Dib glared at the back of Zim's head and struggled to contort his body into a more comfortable position. "Why are we hiding behind a dumpster behind Bloaty's?" he demanded in a shrill whisper.

"Because this is surely where Tak will force Gaz to come. It would be weird if she missed pizza night. After the last time I don't think anyone can get in the way of her obsession," Zim explained. "We just have to wait for her to show up."

"But we've been here for two hours," Dib complained.

"And you two look like idiots," Gaz spoke up. The two boys fell over one another in their attempts to get up.

"What are you doing here?" Her brother looked particularly nervous.

"Neither of you were in skool today and dad was home. He wanted me to bring you back. We're all going out for pizza tonight. He'll actually be there." She paused. "In person."

"Really?" Dib looked over at Zim and shrugged. "Guy's gotta eat. We can finish this up later. I'll call you when I'm done."

"Very well, stupid dirt-child. I shall finish this mission alone for now. We have only three days left until the end of all endings."

"You mean graduation?" Gaz asked. "You really are ridiculous. You two better not be planning any pranks. They're tightening security after last year."

"What happened last year?" Zim demanded. He had been absent for that event.

"Let's just say it involved lots of meat and balloons," Dib replied, shuddering. "I'll call you later tonight so I can report what I've learned."

Zim sighed, but nodded. As Dib turned to walk away he grasped Gaz's hand. "You haven't been hanging out with me lately. Are you…feeling okay?"

Gaz smiled at Zim. "I have missed you, but there are things that I need to take care of. A mission," she replied vaguely. "I'm sure you understand how those things go."

Zim narrowed his eyes, but nodded. A mission! There was no doubting her controlled state now. "I will see you around, then." His squeedily spooch felt odd as he released her hand and watched her walk away with her brother.

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"Okay, so where's dad?" Dib demanded as they walked into the living room.

"He won't be home for another thirty minutes or so," Gaz replied and pushed him so that he sat down on the couch. "I need to have a serious discussion with you." She hesitated before adding, "I need your help."

Dib jumped up and grabbed a lamp off of the side table, holding it before him like a rapier. "Don't come any closer. I'm not going to allow you to kill me!"

"Don't be stupid," she hissed. "I'm not being possessed by Tak, okay?"

Her brother lowered the lamp. "How do you know that's what Zim thought?"

She sighed. "I was eavesdropping on your conversation last week. I just couldn't bring myself to ask you for help until now. It's difficult to come to you with a problem," she confessed.

"Well, I know Tak isn't controlling you, but what the hell is going on? You've been acting weirder than normal. Zim has been freaking out about this. I don't know why he even thinks you're being brainwashed, except for that random living room thing, and you avoiding us all of a sudden."

"You wouldn't think it was all of a sudden if I hadn't started hanging out with you guys in the first place," Gaz pointed out. She rubbed her eyes and sat down. "What if I told you the living room thing wasn't completely random, and that you were closer to the truth than you thought you were with your initial hypothesis as to why I did it in the first place?"

Dib sat beside her, thinking hard. "Wait. You…you mean…wow! I was right? You're in love with Zim?!" He began to laugh, but cut it short when he caught her glaring at him.

"That's one way to put it, you insensitive freak," she hissed. "But I need your help. Remember on Sunday when he told me it wasn't unrequited and I replied that I had no idea what he was talking about? It's true that I didn't know exactly what he was talking about at the time, but then I came to find out."

"I'm confused."

She sighed. "I needed a way to keep you and Zim off of my back so that I could figure out what to do about this emotion problem before graduation because I didn't want Zim to know how I feel. So I asked Gir to help me get Zim to think that Tak really was back. What Gir ended up doing is making a fake recording of me saying something along the lines of loving Zim and it being unrequited. I didn't know that was what Gir had planned to do. That stupid little robot used reverse psychology on Zim."

Dib nodded his head. "I'm impressed that it can be so smart sometimes. Okay, so let me recap. You were just trying to buy time and enlisted Gir's help, which worked but at the same time backfired on you, because now if you admit to Zim that you do know what he was talking about he'll just think it's all coming from Tak."

Gaz gave him a thumbs-up. "That's it in a nutshell. I need you to convince Zim that Tak isn't really back and that I'm not being controlled. Hell, you can tell him I was suffering from PMS on Sunday and wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone if that's what it takes for him to dismiss anything I said to dissuade him of the notion that I actually do care about him."

"So you want him to know that you love him?" Dib flinched when his sister glared at him. "I'm not poking fun at you; I'm being completely serious right now. You want Zim to know how you feel."

She took a deep breath. "Yes. As loathe as I am to admit it, I want Zim to know the truth. I have significant evidence that suggests that he feels the same about me." She paused. "I want to know what it's like, at least one time. I want to know what it feels like to be in love with someone."

Dib smiled. His sister was growing up! She caught the goofy stretching of his lips and glared once again.

"If you tell anyone about this, I will make your existence miserable. Do you understand me? I don't care how you convince him this was all just a trick. It needs to be done. He doesn't trust me."

"All right. I'll help you. But you're going to owe me." Dib's plan seemed to be working after all.

"Fine. Name your price later." The siblings shook on it as Dr. Membrane entered the dwelling. They went out to eat.

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Zim waited impatiently for Dib to call. It was nearing 10:30 and he still had not heard anything from the big-headed dimwit human dirtball. He had already paced throughout the entire lab and living areas of his base; had even sat down and tried to play checkers with Gir.

The phone rang and he answered immediately. "There is no need to tell me I am great! Skip it and get to the point, worm baby!"

"Zim, you are going to have to learn to answer the phone more normally," Dib replied. "So I discovered some pretty amazing things."

"Like what? Do not keep me in suspense! I will destroy you!"

"Gaz isn't being brainwashed or controlled. In fact, Tak is nowhere on this planet. Gaz is having a cranial meltdown."

"A cranial meltdown? What does that mean?" The alien was puzzled. In all his years on Earth he had never heard of such an occurrence.

"Her emotions got the best of her. She seems to be normal once again. I guess one could blame it on a chemical imbalance or something. However, graduation is coming up. You should probably discuss with her the plans for ending this charade. She seems most eager to come up with some conclusion." Dib smiled to himself.

"She wants it to end, does she? I shall make it a spectacle to behold at graduation! Though I suppose you are correct in talking with her. I suppose I shall catch her at skool tomorrow and we will begin the amazing planning of our grand finale." Zim nodded, even though no one could see. "This will be the best thing the entire skool has ever seen."

"This whole fiasco did make skool more entertaining, I must admit," Dib said. "It'll be a shame that it's over."

"Yes, I regret that it must come to an end. I was growing fond of your dirt-child sister, Dib-monster. However, she does not feel the same, which makes me believe that she was somehow possessed by something. Or Gir malfunctioned. I shall have to run some tests on my minion to make sure that he is still in working order."

"You should ask her if she feels the same, you know. You may be surprised." Dib could not keep the smugness out of his voice. "There's no harm in asking."

"I suppose not…" Zim hummed tunelessly over the phone line. "However I do not want to be considered a female if my affections are not returned."

"Female?" Dib let out an exasperated noise. "Stop watching soap operas! They'll rot your brain."

"Ha! Foolish human waste! Do you not think that Zim has anti-cavity gel that he rubs on his head nightly to prevent such corrosion? Honestly, your lack of intellect astounds me as your head is so huge!" With an evil laugh the ex-Invader hung up on Dib and settled into his chair.

Then he hung his head, antennae drooping. Gaz wanted it to end. Desperately, from what he gathered. It was…depressing, he supposed was the correct term for this feeling. Had he made a mistake in beginning this game? He had not expected things to become so complicated, true, but he had thought that it was going well despite the recent developments.

He missed Gaz. Plain and simple.

Perhaps Dib had a point when he said asking would clear up a lot of questions, but Zim was not an asker. Zim was a doer. Asking questions only led to trouble, or worse: more questions. Dialogue normally made things worse, from what he could tell.

"Very well then," he declared aloud. "I shall devise yet another scheme to win Gaz's heart. Hopefully she will not mind having it removed. Humans are odd when it comes to their mating rituals. I should do some research." He reached for the button that controlled the seldom-used intercom. "Gir! Report to my chair immediately!"

The little robot appeared, holding it's favorite stuffed moose. "I found it! Banana jelly on a caterpillar!"

"Never mind that. I need you to go to the library and find out everything you can about how to remove the heart from the human body." Zim paused. "Also, find out if that is part of the human mating ritual. Gaz would not be very happy with me if I removed it without needing to. Although it would be fun to have a heart in a jar. I've never had one of those before." He abruptly closed his mouth and twitched his hand, a signal Gir did not take to leave, but one that meant he should pounce on his master's head and smear some kind of sticky substance on his face.

"I will destroy you!" Zim bellowed as the little robot skipped away, quite content with life.