This is, in fact, the last chapter of The Irrelevant Equation of One Plus One so, to you all, thank-you for reading :) To Blouper, to Knockknocktimerico, to LittleBirdy, Spottedpaw, Jackandjill, RavenfeathersofDarkness, and all who reviewed, added me to their favorites and even turned to the Marski side of things :D That was the whole point, Marski CAN happen! The fanclub for it is .com/spots/marski Of course, it needs more people, Marski is only now beginning, but, with this being Fanfiction, even if you don't become a fan of it, you can add your Marski stories there! :) So, please check it out +D

Solving the Equation

Ray and Elm thanked everyone for helping them find their lost members, the two stuffed otters Marlene had seen before, and the reason why Marlene had seen the two empty bunks at their place when she was supposed to be staying over. Kowalski had gone to them not only to ask them to watch over Marlene, but also because he knew that they came to this area often, being aboriginal to the land. During one of their missions (since they too, were in the force) the two recruits had gotten lost and neither Ray nor Elm had been able to find them. Until now.

Tom was left tied and gagged in his cabin. Skipper declared if he got never got untied he wouldn't give a hoot about it.

Mother Eagle was given a last farewell beneath a grand oak tree. Kowalski and Julien both insisted on attending, despite their current states. Rico made sure to mark the tree with what little writing he knew, cutting out the letters "MB" on the bark with a small knife. Once Kowalski and Julien's health was stable enough for them to move around Skipper, Rico and Private quickly overcame a pilot and got a plane ready to go back to New York. Despite several attempts by the police to figure out who took the plane they never found the culprits, nor any sign of damage to the plane besides a missing wheel that was apparently lost during the landing.

Back at the zoo, the penguins found several of the animals posing as penguins for them, ensuring them that Alice suspected nothing. Skipper thanked Mason and Phil for watching over things while they were gone.

Marlene was allowed to go back to her habitat but was asked to stay at the HQ as much as possible to ensure that she didn't develop any problems. To Skipper's annoyance Julien had to stay with them until he was fully healed, and after such a brave act of heroism and so much to endure Julien was even worse than before. However, he was nicer to everyone, even giving Mort a quick pat on the head.

The zoo went back to its usual routine with the humans being remarkably ignorant of everything that had happened.

One day while Marlene was out teaching Cube (as the chick had come to be named by Kowalski) how to fly, she noticed the humans walking around the perimeter of Mother Eagle's nest. After a few minutes the nest was taken down and the humans left. As soon as they were gone Marlene came to realize that she was now responsible for Cube, she was like his mother now.

The thought filled her with fear, but then, she realized that she could do this, and she was sure Kowalski would help, and Mort, he seemed to always be around them. She smiled and continued to teach Cube more of how to move his wings.

Life on the HQ went back to normal as soon as Julien left, which took a few weeks. With the now "Glorious, Most Heroic of all Kings" gone, the penguins were able to go back to drills, missions and new war tactics. All, except for one, who lasted the longest healing. On the third week though, despite the still healing wounds, Kowalski managed to get up and go to Skipper, who had not said one word to him in all that time.

Skipper was, at the moment sitting on his table, drinking his coffee and frowning at himself. Private and Rico were on watch duty, Skipper had stayed behind to make sure Julien didn't try to force Kowalski to reenact the way he had saved them all (exaggerated, making it look as if all was lost and all had been saved by Julien, which he swore was how it had in truth happened) .

"Skipper."

Skipper turns slowly, sighing.

"You're not allowed out of your bunk soldier." He declares. Kowalski looks down.

"Skipper, I…I just wanted to say, that I…" he stands up straight, facing Skipper in the eye, "I just wanted to say that-"

Skipper holds up his flipper, shaking his head. Kowalski stops talking, bracing himself for what was coming.

"I'm sorry." Kowalski stares.

"What?"

Skipper looks at him, standing up.

"I'm sorry. I knew you made the fake invitations, I knew it was all fake; I used the opportunity to take me and the boys back to the Academy and plan out our new missions with Commander South. I knew I couldn't do this without having someone stay back and watch over the zoo, figured it was the perfect opportunity…"

Skipper trails off.

"I knew…" his eyes become watery, but he blinks furiously, "What I didn't know, was that you had a whole lot more trouble to mend than anticipated, that you had to go so far away. Alaska for Pete's sake! How is it that I, your Commanding Officer, didn't notice? Marlene, you, Ringtail, and that poor chick... I take full blame. I understand if you leave…"

Kowalski looks at Skipper.

"I'm not leaving." He states. Skipper looks at him, surprised. Kowalski keeps on.

"The odds were just against us all this time, but mistake or not, you were able to get there in time, and if you still want me as your recruit I will follow your orders until the end."

Skipper smiles, giving Kowalski a full military salute. Kowalski salutes back.

"Now, if you don't mind…"

Kowalski goes to Marlene, who was in her habitat fixing her rosebush, Mort and the chick beside her, the chick already wearing brown fluffy feathers and had opened its eyes, which were the same brown as his mom's.

Marlene looks up when she hears his shuffling steps, remembering how quiet he used to be.

"Hey! You're up." She smiles. Kowalski smiles back. He goes to Mort, petting both his and the chick's head.

"Glad to see you're up too." He responds. Marlene notices something different in Kowalski. He goes to her rosebush, gently caressing the petals.

"You're doing a good job with this flower." He states. Marlene nods, still trying to figure out what had changed.

"You're more erect." She says out loud. Kowalski looks up.

"Pardon?"

"You….you seem more, I don't know, confident…more erect." She struggles with her words, but she felt that they were the precise ones she needed to describe him. Kowalski used to lag back in the group, would only move when Skipper told him to or when he had planned it out scientifically on his clipboard, but now he was standing before her, without Skipper or anyone else from the group and his clipboard nowhere in sight. Because of his injuries, he was standing a bit oddly to keep from damaging anything, but, somehow, he seemed more certain in the way he stood, more sure of what he would do and of the capability of his actions.

"Shall I take that as a compliment?" He questions. Marlene rolls her eyes.

"Sure, if you want to."

Kowalski begins to look down, Marlene expecting him to give her a muttered response and an excuse to leave, but instead he stops, and looks straight at her.

"You look beautiful."

She can feel her face blush beneath her fur, and opposite to her assumption, it is now she who finds herself looking down and struggling to comply a response.

To her surprise Kowalski chuckles.

"What happened to the "female supremacy" you so frequently speak of?" He teases. Marlene glares, much to his amusement.

"Yeah…cute remark…" she grumbles.

"Was it?" Kowalski cocks his head in surprise. Marlene stares, unable to figure out what was happening. For some reason, her stomach felt fluttery, she felt as if she was floating, and yet, the reason that she didn't fly away was the penguin in front of her. What was going on?

"Kowalski…" What did she want to say?

She looks around, at her red rosebush that glowed in the sunlight, at her pond which was so fresh and blue, at Mort who sat playing with the little chick, they were almost like brothers now, and finally, at Kowalski, who was staring at her expectantly.

Everything was so perfect.

"Kowalski…" How to phrase it in a way that he could understand what she meant?

"Does….well, you, you know that…you know that one plus one equals two right? Have you ever thought of it?" What was she saying!

Kowalski blinks in confusion but tries to follow what she meant.

"It's… irrelevant. In most occasions one plus one is a simple equation that has little or no importance to the quandary, whereas there are several other factors that might can be reckoned to be of higher substance. I tend to ignore such inconsequential details in the matter of our missions."

Marlene blinks.

"You lost me."

"Did I?"

How sure of what he said Kowalski was, and how very off he was in truth. She waits as he tries to explain once more.

"One plus one has almost no importance in various situations due to…"

She can't take it.

"Stop."

Kowalski taps his chin in wonder, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind.

"All right," Marlene begins once more, "Perhaps I didn't phrase that correctly." She goes up to him, so close he steps back nervously, but she keeps on until they're face to face. Her heart beats rapidly in her chest, but she knew she had to get this out now.

"Back a few days ago (had it really been only a few days?) you said…you told Skipper that you thought I could handle things on my own."

"You….heard?"

Marlene nods.

"And…well, Skipper told me that he knew, but you were able to make a plan to carry out your research on your own." Kowalski stares intently at her, trying to figure out what she meant. Marlene keeps on, "Well, we both thought we had it right but we didn't. I wasn't able to handle things on my own, and your plan fell apart."

"I'm afraid I don't follow…" Kowalski's forehead is creased, he was frowning.

Marlene takes a deep breath.

"One plus one equals two. Two is a strong number...You're able to fully comprehend the trouble of not planning ahead and being spontaneous, and I'm able to help out when things don't go well…" She looks down. She couldn't say it; there was no way to say what she meant.

Kowalski's eyes grow wide. She looks up as he slowly takes her paw in his flipper and shows her the difference.

"We aren't corresponding species." He murmurs. Marlene looks at her four fingers lined with fur against the one tip of his black flipper. She grasps her paw around his.

"Either way you add it you still get two." She replies.

She has heard Kowalski ramble on and on and on about magnetism; the pulling attraction of two magnets when you reverse the polarity. In this case, Marlene suddenly found herself close to Kowalski, so close, and suddenly all she could see were his eyes, which were locked on hers. A deep blue that reminded her of the ocean and the sky. The sky she had wanted to be able to fly in for so long.

And when two magnets join together, nothing pulls them apart.

Marlene could feel the electricity travel through her.

Mort and the chick cheer as they see Marlene and Kowalski kiss. Skipper comes along with Private and Rico. Skipper stands proudly, Rico laughs loudly, and Private smiles and claps. Kinetic energy can be transported from one object to another.

She laughs when he releases her and he stands in surprise at what he had done. He remembers the breakthrough he had hoped to find through the research he made with the eagle. Well, he'd made a breakthrough all right. Although his hypothesis had been wrong. Not that that mattered, he was experiencing high levels of bliss, and his cardiac reading was certainly off the charts, and he felt like he was flying.

So it had been love all along.

One plus one wasn't as irrelevant as he had first thought.

He looks down at his flipper, which was held by Marlene's paw. They were different, both outside and inside, but he knew that they loved each other despite the differences. As Marlene had said, either way you add it you still get two.

He looks deep into Marlene's brown eyes, which stared back with as much happiness as he felt. He feels words coming to him, words he had never said before to anyone, words that, in that certain order, he had never said at all.

"I love you."

Marlene's eyes fill with tears.

"I love you too."

He feels someone tugging on his flipper, and upon looking down, he sees Mort smiling up at him, the chick beside him. Marlene laughs and picks up the chick. Kowalski picks up Mort and hugs Marlene, the chick between them. Private runs to them, followed by Rico, and finally Skipper. The group laughs together, seeing the strange family they had created. But they were happy.

Even science could not explain the love that bounded all these animals so tightly together.

Thank-you all for sticking with me this far, I hope you liked the story :D Sequel one-shot is Kowalski's Great Works, read if you haven't already, and to those of you who have, thanks once more :)

Love you all!!! ~Monsy

Hold up.....there's Thirteen Chapters?! Oh, that is bad luck.....I might have to fix that ;)