Chapter 9: The Morning Light

The Rusty Arms RV Park

Bellwood, California

9:48 pm, November 17, 2000

Gwen had been here before. Not as often as her Doofus, but she didn't think anyone spent as much time in this RV Park as he did. Not even Grandpa.

She'd spent nights and weekends here when her parents were busy or after she'd won another tournament or science fair or meet. For all the parties her mother threw to celebrate, nobody made those wins feel as special as Grandpa Max. And no place felt as special as here, where it felt like the whole world came.

Well, here or one of the other parks in town. Grandpa Max didn't like staying in one place for very long, but even with his migratory habits he always kept coming back.

Always.

But everything was different now. And it wasn't just because the sun had set. Not when bedtime was just a suggestion, one Grandpa forgot about almost as often as not when they stayed up all night watching movies together or when he set up his old telescope and showed her the universe.

And the stories he told when he did…

They were stories he'd been telling her for as long as she could remember, all the way back to when the man had to hold her up just so she could reach the eyepiece. Hold them up in turns, because she hadn't been visiting alone back then.

Which wasn't nearly as alone as Gwen felt now as she followed the shadow of the boy in front of her and wished he would say something, but Ben didn't.

He didn't look back either, or even slow down as he led them by an abandoned grill that still had hotdogs sizzling on it as they slipped past the long shadow of another RV. Those shadows somehow cut deeper as more people abandoned their televisions, turned on their lights, and stepped out into the night.

That was the only thing that made her Doofus finally stop as a man pushed open a door right in front of them. She didn't know why, though, or why they were being so careful, except that it was what Grandpa taught them. It wasn't like anyone was looking at them right nowanyway.

"What do you think - ?"

"Russians."

"You always say that!"

The voices washed over her, over them, as people stood outside the doors and slowly grouped together. Their eyes all turned on the forest that they'd just slipped through.

The forest and the half dozen helicopters that were hovering over it, their spotlights cutting through the night as they looked for something. They weren't police helicopters either. Gwen knew those. Their outlines were smaller against the stars, their profiles rounder.

These were all hard angles that blocked out the stars. Angles that made the hand wrapped around hers tighten enough that Gwen did what her Doofus wouldn't and turned back as the hand wrapped around her squeezed tight. Michelle's face was a pale mask that said everything as she stared at the closest helicopter that drifted closer before it turned away. And if it didn't, then the pulse that Gwen could feel matching the faint sharp beat of its blades against her fingertips did.

The pulse jumped when Michelle realized that she was being watched. Then she dropped her head and hid behind her hair even as Gwen called out, her voice soft and broken, "Mich - "

"We gotta keep moving," Ben cut her off. His voice was hard as he kept going, leaving Gwen no choice but to follow as they hurried through the gathering crowd.

The crowd and the eyes that followed them. Not for long. It wasn't like they were the only kids running around tonight, but Gwen felt the air around her free hand hum with every glance.

Glances that a lifetime on stage should have gotten her used to. A lifetime at home, too, where everybody knew her mother and always made sure she was on her best behavior, but it was different here. Here, nobody ever did anything more than grin when they saw her running around with engine grease up to her elbows and mud covering her bare feet even though they all somehow knew Grandpa just as well.

Usually, she just grinned back, but it was different tonight. Tonight Gwen felt sick as she wondered what was hiding behind those glances even though none of them lasted long as she hurried after the shadow of her Doofus, who didn't slow down for anything as they hurried for the park's entranceand the line of cars and RVs that were waiting there.

A line frozen by the twin cruisers that were blocking the road, their red and blue lights cutting through the night like the officer's voice cut through the calm on his bullhorn, "- Folks, but the roads are going to be closed just a while longer as we get things - "

The rest of it was lost. Lost as someone honked like that would help. Lost as more people complained, the mix of their voices almost as loud as the officer.

" - of all the ridiculous - "

" - I can't -

"Come on, man, just tell us what's going on!"

Gwen glanced back over her shoulder at the last demand. She couldn't help it. Not any more than Michelle could help sucking in a breath when she realized, her dark eyes going wide. Not that she met them for long. She couldn't. Not anymore than she could let out more than a pathetic, "I - "

That was all Gwen could say. The rest was strangled away as confusion and hurt filled her best friend's face before she looked away. Looked away like she never had, not when Marci was being a jerk. Not even when she found out about the truth about Ben, about how her Doofus was more than just family and her being sick.

Gwen didn't think anything could hurt so much, but Michelle didn't let go, and Gwen held onto her hand with everything she had. She held on so tight that she ran into her Doofus before she even realized that he'd stopped. "Hey, watch it - !" Old habits made her start.

New ones made her reach for his hand as a woman shouted, "If the roads are all closed, then why did they get through?!"

She settled for grabbing the back of his shirt instead as his whole body tensed at the sight of the headlights pulling in right behind the police cars. Headlights of something too big for another car. Headlights that she knew even before the minivan came to a squealing stop.

And so did her Doofus.

"Ben," Gwen hissed out a warning as she grabbed the back of his shirt because she knew her Doofus. She knew what he'd do even before she felt him tense under her hand as the driver's door flew open and the interior light turned on and burned bright.

That was all she said. That was all she could say as her stomach turned into an anaconda that kept her from breathing as she stared, too, at the woman who came charging out in front of everyone in just a bathrobe and slippers with her long blond hair a mess.

A bathrobe that wasn't even tied and didn't do a thing to hide the too-big t-shirt her aunt wore under it or the too-small shorts she had on under that. Shorts she flashed as she got up on her tiptoes and brought her hand up over her eyes so she could block out the worst of the lights that were shining in her face. It was a state that Gwen knewthat her mom would allow herself to be in. Not in public, not even at home. She'd die first.

But Aunt Sandra didn't even seem to notice as she hurried forward. Or the thing that was wearing her face did. Gwen hated letting go of Ben and Michelle both, but she needed her hands free. Some part of her felt sick as she felt Michelle back away and sicker as her Doofus just stood there like a statue as his mom shouted, "Ben?!" Her voice was frantic as her eyes searched the crowd. "Gwen?!"

"Mom?" Gwen heard her Doofus say, the word strangled in his throat as he stood there as stiff as any of the statues that her morfar loved and just stared.

"Ben," Gwen somehow got enough air into her to whisper the warning after she felt him shake under her palm. She stared at the woman and tried to think of some way to know if Aunt Sandra was real or just a monster in a ma -

Somehow that was enough. Somehow Aunt Sandra heard her, her head twisting around so fast that her hair flew as she cried out, "Gwen? Ben!"

"Mom!" Ben shouted back as he took off for her even as the officers tried to get in the way. Like anything could stop her Doofus. Or his aunt, "Mom!" Ben cried out as he plowed right through the two and she swept him up in her arms in all the ways he hated and should have sent him running for the hills.

Should have, but he buried his face in her shoulder instead even as she pressed kiss after kiss into his hair and didn't stop. Not even as one of the officers reached for her arm. Gwen watched it all and felt sick as she reached for her magic.

Magic she didn't need.

"I'm Carl Tennyson's wife and this is my son," Her aunt all but hissed at the man, her voice cutting through the sudden silence. Gwen loved her aunt, but sometimes she wondered what her uncle saw in her when she was so different from her mom, from everything she heard about her grandmother. So much softer than any other Tennyson she'd ever met.

But there wasn't anything soft about Aunt Sandra then.

No, there was just a fierceness that made the man - unless it was something that was just wearing the face of one - take a step back and reach for his pistol while his partner fumbled for the radio on his shoulder. Not that her Aunt paid any attention to him. She turned her head again and scanned the silent sea of faces that were watching her. "Where's - " she started before she froze and called out, her voice cracking. "Gwen?"

There wasn't any faking of the relief that filled Aunt Sandra's face either, and that was enough. It wiped away any of the doubt that Gwen had left and any restraint as she took off in a dead run. Her aunt didn't hold anything back either when she pulled Gwen into her arms, too, as she hugged the woman tight and let her chase all the monsters away…

- o - o - o - o - o -

It was a hug that went on forever and nowhere near long enough before Gwen felt her Doofus pull away again."Where's dad? What happened?! Is he - ?"

"He's fine, Ben!" Aunt Sandra swore, her eyes going wide as she leaned back. "There's - " she started before she shook her head. "It's nothing for you to worry - "

"Mom!"

"He's working," Aunt Sandra said as she jumped at his shout. Gwen was surprised she made the word sound dirty as she pulled away, too. She pulled away, but she didn't let go. Gwen felt the hands catch her shoulders before she could even think about turning, and something in her aunt's blue eyes made her freeze. It wasn't a monster look. No, it was so much worse. Especially when she saw those eyes widen and something that looked so much like a blush start to fill the woman's cheeks. "The mayor called right after you did, Ben, and what on Earth have you two been - ?!"

It was the police car that saved them. Not the ones that were here already. A third came rushing up with a roar of his engine and the squeal of its brakes. It stopped not five feet away as the officer inside came scrambling out with a face almost as red and a scowl that - No. It didn't measure up to what Gwen had seen on her mother's face, but it was close as he snapped, "I'm not sure how police escorts work where you're from, Ma'am, but - "

And that was enough. "Aunt Sandra!" Gwen gasped as the woman gaped at the man.

"W-we're not going to talk about that, Gwen. Either of you," her aunt stammered when she finally recovered, but she didn't look sorry. Not even a little. "We're just going to go home and you're - Gwendolyn!"

"We so are! Wait until I tell - " Gwen laughed because her aunt outran the police and the shock of it made the tingling in her fingers and toes tingle with nerves. Nerves that only got worse when she remembered. "Berightback!" Gwen shouted over her shoulder after she slipped out of her aunt's arms, spun around on her heel, and ran back for the girl she'd left behind. The girl still wasn't looking at her or at the sky, but back the way they'd come as she pulled at what was left of her braid.

Michelle watched the RV that they'd left not five minutes ago and parked far enough away that they could barely see it now. The one that wasn't the Rustbucket - that wasn't home - but it still had everything. Even an alien now.

"We can't just leave him there," Michelle whispered, and not for the first time. "Not all alone. We have to - !"

"Alan will be okay," Gwen promised, grabbing her hands even as the girl's face twisted with worry. Which was so much better than the blank stare when they'd done all of this. It was the look that finally made her tell Ben to call his mom once they had Alan safe despite all the risks. "We can't bring him back with us, 'Chelle, but we gave him Grandpa's phone and - "

" - and he'll melt it!"

"Not that phone," Gwen almost snorted at the idea. Not after all the things that Upgrade and Greymatter had done to it. It would hold up better than the ID mask, she was sure of it. And even that creepy white thing only got scorched a little on the inside after she finally admitted that their only clue was also the only way they'd get Alan there safe.

"And that's so not like all the other RVs around here even if it's not the Rustbucket." Not if it had the overdrive that she so wanted to use today and all the other little buttons and doodads hidden away in all the same spots, even if she hadn't had a chance to really explore yet. Not when she could feel Alan and Michelle staring at her just from what little they saw of her - No. The new RV wasn't home, but for right now it was enough. "He'll be okay. I promise."

"He will?"

"We weren't worried about him," Gwen lied again as she dared a look at the ashen face in front of her that was so close to how Alan looked when they left. He'd sat there on the foldout bed in the back wrapped tight in a fireproof blanket with a worry all of his own written plain on his face. His flames had died down lower than she'd ever seen Ben go when he was Heatblast.

If Michelle wasn't here, if she'd gone home with Paul like she wanted to - if Gwen hadn't dragged her along - then maybe they would have stayed. Maybe they would have even found something, but there were too many people that she loved who she needed to get somewhere safe.

Which didn't make it any easier. Not when she heard Michelle, stammer, "B-but -" Michelle asked and she sounded so small as she tugged at her frayed braids and eyed the helicopters with a world of doubt in her eyes.

"Nothing can find him in there. Not even them," Gwen promised again, her stomach tightening at the words as she tugged her best friend back around. "And he'll have everything that he needs."

Everything but answers.

Or Grandpa.

But they couldn't do anything about that. Not right now. All they could do was make sure that if anyone but her or Ben or Grandpa even brushed against the RV now the whole world would know.

"But - " Michelle started as she pulled at her braid. It was the first thing she'd said since the clearing and her voice sounded so rough, but it was something. "But what if your Grandpa comes back and - "

"Trust me," Gwen all but laughed as she tugged at her best friend's arm, "we've left him weirder things."

The words were a joke, but Michelle spun around like she'd been slapped. Her exhausted eyes were wide with betrayal as she just stared. It was a look Gwen had seen before, just never on anyone she loved. "Michelle, please," she begged, her voice barely more than a whisper as she took the girl's hand with burning eyes and tried again. "I wanted to tell you, but - "

But the rest just faded away as Michelle shook her head, then froze as Aunt Sandra called out, "Gwen!"

Then the olive-skinned girl sucked in a breath as she looked at the woman who looked ready to charge through the crowd with Ben in tow and asked, her voice low and cracking, "S-she doesn't know either, does she?"

It only took Gwen a moment to figure out who the girl meant, and what. It was a moment more than she should have needed, but Gwen felt as wrung out as Michelle looked as her throat closed before she could make a word and it was all she could do to shake her head. The motion cut through the other girl in a way that words couldn't as she just shook her head. There weren't any more words after that. Not from them anyway as they cut back through the crowd towards her Aunt and her Doofus. His voice, though, carried like it always did as his mom fussed over him and that was how she heard him say, " - just wanted to surprise Grandpa," as soon as they were close enough.

And Ben sounded so miserable as he rubbed his face with his hands as he added, "And what do you mean, dad's working? He took tonight off! He -" Then his mouth and his hands both froze when he looked up and saw her. It was a look that only lasted maybe a split second before he spun away from all of them, his shoes making a squelching noise in the mud, his face already going red in the headlights as he wiped it again.

It was such a small thing. Almost as small as the look that Gwen saw her aunt give him from the corner of her eye as she just stared at the back of her Doofus's head and the mess of hair there as her mouth looked for words it couldn't find.

Words she still hadn't found when her aunt's hand found hers and herded them all back to the minivan.

- o - o - o - o - o -

"Up where the mountains meet the heavens above. Out where the lightning splits the sea…"

The woman singing on the radio was the only one making a sound as they drove. If Ben had been sitting up here, Gwen knew it wouldn't have stood a chance, but he wasn't. Somehow she'd ended up in the passenger seat instead, and she was too busy trying to keep an eye on everything to pay any attention to it as they turned onto a street that was almost as familiar as hers now.

The whole drive should have been like that, but it wasn't. Not after all the roadblocks that they'd seen. Roadblocks that weren't manned by police, but by soldiers, and that Gwen was sure that they'd only gotten through because of the girl sitting behind her.

And if Michelle was herself, Gwen was sure that one of them would have opened fire after she let them have it because all of the soldiers gasped when they saw her, but a few laughed, too, as they shined their lights in. But she wasn't.

Nobody was, and that tightened Gwen's stomach even more than the monsters she knew were out there. Monsters that kept her eyes on the sky now and monsters that she was sure had found them in the split second between when she felt the minivan stop and she heard the metallic clang of the sliding door getting shoved open hard.

The lightning spell was on her lips when she saw her Doofus go charging by, his face set in a scowl as he raced past her for a house she knew.

A house that wasn't hers, but felt like home anyway.

"We're back?" Gwen asked, and she couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice as she let her hands drop into her lap. She stared at the house with its big, inviting windows and the goofy inflatable turkey that was wearing one of Ben's jerseys as it wobbled inside the closest one.

If she had any doubt left, seeing that stupid rubber bird settled them. Nobody else in the universe but her aunt and uncle would put up something that tacky. Just seeing it made Gwen's eyes burn and her hands shake as she wiped her tears away.

Her fingers ached from all the time she'd held them ready since the clearing as she finally let them relax. As she finally let all of her body relax.

"Michelle?" She heard her aunt ask, and she sounded so much further away than the few inches that separated them. Far enough away that Gwen barely paid her any attention as she slumped back in her seat and watched the windows light up, one by one, as her Doofus charged upstairs.

She should have been mad that he left her here, that he didn't wait, but right now…

Right now she was just so happy that she was right that everything else just faded away as she slumped back in her seat and closed her eyes.

" - mind my son that you're company and that I did teach him some manners? He can show you where the bathroom is while he gets fresh sheets for his bed. I'll be up in a minute so we can find you something clean."

"I will, Mrs. Tennyson," Michelle answered, her voice catching and that was Gwen's only warning.

"I should go, too. I need to - " Gwen stammered as her eyes flew open again, her hand already flying for her door handle even as the one behind her slid shut with a clang.

And hers locked with a thunk.

"The only thing you need to do right now, Gwendolyn," her aunt said in a tone that Gwen knew all the way down to her bones but she'd never heard from the woman behind her before as the woman took her hand, "is tell me what happened tonight."

"W-hat?" Gwen stammered. "I don't know! It must be some kind of drill or - "

"Not about - !" Aunt Sandra started before she heard herself and just how she sounded. The word came out sharper than he would have ever dared and Gwen never meant to yank her hand free, but she had.

Especially not when it felt so warm. The warmth she didn't think she'd ever feel again….

"Sorry," Gwen mumbled.

"It's my fault. After everything that happened tonight and those army thugs scaring you half to death," her aunt said, but it didn't take any of the hurt out of her voice. "This is why we took you to all of those protests last summer, Honey, because we knew that something like this would happen. And now they won't even tell your uncle what even though they called everybody in, but half of the roads in town are blocked off. Including most of the ones around the mall."

"Oh." That was all that Gwen said. That was all that she could say when the truth was as obvious as the helicopters she could still see, even if they were so far away that they looked like moving stars now.

Which was better than the thing she hadn't seen just a few minutes ago. The thing that they only knew was there because it blocked out the stars as it silently flew by. She almost thought that was her imagination until she heard her Doofus turn in his seat, too.

But hearing the same doubt in his mom's voice and in her eyes as she looked at him was so much worse. "Not that I found you anywhere near the mall."

"Aunt Sandy…"

"Just tell me what happened, Gwen. Please! I promise that I won't get mad."

"Nothing! Nothing happened! We were just - just - " Usually she was good at lying, but not now. Not when she couldn't think. Now she just grabbed the handle again. "Come on, let me out! I want to go get changed and - and - !"

"Fine," Aunt Sandra whispered as she sucked in a shaking breath and the locks clicked again. Gwen could hear the tears in her voice and that just made her move faster as she pushed the door open. She was half out before she added, "Then I'm going to have to have a talk with Paul for leaving you three out in the middle of nowhere..."

"Aunt Sandra!" Gwen cried out because her aunt never acted like this. She never acted like Mom, and even she seemed surprised by what she said when Gwen spun around again. Surprised, but she wasn't the one who broke down as they stared at each other. "He didn't."

"What?"

"He didn't, all right!" Gwen said as she swallowed hard because she wanted to tell her. For once, she wanted to tell her everything because she didn't know what else to do even though Grandpa always told them that they couldn't. She wanted it badly enough that some of the truth even slipped out before he caught himself. "We told him that he didn't have to. That we were going to walk to Grandpa's. Ben's done it before. He knew the way."

"Not at night though," Aunt Sandra said with a little sigh because she never could just start yelling like everybody else. Then her sigh turned into a little smile. One that made Gwen wish that she could just shrivel away as the woman covered her mouth with her hand as if she'd just told a joke. Except she didn't laugh, she just looked up and hummed. "But I guess it would be fun. Your uncle thinks so, anyway. And he's right. Watching the stars with him…"

"Aunt Sandra!"

The shout made her aunt jolt in her seat and this time she did blush, even though he didn't know why. But she recovered fast. "W-which doesn't explain why you're all covered in dirt and leaves," Aunt Sandra said as she reached down and tugged at Gwen's sweater. "Or this."

And the long, ugly tear down its side.

"I - " Gwen tried as he stared at it and tried to come up with a good excuse, but for all the times that people told her how smart she was, the words wouldn't come. "We were taking a shortcut and - "

"Don't tell me that you just got caught on a branch, Gwendolyn! Don't you dare!" Aunt Sandra stopped her. Not with her words, even if they were almost a shout but with the hurt in her eyes as she grabbed the steering wheel again and squeezed it for all it was worth. When she finally spoke again, she didn't look up and her voice was so much softer. "I knew that Ben wouldn't tell me the truth the second I saw his knuckles and Michelle - God, Gwendolyn, that poor girl doesn't look like she's about to start crying just because you went for a little walk!"

"Allergies," Gwen whispered as she clutched at the door handle until her hand hurt. Her hand and her stomach."She has allergies and - "

"Gwen!"

"W - we- " Gwen stammered because there it was. The chance to tell her everything. It was right there, and she let it slip by.

She didn't know what else she could do. Not when Grandpa needed the kind of help that only they could give him now. When lying was the only thing that would help now, " - we were barely out of the parking lot when we saw this boy getting ganged up on, and we - "

"- had to do something about it," her aunt finished for her, the words almost rote by now after all the times she'd heard this story.

Gwen felt numb as she nodded. "There were six of them, and one got lucky and grabbed me before - " The rest disappeared like every bit of moisture that she had in her mouth as she remembered the claw catching the material and the sound of her Doofus screaming in fury and panic before he punched the thing away.

"Before you kicked his butt," her aunt finished without even meaning to and she almost sounded proud. Prouder than she ever did when she talked about Ben getting into a fight. If tonight was normal - if he was here - Gwen knew that would have made her Doofus storm off all on its own, but it wasn't and he didn't know how her aunt missed the sound of her heart pounding against her ribs. "Well, at least I won't be getting a call from the principal on Monday," she sighed. Then she gave her a look. "Or the police, right?"

"No," Gwen answered even though it wasn't a question, her voice hollow. "We were gone before anybody showed up and the al - the jerks didn't go to either of our schools." Not even close. "We walked Alan home after that and - "

"And you went to your Grandpa's hoping you could get cleaned up," Aunt Sandra sighed as she slumped back in her seat. Then she jolted back up. "He was still - ?"

"Of course he was!" Gwen said, her voice too hot and her mouth running too fast. "He just wouldn't open the door! Not even after Ben - "

It didn't matter. Somehow that was the lie too far. Maybe her aunt saw the truth in her eyes or heard it in her voice. Or maybe it was just because she'd said the same thing too many times over the years. "That man," was all that Aunt Sandra said, though. And all she had to say.

"I - I'm sure that he - " Gwen tried anyway, her voice catching.

"Your grandfather - " Aunt Sandra started with a frown before she closed her eyes and kept them that way until her face was smooth again and her voice was a calm. " - is a grown up and I'm sure that he just pulled over somewhere, honey. I'm sure that he'll be there tomorrow. He was just exhausted and - and - " The words were so fond that they hurt, but they didn't even come close to how warm her aunt's voice got as she just stared into Gwen's soul before she let out a little laugh. "- and I can't count how many times I've talked to Ben about fighting, but I never thought that I'd have to give you the lecture, honey." Gwen just shrugged and the woman sighed again, her hand worrying at her robe before she just shook her head, leaned over, and kissed Gwen's cheek. "Well, I guess that once more won't do any good. My little heroes."

Gwen just wanted to run after that. Not just from the kiss, but from how proud Aunt Sandy looked. Her face glowed just as brightly as it had after Ben won his soccer game and every time a judge put a medal around Gwen's neck but seeing it now…

Seeing it tonight when Gwen had been so sure she never would again no matter how many times she told her Doofus differently. Seeing it even as she told the woman lie after lie….

"Gwen!? Gwen, oh honey, it's okay. Shhhh…. Shhhh…."

Gwen tried to make herself stop crying, but she couldn't. Not when she could smell her aunt's rose-scented perfume with every breath as the woman hugged her close. Not when she was right there and okay. Not after tonight. Not for what felt like forever as her aunt held her with a hand in her hair as she rocked her and started singing just like she used to, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"

- o - o - o - o - o -

"Are you okay?" Her aunt asked when she finally stopped, and she just nodded as he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of her sweater.

Some hero she was. No wonder Grandpa didn't tell them about the aliens. No wonder her Doofus didn't wait for her.

That thought almost made her start again. Almost, if she didn't bite the inside of her cheek until she tasted pennies just like she always had to do when she was talking to Marci.

That and the tears that she could hear in her aunt's voice as she brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead before she said, soft and sweet, "You girls might have to spend the night if they don't open up the roads. I'm going to call your uncle again and check, but after that and after you get cleaned up the three of you can stay up all night and rot your teeth with all the junk you want. You still have to follow the rules, but - but how does that sound?"

"Good," Gwen admitted, her voice rough as she opened her door, but it didn't matter.

Not when she didn't even get out before her aunt cleared her throat behind her and asked, "A-and how was the party, honey? Did you two - "

Gwen blinked as her aunt let out a little squeaking sound. Her feet hung over the cement as she remembered the feel of her Doofus pulling her close and his lips on hers as he kissed her, the sound of her best friend's giggle as she teased them mercilessly for it. It was only a few hours ago, but it felt like a lifetime.

"It was fun," was all Gwen said, all she could say before her feet hit the ground and she ran.

Not that it helped. Not when she could feel eyes following her even as she ran for the front door. She could still feel them even after she was upstairs and facing all of the closed doors that were waiting for her.

Only two mattered. The further one had the lights on with the shower running and the closest was as dark and as quiet as a tomb. She stared at them both and just tried to breathe. There were so many things that she had to say to the girl she knew was behind the bathroom door. Things that just started with I'm sorry, but she hurried for the first one anyway.

His door.

"Ben?" She called out as she pushed it open. A part of her knew that she should wait, that she should make sure that he was decent first even if she needed her overnight bag and all of the stuff in it.

The rest of her just needed her Doofus.

She saw all the usual messes on his desk and his dresser even with the lights off and his bed half-pulled apart with the carefully folded new sheets just sitting on top of his blanket and his window open across the way.

The only thing she didn't see was him.

"Ben?!" She cried out as her feet finally started moving again. She rushed for the window and the boy she was sure she'd see jumping down to the lawn because she knew her Doofus and -

And she almost went down face first when she raced around his bed and found the mess that he'd made out of his closet. The mess he'd tossed into his room like it was so much trash.

The mess - and the boy who made it.

"Ben!" She almost screamed at him as he just sat there, half in and half out of his closet. Almost, and she only caught herself when she saw him sitting scrunched up there with his knees drawn up and his hands in his lap as he stared out his window at the red and blue lights that she could just make out in the distance

"Didn't you hear me calling for you?!" Gwen asked as softly as she could. The adrenaline rush that she still felt made it sound like a demand. "What happened?"

"Mom cleaned," Ben said with a little shrug, his eyes not going anywhere near her.

Gwen just goggled at that. "Your mom did this? Today?!"

"What? No, it must have been back when I was away at soccer camp," he said, his voice still distant and his eyes still on the lights. "She doesn't usually because she knows it drives me crazy when she moves my stuff, but…"

He ended it with a shrug like it didn't matter or like he knew that she remembered how they were, too, last summer. Gwen knew that they should have felt bad for taking advantage of how eager they were to help, but her parents were even better than Grandpa for those last few weeks about taking them all of the places that they wanted while his took over all of her Doofus's chores. They couldn't do enough back then.

Right now, it didn't feel like she could do anything. Not tonight. Not as he just sat there, not even looking at her with his mouth just a thin line as he stared out into the night like he had been all night. Like they weren't together, weren't even partners and -

"I swear to God, Doofus, if you don't start talking I'm going to lose it!"

He actually jumped as the words just exploded out of her. He jumped and finally looked at her for the first time since Alan fell from the sky with guilt flooding his eyes. And shame filled hers as she wiped her cheeks again because she was the calm one. The smart one, the one who thought things through, but she didn't know what to do next but wrap her arms around her middle so he wouldn't see how bad her hands were shaking. "Please, Ben. I need you here. We need you."

He winced as his eyes flickered towards his wall and the shower that they could both hear running on the other side of it. "How's Army Girl?" He asked because he couldn't ever not be a hero. Not even now.

"I don't know. Freaked," Gwen admitted. Almost as much as you are, she didn't say as she looked around again for a safe place between him and his bed so she could sit with him without stepping on anything. It should have been easy after all the nights she snuck in here, but it wasn't so she finally just shoved everything away so she could kneel in front of him close enough that she felt the rough fabric of his jeans against her knees.

Which felt so different from the soft cloth that she felt catch around her fingers as she did it. A cloth that she knew as she pulled her hand back and a tangle of karate belts came with it. She couldn't tell what color it was, but it didn't matter. Not as much as the fact that he'd hidden them in his closet at all.

"Why didn't you hang these up?" She asked because she had to. "There are cases for them! My mom knows who sells them and - "

"I know. Dad said he'd make one, but..." Ben said, his voice still distant as he finished with a shrug and kept staring out the window, but Gwen knew her uncle. She knew that Uncle Carl didn't go back on his word. No, the only reason that he wouldn't have done it was if…

"But you earned all of these! This stuff is important, Ben," she whispered as she clutched at the belts they earned together. Them and all of the little mementos he'd kept of all the lives that they'd saved and monster butts they'd kicked over the last few years. They were all just scattered over the floor now like garbage. "You don't have to hide everything."

Mementos she dropped when she heard his voice crack as he finally looked at her and gave her a sad smile. "No. Just what matters."

And the way he sounded as he said it…

Gwen forgot all about the stuff as she rushed across the space between them and hugged him as hard as she could. She hugged him even though he just sat there like a lumpfor what felt like forever before he finally let his head rest against hers. But she needed that time so she'd have the courage to tell him. "It's okayto be mad at Grandpa, I am, too, but you didn't have to go all Kevin on your room. There are better ways - "

Better ways than destroying it looking for something that Gwen already knew that he wouldn't find. Something that she knew her Doofus would havegivenaway if Grandpa had just asked.

"I'm not mad at him," her Doofus cut her off just so he could deny the obvious. He ducked his head like that would stop her from saying something or from seeing how red his eyes still were. Red from the tears she'd never let him know that she saw dripping down his cheeks when he was hugging his mom. Tears she'd never make fun of him for, but he was a boy and they were weird like that.

"Ben, please," Gwen pulled back so she could give him the glare that he deserved for lying that badly. "He stole from you despite everything that he ever told us and you - !"

"I'm not!" Ben protested again. Only this time he turned his head and then his whole body so he was sitting in front of her with their knees touching. He took a deep breath then as he looked at her and lifted his hands from his lap. "Because he didn't."

Grandpa Max hadn't, Gwen realized. She stared as Ben held up the Omnitrix.

It didn't look any different than she remembered from months ago when they were coming home on Xylene's ship and Ben held it just like he was now. The thick metal cuff and the tubes that ran over it from the dial's housing…

Only the dial itself was different. Its screen was dark instead of the green hourglass she'd seen so many times before on his arm and tonight on Alan's. The screen and the button under it. Maybe it looked a little smaller on its own, but everything else…

"Ben…" she breathed, too afraid to do anything else as she looked up from the alien device to the green eyes that she knew so well. Eyes that still looked as shocked as she felt as her lips somehow managed to ask, "There are two of them?!"

That just got another shrug and a nod as he looked down and ran his hand across the dark dial like he was afraid that this was a dream, too. A hand that she stilled with hers. "But - but you said that Azmuth hated this thing! That he wished he never made it! Why would he - ?"

"Who knows what the little guy is thinking," Ben answered with another shrug and a ghost of a smile. One that she knew. One that she'd seen as often as she did the Watch itself every time he used it. She'd even seen it tonight in flashes while they were fighting those one-eyed things.

She'd felt it on her own face, too.

But not now. Now, Gwen just felt her heart pound against her chest as she fought down the urge to steal it away and hide it somewhere where not even she'd be able to find it. "You don't have to put it back on, Ben! You could just - "

Not now, not yet even though she always knew that they would. She knew that it was selfish, but couldn't they just be them for a while longer? The world lasted months without their help, hadn't it?

Hadn't it?

"I know," Ben told her even though she didn't. He didn't pull his hand away either. He just turned it and wrapped it around hers over the Omnitrix and the warmth of it balanced the coldness of the metal against her palm, but that wasn't what she focused on. No, it was the way he squeezed with a grip that was too tight for soccer, just like his moves were too good during the fight.

"You're still practicing," Gwen said, the words not an accusation. Not really.

But his eyes went wide like they were before he ducked his head, took a breath and nodded as he met her eyes again. "Never stopped."

She wanted to get mad at him. She really did. Not for quitting the dojo or because Sensei always said that they had to be careful practicing alone. No, her hurt was so much pettier than that. "I could have helped."

"I know," He admitted, and this time he didn't meet her eyes again after he looked away. This time he brushed his thumb over her fingers and his voice got as thick as the callouses that she felt on it. "But it would have been fighting then and I couldn't - "

"You were fighting tonight," she told him after he went quiet. Not to be mean, but because it was true. "How did it feel?"

"Like I never stopped," Ben admitted after a long heartbeat and she couldn't tell if that was good or bad. She didn't think that he knew either.

"I was, too," Gwen admitted with a swallow as she reached for the charm under her shirt. It was easy to find. The gold chain and the charm always left her shirt damp after a shower, but she never minded as she pressed the ancient rock against her heart. Not as much as the secret she hated hiding from him anyway. "Practicing, I mean. My magic. Do you remember the clearing where you gave me this? It's a little bigger now…"

Not the log that they'd sat on. She hadn't touched that, but the rest of it…

She waited for her Doofus to get mad and storm away like he always did when she lied to him about Hero stuff, but for once he didn't. Maybe something like that flashed across his face, but it vanished in a wry snort.

"Duh," Ben told her as he took her hand again, her right one, and ran his fingers over her palm and the bright red spot that was still there even after all the time she'd spent trying to heal it. She couldn't help shivering a little when he did. "I never would have guessed, Thunder Butt."

"Jerk! Leave my butt out of this!" Gwen cried out as she yanked her hand back. She sounded madder than she was, but it didn't save his shoulder from the slap that he so deserved. The slap that she tried to give him, anyway, but he caught her hand out of the air and held it tight. "What are you thinking?" She dared to ask as they looked into each other's eyes even though she knew just like she knew she could pull free if she wanted to. "And it better not be 'nothing' because I'll - "

"I think that Grandpa needs us," he said, cutting her off as he brushed his fingers over her palm again.

"We don't know that," Gwen protested as a shiver shot up her spine and the rest of her went limp because they didn't. She thought he was going to go through everything that said that she was wrong, but he didn't.

Not when they didn't find anything except for maybe some mud on the ground by the side door that she didn't remember seeing before and a spilled can of one of the weird spices that the man loved. They couldn't even say anything about the phone. Not when they were always reminding him that it worked best when he had it with him.

Besides, it was Grandpa. There wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. And if there was, then she was sure that the Plumbers on the radio would have sounded different. She'd been ready for that when she turned it on - the panic that said that the world was ending - but it was just the usual tense mix of code names and reports that she could barely make any sense out of, even if one of the women kept saying, 'Whiskey Tango One, Report,' over and over again like it was the only thing in the world that mattered.

There were a thousand reasons that Gwen could think of that all said that they shouldn't worry. A thousand reasons that all said that he probably just went for a walk, or that he saw someone that he knew or someone who needed a hand and he'd be calling any minute now when he found Alan.

It all made sense, but she couldn't stop thinking about the one thing that said that they should even though it made her feel like she was going to be sick every time she did.

It was the same reason that made Ben look at the window again as another helicopter flew by in the distance, its spotlight bright in the night's sky, but he didn't say it either. Instead, he just squinted like he always did when things got serious. "Then Alan does. And his parents."

"Ben…" Gwen said, not because he wasn't being fair but because life wasn't. If it was, then Alan would still have a mom and dad, but maybe she was wrong there, too, like she was about the Omnitrix. And if she was…

"I know," she admitted, her voice hollow as she hung her head.

Gwen saw him nod before she closed her eyes and just waited. A part of her always wondered what it looked like when the Omnitrix turned on and if he'd really been telling the truth when he said it just jumped onto his arm back when all of this started and their lives went crazy.

She waited for the sounds and the flashes that meant that it was going crazy again. She waited and waited until she couldn't stand it. "Ben?" She asked, confused when she finally peeked and saw the thing just sitting on the floor between his legs as he rubbed at his left wrist.

For the first time tonight, he looked bashful as he pulled his hand away. His face was red and so adorable that her stomach warmed even after everything else that had happened. "Nothing! It's just - " he stammered as his right hand went to the back of his neck and his eyes went back to his left wrist. "I just got it looking right, you know?"

His wrist looked like something from a zombie movie for ages after he took the Watch off. Not just because of the scabs. Those flaked away after only a couple of days just like the dirt would now if he ever got anywhere near some soap and water, but his skin was just so pale for months and months. It wasn't now, though. Now it was as tanned as the rest of him as he reached down and touched it again. "And I know that I'm being a Doofus right now, but I'm gonna forget what it feels like when anything else touches it, so - "

He didn't finish. She didn't give him a chance. Not when he was being so him that she couldn't help herself. She could have smacked him, but she grabbed his left hand instead. Grabbed it and pulled it up to her lips so she could kiss the skin right under where the dial used to be. Where it would be again. She kissed it long and hard even though he was filthy - they both were - and kept going even after she heard him gasp and felt his pulse race under her fingers because she couldn't help herself. She didn't even try. Not even as she felt the warmth in her belly turn into a fire that went all the way up to her hair and down to her toes.

And when she finally stopped - finally showed him mercy - she put all of that heat into her smirk as she grinned at him and dared, "Forget that!"

There were so many things that he could have said. Enough that she'd never be able to look at him without blushing again, but he didn't. He just stared at her with wide eyes as he touched where she kissed him and shivered and that was so much worse. "Ben?"

His name was barely out of her lips before he gave her a look and leaned forward for a kiss that wasn't anything like the one at the mall, even though nobody interrupted them this time. No, it was softer, sweeter.

And it said everything that they couldn't as they lost themselves in each other….

- o - o - o - o - o -

But the world came back like it always did when they heard his mom call out from downstairs, her voice not muffled at all when she shouted, "Pizza's almost ready, guys!"

It should have freaked Gwen - both of them - out as they finally broke the kiss and looked at the door that she'd never even thought about closing. It would have if her boyfriend was anyone else.

Anyone with sense.

"I thought - I thought I was the Dummy," Ben teased instead as he looked at her with a flushed face and a looney grin that didn't go away. Not even when he leaned his head in again.

"S-shut up!" Gwen gasped through lips that were already tingling even before he stole another kiss and the last of her breath away.

Then she stole his when he finally broke away as he watched her fix her skirt so she could sit like a lady should even though that was the furthest thing from how she felt right now. Or how she wanted to feel as she reached over and straightened his clothes, too, when he finally let her hands go just because Ben wouldn't and so she'd have an excuse to touch him for another moment.

A moment that ended when Ben finally reached for the Watch again.

But her grin didn't go away. No, it changed into a knowing smile as she scooted back as far as she could before her back found the side of his bed. Not because she wanted to, but because it seemed like a good idea after what happened the first time. So did just the spells that she was already getting ready in her head and the warning that slipped out of her mouth. "Just try not to burn anything down this time, Doofus."

Spells she might need even if everything went rightif he kept smirking at her like he was as he teased her back. "Only if you promise not to smack me in the face with a fire extinguisher again, Dweeb."

"What did Grandpa say about making promises that we can't keep?" Gwen said and almost grinned at him as she did.

Almost, until her words sank in like his shoulders and his gaze fell to the still inert and closed-loop of the Watch balanced against his wrist. "You don't have to do this with me, you know. I can - "

"Who else would make Heroing look so good if I don't?" Gwen stuck a pose before he could finish. Her words were braver than she was, but they were so worth it when she saw her Doofus's face glow as he laughed.

The light in his eyes didn't fade either as he met hers again while he lifted his hand high over the Omnitrix. If anything, they got brighter as he brought his palm down. "It's Hero Time!"

- o - o - o - o - o -

Erico Omake

The main screen had been chiming softly for nearly a minute in Earth time (Amazing, how quickly he deferred to that backwater planet's bizarre sense of chronology) and still Azmuth hadn't moved to shut off the noise. He stood there, a portion of his immense intellect marveling at the fact he hadn't yet collapsed from shock or out of surprise, the rest of it focused through his unblinking eyes at the emblem glowing a bright emerald green on that project holographic monitor. At the alert it signaled.

The Omnitrix was online again.

After months of Earth time deactivated with no sign of activity, now it flared - thankfully hidden from public view thanks to a combination of the humans' own primitive shielding technology and his own, more elaborate efforts during the last firmware update. When he'd first made it, the thought of shielding the electromagnetic noise during primary activation and subsequent transformations had been the furthest thought in his mind. Hindsight, that great equalizer of all intelligence in the wake of Vilgax's campaign to claim it had made him see the wisdom in warding it from curious eyes.

But never his own. A poor inventor he would be if he didn't leave behind multiple modes of monitoring that nobody else could tap into.

Almost nobody.

"Sir?" The voice of his newest intern assistant jolted him from his paralyzed state, and Azmuth scowled, shaking his head as he wondered at the foolishness that the Earth boy inspired in him that he'd take on new assistants after all this time. Foolishness and sheer necessity now that his experiments were too involved for him alone these days, even with Myaxx's aid.

But mostly foolishness. "Not now, intern."

"I have a name, Oh Wise One." The far younger Galvan engineer complained. Azmuth turned his head around and stared at him flatly until the fellow wilted and looked away because he might have been the brightest mind of his age group, but that really meant very little in this room. Maybe even less than the flashing light that the youngling was less than subtly watching from the corner of his eye. "What do we do?"

"We do nothing, Albedo. You're dismissed for the day, I'll take care of this." His assistant looked like he wanted to argue the point, but ultimately decided against it and used a small hoverlift to push himself away. Once he was gone from the room, Azmuth sealed the doors, locked them twice over, and then brought up his old monitoring programs.

And then he started up the connected electronic log.

"Omnitrix Log, Day...904." Azmuth let that number linger on his tongue for a moment more, savoring it. "The Omnitrix has been reactivated. The default template still reads as human, and matches the previous user's biometric data, within tolerances for aging. Benjamin Tennyson has put my greatest creation back on his arm again - in exactly the same spot that it rested before. Given the small span of time between its deactivation here in my laboratory and his own emotional trauma at the time, I am surprised he did so. If anyone understood the terrible burden that my device carried, it was young Benjamin."

The aged, worn-down Galvan super-genius rubbed a hand over his chin thoughtfully, hundreds of possibilities playing out. He found few of them appealing and none that weren't worrisome as he opened his old link to the Galactic Enforcer's database and called up their meager file on Earth, searching for anything new as he closed out his log with a weary;

"The question I do not have an answer to is...why did he put it back on now?"

- o - o - Author's Notes - o - o -

I'm sorry for the delay, but this chapter was an absolute monster to get right. I don't even know how many drafts I made Erico read over the last few months…

With this, the first arc of Breaking Point and the rewrite are both finally over. I'm going to take a break now, and when I come back with chapter ten it'll be the start of all new material. I want to thank everybody for staying along for the ride and for all of your reviews. The last few months haven't been the best and I know I haven't been responding to them like I usually do, but I've read them all and they've kept me going. Your support means the world to me.

Erico Add-On: Writing is a process that's different for everyone, and I know that some of you were anxious about the 'delay' that Shadows was somehow going to disappear again. And you'd be wrong. Shadows' first concern, as it always is, is telling a really good story. And that meant getting this right which takes time.