Sorry guys. This is most likely the worst chap so far. Just a rough draft, since I wanted to hurry and update. sorry^^'

P/s I hate this chapter...

DISCLAIMER- The lawyers own everything now!! Yes! They won!! They Have gotten CARTOON NETWORK! Except for Ben 10 I bought that last week.

"Morning Gwen."

The words came out so easily, like a free river spreading across the ground… And why wouldn't they? It's not like there was anything to contradict the easiness and calmness of them anyway. It was just that, she hadn't seen him in so long. It had been a few months or a year, she had already lost count. First Ben, then her grandpa. It wasn't that simple though. She wished it was, but in her life, she learned that even though when something appeared to be easy, it was at all. When he, Ben, left, nothing was really the same, hell, even Kevin missed him to some degree. His parents weren't the same either, always going on any mission they could to get away from the apparent lack of excitement and noise that used to be there.

Max, not being able to quell his thirst for adventure set off with Verdona, to who knows where. And then her parents left… She was basically alone then. All gone. Just, the fact that none of them could stay away for ever kept her happy, and know it was getting even better. But, when that happens, everyone knows life uses it to blind sight you from some unfair occurrence it has in store for you, and everyone else. Her mind was absent by now, seeing him here, and her mouth took over as best as it possibly could, but the outside activities of birds, lawnmowers, and sprinklers, nearly drowned her voice out totally. It did the only thing it could do when her mind took it's random, yet, increasingly frequent vacations.

"Morning Grandpa." Unconsciously, a smile formed on her face, as she watched him look over to Ben. "And look at this guy here!" He exclaimed, alerting his grandson from his position at the doorway. He didn't move at all, just shifted his eyes from the floor to the retired plumber where a pleased smile on his face came also, but not at the appearance of his grandfather, no, that already came, this one, was for the new cooking skills he got since he was there last. It was almost if he actually read a cookbook! The breakfast was very good, compared to his older meals which made Ben want to vomit just by seeing a mental picture of them. How someone could stomach something like that was practically inhuman, and even his aliens didn't like to eat it! But maybe it was some sort of special plumber training that he never heard of.

It wasn't a little known fact that there were things Max knew that he never heard of at all. "What about this guy here? And I should say the same about you, Grandpa! You actually made good breakfast! Good for you!" He exclaimed exactly like Max, his voice dripping with sarcasm that he hope Gwen didn't catch. Max smiled at the complement, he put his best ingredient in the breakfast for the best taste. "Was it really that good Ben?" He looked at Gwen who was still sitting down at the table, with her breakfast in front of her. She took nervous glances at him and the breakfast as he answered. "Oh yeah it was pretty good, could have sworn he picked it up from a diner or something. You should try it." There was something about the tone in his voice that told her not to listen, but she convinced herself that it was because she hadn't heard it in so long.

She scooped up some eggs in her fork and the second she put it into her mouth, she regretted it oh so terribly. A slow grimace came on her face as Ben stifled his laughter. "Yes, its… great… Grandpa…"Her face took on a light sickly shade of green, and her eyes drooped down as she clutched her stomach. The only thing to contradict this obvious display of Max's food poisoning was the smile one her face that was so fake, you would most likely be able to pull it off like a Halloween mask. But extraordinarily Max did not notice it! "Ya' really thinks so? I put some of my famous squid sauce in those eggs! I knew you two would like them!" Gwen only nodded before her stomach let out what would sounded like a grumbling scream. Ben tried his best to clasp a hand over his mouth, but it was useless. She got up and with her hands on her stomach ran out of the room. But Ben caught a rather hurt expression on her delicate features that wiped the laugh off his face. "So Ben," His grandfather pointed to the chair Gwen had just been in, so he could sit down. Strangely all had become quiet, not even the lawnmowers or birds made any noise at all. But Max didn't care about that right now. He had something to see.

"How's it to be back?" Ben raised and eyebrow, before shrugging his shoulders, ruffling them up a bit. "It's good I guess. I just couldn't really stand it in New York much longer, if I could I would have stayed." It was spoken with utmost seriousness, that Max had never heard come out of his Grandfathers mouth. He was so used to the Ben that was cocky, brash, head-strong, and a joker. That was the Ben who had been on the summer trip 6 years ago. Where everything changed for them. He could tell that this Ben, was the same, yet, not the same; his eyes looked like they were hiding something… Something strong. Something, that wasn't supposed to be hidden. Something changed when he was away, but Max didn't know what it was and had not even the slightest clue. It was like his eyes hid everything.

Apparently, Max Tennyson never heard that time changes everything huh? But never the less, he broke out of his thoughts, as Ben retaliated with a question of his own. "Why you ask?" He simply shook his head and smiled, "Just thought you'd miss Gwen is all." Ben stares at him for a few seconds with a blank expression, not revealing anything. "What? Why in the heck would I miss that dweeb?" Such a lie. A very terrible lie. A cold one too. Yet, technically, it wasn't, but language and meaning can be so confusing it's hard to keep track. But still, it was a lie, that neither of them knew it was.

Max looked back at him in disbelief. He said it with a straight face, without laughing. It was so obvious for years! If you could look hard enough you could see that it was. The way the two went at with each other you'd be blind not to. He cared for her, but… not… now. This whole thing was starting to give the retired plumber a head ache, and a bad one at that. But not because of this, it was something else entirely. "I don't know, I just thought you would. Anyways, I have to be going now, have a nice day Ben." He pushed his chair back and slipped on his coat; and walked out the door without waiting for a reply. "See ya later Grandpa." Sighing, the young man walked up the stairs, looking in the bathroom to see Gwen hunched over the tub, gagging. 'maybe that wasn't such a good idea… Oh well.'

Wanting to clean his room of all the boxes and such, he opened it, and moved one so he could sit on the neatly folded quilt. But something caught his attention. A white piece of paper...'Huh, wonder what that is.' Now Ben never really remembered exactly why he left in the first place, other than to go to a good school. He never exactly wondered why when he thought about past dreams that would randomly pop up in his thought process why there were gaps. But now, he forgot about it. The page was all worn out and slightly ripped, but readable and his eyes trailed along the paper as the words went through his mind, of course not literally. But first, he skipped to the bottom.

'Tonight's the night… It's now or never…' He dropped it just as Gwen came in with a murderous glare on her face.

Two things went through his mind at that moment. 1, what did that paper mean, and two, maybe he shouldn't have made her eat the breakfast after all…

Don't hate me, heh, I sorta uh, lost my muse. But I will make this better. I hope. And if you actually like this crappy chap, god bless you.