Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim

Author's Notes: Update here we are at last! Thanks for reading and please enjoy!

(Back with Dib…)

To say his parents were furious was defiantly the understatement of the year.

"I can't believe you would so something so reckless." Annabel lectured as she serves her family breakfast the next morning.

"I do." Gaz said with a sneer.

"If I've told him once I've told him a thousand times." Professor Membrane says. "My inventions are not toys."

Dib sighed. "I don't see the big deal." He insisted. "I mean it worked out in the end."

"You call getting trapped in an alternate dimension with the enemy working out?" Queen Luna asked.

"What was it like?" Moon cut in. "Was the Irken scary?"

"What?" Dib looked confused. "No…I mean yeah he had his moments but I'm telling you, you guys have him all wrong."

"All Irkens are the same." Moon whined. "All they do is take."

"She's right." Queen Luna said lightly. "Besides even if he is…different it doesn't change what he's done."

"Don't you think I know that?" Dib asked. "I'm just saying that…"

Moon suddenly got up and ran off up the stairs.

"Moon…" Luna gets up and races after her sister.

"Dib just give it a rest." Gaz warned.

"Why?" Dib questioned. "I know I'm right."

Annabel gave her son an apologetic look. "Sweetie a lot of refugees have suffered due to Zim's actions." She tried to explain.

"What do you mean?" Dib asked.

"She means Zim is the one who made the attack on Luna's home world." Gaz said the obvious. "Her father is dead, her mother is unaccounted for, and her people are enslaved because of him!"

Dib was stunned, He looked to Lard Nar, who had been quiet the whole meal. "It's true, Zim was assigned there as an invader. It was the assignment he took before his previous one."

"What was that one?" Dib asked fearfully.

"Zim infuriated a small cell of our rebellion." Richard explained to his grandson. "He destroyed them from the inside out. However…" He paused. "Luckily the Irken never discovered that said cell was a part of a larger force, otherwise the Galactic Alliance might not exist today."

Luna suddenly returned to the table.

"I didn't mean to upset her." Dib told her. "I didn't know."

Luna sighed. "The Irken Zim was never spotted on our planet." She explained. "But word spread that he was the one who lived among us and soled our secrets to the enemy. Moon just misses home…besides there is hope that…our mom is still alive."

"You mean like a prisoner of war?" Dib asked. He looked to his mom, did she know her father was dead. Had they told her?

"Luna's father, was found…dead the night Lard Nar and I recued them." She told him as if reading his mind. "Lard Nar and I…we saw him, but her mother…we still don't know."

Luna nodded. "I didn't see her die…so until I see proof I will continue to hope." She vowed. "Moon doesn't have that kind of strength yet…She is so young."

"You all are." Lard Nar reasoned. "This is not a child's war."

Dib looked thoughtful. "You know Zim kept pointing out my age too." He said. "I think it throws him off balance."

"Could be." Richard said. "Call him a tyrant all you like, but unlike other Irkens I've never heard of him killing an innocent bystander…certainly not a child."

"See he has some morals." Dib pointed out. "We could build on that…yeah." He said sounding more confident.

Lard Nar couldn't help but smile. He remembered when he too had that much faith in his young friend, but that faith had wavered. Not because he wanted it to, but out of fear. He really wanted to believe in Zim, but he also didn't want to get hurt again.

Zim's betrayal had cut him deep and had left more than a physical scar…

Dib finished his plate and got up. "Look I know this is crazy, but after spending some time with him I really think that…" He paused. "This is going to work…it has to."

No one answered him.

Dib sighed. "I'm going to my room." He said as put his plate in the sink.

"Maybe you should talk to him." Annabel insisted to Lard Nar.

"I'm afraid it might be my talking that's drove him to this conclusion." Lard Nar told her.

"I got this." Gaz assured them and got up from the table before making it upstairs.

Dib knew she was coming before she got halfway there. "Let me guess." He said as she appeared in his doorway. "Here to talk some since into me?"

"They're just worried about you." Gaz said the obvious. "Zim really hurt a lot of them. Especially Lard Nar." Gaz sighed. "They just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt!" Dib yelled. "I'm almost 18 Gaz, I'm not a kid anymore! If he was going to kill me He would have done it by now!"

"Dib I'm not talking about him killing you." Gaz said.

"What do you mean?" Dib looked confused. "How else would he hurt me?"

"How about emotionally?" Gaz asked.

Dib gave her a blank stare.

"Oh my god you can be so dense sometimes." Gaz shook her head. "Look Dib, don't take this the wrong way, but the way you are when it comes to him….its…"

It's what?" Dib asked.

"Look all you do is talk about him these days even more than you talk about Miz…" Gaz went on.

"So?" Dib asked he paused, and his eyes widen as the point hits him…hard. "Are you saying I'm developing feelings for Zim?"

"Are you?" Gaz asked.

"What?" Dib stuttered. "Of course, not!" He insisted. "I love Miz!"

"Really?" Gaz asked. "Cause all you've talked about since he got here is Zim. It's like you're obsessed."

"I am not obsessed with Zim!" Dib yelled.

"Dib I'm only telling you what it looks like from our point of view." Gaz said.

"Well you're wrong!" Dib yelled. "You all are."

"Are we?" Gaz asked.

"YES! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD GAZ!" Dib yelled. "I mean that's crazy! Why would I like him?"

"Well you certainly don't hate him like you should." Gaz pointed out.

"He saved my life Gaz." Dib reasoned. "I can't help but want to…I don't know…give something back to him."

"Gratitude can turn into love easily." Gaz lectured. "I think you need to take some time alone." She advised. "Away from both of them to sort out your feelings."

"Gaz I'm not straying from my boyfriend for some alien tyrant." Dib said with confidence.

"I hope not." Gaz said. "But still think on it." She said. "You owe it to yourself to be honest about your feelings. And if there are feelings there you shouldn't keep stringing Miz along, it's not fair to him."

Dib sat on his bed stunned as she walked out of the room.

He suddenly laughed. "Me like Zim that crazy." He thought out loud. "I mean it's not like I do the same things with him as I do with Miz."

Wait…

'I fought the paranormal with both of them.' One-part of him reasoned.

'I find them both mysterious…a puzzle worth solving' another part added.

'They are both scary and yet exciting to me.'

"Okay so there are some similarities." Dib admitted out loud. "But Miz is on a more personal level." He reasoned. "It's not like it's personal with…"

'You tease both of them.' His mind began.

'And they both tease you.'

'You think both of them are strong and independent.'

'They both take your breath away.'

Dib laid down on his bed…utterly dumbfounded. "Oh my god…I do have feelings for him!"

"But I'm with Miz!" He argued with himself. "He's the one I want."

"Is he?"

His phone suddenly vibrated, and his heart skips a beat as he sees it's from Miz.

'Hey you've been quiet.' It read. 'I know you said your parents would probably kill you for yesterday, but I didn't think you were serious.'

Dib couldn't help but laugh. He goes to text him, but stops.

"Gratitude can turn into love easily." He remembered his sister's words. "I think you need to take some time alone away from both of them...to sort out your feelings."

Dib sighed and answered the Text. 'Nah just grounded.' He lied. 'Miss you though.' He pressed send.

And a moment later Miz answered.

'Miss you too, hey maybe one of these days we'll make it past planning for dates and actually go on one.'

Okay, he had to admit, that one hurt.

'Sorry Things didn't go as planned.' He texted back.

'No big, now that I think about it dressing up would have made me feel silly.'

Dib smiled. 'We could have felt silly together.' He texted back, feeling guilty.

'Man, that would have been embarrassing'

Dib laughed. 'I'll see you Monday.' He texted the promise.

'Kay.'

Dib sighed as he tossed his phone aside. "This sucks." He admitted as he face palmed.

'I'm the worse boyfriend ever.'

'Maybe a walk will help me feel better.'

Dib got up and slipped out his window, not even bothering to take his phone. He didn't want to talk to anyone. Besides his sister was right he owed it to Miz to be honest about his feelings; feelings that he was still developing.

'When did I even start crushing on Zim?' He wondered.

'From the beginning.' His brain told him.

And it was true, Dib remembered how his first meeting with Zim took his breath away. How his ruby eyes seemed to consume him. The mystery, the wonder, the sense of adventure; he felt all of that with one glance.

"I can't believe this is happening." He thought out loud. "Could things possible get worse?"

The answer…yes, yes it could.

Dib gasped as a beam of green light engulfed him as a tractor beam from…a floating Killer Whale. "Say what now?" Dib asked only to find himself being pulled inside the beast.

"We did it!" A voice squealed. "We caught the Big Headed Earth Weasel."

Dib looked up to see two ugly almost roach like aliens. "You have got to be kidding me." He said in disbelief.

The teen reached for his phone to call in for back up only to remember he had left it.

"Perfect…" He sighed as the Monsters closed in. "Just perfect…"

-To Be Continued