Unlikely Romance

Author's Notes: Woot, I'm back. And a little early at that…. DON'T GET USED TO IT!!! This was just a fluke since I'm spending the day with my dad. So I decided to prepare this chapter for ya'll. I hope you like it.

!!ATTENTION! KINDA IMPORTANT!!: Okay, I'm starting to get REALLY desperate for some fanart, peoples. So, I'm gonna old me a little contest. IF ANYONE VOLUNTEERS OR FORCES A FRIEND TO DRAW ME SOME FANART FOR THE "UNLIKELY" TRILOGY, I WILL SEND THEM – VIA E-MAIL – A SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW OF UNLIKELY SACRAFICE, THE FINAL ADDITION TO THE TRILOGY. This offer only applies to those who send me fanart. Let's see where that gets me. XP

"Some days my IQ drops just from listening to me talk."

-My Bestest Friend

Chapter 9: Boiling Point

Dib watched with an odd mixture of relief and regret as the planet of Noomber Thrty Nien slowly shrank to marble size behind them: relief that they were able to escape before The Great Migration, and regret at leaving the location of his first kiss.

"Something wrong?" Tak asked, having noticed Dib's solemn expression.

"Huh? Oh, no. I'm fine. It's just… Having lived there for three months… I donno," he replied with a shrug.

Tak nodded. "Yes, I got a bit comfortable myself, but we can't let that distract us from the task at hand." She watched with a feeling of unease as Dib's eyes darkened. His hand twisted into a fist in his lap.

"Right," he mumbled in a low voice. 'Zim.'

Tak reached over and placed a hand on Dib's thigh. Dib jumped and looked up at her. She said nothing; she only smiled at him before returning her gaze to the vast void beyond them, leaving her hand in place.

Dib felt his anger melt away, and at the same time it was replaced with a warm feeling. He felt safe, and even happy… And even slightly aroused.

He blushed sharply at how his body had reacted to the innocent touch. Ever since the kiss, small exchanges between them often had embarrassing consequences for Dib. He prayed that Tak didn't notice, and thus far it hadn't seemed that she did… And if she did, her expression never betrayed her. He had also begun to watch her more. At first he said that he was just doing it to keep his mind off of his sister, but he knew that that was a lie. He was getting feelings for Tak. But whether or not it was love he didn't know.

'It could just be an infatuation,' he told himself. 'She is the first and only girl to ever pay attention to me… Besides Gretchen…'

Dib was surprised at how suddenly and swiftly his anger had returned at the thought of Gretchen. To him, it seemed that just yesterday she had accompanied him to the Skool Dance. But he knew that wasn't so. Gretchen had been dead for over three months now; her and everyone else on Earth who had died so suddenly in the explosion. In fact, the magnitude of the loss was so great that it hadn't even fully sunk in yet. Dib knew this to be true. He knew that if the enormity of the loss sunk in, it would drive him insane; truly insane.

'And it will all be because of ZIM!' Dib hissed in his mind and entertained himself with fantasies of how he would make the Irken suffer for what he did to humanity.

Tak cast a wary glance over towards her human companion only to find him lost within the darkest corners of his mind, grinning evilly. It made her more than uncomfortable when he got like this; it outright frightened her. When he became this angry, she felt as though she no longer knew him. Like he is a stranger. She turned away, not wanting to see the darkness in his eyes. "We'll be landing soon."

Dib didn't reply. Tak wasn't even sure that he heard her, but she wasn't going to talk to him again. She knew he was drowning in his anger, and she didn't want to get dragged down to the bottom of his hate with him. 'He'll come out of it,' she thought. 'He always does… He'll be better by nightfall.'

(Page Break)

Zim sat at the table in the Resisty's food court. He twirled his fork idly between his thumb and first finger, watching the streams the prongs made as they raked through the grey blob the Resisty had provided him for breakfast. He looked away from the gashes; they only served as a reminded for what had conspired during the night. That and the dull throb in his arms.

Nobody but Gaz knew about the lacerations that ruined his arms. He had not told the Resisty and he doubted that they would find out on their own. The long sleeves from his Invader uniform hid the gauze. All that Lard Nar noticed was that the Irken was a bit stiff this morning and nothing more.

This pleased Zim. His dirty secret was safe for the time being. 'That is if Gaz doesn't say anything,' Zim mused, but he doubted that the girl would even want to talk to him about what happened. If she spoke at all. 'Her voice might be hoarse from the scream,' he pondered with a pang of guilt, remembering the sheer horror in Gaz's eyes when she saw his arms.

A loud clang snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked down at the fork and saw that he had stabbed clean through his blob (which had a similar consistency to mashed potatoes) to the plate. He sighed wearily. He really didn't want to eat, although his stomach argued otherwise. He found his predicament slightly amusing. 'I'm truly hungry for the first time this year, and I'm so nauseous I don't feel like eating.' In fact, Zim never usually had to eat unless he had depleted a lot of his energy with a physical task or he was injured. 'Injured or no, I'd have to be dying to want to eat this… dirt' Zim thought with disgust and pushed the plate away.

As he looked up he noticed someone coming down to the food court. At first he identified the figure, by her purple cloak, as the nurse who had saved Gaz when they first arrived, but as she drew closer, Zim realized it was Gaz herself. She drew out a chair randomly from the table and sat while Zim silently admired how the cloak complemented her hair. Impulsively he cleared his throat and Gaz looked up at him.

"What?" she asked, though not entirely unkindly.

Zim dropped his eyes immediately. "I just wondered why you were wearing that," he lied.

Gaz looked at the cloak and shrugged. "I outgrew my other clothes."

"Outgrew?" he asked looking up at her.

She looked away. "Yeah… I'm finding it hard to believe that I'm only three months and I'm already showing… I've already had the cravings and whatnot… I'm just glad that the puking is over… Now, I can look forward to swollen ankles, backaches, mood swings… all while ballooning out to the size of a whale," she stated, and chuckled softly at her predicament, although there was no humor in it. She looked over at Zim to see what he was doing. She found him staring back at her uncomprehendingly. "Stop it. You look stupid."

Zim looked back at his food. "…Tell me again why you must endure all these unpleasant changes."

Gaz sighed. "Because I'm having your baby, you twit."

Zim froze. It was the first time since leaving Earth that Gaz had admitted to him that he had ownership with their child. Gaz looked out a nearby window, ignoring his expression. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Gaz stared silently out the window for a long time. When Zim was sure she wasn't going to answer him, she said, "No… Not now." Zim nodded and looked away. "But… I guess you can get me something to eat."

Zim pushed his plate to her. "Have mine. I haven't touched it."

Gaz looked at the mutilated blob and said, "I find that hard to believe."

"Well, I… I didn't take a bite, I just…"

Gaz accepted the plate and examined the blob. "Is it any good?"

Zim shrugged, "How would I know? I haven't taken a bite of it, remember?"

"Don't push it, Zim," Gaz warned. "I just wanted to know if you'd had it before."

Zim nodded. "Once. It somewhat reminds me of you human's ice-cream, only without the burning, painful part."

Gaz eagerly took a bite. Zim was right, it did taste like ice-cream; luke-warm ice-cream with the texture of applesauce. 'Beggars can't be choosers,' she told herself, and took another bite. Six bites later, she was able to ignore the texture and found that she liked it, even though she thought it looked and smelled like glue.

The Resisty members huddled around and stared in awe.

"Hey, WOW!" Shloonktapooxis exclaimed. "They're gettin' along! It's nice." his tongue poked out.

"This is great news for the 'Young and the Slorgaks'!" Spleenk cheered, and the rest of the Resisty nodded in agreement.

Gaz growled. "Don't you idiots have anything better to do than watch our personal lives? GO FIGHT THE IRKEN EMPIRE!!"

Zim smiled at how Gaz was finally acting like herself again.

(Page Break)

"Well, what do you think?" Tak asked, looking at Dib who had been staring at the room. "I know it's not much, but at least it's a roof over our heads until my ship is properly repaired.

Dib shook his head. "No, it's not that I don't like it. I'm just so amazed to have air conditioning again," he explained with a smile and looked again at the alien motel room.

"Good. Now get situated, and I'm going to wash up." Then, to MIMI she said, "Go get my cleansing chalk."

The robot saluted and pranced of gaily. Tak shook her head in disgust and disappeared into a smaller room. Dib decided that it must be the equivalent of the bathroom. The room he was in had several items of furniture, most of which Dib couldn't identify. He figured out which one was the bed, but a problem arose when he realized that there was only one.

'Well, we could share,' Dib thought optimistically, but then he shook his head. 'But only if she wants to. If not, it looks like sofa city for me… If I can find the sofa…'

He set his bag down on the floor and a plume of dust rose from it. He brushed some more of the sand off before unzipping it and pulling out the rest of his belongings, which consisted solely of a change of clothes. While he looked for a place to hang them, MIMI rushed back in and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Dib shrugged and went back to work.

MIMI came out moments later and was able to point out the closet, as well as a second bathroom for the human to use. As he entered the bathroom, Dib asked, "Two bathrooms and one bed; is that normal?"

MIMI shrugged and slammed the door behind him. After a full five minutes of searching the alien appliances, Dib was confident that he had located the shower. He twisted the handle and a light blue liquid began to spray out of the top of the shower stall. Unaware of how he would react to the strange alien liquid, he gingerly poked his hand through the shower door, so a drop landed on his finger.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAA!!"

"What's going on?!" Tak shrieked in the adjacent bathroom.

"Oh, MAN!" Dib yelled, sharply withdrawing his hand. "That's COLD!"

Tak was silent for a long time. "Press the red button until the temperature adjusts to you liking," she finally informed.

"Oh?" Dib pressed the button and found that the liquid's temperature changed instantly. It was now the equivalent of a hot shower. Dib wasted no time stripping down, glad to be rid of the clothes he had been stuck in for the past three months. He knew that he must smell. His once black shirt was now a dull grey from the sun and sand. His face was almost brown from the sand and grime it was thickly coated with. He was surprised at how sharp the contrast was between his arms and stomach was. He had rarely taken off his shirt while in the desert, for fear of getting sunburn, so the skin underneath was still fish belly white. He quickly stepped into the shower. "Uh, Tak?"

"Yes, Dib?"

"Where do they hide the soap?"

There was a pause, and then the unmistakable sound of Tak laughing. "What?"

"It's in the water Dib."

"Huh?" Dib looked down and rubbed his arms, which was soaked from the mist. All of the dust and grime came off easily. "Oh, wow. Thanks."

Tak giggled and said no more.

(Page Break)

Gaz looked up at the sound of one of the stools being pulled out. She watched as Zim sat at her side. "I like how you handled that," he smirked and watched as the Resisty members toiled at their different stations.

She shrugged. "I didn't do anything special. I just told 'em to do their jobs, and they shouldn't need me to tell them either."

Zim nodded. "Pitiful creatures," he murmured.

Gaz nodded and looked down into her lap. 'Zim's regaining some confidence with me,' she noted. She felt his gaze studying her, trying to pry her mind and read her thoughts. She focused intently on her hands and tried to keep her expression blank. After a minute, he looked away.

"You would make a fine leader of this vessel," he said while staring out of one of the windows.

Gaz looked at him, mildly surprised by what she considered to be a compliment, but kept the emotion hidden. "Hm?"

"I was just saying that you would make a good leader," Zim said, a bit nervous by her blank stare. "That's all."

She warmed up to him slightly. "Am I more qualified than Lard Nar?" she inquired, raising a brow.

"Well, second to me I suppose-"

"Second to you? What makes you so qualified?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Humph, I may not look it now, but I once commanded the crew of a battle mech. on my home planet," Zim boasted. "So I'm used to commanding several members of a militia at a time."

"And am I more qualified to lead the Resisty that you?" she asked, a bit of an edge in her voice.

"Yes…" he replied smartly. "But only because the Resisty would never listen to me due to my race."

Gaz mumbled "Racist" under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I asked if you were saying that I only qualify by default?"

"Yes and no. Yes, because I would make a good leader myself, and that will never be as long as this organization's goals remain what they are. And no, because I think you have some natural leadership capabilities…. Why, your sire did a good job commanding the humans."

"Yeah," Gaz smiled, remembering her Dad. "He was great." Her eyes began to well with tears and she did nothing to stop it. 'And now Dad's gone. He's gone along with everyone else on Earth; they all died so suddenly. So anticlimactically. It doesn't even seem real. But it is. And everyone I knew or cared about is gone. Everyone at Skool (which isn't that great of a loss) and Dad.

'And Dad died thinking I was mad at him.'

Gaz chocked back a sob at the resolution. Remembering the conversation at the table, she wished that she could take it all back, and instead tell her father that she really did love him, despite everything. All she wanted now was to tell him that she loved him, and Dib too. She didn't really harbor any true misgivings for her older brother. He couldn't help what their father did. He couldn't help that their Dad favored him occasionally. In fact, she realized that Dib had been like her father all along, and now she would never get the chance to tell him how much she appreciated that. Or tell her father that she loved him. Her insides twisted with hate and revulsion.

"Gaz… it's okay… calm down," Zim hushed, placing an arm around her shoulders.

'YOU!' her mind accused. 'It's your fault I can't tell them!' She pushed his arm away. "Shut up, Zim! Quit acting like you know what I'm going through!"

Zim retracted and cocked an antenna in confusion. "Gaz, I was only trying to-"

"Help? No thanks. You've done more than enough. Thanks to you, I'll never have to deal with my home life again. Dib'll never tell me to stop skipping Skool again. Dad'll never ignore me when I need some parental advice again. Dib'll never again lecture me on my grades. Dad'll never tell me to stop beating up Dib for annoying me again." She began to sob. "Dib'll never lecture me about aliens again. Dad'll never take us to Bloaty's for Family Fun Night again. Dib'll never stand in line for twenty six hours just so he can get me the newest addition of Vampire Piggies for my birthday again. Dad'll never take me aside and have a serious talk with me about growing up again." Her sobbing turned into hysterics that she was barely able to talk through. "And I'll never get to tell them how much they mean to me, and that I love them, because you took all that away from me!"

"Gaz…. I'm sorry, but-"

"Sorry?" Gaz mocked, now more angry than sad. "Sorry's still not good enough! It'll never be good enough! You can't even imagine what I'm going through right now! It's horrible; and it's all your fault!" she shrieked.

"Insolent human!" Zim yelled in reply. "Haven't I told you already that I know what it's like?!"

Gaz cursed him. "Boohoo, you got kicked off your planet for screwing up all the time. At least you still have a planet!"

"I'd rather have no planet!" Zim growled and slashed his hand through the air between them, as if that was enough to destroy his home planet. "I'd rather there be no Irkens! I'd rather have everyone dead than have them alive and ridiculing me. Irk may still exist, but I have no home!"

"Oh, poor pitiful you!" Gaz mocked, glaring at him.

Zim glared. "And how easily you forget that Earth was my home too!"

"Puh, for eight years!"

"Oh, so the time spent on a planet dictates how much meaning it has to you?"

"Yes, and going by that Earth meant twice as much to me as it ever would have to you!"

"Fine, but Earth meant more to me than all the human-worm babies under the age of eight!"

"No, it meant more to them than to you!"

"Hypocrite!" Zim screeched, pointing an accusing finger at Gaz.

"No," she replied, swiping his hand away. "It meant more to all the humans because Earth was their home! They'd never known another planet; unlike you!"

Zim growled with frustration. "No! Earth meant just as much to me because it was my second chance. It was my new life."

"Well, if that's true, then why'd ya blow it up?!"

"BECAUSE!" Zim shrieked and then hesitated. For a minute, he looked lost. "Because I didn't realize it was my second chance. What the Tallest told me… when they said I had a mission. I thought that was my second chance. I thought getting the information from your sire would bring me home. I know your pain, Gaz. I know it well. I miss my home every day. I didn't realize Earth was my second chance until it was gone. Now, I grieve for two lost planets."

"Well, what can I say, Zim. You screwed up again."

Zim growled. "You don't know what it's like. The pain of losing two homes; I can't escape it. I feel like I'm dying because of it."

"I wish you would die," Gaz snapped.

Zim snarled. "Why is it so hard for you to admit that we're going through the same thing?!"

"Why is it so hard for you to realize we're not?!"

"You're so stubborn," Zim grumbled, spitting out the last word like it was a horrible curse. He stood to leave.

As he walked for the hall to the living quarters, Gaz said, "And you're an idiot! Getting kicked off of one planet; blowing up another. You're a hazard, Zim! You're people were right to banish you!" She knew that her last comment was low, but it seemed to strike home. The alien froze in place, and his overall demeanor seemed to wilt right before her eyes.

She thought she heard him mumble halfheartedly that he was going to his room.

"Yeah, go scratch yourself s'more, Zim!" she yelled after him, even though it was obvious that she was only taking cheap shots at him. "Make sure you remove all of the skin this time!"

The alien disappeared from sight, and Gaz settled back into her chair. Her pride was inflated from all the damage she knew she caused him, but something was also nagging her. Like how miserable Zim had looked, and all the cheap shots she had taken. It's true that he had been through a lot, but that wasn't her fault.

'Well,' she admitted to herself. 'I'm certainly not making it any easier for him.' To that, she retorted, 'And why should I? He's only made me go through Hell and back. It's actually nice to know that he's suffering too.'

Even as she thought it, she knew it was only half true. Yes, Zim was going through his own Hell with her, but she knew that she would be able to bounce back.

Eventually.

Right now, she knew she was still in shock from everything, and that was normal. No body was perfectly okay after losing all but the clothes on her back, literally. The grieving process took time, and time was in great abundance on the Resisty ship. So she knew she'd be okay. But Zim, on the other hand, was very hard to read.

'Why if he doesn't bounce back?' she asked herself. 'Why if he dies, and I'm all alone' Gaz shook from the power of the word. Up until now, she had considered herself to be alone already, but now she knew that it wasn't true. Zim had been with her every step of the way. In some ways that was bad, but all things considered he was still something familiar in this new and alien world she had been thrust into. He was something for her to hold on to; a small piece of her old life. Someone who knew Earth that she could talk to. She hadn't truly lost everything, because she hadn't lost him.

'But I could lose him,' she realized. 'I could lose him now because of everything I've said. Was I really that mad at him?'

A closer inspection of her motives revealed that she wasn't. Zim was responsible for the destruction of Earth, but she was responsible for never revealing her true feelings to her family before. And that's why she was really mad.

There would be other planets, there were probably foods out there that were similar if not better than pizza, she felt that aliens always had better videogames than humans anyways, she never really even liked humans in the first place, but she would never have Dib or her Dad again. Even though Zim was responsible for her father's death, Gaz felt responsible for Dib's death as well as how horrible her father must have felt when he died.

'He must've thought that I didn't love him,' she thought and a lone tear rolled down her cheek. She had won her fight with Zim, but in retrospect to everything, she had lost.

"Wow," Spleenk said, having watched the whole conversation from the safety of the upper deck. "Today was a really good episode."

"Yeah, Friday's episode is always good," replied Shloonktapooxis. "That way you watch Monday's episode so you find out what happens next."

(End Chapter) Go read the ATTENTION under the author's notes above.

Author's Notes: Hey, guys. Sorry that this chapter wasn't longer – I fully intended for it to be this time. But if I keep going at this rate, it'll end up being some twenty pages long, so I'll save it for the next chapter XP. Deal with it. Now, for my thankyous…