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“You were WHAT?!”
“Shot and then almost burned by lava so yeah there was some delay in getting back to you guys.”
Claire blinked, staring at Owen with a look of utter disbelief.
“What?” he asked, shrugging and shifting his weight to sit against the rough wall. “It was a bad day for everyone.”
“Were you going to tell me you were shot?” she demanded.
“I just did--” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “And it was a tranq dart so what’s the big deal?”
“Oh yes, only a tranquilizer. A raptor tranquilizer, Owen. Too many and they could have killed Blue! A human body isn’t meant to handle something like that.”
Owen shrugged. “Well guess I was lucky? I don’t know, maybe Zia pulled it out before all the tranquilizer could get in. I was a little out of it.”
“Owen…” Claire groaned, slumping against the wall next to him and rubbing at her forehead.
“What do you want from me, Claire?” he asked wearily. “We all almost died, remember? Lava? We still might die. It wasn’t special.”
She looked at him then, her brow furrowed. “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that. You got shot with a raptor dart--it could, probably should have stopped your heart if not just suffocated you and you’re acting like it was nothing.”
He looked back at her, huffing a sigh. He was too tired to tease her for caring. “Well I didn’t die and I used to run with raptors so close brushes with death kinda are nothing at this stage.”
She frowned and then sighed, shuffling closer so she could lay her head on his shoulder. He was sweaty and dirty but she was too and she couldn’t find herself caring all that much. She was just glad he was still alive. “I just...don’t like to think about what could have happened,” she admitted softly, lacing her fingers with his. “If that dart had killed you I’d never have known what happened and Blue would be in way worse shape.”
He squeezed her fingers, humming in the back of his throat. His eyes were closed, head tilted back. The exhaustion was finally getting to him in earnest. “Well it didn’t kill me, and Blue is gonna make it. We’re gonna get out of this.”
She was quiet for a few moments. Then: “Where did the tranquilizer hit you, anyway?”
He was half asleep with his answer. “Chest. Why?”
Her head popped up at that and she stared at him, but his eyes were closed and he didn’t seem inclined to look at her. “Your chest? That psychopath shot you in the chest with a dinosaur tranquilizer?”
“I mean he then kidnapped Zia and left me to get burned alive so I don’t think it’s really out of character,” Owen murmured.
Claire shook her head, her eyes still wide. “Unbelievable,” she muttered, eyes dropping to Owen’s chest as it fell with a sleepy breath. It took a long time to rise again, and one glance at his relaxed expression told her he was out. She worked her jaw and shuffled closer again, resting her head against his shoulder and nestling into his side.
That near, with his warmth seeping into her and his breathing in her ear, she really didn’t need any more proof that the tranquilizer had failed to be lethal, but there had been one too many brushes with death that day and she shifted, resting her hand on his chest. When she couldn’t feel what she wanted to, she shifted her hand and gently slipped it under his open shirt, resting it against his bare skin.
His heartbeat was a strong, gentle vibration against her palm and her eyes fluttered closed with relief. It felt no different than it had the last few times they’d laid like this, almost a lifetime ago. It seemed he was right: the tranquilizer really hadn't done lasting damage. With that reassurance warm in her hand, she relaxed the last of her tension against him and joined him in sleep.