A/N: This fic is a sequel to 'Adventures In Parenthood', but if you aren't into pregnancy fic, that's okay- the fic pretty much ended with her as a baby, so all you really need to know is that she's a Zadr fankid. (If it doesn't squick you out, though, I encourage you to check it out, I'm pretty proud of it.) I'm tagging this fic as Zadr because that's where Twix came from and she'll be mentioning it, but this fic takes place closer to canon so it's more as a precaution. (I haven't decided if florpus is canon here but I'm leaning on 'yes but happened slightly differently as this is more show-inspired'.)

The cover is by definitely-not-an-alien.

Anyway! I've fussed over this fic a lot and I know there are some high expectations after how absurdly well-viewed AiP got on ao3, so fingers crossed it isn't a complete quality nosedive since it's pretty different. And awaaaaay we go!

Nebula "Twix" Membrane was having a very not good day.

She'd had plenty of not-good days, of course, thankfully many before she was old enough to remember, but this one was certainly up there as she woke up with rope around her arms and torso, trussed up like a hog for slaughter.

Well, that didn't give her much confidence.

Okay, check. Was she alive? Pretty sure, or a close facsimile to it. Were all her limbs attached? Yep, all eight fingers and six toes accounted for.

"I'm going to ask you again." The old couch she was settled on squeaked as she turned to see- her dad. He had glasses too big for his head, and a gun pointed at her face. She squeaked along with the ancient springs as she tried to scoot away and fell flat on her back. What was he- oh. Right. Time travel. She was never touching the Voot's inner mechanics as long as she lived.

Man, those knots were tight.

"Ask me what? I forgot! Because you knocked me out!" Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Don't panic if you're in a bad situation, came a voice that came with the memory of dewy grass under her knees and the scent of sap and dirt. Nothing gets fixed but you might end up dead. It had been delivered while applying gauze to her arms.

Thanks, the future dad that wasn't aiming a weapon at her. You're the best.

It had started simply enough. Combining a warp drive that was already in the Voot to try and jump further into space with the leftover bits of something called a space-time replacement device that Zim had been fiddling with? Well, mechanics weren't her strongest suit, but she'd been toddling around mechanical geniuses since she was born, and besides, the computer helped! Okay, he mostly just made snarky remarks, but he made sure she wasn't going to blow herself up when she slammed the gas to test it when both of her parents were out of the house, and that counted for something, right? Yeah, it did. Besides, it was just how he showed he cared.

Boy, that kickback, though- the roof of the house retracted, and a colorful blossom had erupted, before throwing her directly into it as she scrabbled at the controls. Getting to drive on moon trips was nothing compared to this, with the Voot being thrown back and forth like it was in a blender making Twix puree.

She'd crashed in the backyard of Grandpa's house, eating more dirt than even she was comfortable with, and with a Voot that was twice as on fire as usual after a surprise landing. Luckily, the hose was in the same place as it always was, but unluckily, some parts had been banged up badly enough that they needed to be replaced, and something had bashed the back of her head hard enough to leave a bruise. It was lucky that her overalls were made of something from Grandpa's lab, or they would have probably been ripped up in the crash.

She was grounded. If she couldn't fix this, probably for a month. A whole month! She'd huffed, tried to pull back her hair that had been ripped out of its ponytail, realized that the scrunchie had been snapped at some point, and wondered what else the day had to throw at her.

After heading to the basement for said replacement parts, Twix fumbled in her overalls for her taser at a creak from the stairs, digging herself out from being elbow-deep in a toolbox as the metal inside rattled around.

"What are you and what are you doing here?" The voice was unmistakable as she spat hair out of her mouth, and the flashlight dropped on the stairs created an eerie backlight. It turned out that 'else' was Dad twelve years younger. Wormholes were weird. He was holding a broom. A broom.

Maybe that debris had hit her head harder than she'd thought. She would have laughed if she wasn't busy coughing with whatever the rough approximation of her lungs were. How was it so dusty?

"I can explain, Da-Dib! Dib, definitely Dib."

"Let's hear it, then. And make it good- I have protections against all kinds of paranormal creatures scattered around this lab. And there's a defense system that'll turn you to goop! It's not pretty. At all."

"I was- er…" Dangit, this was going to be difficult to put into words, wasn't it? "Wait, how old are you?" It was May, from the calendar in the corner she'd found and admired the robot on, although that could just have not been touched in a while...

"That's classified information!" He kicked the flashlight so it spun around, setting a foot on top of it so he could get a good look at her face before squinting. "What's with the big goggles?"

"They're prescription!" The answer rolled off her tongue, practiced as anything, but he just let the answer stew in skeptical silence. She tugged at her turtleneck, dirty nails curled into the fabric. "I'm- uh, I'm just a big fan of Professor Membrane?" She flashed a nervous grin.

"Dad has autograph signings pretty often, why not go to one of those? Unless you're a stalker. You wanna see what happened to the last guy that broke in looking for souvenirs? There wasn't much left except for his hair and a big pile of tuna. Don't ask. Hoo boy, that was gross to mop up." He took a step down, sending the flashlight spinning and casting shadows over her again before he flicked the light switch on. "Oh, wow, you look terrible. Are you a zombie? You're pretty eloquent for one."

"No, I'm not a zombie. I get that a lot though, thanks for pointing it out." It really was freaky, how same-y his voice sounded. He must have hit puberty early in the vocal department. Or maybe the clone thing meant that- oh, he was reaching for a gun in a hidden compartment in the wall. It had the ML logo on it and everything.

That was significantly less funny than the broom was.

"Alright, not a zombie. You'd be attacking me if you were anyway. I still need an answer- I'm a good shot, you know! How did you get in?"

"The back door."

"We lock it every night. Double-lock it, actually." With the lights on, she could see him raising an eyebrow.

"I- picked the lock?"

"It's DNA-encoded. You'd have to break the door down. I would have seen that when I walked in." His finger twitched towards the trigger.

"I-" Think, think! "I-"

"What are you, a failed clone of Dad or something? You kind of look like it, just a girl. You are a girl, right?"

"Of course I am!" She huffed, digging around in her pocket. Did she not have it? Her taser was as much a part of her as her antennae were… it better not have fried in the crash. "At least so far..."

"What, you don't know?"

"It's a- heeeeey, weren't we talking about how I got in?" She forced up a grin. Perfect change of subject, yes.

Dib's grip tightened on the gun. "We were. So, how, mystery girl?"

"You won't believe me."

He waved the barrel of the gun, pointing it up at her face.

"Try me."

"I'm a fan of- you? Not him, you, yeah!" He always liked it when he got compliments, although to be fair most of the time hers came from genuine admiration. Nobody else could drop a werewolf the way he could.

"You're not very confident." Dib dropped the barrel of the gun, but only slightly. "So you're definitely lying and definitely just trying to break in, which means you're either from some creature I ticked off or Zim trying-"

"Zim's here? Where?" Twix craned her neck. Maybe he can help, the parts would come from home anyway, wouldn't they, why hadn't she thought of that first? Unfortunately, that was when Dib took a step forward to press the gun against her chest.

"What do you know about him?"

"Oh, lots and lots of things! He's great at-" She froze. Wait. Waitwaitwait.

They used to not get along. How had she- that was what half her bedtime stories were, them trying to kill each other! And- and-

"You were terrible when we met."

Dib grinned, flicking an antenna to Zim's irritated hiss. "You were an alien trying to destroy the world, I had the right. But yeah, I was a dick as a kid. Twix, if you ever find footage of me between the ages of eight and fourteen, burn it."

"He's, er… great at blowing things up?"

"Yeah, he is, but what was with the hesitation- and how do you know him? I would have recognized you if you went to our skool."

She tried to take a step back, but was pinned against a wall. Between a gun and a hard place. Well, this was just peachy. "I know he's… evil? And you're trying to stop him? And I-"

"That still doesn't explain how you got in. Only a Membrane should be able to get through the back door, and I was watching the front." The gun clicked again, and her chest burned- either some kind of preliminary to actually shooting her or her heart pumping itself too hard.

"I am a Membrane!" She slapped a hand to her mouth. Bad, bad bad!

Dib rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a vampire. You're going to need to try harder than that."

"I'm a cousin?" Well, she was stuck with this now. Hopefully, he wouldn't react too badly.

"I don't have any relatives besides Dad."

"I'm from the future!"

A shock ran up her as the gun's energy pulsed through her chest, and then she felt nothing at all.

Which brought her back to now, rope around her arms and a very suspicious Dib-dad watching her every move. "How did you get in? Someone's tried to play that future trick on me before. It isn't working."

"It's not a trick! I really, really am your daughter from the future. I was messing with something and the machine broke and chucked me here, which isn't what I wanted it to do at all. I just wanted to play with the space-time thingie! But now I need parts to fix it, and when I crashed in the backyard I thought 'hey, I'll just get them, Grandpa won't mind' and I could just grab them and go. And then I saw you, but my age. I'm twelve, you know. I'll be thirteen in seven months." She tried to grin again, shifting even as the rope bristled over the fabric. Maybe he wouldn't notice her teeth? Oh, who was she kidding, he noticed everything, but this was a long shot anyway, why not pull out the stops? "Obviously, you were too smart for that."

"We're testing you. I can find out in an instant, and if you're lying to me..." He dropped the barrel of the gun but grabbed her wrist, yanking it up hard enough to make her wince through the rope. "What happened to your fingers?"

"An accident when I was three. Grandpa has some really good healing stuff in the future," she bluffed. He didn't question it, thank goodness, she was starting to sweat even more than she already had been, and that was a lot. She probably needed to start wearing more deodorant, actually…

He grabbed the rope, pulling her up and making her stumble after him as he dragged her over to some chair-like machine. Wow, he was strong for a kid her age! He must do a lot of training on his own- or at least was used to dragging someone or something around. Did he lift weights? No, that was dumb, he would have mentioned that, right? But if he was going around fighting monsters, that had to build up some- something was touching her, something was brushing her wrist that wasn't his sweaty hand. "What are you doing?"

He slid the rope up just enough to settle her wrists on the armrests, then tugged fabric straps tight over them and bent down to do the same to her ankles. "It'll analyze your DNA. I'll set it to check compatibility with mine. If you're really who you say you are, there's nothing to worry about."

"It's not going to shock me or anything, is it? Is it?" Twix tried to turn to see the machine better, but the straps were too strong. "Why do you even have this in the basement?"

"Oh, it's just so Dad can do checkups without having to take us to the doctor. It also diagnoses the flu." Dib started flipping switches, and Twix yelped as the chair began to heat up. Geez, at home they just used a scanner!

"Is it supposed to be burning my butt?"

"Yeah, it does that," Dib muttered, typing something into the console next to the machine. She couldn't see it. It better not be anything to liquefy her organs, she wouldn't put it past Grandpa to have something like that in the basement.

"So, who's your mom, if you're my 'kid'?" He made air quotes in a sarcastic fashion, and she huffed.

"If I told you, that would really ruin the future, wouldn't it?"

"It must be someone close." He stood up, the chair spinning after he left it as he pinched her cheek. "Your skin is terrible, that kind of mutation happens a lot around here. I'm still not discounting- oh, it's done!" He leaned against the chair, but the wheels rolled forward and he scrambled before catching himself on the console proper. "It's what? "

"I told you, I'm not lying! Now, if you can untie me-"

"You really are…" He stared at the screen before a wide grin split his face. "You're actually telling the truth!"

"Why would I keep lying after you tied me up?" She raised one eyebrow. "That would be pretty dumb of- well, maybe not if I got in some weird and worse way, but-"

"Focus! Tell me something." He snapped his fingers three times in a row. "Something only someone from the future would know."

Twix thought for a moment. "You keep hunting the paranormal. I've got good aim because you take me on hunts and you wanted to make sure I didn't blow my head off if I needed to shoot something. Uh… you've got a thing for cocoa shampoo whenever you shower? I borrow it a lot."

He slid the ropes off of her, setting his hands on her shoulders. They were clammy, but the smile on his face was so, so, so achingly familiar, and she could see her reflection in his glasses.

"What did you say your name was?"

"I don't think I- wouldn't that ruin everything? We're back to the mom question, and I don't want to-"

"Give me a nickname then, I'm not just going to call you 'kid' or something, that's weird."

She gnawed on her bottom lip. "Twix." Zim had always told her that was his name for her first, but it was nothing specifically irken… and besides, this was weird enough as it was, being called something wrong would just make it even weirder.

"What, like the candy bar?"

"You don't like it?" She crossed her arms, and he shook his head.

"Well, whatever, it works. Why not?" He narrowed his eyes. "But if I get any hint you're a trick, you're getting tied up again or worse, got it? Zim's pulled tricks like this before and I'm not falling for it again."

"You've got freckles on your upper arms. I bet he doesn't know that, right?" Not yet, anyway. "You've changed shirts in front of me a few times. Three of them make a triangle."

He blinked at her. "Huh?"

"I'm trying to convince you to not tie me up again."

He thought for a moment. "I don't think he knows that? Usually, when he experiments on me he leaves my clothes on…" The grin returned, and he grabbed her wrist, heading for the stairs. "So, you know about Zim- tell me, what happens to him? Dissection? Making him live in a tube? Rewiring his brain so he thinks he's my pet or something? If I've got years, I bet I think of something really good. If you're around, I had to have defeated him! Or he takes over the world and I have an affair while fighting underground as a rebel..."

"I have to keep some secrets." Her fingers curled, the nails that tipped into claws digging into her palms.

"Oh, come on! You're really keeping tight-lipped about my greatest enemy? Or ours- is he still a threat when you're around? You said we worked together as a team- a real sidekick, wow!" He turned back to her as they entered the living room. "I bet if we teamed up we could take him down in this time, right here right now! Is that the kind of time loop that made you possible in the future?"

"I- wouldn't know." Man, he liked the sound of his own voice, even more a decade ago than he did nowadays. He talked a lot now- then? The future wouldn't be then, would it? Not that she'd minded. He almost always had something interesting to say. So did Zim, for that matter. And Tulip. And-

He snapped his fingers again, right in her face. "So is he still a threat or not?"

"He- still bothers you sometimes, but he's not much of a threat." Not a lie. Skirt along the truth and you'll be more believable. It had better be believable, he's staring at you, his eyes seem so much bigger behind his glasses now-

"We can change that, I bet," He sounded the words out slowly as if they'd just occurred to him, then smirked. "You and me, we'll be the best team there ever was! You said that I took you on expeditions, right? You ever shot anything?"

"I helped take down a werewolf and killed a vampire once. It wasn't the same night, obviously, but-"

"Good enough! So how did you get here?"

"I stole the Voot Cruiser, but I need parts to fix it and go back home. I thought you might have them, but-"

"-But they're only in Zim's base, I get it." Dib puffed out his chest. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's breaking into Zim's base. And sometimes he doesn't even catch me! If we put our heads together, we'll be able to get those parts and then stop him once and for all so I can get my dues in the present, and you don't have to worry about him in the future! We'll make a better future for both of us!"

She plastered a matching smile on her face, even as her guts tied into a twisty turny knot.

This was going to be interesting.