A/N: And now for a chapter focused solely upon Ethan and Maurice. :) I plan to have some of the chapters go in that direction, as the growing relationship between them is so important. But don't worry, Ethan will have a lot of interactions with the apes sans-Maurice next chapter. One other thing of note, for those who (may) be wondering how Maurice is tall enough to hold Ethan in his lap. Orangutans can grow up to five feet. And thus that would be about where I'd put Maurice at.

I'd also like to thank all the fans of my Transformers story that have, so far, been following this! It really amazes me how many of you have given this fic a shot and enjoyed it. It's very helpful!

I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, read, Favorited, and put this on alert as well. I never expected all the awesome feedback I'd been getting, so it means a lot!

STORY-FAN: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

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CHAPTER 4
Bonding

Maurice set out to teaching his newfound son about things that he, as an "ape" child, would need to know nearly right away. The days that he was not in the schoolhouse, learning from him anyway, he would wake him up early to learn more. Ethan, he learned more fully, was completely deaf. As when he asked of the human device of "hearing aids", Ethan had explained honestly that they had tried this when he was young, and it had no effect. Though he could, as Ethan explained, feel vibrations, sound was a totally different thing all together. A fact which saddened Maurice greatly, knowing he would never experience the sound of his, or anyone's voices. And also made teaching him some things very hard without verbal communication.

Luckily, Maurice was a natural teacher, one that was more than welcoming to the challenge. Though this made Ethan what most would consider a special needs child, he did not care. He was more than certain that Ethan would, undoubtedly, be able to do the same things any other ape could do given time. Part of this, Maurice decided, was to teach Ethan to read lips. A task he knew would take years, yet he spent several hours a day working on with him. Though the boy was slowly learning, this was his biggest struggle.

When they were not in the hut, learning this as well as some sign language Ethan did not know, they were outside. Sometimes in the colony, but more often than not, learning his way around the woods they lived in, for when they began his training in hunting. And on other days, Maurice allowed Ethan to his own devices, to go off with Milo, who had slowly inducted him into his circle of friends.

Today, however, Maurice had decided that it was time for Ethan to begin learning the task he had wanted to learn most: horseback riding. This, he knew, would be the easiest, as riding a horse did not involve many verbal commands, on his, or Ethan's part. The latter being a relief, given Maurice had yet to gather whether or not Ethan knew how to speak. After all, he had only ever communicated to him, or other apes, through sign language. Either way, he could tell the young human was nervous now that it was actually happening, and thus he tried to assure him he'd be there every step of the way.

He helped Ethan onto the tall, proud black horse carefully that morning. Running a paw along his prized horse carefully, to assure her that she carried precious cargo and to treat him well. For his part, Ethan had a tight grip on the reigns, as Maurice had instructed before mounting his borrowed steed. "First thing is first," Maurice signed to the young human. "You must relax, young one. I am right beside you, nothing bad will happen to you," He explained.

Maurice himself had rented a horse from one of their stables in order to go out riding alongside him. He climbed on top of it calmly, trotting up alongside Ethan for emphasis. The boy looked down at his mount quietly, nervousness in his eyes. He carefully signed towards the ape, nervous. "It's so big," Ethan explained. "I know I wanted to ride but I didn't expect that..."

"You will get used to it," Maurice patted the boy's back. "We will take it slow at first."

"Do I need to talk to her?" Ethan signed.

"Horses don't understand signs anyway," Maurice replied while shaking his head.

Ethan paused a moment, and for the first time since Maurice had met him, a soft voice escaped his lips. There was a certain amount of struggle to his voice, and it was clearly slower speech. "I speak, feel vibrations in my throat," Ethan told him. "But it is hard. Signing, easier."

Maurice watched the boy's cheeks flush red, clearly embarrassed. Maurice decided that he wouldn't pry much further into it, as it was clear that he was self conscious about it. Carefully Maurice took hold of his horse, Wildfire's reigns, and tugged it along towards an open field in the forest where he would begin to teach Ethan how to ride. "Alright," Maurice signed to him when they'd stopped. "Remember the posture I told you," Ethan carefully did as Maurice had shown him earlier. "Now, squeeze your legs."

Ethan took a deep breath, doing as his guardian instructed. Maurice smiled as Wildfire instinctively obeyed, going into a trot with his borrowed horse, Leviathan, moving a little more quickly to catch up. "Try turning her left," Maurice instructed as Ethan kept a tight hold. "Pull the rein in that direction."

Ethan did as he was told, and then several minutes later, under his instruction again, Ethan pulled the right rein to turn them right. Ethan felt tall, and powerful, on top of the steed, and Maurice took notice of his slowly growing confidence. And instructed Ethan to squeeze his legs against the horse again, to speed her up just slightly. The more instructions he was given, and the more he did, Maurice noticed that Ethan would smile, and his eyes light up.

"When do we get them to run?" Ethan asked.

Maurice smirked, the boy certainly did want to run before he walked. He knew that it was not the time to teach him how to canter, given he seemed to be barely grasping the trot as it was. "Another day," Maurice shook his head. "Remember young one, patience," He paused a moment. "Follow me."

Maurice trotted along, leading Ethan down a dirt path in the forest a little further from the colony. Ethan noticed the creek in which he had bathed in the day before, and also some other apes there. These however, were fishing, or what he surmised was such. Maurice led him further inside, showing him beauty that he would have otherwise been tired on his two feet to witness. And Ethan was beginning to understand, in turn why the apes had chosen such a place to begin their new society, it was, truly, beautiful.

When they stopped at last, Maurice instructed him on how to pet the horse, in order to let it know it had done well. And to his surprise, the horse seemed friendly, and gentle. And once they had finished this, took him on foot. It took him a while to realize that Maurice was taking him somewhere specific. But when they finally arrived, he moved behind a tree a moment, he returned with two large poles of wood, or what at first he assumed to be.

But as Maurice handed him one, he slowly understood from the tip what it was: a spear. "These are the hunting grounds," Maurice explained. "Normally, we have hunting parties, but you cannot join until you are older. So like any ape child you will first go out with me. We will start small and work your way up to big game," He then explained. "What skins we get we will make into new clothes. Especially with winter here, before you know it, it will be very cold. You will need to bundle up."

Ethan took the spear quietly, looking it over. The thought of hunting for his food, and furs to keep warm in the winter that was coming was not something he liked that much. He liked animals, but he also knew that it was getting colder. And in a month, it'd be winter, and he'd want those warm furs wrapped around him to keep out the cold. The apes were lucky in that respect, they had hair all over their bodies so this was far from a concern from them. Food on the other hand, that was something they all needed.

"You hunt often?" Ethan asked.

"Rarely, but enough to know how," Maurice explained. "All apes take turns hunting. Mainly warriors, but no one ape bares less responsibility than another."

Maurice tugged at him slightly, and made it clear he was to follow him. They moved quietly through the brush, their eyes scanning around. Until Maurice had stopped and instructed him to bow his head. Ethan could see why, though he grimaced a little at the sight of the deer. It grazed quietly, minding its own business, a fact which made Ethan nervous. Could he really do this? Could he kill another living creature? Food, or not?

Maurice however, silently held up a paw and shook his head. Then made signs for Ethan to simply watch, at which point he understood. Maurice had no intention to start him off with something that big, he intended to show him how an ape hunted solitary. Ethan watched as the big orangutan stood to his hind paws, staying carefully out of the line of the deer's sight. Playing slightly with the spear, he ducked as the deer quietly raised its head, only to lower it when sign of danger had gone.

Maurice, Ethan realized, was surprisingly nimble despite using all four appendages to move around. Moving gracefully, and quickly, he watched as, within a flash, he had leapt from his position, letting out a loud shriek. The deer didn't catch sight in nearly enough time before the orangutan had pinned it to the ground. Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, but knew he had to watch closely. It was over quickly, Maurice made sure of that by piercing it very quickly in a fatal area. The result was nearly instant, the deer thrashed for a moment before its body went still.

Maurice was careful to hoist it over one shoulder, with the strength only an ape his size had. He looked over at Ethan, and signed to him. "Deer meat good to omnivores," He explained. "Deer skin, good to stitch into cloak for the winter, I figure," He laid the carcass down upon the ground.

Ethan felt a little sick, but knew he had to get used to this. The apes were very clearly hunter/gatherers, and it was either this or freeze or starve to death. And at least here, hunting seemed to be much better. "What will I hunt?" Ethan asked.

At that point, Ethan noticed something that Maurice spotted a second later. A rabbit, small, but Ethan none-the-less knew that this was his perfect chance to try. He gripped the spear tightly in his hands, heartbeat rising. Could he do this? He knew it was only a rabbit, but again the thought of killing it bothered him. He stared at Maurice, who was already signing to him about the creature he'd spotted, and swallowed.

He gripped the spear tighter, raising it, his eyes locked on it. Ethan could feel that the spear was nearly trembling all the way out of his hand. But then a paw rested on his shoulder, and removed the spear. He turned to Maurice, who now had the deer over his shoulder again. "First kill always the hardest on the young ones," Maurice explained. "You will find the ability to do so soon. For now, let's bring our kill home before dark."

Ethan stared over at the small rabbit, that was by now scampering off. He sighed quietly, he'd just made himself look weak in front of the ape that was his guardian. He wondered if Maurice was already regretting this, what good was a second pair of hands in his home if that one was too afraid to kill something as small as a rabbit? He sighed quietly, and turned around, stalking off down the way towards the horses again.

He would not let it discourage him, he told himself, he would not.

...

That night, the air was chilled enough that Maurice made a fire in the hut and decided to cook the deer there. Ethan had already learned how to help clean and prepare the meat. But watching Maurice carefully skin it with a crude knife was less easy on the stomach. As promised, he cleaned off the skin, and hung it to dry before moving onto the food. "Tomorrow I will work on the jacket, cloak, whatever it ends up being," Maurice told him. "I had the seamstresses show me how to do it myself. Before, when I got your other clothes."

Ethan nodded his head, drawing his blankets over his body more. He was surprised by how cold it was that night, but given it was already November, he could not be too surprised. It had already started to get cool two weeks prior when he had been found by Maurice, after all. These were all thoughts he went over as he finished the rest of his helping of the cooked deer meat, continuing to be grateful for the fact that he was fed daily. Too many times he had gone hungry in the east because of how scarce food was becoming there, after all.

Maurice knew that Ethan would take some time to get used to this. Given it was going to be his first winter in the wild, and thus patted his lap, offering the warmth of his fur to Ethan. The boy stared at him, unsure of whether to go to him. Of course, he knew that the ape's hair would warm him. But at the same time, he again felt loyalty to his father. He'd held him in his lap, like Maurice had earlier. Could he really allow himself to get comfortable sitting on the lap of anyone else?

Yet, it was so inviting, he had to admit. He looked at Maurice a moment, and let out a quiet sigh before standing to his feet. Getting situated in Maurice's lap was harder than it looked. But once he had, he felt two, long arms wrap around his body and hold him close. Wrapping him in warmth and body heat, mixed with the blankets, Ethan felt far better than he had sitting on his own, especially when you added the warmth of the fire.

For a while they sat their quietly before Maurice signed quietly. "You do not speak badly," The elder told him honestly. "You needn't be afraid to talk like you did today. I struggle with speaking too. Most apes in my generation do," He told him. "We understand."

Ethan blinked the apes couldn't speak in full sentences? He'd thought that Maurice broke it up more to help Ethan learn to read lips easier. But he supposed that this made more sense, in a way. "Apes all speak broken English like you?" He asked, looking up at his guardian.

"Only my generation. Our offspring... After the events in the year you were born," Maurice began. "Discovered they have an increased ability of speech. Our offspring, and their offspring, more than likely. Speak and will speak perfect English."

Ethan could only imagine what those who knew thought of that. As it was, for the older apes, it was easiest for them to speak in signs, or broken English. But the thought that one could have a long, intricate conversation through words with the younger generations. Now that, was something that Ethan didn't know if they could handle. "That would terrify everyone in the east," Ethan replied. "They're still trying to get used to apes speaking broken English."

Maurice chuckled slightly, patting the boy's head a bit as if to agree. He leaned back quietly, and looked out through the woods, out deep into the east where Ethan spoke of. He wondered how the humans were honestly doing out there, especially after all he had learned from Ethan. Every night, he ate his food like it was the last thing he'd ever eat, and he'd lay down on his bed like he had never even slept on one before. Then there was his lack of complaint over the cold, or the elements.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Maurice that Ethan hadn't had a home in the east. He knew that there were homes there, he knew there were cities, just like there were beyond the Muir Woods. And in such hard times, how could any of the humans let any of their own go without a home to sleep in, a roof over their head, or food to eat? If it were possible, Maurice hated that accursed war even more than he did before.

But he didn't dare ask Ethan for details, no, he refused. Ethan had been through enough hardships in his life, as was obvious, to make him relive it. "Maurice?" Maurice jumped slightly at the mispronounced sound of his name. "I really don't sound... Bad?"

Maurice smiled warmly at the boy, shaking his head. "You have nothing to be embarrassed of," Maurice assured the boy. "However you communicate, you do it well. Let no one tell you different."

Maurice held him a little tighter at that, as if for emphasis. His mind seemed to be swimming with thoughts that night, but one of them stood above the rest. He really, really liked this boy. One would even say he was already coming to love him. But he knew that would be a thing to contemplate at another time, when a longer amount of time had passed. He was continuing to feel like Ethan had been made for him.

An almost amusing thought when one considered that for much of his life, Maurice had only seen the ugly side of humans.

Ethan looked up at him quietly, and signed to bring him out of his thoughts. "I want to hunt again tomorrow. I made an idiot out of myself today," Ethan told him, finally speaking about what had bothered him that day. "Can we?"

Maurice shook his head, patting the boy's knee. Again, the boy was harder on himself than he needed to be. If he had a piece of fruit for every time a young ape had gawked at the idea of killing an animal... Well, he'd be a very happy ape indeed. "Your reaction was normal. Milo nearly vomited before his father," That was the first time he heard Ethan's small laugh, which only brought him a chance to laugh. "Most bring themselves to do it, but not all. It gets easier after the first kill, that I promise you."

"But, can we go?"

"I'm afraid not. I have a jacket to sew you so you don't freeze."

As if to emphasize his teasing, and to hear that laugh again, Maurice tickled his sides lightly. Ethan let out a shriek, and then a giggle, squirming a little. Oh yes, that sound was something the orangutan could get used to from the usually quiet, and straight faced youth. "Maurice!" Ethan shrieked.

When he stopped, Ethan was laying across his lap, finally gaining control of his laughter. The old ape smirked, and poked his belly carefully. "You can make your own fun tomorrow. You've worked hard in your lessons, a break was in order," Ethan smirked, guessing that was true. "Perhaps you can go and meet other apes your age. Or simply play with Milo and his friends," He explained.

The thought was intriguing, Ethan had to admit. He really didn't know much of anyone outside of Milo, Maurice, and Caesar. "Maybe both," Ethan nodded his head.

After that, they again sat there in silence by the fire. Something which admittedly, Maurice had come to realize that both of them enjoyed. Sitting there, enjoying each others company. He figured it brought Ethan some sort of comfort that words really couldn't. Though after some time, Ethan had become dead weight in Maurice's arms, his head carefully resting over his arm, sleeping silently.

Maurice smirked, no doubt this would be regular after days like these. As his lessons would only get harder, more rigorous, and longer as well. Not that Maurice would ever complain about that, knowing these were important days in a human and ape's life. The bonding they were doing now would undoubtedly shape whatever their relationship was in the future. Guardian and ward, friends...

Father and son.

Unlike the wild orangutan's of older days, Maurice hadn't enjoyed solitary life. And in truth, Ethan was not his only child. Maurice recalled the years, before they were spent in a zoo, where he'd been born. There he'd grown and had a single daughter, who he'd loved for many years before he was sold to the circus where he would learn the art of sign language. And further on to the ape "sanctuary" that he had met Caesar inside. It had crushed Maurice, who like most captive orangutan's was active in raising his daughter. And then he'd lost her, just like that, and never had seen her again in his years of life.

He'd been so crushed that he never attempted to mate, or have another child again.

And now, here Ethan was, a second chance to be the father he had once been. And unlike the other times, he did not feel crushed, no. The moment Ethan took hold of his paw the day he came to the colony, he felt a connection that he could not explain. As if it were fate's way of saying that Ethan was his son, that though he had lost his daughter, though he had no mate, he was not meant to live a solitary life forever.

He only hoped that someday, someway, Ethan may be able to see him in that way. That one day, he may hear that quite voice say "father", or "dad". Or that he might even sign that to him. But for now, he could only wonder if that day would ever come as he settled Ethan, and his blankets into his bed. His thoughts fully going on override as he thought of that part of his past, of who he was, for the first time in years.

Carefully putting out the fire, Maurice sighed. Watching Ethan sleep silently, totally unaware of what Maurice was thinking, or how he felt. And for now, he would let it be that way. Though some day, he would tell him all of it. Some day, hopefully, when Ethan came to him feeling the same way.

But until then, he had to wait.

...

A/N: I figured it was time to give a small bit of history on Maurice. Since we knew very little about him beyond being a circus ape. I hope that it came off believably. :)