Disclaimer: Sorry, I still don't own Invader Zim. The copyright offices won't respond to my pleas. I'll probably also have to mention that a part of this was inspired by a section of the book Dave Barry's Guide to Guys, which seemed rather fitting for it. If you've read it, you'll probably recognize which part.

"Does this incompetent…oww!...pilot…oww!...not know how to…oww!...drive smoothly!" Zim said in between jolts from the ambulance ship.

"It'th only a little turbulanthe," replied Tak.

"Turbulence my…OWW!"

"At leatht we're on our way to the hothpital. And then thith will be all over," replied Tak.

"Finally," Zim muttered quietly.

Suddenly the ship's pilot started to cough and grab at his chest. He took his hands off the controls and continued to cough and grab wildly. Zim and Tak looked nervously at the pilot. The pilot soon began to twitch violently. The ambulance ship veered sharply to the right and plummeted downwards in a spinning free fall. The now unconscious, and possibly dead, pilot collapsed onto the control panel as the ship plunged towards the planet's surface.

Meanwhile, Zim and Tak screamed in terror. Tak grabbed onto Zim, and for once, he didn't draw back from her. They watched in terror as the ground rushed up to meet them, and they continued to scream.

The minute the ship hit the desert land of planet Irk, the airbags in the back part of the ship deployed. Zim and Tak were flung forward onto the airbags and they bounced into the back doors. The force of them hitting these doors caused the doors to fling open. The two young Irkens went flying onto the desolate desert of their home planet. They rolled to a stop, a swirl of reddish dust surrounding them. All was quiet.

Suddenly, the ambulance ship exploded. The ground shook from the outburst of fire and fuel, and the sound was so loud that both of the Irkens thought they were going to go deaf. Finally, after all was still again and the remains of the ambulance were steadily being engulfed by a fiery inferno, Tak said, "That poor pilot."

Zim replied, almost in an annoyed tone, "He was dead before we hit the ground. He got a major Squeedly Spooch attack. We're lucky the air bags didn't deploy a second later. Otherwise we would have been dead too."

"I thuppose you're right," mumbled Tak quietly.

"Of course I am," said Zim. "Now. Let's see if I…er…we can get up."

Before he began to pull himself to his feet, Tak stopped him. "Thim? Um…from what I can theee, it'th going to be really hard for uth to get up if your other antennae ith altho caught."

Zim halted and felt along the baseline of the other antennae. He froze when he reached the end of it, and realized that Tak was right. "Why me! WHY ME?"

Tak was beginning to get sick of his egotistical behavior. "Listen Thim! It'th not that bad for you! You don't haff an entire body hanging from your teeth!"

"Yeah! Well, I've got one hanging from my antennae!"

"Don't tahhk to me like that!" she yelled angrily.

"Fine! Then I won't talk to you at all!" Zim snapped.

So they sat in silence, both lying on their backs, staring up at the dark blue night sky and at the stars that shone down on them. Both had to awkwardly turn their head to stay comfortable, or in Zim's case, to avoid as much pain as possible. The way in which each was laying made it indescribably impossible for either of them to stand up. They were going to have to stay put until help arrived.

Zim was actually feeling really bad for talking so rudely to his so called 'date'. But he was not going to be the one to apologize first for his actions, so he waited. Tak, on the other end of the spectrum, was feeling miserable. She figured that Zim was mad at her for her statements, and she felt that she had ruined her date and possibility of ever actually being with Zim. She started to break down in tears.

"I'm tho thorry, Thim! I neffer meant to hurt you!" she sobbed, talking about their latest conversation.

Zim, as usual, didn't see the deeper meaning of what she had said. "It's OK. Surgery will fix it right up."

Tak wiped away her tears and amidst her crying, she frowned in confusion. She lightly shook her head, but continued listening.

"And…" Zim stumbled over his words. "I'm sorry…that…uh…yeah…that I…um…yelled at…you."

Tak was overjoyed. He was apologizing, and it had all been her fault. It was a misunderstanding on his part, and yet he felt bad about something that she couldn't quite recall. 'He must really like me, to do something like that!' she thought.

"Thim? I apprethiate that," she said innocently.

"Uh…OK…?" Zim said obliviously.

There was silence for a while, and each gazed at the stars. "Thith ith pretty peatheful, huh?" Tak asked.

Zim yawned in boredom, which Tak couldn't see, but she thought it sounded like a sigh. She smiled and snuggled up to him. Zim couldn't move away from her, although he desperately wanted to.

"Thim?" she asked.

"What."

"Do you…" she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She was really uneasy about asking him this next question.

"Do I what?" he asked.

"Do you think we haff a future?"

After this, there was total silence. Tak glanced around nervously. She began to think to herself: 'I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into a relationship he's not ready for. What have I done?'

Zim was thinking: 'Do we have a future! Jeez, what a stupid question. Everyone has a future. And a past. And a present. Five minutes from now, who knows what I'll be doing, but it will still be my future. Unless I suddenly die, I will always have a future.'

And Tak was thinking: 'Maybe he was confused by my question. I should clarify it. Yes, that's it!'

"Um…together. I meant together," she said aloud. 'That should clarify it,' she thought.

But there was continuing silence. To Tak, it was a very loud silence. She could hardly breathe while she waited for Zim's response.

Zim was thinking: 'OK, talk about random. She just throws this word out. What should I do? Hmmm…nothing. If I do I'll probably do or say something wrong.'

And Tak was thinking: 'Maybe he still feels like I'm trying to confine him. I was too forward. Things were going just fine until I had to open my big mouth and blurt out that question!'

And Zim was thinking: 'Speaking of that, if I do or say anything wrong during my Invader testing, I will most definitely not be an Invader. But, really, no worries there, since I am Zim, and I will undoubtedly soon become…Invader Zim! Oh, that has a nice ring to it…'

And Tak was thinking: 'He's upset. Otherwise, he would have said something to me. He doesn't want to tell me what he's truly feeling. Unless I'm reading this entirely wrong. Maybe he wants more commitment or more sincerity from this relationship. Maybe he felt I was the one holding back my feelings. That's it! He's reluctant to express his own feelings because he's afraid of being rejected!'

And Zim was thinking: 'I wonder what kind of mission I'll be sent on. Probably something very prestigious and top priority, because I am Zim and I deserve nothing less.'

And Tak was thinking: 'I feel so guilty, putting him through this. But, I just can't help the way I feel about our relationship!'

And Zim was thinking: 'Wow! I never noticed it before, but that constellation looks like a 'Z' if I twist my head a little to the left…oh, that hurt...but oh well. Hey, I wonder if I can find an 'I' in the constellations…?'

And Tak was thinking: 'Oh no! He just fidgeted! He's upset! And who can blame him? I can't believe myself.'

And Zim was thinking: 'There's an 'I'! It's a little deformed, but an 'I' is an 'I'. Let's see…'M'…'M', 'M', 'M'……there! 'M'! Yes! I can spell my name with constellations!'

And Tak was thinking: 'I'm just too self-centered. It's my problem. And because of it, I'm making him suffer psychologically!'

And Zim was thinking: 'And if I can spell my name in constellations, who knows what else I can accomplish in my lifetime! If I grow enough, I might even be a commander, second only to the Almighty Tallest!'

And Tak was thinking: 'Why am I so horribly idealistic? Here I am, laying next to a perfectly nice Irken, an Irken I enjoy being with, and who seems to also enjoy being with me. And now he's in physical pain with his antennae, and emotional pain because of my egotistical fantasies!'

And Zim was thinking: 'Those idiots at the Academy who say I'll never amount to anything because I'm too short. I'll grow. Believe me. And when I'm famous and highly respected those guys can take their comments and shove them right up their…'

"Thim!" Tak said aloud.

"What?" he asked, startled out of his thinking.

"Pleathe…don't torture yourthelf like thith!" she said, on the verge of tears. "I thhould never have put you through thith! I'm thuch an idiot! You think I'm an idiot, don'th you?"

"Of course not!" said Zim, glad to know the correct answer in his state of confusion.

"It'th jutht that…oh, I don't know. I feel tho horrible about making you…" She couldn't finish. She began to cry, her emotions overwhelming her.

Zim was clueless as to what to say. He tried for several seconds to think of what he could possibly say to make her feel better. Then he thought of something that just might possibly work. "Tak? Uh…I'm pretty sure we have a future."

Tak ended her sobbing. She was deeply moved. "Do you really feel that way, Zim?"

Zim glanced around nervously. "Uh…yes…" He was still unbelievably confused.

Tak sighed in relief and hugged Zim's head, since it would have been impossible for her to hug him any other way. Zim started to cough from a lack of air. "Oh, Thim! We haff a future! We haff a future!" she squealed hugging tighter.

"Can't…breathe…!" Zim wheezed. She relaxed her grip on him and he gasped for air.

"I'm tho glad that we can underthtand eathh other on thith leffel!" Tak said, tears of happiness in her eyes. After regaining his breathing, Zim stayed absolutely still, staring at the stars. He was pretty sure that something major had occurred just then, but that there was no way he would ever understand exactly what. He was also disappointed to discover that he could no longer find his name in the constellations.

Tak suddenly noticed some flashing lights on the horizon. She quickly sat straight up.

"Look! Rethcue!" Right as she sat up, she heard a snapping sound and Zim screamed.

She looked down at her braces slowly, and saw a good half of one of Zim's antennae still stick. The other half was still on Zim. Tak gulped.

Zim, meanwhile, was whimpering in pain. Half of one of his antennae had just been broken off. He feebly held onto that antennae as though that would make it feel better. Tears were inadvertently sliding down his cheeks. His single antennae was bleeding intensely.

"Oh my god! Thim! I'm thorry, I'm thorry!" wailed Tak.

Zim couldn't respond. The pain was just too intense. He was starting to feel light-headed from a lack of blood. The landscape began to spin around him, and then, from the trauma and the lack of blood, blackness surrounded him and he passed out.

However, Tak didn't know that. All she could see and feel was Zim's body going limp. "Oh, no! OH NO! Thim! NO! Don't die! I need you! Pleathe, pleathe, pleathe…don't die! Oh, my god…I've killed you! Oh, Thim, I'm tho thorry!" She started to cry uncontrollably, cradling his head in her arms.

After a few minutes, the rescue squad arrived on the scene. There was actually only one member of the 'squad.' He jumped heroically out of the rescue vehicle and ran over to Tak.

"Remain calm," he said hurriedly. "You were in an ambulance ship crash…"

"I know that!" snapped Tak. "Hurry and get uth to a hothpital! One and a half of hith antennae are thtuck in my brathes, and I think he might be dead! Tho hurry it up!"

"OK, OK!" replied the rescue squad guy. "Let's figure out how to get you both into the rescue ship and to the hospital."