"Hmm mm hm!" the younger Ben squealed as he was dragged, protesting vehemently, by his older self into the boy's bedroom. Julie shot the rest of the group an apologetic, yet at the same time, pleading, look before closing the door after them. The teen dropped the 11-year-old on the nearest bunk, and stepped back as the boy sputtered and coughed for a moment.
"Kevin and Gwen?" he screeched in an insanely high pitch when the coughing fit had passed, "What-? Where-? How-?"
"Kevin and Gwen," his older self answered patiently, listing the answers to the questions in the order they'd been half-asked, "in Bellwood, Kevin joined us, and, after several months of battling DNAliens and Hybrids, he finally got the nerve to ask Gwen out."
"Wh- why?" the younger Ben finally got out, in a more or less normal tone of voice. He'd gotten himself under control while the older him was speaking. He'd noticed – of course he had, – how close Kevin and Gwen were in the future. In the far corner of his mind, the idea of his cousin possibly, maybe somehow having romantic feelings for the osmosian had occurred to the kid, but he'd denied it too quickly for the idea to ever truly take root. It shouldn't have been possible. Gwen was his dweeb of a cousin, who always got straight As, was always perfect in every way, had money, magic powers, and a pretty much perfect life altogether. Kevin was a convict who belonged in the Null Void, an idiot who cared about no one but himself, and valued money and power above all else. It didn't make sense. They didn't make sense. There shouldn't have even been a 'them'!
But there was. He'd just been too much of an idiot to notice it. Now memories, little things over the past couple of days, popped out, suddenly, in a much clearer light. The brief look the two had shared when they'd spilled out of the air vent, her on top of him. The concerned look on the 16-year-old Gwen's face when Kevin's house had gotten destroyed. The way they both always seemed to get angry – or rather, jealous, as he realized now, – whenever talk of an old flame, or Cooper, arose. The way they always seemed to be close together, always near each other. The older him had once even said that Kevin would rather die than let anything happen to Gwen! And, of course, the look in the osmosian's eyes whenever one of those idiot rakari almost hurt her. Yes, against all odds, his over-achieving relative was dating his worst enemy turned best friend. The green-eyed boy could see it very clearly now. And he didn't like it one bit.
"Well, I guess it's got something to do with her anodite heritage or something," the older Ben shrugged, "Grandma Verdona did say Kevin's a lot like Grandpa Max when he was 17."
"How?" the bearer of the Omnitrix asked, tuning back into the conversation, "Was Grandpa ever trapped in the Null Void?"
"Well, yeah-"
"What?"
"Ben!" Julie piped up, unable to believe how ridiculously dumb her boyfriend was acting. Couldn't he see the kid had had enough shock for one day?
"-but that was last year," the teen hurried to correct himself, "He got sent there by accident, Animo took over, and he stayed for a while to get the place back under control. Grandpa Max would never do anything bad enough to end up in the Null Void!"
The brunette boy opened his mouth, ready to start asking more questions, but then closed it again and shook his head. Grandpa Max was safe. He'd seen it with his own eyes. The matter of Kevin and Gwen, though, still needed dealing with.
"Whatever," the boy finally muttered, "but back to Gwen and Kevin. It doesn't make sense! How can those two be together? They hate each other!"
"I don't think so," Julie interjected, "If you ask me, Gwen and Kevin are already falling for each other."
"What?" this time, it was both Bens who asked the question for what seemed like the millionth time in the past few minutes.
"Well, think about it," she continued, "How many times have those two been alone together on this trip? Three, four? Not to mention, even as a kid, he was pretty cute."
"Hey!" the older Ben exclaimed indignantly, glaring at his girlfriend. She threw him a playful smile. As usual, she was teasing him.
"I know my cousin," the younger Ben cut in, taking no notice of his older self's anger that his girlfriend had just called his best friend cute, "She doesn't go for the bad guys. She's told us all, like, fifty times that whoever she ends up with, he's gonna be smart, and I'm pretty sure Kevin" – he shuddered at the name, – "doesn't fall into that category."
"You'd be surprised," the green-eyed teen smirked. He knew full well that Kevin was just shy of being a genius. At least according to Gwen and whatever tests she'd said he'd have to do in order to get back into high school.
"Look, Ben," Julie decided to take matters into her own hands before her idiot of a boyfriend completely screwed this whole thing up. She knelt down next to the bunk he was sitting on so she could look at him more closely. "I know this is hard for you, but you've gotta understand. Kevin and Gwen are together, and for the time being, I don't see that changing. Believe it or not, he really cares about her."
"Yeah, sure he does," the boy scoffed, "Or else he's just using her to get to me. Did any of you ever think of that? What if the whole thing's just a game? A con to get you to believe he's one of the good guys, then steal the Omnitrix, or whatever you now call the watch, and run off and break Gwen's heart?"
"I thought of that, too, at first," the older Ben admitted. He said the words slowly, like he wasn't sure how to phrase what it was he wanted to say. He was scared of it coming out wrong and making it sound like he didn't trust one of the few people he trusted with his life. "I considered it for a while, but then I remembered; Kevin's not the type of guy to make elaborate schemes that take an extremely long time. You've seen him fight. He goes head to head, not dodging hits and waiting to strike at the opportune moment. If he was after the Ultimatrix, he would have stolen it by now. Or tried to, anyway." The green-eyed teen scoffed at the possibility that the teen might actually succeed at the endeavor.
The boy narrowed his eyes as he regarded the teen. He was right, but it was still hard to believe that, after five years of being cooped p in the Null Void, Kevin would come out and suddenly be good. Unless what they said about jail changing a man was true, which the kid highly doubted. He'd seen the ex-cons on TV. They almost never turned good after getting out. Plus, he remembered what Gwen had told him about that time she was stuck in Charmcaster's body at Juvy. About how those girls had said they'd 'needed to make up for lost time'. He couldn't help but believe that Kevin would turn out the same way. Finally, though, he gave in and cracked under the stares of his future self and his girlfriend's scrutiny.
"Fine, I guess you're right," with a heavy sigh, the younger Ben pushed himself off the bunk and started heading for the door. He stopped halfway, though, and turned back to the pair. "But I still don't trust him."
"No one's asking you to," the older Ben answered with a smile, "At least, not for another four years."
The boy gave a brisk nod and turned back to the door, when he was stopped once more. This time, by Julie.
"Wait, Ben," she called, quickly. The boy turned around once more, a frown on his face. "It'd probably be best if you don't tell this to anyone, okay? Ben wasn't exactly supposed to say anything." The last part she said with narrowed eyes and an elbow-jab into the teen's stomach.
"Ow!" he cried while the younger him ignored the exchange, and rolled his eyes.
"Who am I gonna tell?" he asked rhetorically, "Dweeb would probably have a heart attack if she found out." The boy turned away once again, and, all of a sudden, froze. He couldn't believe those words had just left his mouth. For all the insults, and teasing, he really did care about his cousin, and was shocked to find that, once again, in that deep, deep corner of his mind, he hoped that his older self was right. Not for the sake of the universe and what Eleven could do to it, but for the sake of his cousin. He hoped the osmosian really was good now, if only to spare his cousin a broken heart.
Back in the living room area, everyone's eyes were still glued to the television screen. The news reports were showing burning buildings, rakari holding hostages at gunpoint and guiding them into vans, while local policemen were doing their best to stop them. Unfortunately, the most they could do was shoot. The bullets thudded harmlessly against the rakari's armor and fell to the ground.
"News reports indicate that the Plumbers have arrived," Will Harangue's voice announced on the TV screen, "And this time, they are ready to protect a little more than just Gwen Tennyson's loved ones. Or so, we hope." The footage then cut to a Plumber's ship landing in the middle of a rakari-filled street and about ten Plumbers charging out, blasting anything with scales. "Hopefully, the reinforcements will chase away these monsters, and we can all get on with our lives. Or, at least, that's what these Plumbers, these aliens are telling us. How do we know if we can trust them? The citizens of Bellwood, as well as the rest of the world, are relying on blind hope to get them out of this most dire of situations. These rakari are pure evil, the very embodiment of what every alien is: a menace to our world. And-"
Suddenly, there was a crash in the background. The cameras turned away from Will Harangue to the exit. The door had been kicked in and, in its place was a rakarus holding a laser gun.
"Menaces are we?" he smirked, stepping further into the room, gun pointed at a frightened Will Harangue. "Well, then, how about I show you just how terrible we really are."
The screen went black, and the room's occupants were frozen. The older Kevin scoffed.
"Serves him right," he muttered, pressing a button on the remote to switch the channel. It was another news network. An older woman, approximately in her forties, was standing in the middle of a hospital, announcing how many injured there truly were.
"How do they even get these camera crews in there?" the younger Kevin asked, frowning as he watched the screen, "What, do they disguise themselves as rakari, or something?"
"More often than not, some Plumbers infiltrate one of the buildings we're holding, and then slowly back us out," Sintyana explained. She'd come over to stand behind the couch and watch the news with everyone else once the Bens and Julie had left. "That's how they got the hospital back."
"Wasn't it one of your main bases?" the younger Gwen asked, frowning at the screen. The woman was now interviewing several of the patients about their attacks.
"Not exactly," Sintyana told her, temporarily forgetting who she was talking to, "But it was one of the buildings we'd thoroughly secured. Then, when you two twerps and your idiot grandpa broke in, I'm guessing the Plumbers charged in, head-on, both in the hospital and at the warehouse and over-powered the others."
The woman on the screen was walking down the corridor again, past several sick patients. The cameras focused on a woman in a hospital bed, with a little boy in her arms, crying, a teenager, passed out on his cot, with a black eye and a bloody gash on his hand, a baby, her older sister, who couldn't have been more than eight, sitting at the child's side, chin propped up on her fists, staring at the baby's crying face, and finally stopped at a cot with a balding, middle-aged an lying on it. He had a broken leg propped up in a cast, his wife, with black hair, jeans, and a black sweater, was sitting next to him, her face hidden in her hands. The younger Kevin did a sharp intake of breath, while the older one gasped.
"Is that…?" the 12-year-old trailed off. His dark brown eyes were hard, filled with just barely restrained fury.
"…Harvey?" the teen finished for him.
"Turn it up," the older Gwen ordered. Her boyfriend pressed the volume button, and the woman's voice got clearer.
"And here we have Mr. Harvey Hackett and his ex-wife, Evelyn Levin, mother of well-known Plumber, and best friend of Ben Tennyson, Kevin Levin. Tell us, Mr. Hackett, how did this mishap occur to you?"
"How do you think this happened?" Harvey all but roared into the microphone, "There's freaking aliens running around shooting everything in sight outside my doorstep! It's a miracle I didn't get killed!"
"Yes, and we're all very thrilled about that," the reporter said softly, trying to still the turmoil she could see in the man's eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, the 11-year-old girl saw the corner of the younger osmosian's mouth quirk up into a small half-smile. "What is your opinion on the matter of Gwen Tennyson? Should she give herself up and let all this mayhem end, saving the lives of possibly millions, or, should the Plumbers continue to wage war on these reckless beings, keeping safe and hidden the only true reason they are on this planet in the first place?"
"Well, when you say it like that, the right answer's obvious," Charmcaster muttered, reclining back on the couch as well as she could, squashed as she was between Ken and the armrest.
"No, I do not think she should give herself up! Give me that!" Harvey exclaimed again, this time grabbing hold of the microphone once it was put near his mouth so he could talk. "Kevin, if you're watching this, and right now, I pray to God you are, don't listen to any of the crap these people are saying here. Get that girl as far from here as possible, and keep her safe." The old man's eyes softened slightly. "Although, judging by the fact that you've got a truck-load of monsters on your tail, and none of them have caught her yet, you seem to be doing that just fine. Don't give up. Your mother and I are so proud of you…son."
The raven-haired woman then leaned in so she could add a few more words to her husband's speech. "Yes, honey," she said in a soft voice, her tear-stained face smiling, "we really are."
CRASH!
Something large and heavy hit the television screen, cracking it, before thudding to the floor, effectively ending their TV time. Startled, everyone turned to stare at the 12-year-old osmosian, who was now standing, literally shaking with rage.
"Kevin," the younger anodite said softly, "what's-?"
"He's not my father," the boy ground out, still turned away from everyone else, blinking back tears, "He's not my father!"
At that moment, the door to the bedroom opened, and Julie and the two Bens stepped out. The dark boy brushed past them and hurried into the now vacant room, leaving behind several bewildered stares.
"What happened?" Julie asked, turning to the rest of the room's occupants. Her eyes landed on the broken TV screen and her face pulled down into a frown.
"It's Kevin," the tennis-player's boyfriend answered with a shrug, "Something always happens."
"Harvey's in the hospital," Ken answered the girl, ignoring his cousin. He didn't know much about Kevin, or his family, but from the news segment, he'd gathered that almost everyone else in the room had some idea about the man. Plus, the reporter had helpfully identified the couple at the start of the interview.
"Is he alright?" This news seemed to get Ben's attention. The older one's, anyway.
"Who's Harvey?" the 11-year-old asked.
"My step-dad," the remaining Kevin answered, a hard look in his eyes. The osmosian's girlfriend placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which he promptly shook off. She startled slightly. Well, that was uncharacteristic. He then turned to catch Cooper's eye in the rearview mirror. "And, yeah, he'll be fine. Coop, get out of the driver's seat. My turn."
The blond teen started getting up, but was stopped by a small hand on his wrist.
"No," Eunice said softly, but still firmly, "He's gonna turn us around and take us somewhere else, far from Bellwood, and away from any chance of ever seeing your home again, just like his dad told him to, aren't you, Kevin?" The blonde turned back to her friend, green eyes narrowed in skepticism.
"No," the 17-year-old announced in a voice that no one dared argue with, "My mom's in the hospital, and these creeps are getting closer and closer to capturing us by the second. If we don't go now, not only are they gonna capture Gwen, but hurt and kill everyone else I care about!"
"Not to mention, you promised me," Sintyana reminded him. She was ignored.
There was a moment's hesitation, before Cooper finally relinquished the wheel into the osmosian's more than capable hands. He and Eunice went to join the others, while Kevin and Gwen took their seats at the front. The younger Gwen stood up and looked back at the bedroom door.
"I'm gonna go see if he's okay…" she trailed off, already halfway to the room, when, suddenly, a hand wrapped around her upper arm.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Gwen," the younger Ben said cautiously, still holding on firmly to his cousin's arm. "Maybe we should let him calm down. He just needs to be alone for now."
With a sigh, the younger green-eyed girl tugged her arm effortlessly out of her cousin's grasp. "No offense, Ben," she said, hand poised on the handle, ready to open the door, "but I think that's the last thing he needs right now."
"Déjà vu," the older Ben muttered with a smirk as the door closed behind the 11-year-old version of his cousin.
"Wow, I'm surprised you even know what that means," Ken grinned at his cousin.
"Hey, that's what you get when both your girlfriend and your cousin are straight-A students," the bearer of the Ultimatrix smiled proudly, wrapping an arm around Julie's waist.
"You learn French?" Eunice laughed.
"That's French?" the older Ben asked, a shocked look on his face making everyone in the room either try and hold in their laughter, or roll their eyes at the moron. Julie hid her face in Ben's chest, trying to hold in her giggles, while simultaneously rolling her eyes.
"Duh," the younger Ben was more than a bit frustrated with how dumb he appeared to be in the future. "Even I knew that." The sparkle in the brunette teen's eyes as he grinned down at his girlfriend told the kid that he did too. For some incomprehensible reason, he just pretended to be an idiot to get Julie to laugh. How dumb was that?
"So much for me and Gwen rubbing off on you," the Japanese American grinned up at her boyfriend, still tucked safely under his arm.
"Yeah…" the teen drawled, trying to get off the subject faster. He turned back to the ruined TV set and then to the blonde tech-controlling teen. "Hey, Coop, can you fix the TV?"
"Sorry, Ben," Cooper answered, his face set in a frown, "I can only manipulate tech, and, as you probably already know, glass, or plastic, or whatever that screen is made of, isn't tech."
"I can fix it," Charmcaster, who had been excruciatingly quiet up until that point, waved her hand in the air once, sending pink manna in the direction of the TV. Little pink sparkles covered the cracks and, after a few moments, disappeared, revealing a good-as-new TV screen. Charmcaster picked up the remote and smiled. "Now, let's see if there's something good on."
"Ugh, terrific," Sintyana stood up from where she'd crouched down behind the couch to hide from the wrath of the younger Kevin. "But this time, can we please watch something that won't make us wanna kill ourselves?"
At the front of the RV, the older anodite was peering over the back of her seat at her compatriots, watching to see if something bad, like a fight threatening to break out, or Ben telling the younger Ben that she and Kevin were going out in the future, would happen. Man, would that be the world's biggest catastrophe, or what? She turned back to the road ahead, catching, just out of the corner of her eye, exactly how tense the osmosian sitting next to her was.
"Kevin," the 16-year-old Gwen said tentatively, turning around in her seat so as to get a better look at him. She assumed he was still upset about the fact that Harvey was in the hospital, as well as how distraught his mother had seemed. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No," the word that hardly ever came out of the teen's mouth when regarding his beloved girlfriend, was as hard and cold as the stone that it was now so easy for him to absorb. "Right now I just wanna get to Bellwood, kick some alien butt, send the rest of those morons back to their planet, and get back to normal."
"So, you want these aliens to leave so that new ones can start invading the planet?" the red headed anodite asked, a slight glimmer of a joke in her green eyes. Kevin threw her a glare. Another uncharacteristic thing to do. "Sorry, that wasn't funny. But still, that is what normal, at least for us, is. You were right when you said that unless we do something, the rakari are gonna take over everything and hurt everyone. It's not fair that all the innocent people, not to mention, our families, have to get caught up in the middle of all this." The young woman heaved a heavy sigh and rested her forehead on her hand, which, in turn, rested on the glove compartment. Her head snapped back up when she heard the slow inhaling and exhaling of breath beside her. Or, as she referred to it as, the breathing thing. The same thing Kevin always did whenever he was disappointed in her.
"What?" the anodite cried out indignantly.
"You're not giving yourself up, Gwen," Kevin told her firmly, but with a hint of exasperation to his voice. Like they'd been having this same exact conversation over and over again, which they had, and he was sick and tired of it, which he was.
"I- I never said I was!" after a moment's sputtering, the red head declared. The truth, of course, was that that was exactly what she'd been thinking of. The idea that everyone always seemed so stubborn about pursuing just wouldn't leave her mind. The tears in Mrs. Levin's eyes had only added more to her worries of whether they were doing the right thing. She'd been ready to die at the hands of the man she loved because she couldn't fight him. She'd been ready to fight her own cousin to save his life. Now, she would give up her own life at a moment's notice if it meant keeping those she loved safe. But Kevin was just as strict when it came to keeping her safe, as she was when it came to her family and friends. Without his consent, she would never give up, and his consent was something that the osmosian would never give.
"You didn't have to," the 17-year-old stated, "You had that look on your face, the one you have whenever you're about to risk your life for the people you love."
"And how would you know?" Gwen demanded, growing annoyed at her boyfriend, "In case you'd forgotten, the Plumbers do their jobs so thoroughly, that we hardly ever have to worry about our loved ones getting hurt in battle."
"You had it when you and Ben were trying to save me," he answered quietly. The girl took a deep breath to ready herself for the oncoming conversation. "You have it every time we're fighting some alien-monster-enemy guy and he hurts Ben."
"Or you," it was the red head's turn to whisper.
"Or me," the osmosian agreed, staring firmly at the road ahead, refusing to look at his girlfriend. "Gwen, no one is letting you give up. Even Harvey agrees on that!"
"Wait." They'd reached a slightly shocking point in the conversation that the red head hadn't been expecting. "Aren't you upset or worried, or something about the fact that your step-father is in the hospital?"
"Oh, that?" the raven-haired teen waved her concerns away like they were flies that were mildly bothering his driving. Not that flies would ever end up in any vehicle that Kevin Levin drove. "Harvey's a strong guy, he'll be okay. But he did have a point about taking you someplace safe…"
"No, uh-uh, we are done talking about my safety," the 16-year-old protested vehemently at the direction this conversation had taken once again. "You said that you weren't gonna take us to some other remote place out in the middle of the woods because Harvey had ended up in the hospital."
"No, I said my mom was in the hospital crying because some moron took a shot at her husband," he corrected her, "And I thought we weren't talking about your safety anymore."
"That has nothing to do with my safety, Kevin," she stated, slightly exasperated.
"It kinda does," he argued, sounding more and more like his old self by the second.
"Fine, whatever," she caved. A sudden thought just entered the young woman's mind, and a plan started forming in her head. "So, you're not worried about all the people back home? Not to mention, the rakari?"
"Nope. The Plumbers'll take care of them."
"And you're not at all worried about Harvey?"
"Nope."
"Then how about the cars we left behind, back at your house?" she suggested, a smirk on her face, "I'm pretty sure our suitcases were in the-"
Suddenly, Kevin turned the wheel like a madman. The tires screeched, he hit the brakes, and the RV stopped at the side of the road, having turned around 180 degrees and causing all the passengers who weren't buckled up to violently fall to the ground, and find something to hold on to. Gwen held onto the dashboard for dear life. Kevin noticed none of this.
"Dude!" the older Ben exclaimed, leaning on his arm as he got up, using the bolted-down coffee table to stand up. "What the heck?"
"My car!" the obsidian-eyed teen exclaimed.
The bedroom door closed behind the younger Gwen. She stood there for a moment, green eyes trained on the osmosian. He was sitting on the lower bunk which, up until a few minutes ago, had been occupied by her doofus of a cousin. He wasn't covered in stone, but he was as still as one. His head was hung down, staring at the folded hands in his lap.
"Kevin?" she said tentatively, taking a cautious step into the room, "Are you… okay?"
"No, I'm not, Gwen," her name on his lips was so laced with venom it made her cringe. She shook off the momentary instinct to leave and instead went further on into the room. Once she was directly by his side, she sat down on the bed. Not a word left the young red head's mouth. "That guy marries my mom, kicks me out of my own house, and has the nerve to call me his son. And what's more, I don't even care about it!" He was yelling now, dark eyes on her face. So loudly that Gwen was sure that, if it wasn't for the soundproofed wall, someone would have come in to check on them. "Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that. You've had it all good. Perfect family, perfect friends, perfect school, perfect everything!" The boy's voice had gone back to its normal volume, which was only slightly lower than his yelling.
"Hey!" the anodite snapped, "I get that you're mad, but you don't have to take it out on me!"
"Well, why not?" the dark-haired 12-year-old demanded, "There are so many people like you in the world, and they have no idea about people like me! They don't care!"
"That's because most people like you are criminals!" she shot right back. His eyes hardened, hands balled up into tight fists. "Sorry," she tried to amend, "That didn't come out right."
"Really?" his voice was dangerously low now. One wrong word, and he'd pounce. "Then what did you mean to say?"
"My family's not exactly perfect," she said softly. A few days ago, she would have been terrified if Kevin Levin had been looking at her like he was at that moment. But it's kind of hard to be afraid of someone after he's saved your life, you've risked your life to save his, and fallen asleep in his arms after that. Now, she wasn't scared at all. Well, maybe a little. "I mean, come on. My family's Ben. How can we be perfect? I'm still not exactly convinced that Aunt Sandra and Uncle Carl didn't just find him at the zoo and take him home."
At that moment a miracle happened. A smile spread across the face of the juvenile delinquent sitting across from the 11-year-old girl. Bashing Ben cheers Kevin up. She filed that information away for later, sure that it would come in handy at some point.
"Alright," the osmosian sighed, the smile not quite fading, "but, other than Tennyson, your life is perfect."
"Almost," she stated, thinking of how much she'd wanted an encyclopedia for Christmas and had gotten a new bike instead. "But it also comes with alien powers. The reason we're in this mess, remember?"
"That's not your fault," he told her gently, "It's that alien princess who told everyone to go out and ruin my Sunday of beating up those idiots at the Null Void."
"I know," she said with a sigh, flopping back down on the bed and staring at the bottom of the lower bunk. After a moment, her companion lay down next to her.
"When was the last day your life was truly normal?" she asked Kevin, "I mean no aliens, no superpowers, no having to fight some monster and getting your butt kicked."
"First of all, I don't get my butt kicked-"
"Yeah right," she interrupted him quickly, chuckling at the notion of one of the aliens from her cousin's watch beating up the criminal mastermind.
"-and second," said criminal mastermind ground out through his teeth, "I guess it was the day before my dad died." His tone had gone soft at the end of the sentence as the memory played out once again before the young boy's eyes. It was a memory he cherished deeply and, even after eight years, could still remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
"But, daddy!" he'd whined, holding onto his father's hand as if his life depended on it, trying to keep him from leaving. "Don't go! I don't want you to go!"
"I'm sorry, Kev," Devin said sadly, dragging his son all the way up to the front door. Trying to shake him off, as he'd discovered the first time he'd left the house when Kevin had learned to walk, was useless. "But I've gotta go save the universe. If I don't, who will?"
"The other Plumbers," the 4-year-old answered promptly.
"They're all busy, champ," the boy's father laughed. His eyes had crinkled in the corners whenever he laughed. There were little wrinkles all over the man's face from smiling so much. He leaned down and scooped Kevin up in his arms so that they'd be level. "I'll be back soon, I promise," he kissed the top of the boy's head and gave him a firm hug. "Be good and listen to your mother, got it?"
"Got it," Kevin said with a firm nod.
"Good," Devin smiled. At that moment, Kevin's mother had run out into the hallway wearing a white blouse and blue jeans. She was younger and looked less tired than the woman on TV had.
"Here, let me take him," she grinned, her arms outstretched to take her little miracle from her husband, "Your ride's gonna be here soon, anyway."
Devin handed his son over to his wife without protest. Kevin pouted once he was in his mother's arms.
"Oh, what's wrong, baby boy?" Evelyn asked, seeing the angry expression on her son's face.
"I'm not a baby," he announced, still pouting, "And I don't want daddy to go!"
"Daddy's gonna be home soon, right, Dev?" she turned to her husband for confirmation.
"Yep," the man stated, "Just gotta go save the universe, beat up some idiot trying to destroy it, and what am I forgetting?"
"Be back in time for dinner?" Evelyn joked, hr dark eyes sparkling with a light tat had gone out the moment she'd discovered the death of her beloved osmosian.
"What are we having?" said osmosian asked, hand on the doorknob.
"Roast beef," she answered, "Your favorite."
"Oh, well, in that case…" he trailed off, leaning forward and capturing his wife's lips in one last good-bye kiss. Kevin gagged, turning his head away and shutting his eyes. His parents laughed. The doorbell rang.
"That's Max," Devin sighed, turning back to the doorway, "Gotta go."
"Have fun," Evelyn told him and turned to head back upstairs, "Come on, Kevin, time for your nap."
"I'm not tired!" the little boy complained.
"Well, that's too bad," his mother stated, not halting for even a moment.
"That's your son over there?" Kevin heard his father's partner ask.
"Yeah," Devin confirmed, adoration and pride seeping into his voice, "My pride and joy."
"He's grown a lot since I last saw him," the unseen man Kevin knew only as Max announced, "I'm sure he's gonna grow up to be a good kid."
"Who knows?" Devlin laughed, "Maybe he'll even end up getting together with your granddaughter. How is she anyway?"
By that time, they'd already gotten to Kevin's room. The door shut behind Evelyn as she put her son to sleep. The memory ended. Kevin was back inside the bedroom in the RV.
Max…
His voice had sounded so familiar… The osmosian was sure he'd heard it somewhere before…
"Tennyson," he suddenly whispered.
"What?" Gwen interrupted his thoughts. With a start, the 12-year-old realized she'd been talking the whole time. Before he had time to answer, though, the RV turned roughly, yanking the two kids towards the nearest wall. Once the world had stopped spinning, Gwen was still lying on her back in the bed, while Kevin was on top of her, straddling her like he had when he'd tied her to the bed back at the cabin. The boy opened his eyes to see a pair of wide, jade orbs looking back at him in shock. The girl's short, red hair was spilled behind her messily, her mouth slightly parted in surprise.
"What was that?" she asked. As if he knew… Her eyes looked so innocent then, filled with child-like curiosity and shock at what had just happened…
"I don't know," he whispered. Unconsciously, the 12-year-old realized he'd been lowering himself closer and closer to her body, those bright green eyes, those parted lips…
"Are you guys- Oops!" Eunice exclaimed as she opened the door and walked in on the scene. The anodite promptly pushed her captor down and he tumbled onto the floor. "Whoa!"
"Sorry," the blonde muttered, a blush creeping over her cheeks.
"It's fine," the 11-year-old girl promised her, getting up without so much as a glance at the osmosian, "We're okay, and were just about to go back anyway." She did her best to hide her boiling hot face from Kevin. What the heck had just happened?
"We're doomed," Winston stated for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past hour. He was pacing the length of the cell back and forth, repeating the phrase again and again, as if though he believed that, somehow, if he said it enough times, it might not be true anymore. Kai sat curled up into a little ball, head hidden in her lap. Ship lay next to her sadly, every once in a while muttering a soft, "Ship." He missed Julie, his mistress. His Julie. He hoped she was ok…
"Would you be quiet!" Kai finally hissed at her companion, "I am trying to think of a way out of this mess!"
"What's the point?" the squire heaved a great sigh before plopping down against the wall, next to the Native American. "The rakari will win, mankind will perish… They've probably already captured Gwen!"
"Don't say that!" she scolded him firmly, desperately hoping it wasn't true, "I'm sure Kevin's keeping her safe, and Ben is on his way to rescue us right now."
"Ship, ship!" Ship agreed firmly.
"Your girlfriend's right, pal," a raspy voice from across the hall announced. The two teens exchanged a look, slowly got up, and walked over to the bars, careful not to touch them. In the dim light from the overhead lamps, they could just barely make out two shapes in the cell across from theirs. One was lean, tall, and skinny, while the other was slightly smaller. The taller one had spoken. "Tennyson's gonna get here real soon, kick the bad guys' butts, and then we'll all be free."
"Are you telling me you actually know him?" Winston asked, eyes narrowed at the pair. "Personally, I mean."
"Well, yeah," the smaller one said with a shrug.
"Totally," the taller one agreed, "We're like this." He held up two crossed fingers to illustrate.
"Who are you guys, then?" Kai asked suspiciously, glaring at the two shapes, who were, without a doubt, lying.
"I'm J.T., and this is Cash," the shorter one answered.
"Hmm, that's funny," Winston mused, "We've been traveling with Ben Tennyson for nearly a week now, and I don't recall him ever mentioning a Cash, or a J.T. Do you, Kai?"
"No, Winston, I don't," the young woman stated.
"Oh, yeah?" Cash snapped, his temper getting the better of him, "Like you really traveled with Ben Tennyson anywhere."
"Yes," the squire told him patiently, "I almost got beat up by his best friend."
"Kevin Levin?" JT asked, eyes widening in surprise, and, moments later, his face settled into a sympathetic grimace. "Yikes, dude. Been there, done that."
"Now that, I'll believe," Kai declared, getting up and stepping closer to the bars, trying to get a closer look at their jail mates. She could now see that Cash had black hair and brown eyes, and JT had glasses. Cash jabbed his best friend in the gut.
"You mean Kevin Levin once got beat up by me!" he snapped, while the teen tried to regain his breath.
"You know, I really can't stand liars," Winston announced, standing up as well.
"Would you guys shut up?" a feminine voice from the next cell over demanded, "We are gonna be trapped here who knows how long, and I'm pretty sure no one here wants to listen to a bunch of idiots fighting over who's Ben Tennyson's BFF, or who beat who up. Speaking of which, Cash, would you just give it up already? Everyone knows you didn't really beat up Kevin Levin."
"Did too!' the teen declared rather childishly, crossing his arms on his chest and turning his back on the conversation, nose turned up high in the air.
"Did you two kids really travel with Ben Tennyson?" a reporter asked, a couple of cells away.
"Yes," Winston told him, "Although, weren't exactly there for the whole thing."
"Fascinating!" the reporter, a man in a dark blue pinstripe suit and balding hair cried. He seemed to not have heard the last sentence, focusing primarily on the 'yes'. "How would you two like to get an exclusive interview with the Ben Tennyson for the Bellwood Morning News?"
"We're not that good friends," Kai told him.
"Yeah," Cash scoffed, "Otherwise you wouldn't be here in the first place."
"Cash!" JT whined, "Don't make them mad! They could be aliens from outer space!"
"How dare you!" Winston exclaimed, anger burning in his crystalline eyes. Kai face-palmed herself. She knew exactly what was coming. "I am a Forever Knight! Ready to rage in battle against these monsters that dare think they can rule over our fair planet! I will best any beast who dares think he has the power to take on a true Knight! I fight for honor and justice. And anyone who dares accuse me of being a cold-blooded beast of the beyond, beware. You shall find yourself begging for mercy at the point of my drawn sword."
There was a moment of silence at the end of the speech.
"So, I'm guessing that means no interview?" the reporter asked in a slightly trembling voice. He was ignored.
"Jeez, dude, chill," JT muttered, "We get it, you're not an alien."
"Great," Kai huffed, lifting her head, grateful that the storm was over, "now that that's settled, how do we get out of here?"
At that moment, there was a huge crash from outside. The sound of chaos, shooting, and running footsteps followed. Another few seconds later, all the cell doors swung open, and a man in a Plumber's uniform, a blaster gun in his hands, with a face like a frog ran in.
"Everybody, follow me!" he ordered, "The Plumbers are here to rescue you and take you back to our headquarters, where you'll all be safe."
Not a minute had passed that the majister's orders were being followed. Everyone ran for the exit, in a hurry to get as far from here as possible. Everyone but Kai, Winston, and Ship that is.
"Woohoo, we're free!" Cash yelled as he and JT ran through the crowd of prisoners to the exit.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kai demanded, already halfway out the cell door, "Let's get out of here!"
"We can't!" the squire protested, "What about Ben and Gwen? What about the Earth?"
"What about it?" the Native American snapped back, "We're human, Winston, not some supernatural beings who live on other planets. There's nothing we can do to help them, so we might as well just save ourselves."
"I'm sorry, Kai," the teen said, sounding he really meant it, "But, if there's one thing the Knights taught me, it's never give up without a fight. I'm not leaving, and neither should you."
"I'm sorry, too, then," she whispered, "but I am."
And, before Winston could even process what was going on, the raven-haired girl had thrown her arms around his neck, her lips pressing insistently against his. It took the young man a moment to give in and kiss her back. His arms snaked around her waist, and his mouth opened. His tongue traced the outline of her soft lips. She tasted like the woods they'd been trapped in for what felt like forever.
The kiss was over as soon as it had started. Kai broke away, her breathing hard, face flushed. Winston regarded her with surprise. Never, in a million years, had he expected a girl like Kai to be interested in someone like him. The girl gave a soft, apologetic smile, and turned away to follow the crowd.
"Good-bye," she whispered.
A/N: And that's the story of how Kai broke Winston's heart. This chapter's lateness can be contributed to the fact that the people at Cambridge University think I'm a bad author. Sorry, guys, English is kinda important to me, and if someone says I suck at it, I tend to take it to heart.
I'm sorry, 1lilpen and Anonymous, to have upset you so much. I don't mind being called evil… or selfish… or mean… or greedy… but I do mind letting people down. So, my dear readers, know this: come hell, or high water, and no matter how long it takes me, I will finish this fic!
Also, sorry, Anonymous, I didn't get your email address… the site doesn't let us post them. You have to put a dot after each letter, like this: e.x.a.m.p.l.e. (at symbol)g.m.a.i.l.c.o.m.