Author's Note:

This story was inspired by Michael Jackson's song 'You Are Not Alone'.

"Look alive today, men! You're gonna have to be with what we're doing today…" Skipper barked out as he paced in front of the three penguins. That day they were doing flipper to flipper combat. Against each other, of course.

"What exactly are we doing today, Skipper?" Private asked, nervous about the surprise exercise. Skipper had warned them last night that they were doing something a little gruesome, so that they should get a good night sleep, which was also the cause of why they had to go to bed so early.

"Today, we're going to work on your fighting skills. You boys seem to be lacking in that, which isn't good at all. With the world we live in you have to know at least a decent amount of martial arts." While he was lecturing his men, he kept taking brief glances at Marlene's habitat.

She had been acting so strange yesterday, surprising Skipper at how she hardly said a word. Every time he would attempt to talk to her she would jump and answer in a short sentence that barely consisted of five words.

And her personality was off too, which was highly unusual for her. She wasn't the independent, happy-go-lucky otter that she usually is. Skipper was sensing all day long that her mind was off thinking of something else but he couldn't exactly place what she was fretting over.

She seemed to be trying to avoid them somehow. He thought about asking her about it but he decided it wouldn't be very wise. He knew how girls could get when they talked about their own personal issues.

"Um, Skipper? Are you okay?" Private asked, driving a wedge right into Skipper's thoughts.

"Yes… of course, Private," he turned back around to face his men, "now, on with the lesson. Kowalski, you're with me."

The penguins all lined up against their 'opponent', Rico against Private while Kowalski was with Skipper.

"Alright, the objective is simply to take down your rival using basic maneuvers… but with nothing too serious. We don't need any more injuries. Which means no lethal force, Rico!" Skipper rolled his eyes as the medic/weapons expert let out a groan of disappointment, much to Private's terror. "And... go!"

The four then charged at the penguin they were assigned to and continued to use Skipper's lessons to their greatest advantage.

After some time of struggling to keep up with his leader, Kowalski suddenly jumped and pinned Skipper to the ground but he managed to kick the intellectual off of him. He stole a quick glance at Marlene's habitat to try to spot her outside, thinking Kowalski would need some recovery time.

Suddenly he felt a sharp jolt in his chest. He gasped as his world flew up over his head in a blur as he was rocketed through the air into the pool. He felt the water soak through the feathers on his back as he struck the surface. He twirled about under the water before his head finally cleared enough for him to realize he was completely submerged.

He blinked in surprise before swimming back up to the surface. He broke through the water with the tip of his beak and flipped up onto the platform, his feathers dripping small droplets of water around his shadow.

"Skipper, are you okay?" Private asked as he rushed up to him. "That looked brutal."

"It was nothing I couldn't handle." He glanced over at Marlene's, growing more anxious by the second, not to mention his ability to pay attention to what his teammates were doing was starting to weaken. "Good shot, Kowalski."

"Um… are you feeling okay today, Skipper? You seem off," Kowalski offered as they all walked up to their beloved leader.

"Marlene!" Rico belted out, taking the others by surprise.

Kowalski watched with interest as Skipper's gaze flicked over to the otter's habitat again, his eyes filled with hope and expectation. But it soon faded after noticing Marlene was nowhere in sight. "Are you… why do you keep doing that?"

Skipper looked back up at his strategy planner with alarm. "Doing what?"

"Looking over at Marlene's like that! Are you expecting her?" Kowalski cocked his brow at him. Then it hit him. His eyes widened as he took in his leader's confused expression. But Kowalski could read in his eyes that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Skipper jumped and glared at Rico as he let out a loud wolf whistle.

"Rico! Ow!" Private complained as he held his ringing ear.

"Um… Rico! Take Private down to the HQ. I believe his program is on," Kowalski muttered as he ushered the younger penguin to the food bowl.

"But it's not on for another hour! What am I gonna watch?" he complained while Rico shoved him along with Kowalski.

"Well, find something!" Kowalski muttered as he closed the lid on their heads. He turned around to see Skipper glaring at him.

"What in good gravy was that for? The lesson wasn't over!" Skipper asked. He put his flippers on his hips, something he always did when he wanted answers. Good answers.

Kowalski sighed but his beak immediately stretched into a sly grin. "You like her don't you?"

"Who?"

Kowalski walked forward so he could whisper. "Marlene! Who else would I be talking about?"

"Kowalski! That is the most absurd thing I have ever… heard!" Skipper crossed his flippers and turned away.

"Remember what I said about not being a good liar?"

Skipper glanced up at him. "Yeah? So?"

Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Why don't you take a break and go over there? It's obvious something's bothering her. I could tell by her actions yesterday. I think you should talk to her. It'll make her feel better and I'll handle things around here. I'll watch out for Rico so you don't have to worry about him." Kowalski nudged his friend. "She'll really like it."

"Kowalski…" Skipper looked up into his eyes. "…thanks." He coughed and turned away, not liking the affection he was showing.

Kowalski's expression relaxed as he saw his old friend's embarrassment. He liked to think of Skipper as a brother since they've known each other since they were just adorable little chicks covered in down. They grew up together and since then, Skipper was getting easier and easier for him to read. "Any time."

Skipper watched as Kowalski turned around. He sighed softly. "And by the way, that was an excellent move you had on me earlier."

"Ah, that wasn't me. You let your guard down," Kowalski teased with a smile.

Skipper smirked back and winked at him. "Right, I'll be sure to not do that again. And don't get cocky; you're still going down next time." Skipper watched as Kowalski scoffed playfully before jumping down into the HQ.

He turned back around with a smile on his face but it instantly disappeared as he took in Marlene's habitat again, still as silent as a stone. Skipper sighed and straightened up bravely. "Aright Marlene, let's see what you're hiding from."

Skipper stared timidly into Marlene's tunnel. He had made his way over to her habitat and was starting to regret it. His stomach clenched in complaint from his nervousness as he continued to look into the dark depths of her home, wondering what he would find when he walked through it. "Ooh, okay. Calm down, Skipper. It's… it's just Marlene. No big deal."

He took his first step into her home, sensing the tense atmosphere. He walked slowly and tried not to make a sound, feeling his paranoia starting to kick in.

What if something bad happened to her? What if some sort of a spy had snatched her up last night and I'll never see her again? The only memories I would have of her would be the day before she got kidnapped…

Skipper froze in his tracks, his eyes wide with fear with that possible theory. He could feel his heart beginning to race in his chest, suddenly terrified for her. He swiftly broke into a jog, hearing his heartbeat in his head like a drum. He just needed to know she was alright.

He skidded to a stop just outside of the end of the wide tunnel. He stood frozen to the spot as he eyed Marlene on her bed. She was lying so her back was to him, which made his paranoia increase rapidly.

He felt a cold sweat take over his body, the temperature in the room suddenly decreasing. "M-Marlene?" he mouthed, unable to find his voice. He walked up to her and placed a paw on her back.

They both let out a scream as Marlene jumped up from her bed. She stood up quickly, her creamy brown eyes darting about the room until they found Skipper.

He nearly gasped as he took in her appearance.

Her eyes were red and irritated with the white fur under them matted and damp. The rest of her fur was slightly askew, showing she hadn't brushed it since she woke up. He looked down at the object she was clutching in her arms. It was a picture frame that had a wooden edge and a pretty lacy pattern etched into it.

"S-Skipper!" she whispered, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I came to check up on you… you haven't been outside all day… and yesterday you were acting a little… different. I wanted to make sure you were okay." He placed a flipper on her paw. "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying… a lot."

Marlene swallowed and looked down. "Yeah… I'm okay. It's just... a... phase?"

"Are you sure?" Skipper asked, giving her a look of doubt. He raised his brow as she nodded, still not making eye contact with him. He sighed and picked her up, clearly not buying it.

He set her down onto the bed again with the wall supporting her up. He leaned down to look into her eyes.

She gazed up into his fiery blue stare, feeling her defenses starting to collapse. If she didn't let her feelings get in the way she could pull it off but… Skipper was like a medicine to her. A medicine that somehow always made her spill her story to him but afterwards, she felt like an angel had touched her.

Her lip began to quiver the longer she stared into his eyes, which were starting to resemble the ocean. "Oh, Skipper…" she leaned forward and hugged him tightly, feeling tears running down her cheeks again which were starting to soak through Skipper's feathers. "I-I blame myself…"

Skipper stood in shock for a moment at Marlene's reaction. He wrapped his flippers around her as she rested her paws and her forehead on his white chest."What do you mean 'you blame yourself'?" He looked down at the floor and saw the picture frame, the glass covering the picture itself having a glare on it. Skipper bent down and picked it up so he could get a better look at it.

Inside the frame was a picture of a group of otters. Skipper picked out the mother and father easily. He found Marlene who was standing on the far right in front of her mother, who had her paws resting on her shoulders. Next to her were two other otters that looked to be younger than her.

"Marlene… is this your family?" Skipper boggled down at the picture.

"Yes," Marlene sighed, "my two brothers, my father and… my mother." She reached out and took the frame from him. "This was taken when I was just fourteen years old." She stroked the glass gently.

"You look so happy…" Skipper murmured as he leaned closer to her and the picture.

"Yeah… this was in my old zoo in Northern California." She turned around to look at him and was slightly taken aback at how close he was to her. She leaned back slightly, a blush taking over her cheeks.

"Sorry," Skipper apologized as he scooted away. "Um… why are you looking at this picture?"

Marlene felt her eyes tearing up again at the return of the memory. As she felt a tear sliding down her cheek her eyes narrowed slightly. She pursed her lips and was about to sigh but the feel of something brushing against her cheek caught her off guard. She looked over and locked eyes with Skipper. Her eyes glanced down at his flipper, which was stroking her cheek to brush the tear away.

She felt her heart stop in mid-beat. He slowly put his flipper down.

"Are you going to tell me?" he asked, trying to conceal his feelings.

"Uh… y-yeah." She paused for a moment before continuing on. "Today is March the second… which was a horrible date for my family and me. It started out as a normal day in our zoo, our family went about our normal business but then… the zoo keepers came.

They took one of my brothers, Tak, away from us. We were so scared; we didn't know what to do. He was going to be shipped to another zoo overseas. My mom and my dad would never let that happen, so they went after him. My other brother and I waited for days for them to come back safe and sound but they never did. Neither of us saw them again. We had no other option but to assume the worst.

Both of my brothers were eight when it happened. They were very young. And Ethan, my other brother, was just too young to understand. He couldn't grasp the concept so I just let it go. He never found out.

Later on after that, I was shipped here, to Central Park Zoo away from my brother. And… I still hadn't told him what happened to our family. I feel so bad now because he may never know. He doesn't have anyone else that can tell him the story now that he's old enough."

Skipper thought about Marlene's story with wide eyes. When he first met her he wouldn't even dream of that happening to her. Now that he knew about her past… he will never look at her the same again. "I think you did the right thing, Marlene. Since he doesn't know he doesn't have to go through the same pain as you do. So he could be having the time of his life right now," Skipper cracked a smile at her, "it's better off he doesn't know… trust me. It's better to go through life happy than to be depressed and sad about the past every time a certain date comes through."

Marlene laid her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Skipper." A moment later she felt a flipper wrap around her.

"I'm so sorry about your parents," Skipper whispered. He looked ahead at the tunnel, seeing the daylight starting to fade. It had to be getting close to eight or nine o'clock.

"It's okay," Marlene sighed. "Like you said, it's better to look to the future."

Skipper nodded slowly. "Just remember, Marlene, I'll always be there to talk to. You're not alone."

"Thank you, Skipper…"

Author's Note:

I don't really have a good feel about this one. I don't know why. Maybe it's just author's paranoia.