Yay! New chapter. Special shout out to KaylaDestroyer, for giving me this idea. BTW, I still need more inspiration. Send me any ideas. Oh, and I don't own Ice Age.

"Oh please Squint?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeaaaase?"

"If I say yes will you stop asking me that question?" he finally snapped, annoyed. She nodded with a pleased smile. He sighed heavily. "Fine, I'll do it. But if she kills me, I'm blaming you." He sent her a glare through angrily narrowed eyes as he stalked over to her mother, who was loading a large assortment of weapons into her pouch, from everything to swords to knives to spiky sea urchins to star fish.

"Raz?" he began timidly, hoping she was in a half way decent mood and wouldn't pummel him just for talking to her. Lately she had been tense, snapping at anyone that even tried communicating with her.

"Whaddaya want Squint?" she asked, making it obvious that she was irritable and that he shouldn't do anything to agitate her further if he valued his life. He did. And what he was about to ask would most certainly enflare her already bad temper. He gulped and clenched his fists to steady his nerves.

"Well, have you considered taking Shira with us?" he asked. They were heading onto a large land mass for more supplies later. After all, their fruit couldn't last forever.

"What? Are you mad?" she exclaimed, dropping the sword she was currently handling and almost impaling her foot. Thankfully, thanks to her quick, well trained reflexes, she caught it midair, shoving it inside. "She's too young. And last time, she almost got lost, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but we didn't even know she was there. If we had, we coulda' kept an eye on her."

"Don't care, mate. She ain't comin', and that's final."

"But-" she grabbed her favorite fish bone sword and pinned him down with the blade less than a centimeter from his throat.

"She ain't comin' and that's that." She hissed through clenched teeth. "Got it?"

He nodded cautiously, being extremely careful not to cut himself at the still uncomfortably close weapon. "Good." She then hopped off, grumbling to herself about annoying teammates.

"Sorry kid." he said as he walked up to Shira again. "It's a no go."

"Oh come on! I've only been on the ground once before! I wanna see it again and get another one of those pretty flower things I found before. Please?"

"Hey, you're gonna have to take it up with your mom if you really wanna go."

"Are you crazy? She'd kill me with her mood right now! And uh, speaking of which, am I the only one that's noticed she's been moody and aggressive lately? Even more so than usual?" they both shared a laugh as he nodded.

"Yeah. Got any idea what's up with her?"

She shook her head. "No, not a clue. But I've heard saying things about 'The Outback'. Out back where, though?" she asked.

He chuckled at her obliviousness. "No, no, no. The Outback's where she's from in Australia. It's what they call it there."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh." She said, nodding. "I don't get it." He laughed slightly again.

"You will someday. Eh… probably. But I don't get why she'd be..." then he realized why Raz was so crabby and irritable the past few days. The place they were going to… it was Australia. Now he finally understood it. She didn't want to see her old home again, he figured it would bring back bad memories of some sort. The only reason he thought that was because when she'd been offered a spot on their crew, she hadn't hesitated for even a moment, saying 'Gladly, mates. Anything's better than where I come from'.

Even though she didn't like the place, it was still her old home. She must've not wanted this because, well… what if she ran into someone of her past? As unlikely as that was, Squint knew he'd freeze up if he saw someone from his past life. And she must not have wanted to trash her old home, no matter how much she despised it. It was her home, after all. Her previous one, and she hated it, but still. Oh boy, this wasn't going to end well…

-Later-

Shira did her best to stay still, although it wasn't easy. She was bouncing around quite a bit, and didn't want to be noticed. Her mother was still in her unhappy mood, and while she had been yelling at Gupta for annoying her and asking her to hold his knife, she had managed to sneak into her pouch undetected. She kept her arms out on front of her whenever she could in an effort not to get shish-ka-bobbed.

After a while of rapid bouncing around, she lurched to the side carefully as her mothers hands reached in, grabbing a multitude of weapons and tossing them out into the hands of her teammates. She wanted more than anything to jump out, but she couldn't risk it now, while her mom was still and would surely notice a sudden change in weight. She'd never be permitted on dirt again if she got caught.

Thirty some minutes later, they were loading supplies back onto the docked ship, she swallowed down her fear and poked her head out. Raz, who was busy placing bags of fruit aboard, didn't notice. Or so she thought. As she landed on the ground and quietly slunk away, her parent still seemed oblivious. Then, when she was three steps behind her, she spoke. "I was wondrin' when you were gonna come outta there." Without even glancing back and continuing her work.

Shira's mouth fell open. "How'd you know?"

"I'm your mum. I know these things." She said.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

She finally turned around. "Cuz it would only make things difficult. But since yer here… come on."

"Huh?" she was grabbed off the ground and placed inside the pouch, her mom quietly but quickly sneaking off. "Where are we going?" she asked curiously, looking up at her.

"Just wait. And no looking." She gently shoved her back inside. Shira sighed but did as she was told, laying down as her mother quickened her pace.

The air became moist and she could hear every breath echo around her, but she didn't dare peak out and disobey her again. In about ten minutes, they came to a stop. "Close your eyes." She commanded. The young cub was curious as to why, but did as she was told nonetheless.

She was lifted into the air and set on the ground. "Open 'em." She did and gasped in wonder. They were in a huge cave, the walls made of a wave of glittering crystals, the floor below them two foot long grass, long and lush and soft. There was a pool of steaming water in the middle, the surface shimmering and reflecting the thousands of colors of the beautiful gems.

"Wow! It's- it's…"

"I know." Raz's smile was sad. "This was my favorite place to come to when I was a joey."

She took a sharp intake of breath. "You mean you… lived here?"

"Aye Sheila." She carried her over to the pool and held her close, almost protectively, reaching down to touch it gently, as if afraid it would grab her and drag her down in.

"It's amazing here." Shira sighed dreamily, taking a deep breath of the fresh, pure, earthy scent, reaching out to touch the water as well. However, as she did, Raz lurched back, obviously not wanting her to touch it. "Why'd you ever want to leave though?" that's what she didn't understand. Why would her mother want to leave such a beautiful place behind? It was so spectacular, even she didn't want to leave.

"Some thing's are betta' left unsaid, Sheila." Her eyes was sad as the horrible memory flashed before her eyes. She hadn't wanted to revisit, and it had taken her every ounce of bravery to allow her child to go here, but she knew Shira would enjoy the place.

Suddenly, she was nine years old again, watching in horror as her parents were forcefully held underwater in that very pool, drowning. The evil cackle of that horrible person echoed around her. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how. She wouldn't have been able to do anything. Kangaroo's were meant for speed and strength, but they weren't swimmers. She would have died with them, and she knew her parents would never forgive her if she allowed that to happen.

Shaking her head and pulling herself from the past, she held her daughter close. "Let's go." She said sharply. "Every siren has it's fangs."

Shira had heard stories of them. They appeared as something so irresistibly perfect, you didn't have a choice but to head for them. Her mother meant this cave was like a siren. It may have looked pure and beautiful, but she could sense the bad blood between her and this place. Nodding, she allowed herself to be put back inside and they hopped away.

When they arrived back at the boat, Raz handed Shira something. "Here ya go. Just what you wanted."

She gasped happily at the beautiful little present held in her paws. A beautiful, ocean blue flower, smelling just as sweet as she remembered. Tucking it behind her ear, she began to purr. "Thanks mom. For everything."

So, what'd you think? I know this was a bit sad, but I needed a reason for it to be hard for raz to go there. But still, it was a special mother/daughter part, right? Well, I think so. Review and send me ideas! I'm fresh out of them!