PAW Patrol: Blazing Avalanche || FF Book Three

(S2-C12) Fire and Steel

As Marshall and Ryder continued to walk through the hospital, Ryder found himself getting scared by the horrors of the trauma bay. Now of course, it wasn't the people themselves who Ryder was afraid of, but the injuries they had sustained.

"F-Flame, how do you medics stay focused while the people around you deal with injuries like this?" Ryder asked, trying his best to not look at the patients around him, but that felt nearly impossible with the sights, sounds and smells invading Ryder's senses.

Marshall took a deep breath as he prepared to respond, he knew that Ryder and the rest of his friends in the Paw Patrol had already asked him a similar question, not just with his work as an EMT, but also as a firefighter. Even Chase felt the need to say that he felt like everything Marshall is tasked with doing puts far more stress on the dalmatian than being a police pup ever could, but Marshall had always downplayed what Chase was saying, and said that being a police pup and everything connected to that made it far more stressful for the German shepherd. Of course, this was never a competition to see which of the two pups had a more stressful job, but from the outside looking in, it definitely looked like that.

"As much as I hate to say it, you get used to it after a while. I've seen way too many patients die surrounded by family, or just alone in the trauma bay. It feels like deaths on the job still affect me, and they always will, but I feel like I've been desensitized to it, if that makes sense." Flame said as he rounded a corner that led to the recovery rooms, relying on the virtual map of the hospital in his helmet's visor to guide him through the unfamiliar building.

"I've heard that from a lot of pups before, Flame. Are you sure you're doing okay with all of this? I know we only met back in City Square, but I care for every person and animal I meet." Ryder asked as Flame began walking up the staircase that led to the second floor of the hospital and the recovery rooms.

"We're getting closer to where Skye is, Ryder." Marshall said as he stepped forward for a brief moment, confusing Ryder as he got in contact with the anesthesiologist who had helped with Skye's surgery.

"Come in, this is Flame. How is the patient doing in the recovery room? I'm on my way up with the family of the patient," Marshall said as he waited for a response from the anesthesiologist.

"I hear you Flame, the patient is still stable. I did the second routine vitals check since the patient left the OR around five minutes ago, and all vitals were still stable. We are in recovery room 15 on the second floor and ready for visitors." The anesthesiologist replied as they wiped a bit of sweat off of their face, it had been another long day for the anesthesiologist, and she was looking forward to heading home soon and allowing the night shift to take over so that the day shift could head home.

"Understood. On our way now," Marshall replied as he allowed Ryder to catch back up to him, leaving the leader of the Paw Patrol confused as to why the combat medic had to dash ahead of him in order to take a call.

"And to answer your earlier question Ryder, I'd be lying if I said even though the desensitization that comes with a job like this all of it doesn't overwhelm me at least some times, but I can't give up. If I take a break or even worse give up, I don't even want to imagine all the lives that would be lost because of less medics being able to help, and knowing me, that would tear me apart irreparably." Marshall answered as they stopped right outside the recovery room that Skye was in.

"I- I see Flame, if you ever need to talk about it, our team at the Paw Patrol is working with an animal therapist named Rebecca from Adventure City; she might be able to help you get some of these feelings from your chest." Ryder offered as Marshall spoke into the room.

"We're outside recovery room 15, are we okay to come in?" Marshall asked the anesthesiologist through his hospital radio that he was given when he came into the building.