Hi all! I just figured I'd do a little one-shot to say happy birthday to the man who gave us the adorable Louis the Molehog: Josh Gad! Hoping that you like this, but it won't turn into anything more than a celebration of Louis's birthday. Got that? Okay. :) And if you're wondering, yes, I am planning to do something for each of the characters birthdays, except for maybe Granny, unless you guys have any ideas. The only one I have so far is something where she goes to visit Precious, but I don't know how to go about that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age!

Louis rubbed his eyes sleepily as he sat up, wondering why he had woken up so early. Then he remembered; it was his birthday! Grinning, Louis leapt out of bed and hurried through to the family room, expecting a warm cheer of "Happy Birthday!" that he usually got, but instead he found that nobody was there. Confused, he searched the rest of the burrow, and came to the conclusion that no-one was home.

"That's odd.." he muttered to himself, but shrugged "I'm sure they had something to do. I might as well go see Peaches, I'm sure she'll be happy to see me."

He climbed out of the burrow and tunnelled towards the large oak tree where the herd hung out. To his surprise, Shira was the only one there. She was lying in the shade of the tree's biggest branch, seemingly not noticing Louis's presence.

"Uhm... Miss Shira?" he called tentatively. Shira's ears pricked up suddenly, and she opened one eye to see who it was.

"Oh, hey Wiener," she said casually, closing her eye again and resting her head on her paws.

"D-do you, uhm... know where Peaches is?"

"Nope," she replied, without even looking up.

"Oh... okay then..." Louis backed away from the silver sabre cautiously, afraid of her too-cool-to-care attitude, before tunnelling away. Maybe she just doesn't know it's my birthday, he thought to himself, Yeah, that'll be it. If she knew she wouldn't have ignored me... would she?


Diego was sprawled across a big rock, basking in the sunlight, while Sid stood beside him, bugging him about something-or-other. Louis accidentally crashed into the rock Diego was lying on, hurting his head and disturbing the sabre.

"What the- oh, right, it's Wiener."

Louis sighed, thoroughly annoyed with so many people calling him Wiener on his birthday, but didn't say anything as he didn't want to get on the wrong side of another sabre, considering Shira seemed ticked off with him for something.

"Hi Mr. Diego, Mr. Sid," Louis politely regarded the sloth and sabre.

"Hey Lou-I mean, Wiener," Sid quickly corrected himself. Louis looked puzzled, as Sid had obviously called him Wiener entirely on purpose. He'd been about to say Louis, but he forced himself to say Wiener! What the heck?!

"Sorry about that Mr. Diego," apologised Louis "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Clearly," said Diego rudely, turning away from the molehog and sloth. Louis sighed, wondering why everyone was being so rude to him that day.

"Uhm... do either of you know where Peaches is?" he asked hopefully.

"No idea," replied Sid, while Diego just shook his head.

"Oh okay..." Louis slowly burrowed away, disappointed. Once he was out of sight, Diego and Sid turned to each-other and high-fived.


Up in two parrell trees, two possum brothers sat, each unknown to the other, armed with reeds. They had small stones in the reeds, and they both had a target in sight. Louis had stopped tunnelling after a while, as he was feeling too down to enjoy his favourite hobby. He was now walking along the trail, sighing dejectedly every few steps.

Crash and Eddie both readied themselves before firing at the poor molehog. Louis cried out in pain as he was pelted with the small stones, while the possum brothers laughed hysterically. Both fell from their tree perchs they were laughing so hard, but Louis thought they thoroughly deserved it. He stood there with his arms folded, tapping one foot impatiently, which gave the possums yet another laughing fit.

"Why did you guys pelt me with rocks?" demanded Louis, trying to find the courage he had when he stood up to Gutt.

"Oh well," both possums stopped speaking and looked at each-other, then back at Louis. "Oops..." they said simultaneously.

"I thought you were Crash," said Eddie.

"I thought you were Eddie," said Crash. Then they both came to the same conclusion.

"It's YOUR fault, Wiener!" they yelled at Louis, pointing at him unfairly "If you hadn't of been above ground we wouldn't have thought you weren't you!"

Louis was very annoyed, if not a little confused, by their accusation, but didn't say anything, as they were Peaches's family and Peaches was his friend. Instead, he dug a hole into the ground and tunnelled off, missing his mammoth friend more than anything. Once he was gone, Crash and Eddie both broke down laughing.

"You were great, bro!" laughed Eddie.

"So were you!" insisted Crash.

"The plan's working perfectly!"

"Yep!"

"Let's just hope Peaches doesn't screw it up."


Peaches, Steffie, Katie and Meghan were all hanging out together in a flowery clearing, chatting about nothing in particular, just gossiping. Peaches had a lilac flower behind one ear, and was acting just like the other mammoth girls. Louis tunnelled up, grateful that he finally found his friend.

"Peaches!" he called excitedly, clambering out of the dirt "Hey! I've been looking for you!"

Peaches looked confused for a second, then looked down and spotted Louis. "Oh, hey Weiner. You were looking for me?"

"Uhm, yeah..." Louis trailed off, shocked that Peaches of all people had called him Weiner. She knew it was his birthday, she must know, so why was she being mean to him? Putting that aside, Louis decided to focus on the fact that Peaches was his best friend, and was probably just distratced at the moment because she was with the other mammoths.

"So... whaddaya want?" she asked, hinting at him to continue.

"Well, uhm... I was just thinking that, we could, er, hang out, or something," Louis managed to say. Wow, since when is talking to Peaches so hard?, he thought, rubbing the back of his head nervously, out of sheer embarressment. He could feel himself blushing; he hated it when he blushed.

"Uhm..." Peaches seemed kind of awkward all of a sudden "Maybe later Louie, I'm hanging with the girls right now."

"Uh, okay. I guess I'll see you later... maybe..." Louis jumped back into the ground and burrowed away. Louie?, he thought to himself, No-one calls me Louie! Was that supposed to be like, a nickname, or did she genuinely get my name wrong? ...What am I thinking? Of course it was a nickname! Peaches would never get my name wrong! At least, I don't think so... then again, I never thought she'd call me 'Weiner' either... I'm so confused!


In a clearing not so far from where Louis was tunnelling, the entire herd, plus Louis's family, were running around putting finishing touches on their handywork. Suddenly, Peaches swung into the clearing, travelling in the trees of course, with the mammoth teens following her.

"Hey guys," she greeted them "Anything I can do?"

"Yes, help Sid with the decorations, and make sure he doesn't fall or break anything," instructed Shira, before running off again to do whatever job she was supposed to be doing.

"What about us?" asked Katie.

"Could you organise the present table?" Ellie smiled at them, she was less stressed than Shira, who was desperate to make a good impression, as she'd only recently joined the herd. The mammoth teens nodded and hurried over to the large log, which was being used as a table of some sort. Louis's family were tunnelling about making sure everything was perfect for Louis's birthday.

Crash and Eddie were, with the help of Louis's brother and sister, Matt and Cara, hanging a banner that read "Happy Birthday Louis!" in various berry juices, with decorative flowers and plants pinned around the letters and in the corners. The banner itself was several giant leaves sewn together with thin yet sturdy vines.

Diego was working with Shira and a couple of Louis's cousins to create a party game where the player throws rotten fruit and muddy rocks at an image of Gutt that was carved on a tree-trunk. They'd coloured it with berry juices, but it wasn't particularly accurate, of course. Turns out, some of Louis's relatives had large talent in the culinary arts, and with the help of Ellie, had made some delicious party foods and decorated a lovely cake (or the Ice Age substitute for one, at least).

Manny was on Louis Lookout, so that he could alert the extended herd when the little molehog would arrive. Suddenly, he spotted a dirt trail approaching.

"Quick! He's coming!" he hissed, hurrying over to the others. Everyone raced to their assigned place, but they didn't hide. They just waited. Louis tunnelled right into the clearing, but he didn't realise there was anyone there.

"Hey Louis!" called Ellie, deciding he wasn't going to come out on his own.

"Yeah?" he asked, climbing out of his tunnel.

"SURPRISE!" yelled everyone. Louis's eyes almost popped out of his head; they'd thrown a party for him?!

"Happy birthday Louis!" exclaimed Peaches, running over and hugging him with her trunk. Then all the others came forward and group-hugged, even the sabres. Louis couldn't of been happier, everyone he loved had gathered together to give him a fun time. He honestly couldn't believe it. They gave him a quick tour of the party, showing him the presents table, the games (he especially loved the one where you throw rotten fruit at Gutt), and then apologised to him, much to his surprise.

Every single member of his family and the herd gave him a heartfelt apology for isolating themselves from him on his birthday. Louis blushed, as usual becoming awkward in the centre of attention. But he put up with it anyway, knowing they were all trying to give him a happy time.

"So, why such a big deal?" he asked "I mean, I know you guys like to celebrate my birthday as a big deal, what with me being the runt of the litter as such, but why are you guys making so much of a fuss this year?"

His mother, Janet, smiled. "Well, we heard about your brave deed against Gutt, and we figured you deserved a much bigger party this year than usual."

"Well, thanks!" Louis grinned "Thanks so much, all of you! I love you guys."

There was a chorus of "Love you too, Louis!" and two calls of "Gross, Weiner!" from a pair of possum twins. Ignoring the slightly negative comments, Louis savoured the love and kindness of everybody, even Steffie, Katie and Meghan, whom he didn't think he was very close to. He was especially surprised when, as he was watching Peaches throw rotten fruit at Captain Gutt, he felt a gentle nuzzle.

"Shira?" he asked, confused that the sabre had actually shown him a friendly gesture "Why did you-"

"To say thanks," she interrupted him "For helping get rid of Gutt back then. You really helped me out, I owe you big time, Louis."

His ears pricked up. "Louis? You didn't call me Weiner?"

"No, of course not," Shira looked confused "Why would I?"

Realising that she knew nothing of his embarressing nickname, Louis grinned. "No reason, it's just a lot of people do."

"Well, those people are jerks."

"Uhm... those people are Crash and Eddie," Louis informed her. Just then, as the possums were fighting over a rotten mango, trying to decided who would get to through it at the image of Gutt, one of them let go, causing the other to fall backwards and throw the mango. It hit an unsuspecting Shira in the shoulder, and oozed down her silver coat, probably staining it. Louis awaited her reaction, but she all she did was take a sharp intake of breath and bite her lower lip slightly.

"I don't see how there's any difference between those two miscreants and jerks," commented Shira, barely able to talk properly from holding in her rage "Now, if you'll excuse me Louis, I hate to leave your party but I have to go wash this gunk off or my coat will permantely be dyed rotten mango colour."

Louis nodded, and bid the sabre goodbye. He didn't want anyone to leave, but she'd promised she'd ccome back soon, and he was pretty sure she would. It was a great party, and he actually felt he could trust her, which confused him, as mere months ago they had been deadly enemies. He'd stood there, watching Peaches being captured, visually assessed the crew and decided which ones would be easiest to take out; trying to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. He'd pegged Shira as an easy target, because even though she was a sabretooth tiger like Diego, she was weak and limping badly.

But now, he was more than glad to have her around, and he'd realised that she was actually quite nice, aside from a few old pirate habits that hadn't fully died away yet. Y'know, at first, he'd had doubts about everybody in the herd, but over time, he'd discovered he liked Sid's stupidity, he liked the possums' tricks (so long as they weren't on him!), he liked how overprotective Manny was over Peaches, Ellie's quirkiness and her habit of hanging upside down, Diego's harshness, and, most importantly, Peaches' sense of rebellion, and her somewhat frightening transportation method of swinging in the trees.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Steffie and the other mammoths as they approached.

"Hey Louis," greeted Steffie kindly, a somewhat pleasant tone to her voice. Louis was kind of confused, as he'd never been very tight with the mammoth teens, except Peaches, but he wasn't about to question it.

"Hey Steffie, Katie, Meghan," he replied, waving shyly.

"Dude, ya forgot us!" came Ethan's voice from behind him. Louis turned around, and was shocked to see Ethan and the rest of the Brat Pack standing behind him, Ethan holding out his trunk for a paw/trunk-bump.

"Oh, right. Didn't see ya there, sorry," explained Louis, gently bumping his paw against Ethan's trunk.

"Hey, hey!" Peaches called as she walked up to the group "How's everything going?"

Louis smiled. "Good, thanks Peaches."

"Well, if there's nothing up, then come join the party!" Peaches gestured to the crowd "It's present time!"

Louis was about to agree and run over, but then he remembered Shira. "Oh wait, what about Shira? She left a couple of minutes ago, Crash and Eddie got rotten fruit on her pelt."

"Oh well..." Peaches swept her hair out of her eyes "Do you want to wait for her? Or-"

"We're waiting," interrupted Louis firmly. Peaches nodded, but led him back over to the presents table anyway. Shira came back as soon as she'd got the disgusting mess off her fur, and became thoroughly embarressed when she discovered Louis had made them all wait for her. She thanked him, and quietly slid into her place beside Diego, who nuzzled her.

Then, Louis began to open his presents. He got so much more stuff than he expected, including a leaf memebership pass to Ethan's clique, making it official, and was overall pleased with everything. Among his favourites were: a rough wall carving of him and Peaches with "Best Friends" scratched underneath from Peaches, a thin vine necklace with a chip of one of Gutt's good teeth from Shira (she'd asked Peaches for ideas, and as she'd recently uncovered the body Peaches thought it was a good idea) and a homemade prank set from Crash and Eddie (only with a minimum number of pranks, though).


When he got home that night, Louis curled up in his bed of leaves and stared at the ceiling. His entire family was staying in the area, as the journey back to their actual homes would take too long at that time of night. Suddenly, he heard a faint knocking on the wall, and grinned.

"Hey Matt, Cara," he waved his cousins inside "Come on in."

His two cousins entered the room, Cara with her hair done up in a bun, showing that she was about to go to bed. Louis patted the space beside him on the bed, signalling for them to sit down. They did, and he propped himself up on his elbows.

"So, what's up?" he asked. Matt shrugged, as did Cara.

"Nothing really, just felt like a chat," Matt replied, to which Cara nodded. She rarely spoke, especially not in front of anyone other than her brother and Louis, mostly just whispering what she wanted to say into her brother's ear, or Louis's when she was with him. Louis and Matt talked for a while, Cara occasionally saying the odd little sentence, until they heard the adults getting ready to go to sleep. After bidding Louis goodnight, Matt and Cara hurriedly left and returned to their own beds.

Louis stared at the ceiling for a while longer, pondering the events of the day. Only one thought lingered on his mind:

Best day of my life!

With a grin stretched across his face, as he drifted off to sleep.

Okay so, what didja think? Like? Dislike? Anything else? Oh, and Happy Birthday to Josh Gad! :)

Anyways, thanks for reading and please review! :D