(Hey look! I'm back with another fanfic! And I think this one came out even better than the last. This isn't EXACTLY a scene that I imagined happened in Ice Age 3 while Manny and the others were on their adventure, but I see this as sort of a sweet "What-if" scene for Ice Age 3. This story shows a lot more of Scratte's soft side. Because I know she has one. And I'm sure she had her moments of being just as hopelessly in love with Scrat as he was with her. ;D This fanfic, however, was based off an adorable picture one of my close friends made on Deviantart. Who just so happens to be one of the best Scrat/Scratte Artists I know! X3 You can see it as the cover art for this story. Hope you enjoy and leave a Review!)

A small sneeze emerged from the female's tiny nose as a gust of cold wind hit her face. This winter storm seems to only get worse and worse as she travels further away from him. Scratte managed to swipe the acorn away from Scrat, though it was an easy snatch seeing how gullible he acted that time, and a storm crossed her path a few moments after. She needed some place to hide, some place to warm herself up, or at least protect her from the cold. Hopefully this storm won't be able to prevent Scrat from coming this way...after all, in order to win his heart, she needed his nut. Otherwise, he wouldn't bother paying attention to her or even attempt to go after her. Maybe if the acorn wasn't his main focus, he'd be able to consider becoming her mate, though she won't linger on that right now. She needed to find shelter.

As Scratte sniveled up her tiny drop of mucus once more, she pressed onward. Though from the looks or her surroundings, this place is nothing more than a snowy wasteland. No nearby caves, trees, or any tints of green anywhere. Just the seemingly never-ending land of snow accompanied by the large and hard mountainous walls barely next to her. Nowhere to go and nowhere to hide...all she could do was curl up in a tiny ball and hide the acorn behind her tail surrounding her most of her body. Another soft sneeze emerged from her nose. She buried her face into her tail in hopes of keeping herself warm. She tried her best not to whimper with worry and tried to look on the bright side hoping that someone will find her and protect her from the sheer cold. For now, she decided to take a rest until a miracle happens.

Scrat's nose quickly started to run from the constant burying of it in the snow. He'd been able to barely track down the sweet flowery scent Scratte left behind, but this storm caused way too much trouble for his tracking. While his nose is strong enough to still grab the scent of hers, the blowing of the wind and different directions it decides to take makes it hard for Scrat to find it when the sheer cold feeling of it constantly interferes with the scent, causing a completely different scent to blow by. Squeaks and grunts continuously emerged from his voice as he tried to fight against the harsh climate. Of all the times a storm had to come, why now? Why when that two-faced she-squirrel took his acorn away again? At least let it be a time when it's not so important to get it back...that is if the acorn ever WAS unimportant to him.

When he was finally about to give up and let the cold get the best of him, he spotted something. A red, curled up ball. Finally something to come across in this wasteland. Hopefully it was something important. He carefully used his snout to help him crawl his way over to it. For every moment that the snow hit his teeth, a grunt would emerge. It felt painful against his warm teeth, but he had to make his way towards it somehow without causing anymore physical damage to his body.

Scrat managed to finally confront the red ball, and to his shock and excitement, revealed to be Scratte sleeping. The male carefully inspected her, his nose taking another whiff at her scent. Yup. This was definitely her. As he gazed upon her, he felt his heart come to a stop. Her lovely eyelids were softly shut against her white furry cheeks, with quiet snores emerging within each breath she took. Her hands were placed gently along her tail leaving her in a comforting pose surrounding the acorn. She almost looked...cute. That is to say that he didn't think she was already adorable, but he'd never seen her look this innocent before. She looked like a sleeping child that grew tired after a hard day's work. She looked so elegant and soft...he wanted to caress her. He slowly reached out his hand to gently touch her sweet cheek. When it barely grew close to her face, Scratte yawned softly, carefully turning her beautiful body to the other side revealing the acorn.

Scrat's eye's darted open. There it was. He had to make sure she wouldn't wake up. If she did, he knew he could make a run for it and hopefully allow her to loose sight of him. Though things will be easier if he sneaks it away from her. He slowly approached his hand near the stem, trying not to let any squeak come from his nervous voice. As he grabbed the stem, he carefully and steadily slid it out from her tiny hands, hoping she wouldn't be able to feel it's smooth shell rub against her palms. ...It looks like the coast is clear. Suddenly not remembering her presence, a loud yelp of excitement came out from his mouth. Remembering right after, he covered his mouth; a frightened expression on his face as he noticed Scratte slowly get up.

Too afraid to move, Scrat stood there, shivering not from the cold, but from the fear of her noticing him. When his female counterpart's eyes slowly opened, trying to adjust to the windy surroundings, she noticed a pudgy, familiar gray figure in front of her. It was Scrat, smiling nervously at her as he tried to hide the acorn behind his back. Scratte let out a small growl, confronting Scrat. Scrat yelped and began to make a run for it. Though much to his surprise, she wasn't behind him. He quickly looked over his shoulder to notice Scratte weakly sitting in the snow with her arms and tail wrapped around her. More sneezes than usual emerged from her as she softly squeaked within each sneeze. She whimpered as she tried to crawl her way over to him. When her arms began to shake within each step she took, her face fell flat on the snow without a single sound.

Scrat's eyes widened. Is she...faking this? Is this another trick of hers? Is she only doing this to snatch his one and only acorn away from him again? ...No...it...it doesn't seem that way. This weather IS pretty harsh...and it DID manage to almost make him give in...but is she really serious? ...Only one way to find out. He didn't know if he'd regret it later, but he felt as though he absolutely had to help her. Scurrying his way over to her, he dropped the acorn next to him and picked up her body feeling just how cold she truly was. He shook her to try and wake her up, though not a single twitch was shown. Looking around quickly and nervously, he tried to come up with a better way to wake her up. When suddenly, a thought came to his head. An embarrassingthought. It may be sudden, but it was the only logical thing he could think of right now.

He harshly pressed his lips against hers, breathing air into her mouth. His eyes shut tightly from the sudden change of course and action. He could barely taste the inside of her mouth. And for what little amount it was, it tasted quite...sweet. He didn't want to instinctively taste her again though. It would probably offend her knowing her temper. As he continued to blow breaths of air into her mouth, Scratte's eyes slowly opened. When she tried to adapt to what was happening right now, her iris slowly turned to Scrat, her eyes instantly widening at the seemingly passionate action she was receiving. Scratte quickly pulled away, Scrat's lips suddenly feeling something cold instead of warm.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed the shocked expression on his female counterpart. He blushed and quickly turned his head away, feeling just as embarrassed as her. Scratte looked around her, noticing Scrat's hands around her arms, as well as his pudgy belly touching her's. The soft feeling of his scruffy fur ruffled up against her refined coat...felt so soft. Like a warm blanket. Even the feeling of his tiny pink hands against her dark brown arms put her into slight bliss. Without further ado, she carefully nuzzled her head under Scrat's, causing his eyes to widen as well as a confused squeak to come out. She nuzzled the rest of her body against his, feeling a relieving blanket of warmth cross over her body. Scrat nervously looked back at his acorn, hoping that she wasn't trying to lean down and take it from him...but no. She stood completely still against him. He could hear soft purrs emerging from her sweet voice. She nuzzled harder into his fur, ruffling it up against her face.

...Her nuzzle, her embrace, her purrs, her relaxed expression...it created a warm feeling on not only his body, but in his heart as well. The tender feeling of her soft fur against his...he never felt anything like it before. He felt like he was in the soft embrace of clouds from Acorn Heaven all over again. This may not be anything like an acorn, but...even the very touch of her made him feel at ease. He always DID agree that she looked rather soft. The color of her well groomed coat did very well on showing that off...and the way her soft tail swayed against those autumn leaves...

Scratte's tail gently wrapped around Scrat's back, his eyes widening in response. He looked down at Scratte, forcing her to look back at him. A soft, loving smile shined on her beautiful face. She adored this feeling. This feeling of having someone protect her from the sheer cold winter storm. And to make it even better, it was her love protecting her from it. The one she desired to make her mate...him. He slowly reached out his hand and gently embarrassed her cheek, causing her to purr romantically in response. She nuzzled back into his fur, carefully wrapping her arms around his back with her tail covering her tiny hands. Scrat sighed happily with a lovestruck expression. Moments like these are moments to cherish. Moments where Scrat doesn't have to worry about them getting into another fight and letting her take away his prized possession. It was a moment where he could embrace his loved one and show her how much he loved her. Even if the acorn was always on his mind, he mentioned to himself before that he actually wouldn't mind being in a relationship with her. If this is the feeling he get's from her even when he's not in a relationship with her, then he can only imagine how wonderful it must feel if they ever got into him. Though he decided not to worry about that right now... He wrapped his arms around her waist, his tail surrounding the back of her body in the same manner as her. He carefully nuzzled his head over hers, protecting the rest of her with his face.

For the moment they didn't care about the acorn at all. Their minds were too focused on one another's sweet embrace. They knew they'd revert to their old ways as soon as this storm blew over...but they knew they had no other options or places to run to. All they could do was continue to caress each other until the storm was finally over.

And they didn't mind one bit.

(...Alright so MAYBE the ending was a bit...off compared to what probably could've been. But it was the best that I could come up with dammit! DX I hope you enjoyed anyway though. I think I did a better job at writing this than the last one. And I hope you enjoyed it enough to leave a Review! I'll write another story when I feel like it! So until then! ;D)