In the end it didn't Zim long to recover from surgery. A tiny incision was made, no more than an inch long and using two tiny tools Nils repaired the rupture. He was able to go back to his room right away and Dib was more than happy to make sure he had everything he needed.

While he was in surgery Karen and the kids had cleaned up his room so he could just relax for the next two days.

Zim hated relaxing. It was like trying to catch lightening in a jar. He felt itchy, like little bugs were moving under his skin and he wanted to get up and DO something. But Dib and Karen and their kids were hovering like body guards and refusing to let him out of bed unless he had to use the bathroom.

"How do you want to do this?" Dib asked the morning of Zim's second day of bed rest.

"Do what?" Zim asked, looking at Dib wearily. The human had had a complete turn-around in the attitude department after learning he had a son.

"Tell Lix...." Dib said, leaning back against the head board of the bed, like Zim was doing. Zim figured it was a sort of intimidation tactic mixed with a comforting presence. Intimidation, because Dib was so much taller than Zim was now. Comforting, because he was so close and smiling so gently.

"Oh," Zim said, frowning. "Is there a best way to tell him? Or do all of them pretty much suck the same? I dunno how one is supposed to gently break this kind of news. 'I'm sorry Lix for lying to you all these years. You're half human and we're your parents.' Yes, he'll be completely forgiving." Zim sighed.

"Don't think about it like that." Dib said, shaking his head. "You act like we're telling him we got rid of his favorite pet or something. It's a good thing. He's gaining parents, not loosing anything."

"But I LIED to him!" Zim said, covering his face in his hands as though that would help him fuse into the wall.

"And he'll forgive you once he understands the circumstances. I did." Dib pointed out, taking ZIm's hands in his own, removing them from the other's face.

Zim gave an exhasperated sigh and nodded. "I hope you're right."

Dib smiled, a kind of affectionate but amused smile.

"Are you scared?" He asked.

"What!?" Zim asked, giving Dib a glare. "How dare you insinuate that I'm-!"

"SCARED!" Dib shouted, laughed a little and poking Zim's face where his nose would be to stall any arguments from Zim. "You're scared because you think he'll hate you."

Zim pouted, asking, "So what? It's a legitimate concern!"

"Yes, but still. It's so out of character." Dib said, pulling Zim close. "I'll let you blame it on the drugs if you break down while we tell Lix if we do it now."

"I'm NOT going to break down." Zim said, crossing his arms and pretending to be mad at Dib. Truth is he loved it. Dib was being antagonistic and yet sweet at the same time and he loved how Dib could pull it off. "But fine, just in case."

"Great, during lunch then?" Dib asked, seeming excited.

"Fine," Zim said again, sighing once more and leaning against Dib.

Lunch came and Hollin insisted that she take this opportunity to teach Lix to cook some. Karen supervised them closely as they made some little pizzas.

Zim stared at his pizza for a while, looking as though he was about to be sick.

"What's wrong?" Lix asked, putting a hand on Zim's arm. "Do you not like pizza? Do you not feel good?"

"It's the pain killers." Dib said, smiling sympathetically at the irken. "By the way, Lix, Zim and I were hoping to talk to you about something."

Zim scoffed when Dib used the word 'hope' but Lix didn't notice and asked, "What about?"

Dib glanced at his own family. Karen already knew, and he gave her a nod. They would tell Hollin later, together.

Karen picked Hollin up and whisked her out of the room, her complaining about wanting to know what they were talking about.

Lix watched curiously, only looking back when Dib addressed him again.

"Lix, Zim and I-...."

They were cut off by the sound of a blaring alarm.

Dib quickly left the room to find out what was going on, commanding Zim and Lix to stay where they were. Zim would have none of this. He quickly took Lix's hand and led him out into the hall. He then took his son to Karen's room, instructing her too look after the kids as he made his way to the bridge, where he knew Dib would be.

"What's going on?" Zim asked, pushing past security and going to stand by Dib.

"What are you going here? I told you to-!" Dib began, looking frantic but Zim would not have that.

"Oh please, don't act like you didn't expect me to follow."

Dib had to respect that logic and growled in frustration before answering Zim's previous question. "The Armada." He said putting on his leader face. "Not the entire Armada, but a good sized chunck along with the flag ship. I've already called in for back-up, but who knows how long it'll take them to actually get here."

Zim looked up on the screen. The Massive was displayed, surrounded by at least a quarter of the Armada. He smirked.

"This is perfect."

Everyone gave him a surprised look and someone spoke up.

"We aren't equipped to handle this kind of attack! We'll be destroyed!"

Zim shook his head. "You just have to survive until back-up get's here." He gave Dib a knowing glance. He could figure out who Dib had called. "Then take out the flag ship. Once the Tallest are gone the Empire will be in a frenzy. They won't know what to do until the Control Brains figure out who the next Tallest is. Even if this station is taken out the rebellion will still have the advantage."

People were shocked by Zim's thinking. Irkens were trained to think only of the whole, not of any individual. To him, what was a couple humans if the Empire was to be taken out for good?

"I will not put my family in danger so you can settle some score!" Someone shouted. "We have to evacuate!"

Zim glared, but Dib had to agree. "The civilians yes. Send a transmission to anyone who doesn't have military status to report to the pods."

"And what!?" Zim shouted. "Let Armada ship pick them off one by one!?" Zim glared at Dib now. "Did you forget I have family here too?"

"What can we do then!?" A female shouted, looking to be getting very upset. "If we can't evacuate what can we do!? We can't just send all our ships out there to be picked off either! We aren't prepared for something like this!"

Zim frowned, looking down in deep thought. He suddenly looked up and gasped before a wide smirk spread across his face. Quickly he grabbed Dib by his coat and began to drag him off the bridge. "Come with me." He said, as though leaving room for debate, despite his grip.

"What!? We're in the middle of planning!" Dib shouted, though he didn't fight against the irken. Obviously something brilliant or stupid had just come to him and he decided, on the off chance that it wasn't stupid, to hear the irken out.

"Sneak attack!" Zim shouted, pausing once out in the hall to gadge Dib's reaction. Dib looked intrigued.

"Go on."

"You help me get aboard the Massive and I kill the Tallest!"

Dib looked stunned then, and not in a good way.

"WHAT!? And how do you plan to do that!? You could get killed!"

Zim shook his head. "They've been trying to kill be for decades and they haven't succeeded YET!" He pointed out. "Besides, I'm really good at blowing up irken technologies. It shouldn't be hard. I know the inner workings of the massive like the back of my hand!"

Dib put a hand to his face, giving a groan. "How will you get out without also being blown up?" He couldn't believe he was concidering this.

"I'll set a detonater and get off the ship before the explosion." Zim explained. "Then you pick me up after. Piece of cake!"

"No, no no. I don't like this." Dib said, frowning. He leaned forward and hugged Zim tightly. "I don't want to lose you again. Not when I just got you back."

"You won't." Zim promised, hugging back. He pulled back suddenly, saying, "Now come on, you have to have some sort of stealth ship around here, right? Let's hop to it!"

Everyone seemed to like the idea of the irken risking his life instead of them risking their own. It rather disgusted Dib but he could understand. Besides, Zim didn't even seem to notice so it wasn't weakening his resolve any.

It was almost too easy getting Zim aboard. They flew a stealth ship through the field of Armada cruisers, being careful not to expend too much energy or they would be noticed. They came up under the Massive and Zim was able to sneak in through an unused snack line, probably to a broken dispenser.

Dib then flew carefully back to the base, feeling very wrong about leaving Zim there by himself.

Hours passed. Dib refused to leave the bridge until he saw the Massive light up like a Christmas tree. Karen and the children joined him not that long after, worrying for Zim as well and waiting to see if he succeeded or not.

Karen rubbed Dib's back, but he didn't notice, his gaze focused solely on the screen before him. Eventually Lix sat down next to Dib's chair, and Hollin sat next to him, hugging him tightly in comfort. No one spoke until the female from before gave a loud gasp, making half the bridge jump, including Dib.

"They're contacting us!" She shouted, eyes wide.

"Patch them through." Dib said quick, straightening up and preparing his best glare for the screen.

The Tallest appeared on screen, looking smug.

"Dear human resistance. Have you not wondered why we haven't attacked you yet?" Purple asked, unable to help a laugh, like he was building up to the punchline of a joke.

"Sure, why?" Dib asked, looking unimpressed.

"Because we were busy dealing with a little sneak." Red said, pulling a bound Zim up into view by the back of his shirt. "Nice try, but this isn't the one we want."

Dib's eyes widened, as did everyone else's. Zim failed... what would happen now?

Zim's mouth was held shut by a metal gag and one of his cheeks was bruised but otherwise he appeared fine. Dib was sure his ego took a big hit though.

"What do you want?" Dib asked, glaring at the Tallest once more.

"We want our hybrid." Red said, throwing Zim to the floor.

"FINE!" Lix yelled, getting up. Dib was about to tell him to be quiet, but Lix was far too outraged to put up with any of the human's commands. "Just leave Zim alone!"

Purple laughed, lacing his fingers together and saying, "That's not really up to you, now is it?"

"It is now!" Lix said, crossing his arms and taking over as though he were in charge, not Dib. "We do a trade! You give the resistance Zim and I'll go with you quietly."

Red scoffed, asking, "Why should we do that when we can just storm the base and take you?"

Lix was quick to show them exactly why, extending his right arm and displaying his self destruct switch. Everyone gasped and Dib quickly grabbed Lix's arm.

"What are you doing?" He growled, eyes wide with worry.

Lix turned to Dib and said in a voice similar to Zim's, "They won't let me. IF they want me as bad as they say they do they won't let me." He then turned back to the Tallest. "If you storm the base then I'll self-destruct, because I know you'll just kill Zim if you're allowed to keep him!"

"Why would you kill yourself over something like ZIM!?" Purple asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Zim is very important to me and I don't want you killing him! Besides," Lix smirked. "Think of all the damaged he's caused trying to help the Empire. If you give him to the Resistance think of how much damage he'll do trying to help THEM."

Red looked to Purple, saying, "This is very true."

"If you send a ship here on auto-pilote with Zim on board then I'll fly over to you once he's reached half way." Lix said, putting his arm down, hiding the self-destruct switch. "But if you cause ANY trouble during the exchange I won't hesitate."

"Fine, fine, when do we make the trade?" Red asked, waving a hand as though to wave away Lix's insecurities.

"Give me a few hours, I need to get all my sentiment out." Lix said, glaring at the Tallest for a moment.

"Alright, but hurry up, I don't like having this defect on my ship." Purple said, scowling before the transmition was cut.

Dib gave Lix a very concerned look for a moment, asking, "You have a plan, right?"

"Of course I do." Lix said, motioning for Dib to follow, which he did, with Karen and Hollin close on their heels. "I am Zim's son, right?"