Disclaimer: These characters belong to the Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Jhonen Vasquez.

May God bless you all.

Sorry for the long wait but I actually went to a cousin's wedding and when I came back I was dealing with some sort of illness. However, I'm back now so enjoy.

Tak sat in Dib's garage. Her ship had been pretty quiet recently. Then again, they both were probably just ready for Dib to return. He had invited Tak over to show them something, but had been pretty vague and left them wondering exactly what was going on.

Tak sighed. It had been two weeks since Spork revealed his identity. However, Zim had pretty much resigned to his base and as far as Tak knew wasn't really talking to anyone. Perhaps Gaz as she still went over to play video games a few times but even at school he had become… well not Zim-like. He was quite well-behaved and rushed out the minute the bell rang. (Well that last part wasn't too different from what he did occasionally). She wasn't even sure why. Dib had explained the crash and Spork, but even he didn't seem to know the whole story. Something about General Vox and Spork escaping after being held captive for about 5 years, but he hadn't gone into too many details.

"Sorry for the wait." Said Dib as he ran back to them.

"No…" Replied the Ship. "…You should be sorry you came back."

"Ha, ha." Replied Dib. "Okay, what I wanted to show you was this." He said as he revealed a small cube-like device.

"Where'd you get that?" Asked Tak as she got off the chair and observed the device.

"From Spork's um… step daughter I guess." He said as he activated it.

"Scanning." Said the device.

"What is that?" Asked the ship.

"It's apparently Spork's plan." He said. "He and Miyuki recorded this shortly before she died. This is what the ambassadors would have presented had Spork given them the mission."

"Hmm… so this would have been a holo of them with terms for peace?" Asked Tak.

"Apparently. However, the problem was that he can't open it." Dib said.

"What? Why?" Asked Tak.

"It needs voice recognition from two irkens and Spork is just one of those two." Dib replied.

"Well Miyuki was obviously the other so now it seems unlikely it will open." Said Tak.

"Not exactly." Dib replied causing Tak to turn her attention from the device to him.

"I think there's a way…"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Shouted Gaz as she lost again to the level 10 boss.

"Game over." Said the narrator.

"Yeah, I know!" Gaz shouted again. This must have been like the 10th time she had attempted and she had barely even scratched him.

Gaz exited the simulator. "Soda me now!" She demanded causing a soda to drop from the ceiling. Gaz guzzled it down and then handed it back to the hand attached to the pole, which then ascended back to the ceiling.

Gaz burped. "So where's the red-eyed wonder at?"

"Um… I assume you mean Zim." Replied the A.I. "He's in his bedroom."

"He has a bedroom?" Asked Gaz.

"Barely used, but yes it is there." Answered the Computer.

Gaz sighed. "Take me to him."

"Remember you asked." Replied the A.I. as he opened the elevator.

Gaz got in and the elevator shot down. It stopped on… one floor. Gaz wasn't sure how deep she was but she was pretty sure she had never seen this part of the base before. It was… somewhat not as advanced as the rest of the base. It seemed more like one of those metal storehouses. There was a bunch of what looked like weird storage containers and some junk on the floor. There was also a bunch of irken soda cans all over the place.

Gaz prepared herself and began to wonder if she should have brought her Gazmat before entering the only door which was at the end of the hall. Upon doing so she saw… an actual clean room.

"Thank the good Lord in heaven." She said as she walked in.

"Zim?" Asked Gaz.

"Ah hello, Gaz." Said Zim who was in the corner using some sort of small device. "How are you?"

Gaz looked around. This was a relatively simple room though she assumed things would pop out of the wall or ceiling if Zim wanted them. It was clean, the bed was made and Gaz wasn't even sure if he ever slept in it. If he did sleep it was usually on the couch upstairs.

"Um… fine." Gaz said. "So… what you've been up to."

"Oh, just repairs and things like that." Said Zim with a smile. His attitude change was honestly not sitting too well with her.

"Really? That's what you've been doing for two weeks?" Asked Gaz.

"Well… there was a good amount needed manual repair." Zim replied. "But enough about Zim, what have you been doing Gaz."

That was it. Gaz rushed him and pinned Zim on the floor.

"Who are you and what have you done with Zim!?" She demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Zim. "I am Zim!"

"Zim would never ever want to stop talking about himself." Gaz told him. "Now spill it. What's really going on!?"

"Zim does not know what Gaz is…" Zim began to say. "Oh, who is Zim kidding? Okay…"

Gaz allowed Zim to rise to his feet, but she didn't separate. She made sure he was still in striking distance. Just in case.

Zim sighed. "Zim has been hiding okay." He admitted finally.

"Hiding? From who? Spork?" Asked Gaz.

"From pretty much all of them." He told her. "You don't get it."

"What do you mean?" Asked Gaz.

"Well, imagine your whole life you believed you didn't really have parents, other than a metal pole. Then you remember who your parents are after… um… so many years, and you accept it, just to find out that one of them had not only survived but is the one who is responsible for your… well pretty much most of the things that happened to you."

Gaz looked at Zim. She had to admit that would be quite a thing to go through.

"What do you mean responsible?" She asked.

"It was them." Said Zim. "The plan, 26, 9, 13, spelling out Zim! It was about changing Zim's memory so I wouldn't remember that Spork and Miyuki were my parents. So many memories were fake and now Zim can remember both scenarios. It's like Half of Zim's life was just a dream and he has finally woken up!"

Gaz thought to herself. That certainly would be a lot to take. Zim wasn't wrong in feeling, well, a lot of things really. She honestly wasn't actually sure how to respond to that. So she did something that was… rather unlike her.

"Ahh!" Zim screamed before realizing what was happening. He looked around but suspicion began to leave as he returned the hug. He rarely received them… well except from gir, but his robot hands were rather cold and metallic. Humans were soft and squishy and warm which… actually made hugs from them somewhat nice.

"Um… thanks…" Said Zim as the two parted.

"Listen Zim." Said Gaz. "I'm not going to even pretend I understand what you're going through. But I do know one thing. You won't be able to hide from it forever. You have to face your problems eventually."

"Never! Zim can stay here for years if need be!" He assured her.

"Come on Zim." Said Gaz. "I mean you've spent all this time on your mission and now your father actually comes back into the picture and what you're just going to hide from him for the rest of your life?"

"Now you're getting it." Said Zim.

Gaz sighed. "Fine, whatever, do what you want." She said as she turned to leave.

"Really?" Zim asked. "You're not going to push further."

"What's the point?" Said Gaz. "We all know you're going to change your mind eventually."

"How's that?" Asked Zim.

"Well, we know that in the future you , me and Dib are friends and even Tenn and Skoodge and some of the other irkens." She told him.

"So, there's no point in me pushing. It'll happen."

"That's not how the future works you know." Said another voice nearby.

They both looked to see an old man just outside Zim's room.

"Leave!" Zim shouted.

"Spork I presume." Said Gaz.

"Quite right." Replied the man. Soon his human hologram blurred and dissipated revealing the tall green-eyed irken himself.

"I'll leave you to it." Gaz said as she walked by him and left up the elevator.

"I said leave!" Zim demanded again.

"You show your father some respect boy." Said Spork as he came in. The comment wasn't harsh. In fact, he said it almost comically.

Zim laughed mockingly. "Pssst." He spat. "A father that Zim almost never saw, even before the whole changing Zim's memories."

"You know we had to limit interactions Zim." Said Spork as he sat down on Zim's bed. "Otherwise it would look suspicious."

"Mom didn't limit interactions." Zim retorted.

"That was different. Why do you think she made you a scientist? It wasn't because you were especially skilled for the position. It was to spend more time with you, without raising any eyelids."

"Excuses, excuses…" Zim said. "Ack!"

"Now you are going to listen to me." Spork said firmly. He had used his pack and inserted a metal pole into Zim's pack. He then dragged his son over to him.

"I gave you your space but I think now some good old quality father-son time may be in order." Said Spork. "I honestly wish we had time for the whole reconciliation. But we don't right now. We have to start your real mission. The one your mother wanted for you and for the others."

"Psst… figures." Said Zim. "Never any time for Zim, just calling me when you need something official done."

Spork sighed. "You remember the Dooxisi mission?"

Zim winced. "Stop." He said.

"Oh… I think you do remember." Spork said with a smile. "I seem to remember having you there as our assistant."

"Zim said stop!" He shouted.

"I also seem to remember a red-eyed irken and his green-eyed father sneaking off and getting into some rather embarrassing mischief."

"Stop" Zim said as he tried to keep himself from laughing. "That was all your fault. You told Zim to eat the spicy fruit."

"I didn't tell you to gobble down the whole bowl. Then go running into the command center with your mouth on fire wreaking havoc…"

"Okay… okay…" Said Zim as he walked away from Spork. "Real mission it is… anything to stop this trek down memory lane."

Zim and Spork both entered the elevator and Zim gave the order to go to the top floor.

"You know I liked that day." Said Spork. "Not as much as the Blorg incident though."

"Shut up!"

"So, you really think that will work?" Asked Tak.

"Well, apparently Miyuki has to say a certain word or phrase at the same time Spork does." Replied Dib.

They were currently watching one of Miyuki's video files.

"And?" Said Tak. "If you don't know the word or phrase then what's the point of even viewing the files?"

"Well, apparently when the phrase is spoken one of the lights will go on. So when it does we'll know what the word or Phrase is." Dib replied.

"Why not just ask Spork?" Tak inquired.

"Well, according to Esmerelda…" Replied Dib. "…He's not sure. They weren't to know each other's word or phrase until the time was to give the order, just in case their plan was found out."

"Oh…"

"So I'm just playing a bunch of old clips. By the Grace of God maybe it was something she used regularly or at least on recording." He told her.

"Well then, guess you have a lot of recordings to listen too. See ya later." Said Tak as she went to leave.

"Yeah… see ya." He told her.

Suddenly the door opened.

Tak looked ahead to see Dib's little sister walk through the door.

"Hey, Gaz how was the…" Asked Dib.

"Saw your old leader." Said Gaz. Dib assumed she was talking about Tak. "He's having a father-son talk."

"Wow, still can't get over that… Zim has parents… or parent." Said Dib.

"Yeah…" Said Tak as she walked past Gaz and out the door.

"Something wrong with her?" Asked Gaz.

"What…" Replied Dib. "…Nah we were just trying to figure out how to open this irken tech."

"Well, don't let me disturb you." Said Gaz as grabbed a snack out of the fridge.

Then another door opened. This time from the other side.

"Ah! My children!" Said the Professor.

"Oh… hey dad." Said Dib as he quickly got rid of the Miyuki recording. "Didn't know you were home."

"Yes, came in about 4:00 a.m. this morning." Said the professor as he grabbed drink.

"Went straight to the lab, had some work to do, and fell asleep at the desk." Said the professor as he sat down on the kitchen table.

"Oh, well how long you home for?" Asked Dib.

"Oh, two days. I have a conference." He answered.

"Well, I think I'm going to take a shower." Said the Professor. "How about we go get some lunch afterward?"

"Oh… sure dad." Said Gaz.

"Great!" The professor said as he headed upstairs. "You two can decide on a restaurant."

Dib looked over at his sister.

"We're not going to Bloaty's." He insisted.

Gaz didn't answer immediately. She simply sat next to him.

"I'll flip you for it." She said.

"Seriously… like you don't get enough of that place?" He asked as she took a quarter from her pocket.

Gaz looked over to her brother as she put the quarter on her thumb.

"Call it in the air."

Driving in cars, the school bus was bad enough, but Zim couldn't fathom why his leader/dna giver would lower himself to actually driving one of these primitive vehicles.

"So what was this thing you had to show me?" Asked Zim.

"Don't worry…" Replied Spork. "You'll like it."

"Which probably means I won't." Replied Zim.

"When did you become such a doubter?" Asked Spork.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe when a certain someone had my memory all jumbled." Said Zim.

Spork laughed slightly. "It changed your memory, not your personality."

The car slowed down and pulled up near a vacant lot.

"We're here." Said Spork as he exited.

"Oh, great." Said Zim, riddled with sarcasm. "Air and vegetation."

"It's called a hologram." Said Spork as…

"Wo… it's that's…"

"Yup." Said Spork. "Now come on hurry before someone actually sees it."

Zim hurried. He hadn't been in one of these ships….

…actually, he had never been in one of these ships.

Gaz grunted slightly.

"Lucky flip." She said as the three headed to the restaurant of Dib's choosing.

"So, how's it been going at school?" Asked the Professor.

"Okay," Answered Dib…

"Wait what!?" The responded.

"What?" Asked Dib noticing his father's shock.

"Did… my… Dib are you feeling alright!?" He asked.

"Yeah, dad why?"

"You… just said… school… well I'm happy to hear that." His father answered.

"Yeah, well Dib actually made a couple more friends." Said Gaz.

"Oh… well that's good…" Said the professor. "And how about you daughter?"

"Well… schools been…" Gaz thought for a moment. She thought about all the stuff that had happened and what they had been through.

"It's… been fun…" She answered finally.

"I think I'm going to have a heart attack." Said the professor as they pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

"So what kind of food do they serve at this place?" Asked Gaz seeing it was a restaurant she actually had never noticed before.

"Oh, it's great all space themed. They have meals that come straight out of sci-fi films." Dib responded.

"Why am I not surprised?" Replied Gaz.

The three walked into the restaurant and were shown to their table.

"We have the three moons from Saturn on special today." Said the waiter as he handed out the menus.

"Oh, goody!" Dib shouted.

"I'd go with the Plutonian pasta. It's pretty good." Said a familiar voice nearby.

The three turned to face the table next to them. Both Dib's and Gaz's mouths dropped when they realized who it was.

While the professors…

…Well you couldn't really tell.

Thank you for all who made it to the end. Don't forget to leave a review.

And just to make sure everyone knows. Yes Julio is Spork (Hence why he took his wife's name rather than the other way around as he had no last name).

May God bless you all.