The lemur king was impressed. Nobody ordered Alex around, but Gloria was doing just that. Julien was ecstatic, grabbing Maurice and saying, "Do you not see how she orders around that brute? Such confidence, such authority! I am thinking..." Maurice really didn't want to hear any more 'brilliant ideas' and tried to tune it out.
Gloria wanted to go after Marty to help him, but was afraid that if she did that, disgruntled Alex would take off to who knows where, and possibly get himself in more trouble. The scene of the dead lion from her bad dream the other morning suddenly popped into her mind, gripping her with heightened concern. So she decided to send Melman to find Marty to help and watch over him, while she would stay with Alex and keep him occupied.
"Melman, go get with Marty and stay with him... check the severity of his wounds. Don't let him run off somewhere, keep him here at the party. We all need to stay together. I'm going to have to stay with Alex and keep him out of trouble tonight. I wish I could be with Marty, but-"
"I understand," said Melman, grateful he wasn't the one chosen to be stuck with Alex. "We hooved critters have to keep together. I'll give Marty your best regards. Good luck."
Alex felt very out of place and wanted to leave, beginning to make excuses, but Gloria cut him off. "No way," she said firmly, grabbing Alex by the paw to lead him away. "You're my date tonight, sugar!"
Gloria and Alex ran into Julien on the way, who tried to address her, but she cut him off. "Have any good place we can go around here to be alone?" she asked.
Julien told them about a private place up on top of a small cliff there in the lemurs' clearing. Called Lookout Point, it was their equivalent of "lover's lane". Alex was less than impressed. Gloria liked the suggestion and drug Alex away with her up to the cliff point.
Julien enthusiastically approached Melman, telling him about his plan to make Gloria the new bouncer and high protector. Melman, who was in a hurry himself, held up a hoof, shaking his head. "Now is not a good time to discuss this, Julien," he said, then took off in search of Marty.
Some distance away from the ledge, Gloria sat with her back against a tree with Alex sitting beside her. It was indeed a very private place, and the chances of being disturbed here were very remote. Alex had settled slightly but was still very unhappy, and was very bored. He put up with quietly sitting next to Gloria for about five minutes, then stood up.
"Sorry Gloria, I am not into this," he said with a frown on his face. "I'm outta here!"
"Oh, no you don't!" said Gloria, grabbing a hold of his tail as he started walking away.
"Oww!" exclaimed the lion as his sore tail unexpectedly pulled tight. "Let go of my tail, dammit!"
"What did you just say to me??" snapped Gloria angrily, standing to her feet. Then the two of them went at it. Gloria grabbed a hold of Alex and tackled him to the ground. The two wrestled briefly before she pinned him, holding him down with her weight which was her best fighting asset.
Alex screamed in pain with the heavy hippo partially on top of him. "Get off!" he yelled. "Get off!!"
Gloria laid on Alex for a minute, almost squeezing the breath out of him, then drug him back over to the tree and attempted to sit him on her lap. A big breath revived the lion's strength, and he resisted the attempt with all his might. Gripping him from behind, she had an arm around his neck and the other around his waist, trying to push him down into a sitting position. Alex was not going to do it. Frowning crossly, and standing with his legs spread apart, he stiffened himself as if a 2 year old stubbornly refusing to sit in a stroller or high chair.
"Relax!" coaxed Gloria. "Come on Alex, sit... I'm not trying to hurt you! Bend!" The lion only responded with angry growls, maintaining his resistance.
"Bend your butt!" Gloria commanded, still getting no cooperation. "Bend over Alex,... or I'll bend you over, and believe me you don't want that!" Gloria wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish that task, but delivered the threat anyway. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her right hip as the tense lion involuntarily dug a claw into her sensitive flesh.
"Owww!" Gloria yelled in pain, then kneed him in the groin up from below, elbowed him hard in the side, and forcefully slammed his butt down into her lap. "Now sit!!" she yelled at him, pulling his head into her chest and holding it there so he couldn't open his mouth to bite. The lion was very strong but she had him, for the moment anyway, forcing him to sit in her lap. "Sit here and behave!" she continued yelling at the fuming angry lion, "or you're gonna sit here with me the rest of the night… understand? You sit and that's it!"
The two maintained this position for a long time. An hour later, Alex was still sitting on Gloria's lap, but had cooled down considerably and no longer was being forcibly restrained. But when he tried to get up again, Gloria clamped onto him tightly. "No, Alex," she said to him firmly. "I said no! You're not going anywhere. Look, I'm not trying to be mean, Alex, I'm trying to keep you out of trouble. You're not very popular around here at the moment."
Poor Alex gave up and slumped back against Gloria's chest. "Can't I even go to the bathroom?" he said, in a pathetic, defeated tone.
"Oh- is that what... do you really have to?" Gloria asked him suspiciously.
Alex nodded sheepishly. "It's not like I wanted to announce it to the whole world," he answered, with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Oh," replied Gloria. "Alright, I'm sorry Alex, yes, go. But then I want you to come right back here. Tell you what, I have to go check on something myself, so I'll be back in a few minutes. Now listen, I'm trusting you, Alex... I expect to find you here under this tree when I get back… okay?"
Alex agreed, and the two went their separate ways. Alex went into the woods, and Gloria headed down into the lower level of the lemurs' clearing to see how Marty was doing. As she went along, she noticed there was blood all over her right arm, hip, and right leg. The single claw penetration had caused a nasty tear in her right hip which was still bleeding. She knew Alex hadn't done that on purpose, but it would need to be treated right away. She decided she would try to hide her injury from the lion lest it make him feel even worse than he already did.
Relieved, Alex stood there in the darkening woods, feeling the pull of his wild instincts, tempted to take off and run away. He almost did, but could not in good conscience, remembering his promise to Gloria. So he meandered his way back to the tree, and crept over to the edge of the cliff overlook, to get a sneak peek of what was going on down below. In the distance he saw Marty standing with faithful pal Melman, and Gloria greeting Marty with a hug. Julien was there also, talking with them, giving Marty a gentle pat on the side.
Alex felt very unwanted and left out, and went back to the tree and started crying. Trying to get his mind on something else, he started thinking "zoo" again, which only intensified his sorrow and weeping. He held onto the tree trunk, whom he considered his only friend at the moment, and sobbed. After slobbering on the tree for a few minutes, his crying subsided, and he let go. The tree was wet, his face was wet, and his eyes were red.
Alex sat there leaning back against the tree waiting for Gloria, who was a long time in coming. She was taking a lot longer than a few minutes. The lion's empty tummy rumbled loudly. "I'm so hungry," he said aloud to himself, with concern in his voice. "Where are the penguins? This isn't good... I hope nothing bad happens again!" Alex noticed how filthy dirty he had gotten again, due to his tussle with Marty. A bath was in order, and it gave him something constructive to do to clear his mind while he waited.
Gloria finally returned to the cliff lookout point, glad to find Alex waiting there for her, washing himself. She sat down next to him and tried to help him with the back of his mane, which was indeed a sticky mess. "Thank you for waiting for me," she said. "I knew I could trust you."
Alex stopped his licking and allowed Gloria to work on his mane from behind. "So how is old smarty stripes?" he asked.
"If you're referring to Marty," she began, "he's... well, he's, uh,... you know, Alex, I don't know what happened with you two, but you could try being a little nicer to him, starting right now. He is your friend, after all."
"I have no friends," replied Alex, who immediately became uncomfortable with the conversation and wished to change the subject.
"Well, I'm your friend," said Gloria, sorry to hear that Alex felt that way. She began gently stroking the fur of his mane, but he abruptly pushed her arm away. "Don't touch me," he said. "I feel really weird right now."
"Alright. Now, what's the deal here with you tonight, Alex? What was that fight all about?"
Alex just shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno," he mumbled.
"C'mon, talk to me, Alex... what made you so mad? What is going on with you two?"
"I guess I just lost my head... I'm sorry," he said.
"You sure lost it all right," said Gloria. "Know what Melman thinks?"
"I can just guess... that I have PMS, that I'm a mean crazy bastard, that I can't be trusted, that I'm psychotic? I'm sure he hates me now, in any case. I'm sure everyone hates me. No, I really don't care to know what Melman thinks."
"No, Alex, we don't hate you," reassured Gloria. "Melman's theory is absurd, anyway, so never mind about that. Marty has injuries and is limping, but he'll-"
"Injuries?" Alex appeared surprised. "Why, what happened?"
"What happened?" Gloria repeated, surprised he had asked the question. "Oh my God, Alex, don't you remember?" she asked him, taking the lion's soft paw gently and holding it.
"Surely you don't mean… well, I know we had a little tussle... Marty smart-mouthed me and I had to put him in his place. Yeah, I pushed him down and... but that's all, right? I mean, I didn't hit him that hard or anything... did I?"
"Alex," Gloria began gently, "I don't want to upset you, but you did, hon. You beat him up bad. You beat the shit out of him, excuse my French. I know you've felt like doing that ever since day one on this island. I sure hope you've finally gotten it out of your system."
"No. No!" Alex said, shocked at what Gloria was telling him.
"Alex, you almost killed him," Gloria continued with difficulty, "right in front of everyone at the party. You had everyone scared. Now what was this all about? Throwing pineapple juice in your mane? If Marty had done that to me... well, I don't know what I would have done. I can understand his rude behavior angered you, but to do that... what is going on with the two of you?"
A period of silence followed her question, to the point that the two animals could hear each other breathing. It was indeed unusually quiet in the lemurs' clearing tonight. No music, no dancing… Gloria wondered what was going on.
"I wanna go home, Gloria," he finally said in a subdued voice. "I just wanna go home."
"I know you do, Alex... all of us do."
"Not all of us, Gloria. Marty doesn't want to leave."
"Oh... oh… now I'm starting to see. Well, brilliant deduction, Holmes. And this surprises you? Marty's loved this place ever since he got here. It's his dream. As close as the two of you are, you can't see that?"
"Yeah, I saw it... I guess I just didn't want to believe it. Really pisses me off."
"Alex, you can't force Marty to see things your way. He really likes it here... and he's adapted quite well, better than the rest of us."
"That's because we know we don't belong here. But I did give him the choice. Remember King Julien's sendoff party for us? Remember what Marty said to us just before we got on the boat that didn't go anywhere? He said it doesn't matter where we are-"
"As long as we're together," finished Gloria.
"Exactly! That's what he said after I asked him straight out, do you want to stay on the island or go back home. Remember that? I gave him the choice. And he chose New York. And he even got on the boat with us. That liar... that little traitor!"
"So you're afraid to leave without him... aren't you?" Gloria stated. She waited for a reply, but the lion was speechless.
"Listen Alex," Gloria began firmly, "I'm not telling you what to do, but I don't want to see you treat Marty like that again. Ever. Do you understand me?"
Alex nodded quietly, otherwise motionless. Gloria gave Alex a little hug and ran her hand down his smooth furry back, then discovered the swollen blood blister on his tail from earlier in the day, which she knew nothing about.
"Alex?" Gloria exclaimed with concern, "what happened to your poor tail? Is this welt from the fight?"
"Uh… no…" Alex stammered, "it's… I mean, earlier, Marty was… uh-"
"Alex, did Marty do this to you?"
"Umm… well, yeah-," Alex muttered, before his voice got choked out from the lump that was forming in his throat.
"I'm going to have to have a talk with him about this," stated the hippo, in her continued attempt to be fair in diffusing the conflict.
It got quiet between the two animals again as Alex felt the pressure in his head building to a climax, and his vision got blurry. Alex sniffled a few times, then burst into tears. Gloria instinctively reached out to the sobbing lion and held him.
"It's not Marty's fault!" he cried, delivering a brief, disjointed, but truthful account of the day's earlier events. "There was an accident earlier today, Marty tried to help me, and… oh Gloria, he was so kind and I was so mean to him… I'm such a monster… what have I done? I've alienated my best friend… now it'll never be the same between us again!" he wailed, holding his head.
"Now, now, Alex, it's going to be okay," she soothingly said to him, holding and gently rocking him as he wept. "Thank you for being honest with me, I kinda thought it was something like that. Listen, this was a bad situation, but Marty'll come around, I know he will… you'll see."
"You really think so?" said the heartbroken lion with a tiny spark of hope. His crying was diminishing.
"Yes I do," answered Gloria with a voice of confidence. "Just give it some time."
Alex sputtered and stopped crying, still sniffling a bit. At last, he stood up. "Well, I guess I better go and apologize," he said, wiping his eyes.
"Tomorrow," said Gloria. "Talk to him tomorrow. Given the situation, I think it's best for tonight if we let things cool down. Okay?"
"Oh," said Alex, disappointed, yet respectful of Gloria's insight on the matter. "Well, okay, if you think it's best."
Gloria nodded and took Alex's paw, and coaxing him to sit back down with her. Finally, the lion was calm. She pulled Alex up against her, gently stroking his fur.
"Gloria?" a voice resounded in the dark, perking up the lion's ears. It was Melman. "Gloria? Oh, thank goodness, there you are. Julien said you were up here somewhere. Hey, listen, sorry to disturb you but I need your help- it's urgent. Marty's getting worse, we need to get him into the icy stream right away to try and stop the swell-"
"Shhh!" Gloria was waving frantically and silently mouthing for Melman to be quiet as he spoke. He realized this and stopped, albeit too late, then saw the shocked expression on Alex's face, concluding that Alex was unaware of what was happening.
"Alex, hon," said Gloria nervously, "I have to, uh, go check on something again… you know, take another potty break, I gotta go go go! I'll be back shortly, just like before, okay?"
"What's going on, Gloria?" the lion demanded, frightened by what he had heard. "Is something wrong with Marty? Look, let me come down with you, I can lift-"
"It's okay Alex, we can handle it," Gloria replied unconvincingly. "Remember what I said. Tomorrow. You can talk to him tomorrow."
"But this is different," the lion pleaded. "Something is wrong, isn't it?. Let me go with you and help!"
"We've already discussed this. No, I really think it's best to let things settle for tonight. Stay here and wait for me, I'll be back."
"Please?"
"No, Alex," said Gloria firmly. "You leave Marty alone."
Alex stood there stunned, beginning to realize his presence was unwanted. Gloria hated parting like this. She had just gotten him calmed down, and now he was upset all over again. But she had no choice. Gloria hurriedly departed with Melman, leaving worried, miserable Alex by the tree at Lookout Point.