Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age, just Keith, Tess, Deon, Kaito, Mae, and Simon.

Chapter 6: Finding Friends and Reuniting With Enemies.

Diego's P.O.V.

All I saw was darkness, and I was surrounded in something warm, like a blanket to comfort me and keep the pain at bay. Am I dead? I thought to myself, as the wolf fight felt like a distant dream, a nightmare. I was pulled from my thoughts when I felt something warm and furry brush against my side. I nuzzled against the warmth, i wanted its comfort, and to forget the pain. A loud groan stopped me in my tracks, froze me in place as my mind ran a mile a minute. The warmth wasn't something, I realized, It was someone!

Regular P.O.V.

Diego jumped to his feet and looked around the dimly lit cave, his eyes searching for the thing that had made the noise. "Diego", Tess said, trying to get the males attention. "Are you ok? Did you have a nightmare?" Diego shook his head and stared at Tess, he realized that the warmth had been Tess, he had been nuzzling against her!

He looked down in shame, Diego had always thought that Tess was attractive. She was a mature female without a mate, so of course his male instincts wanted to claim her for himself, but he pushed that away. He had not wanted to get close to her for fear his instincts would take over, and with her mate murdered not long ago, the male was sure Tess would hate him if he did. But Diego's biggest fear was that she might not feel the same way.

A harsh pain in his leg ripped him from his thoughts and his leg gave out. The male groaned as everything in the room started spinning and he put his head on the cold ground. "Diego, you need to be careful!" Tess explained "Your wounds haven't fully healed yet!"

Tess tentatively placed her paw underneath Diego's chin to lift his face up to hers. "It's going to be all right" The female said trying to sooth worry in the males eyes. "We will make it to Frost Tip Cave, but you need to rest first." Tess smiled at him and he snapped.

Instinctively Diego pounced on Tess and shoved her to the ground. Tess was startled at Diego's actions, had she said something wrong?, she inquired to herself. Diego's eyes were black, his muscles were tense like he was holding himself back, but from what?

The female started to get flashbacks of Keith, but she shook her head Diego would never do something like that, would he?. As that thought went through her head fear started to take hold of her. But just as fast as Diego's dark expression had come it was gone. He started to get off of her but not before he did something that startled Tess. The male saber bent his head down so his breath was ghosting over Tess's fur, and he put his lips to her. It was a chaste kiss, and Diego got off her looking shameful for his actions.

"I'm sorry I should never done that, I don't know what came over me." Diego explained, trying to cover up the awkward situation. "It's ok", Tess said, trying to sound reassuring but failing miserably. "Do you think you can walk now after...that... and maybe get a head start on the day?" "Yea, I'm fine" Diego replied, looking outside the cave, the sun had just started to rise letting the first rays of the morning light spill over on to the pale earth.

"Aright then we should get going, we don't have all day!" Tess explained trying to lighten the mood and gave Diego a smile.

It had snowed again last night, and the snow was now just under their knees. Tess would keep looking back at Diego to see if he was alright, she didn't want him to hurt his leg more than it was already.

They had been walking for at least ten minutes when Tess spotted something black on the snow. As she got closer she noticed it was blood and called Diego. "Look" the female said when Diego was by her side. "Aw, the kitty is afraid of a little blood!" Diego said, even in his bad state he still had time to poke fun at the female. "I am so not scared", Tess said getting angry just like the male wanted her to. "I'll show you" So, Tess followed the trail of blood and looked up. The sight alone almost elicited a scream from the females mouth but she held it back.

There were three sabers, it was too hard to tell which ones were male and female as they were too bloodied. The bodies were scattered across the pale white snow, and judging from the slight smell of decaying flesh in the air they had been there for some while. "Diego, I think you should see this", Tess said when, her voice came back to her. Tess heard a gasp beside her as Diego took in the sight, "Those wolves", he growled, "They must have done this,".

Tess thought she saw something on the far end of the clearing, a footprint, maybe a mammoths. She doubted herself at first but as she slowly walked toward the print, Tess noticed it was a mammoths print! "Diego, I found a mammoth footprint!" She yelled over to her companion who came half running half limping to her. "It could be the rest of the herd!" He exclaimed excitedly, "They've made it so far!"

The two decided to follow the prints and as they walked and noticed a peak on the horizon, it was frost tip cave, they were so close to safety, or so they thought.

It was well past dark when the two decided to rest, now the cave could be seen clearly along with the little black dots of other mammals around it. The two had lost the mammoth's tracks sometime in the afternoon, they had just ended. They both agreed that being this close to the cave their companions were probably all safe, and that they needed to get to safety as soon as possible.

Tess could not sleep though, thoughts of this morning kept whizzing around in her head. Why did Diego kiss me? Does he have feelings for me? She could not stop those questions from being asked in her head, and every now and then she would steal a glance at Diego's sleeping form.

Of course her female instincts were telling her that he was a single attractive male and she had no mate, so for her instincts it was like an open invitation to mate. But her head was smarter, how would Diego feel if I did tried to instigate something like that!, she thought, I mean I do have feelings for Diego, but I'm scared he won't feel the same way! Tess shook her head, she knew she had more important things to think about like finding her friends. So, with that thought Tess fell into a dreamless sleep.

Tess's P.O.V

All I saw was darkness, but there were voices, no it was growls, then a name, Keith.

Normal P.O.V

Tess's eyes snapped open when she heard Keith's name. The female looked up to see Diego in a defensive crouch, snarling. Keith was only a foot of two away from him in a more relaxed pose with a grin on his face. "What do you want!" Diego growled between gritted teeth. "Oh, you know I came for what is rightfully mine, the little kitten over there." Keith exclaimed nonchalantly, turning to face Tess. "You know next time you should really try and make sure that I'm knocked out before you give away your destination," Keith said grinning, "too easy!"

With that Keith rushed toward Tess with a malicious glint in his eyes. He didn't get very far though, as Diego came running in front of him. "You don't touch her, she's mine!" Diego growled, pouncing on Keith, but with his injured leg he was not much of a challenge and Keith had him pinned in seconds. The evil male was going for the kill, Tess tried to get up and rush to him, but she was too slow. Everything started to go in slow motion, she could see Keith's gleaming white fangs going for Diego's throat, he was done for, she couldn't save him now!

All of a sudden a giant brown furry mass came running at the two struggling sabers. It picked Keith up with his tusks and threw him at a tree, where he went out cold. It was Manny, they had found them, and just in time too. Tess could see the rest of the herd coming into the clearing, as Manny helped Diego up. Ellie rushed over to Tess "Tess!" she gushed, "You're ok, I was so afraid something happened to you, I mean we went through a volcano and then a tidal wave! How about you?" "Trust me, not much better." Tess explained grinning.

"I told you we would find each other again!" Manny explained, "Yep, never doubted you for a second Manny", Diego replied when he was back on his feet. "Well we really should get to Frost Tip Cave, we don't have all day!" Ellie piped up and the group agreed.

"Just a second honey." Manny said with a grin on his face "I think we should make sure that Keith here is completely knocked out." Tess and Diego looked at each other a grin plastered on both their faces but it was Diego who spoke up. "You know Manny I think that's a very good idea."

So, Manny picked up Keith's limp form in his tusks and threw him at another nearby tree. "Yep definitely knocked out" Manny said grinning at the rest of the herd.

As they made their way to the cave Ellie couldn't help but ask "So, what did happen to you two when we were gone?" Tess stole another glance at Diego and then looked back at Ellie, "Well it starts like this..."

If you are wondering this is not the end of the fic there are going to be about two more chapters. Hope you all enjoy. Reviews are always loved. ^-^