A/N: And the ZADR returns with chapter 4. Sorry this took me so long. I seriously was going to have this up sooner but I kind of got drunk half way through working on this. But now I'm ready to get it up and I may even have the next chapter done by tomorrow if I concentrate on it. :D And the good new is that this is the last short chapter in this story. Nothing particularly important in this chapter. Just thought I'd throw it in for fun. The next chapter is where the plot thickens. So just enjoy this chapter. I think it's cute...and angsty...but mostly cute. Angst and cuteness is just a fun little mixture I use in a lot of my stories. XD Kind of hard for me to have one without the other. Lol. Well, why don't we get started now? Chapter 4: Month 2/Cold. Disclaimer: Do I look like he with the ill-prone belly?! Don't sue me!

Dib blinked his eyes open slowly, the light coming through the window blinding him momentarily. He sat up slowly as he brought a hand up to rub at his watery eyes underneath the glasses. He looked about his room with squinted eyes a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting. It took him a few moments to realize he was completely alone in the room but when he did, his eyes shot wide open. They instantly returned to normal when he realized what time it was. It wasn't early but wasn't late either. The alarm clock on his desk said 8:00 a.m. He guessed Zim was probably downstairs getting some breakfast.

He hadn't left Zim's side since he heard of the pregnancy, even after his father had come home from work. As long as they weren't having sex, Membrane didn't really mind them sharing a bed together. That was just fine with Dib. He wasn't quite sure whether sex was such a good idea at the moment. Zim didn't seem quite up for it at the moment anyways.

Dib contemplated whether he should get out of bed and go find someone or just stay in the warm covers and try to get a few more hours of sleep. The second choice seemed to be the more inviting of the two, but he knew it would just make things ten times more difficult when he finally did decide to get out of bed; so he reluctantly rose to go downstairs. He was a little dizzy when he stood up, but it passed quickly and he was on his way. As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he could hear voices coming from the kitchen. Looked like he was the last one to wake up. He couldn't quite make out what anybody was saying, but he could hear loud laughter as he approached closer. Upon entering, he found Gaz sitting at the kitchen table, her head down in one arm and the other pounding on the table as she laughed uncontrollably. Zim was there too, doubled over on the ground laughing so hard that tears were in the corners of his eyes.

Membrane sat at the kitchen table also, smiling cheerfully. Neither Gaz nor Zim seemed to notice Dib's presence until Membrane addressed him. "Good morning, Dib." The room instantly grew quiet as Gaz picked up one of her handheld games and began playing it, smirking evilly at Dib. Zim quickly got up off the ground and took a seat at the table to continue eating some waffles he had in front of him, all the while snickering into his hand, trying hard not to laugh as he too seemed to send Dib a cruel smirk.

Dib looked back and forth from Gaz to Zim and then back to Gaz, not liking the looks they were sending him one bit. "What did I miss? What's so funny?"

Zim shook his head and tried to answer though his voice cracked a bit. "N...nothing."

Dib was thoroughly confused by now. "What? Did Gir do something stoopid again?"

Gaz shook her head. "Nope. Dad's just been telling us embarrassing stories about when you were younger."

That had Dib yelling out. "WHAT?!" his face blushed a deep shade of red thinking of every embarrassing story his father could possibly tell them.

Membrane cut in before he could say any more. "Come now, Gaz. They aren't embarrassing. Your mother didn't think so. They were her favorite memories of Dib."

She just pushed that aside. "Yeah, sure, whatever, dad. Now tell us about that time Dib was in that pre-skool play when he was 4."

Membrane took a sip of his coffee before responding. "You know, I think we taped that one. I must have a copy of it here somewhere. Would you rather watch it?"

Before Dib could object, both Zim and Gaz screamed," Yes!" in excitement and were out in the living room in a flash.

Membrane chuckled lightly to himself as he followed after them, his coffee in hand, leaving Dib standing alone in the kitchen. A minute passed before he finally made his way into the living room slowly, really wishing he had decided to stay in bed. When he got out there, Zim and Gaz were already on the couch waiting as Membrane looked through a pile of videotapes for the right one. He finally pulled one out and made a happy noise. "Aha! Found it!" he said as he stood up and inserted it into the VCR connected to the TV.

Dib was tempted to just leave the room and hide in his room for a few days until he was sure they wouldn't remember why they had even been laughing at him. But something made Dib stay. The picture on the screen showed a young Dib standing on a small stage with bright lights all around. Being taller than most of the kids in his age category, he was dressed as a tree. As the tape played, a female voice could be heard. "Look, honey. There's Dib. Oh my God, that costume is so cute on him."

The young Dib had his eyes crossed as he stared at a leaf that hung down near his nose. He tried to shake it free without moving too much since he was supposed to stay still but only made things worse as he wrinkled his nose. It was no use, however. He sneezed once, twice, and then a third time before losing his balance and falling straight off the stage onto his face. That had Dib crying as he sat up.

Then the female voice came again. "Oh dear. I think you better take the camera, honey." The picture shook a bit as the camera was passed over to someone else. Then a few moments later, a young, purple-haired woman made her way to the front of the stage and picked Dib up. She turned with Dib in her arms, smiled, and waved at the camera as she made her way back to her seat with Dib still clinging to her and crying. The video went blank after that, leaving Zim and Gaz staring at the screen in silence a moment before bursting out into laughter.

Dib wasn't at all amused by that, however. His face was more red with anger than embarrassment. Dib swiftly walked over the VCR and pulled out the tape. He turned toward his father and shook the tape at him in anger. "I thought you said you had gotten rid of all these tapes!"

Membrane didn't seem too fazed by Dib's anger. "Oh come on now, Dib. It wasn't that bad. You know, it was your mother's favorite tape of you."

That was the last straw for Dib. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! It's always mom this, mom that, mom everything with you! I'm sick of hearing it! Mom's dead and we're not so will you just drop it already and get rid of this damn tape?!" The words had left Dib's mouth faster than he could stop them. The room grew uncomfortably quiet as they all just stared at Dib. He looked a bit shocked himself that he had said that. He quickly averted his eyes to the ground. "I want to be alone."

He dropped the tape so he could wrap arms around himself and grip his arms tightly. He walked out of the room, leaving the others to watch after him. Nobody spoke. Membrane just sighed gently to himself as he bent down to pick up the tape and place it on a table next to him. "I better go talk to him."

Membrane found Dib lying in bed with his back to the door and still gripping his arms tightly. He stood in the doorway rather than walking in to talk to Dib. "This is about your mother, isn't it?"

Dib didn't move to look at Membrane. "What was your fist clue?" Dib didn't mean for it to come out as harsh as it did.

Membrane sighed and stepped into the room. "You had that dream again, didn't you?" he asked as he took a seat on the side of the bed.

Dib pushed himself up a bit and turned so he could see his father again. "A few weeks ago. I thought it had left me for good this time. Guess I was wrong."

Membrane nodded. "I'm not surprised. It was a hard loss for everyone. I'm sorry, Dib. If I had known, I would have never shown that video."

Dib looked away from his father. "I didn't mean any of what I just said. I just..." he closed his eyes. "I just want to be alone for a little while."

Membrane stood up to leave. "It's alright, Dib."

He looked out into the hallway. Zim was waiting outside, watching from a safe distance. His antennae were lowered as he waited for Membrane to leave the room. Membrane placed a reassuring hand on Dib's arm. "I'll leave you to your thoughts for a while." With that, he walked out into the hallway.

As he walked by Zim, he placed a hand on Zim's shoulder and smiled before leaving without saying a word. Zim watched after him a moment before turning back toward Dib's room. He took in a deep breath before entering. Dib was back in the same position he had been in when Membrane entered. He let out the breath before speaking up. "Dib, are you okay?"

The only response he got was a "no" from Dib. The boy didn't even turn to face Zim as he talked. "Zim, can I just be alone for a little while?"

Zim's eyes narrowed somewhat as he crossed his arms. "No." He walked forward to climb onto the bed in front of Dib so he couldn't look away from Zim.

Dib sighed as he let go of his arms so he could wrap them around Zim. "Something told me you wouldn't leave me alone."

Zim seemed to study the boy's face as he laid there staring at him. He reached out to run a hand down Dib's cheek. His skin was so warm and soft. Dib just closed his eyes and relaxed into the touch. He felt Zim brush his antennae against his face.

There was silence in the room for a long while. Dib only opened his eyes again when he heard a soft humming coming from Zim. "Hey, what's that?"

Zim stopped his humming and opened his own eyes to look at Dib. "Hmmm? What's what?"

"That tune you were humming. It sounds so familiar. What was it?" he asked again.

"Oh. I was just some stoopid song Gir made me listen to over and over again from some stoopid kids' show he likes to watch. He's gotten it stuck in my head. Some nights, he won't go to sleep unless I hum it to him first." Zim responded simply. "Why?"

"Oh." Dib whispered. "It's nothing. It's just very soothing, that's all. Would you mind humming it again?"

Zim stared at the boy, confused a bit. "Uh...sure..." He began humming it again as he buried his face in Dib's neck.

Dib let the gentle hum sooth him into a deep sleep. When Zim finished, he opened his eyes and spoke against warm skin. "Dib?" But Dib was already fast asleep. He pulled his face from Dib's neck to look at the boy's face. It didn't seem Dib was going to be waking up any time soon so he wiggled his way out of Dib's grip and left him to sleep peacefully.

Dib awoke several hours later, alone with the sun setting outside. He looked out into the hallway. The house seemed to be completely dark. As he made his way downstairs into the living room, he found Zim lying back on the couch with a blanket. He was sitting in the dark with Gir, watching some cartoon on TV. Zim looked up at Dib as he entered the room then back to the TV without saying a word.

Dib took a seat next to him and looked around. "Where is everybody else?"

Zim shrugged, not looking away from the TV. "I don't know. I think they said something about getting Chinese or something."

"Oh...Okay..." Dib said as he leaned forward to wrap arms around Zim.

Zim didn't seem to mind as he just continued watching the TV. It wasn't until Dib began to sniffle a few times that he got annoyed. When Dib began sneezing, Zim couldn't take it anymore. None too kindly, he pushed Dib off the couch onto the floor. "Go away, germy Dib-thing. You're going to get the mighty Zim sick."

Dib just laughed it off. "HA HA. Very funny, Zim."

A/N: And I end the chapter there because I can. Lol. XD Now, I know exactly what you're all thinking. "What the hell?! That has nothing to do with the plot!" Well, it was cute, right? I'm allowed to add in random cute chapters every once in a while. But I promise the plot thickens in the next chapter. I'm off to go work on it now. I've already finished about half of it and I've got an entire three-day weekend to finish the rest. I've got a bottle of red wine, a blanket, and a computer. Let's see if I can update this before the weekend is over. If not, then I'll do it next weekend. That's my Thanksgiving Break time so then I'll have at least a week to work on it. Hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter-Chapter 5: Month 3- Rape. See you soon!

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Apple Pornography: Thanks so much for all the random noises I could turn into Irken names. I will definitely use 1 or 2 of them for the characters I need. I really like Mlarg for some reason. I don't know why. Anyways, yes the Tallest are cute little bastards, aren't they? XD I just wanna huggles Purple. Well this chapter really has nothing to do with the story. I may make a few references to it later but only really small details that nobody cares about. The next chapter is where things really get good. Aw, yes. Daydreaming and drawing are always fun to do during skool. In fact, I'm just finishing up a 7-page ZADR comic I was working on all week during skool. 8D I'll be sure to read your story as soon as you get it up. I love Mew and Mewtwo. Well, until next time. Cya! waves

To Sora4president: Yesh! Smutty RAPR goodness is always fun to write! Lol. That is spooky! Maybe I developed magical mind reading powers somehow. XD Well, as I said before, this chapter doesn't really have anything to do with the plot. I just kind of got it in my head and wrote it down. That's happens sometimes. Anyways, the next chapter is the one with the plot development. So until next time! Bye! waves

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!