Hello!!!!! Here's the sixth chapter - again, thank you Monsy 38!!!!!! She really is a great help to me.

Ian waited on the concrete island the next morning for Skipper to return from aerial recon duty. He swam a couple of laps in the pool and jumped out when he saw Skipper arrive.

"Good morning, Skipper!" Ian said brightly.

"Morning, Ian. Everything go okay last night?" Skipper casually asked.

"Oh, yes. Rodney found a copy of Edward Scissorhands. It's one of his favorites."

"Yeah, one of mine too… anything else happen I should know about?" Skipper wasn't really expecting an answer and was about to move the fishbowl away.

"Well, now that you mention it…"

Skipper stopped, then turned back to Ian."What?" he asked seriously.

"Umm…" Ian pretended to be thinking of how to ask this question. "Well… does Kowalski usually talk in his sleep?"

"Huh? No!" Skipper said, surprised. "Why?"

"Well, about 0200 hours last night, he started thrashing around in his cot and muttering things. You know I'm a light sleeper, and his cot is closer to my side of Amy's and my bed, so he woke me up." Ian lied smoothly.

"What did he say?"

Ian did not say anything. He pretended look around and find a distraction.

"Ian. Tell me what Kowalski said!" he ordered.

"All right, all right… I remember perfectly. His exact words were, Sweet Marlene, let us be wary, let us hide our loves! (1) And then, he started kissing his pillow, and… things like that."

Skipper felt like he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him.

"What?!" he gasped. "You're lying!"

"I wish that were the case, Skip-"

"No!" Skipper stepped backwards, then swung forward and grabbed Ian by the shoulders. If looks could kill, Ian would be immediately stabbed by the knives coming figuratively out of Skipper's furious eyes.

"I need proof. I refuse to believe this until I have proof!"

Ian paused for a few seconds, then said softly, "Didn't you tell me about some sort of necklace that you gave Marlene? Shaped like a strawberry?""Yeah…" Skipper didn't like where this was going, especially since he hadn't told the rest of his team about the gift.

Ian, for the first time that morning since talking about Rodney, told the truth:

"I saw Kowalski carrying it last night, before we all went to bed. He said he'd found it under his pillow."

Skipper could not even breathe. Why would Marlene give his gift to her to someone else… especially another man? He'd TOLD her (well, the best he could) that the necklace was supposed to be some sort of a physical sign of his love! Didn't she love him, the way she always said?

Then, it hit him.

Marlene didn't love him at all. Maybe she never had.

Maybe she was just like every other girl he'd ever cared for… thought it would be exciting to date a tough army guy, but was soon disenchanted by the simple fact that he just didn't know how to love anyone. Well, he knew how, but he didn't know how to show it. But, usually, they let him down gently, leaving him some dignity afterwards.

But not Parrot Girl in Ecuador.

Not Lola.

And now… not Marlene. They were succubi, all of them! Enticing him with pretty faces and empty words until the sucked the life right out of his heart!

And Kowalski. His best friend, who knew what Marlene meant to him… his heart ached too much to think about it.

But, he'd been around Private too long to not see a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe Ian was wrong. Maybe this was all just a big misunderstanding.

"I'm going to go talk to her. Maybe she can clear this all up."

Ian nodded. He knew it wouldn't work.

Well, for Skipper, at least.

…

"Marlene? You home?" Skipper called out warily.

She came outside, and gave him a wide smile.

"Skipper!" She greeted happily. "How's it going?"

"All right, I guess…" he said.

"Why don't you come in? I've got something to talk about with you."

"All right…"

The two of them walked inside Marlene's home. Skipper, almost instinctively, looked to the end table where he'd last seen the necklace. It wasn't there, and nor was Marlene wearing it.

"Marlene, where's that necklace I gave you?"

She stopped in her tracks. She couldn't very well tell him she'd lent it to someone less than forty-eight hours after he'd given it to her.

"Uh, I put it away."

"Why? I thought it would look nice on you."

"Look, let's just not talk about that. I wanted to talk about Kowalski."

Oh, sure! Skipper thought with anger. Won't even think about MY gift to her, but is all too eager to discuss KOWALSKI!

"Where exactly is the necklace?" he asked in a clipped voice."What about Kowalski? He's a great guy, you can't just leave him hanging!"

"The necklace!"

"You'll never find a more sufficient man-"

"The necklace!"

"A man that all his time hath founded his good fortunes on you, shared dangers with you -"

"THE NECKLACE!" (2)

They were shouting at each other by now. Skipper was so angry, his vision had a slight red tint to it. Was she really this heartless? More importantly, how could he have not seen this before?

Marlene was angry too. The stupid necklace anyway, didn't he know he'd given it to her with a broken clasp?! And, more importantly, why didn't he care about his friend anymore?

"Skipper, just listen to me!" she tried to take his flipper and calm him down, but he wouldn't have it. He pushed her away, shouted something unintelligible, and stormed out.

Only when he was gone did Marlene allow her tears to fall.

What was wrong with him? she thought, almost desperately.

Meanwhile…

Since Skipper was gone, Kowalski retrieved the necklace that had inexplicably appeared under his pillow last night and dashed out of the HQ. Avoiding Marlene's habitat - which Kowalski knew Skipper probably was - he waddled over to the dolphin habitat and climbed up the ladders the zoo's divers used. He jumped in the water when he saw Doris was already awake.

"Doris?" He called out underwater.

"Oh! Good morning, Kowalski!" his girlfriend said brightly. It still made his stomach flutter to think the words his girlfriend. Doris nuzzled his beak with her snout, which made Kowalski blush a little under his feathers.

"Uh, um…" Darn it! He'd had this all planned out, and was now too flustered to remember! "Uh, I found this." Kowalski showed her the necklace. "I, um, thought you would like it…"

Doris smiled. Kowalski did too, seeing that lovely sparkle in her dark eyes.

"Oh, I do! Thank you, Kowalski!"

He helped her put it on and beamed. Operation: Happy Girlfriend accomplished!

Even in the water, they both started to hear yelling from the otter habitat. The words were too distorted to know what they were saying, but they knew who it was.

"Oh, mama - Skipper sounds angry. I'd better get back."

"OK. Good-bye, Kowalski." Doris said, winking at him.

"Have a good day, Doris."

(1) Act III, Scene III, lines 433-434 (Iago says Cassio does some pretty grotesque and suggestive stuff in his sleep, so I cleaned it up a little bit.)

(2) Act III, Scene IV, lines 93-98 (Othello is actually yelling "The handkerchief!" but I changed it so it was a necklace instead. Otters don't use handkerchiefs. I think.)

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