This one was inspired by episode #16 of Ultimate Alien: Forge of Creation. Ten-year-old Ben is adorable! The whole episode was funny, except, you know, for the depressing ending. Anyway I saw clips of the episode on YouTube before hunting down the full thing, and imagined them having a much more difficult time convincing Ben that Kevin isn't evil, that is untill Gwen gets creative.

Next Evenings Edit: You know I should really wait to publish these stories for a few days after I write them, or at least not publish them at two in the morning. For those of you who already read this chapter I just added a few sentances.

Disbelief

"Nope, sorry, I'm not buying it."

Gwen was getting annoyed; somehow she had ended up being the only one trying to convince Ben (the ten-year-old one) that Kevin was not evil anymore. Come to think of it the boy's always left this sort of thing up to her. "Come on Ben think, if he was evil why would he be with us?"

A scowl replaced the sulk on young Ben's face. "I don't know! Maybe…maybe he tricked you; maybe he's just pretending to be good."

Kevin shrugged "I could be." This earned him a glare from all three Tennyson's.

"There, see, he admitted it. Now let me kick his ass!"

"Dude, you are so not helping." Ben said (the sixteen-year-old one).

Gwen placed a hand on the younger Bens head stopping his headlong rush at Kevin. "Stop it, no ass-kicking!"

He looked up at her and grinned, "You said ass." Then he burst out laughing. Resisting the impulse to slap Ben upside the head (barely), Gwen tried to think of a solution. Ben laughing was really not helping; she had forgotten how obnoxious he used to be. Not that he wasn't still obnoxious, but at least he was past sticking his tongue out and laughing at words like ass and booger—at least most of the time.

Ben came over and crouched down to his younger self's level, apparently deciding to help. "Cut it out, we need to get going. Just accept that Kevin's on our side now."

"No, he's not."

"Yes, he is."

"Is not."

"Is too." Well, so much for an intelligent argument there; obviously it was going to up to her, because the Ben's where getting nowhere.

"Will you two stop talking about me like I'm not here…" And know it looked like Kevin wanted in on the circle.

She ground her teeth in frustration it shouldn't be this hard, she had six years on the kid. Wait…something about that last thought…six years…right she was more mature, how could she use that? An idea formed, and Gwen smiled, it wasn't a particularly nice smile. She knew how to convince him, and if some part of her argued that she was descending to his level, well, there were side benefits.

Ben (both of them) noticed her smile and the argument abruptly stopped. "What?"

Gwen straightened and gestured to herself, "Look, you believe I'm Gwen, future Gwen or whatever?"

Ten-year-old Ben shrugged, "Sure dweeb."

"And, you believe this is Kevin, right?"

"Yeah," His eyes narrowed, "Kevin Eleven."

"Will you let the eleven thing drop already, kid do I look elev—"

Gwen shut Kevin up with a hand over his mouth. "You also believe this is you, right?" She pointed at the older Ben.

"I guess so," Ben had his arms crossed and the sulky look had returned. "What's your point?"

"Just this," and she turned to Kevin and kissed him. She hadn't intended it to be more than a quick kiss, but unlike the last time Kevin didn't just sit there dumbstruck. The next thing she knew his arms were pulling her closer, and her hands where entwined in his hair. Somewhere behind them—and far enough away to be unimportant—someone was gagging.

"Aghhh stop, okay, OKAY! I believe you he's not evil!"

"Alright guys, cut it out, you're going to give him…me…whatever, permanent brain damage."

I think she got carried away, oh well. Hey, giving Ben brain damage is always a plus, at least it is if he's your annoying cousin.

Thanks for reading!