TOTALLY DID NOT EVEN REALIZE I WAS SUPPOSED TO UPDATE TODAY. MY BAD, GUYS, SO SORRY FOR IT BEING LATE!
Which is why there's no comment responses or daily quote - I wanted to update as soon as possible.
SORRY!
I'm running out of chapter titles. :/
THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR STORIES GET TOO LONG.
Enjoy.
Chapter 34
"Unprepared"
Gaz woke up only when the ship landed.
Zim looked down at her as he popped the hood, lifting her from the Voot Runner but refusing to put her down. Now that she didn't have to make it public that she could walk on her own, he wasn't going to let her have to go through the tired labor of walking until she was in full health again. Gaz did not protest, clinging to him loosely as he walked inside.
"I love you," He reminded her, casually, looking down at her with a smirk. "And Zim will let ensure you are rested and catered to at our earliest convenience."
"Let me guess," Gaz said dully, glancing up at the sky, of which the sun was just rising from. "I'm attending the conference as well?"
"We'll be going back to our original hope soon and let this one stand," Zim informed her, walking towards the house. "I know you like the other more then this one, even if this one is 'suitable' to your needs."
"That's true," She admitted, curling her arms tighter around his neck, pushing herself up to kiss him on the neck. "I still need celebrate with you."
"There will be plenty of time for that when you are feeling better," Zim insisted, turning his head and ducking it to kiss her tenderly. She felt his pace slow as his mouth tentatively opened hers, his tongue slipping inside and exploring heatedly. Gaz pulled herself a bit tighter to him as her eyes closed. The tender, heated kiss went on a few moments more before Zim chuckled, pulling away from the lip-lock. "Or, at the very least, until you feel you have the energy for it."
Gaz rolled her eyes, resting her head on his chest. "Horny bastard."
"You started it with your coy mentioning of rewards at later times!"
It was at this point Zim spotted Skoodge, waiting diligently in front of the castle. At once, two bouncing figures next to him seemed to excite all the more, but thankfully, Skoodge held back his two minions. Zim approached them, Gaz still shamelessly held in his arms.
"Master!"
"Squeak!"
Skoodge still restrained them, but Gir pointed an accusing finger, lip trembling. "You didn't call!"
"We were busy, Gir," Gaz said calmly, before he could further complain. "But we came back early, just for you."
Zim gave her a look of disbelief. She smirked at him. He shook his head. He would never understand how she flawlessly handled Gir. Zim decided he would just have to chalk it up to one of her many, mysteriously adapted talents.
"Okay!" Gir shouted, apparently satisfied with the answer.
Skoodge bowed low. "Congratulations, sir."
"Thank you, Invader Skoodge," Zim replied. "I trust you'll be sending off soon?"
"Within the week, sir," Skoodge replied. For once, his eyes drifted to Gaz, who was resting her head on Zim's chest again, eyes closed. He switched to Irken. "Eh, Is your mate alright, sir?"
"Just a bit tired. Nothing to worry about." Zim insisted, shrugging good-naturedly. But truth be told, he was in far too good of a mood to be upset. "Thank you for your concern, though. I was unaware you were watching out for my mate behind my back."
The last remark was with a teasing smirk. Skoodge smiled. "We've known each other forever, Zim. You know us underdog Invaders have got to stick together."
Zim laughed. "Most definitely."
In his arms, Gaz groaned. "Gah! You and your bilingual speaking."
Zim laughed at her now, kissing her on the head. "Don't count on that changing anytime soon. I quite like keeping you out of the loop."
Gaz growled at him, but said nothing. Despite popular belief, reader, these two have yet to stop enjoying bothering the shit out of each other. It's also very doubtful that they ever will.*
"Well anyways," Skoodge continued, switching back to English. "What do you want me to do, sir?"
"Nothing now, Invader Skoodge." Then he paused, glancing down at Gaz, who was apparently asleep on his chest. "Wait, when is my conference scheduled for?"
"Uh," Skoodge thought a moment before replying. "Noon, sir. Why?"
"I require for you to come and knock on my door exactly one hour before the conference." Zim stated, hands curling tighter around Gaz's form subconsciously. He began walking again, past Skoodge, who then ran ahead and opened the door for him. Zim nodded at him, but otherwise gave him no form of thanks. "And keep Gir and Minnie-Moose away from our quarters. Gaz needs to rest as much as she can before the conference."
Because I want to be able to do other things that require energy as soon as possible, he added in his mind, resisting a smirk.
"Yes, sir!" Skoodge said, then wilted a little when Gaz shifted in her sleep and Zim shot him a look. "Sorry."
Zim nodded, giving him a warning look but turning away. "You're excused."
Skoodge saluted again and gripped the two minions. He really was going to miss spending so much time with them. Maybe if he was lucky the Tallest would decide to frequently send him out, or at least give him a desk job that left him with a lot of free time to come visit. He was sure Zim wouldn't mind in the least, since it was Skoodge that was babysitting them constantly and keeping them occupied so the newlyweds could have their 'alone time'.
"Come on, guys," he said, gesturing for them to follow, which they did. "We're going to go leave them alone for a while."
"Why?" Gir said, looking over his shoulder at the disappearing couple, worriedly, before looking back at Skoodge. "Is Mistress sick?"
"She's not feeling well, Gir," Skoodge stated lightly. Then he smiled, trying to cheer the saddened minions up. "But hey, no worries! What about a movie?"
Minnie-Moose visibly brightened, "Squeak!"
Gir beamed as well, gripping the little moose by the horns and hugging him. "Okay!"
Before Dib knew it, he was being armed.
Tak was suddenly in the sparring rooms, teaching Irken fighting techniques. They were base moves, but ones the Swollen Eyeball was having difficulty trying to master. Dib, too, was sent in to fight with her, to show how he had adapted to fighting with Zim. Tak was surprised to find that she didn't beat him easily. However, things were happening in such a rushed manner, she wasn't sure if it was because he was skilled or her head just wasn't in the game.
Especially when she was thinking about what MiMi had said. The one sentence she absolutely refused to translate for Dib.
"Are you going to end up mating, master?"
And her response? What had prompted that? Mating wasn't inevitable, especially with Dib. Tak had examined her new body thoroughly though to see she did have slightly modified parts in her nether regions. It irritated her slightly to know that somewhere, someone on Irk knew what she looked like nude but what could she do about that now? Besides, it was all strictly professional anyways. It wasn't like she had been mounted while she was out. No Irken would dare be so brash and disrespectful.
She was resting now, watching the rather surprisingly large amount of people in the large, auditorium-like room as they sparred with one another. In all fairness, they weren't half bad, but they were definitely no Irken soldiers. However, thank the Tallest, Tak had yet to break a sweat. She wasn't sure if she could sweat but if she couldn't, she had no complaint. At the very least, she didn't sweat easily.
Dib, on other hand-.
Said boy plopped down beside her, sweating rather profusely. Surprisingly though, he had a bit of a sweeter scent about him then a stinkier one. Her noise wrinkled nonetheless, because she refused to let him know that. Beside her, MiMi, too, recoiled from him, scampering over to Tak's lap through narrowed eyes.
"You smell, Dib." She stated, bluntly, shifting away from him in disgust. "Don't get too close. I don't want your disgusting stench rubbing off on me."
Dib gave her a look of disbelief. "I don't smell that bad!"
"MiMi and I beg to differ," Tak retorted, petting said SIR unit smugly.
He scowled, drinking a bottle of water he'd taken from the many coolers in the corners of the room. "I don't know how you haven't broken a sweat yet."
Tak smirk widened, "Simple; I'm not as disgusting as you are."
Dib snorted, "Gee, thanks."
"Oh, I'll insult you any time, Dib," She mocked, sweetly.
MiMi eyed Dib carefully. "His lifespan isn't as long as yours. You'd only have him for a few years. And you couldn't recreate smeets. It would be a rather pointless union."
Tak's brow rose, looking down at her. "Do we have to talk about this in front of him? He asks questions."
Dib's eyes flicked between the two. "What's she saying?"
"See?" Tak insisted before looking back up at Dib. "None of your business."
"Ugh," He ran his arm across his head, wiping some of the sweat off. "That's so annoying."
"Good." Tak then returned her attention to her and MiMi's conversation, ignoring Dib's scowl. "It's not like I have much else to do anymore. A mate is about as Irken as I can get."
"So you're using him then?" MiMi said, brow rising.
Tak rolled her eyes. "You know very well that's not true. I am fond of Dib, it's just a fact and convenience he'd make about as good a mate as I'm able to get on this forsaken speck of a planet."
MiMi relaxed before she nodded. "Very well. I'll see if I can come up with anything about his lifespan problem, then."
"Thank you," Tak murmured as Dib's attention was riveted elsewhere, on a group that was just perfecting the latest of the moves. "Dib?"
He turned his head back to her. "Yeah, Tak?"
She eyed him. Was this sweaty form what she was planning on being stuck with for his lifespan? "I've got a question to ask you."
Dib turned towards her fully, curiously, "What's on your mind?"
Tak straightened a bit, "I-."
"Dib!" An agent shouted. "We need your help with the last move. How are you supposed to twist to defend yourself again?"
"Yeah, sure, one sec!" Dib shouted back, looking back to his companion. "Sorry. What were you saying?"
Tak shook her head, "It can wait. Go help your hopeless club members."
He laughed at her, standing up and rolling his shoulders. "Alright. Don't forget to tell me later, then."
She snorted at the idea. "Like I would forget anything!"
Dib shook his head at her, turning away. As a last minute thought, Tak eying him carefully since he wasn't looking, Dib removed his shirt, tossing it aside. At once he let out a sigh of relief, feeling much cooler as he left the shirt where he had sat. Tak's eyes widened with surprise at his sweaty back. She had always taken Dib to be a rather lanky, bony boy. Under the clothes he wore, he certainly seemed as such. But his bare upper body revealed muscles that were toned from years of chasing Zim in his childhood and working out in his teenage years to keep fit, in case an event like this happened. At the time it had seemed ridiculous.
But who was laughing now, hmm?
Dib was muscular, and Tak continued to eye him through narrowed eyes as he walked over to the group that had called him over. Tak wasn't surprised to find it was an organization of mainly men, so quite a few of them had their shirts off.
It was just that none of them looked as good as he did.
"Alright, what did you need help with?" Dib asked, reaching them.
One of the men eyed him with amusement. "Trying to impress your lady friend?"
Dib snorted, rolling his eyes. "Impressing Tak is impossible."
"Well," A female agent noted teasingly, glancing over his shoulder. "She seems to be admiring the view."
"Huh?" Dib turned to find Tak was indeed eying him, her eyes glancing up to lock with his as he stared at her in surprise. Her already narrowed eyes glared further, daring him to do anything. Confused (and frightened) Dib just turned back around, shaking his head. "I'm never going to understand her."
"She's a woman," the same female agent replied. "You aren't meant to understand her, Dib."**
"Oh, great," He commented sarcastically. "Can we stop talking about my non-existent love-life now and focus on fighting, please?"
They laughed at him, but complied.
Little did they know, with her advanced hearing (and MiMi's help of course) Tak had heard ever word. She looked down at MiMi. "What do you make of that?"
Her robot shrugged, curling up on her master's lap. "I believe he needs to do some adjusting."
Tak smirked, stroking her false-feline. "So do I."
Gaz had rested a while. Between the ride over and the few hours of sleep at home, she woke up fully energized, if not only a tad sore.
So, of course-.
Zim smirked, rolling Gaz onto her stomach and licking a long, slow line up her spine. She shuddered, only enhancing his smirk as he pressed his bare chest against her back, his hands slipping underneath her to grip her chest, massaging her breasts and kissing her neck from behind.
So he cursed whoever to Hell when there was a knock at the door.
He growled, sitting up, straddling Gaz's waist, and barking, "WHAT?"
There was a shout of surprise before Skoodge answered, nervous as always. "Eh, you t-told me to inform you when your conference was in an hour, sir."
Zim huffed, bitterly. "Yes, thank you, Invader Skoodge. You may go now!"
Gaz rolled her eyes at his squeak, shifting herself so she was on her back instead of her stomach.
"Yes, sir!" He shouted, his voice a bit higher then usual.
She could just see him saluting before his feet scuttled away, frightened as always when it came to his superiors. But, he was a good soldier and a great deal of help to Zim, so, what could you do?
Zim let out an aggravated sigh, looking down at his mate before lowering himself, supporting his weight on his elbows as he kissed her neck.
"It seems we're constantly interrupted, aren't we?" He murmured in the brief moment his mouth wasn't on her skin.
She smirked. "You've got an hour left. Shouldn't you be preparing a speech or something?"
"To your human Hell with speeches," he muttered, bitterly, hands slipping underneath her waist. "Zim will stay in his room with his mate as long as he likes!"
Zim groaned when she slithered herself downwards, biting his shoulder and sucking on his bare skin. His fingers pressed harder into her back, forcing her to arch against him. Gaz slid her leg slowly up against his, receiving a shudder from him as he pressed her harder against the bed.
Then she hissed, but not in a good way.
Zim pulled away from her, alarmed. "Gaz?"
She rolled away from him, her arm clutching her ribcage and squeezing her eyes shut. She waved a hand, the other holding her side. "No, I'm fine. Just a little cramp."
Zim's eyes narrowed as he got off of her, removing her hands gently and carefully touching the tender area. When she hissed in pain his red irises went wide with fear and he helped her sit up, propping pillows for her to lie against.
"It's nothing, Zim." She insisted when he gently moved her up. "It's probably just a sore spot from the fight."
He growled at her. "It is most certainly not nothing. This," He pointed to the spot, careful not to touch her. "Is where the Pill would effect you, if there were any side-effects. Which there shouldn't be, if it was made properly."
Gaz's brow rose before another spike of pain hit her and she grit her teeth, looking away. "Well, you got the formula right. I'm sure it's just a period cramp or something. I'm due for it soon anyways."
Zim grimaced at the mention of her menstrual cycle but shook it off, kissing her on the mouth, worriedly. "I need to give you a proper examination, to ensure nothing is wrong."
Gaz eyed him questioningly as he stood, dressing quickly and digging through the closet. "What are you doing?"
"Finding you clothing." He stated, coming back out with a robe. Before she could object, he stated. "There's no point in getting you anything else, for the moment. You can dress yourself properly later. I need to examine you now."
Gaz sighed, rolling her eyes and holding her hand out. At least it was long and thick instead of those dainty, annoying things. Although it was large and looked like Zim's, maybe, since it was red and all but oh well. He walked over, helping her sit up and slip her arms into the thing. Then he fixed it around her, tying it carefully at the waist; secure enough not to reveal anything but loose enough not to cause her pain. He adjusted the cloth over her securely, picking her up gently.
"Ignorant Irken technicians," he growled as he used his PAK to open the door. "If this is their fault, someone is going to be killed by the end of today."
"Hopefully a technician," She joked, lightly, attempting to humor him. However the smirk soon disappeared from her face as another wave of pain shuddered through her body and made her flinch and Zim growl further. Gaz was certain he was swearing in Irken as he muttered things under his breath, carrying her throughout the house. It made her thankful that Zim had secluded this part of the house off as they walked, encountering nobody, or they'd be getting a lot of strange looks at the moment.
Eventually he made his way into the lab with her, wasting to time and laying her down on the table immediately. He then proceeded to go to the computers, hitting buttons more rapidly then Gaz had ever seen him do before. All the while he was continuing to mutter under his breath as Gaz resisted the urge to react to the pain in her abdomen.
"Scanning."
At once that ever-familiar grid pattern ran across her body and she was, as always, careful not to move. Soon enough Zim was on his screen, eying the scrolls of information she now understood. Gaz carefully, slowly, sat up and read on the screen.
"So it was the Pill," She commented, plainly.
Zim jumped, having forgotten she could read Irken. But he nodded, heading over to a safe in the corner. "Yes. I'll have to study it to see what went wrong and counter the effects."
Gaz's brow rose. "But . . . it's inside of me. How are you going to study it?"
"Oh," Zim pulled out a box as the safe opened, after his hand was scanned. "It's standard protocol to make two of every Pill, in case something like this happens. I'll compare this ones capabilities and your body more closely, to see what went wrong."
"We've got a conference in an hour," She reminded him. "We can't spend all day in here playing doctor."
"You're right, that's what the nights for," Zim countered, smirking. "But we're not 'playing doctor', I'm trying to keep you healthy."
"Wooooow," Gaz commented, stressing the word. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe you just said that."
"It was amusing, no?" Zim retorted pridefully, smirking to himself. Then he was serious again. "Regardless of my amazing sense of humor though, the computer says your symptoms should be gone right about . . . now."
And of course, he was right. Gaz let out a sigh of relief as it went away, relinquishing her hold on the no-longer pained spot. "Any idea when it's going to come back?"
Zim walked over to her, holding her securely, comfortingly, by the waist. "The computer will be able to diagnose the problem by the time our conference is over. You won't have to worry about it soon enough."
"Cool," Gaz then glanced down at her bare leg, which was sticking out from the robe. "Can I go put on some clothes now?"
"Mm," Zim picked her up again, heading out the door as the computer continued to compare and analyze, despite its master's leaving presence. "Less then an hour now, right?"
"Yup," She agreed, readjusting the bathrobe.
Zim eyed her, his PAK appendages shutting the door behind him. "Well, you are almost naked."
"You couldn't do it in an hour," Gaz stated bluntly. "And that would leave us absolutely no time to get ready."
Zim growled, huffing, knowing full well she was right. "Fine. But I am staring to feel awfully robbed of my rights."
"My body isn't a right," She flicked him in the forehead, smirking. "It's a privilege."
He just huffed again, saying nothing.
*I think that's the first time I've addressed the fact this is, unfortunately, a story.
**I think if you went through all of my stories, you would find how often I use that exact phrase.
Oh, such a short, short chapter.
I'm setting things up for the final, epic conclusion to my most popular series ever.
Till then.
