it bothered him so he decided to ask. "Do you think I look mangy?" He felt a little awkward asking but he had to get it off his mind.
"Not mangy, you’re fur is messy but it’s a good look for you." Tina smiled and caused Balto to smile. "And I think Jenna would agree."
"Balto!" called Jenna happily as she ran out from behind a corner, she slipped and ended up coming to a stop with her nose touching Balto’s. She steps back and both smile, embarrassed, Tina breaks out laughing.
"Jenna, we‘ve got to stop meeting like this." said Balto, remembering the last time.
"Actually, I kind of like it." with that, Jenna licked Balto on the cheek.
Balto smiles, he would of blushed if dogs could. "Well…Did you sleep alright?"
"Yes, I felt better knowing Tina was there with you. I was coming to visit you for a change but you’re early."
Balto smiled. "Tina got me up on time and we managed to avoid Steele."
"That’s good, think he’s given up?"
"I doubt it, Steele doesn’t seem like one who gives up without a major fight." said Tina, if she remembered correct, Steele messed with Balto until Balto’s pups were born.
"She’s right." said Balto, a little upset by that.
Jenna decided she better change the subject. "So Tina did you sleep well?"
"Pretty well. Thanks for asking." said Tina.
"Your welcome."
"Tina, do you want to tell Jenna about your dream? She probably can give you a better answer than I can." asks Balto, Jenna was better at this kind of thing than he was.
"Yes, I would if that‘s ok with you Jenna." said Tina.
"I don’t mind, I’m glad to help if I can." said Jenna.
Tina tells Jenna about her nightmare and her own father, managing not to cry this time. "What do you think?"
Jenna thinks for a few minutes before coming up with an answer. "Just so I’m clear, you have no memory of your father?" she asks.
"Right, come to think about it, most of my younger years are a blur."
"Tina…do you think this could be a memory you didn’t want to remember?"
Tina looked stunned for a minute, she hadn’t even considered that. "A suppressed memory? I suppose that’s possible." Tina didn’t want to believe it could be true, that her father could do that to her.
Balto thought of something. "Tina, let me see your shoulder." said Balto. Tina complies and Balto parts some of the fur with his snout. He looks shocked. "Tina, if that glass cut into your shoulder, there’d be a scar right?"
"Yes there should be."
"Like this one?"
Tina looks in a puddle of melted snow to see that there was a scar going across her right shoulder in the exact same place the pup in her dream was cut. She gasped, it was true but she wished it wasn‘t. "So my dad really did that to me?" Tears began to form in her eyes, she thought she could feel her heart breaking, she felt sick.
Balto and Jenna nod grimly. "It looks that way."
Tina begins crying even harder than before. Jenna put her paw on Tina’s back. "I’m sorry Tina, I shouldn’t have said that." said Jenna, feeling a little guilty.
"No, thank you, I needed to figure it out." said Tina, trying in vain to wipe the tears out of her eyes with her paw. "I always thought he loved me but he beat me up and left me to die, I was such a fool." she said quietly, she was furious at herself for letting her think that lie for so long.
"You just wanted to think your father loved you, you wanted him to, no one can blame you for that. I probably know better than anyone what its like to want to be accepted by someone who won’t, there are still both dogs and humans in this town that don’t trust me. If anyone’s at fault here, its them, not me or you." said Balto, offering what comfort he could and getting a smile from Tina.
"Thank you, those stories I was told were there when my father wasn’t, both of you are so brave and that encouraged me to keep going. I guess your still here for me huh?"
"I’ll help you as much as I can."
"Me too." said Jenna, smiling.
"I‘m not sure what to say except thank you." said Tina.
"Your welcome." said Balto with a grin.
"So what should we do with the rest of the day? Wish I had been sent back in time for a sled race."
"Well I’ve got to see if Boris is on his way back, Tina you said Jenna’s history isn’t recorded well, why don’t you get to know her better?"
"Fine with me, what could happen?" Of course Tina knew something very bad could happen, just because the Outsider hadn’t shown up yet didn’t mean it wouldn’t but it was alright for the moment and she was still very determined to enjoy her time with her idols.
"Alright, just don’t take too long." said Jenna as she nuzzles Balto.
"I’ll do my best." said Balto before running off.
"You’re very lucky to have him Jenna, hope one day I can find one like him one day, wolf half and all but so far all I can find is dogs like Steele." said Tina, faking a disgusted face at the end.
Jenna laughs. "I think we’re going to get along just fine." she said.

Girl Time

Nome, Alaska, 7:15 am;

Jenna and Tina set in an alley, just talking. "So I just jumped on the bear, if Balto died, so would Rosy and the other children and I was in love with Balto, to me my life really wasn’t important at the time." said Jenna, she was glad Tina really wanted to hear her side of the story, her friends and Balto were the only ones who ever asked. She was also happy because she hadn’t had another female to talk to since Dixie and Silvie moved.
"Cool, I wish I was that brave." said Tina, she was excited, she’d heard parts of what Jenna had done that night but there really wasn’t much she knew about her.
"I’m sure if it was someone you loved pinned under its claw, you could."
"That’s just it, there really isn’t anyone that matters to me in the future."
"No one?"
"No one, the only ones I ever cared about were my mother and siblings, haven’t talked to any of them since I was a pup. I used to love my dad until I found out what he did. Most of my brothers and sisters got loving owners, I got a heartless man who only saw me as a tool, what he did still gives me nightmares."
Jenna felt bad she brought it up. "I’m sorry, I didn’t know."
"Its fine, jerk got what was coming to him."
"What happened to him?"
"He’s dead, he liked to make very dangerous weapons, one finally did him in." Tina didn’t want to tell Jenna about the Outsider yet, telling her it was a monster would need an explanation so she called it what it was, a weapon.
"Oh…" Jenna understood Tina probably was better off that her owner was dead but talking about it made her feel uncomfortable, she thought she better change subjects. "Do you know how Rosy is doing in the future?"
Tina thinks for a moment. "Last time I checked, she is living happily in New York City with at least one granddaughter."
Jenna smiled, knowing that made her happy and feel even more grateful for Balto saving Rosy’s life. "Thanks for telling me that."
"You’re very welcome, I know Rosy is very important to you, I wish I had ended up with someone like her. A nice human child, children have so much more energy and are a lot more playful than most adults, my old owner, in addition to the other reasons I didn‘t like him, would never let me have time to play."
Jenna agreed, her and Rosy always had a lot of fun together, Rosy also liked to play with Balto which was just fine with Jenna. "They are a joy to be around, though you have to keep an eye on them sometimes." Jenna chuckled, Rosy wasn’t that hard to keep safe, she didn’t stray far from Jenna or Balto when they were with her but there were times she would of got herself in trouble if it weren‘t for them.
"I wouldn’t mind, as long as they don’t do what my last owner did to me, I’m fine." Tina didn’t want to think about a lot of the stuff Damien had done to her.
Jenna wondered just what Tina’s owner had put her through but she knew it would probably upset both of them to talk about it. "…You know if you can’t get back to the future, I don’t think Rosy’s parents would mind another dog."
"I’d like that, I’m trying to figure out if I can get back, its really complicated." That was an understatement, Tina was doing her best but the calculations were so hard it made her head hurt and the human ideas of time travel could be false, that was the problem with being the first at anything, theories about it could be completely wrong.
"Well I hope we’ll get to know you better before you leave."
"I hope so too…Can I ask you something important?" Tina felt more comfortable talking to Jenna than Balto, maybe because she was a female like her.
"Sure."
" Do you think I’m a bad dog for hating my old owner?" The question bothered Tina because despite the enhanced intelligence, she was still a dog, dogs were called man’s best friend, did that apply when the man wasn’t friendly?
Jenna had hoped not to be asked that question. Of course she didn’t think Tina was bad, Jenna could tell Tina needed a better answer than a simple no. She had been with Rosy’s family almost her entire life, the only reason she‘d dislike a human was if they did something to hurt Balto. Tina on the other hand was adopted by a terrible man, something Jenna had never met. She thought over the question. "I don’t think you are, you are a good dog who met a bad human. To be honest you’d be better off asking Balto, he has more experience with being mistreated by humans." said Jenna.
"Yeah, guess its kind of my fault I ended up with the jerk." said Tina.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you see I was a stray in New York, it wasn’t easy and my mom wanted a better life for me and my siblings. She made it look like a human was giving us away so we would get adopted. One of my brothers had died earlier in the week and I was pretty torn up inside, didn’t stray far from mom…"

Flashback start

At the entrance to an alley in New York, a red and white, adult female husky set over a cardboard box beside which she’d set an old sign with the word ‘free’ on it, she had dug it out of the trash. Inside were four puppies, two were black and gray males and the other two were red and white females. Tina’s younger self was laying sadly near her mother on her bandana which was bigger than she was. She