Diego laid on some soft grass as Shira laid down and watched as his slowly inhaled and exhaled. Manny helped move him to a much more comfortable area under a shady tree, he was pretty beaten up, most of his body was covered in scratches, bite marks and bruises, but luckily they managed to stop the bleeding and now he was just resting. Shira looked at the male saber closely to make sure he was still breathing, but also she couldn't help but admire him at the same time. For Shira it was a crazy 48 hours, she was mad at him the two nights ago, then Roark and his sabers came to the island and now she was watching Diego sleep, definitely crazy. However through all that, she never stopped thinking about Diego and what would have happened to him if the situation turned out differently, but he surprised them all and now Roark's gone and Diego's alive, beaten, but alive.
"You really took a beating didn't you?" She asked while checking his wounds even though she wasn't going to get a response.
As she inspected the wounds, Diego began to stir, Shira backed away fearing she did something wrong, but then she noticed Diego's eyes open slowly. When Diego awoke the first thing he noticed was that his body was very sore, so much so that as he tried to get up his body screamed. He looked around to try to get his bearings, but then his gaze stopped at Shira. He was surprised to see her and he noticed that she had a surprised expression on her face.
"Shira, what's going on, and where am I?" She asked.
Shira shook herself out of her stupor to answer.
"You passed out, so we moved you to a more comfortable place for you to rest." She explained.
"How long was I out?" He asked.
"A few hours." She answered.
Diego looked around and noticed that it was late in the day, he also noticed that he and Shira were the only ones there.
"Where's everyone else?" He asked.
"They went to check if there were any more of Roark's goons stalking the island." She said.
"Ok, but why are you here, shouldn't you be helping them?" He asked.
"Well someone had to stay and make sure that you were alright, and well I volunteered." She said.
"Really, you volunteered?" He asked with a smile.
Shira smiled a little at his reaction, even badly bruised he was still the same kind of guy.
"Well I mean sure, unless you didn't want me to?" She asked.
"No, no I'm glad it was you, honestly I'm glad it's you, I couldn't imagine waking up to Sid." He said.
"Yeah actually when you passed out it took both Manny and Ellie to keep him from giving you mouth to mouth." She said.
"Remind me to thank them later." He said.
They both just chuckled and then looked at each other for what seemed like hours, and it was Diego who finally broke the silence.
"Look Shira, about a few nights ago." He started.
Shira instantly knew what he was talking about and listened.
"Yeah." She said.
"Well, I just wanted to say that…"Before he could continue he was cut off by the unexpected arrival of the possum twins.
"Hey guys." Crash called.
Diego mentally cursed as they made their way towards them.
"What is it you guys?" Shira asked.
"Manny sent us to get you and possibly Diego if he was awake, which he is." Eddie said.
"What do he need?" Diego asked.
"He wants you two to come to Switchback Cove, we going to send the sabers a drift." Crash said.
"Are you serious?" Shira asked.
"Yeah come on." Eddie said.
Both possums ran and the two sabers quickly followed, although Diego was having a little trouble due to his injuries, but he stuck it out. As they made their way to Switchback Cove, the rest of the herd had rounded up the sabers and placed them on a large ice burg and they were tied down for good measure.
"We'll get you for this mammoth." Rico threatened.
"Sure you will." Manny said.
Diego and Shira have made it and they saw all the sabers on the ice burg ready to be shipped off, Manny then noticed them and called them over.
"Diego, Shira over here." He said.
They went over to the burg and Diego noticed his old pack mates tied up giving him the death glare.
"Well looks who still alive." Oscar said.
"Yeah, sorry about Roark, I honestly didn't want to do it." He said.
"You know this isn't over, well get you Diego, one of these days." Oscar threatened.
"And if that day does come, we'll be waiting, and we're not going to go easy on you." He retorted.
"Alright let's get these psychos off the island." Sid said.
Several of the Mammoths including Manny, Ellie, Peaches and Ethan began to push the burg but then stopped when Zeke called out.
"Wait hang on a second, are you just going to send us out to the ocean with no food?" He asked.
"Oh don't worry about that, we left you all a little something for the trip." Ellie said.
"Really, what?" Diego asked.
"Ok don't be mad, but we used the deer that you hunted." Sid asked.
Diego was a little upset, but decided that it was for the best, even though he hated them, he didn't want them to starve to death.
"Don't worry about it, I can get another one." He said.
"That's it, one lousy deer." Lenny called out.
"And besides we're tied up." Rico said.
"Relax, it shouldn't take you too long to cut the vines, and as for the deer, if you ration it, it'll hold you over until you hit land." Diego said.
As the mammoths prepared to push, Oscar looked and Shira.
"You know kitty, we could have had something special." He said.
"Yeah, I don't think so." She said.
Shira then walked up and looked right into Oscar's eyes.
"And by the way, don't call me kitty." She said as she walked back to stand next to Diego.
The mammoths then pushed the burg with all their might and soon the burg was sailing away from the shore.
"Bon voyage fellas." Granny said.
The herd watched as the ice burg shrank in the distance, after a few minutes the herd decided to return to the valley and relax after such an ordeal, however Diego noticed Shira leaving and decided that now was a good time.
"Hey Shira wait up for second." He called.
Shira stopped and turned to look at him and knew what he wanted to talk about.
"Yeah sure." She said.
They both sat down on the beach and Diego began to talk.
"Anyway as I was saying, I just wanted to apologize about what happened." He said.
"No Diego, I'm sorry, I overreacted." She said.
"I should have been straight forward with you." He said.
For a few seconds they were both trying to apologize to each other and they started to talk over each other.
"Okay, okay, hold on this is getting crazy." Shira said.
"Yeah you're right." Diego said.
"You want to just end the apology and get to the forgiving?" She asked.
"Yes thank you." He said.
They both just smiled at each other, then Diego looked around and noticed the sun was setting which made the sky turn a brilliant mix orange and yellow. He then turned his attention to Shira and noticed that she looked beautiful, that combined with the moment and the smile on her face, he decided to finally tell her.
"Listen Shira, I have something to tell you that I have been meaning to for a while now." He said.
"What's that Diego?" She asked.
"Well over the last few weeks, I've felt something inside me, and I now I need to let it out." He said.
Shira listened with anticipation to what Diego was going to say.
"Shira, I…I" He stammered.
"Go ahead Diego, it's alright." She encouraged.
"I love you!" He exclaimed.
Shira was shocked at his statement, Diego just said that he loved her.
"Ever since I saw on the ship, something sparked in me, at first I thought it was nothing, but when we started to spend more time together, that spark inside me started to grow and I realized that I fell in love with you." He said.
Shira was still speechless and so she just listened to every word he said.
"Now I understand if you don't feel the same way, but I just wanted to let you know how I truly feel." He said.
Shira just looked at him with shock, he had just confessed that he was in love with her, however after he said that, she realized something, she was in love with him.
"Shira are you okay?" Diego asked.
She looked at him and remembered the first time she saw, she was surprised to see another saber, let alone a male, however she was a pirate at the time and didn't really feel anything for him. But, then they started to spend more time together, and between their ship sinking, being imprisoned in the tree and Roark wanting to kill him, she finally realized that she was in love with him.
"Shira say something." Diego said.
"Diego, do you really mean all that?" She asked.
"Of course I do, every word." He said.
"Well, I have something to say to you." She said.
Diego got ready for what was about to happen, he didn't know how Shira was going to react.
"Diego, I love you too!" She exclaimed.
Now Diego was shocked, not only had he just confessed his feelings, but Shira told him that she was in love with him.
"Really?" He asked.
"Of course." She said.
They both smiled and then they slowly moved closer to each other, they kept going until both their noses were touching. They both looked into each other's eyes with affection, Shira then moved her head and started nuzzling his neck and Diego returned the favor. They stayed like that for a few minutes, never wanting the moment to end, everything about the moment was perfect. After a few more minutes they finally separated but still looking at each other lovingly.
"Come on let's get back to others." Diego said.
"Alright." Shira said.
Both tigers left the beach and started making their way to the others, however what they failed to notice was that a few minutes ago, Ellie had spotted them talking and then saw their little moment on the beach. Not wanting to spy she quickly walked away, but as she did she couldn't help but smile.
"Good job tiger." She said.