Not sure how I did it, but I did.
Looking back through the glass window, I saw us driving further away from our last camping area. Police lights pulsed blue and red through the fog as I watched the poachers being shoved into the back seats. Meeting a Krakken face to face was a whole new experience for me, and while I didn't necessarily need to intervene it was just another excuse to use the omnitrix.
With a little foreknowledge on what was happening, a little sabotage, and the use of Ripjaws, I had returned the eggs to their rightful mother.
All while Max and Gwen were oblivious to my actions.
Letting out another yawn from a restless night, I laid back on one of the small couches across from the kitchen.
"Feeling tired again Ben?" Grandpa Max asked out of concern. "You sure you're getting enough sleep? There's no shame in sleeping in the Rust Bucket when we're camping."
"No thanks." Gwen intervened. "I prefer my privacy."
Truth was, as an outdoorsy person myself I would take some shame in sleeping in the Rust Bucket instead of outside. The only exception would be if there was a big storm that leaked through the tent. That was an awful experience I had in Arizona when I was twelve, or eleven.
"I'll let Gwen have her privacy." I mentioned, still trying to ease the tension that Ben and Gwen had between one another after years of arguing and bickering. I'm sure Max would agree with me when my goal was to alleviate any possible headaches this summer.
"At some point we'll have to all sleep in the Rust Bucket on a few of our destinations." The man warned as he turned us onto the smoother, paved roads. "We don't want to pressure our next stop into letting us sleep in their home."
"Who are we visiting?" Gwen asked as I propped a pillow under my head.
"Your Aunt Vera. I told her we would be passing nearby and she was excited at the idea of having a visit from us."
I remember that episode. It took place somewhere hot with not much water in a neighborhood of retired folks. There were lots of places like that though. Carefully choosing my questions to not reveal my ignorance, I took a shot in the dark to figure out where we were going. "She hasn't moved right?"
"She's still in Glendale." Grandpa Max confirmed it. "I considered living there myself not that long ago. It's a nice community she's in, I don't see her leaving it anytime soon."
Glendale….can't say I recall a place called Glendale.
Hope I don't sound like an idiot with this next question, but if she was our next destination and we were leaving out the southside of California then there's only one real state she would be in. "How far is that from Phoenix again?"
"It's just north of it."
Arizona, I lived there for a few years. I wonder if we'll pass through where I used to live. It couldn't be that different from when I lived there in early 2010's right?
But, what if it didn't exist. What if all traces of the places I went to or the things I did weren't a part of this world?
Pushing the existential crisis aside, I shut my eyes and caught up on some sleep. The next thing I knew someone was shaking my leg. Lowering my arm from my face I gazed up to see Gwen was the one who woke me up.
"Come on, Grandpa said he'd buy us some ice cream after he fills up the Rust Bucket."
"Thanks." Rolling up onto my feet, I followed Gwen outside into the morning rays of what I could tell was going to be a hot day. We were definitely in Arizona. Flat mountain ranges, hardly a speck of life to be seen, mostly just pale dirt with a couple tumbleweeds waiting to be carried by the wind.
With my eyes still adjusting to the light, I relied on following Gwen's shadow to lead us inside to the air conditioned gas station that did put a focus on ice cream instead of having general stocked goods.
Now what to pick….
The clunk of metal got our attention, I looked out to see some rather disheveled looking guys with an old pick up trick connecting a chain to something I couldn't make out. Was this it? Was this where I revealed to their faces that I wasn't joking about turning into aliens?
Depends on if I got what I wanted.
While their eyes were away I snuck into the bathroom, pressing in the green button to have the device let out a gleeful tone at my touch. Scrolling through the options, I found one alien that would be good for the job, but might also have some horrible consequences later on.
"If I knew how to free you, I would." I said as I pushed down the dial.
Instead of being the haunting specter that might end up a villain whether I appeal to its desire to be free or not, I was shrunken down into the smallest I had ever been.
"Gray Matter?" I asked, thinking while acting because there wasn't much time. "Two out of three so far for alien of my choice."
Leaping down from the perch of the window, I dashed over to the truck that was beginning to rev itself and made sure I was not the object of their attention. There were multiple ways to disable a car, and I didn't need Gray Matter to know how but his ability to squeeze through small gaps made it easier than asking them to pop the hood.
One pull of a wire from the car battery, using it to whip off the timing belt was enough to disable this beast of a machine. Using a bit more intelligence than I usually have, I could identify what every cable, every wire did, and it allowed me to keep the driver distracted by making alarms, wipers, even having the doors sporadically unlock and lock over and over to make him remain where he was.
Not forgetting the other one, and hearing the frantic pushing of the gas pedal, I put a few things back to let the truck surge forward. I got lucky, as the other man was still holding the chain to it when he tried to use it as an improvised weapon against Max. It yanked him forward, having him skid across the pavement until he wisely let go.
The truck didn't last long, sputtering out and giving me plenty of smoke to hide my escape. I hope Gray Matter is good at holding his breath.
One minute and thirty seconds, leaving me with somewhere between eight to fourteen minutes left in this transformation. Yet they would come looking for me sooner, I needed to change back faster. I could remember there was a way in the show, and Gray Matter should be able to figure it out.
Thinking as I climbed back up into the bathroom, I could devise multiple ways to access basic functions of the omnitrix to attempt. There was just one issue I discovered as I stretched my arms behind me where the dial rested….I couldn't reach.
"Didn't Ben's future son use Gray Matter to access the Master Control?!" I winced as the tendons in my arms strained to let me gain access to the device.
Seconds turned to minutes, and each one that passed I was grateful they hadn't come to look for me in the bathroom but it was going to happen eventually. The longer I was in here, the greater chance they would barge right in.
"Come on!" I hopped backwards, hoping the wall would serve to press the omnitrix to return me to human. No such luck. All I could do was try to awkwardly revolve the outer ring of the device in a sequence that it accepted.
How did Vilgax know how to time the omnitrix out in the show even though he had never touched it before?
More questions than answers, and with my tiny fragile body I could feel the approaching footsteps.
Finally, the red beeping echoed around me as I dove under the stall door. With a bright flash and my body growing back to its normal height, I hit my head right on the toilet.
Ouch, I definitely deserve some ice cream after this.
Why was I watching the streets so expectantly? I knew we were on the wrong side of the state to see anything I would recognize. Still as I sat in the passenger seat I noticed I was taking in so many details about the place.
Max and Gwen hadn't really talked to me yet, and I didn't see any reason to mention anything to them. It was a 'comfortable' silence as I finally noted Max was slowing us down in front of one of the many houses.
"Make sure to watch your cheeks kids." Max warned as he unbuckled from his seat. "Vera's a pincher."
The moment I opened the door the scorching heat blasted my face, baking my skin in an all too familiar way. It was, nostalgic.
"Ben?" Gwen asked, holding something behind her as she lingered near the RV doorway. "Aren't you hot?"
"Well yeah, but it's not bad. I kind of like the sting." I just hope Ben isn't a super sweaty kind of kid, or person. My real body was good at regulating its temperature without the need to reapply deodorant every hour.
Whatever answer she was hoping for wasn't it, as she reached back to put something away just out of my sight. Gwen had been, more or less tolerating my presence so far. It was better than how it was at the start of the trip, maybe she was starting to see that I wasn't the same kid that butted heads with her. Still, her 'caution' if that was the right word was growing around me.
Gwen was starting to test the waters, waiting until she knew I was absolutely calm before poking me with a topic to see what would suddenly revert me back to the Ben she knew. Whether she wanted Ben back or not was lost to me.
I just want to enjoy a nice summer trip.
"Vera!"
"Max!"
The two older folks embraced a hug before the plump woman set her sights on us. She was so happy to have us present. From what I remember there wasn't anyone else here, just a lone woman who didn't live close to family. I had an Aunt like that, and I wanted to make sure Vera felt like she was a respected and loved member of the Tennyson family.
Even if it cost me my cheeks.
She brought us inside, made us feel welcomed with her….Jello concoction of meats and veggies. Sure I have had jello salad before but I had only ever heard of putting meals into jello mold.
"Now, what are these brown chunks?" Max was digging in, Gwen and I were still hesitant to partake. Was this a Tennyson thing with weird food? Ben's parents served me a good breakfast, and if Gwen is in the same boat as I am then these two were the weird ones in the family.
"Porkchops!" Vera happily answered as I held up a shaky spoon full in front of me. "And the white bits are cauliflower."
Separately, I could probably have enjoyed this. As a whole? The texture was all kinds of wrong. Doubting I would be able to get a different meal, and wanting to be grateful for this woman's hard work for family she was probably so happy to serve, I dug in.
Luckily, there was a lack of flavor to the jello, so I could just use my tongue to squish out the meal inside and eat that before gulping down the jello.
Gwen stared mouth agape at me. "You know what Ben, you can have mine. You've been hungry for everything this trip."
"Is that right?" Vera leaned over. "Ben's body must be ready to grow even bigger! Feel free to have as much as you can eat Ben!"
Huh, that was a motivation I didn't know I needed. If I was to get this pipsqueak of a body any taller I needed to eat just about everything before me. Accepting the task, I held up my work at the ready. "I'll do my best."
One of my other Aunts, as great as a cook as she was, loved to experiment. When I lived with her for a month I was the victim of all sorts of trials.
Vera reminded me of her, and suddenly I wished I could see my Aunt again and tell her how much I appreciated everything she did for me.
"Ben? What's wrong?" Vera's panicked voice had everyone stare at me, and I realized my vision was becoming a little more watery than normal.
A swelling pressure was at the back of my throat, I could feel my nose becoming runny. Don't cry, just don't cry.
"I'm ok." My choked voice did nothing to convince them. "Just, I really love my Aunt."
"Awww." Vera took it to heart, coming over to embrace me tightly to show just how much she loved me back.
It made me feel worse, because I wasn't talking about her, and she wasn't hugging Ben. I couldn't dare hug her back.
To keep myself out of any further conversation I focused on eating, and once I was done I volunteered to wash dishes. Taking as much time as I could without raising Vera's water bill in a dry state, I let the real Tennyson family talk to one another to catch up.
I could hear Gwen speak eagerly with Vera regarding some stuffed birds on a shelf. This was probably the most excited I've seen Gwen all summer, or ever really. I was happy she found something to smile about this trip. Gwen had mentioned it a few times off handedly that she had a different plan all worked out for the summer, but her parents 'forced' her on this trip.
I hope Max didn't take it too personally, as I suspected a big reason why Gwen had some disdain over the whole thing was because of me, or Ben I guess. The longer I was stuck in this body the more the line blurred.
At some point I was afraid that somewhere in the future when someone called out Ben's name, I would turn and think 'that's me.'
When everyone got settled down for the night in their beds in the warm, welcoming home, I felt anything but welcome. All night I thought about how I was just an invader with a familiar face, and I didn't have the courage to tell them.
Please Ben, just take your body back and spend as much time as you can with your family.
Opening my eyes, I came to a single conclusion.
I had stopped dreaming.
Whatever had happened, however I woke up in this body, it took away my ability to fully dream. That was a shame, my dreams usually spun fun narratives to live through. If needed, I could alter or change anything I wanted in it.
I had no idea if this was connected to the fact that I went to sleep and woke up in a new body in a world mostly similar to my own, but I didn't have reason to dismiss the connection either.
Stretching out of the pull out couch, I glanced over and saw Gwen laying there still soundly dreaming. Sleeping on a pullout couch crammed in with a relative, can't count how many times I did that with siblings and cousins while on vacation.
Did I feel weird about how I was technically a grown man that shared a bed with a ten year old girl that I only met about a week ago?
Oh yes, it was super weird. The only reason I managed to go to sleep was because, as per law of vacationing with relatives, a pillow wall was enforced strictly. It was a small comfort, enough to let me doze off.
I saw Max walk past, giving a short wave as he went to the main door of the house. "I'll be back in half an hour. Just need to get in a good walk before we get on the road again."
Nodding along, I watched him leave as I was now the only one awake. It wouldn't be long before Vera and Gwen woke up, so I decided it was time to have a little more control over what I ate. Going straight to the kitchen, I cracked open the fridge and took inventory of what was there. Lots of prune juice and some pills, but honestly it was stocked with a lot of normal stuff.
Now I wasn't much of a cook, but when it came to breakfast meals I was a champ. I had helped out with cooking hundreds of meals for a Christmas party one time with over five hundred attendees. With confidence guiding my hands, not even a short ten year old body could stop me from whipping up one of my go to dishes. Cheesy omelets with bell peppers, some spinach, and who could leave out bacon?
Luckily Vera didn't cheap out on ingredients. I hated pre-cooked bacon. I always made sure to cook it on a lower heat for longer to make sure I get it just right, and while the pan was sizzling away the smell managed to wake Gwen up.
"That….smells surprisingly good." She came over, making sure I hadn't picked up on Max's or Vera's unique palette. "You can cook?"
"Not a lot of things." I admitted as I threw together what was ready on a plate for her. "But what I can cook, I can cook."
Still unbelieving that I was really her cousin, the same one that annoyed her at every minute of being around her, she hesitantly accepted. "Thanks Ben."
Turning back to the stove, I cleaned as I wrapped up the last portion of food. Max would be back any moment, and I hoped that he could still appreciate real food. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gwen still staring at me, trying to find something that wasn't there before.
"Why?" She asked out of the blue.
"Why what?"
"Why are you being so nice? You haven't pulled any pranks on me, you haven't called me any names, you haven't complained a single time, and to top it all off you keep helping out with cleaning and chores without being asked!"
"I'm just doing what I can."
"See!" She stood up, pointing right at me as if I was a ghost. "You're acting all humble about it with no smug attitude! It's like you got abducted and your brain swapped by aliens!"
Maybe that did happen, but without a scar around my scalp to prove it the idea was just another theory in hundreds that I had gone through. "Would you prefer I not make you a normal breakfast?"
That shut up her line of questioning real fast, the girl sitting right back down and protecting her meal. "No no, I'm more than happy to have something my stomach doesn't want to throw up."
She was oddly witty for someone who was ten years old. I could understand for a cartoon and all but if this was supposed to be reality then maybe here ten year olds had more developed brains.
"But really Ben, what changed you?"
I didn't have an answer for her.
Gwen accepted my silence for now, deciding to bring her empty dishes back to the sink and wash them herself instead of just resting them inside. Her hands went over to the coffee maker and that's when I left to avoid the horrid smell. After all I had three other meals prepared, I sat down to dig into my own. Part of why I didn't expand my cooking skills was because I had little patience. If I couldn't cook it under half an hour I thought it took too long and I would get too hungry to wait.
Half way through my meal, Vera came around and she seemed….off. No smile, wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and not even a good morning.
Not even a comment on the breakfast I prepared for her. Ouch.
"Where's your Grandpa?" She asked in a tone I couldn't decipher.
"Out on a walk." I answered while looking at the clock. He should've been back ten minutes ago.
"Here Aunt Vera!" Gwen had prepared the woman a glass of water with coffee alongside it. "I made you some-"
I saw the way the tray wobbled under her grip, she didn't center the cups and wasn't prepared for how off balance it would be. It fell down before Gwen's feet, and Vera jumped.
No really, she jumped way higher than a woman her age should be capable of. Then her legs snapped out into a splits over it, stretching a little beyond how long they were before.
"Clean it up!" She shouted in panic. "Right now!"
"I'm sorry." Gwen whined in guilt, grabbing a hand towel nearby and wiping away.
Ah crap, I had totally forgotten to pay attention to our surroundings. If I remembered a scene from Ben 10, that's because it was in an episode.
Every episode has danger of some kind.
"Hold on Gwen, first we need to sweep up the shards." Getting up to move over to the child, I took special care to act inconspicuous.
"No!" Vera denied my advice. "Wipe it all! I don't want to see a single drop!"
Gwen didn't know how to handle the aunt she loved, the aunt that was so kind, and acted so out of character. I may have unintentionally taken over Ben's body, but I wasn't an alien in disguise.
An alien that showed a distinct fear of water.
While I watched Vera's eyes locked onto the danger below, she never noticed my hand go for the sink's extendable head. I aimed it right at her, and pulled the handle.
"AAHHHHH!" She screamed as steam shot out from her body, legs melting as her fluid form flopped onto the ground.
Gwen flinched away, watching in horror as the woman melted into a puddle after getting splashed by a little water.
Wizard of Oz was more brutal than I gave it credit for.
Once the screaming stopped, the pile of goop lifeless, I ended my assault and stood over the alien corpse. This was my first ever honest encounter with an extraterrestrial life form.
That was also the first time I ever killed any form of sentient life.
I killed someone.
"Ben?!" Gwen was shaking in her shoes, unblinking towards what she witnessed. "W-what did you do?!"
"Vera was replaced by an alien." I answered simply. I couldn't waste time, from what scraps of memories I could recollect of a show I had watched long ago I was aware Max was also captured. "I need to go find her and Max."
"Aliens?!" This was probably one of the more traumatic ways to get Gwen to discover aliens were real. I couldn't regret it, I couldn't question my actions until I made sure that I had saved those who were taken. "Aliens are real?!"
"Yes." No beating around the bush. Normally this would be the part where Ben and Gwen team up and go stop the bad guys without hesitation. But looking at her now, Gwen had seen too much too fast and she was in shock.
Guiding her around the…mess…I brought Gwen to the bathroom and nudged her inside.
"Lock yourself in here." I ordered while pointing to the detachable shower head. "Start filling the tub, and use that as a weapon. Even if they cut off the water, if you fill the bathtub now they won't try to touch you."
They were after old people as far as I knew, but I don't think they would hesitate to kill us if we posed a threat.
"No wait!" Gwen latched onto my arm, quivering at the thought of being left alone. "Don't go, we can call the police or-"
"They won't believe us." I was vaguely aware that there was an organization outside the Plumbers that knew aliens were real and would be more than willing to handle them. Trouble was, I doubt they were listening into every 911 call and less likely to listen to a kid. "Trust me, and do as I say."
Not the best thing to say, but I needed to leave and I wanted her to accept that even if she didn't like it. I hated the idea of leaving someone begging for help.
I didn't need her to say yes, her letting go as I shut the door behind me was almost enough. Once I heard Gwen click the mechanism to lock herself inside, I took off.
I have avoided more public use of the omnitrix, and if I could keep it that way all the better. No one could see me if I was fast enough right?
As I dashed to the front door, I rose my wrist, clicked the button, and was delighted that the omnitrix offered the very alien I was after.
In a burst of light that stretched my bones and weaved my muscles tightly in an instant, I accelerated to a speed beyond anyone's perception.
Super speed was a coveted power, because you could get so much done in a blink of an eye. As the blue humanoid raptor XLR8, I could do exactly that.
I swept the streets for a hint of where the den, nest, ship, wherever they gathered was. When I saw a group of older folks heading to a dumpster with no trash in hand, I took that as a sign.
Zipping behind it, pushing my back up against it and heaving with the lack of super strength this alien had, I thanked whoever designed this thing to have wheels. It gave me enough of an edge to move it to reveal a large set of doors along the ground. Without a moments hesitation I ran in, flying through long tunnels carved out from the Earth.
After what felt like hours of searching, which was really only a couple of seconds, I came across something straight out of a comic book.
The retired residents, all trapped in organic pods of transparent slime. A couple of fluid organic humanoids not bothering to hide themselves were carrying a few eggs inside what I presumed was their ship.
"Hey!" I shouted in a new voice that did not sound it would come from a healthy pair of lungs.
Why would I announce myself to the invaders and have my presence known? One simple reason.
I had to give them a chance.
"These people are not for stealing!" I couldn't come up with anything better at the moment. Keeping it simple and direct was the best thing for a high intensity situation, which is why I kept the fact that I already killed one of their own to myself.
"We're not stealing." One of them gurgled, their organs visible through their bodies. "We're harvesting, and you better run while you still have the chance."
"I'm warning you." I stated, getting back down into a runner's position. "Leave in peace, before I leave you in pieces."
They laughed just as I hoped they were taking me seriously. I'm not sure if I still came off as a kid to them, or they were just that confident there was nothing I could do to them.
I remained in place, waiting for their allies to return so I could take care of them in one go.
"You think you can harm us?" One of them challenged, stretching their limbs into long whips. "What can you do alone, against all of us?"
I followed his gesture, seeing that back up had finally arrived.
Then, I did exactly as he suggested I do.
I ran.
Becoming a blur of speed, my claws shredded their bodies like the snot rags they were before they could feel any of the pain. Unknowing if they could pull themselves back together in the state I left them, I returned my focus towards getting these people out.
One egg at a time I raced the victims back near the entrance. Originally I wanted to get everyone outside instantly, but that proved too tiring after a few so I just trimmed down the workload and brought them to the last tunnel with no other paths other than freedom.
Five, ten, seventeen, twenty six, thirty four, each time I passed I saw the bodies of snot closing in on each other, collecting into a single organism that was quickly growing frustrated with my intervention.
After the last pod was removed to safety, I swept the area and inside the ship ten times over to make sure no one was left behind.
With eight minutes at least left as an alien, I still had one more problem to take care of. As a speedster, I could stretch eight into eight hours easily.
"Our food!" The single towering threat cried as I ran back out. "That little pest! Come back here now so-!"
Returning just as it asked, it gasped in horror by what I had brought. A large plastic pool filled to the brim with water balloons. It was Arizona in the summer, there were dozens of homes across the state that were having fun to beat the heat.
It rose an arm, either for an attack or to shield itself. I didn't give it the chance to figure out. My arms whirled a storm of colorful sacks of water at it, each one exploding on impact and dissolving chunks of its flesh into lifeless goo.
It screeched as I pelted it relentlessly, its form shrinking with every pop that came over it. By the time I ran out whatever was left was squirming over its own dying body, too torn apart to form a coherent word.
Good, I didn't want it on my conscience that I executed an enemy begging for mercy.
Grabbing the pool with plenty of water sitting in it, I spun it around myself before releasing one end to drown out the suffering.
With a final splash, the invasion was no more.
I had faced my first alien threat, and slaughtered it leaving no witnesses to my actions. The omnitrix was still secret, Max and Gwen would still be safe from Vilgax's attention.
I only realized that I had been standing over the grave when I heard the tell tale alert that the omnitrix was about to time out. For XLR8, that was plenty of time to get back to Vera's home.
Timing out as I slid through the doorway, I nearly tripped over myself and into the body still left as a gross puddle on the floor.
"Ben?" Gwen called out hesitantly from the bathroom. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." It wasn't really, but I had been 'Ben' over a week now. Heading over to the bathroom door, I heard Gwen unlock it as I approached. Bad idea, if I wasn't me I could just open it up, like so, and-
-have a shower head blasted all over me. Ok, guess Gwen was still being careful.
Grabbing the towel next to the door and drying my face, I didn't need nor want Gwen to apologize for playing it safe. The girl, the ten year old child was still shaking with fear and adrenaline.
"It's ok now." I could say with certainty. "Everything's alright."
"W-what about the aliens? What about Grandpa and Aunt Vera."
"Safe." In their pods but still safe. "I just have to clean up the mess I made."
"I can help." She weakly offered. "Just, don't leave me here alone."
Glancing at the red dial of the omnitrix, it would still be a few minutes before I could turn into XLR8 again and put everyone back in their homes. Not sure if I could get them all right, but most of them should have family photos or ID's I can confirm in their rooms.
"You don't have to." I reminded, patting myself down with the towel.
"I want to." She was determined to participate in some form or another, staying true to character despite the awful experience she must have had. Even if I didn't want to get her involved, she might need to anyways given all the other things we would face in the near future.
I've been lucky so far, even with my foreknowledge it was only going to get me so far.
"Ok then." Leading Gwen out from her hiding place, I started checking closets for some kind of mop or rags that would serve to scoop up the pile of death that still lingered in the home.
It was almost nightfall by the time they woke up.
Max had done his stretches, was about to go through his routine before he spotted us sitting in front of Vera's television. "You two are up early."
"You're up late." I corrected, still keeping my eyes on the screen with Gwen. I had cooked another meal for us, just some crisp burritos as I stayed away from anything slimy. I expected Gwen to have grabbed her laptop and distract herself from what had happened.
Instead, she chose to stay right here, not wanting to be alone for a second. I didn't care what was on, and I doubted she did either right now, so I decided to see where my life and this one differed.
Cartoon Network was how I remember it, even most of the ads, just a couple things missing and a few new things to take their place.
Max checked the clock along the wall as I heard Vera begin to get out of bed. "It's seven thirty, I don't normally count this as early but it's not that late."
"P.M."
"What?"
"Seven thirty, P.M." With Gwen's nod of permission I turned off the television, getting up so we could both see Max and Vera alive and well. Almost like nothing had happened.
Max checked the watch on his wrist, squinting at it agreeing with me. "That can't be right."
"Oh Max, did you make these?" Vera had pulled out the leftovers from breakfast and lunch that I had stored away from the fridge. "If you folks were getting hungry you could have asked and I would be more than happy to whip something up."
Max eyed the meals, glancing back to us for an explanation. "Did you two cook?"
"Ben did." Gwen dumped it on me, not out of malice or teasing but just because of the simple fact that I did it.
"Oh wow!" Vera came over to give my hair a ruffle. "Didn't know you were quite the chef Ben! Maybe I could show you some of my own family recipes!"
"I'm not that good." I didn't have the patience for most cooking, and my attempts at jello in the past had been less than satisfactory. "You should try it before you make any hasty judgments."
"Right." Max was examining everything critically now, trying to decipher what exactly had transpired but he kept his thoughts to himself. "I'll just heat this up."
The adults left to the kitchen, Gwen leaning over to my ear to whisper as their backs were turned. "Should we tell them?"
"If they ask." I doubted they would. That was the perk about having the face of a kid.
No one expected me to know all the answers.
Huh, I ended up writing this chapter a lot sooner than I thought.
Welp, I guess I can post it.
Let me know your thoughts and what episodes you would prefer I focus the chapters on.