As eager as Balto was to become a father and since his six puppies were born, he felt let down. It wasn't because of pups whom he absolutely loved with all his heart. It was the fact that the winter this year was unusually too warm and there was hardly any snow this January, as if the spring had come too soon. Maybe the snow and colder days were coming soon enough?
Other than that, it was on Max and Molly to have their puppies be born. However, the day came and went and the puppies still didn't come. The next morning it was all the same, as if the puppies didn't want to be born yet. So it stretched all the way to afternoon in hopes they'd come at last and their hopes faltered when they still weren't coming.
However, around dinnertime, Molly had fallen into labor. She had both her mate and her sister-in-law to assist her, as well as their master carefully making sure nothing wrong would happen. Past midnight, on January 14th, Molly had delivered a healthy litter of four puppies to the world and all she had to do then was to rest.
Hours later, in the morning, Molly felt relieved after going through exhausting hours of labor and with the help of both Max and even Audrey, they had the names for the puppies. Moreso, they didn't want to leave this unknown to Balto and his side so they invited them all but Jenna, who couldn't leave her puppies alone.
Balto was the only one available to show up and he came that same morning to see how his friends were doing. Audrey was waiting for him on the doors: "Balto, welcome! We're glad you could take some time to meet my nieces and nephews!" Balto let her know: "No worries, Audrey, congratulations on becoming an aunt!"
She took his compliment kindly. On this exact same day a year ago she'd most likely tell him: "Ewww, get away from me, you half-breed!" but on this day she could put an innocent smile on her face and ask him: "Friends?" Even if he knew how she was like back then, he was like: "Eh, whatever, forgive and forget, we're friends now!"
He looked at his other two friends inside, who were accompanied with Seppala, his wife and Sigrid, the latter one asking: "Pappa, how old do they have to be so I can play with them?" Her father let her know, out of his experience: "At least three or four weeks old, Sigrid. They have to look with their eyes first!"
"Balto, welcome! We were wondering if some of you guys would show up!" Max kindly greeted his old friend and he replied: "Max, congratulations for becoming a father! Molly, how are you doing? Also, congratulations now that you're a mother!" They took his kind words in and moreso, Molly spoke: "I'm doing well, Balto… still tired, but I'll hold it…"
"Don't worry, I'm sure you will. Did you give them names yet?" Balto sat down next to Max from where he could see four puppies. Two were slender gray, one was dark brown and one was a mixture of both brown and gray. Max told him: "We just gave them an hour ago. Also, Audrey had the honor to name one and she chose an interesting name."
"Oh really?" Balto looked at the dark brown female husky who sat down next to him and smugly answered: "Yes, really! I named the eldest one in fact!" She looked at the slender gray puppy that was the closest to Molly's chest and she revealed: "Do you see that slender gray male over there? I've given him the name Katmai."
"Katmai, uh? That's a pretty interesting name, where did you get it?" Balto let the pup's name ring in his head for a while and his answer was her shrugging it off with words: "Eh, it just came to me." Then Molly had her honor: "I've named the two of them, the dark brown one and the brown-gray one here…"
"Yes?" Balto was listening carefully to Molly's words: "The dark brown female is named Allina and the brown-gray male is named Kobuk." He was more dark brown than regular brown but he didn't mind that, letting his female friend know: "Not bad, Molly. I wonder where you get the names? Well, I suppose Max named the youngest one?"
"Absolutely!" Max said it loud and proud. In fact, he looked so proud to name the youngest pup, that one being a slender gray female pup near Molly's abdomen, revealing her name: "I've named her Dusty." So it came to Balto to count all their names: "Let's see, Katmai, Allina, Kobuk and Dusty. Nice, Max, you really headed for the simple one."
"That was my best." Max answered, showing no second thoughts of naming the younger daughter Dusty. Balto once again spoke: "All three of you, congratulations on becoming parents and aunt! I will tell Jenna about your puppies now." As he was about to leave, Molly had to ask him: "Balto, how is Jenna doing? If I forgot to tell you… congratulations on being dad!"
"Thanks, Molly! Well, she's doing alright with our six newborns. When I'm not around, it's Aurora who looks after her. In fact, she's just replacing me and I told them I'll be back soon." Balto let her know how Jenna was doing at the moment. Max told him: "Thanks for telling us. Now go and take care for her!" Putting a determined smile on his face, Balto was on his trail to do the exact same thing!
The weeks came and passed and it was just two weeks ever since Balto and Jenna's puppies were born and they had finally opened their eyes! It was a proportional split of eye colors, but in the end, they didn't question it. One half of the puppies were blue eyed, the other half were brown eyed.
Aleu's eyes were truly unique. Not only that her eyes were blue, but like her father, her sclerae were yellow! As for Yukon, he was bearing hazel brown eyes, very close to his mother. Saba's eyes were solid brown and Dingo's eyes were sky blue. As for Kodi, his eyes were also brown, a bit darker than Saba's. Nunivat's eyes were the brightest, bright blue.
Then it had been a month and a day since they were born. Balto had been waiting on a boat for Jenna to come. On this day she was going to have a day off from looking after them since she had given birth to them! Well, more like a morning off. Besides, Balto knew deeply inside himself that she deserved a few hours of rest.
"Balto, your mal'chiks will be here soon, huh? I think it was about time those six deti got to play with you! I'll be on a lookout just to see how you're holding up with them!" Boris walked around the boat, thinking how this was going to be a very lovely morning. Balto reminded him: "Don't forget that they'll get to meet you better, Boris. I've labelled you as an uncle by them, remember?"
"Oi, of course! And as if you haven't labelled your drugs from the sled team as uncles and Jenna's gossip friends as their aunts, but don't forget that your sestra is the only true relative of hers!" Boris found it amusing how Balto's team and Jenna's gossip friends were his pups' "uncles" and "aunts" despite having only one real aunt in town.
"Balto, we've made it!" Jenna's sweet voice echoed from below and Balto's smile widened when he looked over the edge. There he saw his mate and their six puppies running around and chasing each other. "Jenna! I'll be right with you! Let's get moving, Boris!" He nudged the goose to move, who grumpily let him know: "Careful, boychick, ole' Boris can move by himself!"
"I know, I know, but they're eager!" Balto didn't waste his time and soon enough they were below. Balto rushed ahead to announce: "Pups! Guess who?!" The puppies noticed their father coming and they all spoke in unisom: "Papa!" All of them made it as fast as possible to tackle and tickle their father, who just rolled on his back and laughed in joy, knowing how much the puppies meant to him.
"Jenna, you have nothing to worry about now! I'll look after them for the next few hours!" Balto assured her now that he got to breathe. She nuzzled him and spoke to her puppies: "My puppies, all of you, be good and listen to your father because he'll look after you! Balto, thank you for doing this for me." He returned her nuzzle.
"Yes, mama!" All the puppies spoke in unisom once again and so Jenna could leave them be. At last Jenna had her time to relax, after spending two months being pregnant and one month making sure the puppies remained safe. Boris' voice caught Balto's attention: "My, my, little ones, I am Boris Goosinov, or uncle Boris to you!"
"Uncle Boris? We've got another uncle, cool!" The maroon red male pup Kodiak spoke, who was too young to notice the goose wasn't even related to him. "Uncle Boris, play with us, pleaaaaaaaaaaase?" The plum red male pup Dingo begged with his puppy eyes, joined by his siblings in hopes he'd accept.
"Now, now, pups! Boris will play of course, but he's here to look after you too!" Balto reminded them why he brought Boris over here. A scarlett red female pup, Saba was her name, asked: "But will you play with us then, papa?" He warmly answered his middle daughter: "What do you think your mom brought you here for, Saba?"
"I have an idea, let's race to the beach!" The dark red male by the name Yukon suggested, pointing towards the open beach in the distance. If only the snow was here, but the warm winter remained strong. "Yes, good idea! On three!" Nunivat, the bright red female puppy and the youngest one, was ready to roll!
"One… two… three! Hey!" Balto counted and just as they were about to race, Balto noticed his eldest daughter Aleu, a sandy gray puppy, jumping on his back and playing with his ear. She replied to him with a sweet and innocent tone: "Gotcha, papa!" This made him laugh joyfully and so Balto started racing with his puppies on the beach, with Boris watching from behind proudly.
Balto could not describe what joy this was to him. He had a love of his life and a family with her of six puppies, with whom he was running on the beach, Aleu being on his back. Her unique looks made him realize that she was the one he couldn't stop thinking of as his most beloved pup. Soon enough, she jumped off his back to catch up with her siblings.
Watching her run was precious enough. With all six of them were running together, Balto knew he and Jenna had the best family they could wish for. Then, one of the puppies, Kodiak, was seen slowing down and eventually stopping. From his behind, Balto noticed his youngest son lowering his head and his ears in grief.
Walking up to him, Balto asked his son: "Kodi, what's wrong?" That was the name Kodiak was usually addressed by and with that innocent look on his face, he spoke to his father: "Daddy, I can't hold up with my brothers and sisters, they're too fast!" Indeed, the other five were already ahead and Balto couldn't believe with his own eyes.
Was his son a runt in the litter? Why'd he casually slow down in the middle of the run and let the others move ahead without him? Didn't he get enough of Jenna's milk as a newborn puppy? So many questions rambled in Balto's head, but one solution to this. He let his son know: "Kodi, don't worry, I'll help you up here."
"Really?" Kodi asked loudly, seeking hope from his father from whom he knew as a sled dog and town hero. "Yes, really! Now come with me." Balto didn't give up on his son easily so he beckoned him to do what he had to show him. Balto positioned himself as if he was ready to run and following his father's tactics, Kodi did the exact same thing.
Clearly Balto didn't miss this and after seeing how he did the exact same thing, Balto laughed warmly and rubbed his paw against Kodi's head. There he told him: "On my mark… get set… go…!" Balto prepared to run for him and urged Kodi to just follow him no matter what. This was a good training for Balto and honestly, he missed it after the snow had melted, it delayed any further mail deliveries.
Looking back at his son, he saw Kodi running well at first, but then again he started slowing down and eventually he stopped, showing the lack of strength. "Oh, Kodi, you're giving up too easily." He didn't say this as if he were disappointed, but he didn't want to see his son give up without a fight against his troubles so he headed back to him.
"Daddy, I'm sorry, but it's too hard!" Kodi spoke, without wanting to look at him due to being ashamed of himself. Balto didn't look upset or he wanted to scold him, but he let him know: "Kodi, remember, if you keep giving up, you'll never be able to fight back against your problems! Come on, I'll make sure you will catch up with your siblings now."
He grabbed him by his neck scruff and ran as fast as he could to catch up with his puppies, following their tracks. Little Kodi had to ask dad: "Daddy, am I ever going to run as fast as you do?" Saying no was off the table and upon seeing his other sons and daughters, he spoke in a muffled tone: "I'll make sure that one day you outrun me, son!"
The idea of a puppy being so fast that even Balto, the fastest canine in Nome, could not catch up with him made the young maroon red puppy's eyes shine in hope! He started excitedly running in the air and once he caught up with his other pups, who were heading towards the forest, he let his son run with them.
He followed them across the rocks, trees and water just to be sure they were safe. Kodi was behind, but not too far behind. At first things seemed well, but then, as Kodi wasn't paying attention, he slipped towards the edge! He tried to hold on, but his claws weren't long, solid and sharp enough to do so… but Balto got in time: "Gotcha!"
The pup was safe and if Balto learned anything that day, he had to make sure that his pups weren't going to be near any hazards and the idea of Kodi slipping away from his paws down the river actually terrified him. He overlooked that. He wanted to have his other pups play with each other and run so he could spend time with Kodi and go to the extent of helping him up as best as he could!
Around afternoon, Balto and the puppies returned from their fun trip. In fact, the puppies were all tired from running and playing that they got to take a nap in a living room in their bed. Jenna asked her mate: "So, how was with the puppies today? Were they listening to you?"
"Oh, Jen, they were very good! Though, there's something about Kodi that concerns me." Balto already dived in a troubled territory because he couldn't really think of his maroon red soon falling back behind his siblings. Jenna asked him: "What do you mean?" Either she was unaware or she wanted to hear from him first.
"When we were running down the beach and in the forest, he kept slowing down and stopping and couldn't catch up with his siblings." Balto revealed what was the problem here. Jenna's face was showing that she was aware of this: "Balto, the thing is, I also noticed that Kodi used to get less milk from me than other siblings. I never knew why…"
"Do you think he could be a runt in our litter?" Balto knew that asking this question was like playing with fire. At first he was expecting to hear from Jenna: "Don't talk like that about our son!" However, she didn't lose her temper. In fact, she answered: "Maybe because we have so many pups, Kodi was unfortunate to fall back…"
"Jenna, look, we're together in this! Both of us will give our best to overcome this problem he has and one day he'll be able to keep up with his brothers and sisters!" Balto showed no signs of giving up on his youngest son. Jenna gave him a warm look. She had her own ways how to deal with her youngest son's issue.
Then she switched to something more positive: "Balto, do you know what tomorrow is?" He looked at the clock at the corner of the room to see if it had something with the time. Then, it occurred to him: "One month since Max and Molly's puppies were born?" What he said wasn't what she had in mind, but she was aware of it.
"Have you heard of Valentine's Day?" She suggested him. He had given a good thought of it, but nothing came to his mind, not a single association to that day so he gave up: "No, what's that?" They were dating for around a year by now, but it was possible that Jenna was also unaware of it or simply forgot to bring it up.
"That's a very lovely day of the year! The couples, be it us, any other animals or humans, go outside and celebrate their love. I was thinking that we could do it somehow, but the thing is, we can't leave the pups alone." Jenna was suggesting that their Valentine's Day could be at home so they could observe their puppies closely.
"Sounds like a date to me!" Balto was suggesting they should go out for a night. However, he had an ace up his sleeve: "Don't worry, Rosy and her parents can look after her!" That seemed like a good idea, but Jenna disagreed: "I meant, we need some dog who will look after the pups! Sure, I do trust Rosy, but what if she has to be in bed by then?"
"Say, that's a good question. It isn't that we don't have a choice. I can see if my teammates would be interested?" Balto had in mind the certain chinook, chow-chow and small husky to fill in their place, but Jenna didn't like it: "No, they don't seem like a good choice. Maybe my friends could do so?" She was referring to a certain Pomerian and Afghan hound duo.
"Yeah, but how can we be sure they'll be too strict on them or not? I know, Boris could do it for us!" Balto narrowed his choice. Jenna also seemed like he could be a good choice, but then she remembered: "I don't know what my masters will say about a goose in their house." Then, the candle was lit above Balto's head: "How could I forget - Aurora!"
"Really?" Jenna asked, being herself surprised she didn't mention her sister-in-law and in fact, she actually liked the idea: "Of course, she's their only true relative! She could look after the puppies tomorrow for us!" Balto had to make that deal with his sister. He didn't know if she ever had any experience with the puppies when she lived with wolves?
Valentine's Day, as Jenna had spoken of, came the next day and the romance was not faltering between the two. In fact, both Max and Molly were having their date and thus Molly could have a few hours away from her pups to refresh her mind. Much to their delight, Audrey was their first choice to look after their puppies and she gladly took the responsibility.
As for Balto and Jenna… it was dusk outside and Jenna was with her puppies in the living room all while they were chasing one another, running and jumping from furniture to furniture. Thankfully, their play wasn't too reckless for her to scold them for misbehaving. As long as they weren't wrecking anything or causing serious trouble, everything was fine.
The doors were seen opening and Balto came to the house, announcing: "Hey, puppies! Gather around because your mother and I have a surprise for you!" The puppies all gathered in front of their father and mother, sitting and wagging with their tails all while each one of them were asking excitedly: "What's the surprise!?"
"Your father and I are going out together, but don't you worry, we've got someone who will look after you while we're outside!" Jenna had spoken about it, noticing the looks on her six puppies' faces showing disbelief, but they didn't interrupt her so she could carry on. Then, little Dingo asked: "Did you ask uncle Star to look after us!? He's funny!"
"No." Balto replied to his son, but soon enough Saba spoke: "Oh, is it uncle Kaltag then?" Jenna shook her head, leaving the puppies each to guess, Nunivat being next: "It has to be uncle Nikki then!" The torch passed onto Yukon to say: "It is aunt Sylvie who's going to look after us, right?!" And so Kodi had his to say: "No, it's gotta be aunt Dixie!"
"It's uncle Boris who is going to look after us!" Aleu gave her answer the last, receiving the looks from her siblings. They actually weren't looking strangely at her, rather that they got used to their "uncle" Boris ever since meeting him the day before. Finally Balto was allowed to say: "You mentioned your uncles and aunts, but have you forgotten your real aunt?"
It was time for another canine to step inside and it was none other else than Aurora, which made all six puppies squeal: "Aunt Aurora!" They started jumping around her and trying to get on top of her all while she was delightfully telling them: "Hey, hey, puppies! Guess what? I'll be looking after you tonight while your mommy and daddy go out!"
This made puppies all excited now that they were having their aunt look after them. Before Balto and Jenna left, he spoke to his sister: "You'll do good, I know that." Aurora took in the compliment well, despite the fact that this was the first time she was puppysitting. She answered: "Thank you. You two have fun out there!"
"We will! Take care!" Jenna wished her all the best and so both of them left the house, leaving the female wolf-dog look after six bundles of joy. She spoke to herself: "Alright, Aurora, you can do this! It is your first time, but don't let your brother down!" Despite having no experience, she made sure nothing would stand in her way.
"Puppies, I'll look after you here. Make sure you don't take your play too wild and don't tip over something!" Auroura told them what not to do and it was the only thing she had in mind to tell them, to which they all spoke in unisom: "Okay, aunt Aurora!" Looking at all six of them, she only recognized Aleu and Yukon well thanks to their different looks.
"Right, Aleu is sandy gray, Yukon has a face almost entirely red… which one is Saba? The one that's like Jenna, but with blue eyes? No, no, wait, that's Nunivat! Kodi and Dingo… Kodi and Dingo… right! Dingo is the only male with blue eyes and Kodi is the other male with brown eyes!" Aurora had a hard time properly recalling the names and the looks of the litter.
She should have done less thinking and more action when she saw Dingo and Saba jumping around the sofa and coffee table, telling them: "Hey, you two! Get down there before someone falls from a bigger height!" The puppies just laughed and continued jumping around the furniture, making Aurora helpless to catch them.
"I said get down! Watch out!" Aurora warned them again, but Dingo lost the focus and collided with a vase of daisies. She immediately grabbed the vase, but was unable to prevent the water from pouring down on the floor! She growled in frustration when she was a bit too late to stop that. Besides, two growls caught her attention.
She saw Kodi and Nunivat playing a tug of war with a pillow that had a valuable looking pillow cloth and she rushed to them, saying: "Hey, stop that! You're going to rip it in two!" Nunivat and Kodi let it go, the former saying: "But aunt Aurora, you told us we could have fun and we are having a lot of fun with that tug of war! Right, Kodi?"
"Oh yes!" Kodi mischievously yipped and was ready to get back on that pillow, but Aurora placed her paw on the pillow just to make sure these two didn't do any further damage. However, a howl broke inside the house. All the puppies but Aleu hid wherever they could, but Yukon held his ears with his paws as Aleu was howling excitedly.
"Aunt Aurora, please make Aleu stop with howling!" Yukon begged his aunt to end this, clearly not enjoying that sound. Aurora walked up to her sandy gray niece and asked her: "Aleu, could you not howl? Your brothers and sisters don't enjoy it and your humans could be awake!" Aleu just sat down innocently and gave her aunt an innocent look.
"But aunt Aurora, whenever I'm excited, I just want to howl!" Aleu didn't hide why she was doing this. Aside from her different looks, her love for howling also showed that she possessed the inner wolf in the entire litter the most. Aurora was about to say something, but then Dingo just used the water spilled from the vase to slide all over the floor!
"Dingo! There's water all over the place!" Aurora rushed to grab her nephew to knock it off already. The place was already looking like a mess with the puppies jumping around the furniture and grabbing whatever they could. Dingo innocently replied: "Sorry, aunt Aurora, but that was very, VERY fun!" Not to her at least.
She put him down on the floor and as she was about to say something, she heard a male voice from outside: "Balto? Jenna? Are you two home?!" She recognized whose voice that was and under her tone she spoke: "Kane?" Before she headed to the doors, she looked at Dingo and let him know: "When I'm back, we'll talk about your mischief, my nephew."
"Alright, fine to me!" Dingo didn't take it any seriously, ready to cause some more mischief! As for Aurora, she just made it to the doors and at that moment, Kane emerged from the dog doors, asking again: "Jenna? Balto? Anybody home? Oh, hey Aurora!" He was wondering why no one was responding to him, but then he was pleasantly surprised to see her!
"Kane! Hey, Kane! What brings you here?" Aurora spoke in a tone that she was hoping would hide her lack of experience with puppysitting, even going as far as to think: "I'm gonna get torched down by Balto for this mess!" Kane looked around the room, noticing the puppies jumping, playing and running, but not the male wolf-dog and female husky.
"Well, I came to talk to your brother and Jenna, but they're not home, right?" Kane revealed the reason why he was here in the first place. She lowered her ears to let him: "No, I'm sorry, they're not. Today is some Valentine's Day as Balto told me and both him and Jenna are on their date. I'm looking after their puppies while they're outside."
"Valentine's Day, huh?" Kane asked, randomly repeating those two words, while in fact, he had other intentions here related to Aurora. He kept his mind clear: "Say, you're looking after your nephews and nieces? How's that going?" She pointed with her muzzle at the mess the puppies were causing and it grew bigger, much to her horror.
"When Balto finds out how bad I am in puppysitting, he'll never let me puppysit his puppies again!" She was in despair upon realizing how mad he was going to be later when he and Jenna were about to return home. Kane moved closer to the center of the room and he let her know: "He can't do that to you! You're their aunt!"
"But what do you propose then? How I'll convince him not to forbid me from puppysitting them again!?" Aurora didn't really see the exit of this problem until Kane lit her way to it: "How's this for a compromise - I help you in puppysitting your nephews and nieces!" She was taken off guard with his suggestion, having a brain freeze over such a brilliant idea.
"You… you'd help me?" Aurora gathered some words, not sure how she was feeling about this. Kane further assured: "Look, I honestly have nothing smart to do tonight so I guess if you're alright with this, I can beat the boredom." Since she didn't have anything bad to say about him ever since she met him, she answered: "That'd be so nice of you, Kane."
He smiled. To Aurora this smile was something of "thank you" from him, but to him this was the opportunity. Kane looked at the puppies and greeted them: "Hey, hey, puppies!" The puppies paused the play and mischief to notice a red heterochromic husky in the living room. Nunivat asked: "Who are you? Are you our new uncle?"
"Nunivat, this is a family friend of mine, Kane! He's come to help me look after you!" Aurora wanted to make sure the puppies wouldn't be impolite in front of their new puppysitter. However, what she didn't notice was how Kane's face turned red and how he tried hard to hide it from her, even saying: "Well, I have come to help up here actually… yes, that's why I'm here!"
"Kane, what's the matter? They always call Balto and Jenna's friends starting with uncle or aunt!" Aurora clearly didn't notice his reaction, thinking that her youngest niece calling him an uncle was out of courtesy, but Kane almost had his beans spilled. He calmed down a little bit, but not entirely because the only other adult dog in this room was Aurora and as if he couldn't wish for anyone else to be there.
"Sorry about that, Aurora. I was carried a little bit and… what are you two doing with that pillow?" Kane noticed that instead of Nunivat, Dingo and Kodi were playing a tug of war using the pillow and Aurora impatiently told them: "Put that pillow down, you two! Haven't I told you what's going to happen with that cloth, Kodi?"
"Aurora, take it easy, let me handle this!" Kane took a rather calm approach to handle this situation. He spoke to both puppies: "Kodi and Dingo, right? Why are you using that pillow?" Dingo wagged with his tail to tell his new 'uncle': "Because that's how we can play tug-of-war with one another in this house, uncle Kane!" Once again, this took him off the guard.
"But the pillow? I mean, come on! If you tear it apart, the feathers will go all over the place and this will be a very big mess you will cause! Do you think your mom and dad will be happy to see that?" Kane asked without having to raise his tone, just giving him a specific look. The two brothers remained silent until…
"Okay, we'll find something else to play with then. Come on, Kodi!" Dingo let the pillow go and so he and his younger brother could find something else to entertain themselves with. Aurora wondered how he did that and also said it: "Kane, that was incredible! I've never thought that you'd… Saba, you're going to fall from there!"
"Huh?" Little Saba found herself on a windowsill and when she was startled by the sound of her aunt, she lost her grip and was falling down the floor! "I got this!" Kane hopped in to save her from hurting herself and made a mad leap forward, almost hitting his head against the wall! At least the puppy had a soft landing on his back.
"Saba, you could have almost hurt yourself!" Aurora spoke with a tone full of concern when she walked up to her and Kane. Saba apologized: "I'm sorry, aunt Aurora! I was just amazed by the night sky outside and then I was startled!" At least Kane let the scarlett red puppy know: "Good thing I was fast enough to catch you, little Saba!"
The puppy giggled and then joined the fun with her siblings. Once again, Aurora was about to praise the way he was handing the puppysitting, but then Aleu was heard howling at the end of the room, which made all the puppies cover their ears. Yukon was seen holding his ears the tightest. He could clearly stand her howling the least.
"Aleu, you should tone down your excitement a bit! It seems like your brothers and sisters aren't fond of it." Aurora reminded her again about her tendency and she apologized: "I'm sorry, aunt Aurora. It's just how uncle Kane came, things got way more fun than before!" Both adult dogs could not disagree with what she was saying.
"Don't worry, young one, there's plenty of excitement to come these days. Instead of doing something that your siblings don't like, why don't you do something you all love doing together?" Kane tried at least to take Aleu's mind away from her howling and she just innocently shrugged with the words: "Well, can we play tag in the room? We promise, we won't jump on the furniture or cause a mess!"
"That you can!" Kane laughed in delight and even Aurora didn't want to take away that joy from them so Aleu got on all her fours and she pounced Yukon with words: "Tag, you're it, Yukon!" This made every other puppy scatter around and Yukon was ready to get anyone he could right now! Aurora and Kane delightfully observed their play.
Also, Aurora was itching to ask him a question. She made sure to her brother that she'd do her best in looking after his puppies but if it wasn't for Kane… She didn't hold it anymore: "Kane, let me ask you something… how are you doing this?" Kane, sitting next to her, asked: "What do you mean? How am I doing what?"
"Up until you came to help me, my puppysitting was a complete mess! Then you came and there's something in you that makes my nephews and nieces play nice and fair!" Aurora explained to him, forgetting what was the word here. Truth to be said, he knew the word was 'charisma', but that's not the answer he gave to her.
"I… I don't know? I always thought the best way to puppysit someone is to be warm and kind and you know what's funny? This is my first time I'm puppysitting the puppies!" Kane admitted. It was quite amusing to him how he was also doing something for the first time and unlike Aurora, he was handling it pretty well!
"Come on, you've gotta have siblings you've been looking after! I only found out that Balto was my brother almost a year ago." Aurora wasn't buying it yet. Kane, however, remained persistent to his words: "I'm telling you, this is my first time! Well, as for the siblings, I do have a brother and sister, but they're both older than me and I had no one to puppysit."
"Oh." Aurora responded when she found out from him that he wasn't the only pup in the litter. He carried on: "They live in a bigger town in Alaska and I haven't seen them in over a year or so. I really miss them both, my sister the most... don't get me wrong, I do get along with my brother, but with my sister I'm getting along better."
She didn't know what to say. They were puppysitting six puppies of her brother and Kane had no family in this town. Aurora leaned closer to gain his attention as he bowed his head down and dropped his ears. She spoke encouragingly to him: "Kane, don't be upset. Maybe one day you'll get to see your brother and sister someday soon?"
He was about to say something, but at that moment, the puppies stopped playing the game to tag just to watch their puppysitters. Instead of saying something like: "Poor uncle Kane!" or even "Why is uncle Kane sad?" Dingo started it with his mischievous tone: "Oh look, aunt Aurora and uncle Kane like each other like mommy and daddy!"
"Dingo!" Aurora said his name loudly, clearly embarrassed with her nephew saying something like that. That didn't end here when Yukon said: "They do not!" And on the other side of the "turf", Nunivat told him: "Oh yes they do!" All six of them split in two turfs, Yukon, Aleu and Kodi saying: "They do not!" whereas Dingo, Nunivat and Saba were saying: "Yes they do!"
"Oh the puppies." Kane rolled his eyes in amusement when they were bickering who was right. Truth to be said, he was trying to hide his true intentions in front of her, but the look she was giving to him was obviously indicating that his view and feelings about her were possibly true… they were gazing each other silently…
Later, as the night had fallen, the puppies were ready to go to sleep. Aurora and Kane were picking them up from all around the room and placed them in bed where they started to fall asleep, one by one. Soon enough, the litter of six was in their bed, tucked under the blue blanket and snoring silently with one another, under the supervision of their aunt and… a friend of hers that was more than her friend now.
"Look at them, Kane! They're so adorable when they're sleeping!" Aurora whispered silently enough so the puppies wouldn't be awake. Kane couldn't resist this innocently sweet view where five red puppies of different shades and a sandy gray puppy were sleeping together. She was leaning on his chest and he was slowly and tenderly nuzzling her back.
"Your brother is a lucky wolf-dog to be a father of these six! For a big family, they're pretty fun and challenging to look after!" Kane replied to his newly found girlfriend. Who would have said that Kane's simple search for her brother and sister-in-law would eventually lead to the incredible night of them starting a relationship?
The dog doors were heard creaking open. They were rather busy observing the sleeping six puppies in the bed until Jenna's voice broke the silence: "Oh, looks like you haven't been on your own, Aurora!" Balto's voice was even more emphasized when he saw them cuddling with one another: "It seems they had their Valentine's Day too, Jenna!"
"Balto? Jenna? Oh, uhmmmm, hi!" Kane parted from Aurora as swiftly as he could, but since they had been both caught in the act, no excuse could get them out of this ditch. Aurora spoke: "Jenna, Balto, Kane came to help me with the puppies because they were quite challenging to look after!"
"And we just tucked them in bed!" Kane tried to shift the topic as far as possible from what they'd seen. Jenna moved to see how her puppies were doing while Balto came closer to Kane and he told him: "Kane, relax! Jenna and I saw you two cuddling and… Kane, why are you so worried? Everything is fine!"
"Balto, look, I came here because I wanted to tell you and Jenna something and… it's about Aurora I wanted to talk about but I found her looking after your puppies so I helped." Kane revealed the reason why he'd come here in the first place. Balto looked at his sister and asked: "Can you give us a moment for a private talk?"
She nodded and joined Jenna in observing the precious sleeping puppies. Back to Balto and Kane, the latter one told him: "When I came here, I was hoping to see you, but I saw her instead. I wanted to talk to you and Jenna about this and… I guess you might get mad at me but… I can't hide it anymore, Balto. I'm mad about your sister!"
Balto was seen taking it well actually. A surprised look was seen on his face, but it was a positively surprised look, followed by him asking: "Kane, what makes you think I'll get mad at you? I think it's wonderful you and Aurora could be in a relationship!" Kane glared at him quite surprised and after struggling to find the right words for ten seconds, asked: "You think so?"
"Of course I do! I am her brother, of course, but it is her choice who she can see and go out with, not mine. She lived in a wolf pack before she came to this town and if you think I'll make decisions for someone like her, that'd be outrageous!" Balto let him know what he thought of all this. The idea of making all the decisions in his sister's name for life was very impractical.
"So… you're not going to be upset if I… ask your sister out… for a date one time?" Kane wanted to make sure Balto wasn't pulling his leg with his warm words. While it was true that Kane was his newest friend, he knew him as if he were one of his first ones and therefore, he answered: "Of course I'm not going to be! Besides, I do think this is the right age for you and her to have someone and that means both of you have each other!"
"Balto, thank you! I owe you this one!" Kane was relieved by how this talk went as smooth as glass. As for Balto, he knew that stripping Aurora's right to see whoever she desired was not going to work. She wasn't his puppy, but a sister and she was at the right age to make her own decisions. He answered: "Don't mention it."
"Alright, I will go home now. It's pretty late and my masters are wondering where I am right now!" Kane yawned after finally having in his mind how his masters wouldn't be entirely happy to see him outside for far too long. Aurora also walked to the doors and let him know: "I'll come with you!" Before they left, she turned to her brother and Jenna and wished them: "Thank you for letting me look after your puppies and have a good night!"
"Thank you for accepting the responsibility, Aurora! Sleep well, both of you." Jenna replied, yawning because it was pretty late and both were tired. She and Balto had a pretty wonderful date out there on the same spot as usual. Before she and Balto headed to their bed so the puppies could peacefully sleep in theirs, she asked him: "Well, did we learn anything from tonight?"
"Aside from Valentine's Day and it's meaning, the fact that Aurora and Kane are now dating!" Balto answered. He was proud of his sister and Kane for being together. Laying down in their bed and cuddling to one another, Balto had confidence in that red heterochromic husky and that he and Aurora were starting off this relationship on a high note.