I don't own the characters or anything but the story. I have always felt that one of Kerchak's biggest problems with Tarzan was that his arrival was so soon after the loss of his and Kala's son, that he hadn't really had a chance to grieve properly. Suddenly his mate brings back a child that not even the same species as them and just expects him to accept it as his own, when he still hurting. So in this story some time has passed between the two events.

Kerchak was leading the group of gorillas quickly through the forest, as they needed to reach their next camping spot by nightfall. He turned his head to check that everyone was keeping up and his eyes stopped on his mate Kala. He let out a deep sigh as he watched her walking slowly at the back of the group, with her head down. It had been a few months since their son had been killed by Sabor and Kala was still suffering from it. Kerchak had done everything he could think of to lift her spirits but nothing worked.

He was hurting from the loss as well, but he had many gorillas that relied on him so he tried not to let it show. Kala made no effort to hide the pain she still felt and Kerchak hated seeing her so miserable, he would do anything to see her smile again. They continue traveling while he tries to come up with anything that might even a little bit. Sometime later he looked back to check on the group again, but when his eyes swept over back, he quickly noticed Kala wasn't there.

He hurriedly scanned the rest of the group only to conclude that she was definitely not among them. "Has anyone seen Kala?" He asked his family of gorillas. Everyone looked around before they all shook their heads and said they hadn't. Where the heck had she gone? Kercheck thought to himself. He immediately wanted to back and search for her, but he also knew how important it was to get the rest of his family safely to the nest site.

He finally decided they would look for a little while and if they didn't find her, then he would get the rest of them settled before going to search by himself. They backtracked for a little bit, but couldn't find any sign of her and Kerchak was growing more worried the longer she was missing. Just then Kala's an his niece Terkina shouted "Look mama, look over there." He looked around and to his great relief saw kala coming towards them.

He then noticed that she was running on only three limbs, with one of her arms close to her chest like she was holding something. Curiously he made his way to her, while several gorillas already had her surrounded as soon as she had stopped and were pelting her with questions about if she was okay and where she had gone. Kerchak heard her say reassuringly to the group "Yes, I'm fine, really. I just got a little side tracked."

There was a gasp from the group surrounding her when she revealed whatever she was holding, though Kerchak couldn't see past the crowd to see what it was. The conversation continued as Kerchak pushed through the crowd to see what was going on. The scene that greeted him was of Terk holding an odd looking creature. It looked sort of like a gorilla baby it had no fur except for on its head and it skin was a very pale color. He also noticed his feet were oddly shaped and it had a something white wrapped around its bottom.

Terk was playing with the little creature, bouncing it lightly up and down and he heard her say "You know he is not so bad once you get used to him." When Kerchak stepped closer she stopped and quickly handed it back to Kala while saying "Kala's going to be its mother now." Kerchak couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing. He sniffed at the little creature, nose twitching at it's odd scent. Kala spoke gently "I saved him from Sabor."

Kerchak eyes widened slightly when he heard before he sighed and stated "It won't replace the one we lost." "I know that, but he needs me." Kala responded while smiling tenderly at the baby. Kerchak first instinct was to tell her no. The creature wasn't one of them and there was no way it would work, but what stopped him was for the first time in a long time his mate's face held something other than grief. Her expression was soft as she looked at little thing with out a hint of the pain that had been there.

Quietly he asked "Was it alone?" "Yes Sabor killed his family." Kala answered. "Are you sure?" he questioned, wanting to be confident that no one would come looking for him. "Yes, there are no others." Kala assured him. He looked back at the little boy before carefully lifting one of his hand to gently stroke his head lightly, only to have him grab a hold of his finger. Kerchak felt something warm blossom in his chest at the baby's grip and he looked up at Kala before saying "He can stay."

Kala smiled happily at that "Thank you Kerchak, I know he'll make a good son." Kerchak nodded slightly at that, but before he could say anything, Terk suddenly popped up next to him asking "So whatcha gonna call it?" Kala pulled the baby's foot from his mouth as she responded "I'm going to call him... Tarzan." She looked at Kerchak then who smiled slightly at the name before he turned away from them.

He then called to the rest of the group "We will nest here for the night." Everyone started settling down for the night and he looked for a good place to build his and Kala's own nest. He had just finished it as Kala came over to him, while singing a quiet lullaby to a crying Tarzan until he calmed down. As they settled into the nest with Tarzan still cradled in Kala's arms, Kerchak couldn't help but think that maybe he was wrong, maybe this could work after all.