Oh God, here it comes. Warning: this chapter has some violence in it, so I'm wondering if the rating should go up. Aaaand, Dib's way of dealing with Alexi's coma is briefly revealed, although it may get more graphic later. Out of character people, very much so. I tried to throw in some funny bits, but it might not have worked... ^_^;; Ah well. Enjoy!

"Zim? It's Dib, I'm here!"

"I'm in the kitchen!" the other boy called out.

Dib pulled his shoes off at the door and followed Zim's voice into the little kitchen. The smaller teen was seated at the table, cramming his mouth full of syrupy waffles. He waved hello and motioned for Dib to sit in a chair. The taller boy sank into the wooden chair and smiled; it was nice being here today. Zim was in a good mood, there was a stack of fresh waffles piled on a plate in front of him, and since Gir's head exploded he couldn't scream his random nonsense. At least, not for the moment anyway.

"Help yourself," Zim said, pointing his fork at the waffles. "I don't think I can eat all these by myself. I'm already getting full."

Dib nodded and stabbed a waffle with his fork, and bit down. "Wow! Zim, these waffles are amazing!" He scarfed down the rest of the waffle and began digging into another one immediately after. "You said Gir made these?" he asked, pointing to the broken robot by the stove.

"Indeed. Even I'm surprised, really." He grinned and shrugged. "Of course, I made sure he didn't put any soap in them this time…" He laughed to himself and got up to put his plate in the sink, and turned to look back at the human at the table. "You done?"

Dib nodded, swallowing the last bite of waffle, got up out of his seat, and handed the dishes to Zim. "Thanks, those were really good."

"Anytime," Zim replied. "So when did you want to work on helping me get Gir back to normal?"

"Normal?" the taller teen asked, his eyebrows raised. A smirk crossed his lips and he laughed.

Zim realized his mistake and laughed. "Well, as normal as normal gets, I suppose." He looked down at his exploded minion. "Gir never really was quite…normal to begin with."

"Got that right," Dib chuckled. "How about, since we have some time to ourselves, we have a little fun?"

Zim threw a funny look Dib's way. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, maybe watch some television?"

The alien nodded and followed the taller boy into the living room. They sat down on the couch, and Zim flicked the TV on with the remote. "What sounds good?"

Dib thought for a moment before remembering something about a fire that happened a few days before. "Turn on the news real quick; maybe they found out if the orphanage was set on fire by someone!"

Zim did as he was told and watched with Dib. The weather for the day was to be warm and sunny, traffic was backed up due to a faulty light, and some band had recently broken up due to the backup singer's deteriorating health. Just as Dib was about to let the alien change the channel, a shot of the burned-down orphanage flashed onto the screen; police were looking all around the area for any more evidence of what had happened.

"This just in; new proof that the fire was indeed an arson. New witnesses have come forward about what they saw the night this orphanage was burned down to the ground. Our first witness today: eighty-three year old Ally, who claims to have seen everything through her bedroom window. Ally, your story please?"

An elderly woman popped up on the screen, looking rather distraught. "I remember it clear as day in my ol' noodle. I was just getting ready to turn in for the night when I noticed someone sneaking into the shed behind the building. I couldn't make out any details, but they looked young; perhaps a child or a little person, maybe?"

Dib frowned. "That's sad," he murmured.

"Oh, anyhow…they'd taken something out of that there shed and before I knew it, the entire orphanage was lit up like one giant, burning Christmas tree. It was terrible! I'd just called 9-1-1 when I looked back outside, but the person who did it just up and disappeared! I tell you, the screams coming from that building…" She held her hand to her mouth, obviously close to tears. "Dear God, it was the hardest night to get through…"

After she was done speaking (and escorted off-camera by a sympathetic policeman), a preteen girl appeared, looking happy to be on the news. She quickly hid her excitement with a fake frown and a quivering bottom lip. Dib could already tell she didn't belong there, and he clenched his fist angrily.

"Here we have thirteen year old Margaret, who claims to know who committed this heinous crime. Tell us everything, little girl; what happened?"

The girl played with her wavy hair, trying her hardest to look sad and confused (and ultimately failing. HORRIBLY.) and cleared her throat. "It was terrible, mister newscaster! There I was, just minding my own business, when out of nowhere this girl I knew walked out and slammed the door really hard." She crossed her arms and pouted. "I thought she was running to catch a bunny in the yard, but after a few minutes when she didn't come back, I smelled smoke and gasoline. That's when we all knew she'd finally lost it and set our home on fire."

"And who was this girl, exactly?"

"It was - " Before she could answer, she choked out a low grunt and fell forward on her face. The camera zoomed in on her to reveal a long, deep slice into her back. It was gushing blood, spilling over her arms and down her leg and onto the grass beneath her.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Dib screamed, shielding his eyes with his hands. Zim gagged and looked away, squeezing his eyes shut.

Gasps and shouts could be heard on the television, as well as a loud retching sound coming from the cameraman. "Uh, folks, it seems that our witness has just…died. Did anybody see anything that could have caused this?" There were various 'no's heard around the scene, and the interviewer quickly killed the signal, blacking out the screen before it turned back to the anchorman in the studio.

The two teens on the couch carefully opened their eyes again once they were positive that the news was back to normal. Zim hurriedly shut the TV off and stared, horrified, at Dib. Dib returned the look, his face pale and his stomach threatening to throw up his breakfast. After an extended silence between the two, Zim blinked and cleared his throat.

"I didn't know they could show THAT on TV," he said.

"…yeah…" Dib mumbled, still very much in shock.

The green boy scratched at his knee before remembering the exploded robot still sitting in the kitchen "I'd say this would be a great time to repair Gir, don't you think?"

Dib, Zim, and Gir sat in Room Seven-Seventy-Seven with the doctor, watching him jot down some notes on his clipboard. Alexi was still as pale and bruised as before, and a breathing machine was hooked up to her mouth. A monitor was set up beside her bed, showing her heart rate. Zim watched the line go across the screen and jump up and then back down, and then repeat. Gir sat on the ground at Zim's feet, looking around the room silently. Dib just stared down the fragile child with a sad look on his face.

"Well," Doctor Johnson stated, clicking his pen and tucking it into his pocket, "she hasn't gotten any worse, but she's not quite better than yesterday. See, we decided it'd be best to hook her up to these machines just in case anything should happen while she's alone. It's really nothing to worry about, I can assure you." He smiled and stood next to Alexi, stroking her hair out of her face. "As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry right?"

Dib nodded. His heart hurt to see the little girl in this condition; the day before somehow hurt less, but that was most likely because she didn't have hospital equipment connected to her. He followed Zim's gaze up to the monitor; her life-line was stable and healthy, at least. This gave the boy some comfort as he looked back down to the blonde. She looked peaceful, like she was sleeping.

'That's all this is,' Dib thought, reaching down to touch her cheek. 'It's just a really long nap…she's only sleeping.' He could feel his chest begin to ache. 'She'll wake up soon. I know she will.'

The doctor glanced down at his watch and whistled. "Time sure flies when you have visitors." He walked over to the door and opened it wide, and looked back to the boys. "I'm sorry kids, but visiting hours are over for today. Feel free to come back tomorrow, though, alright?"

"Okay." The trio made their way to the exit, with Dib taking one last look back at the girl. She hadn't moved, but something seemed…different. Shaking it off, Dib followed Zim and Gir out into the hallway, stopping briefly to talk with the doctor.

"Please let me know as soon as anything changes."

Doctor Johnson smiled and patted Dib on the shoulder. "You have my word, son. Now you take care."

The tall teen nodded and rushed to catch up with the alien and his robot as they got into the nearest elevator.

"So…how do you feel today, Dib?" Zim asked.

"A little worse," Dib replied. He was holding up his face with his hands as the two sat at the kitchen table. "Yesterday wasn't good, but it was better than seeing her attached to those machines. I mean, is the doctor trying to scare me senseless?"

Zim shrugged. "At least they're making sure she's alright, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Dib sighed and looked up at the smaller teen. "How do you feel about all of this?"

"It's very unfortunate, and I feel bad for the child even though she creeps me out. Plus, it kills me to see you so upset like this." He went to the refrigerator and got out two cans of soda, and tossed one to Dib. "You're not going to ask me what I think you are, are you?"

Dib looked away guiltily. "It really bothers you, doesn't it?"

"A little bit yes." The green boy sat down at the table again, opening his can and taking a long swig. "Nobody's ever asked me to do it before, and well, it just feels really weird."

"You're pretty good at it, though…"

"What?"

"Nothing!" Dib exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment. He laughed nervously and took a drink of his soda, not making eye contact with Zim. This only made the alien suspicious.

"This is some demented closet fetish, isn't it?"

The taller teen spit his pop out suddenly, his face now a deep scarlet color. He stared at Zim, mouth hanging open in disbelief, and quickly shook his head a frantic 'NO!'

Zim smirked and narrowed his eyes at the flustered human. "Are you sure, Dib-thing? Your face seems to be telling me something different."

"I-It's not, Zim." The taller boy took another sip of his soda, this time making sure it didn't fly out. "I just prefer physical pain to mental or emotional pain; at least the bruises will fade."

The green boy nodded. "I guess I can understand that. But you know, there are better ways to deal with this kind of thing."

"I know, but they can't make me feel the way that this does…"

"…so what's it gonna be this time? Same as yesterday?"

Dib nodded and followed Zim down to his lab. The loud echoes of a whip cracking against skin could be heard throughout the house, as well as the muffled cries coming from the human on the receiving end.

"You know this is going to leave scars."

"Good." A crack and another bitten-back scream. "L-Let it."

Sorry it was so long (and probably life-scarring). Don't worry; things will start making sense as the story progresses. Let me know what you think pease! :D