It was no surprise that the following few weeks were pretty stressful for Marshall and Everest, more so than usual. Audrey had gotten her diagnosis, and now, as any protective guardians would be, they were constantly stressing over her and her seizures. She had only experienced a few since then, but there wasn't a number low enough that would keep them from worrying.

On the bright side, she was doing great on the days without seizures or sore muscles. Just as cheery and hyperactive as she usually would be, running around and playing with whatever could keep her entertained. They hadn't left the house a whole lot, admittedly due to her elders wanting to keep her away from any possible triggers, but she didn't mind much. They would still visit Katie, and occasionally Jake, those were the only items on her list of demands.

Maybe it was a good thing for her to have such overly anxious ones watching over her, it certainly seemed to keep her safe. Especially with her growing so quickly, even as a doctor Marshall didn't realize how she would develop in three weeks' time. She was getting smarter and learning more words each day, for better or for worse, considering issues like this one were upon them.

"Audrey, come on, you have to take your medicine. Don't you wanna keep the scary things from happening?" he insisted, gently pushing his paw closer with her seizure-reducing pills. As usual, she pushed him away, huffing in irritation while shaking her head. She sat down and planted her paws against the living room floor, further proving her point.

"Nuh-uh, they're yucky," she argued, sticking her nose up in refusal. The Dalmatian sighed, this was a war he had been fighting for weeks now, her own well-being versus her ongoing stubbornness. He had tried everything, even sneaking them into her food until she ended up noticing the taste.

"Well, do you wanna try swallowing them with water? You wouldn't be able to taste it that way." Audrey shook her head rapidly, her tongue sticking out in disgust at the idea, much to his assumption. "Then if you take them now, I'll take you to the park when Mommy is back? How's that sound?"

"But it's still watewing outside." Marshall curiously looked out the window, remembering that she wasn't exactly wrong. Heavy droplets fell from the sky, continuing the ongoing rain from last night and day. All of them were far from excited about the weather, not that they disliked the rain, but that it was the middle of winter and yet not snowing.

Even if he didn't mind the rain much, and neither did she, chances were she didn't want a repeat of yesterday's incident. That being when they did agree to go to the park in the rain, only for her to slide into a freezing cold puddle that got her a one-way trip back home, under blankets by the fireplace, and a warm mug of dog-friendly hot chocolate with plenty of hugs.

"Hmm, fine, I'll make you a deal. How about tonight we'll order burgers for dinner, and you can have a whole cheeseburger all to yourself?" As he had expected, the Border Collie's face lit up, the fire in her eyes burning away at her unwillingness to cooperate. She had been begging for one ever since she had first tried it, this was her golden opportunity.

"Weally?!" she asked in excitement, jumping up on all fours. The Dally smiled to himself, hoping that Ryder wouldn't be mad at him for basically forcing him to order dinner. But he figured his owner could manage, they usually got discounts anyway, sometimes free meals if they were lucky. And if not, well, Marshall wouldn't allow him to disappoint her.

"Yes, really. But, if you want a cheeseburger for dinner, I want you to try and swallow the medicine with water, okay? Just once, and if you hate it, I won't make you do it again." Audrey groaned, reluctantly holding her paw out as she was handed her medication. Marshall carefully pushed her water bowl next to her, giving her the time she needed to commit.

Hesitantly, she placed the pills on her tongue before taking a gulp of water, forcing the medicine down her throat. Her face momentarily scrunched up from the unfamiliar feeling while she fully swallowed them, coughing a bit and sipping to rid herself of the irritation.

"See? That wasn't too bad, was it?" The collie shook her head, he did have a point when saying it was easier than having to eat it with food the way she usually did. The feeling was weird, but barely had any trace of that disgusting medicine taste. Plus, now she had a feast of a dinner on the way, meaning it was worth it regardless.

"When will Mommy be home?" Marshall reminded himself to turn around, checking his surroundings before answering, even if he knew better than to actually explain it to her. Everest wouldn't have been very happy if she got home to Audrey blabbering to everyone about her whereabouts, regardless of if it was truthful or not.

"Mommy should be home any minute, she's usually done helping grandpa Jake by now," he explained, still using the husky's owner as the code word of choice for her therapy sessions. Although they did feel bad whenever the pup excitedly asked them to tell Jake "hi" for her.

"Daddy, can we play a joke on her?" The Dalmatian quietly laughed to himself, nodding as he sat down in preparation to hear her master plan. Surely, her inner creative genius would blow him away, as per usual. "Ok, so when Mommy gets home, I'll hide, and you pwetend you don't know where I am."

Before he could vocalize whether he was taking her side or not, which of course he would have, they heard a small ding come from the elevator as it began to descend. Marshall smiled, more relieved than anything for her return. Audrey, on the other hand, had disappeared onto the couch, sitting behind the back cushions and waiting to strike.

"Shhh, don't tell Mommy that I'm hewe, Uncle Chase," she loudly whispered from the other side, a small laugh coming from the shepherd who was apparently next to her. So help him if he were to ruin her plan of a lifetime. Thankfully he kept quiet, and she quickly fell silent as the elevator doors opened, revealing the husky walking out with Marshall running to meet her.

"Hi, honey, how was Jake's?" he gently asked, giving her a welcoming hug—for both her sake and his own. Everest slowly wrapped her forelegs around him, her paws gripping onto him as she smiled slightly and placed his forehead into her shoulder. She stroked his head before leaning him back up and giving him a quick kiss, breaking their hug.

"It was fine, not much different than it usually is. I'm just glad to be back, it's stressful." The Dally quietly agreed with her, he knew firsthand how anxiety-inducing it could be, especially on certain topics. It was especially worse for him, now that they weren't able to go together. "Ehem, now where's my little girl?"

"That's good. And...oh no, I have noooo idea where she is, she must be missing," he exasperated, speaking in such a tone that made it easy for Everest to catch on. She smiled at him before turning her head around the room, greatly exaggerating her search before turning to him in horror.

"How awful, whatever shall we do? I guess we'll have to get Uncle Chase to start a search for her, we can't have our precious girl getting hurt." As if on command, the shepherd propped from behind the couch with his front legs dangling over the side.

"Well, I guess I can go start a search for her. I'll tell Auntie Skye to fly around, in fact, we might need everyone's help," he chimed in, looking down at the pup while winking. She giggled to herself, slowly climbing onto the top of the couch when no one was looking there, still using Chase's leg for cover. And that was when she chose to pounce.

"Boo!" she shouted, leaping off the couch and in front of Everest. Her three elders pretended to gasp in surprise, with the husky hugging her in relief that she finally found her. After all, she had to know how frightening of an experience it was to have her missing for so long. "Hehe, I got you, Mommy. I was hewe the whole time."

"Oh phew, you had me worried for a second. I would've never known you were here." Everest rubbed her nose against the pup's forehead, who was giggling at how well she had succeeded. No one in this tower seemed to be capable of challenging her, not once had one of her foolproof plans failed her.

"Mommy, guess what?" The husky smiled down at her, letting out a questioning hum as she waited to hear whatever the news was this time. "I took my pills all by myself with watew! And Daddy said we could have cheesebuwgers for dinner!"

"Aw, that's great, Sweetheart. I agree, you deserve a good dinner for that. It's a lot easier when you don't have to taste it, isn't it?" Audrey nodded her head in agreement, her mind filling with pride from the praise. Her caretakers were thankful for her accomplishment, not just for her own sake, but now that they wouldn't have to spend twenty minutes every day trying to get her to take her medicine.

"Can we go outside and play in the watew?" she suddenly asked, her head switching between the two of them as she waited for an answer. Her elders eyed each other, silently debating whether they were willing to go through the trouble of getting all cold and wet in the rain, especially after what happened yesterday with Audrey and the puddle. But, she had just accomplished something, and it wasn't as cold today. Surely some time in the yard wouldn't hurt.

"Hmm, well I don't, it's still pretty chilly out there," the Dalmatian answered, though he was completely lying about not having an answer. Everest laughed quietly as the pup went straight to her usual trick of persuasion, giving him the puppy dog eyes that she still thought worked perfectly on him.

"Pleeeease? I pwomise I'll be good." Marshall let out another unsure hum, letting the tension stretch as far as he could make it. He looked beside him, the husky to his left nodding before he faced Audrey's begging expression. She still had yet to realize that they were the only ones who actually had grown immune to her puppy eyes.

"Pinky promise? To be good and to make sure you don't hit your head," he requested, sticking his paw out in her direction. The Border Collie—fully avoiding his expectations of her taking him up on his offer—only looked at him with a confused, almost judgemental glare as her voice changed to a more matter-of-fact tone.

"But Daddy, you said only humans had pinkies?" Usually, he would've just assumed this was another one of the thousand questions she would ask, but her body language said otherwise. She knew what she was doing, her smug grin from correcting him gave him everything he needed to put the pieces together.

"Well...you're not wrong. C'mon, Princess, do you wanna go outside or not?" The collie nodded her head vigorously, sticking out her paw and interlocking it with his. And now that the pact was sealed, she eagerly led the two inside the elevator doors, taking the initiative of pressing the button to go down herself.

The light raindrops splattered against the glass windows in front of the elevator, sliding down like a waterfall. The sky above them was a grayish shade, a bit on the darker side, just enough to cloud the air in a foggy, deeper color. Or as Audrey liked to call it, "bedtime during the day," due to the dark tone of the sky.

The elevator slowly came to a close, allowing the pup to sprint outside and play in the rain, with her openly embracing the droplets wetting her fur. Her caretakers followed behind, along with Everest silently pleading for it not to start thundering. Thankfully, it never did yesterday, so chances were that pattern would continue.

The two sat down in the wet grass, their fur was already dampened, it wasn't like there was any stopping it now. Marshall rested his head against his mate's shoulder, watching as the pup played in the water and bit one of her many chew toys that she left lying around the yard. His leg reached across his mate's, gripping onto her shoulder which caused her to look down at him.

"Is everything okay? You look anxious again," the husky quietly asked, watching as he sunk the side of his head into her fur. The Dally clenched his eyelids shut, keeping them captive from continuously scanning the yard for any signs of danger. Even if it was just a protective measure, he knew better than to let himself lose control like that.

"Y-yeah, sorry, force of habit I guess. I'm fine, don't worry about it." Everest rubbed the side of his leg, letting her paw gently trail against his fur while she placed a small kiss against his cheek. Thankfully Audrey was occupied to keep her from reacting, she always made jokes at them being affectionate despite how much she enjoyed hugs.

"Don't be sorry, there's nothing to be afraid of. Let's just focus on what we have here, okay? Look how happy Audrey is," she quietly cooed into his ear, getting the reaction she wanted; a small smile on his face as he lightly looked up and watched the pup try to bite the raindrops out of the sky.

"I know, you're right. Thanks, Eve." The husky repeated his own expression, softly grinning to herself. Whether he admitted it or not, she could see how much he was improving, and his ability to process these emotions as he had was all the proof she needed. Months ago those thoughts would've freaked him out too much to even go outside.

"Are you two telling secwets?" The two brought their eyes up, being greeted with the sight of Audrey waiting below them with a tilted head. From the sounds of it, all she had heard was jumbled whispering, which was probably for the best. All she should be concerned about right now was whether or not she managed to eat the raindrops.

"Not at all, Sweetheart, we were just talking. What's up?" the husky questioned, purposefully changing the subject. The Border Collie never pushed further, and instead smiled her mischievous grin before turning away, looking off towards the distance in the direction of the tree in the yard.

"Hey, Daddy, look at that bird." Out of simple curiosity, the Dalmatian did as she requested and followed her gaze to search for this mysterious bird, it was better than what his eyes were doing originally. And by the time he realized that there wasn't a bird in sight, a cold splash of water washed upon his body, startling him more than anything.

His face shot down at the ground, now seeing Audrey giggling with her paws in a puddle in front of them. He looked to his side, hearing Everest horribly fail at containing her laughter. However, a quick glare wiped the look off her face, forcing her to bite her lip in an attempt to be as innocent as possible.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be?" Marshall quickly dipped his paws inside the puddle, using both of them to his advantage. One was used to get revenge on Audrey, who yelped and jumped backward—although thankfully it was out of playfulness. The other threw water onto the husky, who only gasped and had her eyes widen from surprise.

"I'm sorry, did you two forget who lived in the Arctic for part of her life? You think a bit of cold water is gonna stop me?" Everest challenged, slamming both of her hind legs into the puddle. Her action was very much a double-edged sword, and that was with some rounding down, seeing as it got everyone—including herself—soaked. But as she said, it barely fazed her.

Audrey of course fought back, splashing the lavender dog in return before moving backward out of her range. But that wasn't meant to be mistaken as a sign of surrender, her stance was begging for the two to come after her and finish what was started. And they were never ones to back down from an honest challenge.

Marshall slowly moved forward, but she was smart enough to not trust his speed and scooted away from him. Now realizing she was onto him—as well as the husky following him—there was no point in trying to move slowly, they might as well use what they have to their advantage. It hardly took any effort for them to catch up, within seconds they were in easy range to get her back.

Her caretakers stood shoulder to shoulder, looming over her smaller figure. However, what they didn't know was that they had fallen into her deadliest trap. Instead of flicking the small puddle in front of her as they assumed, she grinned and jumped forward, able to make contact with them both due to how close they were.

Considering that she has the plus side of catching them off guard, it wasn't too hard to use her weight to knock them to the ground. Better yet, she managed to lead them both in front of a pretty big puddle. All according to plan, her caretakers fell with their backs in the cold water while she victoriously pinned them down, one hind leg on each's chest.

"Haha, I won," she proudly proclaimed, holding both of them down and drenching their fur, not that hers was much drier with all this rain. After clearly proving herself as their conqueror, she honorably stepped down, letting the two stand and rid themselves of their wet prisons. The worst part was they weren't even trying to let her win this time, and she knew that too.

"Well...yeah, you did, Princess. But don't blame me for losing, blame Mommy." Everest glared at the chuckling Dalmatian, splashing a tiny wave from the puddle in his direction before turning her attention back to Audrey.

"No matter who's fault it was, although it was clearly your Dad's, yes, you won. Now, I think someone needs to get back inside to warm up," she stated, eyeing one pup in particular. As expected, the youngest whined at the idea of already having to go back in. She was having the time of her life, even besting her own caretakers. How could one expect her to go in now and give all that up?

"But Mommy, I'm not cold," she tried to argue, despite her teeth chattering and saying otherwise. The husky raised her eyebrow and set her paw against the collie's back, feeling her wet and quite obviously cold fur. She seemed to have a habit of trying to get out of something her body needed, whether it be this, medicine, or even sleep. Her stubbornness didn't have much of a filter.

"Don't lie to me, I would know. Your mom didn't do mountain rescues for nothing. Let's go and get you warmed up by the fireplace, we can have blankets and maybe watch some TV. If you behave, I'll make some hot chocolate, sound good?" As much fun as she was having outside, Audrey couldn't exactly argue with that bargain, agreeing to take their side as they walked her back to the elevator.

The three walked back inside, all of them shaking themselves to rid their fur of some of the water. Thankfully, Ryder wasn't there to see it, otherwise he probably wouldn't be too happy with them. That was one of the few rules he did try to enforce, although it was never easy when being outnumbered eight to one.

After effortlessly scrubbing themselves with towels so it at least looked like they tried, they made their way to the living room. The floor in front of the fireplace wasn't being used up, giving them room to make themselves at home as the logs caught ablaze. The Border Collie sat the closest to the flames, warming herself as she and Marshall laid down.

"I'm gonna go get some blankets from my house real quick, you two don't get into any trouble," Everest ordered, turning her back and disappearing behind the doors. Audrey called out to say bye and stretched her legs, leaning against the Dalmatian for either warmth or comfort, likely both.

"Daddy, I have a question." Marshall lowered his head, letting out a curious hum as she looked up at him with a small smile. For some reason, there seemed to be more behind her expression than she was letting show, but she was just settling down. Still, he couldn't rid the itching feeling that something was bugging her. "Do you and mommy love each othew?"

"Of course we do, we love each other very much, just not the same way we love you. Mommy and I have had our type of love for each other for a very long time, we've done a lot for each other. You'll understand more when you're older." Audrey nodded contently, but despite that, the lingering suspicion had yet to leave his system. "Is everything okay, Princess?"

The Border Collie looked away, the backside of her head still against him but her actual face out of view. She quietly whimpered, fumbling her front paws together—as she tended to do when nervous—before shifting back and making eye contact with him. Her eyes were emptied of their usual excitement, only a hollow void as her shaky voice spoke.

"C-can...I go get my mommy?" Marshall tilted his head in curiosity, he was naturally concerned by how upset she was, but all that stress over such a simple question? She was fine with asking every five minutes about when Everest would be home during therapy, but just asking to go get the husky was what worried her?

"Hey, it's okay, you don't need to feel bad. Of course you can go get her, you know where to find her." The pup's eyes lit up, her tail slowly moving out from in between her legs and into a more neutral state. It felt like such a harmless question for her to be this worked up over, but as long as he could clear up the negativity, then what could it hurt.

"Weally? You pwomise you won't be mad?" she asked quietly, her voice cracking. Now just deciding to go along with it, he stuck out his paw once again, knowing it was pretty much impossible for her to get him angry with such a simple action. And despite that, she was still clinging on to the shallowness in her eyes, holding who knows what fears behind them.

"Pinky promise." The collie smiled lightly and took hold of his paw, shaking it before she stood up. She nuzzled his neck before turning away, slowly walking to the elevator and putting on the warm purple hat Everest gave her, one that was rather similar to the snow dog's own.

"Thanks, Daddy. I'll be wight back," she called out, fading away behind the glass door and leaving himself to question what just happened. The way she seemed so hurt by her simple request, he couldn't think of any reason she would have acted like that unless she was scared of insulting him. He could sort of understand not wanting it to look like she favored Everest over him, or vice versa, but not to that extent.

"Alright, looks like you two didn't burn the living room down, that's good," An older voice praised, his loving husky materializing next to him and draping the blankets over themselves while she laid down. She looked in between them, then made eye contact while tilting her head in confusion. "Uh, Marshy, where's Audrey?"

"Wait, what? You don't have her?" The husky shook her head in denial, watching as Marshall stood up and ripped the blanket off of himself. He checked beside her before moving onto their surroundings such as the couch or kitchen, once again seeing no sight of a black and white coat. "Eve, are you sure? She told me she was going down to get you."

"Ohhhh, is she missing again?" she asked in a playful tone, pretending to also look around with him. After what would have been a very convincing scan, she turned back to him, still only seeing worry wash over his face. His eyes were widened, his chest heaving up and down as the rest of his body trembled in uncertainty.

"N-no, I'm serious, I don't know where she is. S-she left to go find you, or at least I think she did." Now realizing that this wasn't another one of their usual jokes, Everest stood up and placed her paw on his back. The Dally stopped dead in his tracks, freezing to at least show a reaction but his eyes remained in a frantic state of desperation.

"Hey, don't worry, she probably just went to your puphouse instead of mine, or went the opposite way that I did. Come on, let's go get her, I'm sure she's fine." Marshall slowly nodded in agreement, slowly walking alongside her. He could feel the world spinning around him, forcing him to clutch to Everest as they rode down.

Thankfully she was more than willing to give him the support he needed, both mentally and physically. She slipped her leg around him and gently stroked the fur on his head, doing what she could to hold off the headache brewing inside.

"Alright, I'll check my house to see if she went there, you go check yours, alright? She'll be in one of them." Marshall agreed, left her side, and slowly walked to his red door, silently fighting off the urge to crawl into a shaking little ball and just cry his fears away. It was tempting, a lot of him wanted to give in if they didn't have bigger problems already.

"Princess, a-are you in here?" he whispered, peaking the door open and slipping his head inside. It was a bit dark, but a quick flip of the light switch revealed all he needed to see. He did one look around their house, then a double-check before he was positive she wasn't in there. Surely that meant she was in the safe hands of his mate. It had to.

He quietly shut the door before turning around, carefully making his way back to the elevator. His head was pounding by this point, but it was fine. Right? She was with Everest, that was the only possible outcome. Of course, anything else was just anxiety talking, there was no real danger, only his mind playing tricks on him yet again.

All as according to plan, the husky and he arrived at the same place, both looking closer to the ground and anticipation. And as the world slowly fell apart and turned to shreds, all they saw next to one another were patches of grass and puddles. Not a single sign of Audrey.

Too stunned to even speak, Marshall leaned himself against the lookout. Any will to stand was gone, his legs were shaking while they turned to jelly and giving him the bare minimum support. He wanted to deny all of this, but for once, this wasn't his curse twisting his thoughts into something worse than it was.

Everest, meanwhile, had turned into the one desperately scanning the yard for any last-minute glimpses before she jumped to conclusions. As hard as she tried to look, she could only face the Dally empty-handed. Even through the pouring rain, it wasn't hard to see the tears welling in the other's eyes as the situation dawned on them.

Audrey was somewhere out there, gone from their protection and all alone in the freezing cold rain.