Family

I don't own Invader Zim. I leave the disturbed 'leftovers' of this show to their rightful owner, Jhonen Vasquez.

Only Deed Membrane belongs to me, as well as any future... smeets...

Chapter Three

"Why do you want me to go to your boyfriends?" Deed asked as Dib hung up the phone. He looked at her for a moment.

"Because I don't want a repeat of last time." Dib said softly. Deed rolled onto her side so she could face him.

"Repeat of last time?" She whispered, thinking back to how her last trip home had started. Then it dawned on her. "You mean mom, don't you?"

Dib nodded, rolling onto his back. It wasn't an easy thing to talk about. Especially since Dib had never gotten the chance to even remember his mother's face.

"How much do you remember?"

"Not much, just... just Dad beating on her, and then the top news the next day covering a death." Dib said softly. Deed let out a shuddering sigh.

"He did beat on her. That last night, she'd been pregnant. She was rushed to the hospital, bleeding from where her head had caved in and going into labour." Dib looked at her, trying to remember something more.

"The baby had a fifty percent chance of survival, but mom... mom ended up dying. Soon the baby did too. And it was all his fault." Deed whispered, clutching the clean bedsheets as she strained to draw these things from her childhood memories.

"I'd only been nine at the time, Dib. You were four, and..." Deed trailed off, knowing that her brother's memory was limited. The most he could really remember were the things that still did to that day. Like his paranormal intrests.

"And what?" Dib pressed gently, looking at her. Deed swallowed almost convulsively. She hadn't been a Membrane for close to ten years...

She hadn't seen her brother for close to ten years.

To her, Dib and Gaz was the only flesh she truely had. And realising that she'd been away for so long was killing her.

"Nevermind that. I've already told this to you several times. You need sleep." Deed commanded, staring at her brother. He nodded, closing his eyes.

When his breathing rythmed out and Deed was positive that he was really asleep, she turned over and glared at the dark ceiling.

Their so called father had abused their mother, killing her and managing to avoid prison by using his children.

'But you don't understand! My eldest, she'd crazy! And we have her on so much medication! And my son, he's in counceling! They are both crazy and they won't go to anyone but me!'

She laughed at her father's excuse, remembering clearly how the doctor had looked and her and Dib.

Then Professor Membrane had started with her parasomnia. She had been rejecting the treatment... and she still was, Deed remembered as she touched one of the bags under her eyes.

She'd been staying awake in order to reduce the chances of another violent night.

She remembered back to when her mother was there to calm her in those nights.

And she relived her mother's fear when she found that Dib had hypomania.

"What is it with this family and disorders?" Deed asked, closing her eyes for a moment.

Eyeing the phone that Dib had clutched in his hands, Deed sighed.

"Again... what is it with this family?" She whispered, remembering how she had been told that Gaz was a bisexual.

Deed looked at her brother's sleeping face, then got an idea. Placing a hand on her brother's head, she closed her eyes and uttered a small spell.

Dib was pinned to the ground, two mechanical legs piercing the flesh of his palms, crying out as Zim drove deeper into him.

Deed grinned to herself, making a note to ask Zim about this later.

Maybe, just maybe, she'd been wrong about her brother's virginity after all.

Crawling off the bed, Deed curled up on the floor.

The least she needed was to give Dib and herself a few bruises while she was sleeping. Or to wake up sticky from her brother's wet dream.

That was when her cellphone rang.

"Dammit, Darian, this had better be good!" She hissed into the phone, waiting for the man on the other end to respond.

"Deed... ummm... I guess I could have waited for morning..." The nervous man on the other end stumbled over his words, and Deed let out a growl.

"Ok! I got someone to run the tests, and... well... Profeesor Membrane only has one biological child." Deed's eyes snapped open, sitting up and staring at her brother.

"Any idea which one of us it is?" Deed's breath hitched. She watch's Dib's chest rise and fall as she waited for someone to speak.

"The youngest... " Swallowing thickly, Deed snapped her phone closed.

'So we're experiments..' Deed thought, closing her eyes and fighting back tears as she clutched the carpet. She reached up, almost ready to wake her brother before deciding against it.

Pulling at her hair loosely, she decided to take it up with Professor Membrane when she had the chance.

An idea striking her, she pulled out her cellphone and typed in the number that had called her.

"Darian, find out who exactly Professor Membrane is." She demanded.

"Yes ma'am!"