After a couple of weeks, Julien knocked on his neighbor's door.

"Is your bodygu-hey!" Skipper was shoved backwards as Julien entered. He stumbled backwards and Julien grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Sorry. She could be if I'm not careful." Julien whispered.

Kowalski, Rico, and Private paused the card game the four of them had been playing.

"What do you need?" Private asked.

"I'm worried about Josie." Julien said. "She has not been speaking to me and I think she has the wrong idea."

"She literally can't speak to you, Clover won't let her." Skipper said.

"I know and I need help. She's so crazy and too paranoid and annoying...can you do anything?"

"No, and it doesn't seem like our problem. She's not doing anything bad-"

"Yes, she is! She's not letting me have friends and sometimes she whacks foods out of my hands thinking it's poisoned."

The boys exchanged looks.

"Okay, yeah, that's concerning." Kowalski said.

There was a knock at the door. Julien ran to hide in the bathroom. Skipper opened the door to see Clover standing there with a hurt expression.

"I put a recording device on him." She said.

"That's invasive." Skipper commented.

"You recorded me. I'm aware of it and I'm aware of you four sneaking off to do whatever. Who did you send it to?"

"We're on the same side here." The leader tried to diffuse the situation.

"Are you sure? Because you and I are quite similar in that we don't truly believe a thing that either of us are saying." Clover got in his face.

"But what if I said that we both know ourselves well enough to know someone with similar personalities may or may not be telling the truth?" Skipper stood his ground.

"You and I both know what we think of that."

"Hold it! Pause." Julien came out of the bathroom. "That made like no sense. At all. Smarty booty, did you get that?" Kowalski shook his head. "If Kowalski doesn't understand, who does? I trust Skipper, he's done good things. And so have the other penguin boys."

"Penguin?" Clover looked at him.

"That is the name of their teen detective group. The Penguins."

"Teen detectives?"

"Yeah, the boys and I are amateur sleuths. We're like Mystery Inc, except no Scooby-oh, sorry Rico." Skipper looked apologetically at his teammate. Rico gave a half smile. Kowalski and Private hugged him.

"Okay, I'm totally lost now." Clover said.

"His sister's old guide dog passed away during the summer. As a kid, Rico called every dog Scooby due to being obsessed with the cartoon and the dog took that as his name." Skipper said.

"Oh-I...I'm sorry, mate. Er...this is quite awkward." Clover shuffled her feet. "I'm not used to emotional stuff. Though I do admit, I felt something when I heard what Julien said. What is it? Hmm? It wasn't like an attack or anything..." She tapped her chin.

"Hurt?" Private suggested.

"No, no one was hurting me. I'd put the hurt on them, actually." She chuckled slightly, cracking her knuckles.

"That is not what the Private was meaning." Julien mumbled. "I hurt your feelings. I'm sorry. It's just that you were being...stifly and I cannot even hang out with my girlfriend."

Clover blinked, bewildered. "I wasn't aware you had a girlfriend. Why did no one brief me?"

"Because they didn't know. It wasn't exactly offi-she-al. I was going to ask her when we got back to school. Now she probably hates me because she thinks I'm being like the Bessie-cow and the ex."

Everyone stared at Julien.

"What? Her ex and the cow girl who isn't a real cow got together while he still was in the relationship with Josie."

"Ignoring all the other grammatical errors in your wording, you really could have said 'being like her cheating ex'." Kowalski said.

"Ohh." The others finally got what Julien had been saying.

"And this is why you are smarty booty." Julien said.

"Didn't agree to that nickname." Kowalski said.

"Eh, I stopped listening."

"Looks like flu season's early." Private murmured, staring down at some housing layouts that Skipper wanted them to look through.

It was going to be a long and difficult process, but they were promised that a house was going to be given to them after Agent Twelve, one of Blowhole's top agents, had been captured.

"Some of my classmates came in all pale and said they were getting colds. I suppose that's better than something that can't be explained." Private frowned, remembering that Danielle, Lin, and Bailey had been taken out of school. Marvin, Frank, and Megan were determined to help PARK B protect the school. "I wish parents weren't so afraid, then we'd still have more students who care to protect the school."

"It's understandable though. By the way, I couldn't help but notice Toby looked sick when we saw him over the summer." Kowalski commented, trying to get Private's mind off that.

Rico and Private looked up from the papers. Skipper was running late, having been subjected to another one of Clover's 'security screenings' since she still didn't trust the leader.

"It's only September, flu can't be that early, can it?"

"October." Rico grunted.

"Rico's right, usually it's in October to March. I suppose the common cold and other stuff's year-round." Kowalski said.

"Maybe Toby just had a cold. Luckily you managed to avoid it."

"Skipper says his iron will prevents colds. I say my childhood does." Kowalski laughed bitterly.

"Erm...how did he look sickly? Did he seem like he's been sick?"

"Well, there were noticeable bags under his eyes and he seemed jumpy. He also avoided us a lot."

"Perhaps he's stressed about university?"

"I...uh...never asked about the Sorenson siblings' schooling." Kowalski scratched the back of his head. "I don't think any of them apart from Rocky is going to college."

"Oh. Stress about life? How old is he anyway?"

"About six years older than Skipper, so at least twenty-two? Skipper's not seventeen yet and I have no idea when Toby's birthday is."

"Why do you want to know Toby's birthday?"

The three boys jumped and saw Skipper descending the ladder. He turned to see his team blushing and looking ashamed.

"Well? What's the conversation about?" The leader asked.

"Just that Toby looked a bit sick over the summer." Private said when it became obvious that Kowalski was too nervous to say it.

"Probably stuff with the organization. All my siblings are in it, remember? He never has to tell me what kinds of missions he does. Usually you can never tell when it gets difficult because of his wild personality. He's assured us he's fine."

"Maybe whoever got him in that car accident came back?" Kowalski said.

"I have no idea how you remembered that, but maybe. He said it was an accident."

"We got a threat that said otherwise, remember?"

"Yeah. Might have just been Toby trying to save face or not get me involved with whatever he'd been up to at the time."

"Do you think he's trying to make people dislike him or create distance socially?"

"What?"

The team stared at Kowalski in confusion.

"He was rude to Kenny and myself despite knowing some of our circumstances. Maybe it's a front to distract people from getting close to him and the organization for safety purposes."

Skipper thought about it. "I...don't know. He's always been a bit of a wild card, you never know what he's thinking...I don't know him as well as I should." He sighed. "He joined the teen division as soon as he was old enough. I just thought he figured his younger siblings were annoying and he wanted to do stuff so he wouldn't be bothered by us."

The boys didn't know what to say. Rico's phone beeped and he laughed at the message. He showed Kowalski. Another two messages came up. Rico shook his head and pressed call.

"I told him you already knew." Rikki said off the bat.

"First person." Rico said.

"What do you mean you were the first to know?" Rex asked.

"Not subtle."

"He was at least one of the first to realize it." Rikki told her dad.

"Am I missing something?" Private asked.

"My dad has a new girlfriend." Rikki said.

"No no, we're just friendly." Rex said. "We just hang out."

"Right, because her car has so many troubles."

"It's an old car!"

"The last time she came to the shop, which was Saturday, you chatted for over an hour and all she needed someone to do was to fix one of the windshield wipers."

"It got done."

"Yeah, in ten minutes."

"You don't know that."

"You are not subtle, her thirteen year old could see what was going on and told me everything."

"Oh yeah." Rico agreed. "We talk a lot."

"I'm surprised Jade gave her phone number out to someone she barely knows." Rex said. "I'll have to talk to Teresa about that."

"That implies you have Teresa's number. Jade and Rico have had a lot of time to get to know each other. I wouldn't be surprised if she knew how to fix cars by now."

"Come on now, I didn't take that long."

"She was texting me."

"Two people she barely knows and gave her number, that's concerning."

"That's deflecting." Kowalski said. "As someone who knows what deflecting is, personally, it's that. You're afraid of getting hurt again."

"I-" Rex sighed. "I just don't want another Luann situation. I don't want my kids hurt."

"Your kids are currently seventeen and eighteen. We're fine. You could marry her tomorrow and we'd be happy." Rikki said.

"I'd have to wait until all the kids are eighteen."

"Yet again, I'm confused." Private said, looking at the leader. Skipper, who was trying not to laugh out loud, shrugged.

"I get financial compensation for Stella's death." Rex said. "It's based on her salary and I can't get married until my youngest is eighteen or I lose it. It's not much because it was her teacher's salary, but it was enough to keep us afloat."

"But...you and Luann..." Rico was confused.

"I said the summer after you finished high school." Rex said. "I'm assuming you just heard the first part or 'summer after school' and shut down, so you didn't listen to the rest of it."

"Oh...eheh..."

"That's why listening to full messages is important." Skipper said.

"Back to the subject of Teresa. Seriously, you should date her." Rikki said.

"I mean, I wouldn't be able to marry her until Jade was eighteen since Teresa also gets survivor's benefit for her late husband's death." Rex said.

"So you got five years to date and figure out how much you like each other. So, let's let the boys go on with their day and I'll let Rico know the rest later." Rikki said.

"I love how you said that as if you weren't the one who had to air my personal life."

"It's my job to keep my brother up to date...and you know the boys won't go talking about you. And you love me."

"I guess I can't complain, I am the one who raised you so I only have myself to blame for your sass."

"Pfft." Rikki laughed.

"Before you go, do you happen to know if Kenny and I were supposed to have the same survivor's benefit?" Kowalski asked.

"I'm afraid I don't. I'm actually uh...I'm not sure exactly what happened and I'm not sure Jeffery does either. I'm sorry." Rex replied.

"Thanks anyway."

"Bye." Private and Skipper said.

"Bye. Love you, son."

"Love ya." Rico said.

Kowalski texted Jeffery. He said he'd also received some money for five years for his mother's death, much of it had gone into savings since he'd still been a minor. He wasn't sure about his cousins and admitted he didn't understand exactly how his aunt died.

All Jeffery had gotten was a notice of death and shortly after, Ralph disappeared. When Jeffery was eighteen, he was able to find out where her body had been examined and they confirmed it was her by a picture he had. Unfortunately, by the time he was able to get there, it had been a few years and they'd forgotten how she died, but were pretty sure it was a car accident. The person who examined her was working elsewhere and to make matters worse, a year before, some drunk guy had come into the office one day and destroyed a bunch of files including hers.

Kowalski asked if the man had been arrested. Jeffery confirmed, adding that there had been other charges he'd been evading and it finally caught up to him.

"You think these are linked?" Skipper asked.

"Possibly. I just need to know more about the accident." Kowalski said, scrolling through the computer. "It's just telling me about day to day stuff and accidents near or outside of New York."

"Try the coroner's office break in, that doesn't happen as much as accidents." Skipper said.

"True, I just-Private don't touch that!"

Private almost dropped a tube.

"W-what is it?" He asked, looking at it as if it would explode.

"Butter."

"Why?" Rico and Skipper asked.

"It's slippery and hard to get off. I'm trying to use it as a weapon since we're discouraged from using firearms at our age." Kowalski explained. "I got the idea when we were at Private's."

"Bakery inspired weaponry." Private said with a grin. "That's a new one."

A few days later, Kowalski had finally had enough research to piece together a theory. A couple loose threads were unaddressed, but he hoped to be able to get to them.

"I think that my dad tried to push off my mom's death onto the state so he didn't have to pay for anything. He let everyone believe they had separate last names and so she was buried as Maria Harrison instead of Taro. So, after the accident which is still confusing, he asked a contact to destroy any records in case they mentioned him or their sons."

"Okay, why's the accident confusing?" Skipper asked.

"The man who struck her was charged with accidental man slaughter, but didn't exactly serve jail time. It was an eighteen-wheeler who swerved to avoid an erratic driver, got clipped and sent onto the sidewalk where my mother and several others were waiting. It was a crowded sidewalk and there were several witnesses. The truck driver was fine and tried to help survivors. He cooperated with police and was given community service. The erratic driver crashed into several stopped cars and drove it into a river. They searched for him, the car was found but he was nowhere in sight."

"Uh..."

"Wow...that's...a lot."

"Indeed. Are we able to call the police for any information about the break in?" Skipper asked.

"The man got out for good behavior, then drowned the next day." Kowalski said.

"Well that's morbid. Do we think the erratic driver and the drunk are the same person?"

"It's a theory." Kowalski nodded. "I've asked around and I've gotten some sympathetic ears, so maybe someone can give me answers. Just don't tell Kenny any of this yet. I want to be sure before telling him."

"Of course." Private said. The other two nodded.

The four of them returned to the apartments.

Early October was crisp, chilly, and full of excitement. The boys had found a house not too far from school where they could experiment without being questioned by neighbors. The organization was working out all the legal parts for them.

On another note, it seemed someone was trying to interfere with the law firm that had helped them put Rhonda in jail. The problem was, no one could prove that anything bad was happening, just that papers would be mixed and their computer files kept having several near data breaches.

While working in the HQ, Private got a message from Barry saying to text Maurice and tell him not to bring Mort and Fred back yet. Completely confused, Skipper complied. Private asked his friend why, but was told it was too weird to put in text and that he was at the park across the street from the apartments.

The boys wrapped up for the day and headed up top once it was clear. They spotted the curly haired teen sitting under a tree, staring blankly at a comic book, wearing headphones. He jumped when Private lightly tapped his shoe.

Barry lowered his headphones and took a deep breath, puffing out air forcefully.

"I know we're not supposed to bother you guys too much, but I need an adult...or at least someone older than me."

"Rico is almost eighteen." Kowalski said.

"When I moved into my room, I knew I was rooming with someone three years older than me. Mid teen, that he would be more...active?" Barry shook his head. He stood up. "I'm pretty sure Josie and Julien made up and now they're making out...or more."

The Penguins' jaws dropped.

"I-I'm sorry, what?!" Skipper spluttered.

"All I know is I wanted to show Ramona this comic I bought and when I got in my room, I heard giggling, whispering and bodies shifting in a bed in the next room."

"Oh my god." Skipper groaned. "Where's Ramona? Did she go looking for you?"

"No, I told her I wasn't feeling great and I needed fresh air."

"Well, time to get to the bottom of this non-mystery." Kowalski said. The boys nodded and headed into the apartments, Barry following behind. They saw Clover once they landed on the fourth floor. She seemed to be confused.

"Did Julien leave?" She asked the boys.

"He did not." Barry huffed. "Neither did Josie. Was that Josie? I heard them...talking."

"Yes, I told Josie I was simply hired by Julien's father and I had no romantic inclination and she sped away, presumably to his room-" Clover's eyes widened as she realized how Barry had said it. "Er...are Mort and Fred still out?"

"Thankfully, yes." Skipper said. "Can we talk to Julien, just the four of us? We won't hurt him."

"I'll allow it." Clover said. "Barry, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. I just want to stop talking and thinking about it."

Clover nodded and the boys headed into the room. Barry opted to stay in the living room with Private and Rico. Kowalski and Skipper exchanged dismayed looks and knocked on the door.

Julien answered a minute later, his hair disheveled, shirtless, and slightly blushing. Josie was shifting her feet behind him, her clothes all wrinkled.

"There's no way you put clothes on that fast." Kowalski said. "What have you two been doing in here?"

"Kissing." Julien said. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Did you even know where Barry was?" Skipper asked.

"Er...no...why? I'm not responsible for where he goes." The taller boy looked past them to see the other two Penguins and Barry in the living room.

"He came here." Kowalski explained. "Then he heard you two making noises and giggling and assumed you were getting intimate in the middle of the day."

"Sort of." Julien mumbled.

"We didn't do anything else." Josie added. "I've been wearing this." She indicated her wrinkled outfit.

"Y'know, I don't need to know more." Skipper said, shaking his head. "Could you at least make sure you know when your roommates are coming back since they're younger than you. What if Mort walked in? He's twelve."

"Fred and Barry are teenagers." Julien said defensively.

"But Mort is a child and shares your room. There are a number of reasons why he'd be back from the movies, namely it ended ten minutes ago. You're lucky that Barry told us so we could text Maurice not to bring them back yet."

"Y-you didn't tell him-?"

"No. We're not going to and we're not telling anyone else. Just be more responsible next time."

"Okay."

"We promise." Josie said.

The boys left the room, Barry deciding to accompany them.

A/N: The fluff before the storms. They really didn't do anything

Barry: They would have if we didn't come in…

Julien: You don't know that!

Barry: And I wouldn't want to know

Private: We've received a notice asking us to kindly stop breaking the fourth wall.

Skipper: That's what that was? Rico turned it into a paper airplane and threw it at Alice. She ripped it up.

Kowalski: We've received several of those notices and nothing's happened. Don't worry about it.