A/N: And so begins the second story of my trilogy, Near Misses. Hope I still have some readers from my first story, Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness, and I hope to get plenty of new readers also. So enjoy the first chapter of my second story. Disclaimer-I own nothing except the plot. Don't sue me!

The tears fell, more so than the rain that now poured down all around. Two tombstones stood next to each other, seemingly separated from the rows upon rows of other graves surrounding the area. The crowds had already dispersed, leaving only a choice few mourners at the location of the funeral. A young purple haired girl stood back, her gaze never leaving the sight of her brother kneeling in front of one of the tombstones. His face was hidden but she knew he was crying.

She could hear labored breathing and see the shaking of his form. She looked on in sorrow, but her facial expression betrayed no emotion. Now wasn't her time to cry. She had already done that twice in her life and she knew it was her time to move on. It was her brother's turn to break down, just this once, as she watched over him just as he had done so many times already in his life. So she stayed with him, even in the rain.

Even as the small child she held close began to whine and cry, she remained in her spot until her father approached to take possession of his first grandchild. The baby was bundled up in a mess of blankets, the little tuft of dark hair matted down by the rain save for two strands that seemed to stick out and wave about in the wind. The girl felt a hand rest upon her shoulder before she was handed an umbrella to keep her from getting any more wet. She knew she couldn't risk getting sick at this time as she traveled her hand back down to her stomach, heavy with child. She was already well into her sixth month of pregnancy and the last thing she wanted was to lose the child but she just couldn't pull herself away from her brother's side. She felt another hand rest on her shoulder then give a little squeeze. When she turned her head there stood another girl with shorter purple hair and violet eyes that shone with tears threatening to overflow.

Neatly tucked under one arm, she held the green puppy with tears of his own falling down his cheeks as he whimpered and cried for his master now dead. She moved in closer to wrap a comforting arm around the girl and just hold her tightly. She meant to lead the other inside but she wouldn't be moved. She knew they only stood before two memorials but the respect for them was just as powerful as they would have been had they been standing in front of the originals holding the bodies. The ground they stood upon had not been dug up. No shovel had penetrated the earth here. Just a reminder of those who had died and could not be buried here. Would not be buried here.

One old, another new. Shifting was heard as the small dog struggled to break free of the grip on him so he could wrap black paws tightly around the boy's sister to hide his face in her chest. Almost as if just noticing the presence of the two girls and dog behind him, the boy stood and turned toward them. His eyes were red and puffy and his cheeks tear stained but no more tears were falling. Even the tears that stung the corners of his eyes, he refused to let fall.

His movements were slow as he mad his way over to the two girls. He came to stand in front of his sister as he stared down into her eyes a moment, the eyes they shared, the eyes of their dead mother. They didn't need to say anything. In one quick moment, they were in each other's arms, arms that offered all the comfort they had. They pulled back slightly; the boy could feel his sister's stomach still slightly pressed against him. He let his eyes drop to her swollen gut, remembering what had led up to this point in time almost perfectly.

Every detail of the events over the course of time that had passed was still clear in his mind. It seemed like only yesterday it had all started. It had, in fact, only been a few months earlier. Who knew that in only a few months he could lose everything he held dear to him? His home, his family, but most of all, his lover. And yet he learned so many valuable life lessons he would never forget in that time. It seemed everything was going so perfect for them.

The day had begun as any other, perfectly normal. At least, as normal as things could be considered in the Membrane household in the past month. Gaz moaned and turned over to look at her alarm clock. 5:00. Growling, she pushed the bed sheets off her body and got up to head into the hallway. "Dib! This is the 5th time this week!" she snapped at her brother who stood outside the bathroom door with her arms crossed, waiting.

He glanced up at her as she approached. "It's not his fault, Gaz." he said calmly as another flush was heard from the bathroom. A few moments passed before the door finally opened and Zim stepped out. His skin was pale and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. His eyes drooped and he seemed to stare into nothing as his antennae hung limply at the sides of his head.

He was silent a moment before his antennae perked up a bit as his eyes shot wide open suddenly. "Oh, Irk!" He covered his mouth as he turned and ran back in the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet before breaking out in a fit of coughs. Outside, Dib sighed harshly as he heard the toilet flushing again. It seemed the past couple of weeks Zim had been becoming increasingly ill.

He got sick often in the morning and sometimes the afternoon then he'd be fine for a few hours. He also seemed moodier than was normal for him in those days. Dib had noticed the change in Zim's behavior about a week ago and he was beginning to worry.

"Zim." Dib began.

"No." the Irken answered.

"Zim!" he tried again.

Zim slumped down in his seat more. "No!"

Dib slammed his hands down on the kitchen table. "Oh, come on, Zim!"

Zim did the same, standing to face Dib. "Damnit, Dib! I said no!" They stood glaring at each other a moment in the silent kitchen. They were having an early breakfast.

Dib may have loved the Irken but his patience was running thin for Zim's stubbornness. "Zim! What if it's something serious?! You know we can't take you to a real doctor but at least let my dad look you over! He may not be a doctor but he's the world's greatest scientist! I'm sure he can at least figure out how to do a simple physical examination! Please, Zim!"

Zim leaned in toward Dib, his eyes narrowing more. "I already told you, Dib! Your father knows nothing of the Irken anatomy and I don't intend to tell him anything about it! Besides! I don't trust him and I can see in his eyes that he doesn't trust me! I'm more than capable of taking care of myself!" he poked Dib's chest repeatedly as he said this.

Dib shot back. "Oh, yeah?! Then why haven't you taken care of it yet?! I thought your PAK was supposed to prevent you from getting sick! So why isn't it doing its job?!"

Zim backed up just a bit, growling. "I'm still working on fixing it. I'm not letting your father anywhere near me!"

"But Zim-" Dib began but his sister cut him off.

"Will the both of you just shut the hell up and eat already?! Your voices are getting annoying!" She sent them both death glares. They both plopped back down into their seats and remained quiet.

Dib slowly began to nibble on his food while Zim pushed his away. "I'm not hungry." He stood up to leave the room. "I'm going to work more on my ship." He had retrieved his ship a few weeks earlier with the help of Gir and moved it to the lab in the Membrane's summerhouse, which turned out to be much bigger than he originally thought. The damages on his ship were much worse than Dib had said. The repairs were taking weeks, not days.

And it took even longer using human technology. But he didn't mind that much. The longer it took, the more time he had to spend with Dib, which wasn't so bad as long as Dib wasn't nagging him about one thing or the other. He had grown very attached to the human boy over the past few weeks. They made love often enough, which also slowed down his repairs on the ship.

Zim usually had the upper hand in bed but every once in a while, Dib was able to top Zim when he snuck up on the Irken. And even on some rare occasions when Zim was feeling nice, he'd allow Dib complete control. But for the most part, he was the dominant one. The human was good but he much rather preferred hearing the human's screams of pleasure than his own. Something about the Dib's voice made him want to come in the boy's body. He heard the door to the lab opening from his spot under the ship, then footsteps.

He continued working, pretending he hadn't heard anything. The approaching footsteps stopped next to him but he ignored the other's presence. Finally, the owner of the footsteps sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. "I'm sorry, Zim. And I mean really sorry." he began. "I shouldn't have tired to push you into trusting another human. Especially considering it took you 5 years to trust me. Hell, I wouldn't blame you if you still didn't completely trust me. I shouldn't have taken advantage of what little trust you have for me. It's just, I'm worried about you. I can't help it. You've been sick for the past two weeks and we don't even know what's causing it. You have no fever, you're fine at night but still there has to be something causing it. Some reason that we can't see." A few moments of silence passed before Zim finally sighed and pulled himself out from under the ship to stare into Dib's face.

Dib no longer had an angry expression on his face but a calm look, if not a bit worried. Zim's own facial expression had softened somewhat as he moved to sit up. He rubbed one of his eyes quickly and yawned. He hadn't been getting much sleep lately between having sex and getting sick. Irkens didn't need sleep but he never knew how much it took out of him. He was sleeping more regularly and he felt as though he was becoming dependent on it. Perhaps he had spent too much time on Earth.

He watched as the human shifted closer to him to wrap an arm around him. He allowed Dib to get closer to him and get comfortable as he just sat there in Dib's arms. "It's alright. I know you're just worried but you needn't worry about me, Dib. Zim can take good care of himself. I'm working on something in my PAK that will counter whatever it is that's making me so sick lately. I'll be just fine. You'll see. But if you're still worried, I guess I can go ahead and take Gir back to my base. With Gir it will only take me a few hours. I'll do a quick body scan, figure out what's wrong if anything, fix my PAK to take care of it, and be back before midnight." He leaned more into Dib, getting comfortable and enjoying the warmth of the other.

Dib tightened his hold on Zim, pulling him closer for comfort. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. But call me if it turns out to be serious. I want to be able to help if it is."

Zim shook his head. "Dib, you worry too much."

Zim spent an hour chasing Gir around the house before he finally agreed to take Zim back to the base, but only if the Irken took him to get tacos later. Reluctantly, Zim agreed and ordered the insane bot to get into his dog disguise before they left. Zim did the same, grateful that he had a spare at Dib's summerhouse. Dib watched as the two prepared to leave. Dib didn't like the fact that they were leaving to return to Zim's base but they had agreed to return as soon as possible.

He would just have to deal being without Zim for a little while he told himself. He never realized how attached he had become to the Irken in such a short amount of time. But now he was regretting letting him leave. It was too late now though. He placed one final kiss on the alien's lips before stepping back and waving as they sped away. Zim was happy to return the kiss though he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the Dib.

It wasn't until he was out of sight of the house that he began to feel a little lonely. Sure, he still had Gir but he had gotten so used to Dib's company that it just wasn't the same. He hated to admit that he missed the human so much. Even weirder was that he was feeling a tad bit out of place and homesick for the house he had called home for a little more than a month now. He had never felt that way about his base before. Only Irk. Even the fact that he was returning to his base for a little while didn't cheer him up.

Dib's earlier words were beginning to set in. What if there really was something seriously wrong with him? Something he couldn't cure? The thoughts had him feeling sick to his stomach again as they continued along their path back to the base. Zim would have liked some kind of noise to keep his mind off the thoughts that were springing into his head. Anything would do. But Gir was unusually quiet for most of the trip. The quiet was becoming so unbearable that Zim even had Gir take a stop at a Crazy Taco to pick up Gir's promised tacos.

The sound of Gir's cheers when he told the little robot they could stop and get his tacos first had Zim smiling. It almost had Zim forgetting his reason for them even being out there until the base came into view after entering the city. The sight had all his fears flooding back to him suddenly. He felt his stomach drop to the ground as they approached the oddly colored house. It looked to be abandoned.

He was sure most of his computer systems had gone into some type of power saving mode from the lack of use in the past two months, though some functions still seemed to be intact. The lights were out but he noticed the lawn gnomes turn toward him as he and Gir walked up the pathway there. He was pretty sure it was safe to assume that nobody had entered the premises in his absence and had anybody done that, they would have been taken care of quickly by the lawn gnomes. The front door was unlocked when he entered, probably due to Gir always forgetting to lock it before leaving. But it didn't matter. There were more than enough systems still running to protect the house.

Unfortunately, the one system he had hoped shut down with most of the others, came to life almost the instant he stepped through the door. "Darn...I was hoping for a longer vacation..." came the monotone voice of his house's computer.

Zim glared slightly at that welcome home but otherwise ignored his computer's cocky response to his return. "I only need you for a little while, then you can go back to whatever the hell you were doing before I came home. I have no intention of staying here any longer than I need."

The computer responded casually. "Whatever...what do you need?" Zim made his way into the lab before answering. He stepped out of the elevator to walk over to a computer console in the dimly lit room.

He typed in a few things and then stood back. "Computer, I need a full body scan, DNA test, bleed test, and anything else you can think of to do. Check for anything abnormal in my body chemistry. I've been getting sick a lot lately and I want to know why my PAK hasn't been doing anything to counter it. I'm beginning to think something vital may have been damaged in my PAK. If I can just figure out what, I'll be able to go in and fix it within a few hours."

The computer sighed lazily. "Alright...Hold still a moment." came the delayed response before a syringe came down to get a sample of Zim's blood along with another coil to hook into the back of Zim's PAK. A few electrical shocks were sent through the coil connected to Zim but only with enough power to cause Zim a little discomfort as the scan and DNA tests were performed. It took a few minutes to finish before the coil pulled away and the computer's voice filled the room again, more professional than before. "Scan complete. Processing information gathered. Approximate completion time: 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 12 seconds." Zim cursed under his breath a bit.

He knew it would take some time to complete but he was hoping it would be finished a little sooner than that. He looked to the computer screen, watching as the information was brought up. It was hard to keep up with so much information at once and most of it was useless to him. He watched a few more minutes before deciding to just wait for the computer to finish and tell him the results. In the meantime, he decided to head back up to the house level of his base to find Gir. As suspected, the little SIR unit was found sitting in front of the TV watching some kid's show while eating tacos. Zim had nothing better to do while he waited so he took a seat on the couch to watch TV too, every once in a while letting his eyes wander to the phone, contemplating whether to call Dib or not.

In the end he decided not to, knowing he'd just cause the human to worry more about him. The time passed painfully slow and when it was finally up, Zim rushed back down to the lab to get the results. "Computer, what information have you gathered from the tests?"

The computer stalled a moment before finally speaking. "Analysis complete. Subject 1: Zim. Subject 2: Unknown. Diagnosis loading. One moment please." Zim watched in anticipation as the data he needed loaded onto a different computer screen.

There were several sirens and bright lights outside. A young boy awoke and climbed out of bed to find his window in the dark. It wasn't hard with all the commotion going on outside. He heard some yelling and saw some people outside crowding around an area down below. The police were there keeping the neighbors a safe distance away.

He saw an ambulance pull up and some paramedics jump out and run over to the scene. The boy couldn't quite make out what was going on. He only recognized a few of the neighbors and the rest were strangers. Then he saw his father among them. He was kneeling in the middle of the crowd. The paramedics ran over and kneeled next to his father.

He spoke to them briefly before getting up to say something to a cop standing nearby. The boy couldn't make out what they were saying. That's when he heard a knock on his door. A few seconds passed before a young girl, no more than three, came barging into his room. "Dib, what's going on?" the purple haired girl said in a somewhat panicked voice.

Dib turned toward his younger sister, Gaz, his face showing as much fear as hers. "I don't know. Daddy is outside with a bunch of people." She quickly squeezed in next to Dib to look out the window also. They saw their father jump into the back of the ambulance. Another policeman came over to speak to him a moment before leaving to pass some information to another cop. They watched the cops intently as they conversed.

The first cop said something to the other then pointed to the window. They both turned to look at Dib and Gaz in the window which had them scattering back quickly. Gaz clung to Dib's arms and he held her close. "Dib, I'm scared! I don't like this! I want mommy!" she whimpered. Just as they were going to leave to find their mother, however, the door opened and in walked a female police cop.

They both screamed and ran to the far end of the room, cowering in fear. The policewoman got down lower on her knees so as to not scare the kids any more than they already were. She spoke softly to them as she approached slowly. "Hey, you guys. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here to help. Your dad asked me to give you a ride to the hospital to meet him there. Okay?" She reached out to take them by the hands. The touch instantly had them both struggling to get away but she already had a strong hold on them.

Gaz screamed and cried as she was picked up and carried in one arm while Dib was dragged along behind. The lady bounced Gaz gently, trying to calm her as she walked. "Sssshhh... It's all right. Everything's going to be just fine. I know it's scary but it will all be over in a little while"

Dib struggled to get away as he yelled at her, tears streaming down his own cheeks. "Let us go! We don't want to go with you! Just leave us alone!" But it was no use. No matter how much he struggled, he just couldn't break free from the woman's grasp. When she got them outside, she passed them off to another cop who walked them past the scene. Dib stopped his fighting a moment to look at what was going on around him.

He saw a lot of people, then a stretcher. What he saw next had all the blood draining from him face suddenly. The person in the stretcher was none other than his mother. He cried out even more desperately, kicking and screaming to try and get to her. "Mommy!" Dib shot up straight in bed. "Mom!"

He sat there panting in bed a moment, sweat beading at the top of his forehead. "A dream. It was just a dream, Dib." he kept telling himself but the images in his head were just too realistic. He looked down to his hands a moment. They were shaking as he brought them up to wipe away some of the sweat on his face. It was just a dream he kept telling himself but it was more than just that.

A nightmare didn't quite sum it up. The events were too exact. It was more like a haunting memory. It wasn't the first time he had recalled those events in his life. No. He had had this dream many times in the past but it had been a while since he last dreamt it. He thought he was over this.

Was beginning to think he would never have that dream again. So why was it coming back to him now? Was it this house? Perhaps his room? It hadn't changed much since that night 12 years ago. He was only 4 at the time but he remembered everything perfectly still. Every sight, every sound, every emotion. He even remembered his sister's fear at that moment in time.

Everything. He just wanted to forget it all and move on with his life, but it was so hard when he was sitting in the exact room he had been in back then. He wanted to leave, find another room to sleep in. The only reason he was even sleeping there in the first place was because his father was home tonight. He didn't say anything but Dib knew he didn't like the idea of him and Zim sleeping together. So they only slept together when Membrane was at work. Otherwise, Dib would sleep in his own room while Zim continued to use the guests' room for the nights he decided to actually sleep. It kept Membrane happy and Dib preferred sleeping with Zim more when they had more privacy.

At the moment, however, Dib would have happily welcomed anybody that came into his room, even Gir. He had screamed, he was sure, but he wasn't certain how loud it had come out. He waited a few minutes to see if anybody would come up to his room. It seemed nobody had heard him and he sighed in some relief that he hadn't woken anyone up, though he wished Zim was with him. That's when it dawned on him.

Was Zim home yet? He looked at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed. It was a little past 2:00a.m. The Irken had said he would be home by midnight. He hadn't received any phone calls yet and he was beginning to worry. He had no idea whether Zim was had come home yet or not.

He wanted to get up and check but decided against it. He didn't want to wake the Irken up if he was home. He let out a sigh as he contemplated on whether he should go to sleep downstairs on the couch or not. Before he could get up though, there came a light knock on his door. A few seconds passed before the door opened just enough for two red orbs that served as the Irken's eyes to peer in. Zim came to stand in the doorway, a blanket draped about him. He was a bit pale but it was hard to tell in the dark room. "Dib, are you okay?" he asked in a tired voice. "I heard you scream."

Dib just nodded his head in response. "Y...yeah...I'm fine...It was just a bad dream."

Zim stood back, fidgeting a bit and playing with the blanket. "Can Zim come in?"

Dib responded quickly. "Of course!" he didn't want to be alone again. Dib watched as the Irken quickly scrambled into the bed with him. As Zim moved about in the covers trying to get comfortable, Dib questioned Zim curiously. "How long have you been back?"

"About two hours." came the muffled response from under the covers. "You were already asleep when I got back so I just headed to the spare bedroom." Zim finally got comfortable nuzzled deep in the warm bed covers and blankets. He wrapped his arms around Dib's waist as he pushed as close to Dib as he could get.

Dib remained sitting up a few more moments. "Oh...you didn't call..."

Zim shifted slightly. "You said to only call if it was serious."

Something in Zim's voice had Dib questioning him further. "So...you're alright? There's nothing to worry about? You're gonna take care of it?"

Zim seemed to tense a bit before finally giving his answer. "Zim will be...just fine..." Zim seemed to hesitate as he said that.

Dib was slightly concerned but decided not to question it any further at the moment. "Oh...okay..." he said as he settled back down into the bed. The room was quiet as they lay there for a few minutes, neither saying anything nor going back to sleep. Dib stayed staring at the ceiling as Zim just stared into the darkness. The peace wasn't particularly comforting.

Dib felt Zim begin rubbing his antennae to his skin and Dib couldn't help but reach down and take one of the thin appendages in his fingers. Zim instantly loosened his hold on Dib, his entire body going slack against the human's as he purred lowly. He loved it when Dib touched his antennae and would have given anything to feel Dib's mouth on one of them. Almost as if reading his mind, Dib did just that, running his tongue up the length of the thin stalk. Zim gasped and groaned as his antennae twitched for more. But suddenly he felt Dib pull away and he whined for the loss of contact. He was quickly quieted however as Dib's mouth covered his.

He let out a muffled sound as he pressed closer so he could kiss Dib deeper and more passionately. Meanwhile, his hands roamed Dib's body, wanting more of him. He lazily dragged his claws across Dib's skin before they broke the kiss to stare into each other's eyes. Dib's eyes looked pleading as he asked one final time. "You sure you're okay?"

Zim kept his eyes locked on Dib's a moment longer before closing his eyes and sighing against Dib's hair when he nuzzled his face in Zim's neck. "Yeah..." And so they slept the rest of the night in that position. Dib awoke a few hours later completely alone. He wondered a moment whether he might have dreamt last night. He heard a toilet flush and instantly thought differently.

Quickly, he got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. When he got there, the door was closed and he could hear the sound of somebody getting sick. When the coughing fit started, he wasted no time in knocking on the door. "Zim?" He didn't wait for a response before pushing the door open. Inside, he found the alien doubled over with one arm wrapped around his abdomen and his other in front of his mouth as he coughed uncontrollably.

Dib quickly knelt down next to the Irken, rubbing Zim's back with one hand. "Zim, I thought you said you'd be fine! That you took care of it!"

Zim continued to cough, trying to catch his breath. "I" he coughed some more. "am." When he could finally speak again without difficulty, he placed his arms on the toilet seat and pillowed his head in his arms. He was feeling extremely dizzy and he just wanted to be alone. But Dib wasn't about to leave.

He wanted answers and Zim's words just plain pissed him off. The Irken was lying to him. There was something he was keeping from Dib. He pulled away so he could stand back up and cross his arms over his chest as he sent an unseen glare to the Irken. "You're lying to me. There is something wrong. Something you can't take care of." Zim buried his face in his arms.

He really didn't want to deal with this now. "Dib."

But Dib continued speaking. "So don't tell me you're fine when you're not!"

Zim tried again. "Dib! Just leave me alone! I don't want to talk about it right now!"

That wasn't going to stop Dib, however. "Tell me the truth, Zim! Let me know what's wrong! Stop keeping me in the dark about everything! I may be able to help you if-" Zim couldn't take anymore of this.

He exploded in a fit of rage at all of Dib's questioning. "DAMNIT, DIB! Will you just shut the fuck up and leave me alone?! There's nothing you can do and if there was, I wouldn't let you! I told you I could handle it, and I can! Alone!" Before he could stop himself, he had turned on the human and had a laser gun on one of his spiderlegs pointed at Dib's head. Dib fell to the ground and looked up at the Irken towering over him in fear. The look on Zim's face was one of pure rage until he saw the fear in Dib's eyes. He pulled back instantly, his spiderlegs lowering him back to his knees on the ground. Dib sat still a few moments, shaken from Zim's actions before quickly getting up to leave without so much as another word.

Zim wanted to go find the human and apologize, but he doubted Dib wanted to talk to him after that little outburst so he made himself sit down and work on his ship for a while, though he wasn't making much progress at all. After a few failed attempts to fix one of the engines, he finally gave up on it for the day and decided to go find Dib. The human couldn't still be mad at him, could he? However, when he couldn't find Dib in the house he began to worry. He knew where Dib was but he had learned, it was a place Dib went to only when he was upset about something.

Putting on his disguise, he got up the courage to go talk to Dib. He left the house, determined not to return without Dib. As he suspected, the boy was at his mother's grave, sulking. He sat on the ground with his legs up to his chest and his chin held up in his arms as he glared at nothing in particular. Zim approached from behind, keeping a good distance away. Like he had done the night before when he stood in Dib's doorway, he fidgeted unsure whether he should say anything or keep quiet until Dib noticed him.

His latter idea won out as Dib addressed him first, unmoving from his spot on the ground. "What do you want? Did you come to finish what you started earlier this morning or is there another reason you're here?" he said in a harsh voice. Zim winced at those words. Ouch. Guess he deserved that.

He remained quiet a few more long moments, trying to think of something to say to help the situation. He was really bad at apologies and Dib wasn't making it any easier or better. He sounded nervous as he tried to get a few words out. "I...I'm..."

Dib finally turned slightly to glare at the Irken. The look had Zim's words getting caught in the back of his throat. "Listen. If you have nothing to say then why don't you just go away and leave me alone." Those words hurt more than anything physical Dib could do to him. Now he knew how Dib had felt earlier that morning when he had said those same words to him. Zim was at a loss for words as he just stared sadly at the human.

But still he tried. He had to get something out, anything that would make up for his earlier actions. "I thought you wanted to help me."

Dib turned back around so he was no longer facing the Irken. "I did until I found out how much of an ass you were going to be about it."

Zim looked away to the side. "So...if I were to ask you for it now, would you?"

Dib leaned back a bit and stared into the sky. "I don't know why you're asking that now. You made it pretty clear this morning that you could handle it. Alone."

Zim was becoming impatient. "You didn't answer my question. Would you?"

Dib seemed to give it some thought. "I don't know." he finally answered in a whisper that Zim could barely catch. Zim finally looked back to Dib, swallowing down his stubbornness. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Asking for help was not Zim's strong point. "Zim...could use some...assistance." he finally managed to get out.

Dib turned back toward him, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Okay...what exactly do you need "assistance" with?"

Zim looked down to the ground before answering. "A child."

That was the last thing Dib expected to hear coming from the Irken's mouth. "A child? But, Zim, what does that have to do with any of-"

Zim cut in, laughing nervously. "Eh heh heh...funny thing about that...I never thought that humans and Irkens were genetically linked in any way." Dib turned completely around to stare at the alien with his mouth open as the words seemed to process in his mind.

When things finally pieced together all Dib could do was try to stutter out a response. "Oh!...Oh my God! OH MY GOD!" In a flash he was on his feet pacing back and forth. "B...but. How?! And when?! And...and...oh my God! How is this possible?! I mean, you're a...a..." Zim watched the human pace back and forth. He was taking it much better than Zim had originally thought.

Zim finally spoke up in an attempt to calm the panicking human. "Dib, calm down. Panicking won't help anything."

Dib finally stopped in his tracks and fell back to a sitting position. "Calm down? CALM DOWN?! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN YOU'RE TELLING ME I'M GOING TO BE A PARENT?! I'M 16 FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!! I'm too young! I can't take care of a baby! I'm not even out of hi-skool yet! And you're a male! How can you be pregnant?!? It's just not physically possible!" he rambled like that a few minutes longer before Zim got annoyed with it and walked over to slap the boy. The slap had Dib shutting up quickly and bringing a hand up to place over his sore cheek.

"DIB!" he said firmly as he placed two hands on Dib's shoulders. "I know I owe you an explanation and I'll give you one if you just calm down." Dib just sat there looking at the Irken, still shaken but he nodded his head. Letting out a gentle sigh, he began. "On Irk...it's not uncommon for the males of my species to give birth. Our bodies can easily adapt for such things thought it's been becoming rarer and rarer on my planet. Over the stretches of time, females have become scarcer and scarcer. That's why we began using males again but around the time of Impending DOOM I, we switched over to smeet hatcheries so the males and females could begin training for the upcoming invasions. Unfortunately, smeet hatcheries are easy targets for enemies of the Irken Empire. About 20 years ago, they began trying to interbreed with other species. Since it's rare to find two males of different species that would be compatible, we often only use females. We thought if we could gather enough females from other races, we'd be able to raise more soldiers for fighting. Unfortunately, our effort failed. Very few species are compatible with Irkens. Vortians have been the best choice so far and we use PAK's to control them after they are born so they don't rebel. Vortian females are strong. They were good choices to protect the child by protecting themselves The Irken Empire is always looking for new species though. They use whatever they can get. But I never thought that you humans, such a slowly evolving species, would be compatible with such a superior race as mine. You're just lucky I'm no longer in contact with my leaders. If they were to ever find out, your planet would be as good as invaded."

All this new information had Dib placing a hand on his head and shaking it as he tried to make sense of everything the Irken was telling him. "S...so now what do you suppose we do?"

Zim looked away, not wanting the human to see his face as he answered. "I don't know..."

Suddenly something seemed to dawn on Dib. "Oh, God..." he moaned. "What am I going to tell my dad? How am I supposed to explain to him that I somehow managed to get you pregnant? I barely understand how I did it. It's bad enough that he disapproved of our sleeping together."

Zim looked up as he seemed to think about it a moment. "I know. Just don't tell him. I'll...eh...go up to space in the ship when it's time to give birth. Then I'll ship it in a box to some uninhabited place in space. No one will ever have to know any of this happened. Problem solved."

That had Dib looking up quickly at the Irken. "ZIM! You can't do that to it!"

Zim looked to Dib confused. "Eh? Why not? Are you saying you want to keep it?" he shuddered at the thought of what a hybrid half human, half Irken baby would look like. He stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. "Yuck! Such an ugly combination."

But Dib was being completely serious. "I...I don't know yet. I need to think about it a while. But we can't just ship it off into space. There's really no way around it. We have to keep it."

"What?!?" Zim shot back, shocked by Dib's words. "We can't keep it! Like you said, you're too young to be a parent! And Zim knows nothing of caring for 'children'!" he said the word as though it were the worst word anybody could say or even consider saying.

It was Dib's turn to remain calm as the Irken rambled on. "l know...but we have to take responsibility for out actions."

Zim's jaw hung open as he stared at Dib. "You're father won't like this. He may just decide to turn Zim in!"

Dib sighed and pulled Zim close. "He wouldn't do that, Zim. I'll think of a way to tell him. Then we'll figure the rest out along the way. I promise."

Zim let his eyes slip halfway closed as he leaned against Dib. "I'm scared..."

Dib just nuzzled his face against Zim's cheek. "Everything will work out." he said in a reassuring way, though whether he said it more for himself or Zim was unknown to even himself.

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter of Near Misses and will continue reading. Thanks for reading! waves