When you Play with Fire…
Ryder, Chase, and Skye rode the elevator up to the observatory. The entire atmosphere felt uncomfortable. Ryder's shift in tone from friendly to cold had caught them off guard. The two pups gulped. They were almost certain this meant they were in trouble.
As soon as they were topside, Ryder went over to the monitor, retrieved a sheet of paper and came back to them.
"I was checking your library card check out history earlier today, because I was curious what my pups were reading, and I found this," he said, as he presented the sheet to Skye.
Skye read down the list of books that she had been secretly reading under her master's nose. She looked up at him and smiled nervously. She knew it was all over now, she could already feel the carpet slipping away.
"Do you have any idea how disgusting those books are, Skye?" scolded Ryder. A dog of your age should not be reading these kinds of books, and I am pretty sure you already knew that."
Skye nodded guiltily.
Furthermore, I gave you, Chase, Rocky, and Marshall the privilege to check out your own books because I felt I could trust all four of you. Apparently, I was only three quarters right," continued Ryder, in a tone that could not be mistaken for anything but contempt.
"B-but," pleaded Skye futilely.
Ryder wasn't having it. "I trusted you, and you broke that trust. I cannot, and will not let this slide," forewarned Ryder.
Skye nodded in resignation, with her eyes facing the ground.
After throwing Skye's goose into the oven, Ryder looked over at Chase.
The little German Shepherd was clearly anxious. He was shivering in the way Ryder knew he only did when he knew he was in trouble.
"Chase, I know you well enough to know that you've been hiding something from me for the last three days," lied Ryder. "Is this it," he asked.
Chase looked at the ground for five minutes, before somberly responding, "I plead guilty."
"Why is he speaking in police talk all the sudden, there's no reason for him to, thought Ryder. "Oh," he realized, "he's doing this to relieve stress."
"Been a dirty cop, have we?" responded Ryder, as he decided to play along. That was another thing about Chase, he could afford to take a lighter tone with him, as his personal guilt would do the lion's share of what a scolding would. "How long were you in on this job, and how deeply were you involved?" asked Ryder
"I promised I wouldn't tell that she had been reading books she should not have been," confessed the repentant, tan bellied dog.
"You do know what she's been reading, right?" asked Ryder.
Chase shook his head.
Ryder sighed. "At least Mr. detective over here probably has a passing familiarity with at least some of these works," thought Ryder, who then went over to retrieve the list.
Skye gulped at the same thought. As soon as Ryder began listing the titles, Skye closed her eyes and waited for him to be done. After he finished, she looked up, and saw the most disturbing thing she had ever seen. There was Chase, his face plastered with a thesaurus entry for disgusted, his fur had a slight green tint, and he was quite visibly retching.
After Chase regained control of himself, he stated, "I knew she was reading things she shouldn't, but I never thought it was that!"
Ryder smiled at learning this. This meant he wouldn't have to be as hard on him, which made things less unpleasant, at least from his perspective.
"What were your motivations?" hammed Ryder.
Chase became visibly uncomfortable.
"No withholding evidence, Chase."
"Well," began the embarrassed Shepherd. "I… tried to steal a treat, and she caught me in the act. She said she wouldn't tell on me if I didn't tell on her for the library books," confessed the little officer. I just couldn't bear the idea of having to confess to everybody like I did half a year ago," cried the little pup. "The following three days, sniff, were so stressful, sniff, like I was being hunted, Sniff, and had nowhere to hide," bawled the young canine.
Ryder ran over to him, effectively hitting the pause button on his chat with the two pups. He realized this was his fault. "I had never intended to make him feel paranoid or hunted, or for that punishment to have this great an impact on him. If I had been upfront with him about what I was trying to accomplish, and why I involved the other pups, this might not have happened," thought rider self-loathingly.
"Sh, sh, Chase, I'm here, let's talk about it."
The little Shepherd looked up and sniffed before nodding.
"First, as naughty as stealing a treat is, lying is a much more serious matter, so I had to be firm with you. If she had told on you back when she caught you, I would've just given you a firm talking to, and even less if you had turned yourself in. Second, since the other pups look up to you, I couldn't take the risk they would emulate what you did, so I had to make an example of you. I know this is a heavy collar to wear, and trust me, I felt really bad about having to do it. Third, do you know why I wanted to make you feel like you couldn't hide?"
Chase looked back at him.
"So you couldn't run away from what you'd done, and would have to face up to it. Understand?"
"I think so," said Chase quietly.
"Did you face it?" asked Ryder.
Chase nodded quietly.
"Did you think about what you did?"
He nodded again.
"Did you feel bad about what you did?"
He nodded a third time.
"Will you ever do it again?"
The little dog shook his head.
"Then that's all that matters," said Ryder before kissing him on the forehead. "Come on Chase, let's put this behind us now."
After helping him back to his feet, Ryder gave him a kind, but firm look, and began, "You're still in trouble Chase, but not as much as you could've been, and not as much as you were half a year ago. Consider the fact that your involvement in this scheme was very limited, you didn't know what she was reading, and that you wouldn't have agreed to this if she hadn't caught you red pawed as time off for good behavior. The other pups don't have to know about your involvement here, but before I go over to talk to Skye, I want you to think about this. Agreeing to her offer got you into more trouble than you would have been in if you hadn't. I want you to think about that," finished Ryder.
He then went over to Skye, effectively un-pausing the chat, and looked down sternly at the cockapoo with her now empty bag, and began, "you, on the other hand, are in more trouble than Chase was half a year ago."
Skye clenched her eyes shut in anticipation of pain.
"Skye," began Ryder, "it's been two years since you left your parents. The fact they did that to you is specifically why I refuse to, and on top of that, no pup, except maybe Sweetie, deserves that kind of treatment.
Skye relaxed a bit.
Ryder then looked back at her sternly again. "I won't ever hit you, but make no mistake, Skye, you are up to your ears and trouble, and you are going to be punished.
Skye gave a resigned nod.
"First, since I obviously can't trust you with your own library card, I've canceled it," he began. "No more of those books, Skye!"
"What if I need to get a book from the li…," began Skye.
"Then pick it out, and me or Chase will check it out for you," interrupted Ryder.
The downtrodden pilot nodded.
"Second, you are grounded for a week," added Ryder firmly.
"Third, like Chase six months ago, you are going to tell the other pups why you're in trouble."
"What do I tell them?" she asked guiltily?
"That you were going behind my back to read things you knew you should not have been, and that you are being grounded for a week as punishment," stated her master. "Over the next few days, take the other pups' disappointment in you as a push to think about what you've done," he added, remembering Chase's recent panic attack.
Skye nodded as she acknowledged her charred goose.
"Fourth, since you are clearly so interested in mating and things relating to it, I have arranged for Katie to give you a lesson on the reality of such things," he informed in a condescendingly sarcastic tone. It had been a nightmare of twenty minutes arguing back and forth over the phone to get her to do this for him, let alone placing extra emphasis on the more disgusting and more frightening aspects. In the end it took the "for her safety" argument to get her to agree, and only on the condition that he never involve her in any of the pups' discipline ever again.
"Finally, tomorrow you and I will take a trip down to the library, where I will return those books, and you will give a certain security guard an apology. There's no way around it Skye, you need to own up to lying to him," he concluded.
He then turned his eyes to Chase. "Chase, for trying to coverup Skye's activity, you get to join her for Katie's lesson."
"Now, I think it's time you two got to sleep," stated Ryder as he marked the end of the chat. "Skye, I will be coming with you to collect those books," he added firmly.
As the three were riding the elevator down, Ryder suddenly said, I hope you two both realize I love you, and I am doing this so that, unlike sweetie, you become better pups."
Chase gave his usual loyal nod, while Skye stubbornly refused to speak.
Ryder sighed at Sky's silence. He really hated having to do this, but realized that sometimes he had to.
Skye then tried to engage with Chase, but despite having kissed her earlier that night, he turned his nose up at her.
"Knowing how he feels about Skye, he isn't going to stay mad at her for more than at most a week," thought Ryder to himself.
The end
Notes:
Lied Ryder: He is trying to hide the fact Marshall told on them.
He's doing this to relieve stress: Chase is using this tongue-in-cheek pseudo-roleplay aspect to take the edge off his momentary anxiety. Ryder plays along on the logic that Chase will be more willing to talk if he is less stressed.
Chase's panic attack: The point here is that Ryder acknowledged he screwed up, and he is taking responsibility for it.
I felt really bad about having to do it: Suggests Ryder didn't feel doing this to him was necessarily fair, but the circumstances forced his hand.
Arranged for Katie to give you a lesson on the reality of such things: the "be careful what you wish for" implied by Ryder's statements, this is not actually his true intent.
Reviews:
Guest:
Spot on about the Princess and Sweetie. I personally enjoyed suggesting that The Princess just doesn't get the concept of discipline. Your close with Ryder on discipline. It's less that he doesn't, and more only when he has to, and really hates doing it. Mentions of Everest and Jake, Carlos and Tracker, and Sid and Arrby is largely Ryder's criticism of the Princess's relationship with Sweetie. The Tuck and Ella reference was more a slap at the show's writers from not doing more with them.
cfrugge444: I want to read your re-response pm, but I can't because you have me blocked or something.
The point of both this story, and its sister fic "Doing the Uncomfortable" was not only to further explore the library book incident, but to explore Ryder as a responsible, and ultimately loving father figure. Additionally, I want to continue with the series' running theme of Ryder putting the putting the pups' wellbeing ahead of his own personal comfort. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed both stories, and would love to hear if you liked them. Don't forget to leave a review if you have comments, questions, or suggestions.