The herd, plus Shira and Sasha, were making their way through the icy land, leaving an odd assortment of pawprints trailing behind them.

"How on earth did you fall in with this lot?" Shira honestly couldn't disguise her surprise. Diego on one paw seemed to fit the macho male tiger stereotype pretty neatly. So how come he belonged to a "herd" which was filled with prey?

"Well..." Diego cast a restless look at the mammoths, leading the way, and Sid who was apparently giving a lecture to Crash and Eddie about the benefits of modern medicine. No rescue there. "I used to belong to a regular tiger pack. The leader gave me a task - steal a human baby from the tribe who had killed half our pack. I went after him, but Manny and Sid found him first and wanted to return him. On the way, Manny saved my life when I was about to fall into a lava river, and nearly died doing it. I well... learned what life was like in a herd. It's not so bad, you know."

Shira didn't comment on that, staring straight ahead for a minute with her brow furrowed. "Where do Ellie and the possums fit in?" She questioned. Diego sighed. "We found them later, during the flooding. Ellie was orphaned at a young age and raised by a family of possums. Believe me, it was some task convincing her she was actually a mammoth, but Manny got through to her in the end."

It was hard to tell what was going through Shira's mind. Her icy blue gaze gave away nothing. Diego casually kicked branch out of their way. "So, what about you? What's your story?"

Shira paused for less than a heartbeat, a tiny break in her graceful stride. Diego thought he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly, he couldn't be sure.

"I guess this sort of - family - is hard for me to understand." She admitted. "In the Western Prides, everything is different. Status is everything. My brothers all took after my father, they were always fighting - one another, and everyone else. Had to prove their worth." Her ears flattened, the memories of her time with her family still raw. She may have never clicked with them - but they were still her family.

"And where did you fit in?" Diego tried to make the question casual, not quite looking at Shira as he spoke. But he couldn't deny how much he actually wanted to hear about her life. The name Western Pride triggered something in his memory, but he didn't spare a though for it now, focused on Shira.

She made that tiniest of pauses again. "I didn't." She replied, her voice hard and cynical. From the expression on her silver and white face it was clear she had said all she would on the matter.

There was a loud squeal from up ahead. Recognizing the voice as Sasha's, both adult sabres leaped into action and were at the front of the herd, neck fur bristling and claws out, ready to face anything. "What?" Demanded Diego, turning a full circle as he searched for danger.

"Take it easy tiger." Assured Ellie. She held Sasha up in her trunk so the adults could see she was fine. She looked excited, pointing her little paw. "Dere!" She was looking at a large boulder with one sloping side and a sheer face on the other. "Da! Da go up dere! For food." She exclaimed.

"Her father kept watch for prey up there." surmised Shira. Diego checked the fresh snowfall for prints and was uneasy when he found none. Shira sniffed the air, eyes narrowed. "Something isn't right here." She murmured, and Diego felt his fur bristle in agreement. It was so... still.

A small clearing was just ahead, with Sasha urging them on now - she clearly recognized where she was. Manny and Ellie soon began to have difficulty pushing through the dense undergrowth, which was filled with brambles and thick, woody shrubs that didn't give easily. They were forced to stand back as Diego and Shira led the way into the clearing, Sid carrying Sasha now but lagging well behind the tigers. Ellie had to hold out her trunk to stop Peaches, who was still little enough to follow. Though she had been excited at first to see her home, Sasha, sensing the guarded mood, was quiet in the sloth's arms.

"Look." Diego nodded to a tree, little more than a sapling, which had been used to sharpen claws. Two sets were up high, two down low. Shira huffed a breath into the cold air. She didn't like this at all.

"Looks pretty quiet." Manny commented. Though he couldn't reach the clearing, he and Ellie were keeping watch with their height advantage. Sasha stayed by Sid, looking around as if she expected to see familiar faces.

"Look, a cave!" Exclaimed Eddie, and he and Crash jumped into the clearing and raced over to a gap barely visible, shrouded by ferns under the roots of an old oak tree. "Wait! Eddie, Crash!" Diego yelled, making a grab at them, but he wasn't quick enough to stop the possums before they were inside.

For a moment there was silence. Then a fierce snarling set up from underground, followed by the brother's wailing. They both shot out of the cave far faster than they'd gone in, looking terrified.

"Monster! Killer!" Babbled Eddie, hugging Sid's neck so tightly the sloth choked a little. Crash in the meantime was clinging to Diego's ear. He growled in annoyance, swatting at the possum. "Stop that! What was it in there?" He demanded.

"Oh, a huge monster with huge teeth!" Wept Crash, burying his nose in Diego's fur, to the tiger's disgust. He levered a paw under the clinging possum and pried him free.

"Bigger than Manny!" Added Eddie, and Crash nodded in agreement, dangling from Diego's paw by his tail. "With huge teeth!" Eddie held his paws apart to show how huge.

"Oh, really." Diego said sceptically, looking at the small entrance of the cave. He dropped Crash, who landed on his head. Nothing Manny's size could even get into the clearing, let alone that cave, which got Diego thinking the brothers might just be exaggerating.

"Yeah!" Eddie defended their claims. "And it snarls even more mean than you, Diego!" Sighing, Diego walked to the entrance and called out. "We know you're in there, so you may as well just come on out. You don't want me to send those possums in there again."

Eddie and Crash looked horror-struck at the thought and flung themselves into the bushes at Ellie's feet for protection.

After a pause, a little cub face peeped out of the entrance, looking defensive. A young male sabre emerged, his red-gold fur several shades darker than Diego's.

"Sam!" Yelled Sasha, making one huge bound from Sid's arms and running over to tackle the other cub. He was a little bigger than she was, but he looked a lot like her in the face and he shared her large amber eyes.

"Oh, you two were right." Diego drawled, addressing the possums. "What a killer. I'm surprised you made it out at all." Eddie and Crash cringed then sank back into their bush.

"You must be Sasha's brother." Shira observed as the young male licked Sasha's ear and nuzzled her roughly. He grunted, then looked around at the strange faces with an air of suspicion. "Who you?" He asked warily, puffing out his little chest.

"Dey find Mama and Da wiv us!" Sasha told him brightly. Sam glanced around briefly and scowled. "Not find." He muttered. "Me look. No find. Never leave dis long." He hung his head and Diego felt a flash of amazement. This cub had been living on his own - even for a short time - and not just hding in his den, but searching for his parents? He glanced at Shira, and she scowled - not at him, at the emptiness of the clearing. Then she lowered her head to Sam's eye level. "Sam, we will help look for your parents. Do you want to come with us?" She asked softly, leaving the decision up to him. Sam appeared to think about this, trotting over and sniffing the possum's hiding place. "Rats come too?" He asked. Eddie and Crash's shocked faces popped up from the leaves. "Rats?" They echoed in disbelief.

Diego flashed his fangs in a grin. "I like this kid." To Sam, he winked. "We just bring them along in case we get hungry." Sam licked his lips and both possums hastily climbed to safety in the form of Ellie's back. Sam followed them and looked uncertainly up at the mammoths, but without backing off. "Who long-noses?" He asked next. There was an indignant snort from Manny, but Sasha just scampered over and rubbed her head on Ellie's leg. "Nice fwends! See! Ewwie, lift up!" She commanded, showing her brother how nice mammoths were. Ellie obligingly lifted Sasha in her trunk, holding her up for Sam to see.

Sam grunted and nodded just once. "Kay. Go now then." He decided, trotting off as if he were in charge. Diego tried not to laugh as he followed him, Shira falling in at his side.

For that brief flash, Diego almost felt like they were his family.

A/N- Well, I'm in uncharted waters now mates. Until now this has been a rewrite of an old (unpublished) fic I started years ago, and this is as far as I got then. It still amazes me how similar Shira is personality-wise to the OC mate I envisioned for Diego, it's made this story very easy for me to adapt! I do have to say though, I love Shira's movie design, I didn't think to give any of my OC Ice Age tigers stripes the way she has. It's one of the main reasons I wanted to rewrite this with Shira instead of keep my Storm, who was a white tiger with a golden lightning marking.

Rest assured I will be continuing this time, for as I have folk who want to read more - I have a few ideas that I hope you'll all like!