Note: Social Networks in da house tonight, everybody just Tweet up your . An' we'll upload some posts tonight! We just wanna see you... Trollface...Everyday I'm Tumbl'n... Hecallsmehischild. Yeah no clue either, let's write...

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"Please get up today."

She closed her eyes, willing the voice to leave her alone.

"Mom, please." A small hand slipped into hers. "Please get up. It's been a week. You have to eat something."

Turning her face away, she pulled her covers tighter.

"Just a shower and a bowl of cereal," the voice pleaded. "That's all, then you can come back if you want."

She closed her eyes. Somewhere in her mind, she knew she needed to get up. But the lead weight in her chest made it impossible to care. Why, what was the point of getting up? The only thing that was assured from being conscious was getting hurt, and feeling grief. Better to let the weight sink her, the pain wasn't as sharp that way.

There was silence for awhile, before she felt the covers slide off of her, and cold tendrils lift her up. Gaz's voice echoed in her mind.

I'm sorry. You're not leaving me a choice.

Gloria felt a spark anger flicker dimly. Gaz didn't have any right to do this. Just because she was an alien, and stronger, didn't give her the right to move Gloria around like a rag doll. Besides, she'd had enough of alien intervention in her life. She wished a shield around the whole planet, blocking them all out forever.

She felt a falter as she was being carried, and her anger shifted into remorse. She hadn't thought twice about taking an unknown child into her house as her own once, and now, she was bombarding that same child with thoughts about how unwanted she was because she wasn't human. She rested a hand on one of the tendrils. I'm sorry. It hurts. I don't mean it. Everything just hurts.

She felt her clothes being peeled off as her body was slipped gently into warm water. She could feel a cloth rubbing her back gently. Her mind wandered back to the times she'd bathed Dib this way, with Gaz watching on impassively from the doorway. She shut her eyes again, ashamed of herself. Ashamed that she couldn't bring herself to do something as simple as bathe without being coerced, and that her daughter had to do it for her.

She felt the sweat and grime of a week begin to disintegrate in the water as Gaz bathed her, laying her back to wash her hair as well. The cold air hit her for a moment as Gaz pulled her out, but just as quickly she was wrapped in a robe, her hair bound up in a towel. She opened her eyes once more, looking up. Gaz towered over her, even while carrying her, black and billowing. Her daughter looked straight ahead, the corners of her red eyes pulled downward.

She heard a door opening, and turned her head forward. Gaz drifted onto the front porch, shrinking down as she moved. She placed Gloria in a small, cushioned chair that looked suspiciously like one from the living room. Returning to her appearance as a little girl, she climbed into Gloria's lap, and rested her head on her chest.

"It's okay Mom." Gaz said quietly. "You'll get through this. I promise. We'll all be here. I'm not going anywhere. Dib's stupid head is still around... Zim will come talk to you."

Gloria looked out over the front yard, taking it in. She'd been back for five years now, but she hardly ever looked around herself anymore. When had that stopped? She remembered finding this home with Ivan, but there had been flowered hedges around the yard, and trees with nightblooming jasmines crawling their trunks. When had all that been replaced by grass and electric shock fencing?

Ivan.

She dropped her head, resting it on Gaz's, the towel sliding off her hair. Gaz reached up, gently running fingers through Gloria's knee-length purple hair, patiently untangling each knot she came across.

A rattle at the curb caught her attention, and she glanced up. A man was taking garbage cans to the curb. He must be a neighbor, She thought. She watched as he turned, and crossed back into her yard. She stiffened slightly, and Gaz took her hand.

"It's okay Mom. He takes the garbage out for us."

Gloria watched, warily, as the man disappeared down the side of the house, and returned with more cans. "We..." She paused, "We can't afford help... can we?" Alarmed, she realized she didn't even know the state of their finances. Ivan's research had provided just enough for them in the beginning, but she hadn't paid attention since her return.

"Yeah, Mom." Gaz answered sadly. "We can afford it. Dad had a trust set up... he got to be a really important scientist. You don't have to worry about anything again."

Gloria stared ahead for a moment, before wrapping her arms tightly around Gaz, and breaking into a shuddering sob.

I don't want his money. I want my husband back.

For a moment, the man by the curb looked up from the garbage, watching the scene on the porch. And then, he was closing the lids and walking off down the street, not looking back.

...

Note: So you know that stupid disclaimer I always put that says "No pairings" in every fic? Well... IT'S NOT BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS LISTED IN MY DESCRIPTION. There is no Dib/Zim/Red threesome or twosome among the three names, those are just the main canon characters that are involved in the story. However... because my brain is an absolute troll... it decided to throw pairing ideas at me. So, history in the making. Will I or will I not flop at writing romance? We shall see.