Chapter 14: Waffles

Emma P.O.V.

"So Emma you never really told me who this Lily person was…" my mom said breaking the silence.

Mom and I were sitting in the kitchen eating our breakfast. Zim hadn't come out of the base in days and I was getting worried. I've checked on him every day but he was getting desperate.

"Oh…yeah…well…" I stuttered.

Mom always joked that she would kill me if I had a kid before I was at least as old as she was (which was 26) and of course I was 10 years too young.

"She's a close friend of ours and she…can't really defend herself. We're just really worried about her." I said.

"Emma…"

She knew I was lying.

"Okay. Okay. I just know you won't want to hear it."

"Sweetie you can tell me anything."

I sighed. "She's…our daughter…"

She gasped and lowered her head.

"Mom I'm sorry. I didn't choose to."

"No, it's alright. I just didn't know why you were so desperate to find her. Now I understand."

I got up from the table giving Dee-Dee a quick pet. "I'm going to check on Zim. I'll be right back."

I walked through the dark hallways in the base into the main computer room. I heard Zim panting heavily and peeked into the room. The main computer screen was black and in the small amount of light I saw Zim sitting on the floor.

"Zim! Are you okay?" I ran up to him and he turned to me.

His dark pink jacket was wrapped around his hand and I could see blood seeping through it. I gently put my hand on his and took off the jacket. His hand was covered in blood and glass. I looked up to see a hole in the screen and a few shards of glass around us. Zim winced in pain and wrapped his hand back up.

"I'm…fine Emma. I just…"

I hugged him and helped him back on his feet. "Come on. Let's get that glass out of your hand. Computer begin repair on the main screen."

We walked into the elevator and I sent us up.

"There just has to be some way to find her." Zim muttered.

I put my arm around him and sighed.

"We're not out of options yet Zim. We'll keep looking."

Zim nodded and sighed.

We reached the kitchen and mom looked at us in shock.

"I'm fine Jade. I was just getting stressed with my equipment." Zim said.

I took Zim into the bathroom and flicked a small switch behind the faucet. Zim had come up with a water substance that didn't burn his skin and mixed it into the plumbing system. A light purplish liquid rushed out of the faucet and Zim ran his hand under it. He picked out the glass while I found the bandages.

"Emma I'm really sorry. I'm going insane from Lily going missing."

"Just hold still Zim." I said wrapping his hand up.

Dib P.O.V.

The girls sat at the table and I pulled out our waffle iron. I remembered that ne time I got a video camera in Zim's kitchen and I found out they could actually eat waffles.

"You need any help?"

I turned and jumped a little at how close Sam was standing to me.

"Nah…I'm fine. Thanks." I said catching my breath.

I dumped a box of waffle mix in a bowl added the water and mixed it up.

"So…Lily. What's with those leg things in that little backpack of yours?" Sam asked Lily.

She looked at her confused.

"She means the legs in your Pak Lily. The ones you scratched me with." I explained.

"Oh! Right. S-sorry about that."

I shrugged smiling. "It's fine."

"Well I don't really know how they work. My dad never taught me about them. I didn't even know I had them until I hurt you Dib." She said.

I started pouring some batter into the iron while lost in my thoughts.

Dad? I never heard of irkens having parents. Maybe she was referring to someone she just called her dad. But still. Zim never seemed to know what parents were. So why did this girl seem different?

"Dib?"

I pulled out of my thoughts and saw I was pouring batter all over the counter.

"Ah damnit!" I cursed.

I shut the lid of the iron and grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess. Sam took some and cleaned up what spilled on the floor.

"Well we should still have enough for everyone. We should save one for my sister Gaz just in case." I said throwing the paper towel away.

I turned around to see Lily with her claws gripping the edge of the counter on her toes staring at the waffle iron.

"What does this do?" she asked. "It's warm."

I smiled a little and walked up to her. "It's called a waffle iron. It makes waffles."

Lily's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Really? So that's how you make them."

"You've had waffles before?"

She nodded. "My parents made them all the time. I always slept in too late to know how they were made."

The iron dinged scaring Lily a little. I opened it up and grabbed a fork from a drawer. I stabbed the waffle a little and lifted up and onto a plate. I set it on the table and Lily crawled up onto her chair. She poured syrup on her waffle and I gave her a fork and knife to eat it.

I was finishing one for myself when I heard something in the living room.

"What are you doing?" Gaz asked stepping into the kitchen.

"These girls just need to stay here for a day or two Gaz. I was just making some breakfast."

Gaz shrugged and grabbed my waffle.

"You remember Sam and Kim from school right?" I asked.

She nodded and sat next to Lily who was almost finished eating. She squeaked and tried to keep from looking at her. She pushed her plate away and jumped down from her seat. Lily walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Kim got up and sat with her.

Kim P.O.V.

"You okay Lily?" I asked sitting down next to her.

She nodded and sighed.

"I…I just wanna go home." she squeaked.

"Well we'll do the best we can to help you Lily. We won't leave you."

Lily rested her head up on my side and curled up on the couch. I looked over and saw Dib and Sam watching us from the kitchen. The two of them smiled and went back to eating their food.