The Battle of Gor
Epic Two
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

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Chapter Eight

Inside the room, the fixer machines looked very similar to large metalic snakes - but instead of heads they had operation devices stuck to their heads. Both sets, which consisted five each, were silent. Inbetween the two was a metalic table, where Cten was. For the operation she had been laid on her front, and she was still like that. Her Pak was now fixed, and there had been some mending to her physical injuries, stitches over her back and so forth. Yeah, she was nude but heck with Irkens who cares really? She lifted her head as she heard Poe's voice, and glanced over her shoulder at him, smiling somewhat.

"Hey Poe…!" He ran up to her and hugged her shoulders tightly, but carefully, as to not dislocate any of her new stitches,

"You're alive!" He said happily, and looked it, too. Cten sat up slightly and hugged him back tightly, and happily as well.

"Glad you noticed!"

"I was so worried, I can't believe you did that, I even had to drag Zim here because your machines needed assistance…" He was speaking fairly quickly, for Poe at least. She just grins, in her usual Cten-ish way as she held onto him,

"I know, I know… Beka told me Zim and Zib was here… I didn't beleive it at first!" Poe sat down on the metal table,

"They're here alright, but they're sleeping right now." He took a breath, "Gor's not a threat anymore, either.."

"I heard…" she smiled up at him, resting her head in her hands. "I'm impressed I must say…" Poe nodded slightly, though he still looked a bit shaken up.

"That was weird…" He murmured, "I never got like that before." He scratched the back of his head.

"Heh, think I triggered something." she grinned somewhat, "What with being the damsal in distress for a little while."

"Heh, maybe," He grinned a bit sheepishly, before smiling, "That was really brave, what you did, Cten…"

"Ya think?" she leaned on one hand, the other one drawing invisible circles on the metal table. "I guess my instincts went ahead of my thinking, for once…"

"I don't think, I know," He insisted, "You almost died for something that was my problem… It was totally selfless," He grinned slightly, "And completely unIrklike."

"I always was the weird one." she muttered, then looked up at him. "I told you before, you're my best friend and what kind of friend, Irken or not, would allow you to get hurt by that thing anyway?" she reached up and tapped him where his nose would be, "Not a very good one, I say." He made a slight face and went crosseyed, then looked back down at her.

"Best one I've ever had," he smiled, and reached up, pulling her claw away from his nose-area and taking it in his hand, "One who I couldn't ever replace." She blushed deeply at this, and just smiled up at him.

"Ditto." Poe just smiled more widely, while Zim was starting to yawn loudly and stretch, scratching his antennae. Poe glanced back towards the room he'd previously been in,

"He's apparently known I've been living with you all this time anyway…"

"Sneaky devil…" she said quietly, "Still… he didn't lecture at all…" Zib was startled awake by Zim's movements, and yawned himself. Poe shook his head,

"Not yet, anyway. He said he didn't have any reason to intrude on your business, but he was being unusually diplomatic.. I guess because of the situation." Zim hefted his offspring up as he stood, noticing Poe gone and the door open, he wandered into the main room. He raised an eyelid at them, noticing Poe holding onto Cten's fingers,

"Mayhaps I should check on your condition later, Solider…" Cten blinked and looked back at Zim, and smiled.

"Nah, you're allowed in Zim." Zib wiggled in Zim's arms,

"Eehhh…" he said, moving around more then he usually did. Zim shifted Zib's weight around in his arms and proceeded forward,

"Nice to see you alive, then. I'd hate to loose my only source of spawn-rearing information!" He said, but the tone of his voice indicated he cared, despite how callous he might sound - he was Zim, afterall.

"I would have missed you too Zim." she grinned at him, while Zib continued to whine and began to thrash his little hands about.

"Ehh, ehhhhh!!" Zim blinked and finally noticed,

"What's the matter with you, Zib?" He scowled, setting the clone upright in his arms.

"He wants down, Zim." Cten replied, even if the question was aimed at Zib, but what could he do to answer anyway? She then smiled at Poe, "Amazing how I understand baby talk." Poe blinked slightly and looked over at Zib,

"I'd say." Zim shrugged and leaned down, showing the floor to Zib,

"Do you really want to crawl around on that? It's cold!"

"Ehh!" Zib waved his hands at the ground eagerly. Either he had enough of Zim holding him, or maybe something was starting to happen.

"Alright!" Zim complied and set Zib down on the ground. Now out of his blanket, Cten couldn't help but smirk since Zib wore a diaper which was probably three times too big for him. But, he gleefully giggled as he was placed on the ground either way. She looked up at Zim,

"Thanks Zim, y'know, for letting us use your Fixer-Machines."

"It's my duty as your superior to make sure nothing happens to you while you're under my command," He stood up, stretching out his arms, which had gotten a bit cramped.

"It means a lot, Zim," Poe added, smiling slightly.

"Bah," Zim huffed and folded his arms. Cten then held her hand out to him, ushering him to come closer.

"C'mere."

"Eh?" Zim stepped forward cautiously. Soon enough he was by the table, she grinned and threw her arms around his middle, pulling him in with a hug - she knew he wouldn't like it, but heck, not every day you die and come back to life because one of your friends allowed your other friend to obtain the life saving machinery.

"Eeeh! Hey!" Zim squirmed, sighing loudly and giving up, hesitantly hugging her back as though it were the most unpleasent task in the world. "Stop being all mushy, you'll be a bad influence on Zib!"

"Hey I'm a girl, I can't help it." she let go of him, and pointed her finger at him. "Be glad I didn't kiss ya." Zib, meanwhile had crawled under the table and was poking at a wire that was from one of the Fixer-Machines. Zim dusted himself off and pulled away,

"Blech!" He said, before noticing Zib had crawled way, "Zib? Get back here!" He crawled under the table, while Poe watched them, chuckling softly. She leant her head on one of her hands and looked up at Poe.

"Gotta love em, eh?" Zib squealed as he saw his Mom coming after him, giggled and crawled away as quickly as he could.

"There's no way around it," Poe grinned a bit, then drew his legs up and scooted to the side, towards Cten, so Zim could crawl after Zib succesfully.

"Geh! Hatchlings who cannot even walk should not be so speedy!" Zim grumbled. Cten scooted over giving Poe some more room, then dared to sit up. She hissed slightly, at the slight pain in her back, but managed either way. Zib then stopped, and blinked a few times. He felt funny, and not the haha funny way either.

"You alright?" Poe hopped off the table, "You shouldn't sit up, Cten, you'll pop your stitches…" Zim managed to catch up to Zib and grabbed him around the middle victoriously,

"HAH! Gotcha!"

"No no… that table was cold…" she replied, making sure not to arch her back. Just as Zim grabbed Zib, the ray effect worn off. In mere seconds, Zib was his normal cloney-size, and being in Zim's arms caused Zim to loose balance, both ending up sprawled out on the floor. Zib blinked blankly as he sat on Zim's chest, and quickly hugged himself because it was cold in the room, and he was pretty much naked, save for his diaper.

"Hey, what happened?" Zib looked down, adjusting his glasses, "Where are my clothes?"

"Ah, welcome back Zib!" Cten smiled at him from her table, still not in the least bit bothered she was still naked, since no one in the room seemed to have noticed - since she had been laid down all the time. Well, Zim was a mature Irken - at least, when it came to this subject. Zim coughed and managed to push Zib off him,

"Off! You heavy clone spawn thing!" Zib fell onto the floor and yelped, then noticed Cten,

"Hi Ms. Cten, you missin your clothes too?" Poe'd been too overwhelmed with happiness to notice, and was starting to, flushing, the floor suddenly becoming very interesting.

"Heh, yeah…" she leant over and pulled from under the table - some space between the table and the bottom of the real table - two blankets and threw one to Zib. "You'll need this as much as I do." she winced as she wrapped hers around herself.

"Hmph, such sillyness as nudeness doesn't bother me!" Zim sniffed. Zib wrapped himself up in the blanket and sat down, slowly remembering what'd happened, though it was slightly fractured, being from a baby's POV and all.

"Well, it's not like it bothers me either," Poe insisted and coughed, leaning his elbows back against the edge of the table and staring at the wall ahead.

"Liar." Cten grinned, then slowly slided off the table. "Eeee… Tallest… stitches hurt…"

"Come Zib!" Zim stood up, "We need to get to the house, so at least half of us can put clothes on, and get warm."

"Alright. Bye, Ms. Cten, Poe!" Zib waved and followed Zim towards the elevator, and Poe blinked, helping Cten off of the table as best as he could and offering support,

"You sure walking around is wise?"

"…now I'm on the ground… no…" she whimpered slightly, the cold floor doing more bad then she thought it would.

"Come on, I'll take you up stairs to the couch." He leaned down slightly and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and thighs and picked her up with as much caution as possible, staring towards the elevator after Zib and Zim.

"…uhm, thanks Poe…" she pulled the blanket up more to her face, trying to at least hide the blush that now consumed her whole face.

"No problem." He grinned over at her slightly, easily brushing aside his shyness as soon as she needed assistance. Zib looked over at them from the elevator, giggling loudly and trying to conceal his mouth with his hand.

"Zib, quiet." Zim said quietly and quickly, pulling Zib aside as Poe entered with Cten. He hit the 'ground floor' button, the door shut and the elevator started up. Zib held his other hand up to his mouth and closed his eyes, trying to stiffle his giggle fit. Poe blushed faintly, but just shifted Cten's weight around carefully. Soon enough, the elevator opened, and he brought her over to the couch. Zim lead Zib away, searching for the Voot Cruiser, usually that was an easy way to get Zib clothes that fitted right.

"Now how many times have I said thanks to you today?" Cten smirked as Poe laid her on the couch, she slid her hands town his arms to hold onto his hands for a while.

"Hey, I owe you, big time." He set her down carefully and sat on the edge of the couch, looking down at her, holding her claws in his.

"Oh come on… I'm not the one who managed to destroy Gor…"

"You saved my life, though." He leaned over and kissed her forehead lightly, "And for that I owe you." She shut her else as he leaned in, then opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling while still blushing fiercely.

"Well... I do my best..." He pulled back slightly, but not all the way into his original position, smiling warmly,

"I know. And that's a lot, for a Reject like me."

"Poe, you're not a Reject... you're so much more to me," she ran one hand up the side of his face, "I just wanted you to know that." Poe closed his eyes halfway and leaned his head against her hand, reaching up and setting his own atop her's,

"You're a lot more than a Maid to me, too."' Cten smiles up at him, comforted by his hand atop of hers. Her other hand went up to the other side of his face,

"No one's ever said that to me before..."

"Heh, you think anyone's ever called me more than a Reject before?" Poe reached down and rest his other hand on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb, "Much less their best friend."

"Guess... guess we're both important to the other, huh?" she smiled, her blush now gone from her face.

"I'd say so." He leaned against her lightly, but was careful not to damage her stitches.

"Poe... listen there's....look I gotta tell you something and, and I know it'll probably ruin what we've got, but..." she sighed and brushed her hand against his face gently, "I can't really not say it now..." Poe tilted his head slightly,

"I'm listening," he said gently. She bit her bottom lip while looking away, then looked up at him.

"Sorry."

"You don't have to say it now, Cten. Whenever you're ready." He said softly, holding her hand to his face.

"No, I'm not sorry for that... I'm sorry for this." with that she leant up and pulled him down and thus did what we been waiting for, we meaning me (I know I suck =P), presses her lips up against his and just kisses him softly.

Poe blinked in surprise, but closed his eyes and leaned into it, sliding his hands beneath her shoulders. Cten held the kiss, while her hands slide up to the back of his neck and shifted her weight slightly. Poe squeezed her slightly, leaning his long antennae forward and wrapping them around her's. She shivers slightly but then in return, her antennae curls around his, one looping just slightly through one of his antennae-rings, still managing to hold the kiss this long. Must be useful not to have lungs, eh?

Apparently, as Poe certainly didn't seem to be resisting, tilting his head to one side and leaning forward further slowly, still managing to be careful about hurting her stitches despite being somewhat preoccupied. Cten let out what could be called a small moany type thing, as she leant her head up to meet his, the pain her back being forgotten at this moment in time, one of her hands running along his shoulder.

Poe leaned down until she no longer had to lean upwards, resting his chest against her's, winding his long antennae around her's a few more times, their unnatural length lending themselves to an interesting experience. Seeing as how Poe, all this time has been sat besides her on the couch, Cten then pulls him down, using one of her clawed feet to pull his feet up onto the couch; so now Poe was kinda laid on her, one of her feet holding onto one of his boots. Her antennae wiggled slightly, giving off the impression she's enjoying this very much.

Poe moved in accordance with her feet, snuggling atop her gently. He made a muffled sound and slid his claws away from her shoulders, up along her neck and to the back of her head, cradling it as he tilted his head in the other direction. Cten let one of her claws run along the back of his head, massaging it gently as she felt his weight atop of her. She made a slight muffle sound in responce to his, smiling against his lips.

Poe started to give off a throaty, humming sound that almost sounded like- a purr? Well, an alien one to be sure, but still. He squeezed his eyes tightly and tightened his grip on her, kissing her with a bit more 'oomph'. A muffled giggle could be heard from Cten as she picked up the sound of Poe's purring, and kissed him back, then her eyes opened slowly as she felt something brushing against her teeth; obviously Poe was using more 'oomph' then before but since she was in the heat of the moment, she parted her lips anyway.

Poe slid his segmented tongue out, lost in the moment as well. He hooked his knees around her's, pressing down against her and squeezing her antennae tightly with his own, one of his hands resting against her side while the other supported her head. Her antennae rubbed up against his, swilring around his long antennae and weaving through a few of his rings. Feeling his tongue slide up against hers, she pushed hers against his, then slightly ran her tongue around his, her grip on his side holding on as she kept rubbing his head, then he hand ran up and circled the base of one of his antennae.

Poe's antennae twitched, and he shivered, parting his sharp teeth slightly and curling his tongue around her's as well. He slid his claws beneath her back and ran up along it, claw tips sliding over the wounded, stitched tissue; this seemed to snap him back into reality, and he blinked his eyes open, swallowing and pulling back from her a bit, needless to say, rather breathless.

"Woah…" Cten had cringed as he had brushed his hands over her stitches, and blinked her eyes open as he pulled away. She stared at him, then smiled warmly.

"…yeah…." she breathed, "Wow." Poe smiled back, removing his hand from her back carefully,

"Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled, staring into her eyes and resting his claws against her cheek again.

"Eh… that's all right…" she laughed slightly, "I was wondering when something would jolt us out of it… not that I'm complaining…" Poe looked a bit dazed as he finally caught his breath, chuckling softly.

"So are you still sorry for it?" Cten shook her head gently,

"Nope… turned out to be one of the better events in my life really… how about you?" her antennae tickled against his as she grinned up at him.

"Same here." He grinned back, showing a few teeth, "Certainly hasn't ruined anything as far as I'm concerned, if anything, just made it better…" He leaned down and nuzzled her cheek softly. Cten smiled as she held onto him around his sholders, one hand held upwards so she could rest it on the back of his neck, caressing it gently.

"Poe… you do not know how much, I mean… how long I've wanted to tell you how I felt…" she sighed happily, nuzzling back against him. "It's just made this whole day complete for me."

"As if taking care of a baby alien-human hybrid, getting a new home-dash-base, and almost getting killed by an evil robot weren't enough?" Poe grinned a bit, then glanced at the ceiling, "I have to admit I kinda had… well, I guess humans call it 'a thing', since the day we met and got our antennae twined up in that tree."

"Really?" she smiled broadly, then giggled slightly. "I've had 'a thing' for you since then too… not just cause of the antennae twined stuff. You just… hrn, how to put it… bring the best out of me. Yeah."

"Really." He grinned widely, "You're the first person I've ever wanted to - or gotten - close to… Probably the only one to see my nicer side, or care to look for it. Rejects don't treat each other any better than most normal Irkens do, usually." She closed her eyes, but still kept the smile on her face.

"Rejects get a bad life yeah… but I think you've gotten to the good stage of your life now, what do you reckon?" she opened one eye and looked at him.

"It's had it's ups and down so far," He stroked his knuckles along her cheek idly, "But I'd say it's definately taken a turn for the better…"

"Well good… my life as a Maid and fake Soilder has hit the high life too." she snuggled against him, hands resting around his midsection.

"Still." He stroked his claws up along the side of her face, up to her antennae, "I would've done the same thing for you too, though."

"I slarkin' well hope so!" she joked, giggling slightly. "No no, it's… well I dunno, is it expected?"

"Expected? Certainly took me by surprise when you did it…"

"Either way… Gor's gone now, and I don't think we've got anything else to worry about… do we?" He shrugged slightly,

"I'm not sure. There's always Dib, but I kinda doubt he's really that much of a threat…"

"He isn't really... except when he throws water..." she then yawned loudly and stretched, careful not to inflict more pain on her back.

"Yeah," Poe made a slight face, "Even that hasn't been so bad, though, since you showed me how to use paste." He grinned slightly, then noticed her yawning, "Tired?"

"Mmm-mm..." she replied sleepily, "I'm gonna rest well tonight, I'll tell you that.." she paused to yawn again, "..much." she then smiled sheepishly up at him. Poe chuckled softly and smiled down at her, before yawning himself, stretching his shoulders,

"A bit worn out myself, I guess fighting an evil robot and running back and forth across the city a few times will do that.." He ran a clawtip down her antennae, stroking it lightly, "Mind if I join you for that good rest?" Poe grinned. She shivered slightly as he ran his finger along her antennae, purring gently.

"Wouldn't mind at all." He wound the tip of her antennae around his finger, rubbing it with his thumb affectionately, before looking around the mess of the room.

"I guess I'll have to clean this up later, Beka seemed busy in the labs below."

"Mmmmm..." she sighed heavily as he continued to manipulate her antennae, then managed to at least glance at the room. "Oh... oh stuff it..." she ran her claws up around his neck affectionately. "I wanna go to bed now." Poe purred lowly, then looked over at the stairs,

"Well, we never did get a chance to see what kind of bedrooms the base-creator concocted.." He slowly, and reluctantly, slid off of her and stood up, probably displacing her blanket in the process and flushing a bit, before wrapping his arms around her shoulders and knees again, "Shall I escort you to your sleeping quarters?" He teased slightly, grinning down at her. Cten laughed slightly as he wrappd his arms around her, she kept her arms around his neck.

"Please do, Mr. Poe sir... I'd be forever in your debt if you did.." she nuzzled against his neck as he lifted her up, not really caring that she was once again naked again. Poe grinned widely,

"It'll be my pleasure, fair lady," he said, sounding like the Noble he might've been in another life, and lifted her off the couch slowly, circumnavigating the mess on the floor and starting up the stairs. She snuggled against him, purring gently as he carried her.

"I love you Poe…" she said gently. Poe stopped mid-stride perked his antennae in slight surprise, that being the first time anyone had said that to him and all. Soon, a warm smile spread across his face, and he nuzzled her forehead,

"I love you too, Cten." He said quietly, 'into' her antennae, and started up the stairs. Cten opened her eyes and looked up at him, she'd been waiting quite a while to say, as well as to hear those words said to her. She leaned into him, fighting the sleep that was pounding at her mind. That could wait of course, for a small while longer. Poe reached the top of the stairs and went to the nearest door and opened it by kicking at it. Inside, the room looked pretty normal, despite the fact it had a shower in the corner of the room.

Poe squeezed her slightly and set her down on the bed as gently as possible, standing up and stetching out his arms. After thinking of something, he took off his gloves and dropped them to the floor, before shrugging off his almost ever-present coat and sitting down on the edge of the bed, yanking off his boots. Rolling onto her side, Cten watches as he kicks his boots off. She smirks slightly,

"Well this has got to be a first... Poe without the jacket..." Poe laughed quietly,

"I usually sleep in it, out of habit.. But I guess there's no reason to now." His boots removed, he slid over to her, wearing only his sleevless uniform shirt and pants - even his collar was gone, now. She nodded slightly in responce, and scooted slightly to the side as he slid besides her.

"Well... you look different already..." she placed one arm over his front, leaning against him as one of her metalic legs pulled the blanket up over them, before it vanished back into her pod. "Still, clothes are nothing anyway.."

"True.." He slid one arm beneath her and around the small of her back, resting his head atop her's slightly, "Good night," He murmured, leaning over for a moment and dimming the lights via a panel near the bed.

"G'night Poe." she shut her eyes as the lights dimmed, keeping her arm around him.

Poe held her gently and snuggled up to her, soon drifting into a restful sleep. Cten wasn't far behind, falling asleep into a totally wanted sleep besides Poe.

[The End]