Chapter 3

Gaz yanked open the door to her house and slammed it shut behind her. Skool was dumb. Today was dumb. Life is dumb. Her family is dumb. Her stupid birthday is dumb.

"Hello daughter!" Professor Membrane greeted happily. Not him of course, but his floating screen. Gaz stopped to glare in his direction, but she took the bait.

"Hey Dad." She grumbled, walking over to him. His head was floating in the living room, while his actual body was in his labs, working with green and yellow chemicals. The Professor looked up from his work to see Gaz frowning.

"Why so glum daughter?" He asked floating to face her. Gaz turned her head and stuck her hands in her pockets.

"No reason."

"Having a bad day?" He poked, the screen leaning over above her. Her hands clenched into fists in her pockets.

"Yea, kinda."

"Well," He chuckled. The screen's mechanical arms unfolded from the side and patted Gaz on the head, earning a growl. "I'm sure whatever it is, everything will be fine. Perhaps we can talk about it next family night."

"When's that?" She opened an eye up at him. He thought for a moment before turning away.

"Simmons! When do I have my next family night scheduled?" A voice called out from off screen.

"Looks like it's in March on the 14th sir!" Gaz dropped her gaze. The professor turned back to his sulking daughter.

"March 14th. Don't forget now!" He waved a mechanical finger at her.

I won't. She thought bitterly. The arms spun Gaz around and pushed her toward the stairs.

"Run along now, daughter. Go play in your room."

"Whatever." She grumbled, heading up the stairs.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" He piped up. Gaz stopped and turned on the stairs. "Where's your brother?"

"He's with Zim." She turned back around and walked up the stairs. The professor chuckled jovially.

"Ah well, it's good he's making friends."

Gaz walked in her room and slammed the door shut. She hopped up on her bed and laid down flat staring at the ceiling. She sighed and reached into her pocket for a GameSlave that wasn't there.

Stupid Zim. She thought angrily. He better hope I don't find him alone.

Gaz sat up in bed and looked around her room, stopping at her pile of stuffed animals. She got up and knelt in front of them, picking out her cupcake toy. It was a happy cupcake with bright eyes and a cartoony smile and a lit birthday candle on top of it. She closed her eyes for a moment before gently blowing on the candle. Gaz looked at the cupcake for a second before ripping the flame part of the candle off and throwing it in her trash can.

Happy Birthday to me.

Zim paced in his labs, grumbling to himself.

"Birthdays…" He mocked shaking his head. "Completely unnecessary holiday."

He stopped and crossed his arms.

"Irkens have no need for birthdays." He said proudly. "A stupid concept. 'A day to celebrate surviving another year'." He mocked shaking his head.

"I don't need a birthday to know the almighty ZIM has survived yet another GLORIOUS year!" He smiled.

"Why, I already know I've lived a hundred and… fifty… no… forty… three?" Zim stopped to think. How old was he?

Let's see… I spent a few years in training on Devastis… a year on Earth… um….. there was that thing with Tak about… 50 years ago… that's…

Zim stopped again, actually having no idea how old he was. He frowned and reached for his PAK, extending a cord from the bottom and walking over to plug himself into his computer.

"Computer! Bring up my basic data."

The screen lit up with different information.

Irken: Zim

Function: Food service drone

Zim chuckled, obviously his Tallest had not changed that since he quit his banishment on Foodcourtia. He continued reading.

Irken ZIM is the 1,336,876th smeet to be produced on Glarver 45th of the 5604th cycle.

"Computer!" He snapped. "Translate that into Earth time."

"Irken ZIM is the 1,336,876th smeet to be produced on March 30th, 1839."

"So that makes me… 162 Earth years old." He smiled proudly. "And what wonderful years they were…"

But something still irked Zim, he couldn't stop thinking of the little Gaz-human's forgotten birthday. On Earth they were immensely important, something to be celebrated, appreciated, remembered. He scoffed, pushing his thoughts aside.

"Who cares? The mighty ZIM has no sympathy for the little purple worm's survival celebration." He frowned and continued pacing. The Gaz-demon was, after all, a cruel human beast-monster. Very touchy. Especially today, her forgotten day of birth has made her more insufferable than usual.

Stupid Dib-monkey. Obviously he is to blame for his litter mate's moodiness, he and her father unit. Then Zim stopped, raising an eyebrow.

Perhaps the Gaz-worm will continue to be moody until her birthday is acknowledged. He scowled to himself. The stupid Dib-worm has doomed us all then… Her male caretaker is also apparently useless. Zim groaned and rubbed his antennae back against his head.

Perhaps then… He grimaced. The Gaz-beast only accompanies herself with the useless Dib-worm, no one else. Which means it would have to be up to him to fix her. What did she say humans did on their birthdays?

Cake… If he was to allow GIR to bake her one, he would most likely poison her, or put something in it that would only anger her further. So that's out.

Party? No. Zim would not be able to withstand any kind of human interaction for any length of time. And he did not like the Gaz enough to plan such torture.

Gift? That would have to do, but what?

Gaz sat in her bed, throwing a ball against the wall. It bounced off, down onto the floor, and back up on her bed for her to throw again. She was bored, and still pissy, she had been doing this for a solid hour. Perfect silence filled the room, all except for the thumps of the little purple ball, which had just bounced just low enough for it to miss the bed and roll away on the floor. She groaned and sat back against the wall.

Still bored…

So bored…

CRASH!

Gaz leapt out of her skin as something heavy broke through her window, scattering glass and debris all over her floor, and skittered under her desk. Gaz shot over to her window to catch a glimpse of her newest victim, but no one was there. She looked around her room, the object was just barely visible under her desk. She carefully stepped around the glass to pick it up. It was lightweight and sloppily wrapped in purple wrapping paper. It had a note attached.

We will never speak of this.

Happy Birthday.

Z

Gaz raised an eyebrow and began tearing apart the paper. Inside was a brand new game controller with an Irken insignia on the front of it. It was a clearly modified version of a normal GameSlave2, figures Zim would want to improve it. Gaz smiled and turned it on, dropping the wrapping paper and sitting back on her bed. Ignoring the mess, and playing her new game.

Awww, Zim wanted to give her a gift! Isn't that sweet? ZaGr have always been my favorite IZ pairing. Also, before you say anything. I realize that Zim's age is wrong. I added it up to 2001 which is when IZ began. Also, March 30th is the day the first IZ episode aired, so I thought it would have been appropriate. Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to review!