Skipper was scowling as he opened his locker only to find it overstuffed with valentines once more. He grabbed the three cards that weren't valentine cards and made his way to the cafeteria where he was to meet his brothers. The other three cards were birthday cards. One was from Classified, though lord knew how the man managed to send him the card when he was supposedly on the other side of the world. One was a "Trap" birthday card from Hans, a little something to say "I remembered" and still say "I'm only going to try and catch you with this today!" Even enemies respected birthdays after all. The last card was from his brothers, and it made him smirk as he opened it to find they had all signed it. He loved the small things like this.

His smirk was quickly dispelled though as he entered the cafeteria to find Private was quivering in a corner with his tray up as his shield as he tried to inch towards a door. "Kowalski, Rico; Private needs a rescue, ASAP." He muttered loud enough for his Bluetooth communicator/translator to tell the other two boys the situation. There were a bunch of girls trying to swarm the poor golfing assassin, and he wasn't allowed to even knock them out!

"Leave me alone, please…" Private whimpered.

That was it for Skipper. He made his way over to his youngest brother, his aura dispelling the thought of even coming near the younger. "Private, are you alright?" He asked calmly as he made his way over to the young boy. Private had a bunch of lipstick smooches on him, and a ton of papercuts from all the valentines that had no doubt come pouring out of his locker.

Private looked up with his baby blue eyes full of fear until he saw his brother. He sniffled and nodded weakly as he tried to stand up. He was shaking. "I… I'm… fine… Skippah…" He said quietly.

It was at this point that Rico and Kowalski showed up and saw the poor state their baby brother was in. "Private!" The two exclaimed as they went over to their brothers.

"Rico, get him to the nurse's office and try to get him a pass for sick leave. Kowalski, go with him to help. I'm handling this bunch."

The Sgt. and Lt. looked at each other before looking back at their captain. "Skipper, are you sure that's wise?"

"I won't hurt anyone. I'll just explain the situation a little so that we can hopefullyavoid this in the future." Kowalski nodded meekly as Rico picked up Private and started towards the nurse's office with the scientist following quickly behind.

Once his brothers were gone, Skipper looked back at the crowd of girls, and the occasional boy, who had frightened his little brother. He knew he'd have to make up something, and he also knew that Private had no idea why this was happening. He grumbled as he got onto a small box in the middle of the crowd. "Alright, ya Valentine's day crazed hooligans… listen up." The group instantly turned towards the elder Penguin Brother, as none would dare to fight him. "You guys overwhelmed my little brother. He's been home schooled and probably doesn't even know what you were all doing. You scared him. Now do yourselves a favor and don't crowd him like that again, ever. I see any more crowds trying to mess with my brothers, they're answering to me." He then got off the box and made his way to the nurse's office to check on his team, hoping that Private's anxiety would allow him to go back to the dorm for at least the rest of the day.

***Penguins***^^^***

Private was still shaking by the time that Skipper arrived in the nurse's office. They had even gone so far as to get "Mr. Shell" from his classroom to check on the boy. The doctor looked at Skipper with concern on his face, as the boy rarely went to the doctor's office, or the nurse's office for that matter unless forced to… by a bunch of guys who were at least twice as strong as he was… yeah…

"I'm surprised you came all the way up here without a problem, Skipper."

"While I do not want to be sent up here for things that could kill me…,"

"A flu shot will not kill you," The doctor tried to point out, but Skipper rolled his eyes as though he didn't believe that the man was only giving out flu shots.

"Anyway, I do believe I need to be there for my men should something happen to them, and with Private's… anxiety issues about large groups… he's been overwhelmed a lot today…"

"To that we can both agree upon then. Considering he's only comfortable with you three, I'll let you three have the second half of today off. It's Friday anyway, so you three can have all weekend to help Private recover. Nothing dangerous though, Skipper."

The other three boys managed to look at Skipper with curiosity, wondering what he had done to get the doctor to say that. Skipper rolled his eyes. "He means that I shouldn't take you boys on a camping trip and go fight bears or hang out in the sewers to fight the rats."

"Or any other thing that normal boys don't do!" The doctor reminded him harshly.

Kowalski chuckled darkly. "You went and did those on your own, Skipper?"

"NO!... we had a field trip and one of the cars broke down and I had to fight a bear while someone fixed the car… as for the sewer rats issue… let's just say that we don't get field trips to the sanitation station in town anymore…" This got Rico to chuckle as well.

The four looked at each other and then to the doctor. Private thankfully managed to speak up. "Um… do you have a list… of what normal boys do I mean?" Mr. Shell and the doctor both face palmed themselves. One for realizing that he should have taught Private some basic stuff, and the other for not realizing the four brothers weren't used to being treated like normal boys.

"You know what… forget it… you boys just… go do something that you deem safe and normal!" The doctor grumbled as he just about gave up.

Private put a hand to his chin as his shaking stopped. "Well how about we go visit the penguins at the zoo? It's Skipper's birthday after all…"

This got the doctor and the teacher/assassin to look at the young boys with curiosity. "Today's your birthday…?" The doctor asked slowly.

Skipper grumbled. "Yes, why?"

"You hate Valentine's day, and it's your birthday?"

Skipper frowned. "Kowalski, is there a broken record here, because I'm pretty sure I already answered this one?"

Kowalski rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses. "Skipper, give him a break. It's your own fault if you conveniently forgot to mention that the holiday you most hate coincides with your birthday every year."

"I liked it better when I didn't know it was the day for girls and boys to get all love crazy and try to attack us with hearts and kisses." Rico nodded in confirmation.

"Wait, you mean this is a holiday that actually has all of these people line up and swarm poor people just to show their affection?" Private looked dumbstruck at the idea. Showing some concern and love was fine, but what he experienced was basically a major fan group that wouldn't leave him alone! That was too much for a stupid holiday that should have been the boy's favorite given how much he loves to share how much he cares for people! "I think I'll stick with celebrating it as Skipper's birthday if that mob is what happens on a normal basis!"

"Agreed, so, how's about we grab our homework, put it on hold till tomorrow, and go spend the day at the zoo with the penguins and then tonight head over to the old place and see if Granny Acorn needs a hand with anything?"

The boys all smiled and gave each other high fives as they agreed on a plan. The doctor looked at them and then to the teacher who had been taking care of Private for the last five years as an assassin. "So they do know some things that are normal?"

"If they had said anything other than the penguins, I'm sure they would…" Mr. Shell grumbled as he returned to his classroom, confident that the brothers would take care of each other.

***Brothers and Trials***

Later that day, Skipper found Marlene talking to herself in front of the otter. She was muttering about how she couldn't get a date to the Valentines Day Dance, and while Skipper detested dancing and the holiday, he couldn't help but feel bad for Marlene, as well as confused. Marlene was one of the prettiest girls in the school! How could she not have a date?

Unfortunately, Kowalski was already by his side and predicting things, as well as the other two brothers. "Sir, if I may be so bold, Skipper; why not ask her out?"

"WHAT?" Skipper's eyes were wide with shock. He hadn't thought himself even on her level to do that. Sure, she was a great friend, but he was worried that that was all she was willing to be with him. He was one of the weirder and more dangerous kids to hang out with after all.

Private rolled his eyes. "Kowalski's got a date with Eva at the dance tonight, you could go out with Marlene at the same thing, and if you're really nervous about it, you can say you're checking up on them."

"And what will you two be doing?" Skipper looked at the younger two who grinned.

The two youngers nodded. "Why, we'll go to Granny's and help around the shop. Maybe a friendly game of Poker?"

Skipper thought this over for only a second. "Fine, be back by curfew, and tell her I said hello… and if I don't come back, no one tells Classified."

"Why that?" Rico asked with a grimace.

"Because if he finds out a date killed me, I'll win the worst bet in history." Skipper muttered as he made his way over to Marlene. His penguin doppelganger was laughing while trying to hold a salute in his direction. Skipper stopped, grabbed the Penguin off the ground before the zookeeper could notice, and chucked him at the otter habitat, startling both Marlene and her otter counterpart.

"What the heck?"

"He wants a date with an otter, he can ask for it himself." Skipper said as though that explained everything.

"Okay…" Marlene just laughed as the otter helped the penguin out of the water of her habitat where the two seemed to talk. "Huh… I didn't know Penguins and Otters could even talk to each other without fighting. They aren't exactly from the same habitat."

"Doesn't really matter since they're all in the same zoo."

"I guess you're right… What's up, Skipper?"

"…" Skipper bit his lower lip and closed his eyes as his head looked down. "I was… wonderingifyou'dgotothedancewithme… please?"

"What?" Marlene took a moment to process what he had just said while his courage was starting to fail him for perhaps the first time in his life. Marlene noticed the way he was shaking and blushed as her mind finally computed what had been asked of her.

"Never mind, I'll just…"

"Of course I'll go to the dance with you."

"HUH?" Skipper's Ice Blue eyes widened in shock as he looked at Marlene. She said yes? What kind of cruel prank was the universe playing here? Why would she be interested in him?

Marlene rolled her eyes and smiled. "I said yes. You need a partner to watch your brother and his date, right? It's awkward to go to a dance alone, especially a Valentine's day dance." She knew Eva had a date with Kowalski and had a feeling that Skipper was nervous about asking girls out. She was the only girl he actually seemed to be normal around.

"Uh… yeah, that's it… gotta make sure… Kowalski's fine…" Skipper murmured as he contemplated what she was saying. 'Great, she knows I'm overprotective of my team and she thinks I'm just asking to check on Snow… I already know that Kowalski will be fine though… I know Eva… Kowalski can handle himself around her… why can't I ask her out on a real date?'

Marlene moved closer to him and shocked him by whispering something in his ear. "I like roses and I'll be waiting in the lobby of the dorms at six. I know how you feel about people getting close to you, so thank you for trusting me… especially if this really is a date." She was blushing horribly as she moved away and started towards the dorms. She had a date to get ready for, and Skipper was just stunned.