A/N: Short author's note cause I have to leave for work but I wanted to post this for you guys cause you're awesome! I really appreciate every review and favorite that I get. I love knowing that people care about this story.

I move back to school at the end of this week and then I don't know when I'll get the chances to write. I make no promises beyond that I WILL NOT QUIT THIS STORY! So you don't have to worry about that.

Okay got to go! Bye!


Chapter 11 – Things Said

The night was cold but the sweat just kept rolling off of Dib's face. Zita went to the front of the cave and held out the piece of her dress that she had torn off earlier into the cool water from the waterfall that hid them from view. With a thread from Gaz's sweater and a thin wire from Zim's PAK they were able to stitch up Dib's wound. Unfortunately he came down with a fever not long after. They decided they couldn't do anything more for the night so they moved to the back of the cave to get some rest. Gaz sat near the entrance keeping watch.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

"His fever is getting worse…" Zita placed the cool cloth on Dib's forehead.

Gaz came back and felt her brothers forehead, frowning. Her hands jumped to the small laser they'd gotten from Zim's PAK when the Irken snorted in his sleep. She relaxed when she realized there wasn't any danger, but Zita could still see her hands trembling. "Stupid thing sleeps like a log…"

"He is only a kid after all."

Gaz watched Zim twitch in the midst of a nightmare. "Dib said that to... but I... I just can't see it." Her face screwed into a scowl. She stood again and marched back to the front of the cave. Zita watched her back for a moment then went to join her. Gaz rushed to wipe her eyes when Zita sat down on a nearby boulder.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Gaz's face was blank; she stared off at the wall of water. "The fact that we're sleeping in a cave and there's an alien less than 20 feet away? Or that we can't go home because we're being chased by a group of paranormal nut jobs that my brother, who could be dying of a fever right now, used to be desperate to impress? Or maybe that I'm cold, tired, and hungry and how we wouldn't even be in this mess if I hadn't gone to that stupid tournament!?"

"Tournament? You mean your Vampire Piggies one?"

Gaz nodded. "If I hadn't gone to it, Dib would never have been in the park when that thing's," she spat out the word, "ship crashed."

"Gaz, None of this is your fault."

"No, it's that thing's."

"It's not Zim's fault either." Zita leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "He never asked to be chased by those guys."

"But why did he have to come here in the first place…? Why couldn't he just stay on his own planet… and leave us the hell alone…"

"Have you tried asking him?" Gaz didn't respond. Her dark eyes just stared off into the wall of water. "Gaz… I know this is hard. Honestly… I'm scared to," Zita ignored Gaz's grumble that she was not scared and stared straight at the girl, "I'm worried about M, but neither worrying nor placing blame will get us out of this. We…" Gaz held her hand over Zita's mouth and shushed her. The two girls sat quietly and listened as two voices neared their hiding place.

"The tracks ended downstream from here. They probably went further down river since there's no way they made it up that." A woman's voice said with complete certainty.

"You're probably right, but it wouldn't hurt to check." This one was a man's… or maybe a boy's… it sounded much younger than the woman.

"Check what? You planning to follow the river all the way to its source or something? It's a waste of time. We should follow the river and look for tracks or low hanging branches." The woman paused then added thoughtfully, "and also look for small circular holes, if that alien is still using its technology to help them elude us."

"That alien… What do you think it is?"

"No idea. I didn't see it. The reports say it's short and has good technology, maybe a Vortian?"

"I suppose it's possible… but don't those ones rarely leave their planet?"

"It's rare but not unheard of. There was one here back when I first started in the Network."

"Really? What happened to it?" Gaz could hear her heart pounding in her ears when the silhouette of the boy moved closer. The full moon in the sky left an eerie shadow on the rolling water. He selected a stone from on the shore then sent it skipping across the water.

"It died not long after it crashed here…"

"Injuries?"

"Earth's gravity is higher than their planet's. It was slowly crushed." The boy made a very clear hiss of sympathy pain. "If this alien is indeed a Vortian then we won't have to worry too much about finding it after a few more days."

"And if it's not?"

The woman heaved a deep sigh, "Then we may have a long and troublesome search ahead of us."

Gaz and Zita hardly dared to breathe as the voices moved further and further away. Not until they could no longer hear anything over the rushing of the water did either of them dare speak again. Zita reached out and took the laser from Gaz's shaking hands.

"I'll keep watch. You go sleep." Gaz reluctantly stood and headed back to find some rock to use as a pillow, "And Gaz…?"

"What?"

"It's not your fault."

XXX

"Daddy? How many planets are out there!?"

"Hmm. Well scientific observations have shown trillions of galaxies each with billions of stars. And while science hasn't yet found a way to tell us which ones have planets around them, it soon will. Nothing can stop SCIENCE!"

Gaz stared up at her Dad as he pumped his fist in the air dramatically, she and her brother sitting on his lap. Six-year-old Dib's eyes shone bright as he stared up at the sky.

"Does that mean there are people on those planets to!?"

Their father laughed. "Of course not son! If something lives on another planet it is going to be a completely different alien species." Dib looked a little sad but his smile returned quickly.

"Do you think any aliens could come to earth!?"

Four-year-old Gaz wiggled to a better sitting position, completely sick of the conversation and her Dad and brother's fascination with sitting out and watching stars. Family time he said, but Gaz wanted family time to be spent playing a game with everyone. Something that she could use her high intelligence on, because she was after all smarter than any other kid she'd ever met. It was so stupid. Why did they have to sit there and do nothing? It was boring. "Why would they ever want to?" so they could come stare up at the stars like idiots?

Dib puffed out his chest at his sister, "Maybe they want to make friends."

That was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. "I'll bet the only reason an alien would ever come here would be to destroy us."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"If they're smart enough to get across the universe, why would they want to make friends with humans that can't even get to another planet around their own sun? I bet they would just destroy us so we don't mess up the rest of space like we have earth."

Dib turned to their Dad, his eyes starting to fill with tears. "They wouldn't do that would they Dad?"

"Now Now son. If aliens do come to destroy us then at least we can learn some science from them first." Dib didn't say anything else that night, not until Gaz was tucked into her bed when he poked his head in the room.

"Gaz… not everyone is mean. Just watch. I'll find an alien and prove to you that they're nice!"

"You do that."

Tears fell from her face dripping down and wetting her purple hair. Gaz lay on the cold cave floor trying to keep the sobs from being noticed. Her voice was a low whisper that only she could hear, "That's where you're wrong Zita… it's All my fault."

XXX

Morning was slow to come. Zita hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep until she found herself being shaken awake by Zim. She sat up so quickly that the two of them smacked head. "oww… Oh sorry Zim. Should have warned you what happens when you wake me up suddenly. Are you okay." The force of smashing head's had knocked Zim back onto his behind. He rubbed his forehead and blinked a couple times, then stood up as if nothing had happened.

"I'm fine. But Gaz is gone."

"WHAT!?" Zita jumped up and looked frantically around the cave, but Gaz was indeed missing. "Where would she go! Oh no! This is so bad!"

"What are you yelling about now?" Gaz walked around the lip of the cave. "We're supposed to be hiding remember?"

"GAZ!" Zita ran over and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. "What's the matter with you! Don't EVER scare me like that again!" She pulled her into a hug then noticed the crinkling of plastic. She released Gaz to see the girl was holding an arm full of snacks. Zita blinked a couple times while her brain processed what she was seeing. "Where did you get those?"

"Does it matter?" Gaz tossed a bag of chips in the air for Zita to catch, then lobbed one towards Zim, but since it landed in a pool of water all he could do was stare at it. "What's the matter? Not hungry?

"No I…" Zim stared at the water.

"Zim? What's the matter?" Zita asked, as she started opening her own bag. "The food will still be dry just grab it and start eating. We've got to figure out what to do next."

"But..!" A glare from Gaz shut him up. Her eyes were cold. She knew that Zim couldn't touch water without being burned. She wanted him to be hurt like Dib was, and only the tiniest thought, which she refused to acknowledge, cared that doing this was wrong.

Zim knelt down over the pool, glad that he still had the boots and black rubber gloves that Dib had given him. The chip bag was floating not far away, maybe a human's arm length, but to the smeet it was an impossible distance. Zim reached out as far as he could without falling but the snacks remained out of his reach. A small chunk of rock broke off from the ceiling and fell into the pool, splashing Zim in the face.

Zim fell backwards with a yell of pain.

Zita jumped to her feet and ran over. Zim lay on the ground holding his face. She pulled the smeet's hands away from his face to see a raw brownish splotch on his face. "What happened!?"

"Oops." Gaz was munching away at her own chips. "I guess Dib mention something about rain hurting him." Zita threw a glare at Gaz then pulled Zim away from the pool. She took him towards the front of the cave to where there was more light and looked at the burn. Zim's eyes shone with tears from the pain but he didn't let them fall. He pushed Zita's hand away.

"I'm fine. I heal quickly."

"It could get infected."

"It's not like you could treat it with anything other than bandages anyway! I don't know what else on this planet will hurt me!" Zim had raised his antennae and his voice. They dropped again when he saw the hurt look on the human's face. He looked away and didn't say anything.

Zita didn't say anything either, just gave him her dry packet and went to retrieve the floating one. "Next time try and actually toss it To him." Zita said Gaz let out a puff of annoyance, as if it was the alien's fault that he couldn't go in water.

The mountain of snack bags was gone in a matter of minutes.

Zim ate more than half of them because Zita had insisted that he needed them to recharge. And he had. The signal from his PAK told him that he was back up to 70%, plenty of energy to run his spider legs, laser cutters, force shield, or whatever else he needed.

"Anything left over?"

All three of them jumped to their feet as Dib came stumbling over. He sunk down on the wide rock next to his sister. Gaz handed him the last packet that she had only just opened. Dib ate from it gratefully but only felt hungrier when he finished. He realized that everyone was staring at him. "I'm fine okay? Just a little dizzy." He sighed in exhasperation when Gaz reached up and felt his forehead, then swatted her hand away. "I'm fine. We need to find the cabin, and maybe some more food."

"Would the SEN have alerted the public to look for us? Will we have to avoid the main roads?" Zita asked.

Dib shook his head. "The network is very secretive. They don't involve the general public Ever."

"Hey…" Gaz spoke up, "so could we go get help from that house where I got the food?"

"What house?"

Gaz shrugged. "It was weird. Kind of like a large metal shack. There were a lot of computers and snacks inside. You wouldn't believe the number of Twinkies I saw." Dib started laughing then ended with holding his side. A bead of sweat ran down his face.

"Good work Gaz. You found Dad's cabin."

XXX

"Anyway… I guess what I'm trying to say… umm…"

"Apology accepted Red." Tenn smiled brightly at him. She had been friends with him and Purple for the longest time. Not as close as the two of them were with each other, but enough that Red was willing to actually try and apologize for his behavior.

Red dipped his antennae and shrugged his shoulders. Irken's don't really apologize. Tenn had spared him from actually having to say it. "Thank you. Friends again?"

"When were we ever not?" Red laughed, around someone his own age for the first time in over a month. Tenn smiled, relieved to know she hadn't completely lost him. "It's good to see you're getting back to normal."

Red's smile faded and he gazed at Tenn. "I must have caused you so much trouble." This was how Irkens spoke. They could never really express themselves. Never using words that defined emotions, never being able to say you care. Tenn knew he was saying sorry for worrying her, though neither of them could say it. The Instructors were in the room, as were some of their other classmates.

Never admit to having emotions!

"Only a little." Tenn looked at the ground, occasionally glancing up at Red who was still staring at her. Something in his eyes made her nervous, wondering if there was something he wasn't saying, but she kept the thought to herself. "Just promise me that if you ever need to talk…"

"Yeah. I promise."

As a new group project began, the other smeets saw Tenn and Red talking as if nothing had ever happened. A look of relief passed among them. One by one, everyone that had called Red a friend, headed over to the table to join them.