Author's Note:

More Skilene for all of you fans out there! R&R, because that's what the review button is for! Have any ideas or errors to point out for me? That's fine! I would love to hear them.

"And… hook kick, axe kick, high block, low block, double knife hand block and punch," Skipper muttered the team's daily Taekwondo training exercises. He stood in the front of the group and performed them while Kowalski, Private and Rico succeeded to mirror him perfectly, if not a millisecond off. He was just about to go into karate when someone interrupted him.

"Hey, guys!" Marlene exclaimed a greeting from the right of the penguin's formation. She rolled her eyes as they turned to face her, trying to threaten her with their regular fighting pose.

Skipper's shoulders sagged at her appearance. It was obvious that she had long gotten used to their near attacks on her. "Marlene!" He waddled up to her to face her. "You know better than to intrude on us when we're in training."

"It's not my fault you guys are so deeply embedded in your little games to notice me coming."

Skipper leaned back in surprise, his eyes wide. He scoffed at her unintelligence when it came to the arts of combat. "Games?"

"Yes, games, Skipper," she repeated with a smirk, knowing it was annoying him.

He chuckled airily. "To your mind, maybe." He gave a harmless roll of his eyes. They continued to stare at each other through half-lidded eyes as if they were in a staring contest.

"Um, Skipper? Is this going to be long?" Private asked with an antsy hint in his voice.

Skipper shook his head to clear it and turned to address the young private. "Got a date, Private?"

"No, sir… it's just that… I have a show to catch at twelve," he whispered quickly, afraid of his leader's reaction.

"A show? One of your little soap operas?" He quirked a curious eyebrow at him.

"Yes, sir." Private straightened up, no longer worried about Skipper's reaction.

"Ooh, I've been meaning to catch that one! I wonder if Steve is going to go through with his breakup plan with Mandy," Kowalski sided with Private excitedly. Rico grinned with his tongue hanging out in agreement with the two, along with a nod of his head.

Skipper sighed and palmed his face. "You guys are a bunch of pansies!" He eyed the men's fallen expressions. "Oh… just shut up and go watch that show! You guys have earned it." Marlene's chuckle from beside him made him jump.

"It's good to see you're not all shell, Skippy." Marlene touched his back in approval, making Skipper blush underneath his feathers and give her a soft look of admiration.

"Yep, he's hard and crispy on the outside but with a soft inside that's good with the jam!" Private exclaimed, his head poking up out of the HQ's entrance.

"Go!" Skipper shouted at him, but still managed to get the young penguin to chuckle, his laughter echoing off the walls of the HQ as he descended down the ladder.

"'That's good with the jam'?" Marlene asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, I don't know. The kid's British!" He shrugged.

"Well, at least there's never a dull moment." Marlene pointed out as they walked toward the secret entrance with a rather slow rate of pace.

"That's for sure. Especially with that lemur around." Skipper motioned to Julien's habitat where he was bouncing up and down on his Bouncy Bounce, his music echoing across the zoo.

"Hello neighbors," he disappeared behind the brick wall as gravity took hold before rocketing back up to continue what he had to say, "having a good day, yes? It's a perfect day to worship me!"

Skipper rolled his eyes. "I never started worshiping you!" he called, but Julien had already fallen back onto the giant air palace. "Ah well, it's better to not waste my breath trying to explain it to him."

"Yeah, just leave him to his fantasies." They each lowered themselves onto the trusty ladder before averting their eyes to the TV where the three penguins sat, accompanied with two boxes of tissues along with the used ones scattered around them.

"Oh, Mandy, I wish there was an easier way to say this but… we just can't go on," the voice filtered through the air from the Toshiba TV.

"Oh, Steve, why? Was it something I did? I can change, Steve!"

"Mandy, no! Don't go petty! Stay strong and independent!" Kowalski exclaimed to the TV.

"He doesn't deserve you, Mandy! Just let it go!" Private sobbed to the monitor.

"Well, now isn't that just sad," Skipper muttered with a shake of his head.

"I know. Three penguins that are being trained in every combat form possible are crying over a soap opera," Marlene said with her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Oh, no, not them. They do this every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm talking about how Steve could treat Mandy like that! Hasn't he learned anything?!" He looked over at Marlene to see her gawking at him in shock, like he had said that he didn't care about military arts at all. "What?"

"Never mind." She rolled her eyes at the ceiling. How could a military commander be such a… softy when it came to TV Shows?

"No, really, why were you looking at me like that?" he pressed her, his flippers crossed over his chest.

"Just never your little flightless mind, Skippy," she teased him with a pat on the side of the head. Her eyes widened slightly at his texture. He was so… sleek. How could penguin feathers be so pleasant to the touch?

He smirked and reached up to grasp her arm gently, cradling her paw in his flipper. "Who says penguins can't fly?" he asked her, his voice velvety smooth, the opposite of his usual harsh sound. His smile grew wider as a soft grin grew on Marlene's lips.

Suddenly he realized that the room had gone silent. He turned around to see his men staring at them, the TV blank to show the soap opera had ended, their reflection staring at them as well as Kowalski, Private and Rico. The reflection did show them a little too close for comfort, especially when it came to young Private. "Take a picture, boys. It'll last longer."

He let go of her arm and walked to the kitchen area to get a drink of water, or to serve as a distraction so the tension in the atmosphere wouldn't get any worse.

"Well, I guess I'll get going, guys," Marlene bid them farewell before turning toward the ladder and heading up, silently agreeing with Skipper about his unsaid complaint about the tension in the area.

As Skipper watched her leave, a weird feeling suddenly overtook him. What was that emotion called? It created a sensation in the pit of his stomach and it made him… long for something. He frowned at his confusion. He'd never really experienced it before so it was totally new to him. After ten more seconds of pondering, he decided to blow it off and perhaps ask Kowalski for options about it tomorrow, unless of course he figured it out during the night, of which he highly doubted.

Author's Note:

You'll have to forgive me about the ending to this chapter, for it's not the best. Be nice and helpful and review! It gives me fuel… literally! Reviews help my finger find their way to the keyboard.