"Come on guys, don't be shy. This young lady will be staying with you guys for a bit. So treat her well," and at this, Alice winked, "I just hope she'll be able to keep them occupied from doing what they normally do, whatever that is…but I know it's against the rules." She grumbled as she walked away, carrying the empty crate with her.

All four penguins stared at the timid penguin that Alice had left them, and Kowalski began to scribble furiously on his clipboard.

The female penguin was quite pretty, as female penguins go. Her black feathers were dark and sleek, and she was a little taller than Skipper, but a lot shorter than Rico. Her physique was very graceful and feminine (no duh! Cause she's a girl, right? Well, I just used feminine to imply that she was thinner and less bulky than the guys. Gee…maybe I could've said that instead) and her chest region was more prominent and her feet were delicate. But her eyes might have been the loveliest part of her, for they were a gorgeous brown that gave off a look of wisdom, patience, and kindness.

She was extremely tense and timid at the moment, and her eyes very shiftily went around from penguin to penguin, as if trying to catch even the slightest movement from them.

"Um…well, hello there miss, my name is Skipper, pleasure to meet you," he then handed out a flipper in her direction and immediately regretted it, because her eyes grew wide and she recoiled away from it.

Kowalski took note of this and then cleared his throat, "Ahem, miss? Would you care to tell us your name?"

She glanced around and tensed even more before replying in a light whisper, "Nadine."

"Why, that's a…nice name, Nadine. I'm Kowalski," Kowalski said with an attempted smile.

Nadine shrunk away from him and remained apprehensive. Kowalski thought Nadine's behavior was very curious and started running through possibilities as to why. He looked at Skipper and shrugged, indicating that he had no idea what was going on.

"Nadine, it's good to meet you, I'm Private, oh, and this is Rico. He doesn't talk much but he's very kind," at this point, Rico was staring at Nadine with his head cocked and a frown on his face (You see, he was confused at how Nadine was acting. Bam! That's as deep as it gets, sorry Rico fans!!), "I'm sorry if we gave you a fright, but we'd like to be good friends with you…if you'd like," Private stated politely.

At this, Nadine just nodded stiffly and averted her eyes to the ground.

"Kowalski, options," Skipper whispered behind his flipper.

"Um…right, perhaps we should adjourn inside," Kowalski suggested half-heartedly.

Nadine sighed and then began to speak, which made all four penguins jump to hear her voice. "I suppose we should get this over with, shouldn't we?" Her voice was rich and quiet, and each word was spoken slowly and thoughtfully, like her words had a hidden meaning. (Kowalski perked up and paid attention to her speech pattern; it sounded very interesting)

At this statement, the team raised their eyebrows quizzically, and glanced at one another awkwardly, hoping that one of them understood what she meant by that.

Skipper shrugged and said, "Okay then, follow me." He set off at a steady pace towards the HQ, and the other team members fell behind. Nadine hesitated before meekly following them, but she kept her distance.

Once inside, the penguins gathered around Nadine once more, and this seemed to cause her to shake uncontrollably, for an odd reason.

"Nadine, are you chilly? Would you like a blanket?" Private asked her thoughtfully.

She just shook her head and a look of confusion crossed her face when no one made another move. The situation was becoming really awkward by now, and Kowalski's mind was going crazy since he couldn't seem to find a solution to Nadine's behavior. Could she be shy? No…she looks more frightened than shy, but why?

"So, Nadine," Skipper ventured to ask, "why exactly were you brought here?"

Nadine glanced up sharply at this. "…You mean you don't know?" her words rolled off her tongue deeply and with purpose, and Kowalski loved it.

"Would you mind telling us?" Kowalski asked, eager to hear her slow, thoughtful speech once again.

"Well…," Nadine shuffled her feet, " I'm here for…for the breeding program." And her feathered face turned a bright red.

At those words, the entire team stiffened and became just as tense and anxious as Nadine had been. Awkward moment to the max!!! The guys all stared at each other and shifted their eyes from one penguin to the next, all keeping their eyes off of Nadine, looking anywhere but at Nadine. And a dry, embarrassing silence ensued…before Private timidly asked:

"Uh…what's a breeding program?"