Author's Notes: Sorry this one took so long guys! (^_^;) Got caught up in some school stuff. But I think you'll be satisfied since it's a bit longer than the previous chapters. Took me FOREVER with this one. Hope it's a hit!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from any of the Ice Age movies. All characters from the Ice Age series are solely the property of copyright Bluesky Studios and Fox Entertainment. I only own the OC. Thank you!

Chapter 4

Diego walked along the path, trying to tune out the arguing voices of Sid and the possums. He had told the others that he would search for the female alone, in case they'd have another altercation, but Manny had insisted that he shouldn't go alone.

"I can handle this myself." Diego had argued at the cave after he'd returned from patrol. "You'll only get in the way, and I can't be worrying about protecting you while you're trying to protect a baby."

"Ellie and Peaches are staying here." When Ellie opened her mouth to argue, Manny fixed her with a glare. "Peaches is still resting. Someone needs to watch her." Ellie nodded in acquiesce.

"I could –" Sid raised up a clawed finger but shrunk back at the glare from all three of the larger mammals.

"Fine." he said huffily. "Then I'm going, too. Someone's gotta be there when you two get into trouble." he stated assuredly, then strutted forward towards the path leading into the forest.

The two possums had then rolled up in front of Diego, popping open to give their say.

"And you'll need us to scope out the area." Crash stated, Eddie giving a confirming, "Uh huh," before both brothers dashed off to stand beside Sid, Diego glaring after them. He turned back to see Manny turning back to look over at Ellie.

"You two will be okay?" he asked, glancing over towards the spot next to the fire where Peaches slumbered deeply.

We'll be fine." she assured him, twining her trunk with his before turning back towards the cave.

"You boys have fun!" she called over her shoulder, the possums calling the same back to her.

Diego looked up at the dark mammoth, his voice edged with exasperation, intending to try one more time to sway his old friend.

"Manny…" he started, but the mammoth had already started towards the path.

"Come on, Diego, it'll be dark soon," he'd called back as he stomped into the trees.

Diego shook his head now at the thought, as he walked at the head of the group, following the almost undetectable trail that he'd finally managed to pick up of the female, the scent getting stronger as they walked on.

The sun had descended completely soon after they'd started out for the saber. Now, with only a sliver of light from the moon breaching through the thick treetops, the small herd traveled close together, Diego's glowing green eyes guiding them through the trees, aided by the two possums who were scouting from the higher vantage point atop Manny's back. Manny squinted into the dark, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, while Sid stumbled over nearly every rock and stick in his path. As Diego heard him trip in yet another dip in the uneven ground, he flinched at the loud sound in such a quiet setting.

"Sid, we'll never find anything if you can't walk quietly." he growled low at the sloth.

"Well sorry, I can't see anything." he slurred, shuffling his feet along the ground so as not to stumble. "Why are we looking for this cat in the dark anyway? Why don't we just wait 'til morning?" he asked aloud.

Manny looked down at him sardonically.

"You wanna take the chance of her coming back while we sleep?" he stared sternly, waiting for his response.

Sid gulped audibly at the thought.

"Yeah, I thought not." Manny turned back to the front of the path as Crash and Eddie snickered down at the sloth.

"Yeah, since you're the easiest target." Crash scorned, bumping fists with his brother, as the sloth made a sound of alarm.

"I doubt it," Diego spoke up from the lead. While he did tend to enjoy the sloth's discomfort, dear would just make the Sid more nervous, and they'd never catch the female by surprise. Trying to alleviate Sid's anxiousness, he continued. "She's most likely found something else by now."

"And if she hasn't?" Eddie ventured.

"Then she'll be resting somewhere, trying to conserve her strength for as long as possible." An uneasy feeling settled over him. Intruder or not, he didn't like the thought of one of his kind suffering from hunger, especially a female. He remembered how strongly she'd fought against him back in the clearing, when she had obviously been so weak.

What he'd said before was true. If she had been desperate enough to entertain the thought of taking down a grown mammoth, she must have been out of her mind with hunger.

And there're no others to hunt for her he thought, his initial apprehension growing. As he'd skirted his territory earlier, he'd found the site where the saber and Peaches had entered the enclosure, surprised to find it a good distance from where the others had come across them. In his mind, this only verified that she had no initial intentions of making a meal of the young mammoth. But he doubted her resolve would've held out much longer.

But he'd found no other scents mixed with hers, and no trace of other predators around the area or along his territory. So she'd either found the strength to hunt for something else after she'd fled them earlier, or she was hiding somewhere waiting for death. He felt a quiet growl ease from his throat.

What the hell was she thinking traveling alone? His brows furrowed as he turned his unexpected – and unwanted – concern into anger. And entering another saber's territory, no less. As the image of her sprawled, unmoving on the cold ground arose in his head, he tried to rid his mind of any concern for the saber, but the idea of the susceptible female suffering lingered in the back of his thoughts.

When he caught the scent of another animal, mixed with the unmistakable odor of blood, he tried to ignore the sense of relief (and pride?) he felt at realizing the female had still managed to find food for herself, even in her condition. His body tensed as he stalked along the path. After noticing his change in demeanor, the others grew quiet, trailing silently behind him.

Nera languidly licked the underside of her paws as she lay out on her side, the hollow feeling in her stomach finally dissolved.

After finally catching her quarry and immediately setting upon it with a ravenous ferocity, she'd filled her belly, then had looked around to find herself in yet another clearing, but this one was completely open to the night sky. Half of it was surrounded by a wall of rock, meaning she would only have to guard her front. The ground was dry and even, so she'd dubbed it a sufficient place to rest for the night, though she normally preferred sleeping up on a boulder or stump.

It'll have to do for tonight she thought with a shrug, in a much better mood now that her immediate need was satisfied.

Just as she was considering attempting to find a sleeping spot against the wall, her ears twitched toward her left, perceiving a slight rustling in the nearby brush. Nera gave a half-hearted growl, intending to frighten off whatever little creature had decided to wander into what was tonight 'her' clearing.

But instead of hearing the scurrying of a small animal, she jerked her head to the side when she spotted the male saber from earlier emerging from between the trees. As she cautiously rose to her feet, she watched the male mammoth and sloth enter directly after, spotting the two possums atop the mammoths back.

She slowly moved away from the rock wall, not wanting to give them the opportunity of trapping her against it.

As she watched the tiger's gaze pass over her, she took the opportunity to do the same. Earlier, she'd realized that she'd mistaken this male for another. Directly after, she'd cursed herself for making such an obvious error. This male's fur was a deeper shade of gold than her own, with the natural brushes of white around his eyes, mouth, paws, and underside. His fangs were longer than hers, typical in their species. His body was clearly masculine, the strong muscles in his legs moving under his skin as he walked. When her stare returned to his face, his eyes were staring straight back, and she saw the most vivid shade of piercing green she'd ever seen. She watched them drift over to her left, nearer the wall, and followed his gaze to the remains of the deer she'd caught. She turned back to raise a patronizing brow at him.

"Another member of your 'pack'?" she stressed the last word, forcing her voice to sound unconcerned with his answer, but silently hoping it wasn't. She didn't need to make another notion against this saber that would get her killed. Even after her hunger was satisfied, her body was still clearly exhausted, though she made a point to keep her body standing rigidly, her chin up.

When he gave her a short "No," she quietly let out a breath as her gaze unconsciously swept over the group again searching for the missing female and baby mammoth. The tiger must have guessed where her thoughts had gone.

"The baby's with her mother, resting." he informed her, his body seeming to somewhat relax.

She cursed herself silently for being so apparent, then the saber stepped toward her.

"You're trespassing," he stated. "This is my turf."

"Really?" Nera raised a brow again, then tilted her head to the side, sarcastically saying, "I would've never guessed from the way you jumped me." She calmly sat back on her haunches, eyes intent.

As the saber furrowed his brows in annoyance, the sloth bravely (or foolishly) stepped ahead of the cat, pointing an accusing claw at her.

"Why did you take Peaches?" he demanded. She assumed 'Peaches' was the baby mammoth.

"Hey, it's not like I was gonna eat her." she defended, then flinched as she remembered her earlier thoughts. "Well," she amended, "I was trying not to. And I didn't!" she pointed out. "Besides, I didn't take her; she approached me."

"Peaches must have thought she was Diego." The mammoth thought aloud.

The sloth boldly swaggered forward until he was directly in front of Nera, his eyes squinting scrutinizing her, then circled around her. "Sid." the saber called warningly. Nera pulled her head back as she regarded the sloth with wide eyes as he studied her intently, a paw stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, they do look similar," he stated obviously, and Nera rolled her eyes, frowning when again he stopped in front of her.

"Hm, her teeth are smaller than Diego's though." he told the others as he daringly tapped one of her protruding fangs. Diego felt a small tug at his lips as he waited to see how she'd react.

"Oh, trust me sloth, they work fine." she assured him as she leaned her head forward again, making him pull his own back. "Wanna see?" she smirked menacingly, baring her threatening teeth at him.

As he yelped and stumbled back to the mammoth's side, Nera leaned back up, her chest out and a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Like her already." said the mammoth in an amused tone.

At that the saber's mouth lifted into a sideways smile, and Nera felt a mirroring tug on her own, until the saber turned back to her.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his bright green eyes studying her closely.

"Just passing through." she replied nonchalantly, making her eyes appear bored.

"And your pack?" he pressed, taking another step closer.

Nera forced herself to hold her ground. This may be his territory, but she was a saber, too.

"I don't know." she answered honestly.

"Did you get separated?" One of the possums asked.

"No," she responded without hesitation, her voice forceful. The saber narrowed his eyes at her reaction.

"Are they looking for you?" he inquired, his eyes watchful.

This time she did hesitate, and unconsciously took a step back. The saber noticed.

"Yes," she said, unable to keep all of the apprehension out her voice.

"You're running from them." the saber definitely, his eyes narrowing.

Immediately, Nera's back went up. She wasn't running from them. The option to stay and survive just hadn't been possible. She'd had no choice but to leave.

"It's none of your concern." she responded, her voice unyielding.

"We could help you." the sloth spoke up.

"Sid!" the mammoth and saber yelled simultaneously.

"What, we've already got one vicious, domineering, carnivorous tiger. What could another hurt?" They continued to glare at him, but they didn't retract his offer, and turned back to her, waiting for her response.

"Thanks, but I don't normally socialize with potential meals. Makes it hard to keep friends, you know." she replied breezily.

After a silent moment, Diego turned back to her. "We could give you protection." he said, surprising Nera enough to reconsider.

There was no way she could fight her whole pack on her own. She'd already known this, which is why she'd had no choice but to flee them. She studied the saber intently.

"Just hours ago I attacked your 'pack.' Now you're offering to protect me against mine?" Her gray eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why the change of heart?"

"You were acting on instinct," he said without a trace of doubt in his voice. "You saw what your mind recognized as food and your body unconsciously responded to that." He looked to the others. She followed his gaze to see the others nodding, seeming to trust his judgment of the situation.

"Though I don't know why you didn't just go for Sid." he used his trunk to point down to the sloth standing beside him.

Nera scrunched up her face. "Don't insult me, mammoth." she said with all seriousness. "I have standards." They all nodded as if this cleared up that question, and the sloth started to retort, then just shrugged.

"So if I would agree and, temporarily, join this…" she searched for an appropriate term. "..herd of yours, previous attack forgotten?" She shook her head, her voice sounding disbelievingly. "I don't buy it." She looked back to the saber.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice wary.

"Information," he answered. "on who's after you, and why." Nera's eyes narrowed again.

"You'd put your friends in danger just for that?" she asked, letting the disapproval leak into her voice.

"Your coming here has already put them in danger." He said, explaining his reasons, obviously not liking that he had to. "Your pack will follow your trail here, but if we know more about them, we can have the advantage."

"You intend to fight them?" she asked skeptically.

"No one threatens my pack." his eyes grew darker.

Nera couldn't help but respect him for being so protective of what he regarded as his pack. She thought deeply about what he was offering.

She was still weak from her journey over the last few days, and the scuffle today hadn't helped. She was certain if she could just rest for the night, her strength would almost completely return. However, if she refused the saber's offer, she doubted he would let her remain on his territory. And she didn't know how far another sheltered area could be. She didn't think she could stand another night sleeping out in the snow, huddling against a rock or tree for warmth.

Besides, she assured herself, if I feel I need to, I could always just leave them later.

She let out a defeated sigh as she rose to her feet.

The others took this as her agreement and the possums looked bewildered for a moment.

"Another saber?" One asked, then turned to each other. "Cool!" they both exclaimed.

As the mammals turned back to where they'd entered from, the mammoth led, followed by the sloth, then the saber. The possums bounded from mammal to mammal, jumping from the mammoths back, bouncing off the sloths head, to land neatly onto the sabers back, who continued walking as the two stood to face her.

"I'm Eddie," one said, then slung his arm over his counterpart, "and this is my brother, Crash." the other possum waved. "You've met Diego, the big guy's Manny, and that's Sid." he pointed to the sloth, who gave her a salute.

"Uh, I'm Nera." she said, deciding that it was only a little awkward.

"Welcome to the herd." Crash said enthusiastically. "We should get back to the cave pretty soon. Then you'll meet our sister and her and Manny's baby, Peaches."

At that, Nera's steps slowed as she started to put that together. Sister…? She opened her mouth to question them.

"Don't ask." Diego glanced back over his shoulder. "It'll only confuse you more." he said, then turned forward again.

She furrowed her brows, picking up her pace again, as she blindingly followed the strange group through the trees.

End Notes: Wahoo! You know she digs Diego's bod! Haha who wouldn't? Anyway, you guys know the drill, PLEASE review! I really like knowing what you all think, even if it's just a short message. Thanks for reading everyone! Peace! (^_^)y (Sorry, I'm just testing smilies, hehe)