Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Accordingly, the next day, Bridget went through another interview with Alice.

The good news; it went exceedingly successful, and she was officially employed as the penguins' personal zookeeper...

The bad news; her body right after getting re-hired started to shut down due to a lack of proper recuperation.

Without getting a chance, she got sent back to her apartment... not by Alice, but by the penguins. Kowalski really gave her a real earful, which doesn't help his own recovery.

Her pristine routine initially consisted of apartment cleaning, watching television, the occasional text to Kowalski (as a way to check on him and the others), some reading, taking medicine, and catnapping. Bridget decided to switch things up when it became too monotonous, as when she was no longer in pain, she began scribbling some designs for innovative ideas.

An old habit her younger self did... It's been a while.

But, not to actually make them, just a way to distract herself, playing around with ideas and concepts she's had in mind. It was easier especially with her Aunt no longer around breathing down on her neck... figuratively.

And so, that's where we continue our story.

Bridget, days later, recovering from her injuries in her flat. She was nearly recovered by this point, with most of her injuries spontaneously healing into fading scars and her body significantly less uncomfortable than it had been the previous week.

Doodling out some innovative ideas at the kitchen table, with a cup of tea, a lit small beam of sunshine from the balcony window, and the television playing in the background.

However, it's been a while since she heard from the penguins, especially Kowalski.

He hasn't texted, being off and on responses. She hopes they're doing okay... keeping her borrowed phone and walkie-talkie close to her in case. Just in case.

Then her attention was caught by the chiming of a breaking news bulletin on the TV.

"This is Chuck Charles live from the scene of yet another string of convenient store robberies. Once again the thief took only several pints of ice cream and left behind their calling card sardine tins at the register—"

He pauses and holds a hand to his ear. "This just in, there's a report of a second robbery from last night at the local liquor store, presumably by the same person as they too left sardine tins behind after taking a few bottles of vodka."

Her eyes flicker at the screen to squint in a concerned manner. At first, her thoughts shook away what madness she listened to. Who on earth would be out and about stealing shit and leaving behind sardine tines?

But, thinking things out more, her intuition crept into her mind. She felt ashamed for already pointing fingers, but by now she understands the patterns that New York City runs on. Perhaps not a human... but a penguin?

Besides, leaving sardine cans behind? Dead giveaway.

"If you have any tips or witnessed these robberies, you're asked to call the local law enforcement." The TV continues on.

Biting her lips, Bridget thinks through this more. Oh, what trouble her feathery friends get themselves into. But maybe it's wise first to figure out who exactly is the culprit.

She's already eliminated Private, the vodka part doesn't fit much with him. Skipper is already cut from the list as well, she can't see him as a drinker. Rico actually fits the description more... except she would expect him to raid the entire store rather than just a few goods if she's honest. So that leaves... Kowalski?

Why would Padre be stealing alcohol and sweets?

The ginger then pulls out the phone and checks. It is coincidental that the convenience store robberies did start around the time he went quiet. She frowns more at the thought. Perhaps she's making too large assumptions, she doesn't have the full story anyways...

Oh, don't her boys always give her the best jigsaw puzzles to solve?

But still not hearing from them for a while...worries her a bit. Perhaps today it is time to physically check in on them again. Perhaps even go inside the HQ.

Bridget bites her lip at the idea. Surely by now, they would be recovered and no longer sick? The ginger then taps her foot. Maybe she should try to visit? But considering how the last time she visited unannounced, Kowalski almost froze her with his freeze ray?...

Yes, she should definitely let them know in advance.

Nodding at this thought, she then grabs the radio and turns it on. Biting her lip for a moment, and then calls in.

"Moonsquawkers, ya there, over?"

There's a moment of silence on their end... before the radio cracks to life.

"Hi Bridget! Over." Without a second passing, Private's voice chirps back.

She takes a slight sigh of relief, somewhat happy to hear some communication.

"Heya Kiddo, how's it goin over there? Ya fellas all recovered?"

"Yeah! We're all better. How are you?"

"I'm doin alright myself," She waits to see if he has anything else to say.

"Kind of missed having you around. We've been keeping busy with silver hunts though. Oddly our silver keeps disappearing"

The first sentence made Bridget rub the back of her neck, slightly looking away from the radio as if the small penguin were in front of her. This moment doesn't last long, as she then clears her throat to answer.

"Ya fellas keep losin them or somethin?"

"I don't know. It's almost like they keep being stolen actually. It's quite odd."

Great. As if more mysteries needed to be added to Bridget's list to solve. Why is there always a puzzle for her? Not that she didn't like solving them, they can be fun. It's when they start becoming problems that get under her freckled pale skin.

"Well, there's enough for the four of ya, right?"

'And kept it well hidden for no future stealing?'

"Maybe. Though I'm not honestly sure"

The ginger frowns at that.

" Aye, I getcha. I'll try ta look out for some silver then."

"Thank you. I know we have at least one."

Bridget nods again and then hesitates on her next question. Biting her lip, she forms her thoughts into words.

"So uh, is it alright if I come visit ya fellas?"

"Oh of course! Are you coming today?"

"That was the plan" She smiles lightly.

"Okay! I'll let Skipper know."

"Could ya let Kowalski know too? It's been a while since I heard from him."

"Um, I suppose I can try"

Oh. She heard that tone shift. Private's cheerful voice suddenly shifted to an apprehensive one. Her eyes squint as she thinks through his words carefully.

"You'll try ta?"

"Mmhmm! He's just been kind of—" The radio cuts out.

"—He's fine" Skipper's voice then finishes.

Now Bridget is really suspicious. Her eyes squint when the flathead's voice answers her, only fueling her concern that brews into frustration.

"Ah. Captain Paranoid" She begins with a more southern draw at him, conveying her inkling.

"Hey, Freckles. Recovering well?"

"I've recovered well— Where's Kowalski?" The ginger asks before he gets the chance to change topics.

"He's busy with... nerd things."

There's then silence from her side, in a way to convey her deadpanning expression. And it seems like he took the hint... which is kinda impressive considering he can't even see her physically.

"What? You expect me to know what he does in his lab all the time? I have better things to do than watch that camera all day"

"Then you wouldn't mind if I came over and visited him?" Bridget then answers and goes on to mention.

"Or are ya worried about me seein how much sugar he's been consumin lately?"

"You can visit, but that situation is under control. You have nothing to worry about"

"Cap, ya think Kowalski stealin shit every other night is  'under controlled' ?"

"Hey, at least he's up moving more than the last time she dumped him. I'm calling this progress"

Bridget blinks.

"... Kowalski got dumped?"

"... Uh, got to go, got Ringtail on the other line—"

"SKIPPER."

Too late, the radio is silent.

"Ya son of a—" Bridget shoots up from her chair, quickly getting herself ready. Putting on her normally gray clothes and black jacket, she mindlessly packs up her bag, and without another thought, skates out of her apartment in ablaze.

'Oh, Kowalski... you should've dumped her first when ya had the chance'

0000000

As Bridget surges down the park's path at a steady pace, she begins to realize that for some cruel, twisted reason...it felt good to be outside again. That's a lot, reflecting she's in Manhattan. Never recognizing how much she relished being outside today, despite her frequent yearning to stay indoors and be isolated. Maybe staying inside her apartment too long made her restless. How strange.

Approaching the zoo once again, she slips inside through the gates, her hoodie covering her head and face. Her feathers have recently grown in length, going from centimeters to inches.

But, as frightening as it was (and what a lovely revelation that was, oh how she panicked), it wasn't her primary worry. She was more concerned with not being recognized by the other zookeepers. Particularly Alice or her sister. She wasn't in the exact mood for joyous chatting.

The ginger eventually creeps her way around the area where the penguins have concealed their garage. After a cautious glimpse around, politely knocks on the door. Bridget had clearly learned her lesson from the last time.

This time the door is opened by Rico, who nods at her and steps out of the way. Understanding his gesture, she nods back at him and rolls inside. "Nice seein ya again," She pauses when entering inside, waiting up for him.

"Uh-huh." He nods, closing the door behind her and waddling behind. "You 'ood?"

"Yeah," Bridget then softly skates when he catches up to her. "Be frank, have things been good here too?"

"Eh, 'wal'ki drama." He rolls his eyes. "'Ere 'e 'o a'ain."

Bridget carefully listens to him, trying to slightly make out his irritated babbling. Body language and voice tone did help her out though.

"Aye, yeah. I've heard the story before."

"O'fully 'e last time." He nods and opens another door.

Nodding at him in gratitude, she strolls into the open room. In the room, Skipper and Private are having a snack at the little table. And then the caretaker's frustration came back to her, notably more at the flathead as she hummed with a frown. Hearing them approach, both Skipper and Private look up.

"Oh hey, Freckles."

Bridget gives him a look.

Skipper raises a brow. "What?"

"Ya tried ta hide Kowalski's break up from me." Her eyes narrowed a bit, crossing her arms.

"It wasn't need to know info." He shrugs.

The redhead was about to argue back, but noting how the other two are present in the room, she instead clears her throat. "Can we... talk privately on this?"

Skipper looks at her before getting up with a nod. "Fine, to the hallway." He sighs, waddling ahead. Bridget nods at him, following him, and then turns back to wave at the other two.

The other two, with a shared look, simply watch as they go into the hall.

After Skipper closes the door, for a moment, an invisible tension echoes between them, as the flathead waits for Bridget to gather her thoughts into formable words. She finally breaks their silence with a tired sigh.

"K, yes. If I knew about Kowalski's breakup sooner, I would've visited more, which doesn't help me heal. I get your intentions," Her black eyes look down at him in agreement.

"That still doesn't excuse ya tryin ta hide it from me, especially today after I told ya I've recovered." She grumbles, crossing her arms at him with a look.

"It wasn't anything to worry about." He states again. "He's being dramatic, but he's not as bad this time as he usually is."

He rubs his forehead with a sigh. "At least he's up and moving some. Last time he didn't move from his bunk at all for 6 months." He gives her a look. "And I mean that literally. Cleaning up was life-scarring."

"That's still not good," Bridget deadpans. "He might be active but him consumin all that shit ain't any better than him in his bunk for months. When's the last time he's showered or had actual food?"

"Well, we still slide some fish in each night so I guess he's been eating some?"

She frowns at this, not entirely trusting him on it. He did still lie to her. Not implying he's lying to her currently but who knows? Her eyes look away from him.

Skipper then thinks as he shrugs. "I don't think it'd be much longer until he snaps out of it anyway. Probably by the time of whatever our next mission ends up being."

Bridget then sighs and nods at this. "I still would've liked ta been told the truth. Could even been asked ta come over ta check on him after ya knew I was fine, but ya kept it from me," The ginger huffs.

"You really think he wanted to be seen like this by you?"

"... No," She ponders. "But that would've reduced his heartbroken behavior."

Skipper stops to think again, scratching his chin. "... Alright, fine. Maybe I just didn't think about that."

'Yeah no fuckin shit'

But she left that thought to that, just a thought. "Just sayin. I could've helped out..."

She then rubs a hand through her forehead and hair, her hoodie being pushed back.

Skipper looked up at the motion. "Well, looks like I wasn't the only one keeping secrets, huh?"

Bridget then stops... and realizes her mistake. She promptly conceals it again and clears her throat. "T-That's different! Ya already know I have f-feathers in my head."

"They weren't that long before."

"... N-No, they weren't," The redhead looks away and bites her lip. "But my secrets aren't runnin around New York ravagin convenient-store goods."

"He hasn't stolen anything. He's been paying for what he takes."

'...OH. The sardine cans were currency? Is that a penguin thing? I didn't know fish could also be money?... Wait why is Kowalski payin them sardine cans, I'd thought he'd know about payin with actual money? He has a card!'

Bridget shakes the thought to focus. "He's not payin with the right currency. It'd be like paying with euros in Japan."

"He was paying with what he's got at flipper. Can't really use debit cards when the machines are off and they're closed up, can he? And he doesn't have pockets for cash." He crosses his flippers.

"... He doesn't have pocke—" The ginger shakes her head. "Point is, he paid with the wrong type of money that others aren't gonna understand is money. It's still considered stealin."

Skipper considers this briefly. "... Fine."

Nodding back, the other huffs, attempting to rub her hair again, but midway stops herself and instead bites her lip. "Is there anythin else I should know? Private told me about the silver."

"That's pretty much everything. Been turning the higher security on recently from how the silver keeps walking off. I half wonder if Kowalski's dropping and forgetting it in places."

"If he is then it should be somewhat easy ta track and locate, considering it's the same store."

'Then again, people could've found it too and taken it... Mm'

Skipper nods. "Probably should check the freezers tonight."

Bridget nods at him. "As I offered to the kid, I'll try ta help. For now, I think it's time I go visit Einstein."

She then bends down to him, and flicks the flathead in the...well, head.

Skipper grunts and scowls up at her. "What was that for?"

"For not tellin me shit sooner, Paranoid." She deadpans at him.

"... Fair. I guess." He grumbles and opens the door.

Bridget stands back up and skates out the door directly to Kowalski's lab door.

The penguins at the table watch, a little curious about what happened in the hall, but not daring to ask. Maybe it's best too. What happens between them stays between them.

The ginger knocks on the door, awaiting a reply. And it's promptly opened by one Kowalski. "Bridget, hi! What a surprise."

A surprise indeed, to be greeted by a slightly tired and hiddenly messy penguin, who looks like is barely getting himself to look presentable...

And is probably still drunk.

She raises a brow at him. "Hey Kowalski, you holdin up well?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. I was just about to start working on things." He opens the door. "I just did a little late summer cleaning first."

Bridget's eyes peers inside the room behind him, and then back down on him. "Good ta know...mind if I come in?"

"Of course." He nods and moves out of the way.

Inside his lab, she takes notice of the dairy-nail polish scent, frowning a bit but not saying anything of it. Instead she turns to Kowalski. "It's been awhile."

"It has, how have you been?" He smiles a little at her. "Been up to anything interesting?"

"Uh, not really...you?" The caretaker sits down while looking at him.

Kowalski shakes his head. "Today is probably the most productive I've been."

"Other than ya gettin snacks and drinks at convenience stores?"

His smile mask slips and for a moment he just looks exhausted. "You... Know about that?"

"Padre, the man paid in sardine cans." Bridget furrows her brows at him in concern.

He smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. "I was short on cash, card systems were offline, so I went with what currency I had."

'Sorta the same thing Cap told me'

Mentally fact-checking her already known information, she nods at him empathetically. "Aye. So ya wanna talk about it?"

He steps a little closer with a deep sigh. "Despite knowing that it was coming... It still hurts."

Bridget nods at him again, remaining silent to let him continue on.

"So yeah... I've been drowning my feelings in vodka and ice cream." He sighs.

She bites her lips roughly, grimacing at the idea of Kowalski in that state. "Padre... I'm sorry."

Kowalski shrugs. "I knew it was coming. I've just been a Nancy cat." He sighs.

"You're no Nancy cat. Breakups are rough in general." Not that she ever dealt with one.

Kowalski sits down. "And now I don't know what to do. I spent so much time devoted to her, thinking about her for years... And now... I know that that's completely over."

Bridget (carefully) rubs the back of her neck, her thoughts filing themselves to gather up what she can respond to him. "Aye... I'm sure what you're experiencin is difficult," She scoots a little closer to him.

"But things don't always go as ya plan...bein adaptable ta unexpected interruptions is sometimes all you can do."

Kowalski nods a little. "I just haven't been this single in... Decades."

"...Well, maybe it's best ya take a lil break from romance?"

"That's probably for the best." He sighs. "I just have to—" He pauses and thinks. "Actually no, I already do have something else to do with that extra time and attention."

"What's that?" She tilts her head.

"I have a daughter who needs my attention." He smiles at her.

Bridget blinks at that, and turns away from him with a shy smile, chuckling a little. She couldn't think of many words for that. He reaches up and pats her head.

But then she backs away from the patting, out of reflexes gripping her hoodie tightly. That totally isn't a red flag. Kowalski furrows his brow but retreats his flipper. "... Sorry, I forgot I'm supposed to ask first."

"N-No, it's fine just—" Biting her lip, she sighs and leans down a bit to let him pat.

He pets her but then notices part of a feather from under her hoodie.

Why does her feather look longer than before?

And now there's a penguin up her hoodie, trying to investigate. With him moving around her head, Bridget squawks. "P-Padre!"

"You have more feathers!"

The ginger grimaces, her hair being messed with didn't give her the exact comfort. "Y-Yeah I do—Stop p-please!"

Hearing her alarm, he stops and backs away with a sheepish expression. "Those grew in while you were recovering?" She gingerly rubs her head, sighing at him while nodding.

Kowalski gets his clipboard and studies it, putting his flipper to the table to keep himself steady before adding this to her list.

Mentality noting once again another condition being added to the list, her black tired eyes glance away, her head rubbing the feathers more.

"Anything else that's new or has changed?"

"...It's not the only thing that grew." Bridget grumbles, her cheeks reddening.

He looks at her and motions for her to continue.

"....Tail."

"... How much?"

Bridget hesitates. "...I t's more... noticeable...."

"Is it causing you pain?"

"...Only a lil discomfort," She rubs her neck. "But uh I'm good."

Kowalski waddles around her. "A skirt or dress may feel less restrictive against it?" But she scoots away from him while he does so. "I uh, don't do dresses or skirts. I'm fine, really."

He tilts his head a little but nods. "Fair enough."

Bridget huffs, embarrassed about her uncomfortable pant bump...

That came out very wrong. Her squished tail bump. That's better.

Truthfully none of this is better.

"Might try guy pants. They may give you more room?"

"... I'll try that, yeah."

Kowalski nods. "The extra room for the front tails may instead assist with your own situation?"

Bridget squints at him. "... Yes, I'm sure it's more roomy there for... front tails."

Kowalski nods. "Dresses still have the most room though. Plus, you can do the cute swish swishes."

'... K, I think it's time tipsy Padre takes a nap'

"Yes, very cute swishin," She nods, and gestures to him to come closer to her.

Kowalski curiously comes closer. Suddenly, he feels her hand on his head, rubbing and gently scratching him in a soothing way. Kowalski purrs and wags his tail some.

Instantly her hand pulled back, her eyes widened at him.

'Did he... Did he just purr?'

He then pouts. "Over already?"

In shock, her mouth opens to question him. She didn't know penguins could purr. Squawk, yeah, that's basic knowledge of their sounds. But purring? Like a cat?

However, Bridget pauses, as her mouth slowly closes. Perhaps now isn't a good time to question it...yes she wants to know, but attempting to ask Kowalski anything and getting a straight answer should be saved for a time he's not so loopy.

And so instead, the ginger stares at him...and continues to pet him more. Kowalski smiles and leans into it with another purr. After so long in self isolation, this felt wonderful.

'Holy Shit, penguins can purr... I guess there's still a lot ta learn about these fellas'

Biting her lip, his daughter continues to pet him. He leans against her. "Are you going to be around more often again?"

Bridget's expression drops a little. Although realistically should be able to, tomorrow happens to be a... certain day. A day she wishes she could forget about entirely. But not wishing to disappoint her tired, resting Padre, she sighs with a smile.

"I should be," Her hand scratches under his neck. "I've recovered more than last time."

Kowalski wags his tail more. "Okay."

Bridget bites her lip from the lie, but nods, and pats his head more. The day after tomorrow... for sure. Hopefully, her Padre doesn't notice.

Kowalski starts to get drowsy. And to kick in the calmness that comforted him, a soft warm hum fills the room, as if the tune wrapped him into a peaceful blanket.

The next sound was his soft snores. The humming then stops, Bridget's hand brushes his head. Her eyes smile at him, as she sighs.

Despite how temporary it is... it was good to be back.

Chapter Text

The following morning the penguins get to deal with a morning hangover Kowalski. How lovely is that?

But at least he was out of his lab for reasons other than the theft of ice cream or vodka. Kowalski leans his head on the table with a growl.

"And this is why you shouldn't drink." Skipper gives him a look.

Kowalski merely lifts a flipper at him.

Private frowns, looking in the fridge. "Odd, we're out of food."

"Out of food?" Skipper frowns, glancing over. ".... I guess someone can tell Freckles, since that's kinda her job."

Private nods and gets the walkie. "Bridget? Over."

However, there wasn’t a quick response to the walkie this time.

"Hello? Bridget?"

Another moment passes, but finally, it crackles at him, beeping a bit.

”Hey Kid, Uh sorry. Somethin wrong?” Her voice answers…in a low melancholy tone.

"Um, kind of—"

"Yeah, we have no food." Skipper shouts over him.

“Wha— Whadda mean ya got no food?” Her voice picks up.

"I mean we ain't got no food. Dunno where it went, but it ain't here."

”Shouldn’t Alice or someone else fed ya by now? It’s almost 10!”

"I guess we can check topside."

Kowalski looks over. "...You're not coming today?"

”I—“ The radio pauses.

”…I didn’t wanna tell ya but… yeah. Today’s not a good day.”

"O h." Kowalski nods a little. "Then we'll figure out something and see you tomorrow?"

Skipper motions for Rico to check topside. "If they haven't fed us, we'll just go get something. It's fine."

The walkie falls silent again. Probably a good thing too, since hearing a grown woman muttering and cursing in thought wouldn’t be pleasant. But then it crackles again, speaking with a sigh. ”I’ll pick up somethin for ya fellas. Shipments are probably slow ta arrive. I’ll be there soon”

And the radio goes silent for good.

Kowalski looks at the walkie talkie with a frown. "...Something's bothering her."

“She did sound sorta sad,” Private frowns. “Did she get sick again?”

“Better not have. Last thing we need is another case of croup,” Skipper rolls his eyes

Kowalski gets up. "I'm off to shower." He states before waddling off. He may have to approach Bridget about it later... In the meanwhile, he should take a shower, see if that’ll make him feel better. Should be able to keep his mind preoccupied from dwelling about Dor— his hangover.

As the sulking genius disappears into his lab, Rico pokes his head down into the HQ with a sad sigh and shakes his head. "No fish."

Skipper grumbles, shaking his head. "Figures, lazy, good for nothing—"

From the topside, a group of young zookeepers walks by the penguin habitat, chatting away on whatever gossipy topics they can come up with.

“You should’ve seen him. So hot and rich. He’s getting his bachelor's degree, and plans on being a college professor~”

The main chatter was none other than Ciara, who with a small crowd of admiring listeners, boasted on with how glamorous her life seemed.

“But yeah, we’re totes gonna be together forever. No doubt.”

Skipper huffs. "—Not to mention loud and disrespectful with their interruptions." He crosses his flippers, glaring upwards. How loud can human teenagers be?

Rico however, gets caught up in the drama chatter, seeming intrigued. He can’t help but listen in.

“Hey, Ciara, I don’t mean to interrupt but like, I haven’t seen your sis in awhile.” One of the friends (who happens to be the same girl that chatted to Bridget once), perks up.

“Ugh, Ella, I don’t wanna chit-chat about her. She’s got enough of the spotlight on her anyways.” The much younger lady rolls her eyes, putting a hand on her hip.

“But she was all over the news a few weeks ago. Were you not slightly worried about her?” One of the other girls speaks up as well, raising a brow curiously.

This causes the strawberry hair teen to groan, turning to now face her group with annoyance. “Alright alright, yeah I was worried. My sis was on the news and all, almost got killed by some gross old boomer over filthy flightless birds.” Her green eyes narrow at the thought, as she then opens up her makeup bag to look in her mirror.

Why a zookeeper would have her makeup bag on her during work hours is beyond the writers’ knowledge.

“But apparently she got into a fight with Auntie Mackenzie, so I’m not really like, supposed to talk to her anymore? But I’m guessing she’s just recovering…” She looks away. “Or whatever.”

“Oh Ciara, that must be hard for you.” Ella places her hand on the teen, but then she’s shrugged off.

"Rico, why don't you close the dish already and 86 their caterwauling?"

Rico, caught up in the younger zookeepers’ gossip, sheepishly chuckles. Before he can get the chance, Ciara continued speaking.

“Oh it’s fiiiinnneee. My lil sissy wissy lived. Besides, I think she’s really not here today specifically cause it's her birthday,” Ciara then snaps the mirror close, and shrugs again. The teen chuckles as her group of friends follow her along. Probably still not doing their jobs.

Rico closes the hatch with a gasp. Oh, those teens and their drama. Juicy.

"It's Bridget's hatch day?!" Private gasps as well. "She forgot to tell us!"

Kowalski pokes his head out from the bathroom. "Did I hear something about Bridget and hatch day?"

Private nods. "It's her hatch day today!"

"And she didn't tell me?" He looks a little sad at this but then shakes his head. "No matter. This just means we need to plan something for her hatch day and plan it quickly."

But as the teen said… Bridget gets quiet on her hatch day… and isn’t a partier. Could it be that she purposely… didn’t tell them? But why wouldn't she tell them? Who doesn't like having their hatch day celebrated?

It's a day to be spoiled… Or well, spoil your children. And as a new father to her, he must make sure she is good and spoiled on her birthday.

Then she must’ve forgotten. Trying to recover so much, it slipped her mind. They must celebrate her hatch day.

Kowalski slides to his whiteboard and starts planning. It feels good to be able to put full focus on something again. Something that might make someone happy.

Skipper watches this, sighing with a smile. His lieutenant was back in action.

0000000

Not long before 10:30 , Bridget arrives at the zoo again, this time with a bag of food held closely beside her. Muffins for breakfast, pasta for lunch, and enough to last them till tomorrow, since she doesn’t trust anyone really to feed them properly. Besides that, everything else like yesterday was about the same.

’K, just in and out. Give them the food. Chat a little, and then leave. Easier said than done but… this should be quick’

As she approaches the hidden garage area, she reaches out to knock—

Skipper opens the door. "Morning, Freckles."

Her hand retracts quickly, giving him a look. How do these penguins get to the door so quickly? Surely he wasn’t waiting by the door for her?

“Uh, hey Cap,” She nods at him, not really in a mood to call him by his full nickname. The bag of goods is lifted up in a gesture. “Gotcha some food.”

"Thanks." He nods, getting the bag from her. "... You going to come in, or is this a door dash delivery?"

Rolling her eyes, Bridget softly skates beside him. “I was gonna come in anyways,” she huffs.

"'Kay, just checking." He shrugs, letting her go past him.

And then there was silence. Awkward silence. The redhead was mainly looking at the ground, deep in concentration.

"Rough day?"

“… Ya can say that,” And then she shakes her head, trying to get the bad mood to go away temporarily (permanently would be too good to be true). “But uh, I’ll feel better soon.”

Skipper nods and gets the door for her. Bridget nods at him and then skates into the HQ.

Private smiles at her warmly as she enters. "Hello!"

She shyly waves at him, biting her lip a bit. Private has this excited look about him, like he knows something she doesn't. This only makes the caretaker raise a brow at him.

’He's in a real good mood ain't he?’

“Excited for food?” She tilts her head.

But before the young penguin can answer, Skipper butts in. "Uh, don't mind him. He found something Lunacorn-related."

“… Ah?” Bridget nods, but still gives a weird look at them. Must've been a big season finale for his pony show.

Kowalski pokes his head out from the lab. "Ah! I thought I heard you." Hearing the genius’s voice, she turns to him with a small smile. “Hey, Einstein. Ya feelin better?”

"Not really, but it's my own fault." He shrugs a little. "How are you?"

“I’m doin alright,” She nods back, feeling a bit better that Kowalski is up and moving more cheerfully… without being tipsy.

Kowalski nods. "Are you busy tonight?"

He asks while in the background, Rico can be seen grabbing some wrapping paper, eagerly wrapping something up. What… Bridget didn’t know. Only that it was a bizarre sight… and that it’s way too early for Christmas.

“… Uh, N-Not really?”

"Okay, just thought I'd check." He nods.

Bridget bites her lip. “… Why? Cause I was gonna head back ta my apartment after this…”

Kowalski looks at her. "I just was curious. And in case I thought of anything, it's nice to know when you may be available."

“Ah,” The redhead then pauses. “I uh… I don’t think today is a good day for any plans.”

He studies her for a moment. "Today is a…’Bridget wants to be left alone to be sad in peace’ day?" He says slowly.

“… If that’s the blunt truth… yes.” Her black eyes glance away sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"On a scale of 1 to 5, how bothered would you be if say.... tonight ended up as something other than that?"

“Why would that be the case?” She raises a brow at Kowalski.

"Maybe I had an idea I was considering." He shrugs a little. "And I'm vaguely judging its likelihood of exploding in my face."

Why is he so persistent to hangout? Especially today? They can’t know that it’s… there’s no way. She never told them… yet every intuition in her bones tells her they somehow know.

“… K, whadda know, and how the hell did y’all find out?” Bridget squints at the penguins, crossing her arms defensively.

"… We overheard Ciara this morning." He rubs the back of his neck.

’Shit they know’

Cringing, the redhead rubs a hand down her face tiredly, sighing as she now understands what’s going on.

They’re wanting to celebrate her birthday.

"... I was thinking of a small hatch day tonight, but I'm getting the picture that you don't like your hatch day, so I'm.... debating." He sighs.

"But why wouldn't we celebrate her hatch day? Hatch days are fun and exciting!" Private smiles widely. "And they're about spending time with those you care about on their special day!"

‘Are… hatch days the equivalent of bird’s birthdays? Would make sense considering they… came from eggs’

Bridget bites her lip. Yes, that's how birthdays are supposed to work. Celebrating the day you came into this world, a party full of gifts, cake, and so on, gathered by family and friends to spoil you.

Her prime examples have been Ciara’s parties. When they moved in with their Aunt, Mackenzie had always spoiled her with giant ravishing soirées. The same couldn’t be said for Bridget.

But that’s not the reason why she doesn’t celebrate her birthday anymore.

“I… I don’t think that’s a good idea,” She rubs her neck skittishly. “I just… don’t really celebrate my birthday.”

"But why not?" Private looks shocked.

Skipper huffs. "Maybe she just hasn't tried one penguin style before."

Oh that made her head twist, huffing back at the flathead. “Aye, it’s nothin ta do with how it’s done. I just don’t celebrate. Haven't in 11 years…” Her thick brogue accent dies down.

“…Well, 12 now.”

Kowalski sighs and looks away. "Then I guess it would have been rude to kidnap you away for something tonight."

“Well it’s rude ta kidnap in general—“ She was about to start, but then stopped herself to think, studying his expression.

He really did seem like he wanted to celebrate…the others too. She didn’t understand why… is this something friends do? Help celebrate other friends’ birthdays? What did they plan for her birthday?

“… Did ya have… a layout?”

Kowalski nods. "It was quickly planned, but yes… For tonight." He looks up at her.

She tilts her head at him. “Do ya fellas even have enough silver for that?”

They blink at her.

"Newton's knickers, I knew I was forgetting something. I'll have to check that." He faced flippers.

’Yeah no, this has bad idea written all over it. We’re not riskin it, and I’m not gonna have naked men on my birthday’

With that, the ginger sighs. “I appreciate it, I really do. But my birthday isn’t somethin ta celebrate. And I wanna keep it that way.”

And with that, she opens the door she entered in, and skates out. The penguins watch her go and then exchange glances.

"... Well I vote Plan B. We're kidnapping her." Skipper nods.

If it was the only way they were going to get her to celebrate, then so be it. And so four penguins slide out after her. What a feeling of deja vu.

Meanwhile, Bridget continues to skate out of their HQ, her mind more on her thoughts.

’It’s for the best. I can’t hangout with them today… I’ll be in a much better and happier mood tomorrow. I’ll make it up to them somehow… then again, I really need to put my boundaries up more. I’m gettin too mushy. How am I gonna be able ta leave if I get too attached ta them?…’

She doesn’t notice them drawing closer behind her. Four little blurs of black and white are indeed gaining on her. One signal of Skipper's flipper and Rico coughs up a smoke bomb up ahead.

Clanking sounds echo in the hallway, forcing their caretaker to snap out of her thoughts and direct her attention behind her. Only to be greeted by an abrupt swarm of thick fog, not aiding her need to observe her surroundings.

But noticing the boys drawing closer to her, it didn’t take long before Bridget pieced together what’s going on. With a gasp and cough, her body twisted back forward and began rolling at a faster pace. Four penguins jump into the smoke with her.

’NO NO NO—‘

Her black eyes squint forward in efforts of seeing the exit, pushing herself for the door as her arm reaches out. And almost made it.

Almost.

We know how this ends. Can’t let her win so easily. If she did then there wouldn’t be a birthday. So it’s only natural that she somehow conveniently tripped and fell on the hallway floor, only inches away from the exit. And just to make sure for certain she’s caught, the four penguins then have her pinned by the back. She lets out a big grunt at the dogpiling. Yep, she’s caught.

"Freckles, I get you're freaking out, but come on. Give it a chance?"

"You'd get to meet someone no other human has ever gotten to witness before." Kowalski offers.

“I’ve already met them, they’re pinnin me ta the ground.” Her sass is muffled from her face being planted on the ground.

"Besides us." Kowalski smiles sheepishly.

Skipper groans. "You're not thinking of showing her Dode, are you?"

Kowalski grins. "Oh you know she'd love to meet him."

“Who’s Dode?” Her face slightly turns up to them.

"A living extinct creature." Kowalski slyly grins more.

Her black eyes shine with curiosity. “… You’ve piqued my interest.”

"Then you'll meet us at the museum tonight after it's closed?"

Bridget then thinks on this again, internally debating on the final offer.

After a moment of struggling with her internal thoughts, she gives out a groan…. and nods with a sigh. “Fine. Yes, I'll be at the museum.”

"You won't regret it." Kowalski smiles widely. "I promise I won't go overboard."

“Mm,” She nods. “Now please get off.”

They get off of her.

Bridget wobbles back up with a groan, rubbing her head while looking away. “Do ya fellas at least have silver? Or need me ta bring clothes?”

"We'll go before the moon and snag some silver at the museum." Skipper shrugs.

She nods at them. “Where exactly is the museum and when?”

"The natural history museum, it's in Central Park." Skipper nods.

Kowalski thinks. "Maybe around 7?"

“Oh, it’s that close by?” Her eyes widened a bit. It was hard to remember that she was new to New York. Hasn’t seen or experienced a lot of the area’s wonders.

"Oh yeah, we go by pretty often ourselves." Skipper nods.

"Both for missions, and to feed Dode." Private adds.

‘Damn, all this time I could’ve been hangin out at the museum on lunch breaks'

Bridget bites her lip, trying to mentally remember and note the plan and schedule. “K…I’ll be there at 7.”

"If it'd be easier, could meet us at the zoo entrance." Skipper offers.

“That’ll be easier for me.”

"Then we'll do that." He nods.

Kowalski looks at her. "I'd suggest dressing nicely, but I suppose we can compromise for what you feel comfortable in. I would like to know what flavor pie you like, though."

The ginger bites her lip to think. “I think any flavor will do… “ She then ponders on the clothing. “… I do have those flannels.”

Kowalski nods. "It might put you a little more in the mood."

Bridget nods one last time. “K, see ya tonight,” She sighs and waves at them as she turns to leave the hallway. This time, the boys let her go with a nod.

"Thank you for the food." Private waves.

“Mmhmm,” Her voice quietly mutters back, leaving them be.

’Well shit… I got a birthday ta attend to… and it’s my own’ 

Chapter Text

Several hours later, four penguins wait outside the zoo with a couple of boxes of pizza and a pie.

Bridget hasn't arrived yet, but in her defense, the penguins have set up 5 minutes early. Kowalski double-checks his clipboard for the small present he has and puts it back on his feet.

"You think she'll like it? It's last minute, but I put lots of care into it." Private whispers to Kowalski, slightly nervous.

"I'm sure she will, it's very nice." Although not certain himself, he pats his head reassuringly, which made Private smile.

In the distance, they hear the sound of roller skates approaching. The four look over, bearing relieved expressions that she did actually come.

She was really a human of her word. As if that's not the only noticeable thing. The ginger wore a nice purple flannel and some long blue jeans. Yeah, she still wore a gray tank top, but hey, she wasn't wearing completely baggy clothes.

And her hair even looks brushed... slightly.

Kowalski wags his tail as he notices this. "You did dress up!"

"Yep," Bridget awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, and then points at the food.

"Where ya get that?"

"The pizza? That was delivery." Skipper shrugs.

"The pie we made." Private smiles.

Nodding, their caretaker bites her lip. "K, we ready?" Although sounding impatient, she was simply on the slightly anxious side. The penguins nod and show her the way to the museum.

"Ya want me ta carry somethin?"

"Nah, we've got it." Skipper shakes his head. "But you could give someone a boost to unlock the door when we get there."

Bridget nods and then glances away nervously.

They waddle up to the museum. Rico gets out a paperclip.

She looks down at him and tries to think of a way to pick him up without it being weird. She's never really picked them up during this entire time.

Seeing her awkwardness, Kowalski clears his throat. "Just put your hands together like you're giving someone a boost and he'll hop up."

"O-Oh," Sheepishly biting her lips, Bridget bends down on one knee, doing as her Padre instructed towards Rico, and then gestures her hands at him when she's ready. Rico hops up with a nod and starts picking the lock.

'WOAH OH SHIT, THIS FEELS WEIRD. FUCK.'

It wouldn't be a lie to say she squirmed lightly at first, which made Rico wobble and grumble at her. It doesn't last but a moment as he quickly gets to work. The door clicks open with Rico hops down. She shakes her hands afterward.

"I could've picklocked it," Bridget grumbles.

"You could have spoken up." Skipper glances at her.

'... Fuck me I could've'

She peers away from them, deadpanning as she unlocks the door to allow them in. The four penguins waddle inside.

"Welcome to the museum after hours. Please watch your step until I get the alarm turned off." Kowalski says before sliding off.

To not set off anything, Bridget stood silently still by the front entrance, tapping her foot patiently and impatiently.

However, it would be a lie to say that she didn't already find herself intrigued by the museum. From what she was able to view so far, it looks incredibly impressive.

She's only been here less than a minute and the freckled lady has found her favorite place in Manhattan.

'Oh woah... this is so cool... I wonder how many exhibits they got here...'

The back of her pants felt itchy but... she was too distracted by her curiosity to notice or mind much. After a few minutes, Kowalski returns with a nod. "Alright, it should be good to move around now."

Her skates start moving forward, as now she grows closer to the displays that interest her.

"Cameras are off too. You can touch exhibits just be careful not to break anything." Kowalski nods. But she didn't really hear him. Bridget is off venturing around. She looks so fascinated by the place.

The penguins follow after her. Though they pause a moment to set the pizzas and pie down on a table.

As they do that, their caretaker is gliding around the place, checking things out. Could've sworn she has a smile on her face. Kowalski smiles a little smugly to himself. So far so good.

A museum all to themselves after hours. So many exhibits they could visit, but where to start? Bridget looks around at the guide signs before an upstairs exhibit catches her eye: South America.

Bingo. That's the perfect starting point.

Not wasting another second, that's where the redhead hastily heads off to, an excited gleam in her eyes as she skates up the stairs...

How one does it without accidentally slipping is a complete mystery.

Seeing their human taking off upstairs, her penguin entourage hops up the stairs after her. Well, if anything she seems excited about the museum and they are getting in a little cardio at the same time. Thankfully the exhibit she's heading to is only on the second floor and not the third.

Getting to the second floor, Bridget rolls down to the Hall of South American Peoples. She observes the room's casings of historical relics; preserved artworks, appliances, photographs, totem statues, and tribal banners.

'Oh shit, this section is filled with so many artifacts! This is amazin!'

The penguins follow behind her still. Had they ever really been down this hall before? Not to any of their memories at least. It never seemed like one of much interest to their needs. However, looking around, it was full of some pretty cool stuff.

"Is that a knife?" Skipper asks, waddling over to one of the displays.

The ginger turns her attention to where he is, rolling over to observe the object.

"A weirdly shaped one, but yeah. I think these knives come from Moche culture, which is well known for their pottery work,"

She nods, then grabs out her glasses to better see the description. "Oh, these are ceremonial knives. Also known as Tumi."

"Almost resembles a dolphin's tail at a glance." Kowalski muses, looking at it.

"Or a pizza cutter." Private nods.

The older three glance at Private and Skipper gently pats his head. "....Yeah, for uh... ceremonial pizza parties."

"... There was no pizza—" Bridget with wide eyes, instantly catches herself. Okay... maybe Private didn't need to know what exact ceremony those knives were for.

"— CAUSE, t-they had fugazzetas! Which are basically mozzarella-stuffed pizzas. S-So they actually had ceremonial fugazzeta parties," She loudly cleared her throat, biting her lip a bit.

"... Although, fugazzetas came from Argentina, and the Moches lived in Peru but close enough." She mutters that last sentence under her breath.

Private looks curious at this. "Fugazzetas? They sound kind of like calzones." He chuckles. Rico nods as well, licking his beak.

Skipper and Kowalski quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

"Don't they have a lot of llamas over in that area?" Skipper then attempts a subject change. Something softer so Privates learns no near-brutal history lessons.

Bridget, quickly picking up on the cue, glances over at the mentioned area. She nods while rolling closer. "Ya mean the Inca section?"

"Is that where the llamas are? Incas?" He asks, glancing over at her.

"Oh yeah," She couldn't help but smile a little, as she prepared herself for another historical ramble.

"In fact, Incas practically worshiped llamas, as they were the single most important animal to them," The redhead gestures to all the llama artifacts.

"Provided easy sources for food, fertilizers, wool, even religious sacrifices."

Skipper scratches under his beak as he considers this. "Well, at least some humans acknowledge some animal superiority.... But I question the choice in llamas."

"But llamas are cute and fluffy." Private looks at Skipper with a slight frown.

"That's alpacas." Kowalski shakes his head. "Llamas are like the guard dog version... Complete with kicking and spitting abilities, and moody tempers alongside it." He grumbles.

"... Did ya encounter a llama once?" Bridget couldn't help but peek over at her Padre, raising a brow.

"There's one at the zoo."

"You mean Sunny?" Private tilts his head. "But Sunny is a sweetheart."

Kowalski glances at him but opts to instead turn his attention to the exhibits. "You know, there are some South American varieties of penguins, alive and extinct. I've often wondered how they were so lucky to be in such a warmer environment than the Antarctic."

'... I don't know if I should be surprised that there is a llama, or if I need to strangle that llama'

Biting her lip, the redhead shakes the thought off with a huff. "Well, I'm sure they envy y'all cold environment penguins," She shrugs.

"From what I remember, I think one species make lil mud burrows as nests... and bats attack them at night."

"Vampire attacks? Huh, sounds like they need more combat training in their neck of the woods." Skipper raised a brow. "Maybe some wooden stakes too, heard those are helpful."

"... Wouldn't a stake to the heart kill anything though? Not just vampires?" Kowalski furrowed his brow at this. "But I don't think she means actual vampires, sir, only native bats."

"Still, could bring some garlic to lob at them." He grinned, rubbing his flippers together. "Garlic bombs even."

Bridget squints at him... before rolling her eyes with a shaken head.

"Let's not go attackin a buncha flyin moles."

"Oh come on, it'd be fun. I bet they're in cahoots with the molemen anyway." Skipper crosses his flippers, looking around the museum.

"But Skipper, we never saw evidence of—" Private starts.

"—YET. We haven't yet, but we will because they're out there."

Everyone takes a moment to roll their eyes or shake their heads.

Private then waddles closer to Bridget, gently tapping her good leg. "Do you like history, Bridget? You seem to know a lot about it." He smiles.

"... Uh,"

Their redhead companion goes silent, sheepishly turning away. Crap, was she rambling too much? She was. Dead giveaway.

'Just say no. Deny. Deny it'

However, facing him again, all she could see were the wide-puppy eyes Private gave her, almost begging her to admit it.

Which, Bridget didn't have the nerves to lie... and realized she was fucked.

"... Yes. Yes, I... I like history." She shyly nods, biting her lip as her cheeks turn pink.

The small penguin smiled wider. "History has lots of cool things...Like unicorns."

Skipper rolls his eyes at that. "It has cool artifacts, like swords, plus the military strategies. Classics, like the Trojan horse."

"Still say that's a cliché," Kowalski grumbles, then turns to face his redhead daughter. "Are you ready to meet someone extinct?"

Bridget eyes Kowalski, nodding. "So... what species are they?" She nods.

"A dodo bird." Skipper sighs.

"... And how is the dodo bird connected ta y'all?" She raises a brow. Bridget knew the drill. Pattern-wise, it's very likely they're behind the reason why a dodo bird in the modern day exists. Very chaotically typical of her boys. Besides, how would've they known of one existing? It's just a little too obvious.

"... Skipper grabbed the wrong feather back when I had a cloning machine," Kowalski grumbles.

"Hey! Not my fault. There were feathers everywhere. It was an honest mistake." Skipper crosses his flippers.

Kowalski quietly stares at his leader before he clears his throat. "But if you're ready to meet Dode, he's in the extinct bird hall."

However, the redhead's attention is still on the inventor. "You... made a clonin machine?" Her eyes widened.

"I did." He sighs. "But when it gave out, I lost my Higgs boson particle so I can't rebuild it."

'... A Higgs Boson Particle... How the fuck did he get a God particle holy—'

"... Well uh... sorry ta hear... that?" She couldn't help but squint slightly.

Kowalski nods. "We even checked Rico for another, but alas, there wasn't."

On cue, her eyes flickered to the Mohawk penguin with the same look.

"...K, how does his stomach work?" Bridget no longer cared if it was classified information. She needed to know. This mystery has provoked her mentality too many times and her curiosity demands answers.

"Honestly....we have no idea." Kowalski looks at Rico. "But he has a hammerspace in his gut."

"He was born this way." Skipper shrugs and pats his back. "Extremely useful."

Cue Rico smugly grinning, puffing his chest out with a chuckle.

"... Right," She nods, admitting in defeat she hasn't solved him yet.

These penguins get stranger and stranger... yet more fascinating. The ginger just deadpans before looking over to Kowalski.

"Ya know where the extinct exhibit is?

"It's downstairs." He nods, before gesturing for her to follow him. "So we need to go back this way."

"Right. I'm ready now."

With a unison nod from the penguins, they start to lead the way down the stairs. Skating after, her eyes search for the exhibit along with them.

"It's really too bad that particle thingy got lost." Private then mumbles. "We could have gotten the right feather this time to fight extinction."

"I'm sure one of these days I'll crack cloning again in a different way." He ruffles Private's feathers.

Skipper looks up. "You better, I still want to bring back an army of Waitaha penguins."

As they all start heading downstairs, Bridget shoots him a look. "And what do ya plan ta do with an army of extinct penguins?"

"... You know, I never really thought it out that far." He glances at her. "I just want to spit in the eye of extinction. It keeps trying to take too many penguin casualties."

The gang swiftly approached the display of two dodo birds, who intensely stared at each other...or, at least one of them was.

"Good Evening, Dode. Do you think you can put your staring competition on pause?" Kowalski asks.

"Can't now, dude. I think I'm about to win ." The dodo whispers, his eyes squinting at the lifeless stuffed animal in front of him. Oh yeah, he's about to win for sure.

Skipper rolls his eyes. "Meet Dode. Competition-obsessed daredevil dodo."

Bridget's eyes widened, staring at the dodo with slight fascination. "...What is he doin?"

"Staring contest."

"It's the only thing we could think of to make him stand still." Private nods.

"Does he get hurt a lot?" She whispers to them.

"Worse, he died a lot," Kowalski grumbles. "A bazillion dodos was not what I pictured cloning."

'Oh shit'

The ginger winces. "Jesus. I know dodos are fearless, but weren't they supposed ta be intelligent too?"

"He literally has no sense of self-preservation." He shakes his head.

Bridget then squints at the daredevil who refuses to stop looking at the fake double. "...The last one alive... and he's an idiot." She deadpans.

"According to him, they were all like him," Skipper says.

"Meaning idiocy drove them to extinction," Kowalski adds.

"How unfortunate."

"Shush! I'm trying to concentrate dudes! I don't need distractions, Jackson." Dode squawks at his visitors.

"Well, you've seen the dodo; we can see the rest of the museum now." Skipper rolls his eyes. "Like the hall of cursed weapons."

Her eyes flicker away from the no-longer-existent bird, turning her head around for the section curiously. "That's a thing?"

"Oh yeah, it's my favorite section." He nods.

'Huh. Who would've known Captain Paranoid was inta cursed objects? This keeps gettin more interestin'

"Well, I'd like ta see it." Bridget nods, smiling slightly.

"Follow me." He nods and slides ahead, leading the group down the hallway. Many old pieces of weaponry and ancient vestige, some have an oddly glowy look to them. Following along, Bridget slowly couldn't help but become giddy, as she couldn't help but study each on-display relic in wonder.

"We've actually got some history with a few of these bad boys." Skipper grins, leaning against a marble pillar. "Used that sword up on the wall."

"Well, actually, we used it, broke it, reforged it, and then returned it," Kowalski adds in, though Skipper waves him off.

"Point is, we've used it."

"Normally I'd be one against people usin precious artifacts outside for researchin..." Her smiling black eyes then shift down to them. "But what the hell did ya Moonsquawkers use it for?"

She didn't know that her birthday involved getting free classified information. If she knew this, she wouldn't really mind today after all.

"Well...Princess Self-Respectra accidentally knocked an urn off a pedestal." Private rubs the back of his neck.

"Which unleashed Kuchikukan, the destroyer of worlds," Kowalski adds on.

"Which would only be defeated by the sword of General Shingen." Skipper grins. "... Though kinda sucked Sad Eyes broke the sword so he got possessed by the awesome ghost." He sighs.

Rico chuckles while Kowalski gives him a look. "Anyway, we trapped the destroyer of worlds in a vacuum cleaner."

Processing the bestowed adventurous tale told to her, Bridget provides them an all bewildered face.

A part of her didn't want to believe it. A pony plushie possessed by an apocalyptic demon. The penguins then vanquished it with a sword and imprisoned the deity...in a vacuum cleaner. It seems ridiculous, like something out of a cartoon.

Yet... she couldn't instantly discard it. It became apparent to her that these guys have saved the world many times. That automatically translates to assuming they've defeated various types of enemies... and yeah, she's not one to believe in ghosts or the supernatural.

But after everything they've endured and the space squids she's been told of, perhaps she should lay off the salt with these beliefs.

So perhaps they actually have conquered an evil spirit.

"... A vacuum cleaner?" She finally responds, raising an amused brow at them.

"Well, yeah? What else can you use to suck up a ghost with?" Skipper looks at her.

"Touche." The redhead shrugs...before a small snicker comes out of her. "Although I'm sure for him...it must've sucked."

Kowalski and Private both snicker at that. But then quickly Bridget clears her throat. "But in all, I'll admit...that's pretty impressive." She bites her lip.

Skipper nods. "It was a good mission."

"And I got extra credit for a report I did on Kuchikukan for my class." Kowalski grins.

Her head looks down at her Padre. "Ya took a class?"

"I've taken a few online college classes." He nods. "You'd be surprised how many you can find for free online."

"Ya plan on takin more?"

"Maybe." He rubs his neck. "At the same time, taking random free online classes doesn't exactly denote much forward progress towards anything."

Bridget bites her lip. "...That's fair."

'I guess penguins don't get a lot of opportunities...I would say animals but...that Blowjob guy doesn't really fit the category. But still...'

Rico's stomach growls and he looks back towards the food longingly.

She blinks at him. "Uh... maybe we should take a break and eat?"

"I second that." Skipper nods and starts waddling back that way. The others nod and follow. 

Chapter Text

After the pizza, Kowalski opens the pie and puts a few candles on top.

Bridget, who only really ate one slice, glazes down at the pie. She hasn’t done this in…so long. It should be easy. You just blow out the candles. That’s it. It’s the easiest thing in the world, a one-year-old can do it…

So why did she feel so nervous as the fatherly penguin placed the last of the candles onto the pie?

Kowalski smiles at her. "Ready?"

“I-I…”

A heartbeat echoes in her body, her hands trembling slightly from the question. Her eyes shut tight from the sudden rising emotions drowning her…despite how much she felt more stuck in shallow waters.

’Fuck me, get a grip of yourself. C’mon not here, not now’

Clenching her hands, the ginger shakes her head. “Y-Yeah… yeah I’m ready.” Her head looks away, attempting to hide her somewhat watering eyes. Watching her carefully, he lights the candles.

"Bridget?" Kowalski asks softly. "The candles are lit."

“…Y-Yeah.” Why does her voice sound like she’s about to cry?

"Bridget?" He waddled over and poked his head around to see her face.

He’s then greeted by Bridget, who’s trying to avoid his face meeting hers. But judging by how a part of her hair covering her red face and watering eyes…doesn’t seem like she’s too joyous.

Kowalski looks concerned. "... Was the candle too much?"

“…N-No no, it’s…” Sniffing a bit, her black eyes meet his periwinkles. “It’s really nice.” Bridget smiles.

Kowalski looks at her softly.

"Candles are starting to drip," Skipper states.

The caretaker turns her head at the pie and candles. “Uh, sorry.” Clearing her throat, she then faces the dessert.

It's a fairly simple pie with lit dripping candles.

And not wanting the pastry to be covered in any more wax, she takes a breath and blows them out.

"Yay!" Private claps with a large smile.

Bridget chuckles a little, rubbing the back of her neck as well as her eyes.

"Do you want to slice it, or do you want Rico to?" Skipper asks.

“Maybe he should do it.” Bridget sheepishly nods.

"You heard the lady." The flat head nods to Rico.

With a grin, Rico has grabbed one of the swords off the display and swings it above his head.

This though does not enthuse the ginger. “WHADDA DOIN?!” She panics with a gasp.

"Cu'n pie." He shrugs, now holding it over the pie.

“T-That’s an Ancient Rome sword display! Don’tcha have somethin sharp in ya that's less… historical?”

"Not like it do'n anyth'n else." He grumbles.

With a huff, Bridget shakes her head at him. “Put it back. I’m cuttin the pie.” Rubbing her eyes, she then pulls out a pocket knife from her bag.

Rico gives her a dumbfounded and disappointed look. "But I 'anna use sword!"

“That’s museum property and you're not gonna stain it with pie juice,” The ginger motions him to put it back as she then starts slicing the pie into pieces herself.

"Not like they'd notice," Skipper mutters. "Swords are meant to cut things, not sit around collecting dust."

“Cuttin is a broad term for purpose. Cuttin pies? No. Cuttin people? Yes.” She then plates each of them a slice of pie. “We don’t know who’s blood on it—Mohawk, ya got whip cream?”

"But that's the fun part." Skipper sighed.

Ignoring the leader’s cries, Rico nods and passes her the canister. Bridget then asks each penguin who wants some whip, before serving them and herself a nice piece of blueberry pie.

Kowalski licks his beak as he watches the pie getting served out, choosing to not get involved in the sword discussion. Once everyone has a pie, they start to chow down on it.

"I know usually cakes are the traditional thing for hatch days but... I was thinking perhaps a pie would have reminded you less of it." Kowalski smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. "That and, well, we're not entirely certain how to make a cake except with mud."

She takes a bite of her whipped-less cream pie, glancing at the penguin. “I mean… I like pie more anyways. Would’ve preferred it over the… uh, mud cake?”

Kowalski chuckles a little. "Exactly as I thought."

The ginger chuckles slightly back. “Although if ya wanna, I can help ya with bakin cakes?”

Private smiles. "I wouldn't mind learning some more! I know the basics and the icing, though we don't usually have all the right materials for it."

“Any flavors ya wanna learn in particular?”

"All of them!" His tail wags.

Bridget chuckles again at his enthusiasm, rubbing the back of her head. “I’ll look inta bakin books for ya.” She nods.

"Really?" His baby blue eyes sparkle excitedly.

Completely off guard by his adorable demeanor, Bridget blinks at him before clearing her throat. “I… Yeah. Course.”

’Fuckin damnit it kid, calm down those cute eyes of yours. You’re about ta give me a sweet-heart attack’

Skipper then pats his head. "At ease, soldier." He smiles, shaking his head.

The ginger sighs in relief before going in for another bite of pie. A few minutes of silence before she pauses in pondering.

“…Ya fellas… also consume eggs?”

"An egg is only full of nutrition to feed a developing embryo if there was one. However, a store-bought set of eggs are unfertilized, meaning embryo-free. There's no chicken in that egg."

Kowalski nods. "It's much like how placenta is sometimes fed to human mothers after giving birth to reduce postpartum depression symptoms."

“…A h,” She suddenly regrets being more chatty than usual. “But that makes more… sense.” And back to silently eating she goes.

The other penguins give Kowalski a look.

"What?" He looks confused.

Once finishing her pie, Bridget clears her throat and bites her lip skittishly. “Uh… thanks for the birthday and all… this isn’t actually so bad.” She rubs her neck.

Kowalski smiles. "It's technically not over yet." He takes out the little present.

“… Ya got me somethin?” Her brows furrow.

"Got is a strong word. More put together." He awkwardly chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. "Short time notice and all."

“Y-Ya didn’t have ta get me one.” She bites her lip.

"But it's what friends do." He smiles at her softly.

Bridget for a moment stares at him in uncertainty. Gradually, her hand then reaches out for the gift despite the uncomfortable expression.

“Uh r-right… friends.” Taking the gift, the caretaker gingerly opens it. Inside was a little waterproof notepad, a fresh pencil, and a little friendship bracelet.

“… O h. This is… this is so… sweet,” She lightly smiles with a few short laughs, biting her lips hard to pull back the tears she suddenly felt back again in her eyes.

The next thing she'd notice would be two little penguin hugs. Oh man are they trying to make her cry? “Whadda doin?” Bridget squawks nervously.

"Hugging?"

Private then clears his throat and gives Skipper and Rico a look.

Rico comes over and joins the hug. Skipper raises a brow. "You know I'm not much of a—" However, the look on Private's face leads him to sigh and waddle over, too for the hug.

“No wait please—“

And now they’re all hugging her. Bunch of dumbasses, hugging the caretaker who’s on the verge of sobbing her eyes out.

While the penguins were occupied, Bridget bites her lips, taking a deep breath to not let anything fall out from her eyes. Her arms awkwardly lifted up to not really touch them back.

’Ah shit, Whadda do? This is so awkward uhhhhhh—‘

Her eyes then start scattering around for an answer…before it lays back at the penguins themselves. And that’s all it really took for her to calm herself.

The four of them were all around her, hugging her in their own respective ways of affection. Taking another deep sigh, her arms calm down, gently placing themselves around the small birds.

Gently smiling down at them, she no longer cared if a few streaks of tears rolled down her freckled cheeks. She was too happy to ruin this mo—

Hey is there something moving her in pants?

Bridget suddenly felt a swooshing in her lower back, similar to that itchiness in her pants, riding up against her jeans uncomfortably. She realized that it was her tail but… what was it doing? Since when did her tail move around?

Subtly, her head leans back to take a glance at what’s going on… only to find her feathery orange tail to be wagging.

Her tail is wagging…. Her tail is wagging.

Twisting her head back with a flush redden face, the caretaker loudly clears her throat. “O-KAY, W-We can stop the huggin.”

They release her with a mix of relieved and curious expressions.

"Is something wrong?" Kowalski tilts his head.

“Yep, I’m good,” She looks away.

’Stop waggin stop waggin stop waggin holy shit how do I stop it FUCK—‘

He doesn't look convinced but appears to let it drop.

"Well, I think that's all he had planned now." Skipper crosses his flippers.

“Ah, uh-huh.” But Bridget pays no mind to him, too focused on her wanting her shaking body part to stop… well, shaking.

’STOP, YOU’RE A PART OF ME. I WANT YA TA STOP’

But the tail, as if it has a mind of its own, continues to happily wag with pride.

This however results in the redhead taking matters into her own hands, and after cautiously observing to see if no one will notice. As it seems they’re preoccupied with cleaning everything up, sneakily she puts her hand behind her and hits it with a fist.

The good news is, it stops wagging. The bad news is;

“SQUAWK!” Bridget yelps and winces in pain.

‘SWEET JESUS THAT HURTS, MOTHER FUC—‘

This causes all four, who were starting to clean up, to jump in surprise

"Are you okay?!" Kowalski drops the pizza box, looking at her with widened eyes. "What hurt?"

“N-Nope. I’m fine. Peachy.” Bridget bares her teeth and squints her eyes. “I’m fine I just uh…”

Her black eyes search around for a good excuse, before laying on her leg. Despite her wanting to say no… maybe…

Maybe it was time.

“I uh… thought since well, ya fellas have been sharin shit with me, I could share… stuff too.” She then sheepishly glances away.

"Like what?" Skipper looks at her, now with some more interest.

“Well…” She rubs her neck. Biting her lips, her eyes quietly stare at her leg before sighing, and then grabbing the bottom of her right pant leggings.

As if she couldn’t look less of a mess, her hands tremble a bit, unsure if what she’s doing is really wise. But fighting her feelings and going with her gut, Bridget takes a breath, and pulls up her pant leg, revealing…’it’.

And ‘it’ is a metal prosthetic leg, crafted and built by the woman herself.

"Nice craftsmanship." Kowalski nods, looking it over and taking a step closer.

However, the leg flinches back from his approach, not by purpose but out of instinct. He stops, seeing this reflex, and looks at her. "Are we getting to learn more about what happened?"

Bridget just stares at him cautiously, biting her lips while her eyes examine the metal leg.

“… It was today when I… got amputated.”

"…O h." All four wince.

Kowalski looks away sheepishly. "My apologizes."

She rubs her neck. “How would’ve ya know if I didn’t tell ya?”

He nods and sighs. "I should have guessed something traumatic happened from your reactions and wanting to forget your birthday." He rubs his flippers over his face.

“Yes, we’re sorry.” Private peeps up, patting her knee while Skipper and Rico listen to the conversation awkwardly yet sympathetically.

Bridget gently looks at them and pats their heads. “Aye, ya meant well. If I’m bein honest, this is probably one of the best birthdays I’ve had.”

They smile a little, especially Kowalski. "Then at least we were still successful." He nods.

She smiles at him and then conceals her leg again via pants with a sigh of relief. That’s enough spotlight on her—

"Ey! Tail c'ooked." Rico then points out from behind.

Oh, that made her heart drop. Her skin became paler yet the rest of her face bright red. Like a frozen deer in headlights.

“… Bridget— ?”

“WELL, look at the time,” She glances at her silver watch. “It’s gettin late, we should head back ta the zoo— I’ll go grab that silver while y’all packin things up.”

With an invisible strong lift up, Bridget attempts to run away. Again. Like a coward.

"Hold on! If your tail is off, then you'll have less balance!" Kowalski squawks after her in concern.

Nope, too late. She’s skating away to the gift shop faster. Course there’s a few stumbles and off-balancing skating but that's not stopping her.

With sighs all around, the penguins get their things and follow her. A coward indeed, but she’s their coward. 

Chapter Text

Patiently impatiently tapping her foot on the office’s floor, Bridget tiredly sighs as she awaits the older zookeeper to get the last section of the officially hired zookeeper session.

Due to going home early after her zookeeper training, she wasn’t able to get this part done. Luckily she decided today was the day to get back to work, and she can finish this nonsense for good…

If only the minutes she was experiencing at the moment weren’t so tediously grueling.

“Here’s the zookeeper schedule, all vet appointments and shipments are listed and updated—” Alice’s monotonous voice rings in the ginger’s ears like non-stop sirens.

Biting her lip, Bridget huffs. She knows she should be paying attention, but this was too painful to endure. She kinda wished maybe something would happen. Anything more than this.

Then something miraculous happened. She was saved from this monotone lecture by none other than Alice's phone ringing.

“Ugh, for crying out loud.” The older redhead whines, grumbling as she takes out the phone. “Hold on, I got to take this,” and answers the phone grumpily.

Oh what a blessing from the heavens…that's more of a curse now. Because with Alice on a call, she’s just stuck in her office longer. Great.

’Fuckin hell, why not. Let’s not make this shit go longer. While we’re at it, the fellas wanna join in for a nice cha—‘

Four little penguins then dropped down from the vent and onto her desk.

"Rico, Private, secure the perimeter. Kowalski, get the intel." Skipper orders and they break their landing formation.

’…Wait no, I was bein sarcastic. They don’t have ta be here’

Bridget blinks at the arrival of her feathery companions. Squinting at them, she silently stares at them, studying what on earth they’re doing.

Kowalski waddles over to the computer and starts typing on the keyboard before taking out his phone and snapping pictures of the screen.

"Sir—" Private clears his throat and points at Bridget.

Skipper shrugs. "She didn't see anything." He says before making the motion over towards her.

Kowalski then looks back at the others with a nod. Skipper nods back and the four bounce off various objects and back up into the vent, closing it behind themselves.

’…Woah’

At the exact same time, coincidentally, Alice’s call ends with an irritated groan. “Ugh, anyways. Here, zookeeper keys.” The head zookeeper then dangles the keys in front of her.

Bridget stops staring where the penguins disappeared, blinking at the motions, her head up at the keys, and gingerly snatches them.

“Ah… thanks.”

00000000

As the usual routine, Bridget skates up to the penguin habitat with a bucket of fish. She wears her gloves still, as well as her watch and newly gifted friendship bracelet. Despite it being bright pink, she still likes her gift.

The penguins are in their habitat, playing cute and cuddly for some of the visitors of the zoo. Almost as though they had never left.

However, their caretaker can see well past their acts, passively waiting for them to as she observes them. There’s something very coordinated about their cute antic, as though it has largely been rehearsed.

’I always wondered if they do this for show or somethin else. Clearly, no one around here trained them this shit so, why do they do it? Is it still mainly for treats?’

As though to answer her question, Rico jumps and catches a piece of thrown popcorn in his beak before diving back into the water.

Bridget’s eyes widened at that.

’FUCKIN CALLED IT’

Not quite as cute, Kowalski starts a little dance that receives a face-flipper response from Skipper. But that results in the redhead snorting a little and then averting her eyes away from them.

’Jesus Christ these dorks. Padre, you’re enjoyin this too much’

She never thought she would label a penguin like a father figure… it felt weird yet… she doesn’t stop. Even though she still refers to him as ‘Padre’…maybe the nickname sticks. If not that, then she wouldn’t know why she keeps calling him that.

’Although, these fellas really have a small exterior habitat… wonder if I could get them a bigger one…somehow. Cheapest might be I built it myself… somehow… I’ll add it ta my bucket list’

By this time, most of the visitors surrounding the penguins are gone, only leaving the four dancing birds and their pondering caretaker. With the public gone, the cute antics cease. Private waves over at her.

Bridget’s attention is grabbed by the waving, as she turns to face them. “Ah, you’re done.” She sarcastically teases a bit.

"Yeah, the popco—people left." Kowalski clears his throat.

A brow is raised at them before they gently toss a few fish toward them. “Aren’t ya fellas not supposed ta have popcorn durin zoo hours?”

"Oh, what's the harm? The humans get their cute show and we get a snack. It's a win-win." Skipper crosses his flippers.

“Ya say that like I’m gonna rat ya out.”

"Well... You do officially work here now, and so that means when Alice is looking you'll have to uphold the no feeding the animals rule—" Private starts.

“Yeah,” Bridget shrugs, agreeing. “…But I didn’t see anythin.”

Skipper side-glances her with an amused snort. "Doesn't work unless you do the motions too, Freckles."

“I don’t speak flipperese,” She gives him a playful glance.

"It's like this, really easy." He makes his signature motion.

She watches him. “Why ya gotta do the motions?”

"Because. You just gotta do it right." He shrugs.

Bridget deadpans at him and shakes her head before tossing the rest of their meal at them. The four penguins waddle to the spot of their delivered lunch, munching on it.

Private glances up at her to thank her, but stops when noticing the pink bracelet. “Oh! You’re wearing the bracelet!” He chirps with a bright grin. “It looks nice on you.”

“Oh uh, thanks. I do like it,” She shyly nods, holding some truth to those words. Besides the color, the gift itself meant a lot to her.

“Will you always wear it?” His baby blue eyes grow wider.

Bridget bites her lip at that. “… We’ll see,” She tries to curveball the attempted promise. Which satisfies the youngest penguin enough, as he nods, and starts to chomp on his lunch.

"So did your jobs change much with the promotion?" Kowalski, starting his turn for conversation, tilts his head after eating a few fish.

"A lil bit," She starts the mentality list. "I'm gettin paid. Late mornin ta early evenin shifts, Monday and Fridays, unless I call out,"

Biting her lip, she leans on the fence while eyeing the sky. "In charge of anythin involin you fellas, feedin and appointment wise. And… I got my zookeeper keys and walkie, and access ta the cart." She nods with her eyes closed.

Although that sure is a lot for 'a lil bit'.

"Cart eh?" Skipper chuckles. "Might be game for a rematch against that old thing."

“Whadda mean?”

"Our zoo coupe versus the zoo cart." He looks at her.

“… You have a car?” Bridget squints at him.

She knows she shouldn’t be surprised. She knows. After everything and this makes her squint? But she couldn’t help it. She always thought they were just ‘borrowing’ cars.

The penguins have a motherfucking coupe.

"It's small, but it works for four small penguins." Kowalski nods. "I've invented extensive modifications from how it originally was when we acquired it."

“Oh,” She nods a little, then thinks about it.

“Well, a modified coup against an old zoo cart, course you’re gonna win. But I’m faster on skates anyways.” The ginger shrugs… subtlety teasing them.

"Is that a little bet I hear?" Skipper raises a brow with a grin. Rico glances up too, almost excited by the idea of racing.

Bridget was about to answer cockily but paused to stop herself.

’Wait a moment. Don’t go gamble with penguins. Am I really gonna race against a modified coupe?’

“… Maybe?” She shrugs, and then gives him the same smile back.

’Oh my fuckin god what the fuck you idiot’

Skipper grins at this.

Kowalski just face-flippers and shakes his head. "Anyway, Bridget, do you think you could leave the Zoovenirs shop unlocked tonight?"

“…Why?” She tilts her head.

"Well, we have a meeting. Like you have HOA, we have zoo inhabitants meetings."

’Oh… interestin. I guess that makes sense. The zoo bein like an apartment complex community?… Minus, the public watchin them durin the day’

Bridget methodically thinks about her thoughts before nodding at him. “K, I’ll do that.”

"Thank you. We'll lock up when we're done." He nods.

Bridget nods… although looks at him like she wanted to ask more.

He makes eye contact with her. "Yes?"

“… I’m good,'' biting her lip, her eyes avert away from him. “Not really supposed ta ask much… and it’s not my birthday anymore.”

"Maybe not...." He then jumps on the rails to lean closer. "But maybe you get daughter privilege questions." He whispers.

Now she looks tempted. Why would you do this to her?

“… Is it a monthly thing? Or is this one outta the blue?” Bridget gives into her curiosity, her black eyes shine with wanting answers.

Too late to go back now. She wants to know more.

"It varies. Usually, it's just whenever someone declares they want one." He rubs the back of his neck.

“Huh… and why was this one declared?”

"Hey, guys!" A familiar otter voice then piped up, followed by Marlene's face over the little habitat wall.

The newcomer’s inspiring announcement made Bridget jolt with widened eyes, flickering her movements out of reaction only to accidentally start stumbling…and then fall back to the ground.

The penguins flinch at her fall.

Marlene leans over the side of the wall. "Oops, sorry, Bridget. Are you okay?"

“…ow,” The caretaker blinks and pulls herself up by the habitat bars. “Y-Yeah, yeah. I’m good.” She clears her throat, biting her lips as her eyes avert away.

’Fuckin Jesus. Try not ta be clumsy please’

"Anyway, I was just making sure you boys heard about the meeting tonight because you better be there this time." She looks specifically at Skipper.

"Yeah, yeah, we heard. We'll be there." He waves her off.

"Good, because part of it's about you guys." She nods.

Oh if her attention wasn’t grabbed then, it’s grabbed now, as she finds her black eyes slicing over at the otter. Her expression is however mixed between intrigued and worried.

"About us?" Skipper raised a brow.

"You don't think we haven't noticed that you boys aren't up to your usual 'night patrols' or whatever anymore." She puts a paw on her hip. "We have questions, you better have some sort of answers prepped."

Bridget, with a guilty expression, glances down. Einstein and her really need to get back to inventing that machine. Once it’s fixed then the Moonsquawkers wouldn’t get in trouble so much… and everything can return to normal. She can leave…

No more complaints from wolves and otters at them when she’s gone.

Skipper gives her a look. "You know what my answer gonna be, Marlene."

She returns the look. "Well, declassify some sort of excuse to at least put the zoo's minds at ease."

“…The community could get somethin brief?” The ginger clears her throat, muttering loud enough for her to be heard.

“Doesn’t exactly have ta include… everythin.”

"Brief should be just fine." Marlene nods, glancing over at her.

She nods at the otter and gifts the flathead with a ‘come on, it’s not going to hurt you’ glance.

Skipper sighs. "Yeah, yeah. I'll come up with something."

Bridget nods and pretends to mind her business despite how involved she is in the business.

"Nine tonight then, don't forget." She nods.

"Maybe Bridget can come too?" Private chirps.

Marlene looks over at her. "I mean, I don't see why she couldn't. She's technically part of the in-crowd now."

“… Wait what.” Suddenly being thrown into the discussion, her eyes switch back and forth between the penguins and otter, her expression very puzzled.

"Suppose that would make sense, seeing as how we've been at her house a lot for... Reasons." Skipper nods.

"So we need to find her a disguise, right?" Kowalski asks. "So she doesn't startle the others?"

“…What’s happenin.” And now she looks confused and scared.

"You're coming to the meeting too!" Private smiles at her.

‘Oh no’

Staring all at them for a moment, the caretaker then slowly rolls backward and away from them.

"Bridget! Come back!" Kowalski squawks after her.

Hearing his cries, Bridget glances back.

Kowalski looks at her with his puppy eyes. "Please?"

While her frown presents how uncomfortable she is with the idea, Padre's expression outweighs her gut feelings. It was only after biting her lip that Bridget gave in with a groan. “Oh fuck me—“ she grumbles and rolls back over.

“K fine, I’ll join…but only cause I had a hand in why ya fellas weren’t around much,” The ginger crosses her arms.

"Don't worry! We'll make sure you have a good disguise!"

Chapter Text

Cue hours later by mid-late evening, with Bridget in a giant bunny outfit in Kowalski’s lab.

"Kowalski, I mean this in the nicest way possible. She looks like a deranged Easter bunny." Skipper crosses his flippers.

"But sir! She's not pink!" He pouts. "And she's adorable."

While the brothers argue, Bridget sits on the floor in silent thought. Her tired deadpan expression was all that needed to be said, along with some quiet long sighs of dreadful desperation.

’Is this what my life has come to?’

"I veto the rabbit, try again." He rolls his eyes.

Kowalski grumbles and looks through the costumes he has gathered. "What about a penguin?"

“…Can go with that.” She rubs her face, accepting the irony of this.

He drags another huge animal costume over and hands it to her with a smile.

Sighing, she takes the penguin outfit and places it beside her, as she attempts to take off the bunny suit. This would be easier if her prosthetic leg cooperated more. The penguins turn away at least to give her a little privacy… despite her still wearing clothes underneath the suits.

Now in the penguin onesie, Bridget looks at herself. “Well my face is covered so this is less humiliatin.” She muffled through the suit, as indeed, this one had the dignity to completely hide from head to toe.

"Just needs a few finishing touches," Kowalski says, getting a yellow and orange paint marker. He gestures to her to sit, and as such, he jumps on her knees to color the onesie.

"There. Now we maybe can pass you off as a very tall emperor penguin." He nods, finishing.

“Oh, splendid! You look cute!” Private grins. Rico on the other hand is failing at not snickering at her misfortune.

As hard as it is to see through the eyeholes, she glances down at herself, skeptical. “…Are ya sure this’ll work? I don’t think penguins have big fluffy eyebrows.” She pats the mentioned big fluffy eyebrows that are sewn on the onesie’s hoodie.

"It's not like the other animals have ever seen other penguins beside us before." He shrugs.

“Minus Rockgut, but he had bushy eyebrows too,” Skipper adds.

“Yes, so it’s not that abnormal.” Kowalski nods.

Bridget sighs again, nodding as well.

‘At least my tail fits this one’

"It's not supposed to be a full moon tonight… Right?" Skipper looks at the nerds.

“No full moon, but ya fellas got your silver from the museum, right?”

"Oh yeah, we do." He nods. "They've been kept in a safe this time."

Kowalski glances behind her. "Oh! That reminds me. How is your tail doing anyway?"

“… It’s fine.” Her body twists away from him.

Persistent, he still tries to check himself. "Bridget, if it is crooked, it will throw off your balance and potentially cause you other problems."

And persistent herself, she rolls backward lightly. “I don’t have much good balance anyways, I’ll live.”

Kowalski gives her a stern look. "Bridget."

The penguin mascot avoids his gaze. “… It feels weird when it’s touched.” She mumbles shyly.

"That's because it's a highly sensitive appendage. You have nerves there like you have in your spine." He looks gently at her. "It'll feel a lot better when it's correct."

“…That makes it sound like it’s… ya know…”

Kowalski blinks at her for a moment and then shakes his head. "I don't know enough about those yet to know about their sensitivity."

"They're sensitive. Trust me on this one." Skipper grumbles. Bridget snorts a little at that, which gets an eye roll out of him.

"Well, ignoring semantics, it should be pretty quick and simple. I had to relocate Rico's a few weeks back. It's awkward but completely outpatient."

Thinking it out, and rubbing her lower back to feel the weird mixture between soreness and numbness, Bridget sighs. Just in and out.

“… Fine k, but not tonight? We got a meetin ta get ta.”

"... After the meeting?"

“That works.” She nods in her defeat.

Kowalski nods at this. "Good. I like to keep you in decent health."

“I’m in decent health already,” An annoyed huff came out from the suited emperor penguin.

"Except for a crooked tail." He mutters.

“Which’ll be fixed later.” She mutters back.

Kowalski nods a little and gets the door. "Suppose it's time to get to the meeting?"

Bridget nods back and glances at the flathead. “Whadda plan on tellin?”

"We're having to work on a side project for the North Wind at night. It's irritatingly taking up my patrol schedule." He shrugs. "And you're the rookie North Wind agent we're currently supervising."

’Oh woah I didn’t expect him ta come up one so fast’

“… Not bad.” She nods, trying not to sound impressed.

"And your name is Gidget." Kowalski nods. "I picked it because it sounds like Gadget but rhymes with Bridget." He nods ushering Private and Rico out the door.

“Heh. I like it.” The disguised ginger shrugs. She nods at him and rolls out behind the actual penguins, who were disputing some silver jewelry with each other before exiting their HQ.

The group waddle and roll to the little shop and go inside. By request, Bridget left it unlocked for easier access. As usual, they were one of the first there.

’Well it’s too late ta say ‘I got a bad feelin about this’, heh’

“H-How many are comin exact?” She glances down at them.

"No idea." Skipper shrugs. "Just depends on who shows up."

The costumed redhead nervously shifts, searching around for a corner so maybe she can hang out around. Oh, how she wished to be in the shadows to hide. The penguins take up their positions. Marlene is the next to scamper in.

"Hi guys and—" She pauses, looking at Bridget. "Friend?"

“Howdy.” Bridget’s voice came out of ‘Friend’.

Marlene raises a brow.

"Uh yeah, that's uh...." Skipper looks at Kowalski.

"Gidget." He nods.

"Right, Gidget."

“Moonsquawkers, she knows it’s me.” ‘Gidget’ shakes her head.

"I just didn't know what your secret undercover name was." She chuckled, shaking her head. Soon the concealed redhead sits where the penguins are, nervously awaiting more to arrive.

The penguins take up their respective placements. Skipper takes a spot with the best overall vantage points, Private and Kowalski sit by Bridget, and Rico sits on the floor near Skipper.

Quickly more gathered to the room, not packed but there was a fair amount that attended.

Bridget is grateful her face isn’t shown, biting her lips as her eyes flicker to each individual with caution. Out of fear that she’ll make one wrong move and everything will fall into chaos.

A ‘flipper’ grips her knee tightly, in aid of calming down her breathing… as well as breathing normally. This suit is hard to breathe in.

“Where’s the primates?” Skipper mutters to Marlene.

“They’re a bit sick, but don’t worry, I’ll run them the details later—“ She answers back before clearing her throat. "Okay, okay, everyone. Thank you for coming out tonight." Marlene says.

"We'll try to make this quick. Does anyone have any pressing questions before we get on with the main topic of tonight?"

“Is this something bad? Oh, I hope it’s nothing bad.” Roger asks, fidgeting his claws.

“Of course, it’s bad, because it’s not about me.” Julien crosses his arms, standing on the opposite side of the penguins with Maurice and…that mouse lemur thing.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's bad," Marlene says. "It's about where the penguins have been disappearing at night for the past couple of months."

And now all eyes are on the penguins.

“What? They’ve been gone this whole time? Maurice, why didn’t you tell your king this?”

“Like I would know when those guys are gone or not.” Maurice gives the ringtail lemur a look.

“Well obviously if they were gone this whole time we could’ve been sneaking in— I mean, house-sitting for them.” Julien crosses his arms.

Skipper rolls his eyes as he listens to them. "Look, we've been busy working on something for the North Wind. Also been dealing with Blowhole-related agents lately. But no reason to be worried, we've been keeping a glance at the zoo, too."

Bridget bit her lip as she struggled to keep a steady breathing in the suit. It was starting to get hard to get fresh air, and her anxiously observing the conversation didn’t exactly help things.

The suit being too warm made her feel like she was sweating profusely. At this point, her grip scratched her pants to keep herself afloat and not drown in exhaustion.

“Mm okay, but uh, how much longer is this going to keep going?” Julien questions, totally not planning on somehow sneaking into their HQ with this information.

"Until I have repaired a specific machine for them again." Kowalski sighs. "Which has been slow progress with a number of setbacks."

The chameleons flash a few colors between each other.

Kowalski glares at them. "Yes, I suppose you could say my getting dumped by Doris was a setback too, no need to gossip." He grumbles and crosses his flippers.

Subtly a ‘flipper’ pats the genius’s back.

“Again? That’s rough, man.” Maurice sympathizes.

"Yeah... But it's the last time. I'm... I'm moving on from her." He sighs and then shakes his head. "But this is offtopic."

Marlene nods a little as she listens. "Is there anything perhaps that the zoo can do to help things along for you boys or your friend?"

“…Friend?” A few voices echoed in the room.

And now Bridget felt all eyes fall onto her. This did not help her cope.

"Oh, that's Gidget. She's a North Wind rookie associate who is helping with their machine repairs." Kowalski nods.

“Why is this silly penguin bigger than you all?” Julien then jumps up onto her head to look down at her, and then the others, judging the difference. “She’s freakishly huge!”

“G-Get off me!”

"She's an emperor penguin." Private nods.

“Oh!… OH, I see what’s going on!” The lemur then stomps his foot on her head. “You’re trying to replace the king with another royalty!”

Bridget grunts, having a difficult time keeping herself together. It was here that she knew this whole thing was going downhill. Either this suffering moron was going to tamper with her suit till she was revealed as not ‘Gidget’ or she was going to faint on the spot.

Her ‘flippers’ then tried to shoo him off, but this only made him stomp more. “My own neighbors and bestie, trying to take over my kingdom with a bigger royal penguin!”

"Biscuits and gravy, Ringtail, she's not a threat, leave her alone." Skipper groans.

Kowalski hops up to try to get between the two.

“Your majesty, I think you should step back from this,” Maurice advises.

Julien huffs. “Well, how am I supposed to know that when she’s an emperor penguin? Emperors are like kings but with more llamas and respect!”

"It's her species, not her social status!" Kowalski exclaims. "So please show some basic respect and decency and get off of her."

“Kowalski—“

But by the time Kowalski yelled out to defend his daughter, Bridget, lightheaded and dizzy, wobbled a bit before falling back. She fainted as her prediction went, knocking both the penguin and lemur down with her.

"BRIDGET?!" Kowalski gasps, quickly moving to unmask her.

And it’s too late. Now Bridget (who is no longer Gidget) is revealed to all zoosters who’d attended.

"THAT'S A HUMAN!" Burt gasps.

The chameleons flash colors to each other in a panic.

Julien who gets up yelps and comes over to his aye-aye. “Maurice! The freakishly giant penguin is a human!”

“Don’t worry King Julien, I’ll protect yo—“ But not giving him the chance, Julien simply yeets Mort away from feet via a kick.

“Oh dear,” Private murmurs at the chaos, but quickly comes to Kowalski’s side to help, the lieutenant being too occupied getting the redhead's feet elevated. He could care less about the reactions.

"Hey, woah, woah, no need to freak out." Skipper starts. "She's with us."

"Yes, Bridget is one of the zookeepers but she's nice and understands us—" Marlene nods.

“Hey, yeah! That’s Bridget! Oh oh, she’s really nice, we shouldn’t be scared of her.” Roger adds in, looking at the caretaker with a worried yet happy smile. Happy to see her, worried she’s fainted.

"Then what's actually going on?" Burt poked Skipper with his trunk. "Since she's not a Gidget, she's a Bridget?"

Skipper bares his beak, gripping his flipper by his side. "It's complicated."

Maurice raises a brow. “Complicated enough that there’s a human understanding us?”

Skipper rubs his face then. "Kowalski had an experiment go wrong. It made us and the human have some side effects we're dealing with. But yeah, once he's fixed the machine we won't have to worry about it anymore."

Rico waddles up to the other two as Private checks her pulse, spitting out, then unfolding an Ogi fan, to then start fanning the redhead. Bridget begins to moan quietly as the clearer air awakens her. Kowalski pulls on her legs more vertically.

With her consciousness coming back, her mind processes what’s happening around her.

’…Oh no, I did it, didn’t I? Fuck’

She cringes, biting her lips a bit as she wishes she wasn’t here.

Julien then starts to look less scared and more interested. “…So, zookeeper lady can understand us?”

"Yeah."

"But she's easily startled too, so you need to be gentle." Private nods.

The lemur doesn’t listen to the young soldier though, as he gets off Maurice, and leaps onto the redhead’s chest. “Hello, zookeeper lady! This is your king speaking to you.”

"Not right now, Julien, she's just gaining consciousness." Kowalski sternly tries to shoo the lemur away. Rico joins in the shooing with his fan, although in a more amusing manner… until Kowalski gives him an annoyed look, causing him to innocently whistle.

“I will get off in a moment. I just want to introduce my new subject to her king.” Julien points to himself and then starts poking Bridget.

“Oi, quit it,” Bridget growls, sitting up so he would get off, but now he just stands on her lap.

“Who is this ‘Oi’ you speak of? I am King Julien, a silly zookeeper. And the proper way to say that is ‘quit it, your majesty’.”

"She said ‘quit it’." Kowalski then hisses.

"Kowalski, stand down." Skipper starts waddling over.

Julien was about to chat with the angry expressed Kowalski, but he suddenly gasps and yelps when he’s picked up by the back of his neck by the caretaker, who steadily stood up and rubbed her aching head.

Holding him up, and facing him with a look. “I’m gonna putcha down nicely. And when I do, you’re gonna leave me alone. Capiche?”

“…Uh—“ But not even giving him the chance to respond, she drops him on the barrel of zoovenir plushies.

The chameleons flashed colors at each other in a humorous manner.

Kowalski still glares at him from his spot, but more or less he seems appeased by this.

Bridget then glances around the room, not enjoying the attention she’s consuming. How everyone’s eyes fell on her…even if it was less negative and more curious stares. Like she was a wolf who ended up in the jungle.

With all the mixed emotions and thoughts running through her mind, she shakes her head with a frustrated growl.

“I’ll… excuse myself.” Biting her lip, she gently rolls to the door and exits the zoovenir shop. The zoovenir shop was silent after the door closed behind her.

"… Is this meeting over?" Skipper looks over at Marlene with a huff. "Before a fight breaks out?"

The otter rubs the back of her neck and nods. "Yeah... Yeah, I guess this has been meeting enough."

Julien picks himself up from the plushie barrel, scoffing. “That is the most unflattering woman I’ve ever met. Maurice!” He starts. “…I think we should recruit the zookeeper lady.”

“Oooo yay, I like new members.” Mort joins in.

"You're not recruiting my daughter for anything." Kowalski crosses his flippers. "She has other plans."

“… Your daughter?” Maurice blinks.

"He means adopted. He's sort of adopted her." Private butts in with a sheepish smile.

“But uh… is she not a human?” Julien thinks. “Is she secretly a Gel-O?” He gasps.

"NO, SHE'S NOT GELATIN." Kowalski scowls. "She's human with currently a touch of penguin DNA. But that doesn't matter."

“Jeez alright, no need to get angry.” Julien puts his hands up in defense.

“If that human is your daughter, then I bless the Sky Spirits for her. How she survives you four is beyond my belief.” Maurice comments.

Kowalski opened his beak and then closed it and looked away. ".... Yeah... She's a wonder."

With the meeting now ended, all the attendees leave with quiet murmuring and silence, except the lemurs who say their goodbye as they chat about other topics.

“Night guys. I really hope she’s okay.” Marlene says as she’s the last to skitter out of the shop.

"... Any idea where she might have gone?" Skipper looks over at the others.

Kowalski rubs the back of his neck. "Maybe the park?" That’s usually where she goes when she’s upset.

"Alright, I'll round her up and meet you three at the HQ." He nods.

Kowalski goes to protest but then just nods with a sigh. "Yes sir." Skipper nods and slides off after.

Chapter Text

If it weren’t for the meeting, tonight is quite a sight to behold.

A cloudless night sky, with sparse almost autumn winds shuffling within the trees and grass. The moon, crescent yet bright, softly shone down on Central Park.

It’s a wonderful evening to stargaze in the park, to watch the stars twinkle above the earth's atmosphere.

And for once… Bridget pays mind to it. With the penguin outfit in the trash can, she lies down on the grass. Peering to the sky as her eyes have stars to fixate on, while her mind races with puzzling thoughts.

How can an activity so calming be so stressful at the same time?

She'd notice then the sound of one flat-headed penguin approaching.

"Hey, you doing okay?"

There's a quiet pause from her, as her eyes don’t acknowledge him. “I’m alright.”

Skipper nods and looks at her. "Light-headed?"

“… A lil, but I’ll live,” Bridget rubs her forehead, biting her lips as she sits up. “I’ll take the dizziness over that lemur’s feet on me.”

"Yeah, Ringtail has no sense of personal space..." He shook his head. "There have been a few times he's tried to replace my pillow with himself. Some days I wish we had shipped him back to Madagascar."

“Sounds like a lot happened in Madagascar.”

"Eh, we were kinda stuck there for over a year." He nods.

“Mm. A long unplanned vacation.” She gives him a tired small chuckle.

"Pretty much." He glances at her. "So... You coming back by the HQ tonight or you going to go on to your apartment?"

“… I guess I should go ta my apartment…” Her expression reads uncertainty.

Skipper nods. "It's up to you. I know that meeting went sideways and I know that you might want a tactical retreat for the night so you can regroup."

A part of Bridget thought it was unique to see this side of him. Not strange, as she’s seen glimpses of this in him before. But to fully see it felt… interesting. Curious even.

But those thoughts are put to rest. She’s not exactly in a critical-thinking mood about someone’s behavior.

“Sounds about right,” The caretaker nods, but then bites her lip. “But I should check on the others, especially Kowalski… he wanted ta fix my tail.” Was her excuse.

"The tail is something you should get checked, yeah. Especially with all the falling you've done today. Wouldn't want to mess up the nerves in it."

She nods at him… and kinda goes silent.

"... But it probably would be til tomorrow if you're careful with it." He shrugs.

"...When you're human, do ya still feel... penguin?" She abruptly asks out of the blue.

"... It's... Kind of a mix." He looks at her. "I can't really put it into words."

A mutual nod came from her, a moment of her thinking her words before she began to ramble. She couldn't believe she was about to vent to Captain Paranoid of all people...yet here she was.

"... Lately I haven't felt like I'm… human." Bridget bites her lips, averting her eyes from the leader.

Skipper glances at her, thinking for a moment. He leans back against the tree. "Well, what do you feel like you are?"

Black eyes subsequently study its owner’s hands, observing them pensively. “… Well like ya said, it’s hard ta put it into words,”

Her hands run through her hair a bit, making contact with the patch of feathers that poke out. “… Einstein said my DNA is stable… yet every day I find somethin that wasn’t there before… and I can’t help to think…”

Biting her lip, she internally fights herself, keeping her boiling emotions in control.

“What if I’m still changin?”

Skipper nods as he listens. "Kowalski might be a genius, but he doesn't know everything. He could be wrong. You might be becoming more penguin because he's wrong pretty often." He shrugs. "But I'd think with you both working on the machine again, you'll be back to normal before anything gets worse."

Slowly, her eyes shift to him in a disoriented manner.

’This is him givin comfort?’

“K, but he’s not often wrong,” Bridget shakes her head before huffing.

“Once we fix the machine, everythin will be fixed and… well, we’ll go separate ways.”

"... You don't have to go afterwards."

“You know I still wanna sail,” Bridget sighs, rubbing her forehead.

"Who said you couldn't sail for a few weeks and then come back? Like a vacation?"

The redhead gives him a look.

"What? You made friends here, have a job... Heck, you even have someone trying to be a new parent figure for you. What exactly are you wanting to leave all that behind for?" After a stretch, he gets up from his spot to waddle next to her.

Her body shifts uncomfortably at that question.

“… K, let’s say I did stay. I live in this nosy dirty dump of a city and I’m your permanent zookeeper ally. What’s the next few years gonna look like?”

But to her surprise, he answers rather quickly.

"Kowalski builds a doohickey so that you can understand us again, then it's up to you." He shrugs. "If you wanted, there's some missions I'm sure we could use you on… If not… well,” He rubs the back of his head, glancing away.

“Let's just say it'd be nice having someone around who actually gets us for once."

Bridget fell silent as she bit her lip. His words ring in his head, she can feel the genuine tone in his voice. He doesn’t even care if she’s a part of the team.

He just wants her around.

“… As I said before I’ll… I’ll think about it,” She sighs, rubbing her head. “I’m just… there's risks too. If North Wind finds out about me they’ll—”

"They'll have to get through me before they do anything." He rolls his eyes. "A bunch of pencil-pushing bureaucrats. They don't know nothing."

Bridget snorts, glancing down at him. “Oh yeah?”

"Trust me, they ain't anything to worry about." Skipper nods cockily, crossing his flippers.

Amusingly, she shakes her head at his confident attitude. It didn’t exactly ease the intuition of getting caught… but somehow he was able to make her smile. “Thank you for the offer… but I need more time.”

"Yeah, I know… Just adding a few tacks to the board." He nods.

Bridget then nudges him a bit almost to say ‘thanks for coming to check on me’.

Skipper smiles slightly back. "Well, I'm going back to the HQ. Up to you what you do."

Nodding, she stands up. “I’ll follow.” The penguin nods and leads the way to the HQ.

0000000

Kowalski took a long sip from a beaker as he looked at the mess of broken glassware he had made just moments ago. He would have to eventually sweep that up and order some replacements, but that could wait until later. After all, it isn't like he's expecting anyone to visit his lab this evening, he'll get it up before morning.

He took another sip with a sigh. It is selfish of them to want Bridget to stay, isn't it? She wants to go and just is dealing with them until she's back to normal. And well, it's not like he can blame her for that.

Calming himself, he finished the beaker off and moved over to his workbench and the parts of the machine. "I need to get this done already and stop prolonging the evitable." He picked up his screwdriver and bit his tongue.

It was his fault Bridget fainted. Why did he offer a hot, stuffy costume and have her sit where everyone could see her? He screwed up as a father, as a lieutenant—

Kowalski wiped at his eyes with the back of his flipper roughly.

Might as well list him failing previously as a boyfriend. Maybe he's been failing as a brother too and that's why he and Skipper are often at ends. Maybe he just fails at life, the walking screw-up. Bridget will be better off and safer if they let her go.... Maybe she'll even be happier.

He nods a little to himself and tries to focus on the invention in his flippers.

Despite him not expecting any visitors, there’s a soft knock on the other door, the one that leads to the hallway. Like salt on a wound, those knocks have once more proven him to be wrong.

Kowalski sighs and glances at the door. "Come in."

The door opens.

“…Padre?” Bridget glances around the lab and penguin in concern, almost as if a hurricane came in and stormed the place.

That's not how much of a mess he made, but the broken shards of glass scattered around the floor and the aroma of vodka is still very worrying.

"Oh hi! I thought you went home." He smiles a little and turns to see her.

His eyes gave it away. His periwinkle blues are filled with regret, bitterness, yet sadness and guilt. She could tell he even cried a little, the red around his eyes being a dead giveaway. Her eyebrows furrow with a frown.

“…I uh, came ta check in before I left…are you okay?”

"Oh yeah yeah, I'm fine!" He nods and clears his throat. "Just was starting to work on the LIC again."

She nods at him, her nose wrinkling slightly at the nail polish smell when she gets closer to him.

“Ya need help on it? I could stay over if ya fellas don’t mind.”

"Oh you don't have to. You need your sleep. You have work tomorrow and all." He shakes his head. "I just thought while it was on my mind that I'd try working on it some."

"Aren't we suppose ta be partners?" Bridget raises a brow.

"Partners don't have to always work on the project at the same time." He shrugs. "It'll be faster if I continue working on it over the nights, too."

"Well with the glass shattered on the ground and you drinkin, you're workin in an unsafe environment," The caretaker frowns at him.

"So either we're workin on this together, meanin we'll clean up and talk about what's on your mind, or your head ta bed and I'll head home for the night."

"... Oh… You noticed that?"

"I'm not that blind."

Kowalski smiles sheepishly. "I mean, if you weren't paying attention, I'm sure it could be easy to overlook it among the usual mess of my lab."

"Padre." Now it was her turn to be stern with him.

"I was going to sweep everything up before the morning." He sighs. "I just had a little moment earlier, that's all."

Bridget’s gaze softens up, sighing as she rolls over and sits next to him. She doesn’t say anything, but you can tell by the look in her dark-brown eyes that she waited for him to vent.

However, instead of venting, he just shakes his head and looks away. "I'm sorry about earlier. We should not have put you in a low-oxygen costume."

"It's fine, I didn't know I would suffocate til mid-way in the meetin. None of us even thought about it." She bites her lip.

Kowalski nods a little and sighs. "And I'm sorry you're still caught up in our chaos. I shouldn't have let girl problems keep me from working on this." He gestures to the invention. "Maybe if I had stayed focused you'd be back to normal by now."

Bridget shakes her head. "Gettin sick, havin bad days, getting dumped, and dealin with an old man maniac are not 'girl problems'."

She continues. "We got sidetracked and busy with other things, but it's fine. Fixin LIC will take a while."

"...But maybe it won't have to if I actually get focused on it for once." He nods a little. "I know you have plans you want to get on with, and I hate that currently my screw-ups and I are what's holding you back."

“Kowalski, it’s fine—“

"NO! It's not fine!" He looks at her. "We put—No, I put you in constant danger with you around us. I'm a walking disaster! Everything I touch, it goes wrong! Just, everything! I don't know what I was thinking. I was incredibly selfish and not considering the real risks I was putting you in adopting you. You deserve far, far better than having to put up with me." He wipes his eyes.

"You all do."

Taken aback by the outburst, Bridget stares at him, not knowing what to do.

Her mouth opens to speak comfort, but her voice goes silent as well as her mind goes blank. Biting her lip, her body then bends down to her knees, eyes him...

And hugs him.

Kowalski hugs her back and cries. She pulls him in closer, patting his back. Calmly, she hums a little to soothe him. He continues to cry for a few minutes before he starts to calm down again. At which point, he's mostly just sniffling unobtrusively. Waiting for him to finish his moment, her fingers ruffle his feathers gently.

Kowalski quietly whispers. "Sorry..."

"No need ta say ‘sorry’. We have our moments."

Kowalski nods and wipes his eyes with a small sniff.

"...You're not a screw-up. Failin a couple of times sucks, and not havin the greatest of days can brin ya down, but that doesn't make ya a screw-up,"

"I've failed more than a couple times." He sighs. "Ask anyone in the zoo, they'll tell you about my inventions that always fail. It might be contagious, then you'll start failing too."

"I don't care what the others think of you and your inventions," Bridget firmly states, her eyes blazing down at him.

"You've created advanced technology professional human architects dreamed of buildin, and you made most of them outta junk-yard materials. That's impressive as hell," The caretaker gives him a smile.

Kowalski looks at her. "... You think so?"

"I know so," Her hands softly scratch the back of his neck. "I think with more safety precautions, failin will feel less embarrassin and more another way of tryin again."

Kowalski nods a little and takes a deep breath. "Okay." Nodding, her hand pulls away. With a small pout, he reaches back for her hand and puts it back on his head.

’…Ah’

Awkwardly, she goes back to patting his head. He smiles a little. "I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight, but I guess I need to let you go at some point so you can sleep." He then sighs.

“I’m free tomorrow, but let’s put Lunar away for tonight,”

"Okay..." He nods and gets up to put it back in a cabinet under the workbench.

As he does that, Bridget gets up to grab her backpack from the corner of the lab, since that’s where she placed her stuff before ‘playing’ dress up.

She unzips the bag to check if she has everything…before noticing how some of her blueprint doodles were in her bag.

’OH! I was lookin for these…Wait, what are these doin here? I don’t remember… did I accidentally grab them? Shit how long have they been in here?’

She grabs a few out to make sure they’re not crumpled up from all the other items in her bag. Hearing the rustling, he glances over from where he's getting his broom. "What's that?"

“Oh, uh, just some… drawins.” The ginger tries to hide them back in her bag.

He slides over to her. "Can I see?"

With the blueprints back in her pack, she clears her throat. “T-They’re… unfinished.”

".... Ah." He nods a little and backs off.

Bridget glances back at him…. and sighs, grabbing out her blueprints to show him. “They’re… just ideas I’ve been thinkin for awhile.”

Tail wagging, he looks them over. "Oh Bridget, these are nice! Unfinished or not, these are fantastic!"

Shyly a hand rubs the back of her neck, while she bites her lips.

Kowalski smiles and hands them back. "I'll be interested in seeing them when you're finished."

“… Uhhh… well uh… they’re just… drawins.”

"Currently, but they are feasible to be invented." He smiles. "And if you need help getting parts, I can see what I can scrounge up." Kowalski smiles more.

Bridget averts her eyes away. “I… don’t know.”

Kowalski gently pats her. "Perhaps they could be side projects we could work on together? Could be fun, getting back in the saddle again."

Glancing at her blueprints, a thoughtful look creeps upon her face. “… K, I guess we can invent them,” Black eyes then sharpened their gaze at Kowalski.

“But only if ya don’t quit bein an inventor.”

Kowalski opens his beak and then looks hesitant. "... I could prolong my quitting a little longer I guess." Kowalski smiles. "By then I'll have you back confident in it."

“Mm, maybe.”

"Mmhmm, and then if you wanted, I could let you have my old unfinished projects." He smiles more. "Because if I stop inventing, they'll just collect dust. You're my only daughter which means they'd go to you to work on since none of my brothers really have an interest in it." He smiles.

Bridget frowns. “Padre, I can invent them with ya, but I’m not gonna take your ideas as my own just cause you quit. What did we just talk about earlier?”

Kowalski sighs a bit with a nod. "I know. I was just thinking it'd be nice if someone at least finished them if I quit. Maybe you'd have better luck." He shrugs.

“Well, I hope ya don’t quit. There’s not a lot of inventors out there.” She sighs.

"Well, there's Timo, but he's off in Madagascar... Technically Blowhole too but he's evil." He rubs the back of his neck.

Bridget shrugs in a ‘yeah see?’ way.

Kowalski nods a little and sighs. "Well, there might be more of us if people actually made them feel wanted."

“And ta not give up,” She nods.

Kowalski sighs and nods. "I'm just getting tired of not succeeding in anything, that's all."

Biting her lip, the ginger thinks again for comfort words. “… Well, ya know who else kept considerin themselves a failure?”

Kowalski looks at her.

“Leonardo Da Vinci.”

Oh, now she has his interest.

She then shrugs, pondering. “But, I don’t think ya would call one of the Renaissance fathers a failure?”

"Not Da Vinci." He shakes his head. "He was a genius."

“Aye, yet he didn’t think he was,” Bridget shakes her head too. “It’s kinda a shame. The most brilliant of them all don’t see it in themselves.”

Kowalski frowns and considers this. "... I guess you have a point." As a reward for understanding, he gets a gentle head pat.

He smiles at that, leaning into the pat. "Okay, maybe I don't need to quit inventing. Maybe I've just been in a slump the past few years."

Bridget nods at that, scooping up the penguin into her arms to give him another comforting hug.

He gasps, not expecting another hug from his daughter, but he couldn’t argue. He relaxes with a tired sigh, hugging her back with a smile.

Perhaps… for her sake. He won’t give up after all. 

Chapter Text

“Agent One, are you inside their HQ?”

Blowhole asks as his eye scans the monitor, glimpsing through the penguins’ cameras once more to spot where his agent is.

"Yeah, just got in."

“Good. Their silver should be in the same place as last time,” Evilly, he turns away from the camera to cackle, not wanting Parker’s headpiece to pick up that frequency.

“Oh, how arrogant those pen-gu-ins can be is hilarious.”

On the screen, it shows Parker checking where the silver had been previously. "Try again, doc. Unless they just haven't got more, they've moved where they're putting it."

Arrogant himself for assuming too soon, Blowhole grumbles to glance around the HQ main room via cameras. “Oh. Try the fish. It’s one of their safes… or tunnel ways. However, their HQ works.”

Parker flips open the fish and puts his head to the side of the safe as he turns the knob. He then opens the door. "Housie." He offers a thumbs up to a camera.

With the agent finding his nemesis’ silver once more, he smirks. “Excellent.”

What a fun way to torment the pen-gu-ins.

The platypus stuffs a small bag full of silver and closes the safe, locking it back.

Just as he did so, the lab door slowly creaked open.

Blowhole is quick to notice, reporting in. “Crabcakes, someone is coming.”

Parker quickly hides under a pillow of a vacant bunk. Opening all the way, the redhead quietly rolls out of the lab, carrying an asleep Kowalski in her arms over to where the others are sleeping.

Recognizing the foe, Blowhole’s eye narrows. “Why is she here? That human shouldn’t be here.” He grumbles.

She bends down to the exact same bunk the platypus hid in, and gently places the penguin in. She sighs and pets him slightly with a warm smile.

Blowhole for a good moment watches the interaction… before rolling his eye. “How cute, they’re having a sleepover.”

Meanwhile, Parker lays as still as possible under the pillow. With Kowalski in his bunk, the redhead gets up, and heads back for the lab, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

Slowly, carefully, the platypus then crawls out from under the hiding spot. He rolls his eyes before climbing up the ladder, opening and closing the fish-shaped hatch behind himself.

“Well that was close—“ Blowhole shakes his head, before calling into his agent.

“Excellent Work, Agent One. Consider what you’ve collected as your bonus.”

"Okay, works for me."

“Good. Return to the lair soon.” And the monitor turns off as Blowhole takes off his headpiece. Rolling away, he heads to the manufacturing part of his Rhode Island lair.

“Red One put my meeting calls on hold today. I’m finishing up the last touches of project Anglerfish.”

Red One looks over and nods. "On it, doc." He scratches down a note. "Do I need to follow the annotations?"

“Not until my afternoon meetings, you can skim over the mornings.” Blowhole rolls into his lair to prepare his revenge.

0000000

By the time Kowalski fell asleep, Bridget had decided to stay overnight. Not that it helps due to her tail and back finding discomfort in rock-solid beds in underground bunkers. But hey, she would rather deal with sore bodies than risk something happening if she skated in the middle of the night.

So when morning arrives in New York City, Bridget is curled up in a corner of the lab, sleepily using her knees and bag as resting places. Not the most comfortable, but she’s slept worse.

The lab door opens, followed by a yawning Kowalski. He stops in his path as he sees her. "Bridget?" He blinks and then rubs his eyes and looks again.

Yes indeed, his daughter is still in his lab. Her eyes opened slightly at his voice since not resting well made her sleep lightly.

Kowalski slides over to her. "You're still here?"

“Mm,” Tiredly nodding, the ginger yawns and stretches a bit.

Kowalski smiles and pats her. "While you're drowsy, would you like me to go ahead and fix your tail?"

Bridget groans again in a ‘sure’ manner, laying down and rolling to her stomach in a sluggish manner.

"Alright, moving it on the count of three. One... Two..." He tweeks her tail.

Her tail pops back into place, causing Bridget’s eyes to pop open, giving out a small squawk-ish yelp. As numb as her body feels, that surely awoke her nerves. More aware, her frantic eyes darted around the lab confused.

"All set." He nods and backs up. "I know it probably is sore but it'll start feeling better soon."

“Ugh…t-thanks.” She groans, sitting up to stretch a bit. The orange feathery tail, still with a mind of its own, wags in being fixed. Noticing the tail wagging, Bridget glares at it.

’You motherfucker’

"I'll get you something for breakfast." Kowalski stretches, waddling to the kitchen. He puts on both Skipper's coffee maker and the tea kettle. He then pokes around their kitchen for options, considering what she might eat.

He pulls out the ingredients and starts making blueberry waffles. As he does this, soon the others wake up from the bunks to start their day.

In the lab, Kowalski's phone buzzes on the counter.

Bridget pauses from glaring at the tail, glancing over and getting up to attain it. But instead of checking the message (because that’s Kowalski’s privacy), she rolls over to the lab door.

“Hey uh, Einstein, your phone buzzin.” She calls out.

Kowalski glances over. "You can check it for me, I doubt it's anything classified."

With permission, she shrugs and does so. “… Uh, there’s a Commodore Danger movie premiere happenin tonight?”

Skipper looks over. "Wait, what?"

Bridget squints at the phone, wishing for her glasses. “Yeah… ’Artic’s Ice’? Says it’s the 18th and final installment.”

“Commodore Commodore!” Rico cheers in excitement.

“Oh, that’s smashing. And there’s no molting problem this time.” Private chirps, sheepishly rubbing his neck at the last comment.

"Well, then I know what we're doing tonight." Skipper nods, waddling over to check their silver cache.

Oh you mean the silver that’s not there anymore? Yeah, it’s gone again.

"HOOVER DAM."

Kowalski looks over as he puts the waffles on plates. "What?"

"It's gone again! All of it.” The others gasp at this.

The leader’s cries made the caretaker’s head twist in his direction, her eyes widening in shock that yes, the silver is gone. Again.

’Holy shit, who fuckin stealin from them? This is gettin ridiculous!’

"Kowalski, did you go out again?" He scowls at him.

"Not that I recall."

“He was with me the whole night. I put him ta bed.” Bridget defends, adding to Kowalski’s alibi of being innocent.

"Then who's taking our silver?"

No one could sadly give him an answer on that, as the HQ goes silent.

"I can see about setting up a camera inside again." Kowalski sighs. "But that is throwing a wrench in the Commodore Danger plans."

Skipper backhands him and then points at him. "No. We're going tonight. Get the decoys, we'll go silver hunting."

Bridget then loudly clears her throat at the flathead with a disappointed look. “Skipper. A word.”

"Huh?" He blinks but follows her over.

She bends down to him to whisper. “We talked about this, why’ya slappin Kowalski for?” Her expression is stern.

Skipper just stares at her in confusion for a moment before thinking. "Oh... I guess that was kinda a slap."

“…Ya didn’t know ya slapped him?” Her expression slowly changes to confusion as well.

"Didn't even think about it." He shrugs a little.

’Shit, this is muscle memory… well it takes 21 days ta make someone think they formed a habit. Let’s getcha in a habit of not slappin’

Bridget frowns. “Well? Can ya apologize ta him?”

".... I guess I can?" He nods a little. Skipper waddles over and pats Kowalski's shoulder. "Sorry."

Kowalski blinks and looks at him, obviously confused. ".... It's okay?" He eyes Skipper. "... Are you okay?"

"Yep. But I want less blabber about us missing the movie and more silver-finding options." He crosses his flippers.

"That I can do." He nods and takes a plate of waffles to Bridget. "I'll get addresses to the closest pawn shops and check Lost and Found."

Watching the two, Bridget rubs her forehead with a sigh.

’They got a long way of recoverin ta go’

Private looks up from his waffles. "Is Bridget coming too?"

She glances at the penguins, no longer gazing at her plated blueberry waffle blobs. “I promise I’ll help, and I should be off from work today.” She nods.

"It would make it easier to check out the stores. She could use my card rather than us trying to pay in fish behind their backs." Kowalski nods.

“I can pay too,” The ginger grumbles.

"There's no reason that you should have to pay for our silver. My mistake, my wallet." Kowalski looks over at her. "But thank you for the offer."

Bridget frowns but nods. She then skates over to his lab. “I’ll grab my bag.”

"Not yet! Eat your waffles first!"

And she quickly turns back around. “Right. Food.” She rolls back to sit and eat.

“Uh, thank you.”

Kowalski nods, waddling by and patting her on his way to get his phone. "I'll be getting the addresses."

Skipper nods as he nibbles a waffle. "... Huh, not bad for once." He murmurs. He’s lucky Bridget didn’t hear him, as she takes a bite from her own plate… smiling.

’Wow, he’s improved. Has he been practicin lately?’

She takes another bite greedily. Oh yeah, hunger exists. The rest also finish up with their breakfast as Kowalski makes address notes between his phone and notepad.

Once she finishes, she collects all their plates, places by where they wash the dishes, and finally grabs her bag. She also places her hood on, adjusting her black jacket.

Then the penguins bring out their decoys from the closet. Wind up, plushy penguin dolls.

“… I always did think ya fellas looked stiff a few times.” Bridget watches, understanding the birds’ secret operations.

"And yet, usually the decoys work pretty good," Skipper smirks.

"We also have a hologram option." Kowalski adds in. "But that's better for longer-term missions or vacations."

"Like fishing trips!" Private smiles.

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Rico nods too.

"Not today, boys, today we're fishing the stores for the elusive silver."

Bending down, she opens her bag to them, gesturing to hop in as a ride. Four penguins hop inside, ready to go.

With a nod, the five of them then head out of the HQ, embarking on a journey to fetch silver.

“Ya, fellas do fishin trips?” Bridget decides to start the road trip conversation first, as she exits through their garage sneakingly.

"Every so often." Skipper nods.

However, as she passes the otter habitat, Marlene pops up. "So now it's a daytime adventure?" She asks, eying the boys in the bag.

“FUCK—“ Once again the otter has scared our clumsy redhead, making her tremble back. In turn, the penguins yelp from behind.

Luckily this time she was able to grasp the habitat handles. This benefits the penguins greatly because they’re not squished pancakes by this.

Marlene grimaces. "You okay?"

Bridget fumbles back up, her top priority to be checking to see if the penguins are okay. But it was relieving when Skipper answered.

"We're fine." He sighs. "And yeah, we need silver so we're going out."

"Easier to purchase during the day." Kowalski nods.

Marlene looks thoughtful. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Taking in a deep breath to see the boys are alright, the caretaker faces the otter again. “Can ya stop poppin outta nowhere please?” She huffs.

"Maybe?" She considers it.

Rolling her eyes, Bridget stares at her again, making a judgment based on her quick studying. “…There’s somethin else ya want than helpin us out.”

"... I want to know what was meant by symptoms." She sighs. "It sounded pretty serious last night."

There’s a pause.

’Shit… well she should know, right? Wouldn’t be fair to her…’

She glances back at the penguins for their say.

Skipper finally sighs. "She's got a tail, we have were-human syndrome but silver keeps it manageable."

The otter blinks at this.

"… By wereman, Skipper means by the light of the moon, we turn more or less human. Ergo, we can't always stay at the zoo, and night patrols have become a challenge, especially since someone keeps stealing our silver." Kowalski sighs. "So we need to find more silver to wear to help reduce werehuman moments."

Marlene gasps. "Do you need help looking for silver? That's the gray shiny stuff, right?"

’Well there’s a lot of metals that can be also called gray shiny stuff—‘

“I mean uh,” Bridget bites her lip, glancing at her bag before back at the otter. “…There’s room in the bag.”

"Yeah, wouldn't hurt to have more eyes on the mission." Skipper nods and scoots over.

Marlene nods and hops up fully on her ledge. Skating closer to her, she gestures to her to jump in with the penguins. And so the otter hops in.

Now there’s five animals in the bag, all comfy and roomy.

“K, hold on,” Bridget checks her watch for the time and skates on. “If things go well, we should be back by lunch.”

She nods back, and the six of them leave the zoo.

However, from afar, three lemurs were watching them. “Maurice, what is this silver they were talking about?” Julien asks his aye-aye.

“Uh, isn’t it the shiny metal used for jewelry?”

“What!? They’re getting jewelry without me?!” Julien proclaims with an upset tone. “And after everything, I thought we were all close. They’ve replaced me with the zookeeper lady!”

“It’s okay King Julien, I won’t replace you with anyone!” Mort added in with a smile but then gets kicked away for comedic effect.

“Maurice! We can’t just let them have all the fun and silver without me! We must join them ourselves.” The lemur then jumps down, with the mouse lemur dizzily joining him by falling off the lemur’s cliff.

“But your majesty—“ Maurice starts, but sighs as he realizes it’s too late to stop him, and then joins him down to follow the others.

Chapter Text

"You know, this is getting ridiculous. How the deuce is EVERYONE out of stock on silver jewelry?" Skipper huffs.

"Besides earrings." Kowalski nods.

The flatheaded penguin gives him a look. "Oh yeah, like we can just put on a pair of those. WE DON'T HAVE EXTERNAL EARS, KOWALSKI."

"Skipper, hey, hey, there's no need to shout at him. It's not his fault everyone's out of silver." Marlene gently scolds him, shaking her head.

Kowalski then sighs. "Maybe lunch will help us think of other places to check."

From morning to late afternoon, our gang of weirdos had bust after bust of shops, politely informing them (or well, mostly Bridget) that all of the silver they owned was sold out, and that their shipments too weren’t going to be in for a while. And with this strange repeated pattern of failing growing under their skins (or feathers and fur respectively), it was mutually decided that they should have their lunch break. 

You know it’s bad when they had to search all the way till Queens just to find some accessible silver.

At that time, Bridget, with Private who accompanies her by her shoulder, comes around with a huge tray of fish tacos. While Kowalski may have wanted to buy the silver, he didn’t say she couldn’t buy them lunch. 

“Alright, this should tide us over.” The caretaker nods, setting the food down on the table with the others waiting by. She doesn't have to tell them twice. The hungry animals dive in for their late lunch.

’I should’ve fed them earlier. Would’ve stopped Rico from tryin ta gnaw those fish decorations from the last store’ 

Sitting down afar from the others (not far away, just two seats spaces away. Just to give them personal eating space), Bridget then grabs her veggie taco to munch on.

Nibbling his taco, the penguin leader sighs. "Alright, so we can't find silver. Just means we can go to the matinee showing tomorrow instead."

“Silver is gone missin around two boroughs of New York, and it’s the movie you’re focused on?” The ginger stops mid-bite to ask with a look.

"It's not just a movie, Freckles, it's Commodore Danger."

“I don’t even know the series—“ She rolls her eyes and tries to get them back on topic. “But regardless, is it not strange that in a matter of weeks that not only yours but everywhere in New York is out of one specific metal?”

"How can you—" He starts before rubbing his flippers down his face. "Yes, it's suspicious." 

"But suspicious of what? Who could possibly know of our condition enough at this point and also be aware that we need silver?" Kowalski sighs.

"Could it be the same person who keeps stealing our silver? Maybe they stole their silver too." Private suggests.

Bridget thinks on this for a moment, pondering on certain factors Kowalski brought on the tables, as well as Private’s. 

’… Someone that knows the penguins, their condition, and wantin ta mess them up… It couldn’t be… well…’ 

“… Could it be that Blowjob guy?”

The penguins make eye contact for a moment.

"He would fit the situation rather well..." Kowalski frowns.

"Of course!" Skipper hops to his feet. "He's stealing our silver so that we can't go to the movie premiere just to tick me off."

Marlene face-palms behind him.

“… Sure.” Bridget nods with a squint, letting him believe what he thinks. 

As much as she wishes to argue, she’s starting to feel drained from all the traveling around, even with food storing her energy. It’s not worth the headache. Not worth the argument. And as she glances at her watch, they’re running out of time. 

Finishing her food, she clears her throat. “We should get goin.”

"Last ditch suggestion, we could check a grocery store," Kowalski sighs. "Don't they usually have a cheap accessory aisle? "

“… Is there a Wally World nearby?”

The penguin fiddles on his phone and then nods. "Yes, two blocks on the left."

She nods at him, and gestures to her bag. “That’ll work.”

The animals then hop back into her bag. Bridget throws away their trash and stacks the trays among others. 

“There may not be a movie tonight, but we can certainly get some silver.” She nods at them before rolling off to Wally World.

"Maybe a little grocery shopping too." Private nods.

“Oh right. We’ll do that as well.” 

0000000

"Okay, I suggest everyone partner up. This is bigger than the corner stores, we don't want to lose anyone." Skipper says before they enter Wally World. 

Everyone nods, subconsciously choosing an individual to look out for specifically. 

Bridget grabs a shopping basket and cautiously searches around the store. “Einstein, do ya have a grocery list?”

Kowalski flips through his notes and nods. "Yes, right here."

Her hand reaches back— No. Her hand curls and backs away from the bag. She then clears her throat politely. “Can ya uh, pass it to me please?”

"Of course." He holds it out for her.

Bridget nods, smiling slightly at her correction. Taking out her glasses from her pockets, she reads the list. 

“… Do ya fellas really need 3 cartons of blueberry swirl ice cream?”

Skipper gives Kowalski a look. "Not usually."

She glances at the list more, shaking her head a little. 

’Most of this is junk food, the only nutritional thing I see on this list are the fish and scallops’ 

"Wait, did I remember milk and eggs on the list?" Kowalski peeks over her shoulder.

’Okay so four nutritional things’ 

“No, but I’ll remember it.”

"Sorry, I meant to add that this morning after the waffles." He sighs.

“You’re good.” 

Taking a mental note, she starts rolling through the store’s aisles. As the six of them roll down the first aisle, Bridget collects some of the first few requested items. She would read the nutrition facts before making a judgment call about how many the boys really needed.

While she does this, the others start sneakily adding in random treats that weren’t on the list, without her noticing for a while. Finally deciding on getting the black beans, Bridget places two cans of it in the basket…only to see the things already collected. 

“What the hell!” Her eyes widened. “Where did all of this come from?!”

"Shelves?" Skipper shrugs.

The caretaker deadpans at him, rolling her eyes as she checks through the basket. “Who grabbed the cotton candy packs?”

"I did." Marlene raises a paw.

“… Keep two, put the rest back,” She instructs gently and then glances at the other things. 

The otter sighs but nods and scatters off to put the rest back. 

“Whoever put in button candy, know that’s the only sweets you’re gettin, and—“ She stops at the Lunacorn CD, her eyes slightly averting at Private.

As Rico groans, Private bats his eyes with an innocent look. 

“...Fine, it stays.”

Skipper gives her a look. "Since when did you become our mother?"

Bridget stops. There’s something about that tone that made her question herself for a moment, hesitating to slightly answer even though… It wasn't a hard question. 

The ginger felt memories replace her thoughts… happier memories that only feel bitter. 

“I… I’m the one buyin here. Kowalski’s gonna get the silver, I’ll buy the food. And as your zookeeper, I need ta make sure you’re… well cared for… ” Her black eyes then glanced away, biting her lip.

Skipper eyes her and then nods. "Fair enough."

Slightly nodding, she clears her throat a bit, and rolls on.

 Kowalski clears his throat. "I don't mind covering the extra items, you know."

“… Ya worry about the silver, k?”

The penguin nods and watches the aisle signs.

 Along the way, Bridget stops by some cake mixes. “Hey kiddo, pick out what cake flavor ya wanna bake first.” She addresses Private.

He climbs up onto her shoulder for a better vantage point. "Maybe the one with the sprinkles there?" He points past her. 

“The funfetti cake?” She grabs the one he pointed at.

"Mmhmm! It looks fun and tasty!"

“Funfetti it is.” She nods and adds it to the basket.

Private smiles and hops back into the pack.

Bridget looks back while he does so and— Wait. 

“… Where’s Kowalski?”

"Huh?" Skipper looks around. "Smoked salmon. He must have wandered off again."

Bridget rolls around the area she stands, peering around for the kumquat-shaped penguin.

"Probably went silver hunting. He tends to wander after what he's thinking about."

“… K, ya guys continue gettin food, I’ll go get him,” She places down the basket and bag so they can easily jump out.

“Eggs, milk, and some ice cream. I’ll catch up with ya on the fish.” She hands the list to Private.

"Okay!" He nods, getting the list, as Rico carries the basket along with Skipper and Marlene’s help. 

“Jeez this is heavy.”

“Eh, I carried heavier.”

Bridget puts her bag back on, and rolls off to find her Padre.

Meanwhile, Kowalski has found himself in the accessories aisle. He finds that their luck has changed, as finally, there’s some wearable silver, some perfect for penguin size…He’ll just need a small ladder to grab them. Or maybe he can climb up the prongs other jewelry is hanging on? 

He grins to himself and decides to give that a try.

Try is the keyword. 

"Padre?"

Kowalski looks over from where he's clinging to the display. "Oh hello there, Bridget."

Bridget gives him a look. "Ya left us."

'Hangin—no, too soon’

He blinks at her. "I went to find silver?"

"But ya didn't tell us that?"

The penguin looks thoughtful, now holding on with just one flipper as he rubs under his beak. "I didn't even think about that part." His flipper then slips from the display. 

Bridget is quick to catch him. “Careful. Ya need a lift?”

"Oh please." He nods and points upwards. "And I did find silver."

“I know,” She sighs with a little tired smile, and lifts him up to where the silver is.

Kowalski picks the little bracelets from the rack with a nod.

“Good thinkin on the cheap silverware. If it is Blowjob then he wouldn’t have thought of robbin the jewelry here.” The ginger nods at him.

Kowalski smiles at the praise. "I doubt he does his own grocery shopping anyway."

“Very doubtful. With how rich he seems,” Bridget chuckles a little, shaking her head. 

“K, let’s rejoin the oth—“ But before they could continue on, a familiar obnoxious voice interrupts her. 

“Ah-Ha! Look Maurice! The smart one has found all the shiny!”

Kowalski whirls around. "JULIEN—?!"

Indeed, three tired lemurs stand beside them, Maurice squatting on his knees to rest as Mort has his face on the ground. So really the only one standing is Julien. ‘How?’ will never be explained. 

“Hey!” He then jumps high to snatch the silver bracelets from the lanky penguin. “You don’t mind if I wear this really quick, right?”

"Actually I do mind, very much! Give it back!" Kowalski jumps from Bridget after Julien.

The lemur laughs, dodging the lieutenants’ attempts to take back their findings. “Oh, are we playing chase now?” He runs around him before a giant leg gets in his way. 

“Hey, dipshit. Quit it, won’tcha?” 

Julien gasps, glaring angrily at her. “Oh, you’re one to talk!” 

He points at Bridget. “You just show up out of nowhere, and suddenly a zookeeper lady replaces me!”

"What in Da Vinci's name are you talking about replacing you?" Kowalski squints at him as he snatches the silver back.

Maurice then walks over. “Julien thinks because he wasn’t invited on your ‘silver hunt’ that you’ve all replaced him with Miss…” He glances up at her. 

“… Bridget.” 

“Miss Bridget.” 

Julien crosses his arms. “And I thought what we had was special. But FINE, I get it, I guess our friendship wasn’t real. It’s not like I care!” 

The next following moment involves Julien then dramatically ugly sobbing as his face is turned from the others. 

Bridget, despite frustration, uncomfortably rubs the back of her neck, glancing away. She couldn’t tell how she should be exactly feeling. 

Kowalski gives the lemurs a look. "We rarely ever invite you on our missions, usually said missions have been retrieving you from the disaster you have caused or you decided on your own to follow us, like you have this evening." 

He crosses his flippers. "I'm mentoring Bridget, so she's hanging with us more because of that. It has little to do with Skipper and more to do with problems I myself have caused."

“So… I’m not replaced?” Julien turns back towards him, peeking through his fingers.

"No. Not unless at some point in your life you thought I adopted you." He rolls his eyes. 

The ringtail then beams, as if none of his worries or sadness happened. “HA! You see Maurice! We are still close neighbors!” He grins, placing an arm on his head.

The aye-aye just sighs, shaking his head.

“… Do I cause ya problems?” Bridget gazes down at him.

"Huh?" Kowalski looks up at her. "No no no. Never. I am the frequent cause of problems."

“What? Ya haven’t caused any—“ Sudden loud screams echo through the store in a panic, causing the ginger to twist her head in that direction. As if things couldn’t get any worse. 

"... We probably need to check on that."

Hesitantly, Bridget glances down at Kowalski before nodding. "You take lead."

Kowalski quickly waddles ahead of her, carefully not too fast so she couldn’t keep up. He rounds the corner of the nearest aisle and stops in his tracks. "Newton's knickers!"

Just before them is a swarm of sewer rats, collecting loads of food sources off the shelves and fridges into a giant trash bag. 

The vermin menacingly terrorize nearby humans who attempt to shoo them away. Once the humans were scared off, the rats rottenly snicker in victory and return to their thieving.

Bridget in horror and disgust furrows her brows at the sight. “What the hell?!”

Kowalski motions for her to follow him down a nearby aisle. "We have to get back to the others. Skipper needs to know that the rats are here."

Hesitation comes back to her pacing, glancing between the penguin and the horde of rodents that keep chasing off humans to fill up their bag of goods. 

This wasn’t exactly a good time to pause and question whether or not she’d call herself ‘heroic’, but despite all her courageous moments, despite her helping the penguins out, the truth still stands true. 

Bridget is not a hero.

“I uh…”

"… Just stay right here or somewhere out of sight. Where the rats are, their king isn't far." Kowalski nods before sliding away.

The caretaker, biting her lip, awkwardly watches him go, as she continues to hide behind the aisle. 

It’s probably best to stay out of this, huh? This wasn’t her battle or enemies, judging by Kowalski's behavior towards the intruders.

Her boys are capable of themselves if this isn’t their first rodeo with them. Way more capable than her.

They’ll handle the rats and she'll be out of the sun. 

“Eh, why did you not go with him? Did he not say ‘we’?” Julien’s voice pops up behind her. “I’m pretty sure ‘we’ is like, a two person thing.” 

Her shoulders flinch a bit. “He thought I was comin, but it’s… best I’m not there.” 

“But wouldn’t it be better if you fought with them? A human can be pretty handy to have in a fight.” Maurice adds in. 

Bridget bites her lips harder. “Not really. I’m a big walkin target. I wouldn’t be able ta get a kick in before I’m swarmed. I don’t do fightin or danger.” She crosses her arms. 

“Fighting or danger? Silly zookeeper lady, that’s what the penguins are.” The king then jumps on her shoulders, much to her dislike and grunt to him. 

“Hey—“ 

“Tell me, zookeeper lady, if you can handle the penguins and their wackiness, then who doesn’t say you can’t handle some sneaky rodents?” 

“…They are… chaotic.” 

“Chaotic? That doesn’t even begin to describe those penguins. They’re psychotic!” The aye-aye proclaims. 

“But… they try to do what’s right… in their own crazy way.” 

“… And why are ya encouragin me?” 

“As my new subject— Who is not replacing me—“ He then pats her head to her dismay. “It is my kingly duty to ensure my people are not discouraged by small obstacles. Tell me, are you a zookeeper or not?”

Bridget pauses, thinking for a moment. She can feel the uncertainty weighing her down. For all she knew, she could end up getting in the way, or cause more problems if she ends up getting captured… 

But.

’… He has a point. I… I can still help somehow. I’m their caretaker. It’s my job ta protect them. I’ve handled a dog and two grown men. A couple of rats shouldn’t be too much of an issue. So their battles are mine… even if I don’t like it’

Slowly, a determined look across her face broadens, her fist clenching as she glances up. 

“… I am.” She sternly nods, a feeling growing in her chest. 

Julien grins at this turnaround attitude. “Good! Now my new subject—“ 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“Zookeeper lady. What are you going to do?” 

Biting her lip, she studied the rats from afar in ponder. “… I got an idea. But first—“ She glances at the lemurs. 

“I need distractions.”