Slowly but surely, the couple made their way back to the lookout. Everest struggled a bit, having to lean on Marshall for almost the entire walk, but the Dally was more than willing to allow her to do so.

As they arrived, the Husky quickly noticed her mate was going in the direction of their puphouse, but after realizing how unhealthy it was for him to be in there all day, she had other plans. "Marshy, wait," she called out, stopping him from continuing.

"Yeah? What is it?" The Dally asked in return, looking over at her to see that she was clearly looking tired again. "You wanna take another break?"

Everest shook her head, and even though she wouldn't have minded a break at all, she wanted to keep him outside and somewhat active. "N-no, I'm fine, don't worry about it. But we should stay outside. You shouldn't be laying in there all day."

Marshall raised an eyebrow, but sighed and gave in. "Sure, but are you sure you don't wanna go inside and lay down?" He asked again, showing obvious concern for her safety. However, the Husky only smiled and nodded.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright. I-I'm not t-tired yet," she answered, despite it being a white lie. The Dally was about to protest, but before he got the chance, a familiar voice called out to them and ripped them out of the moment.

"Hey, can you two come over here?" Both pups naturally did as their owner asked and walked over to him, Everest having to force herself to not fall over from exhaustion. Ryder smiled as his pups got over to him. "So, how was your walk?"

"I-it was nice, I guess," Marshall mumbled, recalling the conversation they had. It wasn't the most light-hearted talk, but then again, he'd be lying if he said he regretted going out. The boy nodded and looked at Everest, and he immediately saw what the Dally had.

"Everest, are you okay? You look really tired," he asked, eyeing the Husky carefully. Instead of responding, she only leaned onto Marshall, who noticed the extra weight being added onto him. It was more than when she usually just leaned onto him for balance, she seemed completely worn out.

Without saying another word, the Dalmation slowly helped her lay down, not bothering to ask if she needed it as he already knew the answer. "You said you weren't tired," he commented as he settled down in the grass alongside her. Everest sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to catch her breath.

"W-well...I didn't want you to feel like we had to go back inside. Me being a bit tired is fine if it means you'll stay outside," she explained softly. Marshall, however, wasn't exactly satisfied with that reason.

"Eve, no, it's not worth it. You're not putting yourself before me. Y-you matter more," he protested, mumbling his last sentence which no one heard.

"He's right, Everest. I know you just wanna look out for him, but you can't ignore your health either," Ryder chimed in. The Husky only shrugged. Although knowing she shouldn't be putting herself at risk, to her Marshall was an exception, even though he never approved of that.

After a few moments of silence, Everest noticed her mate's head leaving her shoulder. Curious to see what he was doing, she herself looked over at him. To her dismay, he was doing something that seemed to have become a habit ever since the warehouse incident. And it broke her heart every single time.

Marshal was frantically looking around the property. At first, it didn't seem like much to anyone else, but the Husky was basically the only one who knew the reason he did this until she explained it to the others. It was caused by a simple emotion, one the Dally felt every second of his new life.

Fear.

Sure, before the whole situation he was constantly nervous, but afterward, it had gotten much worse. At this point, it was starting to worry the Husky, despite fear being normal for those with PTSD.

"Marshy..." She pulled him back over to her, hoping to help him get the feeling of safeness and comfort back. The Dalmation, as she expected, nervously cuddled close to her, as if he was trying to hide in her fur and make himself as small as possible. "It's okay, they're gone, we're safe." Marshall didn't respond and only stayed in the same position.

Everest sighed, but as much as it pained her, she couldn't say she blamed him. This whole situation had made a fear of hers worse as well. One she thought she had finally suppressed years ago, only to have it slowly creep up again after getting together with Marshall. It was one that haunted her, even gave her nightmares at times, and it had only been getting worse. But, she never let anyone know about it. Not even her Dally.

"Everest!" Her owner called out, snapping her out of her trance. "Are you alright? You seemed kinda out of it there." The Husky was silent for a moment, then looked over at Marshall, who was clearly worried for her as well.

"Yeah...I'm fine, I was just a bit tired from standing that long, that's all," she explained, not wanting them to get too involved in her own issues. Of course, she knew they'd only want to help, but to her, she wasn't the one who needed it. Her mate did, and he came first. Her problems could wait.

"You sure?" The Dally questioned as well, noticing the off look on her face. But, Everest only smiled and nuzzled him, hoping she could just get the conversation over with.

"Positive." The other two seemed satisfied enough with her answer, which made her a bit happier than it should have. Some things were better left unsaid, and this was one of them. She decided it was best to keep this fear to herself, and one day it'd go away, just as it did years ago.

"Oh wait a minute, Marshall, did you take your medicine?" Ryder suddenly asked. The second that question left his mouth, the Husky immediately felt guilty.

Stupid Everest, you were supposed to remind him. She thought to herself, feeling responsible for the mess up with the schedule. Normally, telling him to take his medicine was the first thing she'd do in the morning, but today it must've slipped her mind.

"Oh...uh...s-sorry, I kinda forgot," the Dally replied, realizing the mistake as well.

"Well, t-that's kinda my fault" The Husky butt in, earning confused looks from the other two. "I told him I'd remind him to take his medication, but I forgot today, sorry," she apologized, looking down in shame.

Ryder raised an eyebrow and rested his hand on her head. "Uh, Everest, it's fine, I wasn't gonna be mad at either of you. I was just gonna say he should go take them now," he explained, a bit confused on why the pup felt this way.

"Oh...okay. Well anyway, he's right, Marshy. Come on, I'll go with you." Marshall nodded and stood up, her doing the same with a bit of extra help. The two walked away as their owner watched them from a distance.

Despite what she had said, Everest's behavior hadn't gone unnoticed. In fact, it was something he had seen consistently throughout the week. However, Katie had told him to expect emotional changes from the Husky, which although gave him the answer he needed, there was still a small part of him that disagreed with that explanation.

◾◻◻⬛◻◻◾

"Hey, Marshy, are you looking for this?" Everest asked, scooting over a bowl of water with her muzzle. The Dally immediately stopped looking around and nodded with a small smile on his face.

After the whole warehouse incident, Haley had immediately prescribed Marshall a few medications, seeing as he clearly needed them. He was given medicine that would help lower his anxiety and stress levels, as well as an antidepressant. There was also a sleep medication, one specifically meant for those with PTSD to help reduce nightmares, but that wasn't supposed to be taken until the night before they went to sleep.

The Dally swallowed the pills, with the help of some water, before turning back to Everest with a disappointed look on his face. "W-when are these supposed to help? I feel the exact same."

"Haley said it might take a week or two to start feeling the results. Don't worry, it'll happen soon," the Husky reassured him.

Marshall nodded slowly and looked towards the ground. Everest noticed and sent her head below his chin, knowing he was starting to feel down again. "What's wrong?" She questioned, assuming it would be one of the usual answers.

"I...I'm just tired of this," he whimpered. The Husky raised an eyebrow, and although she already knew the answer, she figured it was best to ask anyway and hear it from him.

"Tired of what?" She asked in return. Instead of responding, the Dally stayed quiet. Naturally, Everest walked closer and nuzzled him, hoping to get some sort of a response from him. "Marshy, come on, you can—"

"You already know the answer, quit asking!" Marshall snapped, shouting at her in the process. Despite being told that these sudden outbursts were to be expected, it immediately triggered something inside the Husky. A certain feeling, one she hadn't felt like this in ages.

The Dally sighed and turned away from her in guilt. Of course, he didn't mean to get mad, it just slipped out, but that didn't make him feel any better. To his slight surprise, he didn't hear anything from Everest. Worried that he might've accidentally upset her, he slowly turned back around, only to see something that would be permanently engraved in his memory.

Instead of standing next to him like she was just a moment ago, she had backed herself into a corner, specifically the one that was the farthest away from him. That would've been enough to throw him off, but that wasn't even the worst part. It was the look in her eyes. A look of genuine fear.

"E-Eve?" He asked, both confused and concerned for his mate. The Husky whimpered something in response, but the only two words he could pick up were "don't" and "hit".

Unsure of what to do in this situation, Marshall slowly approached her and hugged her tightly. A few seconds of nothing passed before he eventually felt her hug back and her face burying into his neck. He could've sworn he heard her sniffling, as if holding back tears, but she never seemed to show any other type of emotion.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," the Dally apologized, assuming that was the cause of her sudden, frightful reaction. Everest gave him a light nod and licked him, reassuring him that she wasn't mad.

"It's fine, I know it was an accident," she replied although the unsureness in her voice was very noticeable. She still stayed in his arms, even shaking slightly, which was adding to his suspicion that something was wrong. He could tell she was scared.

"No, it's not fine. What's wrong? And what was it you said a minute ago?" Instead of giving him any type of answer, the Husky only separated from him and made eye contact.

"Nothing is wrong, I'm just a bit tired, so I think you may have just caught me off guard." She reasoned, letting out a small laugh, whilst also purposely avoiding his second question. She smiled at him, only to notice his still questioning expression. "Marshy, it's fine, I'm sorry if my reaction worried you."

"Y-you don't have anything to be sorry for," Marshall responded. Everest nodded and leaned on him, which he wasn't sure if that was for his or her comfort, or possibly both.

"And neither do you." The Dally smiled lightly, even if he didn't necessarily believe that. Whether it was him accidentally yelling at her, or just the situation as a whole, he always felt guilty for something.

"Hey," the Husky called out, cutting his guilty thoughts short. "I'm serious, I'm not mad at you. I know you're under a lot of stress right now, just don't feel bad about it, okay?" She requested, not wanting to give him anymore to be worried about than he already was.

Marshall nodded and licked her. "I know you're not mad," he replied, instantly taking the weight off his mate's shoulders, who licked him back and walked over to the door.

"Good, now, let's head back outside." She carefully stepped out of the puphouse. Without wasting any time, the Dally jumped and got close to her as the two walked back onto the lawn.

Everest was glad to have him so close to her, but there was still a tiny part of her that got nervous, which was something she hated. She loved him more than anything, but yet simply because they were mates, she never felt completely safe near him. She wanted to, but it was much easier said than done.

However, she pushed that thought away and just repeated the same message in her head she had since the two got together all those months ago. It was one she always tried to believe, but her past always wanted to make her think otherwise.

Marshy isn't like him, he's different, he'd never do those things to me.