Ancient Chinese wisdom: I don't own Ben 10

Opposing Sides

Act 2

Chapter 15

She slowly became aware of herself. First there was sound, the gentle wind blowing through the trees. Then came smell, the soft familiar smell of breakfast wafting to her nose. She could also taste something... some kind of medicine if she wasn't mistaken. Her final two senses awoke at the same time. There was a dull throbbing in her stomach which made her open her eyes.

The room around her was small, and so was the very comfortable bed she happened to be in. As she scanned the room she began to wonder where she was exactly and how she had gotten there, When she had a flash of someone stabbing at her with a dagger. "Charmcaster." she said very weakly.

As she was about to try and get a better view of her surroundings she heard someone approaching the door to her small room. "Now be sure to behave, sweetie, I don't want you to give your uncle any trouble." someone said as the door to the room suddenly opened.

Gwen's eyes darted to the entranceway. There stood a woman in her mid to late thirties. She was a little on the large side but with a smile as motherly as anyone Gwen had ever seen. Her long red hair had been tied back and she was carrying a trey with some breakfast on it. When the woman made eye contact with Gwen her eyes went wide.

"Bless my stars..." the woman said almost dropping the trey, as she set it on a small night stand next to the bed. "Honey are you alright." she said gently moving some hair out of the young girls face. "do you need something to drink." the lady asked with great concern in her voice.

"Yes please." was all Gwen could get out before the woman dashed off, before quickly returning with a glass of water. The older woman then helped Gwen sit up, There was a dull pain in her chest as she did so. When the cup was pressed to her lips she realized just how thirsty she actually was. The young girl tried to drink too deeply and ended up coughing up some of the water. The other woman helped her to wipe her face.

"thank you....." Gwen said trying to ascertain the name of her caretaker.

"My names Tammy, boy am I glad to see you awake. I was real worried when we found you, there was a lot of blood. however your wound didn't seem as bad as all that. Still you've been asleep for the past two days or so." Tammy said, bringing the cup back up to Gwens lips. After letting the young girl drink deeply from the cup she pulled it away from her lips.

"who were you talking to just now." Gwen said trying not to be impolite.

"that was my daughter. Shes a couple years younger than you. She is off to spend a week at her uncles place." the motherly lady said setting the cup down on the trey she had brought In earlier. "but thats not important right now. Your up and you don't look any worse for wear." she said motioning to Gwen's wound.

The last thing Gwen remembered was Charmcaster using the dagger of Bizel to rip her a new one, literally. Ben had shown up...but it was to late. So how had she made it out of there? and where was she now? what happened to Charmcaster, Hex and Ben and his grandfather? So many questions.

"where am I?" Gwen said looking a little confused. She could have sworn it was a different climate near the factory.

"right now your inside my house, about a ten minuet drive from Anthonyville Arkansas. Don't you worry though we had a doctor come from out of town to take a look at'cha. He said that you seemed fine, that the wound on your stomach was superficial and wasn't life threatening. It puts my heart at ease to see he was right." Tammy said, as she smiled gently at the young girl.

"but I wasn't anywhere near here when...something appended an accident I think." Gwen said trying to avoid causing an unnecessary disturbance. She was also shocked to discover her wound wasn't life threatening, she was sure she was done for.

"well your here now, its just lucky there was that light." the older woman said motioning out the window in front of the bed. "two nights ago there was a blinding light out in the field between my house and the town. When I went out to see what had happened I found you and your little friend right smack dab In the middle of it. I think the little guy thought you were dieing. Like I said there was an awful lot of blood." Gwen blinked for a moment.

"Little friend?" She said slightly confused.

Tammy pointed to the corner of the room behind the bed. "he must have cried for hours. When we finally got him to calm down he didn't say much. Just kept to himself mostly. Since the doctor visited, he opened up a bit more. However, He wont talk about what happened, and he doest eat right. I was bringing him breakfast when I saw you were awake."

Gwen turned slowly as the older woman spoke. And there sitting slightly off to the side behind the bed was a young boy sitting slightly slumped over in a small reclining chair. She didn't have the voice to yell yet but she was still alarmed.

"Ben!?" she said. Why was he here. The young girl wondered What had happened after she had passed out, Though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

He looked terrible, his clothes were disheveled and he had dark circles under his eyes. She began to reach out to shake him awake when Tammy stopped her.

"shh...i know your awake and all but the poor guy has barely had any sleep for the past couple days. He just sits there, waiting. When I asked him what happened he clammed up. Thought he talked to my daughter every so often, when she would come to check on you or bring him something to eat." She truly sounded like a mother to Gwen. " I hope this cheers him up. I was beginning to worry more about him. A little after we brought you here he tried using the phone a couple of times but he didn't seem to get through to anyone, any idea who he might'a been trying." Tammy said in a questioning manner.

" it was probably... his grandfather. He was taking care of... us. Were spending the summer in his RV, but at some point there was an accident and we got separated. Like I said I don't remember much, just that light, He must be seriously worried by now." she lied to the older lady, and it broke her heart.

"i suppose he would be. Ive put up posters and called the local government offices to let them know that we found a couple of kids. They even let me take care of you two until we can contact your family." Tammy said moving across the room to put a blanket over Ben. " This little one was livid when he thought that someone was gonna come and separate you two. I think he feels responsible for whatever happened. Hes barely left that chair since he sat down in it." she said as she went back and sat at the end of Gwen's bed.

"i hope we aren't imposing." Gwen said sounding a little concerned that they might have caused a panic. "Ben can be... stubborn sometimes." she said truthfully. "we haven't caused you any trouble have we."

"goodness no." Tammy said almost defensively. "its been my pleasure to take care of you, besides I could never turn away a person in need." the older woman said in a soft voice. " and boy did you guys need it." she said standing up. "if he wakes up make sure he eats every bite of that breakfast, ill go make something light for you, stomachs probably not up to something to big right now." she said as she made for the door. Before Tammy could close it Gwen called out to her.

"Thank you, Tammy. I don't know how we can ever repay you." The young girl said to the older woman.

"no problem at all darlin'." Tammy said as she closed the door.

When she did Ben started to stir a little, which caught Gwen's attention. She looked over at the boy and couldn't help but smile. He had obviously saved her. As for how he had managed that.. she didn't know. She wanted to wake him up and let him know she was alright, but he really did look like he needed the sleep. According to Tammy he had been pushing himself too hard.

Ben suddenly turned in the chair and whudded his head against the wall, not hard enough to wake him but enough to cause him to mumble accusingly in his sleep.

"what a dweeb." she said softly as she continued to smile warmly at him.