The next following weeks were much worse now that Marlene was with Skipper. I was concerned that he was threatening our friendship…

"Marlene, do you want to hang out tonight?" I asked her. She quickly shook her head.

"Sorry, Kowalski, I already have plans with Skipper." She said.

"But you said that yesterday! How much of Skipper can you handle?" I asked, getting annoyed that every time I was free she was with Skipper.

"Kowalski… come on. I have to spend time with Skipper because he's my boyfriend. Sometimes that means I have to give up some of my spare time." She said, trying to convince me.

"So that means your friends come last?"

"Kowalski… that's not fair…" Marlene said, with a sad face.

"Isn't it? We used to spend time together every second we get, because that's what 'besties' do. Now that you're with Skipper, you're challenging our friendship. It's…" I couldn't think of a better adjective than as follows. "Stupid."

"Kowalski, might I remind you that you're the one who agreed to help me get together with Skipper? If you're such a scientist, you should have predicted the outcome." Marlene was beginning to get angry with me.

"How would I predict this with no data? Face it Marlene: Skipper is pulling us apart. All I'm asking is a little more time with you, but you decide to use it all on someone else who is less significant."

Marlene was very upset with me. "You're suggesting Skipper is not important? Skipper? You're military leader?"

I was at a loss of words. "I'm sure I've made my point, Marlene."

Marlene shook her head. "No, Kowalski. You can't expect me to have all the time in the world for you. There are other things in life that need to be taken care of. But I guess you can't understand that!" Marlene yelled, before walking off.

I stood there, frozen. The cold wind sent chills up my spine; the ground was now frozen to touch. Was Marlene really that upset with me? Would we ever be friends again? I simply walked slowly back to my habitat.

When I reached the penguin HQ, nobody seemed to notice I was upset. Skipper was busy preparing himself for his date, Rico was brushing his doll's hair, and Private was watching the TV. Since I walked about unnoticed, I walked straight into my lab. There, I decided to write a note to Marlene:

Dear Marlene,

I apologize for the way I acted. I shouldn't have said those things about you and Skipper. Even if Skipper is pulling us apart-

I paused and stopped writing. I crumbled up the note and threw it in the trashcan when thoughts began to fill me head. What if Skipper is really intentionally trying to pull us apart? No, that's ridiculous, I thought. My own military leader trying to do that to me? I walked out of my lab to see Skipper leaving the HQ.

"Be back in an hour… Rico, you're in charge." Skipper said, before leaving. Rico in charge?

I spent the next few months feeling lonely; the only times Marlene came to visit was to see Skipper. I was usually in my lab all day, working on some invention. Other times I was training with Skipper. But eventually, Marlene and I got over our little fight after we both apologized.

"Kowalski?" Marlene asked, entering my lab.

I looked up from the invention I was working on. "Hey, Marlene." It was such a terse statement, but there wasn't much to say.

"I wanted to say… well, I've been feeling kind of lonely," Marlene began, "and I wanted to hang out with you more."

Trying to not show the mutual feelings, I asked, "What about Skipper?"

"Skipper's my boyfriend, not my best friend," Marlene assured.

After that, we were friends again. We still didn't hang out as often as we had before, but we were still friends.

About two years later, while I was in the HQ alone, with the rest of the team performing recon, she handed me an invitation.

"You and Skipper's two year dating anniversary?" I asked.

Marlene nodded. "Yep, and you're the first one I've given an invitation to," she smiled. "So… you'll be there, right?"

"Well, assuming it's held in the HQ, duh!" I joked.

"Great, see you this Friday," she said, before walking off to hand out more invitations.

~-~

The party seemed to be going great. There were balloons from the Zoovenir shop, music from the lemurs', and all invited showed up. Rico, Private and I were playing seven-card stud, Marlene was chatting amongst her friends, and everyone's activities were interrupted by the Skipper's voice through a microphone.

"Attention, everyone?" he asked, speaking firmly but not too loud.

"I want to make a special announcement," Skipper said. "Marlene, can you please come up to the stage?" Marlene did as told.

"Well, I couldn't think of a better time to ask this. All my friends are around… everybody is in a great mood. I should get to the point." Skipper knelt down on one knee and opened a small box, revealing a diamond ring.

"Marlene… will you marry me?"

After gasps amongst the crowd, Marlene responded.

"Yes."

There was some cheer, and Marlene and Skipper kissed.

When some time had passed after the proposal, Marlene and I started chatting.

"So, marriage, huh? Sounds… exciting," I said.

"Yeah… I guess it is. But it wasn't really my ideal proposal location," Marlene responded, "I mean; what if I had someone propose to me who I didn't want to marry and I had to say no in front of all those people?"

"Good point. Are you excited to get married?"

"Well, what girl wouldn't be?" Marlene smiled a bit. "But… I just made dating anniversary invitations," Marlene frowned, "Now I have to make wedding invitations!"

We chuckled. "Don't kill yourself, kay? Tell me if you need help with the wedding," I said.

Marlene smiled. "Thanks," she looked over to Skipper. "Well, I guess I should be getting back to my boyfri- um, fiancé. Talk to you later, kay?"

"Sure." I said, watching her walk away.

~-~

It was finally the day of the wedding. I was chosen to be best man for Skipper. Skipper was wearing a tuxedo (which didn't look all so different since he is already black and white), and Marlene was wearing a wedding dress Mason cracked open a Bible and began reading verses about marriage, dedication, typical wedding verses. The crowd was growing restless, so he cut the wedding short.

"Do you, Skipper, take Marlene to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"Will you love, respect and honor her throughout your years together?"

"I will."

"And do you, Marlene, take Skipper as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I… I don't."

A/N: GASP! Why did she say, "I don't"? Wait for the next chapter! So, here's a somewhat mildly length chapter. Hope you enjoyed.