A/N: I want to thank Koji Ryuzaki for my first review on the story, because I didn't really think I would get any ^ ^

DISCLAIMER: I do**'* own Ben 10

On with the story!

His eyebrow twitched crazily. His body froze over at the sight of her. His luggage nearly crushed his feet as they slipped from his tightened grasp somehow. In her point of view the room melted away. Her voice echoed throughout her mind repeating his name as he was the only one standing before her. She missed him so much! Not that the young magic user would ever admit anything like that. Everyone has their pride. Or their stupidity. It took all of Gwen's strength not to pounce on him and hug him close to her so he would never get away. Not again… But she failed to notice a brief splash of pain and awkwardness in his eyes. That would have said, 'I do not want to be here now. Get me out now.' Her body decided to listen to her mind and walked over to the frozen Tennyson. Slowly. He was very much taller than her, able to look down at her eyes; something that he did not want to do.

But Gwen relished in the pools of deep green that were his eyes. She found herself lost in them as she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. But he was less than enthusiastic about this particular reunion; one which he had been hoping to avoid until he left again or not even see her at all. But then again, luck had never really been his specialty. It was hard for Ben not to look at her. Her hair had become a mix between golden orange and ruby red, but the orange still showed through. It reflected the light of the room and shimmered elegantly like a princess'. Her eyes became more emerald and intense, to a point were he feared that he would never be able to look into them for an extended period of time. Not that he was planning to.

The whole reason of his reluctance of seeing Gwen, beautiful Gwen, perfect Gwen, his- no just Gwen, was that he left to get over her. And that he did. But now all of that had been threatening to fly out the window as she held him. His whole mind battled with him about if he should have really come back or not, if he was ready to be back. Then he noticed something. Gwen was still holding him. And it had been increasing in tightness making it harder to breathe.

The battle of person vs. mind was over in his being, and the result being the two factions of Ben comprised to push aside the thoughts of ever thinking of Gwen as anything more than a cousin. A repressed emotion. One that was so strong that would come to bite him back in the ass for forgetting it. He broke the hug and his eyes fell on her, having trouble avoiding her orbs that shot up to his the moment he backed away from her only to see them dart away from hers as if they were a rabid wolf.

"B-Ben it's you. It's been such a long time! I really missed you!" A smile spread across her delicate features that became more and more cute as the light bounced off of her skin, and she beamed at him. She attempted to throw her arms around the young man in hopes of getting another hug, and he didn't return it. It was like hugging a statue. A breathing, moving, statue. She backed away like he did looking hurt in almost a pure obvious manner, and her eyes looked like they were pleading him to explain why they were doing such a thing at his lack of action.

A regretful thought flashed across his mind, the comprise would take place almost immediately, and emotions would be repressed. Like a separate entity, he apologized to them, before they seemingly disappeared. He smiled at her friendly, and picked up his bags. "Sorry dweeb. Just a little tired from the ride here is all." Not a total lie in all technicality after all. She seemed pleased with this answer, and nodded enthusiastically. To him she looked like an excited child on Christmas day, which wasn't really far from being right on the dot. "We have so much to catch up on Ben!" She said to him as he let out a little smile before retreating up stairs. Then a thought hit him. Where were his parents?

He stopped at the second flight of stairs in the fairly big house and walked down the hall. The lights had been moved towards the ceiling, being held in the corners that separated the ceiling from the wall. It smelled like coconut, probably due to his mothers sense of smell favoring that particular fragrance. But he didn't mind, he just wanted to get to his room and lie down, the suit cases were getting pretty heavy every passing second. His footsteps stopped abruptly at the end of the hall, and he lowered is luggage to open his door. As he walked in he turned on the light, revealing the room that had been his home for so many years. Shielding him from cooties and the girls that he had become popular with over the years. The place were at a young age he would make forts and leave his plates and cups around, well, he still pretty much did that still. Where he had neglected and procrastinated to do his homework until the last minute, or the next day. Yes, it brought back a warming sense of nostalgia of the years past, but two things were very different.

1) There were many boxes throughout the room, some of which were small, and some big. It gave a very cluttered scene to whoever saw it. And 2), there were girl clothes sticking out of them purses, and others well, private things. He quirked an eyebrow at the sight before places his thing on the bed thankful that there was still some space left on it, and exited. "Gwen!! What's the deal with my room! Why is there all that girly crap in there???" She heard his voice call out to her from upstairs. "Oh! My mom and dad are gong on a business trip somewhere in Oregon or Kansas or something! So mom let me stay…! Here." She lowered her hands from her mouth seeing Ben at the top of the stairs looking at her like she was stupid. "Why are you yelling? I'm right here. Stupid." Okay, maybe he did think she was stupid for that.

"Pfft, whatever dork, this coming from a boy who micro-waved peanut butter while it was still in the container!" Her voice couldn't have been more playful and he couldn't have been less prepared for a comeback. Then again, he might. "Nerdlinger!" "Geek!" "Dweeb!" "I-I-" Gwen paused, looking defeated. "Whatever. I'm much more mature than this I've got better things to do than prove the obvious." Ben raised his arms in celebration shouting, "Whoo-hoo!"

Like an idiot. Gwen, sensing the resemblance of that and a certain character from a show this author does n** own, smirked to herself as she went to the living room and sat down on the couch. "Shut up Homer Simpson!" The sound of a, "D'oh!" Was heard immediately afterwards. Gwen chuckled to herself as she picked up the remote and turned the TV on. "I missed him so much…" She whispered to herself absent mindedly as her fingers guided the buttons to switch channels. Then a thought came to her mind that made her happy. Or mischievous. 'We'll be sharing a room!! Whoo-hoo!'

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the shower upstairs turn on and the bathroom door shut. Yet another thought came to her that decided to be voiced aloud.

"What's a nerdlinger?"