Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters, but I do own Alex the penguin, Sam, Ethan, and Victoria.

Confused and angry, the lemur king jumped down to join his advisor and son. He tried to stay calm, but he felt his rage about to spill over. How dare that bossy penguin come into his kingdom and take away his friends! Honestly, he didn't care much about the younger penguin; he didn't even know why she was here and he was going to have to remind Ethan— yet again!— that she wasn't allowed here without his permission.

But he had been having a good time with Alex, letting her show him what kind of music was on his MP3 Player and he was teaching her how to dance. They even got into a snowball fight when the king accidentally bumped her off the platform into a pile of snow. He smiled at the memory of staring down at her, worried, but laughing when she started throwing snowballs up at him. Lucky for him there happened to have been a pile of snow on the platform around him that he rolled into balls and threw back at her.

He was knocked out of his thoughts by a pull on his arm and he jumped but relaxed when he saw that it was only Ethan. His son stared up at him with big, sad eyes. At first Julien felt a little guilty, then he shook his head and grabbed his paw. "Come, son," he ordered, dragging him away. "We have a lot of stuff to be doing."

"But dad!" he tried to protect. "I am wanting to be playing with Sa—"

Julien came to a halt, causing the young lemur to run into his father. He spun around. "I am telling you a million times to stay away from that penguin!"

Ethan blinked up at him. "But why?" he asked, confused.

"Yes." Julien just noticed that Maurice was beside them. "Why must he stay away from Sam? I see no harm in them playing together. They're only kids."

Now Julien was angrier than he could ever remember being. He turned on his advice and snapped," I don't want Ethan to be hanging around those penguins, and he's my son! He has to be listening to me!"

Before anymore could be said, Julien snatched Ethan away and stormed toward the bouncy house, anger burning in him. He felt his son tugging to get loose, but he only tightened his grip. He knew only one person agreed with wanting to keep Ethan and Sam away from each other: Skipper. Honestly, Julien himself didn't understand why they had to be kept apart, but every time he saw them playing together, he felt anger and something inside him told him to break them up.

I have to talk to Skipper, he decided. Even though they had spent Father's Day together, they haven't really talked since, and Julien knew it was time they settled a few things before it was too late. Looking down at his son, he felt a pang of regret when he saw the deep sorrow on his face. I just hope it's not already too late…

Later that day, Julien ordered Maurice to keep an eye on Ethan while he went out. He didn't tell his adviser where he was going in case his son overheard and made a scene. The lemur stood in the snow, shivering, staring at the penguins' habitat. He wondered if he waited here long enough that the leader of the flightless birds would come out to him, and he wouldn't need to go in there to get him. But after several moments in the almost unbearable cold, he decided that that wasn't going to happen.

Sighing, he slowly made his way over to the gate, climbing it and hopping onto the platform. He pushed the bowl aside and jumped into the lair. All the penguins turned to him, but before he could say or do anything, he was tackled, his face squished against the wall and he heard Skipper growl in his ear," You have some nerve coming here, Ringtail."

Anger boiled up inside him and he tried to push the penguin off him, but he had a firm grip on him.

Then a familiar voice sounded beside them. "Dad, stop this at once! Let him go!"

Alex! Julien tried to glance at her, but Skipper still held his head, until finally he stepped back and the king turned to glare at him. Then he remembered the reason he came here. "Can we talk alone, silly penguin?" he asked, trying to sound calm for Ethan's sake. He cared for his son and wanted him to have a good life, even if that meant hanging out with a penguin.

Skipper looked surprised, and he walked back to the center of the room, Alex following him. Julien noticed that the youngest member of the team and the psychopath penguin were there too, along with Sam's mother, who's name escaped Julien's memory– all he knew is that she was staying with them for a while, but the way Skipper talked it was just a matter of time before she left again.

There was no sign of Sam though, but he didn't want to ask about her; he also didn't see the smarty penguin so he guessed he was in his lab with her.

The king was knocked out of his wandering thoughts when the leader of penguins asked," Why do you want to talk to me alone, lemur?" He sounded like he expected Julien to attack him once he got him alone! Julien knew better than to go up against Skipper, even though sometimes he really wanted to just kick his bottom for letting his daughter hang out with Ethan! But I'm here to fix that! he reminded himself. For Ethan's sake!

Julien walked over to Skipper. "We can be talking about that once we're alone," he declared, glancing at Alex and the others. Then he turned to Skipper, hoping he'd agree to meet him alone. It was a few, long moments, until finally the leader sighed.

"Fine," he muttered. "Meet me at the shipping and receiving area in the back tonight at 2200 hours." Julien just blinked at the leader, who sighed again.

After muttering cuss words to himself, he said," Meet me in the back when the sun goes down. If you're late, I'm leaving. I'm not going to wait for you, Ringtail. You got that?"

Nodding, Julien began to leave, but Alex stopped him. "Why do you need to talk to my dad?" she asked.

Julien wished he could tell her, but Skipper was right behind them and if he overheard, he might refuse to come, so he just shook his head and said," I'm sorry, I can't be telling you. But I'm sure you'll be finding out soon enough. Bye, Alex," he added as he climbed the ladder and headed back toward his habitat.

When he got back, Maurice asked him," Where did you go?"

Instead of answering his question, Julien asked him one of his own. "Where's Ethan?"

"Playing with Mort," replied the aye-aye, pointing to the other side of the habitat. Then Julien noticed that he looked closer at his king. "Are you okay, Your Majesty?"

"Uh… yeah," he replied, walking to his throne. "I'm going to be gone tonight," he added, hopping onto it and turning his eyes to where he could just barely see the shipping and receiving area.

"Where are you going?'

Sighing, Julien knew he had to tell Maurice. He looked down at the aye-aye. "I have decided to talk to that bossy penguin about having Ethan and his daughter being allowed to hang out." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, although he still felt angry when he thought about them together. He kept reminding himself that it was for his son.

Maurice looked surprised. "What? Really?" He blinked. "Wow, that's really kind of you."

Julien sighed and muttered," Whatever." He hated the idea of Ethan and that penguin hanging out, but he hated the idea of his little lemur prince being sad more. He looked at the dull, winter sun and saw that it was going to be hours before it set. He sighed and looked down at Maurice.

"Can you bring me my MP3 Player? Maybe that will help make time go by faster."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the aye-aye said and dashed off, reappearing moments later with the object and giving it to the king. Alex taught the king how to use the MP3 Player but he wished she was here every time he wanted to use it. He sighed, and put the cord in his ears and pushed the button that started playing the music.

Please review!

Thank you!