Invader Zim Fan Fiction ❯ Smip and Kwe's story ❯ Chapter 16

With nothing better in mind to do for the rest of the day, they decided to call it a day and drove back home. Though, when they arrived, they found they had visitors waiting for them.

Skooge and Tak had obviously shown up at some point while they were away and Gir let them inside. Dib didn't mind that much, but Zim was always a little testy about having ANYONE, that wasn't his immediate family, coming into their home. He lets Zim handle the fish while he, himself, just storms in grumpily to put the equipment away.

Kwe grins wide, grabbing the twins and hurrying over them over to his parents. Kwe calls excitedly, "Mother! Father!", showing the two smeets to the other Irkens.

Smip, who had been holding Diz in one hand and shopping bag in the other before his mate took their son away, drops the bag of clothes at his feet upon seeing Tak. The half alien feels wary about letting her get close to their babies, but tries to settle himself mentally and picks up the bag to go put away.

Tak, of course, takes little Meep into her arms, seeing as the other was 'cursed' with Zim's eyes. Skooge takes little Diz and grins wide, quite proud of his grandchildren.

".. It's good to be home," Kwe speaks nervously, worried that his mother might hurt the smeet in her arms.

She gives Meep a once over before finally speaking. "He's a bit short.. No doubt from Zim's inferior genes.... Then again.. he is.. cute.... Have you started training yet?"

Kwe shakes his head in a negative. ".. My seeder would have kittens if I started that yet.. They will have to wait until they are a bit older I think."

Eavesdropping upon the conversation, Smip's antenna twitches at the mention of training, but a smug little smile comes to his face from his lover's reply.

Tak looks displeased, but she did not say anything more.

Having set the bag aside, Smip wanders back in to the sounds of Diz giggling and finds Skooge happily playing with his grandson by tossing him up slightly in the air and catching him again.

"It's good to see you, Uncle Skooge, and congrats on finishing your mission too... And.. hello to you too, Tak."

Skooge grins wide and nods, not realizing he happened to be within earshot of Zim, "Yeah, finishing missions runs in our family." He honestly didn't mean anything by it, simply making small talk.

Zim, however, has half a mind to open the smelly cooler and chuck one of the awful fish beasts at his 'friend', but the thought of accidentally hitting the smeet in Skooge's arms gives him pause. That, and Dib plucked the fish out of his hand just as he moved his arm.

Smip, though, looks a little distracted now as he glances at the floor, giving an absent nod. ".. Yeah.. I guess it does..." He tries putting it out of his mind again for the time being as he looks up again, "I'm assuming we're going to have dinner here. It might be nice if we all ate together, if, you know, you want to..."

Tak, meanwhile, continues to look Meep over while he tries hiding further and further in his blanket. She grins her evil grin, "Well.. You're a scared little thing, aren't you?.. You know, if you're not brave, a Kiper will come and eat your antennae right off." She whispers the little lie, terrifying him more. "Oh no! I think there's one now! Hurry up and be brave!"

Meep squeaks in fear, trying his best to look brave now, but visibly shaken.

Kwe, who had been listening to Smip and Skooge talking turns quickly to give his mother a glare. "You're not telling him about Fufuleachs or Fingersnippers, are you?"

Tak grins innocently, "Oh, heavens no."

Smip pauses in mid-conversation as he hears the little squeak he's become very familiar with and snaps his head to Tak's direction, narrowing his eyes angrily as he rudely steps away from Skooge to confront the female alien. "Quit scaring him. He's already been scared enough today without your help." Taking the little bundle from her hands, he shoots a protective glare at her. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change them." Smip comes over to, more gracefully, retrieve Diz before walking both smeets away outside towards the ship. After all, they hadn't unpacked anything.

Kwe smiles that Smip is taking such authority; feeling pride that his mate stood up for the smeet.

"Well, your seeder... can be quite strong when need be. I'm a bit more impressed with him, I have to say.. You still should have chosen a pure Irken, though," Tak sighs.

Kwe knows this would probably be the best words his mother could muster for Smip. "Heh.. You're the only Irken female on Earth, mother, and, no offense, but I'd rather not have mutant smeet." He was joking, of course, with the incest comment, but after saying so, he heads off to see his mate and their children.

Skooge, who steps closer to Tak, simply blinks. "I'm surprised he doesn't know that Irkens can't breed with their relatives.. Was his download of all Irken knowledge old?"

The female alien just nods in confirmation before grabbing the other's ass hard. "Speaking of mating.. You're not walking nearly funny enough... Let's go take care of that."

Kwe then notices his parents running off in the direction of Zim and Dib's bedroom and goes wide eyed, instantly diverting his course. He heads over to Dib, trying to distract him as the two did their unholy deed on the sacred mattress that was Zim's bed. "Er, so, Dib!.. Tell me of.. um.. Earth.. things." He may have excelled in so much, but he had never been tested or put in the position of being the 'distraction'.

Dib stands up, having been bent over looking at the fish and wondering just what the hell he was going to do with it since he and Smip were the only ones that could eat it.. Well, and Gir. He blinks slightly in confusion at Kwe, raising a brow, ".. Er.. huh?.."

Zim emerges from the downstairs, "Well, I suppose you can put those filthy fish things in the cooling unit since they won't fit in the refrigerator... Hey, where'd everyone go anyway?" He looks around, noticing that there was definitely a lack in people all of a sudden.

The younger alien glances back over to Dib. ".. You could put them in my ship. There is a large, deep freeze container for perishable items... And um.. maybe they all went to the Megadoomer out back? I'm sure my password would open it if you'd like to check it out, Zim." He feels relieved at thinking of such a quick solution to the problem of keeping them away from the bedroom.

Dib, completely ignoring Zim for the moment, ponders briefly about the fish and nods in agreement. "I think that would probably be the best thing, actually.. We don't know how long we're going to be out there and I don't have an Irken metabolism, so I can't live on snack food alone... Unless I want to come back weighing 400 pounds... Zim? You wanna help me move this cooler to the ship? Kwe could give us the grand tour while we're there."

Zim gets distracted from his wondering where everyone disappeared to and looks at his mate and Kwe, crossing his arms slightly. "I suppose.. If we're going to be flying it soon enough.."

While he and Dib get to moving the cooler, Smip finishes changing the twins.

Meanwhile, inside Zim and Dib's bedroom, Skooge clutches one of the pillows tightly, biting it to keep himself quiet. He knows that this is SO wrong to be doing, but it's hard to say 'no' to his seeder after all.

Sadly for Tak and Skooge, packing up the fish and getting the grand tour of the ship didn't take nearly as long as the two would need. Even with Kwe's efforts to keep things slow.

Dib was very impressed. Zim, not so much, since it reminded him that his own ship was gone. In fact, he gets quiet and moody as they continue. He still remains brooding as they finish up and all head back into the house. Zim is first, but goes straight into the kitchen.

Smip follows, holding the twins, "Hey, Dad? Can I get a soda or something? I'm kinda thirsty.."

Dib wanders in a few moments later, having stayed to ask Kwe questions about the ship. When he walks in though, he notices the missing aliens leaving from his bedroom looking rather rumpled. His eyes widen some, as he recognizes that look all too well.

Skooge does not look him in the eye, just following behind Tak obediently.

She walks by with confidence and a smug grin as she looks to her son. "We're going to go look at your ship."

As they leave, Dib turns to watch them before looking back upstairs, then back outside, then to Kwe. ".. What exactly were they doing up there?..." He's already starting to head that way, not waiting for an answer.

Kwe, also wide eyed, looks towards the kitchen, then to Dib while the human starts towards the bedroom. Quickly following after and stops Dib, his antennae lowered shamefully. ".. Er.. Whatever it was.. Let's hide it from Zim? No need to anger him so soon into our truce."

Dib turns back to look at the other, somewhat shocked. ".. You knew they were in there and didn't tell me?.." Turning back to the door, he hesitates on opening it as he gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. Slowly, he takes the knob, opening the door a crack and peeking inside. A look of horror and disgust washing over him as he stares at his defiled bed. ".. Oh.. my.. god..." He closes the door again, leaning with his back against it and looking much paler. "... Oh.. my.. god.." he repeats. ".... I don't think I can look them in the face ever again.."

"Well.. If your parents did such a thing in your in-laws' house, would you rush to tell either of them?... Er.. I would suggest that I clean it up.. but.. I fear it would scar me for life...." Kwe doesn't even look, just assuming the absolute worst.

Dib scrunches up his face in disgust at the thought of his father doing something like that. "Ew.. I don't want to think about that actually.. But, I think you're right.. I think the only solution now would be to get Gir. Maybe even getting your robot to help too. If not, I know I can get Gir at least. He ruins our bed at least twice a month, so I can just blame him for this."

"Get them? As in, have them clean it up?... Can Gir really clean something?... Iif might be better suited. Though, I've never had him actually clean before.. Hrm.." Kwe thinks, looking down the stairs. Then, in a whisper of a voice, "Iif, bring Gir and come up here now."

Sure enough, it was just a couple of seconds before the robot came quickly scurrying up the steps carrying Gir over his head. "Yes, my master!" Iif proclaims while Gir just giggles and squirms with glee at being carried by the other SIR.

When the robots appear, Dib leans down, picking Gir up and setting him down on the ground before looking straight at him. They stare at each other silently for a few moments until Dib finally says, "Hey, Gir? Guess what? The bed in there is filled with taquitos. But only for a little while, so you have to hurry!"

The little SIR doesn't need to be told twice as he runs into the room squealing happily, "TAQUITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!"

Dib stands up, brushing his hands together in satisfaction. "Well, problem solved.." Ripping and shredding sounds come from inside the bedroom as he just calmly walks back downstairs.

Blinking and confused, Kwe points at Iif. "Iif! Go and.. help Gir do.. those.. things he's doing." He too walks off, grinning to himself.

Iif pokes a head in the room, giving a little squeal and running in to jump on what's left of the bed.

Heading out into the kitchen, Dib goes to the refrigerator and gets a cold drink for himself. He's going to think about getting special locks for the bedroom door to keep this from ever happening again.

Diz and Meep sit on the table, sipping away at their own drinks while Smip looks around in the cupboards curiously as he always used to.

Kwe sits down peacefully, everything quiet until Iif suddenly comes running through the room covered in an unmentionable substance with Gir yelling after him, "I'M GONNA GET YOUR TAQUITO JUICE!!"

Kwe's face instantly becomes enflamed and he quickly looks on. Dib spits his drink, luckily only spraying the floor before he coughs and wipes at his mouth hastily. Whipping his head around, he watches the SIR units leave as well.

Smip blinks, rather alarmed at first, then turns to follow Dib's line of sight, wondering what could have caused him to react like that. He turns back while Zim raises a brow curiously. ".. Are you okay, Pop?.."

Dib coughs again, "Er, yeah.. I'm fine."

Zim purrs in a falsely sweet voice, "Yes, poopy bear.. Why were you spraying out perfectly good soda?... SOMETHING IS AMISS!" He points to the heavens in a truly dramatic pose, his normal paranoid state finding him quickly as he gets right up in his mate's face to eye him curiously. "WELL?.. What is it?!.. Out with iiiiiiiittttttt!.. Hrm? Hrmmmm? HRMMMMMM??" He punctuates each question with a firm poke to the chest that grow more demanding.

The human's body moves slightly as the pokes get harder and he simply watches them come with an annoyed look before lifting his head to look the alien in the eye. "Trust me, it's nothing.. But Gir may have eaten the bed sheets again." Zim is still jabbing a single finger into his sternum while he talks until Dib flails his hands slightly to get him away, "And will you stop poking me?! Jeez.."

The twins watch, with Diz giggling softly.

"Were you eating those FILTHY Earth taquitos in MY bed again?!" Zim scolds. "We already talked about this. What if a bit of MEAT was to fall into the sheets and during the night, it slithers its way down my urethra and Zim's mighty penis falls off?!.. WELL?! What would happen then?!.... Well, besides me growing a new, larger one in my lab and grafting it to my body..." He thinks to himself for a moment before grinning evilly. "Yes... Eat your taquitos in my bed, Dib. It will be your ability to walk on the line." And with this said, Zim promptly places his hands behind his back and walks out, military fashion, from the room. He pops his head back in to yell, "GIGANTIC!!" before disappearing yet again.

Kwe just stands beside the smeets, looking afraid at what questions would possibly come from his young at hearing all of this. Dib and Smip stare at the doorway with varying degrees of horror on their faces.

Diz looks around curiously before giving Kwe's sleeve a little tug, looking up cutely. "Mommy?.. What did that mean?.. What are taquitos? Do 'taquitos' make your penis fall off?.. What's a penis?"

Smip slaps his palm over his face loudly, mentally strangling his mother. He speaks up first, "er.. No, Dizzy.. Taquitos are an Earth food, but they don't do anything like that.. And as for the rest, well.. You'll find out when you're older."

Meep looks afraid and softly asks from under the muffling blankets, ".. Why would Grandpa Dib's ability to walk be.. threatened?.. Is Grandpa Zim's new, gigantic penis going to chop Grandpa Dib's legs off?"

Kwe just gives a blank stare before blinking, "Err.. Yes, dear.. Zim's massive penis would cut them off.. Here, why don't we let Daddy hold you a bit while I go hurt Zim for threatening Dib, okay?"

Meep shudders and hides a bit more inside his blanket, hoping a gigantic penis never tries to cut off his legs.

Smip feels a headache forming and hangs his head, "Can we stop saying 'penis', please??.." Taking his children into his arms, he looks down at the wide-eyed smeets. "Mommy was just kidding about the cutting legs off.. And this is why we don't listen or repeat what Grandpa Zim says, okay?"

"Things like penis?" Meep asks with a giggle, learning a new word he isn't supposed to say. Though, like most little boys, he enjoys testing his parents, even if he was the meek one. "Peeeenis" he says again, giggling more.

Diz giggles along with his brother, chirping "Penis!" happily as well.

Smip's antennae hang in exasperation and he grumbles to his father, "Remind me to thank him for teaching the twins a new word..."

Dib still has a slight hue of pink in his cheeks before he clears his throat. "Well.. Um.. I guess we'd better start dinner then.. It's going to be crowded tonight."

Kwe, meanwhile, was glaring at the back of Zim's head as they stood in the living room. "So.. Is your new, gigantic penis planning on cutting off Dib's legs?"

Zim just blinks at such a question. "Eh?"

Glaring more, the younger Invader points angrily, "Exactly! How are we supposed to answer such a question like that from our smeet?.. You really must be careful of what you say around them. We aren't giving them full Irken intelligence yet for a reason... What that is exactly, I'm still not 100% on, but your son seems to think it's important that they're stupid for a while before getting all of their Irken knowledge."

Zim narrows his eyes, feeling challenged by Kwe's words. "Are you saying my son and grandsons are stupid?! Smip had no way of receiving PAK downloads as a smeet and he learned just fine! If he wishes to raise his smeets in the same ways, who are you to question?!" He completely disregards the fact that Kwe was the one that carried and birthed the smeets after all.

Kwe glares all the more and continues to point, "NO! Smip isn't stupid at all! YOU'RE the stupid one!... STUPID!" Grabbing a squeaky toy piggy that Gir had apparently left on the ground, he hurls it at Zim's head to bounce off harmlessly.

The elder hardly flinches as the rubber toy bounces off his head comically with a little squeak sound. Zim stands there a moment, almost in shock that this little pain in the ass had the audacity to do such a thing. Bending down, he grabs the toy pig, squeezing it tightly in his fist and waving it menacingly in Kwe's face. "You DARE attack the head of ZIM with this ridiculous plaything?! In my own home?!?!?!" The piggy squeaks pitifully as it's squeezed too tightly.

Kwe blinks and glares at this, "Zim.. I am more than willing to let you have the dishonor of running from battle with me.. But if you think for one moment that I will let you corrupt my smeets with.. with.. PENIS TALK... you have another thing coming!"

Zim glares back, his tone instantly intensifying all the more, "And just what would you suggest?.. A duel of dishonor?"

His words are callous as he speaks of the forbidden Irken duel of dishonor... A battle that brings no honor at all; only the lowest and most dreadful of dishonor to the loser... Such a fate that is hard, at best, to speak of.

Kwe actually gasps slightly at the mere mention of it. The front door, though, slams open suddenly.

"YES! Duel of dishonor, Kwe! Do it!" Tak walks in grinning wide, apparently having heard the whole thing.

Skooge looks over Tak's shoulder, clearly fretting at the mention of the duel.

By now, Smip and Dib decide they should check on things because of all the yelling. Smip, carrying the twins, and Dib peek through the doorway curiously.

The human cocks an eyebrow, "What is going on with all the yelling about a duel in here? I'm trying to get dinner ready."

"Do it, son. Make your mother proud!.. I won't even try to kill Zim anymore when you win." Tak's voice hisses, sounding more as if the devil himself was speaking through the female alien.

Skooge visibly pails and cowers behind Tak. His only comfort is the very person that was scaring him.

Kwe just looks at Zim for a moment. "... I.. I challenge you to a duel of dishonor, Zim... For the sake of my mother and father's honor you have persistently downplayed on several occasions."

Smip blinks a little at this, looking at his father curiously for any help on the situation. Dib looks back, shrugging helplessly to his son.

Dib turns back to the commotion in his family room. "What are you all talking about? Kwe, I thought we agreed that you and Zim and weren't going to fight each other. Why are you going back on your word?"

Zim, who still looks a little ware himself about the duel, speaks up, "It is not a battle of the death, Dib, but a battle of honor. The loser of the duel, however, would be better off dead at the punishment they must receive..." He narrows his eyes at Kwe, gathering all of his determination, "I accept your challenge.."

"Tomorrow then," Kwe replies, crossing his arms and looking Zim square in the eye.

"Yes.. Now let's all go have a nice family dinner together and not contemplate or speak of the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE fate that awaits one of us."

Nodding in agreement, Kwe turns to walk next to Smip. "Sorry about that.. Hrm, Diz's face is dirty. Where is the chalk?" He shuffles through a bag, hoping he wouldn't have to explain what was going to happen.

Smip does not feel settled by this turn of events, but he doesn't say anything about it. Dib, Smip, and Skooge all seem rather quiet now as they think about the duel. Smip wonders about asking Kwe privately later while Diz starts squirming around, not wanting his face cleaned.

"Nooooo! Noo!"

All this fuss just trying to clean some smudges of dirt away.

Being a good host, Dib just gives a sigh and strides back into the kitchen to get dinner on the table.

Smip sits the twins at Gir's kiddy table since they don't have any highchairs to use before going to find some extra chairs for the table. This was probably the most people that had been in the house at one time and it would have been almost nice under other circumstances. Smip helps his father start serving while Zim sets a plate before Kwe himself before taking a seat casually. Smip and Dib don't notice with the rest of the chaos going on about the kitchen.

Kwe looks at the plate, wondering if it’s in some way booby-trapped or poisoned.

Gir and Iif return from wherever they had run off to to sit with the babies, happily giggling and looking at them.

Gir, much to Dib's horror, asks, "Awww! Are the babies full of taquitos?!" He eyes little Meep, drooling as he inches closer.

Smip kneels down at the kiddie table, cutting up the twins' food. Meep's eyes get a little wider as he leans in to his father for safety, whimpering slightly, and Smip looks up, pointing the fork in his hand directly at the SIR unit. "Gir, no! You remember when I was a baby, right? Well, these are my babies. You can't hurt them no matter what. Understand me? They're babies, so you have to be gentle with them."

Gir stops leaning in, but looks to Smip and pouts, "Aww.. but I wanted some taquitos.."

The half Irken pats his head. "If you promise to be good, I'll make you some taquitos, okay?"

Blinking at the two babies yet again, the robot eyes whines, "But I want their taquitos!.. I didn't get any of the tuna inside you when you were a baby and full of it. Master stopped me and I cried!"

The sudden information of Gir trying to eat Smip when he was little is slightly disturbing... but not as disturbing as little Meep's next words.

"... What is a penis exactly?... Is Grandpa Zim's really a lot bigger than yours, Daddy?"

Smip's eyes go wide at Gir's words before he turns to his parents, "DA~AAAD!"

Dib, finally sitting down, holds his head in his hands, muttering softly. "Why can't we ever have one normal meal in this house?.. That's all I ask for.."

Zim, who seems to be ignoring most of what's going on as he cuts off a bite of food, turns his head slightly, "GIR!.. Enough!"

When Meep speaks, Smip's eyes seem to double in size as he stares at his son in shock. Once more, he looks back at the table, this time focused solely on Zim. "DA~AAAD!" he yells, this is more of an irritated tone than before. With a sigh, he turns back to his youngest smeet. "Meep? Remember what we talked about earlier about not talking about penises anymore? That isn't a nice thing to talk about; especially at dinner."

Tak seems to just be grinning smugly the entire time she eats, obviously enjoying herself too much.

Smip gets up to make the taquitos as he promised, finally getting to sit down to eat as well. Zim notices that Kwe hasn't touched his food yet.

Meep looks scared at being told he shouldn't talk about it and it wasn't nice. He cowers back from his father into his bundle of blankets, which he was still clinging to anxiously, feeling like he was in trouble now whether he was or not.

Gir just blinks at Dib and jumps up onto his head, walking around in a circle like a dog at first and then settling down with his plate happily with a grin. Dib completely ignores the little robot on his head, quite used to this utter insanity.

Smip starts in on his food almost ravenously, feeling very hungry from their day and missing his father's cooking. Taking a huge bite, he chews happily, "Mmm.. Yeah, I missed this."

Diz watches the adult table curiously before he takes his own little fork, stabs at the little bits of food, and begins munching on them like a big boy. Gir, on the other hand, is practically inhaling his food, making loud slurping gulps as he shoves handful after handful of taquito pieces into his face.

Smip looks over at Kwe, "How come you're not eating?"

Zim eggs Kwe on a little, "Yes, how come? Is the food not good enough for you?"

Little Meep, still feeling bad over his daddy fussing at him for saying 'penis' thinks they're talking about him. ".. I'm.. not hungry," the smeet lies, little empty belly starving, but now far too ashamed for being bad to do anything about it.

Kwe looks over at this. He could sense Meep was upset. Not wishing to make a big deal about it though, knowing it would only cause his shy son to hide even more, he gently picks him up and sets him in lap. "Come here, little one. I wish you to be closer to me.. Such a good, little Irken, aren't you?"

Meep blinks, but perks up, smiling up at this mommy and slowly peeking out. "Yes, mama." He glances over at Zim, wondering if his grandfather would be mad at his earlier fib.

Smip takes one last bite, still in the process of chewing as he reaches over, making grabby hands for Meep. Finally he gets to swallow, "Here, I'll hold him. You need to eat too."

Diz looks over, then down at his plate, then back at the adults before starting to cry loudly, "No fair! No fair!!.. I wanna be fed too!!"

Smip starts to understand how his father feels now. Holding Meep carefully in one arm, he grabs his own plate to take over and sit at the kiddie table. He sits on the floor, still towering over the small table while he holds Meep. "Okay, I'll feed you both, sound good?" Picking up Meep's fork, he stabs a few bits from Diz's plate and offers it to his son. He goes back and forth, alternating feeding each smeet, but it seems to keep them happy at least.

Kwe looks over at his little family with a slight motherly smile before cutting off a bite of food and bringing it to his mouth. Zim keeps a subtle eye upon him while he eats, just waiting patiently for something. Kwe takes the bite, starting to chew a bit. Slowly, his eyes go wide and he flails his arms, spitting out the obviously meat-laden food in Zim's direction and quickly scrubbing at his tongue with his hands.

Zim picks up his plate to keep it out of harm's way, but otherwise remains unaffected by the sudden outburst. The others look over at the commotion and Dib starts scooting his chair out while Gir hops down.

"Kwe? Are you okay?"

Smip looks up, quickly setting Meep down in his chair before getting up to see what's wrong.

Gir looks over gleefully, pointing at the slight smoke coming from Kwe's mouth, "You're on fire!"

Tak shoots a deadly glare at Zim as she slams a fist on the table, "What did you do to my son?!"

Smip and Dib get the situation slightly under control as they get some Irken safe liquid for Kwe to drink and tend to his blistered tongue. Through it all, Zim just keeps eating, but now has a pleased, smug grin upon his face. He glances over at the younger Invader before looking back to his food.

"I had Gir make something special for you. I hope you liked it... And by the way, that's for selling my ship....."

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The night slowly starts to pass with lots of warm cuddles between the four in the ship. It was very peacefully and nice.

Daylight shines bright now while Zim stands there alone in Kwe's path, spidery PAK legs out and ready to battle. Kwe leaps towards him, slashing with his mechanical limbs. Zim attacks right back, slashing and clawing. Lasers blast along with rest of the sounds of combat.

There would be no happiness for now, though.. for Kwe now lay dead beneath Zim's claws....

The twins cry hard and Smip falls to his knees in tears before Kwe's mangled corpse. Bloody pieces of his body lay strewn across the yard with a few bits stuck in a morbidly comedic fashion upon the lawn gnomes.

Smip suddenly awakens, screaming and clawing at the bed sheets beneath him, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It takes several moments for him to come back to reality to the real sounds of the twins bawling. Thankfully, Kwe held them out of harm's way since Smip had started writhing upon the bed. Cold sweat covers his body and his heart races in his chest as he pants. It's only then he realizes his face is covered in tears.

Kwe looks alarmed as he had never seen anyone having a nightmare, or knowing exactly what one was. ".. Are you.. going insane, my seeder?.. Do you have brain worms?.." he asks, honestly concerned as he stares at his lover.

Both the smeets also look at him with wide eyes, having never had a nightmare either.

Smip turns, still quite shaken from his dream as he tries to speak. He breaks down as he sits there, hunching over his knees and sobbing, overwhelmed by the roller coaster of emotions he just had to face. "Oh, god.. I was so scared.. I saw you.. I saw you laying there.. I thought you were really--.."

Suddenly, he lunges forward to wrap his mate in an embrace while he continues to sob, gaining comfort from being with his little family. He just babbles nonsense in his harsh sobs against Kwe's chest, clinging to him like a lifeline. ".. I thought you were gone.. I thought you were.. you were gone.. I saw it.. You were gone.." he repeats over and over.

"If.. I was gone, how did you see me?.. Maybe we should go to the medical bay." Kwe holds a smeet in each hand, out away from Smip's reach, afraid he might accidentally do something to harm them. Leaning forward, he kisses Smip's forehead softly, "Calm down. Nothing has happened."

Diz and Meep watch with concern and Diz sniffles, trying to hold back his own tears as he's worried that his father is hurt. ".. Daddy?" he asks in a little afraid whisper.

Smip's crying slowly ebbs, but he doesn't stop clinging to his mate. He carefully reigns in their sons, bring them all into his arms, needing to feel all three of his loves together with him. ".. It.. It was just a nightmare.. I.. I don't ever want to lose you, Kwe.. We can't do this.. We just can't..." He sniffles and tears roll down his face as he slowly wears himself back to sleep, his soul feeling utterly drained.

"... I.. don't have a choice... It will be okay.. Shh.. Don't worry. It won't help... Just.. be close."

Moonlight streams in on them as they all lay together and the family cuddles close again.

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Dawn finally breaks on the faithful day and tension and unease is heavy in the air. Dib had trouble sleeping as well, nerves and anxiety working overtime for him.

Smip tries to relax himself some with a shower, but mostly just stands under the spray, staring blankly at the stall floor for almost an hour. Once he's dressed and the smeets are changed, all four of them trudge slowly towards the house.

Moods are rather heavy inside as well as Zim, Dib, Tak, and Skooge sit at the kitchen table not saying a word. Tak doesn't have a somber look like everyone else, though.

Zim was far worse for wear while Dib sat there obviously fretting over the planet and trying to think of some way to actually stop a full Irken armada.

Seeing his mate also in distress, Dib quietly says, ".. I-I know, Zim.. It's terrible, isn't it?.. The whole planet.. Is there nothing we can do?"

Zim looks up from what would have normally been a very calm, soothing cup of coffee. "Eh?.. Earth? What?.. Oh, that.... HOW COULD YOU THINK ABOUT THE EARTH AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!.. MY HONOR IS ON THE LINE!... What little there is left.." He pouts.

Dib glares, getting up with his plate of food and then slamming it down and breaking it into a hundred pieces before walking off angrily.

Smip holds the smeets close, unease curling in his stomach. "... Is this fight really going to be as bad as it sounds?... Please tell me that neither of you are going to.. to..." Tears begin welling up in his eyes as he can't bring himself to say the word 'die' now. He opens the door carefully, seeing his father walking by looking rather pissed off about something, but when the man sees them, he relaxes a bit more before approaching them both.

Dib strokes his son's hair softly with a sigh, ".. I guess this is it...."

Kwe looks at Smip with solemn fear at those words.