--Previously--

"I can, but wouldn't they be able to see if it's an existing article?" I questioned, not even realising she'd already answered it beforehand.
"Well, we just hope for the best-" She replied, but Zim cut her off by speaking loudly. He had the intention to put the spotlight on him right now.
"Humans are such stupid creatures! Most of them have the IQ of a brick. I doubt they would ever notice such a thing, as long as money is involved."

Really, her idea was great. The only issue now was the way it'd be carried out.
'Maybe a nice meal with the Membranes would help...'
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The meal would only be a distraction - a way to keep my Dad from catching me in the act. It would leave him and Professor Membrane to catch up (despite having a meal together a month ago) and would give me the perfect opportunity to delete those files. Zim was not involved with this meal, but would accompany me in my house. He'd asked to come with me because this article was about him; I couldn't argue with that. It took a lot of convincing to get Dib and Gaz to help me out in this though. Gaz and Zim didn't argue much, but that didn't change the fact that Gaz wasn't very fond of him. She only allowed Zim to come with us to the skate park because he'd bugged her enough to do it. She didn't particularly like Zim - he was the one to lock her own Dad in Moo-Ping 10. It had  been a year since, and Gaz (sort of) forgave Zim. Dib, as you know, hates Zim, but he'd feel guilty if he didn't help since I was a friend of his and he'd gotten himself involved with my Dad's job. 

We'd dressed in neat, casual attire and had gotten ourselves looking our best for the occasion. It was only a meal over a friends house but my Dad worried about people seeing his condition; he didn't sleep much and it took a while to remove the bags from under his eyes. But here we were, looking important, waiting outside the Membrane household. 
It didn't take long before Professor Membrane answered the door (always wearing that same lab coat, but had taken off his goggles) with a glimmer in his eyes. He'd greeted us with a cheery tone.
"Hello you two! I've made some tea, and my creation - Foodio 3000 - has sorted dinner! Come in, come in!" Professor Membrane stood at the side of the door and help it open, letting us inside. I was curious to what this 'Foodio 3000' invention was; my guess would have to be it was most likely an oven. I was somewhat correct.!
In the kitchen, Gaz and Dib both sat at the table, an empty chair in the middle for me to sit. At the end of the table, stood a robot. It had a more human-like face with a chefs hat on, with the letter 'F' - it must've stood for 'Foodio'. Oven mitts were worn over its hands, the arms were quite thin and it had a ball wheel instead of legs. Its torso looked like an oven, which carried a plate of mashed potatoes, peas and pie with grave coated over it. 
I had never seen this robot before - despite being told it was created over a year ago - so you could only guess that I was impressed with it. Unfortunately for me, the food I'd be eating would either be cold, or wouldn't be eaten at all since I'd be leaving the house. At the table, I quietly whispered over to the two, asking them if they'd come up with an excuse after I'd 'stay in the bathroom for a long time'. They both agreed. We chatted for a while until the robot made its way over to us.
"Foodio 3000 hopes that our guests enjoy what I have made." It said. The robots voice was high pitched and often glitched. As expected, it sounded robotic. The oven opened itself with a 'ping' and Foodio 3000 lifted the dish and placed it in front of me. My eyes sparkled upon looking at the meal, it appeared (and smelled) delicious! Dib and Gaz received their food not long after and dug into their meals, while Professor Membrane and my father talked over some tea. Their dinner wasn't prepared yet since they were the adults and ate their dinner last. 

After a couple of bites, I'd excused myself to the bathroom. When really, I sneakily crept away, over to the front door and closed it gently behind me before rushing over to Zim's house. He waited in his own living room, tiredly watching TV with Gir. That was until I knocked on the door, he perked up, becoming more awake then ever. He left Gir (Gir didn't care, concentrating more on the TV than his surroundings) and ran with me to my apartment. 

The door opened with a creak after I unlocked it. Dad didn't know, but I carried my own keys with me to Dibs just for today. It was one reason to make this whole situation easier. I switched the lights on and hurried to the office; Zim followed behind.
I clicked my knuckles and opened up the computer, but to my dismay, there was a password. This made me worry - worry that I might not be able to figure out the password and Zim would be doomed. Zim only looked at me and tilted his head from behind the desk. From there, I ignored the thought. 
"Zim?" He looked at me again. "Could you find an envelope? It's addressed to (random address); it has the finished article inside of it."
Zim nodded with determination and started the search. He'd looked endlessly, trashing the place in the process. All while I was just trying to figure out this password. Then I thought back to my Dad. Perhaps this password had something to do with the company he worked for? So I typed everything that I knew was work related, from the type of job, its location to the boss. Nothing worked. I frowned at this, but Zim never noticed. Then I decided to type different combinations. Again, nothing. This went on for the past 5 minutes until I typed a particular name.
'(D/N)&(M/N)'
Now that one worked. I smiled a little, remembering about my Mother. She was always very kind; I never knew what happened to her, or why she left. I remember going over a friends house, then coming back for her not to be there. I hadn't seen her since. It was sad, really.
I shook my head, deciding not to waste any time. With achy fingers, I searched for news articles online about the area. Most of them were from years ago, but one from today piqued my interest. Of course, reading this made me feel rather nervous, it was a murder case! About a killer, presumably tall, dark clothing, the usual. But their methods of killing were truly sickening. 
As I scrolled down, a crash erupted the room. Zim crossed his arms, stepping away from the clutter. The coat hanger that once stood behind the door had now fallen onto the floor, dented. This scared me, especially since I was just reading about a killer!
"Keep your eyes on the screen, (Y/N) human, don't waste time!" Zim said, watching as I sighed and went back to the laptop 'We'll sort the mess out later'. A few minutes later, I had copied and pasted the article to a new file, allowing me to print it out. Only now had I realised how wrong this was... no one would care, right? As Zim said, humans are stupid!
As the file was printing, Zim cheered for himself, finding the correct envelope. Of course, before then, he'd found numerous, but they were all wrong. Zim took out the article my Dad wrote (it wasn't sealed shut for some reason) and read over it, later folding it up and stuffing it under his wig. I then replaced the article with that murderer article I'd found. Now, doing this made me feel extremely guilty. I had ruined my Dads work - twice! Not only that, but the time and effort he'd put into these were all wasted on an article that he never got to show! Though I was reassured by Zim that I was doing the right thing.

After sealing the envelope shut, Zim placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled warmly at me. This made my heart race, but why!? My cheeks turned rose-red and I looked down at the envelope once again, ashamed. 
"If this goes well, Zim just might take you on a journey you'll never forget." Zim spoke, but then coughed, realising what he'd said. "It won't be certain though... because I am the almighty Zim.. and you are just a human.!" He awkwardly stated.
"Thanks..." I accepted, pulling him into an unexpected hug. He tensed at this, seeing as he'd not had experience with hugs. Of course he knew what they were, people did it every day, but he'd never had one himself. Zim always thought of physical affection to be disgusting, atrocious and/or pointless; now he wasn't so sure. After the hug - which I never gave much thought into, unlike Zim - I narrowed my eyes at him. "If you so ever think of harming me on this 'journey' of yours, I will never trust you again..."
Even though, at this point, I doubted that would happen, the thought still lurked my mind - he had kidnapped me before. Zim only shook his head at that, forgetting about our hug for a split second.
"I wouldn't dare betray you. After all, you kept your words so I'll keep mine."
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Back at the dinner table, far from where I stood, were 4 concerned faces. Professor Membrane and my Dad were worried about me being ill, while Dib and Gaz mainly worried about them possibly blowing their own cover. I was thankful that Dib never spoke or gave the real truth to my Dad about what I was doing, and I knew Gaz would keep her promise anyway.
I coughed slightly. Having eavesdropped on this conversation about me minutes prior, helped me figure out how I should act when entering the room. So I held my sleeve to my nose, acting as if it was stuffy, and tried my best to come across as ill. I learned that Gaz and Dib used the excuse that I had went sick and was waiting in the bathroom for a long time because I was bound to go sick again. It was a fairly reasonable excuse. Definitely believable.
"Sorry..." I apologised, making myself sound exhausted. Dad looked at me, shocked, then went to feel my forehead.
"Well she doesn't seem to have a temperature..." He added to the original conversation, forgetting about my apology. I groaned a little, which made him feel guilty. "I suppose I should get you home, should I..?"
Dad patted my shoulder, grabbing my coat and putting it over me (though I was capable of doing that myself, even when feeling sick). He'd zipped up his coat and grabbed my hand. It made me smile how my Dad was in a hurry over me. Over time, I seemed to forgot just how much he cared about me because I hardly got to see him. Seeing this now, made me happy.
"Sorry for leaving on such short notice!" Dad apologised to Professor Membrane, which he accepted straight away seeing as it was nobody's fault. 

Before going to sleep, Dad poured me a glass of water and set it on the bedside table. He pecked my cheek, whispering a 'goodnight' before gently closing the door, allowing the hallway to be the only source of light. If only I had known that this little act of mine would soon turn out to be a reality...
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A/N: Cheers for 2k reads!! -And the large amount of art-

Word count: 2034 words

Amberzoeheart~