"Steele's lying! Balto's alive… and he's coming home…" Jenna stated; grabbing her bandanna up off the floor and running past Steele and out of the large boiler room.
Looking back behind himself, Steele took notice of the other dogs reaction to Jenna's sudden reaction to the news of Balto and the sled team's demise and quickly thought of something to say to remedy the awkward situation. "Well, ya know, she needs a little time."
The other dogs all nodded in agreement and dropped any hint of doubt in Steele's story, seeing Jenna as being overly emotional and, as Steele said, needing a little time.
After about a minute of silence, and Steele finally sitting down and relaxing next to one of the lit boilers in the room to warm up after his long trek back to the small town of Nome; one of Jenna's friends Sylvie spoke, addressing no one in particular.
"I feel bad for her. Jenna has such a good heart and doesn't deserve to be surrounded by all this loss." Sylvie said sadly.
"I can understand her being upset about her girl, but to care so much about Balto? I have no clue why she's so concerned about him." One of the dogs in the crowd said stoically.
"She doesn't care about that wolf dog!" Steele spat out as he nawed on a bone.
The other dog chuckled lightly."Seriously Steele? She just sat her and denied his death; not the teams, his death. Seems to me she feels something for the mutt."
Steele growled and stood up, looking the other dog in the eye. "Jenna does not have any feelings for that mutt and is just upset because she doesn't want anything to happen to her girl."
"Whatever you say Steele." the other dog said with a smirk.
"I'll prove it to you! I'll go find her and talk to her." Steele said as he began to walk towards the door.
"Come back soon Steele! We'd still like you to tell us all about what happened!" Another dog in the crowd yelled.
Steele ignored the other dogs and walked out into the cold Alaskan winter. He began to walk towards the hospital where he guessed Jenna would be watching over Rosy but to his surprise, Jenna rounded the corner just ahead of him and was dragging a lantern in her mouth. Steele quickly put on his best smile, stood up straight, and curled his tail over his back to look as elegant as possible as he walked up beside her.
Jenna looked over to him and groaned, trying to walk a little faster as to not have to listen to Steele's babbling but she knew he could easily keep up with her and that it really would not do her any good.
"Jenna where are you going with that? May I help?" Steele asked with a big fang filled grin.
"Nowhere Steele." Jenna mumbled.
Steele quickly went from walking beside her to stepping in front of her and putting his paw out to stop her. Jenna, seeing as it was no use trying to ignore the arrogant husky, placed the lantern on the ground and looked Steele in the eye with a stern face.
"What do you want Steele?" Jenna asked plainly.
Steele grinned and wrapped his tail around his legs as he sat down in front of Jenna, still seeming to tower over her even though she was still standing. "You seem to be stressed and look like you could use some company so I simply thought perhaps I could help with that."
Jenna sighed in annoyance and sat down saying nothing; she had a feeling this might take a while.
"Oh c'mon Jen', I'm not here to try and convince you to go back in there with everyone, just come hang out with me for a little while. We could go somewhere private and just cuddle. Doesn't that sound nice?"
Jenna rolled her eyes. "No Steele it doesn't sound nice."
Steele smirked slightly, stood up, and walked over to Jenna's right side, sat next to her and wrapped his bushy tail around her back, getting as close to her as possible. "C'mon Jenna it's awfully cold out here, doesn't cuddling up to a nice warm dog like me sound nice?" He cooed.
Jenna quickly stood up and looked at Steele with disgust. She quickly went to grab her lantern when Steele moved back in front of her, blocking her from the lantern.
"Leave me alone Steele I am not in the mood for your cat calling." Jenna said sternly.
"What is it Jenna? What is it that you don't see in me that it seems every other girl in this town seems to see? If this was Dixie I was trying to ask out on a date she would have a heart attack from the excitement!" Steele said angrily.
"I'm not Dixie Steele. Why don't you go ask her out, huh? You just said how much she'd love to go on a date with her so why don't you go harass her?!" Jenna angrily shot back.
"Because Jenna I don't want Dixie, I want you!" Steele said; almost desperately.
"Well I'm sorry to inform you Steele but unlike Dixie, I don't have the desire to have your dick in me!" Jenna yelled furiously.
Steele was shocked. Jenna was always a very calm and well spoken dog who never seemed to raise her voice or utter any fowl word and yet here she was angrily yelling at him. For a moment, Steele thought that perhaps he really was beating a dead horse but then quickly remembered that Jenna was going through a lot right now and she couldn't possibly mean what she was saying, he was Steele afterall!
Steele sighed and looked off to his left away from Jenna and spoke in a calm, almost friendly tone. "Jenna I'm sorry. You're going through a lot right now and I completely understand that. What's going on with your girl is completely unfair and the team's death is just yet another tragedy we have to deal with, but Jenna let me make you feel better. We don't have to go have sex if you don't want to, we can just go sit and talk if that's what you want. Come cry on my shoulder, let me tell you racing stories! Anything to make you happier."
Jenna stared directly at Steele who now was looking back at her. She was absolutely disgusted with this dog. Not only did he have the audacity to just ask to go "cuddle up", but he then had the nerve to try and play on her emotions to get her to submit to him. She had told him in the past about how she thought he was being arrogant but after what he had just tried to do with her, she was gonna go all the way.
Jenna slowly walked up to Steele. She got as close as she could to his nose without making contact. Steele stared with a false kindness into her brown eyes, thinking that she was about to kiss him.
"You are nothing but a vain, heartless dog who cares about nothing than furthering your own agenda. You only want what you want and can't handle being told no. I hate you." Jenna spat out through gritted teeth directly in Steele's face. Jenna then backed up off of Steele and turned around ready to walk away.
Steele said nothing for a moment allowing her to get about ten feet away before he called back out to her. "You know Jenna, I don't get you. You walk around with that mutt acting like he's the best thing on the planet and yet he has done nothing for you or this town. I risked my life to get that medicine here and nearly didn't make it. I regularly run the mail and other freight doing an actual service for this place while he just steals food off of us. So I'm sorry that I maybe wanted a little something in return. And I'm sorry that I like you."
Jenna stopped and without turning around to face him spoke. "I don't know who hurt you Steele. I don't know what it is that makes you hate Balto with all your heart. Whatever it is though, I think you need to admit it Steele. Admit that the problem is with you and not me, and not Balto. He may not have a job to do for the town like you do but unlike you, he doesn't expect anything in return for his action except perhaps a little acceptance for who he is."
Steele said nothing and just walked over to Jenna who still refused to look at him and after coming up on her left, she simply looked to her right and continued talking.
"I think he scares you Steele. Something about him threatens you and you need to learn that he isn't out to get anyone." Jenna finished.
"What are you talking about?" Steele asked in a sarcastic tone.
Jenna quickly whipped her head around to face him finally; hatred burning in her pupils. "Balto isn't the one who attacked your father Steele. Balto is not the reason your father was mauled to death. Not every wolf out there is a bloodthirsty savage like the one who killed your father. Balto is the same age as you and I and was only a puppy like you when your father died. Stop projecting your hate for the wolf who killed him on Balto and just move on."
Jenna then went to run off when Steele jumped in front of her and angrily looked into her eyes. "I have moved on. That wolf dog is dead and there's nothing you can do about it." Steele spat out.
Jenna sighed and started to walk around Steele who seemed glued to the spot except for his eyes and head that followed Jenna as she walked. "I feel bad for you Steele. You have everything you could ever want, you haven't experienced any true hardship since that unfortunate event. You've always been surrounded by adoring fans, and one day Steele, they aren't going to be there, and you're going to have to learn the hard way how it feels for Balto everyday because of what you do to him."
With that, Jenna picked up the lantern from behind Steele who never once looked away from her until she was out of sight. For a moment, Steele continued to look in the direction she walked and even thought about what she had said. He quickly shrugged off her words however, relaxed his tense muscles, and smirked; She just needs a little time.