Chapter fourteen: Tell Me The Truth
Thank goodness there was no glass left behind in that wound. Ryder thought back again. Did not really wanna rush my young pup to Katie's to have it checked out and possibly remove anything we found. He thought back now, to how they'd all helped clean up after cleaning and dressing Chase's wound, and then he recalled the moment that he'd never forget about that particular day immediately following the craziness that started it all..
xxxx
"Ahn..!" Chase grimaced, leaning in closer as the clear solution bubbled up over the red slits across the soaked gold and brown fur.
"Sorry Chase, I bet that stings a lot, huh?" Ryder apologized sensitively. Chase sniffed and looked to be restraining himself, as he stiffly nodded. Finishing the wrapping however, Ryder smiled.
"I think I have something that might help with that." He said, pulling the pup into a tight embrace, avoiding the wounded leg easily for obvious reasoning.
"Better?" The boy asked with a gentle sigh.
"Mhm." Chase nodded slightly, his eyes still closed with a tender smile and a gently wagging tail to show his immediate pleasure by this gesture.
"Good,.." the boy grinned, releasing him from the hug, meeting his gaze once again. "Now let's go clean up the mess in the basement."
"You got it!" Chase barked bounding off toward where Marshall stood inside the elevator; halting just before entering it. "Oh, and maybe now I can ask for your help?.. In getting that box down?"
"Sure." Ryder shrugged. "Which one?"
"The one that has my puppy books in it." Chase answered as the two strolled into the elevator side-by-side. "I wanna show Marshall some of the things we used to do together, before he showed up."
"Sounds like a great idea, Chase." Ryder smiled as the doors closed and they began their descent…
xxxx
Ryder couldn't hold back a light chuckle of remembrance, looking back now he realized how much his brave police pup had grown since then. Yet he could no doubt tell the reasoning for his sudden change in behavior demonstrated this morning especially, and found himself relating to it a little bit. Nonetheless he took up a stuffed animal lying at his feet and prepared to set it on the table, next to the big screen, which suddenly lit up and the screen displayed two faces he hadn't seen for a while.
"Officers Myles and Garcia? What a surprise to see you. What's up? Need some extra paws on a case?" Ryder greeted, waving both hands in the air, level with his face at the last part.
"Actually we're not exactly calling for you." Officer Myles corrected. "We're calling to warn you."
"Warn me?" Ryder echoed curiously becoming concerned. "About what?"
"We've been working through the CorDan case for the past few weeks since Chase and all those pups were successfully rescued from that awful woman's mansion." Chris explained, his expression still remaining very off-looking. "And it appears one is unaccounted for. A Rottweiler by the name of Rex.. we can't seem to find any sign of him anywhere. We're combing through our information and the streets of Barkingburg, but we've had little success in tracking him down. We wanted you to be informed, for the sake of Chase's.. *clears throat* well.. you know."
"Yeah, I see what you mean." Ryder agreed, his head lowering in thought, and a finger touching to his chin. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out in case I see anything."
"Good idea, but.. maybe just.. don't tell Chase about this.." Ryan advised awkwardly. "I mean.. you of all of us know his issues with the whole thing.."
"Yeah.. I guess I do.." Ryder supposed, thinking some more on this. "I'll try not to say anything to him. And.. maybe the other pups too, unless it's important for them to know."
"Sounds good. Thanks, Ryder." Chris thanked him brightly, an ease coming about him to relinquish the initial disturbed demeanor that had no doubt been there from the start of the call. "We'll keep you posted if we hear anything. And anything we may find too; we're gonna try our best to get to the bottom of this.. especially if it's Chase's piece of mind and peace of thought that's at stake."
"Great. Thanks so much guys. Keep up the good work." Ryder said, giving them a proud thumbs up. Nodding with honest smiles of their own the call dropped, and Ryder sighed heavily as he sat down to think on this subject some more..
XXXX
Chase strode out of the Lookout, the doors parting right in front of him. But looking up at the sound of opening doors he jumped to the side to hide behind the frame of the door.
"Afternoon everyone." Frank beckoned as the Prescotts and their pawed companions filed from their SUV.
"Frank! Maggie!" The pups cried, racing up to them. "Billy!"
"Well, hello to you too, PAW Patrol pups." Frank beamed lowering himself slightly with a beaming grin showing across his face.
"Hey Chess! We're planning on going swimming at the beach today.. wanna come?" Rocky asked.
"Sure.." the older German Shepherd replied brightly. "After we check on Chase. Where is he anyway?" And the pups all peered around.
"He's probably still in the Lookout." Marshall guessed. "I'll go get him for you."
At hearing this, the pup in question took off across the Lookout floor and disappeared from sight as soon as the Dalmatian entered.
"Chase?.. where are you?" The pup called, looking around then advancing forward slowly. "The Prescotts are here.. Chase?"
Clunk! "Ouch." Marshall's focus shot to his left, as a brown shape rose up out of a pile of blankets and pillows collected under a table.
"Chase, what're you doing?" Marshall wondered, coming over to him. "They're here to see you mostly. Why are you hiding?"
"Uhh..hiding?" Chase echoed, as a small pillow slid off his head. "Nah.. I was just.. uh.. coming to see them and I.. slid into this pile of pillows.. Yeah. Hit my head on the leg of the chair-I mean table- trying to get out again." Marshall stared unconvinced, but Chase's gaze remained serious enough to finally seem to convince him.
"*sigh* ok.." He sighed finally. "If you say so. Now come on.." He said, turning to leave again. "Let's go out and see them then." And the two pups bounded off together.
xxxx
"Here he is guys." Marshall announced, immediately earning their gaze as they came running out, Chase halting just outside the sliding doors. Everyone's eyes set on Chase now, Marshall's adding to the mix when he made it to where the rest of the team stood with the Prescotts. Sheepish and silent as ever the German Shepherd's gaze wandered to the floor away from them. His will forcing him to walk forward toward them, lunging himself to run into Billy's outstretched arms.
"We're glad you're safe, little C." Billy beamed holding the pup close.
"Me too." Chase breathed, slowly bracing his paws to the man's chest to look at him. "I'm sorry for running off like that.. 'kinda wishing I hadn't done it in the first place."
"Well we're glad you're fine now." Billy reiterated, using his big hand to ruffle the top of Chase's head lovingly.
"Well.. mostly fine." Maggie hunted caressing her fingers to the white on his neck. "What's this about, Chase?"
"Nothing for you to worry about." Chase replied quickly, his gaze dropping away again. "It's already taken care of."
"Then you should have no trouble telling us what happened." Frank insisted, setting his cane in front of him to place both hands on top of it. Chase froze his gaze up at them, then dropped it to the floor in front of him. Chester eyed him thoughtfully.
"Mind if I take a crack at something?" The pup asked, glancing up at Frank hopefully.
"Be my guest." Frank confirmed with a tender, yet subtle nod. Chester advanced slowly toward his brother rather confidently, and the pup looked up when registering movement toward him.
"Come on." Chester beckoned softly taking off past him. Chase stepped one paw over to crane his neck around, before racing after his brother into the Lookout.
Leading him behind the elevator and peering around to where the team stood waiting, Chester turned back around where they couldn't see them to look at Chase; sitting in front of him with his gaze down away from him and his paw up to his shoulder to softly rub the bandage on his neck for comfort.
"Chase, what's the matter here bro? You know we're all family here." Chess began slowly. "Why do you insist on keeping us in the dark?"
"They wouldn't understand." Chase mumbled quietly, keeping his gaze on the floor still.
"Oh come on, how likely am I to believe that?" Chester returned easily. "I know you too well to think that you really believe that."
"We haven't seen each other in years." Chase shot back a bit harshly, finally daring himself to look up at Chester. "Things have changed since then."
"Some things." Chester corrected. "But not something like this.. I know you better than that." Chase's gaze had already dropped, but this time he strongly resisted the urge to look up again. Even losing this battle slightly, as his eyes tracked over to him then back down again, silence remaining between them.
"I may not have seen you since we were much younger.. but there are some things about you, that won't ever change." Chester continued with a tone of certainty. "I know there's something more to this.. I can feel it. I'm a police pup too, you know.. just like you. I can sense things that others may not. And especially when it comes to you.. I know when something is off."
"Uohh, why do you have to be so good!" Chase complained, groaning into this response when lifting his hard gaze up to him, though his tone suggested the lingering of slight humor. His frown softening up to a gloomy face. "Thank you."
Chester just smiled knowingly. "What are you afraid of, little bro?" He asked in calm soft tones.
"Honestly.." The pup answered slowly, peering up at Chester once again. "That they'll be mad when they hear about what happened to me last night." He finished lowering his gaze again.
"Oh come on, Chase. I'm sure they won't be mad." Chester reassured him, scooching in next to him. "They were just worried about you when you didn't come home last night. I bet they won't be as mad as you think."
"Come on, Chess, you know them better than that." Chase declined, making no attempt to escape the weight of his brother leaning onto his back and good shoulder. "Remember our adventure to the meadows outside town, back at our old home? We didn't even go that far away and they got so mad that we wandered off. Especially Billy, when he had to climb a tree to get me down."
"Yeah,.. but that was all you." Chester joked lightly with a soft chuckle. "And they weren't that mad."
"Probably cause you didn't get the talking to." Chase returned dryly.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold up." Chester stopped him, shifting around to place a paw to his brother's chest. "I got just as much of a 'talking to' as you did." He lowered his paw then continued. "I just didn't take it as personally as you did. What you have to realize is that they love you very, very much. Like.. a million times one, a lot. They only want to make sure you stay safe. You weren't as experienced back then as you are now, and so of course they were hard on you that day. They were probably even harder on me for letting you do it…" Chase's glance furrowed his brow, and Chester's expression softened with a sigh. "Look, what I'm trying to say.. is that you're trying too hard to make them trust you.. when they already do. Just tell 'em what happened.. I'm sure they won't react as badly as you think." At this the younger pup's gaze lifted.. searching the air thoughtfully before meeting Chester's duplicate brown eyes.
xxxx
The team waited in silence.. all thinking their own thoughts when the Lookout doors slid open to gain their attention. Chester stood there quietly acknowledging them with only his stoic brown eyes.
"Just.. go easy on him, ok?" He said simply, strolling forward from the door to be replaced by his younger self, a sheepish look upon Chase's face.
"I'm ready.." The pup mumbled softly. "To explain what happened." He finished with his gaze hitting the ground directly below him.
Hey guys! Finally another chapter! I do enjoy writing the brotherly moments between Chase and Chester. Hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do writing them. As always, more is yet to come.. And I can't wait to see what you guys think of it! Thx!