Two Halfs, One Heart

Chapter 13- Secrets

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I was asleep beside Ben, when he instantly woke up. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned. "Another nightmare, Ben?" Max asked his grandson. "It was that weird alien from my vision. Only bigger, uglier and scarier," "Sure you weren't just looking in a mirror?" Gwen asked. "Gwen!" I said, not liking what she said. "It was just a bad dream, son. We can talk about it in the morning," Max said.

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"It seemed so real. He looked right at me and said... I'm coming for you now." Something seemed to stop Max in his tracks as he froze. "Change of plan. We're hitting the road right now," He said. Ben, Gwen and I looked at each other. "Max, it's 3:00 in the morning," I said. "Best way to beat the traffic." Was the only response I got.

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"Grandpa, what's with the lead foot?" Ben asked. "Yeah, Max. What's the hurry?" I asked. "I want to make it to Mount Rushmore by nightfall," Max said, answering us. "I'm so bored. Let me play a game," Ben said. "I would, but I think this will be a good lesson for you... how to learn to entertain yourself," Gwen said. Suddenly, her laptop stopped working.

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"Hey! What gives?" Gwen said, trying to get her computer to work. "Sorry. You are a loser. And always will be," Ben said as his voice was coming from the laptop. He was now Upgrade and messing around. "Ben! Get out of my computer!" "What? I'm just entertaining myself," Ben said, throwing Gwen's words back at her. "This is my private property... and you're getting your cooties all over it," Gwen said, irritated.

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Suddenly, Ben had legs like a spider. "Ooh! What's this! A diary! "Dear diary... My cousin Ben is such a..." "Doofus, knock it off!" Gwen said. "Ben! Now is not the time to go alien. Do you understand?" Max said. "I was just fooling around," Ben said. "We can't afford to attract attention right now," Max said to Ben. "What kind of attention could I attract in here?" "Never mind," Max said, not wanting to raise the issue.

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Ben and Gwen looked at me with questioning looks. I know why Max was in a hurry but it wasn't my place to say anything. Max and I will tell Ben and Gwen our secrets when we're ready. I just hope they understand and aren't too angry. Ben's the most important person in the world to me, I'd hate for him to be angry with me.

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We looked out of the window and saw smoke nearby. "What's going on over there?" Ben said, concerned. "I'm the local authorities have the situation well in hand," Max said. "Looks like it's hero time!" I looked over at Max, worry written all over my face. "Ben, I don't think that's the best ide--" Max was cut off by Ben. "Time to turn up the Heatblast on these guys!" Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix and was now Heatblast.

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"Paige, use your magic," Max said. "Use it... for Ben." I nodded. "Now, remember where you want to be and focus," He continued. The next I knew, I was with Ben and... Vilgax! "No!!! This can't be happening! I thought Max told me he took care of Vilgax years ago?" "Ben! Come on, we have to go!" He looked over at me, "Princess, what are you doing here?" "I'll explain later but right now, we have to go!" I said, urging Ben to understand and come with me.