June 2, 2016

Chicago, IL; 5:18 pm

"I can't believe we're still talking about this!" Ben screamed as he stormed off the Rust Bucket.

"We're not done here, Ben!" Max screamed following after him. "There was no reason to get involved."

"No reason? There was a car chase and I stepped in to help."

"It was a dumb kid trying to outrun a speeding ticket! That's not what the most dangerous weapon in the universe was meant for." The two have been arguing off and on since they left Pittsburgh. At first, Gwen felt bad for telling their Grandpa what had happened, but now she's just fed up with all the screaming.

"Can you both just calm down?" Gwen said from the Rust Bucket. "Where are we anyway?" Max had parked the RV in a parking garage and, aside from the occasional arguments, hadn't told either of them what he had planned for Chicago.

"Well, the festival is going all weekend so I splurged a little and got us a hotel." Max started to walk off in the direction of what she presumed was the hotel. "Get your bags ready, I'll be back with the room keys."

Happy to have silence once again, Gwen went back into the Rust Bucket to get her things. It wouldn't even be a full minute before Ben started complaining. "Something's wrong with Grandpa." Not wanting to start another argument she kept her mouth shut. "Look all I'm saying is that he doesn't get this upset over a little hero work. Something's bothering him." And with that, they continued to pack in silence.

It didn't take long for Max to get back. He handed each of them a room key. "Since you're adults now, I got you both your own rooms. I'll be sleeping in the Rust Bucket so go ahead and head up and drop off your bags. When you get back we can head out to dinner."

Their rooms were on the fourth floor and had a door connecting them. They had a view of the river and could even see where the festival would be taking place the next day. Aside from that, it was, for the most part, a pretty normal room. While Gwen was setting her bags aside, Ben had let himself in.

"Look, I'm telling you that there's something going on," Ben said ignoring her annoyed expressions. "I'm gonna call him out on it at dinner. If we both ask what's going on then maybe he'll give a little."

"Or, just maybe, he doesn't appreciate you running off on your own." Gwen's composure had started to waver and she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle much more of this. "Would it kill you to just admit you're wrong so we can enjoy a nice dinner." After dropping off her bags she started heading back down with Ben not far behind. The elevator ride down was a quiet one which Gwen appreciated and had only hoped it would last the rest of the day.

When they got back to the Rust Bucket, Max was struggling to look for something on his phone. "So there are a couple of restaurants nearby. There's Italian down the street but I just found a Thai place that has a special on grasshopper medley." Max said with a huge grin on his face.

"ITALIAN!" The cousins screamed in unison causing their grandpa to just shrug before getting into the driver's seat. The drive wasn't any longer than ten minutes and the restaurant itself wasn't very packed given that it was dinner time. After being seated, Ben didn't hesitate to start the interrogation. "Grandpa, you seem really irritated lately. Is everything alright?"

"I just want to have a peaceful vacation with my grandchildren. Is that too much to ask?" Max looked like the arguing had been wearing him down.

"Is that why you want me to ignore if there's any trouble?"

"I never said not to help people, just you don't have to get involved if you don't need to."

"But sometimes we don't know what I need to get involved in until it's too late!"

By this point, Max was starting to lose his temper. "Do you want to know what's bothering me? The fact that you're an adult now and you still act like the ten-year-old boy who found an alien watch in the woods!"

"I'm fresh out of high school, Grandpa!" Ben screamed. "And even then I've helped so many people how is this any different!?"

"Keep your voices down!" Gwen said just above a whisper. The other patrons were starting to get annoyed and look over in their direction.

"I've done nothing but support you all these years and this is what I get? A whiny kid thinking he can do whatever he wants? It's time you grow up, Ben."

"Hey! Don't think I need the watch to kick your sorry ass!"

"That's enough!" By this point, the two were in each other's faces and Gwen was sick of it. "What is wrong with you two!? We've been on the road for three days and you two are ready to rip each other's throats out! Is this what I've been missing for the last six years!?"

"Gwen we just-" Max started.

"Save it!" She yelled. "I should never have agreed to come along." Gwen grabbed her things and walked out of the restaurant feeling mortified.

It was a week ago when her father brought up the trip. Max wanted her to come along on the trip and sent Frank on his behalf. She knew that this would be the last time she would get to spend time with her grandfather before she left for college and had agreed to make him happy. In all honesty, though, she was excited to be on the road again. She missed the independence and privacy that being at home couldn't provide. After tonight though, she couldn't wait to go off to college and be done with them all.

Gwen continued to walk through the city with no clear destination in mind. Even as she passed their hotel, she walked in hopes to find some peace and quiet in the big city. Eventually, she found herself in a park by the harbor. There weren't many people around and that allowed her to finally get some time to herself.

The sun was hidden behind the large buildings. Soon it would be night, but Gwen still had no desire to go back. She knew that things wouldn't be the same, but she would never have guessed it was this bad. The thought that her Ben would pick a fight with their grandfather was insane. She was starting to think that they were on the path to Ben becoming Ben 10k. If that were the case, would her future self come to fix the timeline or has she changed herself to the point where that is no longer possible?

The sun had fully set and there was hardly anyone left in the park at this point. With her rage subsided, all that remained was a sense of melancholy as she made her way back to the hotel. The walk itself wasn't very long and before she knew it she was taking an elevator to the fourth floor. She didn't know what she was going to do when she saw Ben and Grandpa Max. They must be upset that she stormed off on them like that, but it was their fault. Why did they have to fight like that? None of this was making sense.

When she got back into her hotel room, she went to her bags to get ready for a nice warm bath. She could hear clatter coming from the jointed room and mumbling, but tried to ignore it. She was almost fully undressed when she heard Ben's voice on the other side of the bathroom door.

"Gwen?" He asked timidly. "Can we talk?" After grabbing a towel to cover the exposed flesh, she stuck her head out so he could at least speak to her face. The realization that she was almost naked hit him but chose to ignore it. "After you stormed out on dinner, Grandpa and I talked it out and…" Ben was fumbling to find the right words in fear that she'd just slam the door in his face. "We're sorry… I'm sorry."

They both stood there in silence before Gwen spoke up. "I'm sorry for storming out like that." It wasn't much, but it was enough for them. She went to close the door, but Ben had stopped her.

"Wait, hold on!" Ben shouted holding the door open. He didn't know what caused him to rush over like that. Maybe the door closing would also close off any chance he had of fixing this mess. Whether it was his hero instincts or something else, he found a half-naked Gwen shaking in her white towel on the other side. This is the closest they've been since they were kids and they both knew it. The feeling of regret was creeping up his back, but this was a do or die moment so he turned around and quickly asked, "Do you want to get some dinner together!?" It came out more frantic and sounded almost like a demand than a question, but he kept going. "We didn't get to eat dinner so Grandpa said we should get dinner for ourselves." He kept rambling just to keep the awkward silence at bay.

After a few seconds, Gwen slammed the door and Ben slumped back against the door in defeat. He was about to get up to go back to his room when he heard Gwen softly say, "Okay." and he stopped to look back at the door to make sure he heard her correctly. "Just let me finish my bath please…"

"O-of course! Just knock on my door when you're ready." A smile found it's way on the young man's face as he went back to his room to call his grandfather. After Gwen had stormed out earlier, Ben and Max had talked it out and apologized for the way they were acting. Ben said he'd try to be more conscious of his actions and Max said he wouldn't be as hard on him when it came to the small stuff. Max gave the waiter a generous tip for the trouble they caused and then they went searching for Gwen.

After an hour or so they couldn't find her and Max sent Ben back to the hotel in hopes she'd come back while Max continued to search the city. Ben knew that going XLR8 would make the search easier, but in the back of his head, he knew that she'd come back on her own and that she just needed some time to herself. Max thought the same thing so when Ben said she was back he suggested they go to dinner without him. He was mostly to blame for what happened and chose to give them both some space for the rest of the night.

After getting off the phone with his grandpa, Ben sat on his bed and thought about what had happened the last few days. He knew that he was letting his emotions dictate his actions. Ever since he met Julie he had been getting better at keeping them under control, but seeing Gwen back in the Rust Bucket caused a riot in him. He was angry at her and that made him angry with himself. After what happened at the restaurant, this was his only chance to make things right.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. Quickly grabbing his things, he went into the hallway with Gwen. When he saw her, he was taken aback. She was wearing a white blouse that exposed her shoulders that went well with her skirt and black leggings. "You look great," Ben said without realizing.

"Don't make this weird." Gwen retorted before turning for the elevators. She was still upset with them both and dinner wasn't enough to make up for the way they have been acting. One minute she's dead in Ben's eyes and the next he's cooking her food and taking her on dates. Except this wasn't a date. This is just two cousins going out to dinner. Together. And her nicer clothes had happened to be at the top of her bag when she got out of the bath. "Don't make this weird…"

AN: This was the hardest chapter to write so far. I had major writer's block and I'm still not satisfied with how this chapter has gone but I really just want to move past this. Hopefully the bit of fluff at the end makes up for the lack of content.