It was a bright and warm day like any other spring day. Well to Marlene it seems that every day was a bright and gorgeous day. She stood outside her cozy little shelter and basked in the warm sunshine. It was a peaceful day as she watched a swallow couple dart across the blue skies. The wind was sweet and cool as can be and the clouds were as creamy-looking and foamy as an ice cream float.

"I could never have seen a more perfect day," Marlene said cheerfully and took a deep breath.

She stepped onto the grass and peered into the crystal clear waters of her pool. She smiled at her reflection and thought how pretty she really looked. Huh, she thought to herself. No wonder King Julien checks himself out in the mirror, it's actually kinda fun! It was until now she hadn't thought how good-looking she was. The more she thought about this, the wider her grin grew. She turned her head in every possible perspective and was just having fun with impressing herself.

She was having so much fun, that she didn't even notice a dark figure lurking behind her. It approached Marlene from behind and she didn't even notice! She was looking into her bright eyes, until on the last second she caught a glimpse of the shadowy figure in the water. She couldn't even react until the next thing she knew she was swooped off her feet!

"Wah!!!" she screamed as she felt someone wrap around her waist and pull her back.

"Hehe, you should be a little more alert than that, Marlene," chuckled a familiar voice still keeping a firm grip around her waist.

Marlene growled playfully when she realized who it was.

"That was a cheap shot, Skipper!" she retorted jokingly. "It's easy to sneak up on an enemy when her back's turned. Why don't you face me like a real man?"

"Not even a man can face you," purred Skipper as he brought his beak close to her ear.

Then suddenly Skipper turned Marlene around to face him. There he was; her hero in shining armor. Marlene blinked and could feel her body heat up.

"Never send a man to do a penguin's job," he smiled as he leaned close to Marlene.

He stared ever so tenderly in her eyes, so confident and so cool. It was his secret weapon to get straight to Marlene's heart. He knew she couldn't resist his confident and seductive charm and she never will.

Marlene's eyes drooped and smiled tenderly. She closed her eyes, giving Skipper the impression she wanted a kiss… he was wrong.

"Boop," Marlene poked the tip of his beak.

"Ow!" replied Skipper.

"Nice try, bird brain," smirked Marlene. "But I've seen that trick before."

Skipper released Marlene and rubbed his beak while Marlene shook her finger at him. Since their fiasco had cleared up, Skipper and Marlene had become pretty close. Skipper continued to lead his team to super spy missions and whatnot, and yet still made enough time to spend with Marlene. Everyone in the penguin team agreed that their leader was back and here to stay. Everything had gone back to normal… but to Marlene there was still something about her dear friend that hadn't quite gone back to normal.

Skipper smirked deviously, "Looks like I'll have to change tactics then, don't I?"

"Hmph!" Marlene rolled her eyes. "Good luck."

Marlene then took off away from him and leapt into her pool. Skipper smiled and shook his head. She was ready to take him on for a friendly chase… it was up to him if he wanted to make it wild.

Skipper dove into the water after her, feeling the cool rush and the foaming bubbles against his feathers. Marlene looked right up at him from below the pool. Skipper spotted her down there too and smiled playfully. She smiled back at him and then swam further away from him. Skipper shook his head; she wasn't getting away from him easily. He swam after but she'd always slip away from him. This was her element after all. Marlene turned and twisted, thinking she could confuse him, but Skipper's body could keep up with his eyes. Wherever he saw Marlene, he would be there at the same moment. She looked so graceful and so fun, the way the sun rays brought out the different vibrant hues of blue from the water that really highlighted Marlene in a gorgeous way that Skipper had just about enough of her.

Marlene dashed and sped through the water, enjoying herself. It was always so much fun to be around Skipper. Just knowing the fact that her dearest friend, who happens to be the head of his pack and a hilariously charming penguin, is chasing after her wanting to have her by his side made her feel on top of the world. If she could she would sprout wings and just soar into the wondrous skies; flying among the clouds and chasing shooting stars, just she and Skipper together. But for now, they can only chase each other in her habitat's pond, but it's still just as good. She's never felt so happy and alive- just to know that Skipper was right behind her. She turned around to see the cute and confident smile when she realized he wasn't behind her anymore.

She stopped suddenly and looked to her left, and then she looked to her right. She spun around in a 360 degree spin, but she still couldn't find him. The pond looked completely empty. The pond's not even that big and he still managed to disappear? Where could he have gone? Suddenly Marlene grew uneasy, how could he just be gone? She swam a little further but nothing; he was nowhere in the water. She decided that he had given up and left the water, which would be very peculiar since she didn't even notice him leaving. Suddenly once more Marlene was grabbed by her waist! Suddenly she was spinning round and round and shot out of the water, still spinning! She gasped and sucked in a gulp of air in both surprise and lack of oxygen. She was still spinning in the air, with water sprinkling around her in a sort of magical effect; she wondered for a split second what she must look like with the water around her like that. Suddenly she realized the spinning stopped, but the world was still spinning around her! When she regained focus, she realized Skipper held her up in bridal style.

"Gotcha didn't I?" he smiled cheerfully. "Now that's how you do a Cork Screw!"

Marlene groaned, "You jerk."

"Hehe, me?" he chuckled. "You were the one playing hard-to-get." Then he dipped her low, forcing Marlene to grab onto his head. "You were doing it on purpose to get my engines running, didn't you?"

"Oh please!" shrieked Marlene as her cheeks blushed.

Then Skipper laughed, "Aw lighten up, you know I'm just playing!"

Then he set her standing upright. Marlene smiled and shook her fur. She looked back at him and saw that smile on Skipper's face. It was then the question crossed her mind.

"Did… the serum ever wear off?" she asked suddenly.

Skipper's happy expression turned into a curious one. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Marlene shrugged, "Well, after the whole… thing happened, we were pretty cool about it. But now lately I'm starting to get the feeling everything didn't go exactly back to normal."

Skipper thought it over and sighed, "Maybe I should let it down a little, huh?"

"Well…"

"Sorry, I really can't help it. To be honest I've been noticing that myself. But still being honest… I really can't help it."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"Heh, don't think I'm still in the serum's 'mind-control effects.'"

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Uh, huh?"

"And don't freak out when I say that truthfully… I'm doing it on my own free will."

Marlene's eyes popped and her whiskers drooped. "HUH???"

"I never noticed how cute you look when you blush like that before the incident… and I can't resist temptation to make it happen."

Skipper warned her she wasn't going to react well, but she did anyway. Of course she would! Does this mean that he could attack her whenever he wanted to?! Marlene was dumbstruck. Should she run away again?

"And before you go running to the hills," Sipper continued. "I've been at this for a while and you seem to go along with the flow… any reason behind that?"

Marlene gulped; she realized she was now put on the spot.

"Uh, what do you mean?" she stammered and turned to the ground. "I just thought you were playing and… I thought I could play along too."

Skipper smiled, it was always fun to watch Marlene blush- and it always makes him feel even better to know that he makes her feel that way. He's the only one that can do that. And Marlene began to feel irritated with this fact. She's never blushed so much around him before, and she was beginning to think that it was a terrible habit she had better change soon. It would give Skipper too much ego.

Then Skipper shrugged, "Well, I could always turn it down a bit."

Marlene looked up at him with a raised brow.

"Or," Skipper leaned close and lowered his voice. "We could just keep playing this little game of ours."

Skipper's eyes drooped and shook his brows up and down. Marlene's eyelids drooped in annoyance… her blush turning redder.

"Okay," she began and turned around. "I'm going to go find something to hit you with now, so just wait right here."

Skipper threw his head back and laughed, "Aw, c'mon Marlene, it was a just a joke! There's no need to use lethal force on your old pal now-"

SWISH! Suddenly Skipper's eyes popped wide to see a plastic baseball bat waving at him! Swish, swish, swish! She found something to hit him with pretty quick!

"MARLENE!!!" shrieked Skipper.

"Hold still!" yelled Marlene. "I'll whack that serum out of you soon!"

"Wait, stand down, I'm fine!!!"

But she wouldn't listen to Skipper's pleas as she continued to swing her bat trying to land a hit. Skipper kept dodging her attacks, but he was surprised how determined she was to hit him! And though it was a bad time to think about it… he was already thinking how cute she looked when she was angry! Then he blushed a little, this was getting a little wierd.

"Just stay still, Skipper!" scolded Marlene.

She swung once more, swish! Then SLAM! Skipper caught Marlene's arm in his grasp and brought her close up to him. Marlene blinked, shocked by his action. Then she shook her head and tugged trying to get her bat back.

"Let go!" she shrieked.

"Would ya just stop with the bat already?" Skipper growled, trying to keep the bat in his grip.

"Not until you quit that cutesy, flirting game with me!"

"Just give it up!"

"No!"

"Marlene!"

"Skipper!"

Finally Skipper yanked the bat away with one pull, but it didn't end there. Suddenly Marlene pounced on him, knocking him over! WHAM! It certainly knocked the air out of Skipper, when Marlene landed on him and he began to choke in his breath. Marlene heard this as her head rested on his chest and then sat up to look at his expression. She got up almost immediately and watched him gasp for breath and his eyes shrink. Then finally he passed out. Marlene panicked.

"Skipper?" she asked. "Skipper, can you hear me? It was an accident, I didn't mean to!" she cried before she got on her knees and continued to look down on him. It didn't look like he was breathing, and he looked so helpless! "Oh, what do I do? Just wait right here, I'll get Kowalski… wait but I can't leave you! But, but!"

Then she pressed his chest, wondering if she actually killed him! Then the first thing that came to her mind: CPR. She paused and began to blush.

"No way! Uh, uh!" she shook her head and got up. "I don't even know how! I'll just get Kowalski."

But as she got up she began to think what the team would say to her if she came back with their help but it would be too late. She should've tried everything in her power to save him, right? She's the only one that can right now! She was the one who killed him! Then she felt her own heart had stopped beating for a split second. She made her decision.

She got down on her knees and lifted Skipper's beak upwards. It looked like he was knocked out cold! Her cheeks began to burn furiously and her breathing picked up speed. This was ridiculous! Okay, she thought. You can do this. It's just CPR, okay? Okay? She opened his beak a little, sucked in air, and dove in. She pressed her lips against his beak and exhaled inside. She could feel his chest rise against hers and she got up. She looked at him fearfully, wondering why he wasn't waking up.

"C'mon!" she scolded.

Then she leaned in again and blew more air in his beak. She was very shaky; she had no idea what she was doing right now!

"Wake up!" she cried already feeling her eyes burning.

This was utterly embarrassing and scary for her! Was she even doing this right?

"Just open your eyes!"

Then she dove in once more, blowing more air. Then she got up and still didn't see him waking up. It just simply looked hopeless! It really looked like he could be gone!

"Oh, Skipper!" she shrieked. "What… what've I done?!"

"HAHAHAHA!!!"

Marlene screamed her lungs out! "WAHHHH!!!"

Skipper just exploded into laughter, scaring the living daylights out of poor Marlene. Then Skipper slowly sat up and kept laughing. For the moment, Marlene couldn't figure out what was going on!

"Skipper!!! You're okay!" she cried.

Skipper kept laughing, "What? You really think a tackle like that would kill me? Marlene, I'm impressed!"

Then he threw his head back and kept laughing. Then she felt her temperature skyrocket through the roof and her body tensing up. Boy she had never felt so angry in her entire life!

"You… you MORON!!! YOU TRICKED ME!!!" she growled through clenched teeth.

Skipper wiped away a tear in his eye, "Don't worry, Marlene, I'll show you how to perform a proper CPR someday. You were just a bit rusty."

"I don't need you to show me anything!!! I just wanna grab you and rip your limbs apart!!! You, you…!!!"

Marlene kept screaming, but she was so embarrassed and so angry, she couldn't put any words into her voice. It was just plain gibberish and screaming, she literally went nuts!

Skipper couldn't have felt anymore satisfied with himself since he led the team on an expedition to the lost city of Atlantis. He could see her blushing and waving her arms around; he knew he was the only one that can make her this worried. He was having fun just watching her!

Then he smirked, "You know, Marlene, if you keep this up you'll be running out of breath soon."

But Marlene kept screaming and hollering. Then Skipper got up to his feet and pulled the otter up. She continued to holler. Skipper just rolled his eyes and kept smiling at her with his eyelids drooped. It made his heart melt to know she was so crazy about him like this.

"I WON"T EVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!!!" she finally screamed.

Then she sucked in air and began to pant from her moment irrationality. Her throat felt dry and sore all of a sudden, but she was still very much ticked off.

"Marlene," Skipper finally spoke. "I think you could use a little bit of CPR."

Then Skipper leaned in, eyes shut, and with his beak puckered. Marlene then felt her body melt. It was the most refreshing feeling in the whole world. Her body had been at its highest peak, and then suddenly it immediately dropped into her most relaxed state. A sort of rush overcame her. She closed her eyes just waiting for contact.

Instead though, Marlene felt a gentle kiss on her cheek. She felt that kiss might have lasted a long while before Skipper pulled back. Marlene opened her eyes and wore a puzzled expression. Skipper simply smiled warmly at her.

"We've got all the time in the world," he smiled as he wrapped his flippers around her waist in a warm embrace. "Why don't we take it slow this time?"

Marlene smiled, "Does this mean?"

"Only if you want to."

Then they leaned their heads close until their foreheads pressed against each other.

"This time I can wait," Skipper said.

"I think I can take my chances," smirked Marlene.

The couple stayed in that warm embrace. They were sure this bond had set on fire. Now with their lessons learned, they hoped to keep that flame burning for a long time. This couple has so much potential, that even the other penguins didn't have a doubt of any mishaps happening between them as they watched the romantic scene unfold before them through the periscope in their HQ. Kowalski nodded with approval to the other penguins as soon as he pulled away and they all exchanged high-fives. Skipper and Marlene's future sure looks promising now. Way to go guys, mission accomplished!