Okay Amy, you can do this. All you have to do it dial the number and wait. There's no way he's going to do that to you again… for the – No, don't try and count! Everything will be fine and okay and this time it's going to be different. Now come on, dial the number. The phone is in your hand and working fine. Just dial. And stop going off on random trail of thoughts!

My fingers fumbled at the numbers and I found that I wasn't actually breathing. What was wrong with me? This was no big deal! The phone connected and started ringing, each tone like a set of knives in my ear. Finally, someone at the other end of the line picked up. Okay, here goes…

"Hey dad!"

A pause, "Oh hi Ames, how's things?"

"Great, yeah good thanks, uh, you?"

"Good, good thanks."

Not the awkward pause, no! Must avoid! "So I was wondering what time you're landing tomorrow."

"Landing?"

Oh no… "Landing, in the plane. Remember we arranged a few weeks ago that you were going to come up and visit? For… Fathers Day?"

He was hesitating, "Oh right! Oh sorry baby, you know I actually booked my ticket and everything but…"

I bit my lip to stop it quivering, "But they lost your booking information, right?"

"Yeah, that's right!" seriously, he gave a sigh of relief!

"Weird, they did that last year and at Christmas too." I tried to hide the bitterness in my tone, but it wasn't easy.

"Well, you know how things go, baby. But hey, maybe you could come down here for a few days, the girls miss you."

The girls, my two other half-sisters and my step-mother. Thanks, use emotional blackmail, I bet the girls don't even remember my name. And I did go to visit my family for a week in the summer holidays and he made excuses then!

"Yeah, I'll try… I miss them as well. I miss you too."

"Miss you too baby. Look I got to go but it's great to hear from you and I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's fine… H-happy fathers day."

"Thanks baby, bye now."

"B-"

The dial tone was playing before I even finished a single syllable. For a moment, I was frozen in position. Really, what did I expect? He had been the same even when I was living in the U.K. He just… didn't care. He had his own family now and I was just baggage. Hey, maybe I will go to the airport, they can lose me if I'm I register under his name. There was a crash as I slammed the phone back down into its handle. I was disgusted to find that tears were slipping down my cheeks, he wasn't worth them. Not again. I couldn't believe he did it again to me. No, actually, I could. But, no this wasn't fair!

"Amy? Did you ring him?" I turned around to face my mother. She took one look at my flaming cheeks and damp eyes and pulled me into a hug. "It's okay, love, it's okay…" she hushed, stroking my hair.

"Every time! He clearly doesn't want a daughter so now he doesn't have to have one!"

She released me and picked up the phone, "No, he's not getting away with that. No one makes my girl feel like this."

"Mum just leave it, please."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she was already talking to him.

I couldn't deal with this right now. Pointing over my shoulder with my thumb, I indicated to mum that I was going out. So I did. Without even thinking, I made my way to the park, tears streaming down my face. Back in my old home, whenever I was upset, I always went to the park and went right for the swings. There was something about feeling like flying and the rhythmic motion that just took the feeling out of me. So that's what I focused on.

My eyes clenched shut, the last of my tears falling away in the wind. I leant right back so that on the way backwards, my hair trailed along the gravel. The wind whistled past me at a surprising rate. The motion and the darkness made me feel slightly queasy, but I rather that than anything else at that time. Pain and rejected. All of a sudden as I was swinging downwards, my feet collided with something solid.

"AGH! For the love of Irk!"

I skidded to a stop and looked at the figure that I'd sent flying across the park. It looked up and glared at me while gripping its cheek in pain.

"Are the Amy-worms shoes made from brick?" it snapped.

"I am so sorry Zim!" I gasped, helping him to his feet.

"Nice shot, you got him!" Dib rushed up to us and shook my shoulder with excitement, "You're gonna get it now Space boy!"

"Get what? You're doom?"

I rolled my eyes, "As you were, gentlemen."

I turned back to head… somewhere. Not home yet, that's for sure, but just somewhere else. Really, I wasn't in any mood to go and join in and be around people today. However, I was stopped by someone harshly spinning me around. Zim eyed me curiously, flinching at the sight of a few leftover tears from earlier.

"Amy? What's up?" Dib asked.

"She's leaking from the eye sockets! Clearly this defence mechanism is a signal to back away." Zim muttered, holding out his hands in preparation for an attack.

"I'm fine, I just… I'm fine." I rubbed my eyes, "No defence mechanism and nothing is up. I just, feel like being alone at the moment, please."

Zim smirked, "Then Zim shall not leave you alone! HA! Victory for…" he trailed off at my most evil looking glare, "Zim has other things to do anyway…"

"Uh, I'm, you know, here if you need me." Dib muttered.

I nodded and walked off in the other direction. Admittedly, I did feel guilty at brushing them off like that, but I really didn't want to be around people. Especially people I cared about. I didn't stop until I reached the farthest side of the park and sat myself down on a bench. It was quiet, it was isolated, and it was lonely. Just what I wanted.

The sky was starting to turn dark, but I still wasn't nearly done being alone. Maybe I should have forced myself into socialising, but it didn't seem fair bringing them down with my mood. No, the best thing was just to wait until I felt up to going home, and then make a big effort tomorrow. No, I couldn't do that, it was Fathers Day tomorrow, they'd all be busy. Well, not Zim maybe… Oh I don't know!

"Bit late, isn't it?"

I flinched at the monotone d voice next to me. In the gloom, as well as the flickering lights from a gaming device, I could make out a rounded, pale face with squinted amber eyes and topped with defining violet hair. She raised an eyebrow expectantly at me.

"Oh, hi Gaz. What's up?" I asked, catching my breath.

She shrugged, "Same old, I guess. You?" she asked like she had to, not because she wanted to.

"Same old." I nodded.

"It's a stupid holiday, Fathers Day. Right?"

I jarred at her words, "How'd you know I was upset about that?"

She smirked, "I didn't. But that takes the guess work away. So, what's up?"

"You don't have to ask me that, you know, I don't expect anyone to listen to my problems."

"I'm aware." She shrugged, "Yet, I asked."

"Yeah, and prepare to regret it…"

Before I could stop myself, the words came flooding out. About what had happened with my dad, how he had done it hundreds of times before, how it was like he didn't want me in his life. All of it. His new family clearly meant more to him. He couldn't even make an effort to see me even when I was in the U.K! Tears couldn't help but spill down my face, dripping from my chin and staining my jeans. I sniffed and tried to clean myself up. Now I was just embarrassing myself. Gaz didn't give any hint that she'd been listening to me throughout my venting, but it was still good to get it out in the open. As I came to an end, she snapped her G.S.2 closed and sighed, folding her arms and arching her brow at me.

"Well, I certainly did ask for it." She stated.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising," she ordered, a hint of irritation in her tone, "I'm not denying you ability to be miffed. If you're miffed, then you're miffed. And for the record, it's not like anything you're telling me is big news."

My eyes widened in realisation, "Oh god, me and my big mouth, I'm so sorry, I didn't think!"

It wasn't like she had the best relationship with her dad either and here I was moaning about mine. She never complained about it and never made a fuss. I felt horrible, like I had been rubbing it in her face. My hands ran through my hair in frustration. Gaz however, just smirked at me, as if she was taking amusement in my discomfort.

"First of all, if you apologise aimlessly one more time, I will do something that shall make you sorry you ever learnt that word. Secondly, it's no big deal. Some parents are just cruddy at being parents sometimes."

I sighed, "I guess…"

"And you have your mom."

I smiled, "Yeah, she's been like two parents in one."

"So you're not missing anything." She shrugged, flicking back to her game.

That was also true. "I guess. I suppose it's not the fact that he doesn't see me, it's that he always builds up and then lets me down. If he just straight up said he wasn't going to show up, then that'd be a bit better. But why get my hopes up first?"

"Then stop expecting him to be there, then you won't get disappointed. Works for me."

That's right, her dad didn't even live with them that often. Dib was always left to care for Gaz on his own. They had an annual day of the year where they actually got to go out somewhere with him, and that was just for a few hours. That was no way to live. I never agreed with it, even if I did agree not to interfere… again. But at least they knew where they stood with him.

No, no they didn't really. That was true, Gaz didn't get her hopes up and always just went along with what was going on around her, that way she was always in control of herself and didn't get disappointed. Dib, he was always trying to please his dad, that's why he was so determined to prove his paranormal theories, because he wanted to clear his name and stop being an 'embarrassment' to him. No, they didn't know where they stood. And whereas I had my mum, they only had each other.

"So… what do you do on Fathers Day?" I asked after a thoughtful pause.

She shrugged, "Send a card to his assistant to pass on. But we send it three months in advance so that it reaches him on time."

"You don't meet up with him?"

"He works, and it's not on family night. He sends a computer monitor to video-chat from his labs for bit too." She arched an eyebrow, "So what will you do?"

I shrugged, "Just a normal day now I guess."

She smirked at my dry humour, "Normal?"

"Well, normal for us." I corrected, grinning a little.

For some reason, I was feeling a little better. Gaz had such a laid back attitude with this kind of thing, and it was pretty infectious. She had a point, it was just another day, and I really wasn't missing out on anything. Really, it was my dads loss if he couldn't be bothered. And from now on, he could get in contact with me, I was sick of giving him the benefit of the doubt all the time. If he wanted to fix this, then I'd be willing to listen to him, but until then, I still had my mum and my friends.

I was still a little annoyed with Professor Membrane though, naturally, but a promise was a promise and I wasn't going to interfere. But he really should get more involved with his children, it wasn't like he was living in a different country! But still, they seemed okay.

"You know, whenever dad lets me down, mum always tries to cheer me up by making a big meal the next day. Do you and Dib want to join in? You know, after your dad has called."

She shrugged, "I'll pass on the message."

I smirked, "I was thinking about asking Zim too, considering he won't be celebrating either."

She flushed a little, but held her game away from her face to hide it in the gloom, "I've got nothing better to do, why not."

She got to her feet to leave.

"Oh Gaz," she paused, "Thanks."

She arched her brow in confusion at the gesture, but her expression softened slightly, "Well, that's better than another apology I guess. And don't mention it."

She vanished like a shadow into the gloom. I figured that maybe it was time for me to head home myself. After talking to Gaz, I really did feel loads better. Who knew that she of all people would have words of wisdom for me? It really wasn't a big deal about dad, and now I had all my friends coming over too. Sounded like a pretty good day planned to me. As soon as I walked in the front door, I was caged into a hug from my mum, to which I gratefully returned.

"How you feeling, love?" she asked.

"Loads better." I grinned, "What did he say when I left?"

"Same old excuses, idiot man, don't worry, he's not worth it."

"I know… Hey, about tomorrow…"

A/N:

I'm sorry about this fic, I was feeling a little angsty thanks to issues with my own life and just needed to get it out without shouting like a scary monkey XD Plus, I feel like I've been leaving Gaz out a lot and only using her as plot points with Zim, so it was good to try and give her a scene where she was in character, but still trying to help. Hope you like it, and I'm sorry again about the dad-anger thingy, but we all have our moments… XD