Hey guys, here's the tenth chapter! I should probably stop promising when I'll post because I never live up to expectations XD, so next chapter coming SOON.

Once again thank you for all your reviews! I know, the guests are being quite aggressive and annoying, but hey, with every piece of work there is, there will be haters. We just have to ignore them and not give them anything to feed of off :) And don't worry, a simple nasty comment would never deprive me from my work, this story will be completed! Anyways, enough rambling, hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

Music blasted through the air in City Hall. The atmosphere was electric. Everyone's favourite songs were coming on and the pups, along everyone at the party, were dancing it out and having an amazing time. Chase, Marshall and Zuma were in their own little group on the dance floor while the other pups were scattered around among the crowds.

There was a brief pause after the previous song had ended, which was normal in between songs so nobody thought anything of it. Only this time, when music started playing from the speaker, it was different than the rest of the songs so far. A slow beat, smooth rhythm. Chase's heart felt like it stopped. It was a slow song.

Before the german shepherd could try and make his way off the dance floor, Zuma grabbed him.

"You can't chicken out now dude. Not after everything we've done so far." Zuma told him.

Marshall caught up to them.

"Come on Chase, now's your moment." Marshall insisted.

Chase knew he wasn't ready. He was so nervous and worried. He tried to think of an excuse to get out of doing it just yet.

"Uh, come guys it's the first slow song." He chuckled, trying to play this off, "I don't want to rush anything."

Chase bit his lip, hoping this excuse was enough to get the pups off his back for now at least.

Marshall and Zuma slowly made eye contact while considering Chase's objection.

"He does have a point," Marshall concluded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. No need to rush things." Zuma agreed.

A wave of relief came upon Chase after hearing this. He was safe… for now.

X

On the other side of the dance floor, Skye and Everest were talking as the slow song slowly came to an end. Skye's expression evidently turned into a quite disappointed one, and Everest knew why.

"Don't worry Skye, it was the first slow song. There's many more to come." Everest consoled her best friend as the next fast song came on.

"Yeah, that's true. I guess I'm just a bit desperate for something to happen." Skye blushed.

Everest gave her a friendly hug.

"Nothing to be ashamed of Skye, you love Chase and that's the truth. You should be happy about that. I'm sure deep down he loves you too and he will show that by asking you to dance tonight. I know he will." Everest assured the cockapoo.

"Thanks Everest. That really means a lot." Skye embraced Everest's statement.

Just then, Rubble and Rocky walked by.

"Hey pups, have you by any chance seen Chase around here?" Rocky asked them.

"Nope." Skye sighed.

"You haven't?" Rubble said confused, as he thought Chase was planning on asking Skye to dance.

They two girl pups shook their heads.

"Oh, okay. Thanks anyway, see you around." Rocky waved goodbye.

The two pups walked around through the crowds to try and find their german shepherd friend, eager to confront him about why he hadn't asked Skye to dance. Eventually they spotted Zuma, Marshall and Chase in the distance and approached them.

"Chase!" Rocky snapped at the police pup.

"Why didn't you ask Skye to dance? Didn't we go through this a gazillion of times?" Rubble confronted him.

"It's okay guys, calm down." Marshall reassured the two pups.

"Yeah, it was the first slow song and Chase didn't want to rush things. You can't blame him." Zuma sympathized with Chase.

Rocky thought that sounded like a lame excuse for Chase to get out of asking Skye, but he also couldn't really blame him for being nervous. Besides, there were going to be plenty of slow songs to come.

"I guess that's reasonable," the mixed breed relented, "Sorry for barking at you."

"Yeah, we were a bit too aggressive." the bulldog apologized as well.

"That's okay, you had a reason to be annoyed." Chase forgave them.

"But you're not off the hook Chase. You are going to ask Skye to dance. We're doing this for you you know." Zuma informed him.

"I know.." Chase sighed.

The mood was a bit depressing after that, so Marshall quickly tried to think of something to change the subject. When the next fast song came on, he got an idea.

"Hey guys!" Marshall exclaimed, "Tailspin!"

The pups smiled and joined Marshall before crashing into each other and landing in a dog pile, laughing their tails off. This took the situation off of Chase and all the other pup's minds, including Skye and Everest who were now enjoying themselves on their own as well.

Many of the pups' favourite songs came on and kept them entertained for the next half hour. It was around ten o'clock, when the next slow song came on. All the guy pups focused their eyes on Chase, who blushed realizing what he was going to have to do next.

"Wow, all this dancing really has me tired. How about we take a break for a bit, shall we?" Chase suggested, starting to walk away and escape the rest of the pups.

"Ah ah ah, not so fast Chase!" Rocky jogged over to block him.

Zuma followed him, "You may have been let off the hook last time, but you're not getting away this time."

"Uhh, but I.. am hungry! Yes, I'm starving!" Chase lied.

"We just had dinner AND dessert a few hours ago." Marshall pointed out.

"Stop with the excuses Chase. There's no fooling us." Rubble warned him.

"Chase listen, the sooner you get this over and done with, the better it will be." Rocky soothed him, "Besides, you just fast danced with her for an hour and won a gold medal in a dance competition. It's the same thing."

"It isn't though," Chase countered, "That was friendly stuff. We were just having fun. Slow dancing is different."

Zuma sighed, "Chase, the more you wait, the harder you're making it for yourself. I say you go and just do it now. She won't say no to you Chase, you look amazing tonight and you're an amazing pup."

"There's no point now, the song's basically over," Chase indicated, "I promise, I will ask her. If we only danced for the last little bit of a song, it wouldn't really be fulfilling."

Rocky groaned, "Fine. But next slow song you have to ask her right away."

"Deal." Chase said as the current slow song had finally ended, thinking he got lucky by stalling them.

The all expected another fast song to start playing but to their surprise, and unfortunately for Chase, another slow song came on. All the pups' faces lit up, minus Chase's of course.

"Well, go on Chase. It's the next slow song." Rubble reminded him.

"But..I-I uh.." Chase stuttered.

"Chase listen to me," Marshall said, "Remember the back flip you did earlier."

"Um, yeah..?" Chase recalled, not really sure what that had to do with the current situation.

"Do what you did then," Marshall continued, "Don't think about it, just do it!"

Chase thought about when he did that back flip. Marshall raised a good point. Chase smiled at his friend. He lifted his chin up, and made his way toward Skye.

Marshall's words really helped Chase and gave him some encouragement. As began walking towards Skye, his eyes became glued into her and she occupied his thoughts. She was just standing there so innocently, so pretty, and so cute. Chase was caught in a daze but then began to think, which Marshall strictly warned him not to do. The thinking slowly lead to doubting, which then lead to worrying again. Suddenly, he found himself standing right in front of Skye, unsure what to do or say.

"Hey Chase!" Skye greeted him happily, having high hopes that this was the moment she'd been waiting for.

Everest thought for sure this would be their moment, so she stepped back a bit, giving the two some space.

"Uhh, H-hey Skye. I was just wondering if y-you, uhh wanted, um," Chase stammered. He realized he couldn't do this. Not right now at least. His heart was in his throat and he was all panicky.

"I was wondering if you wanted something from the dessert table. I'm heading over there now." Chase spat out quickly, backing out of his original question.

A looked of disappointment was brought upon Skye's face.

"No. I'm fine, thanks." She responded quietly.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you later then…" Chase sighed, walking back towards the guys. He had gotten so far, all the way to asking Skye the question, only to completely bottle it. That was his chance.

"Ugh, Chase! What's wrong with you?!" He quietly said to himself. He knew he was in for some trouble when he was to return to his buddies.

The rest of the guys saw Chase walking back with his head down. This did not look like a good sign.

"Uh oh.." Marshall let out as he spotted and pointed at Chase, who was walking back towards them.

"No.. there's no way she could have rejected him." Rubble said in disbelief.

"Didn't Everest say that Skye liked him?" Zuma recalled.

"That's what Everest told me." Rocky answered.

The german shepherd inched closer to the gang, head still down. Chase was worried about how they would react after he reached them. Little did he know, the rest of them thought he was returning for a whole different reason.

"Okay guys, we didn't prepare for this, but we need to give all our support to Chase. He's gonna need it." Rocky warned the rest of them.

"You got it." Zuma responded for all the pups.

Chase lifted his head up as he reached them, expecting frustrated glares from his friends. To his surprise, he got the complete opposite reaction. They were smiling at him, almost sympathetically. Before he could even open his mouth to question what the faces were for, Marshall came up to him, and hugged him.

"We're here for you Chase, it's okay." Marshall comforted him.

"Yeah Chase, at least you gave it your best shot." Rubble added.

Chase gave a confused look at the rest of the pups.

"Don't worry dude. There's plenty of other fish in the sea!" Zuma smiled at him, "I can help you find someone else!"

It struck Chase like a bullet. Oh no! They think I got rejected, Chase gulped. A wave of guilt hit him smack dab in the face after realizing that. Here his friends were, having his back and caring for him, thinking he had just been turned down by the love of his life, when in reality he hadn't even had the guts to ask her. He didn't want to lie to the pups so he decided he should tell them what really happened, or at least try to...

"Guys you shouldn't be doing this, I-" he was interrupted by Marshall, who by the way still had his arms around him.

"Shh, Chase. It's okay. We're your friends, of course we are going to be here for you." Marshall sympathized.

Chase sighed, knowing that now they'd be twice as mad at him when he'd actually get the chance to tell everyone the truth.

Meanwhile, Everest didn't even need to see Skye's face after what had just happened. The pup who she had such strong feelings for walked up to her during a slow song, got her hopes up, only for him to ask a completely irrelevant question. She knew that had hurt Skye, a lot.

"It's okay Skye, just forget that happened." Everest tried to change the subject, "There's still two hours left. Let's have some fun."

Skye didn't respond, but rather let out a sigh of disappointment. Everest was actually quite mad at Chase for deceiving Skye like that. She was about to march right over there and lecture him, but quickly realized that Chase still had no clue that Everest knew his secret.

"Hold on, I'll be right back." Everest said, walking away from the crowd momentarily to call Rocky.

X

In the midst of everyone comforting Chase, Rocky's pup tag went off, so he excused himself and walked off the dancefloor where he could be in private.

"Hello?" Rocky answered.

"Is Chase with you?" Everest snapped.

"Woah… uh, yeah, he is. What's with the attitude?" Rocky inquired, surprised by Everest's aggression.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. But if only you had seen what just happened…" She groaned.

"Why? What happened? Did Chase do something?" Rocky asked her.

Everest retold the whole story, from when Chase walked up to Skye, to when he asked her if she wanted something to eat. Understandably, Rocky got just as angry as Everest was.

"You have got to be kidding me," Rocky responded after discovering what had actually happened.

"Right?" Everest agreed with him.

"Here we were, comforting him, because we thought Skye had turned him down. Oh, he's in for it alright." Rocky spat.

"So he was about to ask Skye to dance, but then chickened out?" Everest comprehended.

"It appears so. Don't worry, he will ask Skye tonight and we'll make sure of that, trust me. Just try to keep Skye's confidence up in the meantime." Rocky requested.

"You got it! Over and out." She signed off and walked back to Skye. The slow song had ended by now and Skye was still a bit upset. Everest came and hugged her from behind. Skye looked back and smiled. Despite everything so far, she wanted to stay positive and optimistic, like the usual pup she was. This minor detail wasn't going to ruin her night.

"Thanks Ev." Skye accepted the hug.

"I'm here for you," Everest reassured her, "Just promise me one thing, don't lose hope."

The hug broke and Skye smiled at Everest and nodded, assuring her that all hope wasn't lost. Besides, the dance was only about half way done.

Meanwhile, Rocky was making his way back to the guys, understandably in an angrier mood. He saw Marshall patting Chase's back. When he looked at Chase and made eye contact, he could see the guilt right through the german shepherd's face.

"Cut it out Marshall." Rocky demanded. Marshall obeyed and stepped back a bit, tilting his head at the mixed-breed, confused why he would say such a thing. The other pups looked at him funny too.

"So Chase, when were you going to tell us that you didn't even ask Skye to dance?" Rocky confronted Chase. The rest of the pups instantly turned their heads to Chase in annoyance.

"Oh my gosh…" Zuma face-pawed.

"Seriously Chase?" Marshall rolled his eyes.

"Come on! You guys didn't even give me a chance to speak when I came back." Chase countered, "You guys assumed I got rejected."

"That's not the point Chase," Rubble indicated, "You were supposed to ask her."

"We're trying to help you Chase, and now you've wasted THREE opportunities," emphasized Rocky.

Chase sighed, knowing they were right.

"Oh I know!" He whimpered, "What's happened to me. I'm the second in command of the Paw Patrol and I can't even ask my own teammate a simple question."

He layed on his stomach and covered his eyes in shame. The pups could see he was emotionally stressed at the moment, and although they were frustrated with the german shepherd, they could understand why he chickened out.

Marshall went and patted his back again. They needed a new plan, something to give Chase enough confidence and courage so that in the heat of the moment, he could ask Skye to dance and not back out.

"Hey Chase," Rocky called to him.

Chase lifted his head up and looked at him.

"Get up! We're at a dance!" He smiled, cheered him on, "It's a time to have fun, and jump around!"

Rocky glanced at the other pups to help him.

"Yeah Chase! Listen! This is a good song!" Zuma encouraged him, taking Rocky's hint.

After a few more words of encouragement, Chase was back on his feet, dancing with his friends. Phase one was underway; clearing Chase's mind. Thinking about the situation was only going to make it worse, and harder for him to ask. For a little while at least, they all needed to loosen up a bit before they could get down to business.

UGHGHGHHKGHG! What are you doing Chase?! Just man up and ask her already! XD They better use the rest of their time wisely if they want to to happen tonight. Although, it looks like Marshall and the rest of the guys have a plan. Hopefully it's enough to encourage Chase... I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Honestly, I have no idea when the next Chapter will be out so I'll just leave it at coming soon ;) Peace out~