Hi everyone! I'm back from the dead!

Okay, just so you know - if you haven't read my "Flashback" Series, you won't recognize my characters, but I've laid them out pretty well so you'll still get it. Also, a warning - this story is pretty sad, but I worked really hard on it and it's very special to me - you'll see why later on, in the next chapters.

Enjoy!

You could say that the current state of the HQ was… atypical. There were many small details you could see had changed: the unusual cleanliness, including all weapons put away or put in a high, out-of-reach spot; the fridge (now adorned with one or two colorful, childish crayon drawings), while it had it usual fish storage, fruit juices, and sushi ingredients, was now stocked with penguin baby-food; and the large framed picture of all the HQ's inhabitants (all seven of them), hand-drawn in a delicate, masterful hand - or rather, flipper. But the largest abnormality of all was the population. At the moment, it was entirely female.

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private had been called to duty nearly four weeks ago and had left to go to battle somewhere in Central America (Skipper had briefly mentioned a penguin alliance with the scarlet macaws, who had declared war on someone, but wouldn't say anything else) leaving Kowalski's wife Katrina, his one-year-old daughter Rachel, and Private's wife Sarah alone to run the HQ.

It was fun for the first week and a half… Sarah, Katrina, and Marlene had a great time being girls while the guys were gone and Rachel didn't understand what they were talking about… but now, Sarah and Katrina were definitely starting to worry for their beloved boys. Not only were they worried, but they found that the HQ was pretty lonely without Private on the couch, Rico with his doll, Skipper arguing with Julien, and Kowalski in his freshly baby-proofed lab.

Katrina was currently sitting by the phone Kowalski had installed (a small cell phone was now one of Rico's must-haves during missions). She was remembering a particularly heartbreaking moment that had occurred yesterday… she'd found Rachel in her father's lab, calling out, "Daddy? Daddy?" Katrina had tried to explain that Daddy wasn't here right now, but of course Rachel didn't really understand and had finally settled for a hug from Mama instead. It had brought a tear to Katrina's eye, and her longing for Kowalski heightened all that much more.

Katrina nearly jumped out of her feathers as the phone rang out of the blue. As Katrina rushed to pick it up, Sarah threw aside her famous sketchbook and pencils and sprinted to Katrina's side.

"Where are they?" she hissed.

"Shh!" Katrina said, holding up a flipper "Skipper? Is that - Kowalski! Oh, thank God! What's going on…? Okay… hold on-" she covered the mouthpiece and quietly related what Kowalski said to Sarah, "they're on their way back - but only staying a while, then have to go-" she realized what she was saying. "Go back? Whatever for?" she was silent as she listened, then said, "What? Oh my God… that, that's terrible! Is he okay?"

"Who?" Sarah hissed.

"Wait a second…" Katrina said quietly to her, then asked Kowalski, "But then, why are you even coming back? Shouldn't you stay…? Oh. Oh. How bad is he…? Yikes…! Oh, Kowalski, please be careful… what? Okay, I'll give it to her." She held the phone to Sarah. "Skipper wants to talk to you." Katrina was already in tears.

With a terrible feeling of foreboding, Sarah took the phone and held it to her ear. "Dad?"

"Sarah," Skipper's tired voice scratched through the receiver. "I've, um, got some bad news-"

"What's wrong with him?" Sarah asked quietly.

"Yeah, um… Private…" he finally spat it out. "Private's been captured."

Sarah blinked and remained silent for a few seconds. "Captured?"

"Yeah. That's why we're coming back here, to find him. We've got to go home first, though, Rico's been hurt pretty bad and he needs medical attention ASAP…" he paused, not liking the silence on the other end. "Sarah? You okay?"

"No…" she said softly.

"If it helps at all, he's not physically injured… you know, as far as we know." Skipper said.

Sarah still didn't say anything, but after a minute or so, she lost control. She dropped the phone and fell on her butt, letting out a gasp.

Katrina picked up the phone, said to Skipper, "Talk to you later," and quickly sat beside Sarah's shaking figure, hugging her. "It's gonna be okay," she said soothingly, "He's alive-"

"Says who?" Sarah blurted. "Remember what Dad said to Manfredi when he was captured in Manila? Who knows what they could be doing to him!" She gasped for air, then started muttering, "Not now… of all times, it had to be now… this can't happen again, it just can't!"

"What? What's wrong?" Katrina said, worried.

Sarah opened her beak to explain, then Rachel interrupted, "Ah-Sarah?" Aunt Sarah?

Katrina started to tell her to go play somewhere else, but Sarah stopped her, pulling herself together a bit. "Yes, Rachel?" she said in a whisper so her voice couldn't break.

Little Rachel smiled, waddled towards her favorite aunt and gave her a big hug. After all, Rachel knew that when ever she was sad, her mommy or daddy would give her a hug and then everything would be all better.

Sarah knew too well that a child's hug, no matter how beautiful it was, wouldn't bring Private back to her… nevertheless, she humored the little girl and hugged her back. Rachel stayed there for a second or two, then pulled away, a huge, proud smile across her face.

"All bedder!" she declared, waving her flippers in the air. Sarah, for Rachel's sake, weakly smiled back and said, "Not exactly, Rachel… but thank you."

Even as Rachel, still smiling, turned and went to play with her toys (mainly a puzzle of the periodic table of elements - Kowalski's gift - and a toy piano - Katrina's) Sarah knew she would be lying if she'd said she was 'all bedder.' No… nothing could help the way she felt now…

Scared

Alone

…

weak

:(

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