OMG, fast update! Yayness! This is also a long chapter. Special thanks to reviewers izmaeembac (wow, thank you! And no, it is not weird, though I don't think it will happen) and EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD (well then, keep reading!)! And now, on we go!

When They Came

Chapter Six: January 1 (continued)

Skipper sat in the landing of the main staircase, as close to the lobby as he could get without actually being in it. He glared at the freshly polished mailboxes, which were the only other things he could see besides the door. Stakeouts were incredibly boring. Kowalski and Rico came pounding down the stairs, laughing and chasing each other, but stopped when they found their friend sitting in their path.

"Skipper? What are you doing?" Kowalski asked him.

"Watching for the spies," Skipper said, not looking up.

Kowalski and Rico knew who Skipper was talking about, but they were both confused. "I thought they weren't coming until tomorrow?" Kowalski said.

"Tomorrow could mean two in the morning for all we know." Skipper still hadn't looked up.

Kowalski and Rico exchanged a glance. "2:00 AM isn't for another thirteen hours," Kowalski informed him.

"We have to be ready!" Skipper finally turned around to look at his friends, and he did not look happy.

"Cuckoo," Rico whispered, after Skipper had turned back around.

"Am I right in assuming that you're going to make us sit with you down here tomorrow?" Kowalski asked, though he knew the answer.

"Well, duh," Skipper snapped. "But I'm staying here until they come. Or until dinner. Whichever comes first."

"Suit yourself," Kowalski said with a shrug. "Rico and I are going to the park to observe winter clouds."

Rico didn't agree. "What?"

Kowalski stuttered a bit. "Oh, I guess that might've came out in a way that sounded like we were going to try to walk across the creeks that froze over, but I meant we were going to observe winter clouds." He gave a sheepish grin.

Rico glared.

"Alright, how about I watch clouds while you try to drown yourself?"

This satisfied the more daring of the two, and with that they ran down the remaining steps and out the front door of the building, leaving Skipper alone once again on the staircase.

"Mom!"

"Dad!"

All four adults, even the ones who had not been addressed, did a mental face palm. If you had been in an airplane with five rowdy kids for twelve hours, what would you do?

You would think that the younger four-year-olds, Mort and Kylie, would be the main problem. But of course, they were second only to King Julien, who had been whining periodically throughout the entire plane ride. He and Maurice had played every possible game they could in their confined space, which wasn't many. When they had been advised to simply have a friendly discussion, the conversation topics hadn't strayed far from Julien, his interests, his likes, his dislikes, and anything and everything else related to the king. And because Julien tended not to be the quietest of kids, most people on the plane now knew a lot about this young boy.

Maurice had eventually reached the end of his rope and told Julien to shut his mouth for two seconds. And of course, no one speaks to the king in that sort of tone, so naturally Maurice was insulted right back, which led to an argument. Which had led to a comment so insulting that they had called for their parents.

Julien's father sighed. "Both of you need to calm down. Now Julien, he has a point about you needing to be more quiet-"

"My own father!" Julien wailed. "Everyone is being a critic!"

"Maybe people wouldn't be so critical if you would talk about something other than yourself," Josh said. He was quite tired of listening to the annoying boy's voice.

Another insult, another blow-out argument. Julien and Josh fought loudly, getting in as close to each other's faces as they could get without actually leaving their seats, with poor Maurice stuck, literally, right in the middle.

One of the flight attendants made her way down the aisle to Julien's father. "Excuse me, sir? Could you please do something about your son? He is disrupting the other passengers."

Julien's father sighed again. "Yes, I will quiet him down."

"Thank you." The flight attendant walked away.

Mr. Ringers looked at his son. This was going to be difficult. "Julien!"

Julien did not listen, of course, as he was too busy telling Josh was a booty-head he was.

He tried again, a bit louder. "Julien!"

Maurice had had enough. He uncovered his ears and yelled, "Will both of you just shut up already?" Julien and Josh stopped arguing to look at him. "Everyone on this whole plane can hear you and it's driving everyone nuts!"

Almost everyone on the plane heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Maurice," Julien's father said. "Now! Next argument, someone is switching places! I mean it!"

"Can it be me?" Josh volunteered. "Please let it be me!"

Julien rolled his eyes at the teenager. Josh always seemed to be getting him in trouble.

Kowalski and Private sat under a bare tree in Central Park, watching the sky while Rico spun himself around in circles on the ice that apparently wasn't going to break anytime soon.

"Did you see Skipper on your way down here?" Kowalski asked Private, who had joined them about fifteen minutes after they had arrived.

"Yes," Private replied. "I feel like I should've stayed and sat with him, so he wouldn't be alone."

"You know how Skipper is," Kowalski told him. "When the new neighbors come tomorrow, we'll show him they're perfectly normal people and he'll calm down."

"I guess you're right," Private said, still worrying. "Kowalski? You don't think they'll be spies, do you?"

"Of course not," Kowalski said. "The situation with those other neighbors was just a fluke. I'll bet you that there is nothing out of the ordinary about these ones."

Private smiled. Kowalski was right. The neighbors would come, Skipper would see the truth, and everything would be fine.

Julien sat back in his chair, bored out of his mind. Maurice and Josh had both gone to sleep, and he was not about to turn around and talk to Mort or Kylie, who were also both asleep anyway.

He might've been asleep too, but there was too much on his mind. What was going to happen when he got to New York? What would his new home be like? He knew he would have to start going to school, which also made him nervous. His father had told him that he would be in third grade, but there was a problem. Maurice was only going to be in second grade, so he would be by himself. Julien's father said that he would've been in second grade, had he been born a couple of days later. Julien didn't want to start school by himself, but that's what he had to do.

Julien wanted to go to sleep, but couldn't. He was sitting next to his father now, because he had accidentally gotten into a small argument with Josh. He wasn't allowed to go back to his seat for a couple of hours.

"Dad?" Julien whispered to his father, who had his eyes closed but wasn't quite sleeping.

"Yes, Julien?"

Julien wasn't really sure what he wanted; he just wanted to talk to someone. "Will you read me a story?"

Julien's father smiled at his son; he was much more pleasant when he was sleepy. He reached down into his bag and pulled out one of Julien's picture books that he was much too old for but liked to hear anyway.

Julien rested his head on his father's arm, and did not even hear the first line of the story because he had discovered how sleepy he really was.

About the school thing up there: I don't know about everywhere else, but where I live, you have to be a certain age by a certain day to qualify for a grade. In my world, Julien's birthday is August 13, which would've made him age eight upon entering third grade (had he been there at the beginning of the year). Also in my world, Maurice's birthday is December 23, making him age seven upon entering second grade. That's my logic, but don't worry. Everyone stays together. You just have to wait to find out how. ^_^

I over-explained that up there. Oh well. So that is chapter 6! Hope you liked it. If you did, tell me please! Also, as soon as I post this chapter, I will post a preview for chapter 7 on deviantART. I am InternetGirl123 on there as well. So yeah. :)