Disclaimer: PoM does not belong to me.

"Skippah?"

The three penguins stared, dumbstruck, at their leader and friend. Skipper smirked at them. "What? Lemur got your tongues?"

Kowalski was the first to find his voice. "How long have you been here?"

"A few moments," The other three penguins sighed in relief. "But, I've been eavesdropping since Marlene entered the habitat." He rolled his eyes as the other penguins gulped, nervous about his reaction. "What? Is there something I should know about?" He asked the last question with a teasing edge on his voice.

The three penguins looked down. "They... aren't exactly the most pleasant of memories, sir."

"Yeah, I know," Skipper replied coolly. "That would give you a reason not to TELL the stories. As I already knew them, that wouldn't explain why you wouldn't want ME to hear them."

Now the other three penguins were just embarrassed. All held their heads down in shame, much to Skipper's surprise. None of them seemed to have the courage to tell Skipper the truth. Eventually, though, one of them DID speak.

"We thought that you wouldn't appreciated us telling these stories, because, well, they're OURS... they didn't belong to anyone else." The Private said bravely, shocking his teammates slightly. But only slightly. He did have a habit of doing things unexpected by the others. Eventually they just stopped being surprised.

Skipper's gaze became surprisingly gentle. "Did you boys really think that?" He asked. "Sure, those are our stories, but their also OUR memories. Nobody else will live through what we have." The three penguins perked up.

"Glad you understand, sir." Kowalski smiled. "Now I feel a little silly, though."

"Understandable." Skipper responded, his flipper wrapped around the Private's shoulders. "Now, how about a movie? To celebrate our friendship!"

"Splendid idea, sir!" Private responded. "Can I chose the movie?"

"Will it be something ridiculously girly?"

"No."

"Then sure," He turned to Kowalski, who had tapped him on the shoulder. "What is it, soldier?"

"Um... we're still out of popcorn." Silence. Then...

"I'll go get it." Skipper grumbled, grabbing what he had forgotten in the first place and taking off. The other three chuckled. Good memories of the past, and new ones to be made. They wouldn't trade this life for the world.

Rico wasn't mentioned ONCE in this chapter... he's kinda hard to work with, seeing as he doesn't talk much.

And thus ends The Reason Why. Keep a look out for my new PoM story, which I will post eventually, Devil's Arms. If you've played ToS, you'll have an idea of what it's about. If not... well, you'll see.