A/N: okay, this was originally gonna be a collab, but I wanna see how badly I can fail at writing such a big project solo. I'm normally pretty bad with without having a stroke. Now, let's see how well I can do with this thing.

A red and white siberian husky with an orange bandanna wrapped around her neck sat perched on a window sill looking into Nome's general hospital. The dog was watching her owner's young daughter, Rosy receive an examination as she had been coughing a lot lately and a recent outbreak of Diphtheria was currently spreading rapidly through the small Alaskan town. The dog feared the worst of course, and she silently prayed the young girl only contracted a cold.

Across town a young brown and tan wolf dog hybrid walked with his head hung low and yellow eyes open wide and on high alert for any approaching threats. The wolf dog stopped at a puddle of melted snow and examined his appearance. He found that his fur seemed too scruffy for an occasion like this and he proceeded to smooth down some of his head fur but to no avail. With a sigh, the wolf dog turned his attention back to the path in front of him and continued his short journey to the wooden building labeled 'hospital' down the street.

It didn't take the wolf dog long to reach his destination. As he approached the building, he spotted the figure of the red husky sitting at the window. The wolf dog smiled happily and approached her slowly.

"Jenna?" The wolf dog asked in a high shrill voice. Quickly, with a small 'hmph' and clearing of his throat the wolf dog repeated; this time in a much deeper more 'manly' sounding voice. "Jenna."

The husky turned quickly; startled as she had not noticed the wolf dog approach her. Upon seeing who it was, she relaxed and looked back towards the window. "Balto, hi." she said in a hushed tone.

Balto smiled and continued. "Just a shot in the dark but… I was wondering if you wanted to.. go chase a few sticks by moonlight." He chuckled.

Jenna smiled and glanced back and forth between looking into the room and the wolf dog. After turning her attention back to the hybrid again, she spoke. "I would like that." She then looked back to the room. "Once I'm sure Rosy's alright."

Balto walked closer to the husky and reared up on his hind legs to peer in as well alongside her. Rosy was currently having her throat examined and was told to cough a couple of times for the doctor. The pair of dogs continued to watch as the doctor smiled and looked towards the girl's parents who to shared happy smiles.

Balto, confused, turned his attention to the husky beside him. "It looks like they were really concerned about this.." He trailed off slightly at the end.

Jenna as well smiled and looked to the hybrid. "Diphtheria's been going around. We were worried she might've contracted it but it looks like she's just got a cold or something.. Thank goodness." She stated.

Balto liked Rosy. She was the only human in town that would treat him kindly and thus felt a connection to her, almost as her own illegitimate pet. He then smiled back at Jenna. Her eyes glittering from the gentle glow of the lamp light shining through the window into her brown irises. "I'm glad there's nothing to worry about then." He said kindly.

Jenna nodded in agreement and jumped down from the window sill; turning her attention to Balto as he did the same and walked up beside her. "Lead the way." She said.

Balto began leading them East down Front Street towards the edge of town. As they walked, not much was said between them. Jenna had always been friendly with the hybrid but she really didn't know much about him and vise versa. Instead of talking, Jenna simply followed closely behind and mentally compared the wolf dog to her other admirer, Steele.

Unlike Balto, Steele walked with his head high and chest puffed out slightly. He would wear a smile on his face as he walked and his tail was always curled high above his back. Whenever Jenna would walk beside him, she would feel small and sometimes crowded if he decided to walk as close as possible to her. Balto did none of this. The hybrid instead chose to keep his head more straight and casual with his tail lazily swaying behind him. His eyes would also look around more than Steele's and he always seemed to be thinking about something.

Without a doubt, Jenna felt much more comfortable walking with Balto. He allowed her personal space and wouldn't stare at her the way Steele did sometimes. Though the two were currently talking very little, Jenna did not feel uncomfortable about it as the silence appeared to come more from choice rather than lack of icebreakers.

Finally, Balto stopped a short ways off from the buildings where the road seemed narrower and less kept and sat near the rocks that separated the beach from the rest of the surrounding area. He looked over to Jenna who took a seat at his left. "I thought maybe we would walk on the beach but it looks like high tide. We can just stay here and talk though if.. That's ok with you." He said breaking eye contact a few times to look to his sides or down at the ground.

Jenna gazed at the hybrid, noted the high water line and nodded in agreement. "I think that's a fine idea, Balto."

"Great!" Balto responded cheerfully.

The pair then spent some time to chat and get to know one another. Balto even began to crack a few jokes here and there as he grew increasingly comfortable. Jenna as well began joking a bit and explaining more of herself to the hybrid to which he listened intently fascinated. Jenna was liking Balto. He listened to her and didn't ever attempt to talk over her or when he did accidentally, he would apologize and allow her the floor to speak. This was such a different experience than Jenna was used to with Steele.

Though Jenna had only accepted one date from the champion husky, he would regularly chat her up in the boiler room and old mill when she was there with her friends and it would always go the same way. Steele would of course spend most of the time telling her about himself and trying to impress her as much he could. Truth be told, Jenna did think his feelings for her were in fact genuine but because of his massive ego and condescending nature towards those he didn't respect she just couldn't bring herself to go steady with him.

Not far from where Balto and Jenna sat talking, an ominous figure stalked from within the tall grass and snow across the road in the large open field that surrounded the town. The figure watched; intently listening to their conversation with his super sensitive hearing and his bright blue eyes focused like camera lenses on the pair's movements and mannerisms.

"Oh, Bingo that right there just won't do…" the figure thought as he contemplated his next move.

This chapter was edited by steelfan, and they did an amazing job on it, so hopefully this new collab can do tjis stort some actual justic(if you want steelfan to edit the rest, and if they want to).