So sorry I haven't updated in a long time! I've had a bad case of writers block and it's taken me a while to get around to writing stuff.

Anyway, on with the next chapter!


"Have the cubs been born yeeeeeeeeeeet?"

"Sid, Shira's only been pregnant for 5 weeks!" Manny the woolly mammoth explained for the 16th time that morning.

"So?"

"So the cubs won't be born for at least another two months."

"Awwwww!" Sid the sloth's shoulders slumped. "Why can't they hurry up and come out?"

"Because all things take time, Sid," said a gentle voice from behind them as Ellie, Manny's golden furred mate, joined the conversation. "I was pregnant with Peaches for two years! Somehow you lasted that long."

"Yeah, but it's still two whole months," the sloth whined. "Two months of nothing but waiting!"

"You don't just have to wait for two months," Manny pointed out. "Why not think of something do to? I had lots of things to think about to take my mind off the waiting when Ellie was pregnant."

"To the point of obsession about my safety." Ellie smirked.

"Yeah…" the bull mammoth gave an awkward chuckle. "Anyway, give it a go!"

Sid's face scrunched up in concentration, but after only a few seconds, he gave up. "I caaaan't."

"Well, how about I start for you." Ellie looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about something for you to look forward to? Try thinking about what the cubs will be like when they're born!"

"Oh yes, oh yes, they're going to be so adorable!" Sid cried happily, instantly forgetting about his boredom. Everybody knew the sloth was easily distracted, and Ellie had counted on her idea to do that.

"They'll have tiny little ears, and little pink noses, and big eyes, and…and..." His expression fell again. "And I'm not going to see them for another two whole months."


"Rats," Ellie muttered to herself. "I should have thought of something better."

"It wouldn't have mattered," Manny reassured her. "He'd still have forgotten it just as fast."

"Just you wait," the she-mammoth chuckled. "I've still got a few tricks up my trunk."

She turned back to a morose-looking Sid with a comforting smile on her face. "Don't worry, Sid. We all know how you feel."

"You do?"

"Sure! We're all just as excited as you are about Shira and Diego having cubs, and we're all looking forward more than anything to the day they're born!"

"Really? All of you?"

"Of course!"

Seeing that Sid still didn't look convinced, Manny decided to step in. "Maybe if you do some stuff to help prepare for the cubs, you'll forget about the waiting. There's lots of things you could do. Try asking somebody if you can help."

"Can I help you guys?" Sid asked hopefully.

The bull mammoth looked uncomfortable. "Uhhh…the thing is, Sid, we're doing the really heavy jobs. I don't think you could handle them."

"Oh."

"But there's still lots of little jobs you could easily do. Ask someone closer to your size."

"Sure!" Sid said happily, and turned to a purple-furred figure shuffling into the clearing. "Hey, Granny!"

"No, Sid, I didn't mean ask her…" Manny groaned. Sid's grandmother was a cranky, selfish, slightly crazy old sloth. She was more interested in her pet whale Precious than Shira and Diego's cubs, or even her own grandson.

Right now, she was completely oblivious (or perhaps completely ignoring) Sid's repeated calls. She was sifting through the bushes with her cane, muttering angrily to herself.

"…and when I wake up, I want my teeth where I can see them. If I find those rats tryin' to hide them again, why, I'll…"
"Hey, Granny!" Sid called again.

"What? Can't you see I'm lookin' for something?"

Sid wasn't at all fazed by his grandmother's snappy response. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, well, well! Sidney finally wants to help his poor ol' grandmother." She poked him in the stomach with her cane. "You can help me look for my teeth, lazy bones!"

"No, Granny! I meant are you doing anything to prepare for Diego and Shira's cubs that I can help with?"

"They can do it themselves." Granny sounded even grumpier than before. 'An' now I'm ashamed of you, Sidney! You should be more interested in the wellbeing of your grandmother than the health of some runty, rascally kittens!"

Sid was taken aback. "But…but Granny…"

"No 'buts'! Now help me find my teeth! They've been missing since last night…"

"Granny, they're not missing! I put them in the hollow log near the old fir tree so they wouldn't get knocked off by acci – OW!"
The old sloth clobbered her grandson on the head with her cane. "Bad boy, Sidney! Taking my teeth without tellin' me!"

"But I did tell you!" Sid protested, rubbing his sore head.

"Eh, excuses," the old sloth sniffed, turning her back on her grandson and shuffling out of the clearing. "You're just as bad as a little kid, Sidney." Then she was gone, disappearing down the forest path.


Sid sighed unhappily. "Doesn't she ever listen to anybody?"

"Believe me," Manny said sympathetically, "I often wonder the same thing myself."

"It's almost like she doesn't even care about the cubs."

"I'm sure she does Sid," Ellie said, patting the sloth on the shoulder. "But everybody shows it in different ways. Just because she's not helping doesn't mean she doesn't care."

Sid's face brightened. "Really?'

"Of course! But I think we've strayed off target. Didn't you say you wanted to do something to help?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Well, why don't you try and help with something you're good at!"

"Like what?"

Ellie gave him a wink. "Well, I remember you were particularly good at planning and building Peaches' playground…"


"How many cubs do you think there are gonna be?" Peaches asked as she swung from branch to branch through the forest with her two possum uncles and her best friend, Louis. "I'm betting on three."

"I'm staying safe, if you don't mind," the molehog replied. "I'd say between two and four cubs. From what I've heard, that's the normal number of cubs for a sabre tooth tiger."

"Where's the fun in playing it safe?" Crash asked, perched high up on a branch. "You can't have the joy in guessing correctly!"

"And where's the fun in getting disappointed because you got it wrong?" Louis counted smoothly, for once getting the possum twins to be quiet. They had a lot more respect for him since he had stood up to Gutt, and didn't mock him for his cautiousness anymore. Much.

"I just think that it's a better surprise if you aren't guessing what's going to happen," the young molehog continued. "

"That's good thinking, Louis." Peaches smiled sweetly, and Louis turned a delicate shade of pink. He had a bit of a crush on her.

"Well, we're still betting," Crash declared proudly.

"Yeah!" Eddie agreed. "I bet there'll be…6 cubs."

"DERRRR! Wrong answer!" the other possum shouted. "There'll be 8. I just know it. And they'll all be boys."

"No way!" Peaches shot back. "There should be more girls! They're so much better than boys!"

She swung down from her branch to face Louis. "No offence."

"None taken," Louis said with a smile. He knew that Peaches was only teasing her uncles. This friendly banter occurred every day, and the whole herd was used to it.

"'Girls are so much better than boys!'" Crash mocked as Peaches swung back up to face him. "Where's your proof, then?"

"They just are. You'd never understand why."

"That's not adequate proof," Eddie countered. "'Cause we could say the same thing, and it wouldn't mean anything."

"How about a race, then?" the teenage mammoth suggested. "If one of you two beats me, I'll admit boys are better than girls. But if I win, you'll both have to admit girls are better than boys."

"You're ON!" the possums chorused, hi-fiving each other and crouching down, ready to take off through the trees…

"Um, guys?" Louis said slowly. "I'd hate to interrupt, but weren't we supposed to be building a playground for the cubs today?"

"Oh my gosh, Louis, you're right!" Peaches slapped her forehead with her trunk. "How could I have forgotten? C'mon, guys, let's go!"

She leaped down to the ground and rushed off into the foliage. Louis tunnelled after her, zig-zagging through the dirt. Reluctantly, Crash and Eddie followed too.

"The race is still on, right, bro?" Eddie asked anxiously.

"Course it is!" Crash replied. "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't back out now. There's too much honour at stake!"


Eventually, the four arrived at an ample clearing not that far from the (rumoured) location of Diego and Shira's cubbing den.

"This looks like a good spot," Peaches said, wandering around the clearing. "It's big, it's flat, and there's plenty of space to put stuff!"

"Plus there's nothing around that could hurt the cubs," Louis added. "At least, nothing that we know of."

Everybody was silent for a few moments, contemplating the clearing.

"Soooo…" Crash said slowly, "what do we start on?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Actually," Peaches stammered, "I don't really know."

More awkward silence.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Louis said. "You're a good thinker."

The next awkward silence was a very long, not helped by the fact that Louis was blushing furiously again.


To get over the embarrassment, everybody quickly began thinking hard, trying to figure out how to build the playground. The possums screwed up their faces in effort. Peaches began tapping her forehead with her trunk as if trying to coax out a thought. Louis simply furrowed his brow.

But nothing came.

Still, they stuck at it, thinking as hard as they could…until something broke their concentration.

"Hi, guys!"

Everybody leaped around to see Sid wandering towards them.

"Oh, hi Sid."

"Whatcha up to?"

"We're building a playground," Crash announced grandly, puffing his chest out in pride.

"Sooooo…" Sid took note of the empty clearing. "What part are you up to?"

There was a lengthy pause.

"The brainstorming," Louis finally admitted.

"And not much of it," Eddie added. Crash slapped him crossly for revealing how badly they were actually doing.

Sid nodded sympathetically. "I know just how you feel, guys." He paused. "Do you want any help?"

"Ummm…sure!" Peaches nodded slowly. Despite her uncle's good intentions, she knew that he had a track record of

"Thanks!" Sid gave her a cheery grin and two thumbs up as he stepped passed her into the playground-to-be. Slowly revolving on the spot, he took in every detail of the clearing, muttering ideas under his breath.

Finally he turned to the others, cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"We could put a slide against that bank, and some swings hanging from the oak tree there. There could be a see-saw in the middle, some sort of obstacle course around the edge – I'm thinking some slaloms, a limbo pole, and a hurdle – some statues in between the play things, and maybe we could plant some flowers around the boundary. It'd look really nice that way. Hopefully none of the cubs are allergic to flowers."


Peaches, Louis, Crash, and Eddie stared in amazement at the sloth, their mouths hanging wide open.

"Woah…" Peaches gasped. "I never knew you were so good at planning playgrounds!"

Sid looked particularly pleased with himself. "I know how a playground works. I planned and helped build your playgrounds from the ground up, Peaches."

The teenage mammoth blinked in surprise. "Wait. How many playgrounds did I have again?"

"Three," Crash answered. "The first was destroyed by baby dinosaurs before you were born, the second you outgrew, and the third was in the Old Valley, but it was dismantled when you stopped playing in it. Pity, 'cause Eddie and I would've happily used it."

"Yeah," his brother agreed. "Maybe we can use this one. Y'know, just to try it out."

"But we've got to build it first," Louis pointed out, "and how are we going to do that? I mean, there's only a few of us, and only one of us is strong enough to do all the heavy work."

"No problemo," Sid winked, and he stuck his claws into his mouth and let out a sharp, shrill whistle.

Almost instantly, a small army of tiny, hamster-like hyraxes emerged through the bushes and halted in front of the sloth. They were very loyal to Sid, not only because he was the only large mammal who could speak Hyraxish, but because he had helped release them from the clutches of Captain Gutt. Fuzzy, the leader of the group, stood up on his hind legs and chattered to the sloth.

Sid responded immediately with the usual variety of gobbledygook words and strange gestures. He spun around like a spinning tops, yodelling loudly. He imitated a fish. He even did something that closely resembled breakdancing.

The hyraxes all nodded in agreement in response to this bizarre display.

And they leaped into action at once. Gathering up stones, pieces of wood, snowballs, and vines, they began to construct the playground. One group began building a statue. Another set draped the vines over the lowest branch of the oak tree, ready to make a swing set. Even more were setting up the obstacle course.

Sid helped lift up a long length of wood for the seesaw. "Many hands make quick work," he said with a grin. "C'mon, guys! If we all work together we can finish before sunset!"

Peaches had never felt so lucky to have Sid the sloth as her uncle.


Crash and Eddie: Wait...Granny calls us 'rats?'

Diegorules483: Well, you do look kinda like striped rodents.

Crash: Excuse me?! We are marsupials! And I will not have me and my brother compared to some stinking sewer inhabitants!

Diegorules483: Okay, okay, calm down, guys. I was just saying...Oh no...Put those peashooters away! OUCH! OW! AH! Not again!


I've got some ideas for the next few chapters:

Chapter 3: Shira starts thinking about her best friend Elsa, and gets comfort from an unlikely source.

Chapter 4: Out at sea, two old henchmen - now the main villains - are planning revenge.

Chapter 5: Picking up the Scrat and Scratte story as they are washed out to sea and onto a desert island - lots of comedy fighting.

Chapter 6: Sid and Granny find a mysterious sandy-furred sabre washed up on the beach...

If you want to add some suggestions, just PM me or include them in your comments! :-)

Please review!