Necrofriggan (Continued)

Sandra sat in the kitchen and poured herself a cup of piping hot tea as Carl brought a pen and a notepad for her to use. She frantically wrote her thoughts down as a way to calm herself. Carl poured himself a cup of tea as well and watched his wife work through her thoughts in relative silence. By the time Sandra finished, her beverage was barely the perfect temperature. She downed it in one go and turned to her husband with a raised brow.

"How are you so calm right now."

"Sandy, honey, my mom's an energy being from another planet, my dad was a space cop, and our son is a shape-shifting superhero. I'm used to unusual."

"I know I should be used to it, but this takes the cake!" she hissed, not wanting to wake her child. "My baby had babies. Any parent would be concerned."

"I'll admit; this is a little bit more out there than I'm used to."

"I would hope so."

Carl took a sip from his cup before speaking.

"Ben said the kids he had were Necrofriggian, right?"

Sandra looked down at her notes before answering.

"Yes. He did. Fourteen of them. Oh goodness, fourteen children. That is… That's a lot."

"Hang on Sandy."

Carl got up and padded up the stairs, returning with a device Sandra couldn't recall having seen before. It looks like a tablet, but bulkier and a bit less square.

"When we found out about Ben having the watch again, I pulled this out of storage. It's supposed to be a database from Dad's old job"

Carl fiddled around with it for a bit before it flickered to life. He seemed to be flipping through folders until he found the correct one. He sat next to Sandra for her to see it.

"The Big Chill?"

"Looks like it."

Sandra and Carl absorbed themselves in the database, doing their best to commit everything the database told them to memory. They took a pause when they arrived at reproduction.

"Every eighty years? But Ben's still a teenager! How could he have them already?" Sandra asked, her voice a very harsh whisper.

Carl watched as Sandra went to her notepad again, scribbling almost furiously, doing her best to understand. He was a bit curious about it too. No matter what form he took, or how comfortable he was in it, at baseline, Ben was still completely human.

"Perhaps a human of fifteen years is the equivalent of a Necrofriggian of eighty years?"

Sandra opened her mouth and closed it again, making a low hum of dissatisfaction, but did not complain. Then she looked at the database and her notes again before she spoke.

"But if that's true, then he's due to have another set when he's thirty. Carl. If you're right, he'll be doing this every fifteen years until he can't anymore! And who knows when that will be!"

Carl didn't have any idea when that was. The database covered a wide range of aliens, but there was only so much data stored in this one device. If they wanted answers, they'd have to ask questions.

But would Ben be okay with that?

Ben just had a breakdown over this, would he be ready to talk about it openly or want to keep it all in again? The last thing they wanted was to do was upset him again.

"We should probably talk to him about all of this."

Sandra nodded, but still looked dissatisfied and went back to her notebook. Carl looked at his wife with a wry smile. Sandra was the queen of compartmentalization and he came with a lot of baggage. She put up with a lot and he couldn't be more grateful. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. She turned to look at him.

"What was that for?"

"For being your wonderful self."

Sandra gave him a funny look but then smiled.

"I love you."

Carl was about to verbally return her affections when they heard footsteps. It seemed their son was awake. Carl checked the clock. He'd been asleep for almost two hours. Sandra checked to see if the electric kettle had any water left and picked up the only box of tea Ben actually liked. He padded softly into the kitchen, bleary-eyed and his hair mussed from sleep. He sat down and tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

"How are you feeling honey?" Sandra asked gently.

"Headache," Ben murmured.

"Crying yourself to sleep tends to do that to you dear."

Carl took the hint and poured Ben a cup of tea and handed it to him. The teenager held the cup with both hands and let it warm his fingers. He stared as the ginger and herbs slowly infused into the hot water, deep in thought.

"Ben, do you think you want to talk a bit more about this?"

Ben watched the infusion for a few moments before finally nodding.

"I just… I don't know where to start."

"Well… did you name them?" Sandra asked carefully.

Ben bowed his head slightly, his way of curling in on himself, and nodded, his cheeks flushing pink again.

"Well, I didn't name them formally, not really. But when I started to remember things, I named them all in order."

Sandra and Carl listened in rapt attention as their son listed off the names of their grandchildren, Sandra instinctively writing them all down in her neatest cursive. She looked over each and every name with new and unending affection, she only wished she could put their faces to the names.

"Such lovely names Ben."

"Well, I mean, I know I give myself nicknames that are kinda silly, but they're my kids."

Ben paused and his blushed deepened as he realized what he'd said. He hadn't openly claimed the kids as his beyond the confession of having them earlier. Now he'd said it out loud and there wasn't going back.

After a moment, Ben realized he didn't really want to.

For the first time since that morning, Ben smiled; a proud smile that Carl recognized. He wore that same smile when they first brought Ben home. A thought crossed his mind and he spoke.

"Ben, who else knows about the kids?"

"Other than Gwen, Kevin, and Julie? Just the three of us."

"Not even Grandpa Max?"

Ben looked back at his cup and shook his head, clearly ashamed. Carl was surprised. Ben and Gwen had always had a special bond with their grandfather. The fact that he had kept it secret from Max of all people for so long was a testament to how well Ben had been handling it until today. That is to say, not well at all.

"Do you want to call him and maybe tell him about his great-grandbabies?"

Ben looked back at his father with slight trepidation, but nevertheless spoke again.

"Can we invite him over? I think this is news Grandpa ought to hear in person."

Ben's courage was rewarded with his father's gentle smile of agreement.

-Omnitheories-

Max Tennyson was worried. When his youngest son called him he was more than a little worried that something terrible had happened. But then Ben was on the phone telling him nothing was wrong, there was no emergency and he just wanted him to come over. Now please, if it was possible. And far be it from him to deny his family. So now he was in the living room of Carl and Sandra's house and more than a little concerned. What was so important he had to come here? Was someone sick? Was there some other kind of trouble? Max had fought and bested many foes, but he knew there were some battles he couldn't fight, no matter how much he wanted to. He sipped on the drink Sandra had kindly offered him and tried to soothe his nerves.

Sandra and Carl were on opposite sides of the living room in the matching armchairs while Max sat on the couch looking up at ben, standing in front of the television and pacing. Ben looked absolutely nerve wracked. Something was definitely up. Ben was looking everywhere but him and was absentmindedly running his thumb on the underside of the Ultimatrix; a nervous habit he had picked up when he first got the Omnitrix and never really stopped, even after he took it off for five years. Why was Ben so nervous? He knew Ben sounded a little apprehensive on the phone, but he hadn't seemed this nervous. Finally, Max spoke up, keeping his tone as even as possible.

"Ben, the suspense is killing me here, what is it that you want to tell me?"

Ben stopped pacing. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, seemingly unable to form the words. He tried again and successfully said:

"How much do you know about Necrofriggians?"

Max hadn't been expecting that. The obvious attempt at stalling, yes. That he had expected. The specific question? No.

"Can't say I know everything. Necrofriggians tend to be very secretive, so I can only tell you about as much as any given plumber database."

"Alright, well… You know how I can turn into one?"

"…Yes…"

"And that they asexually reproduce every eighty years, right?"

"…Yes?"

"Well, I may have- sorta… kinda…"

"Ben, for goodness's sake, spit it out."

"Ilaideggsthathatchedalmosttwoyearsago,I'msosorryIdidn'ttellyousooner."

Max sat back and stared, blinking in stunned silence. There were very few things left in the entire galaxy that could surprise Maxwell Tennyson, but that had certainly done it. Ben, his seventeen-year-old grandson, had children? Necrofriggian children at that?

"Well, don't just sit there!" Ben yelled anxiously, drawing Max from his daze "Say something!"

"I'm a great-grandpa?"

"Yes?" Ben answered nervously. "Y- you're not mad?"

"Why on Earth would I be mad?" Max asked with a hearty chuckle.

Quite to the contrary, Max was elated. He loved his family dearly and now he had even more family to love.

"Because I kept this a secret for so long?" Ben finally managed to squeak out after a long moment of silence.

Max got up and crossed the threshold. Ben was keeping his gaze just off to the side, unable to really look his grandfather in the eye. Max gently put his hand under Ben's chin and little by little coaxed the teenager to look at him.

"Ben, I am not upset. Not even a little. I'm surprised and actually quite happy."

"You're… happy?"

"I know it probably seems strange that I am, but it's not like this was something you could've stopped. Did you even know what was going on?"

"No… I- I was worried it was Ghostfreak all over again."

There was something else. Something Ben wasn't saying. He almost wanted to say it, but he was holding back.

"And then it wasn't. So everything's alright now, right?"

"No…" Ben squeaked.

Max hugged his grandson and Ben nuzzled into his grandfather's chest, the weight of unspoken emotion exhausting him. From the corner of his eyes, Max noticed Sandra and Carl both instinctively reached as if to sooth him, but then pulled back to let them have the moment. After a little time, Sandra left and Carl followed, leaving the two alone. Ben pulled back and for the second time that day, he explained in full— this time with a much clearer head. With slow, careful words, he told his grandfather everything. Max listened with rapt attention and watched as Ben's eyes filled with a mixture of darkness and light. Light, when he mentioned his children, named them all one-by-one… and darkness when he spoke of himself and the immediate aftermath of their hatching. It was clear to Max that Ben was angry with himself for being embarrassed and guilty. Still, he didn't breathe a word until Ben finished. When he did, Max hugged him again.

"I love you, kiddo, you know that?"

"I love you too Grandpa."

Before either of them could say anything more, the doorbell rang. Sandra scurried out of the kitchen to answer it. To her surprise, it was two very familiar faces.

"Hi Aunt Sandra. May we come in?"

Without a word, Gwen trailed by a very reluctant Kevin. Gwen greeted her grandfather with a smile and a hug a before her cousin spoke up.

"What are you two doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Ben, Kevin here just has something he's like to tell you. Alone, if possible."

From the way she said Kevin's name and the responsive twitch in said osmosian's mouth when she did, Ben didn't have to think hard to figure out that Gwen wanted Kevin to apologize. Ben folded his arms and sighed.

"It's fine Gwen. Mom, Dad and Grandpa already know."

Kevin and Gwen blinked in mild shock, Gwen just stopping herself from gaping like a fish. Kevin seemed relieved, but still apologetic.

"O-kay…"

It was clear she hadn't expect that. Kevin looked like he hadn't expected it either. Ben whirled around and flopped unceremoniously onto the couch as the air grew awkward with every ticking second. Finally, a thought crossed Max's mind as he spoke up.

"Ben, I know you've only just told us, but don't you think you might have to tell Azmuth?"

Ben opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then closed his mouth, his lips pressing into a thin line. Max noticed Ben was thumbing the underside of the Ultimatrix again.

"Of course I have to tell Azmuth," he finally sighed.

-OMNITHEORIES-

[A/N] Okay! So. I cranked this out quicker than I thought I would. …And split it up again so now I guess I have to make a third part. If you guys want to see the conversation that Gwen and Kevin had prior to showing up at Ben's house, let me know and I'll post it in a supplementary fic. (Guess I'm making a supplementary fic now too. *shrugs*)

Thank you all for reading and please leave a review and let me know if you actually want me to bother with a third part.

Thanks again!