*****First off, I am soooo sorry it took me so long to update this. I just so happen to see this movie playing on tv yesterday and then went and re-read my story. So finally I got some ideas of how to continue. Secondly, I was going to make this rated M, but decided to leave it T. For now.

"I'm telling you. We'll be just as fine if we walk instead."

"I am used to riding, Raine."

Caesar and I were on our way to the horse paddock, but I stopped, turning to face him when I felt his hand on my arm.

"It will be…alright."

Caesar's concerned expression tore at my heart strings. Of course it would be alright. But only because I was leaving.

I gave him a weak smile. "I trust you." I heard a horse neighing in the near distance and turned my gaze back the way we were headed. "I just don't trust them."

A few minutes later I was standing with my arms folded across my chest staring at the small herd of horses. "I am a city girl. I do not ride animals." Except Caesar, I reminded myself as an image flashed in my head of my scantily clad pelvis grinding against Caesar's bulge earlier that morning. I shook my head. No future. We could have no possible future together. "What if I fall off?"

"You will not fall. Hold on to me."

Caesar held out his hand. I took it. He led me into to paddock.

"But I don't even know how to mount," I replied squeamishly.

Apes on horses. Apes on horses! I still couldn't believe all the stories I would have to tell when I got home. But could I tell them? The main thing would be who to tell them to. Carver was completely out of the question. Malcolm maybe? I had decided I would definitely tell Ellie. Not about me and Caesar of course. Yikes!

Caesar spurred our horse up an incline. I let out a gasp and tightened my grip on Caesar as I started to slide backwards. But you must think that was going to work. Riding bareback plus slick horse from light rain equals you guessed it…

"Aahhh!"

Caesar didn't even have time to react. I was on my back on the ground.

"Raine!"

I had definitely jarred my back. All I had to do was barely move and it hurt. I let my head fall back and stared up at the trees. Raindrops peppered my face.

"Fuck my life…"

I wanted to scream. My back was not the only thing that had started to hurt from my fall. Being a woman with female issues in a post-apocalyptic world seriously sucked sometimes.

I took a couple of deep breaths. Even my ribs hurt.

"Raine…"

Caesar was over me now.

"Raine, are you…alright?"

Did I mention I wanted to scream? And cry. I started to nod but then shook my head instead. What was the point in lying? I had decided to give up on the crazy idea that was me and Caesar and go back to reality and this was what I got - more pain, both physical and emotional.

Caesar put his hand on my chest. "Raine…speak… Are you hurt?"

I had sworn to myself I would never let him see me cry. But then I had also sworn to myself that I wouldn't let myself like him as more than a friend.

Promises, promises.

"Why did I come out here, Caesar? Why couldn't I have just left it alone? Left you and your colony alone?"

I couldn't see his expression. I was too busy bawling my eyes out.

"What…do you mean?"

"I wasn't supposed to come out here. Malcolm had told me not to. And my brother. I shouldn't have come." My shoulders started shaking with my sobs. It was time to tell him the truth. I had literally nothing to lose at this point anymore with him. "Some of my people had come out here several weeks ago. We were looking for something. I got separated and…" I wiped my hand across my face, my tears somewhat subsiding, "I saw some of you. I saw some of the apes." Thunder rumbled above. We really needed to get to my shelter. I hiccupped. "We need to move on. Is the horse around?"

"Yes." Caesar gave a nod. "Can you get up?"

It took some effort. I gritted my teeth against the pain. Thank goodness I hadn't broken anything, but I would probably be in pain for weeks. All the more reason to get to my shelter. I had pain medicine there. And even though it wouldn't help my cyst, it would be enough for everything else.

It would have to.

I took off at a run the second I saw my shelter. Well...more of a jog and I was clutching my side the whole time, but still. Caesar had tied the horse to a tree and we had walked the rest of the way. Neither of us had spoken. I was grateful. Especially since our time together was about to come to a painful (in both senses of the word) end.

I dug like a mad woman through my belongings. Of course I hadn't brought my pain meds with me when I had left my shelter. I mean goddamn I hadn't been expecting to be gone for a week. Hell not even an hour. I let out a gasp when I finally found the little baggie that contained my Ibuprofen. My hands were shaking and I had to force myself to open the bag slowly so as not to lose any of the precious red pills. I popped two to help kick the pain faster. At that moment I was grateful that Caesar wasn't used to being around people. He would probably think I was a junkie.

The sad part was...I was becoming a junkie. And in only a week. My drug of choice...

My nostrils flared at the sudden scent of musk. I whipped around.

Caesar stood in the opening of my little shelter— which was actually a tiny cave with an added on miserable excuse of a lean-to.

I held up my baggie with a sheepish grin. "Found my meds. Exactly where I left them."

Actually all of my stuff had been where I'd left it. Not that I had been worried.

Caesar glanced around at my meager belongings. "How long have you been here?"

"About a week." I twist tied my baggie. "Same length of time I've been with you."

Caesar slowly came towards me. "You came for us."

Surprisingly there was no anger in either his voice or countenance like I had been expecting. He was simply stating a fact.

It was definitely time. I gestured at the ground. "I'm really hurting and tired. Do you mind if we sit?"

So I sat. Caesar crouched in front of me.

And I told him my story.

"Caesar…been gone…long time. Human…must have…done something…to him."

Several of the chimps around Koba started to hoot and holler in agreement.

"Raine would never hurt Father," Blue Eyes signed back desperately.

Koba got in Blue's face. "You have been…blinded…as…Caesar has."

Koba rarely spoke. And when he did, all of the other apes who understood English knew that he was beyond furious.

"We must give them time," Blue responded.

"No time! Enough waiting! We find the human! And we kill her!"

Koba hoisted a spear in the air as the small gathering of apes around him cheered.

I woke up with a start. I was lying with my head on Caesar's chest. He was lying on his back. We were on the meager blankets that I used as my bedding. I must have fallen asleep. I glanced around, my heart pounding. Caesar lifted his head. Suddenly I felt his hand in my hair.

"What is wrong?"

A dream. It had all been a dream. The others were hunting. That was why Caesar and I had been able to get away so easily. The rain had stopped, leaving an occasional drip from my shelter roof.

I sat up fully. "Nothing. I guess I'm just getting paranoid. Every time we end up along together…"

I couldn't finish my sentence. Caesar knew. We both knew. I glanced around at my shelter. Caesar had listened to my tale with total patience and had only asked a few questions here and there. He knew about my brother and that we didn't get along.

What he still hadn't known yet was that I was planning to leave him. Caesar sat up, putting his arm around my shoulder as he did so. He was so sweet and gentle. So understanding. Even if he was human, I still wouldn't deserve him.

Despite my pain medicine, my back was still throbbing.

"Are you…in pain?"

Geez I swear he could read my mind.

"Somewhat."

I couldn't look at him. I felt his hand go to my lower back. To my surprise, he started massaging it. Ugh. Why did he have to be so damn good to me? I sighed. I hadn't told him about my other problem. I didn't want to worry him any more than he already was.

"Is this helping?" he asked after a minute.

It actually was somewhat. I gave him a nod and a tiny grin. "Yes it is. Thank you."

"You were right, Raine. We…should have walked."

"It's not your fault," I reassured him. "You were just doing what you thought was best. Like you always do."

The late afternoon sun was shining on his face. He was smiling. Suddenly I got that Adam and Eve feeling again. Like we were the last two beings on earth. I couldn't help it. I leaned over and kissed him gently on the mouth. I don't know what possessed me all of a sudden, but without thinking, I shifted my position and turned to face him.

"I want to feel you, Caesar. Like we did this morning."

Caesar's eyes got big. His nostrils started flaring.

I put my hand on his chest. "Do you want that?"

"Do not want to…hurt you, Raine."

Hurt me? That's right. We were in total privacy. Was he thinking of actually taking this further? Was I?

His right hand came up to cover the one I had on his chest. Our eyes met….and I knew. This was our time. Finally. Our moment. Our only moment.

And I was going to make it count.

I made as short a work as possible at taking off my upper garments. Then I stood. I wanted it off. All of it. Caesar sat still the whole time, never taking his eyes off of me. When I dropped my undies, his gaze went downward, his mouth going into an 'o' shape. I was now standing completely naked in front of him. Finally, he stood.

"Raine…"

He said my name like a prayer. Like I was his goddess.

Caesar reached up and ran his hand along my stomach, causing the muscles there to contract. Then he reached up even more, his hand never leaving contact with my skin, and found my breast. He started kneading it.

"I…don't know how we're supposed to do this. How your kind does it," I stammered.

My whole body was on fire. And Caesar was the sun.

"Then I will show you."

Caesar grabbed both of my hands and pulled me down with him to where we were on our knees. He reached up and cupped my face in his hand.

"Do not want to hurt you."

His voice was husky, yet full of concern. He was definitely going to hurt me. My body was pretty much as virgin as it got. And then with the pain in my back…

I rubbed my cheek against the palm of his hand. "I trust you, I whispered."

Caesar gave a nod. "Turn around."

Still on my knees I turned. I almost jumped when Caesar's hands went to either side of my waist. My heart was pounding and I could already feel myself getting wet. When I felt his bulge at my entrance, I started trembling. There was no going back, only forward…

As Caesar the Ape King officially made me his mate.

*BANG!*

Eric Carver stared at the two apes in shock. They had just appeared out of nowhere. Right away the gun was in his hand. One of them barely moved. And he had shot.

"Stay! Stay back!" He hollered at the other chimp who was now hollering back at him angrily. "Hey! Over here!" Carver called over his shoulder. His group came running. "You guys!"

Malcolm and the others slowed to a stop when they got to him.

"I shot him," Carver said.

He and the group just stood there in shock. What were they all going to do? They didn't have any time to find out as the whole forest came alive before them.

Alive with apes.

Caesar and I were finally headed back to camp, when we heard the shot. We both froze in our tracks. My whole body was sore and I was shaky, but I barely even noticed anymore. For not the first time that day, my heart rate shot up tremendously.

"Someone's here. And they've got guns."

Caesar didn't even wait around for Raine to say another word. He was off like a shot. He ran as fast as he could and ended up converging with a sea of apes. They were stopped. Caesar made his way into the front of the group, his heart almost stopping as he climbed onto a moss covered stump.

Several humans stood before him. One of the apes started hooting. He noticed it was Rocket. And to Caesar's horror, Rocket was holding an ape that was not moving—Rocket's son Ash.

"They shot Ash! Shot my son!" Rocket signed to Caesar.

"Rocket, wait," Caesar signed back.

Rocket quieted. Caesar faced the humans and stared them down with a sneer. Why had they come? Were they here for Raine? Or to fight?

"We don't mean any harm," the man in the front said. "We're here to look for someone. A girl."

Caesar's eyes widened. So his initial suspicions had been confirmed.

"Put your guns down," he heard the man mutter.

The humans lowered their weapons. The man that spoke stepped forward slowly with his hands in the air.

"We just want the girl. Please. Have you seen her?"

"They're friggin' apes, man. Do you think they understand us?" one of the other men told the first man who was apparently their leader.

There was one woman in the group. She placed her hand on the leader's shoulder and pointed towards the group of apes. Caesar turned his head and his heart almost stopped. Standing in the middle the apes looking like she was about to collapse any moment…

Was Raine.