Author's Note: I own nothing.

18 Back Together

Max knew his granddaughter was in good hands. Azmuth was the person most capable of fixing the Omnitrix there was no question of that. It was hard though not knowing what was happening with her. So he was glad that when the lights flashed and the figures resolved she was there, standing tall again, eyes back to normal. He stepped forward and hugged her.

"Don't do that to me again kiddo." She grinned and handed Azmuth over to him.

"I'll do my best. Have you seen Rook?"

"Mess hall." Jen nodded and hugged her Grandfather again. "Love you kiddo."

"Love you too Grandpa." She left and Max turned to Azmuth. The Galvan was frowning.

"We may have a problem." Max nodded.

"Do we know if Malware is still alive?" Azmuth shook his head.

"As far as I knew he died the day he destroyed her Conductiod form. But if he did manage to reform, he is a more powerful threat now than he ever was. If he had a hand in creating this Nemetrix then we may be facing a threat unlike those we've seen before." Max nodded. He didn't want his granddaughter to go up against that being again. He still had nightmares about her screaming when Feedback was ripped away from her.

"We'll keep a close eye on her." Azmuth nodded and tapped his teleporter and vanished. Max shook his head and flinched as his phone began to buzz. He pulled it out and answered the call.

"Gwen?"

"Hey grandpa! Kevin and I are coming into town for the weekend! We wanted to drop in and see how everything's going." Max smiled slightly.

"You could not have picked a better time Pumpkin."

Rook frowned as he refilled his tea, he was getting quite tired. He would have to head to bed soon. He had hoped Jen would be back before he had to turn in for the night. Someone stepped up next to him and he spotted the familiar green stripe on black. He turned and Jen smiled as she poured herself a cup of tea as well. She smiled at him and he felt the gnawing worry ease. He smiled and sipped his tea.

"How are you feeling?" She shrugged.

"Better I guess, you wanna talk about what happened?" Rook nodded.

"If you would not mind, I am having some problems processing what happened." Jen nodded.

"Come on. You have more tea at your place?" He nodded. "Good we'll go there." She led the way to the Revonnahgander's quarters. He unlocked the door and set about making a fresh pot of tea. They were silent while he worked. He set the tray down in front of her on the table and sat down with a deep breath.

"Is that what it always feels like when you transform?" A slight smile pulled at the corners of her lips.

"Like I told you before they all feel different. Who'd you get mixed with?" Rook blinked.

"You do not remember."

"Not a damn thing. Though that's not all that unusual." She sighed. "A while back the Omnitrix got damaged by an assassin named Six-Six. He hit the dial with a laser blast before I could transform. A few of my transformations escaped and the blowback of power mutated Kevin, again. Nearly permanently he only went back to normal when the original Omnitrix was destroyed." Rook nodded.

"I was fused with your Gourmand transformation when I attempted to catch you after the Cerebrocrustacean dropped you."

"Thanks for trying to catch me." Rook nodded.

"You are my partner, if I can help I will." She grinned.

"I appreciate it. Upchuck's always been a little weird. There's only one sample in the Omnitrix but it's not always the same. There are two kinds of Gourmands, Murks and Perks. I'm not sure why they don't register as two DNA samples since they're technically a genetic mutation between them." She shrugged. "That one's always felt a little like getting remolded into something smaller." Rook looked relieved.

"I was unsure if it would be just how I felt it." Jen sipped her tea deep in thought for a moment.

"You know I never really talked to anyone about how it feels before, not anyone who could get it anyway. My cousin asked about it once but it freaked her out." Rook frowned.

"Did you not talk about it with your fiancé?" Jen got a bit of a nostalgic smile.

"No, not really. I was… I was always worried that I was too much for him. That my crazy lifestyle would drive him away." She shook her head. "It never did though." She sighed into her tea. "What else did I miss?" Rook took his time explaining what had happened. Jen frowned whistling.

"It's never done the code lines in red before, I bet that was creepy." Rook shook his head.

"If you had not looked so, pardon my bluntness, dead, it would not have been as bad." Jen nodded.

"Being blunt isn't a bad thing, a lot of the time. There are moments when it's not so great." Rook nodded.

"But you are well now." She nodded.

"Yeah, but we may have other problems. Azmuth thinks that Dr. Psychobos, the Cerebrocrustacean who took a piece of the Omnitrix, built the Nemetrix. So we may be seeing Khyber again soon." Rook nodded.

"We will be ready." Jen smiled and drank the last of her tea.

"That's the kind of answer I like to hear. Listen I need to head home, check in with my parents. I'll meet you at Mr. Smoothies tomorrow for pre-patrol smoothies. My treat." Rook smiled.

"That sounds good." Jen nodded and stood heading for the door. "Jen." She paused. "I am glad you are unharmed." Her smile softened.

"You too Rook." With that she left leaving Rook alone with his tea and confusing feelings.

Jen did not make it all the way home, stopping by a blazing fire to rush in and save a little girl. Rath hadn't been the alien she'd meant to pick but she was always a fun one. Even if the little girl liked Brainstorm better. She snorted at Gwen and Kevin as she transformed back to normal. She placed a hand on both of their shoulders.

"It's good to see you two!" The trio hugged then raced off to Gwen's house, Jen following Kevin's car on her bike. Gwen had been briefed on what had happened earlier and insisted Jen head home and get some sleep they could catch up tomorrow. Kevin though looked a bit twitchy and left Gwen's house to head to his mom's and check on her. Jen shook her head but she was still pretty tired and put it down to Kevin's usual paranoia which was almost on par with hers. She fell asleep that night and dreamed of amber eyes and the green glass of the Genesis Cradle.