June, Year 0

"Hmm. Well, if I move this here, and this here…" Gwen muttered to herself.

"What're you working on, sweetheart?" Frank asked, looking over his daughter's shoulder as she worked on her laptop.

"Planning out the rest of my summer," Gwen said. On her laptop screen was a large, color-coded calendar labeled 'Vacation Schedule.' She'd already filled in most of it weeks ago, but with less than two weeks before school let out, she still had a few gaps left to squeeze activities into.

Frank laughed. "That's my girl. Always so organized, just like her mother."

Gwen smiled proudly, then put her hand to her chin, thinking.

What else can I do this summer?

A thought occurred to her. "Hey Dad, can I visit Grandpa sometime this summer?"

"Your grandpa? Hmm, well, I don't think that'll be very easy," Frank answered.

"What? Why?" Gwen turned around in her chair to face her father.

"Because he'll be on the road all summer, traveling the country and going camping with your cousin."

Gwen felt her heart sink. "Oh. Okay," she said, trying not to sound too disappointed as she turned back to her computer.

"Well, goodnight, sweetheart. Don't stay up too late," Frank said, leaving the room.

"Okay, Dad." She heard the door shut behind her. Taking her hands off the keyboard, she let out a sigh.

Ben gets to go on a summer road trip with Grandpa?

Gwen stared at her schedule. It wasn't her first time making one of these. She'd planned out her last summer ahead of time, too. The summer before that had become incredibly boring very quickly because she always felt like she had nothing to do, which was why she now tried to plan enough activities to keep her busy every day of the week. It had sort of worked before, but last summer still hadn't felt quite right. When she was younger, summers were way more fun, but things were different now.

I don't spend summer with Ben anymore.

They used to go to each other's houses a lot during the summer when they were both out of school. Gwen didn't know what happened, but all they ever did anymore was fight.

Has it really been more than two years since that started?

She'd tried to rectify it in the past, but it had never worked. Ben hated her, and every time she tried to talk to him, he just made her mad. So mad.

But what if I went on that trip with him?

They hadn't spent more than a day with each other in a long time. Maybe the reason they couldn't make up was because they'd just never given it enough time. But then again, maybe it would only make things worse.

Gwen struggled with these thoughts for a while. She almost gave up on the idea, but then she took another look at her computer screen and saw the ridiculously crammed vacation schedule she was planning just to stave off boredom.

I need to try.

The next day, Gwen wanted to ask her father if she could join Ben and Max on their summer trip. As she searched for him, she walked into the kitchen and found her mother making dinner.

"Hey, Mom. Is Dad going to be home soon?" she asked.

Natalie shook her head, not looking up as she chopped vegetables. "He won't be home for dinner. He's going to be working late tonight."

"Oh…" Gwen was disappointed. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. School break was almost here, and she didn't want to wait until it was too late.

Natalie looked up and saw the dejected look on her young daughter's face. "What's the matter, Gwen?"

"Nothing," Gwen said. "I just wanted to ask him about something."

"And what is that?"

Gwen watched her mother continue preparing their dinner. It was hard to tell how much she cared what Gwen's answer would be, but she figured she wouldn't have asked if she didn't care at all. "It's about Ben and Grandpa's camping trip."

Her mother didn't respond immediately, but she looked a little bothered by her mentioning them. "Why do you want to know about that?"

"Well, I…" Gwen considered saying it was nothing so she could avoid having to talk about it, but something compelled her to get it off of her chest. "I was wondering if I could maybe...go with them."

Natalie took another moment before replying. Gwen could tell she was choosing her words carefully. "It was my understanding that you and your cousin haven't been getting along very well lately."

Gwen looked away in shame. She couldn't deny that. "Well, yeah, but…"

Her mother looked at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence. When she didn't, Natalie spoke. "Would you really be able to spend all summer with Ben?"

Gwen really wished she'd just waited and asked her father about this later. Her mother was much harder to read. She could be concerned, or she could be judging her for something.

"I...I wanna try," Gwen said.

Natalie stared her down. Gwen was ready for her to say 'no' and then go into a lecture about how she couldn't ask for such things at the last minute like this. But to her surprise, her mother didn't refuse her request. "Okay," she said simply, turning back to her cooking.

Gwen blinked. "What?"

"If you want to go on their trip with them, I'll call your grandfather tomorrow and ask him if it's alright."

Gwen was stunned. "O-Okay. Thank you, Mom."

Natalie nodded. Gwen didn't want to push her luck, so she quickly left the room.

The next day, Gwen was quite anxious. She knew her grandfather was a kind and generous man who would love to have her join him on his trip, but perhaps she had asked too late and he would have no choice but to refuse.

"Gwen? Could you come in here for a minute?" Gwen heard her mother's voice coming from the other room.

"Okay, Mom!" Gwen called back.

When she got there, her mother was on the phone. "It's your grandfather," she said, handing the phone to Gwen and stepping out of the room.

"Oh," Gwen said, watching her mother walk away. "...Grandpa?" she said into the phone.

"Well hey, Gwen! How are you?" Max said.

Gwen smiled. "Hey! I'm great. How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine, thanks. Hey, listen, I was just talking with your mother, and she had a great suggestion. You know the road trip I'm taking your cousin on this summer?"

Gwen's heart was beating fast. "Yeah?"

"Well, your mother thinks going camping for the summer would be a good experience for you, and she's asked me to bring you along. So, what do you think? You up for it?"

Gwen was confused.

Mom said it was her idea?

"Uh…" Gwen couldn't answer. She was too busy trying to figure out why her mother would do that.

"Now, I know you've probably got all sorts of plans for your summer break already, and I know you might think spending all summer with Ben might get on your nerves after a while, so there's no need to feel pressured to-"

"No!" Gwen interrupted him. "I mean, yes! Yes, I'll come." She hoped the eagerness in her voice wasn't too obvious.

"Fantastic!" Max seemed pleased. He gave her some details about what the living situation in the Rust Bucket would be like and told her what to pack. He also told her when he'd come by to pick her up after her last day of school.

"Sound good?" Max asked as a final clarification.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Gwen replied genuinely.

"Alright then. I look forward to seeing you, sweetheart."

"You too, Grandpa. I love you."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Gwen was so excited she jumped into the air, silently celebrating. But something was still confusing to her.

Why did Mom tell Grandpa it was her idea?

Did her mother know she was embarrassed about it? Was she trying to help her save face? Gwen wasn't sure if her mother had even paid enough attention to notice how strongly she felt about this, or if she cared enough to lie about it on her behalf. It didn't make any sense to her.

Gwen left the room to go find her mother. She found her in the living room, reading a book. When Natalie noticed her, she looked up. "Well?"

"It's all set," Gwen said, stepping closer and handing the phone back to her. "He told me he'd pick me up after school on the last day."

Natalie nodded. "Okay. I'll call the computer camp tomorrow and tell them you won't be coming next month."

Gwen's eyes opened wide in panic. She'd completely forgotten about that. And she was sure her parents had spent good money on it already, too. "..Oh, right. Sorry, I-"

"It's alright," her mother interrupted her. "I'll be able to get a refund for most of it."

Gwen was amazed.

When has Mom ever been this cool about anything before?

This was the kind of spoiling she'd come to expect from her father, but not from her mother.

"Oh. That's good," Gwen commented, not knowing what else to say.

Natalie nodded.

Gwen stood there for a moment. She thought about walking away and just letting a good thing be, but her mother was being so understanding and generous right now. She had to say something. "And, uh, Mom?"

"Yes?"

Gwen hesitated for a second, then lurched forward and threw her arms around her mother. "Thank you so much," she said, finding it hard to express just how grateful she was. Tilting her head up, she saw her mother looking down at her. She wore a tender smile that Gwen was not used to seeing on her, and she returned Gwen's hug by lovingly stroking the hair on the back of her head.

"I know you can't say why, but I know this is important to you," Natalie said to her daughter. "So don't worry about it. Spend the summer with your grandpa, honey. It'll be an adventure. And, along the way...you might even patch things up with Ben."

Gwen couldn't hide her surprise, and her mother actually laughed at the look on her face.

Since when does Mom laugh?

At that moment, Gwen realized something surprising. Her mother definitely understood her way better than she gave her credit for.

Thanks, Mom.

On the first day of summer, Gwen stood on the curb outside of her school, waiting for her grandfather. She'd left most of the stuff she was bringing at home with her parents when she said goodbye to them that morning. Max told her he'd swing by her house to pick it up on his way to get her. Everything was set, so now she waited there, nervously adjusting the straps of her backpack.

Was this a bad idea?

She could still hardly believe she'd decided to do this. All the work she'd put into that schedule, and she'd just thrown it away on a whim.

So not me.

And worse still, she hadn't come up with anything to say to Ben. They still hated each other. How long would it take to fix that? Could it be fixed in the three months they'd be on this trip? Could it be fixed at all?

Gwen put on a smile when her grandfather's RV pulled up to the side of the curb. Max rolled down the window and waved to her. "Hi there, Gwen!"

"Hi, Grandpa!"

"Hop on in. We still have to pick up your cousin next."

Gwen opened the door and climbed inside, taking the brief moment she was obscured from her grandfather's view to rub her head with a nervous expression. In just a few minutes, she'd be face to face with Ben. The rest of the summer could be decided by that one crucial moment.

After coming up to the front to give her grandfather a hug, Gwen took a seat at the table. For the next ten minutes, she sat there patiently, waiting.

Eventually, the Rust Bucket came to a stop. "Come on, Ben! Let's go!" she heard her grandfather shout, looking out the passenger side window. "We're burnin' daylight. I wanna make it to the campsite by nightfall."

"Uh, Grandpa!" Ben's voice sounded far away, but Gwen could hear him shouting back. "A little help here!"

"Ooh, boy," Max said. "Looks like Ben's got himself caught in a tree."

"Really?!" Gwen shouted, smiling excitedly. She stood up and moved closer to the window to look outside. Sure enough, Ben and some other kid were both up in a tree, hanging by their underwear. She laughed as she watched Max head outside to help them down.

Once Ben was free from his precarious position, Max led him into the Rust Bucket. Gwen sat back down and moved away from the window. She decided that laughing at Ben for what she'd just seen would be a poor way to start their summer together, so she was just going to pretend she hadn't seen anything. Casually crossing her legs, she rested the side of her face in her hand, propping it up with her elbow on the table while she waited for Ben to come inside. She kept her face as blank as she could in an effort to conceal how nervous she was.

Footsteps coming up the stairs let Gwen know the moment was here.

This is it.

"I've so been looking forward to this," Ben said excitedly as he rounded the corner. He was now just a few feet away from her. She sat there staring at him, waiting to see his reaction. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted her. His eyes went wide in surprise, then quickly shifted to a glare as he turned to look at her. "What are...you doing here? What is she doing here?" He turned back to their grandfather, pointing at her accusingly.

"Take it easy, Dweeb. This wasn't my idea." Gwen couldn't help herself. Hearing him talk that way about her, as if she didn't belong anywhere near him, it pissed her off. And, predictably, she'd immediately denied wanting to be anywhere near him either. "Somebody convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a 'good experience for me.'" She decided to use her mother's lie to avoid letting Ben and her grandfather know it was really her idea, then she crossed her arms defiantly and sulked back into the couch. To Ben, it probably looked like she was just mad that he was there now, but that wasn't what was going through her head.

Five seconds in, and I already blew it.

She could've tried to be nice. She could've just said 'hello' to him instead of responding to his hostility with some of her own. But, for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe because it was too embarrassing, or maybe because it wasn't in her nature to let an insult go. But either way, as far as she was concerned, she was off to a bad start.

"Grandpa, please. Tell me you didn't!" Ben glanced over at Gwen. She glared at him.

"I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us this summer," Max explained. "Is...that a problem?" he asked, taking on a slightly more stern expression.

Ben and Gwen glanced uncertainly at each other, but said nothing. Their grandfather got back in the driver's seat, ready to get going. Ben sat down across from Gwen at the table, lying down across the couch and crossing his arms.

"Ugh, I can't believe it. I wait all school year to go on this trip, and now the queen of cooties is along for the ride," he spat out bitterly, glaring at Gwen.

"Hey!" Gwen spat back, returning his glare. "I had my own vacation already all planned out too, you know." Reaching into her backpack under the table, she pulled out her vacation schedule and held it up to show it to him. "Each activity is color-coded so I never did the same thing two days in a row," she explained proudly, thrusting it towards Ben. He looked less impressed and more amazed by her nerdiness. "Now, I'm stuck with my geekazoid cousin going camping for three months."

They glared at each other once more.

"Geek."

"Jerk."

"Something tells me it's gonna be a loooong summer," Max remarked from the front seat.

Ben and Gwen turned away from each other defiantly. They sat at the table in silence until they arrived at their first campsite.

"Chow time!" Max said, placing a bowl of wriggling white worms on the picnic table in front of Ben and Gwen.

The two of them stared at the bowl nervously. "O-kay. I give up. What is that?" Ben asked, disgusted.

"Marinated mealworms," Max declared proudly. "Hard to find them fresh in the States. You know, they're considered a delicacy in some countries."

"And totally gross in others?" Gwen quipped, flinching in disgust as one of the mealworms fell out of the bowl and began crawling across the table.

"If these don't sound good, I've got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge," Max offered.

"Ugh...Couldn't we just have a burger or something?" Ben asked, smiling hopefully up at Max. Gwen mimicked his expression, hoping their puppy dog eyes would convince their grandfather to give them whatever they wanted.

"Nonsense," Max said shaking his head. "This summer's gonna be an adventure for your taste buds! I'll grab the tongue." He turned and headed back into the Rust Bucket.

As soon as Max was out of sight, Ben slid over next to Gwen and leaned in closely. Her body stiffened and she looked at him nervously, but she tried to act cool.

"Okay, I got a half-eaten bag of corn chips and a candy bar in my backpack. What do you got?" Ben asked.

Gwen was confused. After doing nothing but fighting and giving each other the cold shoulder all day, suddenly Ben was talking to her as if they were partners in crime.

What's he up to?

If he was trying to get along with her, Gwen couldn't pass up this chance.

"Some rice cakes and hard candy," she responded.

"Think we can make 'em last the whole summer?"

In unison, they groaned and looked sadly at the bowl of mealworms in front of them.

Even though she seemed sad on the surface, Gwen felt happy. This certainly wasn't much, but it was a start. They were on the same page about something. They had talked to each other without fighting, even if it had been just three or four sentences. She was becoming more optimistic about the situation already.

Maybe some good can come out of this summer after all.

Gwen knew going into it that she had no idea what would happen that summer. Maybe she and Ben would patch things up, maybe things would just get worse, maybe nothing would change at all. She'd considered lots of possibilities. But Ben finding a watch that allowed him to transform into alien superheroes was not one of them.

At first, she was so mad, she had a hard time hiding it. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. All she had wanted was for her and Ben to spend the summer together like they used to. Something easy. Something simple. A chance to reconnect with her cousin. She didn't sign up to get attacked by alien robots. And the way Ben looked at that watch, that super cool, high-tech gadget that let him be the hero he'd always wanted to be...With that thing around, what chance did she have? He'd barely notice she was even there.

But things that first night hadn't actually turned out that bad, as far as Gwen was concerned. In fact, she'd already considered almost everything negative that came with the Omnitrix to be worth it just to hear Ben say that one sentence after she saved him from that robot.

"Never thought I'd say this, but am I glad to see you!"

Wow.

Then, when Ben saved her from that falling tree, which would become the first of many times he would save her that summer...she wasn't sure what exactly she'd felt at that moment, but it gave her hope that maybe Ben really cared for her deep down after all.

The next morning, Ben showed off XLR8, the alien that would become his favorite. He ran around at super speed, cleaning up the campsite and loading everything back into the Rust Bucket before changing back into himself. "I think this is gonna be the best. Summer. Ever," he declared.

"Absolutely," Max agreed.

A lot of thoughts went through Gwen's head. Things were already not going according to plan, not even in the slightest. But there was progress. The watch might cause them some serious problems, but she saw potential for it to do some good. Not only from them using it to help people, but also from it bringing her and Ben closer together. Already, it had caused them to help each other in ways most people would never even get to experience. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

"It's definitely going to be interesting."

Author's note:

Just a mini chapter today because this flashback was a little too long to include with a real month. Now, I know you've all been enjoying the fast upload schedule lately, but I'm afraid there's gonna be a big delay before I post the next chapter. March, Year 4 is so long that I'm gonna have to split it into three chapters, and a lot of important stuff happens, so I really need to take my time with it and make sure it all fits together nicely.

I was expecting some sort of backlash from last chapter, and I got some, just not in the ways I expected. I'll try to address some of your concerns below.

Comments:

Pr0dz: "Did Ben's voice change to his teen self yet?"

Yep. You should imagine him speaking with his Yuri Lowenthal voice rather than his Tara Strong voice.

csgt: "Oh, you named Nathan after a person who was particularly bad at talking to girls, then if you want to continue the trend, you can name your next OC after me"

Don't give me any ideas, man.

csgt: "Interesting to see a little bit of Lucy's feelings for Gwen in this chapter - funny that Gwen probably doesn't realize that Lucy flirting with her before was also a 'I'm messing with you, but I'm also serious at the same time' scenario."

Yeah, Gwen still only vaguely recognizes that Lucy is into girls too since she hasn't really seen her act on it yet at this point. She doesn't have much of a reason to suspect Lucy's compliments and flirtatious behavior towards her are anything but her being friendly and joking around.

religion: "The prohibited relations (incest) according to the Bible are: [long list goes here] NOPE, 'one's cousin' is NOT on the list! It's definitely not a religious thing."

I'll admit it's been a while since I've reviewed my Old Testament, but I believe Leviticus has a line before it starts listing off specific family members where it says something about forbidding relations between all those who share blood. It's possible to interpret the list of relations that follows to simply be a noncomprehensive list of examples, and cousins would still count as "sharing blood" and thus forbidden as well even though it's not explicitly stated. But it doesn't matter either way because, as Gwen said, she isn't religious.

B: "This is one of the better Bwen fanfics I've read. I love how long and interconnected it is. It's plain to see the development over time with almost every part of the story. However, the one exception is Gwen's rejection of her magic. Early in the story, her magic is an important part of her character, and she clearly relishes its use. She's passionate about learning about it and it forms another aspect of her goals for personal development along with her studies and martial arts. She uses it frequently for basic utility, for fighting crime, and as a means of expressing herself, such as when she made the magic locket with the protection spell. Then, out of nowhere, she suddenly decides she doesn't want to end up like Gwendolyn and seemingly abandons magic?"

It's true that Gwen loved magic when she initially gained her powers. She was particularly excited because she could use it to protect Ben the same way he used the Omnitrix to protect her, making them even. She also quite enjoyed studying it and learning more about its history as an academic pursuit. And yes, Gwen looked up to her future self and wanted to be like her at one point in time. The problem is, she will always associate magic with the "hero-ing and alien/crime fighting" part of her life. After she and Ben suffered a few more near-death experiences and she grew up enough to realize just how messed up it was for children to be doing things like that, she didn't want anything to do with that part of her life anymore. There's nothing about magic that caused her to dislike it, she just can't use it without being reminded of what she fears. Magic isn't bad, risking their lives is. Being like Gwendolyn wouldn't be bad on its own, but it would mean she and Ben were still fighting crime twenty years from now. She doesn't want that anymore. Also, I haven't really touched on this in the story yet, but don't you think she'd feel bad using her gift around Ben after he just lost his? I apologize if I did not explain all of this explicitly enough for you, but your claim that Gwen abandoned magic and decided she didn't want to be like Gwendolyn "out of nowhere" is just not true.

B: "Also, Ben without the Omnitrix is kind of pathetic, and it's hard not getting depressed reading about him depowered and unable to reconcile his new limitations."

That's the point. Something bad happened to him. You're not supposed to be happy reading about it. Not all of life's problems can be solved within six months.

Guest: "This story is overrated"

Yeah.

EternalWisdom: "It's actually very inspiring to see how far this story has come. Gives me some ideas for my own works, actually."

I'll say. I started writing this probably about three years ago at this point. It's come a long way from my initial outline. And I'm glad to hear my work is inspiring your own!

Car-54: "One thing was disturbing though; Seeing Gwen so offended at being 'accused' of having religious beliefs."

What? Lucy wasn't "accusing" her of anything, and Gwen wasn't offended. She just didn't know what that had to do with anything since Lucy didn't offer any context when she asked that question. Personally I've pictured Frank and Gordon as the only religious ones in the family, but Gwen doesn't think any less of them for it.