Happy Father's Day, everyone! (I know it's a week early; see the Mother's Day chapter for the reason)

My thanks to everyone for continuing to read. In response to the anonymous reader, I thought that might make a nice approach. That's one of the advantages to this story having a theme rather than a continuing plot, and to having no set order to its chapters. It doesn't have any real end, and I hope you all enjoy that as much as I do or more.

On that note, this chapter does kind of pick up right where the last one left off, or a little before (same time frame, different place). I realize that's a little confusing since the last chapter seemed like something from the start of summer vacation, whereas this one would make more sense toward the end or even a bit after school started. Fortunately this is more about ideas than the flow of events, so feel free to take the chronology as you will.

"So what exactly did you want me for?" asked Kodi as he followed Dusty down the main hall of the mall.

She smiled over her shoulder at him. "Like I said, I needed a guy's opinion; yours."

"I know that," he answered, not sure if her answer made him more confident or less. She might have been partial to guessing games, but honestly they drove him crazy. "You still haven't told me what it's about."

"I wanted to pick out some things for our next date, and who better to tell me what you like than you?"

This just confused Kodi all the more; Dusty usually liked to surprise him with her outfits. "We're going clothes shopping?" he asked.

"Not exactly," she told him, and turned abruptly into a store.

Kodi stopped, looked up at the sign, and understood. This store didn't sell clothes; it was a cosmetics store, and they were having a sale on perfume.

This, he thought, could be a long day.

Fortunately for Kodi, there weren't many other dogs in the store; one or two girls browsing the shelves alone, a small gaggle over in one corner, and another guy who, like himself, looked to have been brought there by his girlfriend. The wolf-husky noted, with some relief, that none of them looked like anyone he recognized – or more to the point, like anyone who might recognize him.

"So," Dusty inquired, breaking in on his thoughts, "what kind of scents do you like?"

He shrugged. "Grass," he offered for a start. "The outdoors; that smell after a rainstorm."

She frowned. "I'm not shopping for air fresheners," she pointed out.

"What's the difference?" he asked, his confusion genuine.

Clearly not amused, she walked up to the counter with him trailing behind.

"I like the smell of my mom's flower beds," he added, hoping to compensate for his previous question. "And I like the way you smell normally."

Dusty didn't answer. "Excuse me," she asked a sales clerk behind the counter. "Do you have anything... outdoorsy? Maybe something an athlete would like."

The clerk – a swan wearing glasses – looked over the tops of her frames at Kodi. "We have something that will make you smell like a football," she offered, smirking.

"Har har," Kodi replied, wondering how it was that a guy stereotyping girls was a sexist pig, but a girl stereotyping guys was funny.

Both girls laughed, and the swan pointed a feather. "Try that aisle behind you to the right," she suggested. "Second one over from the wall."

The store, as it turned out, had handy little scratch-and-sniff stickers under the displays of each perfume. Kodi had to admit, the place did smell nice, and one or two of the stickers smelled really nice.

Unfortunately, while they were perusing, someone caught up with them.

"Hey, Dusty!" came a female voice.

Both of them turned to see an afghan hound headed their way, accompanied by a small pack of other girl dogs. Sarah and Dusty had been friends for years, but things had been a little dicey between them since the school year started up. Dusty had admitted to Kodi at one point that this had a lot to do with how she had changd during her time at Camp Hawkeye. As for Kodi... well, he didn't want to be at odds with anyone, especially one of Dusty's friends, but there was something about several of Dusty's old crowd – Sarah in particular – that made him uneasy.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Sarah.

Dusty shrugged. "Nothing much; just getting Kodi's thoughts on some scents."

Kodi raised a hand and waved very self-consciously, feeling more out of place than ever.

Sarah walked over to have a look, then smirked at the ones Dusty had picked out so far. "Nice selection, girlfriend. You date at the bowling alley much?" There was no missing the snarky tone in the question. "Little advice from someone who knows: try this one." She turned to another shelf, picked up a bottle, and plunked it into the middle of Dusty's collection.

Dusty picked up the bottle and looked at it. "Midnight Passion? Thanks for the tip, but Kodi and I have ten o' clock curfews." She put the bottle back on the shelf with a decisive sound like a gavel. "I think Bella Swan is around here somewhere if you're determined to give out advice."

"Cute," Sarah snipped, her smile dropping just a little. "Come on, Dusty, you know no one's buying this whole 'Little Miss Mother Theresa' schtick."

"It's not an act," Dusty insisted. "I really have changed, and you know I was never a party girl even before this past summer."

"I know that," Sarah agreed, "but that was before you started dating an athlete." She pointed at Kodi. "No way you haven't cracked the seal on that."

Kodi could feel his face growing warm. "'That' has a name," he countered tersely, "and 'that' has better places to be than arguing about this – or being argued over."

Dusty held out an arm to block him from leaving. "Kodi, don't. I'm not going to let them push us around like this."

"Hmm," Sarah mused, seeming to regain interest. "So the Christian girl does have some fire in her after all."

While Sarah and Dusty continued to argue, Kodi stood there paralyzed. This whole matter was so out of his depth he didn't know where to start. He wanted to stand up for his girlfriend; for himself; but his mouth wouldn't open. He realized that if he turned it into an argument, it could easily dissolve into a shouting match – and while the store clerk might see things his and Dusty's way, he didn't want to humiliate her.

An idea came to him, and he reached into his pocket. As discreetly as possible, he slipped out his phone and hit the "send" button twice... then turned down the volume so anything the recipient of his call said would be inaudible to the crowd now gathering around them.

For several minutes the chatter progressed – and, like most arguments, everyone's talking outweighed their listening by a good three words to one.

"Come on, Dusty," Sarah persisted, "Don't you two ever get tired of sitting it out in the-?"

"Kodi! Dusty! There you are!"

All eyes turned to a wolf-dog headed in their direction. "I was wondering where you got to."

Kodi could have cheered. "Hi Dad," he said, trying to make it look to the other teens as if he were feigning normalcy. "Yeah, didn't Mom tell you? Dusty wanted my thoughts on a few scents."

"She mentioned it. I thought you might come here; she likes this store too." Then, as if he had only just remembered that the other teens were present, he asked, "So, what were you all talking about? Sounded pretty intense."

No one said a word.

Dusty caught onto the situation quickly. "Hey, he's been around the block," she told the others with an "I dare you" look on her face. "Anything you can say to Kodi and me, he's old enough to hear too."

The others quickly excused themselves. Balto, watching them leave, might have found it amusing if what he had managed to pick up had not been so bitterly familiar. He turned back to Kodi and Dusty, both of whom looked simultaneously relieved to have him there and embarrassed as if they were the ones caught in some wrongdoing.

"So, do I want to know what that was all about?" he asked, jerking a thumb out the entrance.

"They were-" Dusty started to say at the same moment that Kodi answered with a flat, "No." Under most circumstances, having his dad around made him feel safe and confident. Right now, however, he felt like a fool; like the bigshot rookie on a basketball team who had just botched a game-breaking play. Part of it was for his failure to speak up against their antagonism; the other part was another matter entirely.

Balto shrugged and nodded understandingly. "Good thinking with the phone call," he offered helpfully.

Dusty tilted her head. "What phone call?"

Balto laughed. "Well, the reason I knew where to look for you was that Kodi dialed me. He didn't say anything, and I guess he must have covered the speaker, but I heard enough to guess where you two had gone."

Letting out a deep – if somewhat belated – sigh of relief, Dusty turned to her boyfriend. "I could kiss you," she told him.

The "other matter entirely" spiked in Kodi's gut. "Uh, maybe this isn't the best time," he offered defensively.

Balto cracked a wry grin. "I could turn my back," he suggested.

Kodi's face grew warmer yet, and was saved from having to demure a second time by Dusty's hasty admission that she had only been kidding.

There was an awkward silence among them while the background sounds of other shoppers continued unabated. A Pomeranian decked in the uniform of the store, making her rounds, spotted them.

"Can I help you with anything?" she offered.

"No thanks," Dusty replied. "I've got everything I was looking for."

Balto glanced at the shelves and picked up a bottle. "My wife might enjoy this one," he ventured as if to justify his presence to the employee.

Kodi winced. Balto had picked up a bottle of Midnight Passion.

Kodi managed, more or less, to shrug off the unpleasant run-in with Dusty's peers as the day wore on – or so he thought before he went to sleep that night.

In his dreams, he found himself standing on what looked to be a tropical beach; pristine white sand stretching out to either side as far as he could see, salt-scented waves clear out to the horizon, and no sign of any other dogs around. Nothing broke the scene save for a small wooden shack – the kind of compact building they had called "dollhouses" at summer camp.

He had just gotten around to noticing he had a surfboard tucked under one arm when the door to the shack opened and Dusty emerged, carrying a surfboard as well. She was dressed in a swimsuit of a much starker shade of purple than the tinge in her grayish fur – of which the two-piece showed a decidedly ample area. It was the kind of bathing suit a guy could like, but for all the wrong reasons.

"You ready?" she asked him.

"Uh..." was all he could say. He tried to focus on her face, figuring that looking elsewhere was a good way to get slapped.

Dusty, however, seemed unaware of his struggle as she ran past him to the water's edge. "Come on!" she called, waving for him to come after her.

Kodi didn't know what to say. He'd never been surfing in his life, and Dusty's outfit was... well, a little distracting. "I don't know how," he protested.

She smiled. "That's the fun part. Come on, scaredy cat."

With a strangely familiar mix of fear and anticipation, he followed her out into the surf. It seemed like only a moment that he lay on his belly, kicking and paddling, before they were out among the waves. Dusty rose to her feet, and he did the same.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.

"Relax," she called over her shoulder, slaloming on her board as if she and the wood were a single piece. "Just go with it."

He did, and began to find himself enjoying it. The water rushing all around him was invigorating, and he had to admit, Dusty looked pretty nice as she rode her board, swerving deftly back and forth. He wasn't sure what to make of another strange rush he felt, though he knew it was familiar.

He must have lost his focus, because suddenly the wave at his side was on top of him. He was knocked off his board and tumbled in the surf, end over end like a sock in a washing machine. Then it all stopped, and he found himself lying on his back in the sand. He had only just taken a breath when another wave hit him, dropping something heavy on his chest.

It took him a moment to get his bearings. When he did, he realized that the "something heavy" was Dusty. "Oof, she groaned, "That one was rough."

She lifted herself up with her forearms, and he was struck by the sight of her propped over him with her lower half still lying on the sand like the tail of a mermaid. The sunlight on her soaked fur, and the look on her face as she looked down at him, sent a chill down his spine.

Then he remembered where he had felt that rush, and with that knowledge came two unwelcome realities.

"Oh, man," he groaned as he awoke.

A half hour later, Kodi shook his head, feeling his still-damp fur flip around as he did and making a mental note to get it trimmed. Dusty might like fur she could play with, but track and field season was coming up soon. Also, the feeling of dampness clinging to him brought back memories of the dream, and as nice as that was he still wasn't sure how to handle it.

"Well well," came a famiiar voice behind him.

He spun to find his father leaning against the doorway and regarding him smugly. "Up early, and – gasp – doing your own laundry? You must be getting ready to move out."

Kodi would normally have appreciated the joke, but at the moment he wasn't quite in the mood. "Ha ha ha," he answered drily.

Balto's smug expression dropped. It didn't take a genius to guess the real cause of Kodi's behavior. "Was it that bad?" he asked knowingly. He didn't even have to ask; he just knew Kodi that well.

The younger wolf-husky shook his head. "No, that's not it," he admitted. "I'm just... just thinking."

"What's on your mind?" Long ago, Balto had established what he and Kodi called the "guy talk" policy: when it was just the two of them, there was no such thing as a bad question. Answers weren't a given – Balto had given his share of, "I'll tell you when you're older"s and "I need to think about that"s, and Kodi had delivered a few, "I'd rather not talk about it"s, but either of them could ask the other any question on any subject.

Kodi took a deep breath, considering the old standby, "I don't want to talk about it." He was a little reluctant to discuss this with his dad, but he knew if there was one thing he needed, it was advice. "Well, it kind of has to do with the dream. See, Dusty and I were surfing... or maybe swimming, I'm not sure..." the details of the dream had begun to fade and blur, "... and a wave dumped us on the beach. She landed right on top of me, and she was wearing a bikini, and then I woke up."

"Ah." That was it: just "ah." No "Ah-ha," no "Wow;" just "ah." "And that gets you thinking...?"

Kodi looked away and stared at the clothes going around in the machine. "I just kind of wonder if maybe the others at school are right. Maybe I am missing out."

Silence came from Balto, and for an awful moment Kodi wondered if maybe finally he had said something that actually made his father ashamed of him. Then Balto spoke again.

"I guess some things never change," he said thoughtfully.

Kodi huffed. "That's what you always say."

Balto came over, pulled up a chair, and sat next to him. "You mind if I take a shot in the dark at what 'the guys' are saying?"

Kodi shrugged. "Go ahead."

Balto counted off on his fingers. "They probably don't see the point in waiting..."

"Yeah."

"... and they're surprised that you don't want to at least know what it's like..."

Kodi shifted a little. "Yeah..." he said, more slowly.

"You've probably said some things that were totally innocent, but 'the guys' turned them into dirty jokes..."

"Right again," Kodi admitted.

"And if your peers are anything like mine, you've probably had your honesty and/or your sexuality questioned."

"What?!" Kodi whipped his head around at his father. "Say that again?"

"I said... never mind. I guess you haven't been hit with that one yet."

Kodi frowned. "No, but thanks for the cheerful thought."

Balto shrugged. "Maybe the schools are getting better. Did I miss anything?"

Kodi fidgeted again. "There was a remark about locking me and Dusty in a room and not letting us out until..." he trailed off. "You know what? Never..."

"I get the picture." Balto raised a hand, not looking at all happy. "I take it back; I didn't get that one until college." After a pause, he added, "Son, you should know that your mother and I are very proud of you for choosing to do things right."

"I know," Kodi sighed. "I just wish I could get it over with, you know?"

Balto thought for a minute. "Wait here," he told Kodi. "I've got something to show you."

He left the laundry room, then crossed paths with Jenna, who was fixing coffee.

"I'll be in the laundry room," he told her. With a "You know what I mean" tone, he added, "I realized it's been a while since Kodi and I had a good storytime."

"What story is it this time?" she asked, though she knew Balto would fill her in on the conversation later if it was important.

He smiled. "Ours."

When Balto came back, he had an old book in his hands. Kodi could tell at once, just by the scent, that it was old but well cared-for. The sight of a book didn't surprise him; scrap books and photo albums were almost as standard in their house as lightbulbs. Since Balto had grown up with only scant memories of his own parents, he was determined that his own posterity never have the same void. Kodi remembered the last time Uncle Boris had stopped by, when Balto had shown him the summer camp shots recently added to Kodi's own personal archive. However, he couldn't recall ever seeing the red, faux leather cover before.

"Which one is this?" Kodi wanted to know.

Balto sat down and opened it across his knees. "Well, it doesn't really have a title, but it's more or less about your mother and me."

Kodi looked on as Balto opened to a page marked, "First Date" in Jenna's flowing script. "You were taking pictures back then?" he asked.

"Not exactly," Balto admitted. "Around the time we got engaged, Uncle Boris said we should reenact some of our earlier moments – same places, same clothes, all that. I have to admit, it was kind of fun."

"Uh-huh." Kodi's eyes fell on a snapshot of Balto sitting on Grandpa Watson's couch across from Grandpa – well, not Grandpa back then – who sat calmly in his usual chair tinkering with some kind of long object. "What's that Grandpa's working on?" he asked.

"Uh..." Balto coughed. "That would be a rifle."

The look on Kodi's face was indescribable. "You're joking."

"No, no I'm not. He really did work on a rifle while I was waiting to pick Jenna up for our first date – but that wasn't the part I was looking to show you. This is." He pointed to a piece of paper, creased nearly in half, in the corner of the page opposite the rifle photo.

Kodi perused the hand-written paper. "A list of rules?" he asked.

"He gave that to me that evening too."

The red husky shook his head. "I thought lists like this only appeared on T-shirts."

Balto laughed. "Well, let's just say I think I know who came up with those shirts. Anyway, he gave me that list, told me to put it someplace where I wouldn't lose it, and asked me every time I took Jenna out if I still had it."

Admittedly, the rules didn't seem too draconian to Kodi. On the other hand, it was hard to find one that his classmates wouldn't consider downright ridiculous. "Did you actually follow all of these?"

"We did, and it wasn't much more popular then than I'm guessing it is now. Doing things right is hardly ever easy."

Kodi shook his head. Even basic stuff like not sleeping together had made him and Dusty a laughing stock already. He didn't even want to think about what his peers would say if he tried to live by the whole list, and he said so.

"I'm not saying you have to live by the whole thing to the letter," Balto replied, "although I'd have a hard time finding anything in there that didn't benefit me when it was my turn. We've done our best to raise you into someone who can make the right decision with as few rules as possible. We can't tell you what to do your whole life."

The words "make the right decision" brought a knot of worry to Kodi's stomach. He knew well enough that being responsible for his own choices could be a lot less fun than it sounded. "So it's up to me and Dusty whether we kiss or not?" he ventured, noting that this was one of the "don't"s on the paper.

"Yeah, pretty much." Balto's face took on a slightly worried expression. "Have you...?"

"No," Kodi replied, though he would have been lying if he'd said he'd never thought about it. "Not yet."

"Well, just because Jenna and I followed that rule doesn't mean you have to – although it did make things more interesting when we finally-"

Kodi cleared his throat.

"Sorry. Listen, before I say something that embarrasses us both, let me just point you to something towards the end." He leafed through the pages past more pictures, some of them bearing meanings Kodi couldn't begin to guess at. "Ah, here it is." Balto pointed to another copy of the list. This one, however, had been torn down the middle.

"Did you rip it?" asked Kodi.

"No. Your grandfather gave me that copy the day Jenna and I got married. He said now he only wanted me to follow two rules."

Kodi looked up from the page questioningly. Balto just smiled. "Turn the page over."

The page, as it turned out, was transparent; both pieces of paper had been laminated. On the other side, Kodi found writing on the backs of the torn pieces:

I trust you now.

Take good care of her.

"See, son," Balto explained, "your classmates and Dusty's might be having a good time now, but unless they start using their heads they'll never get to enjoy that." He pointed to the two rules, and the wedding shots on the next page. "I got to that point because I proved myself to him – and I'll admit, it wasn't easy." His right hand strayed up to the back of his head; the site, as Kodi knew, of recurring headaches. "In fact, some of it I hope you never have to deal with. The point, though, is that what I've got now was worth the whole wait: a family I can be proud of, a beautiful wife, in-laws who trust and respect me... and under all of that, a clean conscience. I didn't have to drag a lot of dirty laundry into married life or parenthood – and I pray every night that you never do either."

A knock sounded at the door. "You almost done in there?" came Jenna's voice. "There's too much breakfast out here for me to handle alone."

Balto laughed. "I forgot to mention her cooking." He patted Kodi on the back. "You good, son?"

Kodi flipped the page back over and studied the rules. "Yeah, I'm good," he agreed, closing the book and getting up. As Balto reached for the doorknob, he added, "Dad?"

"Hm?" Balto turned, and wasn't particularly surprised as Kodi drew him into a hug.

"Thanks."

The wolf-dog smiled and patted his son on the back. "Anytime, Kodi. Anytime."

And thus we conclude another chapter of "What's Love Anyway?" In case anyone's wondering, I'd have to say that yes, some elements in the chapter were pretty extreme for me. I hope, however, that my readers will be sufficiently inspired and edified to justify that.  My ultimate intention was to show Balto coaching Kodi through some aspects of life which, I think, a lot of guys struggle to handle (or if they don't struggle, it's because they've gotten all the wrong directions and are following them at top speed).

Please read and review! If you have any suggestions for later chapters, don't hesitate to ask.

btw, it may be quite a while before the next update; I have no definite plans for this project until Christmas at this time. Please take the time to check out some of my other projects, and stay tuned for more of White Legend Reborn and a new Zootopia fanfic called "Something Stinks."