BAAAH, I am sorry! I know I promised more regular updates and I am working to do that, but this first week of Uni was... very hectic to say the least, my times didn't turn out quite as planned so I might have less writing time than I thought. However, I will try and get back to writing a chapter every two weeks now. PROMISE.

Anyway this is a fun chapter to me, it's definitely making the beginning of the end for this fic... but the conclusion should be fun. I have some stuff in mind so you guys won't be disappointed.

Anyways, read, have fun, ENJOY!

Dib was almost looking forward to this talk. It would be interesting to see what an alien decided was good about this world, plus from here he could hopefully begin pushing his irken friend towards being more positive about being on earth. After all, if Dib could overcome his irrational paranoia than surely Zim could learn to like this planet?

Right? Right?

A deep sigh came from the young man, this was going to be one long, uphill battle.

Well, either way he sat in his home, preparing several papers on what Zim might say for the tomorrow's meeting. It was late at night, almost midnight actually. However Dib was way too used to working late, insomnia would do that to a person, even though he fully planned to get a good night's sleep... eventually.

It was raining outside, the night sky was dark and overcast. There was no thunder or anger in the storm, it was simply a storm, drenching the world and cleaning the litter away from the streets. The sound of it hitting the windows of his flat was almost peaceful, pretty, it provided a wonderful backdrop for Dib's mind to work on the Zim question.

What would the alien like the most? Their weapons? A certain food? It was more than making Zim like the earth, it was an amazing opportunity to learn what a visitor from another world, albeit a hostile one, liked most about this tiny planet.

Dib looked out the window slowly, blinking into the night sky. Winter was coming, and that wasn't just the Ned Stark in him. The city was experiencing a terrible, drizzly moment between the humidity of summer and the freezing of winter.

And what a strange summer it had been. He had learned that there was life beyond this earth, and yet, it was in the form of a troubled tiny green alien who didn't seem to know what he wanted in life.

He honestly couldn't have seen that one coming.

But it had set a fire in him he had long forgotten. Suddenly he was looking at the world with new, excited eyes. He wanted to go out and discover all the mysteries of life he had forgotten about. He wanted to hunt down bigfoot and dig up mummies and do all the things he had been told not too.

That was, of course, after he cracked the nut was that Zim's mind. Heck, maybe he'd even take the alien with him, although he wasn't sure if he could handle Zim for that long. One hour a week was already enough.

He smiled to himself before looking back to the soft glow of his computer screen. He wondered if he would still have acted the same to Zim if he had arrived while Dib was at school. Probably not, back then he was a vicious little thing. He probably would have chased him about and handed him over to some horrible paranormal society who would have cut him into pieces.

It was probably for the best that Zim had arrived when Dib wasn't a tiny psychopath bent on destroying every alien he came across. Weirdly, he realised he could possibly describe Zim in exactly the same manner.

He was pretty sure they'd have hated each other either way.

Dib suddenly heard a rumble through his stomach, that sudden feeling of emptiness and an ache for food filling him. He was a thin guy, and he tended to eat on irregular occasions, small meals throughout the day topped usually by fast food. Right now his belly was demanding noodles, possibly of the chicken flavoured with soy sauce kind. Eh, he could finish this work tomorrow, it was only a couple of Parent-Teacher Council issues after all. Yes, it was up to him to solve all the internal petty politics of the Parent-Teacher Council, even when that crazy teacher Mr Scudworth tried to become it's King.

He wandered into his kitchen, scratching his butt and yawning as he did so. Yet he felt a sudden chill run through him, as if he was being watched.

In the next second he turned around and was greeted by the amber eyes of his sister. He jumped in shock, putting his arms up in a minor form of self defence. He would have asked why she was there, but this was Gaz and she did have a tendency to do things like that.

"You missed it." Gaz growled out slowly. "Why?"

"Missed what?" Dib stammered as he took a step back. It'd been a long time since he'd seen Gaz this angry.

"Dad's birthday." Gaz announced, another step towards Dib. "You forgot it. It was yesterday."

OH. CRAP. Dib couldn't believe he'd forgotten his fathers birthday. He immediately began panicking. He knew how attached to their family Gaz was, even if together they weren't much of a family.

But still, he honestly was amazed he'd forgotten his father's birthday. "I'm sorry Gaz! I was totally swamped with work-"

"Shut it." Gaz demanded as she slowly began approaching Dib. "You've been acting weird, not keeping in contact and now you forget Dad's birthday? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing! I was just overworked." Dib quickly lied. He knew exactly what had distracted him. It had been Zim, he was so obsessed with cracking the puzzle of the alien that all other work was falling behind.

Including keeping in basic contact with his family. He suddenly realised how this looked. The obsessive behaviour, the paranoid-like lack of contact. She thought he was slipping again.

He should have been smart enough to avoid looking this bad. He knew he wasn't crazy, that Zim most certainly existed. The alien had a house, he went to class, he had a robot dog. Zim was not a hallucination.

"I swear," He continued as he now fully backed up into his kitchen. "I just forgot!"

"You're a genius, Dib." Gaz spoke slowly, quietly, dangerously. "You don't 'just forget' anything."

She advanced on him slowly, fists curling and a terrible fire burning in her eyes. And yet Dib knew, just knew, that inside this was not born of anger but of fear. She feared their family falling apart again like it once did. "Where have you been?"

"Busy, that's all I can tell you." Dib replied as he finally backed up against his fridge. "I made a promise not to tell, it's work related, I can't break the student-counsellor confidentiality."

The petite woman seemed to pause at this before slowly growling out. "You forgot dad's birthday because of some stupid bratty child?"

"Zim is not a brat!" Dib quickly countered, a bit faster than he'd liked. "He's important, Gaz, this kid is different."

"Different enough to make you forget your own dad's birthday!" Gaz shouted at him before turning and storming across the room, perhaps needing some space to breathe. When she got to the other side she spun back to look at him. "You're acting weird again, Dib. Really weird."

"I swear, Gaz, this has nothing to do with aliens." The counsellor replied with his hands up. "I'll get him something, I'll make it up, I promise."

The young woman only paused. "I never mentioned aliens."

Oh. Oh dear. Okay well he could counter that. "Well, yeah, just saying... you know... it's nothing to do with them."

A new air came over Gaz. Like she suddenly seemed nervous to even be around Dib. She seemed unsure of herself, then a second later, a cold look entered her eyes. "You're not too good at hiding things Dib."

Dib knew he could lose this. He had to out-think her, come on, he was a genius! He could surely out-think his younger sister. "I'm not hiding anything!" His voice was calm, but still laced with a sense of the frantic thought process inside. "Seriously, I just... Gaz I'm not crazy. I just got swamped with work for this kid."

He moved to sit back onto the worktop, his eyes still on Gaz. "He's not like other kids. He's a genius but he's got tons of family issues. I gotta help him out."

Gaz seemed to again, pause, thought flashing through her eyes as Dib internally prayed that she bought his excuse. He was filtering the truth, which perhaps made his voice that more believable.

"Fine. Visit him sometime this week, bring something good and don't put work before family again." Gaz turned so he couldn't see her eyes and she strode towards the door, pausing only a second before she walked out, her voice taking on an odd sinister tone. "Be seeing you."

Dib didn't even get to say goodbye before she slammed the door.

OOOOH, very mysterious ending, ammarite kids? Anyway this chapter is a huuuuge cop-out and a teaser to you guys wondering what Zim liked. BUT HA, now you gotta wait EVEN MORE. BWAHAHA. I'm so mean.

References!
'Winter is Coming/Ned Stark' - from the awesomeness of Game of Thrones. Man I love that TV series.
'Mr Scudworth' - from the awesomeness that is Clone High. WATCH THAT CARTOON, it's all on youtube yo.

Anyways that's all for now. Gimmie some feedback, call me lazy or whatever. I just hope you enjoyed reading! Till next time true believers!