It had been a few minutes since Chase departed Ryder's room, leaving Marshall and Rocky alone. The silence was oddly tranquil. Rocky's spirits may have still been at an all-time low for him, but Chase and all the other pups had helped to steadily pull him back up. Marshall had done his part as well. Aside from telling Rocky about why his dream was, as Chase put it to their amusement, "a load of poop", he'd also made an effort to remind Rocky of all the fun they'd had together and the missions they'd gone on. If any of their usual suspects were going to try and tear their bond apart somehow, then they were going to have to go way further than what happened in Rocky's dream.

"How do you feel, Rocky?" Marshall asked quietly.

"Er… I guess a little better?" Rocky replied, sounding uncertain.

"Still scared?"

"...not really?"

Marshall sighed. Clearly a pup's work is never done. He racked his brain in search of another thing to talk about. "You don't sound sure, Rocky. You face scarier stuff than silly nightmares every day, like huge cliffs or wild animals… or water..."

Marshall gave a singsong tone to his last word, leaning in and grinning at Rocky while flaring his eyebrows, who shuddered and playfully pushed Marshall's head away.

"Marshall, I thought you were trying to make me feel better, not scare me even more!" Rocky said with the biggest smile he had all day. Marshall laughed. It may have been brief, but the old Rocky had come back to them in that moment.

"There you go! There's your smile!" Marshall barked excitedly. "I thought we'd lost it!" Rocky giggled. Finally, the effort that Marshall and the others were putting in was paying off.

Rocky lay back down against the pillows, continuing to giggle and smile, albeit less widely. It was plain to see that he was more relaxed than he had been all day. The other pups helped him to open up. And now Marshall had been the one to get through to him. Marshall lay next to him and squeezed him tightly, the relief hitting him like a train. He hadn't realised just how much energy he'd used bringing Rocky around. Rocky just nuzzled him in return.

After a few more minutes of peace, as if on cue, Ryder appeared through the door.

"Hey, pups." Ryder began quietly. "How've things been?"

Marshall half-opened his eyes, visibly exhausted. "Better… I think."

"Yeah, actually. A little." Rocky piped up, leaning his head against Marshall's.

Ryder emitted a deep sigh of relief. "See, Marshall? I told you that you'd come up with something!"

"Hey... it wasn't all me." Marshall humbly replied.

"Still, you really came through when Rocky really needed you." Ryder continued, moving to the pups in his bed and scratching both of them behind the ears. "And you weren't sure of yourself!"

The pups lay there and enjoyed the ear-scratching that Ryder was giving them for a while, until Marshall inadvetently snored.

"Marshall. Are you OK? You seem tired." Ryder asked.

Marshall jolted back awake and sighed, Ryder having seen right through him. "Yeah… I am..."

Ryder then turned to Rocky, who looked on. "Rocky. I think Marshall needs a little time alone. He's been busy today, huh?"

Despite Ryder's attempt to try and defuse the tension with a joke, Rocky's face fell quickly, and he went straight back to panicking.

"Marshall needs to go? But, I- I can't! He… I don't want him getting-"

"Rocky." Marshall interrupted with a firm expression. "Trust me. Nothing's going to happen. I just want to go back downstairs. I won't get hurt at all." Marshall fought off the urge to jokingly add "any more than usual". He'd already made Rocky cry once that day. He wasn't in a hurry to do it again.

After pausing for a while, Rocky eventually spoke again. "OK… please be careful..." Rocky conceded.

"Oh, Rocky, what could hurt Marshall in the Lookout?" Ryder said. "Let's just have a chat alone for a while, huh?"

Marshall stretched and hopped out of the bed, only to land flat on his face.

"Agh! Marshall!" Rocky shouted in fear.

"Rocky! I'm OK! Really! How many times have you seen me do that?!" Marshall said quickly, causing Rocky to freeze and slump back into the bed. "Anyway, if you need me again, just..." he looked at Ryder and smirked. "...yelp for help!"

"Hey!" Ryder yelled, eliciting laughter from everyone except Rocky, who remained as quiet as ever as Marshall hopped through the dog door and out of sight.

Marshall felt like his head was sparking. He'd barely moved much throughout the day, but he was unbelievably exhausted. Fighting the biggest fire in the world would tire him out less than the last few hours. As the elevator descended into the main room, he decided that he needed something to relieve his stress, and his prayers were quickly answered when he saw a chew toy in the far corner of the room. The moment the elevator came to a halt, Marshall made a beeline for the toy and gnawed harder than he ever had in his life. His tension started to melt quickly.

After a few minutes, Marshall was feeling a little better. He was still tired, but less stressed than before. But all the same, he decided that he needed a little alone time. As of right now, his brain simply wasn't working. Hoping the other pups wouldn't see him, but with the gut feeling that he'd be spotted immediately, he sauntered outside.

"Marshall!" A familiar voice came from his right.

"Ugh. Nope." Marshall scoffed internally, his gut being proven right as Chase came charging up to him.

"Are you OK? How's Rocky? He's not crying, is he?"

Chase sounded very worried. Despite leaving Marshall and Rocky in better condition than before, he hadn't stopped thinking about how depressed Rocky was the whole time Chase was there, nor about how Marshall had been up there all day.

Marshall simply stared directly ahead, not giving a reply. His brain had essentially switched off during that time.

"Hey! Marshall!" Chase barked.

"GAH! Ugh, sorry, Chase..." Marshall whispered, quickly being jolted out of his stupor.

"You're not looking so hot. I repeat: are you OK?"

Marshall only sighed and closed his eyes, lowering his head. "Chase… could I… have some space, please? I… just need to lie down for a while."

As it became clear that Marshall wasn't up to talking, Chase decided to acquiesce. "Oh. Yeah. Of course. Take all the time you need."

With another fatigued sigh, Marshall set back off on his way. "Thanks, Chase. Talk soon."

Never before had Marshall's house been so inviting. Marshall grabbed his teddy and closed his eyes for a while. After a long few hours of comforting his terrified friend, he'd take whatever rest he could get. Despite everything, though, Marshall simply could not get to sleep. All his thoughts centered around poor Rocky. He seemed slightly better after the pups had gone to see him, but for how long? Chase may have been scared after his nightmare, but Rocky seemed downright traumatised. A reaction like that didn't simply go away, after all.

Marshall wasn't sure of how long he laid there with his thoughts before his Pup Tag went off.

"Hey, Marshall?" came Ryder's quiet voice. "Rocky's asked to see you again."

CONTINUED IN PRIMARY FEARS

And that's that for these two short stories. Once more, if by chance you haven't read Primary Fears yet, it's my previous fic. If you want to see where this goes, then that's where you'll find out.

I'm not going to lie, I feel like there was a lot that could've been done differently in this fic. As was pointed out, my attempt to keep it to three chapters each and to tell an abridged version of what happened left this fic feeling kind of (as VenusDemilo-Shirolover2 put in a PM to me) staccato. I don't regret writing this, since I feel like it shed some light on the events of Primary Fears, but there was much that could've been done better, I think. Still. Take the lessons as they come...

I hope if this fic wasn't up to scratch, then my next fic will be. As I've said, it won't be in the "short story" format, and it'll be the one concerning Rubble after a rescue gone awry. He really doesn't get very many fics. Seriously, of all the pups on this site, if you put his name in as a filter by itself, the results number in the mid-twenties as of this writing (for comparison's sake, the next lowest amount for a pup is Zuma, at almost one hundred. Quite the difference)

As of right now, the only thing I'm certain of is the title, which will be "Bulldog in a Bind". I hope you keep your eyes out for when I release it, and I hope in advance that you enjoy it.

That's all from me. PyreFly out.