Hi everybody. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you guys are able to enjoy the end of the year festivities and wish you good things for 2024. As usual, I do my best to publish a new chapter during this period. It's my little gift to you, readers of fanfiction. Today, I offer you two chapters in one, so it is longer than they usually are in my multi-chapter stories. Hope you like it.

My plan is to finish this story then Back to the den. I haven't forgotten Paw Patrol: pups meet time travelers and plan to work on it too.

In the meantime, read and enjoy. But first, I have a review to answer.

Chase: Thank you. I hope the wait was worth it for you. Ilovechips4ever, over and out.

Warning (spoiler): Attempted rape mentioned and showed. If you don't want to read it, skip the second flashback.

The Mixed Breed looked away, like he wanted to avoid the subject, but Zuma continued.

"If my speech impediment isn't something to be ashamed of, then neither is the fact you're gay."

"Yeah," Everest agreed. "What we said to Zuma applies to you too."

"I just…don't want to create any trouble, so I prefer not to talk about it," Rocky confessed as laid down with his back facing his friends to hide his face.

"What trouble," Rubble asked before it clicked in his head. "Oh, you mean because a lot of people still doesn't accept homosexuality, calling it despisable or unnatural just like the rest of non-heterosexualities, with some people even acting unfair or violent toward them…"

"Rubble," Chase interrupted him before he went to far. "Not helping."

He gestured toward Rocky who was looking even more dejected, and Rubble understood his mistake.

"Oops. Sorry."

"It's okay Rubble," Rocky said. "You're not wrong and it always scared me."

"Is this why it was so hard for you to tell us," Marshall asked.

Rocky nodded. He also remembered this moment very well.

(flashback)

Rocky has been sitting in front of Ryder's room for now half an hour. It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep except him. Too say he was nervous would be an understatement. Tonight, he had decided to tell Ryder the truth about his homosexuality. Keeping this a secret had become too nerve wracking, he needed someone to talk to and who better than Ryder for that. Yet, Rocky was still trying to force himself to take the last step. The door suddenly opened to reveal Ryder yawing. The boy was going to the bathroom when he spotted the Mixed Breed.

"Rocky? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

Rocky gulped. "No…I mean, yes…I mean…There is something I…want to talk about with you, but…I…"

Ryder could see his dog uneasiness and…fear? The middle of the night wasn't his ideal time for a conversation, but Rocky's attitude worried him, so he knelt in front of him to calm him down.

"Hey, it's alright. If you want to talk, I'm here. Let's make ourselves comfortable."

Rocky nodded and followed Ryder inside his room, a bit hesitantly which didn't go unnoticed by Ryder. The boy sat on his bed and motioned for Rocky to join him. The Mixed Breed jumped on the bed and sat down, still incredibly nervous. Ryder wondered what could be troubling him like that.

"So, you said you wanted to talk about something," he asked gently to break the ice.

"Hum…Yeah. I just…don't know how," Rocky confessed.

This surprised Ryder, but he kept that thought to himself.

"Rocky, you know you can trust me. Whatever is troubling you, I'm sure I can help."

Ryder's words helped to ease Rocky's nerves a bit. He closed his eyes, took a big breath and let it out in one breath.

"IdiscoveredsometimeagoIamgaylikeforrealitsnotjustafeelingpleasedonthatemeImsorry."

Ryder blinked, having not understood a single word so Rocky started again slower. Ryder blinked again, this time out of surprise.

"Oh," was all he managed to say during a minute. "I…see."

Rocky looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Sorry, sorry. I just hadn't expected that," Ryder quickly corrected not wanting to offend his pup. "But Rocky, you have nothing to apologise for and I could never hate you, especially not because of this. It's just…the way you are."

Tears started to fall down Rocky's eyes. Ryder first feared he had said something wrong until he noticed the smile on his pup face. Rocky threw himself at Ryder and snuggled against him.

"You don't know how much this means to me."

It was now Ryder's turn to smile as he hugged his dog. They stayed like that for a short moment and separated once Rocky had stopped crying.

"Feeling better," Ryder asked.

Rocky nodded as he got rid of the last tears with his paws. It was as if a giant weight had suddenly been removed for his shoulders.

"I'm curious," Ryder added. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you known?"

Rocky thought about it.

"I'd say around a year, maybe. I first noticed I was different when I didn't grow an interest in girls unlike the other, but it's when I found myself looking at boys that it became clearer to me."

"Ok. Does anyone else know?"

"No, I'm too scared with everything I discovered when I researched the subject. Telling you was hard enough. I know you and the others aren't the kind to reject what's different, but…I'm still scared," Rocky admitted with his eyes and ears down.

"Well, I'm happy you confided in me," Ryder said sincerely touched. "If you want to keep this between us, I won't say a thing, but maybe it will help you to talk about it with the others. We're a team. The others will accept you no matter what, just like me."

"Maybe," Rocky answered still scared. "I need to think about it."

(End flashback)

Rocky ended up coming out to his friends the next week, with Ryder support of course. He cried tears of joy again when they all accepted him. He told them everything he told Ryder and even answered their questions. The way Ryder fainted when Rubble asked 'if two guys want to make love, where do they stick it' would forever make everyone laugh. Still, Rocky wasn't ready to come out publicly. Not like he had a choice anymore.

"The fact that you're gay isn't the result of a problem or sickness. Scr…I mean, let's ignore people who think that," Zuma said.

Rocky turned back toward the group, a small smile on his face. "Yeah."

"See? None of us are what that jerk described," Everest interjected. "Like Rubble said, it's all lies. Another example, the video said Rubble was dangerous because of his breed, but he never attacked anyone."

"Of course not. I don't like violence," Rubble confirmed. "I've met bulldogs who are aggressive, but I'm not and don't want to be."

"It's a fact statistics can be interpreted in different ways," Rocky said. "We can't judge a book by it's cover, same for dogs and their breed."

"But guys," the bulldog added with uncertainty, "it's true I often ask for more treats after missions. Maybe I shouldn't."

"You always ask for more treats, not just after missions," Everest corrected, "and you don't insist when told no. You don't do it out of power, you just love food. If gluttony is a sin, then we both have it."

Everest winked at him, and Rubble chuckled. When it came to food, Everest was the only living being who could match Rubble. They both remembered all the eating contests they had over the years in Adventure Bay. Those had become famous around here. They still haven't picked a champion and didn't care the slightest.

Everyone eyes then turned toward Marshall who smiles quickly disappeared when he noticed it. He looked behind him to see if there was something, but it wasn't the case.

"Do I have something on my face," he asked looking back at the group.

"Come on, Marshall, don't be shy," Everest said. "What we said apply to you too."

"I agree," Chase proclaimed. "You may be clumsy and maybe there have been a few times was a bit annoying…"

Marshall looked down when he heard that, but Chase didn't leave him any time to be sad.

"…but you never let that stop you from helping people. As far as I remember, you never created an accident while on a mission. I don't understand how, but it's the truth. Out of all of us, you're the most selfless dog and you always get back up right away. This alone proves you deserve your tittle of rescuer."

Everybody agreed which warmed Marshall's heart.

"Thanks guys. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused because of my clumsiness."

"Don't be," Rubble chimed in. "We find your accidents funny and the littles jokes you add are hilarious. Why do you think we laugh when it happens?"

"Laugh with you, not at you," Skye clarified.

"I know," Marshall said remembering when they were youngers, he had thought the contrary. He always had had self-esteem issues, something he was still working on, but if there was one thing he was sure of, it was his friends. "I try to be the best firepup possible. Eh Chase, remember the promise we made when we were puppies?"

"You bet," Chase answered as the two best friends remembered that moment.

Back then, they were the only ones on the team and had just begun their training with Ryder. One day, they made a pact to work together to become the best police and fire dogs ever. A story the others had heard perhaps a bit too many times. Chase thoughts then moved back to the video.

"(Sigh) I don't feel like I've honored my end of the bargain yet," he added with a sad tone.

"Don't say that buddy," Marshall cut him knowing what Chase was thinking. "You're the most hard-working dog I ever seen. You earned that police badge a long time ago."

"I couldn't agree more. And it's not the girlfriend, but the teammate talking here," Skye added understanding what this was about.

"I still feel bad for the mistake I did," Chase confessed.

"You mean the photo shown in the video," Zuma asked. "Come on dude, it wasn't completely your fault."

"If I remember correctly," Rocky added, "the guy had just robbed M. Porter restaurant. You chased him around the main avenue while he yelled threats at people on his way, and when you caught up to him, he went for something inside his pocket. You feared it was a weapon, so you took him down."

Chase nodded to confirm Rocky's telling. "Problem was it wasn't a weapon. Just a cellphone. He wanted to call his friend who was supposed to pick him up."

"You couldn't know that," Marshall said. "What were you supposed to do?"

"Maybe I could have caught him with my net or disarm him with my cannon ball instead of using Pup-Fu."

"Maybe, but you were already too close to him. It was a heat in the moment situation and you acted the best way you could based on what you knew. What you did had nothing to do with police brutality or abuse. You said yourself it was a mistake."

"I just don't want people in Adventure Bay to distrust the police because of this. Cops already got a mixed reputation because of the few who do abuse their power or are violent."

"There will always be bad apples everywhere, we've seen it, but we can't let them mask all the rest that is good. Otherwise, what is left of the world," Skye said.

"You're right, but it's easier said than done," Chase answered.

Things were once more silent for a bit until Ryder came back with a tray on which stood seven bowls. He had heard everything the pups had said from the kitchen.

"Everything you just said is true and I'm so proud of you for handling the situation like you did," Ryder said as he gave each of them their bowl. "I'm sure no one will believe those lies anyway, but I still will find the one responsible for this video and report him. Or whatever is the procedure on this site."

The pups all thanked Ryder for his support and the bowls. They were about to dig in when Chase spoke.

"Before we drink, there is one last thing we haven't talked about," he said looking at Skye and Everest. "Neither of you are whore and you most certainly weren't accepted in the team to please anyone. You are true and skilled rescuers, you prove it every day. Gender has nothing to do with this."

"Thanks," Everest said without conviction as she and Skye looked anywhere else, but at the group.

This was bringing back bad memories for them they wished they could forget. The rest fo the team was surprised to see them react like that. Unlike them, Ryder knew what this was about and wanted to speak, but he had made a promise. He looked at Skye who looked back at him, the message clear in his eyes. Maybe you should tell them. He could see the hesitation in her eyes and knew Everest felt the same way. This interaction wasn't lost on the other dogs.

"Um, what is happening here," Rocky asked.

Skye and Everest first thought were to lie, but one look at the group and their puzzled expression showed it wouldn't work and honestly, they didn't feel like it. Still, they didn't want to go through this again. Seeing them stay silent, the boys were becoming worried for them. Chase and Marshall even more. After a moment which felt like an eternity, Rubble was about to speak, but Everest beat him to it.

"Maybe he's right," she told Skye who sadly nodded. She then turned toward the boys. "Look, there is something that…we never told you. Skye and I…we were almost raped one time."

"WHAT!"

The boys' shout was so loud it took Ryder and the girls by surprise.

"You were…" Marshall began but was interrupted by Skye.

"Almost. We were almost raped."

"But when? By who? Wait, Ryder knew and not us," Chase asked.

It was now Ryder's turn to step in. "Calm down. Let them explain everything first. You'll speak afterwards."

Though their minds were burning with questions, including Rocky, Zuma and Rubble, the guys forced themselves to listen.

"Thanks Ryder," Skye said.

Talking about this wasn't going to be easy, but there was no turning back now.

(flashback)

"Growing up sucks!"

Skye repeated those words once again as she walked angrily through one of the town's small parks. The sun had begun his descent over the bay, but she didn't care. Today has been awful. All because of some stupid phenomenon she couldn't control. Her heat. Her first heat to be exact. She, like the whole team, had been taught about relationships, mating, puppies, etc. "The Talk" Ryder and Katie had given them when they were old enough was unforgettable. It was embarrassing to the point none of the pups had been able to look at each other normally for days. Sadly, as Skye just discovered, theory and experience were two different things.

It had started last night with a cramp that had prevented her from sleeping most of the night. Next morning, it was replaced by a weird feeling difficult to describe and impossible to shake off. It's only after several hours that she and Ryder had understood what was going on. Sadly, she wasn't in a position where she could satisfy her heat. It had made concentrating harder as she constantly felt the need to rub her body against something which had made her a bit irritable. As this hadn't been enough, there is a small but important detail to take in consideration: she lived with five male dogs. All day, they had been acting weird and followed her everywhere. They never left her alone even when she had asked them to. Ryder had tried to distract everyone with training, but it hadn't worked. It had been clear he didn't know how to deal with this either. Mid afternoon, Skye had had enough and left the tower in anger. Now, here she was, alone, hungry and angry.

"SKYE!"

Surprised to hear someone calling her, Skye turned around to see Everest running toward her.

"There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere," the husky said.

"Everest!"

Skye immediately hugged her, overjoyed to see her best friend and someone who wasn't going to act like she was a piece of meat. Everest happily hugged her back. After a moment, Skye broke the hug.

"I'm so happy to see you. But what are you doing in town?"

"I just said it, looking for you. Ryder called me. He told me what happened and said you could use some…feminine help. Congrats on your first heat by the way."

Skye rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Trilling."

Everest noticed this and tried to cheer her friend up. "Don't worry. It'll pass. Trust me. I've been there."

Skye's eyes widened in realization. Everest was indeed older than them. Old enough to already had have her first heat. She could have asked her for help. How did she not think of it sooner?

"It's true. I totally forgot you already had your first heat."

"Yeup. It was weird, especially for Jake because I kept asking to be petted nonstop. I also had a second one not long ago and it wasn't as bad as the first. It's really a matter of experience. So again, you don't have to worry."

"Not if you're living with five stupid dogs," Skye said a bit aggressively.

"No need to be mean about it. They are really worried about you, you know and they asked me to tell you how sorry they are. I'm not trying to excuse them, they did act stupidly, but keep in mind they probably were just as surprised as you by all this."

Deep down, Skye knew that her friends never had any bad intentions. That didn't mean she wasn't mad, but she could forgive them if they were sincerely sorry. If it was truly a matter of experience, it meant they could learn to control themselves. Something she needed to learn too apparently. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself.

"(Sight) You're right. I'll talk to them later."

"Good. In the meantime, you can spend the night with me and Jake if you want. He even said he was going to make pancakes."

Everest jumped in joy at the mention of pancakes, which made Skye smiles. Staying with them tonight (and pancakes) seemed like a good idea so she accepted. As they walked toward where Everest had parked her vehicle, a dog walked up to them. A male Doberman with a collar that neither recognised.

"Hello there beautiful," he said with a sultry voice looking at Skye.

This, combined with his attitude, left no doubts about the reason for his presence.

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Skye interrupted him. "I know why you're here and I'm not interested."

"Your smell says otherwise," the Doberman responded sniffing the air while licking his lips. "Your friend can participate too if she wants."

Skye rolled her eyes, feeling her anger and annoyance coming back in full force. A part of her just wanted to lash out and hit him, but Everest reacted first. She walked between Skye and the Doberman and showed her teeth.

"My friend's answer was clear, so leave. I mean it."

The Doberman took a step back, but then smiled instead of leaving.

"Feisty huh? I like that."

Something suddenly grabbed Skye from behind and pulled her away from Everest before pinning her on the ground. It was another dig, a male Golden retriever with the same collar as the Doberman. Hearing Skye's scream, Everest tried to rush to her help but the Doberman jumped on her from behind and pinned her too on the ground. Skye tried to free herself using the pup-fu techniques she had learned younger, screaming at their aggressor to let them go. However, her legs were too short to reach the Golden retriever's elbow, leading her to curse her small size once again. Everest too kept fighting as she trashed around wildly.

"Stop it," the Golden Retriever said as he tried to position himself. "The less you resist, the more you'll enjoy it."

Tears fell down from Skye's eyes as fear began to take over when suddenly the Doberman screamed in pain. Everest had managed to bite him which allowed her to throw him off her. She immediately stood up ran to her friend's aid. Frightened, the Golden Retriever jumped out of the way. Skye didn't lose on second and jumped on Everest's back as she continued to run going straight for the parc exit. Neither dared to look behind them. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the exit, but Everest didn't slow down. In their haste, they crossed the sidewalk and the road without being careful. The horn of a car coming straight at them brought them out of their state. Everest jumped out of the way at the last moment but missed her landing and both dogs fell on the opposite sidewalk. As they looked around, they realised their aggressors were nowhere in sight and they were now back on the city main avenue where there were cars and people. Everest was out of breath, obviously shaken, while Skye hadn't stopped crying, but at least they were safe.

(End of flashback)

Skye took a deep breath as she finished telling the story, stopping herself from crying once again and Everest obviously wasn't in a better state of mind. The next thing that was heard were Chase and Marshall growls. Deep scary growls. With their ears pinned back, their tail violently hitting the ground and their lips rolled up showing their teeth, they looked ready to attack. It was the first time anyone on the team sounded and looked like that.

"Who? Who were those jerks," Chase asked. "I'm going to teach them a lesson."

"We are going to teach them a lesson," Marshall corrected which was a very out of character thing for him to say.

Rubble, Zuma and Rocky slowly took a step back, not wanting to risk standing in their way.

"We don't know," Ryder said, trying to defuse the situation. "After the aggression, Katie found Skye and Everest and brought them back her pet parlor before calling me and Jake. It took a while, but once we had their description, we tried to find those dogs. Without success sadly. Some people had seen them around, but no one knew them. My guess is that they were with travelers who probably stopped here just for the night."

"I still don't understand why you never told us," Marshall asked the girls, still angry. "We could have helped."

"Because we were ashamed," Everest retorted back on the same tone. Her answer took the team by surprise, it even calmed down Chase and Marshall a bit. With a low tone, almost a whisper, she continued. "We felt like it was partially our fault. If we had been more careful, maybe they wouldn't have caught us. I…never felt so scared before and Skye blamed herself for being in heat."

Marshall's anger completely dropped down as he heard this, replaced by sadness and compassion. He walked up to his girlfriend and gently nuzzled her.

"Don't say that, please. The only ones responsible were the ones who attacked you. You did nothing wrong."

Holding back some sobs, Everest nuzzled him back.

Chase took a deep breath to calm himself. "Marshall's right. The fact you escaped from them on your own is even impressive," he said as he nuzzled Skye who buried her head in the fur of his chest. "I just wish you would have told us."

"I know, I'm sorry," Skye confessed. "After what happened, we were in shock. We didn't know what people were going to door think if they knew. So, I insisted we keep all this secret and Everest never objected."

"Wait, is this the reason you two stayed at Jake's place for a week," Rubble asked. Skye nodded. "Does it mean you were…scared of us too?"

Skye and Everest blinked, taken aback by this question.

"What? Of course not," the latter answered.

"Even if we acted like a bunch of horny morons that day which is why you were at the park in the first place," Zuma asked uneasily.

"Maybe, but honestly after the rape attempt, we weren't thinking about that anymore and I forgave you when I came back," Skye explained. "We just…needed time."

The boys nodded, relieved and still mad about the video and everything it had revealed. Despite everything, all this talking made them feel better, even if only a bit. Looking at them, Ryder felt tears coming up, not out of sadness but joy.

A chapter full of emotion, isn't it? What did you think of it? Were you moved by what the pups said and lived? Skye and Everest flashback wasn't too harsh?

No revelations about the author of the culprit for now. Sorry. Maybe in the next one? Some parts, mainly the flashbacks, were more difficult to write. I didn't want to make the story too long or overly dense, so I decided to only show some of the pups' stories in flashback and simply explain it for the rest.

That's it for today. Until next time, take care.