***

"It's the distance that keeps us safe." – Bryan Adams "Somebody"

***

Everything sure is pretty when you take the time to look at it.

Gaz sat on a rocky ledge, her legs swinging back and forth. Her eyes took in the valley below and the distant remnants of a small town. There wasn't much left of it, growth from plants and trees had grown over the decay effectively. The sun was out and the weather was mild; today was first of many days here in the mountains she could take off her ski jacket. Turning her head to the sun, she let its rays beat down on her face. Exhaling she stretched her arms, dropping them into her lap with a flop. She shivered when a cool breeze wafted across the exposed skin on her arms.

It had been three days since her brother disappeared. Three days of searching, sleepless turns of shift, of calling any allies within the twenty-yard radius for aid. Here had come the fourth day and Dib was still nowhere to be found. By the second she began to lose hope and by the time of the evening of the third had rolled around, Gaz realized there was a very real possibility her brother might be dead. And if he was captured like Spunk suspected, then she could completely erase any hope of seeing him ever again. Alive, at least.

Gaz ran her fingertips up and down her arm, chewing on her bottom lip. Never seeing him again. She didn't like to admit it but this was one reality she refused to accept. Dib was coming back, she insisted. He had to come back because he wouldn't leave her like this. He never had and he never would. Bottom line.

She felt a lump lodge itself in her throat. But what if it was true? What if he was gone forever? What if he was somewhere, hurt and in pain and calling out for her? The lump started to grow and she was afraid to exhale for she knew she would start crying if she did.

A small hand touched her shoulder. Gaz turned her head and managed a small smile. "Hi Spunk."

The little Irken settled beside her. He smiled back at her. "Hello Gaz." She and the alien had grown closer over the past few days. Since having only each other to work with, the bonding part had been inevitable. From the strain in his face, she could see the worry was starting to take its toll on him. "How are you?"

She shrugged.

"Me too." Spunk folded his arms across his tiny chest and hunched. "The weather in these elevations is terrible. Never did we have such temperatures on Irk! Brr!"

Wordlessly Gaz put an arm around him. He obliged her kindness by scooting a little closer. "Better?"

"Yes. Thank you." Spunk studied the human female after many minutes of silence. "Are you all right?"

She nodded and sniffed very delicately.

Spunk didn't need convincing. "No, you're not." He made an inviting motion. Gaz accepted it and embraced the Irken. Spunk was one of very few of his kind to not mind this sort of affectionate physical contact with humans. He was more comfortable assimilating into the human mindset than most. Hugging was one phenomenon he grew to admit to liking very much. Humans touched each other constantly in so many different ways. You had to be careful because any one touch could be misconstrued. Fortunately he was really good at telling each gesture apart from the other and could offer where was appropriate.

Gaz insisted on holding him for a few moments longer than he liked and he gave a little pointed squirm. Taking the hint, she sat back. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Spunk gazed out over the valley. Then he looked at her again. "Listen . . . there's some bad news," he began slowly. "I have to inform you that our friends in the twenty miler have called off the search."

"When?" The woman appeared both surprised and not surprised.

"A little over an hour ago." Pause. "I tried to talk them out of it but . . . they don't think he's alive and they don't want to waste anymore manpower on futility." He gave another longer pause before he added softly, "I think we're going to have to face facts here, Gaz."

She shook her head. No, no she was not.

Spunk took both of her wrists and tugged on them to get her to move around and look at him. She obliged but her eyes stayed in her lap. Letting go, he spoke carefully and gently, "Look at me."

Gradually she did. The Irken's dark red eyes were searching hers, trying to find some sign of understanding. Of course he wouldn't find any.

"Maybe it's for the best," he tried to be gentle. "I understand it may be difficult to accept . . ."

"I'm not giving up on him," she interrupted. "Dib didn't give up on me when I was fighting for my life after being left for dead by that bastard Empire. I owe it to him to keep my vigil. Besides," she steeled, "I don't believe in four days telling me how much hope I ought to have left!"

Spunk nodded. True. Standing, he touched the human's hand and gave it a brief squeeze. Then he was gone.

Gaz watched him go. He's so nice, she thought. Why do I always get stuck with people so much nicer than me? Well, she amended, being mean by nature kind of opens for it. Spunk was one of the less gung-ho members of his species. If he'd been human, she was sure she'd have lost her head over him. Like her brother, Gaz had an unfortunate track record with romantic relationships. She somehow hooked up with ones who she felt were too good for her emotional coldness. The only male in her life she could exist five minutes around without feeling like shit was Dib. Up until just these past few days, she'd thought that was completely pathetic.

Gaz wiped at her eyes. No. At least I had my brother, she thought, and at least he had me. But now . . .

She stood and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Dib!" she yelled out over the valley. "DIIIIB!" Pause. Nothing. Of course nothing. How ridiculous, what was I thinking? "I had to try," she murmured to herself. Looking up into the sky, she sighed. Sure was pretty. No clouds, no haze. Perfect blue.

Wait.

She squinted.

What's that?

"Binoculars," she blurted out loud, tugging down her zipper to her jacket and pulling out a pair. She adjusted them as she pointed heavenward.

Irken ship.

Shit. Empire issue too. What the hell were they doing out here? Gaz set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. Unable to do anything about it, she gave hope they were only passing by. Passing by and . . . doing aeronautical acrobatics?!

"How much have you been drinking, buddy?" she muttered lowering the eye-pieces. Unable to do anything but watch, Gaz followed the craft until it made an imperfect three point landing somewhere down in the valley near a farmer's silo. A few seconds later, a wisp of steam began streaming from it like smoke from a chimney.

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Holy mother of . . . . Gaz almost had a heart attack. Just the satellite phone in her jacket. Still it didn't stop her from taking a deep breath of relief. Clearing her throat, she flipped it out. Taking a brisk tone, she spoke. "Hello, Gaz here."

"Gaz?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah?"

"It's me."

"Me?"

"Me. Your brother."

Her eyes fairly popped out of her head. "DIB?!" Becoming angry and panicked, she laid into him. "Do you have ANY idea how worried we all are? Where the hell are you? I swear, if you say you're hog tied with a three-by-four sized Irken issue blaster at the back of your skinny neck, I'm going to be kicking your ass so hard. . . ."

"Gaz . . ."

". . . you'll wish your brains HAD been blown out! And after I do that . . . !"

"GAZ!"

"What?"

"Shut up."

Being bitched out probably isn't what he needs right now. Gaz took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "Where are you, are you all right?" she asked more quietly and with real concern. Dread held her.

"I'm all right, in a matter of speaking . . . (No, we can't get out yet)," Dib told her, his voice going far away for a bit when he covered the mouthpiece. "Did you just see anything weird a minute ago?"

"I just saw an Empire issue Irken ship make a crash landing down in the valley."

"Is it right next to a farmer's silo?"

"Yeah."

"Is it smoking?"

"Yeah."

"Uh-huh, yeah. That's me."

"You?" Gaz did a double-take. Panicking again, she said, "You're not hurt are you?"

"I just said I wasn't," Dib sounded amused and annoyed at the same time. "I'm calling using this thing's communicator. Lucky for me it operates on all channels radio and satellite phones included. It even gets TV!"

Gaz turned and started back toward the compound. "That's nice, Dib," she replied, disinterested. "I'm headed back to the bunker to get Spunk. I'm going to be bringing a First Aid Kit. We still got the helicopter. After he and I fight over who gets to fly, we'll be down in like five, ten minutes."

"Cool. Hey, um, is Spunk the only one with you still?" There was another background sound, like someone talking. She heard her brother faintly reply, "No, don't take them off . . . Look, when I get off I'll help you."

Gaz chose to ignore it. "Yes."

"Good. Listen, I'm not alone. I've – um – I've got someone with me. I don't want anyone crowding him." Dib sounded awkward. "Oh and Gaz, he's hurt really badly and when you see him, you'll understand why I'm asking you now to curb any violent urges you might and probably will have."

Gaz frowned, replying even as she waved to Spunk to come out from the small hill fort when he happened to look out the window. "Why? Who's with you?"

"Not important. I'm just asking you to do me this favor. Can you?"

Gaz played it off. "Hey, Dib, it's me. I'm around you all the time and I curb my violent urges just fine." She smiled when he laughed. "Should I tell Spunk to control himself?"

Spunk jogged down the hill and waited patiently when Gaz gestured for him to hold on.

"Yeah. He doesn't like who I'm with either." Pause. "Look, I have to go. I'll see you in a few."

Click.

Gaz hung up and stared at the phone and then in the direction of the ship. This was strange. It wasn't normally like Dib to be so secretive and mysterious about anything. Who could he possibly have with him that would inspire rage in both an Irken and herself?

"What's up?" Spunk piped.

"Us. Got the keys to the chopper?"

"Yes. Where are we going?"

"To pick up my brother."

***

Dib placed the communicating device down, commenting under his breath of it, "That is so cool!" Glancing down at the alien sitting at the edge of his lap, he resigned himself to the task. "Okay, what's your problem?"

Wordlessly Zim pointed to his mid-section. "I am in pain."

"I get that. What do you want me to do about it?"

Zim didn't reply although he looked like he really wanted to. Dib read the look and moved. Hitting a switch, he pushed the small craft's door open. Swinging his legs out, he jumped to the ground (more like hopped than jumped) and then turned around. Zim sat on the seat, watching him uncertainly.

Dib held his hands out.

Zim dipped his chin and subtly shook his head.

"C'mon, it's okay."

He shook his head again. The distrust was plain to see this time. Dib lowered his arms and exhaled, trying to hold back his exasperation. "Zim, I can't help you if you don't cooperate with me."

Still nothing.

"Goddammit." Dib picked up Zim up beneath his arms and climbed back down despite the alien's feeble squirming. He wasn't protesting in his usual 'put me down you horrible stink-beast before you suffer my wrath' way thank God. Still the very fact he struggled put a damper on the whole thing.

Dib held the alien at arm's length, controlling the urge to simply let him drop. Holding the tiny creature close to his face, he made sure Zim was listening. "Look, we can do this later. Okay? If this is REALLY what you want to do, we'll do it later. I'm assuming since you told me you're in pain you want me to do something about it." Pause. "Do you want me to do something about it?"

Rather thrown, his enemy gave him a tiny nod.

"Okay then." Setting him down on the ground, he sat beside the alien. Zim's arms were forever wrapped around his stomach and they didn't move when Dib tugged on one of them. "Zim," Dib warned. "I don't have to do this, you know."

Reading that, the alien reluctantly lifted his arms. Leaning back, he watched as Dib carefully pulled back the bandages. "Jesus Christ," he exclaimed. "She blew a hole the size of fucking Idaho in you." Zim craned his head over to look but Dib put his hand to the side of the Irken's face, shielding his eyes.

"Why can't I see?"

Ignoring his question, Dib just shook his head and covered it back up again. "It'll have to do until Gaz brings the kit." He took his hand away from Zim's face. "You need medical attention bad. There's not much I can do here."

The alien seemed to pale. "Gaz?" He tried to crawl away, shaking in fear. Dib felt bad, the alien really looked terrified and for good reason.

Dib reached out and put both hands on his shoulders. "Relax. She won't hurt you."

Zim didn't believe it. His eyes darted around frantically and he started to panic. "Zim will NOT be your captive! I demand to be let go. I promise I won't destroy you anymore just let me gooooo."

When he heard Zim say this, for the first time it came to him differently. It came to him as it hadn't come to him for several years now. If he'd been twelve and hearing this, Dib would have responded with mirth and laughter. But now, strangely, he felt like crying. It meant things had changed so much the enmity between them couldn't be the way it had been before. Looking at the bloody, tiny, helpless, maniac alien he couldn't believe the contempt he had invested so much into him.

Sanity left Zim's eyes as the alien got going. "I WILL NOT BE YOUR PRISONER! Zim can be held by no one! Do you hear me? NOOOOOO ONNNNNE!"

Dib sat back against the ship and brought a hand to his temple. "Shut up," he said tiredly.

"I will not!" Zim flared. "I know this GAME and I will NOT play it!"

"What game?"

"You're tricking me with this . . . . this nice . . . act. . . thing!" Zim sure had an awful lot of energy for someone with a hole in his stomach. "Zim IS NOT falling for it!"

"Zim, get over yourself," Dib shot back. "Look, I'm hurt too and I feel like shit. Believe me, tricking you is the last thing on my mind. I just want to take a good painkiller, find a bed and go to sleep. I don't want to think anymore and I certainly don't want to listen to you cripe."

"I do NOT cripe." Pause. "What is a 'cripe'?"

Oh God . . . Dib started to chuckle and eventually it worked its way up to a laugh. Giving himself up to it, he waved a hand at Zim to indicate he wasn't making fun of him. The alien only squinted an eye at him.

The sound of a helicopter landing nearby alerted them. Full wide fear spread across Zim's face and he moaned. "Nooooo."

Dib got to his feet and picked up the alien again. Anticipating his struggles, Dib pinned his arms to his sides and held him against his body so there was no chance of Zim kicking or scratching.

"Release me! Release me NOW!" he cried weakly. Sounding tired as hell, he continued almost in tears.

"Shhh," Dib told him. "Stop it."

Zim quit trying to get away. "You won't let her hurt me?"

"I won't let her hurt you."

Zim turned his head around and looked at Dib. "You promise?"

The human nodded. Yes, it would make cosmic justice to let Gaz kick the shit out of the alien and under different circumstances he would have been the first to get one in there himself. "I promise. I won't let anyone hurt you."

The alien relaxed and moved around so he sat comfortably in the human's arms. Hesitantly he hooked one arm around Dib's neck and their eyes met. There was a muted hostility but it was an old one. Something new was tempering it, something neither was sure they were ready for. Although each in his own way had accepted what he felt inside, neither was sure how to tell the other.

"Dib?"

Both Zim and Dib broke eye contact and turned to look. While Zim deliberately put his head on Dib's shoulder and closed his eyes, Dib smiled at the woman coming toward them.

"Hey sis."

Gaz gave her brother an awkward half hug, simply going around the alien he was holding. Kissing him on the cheek, she stepped back. Seeing his shoulder, Gaz made a terse sound. "You idiot. How many holes are you going to get blown in you before your head explodes?"

"I don't know, you might have to keep count for me."

Gaz rolled her eyes. "You'll always be a dork." Finally taking notice of her brother's burden, she added, "And is this the someone you insisted I not harm?" Performing a double take she let her eyes really take who this was. "Oh shit…."

Dib took a step back. "Yes."

Instead of screaming at him like he'd feared, Gaz stared at the alien. A whole range of emotions crossed her face. Finally she came to a conclusion. "Is he awake?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. He's just hiding his face."

"Curse you," Zim muttered and lifted his head. Forcing himself to raise his eyes to Gaz, he didn't smile. He flinched and his eyes went wild when she raised her hand toward his face. Tensing, Dib made ready to move fast in case Gaz went back on her word. He knew what she was doing though. He really needn't have asked his sister to not react the way he had. Gaz simply had never held anything against Zim – not then and not now. Perhaps she could see something in the alien Dib couldn't see, and it always seemed she could see this ever since the two had met.

When her fingers touched his face, he shrank back. "Hey," Gaz admonished, "calm down." She pulled away. Turning to her brother, who frowned a little at the meaning of the whole interlude, she said, "Spunk's waiting."

"Cool." He jerked his head at the Irken shuttle behind him. "What about this thing?"

"I'll have Spunk take care of it."

"Oh really?" Dib said slyly. "Seems to me you got Spunk trained good."

Gaz made a phst noise and carefully gave him a kick in the shin although not hard enough to disable him. "Oh shut up. If he minded taking my requests, he'd say something about it. Now are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming. Where we going?"

"Back to the fort unless . . ." Gaz tilted her head at him. "Did things change? It's been unusually quiet since you've been gone."

"How do you mean?"

"Well," she began, "Washington got this strange call from a couple of really tall Irkens. I heard they said some breezy kind of thing like, 'Hey Earth, it's us, we're leaving now sorry for the war, we found another planet, hope there are no hard feelings, bye.'" She shrugged. "The President said it was the weirdest transmission. But ever since then the Empire ships haven't been coming around. Rumor has it the Massive moved out. I don't know much else beyond that: the Net can only tell so much and like only five other people know my satellite phone number."

Zim suddenly made a strangled cry. "NOOOOO!" He made two fists and put them to the sides of his head. "They SAID I had ONE MORE YEAR! They gave me another chance!"

"Apparently not," Dib said dryly. "So is this supposed to be good news?" he asked his sister.

"Don't know." She made an indecisive gesture. "I did hear the Prez is supposed to give a speech from the remains of the Congress building. Transmitting it all over the world too."

"Do we have a TV?"

She grinned at him. "You got that thing don't you?" Suddenly she fell serious and indicated Zim. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Huh? Do with him?"

Gaz stared at him. "Dib, hello. If word gets out Zim's on earth, we're going to have a time keeping him safe. You've got about a planet's worth of humanity and about a thousand or so Irken rebels who would very much like to see him dead."

Zim paled and involuntarily held onto Dib tighter.

Dib blanched. Going back to the craft, he set Zim inside of it and closed the door. He didn't want the alien to hear anything else they would say. "That's right," he continued. "Shit, if we turn him over to the American military and the other countries find out we have him, they're all gonna want to hold some sort of tribunal thing. And you know what the verdict would be in his case."

"Yeah." Gaz looked uncomfortable. "So what do you want to do?"

Dib was troubled. "I don't know." Glancing back at the alien who watched them through the glass with both hands on it, he felt torn. "Part of me says do it and the other part . . ." He looked back at Gaz. "Well, how do you feel?"

She thought. It was a little while before she replied. "The same. I mean, he's hurt so many not to mention what he did to me."

"He did it to me too."

Gaz only shook her head pityingly. Giving a confused start all of a sudden, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait, he tortured you too?"

"Uh, yeah." At the silent question, Dib ran a hand through his spiky hair. "It's-It's complicated. There's a lot you don't know about."

She eyed him. "I hope I get to find out." Gesturing to Zim again, she asked again, "Well?"

Taking her seriously. "I know turning Zim over is the right thing to do, I mean it probably is the right thing to do." He kicked at the ground. "But. . ." he sighed heavily. "Gaz, it's just . . . it's Zim. I know it sounds really selfish but I feel like if anyone ought to decide whether he live or die, it should be me." He colored and part of his mouth went up in a half sheepish smile. "Yeah, but it's probably just the part of me that thinks he's MY alien. I mean, I never told you this, but ever since I "discovered" Zim I felt like he belonged to me." Glancing to the alien again and then back to his sister, "Does that sound weird to you?"

Gaz shook her head. "No." She approached him. "I kind of always got the feeling if Zim died at anyone else's hands, you'd have a real hissy fit."

Dib smiled suddenly. "Yeah. I would. Still . . ." he moved his shoulders up and down. "I can't decide."

After a second, Gaz touched his arm. "Why don't we just go back to the fort? There you can rest and decide what to do then."

He stared at her. "You're leaving this to me?"

She folded her arms. "No. I'm leaving it to BOTH of you." Then she turned on her heel and walked back toward the chopper. After watching her for a minute, Dib went back to the Irken ship to get Zim.

***

A/N: This IS the conclusion, it's just longer than one chapter.