A/N: Ice Age does not belong to me. I only own my Oc's.

Ten years. It has been ten years since the last battle against Thomas the Murderer. After said battle, Thomas disappeared, never to be heard from again. At least, neither Taisley, me or our family have heard from him. Since it has been so long, Thomas is officially presumed dead. My family and I are fine with that. We all want to forget the mere existence of that vile murderer.

Oh! Forgive me! I know it has been a while into my tale so let me refresh your memory. My name is Buckminster, Buck for short. I should hope you hadn't forgotten about me! It hasn't been that long, but oh well! Anyway, I have been doing quite well since Thomas' disappearance. At least, as well as I possibly can, considering I was almost stabbed to death. Ever since that day, even ten years later, I still have nightmares where I feel the pain and fear that I felt back then. They may've faded somewhat over the years, but the nightmares are very much present. Only the soothing presence of Taisley can comfort me after one of my nightmares. Whenever my own scream wakes me, Taisley is always there. The distractions that raising kits offers helps as well.

Talo, Raska, Frost, and Whisper have grown into teenagers. Talo is smart, but cocky. He has two friends, Ray and Jake. Ray has dark brown spotted fur and golden yellow eyes, while Jake has dark brown spotted fur and green eyes. They get into all kinds of mischief together.

Raska and Frost are both strong and smart. They have two friends, Zara and Tamera. Zara and Tamera are twins with light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. The four of them hang out all of the time.

Whisper is still shy, but smart. She still sees things in her dreams or when she's awake. She sees the things that are going to happen and does her best to warn everyone. Sometimes she succeeds, sometimes she doesn't. It all depends on the hand that fate deals. Most tend to stay away from her due to her strange abilities. She has only one friend who believes in her. That friend happens to be a boy named Dale. He has dark brown fur and green eyes. He happens to have the same gift as her: the ability to see into the future. They are very fond of each other because of that.

The younger foursome are now ten years of age. Darren and Samuel are active. They chase each other all day without even getting tired. Jasper and Laurel are more into learning. What they lack in strength, they make up for with the intelligence gained through watching and learning from their surroundings. While Darren and Samuel are off playing, Jasper and Laurel often team up to gain more knowledge of the world around them. Laurel usually checks things out and does the experiments while Jasper writes down notes. Together, they make a great team.

My parents and siblings are all doing great. Marie, Lily, and Timothy all have mates of their own. Marie is mated to a young, handsome weasel by the name of Caleb. He has dark brown spotted fur and green eyes. They have two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter is Jade. She has light brown spotted fur and green eyes. The younger daughter is named Feather. She has light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. The son's name is Jay. He has dark brown spotted fur and blue eyes. All three kits are now five years of age.

Lily is mated to a handsome weasel named Raven. He has black fur with silver spots and blue eyes. They have two sons and a daughter. The older son is named Dark. He has black fur with silver spots and blue eyes, the spitting image of his dad. The younger son is named Gavin. He has dark brown, almost black, fur and green eyes. The daughter is named Lark. She has light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. They are four years of age and quite the pawful.

Timothy landed himself a pretty mate by the name of Kaitlyn. She has light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. They have two sons and two daughters. The older son is named Moss. He has dark brown spotted fur and green eyes. The younger son is named Michael. He has dark brown spotted fur and green eyes. The older daughter is named Mira. She has light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. The younger daughter is named Sarah. She has light brown spotted fur and blue eyes. They are eight years old. Since they only have a two-year age difference with my and Taisley's younger foursome, and being cousins, they are quite close. They play together all of the time.

The other herd members are also doing well. Peaches has got herself a boyfriend, much to Manny's dismay. He fears the idea of losing his little girl to a boy. He's becoming even more over-protective than he normally is, much to Peaches' annoyance. She has to work harder to escape her over-bearing dad. Though, Louis helps Peaches a lot by covering for her, despite his timid nature.

The opposite can be said for my family as, right at this moment, things couldn't be better. Taisley, my parents, friends, and I are all preparing for Talo, Raska, Frost, and Whisper's surprise birthday party. They are turning fourteen. All their friends are invited. That means five guests to stuff with cake, and then send them home to their parents. They're a lot more hyper as teenagers than they were as kits. Right now, I'm trying hard not to laugh at the thought of sending five kits on a sugar high back home. I'll probably have to spend the following days hiding from angry parents. Not really. I'm sure Taisley will smooth-talk our way out of any potential trouble.

Anyway, I am just about done hanging up the vine-woven party streamers. There are roses and shells placed delicately among the vines. That was Taisley's idea and I love it. I carved a fish out of wood for the centerpiece and placed moss and shells around it for our son, since the flowers are a little too girly for his liking. Anyway…

The setting is almost perfect. My little kits are growing up so fast! It won't be long until they start dating and…Oooh I shudder at the thought. I still remember when I held them not long after their birth, when they were mere infants. I'm not sure I'd be ready to let them go when the time comes. Enough about that, now. That is then and this is now. It's almost time for the biggest surprise birthday party my kits have ever seen. That is, it'll be a surprise if Crash and Eddie haven't given it away. I knew I shouldn't have told them, but what was I to do?! They hung me upside down over a nest of fire ants and threatened that they'd drop me in it if I didn't tell them my secret. Well, I'll get them back good and hard for that.

Just as the last streamer is put into place and the last bit of food is placed atop the wooden table, I begin to hear the voices of my four older kits coming almost upon the clearing where the party is being held. "Everybody hide!" I shout. We all hide among the surrounding bushes and trees, some choosing to hide under the table.

Talo, Raska, Frost, and Whisper all make their way into the clearing. They don't even have time to gasp in surprise before we all leap out of our hiding places. "Surprise!" We shout in unison. My four young teenagers squeal in both surprise and delight.

Talo is the first to speak. "Dad, ya did all of this? Thanks!"

"Yeah! Thanks, dad!" Raska, Frost, and Whisper exclaim.

"Yer welcome! Now, who wants cake?" I ask.

My four teenagers laugh and nod their heads while raising their paws. All of their friends are doing the same. Taisley and I head over to the cake, knives in our paws to cut it. The cake is chocolate with white frosting on one side and chocolate on the other. Different candies are placed on the cake to make trees. A river made from leftover frosting has been tinted with food coloring to make a clear blue river cutting between the chocolate side and white side. In big letters smack in the middle of the cake are the words Happy Birthday written with black licorice. The cake, made and decorated by Taisley and mum's own paws, is magnificent.

We grab our respective slices of cake and begin stuffing our faces. I find that the cake tastes just as great as it looks, if not better. All of our faces are covered in frosting. We are soon so full that we couldn't fit another piece in if we tried. Taisley takes the last piece and, with a devious smile, smashes it into my face. I wipe the cake away amidst the laughter of my family. "Don't go ta bed tonight, Tais. Yer gonna get yours. Don't ya worry 'bout that…" I give my mate a fake glare.

"Oh, Buckminster! You know you'd never lay a paw on me!" Taisley counters.

"Who says it'll be me that does 't? I know two possums who just love pranks!" I return the counter.

Tais only rolls her eyes before locking her lips with mine. Our four teenagers roll their own eyes while giggling. "Oh, mom, dad, get a room!" Frost laughs.

I laugh at Frost. "Someday, yer gonna meet th' perfect guy. Course, ya can't date until ya turn thirty," I reply.

"Dad, you don't have to worry about us!" Frost counters.

"Sure I do! Yer our first litter," I reply, while returning my attention to my slice of cake.

After we are done eating our cake, Tais and I grab the presents and present them for our teenagers. For Talo, a knife, similar to mine, only double-edged with a bone handle. For Raska, a set of bow and arrows with green arrowheads. For Frost, a necklace strung with pearls and a ruby at the center. Lastly, for Whisper, a bracelet made of emeralds. All four teenagers love their gifts.

"Thanks, mum an' dad! Yer th' best!" Our kits hug both Tais and I in turn. We continue to have fun long into the night with our teenagers hanging around with their friends. As midnight draws near, I announce the end of the party as many of the guests appear dead on their paws. Everyone nod while yawning. The guests depart towards their homes while Tais and I lead our four exhausted teenagers home. This day has been full of fun and joyous laughter. We've yet to see what the next day has in store for us.