Behind The Mask

Christmas With Family

     "What were you two thinking!?" Humdinger nearly yelled. Both Chase and Humdinger visited the offices that were inside the mall. They were being kept inside a single room where people would cause trouble.

Apparently, Cheetah got in trouble for trying to steal "gifts" from "Santa." Like any other mall, "Santa" would arrive and sit down with the kids and they would tell him what they want for Christmas. While it was a fake Santa, there was an actual bag with Christmas gifts and well, Cheetah tried to take them all to herself. while Harold had tried to prank people by spilling some oil at the end of the escalators.

"I was just trying to have some fun!" Harold argued back.

"Making people slip, fall and damage other public stuff is NOT fun!" Humdinger scolded while Chase stood aside him, frowning at the two of them.

An officer and the mall Santa were standing in the same room and spoke up with their arms crossed.

"They said they wanted to visit you for the holidays." He mentioned and Humdinger looked from the officer and back at his nephew and cousin as he placed his nose between both fingers while sighing. These two aren't even my responsibility. He groaned in his mind. Chase watched Humdinger from the side as he calmed himself down and looked back at the officer.

"Take them back to their original homes." He decided which earned gasps from Cheetah and Harold.

"WHAT!?" They both yelled and Humdinger frowned back at them.

"Maybe you can learn something from your parents once the officers bring you back." He declared and walked out of the room without saying a last word. Lastly, Chase turned to look at the mall Santa and used his paw to point at Cheetah and Harold.

"Please tell me that these guys are going on the naughty list."

After Humdinger's decision, both Chase and Humdinger walked through the mall towards the exit.

"Not bad." Chase complimented Arnold who looked at him with a little surprised look, but warmly smiled back.

"Well, let's get to the family. We've still got a whole Christmas to enjoy." Humdinger voiced with a grin and Chase only smiled back.

"Yeah." He agreed and both of them picked up their pace, even more excited to go back to their homes.

The Lookout

After delivering the food to the Lookout, Ryder invited Jamison to hang out with them on Christmas, as the adult agreed.

Everyone was enjoying their gifts and some were eating while Ryder ate with Jamison. The worker looked around the insides, and slightly frowned as he didn't see a familiar German Shepherd pup anywhere near.

"Hey, uh...where's Chase?" Jamison finally asked, stopping Ryder from taking another bite of his food. He slowly lowered his utensil and looked back at the group of pups.

"Well, he...decided to spend time with some other people, so he couldn't make it here." Ryder softly explained, earning a small frown from Jamison. Well, it was probably for the best as Chase still didn't want to see Jamison anywhere around.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but worry where the police pup was. The reason why he agreed to deliver to the Paw Patrol was because he wanted to see Chase again. They haven't spoken at all after the incident of Thanksgiving at Adventure City, so he hoped this would be his chance.

While the other dogs were playing, Rocky noticed Tundra standing by the Christmas tree and quickly saw this as his chance. So, without saying a word, he walked up to Tundra and quickly, the Husky noticed him and smiled as he approached.

"Hey Rocky." Tundra greeted, noticing that his cheeks were turning a bit red.

"H-H-Hey, Tundra." He stuttered. Tundra could already see that he was flustered. Could it be because he liked her? She remembered the conversation she had with Chase and how he said that Rocky most likely has feelings for her too.

"Is there something you need?" Tundra asked politely and Rocky looked to the side a little bit. He was nervous. Ever since the certain Husky joined the Paw Patrol, Rocky always had a weird feeling in his heart ever since. He enjoyed every little second he spent with her and couldn't go a day without thinking about her. He had multiple opportunities, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her how he felt. Well, today was Christmas and he figured it's the perfect time to tell her.

"T-T-Tundra...I...I...uh..." Rocky stuttered until he met eyes with Tundra and noticed that she looked down from above, while her cheeks were slightly red also. And without a second thought, Rocky watched as Tundra leaned in closer and pecked a kiss on his cheek which made him gasp.

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD- Rocky screamed in his mind as his crush had just kissed him on the cheek. Coldness, but also warmth radiated on his body as he felt himself blushing even harder now. No words can describe how he feels, in short, he was happy. Tundra slightly grinned as she saw Rocky's reaction.

"U...Uh...I...uh...w-w..." Rocky stuttered, but again, no words could come out of his mouth. Tundra nervously chuckled as she was still blushing, but used her paw to point up to something. Confused, Rocky stared up to where she was pointing and quickly, his face became much redder.

Above them was a mistletoe.

With Chase

"SURPRISE!"

Chase and Humdinger made it back to Foggy Bottom in no time, but when they walked through the door, everything was dark to their surprise until they walked further, only to see everything light up again and having Arya, Maya, Helga shouting surprise while the kittens meowed.

When they walked into the room, Chase and Humdinger saw a camera stand put up in the middle of the room which did surprise them, but also confused them.

"What's that for?" Chase asked and Helga grinned at him.

"Well, considering everything we've done together, It's safe to say we're family, right?" Helga asked and Humdinger and Chase nodded their heads up and down, and Maya came in to finish off the surprise.

"So we've decided to take a family photo!"

Chase and Humdinger were both shocked as they had surprised expressions on their faces, but then soon had stars in their eyes and their grins were wide as ever.

"No way, really!?" Chase asked in an excited tone.

"That's a great idea! Let's do it!" Humdinger immediately agreed, earning laughs from everyone.

Soon, everyone got into their position in front of the camera while Humdinger set a timer and had his finger above the button.

"Alright, everyone smile!" He said and they proceeded to smile which in result, Humdinger pressed the button and quickly ran towards the others while everyone else could hear the timer.

Chase on the other hand was more happy than anyone. He never took a family photo before. And this day, made him realize something as he looked at everyone with a warm expression.

For the past years, Chase has always disliked Humdinger, but he did not expect he would be the one to bring him a true family. They had to stop the purple mayor so many times and they never seemed to get along, aside from Friendship day, but that was it. They were like oil and water. But now, here they were, standing side-to-side, about to take a family photo.

Who would've thought you'd be the one to make me feel happy again? Chase thought as he glanced at Helga and Humdinger, as he looked to the side. Then there was Arya and Maya who now felt like sisters and then there were the kittens. Even though he was allergic to them, soon, he got used to their fur and his allergies dulled down.

This was his true family.

As all of them could hear the ticking rapidly increase, Helga smelled smoke...

"GAH!" Helga yelled as she saw smoke coming from a cooking pot on the stove which earned gasps from everyone and soon, the well positioned adults, pups and kittens were soon interrupted by panic, but sadly, that was when the camera went...

SNAP