CHAPTER ONE: There's Always Regrets

Don't worry, anxious readers, I haven't abandoned my "V for Irken Vendetta" fic. I'm just really stuck on it right now, and I've had it in mind to do a sequel to "A Tale of Two Dimensions" for some time. So, taking a little break from the profanity-inducing writers block of my V story, I've decided to follow the white rabbit of this story down the rabbit hole, and see where it leads.

First off, if you have yet to read "A Tale of Two Dimensions", do it NOW. I mean it, Don't read this, expecting it to make any sense whatsoever. So if you have no backstory, bloody get it, or you're not gonna like this one.

This chapter may seem a little fluffy and smutty compared to what I normally write. It's called "setting the mood", so don't badger me for this, and don't think this is going to turn out to be some kind of uber-Tak-porno or something. Dr. Drake and Tak's love is a key issue in this story, and is put to the test by the series of events the plot has in store. I just want to show how close they really are.

"No matter where you go, there's always the places you didn't go. Whatever you do, you will always have the things you didn't. Everything has it's price, and that price is always the things that we could have done, could have said, could have been. One path walked, others passed by, but seldom forgotten. This is the great irony of life, that we can never die without regrets. Because there are always...always regrets." One of my personal philosophies.

I awoke with a start from another one of my wretched dreams. Or so I thought. Honestly, I don't remember why I awoke. One can sometimes scarcely remember their dreams, as memorial as they may seem when they're actually dreaming them. I groaned with fatigue and that horrid slimy feeling one gets after just waking up.

"Ah," I muttered. "Now I remember why I don't sleep." I looked over to my left, expecting to see Tak's sleeping form lying next to me. Instead, there was only rumpled sheets, and a pillow bearing the indentation of a head. My eyes scanned the bedroom of my quarters. The laboratory at Cambridge had much better accomidations than my old facility. Then again, a scientist who loves his work enough is just as apt to be happy falling asleep in an office chair, using a keyboard as a pillow. I cleared my throat, and gave the room's emptiness my attention.

"Tak?" I called softly. "Love, you in here?" No answer. 'Balls.' I thought. Tak had become somewhat broody lately. Now six months after we had brought her through to our world, I feared she had tired of our rather boring dimension. Despite how close we had become in six months, she seemed to have demons eating at her, reguardless of what I did. I hated to see her brood. I sighed, and slowly drug my merry carcass from the queen sized bed. I still wore what I had been wearing the day before: slim fit black velvet jeans and a black TAPS teeshirt. Still the nihilistic scientist, I still do what I want.

I walked through the darkened quarters, not even bothering to turn on any lights. Light is so bloody overrated anyhow. I knew where Tak would be. I approached the double french garden doors, seeing the pale moonlight shine through the open portals. I sighed again, pulled my black victorian style coat from the rack, throwing it over my shoulders, and walked through the doors.

The back of the quarters had a large, ornate patio of sorts, seperated from the rest of the world by the tall shrubs planted in a natural fence around its perimeter. A moderately priced Meade reflector telescope sat near a metal table with four matching chairs. Upon the table, with her hands behind her head, staring up at the night sky, was Tak. Her disguise was turned off, and she lay, fully dressed in the goth fashion she now wore constantly. I watched as her purple eyes reflected the moonlight. I stared silently at her beauty for a moment, then spoke.

"What are you doing out here so late?" I asked in a low voice. Stupid question. I knew why. I'm an idiot.

"Just...you know," The Irken replied, not taking her eyes from the stars overhead. "thinking." I walked over, sitting upon one of the chairs, and lightly stroking Tak's cheek. I looked up at the sky. A million small white dots stared back.

"It is really beautiful tonight." I whispered. "Orion's out."

"I know." She whispered back. She rolled onto her stomach, her face close to mine. In the moonlight, I saw a tinge of pain in her eyes. "Drake, my love." She said, placing a three-digited hand gently against my cheek. "I miss it." I leaned forward, my forehead meeting hers lightly.

"I know you do." I said, feeling as small and ineffectual as my psyche allowed. "I'm... sorry." Tak moved even closer, placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

"You have no cause for an apology." She said.

"I did it." I replied. "I brought you through. I tore you away from your life."

"And gave me a better one." Tak said. "You know I love you. I love Ana like a sister. I even like Ashton." She paused for a moment. "You know, to a lesser degree." I laughed lightly for a moment. "I love being here, learning, and experiencing all this world has to offer. I just..."

"You're thinking about home." I stated sypathetically.

"Yeah. I mean look at all these stars. They look so...different from what I knew. I know most of these constellations and planets by heart, but so much isn't the same. I can't help but wonder."

"Wonder what, love?" I asked.

"Over there." Tak said, pointing to a speck of light in the sky. "That's Arcturus. And that one, that's Betlegeuce, a binary star. They were there in my reality, and here they are in yours. I wonder if...somewhere out there," Tak sniffled, and looked across the sky. "There's a planet called Irk."

"It's...it's possible." I said, putting my right arm over Tak's shoulders. "I mean..." I trailed off. I couldn't lie to her, and maybes and could be's never seem to help anything.

"What about the Tallest?" Tak asked, laying her head on my shoulder. "Do they even exist in this realm? Or Foodcourtia, or Devastis...I would even like to know if Zim even exists anymore." I felt my shoulder growing damp, and knew that was from Tak's tears. I pulled her close to comfort her. She came willingly, and soon, I held her to my chest and we were embraced in a close hug, her arms wrapped around me tightly, reminding me of a scared child holding onto her mother.

"It's okay." I said comfortingly. "I'm here." There were times that I simply hated myself. I loved Tak, and her pain was my pain. Tak was a contridiction. She was so strong, both mentally and physically. She was powerful in ways no human could ever be. But she harbored a weakness inside her, and when it manifested, it was just a reminder of how she was no superhero or goddess, just a complex being, I daresay, human, for lack of a better word.

"I'm cold." Tak whispered. I responded by wrapping her in my coat as I held her close. I carried her back into the quarters, closing the doors behind me. Once in the bedroom, I lay Tak on the bed, and pulled the sheets up to her chin. I tossed my coat into a heap on the floor, and climbed into bed, putting my right arm around Tak.

"I love you." I said. Tak smiled through her sadness.

"I love you too." She replied. "Don't worry about me."

"You know I'm going to." I said.

"My doctor." Tak whispered with a smile. "Always the worrier." It was my turn to smile now, and I pulled Tak close. Our bodies pressed together, she let out a small 'Mmm', and I pressed my lips onto hers. A really great kiss: when quantum physics can sucessfully describe such an energetic reaction between two physical bodies interacting, I'll get back to you with details.

We broke the kiss, and Tak lingered for a moment, as if savoring the taste on her tongue. She let out a small sigh, and opened her eyes.

"You kiss like we're going to be dead tomorrow." Tak whispered, a smile playing across her face, and a lustful longing in her eyes.

"We always may," I said. "And I don't want any regrets." Tak pressed herself even closer, amd the logical half of my brain suddenly held up a white flag to my baser instincts.

"Neither do I." Tak whispered into my ear. "Drake, love me like tomorrow won't come." I slowly slid my fingertips along Tak's left antennae. She shuddered in that lovely way that no lover can ignore. "Please?" What could I say? 'No'?

We lay in bed with with the thin Egyptian cotton sheet pulled up to our necks, holding onto each other lovingly. Tak's sweet smelling breath invaded my olfactory receptors, and I liked it. She looked into my eyes for a moment.

"Drake," She said lightly. "Do you think we could...ever...uh, you know..." She trailed off.

"What, love?"

"I just wondered if there was...any possibility that we could ever have...a, uh...a smeet."

"Oh." I said, as if she'd just asked me if I wanted to have my pancreas removed by an orangutan in a purple lab coat. I'm a guy, alright?

"I mean do you think it's...you know, possible?" Damn. If that wasn't a question to beat all questions for the title of 'I really don't know how to answer this." I have a degree in biology, two years of anatomy, and another degree in vetrinary science, and bloody hell, I wish I could lie.

"I...uh" I said. "Tak, we're..." Why not be a scientist about it? "We're so genetically different, and...I...I just don't think it's possible." I saw her eyes close, and her antenna dropped a bit. "I'd really...like to, you know." She looked back into my eyes.

"Really?" She asked. a heartbroken tinge to her voice. I smiled sympathetically.

"I...wish we could. You'd make a great mother." Tak smiled at this.

"And you'd make a great father." She replied, placing a hand on my cheek. "A smeet with your DNA would be...so wonderful." I saw tears form in her eyes again. "Dreams, huh?" Tak whispered, before rolling over and snuggling her back up against my chest. I placed my right arm over her. "Just like seeing home again." She whispered. The words, despite their softness, cut into me like a rusty knife compliments of Jack the Ripper. A thought came to mind, a thought borne of Tak's sadness and the experiment that my team was conducting at the time. A thought that I dared not vocalise, but one that gleamed with that kind of hope that only the desperate can see. I moved my mouth close to her ear.

"We are the music makers," I muttered, quoting that great Beatle. "and we are the dreamers of the dreams."

What did you think? Am I slaughtering it? Just tell me if I'm compromising the integrity of the original, and I'll gladly take this down or rewrite it. If you like it, say so, and I'll continue. Well, awaiting reviews. 'Till then, Dr. Lovekill out. Cheerio.