The smell of food woke Ben up from his deep sleep. He sat up, knocking off the pillow that had been over his face, and flinched at the light. Someone had turned on his bedroom light. He silently cursed his pounding head and walked down the small hallway. When he went into the kitchen, he saw Gwen pouring a pan of scrambled eggs onto a plate. When she turned around, she smiled and said, "I was hoping the smell of food would wake you up. Sit and eat, we got a long day ahead of us."

"What are you talking about?" Ben replied, looking at the table and seeing bacon, toast, two glasses of orange juice, and two empty plates laid out on his small table. "Where did you even get this food?" He asked. His kitchen was pathetically stocked last he checked.

"I went grocery shopping for you this morning. It's already 11." Gwen said putting the eggs at the table. It was now full with a variety of breakfast foods, the space used efficiently. Ben sat down, as much as he was suspicious, he was too hungry to pass up a wonderfully cooked meal. It'd been a while since he bothered to actually put any effort into cooking.

They started eating in silence. It was awkward and Ben hated it. This is why he didn't socialize with people beyond quips to people he was beating or the occasional line to a police officer who wasn't being direct with the information he needed. It was the long pauses and the awful feeling of not knowing what to say. At least the food was good so he could think of what to say without looking like a moron. Finally, he thought of something. "So, what did you mean by 'a long day ahead of us.'?"

Gwen took a sip of juice and said, "We're cleaning."

Ben snorted with laughter, sending a chunk of egg painfully up his nose. He cursed and, with some effort, managed to sneeze it out. "Yeah, fuck that, I'm not cleaning." He said, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Come on, I'll be helping you. Trust me, having a clean place to live will make you feel better." Gwen said with a pleasant smile. Ben glared at her but she held eye contact, keeping that small smile on her face. His glare intensified, her smile grew even more understanding and patient. Ben stood up and slammed his fist on the table, leaning in close to Gwen, she didn't even flinch and kept eye contact with him the whole time.

Finally, Ben gave in. He sat back down with a huff, throwing his hands in the air in sarcastic surrender. "Fine! You win! What-the fuck-ever! I'll clean with you but I won't be helpful and I'll complain the whole time." He said, rolling his eyes and looking away.

"You'll see." Gwen said in a sweet tone and continued eating. Ben took a smashed piece of toast and bit into it angerly.

000

To Ben's dismay they started with the dishes. Gwen pulled out two pairs of rubber gloves and handed a pair to Ben. "I'll be helping you the whole time." Gwen said, putting on her own pair. Ben groaned and started filling up the sink. Ben would wash the dish and then hand it off to Gwen who would rinse it with water, dry it and put it away. "What kind of apartment doesn't come with a dishwasher these days?" Gwen asked after a while of washing the dishes by hand.

"An old, cheep one." Ben replied, feeling vindicated. Gwen just let out a long sigh and washed off another dish. It was strangely relaxing to do the dishes. He got into a steady rhythm with Gwen and soon after that time flew. Before he even realized it, they were on the last bit of silverware. "I guess that wasn't too bad." Ben said with a shrug. He didn't want to admit that he kind of enjoyed it. Gwen just gave him a knowing smile, Ben snorted and looked away. It was these kinds of silent conversations that they had grown used to. Too often talking would lead to fighting so they found ways to convey the emotion they needed to through body language.

"Keep those gloves handy." Gwen advised. "We're doing a deep clean today." They cleaned the rest of the kitchen, most of the mess had been the piles of dishes and trash that littered the counters but they still had to scrub hard to clean the cheap laminate tops. Gwen even busted out the bleach, measuring it and mixing it with water in a spray bottle. "Because I'm pretty sure those are not sanitary." She said, silently referencing the mystery stains, some of which looked awfully like blood. Ben rolled his eyes but took the bottle and got to work. With a bit of elbow grease and Gwen using her own bleach spray they got done quickly.

Pretty soon the kitchen looked just as good as it did the first day Ben moved in, maybe even better. Gwen had even replaced the wishy-washy yellow light with a bright, white LED bulb that made everything practically sparkle. "Look at that, don't you feel proud that you made it look this good?" Gwen asked, patting his shoulder in congratulations. Ben smiled, he was proud and it gave him motivation to continue cleaning.

The next room was daunting; the living room. There was so much trash and clutter that he couldn't see the carpeting in most places. Where he could see the carpet it was a disaster, stained with dirt, blood and stuff he spilled on the way to the couch to eat. He groaned at looked to the Gwen. He could see that she wasn't looking forward to it either, but the determination in her eyes was unmistakable. Whether he liked it or not they were going to be doing this. Gwen pulled two trash bags out of nowhere and silently handed one to Ben, not even looking at him.

They attacked the insurmountable task in focused silence. Just as Ben had suspected, almost everything they picked up was either trash or junk. When had he even got this much junk? It's not like he ever went shopping. "We should just trash it all." Ben groaned after picking up something rather questionable.

"Surely you want to keep some of it." Gwen said while silently asking if he wanted to keep a hoodie.

"Not particularly. Wouldn't tear me up to trash everything." Ben said with a callous shrug. Gwen put the hoodie on the couch to keep it.

Gwen bent over again and quickly came back up, yelping in pain. There was a tracer firmly embedded in her finger. "What is this?" Gwen asked, attempting to remove the metal spike.

"It's a tracer." Ben said walking up to her. He took her hand gently. "Here, there's a trick to removing them." Ben said, pressing a near invisible button on the side. There were a few buttons on the device, they were just decoys.

"What are they for?" Gwen asked. She flinched but sighed with relief as the metal recited back into the disk.

"For alerting the police when I apprehend a criminal." Ben explained. He showed her how to activate the silent signal and then quickly canceled it.

"Where do you get them?" She asked, taking the device and studying it.

"I make them. After all I'm the one who invented them."

"Wow, that's impressive." Gwen said, she was being sincere but to Ben she sounded condescending.

He snatched the device from her hand. "What is that supposed to mean?" He said irritably.

"It means that it's an impressive little gadget, and I know it's not easy to invent something. I'm sure it took a few prototypes to get right." That much was true at least. That particular model was the 5th version. Ben still felt like there were some things he could improve on.

With a small wrong move Ben activated the device, sending the spikes deep into his palm. He cursed and shook his hand in pain. "It goes off way too easily." Ben grumbled, deactivating the barbs. He threw it down and smashed it underfoot. "There." He huffed, picking it back up and throwing it away. "I'm going to go bandage this. I'll bring you one too."

He walked into the bathroom and took a moment to check himself out in the small mirror that was also a cabinet. He rubbed a hand over the five o'clock shadow that he had. One thing that surprised him was that the bags under his eyes had gone down quite a bit from yesterday. It even looked like he got a decent sleep every once in a while. Done with being vain he opened the cabinet and pulled out the box of Band-Aids he kept handy.

His hand brushed past a bottle of painkillers. He grabbed the bottle and inspected it. Only a few pills left. Without even thinking about it he took one out and swallowed it. He carried on with bandaging his hand as if he didn't just take the drug for no reason. He handed Gwen a Band-Aid meant for fingertips and they got back to work.

It took two hours to finish clearing the living room of trash. While Ben said that he'd be fine with trashing everything they still sorted it all. He even found some things that he thought he'd lost a while ago, like the first prototype of the tracer. It was bulky, used hooks to sink into the flesh instead of barbs and was noisy when the signal was activated. It was a high-pitched whine that was meant to torture the criminal but it pissed him off more than it did them. Ben decided to keep it to show just how far it had come.

After all their hard work they ordered pizza to celebrate and took a break to eat and watch a movie in the now much cleaner room. Ben zoned out while eating, going into autopilot. The warm fuzziness in his head made his smile casual and his laughs genuine. He didn't notice the look Gwen gave him. They polished off the pizza rather quickly and only had the movie as a timer of sorts. "Hey, come on, it's time to start cleaning again." Gwen said, waking Ben up from a nap he didn't realize he took.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, I'm up." Ben growled, standing up slowly.

"Yeah, well anyways, do you have a vacuum?" Gwen asked with a barely audible snort of frustration.

Ben shook his head to clear the fog that had rolled in. "Uh, yeah I think so." He said walking over to his coat closet and starting to rifle through it. He tossed out a few things before finally finding the vacuum cleaner and pulling it out victoriously. His smile faded when he caught the look from Gwen. "What?" Gwen just rolled her eyes and pointed at the mess he had just made. "I have to clean that up, huh?" Gwen nodded.

Ben started to clean his mess while Gwen took the vacuum and started cleaning the carpet. Ben took the opportunity to go through his closet and pick out what to keep and what to get rid of. They finished their respective tasks at nearly the same time. Gwen handed him the vacuum cleaner to put away, just as he was hanging the last jacket that was on the ground. Gwen smiled at him, looking proud of him. Ben could feel his face get hot with embarrassment. "Don't look at me like that!" He snapped as he snatched the vacuum from her hands roughly and tossed it in the closet haphazardly.

"I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable." Gwen said as Ben sat on the couch, his arms crossed. Ben just held his arms closer to him and snorted, blood roaring in his ears. "When you're ready I'll be in the bathroom, cleaning." Gwen said calmly and walked away. Ben's stomach dropped and he quickly got up and beat her to the bathroom. He didn't want her to see his stash. He didn't know why he was so afraid of it but he had the dreadful feeling that she wouldn't understand why he had so many pills. It didn't help that some weren't prescribed to him.

Ben blocked the doorway, his arms out wide. "Hey, I'll do this one alone. It's pretty gross in there." Gwen gave him a skeptical look. "If you really want to clean you can clean the second bedroom." He didn't really want her exploring that room either but it was better than the bathroom. He could explain the second bedroom. It was a time that he didn't like to revisit but it wasn't the worst thing he'd done by a long run.

Gwen gave him a long, scrutinizing look that made his heart pound in his chest. Eventually she shrugged. "Alright then, have fun." She swaggered over to the second bedroom and, after another look at him, entered. When the door closed softly, he let out the breath he didn't realize had held. He snorted, feeling stupid for panicking. Now because of his stupid decision he had to tackle the bathroom all by himself. Wonderful.

He started with the cabinet, taking out all the medicine and making sure that there were only bottles with his name on it. Whenever he came across one that wasn't his he'd empty it into a bottle that was prescribed to him. When he was done, he looked down at the sink where he put the empty bottles and frowned; now there were empty medicine bottles that weren't prescribed to him. If Gwen found them, she'd get suspicious and he couldn't just tear the labels off because a naked bottle is just as suspicious. Ben groaned, trying to think of what to do. Eventually the idea came to him; he'd just melt the bottles using Heatblast. He smiled while he picked the alien, thinking himself so clever. The plastic melted and the label charred rendering the writing illegible.

He threw the globs of melted plastic away and got to work. He started with a surface cleaning, just clearing the junk away and tossing the clothes out into the hall. It still looked horrible, better, but horrible. He groaned, trying to figure out what to do next and then groaned louder when he realized that he'd have to ask Gwen where she put the cleaning supplies she brought. "Where the fuck is the sponge and shit?" He called out into the hall, thoroughly irritated. Gwen called back that most of the supplies were still in the kitchen under the sink. Ben didn't bother thanking her.

Armed now with scrubbing bubbles, bleach and several kinds of brushes he attacked the room with renewed vigor. At least he didn't have to sort through this room, it just took elbow grease. The foaming spray made quick work of the grime that had built up in the sink and bathtub. He poured bleach into the toilet for a few seconds and left that to soak while he mopped the floors. Just before he was about to start scrubbing the toilet Gwen walked in. "Hey, it looks like you're done in here." Gwen said.

"Just got the toilet left and the trash. Mind doing the toilet? I need a break." Ben said, picking up the small trash can. Gwen smiled and agreed. Ben left her to it and took out the trash, he also grabbed the other garbage bags they'd filled up and tossed them in the dumpster.

"Hey Ben, what happened to this mirror?" Gwen asked when he walked in. She was stood in front of the mirror he had punched just yesterday. Ben just shrugged; he didn't feel like answering. "Shame, it was pretty." She said as she took it off the wall and threw it away. Ben sat down on the couch and started watching tv. He was surprised when Gwen came to sit beside him and started reading a book. It looked like she was almost done with it. They rested until the episode of a reality show Ben was watching was over.

000

"Where's your washer and dryer, anyways?" Gwen asked, tossing laundry out into the hall.

Ben shrugged. "It's a cheap place, no hookups. I just use the laundromat just down the street." Gwen looked unhappy with the answer. Wasn't his fault this place never kept up with the times. He found an old CD player of his and when he checked it found that there was still a burned CD in it. "Hey, wanna listen to some music while we go through this?" Gwen nodded so Ben hooked it up and pressed play. Ben laughed, from the speakers blared out a heavy metal song that he hadn't heard in way too long. Gwen had let out a yelp of shock before laughing with Ben. Ben shredded the air guitar while Gwen headbanged. "Hey, I didn't know you liked metal."

"It's better than rap." Gwen said with a chuckle. Ben laughed and agreed. They spent the rest of the song rocking out, having been completely side tracked from their task at hand. When the song ended, they were both winded and smiling. "Music is the best." Gwen said lightheartedly and got back to work. With the music playing in the background the job went by faster and Ben kept his patience even when Gwen asked him about every single little thing. It took hours but finally they were done, including vacuuming and making the bed. They had filled up two more trash bags and another box to donate to charity.

"You hungry?" Ben asked, letting out a big yawn.

"I am, but you seem to be more tired than anything else." Gwen said, half-jokingly.

"That's because you can't hear my stomach." Ben said. The painkillers were starting to wear off and his mood was slowly returning to dour.

"How about we cook together?" Gwen suggested. "I can show you one of my favorite recipes." She looked so happy and excited.

Ben smirked; her smile was contagious. "Yeah, sure, show me what you got." As they walked through the living room Ben was shocked, he almost didn't recognize it. He guessed that it had been so messy for so long that he had just gotten used to the sight of it. The only sign that it had once been a terrible mess was that the carpet was stained. He walked past a few drops of his blood that had stained the carpet yesterday. Briefly he wondered if they'd be able to get all the stains out, or if the carpet would be a permanent reminder of the mess he had once lived in.

Gwen briefly showed him all the food she brought and what was where before she got everything they needed out. As it turned out one of her favorite recipes was a simple chicken and vegetable stew. She threw in a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in vegetable stock. Much to Ben's surprise when the stew started to boil, she threw in raw chicken breasts into the pot. Gwen saw the shocked look on Ben's face and said, "Don't worry, the heat kills off all the bacteria and we boil the chicken thoroughly." She cooked some egg noodles to go along with it. "Honestly, the hardest part about this recipe is shredding the chicken when it's done." Gwen said as she pulled out a white chunk of chicken and cut into its center.

So far Ben had only been watching her cook. The recipe wasn't complicated so for most of the time they just stood idly by the stove. Weren't they supposed to be doing this together? Gwen took out two forks and started to shred the chicken aggressively. "So, that's how you're always so cheery." Ben joked. Gwen looked up at him, confused. "You're tearing into that chicken like I tear into a criminal's ass." Gwen's eyes widened in realization and she laughed. At first, she tried to hold it in as a painful sounding snort but she quickly howled in laughter.

While Gwen tried to stop laughing Ben grabbed two forks and started shredding the chicken as well. Gwen gave him a quick, genuine smile when she got control of herself and grabbed another piece. Working together all the chicken was shredded fast. They threw the meat back into the stew and gave it a couple more minutes to soak up all the juice that it wanted. They ate together at the table, making small talk. It was nice, and for the first time in the longest time Ben didn't feel lonely nor did he have to strain his mind to talk. Gwen was the only one who got him, and the only one he could trust anymore. "Do you have to go?" Ben asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I mean, when do you have to go." Ben said, with an awkward clearing of his throat. "You said you had a couple days' vacation."

Gwen gave him a long, serious look before slowly saying, "I had 5 days of paid time off." She said each word as if saying them as if they were fragile, or as if he was. "But to answer your Freudian slip of the tongue, not necessarily. However, I think we can talk about this tomorrow." Ben nodded, he felt embarrassed for just blurting that out. He stood up quickly and walked back to his room, his embarrassment morphing into anger. He slammed the door behind him and flopped onto the bed. At least Gwen didn't bother him and eventually he managed to fall asleep.