The morning came around slowly for the herd. As usual, just as soon as the sun peaked in through the mouth of the cave, Shira began to wake up. Before she remembered what had happened that previous night, she felt Diego wrapped around her holding her stomach close to him. For a moment she was completely startled, but then she remembered him keeping her warm through out the night. Normally, she'd wake up this early to have a morning walk and/or run before the rest of the herd woke up, but this morning she just couldn't do it. It wasn't that she physically couldn't run; she just didn't want to. Se wanted to stay in Diego's strong, yet gentle, embrace for as long as she possibly could before reality pulled her away. Shira decided that she was going to savour this moment for as long as she could, so began to wiggle herself further into Diego. She felt him unconciously tighten his grip around her as she curled up, causing her to smile.

Around an hour and a half later, Shira had, somehow, managed to fall back to sleep again when she was dived on by two unknown figures. They were light in weight, so she presumed they'd be small. Still with her eyes closed she could here them talking.

"Well look at this. Diego, why didn't you tell us?" One of the voices said. The other then piped up. Both were still on her back.

"Diego and Shira sleeping in a cave; K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes..." The irritating song was cut off by a deep voice from behind her.

"Crash, Cut it out. If you wake her up, start running." Diego was awake. And he'd just stayed still wrapped around her the entire time? Why?

Diego batted the possum brothers off of Shira as she started to move herself around. Deciding to have a little fun, and to see what Diego's reaction would be, she rolled over so her chest as against his. Diego still kept his foreleg over Shira's back. Shira could feel Diego's muscles tense as she turned.

Opening her eyes slowly, Shira saw Diego looking down at her, his large Emerald green eyes gleaming. She smiled up at him.

"Hi. Get cold last night did you?" She asked, referring to the position the two were currently stuck in, even though she knew perfectly well how they'd ended up like it.

"Erm... The wind... you were... I was just trying..." He stuttered to find an answer.

"Diego, it's fine. I know what happened last night. And thanks." She gave him a small lick on his neck, just under his head, before standing up. Stretching, she noticed that Crash and Eddie were stood giggling about what they'd seen. Rolling her eyes at the two's immaturity, she walked out the cave whilst calling back to the three "I'm going for a walk." She disappeared off into the forest.

Diego got himself up and stretched his muscles. he could still feel the lingering warmth on his side from where Shira had slept that night. The warmth brought a smile to his face, a smile he hoped that Crash and Eddie hadn't noticed.

They had.

Diego walked out of the cave before they had time to start the taunting. Outside he saw Manny, Ellie and Peaches all stood together. Manny and Ellie were opposite Peaches, who was next to Louis -Diego didn't see him at first because of his size. It looked as if there was something going on.

"But Dad, I really want to go to this party. EVERYONE is going to be there!" Peaches pleaded with her dad, but Manny wasn't having any of it.

"Peaches I already said, You aren't going!" Diego attempted to get out of the clearing unnoticed but Manny spotted him.

"Diego come here, would you let your Kids go to a party that goes on all day and night?"

"Well, not really but it depends on whether or not I trust them to make the right choices. And the fact that I don't have kids makes it biased."

"Maybe, if you tell Shira how you feel, you can have kids someday. And don't deny it, we ALL know you like her, even Granny knows and she talks to trees sometimes."

Diego felt embarrassed.

Peaches noticed that the attention had been taken off of her and put onto Diego, so carefully picked up Louis and snook off into the trees undetected by the herd. Diego and Manny carried on talking about Diego and Shira's 'romance' until Ellie split it up.

"Manny, stop. Diego will tell Shira when he's ready and she might tell him first. And you can't really tell anyone about being up front with their feelings, I remember you when we first met, I had to leave and almost drown for you to tell me how you felt."

Manny had to agree with Ellie, so he let Diego leave and went to turn back to Peaches.

"I guess your right Ellie. Now Peaches about this..." Manny noticed his daughter was gone. "She's grounded." He then went back into the mammoth and Possum cave.

Diego walked through the forest looking for a meal. He picked up a familiar scent of the Ocean and a small hint of himself. A small way up the path Shira was hunting for her own meal. Sneaking up on her Diego got as close as he could then pounced. He landed on top of Shira and pinned her down. Shira at first tried to fight back at her 'attacker' until she recognised their scent. She went limp and pretended to be hurt. Diego thought he'd genuinely hurt her so quickly off of the female Sabre's to be pounced on and pinned down himself. Landing on his back. Diego looked up at Shira with a sigh of annoyance for being tricked. Shira placed her back-legs on the top of Diego's back-legs -on the bottom of his under-belly area- and her fore-legs on his shoulders. All of this prevented Diego from getting back up, despite him being the stronger out of the two.

Smirking at her victory, Shira looked down at Diego, "Well that went to plan... for me it did anyway."

The pair laughed at Diego's failed attempt to one-up the Sabress. Both of them looking into the others eyes, they both got lost in their eyes. Before they knew what was happening, Diego had leaned his head up and Shira moved hers down to meet his halfway. Their lips were centimetres apart when both of them closed their eyes and closed the distance between them. The feeling of their lips touching was a completely new feeling for both of the cats. Yet it was one that they'd give anything for it to last forever. Diego managed to get his paws under Shira's chest just enough so he could flip her over to make it so he was above her. Once he was on top he felt her paws on his shoulder-blades, stroking his Orange fur slowly. Shira deepened the kiss and felt his tongue wipe across her lip, almost asking for permission to enter. She let him and their tongues became entangled. After a few minutes of this, the felines needed to breathe and released their lock on each other, both panting rapidly.

Diego leaned down again to lick Shira's cheek. He smiled as he heard her begin purring, due to this action he carried on licking her face, purring loudly himself. As the weather started to pick up, Diego and Shira could tell that some heavy weather was definitely on it's way, the two walked side-by-side back to the camp to see what Manny's instructions were.

Back at the clearing, Manny gathered the herd together -including Peaches who had returned just before the Sabres because of the weather- and began giving instructions of what was needed to be done during the definite Blizzard.

"OK. With the Blizzard on it's way we all will need a sufficient food supply to last at least a week. Water can be found from the melting snow. As for shelter, we'll all need to keep warm. So a suggestion could be, to sleep in the same cave. What does everyone think."

"Manny, me and Shira can stay in our cave because of our food, I know you guys don't particularly like our Diet. And anyway, I don't mind staying just the two of us; what about you?" Diego turned to Shira with a small smirk on his face. Shira nodded in agreement to what Diego had suggested. Diego nudged Shira's shoulder with his head.

"Me and Granny will stay in your cave, Manny. It gets pretty cold in there sometimes." Sid joined in taking the focus away from the suspicious looking Sabres.

"Well that settles it then. Everyone go and get what you need for the week; and get back before the Blizzard hits."

The herd went their separate ways. Diego and Shira to the Hunting-Ground; Sid and Granny to the Berry-Pit; the Mammoths to the tall Peach, Banana, Apple and Kiwi trees; and Louis searched under-ground for small insects.

By the time everyone was back in the clearing and had said goodbye to each other, the night sky had set in and the Blizzard was beginning. Diego ad Shira went right to the back of their cave and Diego curled around Shira the same way he'd done the night before. With Diego licking behind her ear, Shira started purring softly. He purrs echoed through the cave, seconds later they were joined by Diego's purrs. Shira stood up and lay half her body on Diego's chest, forcing his back onto the ground. She kissed him, once again his tongue asking for entrance. Their kiss was once again long enough for them both to run out of breath. Standing up Diego lay his body on top of hers, keeping her warm as they both drifted to sleep.

"Diego..." Shira said in her sleep voice.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Shira." Diego licked her neck until both Sabres fell sleep.

This Chapter took me FOREVER to write, however I think it came out pretty well. The next chapter will probably be just about Dira. I hope everyone liked the kiss scene; I've never write about a kiss like that, It's usually they kissed now onto the next bit. So I hope everyone likes it. Please leave a comment or PM letting me know what you think about the chapter, kiss scene or what you want in the next chapter. I can handle criticism but no really nasty comments. Thanks

P.S. ~ I will try to upload a new chapter as soon as I can.