Next Chapter: Creeping

Gasp. Choke.

Swirl, Swirl... Swiiiiiiirl...

Memories, violent swirls everywhere, jumbled. Then... it all disappeared.

Eyes flutter open. White, blanched white. Everywhere.

A sobbing scream.

A nurse rushes in.

"Holy-...he's awake!! He's awake!! Thank Jesus!!" The nurse exclaimed in a expressive voice, pressing the emergency button near his bed. She could see that he was having problems taking in enough air, so she gave him the breathing mask, placing it over his mouth, and soon, his breathing was better, but still uneven. A couple other nurses hurried in soon after.

"What's going on?" One of them inquired. Then, a short collective gasp from the nurses indicated they realized it. "Oh my.. he's out of the coma!" Another one said animatedly.

"Yeah, please have someone call his Father, and that Contell guy, he said to call if any new developments ensued. The numbers are in his other files."

They nodded and ran out of the room in a frantic, but happy state.

"Zi-...Zim? Is he.. here?" He finally managed to gasp out.

She frowned, checking his file, then hurrying onto his vitals, taking some blood. "No sweetie, is he your friend?"

Dib coughed, and looked at her dejectedly. "No.. he's my bo..boyfriend."

She smiled. "Well, hon, we're calling your father now, and if we can, we'll call him too, ok?"

Dib frowned. "No.. is he here?" He gasped raggedly. "In the ho-hospit..." he couldn't speak anymore, he was already exhausted. The only noise that came was a choked sob, then silence.

She looked at him worriedly. "No, sweetie, I wouldn't think so, no one has come through here by that name."

She continued, "My name's Betty, if ya need me, just holla'. Don't worry, you're in good hands." She smiled warmly, "anything ya need before I shove off to the doc?"

"Wa...water?" She nodded.

"I'll try to be quick, but please just stay as calm as possible, stress will only worsen your condition, ok?"

Dib nodded weakly, closing his eyes. She went over to him. "No, no, no.. Dib," She gently touched his shoulder. "We need you to stay awake, ok?"

Dib nodded slightly, and with much difficulty, tried to keep his eyes open.

...Swirl.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE, WE GOT TO HELP HIM, NOW!!" In a scramble, the FBI took the agents away to a high-security prison, while another cop, Contell's friend Tom Weiss, called for the ambulance, barely having time to explain the situation or the fact that a male alien was about to give birth. 'Ugh, times like this I wonder why I chose this for a career,' Weiss thought with a bit of humor.

Creeping, creeping, creeping. A hidden shadow.

A grin.

Swirls...

"She's having difficulties, as of now she's on our feeding tube and life support, it will take awhile for her to recover before you can see her. Oh and don't worry, we won't expose her to a lot of water, its good you told us that before we bathed her, or something." She looked at Zim for a response, and he just smiled and nodded. "The time being, you are to stay with us, to recover as well. Oh, and congratulations, she really is beautiful, exotic." The nurse comforted. Having told before of the alien's arrival to somehow 'prepare' her, she was at first very frightened and shocked, but she tersely told herself this was nothing compared to the other stuff she had seen before. So she smiled and accepted it, though she meant it when she complimented the 'baby'.

Zim grinned, beaming proudly. "Yeah, well... with Dib's good looks and my charm, why wouldn't she be beautiful?"

The nurse almost stopped breathing. "Dib is your..." She stopped, thinking back to when her friend said something about a kid named Dib, who happened to be in a coma.

Zim looked down, then managed a smile, but it looked plastered on. "The other parental unit, and my, boyfriend." Zim said it nervously and with hesitation.

She smiled, and nodded in recognition. "Did you kno-" But it was interrupted.

"I gotta name for her."

She sighed. "What would that be, hon?"

"Mariko, after his mother." He smiled. "Mariko Guinevere Membrane."

"Oh, that's lovely." She held his hand comfortingly.

'I bet he thinks Dib is dead.'