A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update. I just got caught up in some other things. Okay, make that a lot of other things. And not all pleasant, either. But you needn't worry 'bout all that. Just read on.

Chapter – 4

==|| 4 YEARS LATER ||==

Gwendolyn Tennyson stared out of the window of her house in Merryville, a small town roughly 500 kilometers away from Bellwood. She stared at the raindrops making a variety of patterns on the frosted glass pane, then amalgamating into a single long trail that trickled down the length of the window, and finally infiltrated down into the grass, and the soil underneath.

In the years since Ben had died, Gwen had somehow found a way to start living again. It hadn't happened right away, though. The very day after Ben's death, Gwen had left town – never to go back again. She couldn't bear to live with such people whose very presence reminded her of Ben's absence. No. she had left without informing anybody, and come and settled down in the city of Merryville, where she had a couple of friends. They were the ones who had helped her to find a minimum-mortgage house, and had also paid more than half of the total rent. By and by, through various errands and part time jobs, Gwen had been able to recompense her part of the lease.

The first couple of years after Ben's death had been difficult and lonely, but time had eventually worked its magic on Gwen, changing her loss into something softer. Though she still loved Ben, and knew that part of her would always love him, the pain wasn't as sharp as it had once been. She could remember the tears and total vacuum her life had become in the aftermath of his death, but the searing ache of those days was behind her. That excruciating, throbbing pain had gradually started anesthetizing, and had finally turned into complete numbness. Now, when she thought of Ben, she no longer cried. In fact, she could not cry. The tears would hardly come out. They had frozen inside her. Maybe, once or twice, she even remembered him with a smile…but that wasn't a common phenomenon.

Gwen sighed softly, as a clap of thunder shook the house. Almost involuntarily, her lips parted. "Ben…"

The moment he uttered his name, she could feel herself being transported back to the world of bygone days…the world she used to know…the world she used to love…and the world which had been so cruelly snatched away from her…

******

"Seriously, you don't have even the slightest bit of common sense in you, do you?"

"You're supposed to the brainiac. What happened to you?"

"Can it, dweeb."

"Oh, shut up already, doofus."

Both cousins glared at each other. But the glare didn't last for long, very quickly being replaced by unambiguous shivers.

The weather being very stormy and wet, Grandpa had pulled over for the night in a corner of a clearing beside the limited-access highway. After he'd gone to sleep, the cousins had decided to sneak out and get themselves wet. It had been fun – but the aftermath hadn't, especially with the both of them missing a seemingly tiny, yet enormously important detail – their spare clothes.

All three – Ben, Gwen and Grandpa – kept their clothes in a cabinet in the R.V. That was okay. But what wasn't was that the cabinet happened to be next to the bed in which Grandpa slept – and was sleeping at that moment. And that meant just one thing. There was no way they could get any clothes out without climbing all over Grandpa, and thus waking him up. And that was one thing neither of the cousins were ready to risk.

"Great," Gwen muttered, pulling her drenched t-shirt away from her body. "This was all I needed."

"And I'm enjoying this, right?" snapped back Ben, suffixing his sentence with a violent sneeze.

Gwen shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Who can say with dweebs like you?"

"Oh, gimme a break, Gwen," muttered Ben, crossing his arms over his chest in exasperation. "Is sarcasm all you can ever think of?"

Gwen was about to retort with something cutting, but stopped just in time to hear Grandpa rolling over onto his side, making a soft groaning noise.

"Shh," whispered Gwen. "We can't risk waking him up."

Ben sneezed again. "Y-yeah…but at this rate –" He sneezed loudly again, and then shook his head, not bothering to complete his sentence.

Grandpa stirred in his sleep once again.

Gwen bit down on her lower lip in helplessness. What were they supposed to do now? Stay in their wet clothes, sneezing loudly, thus risking waking up Grandpa…and even catching a fierce cold? Worse…what if they caught pneumonia?

"Huh? New…what?"

"What?" Gwen asked, puzzled by Ben's question. The puzzled look on Ben's face further increased her confusion.

"That's what I'm asking you!" replied Ben, staring at Gwen incredulously. "What did you just say? New…what?"

"New? Why, I didn't—" Gwen suddenly realized that she must have spoken her thoughts out loud. "Oh…yeah…I was just thinking that if we stay any longer in these wet clothes, we might risk catching pneumonia."

"Uh…" began Ben, but Gwen cut him off. "Ok…maybe we won't catch pneumonia. I mean, our immune system isn't that weak that it won't be impervious to such minor contagions, is it? But then…"

She caught Ben staring at her with his mouth open. "What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You…you weren't speaking English all this while, were you?"

Gwen brought her hand to her forehead in utter exasperation. "Okay…" she said defeatedly. "If we really don't want to wake Grandpa up, or catch a cold, then we gotta get out of these clothes. Quick."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"What?"

"C'mon, Gwen! Even I know that we have to get out of these wet clothes! What do you think I am – some fool?"

"Tell me something I don't know," said Gwen in an undertone.

"Did you say something?"

"Uh…just this that we need to devise how to get out of these clothes. Any ideas?"

"You really need to think about this? Simple…just strip off!"

Gwen's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"I just answered your question, Gwen! You asked me how to get out of these clothes…so I gave you your answer! Sheesh…from next time, ask a better question."

"Oh…" For once, Ben was right. "Ok…" And for once, Gwen didn't know what to say. Ben's answer had somehow left her unusually disconcerted.

Another violent sneeze from Ben brought her back to her proper senses. "So what do we do now? We haven't got another set of clothes to wear…and we simply can't stay in these clothes a minute longer!"

"One of us can undress in the bathroom, and the other over here," suggested Ben.

"And after that? We urgently need something warm on us!"

"Like our blankets?"

Gwen shrugged, quickly stifling a sneeze. "They aren't really thick enough. But they'll have to make do, I guess."

"Ok,' said Ben. "I'm heading for the bathroom, then."

"Oh no, you don't," said Gwen, narrowing her eyes. "I'm taking the bathroom. I need more privacy than you do, dweeb."

Ben stared at her for a moment, and then shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way."

"Really?" Gwen hadn't expected Ben to give in so easily. But if he really had given in, then… "Ok," she said, nodding.

== ||10 MINUTES LATER|| ==

Gwen sniffed a bit as she emerged out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her. Oh no. Please don't tell that I'm going down with a cold! What will I tell Gran—

The moment her eyes fell on Ben, she let out a loud yell. "Ben! What do you think you're doing on my bun—"

Before she had a chance to complete her sentence, Ben flew forward, swiftly clamping her mouth with his hand. "Doofus!" he said in a low tone, albeit an annoyed one. "Why are you so eager to get us into trouble?"

Gwen quickly swatted his hand away from her mouth. "What do you mean? You were the one, lying in my bunk, covering yourself up with my blanket! You're the one asking for trouble!"

Ben clamped his hand over her mouth once again. "For heaven's sake, Gwen, keep your voice down! You needn't go on being the selfish giant each and every time!"

With another angry swat of her hand – an even forceful one this time – Gwen brushed Ben's hand away from her mouth, and narrowed her eyes. "What did you just call me?"

"What you deserve to be called! What the heck, Gwen. I'm doing all I can to keep us out of trouble, and you go and invite trouble right up to our very noses by screaming your lungs out! What did I do? Just lie down on your bunk, right? And you behaved as if I was coming forward to molest you!"

Gwen's eyes widened, an involuntary blush appearing on her cheeks. "What?"

"Uh…erm…" Ben bit down on his lip. He really hadn't intended to actually say that. In his annoyance, it had automatically come out.

But before he could say anything, Gwen spoke up. "Uh…well…I guess I deserved that."

Ben turned to face his cousin in surprise. Gwen was apologizing – well, kind of – to him? Was she okay?

A sneeze from Gwen snapped Ben out of his thoughts. "Well…I think we need to get something warm on us…soon."

Gwen nodded. She was still a bit disconcerted from Ben's previous comment. "Yeah. We do need to – Ben?"

"Huh? What?" Ben asked, puzzled at how Gwen was looking at him. "What is it?"

"You're – you're – just in your boxers?!!"

Ben glanced quizzically at her. "So? Don't tell me you just noticed! I've been standing in front of you, talking to you since, like, the past fifteen minutes!"

"Well…I…"

"I get it," said Ben, crossing his arms over his chest. "You were real busy yelling at me, right? Then how do I expect you to notice whether I have something on or not?"

"No, it's not that…it's actually…well….uh…it is that, I guess."

Ben shook his head, allowing a small smile to work itself up on to his lips. He opened his mouth to speak something, but could feel a strange tingling sensation at the back of his nose. Oh no. Not again.

He quickly pressed his hand over his nose, willing himself not to sneeze. A slight giggle suddenly distracted him.

He turned towards Gwen. "What? You think I'm enjoying this?"

"Of course not! But I sure am -- especially when you're looking this funny!"

"Doofus," retorted Ben, turning and walking towards Gwen's bunk. Just as he'd reached her bunk, and was about to climb in, Gwen stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing? Your bunk is there," she said, pointing to Ben's bunk. "This bunk is mine."

"Sure," said Ben nonchalantly. "But for the time being, this bunk is mine too."

Without another word, he swiftly climbed in, and covered the blanket up to his neck. Then he looked at Gwen, who was staring at him incredulously.

"You should climb in, too, Gwen. Unless you want to sleep in my bunk – covered up with a torn blanket."

An 'oh' escaped Gwen's mouth as she swiftly recollected how Ben's blanket had torn the night before. Grandpa had put the blanket being too old and worn out to be the cause for its tearing, but Gwen had secretly wondered if it really was just that.

Gwen let out a sigh. "Fine then. Move aside."

Ben shifted a bit towards the window.

"A little more."

"Oh! How fat are you anyway?"

As Gwen began narrowing her eyes, Ben quickly lifted up his hands. "Ok, ok, sorry. Now climb in."

Gwen scowled at Ben. "Move aside, I said."

"But where? Do you want me to go out the window or what?"

Gwen's frown deepened. "Fine. Don't move. I'm gonna stand right here. Nothing's gonna make me climb in."

Ben shrugged. "Your wish. I'm saved from the stink, anyway," he said before turning over on his side, facing away from Gwen.

For a while, all was quite inside the RV. Nothing could be heard save the occasional growl of thunder outside.

Shivering slightly even under his blanket, Ben yawned loudly. Gosh. If I'm feeling cold even inside the blanket, wonder what Gwen…

Feeling the blanket rustle beside him, he quickly turned over. "Gwen!?"

"What?" said Gwen, covering herself with the blanket. "You seriously didn't expect me to stand like that, did you?"

Ben shook his head, grinning. "Knowing you, how could I ever expect that?"

Gwen returned the grin. "But Ben, don't you think it's rather cold inside the blanket too?"

Ben nodded. "I know. They aren't thick enough – just like you said they wouldn't be."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you beginning to acknowledge things like that?"

Ben smirked. "I normally don't. But the cold can take its toll, y'know."

Gwen lightly punched Ben in the arm. "Dweeb. But then, you're right about the cold. We seriously need something to warm us up."

"Something like this?" And before Gwen could ask what Ben was referring to, she could feel Ben's arm wrapping around her.

"What are you—" began Gwen, but Ben silenced her off by putting his finger on her lips.

"Shh. Don't begin yelling again. I'm just trying to get things to heat up a bit."

Gwen felt her cheeks heating up. And you sure are doing that.

Hesitantly at first, she slowly snuggled up closer to Ben, putting her arm over him, who pulled her further closer to himself.

"This feels good…" whispered Gwen, slowly closing her eyes, as the warmth generated from their close physical contact began to seep inside her.

"Yeah…" said Ben, closing his eyes too. "Real good…"

*****

"Gwendolyn! You in?"

The shrill voice, accompanied by the metallic reverberation of the doorbell brought Gwen sweeping back into reality.

"Gwendolyn!"

"Coming, Anne!" Gwen hastily wiped away a stray tear from her cheek and rushed to open the door.

"Oh, thank God you're here!" cried Anne, bursting into the room. "I've been calling you like, since, forever! Why weren't you picking up the phone?"

For a second, Gwen stared at her friend. "Phone? I didn't hear the phone ringing even once!"

Anne's jaw dropped. "Huh? How's that even possible?"

Gwen shrugged. "But what'd you have to tell me anyway?"

Anne's eyes widened dramatically. "Oh, Gwendolyn, Mrs. Johns is just furious on you! You were supposed to be babysitting her son today – why didn't you show up?"

"Mrs. Johns' son…oh no!" Gwen slapped her forehead. "I absolutely forgot about it!"

"You're already twenty minutes late! Now go!"

"Yeah…but…"

Anne snatched Gwen's coat from the rack and thrust it into her hands. "Now take an umbrella from that stand and get moving!"

Gwen hastily threw her coat on, grabbed an umbrella from the stand by the door, flashed Anne a quick thank-you smile and rushed out. She knew that she'd be given a good talking to by Mrs. Johns when she arrived at her house, but there was no one she could blame for except her own self. She was the one who had chosen this life. And she'd got so caught up in memories of Ben that she hadn't even noticed the time flying by.

She let out a soft sigh. Well, at least I've got back to living normally…sort of.

She looked up at the sky, as if she expected to see Ben somewhere out there. "Thanks Ben…" she said softly. "Thanks for telling me to be happy again. Thanks for helping me pull myself through all of it…"

After a little pause, she added, a small smirk on her face. "And from next time, remind me to buy a big grandfather clock."

A/N: Okay…that's finally done. It was a lot longer compared to the previous chapters, so hope it was good enough. Review!