unconciousness. The owner stopped, and walked away. By the time Steele got up, he felt blood trickling down his muzzled from the one last blow. Then Balto came over---the Balto he now despised even more. "Want some help?" he asked kindly, seeing the brutal bweating Steele had gotten. Steele stood up in his usual way, tall and predjudiced. "I don't need--or want--help from a mutt." he said sharply, his head held high. "Since when do you need a pedigree to help someone?" Balto retorted, quoteing hismelf from when he wanted to help Steele and the team. Steele just glared at him not knowing what so say, and walked off, still badly injured. When Balto couldn's see him anymore, he laid down in the snow, and sighed a heavy sigh, hoping no one would see him...

*end flashback*

"Steele? someting wrong?" Amber asked, seeing Steele's lost look.

"Sorry, just a few....memories." he said, trailing off. 'I've changed....' he thought to himself, rembering how childish he was, sneering, hurting Balto, when he was such a great dog.

   Steele and Amber had spent the last 4 weeks together, and they were extremly happy. The past few days, however, Amber had kept bringing up the subject of puppies--it was the begging of Spring, you know. One night, Amber confessed her wishes.

  "Steele?" she asked anxiously.

  "Yeah?" he replied, almost knowing what she was going to say.

   "You know these past few weeks I've been really happy with you, and--I want puppies." she said flatly, wanting to get it off of her chest. 

   "Are you suggesting that-"

    "Yes." she said, cutting Steele off. The both looked at eachother and grinned. They knew what exactly the other wanted. That night they walked into the basement of the old building. Almost as soon as they were both in, Amber rolled over on her back, and Steele grinned. Tonight is going to be fun. He thought walking over to her.

    By the time they were finished, Amber was panting a little from excitement. It was the dead of the night then, and they were both tired. Amber snuggled up close to Steele, nuzzling him, and layed her head on his back. They both slipped into a dreamy sleep.

      That morning, Amber was up before Steele, and went out for a short while. By the time Steele woke up, Amber looked like she was going to pee from excitement.

    "I have exciting news!" she squealed.

     "I can tell...." Steele said groggily.

      "I'm expecting puppies!" she exclaimed.

      "I thought so, after last night. I can't believe I'm actually going to be a father!" he yelled, just as happy, if not more, than Amber was. They bothed frisked about, playfully, until Steele stopped.

      "Wait--we should stop. It's not good for the pups." he said, motioning to Amber's belly.

       "You're right." she sighed, and laid down. "I think I'll take a nap..." she added, and dozed off.

   Steele could tell from her lethargicness and growing belly these past few weeks the pups were definitly on their way. When her belly was so huge she could hardly walk, that night, she collapsed in pain. She knew the pups were coming in mere minutes. Luckily, Steele had insisted that she stay in the basement until he came back with the food. By the time the birthing was over, she had 4 pups---sadly, only one survived the birth. Steele came back, holding a few fat sauges in his mouth, but dropped them and rushed over to Amber, seeing the 1 fuzzy ball of semi-fur curled up tight beneath her. The his gaze slowly turned to the other balls of fur, not breathing, life-less.

    "I'm sorry..." he said, nuzzling his mate. "But now, we have one bundle of joy in our lives, let's be happy with that." he aded slowly, nudging the ball of fur. "He has your coatt colours--but my markings. What should we name him?" he said to her.

        "I was thinking---Slick." Amber replied soflt,y gently licking the fuzz ball. Steele agreed to the name, and stood up proudly. He was now a full time father.

    The next few days passed quickly, and the pup opened his eyes, and could now walk and talk in a squeaky, cute, puppy way.

     As the days passed on, Slick grew larger--and frankly, handsomer. By the time he was just 2 years old, he already was the talk of the streets. Girls were all over him, and when he went out he got all the attention. But not once did he let it go to his head. He was quiet, sometimes shy, and never really liked that much attention.  He was always kind to others, and gave help when needed. Everyone loved Slick, and it was a fact---until one day, a new female came to town. She had a red-cream coat and stunning blue eyes. She wore a light purple bandanna and went by the name a Saba. Rumor had it, that she was from Nome and her parents were Balto and Jenna. And when Slick saw her, his jaw dropped, in the classic way his father's did, and he though--KNEW--it was love at first sight. But he couldn't love the daughter of his father's enemy--right?

_________________________________

~To be continued in the upcoming fan fic of Slick's life~