A/N:Hey, finally got this up. I want to get this part in before I do anything else. Trust me, things are going to get real good soon so just hold out a little longer. I've just been feeling very blah lately and sometimes it's just hard to get motivated. But it's spring break and I'm at my grandma's house so I've got a lot of free time on my hands. Let's get this show on the road.

Disclaimer: "Take it away Jack, I know you've been wanting to do this!"

"Yay! Grace doesn't own Ice Age or aaaaaaannything else!"

"Nice dude."

Several weeks pass uneventfully, well except for Louis accidently slapping Sapphire's butt while they were playing in the water at the beach, causing some slight embarrassment in both, and a little run in with a few members of the Brat Pack, who decided to make a snide remark to Sapphire about her scar. Louis wasn't with them for that because he was up all night puking his guts out with the stomach flu, but Peaches made sure to pay them back with some "wonderful" words of her own. Sapphire was only a little shaken and saddened by being called ugly this time. Hey, it was improvement.

But lately Sapphire's been going through some more troubling things. She finds it disturbing and scary and she needed someone to talk to and for some reason, she felt like Peaches was the best one for that. So one day at the pine tree clearing before Louis came, she decided it was time for some serious girl talk, and not just the usual talks about hair and boys. She sat on the ground and sighed, putting her face in her hands and trying to let the nerves leave her body. Peaches, wondering why her friend just randomly sat on the ground, stopped and did the same.

"What's up, Gem?"

Sapphire knew it would make her feel a lot better if she just told Peaches what was going on now, instead of thinking it would just be a good idea to tell her. She pulled her head up and Peaches immediately saw the stress and worry in her tired eyes. It made her look older, and not in the good way every teenager worked to achieve. That's when she knew this was something she wanted to get off her chest before Louis arrived; he would have just fussed over her and that's the last thing she wanted right now. Sapphire took a deep breath and slowly let it out, pulling herself together.

"You know that dream I told you I keep having? The one about the night my parents died?"

She nodded her head.

"Well it keeps happening, but that's not the bad part. Something has changed about it. Something has been added to the end of it that just," She paused to think of a way to describe it, "Brings a sense of foreboding, like my subconscious is trying to warn me of something that I can't do anything about, Peaches." She could still see the large figure laughing and telling her he was coming after her soon in her mind and shivered.

Peaches' concern level went from "Oh, no" to just below "Holy crap!" levels. Although she didn't believe dreams, reoccurring or not, carried any weight, this was tearing her friend apart, and she couldn't do much to fix a dream. But what she could do though, was try to convince her the new addition to her dream meant nothing. If her dream hadn't bothered her before this, then maybe she could help her get used to it again.

"Don't worry about it, it probably means nothing. You're just stressed about something or another and that's what's adding stuff to your dream. Just chill out, especially before Louis comes or he wont stop worrying about you."

Sapphire silently agreed. Knowing Louis, he probably would. She knew the dream meant something, but decided she wasn't going to worry about it right now. She shook her head, "Yeah, yeah you're right. I just need to brush it off, thanks Peach."

At that moment, a small dirt pile seemed to be coming toward them, signaling Louis' approach. Almost instinctively, Sapphire smoothed down her hair and checked her appearance in her reflection in the puddle of water from the previous night's rain. She wasn't happy with what she saw, but when was she? At least she didn't think she butt ugly anymore. But she raised her eyebrow while still looking into the puddle: why was she so worried about what she looked like when Louis came around? She didn't fuss like this when it was just her and Peaches. Weird.

Louis popped out of the ground and rubbed the dirt out of his hair. He looked tired since it was so early in the morning but almost instantly perked up when he saw Sapphire. This was an unusual surprise to him, since lately he's been arriving before her, but a welcome surprise nonetheless. Sapphire walked up and hugged him with a very cheery "Hi!". It was a friendly hug, right? But what about that hug a few weeks ago at his place? Were they only friends? That little line separating friends and more than friends was becoming more blurry every day.

They went to the beach that day. Sapphire resolved herself to stay on the beach and soak in the sun after the first fifteen minutes though because she wasn't really feeling too slick after being tossed into the water by Peaches. Hitting the water from high heights like that really makes water feel like a hard rock. So that left Louis and Peaches by themselves in the water. Peaches saw that as a perfect opportunity.

"So Louis" she started, "You like Gem, don't you?"

Louis, floating on his back in the water, just shrugged and replied "Of course I like her, she's my friend."

"No I mean do you like her?" She emphasized the key word in that question.

Louis fell from his perfect floating position in shock and sank, taking in some water as he did so. After he resurfaced, he coughed violently to rid his lungs of the intruding water. "What? N-no of course not. Were just f-friends."

That was a lie. Peaches always knew when he was lying. Stuttering was his tell. She pressed further questions. "Okay, well what about the hugging? You've guys have been hugging a lot more than you used to."

"What, friends can't hug?"

"Sure they can, but you guys seem a bit excessive."

Louis didn't know how to reply. He had no other comeback for that, "Uh, um, well uh, I don't know w- what you're talking ab-bout."

More stuttering, more lies. Peaches continued, "And what about a few weeks ago when she spilled her guts about her parents? You totally held her hand. I don't recall friends ever doing that." She smirked.

"I was only comforting her."

"Only?"

"Y- yeah. Only th-that."

It was funny how he thought he was successfully hiding how he felt. He should be glad Sapphire's still somewhat oblivious.

"You know, if you guys are in some kind of relationship, why don't you just tell me?"

Louis began to wade his way to the sand, "No were not. End of story."

"Alright, if you say so." She began to follow him in and muttered under her breath "Someone's moody today."

Meanwhile on the beach, Sapphire felt a wet Louis flop down on the sand next to her, obviously trying to dry off in the sun. He sighed, content with the sun's heat. Sapphire opened her eyes and her heart skipped a beat, something that hasn't happened in a while. The angle at which she saw Louis laying wet in the sand made him look like a god come to Earth, it seemed to her. She sat up and grinned. She pushed the hair out of his eyes while telling him she thought it was funny how his hair liked to hang in front of his eyes when it was wet.

"Hey" He said opening his eyes and pushing his back to where it was, "Maybe I like it like that."

"Well maybe" she said pushing back again "I like it back. Then I can see your face, which is convenient when you're talking to someone. And it just plain looks nicer."

He sat up and smiled, "Since when has may hair looked nice, Gem?"

"Always! I love your hair!" She said while ruffling his hair.

"Okay, can you guys flirt later? We've got to get back to my place so I can show you that amazing shiny rock Crash and Eddie told me about this morning." Peaches butted in.

The first statement sent Sapphire and Louis into a wave of stutters denying they were flirting until they gave up, not being able to get any words out and standing up.

"Let's just um, go." Sapphire walked ahead of her friends toward Peaches' home. She often did that when she was embarrassed. She reached a very small clearing in the woods before they did.

Meanwhile in the distance, there was an intimidating figure standing on a rock with a telescope watching her, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? I've been looking for you for a long time little missy. Perhaps if I follow you around for awhile I can find out where the rest of your family is." He noticed two more individuals come into view and chuckled when he saw Sapphire turn around and walk closer to them and then turn to walk along side them, "Well, it looks like I get to kill two birds with one stone. Not only do I get to finally be rid of Roger's damned family but also the mammoth's too. How lucky am I?"

With that, he turned and walked into the woods behind him, a plan forming in his mind.

A/N: Omg, this is getting crazy. Who is this figure? You could all probably guess. Happy Easter everyone! (Even though it's technically Monday. Yeah, 1:30 am right now.) Or if you don't really celebrate Easter, then happy normal Sunday!

MusicRocks807- The cuteness level is about to get to dangerous measures in the coming chapters. You have been warned. And I don't know why I have to come up with birthdays for my OCs, it just helps somehow. (Btw, Sapphire's birthday is June 14 and I forgot to give you an imaginary cookie when you became a fan, so here you go!)

IceAgingTitan- More exciting stuff is to come, so stay tuned! Poor Louis got slammed today. We all knew the questions were going to come soon. And you are awesome, double smiley face for you. :) :)

scoobs5601- Louis' dad is like someone I know actually, and she harasses me on a daily basis. (Maybe that's why he's so easy for me to write.) Glad I could still be funny since I never considered myself funny in the first place. Hey, someone thinks I'm funny! Yay, thanks!

mwang- Yay, new fan! Welcome aboard our little crazy boat of fun! Imaginary cookie for you!