Archive of Our Own ^beta

Life was going well for the Paw Patrol. The three pups were their own inseparable family; they did everything together, down to playtime and rest time and running together on the beaches and helping around the town and eating meals. Even Ryder, while he did keep busy on his own time, was mostly present with the pups throughout the days.

But Ryder still spent a decent amount of time in solidarity tinkering around in his garage and visiting friends in town, all while accepting missions and keeping very busy with work. The pups sometimes worried that he wasn’t sleeping well, or maybe he was lonely with how much time he spent in his garage. But whenever they questioned it, he would just laugh it off.

Chase would chew the inside of his mouth anxiously staring after Ryder being alone.

“I think sometimes humans like to be alone,” Skye reassured. “It’s probably his way of relaxing in between missions.”

“You know that humans don’t have that same pack mentality that we do,” Marshall added. “He probably genuinely does enjoy the alone time.”

Whenever they did separate, they still found ways to be around other living creatures. Skye might skip down to Katie’s for a salon day, Marshall would either nap or find animals to make friends with, and that would usually be when Chase got his personal time with Ryder.

“He spends so much time in there though,” Chase sighed. His frown was worried. His pinched mouth gave him a conflicted expression. “I don’t want him to get lonely.”

Marshall was about to offer some comfort, but Skye beat him to it. She walked up next to Chase and nuzzled her head against his leg. His face relaxed in appreciation, and looked down at her with a small smile.

And it was moments like this when Marshall felt as though he was going crazy.

He had been trying to ignore this… feeling, because there was no reason for it. He loved Skye. He loved being her friend. She was caring. She was brave. She was fun. And she would comfort Marshall just the same as she was comforting Chase.

And in hindsight, it made absolutely no sense. Whenever this cropped up, he forcefully tried to cling to the memory of when Ryder had brought her into the Lookout for the very first time, tiny and terrified and shaking uncontrollably. He would rekindle that feeling of needing her to be okay, of ensuring that she received the best care possible.

Because on that day, Marshall had seen himself in Skye: alone, scared, teetering on the edge of fatality. And it was because of this connection that Marshall felt so determined that she was cared for the same way Ryder and Chase had cared for him.

The relief Marshall felt watching her recovery to full strength was indescribable. Watching her embrace her new life with such open arms, seeing her curiosity bloom, her expressiveness, her deepest desire to be helpful to Ryder… it was how Marshall wished he had initially reacted to his new life. Marshall, in every way, had been Skye’s total opposite.

He wished that was the reason for this… this insecurity. This sinking feeling in his chest that bled into his stomach. It would be so much better than the real reason. Because if anything, Skye being so totally different from Marshall just made him admire her more.

In truth, Marshall felt this shameful resentment towards her since the beginning of their relationship; the fact of the matter was, Marshall had never considered what it would feel like for Skye to become Chase’s friend too.

“Don’t worry, Skye!” Chase had said. “I’ll protect you. I promise!”

Hearing Chase say those words, those same words that Chase had said to him, the ones that made Marshall trust the shepherd so wholeheartedly… to another pup?

Marshall’s heart felt like it was being twisted up with this horrible insecurity filling up in the most unpleasant way. He could barely look at Chase for a moment, this one awful moment where Marshall felt like he was being replaced. Chase didn’t need him anymore.

He was being ridiculous. He knew he was. So what if Chase had a new friend? They both had a new friend in Skye.

She made Chase happy. Therefore, she should make Marshall happy too. Chase was allowed to have other friends who weren’t Marshall. Marshall wanted him to have other friends.

And besides, it was just who Chase was! He always protected those he loved most. Ryder, Marshall, Skye. It was in his nature. It was who he was. These were the thoughts Marshall carried with him over the next eight months to help him push away this resentment, ignore the selfish fear of being replaced, maybe even being a burden. This allowed for the next few months to be wonderfully filled with friendship and laughter and successful missions that still made Marshall wonder in disbelief how this had become his life.

But this changed rather drastically when another pup suddenly appeared in their lives, one who was also saved under unforeseen circumstances. One who had nowhere to go, who had his own horrific trauma to overcome. Someone else Marshall felt that same instinctive need to care for.

His name was Rocky.

It started as an adventure in the woods. Skye had really only explored the whole expanse of Adventure Bay from the air, and decided that she wanted to take in the sights, sniff out the smells, and admire the changing leaves up close before the cold really began seeping through their fur and the snow began to fall. In fact, she adamantly demanded they go see the changing leaves before they all fell off the trees, curiously enough.

Determined to follow through, they hopped into their vehicles, with Skye behind Marshall, and headed out to the woods for a little adventure. They considered walking, but taking their vehicles was more practical for making a speedy return to the Lookout in case Ryder needed them.

It was a great idea, on Skye’s part. Marshall couldn’t remember really taking in and appreciating the colors of fall the previous year, not like he did with the blooming flowers in the spring. He had been a big proponent of forcing Chase to sit down and appreciate the beauty of nature.

Though as much as Chase loved it, he could only sit still for so long. Marshall thought it was funny how he could sit so patiently and scout for as long as it took while on a mission. But once off duty, he wasn’t very good at relaxing.

“How about hide and seek?” Chase suggested. “There’s lots of cool places to hide around here.”

“That sounds fun,” Marshall agreed with a happy wag of his tail.

“Alright, but you have to hide,” Skye reminded him, her voice high in a playful way.

Chase groaned. “Why do I always have to hide?”

“You cheat!” answered Marshall with an accusing look.

“It’s not my fault!”

“Look, Chase. I brought my wings. I am happy to go back to the Lookout and get a stinky sock if you want me to!”

“Do you really want a stinky sock on your nose?” teased Marshall.

“I, uh… no,” Chase grumbled. His lip curled in disgust.

“Great! Then you’ll hide!” Skye concluded in a chipper voice, before she skipped off to carry out her role as the seeker.

Chase gave Marshall a disgruntled look, but Marshall’s only response was an innocent shrug, though his smirk suggested he was holding back laughter.

Marshall and Skye took turns being the seeker — Chase was clearly taking advantage of his designated role, finding creative spots to hide and moving closer and closer to the border of Adventure Bay.

But Chase eventually got bored.

“I promise I’ll just do… some sniffing!” Skye and Marshall gave unimpressed looks. “A little sniffing? I won’t even sniff! Just my natural breathing!”

Marshall had his doubts that Chase could turn off his natural tracking instinct completely, but he and Skye exchanged a wordless conversation that resulted in a mutual agreement to take pity on the shepherd.

“Very limited sniffing,” Skye agreed.

The three of the would forever be grateful that they let Chase be the seeker that day, in a spot so close to the border of Adventure Bay that Marshall and Skye crossed over into the neighboring town parameters to hide.

They would forever be grateful for Chase’s accidental propensity to keep his nose to the ground.

“Guys, come out!” Chase shouted in alarm. When nothing happened, he shouted even more anxiously. “I’m being serious! Do you guys smell that?”

Marshall knew that Chase’s tone of voice was no joking matter. He popped out of his hiding spot to run over to Chase. His body was fully alert — his tail was up, his ears pointed in the direction of his snout.

“What’s going on?” Marshall asked. Chase didn’t answer, focused on the twitching of his nose.

Marshall put his own snout to the ground. He caught a faint whiff of something — his nose had never acquired the same sensitivity as Chase’s. While he wasn’t entirely sure what it could be, it did smell vaguely familiar, and not in a good way.

No, it was familiar in a way that gave him a strong sense of dread in the pit of his stomach.

“I don’t smell anything,” Skye said nervously. This combined with Chase’s sudden seriousness was enough for her tail to fall between her legs. Her strength was her vision, not her smell. She was totally blind here.

“It… it smells like…” Chase murmured. Though what it smelled like, he didn’t say. He followed the trail, leading them further away from Adventure Bay.

When Chase caught a scent, it was difficult to pull him away, so Marshall and Skye gave each other helpless looks before following closely behind the police pup.

His nose led them to a small, brush covered, abandoned looking warehouse. But it wasn’t abandoned, and their observations had them all whimpering, backing away with their tails tucked. They quickly turned around and sprinted back to their vehicles. Chase intentionally held himself back, keeping himself between his friends and the danger.

When they rushed into the control room yelping, Ryder was immediately on his feet.

“What’s going on?” he asked in a startled voice.

When they told him what they found, Ryder’s eyes went wide for just a moment as he took in a sharp breath. He quickly wiped his face to try and appear confident, but it was too late. The pups had seen the panic.

“We can’t take this, Ryder,” said Skye shakily. “It’s too dangerous!”

Chase’s voice was almost equally as timid as he said, “We have to report it, though. We can’t just leave an illegal drug operation hanging around outside of Adventure Bay.”

“Chase is right. We can’t leave it,” Ryder interrupted as Skye went to argue. She whimpered softly instead, because try as he may, anxiety made its way into their leader’s tone. “I’ll report it immediately, but we need to be on standby. There’s a chance they’ll need Chase to track it down again.”

“Chase is on the case,” stated Chase with fierce determination. His face was very serious, that braveness present that Marshall so envied but admired all the same.

Especially when he could feel Ryder’s concerned eyes lingering on him, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to meet his gaze. Marshall’s stare was fixed on the ground. The smell was familiar in a horrible way of bringing up old memories that he tried to forget.

“I want to help, Ryder,” Skye said. “I know I can do something.”

“Skye… as you said, it’s dangerous.”

“If Chase can do it, then so can I.”

Ryder bit his lip. His fingers fidgeted with his pup pad, thumbs tapping nervously against the side of his screen.

“Alright,” he eventually agreed. “You’ll go up in your helicopter and report on the status of the building. Find people, report hostages, scout for any runaways, report your findings to the team.”

“Let’s take to the sky.” She said this without her usual flourish or enthusiasm. Her eyes were hard, determined; her stance proper. She looked Ryder directly in the eye.

Marshall tried to keep his breath even as he willed himself to be like Skye. He wanted so bad to have that same willingness to help. But he just… couldn’t.

He felt another pair of eyes on him. Chase was trying to be discreet, but Marshall knew. His body was always drawn towards Chase, his eyes always instinctively seeking out the shepherd for comfort.

The scent was one that had permeated his surroundings so long ago. The operators of that breeding facility, the ones he still occasionally had nightmares about, had it clinging to their clothes. It was stronger here, but present all the same.

Marshall’s stomach churned nervously, his heart hammered against his chest as Ryder started to march to the pole. No, he had to do this. He needed to be brave like Chase. Like Skye. It was now or never.

“R-Ryder?” Marshall called out, quietly, fearfully, but it made Ryder freeze in his path. Chase also stopped dead in his tracks on the way to the slide. Skye barely avoided colliding with him in her haste to follow.

All eyes turned to him, and Marshall had to make an active effort to keep his head up high. He knew his fallen ears and tucked tail gave him away. Chase and Skye could probably smell his fear.

He refused to let this deter him. “I want to help too.”

“Marshall…” Ryder started. He tugged at his sleeves as he thought over his next words. Another whimper escaped Skye’s throat, seemingly helpless to stop it. It was Marshall’s turn to sense the worry rolling off of Chase.

He turned and met Chase’s eyes. His brow was furrowed, his mouth slightly open. A questioning look in his brown eyes.

“We don’t know what’s in there… or who’s in there,” Ryder continued. “It could be like… well…”

Like where we found you.

Marshall heard the words that went unsaid. They rang in the room. A small whine escaped Chase’s throat.

Marshall’s eyes were still locked with Chase’s. If Chase was able to be there for Marshall, then Marshall could do this too.

“That’s why I need to come. Someone might need help. Someone might need me.”

Chase blinked for a moment, before the corners of his mouth lifted, a hint of a smile. Marshall’s confidence lifted as Chase’s eyes shined with pride.

Marshall looked at Ryder. Ryder glanced at Chase, his second in command. He sought out the reassurance, and the nod Chase gave him melted away some of the anxiety that Marshall could sense from Ryder.

“You’re right, Marshall. They might need you.” Ryder gave him a tight smile.

With that, Ryder slid down the pole. They heard him dial up the proper lines for help. The three pups all hopped down the slide into their vehicles, faces serious and void of their respective shenanigans.

They forgot to let him out again.

The gray pup sat alone in his kennel. The room was quiet — the silence broken only with the occasional sound of footsteps and faint shouting outside the door. A distinct smell permeated the air, one he was incredibly familiar with at this point. He hardly noticed it anymore.

The loneliness and lack of stimulation made it difficult to focus on anything except how badly he needed to relieve himself. His body trembled. The force of his shaking made the locks clink against the bars.

He had gotten his food and water this morning. But the person who was responsible went away for something and never came back.

Someone would come eventually. They had to. The pup needed to keep up his exercise and training. The desensitization to compassion, to weakness.

“God, this mutt is useless. He should just shoot him and be done with it already,” the person had muttered before leaving the room.

Mutt. That’s what everyone called him. It almost made him forget what his mother had named him, right before he was ripped away from his family.

Rocky.

He didn’t remember much about his family. He remembered his mother’s voice, the giggling of his litter, the warmth of snuggling up against soft fur. But he certainly remembered that one detail vividly. He clung to it, tried to remind himself that he once had something that was good. He had vague memories of what it was like to be loved, both by his mother and by the humans who took care of his mother while she had puppies. He knew it was possible.

He would call himself that name when he dreamed of a better life. A life of being loved and finding another family and fixing the things he watched break. He would stare at the dumpster in view from the window and wonder why there was so much waste. Surely there were things they could do with all that stuff. He sat there and envisioned projects and blueprints and ways he could reuse all the things being trashed like they were worth nothing.

But at this moment, with his bladder so full it was becoming painful, he was struggling to believe in anything good.

He whimpered quietly, his teeth gritted to prevent sound. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t. He had to wait. The feeling of urine soaking into his paws… it had made him physically ill before. The warm, wet feeling made him so viscerally disgusted. It made him want to die.

He could howl to try to get someone’s attention. But howling meant noise, and based on past experiences, it could go one of three ways.

One: the human who heard him would take pity on him, remember that their plan for him required training and building up strength. He would get some time outside his kennel, sniffing various smells and exploring the small confines of the fenced area outside.

Two: a different human would also remember the plan for him, but their approach would be to beat the kindness out of him. They had no use for a soft dog.

Or three: his master would hear him. He would get punished for causing such a disruption.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though his body wasn’t going to give him the choice of crying for help.

The door slammed open. The banging noise against the wall was so sudden and so loud that it made the pup jump with fear. Consequently, being scared so abruptly made him lose control of his body.

He quickly turned away to cover up the shiver that coursed through his body from his now wet paws up to his spine. He covered up his face to hide the forceful gag.

No. He couldn’t get sick. He couldn’t show weakness.

“Please! Just give me more time! I can get you the money!”

Rocky turned around to see his master shoving someone into a chair, blindfolded and tied up.

The human in the chair was shaking uncontrollably. His nails were discolored, his face gaunt, and his teeth chattering. This wasn’t the first time the pup had seen signs of withdrawals.

“And yet, you’re coming to me for more?” his master sneered.

“I… I… please.”

“I’ve been patient with you. I’ve given you several chances. I’ve given you warning after warning. And here you are, without my money.”

“I’ll get it to you! Please, I need more!”

“How? Can I see proof that you’ll have it?”

The human didn’t answer. He started crying, realizing the predicament he was in.

“My patience has run out, it would seem.”

His master lifted his arm and pointed the gun at the wailing human’s head.

Rocky was scared, so very, very terrified. He couldn’t watch someone else die. He just couldn’t. He had seen so many people die, and while the humans hoped it would make him tougher, all it did was break his heart more every time. He pushed his paws tightly over his eyes, and he couldn’t stop the cry that escaped his mouth either.

Rocky froze. The gunshot never sounded.

Oh.

Oh no.

He moved his paws away from his eyes. He couldn’t meet his owner’s eyes, but could feel them burning a hole into his skin.

“Something wrong, mutt?” his owner asked.

“N-no. N-n-nothing,” Rocky stuttered.

He hated himself in that moment. Why was he so weak?

His owner lowered his gun and slowly moved towards the kennel.

Rocky felt his ears pin against his head and against his will. His tail tucked under his legs, and he hastily backed further into the kennel until his back pressed against the bars.

His owner noticed his soaked paws, the smell of urine on him. His nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Well, mutt. It seems your time has come.”

His voice was quiet, lifeless, void of expression. Rocky whimpers grew louder. His paws shook as his owner unlocked the kennel. Rocky flinched violently back. He squeezed his eyes shut as a hand roughly grabbed him by the scruff, yanking the scrambling pup out and placed him in front of the human who was in total hysterics.

“Think of it as your trial run.” His voice was underlined with mockery.

Rocky knew he had failed. He had shown too much weakness. Even now, there was no confidence or aggression in his stance. His body was low to the ground, avoiding all human eyes. This was his last chance to prove himself useful, and his master knew that he was a failure. Rocky knew there would be punishment if he didn’t follow through.

That thought was enough to muster up some courage and obey his orders, to summon all the aggression he could. That instinctual, canine anger of a guard dog, a fighting dog. One who could attack for his owner on command, without hesitation, without fail.

He managed a menacing growl, baring his teeth, raising his hackles.

“Please! Please don’t hurt me!” the human in the chair screamed in terror.

And Rocky just… couldn’t do it. His fur lowered. His snarl fell. And his owner knew he couldn’t. He smirked.

“What a shame,” his owner said.

Right before he lifted the gun and blew a bullet into the man’s head.

Rocky yelped. He backed away quickly. His damn paws wouldn’t stop shaking. He was panting so hard, with so much panic, and he couldn’t catch his breath with the way his heart raced from the uncontrollable fear coursing through his body. He could feel the furious stare of his owner.

Rocky was being tested. This was his chance to prove that he could do this.

And he failed.

“You stink, mutt.”

“They - they d-didn’t let me out,” Rocky tried to defend helplessly.

He lifted Rocky up by his scruff. Rocky cried out helplessly in fear, unsure what was going to happen.

“You need a bath.”

Rocky’s naive first thought was, A bath? What was so bad about that?

But then the water appeared, and Rocky was forced under the surface.

He couldn’t fight back. No matter how hard he snapped his jaws, clawed, or scratched, the hand was unrelenting, and Rocky was simply too weak. And now, his brain was in a frenzy, screaming in panic that he should have done what he was told. He was going to die, all because he wasn’t strong enough.

He managed to push back up for air, desperately trying to suck in a breath, but was forced back under before taking in an adequate one. Water went down his throat. Came back up, sputtering and coughing, before being forced back down once more.

He was going to die. He was going to die. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get any oxygen into his body. His body screamed for air. His brain was going fuzzy. He was about to pass out. He was going to die.

Suddenly, the force holding him down was gone, and the hand disappeared. Rocky didn’t let himself wonder where it went in favor of scrambling to the surface. His lungs were screaming for air as he coughed up water, sputtering and scraping against his burning throat.

Screams filled the room. Terrified, agonizing screams, coming from his master.

Rocky’s vision was blurred with water and tears from the force of his coughs, but he was able to make out a faint outline of a brown pup, fur overlapped with blue. Rocky blinked rapidly to try and clear his vision.

A German Shepherd had grabbed his owner’s arm with his strong bite, teeth digging into flesh, and used his strength to pull him down onto the floor.

The pup looked furious, hackles raised and blood collecting around his muzzle, his bite strong and unrelenting.

Rocky’s master was shoved onto his back. He was pale, panting, eyes wide with fear as the shepherd jumped onto his chest. Lips curled into a snarl, growls menacing, blood covering the teeth that were hovering close to the neck as a warning.

“I got him, Ryder,” the shepherd spat angrily.

“Good job, Chase. Keep him down. The authorities are on their way to arrest him,” a voice said through a tag on the pup.

“He was doing something to a pup. I think the pup needs help,” Chase continued, though his eyes never wavered from his victim.

There was a pause on the other line, before the voice spoke again. “Marshall is on his way.”

Chase listened to the voice’s instructions snd stayed completely still. His claws dug into the man’s chest. Blood gathered on the floor.

A white face suddenly appeared right in front of Rocky. Rocky screamed, startling back and almost falling into the water. His breathing quickened, his heart rate pounding at an alarming rate at the thought of going back under. His eyes were wide and frantic.

“It’s okay! I’m here to help you! Let’s get you out of here.” This pup was a Dalmatian, though dressed in red and yellow instead of blue.

Rocky didn’t question it. He didn’t ask who this was or where the Dalmatian came from. All Rocky knew was that he had a kind, caring face. His paws reached out offering his help, a gentle touch guiding the grey pup out of the water.

A sob ripped out from Rocky’s throat. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been on the receiving end of such a kind touch.

The Dalmatian guided him out of the room and into the bright sun, causing Rocky’s eyes to squint. Rocky’s leg was slung over the other pup’s neck. The two them hobbled towards the trees.

He flinched back with a cry of terror as a group of humans stormed past the pups.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” the Dalmatian murmured in a soothing voice. “They’re here to help. They’re shutting this place down. You’ll never have to worry about this ever again. I promise.”

“Who is that, Marshall?” a human — Ryder — asked as he jogged over to them. Rocky, shivering uncontrollably, totally overwhelmed with everything happening, flinched away, nuzzling closer to the kind touch, the one who had nothing but sympathy in his eyes. His buried his head into Marshall’s neck, and Marshall reciprocated protectively.

Ryder halted abruptly when he saw the pup’s reaction. “Is he okay?”

Marshall nodded. “He will be.” Then he barked, and a blanket popped out of the red pack on his back. He quickly wrapped it around a still dripping wet Rocky. Rocky sighed in appreciation.

“I’m taking him back to the Lookout, Ryder,” Marshall said in a firm voice. “I think he’s stable enough. I’m not giving him an exam here.”

“Alright, Marshall. We’ll meet you there.”

Ryder jogged over to where Chase was coming out of the building. Rocky knew reasonably that Chase had saved his life, but the vision of him looking so aggressive made Rocky shrink further into Marshall.

He hated feeling so afraid of someone who saved his life, but… Chase was a reminder of who he was supposed to be. What he had been expected to do.

Marshall continued shushing him soothingly as he led him to a group of vehicles hidden in the trees. Rocky blinked in surprise as Marshall helped him into the passenger seat, and then put himself behind the wheel.

So, Rocky wasn’t going to question it at this particular moment. But this was definitely something he put in the back of his mind to ask about later.

Marshall’s tag beeped. A female voice came through. “Are you alright, Marshall?”

“Fine, Skye,” Marshall reassured. “I’m getting this pup home.”

“Pup?”

“Yeah. Chase saved him. His name is… hey, what’s your name anyway?” Marshall asked gently.

Rocky opened his mouth. At first, he was unsure how to respond. He hadn’t been called his name in… at least a year. Maybe now was his chance to go back to who he was before his mother had been ripped away from him.

“Rocky,” he spoke quietly after a moment’s hesitation.

“Nice to meet you, Rocky,” Marshall said, flashing him a sad smile. “I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

Rocky didn’t reply. He felt a lump form in his throat, his eyes stinging with tears at the sound of someone saying his name again.

“We’ll get you taken care of, okay Rocky?” Marshall said before putting his truck in drive.

Rocky nodded. He was still wet and cold, but he felt the warmth of the blanket, of a comforting touch, of the tears gathering under his eyes.

Maybe, just maybe, he was finally safe.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Marshall put down his stethoscope as he quietly asked the question. Everything sounded fine. Rocky didn’t appear to have any injuries. Physically, anyway.

But Rocky was incredibly shaken. His paws wouldn’t stop trembling, and he was struggling to look Marshall in the eyes. Not to mention, he stayed close to Marshall, leaning into the touches as Marshall checked him over. It tugged painfully at Marshall’s heartstrings seeing someone so desperate for a touch of kindness.

Rocky didn’t answer the question right away. He had barely spoken at all, really. Though despite his silence, Marshall could tell he was taking it all in. The wide eyed wonder as he watched Marshall drive his ambulance. The incredulous gasp as they pulled up to the Lookout. He was studying everything, searing it into his memory.

Marshall didn’t expect him to answer. Marshall certainly wouldn’t have over a year ago.

But he did. A quiet whisper — one that Marshall had to lift his ears to hear properly.

“I… didn’t… do what I was told.” Rocky stared at the ground. “I failed. I needed to be punished.”

Marshall frowned. He found Rocky in a basin of water, gasping for breath. He had taken a quick look at the surroundings of the room: an empty, well used kennel, an empty chair with a dangerous aura haunting it. The smell of blood and smoke filling the room. A human lying on the floor, dead, blood surrounding his head.

“You were in water,” Marshall stated.

Rocky didn’t answer. He curled in on himself, whimpering softly. Marshall moved closer and put his head on top of Rocky’s. Rocky nuzzled in, unable to speak.

Something had happened. Something bad. And based on the situation, his observations, Rocky’s medical exam… Marshall was almost positive the operator had tried to drown Rocky.

Maybe Chase had seen what happened. Marshall would have to ask him.

It seemed as though Marshall wasn’t going to get Chase’s observations as easily as he hoped.

In the days following the rescue, Rocky latched himself onto the Dalmatian. Everywhere Marshall went, Rocky followed. Marshall didn’t mind, of course. He wanted to help this pup in anyway he could. But since Marshall spent almost all of his time around Ryder, the pups, or both, Rocky did also. It made some of their interactions a little… tense, to say the least.

Rocky was fairly anxious around Ryder, and seemed to be distrustful of humans in general. To Marshall’s relief, he still managed to talk to Ryder with next to no issue. He even accepted food without any hesitation.

Even if his words were clipped, short, with his eyes averted away… it was still leagues better than Marshall had been.

This wasn’t surprising though.

No, what Marshall found even more surprising was the way Rocky eyed Chase almost… fearfully. He watched Skye with a hint of suspicion, especially when she would nervously inch closer to Chase.

In return, Chase would narrow his eyes distrustfully with his mouth curling up unpleasantly when Rocky got particularly close to Marshall. Marshall tried to send him a stern look, one that said to back off because Rocky needed this. He needed the touch and the comfort and the reminder that he was safe.

Marshall finally managed to pull Chase to the side alone since the shepherd was clearly not understanding his hints to calm down.

“Alone?” Chase asked, startled. “What do you mean you want to talk to him alone?”

“I mean, I think he needs to open up, and he’s not going to talk around you and Skye,” Marshall explained in a hushed voice.

“Why does he only want to be around you anyway?” Chase’s tone turned very defensive. “What’s wrong with me and Skye?”

“Come on, Chase. You remember where we found him.” Marshall sighed, then lowered his voice even further, almost to a whisper. “I think the operator was trying to drown him.”

Chase froze. His eyes drifted over to Rocky, who was watching the two of them warily.

“I know,” Chase answered equally as quiet. His ears fell back. “That’s what it looked like. All I know is my instincts took over immediately and I knew I had to bring him down now.”

“Exactly. He’s nervous. We need to be patient.”

“I know, but… you still need to be careful, Marshall,” Chase warned seriously. “I looked over his file when I was checking to make sure the building was completely clear. They wanted to use him to… make people talk. Make people pay up.”

Marshall shook his head confidently. “He’s not like that.”

“How do you know? Look at what he was being trained to do!”

“You know that wasn’t his choice!”

“And they found him on the streets alone. What was he doing there?”

“He probably didn’t choose to be on the streets either, Chase.”

“But we don’t know why someone dumped him on the streets. For all we know, he could be dangerous.”

The way Chase said this… it almost sounded personal. Marshall tilted his head with a curious frown on his face.

“That’s all the more reason to make sure he knows he’s safe,” Marshall said calmly. “I’m trying to be that pup since he seems to trust me.”

“I don’t get it. I rescued him too!”

Marshall’s face fell sympathetically at the hurt in his voice. He knew it must be hard for Chase to be given the cold shoulder, to be watched so distrustfully.

Marshall reached over and placed a paw on top of the tan one. Chase’s body went still. His face went blank as he glanced down at the touch.

“You remember how I was,” Marshall murmured. “I needed to be pushed too.”

Chase didn’t answer right away. He barely breathed. His eyes were fixed on their joined paws.

“Please, just. Give him a chance,” Marshall pleaded, giving his paw a reassuring squeeze for emphasis.

Chase finally let out a long, defeated sigh, before nodding. “Okay. Yeah. You’re right.”

And so, Marshall headed back over to Rocky. Chase whispered something to Skye, who nodded in understanding.

Chase sent one last anxious look at Marshall. He was clearly still very uncomfortable with leaving Marshall completely alone with Rocky. Even so, he gave a small smile in response to Marshall’s reassuring one that everything would be fine, and continued down to the beach with Skye.

Rocky’s eyes lingered on the two pups, eyes full of suspicion, before they turned to the ground once the pups were out of sight.

Marshall bit at his lip, unsure what to say to prompt him a conversation.

But it seemed that he didn’t have to, because Rocky muttered, “Ryder seems to really like you pure breeds.”

His voice was light in an attempt to sound nonchalant, but his eyes were fixed on the grass like it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen.

Marshall cocked his head to the side, brow furrowing in confusion. He had honestly never thought about that specifically but… he could see how Rocky might come to that conclusion.

He was two now, and the world was so much more vast with all the knowledge he had obtained, all the details he had learned — both the good and the bad. But he also had dealt with the realization as to why he had been born into the world in such a way. His breed, Dalmatians, pure bred Dalmatians, were something people would pay money for.

Skye wasn’t a purebred but. People liked poodle mixes. German Shepherds were also incredibly desirable.

It was something the three of them had talked about before, but never extensively. And never at the expense of Ryder.

And Marshall, observing Rocky’s hunched posture, knew just how difficult this must be. He came from that awful place. Maybe it was all he had ever known. For all he knew, Ryder was just collecting luxury breeds.

Perhaps he was expecting Ryder to eventually kick him to the curb. Other people probably would.

But Ryder was not other people.

“Ryder’s not like that,” said Marshall.

“Sure does seem like it.”

“Look, you haven’t even given him a chance. If you just talked to him, you’d see he wasn’t like that.”

If that wasn’t hypocritical, Marshall didn’t know what was.

Rocky didn’t reply. His claws extended on one foot and started slowly digging into the dirt, ripping up the grass and making a small divot. It seemed to be unintentional.

Marshall let out a deep sigh as his eyes drifted towards the beach. He internally scolded himself, because it had only been a few minutes and he was already missing Chase’s reassuring gaze.

“Look, Rocky,” Marshall began slowly, trying to think over his words carefully. “Skye and I… we were both found by accident. I don’t think Ryder had any intention of having more than one pup, but he took us in anyway.”

Rocky froze. His anxious movements came to a halt. He still didn’t look up, but his ears tilted in Marshall’s direction.

“What about Chase?” Rocky murmured.

“He’s the only one Ryder got as a puppy. It was supposed to just be the two of them helping out around the town, but Ryder… he found me and he - he saved my life…”

He had barely opened up about his life with even Skye. He had no idea what was compelling him to open up like this with a pup he had just met.

Maybe… maybe it was because…

“I grew up in a cage too,” he continued. He averted his eyes away. “I know what it’s like.”

He felt Rocky finally look up at him, and he hated that he couldn’t meet his eyes. He was so scared Rocky might try to dig in deeper, to force Marshall to explain.

But Rocky said nothing. He simply nodded in understanding. Marshall let out a sigh of relief.

“What about Skye?”

Marshall shrugged. “Ryder made it pretty clear that we didn’t need to know where she came from. But he found her buried in the snow. She was pretty hypothermic when he brought her to the Lookout.”

“Hypo… what?”

Marshall met Rocky’s eyes with a bashful grin. “Sorry. It means she was super cold.”

Rocky’s frowned thoughtfully, his mouth falling open in understanding. Marshall could almost see the cogs turning as he processed Marshall’s words.

“So… so Ryder found you and Skye by accident. Just like me.”

“Yeah.” Marshall gave an encouraging smile. “I promise Ryder isn’t just collecting luxury pups. He took you in just the same as me and Skye.”

Rocky perked up quite a bit after that. His tail lifted and wagged slowly, and his mouth curved up into a small smile.

It was the happiest Marshall had seen him so far.

Thankfully, Rocky seemed to take Marshall’s words to heart.

Over the next week, Rocky’s eyes gradually changed from distrustful to interested. It definitely helped that Marshall was always around the other two pups.

Skye, though a little nervous at first, was excited to include Rocky in their activities.

“You want me to… play?” asked Rocky with a confused head tilt.

If there was one thing the three of them had in common, it was that ‘play’ was a foreign concept that needed to be learned.

“I want to give you the same experience I had!” Skye answered. She yipped happily as she ran towards the Lookout. “I’ll go get Ryder with the frisbee!”

He warmed up to Ryder much faster than anyone would have expected. Marshall could just tell Rocky was totally enamored with their vehicles. Try as he may to keep himself reserved, the mixed breed couldn’t contain his curiosity about asking Ryder questions about his inventions, how they worked, whether he could see the blueprints, and anything else remotely related to what Ryder worked on in his garage.

Rocky slowly crept closer and closer to Ryder’s garage over time, until he became comfortable to sit in there with Ryder after the invitation to join. Ryder would ask Rocky for tools, or would talk every single step out loud under the guise that it was helping him concentrate. But Marshall knew he was saying the steps, explaining the motions, talking about each tool specifically, all for Rocky’s benefit.

“You really want to know?” Ryder asked in surprise.

“Are you kidding?” Rocky said with an excited wag of his tail. “These things are amazing! How do you control the direction they go in? Is it mind controlled? Some kind of chip?”

“Uh… no…” Ryder trailed off. “The packs are activated by bark commands. After their tools are activated, it’s up to the pups to use their bodies to control the direction.”

“Huh,” Rocky replied. “I wonder if there was a way to be super precise with where you needed your tools to go.”

“Yeah… that’s an interesting thought.”

Ryder had a look on his face. It was a face Marshall recognized — a face that should have Marshall exchanging a smirk with Chase because they knew the wheels in Ryder’s head were turning.

Unfortunately, Chase… well…

Rocky, even though he was warming up fairly quickly to the group, was still fairly standoffish with Chase. In return, Chase continued looking at him warily. His eyes would narrow into a glare especially when Rocky got particularly close to Marshall.

“You said you would give him a chance,” Marshall snapped in an annoyed whisper when Chase declined an invitation to play with the three of them.

“I’m trying!” Chase defended with a frustrated huff. “It would be easier if he didn’t keep looking at me like… I don’t know.”

“Like what?” The annoyance melted away to concern.

Chase’s mouth pulled into a slight grimace. “It just seems like… he thinks I’m going to… hurt somebody, or. I don’t know. Hurt you…”

Marshall scoffed. “Well, if that’s what he’s thinking, I’ll make sure he knows you would never hurt me or anyone unless they did something really bad.”

After that, Marshall felt so relieved when he noticed that Rocky and Chase were both making an active effort to be more comfortable around each other.

It was all going surprisingly well. They had a new friend, and based on Ryder’s speculative looks, maybe even a new teammate eventually. They had saved Rocky from a truly unfortunate circumstance, and with each passing day, he grew happier and happier.

Well, it was going great. That is, until Ryder announced it was time for everyone to head to Katie’s for a bath.

Rocky’s eyes went wide with panic. The blood drained from his face.

“B-bath?” he stammered. His entire body fell — ears back, tail limp, body low to the ground.

“Whoa, Rocky, it’s okay,” Ryder said in a calm voice. He crouched down to get on Rocky’s level and placed a hand on Rocky’s head to give reassuring scratches. “I promise, baths are nothing to be afraid of. Especially with Katie… she’s amazing.”

He looked away as he said this. The corners of his mouth turned up subtly.

“But… b-but, I’m not dirty,” said Rocky, his voice trembling.

Marshall eyed Rocky’s paws, which were caked in so much dirt that the gray fur could be mistaken for brown. There was noticeable dust drifting off of him.

But Chase laughed and answered instead. “We just dug that huge hole in the yard yesterday. I’m dying to get clean.”

“I think I have some twigs stuck in my ears,” Skye added, shaking her head for emphasis.

As they walked into the parlor, Rocky panted shallowly, scanning every bathtub and shower head and shampoo bottle like they were lethal weapons.

“Oh wow,” Katie laughed as she greeted them. “You guys really do need baths.”

“They made a huge mess yesterday,” said Ryder, rolling his eyes.

“It’s for a good cause!” said Marshall. “We’re trying to beat our record.”

“We’re getting so close!” Skye added excitedly.

But Katie didn’t respond, because at that moment she noticed Rocky, who was watching her anxiously and trying to stay invisible.

“Hi! You’re new!” Katie greeted gently, keeping her voice low as she clearly noticed how terrified he looked. “I’m Katie.”

Rocky’s tail relaxed a little at the sound of her voice, but he didn’t say anything.

“This is Rocky,” Ryder said for him. “He’s… a little nervous about his bath.”

Katie made her way over to the mixed breed before sitting down on the floor in front of him. He stayed very still, but his ears perked up as she reached out with a treat in her hand.

“Do you like treats, Rocky?” she asked.

Rocky nodded, but didn’t move.

Katie waved her hand slightly. “It’s okay! You can take it. It’s for you.”

A hint of a smile danced on Rocky’s lips. His shoulders relaxed a little as he leaned forward to take the treat from her.

“It’s okay to be scared,” Katie reassured. “I’ll make sure you get lots of treats and go really slow. It’s all going to be fine.”

“You promise?” Rocky finally voiced timidly.

“Yeah, buddy. I promise.”

Rocky’s entire body trembled as he made his way over to a tub filled with water. He hesitated, sniffing at it suspiciously, then looked to the other pups for reassurance.

“It’s okay, Rocky!” Skye said happily. “Look, baths are amazing! See?”

She attempted to prove her point by hopping into a tub, fully submerging herself before popping back up giggling, fluffy ears successfully soaked.

“We’ll be right here if you get scared,” Marshall said. He ignored how fast his heart was beating, or the bad feeling in his stomach.

Rocky nodded. He took one more deep breath before he climbed into the tub.

Everything happened too quickly to process properly. Marshall didn’t have a chance to warn Katie when he saw the flash of unadulterated panic in Rocky’s eyes as her hand came closer.

The room filled with Katie screaming in pain as Rocky’s teeth dug into her skin.

Chaos erupted.

“Rocky! Let go of her!” Ryder shouted.

The fog in Rocky’s eyes cleared, replaced with wide eyed horror as he released his bite. At the same time, Ryder ran over and pulled Katie away. Chase, hackles raised and tail fluffed, hopped in between the gray pup and the humans, shoving the two far away with his rear and his eyes never straying from Rocky.

Ryder had his arms around Katie, who was crying and gasping in pain. Blood dripped down her wrist and onto the floor.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Ryder exclaimed angrily.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Rocky cried. He jumped out of the tub, looking desperately apologetic, but flinched back as Chase gave a warning growl.

“We don’t do that around here!”

“I - I don’t know w-what happened!” Rocky’s face crumpled as he turned his eyes to the ground.

Marshall immediately snapped into healthcare mode and didn’t hesitate to grab some of Katie’s bandaging supplies. He made a quick inspection of the bite.

He heard Skye finally hop out of the tub. She must have stayed still during the commotion. She watched Rocky fearfully as she stepped closely to Chase.

“She’s gonna need stitches,” Marshall said as he wrapped the wound in thick bandages, hopefully to help stop the bleeding. “This is pretty deep.”

“I’ll take her,” Ryder said.

“I’m sorry, Katie. I - I don’t know…” Rocky whimpered. His whole body was fallen. His rear had completely backed into a corner. His dripping paws trembled.

“It’s okay, Rocky,” Katie said, though her voice wavered. “I should have listened to you.”

Ryder led Katie onto the ATV as soon as Marshall finished. Marshall started walking over to Rocky.

He froze when Chase yelled, “Marshall! Stay away from him!”

Marshall looked over at Chase. His eyes were flashing in a warning, his frown deep, and body ready to pounce.

Then he looked back at Rocky, crying, soaking wet, looking so afraid and ashamed. And Marshall understood exactly how he felt.

For the first time since they met, Marshall ignored Chase. He grabbed a towel and wrapped in around a still trembling Rocky. Rocky refused to meet his eyes.

“Marshall! Stop!” Chase shouted again. He ran over and forcibly pulled Marshall away. Marshall gasped in surprise. “He’s dangerous!”

“He’s not dangerous, Chase,” Marshall said testily.

He felt an almost unfamiliar feeling swelling up in his chest — and it wasn’t good feeling. Something like… defiance. Anger.

“How can you still say that?” Chase sounded shocked. “Did you not see what he just did?!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Rocky sobbed. “I didn’t mean to!”

“I guess you learned a few things from your master, huh? Well, we don’t do that here!”

“Chase!” Marshall gasped.

Chase repeating Ryder’s words visibly hurt Rocky like a kick in the gut.

“No! No! That’s not true! I swear, Marshall!”

Chase moved his body in between Rocky and Marshall. Rocky’s body shrank under Chase’s glare. Skye whimpered, trying to make herself even smaller as she carefully watched the other three pups.

“You stay away from him,” Chase growled under his breath.

Rocky let out a choked sobbed. He kept his head down as he sprinted out of the building.

“Wait, Rocky!” Marshall shouted after him. He turned to Chase; this time, there was no questioning the fury burning in his chest. “Why would you say that?! Look what you did!”

“Look what I did? Look what he did!”

He had never felt this way towards Chase before. He felt so disgusted by Chase’s words that he used all of his strength to forcefully shove Chase off of him. Chase stumbled back, anger turning into shock. His eyes were trained on Marshall’s face, whose lip was uncharacteristically curled up into a snarl. Marshall was panting heavily as he turned to run after Rocky.

“What if he had bit Ryder instead?” Chase asked in a low, wavering voice. “Would you still choose him over me?”

Marshall paused. He looked back. Chase’s face was angry, but his eyes were incredibly hurt. Skye’s whole body was low, tears in her eyes as her eyes shifted between the two of them, though she gravitated towards Chase.

Chase moved closer to her too. The anger flooding deep in Marshall’s stomach was making it impossible to push away that awful feeling he had felt towards her months ago. The one that burned in his chest and clouded his head with insecurity, the one that he had so carefully repressed. It was rearing its ugly head once more with a raging fire.

His face felt warm. His mouth pursed as he glared at them.

He continued on his way to Rocky before he could say anything he might regret.

His heart pounded painfully against his chest as he listened to the faint sound of Skye’s crying, the sound of Chase’s soft voice murmuring words of comfort — a voice Marshall was very familiar with. He imagined Chase pulling her close to his chest, rubbing his paw along her back, and Marshall’s eyes burned with tears.

“Rocky! Wait!” Marshall shouted.

The gray pup had gotten a good head start and didn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. While Marshall had become significantly faster in the last year, it wasn’t enough to bring him closer to the sprinting pup.

“Rocky, please stop! I wanna talk to you!” He huffed the words out in between pants, but even so, his voice carried across the yard. No success — Rocky continued running full speed.

Unfortunately, multitasking while running was not a skill Marshall was adept to yet. Between panting heavily, desperately trying to hold back his tears and swallow the lump in his throat, and forcing away the image of the fresh betrayal on Chase’s face, his legs were bound to give out at some point.

Sooner rather than later, it would seem. He yelped as they slipped under him. He rolled forward and fell flat on his stomach with a loud thump.

“Ouch…” he groaned.

He honestly didn’t care about being clumsy — not usually, anyway. He had learned to accept that his legs might never work the way they were supposed to.

However, in this particular instance… he really despised it.

But maybe he didn’t have to this time. It seemed work in his favor, because Rocky came to a sudden halt, looking alarmed at the sound of the crash and the sight of Marshall on the ground. He was conflicted for a moment, his eyes shifting between continuing towards the mountain and the Dalmatian on the ground.

Rocky’s care for his friend ultimately won over his rush to freedom.

“Are you okay?” he asked, frown full of concern.

“I’m good!” Marshall reassured as Rocky went to help him to his feet. “It happens all the time.”

He pushed away the stabbing pain in his chest at the reminder that it was usually Chase who helped him up. Chase, his best friend. Chase, who looked at him with a kind of hurt Marshall had never seen before.

Who had said awful things to a pup who didn’t deserve it.

“Please don’t run away,” Marshall pleaded. “Please.”

“I hurt someone, Marshall,” Rocky said in a trembling voice. “I’m not going back.”

“You didn’t mean to! You panicked! And Katie knows —”

“And what happens if I panic again?” Rocky huffed in frustration. His eyes were glassy. “Maybe… they were right about m-me.”

“No way. They weren’t.”

“R-Ryder obviously thinks so.”

“Look, if I just explain to Ryder -”

“Then what? Then he’ll scream at me? Or… p-punish me?”

“No!” Marshall reassured quickly. “No no! I - I know it’s scary but… I swear, Ryder would never.”

“He seemed pretty upset just now.” Rocky dipped his head. His whole posture was so full of shame: ears low against his head, shoulders tense, tail limp. It broke Marshall’s heart. Rocky reminded him so much of himself, it was almost painful.

“I - I know. But he… no matter how upset he gets… I just know he would never. I swear.”

When Ryder had gotten upset after Chase bit someone over a year ago, he had forgiven the pup almost immediately. And that was after Chase had been intentionally aggressive. This situation was nothing more than a tragic accident, and Marshall was positive that Ryder would apologize to Rocky too.

Rocky didn’t look reassured. He looked hesitant, biting at his lip anxiously. He wouldn’t meet Marshall’s eyes.

“I was… really hoping Ryder might have a place for me. Here, with you guys, on the team.” Rocky sighed hopelessly. “I ruined that chance.”

“Rocky, you’ve helped Ryder out in that garage more than the three of us combined, and Ryder knows it. I know he does. He just… Katie is a good friend of his, and I think it just scared him that she got so hurt.”

Rocky’s face crumpled, and Marshall cringed at his choice of words. God, what was he doing? Rubbing salt in the wound?

“I’m sorry, Rocky. That’s not what I meant.”

“You’re right, though.”

“Even if I am, Ryder shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“He’s right to.” Rocky’s voice cracked. He squeezed his eyes shut as he breathed, rapid and shallow. “That’s what I get for not being strong enough to just do it. And all - all I could see was his hand, and -”

“It’s not your fault,” Marshall repeated adamantly. Rocky opened his eyes and finally met his, eyes bloodshot and full of tears. “I know it’s not. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure Ryder knows that.”

Marshall hoped he sounded confident enough and didn’t give off any hint about how uneasy confronting Ryder made him. He really hated admitting it to himself, but if given the chance to call Ryder out for being in the wrong… he wasn’t sure if he could do it.

Even after a year of being with Ryder and Chase, Marshall still didn’t truly believe he deserved to be here. And maybe, just maybe, if he gave Ryder an opening… a chance to see that he shouldn’t be here in the Paw Patrol…

No. Marshall shook his head. He couldn’t think like that right now. Rocky. He needed to focus on Rocky.

“I don’t want anyone to be afraid of me,” Rocky whispered.

“She won’t be,” Marshall said. “Katie is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She’s awesome! I know she’ll understand.”

Rocky didn’t answer at first. His shoulders curved in, and his head lowered.

“What is it?” Marshall asked gently.

“I saw Skye’s face,” Rocky said in a small voice. “She’s been nothing but nice to me.”

It was Marshall’s turn to hesitate. Marshall had seen first hand the way bigger, more aggressive pups made Skye freeze up, paralyze in fear.

Marshall felt even more upset towards Ryder in that moment, because he knew Ryder’s reaction would just make Skye even more distrustful.

“Well…” he finally said after a moment of silence. He knew he needed to be honest. “She might be nervous at first. But once she sees me and Chase around you -”

“Chase?” Rocky scoffed as he gave the Dalmatian a disbelieving look. “You heard what he said. He’s never going to forgive me.”

Marshall’s face fell as Chase’s face forced its way back into his mind. One of betrayal, of hurt, of anger.

He had pushed Chase off of himself. Marshall had never done that before.

“Chase probably would have followed the orders,” Rocky murmured under his breath, so low that Marshall almost missed it.

He didn’t know exactly what Rocky meant by that but… he was too distracted to ask.

He tried to bring up the memories of how Chase usually looked, kind and caring and always wanting to help. Chase had never given Marshall a distrustful look, even when he deserved it. All Marshall could hope was that Chase would eventually extend that same sympathy to Rocky too.

Chase was just… protective. That was all it was. Of Ryder, of Skye, of… Marshall. But Marshall was certain Chase would be able to see reason… he hoped.

“I’ll talk to him,” he said after a moment of silence. “He’ll understand.”

“He wants to hurt me, Marshall,” Rocky said in distress. His eyes drifted over to where he had been running to.

“He doesn’t. He’s defensive, but he’s not aggressive. And anyway, I won’t let him do that.”

“I don’t want him to hurt you either.”

This made Marshall breathe out a small laugh. Now this was something he was absolutely certain about. “He would never hurt me. I promise.”

The triage room in the hospital was unpleasantly cold. Ryder could see Katie turn in on herself, rubbing her arm with the hand that wasn’t bandaged. Ryder felt a strange urge to put his arm around her, pull her in close so he could provide some semblance of warmth.

He shook his head with a puzzled frown. Instead, he turned his face towards the ground, folding his hands together to keep them in place.

Now that the commotion had died down and he had gotten Katie safely to the hospital, there wasn’t much they could do except simply sit there and wait and think. Katie hadn’t said much since they arrived, both lost in their own thoughts.

Ryder already struggled to shut down his brain in general. Now he was here in this quiet, still, hospital waiting room, and couldn’t stop thinking about what he said to Rocky.

And he felt awful.

It had been a long time since he lost his temper like that. Even when Chase had failed to reign in his anger, Ryder had been… frustrated, sure. But he hasn’t lost it like this.

Ryder knew Chase though. He knew deep down that Chase wouldn’t have done something like that without a good reason.

He was still getting to know Rocky. He was well aware that Rocky was nervous, that the mixed breed needed them to go slow. But that file Ryder had read with the information about Rocky was burned into the back of his brain: where he came from, what their plan for him was, how they were training him. And when Katie started screaming, with the question of what Rocky’s intentions might be, he lost it.

He heard Katie shift to look at him. He felt her stern gaze boring into him, and he knew what was coming.

“You shouldn’t have said those things to him,” she said quietly.

Ryder sighed. “I know. I just… I got scared, what with you -”

“I’m fine,” Katie said stubbornly.

“Your hand doesn’t look fine.”

“My hand will be fine. Rocky, on the other hand, won’t be fine.”

Ryder groaned as he put his head in his hands.

“What was I supposed to do? I had to get him off somehow,” he said, slightly distressed.

“What we should have done is talked to him more. I just assumed he didn’t want to get wet, based on how everyone was acting, but there’s obviously something more serious going on.”

“I guess that would probably make sense.”

Katie frowned in confusion. “Why do you say that?”

Ryder didn’t answer right away. His elbows rested against his knees and allowed his hands to fall in between his legs. His eyes unfocused, staring blankly across the room, as he debated on how much he should tell Katie.

But well… he and Katie had gone through so much together. If there was one person he could trust, it was her.

“Marshall found him in a tub of water,” Ryder finally said. “Chase was pretty certain his owner was trying to drown him.”

“…are you serious?” Katie asked in a flat voice.

Ryder spared a glance over at her. She was looking at him incredulously.

“What?” he asked, feeling rather defensive all of a sudden.

“You didn’t think that was information I should have known before I tried to give a traumatized pup a bath?” Her voice grew more high pitched with every word.

“Oh,” Ryder said dumbly. He grimaced with regret. “I… didn’t… think about that.”

God, now he felt even worse.

“You know, for someone so smart, you can be pretty stupid,” Katie said with an exasperated shake of her head.

“I’m sorry, Katie.” It wasn’t Rocky’s fault that Katie was here with a torn up hand. It was Ryder’s.

Katie was right.

“I don’t get it,” Katie continued. “You were so good with Chase and Marshall. If Marshall had reacted like that, you wouldn’t have said those things to him. Why is Rocky different?”

Ryder sighed. He folded his hands together. He tapped his thumbs together nervously.

“Rocky and I have been getting along so well. I mean, I’ve gotten along with everyone, of course. But Rocky just… gets me.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if that makes sense or not. But… it’s been making me nervous, because Chase obviously doesn’t trust him.”

“Chase?” Katie said in surprise.

“Yeah. Marshall trusts him though, which is a little comforting. I don’t really know where Skye falls but… I trust Chase, you know?”

“He really softened you up,” Katie commented, before she let out a small giggle. “Remember how offended Carlos was when Chase only let you hold him?”

Ryder laughed too. “He knew who his best friend was.” His face turned more serious again. “I just wanted to give him a better life than we had.”

“Then you should show him that Rocky deserves a better life too,” Katie emphasized. “If someone was willing to give us a second chance after we escaped Adventure City, after what the three of us did, then Rocky deserves a second chance too.”

Ryder looked at Katie, her small smile, her serious eyes. He frowned as he looked at her.

When had she gotten so pretty?

His eyes went wide as he looked away to hide the growing heat in his face. Where did that come from?

He shook his head to rid those thoughts. Rocky. He had to find Rocky.

Ryder stood up, but paused before he could make his exit.

“Are you gonna be okay by yourself?” he inquired. He really hated leaving her here alone.

Katie rolled her eyes as she nodded. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Go. Find Rocky. Apologize.”

“I will.”

As he stepped outside of the hospital, he pulled out his pup pad. He paused, and felt an awful sense of dread in his gut. What if he was too late? What if Rocky had run away? What if he had no way of contacting him, and Rocky was lost to him forever?

Well, only one way to find out. He swiped to the fire symbol. If Rocky was with anyone, it would be Marshall.

“Marshall?” he prompted after the beep.

“Here, Ryder.”

“Is…” his voice cracked. His palms were sweaty with nerves. “Is Rocky with you?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. He could faintly hear the sound of Marshall talking away from his tag.

“Yeah, he’s right here,” Marshall finally answered. The disappointment in the his voice made Ryder feel even smaller.

Despite this, Ryder sighed in relief. Rocky didn’t run away. Ryder didn’t screw up beyond repair. He had to get to Rocky, now.

“Where are you guys?” he asked as he hopped on the ATV.

“We’re on the edge of the woods, on the way to Jake’s Mountain.”

“Alright, I’m on my way.”

Then Ryder thought about where Rocky came from, his file. What he might expect from humans who… reacted the way Ryder had. Ryder let out a deep breath. Katie was right. He couldn’t believe he said something like that to someone so vulnerable.

“Marshall?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Rocky he doesn’t have to be afraid and… tell him I’m sorry. Please.”

“You got it, Ryder.”

Ryder felt a little better after hearing the smile in Marshall’s voice.

Rocky’s shoulders turned inward at the sound of Ryder’s voice. Marshall immediately sensed the shame rolling off of him, and nuzzled his head against his.

Rocky squeezed his eyes shut when he heard Ryder apologize. The shake of his head should have been subtle, but Marshall felt it, and his heart ached.

He was about to say something, some sort of words of comfort, but the moment Ryder cut the line was the moment Chase and Skye stepped out of the Lookout in the distance.

They were too far away for Marshall to say anything without shouting (he really didn’t want to startle Rocky), but close enough that he could see Chase’s eyes narrow at the sight of the two pups huddled together. Marshall felt defiant though, and refused to give Chase the satisfaction of moving away. Instead, he stared him down.

If anyone was going to break eye contact, it would be the jerk who decided to kick someone while he was down.

Chase’s jaw clenched. Skye, while still huddling closely behind Chase, glanced between the two pups, extremely conflicted. She seemed to notice just how tense Chase was and grabbed his paw before he could say anything. She whispered something to him, and he nodded in response.

Marshall was thankful that Rocky didn’t look up to see Chase’s death stare, nor Skye sending them a tight, apologetic smile before turning to follow the shepherd.

Marshall couldn’t exactly blame Skye. She had always been anxious around bigger, supposedly aggressive pups. Chase, on the other hand, had no excuse.

Rocky finally moved away and saw their retreating figures. He sighed in defeat.

“There’s no point, Marshall. They’ll never accept me.”

“And where are you gonna go instead?” Marshall asked. His voice was a little snappy, but his nerves were so frazzled from being the subject of Chase’s glare for the first time ever, from watching Chase’s shoulders relax as Skye talked to him, causing his heart to twist painfully. He couldn’t help it.

Rocky didn’t acknowledge the change in tone though. He simply shrugged. “I don’t know. Does it matter? Ryder’s not going to let me stay here.”

“That’s not true. You heard what he said.”

“I know I lost my chance to join the team.”

Marshall wanted to try and argue, to keep his positivity, but he felt like he was struggling to keep that previous optimism as he observed the distance between him and his friends grow larger.

Maybe it should have made him sad, but the bitterness only grew. If Chase wanted to be angry and petty that Marshall was helping his friend, then he could be angry. Marshall didn’t have any words to say to him until he apologized.

He heard the familiar sounds of Ryder’s ATV approaching the woods and involuntarily wagged his tail. Strange, considering the situation. He supposed it was just force of habit.

Rocky scooted closer to Marshall, like the Dalmatian could somehow make him invisible.

“How’s Katie?” asked Marshall as soon as Ryder took his helmet off.

“She’s fine. She’s getting stitches now,” Ryder replied.

He hopped off his ATV and cautiously moved closer to the two pups. Rocky’s ears fell flat, and his tail hit the ground in short, anxious movements.

“I’m s-sorry, Ryder,” Rocky stammered. “I didn’t… I -”

“No, Rocky. I’m sorry,” Ryder sighed as he crouched down to get on Rocky’s level. Marshall patted Rocky’s paw in reassurance before he stepped out of the way. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

“You were right to.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Ryder replied firmly. “Katie sort of… chewed me out in the waiting room.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. A small, bashful smile crossed his lips. “If anything, it was my fault that it happened at all. I should have known better.”

“I still bit her, Ryder!” Rocky cried with a small whimper.

Ryder reached his hand over to touch Rocky’s head. Rocky flinched, his eyes squinted and jaw tightening.

But Ryder moved his hand in a gentle motion, making sure to scratch behind Rocky’s ear.

Rocky slowly blinked open his eyes and looked up to meet Ryder’s sad eyes. A mutual understanding passed between them, and Rocky’s tense shoulders relaxed.

A moment of realization spread over Rocky’s face. Ryder really was not going to hurt him — he wasn’t going to punish him, no matter how upset he might have been.

Marshall felt a lump form in his throat. He rapidly blinked back tears, and looked at the ground to hide his face.

“You panicked,” Ryder said with a wry smile. “I didn’t understand just how afraid you were. We’ll just have to go slower next time.”

“Next time?” Rocky asked in surprise. “I don’t think Katie will want there to be a next time.”

Ryder gave a small laugh. His face went a little pink as it filled with admiration. “Nah. If anything, she’s even more determined to get you comfortable with it. She can handle it, Rocky. She’s amazing like that.”

“I won’t do it again,” Rocky promised in a timid voice. “I don’t want to be that kind of dog.”

Ryder tilted his head curiously. His eyes narrowed as he studied Rocky carefully.

“What kind of dog do you want to be?” Ryder asked, a hint of speculation in his voice.

Rocky let out a long sigh, twisting his mouth and brow furrowing as he fell deep in thought. He was silent for a moment, but Ryder waited patiently for his response.

“I want to help. I don’t want to watch people’s lives get broken anymore. I want to fix things to make them better.”

“How do you want to fix things?”

“I don’t know, I… I saw so much stuff get wasted. I used to dream about how I could take something and make it better, instead of watching it get destroyed.”

Rocky’s eyes lit up as he said this. His tail slowly started to wag.

Marshall was staying close by, but had wanted to give them space to talk. However, he couldn’t help but smile brightly at Rocky talking about something he seemed to genuinely care about.

“You like to help in the garage!” he decided to add in, hoping to encourage whatever thought process was appearing clear as day on Ryder’s face.

Rocky nodded excitedly. His tail picked up speed.

“I’ve never seen anything like those pup vehicles you made,” said Rocky enthusiastically. Any fear or anxiety or helplessness had all but melted away, replaced by a deep desire to help… to learn. But then he tilted his head. “Although they could use some improvements.”

His tail instantly went still and his eyes went wide with mortification when he realized what he said. Marshall’s jaw dropped, and Ryder’s eyebrows shot up on his head in surprise.

“Ryder I - I don’t mean…”

But he trailed off as Marshall started laughing, an uncontrollable, disbelieving laugh.

“Did you… Ryder did he just…” Marshall gasped through his giggles. “Skye’s gonna be just thrilled that we have another smarty pants to deal with!”

Rocky’s embarrassment morphed into confusion as Ryder joined Marshall.

“I don’t get… what’s so funny…” Rocky said slowly. He seemed relieved anyway. He expected Ryder to get angry at that comment.

“Alright, Rocky. Why don’t tell me what you got?” Ryder proposed, his face full of intrigue. He crossed his arms, a smirk on his face that longed for a challenge.

Rocky still looked nervous. He looked to Marshall for reassurance, to make sure this wasn’t some kind of trick, but Marshall had a huge grin on his face as he nodded enthusiastically.

“O-okay… well,” Rocky stuttered. Then he took a deep breath, stepping his paws down firmly as he tried to muster up some confidence. “The steering wheels.”

“What about them?” Ryder asked patiently.

“Well, they’re wheels, aren’t they? It’s not very practical for pups who don’t have thumbs.”

Marshall glanced down at his paws. Steering wasn’t impossible by any means, but sharp turns could sometimes pose a challenge.

“I thought, maybe, some kind of… pad. A paw pad, I guess? Might be more… useful. Something that we… you guys could push and steer.”

Ryder stayed silent for a moment. Clearly, Rocky’s idea was something that had him deep in thought, the cogs turning and working hard.

This was new for Ryder. None of the other pups had ever offered input on their vehicles. Not really, anyway. Marshall knew the basics due to his recent interest in race cars, but for the most part, they all just assumed that Ryder knew best.

“You know what Rocky? I think you’re right,” Ryder finally said, an impressed grin taking over his face. “Why don’t you meet me in the garage in the morning and we’ll draw up some blueprints for a prototype?”

“Seriously?” Rocky gasped. “That would be amazing!”

“I think I know exactly how you can fit into our team, buddy.”

Rocky looked over at Marshall, his eyes alight with excitement and his tail wagging furiously. Marshall smiled happily, feeling so insanely relieved that any distrust between these two had all but melted away, replaced by a desire to do something good.

Marshall remembered exactly what that felt like.

Rocky waited outside the pet parlor for Katie to return. Marshall had offered to come with him, but Rocky decided this was something he needed to do alone. Rocky’s trust in Marshall had been the sole reason he risked staying and facing Ryder instead of running away like his instincts told him.

Now he realized that… not all humans were like the ones from his puppyhood. And if Marshall and Ryder both trusted Katie well. She deserved that same trust from Rocky after what he had done.

Still, his paws trembled and his prick ear drooped as she came into view. He had always been an anxious pup — one to overthink everything. And right now, his thoughts were swirling around uncontrollably.

She won’t hurt me. She won’t hurt me. But what if she yells? What if she screams, tells me to get out and never come back? What if she promises I’ll regret it if I do come back? I can’t do this. Maybe Marshall was wrong and she won’t forgive me. Why would she forgive me? Look what I did. I would never forgive me either.

Katie paused in her stride as she noticed the pup sitting fretfully on her doorstep. The tightness in Rocky’s chest loosened slightly as she smiled brightly at him.

That was… not what he expected.

“Hey, Rocky!” she greeted in a pleasantly surprised voice. She moved to close the gap and unlock the door to her store.

Rocky tried to open his mouth, to exchange the same general pleasantries as her. But he found the words just wouldn’t come out.

The door opened, and she motioned with her head for him to follow. “You wanna come in?”

Rocky nodded, and slowly crept in behind her. He decidedly avoided looking at the line of bathtubs against the wall and instead focused on the desk ahead.

“You want some peanut butter?” Katie asked as she rifled for something under the desk.

Rocky frowned and shook his head. He had no idea what that was, or why she was asking about it.

“Oh, come on,” Katie teased. “I promise you’ll love it.”

She put a jar on the counter and struggled for a moment to open the lid. A wave of guilt hit him in the chest as she used her forearm to hold it against her body so she could unscrew the lid with her other hand. That was his fault.

She approached him with a spoonful of whatever paste that was and held it out to him. He reeled back slightly. Why was she doing that? What was she playing at? Why would he…?

He was powerless to stop how his entire body perked up, his tail wagging slowly with a sudden interest.

What was that amazing smell?

Maybe… he could just have… a taste of that delicious smell…

No. He was here for Katie. Focus on Katie.

“How’s your hand?” Rocky asked as he tried to ignore the smell.

Katie sighed, and seemed to realize she wasn’t going to be successful with distracting him. She placed the spoon on the counter.

“It hurts,” she answered bluntly, yet gently. Rocky grimaced. “But it’ll heal. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics to keep away an infection. I’ll be just fine.”

“Katie, I’m -”

She put her hand up to interrupt him. “If you’re here to apologize, you don’t need to.”

“I do! I hurt you! I made you cry!”

“Yeah. It was scary, sure. And it hurt a lot,” she admitted with a shrug. “But you were scared too. I know the difference between being scared and being aggressive. You weren’t being aggressive.”

Rocky dipped his head down. “I really don’t like baths,” he said in a small voice. Katie gave him a sad smile.

“I know. We’ll work on that. You and me. Together.”

“You really want to try again?” Rocky asked skeptically. He absolutely dreaded the thought of getting back into the water, but… he thought maybe with a little more preparation and Katie’s help, he might be able do it.

“Of course!” She pointed at Rocky sternly, but still had a playful smile. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, mister! Just because I can’t do one now, doesn’t mean you can avoid them forever!”

“I can try, though. You can’t catch me!” he said just as playfully.

“I have my ways, Rocky. Just you wait. And would you look at that! I have a way right here!”

Katie grabbed the peanut butter off the counter and offered it to Rocky again. This time, Rocky didn’t decline and gleefully licked it off the spoon.

Yeah… he might find baths slightly more enticing if Katie was going to offer this to him.

But as he finished up the peanut butter, a thought crossed his mind — one that had his tail fall limp again.

Katie frowned as she watched him return to his guilty demeanor. “What is it?”

“Can you do me a favor next time?” His shoulders went tense. “Could you… put a muzzle on me?”

Muzzles made him feel so incredibly helpless, but it would be better than panicking and hurting her again.

“What?” Katie reeled back in alarm. “No way! I’m not doing that!”

“But… Katie…”

“No, Rocky. Ryder told me what happened to you. I know what to watch out for now.”

She reached over to scratch behind Rocky’s ears. Rocky sighed in defeat, but gratefully smiled at her as he leaned into the touch.

“Thanks, Katie.”

“Ryder did apologize, right?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“Good… good.”

Katie turned her face away, but not before Rocky saw her cheeks turn pink.

He tilted his head curiously. That was the same reaction Ryder had.

Rocky met Marshall outside the Lookout.

“How’d it go?” Marshall asked as soon as he saw Rocky.

“Good! Good. Just fine,” Rocky answered, a little distracted. He was having a curious thought, and couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Say, is there something going on between those two?”

Marshall frowned. “Between what two?”

“Katie and Ryder.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, they obviously like each other,” Rocky stated bluntly. It was so obvious. Surely Marshall noticed too.

Marshall just blinked for a moment, before falling into a fit of laughter.

“What? Ryder? Yeah right!” Marshall responded in disbelief.

“I’m just calling it like I see it!”

Marshall nudged him playfully. “Well, I think you need to get your eyes checked.”

“Just you wait. I’m right, I know I am,” Rocky teased.

Marshall rolled his eyes. Rocky’s tail wagged happily.

Honestly, Rocky couldn’t remember a time in his whole life that he felt so happy. Katie forgave him. Rocky was convinced that Ryder would never hurt him. Ryder was giving him a place on this team, in this family.

He wanted to share how amazed he was with how things had turned out, but his tail slowed to a stop when he noticed Marshall staring longingly after the other two pups.

Rocky realized with a jolt that there was absolutely no reason to resent Chase. At first, he saw Chase as the kind of pup Rocky should be, one who could have carried out the job. But now, he knew he couldn’t be that pup, and he didn’t want to be. He never did. He never would.

He would have to… try harder, with both of them — Skye and Chase.

He just hoped they would give him a second chance too.