In Family We Trust

An Ice Age Story

*Jinney

Chapter 1

I had never seen Buck so jumpy before! He was like the thing that would shut up, not to mention he wouldn't stop stalking me. I swear as the due date for our son or daughter's birth came closer, he seemed to get more edgy…shouldn't that be me?

But I wasn't all that much.

All I was nervous about was Buck losing his head when the baby came. Ever since his family accepted my family and Manny's herd into their family, the only thing Buck worried about was the pain of childbirth that would be coming to me in due time.

Even Amelia, Buck's mother, tried to help him stay calm, but that barely helped. Buck sighed exhaustedly, "Now I know how Manny felt when Ellie was having their baby!" Buck usually didn't sleep unless he knew that I was being cared for. But even still, he didn't sleep peacefully. He usually tossed and turned and sometimes ended up waking up; then he would wake me up and see if I was okay, which I was. But when he did wake me up, I would get annoyed and tell him to leave me alone and let me sleep.

Jonathan, Buck's father, tried to take him away on walks to get Buck's mind off the baby. Sometimes Emma and Cody, Buck's younger siblings who happened to be twins, would go on the walk too. They did all they could to distract Buck. But not every thing they did worked…

.~.~.~.~.

About a month and a half before the due point of delivery, most of the girls in our herd, not including Angela, but including Ellie and Peaches, gave me a baby shower. "Just looking ahead…so that you don't deliver during the party." Ellie explained with a smile. "Plus," Amelia added as she led me. "Buck's occupied with other things that Jonathan and the boys have given him to do! Jonathan told him it was crucial that he did these things." She looked up in thought. "I'm not sure if it convinced him…but the guys still forced him into it."

I smiled amusedly. "What was it that he had to do?" I asked. "Cody wanted to see some of Buck's fighting moves!" Emma chimed in. I laughed at the thought. "I bet he'd like that! And I bet he tried to imitate too!" Emma nodded with a smirk, "Probably!"

I laughed again. "So, what else?" I asked excitedly. I wanted to get the full details so I could laugh later. "Well, Jonathan forced Buck to a championship where the winner would get Buck's knife!" Amelia explain. "Buck couldn't refuse, so that might take a while. And it's perfect!"

I snorted back a hard laugh. By now, we were at our destination and I gasped at the sight of it. The area was covered in flowers and there were different, beautiful exotic plants and trees I had never seen before. I could recognize this place as our old home, but now it was redone just for this occasion. How sweet!

"I love it!" I said, looking at the calm stream nearby. Two girls named Abby and Adina who, like me, were half ferret and half weasel both squealed saying, "She loves it! She loves it!" I chuckled and looked around more. I smiled at all the scenery and tested everything. It was all so perfect.

I gasped at the frame of the baby crib and Buck and my bed. It was a mixture of jades and sapphires! But it was gorgeous! I touched it and finally looked up. "How…where…?" I couldn't find my words. "We had to search for a while before we found the place where all different kinds of stones were." Amelia said. "They were underground!"

I turned back to them. "You have no idea how much this means to me!" At that moment, I saw something I hadn't expected. "And don' forget me too!" I gasped. All the girls turned and gasped as well. Head held high with a wide, crooked, yet very cute smirk playing on his lips and his sapphire eyes shimmering as they always did, came Buck.

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