Several weeks later, Amanda and her ape friend, Luca, made the national news. During one of her many visits to the zoo, one of the newest zoo workers, while watching Amanda interacting with Luca and his family, suffered a mental collapse. He began screaming that the little blind girl was talking to the apes, that she was really one of them, and was telling them to kill everyone. Snatching Amanda up by her hair, the man tried to run, but did not get far before Luca, along with three other gorillas, tackled and subdued him. Luca's family and friends held the man down while the other gorillas formed a tight protective ring around Luca as he cradled a terrified Amanda in his arms. One of the vets produced a sedative, and the man was taken away.

Getting an agitated and overprotective Luca and the entire gorilla troop to release Amanda was another story. It took almost two hours before the girl was able to convince the young gorilla to let go of her, and even then, he would only release her into Franklin's waiting arms.

The girl remained remarkably calm and poised throughout the entire incident. It was in the quiet safety and security of Franklin's car on the way back to Will's place that she finally broke down and began to sob uncontrollably, and franklin pulled onto a quiet side street to try and comfort her. She cried on the man's shoulder for a few moments before jerking away, her watery blue eyes going very wide.

"Drive!" she ordered.

"What?"

"People are coming," Amanda gasped. "Please just drive, Donnie!"

But it was already too late. Before Amanda could get her seatbelt fastened and Franklin could put the car in gear, they were surrounded by people with cameras. Franklin began rolling up the windows, nearly catching someone's hand. He locked all the doors as the paparazzi crowded around the car, tapping on the windows and shouting questions at the poor little girl. "Hey Fay, give us a smile, honey!" "Fay Wray, how'd you get those gorillas to protect you like that?" "Fay, is that gorilla gonna be your new guide ape?" 'Hey Fay, where's your first guide animal now?" "Hey Fay, is that gorilla your new boyfriend?

That was the last straw for Franklin. "Scrunch down out of their site, honey," he said quietly, and laid on his horn and revved the car's engine, scattering most. The two arriving police cars scattered the rest.

Neither Amanda nor Franklin knew who called the cops, and neither one cared. After a brief conversation, they gave the two a Police escort back to Will's, where an unexpected welcoming committee waited for them.

Caesar and Charles were the first to reach the car, followed closely by Amanda's parents and brother, with Will and Caroline trailing behind.

"Are you okay, Kiddo?" Charles cried as he helped Amanda out of the car and hugged her tight, with Caesar pressing close against her as well.

"C'mon you guys. A girl needs to breathe," Amanda giggled as Franklin got out of the car. The tightly packed group made their way back into the house for some well-deserved food.

To everyone's relief, that was the last big and exciting event for a long time. For the next couple of years, things settled down for Caesar and Amanda, and their routines were rarely disturbed. Amanda started coming over to Will's every weekday morning. She would do her schoolwork there. At midday, she and Caesar would have a little lunch then go out in the yard to play or for a walk around the neighborhood, and after that Amanda would finish her lessons and have a little piano time with Charles before she and Caesar were allowed out again. Two or three times a week, Franklin would pick her up, and take her to the zoo to visit Luca and her friends there. It was a good arrangement for everyone, since it allowed Amanda to get out of her house and have friends nearby, and her dad could go back to work full time and not worry constantly about his little girl or get reported to CPS for leaving a young child unattended.

Shortly after her twelfth birthday, Amanda began babysitting, and Caesar was overjoyed to not only be invited but asked to come along for one job. Caesar's favorite child, and Amanda's too, was a little eight-year-old deaf girl, the daughter of one of Will's Gen Sys team, called Lily. It was not the fact that the girl knew sign that made her their favorite, though it certainly made things easier in the very beginning. She was just a happy, usually pleasant little girl who liked to have fun. When she was not busy brushing and re-braiding Amanda's long hair into different pretty styles, the three lost all track of time playing games. It meant Lily sometimes got to bed a little later than she should have done, but since the child slept like a rock, her parents did not complain.

It was good he could go with her to babysit sometimes, but Caesar was still unhappy that he could not accompany Amanda to the zoo or the other ape place she called the "sanctuary", but he grudgingly accepted it. He had become rather bored with watching those sanctuary apes on Amanda's laptop anyhow. It was not as if they were anything like him on the inside; they did not talk to one another properly, they ate like animals, and they fought all the time and over the littlest things. Anything could set them off, and it was too much needless conflict for Caesar's liking. He thought someone should really teach them some better manners, but he was relieved that he would never have to do that himself. The young chimp did not think his patience would stretch that far.

When Amanda showed him a picture of herself and one of her friends from the zoo, the gorilla who had protected her, Caesar became suddenly concerned. That animal was so very big and strong, and Amanda so small and slight and delicate.

Amanda would not listen, so Caesar took his concerns to a higher authority.

"He hurt her," Caesar signed his complaints to Will later that evening after Amanda went home. "He big. She small."

To Caesar's frustration, Will laughed. "You saw on the TV how he protected her, Caesar. They've known each other a long time. Since Luca was a little baby gorilla. Caroline says Amanda's perfectly safe with Luca, and that he won't hurt her. After what we all saw, I think she's right, but God help any other ape who might try, though."

Caesar gave a low growl and pounded his fist against the side of Will's desk in frustration. Then, it occurred to him that he was acting like those apes he saw on the laptop. He stopped, signed sorry to Will, and stared down at the carpet.

"It's okay, Buddy," Will put his arm around him, and Caesar leaned into his father's comforting embrace. "I know you're worried. But Amanda's fine. We wouldn't let her go anywhere or be with anyone that wasn't safe."

Just because Caesar accepted Will's judgment, he did not have to like it.

"I'm bigger than Amanda, and so is Charles and Franklin," Will pointed out. "Her brother's a cross between a walking skyscraper and a tank. And you're getting bigger than her too, you know," Will reminded him.

"Different," Caesar signed.

"How?"

Caesar huffed and got up and walked away. He could not explain it to Will's satisfaction or his own for that matter. Perhaps knowing about Amanda's reoccurring nightmares was affecting him. Dead and dying humans, fighting everywhere, masses of apes on the bridge, that gorilla and Amanda's former guide Koba fighting, and these were just some of the things from Amanda's dreams.

If her nightmares always came true, how was he supposed to protect her and his family from the coming chaos?

And the most nagging thing of all, if he was really this animal called an ape. Why was he so very different from all the apes Amanda showed and told him about?

It was the weekend of Amanda's thirteenth birthday, and they would be going to Muir Woods, but Amanda would not be with them. Karin Evans had invited the girl and her family to a recording session. Her parents could not go, her father having a teacher's conference that weekend, but her brother, also a huge Karin Evans fan, offered to drive her. Caesar made up his mind to ask Will to explain exactly what Caesar was, and to do it that very weekend.

Amanda tried to talk him out of it. She warned him he might not like the answers, but Caesar had to know. He had to know why he looked like an ape but felt so much like a human being.

Amanda and her brother Lewis got back early Sunday morning to find their answering machine blowing up. And most of the messages were from a frantic Will, with one or two from an equally distraught Caroline.

"Amanda, please call as soon as you can. Caesar's gone missing!"

"Amanda, I guess you're not back yet. Please, please call us back soon. Caesar's still missing. Dad's worrying himself sick, and Caroline's mad at me, and … And I guess I really screwed up this time. Honey, if you can help me find Caesar-"

"Amanda sweetheart," came Caroline's voice through the machine's speaker. She sounded close to tears. "Caesar's run away." She stopped and audibly gulped before continuing, "Please call us if he comes to your house, darling? Please?"

"Man! I go away for half a weekend, and everything goes to hell," Amanda groaned.

Leaving her brother to listen to the rest of the messages, Amanda bolted for the stairs. She burst into her attic room and knew right away that she was not alone. She heard his slow breathing even before she felt his presence.

"Caesar?" Amanda whispered as she moved quickly to her bed. "Caesar, wake up." The girl reached out her hand, and gently shook her friend awake.

"Caesar, how'd you get in here without triggering our security system alarms? Wait, you watched me enter all those codes, didn't you?"

Caesar nodded sleepily.

"I'll call Will and tell him you're okay," Amanda began, reaching for her phone, but Caesar put out his hand to stop her.

"NO!"

His thought came out so forcefully that Amanda jumped and gave a little cry.

The next thing she knew, the distraught chimp flung both arms around her, and was thinking, "Sorry. Sorry" again and again.

The other word Amanda got from his jumbled thoughts was 'pet'.

"Aw, Caesar. Did they get you a pet? The cat you always wanted? Did something happen to it?"

Then, Caesar's thoughts became all too clear, and Amanda shivered.

"Caesar. Is. Pet."

Amanda gasped. Now she understood everything.

"Caesar, whoever told you that is lying to you. Was it Hunziger?"

"Will."

"Will told you that you're a pet?" Amanda was incredulous. "No, he wouldn't do that, Caesar. You're not a pet to him."

"Caesar came from Will's lab place. Will give Mother Charles medicine. Mother gave it to Caesar. She die there." The chimp explained.

"From Gen Sys?" Amanda groaned. "Oh, Caesar?"

The ape began to cry, and Amanda held him close and cried with him for a long time.

"Hey, half-pint," Lewis called up the stairs. "Is he still up there with you?"

"Caesar, you promise me you'll stay right here. I need to go talk to Lewis. Promise you won't run away?
"Not call Will?" Caesar pleaded.

He will if I don't get down there and stop him. Promise me, Caesar."

The ape nodded and thought, 'Caesar promise not to run."

Amanda gave him a quick sisterly kiss. "I'll be right back," the girl said as she ran down the stairs just in time to snatch the phone from Lewis's hand.

"Will? Yeah, hi. I know what happened. He just told me. He's okay, but he's real upset. No, don't come and get him. Let me bring him back home a little later today … Please, Will. If you come and get him, he might run away again.

Will was reluctant, but Amanda finally got him to agree.

"What's going on?" Lewis asked as she hung up the phone.

"Caesar just found out where he came from," Amanda informed her brother.

'Lab, huh." Lewis and Amanda had discussed Caesar a few times, and they both came to the conclusion long ago that he must have come from a lab, somewhere.

"Yeah. Gen Sys."

"What?" Lewis gasped. "You mean Will created?"

"No. Not quite. Look, Lew, we'll talk about it later, okay?" Amanda was clearly itching to get back upstairs to her friend.

"Oh, right, Sis."

As Amanda took the stairs two at a time, he called after her, "I'll fix some breakfast."

I got good news and bad news for you Caesar."

With a sigh, the chimp indicated that she should tell him the bad news first.

"Will was on the phone."

Caesar tensed, and Amanda took a firm grip on his arm. "The good news is that Will says I can bring you home later today."

To say the chimp was reluctant to return to Will's house was an understatement. 'No. Don't want to go home," Caesar thought.

Finally, Amanda had to resort to saying, "Caesar, Charles is worrying himself sick over you." And that did it. Caesar said he would go home, but only for Charles.

Amanda hugged him. "Okay, how about this? Lewis is fixing us a nice breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'm starving. So, we'll go down in a bit, have a nice breakfast, and then you can come with me to Lily's. I'm supposed to sit with her for an hour this morning.

Caesar smiled, and sensing that temporary change in his dark mood, Amanda did too. They walked hand in hand down the stairs to eat breakfast.

A/N:

Welcome back, loyal and patient readers!

Hope you enjoyed this little installment. You may have noticed we're starting to get into actual events of the Rise movie now.

The character of Lily is not mine. To read Lily's story check out the fic, One Family, by Weezy815.

Take care, and happy reading.