Author's Notes: Another oneshot that I wrote. This one's inspired from Cell by Stephen King. In Cell, one of the characters talked about having a nightmare before his son was born and how it often happened when fatherhood was right before you. Thought I'd put a twist on it and so this oneshot was born.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or the quote at the beginning.

---

"Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."

~Viktor Frankl

16. Questioning

How could something so terrible come from such a tender moment? He had been cradling their newborn kid, a small boy. There had been a smile on his face, on both their faces in fact, though he wasn't entirely certain something so small could feel true happiness. Or maybe it was the other way around and only something so young could feel true happiness.

Then the kid began to shriek. And he just had to end up dropping the kid. Whether he had dropped him because of the boy's cries or because the small body had simply slipped out of his arms, he wasn't sure. But it didn't matter.

In slow motion, the kid fell, crying incessantly while his father just stared in horror. Then there was a quiet thud as the kid's body hit the concrete floor. Blood began to gush from the kid's skull. For a few seconds, the crying became an ear-piercing screech before it just stopped.

Silence.

He stared in horror at the motionless body on the floor. There was no way he could be dead. No way! …But all that blood. The scarlet blood was coating the floor and forming a large puddle. Didn't head wounds bleed a lot? Wasn't it true that they often looked a lot worse than they were?

Nervously he bent down to his knees and reached out for the kid with a trembling hand.

"Hey Devlin." His voice was shakier than it usually was and he was forced to take a breath to steady himself. "You're fine, right?"

He stretched out his hands to lift the motionless body; the boy's chest wasn't moving. Just as his hand was about to touch the baby's skin, its startling green eyes flashed open. There wasn't enough time for him to breathe a sigh of relief before the baby's mouth opened.

Razor sharp teeth grinned at him, green eyes shined evilly. "How could you do this to me?" The voice rasped. "You're a terrible father! It would be better if you just died!" All the lights in the room flicked out of existence, their energy shooting out to envelope him.

He couldn't see anything anymore. Just those haunting green eyes and red dots of pain. Screams in the darkness.

--

"Kevin, Kevin." Someone shook his shoulder urgently.

Kevin's eyes shot open as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. The last scream on his lips died down as he peered around his familiar surroundings. Sweat drenched his body and he was panting heavily. Gwen watched him with worried eyes.

"Nightmare?" She asked, recalling previous nights when he had awoken like this.

Kevin didn't answer. It had felt so real. But then again, so did most nightmares. He swept a hand through his damp hair and switched his gaze down to the bulge of Gwen's stomach.

Gwen followed his eyes, saw what he was looking at, and sighed. She reached out and placed a hand on Kevin's face.

"Are you worried about how you'll do as a father?"

It was amazing how easily she could read him. She always had been able to, which Kevin supposed was a good idea. He wouldn't have been able to put half his thoughts into words without her abilities.

"Yeah." Kevin nodded his head, reaching up to take her hand into his. Long ago, he had learned that lying to her was futile. Not that he didn't try to occasionally, but right now was not one of those times that he wanted to be left alone.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kevin sighed. He didn't want to bring back thoughts from his nightmare. He just wanted to forget about it, but frankly Kevin wasn't sure it would just drift away. It was ironic and unfair how sometimes the best dreams were forgotten within minutes of waking, yet the worst ones tended to stick around for much longer.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Gwen added after a few moments spent in silence.

"It's just that…" Kevin started before pausing. Gwen squeezed his hand in reassurance. "I've never had a good father to look after me and I don't know the first thing to do with a kid. I'm afraid I'll screw up, that I won't be good enough."

"Kevin—" Gwen was caught off by Kevin.

"I'm afraid that I'll do something and mess the kid up for the rest of his life. What if he hates me? What if he decides that I'm not good enough? Or what if he thinks I hate him because I can't show him that I—"

"Kevin, you can stop talking!" Gwen only raised her voice a bit, but it was enough for Kevin to quit his rant. He looked at Gwen, eyes silently begging for her help.

"You're not going to mess him up. He won't hate you. You'll be the best dad that he could ever have."

"How do you know?" His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Haven't I told you that I'm always right?" Gwen said with a small smirk. Kevin nodded his head, not wanting to disagree with her at the moment. "Well then, I know you and I know you'll be the best dad that you can be."

Kevin sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Don't think about it anymore. We're both going to be challenged with the kid, but that's a natural part of childhood."

"Yeah, okay." Kevin lowered himself back on to his pillow. "I'll try." He closed his eyes and did his best to fall asleep, or at the very least act asleep, so his wife wouldn't be bothered.

---

A/N: Short, hopefully a bit sweet, and just a bit twisted (at least Kevin's nightmare). The whole demented baby thing wasn't in Cell, but I couldn't help it. I just had the image of a demented baby with fangs… Yeah, I've probably got to stop reading so much horror; it's bringing such twisted images into my head that my mom's concerned about me. If you couldn't tell, the reason it's called Questioning is because Kevin's questioning himself on whether or not he could be a good father. Anyway, I hope this wasn't too OOC though I assume that the characters would act a bit differently when they're older. Reviews are appreciated.

Twilight Phantom Dragon