Enjoy.
It was after dinner, two weeks since Chase had come home. Zuma found him outside, staring longingly as he watched the other pups race each other on the agility course.
"You know, Storm needs you." Zuma knew he was treading on thin ice with this topic but he was determined to see this conversation through. He watched Chase for any indication that he had heard. An ear twitched, good. That meant he was listening.
Zuma forged on, not willing to let Chase walk away from this discussion. "We need you. Not just as our leader, but as our friend, mentor, brother. We need the Chase that we can go to for anything." He waited for any indication that Chase was listening and understanding where this was going.
"Me, Rocky, Everest, Tracker, we know how hard it is to open up. We also know how much it means to us that someone is listening and understanding our struggles. Storm needs you to be that someone for her. She won't open up to me, no matter how much I push, because only you know what it's like to go through what you did and still come out on top." Zuma took a deep breath and waited. Waited for Chase to say something or at least look at him and be honest with his feelings and let them show.
"Ok," Chase whispered. "I'll - I'll try."
"No." Zuma startled Chase and even himself with his forwardness. "You will not try. What was your motto back when we first joined the Paw Patrol? What was your motto with the special forces? What was your motto when it felt like responsibility was on your shoulders and your shoulders alone? What was your motto when fifteen of your men died from your decisions? What is your motto?"
"Do or do not. If you do not, you live a life of shame and regret. Living that life will result in you not knowing how much you could have accomplished or failed at. Even failure is an option if you learn from your mistakes and conquer them." The German Shepherd sat up straighter, now seeing exactly where Zuma had taken this conversation. "I'll find some time later to talk to her. But I will do it." He added, seeing Zuma stare at him, not letting him forget that he now had a promise to fulfill.
"Hi."
"Hey. Did you want to talk?"
"More than that. I want - need - to talk, and that can't be done over a call. Meet me at the beach by the dock, 1800. Don't be late."
"Since when have I ever been late to a meeting that you set up and demanded me to be there without an explanation?"
"The last time."
There was a pause without words, but the silence spoke for them both.
"Fine. I'll meet you there."
As Storm padded over the sand towards the dock, she saw someone already there. Chase turned as he felt the boards shift and gave her a nod.
"Sit down." His offer sounded more bitten out and like an order than he expected, even to himself. But Storm was used to his sharpness and sat down, her tail curled gently around her paws.
"What did you want to talk about?" Storm asked, intrigued and wary, as her trainers had taught her to follow her gut instinct.
"Zuma half-yelled at me to do this, so after this conversation, you have him to thank too. He told me how you wouldn't or couldn't talk to him about those times?" His voice trailed off into a question, leaving room for her to rebuke or affirm what was happening. Storm stayed silent, only blinking once to let Chase know that he was correct and could continue speaking.
"He also told me to try and get you to talk." Chase now waited for Storm to say something, anything.
Finally, she did. "I just find it hard to imagine what it would be like to be in your position."
Chase was quiet for a moment, then he said, "oh?"
"Don't give me that. Pretending that everything's okay when it's not. I've seen you put your needs behind everyone else-" Storm burst out, standing, towering, over Chase, who was completely calm and perhaps had realized that this outburst was a long time coming.
"I did what I had to. How else would we have gotten anything done?" Chase's voice was calm, but it had an underlying tone of impatience and exhaustion, waiting for Storm to understand his plight, his desperation to let the responsibility go to someone else, but also the urge to keep his position to protect the men and dogs under his control, and the grief when he learned it was his decisions that got them killed.
"But - Bella," Storm croaked, dropping into a sitting position, her anger gone and replaced with pain, grief, and desperation to be a pup again.
"I know," Chase whispered. "I know I shouldn't blame Marshall, but-"
Storm cut him off, "But you want him to suffer for making us lose someone."
"Yeah. And I know it's not right, and I know I'm just acting out of pettiness now, but it seems right, a price for a price, we lose Bella, he loses his best friends."
"Seems fair." Storm let a weak half-smile grace her features. "Unjust as it might be."
Now Chase was sharp with his words. "Unjust? Absolutely not. Marshall had no right to be there when he wasn't ready-"
"How else would he become ready?" Storm shot back, her hackles rising again. "By staying on the base and not learning how life works outside the wire?"
"At least he wouldn't be traumatized!" Chase snapped back. "Bella would be here with us."
"Talk to him. Tonight. You've talked to me, I told you everything on my mind. You need to work this out with Marshall. At least so he knows that it's his fault and blames himself for something that he very well didn't do. We're done here." Storm said stiffly, turning her back on her brother to stare at the water lapping gently against the beach, not willing to look back at him to see the hurt and betrayal that showed just briefly on his features.
By the time Chase's vehicle pulled into the Lookout's driveway, Zuma and Marshall were the only ones still awake, the others having turned in early after a grueling day of non-stop rescues.
"I'm going to bed," Zuma said quietly into the sweet caress of a night with a cloud-covered moon. "Keep your conversation civil, 'kay?"
"Yeah. Civil. Sure." Marshall's low, quiet laugh was bitter. "Chase and I having a civil conversation? Out of the cards, my friend."
"You never know what can happen under the cover of darkness and with the circumstances." Zuma waited, but Marshall didn't reply and for the moment, Chase was keeping his distance, his unspoken order to Zuma to leave him and Marshall alone to talk before he approached. The Labrador drifted into the shadows and into his pup-house, ready to break up a fight if need be, but the only noises of the night were quiet voices.
The longer I try and write these chapters, the more of it gets scrapped towards the end and I just give up and post. Comments, constructive criticism, it's all welcome.
-Mafiapartner2
