On any other night, Marshall and Everest would've been strict about Audrey's bedtime, it was one of the only rules that they fully enforced. Being her typical, stubborn self, she'd usually try and argue her way out of the inevitable, even if she had to fight through yawns. However, when that time came today, she finally got the answer she pleaded for. Normally at this hour, she'd be settling into bed, and yet today, she was blessed with the ability to still be socializing with her new family.

The rest of the day had flown by and disappeared within a matter of seconds, time itself seemed to have turned to dust in front of their very own eyes. Before anyone knew it, the sun had set, leaving the black sky and late winter coldness to rein over the night. But at this rate, the outside world was the least of anyone's concerns, for no one let their eyes leave the monumental ceremony they were witnessing.

Throughout most of the evening, the entire tower had been bustling with life. Everyone had agreed to hang out with each other in the top room of the lookout, and even Katie decided to stay for the night. But for this one moment, not a single word was spoken. Most of them stood up in a half-circle around the two under the spotlight, those lucky two being Audrey with her head proudly in the air and Ryder in front of her.

The boy bent down on his knees as she stood up as tall as she could, seeing her promised possession being bestowed upon her. With her eyes shut to allow herself to melt into the moment, she felt her new leather collar clipping around her neck. It felt like a perfect fit, and when she reopened her eyes, she saw the purple, bone-shaped device that she was told was called a puptag strapped on. It didn't have many of the features that the others' did, Ryder said she'd get that when she was older, but that hardly affected her pride.

"Alright, Audrey, you're officially the newest member of the PAW Patrol!" he announced, quickly earning her a rush of howls and claps, all depending on the species. Of course, she wasn't actually being assigned to a job like the rest of the team had, but this was the best thing they could give her to make her adoption official. Audrey high-fived him while reveling in the others' celebrations, feeling the warm glow in her chest from the welcomings of her new family.

She glanced behind her, seeing the crowd eyeing her with supporting expressions to cheer her on. Her new owner was grinning and clapping, and her aunt and uncles all had smiles on their faces with wagging tails, but they weren't who she was focused on. Her eyesight found its way to her new parents, each of which was beaming proudly while the husky had her leg around the male's back.

"Welcome to the team, Princess." The Border Collie grinned and walked closer to them, continuing to hold her head raised to show off the gold medal around her neck. The second she arrived at her destination, she nuzzled her dad's leg and felt him lick her forehead before she brought her head back up.

"Thanks, Daddy. Can I have my blanket back?" she requested. The Dalmatian nodded and took hold of the cloth he had been tasked with holding for her, a sacred honor that he was shocked to see her willingly give him, even if it was only for a minute. He gently set the purple blanket back around her neck, leaving it loosely hanging so she could adjust it to her own comfort level.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with an upbeat tone, for once not fearing to be the one hearing this question. Before responding, the Border Collie fumbled with her blanket, carefully wrapping it back around her neck while the ends trailed onto her back. However, she still made sure that her new, shiny tag was visibly hanging below her scarf. Despite wanting to keep the living memory of her biological parents with her, she couldn't let her current family be overshadowed by her past. Neither of them were allowed to be left out of her life.

"I-I feel weally good, my legs don't huwt much. And you and Mommy said I could stay up past my bedtime, wight?" Marshall laughed and ruffled the top of her head, although he couldn't say he was too surprised given the way she usually acted. Most nights she'd be jumping at the chance of only five extra minutes.

"Yes, we did, but only for tonight. And you're not staying up all night, once you get tired, we're going straight to bed. Don't bother complaining, you know why you need sleep," he repeated, this being maybe the third time he had to answer this question—not that he minded. This was far from her first time repeating herself, by now they were pretty much used to it. Regardless, the pup seemed rather pleased with that answer, nodding as her tail continued to swish back and forth against the floor.

"So...now what? Can we play a game?" she eagerly suggested, looking between her parents with shining eyes. The two glanced at each other, both silently questioning which of her favorite games they might be dragged into this time. This was her night, after all, she was the one calling the shots.

"Sure, we can get everyone to join. What game were you thinking of? It's a bit late to do much outside." Audrey went quiet and lowered her head, her lips pursing as she thought to herself. The idea sounded perfect in the moment, but now that she thought about it, nothing seemed to be jumping out at her. Her mouth had taken control before she could think ahead, leaving her mind to pick up the pieces.

"Hmmm, you pick." The Dalmatian naturally didn't have an immediate answer from having the tables turned so suddenly. Picking games was usually her responsibility, not his. He quickly found himself in a similar situation to her own, unable to come up with an answer that suited the mood. Thankfully, he wasn't the only one tasked with solving this mind trick of hers.

"What about truth or dare? I think I remember enough from last time to teach her how to play," Everest proposed, despite her having only played the game once before. The pup shrugged and nodded in agreement—curiosity about this new activity sneaking its way into her brain from the eagerness of her mom's voice.

"Sure, that sounds fun," she commented in return, glancing around her and loudly barking—once again pushing aside her parents' typical requests to use her words instead. Just as planned, everyone's eyes raised to look at her, all wondering what they had been summoned for this time. "Can we play twuth or dawe?"

The rest observed each other in hopes of figuring out the other opinions on her suggestion, and soon enough, all of them unanimously nodded and formed a circle. Even the two humans, although they remained on the couch with their soda glasses in hand, turned to face them, with the dogs allowing them their respected places in the ring.

Marshall gently placed his paw on the pup's back, pushing her lightly enough so that it wouldn't move her, but at least encourage her to take her place in the circle. However, instead of playing along, she nervously glanced up at him, her front paws anxiously pressing against themselves. Just like they did when she thought she was in trouble.

"C-can we talk befowe we play?" Her caretakers felt the sudden switch to nervousness in her attitude, causing a chain reaction to them as well. She clearly looked hesitant to bring up whatever was bothering her, and oh boy what smart timing did she have. If she actually did do something that would normally warrant being in trouble, odds were that tonight she'd escape whatever punishment she usually would've gotten. Then again, it was rare that she ever did enough to earn such cruelty—excluding the time she was sent to timeout for biting the mailman.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" the husky asked, gently guiding her away from the crowd so they could have their moment of privacy. Audrey nervously eyed the two of them, her heavy breaths echoing between their ears before she finally gave an explanation for her behavior.

"What are...d-disowders?" Now with their eyes widened from the fear-inducing question, the older two exchanged looks of confusion and terror before looking back down at the pup. Both of them had to hide their expressions of worry, seeing how anxious she already was. Her question alone was all she needed to have on her mind, not pressure from them piled on as well.

"How do you know that word?" Everest quickly interrogated her, knowing for a fact that they never spoke about such a topic in front of her. Even on the rare occasion when they didn't have a choice, they already had assigned code words to avoid any questions being asked. But regardless, Audrey already looked guilty enough as it was, they had no reason to push her anymore until they figured out what was going on.

"W-well, the othew night I couldn't sleep, and I heawd you two talking about them. I-I'm sowwy for listening, but y-you sounded sad, I got weally worried." Marshall sighed, now that the clues to this mystery had been laid out for him to solve. No eavesdropping was another rule they attempted to enforce, mostly for this exact reason, but they couldn't really blame her when they lived in the same house.

In insight, he should've known that she would've accidentally overheard at least one of his and Everest's late-night conversations. Unless they had gotten someone to babysit for them, it was usually their only moment of privacy, giving them the time they needed to wind down and not bother putting up any acts. He'd do what he could to let himself die down from the constant stress he had bottled up throughout the day, meanwhile, his mate could only wear her mask of happiness for so long.

Granted, with their living ball of sunshine being around them all day, they certainly weren't faking the fun they had with her. They loved it, not a single hour felt repetitive or boring, but being graced with her presence didn't fix everything. Just because it distracted them didn't mean it was a permanent solution.

"It's okay, you're not in trouble, sorry if we kept you up. We'll try to be quieter next time. And...disorders are kind of like being sick. They can be physical, which means you'd feel it like this," he explained, playfully poking her shoulder as an example and successfully getting a giggle from her as she swatted him away. "Or it can be mental, which means you'd feel it like being happy or sad."

Audrey froze and went into deep thought, replaying his words to make sense of the explanation being given to her. She slowly nodded, thinking she was able to place the pieces together, at least enough to give her a vague understanding. And just as she always did whenever she was taught something new, she had plenty of questions ready to be served on a silver platter.

"Is the thing I have a disowder? The thing that makes my scawy things happen?" She raised her paw up and gently tapped her forehead, only knowing that her head had something to do with it and not the actual name for her condition itself.

"Mhm, yours is called epilepsy, and that one's a physical disorder. And your scary things are called seizures," he tried to tell her, despite knowing that saying the word "seizure" tended to be a nightmare for her. It wasn't that she didn't want to say it, or didn't know what it meant, though it wasn't unlikely that she forgot. Most of the time, it was just too difficult to pronounce to be worth the trouble.

"Do you two have them?" And this, of course, was the question her parents had been worrying about. While he didn't have much of a problem talking about his problems, he knew for a fact that she was too young and innocent to hear about his struggles, he could never put all that onto a puppy. Everest was an even harder nut to crack, but she gave him a soft nod and allowed him to continue.

"Well, yes, we do. Mommy and I have mental ones, but you don't have to worry about us. We're gonna be okay, we all will." Thankfully, the Border Collie easily accepted his answer and didn't push any further. Just as his mate stated earlier, she couldn't know enough to the point where it became a worry for her. But then again, if she was going to be living with them for the rest of her life, she deserved to know that she wouldn't be alone against any obstacle the world forced her to overcome.

"Oh ok, well I hope you and Mommy feel better!" she quickly added, raising her head with a smile. The two couldn't help but chuckle at her optimism, although it was a more than welcome change of pace. Just the way it should be, this night was supposed to be one of fun and celebrations, after all.

"Thank you, I'm sure we will one of these days." The pup was apparently okay with that answer, which relieved both of them with the knowledge that they hadn't said too much. Marshall, however, felt that he shouldn't let the conversation fully end yet, just to be safe. "Wait, Audrey, can you promise us something? And I mean a pinky promise."

Quickly becoming curious at the stakes he was setting up for her, she turned her head to the side. The sacred pinky promise was only used for the most serious of promises, and that was common knowledge. But she was usually the only one who was willing to take that extra leap, seeing the tables turn like this was a strange mix of interesting and worrying.

"Hm?" she hummed, only for the male to gently set his paw on her own. She smiled softly and set her other front paw on top of his, trapping him until she said otherwise. The Dalmatian quietly laughed, but aside from that, he still seemed more serious than he usually did.

"I want you to promise that if something is ever wrong, whether you accidentally tripped and cut your paw, or you just feel sad and need a hug, that you'll tell us. If you're hurting, and you need us to help, you will never be in trouble for asking for it. Can you do that for me?" Confusion slowly began to creep into her mind, questioning why this was such a big deal. She never had much of an issue coming to them with such things, however, she knew better than to argue with him when he spoke in this tone.

"Y-yeah, sure, I pinky pwomise." She stuck her paw out, receiving a grin from her dad as he took hold and shook it, locking her into the deal. The whole ordeal seemed unnecessary, but she was glad that it made him happy, whatever the reason for that happened to be. Regardless of his intentions, she had the explanations she needed for today, and that could be shoved away for now. "Can we go play now?"

"Of course we can, c'mon, Mommy will teach you how to play," he answered, turning back to the circle of their friends where Audrey eagerly ran. Before joining her, he glanced to his side, and the eye contact he and his husky shared told them plenty. He knew they were both thinking the same thing, hearing their pup naively asking about disorders only put them more on edge at the new life they had signed up for.

What Katie had warned them about was still a sentence ringing in the back of their minds, the possibility of their pup developing mental illnesses as she got older. They tried to tell themselves to not think about it, that they would cross that bridge if they got to it, but the nagging voice in their heads was as persistent as ever. The mere thought of their precious daughter going through what they had, the pain, the sleepless nights, the addictions. It shouldn't be possible given how young she was, but life had already made it clear that it wouldn't be going easy on her.

But for tonight, at least, those worries didn't have to be a part of their lives. While they were still able to, they brushed aside their concerns and took their place in the ring. Audrey sat in between them, and she softly grabbed onto each one of their paws and pulled. Knowing what she wanted, the two scooted closer and gave their coats up as her blanket, waiting until Rocky pushed a glass bottle in the middle. Already intrigued by the household object now laying in the middle of them all like some sort of relic, she glanced up and gently pulled on her mother's fur.

"Mommy, how do we play?" Despite her not being the best at the game, Everest was happy to do her part and explain what she could remember. She silently made herself think back to the night she was first presented with the rules. It had been a miserable day at the time, with Marshall finally learning about her depression and everything she was going through. Then again, maybe that's what was best for her recovery, and at the very least she got to learn a new game.

"Well, we spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on has to either pick a truth or a dare. A truth means they have to answer any question honestly, and a dare means you have to do whatever they tell you. And then, whoever did the truth or dare gets to spin next. Make sense?" Worried that she had explained something wrong, she raised her head to the Dalmatian, who smiled encouragingly at her successful explanation. The pup tilted her head, mentally replaying the rules. She understood what her mother was saying, but there were so many words to process at once, that she couldn't help but need an extra hand.

"Can you show me?" she requested, assuming that it would clear up what bits of confusion she still had. Everest agreed and stretched her leg out—and holding the knowledge that she had nothing visible to hide on her paw—flicked the bottle. It spun around in what seemed like an endless circle until it slowly but surely came to a stop, pointing at a German Shepherd.

"Chase, truth or dare?" The brown dog quickly went into deep thought, weighing his options in an attempt to pick his poison. This was only the husky's second game, and technically her first time dishing something out, there was no telling how far she might be willing to go.

"I'll take a truth," he finally decided, choosing what felt like the safest option. Everest nodded, frankly, she didn't have any evil tricks up her sleeve. She just needed to set an example for her pup, embarrassing her friends could always come later.

"Hmm....In two years, where do you think you and Skye will be in your relationship?" It was a rather harmless question, only being asked through her own personal curiosity. The only possible downside was that she wasn't the only one intrigued by his answer, with the Cockapoo eyeing him carefully, despite likely already knowing what he would say.

"Still together and happy, that's my guess. Who knows, maybe we'll even have started a family like you two," he answered with confidence. Everest laughed his final remark off, although he technically wasn't wrong about them starting a family. Skye also seemed to accept his answer, smiling at him and licking his cheek before turning her attention back to the center.

"Well, that's good, I'm sure Audrey would appreciate some cousins, I know I wouldn't mind being an aunt myself. And does that make more sense now, sweetheart?" the husky asked, bringing her head back down to the pup who had been dedicated to studying every detail of the turn.

"Uhm...I think so." With that bit of clarification out of the way, the lavender dog looked back up and nodded to Chase, permitting him to continue with the game. And with a single bottle spin later, the glass object just so happened to land on the newest of players joining them, allowing her to have her first opportunity to shine.

"Audrey, truth or dare?" The Border Collie quickly raised her eyes, snapping herself out of whatever thoughts had stolen her attention away. She was unprepared to be chosen so quickly, but she also knew she couldn't hold up the game, causing her to blurt out the first answer that came to mind without giving it much thought.

"Dawe!" she replied, and only then did she realize the words that came out of her mouth. She felt the hesitation building up, but she had already made her decision, and she had no choice but to wait for whatever orders would come her way. Before anything, Marshall shot the one he called his brother a quick stare, an obvious warning to take it easy on her. The shepherd grinned, knowing that while his plan may be a bit harsh for her first game, it wasn't her that would be facing his wrath.

"Audrey, come here, I need to whisper it to you." Although confused by the secrecy, the pup hopped up and quickly walked across the circle. He bent over and cupped his paw around her ear, protecting their conversation from any possible eavesdroppers.

Despite hearing him loud and clear, she had to ask him to repeat himself after hearing his request. From what she could tell, these dares were meant to be embarrassing for the victim, she could do something as simple as this with a straight face. But after confirming that this was what he wanted from her, she looked back at her father with her usually innocent smile before opening her mouth.

"Daddy...where do puppies come fwom?" Aside from the extremely caught off guard Dalmatian—who certainly would've been blushing if his face wasn't covered in fur—the rest of the crowd erupted into a sea of laughter. Even Everest had to bury her face into her paw, hiding her true colors as she muffled small giggles from the situation her mate was now being put into.

"Uhm...they come from birds called storks, t-they bring Mommies and Daddies puppies," he desperately attempted to explain, only getting more laughs from his answer. He was quick to shoot a sharp look at Chase, originally irritated with him for attempting to harm the innocence of his daughter until he eventually found the humor in it. Thankfully, being a puppy, she was rather gullible and bought his story without any issue. If not, then they would've had much more of a problem.

"Very smooth, Marshy, very smooth," the husky muttered into his ear. Marshall shook his head, glancing up to see the apologetic expression on the shepherd's face, well, one that was also trying to hold back laughter. For the shepherd's own relief, the Dally slightly smiled at him, showing that he would let it slide. This time.

"W-well, with that out of the way, it's your turn to spin, Princess." Brushing aside her curiosity as to why everyone found such a simple question so hilarious, she gently reached her front paw out and looked back for confirmation. After receiving her answer in the form of a quick nod, she softly pushed the bottle. It wasn't the strongest of spins, but no one dared to say anything, and only watched as it came to a stop in front of Katie.

"Alright, girlie, let's see what ya got. Give me a dare," the girl confidently decided, feeling rather safe with her answer given that her opponent was her newly adopted puppy. However, with the smile soon appearing on the collie's face, she single-handedly managed to change her owner's mindset, delivering a response that no one was ready to hear from her.

"I dawe you to kiss Wyder!" she proclaimed, resulting in yet another wave of laughter from everyone except the boy. Her parents were more proud than anything, seeing their little girl already cracking jokes and messing with the ones she was paired against, all in good fun, of course. Even at her age, she managed to know just the right things to say, as well as being able to detect painfully obvious chemistry.

"Hang on, that can't be fair, she can't make us both—" Ryder attempted to argue, only to be cut off by the contact of lips against his cheek. Blushing, he snapped his head to the side, and he probably would've asked his friend why she'd agree to such a thing if he had the ability to form words. The girl only giggled and shrugged, turning away from him and facing the middle once again.

"Come on, dude, don't let a puppy embarrass you. She dared me fair and square, and she got what she wanted. Besides, I think you'll survive," she playfully retorted. The boy rolled his eyes and went back to focusing on the game as he tried to brush off what had happened, which naturally didn't do him much good. And this was nothing that he'd be forgetting any time soon, knowing his dogs, he'd never be able to live it down.

"Even you think they'd be a good couple, huh?" Everest asked the still giggling puppy. After calming down from her fit of laughter, the pup tilted her head upwards, eyeing her parent carefully.

"Wait...they awen't?" Her caretakers snickered to themselves at the genuineness of her question, despite being pretty sure that they never told her what a couple was. Chances were one of the others had explained it to her while babysitting, but that only begged the question of how that came up in a conversation. Whether she fully understood it or not, given the way Ryder and Katie acted to each other, it wasn't too far-fetched of a conclusion to make.

"They aren't, surprisingly. But don't worry, we and your uncles and aunt all think that they should be," the husky explained, getting the pup to laugh once more as she leaned onto Marshall's side. Normally, her actions wouldn't have been questioned at all, nearly every time they were laying down she'd cuddle closer to one of them. No, that wasn't what caught their attention, it was the quiet yet drawn-out yawn that managed to escape her muzzle.

"Audrey...are you tired?" The Dalmatian questioned her skeptically, even if he knew she would never willingly admit it. Just as expected, the collie wrapped her legs around his own, laying her chin against the floor while she somehow found the boldness to shake her head in denial.

"Nuh-uh, I-I wanna keep playing," she answered, even yawning in the middle of her sentence. The rest of the team had already been warned of this, that the second she was tired and ready for bed, the games would end. And although they partially wished they could continue, most couldn't deny that they were getting tired themselves, and the last thing any of them wanted was to challenge the protectiveness of the newly appointed parents.

"Princess, no, if you're tired then you need to sleep. It helps you, your body needs it. We can always play tomorrow if you want." The pup sighed, she hated that they always seemed to be right. She wanted to argue, watching as Rocky stood up and tossed the glass bottle into the recycle bin, but her legs fought against her desires. Getting up felt like too much work, and the flame in her heart was starting to burn out, leaving her helpless to her guardians' choices.

"Ugh...fine, but only if you cawwy me to our bed." Marshall chuckled and obliged to her bargain, allowing her to climb onto his back as they said their goodnights to everyone else. The others had all gotten into their respective dog beds, and the two humans shared opposite ends of the couch, meanwhile, they tiredly made their way to the elevator.

The rest of the team had agreed to sleep in the lookout, and under old circumstances, they gladly would have joined in, but they both knew Audrey wouldn't sleep well unless she was in their house. That had been discovered during her first sleepover with Chase and Skye, while she enjoyed her stay, the next day she was hardly able to keep her eyes open. The older two were as apologetic as ever, even after being told that there was nothing more they could've done.

It didn't take long for them to get into the elevator, watching their friends disappear as the floor lowered, and almost just as quickly the doors reopened and revealed the starry night above them. Her guardians gave her a few extra seconds to glance at the sky and say goodnight to her biological parents, something that had become part of their usual bedtime routine before the three walked into the house.

Audrey gently climbed off of his back, comfortably lying against the warm surface of their dog bed. Her paws quickly found her stuffed penguin as her eyes trailed across the walls, the atmosphere of her new home calming the excitement she had felt throughout the day. The scents of her loved ones, the quiet humming of the fan, and of course the feeling of melting into the cushion below her.

Her guardians carefully laid down beside her, pulling their blanket over themselves as she nestled into the male's side. They had already taken their nightly medications, it was only a matter of time before they were out like a light bulb. And considering it was at least an hour past her bedtime, it wouldn't be a surprise if she was asleep even sooner.

"Hey, Daddy, Mommy," she quietly beckoned. Naturally, the two glanced down to see her eyes barely staying open, paws digging into her stuffed penguin that she held clutched against herself. The Dally softly gripped her paw, waiting for her to continue with whatever she had called them for. "T-thank you."

"Thank you? What are you thanking us for?" The husky asked, setting her head down against their bed as Marshall leaned his own head onto her side. They could feel their eyelids pulling themselves down, begging for the sweet relief of sleep, and the only motivation that kept them from shutting was their pup.

"For evewything. For being my weal Mommy and Daddy. I'm glad I get to stay, I'm happy hewe." The two softly grinned, hearing her simple yet meaningful praise. She was giving them everything they needed to hear, cutting through the dark that nighttime usually brought and shedding new light onto the mood.

"You're very welcome, you being here makes us happy too. We wouldn't want anyone else to be our daughter," Marshall whispered while gently brushing her fur with his paw. The Border Collie smiled at them and finally gave her eyes the relief they needed, allowing them to fall shut as she slowly began drifting off.

"I-I love you two," she managed to say, her words only barely finding their way into their ears. She knew that the second she gave in to her drowsiness, she'd be swallowed whole by the comfort of her dreams, but she had to wait to hear her parents respond. It was almost like an instinct, her body wouldn't let her sleep until she was given a reply.

"We love you too, Audrey, forever and ever." And with that, the only following sounds that came from her were the soft snores as she drifted off into her own paradise. Marshall and Everest let their gaze rise to meet one another's, and the two exchanged a quick kiss and nose rub before they placed their heads down to begin their own process of falling into their slumber.

It felt strange with the three of them curled up so close to one another, now that they knew their pup wasn't a temporary roommate, and instead the daughter that they'd see grow up before their very own eyes. Like a dream come true, a whole new door opening to the new life they'd soon take their first step into, forever leaving what they were used to behind.

Of course, common sense told them it would be very far from easy. They still had their own battles and addictions to face, as well as whatever would be tossed Audrey's way. It was almost a certainty that the two of them were healing, but with her, there was no telling what she might have to fight against. Losing the only biological family she knew and ending up with epilepsy had to be devastating for someone, especially a puppy, it only felt natural to feel worried about how it could affect her in the future.

It was up to them to guide her through these early stages of life, their actions were what would shape her into the dog she'd grow up to become. Parenting would surely take some getting used to, but they had confidence, and that was rare to come by nowadays. It truly felt like they were on the exact path they needed to be on, the three of them were one step closer to what life once was and so much more.

As far as they could tell, the worst was finally behind them, and they felt ready for the uncertainties of the future ahead.