was complaining about the length.
"Neither did I," Rikko said, wanting to put her two cents in. "Although after sitting down for hours, I did feel my legs go numb." As she spoke, she motioned to her legs feeling like they had fallen asleep. Which was the case at the moment.
"So, Rikko, have you enjoyed Detroit so far?" Toni asked his son's girlfriend.
"Yes, I have," Rikko said enthusiastically. "But I'm just happy to be back with Mika."
By now, Mika was leaning against the wall. He had fallen asleep, being so tired from the long day of travel. Initially, no one seemed to notice. It wasn't until after Rikko had hugged him and got no response that she, or anybody else, took notice.
"Mika?" she asked. "Mika, are you alright?" She then rocked him slightly by grabbing his shoulders, which stirred him slightly.
"He's probably had a long day," said Mikko. "We all did."
He then pointed to Karelia sleeping on the couch in the living room.
"Well, you can all tell us more about it in the morning," said Erja as she and her husband headed off to bed.
"Okay with me," Rikko replied.
"Is my old place still available?" Mika asked.
"I think so," Toni responded.
"If there's not enough room here, Rikko and I can go there for the night," said Mika.
"There should be room here," put in Kaj. "The cot is free and so is the couch."
"Dibs on the couch!" Mika called out.
"I'll take the cot, then," Rikko added.
It took a little more than half an hour combined for everyone to get ready for bed, although in their defense, the fact that the house only had one bathroom slowed things down. Rikko was left having to set up the cot herself, which consisted of a metal tube frame with a canvas sheet streched over it. It did fold in half for easy storage. Rikko placed it near the couch, where Mika would be sleeping. She didn't want to be too far away from him.
After finishing setting up the couch, which didn't take him very long, Mika helped Rikko set up the cot. When he finished with that, he went to change his clothes in the bathroom. Rikko followed suit.
"Good to have you you two up here," said Kaj as he passed his brother and brother's girlfriend on his way to his room for the night.
"Likewise," Mika replied. "I know it's only a visit, but it's still good to see you again, little bro."
"Yeah," put in Kaj. I know. The two brothers hugged and were soon joined by their older brother, Mikko. Seeing a photo opportunity, Rikko grabbed her Leica camera and took a picture of them. Eventually, the brotherly embrace ended and Mikko, who had set up his own cot near Rikko, went off to sleep while Kaj headed off to his bedroom.
"So," Mika said as he looked at Rikko. "What do you think of this place so far?"
"It's too soon to say," Rikko responded. "For me, anyway. Maybe by this time tomorrow I'll have something positive to say about it."
"That'll be far less time than it took me," Mika added. Rikko shook her head in amusement.
"Was it really that bad for you at first?" Rikko asked, still in disbelief.
Mika had told her about how hard he had it during his early days in Nome. She believed it once it was proven to her, but she still was largely appalled.
"Sadly, yes," Mika said for a sheepish response. "But hey, I'm over that, now."
"Great," Rikko added.
The two Finns then hugged and shared a long kiss goodnight, one more passionate than usual, but still a soft one at that. That was just the way they liked it, and they were very good with finding a middle ground in that area. After about a minute, their lips finally separated. As usual, they both included an "I love you" for each other before going off to sleep. Karelia's bed was setup next to the couch and he was already asleep in it.

It was just after 9:00 local time when Mika awakened to the sight of Karelia staring him in the face. Karelia had a bad habit of doing this whenever Mika slept late. Worse, he even would sometimes whisper his owner's name.
"Mika," Karelia whispered. The Finn didn't budge.
"Mika," Karelia whispered again, his voice slightly higher-pitched.
"Mika!" Karelia said at almost scream-whisper levels.
"WHAT?!" Mika screamed after being startled awake.
"Ah!" Karelia screamed and jumped back.
Kaj, Mikko who was already awake, and their parents quickly ran into the living room. Rikko, who was also already awake, entered a few seconds later.
"What's going on?!" Toni asked.
"Ah, Karelia is doing his 'stare-me-in-the-face-until-I-wakes-up' bit," Mika replied, sounding rather disgusted.
This wasn't the only way Karelia had of waking up his owner. He called them "routines". In addition to the "stare-him-in-the-face-until-he-wakes-up" routine, there was the "slap-him-silly with the tail" routine and the "cold-nose-on-the-back-of-the-neck" routine. Mika, however, had wised up to the latter and started sleeping on his back or on his right side, as his bed in Kevin's apartment was up against the wall on the far side from the entrance to his bedroom.
"Again, Karelia," Rikko said, sounded displeased. "You know, you wake up more than just Mika when you do that."
"What?" Kaj asked.
"Well, when Karelia does that bit and gets Mika to scream in shock," Rikko replied, "it carries through the whole apartment. One time, Kevin was in the bathroom shaving, and Karelia put his cold, wet nose on the back of Mika's neck, and he let out almost a shrieking wail just as Kevin had the straightedge to his face. He ended up cutting himself between upper lip and nose, and it was a deep one."
"That's more than I needed to know," said Erja.
"Yeah, well, that's what happened," Mika responded snappily, yet politely. Even if the details might gross people out, Mika still didn't believe in candy-coating the truth, even if he wasn't the one telling it. Telling something exactly the way is, was, or happened, etc., was one thing that he firmly believed in.
"Why does Karelia even do that?" Mikko asked.
"Don't ask me, he won't say anything in that regard," Mika answered, knowing that everyone else knew that he could understand and - for a reason he still never fully understood - hear Karelia speak to him in a way that Mika could actually understand.
"He doesn't say anything?" Kaj asked. "Why not?"
"I don't know," Mika replied. "Now, is everyone done with the pointless questions?!"
"Okay," Mikko and Kaj answered simultaneously. They then left the room, as did their parents. Rikko, on the other hand, came and sat down on the couch next to Mika.
"You okay?" she asked as she stroked his hair.
"Yeah, I'm calm, now," Mika said in response.
"Good," Rikko added. "I don't like having to see you get all worked up about something as trivial as one of your dog's stupid pranks."
"I heard that!" Karelia hollered as he rounded a corner into the kitchen.
"He heard you," said Mika. "And I don't think he liked it."
"Maybe I should've waited until he was out of hearing range," Rikko said, sounding a little dejectedly. "Well, I remember that so that we don't have a repeat of that again."
"Yeah," Mika put in. "I remember last time that happened, he wouldn't go near you for a week."
Rikko sighed dejectedly, remembering how Karelia kept giving her the cold shoulder that whole week after calling one of the husky's antics "stupid". It wasn't easy process of healing the rift that had developed between them. She now feared that Karelia was again gonna give her the cold shoulder, or worse, the silent treatment. Karelia did have a bit of a stubborn attitude at times when he first came to live with Mika, Rikko, and Kevin in Detroit. But over time, he started to loosen up a little bit. Still, he kept up his usual tricks to get Mika to wake up if he overslept, which did sometimes work, especially whenever the Finn needed to wake up early for something important.
"Well, shall we go get some breakfast?" Mika asked after turning to look a Rikko, who was still seated on the couch to his right.
"Hey, I'm hungry," Rikko replied. "Let's go."
"Okay then," Mika put in.
The two Finns then shared a soft, brief kiss - about five seconds long - before getting off the couch and making a move for the kitchen. As they started towards it, Rikko made a grab for Mika's right hand with her left hand, which he acknowledged, letting her hold it.

After breakfast, Mika headed out of the house and off to Outdoor Outfitters, the outdoor supply store where he used to work. He had a special delivery to make for his former boss, John Robertson. Earlier in the year, Mika had promised to send John one of his actual game-worn jerseys. Since today happened to be John's birthday, Mika figured it was a perfect time to present the jersey. It was a white jersey usually worn at home games.
Karelia and Rikko had gone with Mika to deliver the jersey. They were very eager to see the sites of Nome. But their first order of business was to deliver the jersey.
Mika was clad in his usual garb - leather jacket, dark blue jeans and hiking boots. He had another white home jersey on underneath the jacket with a