So this is a small project to help me get back into the writing mood. Just rewatched all of the 'Ice Age' movies and wondered how the herd would have been effected if they hadn't gotten Jr back in time? This is a look into the lives of three bachelor's knocking about in the wild, just with a baby in tow.

Warning: Language, this will be rated T the whole time. Just fluff and stuff, some family problems, angst, but mainly fluff.

They failed. Manny stared out of the cave in disbelief and disappear. This wasn't happening; he didn't want to be a father. He couldn't be! Not again.

"Manny, the little guy is cold." Pulling his gaze from the cave entrance and looked over his shoulder. Diego was sprawled out on a rock near the cave, designated as the 'watch dog' for the night. Even in his state the saber had better hearing then both the Mammoth and Sloth combined. Sid was sitting deeper in the cave with the kid huddled in his hold.

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?" The mammoth raised an eyebrow. Pulling himself around, he lumbered into the cave just big enough for him not to scrape his head against the top. Reaching forward, Manny touched the human, frowning as he felt how cold the skin was. With the kid's leather skin gone after their grand escape, he was just left with the thin material.

"Just give him here." Sid was quiet for once as Manny wrapped his trunk around the kid and picked him up. The somber mood in the cave contributing to silence Manny would have for once found glorious. Now it just made things worse. Now with his hands free once again Sid went back to the pile of stick in front of him.

"What's got your trunk in a twist?" Diego gruffed from his spot on the rock. The mammoth glared before turning his back to the tiger and sloth. Plopping down, he brought the kid closer to the poofy fur around his front. Before long he had the kid all nice and toasty, even earning a few tugs on his trunk fur.

"Why isn't it working?!" Sid whined as he tried again to light the fire. Nothing but sparks coming from the stones.

"It's wet, what else did you expect?" Diego shot back.

"Well excuse me, since when did you become the fire expert? " Sid huffed, throwing down the stones just so he could pick up a stick and break it in half. Promptly putting them into his mouth.

"Oh look at me, if stick wet it no work. I'm so smaaaaart." The saber growled at Sid's impersonation.

"I swear if I wasn't in this much pain right now I would - !"

"STOP IT!" Manfred bellowed, causing all eyes to turn their full attention to the mammoth. That's when the kid decided to start bawling.

"Now you did it. He won't ever shut up now." Diego drawled, ducking his head down and covering his ears with both paws.

"Oh, no. It's okay, it's okay." Sid cooed, getting up and shuffling up to the human and trying to make his signature funny faces. Manfred's eyes lowered, sighing. This wasn't supposed to happen. The kid was supposed to be back with his herd, raised by the one's that understood him. What were they even doing? A Mammoth, a Sloth, and a Saber. True they had grown faun of the kid. He was innocent, sweet, and something that filled his heart back up with that feeling of having a family again.

"Would you two stop it? Jr's trying to sleep here." Sid stopped, looking up at the somber mammal. Even with his back turned to the cat, he could feel the tiger's eyes on him too.

"Sorry, you know…..just tired." Manfred nodded his head in understanding. They all were.

"Yeah, so go to sleep." Settling his head down with binky still wrapped up in his trunk the mammoth tried to rock the little guy to sleep. Just as the kid was settling down and yawning, thank goodness , and look at where a pressure was being applied to his stomach. Sid was leaning against him, smacking his lips and snuggling down. Both hands rested behind his head in the most lazy posture ever.

"You said it Manfred." The sloth grinned before yelping as he was suddenly pushed away with a gigantic hairy foot.

"Not you, get back to the fire. I'm freezing my tail off."

They failed. But as Manny stared at the small bundle of life wrapped protectively in his trunk he couldn't help but wonder. Maybe being part of a herd again, like heck he was raising this kid by himself, wouldn't be so bad? How hard could raising a human child be?

So cute. Leave a reply if you like it. This is a side project so don't expect too much. And make sure to follow for future updates!