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(Words)- Bez speech

Chapter 19—Rock-a-bye—

Rachel's P.O.V….

After Wren about killed GIR and I dodged into my room I sat on the couch thinking. James basically spoke up about what was running through my mind.

"I wonder what the hell got Wren's fur ruffled?" he asked frowning while looking in the kitchen cabinets. "She usually doesn't get like that."

"I don't know." I said frowning and watched him as he moved about the kitchen. "It could have been a glitch dealing within her transformation."

He opened a cabinet or two before a metal arm snaked down from the ceiling, opened a cabinet door and pulled out a cup. It closed the door and handed the cup to James. "Thank you Bez. Anyway… if you want my opinion, I think she is just PMSing." He said filling the glass up with water.

"I don't think so. I'm sticking with the changes have screwed up her hormones a lot and not dealing with her period. She was ok a lot of the time before, during, and after her period." I reclined more on the couch, "And I really don't understand why she got so worked up. GIR just kissed her and that's all."

"You never know what is really bugging her. From what I get from Wren, she can be pretty moody at any time," James said with a shrug. "Anyway, you'd be pissed too if GIR kissed you. You never know what the hell he's had in his mouth."

I scowled at James, "I would not be pissed."

He rolled his eyes and gave me the, 'you-know-you-would' look.

"Maybe just a little…." I said blushing.

"A little my foot," replied James, "you would try to kill him too."

"Maybe."

James shook his head and sat down beside me. I rested my head on his shoulder tapping my chin thoughtfully. Something was still nagging me about everything that happened today.

"Do you think that Zim likes Wren?" I asked after a while.

Needless to say my question caught James off guard. He started to cough on his drink. "What? Why would you ask that?"

I shrugged and looked up at him. "Maybe it was how he looked at her today."

"Do you think that was GIR's secret?"

"Maybe." I yawned. "Don't know."

James stood, "Come on," He said pulling me up off the couch, "bed."

I started to pout. "Dun wanna. But I will, let me get changed first though." I started to walk toward a dresser to grab some clothes.

"Can I help?" James asked playfully.

I looked at him from over my shoulder. "You know you can't." I smiled and turned to head toward the bathroom.

"Aw, please?"

"No."

"Aw, fine then." He said finally pouting.

I shook my head and went to change. As soon as I was out James leaned down and kissed my cheek before heading into the bathroom. I climbed into bed and before my head hit the pillow I was out.

Wren's P.O.V….

Dream realm….

I twitched. Something wet had hit my nose and I moved my hand to remove it. I relaxed only to have another drop to land on my nose. I opened my eyes slowly and blinked the sleep out of them. I came face to face with glazed white eyes. Streams of red tears traveled down the person's face as I stared into eyes that I felt I'd betrayed.

I scrambled backwards away from those haunting eyes. I squeezed mine shut and turned my face toward my stomach. Opening them again I saw that I wore not a stitch of clothing. There was blood splattering my stomach and chest. I could feel the warm sticky substance crawling slowly down my back. Wildly I looked around me. My eyes wide in fear as I saw I was surrounded by blood and bodies. I looked up to the person that I had first awoken to.

"You did this." They whispered hoarsely.

"No…" I murmured shivering moving to crouch on my knees.

"You killed them all."

"No." I whispered hugging myself, shivering.

"You killed them all without thinking and enjoyed it." The being hissed, crawling toward me with its hands. Eyes glazed in death peered at me from beneath a filthy fringe of hair. Behind it shadows started to form from the ground up.

"No!" I shouted looking away. "They wanted to kill us and hurt us. I only wanted to keep them away!" I turned back to face the creature before me realizing now that those shadows were the bodies that had surrounded me moments before.

"It is your fault they died. They could have lived. Now they are all dead. You did this. Your fault. You now must pay!" it snarled and leaped toward me, hands at my throat.

A high keening wail followed and the bodies waiting behind the speaker and around me leapt at me. Body upon body forced me to the ground as I screamed for help. Blood from the dead dripped down and covered me. Covering my face and dripping into my mouth making me choke. The sharp coppery taste invaded my even my sense of smell. Then the blood started rises and then it came in waves now like the bodies and soon I was drowning in that wave of blood. Everything began to black out.

Waking realm….

I sat straight up in bed gasping for air a scream ripped from my throat. Tears rolled down my face as I looked around sharply. My skin and clothes dripped with sweat. I shivered uncontrollably with fear and with the cold air drying the moisture on my skin.

"That was the third time tonight." I muttered raking a hand through my damp hair. I threw the blankets off of me lightly. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed I looked toward Rouk.

She blinked at me sleepily with a questioning look. I scratched her ears. "Go back to sleep dear, I can't sleep any longer." I said softly.

She only nodded while yawning and complied. She moved over to the warm spot I had left, curled up and started snoring again.

I smiled as I stood up shakily. I shivered as my nightmare flashed behind my closed eyes. I hated nightmares and rarely got them, but when I do, they're bad. That one was no exception.

I walked to the closet and took out a set of clothes. I was in the mood for pjs still so I grabbed a pair of boxer like shorts. They had oriental dragons all over them and the fabric shimmered with different colors if you looked at them at different angles. The shirt was a sweater with very long sleeves that actually fell halfway down my thighs. I ran a brush through my hair and brushed my tail out a bit.

Walking out of my room I started to wander around the ship. I soon found myself trailing a hand along the wall as I went. Grooves on the wall told me I was heading toward the officer's mess hall. It was smaller than the general mess hall by half and instead of being in the center of the ship, it was on the outer wall of Bez. To my surprise it didn't take long to get there, Bez must have been smaller than I had thought originally. That or I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the time it took to get there. Soon I was standing by the food wall. I looked over the wall finding nothing I really, really wanted. So I wandered toward the windows and the benches that lined them.

The windows on this ship, as I studied them, were odd. It was like one of those one way mirrors. But this window and all the windows on the ship were about twice as strong as the strongest substance I'd ever known on Earth. I was amazed at the space that flowed seamlessly behind the barriers. As I watched and became lost in my thoughts I began to sit down on the bench behind me that I knew was there.

"Having a tough night?" someone asked beside me.

I jumped a bit, tail bristling, and almost fell off of said bench I was going to sit on. An arm snaked around my waist quickly and settled me back onto the seat. They let go as they snickered a bit.

I turned to give a halfhearted glare to the only person that would be up right now. Zim smirked back. "I didn't mean to disturb you." I said pouting, "But you didn't have to startle me into almost finding a seat on the floor."

He smiled at me. "You didn't disturb me and I'm sorry for startling you. I believe we're even if you did disturb me though."

I smiled weakly and looked back out toward the window. "Then that's a good thing." I murmured.

Zim frowned as he looked at me. "Is something wrong?

I looked at him a little surprised and frowning. I really didn't like to open myself up for fear of getting hurt. I trusted Zim enough but not that much yet. "Why would something be wrong?"

"Wren, come on. I won't tell anyone or make fun of it." Zim said softly looking off toward the window now. "I know I shouldn't be trusted because you don't know me that well," my jaw dropped in surprise, "but meeting with you people and hanging out with you guys has changed me. I realized that I needed to do something with my life instead of working for leaders who want nothing to do with you."

I nudged his shoulder with my nose. He turned to look at me. "I trust you Zim." I turned toward the window again before I caught his eyes. "But I just don't open myself up. I haven't before and it'll take a lot to change that."

"Oh." Zim said softly. He circled my shoulders with an arm, "You're going to have to face your fears sooner or later you know."

"I know, but I can try to put it off as long as I can." I said. I then turned to look at him with a half smirk and a change of subject. "You know, you're starting to sound more like a human."

He smirked too, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

I shrugged and smiled. "Dunno. Maybe a bit of both."

We fell into a comfortable silence as we looked out the window. I zoned out as I thought. "I don't think I have ever let any guy get this close before. Close emotionally at least. I'm definitely getting too use to his presence." Zim pulled me a little closer and settled me into a more comfortable position against his side.

"Zim," I started, "why exactly are you up?"

"Hmmm…" he said coming back from whatever he was thinking about. "Oh, I guess I was worried."

"Worried?" I asked looking at him. He nodded without looking at me. "Why?"

"Well, I guess I'm worried about my future."

I continued to look at him and blinked a bit in confusion. "What about your future?"

"I can't go back to Irk because they'll probably kill me. I have no other place to go and I'm pretty sure you guys don't want me to hang around longer than I have to." He said not looking me in the face.

I hid a frown. "You could stay. I don't mind you staying." I screamed in my head. Out loud though, "You'll find your place Zim. Your place and home is where you feel you belong."

Zim looked at me and smiled while brushing a strand of hair out of my face. "You're right. I will find my place sooner or later."

I nodded and returned the smile. "I know I'm right this time."

He raised an eye, "This time?"

"Oh shush. You don't need to hear about other times." I said pouting.

He laughed and I cracked a smile. He gave my shoulders a squeeze and released. We fell into a comfortable silence again. I flicked my ears around only to catch the sound of a door opening followed by a few sniffles. I turned to see a crying GIR.

"GIR, what's wrong?" Zim asked. There was a frown on his face along with a look of confusion.

GIR sniffed and walked a little closer. He was dragging a blanket along with him as he looked down at the ground. "I had a nightmare. And you were in it. And you were getting chased by a huge gooshy monster. And it tried to eated you."

I looked at him and I smiled softly. "Come here GIR." I said opening my arms.

He looked at me and sniffed. "But you'll hurt me."

I sighed. "No I won't GIR, I promise. I won't hurt you. I was upset before but I'm better now. I'm not as grouchy as I was before." I stood up and walked over to the SIR. I knelt down and picked him up carefully like I would a small child. I rested his body against my chest with his head on my shoulder. I started to rub his back as I walked back to Zim.

"It's okay now GIR, nothing can get Zim because you and I are here to keep him safe. And Zim will keep you safe." I said.

The little unit looked at me. "Are you going to help?" he asked. The pleading look in his eyes said everything.

I smiled and nodded at him. "Of course GIR, what type of friend would I be if I didn't keep you safe?"

He smiled laying his head on my shoulder. He sighed softly as I sat down beside Zim. I carefully leaned back to rest against Zim.

Narrator…

Zim watched Wren comfort the little SIR that she wanted to kill earlier. She leaned back against him and hummed to the unit. Soon it was asleep.

"How did you do that?" Zim asked whispering in Wren's ear.

She shrugged but looked up at him. "I don't know myself. But I think GIR just hits my maternal button just right. He's too cute. And I can't stay mad at anyone too long. Especially him." She said.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"Is that good or bad?"

Wren smiled and leaned forward to nudge Zim jaw with her nose lightly. "It could be a little bit of both." She whispered and then looked toward the stars.

Just that small gesture made him freeze for a moment. Something so small as the brush of her nose upon his jaw made his heart race, though in a very pleasant way. Having her attention, hell, having anyone's attention especially focused on just him in a positive way was a very new and almost unnerving feeling. And as she sunk further into his side, her body heat melting into his, he thought that it would be a very easy thing to get addicted to this.

Later and somewhere else on the ship…

James woke up slowly at an odd sound. He got up leaving Rachel to murmur in her and curl up in the spot he left behind. James followed the sound towards its source only to find Rachel's pet dragon as the culprit. It was head butting a cookie jar in the kitchen area.

James raised an eyebrow. "What do you think you're doing?"

It froze and gave a soft chirp. Sitting down it gave a whimper and lowered his head. James rolled his eyes. He lifted the lid of the cookie jar and noticed the cookies at the bottom of it. He grabbed one then tossed it to the little pest. It chirped with glee.

"Eat it here." James said sternly. "Don't disturb Rachel or I'll have your hide for it."

The dragon nodded. Delicately it started nibbling in on the cookie.

James shook his head again and was about ready to head back towards the bed when the ship shook violently. Alarms started to blare startling both James and the dragon.

Rachel sat up rubbing her eyes. "What the hell was that?" she asked groggily.

"I don't know, but we'll soon find out." James replied turning toward the door.

Rachel struggled out of bed. She almost fell on her face but righted herself at the last moment and made it out the door after her boyfriend.

Not a lot changed in this story. Weird how much I've actually forgotten about a few of these scenes. I know I keep saying that but it really is weird.