AUTHOR's NOTE: This would've been submitted sooner, but I was in NY for 11 days and I didn't have time to work on this until yesterday, when I finished this. Anyway, just a short chapter, but stil an important one to the story.
5'll come eventually.

~Chris

It was the day after Steele had his altercation with Balto. He was lying on the ground, just waiting for anything. He figured he couldn't go into town, presuming that word had gone around that he was back. Steele figured that if word had gone around, there'd be few, if any, who'd would attack him or call for someone else to do so if he was spotted. He was going to catch a few more Z's, but he heard a voice calling for him.

"Steele, Steele," called a familiar female voice. "Is that you?"

"Huh?" mumbled Steele, before he opened to see a black, grey, and white malamute before him.

"Storm?" said Steele.

"It is you!" said Storm.

"I missed you sis!' said Steele.

"What happened?" asked Storm, who could see the marks from Steele's encounter with Balto.

"It's a long story…" answered Steele. "Mind if I stay at your place for a while?"

"But nobody in town wants to see you," replied Storm. "Plus, my mate, he really doesn't want to see you after what you did."

"Sis, I've put that behind me, and I regret those actions," responded Steele. "I just need some food and shelter."

"Well…okay" said Storm. "After all, you are my brother, and I can't let family suffer."

"Thanks sis," replied Steele. "I owe you one."

Not long after, Steele and Storm had arrived at where Storm lived. Storm checked to see if anyone was in the front room before she went in with Steele trailing behind. Steele went into the kitchen to look for any food that was available. Fortunately, for Steele, there was a bowl full of dry food in the kitchen, from which Steele then ate. After eating his breakfast, he and Storm began to talk.

"So what brings you back here," inquired Storm.

"Oh, I'm just looking for someone," answered Steele.

"Oh, and whom would that be?" asked Storm.

"Like I said before it's a really long story," replied Steele.

"You can tell me Steele," said Storm. "I'm your sis, you can tell me anything."

"Well okay," responded Steele. "but, it's rather complicated."

"Just get to it," replied Storm.

"After I was run out of town, I soon found myself in a different town," began Steele. "There, I fell in love with another dog, a husky named Diane. Unfortunately, things became complicated when I fell for another dog by the name of Amy too."

"So what happened?" inquired Storm.

"I told Diane that I had fallen in love with another dog and that I'd chosen to live with Amy, but Diane told me she was pregnant with my pups and flipped out," explained Steele. "I offered to at least take care of our pups, but she wouldn't let me go anywhere near her."

"So what did you do?" asked Storm.

"I lived with the Amy for a few months, but I couldn't stop thinking about Diane, so I broke up with Amy, who didn't take it too well. I tried to find Diane, but I came across Katie instead," elaborated Steele. "I asked her if she knew who Diane and Katie told me that Diane was her mother and that she still didn't want to see me. We had an altercation, and in trying to defend myself I hit her, and she freaked out."

"Oh my," said Storm. "So I assume you're here to try and find her?"

"Yeah," answered Steele. "I saw her here and I wanted to apologize to her, but I ended up getting into a scrap with that wild mongrel Balto because of it."

"Well that's not good at all," commented Storm.

"Tell me about it," replied Steele. " I wasn't even thinking about that wolf dog until after the fight."

At that moment, a yellow and brown Chinook walked into the room.

"Hey Storm…wait…what is HE doing here?" said the Chinook, who saw Steele talking to Storm.

"Kaltag?!" yelled Steele, a bit surprised.

"Well for your information, he's only here to find his daughter," defended Storm.

"I still don't want him in this house, nevertheless in town," replied Kaltag.

"Can't you even let him stay for a while?" yelled Storm. "He's my own brother for Pete's sake!"

"No Storm, I don't want him here at all." said Kaltag.

"Do you even realize what your saying? My brother needs a place to stay while he finds the opportunity to apologize to his daughter, and all you're doing is making it harder for him to do so," rebuffed Storm. "I thought you had a heart when I became mates with you, but it looks like I was wrong about that."

Those words stunned Kaltag. Never had he heard Storm say those words to him in his life. Kaltag had never thought of himself as heartless, but the fact that hiss own mate called him as such struck him heard. He began to think about the current situation and realized that Storm might as well have been right. What if his daughter had ran away and he had needed a place to stay while he searched for her? Surely someone with a heart would let him stay in.

"Fine," replied Kaltag. "But once he apologizes to his daughter, he's on his own."

"Thanks honey," responded Storm. "I knew you'd come through."

"Seriously Kaltag, thanks," said Steele. "I really owe you one."

After Steele thanked Kaltag, he left the house to continue searching for his daughter Katie.