Hey, everyone! Just a quick announcement about my schedule. I will be starting my summer job tomorrow, and the hours will restrict my time to write for both stories. Not trying to give an excuse, but I will still try my hardest to get something out. I'll try to stick with the schedule, but I'm losing a good chunk of my writing day. I'll shift my schedule to a later time, so uploads may be earlier in the morning or late at night. It's all tentative right now, so I'll keep you guys posted. But for now, enjoy!


Following that morning's unusual breakfast, the pups had a pretty typical day, responding to the one single call that they got. The call was merely another "chicken rescue" call from the Mayor, who can't seem to keep Chickaletta in her purse for more than a few seconds without losing her. Ryder called on his standard "search and rescue chicken" team of Marshall and Chase to get the job done.

Marshall relished the chance to be in a rescue with Chase. This was another opportunity to be with the serious but silly shepherd that played with his heart so well.

When they pulled away from the Lookout in their vehicles, Marshall made sure to drive extra closely behind him so he could watch Chase's cute, perky ears flop around in the wind. In watching Chase's floppy ears, he forgot to watch the road in front of him, and began drifting off to the side of the road. When he hit the gravel shoulder, he was quickly jarred back to reality. Marshall regained control of his firetruck, and pulled back into the middle of the lane.

'Hehe, I'm good. But so are his ears...ohh wow.' he chuckled to himself as he continued pursuing his love from behind.

Once they arrived at the last place Mayor Goodway had seen her chicken, Chase began searching for a scent trail. As he was bent over, sniffing around for any sign of Chickaletta, Marshall again trailed behind him. But this time, he wasn't watching Chase's ears. The shepherd's hind end was stuck straight in the air, which was perfectly in place for Marshall's viewing pleasure. As Chase scowered the ground for scents, Marshall quietly followed behind him, calling out the occasional "Chickaletta? Where are you?" to keep his true intentions hidden, all the while being mesmerized by the beauty of Chase's butt.

There were several instances where the shepherd turned around to look at Marshall; sometimes, it was to relay information about the search. Other times, it was to check if Marshall had found anything. But the real reason that Chase felt the need to check on Marshall so frequently was because the dalmatian was following awfully close behind him. And it seemed to him that he wasn't too engaged in finding Chickaletta. But eventually, she was located atop Farmer Yumi's barn.

"Marshall, can you use your ladder to get her down safely?" Ryder asked the fire pup.

"You got it, Ryder! *ruff* I'm fired up!"

Marshall ambled over to his firetruck and called for his ladder.

"Ladder up, *ruff*."

His ladder extended up towards the helpless chicken, and he rode it as it went up. Once he reached the roof of the barn, Marshall had a silly thought.

'I wonder what Chase would do if I fell down my ladder on purpose?'

He smiled wryly at the idea of tormenting the shepherd, but decided against it.

'Nah, his heart probably couldn't handle it,' he laughed as he recovered Chickaletta and casually slid down the sides of his ladder.

"The chicken has been apprehended, sir," Chase informed Ryder.

"Great job, pups! Now let's get her back to the Mayor!" Ryder turned and ran back to his ATV before popping his helmet on and taking off toward City Hall. Marshall and Chase followed suit, and Marshall was giggling the whole way there.

'Chase, you didn't have to tell Ryder that we got Chickaletta. He was standing RIGHT THERE! And you don't "apprehend" a chicken; she's not a criminal!' It was hard for him to watch the road because he was laughing so hard, but he eventually calmed down.

'*sigh* Can you ever stop being so professional, Chase? Actually, don't, because it's adorable.' He said to himself before catching up to the others, with the chicken "in custody".


By the time Ryder, Marshall, and Chase got back to the Lookout, the sun was nearly set, and the air was becoming chilly. After a quick dinner and a little unwind time for the pups, Ryder told them that it was time for bed.

"Alright, pups, you know what time it is. Everyone off to bed now."

By now, most of the pups were yawning and nodding off. They were struggling to stand because they were so tired. With a smile, Ryder escorted the pups out to their puphouses, and helped them settle in.

"Okay, everyone, get some sleep now. Good night, pups!" Ryder said before retiring to the Lookout to sleep as well.

After the pups all wished each other a good night, they slowly started turning in for the night. They all sealed the door to their puphouses and snuggled under their blankets. Well, all except one pup.

Marshall was still wide awake in his puphouse, reminiscing about the events that took place that day.

"What do I like most about him...his ears? Oh, they're so cute when they flop around. Or maybe, his butt? Yeah, it's pretty nice, and super cute when he sticks it up like he did today."

As he evaluated his favorite qualities about the shepherd, he noticed something that caused him to stop.

*sigh* "All this thinking about him and I've still never gotten to feel him. Oh, what would that be like? Ohh, boy..." The dalmatian had lost himself in his fantasies of being with his best friend.

Then all of a sudden, he interrupted himself.

"Wait a second. Cold night, check. Lover that's only a few doors away, check..." Oh, tonight couldn't be any more perfect for the plan that Marshall was forming.

Taking his blanket and shoving it underneath a pile of toys, he told himself,

"Whoops, guess I lost my blanket. Oh, no, where will I find another one!? Hehehe."

He giggled to himself as he opened the door to his puphouse and bounded over to Chase's. Before knocking, Marshall composed himself, and worked up a fake shiver.

*knock knock* "Hey, Chase, it's Marshall. Can you let me in?"

Marshall heard a bit of rustling around inside before the door opened, revealing a very tired Chase, with a little tuft of fur sticking up on his head.

*yawn* "What is it, Marshall?"

The dalmatian almost couldn't contain his laughter, seeing a tired Chase with sticky-up head fur, but he maintained composure as he responded.

"Well, I seem to have lost my blanket, and it's really cold outside...so, would you mind if I shared your blanket with you?" Marshall "shivered" as he asked the question.

Chase hesitated a little, and gave Marshall a bit of a funny look, but he was too tired to think hard about it.

"Uhh, I just thought I'd tell you, that my blanket, uhh, smells a little, so, uhh, if you don't mind that, then-"

Chase didn't get the chance to finish as Marshall invited himself in and happily wrapped himself up in Chase's blanket. He had no problem with the "smell", because that "smell" was from him! He laughed to himself as he knew something that the shepherd didn't.

Chase looked at Marshall, all rolled up, and shrugged, closing the door behind him. Marshall gladly unrolled some of the blanket so Chase could get underneath it with him. After Chase got under, Marshall thanked him again for letting him share.

"Thanks for helping me, Chase," Marshall said as he put a paw on his friend's shoulder.

"Sure thing," Chase said sleepily as he turned away to sleep.

Marshall snickered as he slowly inched his way over to to Chase, getting closer and closer to his warm, soft fur. After a minute, he stopped being quiet about it, and just scooched over right next to him. He turned to face Chase's back, and stuck one of his paws between his friend's legs. After being satisfied with its placement, he happily left it where it was, and pretended to drift off to a very satisfied sleep.

As for Chase, hearing Marshall's movement, he chose to ignore it, not thinking much of it at first. But once he felt the dalmatian's paw between his legs, he began to feel very awkward. He tried gently moving it away, but it somehow kept finding its way back to the same spot. Hearing Marshall's quiet snores next to him, he gave up trying to move the paw, for fear of waking his friend. He felt a shiver travel up his spine as Marshall unconsciously shifted his paw around, nearly brushing against Chase's crotch.

As uncomfortable as he was, he took a deep breath, gulped, and put his down on his pillow. Finding sleep, for the shepherd, proved difficult, but it was welcome once it came. Once Marshall heard Chase's breathing slow, a big, goofy grin spread across his features. Chase had no idea that the damatian was shifting his paw around on purpose, trying to make Chase feel uncomfortable. He also didn't know that the blanket they were sleeping under had several spots on it containing the fragrance, "Essence of Marshall". He also didn't know...come to think of it, there was a lot that Chase didn't know.

'And to be honest, it's probably better if it stayed that way,' Marshall laughed to himself, laying his head down next to his favorite shepherd. One couldn't be happier, and the other couldn't be any more embarrassed than in that moment. Sleep eventually came to both of them, and fortunately for the dalmatian, that's where his imagination really took over. Phase one was complete, but what else could Marshall come up with? He smiled really big in his sleep as he subconsciously formulated a game plan. Oh, this was gonna be great.