Hello:)

I got the idea for this story and since I couldn't get it out of my head, I decided to write it.

It's a Skilene one-shot, based on the Dutch song "Afscheid Nemen Bestaat Niet" from Marco Borsato.

Whisper My Name

The pieces of her life were coming together, while his life was falling apart.

"Kick, jump, stump, kick again, and…" The penguins were doing their daily routines, kicking some enemies only they could see. The otter smiled at the sight of the penguins kicking into the air. They were so adorable in their own little commando-sort-of-way. Still, something felt wrong. The brown otter watched the penguins cautiously. Was it the lack of explosions? The absence of the bowling pins with their little ninja faces? Maybe she was just making things up, but there seemed something different about the penguins today.

She clapped her paws after Skipper finished a perfect flip back, which ended in a kick against Private's belly. The smaller penguin flew into their pool. "Marlene, would you mind to stay out of our training?" Skipper yelled towards her, seemingly annoyed, although she could see a little blush under his feathers. Marlene laughed. "You don't need to play hard-to-get anymore Skipper. I already have you!" She jumped into his habitat and immediately cuddled him, before he could get away. "Marlene, get off of me please. We have to continue our training." Although he was her boyfriend now, he still could be his cold, stupid and distant self. Especially in front of his 'men'.

She let go of Skipper, only then noticing that she had some of his feathers in her paws. She looked from the feathers she was holding in her paw to Skipper, and back to the feathers. "Skipper, are you molting?" She turned towards Private and tried to grab some of his feathers and pull them out, but they wouldn't get lose. Private was always the first one molting. She looked at the penguins suspiciously. This wasn't right. "Did Kowalski use you as a 'test-object'? Again?!" She asked loudly to the leader. He knew how she was thinking about Kowalski testing on living creatures. Mostly because ten out of ten of his inventions would explode. She looked angrily at the scientist. She knew that if they had been testing an invention on Skipper, it had to be a very dangerous one. Normally, they would do it to that poor little innocent Private, but with the really dangerous experiments, Skipper would take his place.

Kowalski watched the scene as if he was frozen. Marlene gave Kowalski an angry gaze, but he still didn't react. "If you would excuse us now, Marlene." Skipper pushed her out of their habitat. He gave her a small love peck on the cheek before returning to his training. She smiled at him and winked before saying: "See you tonight on our date!" Private chuckled behind his flipper.

She needed some time to make herself ready for their date. She had to look perfect for him. She combed her hair until it shimmered and she washed her white markings until they could blind someone in the sun from sparkly cleanness. She looked approvingly in the mirror. She sure was looking good. She decided to work on her little saying for that night.

"Skipper, for a long time, I have been completely in love with you. The times we spend together were the best in my whole life. I wouldn't miss you-"

Was it too sappy? She didn't know if Skipper would like such sweet-talk from her. But she didn't know another way to bring up the fact. She looked at the necklace in her paw. It would have been more romantic if he had proposed to her, but this worked too.

She heard a knock at the entrance of her cave. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "Where do you want to go?" Skipper asked her. "Shall we go to the bell tower? We have a beautiful view of the zoo from up there." She reached for his flipper and together they made their way to the bell tower. The stars were shining brightly and the moon was half full.

"Do you see those stars?" Skipper pointed at two stars, which seemed really close to each other. "They are us. Can you see how close they are? Almost into each other?" She could hear him sigh. "That's how close our souls are. But if you come closer, you can see how far away they really are." She noticed that his voice was trembling. "Just like our relationship. We don't need to be at the same place to feel each other's love. We are always together. Even if we are apart."

She pushed herself closer to Skipper's body. He was warm and embraced her with his flippers. "Still, I feel best if we are together." Marlene said, touched by his words. "I feel that way too, but we can't be always or forever together. I hope you understand that." He had said it slow, as if he had trouble with expressing his feelings.

That night, they didn't do anything more than just cuddling and kissing. They watched the stars and the zoo. She almost forgot everything when she was with him. But still, whenever she stroke his back, she had a pawful of feathers. It worried her a bit, but she didn't mention it.

"Skipper, I want to say something to you."She stood up and walked towards the bell. She had hit the necklace behind it. She took a deep breath before walking towards him.

"Skipper, I've been in love with you for a long time. You are my hero, my prince, my savior." She stopped to gather her strength. "Those times we spend together, they were the best of my life. I don't know what I would do without you." She took another deep breath. She had to do it now…

"Skipper, will you marry me?"

She showed the necklace to him, but he didn't say anything. He just looked at the necklace and remained silence. She could see a tear welling up in his eyes. "Marlene… I am so touched by this…" His tears streamed down his face now. "But I don't want to disappoint you. I can't do that what you expect from me. I would fail." He buried his head in his flippers. She laid her paw on his back. "But Skipper, I love you. I don't care if we have to be apart when you have to do your things. I only want to make sure that I spend the rest of my life with you."

"The…T-The rest of my life…" He lifted his head up and looked into her brown eyes. Marlene was a bit shocked by the hurt look on his face. "Skipper, is there something wrong?" She could see that there was something wrong from the look in his eyes. But he shook his head, making clear that she was wrong. Still, he had a little pause before he said it out loud. As if he had to gather his own strength first. "Everything is fine. Thank you for your concern." "Are you sure?" He nodded and dried his tears.

"Promise me that you won't be disappointed when I train much with my team and leave on secret and dangerous missions." She shook her head. "I promise that I won't be disappointed. You are my world. I would die for you." He smiled. "Then, my answer is, yes. I'll marry you, Marlene." He hugged her tightly. She placed the necklace around his neck, and he kissed it before he kissed Marlene passionately.

The night had been perfect. Skipper was so sweet. She really loved him and she didn't care if she couldn't be together with him the whole day and night. She was happy with every second they spent together.

The next morning, she walked towards the penguin habitat. She hoped to see Skipper again. They still had to discuss some things concerning the wedding. But how closer she came to the habitat, how more the feeling of unease fell over her. It was weird, the penguins weren't exercising or swimming outside, while it was already eleven in the morning. She knocked on the fishbowl entrance. Normally, she didn't knock, but this time it felt like she needed to.

Private opened the entrance. She immediately noticed how tired Private was looking. "Hi Private, can I come in?" Private slowly shook his head. "Sorry Marlene, but we have a situation here… I am terribly sorry." Marlene looked suspiciously at the little penguin. "What do you mean with 'a situation'? Did one of Kowalski's inventions go haywire again?" Private didn't look like his own joy-full self. "Yeah, kindah." But after those words he remained silence and just looked at her face. "Can I come in? Maybe I can help clean up the mess?" Private shook his head. "I'm sorry Marlene." He went back inside and closed the entrance.

She didn't see the penguins for two days. She began to wonder what happened to them. So on the morning of the third day, she walked towards their habitat. She found them on their platform, smiling and waving for the view visitors who actually visited the zoo on a Monday. She had to be very careful, she would be in big trouble if the human visitors noticed her. She could see that the penguins were almost done with their cute and cuddly performance. She knew their routine by heart, so often had she seen the penguins perform it. Marlene watched the penguins closely, especially her fiancé. He seemed a bit flushed, but further perfectly fine. She jumped into their habitat after their act was done.

"Hey, you guys! Where were you the past two days?!" Skipper turned around and smiled at Marlene. His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark cringes under his eyes. His feathers were losing their shininess, becoming dull and even a bit grey. She immediately got worried by the sight of him.

"Skipper, are you feeling alright?" His smile dropped a little, but he recovered almost immediately. "I'm fine, thank you for your concern." She eyed him suspiciously, not completely convinced by his words. She decided to believe him. Maybe he had just a little head ache. "Would you like to go on a date tonight?" He smiled widely after his words. "Of course I would!" Marlene answered his unspoken question. "Where do you want to go?" She had to think about his question for a moment. "What about just a cozy dinner at my home?" Skipper nodded. "Sounds great! See you tonight!" And after these words, he waddled back to his team.

"When do you want to have our marriage?" Marlene asked Skipper that night. "As soon as possible. I can't wait." She looked suspiciously at him. It was strange, did he want to rush their relationship? "What about next month?" Skipper shook his head. "Two weeks?" She watched him carefully. "Why two weeks? " Skipper shrugged. "I just want to get married to you as fast as can." "Alright than. In two weeks it is." She walked to the kitchen area of her habitat. She had prepared oysters and kippers. "Here you go!" she handed smiling a plate to him. He smiled back at her. He picked up an oyster. "Nice, nice!" After he was done with the oyster, he picked up a Kipper. "Even better!" She gave him a warm smile. "Glad you like it." She lighted the candles on the table and turned on some soft music. They stayed up very late that night.

"I do." She looked lovingly at him. Now it was his turn. "Do you, Skipper, take this woman, Marlene, as your wife, to love her and to honor her, to nurture, serve and support her, in times of joy and in times of difficulty? Do you promise to remain by her side regardless of what trouble befalls you, and in the presence of temptation to forsake this love, do you promise to remain steadfast and true? Do you promise with all your heart and soul to honor this vow till death do you part?" "I do." He answered, still looking into Marlene's eyes. Private waddled towards them, with two shiny gold necklaces. Private kneeled down and Marlene took Skipper's necklace and placed it over his head. After Marlene was done, Skipper picked up her necklace and lay it softly around her neck. Then they kissed, and with that kiss they broke their romantic stare. Suddenly, the air was filled with fireworks. Paw-in-flipper, they watched the fireworks, which were caused by Rico.

Everybody congratulated them, smiling happily and giving them presents. She looked at her husband, who was thanking everybody with a wide smile on his face. He turned towards her and they kissed again. Before he pulled himself away from her, he whispered something in her ear. "You make me complete… I love you with whole my heart." She smiled widely back at him. "I love you more than you could ever imagine."

They had a little party in the HQ that night. Skipper and Marlene opened the party with a slow dance, their body's close to each other. They ended the dance with a kiss and everybody cheered for them. After an hour of dancing, they had dinner. Skipper and Marlene were sitting at the head of the table. On Skipper's left side sat the rest of the team and on Marlene's side sat Roger, Max, Phil and Mason. Marlene had wanted to ask the lemurs to come too, but Skipper threatened to commit suicide if she did, so she stepped away from that idea quite easily. They toasted and dinner was served.

Although Skipper looked happy, talking about a new sort of missile, Marlene couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong. His feathers were dull, but she knew that he had tried to make them sparkle. He got dark edges under his eyes, which made him look tired. She didn't say anything about it.

After two weeks, she was starting to get suspicious. Skipper trained less and less with his team, he looked more tired everyday and he almost never got by anymore. But the thing that really worried her was the fact that he was taking afternoon naps.

She decided that she would pay the penguins a visit. She could hear Kowalski talk, on her way to the habitat. "Sit still, if you move like this I can't place the needle right…" The entrance to the HQ was open, apparently, they forgot to close it. Was it wrong to listen to their conversation? He was her husband and husbands and wives shouldn't have secrets for each other right? So she decided to listen for only a little longer.

"Can you hurry up, please?" She heard Skipper say, he sounded very annoyed, but also a bit terrified. "You can't rush this sir, it's very precise work. You don't want-" "Just do it." Skipper snapped at Kowalski.

Marlene had heard enough. She now wanted to know what was going on with the penguins and especially with her husband. She let herself slip through the fishbowl entrance. "Hey guys!" She tried to act normal, happy. But with one glance at the scene in front of her, even her played happiness faded away. "What's happening here?!"

Skipper laid in his bunk, connected to an IV pump. She rushed to his side, very worried. "Skipper! What's wrong?!" He opened his eyes and they looked at each other for minutes. "I don't want you to see me like this." His voice sounded sad and he looked away from her. "But what's wrong with you Skipper? Tell me!" She heard that her voice was trembling and she was about to freak out. She wanted to know what was wrong with her love immediately. With whole her heart, she hoped that it was nothing to worry about. But her mind told her something different, she had seen that he wasn't feeling alright. She would never have guessed that it could be more than just sleep deprivation or the cold, but the IV connected to Skipper's flipper made it clear that it was more serious.

"Marlene, please leave. I'll tell you everything tomorrow. But please go away now, I don't want you to see me like this." She could see the tears welling up in his eyes, it sounded like he was begging her to leave. "Why not tonight?" She asked him. "I won't be able to come. I'll explain it tomorrow. Please, Marlene, go." She nodded and climbed out of the HQ. It was impossible for her to shake off the image of her husband tied to the IV pump. Marlene couldn't think of any plausible reason why the strongest and healthiest penguin of the team needed something like that.

She couldn't sleep that night. Her dreams were haunted by the thought of Skipper being in pain. Even when she opened her eyes, she could still see his face before her eyes. She kept asking the same question over and over again, but no one could hear her.

"Marlene, I am sorry. I know I should have told you earlier, but I couldn't. I don't want to leave you. " She had a hard time believing the words which were coming from his beak. It couldn't be true. It was a lie. Nobody could take him from her side. Nothing would ever come between them. "I don't believe it. It can't be true." The tears wetted her fur. "You are joking right? Tell me that you are joking!" She looked helplessly at the penguin in front of her. He didn't object. He remained silent. She pulled herself to his chest. "Please Skipper, please tell me that everything is going to be alright, just like you always used to do. PLEASE!" She was about to lose her mind, but his flipper on her shoulder made her calm down. "I am sorry Marlene. The grim reaper is a foe I can't fight. He's got no face. It's over." Although a small smile appeared on his face, she could still see his pain. "I am not dead, not yet…"

They spend the rest of the night together, laying close to each other, in complete silence. Skipper was the first one who broke the silence at the end of the night. "I think that we should go home now. We have an important mission tomorrow morning." Marlene couldn't believe it. "You are still going on those missions? In your state?!" She noticed that her voice grew louder with every word she said. "It's too dangerous!" He shrunk back and was suddenly very interested by the ground. "The boys said that it would be harmless…" He muttered. Her eyes widened with fury. "If they told you to jump in front of a train, would you do that?!" He would throw away the little time he had left for those so-called missions. He would do anything for his friends.

She tried to ignore the stinging pain of jealousy in her heart. She knew that the bond between him and his team was unbelievable tight, but she had hoped that he would change. Only a little, nothing major, nothing big. Maybe staying at her habitat in the night. Eating breakfast together. But instead of getting closer, they were drifting away from each other. Wasting the little time they had left.

He remained silent while his eyes filled with tears. It was too much for her. She broke down in tears too and sat down beside him. "Can't Kowalski save you?" Skipper sighed. "No. It's spread too far already. We started chemotherapy, but it had less effect than what we hoped for. I just want to go on as normal as possible, until my body breaks down. I should have known that you wouldn't or couldn't understand me. That's why I didn't tell you earlier." He wiped the tears out of his eyes and waddled away from her, obviously broken.

She didn't see him for two weeks. She couldn't suppress the feeling of disappointment anymore. How could he have said that she didn't understand him? While enjoying a quiet afternoon, she heard a knock by the entrance of her cave. Private was waddling towards her, his eyes were red as if he had been crying all day and night. The normal happy look in his eyes had made place for one of pure misery. "Marlene, Skipper asked if you wanted to come. He wants to talk to you." She followed the small penguin towards their habitat.

His body was so skinny that she could see some of his ribs through his feathers. He looked years older and his feathers were dull. He seemed to be asleep. "He stopped eating and drinking, Marlene. He stopped fighting." Kowalski's words sounded hollow, his eyes were red, just like Private's. "After your latest meeting, he came in a downwards spiral." Kowalski closed his eyes. She knew that he was trying to shut out the emotional pain. He could feel now and after this he would probably understand emotions too. Only for what cost?

Marlene sat down beside the lowest bunk. He was still sleeping, snoring a little. She laid her paw on his flipper. She felt the tension of his muscles. It indicated how much pain he endured. Her tears fell upon his body. His flipper grabbed softly her paw. He gave her a vague smile. "I'm glad you came…" His voice was faint, he spoke in a whisper. "How are you feeling?" He shrugged. "Could have been worse." She hugged him. "I am so sorry! I should have never said those horrible things. Can you ever, ever forgive me?"

"Calm down, Marlene. I forgive you." He took a deep breath. "Please don't cry." He softly petted her arm, before turning his attention towards his team. "Boys, if you don't mind." The other penguins made their way out of the habitat, leaving them alone.

"I don't want you to die! I can't let you die, I LOVE YOU!" She screamed. His flipper calmly stroke her back. "Marlene, please calm down. I will never leave you. Even when I am dead." She could see that every word he said took away more and more of his energy. "Love, you have to believe me, trust me, even if it hurts." She nodded. "When I'm gone, please let go of me, move on with your life. But if you are lonely or afraid, you only have to whisper my name and I will be at your side." She dried her tears. "I will never ever be able to forget about you Skipper. But I'll move on, for you. "

She awoke with her nose in his chest feathers. She was immediately aware of the silence of the HQ, she couldn't hear a single sound. There was something wrong, terribly wrong. She felt it. Softly she tried to feel his pulse, but she could find none. He laid motionless, his eyes were closed. "HELP! Somebody help!" She screamed and the other three penguins rushed towards Skipper's body. Kowalski immediately started CPR.

She backed away, climbed out of the penguin habitat and ran until she collapsed from exhaustion.

"There's no such thing as a goodbye."

She stared in shock at the penguin in front of her. "You're dead.. You just died! I.. I felt your pulse, you're gone!"

His form was translucent, his eyes were grey. He was there, but at the same time, he was far away. The wind increased and the moon brightened. He walked towards her.

"I go away, but I won't leave you.

Dear, believe me, even though it hurts…"

It sounded just like the last things he had said to her, like his last words. It gave her the courage to walk towards him. She extended her paw, and he did the same thing with his flipper, but they never touched. "I don't want you to go…"

"Release me,

Go on with your life tomorrow.

But if you're afraid or lonely,

I'll be there…"

"Skipper… How can I go on without you? How can I life without love?" He moved towards her.

"I will come to you like the wind and the rain,

I follow everything what you are doing, just like the light of the moon.

Search for me in anything, and you will find me.

Just whisper my name,

And I will come to you."

She moved closer towards him.

"See, everything what's invisible.

What you believe is the truth,

Open your eyes,

And I'll be with you.

The only thing you have to do,

Is to believe in my words."

"I never doubted you Skipper." Was he a ghost or a hallucination? Was he real, or did she just see him because that was her greatest wish at the moment?

"Look at the skies,

Look at the sea.

Wherever you walk,

I walk with you.

Every step you take, every moment,

Wherever you are!"

His voice was more than a whisper now, he started to disappear. Although she knew that he was leaving, she felt that the lonely feeling disappeared. It was like she felt a sudden a warmth inside her chest, growing and growing, with every second.

"Whatever you're doing,

Wherever your going,

Whenever you need me,

Whisper my name,

And I will come to you."

He lay his flipper upon her chest, above her heart. Slowly he faded away.

"There's no such thing as a goodbye."

How did you like it?

I never used the word, but Skipper had cancer.

Thank you for reading!