Gaz glanced at her watch: 11:57 PM. Finally, she could feel as though something might happen at midnight after all. The wait had been boring. Zim had put Gir to bed at 9:30 and left her sitting alone in his living room while he disappeared to wherever, doing whatever.

"Gaz!" Zim shouted from the top of the stairs. "come up here now, or else!"

"Or else what?" she demanded as she stood and cracked her spine. "You left me down here by myself with nothing of interest to occupy me."

"You'll miss the surprise."

She rolled her eyes and took the steps two at a time. When she arrived at the attic door, down the hall from Zim's room, she folded her arms against her chest and frowned. "Well, where is it?"
"Look," the alien replied and pointed at a window. "Lunar eclipse." The phenomenon was almost complete.

She repressed the urge to strangle him with great difficulty. "You made me wait hours upon hours by myself to see the eclipse? It's the only thing that's been on the news and instead up dragging my ass up here I could still be on the couch. I can see it from your living room window. What the hell?"

"No, you impatient, ignorant cuddle monkey!" he exclaimed. "What do you think I am, an idiot?"

She raised a brow and he glared at her. "You're the one that called me ignorant, so you tell me."

"I take it back. I had to wait for my neighbors' attention to be on the eclipse completely before I could show you this." He opened the door to the attic and pushed her up the steps. Her eyes widened.

"This is incredible, Zim," she breathed as she circled his spacecraft. "Has it been here the whole time? Is this the ship that brought you here?" She hadn't felt this giddy with excitement over something definitely classified under the "GEEK" category in a while.

"Yes. Well, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"It wasn't on autopilot the whole time!" he replied testily. "I am a mighty Irken pilot! You should see my record."

"You failed your driver's test. You couldn't even get your learner's permit," she pointed out.

"Shut up and bask in the awesomeness that is alien technology."

Gaz did as she was told for once. "Can we take it for a ride?"

"Of course." Zim opened the hatch and helped her step in. He settled himself in the pilot's seat and pulled her onto his lap. He groaned when her elbow dug into his chest as she squirmed to get comfortable and purred when she stroked an antenna. "You can't be doing that when I'm piloting."

"I won't she promised. Under her breath she added, "not until it's unexpected."

"Don't even think about it," he warned. "I don't want to hit something."

"Are you kidding?" she yelled as the tiny craft fired up. Her breath caught in her throat as they lifted into the night sky, unnoticed by anyone. The continued to ascend above the trees, clouds and finally Earth's atmosphere. "I can't believe I'm in space!" She felt giddy again, but attributed it to lack of air. The ship hung suspended in the blackness of space. She looked down upon her home planet. "I bet Dib would love to be up here."

"He has never seen my ship."

Gaz twisted in his lap to face Zim. "He hasn't?"

"No. I saved this to share with you. I know that you don't entirely believe that I care for you as much as I say I do." Gaz began to protest, but he silenced her. "You don't trust easily. I do understand, although being this sincere is difficult for me."

She sighed. This particular converstaion had been building up for a while. Of course he had to wait until they were in space to bring it up. "Zim, I do trust you. But I'm no one special. Besides, I don't trust the idea of love. It's complicated. Video games can't break my heart. I act the way I do for a reason." She shook her head. "Ugh, I sound so freaking lame."

Zim cleared his throat nervously. "Well, you're special to me. Now face forward. The surprise isn't over yet."

She repositioned herself and tweaked his antenna as he maneuvered the craft further from Earth and the moon. He jerked and they ended up off course by a lot. "Woman, I told you not to do that! If we miss it, then it is definitely your fault!" the irked alien shouted.

"If we miss what?"

Forty-six seconds later they were right where Zim declared they needed to be. "It will only be a minute now. Before you see this, I need you to answer one question and you must do so honestly."

"All right."

"Do you love me, and do you want us to be together for a while?"

"That's cheating! There are two questions in there."

"Don't stall for time," he snapped.

She sighed. It took all of her courage to say the word she needed to say. Slowly, it came out. "Yeeeeeessssss."
Zim frowned. "Pretty reluctant, but okay. Surprise in ten seconds. Pay attention."

Ten seconds passed slower than Gaz could ever have imagined, but by the time she had counted to ten almost three times a firestorm of shooting stars plummeted past them. She watched in amazement as, one by one, the stars stopped in predetermined places. They formed a message:

MARRY ME OR ELSE. LOVE, THE ALL POWERFUL ZIM

Gaz could only stare, open-mouthed, at the stars. "I moved the stars for you," Zim whispered in her ear as his arms snaked around her waist. He used one hand to gently push her jaw closed. "There isn't anything I won't try to do if you ask."

"Zim, I –" Gaz shook her head and leaned against him. "Where's my ring?"

"Your what?"

"My engagement ring. It isn't a proper proposal if I don't have a ring offered to me," she replied.

"Are you kidding me?" Zim demanded. "I moved stars for you and you want a ring to show that I'm devoted to you? What the hell? Do you have any idea how much time and effort go into something like this? How much planning? It isn't like I can just push buttons and make it happen!"

In truth, it was exactly like that, thanks to the advanced technology available to him, but he saw no reason to share that information.

Her head bumped the window when he pushed her off his lap and she scowled at him, floating in zero gravity.

"You stupid, selfish dirt child! I had to work on this for months! Do you know how difficult it was for me to be so unselfish and wonderful? Not to mention, refraining from bragging about it? Why, I bet –" He was cut off by a kiss. When Gaz broke it off, Zim eyed her warily. "What was that for?"

"Did you really spend months on this?"

He glared at her, offended by her knowing smile. "No. I just like to hear the sound of my own voice," he replied sarcastically. "Wait. I do like my voice." He paused for a moment, ignoring Gaz's ill-concealed laughter. "But maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. I'm not going to tell you now."

"You are such an ass!" The purle-haired girl kissed her alien again. "My answer is yes. A thousand times, yes. You moved the stars for me. How could I say no?"