Where's Rico?
Ch.1- A Problem

For the past couple of days, Skipper and Rico have been getting into some fights after their partner mission. At first, it seemed to be such a small problem, like, they would get over it and become friends again and all of the anger and yelling would end. Weeks later, the issue seem to become even worse. Skipper had threatend to put Rico on prohibation if he didn't clean up his act and to stop denying Skipper's "facts". Private hoped that these two would make up and also hoped that it won't get any worse than it was. He was wrong...

Private was watching Tv, actually, he was trying to watch TV. The shouts and yells coming from Skipper and Rico were drowning out Private's show. He jumped everytime he heard Skipper's booming voice echo throughout the inner sector, and his skin would crawl with fear when he heard Rico yelled. Probably because Rico rarely yelled, but it was a sound he would not forget. Private's heart skipped a beat when he heard Skipper pound his flipper on the table.

"Well, at least I'm not some kind of psycho, who think explosions are the ONLY answer!" Skipper yelled at his weapons expert.

"Dera-Rajkde-Mad!" Rico commented back, while crossing his flippers.

Skipper was in shock that those words came out of Rico's mouth. "Power mad?" He yelled out.

Private looked away from the Tv and right at Kowalski, hoping he would want to talk. Kowalski looks at Private, then shakes his head in a irratited way. He grabs his notebook from the shelf and walks to his lab. Private looked back at Rico and Skipper, then looked at the door of the lab. He decide to get up and inside the lab to have a talk with Kowalski.

"Kowalski?" Private asked as he entered the room.

"I know, Private." Kowalski said, not looking away from his notebook.

"I don't get it! They were like brothers! Closer than brothers! Why are they fighting? I can't stand this..." Private said.

Kowalski puts a arm around Private, trying to comfort him. "I don't like this either, Private. But, I'm 99.7% certain that they are going to get over this little mess."

"I surely hope so... I don't want them hurting each other or anything..." Private said while wiping eyes.

"Hey." Kowalski said, then pat's Private's back. "They won't do anything to each other. Like you said, they're closer than brothers, nothing is going to seperate that closeness. It's just a fight, they'll get over it."

"Yeah." Private said.

"I don't hear anymore yelling. I think you get watch your shows in peace." Kowalski said.

"Ok." Private answered and left the lab.

When Private came out of the lab, he heard the Fishbowl slam shut, and saw Skipper looking down at the floor, shaking his head slowly.

"Oh, dear..." Private mumbled. "Skippah?"

"What is it, Private?" Skipper asked, still looking at the floor.

"Uh... What's going on? Where's Rico?" Private asked nervously.

Skipper sighed and turned to Private, looking tired and uneasy

"I gave him a Shore Grant Leave for a week. He's at Marlene's." Skipper stated.

Private looked around nervously, then got the guts to ask.

"Why are you guys fighting"?

"I don't want to talk about it. It was just a stupid fight." Skipper said.

"Why did you send him away? Can't you talk about it, and just end it?" Private asked angery.

"I sent him away because-!" Skipper stopped himself when he saw Private's face turn into fear. He took a deep breath, to try to take some of the stress away. "We just need some time away from each other. I think he needs time to relax and time to clear his mind. Same with me."

"Oh." Private said quietly.

"He'll be back." Skipper said while patting Private's back.