Chapter forty-four: The Big Brother Business
Squeezing hurriedly through the door, he rushed to wrestle his hat and winter vest off so he could run down the corridor. Dogs looked up when he blazed by but the sound of little whines suddenly stopped him cold, and he dared himself to open his eyes to view the box in front of him.
Finally working up the courage, he slowly peeled them open to view the sight which sent mixed signals just by how it looked.
Eight furballs wiggled and suckled at the exposed underside of their mother, who hardly seemed to notice them by her closed and very tired eyes.
Chase's ears flattened slightly, as he took more of it in.
Her side rose and fell in a smooth lift then drop pattern from inhale to exhale, but at least she was breathing which was a relief. Which made him realize that this had been a concern of his, but knew it was totally ridiculous. Even so, he was relieved but still questioned her state of being, only vaguely knowing the effects of what had just happened during the night. Quiet as a mouse, he transferred each foot over the barrier and creeped toward her. Hoping he wouldn't startle her too much, and partly hoping not to wake her again. But getting about a foot or two within range, her eyes opened.
Shoot! So much for super spy mode.. He silently cursed.
"Chase.." Mariana addressed him softly. "It's ok.."
Chase caught on to her attempt to look more awake, the mask of empathy coming down on her as she tried to shift up onto her forepaws without crushing her new little ones.
"You can come closer.." She said, stifling a yawn. "You can come look.."
Suddenly feeling exposed, he snuck over and as he came to a stop he barely craned up for a slightly better vantage point. Little heads with floppy ears snuggled into each other; some searching around, others laying still and calm. He couldn't really view their faces, until one suddenly lifted above the rest to turn its head around in his view. Just seeing this little pup's face rendered the hint of a smile on the young police pup's lips, which seemed to start something in him he'd never felt before.
Chester and the Prescotts smiled, the older German Shepherd glancing up at them to exchange the expression of pride and humor as they resumed watching.
Chase lowered his head to be closer to the little pup's level, but what he didn't quite expect was for the blind mini to crawl forward and boop him on the nose with an open mouth and suckling tongue. Chase giggled when recoiling and snorted air out of his nostrils hoping to avoid a sneeze. Mariana smiled and stroked a gentle lick over the pup's head allowing a very noticeable ear recoil, as he continued to enjoy his new sibling's wandering.
Chase put his face close to the little pup's and the tiny version of himself turned and bumped into it. Holding it there steadily, the tiny fur ball almost climbed up onto it; but then decided pawing at his face would change something for it. Chase blinked to avoid getting scratched in the eye when a teeny little mouth opened with a whine and tried to bite down.
"Heh, looks like deja vu, ey Chess." Maggie smirked, nudging the pup gently with her foot.
"Something like that." Chester replied, his brow furrowing humorously.
Chuckles emanated from them as the pup was now trying to suckle on Chase's nose despite it being far too big for him, and also being the wrong shape to work effectively for him; but for those watching it was quite an adorable site.
"Wait, hold it right there.." Maggie decided. "Gotta capture this.."
"What? -no wait! I'm not ready fo-"
The snapping of the camera was his defeat when he looked just in time for the snapshot.
Maggie removed her eye from the viewfinder lens to look at the image on the preview screen and instantly burst out laughing. She tipped the small camera toward Billy for him to focus to look at and he laughed too.
Chase held his head mostly in place so no to knock the little pup off his face, but tried very slowly to turn his head even slightly to look their way.
Chester put his paws up onto Maggie's arm to elevate himself between them to take a peek for himself, and he too came down squeezing his eyes shut from a hearty fit of laughter.
"Oh that is good, really captured his good side.." he chuckled loudly. "AhahahaHA!"
"What? What is it? How bad is it?" Chase asked, hurriedly waiting to hear from them again. Mariana bent her head around to move the pup off his face so he could approach the three of them all admiring and snickering about the image.
"Oh no,.." Maggie chuckled. "Not bad at all, it really does capture your essence.." turning the camera around, Chase lightened up to view the image and was taken aback by the shocked stun of his mid-protest caught perfectly preserved at its peak with the suckling pup gnawing on his nose.
"Awoh man! I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I.." Chase groaned.
"Hehehe nope!" Chester giggled, in a bit of a high-pitched tone. "HehehahahahaHAAAA!"
"Oh that's definitely going on the fridge.." Billy commented fondly.
"Billy!" Chase gasped.
"I could get it framed and share a copy with Ryder.." Frank replied.
"Mr. Prescott!" Chase cried.
"I'd volunteer to tell the story for the big reveal.." Chester offered.
"Don't you dare!" Chase threatened, then his tone shifted to complain. "Guys, come on!" But some of them had already left and a sound behind him stopped him dead and he turned around. Mariana had gotten the pup nestled down and eating on her when she looked back up to meet his gaze. But then she sighed deeply and lowered her head, inclining him to hurry back over to her and duck under her chin to lay down in her lap so to speak. Laying there with his paws snuggled toward her chest his right shoulder propped up on her foreleg and her head fit nicely in the groove of his side and the back of his left shoulder. But just when she was about to put her head to full rest she lifted off again and looked down on him.
"You don't need to do this.." She said.. "I don't wanna crush you.."
"I'm ok, Mom,.." Chase replied earnestly. "It's ok.." She stared at him for a long time, but he could read her tired eyes so clearly to know she really didn't feel like arguing the matter. So when she laid back down, he welcomed the weight on his back, and gently nestled his head across her shoulder where it would more comfortably fit for the both of them.
The feeling of a smaller body under her head still concerned her, but the feel of his heartbeat and the nursing at her side brought her back to the days when the older pup was a younger pup and it was such a surreal feeling to remember all at once, yet again.
The light pressure on his right shoulder sensed a coming discomfort, but at this moment he either didn't realize it or didn't care. And to be quite honest the weight of her head on his side, though heavy, was rather calming and he could even say that it was enough to return to rest. But he thought he'd reserve that thought for himself, even though prying eyes took another snap of him when his eyes were finally closed.
"Aww.. so cute." Maggie sighed, lowering the camera from her face as Chester looked up at her with a smile. Then the two of them got up to leave to give them a few moments alone.
XXXX
"Ok pups, let's get to work.." Ryder announced. "And since we don't have are chief tracker with us, we'll go with the one we've got. Snowflake, we'll use your vehicle's tracking sensors to scan any packages we find.. after Skye helps us track them down. But in the meantime, like any good investigator does.. we start by looking for clues. Let's head to the pet parlor and inspect the shipment to see if we can find anything on or around it that might tell us who took the one package we're looking for."
With each pup he mentioned, he also put up the icon associated with them, putting together the animated display of the situation as he went.
"Okay. Leave no rock, tree, or clue unseen. But, shouldn't we also have Marshall come in case it's dangerous?" Snowflake mentioned.
"Not this time.. I have another idea in mind." Ryder shrugged.
"This puppy's gotta fly!" Skye howled.
"And Rayla, I could use your help for this one too.." Ryder continued, putting the Military pup's icon on the screen; much to her surprise. "You're just as observant with an eye for details.. you and Snowflake should be able to put your heads together in order to help lead us to whoever did this."
"Good idea. No, gluing our heads won't work Ned!" Snowflake said as her husky brother opened his mouth to say something.
"Actually I was going to ask about Chester -Oh yeah. He's not here. Sorry."
"It's ok.." Ryder replied. "But I know we can handle this while Chester keeps Chase busy on his day out."
"I wonder what they're up to now.." Marshall quietly mentioned to his friends.
XXXX
"Ow!" Even his slightest movement made Mariana stir and lift her head off him.
"Chase?.. what's wrong?" She asked him softly.
"It's ok.." Chase replied, rolling his paws under him, but the stiffness in his shoulder remained heavily from laying on it for so long.
"I don't think you are.." his mother replied. "Billy?"
"No really, I'm good." Chase protested even while Billy retrieved him and laid him flat on his back near her.
"Let me decide that." Billy told him, "you may have slept hard on it both last night and just now." Cupping his hand around his right foreleg along the back of his shoulder, he created tension with an outward motion from the pup's body. The resistance he got was either from the pup subconsciously protecting himself or there truly was resistance to the joint in general, but Billy knew it was likely a combination of both. And pressing his fingers into the furry flesh gave him more of a feel for it.
"Yep, let's make an adjustment here.." he decided. "Maggie, a towel, please."
"What?! But I thought we already fixed this?" Chase wondered, trying to get up but Billy laid him down again and held him there gently.
"Sometimes a minor dislocation needs to be reset a couple times before it completely settles back into place again." Billy said, then at that moment Maggie returned and handed him the towel which he thanked her with a smile.
"Minor dislocation?" Mariana quoted, concern instantly showing across her face.
Rolling Chase to put the end of the towel under him, Billy set him back and signaled for Chester to come stand on Chase's left side so he could step on that end of the towel and hold it there.
"Nothing, Mom,.. it's ok now.." Chase sighed, rolling his eyes away from her hoping she wouldn't lose it again like he figured she would.
"Sounds like something to me." His mother returned indignantly, making Chase just sigh.
"He's just fine, Ana," Billy informed her as he began to wrap the towel around the pup's right foreleg, "old injury."
"Thank you.." Chase softly told him, still slightly facing away from his mom's view of his face.
Tightly wrapped from the bottom of the elbow to the ankle of the forepaw the single wrap pulled tight. He pulled on it slightly then decided to wrap it a second time then hand that end to Maggie on his left side.
Rolling Chase on his side now, he looked up at Chester and Maggie to get a vantage point of the line up.
"Ok, Chess gimme a good pull straight back like you're playing tug." Billy requested.
Picking up the end of the towel from under his paws, he leaned back on his haunches for a secure pull backwards.
This in turn pulled on the wrapped foreleg toward his back, which Chase resisted just a little bit.
"Maggie, give me some gentle shakes." Billy said, taking both hands around the German Shepherd's rotator cuff with mainly the thumbs and forefingers. Maggie began a gently rocking motion at a shaky, but even pace. Chase tensed, even though he did realize he didn't need to, but the anticipation of what was to come kept him on edge.
XXXX
Vehicles screeched to a stop and they all got out.
"Ok pups.. let's look for clues." Ryder said, hopping off to remove his helmet.
"What package was sent to Katie?" Snowflake asked.
"All of them." The girl replied, gesturing to the tower in front of them. The amount of boxes came up to about Ryder and Katie's height and was as wide as the two of them standing next to each other; various boxes making up the bulk of it.
"I just got a big shipment of pet supplies for the store.." she went on. "Including that one special package for that one special customer." Her hand gestured to a spot where the box had been sitting.
"Okay. Rayla, can you check the box first? Make sure it's not gonna.. Burst into fire," Snowflake suggested.
"Why? None of these boxes should have anything explosive.." The golden lab queried. "I mean I supposed some soaps or hair products.. but.. the box we're looking for is missing, not confused for a different one."
"Right. But you never know. Katie could have gotten popping confetti for all we know!" Snowflake replied.
"I think you're safe," Katie giggled. "I don't have a reason to buy things like that.. unless it's someone's birthday and they make a special request.. but I don't have any in this shipment."
"Okay," Snowflake responded, before going to the back of her rescue van. After pressing the green button, she pressed another button so the boxes would be scanned. She then pressed the blue button to scan the boxes.
"Any evidence, Snowflake?" Ryder asked.
"Hold on.. Everything looks good. Huh? There's some kind of.. claw scratches on the box? With fur?" Snowflake answered, as she looked at the scanner screen.
"Claw marks?" Ryder wondered, suddenly confused as Rayla went in for a closer look.
"And gray fur?" The golden lab observed, noting the tufts of fluff caught in the claw marks.
"What kind of fur is it?" Rocky asked.
"I have the feeling I know the answer to that." Ryder sighed.
"Not Rocky. He's been with us the whole time! And those claw marks are too small for any of us to do any damage. Who do you think it is, Ryder?" Snowflake asked.
Cali hopped up onto the spot where the box once was and laid down to roll with a happy purr.
"Any chance it's Cali's?" Ryder asked.
Rayla viewed the cat by approaching and squinting at her fur, then did the same with the fur tufts.
"Doesn't look like the same shade," she finally decided. "If it's a cat, we're clearly looking for a different one."
"But how do we know it is a cat?" The recycling pup wondered.
"Chase would be able to solve that for sure.." Rayla sighed. "Hate to say it, but we could really use him for this one."
"Anyone else allergic to cats?" Snowflake asked.
"None that I can think of," Rocky sighed.
"That's ok, we'll just have to figure it out another way.." Ryder decided.
"Remind me why I'm here again," the mixed breed asked randomly.
"You're here so you can help get these boxes inside." Katie replied, gesturing a hand to the pile of boxes which had a pallet underneath the whole thing.
"Oh.. Gotcha!" Rocky nodded in understanding. "I'm on it! Green means go!"
Hey guys! And we're back! But MAN we've been slacking! DX
So sorry again, but there might be another two week break or two in the near future..
Because between the holidays coming up and cold and flu season and life happening that has definitely created friction with this story and several others believe it or not. We'll try our best to get as caught up as we can, but only time will tell how much. Till then, thanks for reading and we'll see you next time! Thx!