A/N: whelp, this is my first time doing an Ice Age story, and go figure that it's slash XD. I'm just cool that way. But yeah, first and probably last time writing for Diego and Sid. I think I did a horrible job writing Sid, I'm bad at doing comical characters in serious fanfics. I think I did an alright job on Diego, though. I'm just no good at funny stuff, so lemme know how I did on this.

But yeah, was inspired by Starkiller's Sid/Diego fanfic and just thought I'd give a try at it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age or any of its characters, blahblahblah.

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"Reach Out My Hand"

by: If Wishes Were Blue Skies

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In the dead of night, Diego often wondered about things. When the sun dropped behind the mountain peaks and everyone fell asleep to the fire's glow, he still thought about his life, and how he had ended up where he was. Even though it had been quite some time since he became apart of their unconventional herd, he still quite frequently asked himself how.

He had never known what friendship was, how it felt to truly want to protect someone. He had never felt concern or loyalty, and back in his old pack, your problems were your own. But now if something was troubling him, not only would his other herd members help him with it in any way they could, but they would also be able to pick up on his problems before even telling them anything.

Diego couldn't help but still ask himself every night before falling asleep… how could he gotten to lucky as to come upon the friends he had?

The saber let his gaze drift away from the slowly dying embers of the fire. Manny and Ellie were sleeping side by side, Ellie's mouth hanging slightly open letting soft snores escape. Diego smiled. Ellie had stopped sleeping in trees after the day the flood waters disappeared, the day Manny broke the ice with her. The memory made Diego happy for his friend – another feeling he wasn't entirely used to.

His eyes shifted from the sleeping mammoths to the two possums dangling from a tree branch slightly above Ellie's head; her "brothers", Crash and Eddie. Though the two of them were aggravating most of the time, Diego had grown just as attached to them as everyone else. He still considered them members of their herd.

Diego's gaze averted once more, to the left of him. There, sleeping rather awkwardly atop a stone was Sid. His mouth hung open unattractively, his head hanging upside down, and both arms sprawled out onto the ground. And the tiger wasn't exactly sure whether to call the noises protruding from his large mouth snores or not.

He knew that if he had seen Sid sleeping there like that before the whole incident with the baby, aside from wanting to eat him, he would've thought the animal appalling. But now, though unbeknownst to him, the sloth was the herd member that Diego was the most protective of.

Diego shut his eyes. He didn't like when his thoughts drifted onto the subject of his clumsy, lazy, long-necked comrade. It usually meant that he wasn't going to get much sleep that night.

Sid had always held the top spot on Diego's list, ever since he had grown close to both him and Manny. But he had always thought that it was merely because while Manny had his size and strength to protect him, Sid had nothing at all. If Sid were to get into trouble by himself, chances were good that he wouldn't get back out of it, and that thought often sent tidal waves of worry down Diego's spine. So he found himself looking out for the sloth nearly all of the time. He didn't do it so much as to attract Sid's attention to it, and actually, he made a bit of an effort of making sure Sid didn't notice and begin asking questions that Diego wasn't sure he'd even be able to answer.

And it was when he realized that he wasn't able to even surely tell himself why it was that he looked so closely out for his friend, that… it wasn't just because Sid couldn't defend himself. Even though Manny could fend for himself just fine, Diego worried about him just as much as any friend would, but he knew that the concern he felt for Sid was something much more intense. He knew that, he did…

The saber let out a frustrated growl, almost forgetting that everyone around him was asleep. He started, the hurriedly checked to make sure he hadn't woken any of them up, and was relieved to see that they were all still soundly asleep. And this only made him feel foolish. He could've disturbed one of them from their sleep just because he was brooding over something that was…

Angry with himself, Diego pushed himself up off the ground and silently walked away from his herd members. He figured walking around might help him relax.

He padded his way over to a clearing that was drenched on moonlight, a good few yards away from their campsite. He sat himself down and looked downward at a small stream that was in front of him. He reached out with one paw and let it brush against the flowing water. He continued to hold it there, purely out of boredom, and couldn't help but chuckle at the thought that he wouldn't be going anywhere near the stream a few days ago, but it was thanks to Sid that he had overcome his fear of water.

Despite the awkward situation he knew he was in concerning his friend, he couldn't help but let a smile play upon his features. A soft, genuine smile that he rarely let himself show in front of the others.

Sid had stuck to Diego's problem like it was his own fear that he knew he had to get rid of. Sure, the sloth had teased him a bit for having such a silly phobia, but stubbornly worked to get Diego to overcome his fear. And Diego was thankful for it, as crazy as he thought it seemed. For one, the fear in and of itself was embarrassing, and for another… he was just happy that Sid had cared enough for him to help him with something he knew was bothering him.

The tiger playfully splashed the water with one claw.

"Having fun over here?"

Diego spun his whole body around so fast that the scenery around him was one giant blur for half of a second. And seeing Sid standing there looking at him didn't help his nerves. Things very rarely surprised him since he could hear things from very far away. It came with hunting for your food for his whole life. But he had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the sloth come up behind him.

Sid started to walk over to him. "Jeez Diego, no reason to have a heart attack," he stated jokingly.

Diego tried his best to calm himself down. It certainly had scared him more than anything, but now he had to make sure it didn't look like anything was bothering him, which had been proven to be very difficult around his friends.

Sid had taken to standing next to the tiger and looked out at the valley. It was quiet for quite a while, and Diego almost told Sid that he was going back to the camp and going to sleep, that he had only needed a bit of fresh air. But the sloth then finally decided to speak.

"So whattcha doin' out here, anyway?" he questioned. Diego was hoping he wouldn't ask that, and considered not answering at all and leaving. But then Sid turned his head and looked at the saber next to him, a goofy smile on his face.

Diego replied idly, "Just thinking…" He winced inwardly. "Nothing important." He made a point not to make eye contact with him. He regretted saying what he had, he knew the sloth was just going to bombard him with nosy questions, and most likely wasn't going to let up on him until he told him what it was he was thinking.

Sid sat down, picked up a pebble, and tossed it into the stream. "You do that a lot, don't you?"

Diego, surprised, looked down at his friend. He definitely hadn't expected that, but more importantly, what did he mean? He asked just that. For a moment, the sloth was silent, but then said, "Well it might surprise to know that sloths – though me in particular – have a special way of knowing these things."

Diego almost smiled. Almost being the key word.

Sid nudged him with his elbow. "Come on Diego, crack a smile once in a while. I know even you have a sense of humor."

So the tiger allowed the tiniest of grins to show on his face, half because he wanted to, and half because… well, Sid wanted him to.

The sloth's smile grew wider as he looked on at Diego. "There, see that didn't kill you, now did it?" he asked. Diego just shook his head in response, trying not to laugh. Sid looked back out I front of him.

"If you really wanna know, your little growl a few minutes ago woke me up," Sid stated out of nowhere to the valley. Diego's stomach turned over in a surge of guilt. He truly felt like an idiot, and could only hope that Sid wouldn't question as to why the tiger had growled in the first place.

"So what's up?"

Diego inwardly sighed. He should've known better. But he knew he was in a tight spot now, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He really didn't know hat to say, he obviously couldn't tell him the real reason.

"Well let's see… I guess the reason I'm not even sleeping at this point is because I keep questioning myself what it is that I really feel for you."

Diego wondered just what Sid would do if he actually told him that. But he knew that is was his fear of not knowing exactly what the sloth would do that kept him from saying it. The uncertainty of the situation was what frightened him the most. And all that talk about sabers not being able to feel fear. He knew he was lying about it then, but now it just seemed even more untrue than ever.

"To tell you the truth," Sid spoke, knocking Diego out of his thoughts. "There are some times that I wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, and I notice that you're awake too. And you know, I figure it's too much of a coincidence that you wake up on the same nights I do."

Diego looked down at the top of Sid's head, almost dreading his next words.

"So there must be something that's bothering you enough to keep you awake nearly every night, right?"

The saber was completely taken aback. How long had Sid known about it? And why was it that he had never questioned Diego about it before? Knowing the sloth, he would've poked and probed the issue nonstop until he got the answers he wanted. But there he was, calmly asking Diego what it was that was bothering him, and while everyone else was asleep, too. Diego almost asked him if he was the real Sid.

Diego just looked up at the night sky. "It's nothing," he lied, knowing full well that Sid wouldn't take it as an answer.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be sitting here right now," Sid pointed out. Diego wondered why he tried. He felt the tiniest bit of frustration bubble up inside of him.

"Well aren't you the insightful one tonight," he snapped. "Maybe it's none of your business." And before Diego even finished his sentence, he already regretted saying it. It was pointless to have yelled at his friend, knowing he was just trying to help. He was only being the good friend that he was, and Diego was pushing him away for it.

Sid however, ignored the comment, knowing that Diego hadn't really meant it. The sloth just chose to smile.

For quite some time, the trickling of the stream was the only sound heard in the night air. Diego was shocked that Sid hadn't pushed on the matter any further, it was so unlike him. He continued to look down at his head, the odd colored fur, little black strands going this way and that behind his eyes.

And suddenly, Diego just wanted to talk to him. Tell him about how he still questioned on why it was he was sitting there with him at all.

"Sometimes, I just… wonder, you know?" Diego said thoughtfully, turning his gaze to the stream, idly watching the clear water flow by. Sid looked up at him, half surprised that Diego had started speaking on his own. The tiger continued.

"I always find myself asking how it was that I could've found you and Manny. I mean, most animals go through life doing what they're supposed to, based on thousands of years of instinct and nature, like some kind of cycle. But somehow I found this… perfect life."

Diego was surprised at first at his own words. He had never thought that the life he currently lived was a perfect one, though now that he thought about it, he knew that there was no other word for it. Compared to how nearly all other animals lived, he had a perfect life.

The statement surprised Sid as well. He looked up at his friend. "I used to think about it a lot too," he stated. Diego turned to meet his gaze. "I would sit there and ask myself how I became so lucky as to have ran into Manny that day, then into you, and now Ellie and her brothers. Though I always thought that running into you was one of the best things that's ever happened to me."

Diego tried his hardest to make it look like the statement hadn't surprised him in the least bit.

"Why's that?" he asked, trying to sound uninterested. He could've clawed at himself for getting so worked up over it in the first place.

"Oh well, you know," Sid said almost nervously. He scratched at his head with a little more persistence than necessary. "It's always a good thing to tell the other sloths that I'm friends with a saber-tooth tiger, you know?"

Diego snickered. "Oh, so that's how much I mean to you, is it?" he asked jokingly. Sid blew a raspberry in response. "Now come on, you know that's not true," he told him with a bit more meaning than Diego found comfortable. He shifted slightly and went back to looking at the water in the stream.

Sid was silent for another moment, and then said, "But yeah… I guess after a while I just left it to be, you know? I always thought that when good things happen, you shouldn't question it."

Diego nearly laughed, and Sid noticed him holding it in. He raised an eyebrow at the tiger. "Sid, I think that's the most sensible thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth," Diego stated.

Sid stuck his nose in the air with a 'hmph'. "Well fine, that's the last time I try to be sensitive with you, Mister," he said in a mock-snooty voice. Diego smiled.

"Nah, I… I appreciated it," he said before he could stop himself. Though he was almost glad he had said it. Sid looked up at him.

"Really?"

Diego playfully swung his arm around Sid's neck and pulled him closer.

"Really, ya little goofball."