ZADR Orange Chapter 043

        Dib couldn't help but send Zim an awkward look for the outburst, raising one eyebrow before shaking his head and sighing, his antennae drooping a bit. "No...Not that I know of, at least..." he said though he couldn't help but feel as though Zim were keeping something from him. "B-But you would tell me, right? If you had done something bad, I mean...E-Even if it had something to do with me and you thought I'd get mad?" he asked, not so sure Zim trusted him fully.

        Looking away, Zim blushed. "I...would try to tell you...if there was something, that is..." he said before considering something else important about his current situation. "Uh...Hey, Dib...What do you think about kids? A-As in...Would you ever want to have any?" he asked, once again wandering into dangerous territory.

        Seeming a bit taken aback by Zim's question, Dib could only blink confusedly at him now. "K-Kids? D-Do you mean l-like adoption or something? O-Or are you thinking more along the lines of using our DNA to clone something? B-Because I don't see how that would be possible unless one of us were female. I mean, I-I wouldn't mind having some if it were possible. Though I've never really given it all too much thought in the past. Wh-Why do you ask?" he wanted to know what the Irken was getting at.

        A little relieved by that answer, Zim sighed out more calmly now. "Oh, I was just curious again, Dib." he said before smiling genuinely at Dib and taking the last bite of his muffin. "So, if it were possible...How many would you want in the end?" he then asked, already knowing how many they were GOING to end up having after all this was said and done.

        Still seeming rather confused by all these questions, Dib absentmindedly began fiddling with the paper wrapper his sandwich had come in. "I-I don't know...two...maybe three...Why? How many would you want?" he asked, starting to think Zim was truly being serious about this topic.

        Squeeing with delight, Zim clapped his hands together happily, eyes lighting up. "Three sounds just about perfect to me!" he exclaimed, smiling lovingly at Dib. 'Maybe this won't be so hard after all.' he then thought, trying to think more on the positive side so as to calm his nerves.

        Frowning at Zim's reaction, Dib, however, could only send Zim a suspicious look. "What aren't you tell me, Zim? I just know you're hiding something from me, and I want to know what it is. Please..." he reached forward a hand to take Zim's. "Please tell me...No matter what it is...You have to know that I'll listen to you and that I could never get mad enough at you about anything to hate you if it's something bad...Please...I love you too much..." he begged the other to be honest with him, bringing Zim's hand up to his face to nuzzle a cheek to.

        Swallowing thickly now, Zim looked at him unsure. 'Does he really mean that...?' he asked himself, really not sure HOW Dib would react to him telling him what happened.

        "Zim...Even if you think I can't handle whatever it is you're keeping from me...think that it will ruin our relationship...You have to tell me what you're keeping secret from me...Because...I love you...And if you're not honest with me, I don't know how far we'll go in this relationship before crashing..."

        "I-I...Uh..." Zim began, unable to bear looking at Dib. "I-I have to go get something!" he stood up abruptly from his seat, looking down at Dib a bit scared now. "I-I'll be right back! I promise...I just...I'll be right back!" he pulled his hand away from Dib to run out of the cafe, leaving one thoroughly confused Dib in his wake at the table.

        Fleeing towards Tak's base, despite her wanting to kill him, he knew he needed help if he was going to confront Dib. He just didn't know how to go about it.

        "Wh-What the-?! But, Zim!" Dib found himself unable to complete his sentence as he merely stared after Zim with wide eyes, unsure of whether he should stay there or follow after the other.

        Antennae drooping down low, he sighed, suddenly feeling horrible about being left there with no explanation. "I-Is he really that afraid to tell me whatever it is he's keeping from me?" he whispered to himself quietly.

        Eyes watering up a little, Zim quickly blinked it away as he continued to run towards Tak's base. "No time for that..." he knew he had to make this quick as he finally arrived at Tak's base and approached the door cautiously. He gulped. "W-Well, here goes nothing..." he said before slowly knocking on the door.

        Hearing the knock, Tak called out from another room in the base. "Can you get that, Gaz?! And tell whoever it is that's at the door that we don't want whatever it is they're selling! I'm very busy with something right now!" she said irritably, not liking being disturbed when she was hard at work on something.

        "Yeah...Yeah..." Gaz got up from her seat to approach the door, opening it just to glare at Zim. "What the hell do YOU want?" she asked, not all too surprised to see Zim standing there.

        Shifting about in his spot at the door, Zim swallowed uneasily. "I...need help..." he bowed his head, knowing he needed to do this despite how uncomfortable it made him feel.

        "What else is new?" Gaz went to shut the door on him.

        "NO!" Zim stopped her, forcing the door open again.

        Becoming distracted by all the commotion outside, Tak walked into the room to have a peek at who was at the door. "Gaz, who is i-?" she stopped short when she saw Zim at the door. "Oh, great...It's YOU. Have you finally realized that your life is pointless and come to let me do away with you? Or are you here for some other stupid reason?" she asked, not really caring either way.

        "Some other stupid reason, naturally." Zim brushed off her words as though they were nothing before glaring at her. "I need your help...Uhh...Your advice, really..." he tried to think of the right words to explain all this.

        Pulling up a chair, Tak leaned back in anticipation of whatever it was that Zim would feel the need to come to them for advice. "Well, this should be good..." she said in a mocking tone, reclining a bit. "Let me guess...Your little boyfriend broke up with you, didn't he?" she then smirked, snickering to herself. "Did he finally realize you're a complete loser and leave you to die and rot?" she asked, just poking fun at Zim now.

        Antennae falling back, Zim glared hatefully at her. "NO!" he then looked away. "It's just...uhh..." he looked up again guiltily.

        Not liking the look on his face, Gaz glared back at him. "What the hell did you do to my brother this time? If you didn't break up, then where is he exactly? You better not have done something to screw him over more than he already is." she narrowed her eyes on him threateningly.

        Enjoying this all too much, Tak could only smirk even more. "Perhaps he found out about their little romp under the covers...Is that it, Zim?" she said his name in a teasing manner.

        Her eyes widening at Tak's words, Gaz could only glare at him even more. "What?!" she hadn't pieced together that that could possibly be the reason Zim was there.

        Blushing at Tak's words, Zim looked away again. "No...At least not yet...B-But that's not the whole problem..." he knew it was the least of his problems at this point.

        Grabbing him by the front of his uniform top, Gaz practically lifted him off the floor by his shirt. "Then what IS the problem?" she demanded through grit teeth. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with why he's been getting sick at school, would it?!" she had noticed Dib's more frequent trips to the bathroom, having even run into him a few times as he had been on his way.

        To say the very least, Tak was enjoying herself as she sat back and watched with a satisfied smile.

        A little scared of Dib's younger sibling still, Zim flinched at her words. "Well..." he wasn't sure how to say it. "H-He's...pregnant..." he finally settled with just forcing himself to blurt it out.

        Trying to stay calm and not hit him in that moment since she didn't want to get on Dib's bad side any more than she already was, Gaz merely tightened her grip even more on him before taking in a deep breath, her hands shaking with rage nonetheless.

        "And are you planning on telling him this? Or am I going to have to march on right up to him and tell him myself?! Because you know you can't keep this a secret from him forever! And if you wait too long to tell him, who knows what might happen! For all we know, the shock of the news might send him into labor early or something!" she seemed less surprised by this information than Zim thought she would be.

        Flinching back some more, Zim tried to pull away from her somewhat. "I know I need to tell him...B-But...I don't want him to hate me...I just don't know what to do...That's why I came here..." he explained his reasoning for coming to them.

        Still glaring, Gaz finally released him from her grip. "Do you care to explain to us HOW exactly it is that you two slept together without him knowing? Because I'm pretty sure that's not just something you can do behind his back!" she wanted a better explanation than that.

        Sighing now, Zim took to sitting down on the floor within the doorway. "The night Tak showed up, he came by my base freaking out. He had stressed himself out so much so soon after having been beaten up by you" he stopped to glare at Tak. "and running to the base, that he temporarily went into shock..." he began his long explanation of what had happened.

        Remembering the night well, Tak smirked. "Go on." she insisted he continue.

        "Well, I gave him some painkillers and carried him to bed...I was going to leave to get cleaned off because his senses were going haywire and I was still covered in blood from earlier." he then glared at Gaz for that part. "But he freaked out when I tried to leave. So I stayed there...and then...Well...I don't feel like getting into the rest..." Zim looked away, blushing.

        Laughing some more at this, Tak knew exactly what had happened after that point.

        Ignoring her, Zim continued. "But when we woke up, he didn't remember anything...And I knew he would get mad if I told him...He'd think I raped him or something!...So I never told him...I thought what he didn't know...wouldn't hurt him..." he said the last three words slowly.

        Arms crossed, Gaz could only narrow her eyes on him even more. "Well, apparently  you were wrong about that because now he's carrying a baby he doesn't even know about yet or he's ready to give birth to! Just what the fuck were you thinking changing his gender so that was possible when you were playing around with his DNA?!" she demanded, figuring that was the only way any of this could even be possible.