Chapter 4: the first day
A/N hey guys this chapter once again in a flashback and once again late sorry I decided to replace my 2 year old ACER laptop so I bought a brand new ASUS laptop online and it said 3-4 day delivery but, it turned out to be 3-4 week delivery, so yeah, moral of this story, always get express delivery. I would also like to address 1 more thing, the scene in the movie where Balto asked Jenna if she wanted to go and 'chase a few sticks by midnight' never happened instead Balto was going to ask if Jenna wanted to go back to his boat and spend the night because her owners weren't in her house and then he saw rosy and the plot of the movie continues, Just wanted to clear that up, also I'm going on the basis of Balto and Jenna loved each other from the moment they first met and they weren't afraid to hide it from each other. So in this chapter expect lots of love and fluff between our favourite canine lovers, Enjoy. (Also WOOHOO for Nerd3)
Jenna followed hurriedly behind her owner, wanting to make sure that her love interest was in good health. As both Rosie and Jenna entered the kitchen they saw Rosie's parents conversing about some menial things like the weather and who would be doing the washing up later. "Mum, Dad?" Rosie spoke getting the attention of both adults in the room. "Yes dear?" Evelyn replied looking over to her daughter, "I found something that you have to see BUT, you have to promise not to freak out." Rosie said walking over to her parents.
This intrigued both of the adults "what is it sweetie?" Thomas asked vacating his seat to try and catch a glimpse of the thing that his daughter held in her arms. Rosie then gently put Balto on the counter in the middle of the room. "Rosie, why have you just placed a filthy stray on the counter?" Thomas questioned looking very annoyed and slightly angry that his daughter had brought a stray dog into their house.
This struck balto deep he hated the fact that he was only ever seen as the 'filthy stray'. No one had ever given him a chance to prove otherwise. It just seemed so unfair to him.
"Dad he's hurt." Rosie said pointing to Balto's side that had the long gashes that Steele had given him. "Well those scratches are more than likely his own fault; he probably started a fight and came out of it worse." Rosie's father stated as if it was fact.
Balto lowered his head further as this hurt him even more than the last statement, even though both of the canines in the room knew exactly what happened it really didn't help that everyone saw Balto as nothing more than a vicious animal that would attack you if you so much as looked at him, it hurt Balto to know that no matter how hard he tried he would never be accepted in public all because of either his looks in the case of the human population of Nome, or his heritage in the case of the dog population of Nome, except Jenna of course.
"Dad, look at how young he is, do you really think that a dog that young would start a fight with another dog? I mean come on look at his leg!" Rosie said to her father raising her voice slightly. This caught her father off guard slightly "what do you mean? It looks fine to me." Thomas stated, inspecting Balto a bit closer, "he's fine." He said pretending to overlook the fact that Balto had one of his paws elevated of off the counter top. "Seriously dad? Look at his paw!" Rosie yelled getting genuinely annoyed that her father couldn't care less about the young pup that was very obviously seriously injured. "Rosie, he is fine. Look." Thomas said taking Balto's elevated paw and placing it in his hand quicker than the young pup could react to, and squeezed on it. Balto let out a howl of pain and quickly scrambled from the hand of the much larger human that had caused him a great deal of pain.
"DAD!" Rosie yelled as she quickly went over to Balto and made sure that he was ok. She was now very angry that her father had hurt the young injured pup even if it was an accident. "Whoa Rosie calm down I didn't mean to hurt him." Her father said raising his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, slightly surprised that his daughter had raised her voice at her elders.
Jenna, who had been quiet through-out the conversation, started barking in an attempt to make Rosie lift her up onto the counter so she could see and possibly comfort her pained love
Rosie, once again seeming to almost understand her canine companion lifted her onto the table and Jenna then instantly went over to check on Balto. "Balto!" Jenna yelled seeing Balto cowering in fear of the Rosie's father "Are you ok?" she asked she knew how little Balto trusted humans and if anything Thomas had just broken that trust "I'm fine Jenna it just really hurts." Balto replied." I know Balto; just try not to think about it too much." Jenna said hoping to help ease the pain. "Jenna is he going to hurt me again? Balto asked, looking up at Jenna with puppy dog eyes, trying in a vain attempt to focus on anything other than the pain he was going through. "no Balto he isn't going to hurt you, the first time he hurt you it was an accident so he won't do it again" Jenna answered and licked Balto on the nose and sat down next to him nestling herself into his fur.
"See dad, if this dog wanted to hurt other dogs he would have hurt Jenna already but look, they really like each other." Rosie stated. Rosie's father sighed in defeat "ok as long as he isn't dangerous and behaves himself we will take him to the vet to get him seen to." He said. Balto's and Jenna's eyes lit up and Rosie squealed in happiness "yay, Thank you daddy!" Rosie yelled and flung herself at her father enveloping him in a hug to which he just chuckled and ruffled his daughter's hair. Rosie then stared up at her father "can we keep him?" Rosie asked. Thomas hesitated and looked to his wife, who was shaking her head, before replying "Err… sure, if he is a good boy and behaves himself then maybe he can stay with us. But you have to promise to take extra good care of him, especially since he's hurt" Rosie upon hearing this squealed once more and hugged her father again.
Meanwhile Jenna and Balto were having their own conversation. "Balto can you believe it! If you behave, which I'm sure you will, then you can come and live with me." Jenna said barely containing her joy "I know it's great! I don't need to sleep on that cold, uncomfortable boat anymore!" Balto said with an equal, if not higher amount of enthusiasm. Jenna, not being able to find a good topic to talk about just hugged Balto and made sure he was ok until it was time to go.
Whilst this was happening Thomas and Evelyn were conversing about the young injured canine "Thomas you can't be serious about keeping this mutt in our house." Evelyn whisper yelled to her husband not believing that he had actually agreed to take in an injured mongrel off of the street. "Well I don't see why not, I mean look at the little guy." He said pointing over to Balto and Jenna who will still sharing an embrace "he looks well behaved enough and he is young so he should be easy enough to train." Thomas said trying to convince his wife that keeping the dog was a good idea "ok fine but, if he slips up in public or in private I will not hesitate to get rid of the wretched thing." And with that Evelyn left to get her coat so they could take the injured dog to the veterinarian.
Jenna and Balto were still conversing, just passing the time until it was time to go to the vet for Balto's get a check-up "so what is the vet like?" Balto questioned "I thought that you already knew everything you wanted to about the vet before we left your boat." Jenna replied with a slight laugh "I know but I just want to know what to expect when I get there." Balto replied "ok well it's all white and there are very nice people there they look after all of the animals that get brought in they have a lot of sharp things that they jag you with but after they do you feel really tired and when you wake up its time to go home. And that's really all I know, I mean I have only ever been there a few times." She answered "ahh ok thanks for clearing that up for me." He said giving her a lick on the head. Jenna still wasn't used to the feeling of another dog licking her, but that wasn't to say she didn't like it.
About five minutes had passed and all of the human occupants of the house were still busy getting ready. As Rosie walked past the counter that she had left Balto and Jenna on she slowly lifted each of them and placed them on the ground allowing them some space to roam around. "Hey uhh Jenna? I haven't eaten in about six days because when Steele attacked me I was searching for food and I'm really hungry is there anything that I could have to eat before we go to the vet." Balto asked still visibly shaken by even thinking about the whole ordeal with Steele. Jenna on the other hand was rather shocked by the fact that Balto hadn't eaten in six whole days "yes Balto, of course there is, come with me." She said as she helped Balto back into the shed and over to the two bowls in the corner
Balto sniffed the contents of the bowl and found that it smelled not half bad compared to some of the things he had to eat in the past 2 months, so he ate some and again it was better than he expected so he ate until he felt that he had enough energy to last him the day which was a surprisingly small amount. "Balto are sure you don't want more I mean we do have plenty of it." Jenna questioned trying to coax him to eat some more as she had noted earlier that he was incredibly skinny, skinnier than her even. "no Jenna its fine, really I don't need that much I'm used to eating small meals, I'm not that bothered anyway, as long as it's enough to get by." Balto said truthfully. Jenna found it sad that even though he had very obviously been starving for weeks he still wouldn't eat more than 'just enough' Jenna found it sickening that anybody could ignore a starving young pup. With that a new question came to mind. How had he survived prior to their first meeting? The only thing Jenna really knew about Balto was that she loved him of course; that he had been attacked whilst looking for food and he had an incredibly horrible past, with luck like that Jenna was surprised Balto lasted a single day let alone a month. "Balto I don't really get it how on earth did you survive so long on your own? I mean Look at you, you are scratched bruised beaten and practically starving I'm just really surprised that you survived." Jenna finished staring into Balto's golden eyes silently begging him to answer her question.
"Jenna the only reason I am alive right now is that I always kept out of sight of everybody." Balto answered with a hint of…uncertainty? "Balto I know that no one is ever that lucky so what is the real answer?" Jenna said giving Balto a literal death-stare. Balto saw no reason to be hiding anything from someone he held so dear "umm… well… Jenna the actual reason that I'm alive is because of you. Before I first saw you I was, believe it or not suicidal I used to think how much better the world would be without me. And then there was you, Jenna I only caught a glimpse of a beautiful husky and she filled every part of my mind every thought left me and she replaced them and as luck wold have it, that husky was you. I wanted to just work up the courage to speak to you it was what I aimed for, it was my 1 goal in life and when I finally got to talk to you in that damned alley I honestly thought I had died and gone to heaven and now that we are together I still think that this is just a dream and I'm still lying down in that wretched alley way bleeding out." He admitted. Letting all of his inner most thoughts out and displaying them to Jenna.
If Jenna was surprised a few moments ago, she was speechless now. SHE was someone's will to live. Her lovers will to live none the less "Balto do you really mean that?" Jenna questioned tears in her eyes, overcome with emotions from her lover's words. "Every word Jenna, it's just sad that none of this probably even matters this is all probably just a big dream, a wonderful, sweet, exhilarating dream" Balto finished with a sigh, attempting to stand and leave the room only to feel a familiar sting in his side forcing him to sit back down.
Jenna slowly walked over to Balto, sat down in front of him and planted a passionate kiss on his lips, momentarily shocking him but soon enough he kissed back. After about a ten seconds They both withdrew from the kiss both blushing profusely. "Does that prove this is real?" Jenna questioned a playful smirk spreading across her features. "Definitely." Balto answered simply
Rosie peered into the shed and called to Jenna "ah, there you two are, well, come on girl time to go girl." To which she got her usual bark as a response. Rosie then walked over to Balto who was trying to stand without faltering which was very quickly proving to be near impossible and picked him up, "ahh ahh ahh, no walking for you little guy I'm going to carry you all the way to the vet, we don't want you to get hurt on the way to get you fixed now do we?" Rosie asked as though in a conversation with the brown ball of fluff in her arms, whilst walking toward the front door, her ever-faithful pet following close behind.
Five minutes had passed and Rosie, her parents, Jenna and Balto were all walking down the main road of Nome to the veterinarian building. Rosie had stayed true to her word and carried Balto since they had left the house. The main road of Nome was a very simple road with Nome's town hospital, the butcher shop, the boiler room and many other large buildings situated on either side.
Whilst passing by the butcher shop, where Gunnar Kaasen was buying meat for his sled dogs that were waiting outside Steele approached Jenna and attempted to catch her eye by standing sideways and showing off his built body. Jenna simply scoffed at the sight and began to walk away when Steele stepped in front of her and spoke, "Jenna, why don't me and you head down to the boiler room and get to know each other a little better?" he asked waggling his eyebrows and speaking in a tone that made Jenna sick to the stomach.
Jenna in reply scoffed again and pushed Steele out of the way "Steele you are disgusting, now go away." She said and pushed passed him to catch up with her owner. Steele was about to follow but stopped when he heard his musher calling after him and telling him to come back so he decided he would get her later. As soon as Jenna reached her owner she realized that they were almost at the vet and she also noticed that Balto had gotten incredibly comfortable in Rosie's arms and had fallen asleep 'good thing too or he might have heard Steele.' Jenna thought to herself.
After the canines and humans had reached the vet they all stepped inside and made their way towards the desk that sat on the opposite side of the room to the entrance. The person behind the desk noticed and recognised the family and addressed them "Ahh Thomas it's good to see you again. What brings you here? Did Jenna hurt herself again?" the vet said with a small chuckle. The vet was a middle aged man with blonde hair he was about the same age as Thomas and had aqua blue eyes. "it's good to see you too Humphrey and no, Jenna didn't hurt herself its actually this little guy I'm worried about." Thomas said gesturing for Rosie to place the, still sleeping Balto on the counter. The veterinarian instantly jumped into action checking the pup whilst asking the family many questions "where did you find him?" the vet asked, checking all around his body and noting anything that he saw that looked wrong or out of place on him onto a clipboard he was holding. "He was in our shed with Jenna!" Rosie piped up trying to be helpful. "Ok when did you find him and what condition was he in?" the vet questioned picking up each of Balto's paws and setting them down gently. "We found him about 15 minutes ago and in pretty much the same condition." Thomas replied watching intently at all the checks that the doctor was giving the brown dog. As the vet picked up Balto's left leg the young pup woke with a yelp from the weight being applied unknowingly by the vet, the vet muttered an apology, something along the lines of 'sorry lil' guy' before continuing on with his checks
Jenna whimpered when she heard Balto yelp, she wanted so badly to be able to make sure he was ok but she knew that she would only be hindrance to the experienced veterinarian checking the health of the young pup that had managed to gain her affection.
"do you have any idea how he ended up like this?" the vet asked looking at the large gashes in Balto's side with a worried expression, "no we just found him like this, heck we didn't even know he existed until Rosie brought him into the house" Thomas said in a vain attempt to lighten the mood as it was obvious that Balto's condition was a lot worse than first thought.
"Thomas I hate to break it to you but this little guy is in very bad shape, the only chance he has is surgery and that isn't cheap it'll cost about $1500." The vet said staring at Thomas with a pleading look. He knew Thomas was a moderately wealthy man and could probably afford it, He really didn't want to put the young canine down especially since knew he could be saved with a simple operation.
Jenna was almost in tears she couldn't bear the thought of only just meeting someone who she loved only to have them cruelly ripped away from her by the hands of death. 'And all thanks to a black and white, sadistic, piss for brains husky!' Jenna yelled inwardly angry beyond belief at the black and white piece of trash that started all of this 'whoa I have to calm down Balto is more important right now' Jenna's inside voice said trying to calm herself.
"Done." Thomas said placing the required $1500 on the counter "thank you Thomas we will do our best" the vet said and then gently picked up Balto and called his wife and assistant Kate to come and help and then disappeared through a set of double doors.
The next 1 and a half hours were literally hell for Jenna all she could do was think about all of the outcomes of the operation and only three really interested her. He could be fine, he could die or he could be in a coma, Jenna didn't want to think about the last two so she just decided to get some rest and hope for the best.
Meanwhile Rosie was playing in the small child area the veterinarian building had whilst her parents were having a small disagreement. "Are you insane?!" Evelyn asked, slightly raising her voice "why did you just spend 1 and a half thousand dollars on a stupid mongrel from off the streets?" she asked, with just as much venom in her voice "because, Evey, it will make our little girl happy, I paid for it because I plan to look after the little guy. We both know we can more than afford that surgery and we both know he is far too young to be out here on his own. I'm not going to condemn him to a life as a stray out in the cold, scrounging for food when I can just as easily give him a shot at a long happy life with a loving family and a nice home. If you don't want to look after him then that's fine, I and Rosie will do it. But I refuse to make a perfectly fine dog a stray." He finished staring into his wife's eyes with sincerity, Evelyn just stared back shocked at how much passion her husband had towards the young pup, who just hours ago he had no feelings for.
About half an hour into her nap Jenna was awakened to the sound of the veterinarian coming through the set of double doors he had entered earlier with a smile on his face 'that's a good sign' Jenna thought as she took her head off of her paws.
"How is he Humphrey?" Thomas asked showing actual concern, which was surprising to Humphrey, considering Thomas had told him that he didn't know this dog in any way. "He's doing fine, Thomas as you can probably see." He said stepping aside to allow Kate to bring out Balto who was on a leash. Balto had stitching in his side and bandages with a splint on his leg and was limping as he couldn't let his leg hit the ground lest he experience the all too familiar pain that usually followed. He looked over to Jenna and said "well hey there." whilst showing his signature grin.
"Balto!" Jenna yelled quickly running up to him and nuzzling into his fur whilst receiving the same treatment from the wolf-dog in question. "Well you don't have to be an expert to see they like each other." Humphrey said, to which he got a few light laughs for a reply
The vet then gave a sidelong glance over to the family and began to speak "so...uh Thomas?" The vet said looking over to Thomas with a serious look on his face "whilst we were checking this little guy over we noticed a few things we'd like to show and discuss with you" he said. Thomas gave the vet a quizzical look and continued to speak "and what would these things be?" The vet then continued to point to several points on Balto's body "as you can see here he has several cuts and scratches on his body as well as bite and claw marks." The vet stopped and looked over to Thomas to make sure he was still following which he was so the vet continued" these were all caused by another dog and as you can tell it probably wasn't Jenna." Humphrey said sending another look over to the two dogs, who were amazingly still nuzzling each other, and then continued " so that would mean he has to have been attacked by another dog in town so, if I were you I would take him walks on the outskirts of town to avoid all of the other dogs until he is older. And also he needs to come back here in a week so we can take out his stitches, did you catch all of that?" Humphrey asked, realising that he had given a lot of information in a very little time.
Thomas nodded.
"Good, well you are free to take him home, but first you'll need this." Humphrey said handing the leash he was holding to Thomas "and he will need a name." Humphrey finished. "Well what would you like to call him sweetie?" Thomas asked his daughter "Balto!" Rosie almost shouted "Balto, I like it. It has a nice ring to it." Thomas commented, ruffling his daughter's hair "Balto it is" Thomas said aloud "well ok then. Have a good day and I will see you all in a week." Humphrey said walking back to his desk, just as he was about to sit down he looked over to the family and said "oh and If I were you guys I would probably carry him home and let him rest up." Thomas then proceeded to pick up Balto and walk over to the door of the small cabin like clinic and open it, turning around to wave his goodbye to Humphrey and said "will do bud, see ya in a week." And with that the family departed the clinic.
After the family left, Humphrey immediately turned to his wife and said "Kate lets go and do some research on that pup." Kate gave her husband a confused look "why?" she asked "well did you see his teeth, claws and his fur? He is a mixed breed, that's a given but, I want to know which two breeds." Humphrey stated as he stood up "Now come on." he said heading into the back of the clinic to do some research.
Jenna was following closely behind Rosie on the main street of Nome on the way back to her house. Rosie had not stopped talking about how much fun and game her, Balto and Jenna were going to have, and meanwhile her parents were having their own conversation
"I still can't believe you spent all that money on some stupid mutt." Evelyn said, still very unhappy with Thomas' choice "listen Evey; I told you before at the vets, I paid for it because we're going to look after him and give him a good life with a loving family. I mean look at him he is a sweet little guy that looks as though he wouldn't hurt a fly, he has proved that he is very friendly to Rosie and Jenna AND he makes Rosie happy, would you like it better if he was dead or dying? Would you like our little girl crying because we refused to pay some stupid money towards a lifesaving operation?" Thomas asked to his wife , who was looking down shamefully at the snowy floor "no." she replied plainly "I thought not, now come on, this little guy needs a good rest so let's get him home quick." Thomas finished
Thomas turned back to Rosie "would you like to carry Balto for daddy?" he asked her, to which the obvious reply was yes. Thomas walked over to his daughter and kneeled down "now remember you have to be very, very careful with him. The vet might have helped him but he is probably still in a lot of pain from his leg, ok?" he questioned making sure his daughter knew to be very careful with the injured pup "ok dad I promise" she said and Thomas placed Balto into his daughters arms. "Aww he's so cute when he's sleeping" she said looking down at Balto "he sure is." Thomas said getting up from his kneeling position and patting his daughter on the back "now come on let's get a move on." He said walking ahead and motioning for his daughter to follow "dad?" Rosie asked "yes sweetie." Thomas said turning back to look at his daughter who was stroking the fur on Balto's head "why is he still asleep?" she asked as she was certain that balto should have woken when she started to pet him "well sweetie the vet gave him something to take away the pain and one of the side-effects is that he is very sleepy" Thomas explained "ahh ok thanks daddy" Rosie thanked her father for his explanation.
Jenna who had been listening to both Thomas' speech and his warning to Rosie about Balto being hurt smiled to herself knowing that her love was I good hands, that smile however was immediately replaced with a frown as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye that was moving toward her which made her sick, and that thing was Steele.
Jenna turned to face the flirtatious malamute that was coming toward her "what do you want Steele?" Jenna spat the question as if it was a poison "Hehe relax Jenna I was just wondering if you wanted to come over here an-." Steele stopped mid-sentence and started to sniff the air "Steele what are yo-." "QUIET Jenna I can smell something." Steele interjected. He then stuck his wet nose into Jenna's neck fur. Jenna reacted instantly by swatting him on the nose "Steele! Get away from me!" But Steele hardly even flinched his eyes were fixated on Rosie; he then uttered a word that made Jenna freeze "wolf." He then slowly started prowling towards Rosie hackles raised and growling "Steele don't you dare." but Steele completely ignored her and continued to move toward the completely oblivious Rosie.
Thomas however wasn't so oblivious as he heard the growling and turned to see the black and white malamute advancing on is daughter threateningly. Instinctively, he took a step forward to protect his little girl pushing her behind himself "Rosie stay behind me." He demanded, he then started to look around to see if he could see Gunnar, the dogs musher, anywhere and to his luck he spotted him talking to the towns carpenter, he then called to him "GUNNAR!" he yelled, and to his relief the musher turned around to face him as well as a few passer buys "get your dog under control before I put him down myself" Gunnar turned his gaze to his lead dog who was about to attack his friends daughter. He kicked himself into gear, he ran over to Steele and right as the dog in question was about to leap at Rosie, Gunnar grabbed his collar and yanked the malamute down to the snowy ground he then brought Steele's face up to his own and yelled at the top of his lungs "BAD DOG STEELE!" as a show of dominance and it worked as Steele let out a whine and his tail tucked itself underneath his body.
After Gunnar made sure the husky was docile he reached into his back pocket and produced a muzzle. He placed the muzzle on Steele and stood up where he attached a leash to Steele's collar and lead him over to the carpenter's shop where he tied him to a wooden beam outside the shop. After Gunnar had done all of this, he made his way over to the family "hey there Thomas I'm sorry about that I don't know what's up with him he was completely fine when I left him." Gunnar apologised, rubbing the back of his neck with his gloved hand "its fine Gunnar as long as he didn't touch my daughter its fine." Thomas said as he stepped to the side to show Rosie who had her back to the group "hey there Rosie." Gunnar said, to which Rosie turned around but she wasn't looking at Gunnar she was preoccupied by the young pup in her arms. She was stroking his head and back as he had started to whimper in his, otherwise peaceful sleep.
Gunnar took a step towards Rosie "what's that you got there Rosie?" Gunnar asked, this time he actually got a reply though "it's our new puppy Mr Kaasen, his name is Balto." Rosie said showing Balto to Gunnar, Gunnar looked surprised "I've seen this little fella around town before he always goes down the alleyway next to my house I left a piece of meat out for him last night but he never came round, which I found really strange because he has been coming round every day for 2 weeks." Gunnar said "I think that might have something to do with the fact that a few hours ago Rosie found him in Jenna's shed with a shredded side and broken leg." Thomas stated bluntly "What!" Gunnar said rather loudly "was it that butcher because I saw him throw his cleaver at this little guy not that long ago. I swear to god if it was him I'm gonna march to his store and give him a piece of my mind." Gunnar said getting just about ready to give someone a black eye "whoa there, Kaasen take it easy we took him to the vet, it was another dog that caused the wounds not a cleaver." Thomas said in a successful attempt to calm the fuming man down "hehe sorry 'bout that, I guess it just got to me, the fact that someone could do this to a dog and a puppy no less."
After a minute or so the musher decided that he should probably leave "well it's been fun savin' ya and even better saying hi but I think I'd best leave." He said, he turned to Rosie who was holding Balto, who for some reason was still whimpering, and took of one of his gloves and moved his hand forward to the sleeping pup "may I?" Gunnar asked Rosie to which she nodded a confirmation. So Gunnar slowly reached up to Balto's head and gave him a scratch behind his right ear. Balto stopped whimpering immediately, and even woke up from his slumber.
Balto slowly raised his head from the position it had nestled itself into in Rosie's arms and turned to look around, he found that he was on Nome's main street about 3 minutes from Jenna's house, his discombobulated brain then registered the feeling of a hand scratching behind his ear, he really enjoyed this feeling so he leaned into it and his tail started to wag "I think he likes you mister Kaasen." Rosie giggled reaching one of her hands up to Balto's other ear and copied the motion of Gunnar's hand on the pup's left ear. Balto at this point had his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, his eyes closed and his leg thumping against Rosie's side.
Jenna who had sat by idly whilst Gunnar had approached and apologised laughed inwardly to herself 'his favourite spot is behind the ears, I should remember that.' She thought, making a mental note for herself.
Thomas, who was watching the scene play out from a few metres away, laughed and called out to his daughter "come on sweetie, let's go before you give the little guy a heart attack." Rosie looked over to her father and replied "ok dad, sorry Mr Kaasen I have to go." Rosie said looking up at Gunnar who at this point had stood up "that's ok Rosie." He said as he turned and started to leave "I'll come over some time to see the little guy again-" Gunnar couldn't finish his sentence as Jenna whined and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes "and you too Jenna." Gunnar said with a laugh crouching down to pet Jenna on the head.
After Gunnar had finished petting both dogs, he left to retrieve Steele and his other dog sled team members to go on a mail run. As the family continued walking Balto watched Gunnar and his dogs as he left, for some odd reason he really wanted to try whatever they were doing. 'I'll have to ask Jenna about that later.' Balto thought to himself, adding another item to his, already large list of thoughts.
The small family rounded the corner of the main street that lead to their house and continued walking until they reached their gate, Thomas lifted the small latch that was keeping the gate closed and pushed it open for the rest of his, now one member larger family to enter.
After everyone, including Jenna had entered the house and sat down. The two adults quickly went about their normal daily tasks of washing and cooking and the like "sweetie is it okay if you put Balto and Jenna in the shed, make sure the bowls are filled with food and water and then come back here to help your mother and I with dinner?" Thomas asked walking into the kitchen "ok dad." Came the ever joyful tone of Rosie's voice. And with that Rosie and the 2 dogs walked, well, walked and were carried into the small shed on the side the side of the house, Rosie placed Balto on the floor next to Jenna and walked over to the food and water bowls finding them almost full, she saw no need to replace them so she made her way toward the door "bye you two, stay out of trouble." Rosie said and then disappeared through the door way.
"So today was eventful." Balto commented to himself more than Jenna, limping his way over to the bowls in one of the corners of the room. Jenna was beside him in an instant letting him lean on her side for support "you can say that again." Jenna remarked with a slight giggle. As they made it to the bowls, Balto sat down next to the bowl filled with water and took a drink. After the water had stilled he stared down into it looking at his reflection, his features taking the image of a frown and tears stinging the edges of his eyes. Jenna being as observant as she was took notice of this instantly and became worried "Balto what's the matter? are you in pain? Should I go get Rosie?" Jenna questioned hastily, whilst checking Balto all over trying to make sure that he was ok. the reply she got was not an expected one.
"Why?"
Jenna gave Balto a confused look "Balto, what do you mean?" she asked, Balto turned to her with tears in his eyes "why Jenna? What did I ever do to deserve this life? Why did my mother and father both abandon me? Why does every human hate me? Why does every dog hate me? Why did Steele attack me and why did I deserve it? Why Jenna? Why does the world hate me?" Balto finished his small breakdown and was breathing heavily. His shoulders were heaving from the uncontrollable sobs that were racking through his small, fragile frame.
Jenna, who had recovered from Balto's small outbreak, slowly went to his side without the stitches and nuzzled into it, after she made sure that he would not break down again she spoke in a soft, caring voice "Balto, please, don't think that. You didn't deserve any of those things, we don't know where your mother and father are, so they might not have abandoned you and remember not every human hates you, I mean think about Gunnar, the vet and my- no, wait, our family, they love you Balto and more importantly I love you, so please, just forget about Steele and all those other things, just think about the future you have with us. The future you have with me, Balto." Jenna finished, staring into Balto's golden orbs with sincerity "thank you Jenna and, I love you too." Balto said, thanking Jenna, kissing her fore-head and nuzzling into her, which of course she gladly returned.
For the next hour this was all the canine lovers did. Showing their affection to one-another without a single care in the world and without any words being spoken, the golden beauty of silence wrapping itself around the two lovers, Rosie entered the small shed a few hours later to find two, still nuzzling canines "aww, Jenna and Balto sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G." she sang whilst looking at the two still nuzzling canines, after she noticed that the dogs hadn't stopped she stopped singing and told the canines what she came into the shed to tell them in the first place "well, uh, my mum said its time for bed so goodnight." Rosie told the dogs, to which she got the usual bark as a reply. Many people said it was silly to speak to dogs like a person but, Rosie didn't believe that, she thought that all animals could understand humans so she always talked to them.
Right as Rosie was about to exit the room she turned back to the still embracing canine couple and spoke one last time "seriously guys? Still cuddling? Anyway, you guys are more than welcome to sleep in my room, even on my bed if you feel like but make sure that you don't hurt yourselves, ok? Night-night." And with that she exited the room. "what do you think Balto do you want to go sleep in Rosie's room?" Jenna asked breaking the silence of the room, thinking Balto may like a more comfortable sleeping place than the old shed they were currently occupying "no Jenna that's ok it's too much hassle for me to go all the way up the stairs just to go to sleep and besides, as long as you are with me I don't care where I sleep." He said giving Jenna his signature grin, oh how she loved that grin. "Well then let's get to bed shall we?" Jenna half questioned walking over to her dog bed and laying down, when she turned she saw Balto was also laying down several feet away from her with his head on his paws 'yep, still really cute' she thought once more "and just what do you think you're doing?" she questioned, making Balto raise his head from his paws "going to sleep?" he answered sheepishly "on your own?" Jenna asked making Balto blush ever so slightly "uhm… yeah?" he questioned "no, that won't do. Come here." Jenna said beckoning Balto over with a paw, to which he complied and moved onto the dog bed with Jenna and lay down putting his head in his paws with his nose only inches from Jenna's, blushing even more than before "ahh, much better, goodnight Balto." Jenna said giving Balto a lick on the nose "goodnight Jenna, I love you." Balto replied, giving Jenna a lick in return "I love you too Balto."
and with that both lovers into the land of dreams, tails intertwined and paws wrapped around one-another.
Midway through the night Jenna was awoken to a noise that she really didn't want to hear, the sound of Balto whimpering, she raised her head off of her paws and looked at her love that was still sleeping but looked as though he was having a nightmare. "no. no please, please don't leave me." Balto moaned in his sleep. Seeing that Balto was very distressed over whatever was happening in that nightmare, Jenna attempted to wake him "Balto shhh, it's just a nightmare, just wake up and it will all be ok." She whispered into his ear, and, to her relief he stopped whimpering and woke up, gazing up to her with tears in his eyes "Jenna?" he asked, as though to make sure this was real "yes Balto, it's me, I'm here." Jenna said quietly, nuzzling into him to give him physical proof that he was no longer dreaming. As soon as Jenna touched Balto, he clung to her and cried into her fur, he repeated what he had moaned in his dream "please, please don't leave me." He choked out through his sobs; Jenna was shocked for about the fifth time in the last 24 hours.
She slowly ran her paw through the coarse fur on his back, nuzzling into him and giving as much comfort as possible. After nearly five minutes, Balto had calmed down enough that he was no longer crying anymore, but, letting out a sniffle or a sob every-so-often. Jenna decided that she would ask him what his nightmare was about and perhaps help him to forget about it. "Balto, do you want to talk about you nightmare?" She asked kindly sitting directly in front of him, letting Balto know that she truly cared and wanted to help "ok." He said as he began his explanation "I dreamed that I was back when Steele attacked me but this time you were with him and his gang and after he was done you came up to me and laughed at me and called me things like 'disgrace' and 'mongrel' and you also bit me and scratched me and then after you were done with all that you stomped down on my leg and then went with Steele and his gang, laughing about me and making jokes, I tried to call out to you I said 'no. no please, please don't leave me.' but once I did, Steele came running back over to me and said 'I'm gonna make sure you never speak to my girl again' and then he started to choke me and right when I was about to pass out is when you woke me up." Balto finished, his sobbing started becoming frequent once more and he was staring teary-eyed at Jenna, who was slowly processing his story in her head.
After she had finished thinking his dream over she slowly made her way to his side, without the stitches and gently nuzzled into it "Balto, you know I would never, ever, dream of hurting you I could never bring myself to hurt such a cute, innocent and handsome dog and besides, I love you too much, and remember, I hate Steele's guts, the only place I would ever be 'his girl' is in his dreams. So please, just try and forget about your nightmare and try and get a good-nights rest. I promise, Balto, I love you and will always be right next to you whenever and wherever you need me." She said with much sincerity in her voice "promise?" Balto asked innocently, looking at Jenna with puppy dog eyes "I promise." She replied simply smiling at him "thank you Jenna, I love you." Balto said nuzzling into the red husky's silky-smooth fur "well then let's get back to sleep, bur first…" Jenna looked at Balto slyly and quickly pinned him to the dog bed, being careful not to hurt him, and brought him into a deep, passionate kiss Balto was startled at first but very quickly grew to like the kiss and even started kissing back with equal passion. After nearly five minutes of kissing like this the two canine lovers separated, panting heavily and staring into each other's eyes "wow." Balto whispered as Jenna let him up from his pined position "wow, yourself." Jenna replied slyly before lying down and motioning for Balto to follow, which he did. After he lay down Jenna positioned herself so she had her head nestled underneath Balto's chin.
Balto contemplated his entire day; being found by Rosie, being called names, getting hurt, getting fixed, getting home, being depressed, being cheered up, being scared by a nightmare and finally being comforted and kissed by Jenna, 'In all, not a half bad day' he thought to himself " you know you are a very good motivational speaker and an even better kisser." Balto said, to which he got the reply of "I was only doing what was needed to help my scared and alone love." She replied looking up at him happily.
"Goodnight Jenna, I love you, forever and always." He whispered, giving her a lick on the nose "goodnight Balto, I love you too, for all eternity." she replied giving him a lick as well. and with those final words, the canines once again succumbed to the realm of sleep, for a dreamless night, both with smiles plastered on their faces, pelts connecting and tails wrapping around one-another.
A/N hey there guys. Sorry it's late but the note at the top explains why. Anyway just a few quick notes, Balto and Jenna really love each other as clarified by their final statements and also I would like to thank the continued support from everyone who reads this story I would like to thank everyone who reviewed followed or Favorited my story and would like to give an extra-special shout-out to both Frostfairy and Noblewriter for their continued support of the story through PM's, they always deliver good constructive criticism (which is, as always greatly appreciated) and even help me decide which way I should advance and develop the plot, so, thank you so much everybody. I hope to continue writing for the foreseeable and maybe even branch to some other movies/games in the archives (alpha and omega, guardians of the galaxy and ratchet and clank are some of the areas I plan to write for) so yeah goodbye!
SIDE NOTE ABOUT HIATUS: so, as you guys may have noticed I have put a temporary HIATUS on this story, it's just that my life has been incredibly busy over the last month or so and I just don't have the time for the next chapter. do not worry though as the next chapter will arrive, sadly in one month. I also regret to inform that the chapters are going to be like this every update, with 1-2 month gaps between them, it really is just because of everything going on, if it all clears up then maybe I can speed this story up a bit, but, until then all I can do is apologize and get to work.
Until next time: TH3L0NEW01F