*Sorry for the delay Star Watcher and Gaz*
Thunderstorm: Chapter Fourteen
Dib and Gaz were speechless. They had hundreds of questions to ask but couldn't utter a word. They turned to one another with surprise, joy, and relief mixed into one expression, tears.
"Are you okay," Juelia asked with concern. Dib and Gaz almost laughed at this comment.
"We're better than okay," Dib finally shouted.
"What are we standing here for," Gaz said as she took off back in the direction of the main group.
"Yeah, we have to find him, where'd they say he landed? Los Angeles?" Dib shouted again with enthusiasm as he took off running as well as forgetting all about his sprang ankle. Juelia smiled at the two darting, joy-filled children before taking off herself. As Dib and Gaz neared the others, the small group stopped to allow them to catch up. At first, it looked as if something was wrong however the closer the brother and sister came it was apparent they were extremely excited.
"What happened," Zim called out.
"He's alive, our dad's alive," Dib yelled.
"Really."
"Juelia said he was piloting the ship," Gaz said keeping more of her calm composure.
"Am I missing something," Jordan asked feeling slightly confused being she didn't know about last night's events along with must other human beings.
"Um, nothing, its just a long story mom," Red covered knowing that the situation had to remain a secret.
"Let me take you the rest of the way Ms. Jackson, it's only a few more blocks away," Zim quickly offered as he started walking once more. The two siblings calmed down a little, remembering their unknowing guests. They all made their way to Zim's house which stood out oddly because of the fact it was the only house standing and not so much that it was green. The alien ran ahead to check on a few things before the new humans came in.
"Gir! Get into costume and act like a real dogworm," Zim ordered his robot slave. Gir smiled and trotted over to where his disguise lay when he had taken it off for the adventure in space.
"Computer, locate the Vootrunner and bring it to the neighborhood area, and make sure it's well hidden," Zim ordered his electronic home. Then he turned to the door so as to allow the rest to come in. The moment he opened the door James' and Claudia's eyes grew three times over. Jordan raised an eyebrow at the strange attire and interior the house passed.
"Wow, you have a big screen, and look at that, you have a toilet in your kitchen?" James blurted out as he ran in and immediately began touching everything.
"James," Ms. Jackson said with on edge of strictness in her voice.
"Oh yeah, don't touch what doesn't belong to you," James recited as he placed the odd-looking vase back down.
"Sorry, for his behavior, he's just excited I guess," Jordan apologized.
"That's quite alright, no harm done, you and your family can stay in the guest unit," Zim said as he walked over to a different part of the house leading the Jackson family to their temporary home. All but Red who had decided to wait in the living room with Dib, Gaz, and Juelia.
"So you know your dad's alright," Red asked.
"Yes," Dib and Gaz said in unison.
"That's great!"
"Yeah, but we have to find him, he might not even know we're okay," Dib stated.
"How we can't just hop a plane to California," Gaz said strongly.
"Guys don't get too excited, I mean I could be wrong, it might not be the same human," Juelia replied not wanting the two little ones to get their hopes up only to be crushed.
"If he looked like the picture, trust me there is no other human that looks like dad," Dib stated.
"Maybe Zim can take you over there," Red suggested.
"That's a great idea," Dib smiled as he turned to her. He really did enjoy her company more than anything, which reminded and explained his action in the prison cell on the Massive. His smile grew more affectionate for a moment till he realized he was staring and quickly shook his head along with his thoughts.
"Are you okay?" Red asked.
"Yeah, yeah...what were we doing?" He asked sheepishly. Gaz rolled her eyes at her love-struck brother and walked past him to ask Zim herself if the alien would help them. As Gaz made her way to the room that Zim and the Jackson family had gone down earlier, a familiar sound rolled across the mourning sky. The thunder rumbled slightly making it off in the distance, however, it gave warning to the coming storm. This worried Dib a little, thinking that a storm would delay any plan of going out to find his father. Dib also knew it must have worried Zim to because he could hear his conversation with Gaz.
"Not now, too much has happened, plus...listen to that," Zim's voice could be heard as another roll of thunder sounded. "We'll go tomorrow, I need some rest anyway."
"Maybe your right, but tomorrow we leave," Gaz agreed.
"Wow! Earth weather is amazing, look how quickly it changed," Juelia said aloud as she looked out the window to see the wind picking up and a dark overcast consume the sky. Zim and Gaz stepped out into the living room just as a flash of lightning lit up the room followed by the growl of thunder. Juelia stepped away from the window mildly shocked and scared by the display.
"What is that," she asked turning back to face the group.
"Lighting," Red said abruptly.
"Light...ing, it makes that noise doesn't it," Juelia asked as the scene outside darkened due to lack of sun.
"Does if ever, it's terrible," Red continued with an icy edge in her voice, "it's absolutely horrible, and I absolutely hate it." The electric storm seemed to intensify at her words as the noise and flashes of light filled the sky.
"Are you okay," Dib asked. Red seemed to shake awake out a deep sleep as she reasoned.
"Huh, yeah I'm okay," she lied as she was indeed disturbed by the storm. Then a rage of thunder clashed just as a large bolt of lightning flared overhead. Red let out a short cry along with her family in the other room.
"You sure you're alright," Dib questioned again as the others too put on looks of concern. Red frowned. She really didn't want to talk about it, however, with the storm, she was being taunted and threatened almost to the point of tears. She quickly put her hands to her face and turned away. With that, she walked over to the couch where she thunder caused her to jump up again.
"I hate this!" She shouted before stalking over to the kitchen. A strained silence fell over the living room with only the sound of rain and thunder to stir up the quiet. Dib turned to everyone giving a what-should-I-do-look, in which he received a we-don't-know look. He then decided to follow in after her, even though he felt that he would regret it. The others decided to stay out in the living room as Max walked out of the guest room, followed by Gir, to the group.
Dib walked into the kitchen to see Red, head down on the dining table. He could tell she was crying, and he could also tell he had no clue what to do.
"Um hi," he said in lack of anything else to say. He mentally slapped himself for being so lame.
"Hi," Red murmured less than enthusiastically as she remained head down in her arms.
"Mind if I sit down," Dib asked. She didn't answer for a moment leaving Dib feeling hopelessly nervous.
"No, I don't mind," she finally said. Dib quickly pulled out a chair and sat down as he began rubbing his hands together restlessly. They sat quietly for a while until Dib decided to break the silence.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Red let out a desolate sigh as she slowly raised her eyes to see him. She was expecting him to be looking at her as if she were idiotic or with petty pity, but instead, his eyes were full of true concern.
"Well let's put it this way, I really don't like thunderstorms," she finally answered.
"That's okay, I mean I'm afraid of stuff too," Dib said trying to relate.
"No, it's not the thunderstorm itself just...what happened," she whispered. Dib frowned a little as he noticed that the storm was causing more pain than fear for her. Red looked up and wiped the tears away frantically.
"I'm sorry," she sniffed.
"No, don't be, go on, that's if you want to," he said gently. She sighed and began to speak.
"Well, one night my dad was working at the computer shop and he brought me along with him."
~ ~* A man, with a little girl sitting in his lap typed away at a computer keyboard while the young girl watched the letters fly across the screen. A thunderclap sounded in the distance grabbing the girls attention.
"What's that," the small one asked.
"That's thunder, Rosy," the man said as he still typed away on the computer. He paused momentarily when he noticed that his daughter, Rosa, was very interested in the sound.
"It's caused by lighting," he said again. "What's lightin'," Rosa asked not too sure what lights had to do with such a noise. He was about to reply but was cut short when a flash of lighting, followed by a crack of thunder zoomed by. Then in return, the lights in the building went out as the computer powered down.
"Oh no it took me weeks to type up that report, and I was almost done," the father cried. Rosa looked in between the computer and her distressed father and tisked the machine.
"Bad puter, you make daddy sad," she scowled. Her dad softly laughed and decided to call it a night's work.
"You stay here Rosa, I'm going to bring the car around," he said walking out of the computer store to his car in the rain. * ~ ~
Red paused in the middle of her sentence to look down. Dib, who had moved closer to her, put a hand on her shoulder for comfort and urged her to continue.
"I was standing by the window looking out, waiting for my dad. I saw him get to the car, then...another man walked up to him...he...he pulled out a gun. My dad remained calm it seemed..my dad began reaching into his poc...ket *sniff*...but, I don't know, it happened to fast *sob* a siren went off down the street..and...and the man freaked out..." Red stopped to cry. Dib remained silent not really having too many words of comfort. He knew where the story was going, and he didn't want to push her on any further, however without warning she began explaining again.
"I couldn't hear it, the gunshot I mean...all I could hear was the thunder,...and the lighting it lit up the whole scene...I hate thunderstorms," she said more to herself, coldly.
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, but it's in the past,...I just really don't like this. My mom knows it's hard for me, but she wasn't there," Red sighed, "It was hard for my whole family, but I was right there."
"I know what you mean," Dib said under his breath.
"How?"
"How what," Dib asked cursing himself for saying what he just did.
"How do you know what I mean," Red asked him looking at his face, trying to read his expression.
"Nothing," he said as his eyes quickly looked down to the table. Red-eyed him with curiosity but decided it was best to leave the subject untouched.
"Meow." Both Dib and Red jumped at the noise and then were startled again when an earsplitting thunderclap rocked the house. Then almost as the final shock to the nerves, something cold and wet ran past brushing the pair's legs. Both of them fell out of their seats landing in an embarrassing position on the floor. Dib was flat out on his back while Red had landed on him, face to face.
"I'm aaaall wet," Gir shouted from his spot under the table.
"What's going on...oh I see your busy," Gaz said as she, Zim, and Juelia came to see what the commotion was about.
"This is not what it looks like," Dib said defensively knowing where Gaz would take this.
"Yeah, right," the younger sibling said as she watched the two scramble off one another to their feet. She wanted to push the subject but decided not to being she had nothing against Red just her dumb brother.
"Yay I'm gonna roll on the floor now," Gir squealed as he jumped on the floor with a squash of his soggy doggy suit.
"Gir!" Zim exclaimed. The little sir unit stood and ran to his master's side.
"Yes, my master." Zim took a step back away from the dripping robot.
"Dry off now." Gir's face lit up as he was about to dry off the way all dogs do. "Wait! Wait! I mean dry off with a towel!" Zim cried as it was to take the robot dog shook the water off in a display of droplets spreading out in waves. Zim immediately took off around the kitchen smoking from where the liquid had touched his skin. Juelia, who was lucky enough to be shielded from most of the water by Zim, looked on in horror.
"What is this stuff," she asked as the few drops that had fallen on her began to burn.
"It's water," Dib answered as he grabbed two dish towels and handed them to the irkens. Zim frantically dried off while Juelia wiped the clear substance away. The rest of the day passed by uneventful, with only the thunderstorm outside and the occasional Gir interruption. By that evening James and Claudia were sitting on the couch watching cartoons with Max and Gir. Juelia had gone with Jordan into the kitchen to fix something for the kids to eat. Zim had managed to slip into his lab unnoticed to take a long deserved nap. Gaz had long ago pulled out her game slave and was sitting in the easy chair engrossed in her game. Dib and Red were sitting in the guest room chairs with the pale boy's laptop set up on a desk, typing away at the small keyboard. Everything was calm in the household until Max's ears perked up. He hopped off of Claudia's comfortable lap onto the cold floor. Nobody really noticed the little cat as he made his way to the front door. He sat in front of the entrance for a while before taking off for the guest room.
"Meow. Meow. Meow," the tiny tabby cried frantically as it jumped up in Red's lap.
"Huh? Max what's wrong," she asked as the cat quickly leaped into Dib's lap. He grabbed the young boy's trenchcoat with his teeth and tugged a little. Dib looked down at the little feline who now had black fabric filling its mouth.
"You think he wants us to follow him again?" Dib asked turning to Red.
"Only one way to find out," Red said as she picked up the tiny animal and placed it on the floor. She and Dib stood up too and looked down at Max.
"Meow." Max ran out to the guestroom doorway and stood to wait to be followed. Dib grabbed his laptop and he and Red set off to the door. Max lead them to the front door and began to sound off loudly.
"Something must be wrong," Red said picking Max up. Dib hurried over to the window to look out and see exactly what was irritating the feline. It wasn't raining as hard but the water still obscured the window view. Dib flung the glass pain up to see better.
"It's a fire down the street, but I think it's being taken care of," he said as he glanced over the seen "But um...I don't really see anything else, maybe he just wants out." Without warning, Max leaped out of Red's arms and out of the window.
"Max, get back here!" Red shouted as she ran to the window's edge.
"Where's kitty going?" Claudia asked as she toddled over to the window.
"Who knows. He'll be alright, he's managed to keep out of trouble this long," Red said as she watched the brown furball run down the street.
"Dinner's ready," Jordan(Ms. Jackson) shouted from the kitchen, "hope you like mac and cheese." James was the first to reach the table with a greedy grin.
"I like macaroni and cheese," he blurted.
"Wait till the others get her sweetheart."
Juelia placed plates and cups down as Jordan had instructed. When everyone was at the table, even Gir, Jordan noticed that something was missing.
"Where's the little green boy...Zim?"
"Right here," Zim announced as he had reemerged from the lab again unnoticed, "I need to talk to you." Zim motioned for Dib and Gaz while the others began serving out the mac and cheese.
"What is it," Dib asked.
"We're going to leave tonight to find your dad," Zim answered.
"Good, but let's eat first," Gaz suggested as she pointed to James who appeared to be able to eat the whole pot.
"I'll pass," Zim said as he watched Dib and Gaz head for the table. After eating and discussing things over the dinner table, Jordan had learned a great deal about Dib and Gaz and their troubles.
"Well that is an awful problem," Jordan said gravely, "Juelia I would just like to thank you for allowing us into your home."
"It's not her home, it's mine," Zim corrected not realizing his mistake.
"What do you mean?" the woman asked. Everyone glared at him knowing that it was his idea to keep all of this a secret and he just blew it. Zim gasped and covered his mouth.
"I didn't mean that."
"What he meant is that it's his home too, right Zim," Dib asserted.
"Yeah, that's it." Jordan gave the green one an odd look but decided to brush aside the comment when she noticed the time.
"I have to get you to bed, come on you three," Jordan said as she motioned for the children.
"But I don't really wanna go to sleep," James complained.
"You no get bigger if you don't sleep," Claudia said as she ran to her mother's side.
"Mom can I stay up out here," Red asked sweetly.
"I don't know, can you."
"Mom may I stay up out here, please," Red restated differently. Jordan looked down and nodded.
"Just this once, and behave yourself."
"Thank you, mom."
"Why does she get to stay up?" James whined.
"Because she won't destroy the place while I'm asleep," Jordan replied as she led them down the hall.
"I wouldn't destroy it, that much...aww she just wants to stay with her boyfriend," James said as he blew a raspberry in his sister's direction. Red blushed slightly at the remark but she quickly regained her color. James laughed out loud but was quickly pulled into the guest room letting out a yelp. Red turned around to see that Dib had a deep shade of pink on his face, which unlike her he couldn't remove.
"What's wrong with you," Zim asked looking at the humans' face causing the pale boy to blush further into a rosy red.
"Nothing's wrong with me," Dib tried to say confidently but failed with his wavering voice.
"Nothing! Your face is red, I mean red, like your choking. I've read that about humans, wait you could be angry...or something," Zim said elaborating his words as best he could. Gaz was snickering at the sight of her now cherry red brother. Juelia looked on very interested, that a creature could change color so quickly. Red had mixed emotions of flattery, fear, happiness, and confusion, not knowing exactly why he was blushing, but having a good idea. Dib, on the other hand, felt pure embarrassment as everyone was now looking at him. He could feel the heat and redness on his face, and by the expression of the others, he must have been able to stop traffic. Zim was about to ask some more questions but Gaz stopped him.
"I think if you say any more he's going to explode."
"Well, I just want to know," Zim said. Gaz motioned for him to come closer and when he did Gaz whispered an explanation. " !" Zim's eyes grew with the now newly learned information. The alien smiled at Dib with such tranquility that the meaning for the grin was unreadable. Dib, in his confused moment, smiled back nervously.
"I see," Zim then stated, "so that's why you um kissed her because you love her." Dib and Red both turned tomato red. The boy glanced at the girl and instantly felt bad that he had embarrassed her as well. He quickly made his way to what he thought was the front door.
"I need some air," he murmured as he swung open the door, walked into a closet and closed the door. Noticing his foolish mistake he almost didn't want to come back out and face the others.
"Um hello...Dib. That's a closet," Zim pointed out.
"I know, I just needed to get something," he lied, as he opened the door.
"What did you need to get?" Gaz asked innocently. Both Zim and Gaz snickered when Dib couldn't come back with an answer, however, Gaz felt a twang of guilt when he looked like he was going to cry. Dib ran for the front door and quickly made it out shutting the door behind him. Red stared at the shut door for a while then glared at the teasing pair. Juelia too scowled the two.
"What? I was just kidding," Zim said. Gaz ribbed the irken, giving him a warning that the joke was over, and it was time to shut up. Red walked over to the front door and placed a hand on it. She could feel her sweaty palms and knew she was scared, but of what? She decided to just open the door like a normal person would but for some reason, her arm wouldn't allow her to. Instead, she ended up cracking the door slightly and began the painfully slow process of opening it. She peeked outside and could see Dib sitting on the small step. He seemed to have frozen the second the door was opened. Red stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She then sat down next to him.
"Hi," she finally greeted.
"Hi," he replied weakly. He then gazed upward at the stars above. Red looked out in the same direction and smiled.
"You like the stars?" Red asked, rather pointed out. Dib smiled and nodded. The clouds had cleared allowing the twinkling lights to shine, however, it was still wet outside with water dripping off the leaves of trees and the roofs of broken houses.
"Yeah. They remind me of my mom," Dib said absentmindedly, before frowning.
"What's wrong," she asked. He looked down at the sidewalk as a few tears slipped away to the ground.
"You can tell me, I won't tell anyone else," Red assured him, even though she wasn't quite sure why he was crying, his secret was safe with her.
"Well, its just so hard sometimes, my mom died a long time ago in a fire," Dib began softly.
"I'm sorry."
"Our whole family fell apart. I guess she was the glue that held us together. Anyway, my dad seemed to cut off almost completely from us. He doesn't mean to, but he ignores me and Gaz. I wish he would spend more time with us, I wish he had spent time, then maybe Gaz wouldn't have pulled away so much," Dib frowned a little in his reminisces.
"Our mom use to...take us on trips to the store with her and I remember family night but now, when she...well we just don't do that stuff anymore," he explained. Red listened intently knowing that, by the sound of it, he had held this in, bottled up for a long time. Dib suddenly glared down at the ground as tears of anger came.
"Now my dad's a workaholic, not even giving us the time of day. Gaz, all she does is play her stupid games, sometimes I wonder if she remembers to eat, sleep or breath, and...and then there's me," Dib paused before he looked back up at Red.
"It's funny, all I ever really wanted to know is why that fire started, I guess I looked so hard for so long for the truth, that I wanted to know about everything. Science is for my dad. He always wants me to get involved, but the paranormal is the unanswered, the unexplained, its what I think might have started that fire. Everyone thinks I'm crazy...no one ever believes me...not even my family had cared. Mom always believed me...she believed in me...," Dib's voice cracked as he turned back to the ground.
"Well for what it's worth, I believe in you," Red said softly.
"Thanks," Dib said half-heartily figuring she was just being nice, which in a way he liked about her.
"No really, you're the sweetest person I've met, your not crazy," Red said honestly.
"Wow, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," Dib smiled turning to face her. 'There's a whole lot of nice things I could say about you' Red thought involuntarily as she smiled back. Then, without warning, the door opened to reveal Zim.
"We're leaving now," Zim said. Dib sighed in frustration. He was just about to tell Red how he felt about her. He and Red both stood from the step and followed Zim inside. Red frowned just a little as she reached to close the door. Before she could shut it, however, Max crashed in at top speed, sliding on the tile floor. He turned sharply to face the group before the feline then quickly ran to Zim's feet and began bouncing around as if in an urgent emergency.
Author's Note: Longest chapter yet is still on its way. The Next chapter is the last chapter to this story, however, there is another story that takes place after these events. If you want me to post that one up say 'Aye' all opposed 'Nay'
P.S. Thanks Raina for pointing out my grammar mistakes. I went back and changed a few mistakes but I know I did not get them all.