My Lovely Family
Chapter 16 - Paying debts
"Get away from me, Kevin!" Gwen stood in an attacking position, levitating with her hands and eyes surrounded by mana.
"What's the matter, Gwen? Aren't you happy to see me?" Kevin asked mockingly.
"I want nothing to do with the monster who tried to abort my son. Get out of here before I finish you!"
"Leeve it to mee, Gwen, dat I'll finish him!" Ben came fast but almost reeling.
"Ben, no!" she shouted to her husband, who turned into Rath.
(Opening theme)
"Let mee tellya somefing, Kevin Levin! U're not going stole Rath's wife! Rath iz gonna cut u into pieces!" Rath said before heading toward Kevin, almost falling with every step.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha... seriously? You're gonna fight me drunk? Hahahahahahahahaha… it'll be easy!" Kevin fired projectiles with his Petrosapien arm, but he couldn' hit Rath because the alien didn't walk straight.
That's when Rath jumped on Kevin and the two started a ridiculous hand-to-hand combat. Although the villain could punch harder, he didn't hurt Rath because the Apoplexians have strong, rigid muscles. The hero, on the other hand, had no strength to hurt Kevin. He was trying some capoeira-like kicks, but all he could get was laughter from the viewer.
Gwen feared that casting a spell could hurt her husband. But this precaution didn't cross her children's minds. Cassandra, Gwendolyn, Gabriella, and Kenny immediately ran and began firing beams and little spheres of mana at Kevin. He threw Rath away and immediately went after the children. Realizing his movement, Gwen assumed her Anodite form and grew abruptly.
"You won't touch a finger of my children!" she lifted him off the floor and held him in one hand. "I don't know how you found us, but I won't allow you to hurt my family. Neither my children, nor my husband, nor anyone! You're just a monster who thinks the world owes you everything! But we face our problems to evolve ourselves, not to destroy others. NOBODY here is to blame for your problems, Kevin!"
The energy coming from Gwen's hand was burning Kevin. He returned to his human form. Gwen put him back on the floor and also returned to her human body, but held him with a jet of mana.
"You have a wife and a son! Carry about them and leave us alone!"
"Never! You have to be mine!" he replied.
"How? When we were dating you cheated on me. All because you're an egotist who can't respect the others' choices."
"Your choice was wrong!"
Gwen stepped up to squeeze Kevin.
"God can judge me! You not!"
Rath appeared.
"Leeve it to mee, Gwen! I finish him!"
But she stopped him, creating a barrier.
"No, Ben! You'll release it.
"Releese him? Let mee tellya somefing, Gwen Tennyson! U're Rath's wife, so u have to do uat Rath sayz…"
As she heard that, she threw him a small jet of mana. Natalie cast a big smile. The children understood that they had to attack Rath and started doing the same.
"Let mee tellya somefing, children! U're all grounded…"
The Plumbers arrived with a police-ship. Rook appeared with a Revonnahgander beside him and they both locked Kevin in a containment cocoon.
"That's what I was waiting for," Gwen explained.
"You rocked, girl!" congratulated Rook. "You're a diva!"
Ben returned to his human form.
"Uat? Now I knou I drank too mutch! There ar two Rooks there!"
"Hahahahahaha, no, Ben," Rook replied. "This is my twink: Renroh Sirhc."
"Nice to meet you, guys!" he introduced himself.
"Queen, we will introduce you better tomorrow. We have to take this troglodyte here to the Null Void!" said Rook.
"Oh, true, honey! Let's get this over!"
The next morning, Gwen read a story to the children as Ben went down, dying of a headache. She couldn't help but notice his condition.
"Ben? Are you okay?"
"No… Ooooouch, I'm worse than last time…"
"How many belts hit Daddy deserves?" asked Cassandra.
"One, well-done, in your butt, is enough," he replied as the children all laughed at his condition.
"Kids…" Gwen told them to be quiet. "Daddy is sick, you can't make fun of it."
The children tried to hide their laughter, but eventually, let out a giggle. Gwen went to help her husband.
"Ben, why don't you go back to bed? I'll bring you some medicine."
"I didn't want to be in bed all day, Gwen…"
"But you're in no condition to face the day now. With all this light, your pain will get worse."
"No one told you to get blind drunk yesterday, didn't it, Daddy?" Cassandra shouted, followed by a chorus of laughter from her siblings.
"Gwen, these kids are very naughty! Is that a way to treat their father?"
"No, Ben. I know it's not. I'll talk to them later, but now I want you to go to bed."
"Okay," he gave his wife a peck. "You always know what's good for me."
Ben went to the elevator to go upstairs when he heard the children laughing at him again, louder and louder.
"Very well, children, now it's enough!" scolded Gwen.
Kevin was transferred to a stronger cell. Rook and Renroh held him while the Plumbers prepared the accommodation. They had to make sure there was no escape and that the cell was resistant to any mutation from Kevin.
"So you finally got Ben off…" he said maliciously to Rook.
"I am not you that likes to steal the partner from others, okay? I would rather have my boy!" replied Rook.
"Oh seriously, top... I'm sooooo much beautiful than Ben, right?" said Renroh.
"Of course, right, queen? You're a DI-VA!"
Once everything was done, they locked Kevin in the cell.
"DON'T THINK I'M NOT GOING BACK! GWEN WILL BE MINE! JUST MIIIIINE !" shouted Kevin.
Ben was lying in bed. Gwen entered the room, bringing a medicine.
"I asked Grandpa to take the kids for a walk. So I can stay with you." she handed him the medicine and lay on the bed beside him.
"You're an angel, Gwen!" Ben took the pill. "What I've done to deserve such a wonderful wife?"
"And you're still wondering?" she gave him a peck. "I'll stay with you until you get better."
"Thanks, Gwen ... Ooooooouchi" Ben felt his head hurt harder.
"We have to talk about it. It's already the second time you drink too much and get hungover."
"Sorry for what I'm gonna say, Gwen, but I drank like that to not hit the bottle on your mother's head."
"Normally I'd be pissed off, but today I have to agree with you. My mother was deserving of it."
"Where in the world there's such this thing? Taking a lot of men for her married daughter to choose one... would she like if I took a lot of hot girls for your father to choose one? I doubt... Ooooooouch…"
"Yeah, I don't know what was up into her head."
"I gave her a chance, a vote of confidence, and what does she do? Invents a male parade for my wife. Sorry, Gwen, but I don't know if I can look in your mother's face again. Neither hers nor your aunt's. "
"I don't understand why so much hate."
"I always thought it was her prejudice against the poor, but then I remembered that she didn't come from such a rich family either."
"Yeah, I don't understand why she's so cocky either…"
"Wait? You admit it?"
"Sure! I love my mom, but I know she's not perfect."
"That's what they say… for every good thing, there's a bad thing. I married the woman I love, but I got a snake as a mother-in-law."
"Ben, it's going to be alright. I still don't know how we'll solve this problem, but let's figure it out. Trust me" she kissed her husband's lips. "Oh, you were so brave yesterday!"
"Do you think I was going to let Kevin steal my wife?" Ben asked with a smile on his face. "Of course not!"
"I have a surprise for you."
"Don't tell me you're pregnant again…" he said jokingly.
"Hahaha, no… although I don't get pregnant on my own. Hahaha, no, Ben, it's another thing" she started to kiss him.
"I'm liking this…"
(If you like a mature scene, think of one now)
In Bellwood, Frank was talking seriously to Natalie.
"Natalie, do you know what you did yesterday?"
"I didn't do anything much."
"You did, admit it! Bringing men here to parade to Gwen, who is very well married, is the last straw, Natalie. "
"No one was parading, Franklin… you don't understand anything."
"Yes, I understand-"
"No, you don't," she said, interrupting him.
"Natalie, stop this habit of interrupting others. I don't know where you got that this is normal, this is very bad…"
"I've never seen anyone complain about being interrupted," she was doing again. "You got offended very easily!"
Frank preferred to disclose his wife's ignorant comment, knowing he wasn't going to convince her like that.
"Natalie, that got bad. Gwen was visibly embarrassed, the kids didn't understand why there were so many men in the house, and worst of all, you created a very bad ambiance."
"What a bad ambiance I created?"
"Do you think Gwen and Ben are going to forgive you for that?"
"Gwen will forgive me because she's my daughter. Now, Ben, I don't care about him."
"You should care…"
" No!" Natalie interrupted him. "He's not my blood. I'm not obliged to like him."
"But you must respect your daughter's marriage. Whether we like it or not, we are no longer at the time when parents choose their children's marriages. Gwen chose to marry Ben and he's the father of her grandchildren. He treats your daughter well... you have no reason for such hate."
"Reasons I have to spare. I'm not going to take a drunk man as a son-in-law, Frank, I'm not!"
"And another thing: your sister has nothing to get in Gwen's life either."
"She's not getting in, she's just giving her opinion."
"Gwen didn't ask her opinion. She's an aunt, she doesn't decide for Gwen."
Frank and Natalie spent time arguing until she decided to end the conversation because she didn't want to hear anything else. Natalie never admitted that she was wrong to try to get into her daughter's marriage when there was no reason.
"Oh Lord!" prayed Frank. "Please help my daughter. She knows how hard her mother is, but she doesn't need her mother to interfere with the marriage. Especially with a good husband like Ben."
Max had the Rust Bucket parked in a huge park with plenty of open space. Talitha and Karina slept in little chairs while their siblings were standing in a line in front of their great-grandfather.
"Alright, children! I know your parents don't want to see you fighting. But from what we saw yesterday, you need to learn to defend against enemy attacks. So I set up this structure for you to train your defenses, just like I did with your dad when he was 10 years old."
"Aren't Talitha and Karina gonna fighting?" Gabriella asked.
"They are still very young. But when they're old enough, they're going to be trained too."
"Am I already grown, great-grandpa?" asked Kenny.
"You're only 3 years old, but since you already know how to do magic it's good that you train too," Max replied. "But of course, at the level of someone is 3 years old."
Cassandra was the first to train, then Gwendolyn, then Gabriella, and Finally, Kenny. Each child had its area, with its structures for appropriate training for its age. They trained to destroy projectiles with mana, dodge attacks, and create protections. They spent the whole afternoon training until Max called them at 6 pm to return home.
"You did very well, children! Congratulations! You'll be great heroes in the future!" said Max as he drove.
The four celebrated.
"And how was Daddy at this practice?" asked Gwendolyn.
"Oh, he didn't do very well. Your father was very immature, even at the age of ten."
"He must have been drunk too," Cassandra said, making her siblings laugh.
"Cassie!" scolded Max. "This is not something to say about your father."
"Oh, but I'm just kidding…"
"One thing is to play, another thing to disrespect. Your father's going through a very difficult time and it's not nice for you to laugh at him. These are things for villains like the Charmcaster, not for good kids like you."
The four of them bowed their heads. Cassandra had never realized that her comments upset her father. In her innocence, she was just kidding, just as she had seen Ben doing several times. She finally understood that there are things that children should not say.
At headquarters, Ben was talking to Cooper on his cell phone.
"So, man, I'm sorry about everything I told you about yesterday. I know you don't want to steal Gwen from me. And I was also disrespectful to Emily. I'm sorry about that too."
"Relax, Ben. It's okay. I saw that you were drunk. And I won't even question why. If I knew that Mrs. Natalie had invited me to participate in a husband exchange program I wouldn't even come."
"Yeah, tell me about it… Ohhhh, and another thing… about what I said about your gift, I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to offend."
"Noooo… relax, man. No problem. You can relax that I don't hold grudges."
When the conversation was over, the children came and came running to hug their parents.
"Great-grandpa taught us to defend ourselves against villains," said Gwendolyn.
"Oh? And you did it?" asked Gwen.
"Yea! Great-grandpa said we were very good!"
"I know you don't want to put them to fight, but then we had the Kevin attack, I thought it was good to teach them the basics" Max explained.
"Okay, grandpa! You did it right!"
Cassandra went toward her father.
"Daddy... I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you sad."
"Ohhh, Cassie!" Ben scooped her up. "You're just like me when I was your age," he hugged her. "Of course I forgive you!"
"I love you, Daddy!"
"I love you too, daughter!" he kissed her forehead. "Never doubt that."
The other kids did the same. They promised they would never make fun of their father again. Ben promised them that he would try not to give reasons for them to do so.
After five months, Lucy's sentence was served. She received a note on the way out, asking her to meet someone in Bellwood. The Lenopan went to a house not far from Gwen's parents'. Upon arriving there, she was met by two hooded women. One was sitting in a chair and one was standing.
"Why do you need me?" asked Lucy.
"You want the same thing as me: end that damn Tennyson's marriage. You're going to tell me all the details of Ben's past." - the standing woman took off her hood. It was from Natalie.
Author's Notes
The children's training was inspired on episode 5, season 1 of Ben 10 ("Hunted").