Everyone was smiling fondly as Ash wrapped up his story. Including Marshall, who was beaming from ear to ear from listening to the story of how his mother was.

"Awwwww... you were all adorable, Ash!" Skye cooed.

"Willow was such a nervous first-time mom at first, too..." Ash reminisced, before his voice turned to cooing again. "But we weren't as adorable as my snuggly little ball of pup here!"

"Aaaaaggghhh, Daaaaaaaaad-!" Marshall whined as Ash smothered his face in licks.

"Told you I had lots of embarrassment to give!" Ash quipped smugly. "And fair warning, if you step out of line here, I'm breaking out the baby pictures!"

Immediately, Marshall sat bolt upright. "AGH-! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! I'LL BE GOOD! HONEST!"

The entire room burst into uproarious laughter with the exception of Marshall, who only pouted.

"I'm a little curious, though..." Ryder chimed in. "...you all kept mentioning something that happened at different points..."

And just like that, Ash's mood plummeted. His face fell and he drooped forward, even letting out some whines. And Ash's drop in mood quickly spread to everyone else, as the poor dog was clearly concealing something painful.

"Ohhh... I had a feeling you'd pick up on that..." Ash whimpered.

"Wh-what is it? What could be so bad that you'd avoid the issue?" Rocky asked worriedly.

"As much as I want to say 'you don't want to know'... if you're ready for it..."

Ash took a deep breath in, and then out. And then again, as if doing battle with himself whether to elaborate or not. But finally, Ash inhaled one more time and said...

"...Marshall... wasn't an only pup at first."

These words caused a wave of confusion to wash through the room.

"Huh?!" Marshall cried.

"He wasn't?" Zuma added.

"But we always thought- er, well, he always said he was only a sing... a singo... singot..." Rubble stammered haltingly, struggling to wrap his head around the large word.

"'Singleton'?" Ash offered, to which Rubble nodded. "Well, he was, but not at first. And that's because Marshall was the firstborn... of a litter of seven pups."

"Seven?!" Skye shouted.

"Wow, that's a lot of pups!" Chase exclaimed.

"Yep, and Lukas actually came up with names for all of them: Fido, Spot, Blaze, Luna, Lady and Princess" Ash explained, smirking. "And as you can see, all but the one we stuck with sucked!"

Everyone looked at Ash with unimpressed squints, as if the clichéd names had physically hurt them all.

"He... wasn't great at giving names." Marshall stated bluntly.

Ash scoffed. "Sure wasn't! 'Spot'... sheesh!"

Everyone in the room laughed again. Lukas was a complete unknown to almost all of them, but somehow, they all found themselves able to reminisce about him along with Ash.

"So, what happened to those pups?" Ryder asked, steering things back on track.

But Ash's only response was a look of abject sadness directed straight at Ryder. And slowly, taking Ash's story into account, the boy was able to put two and two together, causing his hands to shoot over his mouth.

"Oh... oh, no... please, don't tell me... th-that'd be beyond sad..." Ryder whispered in horror.

Ash nodded mournfully. "Sorry to say, but yes. Every one of them died. Over a day or two, they just... faded away. We don't even know why... a couple were dead before they even came out, no less... the only survivor... was the runt."

"'The runt'?" Chase asked.

Chase turned to look at Marshall. Squinting at the dalmatian, Chase scanned him over with his eyes, slowly looking up. And then down. And then again. Until finally, Chase cocked his head.

"Marshall doesn't look like a runt, though..." he concluded.

"Well, he was once." Ash replied. "It's just like Lukas said... he grew up big and strong... and he's not even done growing yet!"

Ash was trying to inject at least some light back into the situation. But judging from the sad, sympathetic looks everyone was giving him, including from his own brood, the attempt had clearly failed.

"Dad... why didn't you tell me about this?" Marshall whispered.

"Well you were so young, Marshall! I couldn't tell you about that before you were even one year old!" Ash shot back, slightly snappishly. "We both handled losing your mother badly enough, how do you think you would've taken losing so many brothers and sisters, too?! Besides, what could I have said?! 'Oh, hi, son! Nice day today! Oh and guess what? You're the sole survivor of a litter where every other pup died before they even opened their eyes!'?!"

Marshall flinched away from his father, staring back at him with genuine fright. Only then did Ash realise that he'd effectively just raised his voice for no reason other than his own anger at how cruel fate had been to their entire family.

"D-Dad..." Marshall squeaked.

"...I'm sorry, Marshall..." Ash replied guiltily. "...but... losing those pups had enough of an impact on Willow... and losing Lukas not long after that... finished her off..."

A tear could clearly be seen rolling down Ash's cheek as he recalled Willow refusing to respond to anything or take care of herself, along with a younger Marshall's tearful fit when he learned of his mother's death.

"I... I miss them all so freaking much..." Ash whimpered.

"Oh, Ash..." Ryder whispered, immediately moving towards the dalmatian, sitting down next to him and giving him a comforting hug.

"Dad..." Marshall whimpered, looking on the verge of tears himself. He swiftly wriggled into Ryder's embrace and nuzzled his father closely. And it wasn't long before all of the other pups crowded around and tightly embraced Ash in a huge group hug.

"I'm so sorry, Ash... No-one should have to go through that..." Skye squeaked, barely keeping it together herself.

"I can't believe I never knew that about you..." Chase whispered sadly, as his past memories of Ash's cheerfulness were put into a new light. "You seemed so happy when I met you, but now, looking back..."

"It's all... so sad..." Rubble whined.

"Ash... how did you not go insane fwom all that?!" Zuma asked incredulously. The chocolate labrador was in disbelief that Ash had lost just about everything, but was somehow still able to tell the story today.

Almost on cue, Ash seemed to become a little more relaxed. "Because I still had family..." he whispered slowly and fondly.

"Meaning your son, right?" Rocky surmised.

"Exactly... I still had someone who was worth getting out of bed for..."

For a while, Ash simply allowed himself to be hugged. No longer was he attempting to be strong. To shrug off the pain of his past. Now he was basking in the love and sympathy of not just his son, but his son's new family. And slowly, Ash's pain seeped away. In fact, he was so lost in the feeling of all of his pain draining away that he was marginally startled by hearing Gage's voice again.

"Guess ya told 'em, huh?" Gage asked, returning from upstairs.

"Sure did..." Ash replied quietly. "I mean, I kind of wanted to talk about it... even though they're all a bunch of kids..."

"Correction, Ash: they're a buncha kids who went through a lotta pain of their own." Gage corrected, remembering the news report from Adventure Bay of Marshall's supposed death. "If there's anyone ya can air yer pain to, it's them. 'Sides, is it me, or do ya look a lot happier than ya did before?"

From within the embrace, Ash's eyes widened, as he realised he somehow felt a lot lighter than he did previously.

"Hey... you know? You're right!"

"You should've told me sooner, Dad..." Marshall whispered comfortingly.

And with that, Ash realised that his son had truly grown up from when he had last seen him.

"Maybe I should've..."

Gage walked up and rubbed Ash's head reassuringly for a while, before getting down to business.

"Alright, everyone. I've got'cher rooms all ready fer ya. Left some dinner in there fer y'all, too. Sorry I don't have many dog bowls, so yer just gonna have to eat outta regular bowls. Hope that's OK."

"Gage, the fact that you're going out of your way to feed a bunch of kids you just met is enough... I don't know how to thank you!" Ryder replied.

"Aw, don't be silly, boy! Yer our guests! Here. Lemme show ya up."

Following Gage upstairs, the pups realised that Gage wasn't kiddin when he said that he had lots of spare rooms. Three, to be exact. And anticipating that Ash would want to spend time with his son, Gage had set up a separate room for Ash and Marshall to use with a single pet bed. Something that both dalmatians were highly grateful for.

As for the remaining pups, they were given a single room between them, with a large, regular bed that they could all share, whilst Ryder was given his own room. And they were all quite eager to put them to use after a long day of travelling.

Marshall and Ash's food disappeared quickly, with the pair both deciding to go to bed early so they could catch up in the morning. With Gage coming by to turn off the light, the only illumination in the room from that point on was the last wisps of daylight through the window before the moon began to rise.

"Say, Dad? You DO know you can talk to me about anything else that's been bugging you, right?" Marshall asked sincerely.

To Marshall's surprise, Ash smirked as he sat down in the green and white pet bed with a grunt.

"Marshall... it's ME who should be saying that to YOU." Ash replied. "Though... I guess one other thing that's been bugging me is... your little... well, journey in the woods?"

Marshall quickly went rigid, looking like a deer caught in the headlights all of a sudden.

"Thaaaat's right, I haven't forgotten. And I'm guessing you haven't either?"

"E-Errrr... a-actually... I-I, errr... kinda had! Heh, heh!" Marshall stammered unconvincingly.

"Don't you lie to me, young pup." Ash cautioned sternly. "I know that nearly dying doesn't leave your head THAT easily. Remember that I was once a fire dog! I didn't spend years alongside Lukas without having my share of close calls!"

Marshall's face fell as he quickly dropped his gaze to the floor. His father had seen straight through him.

"I can tell this is still weighing hard on you..." Ash continued sympathetically. "And when i think about all of my close calls, I can only imagine how a child would take nearly dying..."

"OK, alright, already!" Marshall snapped, finally looking back up at Ash. "I still haven't stopped thinking about it, and most the times I've gone to bed I've had stupid nightmares about being trapped in the river and slowly drowning! Or maybe being stuck in the forest and being eaten by a stupid bear!"

Marshall looked down again, his voice growing slightly softer as he continued to vent.

"A-And... I still think about it sometimes... w-well, I mean, I think about it a lot... e-everyone is still trying to help me through it, but they... th-they're still thinking about it, too... I just keep... f-forcing everyone to deal with my own stupid problems!"

Marshall stomped his paw in frustration as tears began to leak from his eyes, his attempt at not crying in front of his dad failing miserably.

"Why did this even happen anyway?! I'm such a clumsy idiot that... a-all I do... is just make things worse for everyone..."

Ash sighed heavily. If there's one thing he wished that he could've done in the last five years, it was help his son through his insecurity before it took root. But now he'd have to settle for trying to fight it back. Getting to his feet, Ash walked over to Marshall and guided him towards the pet bed, before lying down in it and beckoning for his son to join him.

And perhaps not surprisingly, Marshall found himself feeling somewhat better immediately after settling into his father's warm embrace. Memories from five years ago flooded his mind of Ash comforting him after bad dreams or whenever he was feeling sad in general.

"Marshall, Marshall, Marshall..." he began, draping an arm over his son. "Were you listening when Chase was talking on that news report? Because from what you're saying, it sounds like you didn't hear a word of what he said."

Marshall lifted his head. "You remember that?"

Ash snorted. "Urgh, silly boy... If I remember correctly, Chase's exact words were along the lines of 'Marshall's always been hard on himself, and I know the feeling. But we've always told him that he shouldn't be anyone but himself. Because without Marshall, there IS no Paw Patrol.'."

Marshall remained quiet. In truth, he did remember that, but he'd suppressed it as he had started feeling low.

"Why are you still hung up over being who the Paw Patrol knows you are?" Ash went on. "And before you say 'Because who I am is only making everyone sad', think about it this way. Without you, the whole town was in total despair, and so was I. And that's because they already love you for who you are and what you do."

Ash couldn't quite see it, but Marshall's eyes had widened considerably.

"In fact, I'll bet you this whole 'I keep making messes for other people to clean up' business wasn't something they'd even thought about!" Ash continued. "Actually, has anyone ever said that you're leaving behind messes for them to clean up? Besides you?"

Marshall had found himself caught short-pawed. "...errr... w-well, no, but-"

"And there you go! So there's no point in putting yourself down all the time, because if you do, then all you're doing is making yourself feel bad for no reason!"

"...Dad..." Marshall whispered in obvious astonishment.

Ash smiled widely to himself. A good, long heart-to-heart between father and son was long overdue in his eyes, but he was more than happy to make up for lost time.

"And as for this whole near-death business..." Ash paused momentarily. "...well, there's no easy or quick way to deal with it. Not for you, not for me and not for any other member of the Paw Patrol. But you're all there for each other. And that's the first step."

Ash gave his boy a loving, reassuring lick.

"These things take time, Marshall. It's going to hurt a lot. Trust me, I know. And you know what? That's OK. You WILL get there sooner or later. And if Ryder or the other pups worry about getting better too, well, you can just tell them the same thing. This is everyone's problem. Not just yours."

Marshall rolled around in the pet bed to finally get a look at his father's warm, patiently-smiling face. And Ash felt his spirits soar upon seeing his child's slight smile.

"And from the looks of things? Those pups are all your brothers and sisters in all but name. Maybe you think that you keep forcing your problems on them. But it looks to me like your problems are THEIR problems, too. Just like how, I imagine, their problems are YOUR problems. Am I wrong?"

Marshall's smile grew wider and wider, before he began to shed tears again. This time out of happiness. He lunged forward and buried his head in his father's chest, to which Ash replied by curling around the pup.

"Oh, Dad! I-I missed you so much!" Marshall sobbed joyfully.

"The feeling's mutual, kiddo..." Ash whispered blissfully. "I'm so happy we got to meet agan..."

From that moment on, the elderly dog and his pup didn't care about anything else. All they cared about was each other. For five years, father and son had been apart after a particularly painful parting. And now, they were finally back together. They didn't care how long Marshall and the rest of the Paw Patrol would be staying. All they cared about in that moment was the warm, loving embrace that they shared together.

Eventually, the two dalmatians started to lose their energy, and settled down for the night. But just before Marshall fell asleep, he heard one final thing come from Ash.

"Goodnight, Marshall..."

And with all of his remaining strength, Marshall managed to whisper one more thing before he slipped into one of the most pleasant dreams he'd had in a long time.

"'Night... Dad..."

Bit of a shorter chapter this time, but still an important one, as we learn of the sad truth of what might have been; Marshall could've had a lot of brothers and sisters, but in the end, he was the only surviving pup of his litter...

And as I said last chapter, the next chapter is where things kick up once more. In what way? Well, you'll have to wait and see. Honestly, I'm finding this uploading schedule of three days to be an ideal means of uploading content for me. Especially since I have time to go over the prose and clean up most of the repetition and clunkiness before it all goes live.

Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review/favourite/follow if you did, and I hope to see you next time.

OC KEY

Ash – a male Dalmatian and Marshall's father. Was adopted years ago whilst his son stayed behind with Chase and Ryder to form the Paw Patrol. Sent a letter in the hopes of drawing his son and his friends to Redcreek. Old and wizened, but also about as clumsy as his offspring.

Gage – Ash's owner. Was part of a large farming family, but is now the sole remaining member after everyone else went to the big city to pursue loftier ambitions. Kindly and patient, if romantically unlucky.

Willow – a female Dalmatian and Marshall's tragically-deceased mother. A high-spirited and jokey fire dog, who sadly suffered one extreme tragedy too many and died of heartbreak, leaving her mate a widower.

Lukas – Ash's owner, and later the owner of Willow. A friendly and caring, if slightly strict, firefighter, who sadly did not survive one fateful outing, leaving his dogs and their pup alone.