ZADR Orange Chapter 050

        His eyes opening wide at Gaz's words, Zim slowly removed the blanket from over his head to sit up slowly. "He's...missing?" he repeated the words to himself, wanting to make sure he had heard her right.

        "YES! MISSING! HE RAN OFF THIS MORNING AND NEVER CAME BACK! WE'VE BEEN OUT LOOKING FOR HIM EVERYWHERE EVER SINCE! BUT HE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANYWHERE!" Gaz continued to yell over Gir, trying to get through to Zim.

        The words just then seeming click in Zim's mind, Zim gasped and sat up all the way, horrified. "Are you sure you looked everywhere?!" he asked, panicking now.

        "YES, ZIM! EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE EXCEPT THERE!" Gaz pointed at the screen, indicating to his base.

        Jumping off the couch, Zim shoved Gir aside to take his own place in front of the screen. "But he's not here! He hasn't been here since he left for there!" he pointed back at Tak's own base through the screen.

        "Well, he's not here. He's not here, he's not back at home, he's not at the school, he's not ANYWHERE!"

        Standing where he was in shock for a moment, Zim quickly ran through a number of different places he assumed Dib might go if not to any of the other places Gaz mentioned. "D-Did you check the park?" he asked, the only other place he could think of off the top of his head that Dib might go.

        Gaz nodded her head. "Yes. I checked everywhere I could think of that he would go, Zim. It's almost like he just disappeared into thin air. I've been running all over town this entire morning." she said, honestly having looked everywhere.

        A terrified look coming to his face, Zim couldn't help but panic even more. "Wh-What could have happened to him?!" he instantly began pacing about the room, trying to think of what he could do to try and find him. "I'll take the Voot! I'll find him! I'll just scan the town for any Irken life signatures! I can find him!" he reassured them he'd do everything in his power to locate Dib.

        "I don't care what you do just so long as you find him, Zim! And soon! For all we know, he could have been kidnapped by some sick pervert! Or worse!"

        "I'll find him! I'LL FIND HIM!" Zim didn't even bother to end the transmission before running away from the screen and up to the hangar to get the Voot. "...I promise. I'll find you, Dib...And I won't rest until I do..." he said more to himself as he started up the Voot and took off from the base to begin his search of the city.

        Meanwhile, back at Jack and Rose's place, Dib sat up suddenly in his spot, letting out a short-lived scream before panting heavily, having had a horrible nightmare.

        Having been in the kitchen getting a late night snack, Rose quickly ran into the living room where Dib was set up on the couch. "Dib, are you okay?!" she assumed the worse before realizing it was just a nightmare.

        Eyes wide as it took him a moment to remember where he was, Dib jumped a bit at her question before bringing up a hand to hold his head, groaning in some discomfort before responding back. "Y-Yeah...I-I'm fine...It was just a nightmare..." he said between pants, shuddering and coughing into one hand. "Ow..." he brought his free hand up to his throat, finding it hard to breath or swallow as his morning sickness had begun to affect his throat, making it hurt.

        Making her way over to where Dib was laying on the couch, Rose placed a hand on his forehead. "Oh, Dib. Are you okay? Do you feel sick again?" she asked, concerned.

        Still holding his head, Dib closed his eyes at the feel of the cool hand on his forehead. "I-I'm fine...I-It'll pass in a little while..." he sighed out in a quiet whisper, his throat burning nonetheless.

        Pulling her hand away after a moment, Rose then eyed Dib curiously. He had been there for a couple days now, and she had been hesitant to ask him too many personal questions. But she couldn't hold back any longer. "Dib...Are you an alien?" she asked, referring to his appearance.

        His eyes snapping wide open and body tensing, Dib seemed to jolt at that question. "What?! No! What makes you say that?! Of course I'm not! There's no such thing as aliens!" he spat out, obviously panicking at this point. "I...I...Oh, God..." he suddenly got hit with another wave of nausea and leaned over the bucket, doing his best to keep himself from getting sick right then and there.

        Shocked by the outburst, Rose took his nausea as just more panic. "Dib? It's okay..." she put a hand on his shoulder. "Jack and I just kind of figured it out...We're not going to hurt you..." she then squeezed his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

        Face a pale white now, Dib looked back up at her after a moment. "But I'm not! I...I..." he wasn't sure what to do now or how to respond because he was technically a hybrid but had been born a human. Hell, he didn't even know whether he should admit to even that much at this point, not wanting to have to get into the details of how he had become that way.

        "Dib, you're green...I'm not blind, and neither is Jack. It's okay." Rose smiled sadly at him. "We won't let anything happen to you." she promised, just thinking Dib was afraid they'd turn him in to the authorities for experimentation.

        "But you don't understand! I wasn't born this way!" Dib's eyes snapped wide open and he gasped before instantly bringing his hands up to cover his mouth, not having meant to give away that information.

        Giving Dib her full attention now, Rose took a seat down at the foot of the couch. "And how were you born?" she asked, curious now as to what he meant by that.

        Realizing he had given out far too much information, Dib slowly removed his hands from his mouth to try and explain himself without admitting to being an alien. "Alright, look. I was born human. My father is the famous Professor Membrane. And this..." he reached into his trench coat pocket to pull out the picture of his mother for her to see. "...was my mother. See. Neither of them are or ever were aliens." he said, hoping she would just drop the subject there.

        In a thinking pose now, Rose nodded as she looked the picture over. "Alright...But then why are you like this now? You said you weren't born this way...What happened?" she asked, wanting to know what Dib meant when he said that.

        Not wanting to have to answer that because it would involve having to explain everything about Zim, Dib shrunk down in his spot a bit, refusing to make eye contact. "Th-That's...none of your business..." he looked away to the side, blushing, not meaning to sound rude but having no idea what else to tell her at this point without blowing Zim's cover.

        Noticing Dib's uncomfortableness on the subject, Rose sighed, deciding it was time to change the topic. "So...Dib..." she glanced at him and then sighed again. "You know what, Dib? This is my third pregnancy...But you know, I bet you've noticed the lack of little children running around, right?" she sighed even heavier. "Every pregnancy I've had so far has been a miscarriage...Always around the fifth month too..." she looked back up at Dib. "I'm in my fifth month now...If it weren't for Jack...I would have given up by now...But I've always wanted children..." she placed a hand on her belly to rub soothingly.

        Seeming to tense up even more at the topic of pregnancy, Dib's blush could only grow more as he continued to stare down at the ground for a few moments longer. "O-Oh...I-I'm sorry to hear that..." he finally lifted his gaze up to look at her again. "I-I hope you have better luck this time. Y-You're lucky to have somebody like Jack to help you through it though..." he tried to smile back at her, though it was fairly weak.

        Smiling sadly at Dib again, Rose reached out a hand to place over one of Dib's. "Do you have someone special, Dib?" she then asked, able to tell by the look on his face that he understood how special hers and Jack's relationship was.

        Smile falling away at that question, Dib could only drop his gaze back down to the ground, his antennae drooping. "...I used to..." his voice came out quiet as he closed his eyes and shuddered at the memories, trying to keep back the tears the best he could.

        Sending Dib another sad look, Rose squeezed his hand a bit at that answer. "What happened?" she asked, wanting to know whether this special person had been the reason Jack had found him the way he was.

        Bringing one hand down to hold his stomach, Dib had to use his free hand to wipe at his eyes now as he couldn't keep the tears back any longer. "I got mad about something that happened between us, a-a-and then I left. B-Because it was too painful to stay there. B-But it's just as painful staying away, and I don't know which is more painful." he stuttered out in a whimper.

        "Oh, Dib..." Rose pulled him into a loose hug. "You'll never feel better until the two of you work it out...And you can't really do that if you're hiding out at our house, now can you?" she giggled a little, laying Dib back against his pillow before standing up to pull the blanket onto him and sigh. "Well, I need to go back to sleep now...But think about it, Dib...Do you really want to give up your relationship this easily?" she said, giving him something to think about before heading back to bed.

        Sniffling wetly, Dib could only blink the tears out of his eyes at her words. He knew he didn't want to GIVE UP the relationship. He just didn't know how to fix it and make it work again. Once Rose had returned to bed, he then turned over onto one side and closed his eyes, wiping the last of his tears out of them.

        Meanwhile, Zim's eyes drooped as he scoured the city. He hadn't been able to get anything on radar, and it took him all of the first night to realize Dib didn't have a PAK and therefore didn't give off an Irken signature. He couldn't help but continuously knock himself upside the head before breaking down crying. Ever since then, he had been searching on foot, resting on random benches and what not when he couldn't get himself to move any more. But he never slept, and he never ate. He didn't want to waste time doing such trivial things when he could be trying to find Dib.

        A few more days passed, neither Zim or Dib getting much sleep until one morning Dib walked into the kitchen where Jack and Rose were having breakfast, antennae drooping and eyes red from a lack of sleep, their half lidded gaze focused on the ground. He had spent a day or two more thinking over what Rose had told him with little to no sleep and looked for the most part worn out now. He brought a hand up to wipe some moisture from his eyes, his morning sickness having eased up a bit, but not completely. "U-Ummm..." he raised his voice to address Rose and Jack. "I-I thought about what you said to me the other night..." he began, drawing both their attention to him.

        "And I-I'm sorry about how rude I was to you the other night and for crying...B-But did you really want to know the reason I'm green?" he asked, feeling now as though he could trust them enough to tell them what had happened, knowing he owed them an explanation after everything that had happened.