Yes! New Chapter! *dances in crazy manner* *knocks over vase* Woops...oh well, anywho, Dedication! Blouper, no matter what you're always there, and Knockknocktimerico, you always have the kind of character that makes me forget about being sick or having a sprained ankle, To Smileas, Halfhuman, Gatorgirl, and RavenFeathersofDarkness for reviewing and making such amazing stories of themselves. *gives virtual hug* Love Ya'll!

Bonds

Marlene sits on the car seat, her eyes going nervously to the human beside her. He was a middle-aged man, with dark brown hair that was fading at the back. He was leaning heavily against the seat and his eyes stared unblinking. Or rather, his eyes were closed, but had the illusion of being open by a cleverly drawn pair of pupils. On his lap stood Kowalski. His flippers were turning the wheel and he was craning his neck in order to see the road. Marlene looks at the back seat where the incubator sat. Kowalski had gotten a bumper seat from the taxi's trunk and placed the incubator on it, the egg now safely strapped in.

Lights flash by quickly as the car speeds down the road. They had been driving for a while. The dark night sky visible through the windows. It was late, yet the city was still as alive and thriving as it had been during the day.

Marlene looks at Kowalski. How could she ask him what she had in mind? She knew that this was a tough situation, having to go all the way to Alaska to return an egg was definitely a hassle. What she wanted to know was what he had in mind. All through the ride he hadn't said a word, except when he opened the door for her and asked her to get in. His eyes were fixed on the road, and he hadn't once looked at her.

Something was wrong she could feel it. Although it might just be the whole scenario that was getting to him, this wasn't exactly a picnic, but still…

"Kowalski?" That's a start…

Kowalski's eyes dart quickly from the road to her and back. He nods at her, signaling that she had his attention.

"Umm…" How to phrase what she wanted to say? "Is…anything wrong?"

Kowalski keeps looking at the road. Marlene takes a deep breath, preparing to ask again, but he lets go of the wheel and jumps down onto the man's left foot, bringing the car to a neat stop. Marlene feels the urge to look out the window but she holds back, deciding to instead let Kowalski explain.

Kowalski jumps into the air, landing on the man's shoulder. He uses his flipper to wipe off the paint from his eyes. He makes sure to get every last bit of paint before he looks at her. His expression was one she had seen before; he wore it when he was trying to figure out a particularly challenging equation. Eyebrows knitted together, undecided eyes, and a deep scowl, all were present on his face. Marlene is instantly worried, but she sits up straight meets his gaze.

"What's going on?" She asks, her voice sounded dull, a monotone that made her dread his answer.

"Well," Replies Kowalski as unenthusiastically as her, "With the extensive trip ahead of us I decided that it would be a good idea to replenish our energies here and set out early tomorrow."

Marlene looks out the window, leaning her head closer to it in order to see out. Another building, one that she didn't know. She turns to Kowalski in hopes of clarification as to what this place was. Kowalski gives her a small smile.

"This is the Hoboken zoo." He replies jumping off of the chair and going to the backseat. Being very careful of keeping a good grip on it, Kowalski carries the incubator and opens the door with his beak. He turns to Marlene and motions for her to follow him out of the car. Marlene gives a final hesitant look at the taxi driver before she opens the door and steps out.

The sky was dark, with no sign of either stars or moon, yet there were plenty of lights in the city to be able to see ahead of her. The Hoboken zoo was about the same size as theirs, though its design was different. This one had large gray bricks instead of small red ones, and instead of a bell clock it had a green sign that read its name. Marlene shivers a bit in the cold breeze that blows against her. Her eyes search for Kowalski and she spots him as he puts the incubator down beside the entrance. She walks to it quickly and places her paw over it in a reassuring way. Kowalski goes back to the car to get his burlap sack. Marlene bends down closer to the incubator.

"Don't worry," She whispers to the egg, "we'll get you back to your mom soon." She hugs the incubator, feeling an odd sense of safety in its warmth.

Soft rustling makes her look up. Kowalski stood a few feet away, his face half hidden in darkness. It was hard to tell what he was feeling, but she thought she could see…regret? He walks closer and his face is fully illuminated. No sign of regret; only a placid smile in place.

Marlene stands up with the incubator in her arms. With no humans in sight she and Kowalski are able to go in through the gates unceremoniously. Marlene takes in her surroundings, a strange feeling developing in her. Beside her Kowalski walked in an expertly way, completely confident in his steps. Marlene notices a sign up front with arrows pointing in different directions.

She squints in the dark to make out the writing; luckily there were pictures beside the arrows. In the path a head of them there was an intersection, one pointed to the elephants, another to the monkeys, and the one that went straight ahead, towards which Kowalski was going, pointed to a small furry creature with a long tail and whiskers. The otters.

Marlene stands awkwardly in place, the cold making her fur rise. She rubs her arms together trying to get some warmth from the friction. She walks closer to the entrance of the box-like cave before her. The stone structure was bigger than hers, and there were stairs carved into the side that led to the roof. A large oval shaped pond lay on the side, the water looking icy and crystalline.

Soft muttering could be heard coming from the cave, Kowalski had told Marlene to wait for him outside. There was light coming from the cave, shadows moving across from time to time. Marlene feels herself becoming impatient. The wind blows and she shivers in harmony with it. How was it so cold that night?

"Marlene?"

"Marlene looks up, Kowalski stood in front of her holding a blanket out to her. Marlene takes it gratefully, smiling at him. He smiles back and steps to the side, pointing to the entrance.

"After you." He says. Marlene rolls her eyes and walks in. The cave was much like the penguin's lair. There was furniture, a working table, and a TV. In the middle of the room stood two otters smiling warmly. One of them was a milky brown about her height and the other one was about Rico's height, with fur so dark it would have blended into the night nicely. The taller of the two steps forward and hold his paw up to her.

"Pleasure to meet you Marlene," He says giving a firm handshake, "I'm Ray, this here is Elm." He points to the smaller otter who steps forward and also shakes her paw.

"Welcome to Hoboken." He nods. Marlene smiles at him, getting another nod in return. Kowalski steps up and turns to face her.

"Ray and Elm are good friends of ours; they've kindly allowed you to take up residence here until our departure."

"So… if I understood right, I get to stay here?" She asks confused. Ray and Elm laugh while Kowalski smiles.

"Precisely." He answers, "Meanwhile I will go to the penguin's habitat. They're not recruits, but we've met before." Marlene watches as he turns to leave.

"Wait!" She calls, "What time do we meet again? And where's the egg?"

Kowalski gives her a quick guilty look before he answers calmly.

"I'll come to get you tomorrow morning. I have the egg with me, I'll take care of it." Marlene frowns, something wasn't right.

"Well, I was thinking that, maybe, I could keep the egg instead?"

Kowalski fidgets as he answers.

"No, that won't be necessary; I've got it all under control…"

Marlene feels like objecting, but instead nods and watches him toboggan out of the cave. She feels a tap on her shoulder. Elm, looking down, points to a bunk for her. The beds were a lot like hers, and for some reason there were four of them. An involuntary yawn leaves her as she looks at them. Elm gives her a shy smile before he takes the blanket from her carefully and stretches it out on her bed. Ray goes to a switch on the wall and salutes her before he turns it off. Marlene barely has time to wonder how Kowalski's doing before she falls asleep.

It was still dark; the only sounds were soft breathing coming from the top bunks. Marlene sits up confused, wondering where she was. Her eyes adjust and she looks around, remembering the night before. This place was so different. The dark made the place seem bleak and threatening. Back at her habitat she usually began to draw pictures when she couldn't sleep, or take a quick swim in her pond; here, she couldn't do any of those things. The empty feeling of being a stranger gets to her, and she realizes how little she knew about the other animals here, or the zoo. Suddenly she longed for something familiar, anything…or anybody. Kowalski had said that he would be in the penguin habitat, she could stop by. But it was too early…although, maybe she could just say she wanted to make sure the egg was all right.

Before she could rethink things Marlene jumps out of bed quietly, grapping the blanket around herself. She sneaks quietly across the room, looking back to make sure Ray and Elm don't wake up. Once she was sure that they were still breathing deeply she scurries out of the cave and climbs up the fence. She goes to the zoo's path, finds the penguin arrow, and follows it. She comes to a wide area, very unlike that of the penguins at her zoo. This habitat was more of a shore area with the water on one side and the land on the other. An igloo sat on the edge of the wall, where she assumed was where Kowalski and the others were sleeping.

Marlene climbs over the hedge and makes her way towards the igloo. She stretches out her paw to knock on the door, but for some reason she can't. Her paw hangs in midair, Marlene suddenly feeling deep indecision forming in her head. What was she doing? Running to Kowalski like a scared little child? No, she had way more pride than that.

Marlene lowers her paw and stands in place, trying to figure out what to do. She didn't feel like going back to the otter habitat yet, and she definitely didn't want to go in the penguin's either.

Had the taxi driver left yet? Perhaps she should go check on him to make sure he was all right, she wasn't sure how much damage Kowalski's hit to the neck caused, but it didn't seem slight. With a new purpose in mind, Marlene walks out of the habitat and through the zoo gates.

When she gets to the taxi again she finds that the lights are on and that the car is starting up. Marlene smiles, glad that the driver had woken up, she hoped he wasn't too disoriented. She walks farther down the sidewalk to get a look at the driver. He seemed very oriented, his eyes were wide open, he even seemed to have lost some weight…and changed his hair color…and gotten a different face.

What?

Marlene crawls quickly up the door, peeking in through the window. Kowalski was on the backseat, adjusting the incubator back in to the booster seat, his burlap sack on the floor. On his beak he clasped a fine paintbrush with white paint at the tip, obviously used only a few moments earlier. Marlene slides off of the door slowly, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe Kowalski was just setting up thing and he was going to go get her later. That was sure to be it. She goes back to the gate and sits by it, deciding to wait for Kowalski to come get her instead of barging in on him. She wraps her blanket closer to her staring at the yellow taxi in front of the sidewalk.

She waits, and finally after a few minutes, she sees some movement, though it wasn't what she had expected. Instead of Kowalski hopping out of the taxi the car began to edge forward. Marlene stands, letting the blanket fall to the floor.

What was Kowalski doing!

Kowalski places his flippers firmly on the wheel and turns it, moving the car slowly out of the parking lot. He looks at the map he had set beside him and looks at his next destination. He felt that an eagle couldn't have possibly made it to Alaska yet, so through a series of calculations he had pin-pointed a possible place that she should have reached by the time he got there.

Leaving Marlene behind a day earlier was something he had done in order to be able to catch up to the eagle quicker, it was simple strategy. It had been vital that he leave her behind, of tremendous importance, of...of...

A storm seems to break loose in Kowalski's mind. He realizes he was also doing this in hopes that it would allow him to stop depending on having her contant precense near him. As hard to believe as it was, he did enjoy having her around; she was supportive of what he said, even when she didn't understand it. She was very nice, she took care of the egg as tenderly as he did, and she was also able to make him smile, which was something that usually only happened when he had candy or figured out a new equation. Still, he thinks firmly, hoping to soothe the turmoil of thoughts in him, this is for the good of the mission.

So why was it suddenly so hard? She was a friend, only a friend. Maybe he was just having post-mission anxiety.

As he turns down onto the road he feels a deep knot forming in his stomach. He had believed that when he got Marlene in the Hoboken zoo he would feel better, after all the danger she could get in was impressively high, but now that he was actually doing it he felt so bad, so incredibly lonely that he couldn't help but look at the gate to see if by some mere coincidence she was standing there and than he could allow her in to come along with him.

Nothing. The gate was empty.

Kowalski drives on, feeling the knot in him get tighter.