Time meant nothing to Koba. He no longer counted the days. Crouching in the back of yet another hard unyielding cage, he waited for the next round of pain to begin. Koba could not remember the last time he saw natural sunlight or smelled fresh air on his face or felt grass beneath his feet. His entire world consisted of his cage, long twisting corridors, and strange humans with bright lights around cold hard examination tables.

... and pain. Pain was never far away anymore. His life with Tommy was never pain free. It was Tommy's favorite method of punishment. It was his favorite method of amusing himself. but since they captured him after Tommy's death, things were so much worse.

In the earliest days of his exile, Koba used to wish he had not tried so hard to run. If he had surrendered easily, gone quietly the way Milo did, would he be in a better place now? Would he be with Milo—wherever that was? Or would they let him go back to Amanda and her family?

Koba touched his permanently damaged eye and winced with the memory of searing agony. What good would he be to Amanda anymore even if they sent him back? He was half blind himself so how could he protect her? He was useless to her now, but he knew that would not matter to his little Amanda.

Koba never regretted attacking that one man, though, the one who was going to hurt Amanda. He regretted not killing him, that was all. After all, if he was going to get in this much trouble and be hurt for the rest of his life, he might as well have killed the man and been done with it. Anyone who would hurt a child deserved to die. No, he was right to attack the bad man. It was probably a bad idea to attack the good man who tried to help, and Koba figured that was the unforgivable thing he did to make the humans punish him.

Does she ever think of me? Does she know when I hurt? Koba wondered. I don't want her to know how much I hurt.

Koba knew that Amanda was special. She could feel and hear and know things other humans did not know, and it worried him that she might feel his pain. He tried to keep that from happening. He tried not to deliberately think of his dear little blind friend, but sometimes, when the pain and loneliness got too bad, Amanda crept into his mind, and he could not stop the bittersweet memories. He remembered playing around the house and in the backyard. He remembered walking with her, guiding her around dangers and towards places she wanted to go, but mostly what he remembered was cuddling up with her in bed—he had his own bed and his own side of the huge room, but he usually curled up with Amanda in her bed. He remembered playing their tickle game, where they would tickle each other and see who could keep from laughing the longest. He always lost, but that did not matter. And he remembered brushing her long soft hair, and the one time he tried to braid it. He knew he had done a terrible job, but Amanda only laughed and hugged and kissed him for it.

And who took care of Amanda now? That was the question always in the back of Koba's mind, and while he hoped and wanted for her to find a new guide and protector, he also began to hate this unknown stranger for taking his rightful place.

The human footsteps were coming closer again. Koba sat up and forced a smile and signed to these humans, but as usual, they stared right through him. Did they not understand what he was saying to them? No, they just did not care. As the humans urged him onto the rolling hard bed and strapped him down, Koba did not struggle. He lay quietly and kept his thoughts to himself.

When I get out, and I will get out somehow, Koba vowed. I will find Amanda, and nothing or no one will take her from me again. If they know what's good for them, they better not even try! I will fight for her this time. I will kill if I have to.

With that thought locked firmly in his mind, Koba braced himself for more human given pain.

As Koba languished somewhere in the Gen Sys labs, Amanda was meeting one of her friends at the San Francisco Zoo. She entered the gorilla's enclosure to her usual warm and loving greeting by Luca and his immediate family, and after passing an inspection by the oldest female, the girl took a seat on a large rock in the center of the enclosure. The littlest gorillas and Amanda had developed a game where they would try to sneak up on her and touch her arm or shoulder and see who could run away before Amanda could grab and tickle them.

After playing the game for a while, and catching most of the children, Amanda stood up and walked with Luca to a quieter corner. They sat together and Amanda took her big friend's hand.

"You're awfully quiet today, Big Guy. What's wrong?"

Luca bowed his head and made a sound somewhere between a low growl and a light sigh. Sensing his distress, Amanda hugged him.

"She's not?" Amanda cried. "I thought she might be in with Caroline."

Luca shook his head, and Amanda got to her feet. 'Hey, Franklin?" she called across the enclosure.

"Yo," the man called back from the opposite side of the enclosure where he stood watching Amanda and the gorillas with his usual protective eye.

"Where's Sunshine?" Amanda demanded. "Why'd they send her away."

"I just heard about it. Who told you?" Franklin called back.

Amanda gave him a resigned look as she touched Luca's shoulder.

"Oh yeah. Why'd I even ask. I have no idea where she is. Remember, I don't work here full time, honey. Want me to find out?"

Amanda sighed, but her expression told Franklin all he needed to know. Once Franklin started a long conversation on the radio to some other zoo employee, Amanda turned back to Luca.

"I'm sorry," she said as she embraced him again. "I'd never admit it to his face, but I wouldn't feel like playing either if my big brother went away." It was more than that, however. Sunshine had been a surrogate mother to many of the gorillas in the zoo, especially her younger brother, Luca. Her loss would be a blow for the entire troop.

for a long time, the gorilla and the young girl sat together, Amanda with one arm around Luca's back. As Franklin came striding purposefully towards them, Luca tensed, but Amanda soothed him.

"Heya buddy," he greeted Luca. The gorilla nodded but otherwise ignored Franklin's presence.

"Sunshine's okay," franklin told Amanda. "She's been transferred to the Sierra Zoo. They needed more young breeding females."

"The Sierra Zoo," Amanda groaned.

"Well, that's better than New York or out of the country," Franklin persisted, but even he knew it was cold comfort for Amanda, and especially for Luca.

Franklin offered some tasty leaves to Luca. The gorilla took them but did not start to munch.

"Well, I'll be over there if you need me," the man murmured and turned away.

"I'm so sorry, Luca," Amanda sighed, biting her lower lip to keep back tears. "They'll take care of her there. She won't be hurt or anything."

Luca grunted.

Amanda sniffed. "Hey, grape leaves. That's a real treat." Seeing how much she liked them; Luca promptly offered her the whole big bunch. "I can't eat all that," Amanda told him. "But I'll take a couple."

Luca raised a few leaves to his mouth and made some smacking lip noises. Amanda laughed. "Nice try, but you know my rule. I don't eat until you do. Don't think I don't know you were pretending."

Luca made a low chuffing sound that was his version of laughter before putting some of the leaves in his mouth and crunching them.

"Since you're not gonna eat most of that, you could offer some of those to the girls?" Amanda suggested as a small group of the females passed by.

As if hearing her name mentioned, the newest female gorilla stopped long enough to pat Amanda's right cheek and touch her hair. Then, she gave a low playful grunt and throw a little dirt at Luca before scampering off.

"You should chase her," Amanda advised. "That's what she wants, you know."

Luca gave a low growl as he picked dirt out of his hair.

"Luca, it's not her fault that Sunshine went away when she came here. Aw. Go on. I promise I'll sit right here. Now go on and play. Throw some dirt back at her. You'll feel better?"

Luca was reluctant to leave her side, but eventually after the new female showered him with an even larger clod of dirt, Luca growled and leaped up and chased her around the enclosure, pelting her with anything he could get his hands on. And while he was gone, many of the older gorillas came to sit with Amanda and visit with her a while.

"How's it going, Fola? You're looking good there, Old Joe. Gamba, you aren't still fighting at your age, are you?" Amanda spoke fondly to the gorillas, giving and receiving hugs from them in turn.

All too soon, Franklin made another appearance. "If you want to spend some time with Buck, we better get moving."

"Okay," Amanda sighed as she stood up and started saying goodbye to the gorillas. Luca pulled his new friend over to say Goodbye. This female gorilla seemed a little more shy, but Amanda understood. After all, they were still strangers.

"He gave her those grape leaves, didn't he?" Amanda asked Franklin as they drove away.

"Yep."

At the sanctuary, Amanda found Buck very lethargic. He hardly seemed to notice she was there.

"What's wrong with him?" she demanded of a nearby Dodge.

"Take it easy, Princess. He's fine. Hey, who are you calling?" Dodge cried as Amanda took out her phone.

"A vet friend. Maybe she oughtta have a look at Buck."

"We do have our own vets here, you know. The ape's okay," dodge insisted. "He's just had a little sleepy juice."

"Sleepy juice?" Amanda exclaimed. "You mean he's being sedated? What for?"

"Just a little," Dodge protested. "He's been getting a little uppity after you and that Evans woman have been visiting him so much. You two have been getting that monster over stimulated. It's to keep him calm. It's for his own good."

Amanda's face flushed and she drew in a sharp breath. She opened her mouth, but Franklin touched her shoulder and leaned in and whispered, "You're getting upset won't help Buck. Or you, if you want to keep coming to see him."

Amanda clearly did not like it, but she knew Franklin was right. The other apes sensed her tension and deep dissatisfaction as she went to visit with the other apes.

They stayed a little while longer as Amanda visited with some of the other apes, giving treats and toys to tinker, a new female called Cornelia, who Amanda thought was the sweetest female ape she had ever met, and a little special attention to the sanctuary's alpha chimp, Rocket.

Finally, she ended up slumped, tired, worried and frustratedly against the orangutan's cage. The tears of helplessness and irritation were coming whether she wanted them to or not. As she dug in her deep pockets for a handkerchief or some tissues, a large hand touched her cheek. She gave a start and looked up as the normally aloof orangutan gently stroked her tear-streaked face with his huge but comforting hand.

Amanda swallowed hard. "It's Maurice, isn't it?" she asked, and the orangutan nodded.

Much too late, Amanda tried to put on a brave front. "I'm okay," she insisted, but the orangutan called Maurice kept on making low rumbling soothing noises. When she had a handful of tissues and could wipe her face, the big ape began gently grooming her hair. For a moment, this made her cry even more. It reminded her so much of Koba or even Luca, but the girl's crying soon subsided under Maurice's ministrations, and she was surprised when the orangutan took her hand and began to slowly trace signs into it the way Caesar used to do when they first met.

"Girl okay now?" Maurice asked.

"Yes. Maurice, why didn't you let me know that you could sign?"

"They no like it," Maurice told her.

"I wonder who you mean by they?" Amanda muttered under her breath, but she thought she knew the answer.

Dodge Landon.

On the way home, Amanda complained to Franklin. "Can't anything be done about him?"

"He's not responsible for sedating Buck," Franklin began. "And I'm not defending him," the man added as Amanda's eyebrows rose. "But we need hard evidence of his cruelty. Unfortunately—"

"What you learn through your special abilities doesn't count," Amanda repeated, deadpan. It was not the first time that adults had told her this, and she was tired of hearing it.

She also knew it was true.

"Hard evidence, like actual camera footage?"

"Maybe?" Franklin answered cautiously. "Oh man, there's a disturbance in the force here. I hear those cogs turning. You're plotting something, Fay Wray. What is it?"

"Nothing," Amanda told her old friend with a little smile on her face.

"Oh God. Okay, keep me in the dark. No really, I might even sleep better if I don't know, but if I can help—"

Amanda grinned and patted the man's arm. "I'll let you know," she said mysteriously as they pulled up. To Caesar's house. Thanking her old friend for the ride, she got out and ran inside to see Caesar and check on Charles. She had the beginning of an idea in mind about helping the apes by getting rid of Dodge. There was only one big obstacle—well, maybe two. First, what she had in mind might be ever so slightly illegal. And last, Amanda knew she could not do it herself. She needed to convince her big brother to help out. Or maybe he could help her come up with a better, legal, idea. When she stepped inside, Amanda froze, clamping one hand to her forehead and letting out an involuntary gasp of pain. Then, Caesar was there, his arms around her.

"What?" the chimp demanded. "Amanda sick?"

"Yeah," she muttered without thinking, but at Caesar's sharp intake of breath and his rising alarm Amanda went on before he could call for help. "Sick and tired, Caesar. That's all."

Not all," Caesar insisted.

"Man, I can't get anything by you, can I?" Amanda hugged him back hard. "I thought I felt something. I thought I felt Koba for a second, but—"

"Someone hurt him again?" Caesar asked, his eyes downcast.

"Yeah, but it's gone now." She wished her headache would disappear so fast.

Caesar led her to see Charles, who was having a good day and very happy to see her. Pulling out her braille display and connecting it up to her phone, Amanda sat and read to Charles until Caroline came in to drive her home. Charles began to cry a little as she left, but she kissed him and promised she would be back to see him tomorrow. Amanda did not let herself really cry until she was safe in the car with Caroline.

"Amanda, do you—" Caroline began before trailing off.

"Do I know how Charles feels?" She had been waiting for someone to ask her that question. She expected the first one to ask would be Caesar.

"You don't have to tell me," Caroline said quickly.

Amanda thought for a long time before answering slowly and carefully. "It's like ... It's like he's disappearing inside this thick fog," she said at last. 'I mean, it's not exactly like that, but that's the best way I can describe it to you. But the fog gets deeper and deeper every second, it's eating away at all he knows and who he is. And yes, a part of him still knows that."

"Oh my God!" Caroline whispered.

They got to Amanda's home, but before she got out of the car, she gripped Caroline's hand. "For God's sake, Caroline, if Will doesn't ask, please don't tell him what I just told you."

Caroline blinked, and Amanda patted her hand before getting out and running up the ramp to her front porch. NO one was home yet, so Amanda entered the security code and let herself in and began fixing a little dinner for herself and her dad and brother. Amanda did not expect to see her mom. Evelyn King would be putting in another late night at the lab. Will had his team working almost around the clock nowadays, for obvious reasons.

Once the dinner was done and the table was set, Amanda settle down to wait for her family, and to plot how to convince her brother to help her with her scheme to protect the apes.

a/n:

Hello dearest readers,

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the new POV it introduced.

As always, huge hugs to everyone still taking this journey with me. And warmest of welcome to any newcomers. Thank you all for taking the time to read my little corner of the ape universe. Feedback is always very much appreciated.