Author: Sorry, if chapter 3 came off a bit slashy. I didn't mean it to, or wanted it to. Well, here's chapter 4. If you thought the first three were juicy, wait until you read these next ones! By the way, I still don't own any of these characters, they belong to Dreamworks SKG.

Chapter 4: A Mutual Agreement

The hot white sand burned Julien's feet as he hopped over towards Gloria and Melman. The two had been waiting for Alex and Marty to return since dawn. They noticed Julien and gave him a proper greeting. "Hello," Melman said.

"Excuse me, but have you two seen Mr. Alex around?" The lemur inquired.

"If we knew where Alex was, we'd be having a great time at Marty's pad by now," Gloria answered bluntly. From the jungle came a second lemur. It was Maurice.

"Julien, when are you going to learn to wait up for people?" He panted.

Julien ignored the question, "Is there any shade around here. My precious feet! They burn!"

"Really," Maurice muttered, apparently not bothered by the sand.

Gloria shifted onto one hip, "Oh come off it!" Roughly, she took Julien and placed him on Melman's back. The gecko on his plant-like crown shifted.

Melman turned his head towards the small primate. "Um, you did wash this morning, right?"

Julien remained silent; Melman correctly assumed the worse.

"Why do you want to see Mr. Al- I mean Alex so bad?" Gloria asked.

"Tonight is a special occasion, and I wanted Mr. Alex to give a speech," Julien explained.

"Occasion?" Gloria rebutted, "And, what occasion is that?"

Julien proclaimed proudly, "Today is the fifth anniversary of my daddy's being eaten by a foosa." Strangely, his expression remained content. "I thought Alex could tell us stories of great carnage, you know, before the grand banquet."

"OK, first of all, why are you celebrating your dad's death," Gloria listed, "Secondly, Alex has absolutely NO stories of carnage. And finally, why would you want to hear stories of carnage right before you eat?"

"All fair questions," Julien responded, "But I don't care to answer them at this point in time." Maurice groaned at his friend's stupidity. The mood shifted when the penguins protruded from the thicket. Packed tightly together, they waddled to the clump of animals on the beach.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Skipper muttered.

"You want something?" Gloria asked.

"No," Skipper replied, "Not really. We're just bored. We'd be happy to keep you company, as long as the lion is far from here."

"Keep us company?" Melman retorted.

"Hold it there. You don't have to beg," Skipper answered , "If your that miserable without us, we'd be more than tolerant to talk with you."

"Um...OK," Melman gave up.

"Rico!" He shouted, "Get a copy of the newspaper. We can discuss current events." Sure enough, Rico then reached into his throat and pulled out a newspaper no more than a week old. Everyone felt it was better not toask questions.

Private began hopping up and down, "Skipper, sir?"

"Yes, Private," Skipper acknowledged impatiently.

"Can I see the comic section," he requested, "I love the one with the cat that eats lasagna."

"Fine," Skipper tore off a page and gave it to the eager penguin.

"And what should I do, sir," Kowalski wondered.

Skipper thought for a moment. "Go ahead and gather some fresh produce to snack on. It'll be like a group therapy session. God knows, they need it." He gave a glance at Melman and Julien. Kowalski obeyed and disappeared into a nearby tree with ninja-like stealth. Skipper began barking orders again. "Private! Rico! Go get some chairs from the zebra's hut, oh, and a coffee table would be nice."

"But, Skipper, I didn't even get to Cathy yet," Private whined.

"Fine, Private, I'll sum it up for you," Skipper cleared his throat and imitated the comic book character, " 'Life sucks and I'm as ugly as Hilary Clinton.' there you go, now get that furniture!" Private was slightly insulted, but nevertheless carried out his duties. Soon the penguins returned, having completed their set tasks. "OK, everyone, now please sit," he suggested. Only the penguins sat down. "I said SIT!" As if pulled by an invisible force, the others found themselves planted in their respective chairs.

Gloria grew annoyed, "What is this, The View?"

"Sorry, doll, but I'm afraid only you would 'measure up' to the requirements," Skipper commented.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" She asked angrily.

"Nothing, doll, nothing. Anyway," Skipper began, "Go ahead, take a load off, and discuss..." he looked at the news paper, "-the recent delay of the Hussein trial."

"Hey, what's that?" Melman pondered, looking straight in front of him. Gloria turned around and looked. Sure enough, on the sandy horizon lied a speckle of movement. Soon everyone's eyes focused on the traveling vector. It gradually came closer and into focus.

Gloria felt overjoyed, "It's Alex!"

Melman joined her jubilation, "And he has Marty with him..." his face darkened, "... he's carrying him..."

"You don't think..." Maurice began.

Skipper concluded the thought, "That lion does have an anger problem..."

"Oh, no!" Gloria exclaimed, "Marty!" With incredible speed (for a hippo), she ran to Alex and Marty, kicking up sand as she went. Melman followed with equal speed with Julien still on his back. Maurice and the penguins simply exchanged worried glances.

Alex recognized the figures running toward him. "Gloria!" he shouted happily, "Melman!". But his jubilation was not returned. A face of extreme horror took Melman's face. Gloria looked as though she was going to cry. Julien simply stared, open mouthed. All shocked at the sight of an unconscious Marty draped over Alex's shoulder's. "Hey, guys. What's the matter?" he asked.

"Oh, Alex," Gloria began sobbing. Alex suddenly realized what they were all staring at.

"Oh, no!" Alex defended, "You don't think I-"

"Oh, god, WHY!" Melman yelled into the sky trying to avoid looking at Alex, "I thought you had it under control!" Melman shook his fist, "Damn those Discovery Channel specials. Damn them all to hell!"

Julien pointed at the confused cat, "You are a MURDERER! A COLD BLOODED KILLER!"

Finally, Marty awoke. Though, no one seemed to notice qith Gloria's crying and Melman's cursing of educational brodcast. "Hey now," the zebra spoke up, "What's this about?"

Gloria took here head from her hands and looked at Marty. Melman's head finally lowered enough to see the situation. Gloria yelled happily, "Marty, you're OK!" Everyone's mood shifted to normal. Everyone, but Alex, who felt unimaginably hurt. Gloria was first to notice, as usual. Gently, Alex let Marty down. Once he was comfortable, he then looked at everyone trying hard not to speak. "Alex..." Gloria didn't know what to say. Also with a lack of speech, Alex stumbled off towards Marty's hut.

Having just woke up, Marty hadn't had a chance to grasp the situation. "Glo, what just happened?"

"Well, we saw Alex came... and he was carrying you...and last time we saw him, he just attacked Skipper...so, we assumed..."

Marty was shocked. "Gloria!" he emoted, "Do you really think Alex would hurt me?" he questioned, "EVER?"

Melman defended her, "Well, it would only make sense. He disappears into the jungle in his wild mode. You follow him. We don't hear from both of you all night, then Alex comes with you looking, you know, d-dead," he explained, "What were we supposed to think?"

Now, it was Julien's turn. "This will make for a good story at the banquet tonight!" He said happily. Everyone, shot a glance at him. "I'm guessing that was out of line?"

"Good guess." Marty answered. The lemur hid his head behind Melman's neck.

"Well, if Alex didn't attack you, then why are you on the ground?" Marty explained the long story.

Melman looked worried, "It was most likely just fatigue, but what if you had a minor heat stroke! Now your 10 more likely to get another in old age!"

"Good job of comforting him, Melman," Gloria added sarcastically.

"Sorry..." he apologized. "Well, at least that's over with."

"Oh, no," Gloria added looking at Alex who was now almost at Marty's hut. "We have another hot bed of coals to walk through, first."

Alex meandered into the small grass hut where the penguins were putting back the furniture. He completely ignored the door and just walked in from a side entrance. After putting down a chair, Private looked up to see Alex's down trodden face. "What's wrong Mr. Lion?" he asked so innocently.

Alex didn't feel like talking, but it was the least he could do to repay the penguin's concern. "Nothing, it's just... never mind," he answered.

Skipper placed the final melon in the storage space, "Don't bother, Private," he scowled, "Killers like that don't feel the need to talk to us innocent bystanders."

"Skipper!" Private scolded.

"You were there!" Skipper argued, "You saw him attack me!"

" It wasn't his fault," Private explained, "It was his instincts!"

"Instincts?" Skipper rebutted, "It's the 21st century; We don't get affected by instincts!"

Private added, "Says the penguin who hijacked a cargo ship and sailed it to Antarctica..."

Kowalski joined in, "Well, he does have a point, sir."

"Fine!" Skipper shot his arms into the air, "Everyone take the lion's side." He hopped off the counter making a ninja-like landing pose. "If you need me, I'll be at the swimming hole." He began walking towards the door.

"Wait," Alex halted him.

"Well, what do you want?" Skipper shot at him, "A round 2?"

"No," Alex knelt down to get closer. "I just wanted to say: I'm sorry."

"Sorry, kitty, but sorry doesn't cut it."

"Come on, Skip, forgive me," he pleaded, "Just this once."

Skipper thought it over for a second. "Fine," he agreed, "But on one condition."

"Yeah?"

"Never call me Skip again," He ordered.

"He-he, sure." Alex agreed.

Skipper turned around, and waddled back over to the counter. "Well, now that we've come to a mutual agreement, I think I'll stay.

Author: I tried to make this chapter funnier. The last three were really dramatic. Oh, but the plot will soon thicken. MUA HA HA HA HA!