"An ultra- what?"

"Ultrasound. I want to see what they look like," Dib said, and Zim blinked, before looking down at his stomach.

"That was an option?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before, actually. You've said your Pak gives you updates, right?"

Zim nodded. "This morning they were at 50.03 percent."

"That's good! Pretty on schedule, right? Humans usually do this before that point, so they've got to be developed well enough to get a decent idea of what they're going to look like. Irkens and humans have the same general outward structure, but I'd like to know if they're going to have a third arm or whatever."

Zim balked. "They wouldn't!"

"Weird mutations can happen a lot with hybrids, and on top of that you're an alien who's pregnant on a foreign world." Dib shrugged. "I'd prefer to have our bases covered." He looked up to the ceiling. "Computer, do you think you can scan Zim to get a picture of the smeet? You can look up human ultrasounds, right?"

"Of course I can!" The computer sounded almost offended. "What do you take me for?"

Dib leaned against the wall as Zim prodded under his armpit, as if wondering how a third arm would look. "The arm thing was just an example, you know. It's more likely the skin would be patchy or their senses would be kind of off. I just hope the organs aren't all mixed up." He shuddered. "That would be terrible, and pretty gruesome, but I'm pretty sure they'd die before even being born at that point-"

"Stop talking or I'll cut out your tongue." Zim clutched his shirt, one eye twitching. "We're looking at it right now."

Dib started picking lint off his coat. "What else can your Pak tell you?"

"They have four limbs and the start of two antennae," Zim said. "So your silly arm-theory is foolish and wrong-"

"I already said that was just an example!" Dib said. "Anyways, this is probably going to be in the med bay, come on."

Zim straightened up, starting to march down the hall. To Dib's amusement, his usual stiff militaristic movement had softened a bit, and his hips swayed slightly with each step. Adjusting to the weight must be weird for him…

Anyways. Dib pushed off the wall, following behind him. "You know, sometimes during ultrasounds they can find out the sex of the baby."

"They won't be having any of that. "

"No, like if they're a boy or a girl. Biologically, anyways, gender identity comes later. But you said irkens looked mostly the same on the outside, right?"

Zim nodded. "The only real differences are on the inside."

"Hmm. I guess it depends on how human they are, then, unless we can get it to look inside their bodies too…"

"I don't care if it's all of them, as long as it doesn't come out dead." Zim flapped his hand around as he spoke.

"All of them?"

"How many genders are there on Earth again?"

Dib paused for a moment. "I'm not sure? A lot. Plenty of people just end up either guy or girl, though, so statistically they'll probably be one of those."

"Right." Zim absently scratched the side of his stomach as they turned the corner and the doors of the med bay opened in front of them. "Computer! Are you finished yet?"

"I don't have the right equipment for a human one, but I can scan you and create a hologram. Just take your shirt off."

"Oh, that's even cooler!" Dib perked up. "Do that!"

Zim pulled himself up unto the nearest table, tugging his shirt up, and fought back a flinch when a mechanical eye popped out of the wall. A pink light began slowly scanning down his belly, starting at the top and extending down.

Dib glanced at the screen across the room. "Is that where you're going to project it?"

"Pssh, you think I need to be restricted to that? Lame," The computer said. "Just wait."

Energy buzzed in the walls, and Dib could feel the pulse of his heart thumping in his ears as he counted the seconds. Zim's feet bounced against the table, and he looked around, fidgeting with the index finger of his glove. The toe of Dib's boots clicked against the tiled floor as he tapped his foot. "How long-"

"There we go." An image bloomed in front of Zim, a slightly translucent pink 3D hologram that was clearly blown up since it was about the size of a watermelon. It was curled up, but the shape was clear- almost like a doll, with thin limbs and not quite a full face with the eyes closed. The hands were small enough that he couldn't even tell the number of fingers yet. There was some of the cushioning organ around it in the hologram, moving almost like a heartbeat, and tiny nubs on the top of the head that probably were the antennae beginning to grow, but otherwise it just looked… like a baby. Not some amorphous lump like Dib had half-expected, but a little underdeveloped person.

Zim and Dib reached for the hologram at the same time, and the image distorted as irken and human fingers brushed over it on opposite ends.

"They're…" Dib trailed off, unsure what to say to explain the sudden tightness in his chest. "They're real. "

"Of course they are- you think I'm doing this for some mere fantasy?" Zim scoffed, but his eyes were bright. As they watched, the scanning light kept on Zim's middle, and the image moved slightly, one leg shifting. Zim looked down, mouth falling open. "I felt that."

"It is inside you." Dib set his hand on Zim's middle, rubbing his thumb against a patch of skin. Zim's hand settled on top of his, a smirk spreading across pink-tinted teeth.

"They look just fine to me, but of course that's due to me being the carrier."

"Suuuuure it is." Dib rolled his eyes, but he still had a big grin plastered on his face. "I wonder what they'll look like."

"Well, they've got four limbs. We can tell that right now. Can't you see?"

"No, I mean more than that. Their eyes are closed. They could be pink, or brown, and irken or human. Maybe even one of each, humans can have eyes of two different colors! We have no idea." Dib looked back at the hologram, seeing the tiny shifts as they moved a hand and a foot. "They could have skin of any shade between yours and mine, they might have hair or not... "

"Considering how greasy yours gets, I hope not," Zim grumbled. "They'll have my head, I bet. I have a taller head than you, yours is just fa-"

"You have to cram all those vocal cords in somehow," Dib cut Zim off, still transfixed by the image. "Can you tell their sex?"

The computer made a sort of 'I dunno' noise. "They're either a girl or more irken."

"So it still could be anything..." Dib tilted his head. "Their biology is going to be fascinating. We'll have to run some tests to make sure they can eat Earth food, and see how much of a resistance to water my DNA gives them. I hope it's a lot, it would be a pain in the ass to have to bathe a little kid in paste all the time…"

"You get used to it," Zim said. "Maybe they'll have good enough reflexes to be able to actually steer the Voot without crashing into a-"

"That was one time!" Dib groaned. "Gir jumped on my head and I couldn't see, I got the marks out of the paint!"

"You tried, but I still-"

"Oh, don't get into this again, I already apologized and you know it." Dib huffed, sucking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. His hand had curled up into a fist against Zim's skin, and he flattened it, feeling the small grooves of the stretchmarks with the pads of his fingertips. "They're at fifty percent. That means it'll be a little over two months until they're here. We need to start really buckling down to get ready."

"We already have the clothes and toys, what else do we need besides food?"

Dib ran his free hand through his hair, grimacing at the slickness- he needed to take a shower. "I'm going to go through Dad's notes and catalogue everything we still need. I skimmed them- man, apparently making me was really complicated, and then you just did it on accident."

"I'm just that great," Zim beamed, and Dib bounced his fist in the air as he thought, starting to pace.

"We'll need to find a way to get food if they are allergic to as much as you are, and… did you start building the crib yet?"

Zim shook his head. "I was… waiting for the right moment! Yeah, that's it."

"You forgot," Dib said with a quirked eyebrow, and Zim straightened up.

"I did not!"

"It's fine, we still have plenty of time, especially with me on hand." Dib's shoes squeaked as he made a sharp turn. "But two months really isn't that long if we have to figure out how to- to really be parents. We can't just hire someone to help once they're born, they might notice something is up." He sighed."As stupid as people are around here, it's not a risk we can take if they realize the baby's half-alien. And Dad's notes are mostly about studying me specifically and trying to figure out the exact proper nutrient mix for formula, so they're not exactly very good on the touchy-feely stuff."

Dib strode over to the table, hopping up next to Zim. "What are we going to do?"

Zim puffed out an irritated breath, crossing his arms. "The same as we were planning to do the whole time- we figure it out, we make sure they don't die, you get to poke at them and I get a minion who actually listens to me." His scoff softened into a smile as he traced a circle on top of his stomach, fingers gray as the pink light mixed with his skin. "And they will listen. I can already tell."

Dib took another deep breath. "Right. We can do this. You've survived an absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff, and I've somehow managed to make it to 18 without any paranormal creature ripping my head off. We can deal with some dirty diapers and figuring out food allergies. I can check them over to make sure they're okay." He scooted forward, setting his chin on top of Zim's skull between his antennae. The gesture often annoyed Zim, but now, he just leaned his head back a bit to look up at Dib.

"They're a mix of us. They'll be perfect."

Dib let out a little snort of a laugh. "I don't think anything that's a mix of us will be perfect. Perfectly strange, maybe."

"And what's wrong with that?" Zim shot back.

"Nothing," Dib said, pulling one leg over to settle on the other side of Zim so his chest rested against the Pak and they were both facing the hologram, now still but for the soft pulse of organ around it. "Nothing at all."