Marshall looked up from his bowl of pup kibble, licking his lips, his eyes sagging and his tail wagging slowly. He looked tired. "Chase, do you think my clumsiness is annoying?" He asked, his eyes staring intently at Chase, waiting for an answer, fear etched in his exhausted eyes.

Chase was rather surprised; they had been just eating breakfast like usual, and they were the last to finish up. The rest of the pups and Ryder had gone outside to play in the day-old snow, making snow forts and snowmen and what-not. Chase looked up, thought for a second, and shrugged nonchalantly. "No, why?" He went back to eating. He wanted to go outside too after all; he was missing all the fun.

"Just…I don't know. Nevermind." The pair went back to eating their breakfast, but now Chase couldn't stop thinking about the out of place question. Something was wrong; he could feel it. His excitement of the chilly outdoors had receded to a kind of worry. Why would Marshall ask me that? Was he self-conscious about it?" He thought, chewing slowly. He had to figure out what was wrong. Marshall was his best friend after all.

"Marshall, what's wrong?" He said, now gazing back at Marshall the same way the Dally had done to him, waiting for an answer.

Marshall glanced around nervously, forcing his tail to wag. "N-nothing. Just forget it."

Chase wasn't buying it. "C'mon, Marshall! You know you can tell me anything! I'm your best friend!"

Marshall shrugged, his shoulders hunched. "I-It's nothing, really." he sniffed.

Chase could definitely feel something was bothering his best friend; he knew him too well for Marshall's blatant avoidance to fool him. "Marshall…." He said, almost reprimandively. "You can't fool me. What is it?" He laid a hand on the Dally's shoulder next to him, trying to look into Marshall's eyes.

Marshall just bent his head over, hiding his face with his floppy ears. Slowly Chase began to pick out the soft sobs, and Marshall's shoulders began to shake as he cried.

Chase was even more shocked. It had to be serious to make Marshall cry. He was the happiest person Chase knew! He leaned down and just hugged Marshall, letting him sob for a little while before softly whispering in his ear, "Hey, hey. It's okay buddy. Let it all out. It's gonna be okay. What's wrong?"

Marshall slowly lifted his head to meet Chase's gaze with such fierce pain that Chase gasped a little. He had never seen that kind of hurt in Marshall, ever. He just stared back at Marshall, the fire in his friend's eyes near mesmerizing with the addition of the glare from his welled-up tears. The Dally spoke softly, voice cracking, but the fire blazed so ferociously that it captivated him and held him there, unable to look away.

"I'm not good enough."

Marshall almost cracked again, face crinkling up in anguish as Chase immediately grabbed his shoulders. "No no no no no! That's not true! You are always good enough, you have always been good enough, you will always be good enough." Chase held Marshall's shoulder's firmly, turning the wreck of a pup to face him. He was stern, down to the point.

Marshall continued to cry. "Then why is it that I always trip over everything! I'm obviously not good enough if I can't even manage to get into the elevator without falling and potentially hurting everyone!"

"Because you are so, soo good at what you do! You're an amazing firefighter!" Chase said.

"But how can that be!?" Marshall yelled suddenly, pulling away from Chase and turning away from him. Chase looked deeply hurt but said nothing. "How can I be a good firefighter if I'm not a good friend? I trip everytime we enter the elevator, and everytime I risk hurting someone. It's awful!" he broke down again, the tears so big they fell down his face and landed on the hard tile floor with a soft thud.

Chase sat where he was. "You are still a good friend. The best friend a pup could have. But accidentally hurting people because of who you are doesn't make you a bad friend." He spoke softly so as not to upset Marshall even more; besides, this was a side of him he had personally never seen before; hurt, worry, pain, regret…..all those emotions he never even thought Marshall could even possess with his happy-go-lucky nature.

"But what if the other's don't think so? What if they secretly hate me because they can't even get into the elevator once without me tripping into them?"

Chase was firm. "Marshall…they would never, ever say or even think those things about you. They love you as a brother, no matter your faults. I will always love you. No matter what."

Marshall whipped around and hugged Chase, letting the tears fall freely now. Chase was surprised at first but then hugged him back, letting his own tears fall on Marshall's head. They felt as though they could never let go; they were brothers, no matter what.

"Hey…" Chase said, sniffling now and breathing through his mouth for his congestion. "My brother once told me that all we can do in this world is be our best version of ourselves. To be your best you. Because the world needs people like you, care for you, love you. Don't ever let the world change your smile, but let your smile change the world." He was crying like a baby now, and Marshall looked up and stared into his eyes, cinnamon brown pools of fondue that seemed to ease his mind and heart altogether.

"You have an awesome brother." Marshall said, giggling a little. Chase hugged him again.

"Yeah. He was amazing. But now I have you. The best version of you."

They continued to hug each other, drying their tears and giggling a little here and there.

"Well," Marshall said, rather jovially, still wiping tears from his eyes. "Shall we join the others?"

"You bet!" Chase was happy. He had had no idea of Marshall's internal struggle, his pain, all hidden behind the mask, the falsetto. Maybe that's what a lot of people were doing nowadays; maybe even Ryder had a mask on. Who knows? He just knew that come the chance to help them, he would help them. Because the world needed more of them, more of their best selves. He bent down, ready to run. "Race ya!" And the two of them sprinted out the door, barking in glee as they rushed out to their friends, hearts mended and minds healed.