"Skipper? Marlene?" Private's voice echoed. "Where are you?" he appeared to be coming closer.

"Guess we have to separate for now." Marlene said. "I'll see you at the party later?"

Skipper nodded. "I'd like that."

"Skipper? Is that you?"

"Yes, Private." Skipper said, meeting the smaller penguin outside. "I just came to wish Marlene a happy holiday."

"Oh, okay." Private said. "Everyone else is having fun in the snow, want to come?"

"I don't know, I-" WHAP! Skipper was hit in the face with a snowball.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Rico laughed.

"You're going to pay for that!" Skipper scooped up snow and patted it before throwing as hard as he could.

Rico dodged it and the snowball hit Kowalski.

Kowalski yelped and looked around at Rico and Skipper. They were both bent double with laughter.

Kowalski took the opportunity to throw a snowball, but it missed and hit Marlene.

Soon, a big snowball fight broke out. There were no teams, just snow being thrown as well as something suspicious from Phil.

Rikki had grabbed snow and flung it as hard as she could.

"HEY!" Julien shouted, shaking pieces of flakes out of his fur.

"Sorry, I can't see!"

"Hey, your habitat water's starting to freeze!" Rocky said.

Kowalski turned slightly, "Yeah, don't disturb it and it'll- Yaaah!" He chopped a snowball thrown by Izzy.

"What are you guys doing?" Mikayla asked.

"Snowball fight, grab some and throw!" Kowalski answered.

Mikayla grabbed some snow, patted and threw it at the nearest animal she could find.

"COLD!" Mort shouted.

"Sorry!" Mikayla squealed. "I- WAH!"

A snowball hit her in the head.

"Pay attention!" Skipper shouted.

"ENEMIES BEWARE, WE HAVE RICO!" Kowalski shouted, lifting up Rico like a cannon. Rico's mouth was full of snow and Kowalski pulled his arm like a trigger. "MWAHAHAHA"

Snow shot out fast and hit most of the participating animals.

Mort was buried in snow when Kowalski was finished.

"I win." Kowalski said.

The others glared at him and scooped up big snowballs. They gave him a death look.

"Oh boy." Kowalski squeaked. He started to run, but slipped on Mort and fell in the snow.

He was about to lift himself up when the first snowball hit. He shook it off to see a shower of snowballs heading towards him.

He shot up and tried to run, but the majority of the snowballs hit him and caused him to fall down again.

"I think he's down." Skipper said. "Kowalski? Are you alright?"

A muffled noise responded.

"Don't worry; we'll get you out of here."

Another muffled sound came from under.

"What?"

They heard a strange noise.

"Kowalski?" Private said.

"Rr-vt- bckp"

"Back up?"

Beep beep beep beep…

"Private…I think you should move." Nat said.

Private backed up, but still looked concerned.

Detonation in three…two…one…

"Deto-what?!" Everyone gasped.

"EAT SNOW, SUCKERS!"

There was a loud BANG and snow flung everywhere as Kowalski held a smoking device.

He was covered in black soot, but still grinned as he looked at everyone else.

"AHAHAHAHA! Snow time to lose your head!" Kowalski laughed. "I've heard of a brain freeze, but this is ridiculous!" He fought to catch his breath. "Oh- haha- you're-ha- completely- Ah, I love this."

"I-I'm N-not." Julien shivered. "S-smarty b-booty peng-penguin…b-be doing s-something."

Marlene, Nat, Mort, Izzy, and Maurice were shivering as they were covered in snow as well.

"K-Kowalski!" Marlene attempted to shout angrily. "Y-you are s-so…"

"Dead meat." Skipper finished.

"Oh boy." Kowalski squeaked again.

"KOWALSKI!" An angry voice yelled.

"Josie, what did I do to you?" The penguin said, eyeing the angry lemur that was rapidly approaching.

Josie held up Maya.

"Hi suck'a." The baby babbled.

"Uhh…I'm not responsible for any damages or colds or inappropriate language use." Kowalski said.

"Come on, Josie." Skipper said, shaking the snow off. "There's a lot worse things she could learn. And I don't even think that qualifies as a genuine swear, just a mild insult. Plus, she's not even saying it right."

"I hate technicalities." Josie grumbled. "I'm still not happy with this."

"I'm sorry; I promise I'll watch what I say." Kowalski said. "Snow need to be icy." He laughed.

"Snow knee, snow knee." Maya said.

"See, she's learning good things." Skipper said. "As well as jokes that are lame."

Kowalski glared at Skipper.

"Why don't we get everyone warmed up?" Skipper suggested.

The others agreed. Soon, the penguins were in the HQ with Marlene, Izzy, and the lemurs. Skipper was reluctant to let Julien in, but Josie gave him Maya to play with.

Sapphire and Candace whipped up a batch of hot chocolate and served everyone.

Private, Nat, and Izzy had blankets on. Skipper sat close to Marlene to keep her warm.

Julien grinned and looked over at them, bouncing Maya on his legs. "Skipper and Marlene sitting in de tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"Get to 'G' and the tree's going to destroy you." Skipper snapped.

"Are you two a couple now?" Josie said. "I knew it, you couldn't resist each other. I thought I saw you two sitting together and-"

"Josie, please don't make a big deal out of this." Marlene said.

"So you ARE admitting to being in love!" Julien said.

"Yeah, now sit down." Skipper said.

"SKIPPER AND MARLENE, SITTING IN DE TREE-"

"JULIEN!" Skipper yelled.

"Stop." Sapphire said. "Both of you, no fighting, it's Christmas."

"Ugh, fine." Julien said, rolling his eyes. "I cannot wait for my party, it will start in- eh, what time is it?"

"Half past three." Rex said. "You have an hour and a half until the party."

"I better get ready!" He said, springing up with Maya and running to his habitat. Josie, Mort, and Maurice followed.

Kowalski, Nat, and Izzy went to Marlene's habitat to chat about memories and adventures since they were separated. Of course, Kowalski kept classified things to himself."

"I think the ice is cold enough for us to skate on." Private said loudly.

Rocky went to check and came back to confirm this. Then she went to skate along with her mother, Candace, Private, Rikki, and Rex.

Skipper looked around; he and Marlene were alone except for Rico and Mikayla.

"Rico, why don't you make sure Kowalski's not giving out classified information." Skipper said. "And Mikayla can go with you."

"Okay." Mikayla said without waiting for Rico to respond. She took off with Rico behind her.

"Now we're alone." Marlene said. "How did you manage that?"

"Same way I managed to slip out of tons of naptimes, sheer luck and understanding siblings."

"You're adorable." Marlene said.

"Flattery, one of my favorite words having to do with you."

"Where will it get me?"

"Back where we were earlier."

"When you guys thought I was a spy when I first moved here and scared the living daylights out of me?"

"Not that far back." Skipper chuckled. "Let me refresh your memory."

"Please."

Skipper kissed her, his mind was numb and light.

"How are you?" Marlene asked.

"Still suffering flashbacks, but they're not as bad as I imagined."

"Does this help?" She resumed the kiss.

"Mmm-hmm." Skipper said.

"Hey Skipper, I- WAH!"

Skipper jumped and turned around. "Private? What are you doing?"

Private had his flippers pressed firmly over his eyes. "I-I just came for…I don't remember."

"Aww, Private." Marlene said, going to pat him on the back. "I'm sorry if we startled you."

"Or scarred you for life." Skipper said.

Private lowered his flippers. "No, I was just um…stunned…but I'm happy for you, really. That's what I wanted to do, give you time together."

"Well, thanks for that." Skipper said.

"Oh no!" Private gasped, "Did I ruin your moment earlier too?" he asked, tears coming to his baby blue eyes.

"Hey, don't worry." Skipper said. "Julien interrupted it first, but you actually announced your presence."

"Do you need more alone time?"

"Well, I was thinking of teaching Marlene to ice skate."

"What? No." Marlene said. "Not me, wrong Marlene. Leave a message after the beep. Beeeeee-"

"Marlene."

"Eeep."

"It'll be fun, and I'll be there for you."

"Promise?"

"I promised to come back, didn't I?"

"Yeah."

"Look at me and tell me you don't trust me."

Her brown eyes met his blue gaze.

"I can't." She said.

"So shall we go?" Private asked.

Marlene turned to him. "Great idea, let's go ice skate."

As soon as Marlene was up there, she was trembling.

"It's not that bad." Skipper said. "Watch!"

The penguins twirled around on the ice and Rico slid on his head.

"Come on, you can do it." Skipper said, holding out a flipper. "After all, have I ever let you down?"

Marlene took a deep breath and reached for his flipper, then retracted it immediately. "I-I can't…it's freezing cold and…what if I fall in and get stuck down there?"

"Do you think that if there was the slightest possible inclination that you could get hurt, I would let you cross danger's path?"

"No."

"Then trust me. We have to trust each other or else we'll be too scared to act because of fear. You have to trust yourself Marlene."

"I trust you and I trust myself, it's the ice I don't trust."

"Marlene, all of us are on the ice now." He pointed to the other penguins. "Don't you think that if the ice couldn't handle it, it would have crumbled by now?"

Marlene had to admit he had a point. "Alright." She said, clutching Skipper's flippers.

She gently stepped onto the ice and squealed at the cold. Skipper led her out a little bit.

"Marlene?"

Marlene looked around, everything was alright. "Yes?" she breathed.

"You're doing it."

"Huh?" She realized that Skipper had let go of her paws, but still kept his flippers out. "WHOA! OHMIGOSH!" She twisted around, her feet not quite getting in sync yet and she fell on her butt.

"These things happen." Skipper said, helping her up. "Let's just slide around for a while." He led her to the edge of the ice and helped her skate across.

"Oh-oh- oh gosh…I-I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Marlene squealed delightedly.

The other penguins cheered for her and she felt even more confident. Rico was helping Mikayla keep herself steady.

Skipper loosened his grip so Marlene could try to be independent, but she didn't want to let go just yet.

"I could do this forever." She said.

"HEY BUB! DAT IS MY JOSIE!" Julien yelled from his habitat.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "We better see what's up."

"Now listen here, Julien-"

"Shut your smarty beak!"

"What's going on?" Skipper asked.

"Idiocy, that's what." Nat said bitterly. "He didn't do anything illegal." She said to Julien.

"Yeah right!" Julien scoffed. "The otter there thought it would be cool to kiss my Josie."

"It was a small peck on her hand!" Nat yelled.

"I was just being a gentleman." Izzy said.

"WOMAN STEALER!"

"Watch the name calling!" Kowalski shot back.

"Watch his mouth!"

"Julien, I'm fine with this." Josie said. "Nobody's hurt and nobody's trying to steal me away."

Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Julien, Izzy's right, it's the polite thing to do." Skipper said. "Like this. Hello Miss Nat, pleasure to make your acquaintance." He gave her a small peck on her hand.

"And I'm not yelling at Skipper because I know he's being a gentleman." Marlene said.

"Are you sure he doesn't fantasize being with my Josie?"

"I don't." Izzy said softly.

"It's a different story if he kissed her on the lips and professed undying love, which he didn't." Kowalski said. "Oh and-" He smacked Julien on the head. "That's for telling me to shut my smart booty beak. Not even on Christmas can you be any less annoying."

"Eh, what?"

"Nothing. Your party starts in about fifty-three minutes."

"We got to get ready!" Julien said.

"Let's go too." Skipper said.

Approximately fifty minutes later, the animals were making their way to Julien's habitat.

Rocky put on her new body wash and she looked shiny like Kowalski had when he made it.

Julien wanted to perform music himself, but everyone just told him to stick with the boom box.

An hour later found the penguins on the dance floor. Marlene and Skipper were dancing slowly and looking at each other.

Rikki agreed to dance with Private because he didn't mind if she stepped on his feet. Rocky and Rico were chatting about explosives in the corner. Kowalski was refusing to dance; he just stayed behind the table to change the music.

Candace had been asked to dance by Maurice while Rex and Sapphire were dancing together.

"Come on Kowalski, dance." Nat said.

"I don't dance." Kowalski answered.

"That's not what I heard."

Kowalski blushed, "What did you hear?"

"Things…" Nat said slyly. "Come on."

Kowalski shook his head.

"I'll find you a dance partner."

Nat disappeared before Kowalski could retaliate.

"I'm not dancing." Mikayla said, trying to pull away from Nat who had a firm grip.

"You two, dance with each other."

"No." They both said.

"Come on, it's Christmas!" Nat said. "And Julien is not going to make fun of you." She pointed to Julien who was now trying to spin Josie around.

"Well, I guess we could dance next to each other." Kowalski said.

"Okay." Mikayla said.

The two of them stood next to each other and hummed, moving to the slow tune.

"Wow, awkward." Nat said. "You two have fun."

"I am having fun!" Kowalski shouted after her in an annoyed tone.

Mikayla turned away so he wouldn't see her giggle.

"I'm going to get a smoothie." Kowalski said, walking away.

"Can you get me one too?" Mikayla asked nicely.

"Why ca-"

"Kowalski, be a gentleman and get the lady something to drink." Skipper said.

"But-"

"It's the polite thing to do."

"Fine." Kowalski said, disappearing to the snack table.

His mouth fell open in shock when he saw the table. Mort was lying there, groaning while the smoothie cups were empty.

"What did you do?" Kowalski asked.

"My tummy feels dizzy."

"Your tu- Mort, please tell me you didn't drink all of this."

"But it tasted so good."

"It tastes like every smoothie Maurice makes."

"I know…maybe you can get more."

"That would involve going on a snack run, which we can't do because there's a foot of snow out there."

"Why don't you get another foot? I think we have two feets."

Kowalski slapped a flipper to his head.

"Do you have more fruit?"

"No, King Julien used all the foods to make the smoothies and the fruit salad."

"Good golly, we really do need to go on a snack run? The store's closed and I am NOT taking you snack shopping again."

"That's okay, my tummy's-" he ran to the corner of the habitat and threw up.

"That's…attractive…" Kowalski said. He began looking for his team, and then, thinking that he didn't want to bother anyone else's holiday, he slipped off undetected.

He searched the penguin habitat for loose change and put it in a bag before leaving.

He dashed through the frosty Central Park until he saw the market. He looked around before realizing that hardly anyone was out on Christmas and hurried across the street. He managed to slip inside without triggering the alarm and began looking for food. He didn't notice that the lights were still on.

As soon as he was loaded up, the lights shut off and he heard a lock click and a red light appeared at the corner of the door. He stared at it until he realized it was a door alarm, if he so much as opened it a crack, an alarm would sound. He also had no equipment to open the vents, he was stuck.

A/N: Stuck…and on Christmas too! Please read and review!