Shattered Time

Chapter 5: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Gwen felt sore all over her body. 'With all this pain, at least I know I'm alive.' She thought and slowly opened her eyes. She was in her room again, laying on the floor where she first attempted the time travelling spell. The triquetra that she traced earlier was faded and the candle flames were snuffed out. The Archamada Book of Spells lay near her body, its pages slightly tattered. Gwen sat up and looked around her room. 'Am I back in my time or am I in another alternate dimension?' she wondered. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard knocking on her door.

"Gwen, are you okay?" It was Ben; he opened the door to see Gwen sitting on the floor. 'This looks suspicious.' He thought. "What have you been doing up here all day? You missed the whole game."

'The game?!?' Gwen thought, her eyes widening slightly. 'That's right...Ben and Kevin came over to watch the football game here...Thank God! I am in my time!' She quickly got up from the floor and grabbed the Archamada Book of Spells to place it on her shelf. "Ummm, I was busy with a project then stopped to meditate to clear my head. I must've fallen asleep and lost track of time." At this point, all Gwen could think about was, 'Hopefully he believes that excuse.'

Ben knew when Gwen lied, which was not very often. She was obviously hiding something. Before Ben could ask any questions, Kevin interrupted him, sporting a huge triumphant grin. 'God, do I regret making that bet with Kevin.'

Kevin leaned by the door frame and turned his attention to Gwen. "Wanna go to Mr. Smoothy? It's Ben's treat..." Yes, Kevin loved making bets, especially when he won said bet. It felt good to rub it in Ben's face after the game ended, and now it felt even better to gloat about to Gwen. It was worth it to have Ben giving him the dirty glares, even in front of his cousin.

Gwen quickly moved to Kevin, to give him a hug. Granted, Kevin was still in his mutated form and she couldn't help him return to normal, but seeing this happy side of him made her feel better.

Kevin was puzzled over this sudden display of affection. "What – was that for?" He questioned.

Gwen blinked a few times. "I – don't know." She said slowly, 'That trip in time must've messed me up more than I thought. I better watch myself before Ben and Kevin start asking questions.' She walked pass both boys and headed down the stairs and out of the house. Ben and Kevin exchanged confused looks and followed after Gwen.

As they approached Kevin's car, Paradox materialized before them. "Hello, young persons!" He greeted the young heroes. To say that his sudden appearance scared the teens would be an understatement. Even with the scare, Gwen was happy to see that the crazy time traveller was alive.

"Professor Paradox?!?" Ben exclaimed, the initial shock finally dissipating. "What are you doing here?"

"Is there something wrong?" Gwen asked.

Paradox offered her a small smile, "No – everything's fine." And just as quickly as he appeared, Paradox vanished.

"Man, I'll never get used to that." Kevin complained. "C'mon, let's go." He climbed into the driver's seat of his car and slipped on his I.D. mask, while Gwen climbed in the back seat of the car. 'That's weird.' Kevin thought. 'Gwen always wants to ride shot-gun.' Ben was thinking the same thing. He climbed into the passenger seat, and as he was about to buckle his seat belt, he saw Kevin turn towards Gwen and ready to ask what was wrong. Ben quickly shook his head, letting Kevin know not to push the subject. Kevin let it dropped; knowing Ben, he would ask Gwen what was bothering her later. If anything he could ask Ben what was bothering her at another time.

While sitting together at Mr. Smoothy, Kevin told Gwen the details about the bet. Gwen couldn't help herself but laugh as Ben pouted. "Dude, it ain't right to be giving pouts like that at 15-years old." Kevin laughed.

Ben stuck out his tongue at him and got up from his seat. "I'm going for another smoothie."

"I'll take another too." Kevin smirked. "Just pineapple, no crazy blends." He was definitely enjoying this bet.

Ben just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Gwen. She seemed to be enjoying herself, but something was still off. "Gwen, do want a refill on your cherry smoothie?"

"No, I'm good." She answered. Something was eating at her emotionally, and she finally figured out what it was.

Ben gave her a sympathetic look, not knowing exactly what was bothering his cousin, but knew he would have to ask her eventually. He just shrugged his shoulders walked to the order booth to get the extra smoothies.

"Kevin, I think we need to talk." Gwen started slowly. Looking into Kevin's eyes, she could tell he had an idea of what would be said.

"It's what I think it is, isn't it?" Kevin's voice was flat. He knew this day would come eventually; it was part of the reason he tried to avoid asking Gwen out in the first place.

Gwen took a deep breath. "I think we should take a break." This was the hardest thing she ever had to do. Kevin was an insecure person, and she knew that she would need to choose her words wisely, otherwise all the work Kevin put in to reform would be shot to hell.

Gwen was ready to continue, but Kevin cut her off. "Gwen, please don't start with the words 'It's not you, it's me', that line's over-used. Just tell me the truth."

"Kevin, we're constantly doing things to push each other's buttons. Like your dealings with Charmcaster and Darkstar." Saying Charmcaster's name left a bitter taste in Gwen's mouth, especially after her run-in in the alternate time line. She saw Kevin flinch, the reminder of his deals with the enemies made him feel guilty. "I'm not without my own faults as well. But I think we should give each other some space before we end up hating each other."

"I don't want us hating each other either." Kevin said.

Gwen took another deep breath. "Don't worry, though. I'll still keep my promise of looking for a way to get you back to normal."

"Okay." Kevin gave her a half-hearted smile. "I guess remaining friends is better than the alternative."

"Yeah." She returned a half-hearted smile of her own. The following awkward silence made them uncomfortable. "I better get home. Tell Ben that I'll take with him later." Gwen got up and started walking home.

Before Kevin could tell her to wait for Ben and that he would drive her home, Gwen was already a good distance from Mr. Smoothy. By the time Ben returned with the drinks, he saw Gwen's retreating form.

"What happened?" Ben asked, feeling that the answer was bad.

"Gwen said we should take a break – basically, she dumped me." Was the depressed reply.

"Jeez, Kevin. I'm sorry." Ben gave Kevin an empathetic look.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Kevin said flatly, drinking the smoothie Ben bought him. "Let's face it; it was a long time comin'."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I just stayed here until I know you're okay." Ben said, taking a seat across from Kevin.

"Shouldn't you check on Gwen?" Kevin asked.

"This is the thing with Gwen..." Ben started, "whenever she's upset, she needs some time alone before she's willing to talk. I'll check on her later. Right now, I'm staying here until I know you'll be all right."

"Jeez, bro." Kevin said, slight humour returning to his voice. "That's such a mom thing to do...are you expecting alien babies again?"

He felt slightly insulted by that wisecrack but Ben couldn't help chuckling. "Hmph! See if I ever cheer you up again." Kevin can't be too hurt, if he's making male pregnancy jokes already.

Kevin's features became serious again. "Ben? Thanks for being here."

Ben knew that Kevin was being sincere. "Anytime." He answered.

Gwen was at home, sitting in the living room watching Twilight and eating a pint of double chocolate ice cream. She heard the door open, not too worried; it was probably Ben confronting her.

"Okay, Gwen talk." She was right, it was Ben. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you say that?" She asked innocently.

Ben sat beside her, stole her spoon and took a bite of the ice cream. "You're watching Twilight and eating a pint of double chocolate ice cream." He said calmly. "You only do this combination when you're upset."

Gwen took back her spoon and helped herself to more of the unhealthy dessert. "Kevin and I broke up..."

"I know that already; Kevin told me after you left Mr. Smoothy." Ben said. "But there's something else...before we left to go to Mr. Smoothy, there was something off about you – tell me the truth, Gwen."

Gwen sighed. How Ben became this insightful freaked her a bit...maybe it's a sign that he did have psychic powers like his alternate self. Either way, she decided to tell the truth, well most of it.

"I broke into Hex's mansion and stole the Archamada Book of Spells late last night. And before you say it was wrong of me to do that – " she interrupted Ben's attempt to interject, she continued, "I know that already and I'm sorry, for everything." She knew she was ready to cry but she felt too tired to let the tears fall.

"Gwen," Ben whispered, "what happened?"

"I found a time travel spell...Paradox came to stop me before I did the spell, but I ignored his warning. I travelled back to the day of the accident to destroy the machine to prevent Kevin from mutating. When I returned to what I thought was the present, I ended up on an alternate earth where Hex and Charmcaster had dominated the world after you lost the fight with Vilgax and lost the Omnitrix. Almost everyone we knew was dead, emotionally scarred or left earth for safety. When I got there Paradox had previously rescued Kevin from captivity and was killed while trying to protect us."

"You mean a parallel Paradox from the one we encountered earlier this evening." Ben said.

"Yeah...Before his death, that Paradox told Kevin and me to find you. We eventually did, but you were an amnesiac and had psychic powers. Plus, you were in a – I guess the words would be surprising and complicated – relationship; it kinda shocked me."

Ben was stunned to hear these details. Before he could ask any questions, Gwen replied "Trust me you don't want to hear all the details. What I can say is this: the love of your life died protecting you and you still forgave me for what I did to the point that you helped me find my way back here." The thought of Pierce sacrificing himself to protect Ben and their unborn child left her dispirited.

"Aw, Gwen." Ben hugged the redhead, now knowing the distress she felt. "Then when I went to your room earlier..."

"I just returned from the trip." Gwen whimpered. "After this, I don't feel like messing with spell books like the Archamada Book of Spells for a long time."

"But the break up with Kevin..." This puzzled Ben. The events from the alternate present shouldn't affect her so much to want to end things with him.

"Let's just say that the reality I faced there made me realise that we would be better off as friends. I didn't want us to end up resenting each other and Kevin returning to his old self because of it."

"Well," Ben started, "I wouldn't worry too much of Kevin becoming a sociopath again. I stayed with him for awhile until he was cheered up." Truthfully, before going to Gwen's, he was with Kevin at the garage and forced himself to watch Day of the Dead with Kevin until he cheered up. The gore was too much so he used the excuse of visiting Gwen to get away from the bloodfest. "He even made a crack about me being pregnant again."

Gwen had mixed emotions about hearing the word pregnant. She was demoralized over the idea of the other Ben raising his child without Pierce, yet when this Ben – her Ben – was 'pregnant' last time – technically Big Chill was the one who was pregnant – it was a funny and touching moment, even after seeing the chubby necrofriggian infants fly into the night. She purposely left out the details of him being with Pierce and pregnant with his child; Lord knows how Ben would take that news. She rested her head on Ben's shoulder. "Actually the psychic powers thing, being able to feel other peoples' pain and how to console them – that might be something you have in common with the other Ben..."

"Could be." Ben said. "Is there anything I could do that could make you feel better?"

"I doubt it."

"Actually, wait." Ben pulled out of the hug, reaching for his cell phone. Puzzled, Gwen saw him press one of the speed dial numbers. "Hello, mom? I'll be staying over Gwen's tonight. Uh huh... yeah... I figured as much... uh huh...yeah... I'll be home some point tomorrow... okay, love you too, bye."

"What was that about?" Gwen asked.

"Believe it or not, mom guessed you broke up with Kevin and knew that I would be staying until you were okay. If you thought I was intuitive, mom beats me hands down." Gwen laughed; Aunt Sandra was always five steps ahead of them. "She even knew my plan for tomorrow."

"What plan?" Gwen was intrigued. The last time she was in a funky mood, Ben made Kevin take them to the beach.

Ben grinned. "Two words – retail therapy."

Gwen smiled brightly and hugged the brunet; he had to mention the most glorious words in the English language. "Ben, you should consider a career as a therapist. You always know the right words to say at the right time."

'The things I do for my friends.' Ben thought, thinking of the alternative if he stayed at the garage with Kevin. 'At the least the mall should be less gory than a horror movie.'

The End

Author's Note: After almost a month, this story is finally finished!

Okay, I know some of you might be pissed with me for breaking up Kevin and Gwen... but they would be better off as friends. With the events unfolding during Season 3, it looks like they are heading towards that direction anyway – then again, what do I know? I could be wrong.

Many thanks to those who reviewed and placed this story on their favourite lists and alerts. It gave me the incentive to continue writing this story. Y'all rock!!!

^_^ XOXO