Time completely froze as the three members of the Tennyson family just stared at each other. Gwen clasped her hands over her mouth, not wanting to think about how much Sandra had heard. Sandra just looked down at her son, her expression completely unreadable.

Ben – or rather, Ripjaws – shivered in the face of the woman before him. "S-s-s-s-s-s-s-Sandra…I m-me-mean muh-mom? Wh-I-we-er-adj-buh-I-h-how much d-did you h-hear?"

Taking a deep breath, Sandra just sighed. "Enough." She said simply.

Any semblance of composure Ripjaws had completely vanished. His entire body shook as he tried to make himself as small as possible. The wide-eyed expression reminded Sandra and Gwen of someone who just saw a train bearing down on him with no escape in sight.

All at once, he changed. 'Ben' stood up straight. His expression became much more serious, although his eyes still looked at Sandra with fear and resignation. Sandra could tell this was the personality that had offered to join her at the police station. Diamondhead sighed. "Perhaps I should leave…"

"No." Sandra responded, stepping into the room. Looking up at Gwen, she motioned her towards the door, her expression still inscrutable. "Would you excuse us, Gwen? I need to talk to…my son." She said hesitantly.

Gwen hesitated for a minute, but eventually got up and walked out of Ben's room. She cast one last glance at her cousin. 'Ben' stared back at her, a look of complete resignation and hopelessness in his eyes. Gwen wondered what personality was in control right now. It honestly could've been any of them.

"Shut the door behind you." Sandra intoned, her voice flat. Gwen obeyed, leaving Ben and Sandra Tennyson alone in the room together.

'Ben' tried to speak up, but Sandra silenced him with a slow wave of her hand. An unbelievably awkward silence settled in for the longest time. 'Ben' just stared up at Sandra, waiting for her to say something. Anything. Heck, the yelling and disowning that the personalities were sure would follow would've been better than this dead silence.

Eventually, Sandra stepped towards the bed and just sat down, her head falling into her hands. Her fingers massaged her forehead, as if to stave off a painful headache.

Ripjaws stuttered. "I-I-We're s-sorry-"

"Don't." Sandra sighed. "Just…just be quiet. I need to think." At least she wasn't crying. She just seemed… overwhelmed. Nobody could blame her.

There was another eternity of silence. In the background, both of them could hear Max and Carl in a heated argument. Even though neither of them could make out the words, they both knew what the fight was about. 'Ben' just wanted to leave, but Sandra had insisted he'd stay. But for what?

Eventually, Sandra looked up. "Can…can you let me talk to Ben?"

Ripjaws swallowed. "I don't… we tried, but he won't come out…"

"Well MAKE him-!" Sandra stopped herself from yelling at the boy before her. With a slight groan, she started rubbing her forehead again. "I'm…I'm sorry…there's something I need to tell him, but it has to be him…how does this work? How – how do you switch places with Ben?"

Fourarms answered. "Well…at first, when Ben got too scared or too stressed, one of us would step in and Ben would basically just fall asleep. Then…once we were finished and everything was okay, we'd all just step out, and Ben would come back..."

Sandra sighed. "OK…so…can you all step out right now? Let him back?"

"We did that already, but he doesn't…"

"Just do it. I have to speak to him." Sandra looked the boy in the eyes. There was no anger or accusing in her expression. Just a mother's need to speak to her child. "Please?"

10 different expressions swam across Ben's face. A hopeful smile, a confident smirk, an uninterested eyeroll, an expressionless face, an angry glare, a nervous lip-biting, a somber sigh, puppy-dog eyes, a cynical glance aside, a thoughtful 'hmm' – all within the space of a few seconds. Then, all those expressions faded away…

Replaced with a blank face, staring at nothing as if in shock.

Sandra took a deep breath. "…Ben?"

The boy blinked and glanced up, but didn't say anything. The second he saw Sandra, he immediately shrunk away. It looked like he would've walked away, but Sandra stopped him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. Ben looked at the hand, not understanding what it was doing there.

"Ben…" Sandra began, looking at her son with sympathetic eyes. "Listen to me. I know what happened…"

Ben's head shot up, his eyes an expression of horror. "Wha-you-you-you know?! Oh god…" Tears welling up in his eyes, Ben tried to run away, but Sandra pulled him back into her embrace.

Sandra hugged her tearful son, gently rocking the hysterical child. After a second's confused pause, Ben began sobbing onto his mother's shoulder. Sandra just kept patting his back and assuring him. "It's okay, Ben. It's okay."

"I'm sorry…" Ben sniffled. "I'm so sorry…"

The wind on his face, the scenery passing him by like it was standing still, the simple indescribable feeling of speed, that was something Ben loved. That was something he had missed in the months those personalities had taken over.

He might've been in the body of the blue velociraptor, but it was Ben, not XLR8, who was running down the streets of Bellwood at top speed. It was Benwho was enjoying this form's abilities. It was Ben who racing home from school.

It had taken weeks…well, months if Ben really thought about it. Well, anyway it had taken a long time to convince XLR8 and the others to let Ben take their 'bodies' out for a spin. Ben groaned inwardly. Their bodies. It was his body, just changed up to be a superhero. Not theirs.

Ben still couldn't believe that the others even existed. Was he really so weak and pathetic that he had to make up imaginary friends to help him handle being a hero! He could handle it just fine! It was HIM who defeated Zombozo. It was HIM who stopped Animo back in Washington. It was HIM who beat Kevin…the first few times, anyway.

Then again, if he was honest with himself, Ben would admit that being a superhero was a lot harder then he'd ever thought it would be. The movies made it look so easy, but constantly staring death in the face was…terrifying. Even after he got over his fear of clowns, he'd had Zombozo nightmares for weeks. No less frightening was the thought that lives depended on him. What if he screwed up? Horrible things happened when he did something stupid. And he was…well, not that smart…and selfish, and…

No! Ben slapped himself upside the head. Don't think like that! I can't think like that! It's MY life, I DESERVE it, and I WILL have it back!

With that in mind, Ben focused his attention on the route home. Taking the bus home would take half an hour, but with XLR8's speed, he'd make it in 10 minutes. That meant more time to spend playing video games, watching movies, figuring out how to placate the 'others'…

In no time at all, he was home. Letting himself inside, Ben decided to clean up his room for brownie points. Mom was at that flower thing, and Dad was still at work. Wouldn't they be surprised! Chuckling, Ben quickly darted up to his room and nearly opened the door…

When he heard a racket coming from his parent's room. Ben blinked. Huh? Nobody's supposed to be home yet. What's going on? Confused and a little troubled, Ben listened a little more intently. Crying, yelling and…some noise he couldn't describe…and it was coming from his parent's room.

Looking down the hall, Ben saw that the door was cracked open. Ben wasn't sure what to do. He'd walked in on his parents once, and he really didn't want to do it again. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong…he decided to look through the doorway before he did anything. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it wasn't. But he had to make sure…

Ben quickly tiptoed over to the doorway and looked in.

His eyes went wide. There were three men in the room, and none of them were Carl. They were all wearing black clothes, and what looked like ski masks. Two of them had baseball bats in hand. The third one….the third one was…he was on his parents bed…and…

HE'S HURTING MOM!

With that mental scream, Ben was ready to charge into the room and beat these burglars to a pulp…

But the Omnitrix had chosen that exact moment to run out of charge. With a loud red flash, Ben was a little kid again.

"What wassat?" One of the burglars asked.

NO! NOT NOW! ANYTIME BUT NOW!

Before Ben could move from where he was or do anything else, two of the burglars burst through the door. For a second, they just looked down at Ben like he was nothing.

Desperately fiddling with his watch, Ben glared up at the intruders. "Get away from my-"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence before the bat came down on his head.

Wake up!

Wake up, Ben!

WAKE UP!

Ben's eyes shot open. He tried to get himself up, but his hands would only move so much. A rattling noise. Cold metal on the wrists…Handcuffs! Ben blinked the darkness and stars out of his eyes and looked up. He was in the basement, the handcuffs secured to the heating pipe. There was still a pain in his forehead…the bat was harder than it looked…MOM!

With a strength he didn't know he possessed, Ben snapped the flimsy handcuffs and got back on his feet. Without bothering to check if his watch was recharged, Ben tore up the stairway back upstairs. He could still stop them! He could still save her!

But when he reached his parent's room, the three burglars were gone. Sandra was still there.

She was lying on her bed, her shaking body curled into a ball. Her hair was dripping wet, like she'd just gotten out of the shower and hadn't dried herself off. Her face was buried into the pillow, but Ben could hear her hiccupping sobs. Boy, he could hear them. He would never be able to forget the sound.

You're too late.

Ben was paralyzed. He just stood there, staring at the broken wreck that was his mother. What could he possibly say to her? What could he possibly do? Those…those thugs were long gone. He was too late.

You couldn't save her. You couldn't save your own mother.

Eventually, the sobs became quieter and quieter. Ben guessed that she had fallen asleep. Mechanically, he walked up to her bedside. The only thing he could do was drape a bedsheet over his mother, hopefully keeping her warm while she rested.

Too little, too late.

Ben stumbed out of the room, trying to go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Anywhere but here.

You're pathetic. You think you can call yourself a hero when you can't even save your own mother from three schmucks with baseball bats? You had a chance to save her, to stop them, and you blew it!

Ben stumbled, falling onto the floor. He clutched his head, trying to block out the voice ringing through his head. It didn't belong to any of his other personalities. They never talked like this. This was HIS voice. Ben's voice.

You worthless, pathetic, idiotic, selfish, WEAKLING! You're not a hero! You never were a hero! You screw up at everything! Kevin, the MegaWhatts, Rojo, and now your own MOTHER!

Ben started sniffling, crying. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

It doesn't matter how sorry you are! She'll never forgive you for this! Nobody will! Not Dad, not Gwen, not Grandpa! Not even the others will forgive you!

The boy started shivering, looking at nothing with wide eyes. Everything around him started to fade away. "Nuh-never forgive me…" he mumbled, tears dripping from his eyes.

The others. THEY'RE the heroes. THEY save the day. THEY know what to do every time something goes wrong. Every time YOU screw up. They don't fail like you do. They save lives, help others, and you have the gall to demand that they go away so YOU can pretend to be a hero. Like you have the right to be anything when the truth is. You. Are. Nothing.

"Nothing…" Ben agreed with himself, as everything around him faded into darkness. All he could hear was his mother's sobs.

You're not a hero. You let her down. You can't face them. You can't do anything right. You're stupid and selfish and weak. Leave everything to the REAL heroes.

"I'm sorry…" Ben cried himself into the blackness. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" he repeated, his voice becoming quieter and quieter until it was completely silent.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" Ben kept babbling. "I'm such…such a weak…"

"It's okay, Ben. It's okay." Sandra reassured him, keeping her arms around her son. "It's okay."

Ben kept sobbing into Sandra's shoulder, shaking like a leaf. "I should've s-saved you, I should've done something else…I should've…I should've…"

"Ben…it wasn't your fault. There was…"

"Don't…don't say there was nothing I could've done. I hate it when people say that. There's …there's always something I could've done. If I was faster, if I…I…If I'd done something else…instead, I got knocked out and…and you…"

Sandra realized what she needed to say. Ben was too guilty to think that this mess was anything but his fault. There was only one thing she could do. Taking a deep breath, tears welling up in her eyes, she spoke.

"I forgive you."

Ben cried even harder, tightening his grip on Sandra. For the longest time, the two of them just sat there hugging each other, crying their tears out.

It felt like hours before Ben had regained enough composure to speak again. Gently breaking away from the embrace, he rubbed the last of his tears away and regained his breath. "I…I…so…I can't believe I…how long was I…"

"A week." Sandra answered. "I…think. One of the…well, he said that they all tried to talk to you, but you wouldn't respond."

"Y-yeah, I think I heard them, but I just-" Ben's eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh no. You know about…them...?"

Sandra just nodded.

Ben groaned, his head falling into his hands. "Of course you know. Just what you needed right now, right? A crazy son."

Sandra placed her hand on Ben's shoulder, comforting him. "It's okay, Ben. You're my son, and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. You understand me?"

Ben didn't respond for a minute. Eventually, he lifted his head up to look Sandra in the eyes. His eyes looked at Sandra, full of both hope and skepticism.

Sandra smiled reassuringly. "I mean it, Ben. But…you have to promise me something."

"Anything." Ben nodded.

Sandra looked her son straight in the eye. "You have to promise me you won't run away. You can't run and hide from everything. We'll get through all this, together. Got it?"

After a moment's hesitation, Ben nodded. "Got it, mom. I'm not going anywhere." Ben glanced at the door. The yelling had stopped, but the silence was no less troubling. "But…what about dad?"

"He's just…upset. We all are. I'll talk to him, I promise. It won't be so bad."

Ben gulped. "I…hope so. I really do."

Sandra ruffled her son's hair, just like she used to do. "Get some sleep, Ben. We'll sort this all out in the morning. Ok?"

Ben finally managed to smile. "Ok."

Sandra slowly got up and started walking out the door. I'll talk to Gwen about that shield. Ben's at his limit, and we can't take any chances… She thought to herself.

"So what happens now?"

Sandra turned around. Ben's entire posture had changed…he was sitting up straight, his arms at his side. His expression was…harsh, but scared at the same time. His eyes looked at Sandra hard, his mouth set in a straight line. Sandra could tell that this was one of the other personalities.

Before she could ask which one, his posture changed again. Shrinking away and averting his eyes, Ripjaws began stuttering. "T-To the rest of us? Wh-what'll happen to the r-rest of us?" Ripjaws clarified.

Sandra sighed. She didn't have an answer for the other personalities. She had never dealt with anything like this before. Then again, she had never dealt with her son being a superhero before. "I…I don't know. I'll have to figure it out in the morning." Sandra rubbed her forehead, trying to ease her headache. She eventually looked up and smiled. "We will figure this out. But in the morning. Okay?"

Stinkfly and Ripjaws seemed satisfied with that. Ben blinked himself back into consciousness, his body wobbling as if he'd suffered a second of lightheadedness. Glancing up at Sandra, he bit his lip as what had just happened sunk in. This was not going to be easy.

Sandra managed to smile again. "It'll be okay, Ben. I promise."

Review, please! How'd I do?