Chapter 8

Six months had passed since that day and Dib just had his baby. It was a boy. He named it Zen. The baby had Zim's eyes and antennae, but other then that, he looked human.

To avoid the scandal that would surely ensue if anyone knew the truth about the baby's origins, Dib made up the lie that he'd gotten a girl from another school pregnant and instead of letting her get an abortion had convinced her to have the child and give it to him. She'd dumped him soon after and Dib never saw her again.

Dib's life got harder and harder from that point. It was a new skool year and his only friend was a teacher named Ms. Sweeters... but she's another story.

Zim had spent those months up in his space base, just drifting. He laid there on the ship's floor, hardly moving,seldom eating, or sleeping. He just laid there, remembering, regretting, and wishing things had gone differently. His educational videos had gained him the honor of his planet, something he'd always wanted...but at the loss of the trust and love of the only person he ever wanted.

"...Sir," Zim's computer spoke quietly. "You haven't moved in months. Are you okay?"

"...Dib should have had our smeet by now..." Zim's voice was dry and raspy from not being used. He watched the tele-screen above him, at the slowly spinning, blue planet that housed a part of his heart.

What did Dib's baby look like? he'd spent long hours wondering. Was it a boy or a girl? Was it smart? Did it have Dib's honey colored eyes or his own ruby red ones? Had it said its first word yet? What was its name? Did it know about him? Had Dib told it about who its other parental unit was? Did it hate him, too?

Zim's eyes welled up with tears at the thought. It wasn't fair. He'd made a big mistake, but hadn't he apologized sincerely and tried to make amends? So why'd he allowed himself to be driven away? Why'd he allow his future to be denied to him? Was it because he knew deep inside that he deserved it? That Dib deserved better? Well, he didn't care about that now. He NEEDED his future back! It hurt too much to be away from it any longer. But what could he do? What could he possibly do now that would make a difference and change his relationship with Dib back to the way it was? Had he waited too long? Was it already too late? Had Dib, by now, found someone else to love in Zim's place? Was that the person his baby was calling 'Daddy' now? If Zim returned right this moment and begged forgiveness would Dib still deny him and send him away?

Zim's eyes were burning and there was an awful sensation in the center of his squeedly spooch, as if a knife were stuck there and some phantom hand were twisting it.

Zim sobbed. "I WANT TO SEE MY SMEET!"

(End Chapter 8)

Techno Doofus: He's buggin me too, but what can ya do?

Invader Iza: Hey! (points at you) Don't you know it's not polite to point at random smelly people?

SingerOfDoom: I keep wondering what the heck 'REAL SCIENCE' had to do with the situation when Membrane said it and am still boogled...glad you found it humorous though!

AntisociaLxMe: There you go! Smeets name is Zen! As for omg puke, for someone who hates slash so much, he sure does read a lot of it, don't he? Or is my warning in the summary not obvious enough, do ya think?

TezzWoods: I hope things work out too! Hehe, Flamers are funny. It's fun to watch them show off their ignorance! XD

animeninjaNIPPON: Suspense is killing me too -.-;

zimgirl14: Angst is good sometimes! Makes the happy moments all the more special! Ynnep-san said there were 2 versions of this fic, one with a happy ending and one with a sad one...she hasn't told me which one this is, but I guess we'll find out soon, eh?

Night Masters: I was talking about you apologising for asking me to remove the 'tummy' references in the fic! That you had a kind of past that made the word uncomfortable for you, right? Anyways, hope you like this chapter too!

Ryu Forte: WOO! (does the short chapter dance) IN YOUR FACE! XD (dances some more, trips over own feetand falls on face)
...Ahem...yeah, meant to do that!