This is in regards to the HUUUGE amount of verbal maneuvering in this part... I suffered writing it. (Oh how I suffered!) I COULD have cut out a good deal of it, and my wonderful beta J. Random Lurker gave me a great solution of how to do so, but I decided not to chop it. You will now have to suffer reading it. I'm sorry.

Oh yes... and there's a bit of sex in this part. It's r-rated material folks (no, it's not as graphic as an NC17 scene in my and my beta's opinion, which is why it didn't get cut out) If you do not feel comfortable with it, DO NOT READ IT... I don't want this taken down because someone was too stupid to heed the warnings and got all offended. -_-;

And now without further adieu... :)

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Chapter 10 - part b
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Dib faded back into consciousness far past the time when he was supposed to be in school. He blinked at his alarm clock, taking in the bright green digital numbers that cheerfully told him visually that it was 10:27 am. Still half fuzzy from sleep he wondered vaguely why he hadn't set his alarm the night before as he yawned and rolled over...

... And came face to face with his answer.

"Oh yeah," He mumbled mildly. He had slept with the enemy again. The thought alone was enough to make him smile. Ha ha...

Zim apparently didn't find that nearly as funny. The alien looked back at him sourly, his red eyes narrowed somewhat.

Well... whatever. Dib sat up in bed and yawned and stretched. "Want something for breakfast?" He asked the alien after sitting there for a moment.

Zim closed his eyes and made a noise of disgust. "Zim does not need nourishment as often as you pathetic earth creatures." He replied snobbily. His hand clenched and unclenched angrily on the pillow as he said this.

Dib looked back down at him for a moment. 'Well, guess who's as volatile as ever.' He thought. "You must have slept well," He said outloud mildly. Before the alien could reply he shrugged and hoped down off the bed. "Suit yourself..."

Gir was in his living room watching kiddie cartoons as he walked by... while balancing upside down on his head. Dib watched the robot's cartoons as well for a moment or so until he decided he had had enough and continued his way into the kitchen.

It was while he sat at the kitchen table, eating his breakfast (while keeping half an ear out for Zim in his bedroom above,) that he decided what he was going to do now that he wasn't going to school today.

He wanted to run a couple diagnostics on Zim. Just non-abrasive ones... a couple blood samples would probably do it. He actually really was curious to know. His many years of research indicated that for all intents and purposes Zim should have been dead by now. He wasn't sure exactly how it worked but it was pretty obvious from what he had found out, that the little alien should not be alive. Yet he was. Why? Was it because of the miscarriage? Or was it because he still had residue human DNA in his body? Why hadn't Zim died? The answer had to be in the alien's bio-systems somewhere...

He finished eating his toast and brushed his hands off on his pants. Now... if he could just get the alien to cooperate...

When he returned to his room, the alien was awake and standing on top of his desk, inspecting a map of the galaxy he had hanging on his wall very closely. He jerked away as the human walked into the room, his ruby red eyes wide. Those eyes narrowed again when he saw who it was though.

"I'm BORED, earth stink," Zim announced, folding his arms across his chest and tapping one of his little feet.

Dib grinned at him. "Good," he said. He walked over to the desk and lifted Zim down off of it, only to have the alien struggle out of his arms and leap down to the floor himself. "You can help me with something then." He added, raising one of his eyebrows at the ET.

"Help you?" Zim looked up at him suspiciously. "With what?" He asked.

Dib made an airy gesture with one of his hands. "Oh nothing much. I just want to run some tests..."

He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words left his month. Zim went from looking suspicious to all out fearful. His eyes went wide and his antennae fell right flat out against his skull.

"I meant non-intrusive tests," Dib tried to explain quickly, holding out his hands in attempts to placate the alien. "Like blood samples and stu-"

"I knew it!" the alien exclaimed, thrusting a finger at the boy accusingly. "I KNEWW it! This was all a rouse wasn't it? WASN'T IT?"

Dib's mouth fell open. "Zim, no!" He replied. "I'm not-"

"You just wanted an excuse!" Zim ranted. He leapt onto the bed and stood above the human. "An excuse to get ZIM into your filthy smelly house-thing and do horrible EVIL tests on me!"

"ZIM!" Dib shouted back. "Listen to me!" He made a lunge for the alien, but Zim leapt back from his reach.

"NO!" The alien exclaimed, pressing himself up against the wall behind him. "NO! I will not listen to your LIES anymore, DIB!" He spat. "You won't be defiling the body of THIS Irken Invader!" With that he leapt down off of the bed and ran from the room.

"ZIM I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" Dib shouted after him. "... Dammit...!" Cursing himself for the lack of foresight (he should have KNOWN that the alien would react this way), he took off after him.

He sacked Zim in the hall right before the bathroom. In one fumbling move he managed to turn them both over so that the alien lay beneath him, Zim's arms caught in both of his hands and pinned against his sides. He applied enough pressure he thought to at least keep the alien immobile, but a sharp cry of pain from the Irken told Dib to take the pressure off of one of his arms a slight bit. Only a bit mind you...

"Stop it," Dib said sternly. When the alien continued to struggle violently, he sat back in order to shake him somewhat. "STOP IT. LISTEN to me..."

Zim would have none of that. Shutting his eyes tightly, he tilted his head back. "GIR!" He shouted. "GIR! Get up here and help defend your master!"

"YaaAYYYY!" Gir exclaimed happily from the livingroom downstairs. The sound of little metal feet running up the stairs could be heard a second later. Dib's head jerked up and he watched as Gir started down the hallway at the top of the stairs, pink tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. He almost let Zim go in preparation of being run into, when Gir changed direction at the last second.

"FISHIES!" The robot exclaimed, running into the bathroom. The door slammed closed behind him. A moment later the sound of running bath water could be heard.

"Oookay," Dib muttered, a slightly incredulous look on his face. He knew that he really shouldn't be all that surprised by Gir's antics, but...

Zim had stilled beneath him and was now looking up at him with a slight smirk on his face. "Eh," He said. "You get used to it." He paused. "Now where were we? Oh YES!" Suddenly he began to struggle again, driving up against Dib in a vain attempt to get away. "I will not be subject to your horrible tests HUMAN!" the alien exclaimed vigorously. "Let Zim GO!"

"NO Zim!" Dib gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep the alien down. "Will you just listen for a sec?" He finally snapped, frustrated.

Amazingly enough, after a couple more twists, Zim stilled a bit and gave him a extremely suspicious look.

"I'm not going to test you if you don't want me to," Dib explained, exasperated. "I just wanted to find out why you are still functioning without your pak." He paused. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay and-"

"YOU'RE LYING!" Zim yelled in his face.

Dib shut his eyes and waited for his ears to stop ringing. As calmly as he could he counted to three in his head... because he was coming very close to yelling back nonsense and he had to stay in control of the situation.

He opened his eyes again. Zim had stilled completely and was giving him a decidedly uncertain look. "Well?" He asked.

"I'm trying to think of a reply that doesn't involve shouting," Dib replied, his voice very dry. 'Or strangling you,' he added in his head. "Fine," He said after a moment. He let Zim go suddenly and sat up. "Go then."

The Irken scrambled out from under Dib and began to back away slowly.

"Just remember," Dib added after a moment. "That you're not in disguise anymore." Zim paused and turned his head back towards the human. "I mean yes, humans are stupid, but eventually SOMEone is going to notice."

Zim snorted. "I am an Irken Invader," He said. "My hiding abilities are incredible. No one will find me." He added smugly.

"Oh... I don't doubt that," Dib replied. "But did you ever consider all the security devices us humans have? They're everywhere Zim. Even places that you can not see. Eventually SOMEONE will see you on them and then..." He ran a thumb across his neck. "You're dead." He shrugged and climbed to his feet, then turned away.

Zim hadn't thought about that. Dib heard rather than saw the Irken utter a short soft cry. "No...!"

'I'm getting good at this,' Dib thought to himself smugly. He turned back around to see Zim stumble back against the hallway all and slump into a sitting position. He watched as the alien grabbed both of his antennae and yanked them down below his face, then tilted his head back, clearly agitated.

Dib sighed. "I don't know why it's so hard for you to believe me," He said, looking and feeling a little bit irritated. Zim jerked his head up and stared at the human. "Haven't I proven myself yet?" He asked. "I saved your life!" He punctuated each word with a jab of his finger. "Twice! Three times if you count that entire heat-mess-thing!"

"That means NOTHING!" Zim snapped back. The alien leapt to his feet again, and he glowered up at the human, his little hands balled into fists. He stomped up to the human and poked him in the chest angrily. "Don't think I've forgotten DIB," He hissed. "All the times you've tried to kill me in the last four YEARS. You TIED... me! ZIM to an autopsy table and then you wouldn't let. Me. Go. I told- I BEGGED you to let me go... and you WOULDN'T," The alien's eyes flashed angrily. "So don't just expect me to suddenly FORGET..."

He was close enough to touch. Working with that, Dib reached out and grasped the alien by his upper arms. Zim was so angry that he literally vibrated in his hands... that is until he jerked away violently. "Don't-!" He began. "Touch. ME!" He spat. "Don't even THINK you can put your hands on me without MY PERMISSION!"

The corner of Dib's mouth quirked ever so slightly as he looked at Zim as he stood in front of him, half hunched over with rage and breathing heavily. For some reason, which probably had something to do with hidden sadistic tendencies, he wanted to provoke the alien further. "Can I touch you?" He asked after a moment, amusement shining in his eyes.

"Ye- NO!" Zim shouted. "Wretched HUMAN!" He seethed angrily, bringing up balled fists. "You think you can make a fool out of ZIM?"

"Zim." Dib sighed, his smirk fading. He held out his hand again placidly. "Zim... I was going to let you go."

It was like Zim's strings had been cut. The alien deflated suddenly and he stumbled slightly before catching himself and staring up at the human in complete shock. "What?" He sputtered.

"I was going to right after school," Dib continued, surprised that he had finally gotten through to him. "And then I got home from school to find that Gaz had already done it." He stepped closer to the alien, his hand still outstretched. Zim didn't move, just continued to stare at him. "... May I touch you?" Dib asked again after a moment.

The alien's brow wrinkled. "I- why?" He asked finally, confusion evident in his voice and on his face.

Dib shrugged. "I just want to I guess." He said.

"I- okay..." The alien still looked confused. Dib hesitantly touched the alien's cheek, cupping it slightly. He held it there for a moment then stroked his thumb up and down the alien's cheek comfortingly.

Zim surprised Dib by sliding his eyes closed and shivering. After a moment his eyes reopened. "Why?" The alien repeated, the look on his face pleading.

"Why what?" Dib asked softly.

"Why would you let me go?" He asked, still very confused. "Our game..."

"Has been over a lot longer than you think," Dib said. He brought his other hand up to gently lay it on the other side of the creature's face.

"How could I hurt you?" Dib continued after a moment, when it became apparent that all Zim was going to do was stare at him in bewilderment. His voice barely above a whisper as he continued. "You're my reason for living. I spent my entire LIFE waiting for you to come. And now that I have you, you expect me to just... KILL you and what? Go on with my life?"

His words hung thickly in the air. Finally, Zim nodded ever so slightly. "Yes..." He said, his voice very small.

Dib tilted his head to the side. It was his turn to be inquisitive. "Why?" He asked.

"I- I am not like you," Zim stuttered. " I am an Irken Invader..." For once his voice didn't ring with pride as he said that. "I came here to destroy you, not to befriend you! What about your planet? Your people?"

Dib snorted softly. "My people don't really care about me much- incase you haven't noticed," He replied dryly. "You know we're more alike than you may think Zim," He added carefully.

"You..." Zim nearly stumbled where he stood as the human's words set in. He stared at him with wide-eyed trepidation. He KNEW. In that horrible instant he knew that Dib KNEW. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He shut his eyes and his tongue darted out to touch his lips nervously. "No..." He whispered.

The thumb glided over his cheek again. "Zim?" Dib pressed gently after a moment.

"I- he - they... they tried to kill me," Zim choked out finally. He didn't open his eyes. He didn't want the human to see...

"Who did?" Dib questioned. "Your leaders?"

"Yes..." The wretched feeling of realization was too strong. He wanted to jerk away, he wanted to escape... by Irk, it felt like he was buried again, he couldn't breathe~~!

Instead of turning around and running away he found himself falling forwards and being wrapped in the human's arms. It was a position he had found himself in far too often recently and again he couldn't find the energy to pull away. He gasped against the soft folds of the human's shirt, struggling to keep himself from breaking down. He had to retain at least a bit of his dignity. "I didn't- I wanted to prove to them- I could DO this. I could escape that horrid JOB and be an elite Irken Invader. Again. I didn't WANT to- to..." He let out a shuddering breath and tried to bury his head deeper against the folds of the human's shirt. His stomach churned with fear and despair. Why was he telling the human this? Why?

Because he was confused and he hurt. "I want my pak back," Zim whimpered finally. "My pak told me what to do... it would TELL me what to do. I don't think I can live without it- I can't - I can't-!"

"Shh..." The human murmured softly. Tightening his grip on the alien he brought them down so that they were kneeling on the carpet of the hall. Then the reassuring back stroking had started again. "You can live without it," He added after a moment. "How about this..." He pulled back and smiled down at the alien. "Your new mission is to live among human's for a while. Just relax. Enjoy yourself. Think of it as a special reward vacation or something." He paused. "Think you can do that for a bit?" He asked.

Zim was silent and still for a long while. Then finally his little clawed hands flexed against his shirt and he nodded ever so slightly.

"Good," Dib said pleasantly. He continued to rub the alien's back... at least until the sound of enthusiastic splashing from the bathroom distracted him.

"Fishies!" Gir exclaimed from beyond the bathroom door. "I gots you! I GOTS YOU FISHIES!" There were more splashing noises.

Dib stopped completely and let out a little "snirk" sound of laughter. He couldn't help it. Good ol' Gir...

Zim smiled against the human's chest. The smile quickly faded a bit to be replaced with a bit of a concerned expression.

The horrible... *burning* feeling thing was back. It had been back ever since the human had first touched his cheek and, save for a moment or so when he was in too much mental agony to worry about it, it had gotten progressively worse ever since. He shifted a bit uncomfortably in the human's arms, trying to relieve the pressure somewhat. This was beginning to get ridiculous. He just wished he could scratch...

Dib caught his shuffling and pulled away slightly. "Zim?" He questioned.

"I- it, eh, burns," The alien mumbled against his chest. "A bit."

"What?" Dib questioned. He drew the alien away from his chest so that he could look him in the eye. "What was that?"

Zim studied the ground off to his side, frowning pensively... until he realized that Dib just may be his solution. He smiled... then grinned.

"You don't mind touching me?" Zim asked, his eyes glinting and he craned his neck to peer up at the human.

Dib blinked. "Er... no...?" He replied, more than a little confused. Okay, he had a slight idea of what Zim could mean... but he couldn't possibly...?

Evidently he did. Zim reached out, grabbing one of the human's hands and bringing it down towards his abdomen. "Then touch me." He said with a smirk.

Dib made an odd squeaking sound, then jerked his hand away and scrambled backwards away from the alien until he hit a wall. "I- I uh, wow..." He stuttered. He shook his head slightly, then stared at Zim in shock. "You want me to- um...?" He began, visibly flustered.

The look on Zim's face was positively evil. "And maybe a little bit of this..." He sat back on his heels and thrust his hips forwards towards the human a couple of times. "Too."

Dib went sheet white and then flushed a deep red. "You can't be serious," He muttered, turning his head away in embarrassment.

"Oh I assure you, human, I am VERY serious." Zim said. The alien got to his feet and marched over to him. Dib watched, wide eyed, as the alien stood above him, then sat, settling down over his hips. His arms threaded around the human's neck and pushed his own hips back so that they rested right on top of Dib's groin. "It would certainly make my stay here more... pleasant." He purred.

That settled that then. After staring at Zim at shock for another second or so, Dib made up his mind. "Bedroom," He choked out. He scrambled to his feet, taking the alien with him.

Somehow Dib managed to get them both into the bedroom, and he shoved the door shut behind with his foot. A couple more steps and they both fell against the covers in an awkward jumble of arms and legs.

"Okay, okay," Dib replied, a bit irritably. Zim had began to thrust against him rather wantonly, which was making maneuvering even more difficult. Finally he managed to get Zim detached from him and somewhat laid out on the covers before he crawled onto the bed after him. Then the alien latched onto him again, grabbing him by his arms and pulling him up against him. He groaned with the contact.

Dib wrenched away again, pulling back far enough that he could look the alien in the eye. "Are you sure?" the human asked him carefully. "Absolutely, positively, not-going-to-freak-out-on-me-when-this-is-over SURE?" He pressed.

"Yes already," Zim replied impatiently. Again as motivation, he grabbed the human's wrist and thrust his hand down towards his pants.

"Alright fine," Dib mumbled. He didn't need any more encouragement than that. Pulling the alien against him, he slipped a hand beneath the waist band of the other's pants.

It took relatively little time for him to find what he was looking for.

He ran a finger up and down the alien's slit, smiling as the alien in his arms stiffened, then shivered, tremors running up and down his smaller body. Dib could feel Zim's claws tighten on his arms slightly before he relaxed again with a whimper, a plea to continue welling up from his throat.

The human did so by thrusting his hand even further down and flattening his hand to palm the warm softer flesh of Zim's not so alien sex. He could feel the flesh expanding slightly under hand as well as growing warmer, assumably waiting and preparing for entry from the alien it had imprinted.

Except that Dib had no intention of entering the waiting warmth... no matter how much he wanted to. Memories of three months ago and much more recently the miscarriage of the worm/smeet children had occurred to him on the way to the bedroom, effectively killing his mood. He didn't have any protection anywhere to use and there was no way he was going to risk seeing something like that again...

Instead he figured he'd make the little alien happy. It was what he wanted after all. Though, honestly, he had no idea how they went from talking about disappointing things to wanting to fuck... go figure. If it meant that the alien was willing to trust him... FINALLY, he was willing to run with it. A sexual relationship was like a friendship relationship... kinda sorta...

Zim had begun to buck against him in encouragement and in response Dib began to rub his palm up and down the length of alien flesh, enjoying the soft sounds it caused him to make. After a moment he began to poke and prod about the warm interior, then withdrew, his nimble fingers drawing circles around the outside. He then noticed a slick substance had begun to leak from the interior...

Huh. That was something he HADN'T noticed when he had sex with Zim the first time. He would have withdrawn his fingers to inspect them, but he had a feeling Zim would throttle him if he stopped now. As it was the alien was beside himself, gasping and sobbing for more as his clawed fingers flexed rhythmically on Dib's arms.

Dib dug deeper, thrusting his fingers further into the warm passageway, then out again. He began to stroke harder and faster, and by the noises the alien was making he knew that he was probably nearing his peak. Zim began to thrash about too, the moaning noises coming from his throat sounding like choked sobs. If it wasn't for the randomly interjected words of "more!" and "horriblemeatcreature- don't stop!" he would have thought he was hurting him or something.

Gritting his teeth, he threw his arm around the Irken's body, holding him against him to prevent him from flailing so much as his hand continued it's explorations. He pressed down against the hot flesh, then stroked upwards once, twice, fingertips flicking, trying to touch every place possible at once. Zim stiffened against him then, and he tossed his head back with a keening whine. Dib stopped moving his hand and just held it there, over the flesh, as it pulsed hotter than it ever had before. He watched Zim as the alien twitched, his face so taunt and shuttered that he looked like he was in actual physical pain, not pleasure. After a moment he relaxed again and collapsed rather bonelessly against Dib.

"Mmm..." The alien murmured. The look on his face now resembled that of a cat who had just eaten a canary- he looked *very* pleased.

"You liked that?" Dib questioned, smiling as he removed his hand.

Zim nodded, his eyes half closed languidly as he laid back against the human. "Oh yeeeessss..." He sighed.

Dib chuckled.

The next couple moments passed in complete calm, except for movement from Dib, as the human casually looked at his hand, sniffed at the clear liquid that covered it and then shrugged and wiped it off on the blankets. He then went back to holding the alien, his eyes half closed. He could get used to this...

They couldn't have been like that for more than a couple minutes when Zim sat up suddenly. "HEY!" He exclaimed. He turned a suspicious look to the human. "I thought you were supposed to do something too." He said, frowning.

"Mmm?" Dib raised an eyebrow at him.

Zim glowered and muttered something about human stupidity under his breath. Then he thrust his hips forwards a couple times. "Like that?" He added.

Dib blushed and groaned slightly, bringing his now clean hand up to hold it over his face. "I don't know where you learnt that," He muttered.

Now that the human wasn't looking, Zim pounced on him. Dib let out a surprised squeak and rolled with it and ended up flat on his back with an alien straddling his hips. Again.

"From you of course..." Zim replied happily. He then paused and thought, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "And the learning channel. I learn all SORTS of things on the learning channel..." Grinning he settled back on the human's hips, then frowned as he realized that their clothes were in the way. "'Come on earth stink!" He said, reaching out and fumbling for the bottom of the human's shirt. "Let's do the- FUNKY CHICKEN!" He continued.

Dib raised both of his eyebrows up at the alien. "Zim you're really starting to worry me- hey!" He protested suddenly. He grabbed for the alien's hands, which had managed to slip up his shirt. "Zim... Zim wait a moment. Don't you think this is a bad idea?" He asked.

Zim stopped, or at least stalled, and blinked at him. "Why?" He asked, curiously. He wrenched one of his hands free and went back to fumbling for the human's clothes.

"Remember your pak?" Dib tried. At the same time he was trying to fumble the alien away from his clothes.

Zim made a noise of protest as he found both of his wrists restrained again. "I have nothing else to loose," He replied. He managed to wrestle both of his hands free and dove in again enthusiastically.

Now Dib was trying to get the Irken's nimble fingers away from his pants. "Okay, er, smeets!" He tried desperately.

Zim actually stopped moving on his own and blinked at him.

"You actually think I can get pregnant again?" He asked, incredulously.

Dib looked confused. "Well yeah..." He replied. "I mean you have a-a vagina, and..."

Zim tilted his head back and laughed out loud. And kept on laughing. Dib stilled and stared up at him. In all honestly, despite all of his recent brave words about trust and friendship, being straddled by an evilly laughing Zim was a little bit disconcerting...

"Zim?" Dib tried nervously after a moment.

"Foolish human," Zim chuckled, bringing his gaze down to meet Dib's. "That means nothing." He smirked and brought his face really close to the boy's. "Irkens can only GET pregnant once every sixty years. We have to be in heat to get pregnant. My next heat isn't due for another sixty years, so..."

"And what do you call this?" Dib asked. His voice cracked a bit at the end. Zim had just turned around and found his organ, and was happily massaging it through his pants, (seeing as he hadn't quite managed to get them off of him yet.)

"This?" Zim asked. He withdrew his hand and pushed his body back, rocking his hips against the human's. He ground down against the human's sex, hard.

"Oh- oh god..." Dib stuttered, his jaw going slack.

"This is me ZIM! Scratching an itch." The alien replied blithely. "With your help of course. We've done an INCREDIBLE job so far... shall we continue?" He asked. He leaned forwards and grinned wickedly at the human.

Dib stared back at him then gulped. "Er..." He stuttered. Zim grinned and pushed down against him again, smirking as that caused the human to shudder.

"Weeeelll earthstink?" He encouraged silkily, sticking his hand under the human's shirt and running it persuasively up and down his skin. "Shall we?"

Dib shut his eyes. Screw responsibility. "... Sounds good," He finally managed.