Okay.. I am sorry for my much longer than normal absence, and would like to add that for me this chapter was a complete disappointment. I have the ending all plotted out, you see.. but to reach that ending.. I have the most horrible writer's block. I hope that you all will forgive me for this crappy chapter, I swear that I'm going to make the next one better.

Other than that, I also didn't know that Varda was something from Lord of the Rings.. curses! I'm not going to go back and change it, dammit.. but thank you for letting me know and junk.. damn damn damn.. now I feel cheesy. When I searched for the name on Google all I could find it in was names of scientists.. lol. Also, I would like to let you know that I passed my college placement test! Yay! Thank you to those of you that wished me luck, and also to those who didn't, because you're reading my story! I could just hug you! mmm! I'll also be moving soon, but hopefully I can get this story finished in a timely manner for you all.

Chapter 11 - Dib's dream, and a new dilemma

Zim finally gave in, just so that the Dib wouldn't continue bothering him for the rest of the weekend, even though he knew that that was inevitable. Dib bothered him always, even if he was just sitting there blinking and breathing. Over the next few minutes, Zim told him all about his ingenious plans for saving Dib's pathetic life, and exactly how the antidote would work. When he was finished, he looked at Dib as if he was expecting him to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the sheer amazingness of his plan.

"Well?" He asked expectantly, eyeing the Dib-human with a stern glare.

"That's really going to work?" Dib raised an eyebrow at his nemesis, feeling very doubtful about it.

"Of course it's going to work! Are you questioning my intelligence or something? If it works for the evil, extinct lizard-monsters of Conventia, it will surely work for smelly, disgusting humans!" The alien ranted loudly.

"I question your intelligence every day," Dib retorted with a smirk. Zim chose to ignore his enemy's incredibly idiotic remarks and went to go stare at the container again. Dib's eyes followed the alien across the room, he could see again, for the moment.

The mixture was still fizzing and bubbling like crazy, but that was to be expected. Zim looked up at the monitor that was keeping track of the human's status, trying to make sure Dib's body was still functioning at a fairly normal rate.. it was, save for the gradual increase in toxins and the very slow rising of his temperature.

"Human," he said, trying to hide the concern in his voice and doing quite well. "Tell me.. How are you... feeling?" His insides gave a sort of shudder at the word. Dib gave him a look of disbelief as if to say 'How do you think I'm feeling, dumbass?!'

"Nauseous," the boy stated simply, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He was starting to feel the cold again, and the look of loathing that he normally gave Zim had returned to his face. He took pleasure in the fact that Zim's green skin had paled slightly again. Causing Zim discomfort was.. nice.

"And.. as for your temperature?" Zim started after a moment of further staring at the boy.

"Cold," Dib admitted after a shiver ran through him. He hated fevers.

"No," Zim said, "You are actually warmer than normal. That could be dangerous. What do you require?"

"A blanket," the Dib said, staring at Zim. The cold was driving him crazy.. was Zim's base always this cold? He had goosebumps all over his skin, even his trenchcoat wouldn't keep him warm.

"A blanket? Foolish Dib! I cannot give you a blanket if you have a horrible fever! How on this putrid planet could becoming more warm lower your body temperature?! I must cover you in ice! Ice, I tell you!"

"Are you crazy?! Ice would probably drive me insane!" Dib had pulled his legs in closer, just the thought of ice made him want to run around screaming for some reason.. he was trembling... he really, really wanted a blanket. Zim was grinning at him now, it was creepy.

"Insane?" He repeated, then looked away from the human, apparently staring off into space. Dib blinked at Zim, wondering why the hell the little alien was such a damn psychopath. Zim suddenly looked back at Dib, a manic gleam in his large red eyes, but then even that disappeared quickly. He looked indecisive about something, as if he was trying to decide if he should really cover the Dib in ice or not. He could see the boy shivering.

"Er.. uh.. Enough of your nonsense, piddly little Earth-monkey!" Zim waived his hand at Dib, as if he had been talking the entire time. Dib raised an eyebrow at the now fairly normal looking Zim. Zim glared at him in disgust, muttered something about filth absolutely covering his labs, and then marched out of the room. Dib shook his head and stared at the ceiling. Of all the interesting things he could see in Zim's lab, he just had to be confined here to stare at this one room. It was becoming exceedingly boring.

"I wonder where my camera is.." he said aloud.

"Being dissected by alien hotdogs.." Zim growled as he threw a blanket over the large head of the distracted Dib. Dib pulled it off of his head with a sort of huff of annoyance, and his hair was now sticking up more than ever. Zim took one look at him and couldn't keep a straight face. He snickered aloud, gesturing at the human's strange, pointy hair.

"Yeah, yeah.. whatever," Dib said irritably, then layed down, turning away from Zim and pulling the blanket over his shivering, exhausted body.
Zim had gone back to keeping a close watch on the container, but when the fizzing and bubbling showed no signs of slowing, he looked back over at the human that was pretty much his captive. Zim watched him for a while, marvelling at the stupid primitiveness that was human sleep. Irkens needed no sleep, only the occasional rest after dealing with something particularly exhausting or horribly and strenuously annoying.. a weekend shared with the Dib would definitely cause him to require some rest, and he was looking forward to it.

The Dib was snarling in his sleep again, causing Zim to shake his head.. it sounded like a very quiet chainsaw or something. How could this creature be his horrifying match? On many levels they were equals, except for maybe an evolutionary level.. and Zim couldn't trust the Dib.. he didn't need his friendship either, despite the fact that every now and then the Dib said something that was actually interesting and caused Zim to actually enjoy his presence.

A few hours passed in silence. He could hear GIR giggling in the next room at some commercial or something, and was grateful that the robot was just watching tv instead of destroying something or making a mess. The Dib-human had stopped his snoring and was now mumbling something about his sister turning into an evil witch and was making her flying vampire pigs attack him. Zim stared at him, one of his eyes twitching.

"What nonsense are you speaking of now, Dib?" He demanded, walking over to the tableside. "You are... very strange."

"Help..." Dib mumbled, rolling over onto his back. His brow furrowed and his face was covered in sweat. Zim's antennae flicked forward and he pulled the blanket off of the human.

"Help you with what?" The alien asked him, gingerly poking the boy's stomach. "What's wrong with you, filth-boy? Are you hallucinating?"

"Zim," Dib murmured, his eyes squeezing closed tightly as he flinched in his sleep. "help... evil pigs.." He said. Zim sighed loudly in annoyance, crossing his arms.

"Please, go on," he growled. "This is the least fascinating conversation I've ever had." Dib woke up suddenly with a gasp, to see Zim standing over him with his huge red eyes.

"AHHH!!!" Dib held his arms up as if to fend Zim off. "Where am I? Why are you here? What's going on?" Zim rolled his eyes, though Dib couldn't tell because the alien wasn't wearing his contacts.

"Go back to sleep you horrible worm baby.. I don't know what's more annoying.. your stupid sleep babble or the craziness you speak of when you're awake," he said with a snort. Dib looked up at him in confusion.

"I'm... in your base?"

"Well yeah, where else would you be? You've been here for hours."

Dib looked around the room, feeling even more confused. The last thing he could remember was shutting his computer off before going to bed on Friday night..

"What day is it?" He asked Zim, feeling a sort of terror bubbling up in his stomach. Something important was nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't place it.

"It is still Saturday, stupid Dib-human. Don't worry, we still have more than 24 hours before your horrifying and untimely death."

"Death?" Dib repeated, sounding panic-stricken. What was going on?

"Yes!" Zim snarled, his antennae flattening against the back of his head in sheer irritation. "Hello, Dib.. what have we been trying to prevent for the last.. gah.. more than 12 hours?! Ug.. your stupid human-ness is making my head hurt!"

"You're trying to prevent my death, rather than be the cause of it?" It sounded so strange to Dib.

"Fool! I will be the cause of your death, but not at this present moment," Zim ranted. "What is wrong with you? Have you completely forgotten everything?!"

"You know.. I think I have," Dib said, staring blankly at his sworn enemy. Zim stared back at him in disbelief.

"Ohhh.. for crying out loud, and for the sake of my sanity, just go back to sleep!"