a/n

Gah! It's been too looong. ;.; I totally lost all motivation to finish this, but I feel like I have to. So I will. Also, about the whole ZADR/ZADF thing, I think I'll actually stick with ZADF. I don't have the patience nor the motivation to keep this up long enough for them to form a believable relationship.

"speak"

'think'

Zim's eyes flickered open wearily. "What... What happened?" he asked, trying to sit up.

"Zim!" The Irken turned to see Dib rushing towards him. "Lay back down! You just passed out again."

"Oh," Zim replied.

Dib frowned, obviously not finding this answer satisfactory. "Why does that keep happening? It can't be healthy."

Zim sat up on the couch, making room for his human friend. "No, it isn't. I told you before, I'm sick. This is just the physical effect of my illness." Waved Dib over, and the human sat on the free cushion on the couch.

"So what is it?" Dib asked. "The flu? Necrotizing fasciitis?"

"Necro-what?"

"Ah, nothing. So what are you sick with? I'm sure there's a treatment for it. of course, the hospital isn't an option for you... But maybe I could find something online-"

"Dib," Zim interrupted him, "It isn't something human medications can fix. Even Irkens haven't found a cure for it, and we're far more advanced."

Dib frowned again. "What do you mean? There has to be a treatment or something."

Zim sighed. "It's not that simple. It's a problem in the coding of my PAK. Rather than adapting to unusual situations, my PAK will tell me to find the easiest way out. When I go against this command, like I did on the bus, there is a physical toll. Besides that, My emotional filter is hyperactive. Any emotions that are disallowed by the Empire are supposed to be filtered out. Not only does my PAK filter them, but it drains my strength. It's almost like a penalty."

Dib raised an eyebrow. 'Well, that explains a lot,' he thought. "So that's all? It doesn't seem too bad. Annoying and inconvenient, but..."

Zim sighed again. "Dib, this is very dangerous. If I go too far out of line, all of my strength could be sapped. My squeedilyspooch will cease function. Do you know what that means?"

Dib paled. "Squeedilyspooch? That's... That's one of your organs, right?"

"Yes," Zim said. "It actually preforms the functions of several of your human organs. The squeedilyspooch is like lungs, a heart, a liver and a stomach all in one. If that stops working... It wouldn't be good."

Dib nodded. "Y-yeah..."

They sat that way for a while, before Zim jumped down from the couch.

"Where are you going?" Dib asked, following his alien friend.

"I'm gonna make breakfast. Are waffles okay?"

Dib smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good." 'Might as well enjoy what I have while I have it.'

And, with Gir's help, of course, they made a batch of misshapen waffles, drowned them all in syrup, and loved every minute of it.

Very short, and probably not worth the three-month wait, but it hopefuly explained some things. I'm thinking that this will need two or three more chapters for the ending I was planning. Sorry for the delay and all the jumping around, but let's think of this fanfiction as... an experiment. Yeah.