Private, Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper sat very nervously, crushed together on a couch in Alice's apartment, Heather sitting in a kitchen chair pulled into the living room, Alice sitting in her chair, and Tina standing by the wall waving her arms wildly as she reenacted the fight.

"-then out of no where, I swear, he takes this baseball bat and beats the other guy off of him! They won't even tell us where he got it." She said grinning. Alice looked at the four and they grinned nervously.

"Do you think she suspects anything?" Private whispered through his teeth as Tina went on. He was referring to, not only did she suspect they were actually penguins turned human, but also referring to, did she suspect that they were all wearing stolen clothes...

"Dunno, just... smile and wave boys, just smile and wave." He said with a very nervous laugh. Alice turned away from them, and they all sighed with relief. As Tina finished up the story, the four penguins couldn't help but notice with confusion, how Alice looked different than she did on the job. Younger, perhaps, but certainly more relaxed. the four were snapped out of their thoughts when Alice clasped her hands together.

"Well," She said grinning. "A friend of theirs is a friend of mine. Kicking the crap out of Erik didn't hurt either, he's a creep." She said chuckling. Rico grinned proudly and the four relaxed a little "And," Alice began. "That story about those penguin explains a lot." They tensed again, more so than before.

"Really," Kowalski said with a forced grin. "you don't say..." Alice nodded.

"Yeah," she turned her head to Heather and Tina. "remember what I was telling you guys? You thought I was crazy, I told you those penguins are the ones causing all that trouble." She said. Skipper frowned.

"Hey, what makes you think they're the ones causing the trouble? How do you know they're not just defending their own?" He said, pointing a finger at her. Alice shrugged.

"Hey, I've got no problem with penguins in general, just the ones I have to take care of every day. They've come close to getting me fired from my job on several occasions." She said. Skipper lowered his hand a little.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Oh, god it's a long story." She said rolling her eyes. "First I have to deal with those penguins, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo escaping from the zoo one night right? That I'm surprised didn't get me fired right then, what with all the environmentalists protesting how 'they want to be free to roam around their natural habitat' and all that crap." She said sat up strait and look at the others. "Look, out there, animals die. Here in the zoo, they live with me waiting on their every hand and foot... or... well you get the picture. It's why I wanted a job as a zookeeper to begin with." She said, leaning back in her chair. Kowalski sat up.

"You mean... to take care of the animal that you assume would otherwise die on the wild?" He said. Alice looked at him.

"Duh." she said. The four looked at each other. "Anyway," She continued. "Those animals get shipped off, transported to another zoo, and I think everything will be fine, right? But no. I get a call a day later saying the animals haven't arrived, now here I am dealing with law suites, more angry environmentalists, and the fact that our main attraction was missing as well." She said. Tina walked into the kitchen and started rummaging through Alice's fridge, having already heard this story a million times. Heather had too of course, she was just... pretending to be more polite. The others, however, seemed quite interested.

"I will give them one thing," She said. She turned to Tina and mumbled something to her. In response Tina threw her a coke, which Alice caught with surprising ease. "Those penguins did save me on one occasion. And I know it was them too. I wake up one day and find those empty habitats full of animals. The penguins are back, and along with them we've got lemurs and Chimpanzees. Two days later we've got an otter shipped in. Next thing you know the zoo's back up and running again, and everything seems to be going great." she said, waving her hand in the air, and taking a long drink.

"But..." Kowaski said. Alice swallowed and looked at him.

"Hu?" She asked. Kowalski leaned forward.

"I said 'But', as quite obviously, I assume this is not the end of your story. You still seem to have a thing against the penguins." Kowalski said. Alice looked at him, then set her can down and nodded.

"Yep. Not my fault either, they started it. I try to be a good zoo keeper, but you know, after a while the job gets to you. People really don't get it. As head zookeeper not only do I have to do my job, but I have to pick up on everyone else's when they slack off. I clean the zoo and the habitats, sometimes the animals themselves, I feed the animals, I keep every day maintenance, I'm a tour guide, I do heavy lifting, I man the snack area, I manage daily calls and complaints, I'm the one who does the research on what the animals should and should not be eating, I keep an eye on each and every one of the animals every day to make sure nothing's wrong, I monitor shipments, and a whole lot more. And let me tell you, I sure don't get a single thanks for it." She said, waving her arms around with exaggerated gestures.

"No, after all that, what I get it people complaining, countless questions from school children, and my supervisor telling me I'm doing a terrible job. I've got a lit of shit to do damn it, of course I'm going to miss things!" By now, of course, she was getting worked up. She did calm down after a moment, though.

"Then I have to deal with those penguins every day. I'm not sure what they're doing, but shipments of fish go missing, sometimes I don't see them in their habitat, and you have no idea how many times we've had explosions in that zoo, in that habitatalone!" She said, looking at them, taking another drink. She set her can down again, and the four leaned back, attempting to get comfortable. It seemed they'd be there a while.

"I swear," She said. "One more thing happens, I'm going to end up getting fired for sure. they're going to fire me, and I won't be able to pay anything since it's hard enough as it is, and I'm going to end up getting kicked out again." She said bluntly. Suddenly Alice frowned and she picked up a cell phone.

"Ah, hold on, it's Maurice, he's another zookeeper." She said flipping he phone open. She listened for a minute, then her eyes widened. "What!?"

The four penguins swallowed nervously.

-RoaML-

I would just like to point out something.

Reviews are nice.

I have been getting... like one review or so.

I know more people than that read it.

I am watching you people. O^O