(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
Rescue Twins
Marshall and Cinder were awoken from their nap by the station alarm going off. Marshall leaped off the bean bag chair, dumping Cinder into the center of the chair as he took off to get dress out. "Come on Cinder!" Marshall yelled as Cinder fought her way out of the beanbag chair and she took off after Marshall, listening to LT Joe relaying the information from dispatch"
"WE HAVE A REPORT OF A PERSON HAVING A HEART ATTACK ON A SAILBOAT IN THE BAY. THE SAILBOAT IS SAILING TO THE PIER AT THE WATERFRONT PARK. ALL UNITS RESPOND CODE 3."
Marshall grabbed his medic pack and hopped up into the cab of Medic 25, activating the vehicle bay doors on his way up. Cinder slid to a stop in front of her locker in the vehicle bay. She threw her gear on quickly, "Ok team let's load and…" Cinder turned around and realized every eye on the team was looking at her from the two trucks, "go" she finished sheepishly as she ran to Engine 25 and hopped into the cab next to LT Joe. With a honk of the horn and a wail of the sirens, the two trucks pulled out from the fire station and headed to the waterfront park.
Snowflake was playing ball with some other pups at the waterfront park when she heard sirens approaching. She didn't take much notice until she saw an ambulance and fire truck pulling into the parking lot. She and the other pups stopped to watch.
As the two trucks stopped, Marshall hopped into the back of Medic 25 and tossed the cardiac kit bag on the stretcher while Ashley opened the back of the ambulance so that they could unload the stretcher.
Cinder made her on scene report to dispatch, hopped out of Engine 25 and was about to start giving orders when she realized that no one was waiting for her. Pedro, the engineer for Engine 25 was helping Dave, the driver for Medic 25, unload the stretcher with a kit bag from the ambulance while Marshall and Ashley were already jogging over to the dock. "So I guess they already have a plan they are executing" Cinder softly said to LT Joe as he climbed down from Engine 25.
"You'll find, Cinder," LT Joe said with a smile, "that you don't have to do much in terms of giving orders to the LF 25 crews. By chance did you already switch your radio over to TAC-5?"
"Umm," Cinder checked her radio before softly sheepishly replying "No…"
"Sorry, I should have mentioned it earlier" LT Joe replied, "Not that you missed anything. For a medical emergency, we let Marshall take the lead. The engine crews already know to support him so he doesn't usually doesn't put out anything specific unless he needs to. In this case, Marshall and Ashley are going to get to where we are meeting the patient while Dave and the rest of the team bring the stretcher and any other gear that we might need."
"Sounds too easy" Cinder softly replied as they followed the team over to the dock.
"Are you used to having to give lots of direction to your teams?" LT Joe asked.
Cinder nodded. "Well, looks like your biggest challenge with us is going to be letting the team go through their paces" LT Joe said with a smile. "They are some of the best crews in the city, they know what they are doing 90% of the time. You have to give them the space to work but also have a keen eye to know when you have to step in and command. It will be a fine line to walk."
Snowflake saw a Dalmatian she wanted to become familiar with running across from the stopped fire engine and ambulance to the dock, along with what appeared to be another paramedic. She was about to walk over and strike up a conversation when she realized that he was probably busy and now was not a good time. Snowflake turned her head back and saw three more pups and four humans walking along the path with a stretcher. Snowflake decided to ask them what was going on.
As Snowflake approached, she realized that the three pups were a perfectly toned and athletic female yellow lab, an alluringly curvy American water spaniel and a positively gorgeous Dalmatian. Great, he works with competition for me Snowflake thought to herself jealously. Seeing that the Dalmatian was walking and talking with the human in charge and since she didn't like talking around adults, Snowflake decided to ask the Lab and Spaniel what was going on. It also helped that they were at the back of the group. Snowflake knew she was pretty, but she was definitely intimidated by the Dalmatian, though she felt she could probably stack up well enough against the Lab and the Spaniel if it came down to it.
"Hi there, I saw you guys pull up, is something wrong?" Snowflake barked as she ran up and started walking with the two fire pups.
"Hello there," Rain replied, "someone on a boat had a heart attack, we are here to make sure that they are ok."
"Oh wow, that sounds serious, do you need any help?" Snowflake asked. Dog gone it, why did I ask that? Of course they don't need my help, there are trained professionals Snowflake thought.
"No, we should be good" Splash replied with a swish of her curly tail, "Thank you for offering though."
"You aren't a news pup are you?" Snowflake heard a soft voice ask from her other side. She turned to see the Dalmatian staring at her.
"Uh, no" Snowflake replied nervously. Why am I so intimidated by her? I mean, she has a body that could give a pup a heart attack but those eyes looked like they could stop traffic all on their own. And her voice commands a pup to listen even though it is so quiet.
"Ok, I didn't think so but I wanted to be sure" the Dalmatian replied softly with a smile.
"Lighten up Cinder" Splash said with a quiet laugh, "there isn't a newshound anywhere in this park unless an event is going on."
"Sorry" Cinder softly said, "I just want to make sure everything goes well on my first rescue with all of you.
"Trying to impress Marshall?" Rain retorted in a sultry voice while she fluttered her eyes at Cinder.
Cinder just stuck her tongue out at the yellow lab before trotting off to rejoin LT Joe.
"Rude" Splash said, giving Rain a gentle swipe across the ears with her paw.
Snowflake was about to excuse herself when she heard an unexpected splash. She turned her head to the dock and saw Marshall paddling his way out to a sailboat that did not appear to be moving.
"What does Marshall think he is doing?" Cinder said before she and LT Joe took off at a light jog. LT Joe waved to Pedro, Kelly, Dave, Rain and Splash that they did not have to run.
"Hmm, odd" Rain said absentmindedly.
"Well, if you end up needing help, there are some pups just over that hill playing if you need us" Snowflake said.
"Thank you" Splash said, giving the husky a smile, "that may end up being sooner rather than later."
As Snowflake trotted back to the other pups, she pondered the banter she had heard. Well, it sounds like Cinder is new, so she hasn't had a chance to let her body do the talking to the cave pup side of Marshall's brain. Also sounds like she is nervous around him which works in my favor. Maybe I'll get to talk to him today…
Meanwhile, Cinder and LT Joe had joined Ashley on the dock. "Why did Marshall jump in?" Cinder softly asked Ashley.
"The wind died out" Ashley replied, "Marshall went to go check the patient while we figure out how to get them to shore."
"This is one of those command moments isn't it" Cinder softly said, turning her head to LT Joe.
"That it is Fire Captain Cinder" LT Joe said with a smile. Ashley let out a laugh before she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Well," Cinder softly said thoughtfully, turning to look at the becalmed sailboat. "If they had a working engine on the sailboat, they would have used it by now so we can assume that either they don't have one or it isn't working."
"Marshall is going to check that assumption when he gets aboard anyway, just in case they forgot" Ashley chimed in. LT Joe nodded approvingly.
"Great," Cinder softly continued, "they are about 50 yards from the dock, so 150 feet. We don't have a 200 foot long rope on the engine, do we?"
"Unfortunately no, we don't" Pedro replied as he, Dave, Kelly, Rain and Splash joined them on the dock.
"But we have 400 feet of hose" Cinder softly replied, a plan forming in her mind. "Will that float?"
"The brass fittings on the ends won't" Pedro replied thoughtfully, "but the length of hose in-between should, or at least be neutrally buoyant."
"Ok," Cinder softly replied, her tail wagging. "We can connect together four 50 foot sections to give us a 200 foot length. I'll swim the end out to the boat and tie it off. Rain and Splash will support the joints so it doesn't sink. Once I have it tied off, we can pull them to shore."
"Sounds reasonable" LT Joe said thoughtfully, "What if we can't pull the weight of the hose and the sail boat?"
"That husky Cinder scared earlier said she and some other pups were playing just over the hill" Rain chimed in, "They offered to help if we needed it."
"And between them and the people fishing on the dock" Cinder continued softly, "we should have more than enough." LT Joe nodded in approval before Cinder continued. "Pedro, Kelly, Splash, and Dave, run back to the truck and get the hose we need. Rain, see if you can find those pups and get them to help us. I don't think I scared her but if she doesn't want to come, tell her that I'm sorry for scaring her. Use all charm necessary."
Remember Rain, we need them strong and able to pull, not limp and brain dead!" Splash teased as she started running back to Engine 25 with the three humans.
"No promises!" Rain replied as she ran off the find the other pups.
Cinder shook her head in amusement before she softly continued, "I'll swim out and let Marshall and the crew of the boat know the plan. L-T, Capt., can you two let the fisherman know we need their help?"
"Sure thing Cinder" LT Joe and Ashley replied.
With that, Cinder leapt off the dock and into the bay. Brrr, why does it have to be so cold! Cinder thought to herself as she swam towards the sailboat.
Marshall hauled himself out of the water, expertly climbing the ladder up to the deck of the sailboat until he was on deck. "Hi there, my name is Marshall and I'm a paramedic, we heard someone had a heart attack and are here to help."
"We are so glad you are here" The captain of the sailboat extended a hand to Marshall, which he shook," the patient is below decks, resting."
"Great, let me just shake off and I'll be right down" Marshal said as he stepped to the edge and shook the water out of his fur. "By the way, you don't have a working engine do you?"
"Unfortunately, no" The captain replied with a shake of his head.
"No worries, just though I'd ask" Marshall said as the captain led him below deck. Marshall stepped down into what appeared to be a kitchenette and a small dining cabin. It seemed reasonably spacious considered the size of the sailboat. The captain led him further forward into the sleeping cabin. Inside, an elderly gentleman was laying on the bed resting. "Hi there, my name is Marshall. I'm a paramedic and I'm here to help you. What symptoms did you have that made you feel like you were having a heart attack?"
"Hello Marshall, my name is George. My chest felt very tight and the pain spread to my back and shoulders. Also, I became short of breath and felt light headed."
"Ok, that does sound like a heart attack." Marshall replied as he mentally checked boxes in his head. "Have you taken any aspirin?"
"No, we don't have any on the boat unfortunately" George replied.
"Ruff, aspirin!" Marshall barked, startling George slightly. "Ok, George, I want you to take one of the aspirin from my pack and chew it." Marshall directed, "It will help keep your blood from clotting until we can get you to the hospital."
"Ok Marshall" George replied as he took an aspirin and chewed it, following it with a drink of water.
"Hang in their George," Marshall said, patting him on the thigh, "I'm going to go check and see where the rest of my team is at with getting us to shore and I'll be right back down." George nodded and Marshall walked up onto the deck of the sailboat.
Shielding his eyes from the sun, Marshall heard a bark from the side. Recognizing it, he ran to the railing and looked down to see Cinder treading water. "Hi Cinder," Marshall called down, "got a plan to get us to shore?"
"We are going to use a hose as a rope to pull you to shore" Cinder softly replied.
"Great, where is the hose?" Marshall asked, confused.
"They are getting it off the truck now," Cinder softly replied, "I just came to let you know, I'll be back shortly with it."
"Why didn't you just radio me the plan?" Marshall asked, patting the radio attached to his shoulder with his paw.
"Why didn't you leave that behind with Ashley?" Cinder softly asked, confused.
"Because I have a waterproof radio," Marshall said, perplexed, "Everyone on the crew has a waterproof radio, did they not give you one?"
"No!" Cinder barked up at her brother.
Marshall keyed his radio, "L-T, we need to get Cinder a waterproof radio when we get back to the station."
"Her radio is waterproof" LT Joe replied back, "I was wondering why she left it here on the dock."
Cinder smacked the water in frustration, she felt silly, "I'll just go back and get that hose now" She barked up to Marshall before swimming away. Marshall waved jauntily at her before heading back down into the cabin of the sailboat to check on George.
LT Joe met Cinder with an amused grin when she got back to the dock. Cinder shook herself off before giving him a mock glare. "Did you enjoy your swim?" LT Joe asked.
"It was cold" Cinder softly replied.
"You didn't ask" LT Joe answered her unasked question with a smirk.
"When we get back, we are going over all the equipment to make sure I'm not missing any other key differences" Cinder softly intoned.
LT Joe's smile disappeared, "All of it?" he asked.
"Assume I forgot everything" Cinder softly replied with a smirk of her own before she walked past him to check on the rest of the teams preparations. "I might remember a few things by the time we get back, we'll see."
LT Joe smiled as he followed her up the dock.
Cinder smiled, her team was almost done connecting the four hoses together and she could see Rain walking back with a pack of pups to help. "Ok guys and gals, before we get started, I want to say thank you for helping." Snowflake and all the pups with her nodded.
"Pedro, tie one end of the hose to the dock, just in case we drop it" Cinder started directing everyone. "Rain, Splash, be ready to support the joints as they go in. Can I get one of you pups to be ready to support the third joint in case it becomes too much for us?" One of the pups barked an acknowledgement. "Ok, let's get to work then!"
Cinder took the free end of the hose in her mouth and jumped off the dock. It was slightly heavier once wet, as opposed to dry, but nothing she couldn't handle. Cinder started swimming towards the sailboat. As she swam, she heard the splashes of Rain and Splash jumping in to help handle the hose. Once she reached the sailboat, Cinder carefully climbed the ladder to the deck. The captain grabbed the end of the hose from her as she neared the top and took it to the bow of the sailboat. Cinder scampered the rest of the way of the ladder and then joined the captain on the bow. The two of them carefully tied the end of the firehose through the bullnose of the sailboat so it could be pulled straight. Cinder gave and extra tug to make sure it was secure. "Ok, can you keep an eye on it from this end?" Cinder asked the captain.
"Absolutely" he replied.
"Great, I'm going to head back over and help them pull" Cinder said before she keyed her radio. "L-T, go ahead and take the slack out and start pulling, we'll be back as soon as the hose is out of the water."
"You got it Cinder" LT Joe replied.
With that, Cinder dove back into the water and started swimming towards the dock. On her way, she collected Rain and Splash as their connections were lifted out of the water. Reaching the dock, the three pups shook the water from their fur before heading to join the pups and humans pulling. When Cinder reached them, she saw that they were building too much momentum. "Great job guys, we've got it moving. Now remember that the sailboat doesn't have any breaks so we don't want to pull too fast; just keep a nice steady strain on the fire hose."
As the pups and humans responded to Cinder's direction, Snowflake was thinking. I think I know why she intimidates me, it is because she is a leader. She has no problem diving in and getting her paws dirty, or wet in this case, but she also knows how to motivate and guide a team. Her looks seem to pair so well with that, I pity the pup who underestimates her just because she is attractive. I wonder what Marshall thinks about her?
As the sailboat neared the dock, Cinder had the team just maintain slight tension on the fire hose. "Ok, the sailboat is almost here. Pedro and Kelly, get ready to catch the mooring lines and tie it to the dock." Cinder directed. The two firefighters moved into position and moored the sailboat to the dock as soon as the captain threw them the lines. Ashley hopped aboard and scurried down inside to check on Marshall and the patient.
Marshall felt the sailboat bump into the dock. "Almost there George, we'll get you out of here and to the hospital so you can get checked and they can evaluate if you need longer term care.
"Sounds good, Marshall" George replied, "Thank you for coming out and making sure I was ok."
"Happy to help" Marshall replied with a smile. As Ashley came down the ladder into the cabin, Marshall spoke to her, "Based on the symptoms, it was a reasonably severe heart attack. Fortunately, he didn't lose consciousness, but we need to get him to the hospital to get checked out fairly quickly, code 2 should be fine."
"Sounds good Marshall" Ashley replied, "Let's get him out of here and on our way."
"George, do you think you can walk?" Marshall asked.
"I think so," George replied, "I may need a hand on the stairs though."
"Ok, Ashley, help from down here, I'll get Dave to help from up top" Marshall said before running up the ladder to get Dave.
As Dave and Ashley guided George up and out of the sailboat, Cinder came over and stood next to Marshall, "Status?" she softly inquired.
"So formal sis" Marshall replied with a laugh before updating her, "Severe heart attack, conscious and partially ambulatory, code 2 to the hospital to get checked out. Dave, Ashley and I got it, you can start getting cleaned up."
"Isn't that my decision?" Cinder softly teased.
"It is," Marshall conceded. "I'm just a humble paramedic making a recommendation, you can stay here all afternoon with wet hoses if you want" he added with a smirk.
"No thanks, cleaning up sounds like a good plan" Cinder softly acquiesced with a smirk of her own. Turning back to everyone else, she got their attention with a bark. "Alright, Team 25, let's get everything back on the truck so we can head out. Can I get everyone who helped around me please?"
Snowflake, the pups and all the fishermen clustered around the Dalmatian. "I wanted to thank you for your help. Without you, this would have been almost impossible for us to accomplish on our own. You help ensured that we were able to get that gentlemen to shore and get him the care he needs. Thank you, again, for your help."
A chorus of "you're welcomes" answered her. With a smile, Cinder turned to watch the trio of Paramedics get George onto the stretcher. Then she felt a paw tap her on her shoulder. She turned to see a two-tone grey husky with a smattering of white sit down next to her.
"I wanted to say I think you guys did a great job" Snowflake nervously said. "I didn't think you would accept our help."
"Thank you" Cinder softly replied, "Thank you for offering to help, it was quite helpful. I know that sounds silly but it is true. We can't do everything ourselves sometimes and it is because of caring pups like you that we are able to save people."
Snowflake blushed at the compliment, "Thank you, I'm just glad we were here to help. My name is Snowflake by the way"
"It is a pleasure to meet you Snowflake" Cinder softly said, "By chance have you been helped by the fire department recently?"
"Yes in fact," Snowflake shyly replied, "I crash landed my parachute on this very pier and fell into the water. Marshall dove in and save me from drowning."
"Did he now" Cinder softly replied with laughter dancing across her eyes, "Thank goodness for that."
"Yes, it was scary" Snowflake admitted, blushing, "but I survived and I'm glad I was table to help someone else out."
"Me too" Cinder said as she watched Marshall, Ashley and Dave drive off with George in the back of Medic 25. "Have you ever thought about becoming a fire and rescue pup?"
"Who, me?" Snowflake yipped in surprise.
"Sure, you seem like you care about people and really that is all it takes" Cinder replied with a smile, "the fire academy will teach you everything you need to know, so all you need to do is give your best effort every day."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence" Snowflake replied, "I might just look into joining."
"Either way, maybe we'll see you again sometime" Cinder said with a smile, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a report to write up and it looks like my team is done cleaning up. Take care Snowflake."
"Bye bye" Snowflake waved as Cinder trotted over to rejoin her crew on Engine 25. You know, that is a great idea, if I become a firefighter that would give me an opportunity to be around Marshall more. The possibility that she could be assigned to a different fire station didn't enter her mind. But that is a big choice to make, I can save that for later. Also, Marshall isn't going anywhere anytime soon so I have time to get to know him more and vice versa. Plus, even if I just did rescues and helped out, I would need to learn how to work with Marshall and the other firefighter anyways! The only one I really have to worry about is Cinder, but she didn't seem terribly interested. Maybe it is because she is new and Marshall's charm hasn't had an effect on her yet. Again, I have time to do it right and ensure I knock Marshall's socks off!
(A/N: Special thanks to Bluewolfbat for continuing to allow his OC Snowflake to have a role in these stories and especially for his help with some of her thoughts!)