A/N: I meant NOT to start a new story! I swear...! But I just watched Ice Age 4 and it was so good it gave me some ideas! Diego's always been my favorite character and seeing him get a love interest was really good! So I decided to write a small fanfic about it, along with some backstory I've given him.

The entire thing is probably gonna be from Diego's POV - the first chapter is in it, too - but I might possibly change it later on, if there's a scene Diego's not in, but a scene I want in there.

Sabers don't say 'I love you'.

We say, 'I tolerate you so much, I'll let you live'.

Same with Shira and me.

Yeah…Shira and I. There's no 'us'. There's no 'we'. I can't explain to her what she means to me.

And I'm happy with the fact that there's no 'us'.

Being her friend is enough…for now, anyway.

I was cool with the obvious distance and the avoidance of saying those three little words.

But one day, I noticed Manny and Ellie saying it to each other all the freaking time.

Was it just something couples did? I wondered, but I never actually got an answer to that question, because I was never going to ask it.

Manny would give that irritating little smirk of his.

I still remember a couple weeks ago, when he and Sid were singing spiritedly, "Diego and Shira, sitting in a tree…"

Yeah. Nice guys.

And obviously the picture of maturity.

Anyway, while I toggled between uncertainties about my friendship with Shira, I actually wasn't sure WHAT we were.

If couples did what Manny and Ellie did – get all gooey-eyed and say really softly, "I love you" – then Shira and I were NOT a couple.

We weren't really…anything.

Ok, we're getting off the subject.

I'd never once been told I was loved before. By anyone.

Well… never mind.

Sabers just didn't DO that. Okay, maybe Sid said that to me, once or twice, overcome by the moment, but that was SID.

And sometimes, in the darkness of the night, Ellie would whisper, "Love you, Manny. Love you, Crash, Eddie. Love you, Peaches. Love you, Sid. Love you, Louis. Love you Die—

"Don't," I'd snarl at her, because, like I said before, sabers don't do that kind of thing.

They don't allow themselves to get all emotional like that. They don't allow themselves to be weak.

Ellie would sigh and sometimes even add, "Love you, Shira."

Everyone except Shira and I would chorus back, "Love you, too, Ellie."

Shira never said it back, either. But she let Ellie finish her sentence, at least.

But what was I supposed to say to her? "I love you like Sid loves being an idiot"?

Oh, yeah. That'd go over like a ton of bricks. So scratch that.

Maybe I could say it with a hint of sarcasm, and she'd get that I meant it sincerely.

Wait – why was I worrying about this?

We'd barely known each other two months! If I wasn't careful, I was gonna end up looking like some creepy stalker saber.

But…I couldn't help it. The truth was the truth, and the truth was she distracted me throughout EVERYTHING.

If I was hunting and she came along, it'd cause me to lose what could have been a pretty decent kill.

Either it was her or the effect of being in a herd and not having hunted for a very long time.

I ate smaller, slower stuff nowadays, like rabbits or possums, but those had been ruled out after Crash and Eddie had joined the herd.

But losing a kill was worth every second I was with her, of course.

So why couldn't I say those three little words to her?

Why?

Oh, that's right. I know. Because I HAD said them. Once before. And I HAD been told them. Once before.

I'd been told it by someone other than Sid this time…someone who I'd said it back to.

I closed my golden tiger-eyes against the pain. Because they hadn't meant it. The one person who had told me they loved me hadn't meant it at all.