The beach outside Nome was a popular spot for dogs, especially if it was spring time. It was there if they needed to be alone and think, to race and play, or even to show off to the famous Balto, who lived out his senior years peacefully in his wrecked boat nearby. Nikki's son Summer raced across the beach with his guy friends to play. If it was one thing he had in common with his team mates, it was the love for running. They were all barking with laughter for the longest time until they spotted something they loved more than running: girls.

The young attractive girl dogs of Nome enjoyed watching the boys run across the beach. It was a time for all of them to show off themselves to each other, whether they were looking for a mate or not (even though, they were all more than likely looking for a mate because of the change in season). About two or three of the girls came in to view, and the boys stopped running to gawk, stare, and howl at them. They enjoyed the attention, but the one girl they all wanted the most attention from was the ever-so-popular Stunner, who definately lived up to her name (even though she wasn't named based on her looks). The boy dogs called out to her, and Summer stopped what he was doing once he heard her name.

Summer, just like the others, wanted Stunner's attention, and he was more determined to get it today than any other day. His previous attempts to earn her attention and courtship always ended up with her shaking her head at him in disbelief (or pity, he didn't really know). He wasn't afriad of rejection like the others were. He was confident in himself and his calm prooved it. He looked around and wondered how he was going to get her attention when all of his friends were busy howling at her like lunatics.

Stunner stared down at the boys on the beach, standing in between her two acquaintances, Sadie and Holiday, who were giggling with pure excitement. She didn't consider them friends. Actually, she didn't consider anyone her friend. Not because she was stuck up, she was the furthest thing from stuck up, but because she felt that she couldn't trust them very well. She rolled her eyes at the dogs below, but smiled at them out of curtisy. One dog caught her eye. It was Summer, Nikki and Mahogany's only son. She didn't particularly like him because he always seemed like a snob to her. She figured he acted like that because he was a purebred husky, offspring of a fast race dog and a beautiful show dog, while her parents weren't. The way he was always so composed compared to the others made her figure that was why he acted like that, although she did prefer him to be peaceful than loud and arrogant.

Everytime she saw him, he was always either running with his head held high or winning the hearts of ladies, which was odd because he didn't seem interested in them or herelf at all. Today, however, he did something different. He stopped to look at her and smiled. She raised a curious glance at this weird gesture, and one surprised glance when she noticed him walking up the hill towards her group.

"I say, he's lookin' at me," Sadie said, proud of herself. Sadie was quite the attention whore of the three. She mainly "had her way" with boys just to get their attention. Her masters gave her no attention and neglected her and Stunner figured that was probably the reason why she acted the way she did. She didn't like her for that reason, but they still respected each other because they had known each other ever since they were pups.

"No, he's looking at you, Stunner!" Holiday giggled. She, like the other girls, found Summer attractive, but was extremely giddy when it came to her friends getting a male devotee. Sadie shot a glare at Stunner and rolled her eyes with a silent scoff.

Stunner's eyes widened once she realized Holiday was right, but she kept her cool. Summer was one step away from touching her and looked at her with his bright green eyes. Stunner had never seen green eyes on a dog before. He must've gotten them from his mother, which was probably the reason why she was such a prize show dog. Summer gave her an adorably crooked smirk.

"Hi, Stunner." he greeted, swallowing.

"Hello," Stunner replied, remaining steady. She was expecting him to throw a witless pick-up line at her like all the others had tried. After all of them, she felt as if she had become less witty and cunning just by simply being in their presence. But in Summer's presence, she didn't feel that. This was the first time he ever approached her this close, and this was the first time Stunner's heart beat faster than normal. Summer opened his mouth to speak.

Summer had it all planned out in his head. He opened his mouth to compliment her on her looks, tell her how gorgeous she looked. He wouldn't say something stupid like his friends, but he would say, "I've been meaning to tell you sooner, but you are by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." But Sadie interrupted his thoughts, causing him to feel a bit frustrated.

"Hey, Summer. You're looking very handsome today." Sadie winked.

Summer growled to himself. He knew very well about Sadie's "way of life" and how she jumped from boy to boy and he never liked her. She was probably trying to get him to become one of her little games and he was going to put a stop to it now, before it got out of hand. "Miss Sadie," he said, sternly. "Just...stop. I know very well how you act and you are acting whorish right now. I suggest you stop." The four dogs in the area all stared at each other with facial blends of both surprise and disgust. Summer turned his attention to Stunner who was staring at him angrily. She could not believe he would say such a thing to Sadie, or to anyone for that matter. Summer blinked, remembering what he said. He realized he insulted one of her friends and she did not look pleased. Feeling rather stupid, Summer said, "Uh...I mean, uh...heheh...hi, Stunner!"

Stunner heaved a sigh with a beyond-irritated expression displayed. She took one last glance at the poor embarrassing soul, squinted her eyes and snuffed. She turned around, abruptly flicking Summer straight across the face with her tail.

"Bye, Summer," she said, departing back to town. Holiday and Sadie looked at both Stunner and Summer, confused as to what just happened, but then followed her friend close behind.

Summer watched the three girls leave, his face still stuck as it was before. He could not believe he said that out loud. And after that entire time of telling himself NOT to say ANYTHING like that too. He finally snapped out of his trance and slowly glanced back at his friends, who were staring at him with big grins on their faces.

"So, how'd it go!" one of them asked.

He blinked. They had not heard what was said. He smiled nervously. "Uh...heh, I think she likes me." he said.

"You gonna go after her?" asked another.

"Uh..." Summer looked back in the direction Stunner was headed. "Yeah, in a bit."

Stunner trotted back home, not looking anybody in the eye. She had to assertively ask her acquaintances to leave her alone so that she didn't lash out at them out of frustration. She was utterly embarrassed, not so much of what was said, but more along the lines of who said it. She was not expecting such a placid fellow to say such a thing. But what got her angry was that he was probably making a big joke out of her reaction. He was probably on the beach laughing about it with his friends. She growled to herself. Why did she become so light-headed? It was a stupid emotion to feel whenever such a snob was even around. But what else did she expect? She wasn't honestly expecting him to say something meaningful to her, was she?

Wrapped up in all of her mixed thoughts, Stunner didn't realize that she wandered home. She may as well have stayed there for a while, seeing as it was going to take her a while to get the blood flowing from her face and back to its normal color. She entered through the small doggie door and saw her mother, Saba (or Quinn as their owners called her) laying on Meg's bed.

Saba's ears twitched, picking up the sound her daughter's dainty paws made as they pattered across the wooden floor. She raised her head once she saw her walking past the room she was in.

"Hey, kiddo," Saba greeted her only child, jumping off the bed. She licked Stunner's head. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"Oh...nothing, I just don't feel like facing anyone right now,"

"Uh-oh...what happened?"

"Mmm...Summer just kinda said something rude to Sadie it all." Stunner replied, a bit reluctant to tell her mother about him.

"Summer did? Huh, how odd. I thought you didn't like Sadie? He always seemed like a very well brought up boy. Whatever he said, she probably deserved it."

Stunner explained to her mother how Summer was always so stuck-up. Saba insisted that he didn't mean it because he's always been quite the gentlehound. Stunner still didn't believe her.

"Now Stunner," Saba explained. "I expect you to be nice to him. You two have alot more in common than you think. He can probably relate to your loneliness."

"And how's that?" Stunner chuckled.

"Because he was the only survivor in his litter too."

Stunner was shocked. She felt terrible knowing that. She knew that she was the only survivor of her litter and she spent many days crying about having no brothers or sisters when she was younger. It didn't bother her as much anymore, but it still effected her. Knowing that Summer was also the only one remaining out of his siblings made Stunner think that this entire time with him having friends and having a good time was just to cover up his loneliness, just like what she was doing.

There was a scratch at the from door.

"Now, who could that be?" Saba asked out loud. She walked to the front of the house and exited through the doggie door. Stunner was still staring off thinking about how cruel she may have been to Summer. Her mother returned. "Someone's here to speak with you."

"Not..."

"Yes, it's Summer,"

"Mom, I can't face him right now! I feel terrible thinking such bad things about him!"

"Well, you're going out there right now. I will not have you keep him waiting, now scoot!" Saba pushed her daughter out the doggie door with her nose. Stunner lost her footing and slipped on the loose snow on the porch of her house. Summer exclaimed as she slipped and tried to keep her from falling, but both of them ended up slipping off the porch and landed on the ground. Somehow, Summer landed on top of Stunner and her surprised expression caused him to pick himself off her quickly.

"I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered.

"No, no, no, it's ok, it's my fault, I'm sorry," Stunner stammered, picking her self off the ground and brushing the snow from her fur with her paw. There was a moment of silence, until Summer began to speak the same time as Stunner. They ended up in a verbal tango, but it ended when Stunner stopped talking and Summer spoke up.

"Do you want to go for a walk with me?" he asked.

Stunner smiled. This would be the perfect chance to get to know him better and open up some doors to understanding. "Yes," she said.

Saba smiled as she watched the two young dogs walk off together and returned to her nap on Meg's bed.

Summer and Stunner walked in silence for a moment, travelling on the outskirts of Nome, but not far very away from the town.

"I wanted to apologize for my...comments...from earlier, about your friend. It was very uncalled for. I was kinda nervous at the time, cuz I had alot on my mind." Summer apologized. He explained what was going through his head at the time, with the exception of his thoughts on how marvelous he thought she was. Stunner was a bit shocked that he was apologizing to her and not Sadie. She didn't really care about her, but even so, she was surprised he was here instead of somewhere else.

"It's alright," Stunner smiled. "I understand. Sadie deserved it anyway. I mean, you and I never really talked until just now. I know the feeling of being nervous around someone you barely know."

"And the feeling of being nervous around someone you find extremely attractive." she thought to herself.

Summer took a deep breath. He was going to tell her exactly how he felt, whether she rejected or accepted him. He figured that if he was going to be rejected, he'd want it to be with Stunner. If he was going to be rejected, he would be turned down by the best. "I was nervous because for the longest time, I've been wanting to talk to you. To get to know you better, because I think I like you." he said informally. "And I was hoping you'd feel the same and want to get to know me."

Stunner smirked to herself, turning her head away to keep him from looking at her. He noticed she was looking away and tried positioning himself to get a better look at her reaction, but she wasn't letting him and was trying to stifle her laughter.

"I dunno..." Stunner said, slyly. "People may talk."

"That's okay, though, right? Who cares what they think? I don't! And I'm sure you don't either."

"You are right." she said, turning to him. She licked his nose and he blinked, very surprised about her bravery to do so. She broke into a run and he chased her across the snowy plain. Stunner wasn't as fast as Summer was, but she was when it came to turning. She cut turns so fast, zigzagging every which-way and it drove Summer crazy when he couldn't catch her. Stunner did manage to trip and Summer again landed over her and they laughed. They felt themselves being watched and they looked up to see a small group of dogs in the distance watching them, whispering to each other, probably about how weird or cute the two looked together. Stunner noticed Sadie looking at them in pure envy and she smirked to herself. In one swift motion, Stunner rolled onto her stomach, stood up, licked Summer's nose again, and ran off towards the woods, brushing her back against his chest in the process.

They ran into the woods leaving the others behind, playing a game of tag, barking and howling with joy. The loud exclamations of the two disturbed all animals around, who would gather to see what was going on. Summer was paying more attention to where Stunner was going than where he was going and his foot fell into a small hole in the ground, which made him collapse over his front legs and barrel over some rocks. He fell with a loud yipe.

Stunner immediately stopped in her tracks and looked back to where Summer was. She saw him slumped over some rocks in an odd position. She gasped and ran towards him, expecting the worst.

"Oh, my god! Summer! Are you okay?!" she shrieked.

"No..." he managed to whisper. "My front paw is killing me..." Stunner sighed, relieved he was okay. She checked his paw by licking it and Summer cried out. His paw was broken.

"Can you walk home?" she asked, trying to help him up.

"I think so," he groaned, struggling to stand. He cried again once he put weight on his hind leg. It was twisted terribly and was also possibly broken. "Great, guess I'm gonna hafta stay here." he said.

"No, we're going home to get you some help. Now c'mon." She pushed her body against him to give him a crutch. He hobbled along next to Stunner, leaning against her, trying to keep his stance. It felt like hours before they even reached the edge of the forest and they still had a few miles to go before they even reached Nome. Summer was not going to make it through the night walking. His energy would be drained before they got near home. Stunner stopped walking.

"What are you doing? We need to get back." Summer objected.

"We're not going to make it back tonight." Stunner said. "We need to take shelter." She looked around the edge of the woods for anything that would be suitable for the night. She was hoping to spot a cave, but she could not see one. The only thing around that would only but protect them a little bit was at the base of a fallen tree that was propped up by another twice its size. "Summer let's go over there." He limped at her side until they reached their tree. Summer layed down with his broken legs outstretched and Stunner layed next to him, licking his broken paw to try to take care of it some. Summer winced in pain the first time, but then relaxed. He was exhausted from running, being injured and trying to make his way back home. Even with Stunner's help, he couldn't stay awake much longer. Stunner noticed that his breathing seemed a bit raspy and put her head to his.

"Summer..." Stunner whispered, noticing that he seemed to be catching a fever. "You're not going to die, are you?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Summer replied, tired. "But don't worry...you'll be okay."

"The cold is making you talk nonsense," she said, trying to keep calm. "You'll be fine." Stunner was too skinny to provide a decent amount of warmth for the sleddog. She was certain he was going to be fine for the time being, but whether or not he'd last the entire night, she was not sure. The thought of them staying there together made Stunner very uneasy about Summer's safety. She needed to go get help. She stood up. "We weren't the only survivors of our litter for no reason. I'm going to go get help so we can get you home safely." He seemed to have been asleep, so she licked his face and whispered to him, begging him to stay alive. Then she set out towards Nome to find someone to carry him back.

She ran as fast as she could and made it back to Nome sooner than expected. By the time she neared to grandfather's boat, it began to snow. Stunner didn't really have any friends to ask for help, so her only hope was her grandfather. She ran up a plank into the boat.

"Grandpa?" she exclaimed, panting from exhaustion. She looked all about but he was no where to be found. She ran out of the boat and towards her house to find out where her grandfather was. She entered through the doggie door and her mother entered the room to see who it was.

"Stunner! Where have you--" Saba started.

"Momma, Summer's hurt! Where's Grandpa! I need him to carry Summer back, I can't do it myself!"

"I don't know where he is, hon, but he wouldn't be able to carry Summer anyway. He's much too old."

Stunner lowered her head, nearly breaking out in tears because throughout her frantic thoughts she didn't think about that. Summer was all by himself and she had no idea if he was still alright. His fever was probably worse and weakening him by the minute.

"Now, now...it's ok, Stunner," Saba whispered. "I know someone who can help."

"Who?" she asked, looking up hopefully. Saba told her to follow and she did. She was being led to the boiler room and as they entered, Stunner saw someone she did not want to even be near. Her fur stood on end at the mere sight of the dog. "Forget it, I'll take my chances carrying Summer myself." She turned around, but her mother stopped her.

"Stunner, please, I know you're mad at your father, but he can help you!" she pleaded. "He returned today while you were out and he was very sad to have missed you. He's changed."

Stunner didn't buy that for a minute. She grew to dislike her father because of what he did to her mother, but Summer needed help and that was all that mattered at the moment. She walked into the boiler room towards her father, Iron, and woke him up.

"Dad," she said. His ears twitched at the sound of her voice and he awoke. He smiled at her and went to nuzzle her, but she didn't let him. "There's no time to waste. Come with me, I need your help." She walked out the door, not saying anything. Saba had to explain to Iron the situation at hand, and he followed his daughter willingly. They ran across the field to where Summer was; No words were spoken; The snow fell harder, making it a little more difficult to see. Stunner fixed Summer's spot in her head, so that she wouldn't lose him. When they reached the fallen tree, Summer was almost completely covered in snow. If it had been snowing harder, Stunner would not have been able to find him.

Iron grabbed the younger sled dog by the scruff and pulled him onto his back. Stunner told him to be careful of his broken legs and he did his best not to hurt them more. They traveled as fast as they could back to Nome, but the weight of Summer was impairing Iron's speed, so they made it back in less time than they wanted. They gingerly placed Summer in front of the main boiler. Some of the other dogs woke up, wondering what was going on, but what they only saw was Stunner embracing Summer's body, telling him not to leave her.

"You've got to get better, Summer, you've just got to." Stunner begged. Iron looked at them, and walked away, not realy wanting to be involved anymore.

"Don't worry, I'm still with you...Stunner," Summer whispered. Stunner blinked back some tears, and smiled wide. She chuckled, happy knowing that Summer was going to survive.