When Zim calls Amy a new name, she doesn't like it and she demands to know his reasoning for it. But when she breaks into the base late at night and corners him, she doesn't get the answer she was expecting. Set after the Birthday fic. Paragraphs in italics are flashbacks to the "An Adventure of my Own" fic.

I really couldn't sleep that night, his comment had been lulling over my brain for hours and it didn't seem to be going anywhere. He'd never called me that before. And I didn't like it. It wasn't like me and Dib were even doing anything wrong! We were just walking past the house when he leant out of the front door, shaking his fist in his usual manner and just screamed it.

"Think about breaking in here again and it'll be the last thing you ever to Dib-smell! And same goes for you, weakness!"

I'd never been called 'weakness' before, I mean, I'd been called weak… But never labelled as 'weakness'. It didn't sit right, and it seemed pretty out of order. Why had he called me that? By now I was pretty used to being called all sorts from the resides of that house. Amy-Cakes, Amy-beast, Amy-worm, even cake-lady at one point and even earth-filth. And yet, this one struck me hardest. No, I didn't have to lay here and lose sleep over this!

Tossing the covers aside and getting dressed, I opened my window and peered outwards. The drainpipe was fixed pretty close, thankfully. My hands wrapped around it as the rest of my body swung around to grip it with my trainers. Don't look down, I'd only even done this once before and it didn't end well, don't look down! Slowly but surely, I started to lower myself until I lost my footing and ended up skidding straight down to the ground. I hissed in pain as the skin along the outside of my forearm was gashed. A trickle of blood dripped on the ground. I gritted my teeth in pain and removed my old jacket from my waist and wrapped it around my wound. I'd gone too far to turn back at something like a scrape. Resisting the urge to hug the grass, I sprinted off to the house next door. I knew by now that he wouldn't answer the door at this hour, he'd be too suspicious for that. Instead, I tried my luck with the window, but that was just pushing my – oh wow it was open! Thank you GIR.

I realised how cold it was outside from how the warmth made my fingers tingle. But it wasn't warmth I was here for, it was answers. My mind flashed back to the first time I'd wondered into this house, or rather, been dragged inside by GIR. And how he'd stripped of his doggie suit and jumped down the toilet, getting me to follow him. Speaking of which, I went to the kitchen and stood inside the toilet bowl. Honestly, every time I do this I swear to god I feel like I'm making it up… The lift took me down into the lower levels of the base where I was hoping Zim was going to be. I'd probably only ever seen an eighth of this base, there was so much to it and so many rooms, I wondered if I'd ever see it all. And if I'd find Zim come to think of it. Irkens didn't sleep, so at this hour, he really could be anywhere.

"Zim!" I called, jumping as my voice bounced off of the walls, "Zim are you here?"

"Where else would Zim be, human?"

I span around to see the alien leaning against the elevator doors, looking tired and irritable, holding a bag of what looked like sugar cubes. He popped one into his mouth, and yet he looked repulsed by the taste.

"Don't eat them if you don't like them." I scoffed.

"Zim does like them, he is simply using them to rid himself of the other horrible taste in his mouth!" he glared at my bandaged arm and gagged slightly, "Zim could taste that in the air before you even reached the base."

Oh yeah, I remembered, Zim's tongue was snake-like, so it could also taste scents in the air, like my blood right now for example. Instinctively, I pulled the jacket around it tighter, to which Zim rolled his dark pink eyes in annoyance. He stormed to a cabinet and pulled out a box. From inside, he produced a bottle of strange looking liquid and a roll of white gauze. He peeled back the jacket gingerly and dripped the liquid onto my wound. I tried to ignore the smirk he gave as it burned my skin and gritted my teeth. Once he had finished, the bandage was wrapped around my arm and he grudgingly popped another sugar cube into his mouth.

"So, what reason has the Amy-worm to interrupt her sleeping pattern and honour Zim with her presence?" he asked, dripping with sarcasm.

I chewed my lip, I'd almost forgotten why I'd come here in the first place, "I just wanted to ask you something." When he didn't answer, I continued, "Earlier today, you shouted at me and Dib… and you called me something. You called me 'weakness', and I want to know why?"

He tilted his head, "Zim calls you humans by many names. What made this one so different to invoke such a reaction?"

I was about to ask him what he meant by reaction. But then I noticed that my hands had clenched into fists and I was glaring at him. Not to mention that I'd broken into his house in the first place…

"It's the first time you've called me something like that. And I didn't like it. So, why did you call me that?"

He waved his hand passively, "Zim had called you weak before. A few weeks after we met and Zim was so gracious as to reveal the Dib's true intentions."

"No, you started to call me weak, but then you changed track, remember?"

"What? I thought that you'd be happy now, you have one less enemy to worry about."

He shifted uncomfortably, "In truth, I never actually saw you as, well, an enemy."

"How come?"

"Mainly because you're too… weak." He flinched at my glare, "I mean, you're too smooshy on the inside." I glared harder, "Nice, okay, you're too nice to be an enemy!"

I think I just got my first complement from Zim… Weird, but in a good way.

"You were different back then, you know." I sighed.

"How so?" he snapped, "Zim was Zim then and Zim is Zim now!"

"In that sense, yeah, but… When we first met, we didn't really interact that much apart from me helping Dib with research and pulling you two apart if fights got too out of hand. Then, you told me about Dib and we got kidnapped… you were a lot more open towards me. You even burned down a flipping airport to stop me from going back to the U.K! But, now… it's like, the only time we speak is when we're giving sarcastic comments or empty threats."

Once I'd started I couldn't stop. It was true though, wasn't it? Over time it was like we were turning into enemies. I didn't know how it happened, but we'd grown harsher towards each other and that small soft stop that I'd found in Zim, it had crusted over. By the looks of him, he seemed to understand me. He listened to me intensively and tapped his chin in thought.

"Zim admits, that you were not the push-over you once were. And Zim had, in turn, grown more wary of you."

"But why? What have I done?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but collected himself and brushed it off, "Nothing of concern."

"No, tell me! You don't go admitting to it if you're not going to explain it! So go on, I'm waiting, and you know me well enough that I'm not going anywhere until -"

"YOU PICKED A SIDE YOU STUPID HUMAN!"

The force of his voice made me stumble backwards. He glared at me, his maroon eyes quivering and his antenna flattened against his head. He panted in anger as he looked at me. I swallowed, what was that supposed to mean. Not able to summon the words, he continued.

"You picked a side!" he repeated quieter but by no means less malicious, "You made this big fuss about how you could not choose between Zim and the Dib because of the good you saw in both of us and copped out by claiming GIR as a choice! And then you ignore that verbal commitment by giving in to the Dib! Oh don't try and fool me, human, it had been clear to Zim that the Dib had chosen his mate from the start and that she returned the gesture! That did not bother me! As you know Zim has a mate in mind of his own! But never did he expect it to worm its way into your brain and alter the very morals you once stood for! You turned your back on all that was once your beliefs and chose! You chose the Dib! And as such chose to make Zim an enemy!" he pointed at me warningly, "And that, Amy-worm, is why you are just weakness!"

His words hit me like bullets. I had no idea that he was this angry at me. Yeah, I did know that he liked Gaz, he'd even asked for my advice a few times, much to his annoyance. And I had a clue that he wasn't best pleased that me and Dib had started dating, he was his arch-nemesis after all. But I had no clue that he saw it as me picking a side. Thinking about it, I had helped out Dib more times that Zim, but that wasn't because of me making choice, I just helped out whoever needed it. And Dib got into more trouble than Zim, in all honesty. Guilt was building up like a dead weight in the pit of my stomach. I tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but he smacked it away. A small tear trickled down my face.

"Zim…" I didn't know where to start, "I'm so sorry… But, you're wrong, my choice still stands, I'm still in the middle, like GIR. Just because me and Dib are, mates now," the choice in word made me cringe, "has no effect on how I feel about you! You will never be my enemy and I will never do anything to hurt you, you know that! Is that why you've been a lot harsher towards me, because you think I'm trying to expose you like Dib?"

He folded his arms, "Zim does not think this, he knows it."

"You're wrong!" I cried, "I'd never do that! You say I've turned my back on my morals, what were they? That no one deserves to be experimented on or dissected? That you've created a life here so there's no point in you taking over Earth because it's your home? That I think that you are a good guy? Well I still believe all those things! And there's one thing I still believe and that is that you are not my enemy and never will be!"

He blinked, "Zim does not see it that way."

"Then that's your choice, I don't know what else I can do to convince you. Zim, Dib may be my 'mate', but you're still my friend, actually, you're more than a friend to me you're…"

He arched his brow, "Zim is what?"

Yeah, Zim is what? Well, Zim was many things, but how to collect them into a label was more difficult that I thought. One minute we hated each other, the next we were passing playful banter. One minute he would be going on about how he hated all human life, the next he was asking me why he couldn't get the image of a certain Dib-sibling out of his head. He was confusing and loud and egotistical, yet it was funny and occasionally a little charming in his own way. And to me… to me he was like my…

"OW! What the Irk was that? Did an asteroid hit Zim?" Zim cried, clutching his cheek.

No, it was no asteroid. It was my fist. Dib laughed and gave me a round of applause while GIR stared at me in awe.

"That's for leaving us and having the cheek to wave!" I spat, but then I softened my expression and started gently stroking his feelers, "And that's for saving us, thank you."

He slouched slightly and nudged his head further into my hand and then snapped himself out of it, "No more, filthy human!"

"Oh I see, you'd rather me give it a sharp tug, like Gaz does?" I asked playfully, winking.

Zims face flushed while Dibs burned.

"What's that mean?" Dib demanded.

"Nothing." me and Zim said in unison, me calm and coy, him loud and desperate.

"Answer Zim!" he snapped.

I smirked, "To me, you're like… a brother."

His eyes narrowed and he folded his arms, "Explain yourself."

I shrugged, "Well, we argue and yet we have a pretty good laugh from time to time. We sort of look out for each other," I lifted my arm to make a point, "You hate my boyfriend and you seem to come to me for advice for whatever reason. We're not enemies, Zim, and I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like we were."

He faltered slightly and tapped his chin in thought, "Brother? As in sibling?"

I nodded softly, "Look at the relationship between Gaz and Dib, see anything similar there?"

For a second, I was sure a smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth. He'd watched those two long enough to understand how things worked. They acted like they weren't part of each other life, and yet they did look out for each other, after all, pretty much all they had was each other. A solid outer shell of a barrier was formed between them, yet instead of solid concrete all the way through, the inside was as soft as cotton wool. Zim and I were the same. He'd insult me, I'd wind him up, but we'd also saved one another many a time. Plus, Zim was kind of acting like a child, feeling abandoned and left out, like he'd lost a friend and was acting out through anger. I didn't blame him, I'd changed too over time. And I'd never felt more guilty. Yeah, he was like a little brother. A little brother that acted tough and like he could stand alone, but still needed to know that his big sis was still there if need be.

"Zim has to admit that there are come similarities, but to be registered as a sibling to a human would be an insult!"

I smirked, "If that's how you feel." I turned to leave, "I am really sorry Zim, I'm still your friend, no matter what. I promise."

His antenna quirked, he'd registered by now that promises meant the world to me. He'd never seen me break one, and didn't trust himself to make one of his own. But that one word seemed to stick with him, he knew I was serious.

"Amy-worm!"

I stopped and felt him tap me lightly on the shoulder. Turning to face him, I saw the glint in his eyes that I rarely saw. He pursed his lips and folded his arms in a huff.

"If it means that much to you're inferior brain, then…" He shifted, "Then possibly Zim could persevere with the label, for now."

I grinned and before he could react, I threw my arms around him in an embrace. He tensed and I could picture the look of horror on his face. But I wasn't letting go, not now.

"You know, I've always wanted a brother." I smirked, deliberately making him more awkward.

What I didn't expect however, was for him to in turn place his arms around me. It was strange, but I liked it.

"Oh, and how the great Zim adores his sibling."

I froze, there was something in his tone that was off. It was forced and overly happy, hinted with sarcasm and knowing. Just as I was about to pull away, his grip tightened suddenly, squeezing the air from me. At first I thought it was that moment in a hug where you hold the person a little tighter before letting go, but he wasn't letting go. He was forcing the air out of me, I could almost hear my back cracking!

"Zim, I'm glad we're okay now, but I can't breathe!"

He smirked wryly, giving one last forceful tug before releasing me, looking over-the-top innocent, "Oh so sorry, Amy-beast! Zim just doesn't know his own strength sometimes!"

I drank in the air and rolled my eyes, "Sure you don't." I caught my breath and looked at him, "We are okay now, right?"

He shrugged, "I shall give you the satisfaction of reassuring me, just this once, but do not go blabbing that you claim Zim to be a sibling, the repulsion is too great."

Smirking, I chose to take my leave, "I'll see you around, bro."

Zim shifted and thought back to a TV show he'd seen, "Uh, back at ya… sista?" he mumbled, unsure of the tone.

I snorted with laughter, "Never do that again." I waved and climbed into the elevator.

As I was about to be lifted up, Zim called after me, "So, should Zim think of the Gaz-worm as a sibling too?"

"You think of her how you want, sibling, mate, friend, whatever you feel like." I answered, vanishing from view.

I walked through the living room and left through the front door. As I was making my way back towards the side of my house, I couldn't help but smile. So Zim really was like an insecure child, he didn't want to feel like the closest thing to a friend he'd had was being taken away… That was so unlike him, and yet made total sense. Brother? Yeah, he was like a little brother. He was still pretty new to this planet and searched for answers, and I felt like I had to answer him. I'd never had a brother before. I mean I'd always seen GIR as a brother but that's just because of his childish nature and innocence. Zim, a brother? Yeah… I liked that.

"Amy!"

I cried out in surprise and span around to see a shadow-like figure sprinting towards me. The moonlight reflected off of his glasses and wove into his raven hair.

"Dib? Seriously, keep it down!" I sniggered.

"My radar around Zim's house went off saying that someone broke in, I came to see if you were okay!" he babbled, not keeping his voice down at all, he glanced at my arm, "What did that space-monster do? Man, he's gonna get it this time!"

I grabbed his arm to stop him, "Dib, he didn't do this; I did it on the drainpipe. I just went to visit him for a bit. Anyway, Zim would never hurt his sister…"

"Oh, right okay…" he jarred and glared at me, pointing an accusing finger at me, "Wait! Sister?"

I smacked my palm to my face, me and my big mouth!

This was killing me. What do I do? If I went with Dib, I'd be hunting Zim every day, but also be having adventures discovering the paranormal and the extraordinary, and maybe even discover some more about each other... But if I chose to go with Zim, I'd defiantly lose Dib as a friend and be expected to enslave my own kind, but I'd be flying through the stars and taking part in extraterrestrial matters along the galaxy. Pros and cons were equally balanced. I was stuck. But a choice had to be made.

I sighed, "Okay, I've chosen whose side I'm going to be on."

The waited, breath baited.

"I think that if I'm going to be on anyone's side, which I disagree with by the way, but if I really have to... I would be on..."

Here we go, prepare for disgust and outrage.

"GIR's side." I said, allowing him to jump onto my back with glee.

The two boys stared back at me in horror, "WHAT?" the cried in unison.

I smirked, "Well, GIR likes the two of you, and he's helped you both out from time to time. He doesn't see the two of you as sides to be picked, he just enjoys being in either's company, having fun, and that seems like a pretty good place to be all things considered."

They were gobsmacked. I didn't blame them. Some might say that it was a cop-out decision, but I could never choose. They were both too special to me. I did really like them and care about them both, but like I said before, in different ways. No one has ever had a go at GIR for it before, so it's not fair to change the rules for me.

"No, that's not fair!" Dib cried.

"Deceiver!" Zim yelled.

"You never said I couldn't do that!" I pointed out, "And my choice has been made. Dib, I'll help you with your studies, but I'm not going to put Zim in danger of being exposed either. Plus, someone's got to be on the sidelines making sure the two of you don't beat each other up too much!"

The pair of them fought with their frustrations for a long time. Each one trying to change my mind but it wasn't working. If GIR was in the middle, so was I. That way I managed to keep both friendships and get twice the adventure. Helping an alien race while also protecting my own. The best of both, you could say.

A/N:

I was feeling sentimental and I re-read over the "An Adventure of my Own" story and noticed how much the characters had changed towards each other over time and thought, well where did this come from? So I made this. Hope you liked it XD