Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: Python - Happy birthday, mate!
Rating: PG
Summary: Memories are rehashed when old acquaintances - sometimes friends, sometimes enemies - visit each other at the zoo.
Warnings: Het, Slash, Established Pairings, AU
Word Count: 2,631
Date Written: 3-4 July, 2011
Disclaimer: All characters and fandoms are & TM their rightful owners, none of which are the author. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
"It's been a long time," the commando penguin observed as his steely gaze looked his former opponent up and down. She had changed completely since he had first known her, but he could tell that the change had done her well. Most would never have survived all that she had undergone, but the female before him had not only survived but made her new world her own. She glowed before him now with the light of love, and he knew that, though she had long ago "retired" from the espionage game, she was healthy, happy, and complete.
"Apparently not long enough," she responded, her lips twisting into a small, wry grin. Her blue eyes glistened. "You've not forgotten me, Skipper."
"I could never forget a dame with your style, Bunny."
"That is no longer my name," the woman corrected him, her fingers entwining with her mate's. "It is Victoria now, or Vicky."
"Victoria, eh? You've got all the names in the world to choose from, and you pick Victoria."
Her slender shoulders lifted into a shrug. "I like it," she remarked. "It sounds . . . regal."
Her partner lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, causing Skipper to roll his eyes. "You always have been regal, Bunny," Ivan remarked, his deep voice speaking softly into her ear. "You do not need the name of a Queen to make you one."
Victoria smiled at him, her blue eyes twinkling. "You do say some of the sweetest things, Ivan, even when I shot you in the chest."
Skipper's dark eyes darted between the two humans as Ivan pulled Bunny closer against his side. "But that's a story for another time," rumbled the mountain of a man. He was big, but Skipper knew that the bigger they were, the harder they fell.
"Do you miss it?" Skipper asked inquisitively, looking up as his own partner came out of their lair carrying a tray of tea and crumpets.
"I did," Victoria replied, a mischievous grin chasing across her lovely, deceivingly delicate features, "but we've recently stepped back into play."
"So I've heard," Skipper remarked, taking the cup of tea passed to him by Private. He sipped it once before lowering the cup and looking up directly into Victoria's face. "But that's not what I mean."
"Do I miss being an animal?"
Skipper nodded and took another sip of tea. This was a very strange conversation, even for him, to be having, and the tea helped to soothe his nerves. If any one ever overheard the conversation they were now carrying on, their identities would be surrendered, but he could not ask Bunny, or Victoria as she was now persisting upon calling herself, into the lair. It was scarcely big enough for her, let alone for her boyfriend, and besides, he couldn't afford to let the pair too close to his team's secrets for he could never be too sure upon which team Bunny was playing.
Victoria felt the heat of Ivan's inquisitive gaze upon her face, and it was more out of concern for his feelings that she chose her words carefully than for any other reason. "I do miss it at times," she answered honestly, pausing to take a sip of the chamomile tea that Private was passing around, "but there's nothing else in the world I'd rather be than the woman I am now." She squeezed Ivan's hand. "I could not have what I have now in any other form, and I owe Kowalski a debt of thanks for the transformation. It may have been an accident, but it brought me to my destiny."
"Well," Skipper replied, sipping his own tea, "you know what they say about accidents."
Ivan and Victoria shared a look. "Accidents were made to happen," he announced in his rumbling voice that sounded akin to thunder to Skipper.
"So how about you, Skipper?" Victoria questioned. "Are you enjoying your new home?"
"It's got all the fish a penguin can eat, and we've got all the top notch technology." He shrugged. "I've got no complaints."
"But the bars," Victoria remarked, her blue eyes narrowing in at the bars surrounding the habitat as though she could break them with her willful gaze alone.
"Are not what they seem," Private replied with a smile.
"They are not?" Victoria queried.
"Private, if you please," Skipper instructed, waving his flippers in indication for Private to lift their cover.
Private slid a talon nervously across the floor. "Are you sure that's wise, Skipper?" he asked.
"Are you questioning my orders?" Skipper thundered. He had not expected to have Private do anything but obey his commands, especially in the face of company.
"N-No, s-sir," Private replied, now moving his entire body, and not just his talon, from side to side. "It's just . . . It's broad daylight, sir."
Victoria laughed, and Ivan smiled as that laughter tinkled like the most beautiful of bells in his ears. He pulled her still closer to him and wrapped an arm tightly around her slender waist. He was tired of talking with these penguins and looked forward to getting her back to their hotel room, preferably alone and before the rest of their team arrived. "That's okay, Skipper. I'll just take it that you have a way out. I can not imagine any bars containing you or your team for long."
Skipper's eyes bore into Private, and Private turned a deep red and then purple underneath his furious gaze. "I-I'm sorry, Skipper," Private murmured. "Do you want another cup of tea?"
"What I want, Private, is for my orders to be followed!" Skipped winced inwardly at the harsh sound of his voice and the crestfallen expression upon his best friend's handsome face. He had not expected to sound so hard, but he was embarrassed and hated being embarrassed in front of friends, let alone friends who were also old enemies.
"S-Sorry," Private murmured. "I-I won't be a bother any longer." He set down the tray he carried and quickly waddled away.
Skipper turned slowly, watching his love walking away and feeling like the biggest jerk in all of history. Behind him, Bunny cleared her throat urgently and, when he did not move, tisked loudly. Skipper turned to face her again, but his left eye still darted backwards trying to see where Private had gone. He winced, despite himself, when he heard the slamming of their door.
"Skipper, that wasn't very nice," Victoria scolded.
"You know what it's like when you lead a team, Bunny." Skipper raised a flipper into the air and made a tight ball with its jet black end. "You have to run a tight ship with a firm hand, and you've got to make sure that all of your men follow your orders without question."
"But sometimes those orders are wrong."
Skipper raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Are you questioning my orders?" he demanded. "Again?"
"Yes, because we both know you're wrong."
Ivan had fallen silent. He studied his boot instead of watching the display between Skipper and Bunny for he had learned long ago not to interfere when they were arguing.
"I'm never wrong."
"No, you are wrong sometimes. You just never admit you're wrong. Your big head won't allow you to admit you made a mistake, and the mistake that you almost made just now would have blown your entire operation if any one else had seen it."
"There's no one else around right now."
"No, but this is a zoo. You never know when a kid's going to happen across the scene."
"No one's going to believe a kid."
"It could have been an adult."
"It would have only taken a second."
"A second is all it takes to change lives forever."
"You should know."
"Yes," Victoria affirmed, "I do."
"You remember what happened the last time you disobeyed my orders."
Victoria stared him down, her blue eyes as sharp, cold, and fierce as cutting steel. Her lips twisted into a smile that no one, not even Ivan, could tell came from amusement or happiness. "It changed my life forever, brought me to my destiny," she squeezed Ivan's hand again, "and gave me love and happiness that I would never have had while I was still a bunny."
Skipper huffed, both flippers balling up at his sides. She had a point there, and he could not yet think of a way to argue with her on it. Sudden squawking interrupted their conversation, and Skipper and Victoria turned as one to face Rico, who was waving his arms up and down urgently. "You're not his Poppa," Skipper told the other penguin. "He's a big boy. Leave him alone."
Rico glared at him and then began squawking again. "It does seem you've made your little friend quiet upset, Skipper, and if he means to you what I think he does, I would go and make apologies."
"He's the one who didn't obey my orders. There's no need for me to apologize."
"Sometimes following orders can be the worst thing possible," Victoria spoke from experience, and Ivan squeezed her hand and hugged her gently from behind. "Take it from some one who knows, but an apology made right can make up for even the worst orders being obeyed."
When Skipper still hesitated, glancing back and forth between Victoria and the door that he knew would lead him to his beloved Private, Victoria urged, "Go. We'll see ourselves out." Her attention then turned to Rico, who was looking up at her with his tongue lolling out of his beak and his eyes bugging. She smiled down at him. "You remember me," she observed. "How nice."
Rico nodded quickly, and Skipper rolled his eyes. As Rico jumped to the front, he headed downward to find Private and try to find the words to assuage things between them without admitting that he had been wrong.
Victoria laughed at Rico's antics as he jumped up and down, trying to reach her. "You always were very fun, Rico," Victoria told him. "I enjoyed our dates very much, but I've found my life mate now. This is Ivan. You remember him, don't you?"
Rico glowered at his former opponent. Then his eyes lit up. He squawked urgently again and swiftly flipped and flopped on the cool steel, sliding back into the lair. He returned just a few seconds later with his doll held in his flippers. His squawks told Victoria that the doll was his mate, and then he dipped Miss Perky and gave her a big, sloppy kiss.
Victoria laughed, her blue eyes dancing. "I am glad to see you're happy, Rico." She turned in Ivan's arms and leaned up into and against him. "I most certainly have never been happier myself." She kissed him passionately. He wrapped his arms around her, dipped her slightly, and returned her kiss in full. She sighed with ecstasy into his mouth and lifted one foot backwards.
Rico dropped Miss Perky and sputtered about the scene he was seeing that looked as though it came straight out of a movie. He glared at the discarded doll. She wasn't his real mate, but did he dare to show his ex-girlfriend his true mate? Of course, he decided. After all, he had nothing over which to be ashamed! He slid swiftly back into the lair again; grabbed Kowalski so unexpectedly that the scientist was forced to drop his laser; and pulled him to the top land. Once there, he pushed up his metal visor and kissed him passionately.
Kowalski wasn't sure what was happening, but he didn't really care after he felt Rico's lips on his. He moaned as he leaned into the kiss and returned Rico's passion in full.
When Victoria and Ivan finally released each other from their kiss, she leaned against him, his arms still wrapped lovingly around her, and gazed back down into the penguin habitat. Her eyebrows rose with surprise to find Rico kissing Kowalski, but then she laughed. "That's more like it," she commented and returned to kissing her man.
Down below, Skipper faced Private. He refused to tell him he had been wrong or give him an apology, and so he grasped at words instead and twisted his flippers nervously in front of him. "I - What I'm trying to say, Private, is that you were right to be concerned. You're never right not to obey your commanding officer's orders, but you were right to be worried over keeping our unit safe and maintaining our identities. In your own way, I guess, you did a good job, Private."
"Aw, thanks, Skipper," Private returned, swaying back and forth and grinning. He knew this was the closest he'd ever get to an apology from the penguin he loved.
Skipper nodded and then turned to leave. "I'd better get back top side and keep an eye on that Bunny."
"Do we really have to be so worried about her, Skipper?" Private asked. "She seems nice enough."
"She is," Skipper answered with a dark foreboding to his tone, "when she's on our side."
"You don't think she is?"
"You can never be sure with Bunny." He stuck his head out, turned to watch what was happening with his former opponent, and did a double take in surprise. "Although maybe she is telling the truth this time," he commented.
"What's happening?" Private queried, wishing he could see beyond Skipper to the outside world.
"Nothing you need to be concerned about, young Private," Skipper announced, slipping the door back into place. "I think we can stay down here for a little while." He was still surprised that the other couples seemed to be having a kissing competition, and he had warmed just watching their passionate displays of love. Everybody had their love, he reflected, looking forlornly at Private, everybody but him.
"Private?"
"Yes, Skipper?"
Skipper had never been a penguin of words. He had always let his actions speak for him instead. He wished he had the words to describe what he felt for the younger penguin, but he knew not what to say and found his tongue twisting into strange knots every time he tried to speak of his feelings for Private. Bunny had never been afraid to take action in either commando style or on her own feelings, he thought, and surely a penguin such as himself had more courage than any bunny. "Private?"
"Yes?" Private blinked in confusion. Some strange emotions were passing over Skipper's face. He was thinking about something important and seemed to almost be having a war with himself, but Private couldn't imagine what was troubling his secretly beloved commander so greatly.
"Come here," Skipper said and had closed the distance between them himself before Private could obey. He wrapped his flippers around the younger penguin and rubbed his beak against his.
Shivers of delight swept through them both. They tingled from the tops of their heads all the way through to the ends of their talons, and where Private heard bells chiming, Skipper heard rockets exploding. "Is that an order," Skipper asked softly, lifting his beak from Private's, "that you'd like to obey?"
"Oh, yes!" Private cried, and then Skipper kissed him again.
Private broke it off for a moment. He hated to stop kissing him, but he had to be sure he was understanding this order. "Skipper?"
"Yes, Private?"
"I love you!"
Skipper felt Private still in his arms when he didn't immediately answer him, and then at long last, for the first time in years, he found himself able to talk about his feelings. There was much he wanted to say but didn't know how to say, but there were five little words that described all that he was feeling perfectly well. "I love you too, Private!" Skipper announced, and then he went right back to kissing him. Private leaned into their passionate, loving kiss, his talon rising off of the floor and lifting into the air behind him.
The End