slightly happier mood. He let out a sigh and he turned back to the doctor and the living pup that remained in his hand, covered by his lover’s trademark neck gear. Oh, Jenna, watch over me from the next world, he prayed to his beloved purebred’s spirit, wherever she was now. Stay beside our only child and all of us . . . so that I can still remain as your hero  . . . 

Protect our other five children . . . I’m sure they’ve joined you by now. Raise them for me and I await the day when I will join you all again . . .

The Doc kneeled over to the wolf-dog and slowly opened the folded piece of fabric, allowing him to see his only child for the first time. 

And I’ll raise this little one . . . for you . . .

(Prologue finished 3/3/07)

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Author’s Note:

Wow. This has to be one of the most difficult storylines that I think I’ve ever thought up . . . and perhaps one of the hardest and most emotionally-draining plotlines to plan and write.  

Really, I think I’m starting to hate getting new ideas for stories when I have plenty of other fan-fictions in need of completion!

 Anyway, let’s get back to the subject. Have you ever thought about the idea of having the father side of a serious relationship left to care for his children without his beloved mate by his side?

 Let’s make things even worse: what if only one child out of six survived birth?

 And to go even farther, what if this couple happened to be Balto and Jenna?

I bet that I’m probably going to tug on a few heartstrings with just the Prologue itself . . . especially since most Balto fans can’t imagine having our favorite half-wolf hero without his beloved purebred mate by his side. I tried it the other way around with my fic, “Proud of Your Boy”, in which Balto perished after the events of “Wolf Quest”, but I never thought I would ever write one in which the tables were turned. 

The good thing is that the six names of each of the pups remained the same (including the ones that I use for the two officially unnamed ones), but their personalities have changed, due to the lack of their maternal guardian and other difficulties that come up in their new storylines. Balto is the character to watch out for the most – mainly because he’s lost the only thing that kept him sane and now he has to deal with the challenges of raising a child on his own.

Look out for this one – this may be my best fic ever. Enjoy . . . and be sure to keep your Kleenex tissues handy! I mean it – this will make you cry . . . and if it doesn’t, you must not have a soul. XD 

Seriously, you must be crazy if you’re not bawling. Or else, completely heartless.

- Juuchan17

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