Chapter Seven: Alone
"Jenna!" Rosy called. "Come on girl, we have to go!" Rosy stood outside the shed and looked around to try to spot her. Jenna was always either at home or with Balto, and they had already gone out to Balto's boat to look for her. She was nowhere to be found, and neither was Balto. At this point Rosy was pretty sure she knew what happened, but she wasn't going to stop trying to find her.
"Please Jenna, come back. I don't want to leave without you, I need you." She sat down on the ground outside the shed and began to cry. "Come back, Jenna," she sniffed.
Rosy's father walked up behind her, then sat down next to her and pulled her close to him. Rosy threw his arm off of her and backed away from him. "This is all your fault!"
Rosy's father stared at her, shocked. "What.... what's my fault, honey?"
"Jenna ran away because you wouldn't let Balto come with us! I told you, she loves him. They both ran away together!"
"I'm sure Jenna is around here somewhere, she wouldn't run away from her family like that."
Rosy stared at her father, and he could feel her anger from where he sat. "Don't you get it dad? Balto IS her family! They had puppies together and Balto is always here because they want to be together! I tried to tell you that so many times, but you just wouldn't listen!"
Rosy was crying, and tears were falling down her cheeks. "I hate you for doing this to them and making Jenna run away!" She turned and ran back to her house, leaving her father speechless on the ground outside the shed. He sat there for a few moments then got up and took one last look around to see if he could spot Jenna anywhere. She was nowhere to be found, and he turned around and went back to the house. The plane was going to leave soon and they all had to be on it, whether Jenna was with them or not.
Rosy ran to her mother and tearfully explained what had happened, and why they weren't going to find Jenna or Balto anywhere. "It's all his fault," she said, referring to her father. "He wouldn't let Balto live with us, so Jenna ran away with him. Now I won't have any friends in Anchorage at all." She wept into her mother's arms, and her mother did her best to comfort her.
She was just as upset that Jenna was gone, she wanted that puppy just as much as Rosy did when they adopted her at eight weeks old. It was too much of a coincidence that Jenna would run away on the same day they were going to leave for a new city, and that Balto was missing too; especially since Jenna had never run away before. It just wasn't like her to do that. She believed Rosy, and she knew that the two dogs had probably run off together so they wouldn't be separated.
She decided that was the final straw. She was going to allow Balto to live with them, if they ever came back to Nome... and if they ever found him and Jenna. She never understood why her husband was so opposed to Balto living with them anyway. Despite being half wolf, he was still the nicest dog in Nome, and she loved him almost as much as Rosy did. She understood that Balto had saved Rosy's life, and she would always be grateful to him for that. And he and Jenna had puppies together, and he was at their house every day... they should have allowed him to live with them a long time ago.
Rosy's father entered the house, and saw Rosy and her mother sitting on the floor in the living room. Rosy turned away from him, and her mother looked at him with a frown on her face. He sighed and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry, Rosy," he said. "I didn't know she would run away. I wanted to take her with us as much as you did."
He looked at his wife. "We're out of time. The plane will be leaving soon, and we have to be on it. We have to go now."
Rosy's mother nodded, and pulled Rosy back to look at her. "I'm sorry, honey. We have to leave now. I'm sure Jenna will be fine as long as she's with Balto."
Rosy said nothing, but she nodded. They got up and walked out of the house, closing the door behind them. They walked into town without saying a word, and headed towards the plane that was waiting for them on the outskirts of Nome. They boarded the plane, and Rosy looked out of the tiny window as the plane began its run towards the sky.
"Goodbye Jenna, goodbye Balto," she said as a tear fell from her face and landed on her sleeve. "I love you, please stay safe."
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Jenna woke with a start as the sound of an airplane got louder and louder, and she gasped as she sat up and watched the plane fly directly over them and continue on its way to Anchorage.
"Balto... that was Rosy," she said. "They're... they're gone. My owners are gone."
Balto nuzzled the side of her face from behind her and spoke softly into her ear. "But I'm still here. I won't ever leave you."
"I know... I just still can't believe they're gone." She turned her head to look at Balto. "Thank you for being there for me last night. I needed to feel you near me. I still do."
Balto looked into her eyes, and he saw how vulnerable she was right then. "Jenna, you know I would do anything for you. I'll always be here for you."
She closed her eyes and kissed him, then lay down and curled up inside his paws again.
"Are you hungry?" Balto asked. "I brought some meat up here for us, the butcher gave it to me yesterday. He..." His voice trailed off as he saw that Jenna wasn't interested. He had to try though, she was going to have to eat some time. She just lay curled up inside his embrace. Normally nothing would make him happier than to simply lay there with her, with his paws around her. Now, though, he was worried that she might slip into depression if he didn't try to take her mind off of Rosy and her humans... and her home.
"Do you want to lie over near the edge, where we can look out over the forest?" he asked hopefully. "It's really pretty today–"
"Balto, please," Jenna said quietly but with enough pain in her voice to stop him from speaking completely. "Please just hold me."
Balto didn't say another word as he lay his head down behind hers, and pulled her body close to his with his paws. She leaned her head back to nuzzle his chin, and then curled up again.
They lay there in the shade of the cliff wall for hours, and Balto drifted in and out of sleep. The sun hung low in the sky when Jenna got up and walked over to the edge of the plateau to look over the forest and the ocean to the west. Balto sat up to watch her as she sat down near the edge and gazed out at the vista before her, the breeze blowing gently through her fur and ruffling her bandanna.
He watched her for a few minutes, then got up and went to sit next to her. He sat down and she lay her head down on his shoulder. They sat together watching the trees sway gently in the breeze, and Jenna lifted her head to kiss him. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I couldn't do this without you."
Balto nuzzled her lovingly. "I couldn't do this without you either." They sat together for a while longer as the sun began to set, and the sky turned different shades of orange and red.
"Um, Balto?" Jenna asked with a small smile on her face. "I think I'm ready to eat something now. Actually I'm starving."
Balto smiled with relief, and he kissed her. He got up and went to fetch one of the packets of meat the butcher had given him. He brought it over to Jenna, set it down in front of her and unwrapped it.
She looked over at him. "Aren't you going to eat something?"
"I will. I just wanted to make sure you got enough to eat first," he said. "Go ahead, I'm just happy that you're eating something."
He watched as Jenna ate the meat in front of her, then he went back and got another piece of meat for himself. He lay down next to Jenna, unwrapped it and ate it. Jenna lay down and the two of them watched the sun sink behind the ocean together.
"Jenna, I had a thought," Balto said as he nuzzled the back of her neck. "I know you're probably not looking forward to living on my boat, but what if we lived in your shed at Rosy's house? That way at least you would be in a familiar place, and we could finally live together there."
Jenna's eyes grew wide as she realized that was the perfect solution. "Balto, I love that idea!" she said and leaned forward to kiss him deeply. "And I love you."
Balto smiled at her. "I love you too, Jenna. We can leave whenever you're ready."
Jenna nodded. "I want to go home with you. Can we go now?"
"Let me just grab the rest of the meat and we'll leave." Balto placed the remaining packages of meat into one of the blankets, and wrapped them up together. He picked up the bundle with his teeth and nodded to Jenna. The two of them left the clearing and made their way down the mountain as darkness descended over them. The moon rose over the mountains to the east, and illuminated the forest with its thin, silvery light as they headed back to Jenna's shed.
When they arrived, Jenna was so happy to be back home. Even though her owners were gone, she could still live in her shed and Balto could live with her, at last. She finally thought she would be able to live without Rosy, as long as she had Balto with her.
They entered the shed, and Jenna closed the door behind them. She watched as Balto set his blanket down and turned to look at her. She was so happy to see him like this, knowing that this was his home now, and that he would always be there with her. No more leaving to go back to his boat, and no more nights alone.
She grinned and walked over to him. She nudged him with her nose, pushing him towards her bed. Then she pushed him hard enough to make him fall over onto his back, and she moved to stand over him. She looked down at him adoringly and lowered her muzzle to kiss him, and he returned her kiss.
She lay down and snuggled close to him as he gently used his paws to pull her close. "This is how it should have been since I first fell in love with you," she said. "I always wanted you to live here with me... and now you do."
"I hated leaving you all those nights," Balto replied. "After being with you every day, it was lonely out at the boat. I wanted to live here with you too, but... Rosy's father didn't want me to."
"And now he's gone, along with Rosy," Jenna said quietly, and nuzzled Balto's face, breathing deeply to smell his scent. "But as long as I have you, I'll be okay. I just hope Rosy will be okay too."
"I'm sure Rosy understands why you had to run away," Balto assured her. "She knows you're safe with me. She'll be fine."
"She probably knows I'm safe with you, but what about her? She's going to miss us."
"I know," Balto said as he nuzzled her neck. "I wish there was something we could do, but Anchorage is just too far. She'll miss us, but she'll be all right. And hopefully they'll come back after a while."
Jenna nodded. "I hope so."
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The days began to go by as Balto and Jenna started their new life together. Finding food wasn't too hard as most of the townspeople still regarded Balto as the hero of Nome, and the man who ran the general store usually had something for him, as did the butcher. Without Rosy to play with life was duller, and both Balto and Jenna missed the way she petted and hugged them. But they were able to adapt, and they loved living together so much that they knew there was nothing that could separate them again.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. The house was still empty, probably because there was still a chance that Rosy's father's job would turn out to be temporary and they would move back to Nome, so they didn't sell their house. That gave Jenna and Balto hope that they would see Rosy again some day. Until then, they were happy just to be together like they had always wanted to be.
They would go out and visit Boris at the boat, and he would complain about how lonely he was, and how the bears were no substitute for his real family. "I'm sorry Boris," Balto would say as he looked at Jenna, "but I have my own family to take care of now."
"Oy, they grow up so fast," Boris would say.
Jenna and Balto had missed Rosy a lot for the first few weeks, but now the loss was dulled a bit as they adjusted to their new life. Today they had gone up to their favorite spot up on the mountain to enjoy the view and breathe the mountain air, and they had just returned to their home, the shed behind Rosy's house.
"Thank you for taking me up there again," Jenna said as they entered the shed and she closed the door behind them. "I like it so much up there."
"I do too," he said as he lay down on their bed. "It always makes me feel better when we go there."
Jenna lay down inside his paws, like she did every night. He nuzzled her neck, and she turned to give him a long, passionate kiss. "I love you, Balto," she said.
"I love you too, Jenna," he whispered into her ear as he nuzzled her. He held her close to him, and the two of them fell asleep together.
They were woken the next day by the sound of an airplane flying very close overhead. Airplanes were still fairly uncommon, and it was rare to hear them flying into Nome. Balto and Jenna looked at each other, and they got up to see who was flying in to Nome. They walked together to the edge of town in time to see the plane landing in the snow outside of town.
Jenna watched the plane intently to see who would emerge from it, and soon three people got out of the plane; it was Rosy and her parents.
"Rosy!" Jenna yelled, and she broke into a run towards her. Balto ran after her, and they both reached Rosy at the same time. They barked in excitement and leapt on top of Rosy, knocking her down. Balto and Jenna were licking Rosy, and she was laughing so hard she couldn't get up.
"Come on guys, let me up!" she laughed. Balto and Jenna let her get up, and she hugged them to her. "I missed you guys so much! I'm so happy to see you together."
"Jenna," she said as she looked at Jenna and hugged her. "I missed you, but I know why you didn't come with us. It's okay, I would have stayed with Balto too, if it was me." Jenna licked her face and nuzzled her.
"I missed you too, Balto," she said as she hugged him. "And I have some great news for you! My dad finally said you can live with us. My mom told him that's why Jenna ran away, so he finally gave in. You're part of our family now, Balto!"
Jenna smiled and looked at Balto with tears in her eyes. "Balto..."
Balto was so happy he couldn't stop licking and nuzzling Rosy. "Ha ha! Okay boy, okay! I love you too!" Rosy laughed. She hugged him again and rubbed his head.
Balto turned to Jenna, and she kissed him and nuzzled his face. "Jenna... it's everything I've ever wanted," he said. "All of us living together, finally."
Rosy's father approached them as Rosy and the two dogs were hugging and licking. He crouched down next to Balto and rubbed his head. "Balto, I'm sorry," he said. "Even after you saved my daughter's life, even after you guys had a litter of puppies, I was still uneasy about allowing a half wolf to live with us. My wife and Rosy and even Jenna showed me that I was wrong, and I'm sorry."
He scratched Balto's ears, and Balto nuzzled his hand. "You're a good dog, Balto. I would love it if you came to live with us."
Balto licked his face and nuzzled his hand. "I'll take that as a yes," Rosy's father said with a laugh. "Come on everybody, let's go home."
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Balto and Jenna sat silently for a while as the sun sank below the ocean for the last time they would see it from this place. They watched as the sky darkened from red and orange into black, and soon the moon rose above the mountains to the east.
"For all the years we've been coming here, it's never gotten any less beautiful," Jenna said.
"Just like you," Balto said with a smile.
"You would think I'd be tired of hearing that by now, but I'm not," Jenna laughed quietly.
"I know what you mean though. I'll always love this place, and I hope our pups keep coming here after we're gone," Balto said as he looked out over the forest. "Jenna, since this is our last visit here I wanted to say a few things. I wanted to make sure you knew these things before either one of us is gone."
"What is it, Balto?" Jenna knew that look in his eye, she had seen it so many times before. He was still just as much in love with her as he had ever been, and he didn't need to say anything. She already knew.
"I'm not sure how to say this, but... I wanted to thank you for my life with you. I've been in love with you almost my entire life, and I know how lucky that makes me. You gave me love, you gave me a family, and you gave me more than that... you gave me a lifelong companion, a perfect soulmate. I don't think I could ever truly describe how much I love you, and how thankful I am to have you in my life."
Jenna nuzzled him, and kissed him. "I'm just as thankful to have had you for almost all of my life too. I didn't think I would ever find a mate or would even want one until I met you. And then I knew that you were the only mate I would ever want."
She looked deep into his eyes. "You have given me a wonderful, beautiful life, my love. It's all I could ever have asked for."
They slowly leaned towards each other and kissed deeply and passionately as the full moon rose higher in the nearly cloudless sky, casting its silvery beams across the forest and playing around Balto and Jenna's aging faces as they shared each other's company as they had shared their entire lives... together.
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Next: "Epilogue"
