Balto's ear. "But a pretty girl is one of them."

"I... Boris!" Balto whined, embarrassed. His face began to turn red and he could feel his cheeks heating up. "It's not - it's not like that. I... she..." he began to lose focus as the memory of her face came rushing back to him, and he stopped talking and just sat there in front of Boris, staring into space.

"Balto. Balto!" Boris waved his wing in front of Balto's face. "Snap out of it, you crazy mutt!"

"What? Oh... sorry Boris. I was thinking about, er..."

Boris folded his wings and tapped his foot on the deck, looking at Balto with a raised eyebrow.

"All right, all right," Balto said in defeat. "She's beautiful, Boris. I saw her today while I was out looking for food. I was behind a fence and I saw her, and she... she was just walking down the street." Balto felt his heart begin to stir again, and he took a deep breath.

"She has a beautiful red coat, and she's a husky. That's all I know about her. Oh, and she wears a red bandanna around her neck."

"You are sure that's all you remember about her? No other little details, perhaps?" Boris prodded him.

"Her smile," Balto said dreamily. "She had the most wonderful smile, Boris. When she smiled, it felt like she was lighting up the street."

Boris shook his head. "Puppy love," he said with mock disgust. He looked at Balto, who was still just sitting there with a stupid grin on his face. "Oy, this is all I need."

"Boris..." Balto said quietly as his smile faded. "She's more beautiful than the Northern Lights. And I'll never even get a chance to say hello to her."

"What? Why do you say that?" Boris asked, surprised.

"Because... because look at me, Boris. I'm a mutt, I'm a half breed. I live on a boat outside town and I have to beg for food every day. None of the dogs like me, you know that." He looked at Boris sadly and lay down on the deck with his head between his paws.

Boris lowered his head and sighed. "That is not your fault, Balto. You are better dog than any of those stuck up dogs in town, those mangy, fleabag–"

"She is one of the dogs in town, Boris," Balto interrupted.

"I, er... well you are too good for her," Boris responded, slightly deflated. "I know what will make you feel better. You just need some food, yes? Let me find something for you, and you will feel better in no time."

Balto got up dejectedly and padded over to his blanket. He lifted the blanket up with his nose and slid under it, curling up with his tail around him. "I'm not hungry," he said as he closed his eyes.

Boris stood on the deck and shook his head. "Poor Balto," he thought. "Is not fair to him. He deserves better life than what I have been able to give him."

He sighed and went to join Balto in the wheel house, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.

###

"Did you really think that, Balto?" Jenna asked, gently smiling at him.

"Yeah, I did," Balto said. "I know it's been a long time, but remember before the serum run how the dogs made fun of me all the time?"

Jenna nodded. "I never did though. I was always embarrassed by how they treated you."

Balto softly nuzzled her face. "I know. Just another one of the thousand reasons I loved you then just as much as I love you now." He looked at her dulled red fur, the white that had turned to grey, and her body that had become more frail and thinner than it once had been. She was smiling at him, and her eyes still held that brilliant spark, and her smile was no less radiant than he remembered.

"Back then, I didn't know any differently," Balto continued. "I thought every human and dog in that town hated me. I didn't have any friends besides Boris. I just assumed you were like all the rest, even though we had never spoken. I didn't even know if you had ever seen me before. I know I had never seen you before, because I would have remembered. I fell in love with you that first time I saw you."

"I'm glad you did," Jenna lay her head down on Balto's neck.. "It made it that much easier for me to fall in love with you when I saw what a kind hearted and brave dog you were."

Balto closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of his mate's body against his own, her scent filled his nostrils and he was thankful once again that the girl of his dreams was his mate and lifetime companion. "I was so young and I had never been in love before. I didn't know what to do with myself."

"Well now I'm curious," Jenna said as she snuggled closer to Balto. "Did you ever see me again before that first time you spoke to me?"

"Oh yes," Balto smiled. "I would go into town just to try to find you, but I was always too nervous to approach you. You were with Sylvie and Dixie most of the time too, that didn't help. Oh, and that first time we spoke, what a disaster. I thought I had ruined my chances with you forever," Balto laughed. "But I just couldn't help myself. I had to say something..."

###

Balto woke as the sun broke over the mountains and draped its rays across his boat. He looked up through half opened eyes and groaned. He hadn't gotten much sleep that night because he had alternated between fitful dreams about the red husky he had been so smitten with, and waking up right after them. He felt like a bear was sitting on his head, and he crawled out from under his blanket to get a drink of water.

He drank until he wasn't thirsty any more, then he lay down on the cool deck outside the wheel house and closed his eyes. Just like every time he tried to sleep, there was that red husky, walking down the street in front of him. He could not get her out of his mind, no matter how he tried. He eventually drifted off, but it was an unrestful sleep, filled with imagery of the red husky.

She walked past him down the street again, but then turned towards him and smiled. She walked back in his direction, somehow seeing him behind the fence. Balto froze as she continued to walk towards him, smiling and calling his name.

Balto... Balto...

"Balto! Wake up, you lazy mutt!"

"Wha– Boris? Agh!" Balto began to speak but choked instead as Boris poured a bucket of water over him.

"Boris," Balto coughed, "I heard you, you didn't have to do that." He coughed again and stood up, then shook the excess water off his coat.

"Maybe not, but sun has been up for hours and you did not eat last night. Are you trying to starve?" Boris yelled at him, waving his wings around.

Balto smiled. "I'll be fine, but I'm glad you care about me so much. What would I do without you?"

"Hmph!" Boris grunted and began to waddle away, mumbling to himself. "Crazy dog will give me heart attack some day, and for what? I raise him, I feed him, and this is what I get. Why do I bother? Sometimes I think..."

Balto shook his head as Boris' plaintive mumbling faded into the distance. "Boris, wait." He jumped off the side of the boat and followed Boris down the beach.

"I'm sorry, I know you're just worried about me. I was just tired because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I kept dreaming about... her."

Boris stopped waddling and turned to face Balto. He held out a wing to Balto's face and looked at him with concern. "It's that bad, is it?"

Balto hung his head and nodded.

"And you saw her for first time only yesterday? That is something." He turned around and started to walk down the beach again.

"Balto, I am not dog. I cannot tell you how you should feel. But I do know that if you do not eat, you will die. So go back to town and find food. Eat before I have to force food down your throat, you understand?"

Balto grinned. "Yes, Boris."

Boris gave Balto a sideways glance. "And maybe while you are there, you might see your red husky again, no?"

Balto felt his heart quicken at the mention of the red husky and he nodded, becoming embarrassed again. "Yeah, um, maybe. I should go try to find food now." He turned away and began to run towards Nome.

Boris watched him leave, and shook his head. "Love can be wonderful, but it can also be so cruel," he thought. "I just hope he gets over it before he starves to death."

Balto ran into town and decided that he should try to act like nothing had happened yesterday, and just go through his normal routine. He began walking the streets, begging for food and looking through trash cans. His mind was only halfway on what he was doing though, and he couldn't stop thinking of that red husky.

He hadn't exactly been truthful with Boris last night. He was hungry, but it wasn't for food. It was for her. He didn't care if he wasted away to nothing, if only he could get another look at her. He mindlessly pawed through the trash behind the butcher shop, missing a couple pieces of meat that were buried in the middle. He wasn't even looking at what he was doing, and he didn't really care.

He stopped going through the trash and wandered aimlessly back to the alleyway with the broken down wooden fence in the back, trying to convince himself that he was still looking for food and not going back there to look for the red husky again. He walked up to the fence and looked through, hoping