~A/N~ I know this is kind of a short chapter, but I felt this was a good place to leave off, and I thought it provided a good bit of certain..."information." Or atleast implied it. I promise a nice, long chapter next time though. I already have most of chapter five planned. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless and a fifth chapter shouldn't be too far off. :)

~Cecilia

When Skipper and Private returned to HQ, they carried a bag of cheesy dibbles each, and Private clutched his souvenir carefully in his flippers. He had chosen a delicate crystal snow-globe shaped like a faceted heart with a circular stone base holding it up at the bottom. Inside, tiny white "snowflakes" fluttered around an enclosed engraving of the four penguins themselves and the words "#PenguinLife."

"People and their hash-tags," Skipper had teased him about it. "I don't even know what they're supposed to stand for."

"Me either," Private had admitted with a blush.

The two of them settled down on the couch with their dibbles after Private carefully set his souvenir beneath the pillow of his bed. After about ten minutes, Kowalski emerged, alone, from the laboratory. He approached the couch slowly with a sheepish look on his face. "Private," he started, "If I may have a word?"

Private gulped and shared a look with Skipper, who appeared worried. He set down his bag and hopped off the couch. 'Are you sure?' Skipper mouthed to him. Private nodded, and walked with Kowalski back inside the laboratory.

"Wh-what is it?" Private asked him hesitantly, though he thought he already knew the answer.

"It's about...earlier," Kowalski said, shuffling his flippers awkwardly. "A-are you alright?" He asked.

Private looked down at the floor and nodded. "Yeah..I-I'm okay."

Kowalski sighed and scratched his forehead. "Listen...I don't really know how to say this; I'm still really new at this whole concept of, well, um, you know. But...Eva said she thinks you might have a-a 'thing for me.' I-is that why you were so upset earlier?"

"A….thing?" Private asked, confused.

"You know, like, well, a crush…?"

Private gulped and shuffled his feet on the floor. "Uh- I, well, I mean," he sighed, "Yes. I-I h-have a c-crush on you," His voice was shaky, ready to shatter into a million pieces of discordant glass. He tried to meet Kowalski's eyes, but couldn't, and looked away instead. "But I know...how you feel...about E-Eva, and I've been t-trying to g-get over i-it."

Kowalski gulped. "Well, you see, the thing is, Private, Eva is going to be leaving soon, and I don't know when I'm ever going to see her again. Our time spent together has been...'special', indeed, but I'm actually not quite sure how I feel about her. That's why she's been over here so much. Once she leaves there's a possibility I might never see her again."

Private nodded, not really quite sure where he was going with this. "O-okay..."

Kowalski sighed and shifted awkwardly. "Well, Private, what I mean to say is...I don't really have those feelings for you now...but, a chance for us in the future isn't...impossible."

Private could feel his stomach drop and his heart leap to his throat. "Y-you, you mean it?"

Kowalski gave a slight, uncertain, smile. "Y-yeah, Private."

Private nodded and felt his feathers start to blush- luckily for him they were already pink to begin with so it would be difficult to notice. "Well, I-I suppose I'll, s-see you around then," Private told him before turning and nearly sprinting out of the room. He ran right past Skipper without even noticing, who had been eavesdropping on the two of them the whole time.

He leapt on his bed and lay there quietly, his pulse drumming in his chest, his thoughts circulating wildly.

Skipper slowly walked into the room and stared at Kowalski with his flippers folded behind his back.

"You were listening, weren't you?"

Skipper silently nodded, and walked a few paces closer to his soldier. "You were lying, weren't you?" He softly accused.

Kowalski sighed and again scratched the back of his head. "I didn't technically lie, sir, what I said about Eva and my feelings were 100% true."

"But you don't really think there is actually a chance for you two, do you?"

Kowalski turned away. "Okay, Skipper, you caught me. No, I don't. But, well, it technically isn't-"

"Stop using technicalities with me, soldier," Skipper said angrily, his voice starting to rise as he drew even closer, "And give it to me straight!"

"Okay, okay!" Kowalski rushed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "I didn't want to hurt him! I just figured-"

"What? That if you got his hopes up, he would never lose that hope and would therefore, be happy? Forever? Well, what do you think will happen when Eva comes back to visit sometime and it's just back to exactly the way it was? By giving him that...that possibility, even an extremely vague one, you're stringing him along and leading him to an even harder eventual heartbreak when nothing ever happens."

Kowalski still stared at him bug-eyed, and finally managed to clear his throat. "I-I..." He didn't know what else to say, so he simply stared at the ground and responded, "I'm sorry, sir."

"You better be sorry, soldier," Skipper growled. "You've caused enough damage as it is, and Private doesn't need even more hurt from you." He turned around and headed for the door, leaving a guilty and speechless Kowalski in his midst. Finally, as he stood, just about to open the door, Kowalski worked up his courage.

"You like him, don't you sir? The way he likes me..."

Skipper stood there, silently, an uneasy feeling stirring in his stomach and opened the door, pausing for a moment before exiting. He opened his beak, about to say something, then closed it again.

Echoes reverberated throughout the room when the door slammed shut and Kowalski stood there in a stunned silence.