Skipper looked towards Kowalski. The scientist wasn't doing anything, just staring into space. His mind,Skipper knew, was on his old man. It was Father's Day, the day of the year Kowalski detested because his father was cruel. There was no other word for it, cruel. He'd never praised Kowalski,called to check on him, and had probaly never hugged his son either. He also, Skipper had discovered, had been abusive, both physically and verbally. He was an evil man.

The other two didn't really know their fathers. Rico's had died and Private never knew his. As usual, they had bombarded their leader with hugs and a gift of a single, slightly wilting flower. And then they got into an argument over which was a better flower. It then ended with them simultaenously rushing outside to get more flowers. Skipper just knew that there would be daisy chains and buttercup chains and probaly tulip chains around his manly HQ when Father's Day was over. Still, it was a sweet gesture.

"Thinking about your old man?"

"Yeah."

"Kowalski.."

"I just don't understand," Kowalski interrupted. "What did I do wrong? What was it that I did to make him hate me? Was I a bad chick? I wish I could get him to like me at least."

"Kowalski. Some people deserve kids. Your father isn't one of them."

"Maybe he deserves better than me."

"What?" Skipper exploded. "Don't say that! Don't you ever say that!"

"But why..?"

"I don't know why! I wish that I could make him be a better father, you know? 'Cos I swear when one of you guys are depressed or sad, it kills me. One day I'm going to really clobber your father."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not you who should be apologising."

Kowalski went back to silence. He didn't look depressed, but Skipper could tell he was. He waddled over to him and put his flippers around him. He didn't often embrace Kowalski. He didn't usually begin hugs at all, usually Rico or Private or somebody would start it off. Kowalski surprised hs leader by suddenly clinging to him.

He wasn't usually one to show emotion, unlike Rico who wore his heart on his wing or Private who was by far the most emotional. They were the most likely to cling when being hugged if they were upset. Looking down, he could see a tear sliding down the face of his second-in-command. Skipper softly wiped it away with his flipper. Kowalski clung tighter.

"It's alright to cry."

Kowalski sniffled and a couple more tears escaped. Skipper wondered if he could go to Kowalski's father, kill him and get back to the zoo in one night. As he'd told Kowalski, he genuinely hated seeing one of his team emotionally hurt. Wounds could heal, bones could be fixed. But emotional pain sometimes could never go away. Kowalski let out a little sigh.

"Do you care for me?"

"No, I hate you. Of course I care for you. I care for all of you."

"Why?"

"You're my boys. I'm supposed to care for you."

"Well, we care for you too."

Skipper smiled at that. The smile was short-lived as Rico and Private chose to drop in and dragged behind them what seemed to be miles of flower chains. As Skipper had predicted, there was a tulip chain. He couldn't believe it. Had those two left any flowers in New York? Kowalski started laughing.

"Well, I'm glad somebody finds this funny." Skipper said. He turned to face the youngest boys of his squad, keeping a flipper on Kowalski's shoulder and putting one flipper on his hip.

"Happy Father's Day!" Rico & Private chorused.

"Boys, as much as I appreciate this..."

"Don't worry, there's more flowers."

"More?" Skipper repeated.

"Where?" Kowalski asked.

Rico pointed outside to their pool. Skipper slowly walked to the porthole window. Out of curiosity, Kowalski followed him. Skipper looked horrified. There, floating on the surface of the water were flowers. Kowalski looked as though he was going to laugh again.

"Skipper like?" Rico asked.

Skipper turned to them. He looked as though he was going to say 'no'.

"It's lovely. Thank you."

Rico & Private looked thrilled. The moment they were out of earshot, Kowalski began laughing again.

"This isn't funny. I can't believe..."

"It, was a nice thought, though." Kowalski said, trying to regain some composure.

"You're right."

"I'm going to visit Marlene."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

He asked her to help him with something and told her of the Father's Day gift Skipper had recieved. Like Kowalski, Marlene found the 'Flower Incident' hilarious.

"What about a nice bouquet of flowers?" Marlene suggested.

"He'll never forgive me."

"OK. I was kidding." Marlene giggled. "What does Skipper like..?"

After a 10 minute long discussion, Marlene suddenly shouted "I'VE GOT IT!"

It took most of the day to find the gift. They had to enlist Julien's help and he decided to help only if he got one too. Both lemur and penguin were panting violently by the time they ensnared it and Julien lost his.

"What have you two been doing together to make you so breathless?" Fred the squirrel asked.

"Don't ask." Kowalski replied. Julien fell over.

"Happy Father's Day." Kowalski said some time later. He held a jar out which contained the present.

"A tadpole! He's great, thank you." Skipper replied.

"Have we got a tank or anything? We can't keep a frog in a jar."

"We'll find one. Or we'll borrow one."

"OK."

Kowalski climbed up to his bunk and lay on his bed. It wasn't time for lights out yet, but he was exhausted to say the least. By the time lights out came around, he was in a deep sleep. Before he retired for the night, Skipper looked at him.

"Goodnight, son."

OK, I know it's not Father's Day, but this very suddenly came into my head and I had to write it. If it's Father's Day when you're reading this, I published this when it was the 20th of June at 10:00am.
I love how Skipper calls Rico, Kowalski and Private his boys. It's as though he's calling them his sons to me. And I'm sure he loves Kowalski really, even though he doesn't show it in TPoM. Anyway, FEEL FREE TO REVIEW and enjoy the story.

Peace out, guys.