Skipper had taken his time to get back from Marlene’s so he could piece together the best words to explain his and Marlene’s relationship, especially to young Private.

He entered through the fishbowl entrance as he usually would, and turned to face his team. Much to his surprise the three were standing facing him, almost as if they expected him.

“Skipper I believe there’s something te need to tell these two.” Kowalski stated as he motioned his flipper first towards Rico then Private. The two of the stared at Skipper anxiously, waiting to hear what Kowalski was talking about.

“Yea there is something I need to tell te guys. te see me and Marlene are…together now.” Skipper responded unconfidently, not sure how they would react.

Rico’s head tilted to one side as he tried to digest what Skipper had said. What does he mean they’re “together”? Is he trying to say that they’re dating now? Rico was pretty sure that’s what he meant but he needed Skipper to confermare it, luckily for him Private did just that.

“Skippa, what do te mean te two are together?” Private asked innocently, not knowing he had just asked the domanda Rico wished he could.

“Well te see Private me and Marlene like each other very much, and we decided that we like each so much that we wanted to be più than just friends.“ Skipper detto trying his best to explain the situation.

Still Private didn’t understand.

“What do te mean te wanted to be più than friends?” Private questioned, confused da what Skipper was saying.

Skipper placed his face in his flipper and sighed deeply.

“We’re dating now, we’re a couple. Does that make sense?” Skipper was starting to get a little frustrated with Private’s questions, but kept it under control.

“Oh I get it now Skippa!” Private lied, he could hear the frustration in Skipper’s voice and decided that he would just ask Kowalski about it later.

As all this went on Rico just stood back and watched, with a smile plastered to his face. He always had a suspicion that Skipper had feeling for Marlene but he wasn’t sure how reliable it was, until now of course. Rico was happy for Skipper; he always thought he needed a real women in his life, not another bobble head.

“I’m not gonna lie to te men, this is going to effect the team a little bit,” Skipper detto in a very serious tone, “I’ll be spending a lot of time with her now so I won’t be around the HQ as often. The good thing is I’ll only be at Marlene’s so I won’t be too far away.”

“What are we gonna do when you’re not here?” asked Private worriedly. He shuddered at the thought of something going wrong when Skipper wasn’t there.

“That’s where Kowalski comes in. He should be più than capable of taking over when I’m out.” Skipper answered proudly and he pointed towards Kowalski with a smile.

“Kowalski?” Rico grunted as he cocked an eyebrow. It’s not that he doubted Kowalski’s leadership; he was just surprised that Skipper would have so much trust in Kowalski to lead his team when he was gone.

“Yes Rico, my calculations mostra that I will be 85% of the leader that Skipper is, followed da your 72% and Privates 18%.” Kowalski informed the manic pinguino as he pulled out his clipboard to make sure he got the percentages right.

“Thus making him the most qualified for the job,” Skipper added, “but remember he’ll only take over when I’m not here, until then I’m still the leader.” He continued reassuringly.

Skipper then looked up at the clock and noticed that it was getting pretty late.

“We should start getting ready to hit the sack men; we got training in the AM as usual.” Skipper detto as he reminded the team of their responsibilities.

Kowalski, Rico, and Private all sighed and started to prepare them selves to go to sleep. Kowalski then noticed that Skipper wasn’t getting ready with them.

“Skipper…why aren’t te getting ready for bed?” Kowalski questioned curiously.

“Don’t worry bout me soldier, I have something I need to do real quick.” Skipper said, not completely answering Kowalski’s questions.

“Where te going?” Kowalski again questioned his leader.

“Well te see I told Marlene I’d tell her how this all went, and I feel like now’s the best time to do it.” This time Kowalski seemed to get the answer he wanted cause he just nodded and headed towards his bunk.

Skipper then slowly exited the HQ and headed towards the habitat of his newfound love.