Near Misses

by PAT THE KITSUNE

The sequal to Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness. Can Zim and Membrane overcome their differences to work together to escape the wrath of the Irken Empire? Will Zim and Dib become good parents? And what's going on between Gaz and Tak? Perhaps a bit of romance?

8. Chapter 8

A/N: Holy shit! She's alive! Don't worry. I'll take care of that. holds gun to head and shoots self I deserve that for how long I've made you all wait for this next chapter. But seriously, I wasn't being lazy. It was just a long-ass chapter to write. It came out 4 pages of my writing longer than the last chapter, and my writing is tiny. By the time I finish filling up a page , you usually can't even see any more white on the paper. It usually ranges around 2,000 + words per page of my writing so yeah. It's long. At least the wait was worth it cause this chapter is the longest I've written in the entire trilogy and it contains smutty ZADR goodness for those of you waiting for some smex. 8DThough I must admit, I rushed the ending a bit cause I just wanted to finish this chapter. It took me over three months to write and type! Can you blame me? I'll try to get the next chapter up a lot faster than this one, but I'm not making any promises cause I don't even know how long it will take me anymore. My writing seems to be getting longer and slower. So sorry for the wait. Hope I haven't lost any reviewers. For those of you still reading, enjoy chapter 8- Month 5: Separation. Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own anything except my sucky planet name in this chapter and the random characters I was too lazy to name.

A war was raging, and Zim was fighting a losing battle. Lazily, he turned over in bed, burying his face in a pillow and groaning. He had already lost the first battle to his stomach earlier that morning, and he felt as though he were about to lose the second battle as well. He had already heaved everything he had recently eaten hours ago, but still he felt horrible. He wished he could just die so he wouldn't have to live in this agony any longer. He wasn't sure if he'd even be able to drag himself back to the bathroom were his stomach to win again. The last thing he wanted to do was move around. It was already bad enough that his clothes were beginning to feel a little tight on him. He didn't want to deal with the pain of moving around when he felt so sick.

Dib sat up with Zim, running a hand up and down the Irken's back gently in an attempt to soothe. It did little to help, however. The human boy was getting used to the early mornings, but he only wished there was more he could do to help Zim. He felt horrible for all the pain he was putting the other through.

After several more minutes of complete silence, Dib finally spoke up in the quietest of whispers. "I take it you don't want breakfast again..."

The only response he got was a muffled groan. Despite how crappy he felt, Zim managed to lift his head just a little. "I think I'm gonna throw up again. Can you help me to the bathroom?"

Dib gave a simple nod. "Sure." he said as he got up out of bed to carry Zim to the bathroom door. Setting Zim back down on his feet, he moved away only after the pale form had regained his balance, though a bit shaky at first. "I'll go ahead and get you a drink." Dib said, gesturing to the door.

Holding onto the bathroom door for extra support, Zim just nodded. "Thanks." he turned to enter the bathroom, closing the door behind him gently. As he had predicted, he proceeded to empty whatever was left in his stomach until he felt satisfied it was completely empty this time.

As Dib made his way to the onboard kitchen, he came to find his father having an early morning breakfast. He smiled as Dib entered the room to look through what drinks they had onboard. "Ah, Dib. Care to join me for some breakfast?"

Dib just continued searching as he spoke. "Sorry, dad. Zim's having another bad morning. I'm just looking for a drink to bring him."

Membrane just nodded as he brought a hand up to his chin. "Hmmm. I see. Morning sickness. Try bringing him some orange juice. I had to bring some to your sister earlier, and it helped her feel better."

Taking his father's advice, he poured some into a glass for Zim before leaving the kitchen with a "thank you." Upon returning to the room, Dib found Zim was waiting outside the bathroom door, sitting with his back to it and knees up to his chest.

"When will it end? I don't know how much more of this I can take." he said in a weak voice.

Dib simply came to sit next to Zim so he could pull the Irken closer to him as he handed Zim the juice. "Here. Maybe this will help a little."

Zim allowed Dib to pull him close and he leaned into the human's chest and took the cup. "Thanks." he said again as he began taking slow, small sips. Before long, however, he sighed at set the still mostly full cup to the side before burying his head back in his arms. "Can you help me back to bed? I want to sleep some more."

"Yeah..." Dib responded as he shifted to stand up, wrapping one arm around Zim's waist when Zim used another arm to wrap around the back of Dib's neck. Getting back to their feet, Dib dipped down low to scoop Zim up again before making his way back to the bed with a sigh. "I'm sorry..."

As soon as Zim was set back down in the soft covers, he looked back up at Dib curiously. "Why? It's not your fault this is happening."

Dib could only frown more at that. "Yes, it is. I'm the one who impregnated you. You wouldn't have to be dealing with any of this if it weren't for me. Not to mention I feel terrible about letting Earth down."

Zim merely smiled sadly up at Dib. "Don't blame yourself, Dib. This is as much my fault as it is yours. I was asking for it. I wanted to have sex with you that one time. I wouldn't have let you if I hadn't. How were you supposed to know I could get pregnant? Hell, I barely knew." he wrapped his arms around Dib's waist to pull him closer.

Dib, however, just looked away, a little annoyed. "Well, it may of helped at least a little to know beforehand that the males of your species could get pregnant..."

Zim just rolled his eyes momentarily. "That's besides the point, Dib-thing. What I'm trying to tell you is to stop being so damn pessimistic all of a sudden. I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one."

Dib looked back at Zim. "I was, but I thought that annoyed the hell out of you."

Having Dib's attention back on him, he pulled the human back into the bed with him, just wanted Dib to hold him as he slept. "It does, but that doesn't mean I want you to stop. At least one of us should be optimistic about it and seeing as how I'm going to be the one going through all the pain, that just leaves you."

Dib easily allowed Zim to pull him back into bed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Zim to nuzzle the top of Zim's head shortly after he had settled again. A small smile came to his face before falling away just as quickly. "Are you saying you're not even a little excited about becoming a parent?"

Zim remained silent a moment before giving his answer. "Yes...no...I...I don't know...I guess I'm mostly just nervous right now. I know nothing of raising children and..." his sentence trailed off suddenly.

Dib raised an eyebrow at Zim's sudden quietness before just shrugging it off. "Yeah, well I can see why you'd be nervous, but that's normal. I'm nervous too. But I'm sure we'll do just fine. We just have to take one step at a time."

Zim just let another sigh escape his mouth. "You just don't get it though. Irkens don't usually raise their young. They're sent to training shortly after training. Even parents of live births are only allowed the keep their smeets a couple of months, and that's if they're lucky. Some smeets are taken away immediately. Irken parents aren't provided the knowledge to raise their own young. It gets in the way of their own training. That's what PAKs are for. They're not just used to keep us alive. They're used to keep us from taking back up old instincts that have long been dead in Irken society."

Dib simply let his eyes slip closed as he responded. "Well, just be glad this baby is half human. It may not need a PAK at all. As for raising it, we can look at that as a learning experience. I'm sure you'll do fine."

Zim nodded very lightly against Dib's chest as sleep began to win him over again. "I hope so..." With that, he fell into another dreamless sleep.

Dib was trapped. Zim had been sleeping peacefully for several hours now and it didn't seem he had any intentions of waking up any time soon. He contemplated whether he should get up and risk waking the alien up or just stay in bed and watch Zim sleep for another hour or two. It was a hard decision to make. He wanted to jump out of bed so he could stretch and grab a small bite to eat, but he also didn't want to wake Zim up from the first good sleep he had in the last 24 hours. The night before had been horrible. Zim had been tossing and turning through most of it. But now, Zim was completely still except for his antennae which twitched and curled every couple of seconds. Otherwise, he was curled up tightly against Dib's body, breathing easily.

Dib's second option won out as he settled back into the covers and held Zim tighter. The Irken stirred slightly but didn't wake up. If it weren't for Gir bursting into the room a few minutes later, Dib was sure he would have been stuck there for a fairly long time.

Zim came to with a jolt as the hyper active robot rocketed into the room with a loud squeal. The startled look on his face was quickly replaced with a pissed off look as soon as Gir began jumping up and down on the bed between Zim and Dib. "GIR! What is the meaning of this?!"

"MASTAH! Can you buy me some taquitos?!" he asked excitedly.

Zim gave him an unamused look. "And where do you expect me to get these taquitos?!"

"Ummm...Zim?" Dib tapped Zim's shoulder.

"WHAT?!" he asked frustrated. He turned to look where Dib was pointing. Almost instantly, his antennae perked up straight and eyes went wide when he saw what was right outside the window they had in their room.

Outside was a fairly large sized planet. It looked to be a reddish orange color and the surface seemed to glow brightly as though a huge light were shining down on it. But what really caught Dib's eye were all the small ships that seemed to be buzzing around outside, going to and from the planet. It certainly did seem quite busy.

"Oh, look. We're here already. That was fast." Zim stated blankly. They had only been traveling for a little over a month now. He couldn't believe they had come this far already.

"Where are we exactly?" Dib asked, wanting to know details of their whereabouts.

"Fleeria. It's one of the stops I programmed this ship to make. This planet is well known for being one of the biggest vacation spots in the universe, mainly because there are lots of shops and restaurants. Aliens come from everywhere just to spend a few days on the planet's surface. Not to mention, it's fairly cheap. I thought it would be the perfect spot to fuel up and grab any supplies we may need. And it's safe to assume we won't need any disguises. With so many tourists around it's a safe bet that most of them won't even notice us. They'll all be too caught up in shopping and eating. But the place is huge and crowded. I don't want you straying too far. It's too easy to get lost." Zim explained.

Dib couldn't help but smile wider and wider with each word out of the Irken's mouth, bouncing slightly in excitement. "REALLY?! We get to go down there?!" Dib asked excitedly.

Zim just waved off Dib's excitement with a hand. "Yes. Yes. But I'm serious about not getting lost. I don't want to have to go searching for you at the end of the day. Now, where did Gir go...OH!?" Zim suddenly scrambled back on the bed, the covers falling to his waist. Gir popped his head out from underneath the covers and smiled up at Zim. "GIR!" Zim screeched in anger. "DON'T TOUCH ME THERE! YOUR HANDS ARE FREEZING!"

"Aaawww...but I wanted to say hi to the baby!" Gir scrambled forward to sit better in Zim's lap so he could nuzzle the bulge under Zim's shirt. Zim winced a bit at the feeling of cold hands on his stomach again. "Hehehe..." the little SIR unit giggled. "It's moooooving!"

"Well, you can say hi to it after it's out of my body!" he tried to kick Gir away. Gir giggled once more before running out of the room to probably go wake up Gaz or something. Zim just shook his head and muttered something under his breath like "crazy robot" before flopping back down onto his back. It was going to be a long day.

Dib was too excited to stay in bed, so he took the opportunity to get up and get ready. After grabbing a quick something to eat, he proceeded to take a fast shower and grab a fresh pair of clothes to jump into.

Zim was much more sluggish in his movements. He spent at least another 15 minutes laying back in bed before finally deciding to get up and ready. Humans were so slow. Even with the head start, Zim was ready long before Dib. All he really had to do was pull on another uniform top and pair of pants. And while Membrane and Gaz got ready, he decided it must be safe enough to eat a little something before they left, however, he had the feeling they'd eat at a restaurant on the planet come nightfall.

When it seemed everybody was set to go, Zim spent a few minutes explaining a few things to them all. "I've set up trackers on all of you just in case. The booklets I gave to you are to help translate any of the signs you can't read, though most of it will be in Irken." he indicated to the small books he had handed the humans. "Now, there isn't much trouble you can get into on this planet but if you really need help, just push the button in the middle of the belts I've given you to wear. I've given you each a fair amount of monies to buy anything you think you'll need, but save some for later tonight when we eat. I want us to meet up as soon as it gets dark back in front of the ships. I only want to spend 18 hours at the most on the planet so make sure to keep track of the time. With that said, let's get going and have fun."

When everything was said and done, they split into two groups and headed down to the planet's surface using both Zim's and Tak's ships. For Dib, the planet was even more amazing up close. It was much busier than it looked from far away and the aliens he saw all around were unbelievable. Never in his life had he expected to see so many different species in one spot. Some were short, some were tall, some had fur, some had lots of legs or tentacles, and some had horns rather than antennae. The list could go on and on for hours. It was a lot to take in all at once. The only thing Dib was certain of was that their weren't many Irkens from what he could see.

As they came closer to the planet's surface, Dib had to redirect his attention back to Zim's ship. He didn't want to get lost before they even touched ground. Following Zim to a tall looking building that resembled an Earth parking garage, they set their ships down in two empty spaces they found next to each other. Being so small in comparison to some of the other ships around, it was an easy fit.

Once parked, they proceeded to all jump out into the dimly lit room. Zim led the way to the exit just to stop right before walking out. Dib stopped also, looking at Zim. "Why'd you stop? Something wrong?"

Zim waved off Dib's worry with one hand as he reached back to retrieve something from his PAK. "No. Nope. Just forgot to give you these." he produced four pairs of sunglasses. "This planet has two suns so it'd be best to protect your eyes either until they adjust to the lighting or it gets dark." he handed each of them a pair before putting on his own. His eyes were much more accustomed to adjusting to darkness rather than intense light.

Zim was right. Even with the sunglasses, the light was blinding. And the heat was no better. It felt like they were out in the middle of a desert, though one would never think that just by looking at it. The area was structured just like an outdoor market with lots of open booths, however, the place did have some city like qualities as well. Though not as many, there were some towering building like structures like the one they had come out of.

Unable to see too well at first, Dib clung to Zim as he led them through the crowds of active shoppers to a more open area. Zim stopped in the middle and turned back to them as soon as Dib had let go. "Alright. Here's where we can split up if you'd like. Just remember to meet back by the ships as soon as the second sun sets. It should be easy enough to find." he pointed to the building. "It's the tallest building around. So keep track of the time. It should be dark in about 12 hours." he said with a nod to assure himself.

Gir was the first to rocket off into the crowd with a squeal. "I'm gonna buy clothes for the baby!"

Zim called out after him. "Don't get lost, Gir!" though he wasn't sure if the insane robot had caught any of that as he sighed.

Gaz and Membrane wasted no time in wandering off to go do some shopping of their own. Although fascinated by all the alien life forms around, Membrane was more interested in tinkering around with some of the technology he found. Gaz was also caught up in her own search for some cool looking video games.

Dib preferred staying close to Zim and helping with some of the supplies. Dib wasn't much into shopping. Just getting to see all the different aliens and getting some sightseeing in was fine with him. Not to mention he got to spend some genuine alone time with Zim.

Zim didn't mind that at all. He was grateful for the help he was getting from Dib. The sooner they stocked up on supplies the sooner they could begin to have some fun. Just because they were on the run from the Irken Empire didn't mean they couldn't have at least a little fun. They were, after all, on one of the biggest vacation spots in the known universe.

It didn't take long at all to finish gathering supplies. After making a quick stop back at the ships to drop off a few things, they were on their way once more to look around. Zim already had a few plans in store for the boy and himself.

Dib was happy to do anything that involved Zim. Despite being known for being a shopping hot spot, that didn't mean the planet didn't have more to offer. Near the outer edge of the shopping area was what looked to be a mix between a carnival and amusement park. It had everything from rides to snacks to photo booths. Dib stared at it in awe. "Wow. I never thought we'd come across any planets so similar to Earth."

Zim scoffed a bit. "Pft! This is just a big tourist trap. The whole planet is. And trust me, Dib. All tourist traps in the known universe look the same. Most other planets won't be like this. Well, shall we?" he offered an arm to Dib, who happily accepted it and followed Zim in.

Zim easily dragged Dib to the first thing that caught his eye: a photo booth. Dib was a little reluctant at first about having his picture taken, but Zim wasn't about to let him get away. Dragging Dib in by his arm, Zim sat Dib down first so he could sit comfortably in Dib's lap. Dib allowed this as he wrapped arms around Zim from behind possessively and smiled. Next, Zim turned around in Dib's lap to straddle him a bit before turning his head back toward the camera and smirking. The next picture included him attacking Dib's mouth passionately as he ran a hand up Dib's shirt to pinch one of his nipples. Dib jumped and squeaked a little, blushing as Zim smiled against the kiss. The final picture had Zim just cuddling innocently up against Dib's body while putting unseen bunny ears on Dib from behind. Zim decided to keep that picture to himself as he giggled.

After getting a few copies of their pictures, Zim tugged Dib away from the photo booth to see if they could find a couple of rides that wouldn't make either of them sick to their stomachs. They weren't as lucky seeing as how most of them were roller coasters with lots of drops, turns, and spins. Normally, Zim would have been fine with those kind of rides, but lately the smeet had made him experience all sorts of motion sickness, even in his own ship. At most, they found at least two rides that were fairly slow and had few turns in them.

After exiting the drop off area of the second ride, they decided to check out a few laser shows. Time was passing much quicker than Dib expected it to. 12 hours seemed like a long day to him. "Hey, Zim? If it gets dark in 12 hours, then why are we staying 18 hours? Isn't it kind of weird to be walking around in the dark for six hours?" Dib asked as they continued walking through the park.

Zim turned and continued walking backwards so he could look at Dib as he answered. "Ah. Good question, Dib-stink. You see, since this planet has two suns, daytime lasts longer and nighttime is much shorter. There are 20 hours in a day and 4 hours at night. Unlike you humans, most species don't require sleep. So the place will be just as active during the night as it is during the day. Since we came in the middle of the day, we won't be leaving until about two hours after the first sun is up. That way you can see what the planet is like at night. It's quite different. I know it's a bit of a long day for you humans, but it will be worth it to stay awake. You can sleep after we return to the ship."

Dib nodded his head at that answer. "I see. Well I guess it will be worth it in the end. At least this means we'll have more time to spend together alone."

Zim nodded his head. "Good." he said as he went to take a seat on a bench. "Now, why don't you make yourself useful and get us some snacks?" he pointed to a few carts selling snack foods.

Dib pouted a bit at that. "Why don't you just come with me to get food?"

Zim smirked over at Dib. "No, thanks. Zim is fine right where he is. Besides, my feet hurt." he whined.

Dib just sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"

Zim seemed to think about that a moment. "How about some popcorn? Oh, and nachos too. And maybe a giant pretzel to go with it!" he said with a big smile.

"Geeze, that seems like a lot of food for somebody who couldn't even down a glass of orange juice this morning." Dib said in an unimpressed voice.

"Hey!" Zim said in a less amused tone. "It's not my fault! It's this damned smeet's! If it's not making me sick then it's making me hungry!" he pouted a bit at Dib.

"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry. I'll get you your food." Dib said raising his hands to show he meant no offense by what he said.

Good!" Zim said turning his head and crossing his arms across his chest, still a little pouty.

Dib returned a few minutes later carrying Zim's food and a little something for himself. Zim instantly grabbed his food from the boy and began stuffing his face. Dib just took a seat next to Zim and began eating his own food in silence.

After Dib finished up the nachos he'd bought for himself, he finally spoke up as Zim was finishing up his own food. "Hey, Zim. We've still got a few hours before we're supposed to meet up with Gaz and dad. After a few games here, what do you want to do?"

Zim just gave a small shrug. "I don't know. Look around, I guess."

Dib just looked down at the empty container his nachos had been in, scooping a finger through some left over cheese before bringing it to his mouth to taste. "Well, I've got an idea of what we could do, but you won't like it."

Zim finished the last of his food and sighed. "What is it?"

Dib seemed to hesitate a moment before answering. "Well...I was thinking about what Gir said earlier today before running off. Now that I think of it, I realize I didn't really pack anything we'll need for the baby after it gets here, like clothes or bottles or anything really. I thought maybe we could do some clothes shopping for the baby while we're here."

Zim sighed again. The Dib was right. Clothes shopping for the baby was one of the last things he wanted to do, but he had to admit Dib had a point. They had to at least get some supplies they'd be needing for the smeet. So without arguing, he simply agreed with the boy this time around. "Alright, Dib-beast. We can do that if you'd like, but first, let's check out some games." he smiled and pointed toward the game area.

Dib looked up at Zim instantly, a little surprised Zim had agreed so easily without a fight. "Really?! You're serious?! You're not going to complain or fight with me about it?! That's great, Zim! Thank you so much!" Dib hopped up from where he was sitting to hug Zim tightly.

Zim struggled a bit to try and get the boy off him. "Yes, yes. Zim is amazing. Now, let go. Zim can't breath with you clinging to him like this."

Dib obeyed, blushing and bringing a hand up to rub the back of his head. "Heh. Sorry. Guess I got a little over excited." he flashed the Irken a smile.

Zim took in a gulp of air before starting to make his way toward the games. "Just come on already."

Dib quickly followed after Zim, keeping close so he wouldn't get lost in the crowds of other aliens. Zim finally stopped in front of a booth with three targets in it. The point of the game was to hit all three with a laser gun to win a prize. It seemed simple enough. Putting some money down on the table, the bored looking alien behind the booth handed Zim a gun. "You have three chances to hit the targets. Good luck." he said with little enthusiasm.

Zim examined the gun a moment before deciding this would be far too easy for him. Taking aim, Zim fired his first shot just to have it swerve to the left at the last second, missing completely. "WHAT?! THAT WAS A PERFECT SHOT! HOW COULD IT MISS?!" he screeched.

"Oh. So close. But not close enough. You have two more tries." the alien said lazily.

Zim growled as he took aim again. The next shot ended the same as the last, missing by just a few centimeters. Zim's jaw just about hit the ground.

"You're down to your last try, sir. I suggest you don't miss." the alien said in a dull, uncaring voice.

A fire burned in Zim's eyes as he took his final shot without aiming, not caring where it hit. Once again it missed the target, not that Zim expected it to hit.

"I'm sorry, sir, but that was your last try. Next." he called as he could see a line forming behind Zim.

But Zim wouldn't be moved. "This gun is rigged! I want my monies back!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't give refunds. Now please move to the side or I'll be forced to call security. Other customers are waiting." the alien said, a little annoyed at the fact Zim wouldn't move.

No one saw it coming but in a flash Zim had hurled out three of his spider legs and shot lasers at the targets, completely destroying them. The alien behind the booth had fallen back. completely terrified now as Zim loomed over him. "See that?" he pointed to the remains. "That's going to be your head in a second if you don't give me back my monies."

Voice shaking in fear, the alien did his best to respond. "S...sure! H...Here's your monies back! Just please don't hurt me!" he begged as he handed over Zim's money.

Zim pulled back his spider legs after receiving his money back and looking around. "You know, I DID hit all three targets." he gave the alien an expectant look.

The alien scooted back more to huddle in on himself in one of the back corners of the booth. "T...Take whatever you want! Just spare me!"

Zim smiled, pleased with that answer. Taking a giant stuffed animal that looked like a space bunny and a pair of fake antennas that bounced when you walked, he led Dib away, perfectly happy now. Hugging the stuffed animal tightly once, he turned back to place the face antennae on Dib. "There! Now I won't be so embarrassed to be seen walking around with you." he teased the human, who pouted horribly at the other as they left the amusement park.

After a quick stop at the ships to drop off Zim's prize, the couple were on their way back into the shopping area to locate anywhere that looked like it sold clothes. As they strolled through the crowds at a slow pace, Dib took the opportunity to reach down between them and link his fingers in Zim's. Zim's antennae perked slightly at the small gesture before a small smile came to his face. He knew this was Dib's way of showing affection despite everything that had happened between them. Despite how much Zim loved every second of it, it still felt weird. It seemed that lately Zim had been the only one trying to keep their relationship going through kissing. The Dib hadn't kissed him once in the time they had been traveling through space. He barely even returned the ones Zim tried to place on him. Perhaps it felt weird for the boy knowing Zim couldn't love him. All Zim could do was embrace what affections he did receive from the boy and return as much as he could even if it wasn't exactly what he wanted. So in return for the way Dib had taken his hand, he pulled the boy closer as they walked, swinging their hands slightly.

Dib smiled more at the way Zim pulled him closer. Tilting his head slightly against Zim's, he relaxed. This was nice. It wasn't that he didn't want to kiss Zim. On the contrary, he really did, but he also wanted to hear those three words before he could continue any farther. He didn't want to hurt whenever he kissed Zim. He wanted it to feel real. Caring wasn't enough. He wanted genuine love.

Without even realizing it, Zim wrapped his antennae around the fake ones on Dib's head. Although it was obvious they were fake, linking antennae wasn't something one normally did in public, especially for Irkens. It was the equivalent of having sex. But Zim seemed so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice some of the looks they were given by some of the other shoppers. Being completely oblivious to this fact, Dib didn't seem to notice either. But this act meant more to Zim than Dib would ever know.

They hadn't had sex in over a month and that fact made them both a bit edgy at times. They shared a bed, but that's as far as things went between them. But they were doing better every day still, their relationship strengthening with every day they came closer to becoming parents. It was the only part of their relationship that felt real. In a moment of what Dib felt was genuine love, they had created something beautiful that would be the bond they'd share forever.

After about another half hour of searching, they came across a store that looked promising in providing them with what they needed. Pulling Dib out of the crowds of staring eyes, they entered a small building that was off to the side. A small bell sounded as they entered, making Zim jump slightly. The place was well air conditioned compared to the hot air outside. It was a nice relief for Dib, but Zim shivered as he pulled away from Dib to put his sunglasses back on. The store was more designed to sell uniforms and different types of space suits for those going on deep space expeditions. They'd have to ask whoever ran the store where they kept the children's clothes, if they even carried any. The very thought had Zim shrinking back behind Dib as if to hide.

Noticing Zim's odd behavior, Dib turned to give him a slightly concerned look. "What is it? Something wrong?"

Zim looked around cautiously before answering. "Maybe this was a bad idea. Let's go before anyone sees us." he tried to tug Dib back outside but the human stayed rooted to his spot.

"What?!" he said incredulously as he stared back at the Irken in shock. "But we just got here and you promised you would do this with me! Besides, we agreed that we needed to get clothes for the baby. What better time than now?"

Zim whined when he couldn't move the boy from his spot. "But Diiiiib...Can't we just get your sister to do it? Or even better, let's get Gir to do it!"

Dib couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What makes you think Gaz would do us any favors? And would you honestly trust Gir running such an errand? He'd probably eat them or something!" Zim's silence was enough to tell him he was right. Sighing gently, he took up both of Zim's hands again so he could kiss the knuckles tenderly. "Now, come on and tell me what's really wrong." he said again as he ran his thumbs over the areas he had just kissed.

Zim was a little surprised by Dib's actions. Peeling his eyes away from his hands, which Dib continued to hold, he brought them up to meet the taller human's amber eyes. After a bit of hesitation on his part, Zim finally spoke. "Doesn't this seem a little suspicious? I mean, a pregnant Irken and human walking into a store looking for baby clothes. Not to mention, two MALES, looking for baby clothes. Just because I said we didn't need disguises doesn't mean there aren't people on the lookout for us. News travels fast in space. No doubt the Tallest have sent out a notice to look for us. Coming in here is just like saying, 'Yes, I am Zim. Turn me in to the Tallest.' It's not every day a pregnant, male Irken walks into a store looking for baby clothes. It just all seems a bit too obvious to me." he said, his eyes pleading with the boy to leave.

For just a moment, Dib saw something in those pleading eyes, saying what the Irken wouldn't admit, couldn't admit out loud for fear of causing harm to the other. But it was there. The same look he had received from the Irken so many months ago. And in that instant, Dib felt fine doing what he was about to do.

Bringing a hand up to Zim's chin, he tilted Zim's head up enough to press his own lips to the Irken's, gently but passionately. There was no hurt. No emptiness. It felt real.

Zim was thrown completely off guard by the kiss, the first real kiss Dib had given him in a long time. Zim recovered quickly, putting everything he could into the kiss despite how short lived it was. He wasn't sure when the next time Dib would kiss him would be, so he wanted to make this one count. He kissed back almost desperately, as though it were the last one they would ever share. Unfortunately, it wasn't as long as Zim would have liked.

Dib pulled away far too quickly, keeping one hand on Zim's cheek, his eyes never leaving the Irken's. "Zim, we have to do this. We'll be fine. We can just tell the store owner that the clothes are for my sister. Besides, it's not that noticeable. Unless they looked you over closely, I bet most people would never even guess you were pregnant."

Zim just let his eyes drop to the ground. "You're just saying that to make me feel better..."

Dib tightened his hold on the Irken's hand to try and grasp back the other's attention. "No, I'm serious, Zim. You look great. I can hardly even tell that you're pregnant." he smiled lightly at Zim.

Zim brought his eyes back up to meet Dib's again. "You really think so?"

Dib just laughed a bit. "Yes! I promise, Zim. It's hardly noticeable."

Zim finally smiled back, nodding his head reassuringly. "Alright, Dib. If you say so."

Before Dib could say anymore, there came the sound of somebody clearing their throat from behind them. They both turned quickly to come face to face with a medium sized Irken. Like many Irkens, he had red eyes, though they were a darker shade than Zim's. They were a burnt red with little shine to them and his antennae were slightly thicker than Zim's.

Zim instantly shrunk back behind Dib, using the sunglasses to hide the color of his own eyes. He'd hate to be recognized by another Irken. Dib was a little surprised. This was the first Irken he had seen all day other than Zim.

Finally, the Irken addressed them both in a friendly voice. "I'm sorry that took me so long. I was helping another customer. So what can I help you with?"

Zim remained silent so Dib finally spoke up. "We're looking for smeet clothes. Do you sell any here?"

The Irken seemed a bit surprised by the question at first as he examined the two closely. Smeet clothes? That was an odd request. What an odd couple. He didn't even think he had ever seen any species quite like Dib. And Irken's very rarely formed relationships with other species. Giving Zim another look up and down, something seemed to click in his mind as his eyes landed on Zim's stomach. "Oh! Well, we've got some near the back of the store." he pointed to a small section in the far back corner of the store. "Just call me if you need anything and bring anything you want to purchase to the front desk."

Dib thanked him once before dragging Zim with him to the area they had been pointed towards. It was a very small section with not many choices, but they'd just have to make do with what they could find. Dib was the first to start looking through what they had, Zim following suite after a few moments.

Dib looked over at Zim a moment as he shifted through a few things. "Go ahead and get whatever you want."

Zim paid Dib very little mind as he continued his search. "There isn't anything in here that I really do want. It's not a very good selection."

Zim was right. Dib didn't even know what the baby was going to look like. He had no idea what would look good and what wouldn't. Hell, they didn't even know if it was going to be a girl or a boy! Finally, Zim pulled out a pink shirt with the Irken symbol in purple on it.

"So, you think it's going to be a girl?" he said, pointing to the shirt Zim was holding.

Zim gave Dib a confused look as he raised an antennae curiously. "What? What makes you think that?"

Dib suddenly remembered that a lot of Irkens, male and female, seemed to wear pink. In fact, Zim was even wearing a pink striped shirt under his red uniform top right now. "Never mind. Just keep looking."

Zim continued to stare at Dib a few moments longer before turning to continue his search. After a couple minutes in complete silence, Zim finally spoke up again. "Sooo...What do you want it to be?"

Dib stopped his searching again to really think about that. "Well...I wouldn't mind having a little girl but then again, I always thought having a son would be nice too. I guess I'd be happy either way. How about you? What do you think it will be?"

Zim didn't have to think about that for very long. "Well, at the moment all I want is for it to be out of my body but if I had to guess the sex, I'd guess male"

Dib raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?"

Zim pulled out another shirt, looked it over, shook his head, then put it back to look through the rest. "Females are rare on Irk. Males make up the majority of the planet's population."

Dib nodded his head slightly. "I see. Well, I wish we knew for sure. It would make shopping for clothes a lot easier."

"Try looking for clothes that match either the color of your eyes or mine. Irken's usually wear clothes that match their eyes in some way. Gender doesn't really play a big role in what colors they wear. And I'll bet you a million monies that it will either have your eyes, mine, or something in between." Zim pulled out another top, this time red with a black spiral design in the middle. Setting it down with the other shirt he had found, he moved onto a section that mainly made up pajamas.

As crazy as it sounded to Dib, it actually made sense in a weird way. Why he had never noticed that fact before was beyond him. Taking Zim's advice, he soon came across two shirts he thought looked good. One was a light greenish color with a light purple outline of a shooting star on it. It was also really soft and fuzzy. The other one was similar. It was a very dark shade of blue with a big yellow star in the middle. The material was silkier and even came with a pair of matching blue pants.

Adding those to the growing pile of clothes, he moved over to look through the pajamas with Zim. Zim had already decided on a pair of footy pajamas that were the same shade of green Dib had found in that one shirt, but he wanted to get a couple more before they left. Dib quickly found a pair that matched his own eyes. They were a dark orange color with yellow trimmings. Zim picked out one last pair of pajamas that included a black top and pants with silver lining the edges and a cluster of stars surrounding one central star in the middle.

Satisfied with what they had found, they carried the pile of clothes up to the front desk. The Irken smiled and started to look over the things they had brought him to ring up. "Glad to see you found what you were looking for."

Dib nodded and smiled politely. "Thanks. They're really for my sister. She'll be so happy to see we actually found some smeet clothes for her."

"I bet." he said as he calculated the price and put everything into a bag for them.

Dib paid quickly and they were on their way once more. The Irken behind the desk watched as they disappeared into the crowd of active shoppers before smirking to himself and pulling out a small communicator. "Put me through to the Tallest."

ONE MONTH EARLIER-MASSIVE

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT AWAY?! YOU IDIOTIC FOOLS!" Red raged as the frightened crew members of the Massive cowered in fear. "We gave you one simple task and that was to make sure Zim didn't leave the planet, but you couldn't even manage that! How did we end up with such a useless crew?!" Purple just sat back watching in amusement as he snacked on some donuts a service drone had brought him.

"We're sorry, sirs, but he was using some large Vortian ship with a highly modified propulsion system." the leader of the group tried to beg for forgiveness. "Please, my Tallest. We'll do better next time. We promise."

Tallest Red didn't seem at all convinced as he glared down upon them in the most intimidating way he could. Purple just let out an amused sound as he finished off the last of his donuts before rising to his feet so he could make his way over to Red. "Of course they'll do better next time..." he started as he slipped long, lengthy arms around Red from behind. "...because if they don't, we have every right to kill them." he purred as he licked up one of Red's antennae.

Red's antennae twitched slightly before relaxing at the feeling of Purple's mouth on the sensitive appendage, his eyes also slipping halfway closed as he hummed a gentle moan in the back of his throat. "Yes, I suppose you're right..." he said in a much calmer voice now, though the subject at hand had the crew members still cowering in fear.

"Besides" Purple reminded him. "If we kill them now, then there wouldn't be anyone left to bring me my snacks."

All Red could do at this point was heave out a sigh. "Fine. I'll give them one more chance for you but if they fail again, we'll be getting a new crew." he said as he eyed them closely. "Now, I want a notification sent out to all other planets you can think of, informing the inhabitants that Zim is on the loose. Anybody that sees him but fails to report it to us immediately shall be killed, and there will be a reward of 10,000 monies to the first one who contacts us with his whereabouts. Understood?"

All the shorter Irkens onboard instantly saluted and hurried to do exactly what their leader had ordered before they go in even more trouble.

PRESENT TIME-FLEERIA

"It's true, my Tallest! He just waltzed into my store no more than ten minutes ago, bought some smeet clothes, and walked back out. He had some odd species of alien I had never seen before with him and he seemed really nervous about being here." the store owner said excitedly.

"And you're absolutely sure it was him and not someone else? You can say with 100 accuracy that Zim is on that planet?" Red said as he stared into the other Irken's eyes in all seriousness.

The store owner seemed to hesitate momentarily before finally nodding at the image of Tallest Red on his communicator. "Yes, my Tallest. I'm sure of it. But I can't say for sure how long he'll actually be on the planet."

"Hmmm... I see. We'll send somebody out there right away to check things out. If we do find and capture Zim near that area, we'll be sure to send you your reward." Red nodded toward him.

"Thank you, my Tallest. I-" the store clerk began before a bell rang in the background. "Excuse me a moment, my Tallest. A customer just walked in." he turned to face the front desk but saw nobody.

Leaning forward more over the side of the desk, he looked around in confusion. He was sure he had just heard someone walk in. When no one was in sight, he turned back to face the Tallest before hearing a child like, almost robotic voice. "Scuse me."

The store owner turned quickly to look around again. That's when he saw a hand raised in front of the desk, trying to get his attention. Leaning over once more, he looked down this time to see who the owner of the hand and voice was. Standing in front of the desk was what looked to be a small SIR unit covered in some sticky, purple goop. The Irken behind the counter just blinked at the odd looking SIR unit. Without warning, the little robot screeched out in a high pitched voice and waved. "HI!"

It had both the Irken and Tallest clapping hands over their antennae to block out his voice. After regaining his composure somewhat, the store Irken addressed him unsurely. "Ummm...Can I help you?"

"Do you sell baby clothes?!" the robot screeched again.

The Irken simply nodded his head. "Yeah. They're in the back." he pointed towards the very back of the store.

"YAY!" The android screamed before rocketing to the back of the store and grabbing what he could carry. In a matter of seconds, he was back at the front of the store, placing everything he had grabbed on the counter. "I'd like to buy these, please! Master's having a baby and I wanted to buy the baby a present!" he said, handing the Irken some money that he had grabbed out of his head. It also seemed to be covered in whatever the SIR unit had on himself.

Making a slightly disgusted face as he took the money from the small bot, the Irken began ringing things up, hoping to get the small SIR unit out of his store as soon as possible. While the store owner was busy looking through the things at the front desk, the small SIR unit took to looking around the store some more. It was during that time that something behind the store owner caught his eye. In a flash, he was rocketing up to the small communicator right behind the Irken and hovering close in front of it. Thrusting a finger in the Tallest's direction, he began screaming in an excited tone once more. "Hey, I know you! You's the really tall people that were gonna get me my taquitos! You gots my taquitos yet?!"

Tallest Red fell back in a bit of shock at having the SIR unit's head invading the screen suddenly. Purple caught Red before he hit the floor, the both of them looking back up at the little nuisance on screen. "Hey! Isn't that Zim's stoopid little robot thing?" Purple asked, pointing back at the small android.

Red nodded his head a bit. "Yeah, I think it is." he said, slowly getting back to his feet.

"That means Zim really is there." Purple said, an evil smile making its way onto his face. Red couldn't help but smile also. This just made things far too easy for them.

Before they could discuss the topic farther however, the store owner grabbed the SIR unit from behind and began struggling to pry the little robot off the screen, apologizing to his leaders all the while. "I'm terribly sorry for all of this, my Tallest. Please excuse me. I'll have him out of here in just moment." his voice went from panicked to strained as he continued tugging at the SIR unit's arms, just wanting to kick him out already along with his bags. Finally pulling the little robot free of the communicator and over to the front door, he did his best to gain control of the squirming SIR unit as he reached for the robot's things.

"No, wait a minute!" Purple called out before the Irken could even get the front door open.

The store owner turned back towards the communicator, seemingly confused. "My Tallest?" he asked in an unsure voice, still holding the hyper robot.

Red just continued to smile a big, toothy grin. "Don't throw him out quite yet. He could prove useful."

The Irken in the store just stood there blinking in even more confusion. "I don't follow."

"Well," Red began. "Zim's going to have to go searching for his stoopid, little robot eventually and when he does, we'll just make sure to have a trap set for him. We'll send a team out there right now to prepare. He won't get away this time. It shouldn't take him too long to realize he's missing the stoopid thing." he said, his eyes shifting back to the giggling SIR unit. "Hey, guess what, little guy. If you promise to stay in that store there, we'll send you all the taquitos you can eat. Now how does that sound?" Red said to Gir in the most convincing voice he could.

Gir's eyes just grew large in wonder. "Really?" he asked in a somewhat dreamy voice.

Red had to hold back the laughter he so wanted to let out as he answered. "Yeah. Really. But you have to stay where you are, okay?"

Gir instantly let out a loud squeal of joy. "Okie dokie!"

Red smiled even more at that answer. He loved when plans came together. With that, he cut the transmission.

Things were working out perfectly. With little to no difficulty, Zim and Dib had been able to successfully meet up with Gaz and Membrane for dinner just as they had planned. As Membrane rambled on to Dib about what he and Gaz had done during the day, Zim was more than happy to just cuddle up against Dib at the booth table they were seated at. As Dib listened intently to everything his father had to tell him, he let one hand stray away to Zim's antennae, rubbing one of the thin appendages gently as he let Zim relax against him.

The Irken let his heavy eyelids slip all the way closed as he just enjoyed the utter bliss he was in at the moment. Letting the gentlest of purrs permeate from his being, he twitched one antennae in a plea for touch. Never looking away from his father who sat across from him at the table, Dib was easily able to switch antennae, much to Zim's delight.

Membrane seemed fairly intrigued by Zim's reactions as he continued talking, his eyes never leaving the thin appendage between Dib's fingers. He had always found it fascinating what an effect touching them could have on Zim. The Irken always seemed so calm and relaxed whenever Dib touched them. He wished he could study them closer, but that prospect was highly unlikely at this point in time. So he just went on about his day, telling Dib about the mechanical devices he had been able to look at and buy, all the while hypnotized by the movements of Zim's antennas.

Finally pulling his eyes away to smile back at Dib, he finished up what he was saying. "And that's pretty much all we did. So tell me, Dib. How was your day? What did you do during that time?" he asked, all his attention suddenly focused on Dib.

Blinking a few times, Dib began telling Membrane about his and Zim's day after only a moment of silence. "Well, let's see. Not too much. We bought some supplies for the ship, went to a carnival type place, and did a bit of clothes shopping. That's about it." he said shrugging slightly.

The last thing Dib said, however, had raised Membrane's interest slightly. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he continued to question Dib. "Oh? Well did you find anything good?"

"Yeah, a few things. They're for the baby actually, though a few may be a bit big at first." he said, moving his hands away from Zim's antennae so he could bend over to grab the bags sitting underneath the table.

The sudden loss of touch had Zim letting out a whine as he squirmed more against Dib, his eyes finally opening up to see what had interrupted his soothing antennae massage. He pouted a bit more when he saw Dib showing Membrane the smeet clothes they had bought earlier. What was the deal with humans and baby clothes? Letting out a slightly aggravated breath, he leaned back low in his seat, crossing his arms across his chest as he pouted.

Noticing Zim's sudden bad mood, Dib leaned down slightly to whisper something into the other's antennae. "What's wrong? What did I do this time?"

Rather than answering, Zim simply turned his head to the side so he could glare at the wall in a child like fashion. Dib simply stared a moment before letting a smirk make its way onto his face. He knew exactly what Zim wanted. Bringing both his arms down under the table to wrap around Zim's waist, he pulled the Irken closer so he could dip his head low to nuzzle his neck gently. Zim's eye went wide before shooting Dib a hard glare, the boy's breath on his skin sending shivers through his body. Ignoring the fact that his father and sister were sitting right there, Dib continued teasing the skin on Zim's neck, smiling against it before lightly grazing his teeth over the sensitive skin there.

Zim's glare softened almost the second Dib began nibbling at his neck, his eyes closing in pleasure once more. He had to bite down on his bottom lip just to keep back the moans he wanted to let out in that moment. Needless to say he had already been pretty horny from Dib touching his antennae so much, but now Dib was making it all the worse. He had to hold himself back from pressing his arousal up against Dib's leg at that moment. Thankfully, a waiter came up to their table to take their orders before they could go too much farther. Zim was all around relieved. He wasn't sure how much longer he would have lasted. If they hadn't stopped right at that moment, he was sure he would have had Dib pinned against the table underneath him.

Turning his attention to the waiter standing in front of them, Zim began ordering food for all of them. He wasn't sure what foods would be human safe at this point so he stuck with ordering a variety of different Irken dishes as well as some snack foods just in case the Irken food didn't sit well with the humans. For drinks, he just told the waiter to bring them four Irken sodas. All he knew for sure was that he wasn't going to be eating human food tonight. He had been craving some genuine Irken food that wasn't snacks for the longest time. He figured whatever they didn't finish, they could just bring back with them as leftovers. No doubt Zim would eat it the next time he had a late night craving. Human food was okay, but after 5 years of having to live off nearly the same meals every day, he could hardly stand it anymore.

Fidgeting in his chair slightly as he waited for the minutes that seemed like hours to pass, he nearly squeed with joy when he saw their waiter returning with at least five different order of Irken food, followed by another waiter carrying the snacks to their table. Zim clapped his hands together happily and began digging into his food the second it was in front of him, all the while explaining what each dish was through mouthfuls of food. Deciding to at least try some of the food set in front of them, the humans added a few scoops of the alien food onto their plates along with some snacks.

Dib, still a little full from his nachos earlier, decided to play it safe and try the four most promising looking. Giving each a try, he found only one that didn't suite his taste. After a moment of no weird side effects, Gaz and Membrane concluded it was safe enough to eat. Membrane took to trying the three dishes Dib seemed to be alright with while Gaz just proceeded to try all of them, not particularly picky when it came to food. She was too busy concentrating on her new game at the moment to really care anyways.

After everybody had gotten their fill of food, they asked for something to carry the rest in so they could pack it into the ship for later consumption. Paying for their meals and getting their food back, they headed out into the crowded areas once more. Agreeing once again on a time to meet back at the ships, they went their separate ways, wandering off into the darkness that now surrounded them. Zim and Dib had agreed to drop off the food in the ship before beginning their own plans for the night, doing so quickly before the night was over. Zim estimated they had somewhere between 2 1/2 -3 hours left before the first sun came up and he wanted to make the most of it.

The crowds had thinned out considerably compared to how they had been earlier that day. Although still active, the majority of the shoppers had dispersed to find other things they could do with their time. Some had checked into hotels where they could enjoy the luxury of sleep while others were out partying in some of the buildings that remained opened to the public for the night. Although shopping still continued for some, a good portion of the booths selling different items had closed down for the remainder of the night.

The places left open for further exploration were brightly lit with all sorts of fluorescent lights that seemed to draw customers in like flies to a fly trap. At least, that's how Dib felt as Zim tugged him along in search of a fairly isolated place to sit back and relax. Heading in the opposite direction of most of the crowd, Zim lead Dib for nearly 45 minutes before finally coming to a stop in front of what could be considered the equivalent of an ice-cream parlor and cafe joined together in one building. Although a bit big to be either back on Earth, the place was fairly empty with only a few other customers enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the place.

Upon entering, one could easily see the inside was primarily a spacious single roomed lounge with possibly a small back room for employees only. The structure of the main room wasn't too fancy as it was designed more for comfort than anything else. With a few Vortian couches and tables spread apart from each other throughout most of the room, it was the perfect place for a group of friends to just come hang out and talk for a while without disturbing any of the other guests. Zim thought the place was fitting considering he had just wanted to get away from Dib's sister and father back at that restaurant to be alone with Dib.

Pulling Dib over to a couch sitting in one of the far corners of the room separated from everybody else present, Zim impatiently tugged Dib down on top of him, wanting the human more and more with each passing second. Nobody else seemed to pay them much mind as they continued on with their conversations in quiet, the only other sound in the room being some faint elevator type music close to the one Zim played in his own base's elevator.

Dib was less enthusiastic as he did his best to push himself away from the Irken underneath him. "Wait a second, Zim." he said, sitting up so he was straddling Zim now.

Zim instinctually let out a small whine as he tried to pull the human back down to run his hands up under Dib's shirt. "I caaan't. I feel like I'm gonna explode if I wait any longer."

Dib merely reached down gently to pull Zim's hands away, his eyes meeting Zim's desperate eyes. "Can't this at least wait until we get back to the ship?"

Such a response from Dib had Zim pulling him just that much closer to bury his face in the boy's hair. That was not the response he had wanted to hear from Dib. "No! I've waited long enough already. I need this NOW!" he mumbled against the mess of hair.

Dib pulled away to give the other an incredulous face as he lowered his voice to a whisper now. "But we can't just have sex in a public place!"

Zim just dismissed that reply with a wave of his hand. "Sure we can! We can do it behind the couch or something." he said in a matter of fact kind of way.

Dib couldn't believe what he was hearing as he sat back up all the way. "No way, Zim! There's no way in hell you're getting me to have sex with you in public."

Zim just continued to stare back up at the human, blinking his eyes a few times in the bit of silence that followed shortly after. "Then can we go back to the ships and do it?" he asked.

Dib gave Zim an awkward look that screamed 'You're kidding, right?' after the other had asked that question. "NO!" he finally said firmly as he pulled himself off of Zim to sit next to, rather than on top of, the Irken.

Zim let his head fall back against the couch as he let out a frustrated sound. "But I'm dying here!"

Dib ignored that as he crossed his arms, glaring away from Zim, every once in a while letting his gaze wander in Zim's direction momentarily before returning to its original location. "I think you'll live until we're back on the ship. For now, just sit back and relax. We only have a few more hours to wait before meeting back up with dad and Gaz to leave."

Zim huffed out an annoyed breath before finally sitting up himself to pout at Dib. "Fine! I'm getting some drinks." he mumbled that last part more to himself than Dib before getting up to walk across the room to a small stand that a young male Vortian was running.

He was passing out drinks and other little treats to some of the other customers. Dib watched as Zim made his way over to order something. The Vortian smiled as Zim held up two fingers while speaking before pointing a thumb back in Dib's direction then throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. Dib couldn't hear a thing Zim said but whatever he told the Vortian had him laughing before handing Zim the two drinks. Zim returned a few moments later after exchanging a few more words with the Vortian, carrying two steaming cups of some turquoise colored liquid topped with what looked like whipped cream. Dib eyed the thick substance lightly bubbling in the cup when Zim passed it to him.

"Here. Try it. If you don't like it, I'll drink the rest." he said, taking a seat next to Dib on the couch.

Dib looked it over skeptically as he tried to figure out whether it might be toxic to him. Zim had already downed a good portion of his, inhaling deeply before exhaling and fanning his tongue a bit. He had burned it from drinking just a little too fast. Blowing on his first to make sure he didn't suffer the same fate, Dib finally brought the cup to his lips to taste. He figured he might as give it a try since he had already survived four types of Irken food today. What would one drink hurt?

Sipping idly at the contents of the cup, he found the substance was actually really sweet. It reminded him a lot of hot chocolate only with a strong peppermint taste. That didn't last long however as it was soon followed by a somewhat bitter aftertaste. He didn't complain though as he leaned back more in his seat. "Mmmm...Hey, this is pretty good. A bit of a strong flavor but good." he said, smiling back at Zim.

The Irken offered him a toothy grin as he continued drinking his own beverage at a slightly slower pace this time. Not wanting to get a mouthful of the bitter aftertaste, Dib continued sipping his at a sluggish rate compared to Zim. After a few moments of shared silence between the two occupants, Zim got up once again to purchase another sweet drink for himself. "Just one more. Then I'll be good." he said to Dib before leaving to get what he wanted.

Dib just nodded as Zim left, a minute passing before he returned once more with his prize, happily climbing back onto the couch and curling up against Dib as he enjoyed his treat. He loved the warm, fuzzy feeling that traveled through his body before settling in the pit of his squeedly spooch. It made him just want to climb into a warm bed with lots of soft covers and fall asleep. But for the moment he guessed he'd just have to settle with cuddling up against Dib for warmth as he let his eyes slip closed to rest.

Sensing Zim's relaxed state, Dib shifted slightly to a more comfortable position, resting a cheek against the top of the Irken's head. "Tired?" he asked to see if the Irken was still awake or not.

Zim remained perfectly still, never opening either of his eyes as he responded. "No, I'm just resting my eyes." he said as he did his best to stifle the yawn he wanted to let out.

Dib didn't buy that for a second as he shifted more so Zim could rest more comfortably against him. "Ya know, if you want, you can go ahead and get some sleep. I don't mind. I'll wake you up a little before sunrise."

Zim was already losing consciousness as he hummed out a "Hmmm..." before finally succumbing to the darkness taking hold of him.

Dib smiled to himself lightly as Zim's breaths became slow and steady in his unconscious state. Setting both his and Zim's drinks aside so they wouldn't spill, Dib slipped his arms protectively around Zim to hold the alien tightly. Letting his eyes wander to each alien in the room, Dib felt his eyelids growing heavy as his gaze finally settled back on Zim. He could see the darkness settling at the edges of his eyes with each blink before his vision finally blurred as he was swept away by a dreamless sleep.

Blinking his eyes open slowly, Dib began to piece things back together in his mind. He was a bit disoriented at first but when he finally remembered where exactly they were, he sat up straighter with a jolt. How long had he been asleep for?! Quickly directing his gaze to one of the windows in the establishment, he sighed in a bit of relief when he saw it was still dark out. Looking around once more, he noticed that most of the other aliens from earlier had left. Only that Vortian passing out drinks and another group of about three conversing aliens remained. Otherwise the place was pretty empty.

Zim stirred slightly, still curled up asleep only with his head now resting in Dib's lap. deciding it would probably be best that they be on their way as well, Dib reached down to lightly shake the Irken in an attempt to wake him. "Zim...Zim...Wake up...It's almost morning."

Zim shifted some more in his sleep, his antennae twitching slightly. "Hmmm??" he sounded out before opening his eyes slowly. "What time is it?" he asked before sitting up with a yawn and rubbing one of his eyes.

Dib shrugged, getting to his feet as soon as Zim had moved away. "I don't know, but most of the aliens from earlier have left. I think we should go too. We can watch the sunrise and shop around a bit more before we leave if you want."

Zim nodded and stretched his arms from his place on the couch. "Whatever sounds good to you."

Dib gave a good stretch of his own, cracking his back slightly. Universe's most comfortable couch or not, it still wasn't the best place to fall asleep, especially when sitting up. "Well, for starters, getting up sounds like a pretty good idea to me."

Zim continued to sit there blinking his eyes to readjust to the lighting in the room. "Alright. Just let me..." his sentence trailed off as he shifted to his stomach on the couch so he could grab the drinks Dib had set aside, which just happened to be on the ground since they weren't near any tables. The no longer steaming drinks were slightly warm still but not as warm as Zim would have liked. Shrugging that off, he downed the rest of his then Dib's since it was still mostly full. "Alright, I'm good." he said as he got back to his feet just to sway a little bit before stumbling into Dib.

The human boy helped steady Zim as he buried his face back in Dib's shirt. "Are you alright, Zim?" Dib asked, his facial expression a little worried.

A little muffled by Dib's shirt, Zim gave his response. "Zim is just fine, Earth filth." he answered groggily.

Pulling Zim away from his shirt gently, Dib gave him a more serious stare. "Exactly what was in those drinks anyways?" he said, holding Zim upright so he could look Dib in the eyes.

Zim was slow to respond as he seemed to think about it, blinking in an almost confused fashion. "Mmmm...A few Vortian ingredients, maybe some Irken alcohol."

"WHAT?!" Dib exclaimed, shaking the Irken a bit. "How much Irken alcohol?!"

Zim's head lolled a bit as he was shook by Dib. No longer looking at Dib, he let his eyes stray to the side momentarily to think before answering. "About half the drink, maybe."

Dib stopped shaking Zim to just stare at him in a bit of shock. Then he spoke up again in an angry voice. "Damnit, Zim! Do you have any idea how bad that is for the baby?!" he yelled at the Irken, but Zim was fairly out of it as he leaned up against Dib for extra support. Letting out a defeated sigh, Dib began leading Zim towards the exit. "Come on. Let's get you back to the ships."

The walk back to the ships was long and tiresome. Half leading and half dragging a close to unconscious Zim through the crowds of aliens proved to be even more difficult than the last time Zim had gotten drunk. (See Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness Chapter 10) Thankfully the sun had risen shortly after they had left, the golden rays illuminating the parking structure in the distance. It was the only way Dib would have been able to find his way back. He reached the building with about an hour and 15 minutes left to spare.

He contemplated whether he should just take Zim back to one of the ship to wait for his father and sister or continue to drag Zim around with him as he shopped in that general region. He was slightly curious as to whether he could find anything of interest to buy in any of the booths. It was a hard decision to make but he finally decided to just carry Zim around with his as he shopped. Pulling Zim onto his back piggy back style, Dib carried Zim around to different booths and shops.

Zim gave a small sound of protest at being carried like that, telling Dib he could walk on his own. "M'awake. I can walk." his voice was slurred a bit as he tried to climb off Dib's back. The second he dismounted however, he lost his balance and fell back on his ass. "Ouch." he said lazily as Dib helped him back to his feet.

"Face it, Zim. You're way too drunk to walk on your own right now." he said, pulling Zim into his arms. Wrapping one of Zim's arms around his neck and one of his own arms around Zim's waist, Dib helped steady Zim enough to walk through the crowds of shopper since he refused to be carried.

Looking through all the merchandise being sold in all the booths, Dib finally came across something he thought would be useful. It was a small watch with the names of several different planets on it. By setting the watch to one of the planets, the time for that specific planet would show up on the watch. Pulling out the last of the money Zim had given him for the day, Dib happily purchased it before heading back to the ships with a very grumpy Irken at his side.

With some of the effects of the alcohol wearing off, other side effects took their place. Gaining back a bit of his coordination, Zim was able to walk straighter though he continued to cling to Dib tightly, digging his claws into Dib's arm as he tried to block out the noise of the other shoppers. The vibrations reaching his sensitive antennae from the crowds of shoppers were giving him a terrible headache. Without the luxury of real sleep, he'd have to suffer through the pain until his PAK started administering painkillers to help deal with it. Leaning heavily against Dib while they waited for Gaz and Membrane, Zim tried to hide away from the rest of the outside world by pulling part of Dib's shirt over his head.

Fortunately Gaz and Membrane arrived about 15 minutes earlier than their planned departure time. Wanting nothing more than to just get away from the noisy planet, Zim urged the humans to hurry up to the ships. He desperately wanted to just climb back into bed and get some sleep until this headache left.

Dib was a little worried at first about Zim's flying abilities. "Zim, are you sure you're okay to fly right now?"

Zim couldn't help but let out an irritated sound at the question. "Yes! Yes! Zim in fine! Let's just go already!" he said quickly, practically pushing Dib into Tak's ship before jumping in his own.

By some miracle, the trip back to the main ship had gone smoothly. The second they had reached the docking bay, Zim set his ship down and scrambled out of the cockpit. Dib did the same, helping Zim back to bed. He knew they were all exhausted and in need of some real sleep. His need for sex long forgotten, Zim fell into a deep sleep almost the second he hit the sheets.

ONE WEEK LATER

Zim turned over in bed, his stomach growling hungrily at him. Turning more until he was facing the boy in bed with him, he began to shake Dib lightly with a hand. "Dib...Diiiiib...Zim is hungry. Go get me something to eat."

Dib scrunched up his face a bit and let out a small grunt as he tried to ignore the shaking. He was having a great dream and didn't want to wake up any time soon.

"Diiiiiiiib..." Zim whined as he shook the boy harder.

Turning away from Zim, Dib refused the wake up but gave a tired response. "Can't you get Gir to do it? I really don't want to get up right now."

Zim stopped shaking Dib and huffed out a breath. "Fine..." Sitting up better in bed, a mechanical leg with a communicator attached slid out of his PAK to call Gir. "Gir! Bring your master a snack!" But instead of the little robot's head showing up on the screen, all he got was static. "Gir?" he said again. But still he got now answer. Just static. "GIR!" he said more sternly and still nothing happening.

Pushing the bed sheets away to get up and head to the kitchen, he grumbled under his breath to himself. "Stoopid robot must have been screwing around with his communication's link again..."

Entering the kitchen and getting himself a bit of his leftover Irken food, he spoke up to his ship's computer system. "Computer! Locate Gir for me." he said, taking a bite of his food and opening a soda to take a drink.

A few moments passed in silence before that same bored voice from Zim's base said anything. "Gir's not on this ship."

Those words had Zim nearly choking on his soda as he sputtered and coughed. "WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT ON THE SHIP?!"

"He never came back with you when you returned from Fleeria." the computer continued in a bored voice.

"THAT CAN'T BE!" Zim screeched in a loud voice before it hit him. Had he really been in such a hurry to leave that he had left Gir behind?! Eyes wide, he turned quickly to sprint to his control room. They had to turn around. They had to go back and get Gir!

Changing directions, the ship shook slightly as Zim braced himself for the sudden turn. Without any kind of warning, the sudden shift in direction had Dib falling out of bed and hitting one of the far walls in the room with a yelp. "What the hell?!" Were they going faster all of a sudden and in the opposite direction?! Pushing himself up to a sitting position and rubbing his head, he looked out the window to see that they were. What the hell was going on?!

Regaining his balance, Dib made his way to the door as soon as the ship had stopped shaking. Poking his head out the door to look around, he saw his father and sister making their way down the hallway. Gaz was wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping while Membrane looked more like he had just rolled out of bed himself.

Stepping out into the hallway to meet them, Membrane addressed Dib first. "Dib, what's going on?"

"Yeah! What the hell did your stoopid little boyfriend do this time?!" Gaz cut in before Dib could answer. "I was in the shower when all of a sudden the ship started shaking and I just knew it had to be one of you idiots." She said, glaring horribly at Dib.

Dib just shrugged at them. "I don't know what's going on, but we've turned around and are heading in the opposite direction now." he said before turning to walk away from them to find Zim.

Gaz and Membrane followed close behind him until they finally reached the control room. Zim was standing in there, directing the ship. Approaching him from behind, Dib was the first to speak up. "Zim, what's going on? Why are we turning around?"

Putting the ship on autopilot, Zim turned to face Dib, his features showing how worried he was. "We have to go back." he said before grabbing the front of Dib's shirt and shaking him roughly. "We forgot Gir!" he screamed now, his voice shaking slightly. He sounded more desperate than angry as his shaking slowed until he was just clinging to Dib for extra support.

Dib did his best to calm the other down as he brought his own hands up to clasp Zim's. "Calm down, Zim. Getting all worked up about it won't help anything. Everything will be fine. We'll just go back to the planet and look for him. It's not like he could have gone anywhere else without a ship." He tried to offer the other a smile for reassurance. It didn't help Zim much, however.

"But what if someone found him?! What if they took him with them?! I may never see Gir again!" he said in an even more panicked voice.

Dib simply pulled the Irken closer so he could stroke Zim's antennae in a soothing way. "Shhh...Don't start jumping to conclusions. I doubt anyone would want to take Gir. What difference will a week or two more of traveling make? We can go back, find Gir, and then get back on our way. It's not like there's a time limit as to how long it takes us to reach our destination."

"Actually," the computer cut in, startling the humans in the room. "Going back may not be the wisest decision. If the Irken Empire catches up with you that could cause problems for you. Are you sure you want to take that risk by returning to Fleeria?"

Zim was silent a moment as he thought about it before giving his answer. "Yes. I won't just leave him behind."

"Now wait just a minute, Zim." Membrane spoke up for the first time. "If it's really as dangerous as your computer claims it to be, perhaps the rest of us should have a say in whether we go back or not."

Zim had begun to walk away but stopped when he heard that last part. "A say? A SAY?! What part of 'I won't just leave him behind.' do you not understand, human?! You have no say! You should just consider yourself lucky you're even on this ship to begin with! I could have easily left you behind on Earth! As the captain of this ship, what I say goes and I say we're going back to Fleeria to get Gir whether you like it or not!" he jabbed a finger at Membrane as he spoke, the glare on his face never leaving.

Membrane couldn't help but narrow his eyes on Zim for the response. "Well, I'm asking as Dib and Gaz's father that we don't go back. I don't want you putting either of my children in harm's way. They've been through enough as it is."

Zim just continued to glare at the other for a long moment before just turning to storm out of the room in a huff, saying one last thing before leaving completely. "I'm not asking them to come down to the planet's surface with me, but we are going back and that's final." And with that said, he was gone.

Dib was about to chase after the retreating Irken, protesting that he wouldn't let Zim go down alone, when his father stopped him. "Dib, you're not to go down there with him."

Dib whipped around to face his father as he reached the door, shooting his father a small glare. Membrane gave him an equally stern look as Gaz snuck out of the room, knowing exactly what was about to unravel.

"No, Dib! I refuse to let you risk your life just to save some stoopid robot! I'm putting my foot down this time. I've been letting you get away with a lot of things lately, but not this time. There is absolutely no way I'm letting you go down there, do you understand me?!" Membrane paced back and forth in front of Dib who stood by the door with his arms crossed, glaring off to the side. Every word out of his father's mouth had him glaring just that much harder.

"I'm not just going down there for Gir's sake! I'm going down there to make sure Zim is safe! I won't just let him go down there alone!" Dib retorted as soon as his father had finished speaking.

Membrane stopped his pacing to look back at Dib before turning to face him better, his posture straightening more. "I'm sorry, Dib, but I'm just not willing to let him put you kids in anymore danger!"

"I'm not a kid anymore, dad!" Dib cut in before Membrane could continue any farther. "This whole thing is my fault anyways! You're always telling me we all need to take responsibility for our actions! Well, this is my responsibility. I have to protect Zim no matter what!" he said, turning to also face his father better.

Membrane had to take in a calming breath to keep from yelling too loud as he rubbed his temples. "Son, you're not responsible for Zim's protection! I won't lose you over his stoopid decision! I already lost your mother long ago! I never want to experience that pain ever again!"

Dib had just about reached the end of his rope. "You just don't get it. This whole thing is my responsibility. It's been my responsibility since day 1! I screwed up, I accidentally brought life into this world, and I'm going to see it through to the end! And if that means protecting Zim until the time of the birth, then I won't let anybody stand in my way of doing just that! Even you!" Dib said with finality before finally storming out of the room to return to his own room.

Upon arriving, he found Zim lying on his side in the bed, his arms crossed. Locking the door behind him and turning off the lights completely with the push of a button, Dib climbed in bed with Zim and wrapped protective arms around him. Zim was thankful for the silence that followed. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to sleep. All he wanted was silence and to be near Dib in that moment.

Over the next several days, there was nothing but silence to occupy the fairly large ship. No one spoke or even really saw each other as the days passed lazily. Dib had spent three days locked up in their room, only getting up out of bed to get food and use the bathroom. He wasn't in any mood to do much else.

Zim was the only one to see him in those days, though he got up regularly to wander about the ship or check their status. He wanted to know the second they reached Fleeria. He even ordered his computer to inform him as soon as the planet was in sight. He didn't want to waste valuable time on the planet. All he wanted was to drop in, find Gir, and then get the hell out of there. Easier said than done. The planet was huge and crowded. Gir could be anywhere if he was even on the planet still.

The thought that somebody may have found and taken Gir never to be seen again made him sick to his stomach and restless. Not wanting to cross paths with Membrane, he spent his days locked up in the room with Dib and walked the hallways at night. He had never liked sitting still in one spot for too long. And he didn't know how to describe the silence. It was unfamiliar but welcome. He really had nothing more to say. Gir had always been there to fill the silence when conversation ceased to continue among the occupants onboard. Even when he was completely alone, he wasn't because Gir had always been there to make some kind of noise, even if it was just background noise. But now, without Gir, he felt empty. He felt as though a vital part of himself was missing.

Dib had noticed the change in behavior almost immediately, but he figured the best thing for Zim at the moment was to be left alone to think things through. It wasn't until about the fourth night of traveling that Dib finally decided to get up and check on Zim. The Irken had left already to wander around the ship aimlessly, so Dib figured it had to be fairly late, not to mention most of the lights onboard were off to prevent disturbing the others trying to sleep. It made the place seem slightly bigger than Dib recalled it to be in the light. It wasn't completely dark, however. A plus side to traveling through space was the fact that the stars never stopped shining. They allowed for just enough light to see by, even in the dark.

Slipping out the door to the room he shared with Zim, he began his search for said Irken to see how the other was holding up. His search didn't last long as he found the Irken just around the corner near their sleeping quarters. Down on the far end of the hallway stood Zim, staring endlessly out one of the windows in front of him. He seemed somewhat lost in thought yet aware of his surroundings at the same time as he watched the stars go by. His antennae twitched at uneven intervals as though testing the air around them for any changes. They seemed to perk slightly at the sound of his approaching footsteps before relaxing once more.

Zim didn't move to greet the human but just sighed contently when he felt comforting arms wrap around him from behind. Tucking his antennae back so he could rest his head comfortably underneath Dib's chin, he leaned back slightly into the boy's warm embrace. "Hey." he said casually.

"Hey." Dib responded back gently.

Zim smiled and let his eyes slip closed. "I thought you were asleep." he said in a slightly amused tone.

Dib smiled also, rubbing a cheek up against the top of Zim's head before just moving down to nuzzle his entire face into the back of Zim's neck. Letting his own eyes slip closed, he spoke against soft skin. "Couldn't sleep. I wanted to come check up on you. Hope you don't mind."

Zim couldn't help but smile even more at all the small nuzzles Dib was giving him. Cracking his eyes open slightly, he responded calmly to what the boy had just said. "It's fine. I'm actually happy for the bit company. I never realized how lonely things could get around here without Gir. I always thought he was just another thing in my life that was a pain in my ass, but now that he's gone, I don't feel like me anymore. I don't know how, but his stoopidness is probably the one thing that's kept me sane all these years. Probably because he's one of the two things the Irken Empire hasn't taken away from me yet." he said, his smile faltering slightly as he talked about Gir. As much as he hated to admit it, he missed Gir a lot.

Dib had to pull away at that last part, raising a brow curiously at the other's words. "Well, what's the other thing?" he asked, his voice holding a hint of good humor in it.

Zim remained silent a moment before shifting in Dib's arms enough to face him. His smile had disappeared as he looked up into Dib's eyes almost pleadingly. "You." he said in the quietest of whispers.

Dib's eyes widened in a bit of surprise as he couldn't look away from those crimson orbs that seemed to shine with a bit of hurt, even in the dark hallway. His own honey-colored eyes softened just as quickly, never leaving Zim's gaze. "Zim..." The name left his lips in a quiet breath before pressing a gentle but passionate kiss to the alien's mouth.

Zim's antennae perked straight up before falling back once more as his eyes slipped closed again to enjoy the kiss. Dib slipped his tongue in, sensing how much Zim needed this by how desperately he seemed to be kissing back. Dib needed this too. As their tongues danced together, he turned more to face Zim better before pulling him as close to himself as physically possible.

After a minute or two of catching up, they finally pulled away, Zim panting out as Dib trailed his mouth down to Zim's neck, licking and kissing it affectionately before pulling away just enough to speak, his warm breath caressing the skin there. "I promise, we'll get him back even if we have to search the entire universe to find him." he promised before returning to the alien's mouth.

He now had the Irken pinned to the wall as he pressed himself against Zim. Zim ran his nails lightly down Dib's side just to grip the hem of his shirt before running them under it to feel warm skin against his hands. Zim hummed a light, "Mmmmmm..." as they kissed before pulling back just enough to say one thing. "Bedroom?" he asked, out of breath.

Dib just nodded in agreement quickly, also out of breath. "Bedroom." he managed to breath out before pulling Zim along with him back towards their room.

By the time they had reached their room, Zim already had Dib pressed up against the door while Dib reached back, searching with his hand for the switch that would open the door to let them in. Finding it quickly, he managed to open the door with a "whoosh" sound. The sudden absence of the door behind him for support had Dib stumbling back onto the floor with Zim in his arms. They remained kissing there a few moments before Zim finally pushed away to get back to his feet.

SMUT SCENE STARTS HERE! NO LIKEY, NO LOOKEY! ENJOY!

He didn't want to waste anymore time. He needed this now while Dib was willing. Dib followed suite shortly after, coming to stand right behind Zim as the Irken struggled to pull his shirt off. Dib easily reached around to the front of Zim's shirt to pull it up over his head before tossing it to the side somewhere.

Dib didn't want to waste any time either. He was already busy trailing kisses all the way down Zim's back, dropping to his knees as he kissed lower and lower on his back until he had reached the rim of Zim's pants. The feeling of Dib's lips brushing ever so lightly along his spine had Zim shivering slightly with the attention, a low moan escaping his mouth. Dib stopped his ministrations as soon as he reached the rim of black pants, blocking him off from the rest of Zim's skin, and heard the moan Zim issued.

With his arms wrapped loosely around Zim's waist still, Dib pulled his lips away just enough for the other to hear his mumbled question. "Are you sure you're okay to do this? I don't want to hurt you or the baby." he couldn't help but be at least a little concerned.

Zim was already too lost in the sensations coursing through his body. His eyes were closed in ecstasy as he waited for Dib to continue farther. "I'm fine. Just don't stop." he said breathily as he pressed more against Dib.

Dib nodded against Zim's back in agreement, holding Zim close with one arm while sliding his other hand into the alien's pants to lightly finger Zim's slowly stiffening member. "Alright, but tell me if it hurts even a little bit."

Zim's head fell back as another moan escaped him. "Will...do..." he finally said between pants as Dib continued, stroking him a bit harder. "Oh, Irk, Dib!" his voice was a bit strained as he arched his back into the touch. It had been so long since they had last been intimate that every touch was like an electrifying jolt of pleasure, every kiss so warm and inviting yet still able to send shivers up and down his spine, causing him to shudder noticeably in the boy's arms.

Dib tightened his hold a bit more on Zim, holding him still as he spoke. "Shhh...Just relax." he tried to calm the Irken some. They hadn't even really started yet and already Zim seemed to be close to a release. He could tell just by the feel of Zim's now rock hard member, how fast it had come on, and even the way he thrust into his hand. Dib didn't want that though. He didn't want it to end so quickly.

Before the moment could be so easily ruined, Dib pulled his hand back, making Zim utter a rather pathetic sound at the loss of the warm hand massaging his member. "Why did you stop?" he questioned the boy, his voice shaking slightly as he caught his breath.

"You were about to come. You need to relax more or else it will be over before you can enjoy it." he said, kissing Zim's back one last time before getting back to his feet, smiling lightly at the Irken.

Zim did his best to do as Dib had told him, taking in a rather large, shaky breath before exhaling heavily but steadily, just trying to relax. The Dib was right, and he didn't want to ruin it for either of them. He wanted this moment to last as long as physically possible. As soon as his body had finally stopped being so tense, he found it much easier to just melt into Dib's touch as he ran nimble fingers up and down his sides in a soothing manner.

Dib sighed out gently as he felt Zim's muscles finally relax under his gentle touch. Moving his hands back down Zim's body, he began undoing Zim's black uniform pants, letting them drop to the ground by his feet as soon as he had loosened them. Zim easily stepped out of them, kicking his boots off in the process, all the while giving Dib a perfect view of his backside, with all its perfect curves despite his pregnancy. In fact, it wasn't even noticeable from the backside.

Dib just stood staring for a few long moments, admiring Zim's body in the star lit room. It wasn't until Zim spoke up that he broke out of his daze. "Dib? Are we going to continue, or are you going to keep my waiting?" Zim asked, turning slightly to look back at Dib, who continued to stare at the glowing skin a moment longer.

"What? Oh! Sorry!" Dib apologized, blushing slightly as he began tugging at his own clothes to get them off.

Once free of the constraining fabric, Dib followed Zim to the bed where Zim sprawled out on his stomach, pillowing his head in his arms as he sank into the bed covers that threatened to swallow him whole. "Go ahead, human. Do whatever you want. I won't stop you." he said, waiting for Dib to make his next move.

Dib was already fully erect as he watched Zim's movements, wanting nothing more than to bury himself into that warm, tight body until he climaxed, but he was still worried about possibly hurting Zim or the baby from going too hard. Climbing onto the bed behind Zim, he lifted Zim's hips just enough to press up against his stiff member, hesitating a moment longer. Zim braced himself for what he knew was sure to come, grabbing handfuls of the blanket underneath him in anticipation. Finally leaning over him one last time to kiss the back of Zim's neck, he whispered gently in Zim's antennae. "Remember to stop me if it hurts." With that, he reached down to realign his shaft with Zim's entrance, pushing in slowly to prevent as much discomfort as possible.

Zim gasped sharply at the intrusion, bucking his hips slightly and moaning. It had been so long and all he could feel at that moment was Dib and nothing more. He wanted more. In a desperate move, he tried to force his hips back to take all of Dib in at one time. "Fuck, Dib! Can you go any slower?!" he grunted out as Dib held his hips steady.

Finally giving in, Dib decided to just let Zim have his way with the situation. Without any real warning, Dib slammed the rest of himself into Zim in one swift movement, throwing back his head and howling in pleasure as he held Zim there. In an explosion of complete ecstasy, Zim also cried out in pleasure, rocking his hips slightly as Dib buried himself to the hilt. It felt absolutely amazing as something seemed to explode in Zim's eyes like fireworks, clouding his vision momentarily as all his other senses were overcome by pure feeling.

Nothing else seemed to want to register in his mind for a few long moments, not even the feel of Dib's skilled fingers brushing over his sensitive member. It wasn't until he felt the warmth of Dib's hand engulf it as he grasped the length of it that Zim jerked forward in Dib's grip, calming some as the human seemed to pick up a steady pace, simultaneously pumping Zim's shaft as he thrust rhythmically into Zim's body, groaning with the friction that came with it. It was unbelievably tight yet fluid as his movements came faster and heavier with the bit of body weight he threw into each thrust. All Zim could do was grip the bed sheets tighter as he tried to synchronize his own movements better with Dib's, thrusting every time Dib buried himself deeper inside of Zim.

As Dib felt himself coming closer to his own release, he began stroking Zim more firmly and rapidly. He knew Zim's release would start a chain reaction that would inevitably set him off perfectly. Zim knew this already as he felt Dib's pace quicken. Teetering back and forth on the brink of his release, Zim called out in a demanding voice. "Harder, Dib! I'm almost there!"

With one last burst of energy, Dib threw as much of his body weight as he could without hurting Zim into a few final thrusts until the Irken threw back his head and arched his back perfectly against Dib's body. With a loud moan, he shot his seed all over Dib's hand, some of it dripping from his fingertips onto the bed underneath. The way Zim spasmed before contracting around Dib's member had him crying out in pleasure also. "Zim, I'm...I'm gonna...AH!" Dib's body tensed as he came long and hard, holding Zim's hips in place until he finished releasing his own seed into Zim's body.

Heaving out a heavy breath, Dib's body slowly began to relax as the last remaining waves of pleasure left him, panting heavily against Zim until he was finally able to pull out of the other's body. With what little left over energy he could muster, Zim rolled over onto his back beneath Dib. Hands shaking from a lack of energy, Zim reached up the best he could to tangle his fingers in the boy's dark strands of hair. Dib easily sank down on top of Zim, receiving a slow and passionate kiss on the lips when he was close enough to Zim. Keeping Dib there, Zim loosened his grip on the boy's hair, letting his hands slip down to hold Dib's face a few moments before falling down to his shoulders and finally running down his arms.

Locking the fingers of one hand with Dib's and taking hold of the boy's opposite wrist, Zim brought them up between their intertwined bodies to kiss each finger on Dib's hand, taking extra time to lick his cum off each finger of Dib's other hand. The taste was unusually enjoyable, the contrasting tastes of his cum, so sweet, and Dib's skin, somewhat salty, creating a rather sensual mix. Dib simply watched in complete silence as Zim's serpentine tongue darted between each finger.

END OF SMUT SCENE. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED.

Resting his cheek comfortably against Zim's chest and sighing contently, he kept his concentrated gaze focused on Zim's slithering tongue, blinking lazily in exhaust. He couldn't move, but that was fine. Everything about this moment felt perfect between them. He wanted to savor it for as long as he possibly could. So he just laid there enjoying the comfort of the other's presence.

Dib's smile grew as he laid there in the darkness with Zim. A few hours had passed since they had made love, and now they were just sharing each other's warmth. Dib had long since shifted down Zim's body and now rested his head against the growing bulge in Zim's stomach. Holding one hand firmly against the mass, he felt all along the surface, trying to discern exactly where the head was. It was hard to tell at this point in the pregnancy, but he definitely felt movement as his fingers probed the area. Every kick had him letting out a happy sound, kissing the spot affectionately as he nuzzled Zim's swelling stomach.

Zim was surprisingly calm as Dib did all this, just enjoying every second he could with Dib. He didn't mind all the poking and prodding Dib was doing to his stomach too much, though he'd never get used to all the kicking. The best he could do was simply try to ignore it with other things such as playing with Dib's scythe lock of hair like he was doing right now. However, that was easier said than done. Watching Dib coo and cuddle up to his stomach every time the smeet moved or kicked wasn't exactly helping him forget, though he found it interesting to watch Dib's reactions.

He had never seen anybody act so excitedly about having a smeet. He guessed it made some sense, seeing as how these humans kept and raised their young for so many years before finally letting them leave the house to be on their own and raise their own young. He couldn't know for sure though. Irkens weren't raised that way, so attachments never really formed between the young and their birth parents, if they were even born naturally. It made him wonder how he'd feel toward his smeet as soon as it was born. Would he grow attached to it like Dib, or would there always be an emotional distance because of his species? Even now, he didn't know how he felt about it. The situation still felt too much like a dream to him. But with each kick, the reality of it seemed to take hold of him again.

One particularly hard kick had him snapping out of his thoughts as he stroked a hand soothingly over the somewhat sore spot. Dib had let out another happy sound at that kick, which had Zim looking back down at him curiously as he raised an eyebrow. "Having fun?"

Dib had a wide smile on his face as he nodded against Zim's stomach. "Yeah. I am, actually."

Zim nodded back at him in acknowledgement as he ran his hand over the spot again. "Good. At least one of us is." he said in a somewhat amused tone.

Lifting his head to look up at Zim, he sent the Irken an apologetic smile. "Does it hurt?"

Zim just shrugged as he went back to playing with Dib's hair. "Sometimes."

Dib pressed his lips to Zim's stomach once more at that answer before pulling away to run his hands soothingly up and down the sides of Zim's stomach. "How about now? Does it hurt right now?"

Zim smiled at Dib's attempts to make him feel better, wincing when he felt another kick to his side. "A little bit, but I think I'll survive." he said somewhat jokingly.

Dib laughed as he sat up on his knees. "I'd better stop. I think it's kicking from all the movement outside" he said as he crawled back up to lay next to Zim, wrapping comforting arms tightly around him as soon as he had pulled the covers up more around them.

Letting out a tired yawn, he allowed his eyes to slip closed immediately. "Let's get some sleep. We'll reach Fleeria in a few more days, and if we want to find Gir, we'll need some rest." he said, allowing sleep to take hold of him.

Dib was right. Sleep would be the best thing for both of them right now. Besides, it was late...or early. A clock right above the door in their room read about 4:00 in the morning. Unable to keep his own eyes open, Zim slowly slipped into the comfort of another night's sleep.

THREE DAYS LATER

"Dib! Dib! Wake up already!" Zim shook the sleeping boy urgently.

Dib barely registered any of what Zim was saying as he blinked his eyes open tiredly. "Hmmm...What? What is it?" he asked through a yawn as he sat up to stretch. It felt far too early to be morning yet.

"We're here! We're finally back at Fleeria! Hurry up and get dressed already! I want to go down there and find Gir as soon as possible!" he said quickly in a hushed voice so as not to wake anybody else. He wanted to get it over with before Membrane woke up. Dib had already made it clear to him that he wasn't going to leave his side no matter what.

Dib rubbed at one of his eyes before placing his glasses back on his face to see that they were, indeed, back at Fleeria. The glowing red planet sat right outside their window, just as busy looking as the first time they arrived. Checking his new watch for the time, he found that it was about 10:00 in the morning down on Fleeria. Unfortunately, with a 4 hour difference from Earth, that meant it was about 6:00 in the morning Earth time. Dib hadn't quite adjusted to all the changing times in space yet. His internal alarm clock was still set for Earth time. Nonetheless, he still pushed himself up out of bed to don a fresh pair of clothes before following Zim to the ships.

Deciding they'd only need one for the trip down and back, they squeezed into Zim's ship, Zim sitting in Dib's lap as he piloted it down to the planet's surface, parking in the same parking structure they had used last time. Taking the same precautions as last time, they stepped out into the crowded atmosphere once again to begin their search. Zim already had a pretty good idea how to get a lock on Gir's location. He only prayed he was within reaching distance.

Pulling out a communicator from the back of his PAK, he tried calling Gir once again. The little SIR unit couldn't have gone too far from their original landing spot, right? They both held their breath as they waited to get some kind of response. After about a minute or two of waiting, they finally received a signal. A bit staticy from interference on the planet, but still a signal.

The screen in front of them was a little scrambled, but they could still make out enough of it as Gir's head came into view. Neither Dib or Zim had time to respond before the little android screeched out excitedly. "MASTER! BIG-HEAD BOY! I MISSED JOO!" he said as he happily hugged the screen.

Zim's antennae fell back at the robot's loud voice before shoving his own face in Gir's view. "GIR! WHERE ARE YOU?! WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU NOW!"

Gir sat back to stare at the screen confusedly. "I dunno...but I bought you's clothes for the baby! And my new friend is giving me lots of taquitos!" he said happily.

"What? What new friend? What are you talking about, Gir?!" Zim asked in a demanding voice. He was already getting annoyed by Gir's randomness.

"My new taquito friend! See!" he turned the screen toward the store owner that had sold them their smeet clothes.

The Irken on screen looked up from what he was doing as the screen coming out of Gir's head was shoved in his face, putting on the friendliest smile he could. "Oh, hello again. I didn't know this SIR unit belonged to you. He wandered in here a couple weeks ago completely lost, so I've just been keeping him until his owner came looking for him." he said casually as Gir sat back, eating some taquitos off a plate in front of him.

Zim was shocked as he stared back at the monitor coming out of his PAK, speechless. Dib was just as surprised but managed to speak up after a moment of stunned silence. "Hey, you're the guy from the clothes shop. Are you saying you just kept him this entire time?"

The store owner just shrugged lightly. "Yep. It wasn't that big of a deal. I figured his owner would have some way of getting a hold of him eventually, so I just let him stay here until that happened. And now that it has, I guess you can come and get him."

Dib just continued to blink in a bit of astonishment. "Wow. Well, thanks, I guess. We'll be right over."

Zim, who hadn't said a word since this conversation had started, turned his attention back towards Gir. "Gir! Stay there! Do not leave that shop! That's an order!" he pointed threateningly at Gir.

Gir instantly stood to salute Zim as his eyes flashed red before returning to normal. He then sat back down to just eat his taquitos and giggle to himself. Cutting the transmission, Zim and Dib began wading through the crowds of shoppers to find the store again.

Meanwhile, back at the store, the store owner pulled out what looked to be a walkie talkie device, smiling evilly as he spoke into it. "Alright, be ready. They're on their way."

While all this was happening down on Fleeria, other things were happening back on the ship with Membrane and Gaz. As Gaz stood waiting in front of Tak's ship, Membrane was running back and forth in front of her, gathering a few things, fuming. "I can't believe your brother would deliberately disobey me like this! Of all the things he's done so far, this is by far the worst! I specifically told him he wasn't to go down there!" he angrily paced back and forth as Gaz just rolled her eyes.

In all honesty, she really didn't give a shit what Dib did just so long as he kept her out of it. Normally, this situation wouldn't concern her in the least bit, but because Zim and Dib had only bothered to take one ship instead of both, she now had to get out of bed to fly Membrane down to look for them and for that, she would kick both their asses.

When Membrane was finally ready to leave, they both hopped into the ship to head toward Fleeria. Gaz and Membrane reached Fleeria in a matter of minutes, and deciding now was the best time to use those belts Zim had given them, Gaz pressed the button in the middle, which instantly began flashing red. Watching as the little red dot flashed continuously at her, she realized it was producing a holographic image with three other red dots on them. One was obviously coming from Membrane who stood right next to her. His belt had automatically activated itself and was also beeping and flashing at him. The other two were a little ways up the road not too far from them. They followed the two moving dots, determined to catch up with them.

Back with Dib and Zim, they had just found the store when Dib's own belt had gone off with a loud beeping noise as well as Zim's PAK, which instantly came to life with the same hologram only with two dots approaching them. Dib had been just about ready to open the door when his belt went off, making him jump with a startled yelp. "What the hell is that?!"

Zim cursed out loud as the hologram was produced from his PAK. "Shit! Either your father or sister just pressed the button in the middle of their belts, and it looks like their coming to get us." he said, pointing at the two approaching dots.

"Damn!" Dib swore out loud as well. "Dad's going to kill me! We'd better get in there and grab Gir before I get in even more trouble." he finally sighed out lowly. Zim simply nodded before following Dib inside, the bell ringing as they entered.

Upon entering, they found the place to be oddly empty. It almost looked deserted as they scanned the area for any life. "Hello? Anybody here?" Dib called out.

"Gir? Are you in here?" Zim also called out, looking around in confusion. Did they have the wrong shop? No. Zim was absolutely sure this was where they had bought the clothes at.

Before Zim could move to look around any further, he suddenly felt something press up against the back of his head. "Turn around and you die." came an unknown voice from behind him. Zim's body went completely tense as he stood still.

As Dib turned to see who had said that, another pair of arms quickly grabbed him from behind, cold and metal, wrapping tightly around his body as though with the intent to break his bones or suffocate him. With a pained noise escaping his mouth, Dib struggled to break free just to have more pressure applied to his constraints.

"The more you struggle, the more I squeeze." came another unknown voice, filled with sick amusement.

Zim's eyes were wide as he watched Dib try to break free. "Dib! Just do what they say!" he said in a somewhat panicked voice. He didn't want to see Dib get hurt.

Dib obeyed as the metal arms wrapped tighter around him, though he continued to yell in anger and frustration. "Damnit! Let us go, you sick bastards!"

"Or else you'll do what? You're in no position to be ordering us around, human." he said that last word with a bit of disgust showing in his voice.

Dib just growled lowly at their two captors, both Irken, one with dark, red eyes, the other with deep, purple eyes. They were both a bit taller than Zim, but only slightly. Their wardrobe consisted of matching Irken armor that covered just about everything except their eyes and antennae and a pair of protective goggles for their eyes, which they had sitting on their heads at the moment. They really only needed them for when they were outside in the harsh atmosphere.

Unable to think of a way out, all Dib could do was watch helplessly as the red eyed Irken holding the gun to Zim's head yanked his arms back behind his back before turning Zim around to push him out the door toward his hidden ship. Dib was led out right behind Zim, wracking his brain for any ideas that would help their current situation. When nothing came, he heard Zim growl lowly in the back of his throat, obviously coming up blank as well. "That fucking bastard! He lied to us! This was a trap all along! He was just using Gir to lure us out!"

The ship they were led to was a medium sized vessel, cloaked with several holographic projectors to look like several small booths surrounding the area.

As all this was going on, Membrane and Gaz were watching the scene from a safe distance. Membrane looked absolutely terrified for Dib as he watched them drag his son toward the opening of the ship to force him inside. Gaz looked ready to just tear one of their head off, her fists shaking in rage. It figure those idiots would get in some type of trouble.

When she saw that the coast was clear, and they were facing completely the opposite direction, she wasted no time in ducking in and out of the crowds of shoppers to sneak around them in search of a store that might sell weapons of some kind. Plenty of other tourists had stopped to watch the guards hauling Dib and Zim into their ship. She only hoped it would provide enough cover for her.

As she looked around frantically for anything that looked like it could be used as a weapon, she finally came across a booth selling some kind of stun guns. Without even bothering to pay for it, she grabbed one to take aim at the red eyed Irken, who seemed distracted. It would be just like playing one of her video games. Her only problem was all the shoppers walking by, getting in her way. She'd have to get closer to get a clean shot.

So, being as quiet as she possibly could, she pushed through the crowds to get a better shot, the entire scenario playing through in her mind as she approached closer. It would work. She just had to time it right. Taking aim once again, she waited for the perfect shot to present itself. It never did.

Before she had even noticed what had gone horribly wrong, a laser blast shot the gun right out of her hands before another metal arm shot out to bind her hands together and tug her forward. Struggling to pull her wrists back, she was forcefully lifted into the air by her wrists. Turning to face her, the red eyed Irken smirked at her pathetic attempt to take him down. "Did you really think I didn't notice all your sneaking around with that stun gun? HA! I've been trained to pick up certain vibrations with my antennae, and your movements were far from normal. You didn't have a chance." his cruel smile grew as he drew closer to Gaz.

Gaz was now beyond pissed as she dangled in front of him. Noticing he had let down his guard, she let one knee go flying to right between his legs.

Zim squeezed one eye shut and made a low whistling sound. "That had to hurt."

The guard's eyes went wide as the metal arm holding her wrists loosened just enough for her to pull them free. Without giving him a chance to really recover, she punched him right in the jaw for underestimating her. His head shot back with the punch, but rather than knocking him out only served to piss him off. While Gaz was busy trying to undo the cuffs they had put on Zim, he managed to pick himself back up and slapped her hard across the face. She hit the ground hard, metal arms taking hold of her wrists once more and lifting her in the air again, only this time with a little extra shock to stun her for a while.

Gaz let out a pained yell before her body went limp, cursing them as her vision blurred a bit but didn't go black. "Fuck you, you assholes...I will have my revenge, and you'll wish you had never been born." she managed to say through gritted teeth.

Dib wasn't sure how much more of this he could take as he struggled once more to get free. "Gaz! What did you bastards do to her?! Just let her go already! She has nothing to do with this!" he thrashed about trying to get to her.

"I grow tired of hearing your voice, human." the purple eyed Irken finally said, pulling out his own gun to knock Dib out with the back of it. Dib felt his world spinning before going completely black.

"DIB! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SICK FUCKS!" Zim screamed in rage as he lunged at the red eyed Irken just to dig his teeth in the other's shoulder. The guard let out a startled scream as he tried to beat Zim off him but couldn't seem to shake him. Zim was hanging on for all he was worth.

Meanwhile, Membrane couldn't stay sitting in his hiding spot any longer. Not while his kids were out there getting hurt. Without really thinking, he jumped up almost the second Dib had been knocked out and ran towards them, yelling out to them. "DIB! GAZ!" He didn't make it far before the purple eyed Irken aimed his gun at Membrane, telling him to hold still. Membrane stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the gun being pointed at him. If he were killed now, there would be no hope for his kids.

Using this to his advantage, the red eyed Irken aimed his own gun at Membrane too. "Either you let go NOW, or the human gets it!" he said, putting his finger on the trigger to show how serious he was.

Zim let go instantly, knowing they wouldn't hesitate to do just that. Membrane was of no use to them, so it really wouldn't matter whether he died or not.

Once free, the guard moved over to wrap an arm around Membrane's neck as though to choke him and held the gun to his head. "Now, unless you do exactly as I say, I'll kill this human as well as the other two."

Zim had no choice in the matter at this point. He had to do as they said if they were going to have any chance of surviving this.

"Get on the ship." the guard said, never taking his finger off the trigger.

Zim did as he was told, trying hard not to lose his temper as he and the others were brought to an onboard cell room. They took no time in shoving Zim in there with Dib and Gaz, all the while keeping the gun to Membrane's head. Zim's cuffs had been undone as well as Dib and Gaz's constraints. Finally able to move his arms, Zim instantly reached out to pull Dib's head into his lap.

The barely conscious boy groaned in pain as he struggled to get his eyes open. His head was throbbing and everybody's voices sounded distant to him, but he could still make out what most of them were saying. With what little energy he had left, Dib finally managed to blink his eyes open, though the world continued to spin in a sickening fashion as he looked around the cell they were now in. He felt hands resting at the sides of his face, and for the first time, realized his head was resting in Zim's lap.

The Irken was staring back down at him with concern clearly written all over his face. Letting out a relieved sigh when he saw Dib open his eyes, Zim redirected his gaze back to the two other Irkens in the room, glaring. He wanted so badly to plunge his spider legs into their bodies and rip them to shreds, but they still had Membrane at gun point and could kill him at any point. He couldn't take that risk.

The red eyed Irken tightened his hold on Membrane just a bit more as he spoke, never taking his eyes off their prisoners. "Now, we'll be back soon to decide exactly what to do with all of you until we reach the Massive, so I'd suggest you be good and don't try any attempts to escape. Otherwise, we may just kill the human. Besides, I doubt you'll be able to break it. Oh, and by the way, the Tallest want to talk with you, both of you." he said, indicating to Gaz as well. "They want to see how the smeets are coming along." he smirked evilly at them.

Then, turning back to face his companion, he began issuing orders for the other to follow. "Here." he passed Membrane over to him. "Put this human in the cell with the dysfunctional SIR unit. Then set a course for the Massive. We'll contact the Tallest as soon as we're on our way. In the meantime, I'll be in the medical bay making repairs to my shoulder." he glared back at Zim before leaving, the purple eyed Irken following behind him with Membrane in tow to lock him in a separate cell with Gir on the opposite side of the ship.

As Membrane was forcefully dragged out of the room, Dib just barely managed to catch a glimpse of him as he attempted to sit up with quite a bit of difficulty. "Dad!" he called out, but it was too late. The were already gone.

A/N: It killed me type all of this. It came out to be about 33 pages of single spaced typing. XX But now I'm so happy I'm done! 8D does happy dance Hope you all enjoyed!

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

To Sora4president: Yesh! They escaped the DOOM of the Irken Empire, for now. Of course, now they're not in a good situation. YOU SPOKE TOO SOON! XD But don't worry. Things will work out. I'm sorry to leave all my reviewers down on Earth. I'll be sure to set up some kind of base for all my reviewers to escape the wrath of the Irken Empire. Here's your ZADR crack, enjoy it. And thanks for the cheese! I like cheese! 8D And sorry this chapter took me so long. It was really long.

To Apple Pornography: Thanks for the review and don't worry. I don't always feel like commenting on stories I read cause I'm lazy. I wish I had that ship too. By the way, have you started posting any of your fics yet? I should check. I still want to read them. I've just been busy writing this chapter for the last three months. So sorry this took me so long. Hopefully, it wasn't too much of a torture waiting for me to get this chapter up.

To Sweetums128neo: Hey! I know you! You're Kyoichi-chan on Deviantart, right?! Do you know who I am? I'll give you a clue! I'm making a shirt for you. 8D Anyways, thanks so much for taking the time to read both my stories! I love getting new reviewers! Yeah, it's hard to feel bad for Membrane. Your not really supposed to. Your supposed to feel sorry for Zim, Dib, and Gaz. As for Red and Purple, they're evil in a kind of cute, clueless way, just like my cat! XD Though I don't expect everybody to like RAPR so it's okay. Thanks for the lurve and sorry this took me so long to get up online. But it's a long chapter to make up for the long wait. 8D

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