Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim

Author's Notes: So here we are again, sorry for the long break guys the joints in my hands have been killing me lately. Anyhow let's get this ball rolling again with a little romance shall we?

Shout Outs! Juia I wanted to take this time to answer your question…

Question: I always saw the Irkens as insectoid aliens instead of lizard-like and was wondering if you can explain why you see them personally as lizards or is it only the characters that see them that way?

Answer: To be honest I describe Zim as a lizard solely because Dib has a thing for calling him a "space lizard." However, when other people describe Zim I use insect terms. I don't know why I do this; it just feels natural. Though I've always wondered why Dib saw him as a space lizard when he's obviously more insect like.

Anyway, I hope that answers your question.

Now to the rest of my awesome readers. I honestly think I should have named this story My Best Friends An Alien, cause we're at chapter 33 and they're still only crushing on each other! Seriously at this rate this book is going to be 50 chapters long! Anyway, now that I'm done ranting I'd like to thank you for reading and ask that you please review.

(Back with Dib…)

Disappointment…

Dib was used to receiving such a response from the like of his teachers as well as his father. Yes, he disappointed them often, however he had never done so with Dark Booty, at least until now.

"Honestly, Dib what were you thinking!" Dark Botty snapped. "Were you even thinking at all?"

Dib bit his lip in deep thought, after the near miss with Zim, Dib had waited in anticipation for his father's and Dark Booty's return. He knew they wouldn't be happy to hear the truth; that Zim had destroyed all the evidence they had of his plans. It was bad enough that Dib had risked his life to get the evidence in the first place, and now that the evidence was gone all his efforts had been for nothing.

But it hadn't been for nothing! At least not in Dib's eyes. They now knew the truth about the enemy's motives. Who cares if there was no proof to share? All that mattered was they knew and knowing was half the battle.

However, Professor Membrane would hear none of this. "Dibson your mother left us to protect this family from those monsters." He reminded him. "How do you think she would feel if she knew you were throwing yourself at one right now?"

"It was only recon!" Dib shouted. "You said we could collect information, and that's what I did."

"NO what you did was manipulate our words to serve your needs." Mrs. Bitters said. The monthly meeting of the Swollen Eyeball had just been completed and now Dib was being reprimanded for disobeying orders.

It was at least the fifth lecture that Dib had gotten since the events of last night. The first had of course been from Peg and Gaz moments after Zim's defeat. The second had come from Miz moments later when Dib called him after giving Zim the royal flush treatment. After that Dark Booty and his father had both giving him their own separate lectures when they returned home to receive the bad news.

And now finally Dib was receiving a lecture from his partner, his father, and Mrs. Bitter's as a whole. And all five times they basically told him the same thing:

"You're too impulsive."

"You're just a child, stop throwing yourself in harm's way."

And Finally…

"Leave this to the 'Big Boys'"

And needless to say, he hated all of it. He was not a child; he was a senior for crying out loud! "You people train me to fight evil, but you won't stop treating me like a kid!" Dib shouted.

"Dib." Dark Booty said. "Zim has openly made you his target of interest, he had declared that he will kill you slowly and you are treating it as one big joke."

"It's not a joke!" Dib said. "And I'm not treating it as one." He reasoned. "I just want to prove to him that he can't scare me off. Why not use me as bait!"

"Absolutely not!" Professor Membrane shouted. "I will not allow my son to be used as bait to lure a monster."

"Oh, come on, can't you see what he's doing?" Dib snapped. "He's threatening my life knowing you'll spend all your time protecting me so he can get away with what he really wants. Which is stealing our resources!"

Now that comment did force a pause, as if they might be thinking about his words.

"It's possible." Dark Booty seemed to agree after a long moment. "But even still you need to be more careful."

"How by leaving it to the big boy's!" Dib snapped. "My whole life I wanted to see an alien; I've wanted to be a part of something bigger then myself." Dib said. "And now I literally have both things and you're telling me to standby while he gets away with it!"

"Dib try seeing this from our point of view." Mrs. Bitter's said. "You're a child, you do not belong in this world."

"But I'm in it." Dib snapped. "So why not use me!"

"Because you are a child." Mrs. Bitter's repeated with a snap, her voice like the crack of a whip. "And as long as I live and breathe I will not put a child on the front lines."

"Dib, you are an excellent student, and a quick study, but the fact remains, you are still in training." Dark Botty said. "And this Zim is obviously an expert at this."

"Please son." His father was begging now. "I want your mother to have a family to come home to."

"You don't even know if she's still alive!" Dib shouted.

Okay that one cut deep, and he realized it in an instant. "I'm sorry." Dib said.

"No, it's alright." Professor Membrane assured him, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "She may be gone, I know that." He agreed. "But that only makes me fear losing you more." He admitted. "I can't lose you too."

Dib sighed realizing that he was not going to win this argument, and maybe he didn't have to. 'Maybe if I catch Zim myself they'll treat me like an adult.' Yes, if he wanted to be treated like a grown up them he had to act like one and take the initiative. "I'm sorry I'll do better next time; honest."

"See that you do." Mrs. Bitter's said. "You're dismissed."

Dib bowed his head trying to look genuinely sorry for his actions as he left the room. However, someone was not convinced by his act and made it known the moment he closed the door behind him.

"Okay please tell me neither of you actually fell for that." Gaz said as she poked her head out from the room adjacent to the one they were in.

"Of course not." Professor Membrane said. "We all know that your brother always does what he wants."

"So, no matter what he's going to find trouble?" Peg asked, appearing behind Gaz.

"Yes, and it's your job to keep him out of trouble." Mrs. Bitter's informed them.

"Impossible." Gaz said.

"She's right." Professor Membrane agreed. "You'd have an easier time making a cat bark."

"Then we have no choice." Dark Booty said. "Wolf-Spider?"

"Yes Sir?" Miz asked as he existed the small room that he, Peg and Gaz had been sitting in. Why they were all spying on Dib he was not sure, human teens were just nosey like that.

"As far as Zim goes you are the only real expert among us." Dark Booty went on.

"What he means is you have experience." Professor Membrane added. He did this because the last thing he needed was for Miz to get as cocky as his son. No, one cocky teen was bad enough.

"Exactly." Dark Booty cut back in. "You also seem to have a knack for eluding trouble, so if we can't keep Dib out of trouble the least we can do is have you teach him how to get out of it."

Zim nodded his understanding, and just like that Dib's family and superiors had put him in the hands of the enemy. If he was smart he'd get rid of them all now, he certainly had the means, and the knowhow. However, a part of him was reluctant, of course he knew what was going on. It was Vort all over again, the more he dwelled with these defective worms the more his true nature would bubble up to the surface.

Still, he was hesitant to do what must be done, he wasn't sure why he kept choking around Dib, but he did. He had already had 3 chances to kill the child, and every time he had found himself unable to.

There was just something about him that made him…. feel…

He didn't know what it was, but he was definitely not falling for the child, that was nonsense, and yet…

"I want to know what you think about me Miz."

What did he think?

Well, he thought many things, Dib was determined, smart, and self-equipped. He was a quick study and had the most adorable reactions. Zim loved the way he turned scarlet in a moment of shyness or how he would scream that his head wasn't big. Even though he knew good and well that he'd never convince Zim otherwise. Dib was like this colorful butterfly that lured him into a world of wonder. A world where everything was new, and yet at the same time everything was familiar. He knew this world, a world full of strangers that were just like him, unique, different…

Defective.

It was moments like this that Zim felt vulnerable, after what happened with Lard Nar it was understandably easier to just give into the programing. To sit back, to go into auto pilot and let it do its job. And for almost a century and a half nothing had shook the programing's control. But now Dib was waking up a part of him that he thought had been forgotten, he thought his moments of doubt had been over, but now…

He just wanted to know why?

And more importantly how! How could Dib bring this side of him out? What was his secret? He just had to know what it was about him that made him respond this way. Deep down he knew what it was. He was falling for the child, he didn't know how, but he knew that was the only thing it could be. Many had told him about love, in his lifetime. Most of the time it was a defective trying to convince him that love was the answer. Either that or they were confiding in his disguised self as a friend about their feelings for another. Even Lard Nar had told him a story about how he himself had once missed a chance at obtaining love.

"What happened?" Zim remembered asking.

"I blew it." Lard Nar had admitted. "You see there's this big gap in between friendship and love and you can't just simply casually cross that line." He had explained. "It takes a big leap of faith, and I didn't make that leap. I was too afraid to go for it and take the plunge. And in the end I lost her."

Zim of course never understood the story, or the feeling for love as a whole. He had told Lard Nar this and he had responded by saying. "It's hard to explain, love is something you have to experience to understand. People like me who's felt it before take that knowledge for granted, but an Irken…"

"We don't know love." Zim had said, and it was true. He was cloned by a machine, raised by machines as was the rest of the Irken race. Zim knew nothing of love, but that lack of knowledge only made the subject of love that more of a mystery. "It's probably for the best." Zim had said. "I mean who would love a thing like me anyway?"

And what Lard Nar said next took him by surprise. "The right person, that's who."

But was Dib that right person? Did he love Zim or Miz? And did it matter? After all, Zim wasn't really Zim anyways, no Zim was the lie! The mask that he wear to fit in with his own kind. Miz, Miz was the real him, the defective him, that was once again trying to fight his way out after years of silence.

And it was all because of Dib.

But did he really want Dib? Was this love?

No of course not, this was just the lack of sleep getting to his head, 'No one would love an Irken.' His programing told him.

However, Zim knew this was a lie, for friendship was a type of love. Friends care deeply for their friends, and even though it's not true love, it is a love of sorts. Lard Nar had loved him he was sure, and he might still love him to this day. And he was not like Dib, he knew what Zim really was, and he never cared. He loved him knowing he was Irken, he loved him knowing that one day he just might become a monster.

He had become that monster, and still Lard Nar never looked at him with hatred. Shock? Of Course! Was he hurt by his betrayal? Absolutely! But never did he look at Zim with hate.

Meaning in short Zim was not green to love, he knew it. That undying devotion…

"You see someone's flaws, and you accept them for who they are. That's what's great about having them, you can be vulnerable around them, and not have to worry about them stabbing you in the back. There is a shoulder to lean on, someone who's on your side no matter when you're right or wrong."

Yes, Dib had described it perfectly, and that's what scared him. Whether this was true love or just another friendship Zim knew how this story would end.

With a knife in Dib's back!

Zim looked down at his hands and for a moment he can see all the blood of the innocent on them, and for some reason it scares him to death to imagine Dib's in the mix.

And yet there was no stopping this, it was just like watching the movie to your favorite tragedy novel. You know how it's going to end, you've read it a thousand times, but even still the moment it happens still takes your breath away. It still catches you by surprise every time. It was like a horror movie, where you just know when a jump scare is going to happen, and yet you still jump anyway. It was like dream that you just know is going to turn into a nightmare when it's barely started.

It's that six sense that tells you of the disaster ahead, but no matter how great of a warning you get, you still allow yourself to fall. You can't help it; the curiosity is too great; the urge to make a connection is too strong. No being is an island, all long to find that one person who just gets them. And for Zim that had been Lard Nar, but now Dib had stepped in and kicked it up a notch and Zim wasn't sure he could reject Dib the same way he managed to do for Lard Nar. The feelings were much stronger when it came to Dib.

'It's not love.' His programing said again, but this time the words do not sound as sure as they once were.

And in that moment the truth is made clear, before it was just a hunch, but now he knew for sure. The real Zim, the real him; was slowly waking up.

"Miz?" Dark Booty asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Right, of course." He said. "I'll do my best." He assured them.

"Good you are dismissed." Mrs. Bitters said, and Zim walked out of the room.

"You know this solves nothing right." Gaz said the moment he's gone.

"What do you mean?" Professor Membrane asked.

"Oh, come on dad." Gaz snapped. "You can't tell me none of you noticed he reeked of the city cesspool! I bet he went looking for Zim after Dib told him he flushed him." She shook her head. "You basically told another Dib to watch Dib!"

Professor Membrane looks fearful for a moment, but Peg steps in.

"Which is why we're all gonna get in trouble together." She said. "Cause if there is one thing Dib's shenanigans have taught us it's that Zim can't handle all of us at once." She explained. "He underestimates us because we're kids."

"That will only get you so far." Dark Botty warned.

"We know." Gaz said. "And don't worry Dad." She said to her father. "We got this."

Professor Membrane looks openly relieved, and yet as the girls let themselves out he also looks worried, and dare he say it…. regretful.

Dark Booty picks up on this. "What's wrong Membrane?"

"You were right," He admitted. "I've wasted so much time looking for their mother that they've had to learn to live without me. It's my fault Dib is so impulsive and it's my fault Gaz had to grow up so fast…I've missed so much."

"At least you are here now." Mrs. Bitters reminded him. It was one of her rare moments of grace. It wasn't often that she acknowledge self-pity, but every now and then she made an exception. "Focus on that."

Professor Membrane nodded understanding completely. They had no time to waste, Zim was still out there, and they were running out of time.

(Following Miz...)

He didn't have to go far to find Dib, then again he never really did.

The human who had become the sole reason for his internal battle was leaning up against the wall just outside of the room. "So, what's the verdict?" he asked as they started their walk down the hallway. He knew good and well that Miz and the girls were in there the whole time. However, he didn't mind that they spied, if anything it was less time consuming that they already knew what was said.

"Looks like it's my job to babysit the troublemaker." Miz said with a smirk. "AKA you."

"Says the guy who smells of cesspool." Gaz said catching up to them.

"Seriously!" Miz exclaimed. "I took like eight baths!" he screamed outraged.

"You went after him!" Dib asked, a bit shocked and rightfully so. Usually, it was Dib who was the impulsive one, not Miz.

"He took our bodies for a joy ride and tried to turn your mind into pudding. Of course, I went after him!" Miz answered, obviously angry of the fact that he was surprised that he went after him. Or perhaps he was still angry that he smelled of human waste! It was definitely the latter, seriously eight baths should be enough!

Or so he thought.

"The point is you are basically allow to do whatever." Miz went on doing his best to ignore his frustrations. "Since we all know you're going to do it anyways."

"That is not what she said!" Peg argued.

"Really?" Miz asked. "Because that's what I heard." He added giving Dib a smug look. Dib smiled.

"I can't believe your siding with me on this." He admitted.

"I'm your best friend." Miz said. "Of course, I'm siding with you, but the next time you leave me out of your recon missions you're on your own MR!"

"Never again." Dib promised with a laugh as he offered Miz a fist pump, which he gladly accepted.

"Well, that's just perfect!" Peg yelled. "Now we officially have 2 Dib's!"

"It's fine." Gaz assured her as she watched her brother and Miz press on ahead of them. "My dolls are on flesh eating mode. Nothing will get pass me."

Miz smiled as his superior hearing picked up their every word. Yes, this was perfect now he would see Dib coming from a mile away and the boy wouldn't get the drop on him again. Now all that was left to do was report to the Tallest the moment he arrived home.

And then he could put the madness of this week behind him. As if!

Zim eyed Dib more closely at the thought, the kid was smart, and too nosey for his own good, if he didn't come up with a solution and quick then he might actually fail this mission.

NO!

He pushed the thought out of his mind, failure was not an option! He would succeed and no one would get in his way!

Especially not some human worm baby who couldn't keep his nose out of other's business. Still, he couldn't just get rid of the child, Dib was part of Miz's camouflage and without him everyone would start to wonder.

'So, what am I supposed to do with him?'

Yes, that was the question, and the invader was running out of time to answer it.

-To Be Continued

Chapter End Notes

Thanks for reading next chapter will be up soon. Until then this is...

Emily signing off :)