sorry if you had trouble finding this story after i went and changed the title. but life isn't fair. so deal with it. (notice that's like my catch phrase?).

okay, i hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it. yeh, i think less dialogue would be better... i dunno, sometime you just get carried away with conversations, you know what i mean?

and even if you don't, you'll probably still like this chapter. :)

oh, and here's another deviant art thingy i thought you might enjoy (i sure did...):

http/ You Ever Needed To Know

Chapter Five

(still) Dib's POV

"Morning Gaz."

My sister glares at me for a moment before turning her attention back to her video game. "Whatever."

"Gaz, can I ask you something?"

Gaz groans but pauses her game to look up at me. "What is it?"

I should be used to it by now, but I'm not. I can understand how she might be annoyed by me. But does she have to be so hateful about it?

"Zim's an alien."

"I know that. So what? You got another stupid plan to expose him?"

I bite my lip, hard, until I can nearly taste blood.

"Not exactly. Gaz--do you know what love means?"

It's not often she looks me straight in the eye, and less often still when I can tell she's doing it, but with her eyes wide open like this it's pretty obvious.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what is 'love'?"

She's having as much trouble with this as I was yesterday.

"What does this have to do with Zim?"

Now I get it. She thinks that I'm asking her because I think I'm in love.

With Zim.

"No. No! It's not what you think, it's just--"

"Just what?"

Good question.

"He asked me yesterday. He asked me what 'love' meant."

"What did you say?"

"I couldn't explain it. That's why I asked you."

"What makes you think I know?"

"I don't know. I was just hoping maybe you would." (yeah i know i said i'd lay off the dialogue but just keep reading--it will get better i promise).

Gaz shakes her head slowly.

"Well I don't. Why did he want to know, anyway?"

"He heard it from some soap opera."

"Really?"

Why does she have to say it like that?

"What do you think?" I ask.

"That maybe he just wanted to know what you thought it meant."

Hold on...

"Wait--you think that he...?"

Loves me? Right. Now I've heard everything.

"I doubt he even knows what 'love' means. It's like a foreign concept to him. His whole race. He doesn't get it."

And neither do I. But I'd like to think I have a better understanding of it than Zim.

"Neither do you."

Gaz understands me better than anybody. And yet she can't help me. Nobody can.

I nearly took Zim's life, and I'm going to make up for it. If that means doing the impossible--finding out what "love" really means--then I'm going to do it.

alright, so i sorta broke my promise and put in more dialogue than i was going to. but i guess dialogue is a necessary evil. :)