Enjoy! Still don't own Ice Age.

Squint's eyes slowly fluttered opened, although his vision was blurry and unclear, his eyes unfocused. His breathing light and kind of shallow, he noticed he didn't detect salt in the air. "Wh-Where am I?" his voice was a bit hoarse. He tried to sit up, but something warm pressed against his chest, holding him down.

"Don't move." A sweet, gentle voice drifted through the air. It sounded the tiniest bit familiar, but he had absolutely no idea where. He was too dizzy to try and think of where he may have heard it before. "I don't want you to hurt yourself more."

"Where am I?" he repeated weakly, letting his head fall back on the soft bed he was on as his vision slowly cleared. He found himself looking at the ceiling of a dirt cave, a few roots snaking around, and multiple shelves fashioned on the sides. He looked over and saw the face of a softy smiling mammoth, her bright green eyes filled with gentle love.

He knew that face, alright. It was the mammoth girl they'd kidnapped to get back at her father, Manny, he believed. He felt anger bubble in his veins at the thought of him, he'd sunk his home and ruined his life. Being a pirate was everything to him, even if it wasn't the… safest environment. Having to face tidal waves and large sea creatures on a daily basis was dangerous, sure, but to him, it was excitement, something he craved often. How dare they take him captive after having taken everything away from him?

"You!" he exclaimed, jumping up. His head suddenly filled with pain, and the room began spinning. His legs gave way, and Peaches was quick to catch him.

"Careful!" she exclaimed. "I don't want you to hurt yourself!"

He weakly glared up at her, but it was halfhearted, considering his head felt like it was spinning like a top. "You helped me, didn't you? When Raz threw me?"

She nodded, sitting him back down on his bed. "Why?" he asked, his voice holding nothing but pure curiosity, despite the anger that was still coursing through his body.

She turned to their rock table and grabbed a small part of the melon. "Hungry?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she handed it to him. He stared skeptically at it. "We're not trying to poison you." She reassured him. He still stared at it with disbelief and suspicion. "Fine, if you don't believe me…" she picked a piece of it off and ate it with confidence. "See? It's fine."

He sighed heavily and took a bite, despite his instincts screaming at him for being an idiot and eating the food of his enemy, but he hadn't eaten in days. He, Raz, and Gupta had somehow survived the boat crash a few years ago, and had been drifting around on a small piece of ice just big enough for them to all comfortably lay down on. Then, they'd been hit with a huge storm and had lost all the fruit they'd collected (which wasn't much), and had been searching for somewhere to dock for the last few days. He was starving.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. "What is this?" he asked.

"Melon." Peaches answered simply. She paused for a moment upon seeing his slightly confused face. "You've never had melon before?"

He shook his head with a curt "No." they may have helped him and gave him food, but she was still the enemy, and he didn't plan on making small talk with her. As soon as she was gone, he was out of there. He needed to find his teammates, make sure they were alright so they could work on revenge. They had ruined their home after all.

"Hey, um, I know this is sudden, but… are you still mad? About before?" she asked hesitantly.

'Gee, ya think?' he wanted to snap, but for some reason, he didn't feel like yelling. Maybe it was because of the slowly dulling ache in his head. He just kept quiet, not wanting to talk more than necessary, and he didn't trust himself to attack her, despite his knife being gone, which he noticed with carefully hidden dismay.

"Look, I- I'm sorry about your ship. Daddy didn't mean to, I'm sure. He just wanted to come back to the family." 'Family' he thought bitterly and with distaste. Although he would never admit it, he was a teeny, tiny bit jealous that her father cared about her so much. His parents never had. They'd left him when he was very young. But he didn't have time for self-pity. He was still angry at them for taking away the only home he'd ever known. He wouldn't allow himself such emotions as pity and sorrow. It would only complicate his life further.

Seeing his frowning face, she tilted her head slightly to the side. "What's the matter?"

'Besides the fact that I'm actually having a conversation with a sworn enemy, nothing.' He thought sarcastically.

He just shook his head in answer. She shrugged. "Alright, you don't have to tell me. Anyway, now that you're done" she took the shell of the melon and sat it behind her on the table. "You should probably get some more rest. I think you might have a concussion."

Before he could protest, she picked him up so she could get him to lay down. As much as he hated to say it, or even think it, the warm, although brief, embrace, felt kind of good. But just a little bit. He wanted to protest, but he couldn't bring himself to. "If you won't sleep, at least take it easy and don't move a lot. I don't want it getting worse. Ok?"

He just rolled his eyes irritably. She, assuming that was as close to a yes she was going to get, put him down and covered him up again. "Stay here and don't try moving around. I'm just gonna go check in with my mom and dad. Alright?" he didn't respond, just sat there with his arms crossed. "Ok… I'll be back. Louis" she picked the little molehog up off her head and place him on the ground beside Squint. "Keep him company, would you?"

He nodded with a nervous "Sure."

Smiling, she ruffled the fur on his head. "Good." She patted Squint gently on the head and walked out. Louis turned to the rabbit, unsure. Even if she would be back in less than ten minutes, it would seem like a long time with the tense, anxious atmosphere. 'Oh boy…' Louis thought.

What'd you think? I know, not much action, but I wanted to cover some of Squint's thoughts on this. Ideas? Pointers? Good? Bad? Tell me, I need some guidance.