Sitting on a balcony, Chase's eyes remained glued onto the backyard. The place where he and his friends would spend hours playing. He couldn't tell for sure how long he had been sitting there, his hind legs having grown numb quite some time ago.

A warm breeze wafted over the top of his head, rounding over it and slithering down his spine.

Just like always, his mind had wandered off, and he found himself recounting almost every event that led him to this point. He couldn't help it. It was an impulse. An impulse that he never seemed to be able to control.

He watched the branches and leaves of a tree sway along with the wind.

Come to think of it, he didn't really have much control of anything, did he? He didn't have control over his own emotions, didn't have control of the pups he was supposed to be presenting a good example to, he didn't even have control over whether or not he felt like eating in the morning.

His ears perked up once he heard the sound of the elevator opening.

They soon flattened against his head. He knew exactly who it was. The same pup that had been constantly checking in on him from the moment they got back to the lookout.

Chase's eyes closed tight. There was no possible way he could go another round with her. He was grateful that she was as worried for him as she was, but at the same time. He didn't want to face her. He didn't want to face anybody. Not the others, not Skye, and certainly not Ryder.

"Chase?" He heard the familiar feminine voice call out to him. The way his heart began pounding in his chest made him believe that it was going to leap out of it at any moment.

He didn't speak. He didn't feel like speaking.

"Chase, you have to talk. If not to me, then Zuma. If not Zuma, then Tracker. If not Tracker, then maybe even Rubble..." He heard her beg, "Please, Chase. Just don't keep shutting all of us out. We're struggling too. The team is hurt too."

Standing behind him was Skye, who noticed that her teammate was having a hard time following his impromptu meeting with Marshall. She knew that Zuma and Rubble, who didn't know about Chase and Marshall's meet up, were still churned up inside. And when it came to Tracker, she never knew what he was thinking.

So it was left down to her. She would do whatever it took to help her team. The Cockapoo stared blankly at the back of Chase's head. No matter what, she'd bring back the smiles she had gotten used to waking up to each day. That would have to start with Chase.

"Chase, talk to me!" She pawed at his back, "Nothing's ever gonna get better if you just stay quiet!"

"What's there to talk about?"

Skye's eyes widened. She had managed to crack him, "Marshall. We talk about Marshall."

"Yeah, we fought. I know..." The Shepherd kept facing away from her, "There's nothing else. Let's move on to the next mission."

The aviator pup sighed, shaking her head, "We're not moving forward."

"What?"

"I said, we're not moving forward!" Skye moved from behind Chase and shifted to stand in front of him, "You can't just say it happened and push it down!"

Chase turned his head away, avoiding looking at her, "It's over. Marshall's gone. Let it go..."

"Let it go!?" The Cockapoo's brows furrowed with irritation, "You're telling me to let it go? I'm sorry, but you're the only one sulking around the lookout! I can't bear to watch you do this to yourself!"

"Then don't watch!" The Shepherd shouted, finally looking at Skye.

Chase's voice echoed into the sky, slowly fading away as Skye took a step back. Chase was always gentle with her. He was a sweet pup. Never in her life did he ever yell at her. It took her off guard. She couldn't believe it, but just for a moment, she was a little scared.

Once the shock wore off though, the Cockapoo looked down at the ground, the fur on her head blocking Chase's sight of her eyes.

Chase quickly realized what he had done, "Skye... I—"

"Save it..." She cut him off, "...Save it for when I get Chase back!"

"Huh?"

"Save whatever you have to say for when Chase comes back!" Skye looked back up at him, tears in her eyes, "The Chase I know is determined. He's kind, he's reliable, and he never gives up on his friends, or himself!"

Sitting there, listening to her yell at him, the little officer kept his mouth closed. He knew that saying anything else would dig a deeper hole for himself.

"You're... You're not Chase!" The aviator pup pointed an accusatory paw at him, "You're a fake! An impostor! You're not acting like the Chase I know! The PAW Patrol pup, Chase the Shepherd, would never do this!"

"My Chase would never be like that..." Skye put her paw down, staring into his eyes, "...Come and talk to me again when you're willing to come back."

Just like that, she was gone, running off to the elevator.

.

.

.

Katie found herself standing outside of the lookout.

Where else was she supposed to go? Ryder was her closest friend. After she finished her call with her aunt, it was all a blur. When she mentioned to the young leader that she was out of a place to stay for the night, Ryder patiently waited for her to close up for the day. Once she did, she was nearly dragged to Ryder's ATV and put her on the back of it.

Next thing she knew, they were pulling up to the lookout. On the bright side, at least she'd be able to wrap whatever damage Chase had herself instead of letting Ryder do the work. Ryder was a lot of things. A trained vet wasn't one of them. He was probably not having the best time with this.

As she got off of the ATV to allow Ryder to pull into his small garage, Katie stopped and listened. Nothing. None of the pups were playing outside, there was no laughter, and most of all, there didn't seem to be any life in the lookout.

Ryder noticed Katie's expression change. His eyes sunk down to the ground, ashamed that she had to see the lookout like that.

"Sorry, the lookout isn't exactly in the best state..." The boy sighed.

Katie turned to look back at her friend, giving him a smile, "Hey, I'm the PAW Patrol's vet. I've seen a lot worse from them than just a little silence."

Cali, who was on her shoulder, rolled her eyes. The conversations between her owner and Ryder always seemed extremely off. The two were good friends, sure, but no matter what, they always found a way to make it somewhat awkward. The cat waited patiently for one of them to mention where Katie needed to go to sleep. That way, she could leave them to be awkward all they liked.

She pawed at Katie's cheek, meowing to get her attention.

"What's wrong, Cali?"

Cali pointed a paw toward the lookout, meowing once more. Now, she was fully aware that there was no possible way to understand what she was saying. She did often curse her inability to speak, as it seemed like only pups could speak English like humans could.

The blonde thought for a moment, "Do you want to go inside?"

Even if she couldn't speak English, it seemed like she could with Katie.

Nodding eagerly, Katie began to walk toward the sliding doors of the lookout. She hadn't been on the premises for a while. Not for a few weeks at least. In hindsight, maybe she should have visited more back when everything was normal. Maybe then she'd get to spend more time with the pups. Maybe then she'd get to see Marshall more while he was still truly happy.

The young vet watched the doors open up for her. Cali was quick to jump off of her shoulder and disappear. Katie didn't really care that her pet had left, as it always seemed as though the cat found a way back to her.

She soon heard the sound of one of the pups' favorite shows, Apollo the Super Pup. The first pup that came to mind was Rubble. Walking into the room that had the television, she peeked over the couch to see that she was right. The Bulldog was laying on the couch, a bowl of food to his right as he eagerly waited for the show to start. Sitting to Rubble's left was Tracker, who's tail wagged with excitement and anticipation.

Before she could say anything, she noticed Tracker's ears move. The Chihuahua then quickly turned around to see who was behind them, "Eh?"

"Good afternoon, Tracker. You too Rubble."

Rubble turned to look at her, "Oh, hey Katie."

"¡Buenas tardes, Katie!" The jungle pup greeted, "What are you doing here?"

She circled around so she wasn't standing behind the couch, now standing on both of the pups' left, "Cali and I are spending the night here."

"Really? Cool!" Tracker smiled as Rubble fell silent, going back to watching the show.

"Katie's here?" Another voice came from outside the room, revealing to be Zuma, "You're just in time for the newest episode, dude. Too bad Marshall isn't here. He always loved catching the new episodes with us."

At the mention of the Dalmatian, Rubble's eyes bulged wide. The construction pup's teeth clamped down on one another as he shut his eyes tight. This wasn't the first time Zuma mentioned Marshall, so why did it make him cringe so hard? He wasn't sure why, but even just the mention of Marshall made his stomach feel odd.

The Chocolate Lab went to sit down on the couch, but in the process, one of his paws caught the edge of Rubble's food bowl and sent food flying in all directions. The room quickly fell silent, the four taking a moment to register what had just happened.

Rubble's eyes shot around to see his food scattered around the room, "My food!"

"...Guess I'm turning into the next Marshall, huh?" Zuma made a joke to try and alleviate the room's mood, "I'll go—"

"What about Marshall!?" The Bulldog snapped, looking at his spilled food, "Stop talking about him!"

Now standing up on the couch, Rubble's teeth grinded together with irritation. His eyebrows furrowed along with his narrowing eyes as he glared at Zuma. The food was one thing, but he couldn't just sit there and listen to Zuma mention Marshall time and time again. It almost felt like he didn't care at all.

"Huh?" Katie, Tracker, and Zuma all looked at Rubble, confused by the sudden outburst.

Rubble's glare softened once he looked around, seeing the confused looks of his friends. His face dropped, realizing what he had just done. The Bulldog took a few steps back, falling off of the couch.

"Rubble, are you—?" Katie began to ask, kneeling down in front of him and reaching a hand out to him.

Before she could finish, Rubble stood up and pushed her hand away. He then ran out of the room in a hurry, leaving the remaining three to sit there in stunned silence.

Zuma wasn't sure what to say, "I... Uh... Maybe I should go and check on him..." He stood up.

Katie put a hand on Zuma's head, "No, I got this. Something tells me Rubble doesn't wanna see you right now."

The Chocolate Lab sighed, nodding and sitting back down, "I'll leave it to you, then."

Katie, along with Tracker, walked outside of the lookout. She turned her attention to the jungle pup, who nodded and closed his eyes. The girl, as she waited for Tracker to pick something up with his ears, took a deep breath in. Maybe there was more damage on the team than she had anticipated.

"Katie, I hear something!" The Chihuahua exclaimed, opening his eyes, "It sounds like... Whimpering."

Katie smiled, "That has to be Rubble. Lead the way."

"I'm on it!"

The two made their way around the multiple pup houses surrounding the lookout. They passed by Marshall's deserted pup house on their way, with Katie glancing at it briefly. She let out a sigh, thinking about the Dalmatian stowed away at her home.

"Here..." Tracker whispered, gesturing to Rubble's pup house.

Katie got down on her knees, "Figures. This would be the first place to check."

She knocked on Rubble's door. Coming out was a faint mumble, one that was barely audible, "Go away..."

"C'mon, amigo, don't be like that!" Tracker moved so that he was sitting beside Katie, "We want to help you. We can't do that if you're holed up in your pup house."

"I knew I should've brought some food!" Katie silently sucked her teeth, "Rubble, I know why you're feeling bad. I want to talk to you about it. Please, just let us in."

"We can talk like this... You don't need to see me..."

Katie and Tracker looked at the other, shrugging. They would take what they could get.

"I know you're upset about Marshall..." Katie began, "...And I know you didn't appreciate Zuma spilling your food."

"I don't care about the food!"

Tracker was thrown off guard by such a statement, especially at the fact that it came out of Rubble's mouth. Rubble? Not caring about the food? That was certainly a new one.

"You don't care that he spilled your food at all?" Tracker's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"No! It's just that... Zuma just kept..."

"He kept mentioning Marshall, and you didn't like it, did you?" Katie did her best to try and articulate Rubble's jumbled up feelings for him.

"Mhm..." An affirmative hum came from Rubble's pup house, "...I don't know what's wrong with me."

Hearing Rubble say that, the young vet's heart broke for him. She had been dealing with the damage everyone in the PAW Patrol had received following Marshall's discharge from the team, but it never really hit her until that moment that the ones she was dealing with were just little pups. Pups that had no idea how to cope with the bitter feelings bubbling up from inside of them.

She would have to do her best to help them through this time. Them, and Ryder too.

"Listen, I understand that you didn't like Zuma talking about Marshall, and there's nothing wrong with that. You might have confused Zuma by not communicating that to him, but I want you to know that it's okay to be mad. It's okay to be frustrated. That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you."

"I just don't know what to do!" They could hear the Bulldog's breaking voice echo inside of his pup house, "I've been trying to ignore it, I've been trying to be the best rescue pup for Ryder, but I always feel crummy! And no matter how much I try to eat, my stomach always feels empty!"

"Has he been comfort eating?" Katie's eyes widened.

"Rubble, it's okay..." Tracker put a paw on the door of his pup house, "It's okay to say that you're not okay. We don't always have to be, amigo."

A brief silence fell between them before Rubble spoke softly, "...I'm not okay."

"Need a hug?" Katie asked. Not even two seconds later, the door to Rubble's pup house opened, and the Bulldog jumped out and into Katie's arms, sobbing into her dress.

"I miss Marshall! I wish things would just go back to how they were before!"

She gently pet Rubble, closing her eyes, "I know, I know. Me too."

Deciding to give the two some space, Tracker walked back into the lookout. He quickly noticed how all of the food previously spilled around the TV room had been cleaned up. His ears picked up the sound of something solid clinking against a plastic surface. The Chihuahua went to investigate further, spotting Zuma, who was putting food pellets back into Rubble's bowl one by one.

"¿Qué pasa, Zuma?" The jungle pup asked, letting his presence be known.

Zuma looked over at him, "I've never seen Rubble so mad, dude... I've hardly seen him mad at all. I feel kinda bad for making him like that."

"He was upset that you brought up Marshall."

"Really?" He stopped what he was doing, "He never told me that..."

Tracker nodded, "Katie said he has to work on his communication."

"I guess I should say I'm sorry when he comes back..." The aquatic rescue pup sighed.

"Why have you been mentioning Marshall so much, anyway?"

"I dunno..." Zuma looked away, a little embarrassed, "Talking about how things were with Marshall just helps me think about all the good times, and how things were when he was at the lookout. Both him and Rocky..."

"Rocky was your best friend, wasn't he?" Tracker inquired.

"Was? No..." He shook his head, "There was never a time when he wasn't my best friend. I miss Marshall, yeah, but Rocky... He was special."

"Special?"

Zuma went to lay on the couch, "Yeah. Special..."

Tracker thought for a moment before an understanding smile creeped onto his muzzle, "I'm sure he thinks you're pretty great too."

.

.

.

"Skye?"

"Skye!?"

Chase tirelessly searched around the outside of the lookout, ready to talk to Skye if she was willing to speak to him. He knew that if he waited days on end to talk about their little argument, feelings would only grow more and more bitter. He needed to deal with the problem at the source.

That's when he spotted her. Sitting beneath a tree was the Cockapoo he was looking for. Skye was unaware that she was being watched, playing with the grass in front of her paws. Her mind was filled with thoughts, most of them surrounding her conversation with Chase. Maybe she was a little too hard on him. Maybe she shouldn't have pushed him. But what other choice did she have? She couldn't handle seeing Chase moping around like he was. He was stronger than that. He was smarter than that.

She looked up from the grass, noticing that the pup in her mind was staring right at her.

Both pups stiffened up, their heads turning away. Skye gently tugged at her collar. Chase let a dry cough escape his mouth. A seemingly simple task of saying 'I'm sorry' seemed impossible. The officer pup quickly shook his head. Now or never.

He slowly walked over to join his friend beneath the tree.

As Chase grew closer, Skye avoided his gaze, "Hey."

"Hey..." The German Shepherd greeted awkwardly.

Just like that, the conversation that was yet to get off of the ground fell flat onto its face. While it did make sense that neither of them knew what to say, both couldn't possibly bear the thought of letting this drag on any longer.

"I can't do this!"

Both of their eyes widened, realizing they had said the same thing in unison.

"Look, Skye, I'm sorry..." Chase sat down beside her, "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I know you're just trying to help, and I—"

"Stop it right there!" Skye turned to stare at him, "It's my fault. I should have never pushed you like that. It's just that I see you struggling, and I never want to see you go through that alone. It frustrated me! But, no matter how much it frustrates me, it's up to you and you alone whether you feel comfortable enough to confide in me or not."

"But you were right!" The German Shepherd shook his head, "I wasn't acting right. My head was all jumbled up that I wasn't focused on my team. I wasn't focused on the ones still here. You matter just as much as Marshall does."

The Cockapoo lightly put a paw on his, "I just want you to trust me."

"I've always trusted you, Skye..." Chase's gaze softened, "...I just wasn't sure if I could trust myself after what happened with Marshall."

The officer pup's ears dropped at the thought of his best friend. Before he could even have the chance to feel down about Marshall, Skye pulled him into a hug.

"You did the right thing, I want you to know that."

"You think so?" Chase closed his eyes, embracing the smaller pup.

Skye smiled, "Wouldn't be saying it if I didn't think so."

Sitting in their embrace, both pups let out a faint sigh of relief. After a brief pause, they loosened the hug so they could see the other eye to eye.

"You know, I care about you a whole lot, Chase."

"I care a whole lot about you too, Skye."

Skye stared at Chase.

Chase stared at Skye.

"We should probably head back to—-" Chase was unable to finish his sentence. His eyes bulged wide when he felt something weird on his cheek.

It was Skye, who had just licked his cheek.

A strange feeling overwhelmed the German Shepherd, who only turned to look at the Cockapoo with a goofy smile on his face, "You know, maybe we can stay out here a little longer."