Based loosely off a prompt from KoalaLover-ABC-123, urging me to do something with Batty and Ben in it. It got a little out of hand, and I fear these two grew up on me.
Ben scratched his red head and let out a long yawn. He had been waiting for Batty's flight for some time now. Just how long were they going to delay the plane? He sighed impatiently and settled back on the bench, his arms crossed. He hadn't seen his older sister for a good two months, and he missed her terribly. He got that she was amazingly talented on the piano, but first and foremost she was his sister. His companion in everything growing up. His best friend. And two months was too long to go without seeing her. Not to mention, he had barely gotten a glimpse of her over winter break, so technically it had been more like forever since he had gotten a decent chance to see his sister, much less talk to her. Ben was dying to talk to her.
Everything was moving so fast. Too fast. Ben had blinked and suddenly found that he was the only Penderwick left at home with his parents. Rosy was married to Tommy and they had a kid. A kid! Skye had just accepted a position at an observatory in San Francisco. She and Jeffrey still insisted that they were best friends, but Jeffrey was always flying out to see Skye, and she was always talking about all the escapades they went on in California; so, Ben guessed some things didn't change. Jane had moved out and was making it fairly well up in Maine, where she claimed the best inspiration lay. Batty was away at school... Only Ben was left and he felt lonely and not a little terrified as to where he was headed. That was why he needed Batty, she was so quietly confident and wise. She'd know what he should do. What his future would be. When he was lost, it was always Batty who found him. When he was captured by some horrible monster in their childhood games it was always Batty who had rescued him. Well, he had certainly never faced a monster as terrifying as his unknown future.
"Attention, Flight 23 has just landed at gate 6. Flight 23 has landed at gate 6."
Ben sprang up out of his seat in his eagerness, and rushed over to the gate's entrance. He held his homemade sign up over his head and waited. He was shaking, shifting in place where he stood, frustrated by how long it was taking Batty to get off her plane. And then, there she was, slowly descending the stairs that led down from the small door in the side of the plane. He saw her scanning the crowd, looking for him. Her eyes landed on the yellow and purple paper board sign with her name written on it, and then her eyes met Ben's own and he was beaming happily and waving as she hurried to reach him.
"Ben!" Batty wrapped him up in an enormous hug, "I missed you!"
Ben didn't say anything, only hugged Batty back as hard as he could. He had dropped his sign, and he no longer registered anything going around him. People rushing past were only blurs, they weren't anything. The only two things that mattered, that held any importance in Ben's world were: Batty was back, and everything was going to be all right.
...
"Congratulations on getting your license." Batty was chatting as Ben drove. He was pretty quiet, but Batty made up for it with a steady, running chitchat, making comments about how the weather differed with that of New York's, describing different experiences she had had on the Julliard campus, and laughing at something a friend had done. Truthfully, it made Ben feel a little jealous. And lonely. Batty knew exactly what she wanted with her life and she was acting on it. She was making her place in the world and existing in a bubble different from that of Ben's. He was scared and not a little hurt. Batty had grown up, and he felt like he was being written out of her story. Ben didn't feel ready to abandon their childhood games. He didn't want to move on. Why couldn't things just stay the same, or at least freeze and give him a little time?
"What about you?" Batty asked, interrupting Ben's depressive thoughts, "How's school going? And that job of your's?"
Ben worked at a fast food restaurant, it was a huge drag. School? Frankly, Ben did well enough, but there was no passion there.
"It's fine." he shrugged, "Same old. Nothing big."
Batty gave him a long studying look, but Ben only gave her a reassuring smile, and turned to the radio for an escape.
"Hey, I made a mix cd for you! It's got all your old favorites on-"
"Ben, what's up?" Batty saw right through his act. Ben decided acting as if nothing was wrong was another thing he could add to his list of stuff he wasn't good at it.
It was Batty, his best friend and closest sister, but still Ben hesitated.
"Is there something wrong?" She insisted.
"No. Well kinda...Nothing big that is...I suppose that's what the problem is." He snorted to himself.
"I don't follow, Ben, you need to be more concise."
"Exactly! That's it!" Ben exclaimed, "I don't know what I mean. I don't know what it is I want, Batty. Everybody keeps pushing and pushing for me to find something, to figure out what it is I'm going to do with my life. They all expect me to be just like you, Rosy, Skye, or Jane. They think I should know exactly what I'm going to end up doing, but I'm just Ben! I don't know what I like, I have no idea what I'm good at. I have no passion. I just want things to stay as they are. I want to be a kid again, just mucking around in the woods pretending I'm battling dragons or the last of the ogres."
Batty listened thoughtfully. She didn't seem to notice how rambling and scattering Ben's ranting was. She, by all appearances, was following along closely and understood him clearly.
"Okay." She said finally.
"What?" Ben was crestfallen. Was that all she had to say? He had been expecting a jolt of enlightenment, that Batty would just point out what he was good at and tell him what he needed to do.
"Okay, let's muck around in the forest and finish off those ogres once and for all." She flashed him a smile, "As soon as I'm done catching up with everyone at home, let's sneak off to the woods like old times."
"Are you sure?" Ben perked up slightly, "You don't think we're too old for that?"
"You're never too old to be humanity's last hope against the threat of the evil and dark forces." Batty laughed merrily.
Ben felt happy and excited all in an instant. He felt like a hopeful little kid again. He knew Batty would make everything all right, even if it was just a temporary fix.
...
"All right..." Ben adjusted his camera on the tripod, making sure to capture his entire- and very large- family in the frame. He had put his mother and father in the center of the couch, Rosy and Tommy were on their right holding Nick, their nine month old son. On the left of Mr. Penderwick and Iantha, he had- quite slyly- put Jeffrey and Skye together and they were busy trying to look not embarrassed or tense by that fact. Jane sat on the armrest next to Jeffrey, doing her best to take up as much room as possible and push him closer to Skye. Batty was on the other armrest, laughing as she watched the rest of her family try to get settled.
"Okay!" Ben pushed a button and ran forward to take his place at his mother and father's feet on the floor, "Everybody smile!"
Inwardly, Ben counted down the seconds before the flash would go off.
Four...three...two...one. Ben grinned his biggest smile, and the camera went off exactly as timed, capturing yet another Penderwick moment.
"Keep smiling!" He ordered, "It's going to take four more, and, yes, I'm talking to you, Skye."
Skye groaned, and everyone laughed. Jeffrey laughed the hardest, which made Skye dig an elbow into his ribs. That one turned out to be Ben's favorite picture out the mix.
Skye was predictably the first one to jump up after the photo op, hauling both Jeffrey and Jane up at the same time.
"C'mon, I've had enough smiling for one day."
"Yeah, two whole minutes of smiling. Got to be a record for you, Skye." Jeffrey joked, trying to not look flustered by the short contact he had had, holding Skye's hand when she had pulled him to his feet.
"Ha-ha." Skye made a face at him. Jeffrey made one back, " Let's go, people. It's time for a good old-fashioned soccer massacre."
"I'm out." Rosalind said, "Nick's got to take a nap."
"Tommy? Batty? Ben?" Skye raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Me and Ben are going to go hang out in the woods." Batty refused. Ben flashed a grin from where he was looking through his camera.
"I'll play." Tommy got up cracking his shoulders, "Dibs on Jane."
"You can't call dibs on a pers-"
"Great idea!" Jane cut Skye off brightly, "Me and Thomas against you and Jeffery!"
As much as Ben was curious as to how that discussion was going to end up, he was more excited that he and Batty could finally run off. So, he quickly threw his camera around his neck and wasted no time in tugging Batty away from getting too caught up in watching the ensuing soccer match.
...
"On your left, Sir Benjamin!" Batty cried out in alarm.
Ben swung around hurriedly and brought up his "sword", just in time to block the imaginary cudgel an ogre had swung at him.
"My gratitudes, Lady Elizabeth." He panted as they went into a back to back formation and swept about cautiously with their sticks.
"There's a lot more ogres than I remember there being." Batty said.
"They must have been amassing an army while we were away." Ben agreed, "I don't know if we'll make it out of this fight alive."
"Well, there's nobody else I'd rather die next to than you, Brother." Batty told him sentimentally.
"Or I you, Sister." Ben was equally dramatic. He lashed out with his sword, fervently swiping back and forth blindly. Batty had to laugh at his vigorous writhing and lunging. Nothing looked less knight-like then Ben with his rumpled sweater-vest and his dress-shirt's tails hanging out, instead of being tucked in. His red hair stuck to his head from the sweat, and he was panting from their wild exertions, but he looked happy and relaxed, much better than the tight-nerved and stressed version of himself he had been in the car.
Truth be told, Batty had been stalling when she had suggested their old games, but it had turned out to be just what Ben needed, at least for the present. Batty didn't know how to help her younger brother/ best friend. She didn't know what to tell him. She had been lucky, she had found what she had wanted to do at a pretty young age, thanks to Jeffrey and Alec. She wished she could be their level of inspiring.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Ben grabbed Batty's arm quickly, "Shhhhhhhh! Shhhhhhh! Look! Look!"
"What? What is it?" Batty squinted where he was pointing, but it was getting dark and she could make out nothing exciting about the tree Ben was pointing at. It was just an old tree.
"Look!" Ben insisted, grabbing his camera and slinging it around his neck, "It's him! Over on the branch! Shhhh!"
Batty peered more closely, now that Ben was pointing out a specific branch, and at last she saw it. A flick of a whiskered nose, and a bushy tail whipping about as a lean red squirrel leaped off a branch and jumped onto another tree.
"C'mon! I've been trying to find this guy for days!" Ben scurried off so quickly, that he could have been mistaken for a squirrel too. Batty hurried after her brother, trying to be as quiet as him, but after he told her to keep the noise down three more times, she gave up and decided to stand still and watch from a distance. Ben crept through the woods with all the stealth and grace of a ninja, his camera held at the ready.
The squirrel had paused momentarily on a branch, Batty could just make him out in the dimming early spring light. She saw Ben trying to find a good spot from where he was standing to take the picture, but he appeared too fussy about the lighting or the angle, because he finally turned to the side and began to climb a tree ten feet away from the squirrel's. Batty watched, enthralled as her brother slowly lifted himself up the tree and finally paused on a what was left of a broken branch. Then, leaning out recklessly far, he held onto the tree with one hand and held his camera out with the other. Batty held her breath, as the ruddy red squirrel twitched and jerkily stared at the equally red-headed boy, Ben slowly adjusted his camera and held it up to his face. The flash went off, and the squirrel fled.
Batty watched as Ben quickly studied his camera, not even caring about how dangerously far he was still hanging out, just worried that he didn't get a good shot. Ben let out a rejoicing whoop at last, and scurried back down the tree, cradling his camera safely with one hand.
"I got it! I got it!" He cheered, jumping and raising a fist triumphantly. "I knew I'd get a picture of that wily fellow! I've been after him so long!"
Batty smiled at his enthusiasm. She was happy for him, but couldn't quite understand why he would try so hard for just a picture.
"Look at it! It's just, the lighting was perfect and everything!" Ben showed her, still bouncing around joyously, so that Batty had to reach out and hold the camera steady so she could see it better. What she saw impressed her. The Squirrel's fur glowed in the orange light from the setting sun. Its eyes stared out the picture inquisitively, its tail was raised poofily; so, the light had accentuated each hair, and made it seem almost on fire.
"Wow! This is really good!" Batty was stunned, "How long have you been taking pictures like this, Ben?"
"Hmm?" Ben was absentminded as he studied his camera, "No, not long. It's just something I do when I'm bored."
Batty was incredulous as he just waved a hand dismissively.
"Ben, it's like really good! You should do something with it."
Ben laughed at the idea.
"What? No, it's just a little hobby. I could never get that caught up in it."
"Are you serious?" Batty grabbed his shoulders and turned him around indignantly. She just barely resisted the urge to shake him, "You just went to all that trouble to take a picture of a squirrel!"
"A red squirrel." Ben corrected.
"Look, you were asking me what you should do, telling me you had no passion. This is your passion, Ben! I've never seen you get so worked about anything since you were ten!"
"Maybe, but it's just photography, Batty. I just started doing it, randomly, because nobody else in the family was really taking pictures. Except, Mom, and you've seen all the red eyes in those pictures." Ben shuddered, "It's nothing I could pursue. It's not something I could use for a real career, for a real future."
"Ben, you're only eighteen! You don't have to worry about a career yet." Batty shook her head, "If you over stress about it, you're going to make bad college choices and probably switch majors or something. That in itself can screw you, it's happened to some of my friends. You wanted my advice, right? Well here it is: take a year or so off when you graduate, and try to find a whole bunch of stuff you like doing. Try brand new things, experiment more with the photography too! You have, like insane potential right there!"
"I don't know..." Ben scratched his neck, uncertainly, "I'm really not a risk-taker, Batty. I don't like spontaneity. I like steady."
"Ben, you just ran after a squirrel and dangled twenty feet over the ground with one hand."
Ben shrugged.
"Just think about." Batty patted his shoulders, "That's all I ask, don't be in a hurry to make a decision that you have no idea how to make."
Ben didn't answer, but he followed her back to the house thoughtfully.
...
"So do you think ogres are scared of water?" Ben asked as they reached the Penderwick house, "Because I think they are. They're always filthy and muddy and smelly. And if they are terrified of water, next time we can just corner them into the brook. We should be able to finish them there."
"No way. What are you a novice?" Batty scoffed at the idea, "They're not at all scared of water."
"Why not?" Ben demanded, pushing his sleeves up messily as he walked backwards, "I think it's a logical-"
"Hey, Ben!"
Ben spun about, startled by the clear, chipper voice that had called his name. It belonged to a slender brown-haired girl standing with an easel on the back porch of the house next to the Penderwick's. Ben had told Batty that the Winston's had moved, but he hadn't said anything about who had moved in, which was odd considering how much he was blushing at the sight of the girl in paint-spattered overalls and a messy bun.
"Oh, hi, Carrie!" Ben waved back while trying to brush dirt off of himself at the same time. Batty plucked a few twigs out of his hair for him, "Carrie, this is my sister Batty. Batty, this is Carrie. She lives next door.
"No!" Batty whispered to Ben, feigning pretend surprise at his obvious statement. Ben stepped on her foot lightly.
"Nice to meet you." Batty advanced towards the other house's porch, her hand held out friendly.
"Oh, I don't recommend that." Carrie held up her paint-smeared hands, "I've got water-colors all over me."
"It's really not an issue." Batty assured her, so Carrie shook her hand warmly. Ben stood awkwardly behind Batty, and pulled bark off of his vest.
"So, family reunion, huh?" Carrie asked, "I was curious about all those people chasing each other in your backyard."
"Sorry." Ben apologized, "They weren't too noisy were they?"
"They were really nice." Carrie told him, "They all said hello. One of them said I was the perfect image of an artist, and I think she started reciting a poem."
"Jane." Batty and Ben said in joint confirmation.
"Then the other girl told her to focus, and started to tackle one of the boys when he ran by with a soccerball."
"Skye." Batty nodded knowingly.
"I couldn't tell if they were playing soccer or football." Carrie laughed, "The curly-haired boy couldn't tell either, I think, because he kept picking the ball up and yelling, "Tommy! Go long!"
"Jeffrey." Ben told her in way of an explanation.
"It was pretty funny to watch." Carrie informed them, "What about you two? Not the soccer or football type?"
"No, we were just fooling around in the woods." Ben fidgeted with his camera strap, "We used to play around in there all the time as kids."
"Which reminds me. Let me ask you something to settle an argument." Batty's eyes twinkled, "Do you think ogres are scared of water?"
Carrie didn't seem taken aback by the question, something that made Batty respect her. She considered Batty's question with care.
"I've got to say no." Carrie decided, "I mean they're like cousins to trolls, right? And trolls are notorious for hiding under bridges. Plus, they hide out in those slimy, damp caves. There's all kinds of moving bodies of waters in caves."
Batty shot Ben a look of triumph.
"Okay, when it's put like that, I can understand it." Ben mumbled grudgingly.
"Why? Did you find some out in the woods?" Carrie asked, amused.
"No reason." Ben said embarrassed.
"Why? Have you seen some?" Batty joked back, enjoying how flustered Ben was getting.
"Ogres? No. But sometimes right after dawn, or moments before the last rays of the sun go out, the light catches just right and you can see the fairies scattering to hide." Carrie winked, turning her easel around to show Batty, "It's why I use water colors. They depict fairies the best."
It was a beautiful painting, with all the bright shades of a spring sunset. Pink and purple and turquoise flashes popped out in the golden-orange of a sun no longer visible except for a few flashes that were showing through the thick cluster of trees at the edge of the Penderwick's yard. The fairies were little butterfly smears darting across the surface of Carrie's painting.
"Your backyard is a natural fairy habitat." Carrie told them with a smile as she wiped her hands off with a paint-stained rag.
"It's beautiful." Ben told her in an awed voice. Carrie's ears turned pink at his praise.
"It's a masterpiece." Batty agreed, "Do you display your art, or sell it?"
"As of so far, the only ones who are willing to buy my art are my grandparents." Carrie laughed at the idea, "And they get my paintings for free. There's going to be an art display at the high school at the end of school,though. This is my entry into the display. They're going to have watercolors, sculptures, oils, graphic designing, photography...you name it."
"Photography? You don't say." Batty nudged Ben, "When's the cut-off date for entries?"
"Oh, ten days. Plenty of time." Carrie told her, patting her pockets, "I think I have a sheet some- Oh, here! It's the flyer for it."
Carrie handed Batty the folded piece of paper.
"You should really come to the show, if you're in the area still." Carrie encouraged.
"I'll definitely try to, if Ben decides to enter." Batty turned to Ben.
Ben's eyes widened as he was put in the spot.
"W-what?" He laughed nervously.
"That's a great idea!" Carrie beamed, "You're always carrying around that camera, Ben. I bet you have some great pictures on there. Did you find that squirrel that I told you about, yet?"
"Yes! I did!" Ben's face lit up, "We saw it while we were out in the woods, I just managed to snag the perfect angle and lighting too! Let me show you!"
Ben pulled his camera off excitedly, and turned it on to show Carrie. Batty watched him with a happy smile as he and Carrie exchanged excitement over his perfect shot. She backed away, leaving the two alone without either one noticing.
Batty paused at the Penderwick's back door, and felt a wave of bitter nostalgia pass over her. In the gathering dark she could have sworn that she saw not fairies, but two children running around in excitement, chasing a large drooling dog about. Batty smiled fondly at the image, before looking at the present one. She missed her old companion in adventures, but it was time he found someone else to start new ones. She had known they wouldn't always be involved in each other's schemes. It was the same with her sisters. They were all still close, but now they shared different kinds of adventures with someone else. Rosy had Tommy in the wild and crazy journey of starting a family, Skye still had her Jeffrey to keep her from growing reclusive, abrasive, and too routine, Jane had three cats and an interesting suitor named Glenn, Batty had her own group of friends back at school that were always busy drawing her more and more out of her shell. Ben needed someone to help push him out of his comfort zone, but also encourage his energy. Batty had a feeling Carrie would do more than that.
Batty Penderwick inhaled the chilled night air and several other memories deeply. Then, she went inside.
So, this was very late. Sorry about that, I kinda went through one of my fanfiction depressions where I was working only on my own original stories and drawing stuff, but now I'm back in the game. To be honest, I'm kind of jumpy about posting this one shot, just because it's not exactly like my other pieces and I had to speculate a lot. That said, I really did enjoy writing about an older Ben, if you guys liked this version at all I might consider writing more of him. As always, feel free to send in more prompts, thank you so much for the ones you have given me so far, and thanks for reading.
KoalaLover-ABC-123: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, and as you can see I was inspired to go forth with a Batty and Ben one shot. I'm sorry if it's not quite what you expected, but I was trying for a different approach to these two. As for you eagerness concerning something with Rosy and Skye at a young age, I actually have a short part of something like that planned for the chapter concerning Skye and Mr. Penderwick. I'm definitely going to do a one shot on our two favorite older Penderwicks at some point now though, so thanks for the suggestion!
GM01: Great to hear from you as always! I love the name, because you'll always be my no. 1 GM! Seriously, though thanks for the feedback I'm glad you liked those one shots.
Readwriteedit: Thanks! I've been planning the Mr. Penderwick storyline for awhile, just because he doesn't get as much love as he deserves. I also figured Mrs. Penderwick should get more of a chance to shine, considering how much her daughters love her. Sorry, to hear about your foot, but if you look at my reviews for this story, you'll see that Nijibrush reviewed your review because she liked it so much.
Nijibrush: Thank you. It's probably getting pretty old to hear how much your reviews make me smile, but I don't care. I'm delighted you like my dive into Mr. Penderwick's relationships with his daughters. Thanks for your encouragement to me at the end of your own story, you're what pushed me to break my dry spell, thank you so much for that!