YAY UPDATE. How long has it been since I last updated this? Oh I can't remember, which is probably a bad sign. Well, either way I know it was faster than the last one. I am back into a regular disciplined writing schedule now with hopefully regular every-2-week updates on this story.

This was a chapter I had planned for a long time, especially the ending, and I really hope it pays off for the long wait and the somewhat uneventful last two chapters.

Read and enjoy my friends!

Zim was pretty lost at this point. He had been wandering through the storm for a while and at first he had known where he was going. Up the street, round the block, through the park and into Dib and Gaz's all too familiar neighbourhood. He had walked that path many a time.

However, the pain was getting to him. He had entered the park and soon become lost, the world turning into one swirling, muddy mess. Water was sweeping through his mild paste protection, his skin was burning all over, his eyes aching from the wind.

But Zim was determined to go out and find Gaz. She had to be safe, he had to show her he was still there for her despite all his stupid mistakes. He was mature, after all, he could do all the things that any mature person could do.

Right? Right. He was Zim, he was an irken soldier, job or not and he'd be damned if he was going to let some pathetic earth storm get the better of him.

Not when Gaz was out here anyway.

He finally managed to work his way under a tree, deciding that perhaps the tiny shelter from the rain might help. It did but only slightly, his body shivered as he collapsed into a curled heap with his back against the tree. As the pain ached over his whole body, his shirt and pants clung to his skin and his eyes closed tight. Slowly, as the wind howled around him and the cold of the mud set in, chilling each bone in his body to the core, doubt crawled into his mind.

Why was he doing this? What was so great about Gaz anyway? She was bossy and tall and HUMAN of all things. She couldn't feel this strange feeling back anyway, he even wondered if human kind could even feel such a powerful and compelling emotion. One that seemed to demand every one of his resources, every occupation of his mind

He wanted all this stupid pain to end, he wanted to go home and curl up on the couch and eat snacks and be lazy. He could just forget all of this and go home, dress in his old uniform and forget all about this strange infatuation and the bizarre lengths he'd gone to just keep Gaz around.

The wind and the rain seemed to die a little and Zim slowly looked up. Yes, to go home and be safe and secure in what he knew, in the familiar... wasn't that the best?

No.

His eyes closed once more as lighting lit his world, shining new light onto him before fading and the entire earth shaking under the roll of thunder like some great beast roaring.

But his mind was made up and backed by his iron stubbornness. To back down now would be to betray everything he'd done. He'd put in too much work, too much effort to just give up because of some minor setbacks like losing his job, angering Gaz or almost killing himself in a storm.

This felt... important, more important than anything he'd done before. This felt like something he HAD to overcome, as if he had never done anything better before in his life. This would prove his worth.

However, the pain across his body was too much. Through the wind he could smell burning, his own flesh, the clothes he were wearing were soaking into his skin. He couldn't stand anymore, his chest, arms, even his head as his wig clung dripped onto his face. He curled tighter, wishing something would come and save him.

Wishing Gaz would come and save him.

The rain battered Gaz like fists, thousands of them. They beat at her body, soaking her clothes, wearing her down, trying to drag her to the earth. But she fought on, even as the wind threatened to tear through her thin body, to throw her to the ground and push her into the dirty, wet pavement.

She would find Zim and she would comfort him. She would make sure he was okay before he did something stupid like stick his head into the engines of his spaceship.

He was not alone on this earth. Not anymore.

This storm would not beat her, she was better than this. She had weathered through worse... heh, weathered. She smirked as she strode on, slightly amazed that she had actually made a pun at a time like this.

She realised however that she needed shelter, somewhere to hide for just a moment before this wind truly took her off her feet. She was about halfway there, just going across the park which was really the separator between her and Zim's neighbourhoods.

Her boots became covered in mud and she trenched through the wet dirt, leaves and twigs hitting and sticking to her drenched coat. Her whole body seemed so drained and worn, but she knew that Zim would have it far worse.

His body would be burning though the rain, not to mention his spirit would certainly have been crushed by Dib. That idiot, she would have to give him another punch to the head after this.

She realised suddenly that she was panting and she had a cramp forming in her side. Walking through a storm would do that to a person. Looking around she saw a large oak tree, standing resolute and strong against the storm, and was drawn towards it, the offer of shelter from the rain much too tempting to pass up.

And yet as she got closer she saw a small, huddled shape against the tree. Her eyes widened as she recognised him and there was a sudden flood of relief and warmth through her. It was almost troubling, the happiness she felt to have found him but any worry for herself was drowned under her concern for Zim.

"ZIM!" She half-shouted over the wind. "Zim are you okay?"

The irken slowly looked up, half-lidded eyes blinking at Gaz, his angel in the black storm. "Gaz?"

His voice was hoarse, pained. She could already see wisps of smoke rising slowly from his body and the smell of a sort of light burning was around him. He was slowly being eaten by the acids in the rain... he was slowly dying, or he would if he stayed out here any longer. She could see it, his eyes seemed far away, even his smile seemed weakened. She'd never seen Zim like this before.

"Zim, you've got to get up, you've got to come with me or something." Gaz was panicking, especially as another roll of thunder was heard above them, lighting flashing and illuminating the world just as she touched his arm.

Zim winced as pain hit him, her touch hurt... but inside he felt warmer. "Gaz, I did something for you." He announced, trying to get to his feet. "You're wrong, I am mature."

The teenager had no idea what Zim was mumbling about as she gently helped him up. Maybe the pain of everything had driven him a little crazy or... more crazy, whichever made the most sense.

Zim stood, or tried to but fell forward onto Gaz, the strength to stand having been robbed from him. Gaz caught him before he fell, however as she straightened him up, she realised something. Zim wasn't standing at her chest, looking up at her.

He was at her eye level. Heck, he might have even been looking down at her!

Zim obviously saw the shock in her eyes and he grinned widely, ignoring the smoke rising from his body. "SUCCESS! SEE HOW I AM TALLER THAN YOU!" He backed up, staggering out from under the tree. "I am mature now!" He pointed to her, still grinning, rain falling off his body, pain searing through him but all of that pushed to one side in joy. "And it was all for you!"

Gaz was speechless, he had become taller... somehow, she didn't know how, but he'd done it. Suddenly her image of Zim changed, no longer being that small child, cackling away in a lab trying to blow things up. Here Zim stood, in jeans and a long sleeved top, tall and confident and willing to do things he'd never done before. She felt a strange rush of attraction towards him, so much so that even in the freezing cold Gaz felt a blush wash across her cheeks.

And yet she was horribly confused and conflicted. He'd done this... for her? "Why?" She asked out loud, her voice carried on the wind.

"... because!" Zim blinked. Perhaps because he was woozy with pain and the smell of his own burning skin was making him want to throw up or maybe it was the weird and sudden rush of feelings from looking at her, maybe both, but he couldn't stop his mouth from rushing with words. "Because I can't stop thinking about you! Because you drive me insane trying to make you think I'm worthy of your time and at the same time trying to prove I'm superior to you! Because I don't care about pleasing the Tallest as much as I care about pleasing you!"

Gaz didn't know how to think. All this information was just falling onto her, almost crushing her with it's emotional weight and yet she felt uplifted. Despite the howling wind, the frantic rain, despite everything, she felt a surge of... something inside her, like her belly and lungs were rushing through her.

Her heart entered her throat. She knew what this feeling was, she wasn't completely dumb, though she was sure that Zim had no idea what he was feeling.

So she decided to say it. Here in the rain, the freezing cold, she'd put a word to those feelings that were lighting her insides on fire. "Zim!" She shouted to him as she moved to hold out her hand. "I think I-"

Before her sentence could finish, there was a light. It was brighter than anything Gaz had seen in her life, like an explosion before her eyes. It was followed by a roar so loud it was deafening and for a split-second, Gaz was sure the world had exploded.

Then in the next moment it was gone, leaving only spots before her stinging eyes and the world ringing around her. She stumbled from her feet, landing onto her hands and knees in the mud. She could smell burning but not like the acrid, soft burning from Zim before. This was smoked and charred.

The smell of burned fleshed. She looked to where Zim had been standing and she was almost sick. He was lying on the floor, smoke rising from his body as his limbs twitched and jerked unnaturally.

Zim had been struck by lightning.

GASP. ZIMMY. Yes he has been struck by frigging lightning! This really hasn't been the poor alien's day now has it? Well, he did almost get Gaz to say... something to him. What was it? Wait and find out!

I don't think there are any references to pop culture in this chapter, so instead I'll talk about the meaning of the lightning. Notice where the lightning strikes in this, it's always at an important point for both Zim and Gaz. It strikes when Zim overcomes his doubt, it strikes when Gaz touches Zim for the first time and it strikes when Gaz is about to say those mysterious words. Each time lightning plays a role as a sudden note of thought and change for the two, especially for Zim.

I wanted the storm to represent that time in every young person's life when they have to force themselves to realise they're not longer kids and before them are the crazy, harsh and troubling times of being a teenager. If they can fight through that storm without giving up hope, well, maybe they'll find someone to last the storm out with.

Thanks for reading and as always, gimmie some feedback, tell me what you liked and hated and I hope you'll be here for the next update!