Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Invader Zim.

This is the last chapter for this story! I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks a billion to everyone who has reviewed it – it means so much to me!

Zim woke up sleepily. He blinked slowly, trying to adjust his eyes to the bright light. As he looked around at where he was, he became confused. He was no longer in the desolate desert. Now he was in a bland white room with bland white walls, laying in a bland white bed that had bland white sheets. There was a machine next to him that was monitoring his vitals, and a few needles were stuck in his arms, giving him medicine. He wondered if he was still stuck to Tak, so he shook his head back and forth. No pain came – he was free!

He reached up slowly to feel his antennae, or what was left of them, anyway. Instead of antennae, he felt his entire head covered with a bandage. "It's that bad?" he said aloud with a harsh whisper.

"Yeah," said a voice from the bed next to his. He jumped, startled from the noise. He looked over at the origin of the voice. Tak sat in the bed next to him.

"How did I get here?" he asked in confusion.

"You pathhed out after your antennae……broke. A rethcue thquad came and rethcued uth, and then brought uth here, to the hothpital. Then we had to go into thurgery. You were already pathhed out, and they didn't think it would hurt me, tho they didn't put uth on aneththeticth."

"No anesthetics, huh? How was the surgery?" asked Zim, gently rubbing his bandaged head.

"For who?" Tak asked sadly.

"Why…?" Zim frowned.

"They got your one tangled antennae out and the remainder of the other one, but…" She glanced away.

"But what?"

"They had to take my bratheth off in order to untangle your antennae. And that wuth really painful. And then they put a new thet on that I'll haff to wear for the nexhht five yearth!" She almost broke down, but caught and composed herself.

"But…why do you need to wear the braces for longer?" Zim asked, arcing an eyebrow.

"Becauthe…um…uh…the doctor thaid tho."

"That's no reason. What does he know?"

"Thhe."

"What?"

"The doctor ith a female."

"Oh. Well, OK, maybe she does know what she's talking about, if that's the case."

"There ith good newth," Tak interrupted. "They replathed your antennae that broke with a new one. Tho now you haff two, normal, thhraight antennae, not one and a haff."

"Oh." And with that the two fell into silence.

Tak was released from the hospital soon after. She waited anxiously at home for what seemed like weeks until Zim was to be released. She barely got any sleep while she worried about him. Zim, on the other hand, was enthralled to be receiving so much attention. Various hospital attendants waited on him hand and foot. He could demand whatever he wanted and the hospital staff would usually cater to his needs. He was loving it. After a few weeks, the bandage on his head came off, followed by the needles. He didn't want to leave, but after those few weeks he was required to be released.

Zim went home and had very little to do. He quickly got bored of all 5,491 of his video games. He couldn't leave his house to go to the Academy yet, either, because he was still on medical leave.

One day he received a call from Tak. "Hi, honey! How are you feeling?"

Zim frowned at her forward greeting. "Um…well, my head is throbbing and…"

"Do you want to do thomething tonight?" she asked.

"I suppose. It sure beats sitting on my butt all day doing nothing," he replied, glad to have any kind of company, even if it was Tak.

"OK. I'll meet you at the Convenshun Shenter at 5:00," she said happily.

"Seventeen hundred hours? OK…got it." He hung up and looked at the clock. He decided he wouldn't need to leave for another fifteen minutes or so. Suddenly, he got another call. It was an unfamiliar connection code, so Zim hesitantly picked up the messaging system and answered. "Hello…?"

"Hello, is this Zim?" replied a feminine voice on the other end.

"Yes…" he responded nervously.

"Hi, Zim. This is Tenn," replied the other voice.

Zim's eyes widened in surprise. One of the most popular girls in the Academy was talking to him. 'Stay calm…don't panic…stay calm…' he thought to himself. "Hi, Tenn. How are you?"

"Probably better than you. How are your antennae? Are they…?"

"Oh. They feel fine. No throbbing or anything," Zim lied.

"I see," Tenn paused. "So do you feel well enough to do anything with me tonight?"

"I'm busy, I think," he replied.

"Are you sure?" asked Tenn, rather seductively.

Zim, being a guy, could not ignore this. He immediately responded, "You know, I'm not busy at all. I do feel well enough to do something." He was rather hypnotized by Tenn's voice. And just like that, Tak was forgotten.

"I will see you at 6:00 at the Convention Center," said Tenn.

"Yes, ma'am," replied Zim.

Meanwhile……

It was 6:00. Tak was pacing back and forth in front of the Convention Center. Zim still hadn't shown up. "Where is he?" she said aloud.

She began to wonder if perhaps he had had to go back to the hospital because of his antennae. She doubted it. Perhaps he had simply forgotten, or maybe he had gone with someone else. She laughed. Zim wouldn't do that to her. 'He loves me too much,' she said to herself, sighing softly. 'He said so himself.'

Suddenly, she caught notice of a very familiar Irken walking towards her. "Thim!" she squealed. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking off to her left. One of her classmates, Tenn, came out of nowhere and ran up to Zim, hugging him tightly. Much to Tak's amazement, he didn't even draw back from the popular Irken girl. Instead, he hugged her back. They drew apart, still holding hands, and Tenn said something to Zim that was inaudible to Tak. He simply smiled at Tenn.

Tak watched in horror and Tenn reached up and stroked Zim's new antennae, and then let her hand slide smoothly down along his cheek. Zim still hadn't drawn away from her; in fact, he seemed to be rather enjoying himself. As the two turned to go, Tenn put her arm around Zim's waist and then turned around to look defiantly at Tak. Then the two disappeared into the crowd.

Tak lowered her head, her eyes darting around as she tried unsuccessfully to comprehend what was going on. Zim had told her that they had a future. He must have been lying. He had deceived her and then run off with a more beautiful Irken girl. She came to a conclusion as her eyes narrowed in anger. Men could not be trusted. They were immature, and totally irresponsible and incompetent to handle anything.

She glared into the crowd where Zim and Tenn had disappeared. All of her suffering was entirely his fault. His actions had changed her from her old, passive self to a new, different, aggressive personality. And she liked this new self. It wielded a feminist power. And using this power, she could give Zim payback for his actions. She would annihilate him down to his every last cell.

"Zim will pay. Oh, how he'll pay!" she said aloud with a sinister laugh as she noticed that this new feminist power also totally eliminated her lisp.

Several Irken passerby gave her very strange looks for her comment. Some were even gaping at her.

"Um…oh, how he'll pay me back for buying him lunch…?" she said quickly, looking nervously at the crowd of passerby staring at her.

Meanwhile……

"It was quite nice of you to take me out, especially after that Intergalactic Dance incident with…um…what's-her-name," said Zim happily as he walked alongside Tenn.

"Um, hmm…" said Tenn monotonously, looking around herself as though she was in search of something. Whatever it was, she took particular interest in it and not in what Zim was saying.

Tak was following them stealthily through the crowded Irken walkways. She had a look of absolute hatred on her face that caused Irkens in her path to sidestep quickly to avoid her possible wrath. She kept a cautious distance from her betrayer and his new girlfriend.

Zim and Tenn entered a restaurant and sat down. The waiter quickly asked for drinks, which the two answered quickly. Tak noted that Zim wanted a Sirus Minor Cola. Without being noticed, she slipped into the kitchen of the restaurant and quickly put on an apron. As the waiter who had taken Zim and Tenn's order came into the kitchen, Tak approached him.

"You can have a five minute break. I'll give the customers their drinks," she said.

"I just had a break," replied the waiter.

"I said…you can have a five minute break," she said as her eyes glimmered. She felt her powers coming on, using an unknown force to persuade and subjugate the waiter.

"Yes," he said, obviously hypnotized. "I'll take a break." And with that, he left.

Tak laughed evilly with this success. She hunted through the cabinets of the restaurant kitchen, her fingers searching lightly over the jars of substances. Finally, she came across a jar intended only for full grown Irkens. The substance was labeled as thus: "Caffeine: Warning! Permanently Stunts Irken Growth." She grinned malevolently. All Zim wanted was to be tall so he could become an Invader. And she was not about to let him.

Tak skillfully poured the two drinks and added caffeine to Zim's. She then walked out to Tenn and Zim's table and set each drink down in front of each recipient. Zim barely glanced at her. She began to tremble in hatred, and so she went to the kitchen doors to watch. She could not keep herself from grinning as Zim sipped at his drink.

Suddenly, Tenn stood up. "Look, Zim. This has been fun and all, but where are the paparazzi? The camera-bots? The news reporters? If I'm going to be going out with you…YOU…who have been the most talked about Irken since the Intergalactic Dance, then I need to get some of the spotlight! I'd rather be on the cover of a magazine because of you instead of actually going out with you. We're done. Do you hear me?"

Zim simply stared at her, holding his cup of altered cola.

Tenn sighed. "You don't get it. You never will. Good bye, Zim." And she left.

'Ha, ha!' Tak thought to herself. 'Now he knows what it feels like to be rejected!' She watched as Zim slowly drank the last of his cola. Tak was surprised when Zim turned to face her.

"Hey, waitress! More cola!" he ordered, without a glimmer of recognition. Tak stared at him in astonishment, and then shook her head and went out the door.

"Where are you going?" he called after her. "Hey! I want more cola!"

So, that's basically yet another reason as to why Tak hates Zim so much.

THE END!

(or is it?)