So welcome this new story. Little note here, this'll be updated on specific days of the year. So if it's not updated for months, it hasn't been abandoned. I'll actually post, at the end of each chapter, the next date it'll be updated. Oh, symbol rules on my bio apply, like in my other stories. Let's read the first installment, shall we? But first, Happy New Year!

CHAPTER 1 – New Years, 2014

(3rd-person P) 2013 was coming to a close. It had been a good year for the residents of the Central Park Zoo in Yew York City. No one had gotten transferred out. But on this date, one animal felt sad about one particular thing.

(P to Marlene) "This is Chuck Charles, here in Times Square," Chuck Charles was saying on the TV. The Penguins, Lemurs, and I were all in the Penguin's secret HQ, watching the news for when the ball would drop in Times Square to ring in 2014.

Suddenly, Julien blew a noisemaker, making us all cover our ears at the sound. "Julien, it's only 11:20! It's not time for that yet!" I explained to him. "It is already the New Year in my homeland. I must celebrate for my loyal subjects there," Julien said, before blowing the noisemaker again.

"Julien, Madagascar is 11 hours ahead of New York, in time. Why didn't you do that earlier today?" Kowalski asked him. "My homeland is in the future?" Julien asked surprised. All of us, except Mort, face-flippered and face-pawed ourselves. Kowalski then explained how time zones work to Julien. He seemed to get it, miraculously.

It was hard to believe 2013 was already over. It felt like it was just the start sometimes. And yet another year had gone by and I still hadn't found someone to love. All those years ago, I wasn't thinking about that. But in the past few months or so, I started to.

I was starting to feel like the lonely Otter in the big city. After all, no new Otters had ever come to my habitat, male or female. I liked being the center of attention, but I wanted to share it sometimes, with a nonexistent husband. I was about to sigh sadly with those thoughts, but held that back. I was always upbeat to everyone, after all.

I did manage to slip out though. Everyone had been paying attention to the TV. I was up on the platform and didn't see anyone else out right then either. I looked at my reflection in the water. I didn't know why I was being bothered by this so much tonight.

I felt for someone in the zoo, but didn't know what they thought of me. They were a Penguin. I was an Otter. And they always tried to keep their emotions in check so I could never figure out what they thought of me.

I knew he thought of me as a friend. After all, he had helped me get my feral side under control in 2012. I had even gotten his back a few times. During Snowmageddon, I had helped him on a snack mission, which made us miss the football game. * And when that destroyer of worlds had nearly destroyed the Earth, I had done the best I could do to help get that under control as well. ** I had even done that without any proper training from my friend. I wished I could help them more. And he called me cute and naïve. I still didn't know what he meant by that, sadly.

(P to Skipper) Even though we were all watching TV, waiting for the New Year to start, I happened to notice Marlene had slipped up and out of the HQ. She probably had forgotten something at her habitat and was getting it. Marlene was a good friend.

She clearly had proven years earlier that she was not a spy, by helping us stop X and Kuchikukan from carrying out their plans. And she did that without any formal training from us. In fact, Marlene seemed to be on my mind lately.

Even though I was a bird and she a mammal, I felt something towards her. But I had to fight mentally with myself to keep that under control. After all, I didn't know if she felt the same way. And she had expressed disdain with us when we had tried to set her up with Fred. *** That was a disaster of epic proportions.

A few minutes passed and Marlene hadn't come back yet. I wondered what she was doing, so I decided to go check on her. I told the men I was going to get more fish. They offered to help, but I said they should enjoy their night. Little did they know that tomorrow they would be doing double training, as I had planned earlier in the day.

I went out through the entrance to the sewers in our habitat. Thinking back while going through the sewers, Marlene had actually saved my life. When she had heard what we later learned was Roger reacting to her snoring, we investigated the sound.

When Rico blew the manhole up to the roof in her habitat, it had fallen and hit us down. I didn't remember what happened after that, but I remembered seeing Marlene after I regained consciousness. ****

When I popped up through the sewer, Marlene didn't do her usual surprise reaction of myself doing that. In fact, she wasn't there at all. I quickly checked for anything from lobsters of Blowhole, but miraculously he had not shown up. I walked out and saw her up above back at the HQ.

She looked sad. She was looking at herself in the water and thinking something to herself. I always protected the zoo members from the problems they experienced. But this seemed like an emotional problem. And I was terrible with them sometimes. But, still, I had to ask her what was wrong.

(P to Marlene) I kept sighing to myself sadly. All I could see in the water was my lonely self. No one to be with. I lifted my right foot and saw the usual white paw. As Kowalski had said, it was distinctive. *****

After all, I might be the only Otter with a white foot. I wondered what Skipper thought of it. The more I thought of him, the more I wished that I was a Penguin or that he was an Otter. If either of those situations were the case, we would probably have been married long ago. But we were not each other's species. We were our own.

Suddenly, something landed in the water. I didn't know what it was, so I backed away from the water. Knowing how many times the guys had to stop Blowhole this year, as they had said, this might be yet another trap. But then Skipper came out of the water.

"Hello Skipper. Where did you come from?" I asked him. "Actually, I noticed you slipped out of the HQ. You've been gone awhile, so I took it upon myself to see where you had gone," he said to me. "He's always caring for me," I thought to myself. "I just came out here for some air," I said, trying to protect my true intentions.

(P to Skipper) When Marlene said that, my gut, unfortunately for me, growled. Marlene bit her lip as well. We both knew that wasn't the truth. I opened my beak to try and say it was just gas, but nothing came out so I closed it again.

(P to Marlene) "Why, oh why did his gut have to pick that up?" I thought to myself. I sighed. I didn't know what to do now. I was sunk. Surprisingly, Skipper didn't say anything either. He looked like he was going to, but didn't. It really felt awkward for us to be alone like this. We had been alone before, but it never felt like this.

"So 2013 was fun, right?" I tried to ask Skipper happily, trying to free us of this awkwardness. "Other than having to stop Blowhole a few times, I would say so," Skipper said to me. We both tried to smile, but failed. "Are you alright Marlene?" Skipper asked me cautiously, yet caringly.

I bit my lip again. He had caught on. "I… it's just… hard to explain, you know?" I asked him carefully. "I understand Marlene. If you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to," Skipper said to me. "But isn't it your duty to make sure all of us zoo members are happy?" I asked him.

(P to Skipper) When Marlene said that, I was sunk. She had broken through my emotional line of defense, somehow. She always found a way to do that. "Well, yes, Marlene you are right. That is our job. But Private is much better with emotions than I am," I said, trying to suggest someone better to talk to.

The boy did have a much better time with emotions. That was why I suggested that. "He might Skipper. But you're not going to take a challenge?" Marlene asked me. I was sunk again. She knew I couldn't resist a challenge.

(P back to Marlene) "Why am I pushing Skipper into this? He really doesn't have to do this," I thought to myself. "I guess I'll take that challenge Marlene," Skipper said. His voice quivered a bit. Was he nervous? I sighed. I felt compelled now to explain it to him.

I walked back over to the water. "What do you see Skipper?" I asked him, pointing at my reflection. "You?" Skipper asked me. "Was I really about to do this?" I thought worriedly to myself. "I know. And that's the trouble lately," I said honestly.

"You're not happy with yourself?" Skipper asked me extremely concerned. "No. I like being me. It's just… Have you ever felt alone?" I asked Skipper. "Once. After Hans betrayed me. Is that the same thing you're experiencing? Did someone betray you?" he asked me, concerned again.

I sighed. "No Skipper. I just feel alone lately, even with all of you as my friends. You're all very good friends. I just pine for someone who's more. I appreciate the effort you took with Fred, but I don't want to try that machine again," I said.

(P to Skipper) "I understand Marlene. That was completely our fault for pushing you into that. We didn't know how that would turn out and rushed you into it," I said honestly. She looked surprised at that. She must have not expected me to reveal that. Even I was surprised I was telling her that. But it was the truth.

(P to Marlene) "Like I said at the beginning of that debacle, I at first did it for Kowalski. But before I realized Fred was not who I thought he was, I liked where I was. You all saw that," I said to Skipper. "We did. It was good because Kowalski got his data, but that you were happy for a little while," Skipper said to me, surprisingly. "I wasn't just a test subject for you?" I asked curiously.

"Not entirely Marlene," Skipper said to me. That was really surprising. Did he care for me more than I thought he did? I sighed again, trying to shake off that thought. I looked at myself in the water again. Why was I revealing all of this?

(P to Skipper) It depressed me to see Marlene in this state. She was usually the happiest one in the zoo. She even told me to loosen up during Fun Day a few years ago. ****** I had done that corkscrew to show her I could have fun if I wanted to. But I also was showing off a bit, for her.

"Have you ever been in love?" Marlene surprisingly asked me. Did I want to reveal that information to her? For some reason, I did. "Marlene, I'll give you some information from my past. I actually was," I revealed to her.

(P to Marlene) "Did Skipper really just say that?" I asked myself. "What happened?" I asked him. Why was I pressing him to reveal this obviously classified information? It was so strange, the way we were interacting tonight.

Skipper then explained what had happened. He married a wooden doll? That was something I thought only Rico might do. But this was the Penguin I knew. He was so different than I thought he was sometimes. He even said that he was not right in the head when he did that. That was what the hippies did to you, he said. *******

"I've never heard you reveal that before Skipper. It's…" I was going to say before I stopped. "That's one part of my life I'm not proud of Marlene," he said. I was in shock of him. He really trusted me. "Can you keep a secret?" I asked him. "You know that I can Marlene," he answered,

I smiled, knowing that was true, "I want that feeling too. Not of having made a mistake, but love. And I want it to last forever. And I love…" I was about to continue, but stopped myself. But it was true. I loved Skipper. But that might hurt us being friends, even though I wanted more.

(P to Skipper) Marlene had stopped herself before saying whom she loved. I didn't want to press because that was very personal. But I was curious. I loved her, even though she was a mammal. But of all the mammals I knew, she was the smartest. After letting that comment fly about mammals being morons, I gave myself maintenance duty for a week. ********

(P to Marlene) I was both thankful and curious as to why Skipper didn't press further at what I might have said. We were both revealing deeply personal information to each other. But he really had stopped thinking I was a spy, by revealing all that. It was all so strange! What was controlling us? *********

(P to 3rd-person) The two felt so strange on this night. They didn't know why they were doing all this. Their secret fondness of each other was slowly coming out. At this point, the two were still trying to figure out how to end this without it getting stranger. But little did they know how far it would go before the night would end.

(P to Marlene) "What are we doing Skipper?" I asked him cautiously. "I don't know Marlene. We're declassifying our secrets," Skipper said, also cautiously. We sighed. "Did Kowalski invent anything this morning that might have been in the air of your HQ?" I asked him. "In terms of inventions, Kowalski thankfully hasn't made any in awhile, so the risk of one of his inventions affecting us thankfully doesn't apply," Skipper said.

We sighed with relief at it not being Kowalski's fault. "Could it be Blowhole? You have said you had to stop him several times this year," I suggested. "That's a good suggestion. We did check this morning on all our enemies, but Blowhole looked like he wasn't doing anything," Skipper said. We sighed with still not knowing why.

We both looked at the clock. It was 11:40. Just about 20 minutes to go until the New Year. With all this going on right now, it certainly was going to be an awkward start. I looked at Skipper and he seemed like he was thinking the same thing. But I didn't want to ask.

(P to Skipper) It was 23:40. The New Year would be upon us soon. With this talk between Marlene and I happening right now, it would certainly be awkward for a few days or weeks. But she appeared to be thinking the same thing I was.

(P to 3rd person) Both Skipper and Marlene jumped into opposite sides of the pool and swam around trying to clear their heads. But strangely, they altered their pace and caught up to one another. In the pool, the two looked at each other, terribly confused at why they both had done this. Something was bringing them together and they didn't know why.

They tried swimming away from one another after getting some air, but met up again. Marlene swam to the other side of the pool, while Skipper decided to stay put. But when they both jumped out of the pool, they crashed into each other. In the process, their beak and lips touched.

After a few seconds, they realized what was happening and quickly split apart and headed for opposite sides of the zoo, in fear of the other's reaction. They absolutely had no idea what was going on.

(P to Marlene) "I kissed Skipper! Why did I kiss him? I've wanted that for so long, but I didn't want it to happen this way. What does he think of that? I wish I knew! But what will happen now?" I thought to myself, sitting on the south wall.

(P to Skipper) "Why did I kiss Marlene? What in the name of fish made me do that? I definitely enjoyed that, but what does Marlene think? We obviously are afraid of each other's reactions, since we fled. But what could she possibly be thinking?" I thought to myself, sitting on the north wall.

(3rd-person P) Both Marlene and Skipper knew their friendship had just altered forever. They had revealed their feelings, some of their past, and kissed. They were both hoping they could somehow forget that happened, but knew that could never happen. They were terrified what might change as a result.

They were friends, but both wanted to be more. They knew this was their chance, but didn't know the other person's views on what had just happened. But, as fate would have it, they went back to the platform on top of the Penguin habitat. They were still terrified when they walked back, as the clock hit 11:45.

The two reached the platform at exactly the same time. For a moment, neither knew what to say. But Marlene spoke up first, cautiously. "Skipper. Did we just…" she struggled to say. "I… I think so," Skipper replied. "What did you think?" the two asked each other. As soon as they said that, they regretted it. They were officially stuck.

They both thought for a moment. "Should we say what we thought at the same time?" they asked each other, again, at the same time. They both nodded to each other. They delicately said to each other that it was interesting. But Skipper's gut growled at them, saying they were hiding their true intentions.

They both sighed, stuck again. But then they looked at each other. It was a make it or break it moment for them. They gulped nervously as the clock reached 11:55. "I've wanted to do that for a long time," the two said delicately. They were shocked that they both felt this way, which compelled them to continue.

"I don't know how to explain it to you, but I've felt more for you than you might realize for a long time. I hope you've felt the same way," they said, looking at each other. Both were in awe that they were revealing all this. "I've loved you for years. Even though we're different species, I love you," they said to each other.

They gasped at what they said. Both of them felt the same way. They both loved each other. They smiled lovingly at each other. They leaned in closer and closer until they kissed full-on. At that exact moment, the bell rang 12 times and fireworks started going off in the distance. It was officially the New Year. They had a midnight kiss on New Year's. It was the perfect moment for them.

The two reluctantly split apart, due to having to breathe. They loved this moment they now shared. Their lives would forever be changed. Now instead of friends hiding a secret from one another, they were in a relationship. After admiring the fireworks in the distance and still in their moment, they were interrupted by everyone.

Since they had been gone for a while, everyone wondered where they had gone. They explained what had happened and everyone was happy for them. They said goodnight to each other and left down to the HQ and the habitats, leaving the new couple up above.

They looked at each other before gloriously kissing again. They said goodnight, departing to their homes. They were so excited at what this new relationship would bring to them.

And that's a wrap on this first chapter. Wow! Longest piece I've ever written. I'm really proud of it. I hope you enjoyed it, even though it was really long. So the next update won't be for a while, but for good reason. Valentine's Day is the next update. That's right, the day of love. February 14th. But in the meantime, please review this first chapter. And please read the exhaustive notes.

* Referencing Skipper and Marlene's adventure during "Snowmageddon".

** Referencing Kuchikukan in "Operation: Lunacorn Apocalypse".

*** Referencing "Otter Things Have Happened."

**** Referencing "Haunted Habitat". The first episode with Marlene.

***** Referencing "Badger Pride" when Marlene was terrified of the badgers and they said to her than even Marlene's own mother wouldn't recognize what was left and Kowalski said Marlene's mother would recognize her foot.

****** Referencing Skipper's Corkscrew in "Crown Fools".

******* In the Madagascar movies, Skipper referred to Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria as hippies.

******** Referencing "Miss Understanding" where Skipper said all mammals were morons. And since he does feel for Marlene, he obviously would give himself a punishment for saying that.

********* Uh, I'm controlling you. But you'll never know. But it's really fun to make you two act out of character.