Diego approached his friends' usual sleeping place with light step as the early morning was painting the sky in reddish colors. All of them still sound asleep…good. The less they knew, the less they had to worry about. Or to question him about.

They had noticed his times of absence, of course. When the whole thing had started, he'd told them that he had some personal business to do that might take a while and that would keep him occupied for long stretches of time. He refused to develop the matter further, claiming it personal. Manny and Ellie, as expected, respected that and didn't pry any more. Just as expected, Sid pressed, and came up with the brilliant idea that Diego must have had a girlfriend somewhere. The fact that Diego was at first so stunned at how bad Sid's guessing had been that he only gaped and didn't deny it only confirmed Sid's suspicions. That, naturally, caused Crash and Eddie to go into hysterics of laughter and to tease the tiger so much that he actually preferred Oscar's vitriolic company than theirs. Now Diego had to smile at the memory, particularly when he imagined Oscar's enraged response at Sid's folly. He would be more than angry; he would be murderous.

Yeah. Well. It had been good hunting alongside another tiger again. Loads easier, and the pride a hunter felt after a successful hunt was ten times greater if he had a comrade to share it with.

And he was impossibly glad that at least one member of his own kind wasn't going to try to throttle him as soon as they hear his name.

Ah, whatever. The oldtimer was on his way now. Diego hoped that he'd be able to hunt alone, though he didn't worry much about that; Oscar was a survivor, always had been.

He was stirred from his sleep when the other herd members started to wake up - precisely, when Eddie ran over his head in pursue for Crash. After calling the possums several unspeakable names, he realized that Sid, while chewing on some fruit for breakfast, was looking at him intently.

"What?" he snarled at the sloth. His head was still hurting from the concussion, though not nearly as bad as before, and he wanted to be left alone and sleep.

"Coming back so early? You usually stay much longer at…wherever you stay."

Trust it to Sid to choose one single time in his life to be perceptive exactly when Diego found it inconvenient.

"My job is done. I won't be absent for so long anymore. Now let me sleep."

"Oh", the look on Sid's face was, darn it, sympathetic. "She, um, dumped you?"

"Sid", growled Diego warningly, "leave me alone."

"Okay, okay…no need to get nasty. I know how you feel." He patted Diego's aching head, to the tiger's pain and irritation. "But when you're ready to talk, I'm here."

Diego watched him waddle away with a soft expression that Sid could no longer see.

Yeah, that was true, Diego knew. Sid would be there. No doubt about that.

And then Manny came to Diego's side, munching on large piles of leaves that he plucked from nearby trees; the branches had been losing their foliage with worrying speed since there had been two mammoths grazing around.

"So..the job done?" Manny asked quietly.

"Yep."

"Good. About time, too. 'cause it was doing you no good." He paused. "So, he's gone?"

Diego's eyes wildly widened. "Wha…? How do…what you…"

"Oh…a little bird whispered in my ear…that there was a sick saber up in the Rock hills, and that you were helping him around…"

Manny didn't look at Diego as he spoke; apparently he found something at the clear blue sky very interesting.

"You've been spying on me?" Diego snarled under his breath. Oh, this was just…this wasn't going to…

"No, no, it was kinda…accidental."

"Accidental?"

"Yeah…see, I overheard some vultures complaining about 'the wretched tiger refusing to die', and since you were away at the time, I really wanted to know what they were talking about."

"Oh…"

Well, now he felt downright stupid.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Manny whispered, watching Ellie chasing Crash and Eddie around.

"Didn't want you to worry about having another predator around. I had him in check."

"That's all?" the mammoth looked sideways at Diego.

Diego was reluctant to tell Manny that he had been afraid that his friends might doubt his loyalty because he'd chosen to help another carnivore, particularly one that had once upon the time been in close pursuit after Sid and Manny and had every intention of finishing them off.

"Cats prefer to die hidden, away from everybody. If I was dying I wouldn't want a bunch of animals crowding over me to see just when exactly am I going to snuff out."

Manny seemed to ponder this. "So…someone you knew from…before...?"

"Actually, you know him too. One of my old packmates. He got injured in the flood, and it looked quite bad for some time."

Manny nodded. Diego expected outrage, anger, disbelief, but none came. "Um…the others…"

"…don't know. Figured you had a good reason for keeping quiet."

Diego let out a slow breath. Really, you had to respect a guy like Manny.

"He better?" Manny asked, almost casually.

"Healed."

"Gone now?"

"On his way."

"Permanently?"

"Should be."

"Should we be worried?"

"Nope."

"You trust him?"

"Yep."

"Anything…else you want to say about it all?"

Diego paused. "No, not really."

"All right with me, then. Well, gonna have some breakfast with Ellie. See ya later."

And he started walking away, but paused for a second. "How long did that all last? Three months?"

"Something like that, yeah. Maybe a bit more."

Manny's mouth gave a funny little twitch. To Diego's immense surprise and relief, his eyes weren't chastising. They were warm.

"Yer a good guy, Diego."

He walked away after that, and Diego, who watched Manny's retreating back, was now free to sleep. And he sure needed it.

Yer a good guy, Diego.

He smiled.

Thanks, buddy.

END