Kyle was seen pacing around the waiting area of the Adventure Bay Animal Hospital, anxiously awaiting any sort of news on Rocky's condition. He was biting his nails nervously as he wandered around, a bad habit Kyle had ever since he was younger. He had managed to get all of the blood off of his hands and arms, but he still had the bloodstains on his shirt and pants, now drying and turning a brownish color. Kyle's mind was being bombarded with a million thoughts per second, each of them centered around the well being of the mixed breed pup. While Kyle was having this miniature mental breakdown, Chase and Marshall watched him with concern. They were also very concerned about their friend's wellbeing, but Kyle seemed to be severely overworked by this, and this bothered them.

"Chase, Kyle's been doing that for 20 minutes now. It's kinda freaking me out." The Dalmatian said to his German Shepherd friend, who nodded with agreement.

"I know, It's worrying me too." Chase replied, a frown on his face.

"Should we ask if he's okay?" Marshall suggested, unsure on what to do.

"Couldn't hurt." Chase replied, looking over towards Kyle, who was staring absentmindedly out the front windows that were facing the parking lot. Chase stood up from his spot on the tiled floor, soon followed by Marshall. The two pups walked up to the 15-year-old, who didn't even turn to notice them walking up to him. Chase and Marshall exchanged looks of worry before the German Shepherd decided to speak up.

"Kyle? Are you alright? You look-" Chase started.

"I'm fine." Kyle replied bluntly, still staring out the window.

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound-" It was Marshall's turn to try, but only to get cut off like how Chase did.

"I'm fine!" Kyle raised his voice a little, his voice filled with harshness. The toxicity of Kyle's voice caused both Chase and Marshall to jump, whining with their ears going flat against their heads. Kyle almost immediately realized how hostile he sounded, looking at the two pups with an equally surprised face.

"I-I don't know where that came from. I didn't mean to-, I'm...uh..." Kyle stuttered like an idiot, completely shocked that he even raised his voice like that.

"I-its okay, Kyle. It just startled us as all." Chase said, still a little shook up from Kyle's sudden outburst.

"I'm just really stressed out right now. I just want Rocky to be okay." Kyle admitted, looking towards the door that the woman had taken the pup a mere half hour ago.

"We all do, Kyle. We're just worried about you. You look like you're overworking yourself." Chase told him, Marshall nodding.

"Yeah, it's not good to worry yourself this much, Kyle." Marshall added.

"I know, I know. I just can't help it." Kyle sighed, kneeling down to Chase and Marshall's level. "It's just that you guys, Ryder, and the rest of the pups are basically the only family I have left now. I just...I don't want to lose anyone else." Kyle explained, trying his best to keep his composure. "I already lost my mom...my dad...my grandparents...I don't want to start losing you guys too." A stray tear rolled down his cheek, but Kyle wiped it away just as fast as it came.

"Kyle-" Chase said reaching out to Kyle with one of his paws, only to be cut off a second time.

"Please, can you give me a few minutes? I need to...gather my thoughts for a little while." Kyle said, standing up to look out the window once more.

"Of course. C'mon Chase, let's give him some space." Marshall said, turning around to walk back over to where they were sitting before. Chase hesitated for a moment, looking at Kyle with a concerned expression before turning around to join Marshall. Once the two were a good distance away from Kyle, Chase decided to speak up.

"Marshall, I've never seen Kyle like this before. The way he snapped at us like that..." Chase said, glancing at Kyle across the room, the teen still staring out the window with a deadpan expression.

"Did you hear him? He said that Ryder and us pups were his only family now. He's lost everyone else." Marshall brought up, Chase nodding in recollection.

"Yeah. Should we call Ryder and ask him about it? Maybe he'll know why he's acting like this." Chase asked Marshall, who nodded.

"He might know, let's try." Marshall replied, Chase immediately pressing on his puptag to send a call to Ryder's pup-pad. After about 5 seconds there was an answer on the other end.

"Chase? What's going on? How's Rocky?" Ryder immediately bombarded the pup with questions.

"We got to the hospital alright, but we don't have any news on Rocky yet. How's Zuma doing?" Chase asked with curiosity.

"We got Zuma all cleaned up and bandaged, he's resting now." Ryder informed the two of them, who both let out a sigh of relief.

"That's great news, Ryder. But..uh..we called because there's something wrong with Kyle." Marshall said into Chase's puptag.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Ryder asked, his voice filled with more concern than before.

"Well, he's really overwhelming himself about Rocky. And when we went to ask him if he was okay, he sort of...snapped." Chase explained.

"Then he said that he was just really worried about Rocky, and that you, me, Chase, and the rest of us were his only family now. He said that he was afraid of losing us too, and after that he wanted us to leave him alone for a while." Marshall added to the explanation.

"Uh oh, that doesn't sound like Kyle at all. I'll be over there in a few minutes to try and see what's wrong." Ryder told the pups.

"Alright Ryder. See you soon." Chase said, the call ending soon after. Chase looked back towards Kyle, who continued to stare absentmindedly out the window. Chase was way past being worried for the teen, now being borderline scared. Chase couldn't imagine the pain that Kyle keeps getting reminded of, especially having lost, basically, both of his parents, along with his grandparents. Now with Rocky being critically injured, with Kyle having to try and save his life before they had reached the hospital, with the mixed breed's blood all over him, that only added to the poor teen's mental strain. Chase just frowned at the thought, deciding just to be patient and wait for Ryder.

After 5 minutes had passed, Kyle had moved from looking out the window to sitting in one of the many chairs in the middle of the waiting area. Chase and Marshall had been sitting in silence for the time being, anxiously waiting for any sort of news about Rocky as well as Ryder's arrival. One of these two wishes were fulfilled, as Ryder was seen pulling into the parking lot on his ATV. Chase and Marshall's ears both perked up at the muffled sound of Ryder's ATV outside, the two of them running towards the entrance of the hospital. When they had made it to the front doors, Ryder had just entered through them, quickly startled by both Chase and Marshall running up to him.

"Ryder!" Chase and Marshall exclaimed in unison, Ryder kneeling down to their level.

"Hey pups, where's Kyle?" Ryder immediately asked with worry.

"Over there." Marshall responded, turning and gesturing to where Kyle's seat was. Kyle had his head buried in his hands at the moment, not even noticing his brother's presence.

"Alright, I'm going to talk to him. You two stay here, okay?" Ryder told them both, who nodded. Ryder than stood up straight and walked over to Kyle, who still failed to see him. Ryder stood in front of Kyle, clearing his throat to make his presence known. Kyle looked up at the sudden disturbance of his deep thoughts, only to be met with the concerned gaze of his brother.

"Ryder? Uh...what's up?" Kyle asked nervously, having a feeling where this conversation would soon be going.

"I should be asking you that, Kyle. I got a call from Chase, he and Marshall were worried about you." Ryder said, taking the open seat next to him.

"About me? I'm totally..." Kyle started, only to meet the disapproving look that Ryder gave him, knowing that Kyle would at least attempt to hide it. Kyle sighed. "...not alright." Kyle admitted, although he didn't want to.

"What's wrong Kyle? You can tell me." Ryder assured him, putting his hand on Kyle's shoulder. Before Kyle started speaking, he took a deep breath to try and keep his mind on track.

"I'm just...really worried about Rocky, Ryder, I really am." Kyle said.

"I know, we all are. I have a feeling that's not all, right?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah, right." Kyle paused for a moment. "You and the pups are all the family I have left now. We lost Grandma and Grandpa a year before you were born, than we lost Mom when you were born, and that's when Dad seemed to start changing, and now I've lost him completely. I'm not prepared to lose anyone else, I don't want to lose anyone else." Kyle explained, burying his face into his hands once more. Ryder rubbed circles on Kyle's back in an attempt to comfort him. "I just want the loss to stop, I just want peace for once." Kyle muttered, his voice muffled by his hands.

"I know, I know." Ryder said in a calming voice. "Hey, listen. Maybe you should go back to the Lookout and rest for a little bit. I think we both know you need it."

"But...I need to stay here, I need to know how Rocky is." Kyle argued, raising his head up from his hands to look at Ryder.

"Kyle, don't worry. I'll be here, the rest of the pups will get here soon too." Ryder assured him.

"But-" Kyle tried to argue once more, only to be cut off.

"Kyle, if you're not going to do it for yourself, do it for me. You've been doing everything you could to protect me and the pups from anything that puts us in danger, you deserve to rest. Please." Ryder was practically begging him at this point, Kyle only letting out a long sigh.

"Okay, I guess you're right. I'll go rest." Kyle finally agreed, a small smile forming on Ryder's face.

"Thank you. Now go ahead, me and the rest of the pups have everything else under control." Ryder said reassuringly. Kyle just nodded and stood up, Ryder, along with Chase and Marshall, watched Kyle walk out the front doors, hop back on his ATV, and head out in the direction of the Lookout. Once the sound of Kyle's ATV faded from their earshot, Ryder called over to Chase.

"Chase, come here for a second." Ryder said to the German Shepherd pup, who immediately ran up to him.

"What is it, Ryder?" Chase asked curiously, confused on why the boy had called him over.

"I want you to go back to the Lookout and stay with Kyle, to make sure he actually rests. You know how stubborn he could be." Ryder explained to the police pup.

"Chase is on the case, Ryder sir." Chase said confidently, barking and running towards the exit to catch up with Kyle.

Once Chase had made it back to the Lookout, he noticed that Kyle had parked his ATV outside the front doors instead of in the garage like it always was.

"Well, at least I know he's here." Chase said to himself, sighing with relief. He parked his cruiser in its usual spot, hopping out of it as it started transforming back into its puphouse form. Chase made his way towards the front doors, which opened up automatically as soon as he got close enough. When the doors opened, his ears immediately picked up the faint sound of music, along with a voice that was singing. Chase stopped in his tracks to listen a bit closer to the voice, soon confirming that it was Kyle singing and not the actual singer of the song. He couldn't exactly make out any of the words except for a few here and there. He continued inside the Lookout, spotting Kyle lounging on one of the beanbag chairs and singing along to the song.

"Kyle?" Chase spoke up, getting the attention of the teen.

"Oh, hey Chase." Kyle said over the music, reaching down towards his phone that had the music emitting from it. He quickly turned the music down low enough so he could be heard clearly and continued speaking. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were fine, and that you were resting." Chase explained, walking over to him. Kyle just sighed at the word 'resting'.

"How could I even think about resting right now? My brain won't let me, I just can't shake this worried feeling." Kyle said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with frustration.

"Is that why you were singing? To try and calm yourself down?" Chase inquired, Kyle nodding in reply.

"Yeah, it wasn't working out very well though." Kyle admitted, glancing at his phone, which was still faintly playing the song he was singing along to. Now that Chase was a lot closer, he could make out the words of the song a lot more easily.

"What song is this? I've never heard it before." Chase asked curiously.

"It's called Safety Net. I listened to it all the time when I was going through...y'know, everything." Kyle explained, Chase nodding knowingly. "It's about someone talking about how a certain person is trying to keep them moving forward, and that person is the only reason their continuing to go on. Therefore calling that person their 'Safety Net', the one that catches them when they fall."

"Wow, that's pretty deep." Chase commented on the song's meaning.

"And every time I started losing hope, I'd just listen to it, and think about my own safety net...you guys." Kyle smiled sadly as he remembered all of the other times he found himself listening to this song. "Just listening to that song, hearing all of the lyrics, really putting some thought into what they meant, made me start thinking about some what if's. What if you, Ryder, the rest of the pups, weren't here. I probably would've gone through with it." Kyle's eyes went wide immediately after he said that, as if he let the last part of his sentence slip. "Er...I..uh..." He stuttered.

"Gone through with what?" Chase asked, Kyle now knowing he shouldn't have said anything. He started mentally scolding himself for talking too much about it, a simple title would've sufficed as an answer. But no, he had to go on and say something he didn't want to.

"I...uh... I uh, n-nothing, nothing. I...probably shouldn't say." Kyle stumbled over his words.

"Why? You don't trust me?" Chase asked, sounding hurt.

"No no no, i-it's not that...it's just..." Kyle paused, trying to formulate some sort of answer. "I don't know if you could handle it, I'm hesitant to tell Ryder about that. I know you're the most mature pup out of all of the PAW Patrol, but...it's a kinda touchy subject."

"Kyle, we've all had to deal with your dad, we've all seen a whole bunch of graphic stuff. I'm pretty sure I'm able to handle anything now." Chase told him. Kyle was about to contradict, but realized that the German Shepherd had a point. Chase was forced to bite him on his arm by his own father, as well as be kidnapped and used as ransom, and he took it very well.

"You do have a point there, Chase. But promise me you'll keep it between us, for the time being? I still have to manage to tell Ryder somehow." Kyle asked.

"I promise, not a word." Chase gave a serious look, showing Kyle that he was being sincere.

"Okay..." Kyle took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "...during those two years my dad abused me, I thought about...killing myself." Kyle finally said, Chase's eyes widening with fear.

"W-what?" Chase stuttered with disbelief, unsure about what he just heard from Kyle.

"I thought about committing suicide. Not just once, too, it started becoming a reoccurring thought towards the end. It first started about a year and a half ago, I first started getting these thoughts about just...ending it all. It wasn't as strong of a thought at the time, so I just pushed it in the back of my mind every time it came back. Those small thoughts kept lingering, but I never payed any attention to them. Then six months later, that's when we found you." Kyle smiled sadly at the memory, Chase too remembering the time where Kyle had first told him about how he was found. "That's when Ryder had thoughts about forming the PAW Patrol and started gathering the rest of the pups. The thoughts stopped for a while, but then I started high school. Everything started getting tougher, grades were harder to maintain, which meant more beatings from my dad. The thoughts started coming back full force this time around, they were a lot more...persuasive." Kyle explained, looking down at his lap, Chase having a horror-stricken expression on his face. "I ended up considering if I should do it or not, what if it could end all of the pain I felt. I started looking into the different ways I could do it, found out that hanging would be the best bet for me. Around a month ago, I actually came really close to going through with it. I had set up everything, had a noose hanging from my ceiling fan, a chair under it, my door was locked and I had my music blasting. But I had some second thoughts, I started thinking about Ryder, how devastated he'd be. I thought about you, how hurt I'd make you if I were to go through with it. I thought how I'd effect everyone else I knew that actually cared about me, and I realized that I couldn't go through with it anymore." Kyle had a few stray tears rolling down his cheeks, but he didn't even bother wiping them. "So if you all weren't here, I wouldn't be alive today." He finished, letting out a shaky breath. He had never mentioned any of this to another living soul, nor did he expect Chase to be the first one he told it too, but he was sure that it was a good feeling to finally get that off his chest. Chase just stared at Kyle with tearful eyes, completely in shock. He slowly walked up to him and jumped into Kyle's lap, wrapping his two front legs around his neck to envelop Kyle in a hug. Kyle wrapped his arms around the German Shepherd pup, who finally let his emotions take over. Kyle just held Chase tightly as sobs wracked his tiny body.

"K-Kyle?" Chase whimpered.

"Y-yeah?" Kyle responded, letting his own tears fall.

"You d-don't have those t-thoughts anymore, r-right?" Chase asked in between sobs.

"No, I don't. I'm a lot happier now, and I wouldn't change anything." Kyle smiled, his own tears soaking the fur on the top of Chase's head.

"Promise that you won't leave me? Ever?" Chase asked.

"I promise, I won't leave you. Not now, not ever." Kyle smiled, the pup's sobs calming down to only one every few seconds.

'I won't let you feel the way I felt, what it's like to lose someone you're close to.' Kyle thought to himself, holding the pup close. The two stayed there like that for a while, the two on the very edge of consciousness before falling asleep when Kyle's phone started ringing. He and Chase both jumped at the sudden disturbance, Chase even letting out a surprised yelp. Kyle immediately reached off of the side of the beanbag chair for his phone, drowsily searching before feeling it vibrating. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID, his eyes widening at the sight.

"It's Ryder!" Kyle exclaimed, immediately answering the call. Chase was brought out of his own drowsy state as soon as Ryder was mentioned.

"Hello?" Kyle said into his phone anxiously.

"Kyle! Rocky pulled through! He's awake!"

~Woo! Chapter 9! We have more news on what happened with Kyle during those two years, and it wasn't good news, that's for sure. Also, Rocky's fine! Maybe they'll find out how he was attacked? We'll see in the next chapter! Also, the song Kyle was singing was the song Safety Net by Framing Hanley, if you would be interested in checking it out. It's a good song, and its rock, so if rock's not your thing, be warned. And sorry for a cliff hanger, but I didn't want the chapter to be too long. Thank you all so much for reading, I really do appreciate it. Please leave me some feedback to let me know how I'm doing.