A/N: Yes, it's me again. Going through reviews to my story "Bygone Days" (please check it out!), I found at least one wondering a bit about Tonya. My original idea was to do a full story on her, but I decided to go with a one-shot. I'm going to keep this story tab open as a place where I can just put one-shots, and hopefully create a mish-mash of sorts of fun, dark, or romantic fics. And as a bonus (maybe?), if you want me to use OC's you created, I would be happy to. PM me information (or put it as a review), and I'll see what I can do with them. Until then, this is TheMattdude signing off!
Rocky slowly opened his eyes, them being drawn quickly to his sleeping wife. He slowly closed them again, sighing in pleasure as he wrapped his paws around her. The early morning sun slanted through the window and into the small room, causing the room to glow. With his eyes still closed, Rocky sat up ever so slightly and kissed the side of his wife's face. He opened his eyes more easily this time, smiling as he saw her sleeping figure. He crawled out for under the blanket, and dropped lightly to the floor.
He opened the door, a small CLICK! sounding as the knob was turned. He closed the door after him, leaving it open half an inch. A small hall gave way into a living room, dining room, and a kitchen. It wasn't big, and it wasn't too small either. He walked into the kitchen, grabbing a pup-pack from one of the cabinets. He donned it, and grabbed a kettle. As it filled with water, he quietly hummed to himself. It was an old country tune, one he had heard not too long ago on the radio.
He turned on the stove, setting the kettle onto the rack above the small gas flame. Placing his pup-pack back in the cabinet, he stepped into the living room. Falling into the couch, he turned on the morning news.
"And today with a high of sixty-eight degrees, most likely the coolest day of the summer, this one. It is expected to remain dry and sunny, so be sure to grab those sunglasses folks!" the news reporter said. Rocky muted the TV. He opened the door to the small house, inhaling deeply.
"More like a high of seventy-five," he muttered. He left the main door open, leaving a screen door as protection against any sort of animals. He opened a window in the living room and a window in the kitchen, wanting the breeze to air the place out. The kettle started whistling when Rocky's beloved walked out of the bedroom.
"Early to rise again, dear?" she asked.
"It's only eight, I'd hardly call it early," the mixed breed said, placing a tea bag in each of the two mugs he had gotten out. He poured the hot water into each cup, the steam billowing up in a mushroom cloud.
"So, what's the weather looking like for today?"
"News report says high of sixty-eight with no rain, but it's going to be seventy-five."
"And you smelled all that on the air?"
"Not quite, although I can just tell it's going to be warmer today, doesn't make sense to have a cold day in this hot summer." His wife just shook her head.
"I still say you should get a job as a news reporter. In the entire…" she looked up the ceiling as she moved her mouth, "...the entire year we've been married, I have yet to see you get a forecast wrong."
"It did not take you that long to remember the time we've been married," Rocky said, walking towards the small dining room table. He placed one of the mugs in front of his wife, and sat down with the other one in front of him. He looked his wife in the eye, being drawn into the teal blue pools of light. She had silvery fur that she kept trimmed short, and a thin tail that at times could act like a whip. Her monotone fur and her thin tail made most people think she was some type of german shepherd, or a labrador. She was, in fact, a husky. They sat quietly, savoring their warm drinks. It was their equivalent to breakfast, something that took Rocky time to get used to.
"So when are you going to tell them, Rocky? You can't hide it from them forever."
"I don't know, Tonya. I don't want to tell them, because I'm afraid they'll be angry. I left them so I could be with you." Tonya looked at Rocky deeply.
"Dear, I'm sure they be happy for you. Sure, they might feel a little sour about you leaving and not telling them where you're off to, but I want to finally meet them."
"I left the PAW Patrol for two reasons. My first is that I love you, and I know you don't really like people or pups. Second, I needed to do something else. It was getting too bland. Everything was running together." His wife smiled at him.
"And you don't get that feeling living and working here?"
"How could every day become the same if it's always a different adventure with you?" he said affectionately. The clock chimed, signaling that it was eight-thirty. "Man, time flies in the morning. I didn't even realize I was out of tea." He looked into his mug, and naturally Tonya copied the movement.
"Well, you best be gettin' outside. I'll wash the cups," Tonya stated. She took the pup-pack from Rocky, and grabbed both her's and Rocky's cups. She and Rocky kissed one another as they walked past.
"I love you," Rocky said.
Tonya replied playfully. "Love ya' more."
Rocky pushed open the screen door, and looked over his and Tonya's property. They owned a repair shop that doubled as a scrap yard. People would drop off bits of metal or old pieces of something. They could then, in turn, take anything they wanted. Tonya had had bad experiences with people and pups alike in the past, and so she made sure to stay in the repair shop fixing old cars or trailers or any other items that people wanted fixed. The place usually wasn't that busy anyway, but was busy enough that there were plenty of piles of metal.
Rocky and Tonya themselves didn't melt or crush anything, they just kept it for a bit. If something had been there for more than a month, it usually went to the Foggy Bottom "Scrap'n'Junk Junkyard" as it was known. It would go there to be recycled and sold to companies that wanted to buy and such. There had been a few gems in the scrap yard Rocky had. One time, someone dropped off a 1970 Corvette, which Tonya, much to Rocky's surprise, wanted to keep and restore. It was their personal project, something which the two of them would stay up late to work on it.
He walked amongst the piles of metals, making sure they were organized at least a little bit to make it easier to find parts. Parts such as old leaf springs, tie-rods, broken I-beams, train springs, and pieces of random scrap metal. There was so much more, it was like a dream come true to Rocky. He walked up to the front gate, opening it up for the day. As always, a man in faded jeans and a T-shirt with aviator sunglasses was waiting.
"Mornin', Peter," Rocky said cheerfully.
"Mornin', Rocky," Peter said, "Anythin' to capture ma' inter'st?" He spoke with an accent, sounding like a cross between a Southern accent and a Russian accent.
"Yesterday afternoon someone dropped off piston rings for an original Mustang, I kept them separate because of how hard it can be to find them. And I know you have been fixin' one up for some time now."
"Been workin' on 'er for a year an' a half now. Kept me eyes out for some of 'em piston rings. How many ya' got?"
"The man dropped off five of them, they aren't in the best condition though. You'll have to have someone clean them up, but they're all your's."
Peter smiled. "Thanks. It's why I like this place, always looking out for the customer."
"But instead I never charge you anything," Rocky said with a laugh.
"I know. Well, see ya' par'd'ner." Peter walked off. Rocky sighed.
"Maybe I should just start charging, I'm too nice," he muttered to himself. He walked off, heading towards the small building that they used for repairing items. Unlike the rest of the place, people had to pay to get something fix. It usually depended on the object in question, and how long it took to fix it. They had to make money somehow.
He walked in to find Tonya seemingly half-eaten by the front of an older Audi A4. He heard metal-on-metal as a bolt was tightened, followed by a clang and an angry curse as she mashed her paw between something. "Damn it!" Tonya shouted.
Rocky grinned. "Our star mechanic having trouble?" this was followed by a bang and a shudder of the car's raised hood. An angry-looking Tonya glared at her husband while rubbing her head.
"You try getting your ass in a German-made car. I get that people like us for our work on pretty much any car, but I'm getting tired of these people who bought something German. When it goes wrong, they take it to us because we're cheaper than anyone else."
"I'll work on it once you start greeting people and showing them around the yard." Tonya continued to glare at Rocky. Without a word, she went back under the hood of the Audi and went back to making clinking noises. He shook his head, and walked out. As he exited the building he heard another loud clang followed by more cursing. He laughed quietly to himself.
The day went by without much going on. Lunch came and went, people had come and gone. Tonya was going over a list as Rocky prepared dinner. She couldn't help but noticed each day the list became slightly longer as projects began building up.
"More Audis and Mercedes, "she muttered to herself. "Rocky?"
"Yeah?" the mixed-breed asked from the kitchen.
"I'm going to need your help in the repair shop at some point this week. Requests and projects keep adding up, and I can't keep doing it alone."
"Why not just say we aren't taking anymore projects? How many are on the waitlist?"
Tonya scanned the piece of paper in front of her. "Looks like we have two that are being worked on, and then eight more we have to do, one of them is a full exhaust repair on an old Ford Ranger."
"Do we even have parts for that?" Rocky asked, coming to sit with his wife on the couch.
"I don't know. You'd have a better idea if we have what we need for that."
"Is it just a repair, or a full replacement?" He took the page from Tonya.
"Oh, sorry, it's a full replacement. He brought it in yesterday, and I gave it a once over. It's in good condition, he said he just needs an exhaust."
"We probably have it then," Rocky said.
They were interrupted by a loud buzz.
"Oh my, Rocky I told you I hated that!" she said.
"Sorry, I wanted to make sure that we could hear when someone was at the gate while we weren't there."
"But it's after closing! You need to turn it off at this point in time."
"Yes, I know! I'll fix it tonight. I'm going to see who it is though, I should be back by the time dinner's done cooking."
"You better fix that buzzer," Tonya murmured as Rocky left.
It was still light outside, the summer sun refusing to go down. It was only past six in the evening, but that's when Rocky closed up shop. He saw the closed gate, and made his way towards it. It had a thin metal wall on the inside, to prevent people outside from seeing the scrap in the yard. He unlocked the padlock that was on the inside and open one of the gates.
"Look, sorry buddy, but the yard is cl-" he started. He swallowed nervously.
"Hey, buddy," Chase said, his voice cold. Rocky just stared at the german shepherd in front of him. "Nice place, it suits you. Maybe you could also tell me why you left so suddenly, and without a trace?" Rocky swallowed nervously again. The mixed-breed had talked to Ryder about leaving the PAW Patrol, and didn't tell anyone else. He left in the middle of the night, got married and worked hard. He had avoided the PAW Patrol since, afraid of something such as this.
"O-okay," Rocky said, opening the gate wider. Chase walked in, and Rocky closed the gate. Chase sat down facing Rocky, and expectant look on his face.
"So, you've been gone a year, giving everyone at the Lookout a heart attack, and haven't told anyone where you were off to. I want to know why," Chase said. His tone left no room for argument.
"I- I had a girlfriend," Rocky said, staring at the ground as he did so. "It's harder than you think." He looked up at Chase as he said this, and his vision focused on a figure just coming out of his house. He stared at her, not wanting her to come near. Silently begging her, but she didn't take the hint.
She spoke, her voice filled with nervousness. "Rocky, dear, who's this?" Rocky felt his heart sink into his stomach as Chase turned to see the new voice. He looked back at Rocky.
"Explain," was all the police pup said. The mixed-breed sighed in defeat.
"Tonya, please come here," he said, his voice saying he wouldn't enjoy this. She cautiously walked over to Rocky, not taking her eyes off Chase. She sat down next to her husband, fear in her eyes. "Tonya, I want you to meet Chase, one of the pups from the PAW Patrol." She visibly relaxed as he said this and noticed the tag on Chase's neck. Chase held out his paw, and Tonya shook it.
"Hi," she said in a quiet voice.
Chase replied, "Hello." He turned back to Rocky. "So you left us so you can live with your girlfriend?"
"Not- not quite," Rocky replied sheepishly. Chase raised his eyebrows. "Tonya and I are, married." Disbelief poured onto Chase's face. He looked down at Rocky's paw, and saw a silver ring. Etched on it was the name Tonya in cursive. He looked at Tonya's paw, and saw a nearly identical ring that had the name Rocky etched in cursive. "The night I left we got married," Rocky continued, "and we've worked hard to get a house and now we have a legitimate business." Rocky gestured around them as he spoke.
"Maybe we could talk over dinner," Tonya suggested, "the food's out of the oven."
"I would be happy to join you guys," Chase said, seemingly a little forced.
Rocky sighed. "Let's go then." The mixed-breed and husky led the way to the single-story house, with Chase behind them. Rocky opened the door, letting Tonya and Chase in. He followed, closing the door tight behind them.
"It smells good in here," Chase said, looking around.
"Rocky made dinner," Tonya said, grabbing a small pan of homemade meatballs. Chase glanced at Rocky with an amused and confused expression on his face.
"Please, make yourself at home," Rocky said, gesturing to the table. There were four chairs, even though Tonya and Rocky only ever used two of them. Chase pulled out a chair and jumped up. Rocky and Tonya followed, the former with three plates balanced.
"So how did you two meet?" Chase asked between bites of food.
Rocky answered. "We met in front of Mr. Porter's. I was going to eat there for an evening, and I saw Tonya sitting outside."
"I was a stray," Tonya continued, "and I was about to beg for food in hopes someone would be kind enough to give me something. Then this kind gentleman," she nudged Rocky, sitting next to her, "offered to give me some dinner."
"And so, after much convincing, I managed to get Mr. Porter to believe that we weren't a couple, which I guess wasn't entirely true," said Rocky.
"Last I recall, I was the one telling him that." Rocky raised an eyebrow at his wife.
"I remembered it as you were so afraid to talk that you hardly said a word the entire time." Rocky and Tonya smiled at each other.
"So you two went into Mr. Porter's together," Chase spoke, "but neither of you can remember any exact events?" They shook their heads. "Then what led up to you guys getting together?"
"I'm sure you remember how I would go to Mr. Porter's the same night every week?" Rocky asked. Chase nodded, and so he continued. "Tonya met me there each night, and I guess it kind of snowballed."
"Huh," Chase said, staring at the table. "So, anything I should know?" The couple looked at each, then shook their heads. "Right, I had a feeling, especially from you," he looked at Tonya, "officer. Maybe we could have a chat about work. Or rather, where you used to work." Tonya froze, halfway to her plate of food.
"Chase," Rocky said, "don't. Now's not the time to mess with people and their minds."
"Oh?" Chase challenged, "maybe you should've thought of that before you left the PAW Patrol, leaving your friends and your family, Rocky!"
Rocky inhaled to start arguing, but Tonya stopped him. "It's alright, Rocky. I may as well tell someone besides you, hopefully he'll listen." Rocky kept his mouth shut. "So, Chase, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. I promise I'm not lying when I say this either." Chase merely waved for her to continue. "Alright. You know why I was kicked off the force correct?"
"For smuggling illegal weapons to and from Japan? Yes," Chase stated a little angrily.
"I didn't, I never did. My- my brother was the one smuggling. He called me one night, saying that he needed to talk to me. So I went to him, and he seemed nervous. He told me to watch my back, and he handed me a gun. Told me to use it if I needed to. He left, and so I unthinkingly put the gun in the pocket of my vest. Didn't think much of it till I went to leave the building, and saw practically an army of cops. When I told them what happened, they didn't believe me. They suspended me from the force while they worked it out, but somehow everything pointed to me." Tears were starting to form in Tonya's eyes. "They didn't have much solid evidence, but enough to have me stripped of my badge. I was booted to the curb, and wandered for a long time. Days bled into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. Animal control eventually nabbed me, and put me in a kennel. Some of the dogs there beat me, seeing it as either fun or a way to let anger out. I was the small pup, the one who couldn't defend herself. I did my best, but they were so much bigger." She rubbed her shoulder, as an age old wound came back at the memory. "I managed to escape eventually, and they weren't able to tag me again. It was then I learned that my brother had been found leading a smuggling operation, the very one I had been accused of. He had gotten killed in a shootout, which effectively killed my entire family. He was the only one I had." Rocky had gotten out of his seat, and was sitting on Tonya's seat with her. She leaned into him. "When the police department realized their mistake, it was already too late. I wanted nothing to do with them. So if you're here to recruit me, beat it!"
Chase's expression through her story changed multiple times. It had gone from anger, to curiousness, and eventually to sorrow. "Tonya. I'm not sure if I believe you or not, but I am sorry. I had heard about your case file, even investigated a little about it myself, and I'm sorry. I know it won't bring your brother back, and I know it can't change the past, but, would you accept my friendship as reconciliation?" Tonya sniffed a little.
She sighed, then answered, "Sure."
Chase grinned. "I am glad to meet you, and am hoping we can improve our relationship from this...misunderstanding." He looked at a clock made from recycled parts that was hanging on the wall. "Well, it's late. I best be getting back to the Lookout, and I am glad to learn your story, Tonya. If Rocky doesn't treat you well, please kick him for me." He added the last part with a slightly serious, still joking tone.
"Oh, don't worry, I will," she said, looking into Rocky's eyes.
"Maybe we'll come to the Lookout sometime?" Rocky said, directed more as a question to his wife.
"Yes, maybe we will."
Chase smiled at the two of them. "Great! I'm sure the rest of the pups would love to see you. I can see myself out." He walked to the door, and walked out. The door closed with a solid THUD! as the german shepherd pulled it shut.
"I'll wash the dishes," Rocky said quietly. He got off Tonya's chair, and gathered the plates. He deposited them in the sink, and donned the pup-pack. He still didn't like water. He carefully washed them, as Tonya sat silently on the couch. Rocky finished washing the dishes, and set them in a rack to dry. He walked to the couch, and sat down with the husky. He hugged her close, and stroked her back.
"The first time...I've never shared with anyone, but you. The whole story…" she said, seemingly in another world.
"I know," Rocky said. Silence reigned.
"I would like to meet them." Rocky almost jumped at the sudden sound of her voice. "I want to meet the PAW Patrol. I've never seen them before, Chase was nice. Maybe we should go see them."
"Sure," Rocky said soothingly. "We can go meet them."
"The Corvette needed a test drive as well." The two of them laughed softly.
