"So all this time, Grandpa was a secret alien space cop!?" Gwen was freaking out, looking at the piece of Vilgax's ship. They had talked late into the night about the legendary Tennyson road trip.

Gwen had been the first to fall asleep and would wake the boy excited to hear more grand stories. Feeling tired and hungry, Ben decided that breakfast was much more important. Unfortunately for him, he could not drive to the nearest Burger Shack, and asking Gwen to drive was out of the question. That left him with no other choice than to cook for the two of them.

His mother hadn't considered that her son would be cooking anything while they were gone, so the fridge was mostly barren save for the usual, like eggs and milk. Ben decided that scrambled eggs and hotdogs were the best they would get and got to work.

Gwen watched the small boy struggle to move a chair around the kitchen to reach the counters and stove. "Can I help?"

Ben was about to decline her offer but was having trouble breathing. "Yeah, can you crack the eggs and whisp them with some milk?" Gwen nodded and did as he said, but some of the shell had fallen in. "It's okay. Just pull them out before you start whisking."

With Gwen's help, they finished cooking within a few minutes. Ben scrolled through his phone while they ate but could see Gwen picking at her food from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

Gwen's face turned sour, "is that guy really my boyfriend?"

Ben looked at her, confused, before realizing who she was talking about. He gave a silent nod, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"But he did so many awful things to us. Why would I date a monster like that!?"

"Don't let him hear you say that," Ben joked. The look on Gwen's face was all he needed to see that this was no laughing matter. "Honestly, I have no idea." The room grew quiet. Panic began to overtake the young boy, "but he really has changed for the better. He's saved us from trouble time and time again, and I couldn't ask for a better man to be your boyfriend."

Gwen's face turned curious, "then why do you have that look on your face?"

Silence settled in once again. "Finish your meal," Ben said, "Kevin's on his way to run some tests." Gwen's face soured. She nodded and returned to her breakfast.

Kevin arrived not long after they finished eating. He looked tired and was in a much worse mood than when they had left his garage the previous night. Still, the older teen set up a series of devices in Ben's living room. He motioned for Gwen to take a seat on the couch.

After some deep breaths and a gentle nod of encouragement from her cousin, she took a seat.

Kevin brought some wires up to Gwen's chest. "Take off your shirt," he said bluntly.

Panic filled Gwen's eyes as she tried to cover herself. "Oh please," Kevin said, annoyed, "it's not like it's anything I haven't seen before."

Ben cringed at the thought of how much Kevin had seen of his cousin but quickly shook it away. He pressed his small hand against hers and said, "It's okay. He just needs to see the Ultimatrix."

Gwen was still hesitant but chose to trust the small boy. With trembling hands, she unbuttoned her shirt just low enough to expose the familiar dial. Kevin attached the wires to the dial and patches along Gwen's arms and head. The whole process felt uncomfortable but continued without any further incidents.

Eventually, Kevin groaned. "So the good news is that it's emitting Omni energy throughout her body the same way we figured it did for Ben 10,000."

"And the bad news?" Ben asked, already certain of the answer.

"The bad news is that I can't find a way to reverse the transformation." Kevin removed the wires and began packing his equipment, allowing Gwen to button up her shirt again.

"So what do we do now?" Ben asked.

"We don't do anything," Kevin replied, slamming the scanner's case. "You're going to stay here and make sure that Gwen doesn't get herself into any more trouble, and I'm going to go look for Azmuth."

"What about Professor Paradox?"

"News flash, Benji, if he wanted to help, he'd come on his own. Now get the hell out of my face, twerp."

Ben was losing his temper, but before he had a chance to go off on the teen, Gwen stepped between them. Her towering frame was shaking and ready to topple, but she still tried to stand tall. While he appreciated the gesture, this was not her battle to fight. "It's okay," he said, grabbing her hand, "go ahead and head to the room. I need to talk to Kevin alone."

A worried look was plastered onto her face. She hated the idea of leaving her cousin alone with him, but she had to trust her cousin. Gwen did her best to push down the anxiety and slouched away to Ben's room, much to Kevin's displeasure.

The bedroom door made an audible thump as it closed, which Kevin took as his cue to leave. Ben quickly cut him off at the door. "Dude! What's your problem!?"

Kevin scoffed, "My problem is that while I'm trying to fix this mess, you two are off playing house. That's not even mentioning that not only does my girlfriend not remember the last ten years, but she also thinks I'm some kind of monster!"

"Well, acting like an asshole isn't make things better for you." Ben took a moment to breathe before he started having a tantrum. "I get that this is hard for you, but this isn't your Gwen anymore. She is a scared little girl trapped in a grown-up's body, and if you want to win her back, you have to drop your 'tall, dark, and broody' schtick."

"I don't care how old she looks; I'm not dating a six-year-old."

Ben wanted to strangle the teen. "No, you muscle-bound idiot! I'm telling you to stop being a raging dickhead and earn her trust! We don't know how long this is going to last, and we can't have her scared out of her mind every time she sees you." Kevin didn't seem to understand. "Look, just go home, relax, and we'll figure this out tomorrow," Ben said. "I'll text you if anything happens."

Kevin thought about the kid's words as he walked to his car. He wasn't the brightest by any means, but he thought he had a good sense of intuition, especially when it came to Gwen, but something wasn't adding up. He was missing something important, and without any means to decipher the mystery, Kevin went off searching for answers.

Back at the house, Ben was smacking his head against the front door. Even knowing that the Ultimatrix had latched onto Gwen, they were still no closer to fixing this than they were last night. He desperately wished his Gwen was there to lecture him on how to make things right, but she was gone, and it was up to him to get her back. But until then, he had to take care of the scared child in her place.

Ben walked into his room and found Gwen looking over an old newspaper. He knew instantly which one it was. "This is Kevin, isn't it?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah," he said. Ben sat beside her, looking at the photo of Ripjaws robbing a bank. "This was before the Omnitrix mutated him. He went around causing havoc and framing it on me."

"I still don't understand why I would make HIM my boyfriend. What was I thinking!?" Gwen flopped onto her back and flailed her arms and legs around. The sight of it all was almost enough to make him laugh.

"He really isn't that bad, Gwen. Sure, he's a complete moron with questionable moral values, but he really does care about you."

"Ugh! You keep saying that, but how am I supposed to trust him when all I've seen is his bad side?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Ben whispered to himself. Wanting to change the subject, Ben began to comb through the box. "Here, look at his." He pulled out a photo of Gwen in her Lucky Girl attire. "Would you believe you were your own superhero for a while?"

Gwen looked over the photo, "Oh yeah? What was my power?"

"Magic."

Gwen looked at him with disbelief. "Aliens is one thing, but magic? Next thing you'll tell me, we fought mummies and werewolves." Gwen could see the coy grin on her cousin's face. "No, you can't be serious!?"

"We'll save that for another time," Ben said as he pulled out more pictures from the box. "This one's from when you debuted as Lucky Girl in New Orleans. And this is when you made your grand return in Vegas. You found some magic stones that gave you good luck and totally stole the show from me. I was such a brat the first time, but by the second time, I was glad you had my back. It wasn't long before you got Charmcaster's spell book and learned how to do magic on your own."

"I must not have been that lucky if I ended up like this," Gwen pouted. "Wait, did you say spellbook? Do I still have it?"

"Of course, you're always looking through that-" Ben stopped himself. "Gwen, no!" Ben dove for his keys, but she was faster. Gwen jogged out of the house and into the car, with Ben struggling to keep up. "Gwen, seriously, this is a bad idea. You don't even know how to drive."

"If you can get your license, then how hard can it be?" It isn't long until she figures out how to start the engine. "See, that wasn't so hard. Now are you going to get in, or will I have to drive around until I find my house?"

Ben hesitated for a moment before sliding into the passenger seat and clicking on his seatbelt. "Christ, are all six-year-olds this terrifying?" Gwen just smiled as she pulled out of the driveway, narrowly missing the mailbox.

"Alright, pull over here," Ben ordered. The car came to a screeching halt drawing the attention of nearby residents. Somehow they managed to get to Gwen's neighborhood without any major incidents, but they had definitely broken a few traffic laws. If his Gwen could only see them now, she'd be livid.

"Why'd we park so far away?" Gwen asked. They had parked up the road from her house just far enough to keep his car out of view.

"I can't let Frank or Natalie see me like this, so we'll have to sneak in through your window."

"You don't think a couple of kids climbing on the roof in the middle of the day would be more suspicious?" Gwen stepped out of the car. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"What're you doing!? You don't even know what you're looking for."

Gwen held up her phone. "I can call you with this, right? You can guide me once I'm in my room." She could clearly see the panic on his face. "Look, I'm just going to go in, get the book, and get out. It won't take long, I promise."

Ben had a thousand and one reasons why he shouldn't let her go, but the look on her face seemed to throw them all away. "Ten minutes," he ordered, "and then you get back in this car, and we're going home." Gwen gave another big smile and waved as she ran to her house.

She unlocked the front door and peered inside, looking for any sign of her parents. With the two nowhere in sight, she stepped inside and tried to listen for any sounds in the house. It seemed like she was alone, but she wasn't sure if any of the cars were in the garage. With no time to spare, she carefully climbed the staircase and made her way into her room.

Once inside, she marveled at how different it looked. While the rest of the house seemed the same, her room had gone through a complete overhaul. New furniture, new books, even new paint on the walls. The room was unrecognizable from how she remembered it.

A ringing sound pulled her from her thoughts. She grabbed the phone and read the caller ID "Doofus" and, after some struggling, answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Are you inside?" A panicked voice asked.

"Yeah, I just got in. Where should I be looking?"

"I don't know. She never told me where she keeps it."

"What!? Then how am I supposed to find it?"

"You're her, Dweeb! Where would you put something that important?"

Gwen wanted to throw the phone against the wall, but that would only make things worse. She took a second to calm down and looked around the room. Her mother was a lot of things, but being respectful of her daughter's privacy was not one of them. She ignored the obvious hiding places and searched the piles of books laid out throughout the room. She expected to find at least one of them had a fake cover but to no avail. "So mom found that one too." She checked the closet, underwear drawer, and even jewelry and makeup boxes with similar results.

She plopped onto her bed and was about to give up when she heard a weird thud from the headboard. Pulling back the sheets, she could see two books poking out. "Seriously!?" Gwen groaned. "You can't even find a better hiding spot?" Gwen grabbed the books and opened one to confirm it was the spellbook and was about to look through the second when she heard the door open.

"I thought I heard something," A voice called out.

Gwen was stunned at the sight of her mother. "Mom, you're so old!"

"Gwendolyn!"

"I'm sorry!" She flinched in fear of her mother's scolding.

"Are you feeling alright? You're acting strange."

Gwen could hear the concern in her mother's voice. "I'm… okay. I just had to pick something up." She tried to hide the spellbook behind her back but had already noticed.

"Oh, you're little spellbook. That must mean you're going off on another adventure with your cousin," Natalie frowned.

"Yeah, something like that." Gwen was surprised. Just how much does her older self tell their mother? "I need to get going. Ben is waiting for me."

"Be safe, and let me know if you're not going to make it home tonight." Natalie wrapped her daughter in a hug before returning to whatever she had been doing before.

Gwen was left stunned. She loved her mother, don't get her wrong but she hadn't received a genuine hug since before she entered pre-school. Her father was much more affectionate, but even he was beginning to weed away from hugs and opting for a pat on the head at best. Was this really her future?

"Hey, Dweeb! You still there?" Ben's muffled voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm coming down now," Gwen replied, putting the two books into her bag along with some spare clothes and pajamas. Just as she was about to leave, she turned to look back into her room. Pictures were hung on the wall, some of her performing some kind of martial art, others with Ben and her parents. And Kevin. So many memories in this place but almost none of them were her own. Feeling overwhelmed, Gwen quickly shut the door and rushed back to the car, ignoring the anxiety building in the back of her head.

"This should be far enough," Ben said. The two had walked into the woods near his house. It was a place that Gwen knew well as they would frequently play here when she'd visit, but it had become something more for Ben.

After their Summer trip all those years ago, the two would come out to the woods to spar and goof around. Even after Ben had retired the Omnitrix, he'd still come out to help Gwen practice her magic. But the last time they had met up like this was almost two years ago before the DNAliens showed up. Now that Gwen spends all her free time with Kevin and Ben with Julie, this had been the longest the two cousins had been alone together. Ben had only wished that it was under different circumstances.

Gwen set down her bag and began flipping through the spell book, unsure of what she was looking at. "Re-anima ver-dan-i-ca?" A bundle of flowers began to grow at her feet before quickly wilting away. Feeling frustrated, she spoke the words again. "Reanima verdanica." Once again the flowers sprouted before quickly wilting away. Now on the verge of throwing a tantrum, she screamed "REANIMA VERDANICA!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake as large vines grew from the ground. She tried to run but petals formed around her lifting her into the air. Panicking, she pounded against the floral walls until they finally opened, revealing she was now in the tree line.

Down below, her cousin was sitting atop a boulder without a worry in the world. "Man, this takes me back. It's been a long time since I've got to watch you screw up like this," he shouted up to her.

"Can you just help me down, please!?" Gwen cried out.

"What am I supposed to do? It's not like I can do magic."

Gwen felt light-headed from how high off the ground she was. "Ben, please! I don't want to fall."

"Alright, listen. You're part Anodite, so -"

"I'm what?"

Ben decided it was best not to get into their interspecies ancestry and think of a new approach. He tried to recall how his Gwen would geek out whenever she made a new discovery with her magic and how she described it all. He couldn't help but mentally berate himself for not paying more attention to what she had been saying back then.

"So you know the feeling when you used your magic earlier? Try to imagine where that comes from within you and lead it outwards into a platform."

Gwen looked at him, confused. "What are you saying!?"

"Jesus Christ…" She's a Gwen, but she's still only six. "Just pretend you're a superhero who can fly on glowing discs!"

"Glowing discs got it." With frantic breaths and closed eyes, she stuck her arm out and tried to picture herself as Ben had said.

From below, Ben could see the flickering pink light of her energy forming and disappearing. "You're doing great, just relax and focus on the disc!" His words seemed to work as the light grew brighter, taking on a much more solid shape. "Good, now imagine it lowering you down to the ground."

"But how will I know where to go if my eyes are closed!?"

"Just follow my voice."

"But-"

"Trust me!" Nothing but silence followed his words. Ben was beginning to wonder if he would have to call Julie or Kevin for help when he saw the familiar glowing platform slowly descending toward him. "That's it. You're doing great!"

With his words as her guide, Gwen imagined herself riding on the disc like a hero in one of Ben's comic books. She was too afraid to open her eyes, but his encouragement had reassured her that she was doing something right. It was all so fantastical that she was beginning to believe that she really was a superhero.

She was hovering just in front of him now. Ben had succeeded in leading her down but failed to remember that he was on a rock a few feet above the ground. He stuck out his hand and interlocked it with hers. "You're almost there. Just walk forward."

Gwen was shocked to feel his hand grab hers but did as he said. She felt her foot hit the ground below her but couldn't tell what she was standing on. It was hard yet thin and rigid. She feared that it would shatter like glass if she put too much weight down. Still, though, she slowly inched forward.

"You're coming to the edge. You're gonna have to jump."

"Edge?" Gwen foolishly opened her eyes and saw that she was floating in a disc no larger than a coffee table. The fear returned, and the platform began to disparate. Panicked, she jumped onto the boulder pinning the small boy below her.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Ben's muffled voice groaned. He couldn't breathe, but with the way the girl was shaking and crying, he decided to tough it out for a bit longer. "You did great, Gwen. I'm really proud of you."

It was late by the time they got back to Ben's house. The two decided to order in for dinner and watch some of Ben's favorite movies from the last decade. These were movies that he could watch over and over and never get tired of them. But he couldn't say the same for those around him, so he enjoyed watching his younger cousin get excited at the special effects and action scenes.

The hours seemed to fly by, so it came as no surprise when Ben found his cousin curled up in his favorite blanket fast asleep. With how much fun they had been having, he was only a little mad that she knocked out right before the best part of Sumo Slammer IV. Still, she looked so peaceful it felt wrong to wake her.

He remembered all the times their grandpa would ask him to carry Gwen to her bunk when they were ten. He would always complain, but he always ended up doing it and never told her, even when she'd curl up in his arms. Now he was sure he could carry her without needing to transform. Or at least he could if he was in his own body.

With no other choice, he gently nudged her until she was coherent enough to stand on her own. She held onto his sleeve; eyes still closed as he guided her through the house. When they arrived at the guest room, Gwen shook her head, saying she wanted to sleep with him. Ben was smart enough not to argue with a half-asleep six-year-old twice his size, so he led her to his room.

Once inside, Gwen rummaged through his dresser, pulling out a shirt and shorts; the pajamas in her bag long forgotten. After going to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth, Gwen plopped onto the bed, soon falling back asleep.

Ben couldn't help but smile at the sight before him. He brought himself closer and caressed her hair as she slept. "What am I going to do with you?"