Chapter twenty-four: Mediocre Mayhem
"Wait, where are we...?" Brian asked, as he looked around at the snowy landscape surrounding the pups, still riding behind the snowmobiles with his siblings.
"Just below Jake's mountain,.." Skye replied after looking briefly at her gps. "Why?"
"Just making sure we aren't lost," Brian replied while taking a sigh of relief.
"Not without our top notch navigator." Rayla smiled, glancing at Skye.
"Aw, it's nothing." The cockapoo smiled, on the verge of blushing. "Besides, we all know Adventure Bay really well. Us PAW Patrol pups anyway."
"Yeah.. we PUP Pals are still learning. Hehe.." Tiny chuckled lightly, clearly embarrassed by something.
"No worries. We're still learning about Adventure Bay too!" Ned reassured Tiny.
"When do we wanna start heading home?" Marshall asked.
"Probably wanna stay out for a little while longer.." Rayla supposed. "'Give them more time to focus on whatever they're doing."
"And Chase needs to focus on whatever he and Billy are doing too." Skye agreed, slowing the pace down a bit more. "Ever since he woke up he's seemed a little more.. distracted.. than before.. I don't know.. am I the only one?"
"I don't think so.. I was kinda wondering the same thing." Rayla mentioned.
"Distracted? Yes, I thought so too. Almost like he didn't want me helping him watch the streets when you pups were busy!" Brian commented thoughtfully.
"Well that's just Chase for you.." Chester mentioned, a bit dryly. "He likes his space when he's working. Partially because those around him are out of harm's way, but also because he knows he's able to work, without anything to prohibit his ability to perform his duties."
"Which is just code for he doesn't like backseat drivers or babysitters." Rayla put in blankly.
"But I wasn't! I was just trying to help him with the job. There's nothing wrong with having an extra paw around!" Brian stated almost defensively
"WE know that.. but HE doesn't necessarily see it that way." Rayla confirmed.
"And since he's been injured and is still recovering he's even more like that." Chester agreed. "He's too overly suspicious that we're babysitting him."
"I understand," Brian said sympathetically.
"Well if that's the case, what do we do besides let him rest? Spy on him while we act normal? Put him in a maze and let him wander around? Give punishments or rewards for healing or not healing? Put him in a tire swing and have him stay in one spot?" Melody questioned, unsure how they should handle the situation.
"At this point, I'm just following Billy's lead and leaving him be.." Rayla replied. "While establishing some boundaries where I know he won't cross. The soldier in him can't ignore something that's protocol."
"You call him a soldier.. yet we all know that's not what he is." Chester mentioned.
"Maybe not in occupation or training.. But when you get down to it we're all lumped in the same crowd." Rayla reasoned. "And he's got it bad. Which can be an advantage on our part. Cause you've got me. And you'll be sure that I'll hold him to it.. Rather than it to him."
"And that'll work better than anything else we've tried, because.." Chester trailed waiting to hear the punchline, and not in a humorous way.
"For one thing, he's already confessed that he's got issues. Now all we gotta do is give him what he doesn't have.." the golden lab replied.
"Support and make sure he keeps healing?" Ned guessed, hoping he was right.
"That's been the problem.. do we even know whether or not he's healing.. And could we even tell if he is or isn't continuing to heal?" Rayla wondered.
"Sure we can.. We-.. we-.." Chester thought deeply for another moment.
"Ok,.. You got me. We suck at this." He monotoned in defeat.
"My point exactly." Rayla affirmed. "We need to go through and nail down what we know about Chase and match it to how he is now.. If the normal Chase beforehand is the same one, or similar, as now.. Then he's on the right track. If not.. He's not.. simple as that."
"And how do you suggest we find out which he is?" CiCi wondered.
"Well let's start with a joke.. How well does he take a joke?" Rayla supposed.
"A joke?! You're joking, right?" Chester gasped.
"I don't get it." Skyler mentioned.
"Well if Chase can take a joke, then he's doing good. If not, he's still healing.. I think," Melody guessed.
"Also, I don't think she means knock knock jokes either," Brian added.
"Ok genius, what does she mean?" Chester quipped.
"Mind your manners, Chess." Rayla advised. "But Brian's right. If he can take a joke and not hesitate or deflect then we're good. We can tell where he's at. Call it our way of 'checking in' with him without having to micromanage him. Make sense?"
"Exactly!" Brian confirmed with a nod.
"Ok, ok, I'll temper myself.." Chester surrendered. "But I don't know about this."
"It's not like we're insulting him!" Melody stated.
"As long as we all know what topics are off limits to joke about him." Rayla mentioned glancing at Chester. "Or, rather.. with him."
"Don't gotta worry about me," the German Shepherd shrugged. "I don't think this is a good idea."
"We'll be careful, Chess." Ned reassured him.
"You really think humor is the way to start?" Marshall asked Rayla quietly.
"Unless you got a better one." The golden lab replied.
"I think we might have better luck with how willing he is to get involved in activities," the Dalmation suggested.
"How do you mean?" The army pup wondered, cocking her head and raising an eyebrow.
"Chase is a working pup right?" The fire pup reasoned. "So say we offer up an activity or task.. depending on how he reacts we'd be able to tell how he's doing."
"You do know we can do a variety of things right?" CiCi pointed out.
"Well.. yes, but.." Marshall wavered.
"You know.. That might not be such a bad idea." Rayla decided, thoughtfully. "And that said 'activity or task' can be as small as putting something away or finding something.."
"But can be as big as whatever he can physically handle without hurting himself any more." Chester supposed, seeing the point now. "Not half bad." He looked up once again with a smile.
"I can live with that." he nodded
"Perfect! We have a new approach!" Skyler announced proudly, but began to wonder again. "What now?"
"Now we start to head back?" Skye wondered, glancing around at the rest of her driving friends.
"Sure!" Melody agreed.
"Sounds good to me," Brian commented.
"Let's go for it!" Ned said happily.
"Ok, but the long way around.." Rayla suggested. "So they have as much peace and quiet time as possible."
"Works for me." Chester shrugged.
"Let's go!" Zuma agreed.
"Follow me!" Skye called driving off through the powdery snow.
xxxx
Rubble peeked into the small baking oven they had on the table and he drew in a big breath.
"Yum!" He hummed to himself. Then turned to hop down off the chair again.
"Which one do you think will turn out the best? The chocolate chip? Or the sugar cookies?" He asked his friends, while Snowflake watched Rocky and Ryder mix the colors of frosting for decorating.
"The chocolate chip cookies. Too bad we can't eat them though," Snowflake answered calmly.
"Aw, you're right! I hope we did them right, Ryder," the bulldog remembered, glancing up at his leader.
"I think we did just fine, Rubble." Ryder assured him.
Chase rolled over toward them with a vocal exhale, as he snuggled back down.
"He seems so much more peaceful than he has been." Rocky mentioned when they all looked up to observe him for a moment. "You think that means he's getting better."
"I think that might be exactly what that means, little one." Boomerang's approach made them all look quickly, however some of them wore a deer in headlights expression as if startled by his sudden appearance.
"Oh, Boomer, it's just you," the mixed breed sighed. "I almost forgot you were still here.. I mean I'm not really sure where you would've gone, but.."
"It's ok.. I kinda just go wherever seems right." The old dog replied waywardly.
"So does that mean we can only have the sugar cookies or can we eat other cookies?" Snowflake asked Ryder, who nodded, before turning to Boomerang. "Were you asleep before? Sorry if we woke you up."
"Actually, I was just outside enjoying a little stroll," the Aussie replied. "The snow is quite peaceful.. like poetry on a summer night."
Snowflake raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you mean a winter's night?" She asked, slightly confused.
"Ever experienced a cool night in the south?" Boomerang hinted, and she could tell by his light blue eyes how knowledgeable he was and how fond this scenario seemed to be for him.
Snowflake tilted her head with her eyebrow still raised.
"No.. I haven't. Pleasant nights in the summer, yes. But I haven't really been south. Like the desert?"
"Nope, just south enough that you don't completely bake during the day, but you get a really good cool down at night, not too cold.. but not too warm." Boomerang replied, his tone almost distant as his mind wandered back to that place in time.
"Okay, that makes sense!" Snowflake said before nodding.
Ding!
"Cookies are done!" Rocky and Rubble called, perking up and racing over to the oven.
They both hopped up to peer into the oven until Ryder opened it and they sat back on the chair so they weren't too close to the heat.
Snowflake jumped onto a chair to join the pups.
"We'll probably have to wait for the cookies to cool off. We don't want to burn our tongues!" Snowflake cautioned.
"That's why we have these racks." Ryder replied, carefully setting the hot pans on the two tier racks to their left. "We'll put them on here to cool, before we move them over to the table with this parchment paper where we can decorate them."
"Good!" Snowflake responded happily, wagging her tail.
The buzz of engines splashed snow into the air outside and they looked over their shoulders briefly.
As if on cue, Chase shifted up to stretch in a downward position and yawning deeply before standing up. Shaking himself out, he turned just in time to watch the remaining pups come walking in.
"That was fun! Thanks for the ride pups," Brian said, as he talked to Rayla and the others.
"Yeah! At least we were safe- did you guys make cookies?" Melody started to add before sniffing the air.
Chase also sniffed the air.
"Smells like chocolate.. Blck!" He groaned in disgust. "You did make something more than that, right?"
"Yes Chase.. We made liver, avocado, and cinnamon cookies. So of course we made more," Snowflake joked.
"Really? I don't smell avocado or cinnamon!" Ned stated.
"Neither do I.." Chase deadpanned, "which is why I know you're joking."
"I'm kidding, Ned! Sugar cookies. We made chocolate chip and sugar cookies," Snowflake answered honestly.
Chase sniffed again.
"Yeah," the pup nodded. "Now that tracks."
"Tracks?" Ned said as he tried to find any tracks inside The Lookout.
"Anyways, need any help with the cookies?" Melody asked.
"Actually, I think these cookies are for Christmas. Right Ryder?" Snowflake guessed turning towards their leader.
"We may have to make some more, Christmas is still a couple weeks away." Ryder replied.
"It is? How many days has it been since the storm passed?" Brian asked.
"Fourteen or longer," Melody said deadpanned.
"Ha! Which storm?" Chase huffed. "Seems to me like we've had far too many of them lately. How can you hone in on just one?"
"Puh! You're one to talk, you were passed out from some of them." Chester quipped, earning him a dry look from his brother.
"I thought it was just yesterday wasn't it?" Kylie mentioned. "Isn't that why we were clearing snow all morning?"
"You mean most of the day? The sun's starting to make things dark out." Tiny corrected, turning from them behind him to the window in front of him as the sunset sky glimmered in the distance.
"I meant,.. since Melody and I arrived. That big storm. The one we were just cleaning up from today," Brian corrected.
Ned raised an eyebrow.
"Is it really that late? We just had lunch a while ago!" Ned commented.
"The sun goes down sooner when it's winter, Ned." Snowflake stated calmly.
"Yeah, ever heard the term.. 'time flies'? It's not just a metaphor, you know." Chester pointed out sarcastically and Chase nudged him to be nice, even mouthing the words to him.
"I thought it was 'time flies when you're having fun'. Still, what do you pups want to do now?" Brian asked, looking around at the group of friends.
"Take a nap?" Chase suggested flatly.
"But you just woke up from one!" Rocky mentioned.
"I know.." the young German Shepherd sighed. "And I'm still exhausted.. Is that weird?"
"Not entirely.." Marshall shrugged. "You're probably still finding your rhythm again after your sleep has been so out of whack lately."
"Plus, we're not that tired," Snowflake added from the kitchen table.
"Yeah! We need a way to get your blood pumping.." Skyler mentioned. "That'll wake you up."
"Do we though?" Chase asked, beginning to snuggle down.
"Yes!" Skyler announced, scaring Chase as she popped up to roll him off the pillow abruptly without warning. "Right now you're a lazy-bored kind of exhausted. You've probably slept enough, but haven't had enough mental juices flowing through that bruised brain.. Need something to get you movin' and groovin' so you can actually tire yourself out."
Chase began to pick himself up when he found where Skyler was standing above him.
"Um,.. you lost me.." he sighed in defeat.
"She means get up and do something to keep yourself physically busy," Brian clarified.
"Let him get up, Skyler. He needs to move. Unless you're wrestling him," Melody pointed out.
Skyler stepped back to give Chase more room to move.
"I got that part.." Chase continued finally standing up again, so he could face them. "But the other part about the bored exhaustion and the bruised brain.. aoh makes my head hurt just saying that.."
"I think she means let's get your body and brain engaged in something that'll use up the stored energy that's making you drowsy.." Rayla figured, putting everything as simply as she could.
"That doesn't even make any sense," Chase shook his head. "Usually too much energy makes you not wanna sleep."
"Not in every case," the golden lab countered. "And you should know."
"Exactly!" Ned said, before turning to Snowflake.
"Where did you put Chase's special gift?"
"I got it out of my vehicle, but I think it's under the parachute," Snowflake answered.
"Okay," Ned replied, before he ran under the big rainbow parachute in the corner of the room and started looking around under it. "Found it!"
"Uhh.. My what?" Chase wondered, drawing closer by only a couple paces for fear of what this meant.
"You're special gift. You know what it is, Chase!" Ned said happily, the parachute covered husky wagging his tail.
"Do I?" Chase answered, almost becoming unnerved and a little bit anxious.
"You do actually," Ned answered, before the parachute covered husky carefully walked up to Chase. Unraveling the fabric, Ned stood under the parachute, holding a familiar stuffed bear in his mouth.
"Huh?" Chase cocked his head.
Ned stepped forward a little, showing himself and the bear; the parachute covering the husky as if he was wearing a hoodie.
"Officer Bear? -Now you've really lost me.." Chase shrugged, shaking his head once again. "How is Officer Bear gonna wake me up,.. When his whole job when I was little was to put me to sleep?"
Ned tilted his head.
"Don't you want him?"
"Yes, I'll take him back." Chase replied, trying not to sound rushed as he hooked a paw around the bear to bring it close to him in one smooth motion. Making several pups among him snicker at his protective nature poking through, even though he looked about at them sheepishly or perhaps to try conceal the full effect of his response.
Sup y'all! Well, 'wasn't expecting this.. A quieter,.. calmer,.. and in some ways duller chapters than we've been doing. But obviously that's ok. Since there was still plenty of fun to be had here. And thankfully that means we give the characters a bit of a break from the craziness of what we've already thrown at them lol. ;D XD
All the same I loved the ironic title, cause it was a tough one to name. So the name we came up with actually worked out quite well. But let me know what you think. Till then see you next time! Thx!
