cliff wall for hours, and Balto drifted in and out of sleep. The sun hung low in the sky when Jenna got up and walked over to the edge of the plateau to look over the forest and the ocean to the west. Balto sat up to watch her as she sat down near the edge and gazed out at the vista before her, the breeze blowing gently through her fur and ruffling her bandanna.

He watched her for a few minutes, then got up and went to sit next to her. He sat down and she lay her head down on his shoulder. They sat together watching the trees sway gently in the breeze, and Jenna lifted her head to kiss him. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I couldn't do this without you."

Balto nuzzled her lovingly. "I couldn't do this without you either." They sat together for a while longer as the sun began to set, and the sky turned different shades of orange and red.

"Um, Balto?" Jenna asked with a small smile on her face. "I think I'm ready to eat something now. Actually I'm starving."

Balto smiled with relief, and he kissed her. He got up and went to fetch one of the packets of meat the butcher had given him. He brought it over to Jenna, set it down in front of her and unwrapped it.

She looked over at him. "Aren't you going to eat something?"

"I will. I just wanted to make sure you got enough to eat first," he said. "Go ahead, I'm just happy that you're eating something."

He watched as Jenna ate the meat in front of her, then he went back and got another piece of meat for himself. He lay down next to Jenna, unwrapped it and ate it. Jenna lay down and the two of them watched the sun sink behind the ocean together.

"Jenna, I had a thought," Balto said as he nuzzled the back of her neck. "I know you're probably not looking forward to living on my boat, but what if we lived in your shed at Rosy's house? That way at least you would be in a familiar place, and we could finally live together there."

Jenna's eyes grew wide as she realized that was the perfect solution. "Balto, I love that idea!" she said and leaned forward to kiss him deeply. "And I love you."

Balto smiled at her. "I love you too, Jenna. We can leave whenever you're ready."

Jenna nodded. "I want to go home with you. Can we go now?"

"Let me just grab the rest of the meat and we'll leave." Balto placed the remaining packages of meat into one of the blankets, and wrapped them up together. He picked up the bundle with his teeth and nodded to Jenna. The two of them left the clearing and made their way down the mountain as darkness descended over them. The moon rose over the mountains to the east, and illuminated the forest with its thin, silvery light as they headed back to Jenna's shed.

When they arrived, Jenna was so happy to be back home. Even though her owners were gone, she could still live in her shed and Balto could live with her, at last. She finally thought she would be able to live without Rosy, as long as she had Balto with her.

They entered the shed, and Jenna closed the door behind them. She watched as Balto set his blanket down and turned to look at her. She was so happy to see him like this, knowing that this was his home now, and that he would always be there with her. No more leaving to go back to his boat, and no more nights alone.

She grinned and walked over to him. She nudged him with her nose, pushing him towards her bed. Then she pushed him hard enough to make him fall over onto his back, and she moved to stand over him. She looked down at him adoringly and lowered her muzzle to kiss him, and he returned her kiss.

She lay down and snuggled close to him as he gently used his paws to pull her close. "This is how it should have been since I first fell in love with you," she said. "I always wanted you to live here with me... and now you do."

"I hated leaving you all those nights," Balto replied. "After being with you every day, it was lonely out at the boat. I wanted to live here with you too, but... Rosy's father didn't want me to."

"And now he's gone, along with Rosy," Jenna said quietly, and nuzzled Balto's face, breathing deeply to smell his scent. "But as long as I have you, I'll be okay. I just hope Rosy will be okay too."

"I'm sure Rosy understands why you had to run away," Balto assured her. "She knows you're safe with me. She'll be fine."

"She probably knows I'm safe with you, but what about her? She's going to miss us."

"I know," Balto said as he nuzzled her neck. "I wish there was something we could do, but Anchorage is just too far. She'll miss us, but she'll be all right. And hopefully they'll come back after a while."

Jenna nodded. "I hope so."

###

The days began to go by as Balto and Jenna started their new life together. Finding food wasn't too hard as most of the townspeople still regarded Balto as the hero of Nome, and the man who ran the general store usually had something for him, as did the butcher. Without Rosy to play with life was duller, and both Balto and Jenna missed the way she petted and hugged them. But they were able to adapt, and they loved living together so much that they knew there was nothing that could separate them again.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. The house was still empty, probably because there was still a chance that Rosy's father's job would turn out to be temporary and they would move back to Nome, so they didn't sell their house. That gave Jenna and Balto hope that they would see Rosy again some day. Until then, they were happy just to be together like they had always wanted to be.

They would go out and visit Boris at the boat, and he would complain about how lonely he was, and how the bears were no substitute for his real family. "I'm sorry Boris," Balto would say as he looked at Jenna, "but I have my own family to take care of now."

"Oy, they grow up so fast," Boris would say.

Jenna and Balto had missed Rosy a lot for the first few weeks, but now the loss was dulled a bit as they adjusted to their new life. Today they had gone up to their favorite spot up on the mountain to enjoy the view and breathe the mountain air, and they had just returned to their home, the shed behind Rosy's house.

"Thank you for taking me up there again," Jenna said as they entered the shed and she closed the door behind them. "I like it so much up there."

"I do too," he said as he lay down on their bed. "It always makes me feel better when we go there."

Jenna lay down inside his paws, like she did every night. He nuzzled her neck, and she turned to give him a long, passionate kiss. "I love you, Balto," she said.

"I love you too, Jenna," he whispered into her ear as he nuzzled her. He held her close to him, and the two of them fell asleep together.

They were woken the next day by the sound of an airplane flying very close overhead. Airplanes were still fairly uncommon, and it was rare to hear them flying into Nome. Balto and Jenna looked at each other, and they got up to see who was flying in to Nome. They walked together to the edge of town in time to see the plane landing in the snow outside of town.

Jenna watched the plane intently to see who would emerge from it, and soon three people got out of the plane; it was Rosy and her parents.

"Rosy!" Jenna yelled, and she broke into a run towards her. Balto ran after her, and they both reached Rosy at the same time. They barked in excitement and leapt on top of Rosy, knocking her down. Balto and Jenna were licking Rosy, and she was laughing so hard she couldn't get up.

"Come on guys, let me up!" she laughed. Balto and Jenna let her get up, and she hugged them to her. "I missed you guys so much! I'm so happy to see you together."

"Jenna," she said as she looked at Jenna and hugged her. "I missed you, but I know why you didn't come with us. It's okay, I would have stayed with Balto too, if it was me." Jenna licked her face and nuzzled her.

"I missed you too, Balto," she said as she hugged him. "And I have some great news for you! My dad finally said you can live with us. My mom told him that's why Jenna ran away, so he finally gave in. You're part of our family now, Balto!"

Jenna smiled and looked at Balto with tears in her eyes. "Balto..."

Balto was so happy he couldn't stop licking and nuzzling Rosy. "Ha ha! Okay boy, okay! I love you too!" Rosy laughed. She hugged him again and rubbed his head.

Balto turned to Jenna, and she kissed him and nuzzled his face. "Jenna... it's everything I've ever wanted," he said. "All of us living together, finally."

Rosy's father approached them as Rosy and the two dogs were hugging and licking. He crouched down next to Balto and rubbed his head. "Balto, I'm sorry," he said. "Even after you saved my daughter's life, even after you guys had a litter of puppies, I was still uneasy about allowing a half wolf to live with us. My wife and Rosy and even Jenna showed me that I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

He scratched Balto's ears, and Balto nuzzled his hand. "You're a good dog, Balto. I would love it if you came to live with us."

Balto licked his face and nuzzled his hand. "I'll take that as a yes," Rosy's father said with a laugh. "Come on everybody, let's go