"Can you not be left alone for a single Earth minute without some sort of chaos?"

"Now that attitude won't smurf us anywhere." Papa announced.

"Zim, shut up." Dib warned, glaring at the alien.

"Do not order me human! And I speak the truth; she cannot be alone without hassle or chaos soon following! Do you know how long it shall take for me to build a new minion?"

"Oh well this is the genius of Zim, so go on, how long?" Dib scoffed, glaring at the alien.

"Well according to my calculations -"

Zim cut Brainy off in seconds, "Exactly! Genius! So… well… not long at all, but it is still a waste of my time!"

"I'm being sarcastic you lizard! We've got to get him back because then we get the smurflings back."

"We need to calm down and smurf up a plan!" Hefty ordered, crackling his knuckles.

Zim ignored him and pointed accusingly at Dib, "No concern of mine, Dib-worm, Zim is only involved to fix the portal and send them away from here. But of course even that simple a task if challengeable when she is around!"

"Stop blaming her!" Dib cried, clenching his fists.

"Shut up the lot of you!"

Everyone stopped at my sudden exclamation. I'd snapped my head up to glare at them both, tears streaking my face. I felt bad enough without them arguing again. Zim was right, it was my fault. I should have known that something wasn't right with GIR, that he was hiding something. What the hell was I thinking running home, that was so stupid! I'd led that creep right to them! Then I let GIR get kidnapped, the smurflings along with him. I'd promised all of them that they would be safe, that I'd never let anything hurt them… This was all my fault.

"We've got to leave here." I muttered, "He knows where we are and where I live so we can't go back there. Who knows when he'll be back, we can't be here when he does."

"But what about fixing the machine?" Handy asked, looking at Papa for guidance, "Saving the smurflings won't be much good if we can't smurf them home away from more danger."

"We can smurf that bridge when we come to it." answered Papa, "Right now we need to get everyone to safety."

That's right, because they're not safe around here, I already proved that… I couldn't look at any of them in the eyes, the guilt was painful, but it was nothing compared to the look of panic and worry in their eyes.

"He doesn't know where I live, we can hide out there and build the portal in my dads lab." Dib offered.

Zim scoffed, "And you're base can match my level of security?"

"Bring some with you then. Wait, who says you're coming?" Dib snapped.

Zim folded his arms, "Oh and I suppose you can build a portal all on you own without my technology? By all means Dib-filth, try."

"Please just stop it!" I begged, burying my head in my hands.

Papa patted my knee softly and turned to look at the boys, "Master Dib, we'd appreciate the safety of your home. Master Zim, is there a way to smurf the machine from one place to another?"

Zim arched an eye at him, "Of course, my voot cruiser shall be more than enough to carry the parts as well as passengers."

Dib blinked, "What? You're helping us now?"

Zim shifted, but maintained his glare, "Zim never said he wasn't. Besides, Zim cannot be bothered to build another minion, no one steals from Zim."

Before Dib could have the chance to retort, Zim activated the elevator that took up most of the living room and lowered us all down into the base where the scraps of the machine were gathered up by everyone and loaded onto the elevator. Once everything we needed was in place, the lift took us up past the living room and into the roof of Zim's base where the voot cruiser was located. Just as Zim said, all of the things we needed fitted in nicely, and the smurfs, along as they didn't mind sitting atop the machinery or cramming together.

As the parts were loaded up, I found that I was moving in a haze of near unconsciousness. I moved there I was meant to move, I did what they told me to do when they wanted me to do it. But I wasn't able to talk or take notice of conversation. The look of smug satisfaction on Gargamel's face as he vanished was playing over and over in my head. The way I just sat there and did nothing. I had been useless and a coward. But what was killing me the most was that…

"Let's go, Zim does not wish to prolong this trouble more than necessary." Zim snapped, looking at me directly, "As much as others seem to enjoy the trouble."

That hurt. Zim stretched out an arm to give me a hand into the ship, but I snatched away and glared at him through flooded eyes. He tilted his head questioningly at me.

"I know when something is my fault Zim; I don't anyone pointing it out to me."

He blinked, talking in my words and looked away. I ignored this and hoisted myself into the ship, sitting against the opposite wall, Dib joining me in the seat next to me while the smurfs marched in around our ankles and over the machinery. Zim took his place at the controls and brought the ship into life. The roof opened like a pair of jaws, giving us room to take off. The scenery zoomed past us, the smurfs that had gotten a view through the window from the top of machinery or on our shoulders widened their eyes in awe. I didn't blame them, it was a sight to see; I was never without awe whenever I took a ride in the ship, however rare it may be. But right now I wasn't looking. I was so scared for the smurflings. Did Gargamel know that there were there? Had GIR given them away? I was too scared to ask out loud. No one had the answers, so I couldn't bring myself to ask.

As Dib didn't live too far away, we were landing in his back yard within minutes. As the boys and I started dragging the ship into the garage, the smurfs started to carry out the machine parts. I had to admire how strong they were, even if it was mostly Hefty doing the work, it was still a sight to see. Dib opened the door for them and showed them down into the basement where his dads' lab was situated.

"What happens if your dad comes home and sees all this?" I asked, shutting the door behind me.

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Oh, right, his dad never came home unless it was family night, "Never mind."

Wow, I was on a roll today, everything just seemed to crumble to chaos.

"So, the Dib actually expects this useless technology to work?" Zim scoffed, looking around the labs equipment, "I've used more complex items as a smeet!"

"Then you should know what you're doing, shouldn't you." Dib retorted, "No lets get on with it, the sooner this is fixed the sooner you can get out of my house."

"DIB!"

"What in the name of smurf was that?" cried Smurfette, trembling slightly.

"A banshee?" quivered Brainy, "No other creature could smurf that loudly and scarily!"

"Actually, there's one other…" Dib swallowed, "My sister."

We all felt out blood turn to ice at the threatening and dark cry that echoed around the walls like thunder. Dib shuddered and slowly edged his way back up into the living room. Zim and I peeked around the corner of the doorframe. Gaz was sitting on the sofa, thumbs stabbing the buttons of her game viciously. Her brother kept at a safe distance and smiled nervously.

"Uh, hey Gaz… Uh, you c-called?"

She didn't look up, "If I ask what you're doing and why our house has become infested with your weirdness more than usual… Would you expect me to take part in it?"

By the looks of it, he knew the answer he wanted to give, but chose to go with the answer she was expecting, "No, not at all!"

"Then why are there blue people scattered around the house?" she eyed Zim over my shoulder, "And a green moron?"

"That green moron is the cause for this." Dib sighed.

He started to explain everything that had happened. It became evident that Gaz was not really paying much attention. I started to get a sinking feeling as the story got closer and closer to the part where GIR and the smurflings were taken away. I'd already lived through it and played it over in my head, I was sure that I didn't want to hear it again. However, Dib danced his words around it, just giving basics. Gargamel showed up and kidnapped them. That's all he said. I was grateful for it, but at the same time it just made me feel worse that he had to deliberately leave me out of it. Gaz arched an eyebrow and looked at her brother with irritation.

"Zim brought them here, weirdo shows up and takes a few and the robo-thing, you bring them here to fix the machine." She summed up, we nodded, "What was so difficult about saying that instead of disturbing me with your ranting?"

Zim smirked, "Surely the Dib-sibling agrees that the ranting is merely part of the disturbances concerning the Dib-worm?"

Gaz glanced at him, "I guess."

"Will you help us with the machine?" I asked hopefully, "You're better than most with technology."

It was true, in seconds she could figure out how to fly alien crafts, hack computers of highly advanced intellect and even manage to activate or deactivate many of Zim's machinery. I didn't understand how she did it, but things just seemed to make sense with her. She was like the Sherlock Holmes of technology. I'd mentioned this title to her once, she seemed to like it, but requested in her own way that I don't use it publicly. Gaz thought for a moment and shrugged before returning to her rapid button pressing pace.

"Depends if I can be bothered, this level is time consuming." She answered bluntly.

I nodded as an act of appreciation and felt Zim leaning in over my shoulder. His eyes were following the pace of her thumbs as they skipped over the buttons. My elbow gave him a subtle jab in the ribs, to which he blinked and glared at me. He rolled his eyes as my silent assumption and returned to his accusing manner. I swallowed, he still insisted on putting all of the blame on me, and I had no fight left to retort. I knew it was all my fault, I wished that he would stop reminding me of it.

In the hours that followed, we were hard at work between fixing the machine once again while also trying to think of a suitable plan to bring back GIR and the smurflings. Neither task was proving to be particularly easy. For every solution came a hundred drawbacks. The main being that we didn't even know where Gargamel was! Judging by his power, he could be anywhere, he could even be watching us right now. The thought terrified me.

I had to get out, it was so claustrophobic down in the basement and looking at all of the smurfs so hard at work, it just tore me apart. If I hadn't been so stupid before, then we'd be closer to fixing the machine, the smurflings and GIR would be safe and that lunatic would be on some wild goose chase somewhere far from here. Bottom line, they would be safe if I'd just been more cautious or run in a different direction. I sighed and made my way out into the back yard, the cool evening air washing over me comfortingly. I leant against the wall of the house and sank down onto the grass. With no one around, I once again allowed myself to cry. It was strange. If it was some of the older smurfs, like Gutsy or Chef or Grouchy, I would still be worried and guilty, but not as much because from what I'd seen of them, they were more than capable of handling themselves. Those four little ones were just children; I wasn't sure how to convert smurf and human ages, but little Sassy couldn't be much different age-wise from my sister. Maybe that's what was hitting me hardest, because I looked at them and pictured my sister, and what would happen if she went missing. Either way, I still felt like it was my fault.

"Amy?"

My head snapped up to see Dib looming next to me, his black coat looking like a shadow in the darkness. He slid down the wall so that he was next to me.

"You okay?" he swallowed, "Sorry, stupid question."

I leant further against the wall and rubbed my damp eyes, "I should have done more. It's my fault, everyone knows it."

"Hey, you did what you could, you can't go blaming yourself." He offered, shifting uneasily.

"I made a promise, Dib, and I know that promises don't mean much to most people but they do to me! God knows enough people have broken them to spite me in the past and I don't want to turn into them!" he raked by hands through my hair I frustration, "I promised them that they'd be safe…"

"And they will be."

"They're not now!"

"Amy, we can't keep every single promise ever made! Not even you."

"This one should have been kept!"

"Then keep it!" he snapped, "What happened earlier wasn't you're fault but if you're so proud of yourself for keeping promises then get up and make sure they're kept!"

I hesitated, "What's that supposed to mean?

He breathed heavily, "It means, instead of punishing yourself like this, you know, just… get up and do something to change it. In all the time I've known you've never broken a promise. So, let's get back in there and I'll make sure that you don't start today. They will be safe, in the end, and that's that." He raised his hand over his heart and gave a smirk, "I promise."

When I didn't answer, he nervously snaked his arm over my shoulders and tilted me towards him. My head leant against his chest and I could feel his head beating, increasing slightly the longer I lingered with him. He had an excellent point. By letting my guilt consume me, I was giving in to defeat and allowing my promise to be broken. I was letting Gargamel win by not doing anything. Yeah, Dib was right… I leant further into him and wrapped an arm around his wait. I heard him swallow thickly before resting his head on mine. His warmth was welcomed, and needed.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" he asked anxiously.

"For being so self-pitying, it's pathetic."

"No, it's not." He chuckled, "And think about it, both GIR and Sassy, that old guy's has no idea what he's got himself into!"

He was trying to make me laugh and cheer me up, it was working. I sniggered and nodded in agreement, "You've got a point there."

"And anyway, you, you know, you just, have an overactive guilt, thingy."

"Overactive guilt thingy." I repeated, using a playful mocking tone.

He reached around to try and poke at the spot by my ribs that sent me laughing hysterically but I twisted myself and shuffled away to avoid it. My sudden movement sent me slipping on the grass and losing grip. I felt my cheeks burning as I ended up on my back, my head placed on Dib's lap. He looked down at me wide eyed and a little taken back, arms raised slightly. I didn't move, the heat in my cheeks burning all the more as he started to turn a little rosy too. For a moment, neither of us moved, but then he allowed a smile to pull at the corners of his mouth and he started smoothing his hand over my hair. Okay, that relaxed me a little, in fact, he'd really helped me a lot.

"Do you want to get back to the machine? I'm not so sure I trust Zim alone in the lab and lets face it, without us, the place could be in flames by now." He said, unsure himself if he was joking or not.

I laughed and pushed myself up, "Yeah, you've got a point there."

"Amy?" he muttered, an anxious hint to his tone, I turned to look at him expectantly, "You are okay, right? I mean, you know, you know that we're going to get them back, right? So you're okay?"

I smiled and told him with true honesty, "Yeah, I know, and I'm okay… now."

With my newfound determination, Dib and I had resumed helping with the machine. I didn't care about the looks of disapproval from Zim, yeah the guilt was still there, but it was now dimmed slightly by my eagerness to fix things. We worked late into the night, even Gaz joining us at one point. She claimed it was out of hope that we would finish sooner with her help and she would stop being irritated by our noise, however, she'd been talking with Grouchy for a while and think she took a shine to him, so felt inclined to help a little. However, it was getting past one in the morning, and many of the smurfs were starting to slip into a state of drowsiness. I also felt the lack of sleep starting to get to me.

"Pathetic human anatomy, what use is sleep really?" Zim snapped.

"I'm not sleeping while he's lurking about!" Dib declared, "He could use his alien probes to experiment on us in the night!"

Zim looked horrified, "Do not associate Zim with such vile ideas and stereotypes!"

"Don't smurf these petty squabbles again lads," Gutsy warned, "It's been a long night."

Dib gave in and glared at Zim, to which the alien returned harshly. I rolled my eyes and removed my jacket.

"I'll set some beds up for them." I offered, gathering up as many coats as I could find to replicate the pocket beds.

"You can use the living room, it's bigger than the bedrooms and there's the sofa too." Dib suggested, removing his jacket to offer for bedding.

I smiled and accepted it, adding it to my own as well as a few lab coats that were around. After setting a few up on the sofa and the floor, as well as using a padded out jewellery box as a crib for Baby, I made my way upstairs to see what else I could find. I didn't particularly want to intrude into Gaz's room, I'd been in there once and that was traumatising enough. So my first stop was Dib's room. I opened the wardrobe and my jaw hit the floor. How many black trench coats did he have! Well, it was a shame to dirty them all by putting on the floor, so I just grabbed a handful of them and turned to head back downstairs. However, someone was looming in the doorway.

Zim stood there, arms folded and looking like he was about to back away again. I waited expectantly for him to say something, or if not, move out of my way. He quirked his feelers and looked at my feet, refusing to make eye contact.

"Zim admits that he was… harsh… earlier on." He said the words like they were bitter on his lips, "It has clearly upset the Amy-human."

I shrugged, "Forget about it, you only said what you were thinking, I can't fault you on that."

He arched his brow, "You're not annoyed at Zim?"

"I was annoyed that you kept reminding me of my guilt but in the end, sitting around thinking about it won't change anything. So let's just forget it and try to make things right."

He huffed, "Well, I suppose that's a proper way of looking at it."

"Glad you approve." I smirked, moving to walk past him.

He grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him, he still looked hesitant, "Either way… Zim feels the need to… apologize… to the Amy-worm."

I blinked in shock, "Oh… well, apology accepted. And I'm sorry too, about, you know, GIR…"

He waved his hand passively, releasing my arm, "Meh, you are aware of GIR, naturally. It is the wiz-human beast that Zim feels sorry for."

I chuckled, "That's exactly what Dib said."

He deflated, "You're not going to start blathering about comparisons between the human and Zim, are you?"

"Not out loud." I muttered, winking playfully.

I walked back downstairs with him and I noted that he slowed his pace as he passed Gaz and leant in to mutter something in her ear. She smirked and brushed past him. I arched my brow at her, who looked at me warningly and then passed on her smirk to me. What was that all about? Considering our company, I chose not to ask right at that moment, but my curiosity was by no means deflated.

In time, all of the smurfs had found a place to sleep and I too was about to drop. Gaz vanished inside her room while Zim remained in the labs to work more on the machine. Dib of course was not particularly happy with leaving the alien unattended, but the dark circles under his eyes were more than a match for him and he was easily persuaded to give in. I led him upstairs and gave him privacy to get changed. I looked down at myself and sighed, in the hast to escape, I didn't bring any nightclothes with me. Dib rummaged around in his cupboard and found a pair of pyjamas for me. They were plain grey with long sleeve top and baggy bottoms. It felt strange wearing Dib's clothes, but it was a good weird that left me with a warm feeling inside. He shifted along his mattress to make room for me. For some reason when I lay down, instead of just taking my hand or giving a sheepish smile like normal, he pulled me straight into a cwtch. A cwtch is a welsh slang word for a snugly hug/embrace, and I loved them, and Dib was very good at them.

"Are you, you know, feeling a little better?" he muttered.

I smiled, nuzzling into his chest, "A little. But I'll feel loads better when we get them back."

"You know we will." He answered.

"Yeah…" I breathed, "I know."

A/N:

Another 'stage-setter' chapter sorry and sorry for bad grammar, I was on a time limit and didn't have time to check things over properly. I've got something planned for the next chapter that should add a little spice to the dullness. Please review and thanks for all the support this story is getting XD Hey, what do you think Zim said to Gaz that made her smirk, eh? I know, haha XD