A/N: Hey! Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (Or if you don't celebrate Christmas then a happy whatever-holiday-you-did-celebrate :p) Here is the next (and 2nd last) chapter! Enjoy! Brownie points go to . . . kagome13cdj, kali yugah, WolvesKey, YankeeRose908, Leopard The Warrior Of Africa, and xLil' Suga Babyx!

Crystal-Wolf-Gaurdain-967: Thanks! :)

CarminaxBuranax: Thanks! That means the world to me! :D

Custom stories and co: Haha thanks! :) you too!

Tigey Wigey: haha same! :)

WolvesKey: Thank you very much :)

Leopard The Warrior Of Africa: haha thanks :) and love your name, very interesting :p

xLil' Suga Babyx: Awesome! and Thanks! :)

Chapter 3: Trust

As we walked, it grew very windy and started to snow. Just lovely. Diego and I stuck close together, both for warmth and because neither of us wanted to be too far apart after what just happened. Did you not always promise yourself you were going to be independent? What happened there? Now you're hanging all over this guy! I am not hanging all over him! I just don't want to lose him. And apparently he feels the same after the moment on the lake and in the cave. So hush! You're staying beside him because you don't want 'to be too far apart after what just happened'! That is straight out of those sappy romance stories you said you'd never be a part of! I'm not hanging all over him! End of discussion! Period, exclamation mark!

"We've got to get this kid out of the wind!" Manny's voice called, snapping me back to reality. We found a little crevice. "How much farther?"

"Three miles," Diego answered.

"We'll get there in the morning," Manny said, eyeing the storm. The three of us turned around at the sound of scratching.

Sid was doing something on the wall and I finally had to ask, "Sid, what are you doing?"

"I'm putting sloths on the map," he answered. We shared a look. This could be hilarious. He moved aside to let us view his master piece.

"Why don't you make it realistic and draw him lying down?" I critiqued.

"And make him rounder," Diego smirked.

Manny took the rock from Sid's hand and drew a pot belly on the sloth.

"Perfect," Manny said.

"Ha-ha," Sid said sarcastically, "I forgot how to laugh." He snatched the rock back and scribbled furiously at the drawing, creating sparks that flew onto dry twigs that started a fire. We were all amazed that Sid could start a fire. "I'm a genius!" We all gathered whatever sticks we could find and got a good fire going to keep us warm. "From now on you can refer to me as, 'Sid, Lord-of-the-Flame'!"

"Hey, Lord-of-the-Flame," Manny called sarcastically, "you're tails on fire."

After we watched Sid run in circles a couple times, Diego grabbed him and sat him down in the snow. "Oh, thank you!" Sid said. "From now on, I'm going to call you, 'Diego,—"

"Lord-of-Touch-Me-and-You're-Dead," Diego finished. Sid gasped. "Nah, I'm just kidding, you knucklehead." Diego pulled Sid in and gave him a nuggy.

"Hey lovebirds," I called. They both looked over.

"Look at this," Manny said. He let Pinky go and we all watched as he started to walk.

"I don't believe it," Sid whispered. "Come here, come here you little wormy, worm."

"Don't think he's going to answer to 'wormy, worm', Sid," I said.

Pinky paused half way to Sid and his eyes caught Diego. "Come to Uncle Sid." Pinky changed direction. "No, no, no, this way."

Pinky started walking to Diego. I have to say I was quite interested to see what would happen. "No, no, no, go to him," Diego said, gesturing to Manny. "Go to him." Pinky grabbed onto Diego's paw as he fell. "Ok. Good job. Keep practicing," he said as he helped Pinky stand again and push him towards Manny and I.

I had been lying down with my head on my paws when Pinky started walking. Now, Pinky was making his way towards us. Before I knew it, he was walking towards me. "Look at that," Sid said, "our little guy's growing up." Pink yawned as he walked and teetered a bit, but quickly righted himself before continuing towards me and curling up into my side. He curled into a tight ball and started sucking his thumb. I could tell Manny was watching, gauging my reaction, but I hadn't even lifted my head.

"Pushover," I heard Sid mutter. I growled softly.

"Well," Manny said, "I guess that's our cue to go to sleep." I looked at Pinky one last time before closing my eyes for a well-earned rest.

We woke up early the next day and started on our way. The storm had stopped, but it was still snowing. Sid was carrying Pinky. "Let's get you all cleaned up. What's your daddy going to say if you go back all smushy and stinky like this?" Sid licked his paw and wiped Pinky's face. "Just clean that up. That looks good. A little bit here—"

Manny grabbed Sid's paw to make him stop. "You clean up nice, little fella," he said to Pinky.

"I think he's starting to look like me," Sid said. "Hey Diego, Dakota, what do you think?"

"Sure, Sid, he looks just like you," I replied sarcastically.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," Diego said, ignoring Sid's question completely. I started to wonder exactly what his pack was planning.

"Why not?" Sid asked.

"Because if we save him he'll grow up to be a hunter. And who do you think he'll hunt?"

"Maybe because we save him, he won't hunt us," came Sid's naïve response.

"Yeah, and maybe he'll grow fur and a long, skinny neck and call you 'Momma'," Diego responded quite angrily.

We all paused to look at him. "What's your problem?" Manny questioned.

"Nothing," Diego said tightily.

"Then let's go," I interrupted. "I'm freezing my tail off."

As Manny and Sid walked through a little stone tunnel, I saw Diego drop back and stopped to see what he was looking for. He glanced from side to side looking up at the cliffs. As I looked, I saw a flash of gold disappear and it hit me. I turned on him growling loudly, though still quiet enough so the other two couldn't hear me. "Are you kidding me, Diego? An ambush? You thought you could fix this! You are not seriously leading them into this!"

He shook his head as I spoke. "I don't want to lead them into this! OK, maybe at first—you know how good mammoth meat is—but not once I got to know them! Now, I don't know what to do!"

"Tell them," I told him. "Tell them, or I will."

He looked torn between his friends and his pack. I started walking towards Sid and Manny, but before I could open my mouth, Diego raced up. "Get down!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"He said 'Get down!' you idiots!" I clarified.

"Shut up, get down, and follow me," Diego ordered.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?" Sid asked.

I sent Diego a look. He looked at the ground. I was very proud of him when I didn't have to say anything. "At the bottom of Half Peak . . . there's an ambush waiting for you."

"What!"

"What do you mean 'ambush'?" Manny asked suspiciously. His eyes widened as he realized. "You set us up," he accused Diego.

"It was my job," Diego tried to defend himself. "I was supposed to get the baby, but then—"

"You brought us home for dinner!" Manny finished. He turned to me. "And I supposed you knew too?"

"Ah, no. I found out about this about 20 feet back actually."

Sid pointed angrily at Diego. "You're out of the herd!"

"I'm sorry," Diego said dejectedly.

Manny pinned him against the rock with his tusk. "No you're not. Not yet."

"Yes, he is," I interrupted. "Look, we can still get out of this. But we need him to help."

"Yeah, right," Manny said. "Sid stick close to me, we can fight our way out."

"No, you can't," Diego contradicted, still fighting for breath against Manny's tusk. "The pack's too strong."

"You have to trust us," I said.

"Trust you! Why in the world would we trust you!" Manny cried, outraged.

"Because we're your only chance," I stated simply.

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn! Review?