Pre-Teenage Revelations
Epic Eight
Written by Cartman's Girl and Poe

After some time Athra eventually had to go home. The two soon emerged in the living room from what was apparently the broom closet, a happy, relaxed, almost sleepy look on Vist's face. Athra looked pretty sleepy and content as well as she leant against him, her book in her hand. He lead her to the door and she pulled her wig and contacts into place.

"See you later Vist, okay?" she asked quietly, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Mmhmmm," he smiled down at her, a bit stupidly, but hugged her back, tightly enough to lift her off her face and bring her up to level for a goodbye kiss. He eventually let go and waved weakly as she disappeared, staring out the open door for a while before realizing he was without his disguise, shutting it. His eyes closed and he stretched, smiling and strolling up the stairs and into his room.  As soon as he flopped down onto his bed, about to fall into a deep sleep because of his, erm, excercise, the door of his room opened again and there stood Cten. She coughed sharply and loudly.

"Mah?" He wondered sleepily, lifting his head up and looking at her blearily, too tired and out of it to draw the obvious conclusions. She walked into the room, standing besides his bed and folding her arms.

"So, did you have a good time, dear?" He blinked, his antennae drooping slightly, and he glanced to the side,

"About as… um… fun as… studyin' can ever be."

"Vist, you know you're a terrible liar when it comes to lying to me." Cten said, then leant over so she was looking at him now, after turning his head to face her. "I know what you were doing young man and I am not proud of it."

"Wha…" His antennae outright drooped now, and he scrunched up, trying to disappear into his tiger-striped coat, "But… I… how'd you know?" He finally asked in a meek voice.

"You reek or hormones and of Athra." she said, frowning at him while hoding his face in one of her hands. "That's how I know." He turned rather red at that, before a thought crossed his mind and he blinked,

"Oh, man, tha' means Athra's parents are gonna…" He trailed off, wincing.

"Yes, oh man." Cten nodded, letting him go quickly and standing up. "Hopefully she's smart enough to at least shower before her parents return home since they've been out all day."

"They're gonna kill her an' then they're gonna come an' kill me." He dropped his head back onto his pillow and closed his eyes.

"I was wondering… how long have you two been seeing each other?" she tilted her head to the side. "You could have told us, you know that." He blinked, glancing downward,

"I… um… since… since like… middle skool," he admitted in a tiny voice, "We didn't… wanna say anything since so many people'd go ballistic ov'r it…"

"Honey, I wouldn't have gone ballistic over it…" Cten's antennae folded against her head, sitting on his bed and stroked the back of his head. "I want to see you happy, you know that. Athra's a nice girl, more like Zim then I'd like but she makes you happy. But, finding out at a moment like this… well… it will influence people." He seemed to relax slightly when she stroked his head, and he looked up at her,

"I know… We never even… went that far before," He folded his antennae back tightly, wincing again slightly as he said the words, "But I was lookin' for a pen and I found this box that was covered in Irken letters an' I didn't know what it was so I gave it to Athra'n she started laughing…"

"Ah." Cten shut her eyes and shook her head. "I told Poe to put it in our room… no, he said, we do it there most often…" she smirked slightly, looking at him. "Look hon, if Zim and Vishti don't find out, I won't tell your Fa-I mean Poe." she caught herself before she said 'Father', since she knew to Vist, Poe was anything but.

"You won't?" He glanced up at her with the same pleading eyes he'd had when he was a little smeet, "He'd pro'ly kill me 'for Athra's parents could…"

"I never let him hurt you when you were a smeet, I won't let him hurt you when you're this age." she said, smiling genuinly at him and took his hand. "You're my baby Vist, no matter how old you'll get, you're my baby."

"Aw, Mah…" He glanced away, but a smile tugged at his mouth, and he looked back at her, "T-thanks… fer not… blowin' up about it."

"Hey, I was in love once. I still am." Cten smiled at him, patting his hand. "I'm pretty understanding at times you know." He smiled a bit more widely and sat up, hugging her.

"What if.. if they do find out, though?" He glanced up at her. She hugged him back, stroking the back of his head still.

"I won't let them hurt you no matter what, don't worry." Cten replied. Vist glanced around. Athra's earlier words - the ones before any of the, ahem, other stuff had happened - echoed in his mind, and he looked up at her.

"Hey… Mah… um… I was… gonna ask…" He said uneasily, but before he could continue;

"CTEN!!!" roared a terribly angry, tinny voice that could only belong to one Irken from the area of the front of the house, causing him to jump, followed by a loud series of bangs on the door. Cten blinked in surprise at the level of voice Zim had for such a tiny guy, not like she could comment she was just a hair's breth taller then him. She looked to Vist, then stood up.

"You wait here." she said, Vist nodded warily. She made her way down the steps to the front door. Cten paused before opening the door, taking a deep breath. "Self control, self control… okay." then she opened the door, almost to be hit in the face since Zim was still sort of banging on the door. "Dah!" Zim was standing there, steam practically rising from him, his teeth jutting out in a deranged snarl, disguise put on haphazardly.

"WHERE IS THAT WRETCHED LITTLE SON OF YOURS?!" Cten stood her ground, then slowly folded her arms.

"I am not allowing you to go near my son, Zim." she said firmly. Vist winced at the words, having gotten down on the floor and setting one of his antennae against it to listen in downstairs. Her refusal to comply only wound him up further,

"Do you have any idea what he did to my daughter?!" He almost shrieked, flailing his claws in the air.

"Yes, I do have an idea what they did." she replied calmly. "But I'm about to accept it happened, are you ready to accept it?"

"ACCEPT IT?!?!" Zim roared, loud enough to cause Vist to curl his antennae back with a wince. Zim panted, catching his breath, then continued, "How can I accept it?! He's no better than his Father!" Zim growled, making a slicing motion with his hand. Cten's eyes flashed with what is undoubtably anger now. She takes a deep breath, clenching her fists together.

"How… dare you compare my son to that… that…" she trailed off, waving her hands slightly. "Self control…" she muttered to herself. Then she looked at Zim again. "For your information your daughter allowed him to, AND they did it with protection. I'm sure you'd know this if you had asked her."

"HAH! You believe him?! Lies are the only thing that ever come out of that little bas-" Zim was cut off suddenly as a tall shadow that'd appeared behind him lifted him up, and turned him around.

"Go home, Zim." Poe growled quietly, his eyes narrowed at the little former Invader.

"If you can't believe your own daughter Zim, I feel very sorry for you and Athra." Cten said quietly, turning around and heading back into the base. "Very sorry." Zim seemed mildly subdued by Poe's sudden prescence, but he soon started flailing and thrashing around.

"You'd better hope I never see his malformed face around her again!" He hissed, and Poe growled again, more loudly,

"And you'd better hope I never see your face again if you so much as lay a claw on him." Vist had snuck out of his room and was watching the whole thing from between the banister rails on the stairs, watching with rather wide eyed shock as Poe seemed be… well, defending him. Cten was sat on the couch now, eyes closed and just resting against it. It took a lot, and I mean a lot of energy to control the disease some days. Today had started as a good one, but Zim's little 'visit' had almost brought out the worst in her. She cleared her throat, then opened her eyes an glanced up at Vist. Then she smiled faintly, got up from her seat and headed up the stairs leaving the two 'boys' to argue it out. Vist didn't seem to notice as Cten approached, just holding onto the rails and staring between them blankly, but spoke after a little while of watching Poe cool-headly respond to the verbal attacks of the thrashing little Irken,

"Why… why is he defending me, Mah? I… thought he hated me."  Cten had stopped walking and was stood besides him on the stair way, leaning against the hand rail.

"I told you Vist… Poe doesn't hate you. He really does care for you, sure, he hasn't always… but he does care." Vist's eyes glanced downward, then the turned his head to look up at his Mom with a somewhat sad, but curious look on his face,

"What'd… Zim mean by me being like my father?" She looked down at him, then placed her hand onto his head.

"Vist… your Father wasn't the ideal Irken."

"What d'you mean?" He slumped his shoulders slightly, still looking up at her with big eyes. He'd practically been able to see the anger radiating from Cten when Zim suggested it, something he certainly hadn't seen before. Cten sat down now, looking at him.

"I knew you'd ask again… all right. I'm not proud of this, and I never will be." she sighed, before closing her eyes. "While up on Irk after escaping our trails, Poe and I got seperated in the slums of Irk. I was with Zim though, so I wasn't alone. Then, your Father arrived. We had met previously and he was… seductive with his ladies." Vist listened, tuning out the argument going on downstairs somehow.

"You mean he was hittin' on you an' stuff?"

"When we first met, he hit on me in a big way." Cten replied, putting her hands together. "But, finding me alone in that ally way he took things a bit too far… and without my consent." He blinked a few times,

"You mean… he…" He seemed to pale a bit, scrunching up further, "An… then… what happened?" She looked to him, then at Poe who was still arguing with Zim.

"Zim managed to find Poe, he arrived and the two ended up fighting." Cten rested her head against the stair banister, looking at Vist again. Vist seemed to take this all in, his antennae drooping,

"I guess that's why he didn't like me…" He murmured, then blinked and lifted his head, looking somewhat distraught, "Zim thought I did that to Athra?!"

"It sounds like he does." Cten shook her head slowly, "Obviously he didn't talk to her first and just came over here in a blind fury."

"I'd never! I wouln't hurt her or-or make her do anythin'… Cuz… I mean…" He lowered his eyes slightly, hugging his knees up to his chest and murmuring something along the lines of 'love her', something he might not've even ever told Athra herself. Cten reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him gently.

"You love her, huh?" it was hard taking this all in herself, she still felt like it was yesterday Vist had hatched in Zim's voot cruiser and here he was, in love with Athra. He made a slight whining sound, still staring at his toes, but nodded faintly.

"Never tol' her though… I mean… she'd pro'ly think I was a sap're somethin," he mumbled.

"Well she is one tough cookie I'll say that much. But, I think hearing it from you she wouldn't think so." she glanced at Zim who was now leaving, still fuming of course. "If Zim ever lets you near her again. Ugh, deja vu is a scary thing."

"Deja vu?" He looked up curiously. Poe dusted off his hands and closed the door behind him, pulling his wig off and shaking his antennae out.

"When Zib was courting Enid, he did the exact same thing." she replied, then stood up as Poe walked closer.

"Didn't seem to learn anything either," Poe interjected, as he started up the stairs, taking off his contacts, "Zim really ought to get his blood pressure checked." Vist stared up at Poe, not quite sure what to think of the tall Irken anymore.

"Yes well, you reacted almost the same way when you found out about Enid dear, remember?" Cten took the wig from him.

"Well, I was sick," he muttered, not something he was happy to be reminded of, shaking his head, "I don't know what Zim's excuse is."

"He's just an accentric little miser." she replied, then smiled at him. "Thank you Poe."

"Y-yeah…" Vist added, looking up at Poe from behind his folded arms, antennae lowering, "T… thanks." Poe shook his head,

"I'm not going to let him insult anyone in my family or accuse them of things they didn't do. I can't say I'm happy with the fact you lied to me, Vist," He glanced over at the teenage smeet, who flinched slightly,

"We really were gonna study…" Vist murmured in his defense.

"Curiosity killed the cats, Poe. Mr. We-Should-Keep-Such-Things-In-Lab." Cten half smirked, "But what's done is done. And hopefully things won't get too bad around here… again."

"Oh." He scowled slightly, then sighed, "Well, I'm glad you kids at least used protection… Can't exactly say I thought about that my first time."

"Mmm." Cten murmered, since it was she who started the first time all those years back. Vist blinked,

"You din't?"

"I use to be a stupid teenager myself, once," Poe waved his finger, musing, "At least you didn't get drunk and wind up pregnant."

"Poe…" Cten gave him a slight glare at that comment. He shrugged,

"I'm just saying, if I can forgive Enid for that, I'm not going to be mad at you, Vist." Vist seemed to relax visibly at that,

"So you're not gonna kill me?"

"No. If I were you, though, I'd stay out of Zim's line of sight for a while."

"For a long while. Or, until Athra comes over and he allows her to." Cten sighed, "Come on Vist, you gotta shower at least. You still smell of hormones." she grinned, waving at him as if to waft the air away. Vist flinched, his cheeks flushing rather badly, but he nodded and stood up, heading towards the bathroom. Poe watched him go and sighed, leaning against the banister. Cten watched him go, folding her arms after placing Poe's wig on her head.

"Time flies too quickly."

"Yeah," he agreed half-heartedly, but seemed a bit distant, "At least Vist isn't acting how he use to…"

"He was very surprised you were defending him… plus now… he knows who his Father was." she said gently, curling one of the black bangs around her finger. Poe tilted his head up from its hanging position to look at her,

"You told him?"

"He asked." Cten replied, looking at her feet. "Zim said how he was like his Father… so I had to tell him."

"Oh." He frowned slightly, then walked over to her and stood beside her, "I'm glad that he's gotten a more like you as he gets older… For a while there I was worried."

"So was I Poe, so was I." she nodded slowly, then glanced up at him. "That's why I loved him as much as I did, knowing he was Snab's made me think if he didn't have love or anything like that when he was younger, he'd have turned out very badly…" she glanced up at the top of the stair case, "But, I know he's right." Poe nodded, glancing to the side and looking somewhat sad.

"For a while there was rather bad…" He murmured to himself; he never had told her about the probably circumstances behind the death of their egg. He sighed, "I wish I could get rid of the wedge that's between me and him… but I know that isn't happening."

"It will happen Poe… I know it will. Maybe it's just my hopeful thinking, but it's all I've got." Cten slowly leant against him, wraping her arms around his middle. "But I think things will start easing up around here at least.."

"Maybe," he said, though he didn't seem that convinced. "I'm just not sure we'll ever be able to get along that well. But… hopefully you're right on both points." He shook his head, "Though the only thing that kept Zim from throwing a big stink the last time his offspring and ours were intermingling was due to the fact we were arrested."

"Well, we're here now… and hopefully now we can talk it out. I just hope Athra will survive the tongue lashing she'll be getting from Vishti and Zim." Cten let him go and pulled the wig off, her antennae freeing themselves. "Let's hope." He winced slightly,

"Can't say I envy her…" He put his arm around her shoulders, "Though at the very least, Zim's general attitude has impoved greatly since Vishti came along."

"U-huh." she nodded solemly. "If Vist can't see her, he might regress back into his angry self. And I don't want that." He nodded,

"Maybe Vishti can talk some sense into Zim… she seems somewhat more reasonable than he does."

"Let's hope she talks to Athra before Zim does." Cten replied. "For Athra's sake."

[Almost done with this segment, don't worry]