Author's Note: I own nothing. We will get to see a bit more of Jen's ten year old character design in this one, not the attitude.

23 Back in Time, Or Not

Jen hid out in her room until Grandpa Max came looking for her the next morning. He used his code to come into her room. She was still sitting on the floor though she'd migrated to the wall beside the door instead of against it. She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes and he knelt down in front of her.

"What happened?"

"Malware." The single word had all the blood rushing out of his face.

"You're sure?" She gave him a sardonic look over the stuffed tiger in her arms. He frowned. "Sorry, that was a stupid question." Jen nodded. Max couldn't help but think that she looked just like she had just after losing Feedback. So young with the weight of worlds on her shoulders. "Did he…" He wasn't sure how to ask if he had taken another of her transformations. She seemed to understand him though.

"No." She shook her head scrubbing at her red and puffy eyes. "Took something from Rook's truck though, dusted part of the memory core. We don't know what he got exactly there's a lot of stuff in the memory core." Max nodded.

"I'll get Coop to replace it and see if he can't figure out what was taken, he's the best at that kind of stuff." Jen nodded.

"Yeah he is." Her voice was raw like she'd spent most of the night crying, which was likely true. Max held out a hand to help her up. After a moment she took it. He pulled her close and she clung to him. It was a bit awkward as she still hadn't dropped the large stuffed tiger yet but he waited for her to let go first. When she finally did he carefully guided her into the small bedroom off the main room. He sat her down on the edge of the bed.

"You need sleep. Take off your shoes and get some sleep. I'll let Rook know you won't be making patrol today, unless there's a real emergency." She kicked off her shoes and curled up under her blanket so there was just her short crop of hair sticking out of the plush green comforter. She was sure that she wouldn't sleep, but once ensconced in the plush blanket exhaustion took over and her world faded to a dreamless haze.

Max shook his head at his granddaughter as he stepped out of her room to message Cooper, he stayed in her quarters in case she needed him. He also called Azmuth to let him know that the psychotic Mechamorph was indeed still alive. He kept his word and let Rook know that Jen wouldn't be showing for patrol. About twenty minutes later there was a soft knock on her door. Max raised an eyebrow and stood stepping over to the door. Rook stood on the other side with his tea tray. Max smiled at him letting him inside.

"She's sleeping, I don't think she got any last night." Rook nodded, frowning at the door to her room. He poured two cups of tea regardless and handed one to Max.

"I thought she went home to her parents or I would have brought her tea sooner." Max nodded.

"She isn't one to ask for help, she sometimes has problems accepting when it's there." Rook nodded, he knew that about his partner already. When asked if she needed help she tended to deny it. It had gotten to be that he didn't tend to offer, he just did it. She usually didn't bring it up when that happened. From what he'd seen when Gwen and Kevin had visited that was how all three of them worked best. They didn't need to talk, they barely needed to look at each other to know what the other was doing. A team that worked together with deadly efficiency, if he had seen that in a true battle, a fight like those he knew they had participated in he would have been terrified and awed. But when they had raced away from Looma, the three of them knowing what each other's actions would be before they made them, he'd felt jealous.

It was clear that they had been working together for some time. Gwen and Jen more than Kevin but he melded well with Gwen, her grace and speed a good match for his brute strength. But Gwen and Jen had the easy mark of experience to their movements, even if he hadn't known who they were he'd have recognized that they had battle experience. He was shaken out of his reverie when the door to Jen's room slid open. Her hair was tousled with sleep though she didn't seem to have gotten much. She had her communicator in her hand.

"Yeah, thanks we're on our way." She blinked as if she had expected the room to be empty. But finished pulling on her shoe regardless. "Is that tea?" Rook nodded handing her his cup. He was glad it had cooled down a bit on his way here because she downed it like a shot and nodded. "Lovely. We've got dimension twelve robots downtown." Rook nodded, Max handing him his cup. Rook took a few sips of the untouched tea as Jen pulled on her other shoe. He set the cup down and followed Jen out of the room. She had the same look she'd had after she'd found out from Khyber that Malware might be alive. He followed a little closer when he saw that look in her eye.

She should have paid more attention. She knew that, she knew better than to underestimate a ten year old. She'd been ten when she'd gotten the Omnitrix. She couldn't count how many people she had beaten at that age simply because she had been underestimated. She knew better than to take Billy Billions for granted. Apparently they had been classmates but Jen didn't really remember him. It made sense, she'd been all about soccer and Sumo Slammers back then, that and hero time as often as possible. He considered her something of a nemesis but truth be told she genuinely had no idea what he was talking about, but that seemed to just annoy him. So he'd fired the toy looking gun in his hand at Jen, Rook got caught in the blast and now here they were having still beaten the robots. But there was a problem. Jen ran fingers through her now waist length hair.

"How the hell did I ever put up with this much hair!" She was eleven years old again, short with hair for miles. She yanked a hand through it now and swore colorfully as several strands of hair came free with it. She was still in her cloths though they were now too big by a few sizes. Rook was luckier, his Proto-armor could change size with its wearer, it even made room for his tail. His voice was quite a bit higher than it had been too.

"I have seen a few photos of you at this age, but you are shorter than I expected at eleven." She glared at him, a thought crossing her mind to yank his tail for that but he helped her up and they made there way away from the large sticky ball left behind when she transformed back from Ball Weevil. He was shorter too, since he was now eleven as well. She shook her head, hair falling into her eyes. They made their way to the Proto-truck but neither could reach the pedals. Jen banged her head on the console in front of her then fought her hair again as it fell in front of her face. Rook sighed.

"Hold still!" He practically squeaked. She stilled as he used his hands, small claws on the end untrimmed, he kept them trimmed when he was older, to untangle her hair and quickly braid it. Though he worked quickly the braid was intricate, practiced. He nodded pulled a piece of rope from a pouch on his belt and tied the braid off with it. She blinked.

"When did you learn to braid?" She asked some of her annoyance ebbing away.

"I have several younger sisters. My first sibling was a girl, I learned to help her before we had another sister." Jen nodded, looking over the braid.

"You're really good at it."

"Thank you!" They left the truck and tried to call for pick up but no one recognized her voice or his. So they began the long walk to Max's Plumbing.