A/N:

Again sorry for the crappy last chapter, hope this ones better XD

"Uh… how about a little help first?" I called, waving at them sarcastically from my upside down state.

Dib appeared to be blushing, "Uh, Amy…" he pointed at his shirt and looked at the ground.

I arched my brow in confusion, that is, until I noticed how loose my top felt. I looked down, or up as the case may have been, and groaned as it became apparent what Dib was signalling to. Where I was hanging upside down, gravity was playing around with my clothes, making my top slip down so that it was bunched up just below my neckline, leaving practically everything from my waist up revealed. My cheeks burned as I tried to adjust myself and regain my dignity. However, the move I moved, the more I was slipping. The fabric of my jeans was not having a very good grip of the smooth glass.

"Okay, could really do with some help now!" I called, feeling dizzier by the second.

Zim shrugged, "Meh, one less pesky human."

"ZIM!" Dib and I cried out in unison, Gaz simply narrowed her eyes dangerously.

My mind started racing, "Uh… Zim wait! Remember, Irkens never go back on a deal, right? And we still have that deal for you and Dib to be friends, remember, until after my birthday. If I die now, then I'll never have my birthday! So you'll be stuck in that deal forever!"

He paused and slowly turned on his heel to glare at me. From a human perspective, everything I was saying was a load of rubbish. The whole birthday deal was a load of rubbish and started out as a prank. But hey, if it was going to save my neck, then I was willing to milk it for all it was worth.

"Yeah!" Dib added, "Yeah she's right!"

He winked at me slyly. Thank the lord I wasn't the only one exaggerating this crap. Zim looked at GIR who was still hovering above me and nodded reluctantly. GIR grinned and grabbed hold of my ankles and lifted my away from the glass. I fought the urge to throw up as he zoomed us through the air. As soon as we were close enough to the walkway exit, he released me, sending me crashing to the hard ground. My eyes clenched shut, expecting pain. Oh don't get me wrong, I felt pain all right, but it was softer than I expected. Prising my eyes open, I smirked as I saw that my soft landing was due to the stomach of a certain winding, and very ticked off, alien.

"Much appreciated, Zimmers!" I smirked, standing up and helping him to his feet.

"If this verbal contract didn't bind Zim in such a way… Oh such plans would I create for your doom…"

Just as I was about to make a comeback, I felt myself being spun around and coming face to face with a magnified pair of coffee coloured eyes.

"You're okay, right?"

I cleared my throat, "Aren't I always? "

Dib seemed to take notice of his hands on my shoulders and snatched them away swiftly, "Uh, okay, good."

I smirked and looked at Gaz, "And are you alright? Being in the computer must have been -"

"It was no big deal." She rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah…"

She brushed past us and looked down at the unconscious body of Keef. Wow even in his sleep he still had that creepy grin on his face. Gaz reached down and grabbed him roughly by the back of his shirt and lifted him out in front of her so that his feet just about dragged along the floor. She walked with him to the edge of the walkway and dangled him over the mass of wires and machinery below. Almost mockingly, she began to slowly release him, one finger at a time.

"Gaz!" I cried, "What the hell?"

She turned her head to look at me, "If you want a pest gotten rid of, you need to make sure the jobs done properly."

"Zim likes the way you think, little Gaz."

Oh there it was again! But I wasn't sure that making a comment on it at this time was very wise. Gaz released another finger.

"You know, when we were both in the system, occasionally out brainwaves crossed wired. I felt his disturbing gleeful disposition, Amy, his glee… No one forced me into that and gets away with it." She growled.

"Then wouldn't killing him be… merciful?" Dib questioned, his voice unusually high pitched from nervousness.

Gaz paused, contemplating his words. After a horrible moment of where I was sure she was going to drop him, she shrugged and pulled him back to safety. She tossed the boy towards Zim and folded her arms.

"He's gonna know you're an alien, you know. Got anything sharp you can stick in his brain?"

Zim blinked, taken back by her harsh manner and willingness to cause harm to the boy. Slowly, a wry grin started to form on his face, showing his zipper-like teeth. Me and Dib backed away slowly, feeling a sudden chill in the air.

"I think I may have something lying around…" Zim smiled wryly.

"Y-you're not going to, h-hurt him right?" I muttered, feeling the sudden urge to turn tail and run, "Just… alter his memory a little?"

They both looked at me as if I'd interrupted some seriously intimate moment… maybe I had, this was some real progress for them. Gaz relaxed slightly and shrugged.

"Yeah, whatever."

"I'll work on him tonight." Zim muttered, still looking at Gaz with a slightly dazed expression, "Then he shall be disposed of in the morning."

"Disposed?" Dib asked, raising an eyebrow and folding his arms.

Zim huffed and turned to point at us, "If you care about the human-worm so much then feel free to take him off my hands in the morning!"

Taking the hint, I tugged on Dibs sleeve and tried to lead him towards the exit. Gaz was already ahead of us, glaring right ahead of her and clearly disgruntled that I'd interrupted her reign of terror on the unconscious boy. Don't get me wrong, Keef was scary, creepy, didn't like me and had trapped me in a test tube… but I still wasn't the type of person to let someone get killed. Punishment however, was something else entirely. Zim could do with him what he wanted for the night. It was no business of mine. However if Keef shows us in the morning with an extra head or a missing limb… I may feel a little guilty. Possibly. Hehe…

Travelling through the base, I grabbed my bag from the floor and hitched it over my shoulder. Gaz picked up the broken remains of her Game-Slave and shuddered in anger. She tossed it to the side, letting a few pale ghostly spirits evaporate from it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out another console. She caught sight of me staring in surprise and simply shrugged.

"It pays to be prepared."

I couldn't argue with that… The three of us made it out into the open in the front yard. It was starting to rain again and there was a distance rumble of thunder. Another storm was coming in. Gaz ignored us and carried on walking towards her house. I hesitated and looked over my shoulder at my own house.

"Something wrong?" Dib asked, tilting his head.

"I kinda told my mum I was staying over Zim's tonight. You know, just in case we ended up being trapped by Keef a little longer. She'd get a bit suspicious if I randomly came home for no reason."

Dib chewed his lip in thought, "Uh, well, you know… You did stay the night there when she thought you were at mine so… you know, you can, if you want you can… stay over mine tonight when she thinks your there. Sort of, mixing it up a little… yeah…"

He shifted from foot to foot, cheeks slightly rosy. I smiled, blushing a little myself. Wait, why was I blushing? I'd had sleepovers around his loads of times before. This was no different. Damn it, him acting all jittery and nervous was rubbing off on me, and there wasn't even reason for it! Come on Amy, grow up.

"That'd be really great. Thanks."

He shrugged and started walking down the road, me following at his side.

"So, what do you think Zim's gonna do to Keef?" I asked, trying to make some conversation.

Dib held his chin in thought, "Who knows. Maybe something like the first time where he replaced his eyes with robotic ones, or maybe cover him in more of that happy goo stuff so that his brain explodes or maybe…" He trailed off when he saw my wide-eyed expression, "Well, like I said, who knows."

I swallowed thickly, "So what happens tomorrow?"

"Send him home? Or send him somewhere… as long as it's as far away as possible." Dib shuddered.

I nodded in agreement, "I'm sure Zim will have some idea."

Dib rolled his eyes sarcastically, "Doesn't he always. Oh yeah," he put on a fake smile, "I mean, yeah cuz Zim always has the best ideas!"

I laughed curtly, "Very funny. You know that you don't actually have to follow that birthday wish, it was a joke. And even if you did have to follow it, you'd only have to pretend for a few days."

Dib nodded, "I know that."

"So why're you still making an effort?"

He looked away and started chewing the inside of his cheek, but didn't answer me. I could feel myself starting to twitch with curiosity, but I could sense him growing more uncomfortable. So just this once, I battled with myself and kept my mouth shut. Oh great, we were falling back into an awkward silence. Quick, say something so that you don't make things worse!

"Just realised, I haven't had a chance to brush my teeth or anything today, I bet I look a right state."

I instantly, reddened and fought the urge to slap myself in the face. Of all things to start a conversation, why make it about my personal hygiene, or lack of for that particular day? Idiot!

Dib however, just smiled. "Nah, you look fine." He caught me look at him and looked back at his shoes, "You know, for… for…"

I think I would have preferred the awkward silence, "Thanks." I smiled.

Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before we arrived at his house, once again, Professor Membrane was at work. Over time, he'd slipped back into his habit of not spending much time with his children as was to be expected. Dib had made it very clear with me that he didn't mind and that I wasn't to interfere… again. I'd promised.

Gaz was sitting on the sofa, deep within the zone of her gaming. From receiving much warning and unfortunately some personal experience… I didn't try to talk to her or even say hello. I just held my breath, and edged around the room and into the kitchen behind Dib. He put a pizza in the oven and directed me to the bathroom. Without hesitation, I jumped in the shower and brushed my teeth and just tried to get clean. Do you blame me? I'd spent the night sleeping on a sofa, didn't have a chance to sort myself out in the morning and spent the day running around an alien base and escaping a glass tube. I still a girl; I had my cravings for a good shower. Clean and dried, I went back to the kitchen to gorge on pizza.

"Better?" asked, pushing the food towards me.

"Loads, thanks." I answered, blushing and shovelling the slice into my mouth so that he didn't have to ask me any more questions about my cleaning habits.

It was starting to get dark outside and the rain was clattering against the windows, and frankly we were both totally beat from the days events, so it wasn't long before we were upstairs in his bedroom and setting up my sleeping bag for the night. I changed into my nightclothes in the bathroom to give him privacy. By the time I re-entered, Dib was already under his covers. As I lay down, I felt that things were too quiet… That was fixed by two things, a clap of thunder, and me.

"Dib?"

He peeked over the edge of the bed, head propped up on his elbows, "Yeah?"

I swallowed hard, "I'm sorry."

He tilted his head, "What for?"

"About the whole Keef thing. If I hadn't made a big deal about that wish, then we wouldn't have gone to Hay-On-Wye and wouldn't have bumped into him and -"

"Okay…" he interrupted, "Firstly, I know that the wish was just a joke, even if Zim doesn't and frankly I admire that you have the guts to wind him up about it so much. Secondly, no one knew that Keef was going to show up there, and it was GIR who let him stow away, not you. As for him getting into the base, you can blame that on Zim's cruddy security. So, you know, you can't really blame yourself."

I shrugged from inside the sleeping bag, "Still feel guilty though…"

He smirked, "If I pretend to be mad, will you let it go?"

I chewed my lip, "Maybe… In some weird sense…"

He narrowed his eyes and shook his fist at me in mock anger, "Curse you trickster human and your verbal contract that binds us so and forced us to suffer the wrath of Keef!"

I burst into laughter at his attempt to mimic Zim's voice. It actually wasn't bad. After holding his pose, he too started laughing. It was funny hearing him laugh, he didn't do it very often. He smirked and chuckled every now and again, maybe even give a harsh snigger if Zim was involved, but it was rare that he actually really laughed. It was infectious to say the least. And… it kinda made me blush for some reason. I forced myself to laugh harder, trying to pass my redness off as lack of air than anything else. We were jarred from our thoughts by a loud rumble of thunder. He trailed back into a small smile and cleared his throat.

"So, your birthday…"

I sighed, "Yeah, four days tomorrow. Well, three really, the fourth being my actual birthday. Looks like the deals shorter than you think."

He shrugged, "Not that we've been sticking to it."

"You've been trying at least. Though I'm still not sure why."

He blinked, "So… you're sure you don't want a present for anything?"

"No." I answered, maybe a little too quickly, "I just… don't like the fuss is all. When people buy me stuff, even on an occasion, it just feels like I've got nothing to give back, you know?"

He scoffed, "I'm sure a birthday is a reasonable exception."

"Some may think. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not like some people."

"I've noticed…" he muttered so quietly that I wasn't sure if I'd heard him properly.

"Pardon?"

He started babbling, his eyes darting, "I said I've… noted you're differences, you being able to tell that Zim's an alien for example, and being a little taller and that you're okay with breaking an entering and -"

Without thinking, a reached up and placed a hand on his arm and smiled softly, stopping his rant, "Thanks Dib."

He cleared his throat was I removed my hand, why did I do that? What was wrong with throwing a pillow at his head or just plain interrupting like I would have first thought? I must have been more tired that I thought.

"So uh, you really don't want anything?" he pressed.

I rolled my eyes and grinned, "No, thank you."

He smirked and shifted so that he was half way back to laying down again, but I could just catch the words he muttered, "Too bad then."

"What?" I shot up into sitting position, "I told you not to!"

He clenched his eyes shut and rolled over so that his back was to me. I wriggled out of my sleeping bag and stood next top his bed, shaking his shoulders. He bit his lip to stop from sniggering, which only made me more persistent. I grabbed my pillow and jumped onto his bed, smacking him over the head with it. He knocked the back of my knees with his feet so that I tumbled onto the mattress while he grabbed his pillow in a counter attack. He poked the area below my ribs, making me shriek in laughter as I rolled over to avoid him, but ended up getting caught in his sheets, pulling both of us to the floor.

I landed on my back, feeling horribly winded. He landed over me, his quick reflexes shooting his arms out either side of my head to stop himself from landing fully on top of me. We both reddened as we noticed our chests were inches apart, out faces even closer. I didn't move, I wanted to, but the direction I was interested in was one that didn't make sense let alone be allowed, so I stayed put. Dib lowered his eyes before composing himself and snapping them back up to mine. The corner of his mouth twitched and he scuttled backwards to let me sit up. Even from an upright position, we were still really close. I was reminded of the previous night where he'd pulled me into a hug because I was scared. Why was I thinking of that? That was nothing, he was just my friend. That's all. No, it was time to end this, it was just getting awkward.

I smacked him with the pillow again, "Yeah, and it won't be a pillow I'll hit you with if you buy me anything for my next birthday."

He breathed and nodded slowly, "Warning taken…" He looked down and noticed the mass of sheets, "Oh, uh, right."

I watched as he sorted his bedding out again and climbed back into bed while I returned to my sleeping bag. I cleared my throat, not wanting to end things there.

"Goodnight, Dib…"

I heard him shift, his arm dropped down the side of the bed, hanging inches from me. I didn't think anything of it, he often did that when he was drifting to sleep. Sometimes it was his leg, one time his head drooped over the edge, until the weight pulled him off the bed completely. But tonight, just his arm, that was safe for him, I concluded.

"Goodnight, Amy…" he yawned

Out of nowhere, a streak of lightning illuminated the bedroom shortly followed by a roar of thunder. It took my by surprise and I accidently let out a small yelp. My body jumped from the shock and I sat bolt upright. Dib too jumped into sitting position.

"You scared?" he asked, no more than a whisper.

"No." I lied, "What gave you that idea?"

"Because I'm sure the blood has been cut off from my hand…"

I looked to my side and blushed as I'd accidently grabbed his free hand in my brief moment of surprise. Hastily, I snatched it away and lay back down, rolling over with my back to him.

"Sorry…" I muttered.

There was a pause, then I heard him shifting along his sheets. He cleared his throat, making me sit up to look at him. He'd shuffled alone so that he was closer to the wall, pulling back the covers to reveal some space. More lightning, highlighting his reddened cheeks.

"If you're scared again… you could… well last night on the sofa, you were scared so I… Well, of you want we could, what did you call it?"

I chewed my lip anxiously, "A cwtch?"

He tossed the covers back and shook his head, "Sorry, stupid idea, uh, goodnight…"

I smiled and was about to let him have his quiet, when another rumble of thunder made me jump. Without even noticing what I was doing, I'd jumped out of the sleeping bag and was sliding under the covers next to him. In the gloom I could see his eyes widening. To save my dignity, I turned over so my back was facing him.

"Now I'm not scared." I said forcefully, "I'm just… cold…"

Man I was a terrible liar! I clenched my eyes shut as he shuffled closer to me. Please, heart, stop pounding, there's no reason to!

"Goodnight." I said, a little too harshly, making him pause where he was, a little too far away for my liking, no, it's fine now stop it!

"Goodnight…" he whispered.

We lay like that, inches apart for a while until I was at the stage of sleepiness where I wasn't sure where I was. I turned over so that we were face to face. His eyes looked smaller without his glasses, but I was too tired to take details. My eyes drifted shut and my mind clouded over. So close to sleep, curse that thunder… So close. In fact I was so close to sleep, that when something lace between my fingers and grip my hand, and felt something soft brush against my cheek, I was unsure of it was real or a dream. I was sure I'd felt something like that before, when I had been with him a while ago. But I was too close to unconsciousness to open my eyes and find out...

A/N:

Oooooh, sneaky one Dib, very sneaky XD

So was this chapter better? What will Zim do to Keef? How will they get rid of Keef? What did Dib get Amy for her birthday? Will I stop asking questions and get to work on the next chapter? YES! XD Review if you want to XD