Okay, I know you guys are probably mad and wondering why I was gone for so long. Basic excuse: home life problems. I would go on and on about how sorry I am BUT! We need to get on with the story!

Oh my god, I just cannot believe how many favourites and followers I got though! And the reviews! Thank you guys SO much for sticking through this story even through the absence!

Next chapter is the weight rock scene! Taura and Diego talking about good old days with Sid AND

..

Another person might be coming in? Who could it be?

XD You'll MAYBE find out in the next chapter!

Italics means telepathic communication

Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky

"Aw come on Taura, stop worrying about it and just jump!"

Taura did not know WHAT was going through her head at the time, but somehow those two imps managed to convince her to climb one of the trees! Surprisingly, it wasn't as scary as Taura thought it would be! She simply had to put one clawed paw in front of another, make sure she never looked down and Voila! She was on the highest branch of a random Willow tree, she actually climbed a tree for the first time! It was still going swimmingly; the possums basically explained how they managed to get past phase 1 of mission courage-up-the-pussycat: get her up the tree! Phase 2 was what got Taura to look down at how friggin' scarily HIGH she was and cling onto the branch for dear life: she had to jump onto ANOTHER branch!

Taura gulped really loudly while staring fearfully at the branch of another tree reaching out towards her, probably a good leap distance of air away. Crash and Eddie were on the opposite branch, trying to encourage her to jump, but to no avail.

Crash called to her "It's a piece of cake! You won't even notice it!"

Taura simply shook her head vigorously, still staring at the gap fearfully. 'Nuh-uh, there is NO WAY I'm jumping over there! Nope! No way, no how, never in a MILLION years!' Taura chanted in her head, determined to probably stay on this branch for the rest of her life until those two...miscreants! (dear lord, she was starting to sound like Diego!) got Manny or Ellie to bring her down!

Eddie rolled his eyes in exasperation "Oh for crying out loud, just get it over with Taura!" Suddenly, an idea struck Eddie which made him start to smile slyly.

"I mean," He continued, while resting his elbow on Crash's shoulder, trying to look nonchalant and examining his claws "What would DIEGO say if he saw you act like a wuss puss?"

Eddie winked at his brother, hoping that he caught on to what he was trying to do. Crash's eyes widened in realization and then he started to grin a matching smile to his brother's, giving Taura the same mischievous look.

"Yeah, I wonder..." Crash said, crossing his arms while looking disappointedly at the scared Smilodon at the opposite branch "I bet he would be ASHAMED of you Taura; strong old Smilodon like you afraid of a tiny jump?!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Eddie shook his head disappointingly, both him and his brother's smirks widening when they caught Taura's furious glare.

She felt her claws dig in deeper into the branch, not from fear this time, but from pure frustration. Although Taura knew that they were just saying that to tease her, she also knew that Diego WOULD probably be disappointed in her if she came back knowing that she couldn't master her fear, which was the one thing Sabers are NOT supposed to have! She felt herself wince when she pictured him with a disgusted scowl on his face, probably

Taura was about to give in and climb back down the tree dejectedly, until a sudden memory shifted into her head: the time when the purple crocodile monster was attacking her and Manny. What if along the way, they all get into danger again and she suddenly freezes because of her height phobia? Taura's eyes went even rounder at the mere thought of anyone in the herd getting hurt because of her, or worse, what if DIEGO got hurt?! And she wasn't able to do anything about it?!

Taura looked up again at the opposite branch, and saw Diego clinging onto the ice ledge back at the Lava rivers, when they were trying to get Pinky back to his family. She felt her jaw clench and her eyes narrow in determination.

'No, I will NEVER let that happen! Not while I'm around!' Taura stated, as if that was a final fact that no one could alter. She wiggled her behind while lowering herself on the branch, readying her haunches and preparing herself for what would be the most terrifying pounce of her life!

"Well!" Crash sighed, both him and Eddie turning their backs to her and heading out to leave very slowly "Guess we'll never find out if he would be proud of you or not."

Eddie nodded along with him "Yeah, maybe we can try again next time..."

CRASH!

The two possums suddenly found themselves pressed against the branch by two large claws! They looked up to find Taura holding them both down, with her eyes tightly shut and her nose scrunched up, on the SAME BRANCH! The same branch that...was proceeding to get lower...and lower...

"Uh...Taura..." Crash began, looking at the branch nervously,

"I think you should go forward now..." Eddie gulped, while hurriedly poking Taura's paw.

Taura blinked her eyes open and looked down in shock, but it was too late.

The trio was sent hurtling into the air, the branch working like a catapult. While in the air, Taura let go of the two possums and started to scream in pure fear at the fact that she was even HIGHER than she was before and she saw the trees below heading towards them in a dangerous pace. Although she let them go, Crash and Eddie simply floated towards her ears and clung on tightly as they all screamed and braced themselves for the rough landing.

Eventually, they reached the trees with another large CRASH! and they all tumbled and crashed into and through branches, leaves and random birds' nests until they finally landed onto safe ground...only to start rolling down a hill. They all rolled together in a giant tangle of fur until they all leaped off a ledge that rose from the ground, making them fly into the air screaming a second time, only not as high as the last time. Taura looked down and saw the three of them heading towards a clearing where both Diego and Sid where hanging about, probably preparing a campfire. But unfortunately, she also found herself on a straight collision course towards...Diego...

'Oh no...' was all she was able to say before she crashed right on him and everything went black...

BANG!

"Ugghh..." Diego moaned in pain, trying to blink away the headache that was gnawing away at his aching skull.

The last thing he could remember was walking away from Sid who was trying to teach him a ridiculous swimming lesson on a bunch of vines, and the next thing he knew, something came crashing straight at him! He really couldn't get FIVE MINUTES without something going wrong?!

He shook the dizziness away from his head and blinked his eyes open to find a familiar scarred face right on top of his! Diego was lying on the floor with Taura on top of him, her paws on either side of his head. It wasn't until a few awkward seconds later did Taura finally open her eyes...and realize the same thing.

She felt herself blush a bit and pull her face away from Diego's a little bit, but she was too embarrassed to do anything else and so froze in that position. They both lay there, their eyes widened in shock and stared at each other awkwardly, until a sudden whooping sound echoed behind them. Taura looked back to see the two possums hopping eagerly towards the two.

"Dude, that was AWESOME!" Crash laughed, smacking a high-five with his brother.

Eddie cackled excitedly as he hopped in place, "I know! That was WAY more cool than log rolling!"

Crash beamed at the female Smilodon, him and his brother COMPLETELY oblivious to the position she was in with Diego. "That was GENIUS Taura! We're so gonna go and do that again!"

Taura stood there for a moment, her jaw slackened at what those two implied. They wanted to do it again?!

...

Suddenly, Taura burst out into a huge laughing fit. She was laughing so hard, she eventually fell flat against Diego, her lips right next to his ear. She honestly couldn't believe those two; a few mere SECONDS ago, they could have died and yet they wanted to do it anyways because it was FUN?!

'Those two are even worse than Kraz!' She chortled mentally, her laughter now dying down into multiple giggles. While Taura was still crying away with tears of mirth, she didn't notice the very stiff and awkward male STILL beneath her.

Diego had absolutely no idea what was going on! First, he was dizzy as heck and woke up to find Taura only a hair width away from smooching him; then, those two retards come along and make her laugh like an insane witch and then the next thing you know, the laughter makes her press herself even FURTHER against him! Her chest vibrating from the laughter against his made him want to squirm, but he wasn't sure if it would be to wiggle away. And her laughing voice breathing against his ear made a weird shiver run down his spine...

After the two possums finally left, Diego looked to the side to find Taura still giggling silently next to him. He awkwardly cleared his throat and tried to poke her side.

"Uh...ahem!" He muttered, making Taura go silent instantly "Uh Taura...would you mind uh..."

'Oh yeah! Sure...uh, sorry!' Taura chuckled nervously, however still smiling in a very hyperactive way. She finally scrambled off of him and gave him a sheepish smile while he stood up again.

'Again, sorry...' She chuckled again, then her smile turned even wider.

'Just, y'know, the adrenaline rush and all. GOD! That felt so good! I actually flew twice tonight! TWICE! And... I'm not scared anymore! I'm not scared! I did it!' Taura then rambled, her voice getting louder and louder until she let out a big yell of 'I DID IT!' before she started hopping around in glee and giggling all over again.

Diego looked at her weirdly, not sure of what she was talking about. Scared? Flying?! He knew before that Taura wasn't the most sane creature on earth, but now he was starting question whether she HAD any sanity now!

"Uh...good for you..?" Diego congratulated her, the sentence sounding more like a question.

Taura gave him a really large grin and eventually stopped hopping. Suddenly, She hopped into place again and her mouth was open in shock.

'Oh my god, I forgot those two are gonna try it again without me!' She rambled again, before suddenly dashing into the trees right past Diego.

Diego sat there, his face holding nothing but absolute confusion. He didn't even notice when Sid came waddling back into the clearing, humming away happily with a bunch of firewood in his arms.

"Okay, I got the firewood!" Sid called cheerfully with his signature grin, "Now all we need are the right rocks and..."

Sid trailed off when he noticed Diego's wide-eyed look, sitting in the middle of the clearing with a very uncharacteristic stiff position.

"Uh...Diego?" Sid asked worriedly, "Are you okay? What happened?"

Diego still sat there with the same expression, not even turning to look towards the sloth before replying:

"I have no idea..."