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Undertow	By : pronker Category: +M through R > Penguins of Madagascar Views: 11341 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I make no profit from this fanfiction set in Dreamworks' Penguins of Madagascar franchise. I do not own its characters, basic premise or settings.

Chapter List
- 1-1/?
- 2-2/?
- 3-3/?
- 4-4/?
- 5-5/?
- 6-6/?
- 7-7/?
- 8-8/?
- 9-9/?
- 10-10/?
- 11-11/?
- 12-12/?
- 13-13/?
- 14-14/?
- 15-15/?
- 16-16/?
- 17-17/?
- 18-18/?
- 19-19/?
- 20-20/?
- 21-21/?
- 22-22/?
- 23-23/?
- 24-24/?
- 25-25/?
- 26-26/?
- 27-27/?
- 28-28/?
- 29-29/?
- 30-30/?
- 31-31/?
- 32-32/?
- 33-33/?
- 34-34/?
- 35-35/?
- 36-36/?
- 37-37/?
- 38-38/?
- 39-39/?
- 40-40/?
- 41-41/?
- 42-42/?
- 43-43/?
- 44-44/?
- 45-45/?
- 46-46/?
- 47-47/?
- 48-48/?
- 49-49/?
- 50-50/?
- 51-51/?
- 52-52/?
- 53-53/?
- 54-54/?
- 55-55/?
- 56-56/?
- 57-57/?
- 58-58/?
- 59-59/?
- 60-60/?
- 61-61/?
- 62-62/?
- 63-63/?
- 64-64/?
- 65-65/?
- 66-66/?
- 67-67/?
- 68-68/?
- 69-69/?
- 70-70/?
- 71-71/?
- 72-72/?
- 73-73/?
- 74-74/?
- 75-75/?
- 76-76/?
- 77-77/?
- 78-78/?
- 79-79/?
- 80-80/?
- 81-81/?
- 82-82/?
- 83-83/?
- 84-84/?
- 85-85/?
- 86-86/?
- 87-87/?
- 88-88/?
- 89-89/?
- 90-90/?
- 91-91/?
- 92-92/?
- 93-93/?
- 94-94/?
- 95-95/?
- 96-96/?
- 97-97/?
- 98-97/?
- 99-99/?
- 100-100/?
- 101-101/?
- 102-102/?
- 103-103/?
- 104-104/?
- 105-105/?
- 106-106/?
- 107-107/?
- 108-108/?
- 109-109/?
- 110-110/112
- 111-111/112
- 112-112/112
- 99
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- 101
"You made soan papdi for me. I don't know what to say."
"Mangia, mangia, Skipper." Marlene watched as Skipper popped a luscious candy onto his tongue. He sucked the sweet into melty oblivion and then swirled his tongue over his beak to get the last flecks of sugared flour, pistachios and ghee. She had to look away from that talented pink extension of himself as memories coursed through her and not meeting his eyes made what she said next easier to say.
"I'm sorry about our last time. I wasn't feeling well and words simply didn't come out right. Please forgive me."
Skipper gripped her shoulder. "Was it something I could fix?"
She placed her paw over his flipper and squeezed. "No, unless you impr-, um, let's just say it was, er, is still, my time of the month."
"I don't get y- oh. You mean that." He looked at her like she was a fragile ice sculpture, melting if he so much as breathed hard on it. "Out of my jurisdiction and out of my league, Marlene. Tell me what you need. I'll get it for you, no matter what."
She did melt, but deep inside. "Awwww, honey. I don't need anything. It's just the Labyrinthine Mollusk's way of doing things to make otters make more otters. I'm fine."
Now he couldn't seem to look her in the eye. "Er, how do you handle ... everything?"
"You mean blood, Skipper?"
A silent nod in the direction of her door that angled to the outside habitat, which he might sprint for any moment. She could tell he was cringing where it didn't show.
"I swim a lot. You may have noticed."
"Oh. Yeah. That'd work. Um, onward, Marlene, I will belay calling on your more physical expertise when that sitch is on the calendar. Just let me know the times."
She felt her face flush beneath her fur. "It's now. Until about three days from now."
He strummed his beak. "And it'll be time again in about one month. Today is the sixth of June, D-Day Battle Memorial Day and three days from now is the ninth of June when Private's vacay ends. Okay, got it. Lesson learned, cemented it all up here." He tapped his right flipper against his temple and stood easy, inviting, ready to take up where they left off.
It was too soon to be touchy feely, though, so she only nodded before saying in a rueful tone, "I busted my easel to bits and I'll need to use the one I stashed in your HQ if we continue sketching."
Why, he must not mind posing all that much because he suggested, "Your mural has plenty of room for arting, wouldn't you say?"
Marlene studied the gritty texture of her living space. Colors, simple designs and memories of California flooded her soul. Then she shook her head. "I'd rather continue on my normal media, like charcoal sketches and your full on color portrait." She considered further. "I might return to muralizing, though, but not now. I'm ready for new things."
The blue of his eyes darkened as he agreed, "Yes. We commandos are all about the new."
He plotzed his behind on the iron grate, where a susurrus telegraphing rain showers rose through the underground conduit and fluffed his feathers. She joined him back to back, paws folded demurely. What he said next cramped her stomach, hunched her shoulders and made her paws dig into her thighs. "We need to talk, Marlene. Can we take a rain check on posing? Pun intended."
"Why do I feel called out?"
The pitter patter of fresh raindrops assaulted her ears and you'd think as a water loving otter that the sounds would be welcome. "I discovered yesterday that we, um you and I, need to accept that Private knows about us, you and I, being together-together."
"He - you - me - us - I'm going to throw up."
"No, don't! Hold it back! That's an order!"
Marlene's gut heaved and she gagged without puking, which felt worse than puking would have. "Private knows - oh no. Is he all right? He's so sensitive!"
"Actually, he took it well." There was nothing in Skipper's voice, nothing like smugness or self-congratulation, just a straightforward relay of intel from one team member to another. It would be up to her to tease out feelings.
No tears, this was too serious for tears. Marlene stumbled, "You asked me if I would be his confidante when you and he hooked up and he might think I betrayed him - "
" - and that option had also not escaped me." Surprise! Skipper must have strained his brain or was her influence shaping his response to this situation? He went on, "I don't think we have anything to worry about, not that I worried but you did."
She barely felt his head bump hers as he leaned it backwards in a comradely way and continued, "He's a commando, you know. He's tough."
Her lips wibbled as she ducked her head out of his reach. "I don't want him to be tough, tough isn't his thing and hey, I'm a commando, too."
"But he's been one longer, Marlene." Reason oozed from every pore of him like the ghee she had cooked candy with. She grasped at reason to steady her feelings and had her mouth open to babble should I talk to him what can I say when up from nowhere erupted, "Did Rico tell him?"
"Who?"
"Rico. Big guy, scar, burps explosives, you can't miss him - "
"How?"
Marlene felt the tension in his muscled back and leaned forward even more to get away from it. "He smelled you on me." She mimicked the sounds Rico had made.
"That settles it!" Skipper exploded. "We bathe together after each and every time!"
She grimaced. "Sure, that'd work. It's like locking the barn door after Penny escaped, but that'd work."
They sat together and yet not in sync. Skipper's voice was softer when he divulged an alternate plan to the day. "Since we're not sketching, I'd planned a full mission schedule and I was hoping you could cover for us in the babysitting sitch, what say?"
The peach of a pearl formed a tie with him and all the team, really. "Sure. Bring them over here this time, okay? What's up?"
"Kowalski needs to fix his first fixing of the zoo clock, Rico is itching to scope out Gus' excavating the main fountain, Private wants to pet the bunnies in the Petting Zoo and I am determined to face them head on in do-or-die combat drills."
"Combat with bunnies?"
"You didn't see what they did to us once, Marlene. We were pwned. Never again, not on my watch! Learn from your enemies, babe."
Her brow crept upward. "I don't have any - "
"Sure you do! Anyone who's lived as long as you have has enemies. That's a given."
She sighed. "Same planet, different worlds, I guess. All right, Skipper, missions confirmed." She wanted to lighten this moment up before he squirmed away. "What I've got is not contagious, Skipper. I've been doing this a long while."
"I can imagine, but it's okay, Marlene. You take it easy today, you hear? We'll dash in at noon for smiling and waving and to bring you some cotton candy for lunch. We'll wrap our missions up by chow this evening."
She just had to tease because messing with him was such fun. She spun so that they formed a right angle. "So you're not spending part of the night at my place?"
"No, got things to do at HQ." His eyes popped open wide with inspiration. "Can't leave those adorable moppets alone."
"With three others to watch them?"
"We take shifts overnight. The more penguins, the fewer hours in each shift. Yeah, that's it."
"But it was all right the other times you stayed over. I see. Uh huh."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just that I'd never thought about dealing with this thing about you because birds don't - uh. You know what I mean."
"Yes. I do."
"You mad?" Before they got together-together, he'd never have asked this. Her heart switched from melting to pinging like the sonar did on their sub when it homed in on a school of anchovies.
"Nope." She considered a moment. "I'd never thought about what this would indicate to you. You think I can't perform on any mission you'd assign me at these times." She crossed her paws tightly over her white bib of fur and contemplated the door as if she were going to bolt for it.
He wasn't becoming angry, yet she caught the whiff of challenged authority. "You are so wrong, Marlene. I'm afraid that I'd think of you first and put the mission and the team last. I'd put you ahead of the mission. If that makes you think I'm mean, I can't help it."
He was serious. He was actually serious. Ah me, another pile of spraint to step over, as her mom would say. She ought to resist blurting what was on her mind, but her bellyache made her fractious. "For a tough guy, Skipper, you sure have a lot of fears."
"You never know the meaning of the word fear until you lead a team." Ooh, he'd been working on such a response because that sounded rehearsed.
Her heart pinged more, nevertheless. "I guess I never will know it, then. Let's table this discussion because you need to go and those babies need tending."
Okay, now he was at the door where he'd been hankering to be, snatching another piece of candy on the way. "Rico and/or Kowalski will bring them here after a snack run. 'Bye!"
"Buh-bye, Mr. Touchy and/or Feely. Be careful kung fuing those bunnies. Ouch, that was a dirty look!"
IOIOIOIOIO
Marlene could hear the rain increase while she toed her blanket into a cozy pile on the floor as she prepped for the babies' arrival. Footsteps wetly slap-slapping penguin style behind her made her smile as she spun, holding out the plate of candy before her. "Ric - 'Ski - Private?"
A commando penguin stood between her and the door, flippers tightly crossed over his chest. She never had seen him so determined and she'd seen nearly all his moods. "Private," she repeated, "how about some soan papdi?"
She discerned that something like a mountain firmed within the young penguin. "Marlene."
This was the final day of the Mature Grain Festival, and she was mature. She could handle anything he could throw at her. "That's the name. What's doing?"
"You're doin' Skippa."
Uh oh. She put down the plate of candy slowly by her teapot. "Guilty as charged."
"Why?"
So soon, she had to say this out loud so soon after she'd first said the words? "I love him. He loves me."
"Why?"
He sounded like a two year-old and she was reminded again of how young he was. "We just do, it happened sorta quick and we don't mean to hurt anybody, penguin or any other animal."
He paced now, slapping his flippers against his white belly and then against his black flanks. "Skippa is mine! You can't have him!"
Something turned to granite inside her, granite that not even water could wear away, at least not within a million years. "I'm sorry you feel that way. We love each other" - okay, enough with the love word, Marlene - "and we aren't hurting you intentionally. We never would."
He turned his back to her. "Well, you bloody well did."
She swallowed hard. "I apologize."
Now he became agitated, waddling in tight circles. "Skippa and I are parents, he has no business canoodlin' with anybody while the littles are little."
Problem. "Not even you? Who could live like that? Do you want to live like that now that you've known how fulfilling a relationship can be? I know you don't want to hurt Skipper and you might if he sees you this way. You'll make him think he has to choose. Nobody likes an ultimatum, Private."
All right, she had this under control. Peaceful words, no fangs, no slaps, no claws. Nothing would go down here like what went down with Guillermo. She honestly did not know if she could take Private. She doubted it.
"He might decide to leave us both to preserve the team," she added.
Gadzooks, where had that ghastly thought come from?
"He'd never."
"He's never been a parent with two lovers either, Private. Allow him room to grow." Now she foundered in deeper waters than she'd ever swum in, so she grasped at floating straws. "See my mural?"
Private looked where she pointed. "Wot about it?"
This was easy because she would make it all about art! Yes! "I painted that and at any time I can add to it because my canvas is ginormous, this whole habitat, walls and and ceiling and grate - " She cut herself short. "What I'm saying, Private, is that I started the mural as a way to remember my old home in California and now it's not enough because I branched out into charcoals and pastels and oils. See what I mean?"
"No. It's incompresensible."
More words flowed like she had them all along and just never knew she needed them until now. "I changed. It wasn't what I'd planned to do as an artist but art speaks for itself and I wouldn't stop growing if I could. It's like I flowered under Skipper, I mean, with Skipper because I'd thought I'd stopped flowering and life grew dull. Now it's not." A direct plea ought to work on Private's tender heart. "Don't ask us to stop seeing each other."
The pitter patter of little penguin feet turned to thunder matching that in the heavens as Skipper skidded into her cave, overshot his target and caromed against the wall. He regained his feet in an instant and Marlene could tell he wanted to look cool.
"Hey!" he began but whatever he was about to say halted when he saw Private's stormy face.
"Wot are you doin' here? Come to protect your lovey?"
Uh oh, not out of the woods yet. Marlene held her ground. "Private and I are discussing you and me, Skipper. It's cool."
"No, it's not!" hollered Private. "I hate this!"
Maturity, grim awful inevitable maturity. Fulfilling maturity. "Private, Skipper gave me a pearl and I try to live up to that for the team - "
"Purl? Purl? So not only are you two havin' sex but you're knittin' together! Thanks a lot, Skippa! You never knitted with me!"
Something clicked in Private's head after Skipper began, "That's not what it means - "
Private reasoned, "A pebble - you gave her a pebble - the pearl I helped you find on our trip - so. So." He calculated with hard, bright eyes and manner, "So I'm not exclusively yours well then I'll just find someone else, too."
Marlene registered that the rain had stopped and oh, how she wished she could cry and relieve the choked heartache within her breast. She clutched herself tightly as Skipper's voice held all the experience of his time of commanding personnel with its sorrows and joys. "Private, that wouldn't suit you."
Defiance reeking out of every feather, Private speared his flippertip in his love's face, nearly poking his eye. "I'll make it bloody well suit me. I won't take this from you or any penguin or ostrich or, or mammal."
Skipper's voice got even deeper. "That wouldn't suit you, Private. Trust me."
"Never again. I swear it."
- 99
- 100
- 101
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Undertow