A/N: Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm a day late. But I got dragged out of my bed at an ungodly hour of the morning yesterday and wasn't returned home until late in the night. So I'm sorry for the lateness, you guys. But honestly, you people aren't doing a very good job of keeping me motivated to continue posting here any longer. -_-; What the hell happened, you guys? Practically none of you are even reviewing any longer. And half of those not reviewing were every week reviewers. Did I say something offensive? Not that I like to force people to review or anything, but I just find it weird that we're getting tons of reviews for a long time and then all of a sudden, practically none at all. Did this story grow boring or something? It just makes it seem like that to me and I become much less motivated to continue posting each week. (Sigh) But oh well. For the ones who are continuing to read, here is Chapter 32 of ZADR Orange. =3 I hope you guys enjoy. And I send much love to those who fave and add to the story to your story alert lists still. =3 Feedback is much appreciated, so we hope to hear back from more of you guys this week.=3

Warnings: Extreme OOCness

Rating: M for later chapters

Disclaimer: We do not own Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Zim: Notgonnadie

Dib: Me

Beta: Notgonnadie

Zim hardly responded to Dib's barging in as he remained laying on the couch with his back to the door. Merely balling up in his spot even more, he rather squeezed his eyes tightly shut, as though expecting the other to start throwing threats at him now rather than over the phone. "Wh-What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice scratchy from how long he had cried.

Still in a panic, Dib merely continued to look around the room with wide, unblinking eyes. "I-Is this some kind of trick? She said she was coming to kill you! She told me! I...I..." his words trailed off as his eyes continued to dart from one end of the room to the other.

Finally sitting up a little, Zim turned slightly to look back at the other, the blanket slipping down to his waist. "What are you talking about?" he now looked at the hybrid as though the other were insane.

"Tak! I saw her! I ran into her! And she said she got orders to kill you!" Dib blurted out quickly as he circled the room with the hose, half expecting her to just jump out at him.

Sitting up completely now, Zim couldn't help but shake his head in some confusion. "Why would Tak come back here?" he questioned the other, not quite believing any of what he was saying.

"I already told you! She was ordered to come here! And kill you! I tried to get her to tell me who ordered her to come here, but she refused! She said she wouldn't tell me unless I told her how I had become part Irken!" Dib repeated, never once letting his guard down.

"...Are you sure you didn't dream this?" Zim then asked, almost quietly.

"Yes, I'm sure! Do you honestly not believe me?" Dib snapped back at him, for the first time looking at Zim incredulously.

"Well..." Zim began, looking hurt. "It just...sounds far fetched is all...And...You did leave me..." he dropped his gaze away to the ground sadly.

Deadpanning at the others words, Dib just continued to stare at the Irken with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. "I can't believe this...You really don't believe me...You STILL won't believe me...Well, let me ask you this, Zim? Why would I lie to you about something like this? What could I possibly have to gain back by lying to you about something like this?" he practically screamed back at the alien, now glaring at him.

Looking away from Dib's glare, Zim's antennae could only droop. "I don't know..." his voice came out sounding defeated as he sniffled a little. "M-Maybe you thought you had to lie to come back here..." he whispered quietly to the other in a hopeful voice, thinking that maybe Dib had missed him.

The Irken lifting his eyes up to stare at him, Dib couldn't help but notice the others facial expression, causing his own expression to soften. "Oh...I wasn't aware I was allowed back here...But I'm not lying, Zim...I came back because...Because I was worried about you..." he said before looking away himself.

Lifting his head more to stare up at Dib hopefully, Zim's eyes seemed to light up at the boy's words. "Really?" he asked, blushing as he held out his arms slightly, wanting to hug and cuddle Dib but unsure whether the other would allow him to or not.

Staring at the outstretched arms for a moment, Dib nervously shifted about in his spot a bit and played with his fingers before finally inching just a bit closer to the other and taking a seat on the couch next to him so he could lean into his hug, blushing a bit himself.

Taking care to wrap his arms around Dib gently, Zim then hugged him surprisingly tightly considering his still healing injuries. Nuzzling into Dib, he then found himself crying a little again as he tried to hide it by burying his head into Dib's chest. But he couldn't stop himself from shaking as he broke down even more.

Not wanting to hurt the other since he could still tell he was in pain from his earlier injuries, Dib hesitated to bring up his own arms and wrap them around Zim. Then, sighing against the other, he slowly let his hands travel up the alien's back to hold closely, closing his eyes and brushing his lips against the top of Zim's head, right between his antennas. "I'm sorry I left you..." he whispered softly into one of Zim's antennas.

Still heaving against the other, Zim took in a shaky breath. "Wh-Why...? I-I wanted you to stay..." he said in a broken voice, wanting to know why Dib had left him.

Hearing those words, Dib could only feel even worse now. "I...I just needed to get away from it all for a little while...I-I never meant to hurt you so badly..." he tried to explain his actions to the Irken, not wanting the other to hold it against him for the rest of his life.

Sniffling even more, Zim nuzzled himself more into Dib's chest. "I-I'm sorry..." he apologized himself, knowing Dib had every right to leave after the way he had yelled at him.

"Why? You were right...You were completely right..." Dib said, referring to Zim's earlier words.

Pulling back slightly, Zim looked up at Dib. "But...I made you mad...I-I shouldn't have forced you to stay..." he dropped his gaze away, antennae drooping again.

"But everything you said was true! I don't like to admit it to myself, but it's true! She's dead...I'll never see her again... And nothing can change that..." Dib practically quoted Zim's earlier words.

Pulling Dib close, Zim held him even tighter. "But I had no right to say it." he suddenly felt horrible about what he had said.

Having by now broken down into his own tears again, Dib hid his face in Zim's chest. "But it's true! Everything you said was true! I had no right to get mad at you for it!" he said, his own antennae falling back now.

Unsure what to do now, Zim held Dib close and started rocking him back and forth a bit, sobbing lightly against him. "S-Stop, Dib... Please stop crying..." he begged the other, never sure what to do with the other when he got like this.

The tears coming in a flood now down his cheeks, Dib merely shook his head as he continued. "And now I feel like such an idiot for not having listened to you!" he seemed close to panicking.

Breathing heavily now, Zim looked at Dib worriedly. "Dib..." the others name slipped past his lips before he did the only thing he could think of to do in that moment. Leaning up closer to Dib, he smashed their lips together in a passionate kiss.

Eyes seeming to snap wide open at the action, Dib couldn't help but calm slightly as all he could do now was stare back at Zim in shock and blink the tears out of his eyes.

Pulling back to breath after a moment, Zim smiled up at him warmly. "Do not fret for Zim..." he said before leaning in to kiss him again. "Zim will always be here for you." he promised, caressing one of Dib's cheeks with his hand.

Continuing to just stare back at the other with wide eyes, Dib was surprisingly calm now despite the hysteria he had been in a few moments earlier.

Smiling softly at him, Zim pulled his hand away. "Are you tired, Dib?" he asked, knowing a bit of sleep would do them both some good after the day they had had.

Eyes falling half lidded, Dib merely slumped up against Zim a bit when he was suddenly hit with wave a nausea. "I feel dizzy..." his voice came out in a quiet whisper as he suddenly felt as though all the life had just been sucked out of him.

"Dib?" Zim's antennae perked in a bit of confusion as he looked worriedly at the hybrid before standing up to prop Dib up against the couch, pulling his legs onto it too so he was laying down now. "A-Are you okay? You need to rest! You weren't fully recovered from the procedure when you ran off earlier." he said, knowing Dib had been running on only adrenaline when he left.

Suddenly feeling highly sensitive to light, smells, and sounds now that everything seemed to be slowing down again for the first time in 24 hours, Dib struggled a bit against Zim. The light from the street lamp outside blinding him, the smell of Zim's blood still on him from earlier in the day making him feel nauseous again, and any small sound feeling like thunder was ripping through his antennae, he couldn't help but shudder as his antennae fell back to press against the back of his head.

"Dib?" Zim's voice grew even more panicky as he jumped up from his spot next to the boy to close the blinds to the windows to block out the light and ordered the computer to sanitize the area. "Dib?" he asked again as he rushed back to his side and nuzzled into the hybrid again, stroking his hair gently. "Just hold on. It will pass..." he instructed the other quietly, petting his head more as a comfort to himself than to Dib.

Squeezing his eyes tightly shut when everything around him began to blur, Dib rolled his head from one side to the other. "Zim...?" he murmured the Irken's name breathlessly.

"Shhh..." Zim tried to calm him by massaging around his antennas.

His antennas shuddering again, Dib tried to pull back a bit. "Ow... No more... Please... It hurts..." he whimpered out in a pained voice.

"Shhh..." Zim leaned down to kiss him gently. "Dib...Shhh... Don't talk." he instructed the other again, needing Dib to let him do this.

Letting out another small whimper, Dib pressed his face into the back of the couch.

A somewhat serious look on Zim's face now, the Irken slid his finger up Dib's antennae. "Just try to relax. Let it pass..." he kept telling the other.

Gasping sharply at the feel of Zim running his fingers along his antennas, Dib began struggling again to pull away. "Stop! Stop! It hurts!" he exclaimed, wanting Zim to take his hands away from them.

Shaking his head at Dib's reaction, Zim could only sigh. "Calm down, Dib. I'm trying to help, but you need to relax." he explained to the other, reaching out to touch them again.

Crying into his hands now, Dib only shook his head even more. "But it hurts so much!" he sobbed, his head throbbing where his antennas were located.

Kissing his cheek gently, Zim leaned down a bit to whisper into the sensitive appendages. "I know, Dib... I know... Just take a deep breath, and let it out slowly." he said, waiting for Dib to do that before he continued.

Nodding his head slowly, Dib tried to steady his breathing enough to do as Zim told him to.

Then, taking in a deep breath, Zim slowly and lightly slid his hand the rest of the way up Dib's antennae before letting go to do the same to the other one.

Sniffling wetly still, trying to keep himself from reaching up to push Zim's hands away from his antennas, Dib watched Zim work his hands up the lengths of them. "Wh-Wh-What are you doing?" he finally asked when Zim went to repeat it a second time.

"Making sure you're still functioning correctly." Zim responded, moving to Dib's eyes after a moment to pry one open and glance around inside before moving to the other one.

His breathing shaking even more, Dib sent Zim a truly scared look now. "F-Functioning correctly?" he repeated Zim's words, wanting to make sure he had heard right.

Never stopping his work, Zim nodded his head. "You've been running around and over exerting yourself...I need to make sure you didn't hurt yourself... This current state you're in is proof that you at least got close..." he said, tilting Dib's head one way and then the other to get a closer look at him.

A/N: And there you have it. Your weekly update of ZADR Orange. =3 Aren't you all just so glad that the ZADRness of this story is once again back? XD I hope so. Now let me take this time to respond to those of you who reviewed. =3

To heartofstone15: I'm just as surprised as you are. D8 I want to assume people are just out of town or something, but considering how many reviews we normally get, it's hard for me to believe they're ALL just gone. So, I don't know. Maybe something I said or did scared away or offended the rest of our reviewers. I honestly have NO idea why only 4 of you guys reviewed that last chapter. I'm not one to force people to review or anything like that, but it makes me much less motivated to continue work on the story. (Sigh) But oh well. No, Zim won't be dealing with Tak anytime soon. And yesh! Teh TAGRness be coming soon. X3 You can count on that. Tak in this story is more of a distraction for Gaz than anything else. Though she does play some pretty important parts later on. =3 We're glad to hear you're still enjoying the story. And much thanks to you for taking the time to comment. (Hug) Anyways, I best be off for the time being. So until next time~

To Rain unloved: Meh...It's not like I was trying to hide my DA account from anyone or anything like that. It's actually rather easy to find. Like I've told people before though, I only recommend reading here because the story isn't rushed that way. -_-; It's a lot to take in and people have a tendency to forget certain parts that are important to the story's plot development. Not only that, but we appreciate the comments we get here that we otherwise don't get as much of on other websites. And I think it's the comments that we get here that keep us the most motivated when working on this story. Because then people actually let us know each chapter what they think of the story rather than rushing ahead and not letting us know. =3

To Kirikachan: Well, hello there, new reviewer. =3 Thank you for taking the time to join us. As you may have just noticed, this story is only updated weekly. XD So sorry for the wait. But it keeps my life simple updating that way. So you can expect a new chapter each Saturday now that you're caught up. =3 We're glad to hear you're enjoying the story. And we hope you'll continue to read and review as we update each week. Dib really is cute in this story. That's why I like role playing as him so much. But anyways, we shall most definitely continue to update and work hard on this story. So thanks for taking the time to read and review. =3

To lillybean queen of the i ocean: As always, we're glad to hear it. =3

To Meta-Knight-1-fan: TAKR? XD I'm going to assume you meant to say TAGR in that last review. If so, then yes. =3 There most certainly shall be quite a bit of TAGR in this story. XD If not, then no. There will not be any elements of TakXinsert character's name starting with K here. XD Lol. But anyways. Poor Dib. He should have known Gir would mix up to words to his message to Zim. XD And as you can see in this chapter, much has happened. =3 And considering the ZADRness is back, I wouldn't say Zim is too mad at Dib. He just missed him. ^.^ Thanks for taking the time to review. =3 And we hope to hear from you again soon. =3