Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or any of the characters in this fan-fiction. Man of Action does.

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Had it not been for Kenny's complete conviction that his father needed this to stop hurting his mother: his heart would have shattered at the agonized expression the man's demeanor took on.

The wielder of the Ultimatrix suddenly felt drowned by negative emotion after negative emotion. Hurt, rage, betrayal, rage, despair, rage, fury, rage, indignation, rage, guilt… He literally couldn't breathe when the overwhelming rage finally took dominance. He shoved his son aside almost carelessly and ran for the house.

How could she do this to him? Yes. He'd done some stupid things to her but nothing on this level! She was a shrine to him! He'd never betray what they had for another woman! On top of that, having to find out secondhand from his own son that his beautiful perfect little girl wasn't his! That she was a product of some tryst she'd had with some random guy…

Was it a tryst? Did his wife have a lover? The thought of that made his stomach turn with hurt and revulsion. Who was it? He'd kill him. He would literally rip the bastard who'd dared touch his beautiful Julie to shreds! God knew, he'd killed for her before!

Kenny barely had enough time to dial his Omnitrix to his Jetray transformation and propel himself toward the entrance of the house. Wow! His dad moved fast without transforming! He dashed to reach the doorway before his father made it there. He knew he had help inside but this would be much easier if his mother wasn't around to witness it. She would make his father feel better too quickly. He needed this to fester so it would scar into his mind forever.

Amazingly, he was able to intercept his father two feet from the door. He spread his red-clawed talon-like hands and shielded it. "Dad, wait! What are you doing?"

Ben tried failingly to mitigate his fury as he spoke to his son. "Get out of the way, Kenneth. I don't want to hurt you."

The aerophibian/teenager didn't flinch or waver in his stance. "But what? You want to hurt Mom? Is that it? Is that why you want to get in the house, Dad?" He was honestly shocked at the level of sadism he could achieve when he needed to. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with this information.

The older brunette was almost in tears at this point. Did his son really believe he could hurt his mother? He just needed to talk to her. He needed to know why she'd done this. Most of all, he wanted confirmation that what he'd always believed would happen… finally had. She'd grown tired of dealing with him. She no longer loved him.

His voice was an agonized mewl. "I'd rather die, than ever hurt your mother, Son."

Upon seeing the defeated slump to his father's shoulders, Kenny was satisfied with the flogging. He spoke up with as much pep as he could muster. "That's great to hear, Dad, 'cause I was lying." He quickly zoomed past him and transformed back to his human form once he was about fifteen yards from the house. He crossed his arms and smirked smugly, awaiting his father's tirade stoutly.

His mind was so numb from raw emotion that Ben took a moment to register what his boy had said. The moment it did register, however, he snapped incredulous outraged eyes back at the teenager. The familiar rage brewed in the pit of his stomach when he saw the smirk that played on the boy's lips.

Whom did this freaking kid think he was playing with? This was the sickest joke anyone could possibly conjure up! What was wrong with him?

Ben made a conscious effort to reign in his temper as he quickly made his way over to his boy. His parents didn't believe in physical discipline and had raised him accordingly. Julie came from a different culture and school of thought. Both Kenny and Gwenny had received spankings when they were little, but never in anger. Both of them knew it was extremely counterproductive to discipline a child in anger. That said, nevertheless, if he reached his son while in his current state whatever he did to the boy would decidedly be in anger.

Needless to say, he was pissed beyond believe when he converged with Kenny which manifested in his grabbing the boy forcibly by the scruff of his shirt and raising him to eye level as he burned matching emerald eyes into his, hissing, "Do you seriously think this is funny, Kenneth?"

To Ben's unfathomable surprise, the kid actually had the audacity to let out a humorless chortle before responding. "Actually, Dad, you're not going to believe this, but I don't find this reaction you just had funny whatsoever. I find it sickening," He went completely solemn to finish, "Every time you make Mom go through it… I've known what a paternity suit is since I was eight. How many have you had brought against you now? Twelve? Thirteen? I've lost count. Never mind how much fun it was with those three psychos who actually managed to infuse their kids with your stolen DNA and I had to be brought in to act as the control for the experiments the Plumbers had to perform on their severely mutated codes in order to save their lives! You think this was bad? Go talk to Mom! Put me down!"

His son's words were a splash of freezing water, numbing and stabbing simultaneously. He didn't even notice when his grip on the boy relented and he dropped effortlessly to his feet. He stepped back as if struck and turned his eyes to the lawn escaping the furious burning recrimination in his son's. "God, Kenny! Did you have to do this?"

The younger brunette wasn't ready to feel sorry for him yet. He kept his tone light. "Well, Dad. You know what they say about 'payback'. She's not a good girl."

Okay. He didn't care about his rationalization anymore. There was no way he was letting his fifteen-year-old son disrespect him. He turned indignant eyes back to him, narrowing them into a warning sneer. "Kenny!"

The brunette steeled himself against his father's gaze. He'd come this far. He needed to end this for his mother. He crossed his arms resolutely and leveled an icy stare back at him. "No Dad! Tell me. How did it feel to sample what Mom has gone through every few weeks for two freaking decades? I can understand the suits and the psychos are unavoidable. They are an annoying bi-product of who you are. But, it doesn't help when you throw kerosene in the flames by flirting with every single one of the slightly less insane ones. You are torturing the only woman with the infinite patience to put up with all this. You know, she was inside crying while you had your ego stroked out here by that tramp, right!"

Ben's eyes widened in rueful dismay, "What?"

He turned toward the house as if he could see through walls and find his distressed wife. He let out an exasperated breath and raked a hand through his chestnut hair, turning concerned eyes to his son. "Is she alright?"

Not ready yet, "This has to stop, Dad. I did this because you asked me to." The moment his father's anticipated confused eyebrow shot up, he elaborated, "You don't remember any of this, because Devlin had to erase your memories to maintain the time stream but when I traveled to the past, I told you what you were doing to Mom with your unabashed flirting in this time." His voice grew lower and sad, "I also told you what you did for her when she was pregnant with me." Ben cringed almost painfully at that memory.

Kenny noted his father's reaction but elected to continue. "You asked me to help you stop hurting Mom when I got back to this time. But, thanks to the unrivaled detachment we both share, I forgot until today; until you allowed that woman to hang all over you like a second skin. God! You should have seen yourself, Dad. She looks young enough to be your daughter and she had the gall to kiss you right in front of your wife. You really know how to pick 'em!" He rubbed a hand up and down his face as if it would erase the memory.

"I ask you to help me and this is what you come up with, Kenny? You really are warped, kid!" The older brunette was having a very difficult time negotiating the mind-blowing contrition both his son's prank and his own acts with Mekayla earlier were bubbling up in his stomach. He needed to take the edge off with some dry humor. More pressing than that, he needed to find his wife and prostrate himself in apology.

The teenager scoffed sarcastically. "Yeah. Uncle Kevin says I have damaged genes on my dad's side. It explains why I'm exactly like him. You should probably watch out when insulting the mirror. Seriously, though, Mom's a saint for putting up with you and she's in it for the long haul. You need to stop hurting her. If someone told me I had lost her, I'd go insane. So, I knew you would also. We both have crap memories and a we're both insensitive jerks so I had to literally traumatize this into you for you to realize how bad a problem it is and make you want to do something about it."

Ben crossed his muscled arms, then stroked his manicured beard thoughtfully. He sent his son a cross between a questioning and pleading look. "How am I supposed to stop doing something I don't realize I do, Kenny?"

The boy hadn't thought that far. "Um. Okay… If you really want to stop, we can arrange for every single person that cares about Mom to point it out to you when you start doing it. That's a lot of people, Dad! Everyone notices but you. Even I notice it and I'm as oblivious as you are."

The wielder of the Ultimatrix cringed at the prospect of that. He had no idea how often he did this but the thought of everyone who liked Julie getting on his case about it sounded about as fun as an enema. Then a horrifying thought hit him. "Does Kevin know about this?"

Although the sadistic smile that spread on the boy's face was answer enough, his son was still generous enough to verbalize his response. "Oh, yeah! He made an offer to Mom to kick your butt a little while ago. She was kind enough to refuse. I'm telling you, Man. She is such a keeper."

Ben couldn't help let out a laugh at that. He wrapped his arms around his son gratefully. Yes. His Julie certainly was that. She'd given him everything a man could want, including the amazing young man in his arms. He could put up with some annoyance and humiliation for her. He could do anything for her. He'd already done it. "You think Kevin could really take me down, Kiddo?"

Kenny shrugged as his father kept an arm around his shoulders, edging them towards the house. Both his uncle and dad had the advantage of ridiculous build and training. "If neither of you uses any powers, I have no idea who comes out ahead. Have you ever fought each other one on one without using them?"

Ben ruminated this as they reached the door and entered. It was an extremely intriguing notion. "I don't think we ever have."

Now, the older brunette found the notion of finding the answer to that question intoxicating. Who would win in a fight between him and Kevin? Why had he never tried to figure this out before?

Upon entering the kitchen, two very on-edge armored up Osmosians met them. Ben regarded them amused, "What's up with you two?"

The Levin males released their hold on the matter energy almost in perfect synch and Devlin sat at a stool while his father reclined against the counter with a relieved sigh. Gwen came around to narrow her eyes worriedly at her cousins. "Are you two alright?"

Ben eyed her confused. "Yes. Why wouldn't we be?"

She sent a further questioning look at her nephew who smiled and seemed to communicate 'I'll explain later' with his eyes. She raised a sculpted confused eyebrow and nodded, backing away.

The oldest brunette scowled slightly at his cousin's odd behavior but dismissed it quickly as hormones. He moved his eyes excitedly to his best friend. He spoke with such eagerness he was almost shaking. "Hey Kevin, you wanna fight me?"

The Osmosian's response was unhesitating. "Yes!"

The brunette chuckled at the paralleled enthusiasm but felt he should elaborate to be sure. "I don't mean a spar, Man. I mean, really all-out, man-to-man fight. No powers. Just bare knuckles."

Kevin just smirked. "No clarification was needed, Tennyson. I said yes."

The wielder of the Ultimatrix wrung his hands together excitedly. "Great! Have any of you seen Julie?"

Gwen answered him still completely confused. "She hasn't come out of the guest bedroom since you offered to walk the reporter to her van."

Ben was literally shaking with excitement at that tidbit. "Oh that is just perfect! We were going to end up in there anyway. Saves me the trip from anywhere else in your house," He started unbuckling his heavy belt as he turned to the hall. "Kev, give me half an hour. Then, I'll meet you outside."

When her son started laughing, it finally dawned on Gwen he meant to do this today. "Ben, you're not seriously fighting my husband at my baby shower."

The green-eyed man regarded her as if she'd gone insane. "Of course, I am. But, first, I have to go apologize the living daylights out of my amazing wife." He pulled his shirt off over his head.

Devlin had to hold his sides as his laughter escalated exponentially once he caught a glimpse of his cousin's horror-stricken face.

"Ah, Man! Dad! Gross! You're in someone else's house!"

The brunette was already making his way into the hallway when he paused, turning to send an innocent smirk to his traumatized son. "Don't knock it, Kenny. Making up after you've done something stupid is one of the best perks of being married."

"I reserve the right to knock that any time it involves my parents! Seriously, Dad! This is so wrong! Stop laughing, Devlin!"

Kevin couldn't help but put his two cents into this one as he started chuckling as well. "If that's what you're going in there for, Tennyson…thirty minutes is far too ambitious. I'll see you in five."

Ben sent an insulted sneer at him in return. "Hey! She's pissed at me! I need five to ten minutes of groveling just to get her willing. Bite me, Kevin!" He turned with an indignant huff and started making his way down the hall again.

It was against his nature not to get the last jab in. "I'll leave the biting to Julie, Ben! Thank you for the offer, though!"

His nephew turned horrified eyes to him, putting both hands to his hair and pulling painfully. "Uncle Kevin! Seriously! What are you trying to do to me, here?"

The Osmosian sent the most sincere apologetic look he could at his nephew. "Sorry, kid. Your dad makes it way too easy."

"You know what, Uncle Kevin, never mind. I just need to get out of this house. I don't want to be in a house while my parents are somewhere within doing that."

Kevin knew he was a bad person for doing this but the Tennyson guys were such easy targets. They left themselves open time after time. "Woah! Seriously, Kenny? Then, where do you sleep, kid? 'Cause according to your old man, only night that ain't happenin' at your place is when he's away on missions."

Devlin had to make a mad dash for the powder room before he peed his pants.

An hour later, the cousins stood by the glass French doors, watching their top-bared fathers as they rained punishment on each other. The fight had only started about five minutes ago (It took a lot of apologizing on Ben's part for Julie to forgive him so quickly). Kenny was pointedly avoiding looking at her as she stood with Gwenny next to his aunt. They were outside laughing at his dad's attempt to put his uncle in a chokehold, which the Osmosian countered into a full body slam. It wasn't something someone other than her own son would probably have noticed and it could have just been his imagination but she was walking wrong since she emerged from the guest bedroom with his dad. It was so disturbing.

Their dads had pulled the picnic tables away from the center of the yard to give them a nice circumference in which to maneuver. All the guests at the party were cheering them both on. Oddly, nobody seemed to be taking sides. They just wanted to see a good match…so did the boys.

They had stayed inside to talk about what had transpired outside between the Tennysons earlier. Kenny had expressed to his cousin his plan to get everybody involved in pointing out the obvious to his father whenever he deviated again. It was tremendously stupid they even had to but some people just didn't posses the same level of common sense as others. His father really didn't realize he was so crass. His mother deserved better, though and his father was willing to do better for her. So, he would rally as much support to the cause of annoying sensibility into Benjamin Tennyson as he could.

Devlin sounded deeply impressed as he spoke, "So, you told him Gwenny wasn't his? How did he not figure out that she's an Anodyte and he's pretty much the only male Anodyte on earth that could have engendered her?"

Guilt flitted briefly across the younger teen's emerald eyes. "I'm just like him, so I know all his weaknesses, Dev. We aren't that bright when we get distracted. I took advantage of his being in La-La-Land over that nauseating reporter. He became so enraged, so fast that it blinded him to logical thought… also planned."

The teenage Osmosian let out a stunned scoff. No one knew better than him, his cousin downplayed his intelligence and guile. Nevertheless, it wasn't really because the kid was lazy. He walked in the shadow of giants. As long as no one knew his potential, he had no expectations to live up to. However, the rare times Kenny showed what he was capable of… it was almost frightening. "That is some cold, heartless crap right there, Dude. I didn't think you had that kind of darkness in you. You're a monster."

Kenny rolled his eyes and released an insulted snort. "I did what I had to do to keep my promise to my dad, Man. So, he knows how to make my mother happy. She deserves that. They both do."

The teenage Osmosian's green eyes snapped to his aunt and he smirked evilly. "Oh, yeah! He definitely made her happy."

The brunette snapped outraged emerald eyes to him. "Don't you dare, Devlin!"

The older teen continued staring out the glass door as if a hole wasn't being burned into the side of his head. He was really impressed how well his uncle was holding his own against his father, considering what he'd been doing a few minutes ago. You'd think he'd be spent! Then again, he was partially an energy being. Devlin himself had unbelievable stamina when it came to fighting on little rest. He still smirked evilly when he spoke again. "What? I'm agreeing with you. Your plan worked. He's making her happy," the mocking edge to his voice was so inappropriate, "He made her so happy a few minutes ago, I think she hurt herself. Did you notice how she's moving?"

"That's it, Levin! You're dead!"

Just like that, there were two fights going on simultaneously at Gwen's baby shower.

FIN!

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