My Only The Only One

Chapter 12

"You're going to tell me EVERYTHING NOW!" Dib yelled as he barged into Zim's room, Zim giving Dib a confused look that should have told the human that he was way too tired to deal with bad attitudes and vague demands, but Dib didn't even seem to notice.

"What are you talking about?" The irken asked drowsily, eyes tired and droopy from his nap.

Dib handed Zim two sheets of paper, each one with a picture of either Zim or Lix. Next to the pictures were various notes marking the similarities between each irken.

As Zim read through this he steadily got more alert until he could feel Dib's gaze on him, the human waiting expectantly.

"What is this?" He asked Dib, looking offended and defensive. "What do you WANT from me?"

"The truth Zim!" Dib yelled. "Stop lying to me! He's your son, isn't he?"

Zim flinched, like Dib was coming at him before quickly recovering.

"Why would you CARE!?" The irken asked. "First off it's none of your business and second you have a daughter! Why should you concern yourself with whether or not I'm passing MY genes along!?"

"Is he?" Dib asked, voice lowering and softening to the point where Zim had to almost strain to hear.

"No," Zim said after a moment's hesitation. He through the papers to a table. "You can leave now."

"I don't believe you." Dib said, his tone soft but not conversational. "There are too many similarities between your appearance. I already had someone else go over it as well. Nils can tell genetic similarities in looks and-...."

"You told Nils!?" Zim shouted, suddenly looking panicked.

"So he is your son?" Dib asked, trying not to look smug, but failed, crossing his arms in a show of superiority.

"Shut up!" Zim yelled, quickly opening his door to make sure that no one was outside in the hall. "Irk Dib why can't you just leave us alone!? You don't like me anymore, I get it so why should you care!?"

Dib frowned, not having expected such logic from his once lover. "I care because this is my station and you've been lying to me, and yet you want me to believe you. No Zim, that's not how it works, you're going to tell me the truth if I have to force it out of you."

"Fine!" Zim barked, clenching his fists tightly. "Lix is my son, are you happy!?"

Dib simply shook his head.

"Why does he call you by your name then? It's obvious you care for him as a son and yet he doesn't seem to hold the same familial relationship. He treats you more like some kind of pet or possession. Not in a bad way, it's obvious he cares about you but-..."

"He doesn't know." Zim said, glaring. "And you aren't going to tell him."

"Why not?" Dib asked, looking confused. "Why doesn't he know, why shouldn't he know?"

Zim groaned in aggravation, going back over to the bed and sitting down. "When he was born the Tallests discovered he had some special mutations and so they wanted to train him personally. I'm sure you've wondered why someone with my genes is so naturally tall, right?"

Dib nodded but didn't speak, sitting on the couch and giving Zim his full attention.

"Right after he was born they planned to get rid of me, but Lix wouldn't eat or sleep and kept crying, so the Tallest had to let me take care of him or he would have died. So they reinstated me into the race and let me take care of him under the condition that I not make any trouble and that included not letting him know that he was my son."