Chapter Text
Chapter 1
"Hold," Owen called down to the raptors, one hand raised in a fist while his other was clutching the clicker. He watched as the three raptors stayed in place, their gazes holding steady on him, even as they twitched slightly. He counted to three, before lowering his arm. "And, go." Pressing the clicker, he watched the three raptors hurry off, disappearing into the jungle cover of their paddock.
Owen unhooked the now-empty treat bucket from the railing and started walking back along the catwalk. He could see Stephen Parker waiting for him, but the man had remained quiet throughout Owen's entire demonstration, which was a far change from how Hoskins used to act. Owen wasn't quite sure what he thought about it. He didn't miss Hoskins — far from it — but he was still adjusting to this new normal, and still found himself expecting to see Hoskins waltzing through his office door, or swaggering across the field towards him.
Claire had told him, repeatedly, that Hoskins would never be setting foot back on Nublar or Sorna. And he believed her. Yet, it still seemed almost too easy, how they'd finally managed to get rid of him. Although, he knew that that thought was stupid. Owen still firmly believed that Hoskins should've been dismissed back when the Indoraptors had been running around.
However, even ignoring that, there had been nothing easy about Owen's recovery after the escapades at the Lockwood Estate. And now, just over three months later, he continued to deal with stiffness and a decreased range of motion in his shoulder. But, he was diligently doing the exercises his physio had prescribed (Claire never let him forget about them, and she'd somehow managed to rope both Barry and Zia into being her Sorna spies if he skipped out). He knew the exercises were helping. His physical therapist was optimistic that he'd regain his full range of motion in a few more months.
As Owen reached the end of the bridge, Parker fell into step beside him as they headed for the stairs.
"They're looking really good," Parker commented, and Owen just nodded. "Any more issues between Blue and Echo?"
The first couple of months after Blue had returned to Sorna, she and Echo had continued to get into occasional skirmishes. Echo had become used to being the "alpha" in Blue's absence and she wasn't all that excited about giving up the role. Blue, however, was not about to relinquish it without a fight. While there had been the odd occasion where Owen and Barry had been concerned the raptors were going to end up seriously injuring each other, for the most part, the fights had been small, and the animals had been easily distracted.
"Not for a few weeks now," Owen told Parker. "They seem to finally be settling back down. I think it helps that we play around with the order during some of the drills. It gives Echo — and even Charlie — a chance to somewhat lead. It's not the same as being the beta, but…" Owen shrugged.
He and Barry had debated for a long time on how to deal with Echo and Blue's fighting. It had always been clear to them that Blue would win, but they were concerned about Echo getting hurt, or the pack fracturing and Echo becoming an outcast. Thankfully, time, and some drill changes, seemed to be working well enough as a solution. That, and Owen sort of thought that after everything the raptors had been through, that none of them really wanted to lose a pack member again.
"That's good to hear," Parker nodded, as they stepped back down onto the ground. "What about the others?"
Before answering, Owen spotted a paddock tech and waved him over. He handed off the empty bucket he'd been carrying, before turning back to Parker.
The "others" was the generic name that often was used to refer to the two baby raptors whose eggs had been rescued from the Lockwood Estate, as Blue, Charlie and Echo still got referred to as his girls or the pack. The name bugged Owen a bit, but he tried not to get defensive, usually just making a point to call the two raptors by their names, instead. He didn't see how it was any more work to do that versus call them "the others. "
"Olive and Grape are doing well," Owen said, before glancing quickly at his watch. "It's a bit early for their afternoon training session, but we could still go and say hi."
He started across the field with Parker towards the nursery. Olive and Grape were almost three months old now, and so they continued to spend most of their time indoors. It would probably be another month before they moved them to an outdoor paddock. That was not to say that the raptors hadn't been outside yet, Owen had taken them out for various drills. They had a small area set up that he could put them in, but it wasn't secure enough for them to stay out there all night. And they were still young, still learning to regulate their body temperatures. It was easier, and safer, to keep them indoors for now.
When Owen had first arrived back on Sorna after spending the couple of weeks recuperating on Nublar, he still hadn't decided if he was going to take on the new raptors. To be fair, Claire had only dropped the news on him the night before he'd returned. But, on his second day back (his first had been spent out with his girls), he'd found himself walking into the lab building and approaching the three eggs. He'd felt a bit silly over it all, considering there was nothing that he could do except look at them. But, seeing them in front of him had made it all that much more real.
Owen had spent much of the next few days talking with Barry, Zia, Parker and Claire about the whole thing, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Parker had been the one to tell him that they — Jurassic World and InGen — were thinking, hoping, to be able to have the raptors eventually end up as an attraction on Nublar. Owen had been pretty stunned when he'd heard that, and he still hadn't gotten over it by the time he'd talked with Claire later that day. A conversation that still made him wince when he recalled it now. He hadn't been all that… civil, and had had to profusely apologize to Claire the following day for some of his comments.
He had been — and still was, really — surprised that anyone was considering having any raptors become an attraction, especially since Jurassic World had been extremely against the idea for years. But, then he'd learned more about the raptors. And what he'd learned was what had actually made him agree to take on training them, even if it was information that still made his blood boil to this day. The raptors were more than just like Blue. They had been created using some of Blue's DNA. They weren't clones, but they weren't exactly offspring, either. More a hybrid mix of the regular raptor DNA that Eli and Wu had stolen from the park, combined with some of Blue's, along with a few other tweaks that Wu had thrown in (but that Owen still didn't quite understand the significance of).
The discovery of Blue's DNA had come from the extensive notes that Dr. Wu had left behind; notes that it had taken a while for the Jurassic World legal team to get access to. Because of the mixture that had been used, no one was quite sure what the results would be. If Olive and Grape were going to end up with similar traits to Blue, such as being more empathetic, or if the use of Blue's DNA would end up being unnoticeable. Owen knew that everyone was hoping that they'd have Blue's empathy, as it would mean they'd more likely be a successful attraction.
While he still wasn't all that excited about the idea of Olive and Grape ending up as an attraction period — and, most of the time, he tried his best to not even think about it — he did like knowing that with that option on the table it meant that no one was currently thinking about or pushing the same idea for his girls. In a way, it felt sort of like he was sacrificing Olive and Grape, for Blue, Echo and Charlie.
So far, the baby raptors had just seemed just like regular baby raptors to him. Then again, Blue's empathy hadn't really been distinguishable until she was closer to six months, so there was still time for that to show up. Owen was also finding it a bit more difficult to work with just two of them. Two didn't feel like a pack, and the dynamic between them was different than it had been for his girls when they were that little, or even Sky, Pepper, Fern and Snow. Owen kept telling himself that that was good — that it would be better, easier, if he was able to keep all the raptors separate, and see them all as their own beings.
"How are Olive and Grape doing?" Parker asked, interrupting Owen's musings. "I mean, I've seen the reports, but I'll admit that I mostly just skim them over. The details don't mean a whole lot to me." Parker laughed as he said that, and Owen forced out a chuckle, while mentally rolling his eyes. This was one of the big reasons he hated all the paperwork he did. It never felt like those who demanded it actually ever took the time to read or understand it.
"They're doing well," Owen said. "Thriving, which is good. They're still really little, and so most of the activities we do with them are focused around helping them develop their gross motor skills. Things like climbing, going up and down little ramps, and walking over uneven ground. It all sounds pretty basic, I know, but it's important for their development. The better their coordination, the more we'll be able to work with them going forward."
As they approached the nursery, Owen held open the door and then followed Parker inside. At the moment, there were only two sets of baby animals in the nursery, the compys and the raptors. Both were sets that had been rescued from the Lockwood Estate. Owen led Parker down the short hallway, past the door where he could hear the compys squawking from behind to another door at the end of the hall that led to the raptor pen.
Opening it, he and Parker entered a small area that was separated from the raptors by a chain link fence that had a door in the middle. Olive and Grape started chittering the moment they saw them, the two raptors approaching the fence, clutching at it with their claws. After Owen made sure that the door to the room was shut firmly behind him, he moved towards the raptors, crouching down across from them, the fence separating them.
"Hey girls," he greeted them. "How are you doing today? Both of you behaving?" He reached out and gently tapped them both on their snouts, which were pressed up against the fence. Grape tried to lunge for his finger, but Owen was faster, pulling his hand back.
"Which one is which?" Parker asked, reminding Owen that he wasn't alone.
He stood back up, looking down at the two raptors who abandoned the fence to go attack one of the many rubber balls that were spread throughout their cage when they realized they'd lost his attention. The balls that were currently almost as big as the raptors. In fact, only a month ago the balls had been bigger. Another reminder that they were growing up fast.
"The grey-ish one with the purple-ish stripe is Grape," Owen told Parker, pointing as he spoke. "And the green one is Olive." He wasn't really sure why Parker had even asked the question, considering their names plus colourings should've been indication enough. But, since he still wasn't quite sure why Parker had even come out to Sorna, he didn't press.
"That makes sense," Parker replied. "Are you enjoying working with them?"
"I am," Owen admitted, hesitating only briefly.
It was the truth, though. Even though he still felt uneasy over some aspects of it all, it was hard to remain upset with how playful the two raptors were. And it was nice to work with ones who still seemed excited to see him, and happy to attempt whatever drills he had in store for them, even if they didn't always seem to grasp what he was asking them to do. He loved his girls, but they could be moody and difficult to work with when they chose to be (which was still more often than he liked), so the change of pace could feel refreshing.
"You must be pretty busy now, with both sets of raptors," Parker continued, and Owen looked over at him, confusion furrowing his brow. Well, yeah, of course Owen was busy, but, that shouldn't be a surprise.
"It's a lot to juggle," he acknowledged, carefully. "But, Barry and I've got a system worked out. And since we're not training these two the same way as we did the others, that's helped."
That was actually another part of what had convinced him to finally agree. Yes, he was interested in what (if any) traits from Blue the raptors would show, but he'd also been adamant that he wasn't going to go back on his promise to figure out a way to get back to Nublar more regularly (even if he had agreed to never use the word promise around Claire). Knowing that the raptors were going to (likely) end up as an attraction, had meant that they didn't need the same stringent training schedule that Blue and the others had gone through. They could be more relaxed with these two, focusing more on play and helping them develop strong social skills and a good relationship with humans, and focus less on developing their problem solving abilities.
And that meant that he and Barry had been able to sort out a schedule. In the end, they had decided to go with a 10 days on, 4 days off plan. Although it was more like two full days off, and two half days, as whoever was leaving would usually end up doing some work the morning before they caught the boat back to Nublar, and then in the afternoon on the day they returned. They had also staggered their schedules so that they always had a few full days together before the other left.
"You've been able to spend more time back on Nublar recently, as I understand it," Parker commented, continuing to stare through the fence at Olive and Grape.
Owen looked at Parker in surprise at the words. The arrangement that he and Barry had come up with had had to be approved by Parker. The fact that Owen was spending that time on Nublar shouldn't be a surprise.
"Do you enjoy that?" Parker asked, finally turning to look at Owen.
"Uh, yes?" Owen winced when his answer came out hesitantly, quickly following up. "It's been nice to get back there more regularly." He managed to cut himself off before he made a comment about Claire. He knew that Claire would not want him to be mentioning their relationship (even if it was more than common knowledge amongst all the staff).
"Hm," Parker nodded. "Would you be interested in spending more time back on Nublar?"
The question made Owen pause. He felt like he could suddenly see warning lights flashing all over the place. He wished he knew where this conversation was going, because he felt like whatever he said next may land him somewhere he didn't want to be.
Thankfully, Parker didn't seem to actually care about getting an answer, as he continued to talk.
"With Hoskins gone, we've been trying to figure out a replacement for him. But, even more so, we've been re-thinking his position. Not only have we lost him, but the actual activity on Sorna has been picking up. You've got the two sets of raptors now. The lab has more eggs incubating. There's been talk about working on new species development again, not just more of the same…" Parker trailed off.
Owen wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say in response. He'd had two sets of raptors before, so he didn't think that that was all that new. And Claire had already mentioned the new species development to him, so he'd known about it, even if it hadn't actually been given a greenlight yet. As for Hoskins's position, well, Owen didn't really know everything that Hoskins had done, but he wasn't all that interested in taking on that job, from the bits he did know. Owen preferred to work directly with the raptors, not just observing from afar.
"I… I'm not really sure what you're asking here," he said, watching Parker closely.
"We've been thinking about creating a new position," Parker stated. "Someone who would take on overseeing everything happening here on Sorna. Both the lab side and the research side. Right now, the information we get out of here, and the supervision that happens, is often disjointed. What you and Barry work on is completely separate from what the lab guys are working on."
Owen nodded, although he didn't really see anything wrong with that. There really wasn't any connection between the two.
"The work you've done with the raptors, the work that any of our trainers do with the animals, is incredibly beneficial. And as the lab continues to produce more, both of the species we already have, but also new species, we want to bring in behaviourists earlier. Not to the level of what you two are doing with the raptors, but to bridge the gap of understanding. To make it more circular, so that there isn't the same disconnect with the lab once the animals hatch. That they have and use more of this knowledge as they continue their work."
Okay, well that Owen could actually sort of get behind. He did always find it frustrating that Wu never seemed to care about the dinosaurs once they'd hatched. To Owen, he had always felt that yes, creating viable embryos was important, but that the final result, the living, breathing animal, mattered just as much, if not more. Because just because you could bring something to life, didn't mean it should be brought to life. And the Indominus and the Indoraptors were perfect examples of that.
"Anyway, the position hasn't been completely sorted out yet," Parker said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Owen hadn't actually said anything in a while. "We're still figuring out exactly how it would work. But while it would be based here on Sorna, it would require frequent travel to Nublar, as there's coordination that needs to occur between here and the lab there. I wanted to bring it up, though, because your name has come up a few times now in discussion. There's been more than one person who thinks you'd be perfect for this role, what with the work you've done with the raptors, and the connections you have back on Nublar."
Owen had to hide his scoff with a cough. Of course his "connection" to Claire would be considered an asset here. Even if, to Owen, it felt like it would probably actually be more a liability. Like the two of them needed more things to potentially argue over.
"It's not a done deal. But I wanted you to start thinking it over," Parker said. Owen felt like a deer in the headlights, not sure how to answer, but thankfully Parker continued. "You don't have to answer today, of course. And it's not just up to me, either. But, I hope you'll think about it. I think you'd be good at it."
o-o-o
Ever since her adventure at the Lockwood Estate a few months back, Claire had felt like she was under constant scrutiny on Nublar. While she was used to feeling like she was under a microscope, everyone waiting for her to screw up at work, the recent scrutiny had felt different. It was like everyone was expecting her to fall apart at any moment, like she'd suddenly become a damsel in distress that everyone needed to save. For the first time in her life, Claire was kind of wishing people would go back to talking about whether she was competent in her job or who she must have slept with to get where she was.
And if it wasn't bad enough that it felt like all her employees were walking on eggshells around her, Simon had also taken to showing up on Nublar more frequently than he ever had before. Every time she thought she was getting a handle on convincing her employees that she really was fine (seriously, did no one understand that she wasn't the one who got injured at the Estate?) and that all she needed was for them to just do their jobs, Simon would show up again. And everyone seemed to be taking the same cue from his more frequent appearances that, sadly, Claire found she'd been taking, too — that Simon didn't trust that she was alright, and that he felt that he needed to be more involved, more hands-on.
The whole thing was enough to make her want to scream whenever she saw Simon's name show up on her calendar. But, being the good employee that she was, Claire continued to smile and power through, while cursing up a storm in her head, and then later in the evenings to Owen, who had, unfortunately, become the only outlet she had for these frustrations. She did give him props for just letting her vent until she was exhausted, agreeing and nodding and humming along as appropriate, never making her feel stupid or like she was overreacting to it all.
This morning, she'd been actually looking forward to her work day. It was supposed to be a pretty low-key one. She'd do her regular checks-in down in Control, and then she had a few paddock visits to make. Claire had been looking forward to getting an update on the compys in particular. The previous month they had finally moved the ones that had hatched on Sorna the previous summer — the few who had managed to escape being kidnapped — over to Nublar. And so far, they seemed to be immune to whatever virus had all but wiped out the previous batch.
Then, when she'd sat down at her desk that morning and had pulled up her calendar she'd found a new meeting had been added. With Simon. Fuck.
There had been no other details besides his name, not that that surprised Claire, but it had meant that once again she'd spent a good part of her day trying to prepare for a meeting she had no idea how to prepare for.
As Simon's assistant let her into his office, Claire steeled herself to be ready for anything. For all she knew, Simon was actually here to propose another one of his crazy ideas. She almost hoped he was.
"Claire, I'm so glad you were able to fit me into your schedule," Simon greeted her, standing up from behind his desk. He waved her towards the side of his office where there was a small sofa and a couple of armchairs gathered around a glass coffee table.
After sitting down, Claire set the laptop she'd brought with her onto the coffee table, now more confused than ever about what Simon wanted to talk about. Normally they sat at the small table, so they could go over paperwork together.
"I wasn't expecting you on the island today," she told him.
"Yes, well, I had some business over in San Jose these past few days and figured I'd stop over for a quick visit before I headed back home," Simon replied. "I always enjoy checking in on my island."
"Was there anything in particular you wanted to get updates on?" Claire asked, reaching to open her laptop.
"No, I just wanted a chance to catch up. I feel like we haven't had much time to talk recently."
Claire wasn't really sure what to say to that, considering she felt the exact opposite. Was she missing something? Had something happened that she should've known about?
"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Simon continued. "It's been a few months since, well, since the whole kidnapping thing. I know that Mr. Grady, Owen, is back over on Sorna now, but I've heard that he's been making regular trips back here. Is his shoulder better now?"
Claire had to bite back the groan that wanted to escape. Really, she was going to have to have a conversation about Lockwood, again? She was pretty sure that if she was male that Simon would've moved off this topic by now. Besides, it wasn't like she'd been held for all that long. One night. And she hadn't suffered any injuries. Sure, she'd had a bump on her head and headaches for a couple of days, but that was nothing compared to what Owen had gone through. And she'd been so distracted with everything else going on at the time, she'd barely had anytime to even acknowledge the headaches.
"His shoulder's healing," she said with a forced smile. "He's still going to physio for it and he has appointments with them every couple of weeks. They seem to think he'll have a full recovery. It's just about strengthening the muscles now so that he can regain his full range of motion."
"Good, good," Simon nodded. "And you? No lasting effects?"
"Nope, I'm good."
"Did I hear correctly that you're finally going to be using up some of your vacation time?"
"Yes," Claire nodded. "Owen and I are taking a few days."
"Only a few?"
She barely managed to prevent her eye roll at that. "With Grape and Olive, the young raptors, Owen can't be gone for too long."
"Oh, right. How are the raptors doing? Still looking promising for an attraction?"
"They're looking really good," she said, finally relaxing more into her seat. Now this was a topic she was comfortable talking about. "It's still early days, but I think it'll be doable. They haven't had many visitors yet, since they're still little and Zia — Dr. Rodriguez — has been worried about infection, but they'll be moving to their outdoor paddock in another couple of months. Once that happens, Owen and Barry plan to increase the number of people stopping by. They want to build up the raptors' tolerance to outsiders. That'll be the first test. It won't work if they're too easily spooked by visitors."
Simon nodded. "And the other raptors? How are they?"
"They're doing well. It took some adjusting for the three of them to get used to each other again, but they seem to be getting back to their old normal now. Owen's said he thinks they're about ready to start doing some new drills."
"Excellent. It will be good to get that project going again," Simon said. "To see what else we can learn. It's time we start kicking everything back into full gear."
Claire wasn't really sure what he meant by that. But before she could ask, Simon continued on.
"Dr. Barnes has been asking me about new species development. As you know, we've got more Apatosaurus eggs incubating, and I think I saw a request the other day for a couple more Gallimimus. But, those are just filling in gaps. While I'm hopeful we'll be able to present the raptors as a new attraction, I think it's also time we started thinking of what will come after."
"The Edmontosaurus," Claire said, nodding along. "Yes, I've been involved in a couple of discussions around that. While normally I would be hesitant about suggesting a herbivore in order to try to get an attendance spike, I actually think we're in such a different situation now, that it may work to our advantage. Some of our drop off has been because people got scared. But they're more likely to fear a carnivore getting loose than a herbivore. I think there are many who would be reassured by the introduction of a less threatening species. The Edmontosaurus is a good one, too. Because while it is a herbivore, it's huge — I've read estimates of up to 40 feet long. So they would be very impressive specimens."
"Indeed," Simon agreed. "For the raptors, we're looking at possibly presenting them once they're about a year old, correct? So next February or March?"
"Yes, we want them to get old enough that we have a better grasp of their personalities, and of course to see if there are any genetic issues. Although, Owen thinks he'll have a good idea of whether this whole idea is even workable in another 3-4 months, at which point they'll be just over six months old. So we'll have some heads up if things start to look like they won't work out."
"And the timeline for the Edmontosaurus would be what?"
As they'd been speaking, Claire had been pulling up her notes on her laptop, and she checked them quickly before answering. "For those, we're probably looking at about five months before we have the first viable eggs hatching. Based on our prior experience, it's most likely that the first couple of batches won't produce any that could be used for an attraction. We're probably looking at an opening date a year or more after the raptors."
"Hm, that long," Simon said, tapping a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "Seems a bit late for capitalizing on the current trends and feelings."
Claire had to hide her grin, knowing it would be misinterpreted. But this, this reaction, was something she'd expected, and it was the perfect lead in for a new idea that she'd been brainstorming on over the past few weeks. While she hadn't been quite ready to give Simon her pitch on it, she knew she'd never find better timing.
"Right, I agree the timeline seems too long. However, with our new plans for development, what with having them out on Sorna and using behaviourists much earlier in the process, I think that actually raises some interesting areas to explore. One thing we've never done, is we've never really brought guests into the whole process before," Claire said. "I've been thinking that we could work with the new research institute to develop a whole program around the development of the species. Let people be, in a way, part of the process. Have them understand the work that goes into the development from the very beginning. Let them see the advances we make, and the setbacks. Give them glimpses of these dinosaurs during this time, even if they can't visit them, themselves. We could work with educators and design curriculum units around it, aimed at various grade levels. Build up the excitement, so that when they finally go on display, people will be eager to come to see the end result of something they'd been a part of."
For a moment, Simon just stared at her taking all the information in. Claire could nearly hear the wheels in his head turning.
"I like it!" he stated at last, a grin growing across his face. "This would tie in a few different areas. And it's a great way to reach our audience back at home. To bring in those who can't come here in person."
"Exactly," Claire said with a smile. That had been part of her goal. To try to figure out a way to expand the reach of Jurassic World to those who couldn't, for whatever reason, make it out there in person. "I've started putting together a plan for it, but it's still early stages. It's a recent idea I had."
Simon rubbed his chin. "Hmm, how long do you think you need to pull it together? The people I was meeting with in San Jose are some new interested investors. I think this might be just the kind of thing they'd be interested in. You could give them a tour, present the idea, maybe take them over to Sorna."
"Um–"
"I'm thinking maybe in early June? Do you think you could be ready by then?"
Claire gritted her teeth, that was barely over two weeks away. If she was going to manage that… well, it meant she was going to have to tell Owen that she wouldn't be able to take the couple of days off when he was over next. She was going to need every spare moment she could find. But, as she'd always said to her sister, sometimes work really did need to come first.
"Sure, I can be ready."
o-o-o
"So, Parker was out for a visit today," Owen interrupted, cutting Claire off mid-sentence.
There was a long pause and Owen held his breath, suddenly wondering if she'd been saying something important. He'd been struggling to focus on what she'd been saying ever since he'd answered the phone. Really, he'd been struggling with focus ever since Parker had sprung the news on him earlier that day. He'd spent the rest of the day in a haze, thankful that everything he'd had to do was mostly routine. And while he'd been in his office when she'd first called, he'd found himself unable to sit still, and so he was now walking along the catwalk of the raptor paddock.
"He's been out there a lot, hasn't he?" Claire asked slowly. "Was this visit different?"
"They're looking for someone to replace Hoskins," Owen replied honestly, his gaze searching the ground below, looking for his girls. He was a little surprised they hadn't come out to show themselves yet.
"Well, that makes sense," she said, after a moment. "I'm actually surprised they haven't hired someone yet. It's been a few months, and I know Parker was pretty busy before. All this extra work has got to be taking its toll."
"Right," Owen agreed. "I guess I just hadn't really thought about it. And I guess I was kind of hoping they'd never fill it. It's been much nicer working here without Hoskins."
"Probably whoever they hire will be better," Claire said, and he knew she was trying to reassure him. "I mean, the bar's so low, it would be tough for them to do worse." She laughed as she said that, but Owen couldn't even manage to force out a single 'ha' in response. When he didn't say anything, Claire continued. "Have they already found someone? Do you know them?"
"No. No, no, no," he quickly replied. "Actually, Parker said they're looking at changing the job. That instead of just having someone take over managing IBRIS, and any other raptor research, that they want to expand the role. They're thinking about creating a new position; of hiring someone to be in charge of all of Sorna. He mentioned the new species development you were telling me about. That this person would oversee that, and the raptors, and any and all stuff that ends up happening out here."
"Oh," Claire said.
"You hadn't heard about this?" Owen asked after a long pause, when Claire didn't say anything else. It wasn't until he had started explaining the position, that he realized he'd sort of assumed that she'd have already heard. Although, now that he thought about it, if she had, she would probably have heard that Parker was going to offer it to him, and he couldn't imagine her keeping that from him.
"No, I don't think so," she said after a brief consideration. "I mean, maybe it was mentioned in an email, but I don't remember any meetings about it. Why? What's going on, Owen?"
"Parker said that a few people have brought up my name," he admitted, slowing to a stop and leaning on the railing as he stared down into the paddock below. "He wants me to consider it."
"Really? Wow, that's great," she said immediately. "Do you want to do it? Would you still be able to look after the raptors? Or would you need to find new trainers? I assume the position would still be based on Sorna, right?"
"Yeah, still based here, although he implied that it would require more time back on Nublar. But–"
"Really? You'd be back here more?"
Owen frowned, suddenly glad that they were having this conversation over the phone and not face-to-face. He probably should've expected that Claire would be all for it. Not because of the potential for increased time on Nublar, although he knew that she'd like that, but because Claire had never seen a rung on the corporate ladder that she hadn't wanted to climb.
"It's not a done deal," he finally said. "And I'm not even sure I want to take it. But even if I did, Parker said it wasn't just up to him."
"Oh." Even though Claire's response was clipped, he knew that she wasn't mad, that she was just trying to figure things out. To not say the wrong thing. While things were so much better between them these days, he knew that there were still moments when they both felt like they were walking on eggshells, being almost too careful with their words, afraid of taking a wrong step.
"The job description is still being sorted out. But… I was never meant to be a suit," Owen said. Some branches rustled below him, and he peered down, trying to see if he could spot the raptors. "And I don't think I'd like it. I can barely handle the paperwork I have to do now."
"You'd probably be really good at it though," she said. "But, I'm not trying to say that you should take it. Just… don't dismiss it out of hand, okay? See what else Parker has to say before you make up your mind."
"And if I don't decide to take it?"
Owen held his breath as he waited for her response, suddenly afraid of what she would say.
"Then you don't take it." Her tone was matter-of-fact. He heard her take a sharp breath, before letting it out, and when she continued, her voice sounded concerned. "Owen, I'm not with you because of your job. You get that, right? And I'm not about to break up with you because you decide to take or not take a different job."
"Yeah, I know," he said, his breath whooshing out of him at her words. He pushed away from the railing, starting his way along the catwalk again. "I guess I just needed to hear you say it."
"Is there something else going on?" Claire asked, her voice sounding even more concerned. "You're not usually this… uncertain about things. How's your shoulder? Have you been doing your exercises?"
"Yes, mom," he teased. "Every day." However, her words had him reaching up and rubbing at the shoulder in question. It often ached slightly by the end of the day, especially if he'd spent any amount of time carrying around buckets of food for the raptors. But he tried not to think about it, and tried not to let it impact his actions. It was a balancing act, trying to walk the fine line of being active enough to help it heal without further injuring it from overuse.
"Ugh, no way, don't call me that," she said, an obvious shudder running through her voice, although it was also tinged with humour. "But, seriously, everything else okay? How are Blue, Echo and Charlie? And Grape and Olive?"
"They're all good," he confirmed, once again peeking down into the paddock, but the girls were still nowhere to be seen. "The girls were on a roll today for the demo for Parker, so that went well. He didn't stick around long enough for Olive and Grape's training session, but he did see them."
"What did you have them doing today?"
"Took them outside again. We had a big storm overnight, and so there was a little stream of water through their play area. They were fascinated by it. Not at all sure what to make of it. A little scared at first. But once they got over that, they spent most of the session splashing around. Actually, I took a video. Let me send it."
He pulled his phone down so he could find the clip and text it to her.
"Aww," Claire cooed a few seconds later. "They're adorable."
"They are," he agreed. "They're so much fun at this size. You really need to see if you can get back here soon. They're growing up so fast."
"Oh, that's actually what I was about to tell you," she said. "I had a meeting with Simon earlier. He's given the go-ahead for new species development. Just one, right now. They think they've got the DNA for an Edmontosaurus."
"That's a herbivore, right?" Owen interrupted, stopping at the far end of the catwalk and staring out across Sorna.
The island had a constant hum to it, the sound of leaves rustling and waves crashing against the shore. Of birds chirping and monkeys howling. But, it always sounded somewhat muted in the evening, as if everything collectively held its breath, waiting as the sun finally slipped out of sight.
"Yeah, one from the duck-billed family," Claire supplied. "Anyway, apparently he'd been meeting with some investors over in San Jose, and I had a new proposal he thinks they'd be interested in. He wants to bring them over and have me give them a tour."
"Oh, fun times," Owen said with a groan and a quick shake of his head.
"I'm glad you think so," she replied, ignoring his sarcasm, "as the plan is to actually take them over to Sorna and to show them around there."
"What? Why?" He couldn't keep the horrified tone from his voice.
"The proposal I have is to create a whole program around the development of a new species. To bring the public into the process, in a way. Let them observe how it plays out, the good and the bad. Create some educational components that could be done through schools. Show off our new methodologies and procedures, such as development being over on Sorna, and the increased involvement of behaviourists..."
"When would they be coming over?" Owen was frowning. If they were just green-lighting the project now, that had to mean they were still at least weeks, if not months, away from even starting to incubate eggs, much less having them hatch.
The lights on the top of the perimeter fence clicked on, momentarily startling him, and Owen continued his journey along the catwalk.
"In a couple of weeks," Claire said. "I know we wouldn't have much to show about the new project, but part of it would just be showing the whole setup. And Grape and Olive are there. We're going to eventually need investors for them, too, since they're likely to become an attraction before anything else."
"Oh." Right, the fact he was forever trying to forget. Dammit.
"I know that's still almost a year away," Claire said, "but we need to start wooing investors again. We have other, non-animal, projects, too. And, like I've told you before, it's a long process."
"So when's this happening?" he asked again, having already forgotten what she'd said.
"We still need to nail down the date, but, like I said, probably not for a couple of weeks. Which reminds me–"
Owen immediately frowned when she cut herself off, already knowing he wasn't about to like what she said next.
"What?"
"I just… I'm not going to be able to take those days off next week. I'm sorry."
He could hear the apology in her tone, and he just knew that she was probably grimacing as she waited for his response, knowing that he wouldn't be happy. And he wasn't. But, it was also who Claire was. And just as she'd been quick to reassure him that she'd be okay with him choosing to not take the job, he knew he needed to do the same here.
"Hey, we always knew that there'd be times our schedules wouldn't align," he said. "It's fine. I've been meaning to upgrade the batteries for the solar panels, this will give me time to finally do that."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, not a problem," Owen repeated. "Besides, I'll still get to see you. But, if you are feeling that bad about it, you know you could just not bring the investors over to Sorna to make it up to me." He grinned, pleased with his solution.
"Nice try," Claire laughed. "But, it really won't be that bad. I'll only be bringing them over for a couple of hours, max. Just long enough to get a tour of the space with a focus on the lab. And, of course, to see Grape and Olive. That's it."
"Fine," he grumbled. "But Olive and Grape don't really have anything to show off. Not yet."
"I thought you weren't going to be teaching them tricks?"
"I'm not." He winced, knowing his tone was overly defensive.
Claire just laughed. "It's fine. They'll just want to get a glimpse of them. Besides, they're babies, that's wow enough."