"Everyone upstairs!" Marshall said, running to the elevator and watched as everyone filed in. Once the elevator reached the second floor, everyone lined up and Marshall took Ryder's place up front. It was so weird being on this side of a mission, but no matter, he felt good and prepared to handle the situation, he just hoped everyone else felt the same way.

"What's happening Marshall?" Skye said, stepping forward.

"Katie just called and told me the ruff ruff pack were causing trouble at her store, and won't leave, and she has reason to believe they have been swiping items."

Murmuring broke out in the line and Chase was the first one to step up. "Where do you need me?"

"You won't be needed Chase." Marshall said, trying to soften the blow.

"You can't be serious. I am the only one with police training. This is a police mission, and-"

"And the rest of us will handle it. I'm not going to ignore Ryder's rules. You're still suspended."

Chase growled and stomped his paw. "Dog, forget his rules, I am the only one qualified to apprehend the ruff ruff pack."

Marshall bared his teeth and got in the Sheperd's face. "We. Will. Handle it."

Getting in between the males, Everest grabbed Chase and pulled him back in line as he continued. "You'll regret this, all of you," he barked, and with a huff, entered the elevator and Everest faithfully took her place by his side, rubbing his back and murmuring to him sweetly.

Marshall's gaze lingered on Chase as he glared at him from the elevator, before the doors closed and the Dally focused on the line of pups waiting for instruction. "Ok, Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble, you're with me, let's get to Katie's."

Yips and howls rang out behind his as he jumped down the slide and hopped into his vehicle, and Marshall felt nervous energy and excitement course through him. But by the time they got there, Marshall new the mission would be more complicated than he thought, and he doubted whether or not leaving Chase behind was a good idea. Dwayne and Hubcap were both inside. Throwing things and causing quite a ruckus, while Gasket, he thought her name was, sat outside leaned up against her bike with smoke leaking out of her muzzle.

When she saw them, she rolled her eyes and a grimace formed over her face, and she spat out her cigar and stepped on it with her paw.

Marshall blinked, refocusing. "Ok, let's get inside and stop them. Everyone have their paw cuffs?" Zuma nodded his head and with Rubble, they entered the shop. Rocky hung back and sat in front of the delinquent husky instead, his frown deepening as he looked between Gasket and her paw as smoke plumed from under it. "Keep an eye on her, Rocky." Marshall said, only catching the start of Rocky's conversation as he entered the shop.

"Are you going to pick that up?"

Katie was busy. Busy chasing Hubcap around the store as he knocked stacks of food cans over and yelling like a kid that had snuck into the cookie jar before dinner and was on the high end of a sugar rush.

"Get back here," Katie said, chasing after him.

Dwayne was situated in the corner of the room, playing with Cali, who seemed to be having just as much fun as he was.

"Get ready to grab him!" Marshall said and barked out his water cannons, spraying down the floor in front of Hubcap and he slipped and skidded across the slick surface and toppled into a bathtub.

He surfaced, spitting water out of his mouth, "What's your deal? Stop killing my fun. Don't make me . . ." But the rest of his words fell down his throat as Rubble and Zuma reached the bathtub, growling and effectively silencing the pup.

Marshall grabbed his paw cuffs and walked over to the French Bulldog as he was helped, forcefully, out of the tub.

"You can walk out of here in one of two ways, on your own with your troublemaker friends, or by these two pups, in paw-cuffs," Marshall growled.

Hubcap growled to himself and tried to get Dwayne's attention. "Hey, kitty boy, quit playing and help me out."

Dwayne had his lower half against the ground with Cali rubbing against his snout. "Hehe, your whiskers tickle."

"Dwayne!"

The dog snapped his head to Hubcap and his tail fell between his legs. "Oh, sorry, Hubcap." And he sauntered over to Rubble and Zuma, "That kitty was just too cute."

"Don't I know it," Rubble said with a laugh.

"You and your friends need to leave." Katie said, crossing her arms.

Hubcap groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ya, well this store has crummy treats anyway, we are going to go somewhere else." And Hubcap walked outside, with Dwayne faithfully following him. As the doors opened voices could be heard and the commotion pulled Marshall outside.

"Littering isn't a joke," Rocky said, getting right in the Huskie's face.

"You act pretty high and mighty for a trash collector." She looked him up and down and smirked." Even for a cute one."

"I have a girlfriend for your information," Rocky barked, pulling out his set of paw-cuffs.

Marshall rushed to get between them both and did his best to restrain the gray dog. "Easy, Rocky, let it go." But Rocky continued to struggle. "Let it go."

Grumbling to himself Rocky turned away from her and let out a huff.

"You look even better from the back." The husky called letting out a whistle and this time it was Zuma who grabbed a hold of him.

"Are you going to leave with your gang, or are we going to have problems?" Marshall said, in a low growl and faced down the husky, who wore a bored expression.

Gasket looked him over and smirked, "You don't look half bad yourself, sweetie."

"If you don't leave, I will arrest you." Marshall said, narrowing his eyes, repeating a line Chase had used over and over when dealing with tough criminals.

"Whatever," she sighed, and hopped on her bike and fired it up. Hubcap and Dwayne had just started to leave as she regarded the rescue dogs. "You guys are no fun," she said, giving Marshall a wink and letting out a laugh and rode off, tailing the others as they headed deeper into town.

"Ok guys, good work, let's head back," Marshall said, waving goodbye to Katie and jumped into his truck. With his paws on the wheel, he let a shaky breath out of his muzzle, "I don't have time for this." He was supposed to be studying today, not playing crowd control with a bunch of adrenaline junkie bikers.

Everyone went off to do their own thing once they got home. Rocky immediately sought out Skye and buried his muzzle into her neck which transformed into a heated make out session. Zuma and Rubble sat by the television, and turned it on. Apollo the super pup was on, and apparently they were feeling nostalgic.

Marshall went to his water bowl and drank quickly; his mouth and throat were dry. As soon as he was done though, he got a call.

"Marshall?"

"Hey, Cody, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me for some snacks before our study session today?"

"I would love to," he said, pausing with a smile. "Don't you think your taking your role as my study partner a bit too seriously?"

"Not at all."

"You shouldn't go to all of his trouble just for me."

Cody sighed on his end and took longer to respond than Marshall thought was appropriate. "You're worth it."

Marshall was silent and once again, did not know how to respond. Cody had hinted once again at his feelings, and Marshall had once again stayed quiet.

"So, I'll um, I'll see you soon, ok?" Cody said, possibly a little too eager to hang up.

"See you." Marshall said, and hopped into his truck and drove over to Cody's house. A drive at this point that he had memorized. And he didn't know how he felt about that fact. But he decided not to worry and popped his medication, and parked in front of the tan apartment complex, he would surely need all the attention span he could get as his test date breathed down his neck.

Before he could knock on the door, it swung open and a smiling Cattle dog greeted him with open arms but hesitated for a second. Marshall accepted the hug, knowing at this point that it was just part of his friend's quirks, a triggering quirk that drove him absolutely crazy and turned his stomach into a twist of nervous knots while his head floated above the clouds.

"Ready to go?" Cody asked, with his car keys in paw.

"You were serious about shopping?"

"Hey, it's our last study session before your test tomorrow, we gotta go big."

The drive was quick and quiet, something that happened more so than not. Cody seemed to grip the steering wheel a little too tightly, his movements were a little too rigid, and he was much quieter than usual. Something was up, but Marshall didn't have to ask to know what it was or that he was the cause of his friend's awkwardness.

"Ok, what's first?" Marshall said, as they rolled their cart down one of the many isles.

"Drinks," Cody said, as he fumbled with his wallet, poking his muzzle inside.

"What are you doing?" Marshall asked with a crooked smile.

"Counting my money," Cody said simply, looking back up to the Dalmatian with a confused look.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you took the money out of the wallet first?"

Cody blinked and rubbed his face with a paw and did as Marshall had suggested.

Marshall shook his head and turned to the isle and picked out package of water bottles and put them in the cart, staring up to Cody, surprised at the case of beer in his mouth.

"And what is that for? You never drink beer."

"This is for after you take the test, I told you we are celebrating either way." Cody placed the case in the cart and placed both of his paws on Marshall's shoulders. "Because no matter what happens, nobody can take away how hard you worked, and that is worth celebrating."

"Awww are they going to kiss?" A grating voice called out from further down the aisle.

"Oh, dog, please no," Marshall groaned and looked to his right down the aisle and let out a huff at the sight of Hubcap and Dwayne.

"Friends of yours?" Cody said, never taking his eyes off of the approaching dogs.

"No," Marshall growled.

Dwayne looked between them and whispered something to Hubcap which caused him to guffaw. wiping his eyes with a paw.

"You're right Dwayne, they do make a cute couple." Marshall rolled his eyes and tried not to give the Bulldog what he wanted, asking a question instead. "What are you doing here, besides causing trouble?"

"I told you, dog, we needed to get treats for later tonight. So, what are you two celebrating tomorrow? An anniversary?" he giggled.

"A graduation party, something you'll never experience," Cody said, growling through his teeth.

"Oh, you finally graduated from second base?" Hubcap said, with a raised eyebrow.

Marshall sighed and stepped between Cody and the Bulldog as they glared at each other. "Why don't you go bother someone else, or would you like me to call the rest of my team?"

Before anyone else could answer a third dog came stumbling down the aisle, beer held in her mouth sideways, leaking golden liquid out onto the floor trailing behind her.

"Hey Hubcap, I saved you some beer," Gasket said, before looking down at the bottle and frowning. "Oops," she giggled to herself, and put the bottle down and finally acknowledged that Marshall and Cody existed.

"Hey, you were one of the cute rescue dogs that spoiled our fun this morning," she smiled, looking Marshall up and down.

"You need to leave," Marshall said, looking past Gasket and frowning at Hubcap.

"Ya let's get outta here," Gasket said, and looked to Marshall again, "You should come to sweetie." And she reached for Marshall's paw.

Cody snapped his jaw at the Husky and she shrunk down a size and her buzz seemed to die off. Growling, Cody stepped in front of Marshall and bared his teeth at the three dogs.

Marshall quickly got between them and held Cody back with his paw as the other dogs shook, turning and scurrying off in a flash.

Cody was silent on the drive home, and when they got back to his place, when they were unloading the groceries. keeping to himself.

"So," Cody said, with a tired voice as he grabbed his notebook and flipped opened up his textbook. "Should we begin?"

Marshall put his paw on the book and lowered it to the table, looking the saddened Cattle dog in the eyes. "Cody. What happened back there?" When he remained silent, Marshall pushed. "I didn't like what they were saying either, but I've never seen you get like that."

Letting his ears fall to their sides, he kept his eyes down and away from Marshall and his voice came out quiet. "That Husky didn't have any right talking to you like that. None of them did."

"What's going on with you lately?"

Cody sighed and put his face in his paws. "It's you, Marshall."

The Dalmatian sucked in a breath, even though he had suspicions, that didn't compare to getting conformation that they were right. Now he had no excuse. Now the pressure was all on him.

Cody reached his paws out and took hold of Marshall's as he sat down across from him.

"I care about you."

"I know that. I care about you too," Marshall said, giving his paw a squeeze. "You're a great friend."

Cody sighed and adopted a nervous look Marshall had been seeing more and more of.

"Marshall, I want, I want more than that."

"I . . ."

As Marshall struggled to find his voice, Cody leaned forward until his forehead touched his. "Can I show you?" Leaning forward he angled his muzzle until it was an inch away from Marshall's and he waited.

Hesitating, with thousands of thoughts running through his mind, he cupped Cody's cheek, and moved forward until he felt hot breath against his muzzle. Cody opened his eyes, surprised, watching Marshall as they sat, inches away from changing their relationship forever.

Suddenly, Marshall's pup tag buzzed and a call came in, "Marshall, it's Zuma, we need you back at the lookout, Ryder called and said he wanted to speak with all of us."

Marshall broke away from Cody, and with a shaky voice, responded, "I'll be right there."

Not looking at the cattle dog, he fumbled to gather his backpack and other belongings and rushed out of the door before Cody could question him about anything.

Back at the lookout, Marshall joined the others upstairs, where everyone was waiting for him. Ryder was on the big screen, currently giving the team a sad look and smiled when Marshall arrived.

"Hey, Marshall."

"Hey Ryder, how's your grandma doing?"

The pause at the other end of the line was deafening and Marshall's stomach twisted into knots.

"Ryder?"

Their fearless leader gave a shaky response. "She passed, about an hour ago." Talk broke out amongst the others and Marshall stood there with his mouth open, trying to find the right words to say but couldn't find any. "So, I will be staying longer than I originally thought."

Marshall forced words out of his mouth but they sounded hollow. "I'm so sorry, Ryder. If there's anything you need. . ."

"It's ok, Marshall." His voice was soothing, even now, in the midst of tragedy. "Just keep the town in one piece and the team in line. I'm counting on you, but I wouldn't give you such a big responsibility if I didn't think you could handle it." Marshall swallowed hard and looked back at the others, feeling as if he was the only one in the room.

"Have there been any problems?" Ryder asked, and Marshall thought there was hope in his words, like the teen was looking for an excuse to come home and work like everything was normal, instead of facing his own grief.

"Everything's under control on our end, Ryder. Your family needs your support."

"Ok then. I will talk with you all soon."

"Talk soon," Marshall said, letting his head fall to the ground as soon as the connection ended. Nothing was under control. Not after today.