Ughhhhh. I'm sorry. I actually wrote the bulk of this chapter the day after I posted the last one, but with the holidays, my schedule in general, and writer's block, the editing and proofreading got pushed back.
Also, this probably doesn't warrant a disclaimer, but I would like to mention that, not only do I not own Ice Age, I also don't own The Big Bang Theory. (More on that at the end.)
Happy Holidays guys!
So Peaches was lying. Definitely not well, but Shira could respect the effort.
Besides, she'd more or less gotten the information she wanted. The two of them didn't seem to be going around attempting to locate a different place to stay, so her first theory was ruled out.
She glanced ahead to where the two mammoths were walking next to each other, sometimes whispering but mostly silent. Her and Diego had stopped to get them just after sunrise, and Shira was surprised they'd both been up and waiting for them. Neither had said much. Julian asked if they were excited their children were coming home, but that was about it.
She hadn't talked to Diego about any of this yet. But he seemed to know that neither of the mammoths were feeling particularly upbeat and took Shira's lead by letting them have their space as the four of them made their way to the edge of Merle and Brian's territory.
And Shira told herself she didn't feel bad. Because the last thing she wanted was to scare the two of them off. And Diego had been jumpy since the moment they got here. He would drive himself crazy trying to run the pack and deal with them at the same time. And Shira wanted to know more about why Peaches was being so secretive in the first place. She'd wondered last night – again when she couldn't sleep, half in anticipation that they were less than twelve hours from seeing their children and half, again, because of the pack – if confronting Peaches about her destructive trek throughout all of Merle's territory had been the right move at the time.
It might have served her better to let Peaches walk away and continue her strange behavior a little longer. But for as much as she wanted answers, Shira also wanted Peaches and Julian to feel safe here. She wanted them to like being here and know that they could come to her and Diego with anything they needed. Confronting her outright at this point in the game failed spectacularly, but Shira mostly didn't regret it. They were trying to build a relationship, and Shira wanted trust more than answers. It was a thin margin, but still.
"Hey." Diego's quiet voice pulled her back to the sparkling woods and away from her nighttime thoughts. "I'm sorry. I know that this pack thing is hard for you. I should have tried to talk to you about it sooner."
"You're not the one who should be sorry," Shira muttered, ears going back in misery. She'd meant to have this conversation with him last night, but they'd both been exhausted and seemed to mutually understand that it wasn't the time. Now she glanced at her mate. "You're doing a really good job. And I'm sorry that I can't- I'm not being more supportive."
"Can't," he corrected and gave her an encouraging nod when she snuck a glance his way. He hesitated for a second, looked embarrassed, and finally said, "I didn't think I wanted those two to stay, and I probably would have pushed for them to keep going. It would have been a huge mistake, and you stepped in because you knew that. You don't like pack life, and someone needed to take over because you just…couldn't. My point is, we're a team."
"We are," she agreed quietly. Because we have each other's backs, he'd told her when she'd asked why in the world he wanted to live in a place like this. It was so, so different than what the rest of her life had been like up to that point, and it had scared her how much she liked it and craved it. She knew in the back of her mind that she had some commitment and relationship issues. But she also knew that they stemmed from growing up in – and living through – a world that didn't know how to reciprocate. And she knew that Diego knew and felt that all too well.
"You really think those two are up to something?" Diego's voice lowered to an impossibly quiet volume, and Shira couldn't keep the smirk off her face as she glanced up to the two mammoths. Their trunks were intertwined, and Julian, at least, seemed to be more awake than when they'd set out.
"Oh yeah."
"Great." He griped, narrowing his eyes at their backs. Then glanced at her, "You said you've got this under control?"
"Sure," she quipped, hesitated, and added, "For the most part."
"Good." He frowned, already trusting her. He was always trusting her even when she herself didn't. "I don't have the energy right now."
Shira didn't say anything more. She could tell her mate all day long that he was doing a good job and that the pack was lucky to have him, but he'd just fight her on it. Instead, she nudged his shoulder with hers and walked a little faster. Diego grinned and did the same, catching up to and passing Peaches and Julian.
"Are we getting close?" Julian asked as the two of them took the lead.
"I think so." Diego took a big, deep breath in and swiveled his ears a fraction to the southeast. Shira knew how to track just fine, but Diego was still the better of the two of them at it. She let him adjust their course and glanced back to give the kids an excited smile.
Julian grinned back, and Peaches just nodded to her, a small smile on her face.
Shira let her smile warm a little and then turned back around to let her new niece have her space. It had definitely been the right decision not to drag yesterday's conversation out. She hadn't realized how on edge Peaches was. Maybe she'd even come down too hard on her.
"There! There!" A voice echoed through the trees, and two seconds later the kids appeared from the trunks a few yards in front of them, skidding to a controlled stop. All three of them grinned in unison.
000
The condensation had seeped into his fur so much that it made his coat feel double its usual weight. It pulled him down, made him feel hot and uncomfortable and overall fueled the persistent annoyance that had followed him a week ago from the surface world.
"Blimey." Buck muttered to himself as he stumbled on the uneven ground and had to pull his foot loose from a sticky puddle of mud. He shook it to get the excess off, right paw clutching his knife harder as he slunk farther in among the rocks.
Those dino birds were up to something. He could feel it with the same surety that pushed him to make all of his decisions. Becoming a dinosaur wrangler. Risking his life for the thrill of interrupting the natural cycle of predators and prey. Staying here…
Buck always knew what he was doing, and that trust in himself had led him here, to a dank series of stinking, muddy watering holes beneath an outcropping a good few miles from his usual haunts.
He hadn't spent much time down in this area. He'd learned early on that there were a lot of little meat eaters around here that thought he'd fit down their throats quite nicely. Sure, he'd spent most of his life here riding around on an animal about a million times his size for fun, but even he knew the sheer number of hungry carnivores in this area was too much for him to take on alone.
But he had a reason to be down here now, and he wasn't going to run away. He'd had a chance to be a part of a family on the surface a long time ago, and he'd passed it by. He'd known, again with that innate sense, that this world should really stay down here. And he didn't regret it. Too much.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that if he'd gone away then, this wouldn't have happened. That this was partly his fault. Obviously, those stupid birds had followed him to the surface last week for keeping them from stealing a triceratops mother's egg the day before. And the saber pack leader, a grumbly older carnivore that Buck was ambivalent toward, had paid the price meant for him.
He knew this was his fault. For as much as he hadn't wanted to come out with the whole truth when talking with everyone else, he knew. But he'd figured it would be better to get solid proof first and figure out what to do about it. He'd already sealed one hole to the surface, and he'd do it again if need be. But first, he wanted to know what was going on in his world. And to make whoever was responsible pay for it so that the surface animals, who were so forcefully, blissfully unaware of the world he'd tried to warn them about beneath their feet, would know they were safe.
He wasn't vengeful. But he also wasn't stupid. This wouldn't end with a heated conversation or a playful chase through the trees. It would end when either he or the dino birds were gone.
An all-encompassing rumbling reverberated through the trees a few yards to his left, and he ducked out of habit. There was no way that was a dino; he'd never heard anything like it. And it set him all the more on edge.
Looking around him to make sure that there weren't any little carnivores hiding among the rocks and waiting for a clear path to his turned back, Buck crept closer. There was another rumble that shook the ground, and he paused, feeling it deep in his bones.
"What under earth…" He popped his head above the rock he was crouched behind, skirting around it when he couldn't see anything on the other side.
There was some foliage growing close to the edges of the tree line, and between the rocks and tree trunks he didn't have a clear view of the main cluster of mud pools near the sheer cliff wall. He felt the next rumble coming from the vibration of the ground under his feet, and a boom sounded from directly in front of him.
Swallowing his fear, Buck charged forward, almost stumbling into a bubbling mud pool that appeared suddenly on the other side of the trees. Once he'd regained his momentary loss of balance, he glanced around him at the varying levels of mud pools that made up the surrounding area.
Then he looked up.
His heavy, matted-down fur felt like ice as fear zinged through him, and Buck took a numb step backwards.
"Blimey." He repeated again, voice almost a whisper.
000
"There! There!" Peaches could barely comprehend that someone had just shouted before three sabers appeared out of the trees, skidding to a stop in the snow as they cleared the tree line.
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
One of them lunged forward first, tumbling into Shira playfully. She wrapped her front paws around them, nuzzling and talking and laughing. One of the others giggled and hopped through the snow towards Diego, practically tackling him to the ground in a puff of flakes.
The last, a girl that looked just like Diego, glanced at Peaches and Julian with bright blue eyes before she trotted over to join her siblings.
Diego stood and reached out a paw, pulling her close and whispering something in her ear before licking the side of her face affectionately. Her serious expression melted into a warm smile, and she tucked her head up under his neck.
"Any trouble?" Shira asked, a kid leaning on each side of her.
"No trouble. But terrible weather." The boy said, getting to his feet. "Brian won't be happy."
"Brian isn't happy anyway." The girl near Diego said, sitting up as well. Her tone was sharp but lacked any kind of accusation. The other girl looked between her siblings in silence, frowning slightly.
Diego glanced at Peaches and Julian with a smile that was much different than his usual one. "Guys, we'd like you to meet Julian and Peaches."
All three of them turned, and Peaches tried not to flinch.
"Hi!" Julian bounced forward after a moment, waving at them enthusiastically. "It's nice to meet you!"
"Hey." The boy was looking between them, smiling in surprise and a little bit of confusion. "I'm Cooper."
"Sweet claws," Julian motioned with his trunk. "Very sharp."
Cooper hiccupped a surprised laugh and lifted one of his paws. "Thanks man!"
"It's nice to meet you." Peaches echoed when Cooper glanced her way next. He grinned back with a familiar cocky glint in his faint blue eyes. His body shape and facial features matched Diego's almost perfectly, but he was slightly smaller and his orange fur was muted by a blend of whites and greys.
Peaches' own smile felt a little more comfortable on her face as one of the girls bounded over. She was completely white except for her eyes, which mirrored Diego's green ones perfectly. She skidded to a stop unceremoniously just in front of Peaches and tilted her head up, saying with all the confidence of someone who was used to meeting new animals, "I'm Sidney."
"Sidney," Peaches repeated in surprise, staring down into her energetic, excited face and, a moment later, feeling an involuntary grin break over her own. She glanced at Diego. He met her eyes with a quiet smile.
"Yeah, but you can call her Sid if you want. Even if no one else does." Cooper said and, before Peaches could ask, motioned toward his other sister. "And that's…"
"Mayim." The other girl simply dipped her head in a calm nod when Peaches turned with a jerk. She'd rooted herself halfway between them and her parents and seemed content to watch from there.
"Hi." Peaches nodded back lamely, unsure if she should shrink under the other girl's gaze or make herself taller. Both seemed like frail options. This was, without a doubt, the one she'd heard so much about from Shira and Diego's neighbors. While she had a feeling some of it was just gossip, they were right about one thing: Mayim was intense.
"Peaches is Manfred's daughter; her and her husband just got married. They've been roaming." Shira said somewhere in the background, and Peaches was aware that Shira's eyes were on her. But she was too busy taking in the variety of surprised looks from all three of the kids.
"No way…" Cooper breathed as Sidney squealed happily and darted around Peaches to come up on her other side and rub at one of her legs affectionately. Peaches grinned down at her.
"Yep!" Julian swung is head in a nod as Cooper took a slight step closer to him, looked more closely at him. His blue eyes felt like being plunged into cold water when he caught Peaches'. An electrifying, exciting cold. And Peaches let herself relax, just slightly, as Julian added, "We came from the western coasts!"
"And you're staying here?" Mayim asked. She'd leaned back slightly, head tilted up with a composed air.
"We are." Peaches met her dispassionate stare. "We decided to stop when we heard your dad telling his story. They invited us to stay the night, and then with Merle…we just kind of didn't leave."
Not that they'd been planning to at any point anyway.
"Merle?" Mayim repeated and looked to her parents. Cooper and Sidney turned as well.
"Something attacked him near the northern boundary about a week ago. We don't know what it was and neither does he," Shira sighed, giving them a quick rundown of the situation. But then her attitude flipped and she gave Diego a cocky look. "Merle's staying with Brian right now while he rests up, and he asked your dad to take over for him in the meantime."
Cooper's loud snort cut off the first words of Mayim's next question, "…the pack angry or are they okay with it?"
"Nobody has broken rank yet." Diego shrugged but looked sheepish.
"Not that your father hasn't tried to make them angry enough for it." Shira gave him an amused look before turning back to the rest of them, "We're glad you guys are home. We know you can handle yourselves, but we were still worried."
"Mom." Cooper whined.
Mayim shook her head, frowning severely. "We're fine."
"It was lucky that Oliver and Lyle found Merle in time." Sidney added, glancing at her siblings and Peaches and Julian before continuing. "Is he going to be okay?"
"He better be," Diego muttered. Shira and Mayim both rolled their eyes.
"Merle has been pack leader…well, forever." Cooper said, shrugging, and turned to her and Julian, "As you well know, those guys don't go down very easily."
"But it can be done." Mayim countered evenly before Peaches had worked all the way through her surprise.
That was right…all three of them probably thought that she knew. That she had grown up hearing this story, as they obviously had. Her anger welled for a moment, and Peaches forced herself to measure out a calm exhale.
"Yeah, but nobody's stupid enough to go after Merle. Isaiah, sure, but not Merle." Cooper was saying as Mayim huffed and shook her head at his coltish grin.
"Isaiah's going to hear you say that…"
"And do what? Send your ex after me?"
"I wouldn't stop him." Mayim narrowed her eyes as her brother's smile got even wider.
"We'd better head back." Shira said then, glancing at Diego in amusement. He just rolled his eyes and stood up.
All three kids bounded over to join them, and once Peaches and Julian moved to follow, they all set off for home.
"I see Cooper was doing most of the tracking this morning?" Shira asked as they walked through the trees.
"Yeah, he was." Mayim didn't sound impressed.
"Did you decide to give Sidney a break from doing everything?" Diego teased, bumping his son's shoulder with a grin.
"I know how to track." Cooper shot back in a well-worn tone of exasperation. He turned and walked backwards for a few paces so that he was facing her and Julian. "I know how to track," he informed them seriously and then turned back around to catch up to Diego.
Sidney giggled, bouncing through the snow as if she was trying to see how much time she could spend in the air. To her left, Mayim looked faintly amused.
When Shira looked back and caught her eye, Peaches gave her a small smile. She hadn't necessarily sorted out her feelings about yesterday, but, in the end, she was glad to be included and grateful that Shira and Diego had asked them to come. Even if she wasn't sure where her and Julian were supposed to fit in all of this.
After a moment, Shira circled back so that the two of them were walking side by side as Cooper began a detailed explanation of a river system the three of them had stumbled upon a few days before.
"Are you guys still okay with us staying in your clearing? I didn't know if we needed to find somewhere else now that they're back." Peaches said after a couple seconds of silence between them.
"They have a small area within Merle's territory like we do." Shira said, and after a pause added, "Peaches, we want you guys to stay as long as you want, even once we're no longer doing things with the pack."
"Thanks, Shira. We appreciate that."
For a moment they just smiled at each other, and Peaches almost said it. Shira, Julian and I have decided to stay here. Permanently.
But the sound of Cooper's laughter and Sidney's thrilled scream from up ahead as the two of them chased and tackled each other through the snow cut her off, and Peaches broke eye contact jerkily.
If Shira noticed, she didn't say anything, walking calmly next to her until Julian migrated back to join them. He'd been tagging along behind Mayim, who was busy watching the tussle in front of them with a frown.
"Thanks for coming with us this morning." Shira gave them both another smile.
"Thanks for inviting us." Peaches nodded as Shira grinned and walked slightly faster to join Diego. Ahead of them, Mayim was shouting at her siblings to knock it off. To Peaches' surprise, they complied, giggling together and nudging each other back and forth.
"Be nice to your brother and sister," Diego called.
Mayim gave the biggest eye roll Peaches had ever seen but didn't argue with him. Shira just laughed at her and nudged her husband who grumbled something too low for Peaches to hear.
"They're great," Julian said quietly in her ear.
To her surprise, Peaches thought the same thing. Mayim was strangely exactly how Peaches had imagined her – intimidating and dead serious – but she did feel better now. Cooper didn't seem to mind them being here, and Sidney obviously liked just about everyone and everything. Just like her own uncle, and Peaches smiled. "Yeah."
"Good call on coming this way." Julian grinned over at her.
"We did do a good job." Peaches agreed, brushing some of the fur on the top of his head to the side with her trunk. His smile turned shy and a little lovestruck, and she let her trunk trail down the side of his face. "Wanna do some stargazing tonight?"
"Yes. Absolutely." He nodded his head up and down so fast it looked blurry. The first time he'd done that in front of her, Peaches had been afraid he was going to give himself a headache.
She smiled.
They'd come back into more familiar territory now and paused to talk about their plans for the rest of the day. Shira was saying something about heading to the kids' clearing first so that they could spend some time together before her and Diego needed to get back to the pack.
After a quick, understanding glance at Julian, Peaches walked over to stand next to Diego. For a moment, they watched as Cooper and Mayim began an argument that had him laughing and her growling. Sidney was cuddled up next to Shira, and they were whispering to each other and nuzzling. "You named your daughter after Uncle Sid."
"It was actually Shira's idea." Diego said and glanced at her with a smile that probably wasn't supposed to be sad but still was. "But yes, we did."
Peaches let the warm silence stretch for a moment before saying, "We'll see you guys later, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Diego looked up at her again, surprised and worried.
"Yeah, you guys need some time alone with your kids," she nodded encouragingly. "We'll be by in a day or two."
"Okay." He didn't sound sure but didn't argue further. "Thank you for coming this morning." Diego added seriously, looking first at Peaches and then to Julian.
"Of course." Peaches whispered, glancing back at her husband, at his big smile. She nodded at Diego once before turning quietly and reaching out for Julian's trunk. He reached out too, and they walked silently into the trees together.
000
Peaches had been asleep for about an hour now, and for as much as he wanted to do the same, Julian just couldn't seem to drop off.
Instead he stared out into the darkness and tried not to think.
They'd laid on their backs and watched the stars for a while once it got dark enough. Shira and Diego's clearing had an excellent view of the sky, and they whispered back and forth quietly as they watched the endless blue night above them.
Despite being stressed out about meeting Diego and Shira's kids, Peaches was happier than Julian had ever seen her, and he was happy too. Happier than he even knew it was possible to feel. And after their conversation earlier, right when they'd gotten back, Julian hoped she felt better about their new acquaintances too.
"I just don't know how to…to be around them." Peaches had complained half-heartedly, guilt watering down her tone as they face each other in the clearing. They'd just returned from meeting them, and Julian was still reeling a little from his own nerves.
But he knew Peaches felt worse.
"It's gonna be okay," he answered with his best encouraging voice, swiping at the snow with his trunk to clear space for the pine branches they'd been plucking as they walked. He let the silence stretch for half a minute, looking up when his wife sighed quietly. "Hey."
Peaches looked up, the misery she'd been able to hide from Shira and Diego playing across her face.
"We'll take it one day at a time."
"Will we?" she whispered.
"Yeah. It's always hard to find your way into a group when you go someplace new." Julian smiled, letting his words sink in and relaxing slightly as Peaches' expression slowly changed from dejected to knowing.
Finally, she gave him a small smile. "You're right. I know you are."
They'd worked together to put the pine boughs down after that pronouncement, and the night settled into a vast calm as the sky darkened incrementally around the stars. They'd lain, staring up at it for a long time in hushed, easy love.
Now, he glanced at his wife sleeping next to him, the tufts of fur on the top of her head falling down over her face, her closed eyelids. She breathed softly, calmly, and he wished – not for the first time – that they'd grown up as childhood friends. He really liked her life, even if he didn't think telling her that would be a good idea.
His own family was heavy. Not like Manny's past – Julian didn't quite know how to look a tragedy like that in the face. But it still felt like he was always carrying around the ones he'd left. No matter how hard he tried, no matter where he was, they always seemed to show up. His mind saw them, heard them, told him what they weren't able to say themselves in person: Don't get too comfortable anywhere.
He'd leaped forward without them and decided he could do this by himself, then. And here he was. Lying awake at night and telling himself over and over again that everything was going to be okay. That if he wanted to, he could open up to Peaches and they could talk about it. He could tell her.
But watching her sleep next to him reminded him of where they were. Of all that had happened since he'd set off that morning years ago. And here he was, still worrying about what his family would think if they saw him now. Jeez, he could just about kick himself sometimes. He'd met someone, become part of a family, got married, become part of another family, and it seemed like everywhere he turned here someone was always ready to say hello or invite him somewhere with them.
He wanted to enjoy this. He didn't want to be angry or frustrated or sad. And he didn't know if he could take Peaches' reaction if she ever truly found out. Because the truth was, she'd loved him enough to commit to him. And it was enough.
He'd spend the rest of his life telling himself that until it was.
I went back and forth on how much I wanted to say about this, and I decided that getting too far into the weeds isn't really necessary or beneficial. So I'll just say this: I know not everyone likes The Big Bang Theory, and that's totally fine. The show had its problems and I understand why it drew criticism, but I also think that there were some things the show did really, really well. That being said, I'm mostly just borrowing a couple of names and will be making some occasional references (as well as references to other shows and movies), so if you're not a fan of BBT, don't panic.
Anyway, for those who haven't seen the show, one name was borrowed from an actor and one from a character. Mayim Bialik (Amy in the show) has such a beautiful name, and I felt that it fit this character so well. Cooper just kind of became…well, Cooper. I honestly played around with finding a different name for him, but nothing fit quite the same. And Sidney actually used to be named Penny in a slightly different version of this story. But I love the idea of Diego naming one of his kids after someone who changed his life. (For those who have seen the show, my characters don't correspond, personality-wise, to the BBT characters/actors. I just love their names.)
And, just to be clear, because I'd be thinking the same thing right about now, "Mayim and Sidney" versus "Manfred and Sid" was not intentional on my part, the initials just ended up working out that way.
Until next time!