Well, again, I'm sorry for the wait. Projects and classes just don't wait. Being sick doesn't either. So, yeah…. That's what's been happening with the story. I will be trying to deal with this and class more efficiently but that's a shot in the dark. And I'll probably fail utterly and completely at it.

Words- Regular speech

Words- Thoughts

Words- Chapters and changes

(Words)- Bez speech

Chapter 30—"Never, ever, try that again!"—

Wren's P.O.V….

I sighed and massaged the bridge of my nose with one hand. All the while muttering under my break, "Morons….dumb asses…."

"Anything wrong?" Zim asked a bit amused.

"A headache for one and two I'm tired of waiting," I replied.

"Well, you terrified them. And you're about a foot and a half shorter than they are or even more," Zim said. "If I had someone pretty much try to rip my head off that was shorter than I would try to delay as much as I could."

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest moodily while leaning back in my chair. "They deserve more than what they got," I said huffily.

"I know grashe, but it is better to keep them scared and then create a treaty than most other ways," he said laying a hand on my elbow.

The word he used caught my attention. It was one he had used the night before in calming me down. I flicked an ear forward and started to think with a slight pout on my face. "Grashe, it has to be part of his language. But why can't I understand it? Only one way to find out though."

"Zim?" I asked flicking both ears forward.

"Hm?" he replied and watched something crawl out from under a couch at the far side of the room. It was like a reptilian poof ball with huge ears and twitchy whiskers.

"What exactly was that word you used a few moments ago" I asked glancing at him with a tilt of my head.

"Um," he paused no quite looking at me.

I narrowed my eyes a bit and frowned. My ears flattening a bit against my head. "Zim…"

He turned to me and looked me in the eye with a sigh. "It's very old Irken," he said.

"Oh…. Is that why I couldn't understand it?" I asked flicking my ears up again, curious.

"Yes, I don't know if you will ever be able to fully understand it either. As I said it is very old Irken. Barely any of the old language is used in today's language," he added.

"Makes sense," I murmured. "Barely any of our really old languages on Earth are used today. Some are but others aren't. Our language has evolved a good bit to include a lot of slang. But what does grashe mean?"

Zim raised a nonexistent brow, "Are we playing a question game or are you just really curious about this subject?"

"Hmm…curious. But answering a question with a question is a wholly different game." I stated with a smile.

The squeak of a door caught my attention and my ears twitched to the sound. Several muffled curses followed the squeak and the soft sound of footsteps gave the Tallests away. I narrowed my eyes and leapt for the door leading toward the outside hallway. I kicked it shut and landed in a crouch with a hiss like a feline from Earth toward the Irkens that were trying to escape from me.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked twitching my ears back and growling deep in my throat.

"N-n-no where?" Red stuttered wincing.

I narrowed my eyes more a growled louder. Purple started to quiver and whimpered, "Please don't hurt us."

I rolled my eyes and plopped on the floor with my feet out in front of me. "I'm not going to hurt you," I said as a pout graced my face. I glanced up to Zim with a small glare and started to pout. "Zim made me promise not to do anything."

"Zim told you not to hurt us?" they asked in unison glancing over at the Invader they tried to get rid of.

Zim rolled his eyes this time, "Yes, I convinced her not to hurt you. I did not tell her because telling her to do something isn't worth the fight. Convincing her is much easier."

I looked up at him and smiled almost like GIR would have. He smirked at them, "And anyway, as she mentioned before. She would not attack unless provoked. You're not going to provoke her, are you?"

Both cowering Irkens shook their head quickly and quietly no.

"And now that that's settled, let's get back to business," I said turning my attention back to the Tallests. They gulped nervously but nodded.

James P.O.V….

I watched as a nurse checked a few monitors. She tapped some information onto a pad that was in the crook of her other arm. Nodding a bit at the results she turned to leave. I sighed again and rubbed the back of my neck with one hand.

I leaned back into the chair that was set by Rachel's bed. I looked over her once again when a twitch of a finger caught my attention. The breathing monitor started to pick up. I sat up quickly and went to her bedside.

"Rachel?" I called softly, "Rachel, wake up my girl. I'm here, please wake up."

She gave a small moan and her eyes fluttered open. "James?" she murmured drowsily.

I clutched her hand in mine and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'm here. I'm so glad you're ok. You had me scared. You had us all scared."

She smiled weakly as she closed her eyes, "I'm glad I'm ok. Sorry for scaring you." She paused for a moment before opening her eyes again and scanning the room.

"Where the hell am I anyway?" she asked frowning a bit. "And what the hell exactly happened?"

I gave her a lopsided grin as I brushed some hair out of her face. "I'll start from the beginning."

Narrator….

The six nurses that had come with Rachel to keep an eye on her sat in a small lounge that set off the hall where the Mess hall was. Two were reading, one going over Rachel's results, one was doing something close yoga, and the final two were playing a game of sorts.

"I truly wish that we could stay here," one of the nurses said that was playing the game. She moved a game piece across the board to sweep the other nurse's piece off taking over the square it was on.

"Lotus, we have gone over this several times. You, Xia, Mika, Juay, Aicie, and I can't stay here. We are needed on the Massive," the one doing the yoga like exercises said shifting into another position.

Lotus glared at her. "Kay, they have hundreds of nurses over there. Why do they need us there? There are only four people on this ship. They need us more here than on the Armada. I'd be counting tongue depressors right now if I weren't here."

"Kay, Lotus is right." Xia, one of the readers, said. "We could probably talk to the Tallests and convince them to let us stay here. They wouldn't miss us one bit over there."

Mika rolled her ryes, "Like that would ever happen. They would never listen to us because we are shorter than them. And we're females. Two strikes against us already."

All six nurses stopped suddenly when a link in their minds opened like a flood gate. Each of them gasped in surprise as a voice spoke to them in their minds. (James has said to tell you that Rachel is awake. He would like to return to the Massive as soon as possible. There's a lot to do and he'd like to be there when it happens.)

Each nurse looked to her peers and Xia stuttered out an answer. "A-a-alright. W-we'll be there immediately."

On the Massive….

Red and Purple were sitting at the table much calmer than before. That was only because Wren was on a couch that was in the room napping. Her head was pillowed on the end of the couch and every so often she would twitch. A foot, an ear, or her tail would twitch and every once in a great while her lips would twitch into something that looked like a smile. Zim watched her sleep with his chin resting against his hand.

"How exactly did you meet her Zim?" Purple asked quietly chancing a glance at the sleeping teen.

"A slave ship. She and the one that got poisoned were in a cell across from me." Zim said slowly and quietly scowling a bit at them. "We made a treaty and escaped not too long afterwards. That was after we had to hunt Wren down because she had a side effect to the injection given to them to allow them to understand all languages. At least we're guessing it was a side effect. We're still not too sure about that. She's a little too comfortable as she is now to have it just be a side effect."

"Oh…" both Tallests said.

Red looked her over, "What is she mixed with because the other one doesn't look like her."

"A type of cat I think," Zim replied off handedly. "She was completely human until the injection. It's a good possibility it unlocked something in her genes or something. And just like a cat I believe she needed a nap. She didn't get much sleep last night."

"Ah," Purple said softly. "I'd also like to know how the hell you got taller than us in such a short time."

Zim smirked. "I'm taller because of my time in space and the atmosphere of Earth. I got halfway through the atmosphere and then got caught. The gravity on that slave ship was also really light so that also helped."

There was a lull in the discussion until Red spoke up with a sly smirk. "And why didn't she get much sleep last night?"

Zim sat straight as a pole. He glared at both of the other Irkens. "Nightmares," he growled out. "Three days ago she had killed three guards out of cold blood. She was never trained to do that like Irken Invaders are. Those were probably the first creatures she had ever killed like that without a real need or purpose. That hit her hard and she hasn't been able to sleep well since then."

Red and his brother actually winced at Zim's harsh tone. They glanced at the girl and watched her tail twitch twice before she curled up onto herself more resettling again peacefully with her tail curled below her chin.

"Let's get back to business now," Zim said finally, snapping them back to the point. "We need a treaty or something close to it. We are not going to be cruising space without one."

Both brothers nodded, "Right," Purple said. "You don't destroy us and we won't destroy you."

"Not good enough," Zim said shaking his head with a frown. He twined his fingers together on the table and gave them a dark look.

Before either brother could snap a reply back to Zim the doors of the room slammed open. James appeared within the light of the door. Wren jumped a little and looked up and blinked sleepily before rolling over with a snort. James walked in with a hover pad, Rachel on the pad, and six nurses surrounding her. He had a glare that could kill and Rachel was the same from where she was sitting. In a flash Red and Purple leapt up and were hiding behind the couch Wren was napping on.

"Alright, I'm here for revenge and I want it now," James snarled stalking farther into the room.

Zim stood up motioning for James to sit down at the table, "James. Don't do anything irrational or drastic."

"Irrational and drastic? Its revenge Zim, stay out of my way," he snapped and strode forward again.

"Oh come off it James," Wren yawned and snuggled into the seat of the couch without looking up at him.

"Wren, don't start," James snarled. "They almost kill Rachel."

"Shouldn't I get a say into what happens?" Rachel asked from where she was sitting with a frown.

James paused looking at her over his shoulder. The nurses each had a hand on the hover pad that Rachel was on. Rachel had her arms crossed and was glaring at both James and the Tallests.

"Can we have a say also?" the brother's asked.

Rachel and James' attention snapped to them and they both snapped, "NO!"

A few hours and a little bit of spilt blood later….

"Are we finally agreed?" Wren asked placing her hands gently upon the table and stood.

Various answers of 'Yes' and nods went around the table.

"Good… Let's get something to eat, I'm starved," she smiled grabbing Zim's hand and pulling him towards the door.

"I can't believe that that just happened," James muttered rubbing his forehead.

"I can. I just can't believe Wren got her way," Rachel said with a small smile.

"How did she do that anyway?"

"How does Wren do anything?"

James looked over the treaty once again. Besides a no fire agreement that Wren had convinced the Tallest to assist if they or any of the human race needed help. Wren also convinced them to give them two dozen nurses, two dozen crew members, a half a dozen janitors, and another half a dozen chefs. The Tallests were a little reluctant to let any of them go but they finally decided to at a threat from Wren. The threat being that James would be able to do with them as he wished.

"How exactly are we suppose to pick who comes with us?" James asked running his hand through his hair. "We should have gotten mechanics and a few of their pack pod designs."

"Why?" Rachel asked looking up from the pudding she was eating. She snatched the paper form him and started to read it. Swallowing another spoonful of pudding she pointed to the paper. "Purple thought of that. The mechanics are to be mixed in with the regular crew members. It's in there and he seems to be the smarter of the two."

James took the paper back and raised a brow, "You're right I believe."

Rachel grinned around her spoon. "I know I am. And those pods are to be custom made for us and to be almost like backpacks instead of the regular Irken pods."

"That works for me," James said with a shrug. "Ready to go back to Bez now?"

"I want mashed potatoes when we get back!" Rachel said bouncing slightly on the hover pad.

James laughed and motioned for the six nurses who had stayed during the whole meets. They surrounded the pad and started to push it toward the door.

Wren's P.O.V….

I squealed as I hugged Rouk. She had come to find me to give me some information from Bez. Bez said he'd choose the ones that were to work with us and I totally agreed with him that he should choose. Red and Purple agreed too but after they ate.

"I wish I had my chopsticks from home to eat with," I said with a sigh and poked at my food. The three Irkens gave me an odd look.

Rouk looked up at me and grinned. "You should have said something earlier." She dropped her original hologram and brought her tail in front of her. The ends split and two amazingly decorated chopsticks appeared. "They were going to be a present but oh well, you deserve them."

I took them from her only to notice they were made of something like black onyx but lighter in weight. They fit comfortably in my hand and were the perfect size. A red crystal dragon adorned the top of each and their tails twined all the way down to the tips.

"These are too nice to eat with Rouk," I said quietly in awe.

"You better use them," Rouk said bringing her hologram back up, "Or I'll shove them up your nose."

Zim started to snicker and I glared at him. "Fine, I'll use them." I said shifting the sticks into my right hand just so.

With a final goodbye Rouk went off to do whatever she was doing and left us to eat. Not even a few minutes went by before Zim asked a question.

"How do you do it?"

"Hm?" I asked and glanced up at him, my mouth full of food. I swallowed and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "Do what?" I finally asked.

"How do you do it?" Red asked himself.

I frowned a little but asked, "Do what exactly?"

"Do whatever you do," Purple replied stabbing something that looked even too sweet for me.

I glared at them. "That makes no real sense. What do you mean by, 'Do whatever you do?' By me using chopsticks or my personality change? Or is it something else?"

"That and how you get people to like you," Red said.

I gave them a small confused look. "Ok, I'll just say that I don't know what I do, it just happens."

The three of them just shrugged and went back to eating. I did too but not after catching Zim glancing at me. Curiosity and nervousness were eating away at me wondering what was going through his head.

Zim's P.O.V….

Wren had done it again and had amazed me. The Tallests were willing to sign the treaty and willing to let us pick a small Irken crew to take with us. I glanced over at her and watched her for a few seconds. This trip was going to be hell because of her. She made my stomach turn in knots with thinking of her smile, the thoughtful look in her eyes as she was trying to figure something out.

I started to play with my food after that. Questions ran through my head. I didn't even noticed when Red and Purple excused themselves from the table.

I was brought back from my mental wonderings when Wren asked, "Zim, is something wrong?"

I looked at her and blinked, "Nothing's wrong."

She smiled and rolled her eyes while taking a drink. "Right…. Zim, something's bothering you. What is it?"

"It's truly nothing," I replied smiling at her. "Just worried that GIR might be destroying something right now." I lied. I felt bad about that too; she didn't deserve to be lied to.

"Same here actually. Rouk will watch him though," she said not quite buying it but going with it regardless.

"I hope so," I muttered and took a bite of my food.

Wren shot me a slightly worried look and opened her mouth as if to say something more but seemed to decide against it. She sighed and went back to eating without another word. I zoned out again while eating wondering how I was going to keep my feelings from the unique girl beside me who seemed so in tune with me already.

Narrator….

James and Rachel met Red and Purple in the hall as they were heading back to Bez. The Tallests started to shy away from the couple but Rachel called them over.

"Red, Purple! Can you come her a moment?" she asked and motioned them over.

The brothers sighed and came closer to the human unsure of what she wanted. Soon they were only feet from her and she reached out and slapped them both. "Never try that again!" she shouted, "If you do, so help me God, I will rip your heads off and shove them so far up your asses you'll be able to have conversations with your spleens!"

Red and Purple stood there rubbing their cheeks as they watched the couple move off down the hall. They looked at each other slightly confused.

"What's a spleen?" Purple asked quietly.

"I'm not sure…" Red replied still rubbing his cheek. "But I sure as hell don't want to find out honestly. Humans are too damned scary for me."

Finally! I'm finished this chap! Can't believe I got through it. It's what's kept me awake these wee hours of the morning. Would have had this done sooner but school is evil. Having no time or real inspiration to work on this sucks too.

I hope you guys liked this chapter and writing good reviews gets the chaps up faster! lol