Hi everybody! I know I usually update on Wednesdays, but I was just in the mood to update a day early. Hooray! I figured I wouldn't have much time in the next couple of days, I'm on a lunch break from marching band camp right now. (I play the trombone, and our show this year is "Music from Avatar". It's going to be pretty epic!)

Enjoy!

The next morning, as usual, Skipper was the first to wake up. That was the strangest dream… he thought groggily. He turned onto his side and looked across the room, and saw the bunks where Vanessa and Sarah were sleeping soundly.

Dammit.

He started to get out of bed to wake up the boys, when he began to feel the aftereffects of yesterday's migraine.

"Uh…" he groaned. Well… it had been a long day yesterday. And he didn't think the girls would appreciate being woke up at 5 A.M., since he'd forgotten to tell them about the team's early-morning exercises… and he'd have to show them around today, it was Sunday… Sunday…

"Maybe we should… take the… day off…" Skipper sighed as he fell back asleep.

…

"5 A.M.? No way!" Vanessa said, not shouting anymore, when Skipper informed her of his team's normal waking hours. "There is no way Sarah and I will wake up every day at 5 A.M."

"Okay, okay!" Skipper said. Thank God the migraine was gone, thanks to his morning cup of joe. "We'll figure something else out."

"Thanks. Now, what's on the agenda for today?" Vanessa asked.

Ever-ready Kowalski whipped out his favorite clipboard and read off today's schedule. "Seven hundred hours: Breakfast. Half after seven: begin tour of zoo. Noon: lunch. Half after noon: entertain small crowd. Seventeen hundred hours - or five o'clock - Dinner. Rest of the evening is free for enjoyment while Skipper procures better sleeping units for new residents."

"Hmm. Complete schedule." Vanessa said with a small smirk. "Impressive."

"That's standard procedure around here." Kowalski said matter-of-factly. He looked through some more notes and continued, "I also have the tour mapped out, diagrams of all our entertainment routines, and a copy of Alice's menus for the rest of the week. Today is salmon day, by the way."

Vanessa nodded. Skipper looked at the clock - it read seven-oh-five.

"Alright, men, ladies. Soup's on in three… two… one…"

There was a shower of little thunks as the Alice threw in the fish.

"Penguins!" her muffled voice called out. "Come out from wherever-the-heck-you-are and get some chow!"

All six penguins climbed the ladder and commenced to breakfast. Vanessa noticed that it was indeed salmon.

…

Even Sarah was impressed with most of the animals in the zoo. She only had two people question her about her front feathers out of everyone she met, including those she'd been introduced to yesterday by Private. She'd gotten a question from a chameleon (Kowalski had learned to communicate with them from Maurice), which made sense since they changed color themselves, they would notice something like her dark feathers. I'll give you one guess as to who the other 'questioner' was.

"Uh… why are her fronty feathers all gray and freakish?"

Yep. Julien, of course.

Just as Vanessa opened her mouth to say something, Skipper cut in and said, "Don't call my daughter a freak, ringtail!"

"It's okay, Dad," Sarah said - her first words of the day. "I'm different, it's true. And I'm sure his highness would know a freak when he saw one, considering the way he's speaking."

Private snorted, trying to hide a laugh. He'd secretly thought that as long as he'd known Julien, but had never said anything since he had an accent as well.

So, Julien didn't take to Sarah or Vanessa very well. Maurice was polite enough, and apologized to Skipper when they were out of Julien's earshot. However, Julien did notice how Private kept looking at Sarah with a funny little smile and, sensitive soul he was (ha!), decided to offer his love-life saving advice.

"You! Tiny penguin!" Julien called out from his leafy throne right before Private jumped out of the lemurs' habitat.

"I'll be right back, Skippah." Private said, then slowly went back to where Julien was. "Do you need something?" he asked.

"Oh, silly birdy, it's not what I need, but what YOU need."

"What?"

"You like the grayish-girly penguin, no?" Julien said, waving his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, yes. I do." Private said. He frowned - was it really that obvious, that even Julien noticed?

"Well, crazy little lover-boy, let King Julien be enlightening you with my wise advice-"

"Erm, no thanks." Private said, remembering all too clearly the last time 'ringtail' had offered love advice to the team - Rico ended up as a hippie, temporarily, and he'd nearly left the team! "I usually go to Skippah for advice."

"Actually, sounds to me like he's not too 'smart on the heart'." Maurice added in. "Didn't he leave his wife so he could join the army?"

"Well… I guess so." Private said sadly. He hadn't thought of it that way.

"Hurry up, Private!" Skipper's voice rang out.

"I'd better go. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be fine." Private said hurriedly, eager to get away from the lemurs.

After he left, Julien chuckled and said to his aye-aye, "He'll be back. They always come back. And when I say 'they', I mean 'he'. I mean… Maurice! Stop confusing me!"

Maurice rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. Find a happy place, find a happy place…

…

The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful. Vanessa and Marlene got on unsurprisingly well, and the few children that visited the penguin exhibit spent most of their time pointing at Sarah and asking Alice if there was something wrong with her, to which Alice would say in a bored voice that she didn't know, the penguin just arrived that way.

The most surprising event happened shortly after dinner, as Skipper prepared to leave.

"I'm going to go get the good bunks out of storage. I'll be back in a while -"

Vanessa stood up. "I'll go with you."

Skipper did a double take. "What?"

"No matter how much you may act like 'muscle-man'," Vanessa said, following him. "you can't carry two beds by yourself. I'll help."

"Oh…" Skipper said. "well… thanks. Um… ladies first." He gestured to the ladder right behind him. After Vanessa ascended the ladder, Skipper looked back worriedly to the boys (Sarah was in her corner again) and somewhat blasphemously crossed himself across the chest.

Once they were out of the habitat, they walked together in an awkward silence for a while. Vanessa finally cleared her throat and said a little stiffly, "You've really got a great team, Skipper. They're… good men."

"Yeah, they are. Thanks." Skipper replied, surprised and even flattered a bit.

Vanessa continued. "But… what's-his-name - oh yeah, Rico seems a little… what's the word… odd."

Skipper chuckled. She hadn't even seen him throw up anything yet. "He definitely is that and more. But he's got a good heart… most of the time." He paused for a minute or so. "I think you did a good job with raising Sarah, too, considering -"

"Obviously, no, I didn't." Vanessa said darkly.

Skipper looked over at his ex-wife. A tear glistened in her eye, and she quickly shoved it away. Anyone could see that she blamed herself for her daughter's strangeness - but Skipper knew that wasn't it at all. He sighed, and stepped in front of Vanessa, cutting her off.

"Vanessa?" It came out as a question. He cleared his throat and started again. "Vanessa… if I ever knew you, you probably didn't do anything wrong in raising her. As a matter of fact, it's probably my fault she's not more… outgoing. I wasn't there for her… or you. And…"

"I'm sorry."

Vanessa looked up from the ground. That had certainly caught her attention. She had an odd feeling in her heart - almost as if she'd been waiting to hear Skipper say those words for the last eighteen years. God, how Sarah looks like him…

Memories flooded her mind: trying to keep her baby girl warm in the Antarctic wind while she was freezing herself; seeing Skipper's fleet return without him, and fearing the worst, then finding out he didn't want her anymore; after sighting a group of humans, practically running to them in hopes they might help her and her freezing Sarah; arriving at the new zoo, with high hopes; those hopes crushed when the elders discovered Vanessa's mate had left her, and labeled her as 'unwanted' and her daughter as excess; never telling her daughter the real reason no one liked her; at Sarah's begging, the first description of Skipper, bitterness tainting her memory; seeing how adept Sarah was at art, just like Vanessa's mother; Sarah's rebellion and Vanessa first seeing the newly-darkened feathers; and lastly, the elation she felt when Sarah would decide to speak every few days or so…

It was too much. Vanessa was tired of being the strong one… but maybe, for a couple of months at least, she didn't have to be…

Vanessa's lower jaw quivered, her eyes teared up again, and with a broken sob she all but collapsed, holding onto Skipper for support. Skipper flinched from the sudden contact, but soon gave her a rare, encouraging smile and embraced her, gently bringing her back on her feet.

"Feel better?" he said softly.

Vanessa smiled, watery-eyed and nodded.

They remained like that for a minute or two, actually enjoying each other's company. Vanessa finally pulled away, wiping her eyes, and said in a thick voice, "We'd better get going - the others will wonder-"

"Yeah." Skipper quickly agreed. Vanessa dropped her flippers and began to walk away. She paused and looked behind her. "Skipper?"

"Yes?" he said, still and little dazed from the whole thing.

"Thanks." She said, smiling gratefully. She turned and walked away. Skipper opened his beak to say something back, then closed it again. Maybe he'd let her have the last word this time…

"You're welcome."

Or not.

Oh my gosh, I had so much fun writing this chapter. Especially the last scene with Skipper and Vanessa - they're great characters to put together, almost as fun as Private and Sarah - hint for next chapter!

One last thing - to the newer writers/readers of POM fanfics: You may have noticed lately that someone named "littlebirdy05" has been seen a lot on our page. READ HER STORIES, THEY'RE AMAZING. I consider her to be one of the greatest writers on this site, one of the 'founders' so to speak.

So yeah... I'm such a hypocrite, I always say I hate it when people name-drop, and now look at me. How disgusting...

Review anyway, please!