PAW Patrol: Road to Recovery || Book Two

(C18) No Time Like the Present

"Oh good, there you guys are." The trio almost instantly woke up as they all looked for the voice they thought they heard. Sure enough, Katie stood on the porch, leaning against the wooden wall. Upon seeing her owner, the pup sprang off of Marshall and ran to her, jumping into her arms to be held. "Everyone got up and didn't know where you three were. We all knew you two would be fine, we just wanted to make sure the pup was with you."

"Sorry, Katie, we came out here last night and she came out with us, and I guess we ended up falling asleep," Everest explained, tiredly standing up with a bit of help. The girl smiled and shook her head as she pet the pup and walked inside, waiting for the other two to come in before she closed the door.

"Nah it's fine, don't worry, she's safe and that's what matters. C'mon, go get some food, and then we can open presents." Apparently, the word "food" also happened to be within the Border Collie's knowledge. She pried herself out of her foster owner's arms before leaping into the floor and sprinting into the kitchen where the others were already eating their breakfast.

The couple laughed it off, but neither of them did anything different from her. They silently agreed to get their usual morning routine over with as quickly as possible. They had presents to open, and although neither of them tended to be the most confident in themselves, nor did they really care about what they got, they were both pretty excited to give the other their gift.

With speed rivaling Rubble—though still not quite as fast as the pup, she was a force they didn't even dare reckon with—they rushed to the kitchen, found their bowls, and got to eating. Since they were the last ones awake, they definitely had a late start compared to the rest, but they all ended up finishing around the same time.

Unfortunately, they were cursed with an extra step in the morning, that being taking their medicine. The others were already circled around the tree where their presents lay, eagerly waiting to open them. But no, not them, they weren't lucky enough for it to be that simple.

Repeating the same process as last night, the husky and Dalmatian snuck away from the group and quickly took their daily pills. It never took long at all, but it was still an irritating chore with a heavy weight tied to it, especially for Everest. But on the bright side, the rest had waited for them, and they didn't ask any questions as to what they had to do. So now, the main event could finally begin.

The two might have been a bit old to get this hyped up over Christmas presents, but the others didn't appear to be much different, so it's not like they were going to judge. Besides, they were all still puppies at heart. Even the Border Collie, who really didn't know what was going on, was getting jumpy, probably catching the contagious mood from her peers.

"Hang on, before everyone starts opening your gifts, I wanna give you guys my present," Ryder announced, standing above them. It was probably best that way, no one really knew how to start the gift opening, it was mainly just waiting for someone to make the first move. "I know it hasn't been easy for any of us recently, so I figured I would treat all of you. When we get back home, you'll see that all of your puphouses have gotten size upgrades!"

Everyone sprang up and howled in joy, the most excited by far being the two couples of the house. None of their houses were small, in fact, they were already pretty spacious when they were by themselves. But when it came to having two dogs living in one, it could get crowded from time to time. And for those of them that didn't have a partner, well, they certainly weren't gonna complain about some extra space.

Ryder smiled at their reactions, quickly giving all of them pets of the head. Of course, his generosity was repaid in the form he expected; being tackled to the ground by seven fully grown dogs, along with some help from a smaller eighth who was just copying the rest. He never really stopped them from jumping on him when they were puppies, which admittedly might have been a mistake since the habit ended up carrying through to adulthood.