(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
It Happened One Night
*** WARNING: Contains spoilers for Paw Patrol Everest's Recovery Chapter 9: A Hike to Remember! I highly recommend you read that before reading this chapter! ***
"So then we went searching through the caves, it was really dark. Snowflake almost fell down into a dark pit but I grabbed her scruff at the last second" Marshall explained.
"Wow, that is crazy, where was Cinder?" Skye asked.
"Where we first heard Ryan, talking to him and keeping him calm" Marshall responded. "Anyway, we finally found the right tunnel and were able to dig Ryan out. Once we got him out, we had to sneak past all the reporters and other riff-raff. So Cinder used Snowflake's roll as a distraction for us to slip past and into the ambulance. From there it was smooth sailing."
"Wow, you've been busy Marshall," Skye said. "So much going on in one week and you still have time to call little old me."
"Of course, you are basically my sister Skye," Marshall said with a smile. Though to be fair, I call Skye more than I usually called Cinder, probably shouldn't mention that right now…
"So, have you talked to Everest lately?" Skye asked, "there has been a lot going on up on Jake's mountain."
"I've tried and left a couple messages" Marshall replied, "no answer the past couple weeks; I'm sure she is just busy."
Busy tearing herself up over you and Cinder, what is the deal with you and that gorgeous dalmatian? "So, how is Cinder?" Skye inquired.
"Good, we were actually just talking about how we are both coming to Adventure Bay after we get certified" Marshall said, slightly giddy.
"Oh, really?" Skye asked tentatively.
"Yeah, it'll be great, you guys will love her, especially Everest!" Marshall said with even more enthusiasm. "I'll talk to Ryder, we'll throw a huge party or something!"
"Great, can't wait," Skye said, though her tone suggested otherwise.
"Yeah, I'm really excited for all of you to meet my…" Marshall started to say but he was cut off by the station fire alarm.
"WE HAVE A REPORT OF A STRUCTURE FIRE AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AT THE CORNER OF BELLEVUE AND EUCALYPTUS, SITE EVACUATED WITH NO INJURIES, HAZMAT ON SITE, ENGINE 25 RESPOND CODE 3, QUINT 23 ASSIGNED AS SUPPORT."
"I gotta go, catch you later!" Marshall hurriedly barked before hanging up.
"Darn, almost figured it out" Skye said to the now dead connection.
"I really wish you had," whimpered Everest as she emerged from the shadows.
"You could have said something too ya know" Skye reminded her best friend.
"I didn't want to interrupt his call with you," Everest answered, "that would have been rude."
"More rude than ignoring his calls? Including the one right before he called me…" Skye challenged.
"I'm just scared to find out" Everest whined, "what if she is his girlfriend? What if they are already mates? What if…"
Skye cut off further what-ifs by putting her paw on the husky's mouth. "You can what-if this until you die, Everest, but you need to know the truth, whatever it is, and you need to hear it from him. So stop working yourself into a tizzy and just answer his calls and ask him."
"What makes you think I'm that brave?" Everest balked.
"You snuck into his pup house the night before he left for a covert cuddle" Skye said with amusement, "talking to him is easier than that."
"Is it though?" Everest asked plaintively.
"Yes," Skye confirmed. "But I can see I'm not getting through your stubborn fluff tonight, so let's talk about something else while we do our nails."
As Marshall hopped up into the fire truck, he realized he was the last one.
"Someone took their sweet time tonight" Splash, the female American Water Spaniel, jabbed.
"Give him a break," Rain, the female yellow Labrador Retriever, said. "It takes longer to get ready when you are busy saying 'and tonight I might die, love you!' to another pup."
"Please," Cinder softly scoffed from the front seat as Pedro, the driver, gunned the truck and she activated the lights and sirens. "I'll bet it was Skye."
"Before you two lose anything you value in this bet," Marshall cut in, "Cinder is right, it was Skye."
"How did you know that?" Rain probed.
"Easy," Cinder softly said with a smile. "His delay was just long enough to say goodbye and not wait for a response, but longer than it would have been if it was Chase or Rocky."
Cheater Marshall thought to his twin.
Me? Perish the thought Cinder thought back, I figured it out fair and square.
Sure, reading my mind had nothing to do with it Marshall scoffed.
It did provide convenient confirmation Cinder replied with a mental smirk.
"Quint 23, are you online?" Cinder softly asked into the radio.
"We are here Capt. Cinder, ETA 2 min to the scene, what are your orders?" The LT on the quint acknowledged.
"First priority is to determine if any HAZMAT is on fire or immediately at risk. If it is low on the building, report where it is and we'll take care of it. If it is high, setup where you can best cool it. If no HAZMAT is at risk or it is low, setup to prevent the fire from spreading to any adjacent buildings" Cinder softly directed.
"Copy that, will report when on scene" the LT replied.
"Are you going to let them beat us, Pedro?" Cinder softly teased.
"They did start basically next door to the fire" Pedro responded. "With a little fancy driving, I figure that they will still beat us, but we'll have water on the fire first."
"Close enough," Cinder softly smiled. "Ok team, standard two hoses plus the water cannon. Absent needing to deal with any HAZMAT, we'll set up on the opposite corner as Quint 23 to contain the fire."
"Sounds good Capt. Cinder" LT Joe replied. At this point in her training, his only job was to keep her from making any major mistakes, not that she even really needed that safety net anymore.
As Pedro guided the big fire truck onto the construction site, they saw that the Quint 23 team was still getting set up. "Alright, time to walk on the fire side, firefighters!" Cinder softly sounded off as they jumped off of the truck to get setup themselves.
Cinder ran over to the LT from Quint 23, "see any affected HAZMAT?" she softly called out.
"Nothing yet" he replied.
"Understood," Cinder softly replied. "Set up your second hose towards the near corner, we'll cover the far corners with our hoses and water cannon."
"On it" he replied before turned to direct his own team.
Cinder ran back to Engine 25 and started directing her team. As Marshall, Rain, Splash and Pedro started unrolling the hoses, Cinder looked up and saw a problem. The top part of the building was higher than Quint 23 could reach with their ladder and there were two cylinders of compressed gasses sitting at the top. Cinder ran over to where the construction foreman and his crew had assembled. "What is in those gas cylinders at the top" she softly asked.
"Acetylene and Oxygen" the forman replied, "we were getting ready to weld the next beams into place."
"Gotcha, everyone is accounted for right?" Cinder softly confirmed.
"Yes, we are good, no injuries either" he told her.
"Ok, any other hazards we need to know about?" Cinder softly inquired.
"That is it, we were able to get the rest of the HAZMAT clear before the fire engulfed the storage area" he informed her.
"Ok, thank you" Cinder softly said as she walked back over, keying her radio on the way.
"Dispatch, Light Force 25, all units on scene, we have explosive HAZMAT out of reach for units assigned, require heavy aerial or helicopter support to remove before the can fire spread to it."
"Dispatch copies, standby." Cinder waited as patiently as she could as the fire continued to spread upwards through the partially built structure.
"Light Force 25, Dispatch, no heavy aerials available, scrambling HELITACK 2 for immediate support." The Heartland Fire and Rescue department was the proud owner of two Sikorsky S-70i multi-mission helicopters, capable of fire fighting as well as search and rescue. As Type I firefighting helicopters there was very little that they could not do.
"Light Force 25 copies, have them check-in on TAC-5 prior to attempting removal" Cinder softly acknowledged.
As she walked back over, she noted that the fire was continuing to spread upwards fairly rapidly. Usually buildings under construction don't have a lot of flammable things to burn but there was enough supplies laid out to allow the fire to spread. There was a particular area of concern that had a lot of supplies and could probably burn hot enough to start affecting the structural integrity of the partially built building.
"L-T, focus water from your ladder there" Cinder softly called to the Quint 23 leader.
"I see it, got it" he responded after a moment of visually searching. With a few hand signals, the ladder on the quint rotated and the firefighter at the top was dousing the problematic area.
As Cinder surveyed the scene, she was mostly pleased. The fire was not spreading to any surrounding buildings and in most areas her crews were gaining ground back. The only worrisome area was where she had re-directed Quint 23's ladder and above where the fire continued to spread toward the compressed gas cylinders. If any of those cylinders were breached, it would have explosive results.
Minutes passed and Cinder was starting to stress slightly. Her teams were continuing to gain on the fire from below but they could do nothing to prevent the upward spread. Then she heard the approaching whir of helicopter blades beating and the air into submission. "Light Force 25, HELITAC 2 checking in, 4 souls, 2+30, full water load, standing by for tasking, over" crackled over Cinder's radio.
"Copy check-in, HELITAC 2, HAZMAT is located on the top north-west segment, recommending split load drop followed by extraction. I have personnel on ground to receive once removed, over" Cinder replied.
"HELITAC 2 copies, we will have to take the HAZMAT back to base as our cables won't be able to get it down to street level from this altitude; will conduct two split drops prior to retrieval, over"
"Light Force 25 copies, drop when ready, over" Cinder gave the helicopter crew clearance while simultaneously signaling everyone on the ground of them impending water drop. She was not well versed on helicopter firefighting tactics in such a confined space and inclined to defer to the helicopter crew on what would work best.
The HELITAC 2 pilots guided their S-70i in a hover loop over the burning building, dropping the first half of their water load directly into the upward spreading fire. The water had an immediate effect of slowing the spread and cooling off the area to prevent anything else from catching fire. Cinder felt relief at finally making progress on that part of the fire.
The S-70i was not a huge helicopter, but neither was it small. It wasn't the best choice for zipping in between the buildings but it was the only helicopter that they had. The pilots expertly pulled upwards and out for another look before making another hovering loop with their second drop. The fire was almost fully contained now that 1,000 gallons of water had been dropped by the helicopter alone.
"Light Force 25, HELITAC 2, drops complete, 2+10, moving in to extract the cylinders, over."
"Light Force 25 copies, standing by for next update, over" Cinder softly replied focusing her attention on the area that she had Quint 23's ladder spraying. They were making progress but something didn't feel quite right.
HELITAC 2 hovered over the top of the building as they lowered one of the crew members down to the building. As he touched down, he made sure he had firm footing before getting to work. He quickly strapped the two bottles of compressed gas into separate harnesses so that they wouldn't fall during transport. Then, he attached a ten foot separation line between the harnesses so that the bottles wouldn't bounce off of each other before attaching one to a static lift line hooked to the belly of the helicopter, separate from his hoist.
With a hand signal from the crewman on the building, the S-70i slowly started lifting the bottles from the building. Once the second bottle was clear, the crewman gave another hand signal and the helicopter hoist started to pull him up as well. Cinder's eyes were locked on the airborne firefighter until the bottles were clear of the top of the building and the firefighter was back inside the helicopter.
"Light Force 25, HELITAC 2, 4 souls, 1+55, cargo slung, checking off, returning to base, over."
"Light Force 25 copies, thanks for the assist, fly safe, out" Cinder softly acknowledged the report as the helicopter departed.
With the fire almost out, part of Cinder wanted to relax but something still felt wrong. A second later she realized why. Three beams broke off of the building, bolts melted by the fire to the point of breaking, dumping a decent pile of debtis towards the ground below. Cinder instantly realized that the falling debtis was falling directly toward the two fire pups manning the ground hose from Quint 23 and barked a warning as she launched herself into a sprint towards the pups.
Marshall felt Cinder's recognition of the situation before the bark even left her throat. Dropping the hose that he had been manning with Splash, Marshall similarly leaped into a sprint towards the fire pups.
There was no time for anyone else to do anything, falling from approximately 150 feet in the air it would be three seconds before the debris would hit the ground at a speed of almost 100 feet per second. The two fire pups looked up in unmoving horror at their impending deaths.
Marshall and Cinder sprinted as fast as they could. The twins mentally split which pup they were trying to save so as to not hit each other. Cinder was aimed at the Belgian Malinois and catapulted herself full force into his side like a black and white sledgehammer.
Marshall threw out his paws towards the young Cocker Spaniel, ripping the pup from where she was sitting, eyes still upward in shock at the debris rapidly approaching her from above. Marshall tucked the pup's head down along with his own as debris started to hit them.
Marshall shrieked in pain as he felt something pierce his side, pinning him to the ground. He lost his grip on the Cocker Spaniel as she flew clear of the falling debris and skidded to a stop in the dust.
Marshall could barely open his eyes because of the pain, but he managed to raise his head. In front of him he saw the Cocker Spaniel picking herself off the ground, which was good. Turning his head he saw that Cinder had gotten the Belgian Malinois clear as well. Looking back to check his own injuries, Marshall was startled to see nothing sticking out of him, no injuries other than some superficial lacerations from skidding along the ground. Then he saw Cinder and gasped in horror.
Cinder lay on her side, a 7 foot long piece of steel reinforcing bar (rebar) sticking out from her side, staking her to the ground. A large pool of blood was starting to form under her. Marshall dashed over to his impaled sister, barking orders as he did so. "LT JOE! We need an ALS ambulance, CODE 3, Triage level 1; Kelly, get the jaws, we need to cut this section off since we can't remove it; Pedro, get the kit, we are going to need a lot of bandages! L-T, get the last bit of fire out!"
Marshall skidded to a stop next to the profusely bleeding Dalmatian, his twin sister, his only sibling, and pushed all of that from his head. He had to save her but he couldn't let his love and concern for her distract him from that. "Ruff, bandages!" Marshall refused to look at his sister's unconscious face as he packed the wound with the bandages he had I'm his pup pack, trying to stem the bleeding. Pedro dropped the emergency kit next to Marshall before running back to help Kelly get the Jaws of Life set-up. Marshall pulled more and more bandages from the kit; there wasn't one place that he could place a tourniquet to stop the bleeding so he tried to apply pressure to as many areas where blood was coming out of his patient.
Then he saw it, spurts of blood pulsing in time with her heartbeat. Marshall carefully worked his paws into the wound to find the source; his heart dropped when he found it. Her artery had been slashed just before it naturally split near her pelvis. Marshall clamped his paw down across the gash as best he could without cutting off blood flow; they couldn't afford to stop her blood flow completely until they could start surgical repair. Which meant that they had to get her to the hospital before she bled out.
"LT JOE, ETA?!" Marshall yelled.
"Less than two minutes" LT Joe replied, tossing a blanket over Marshall. Marshall ducked down and he heard them working the Jaws of Life on top of him, followed by a clang of the rebar shearing and hitting the ground.
"How deep into the ground it is?" Marshall asked as they lifted the blanket off, hoping that they wouldn't have to cut under his patient.
"It looks like a couple inches based on how much we just cut off," LT JOE replied, "it must have hit a rock or something, otherwise it would have bounced or gone way deeper."
Both turned their heads as they heard the wail of a siren and the skidding of tires on gravel as Medic 31 slid to a stop. Two paramedics jumped out and rushed with their stretcher to Marshall's side. "She has a laceration of the aorta right before it bifurcates. I have pressure on it now to keep her from bleeding out but not enough to cut off blood flow completely. She is O- blood type, we'll need to start a transfusion as soon as we get loaded. Take us both as is, we can't risk letting up the pressure otherwise she could bleed out."
The paramedics and firefighters got to work. They carefully loaded the unconscious Cinder and fully conscious Marshall onto the stretcher. Moving as swiftly as they could without risking further injury, they rushed the two Dalmatians on the stretcher to the ambulance and loaded up. With another growl of tires fighting for traction on gravel, the roar of the ambulance's engine was augmented by the scream of the siren as Medic 31 departed the site.
As soon as they were rolling, Marshall and the other paramedic in the back called the hospital Emergency Department to let them know they were coming. In a life threatening situation like this, a swift but accurate turnover was critical to saving the patient. The ER team started preparing everything to immediately take the patient into surgery. The emergency surgeon was on the phone with them, getting as much detail as Marshall could provide from what he could feel. The surgeon agreed with keeping as much pressure on the gash as Marshall could without cutting off blood flow totally. It was a losing battle, she was losing blood faster than they could transfuse into her in the ambulance. It was only a matter of time.
The paramedic driving was going as fast as he could. Dispatch had also arranged for a police escort for Medic 31 based on the severity of the patient's injuries, standard for a triage level 1 case. It still seemed to take forever.
Finally, Medic 31 reached the hospital and pulled up to the ambulance receiving dock. The doors flew open and ER personnel flooded the ambulance. Marshall felt the wind in his fur as they flew through receiving area and straight towards the operating room. Nurses rapidly worked at preparing the patient as they ran, cutting her out of her firefighter gear, getting IV blood hooked up, and anesthesia. As they approached the big double doors, a surgical nurse, fully gowned and sterilized for surgery, slid her hand over Marshall's paw to where the patient's aortic artery had been cut. The nurse expertly swapped Marshall's paw for her own hand without any significant additional blood loss.
"I've got it" she said to Marshall, lifting her arm and body so Marshall had space to move. With a little help, Marshall slid backwards out of the nurse's way and off of the stretcher. Letting his momentum carry him, Marshall trotted to a stop just before the double doors in of the operating room. Marshall sat down, watching to doors swing closed behind the stretcher and the accompanying posse of nurses and doctors.
An ER triage nurse handed Marshall a sanitizing cloth to clean himself off with; his fur was soaked with blood; his sister's blood. Marshall nodded his head in thanks as he mechanically cleaned the blood from his paws so as to not leave a bloody trail of paw prints. Marginally cleaner, Marshall handed the cloth back to the nurse who tossed it in a bin as she led him to the waiting room.
The waiting room was devoid of life other than Marshall once the nurse left. Marshall found a spot just opposite the door and sat down on the floor. Then he finally allowed his emotions to overtake him. It started as simple tears falling but quickly escalated to full blown sobs. His forepaws couldn't even support the emotional weight and he collapsed onto his stomach, legs splayed out in all directions. And there he stayed, unmoving beyond the occasional twitching of paws or his ears.
Time lost all meaning for Marshall as he waited. The tears eventually stopped but still he remained laying on the floor, waiting. At some point, Skipper and Capt. Ashley came in to join Marshall in his vigil. The three of them waited in silence for any news on Cinder's condition.
Finally, a veterinary surgeon emerged from the door separating the waiting room from the operating rooms. Marshall pulled himself up and padded over to meet him, with Skipper and Ashley right behind him. "How is she doc?" Marshall tentatively asked.
"I'm glad to see all of you here, it speaks highly of your station. Is her family on their way?" the doctor replied.
"I am her only family that can make it" Marshall replied.
"Sorry, I should have been more clear, are any blood relatives coming?" the surgeon stated.
"I am her twin brother" Marshall said, his exasperation finally getting the better of him. "No one else is coming so please tell us how she is doing." Ashley reached down and put her hand on Marshall's head to calm him down.
"Oh, um right" the doctor said. "She is stable and will make a full recovery, it even won't take that long. She'll be up and about in a day or two and fully recovered in a couple weeks at the most. They are taking her to the recovery room now. Do you want the rest of the details now or do you want to wait until she is awake and find out with her?"
"We can wait" Marshall said, "which room are they taking her to?"
"Recovery room 104, she should be awake soon as well" the doctor replied before walking out.
Marshall turned around and walked towards the recovery rooms. Skipper and Ashley followed him, neither said anything.
The three of them got to the recovery room at the same time as Cinder. They helped get everything situated before the nurses left. Cinder was laying on her left side, the same position she had been in since she got hurt, just absent the impaling steel. Her entire middle section was wrapped in bandages so thoroughly that it looked like her fur had been dyed white in the middle. Marshall hopped up on her bed and laid down next to his still unconscious sister. Skipper and Ashley took seats opposite them.
It wasn't long at all before Cinder started to wake up. She started to stretch out her legs but yelped in pain. Marshall was in front of her in a flash. "Take it easy sis, you've had a hard day" he gently said to her, putting his paw on her head.
Cinder's eyes widened when she saw her brother. "Good grief Marshall, you look awful, like you were rolling around in my blood for the fun of it. You are making me more scared of what happened than i already am."
Marshall lowered his head and nuzzled Cinder. "I was so worried for you Cin, I'm so glad you are alive."
Cinder nuzzled Marshall back and added a lick on his cheek for good measure. "I love you too, Marsh. Now get off me before they think I started bleeding all over the place again, at least until you get cleaned up more." she softly added with a gentle smile.
"Fine" Marshall said with a huff before he turned to hop down. Predictably, his paws got tangled in the sheets and he flopped onto the floor. "I'm good" he assured them.
"That's good, I wouldn't want to have to send you back for surgery too" a new voice said. Everyone turned to see a doctor standing in the doorway. "Hello, my name is Dr. Cole. And let's see if I've got all you names right. The beautiful Dalmatian we did surgery on is Cinder, up there on the bed where she should be. We have Senior Instructor Captain Skipper, your reputation proceeds you Capt."
"I hope that is a good thing" Skipper replied.
"It is, believe me" Dr. Cole said. "And the lovely lady must be EMS Captain Ashley."
"Charmed" Ashley replied.
"Which means that his bundle of paramedic pup on the floor must be Cinder's twin brother, Marshall" Dr. Cole concluded.
"Wow Doc, how did know who all of us are?" Marshall asked as he picked himself up off the floor.
"I took a look at Cinder's chart before I came in" Dr. Cole replied with a smile, "and I read the article on you two from a couple of weeks ago."
"Darn, I had hopped that had mysteriouly disappeared in editing somewhere" Cinder quipped from the recovery bed.
"I'm going to take that in the spirit it was intended" Dr. Cole laughed. "Marshall, I have a nurse bringing in some more wipes so you can get fully cleaned up, and not just your paws."
"Please help him become presentable, Ashley" Cinder softly added.
"Sure thing Cinder" Ashley said, stifling a laugh.
"Now then Cinder, how are you feeling?" Dr. Cole asked.
"Overall, alright" Cinder softly replied. "My skin feels tight around where I got impaled and it hurts to try and stretch out my legs. Normal walking motions feel ok though, overall pain level is about a 4."
"That is all to be expected. The piece of rebar went straight through you, nicked your main artery fairly severely, as well as other internal damage" Dr. Cole informed her. "Do you want the good news or bad news first?"
"Good first please" Cinder softly replied. "And Ashley, don't forget behind his ears, and don't worry about being gentle."
"She is just getting the blood off, not giving me a full bath" Marshall half whined.
"You need a full bath, Marsh, but I'll settle for mostly black and white instead of red and black" Cinder softly retorted.
Marshall shot her a look but complied.
"The good news, Cinder" Dr. Cole continued, amusement evident on his face, "is that there is no nerve damage, no damage to any vital organs, and your recovery will be fairly quick; a day resting off your paws followed by light duty for a week or two depending on how you feel. You'll still be able to fulfill your normal duties, but no running."
"We'll, that isn't too bad at all" Cinder softly said, sitting up on the bed, "so what is the bad news?"
"Other than the lacerated artery, all the damage was localized in one area" Dr. Cole said seriously. "The piece of rebar pierced your uterus and there was a lot of secondary damage to your ovaries; too much damage to surgically repair. The surgeon had to remove both to stop you from bleeding out. The effect is that you are now spayed, you'll never be able to bear your own pups. I'm so sorry Cinder."
Cinder and Marshall froze, shock written plainly on their faces. Skipper and Ashley wore similar shocked expressions.
"But even with that, there is some good news" Dr. Cole continued, "they were able to save some of your eggs cryogenically, just like we do with humans. This means that later on down the road, they are available for you to still have pups; they will just need to be fertilized and another pup will have to carry and bear them for you."
"Well, that is a bright side" Cinder softly whimpered, her head dropping down.
Marshall, now much cleaner, hopped up next to his sister and put his paws around her in a hug. Cinder leaned against him as the tears slowly started flowing. Marshall lightly pressed a paw against Cinder's muzzle to told her head towards him and Cinder responded by burying her muzzle in his neck as she started to weep uncontrollably.
Dr. Cole folded his hands sadly, he hated delivering bad new to patients. He walked over and softly conferred with Skipper and Ashley. "Are you ok with Cinder staying overnight? She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to but I don't know what she would prefer."
"I don't either" Skipper replied, "we'll leave it up to her after she calms down a bit."
"Ok, sounds good," Dr. Cole replied. "I'll be down the hall if you need anything."
"Thanks doc" Ashley said, "you have a way better bedside manner than the surgeon did."
Dr. Cole softly chuckled. "Thanks, Dr. Al is just not a people or pup person and if it isn't in a surgical journal, he probably never read it. Really good surgeon however. Let me guess, he put his scalpel in his mouth earlier?"
"Maybe not quite that bad, but he didn't seem to be paying that close attention and he definitely rubbed Marshall the wrong way, which takes a lot" Ashley replied evenly.
"Not surprising" Dr. Cole said, "but, no real harm I'm guessing."
"Nope" Skipper replied.
"So, can I ask how Cinder came to be impaled by a chunk of rebar?" Dr. Cole asked, "or will I have to wait for the news story?"
"Hopefully there won't be a news story" Skipper growled. "She and Marshall saved two other fire pups from falling debris at a fire. Truth be told, I'm amazed at how quickly both of them reacted; everyone else barely realized what was happening before it was over."
"Well, that's good, it sounds like she is a good example to follow" Dr. Cole said.
"I wish everyone I trained was like her" Skipper quietly admitted.
"Same with Marshall" Ashley added, "they are extraordinary pups for sure."
Dr. Cole nodded in acknowledgement before carrying on with his duties.
On the recovery bed, Cinder had managed to compose herself. With a couple licks on her face from Marshall, you could no longer tell the emotional trauma that she has just endured unless you looked into her eyes. "So, when can I come back to the station?" she softly whispered.
"Dr. Cole said you can come back as soon as you are ready" Skipper said gently, "but you can stay overnight if you prefer."
Cinder looked at Marshall, into the only pair of eyes that matches hers. What do you think? she thought to him.
I think either is fine. If we were in Adventure Bay, I'd say go home. But we live at the station so it wouldn't be the most restful place to be given that it is also work. Plus, if we stay here, we can snuggle in more comfort Marshall thought back.
Cinder nodded. "If it's alright with you Skipper, can we stay overnight here and get picked up in the morning? We'll resume our duties then as well if that is ok as well."
"Of course it's fine" Skipper replied, "take the time you need, you've earned that and more."
"You better not be thinking of giving me an award or anything" Cinder softly said darkly.
Ashley just laughed as Skipper paled slightly. "Well, not anymore. Though if the station 23 teams submits you for one, I may not be able to stop it."
"You better find a way to stop it" Cinder softly threatened, "because that is the last thing I need. And there better not be a news article either!"
"Or what?" Skipper asked curiously.
"Or else you will feel the wrath of the fire pup twins" Cinder softly decreed.
"While I'm quaking in my boots, I'm not sure Public Affairs will care" Skipper laughed.
"Then either make them care or find me a threat that they do care about so we can make it even more threatening" Cinder softly directed.
"Got it" Skipper said, unable to contain his mirth. The thought of Cinder and Marshall doing anything threatening was ridiculous, but maybe that made it that much more effective. "While I go work on that impossible task, let me know if you need anything."
"We will Skipper" Cinder and Marshall softly replied in unison.
Ashley came over and cupped Cinder's head in her hands. The female Dalmatian looked up at her with a despondent look in her eyes that only a mother could understand. "Whatever help you need, we'll make it happen, we'll take care of you" Ashley whispered before touching her forehead to Cinder's.
"Thank you" Cinder whispered back, eyes closed. "I'm sure there are things but I don't even know what they are yet."
"I'll be here for you when you do sweetie" Ashley whispered before releasing Cinder's head. "Rest easy now."
Skipper and Ashley left Marshall and Cinder alone in the room. Cinder closed her eyes again and leaned against her twin brother. "What am I going to do Marsh?" her soft voice quaking as she fought back another round of tears.
"Right now, rest Cin" Marshall whispered, cradling her against his body. "We'll sort out what to do later. Rest knowing you did your best, now it is time to forget the rest, at least for the moment."
Cinder opened her eyes to give her twin a dirty look. "I knew you were going to work that in somewhere."
"You probably read my mind" Marshall whispered easily.
"Probably" Cinder softly whispered as she closed her eyes again. The two Dalmatians laid down on the bed, still pressed up against each other. Marshall quietly hummed a lullaby and sent soothing thoughts to Cinder, whose mind was racing almost as fast as Marshall's when he drank caffeine. Before too long, thankfully, Cinder's mind finally slowed down and she drifted off the sleep.
(A/N: if you are curious about the helicopter communications, the parts are as follows: unit being called (Light Force 25), unit calling (HELITAC 2), # of souls (people/pups) onboard the aircraft, fuel state expressed as hours + minutes, load status (how much water or cargo the aircraft is carrying), tasking being executed (or awaiting tasking). Also as a note, radio calls with the aircraft use "over" to indicate that the unit transmitting is done with that message and "out" to indicate that they are done talking completely, akin to saying goodbye. If you have questions, hit me up in the comments or in a PM. Same I'd you just want to tell me I'm getting too technical or you dig it and want more technical mumbo jumbo. Finally, please let me know if/how you want me to explore Cinder's injury and it's impact on her life)
