Chapter 4: Hospital Visit

"Ugh, where am I?" Chased asked, wooziness in his voice as he opened his eyes to blurred vision.

"Chase! You're awake," said a familiar voice. Once his vision came to, he was immediately met with a chocolate lab.

"Hey Zuma," the German shepherd said. "What happened?"

"Well…" the water rescue pup began, "you gave everyone quite a scare."

"I did?"

"Yeah, don't you remember?"

"No, not really."

"You and Marshall and Rubble were checking out a damaged house to see if there was anyone inside and the building collapsed on you guys."

Chase shifted his body and immediately felt a bit of pain in his side, a reminder of what had happened.

"How are they? Marshall and Rubble. Are they okay?" Chase asked, worry in his voice.

"Don't worry dude," Zuma replied. "They're both okay. Marshall had hardly any injuries. Rubble sprained his paw so he'll be out of commission for maybe a week or so, but other than that he's a-okay!"

Chase breathed a sigh of relief before cursing himself for not recognizing the danger before it had already struck. Just then, the door to his room opened and Skye walked in.

"Hey Skye," the chocolate lab said. "Have you seen Rocky?"

"He's visiting Rubble right now," the cockapoo answered with a smile.

"Awesome! I'm gonna go visit Rubble now, catch you later dudette!" Zuma walked out the door. Skye and Chase watched as the door closed before the former jumped up on the hospital bed the latter was sitting in.

"How are you feeling?" she asked sympathetically.

"I think I'm doing all right," the police pup answered. Though usually he would answer that way regardless to avoid having any of his teammates worry about him, he genuinely wasn't in too much pain.

"That's good," Skye said, relief in her voice. "You gave everyone quite a scare."

"Oops," Chase said with a small chuckle. "How did the rest of the cleanup go?"

"It was mostly successful. We were able to find a couple people stuck in their homes and we brought them here to be looked over."

"I bet you did a fantastic job out there," Chase said before widening his eyes upon realizing what he had said. "All of you," he added. Safe for now, he thought.

"Yeah, I-we were all worried about you guys when the house collapsed on you," Skye said, her tail wagging at a quicker pace than before. Safe for now, she thought.

"I'm really glad that the others are okay," Chase said. "I'd be so upset if one of them got severely injured on my watch."

"But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Chase, you took the brunt of the house collapsing on you," Skye's tone shifted to serious and slightly worrisome. "You were in the worst condition by far out of all three of you."

"I was?"

"Yeah, in fact, when Ryder found you, you were shielding Marshall and Rubble with your body."

"Oh, well I'm sorry for making you all worry," Chase said. "I just wanted to make sure that neither Marshall nor Rubble got injured too badly."

"That's really sweet of you," Skye said, smiling once again. She inched closer to the German shepherd, telling herself to say that she's checking his injuries if he asks what she's doing.

Suddenly, the door opened, reveling a tall blonde man in a purple suit and purple top hat. He froze upon seeing Chase and Skye so close together.

"Was I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all Mayor Humdinger," Chase said. He and Skye blushed at the mayor's question.

"Okay," the mayor said. "I-uh, here-uh, these are for you." He held out a small bouquet of flowers in a glass vase halfway filled with water. He awkwardly ambled over and set the vase down on the nightstand next to the bed. "Not a word to anyone about this, or I'll have my kittens come after you," he warned. He turned around and left without another word.

"That was kind of him," Skye said. "Maybe he feels bad about all the cruel things he's done to us and our hometown."

Skye was getting ready to hop off the bed and leave when Chase stopped her. "Wait, Skye."

The cockapoo, a few feet from the door, turned around and looked at him with a smile. "What is it, Chase?"

"Do you think you could maybe stay for a bit longer?" Chase asked shyly. "I would rather not be alone."

"Sure, I'll stay!" Skye turned around and ran back over to Chase's bed, tail wagging quicker than before, before jumping back up and sitting down right next to the pup that had stolen her heart. She wasn't ready to admit those feelings to anyone else, let alone him, but she jumped at the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with him.

Meanwhile, Chase was beaming on the inside, as he was in a very similar spot. Skye had stolen his heart too, and while he did his best to hide his feelings, the other guys in the PAW Patrol seemed to have caught on. But the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was confess to her. He of course was not going to turn down an opportunity to spend time with her, so he slid over in the hospital bed he was confined to so that Skye could sit next to him.

Outside the door, Mayor Humdinger started making his way towards the exit when he was caught by Ryder. "Mayor Humdinger!" the boy called out.

"What is it Ryder?" the mayor said, clearly a little irritated that he was caught checking in on one of Ryder's pups.

"Thanks for stopping by. It means a lot," the boy said with a smile.

"Yeah, whatever," the mayor grumbled. He paused before adding, "Are those two in there dating?"

Ryder was a bit surprised by that question. "What? Who? Chase and Skye?"

"Yeah, the police pup and the flying pup," Mayor Humdinger responded. "You should peek in there and see for yourself." With that, he walked out of the hospital.

Ryder decided to walk up to the door where Chase was staying. He knew his pups wouldn't do anything…inappropriate, but he was in fact intrigued by what the mayor of Foggy Bottom had to say about his pups that wasn't a complaint.

He peeked through the narrow glass window in the door and fawned at what he saw. His German shepherd was sitting in the hospital bed with his cockapoo right next to him. He could easily see why one would think they were dating, especially someone like Mayor Humdinger who doesn't regularly see the pups.

Seeing his pups like this made Ryder want to confirm his suspicions that the two pups were hiding feelings for each other from each other and from the rest of the team, but he decided to let them be for now.

"How's the paw?" Zuma asked upon entering Rubble's room, which was three doors down from Chase's room. The chocolate lab was making his rounds, starting with Marshall, then Chase, and now Rubble. The dalmatian hadn't suffered any injuries that required immediate attention from the medical staff here, so he was cleared to go within the hour. He had returned to the Lookout to rest after a hectic day.

"It's all right," Rubble said, raising his front right paw and showing a cast on it. "It doesn't hurt too badly, not as badly as the thought of having to be here for the next week."

Zuma walked over and jumped up on the hospital bed. Rocky was also there, having spent the past thirty minutes with the bulldog, filling him in on how the rest of the cleanup went. Rubble, like Chase, was pleased that the cleanup went smoothly despite losing three pups to injury.

"Don't sweat it dude, you'll be back to work in no time!" Zuma tried to cheer up the bulldog. He then turned his attention to Rocky. "I've got something big to tell you."

"Ooh," the mixed breed said. "What is it? And is Rubble allowed to know too?"

"I don't see why not, just as long as the dude can keep a secret."

"My lips are sealed," the bulldog said, performing a zipping motion with his good paw over his mouth, reassuring the chocolate lab he wasn't going to spill whatever secret he was about to share.

Zuma looked over his shoulder to make sure no one else was about to walk in on them. "It's about two certain pups, one male and one female."

Rocky immediately knew who he was referring to. "I see," he said with a grin. He turned to Rubble. "Zuma and I have been suspecting something going on between Chase and Skye. We think at least one of them has feelings for the other."

"Really? I never noticed," said Rubble. "I thought they were just really close friends, like a brother-sister type of thing."

"We thought so too, but then we found proof, hard evidence that suggests that Chase might have feelings for her."

"And I have my own suspicions about Skye having feelings for Chase," Zuma added. "Though it's been a bit trickier to discern if that's true or not. But that's where my 'something big' comes into play."

"I'm listening," Rocky said, encouraging the chocolate lab to continue.

"Chase and Skye were having a bit of a personal talk over by the Lookout doors last night. I couldn't exactly tell what they were talking about, and if I could, it would be best for me not to share it without their permission. But, you would not believe what happened after their talk." The water rescue pup could hardly contain his excitement.

"Tell us!" Rubble said, super eager to know where this conversation was going.

"Skye was snuggled up against Chase last night when they went to sleep!" Zuma once again turned around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Aweee, that's so cute," Rocky said. "Maybe she does like him too."

"Guys, we should try to get them together," said Rubble.

"That would be a great idea, but who knows if we could even get a confession from either one of them," said Zuma. "It would have to take something big to get them to confess."

"Bigger than what just happened?" asked Rocky. "The storm, the injuries. Isn't she in his room right now?"

"Yeah, she walked in as I was leaving," Zuma said. "But our efforts the other day were pretty futile. It might take something bigger than that tornado to get them to confess."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. This startled the pups briefly, but they sighed when they saw that it was just Ryder. "Ryder," said Rubble, "you startled us haha."

"Sorry about that," Ryder chuckled. "We're about to head home for the day. You pups should probably come too."

"Do we have to?" asked Zuma.

"Don't worry," said Ryder. "We'll be back to visit Rubble tomorrow, but the rest of us should get going in case there's an emergency."

Rocky and Zuma each gave Rubble a hug before saying goodbye. They hopped off the bed and walked out the door with Ryder.

"You pups go on ahead," the ten-year-old said. "I'll get Chase and Skye." He walked down the hall in the opposite direction of Zuma and Rocky and knocked on the door to the room that Chase was staying in.

"Hey Ryder!" said Skye cheerfully. She had inconspicuously moved over to widen the gap between her and Chase so that their owner wouldn't suspect anything going on that would single her out in front of her crush.

"Hey pups, it's time to get going. We have to be back at the Lookout in case there are any emergencies."

"Aww, do we have to?" Skye said, not wanting to leave Chase behind. Upon seeing Ryder smirk at her, she added, "I haven't even gotten to visit Rubble yet."

"Don't worry Skye, you can visit him tomorrow," Ryder said. He then turned to his police pup. "Plus, Chase, you've been cleared to leave too. All the doctor said was that you don't participate in any missions for two days."

"Awesome!" Chase said, hopping out of the bed. "Boy was I getting cramped up here."

Ryder, Chase and Skye walked outside to join Zuma and Rocky, who had gotten into their vehicles and were ready to go back to Adventure Bay. They were a bit surprised to see Chase walk out of the hospital.

"Chase has been cleared to leave, he just needs to take two days off from missions," Skye said with a smile, answering the pups' question before they could even ask it. She certainly was glad that Chase didn't have to stay at the hospital overnight, away from the PAW Patrol, away from her.

It didn't take long for Chase to notice that his vehicle wasn't around. "Ryder, where's my police cruiser?"

"I had autopilot take it back to the Lookout," said Ryder. "I would've brought it had I known you'd be cleared to go today. Don't worry, though. You can ride wit-"

"He can ride with me?" Skye interjected. She saw that Zuma and Rocky were staring at her with grins on their faces, making the cockapoo blush. "That is, if he wants to of course."

"Hmm, I don't see why not. Did you want to ride back with Skye?"

"Sure!" Chase said, trying to maintain a sense of professionalism in front of the others. Inside though, he was doing somersaults at the prospect of getting to ride with his longtime crush from Foggy Bottom back to the Lookout.

"Just as long as you're careful," Ryder said as the German shepherd hopped in Skye's helicopter and tried to make himself comfortable.

"You riding shotgun?" Skye giggled, pointing to the seat next to hers, internally begging Chase to say yes.

"Sure," Chase said. He sat down in the front seat and almost instantly took notice of how close he was to Skye. It certainly didn't help that he was a bit too big for the seat.

Meanwhile, Skye was screaming on the inside about giving her crush a ride home, not to mention how close he was to her. If it were safe enough to do so, the cockapoo would've leaned up against the pup of her dreams, but she knew she had to focus on getting them both home safely.

After about twenty minutes, the Lookout came into view. They were almost home. Although a bit disappointed that this ride was nearly over, Chase was also relieved to be back home. Before long, Skye landed her helicopter in her designated spot between Chase and Zuma and converted it back to her pup house. Zuma and Rocky did the same with their vehicles.

"Okay pups," Ryder said, parking his ATV in the garage. "You can hang out in the living room for a little while before bed." The four pups walked in the Lookout, only to be greeted by Marshall, who already had a beanbag out in the living room.

Chase immediately ran up to his best friend. "How are you, buddy?" he asked, giving the dalmatian a hug.

"Doing all right," Marshall replied, returning the hug. "Even better now that you're back."

Skye couldn't help but let out an "Aww" at the two pups, who turned around to look at her. She responded with one of her signature giggles. The rest of the pups laughed before getting settled in the living room on their beanbags to watch some TV. Nothing really exciting was on, so they decided to watch a rerun of an episode of Apollo the Super Pup.

After about two-thirds of the episode, Ryder decided to go to bed. He said good night to his pups before getting in the elevator and taking it up to his room.

Soon, the episode finished. Chase sat up and examined the scene in the living room. It was 9:30, right around the time the pups would normally go to bed. Skye was passed out on her beanbag, and Zuma was passed out on his. Marshall and Rocky came up to him.

"We should wake them," Rocky suggested. He was about to walk over to Zuma but was stopped by Chase.

"No," Chase whispered. "Let's let them sleep, we can carry them back to their pup houses."

"Okay," said Rocky. He then decided to pull the German shepherd's leg a bit and have some fun with him. "I'll carry Skye back to hers."

"No!" Chase whispered, doing his best not to wake the sleeping pups. Rocky and Marshall looked at him with smirks on their face. "I mean," the police pup continued, "I can take her, since her pup house is right next to mine."

"I'll take Zuma then," Rocky said, walking over to the chocolate lab. He carefully picked up the water rescue pup on his back and carried him out the Lookout doors with Marshall right behind him. By this point, Zuma had woken up and noticed he was on Rocky's back.

"Rocky?" he giggled. "What are you doing?"

"Oh," Rocky said. "You're awake."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't answer my question."

"You were asleep so we decided to carry you to your pup house instead of waking you up."

"Oh really?" Zuma giggled again, getting down from Rocky's back. "And who's we?"

As if on cue, the Lookout doors opened again and Zuma's eyes widened a bit at what he was looking at. A German shepherd was slowly walking towards them carrying a sleeping cockapoo on his back.

Okay, that's actually kinda adorable, Zuma thought. He was really wanting for them to get together, assuming that they liked each other. Rocky elbowed the chocolate lab and the two giggled to themselves.

Marshall, Zuma and Rocky went to their pup houses and lied down. Chase walked by, still carrying Skye on his back, and began his nightly ritual.

"Good night, Marshall."

"Good night, Chase."

"Good night, Rocky."

"Good night, Chase."

"Good night, Zuma."

"Good night, Chase."

The three pups soon drifted off to sleep. Chase stopped at Skye's pup house and slowly set her down inside on her bed. She began to stir a little, but never woke up. Chase breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he didn't wake her up. He picked up her blanket and carefully covered her with it. He then took a step back to look at the cockapoo that had stolen his heart. She was all curled up in a tiny, adorable ball, covered with her pink blanket. A smile began to grow on Chase's face as he continued to watch her sleep. Will I ever be able to tell you how much you mean to me? Chase thought. That I would do anything for you? He let out a sigh of contentment, whispered "Good night, Skye," and walked next door to his pup house and drifted off to sleep. However, he failed to notice a huge smile appear on Skye's face in the midst of her sleep.