Rico was sitting in the corner as usual, brushing his doll’s hair and cooing at her. Seeing thing brought a smile to Kowalski’s face. Even though he thought of their relationship as weird, it was still kinda cute to see Rico act like that and Kowalski couldn’t help but smile at the manic bird.
His eyes continued to pan until they fell upon Private. The youngster was sitting in front of the TV, immersing himself in the soap opera’s cliché story. Something about an evil twin brother and love gone wrong; Kowalski wasn’t interested.
He instead focused on one of his new inventions. He wasn’t sure what it was suppose to do, or even what it was but the fact that it kept him working was enough incentive for him to finish it.
The sounds of Kowalski’s furious work on whatever he was making snapped Private out of his TV trance.
“Hey Kowalski, what did Skippa want to talk about?” He questioned innocently, as he turned around to look at the brilliant penguin.
“Oh it was really nothing that important.” Kowalski lied, his eyes stuck on the work that was before him.
“C’mon Kowalski I know you two were talking about something up there, why can’t you just tell me?” Private pressured. He hated how he was always left out when it came to things like this.
“Fine if you must know he had to go over to Marlene’s and help her move some furniture.” Kowalski responded untruefully, just wanting to get Private to stop asking questions.
“I see, well I guess you were right, that’s not very important at all.” Private said back disappointed at the answer. He faced the TV, returning to his catatonic state.
A few hours passed and Skipper had failed to return to the HQ. This bothered Kowalski; he didn’t think it would take this long for him to spill the beans to Marlene. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to check up on him, make sure things were going as planned.
He slowly waddled over to the ladder and climbed it, exposing himself to the outside world. He made one finally check to make sure no one was watching and exited the penguin habitat.
He belly slid across the walkway and hid behind a lamppost, being absolutely sure that he wouldn’t be seen. He climbed the wall to the otter habitat, and headed towards the entrance to Marlene’s home.
Kowalski quietly entered the cave and stopped instantly when he saw the scene before him.
On the other side of the room were Skipper and Marlene, lying down on Marlene’s bed. Skipper was behind her and had his flipper wrapped around her waist holding her tight. They both seemed to be asleep.
“That would explain why he hadn’t returned yet.” Kowalski thought out loud. He stood still, contemplating whether or not he should wake them. They looked so peaceful together in each other’s arms, but than again Skipper had been away from the team for a few hours. Luckily for Kowalski he didn’t have to make that decision.
Skipper felt the presence of someone in the room and woke up to see Kowalski staring over at him and Marlene. He blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes and looked down at Marlene, then back up at Kowalski.
“For a second there Skipper, I thought you were gonna wimp out, but as I can see you didn’t.” Kowalski said playfully, placing his flippers on his hips, smiling as he did so.
“When have you ever expected me, a fine military leader, to wimp out of anything?” Skipper responded confidently as he inched out of Marlene’s bed, trying his best not to wake her. He succeeded.
“So what’d you come over here for Kowalski?” He asked curiously.
“Well it’s been a few hours since you left the HQ and I was just checking up on you, making sure you weren’t having any trouble or something.” Kowalski answered. Skipper could hear the concern in his voice.
“Thanks but there’s nothing to worry about here, I’ve got everything under control. Why don’t you go back to HQ and I’ll return in a bit.” Skipper suggested.
“Ok Skipper I guess I’ll see you soon.” Kowalski said as he turned around belly slid outside Marlene’s home and towards the penguin habitat.
Skipper did an about face and waddled over to the still sleeping Marlene. He bent down and placed his beak on her lips. At first the kiss surprised Marlene but once she noticed what was going on she returned it lovingly. Skipper pulled back a bit so he could speak.
“Hey sleepy head.” He said, love resonating through his voice.
“Hey,” Marlene responded tiredly, “I could have sworn I heard you talking to someone” She continued as she yawned and finally sat up.
“Oh that was just Kowalski; he just wanted to know what was taking me so long. It’s nothing to worry about.” Skipper said comforting as he patted her shoulder.
“Kowalski was here huh…well did he see us together?” She asked, not knowing what she wanted the answer to be.
“Yea he did, but he already knew before I got here,” Skipper answered reassuringly, “but it doesn’t matter that he knows cause sooner or later everyone’s gonna know.”
“Does the rest of your team know yet?” Marlene questioned curiously.
“No, only Kowalski, but I feel like now would be a good time to go tell them.” Skipper responded as he stood up and looked down at Marlene. “Don’t worry I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Skipper bent down and placed one last kiss on Marlene’s forehead. He then jumped on his stomach and slid out of her home. He had a lot to explain to his team.
