Eddie could faintly smell the paint in Ben's new home, the old one having been destroyed by Vilgax. Now he sat in Ben's room as Ben was telling him about his summer after they left the Grandsmiths.

"Well Rex seems to like you," Ben said as Eddie was giving the German Shepard a scratch behind the ears.

"Yeah, I think we're getting along. I never had a pet."

Ben chuckled. "I guess I still haven't gotten to the one about the girl who tried to make me her pet."

"Okay, I've got to hear this story."

Ben told him all about the alien werewolf and about Kai...and about how she responded to him being just him.
"Gwen tore into her," Ben said. "I was kind of shocked."

Eddie sat with a pensive look for a moment. His estimation of Gwen had just gone up. "Now I'm starting to get you guys."

"Huh?" Been said confused.

"You two bicker all the time, but that's just how you relate. You'll always back each other up. It's kind of your love language."

"Love language?" Ben questioned.

Eddie shook his head. "The way any two people express themselves to someone they care about; how they show that they care. And it doesn't have to be romantic couples, it can be friends or family...like cousins. You guys do it with your verbal sparring. But you're both quick to stand up for each other, aren't you?"

Ben thought about it. He had a point. The way Gwen stood up for him with Kai; How he faced his clown phobia for her. He was sure she'd do the same with her spider phobia if he was in danger; Then there was how he felt when he thought he'd lost her on Xenon...and how he felt when he got her back. For all of their arguments, insults and pranks, they always stood together when it counted. "Maybe you're onto something," he said.

"You know, you and the dweeb are going to get along great. You're both into that brainy stuff." He gave the taller boy a sideways look. "Are you into karate and stuff?"

"I've done some, also some fencing."

"We'll have to see how you do against Gwen sometime."

"Maybe, but will she get mad if she loses?"

"Not too much...will you?"

"No, my ego isn't that sensitive." Eddie told him.

"You won't lose anyway. I'll give you a tip, if she gets the upper hand, tickle her. She can't take it."

That got a laugh from Eddie, "I take it you've gotten out of losing that way."

"Yup."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Hey, all's fair in love and war."

"Ha, ha, okay. I'll keep that in mind as a last resort."

"Just don't tell her I told you," Ben said. "And whatever you do, don't tell anyone else. We don't need someone like Charmcaster finding out. It would be too much fun for her."

"Charmcaster?" Eddie questioned.

"She's some crazy witch girl. Easy to look at, but don't let good looks fool you; she's bad news. Gwen's using her spell book."

"Gwen can do magic?"

"Yeah, she's getting pretty good at it. And she'll get better if Gwendolyn is any indication."

"Gwendolyn?"

Ben was really enjoying recounting the adventures of the last summer. "It's a long story, but we went to the future. By the way, what I said about Charmcaster, well don't tell Gwen I said this, but she's got nothing on Gwendolyn."

"That's Gwen in the future I take it."

"Yeah. But I hope things don't go that way. Future me, well, he was kind of a jerk."

"Well, just knowing about the future changes it. To be forewarned is to be forearmed...And don't make any jokes about the big red guy."

Ben laughed. "You saw it coming." Then he said, "You know, I'm sorry you weren't there."

"You mean going to the future with you, or that I wasn't with you guys IN the future."

"Well both, but I meant to see Ben ten thousand's headquarters."

"Tell me about them," Eddie requested.

"I didn't see much. But we can talk about it later." Ben looked over to his friend, who was clearly losing himself in thought.

"Hey! Talk about the future later. How about we drop by and see if the dweeb wants to hang out with us?"

"Sounds great to me. I want to catch up with her too."

"Who would that be?" Natalie said under her breath as she walked to answer the doorbell. She opened the door to see her nephew and another young man who looked to be about the same age.

"Hi Aunt Natalie. Can we come in?"

"Certainly Ben, you know you're always welcome here. Who's your friend?"

The taller boy spoke, "Eddie Grandsmith ma'am. My grandfather is an old friend of Max Tennyson. I met Ben and Gwen during their summer vacation."

She remembered. Max's telling her about his genius billionaire friend. And from what he and the kids said, Eddie had inherited his grandfather's intelligence and then some.

"So well mannered," Natalie said, "Welcome to our home young man."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tennyson."

Ben tried to hide a smile as his friend turned on the charm to win over Gwen's mom. It seemed to be working.

"Well, I assume you boys are here to see Gwen. I'll get her."

"What was your answer to number 12?" Gwen asked her friend on the phone. As she listened to the answer a knock came at the door.

"Emily, can you hold on a minute?" She put the phone away, "Come in."

Her mother opened the door. "You have some company, Ben is here. And he brought a friend. He said his name is Eddie Grandsmith."

"Oh, he told me he was coming to visit." She turned back to her phone. "Can I call you back?...Yeah...Yeah, that's him...Okay, thanks. Talk to you later."

"Here's our nerd Queen." Ben said as Gwen stepped off the staircase. She just stuck her tongue out at Ben, getting a laugh out of Eddie.

"What's so funny?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing, just something I was talking to Ben about earlier."

"If it's got anything to do with me, tell me."

"I think you two tease each other as your way to show affection."

"Oh," Gwen said, "You mean the five love languages. I don't think insults and pranks are on the list."

"Maybe not, but I think that's yours anyway, I mean between the two of you."

"Ha, ha, maybe you're right. I guess gifts must be yours," she said touching the pendant that Eddie has sent her. One modeled after the cat face that she had on so many of her things. "Between this and the Sumo Slammer pin you gave Ben."

"Maybe so. So, we wanted to see if you wanted to hang out. I'd like to see some of Ben's aliens and some of your magic."

"Sure, let's go." She turned to Ben. "Go to our usual practice spot?"

"Sounds good to me. And after, maybe just hang out at the mall for a while."

In a short time, they were at the Tennysons training grounds. One that was still being set up by the plumbers. Of course, they had to show an ID to get in.

"They set up a nice area for you," Eddie commented.

"Yeah, Grandpa and the plumbers decided that since the words out about aliens now, we'd need a private place to practice."

Soon they were in an open area. Ben turned the dial on the Omnitrix and slammed it down.
"I'll have to translate for this one." Gwen said when Ben went Wildmut. "Don't ask me how, but I can understand him."

Ben made some definite canine sounds..."I guess that's true." She turned to Eddie. "He's telling you that I like to take rides on this one."

After some more doglike vocalization she said, "And he's right. I like flying with Stinkfly. I don't like XLR8 much though. Too disorienting."

"X-L-R-8?...Accelerate. A fast alien, right?"

"Right again," she told him. "Now it's my turn." Gwen demonstrated her shield and a few spells that she'd learned. She noticed however, that Eddie seemed distracted.

"Penny for your thoughts," The red head asked.

After a moment Eddie answered. "I want to join your team."

Ben had come over to where they were sitting. "Don't you have to learn all about taking over the family business?"

"That won't be a problem. But I've been giving some thought to how I could help, and I think I have some ideas."

"Okay, let's hear them," Gwen prompted.

"Funny thing is they come from comic books."

Ben said, "Okay...Hey, I know a guy who reminds me of a comic book character, Killer Crock. He's one of my wrestling buddies." He smiled at Eddie, "So, you want to be our Iron-man or Batman."

"My first inspiration was actually 007, but yeah, those characters gave me some ideas too. I could turn some of those things into real tools." He turned to Ben. "I've also been thinking about that HQ you told me about. One of these days we might have to talk about how you would want your version of it."

Gwen interjected. "I like the sound of this. Let's talk about it some more at the mall. I want to go shopping."

The boys looked at each other and shrugged. "Let's go." Eddie said. Gwen smiled at the two boys as they left the training grounds.