Welcome to chapter 16. *'s = notes, (P) = perspective change, and italicized = quoting or reading. Let's read this chapter.

CHAPTER 16 – The Return

Going to bed on Tuesday night was hard, seeing as we were all excited for tomorrow, when Marlene and Skipper would return. Luckily, there still was no transfer scheduled for any new otters. I think we were all getting slightly paranoid at that, but it definitely needed to be done. *

"Hey, let's prepare the HQ to welcome them back when they arrive," I suggested. Hoping doing so would tire us out and bring joy to their faces, we set to work preparing signs saying Welcome Back Skipper and Marlene and getting balloons, oysters, and fish in places for them. Not to mention, of course, the phones and computer we had gotten as wedding gifts, along with their DVD of the wedding. **

Doing all that finally tired us all out and we shuffled into the bunks and guest bed. I was still in the guest bed because no one can take Skipper's place. I didn't mind at all, though. (P to tomorrow)

At the sound of the alarm, we all woke up fast, making sure the final decorations were in order for when they came back later that day. For a final time, we checked Alice's computer and there were still no new otters coming. We cleaned Marlene's habitat until it was spotless. (P to Skipper and Marlene)

"Ready to go Marlene?" Skipper asked his wife. "I'm ready. This is for good luck," Marlene said before kissing him. They just stared at each other, getting lost in each other's eyes before getting in the car and heading back home. (P to the Zoo)

The crowds came and went and actually gave us even more fish than we had earned the first day we had performed without Skipper. Maybe some of our excitement reflected onto the crowd or we did a better job, hoping to make the two proud of us when they got back in a few hours. We swapped out the fish from yesterday with more fresh ones we had just earned. We almost couldn't wait for the zoo to be closed so we could welcome the two back without any humans questioning where they came from.

"Kowalski, can we go put them back into the system?" I asked the scientist after the zoo closed. "Alice is now gone for the night, so it's safe to do so," Kowalski said. We quickly put Marlene back into the system on the computer in the office as the only otter of the zoo and brought Skipper back as a 5th penguin, so Alice wouldn't think it was weird there were supposed to be only 4 penguins when there was actually 5.

We hid away the presents, but kept the decorations up, eagerly waiting. Suddenly, an alarm beeped. It was the garage's pillar opening. It wouldn't be long now until they came back here.

A few minutes later, they did, with Skipper carrying Marlene down the ladder. "Welcome back, you two!" we shouted. They both blushed, or at least it looked like they were. "Thank you," they both said. "So how was your honeymoon?" I asked. They both smiled. "It was great. We went down to Florida and spent our time at the beach," Marlene said. We quickly smiled back.

"Were there any problems back here?" Skipper asked, ready to judge us. "Everything went exceptional, Skipper. We actually pulled off some new missions, thanks to Matthew," Kowalski said. I blushed a bit. "Oh, what kind of missions?" Skipper asked curiously.

We then ran into the lab and came back out with the gifts wrapped in the wrapping paper. "We got you these presents!" I exclaimed happily. They took the gifts and started opening them. The first thing they opened was their wedding DVD, complete with the title "The Wedding of Marlene and Skipper" along with a picture of them on the DVD.

"Thank you men," Skipper said. "This is great, thanks guys," Marlene said. "It's no trouble. Go ahead and open the next present," I said, pointing my flipper at another box. They both tore through the wrapping paper eagerly. "Wow, a computer of our own!" Marlene exclaimed. "Yep. Now whenever you need to look something up, you don't need to risk Alice finding you on her computer anymore. I actually made it so that it connects to the zoo's network, allowing you to change things in the system too," I said.

"Now this is one valuable asset," Skipper said, thanking us. "Now go ahead and open your last present," I said, pointing to the two remaining boxes in wrapping paper. "One for each of us?" Marlene asked curiously. "Open them and you'll find out why," I simply said.

They opened the packing again to find the two phones we had gotten for them last week. "Wow, this is great! Now we'll be able to communicate easier!" Skipper said. "How did you ever afford all this stuff?" Marlene asked, smiling. "Actually, I paid for it, I think. Somehow the machine at the store took my card. I still don't know if it billed me or some poor person who has the same numbers here," I said.

"So how many did you get?" Skipper asked. The three penguins pulled out their phones, showing them off to Skipper. It was easy to tell whose was who, even though they were similarly designed. Private's was light blue, Rico's was red, Kowalski's was green, Skipper's was black, while Marlene's was brown.

"It's a really nice phone," Marlene said, excitedly exploring it. "And it's waterproof. I'd still try to keep it out of water for long periods of time, though," I explained. "Thanks so much for all the gifts!" Marlene exclaimed happily, hugging me. I hugged her back, "You're very welcome," I said.

"Where's your phone?" Skipper asked of me. "I don't know if it would latch onto the networks back home or not, so Kowalski actually made something else," I explained. "It's called the Multi-Dimensional Walkie Talkie and I completed it yesterday," Kowalski said. "There are actually two of them. One will stay here, while you'll take the other one to your dimension," Kowalski explained.

"Sounds like you boys performed exceptionally. I don't even see any residue from a failed experiment on the walls," Skipper said. "Thank you Skipper," we all said. "So how did keep any other Otters out of the zoo?" Skipper asked. "I think some of your paranoia rubbed off on us," I said. "We checked every morning and night on Alice's computer to make sure there were no transfers of any new Otters," Kowalski explained.

"There's only one Otter that belongs here and she's here right now," I said. Marlene then hugged all of us again. "Thanks for protecting me from Alice. I don't know what I would do if I were transferred or replaced," Marlene said. "We don't know what we would do either. The zoo didn't feel complete without you two," Private said.

"So how was your first week of being a Penguin?" Skipper asked me. "It was fun, like when we acted cute and cuddly for the guests. It was exciting to go on missions and then complete them, knowing we had done well," I reported. "Then it seems we trained you well," Skipper said, saluting. I saluted back and then we shook flippers.

Yay, they're back! That's also the end of chapter 16. Please rate and review. Time for notes.

* Good on paranoia. It protected Skipper and Marlene.

** I think I may have forgotten how to explain how we got the computer. We got it the next night from the computer store and once again, the card worked.