(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol. Enjoy!)
Chapter 1: Early Risers
A pup lay out on the grass, staring up at the stars in the pre-dawn light. His mind and heart couldn't stop swirling, all a buzz with a flurry of thoughts and emotions. Marshall let out a sigh, he wished he was asleep at 5 in the morning but his mind and heart just wouldn't let him. He knew this day would come, and part of him knew he should have done it sooner, but it also made him incredibly nervous. "Do my best and forget the rest" Marshall thought to himself. In truth, that was what made Marshall so good at being a Fire and Rescue pup. That, along with his enormous heart, let Marshall run headlong into burning buildings, leap off cliffs, and a whole host of other dangerous situations in order to save others. But today, Marshall had to do something even harder. He had to tell the most beautiful pup in the world that he loved her and wait what? Marshall shook his head, trying to force the distracting thought away, even tilting his head and bopping himself on the ear to get rid of the thought. That wasn't what he had to do today, even if it also made him incredibly nervous and he should have done it a long time ago. No, today Marshall had to teach the rest of the Paw Patrol basic first aid. Then, he had to teach Zuma, Tracker and Everest to be EMTs like him. This was a tall order and how well Marshall taught could be the difference between life and death for so many people and pups in the future. That level on responsibility weighed heavily on Marshall as the sun ever so slightly started to peak over the horizon. Add to it the distraction of being so close to his crush the whole time and all the related thoughts that seemed to surface whenever that happened made Marshall sweat. Even though his heart ached, confessing his love for her in the middle of teaching her to how to save lives would not best idea. Marshall sighed and rolled onto his back. There wouldn't be time before and barely any after before the window of opportunity closed. As the sun continued to rise, slowly by surely overpowering the stars and giving rise to a new day, Marshall laid there going over the 362 and counting ways he had thought about asking his crush out and/or professing his love for her. Marshall was so lost in though that he almost didn't hear another pup coming. Almost
"Hey Chase" Marshall said as the German Shepard tried to sneak up on him. "Drat, how did you know it was me?" Chase asked as he stood up from his crouch and ambled over to lay down next to Marshall. "Quiet as a mouse" was all Marshall said. Chase shook his head in wonder, Marshall was the highest belt in Pup-Fu of all the pups and while Chase was a super spy, he still couldn't figure out how Marshall had seemed to turn his sneaking skill into a sneak detector. "What are you thinking about?" asked Chase.
"Stuff and things" Marshall replied.
Chase sighed; he knew precisely some of the thought going through his brother's head as they had gone through his own head not too long ago and it was Marshall himself who finally help Chase get the courage up to tell his crush how he felt and the results had been amazing. The peace that Chase felt and the love that they shared was more amazing than anything else. Even the brotherhood bond that he shared with Marshall wasn't as amazing as the bond he shared with his girlfriend. "You know they are smarter and more perceptive than we would care to admit bro" Chase said.
It was Marshall's turn to sigh; he had said something similar to Chase before he asked his girl out and he had known it was coming. "I know, and I'm not trying to tell myself that no one could possibly know but I would like to think that I could at least surprise her a little; or maintain our friendship if she doesn't feel the same way."
"Trust me bud, even if I tell her right now how you feel, hearing you say it is going to open up a geyser of emotion and good luck controlling that" Chase said.
"You wouldn't dare" Marshall said, turn his head to look at his brother.
"Of course, not" replied Chase, "I wouldn't do that to you, even if you do need a swift kick in the tail to tell her."
Marshall let out a low chuckle, "that I do, but today isn't the day and you know why."
"Yeah, I know, there is a lot going on today for you to focus on without that distraction which is why I said you should have said something last weekend" reminded Chase.
"Don't remind me" replied Marshall. "It's not like we had rescues all weekend and I didn't even get to see her."
Chase laughed a little, Marshall had been all fired up to call her and setup his first date on Friday night when the first call came in. And it hadn't stopped. All. Weekend. The pups had all passed out sometime early Saturday morning after the last rescue and then been promptly woken up a few hours later to run another rescue marathon through Sunday morning. They got a little more sleep after that not nearly enough before the Sunday morning rush hit and they didn't stop until almost 10PM Sunday night. The pup had all crashed right after dinner and didn't wake up until Monday afternoon. "Ok, ok, so we did an insane number of rescues in 3 days with approximately 12 hours of sleep total, you still could have called and at least asked or set up a weekday date. And I seem to remember you almost telling her during one of the rescues."
Marshall laughed a bit at that, he had almost blabbed in a fit of delirium when she brought him his next patient. "That would have been one way to do it: 'Hey thanks for brining me another injured person. How about when I'm done you hop up on my gurney and I check your blood pressure and tonsils simultaneously."
They both let out good laugh before they heard Skye greet Everest as she pulled up in her snowcat. Chase checked the time, it was 5:45am. "I know we told them to be here at 6 but she's a little early."
"Probably wanted to make sure she was here on time and enough a little girl-time with Skye before the day kicks off, though from the looks of it their greeting might take all that time," laughed Marshall as the girls went through their ever-growing best friend paw-shake. "I'm sure Tracker will be here shortly too."
"You're probably right" agreed Chase, "I'm just not used to having so many pups awake so early."
"Let's just relax and watch the rest of the sunrise before we wake everyone else" said Marshall as he rolled back over and he and Chase just laid there lost in thought.
Meanwhile, Skye and Everest finished up their 27-step paw-shake greeting. "That was awesome!" cheered Skye, "Think we can make it to 30 steps?"
"Absolutely!" replied Everest, "But I think we'll have to stop there or I'll start forgetting steps!"
"Fair enough" giggled Skye, "Quick, lets run inside before the boy's notice; Chase and Marshall are both distracted with the sunrise!"
The girls quickly ran inside and headed into a quiet corner of the living room to chat before breakfast. Skye turned to Everest and said "Spill it!"
Everest laughed and replied "spill what? Nothing happened at all, I should be telling you to spill it!"
Skye blushed "I know, I was just hoping that maybe in-between all the rescues that someone managed to say something! I'm lucky in that I get to see my boyfriend everyday while you have to rely on calls, rescues and the occasional party to see him. I barely saw Chase all weekend and we didn't get any time to just chat until Wednesday."
Everest laughed at her best friend's predicament, it was so cute how much they cared about each other and how cute they were together. Everest was glad that for whatever reason, Chase had gotten off his serious behind and finally told Skye what everyone else knew; that he loved her. Skye had almost given up on him, and had almost pounced him more than a few times. But in the end Chase's confession had been so perfect that Skye was glad she had waited. "You know, I almost said something in a fit of exhaustion."
"O.o do tell girl!" said Skye.
"It was after I brough him that injured snow boarder on Saturday night, I was so tired I wanted to collapse right there into his arms" outlined Everest. "I almost said 'and when you are done with him, kindly give me a fit for duty exam, starting with my lips."
Both girls were rolling on the floor with laughter. "Oh, that would have been amazing to watch, he might have fainted right then and there," laughed Skye.
"Yeah" replied Everest "and then I could have fainted on top of him!"
The girls were still laughing when they heard Tracker pull up and Chase waking up all the other pups with his megaphone.
"Well, we should probably head out for morning yoga before they come in and find us having giggle fits at their expense," laughed Skye.
"Indeed, but I have an idea before we go" replied Everest "I'm feeling a little flirty today if you know what I mean, we should try and mess with the boys every chance we get today!"
"What a wonderfully devious idea, let's do it!" said Skye. And with that the girls headed outside to get the day started.
