I don't own any of the characters.

Alex was in a thoughtful state of mind as he returned to his friends. Vitani's confession, if such it could be called had been completely unexpected and left him with a lot to think about. His friends were still asleep when he reached them, but with the sun burning the sky red, he knew it wouldn't be long before they woke up.

Marty was the first of the three to wake, yawning sleepily and looking round, then spotting Alex, "oh, m'rnin' 'lex."

"Morning Marty," Alex replied.

Something in Alex' tone told Marty that all wasn't well with his best friend. Looking around for clues to his friend's odd attitude, he didn't see something he should have, "where's Vitani?"

"Left this morning," Alex replied, "gave me, well, admittedly a tearful goodbye, then left."

"Vitani, tearful," Marty asked, "doesn't sound like her at all."

"Well she was this morning," Alex said. He paused for a moment to consider his options, before deciding to admit it, "she said she loved me."

"She..." Marty managed, before tailing off. A moment later he whistled, "got it right then didn't you?"

"Yeah," Alex said. He paused for a moment, before going on, "problem is I don't know if I love her back."

"Oh come on," Marty said, "you've got to know if you love her or not."

"I really don't," Alex said, "I mean, I kinda like her, she's pretty nice if you catch her in a good mood, but love?"

Before, Marty could reply, Melman asked sleepily, "mm, wha's going on there?"

"Ah, nothing much," Alex replied.

"Could you keep it down a bit then," Melman asked.

"Sure thing Mel'," Marty said, then jerked his head, indicating to Alex to move them away from the others. Once they were away, he turned to the lion, and said, "how can you not know if you love her?"

"I really don't okay," Alex said, "she just hit me with it like that, so I need a few days to sort of, you know, sort it out."

Marty still wasn't happy with the answer, but pressing Alex wouldn't help so he shrugged, and said, "okay gotcha."

"Good," Alex said, "now come on, the others are probably wondering where we are."

"So what're you going to do today then," Marty asked as he and Alex made their way back to the others.

"I'm...," Alex began, then thought about it, "you know, I've actually got no idea there, what about you?"

"Well I'd be out exploring," Marty replied, "except it's too dangerous with all the other predators around."

Alex raised an eyebrow at the statement, sure it 'sounded' innocuous, but there might have been something deeper there as well, "well what if you had a predator buddy of your own out there with you?"

"Was that an offer," Marty asked, confirming Alex's suspicions that the zebra was looking for attention.

Not that Alex could fault Marty either, he realised, after all, he might have needed to learn how to feed himself, but it also kept him away from his friends a lot, "yeah, that was an offer."

"Oh there you are," Melman replied when Alex and Marty returned, "where were you guys?"

"Nowhere much," Marty replied, "just having a little chat, you know, just hanging out."

"Really," Melman asked. This sounded 'slightly' suspicious, at least to him, so he looked around, "where's Vitani?"

"Left this morning," Alex replied, "went home."

"Really," Melman asked, "I mean, certainly I was expecting it, but it seems a bit, sudden."

"Apparently it was quite emotional," Marty said.

"Ah," Melman said, "Vitani never seemed particularly good with her emotions, at least as far as I saw."

"She wasn't," Alex said.

"So what are you going to do today then," Melman asked.

"Alex agreed to come exploring with me," Marty replied, "how about you?"

Melman shrugged, or at least tried to, and replied, "might come with you, might see what Gloria's up to."

"Mm, wha'sat," Gloria asked sleepily, "someone call me?"

"Sort of," Marty said, "what you doing today?"

"Uh, wha'" Gloria said, then yawned, "sorry, what was that?"

"What are you going to be doing today," Marty asked again.

"We just sit around here normally don't we," Gloria asked, "what's changed?"

"Vitani's gone home," Marty replied, "left this morning."

"Without saying goodbye," Gloria asked.

"She said goodbye to Alex Marty replied, just not the rest of us."

"Typical," Gloria muttered, then asked, "so what's everyone else doing today then?"

"Alex and I are going to explore the area," Marty replied, "Melman might come with us or might not, so what about you?"

Gloria seemed to think for a few moments, then asked "another spot open for exploring?"

"Sure," Marty replied, "why, getting bored around here?"

"You bet," Gloria replied, "at least back at Central Park I had something to do." She was about to say something else, when she caught Melman's raised eyebrow, "what?"

"I was just thinking," Melman replied, "that's pretty much the same thing Vitani said when she was at Central Park Zoo."

"And what's that supposed to mean," Gloria demanded.

"Nothing," Melman replied, "simply an observation."

"Really, well, stop observing," Gloria said, "besides, she was always moody and cranky."

"Yeah, just on that," Alex said, pausing a moment when he got the other's attention, "she sort of wanted me to apologise to you for that."

"So she wasn't brave enough to come and do it herself," Gloria asked, "mind you, I'm frankly surprised she got down off her pedestal long enough to think about it."

"Glo..." Marty said warningly.

"Yeah, I know," Gloria sighed, "but there was something utterly unlovable about her."

"Well, maybe," Melman said, "but that's over now, at least for the moment, and there are bigger things to deal with, like figuring out what we're going to do today."

"You're right," Gloria said, "that's over now, there more important things to worry about."

"So when are we starting," Marty asked.

"Why not right now," Melman asked.

"Why not indeed," Marty asked.

"Hang on a mo'," Alex said, "I'll just go grab breakfast if there's anything left."

"Sure thing buddy," Marty said.

Alex wasn't long, and when he returned to the others, he asked, "so which way are we going to go?"

"I hadn't actually thought about that," Marty replied, "I just figured any one that didn't lead us back to where we were in the crates."

"How about following the river," Melman asked, "I mean, I know it's not the most inspired idea, but it will keep us from getting too lost."

"Yeah, and I can have a swim when I want," Gloria said, "good idea Mel'."