Chapter 23: Thanksgiving Festivities
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015
Disclaimer: This Series/Story Has Nothing To Do With The Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Cartoon Series. Any Similarities That May Pop Up Aren't Intentional
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty Three!
* Before we get into anything, I just want to say that this chapter will be my last for 2021. I also want to thank all those who came over to check this story out when I launched it in March. In absolutely means the world to me that those who are enjoying this story are, well, enjoying this story. Thanks for everything this year!
* So, this chapter will be a bit of a smaller affair before we go into Chapters Twenty Four, Twenty Five and Twenty Six. Those chapters will be pretty big ones, so expect a lot from those.
* That's all I'm going to say. Anyway, with that being said, let's get right into the chapter!
Earth-6101
Thursday, November 23rd, 2017
Grandpa Max and Grandma Verdona's House
Ben
It was Thanksgiving Day. After eating breakfast, showering and watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade with my family, we all dispersed to go focus on tasks for the next while. Well, everyone else was working on tasks, I was downstairs in the basement, trying to figure out what, if anything, I should do about my recent discovery.
I mean, I was pretty sure that Abernathy was a mob boss, but what could I do about it? Why was it concerning me so much? Abernathy didn't have anything to do with my main goal and as of right now, that was to find Vilgax. Only, I hadn't found anything out about him nor have I found any hint to his current whereabouts.
Hey, if Abernathy really is a mob boss, then maybe—
Before I could finish that thought, I heard the door upstairs open.
"Ben, are you down here?" Grandma spoke as she came down the stairs.
"Yeah." I replied.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to me.
"Working on your school project?" she asked.
I turned to look at her.
"Actually, I'm not sure that I want to do my project on Mr. Abernathy anymore."
She gave me a confused look.
"Why not?"
I tried to formulate an answer.
"I'm assuming that you heard about the accusations that were made against him seven or eight years ago?"
"Of course, I did."
I took a breath before replying.
"I don't know what it is, but something about Abernathy doesn't sit right with me. I've been reading through the articles that Mr. Ellison let me take home and they're making me think that he's not as good of a person that he makes himself out to be."
Her response surprised me.
"I've never met a man with money who hadn't stepped on someone to get it."
I arched an eyebrow as I gave her a confused look.
"What?" I asked with confusion.
"Something that your father used to say."
She took a deep breath before speaking once again.
"Fine, if you want to stop doing research about him for your project, go ahead. But you make sure that you pick another subject. I won't allow you to fail this project, Benjamin."
She spoke in a stern tone, so I knew that she was being serious. I just gave her a nod.
"Okay, Grandma."
She cleared her throat after that and changed the subject.
"Well, if you're reaching a stopping point on your project, then why don't you go upstairs and get outside to help your cousin rake the front lawn. I know you raked earlier this week, but more leaves have fallen and you know your cousin doesn't like the outdoors, she's going to procrastinate about doing it. With two of you, it shouldn't take long and I want the front lawn spotless by the time our guests arrive."
I nodded and repeated myself.
"Okay, Grandma."
A Few Hours Later
Well, Lucy and I had raked the yard a few hours ago. She didn't say one word to me the whole time. In fact, she didn't even stay the whole time. For about five minutes, she stood around doing nothing and then she managed to sneak back into the house. So, I was left to do all of the raking for about an hour or so and Grandma never noticed. And as wrong as it was, I decided not to say anything to Grandma about it, that would only make Lucy even angrier with me.
After that, it was pretty much downtime. Grandma and Grandpa worked on the turkey and pumpkin pie. Usually we had pretty standard sides for Thanksgiving. You had your sweet corn, sweet peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as stuffing. But, this year was different, due to us having guests. Instead of all of that, we were only having sweet corn and sweet peas, while I believe I was told that Nathan's parents were going to handle the sides, among other things.
So, I decided to sit around in the living room, watching T.V., which was rare for me, until Nathan and his family would get here. A few hours after I got back in, they arrived sometime between five thirty and six o'clock. After I answered the door, Grandma and Grandpa went out onto the stoop and I remained outside, while Lucy stayed in the house, not even bothering to come out to greet our guests with us.
Nathan
A Couple Minutes Earlier
My family and I pulled up to the house of Ben's grandparents and both of my parents looked at me.
"This is the place, right?" my father asked to my disappointment.
"Yes dad, this is the place. Didn't his grandparents tell you where they live when they came over to our place? Besides, I generally walk with Ben after school until we get to the spot where I go home. I know where he lives, I've been over several times. I'm going to go knock on the door to let them know we're here." I said before unbuckling and getting out of the car.
The car was a navy blue 1967 Chevy Impala, which had belonged to my grandfather before he passed, and my dad got the car. I walked up the path to the door and knocked politely three times, smiling when Ben answered.
"Hey man, I was just knocking to let you guys know we got here, I have to go help my parents with the food now." I said before going back down the path and helping my mother with a few of the dishes that would be served tonight.
Ben
After Nathan returned to help his parents, Grandma and Grandpa came to join me outside.
"Matthew, Olivia, welcome!" Grandpa Max spoke. "Thanks again for being willing to share your Thanksgiving with us. We don't have a lot of family left, so it didn't make sense to cook a big meal for just four people."
Matthew, Nathan's father, was probably going to shake Grandpa Max's hand, but looked at his currently full hands.
"Thanks, I would shake your hand, but as you can see, mine are a bit full at the moment. And it was our pleasure, we generally keep to ourselves on Thanksgiving, nowadays, as my family passed a few years back, and my wife's family lives out of country, so it's a nice change of pace. And I would like to offer my condolences for your loss, I just wish I could've prevented what happened to them in the first place." Matthew said with a sigh as he shook his head. "You have my guarantee that the Bellwood Police Department will do what they can to catch the people responsible. But I think that's enough serious talk, we should get to the meal, my wife brought a bottle of aged red wine given to her by her brother a year back, if you guys drink."
I completely tuned out everything about the red wine. All I heard was him going on about how the Bellwood Police Department would do everything they can to catch the people responsible of my parents' murder.
Don't even think about it, sir, I thought. That punk is mine.
As I was stuck in my thoughts, Nathan passed by his dad, as well as his mother, Olivia, who gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"We'll be just inside setting out the food. Don't take too long talking, and be sure to bring in the desserts, dear." She said with a smile as she went inside, to place the food on the counter for now.
Nathan came out of the house after having taken the desserts inside and leaving them on the counter.
"Excuse me, sir, I've a question. I was wondering what you did for a living, as I don't think I've ever seen you working." He said to Grandpa Max as he leaned against the railing, enjoying the night sky and cold air.
"I'm the chief engineer at one of Bellwood's many power plants. It's had its trials and tribulations through the years, but at the end of the day, it's what pays our bills, seeing as my wife works from home and is self-employed."
Nathan furrowed his brow, in thought.
"Huh, I could've sworn that Ben said you worked as a plumber, or at least you used to work as a plumber." He said as he scratched his head before shrugging. "Well, I'm sure there's not really a shortage of work either way. Everyone needs electricians and plumbers."
"I don't know if or why my nephew would have said that, but that's alright. And yes, everyone needs them."
Sometime Later
Olivia and Matthew helped Grandpa Max and Grandma Verona set the table, with main meals in the middle, side dishes on either side of the table, and desserts put away until after dinner. On the counter were plates and utensils to be used for the food, along with drinks, wine for the adults and fruit punch and carbonated beverages for the kids and also adults.
It was quite a large spread, as both families had made food for the occasion, with my family having made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, sweet corn and sweet peas, and for dessert, a pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Though in the case of Nathan's family, quite a different spread had been made, as it consisted of several deer haunches with a brown gravy made from the bones and meat scraps of the butchered deer, mutton chops served with the same brown gravy, potatoes with capers, cooked carrots in a sweet glaze, a sweet potato casserole, and as for the dessert items, both caramel shortbread along with cranachan.
"Sorry if you're not used to this kind of food, but when I was girl, we used to have this kind of food every Thanksgiving. Turkey's aren't native to Scotland, same with pumpkins, so we made it our own way. There's some seared venison, mutton chops, two types of potatoes, some sweet carrots, and some dessert once everyone is finished with dinner." Olivia said as she finished setting up the food. "You are all perfectly welcome to try some if you'd like."
After that, our two families sat down at the table, having made our plates. A few minutes into the meal, Grandpa Max looked up at Matthew Black as he finished chewing and swallowing the bite of food in his mouth.
"I understand that you're a police officer, Matthew. Do they have you out in a patrol car, or... Well, what do they have you do for the Police Department?"
He sighed as he put his utensils down.
"Unfortunately I'm rarely out in the field anymore, I'm normally behind a desk nowadays, once in a blue moon I get put on a case as a field officer, but for the most part I'm generally looking over case files and making sure everything is correct. Making sure nobody tampers with evidence and the like." He said as he looked at Grandpa Max. "And what about you? I happened to overhear your short conversation with my son about you working for one of the power plants. You might want to be careful out there, with the new super powered crazies or whatever it is that's been injuring cops or worse recently, the power plants might be at risk. So, if you think you see someone or something suspicious out there, might be best to call it in so we can send out a patrol car to investigate, just to be on the safe side."
"I haven't always worked at the power plant, Matthew. I've served in the Marine Corps before, during and little bit after the Gulf War, as an engineer working on vehicles and similar machines. Once I had served my full time, I decided to continue my work in engineering and went to school for some time before starting at the power plant and working my way up to chief engineer. I've worked there for near on fifteen years now and I'm proud to do so, though I appreciate the words of caution."
"Trust me, just a regular punk with an itchy trigger finger can be all it takes to end an ex-military man. It unfortunately happened to a couple buddies I served with back in the day, and with these new threats, pretty sure those things could take out a couple tanks, let alone a single person. All the same, let us know just in case."
"Well, while we're on the topic of work, what do you do, Verdona? I paint during my free time, and usually sell them to the nearby art museum, or give them to friends." Olivia said, putting her own utensils down as Matthew started eating again.
"That sounds nice." Grandma Verdona replied as she in turn put down her utensils. "I'm not sure that I've previously known any artists. As for myself, I am self-employed. I'm a romance novelist and I put one out every few years or so."
"Well it's nice to meet someone else who likes to make things that people will hopefully enjoy." Olivia said with a smile before noticing that everyone was about done with their meal. "Well, I can see people enjoy our cooking right now, anyone up for a second helping or should we move onto dessert?"
My family generally all agreed to move on to dessert. At this time, I wanted to ask Matthew a question that had been bugging me ever since Grandpa Max asked him about his job. So, I put down my fork after my first bite of pumpkin pie and spoke.
"Sir, a few weeks ago, Nathan and I were talking about your reluctance to let him do freelance photography. Is it really as bad as he made it out to be? Is crime in the city getting worse?"
Matthew sighed heavily, before glancing at Max who gave him a small nod.
"I won't lie, kid, since that attack at the bridge which led to the death of three officers, crime has progressively gotten way worse since then."
Before he could continue speaking, Olivia put her hand on Matthew's arm, stopping him.
"Matthew, are you sure this is an appropriate thing to be talking about at the dinner table, and to a child no less?"
I respect your opinion, but I'm the one who asked, I thought. Also, not a child. I'm in high school now, so at the very least, I'm a teenager. If I were in fifth or sixth grade, then you could say that I'm a child.
As I was thinking, Matthew put his hand on hers.
"He wouldn't have asked if he wasn't sure he wanted to hear what would be said. He has a right to know, Olivia."
Thanks for kind of proving my point.
After that, Matthew looked back at me and continued speaking.
"We already had dozens of calls a day, but now we're getting more calls in a day than we used to get in a week. Frankly, we're undermanned, underfunded, and underarmed. And due to the rules of engagement, we've also had more officers get injured as of late. Honestly, if we don't get any support from the higher ups such as Homeland Security and the DoD, I feel as though we'll ultimately be useless and crime will get considerably worse than it already is."
"You know what?" Grandma Verdona spoke as Matthew finished speaking. "I agree with Olivia. I'm not sure that I want Benjamin and Lucy to be hearing about this."
What, why? It makes sense that you wouldn't want Lucy to hear, you could say that she's still a child, regardless of what she will think. But me? I was the one WHO asked! What's the problem with me getting the answer to a question that I asked?!
"Let's move on. Nathan, tell us, how are your classes going? Are you liking your first year of high school?"
Nathan shrugged his shoulders, having a spoonful of cranachan.
"School is school. Don't really have an opinion on it, long as nobody goes out of their way to bother me, it's fine. And my classes are going fine, grades are always average at the very least."
Grandma Verdona nodded in response.
"Good, that's good."
"So, Ben, how are your classes going, and what do you think of your experience in high school so far?" Matthew asked as he looked at me.
"Well, my grades are just as good as they usually are and it's an okay experience. It's been difficult without my parents, but having my friends with me have made it just bearable."
"That's good to hear, and I'm sure that was hard to go through, but hopefully you won't have to experience something like that again." Matthew said with a small smile.
I finished with my pumpkin pie as he spoke.
"Anyways, would anyone like seconds?" he said trying to make things a little less dour.
Sometime Later
After dinner and dessert was over with, Grandma Verdona suggested that me, Nathan and Lucy go out into the backyard and play catch with a football. And so we did. Even though it was dark out, the few sets of motion activated lights in the backyard helped us to see just fine.
"How's your project for English coming along?" I asked Nathan. "Did you ever pick anybody to research?"
"Yeah, General Patton. Going pretty well, all things considered." Nathan said before catching the high ball that Lucy threw. "Thankfully there's no shortage of information, but what about you? Did you finally choose someone to write about?"
Nathan threw the ball over to me and I caught the ball with both hands, before passing it back to Lucy as I spoke.
Nathan
"I was going to do my project on Jack Abernathy, the owner of Blue Cross Pharmaceuticals, but I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about him. I think I'm going to pick a new subject and just start from scratch."
"Well don't take too long man, test is coming up pretty quick, and..." I trailed off as I missed the ball that Lucy threw to me, it bouncing off into the nearby tree line. "I'll go get it."
I went over to go grab the ball when I heard something rustling nearby, I peered closer and jumped back as an opossum hissed at me and ran off.
"Well, good thing it wasn't a raccoon. Least I wouldn't get rabies if that possum bit me."
I found the ball nearby and ran back to Ben and Lucy.
"Found it."
I tossed it back to Ben.
Ben
As I caught the ball again, I spoke with a sigh.
"I think I'm just going to throw in the towel and go with Mark Twain. It will likely end up being a mediocre paper at best, but hopefully it'll be enough not to fail the project."
"Well, just make sure you get it finished. Pretty sure this project counts a good deal for our English grade." Nathan said as he managed to catch the ball this time. "And knowing you, you'd want to get into Harvard or something once you've finished high school."
"Yeah, probably." I said as I passed the ball back to Lucy.
I kind of just ignored his claim, not really interesting in talking about what I would do after high school. I was a long way away from that, anyway. As the silence continued between the three of us, Lucy passed the ball back to Nathan.
"So Lucy, how's school going for you?" Nathan said as he caught the ball when it was thrown to him, passing it back and forth between his hands before pitching it fast back to me.
"School sucks. I'd much rather stay home, playing video games and reading comic books all day long." She replied as I caught the ball. "There's no way that I'm ever going to use the stuff that they're teaching in real life."
Nathan chuckled as he caught the ball.
"Spoken like anyone in middle school. Trust me, the stuff they're teaching you will come in handy, even if its just for your day to day routine."
Lucy scoffed as Nathan passed the ball back to me.
"Yeah, sure it'll come in handy. I could benefit much more by just staying home instead of having to go to that prison."
Lucy passed the ball back to me.
"Lucy, trust us, it'll help out. Just tough it out for now, once you get through high school and graduate, there'll be a bunch of jobs available." Nathan said, catching the ball when Lucy tossed it.
"Nathan's right, Lucy. Don't waste your education! I know middle school may seem bad, but high school is a whole other thing and once you get there, you really need to take things seriously!" I chimed in. "If you treat high school the same way you treat middle school, then one morning you'll wake up and realize that you've wasted your time in school and haven't really learned anything! And that will make transitioning into the real world really difficult for you."
Nathan tossed the ball back to me, before I sent it back to Lucy. However, instead of getting a response that gave me some idea that she understood what I was talking about, all she did was ask me a snarky question.
"Who said you could talk to me?" she asked as she threw the ball back to Nathan.
"Lucy, lay off of him. He's just trying to help. Doesn't give you the right to be rude to him." Nathan said as he caught the ball, holding it in his hand as he looked at Lucy.
He tossed the ball back to me and I began to speak.
"He's right again, you need to lay off. You need to chill out, too. I understand what I said hurt your feelings, but you're acting childish about all this. Like earlier today, when you left me outside to rake by myself. That was a two person job and you just went inside, leaving me to do it all by myself! I said I was sorry and now you need to let it go. Life is too short to be mad at someone over something so trivial."
I then tossed the ball back to her.
"Now, here."
She caught the ball and I then turned to look at Nathan again. However, before I could say anything to him, I began to feel that familiar pain in the back of my head and neck. I turned back to look in Lucy's direction under a suspicion, but I didn't have any time to react. The football hit me in the side of the head at full force.
"Agh!" I cried out as I fell over and hit the ground.
As I recovered, I turned to look in Lucy's direction, to see that she was headed toward the back door without a word to me or Nathan.
"What the Hell, Lucy? I told you to lay off of him, not lay into him!" Nathan said without getting an answer from her, before coming over to me and offering a hand. "Get up man."
I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.
"You alright, Ben?" he asked as he looked to the house. "The Hell is up with her?"
After Nathan had pulled me to my feet, I grunted as I used my other hand to hold the side of my head.
"I'll be fine, I think. Agh! Doesn't that hurt."
I let out a sigh before speaking again.
"She's refused to speak to me ever since I made that comment to her last month. I meant what I said to her, I wasn't trying to antagonize her, you know that, right?"
"What, you mean she's still sore over you asking her why she likes video games and comic books? Is she really being that petty and childish?" He asked as he looked at the side of my head. "Looks like it might've split your skin a little. Looks and feels worse than it actually is, should be fine after cleaning it up and putting a bandage over it."
"I'll be sure to do that." I said with another sigh. "Well, in the very least, I think that's enough playing catch for tonight, I think."
"Yeah. Hey, maybe we can sneak one more slice of pie as well. Well, come on then." Nathan said as he went to the back door and entered the house, with me right behind him.
Later That Night
After everyone left, I decided to call it a night early and went up to my bedroom. I was currently laying down on my bed, pressing an ice pack against the bandage on the side of my head, while I was on the phone with Gwen and I was tearing up as I spoke to her.
"I missed them a lot today." I said, my voice cracking.
She remained silent on the other end, maybe waiting for me to let it all out.
"The most difficult thing is that I keep thinking back on how my dad tried to tell me something important and instead of listening to him, I just pushed him away."
She let out a sigh before speaking.
"He loved you, Ben. And I don't think he'd want you moping around like this. He also wouldn't have doubted the great person that you're growing into."
"I just... Part of me thinks that they wouldn't be happy with me right now, that maybe in my current form, I'm shaming their memory."
"Ben," she gently said. "they loved you. They wouldn't doubt the person that you're going to grow into. You won't disappoint them."
I took a deep breath, unsure of what to say next. When I didn't say anything, Gwen spoke for me.
"Ben, you're exhausted. You should get some rest."
I took a shaky deep breath as I nodded.
"Okay, you're right. I'll wrap this up with you and get some sleep."
"Okay. And Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not a disappointment. You're doing fine, I promise. And after what happened to your parents, I'm proud that you've been able to overcome it, to a degree."
I let out a sigh.
"Thanks, Gwen. I think I'm going to go to sleep now."
"Okay. Good night, Ben."
A few seconds later, I hung up and afterwards, I just rested my phone against my forehead. Eventually I let out a breath and put it on my nightstand. I sat up on my bed and found myself staring at the newspaper article that was tacked to my wall, the one that mentioned the fight club that I snuck out to participate in, which caused my parents' death while they were out looking for me. I then snapped back to my "discovery" about Abernathy, if you could call it that and I had a thought.
So, Vilgax runs a pretty big technologically advanced gang here in the city. If Jack Abernathy is as influential as the papers made him out to be, would he know anything about Vilgax?
That's when I had another thought.
Should I tell my friends about the costume and that I'm the "masked mystery man"? I may have only hopped into the costume twice, but they should know, right? Should I admit all of my guilt to them and tell them that the death of my parents was my fault, as well as what I plan to do?
My thoughts returned to Abernathy.
Maybe come back to that one. But about Abernathy, if he's really a "mob boss" like the newspapers suggest, then he'd have some influence on the city with that role. Specifically in the criminal underworld. What if he knows where I could find Vilgax? If he has information on where I could find him or just anything about him or his gang, it's vital that I get it! And I wouldn't even have to confront Abernathy to get it. All I would have to do is sneak into his office during the holiday party that he's hosting in a couple weeks, look through his computer for the information I need and then leave! It can work.
That settled it. The night of Abernathy's party next month, I was going to sneak into his office and see if there's anything to find.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.
* What did you think of Ben and Nathan's families getting together for Thanksgiving? What are your opinions on Ben talking with Gwen, about doubting himself and that he's shaming his parents' memory? What are your thoughts on the current relationship between Ben and Lucy? Ask me any questions or give me any comments that you feel like giving me.
* Anyway, I'm going to go, though. So have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I will be back in 2022.
Review Responses
Guest Review (Chapter 22): Are you gonna add new features for the omnitrix.
I'm not sure. If anything, you can count this Ben having enhanced reflexes or a spider-sense type thing due to the Omnitrix. As to abilities, I don't know yet. Thanks for the review, as always.
Next Chapter: The following month, Ben sneaks into Abernathy's private office at his company's headquarters and ends up finding more than he bargained for.