Friends, Unexpectedly

by delmartian

Ben's summer trip with Grandpa got off to a cruddy start when Gwen unexpectedly made them a trio. Getting along is essential in a small space with annoying people, especially when you don't want to disappoint him. What if Grandpa's cooking forces you to cooperate with your obnoxious cousin? Is that enough to start caring about each other? Could it even lead to friendship?

6. Chapter 6

November 4, 1998

Ben's house

7:13 AM

Carl stared out the window, enjoying the quiet of the fall morning. He leaned back against the countertop opposite the kitchen sink and added his sigh to the ones coming from the coffee maker. His day would get predictably hectic as soon as he left the house for work, if not before - Ben's bus would be coming soon, so the boy would be crashing down the stairs any time now to grab something to eat and rush out the door like a whirling dervish.

He drained the last bit of OJ in the glass in his right hand, making a mental note of what he just saw in the refrigerator - the orange juice carton barely had a swallow in it before he poured it into the glass, and the translucent milk jug had just enough to lighten his coffee. His son left the bare minimum of liquid in both containers, as usual, without saying anything to him or Sandy about needing to get more. Carl tried not to think too much that both containers were almost empty, but there weren't any used glasses to be seen and he knew for a fact they each had at least four fingers worth right after dinner last night. His wife would have had another conniption if she found them first, but he just shrugged as he made a mental note to add a trip to the store on his way home from work. Ben wasn't the only one that drank straight from a carton, and Carl didn't really mind as long as the boy remembered the lesson he taught his son early on that backwashes weren't acceptable.

Carl smiled briefly - the prank that went with that lesson stuck with Ben ever since.

He was about to grab the notepad and a pen to jot down the reminder his oblivious tweenage son couldn't be bothered by when the phone at the end of the counter rang. He glanced at the caller ID display before pressing the answer button and holding the phone to his ear.

"G'morning Carl."

"Morning, Frank! This is a surprise, you don't usually call this early on a weekday." Carl greeted his brother. He felt a short twinge of worry, even though his older sibling's voice sounded normal. "Everyone OK?"

"Mostly. We've run into a little hiccup in today's plans."

"Already? The day's hardly started! I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet," Carl replied with relief in his voice. Hiccups he could deal with, especially if the family was all right.

"Yeah, same here. … Gwen just came downstairs and reminded us that she promised she'd help her cousin with homework this afternoon."

"Really? Ben didn't say anything about that." Carl shrugged his shoulders even though no one was there to see it. "No surprise there."

Frank chuckled once. "No, I don't suppose so given who we're dealing with. It wouldn't be a problem, except we don't have a way to get Gwen to your house after school. My car threw a red Check Engine warning along with the oil idiot light when I was driving home last night, and there's a fresh puddle of oil underneath the motor, so Lili and I are sharing the van until I can get it into the dealership. She can get me to and from work and drop Gwen off at school this morning, but she's got an appointment this afternoon she can't reschedule. Gwen can get a ride home on the school bus, but there's no way to get her to your place."

Frank took a breath and hesitated before continuing.

"I hate to ask, but… I know you're busy, Carl, and you've had to work late, too, but is there any way Sandra could get Gwen after school? … For some reason, helping Ben out today is more important to her than I would have expected. She's very insistent."

Carl sighed again. He understood his brother's hesitancy, what with the way their respective wives interact. Just the way his Honey Bear referred to his sister in law as "that woman" with no hint of the affection they had years ago was enough for him to be just as cautious bringing this up with his wife. Not that any of their past would normally have any effect on Frank's request on Gwen's behalf; Sandy adored the girl as much as their own son. Dealing with her mother was a different story, but as long as they were only in the same place together for a few minutes the women could stay civil.

"Wish I could help, Frank, but… here's the thing. You're right, I'll be pulling overtime again today, and normally Sandy would say yes - you know she'd do what she could to help Gwen, especially if she's taking time to help her cousin. Ben's had some surprising results with his schoolwork this semester, and if Gwen's help is part of the reason we sure don't want to get in her way."

That was an understatement if there ever was one. The boy tried to pass off the unexpectedly high score on the math test Gwen helped him study for as no big deal. But the gleam in his eyes and the pride in his voice when Sandy found the paper with a big B+ underlined twice in red, and the way he described how Gwen was responsible for it, was too much for even him to hide. And then there were the returned homework assignments with checks and check pluses in the same pen color instead of the familiar check minuses or goose eggs he'd been accumulating over the years. The kid couldn't be doing that entirely on his own, could he? It was hard to believe Ben let his cousin, of all people, somehow become a positive influence, but Carl couldn't think of a better explanation.

"But this afternoon Sandy has to stay late at the art gallery - the exhibit she's working on opens this weekend and she's got a lot to do. Ben has been taking the bus home all week."

There was a short "Oh" before the line went quiet; before a new thought appeared in Carl's mind. What if…

"Wait… what about this? Dad hasn't gone anywhere for a change, and unless he's torn apart that piece of junk he calls an RV again…"

"… Max can get the kids after school." Frank finished. "That would work, if he'll do it…"

"You know he will." Carl stated firmly. "Give him a chance, Frank, he's trying with them." The line stayed quiet again for a long moment, then Carl took the initiative. "I'll give him a call. They can come here after school and he can supervise - you know he's good for that - and you and Lili can drop by and pick up Gwen when you're done with work. Simple."

He heard a short sigh, then "Yeah. All right, Carl. Sounds like a plan. Let me know what he says, you can leave a message on my phone."

Another short silence. "And thanks."

- X -

Bellwood, CA

Driving on El Camino Real,

five minutes from Ben's house

3:47 PM

Gwen leaned back in the dining booth bench seat with a sigh, wiggling her back to get off the crease in the old, cracked vinyl that was pinching her shoulder. She rolled her eyes as she folded her arms and considered the source of her exasperation - her lamebrain cousin, who was proving just how lame he was as he sat across the table from her. The noisy boy had been bouncing on the seat facing the front of the Rustbucket as if he had a spring-loaded butt ever since Grandpa picked him up from his school. His arms flew this way and that as he spewed out alternating stories of how awful his teachers and classmates were (that he referred to as wardens and inmates, as if the place were a jail!), and outrageous claims of his 'awesomeness' at winning the ridiculous card game he liked to play with some of the other Sumo geeks in his class.

It would have been a pathetic display at the beginning of summer - in fact, she'd called him exactly that more than once in the first ten days - if it hadn't somehow turned familiar, if not almost endearing. Gwen shuddered at that realization even as she had to admit the messy boy could be as comical as he was irritating. It made her wonder what was wrong with her that she'd come to miss this, especially when she was huddled over the desk in her room in mostly silence as she tried to concentrate on her homework and projects for school. Silence that paradoxically often became oppressive and made it hard to focus as her daydreams of noisy, fun times in the Rustbucket overcame attempts at studying. Even the faint and formerly calming sounds of her parents' classical music drifting upstairs had become more distracting than the raucous rock 'n roll that filled the RV during the trip; she never lost her place or had to reread a page two times when she read a book during the summer, but it happened all the time since they got back.

She'd learned early on that it was easier to go along with her grandfather's eclectic taste in what he called 'classic' rock, and her cousin's fixation on the obnoxious head banging variations, than it was to get either of them to appreciate what Ben derisively called grandma music. The sudden loss of that commotion had been hard to deal with. The quiet she was used to last semester and always wished for during the trip when Ben wouldn't shut up lost it's appeal when he suddenly wasn't around.

Not that her cousin got away with completely dismissing the music she liked, though. Not when he found out being the ring bearer at Joel's wedding involved more than just wearing a suit and walking down the church aisle with the rest of the wedding party. That he'd have to dance with Lucy, the flower girl, to waltz music! Tunes like the ones in the movies his mom made him watch on family night; something that he whinged about excessively the time Gwen suggested they watch The King and I on a rainy day a few months ago. The horrified look on his usually smug face when it sunk in that he'd have to hold the little blond girl's hand and hip had almost been worth not being the flower girl herself then.

But what was really satisfying was catching him in the back of the Rustbucket trying to teach himself how to dance, clumsily stumbling over his own feet when he whirled around to face her when she let him know she was there. The burn in his cheeks had been priceless! And then, for a change, he actually listened when she used her dance training to teach him the right way, and caught on to having the steps follow the beat of the music surprisingly quickly.

Even more surprising, the mortified crimson color on his face changed to a light pink as his panic and revulsion faded to… she didn't know what, exactly, but she knew he actually liked what they were doing. She could tell from the dopy grin that matched the pleased tone of his voice when he crowed "Hey, I'm dancing!", from the way he moved with growing confidence, and how the stiff way he gripped her hip and her hand relaxed in a natural hold that somehow made her feel better with him than she ever did with the boys from her cotillion lessons.

And then Grandpa caught them and said what he did and messed everything up, and Ben reverted to being a doofus. Not that they were doing anything to be ashamed of, at least not to her - holding hands was just part of the dance. And until Grandpa showed up, Ben was a surprisingly good student. Gwen remembered how many of her classmates she'd tutored - so many times, and none of them had been quite like him. Teaching her dork cousin how to dance was better than she feared it would be; it was even fun when compared to helping kids in her class with schoolwork, who always turned around and ridiculed her for it. Even so, Ben shoved her away anyway, the little jerk, muttering something stupid about catching cooties again.

Even with that awkward ending, though, dancing with Ben had somehow become one of her favorite memories of the whole trip. She had stopped trying to figure out how that happened weeks ago, and just accepted it as one more weird thing that happened during that really weird but wonderful trip.

A trip with Grandpa! The fact her cousin was there too had nothing to do with it!

Even so, the sparkling look in his eyes when her lesson sank in and they moved easily together was worth it, even if she didn't get the real dance.

It was the same look he got near the middle of the trip, when they went hero or goofed around while cooking in the kitchen. Whenever they had any kind of fun, now that she thought about it.

Up until the last week, that is, when every time they started talking during those last few days went bad. But cooking together that last time didn't need much talking, once the Doofus stopped acting so prickly…

Midway between

Las Vegas and Mammoth Lakes

Early afternoon

August 21, 1998

Grandpa made lunch when he took a break after a long stretch of driving, after Gwen's attempt to get Ben to help make something was rejected with barely a word from the usually motormouth boy. Instead, they sat in silence, Gwen in the front seat she usually coveted so she could watch the road go by and talk to Grandpa. Only this time she couldn't keep a conversation going, when what she really wanted was to play the game with the doofus who was curled in on himself on his bunk. She felt as miserable as Ben looked when she peeked in on him to suggest cooking and got his negative reply.

'No, I don't think so' - she never would have thought those five words could hurt so bad…

They were two days out from Bellwood when Gwen decided to bake a double batch of brownies - a treat that might make the feel of the trip last another day or two longer. She thought maybe the dork would at least want to help with that after she put away the stuff he cleaned after they had lunch; Ben had done the chore by himself and hadn't even argued a little that it was his turn. He just went to the sink after she put away the food and washed the used utensils and dishes without a word. She couldn't just stand by without at least offering to help, though, nervously fidgeting behind him as she argued with herself about jumping in or not. But he worked silently and never turned away from the sink, making it clear that he wouldn't accept her offer to do so anyway, so she retreated to the uncomfortable solitude of her bunk until he was done.

Only two days before their amazing summer would end, and with it the opportunity to do something in the kitchen with the doofus one more time. Something she found hard to admit to herself - let alone to that boy - that she would miss. More, even, than doing hero stuff.

Or the way he acted after she had that terrifying nightmare; she was sure she wouldn't have any more as soon as they got home once she could sleep in her familiar and roomy bed, so she shouldn't miss the way he comforted her a day ago. She couldn't guess what got into him that made him do it - crawl into her bunk when he thought she was still asleep, re-living the awful horror of being swallowed by those evil vines, of knowing she was about to whatever reason, though, he did, and she couldn't have appreciated it more after he snuggled up to her back and put his hand protectively on her shoulder and whispered gently near her ear - it's OK Gwen, you're OK. I'm here with you, Dweeb, don't be afraid…

His low whispers stopped her shivering, like she did in the high Sierras at the start of the trip before summer temperatures reached that altitude. Except the shivers the night before had nothing to do with cold mountain air. And the fear she felt in the dream faded away along with his voice when he felt her trembling stop, and her breathing quit being so fast and shallow. He stopped whispering then, and just stayed with her for another warm, safe moment. Then she felt his hand twitch before he slipped off her bunk as quietly as he got in, and she didn't let on that she was awake the whole time he was there.

That's what she wanted him to think, and she almost convinced herself that he didn't know. But she couldn't help rolling away from the wall when he got up, hoping to only catch a glimpse of the unexpectedly caring boy that just slipped away. He had stopped moving when his feet hit the floor, though, still bent over underneath the top bunk, his eyes seeming to glow a soft green as he watched her even though she knew his pupils had to be open wide because of the RV's dim light. Eyes that showed something other than their typical boredom or annoyance, or the more recent mischievous look of glee she'd gotten used to. Instead he had a troubled look that abruptly changed to a horrified panic as their gazes met and they both jerked away from each other, and her cousin jumped back into his bunk as she got as far away from him as she could to the front of the RV.

And she didn't tell him how much it meant, that he'd do that for her even though he always jumped and complained about her nasty cooties whenever they accidentally brushed against each other. The way she did, too, just to keep up appearances.

Or at least the way they used to, before they got used to the casual touches and shoulder bumps…

So maybe cooking one more time could say what they couldn't use words for.

And what started as another ugly, depressing shouting argument became a not unpleasant, comfortable time they spent with each other under the cover of baking some treats. For an hour, at least, they enjoyed doing something together as the miles rolled by and they got closer and closer to their separate lives…

She shook her head and almost cleared that memory away; the days after they returned from Xenon had been full of less than happy memories, but that last time in the galley left her with a wistful smile. The last few days of summer hadn't been the best after…what happened. Baking those brownies had been a bright spot on the last leg home.

Grandpa eased the Rustbucket to a stop in front of Ben's house and announced their arrival, somehow squeezing in the words between the dork's still animated jabbering.

"All right, you two, gather up your stuff. Ben, your dad said you have a key, let's go in the house so you guys can get your homework done."

"Aw, man!" Ben groaned. "Did you have to drive so fast, Grandpa? We barely had a chance to hang out!"

Gwen looked up in surprise from her half-listening reverie and stared at him. "Wait, what?! Since when do you like hanging out with me, Doofus?"

Ben snorted, also with a somewhat surprised look. "I, uh, I was talking about Grandpa!" he said hurriedly, ducking his head as his cheeks turned pink. "It's not like I daydream about hanging out with you, cootie queen. But since you're here anyway…"

"Thanks so much for allowing me to tag along" she replied dryly, rolling her eyes to look at the ceiling without moving her head. "Especially since I'm here to help you!" At least the little brat had the good sense to give her an apologetic grin.

And then he focused on the front of the RV again. "Hey, Grandpa, um…" he started to say, uncharacteristically bashful. "Would it, uh… would it be OK if we stay here instead?"

He looked back at Gwen with a sheepish expression as he continued. "That's OK with you, right Dweeb? I always do my homework in my room, but there isn't enough room at my desk for both of us. And I can't stand using the kitchen table. Mom and Dad…" He didn't even try to suppress a grimace.

"The two of 'em always watching over my shoulder… And neither one really knows what we're doing in class anyway…" he grumbled.

Grandpa looked straight at them as he stood up from the driver's seat and turned towards the back and blinked. "Well, it doesn't matter to me. What do you think, Pumpkin?"

Gwen glanced at Ben, her thoughts racing to try and figure out why he'd ask that. She could understand his parents trying to help, but knew from her own experience that they would only confuse things with their ancient memories of grade school.

She and Ben had studied together in the park a few more times since that first panicked call, and other than remembering to bring a blanket to sit on instead of being directly on the cold ground, he hadn't acted too strangely. Other than asking her for help to begin with, which was strange enough all by itself.

They'd sat in the dining booth all the time during the summer, too, and not just to eat. They'd used it to play video games, and watch movies on the little TV on the counter opposite the table as well as on her laptop, do jigsaw puzzles together, and even read at the same time. If you could really call flipping through a comic book reading, which Gwen so didn't. She couldn't quite keep the little smirk off her face at that thought.

Although… he was able to do that with a new one and recite the story almost word for word after only a couple times through it, now that she thought about it. All thirty or so pages. And describe in detail all of the artwork, too.

Sometimes they just sat across from each other and gazed out the window at the passing scenery without even saying a word. That should have been strange, but it never was. Even when looking out the window somehow turned into a staring contest over the table, and then that turned into… Gwen couldn't describe it, exactly, as his usual insufferable smirk softened into an enigmatic smile. Whatever it was, they kept it up for a long, quiet moment, and the memory of looking deep into her cousin's emerald green eyes was another inexplicable thing that intruded on her thoughts since school started.

It was kind of weird - all that was almost like what you'd do with a… friend? Imagine that, being friendly with that boy again… Gwen stopped the irrational thought, as a new, even weirder one shoved its way into its place. Could the irritating, cantankerous boy who sat there fidgeting and couldn't look her in the eyes now actually miss those times from their trip?!

Whether he did or not, she did, and the idea of doing it again felt good somehow. Especially since they hadn't really done it since the week before … Gwen gulped once to re-bury the memories, and focused instead on how they beat the zombie apocalypse in Tyler. They were all mixed up together though...

She shook her head once and stuffed all that back down. Except how they beat all those undead things! That, and all the other amazing feats of heroing they did together! She did miss all that, too…

Not that she'd be caught dead letting him know it!

"You heard the doofus, Grandpa. I don't want to crowd next to him at his tiny desk, and I don't do my homework at the kitchen table, either." She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of her Mother sniffing at the very idea. She could just hear her voice - 'Ladies eat at the dining table; you need a proper desk to set the right frame of mind for studying.'

Grandpa gave them a funny grin. "All right, we'll stay here. I've got a book started, myself. I'll just sit up front." He turned and sat down, opening up the hardback that had been sitting on the console between the two front seats.

Gwen zipped open the backpack on the seat next to her and started pulling her homework from it. "I still have a couple assignments of my own that I need to finish, Doofus. Then I can help you with your… what do you want help with, anyway? Do you have more math?"

"Nah, I don't need help with that. Half the class bombed the last test, so we're still on the same stuff you already showed me. I just have a couple worksheets to do. And I have some social studies to read." He grimaced and made a sour face. "But the unit in science that we're on sucks!" He looked at her, and this time he did catch her eyes.

"What's the big deal about water?! All I care about is Ripjaws swims in it and it messes up Heatblast!"

Gwen stifled the unexpected giggle she felt from the scowl on Ben's face as she took the worksheet labeled "The Water Cycle" he slapped on the table and gave it a quick look. "Water chemistry and physics are all over the Earth, you blockhead! You should know at least a little bit about that stuff besides that we drink it and it's fun to swim in!"

She ignored the glare he shot her as she started to finish the assignment she was working on before Grandpa picked her up. She was as immune to his as he was to hers, now that she could recognize his tells - the gleam in his eyes and the little chuckle he let out that he tried to pretend was a scornful snort. And the pride she heard as he mumbled under his breath "At least these will be a cinch" when he began the first problem on the pre-algebra worksheets.

An hour and a half later Gwen was done with all of her work for the next morning, and they had just finished the section in Ben's science book that had been stumping him. Turned out they could have used his desk regardless of how small it was after all, since she ended up sitting right next to him when he got to his science homework.

Gwen tried looking at his textbook from her seat opposite him, but it just didn't work. Reading upside down text was almost impossible by itself, let alone doing that and figuring out where he was when he got confused and then scan the surrounding context so she could explain it better. They had to be on the same side of the table so they could both look at the textbook that she centered between them. The type was so small they had to squint at it as if they needed glasses, so they kept pulling and tugging it back and forth to get a better view. And every minute or two Gwen would point out and explain features of the diagrams as they read along. All this meant they ended up more than just sitting next to each other, like they got used to during the summer. This time they unconsciously edged closer to better share the book until their thighs touched from their hips to their knees, with Ben intently peering over her shoulder, his left side overlapped and pressed up against the right side of her back as she leaned forward to poke at different places on the pages to emphasize a point, or show where in the text she found an answer to the worksheet questions.

For a change, Ben was focused on what she was saying without being a jerk, so she did her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling she got when he first started reading over her shoulder. There weren't many things other people did that bugged her as much as that - if even a teacher stopped behind her and shoulder surfed whatever she was doing at her desk, she couldn't help twisting and shifting awkwardly in her seat to try and get out from under that closed-in feeling. This time, though, the warmth from him being so close felt good in the chilly afternoon air that seeped into the old RV, even with the under-powered heater going full blast.

After the first few minutes, the claustrophobic feeling she always got faded away so unnoticeably neither one paid much attention to how they were sitting. They just kept reading, and Ben finished the review problems as they quietly murmured questions and explanations back and forth while he wrote. What would have been unbearable just a few months ago now felt… normal?

Until they finished, that is, and Ben's smiling face was inches from hers when she turned to him and said in a proud-of-you way that he answered all the questions correctly. Then it finally dawned on her how much they were abusing each other's personal space as her cousin slapped his book closed and started packing up his stuff, followed closely by the idea that she should really shove him away before he figured it out and shoved her first. But before either one could over react to how they were sitting they heard Aunt Sandy's minivan pull into the driveway, and the usually overbearing brat quickly closed up his backpack and got up from the dining booth.

Grandpa got out to greet her and answered her muffled question with a shrug. "The kids decided they wanted to do their homework in the Old Girl instead. Guess they missed her after all that time in the summer. Even if they do keep making such unkind remarks about the cozy upholstery!" he called out over his shoulder, deliberately loud enough for them to hear through the open side door.

"Getting my butt pinched by cracks in the seat isn't what I'd call cozy, Grandpa!" Ben yelled back with a load of sarcasm as they stepped down from the door. "And it was worse for the Dweeb - she got it twice as much as me since her's is so big!"

"Hey!" Was all Gwen could blurt out before that boy nudged his shoulder against hers.

"Come on, Gwen! I hooked up my game console to the family room TV last night so I could whip Dad good! Playing Sumo on one that big is so much better than the set in my room!" he said with a grin.

"Last one in gets the busted controller!" he shouted as he lightly punched her arm before he sprinted towards the open garage door.

"No fair you cheater!" Gwen yelled after him as she raced to catch up, mixing her laughter with his as they raced for the family room.

Forty-five minutes and several games later - that Gwen dominated by winning threemore than he did! - they heard the sounds of Uncle Carl's work-battered truck pull in front of the garage, and the game controller switched to standby mode as they all gathered by the kitchen island to greet each other and make innocuous small talk.

Now they just had to wait for the other Tennyson adults to show up…

- L -

"Well, here we are." Frank said quietly as he pulled in behind his brother's well-worn pickup truck.

Lili allowed herself a similarly quiet sigh - it had been a long and trying day for both of them. Besides the normal work issues her husband faced that she heard about since picking him up, her full day of appointments left her drained and on the verge of being cranky. Daily life didn't normally faze either of them, but the additional stress of sharing the minivan because Frank's car unexpectedly broke down, and the associated cost of repairing the thing, was almost the last straw that pushed both of them to their limits.

The unplanned expense wouldn't affect their normal budget - her husband's position as a partner-track associate in his law firm afforded them a comfortable lifestyle that included their daughter's private school and not-inexpensive gymnastics participation - but it would certainly delay their plans for a holiday skiing weekend. It was a good thing they intended to surprise Gwen with it as a Christmas present; they would just hold off telling her until next year. With any luck there'd be plenty of snow at Heavenly Valley over the President's Day holiday weekend.

All she had to do now was endure the next five minutes chit-chatting with her sister- and brother-in-law while they collected their daughter. Then Lili could use the twenty minute drive home to decompress and plan a quick dinner, and the day could end in a pleasant way with the love of her life, and tales over dinner from their precious daughter about her day at school and tutoring her cousin that hopefully would be entertaining instead of just another litany of complaints.

Lili smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles in her dress as she waited for the front door to open, hoping Gwen would be ready and waiting to go home. And that Sandra would forego a socially polite but unnecessary invitation to stay for a longer visit.

The fates would not allow that scenario to be, however. Carl answered the door with a tired but pleased smile as he invited Frank and Lili in. Sandy and Max called out equally friendly greetings, but Gwen was anything but ready to leave. Instead, she and her incorrigible cousin were seated next to each other on the couch in the family room, very animatedly absorbed with one of the boy's noisy video games playing on the TV in front of them.

"Hah! Take that, dork!" her supposedly reserved daughter shouted as her thumbs stabbed at the game controller in her hands.

"Is that the best you got, nerd?! 'Cause you're gonna have to do way better than that if…" the boisterous shaggy haired boy next to her yelled back, mirroring the way she used the controller he held.

"Knockout strike! Winner!" the TV speakers blared, while at the same time the kids added to the noise level.

"OH, MAN!"

"YES! Eat fist Ben!"

"That was a lucky shot! I was distracted by Dad opening the front door!"

Gwen finally looked over at them with a startled look, then smiled and squealed as she jumped up and threw her controller on the couch before she ran to the door and hugged Lili and Frank in turn. Her enthusiastic greeting soothed away the irritations lingering from earlier in the day even as the girl dragged her parents by the wrist into the kitchen, and before she knew it Lili found she was actually enjoying an impromptu family gathering.

It was nice that Max was also there for a change, actively watching the kids play while talking to Carl and Sandra from his place next to the blond in the kitchen. And the way Sandra finished filling some glasses with deep red liquid from a dark green bottle, then turned and offered two of them to Lili and Frank with another tired but genuine smile.

Lili tried to deflect the offer, but her husband accepted his and took a quick drink before giving it an approving look. "Got out the good stuff, huh Sandy?! This is nice!"

Sandra smiled and made some self-deprecating reply as Lili also took a careful drink. Frank was right, and his reaction combined with the warmth of the wine going down overcame her reluctance to stay, and the combined Tennyson family spent a surprisingly civil, if not actually pleasant, time catching up on the last several weeks. The adults even sat down together with the shared bottle of wine in the family room, making any attempt by the kids to play more games futile. Even the normally oblivious boy knew it, so he turned all the electronics off. Ben was confused about what to do next, though, as he searched for a place to sit and found none. Gwen looked as lost as he did - there wasn't even room to squeeze between her parents on the love seat, and both easy chairs were taken. Their Grandpa filled one, and Carl and Sandra somehow managed to share the other.

Ben looked just about ready to sit on the floor when his Mother noticed his mild agitation. "How did your homework go, you two? How much more do you have to do tonight, Ben?"

He blinked twice, then shrugged. "We finished it. I don't have anything else." he said, so nonchalantly that it had to be a dodge. Even with her daughter's help, Ben still couldn't get on top of his schoolwork. Lili had no doubt Gwen had all her work done, even gotten ahead where she could, but the girl's work ethic couldn't make a dent in that stubborn boy's attitude!

"Really? Finished without all your usual whining and complaining?" his dad teased. "That's different. You sure you got it right? Maybe your Mom or I should take a look?"

Ben got that indignant look of his and was about to sass back before his cousin saved him. "We both did, Aunt Sandra. And he let me check his over, too, Uncle Carl, so you don't need to worry about that." Every adult in the room knew she made sure he got it right; there was absolute certainty in her reply that would have made Lili smirk, if ladies did such things. Still, it warmed her heart, and she let it show as she favored her Silly Bean with an equally warm look.

Until her daughter finished by sheepishly admitting "I didn't finish reading the next chapter for Social Studies yet." The girl stared down at her shoes before quickly adding "But I only have five pages left, and I'll have time tomorrow morning before I have that class! And we may not even start that chapter until next week!"

"That's fine, Pumpkin." her father answered. "It's enough that you got your assignments done, and helped your cousin with his. You can get ahead over the weekend." He winked at her and gave her a proud smile, which their daughter beamed at before looking hesitantly at her mother.

Lili just hummed in agreement - Frank was right, after all - nodded slightly and gave her a matching smile of her own. Then she finished the last swallow of the peppery red wine Sandra poured for all the adults, almost but not quite draining the stem. She learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, that a lady left a smidgen in the bottom of the glass. Nothing more than a teaspoon full - as long as it wasn't some dreadful plonk, that is. But one didn't toss her head back and hold the glass upside down to her lips to get every last drop. Like Sandra just did, to Lili's disdainful amusement.

She let out a short sigh. The last of the glass meant the last of the unexpectedly good bottle of Zinfandel, since there were five people drinking. Just enough to take the edge off a long day, which she was actually grateful to her sister-in-law for. Not to mention taking the edge off being in the same room with the blond woman; a thought that made her look away self-consciously from Sandra as she put her glass down after emptying it so gracelessly. Lili felt a twinge of regret at thinking she needed liquid help to have a conversation with someone she once considered a sister. At times, she missed those days, before the two women became aware of just how different their approaches to parenting were.

She glanced at Frank's glass and saw it was also empty. She checked her watch and repressed the urge to wince - how had it gotten so late?! She hadn't even thoughtabout what to make for dinner; at this rate they wouldn't finish eating until close to eight thirty. It helped that her Silly Bean had finished her homework, but it was still a school night and they all had to get up early…

"We better get going, Frank. I don't know what I'm going to cook for dinner, but the longer we stay the less time I'll have to figure it out." she sighed before turning to face her hostess. "Thank you for the wine, Sandra, it was delicious, but -" She didn't get a chance to finish.

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" the blond almost blurted out, looking a bit surprised at herself. "Since the kids are done with studying, and we've all had a hectic day. It's been so long since we caught up… I, um, I won't promise a fine dining experience, but I'm sure there's something in the kitchen…"

Lili repressed both the look of surprise threatening to take over her face - and the regret for the uncharitable thought that came with it - as well as a shudder as she considered past dinners with Sandra, Carl and Ben. Dealing with that boy's utter lack of table manners was manageable if the food could offset it; unfortunately his mother's cooking more often than not failed to live up to even modest expectations.

A quick glance at her husband and his brother showed they also were reticent at this unexpected invitation, probably for many of the same reasons. It would be best to find a graceful way to decline, especially since Gwen wasn't all that interested in dealing with her cousin outside tutoring him. Certainly not when they were eating, when the little hooligan would likely talk while eating, or start a burping contest out of the blue with the other Tennyson men, or…

Lily was certain her proper little girl would be signaling as discreetly as she'd been taught that she also wanted to leave. It was very nice of her to spend the hours after school helping Ben with his schoolwork, but extending it for another two hours at least would push her endurance to the limit. Not to mention it would tax the hyperactive boy's behavior past everyone's breaking point.

When she turned her attention to the kids, though, she didn't see any indication that either of them wanted out of the impending fiasco Gwen's aunt suggested. They looked at each other as their surprise quickly morphed into happy smiles, of all things! Smiles that only got bigger as their grandfather chimed in with a grin of his own.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Sandy! But we don't want to impose on you, either, since you couldn't have planned dinner for seven when you left the house this morning. Why don't we get a couple pizzas delivered instead? They won't be more than twenty minutes mid-week like this."

The big man looked at his grandchildren with a sparkle in his eyes. "You two don't mind another couple of hours together, do you?"

It was phrased as a question, but his tone of voice could as easily have been a statement. Lili wondered that he should sound so confident; she couldn't imagine that her daughter, who complained non-stop about her cousin whenever the two families got together before summer, would do anything but argue with it. And Ben would do his best to top her argument.

Except they didn't. To everyone's surprise except their grandfather's, the smiles they had somehow got brighter. And then it got even stranger.

"Yeah! Good idea, Grandpa!" Ben said enthusiastically. "But I can make it even better!" He turned to his cousin and kept going. "We can make pizza ourselves, Dweeb! I know we've got some sauce we can fix up, and pepperoni and sausage, and mushrooms for our moms. There's even an orange pepper if one of 'em says there needs to be a veggie!" He actually sounded excited.

Wonder of wonders, Gwen's smile changed to a grin at the first part of what Ben said. For some reason, though, it started to fade at the end.

"Well, that sounds great for everybody but me, Doofus. You know I don't like that stuff so much… And what about the crust? Are you sure you have pizza dough in the fridge?"

"Pssht! We don't need ready made dough. Yours is always way better!" Lili almost dropped the wine glass she was still holding before she could set it on the coffee table in front of her, as her other hand flew to cover her mouth in shock at the genuine compliment.

"And I even saw some ham and that nasty pineapple you insist on using to ruin perfectly good pizza with, but that's on you!" Ben made a show of gagging, but there was a twinkle in his eyes as he did. "It's canned, but it's better than nothing, I guess."

This was too much for Lili to process - her nephew just wasn't engaging and friendly like this with her little girl! But her objection came out differently than her thoughts, which were racing as chaotically as her nephew.

"Wait! Are you two saying you'll make pizza from scratch?! And Gwen can do that for the dough?!"

"Well, yeah Mom. We did plenty of times during the summer!" her daughter replied, a bit more petulantly than Lili was used to hearing, but she let it go this time. Gwen actually looked disappointed that Lili questioned their cooking abilities.

It didn't faze her cousin, though, as the unruly boy practically gushed. "Yeah we can! And it's good! Right Grandpa?" His lively green eyes shifted from looking to Max for agreement and focused on the smaller redhead in the room with what could only be described as a proud smile.

"And the Dweeb makes the best pizza crusts! Even if she ruins them with that so-called Hawaiian junk!" Even with the unexpected compliments, he couldn't resist the tease, the little…

Not that it mattered to Gwen. "Oh, stick it in your ear, dork! Just 'cause you can't eat anything healthy!" She caught the insult the boy pitched at her, and threw it right back in his face. Just like the Tennyson she was, Lili thought approvingly, noting that her husband had a proud and bemused look at the exchange.

But this time it was different from before they went on their trip - instead of tensing up for the bitter shouting match that used to be their trademark, both kids were looking at each other with sparkling eyes and grins that were lighting up the room the way they did before their big falling out years ago.

To think that that impertinent, obnoxious boy could make her precious girl beam like that! She hadn't smiled so happily since she took second overall at her last gymnastics meet just before Halloween! She certainly hadn't come home from school with an attitude like that since the semester started. At that moment Lili could forgive all of her nephew's indiscretions as long as Gwen kept reacting to him like this. The girl had been so serious at the start of school even as she struggled to shake off the lingering summer distractions that interfered with her studies; it had only been in the last week or two that she started smiling like she meant it.

"IT'S PIZZA, YOU GEEK!" Ben shouted, "it's not supposed to be healthy!" he yelled and laughed at the same time before he grabbed the girl's left wrist and pulled her towards the kitchen. "Come on, Nerd Queen, you've spent too much time at that snooty school of yours, you really need some reprogramming!"

"As if! Like I need that from you, Doofus! You couldn't reprogram a VCR let alone me!" Gwen shot back. "And let go of me! Geez, for someone who's always calling me a cootie queen you sure are awfully grabby!"

"Psshtt! If I didn't drag you out you'd stay here dweebing out for ten more minutes! You know you'll just end up agreeing with me!" Ben replied. "Besides, everyone knows you can't get cooties from someone's wrist!"

"And what about the time I updated the programming on…" he started as they approached the kitchen.

"That wasn't you, that was…" Gwen started to argue, then suddenly clamped her mouth shut and glanced quickly over her shoulder. None of the adults seemed to have picked up on Ben's last sentence, not even Max - at least he didn't react to it if he did. Gwen closed the distance to her cousin, very aware now of the Watch plainly visible above his left hand still gripping her wrist.

"Ben! You need to be more careful, we can't talk about stuff like that around our parents!" she hissed. "How are you going to explain programming anything after the last time you tried to just install a new program on your computer?!"

"Oh, yeah… Right." he replied quietly with a sheepish look. He stopped when he got both of them into the kitchen and let go of her wrist.

"All right, Doofus, where does your mom keep the flour and stuff?" Gwen said, changing the subject while giving him a stern look that made no sense to Lili.

Which the little delinquent just laughed at, as he opened the door to the fridge and peered inside. "In the pantry of course, you nerd! On the third from the top shelf - see it?" he called over his shoulder.

- C -

Carl looked away from the cluster of adults chit-chatting away in the family room like they actually liked each other, his gaze following the kids into the kitchen. It was almost a dry run of the scheme his son and niece had sprung on them out of the blue recently for the end of the year, a surprise for their grandfather. From the looks of things, the parents might actually be able to pull it off. Now if those two can only be nice to each other as well… One day a year couldn't be that difficult.

His musing stopped as he was mildly intrigued at his son's claim to be able to reprogram - something? His interest increased when he heard the little redhead start to shut down the boast before she abruptly went quiet. Followed by faint murmurs between the two that were so out of character from their usual interactions. Loud and antagonistic was normal, and Gwen dished it out every bit as hard as Ben did in spite of what her parents - her mother, anyway - thought.

Reprogrammed what? Carl couldn't shake the thought - Ben was good at using game electronics, like most kids, but programming them? The clever girl he dragged into the kitchen was right, his son had screwed up the whole entertainment system every time he tried to program it to record a show.

And the time he tried to load a new program in the family computer? What a fluster cluck that turned into!

He was actually excited - well, that was overstating the case, really, more like interested - to add the science program he got from school at the start of the semester, no doubt because his teacher advertised it as an adventure game. If that's what got him to get involved in the class, though, Carl was all for giving it a shot, at least. So he told Ben what the admin password was and let him give it a go, not really understanding how much damage that kind of access could result in. Before Ben knew it, his 'installation' was so out of control that the family Mac - a computer his IT guy at work said was practically idiot-proof - was almost completely bricked.

Maybe that was the problem; Ben wasn't an idiot by any means - lazy as hell, yes, but he was clever with subjects that got his interest, like video games - so he was definitely just smart and arrogant enough to be very dangerous, at least with this disaster! For a change, though, he recognized just how out of his depth he was a week or so ago when Gwen came over to help him with homework. Lili had dropped her off after school that drizzly, chilly afternoon instead of the two of them meeting in the park, as they had been since early October. Gwen had of course seen the mess of CDs, open user manuals, scribbled notes and the box the program came in that littered the desk where the computer was.

It was like catnip to an alley cat! After Ben grudgingly admitted the problem, his cousin sat down and took charge with troubleshooting the almost useless device and set about fixing it. After ten minutes of typing and staring intently at the monitor and flipping through the manual she had the thing in working order again, and even got Ben to help as she explained what she was doing to the bewildered boy who crowded onto the chair with her.

"Oh my god, look at all these daemons…" she mumbled, not quite to herself as she stared in disbelief at the monitor in front of her. "How the heck…?"

She turned to face Ben, who was only a foot away, but neither thought much of it as they concentrated on the recalcitrant machine in front of them. "Well, here's why it takes so long to see what you type to show on the terminal, blockhead…. See?" She pointed to the screen full of lines of text with indecipherable names and codes lined up in columns.

"Yeah, I see." Ben said, a little crossly. "So what does all that mean?"

"Every one of those lines is a process running in the background. There are, like, twenty of them, and each one is trying to use all the processor's cycles so it can't do anything else -"

"Ugh! Typical nerd!" Ben complained, holding the sides of his head with both hands. "Try again, and pretend you're showing me pre-algebra this time!"

Gwen hmphed and rolled her eyes in mild exasperation at being interrupted, but ended with a twitch of a smile instead of the explosion Carl expected.

"Fine, lamebrain! Each line is a program, and they all want to take over the computer. But it can only handle, maybe, ten at the same time without slowing it down. So when there are this many zombies they interfere with each other and make the computer take forever to recognize what you type on the keyboard." she explained patiently. "Get it?"

"Sortof?" Ben replied with a puzzled frown, ignoring the insult. Again. "Kind of like that time when I was reading a comic and watching Telemundo and making us sandwiches, and you asked me a question that I didn't catch and you ended up yelling at me for not paying attention?"

He ended by glaring at her, but it obviously had no impact as she let out a short laugh. "Yeah, brainiac, like that! You were so zoned out! You deserved it!" she said as he stuck his tongue out at her at the second insult.

"Zombie process? Is that anything like- ?"

This time Gwen interrupted him. "No! That was totally different!" she said with more than a hint of panic. But she recovered an instant later, even as Ben got a momentary worried look of his own. None of which made any sense to Carl.

"I'm guessing when you were installing this program the computer stopped displaying anything for a while, so you stabbed the Enter key a bunch of times, right?" Gwen asked with a smirk.

Ben nodded absently without say anything, then realized what he admitted to. "How did you know that?!"

Gwen laughed again. "'Cause I know you, Doofus! I've seen you do it a bunch of times to my laptop when a web site took more then… oh, I don't know, five seconds to load! You really need to work on being patient! … Every time you pushed Enter you started a new program, and there were so many of them they swamped the processor. Get it?"

Ben rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I get it. Jamming the Enter button a bunch of times doesn't help. So what do we do about it?"

Gwen got that twinkle in her eyes again and faced the computer. She positioned her hands to start typing, but stopped and pushed the keyboard in front of Ben instead.

"Restart it." she said confidently. "That will kill all those zombies and we can start installing the program again. So put the cursor in this terminal window and click the mouse again. Don't worry if it doesn't change focus right away, it'll catch up to you in a few seconds. You're logged in as root, so type 'shutdown -r now', then press Enter. … Only once!"

Ben started typing as she was talking. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you…" he grumbled. "And this will do what again?"

"Give it a few seconds… There!" she cried as the screen went blank, then came back to life with the start-up logo screen. "That's how you do it, Doofus! Once it finishes re-starting we can finish with your program."

The smile on her face was mirrored a second later on his son's, much to Carl's astonishment. He had no doubts his niece would know how to unscrew whatever Ben did to the computer, but his boy's reaction to her explanation was not at all what he expected.

"Then we can get back to your homework, dork!"

"Aw, maannn!"

And then they were back to normal.

Almost - Ben's complaint didn't really have any heat behind it, as the grin on Gwen's face showed. And the way they both started saying 'we' instead of 'you' or 'I' as they worked together had been a welcome surprise.

If that was how Gwen helped Ben with his schoolwork, Carl could see how his normally apathetic son was recently so much more interested in class. If they kept this up, Carlwould make time if he had to to shuttle one or the other to wherever they could study together, overtime expectations at work be damned.

He let that memory fade and refocused on the here and now, absently glancing at his brother and answering the question Frank threw his way, splitting his attention between the adult conversation in the family room and the more … interesting one going on in the kitchen. The rest of the parents also were taking a more active interest in how the pizza making was going and the way the kids were interacting.

"Watch what you're doing with that flour, Dweeb! We don't need another explosion going off in here like the last time!"

"Stuff a sock in it, Doofus! If it weren't for you not paying attention that never would have happened. … Hand me the yeast, would you?"

"Where's the envelope…?"

"I already started it blooming, it's in the bowl of water next to the sink. See it?"

"Oh, yeah, there it is…"

"Nice to see you haven't completely forgotten how dough is made, pizza face!"

"As if! It's not like you're the only one who knows how to make it! Yours just works out better. Must be those magic hands of yours. … And watch the jokes about having zits, nerdalinger! I don't have a single red spot on my face!"

"Are you saying I do?!"

"If the shoe fits, right? Isn't that what you always tell me?" the shaggy haired smartass teased, barely suppressing a laugh. "You're the one who started throwing acne jokes around!"

And so it went, all through their time in the kitchen. Insults and digs galore, interspersed with coordinating whatever needed doing to get dinner in the oven. The language never got crude - both kids hadn't started cussing the way so many of their peers did, thankfully - but it still sounded every bit as mean as the last time they were together before the summer trip.

Sandy finally reached her limit and said what the rest of the parents were thinking. "Dad, I thought you said those two had gotten along on your trip?"

"I did." Max replied. "And they did."

"It sure doesn't sound like it." Lili surprisingly agreed with her sister-in-law. "They're every bit as nasty to each other as before. … I guess hoping they got closer was just too much to ask for…" she sighed.

"Are you sure about that?" Max asked with a sparkle in his eyes. "Listen again. Do they sound angry, or actually being mean? Think there's gonna be a blowup that we'll have to stop?"

The other four stopped talking then and listened to the ongoing stream of maledict language and contradictory happy sounds coming from the kitchen.

Frank was the first to speak up after a long moment. "Nooo… No, they don't. The words are awful, but…" Carl's brother said slowly as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"When I went to the hall bathroom a few minutes ago, I watched them for a while. They didn't notice me, and I didn't stay in the hallway for long. But they did the most amazing thing. In the middle of their bickering, Gwen just stopped, as if she just realized something. Ben didn't notice it right away and kept working on the sauce. She looked around like she needed something, and opened a cabinet door over the counter. She said 'Hey, Doofus', and darned if that boy gave her a look I can't quit describe - not a dirty one! - he saw what she was looking at on the top shelf, got between her and the cabinet and hunched over. Then she hopped on his back - he caught her, like they'd been practicing it - and she reached out for a sifter on the top shelf. She tapped his shoulder and slipped off with it, and they both went back to where they were working and got right back to insulting each other! Never said a word the whole time, or skipped a beat, either!"

His brother paused to let the story's implications sink in. "No, they're not angry." Frank repeated with a big grin. "They're playing!"

"Oh, my… " Sandy gasped softly, staring towards the kitchen, obviously flabbergasted. "They… they haven't done that in… I can't even remember" She turned her attention to the kids' grandfather. "How'd you do it, Dad?! What happened on that trip?!"

Lili again agreed, in silence this time, as her jaw dropped open for a second before closing silently. Gwen's parents stared towards the kitchen in amazement.

Carl looked back at his father along with the others, catching the old goat wearing a Cheshire Cat grin. "I'm sure I can't explain those three months in one sentence, but..." Max paused for effect.

"They just became friends again." He shrugged and let the grin morph into a smirk, that became a genuine smile.

"However unexpectedly."

- o -

"All right, mine's ready" Ben declared as he placed crumbles of sausage in between all the pepperoni on the large cheese pizza in front of him. "How 'bout you?"

Gwen scattered chunks of pineapple and ham at random over half the pie she was standing in front of, complementing the white color of the mozzarella and glimpses of red sauce underneath with the bright yellow fruit. "Yep, just… about… there…" she said, punctuating the words by placing the last three pieces of toppings. The other half was already covered with a mix of sliced orange pepper and mushrooms along with some pepperoni.

"Ooh, look how pretty that is!" she squealed, pleased with the results of her creation as she wiped her hands with the hand towel she swiped from Ben's shoulder.

"Hmmpf!" the shaggy haired boy next to her scoffed. "It's food, not a painting! Who cares if it's pretty or not?!" He gave her a sideways glance and smirked.

"What a nerd!"

"Shows what you know, birdbrain! You eat with your eyes before tasting anything!" Gwen repeated something they'd heard on cooking shows more than once. "You even agreed with it when we were watching the Cooking Channel that one time!"

"Yeah, but that was a dessert show! The whole point was the decorating! … And we both know it all comes down to how it tastes, anyway. And mine's gonna taste the best! Not the nasty flavor of your pineapples!" Ben replied, making a choking noise at the end as he put his hands to his throat.

"We'll see about that soon enough" the redhead said confidently. She reached for the door handle of the oven next to her and noticed the temperature it was set to with pinched eyebrows.

"Didn't you say you set the temperature high? This only shows 450 degrees."

"Yeah, mom always complains the oven gets hotter than what the display says. It ends up burning whatever she puts in it, so I set it a little lower than what the recipe says." Ben explained. "Kinda like the oven in the Rustbucket - except that's always too low, right?"

Gwen gave him an approving look and nodded as she put her pizza on a rack in the oven. "Huh. … Good thinking, Doofus."

Ben chuckled once. "I do that sometimes, you know. Glad you can recognize it!" the smaller boy said as he put his pie below hers and closed the door.

In a previous time, the words and tone of voice would have been the opening shot in a verbal battle. The smirk on his face made it look like that's what he was aiming for, but the bright twinkle in his green eyes gave him away. Still, he left an opening…

"Well, when something that rare happens it gets your attention. Kind of like when the class slacker aces a test!"

As soon as the words left her mouth Gwen regretted them. She really didn't mean him, but she knew he'd take it that way - he always did. She found out the hard way that her cousin hated being called that. It was one of the major blow-ups of the trip, an admittedly cheap shot she threw at him when he started getting the upper hand at a minor argument that swirled out of control. She regretted it then, too, because her supposedly dumb cousin was anything but. He may not prove it the way she did with straight A report cards, but he showed it outside school all the time. He always found an effective way to handle the aliens and bad guys in their chaotic hero times, even when the Watch timed out at the worst moment. And the mostly intuitive way Ben figured out how the Omnitrix worked included some surprising, complex strings of logic; he also had some very perceptive observations about magic after Gwen started using it against Hex and Charmcaster.

She braced herself for another stupid fight over a misunderstood, off-the-cuff phrase.

And they were just having so much fun!

Even with the dumb things they overheard their parents saying, completely missing the difference between their previous nasty bickering and the game they were playing. Ben was on his A game today, using some really clever burns on her, making Gwen think harder than she had to when the jerks at school threw their badly hidden insults; keeping up with her cousin made squashing her classmates seem trivial.

Even Grandpa's crazy reply about how they changed during the trip hadn't put a damper on their time together - Ben had just stared daggers towards the family room for a second before snorting and going back to fixing the pizza sauce, and Gwen managed to suppress the cringe she felt at the whole situation. Sure, riding Ben piggy-back for any other reason would be too gross to contemplate, but she needed the boost and he didn't mind; it was his idea after all. They just did it to solve a problem they couldn't manage alone. Why did her father turn that into a big deal?

And really - friends?! With that doofus?!

Please.

They just realized being antagonistic to each other all the time took too much effort.

So Gwen was dreading another angry reaction from her cousin that she really wouldn't deserve - it wasn't her fault he kept misunderstanding what she said!

And, as expected, Ben had a dirty scowl on his face when he stood up from the oven and faced her. But it lasted only a second before it went back to the smirk he had when he put his pizza in, complete with the happy look in his eyes.

"That was a good one Dweeb! Didn't know you had it in you!" he said, letting his curling lips turn into an impish grin.

God help her, she really did miss that playful look!

And that thought made her brain twitch in a new, definitely weird way. She bit her lip to keep it from showing on her face - Ben had gotten as good at reading her expressions as she had with his, and he'd give her so much grief if he saw she was relieved at his reaction.

She looked into his eyes for a second and the Shakespeare quote her English teacher brought up in class a week ago jumped out in her thoughts - how the eyes are the window to the soul. The sparkling, vivid green in them were like looking into a mirror, and the view she got of her off-and-on annoying cousin's happy feelings was a pleasant surprise.

As was the follow-on thought that she hoped she'd always be able to see it.

"But you're so wrong!" Ben crowed. Instead of getting angry, he looked like he would after a particularly successful hero episode, when the Watch did what he wanted for a change and being partners really worked and the bad guys got stopped without too much mayhem, and no one got hurt. That was when he would be most prone to strut…

"Oh yeah?" Gwen tried not to show too much interest. His ego was big enough, and whatever he had up his sleeve she didn't want to encourage him too much. "That math test half your class failed, you managed to pass?"

That would be a pretty good result all by itself. It would be nice to see their study session actually worked.

"See for yourself" Ben replied, with pride in his voice and a tight smile, as he reached to the far side of the fridge and brought out a single sheet of paper and held it out to her.

"BEN!" she couldn't help shout at the large grade printed in red before clamping her hands over her mouth as Ben hissed "Geez, keep it down Dweeb!" He looked over his shoulder towards the family room to see if any of the adults would react to her cry. "Don't make my parents come snooping over here!"

"A B plus?!" Gwen whisper shouted in reply as she took the paper and gave it a closer look. "Oh my god! This is great!"

"'Course it is, we're talking about me here!" he managed to crow some more in a quiet way.

Not the way he reacted the day he got the test back; he knew the study time with Gwen had helped, because he only left two out of twenty problems blank, and he was pretty sure he got a lot of the rest close to being right at least. A solid C+ or maybe B-, just enough to get that awful teacher from accusing him of cheating.

He was just as shocked by the surprise high grade as the rest of the class when Ms Drake announced his score out loud, with a real smile when she handed it to him instead of her usual frown and reprimand to try harder next time. And of course no accusations of cheating. Not that he didn't have a reply if she had - if she'd said anything, he could truthfully say he got help from his brainy cousin. Didn't matter that it was just the one time…

And that had been enough. Gwen was the only person who took the time to help him get pre-algebra, even if he had to promise her a favor before they even got started. And the lesson stuck with him for more than a day. It was one more thing she was good at, but this time that didn't bother him. Once she figured out how to explain it in a way that made sense, after he almost stomped away in frustration… She deserved the praise he got that day, like he tried to tell his parents when they gushed at the test when he brought it home, so he was careful to not overblow his grade. After all, it was only one test, and he knew - was afraid, if he was honest - that it could just be a fluke…

"But you don't have to make a big deal about it…" the normally arrogant boy mumbled remembering that day, glancing down at her shoes before looking back up at her, caught off guard by his cousin's praise.

"But it is a big deal, Doofus!" Gwen exclaimed. "You worked hard for that test, and look how well you did! You should put stuff like that out front, not hide it! … I told you before you aren't dumb - this proves it!"

Before she could think about it, Gwen leaned towards him, and both arms twitched as if to wrap her hands around him. It wasn't until she saw the horrified look in his eyes as he stumbled back a step that she realized she was about to hug him, and he figured it out a step before she did.

Both actions made her cheeks start to burn, so she recovered as best she could. She held the paper out towards him and did a quick stutter step to stop moving as the shocked boy took hold of it but didn't snatch it away. Instead, they both held on to it as their eyes met again for a long second as Gwen got another look into her cousin's feelings, and the real pride he deserved appeared in his expressive green eyes and crept into the small but pleased smile on his face.

"If you say so, nerd queen!" he murmured as she let go of the test. Gwen felt the same kind of smile appear on her lips right before he turned to put the paper back under one of the fridge magnets, on the front this time.

He remembered the times she said he wasn't dumb, after that stupid fight earlier in the summer and when she explained pre-algebra when they got home. Both times had scared the crap out of him - not because Gwen was mad at him, he was used to that. It was because he thought they would turn into another extended time where they wouldn't talk to each other again, and after all they went through together and the fun they started to have, the idea of his cousin not being part of his life was terrifying. Especially when he actually lived through that feeling…

He shook his head a little to stop that trip down that agonizing rabbit hole - he dreamed about it enough, he didn't need to daydream it too.

She'd also said he was dumb plenty of times, too, with other words just to add flavor - idiot, stupid, bonehead, moron, and a bunch of others. She even used dweeb and doofus before those words started taking on more personal meanings. But the mean intent had slowed down sometime after she healed his grease burns, and was completely gone by the time she bitched him out in Jackson Hole. He was OK with the way she used words like that now - they were part of the game, and she accepted the words he used on her, too.

And now she was helping him do better at school. He couldn't say when that went from wanting to just not get in trouble with his teachers to actually wanting to be a better student. He couldn't be as good a student as she was, but he could be a lot better than he had been, and that would be ok.

He'd caught himself daydreaming more than once about going on another summer trip, and what it would be like to get Gwen from her school at the end of the year and having an A- / B+ report card to crow about. And what she'd think about it. It was fun to think that she'd be proud about it.

He'd also make sure he had some new stuff to cook, just to show he could, and maybe Gwen would help again. And for some reason he couldn't explain, he liked those thoughts…

"Doofus? …" Gwen's worried voice interrupted his reverie. Ben looked over at her and caught her eyes with his. "You OK? You kinda spaced out there for a minute…"

"Huh? … Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm good." he said. "What did you say?"

"I said, we should have some kind of dessert, too. Do you have anything?"

"Um, well …" he ducked his head, knowing he wolfed down most of the half gallon ice cream container last night with his dad despite his mom's admonishment about not having too much. "Not really. I have some of my Halloween stash left, but…"

Gwen snorted at his chagrined tone of voice. "But nothing, you dork! Not everyone likes that nasty mass market candy the way you do! Besides, do you have enough for everyone?"

"Sure I do! Halloween was only a couple weeks ago!"

"That's impossible!" she cried indignantly. "I've seen how you gorge yourself on that junk! How can you still have any left?!"

"What's the matter, Dweeb? Jealous?" he smirked at her. "I know where the good neighborhoods are, the houses that aren't stingy. Told ya you should've gone out with me!"

"Hmmpf!" she groused. "Whatever. Doesn't matter, we're not having candy bars for dessert! … You don't have anything else?"

Ben gave her a blank stare and shrugged his shoulders. Gwen rolled her eyes in return. Typical. Then she remembered some other stuff she saw in the refrigerator as she was putting away the unused pepperoni…

"Wait, I saw some raspberries and blueberries in the 'fridge. If you have whipped cream that would be good." she looked hopefully at him.

"Nah, Mom hates that canned stuff…" Ben grumbled, frowning as he thought about alternatives. After a few seconds his face brightened up. "But we do have heavy cream. I can whip that up."

Gwen considered that for a second. "Better idea." she said as a grin spread over her lips. "I saw the eggs and milk, too. Why don't you make crème anglais again? It was really good the last time you did!"

"You really liked that?!" the shaggy haired boy said. "I thought you were just going along with Grandpa." Their grandfather had practically gushed about how good it was with the fresh strawberries they got from that roadside stand near Oxnard, but the redhead made a point of not sharing his enthusiasm.

"Of course I liked it, you doofus! It was good!" she said as she ducked her head. "I just didn't want you to get a swelled head, especially after the way Heatblast handled those bad guys that day."

Ben felt his face start to burn at her unexpected praise, again. This was getting waytoo weird, even for her, and his stomach was starting to ache because of it. He'd agree to almost anything his cousin suggested just to get back to normal.

"Fine! I'll do it" he grumbled half-heartedly, "… but it'll take fifteen minutes or so, and the pizzas will be done before then. I won't get any of the good one!" he complained.

"Stop worrying pizza boy, I'll make sure to save some of your heart attack special! I'll even give you a hand - you start cooking the cream and I'll separate the eggs. That'll save you five minutes."

Ben nodded his head and got out a saucepan and a couple of bowls as Gwen got eggs, the cream, and some milk out of the fridge. He poured the cream and milk into the pan and started the burner, then added some sugar and gave it a stir so it would dissolve. He got a vanilla bean out of the cabinet where his mom kept the spices, along with a small jar full of purple flower buds, then put the stuff down on the butcher block cutting board next the Gwen, who was busy separating the egg yolks from the whites.

"You like doing that, nerd? I thought it was too disgusting for you!" Ben said. "Don't bother keeping the whites, we won't use 'em for anything."

"I don't mind any more. I got used to doing it like you did - I practiced when I made some scrambled eggs a few times." Gwen replied. "And like you said, I get to play with your food this time, dork!" She gave him an evil smirk over her shoulder as she filtered the whites from an egg through her fingers over the sink, then dumped the yolk into the bowl Ben put in front of her.

He just grinned back at her as he split a vanilla bean with a paring knife and scraped the seeds out, then put the seeds and the bean into the pot to steep in the cream. "If you think that means I'll get your cooties, you're wrong, clueless queen! Everyone knows the heat gets rid of any bugs!" He scooped out two teaspoons of the purple flower and dumped them into the pot while Gwen did three more eggs.

"What's that?" she asked as she rinsed off her hands. Ben handed her the spice jar and started whisking some more sugar into the egg yolks.

"Lavender?" Gwen said with a quizzical look.

Ben finished whipping the yolks and turned back to the simmering pot on the stove. "Yeah, I saw it in a cooking show a couple weeks ago and thought I'd give it a try." He gave the cream mixture another stir and poured it through a strainer into the other bowl.

"It was a show about ice cream, but frozen custard and crème anglais are pretty much the same thing. Except for the freezing part."

He tempered the yolks with a little bit of the strained and now slightly purple colored cream, then poured the rest of the cream into the bowl and whisked it all together.

Gwen looked doubtful. "I don't know, doofus, that's kinda weird. I'm not sure that's gonna taste right…"

He poured the custard mixture back into the pot to cook for a few more minutes, slowly stirring it. "Don't be such a dweeb and try something new! I had a taste of some lavender tea Mom made and it wasn't so bad. I thought it'd be good with the blueberries, anyway."

Ben swirled the wooden spoon he was using around the pot one more time, then lifted it out of the thickening custard and ran a finger down the back side of the utensil. He was rewarded with a clean line through the sauce that coated the rest of the spoon. "Yep, that looks like the picture…" he murmured, then stuck his finger in his mouth for a taste.

"Mmmm…"

Gwen reached her hand towards his. "I wanna try…" she said as she also traced another line down the spoon and sucked the cooling purplish custard off her finger.

"Wow! That is good, Doofus! The lavender taste isn't as strong as I thought it'd be." she said through a growing smile. "Way to go!"

"Yup! Not at all like that nasty spray you put on your pillow during the trip." Ben agreed, taking another swipe at the spoon and peering up at her, sucking on his finger again. "Genius chef, that's me!"

Gwen rolled her eyes but kept smiling indulgently at his boast. There were plenty of put downs swirling in her mind, but she wouldn't use any of them; his preening was deserved this time. "Yeah, yeah, Bobby. Let's put that stuff in the 'fridge with the berries, it'll be even better when it cools off. You got a small pitcher or something?"

"Yeah, Mom keeps it in the cabinet over the coffee maker." he pointed out while rinsing off the spoon and turning off the burner. He stooped down and opened the oven door to check on the pizzas.

"Perfect timing! The 'zas are done, too!" he cried as he opened the door all the way, then stood up and turned it off. Gwen finished pouring the custard into the pitcher and stashed it in the 'fridge while Ben took out her pizza and put it on the cutting board, followed by his.

"Mmmmmm…" he sighed after taking a deep sniff. "They smell great! Even yours!" Gwen had walked next to him to admire their culinary efforts as they cooled on the butcher block, almost touching their arms.

"Executive hero chef and sous chef sidekick Tennysons for the win!" the little endearing brat crowed again, giving her a smile as he turned his head to look at her and bumping his shoulder against hers. "Viola! Gastronomic masterpieces!" he said with a flourish of his right hand.

Gwen couldn't help beaming at his antics. They did make some great looking pies, and they smelled delicious. But…

"Again with the sidekick thing? As if! Don't forget who made the crust, dummy. From scratch!"

Ben looked at the happy face his cousin had and thought what a far cry it was from the disdainful way she glared at him so many times at the beginning of their trip. He hated that look almost as much as he liked the current sparkle in her green eyes that showed she was having fun. With him, of all people. And there was something about the smile she had that was just… awesome?

Did he really just think that about her?! The bookish, know it all, annoying cousin that was good at everything she did? Including backing him up and taking care of the cuts and bruises he got, and having fun with him like they just were? The one he worried about when the bad guys focused too much on in a fight instead of him?

"Fine, have it your way… We're both awesome. Partner chef!" His smile somehow got brighter, even after she bumped his shoulder back.

"Think you can cut them up without bleeding on them, fumble fingers?" the twerp asked with a wicked cackle.

"Up yours, dork!" she replied indignantly. "Go tell our parents dinner's ready!"

And she still had that smile…

- o -

"Well, that was absolutely delicious, you two!" Sandy said, surveying the remnants of a hearty pizza dinner scattered across seven plates and another empty bottle of Zin on the table.

"It certainly was. I had no idea you could cook like that, Silly Bean!" Lili added, then looked Ben in the eyes. "Or you, Ben. What made you both learn to cook?"

Frank barked out a short laugh. "You never had the pleasure of eating one of Max's more exotic meals, Dear! Faced with a whole summer's worth of them it's no surprise - they did it out of self preservation! Right Carl?"

"Got that right! We never would've gotten any bigger than Ben is now if we had to rely on Dad's cooking!"

"Hey!" both Max and Ben cried in such an aggrieved way at the same time, causing Gwen and the rest of the adults to laugh.

"You kids said you liked my cooking!" the oldest man in the room said, looking back and forth between his grandchildren.

"We did, Grandpa! … Some of it, anyway…" Gwen tried to soften the blow, but her cousin was already shaking his head.

"Yeah, except for the octopus, and crickets…." Ben added, ticking off his fingers. "And sea slugs, and meal worms. Live ones! And…"

"And don't forget the Rocky Mountain oysters!" Gwen got into this game and completely gave up on downplaying Grandpa's weird food tastes.

"What?!" came a chorus from the parents.

"Dad! You didn't really try to get the kids to eat that?!" Sandy said with a shudder. "That's disgusting to even think about!" She looked at her son with a horrified look.

"Do you even know what they are, Ben?!"

The boy involuntarily clamped his knees together and squirmed in his seat, and Gwen just ate it up. "I didn't! But I found out!"

"He looked it up on the Internet, Aunt Sandra. He turned the most amazing shade of red! … Kind of like now!" Gwen giggled as she blushed pink.

"Can't be any worse than you, Dweeb!" Ben growled, feeling his face and ears burn.

His Dad and Uncle Frank were both laughing at all this, the traitors! He switched off glaring at both of them while he plotted how he could get back at his Dad, at least. Luckily Grandpa knew how to make them stop.

"No, I never tried cooking those for the kids." he said in his most reasonable voice. "I made them for myself when they went to see a movie. They actually planned to make some stir fry the day I bought them…" the old man caught both their eyes and actually winked."… but we ended up ordering pizza instead."

Ben glanced at the redhead next to him and saw the relief in her eyes that he felt. Thank god Grandpa didn't tell the rest of that story - Gwen would have been as embarrassed as him if their parents heard about how she cut herself and how Ben ended up holding her hand while Grandpa put the white goop on it. It wasn't like he wouldn't do it again if she got hurt, just like he knew she would too, but admitting to it would lead to questions about how it happened. And that would mean they'd have to relive the stupid argument that started it all.

And neither one wanted to do that... Besides, they got past it; the fact Gwen was helping Ben with school, and he was paying attention to her, was proof of that.

As was cooking together again, having fun like they did during the summer. They could at least do that, since Ben agreed he wouldn't go hero again without her, and there wasn't much reason to do that in Bellwood.

- L -

Lili lightly cleared her throat to get her husband's attention. "We should get going, Frank. Let's clear the table first since the kids did the cooking…"

"Wait!" Gwen called out. "We can't go yet! We have dessert!"

"We do?" Sandy looked confused. "What do you have in mind? Ben and Carl ate most of the ice cream I bought last night…"

"Just wait! Come on, Doofus, let's bring it out." Gwen said brightly, pleased they could spring another surprise.

Ben followed her into the kitchen as the adults looked at each other, questioning what else their children could have cooked up. There were sounds of clattering plates and utensils and the refrigerator door opening and closing, then Ben emerged carrying the plates and some spoons. Gwen followed with a large bowl of assorted bright red and blue berries and a glass pitcher full of an off-white colored sauce with more than a tinge of purple. She put the bowl and pitcher on the table between where her Mom and Aunt Sandra sat across from each other.

"Oh, you found the berries! That's a good idea!" Sandy said with a smile. "I wasn't sure I'd get Ben and Carl to actually eat them!"

"And you made some kind of… cream topping?" Lili added, taking a serving of the berries and pouring a drizzle from the pitcher over them. She took a blueberry and raspberry with some sauce and ate it before passing the bowl and a clean spoon to her husband.

"Well, how does it taste, Lili? Are we going to survive?" Frank teased.

His wife licked her lips once to make sure there wasn't any sauce there by accident and gave him a warm look. "Of course we will! Gwen made a vanilla custard with… a hint of lavender?" She beamed at her daughter. "It's delicious!" she said as she took a serving of the dessert for herself, with more than a drizzle from the pitcher, then passed the serving spoon to Sandra.

"Actually, Mother, Ben did that. He's not as much of a doofus in the kitchen as you'd think." Gwen replied, giving her cousin a warm smile.

"He did?!" "What?! My Ben made this?!" both mothers said in surprise.

"I'm so sorry, Ben! I shouldn't have made the assumption… This tastes wonderful!" his aunt said, chagrined.

"Eh, don't worry about it Aunt Lili. Gwen had the same reaction the first time I made it, too." Ben shrugged. "Besides, the Dweeb helped. She's got a magic touch when it comes to separating egg yolks - I didn't have to fish out a single bit of shell!"

He smirked, then returned the smile Gwen gave him, both happy to give each other credit for making the dessert that half the adults were already devouring with satisfied sounds. Even if they completely missed the momentary scowls both women got at the insulting names Gwen and Ben kept calling each other.

Luckily Carl finished taking a serving of the berries and passed the bowl to his niece and asked Sandy for the pitcher of English cream, interrupting his wife's irritation.

"What did you call it?" she asked as she handed it to him.

"I said English cream. Why?" Carl said as he poured the stuff over his bowl.

Gwen finished taking a serving and passed the nearly empty serving bowl to Ben, who dumped the remaining fruit into the smaller one in front of him. "That's what it is, except the real name is crème anglais." he said as he took the pitcher from Gwen, who had taken her share after her uncle.

"Listen to you, with that fancy French accent!" his Dad laughed.

Ben ducked his head and mumbled "Well it is!" as he poured some over his dessert. Gwen wrinkled her nose and looked at him funny, and Grandpa chuckled, but Ben didn't know why they'd react that way. That's what the recipe title was, and he was pretty sure he said it right.

Whatever. He shoveled it in along with everyone else at the table, and he smirked at Gwen when Grandpa said the lavender was a nice touch.

- o -

"You know, I almost didn't mind when you voluntold me we'd clear the table and do the dishes, but doing 'em by hand?!" Ben complained as he put another stack of plates and utensils on the counter next to where Gwen was standing in front of the sink. "You do know we have a perfectly good dishwashing machine right there, Dweeb!"

She stopped swiping the sudsy sponge against the bowl in her hands, momentarily flustered by Ben's statement. She intended to use that machine - she didn't even realize she'd ended up doing several bowls by hand until he came back into the kitchen. With a quick shrug she finished cleaning the bowl and rinsed it off, placing it with the other three in the drying rack.

"Yeah, I know, knucklehead." she replied and reached for another bowl and started cleaning it. She may have started hand washing by accident, but there was no way she'd admit that to him. "It's not that big a deal, is it? Our parents had a tough day, even you had to see that. And you know it'll take less time for us to just do it than to complain for ten minutes!"

Ben grabbed a dish towel and moved around her in front of the rack and started drying one of the bowls while she started on another one, muttering under his breath. Which he made sure she'd be able to hear, even as he also didn't use his really cranky voice.

"Stop grumbling, Doofus, you know I'm right. Besides, this isn't any different than what we did during the summer. … I kinda liked spending time in the Rustbucket today, didn't you?" she asked hesitantly.

Not to mention playing video games and making dinner together afterwards, truth be told. Even if she only admitted it to herself. Everything about their time after school had at least been pleasant, and she'd almost forgotten how they had fun cooking before the trip ended. Gwen wondered if her cousin remembered those times the same way.

The supposedly annoyed boy finished putting the dish he just dried away and grabbed another one.

"I never like doing homework" said boy groused, "but it was nice that Grandpa picked us up." He put away the now dry bowl and started on another as Gwen started washing the last one.

"And I did get all my homework done, even though the science worksheet isn't due until Monday. … This is the first time I've ever gotten ahead on an assignment." Ben said to the bowl in his hands, suddenly very concerned with handling it carefully. "Can't wait to turn it in early tomorrow just to see the look on my teacher's face! She'll probably have a heart attack between being early and being right!"

He turned his head as he said that and looked up at her with such an evil smirk and happy eyes Gwen couldn't help giggle. Then he turned it up a notch in a way she never would have imagined. "That wouldn't've happened if you weren't here, so… yeah. I liked hanging out in the Rustbucket again."

He said it so quickly in a barely loud enough voice that she almost doubted he said it. But there was no other reason his cheeks would be turning pink. Gwen was so astonished she almost dropped the clean bowl in the drying rack.

They both knew he wouldn't have even started that worksheet until Sunday night if she weren't there, but when they sat together so she could read along and encourage him he did more than just rewrite the text on the worksheet. He rephrased it in his own words the way only he could, and he totally got it! Gwen could see how his teacher would be shocked; if she hadn't sat there and watched him, she'd be equally amazed.

She was amazed at the underlying 'thank you' she also knew the emotionally reluctant boy couldn't bring himself to actually say. But it was enough… and she was equally unable to say so out loud.

"So your motivation to get ahead on your homework is only to mess with your teacher?" she said in a teasing way, pleased at how the pink on his face was turning a deeper red. "You're so weird!"

"You have no idea" he muttered, again strangely focused on the last bowl he'd started drying. At least that's what she thought he said, it was hardly more than a whisper.

Gwen started washing the silverware as her cousin put the last dish away. She was surprised to hear him talk some more while he was turned away.

"Not just that - it gave us time to play Sumo, too."

"You liked that? Even though I trashed your butt?!"

Ben looked like he was going to dial up the trash talk, then a funny look flashed across his face before he replied. "You only won a couple more than I did, which is way better than those losers I play with at school."

"And you like that?!"

"Duh! You make it a challenge, so it's more fun!" he grinned at her. "You won't do so good next time, Lucky Girl!"

"Hmmpff! Luck had nothing to do with it, Sumo Boy!" she smirked back. "And what do you mean, next time? You know I don't have a game console…"

"Well, I guess that means you'll have to come over again…" he said, ducking his head. And did his eyes have a hint of surprise? "Right?"

The thought got chased away by the sound of her daddy. "Gwen? Hey, Pumpkin, you two need to finish up in there. We need to get home." he called from the front door.

Gwen put the last of the utensils she washed in the drying rack and turned to face him. They caught each other's eyes for a moment before Ben broke the not awkward quiet. "That stuff will dry on its own, so don't worry about it."

"OK" she replied and turned towards the family room. Her mom was talking to Ben's as they approached the front entry, and her dad already had her backpack.

"… it was a delightful evening, Sandra, Carl. Thank you so much for having us stay." the dark red haired woman finished. "And you, Dad, for getting the kids after school."

"That was my pleasure" Grandpa said with a smile. He had one hand on the doorknob, ready to drive his mobile home back to the RV park he had been staying at for a while. He let go as Gwen took the last few steps to give him a hug.

"Thanks anyway, Grandpa!" she said before she gave her aunt and uncle one as well. "And you guys, too!" She returned the smiles Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandy gave her.

"And let's not forget that terrific dinner! Thank you, Ben and Gwen!" her dad said as Ben got his turn with Grandpa. "You can come over any time you want to cook at our place, Ben!" he added, putting his hands on Gwen's shoulders as she stood in front of him.

"Yeah, Doofus!" Gwen said, smiling and glancing up at her parents, then at his. "He makes a wicked good beef stroganoff!"

"He does?" Aunt Sandy said. "Maybe we'll have that over the weekend. "And thanks for staying, Lili, Frank. It was fun!"

Ben rolled his eyes, but smiled back at her. "Yeah, right…" he said, then stopped talking as an awkward silence came over all of them.

Grandpa broke it by opening the front door.

"Guess I'll smell you later, Dweeb." Ben said with a grin as the big man led the way into the driveway.

The last thing Gwen saw when she looked out the minivan's window when they drove away was her cousin standing in the doorway, waving at her with another smile. She smiled back, even as she wondered when she started liking his so much.

/

NOTES

So, yeah, that's the last chapter I planned for this story. It was originally supposed to be a quick series of sketches that turned into a much bigger effort. I tried to not let it get too involved, but it kinda got away from me a little. Anyway, it's done now, so I'd appreciate any comments - let me know what you think. Hated it, loved it, shoulda done this, that or the other?

Now I can focus on my main story again. Christmas in July!

Oh, and for everyone reading this from the USA, Happy Independence Day!
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