Diego lay in the herds clearing. He was drifting to sleep when he felt himself being tackled from behind by a small figure. The figure didn't have enough power to actually knock him fully onto his back, but the impact was enough to make him sway to the side. Looking at the figure that was now lay beside him giggling, he smiled. He loved her. A little stripy, grey and black cub with gorgeous light blue eyes. She looked just like her mother, Shira. The little cub was his daughter, their daughter, Kristen.

Kristen looked up at her dad and smiled a toothy smile. Her Sabres were coming through at this point, she was 4 months old now. Diego wanted her to stay this age forever, she was growing up too fast. And although Diego tried not to be, he was worried he'd become just as protective over Kristen as Manny is over Peaches. He never knew what it was like being a father and now that he was, he had a totally new respect for Manny that he hadn't had before. It was difficult for a father not to be protective over his little girl.

However, he was trying. He had promised Shira that he wouldn't become a Sabre-Tooth Manny. Diego held mixed feelings about the night Kristen was born. But we'll get to that in a minute. First... We can focus on when Shira had told Diego she was pregnant. Now that was a shock for the male cat. A really big shock! They'd never spoken about having cubs, but he was glad they did. Now that Kristen was here, he couldn't imagine life without her. He can't understand how Manny must've felt when he got separated from Ellie and Peaches... Let alone loosing his first family completely. Kristen had changed his life for the better. Her and her mother had made him a better Sabre. He was more social, patient (but only a small bit more patient with Sid and the possum brothers), and he was altogether more happy.

Shira's pregnancy was fairly easy on the couple. She experienced little morning sickness, cramps were a problem but they weren't very often, her cravings didn't put any strain on Diego's hunting abilities (Diego made Shira stop hunting the day she showed even a small baby bump). Mood swings... They were the worst thing they dealt with. Shira could go from murderous to happy in a heartbeat. But Diego was patient with her and considerate to what she was going through. Diego remembered the first time he felt the kicks. It was when they were sat talking with the herd in the clearing. Crash and Eddie were leaning against Shira's stomach (much to Diego's annoyance) when they jumped back, eyes wide. They said something moved in her. Diego's paw instantly went to Shira's stomach and that's when he felt it. He felt the cub kicking away at Shira. She said it didn't really hurt, but still flinched every time. In the end Peaches couldn't take it. She rushed over to the sabre female and placed her trunk gently on her stomach and felt the cubs. After 10 minutes of kicking and the herd feeling Shira's stomach, the cubs kicking stopped.

Telling the herd she was pregnant. It went really well. Ellie and Manny both congratulated them, before wishing them luck in the teenage years. Sid started jumping up and down, but stopped when Granny hit him with her cane claiming that Precious was waiting for her to come and feed her. Sid congratulated Diego and Shira before running after Granny. Peaches squealed with excitement at the idea of however many new cousins she would get. Louis was quiet, no change there, and congratulated Shira. He was more nervous around Diego then the ex-pirate. After the Gutt thing, Shira had become quite good friends with Louis. It started when he asked her questions on what life with Gutt was like. He'd only seen Gutt for around 3 hours and hated every minute of it; therefore he wanted to know what life was like with him full-time (apparently it's not much better than what he was like with the herd). Crash and Eddie started planning what adventures and possum tricks they'd teach 'Diego's son'. They were adamant that the cub would be a boy. They were shocked when Kristen was born, but they loved Kristen anyway.

Now... Onto the night of Kristen's birth. When Shira was in labour, no-one was allowed in the cave besides Ellie. Shira didn't want them in there. Especially the sloths and possums. You couldn't really trust them in that sort of situation. Kristen was born during the early morning. Ellie came out holding the little cub in her trunk and Diego's eyes lit up. She looked so much like her mother. Ellie handed the cub to Peaches then went back into the cave. The herd sat looking at the cub for ages. Just looking. Diego couldn't speak through happiness.

Diego felt a small paw digging into his side. He made no movement; pretending he couldn't feel it. Kristen carried on scratching at her father's side until Diego whipped around and pinned her softly to the floor. He began ticking her. Kristen had the cutest laugh. She'd inherited her ticklish nature from Shira. In this moment Diego thought the world was perfect; as if nothing was wrong. After her dad has stopped tickling her, Kristen caught her breath. She wanted to ask her dad something, but didn't know how he'd react to her question. Noticing his daughters anxiety, Diego gently pulled her in front of him and licked her nose. This was how the two always communicated. It was almost to say 'You can tell me anything'.

Taking a deep breath, Kristen looked up at her dad and said,
"Daddy..."
"Yes princess?" Diego looked at her. He started to groom her fur back into place, as during the tickling it had gotten messed up and some blades of grass were caught in it. "What was my mommy like?" This question caused Diego to get a knot stuck in his throat. He now remembered that no matter how much he wanted it to be, his perfect world wasn't perfect. Kristen had a dad, but she had no mom. Not any more.