Breaking the Disease
Epic Six
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

~*~

Chapter Three

Down in the containment room, Poe was leaning against the wall on top of his makeshift bed, fresh blood splattering him from his recent meal.. However, he still looked thin, tired and exhausted, both mentally and physically, and he look like he just woke up himself; but whether it was that or just his downtrodden condition was hard to say. Then the door leading to the examinator's room slid open, and Cten stepped in. She looked over at Poe, then closed the door behind her and made her way slowly across to the invisible deviding door. Staring at him for a while, then slowly smiles at him. Poe's antennae raised when he heard the door open, and he seemed to perk up when he saw her, standing and wandering over to the window, pressing his hands against it and grinning back at her, in a manner not dissimilar to how he smiled at her in the dream.

"Hi Poe." she grinned slightly, and then turned and started walking to the door which lead to his room. "Well… I'm taking your advice, okay? Okay…" Cten took a deep breath before placing her palm onto the door's lock - the only way to really open the door from inside and out - and then she walked into the room and closed it behind her. Yes, she was somewhat afraid but not as much as she thought she'd be. Poe blinked in surprise, watching her curiously, his antennae raising further when she opened the door.

They nearly shot straight up when he recognized her scent, and he suddenly transversed the room in a matter of seconds, leaping at her suddenly. Cten looked surprised yes, but knowing being defensive wouldn't help at all so she just let him do whatever he wanted. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as they collided, probably knocking her over - but then he began nuzzling the side of her head happily, like an overgrown kitten. The two now on the ground, she smiled slightly as he nuzzled her head. So, she nuzzled back closing her eyes and slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

He was also purring like a lawnmower, probably louder than she'd ever heard. He rolled onto his side, taking her with him, and once he'd finished nuzzling he started, er, grooming her apparenrtly, nibbling on the nearest antennae. Cten opened her eyes and watched him quietly as his eyes were fixed on her antennae, nibbling as if her antennae were some dainty morsal. She smiled either way, then lifted her hand up and delicately stroked his antennae with a claw tip.

He stopped suddenly, wincing severely when she touched his antennae - the piercings that'd been there had been ripped out earlier, leaving the antennae ragged. Poe held onto her anyway though, letting her stroke his antennae if that's what she wanted to do. She looked up at his antennae, then at his face. He had scratches from when he used to flail his arms around trying to get out of the confinement area, and possibly when he was making his bed. Cten then ran her hand down the side of his face, careful not to touch any cuts or bruises. Last thing she wanted was to cause him more pain as he was already in some.

He looked pretty bad, but he smiled down at her anyway, an actual, normal smile instead of a snarl or a feral grin. The blood staining him probably didn't help, making him a mess. She looked at him in concern, then smiled at him as she took his face into her hands.

"You know what you need, Poe?" even if she knew it wasn't really worth talking, she couldn't help but do it since she knew he was there. "You need a bath, you're beginning to smell a bit." Poe blinked at her in confusion, probably not understanding what a bath was right now, but he was complacent enough. There was a very utilitarian cleaning-gel stall in the corner of the room, really just a facuet and a drain on the floor, so prisoners could keep themselves decent, but obviously he hadn't made use of it. She was surprised it hadn't been ripped out by him, but glancing at it she saw claw marks so obviously he had attempted. The base must have been more secure then she origoinally thought, then she sat up slightly, now kneeling besides him.

"Okay Poe, I'm going to give you a wash." then getting to her feet, Cten held her hand out to him. "Can you take my hand?" Poe sat up, looking at her hand, then reached out and took it gingerly, slowly standing up. He was rather sore, not only from exerting himself but from sleeping on a concrete floor, and ended up leaning on her. She managed to hold him up, hands by his side.

"I just hope you don't get upset by it..." Cten said quietly as she walked him to the stall, and let him sit down on the ground underneath the faucet, near the drain. He sat down, still looking somewhat lost, probably in a mindset much like a hatchling's right now anyway. He looked up at the determined faucet and glared at it, then over at Cten, waiting to see what she was going to do.

"Now it's all right..." she slowly turned the faucet, but turned it off quickly before a lot poured out and got some on her hands, and knelt down besides him on one knee holding the gel out to him. "See? This is going to clean you, it's not going to hurt." He jumped slightly when the faucet came to life, then relaxed and reached an antennae over to inspect the gel, turning his head slightly. He seemed to understand, or at least trusted her. She smiled, putting the gel on her hand onto his own to give him at least a feeling of it. Poe squished it with his claws experimentally, making a slight face at the gel, looking up at her with a "What do I do now?" look.

"This." she took his hands into hers, then lifted them to his face. He shut his eyes through instinct and she manuvered his hands over his face slowly, the gel doing it's work already and just in this small quantity some of the blood stains slowly dissolved. He squirmed slightly since it was cold, but slowly relaxed, seeming to enjoy the attention and in an usually docile mood. His tightly closed eyes became more relaxed, and his purring started up again.

"Ready for some more of it? I'll just let you have as much as you need." she stood up again, turning the faucet on - still not on full blast. The gel leaked down, some onto her hands. She then moved it to his back gently, not really caring her clothes were now getting drenched and clingy due to the gel which fell onto her.

He flinched slightly, the old scars on his back around his pod having a few new ones among them. Having gotten the idea, he started scrubbing at his shoulder, but he did it rather roughly. Cten turned the faucet off, looking down at him. She shrugged and knelt down, and started rubbing his other shoulder gently. He flicked at some of the gops of gel sticking to him, but otherwised remained cooperative, smiling widely. As the blood and grime was washed away, it could be seen that, while he was still thin, he was starting to fill out - not back into the shape he'd been when they'd first been arrested, though, the lack of food combined with the exercise he'd gotten from the various 'adventures' having given him back his youthful physique, though the scarring made him look older. Cten by now was rubbing at his side gently, knowing how before he used to be ticklish she had to be careful. Her gaze wandered over him, before she looked back down at the ground and blushing madly. She had no idea why she did that, this was her mate after all and she was kinda allowed to look at him like that. But at a time like this, it didn't seem all that right. She then sat up and started to scrub at one of his arms, and started humming nonchantly.

Poe held out his arm, blissfully unaware of her blush, pushing the gel around his chest with his free arm, but mostly seeming amused by it instead of making a concentrated effort to clean. He squirmed now and then, stifling a few almost giggles, he reached out and smooshed some of the goop onto her shirt in 'revenge', thinking this some sort of game now. She blinked, looking down at her mostly already drenched shirt. Then lifted her gaze at him and grinned, and picked up a hand full of gel and smooshed it at his chest in 'revenge', which didn't count as much since he was already partly smothered in the gel.

He looked surprised anyway, then huffed and started tugging on her shirt so he might attack her with the gel more properly, his free hand squishing some onto her neck. Cten stared at him, noting the playful glint in his eye kinda sparking something with her. It'd been ages since she had enjoyed herself, so she shrugged and pulled her gloves off and threw them aside then doing the same with her shirt and boots. He grinned mischeviously and turned to face her, scooping some of the gel off of himself and smearing it up her chest with both hands. She laughed and playfully hit his hands, picking up some more goop and smearing it over his head.

He shook his head, sending some of the goo flying, and wrapped his arms around her lower sides, tugging her down off her feet and into his lap, grinning toothily down at her. Cten grinned back at him, then leant up and nuzzled his head with her own, smearing hers in more of the gel. He nuzzled the base of her antennae, smearing the goo up along the contours of her sides, and it was hard to tell if he was still being playful or something a bit less, er, innocent. She hugged him gently around the shoulders, smiling contently since she'd been waiting to feel him hold her. Better yet, flesh against flesh in this circumstance - even if it started in good fun.

He held her tightly and started grooming her antennae again, closing his eyes and one of his hands wandering up her back, the tips of his claws trailing through the goo. Cten sighed as she ran one hand up the back of his head, then traced it along the base of one of his antennae. She couldn't help but shiver slightly feeling her antennae being groomed again. He arched his antennae slightly, which weren't so pained now, the tips creeping forward to wind around her antennae weakly while he bit at the 'joint' of her antennae, tugging slightly and making a playful "Rrr!" sound. Her hand now ran some of her claw tips up the base of his antennae, now purring herself now. As his antennae wound around hers, her own antennae wrapped gently around his as not to touch where his rings had been situated. He curled his tongue around the joint instead now, arching his shoulders slightly and leaning forward against her, one arm wrapped around the small of her back while the other held her shoulders.

Cten could't help but make a slight groany sound as his tongue wrapped around her antennae joing. Her hand on his shoulder tightened somewhat, since it seemed since he had began nibbling her antennae her skin and senses had suddenly became highly sensitive. Feeling him lean against her, she pressed herself back against him, her hand still rubbing the base of his antennae. He held her and leaned forward until they were horizontal again, and he purred around a mouthfull of antennae, his current condition seemingly have restored his teenage body, but, er, some of the hormones as well. Seemed to reawaken Cten's as well, since she hadn't seemed right about being in this situation since her encounter with Snab. But, seeing as she was with Poe, and her feelings for him had remained in tact this long. She tilted her head against his, her antennae becoming limp in his mouth, now similar to limp noodles really.

He ran them through his teeth, purr-growling and snuggling on top of her, the hand at her lower back wandering down and tugging on the waist of her pants experimentally to see if they'd meet the same fate as her shirt and gloves. She opened her eyes slightly, looking down at his hand tugging at her pants. The sensation what with starting up things that are best left to be completed, then left undone, Cten ran a hand down past his and pulled her pants down, and off. Then the same hand, as the other one was still massaging his antennae, ran along the waist of his shredded pants, her eyes closing as she moaned again. There wasn't much left to his own pants, but he managed to slide his leg out, kicking them off. And.. well, instinct took over.

After, ahem, some time, Poe was resting on top of her comfortably, half-asleep since he had exerted himself considerably. (What with this being the first in a long time and being in a bestial state of mind anyway _; ) He still held her warmly, purring in contentment quietly, the only indication he wasn't asleep. Cten had her eyes shut gently, but she was still awake since she was stroking the back of his head with one of her hands, the other resting over the small of his back. She sighed happily, then leant up and placed a small kiss on his cheek. He made low, murmuring rumble sound, leaning down to nuzzle her lips. He adjusted his weight on top of her and rolled to the side, wincing slightly when he was against the cold, and now wet from the cleaning gel concrete, turning her as well, again. She turned her head to face him, opening her eyes now. Then, rolling onto her side she snuggled against him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"I love you Poe, don't ever forget that.." she said gently, nuzzling his chest. He looked down at her, smiling, then a look of concentration crossed his face as he began making a soft hissing sound, not for the sake of hissing, but maybe.. to say something? She looked up at him with a concerned look, then reached up and held his face with one of her hands. He lowered his head slightly,

"Sssss.. sssc.. C.. ten?" He blinked as he finally managed to say her name, having to make a concentrated effort to remember how to speak. Cten's antennae perked suddenly, and she smiled broadly.

"Oh Poe!" she said, then held him tightly, "Thank you.. thank you so much..." she murmered. He smiled warmly, then took a deep breath and tried again,

"I… I l… lo-ove… y-you… too." He took another breath, blinking and surfacing from his concentration. She looked up at him, and placed her hands on his shoulders then leant up and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I knew you'd get better…" she whispered. He smiled and kissed her back, before reaching up to hold his head.

"It's… It's still… It's not… gone… yet…" He looked somewhat.. shamed, maybe?

"I know…" she said quietly, "But I'm not giving up on you.. I'll help you as much as I can." one of her hands brushed at the corner of his mouth, "If I could, I'd stay with you in here as long as I wanted.." He reached up and took her hand gently, holding it against his cheek and leaning into it.

"It's al… alright, I… I under…stand."

"Might have to leave when.. well, when he wakes up I guess..." she glanced upwards, then looked back at Poe. "I'll spend as much time as I can with you, I feel more at home here."

"Perss.. personally.. I'd prefer a bed." He grinned slightly, but he looked tired.

"I'll get a bed in here for you... but I don't want to leave." she glanced down at his chest, "But you need your bed." Poe shook his head slighly, then rolled over again, this time rendering her on top.

"Nah… right… now… I'd rather… be one." He was still smiling, and the 'light' that'd been missing from his eyes for so long seemed to be returning.

"Oh you." she smirked, resting her head against him and shut her eyes. "So… do you want to know what's happening in the outside world or should you wait?" Poe nodded slowly.

"Well.. Right now.. I can think more clearly.. Not sure how long I'll be like this." He looked somewhat sad, then shook his head. "I can't remember much.."

"Well... Enid's moved out, to make things easier for me.." Cten said gently, then sighed. "I miss her a lot... but it is easier."

"With.. Zib?" He guessed, folding one arm behind his head, setting his other hand on her back.

"Yes." she replied quietly.

"So…" He seemed oddly complacent with the idea, maybe he'd finally resigned to the fact his daughter's grown up, "Are we… granparents… yet?"

"We are." Cten looked at him, "To one Ivy, and Ragde."

"Ivy and Ragde.." He echoed, tilting his head. "So.. what do they.. look like?"

"Well… Ivy looks a bit like Zib, his eyes and what not... though she seems to be your bad side and Zim mixed together." she smiled slightly, "While Ragde looks a bit like Enid, but he's got Zib's eye sight problem." Cten glanced upwards at the ceiling. "Vist didn't seem to like either…"

"Can't wait to see them…" He said softly, then seemed to remember something in the back of his mind, "If… Enid's not scared of me now… that is…"

"I don't think she is." Cten said, "She loves you too much to be afraid of you..." Poe smiled, stroking Cten's side.

"And.. Vist.. why doesn't he like them?"

"I don't know.. he just, doesn't seem to get along with anyone. He thinks everyone hates him." Cten's antennae drooped slightly, "It gets harder to deal with him.."

"I know… my behaviour… can't have helped that…" He sighed. "It's hard for me to… accept him… because of what he reminds me of… I'm not mad at him… I'm mad at… myself. But…" He glanced upwards as well, "Maybe I can… at least try to be a Father to him… to fix things."

"Only when you're better." she said gently, "Only then."

"I know." He folded his antennae back and held his head with the arm that was convienent, "I can't… stand this… thing… I'm glad I don't remember much about.. how I acted…"

"And I'm not going to remind you either." Cten said sternly. Poe nodded sadly, sighing.

"I just hope it wasn't.. too bad.. I don't want anyone to think.. that's all I am anymore." It had been so long since they'd last seen him, for most of them at least, it might give them the idea that he'd changed while they were gone.

"I'll tell them myself you're not like that anymore.."she traced her finger over his chest. "Then it'll show them I was right.." He smiled broadly and reached up to stroke her antennae lovingly.

"Thank you, Cten.." He said quietly, "For not.. giving up on me."

"How could I ever give up on you?" she grinned, kissing his cheek. "My love's too great for that."

"I guess this makes it.. twice.. you've saved me." He smiled gently, and curled her antennae tip around his finger.

"Yeah.. once from Gor, once from the disease and what others think of you." Cten nuzzled his cheek, closing her eyes.

"I guess I owe you, huh?" He removed his arm from his own head and cradled her's against his cheek and neck.

"You don't owe me anything," she replied, "I'm in heaven now."

"Glad to hear." He said quietly, closing his eyes partly and resting his head on her's.  Cten sighed heavily and started to fall asleep since their, uhrm, pervious activities were one for causing one to become exhausted. Poe started to drift as well, calm and content for the first time in months. Unfortunately, a faint crying sound started to sound from upstairs, followed by a crash. Cten blinked, then sat up.

"...what was that crash?" Poe looked up as well, shrugging,

"Maybe.. you'd better go see." There was a touch of sadness in his voice.

"I'll come back when things are okay up there." she said quietly, then kissed him quickly on the lips before standing up and started to pull her clothing back on. Poe smiled and stood slowly, stretching out and yawning.

"Take your time… I'm not going anywhere." He glanced around the room.

"Well later, expect the computer to make a bed for you." she pulled her boots on, gave him one more kiss before leaving the room. He kissed her back, before reluctantly stepping back and watching her go, looking over at his own clothes.

"Oh well." He wandered over and sat down on his 'nest', apparently uninhibited enough to not mind being in the buff.

Upstairs, Vist was wailing, sprawled out by a toppled end-table by the couch, a lamp shattered nearby. Cten ran up the stairs and into the room, her eyes widening in slight shock.

"Vist? What… what happened?" she hurried up to her son and picked him up quickly, "Oh honey…" she soothed his antennae back, sitting down on the couch and glancing at the shattered lamp as Beka entered. Vist clung to her tightly, sobbing pitifully,

"I woke up an you were gone an I tried to get down but it was kinda far so I tried to get on the table first and.." Well, you get the idea.

"Oh Vist.." she kissed his forehead. "I'm so sorry... Beka? Could you please..?" she glanced at the robot, who saluted and pulled a dustbin and handle out of her head and started cleaning up the mess. He suddenly leaned back, apparently forgetting his sobbing, making a face,

"Why're you all wet, Momma?"

"Huh?" she glanced down at herself, and yup. Still kinda wet. "Oh... well, I was down with Poe and since he was dirty I had to give him a wash." Beka glanced at Cten, before continuing her cleaning.

"Oh." He fidgetted around, but seemed to relax against Cten, holding out his arm and noticing he had a tiny cut on it from the lamp. At the sight of this, he started wailing again. Cten looked down at his arm,

"Oh Vist..." she sat him on the couch and held out his hand, as he pak opened and a little Irken anti-sceptic napkin thing came out. "Now this may hurt a bit, okay?" He made a whimpering sound and nodded, biting his lip and pulling back his sleeve to see the full extent of damage.. A tiny cut, hardly visible, but now that he'd seen it it hurt.

"Okay." she dapped the small cut with the cloth. Even if it was small, Cten, like Zim was kinda hung up on germs and infections. Just hardly shown it, until someone got hurt. Vist yelped and cringed, but was determined to not be a cry baby, though he did cling to Cten with his free arm much tigher, digging his sharp little hatchling claws in. She frowned, then pulled out an adhesive medical strip, or bandaid, and stuck it over his cut.

"There." Vist's eyes opened a bit, and he blinked them open, looking at the bandaid. He let his sleeve fall back down over his arm and hugged her tightly, a few of his teeth jutting out as he grinned. "There, you all better now?" she smiled as she hugged him back.

"Yeah," he snuggled up to her, curling up his antennae happily.

"That's good." Cten looked down at Beka who now up righted the table and pulled a fresh lamp out of her head. "Beka, if you could just contact Zib and let him know that Poe's made some recovery I'd appreciate it."

"Yes Ma'am!" Beka saluted. Vist set his head on Cten's shoulder and held to her. Meanwhile, back at their base, Zib had his head on his palm, and Ivy on his head, tugging at his hair-scythes and trying to 'steer' him, though it was clear he wasn't leaving his seat. His communicator, still damaged, jumped out of his pod suddenly, and he quickly yanked it down before Ivy could finish what she started,

"Oh, um, hey Beka, has something happened?"

"Sir Zib, Ma'am just informed me to alert you to the fact that Sir Poe has made some recovery." Beka glanced up at the Ivy, who was now reaching towards the communicator.

"He has?" He looked surprised, "That's good, uh… What's he doing? Being more docile, trying to communicate, or what?" Beka glanced off screen, then looked back to Zib.

"He can now talk, and seems to have calmed down a little. Ma'am was even in the room with him, actually with him and managed to… ehrm, bathe him." if a robot could blush, Beka would now.

"She did what?!" Zib said with a start, Ivy nearly falling off his head, "She could've been killed! He could've bitten her and gave her the disease!"

"Well, he didn't." Beka shrugged in responce. "If you like, you could come over. Though Ma'am isn't sure if he's up for any visitors."

"I'll ask Enid, I'm sure he'd want to see her at least." He still looked a bit unsure, then looked offscreen, "Where'd she go anyway.. Enid?" He called out, standing up and giving Ivy a chance to try and comedeer him once again.

"Yeah?" Enid leaned into the room from another, Ragde in her arms and he had a light grey shirt on now.

"Beka says Poe's doing much better.. You wanna go see him?"

"...sure, I guess." she replied, in one of her hands some pants. Obviously she was looking through her old smeet clothing to find something to fit the two. He frowned slightly,

"Are you sure? You don't seem too enthused.." He plucked Ivy off of his head, causing her to let loose a viscious scowl upon the room, and wandered over to Enid, "Oof.. I think she's big enough that she'll actually fit into your old clothes…" The shirt was big enough on Radge to double as PJ's.

"Well, is she really sure I mean… I don't want what happened last time to happen again." obviously the last time she saw her Father had left a dent in her relationship with him, even if Zib had explained it was a disease and not really him. Ragde clung to his Mother as Ivy approached, she knelt down and picked Ivy up in a free hand. "So Ivy dear, what colour do you prefer?" Ivy grinned evilly at her brother, then looked up at her Mother. She glanced into the collection of shirts, and reached forward without much reguard for gravity, pulling out something black and silver. Zib nodded slowly and put his hand on her shoulder, "Well, she has known him longer than we have.."

"I know that." Enid set Radge down on the table and put the shirt onto Ivy. "But something like that… just, I'm sorry but it just hurt."

"I can understand, I haven't had the smoothest relationship with my Dad, either." The arm on her shoulder moved to her waist, "But I know you miss him.." Ivy, despite having picked out the shirt herself squirmed when it was put on her.

"I do." Enid looked Ivy over, then held her in her arms despite her daughter's squirming. "But when I go down there, if I go down to see him I want to be alone."

"I understand, I can't imagine him being too keen on seeing me, disease or not." He smiled slightly, but he was kind of hurt by the fact his, er, father-in-law would probably never accept him or forgive him. Ivy scowled when Enid proved to be stronger than Zib, and reluctantly cooperated, looking down at the shirt critically once it was in place. Radge smiled at his sister, then looked into the box of clothes and tilted his head at the array of colours in the box.

"He'll have to forgive you sooner or later..." she sighed sadly. "I have to see him and talk to him, if he can talk it means he can understand me." Zib nodded, rubbing her shoulder unconciously.

"I think I should question Cten before you're down there alone with him, though. His improvement could be a lapse, afterall." Ivy stuck her tongue out at her brother and started kicking her feet back and forth in boredom.

"Okay, okay." Enid then picked Radge up and held him across from his sister. "We'll go over and see if he is making progress." Zib picked up Ivy, who seemed oddly complacent to let him carry her. (I'm thinking she might be a daddy's girl like Enid was. @_@) They set off for Cten's base once more.. good thing it was close.

[To be continued]