Chapter Text
>>TO: Shard 042 @ princeton.edu
>>FROM: Sara Webb 75 @ yahoo . com
Subject: Important Matter
Date: 11:03:1997
Hey, Sarah,
You said you had something important to ask me? What’s going on? Does this have to do with that call you got the other day?
Please respond,
Webb
>>TO: Shard 042 @ princeton.edu
>>FROM: Sara Webb 75 @ yahoo . com
Subject: Dr. Harding??
Date: 11:05:1997
Dr. Harding?? I still haven’t received a response from you, and the team at the lab is starting to ask questions. What do I tell them? Where are you??
Please respond,
Webb
>>TO: Shard 042 @ princeton.edu
>>FROM: Sara Webb 75 @ yahoo . com
Subject: Sarah!?!
Date: 11:08:1997
Sarah, please respond to my emails! The Zoo has been threatening to kick us and lock us out of the lab (ya know, where ALL of our research is??) if you don’t at LEAST answer a single email! Please, Sarah, if not for me or the team, do it for the research!
Sara Webb
Sara was stressed.
Okay, understatement of the century, but she was under a lot of pressure.
As Dr. Sarah Harding’s top assistant, the zoo had turned to her to find out what happened to their animal behaviorist and paleontologist. At first, Sara had assumed Sarah had gone to see Ian or Richard Levine, or any number of other professionals in her field—hell—she thought for a brief moment that maybe Sarah had made good on her promise to wallop her parents. But as the week continued, and no one at the zoo had heard from or seen Dr. Harding, Sara was beginning to worry.
She sat in the cramped lab on the pull-out couch that was her second home and ran her hands through her hair for the thousandth time that day.
Sara was startled out of her inner turmoil, however, when the phone rang. She flung the blanket off her lap and leapt off the couch. After banging her knee into the wall, she rounded out of the back office and into the reception room. She landed in the office chair, however, with her momentum she went flying backwards away from the desk. Sara scrambled to pull herself forever and caught the phone on the last ring.
“Hello, this is Dr. Harding’s office, this is Sara Webb speaking, how can I help you?” She answered as politely as she could in one breath.
“Sara Webb?” A familiar, old, Scottish voice repeated curiously. Sara’s eyes grew wide, and a chill washed over her body. Her eyes burned after she realized she hadn’t blinked for several seconds, and John Hammond was calling out over the phone. “Hello? Hello-Hello? Miss Webb?”
Sara slowly leaned her elbows on the desk and fiddled with the phone cord. She chewed on her lip before quietly answering, “Yeah...Yeah this is she.”
“Sara Webb, I am so glad to have gotten in touch with you.” She could almost see the toothy smile on his face and the child-like twinkle in his eyes. “I was wondering if, perchance, you would come for a visit?”
Sara crossed her legs at the ankle, flashes of the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s bottomless maw chomping down towards her burned the insides of her eyelids and she struggled to catch her breath. “I, uhm.” Sara glanced around the office, looking for anything that might provide some form of excuse for her not to visit him.
“I’ll tell you; it would mean a lot to me.” John said softly.
Sara sighed, guilt ebbing away at her resolve. She ran her free hand through her hair once more, “John,” she hated how it sounded like she was pleading with him. “ Pleading for what? I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m an adult, I can refuse an offer… ” Her mind began to spiral. “ What if he offers to pay me again? God, that amount of money could save our research…but what about Dr. Harding? ”
“And it would mean a great deal to Dr. Harding.” John added.
Sara stiffened. “You...ha—…” Sara’s vision grew hazy, “Have you seen her?” She asked. John was silent for a moment, “John?” Sara’s voice cracked and she cleared her throat.
“It would be better to tell you in person.” He answered so quietly Sara wasn’t sure he’d said anything at first. Then, with no warning he started telling her his address and Sara scrambled to find some pen and paper. He reassured her that a ticket would be faxed to her and that he’d paid for a hotel for her, “All the details will be in that fax, of course. Spared no expense.”
“Uh huh,” Sara said absentmindedly as she pressed the phone between her ear and her shoulder. She spun in her chair as a fax began to come through on the machine beside her.
“And Miss Webb?” John caught her attention.
“Yes?” Sara sat up straighter as she froze in place.
“It’s great to hear from you.”
Sara couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her lips, “You too, John.” She managed to choke out before they said their goodbyes and hung up.