Now and Then

Nome, Alaska, 7:30 am, 1925;

Now that she had regained her senses, Tina noticed how quiet it was compared to New York City. The noise of the loud city seemed so far away in the calm of this small town, Tina had to admit it was a lot easier on a dog‘s sensitive ears, an improvement in her book. "It sure is a lot less hectic here than where I come from." she said, relaxing a bit.
"About as exciting as it normally gets around here is when a sled race is going on, everyone loves to watch those, including me but I‘d much rather be in one." said Balto. He caught site of the time through a nearby window, he was late. "We’d better pick up the pace, Jenna is probably worried about me. Think you can keep up?"
"Keep up? I could ask you the same thing." Tina smiles before she takes off, Balto quickly runs off after her.
"You don’t even know where you’re going."
"I know a thing or two about this town, you’d be surprised what you can find out with the right source. You said you liked races didn‘t you? Well you‘re in one now!"
Balto wondered again, Tina had never been to Nome before but she was heading in the right direction and she knew it, he began to rethink what she said earlier. He smiled, they probably would of made better time if they took a shortcut across the roofs but she’d pretty much challenged him to a race and he couldn‘t resist accepting. He managed to catch up but couldn‘t get ahead of Tina, she was every bit as fast as he was, he was impressed. "You’re pretty fast."
"Thanks, that means a lot coming from you." They kept neck and neck for the next few blocks. Balto leaps over a bit of ice on the road, Tina didn’t see it and slipped. She goes face first into the snow and going in up to her front shoulders. Balto stops and waits as she pulls herself out, he couldn’t help but laugh, nether could Tina. Both had enjoyed the race. "Guess you win."
"Let’s call it a tie, you just didn‘t watch were you were going, it happens."
"Ok then. I‘d ask for a rematch but you said you were late."
Balto leads her off the main road and behind a row of houses, he was going to try and get them up on the roofs so they could make better time and avoid…"Hey half-breed." called Steele from behind them.
"Oh great, Steele." said Balto, clearly irritated.
"Steele? Oh you mean that bully who always picks on you. Big dog with a bigger ego, used to be the fastest dog in Nome, back when they didn‘t count wolf dogs." said Tina, trying to sound respectful when she mentioned the wolf dog part, knowing Balto was sensitive about it.
This made Balto even more curious about Tina, he and Steele’s former team were famous but Steele himself wasn’t all that well known outside of Nome yet Tina seemed to know a good bit about him. "Just ignore him." he whispered to Tina.
Steele walks up between them, when he got a closer look, he looked surprised. He had thought Tina was Jenna but now he realized he was wrong, though Tina was just as beautiful. "Well wolf, who’s this? Does Jenna know you’re cheating on her?" asked Steele in an accusingly tone, he then turned to Tina. "What do you say about coming with me instead of this mangy half-breed?" Partly he did want Tina because she looked like Jenna but mostly he just wanted to get her away from Balto.
"I found Tina hurt outside of town, I’m taking her to see Jenna right now so we don’t have time for your insults." said Balto, he was trying to keep his feelings hidden but Steele had gotten to him again with the insults about his wolf half and Steele had really made him mad with that comment about cheating on Jenna, he would never even think about doing something like that.
Tina was mad too, only she wasn‘t making any attempt at hiding it, she had her teeth bared and was growling at Steele. She hated males who only wanted her for her looks, the last dog who couldn’t take a hint needed 30 stitches afterwards, not only that but evidently Steele couldn‘t tell that he was almost twice her age. She spots a rock on the ground and gets a mischievous look. "Steele, shut up." she said and kicks the rock into Steele’s mouth as he opened it to respond. He stops to pull the rock out as Tina smiles. Tina turns to Balto, losing her grin when she saw he was upset, no one deserved to be disrespected and hurt like he just was. She wanted to do something but she couldn’t, she had taken a risk to history with what she just did. "I know this is supposed to happen but that doesn‘t mean I have to like it." she thought, growling to herself. She didn‘t know what was less fair, how Balto was being treated or that there wasn’t much she could do.
When Steele managed to dislodge the rock, he could see he had Balto mad and Balto had his back turned. Steele dashed forwards and jumps through the air, aiming to sink his claws into Balto’s back. Balto saw Steele out of the corner of his eye. He quickly kicks with his hind legs, catching Steele hard in the bottom jaw. Steele falls to the ground but quickly gets to his feet. He spat out some blood and a string of frankly unmentionable words, his jaws had been slammed shut on his tongue when Balto kicked him. "Lucky shot." said Steele once he stopped cussing.
"I still don’t want to