Now the whole world knew; there was no more hiding it, Vilgax had seen to that. As hard as it had been, Ben had done as Grandpa had said and kept everything he'd done over the summer a secret. Then that creep had to show up, wreak his house, threaten his dad and tear up half of Bellwood.

In addition to giving the people of Earth a violent introduction to the fact that alien life exist, Vilgax had also might as well have put a neon sign up telling everyone where Ben lived. He knew he'd be getting some unwanted visitors, soon.

It didn't take long for Ben to be proven right. The first day of school had been very short as a result of Dr. Animos decision to stop by the school for a less than friendly reunion with Ben. During that unwanted reunion Ben was amazed at how well he and Gwen had worked together. They seemed perfectly in sync, almost as though each knew the others thoughts. Animo didn't have a chance. Of course, the school would need some repairs.

When they got home they walked into, not quite an argument, but certainly a lively discussion.

"So, Dad, now Ben had some alien weapon on his wrist, my daughter is some sort of sorceress and they both have made some serious enemies. Is that right?"

"It's not like I set out for that to happen son. But I am proud of how they have handled it."

"Now, let's just calm down." Carl interjected. "We have to deal with the situation we have and not argue about how it happened."

Frank turned to his brother. "You actually like this don't you. I saw you guys on the news, you looked like you were enjoying yourself."

"Enjoying myself, I don't think I'd go that far, but it's easier to know the reason that Aunt Vera raised us was something more important than some clogged drains." He turned to his son and niece as they entered. "Hi kids, why are you home so early?"

Ben answered. "We need to talk about that. Animo attacked the school."

"Attacked the school, why?" Carl suspected he knew the answer but he hoped he was wrong."

"Son you know the answer. With all of the media coverage he knew where to find the kids."

"So grandpa, are the plumbers going to be reactivated? Ben was trying to avoid where this conversation was likely to go. Gwen was just quietly sitting next to Ben.

Yes, they will reactivate no need to hide behind code words like plumbers any more, Just earth defense forces."

"Great, where do we sign up?" We? When had he started thinking of everything in terms of "we"?

Max laughed lightly. "Not so fast, you guys are ten years old. You're a little young to join."

Sandra spoke up. "Maybe they can't be plumbers, or whatever you're going to call your selves now, but they are in danger, we all are. What should we do Max?"

"Well, I've got some help coming. Joel and Camille along with Gordon and Vera will be here. At least until we're up to full strength again. Oh, also Ben, I've got some help coming for you. Xylene will be coming to teach you about the ominitrix. You can't afford the time to learn by trial and error."

Gwen started to make one of her usual sarcastic comments about how much error there would be, but she stopped herself. I must be going soft, I don't want to…she was surprised at her own thoughts. I don't want to hurt him. And I don't want him mad at me.

"Do you know anyone who can teach me?" Gwen asked.

"No pumpkin, I'm afraid you'll have to keep practicing on you own."

"Don't worry Gwen." Ben said. "You're a great magician, you'll do fine. I'll help you if I can." Ben saw the smile on Gwen's face; he was confused about how that made him feel."

School and defense lessons went on as usual for a while. Ben and Gwen got in the habit of hanging out whenever they weren't busy with something that prevented it. Today they were up in Gwen's room studying and talking.

"Nice," Gwen said as she looked at Ben's most recent math test. "I told you studying would do you good."

"Yeah, well I've final got someone to study with. It's not so lame that way."

She smiled, "Yeah I guess it does help. I'm kind of stuck on this history questions though."

"Let's look it up." Ben suggested, and began to walk over to her computer.

Gwen was about to walk over there with him. Then her eyes went wide.

"No! "She yelled. She didn't remember if she had erased her search history. She didn't need him seeing that.

"What's wrong Gwen? I won't ruin your computer. I've learned a lot about these things as Upgrade.

She decided to take a gamble on their improving friendship.

"There's some personal stuff on it and I'd like to keep it private."

"Oh, alright then." I'll wait until you can make it safe for me to look at." That earned him another smile. There was that feeling again. Then he got something else. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. That sent up feelings that made the smile feelings pale in comparison.

"Thanks, Ben. It means a lot to me that I can trust you."

"No problem. Now do whatever you need to do so we can look up the answer to this question."

The next day after school got out Ben and Gwen were about to walk home together when Ben said "Gwen, would it be okay with you if you walk home without me this time. I've got to talk to Grandpa about something."

"Something you can't talk to me about?"

Defiantly not you Ben thought.

"It's guy stuff. I'll make it up to you. This weekend you decide what we do. Anything you want, shopping or even a chick flick. I'll do it with no complaint."

"Alright, I'll see you at home."

Ben hit the omnitrix and went to where he knew Grandpa would be. As the new Chief of Earth defense forces.

The staff of course knew who Ben was, he and Gwen had authorization onto the facility anytime. He was escorted to see Max.

"Ben, come in. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, Grandpa, This isn't about aliens or anything like that. It's…personal."

"Oh, I need to take of the Chief hat and put the Grandpa hat back on, ok. Tell me all about it."

"Well, it's about." Ben hesitated. "Girls"

"I see, well Ben, you're about to turn eleven, I'm not surprised that you've started to think about that. So are we talking about girls in general, or is there one in particular."

"One particular girl." Ben answered.

"Well tell me what the problem is."

"I'm confused about what I feel for her. I might talk to her about it but I'm really afraid of what she'll say."

Max sat for a minute with a pensive look on his face.

"Well, you'll lose her for sure if you never tell her that you have feelings for her. You say you're confused about her, why?"

Ben didn't know how to answer this.

"I...Uh…think it's just a little weird. I mean not weird like wrong weird but….her parents might not like it. And I don't want to end up in a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing."

"Wow, your studying with Gwen really is paying off, not long ago you would never have made a Shakespearian reference. "

Ben sat nervously hoping that he hadn't made a mistake by coming here.

"So Ben, what's the lucky girls' name?"

Ben couldn't help reacting to that.

"Lucky girl…What?"

Max smiled. "The girl Ben, what's her name?"

"Well, uh…I…um…"

"Ben." Max interrupted Bens stammering. "Is it Gwen?"