Welcome to chapter 2! My usual symbol rules apply, of course. So let's see what happened in those next 9 months.

CHAPTER 2 – Meet And Speak

(P staying with Marlene and moving a month forward)

The last month had been so exciting! Our children were growing like weeds! They were still absolutely adorable. Once the news had gotten out that our children had arrived, everyone had been desperately asking to meet them. Of course, we followed what Kowalski had said and denied everyone access.

Sometimes we even had to lock down the HQ to keep some of them out. We also had blacked out the windows in the HQ, to prevent anyone from getting an early peek before anyone else.

Unfortunately, Alice gradually began to get suspicious of why I apparently hadn't come out of my cave in months, so I began to do so again two weeks after having the kids and she eventually gave up on wondering why I had been absent. I performed to the best of my ability, since I was still recovering and feeding Annabelle.

We had given the kids their vaccines a week after they were born and luckily nothing went wrong. They actually seemed to act happier as we were spending more time with them. They kept doing cute things, like giggling and rolling around during playtime. Annabelle had actually started learning to crawl last week, with Samuel also learning just a day later. With them crawling, it was starting to get hard to keep track of them, even though they remained safe in the HQ.

"They're so cute, aren't they Skipper?" I asked him, while the children were sleeping. "They sure are Marlene. They seem pretty smart too. They are now just a month old and are already crawling. They sure beat Kowalski's estimates that they wouldn't begin to do so until they were two months old," Skipper said.

"They must have inherited that quick thinking from both of us. I wonder how they'll do when we train them in a few months, after they are truly adjusted," I said. "Like you did your first time, I'm sure they'll do great," Skipper said. "I did have a great teacher," I said, kissing him.

"What are we going to do about everyone who wants to see them though? I don't think we'll be able to keep them out much longer," I said. "Well, Kowalski temporarily took over for me after the kids were born and scheduled a meeting for tonight actually," Skipper explained.

"Ah, so you want to bring them in at the end as a surprise?" I asked, knowingly. "You could see through that right away, couldn't you?" Skipper asked. I laughed. "Yes. But I was actually thinking the same thing. It certainly would be fun. We'll need to make a stroller though," I said. "Let's get right on that," Skipper said.

We both spent the next few hours building a double stroller for the kids to ride in. Before we placed them in it when it was finished, we first put a cinderblock in, making sure it was stable and could handle the weight, since a cinderblock weighs more than the kids combined, for now. It worked perfectly. We removed the cinderblock and cleaned the stroller up, removing every speck of debris from construction and the cinderblock.

(P to that night in the Zoovenir ship) "And that wraps up tonight's meeting. Now if there are no further questions, we should all head back to our habitats," Kowalski said. Suddenly Becky and Stacy raised their hands. "Yes?" Kowalski asked them. "When will we be able to see Skipper and Marlene's children? It's been a month since they were born," Becky said. "Yeah, every time any of us tries to enter your habitat, you always lock it down," Stacey added.

"As much as I would like to tell you when, that decision is up to Skipper and Marlene, not myself. I think they're just trying to make sure the kids are ready to meet you all. After all, they are still only a month old. I know they seem to you all to be overprotective, but it's all for the best, as they keep telling me," Kowalski explained.

"Have they even been outside since they were brought back to your habitat? I started seeing Marlene again two weeks ago, but without any children," Stacey said, "Yes, they have," Kowalski answered.

"But both Marlene and Skipper have been seen outside, at varying times, both without any children," Becky said. "I'd like to tell you why, but Skipper and Marlene have both said that is classified," Kowalski said. * Everyone groaned, knowing that as long as the information was classified, they would probably never know.

(P to outside the shop and to Marlene)

"Are you ready to show our children to everyone?" I asked Skipper. "Yes, I believe it's time as well Marlene," Skipper said. "Well, are you two ready?" I asked Annabelle and Samuel. They simply looked at us with happy little faces. "They look like they're ready Skipper," I said. "Well, let's have some fun, shall we?" Skipper said. We moved the stroller away from the door a bit, before opening it.

"Hi. Are we late?" I asked, with Skipper and I poking our heads through the door. "We were just taking final questions," Kowalski answered. "Yes. We all want to know one thing: When will we be able to meet the children?" Becky asked. All eyes were fixed upon us.

"Funny you should mention that," Skipper said. I walked over to where we had put the stroller and rolled it inside. At the sight of our children, everyone Awwed. Skipper and I were both beaming. "Now before you all come at the same time, can we please have an orderly line?" I asked.

Everyone followed my orders, with some trying to whisper Wow, they sound even more like each other lately. Since Skipper had trained me last year, I actually was able to pick those up without them knowing. It felt really good to hear those nice comments, since they were absolutely true.

As friend after friend came by, they congratulated us and said how cute the children were. They also said that the children looked just like us. As we finished, something looked like it was happening to both Annabelle and Samuel. They were both trying to move their lips and beak and were actually trying to make words!

Both Skipper and I stood guard around the twins, making sure no one would interrupt them while they tried to speak. "Mommy," Annabelle said in the cutest little voice I had ever heard. Samuel also said right after she finished, "Daddy," also in the cutest voice. "That's right children, we're your Mommy and Daddy," I said to them. They giggled in that cute little laugh again. Everyone was amazed at how fast our children had learned to speak and congratulated us once again.

With that, we all went to our habitats. On the way back, the twins kept saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" over and over, trying to learn language. It kept bringing tears of joy to Skipper and I's faces every single time. Once we got back to the HQ, though, they fell asleep as Skipper and I slowly rocked them back and forth. We placed them in the cribs.

"They really are fast learners. 1 month old and they've already learned to crawl and speak," I whispered quietly. "They really beat out Kowalski's estimates with speaking. He claimed they wouldn't speak until they were three months old," Skipper whispered. "Pengotters. They have the best traits of both of our species," I whispered. "I wouldn't have it any other way Marlene," Skipper said to me. We kissed in a full embrace and then climbed into our bunks, going to sleep ourselves.

Wow. Pengotters are really smart. Please rate and review this chapter. New one coming soon! Time for one quick note.

* They've been outside with no one noticing via the Stopwatch, of course.