazing. It was like getting some serious ecstasy pumped straight into my bloodstream.

She kissed my cheek with a quick peck. Melody's arms looped themselves around my neck. Her lips opened just a bit so she could sing.

"You left my heart with a hole
A lingering story untold
Watch this life before us unfold
And yet I am still alone."

I felt my mind go fuzzy and I leaned forward a little so that a kiss found the corner of her lips. Melody's jaw tightened under my lips. "Kevin..."

My arm tightened around her. "Mel..." I countered with a short chuckle. Even though I could hear the serious underlying tone in her voice.

She sighed contently and leaned into my before singing a few more bars for me before we were just going to curl up there in silence for a few more hours.

"Wake me up
Watch me breathe
Hear me sing
My melody."

My mind went totally numb and all I knew was that the guilt of Gwen had been washed from my thoughts. And all I knew was that I wanted Melody. I wanted Melody so badly that I could taste it. I ran one hand up her spine and twined it in her hair as her lips met mine for yet another passionate kiss. All I'd ever wanted was Melody.

My Melody.

A/N: I've had some people saying they want to see a happy Gwevin ending and others saying Melody and Kevin. confusing, much? Lol! I don't know how to end it now! Vote in a review and send in your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks a ton!

~Sky