Chapter eleven: The Down Time
"We could boop him into submission," Melody wondered gently, pawing at Boomerang's left ear.
"Massage him? He seemed to like getting brushed. Maybe he'll be relaxed enough to say what he's feeling?" Ned suggested
"Have him talk while we listen?" Snowflake replied.
"Maybe Chase and I could talk, and I could get him to loosen up?" Brian suggested.
"How would that help?" Chester wondered innocently. "He'd be more likely to talk to me,.. if at all. But then again,.. he's not really the talking kinda type."
"If he talked to another dog who's gone through trouble like him, maybe Chase would open up," Brian replied.
"I don't know.. It can be tough getting to the heart of a soldier.. And I should know.." Rayla replied, rather deeply in thought.
"Do you have any suggestions?" Brian asked Rayla kindly.
"'Don't know really.." the golden lab replied with a shrug. "'Might need to get him alone in his own element to really be able to say, these things that he suffers from change each time.. Even if the trauma is the same or similar. Observing him talking about things might be all we need to know how he's truly coping."
"Well I'm as good a place to start as any.." Chester reasoned openly. "Maybe the two of us could take a crack at him with Ryder for backup or moral support.. or something.."
"And if that doesn't work?" Rayla wondered.
"Don't worry.. I got a backup plan.." Chester smiled slyly, leaning a bit to the side to tuck a paw casually over the other.
"It wouldn't happen to start with a 'P' would it?" Rayla grinned knowingly.
"Awwwh! How'd you guess?" Chester complained, dropping his cool persona dryly.
"Because I know you better than you think.." Rayla replied simply, pleased by his reaction. "And you're a genius, so they would be a great way to help."
"Wait, starts with a P?" Snowflake wondered. "You mean-"
"Pillows!" Brian stated.
"Peaceful music?" Melody suggested.
"Pineapples!" Ned commented.
"No, P as in.." Snowflake said before going to Chester and whispering "Prescotts?"
"Bingo.." Chester winked. "But that's for a later date.. Though I think some therapy will help him out a little too, since we kept it fun enough to occupy him and wear him out for good naps and a night's sleep."
"True," Snowflake agreed.
"So now that we have a plan, what do you pups want to talk about now?" Melody asked, as she relaxed next to Boomerang.
"How about we take a good long nap instead.." Chester decided yawning.. "Watching him sleep almost makes me wanna join him."
"Anybody else want to nap?" Snowflake asked before yawning.
"Not that we're trying to be rude," Snowflake added, turning to Rayla.
"No worries." Rayla shrugged. "But if you guys are tired we could always take a breather. Maybe watch a movie? No sense in taking a nap when we're gonna be going to sleep soon."
"She's right!" Rubble realized. "We haven't even had dinner yet!"
"Rubble.. you and your stomach." Chester teased cheekily.
"What? It's the best part of the day.." the bulldog reasoned. "Except for lunch and Breakfast.."
"I'm surprised that 'midnight snack' wasn't in there somewhere too." Chester joked making the bull dog laugh with him.
"Oh yeah.. that too.." Rubble chuckled. "And dessert! Mmm dessert.."
"We'll eat soon, Rubble. Watching a movie sounds good to me. Any suggestions?" Snowflake replied with a smile.
"Great! Come on then.." Chester decided, wandering off toward the TV area.
"So what are we watching, PAW Patrol? One of your adventures?" Brian asked curiously.
"Or Apollo the Super Pup?" Ned added before turning to Rubble.
"Maybe something new but relaxing? Like a Christmas movie?" Snowflake suggested curiously.
"Well, Chase is still dead to the world so.. I'm down for the Christmas movie." Chester mentioned. "Anyone else?"
"Sure!"
"Ok!.."
"Why not?"
"Ehhh.."
"Yeah!"
"Let's do it!" various voices replied, as they all hopped onto a pillow. Then collectively looking at Ryder, he pivoted his wrist to point his pup pad at the TV to begin the search for a holiday flick.
XXXX
Daylight coming in the windows finally registered to his awakening vision. But blinking stung his eyes with the burn of the bright light.
How come it's so bright.. He wondered. It couldn't be high noon..
He gasped, sitting upright quickly with this realization, but groaned when a thumping weight pounded on his head.
Could it? He wondered, hoping to be wrong. He squinted around to see if anyone was around, but only heard the rise and fall of sleeping breaths coming from across the room.
Daring himself to rise, it took some stiff difficulty, which was also meant to keep his head from pounding. And he very slowly strode over toward the sound, using his half open gaze and keen nose to find them. Only till he was tripped up by something soft, which he face-planted into and decided not to fix it with the sleepiness still clinging to him and he simply snuggled down where he was even though he was only halfway on the pillow in front of him.
XXXX
A soft yawn was heard as Snowflake woke up. Stretching her body, the female husky yawned again before looking around. Seeing her friends asleep, the husky quietly headed over to the elevator, went inside, then went up to the top floor before walking out. Snowflake strode over to the window to see if the storm was still raging outside, or if it had stopped.
"Looks like the snow storm stopped. But who knows how much snow we got," Snowflake said quietly to herself as she looked out the window.
Suddenly, a thought occured, and not a good one.
"Oh no.. with all this ice and snow, Adventure Bay will be covered and dangerous. Not to mention Jake's Mountain. Poor Jake and Everest will be up to their noses in snow. I hope they're doing okay. Looks like it's going to be a busy day," Snowflake said in realization.
"Even so, we have a team of dogs. This snow won't be too hard to shovel.. hopefully," a voice said which made Snowflake jump. Melody stood in front of her, along with Ned and Brian.
"Ah! When did you three get up? Sorry if I woke you," Snowflake commented, recovering from the surprise.
"Not long after you actually. Plus, I was just relaxing," Brian replied with a smile.
"Oh, okay. Well, we should still be quiet," Snowflake suggested, not knowing who was asleep.
"Speaking of snow, you said you don't know how much we have. Well, I can fix that. Snow cannonball!" Ned said before running towards one of the sliding doors.
"NO!" Snowflake, Brian, and Melody all exclaimed before pouncing on Ned.
"You are not becoming a pupsicle before Breakfast! Besides, you could get hurt if you jumped from this height," Snowflake stated seriously.
"Not without a parachute.. which.. we.. forgot.. to.. put.. away.. last.. night," Ned replied before coming to the realization.
"Oops," his three husky siblings all said as they too had forgotten to put away their skydiving parachutes the previous night.
"Better go clean up," Melody suggested before they all got off of Ned.
"Quietly," Brian added before the four Huskies made their way to the elevator.
Just then they heard a yawn behind them and when they turned, they found the leader of the PAW Patrol sleepily strolling from his room. Yawning and stretching once more as he approached them.
"Good morning, Snowflake.. husky pups.." he yawned, rubbing an eye.. "What's up?"
"Ummm. We have names, Ryder-ow!" Ned said, before being elbowed by his brother.
"Manners, Ned," Brian whispered.
"Good morning Ryder. We were just looking outside to see how much it snowed," Melody greeted, changing the subject.
"Also, Adventure Bay and Jake's Mountain will be covered in a lot of snow and ice, so we're probably going to be very busy today," Snowflake added with slight concern.
"Probably.." the boy supposed, shrugging. "Then again, people in Adventure Bay are pretty good at trying to work things out for themselves before calling in backup. But I might still call Jake a little later and make sure they're ok."
"Good idea. How much do you think we got?" Snowflake asked the ten year old boy.
"I can jump in if you need me too!- kidding! I'm kidding!" Ned volunteered until all his husky siblings gave him 'don't you even think about it' glances.
"Not sure, but once we all wake up and start our day, I'll go measure it with a ruler." Ryder replied simply.
"Okay," Snowflake said, before she and her siblings turned to walk into the elevator. "After you Ryder."
"I'll meet you down there.. after I change clothes." Ryder decided, gesturing to his PAW Patrol styled pajamas.
"Okay. Chase would love the slippers," Snowflake replied before pointing to the Chase themed slippers.
"He does.." Ryder confirmed, with a grin, "but they also kinda freak him out with the googly eyes though."
The four Huskies smiled before going into the elevator, and down to the bottom floor before exiting. Snowflake and her siblings looked to see some of the pups still sleeping. They started to tiptoe towards the treat dispensers, hoping to not wake up anyone.
They heard a yawn as Rocky stretched and then rolled onto his side, now facing away from them.
Seeing Rocky yawn, the four huskies turned to the treat dispensers, and they thought about what to eat.
"I wonder if Ryder will let us cook breakfast?" Snowflake wondered quietly to her siblings.
"Maybe. But last I checked, dogs don't cook with the oven," Brian whispered.
"Mmmmm. We could make anything! Bacon.. sausages.. roast beef.. waffles.. pancakes.. French toast.. bacon wrapped sausages? Mmmmmm..." Ned commented before licking his mouth.
"*yawn* What's good?" Rocky yawned rolling back onto his back and then over to the other side so he was facing them as he rubbed an eye.
"Ned's imagining what we'll have for breakfast. Sorry if we woke you," Snowflake replied. "We were trying to be quiet."
"It's ok.." the mixed breed replied, standing up as Zuma and Skyler stirred beside him. "I was probably gonna wake up soon anyway.."
"How'd everyone sleep?" Ryder asked the pup.
"Good I think." Rocky replied. "Though Chase I can't tell, he was flopping around sometime in the night, but I think someone took care of that.." then looking over at the German Shepherd, they found him draped with his older brother and pressed against a snoozing Rayla.
"Any idea why?" The boy asked, looking from Chase in deep thought to the gray recycling pup.
"Beats me?" the pup replied. "All I know is he wasn't sleeping all night.. Or maybe not deeply sleeping anyway."
"Actually that's how Chase was when we stayed at Katie's place. Tossing and turning in his sleep. Maybe the comfort of Chester and Rayla soothed him?" Snowflake said curiously.
"Or Marshall got up and put 'go to sleep and dream while your body heals' medicine in him," Ned suggested sarcastically.
"Either way, what's for breakfast Ryder?" Melody asked, turning to the boy.
"Whatever sounds good to you.." Ryder replied with a shrug. "I'm sure we have a few options you might like. Just pick something out."
"Bacon wrapped sausage wrapped in butter toast, with pickles, fruit, and asparagus stuffed in a pineapple on the side!" Ned exclaimed in a fast, yet excited tone. His siblings looked at the light gray husky as if he had lost his mind.
"Breakfast Ned! Not a crazy feast!" Snowflake responded, not knowing what to think of Ned's bizarre request.
"Bro, you have a crazy imagination. Not even I would ask for that," Brian commented.
"Sounds yummy, but a bit too much food and work for all of that," Melody stated.
"Okay. Hmmm. Just bacon, fruit, and waffles or something," Ned asked as he toned down his request.
Ryder blinked as though stunned by the request, but then he shook himself out of this and smiled.
"Well," he chuckled, "I bet you could ask Mr. Porter if he could make something like that for you sometime. But I think that other request will be much easier to do for today."
"Okay Ryder," Ned thanked the boy before turning back to the other pups.
"So now what should we do?" Melody asked Zuma and Skyler.
"*yawn* What?" Zuma wondered, yawning again.
"Oof!" Skyler grunted, peeking an eye open to look in either direction before closing it with a groan.
"Awh, morning already?" She moaned rolling onto her back and pressing her paws to her eyes.
"Yes it is," Melody replied with a smile. "Did you sleep well, or no?"
Ned walked over to Skyler and started to lick her face.
"I don't know, I-ah! Hey, ok, ok, I'm awake! I'm awake!" The border collie gasped, jumping up to get the husky to stop licking her face.
"Ew! Boy dog cooties! Blck blck blck!" The young collie then resorted to rubbing her face off with her paws and then on the floor.
"Shhhh! Relax, Sky, we're sleeping.." CiCi groaned.
"Yeah, Madge won't come for us till ten.." Tiny groaned, snuggling down again. Then after a moment every one of the PUP Pals popped up with a start, like coming out of a nightmare however Rayla immediately settled down as Chase relaxed into her again.
"Oh right.." Tiny sighed thankfully. "No mansion."
"I'm clean, I promise!" Ned said defensively, as he gave Skyler room.
"Ummm? 'Madge?' What do you mean?" Snowflake asked, confused.
"The only thing coming at ten is bacon, fruit, and waffles with friends. That doesn't sound bad," Melody commented with a smile.
"Yeah, or earlier depending on how much cooking Ryder is doing," Snowflake corrected.
"Sorry," Tiny apologized as the remaining pups began to sit up in various ways. "Uh Pals, anyone else.."
"Yes." four other voices replied.
"Ok, so it wasn't just me." Tiny decided, lowering his gaze.
"Unfortunately not.." Kylie sighed, shrinking down slightly.
"Yeah,.. still a few years in the past and it still comes back to bite us.. Or haunt us.. whichever way you prefer to look at it." Skyler agreed sadly.
"And just think how he feels.." Tiny sighed, turning to Chase.
"Ugh, let's not.." Chester sighed, sheepishly.
"Nothing against you of course." Tiny mentioned, as the German Shepherd looked up. "That situation was rough,.. not gonna dwell on it to make it worse."
"Good." Chester sighed, "Thanks." But by getting up the rush of cold air exposing the pup below made him inhale quickly and his eyes smoothly opened, but he groaned and turned onto his side and tried to snuggle down again. But lying on the nearly healed shoulder still felt weird even to the point of possible pain or rather a feeling on the verge of pain at the very least. But refusing to move he lay there a few moments longer, even trying to snuggle down harder hoping the pressure would make the odd feeling go away. But after another moment or too he couldn't take it and was forced off it with a stiff wince, as he shifted to the other side and nestled in again.
"Sorry, bro, but I gotta get up, I feel like I'm crushing you." Chester told him before stepping back over him so he wasn't standing directly over him anymore. Chase mumbled something but no one could make it out.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.." Chester remarked mildly.
"Anyways, what would you like to do, Skyler?" Snowflake asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I don't know.. as far as what?" The border collie replied, hopping over a couple pups to approach the husky.
"Whatever you want to do while everyone sleeps," Snowflake replied quietly.
"Um.. most of us are awake.." Tiny mentioned.
"Other than a few of us.." he added glancing down at the sleeping Kylie, Rayla, and Chase.
"Hang on,.." Rocky realized looking around for a moment. "Where's Boomerang?"
"Do we need to go find him? You don't think he wandered outside do you?" Snowflake asked with slight concern.
"Probably wandering around the Lookout grounds.." CiCi figured. "It's an old dog thing. He's probably around here somewhere."
"So, what would you pups like to do?" Melody asked.
"Um, does Ryder need help with breakfast?" Ned commented.
"Don't worry I'll go check in.." Rocky decided.
"Hey, you think we'll get a chance to play out in the snow?" Chester wondered, putting his paws up onto the window to peer out of it then over his shoulder. "I mean I know it's cold but.."
Then the door opened and in came the shaggy snow-covered Aussie, who immediately shook off the snow that had stuck to his fur; displacing it successfully in one rough shake.
"Oh it's not that cold out there.. And I should know.." Boomerang said, then proceeded further into the room.
"Welcome back, Boomer." CiCi greeted casually. "Enjoy your morning stroll?"
"Quite, actually," the old dog confirmed. Then scanning the crowd he could immediately pick out the ones who were still asleep and the one who was missing.
"Everyone sleep well?" he asked warmly.
"All except for Chase apparently." CiCi informed him looking down on the German Shepherd. "And whoever stayed up to try and help him."
"Didn't we all fall asleep at about the same time?" Snowflake asked around.
"I think so.." CiCi confirmed thoughtfully. "But as Rocky said he was up last night.. Who knows how long.. 'wasn't exactly counting the minutes."
"How deep is the snow?" Melody asked Boomerang.
"Deep enough you pups won't have many issues clearing it.." the Aussie replied, shrugging. "Though there's still quite a bit on the ground yet."
"Sounds like fun to me!" Skyler smiled happily. "Let's do it!"
"Woah woah woah, hang on. At least wait till after we get breakfast, ok?" Tiny advised.
"Oh right!" Skyler realized. "Good idea."
"I'll go see if Ryder needs help," Ned said before he went to go find Ryder.
"Rocky? Where are you?" Snowflake called out, looking around.
"Hmmm. Maybe Rocky and Chase can rest while we clear the snow?" Brian suggested.
"Me? Why me? I slept fine. And anyway, Ryder and I got it.." Rocky said, stepping aside while Ryder gently pushed a wagon forward for Rocky while holding a couple bowls in each hand.
"Breakfast is ready!" Ned announced, calmly.
"You're not tired?" Snowflake asked curiously. "How late did you stay up?"
"Well we all fell asleep easy enough." Rocky mentioned. "But it was after that that he didn't stay asleep. Not sure how long it was cause I only heard him. I think Rayla and Marshall stayed up with him 'cause I fell back asleep."
"I don't think any of us kept track.. We just all wanted him to go back to sleep so we could go back to sleep." Marshall mentioned.
"Makes sense," Snowflake replied while waiting for their food.
"Wait, how cold is it outside Boomerang?" Ned asked, turning to the Aussie.
"It's chilly.. But that might just be because I have a fluffy coat, although the older I get the less effective it seems to be against the elements." Boomer replied simply.
"Chilly as in a cool day, get a coat chilly, Christmas is here chilly, or bone chilling chilly?" Melody wondered.
"Ummm. We already have fur coats sis," Brian corrected his sister before giggling.
"You pups may have to head out there to know for sure.. Since you're much younger and also built for this weather." Boomerang reasoned.
"Okay, but after Breakfast!" Ned agreed as he too waited for their food.
"Here you go." Ryder said, setting a couple bowls in front of some pups before rising to continue.
"Thanks Ryder," Snowflake said before she began eating.
"Thank you, Ryder." Ned, Melody and Brian thanked him, as they began eating too.
Ryder finished delivering the bowls around to the awake pups when one pup suddenly sat up. However everyone froze when they noticed this and stared, waiting to see what was gonna happen. Chase looked around in a daze, yawning deeply as the other two sleepy pups stirred.
Chase groaned, and lowered his head, then seemed to sense the eyes staring at him and turned to look.
"Uhhh.." He vocalized, his glance cocking every which way at the prying eyes. Then wincing one eye closed, he lowered back down to set his head on his paws.
"What did I miss this time?" he asked lightly.
"We're having breakfast. Also, Boomerang went outside to check out the snow. He said it's not bad. Not sure how cold it is though," Snowflake answered simply.
Heyo! Quite a low key section compared to the more typical shenanigans. But even so,.. Always fun to see what these characters do. And interesting how they all play off each other. The different, and similar, dynamics always intrigue me!.. Until next time! Thx!
