All in all the town meeting was a success. Amy was allowed to stay, and Ben even received a bit of admiration for standing up for her. It wasn't until a week afterwards that the national guard finally left. Ben, Mark, and Johnny had tried to visit her during that time but Jordan told them that Amy didn't want any visitors for a while. The whole time Ben was worried that she was pissed off at him for keeping her around and forcing her into community service. In the end, though, he decided to let matters run their course, he had enough to deal with between home and school. Like his father told him, life moves on.

One Sunday afternoon Ben was outside with an old tree stump his dad was paying him to dig up. The spring weather and gentle breeze in the air made the task easier to bear, though he still had a lot of work to do digging out all of the roots. Ben stabbed his shovel into the ground so as to take a short break when he felt vibrations coming through the handle. It wasn't long before he could feel those same vibrations through the soles of his shoes. Ben took up his shovel and began digging again, he didn't want to be just standing around when Amy arrived. The tremors increased in intensity before finally coming to a stop. A large shadow was cast over Ben yet he continued digging, pretending like he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. After about a minute of just the sound of him digging Ben stuck his shovel back into the ground and turned to look up at Amy.

She was likewise dressed for the spring weather. she wore a white tank top, a sky blue skirt, and sandals that showed off her pretty feet nicely. She stood blocking off the sunlight, which gave her the appearance of having a golden aura. All in all she was as beautiful as ever, probably not a Goddess but definitely and Angel.

"Hey," she said looking down on Ben.

"Hey," he replied. "Forgive me if I don't invite you inside. Our house hasn't been properly renovated yet. Give it a few years though."

That brought a smile to her face, a small one, but she seemed to lighten up significantly. That is until Ben's mom came running out of the house, frantic as all hell.

"Ben! What the hell's going on? I was just vacuuming when I felt an earthquake and now-," Mrs. Lyons stopped the instant she saw Amy. She had always known about Amy, everyone in town did, but she had only ever seen her in pictures. Seeing her in person was an entirely different experience, and a frightening one at that. Amy, on the other hand, frowned. She was all too used to reactions like this from everyone.

Luckily for everyone little Katelyn came bouncing out of the house and stopped right next to Ben. She had come out to introduce herself to Amy and was amazed by her size. She even almost fell over trying to look up at her, but she was far from afraid.

"Wooooow!," she exclaimed. "Ben who's that?"

Ben picked her up in his arms and smiled, grateful that her presence distracted Amy from his mother's reaction. "Katelyn this is my friend Amy Jackson," he told her. "Amy, that's my mom and this is my little sister Katelyn."

Katelyn waved enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you!" she called out.

Amy, making sure there was plenty of room behind her, got down on one knee and waved back. "Nice to meet you too," she said gently. "And you don't have to call out, I can hear you just fine."

"Oh, ok." Katelyn giggled. "You're reeeaaally big."

Amy smiled at her. "I know"

Katelyn giggled again before looking at Ben. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Ben immediately felt his face go red as he stuttered out an answer. "No!...I mean...uh...no. No, we're just friends Katelyn."

"To bad," Katelyn said. "She's really pretty."

This time it was Amy's turn to blush. Ben had to get her away fast before she tried setting them up on a date.

"Ok munchkin, time for you to go back inside while we talk for a bit," he told her as he set her down.

"Ok," she said." But remember your manners." And with that she skipped back inside.

Ben shook his head before casting a reassuring smile to his mother and nodding. After a moment of hesitation Mrs. Lyons composed herself and nodded at Amy. "It was very nice to meet you in person Amy. Ben's told me a lot about you. You two enjoy yourselves." Then she walked back inside.

As soon as the door closed Ben turned back to Amy and shrugged. She giggled again. "You have a pretty cool family."

"Eh, they're alright." he replied. "So, what did you come for?"

In response Amy lowered her hand, palm up, right in front of Ben. "Take a walk with me?"

Ben just looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. Amy rolled her eyes. "I promise I'll bring you back when we're done. I just want to talk."

Without another word Ben stomped his shoes on the driveway, so as to shake loose the dirt, and stepped onto her palm. The view from her hand once she stood up was just as amazing as last time. The entire town stretched out before him like a small model. Looking down over the edge of her hand he could see the parked cars at her feet, far bellow him. Amy had to keep a careful watch of the ground in front of her, lest she step on anything. Once she was clear of the town and was walking in the open grass on the outskirts of town she stopped watching and spoke.

"I heard about what you said at the town meeting. Mark recorded it on his phone and emailed it to my parents."

Ben hesitated for a bit, not sure of what to say, before finally settling on a reply. "And what did you think?"

"I thought what you said was honest," she said before smiling. "Honest and sweet."

"So you weren't mad that we kept you here when you wanted to go?" he asked.

Amy shrugged. "I was more conflicted by it. I really did want to leave because I never thought anyone would see me as anything more than a big freak. At first community service sounded like working for people who would never change their opinion about me."

". . . . But?"

Amy sighed. "But I figured that, for once, I have a chance to finally change that. I can start being Beauty instead of The Beast."

Ben nodded. "I'm proud of you."

Amy rolled her eyes. "You sound like my dad."

"You spoke to your dad?" he asked.

"Yeah, he showed me the video in person. It made my mom cry to watch it. After that we started talking. It felt . . . . it felt nice to just talk to them again like daughter to parents."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ben said. Amy frowned at him. "What?"

"I was just wondering," she said. "Why were you never afraid?"

Ben barked out a laugh. "Are you kidding me? Standing up in front of all of those people was fucking terrifying."

Amy shook her head. "Not that, me." Ben stopped laughing and looked up at her. She continued. "I've done a lot to you. I poured orange juice on you, swallowed you, kidnapped you, chased you around, and stepped on you. But the whole time you never seemed like you were afraid of me. Why?"

Be shrugged. "I never believed you would hurt me. You're a giantess, true, but you're still a high school student. Not a murderer and not a monster."

"Be honest Ben. It's true I wouldn't have hurt you on purpose but still, that wouldn't have kept you from still being showing fear. It's not like humans were born for interacting with giantesses. You should have still been afraid."

Ben took a deep breath, he had hoped he wouldn't have had to tell her this. He didn't speak for the longest time, Amy waited patiently for him. Finally he spoke. "My sister, Katelyn, she's eight years old. When she was two she contracted brain cancer."

Amy sucked in a breath, shocked by what he said. Yet she resolved to keep quiet until he finished. Ben continued, albeit laboriously. "She had a tumor in her head that they had to remove. Back then I was ten years old, and I didn't know if she was going to live or die." He took another deep breath. "That was the worst experience of my life, watching my baby sister and not knowing whether or not she would live." He chuckled a little. "They were able to remove the tumor eventually, the only problems she has are a few learning disabilities but she's learning to improve. Still, I never forgot the fear I felt back then. Crying myself to sleep a lot of nights." Ben shrugged. "Compared to that very few things in life scare me."

Just then Ben was hit from above by a tear drop weighing twenty pounds that pushed him flat against Amy's palm. She wiped her eyes with her other hands. "I'm sorry," she said, but the sobs continued. Ben responded by patting her palm.

"Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy," he said. "It turned out ok in the end. Don't worry."

It took some effort but eventually Amy was able to get her sobs under control. She held her palm up at eye level. "Ben, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a bully and a bitch, for drenching you in orange juice, swallowing you, and stepping on you." She sniffed. "Mostly for stepping on you. I. . .I can't help it. I just like the feeling of people around my feet and. . .I'm sorry for everything."

Ben wasn't sure what made him say this, maybe he had kept quiet about it for too long, but he felt he had to let this out. He looked bashfully at her palm. "You know you have very pretty feet. Next time just try asking."

Amy stared at him, shocked by what he had just told her. He had just confessed, what was probably, his biggest secret to her. Amy blushed, before clearing her throat. "Can I uh. . .can I tell you a secret about me?"

*****

It didn't take long for things to get back to normal at school. Amy kept to herself and behaved politely, as did the students. They were still scared to death by her, yet were grateful that she had finally learned to treat them like people rather than toys. Ben, Mark, and Johnny sat around their usual lunch table, debating whether or not Superman could beat Thor in a fight.

"I'm telling you," Mark insisted. "Thor is as strong as the Hulk. He could match Superman blow for blow."

"Please," Johnny replied. "Superman moves too fast. He'd knock Thor's head off before the fight even began."

"Bullshit," Mark said. "What do you think Ben?"

Ben looked between the two of them before shrugging. "I'm going to have to side with Johnny on this one. Sorry."

"Psh. You're all full of shit," Mark said.

Suddenly Amy set her lunch aside, stood up from her table, and walked over to the platform that held all of their lunch tables. Everyone froze instantly. So far Amy had kept to herself and had avoided pretty much everyone. Now, everyone was thinking back to those times when she would pluck them into the air and threaten to eat them with her lunch. No one made a move, Amy turned her gaze to Ben, Johnny, and Mark.

"Actually," she said. "Thor's hammer is coated in magic energy, which Superman is completely vulnerable to. Not to mention his magic control over the weather. Plus he's taken beatings before from the Hulk, who is as strong as Superman. Personally I think Thor's endurance and strength could match Superman's. His hammer would be what wins it for him."

Pretty much everyone in the room stood there in complete and utter shock. All except Mark and Johnny, their jaws were hanging all the way to the ground. Ben just sat back in his seat and grinned. Amy grinned back and held her palm up to the platform. "Would you guys like to join me at my table?"

Johnny and Mark exchanged glances before smiling and following after Ben, who was already climbing into her palm.