ZADR Orange Chapter 121

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

Enjoy. =3

Sending Zim a confused look of her own at his words, Rose sighed and approached the bed to take a seat down next him. "What? You mean for nothing? Now, that doesn't sound like Dib to me...Did he say why he was yelling? Maybe he was just being hormonal. After all, he seems to be having a lot of emotional breakdowns lately." she said, trying to help him come up with a more reasonable explanation as to why he may have yelled at him earlier that morning.

"He said I shoved one of the worm-smeets off the bed..."

Rose sent him an even more confused look now. "'Worm-smeets?' Do you mean Dib? Is that why he's so upset right now?" she asked, thinking maybe Zim had pushed him out of bed on accident that morning.

"Huh? No, those little worm-smeets running around downstairs...The little female one. He said I shoved her off the bed..."

"You mean Kira? He said you shoved her off the bed? That's strange. Why would he say that...? Unless you did...Did you?" Rose looked back up at Zim.

"No!" Zim shook his head feverishly. "A-At least, I don't think I did..." he said before looking away, his antennae drooping as he honestly couldn't remember in that moment.

"You...don't remember? Well, is it possible that something like that could have happened and maybe you bumped your head on something and forgot?"

"I-I don't think so...I don't recall leaving the bed..."

"Well, maybe you hit your head on the headboard. You wouldn't have to get up out of bed to do that...Because I really don't think Dib would lie about something like that...He's not the kind of person to make up things."

"But...Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, Zim. Dib didn't say anything about it?"

Heaving out a heavy sigh, Zim pulled his knees in to his chest to answer her question.

Sending him a sympathetic look, Rose sighed herself. "I'm sorry, Zim...I...want to believe you about all this...Perhaps Dib dreamed the entire thing up and thought it was real." she suggested as a possible explanation for why he would say something like that.

"Maybe..."

"Do you want to come downstairs with me to see if you, me, and Dib can get this all straightened out?"

"...I don't know if he'll listen..."

"Well, Zim...You're going to have to face him at some point...And the only way we're going to know what really happened is if all three of us go to ask Kira since she seems to be the one involved in all of this. She'll know whether it's a dream on Dib's part or amnesia on yours. Now, come on...I'll go with you." Rose offered him her hand to take. "And I promise we'll get this all worked out. Because I do believe you're telling me the truth." she sent him a small reassuring smile.

Smiling sadly himself, Zim took her hand before slowly getting himself out of the bed.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Zim. We'll all sit down and get this worked out in no time." Rose said as she led him out of the room and towards the stairs to head on down them. "After all, the two of you can't keep moping around for the rest of the day like this. We've still got plans to head on out to the mall in a little while so we can finish our shopping trip from the other day." she reminded him, thinking that shopping for their smeets might lift everybody's spirits after the morning they'd had.

Zim's eyes widened at that reminder. "Oh right! I forgot about that..." he said, a part of him hoping that really would cheer Dib right back up.

"Yeah, and I don't want you two fighting while we're there. You two are supposed to be doing this shopping together. I'm sure that's what Dib wants." Rose said as she lead him to the living room where Dib sat with his knees to his chest on the couch, hugging himself tightly and sniffling wetly, tears still slipping through his tightly shut eyes and down his cheeks.

Zim swallowed nervously when he saw the other huddled up on the couch. "Dib, are you okay?" he asked cautiously at first, half-expecting the other to explode on him again.

Jumping a bit at hearing the other's voice, Dib's eyes snapped wide open to stare up at Zim and Rose before he shrank down in his seat a bit more, wanting the pull away from them as he could only break down all over again, bringing his hands back up to cover his face.

When Dib began breaking down all over again, Zim rushed to Dib's side. "Oh, Dib, what's wrong? Tell Zim." he nuzzled the other in an attempt to coax the hybrid into telling him.

Just wanting to be left alone, Dib struggled to pull away when the other took him into his arms. "Don't touch me! Just let me go! You can't replace her! You can't...You can't replace her..." his struggles became weaker and weaker as all his energy just seemed to drain right out of him, leaving him shivering on the couch in the other's arms.

Zim looked at the other confused and hurt by those words. "What do you mean, Dib? I'm not trying to replace anyone..." he tried again to soothe the other from his shaken-up state.

"He was upset earlier because he thought you were using me to replace his mom."

Whimpering softly at those words, Dib shook even more as his body was racked with sobs. "...Stop trying to make me forget her..." he said between sobs, his entire body heaving at intervals.

"...I wasn't trying to make you forget, Dib..." Zim nuzzled him gently and pulled him in close. "I'd never want you to forget...Don't you remember that old Irken custom I told you about?" he reminded the other of how Irkens dealt with death amongst their own species, always holding the deceased individual in high praise even after their passing away.

"B-B-But y-you s-said I-I'll never be with her a-a-again!" Dib's voice shook uncontrollably as he couldn't get the Irken's earlier words out of his head from directly after he had been turned into a hybrid.

"Oh, Dib..." Zim kissed him gently, holding him tight. "I'm sorry. I was angry...I shouldn't have said that..." he said, instantly regretting how he had yelled at the other back then.

Continuing to cry and cry for several more minutes into his hands, Dib's antennae could only fall back to droop at the small kiss as his upset mood in that moment was causing the smeets to shift about uncomfortably.

Resting a hand on Dib's belly to rub gently, Zim tried to soothe him and the smeets. "Shhh...It's okay, Dib..." he shushed the other with warm affections and words.

Not believing the other as he sobbed to himself for several more long minutes, Dib could only shake his head at those words before very slowly beginning to calm back down, his antennae shuddering as the belly-rubbing finally began to get to him, leaving him sniffling in the Irken's lap.

Holding Dib close, Zim continued to rub his belly and keep him soothed, remaining silent all the while as he was worried something might send Dib into another fit were he to speak again.

After a few more minutes, Dib finally began to calm for the most part, his cheek resting against the Irken's side comfortably as he blinked the last of his tears away and breathed in and out slowly.

Zim rocked him gently when he sensed a shift in the atmosphere. "Feeling better?" he finally asked once he was certain the other was no long quite so upset.

When Dib doesn't respond right away, Rose spoke up herself. "Why don't we head into the kitchen and get you both something to eat?" she suggested, thinking a nice breakfast would calm everybody's nerves at this point.

After several long moments of silence, Dib finally nodded his head slightly in agreement, still remaining silent all the while.

Kissing him, Zim then lifted him up bridal style, heaving a little as he carried him to the kitchen to have breakfast.

A/N: And there you have it for Chapter 121. =3 Until next time~