They were destined to be the best of friends from their first encounters. Everyone could tell. Even though he would never admit it, he was softer on her than any other of their new neighbors. But, of course, being the macho man he was, he'd get tough on her on occasion. But that was before they both realized their potential, before their chemistry fully gave a reaction. Their personalities locked together, like that perfect piece in a puzzle. And of course, they became the best of buds. She was invited more and more into their secret HQ and she bought more and more of her cooking over for the four men (who, by word of mouth, only knew how to prepare sushi). Everyone knew it was because Skipper and Marlene had become aquatinted. But no one messed with their friendship. No one didn't really know anything about how their friendship worked anyway since when they went to hang out, they went and hanged out alone. But even as they realized this, they never questioned whether their friendship was really just a friendship or not. Most probably didn't want to encounter an angry Skipper.

The two friends lay on a blanket on the park's grass, laughing at a man who had slipped on a snow cone and landed on his rear.

"Why do people find pain so funny?" Marlene said still giggling at the man's infeminine scream. Skipper finally put on a somber face and shrugged the best he could laying down.

"What are you talking about? Pain is always funny," Skipper stared at the brown haired girl as they fell into a comfortable silence. The two of them got a faraway look into their eyes and were posed to open their mouths, but Marlene broke out into a huge grin, almost forced but also genuine. Skipper managed a smile back at her.

"Let's get out of here. It's movie night, remember?" Skipper stood up and stuck out a hand to his companion. As her hand locked into his, he found himself not wanting to let go. And as Marlene stood up, she didn't want to let go either. But by the time Marlene was steady on her feet, their hands dropped and walked off to the apartment.

The two, over their several months of being friends had started to feel a… a… a something between them. They felt it anytime they were near each other. Skipper, to be quite honest, was thinking of saying something. He really didn't know what this something was but he knew it gave him chest pains. But he could never form the words to do something. Marlene, on the other hand wanted to keep her mouth shut. She was also unsure about this peculiar something between them but she was secretly afraid that Skipper would start shutting her out. And telling him something that he might not want to hear would just push him into doing it.

Oh, how oblivious these two were…

Out of the two of them, Skipper was the first to realize that the something was more than chest pains. It was during a movie night, something that Kowalski so ingeniously scheduled once every 2 weeks. That particular night, it was Marlene's turn to choose a movie. And she chose A Walk to Remember. Skipper knew about that movie. It was a chick flick with no action whatsoever. But he sat down anyway and decided to watch it. He wouldn't regret it.

Near the end of the movie most everybody was asleep, except Skipper and Marlene. Skipper was wide awake but Marlene was holding on by a thread.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Skipper smirked as he saw Marlene trying to stay awake with all her might.

"I really like this part…" And with that, she fell asleep. Skipper laughed to himself and continued to watch the movie. He wouldn't admit it, but he had actually enjoyed this movie. As he continued, he saw the wedding start. He wasn't expecting this, particularly because the people getting married were still in high school. After a while, he realized why the girl was marrying the boy and he felt his heart sigh in the aww factor.

"She must really love him…" He said to himself before looking around to make sure no one heard him. He continued watching the dreamy scene when he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He looked over and saw Marlene snuggling into him. He felt his chest lurch at the touch and his eyes widened in realization. His heart started beating fast and he knew that it was true. She snuggled more into his shoulder and he sighed. He liked Marlene. He liked Marlene but he couldn't tell anyone. They would just try to set him up with her like they did with Phil and that girl who had to stay here until her apartment was finished renovating. He'd say something to her soon enough. At least, that's what he promised himself.

Oh, how wrong he was…

Marlene was the second to realize. It was the morning after that particular movie night. She opened her eyes to see the TV on the play screen of the previous night's movie. She looked around from diagonal viewing point and saw Private and Mort sleeping on the floor and Kowalski and Julien sharing a blanket on the second couch. She didn't see Rico but assumed he had run to the bathroom during the movie because of his love allergy or however Kowalski had explained it to her. She also didn't see Skipper, but in her still half-asleep state, she thought he had gotten up and went to bed. That was, until she felt the couch arm she was leaning against move. This in actuality wasn't a couch arm but more of her best friend shifting in his sleep. She felt him turn a bit, so that his back was leaning on the arm of the couch. He lifted Marlene's head slowly and placed it on the opposite shoulder, obviously not wanting to wake up the sleeping beauty with his somewhat awkward position. She widened her eyes as she fully realized what position they were sleeping. She was fully on his lap and his arms were wrapped protectively around her waist. But instead of getting up in shock, she snuggled back into his shoulder, not minding the way they were sleeping at all. It was rather comfortable… And pleasant. He didn't have a sweaty smell like other tough guys, but he had the soft smell of cologne wafting on his clothes. He was all around pleasant to look at and be around. She wouldn't mind being this close to him all the time, to say the least. And she continued a silently in her mind telling herself about how right this felt, how natural.

This, my readers, was the start of something beautiful, something sweet… Something more painful than anything that has ever happened to the two of them. This was the start of what I like to call the Unsaid Era.

A/N: So... How do you like it? It might not be too good right now but it's just the beginning. I don't have an exact plan for updating this but I have no school for the next week so I'll see how much of this I can pump out. ^^