A/N: Hey guys I know I've been away for alittle and I apologize for the wait, ive been busy with school but I hope you all enjoy this one!

Chapter 22: The Morning After

Beep

Beep

Beep

Marshall's heavy eyelids fluttered open to the screeching alarm piercing into his eardrums. His eyes stinging from the bright red numbers staring him down.

6:00 am

Mumbling inautible profanities to himself, he lazily moved a paw towards the location of his infernal alarm, trying to tap the snooze button. After several failed attempts he rolled over onto his belly, reaching for the noisy alarm clock. With a calculated lunge, he smashed the snooze button, but found himself sliding off his bed.

"Oh shi.." he started as his body rolled off his warm matress. "Woahh." he yelped before colliding to the hard cold floor.

Groggy and grumpy he got on all fours. As he moved his tired body, he felt the sun's rays hitting his fur from the growing light entering through the cracks of his pup house. He let out a sigh, clicked the 'Open Door' button on his wall and was quickly blinded by the full power of the bright sun. He recoiled throwing a paw up to sheild his face from the blinding light. Once his eyes adjusted to the sunny morning, he did a once over of the lookout yard.

The blue sky smiled down on him, not a cloud in sight, assuring him that it would be another beautiful day around the bay. With any luck the town's people themselves would stay out of danger, allowing him to attend to the growing pile of homework he had yet to finish. More fun for him.

The Dally's eyes wondered over to the puphouses circling the tower. All in there respective places, but one stood out, catching his eye. A powder blue and white house to be exact, parked off to the side of the driveway.

Everest was here.

Marshall felt his tail speeding up as it wagged vigorously. His heart pounding in his ears, as it tugged at him to go to her and wake his sleeping beauty.

Truth be told, Marshall had always harbored feelings for the energetic, adventurous, liver loving snowpup. In his mind they were perfect for eachother, atleast she was perfect for him. He reserved doubts in himself about how he measured up in her eyes, hoping that she looked past his nervous and sometimes accident prone behavior and see him for who he really was. If only she gave him a chance. A chance for her to see him as the big hearted, funny, and dedicated pup that he believed himself to be.

Marshall sighed, moving his paws in the direction of the lookout. It was eerily quiet when he got inside. Weird even seeing it vacant of the team he grew up with, not there with him now. Something about it felt wrong. The only other soul inside was Ryder. Marshall didn't bother looking for him, it was too early for him to be up and moving.

When he got to his food bowl however, there was evidence to support that Ryder had been up, momentarily, half awake even, but up enough to write him a note.

Have a good study session bud!

With all of the things you have to remember, the most important thing I want you to keep in mind is how proud I am of you!

Love Ryder.

Even with his early morning penmanship, the message Ryder left was very well received in the Dally's heart. He smiled to himself, mentally telling himself to thank the boy when he saw him. Before digging into his kibble. Cheese flavored.

Rain poured down onto the black asphalt. Cold wind blew around the empty town , vacant of anyone brave enough to face the elements awaiting them outside. No one should be out here tonight.

Tires hummed against the slick asphalt as a car cut through the rainy night. The only light coming from that of the vehicle's headlights. Once, twice, three times the tires crossed the center line, only to be aggressively corrected back into the confines of the lane. If anyone had been following the vehicle, they would have assumed the driver they were tailing was drunk.

The driver in question, was Chase.

Mentally fried from the hot streak of rescues him and his team completed this week. And the overtime he was now finishing up; driving home after responding to a call about a possible break in up at Jake's mountain. All of this seemed to be too much for the police pup to handle.

Chase felt his eyelids threatening to close, his body and mind shutting down, staring forward to the endless road ahead of him. 'Almost there.' He thought as he passed city hall.

A loud yelp ripped Everest out of her sleep. On alert she whipped her head around instinctively looking for Chase. He was easy enough to find, but hard to look at.

Physically shaking, the German Shepherd lie awake, twisted in a mess of blankets on the floor. He looked so fragile, like anything that touched him would cause him to shatter. Clutching onto the warm blanket he continued to shake, his eyes screwed shut, letting out pained breaths from his clenched jaw.

"Chase?" Everest said mostly to make her presence known. She didn't want to scare him any more than he already was. Slowly, she climbed off of the bed and onto the Sheperd's level.

Not again. Everest thought looking over the panic stricken pup, in a world of his own, fighting against an invisible monster filling his heart with terror, and his body with pain.

Everest reached a shaky paw out and grabbed Chase's shoulder, trying to bring him back to earth.

Chase yelped at the sudden sensation, recoiling backwards, into a tighter ball on the floor.

Everest tried again placing her paw on his side. Another flinch but she was able to keep her paw on him. Satisfied that she was making progress, Everest began stroking his fur whispering soothing words into his ear.

"I'm scared..I'm..." he breathed out shakily.

"Your ok...its ok...nothing's going to hurt you." she said moving closer to him.

Focusing on his neck, she ran her paw through his fur, drawing circles into it, her other paw holding Chase's head against her chest.

"I've got you Chase...your ok" she whispered.

After acouple minutes of coaxing, Chase's shaking ceased and he simply lie still in Everest's arms, breathing steadily. He could let his guard down, the monster was gone, atleast for now. Everest fought it off, without fear or hesitation. Something that Chase was grateful for.

Something clicked inside his brain. She wasn't just a friend, she was a godsend, a guardian angel, a reason to keep fighting. The type of pup he needed in his corner, now more than ever. She wasn't scared away by him, if anything the aftermath of the accident has brought them closer somehow.

Rolling onto his back, Chase earned Everest's attention. She watched as Chase fixed his eyes on her, looking deeply into her eyes. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do. Wanting to expose these newly found feelings right away. Wanting to explore this new chapter of his life that was inevitably unfolding. His heart pulled at him to make a move, to do something, say anything to release all of these built up feelings.

"Everest?" He began, watchnig for any change in her expression before he continued.

"Feeling better?" She asked smiling down at him.

Chase opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a low growling sound coming from his stomach. Chase looked to the source of the noise before sheepishly smiling up at Everest, both of them letting out giggles.

"Someone's hungry." she smiled standing up. She hit the open door button on the wall allowing her to exit her puphouse. She looked back for Chase, who was getting to his feet slowly. She walked back into the room and was at his side.

"I'm ok." Chase said brushing past her, limping on shaky paws. He made it a couple feet outside before he suddenly stopped, letting out ragged breaths. Everest heard him curse to himself. She walked up beside him and rubbed her head against his.

"lean on me." she said brushing up against him.

The Shepered's stubbornness was no match for Everest. Sighing in defeat, Chase gave in and let his weight fall onto her. Letting out a relieved breath, he looked up to the lookout.

"Take your time." she said again into his ear. Chase nodded, mouthing an ok.

After acouple steps they were able to get into a rhythm. One paw at a time, they made it past the sliding glass doors of the lookout.

When they reached their bowls, Marshall was just finishing up his breakfast. The dally looked up from his own bowl, watching the two seperate and dig into thier food. He was at a loss of what he was looking at

Everest had scabs around her throat, and Chase appeared worse than he had in awhile, he looked as if he would collapse at any moment, his eyes were red and irritated aswell. He should be doing better by now.

And since when is Everest his personal nurse??

Marshall had so many questions he couldn't choose between any of them.

After a moment of silence, he finally blurted out.

"What the hell happened?"