Ryder had called the Paw Patrol in for a meeting, except for Marshall. They were still on break from missions, which meant this time they had no idea what was going on. When they came out of the elevator, they all ran up to him like they usually would.

"What's wrong Ryder sir? I thought we were still on break." Chase asked, still a bit confused. The boy nodded, seemingly confirming that they were, but that just made things more confusing.

"Which you still are. I just called you guys up here because we need to talk." Ryder responded. "I've been thinking, do you guys think Marshall should be kept on duty? I know what you're thinking but think of his mental state. I mean it's been 2 months since he was diagnosed with PTSD, and has he really gotten much better? I don't want to send him on a mission in the condition he's in now." He explained.

The pups sat in silence. Of course, they knew the dally loved his role, but Ryder had a point. Was it really a good idea to send him into the field? He still seemed depressed and very vulnerable. And despite their best efforts, he still blamed himself for Everest's death.

"I think I speak for all of sir, but I honestly don't know." Chase answered as the rest nodded in agreement. It wasn't an easy decision to make. Marshall still needed to recover, and at the moment, that wasn't going so well.

"I don't either Chase. I guess we should just give him some more time." Ryder responded. "Oh, and I would keep an eye on Marshall today." He added. "Today is Everest's birthday."

The tension in the room greatly increased. That definitely wouldn't be easy for the dally. Besides him, they all had mostly gotten over Everest's death. It still hurt sometimes, but it wasn't as bad as it was three months ago, even for Skye. But even then, they would be lying if they said that didn't darken the mood.

Chase whimpered at the realization. Usually, any mention of the husky would just end up making Marshall more upset. They tried not to bring her up often, especially not anything about her death. That would almost always end up in another episode for him, which obviously they wanted to avoid.

"Chasey, don't worry, he'll be fine." Skye stated, snapping him out of his worries. The shepherd nodded slightly, but it didn't help much.

"I know, but I'm just worried about him. He's my brother. It scares me knowing that he's going through all this. I'm scared he'll do something that he'll regret. I-I just wish we could help him more." He replied sadly.

"Trust me, I get that. I wish we could do more too." Ryder added. "But there isn't really much more we can do. I think we just have to give him time, eventually he'll come around."

"B-but he shouldn't have to wait. This shouldn't even be a problem. This entire thing is stupid. He never deserved to go through any of this. Everest shouldn't have died, he should've never gotten PTSD, none of this should have happened." The shepherd exclaimed.

"You're not wrong. None of this should've happened, but there's nothing we can do now. That's why we all need to be there for him, so that one day, he'll get better." His owner reassured as he lightly patted his head.

Chase sighed and nodded. He knew they were right, but it was still worrying for him. "Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry if I seemed a bit stressed" He apologized, not wanting to make his team feel bad.

Skye smiled lightly and nuzzled him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I know you're worried about him, so am I. We all are. It's probably normal to be stressed about something like this." She told him.

"Yeah, thanks Skye. And speaking of Marshall, I'm gonna go check on him. You guys wanna come?" Chase offered. The rest nodded in agreement. Whether he liked it or not, they wanted to check on their friend. They all knew that today would be even harder on him than usual.

Once they all went down to his puphouse, they heard something very unexpected. Instead of hearing the usual silence, it almost sounded like he was singing. After exchanging some confused glances with each other, Chase slowly opened his door. What they heard melted their hearts.

He was singing happy birthday, to Everest. Despite what he thought, Marshall had an amazing singing voice. He didn't even notice everyone was there as he finished. He wiped away a few tears and looked at the picture of him and Everest. "H-happy birthday Eve." That was all he could say before he started crying.

Chase walked in to try and comfort him. "Hey, you ok buddy?" He asked. Marshall jumped back a bit, startled from his sudden appearance, but calmed down and wiped away his tears, not wanting to cry in front of the others. Although he knew crying was normal, for some reason it made him feel....weak.

"W-what do you think? Do I look f-fine to you?" The dally replied. The others were a bit caught off guard by his annoyed tone, but no one said anything. He was already going through enough, he didn't need them adding on to anything.

"Well, no. But is there anything we can do to help? I mean, surely there's something we can do, right?" The shepherd offered, hoping he'd get something in response.

"Unless you can revive the dead, no. Y-you can't fix this." Marshall snapped coldy.  The shepherd was expecting something like this, but he didn't give in. He was going to help him whether he wanted it or not.

"But we can help you. Just let us try. I mean, we've all mostly gotten over her death, we can help you. I know that it hurts, but-"

"NO! Don't you even think about saying that!" The dally yelled, interrupting whatever reasoning he was about to give. Chase was surprised at the sudden outburst, just as everyone else was. "You have no idea what this is like! Y-you don't get it. None of you do. You don't understand what it's like to watch your mate d-die, because you were too weak to help her. She was m-my everything. But she's gone now. She's gone....a-and it's all my fault."

The rest stood there, as his sudden burst of emotions seemed to come to an end. Marshall stood there in silence, before eventually, breaking into tears. No one really knew what to say to him, but after a minute or so passed, Chase walked over to him and hugged him.

"No, you're right. I don't know what this is like for you. I'm sure this hurts for you more than any of us could imagine. I'm so sorry you have to go through this, I just wish there was more I could do to help." He cooed.

"I-it's ok. Sorry I snapped at you there, I don't even know why I did that. I know you didn't mean anything bad by it." Marshall replied, making everyone relieved that their little argument had been resolved quickly.

"Hey, I have an idea." Ryder stated, causing both pups to look up at him. "Let's go out to dinner, it'll be nice. Plus, we haven't been out in a while." He suggested. Everyone agreed, not seeing the harm in it, plus it was almost that time. It had been too long since they all went out and did something together.

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Once they all arrived at Mr. Porter's, they went inside to be greeted by him immediately. "Oh, hello guys. It's been a while." Mr. Porter welcomed. "I'm very sorry to hear about what happened, especially you Marshall." He added sympathetically as he brought them to their table.

"Yeah, thanks." Marshall replied unenthusiastically, barely even listening to what he said. Being here made him a bit uncomfortable. After all, this was the place he and Everest went on their first date. One of his greatest memories, but now, that's all it was. Just a distant memory of what would never happen again.

"So, do guys know what you want? I know you guys have been through a lot, so it's on the house." Mr. Porter said, snapping Marshall out of his trance. The pups all placed their orders, and the man left to go prepare their food.

"This doesn't feel right." Marshall spoke up after he left. Catching everyone's attention "I mean, should we really be celebrating. I-It just....I don't know. It just feels wrong to enjoy h-her day when she......can't."

"Don't feel bad about it pup. I think she would want us to have fun in her memory. I'm sure she's happy that we're out tonight." Ryder replied warmly.

After not too long, their food was brought over, so they began eating. Well, mostly everyone did. "Hey buddy, are you gonna eat?" Chase asked as he noticed Marshall hadn't touched his food.

After receiving no repose, he reached out and tapped his paw, which caused the dally to yelp.  Ryder raised an eyebrow at him. "Marshall, why does your paw hurt?" He asked suspiciously.

Marshall, not wanting them to know the truth since he told them he had stopped cutting himself a while ago, made something up. "Umm, I tripped on some rocks." He lied. Unfortunately, Ryder wasn't buying it.

"Let me see it." He demanded. Marshall defeatedly held out his paw, knowing that his owner would see his scars.

Ryder looked at his paw, then back at him with sympathy. "Marshall, you said that you stopped doing this to yourself. Why? Why do you keep doing this?" He asked.

"I-I deserve it for all the pain I put her through." The dally mumbled in response with tears building in his eyes, but he held himself together.

"Buddy, no you don't. Please stop doing this. This isn't what she would've wanted you to do, is it?" Chase added.

"How should I know? She's dead cause of me." Marshall replied sadly. He got the same replies he usually did, all of them telling him that it wasn't his fault. Honestly, he didn't even care at this point. He just wanted his Everest back. "If you say so." He told them. The others didn't really believe him, but they just decided to drop it for now.

Without any more words, aside from some occasional small talk, they finished their food. They were about to walk out when they were stopped by Mr. Porter. "Before you leave, I just want to make sure, the ceremony is next week today right?" Ryder nodded in response. "Ok. Me and Alex will be sure to make it. Take care."

Marshall had nearly forgotten about that, it was only a week away. One more week until Everest's funeral, where he would have to say his final goodbyes to his fallen mate