"AAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!"

Kala rolled her eyes as she trudged through the jungle, a fond smile on her face as her son swung over her head, crying out and sending birds scattering from the trees.

"Tarzan!" she called out to him, "Don't go too far ahead!"

"Yes Mama!"

He wasn't going to listen, but as everything was relatively calm in this area of the jungle, so she tried to relax a little bit… or at least, that was her plan until her foot nudged until something.

Something that whined slightly.

Glancing down, she herself yelped in shock and took several steps back.

A lion cub.

Lions didn't venture this far into the jungle, it was unheard of!

"Mama! Mama!" Tarzan came rushing past, having clearly heard her yelp, "What is it? What is it?"

His own gaze darting to what she was staring at, he immediately went on the defensive. "Is it a leopard?" he asked, stepping slightly in front of Kala, like he could protect her.

"No… it's a lion."

"A… lion?" Tarzan tilted his head to the side in confusion, "Is it dangerous?"

"When big, yes…" Kala slowly moved over and lifted the tiny cub into her arms, her heart aching as the cub snuggled closer to her warmth, "… not so much at this size though." Feeling the poor thing's rib through it's dirty fur, she came to a decision in her mind, "Come. We need to get him to some water."

Gently pouring water over the lion cubs face, both cooling him down and encouraging him to drink, Kala sighed in relief when the cub slowly started to wake up.

"Thank goodness…" she whispered, placing one hand over her heart, "… sweetie, are you alright?"

The lion cub looked very confused to see her, a sadness in his eyes that should not have been on a child so young. However, before he could say anything, Tarzan suddenly dropped down in front of him, a beaming grin on his face.

"You almost died!"

"Tarzan!"

"Sorry Mama."

The lion cub didn't seem shocked by the news, slowly pushing himself to his feet and walking away. "Thanks for your help."

Tarzan frowned in confusion, but Kala felt like her heart was going to break.

No child should act like that…. No child should be that sad.

"Mama…" Tarzan whispered, "… why's he leaving?"

Kala didn't answer, instead moving to follow the poor boy. "What's wrong honey…" she asked him, keeping her voice low and soothing, "… where did you come from? I think you're a little far away from home right now."

"Who cares?" The cub whispered, "I can't go back."

Banished then? From his family?

Kala knew what she was going to do…. And never mind what Kerchak thought.

Kerchak wasn't happy, but once he was reminded how much bigger he was than the cub, he once again, surrendered to his mates' desire to have another child, with the understanding that Simba (as the cub had finally introduced himself as) would never be considered a son of his.

He wasn't the only one who was unsure about the new change.

It was clear that Simba wasn't interested in calling her Mum, like Tarzan did, and often referred to her as Aunt Kala. To Kala, this only reaffirmed the opinion that he still had a family somewhere, a mother who should be loving him right now.

Whilst it was tense as first, with many of her fellow gorillas avoiding Simba purely because of the lion's reputation as a fierce hunter, Tarzan, Terk and Simba bonded fairly quickly.

They would sneak up on each other and try and scare each other (Simba usually ended up scaring several others as well).

They groomed one another, play-fought… acted like any other brothers and sisters would do.

It was one of the sore points between her and Kerchak. He wanted to produce an actual heir, but she was too consumed with looking after Tarzan and now Simba. She pointed out that he could just make Tarzan his heir, and then he'd go off in a sulk.

It was a vicious circle.

So, despite her mate's protests, Kala took on the role of being someone else's mother figure.

It was… rough at the beginning.

"Aunt Kala… Aunt Kala? Aunt Kala!"

The small voice finally broke through, and Kala blearily opened her eyes to see Simba awake and staring at her.

"I gotta go!" the lion cub hissed.

"Go… go where sweetie?"

"You know… go! Bad!"

Instantly Kala was awake, "Oh go! Alright, let's go." Gently making sure Tarzan was still asleep, Kala cautiously made her way out of the nest and led Simba over to an area where he could do his business, before going back to bed.

….

She worried herself sick when Tarzan and Simba decided to climb the highest tree they could find, leaping from branch to branch with no cares in the world, whooping in glee.

"You all look like ants!" Simba yelled down to Kala, who shook her head in exasperation.

"Young man… I am counting to three!"

Of course, it was inevitable that when the pair jumped to the next branch in unison, the branch broke and they came tumbling to the ground, forcing Kala to leap and catch them, almost taking out several other gorillas as she went.

…..

Night times were…. Difficult.

"Aunt Kala?"

Kala was awake instantly, one eyebrow raised when she spotted Simba. "Do you need to go… again?"

"No. I'm thirsty."

So, dutifully, she walked him to the closest watering hole.

"You do know this means you'll be up in about two hours from now?"

And he did.

…..

Kala thought Kerchak was going to have a heart attack as he watched the babies climb all over the lion cub, with Simba growling playfully as he pretended to pounce on them.

The cub had moved onto eating bugs fairly easily, but there was always that concern… that concern that he would want to hunt as he got older.

"Aunt Kala?"

Kala startled awake, groaning under her breath as she turned to the cub, "Simba, please…. I need sleep."

"I-I… I had a bad dream."

Instantly, Kala felt her maternal instincts creep in as she held up one arm for Simba to snuggle up to. "Alright sweetie…" she whispered, "… do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, burying his face into her soft fur.

She didn't know what had happened to Simba before she found him in the jungle, but she could tell that it was causing him nightmares. With a deep sigh, she knew that she'd made the right decision taking him in.

No matter what happened in the future.