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Chapter Text

The sun wasn’t even awake and, even though he got out of bed and was all dressed, Nick Jonas decided he wasn’t either. After successfully stomaching a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs, he settled on staring into his coffee for the time being. Nick instantly became entranced as he watched the steam of the brew leave the liquid and enter the air—a small phenomena, but a big enough distraction to get his mind off of what today, and the rest of the week, would entail for him.

Jurassic World. He was going to the theme park located on an island off the coast of Costa Rica that had living, breathing dinosaurs. It was known to render even the most cynical person speechless, who wouldn’t be watching creatures that were supposedly extinct sixty-five million years ago walk around as if they never left? Nick knew he should be more excited, but this was far from a vacation for the teaching major.

“Nick, do you have your tickets? Joe should be here any minute.”

He teared his eyes away from the dark liquid to see Oliva Carmen, his girlfriend of a year, practically glide around the kitchen. She was still in her pajamas, a robe around the silk shorts, as she poured herself a cup of tea from the kettle on the stove. Nick froze, wondering how long he was dazed if Olivia already had a kettle of tea ready. Nevertheless, he played his part perfectly as he pulled both his plane and park tickets from his messenger bag, holding them high enough so she could see from her spot.

“Right here.” He forced a smile before putting them back into the pocket.

Olivia grinned widely, practically bouncing on her toes. “I’m so excited for you! Who gets to go to Jurassic World on a VIP Package?”

“Having a guilty older sister who works as a Raptor Trainer has its perks, I guess.” Nick mumbled, taking a sip from his mug.

His malice tone didn’t go unnoticed by Olivia, the woman giving her boyfriend a pointed look as she crossed over to their small table, taking the seat across from him.

“Honey, I know you two aren’t close…”

Nick stopped listening as Olivia trailed off into her ‘but your sister loves you!’ speech, he had heard it plenty of times from both her, and his older brother Kevin, since he let it slip that he didn’t want to go on what was seen as an once of a lifetime vacation.

His relationship, or lack thereof, with Carter wasn’t because he doubted their love for another—they were family, they were genetically programmed to love each other—but more for the fact that they never gotten to truly know each other. The two shared the largest age difference of all the siblings with eight years between them. By the time Nick was able to develop his own thoughts and conversations, Carter already had a new life for herself at a boarding school in Connecticut. Since coming home for necessary obligations, the siblings tended to only talk to one another when they absolutely had to, and those conversations were full of awkward “Uhs..” and “Ohs…” until Kevin swooped in to save them.

“I get what you’re saying, but Carter and I just never clicked.” He spoke as he cleaned off his plate and mug. “We wanted different things in life, I guess.”

She crossed her arms. “And whose fault is that?”

If they wanted to get technical, Nick could say it was due to their parents thinking it would be a good idea to send the rebellious teenage girl to a boarding school, but Nick learned to never speak ill of the dead.

“Hers.” Nick quietly declared, glancing up to see a very unconvinced Olivia. He sighed. “She could have picked up a phone if she really wanted to.”

“The phone goes both ways, honey.”

That may have been true, but Nick never needed his older sister. He was quite comfortable in his life without Carter, mainly because he didn’t know the difference. He got to college—and on the fifth of his six year track to become a high school music teacher—and his own house without so much as a text of ‘good luck!’ from her.
The phone may work both ways, but that didn’t mean Nick wanted to open the line his way.

Nick didn’t realize how long he was standing silently in front of the kitchenette sink until he felt Olivia wrap her arms around his waist.

“You two may have a…odd relationship, but maybe these tickets are her way of reaching out.” She spoke quietly. “An insight into her world, so to speak.”

Nick was ready to deny that fact—even though Kevin claimed that he didn’t do anything, Nick was convinced that his older brother forced Carter to invite their younger siblings to the island—but decided against it. He didn’t want to leave on a so-called vacation with bad blood between him and his girlfriend, so, he instead turned around and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I’m going to miss you.” He grinned.

Olivia grinned back, knowing that he was changing the subject. “Oh, come on, it’s only a week.”

Nick wanted to say more, but never got the chance when the unmistakable sound of Joe’s car horn lit up from outside. Nick suddenly wished he didn’t eat his eggs when he felt his stomach flip, the instant churning of uneasiness hitting him like a punch to the gut. Olivia smiled widely, going to the table to grab his carry on as she spoke with excited haste.

“Your suitcase is in the front room along with your phone charger that I knew you’d forget.” She chirped as he slipped his bag onto his arm. Olivia then put her hands on either side of his face. “You and Joe are going to have a good time, I promise.”

Nick nodded. “Oh, yeah, unforgettable.” He kissed her on the lips. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too.” Olivia smiled as she followed him to the front room, leaning on the doorway as she watched him pick up his suitcase. “Send me pictures!”

Nick simply nodded, offering one last wave before exiting through the front door and making his way out into the New Jersey air.

His older brother by only year was standing outside of his Mercedes, leaning against the doors as he stared down at his phone, typing out a message to Kevin. Nick rolled his eyes at the sight of sunglasses on Joe’s face—leave it to him to wear tinted shades when sunrise was barely hitting.
At the sound of footsteps, Joe looked up from his screen, smiling as Nick drew closer to him. He pocketed his phone and whipped off his sunglasses before wrapping Nick into a short hug.

“Ready to get eaten by dinosaurs?” Joe asked, humor on his tone.

“Not funny, you know that actually happened twenty-two years ago.” Nick sternly said, even though a smile was playing on his lips as he walked to the open trunk. “And the dinosaurs don’t scare me as much as Carter does.”

Joe let out a soft chuckle that was dripping with humor and a common understanding. Just like Nick, Joe and Carter were never close. Joe figured it was due to his birth giving her ‘middle child syndrome’ that ultimately got her shipped off to school at an early age. Being only a year older than Nick, Joe never really knew what it was like to have Carter around—even when she came home now, which was only for emergencies that Kevin couldn’t handle alone, she always made a point to stay busy enough to not have a honest conversation with himself, or even Nick.

Racking through his brain in bed last night, he realized that the last time he actually had a conversation with Carter was during their parents’ joint funeral two years prior—he tried not to think about how depressing that was.

Taking in Nick’s exhausted expression as they buckled up, Joe wondered if he was looking in a mirror. He couldn’t blame his little brother—he wasn’t thrilled about giving up a good portion of his summer to go on this trip either—but one of them had to be the rock in this situation.

“Hey.” Joe got Nick’s attention, the youngest looking over at him. “It’s just a week, and you’ll be home before you know it.”

Nick scoffed. “Yeah, a boring week.”

“Well,” Joe spoke as he backed out of the driveway, knowing that he didn’t have a clear defense. “You got me there.”

With that, the youngest Jonas siblings took off down the road and towards the airport, ready for whatever life, and Carter, was about to throw at them.

The early morning sun shone through the forest surrounding Jurassic World’s raptor paddock, the air silent until the squeal of a pig cut through the tropical climate. The piglet ran as fast as its short legs would allow, trying to get away from its predator—or, in this case, predators. The unmistakable sound of four Velociraptors bursting out of the shrubbery followed close behind, all wanting nothing more than a quick meal.

The pig sprinted underneath the elaborate catwalks of the paddock, the raptors close on its tail as they roared and squawked, communicating with one another to find out an attack strategy. They were close, ready to pounce on the small animal, when a feminine voice from above broke through the air.

“Hold!”

All four raptors slid to a halt, their heads turning upwards as they examined the woman on the catwalk above them.

Carter Jonas kept her brown eyes narrowed on the four animals below as she held one hand up in command while the clicker, which she used as a form of communication, remained in the other. The sun silhouetted the thirty-year old, but Carter knew the raptors could see her perfectly.

“Eyes on me.” Carter commanded, but noticed that one of the raptors was still searching for the pig. With a click, Carter yearned for her attention. “Blue!”

The middle raptor with a blue shine to its scaly skin finally looked up at one of her two alphas, a small growl escaping her throat. Carter could tell Blue wasn’t happy that she was missing an opportunity for a second breakfast but, just like Blue, Carter wasn’t happy with the attitude she was getting from the Beta.

“Watch it, babe.” Carter warned just as the darker colored raptor next to Blue let out her own screech. Carter focused her attention on the noisemaker, pointing at the whiner. “Charlie, come on, don’t give me that shit.”

As if copying its older siblings, the youngest of the four raptors let out a screech of her own. At the raptor’s open mouth and growling physique, Carter kept a stern stare on the lightest beast.

“Lock it up, Delta.” When it seemed like all of the raptors had finally calmed down, Carter nodded in praise. “Good! And…” She lifts her hand higher, allowing the raptors to follow it. “We’re moving, ladies.”

Just like any trained animal would, the raptors followed Carter from below as her booted feet made their way around the catwalk and to the food bucket hanging from the catwalk’s railing.

“Whoa!” Carter calls, making the raptors stop right below the bucket, keeping their attention on the woman above. “That’s pretty damn good.” She gave two clicks, the clicks that meant praise, before reaching her hand into the bucket and pulling out a dead rat. “See, Charlie? That’s what you get.”

With that, Carter threw the rat down into the paddock, Charlie catching it in her mouth with ease. She smirked before turning to another, holding up a new rat.

“Echo, here you go. Delta.” Carter threw two down for each of the named raptors before holding the last rat as if it were a trophy, calling to her Beta. “Blue, this one’s for you.”

Blue caught it happily, swallowing the rodent whole as Carter demanded attention from her squad once more.

“Hold,” She called down to them, making the raptors stand still. “Eyes up.” Carter raised her hand over her black-haired head, the raptors standing at attention instantly. “Go!”

With a drop of her hand, the raptors took off in a run under her catwalk and back to their track. The sound of the raptors’ feet was soon replaced by the scattered applause from her fellow trainers sounded throughout the paddock, the sudden noise making Carter tense slightly.

Being so focused on the raptors below her, Carter forgot that she was being observed by the rest of the paddock employees. Even though most of these men worked with the raptors all day, none of them could gain the attention of the squad the way Carter could, except for the one who taught her. Removing the tension in her shoulders, Carter let out a pleased laugh of her own, her eyes on Owen Grady as the man walked towards her with a pleased expression on his face. The two met for a high five, Carter only a little surprised when her boss-turned-partner pulled her into a hug.

“You finally did it, Carter.” He congratulated as they let go. “I’ve never seen them respond so well to someone like that. Well, besides me, of course.” He couldn’t help but cockily add.

After working closely with Owen for a little more than five years, Carter was used to his deadpan humor and slightly inflated head. He was lucky he was good looking, or Carter was sure he would have been punched in the face by now. However, she didn’t focus on his looks, instead bowing her head towards him, allowing her black-braid to fall over her shoulder.

“Ah, yes, the ‘Talented Mr. Grady’ who taught me everything I know.” She teased, even though it was the truth. “Where would I be without you?”

The truth was, without Owen’s guidance, Carter was sure she would have been raptor food by now. Owen taught her everything she knew about training the beasts, the raptors trusting her as a second alpha after seeing her with their main alpha for many years.

Owen barely smiled, but there was humor in his eyes as he looked ready to fire a quip towards her. However, he never got the chance when an all-too familiar voice cut through the air.

“Owen, Carter!”

Carter couldn’t help the frown that came over her face when the form of Vic Hoskins made his way towards the pair. Carter had only come in contact with the greying, and slightly overweight, head of the InGen Security Division twice in her life, but she was quick in deciding that she didn’t like the man very much based on a few sexist comments he made towards her, as well as less than flattering stories from Owen and the rest of the paddock crew.

As he got closer to them, he pointed a chubby finger at Carter, an excited grin on his face that made Carter wonder if it would be considered unprofessional to jump into the enclosure below.

“You know, I was starting to think Owen was crazy when he wanted to hire you right out of an internship,” He laughed. “But, damn, you got them eating out of your palm, honey.”

“It’s Carter, not honey.” She could see Owen smirk from the corner of her eye as she corrected him. “But, you came on a good day. It’s not usually a happy ending.”

The raptor paddock was known for having more than a few bite victims—Carter nearly got her arm chewed up upon her third time in the enclosure—but, besides that, nothing too serious. Owen crossed his arms, taking in Hoskins before asking the question that was lingering in his mind since the older man arrived.

“What do you want, buddy?”

Hoskins kept his eyes locked on Owen. “A field test.”

Without saying another word, Owen turned and walked away, Carter following him with the same speed. They were too busy to listen to Hoskins’ defense on why the raptors were the ‘perfect weapon’. Yet, that didn’t stop the man as he pushed past the pair, walking between them.

“I’ve just seen that they can respond to commands.” He explained, amazement in his voice. “We need to take the research and get it on its feet.”

“These are wild animals, Hoskins.” Owen spoke without looking at him. “Trust me, you don’t want them in a field.”

Hoskins quickly pushed past the pair, stepping in front of them in an attempt to prevent them from walking any further. Carter put her hand on the railing, cocking a hip out in annoyance, and a bit of boredom.

“I just saw a real bond between human and beast.”

Carter closed her eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly. “Oh, please don’t use my training as an example for your insanity.”

Hoskins ignored her in favor of Owen. “Come on, we’re the same. We’re dogs of war. You and I both know that the military needs to reduce casualties, and with nature giving us the most effective killing machines, we’d be fools to not use them.”

Owen stayed silent, and Carter just knew he was trying his best to not punch the guy. It was one thing to talk about his ‘Raptor Squad’ in such a harsh light, but a whole other to bring up Owen’s military service—unlike Hoskins, he didn’t exactly see those days as the ‘time of his life’. In an effort to stop the brewing fight, Carter intervened.

“You come here and don’t learn anything about these animals except what you want to know.” She pointed out, ignoring Hoskins’ eye roll. “You may have made them, but you don’t own them.”

“Extinct animals have no rights, Miss Jonas.”

Carter hummed before looking down into the paddock, watching as the raptors ran and played with one another. Owen followed her gaze, glancing down at the squad before looking back at Hoskins, a shrug on his shoulders.

“They don’t look extinct to me.”

Hoskins looked ready to debate ‘Raptor Rights’ with the two trainers, but was thankfully cut off when a trainer from below called up to the group, the corded phone that was attached to the outside of the paddock in his hand.

“Carter, you have a call!”

She lifted her hand in the air, giving a small wave. “Thanks, Barry!” Carter then turned back to the two men, nodding at them. “Play nice, gentlemen.”

Carter left Owen to shoot down any plans Hoskins tried to set forward as she made her way to the catwalk stairs. Descending the steps that led to the outside of the enclosure, Carter made her way to the phone connected to the outside wall, picking it up quickly.

“This is Carter.” She greeted with a professional tone.

“I’ve been trying to call you all morning!” The voice of her older brother, Kevin Jonas, came through the line. “What happened to your cell phone?”

Carter took in air through her clenched teeth, feeling slightly guilty for ignoring her brother’s call. He was the only member left of their family that didn’t act like she didn’t exist, the older siblings making time to chat at least once a week to catch up on their lives—and the lives of her brothers. She put a hand against the paddock’s metal wall.

“Wow, good morning to you too, sunshine.” She sarcastically replied before putting on an apologetic tone. “Sorry about that, I was in the middle of a demonstration.”

Back in the states, Kevin rolled his eyes as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He should have known Carter didn’t answer because of work—that was the only time she didn’t answer him—but today wasn’t the day for silent ringtones.

“Well, make sure to keep it on you and on volume.” He dictated. “Joe just called; they landed in Costa Rica and are waiting in line for the ferry that takes them to the island.”

Carter instantly tensed. With all the excitement of this morning, she almost forgot that Joe and Nick’s week stay started today. Then again, even if she wasn’t busy today, she probably would have forgotten anyway considering that she wasn’t exactly looking forward to the stay.

Carter and her younger siblings were not as close as she was with Kevin, if her family relationships were on a spectrum, they would be on the other side of it. Although her boarding school years and age gap were big factors in the broken ties amongst her younger siblings, their lives now also played a big part in the emotional—and physical—separation. They all wanted such different things, and when Carter’s ‘thing’ required intense focus on carnivorous dinosaurs, she couldn’t exactly make time for a visit back home.

“Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Carter stood up straight, fully prepared to defend herself. “I did not forget! I was the one who booked those tickets, you know.”

“Yeah, after I told you to.”

"More like forced," Carter resisted the urge to add. When Carter promised Kevin that she would try to bond with her younger siblings, she never had the intention for them to come to her, but that seemed to be Kevin’s. For some reason, he thought having Nick and Joe see where their big sister worked would be a new bond for the trio to work on. Carter, on the other hand, saw it as a nuisance to her already busy routine.

“Look, I already arranged for someone to pick them up at the docks while I finished up here.” She lied, making up a plan for Kevin to hold onto. “Then, we’ll have the magical day of bonding you always wanted us to have, alright?”

Kevin decided to ignore the sarcasm dripping from her tone, and instead nodded with pride as he picked up his briefcase.

“That’s all I ask of you, dear sister.” He teased, and he was sure he could feel her eye roll through the line. “I got to get to work, but I will be calling later.”

Carter grinned, knowing full well that he would be doing just that. “Oh, I don’t doubt it. Love you, big brother.”

“You too, little sister.”

With that, Carter hung up the phone. Letting a groan of exasperation come out of her throat, she leaned against the wall panels, silently wondering why being in a pen with Velociraptors didn’t scare her, but being in the same room as her younger brothers did.

She silenced the metaphors in her head, realizing she had a fake plan that needed to turn into a reality. Carter dialed a familiar number into the phone, hoping that the owner wouldn’t be too busy today. After a few rings, a professional voice answered.

“Yes?”

“Hey, Claire—it’s Carter Jonas. Can I ask you for a favor?”

Chapter Text

The smell of salt took over Nick’s senses, the aroma quickly followed by a mist of ocean water tickling his face as the waves bounced underneath the massive Jurassic World ferry. The Captain said it would take a good thirty minutes before they reached Isla Nublar, the time making Nick instantly miss the comfort of his airline seat. He kept a steady grip on the railing, trying to fight off a bout of seasickness mixed with a strange sense of jetlag, before turning to Joe. As usual, his brother was focused on three women at the end of the ship, taking in their forms as he scanned them up and down.

While Nick prided himself on having committed relationships, Joe was the self-proclaimed king of one night stands. Usually, Nick wouldn’t mind Joe’s antics, but this week, he needed him to be focused on family and not bedding females.

“If you ditch me for a girl this week, I’ll kill you.” Nick deadpanned, his eyes never leaving the horizon.

Joe turned to Nick, a teasing smile on his face. “Hey, you never know, one of them could be the one.”

“You’re disgusting.”

Joe put a hand over his heart, mouthing a ‘thank you’ that only made Nick want to slap him. Instead, the younger sibling rolled his eyes before disappearing inside the ferry. Joe instantly followed him into the restaurant-like interior, not wanting to be separated from the only person he knew on the packed vessel. Finding a table, Nick sat down as Joe occupied the one across from him, an apologetic expression on his face.

“Come on, man. Don’t be mad.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Mad is the wrong word, I’m more annoyed.” Nick grinned, making Joe lean back in his seat. “Besides, I was getting tired of being in the sun.”

Joe couldn’t blame him, the Costa Rican sunlight was brutal compared to the clouds in New Jersey. Luckily, they both invested in airy t-shirts and board shorts, vans laced up on their feet for their ventures around the park. After ordering two waters, Nick put his attention back on Joe.

“Do you know if Carter is meeting us at the docks?”

Joe scoffed. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

While Joe held a sense of doubt towards his sister on actually showing up, Nick couldn’t help but be a bit hopeful. If they could meet Carter straight away, it would get all of the awkwardness out early. Who knows—maybe they would all go to an exhibit or two, and open up even further. Nick silently laughed at the thought, realizing he was being too optimistic. A broken relationship couldn’t be repaired by amusement park rides, especially not one as tarnished than a Jonas family one.

It was then a loud voice called for land, the occupants of the ferry instantly buzzing with newfound excitement. Nick and Joe gave each other a look before standing up from their seats, taking off towards the front of the hull just in time to see the land-mass come into view. They could just make out an array of shops as well as a line for a monorail that would lead them into the park, and attractions. Joe shrugged, a smile overtaking his lips.

“Okay, that’s cool.”

Nick silently agreed as the ferry docked, and soon, they were pushed towards the steps. The brothers walked side-by-side as they migrated through the mob of tourists, both looking for any sign of Carter or her presence in general. Just as Joe was beginning to wonder if Carter had invested in extensive plastic surgery since their last meeting, the sight of an older woman holding a tablet in one of her hands made the men freeze.

Typed out on the screen was ‘NICK AND JOE JONAS’ in bold font, the woman not looking too invested in locating the brothers as she typed on her cell phone with one hand. Joe shook his head, a soft laugh escaping his lips.

“Unbelievable. Carter can’t pick us up herself, so she hires a babysitter.”

Nick sighed, disappointed but not surprised. “Well, we do need an escort.”

Joe understood, but didn’t like it as they made their way to the older woman. At the sudden invasion of her personal space, she looked up and lowered her sunglasses to take in the two men in front of her. Awkwardly, Nick cleared his throat before gesturing between himself and Joe, pointing at her sign.

“Hey, I’m Nick.” He said before turning to Joe. “This is Joe, we’re Carter’s brothers…?”

“Oh, thank god. I was afraid I would have to stand here forever.” The woman let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m Zara, Claire Dearing told me to get you with strict orders from Carter to take you to the hotel.”

Joe crossed his arms, waiting for more of an explanation. “And why couldn’t she come get us herself?”

“Why should I know? But, I was told that Carter will meet you at one o’clock.” Zara rolled her eyes, before gesturing forward. “This way, I can get us on the monorail quickly.”

Nick and Joe stayed a fair distance behind the woman, both not wanting her negative energy when they were already nervous enough. Nick glanced down at his watch, realizing one pm wasn’t too far away, but still a good two hours. What did Carter want them to do until then—wait in a hotel room? Joe didn’t seem to be bothered by the wait, if anything, the woman in front of them was the one he was sensing an animosity towards. Adjusting his backpack, he turned to Nick before gesturing towards Zara.

“She seems nice.”

Nick hit him in the chest, but couldn’t hide his laughter as they followed Zara up the escalators and into a monorail.

“God, he’s still here?”

At the sound of Carter’s voice, Owen turned away from filling up the feeding buckets. The woman’s eyes were set on Hoskins, the man talking to one of the other trainers who didn’t seem too interested by what he was saying. Carter wondered when he would give up; he was already on site for enough time for her to get Claire to send her assistant to pick up the boys, and to complete some paperwork—did he just not know when he wasn’t welcomed? Owen sighed, harboring the same exasperation.

“He has a vision that he won’t shut up about.” He explained before gesturing to the stationary phone. “What was that about?”

Carter picked up another bucket and began filling it up. “My younger brothers are coming in today.”

She tried to speak as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Owen knew all about her relationship—or lack thereof—with her younger siblings. He knew something in the family dynamic was odd when Carter only went home once out of her five years of working at the park and he ended up questioning her about it during one of their trips to the bar within the resort.

Owen pinned it on the vodka tonic Carter drank that made her cry tears that she didn’t remember the next day.

“That’s…interesting.” He said with a cocked grin as he moved a couple of buckets. “Need a ride to the docks later?”

Carter gave Owen a ‘really?’ look before smirking, “And have a repeat of the motorcycle incident of 2011? No thanks.”

Owen was quick to correct her. “Okay, you falling off my parked bike was far from my fault.”

She rolled her eyes, remembering that day clearly. Owen had invited her over to his bungalow for a dinner of hot dogs when he had the bright idea to teach her a few basics about his prized motorcycle—she barely had her other leg around it when the entire vehicle tipped over, Owen erupting in laughter after making sure Carter was okay. She may have pushed him into the lake that was behind his home afterwards, though, he was quick to get his revenge by pulling her into the water.

“Either way,” Carter got back to the point, even though her grin did not fade. “I got Claire’s assistant to pick them up for me.”

At Owen’s sudden silence, Carter looked up from refilling one of the buckets only to be welcomed by a dumfounded, and somewhat amused, expression on his face. She crossed her arms, looking at him wearily.

“What?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Talk about a great first impression; sending the ice queen’s lackey to retrieve them.”

Carter sent him a pointed look. It was no secret that Owen wasn’t Claire Dearing, the Park’s Operations Manager, biggest fan and vice versa. No one knew how the animosity started, but Carter did get Owen to fuss up that it was about a ‘horrible date’, sadly, that was all she got out of him. Carter didn’t see Claire much—only at the required board meetings or when she came to the paddock to chew Owen out—but she did hold a respect for the woman since she did fight for Carter’s position at the park.

In fact, Carter respected Claire so much that she decided to not tell Owen that the Manager only agreed to help her out in exchange for her own services—that would just hurt her reputation.

“Come on, Claire’s not that bad.” She defended the woman. “You two just aren’t…compatible.”

Owen let out another laugh. “I think the only creature that would be compatible with her is a T-Rex.”

Before Carter could tell Owen to not be so mean to a woman who wasn’t here to defend herself, the sound of squealing pig made them turn to the paddock.

“Pig loose!” One of the younger workers’ yelled as he sprinted across the catwalk, holding a trap down to the enclosure.

Just as he caught the pig, Echo grabbed the animal, taking the trap with her as well as the man holding it, down into the enclosure. Before Carter could even fathom a thought on what just happened, Owen opened the gate of the enclosure, crawling underneath the door. While everyone yelled at him to come back, Carter simply pressed herself against the bars, watching as Owen went in between the boy and the raptors. At the sound of clicking guns, her eyes went to the catwalk, watching as a few workers aimed their tranquilizers down to the squad.

“Hold your fire!” Carter commanded, making all of them freeze.

Keeping his eyes on the raptors, Owen added, “Put 12amps into these animals, they’ll never trust us again.”

While Owen coaxed the raptors, taking on the alpha lead in an instant, the boy scooted his way to the gate. Keeping her eye on the raptors, Carter bent down to the gate’s opening and pulled the young worker back to safety.

“Blue, stand down.” Owen warned the beta, only to have Blue snap at him in response. Owen narrowed his eyes, taking on a firmer tone. “Hey! What did I just say?” Carter held her breath as she watched Delta sneak up to his side, thankfully, Owen caught on as well. “Delta, I see you, back up!” She screeched, but obeyed. “Stay where you are, Charlie.”

As the raptors fell back, Carter couldn’t help but shake her head, both amazed and nostalgic. Watching Owen work with the raptors in such close proximity reminded her of the first time she went into the enclosure, Owen thinking that it was a ‘good idea’ for her to go in after only a week on the job. She remembered being afraid, but she wasn’t as afraid as she was now when a command directed towards Carter left Owen’s mouth.

“Close the gate.”

Carter raised her eyebrows, wondering why he would even think she would do something like that.

“You’re insane!”

“Just trust me.”

And because she always did, Carter reluctantly pressed the button next to the gate, allowing the gate to slowly descend to the dirt floor. When the doors closed low enough for only him to fit through, Owen tucked and rolled underneath the bars, the gate shutting behind him as the raptors struggled to fit through the doors, trying to reach their prey. Carter let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding before looking down at the panting man. With a shake of her head, she grabbed his two hands and pulled Owen up to his feet.

“Just like old times, right?” He commented, a smile on his face as he thought about her first encounter with the squad.

Unable to hide her smile, Carter put a hand up. “Don’t even try to be cute with me right now, Grady.”

“You think I’m cute?” Owen asked, his eyebrows going up in a teasing flirtation.

“Most dumb people are.”

Owen simply smirked before turning to the trembling boy, telling him to never turn his back on a cage—a lesson she was taught on day one. Carter was about to give her own lecture, but instead was interrupted by the buzzing in her back pocket, her hand fishing her phone out of her shorts.

Zara and the boys will be waiting for you in the Innovation Center. I’ll meet you there as well. –Claire

Even though Carter was still crippling with anxiety over meeting her brothers for the first time in years, her curiosity over what Claire needed her for was turning into a great distraction. The Manager was adamant about not saying much over the phone, only that it was a meeting with CEO, and founder of Jurassic World, Simon Masrani. What Claire thought Carter could bring to the table was a complete mystery to her—and one she couldn’t wait to solve.

“Even her texts are proper.” Carter mumbled to herself as she scanned the message one last time before before calling over to Owen. “I’m heading out, don’t do anymore crazy shit while I’m gone.”

He turned away from the trembling young worker to deliver a shrug. “No promises.”

Carter decided to spare Owen the lecture on ‘paddock safety’, instead giving a two-finger salute as she made her way towards an official ‘Jurassic World’ jeep.

Even though Nick and Joe were in their twenties, Jurassic World was instantly making them into five year olds again.

After dropping their luggage off at their shared room in the resort, Zara led them through Main Street, pointing out shops and paths that would help them when it was time to actually enjoy the attractions. The brothers were barely listening, their eyes too busy taking in the sights around them. The cobblestone street was bustling with tourists and workers going in and out of the gift shops and eateries as a fountain with a roaring T-Rex statue stood in the center of it all. They followed Zara up three flights of concrete stairs up to a teepee building that overlooked the street, the words ‘Samsung Innovation Center’ across the top of it.

Nick’s breath instantly hitched—this is where they were going to meet Carter for the first time in nearly five years. Surprisingly, he wasn’t as nervous as before—after seeing the grand scale of the place she called ‘work’, he knew they would have a lot to talk about. Joe, on the other hand, was still a bit mad at Carter for sending Zara to pick them up. If he had any doubts that Carter wasn’t thrilled about their visit before, her lack of an appearance proved it.

The inside of the Innovation Center was just as crowded as outside, the cathedral-like ceilings high as it housed holograms of dinosaurs and even the retelling of the ‘Big Bang’. Joe nearly fell backwards when a holographic Apatosaurus appeared in the center of the room, looking around as if it was alive. As the children cheered, Joe leaned into Nick’s ear.

“Dude, I think our sister works in the future.”

Nick didn’t say anything, too occupied with the holographic presence in front of him. It wasn’t until a distant, but loud voice, filled the room when their wondrous energy was replaced with the same bundle of nerves since the trip was announced.

“Nick, Joe!” Carter called from the top of the stairs, an amazed smile on her face. “Is that you?”

The boys turned around, their eyes widening at the sight of their sister as she walked down the stairs. Wearing beige shorts and a button down with rolled up sleeves and tied to the waist, Joe realized she looked more like a Raptor Trainer than he thought she would. Her black hair, that Nick always remembered being untamed as a younger child, was carefully put in a braid that rested on her shoulder. As she got closer to the boys, Joe mentally confirmed that they were still taller than her, the top of Carter’s only stopping at their chins.

Carter was just as taken back by their appearance. Joe no longer straightened his hair, instead letting a choppy style occupy his black hair as stubble grew on his chin. Nick looked like an entirely different person to her—gone was the lanky high school senior and, in his place, a man who looked to favor the gym and a haircut that completely erased his curls from existence. They were all grown up and, even though she missed the process, Carter reached for a hug that the two seemed to welcome. The hug was awkward, but a bit longer than what Carter anticipated—that had to be a good sign.

“Whoa, you guys are…old. I mean…you’ve grown up nicely.” Carter was quick to correct, clearing her throat as the boys stared down at her. “How was the trip?”

Noticing that Nick’s mouth was completely dry, Joe opted to become the spokesman. “Long, really long.”

Carter wasn’t expecting a negative answer and was a bit disappointed that they wouldn’t at least trying to fake their excitement like she was. She found herself using the same fake smile she did this morning when talking to Hoskins.

“Well, I’m thrilled you both are here.” Carter partially lied, noticing how they didn’t look too convinced by her words. “You’ll finally get to see what I’ve been working on for all these years. How long has it been? Two, three years?”

Nick appeared a bit agitated by the question. “Five, but close enough.”

Carter winced, cursing herself for not fact checking with Kevin about how long it’s been. In her defense, the last time she was in the states was for her parents’ funeral, so her mind may have been a bit muddled by then. She was looking for a way to once again initiate the conversation when a high-pitched voice called her from behind.

“Whenever you’re ready, Miss Jonas.”

The siblings all turned to see Claire Dearing standing a fair distance away from them, her red hair trimmed in a pristine bob that only enhanced the professionalism of her all-white ensemble. While Nick and Joe seemed confused by her sudden appearance, Carter couldn’t help but be relieved at Claire’s arrival—the woman an angel in white that would swoop her away from the awkward situation she found herself in.

“One second.” Carter smiled before turning back to Nick and Joe, her eyes going to the electronic bands on their wrists that would prevent them from waiting in lines. “So, I see that you already have your wristbands, and Zara gave you a map that can help you navigate the park easily—“

“Hold up.” Joe’s brows furrowed once he realized what was happening. “You’re not coming with us?”

Nick crossed his arms, looking just as displeased by the situation. The whole point of this week was to spend time together—for Kevin’s sake. Carter pursed his lips, trying to swallow the guilt before gesturing to Claire, the Parks Operation Manager impatiently looking at her watch as her heels clicked on the tile.

“I have a few things I need to finish up before I can take the rest of the afternoon off,” She admitted, sheepishly. “But, once I’m done, I’ll call you and we’ll meet up for dinner.” Her eyes then lit up with an idea. “I have all day off tomorrow, too. So, I’ll take you to the Raptor paddock, have you meet the squad...”

Joe wondered if Carter realized they didn’t need incentives for something they knew would happen. Offering a tight lipped smile, Joe put up a hand, as if begging for Carter to stop talking. The woman understood the message—she did use it on her raptors on the daily—as Joe spoke.

“It’s fine, do what you need to do.” He nodded, though Carter could tell it was anything but ‘fine’. “Just, uh, call when you can make time for us.”

Carter nodded, a small smile on her face. “Of course, and call me if—“

“See ya.” Joe interrupted before nudging his brother. “Let’s go, Nick.”

With that, the two boys turned and made their way to the exit of the Innovation Center, Zara trailing behind as she typed away at her phone. Carter lost their bodies in the crowd, running a hand down her braid as she closed her eyes in both guilt and embarrassment.

That could have gone better, a lot better.

Chapter Text

Even though many people saw Claire’s lack of interest in her employees as a selfish trait, Carter was more than grateful for the silence that filled the helicopter’s small space as they flew over the island—the last thing she wanted was Claire asking why the visit with her younger brothers was painful to watch. Carter was still reeling from her first meeting with Nick and Joe, they may have been polite, but she could see the disdain they held for her in their matching brown eyes—Carter realized she was a fool to think that she was the only one affected by their shared five years of silence.

“So, you just went off and made a new dinosaur?” Carter suddenly asked, trying to distract herself from her brothers’ arrival.

After getting into the chopper, Claire finally told Carter what she needed the raptor trainer for. The lab had made their first genetically hybrid dinosaur, a new attraction for the park and its’ visitors to rally around, and Claire wanted Carter to consult with herself and Mr. Masarni since she worked with dinosaurs every day.

“It’s what we do here,” Claire grinned, “When corporate told us that we needed to up the ‘wow’ factor, Dr. Wu consulted with me on the prospect of doing such a thing.”

Although everything in Carter’s mind was screaming that this was an awful idea, she knew that for a business like Jurassic World to thrive, they needed new attractions every few years. Oddly enough, people got bored with ‘normal’ dinosaurs quickly. The helicopter landed outside the paddock, Carter instantly taking in the giant walls of the enclosure that were still being added on.

“You’re still building?”

Claire stopped walking and turned to Carter, the woman still ogling the walls as she spoke. “Asset Containment wanted us to build the walls higher. It’s…bigger than expected.” She gestured towards the metal staircase. “Now, if you’ll follow me. Mr. Masrani should be joining us at any moment.”

Carter trailed behind Claire as they climbed up the stairs and entered a large room. The wide space offered a wall of windows towards the enclosure, allowing them to look in every direction of the tree-filled space. A security guard sat in the corner of the room, the man not saying a word as he looked to be dozing off in front of screens that showed various parts of the paddock. Carter went up to the glass, trying to catch a glimpse of the scientifically made dinosaur only to jump at the sound of Claire’s voice filling the room.

“Mr. Masrani!” Claire shook hands with the Indian man before noticing the helmet in his hands. “Did you fly yourself here?”

The man smiled widely. “Got my license!” His eyes then met Carter’s, pointing at her as if she recognized her. “You’re Carter Jonas, correct?”

Carter couldn’t deny that she was flattered over the fact that the CEO of Masrani Global knew her by name—and she didn’t even need to get in trouble for it. Giving a short nod, she shook his waiting hand.

“Yes, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you…finally.” She added with a smile.

The CEO nodded. “Likewise. Mr. Grady has told me so much about you. I look forward to visiting the raptor paddock later today.”

Carter hid her blush, silently deciding to ask Owen about what he had said about her. Claire cleared her throat, wanting to get back to the topic on hand, but a low growl that could be heard through the glass made them all turn towards the enclosure.

The trees moved, and Carter nearly fell backwards when she caught a glimpse of a giant, dilated eye and a shade of white skin through the openings of the branches. Carter mindlessly moved towards the window, only stopping when her booted toes touched the glass; she was completely stunned. Masrani looked just as amazed, and perhaps a little frightened, as he walked up to the glass.

“It’s white,” He then turned to Claire. “You never told me she was white.”

Claire grinned, pleased with the reaction she got out of the two people in the room. “The Indominous Rex; our first genetically modified hybrid.” She then turned to Masrani, the man too busy gawking to answer. “Think it’ll scare the kids?”

“The kids?” He asked, his eyes never leaving the enclosure. “This will give the parents’ nightmares. Well done, Ms. Dearing.”

Carter could only catch glimpses of the Indominous Rex’s scaly back as she hutched her body, walking behind the dense foliage of the enclosure as if to avoid revealing herself—yet, Carter doubted that the dinosaur was afraid of them. If anything, she looked to be hunting, just waiting for the three people in the room to make the ill-informed decision to join her on her turf. Carter feared what would happen if she actually did get a chance to get close to humans, and even other dinosaurs.

“How secure is the paddock?” Carter asked, making Claire and Masrani turn towards her.

Masrani turn towards Claire, waiting for an answer as well. She pursed her lips, her answer coming out slowly as she made her way to one of the monitors.

“We have the best structural engineers in the world.”

Carter looked over at Claire, her brows furrowing as it to say that Claire’s response wasn’t a true answer. Masrani didn’t look too convinced either as he crossed his arms, thinking of the accidents the park went through twenty-two years ago. The Jurassic World brand, as well as his own, couldn’t afford such a sloppy incident.

“So did Hammond.” Claire looked down, slightly embarrassed as Masrani looked over to Carter, the woman squinting through the glass to get a better view of the wall. “Don’t your animals often try to escape?”

When Carter first started her job, the raptors were still antsy and always tried to leave the paddock—even if they had no chance of fitting through the openings of the enclosure. Owen told her that they needed to be smarter than the squad, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. The trainer looked to the CEO, crossing her arms.

“Only on bad days.” Carter shrugged. “But, they don’t get too far since Owen reinforced the cages a year ago.”

He nodded, turning back to Claire but keeping a hand gestured towards Carter. “I want both of my prized raptor trainers to look for any vulnerabilities in the paddock. How soon can you get Owen Grady in here?”

Claire flinched at the name, making Carter feel slightly guilty that she mentioned Owen at all. Luckily, she could see that Claire was a professional, and if they needed one of her enemies to help make sure the asset was contained, she would have to suck it up.

“Ten minutes, tops.” She put on a smile for the CEO.

Carter looked down at her watch, biting her lip. “You might want to make it twenty—it’s his lunch break and he’s probably working on his godforsaken motorbike.”

“Thank you, Carter. You can wait here while I grab him.” Claire hastily answered, as if telling the trainer to shut up. Carter put her hands up in surrender as Claire turned back to Marsani, a smile on her face. “Mind if I get a ride back to the park?”

“Of course.” He answered, his tone excited before turning to Carter. “It was a pleasure.”

With one last wave to the Masrani and Claire, Carter turned back to the window, her eyes locking with the eyeball of the Indominous Rex before the beast turned back into the underbrush. It wasn’t until she let the shiver down her spine subside when Carter noticed the cracks in the glass above her—a sign that the hybrid had tried to escape.

“Dude, T-Rex…now!”

Joe couldn’t help but smile as he watched Nick practically bounce over to the ‘Tyrannosaur Kingdom’ gate, relieved to see that he was happier than he was when they left the Innovation Center. Luckily, Zara had other matters to attend to, leaving the boys to be the adults they were.

Well, physically were. Right now, Nick’s excitement matched even the youngest of the park’s guest. Joe was still harboring some anger over the fact that Carter left them alone for the day—he didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t getting assigned a babysitter. He tried not to let it ruin his time as he followed Nick up the stairs to the observation deck—the deck was in the form of a tube with one-way glass for the visitors to get a look at the T-Rex without the beast becoming agitated.

Being tall gave the Jonas boys an advantage, the pair able to stand in the back of the tube as they easily looked over the heads of the kids, and even a few adults. Just as the ground began to shake, the telltale sign that the beast was approaching from its den, Joe’s phone vibrated in his pants. A picture of Kevin took up the screen, Joe sighing as he walked to the wall of the deck, leaving an awe-struck Nick to watch the T-Rex approach its food.

“Hey, Kevin.” Joe greeted, plugging a finger in his exposed ear in an effort to block out the cheers of the guests.

“You were supposed to call me when you got to the resort.” Kevin said as he leaned back in his desk chair, playing with a pen in his hand before grinning. “Are you guys having fun?”

By ‘you guys’, Joe knew that Kevin assumed Carter was with them, the older brother holding onto the dream that the trio of siblings could get along and have a great time at a theme park. He may have been mad at Carter, but he didn’t want her to fall victim to the wrath of Kevin—no matter how selfish you are, no one deserved that. Joe decided to gloss over Carter’s absence, hoping he wouldn’t catch it.

“Yeah, yeah…it’s great.” Joe smiled sheepishly. “We got these passes from Carter so we don’t have to wait in lines…”

Kevin’s smile instantly faded. “Wait, she’s not with you?”

So much for that plan. Joe momentarily turned towards the enclosure, watching as the T-Rex devoured a living goat. Everyone oohed and awed, even Nick looked like he was slightly afraid of the beast. Joe ran a hand through his hair, deciding it was time to just lay it all out in the open.

“No, she’s not. Apparently, Carter is very busy today.” He then shook his head, his icy tone fading into one of disappointment. “I don’t know what you expected—this is our sister that we’re talking about here.”

Kevin was silent for a few moments, Joe prepping for the worst. He was surprised when Kevin sighed, a calm tone in his voice.

“I’m going to talk to her.” Kevin said in a hushed tone. “You and Nick stay together—have fun.”

Even though he knew he couldn’t see it, Joe nodded. “We will. Talk to you later, buddy.”

The line went silent, Joe taking that as the go-ahead to hang up the phone. Making his way back to Nick, whom hadn’t moved from his spot, Joe turned to the glass just in time to see the T-Rex’s teeth dripping with the blood from the goat, it’s eyes looking into the one-way glass as if it could sense the people behind it.

“Think she knows we’re here?” Joe asked once he got to Nick’s side as they watched the Rex make its way back into the foliage.

Nick shrugged. “They are smarter than we realize.” He then gestured to the phone in Joe’s hand. “I doubt that was Carter.”

“You would be correct, then.” Joe grinned. “That was Kevin, actually.”

Nick already accepted the fact that they wouldn’t be seeing Carter for the rest of the day—he wouldn’t be surprised if she was coming up with new jobs for herself just to avoid them. Either way, he was determined to not let her lack of appearance ruin their vacation as he held up the map. With a smile, he nudged a melancholy-looking Joe.

“Hey, there’s a Mosasaurs water show in twenty minutes.” Joe looked up at Nick’s voice as he spoke. “Want to check it out?”

Joe grinned, deciding that he wasn’t going to let Carter’s failure at bonding ruin his chance to do the same with his little brother. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, Joe nodded.

“Sounds awesome.”

Carter leaned against the glass of the Indominous Rex’s enclosure, doing her best not to doze off while she waited for Claire to return with Owen. She hoped Owen wasn’t giving the woman too much trouble, the manager already looked exhausted when she left to go fetch him.

The security guard apparently had no problem falling asleep, the slightly overweight man slumped low in his desk chair as a few stray snores erupted through the room, Carter merely rolling her eyes at his antics. She looked back towards the trees, noticing that she hadn’t seen a rustle in them—maybe the I-Rex fell asleep out of pure boredom.

Carter was just making a mental note to tell Claire that the I-Rex’s isolation wasn’t good for its psyche when her phone let out a loud ring, the noise making the guard behind her jump awake. Offering a sheepish smile towards the man, Carter looked down at her screen to see Kevin’s name across it. She sighed, this would be fun.

“Hey, Kevin.” She answered a bit too brightly.

Kevin stood outside one of the board rooms within his office building, a hand on his hip. “Hey, Carter. How’s it going?”

Carter was surprised—Kevin didn’t sound angry, if anything, he sounded completely casual. Maybe he didn’t know about the awkward meetup with Joe and Nick. She smiled as she leaned her back against the glass.

“Yeah, everything’s great. Nick and Joe are having fun….yeah, everyone’s good.”

“Really?” Kevin asked. “Because I just hung up with Joe and he said you weren’t even with them.”

There’s the stinger. She couldn’t blame Joe for telling Kevin, he was going to find out eventually, but she also knew how Kevin got when he was angry. Carter closed her eyes, shaking her head before letting out an exasperated sigh.

“Yeah, look, today turned out to be a really bad day for me.” She then quickly added. “But, they’re in good hands! I had the Operation Manger’s assistant give them the best map of the park and—“

Carter nearly dropped her phone when the sound of Kevin sniffling invaded her ear. She had never made him cry before, and the sound made Carter feel instantly sick as her eyes widened.

“Wait, are you crying?” Carter slowly asked, her voice etched with concern and guilt.

Kevin breathlessly sighed. “This was supposed to be a chance for bonding, Carter. You haven’t seen the boys since Mom and Dad’s funeral and we can’t go on like this…”

At the mention of the funeral, Carter tensed. That was the last time she was in the states—to help Kevin plan the horrible event that was all due to one drunk driver. It was also one of the reason she never went home; the emptiness that her parents’ death brought was much easier to avoid on Isla Nublar.

As Kevin babbled into Carter’s ear, Claire entered the observation room with Owen following closely behind, her partner instantly locking eyes with her. Carter turned away from the pair, walking to the other side of the room for privacy as Owen watched both confused and worried—Carter looked completely shaken, and perhaps even a little embarrassed to be caught.

Carter pursed her lips, keeping her voice low. “I am so sorry, Kevin. Tomorrow I’m going to spend the entire day with them and I will not leave their sides, okay? I promise.”

“A promise tomorrow is worth a lot less than trying today.”

She let out a small, humor whine, remembering when their mother used to say that to them whenever she wanted to guilt one of them into doing something.

“Wow, now you’re throwing Mom’s lines at me? Hardcore, buddy.”

“I have more, so, don’t push me.” Kevin let out a small chuckle.

Carter rolled her eyes, letting her voice exaggerate. “Bye, Mom.”

“…Bye.”

Carter hung up the phone, pressing the corner of it to her forehead as she sighed. She didn’t know how she could be so selfish, but talking to Kevin made her realize she was getting way in over her head. Silently, she made a vow that after she checked the paddock for vulnerabilities, she would call up Joe and Nick and meet them wherever they were. It was time for Carter to act like an older sister.

Her vow was interrupted when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Owen looking down at her with concern.

“You okay?”

Carter nodded, pocketing her phone. “Yeah, uh, I just had a major wake-up call.” She offered him a sheepish smile before walking more towards Claire.

Owen followed Carter, not prodding her about the situation any longer. That was what Carter always loved about Owen—he never stuck his nose in other people’s business unless they asked or were completely upset over what was happening in their lives. However, knowing Carter, she probably would end up talking to him about her ‘wake-up’ call later, but right now, they both had a job to do.

“So, what’s this thing made of?” Owen asked as he stopped next to Carter, crossing his arms as the two looked out into the enclosure.

Claire focused on the tablet in front of her, pressing a few buttons. “The base gnome in a T-Rex, the rest is…classified.”

“You made a new dinosaur and don’t even know what it is?” Owen turned to Claire, his eyebrows raised in judgement.

Claire sent the man a dark look, but didn’t acknowledge his statement as she looked past the pair of trainers and to the guard.

“Can we drop a steer, please?”

Carter nudged Owen’s side, sending him a warning look before mouthing ‘play nice’. Claire may have been playing it cool. But Carter could tell she was close to throwing him into the enclosure as a snack for the I-Rex. Owen merely rolled his eyes before focusing back on the glass, watching as a crane lowered a hunk of meat down to the enclosure’s ground.

“How long has the animal been in here?” He inquired.

She shrugged. “All its life.”

It was Carter’s turn to face Claire, her own eyes full of judgement. “It has never seen anything outside these walls? Even the raptors have a track off site that we escort them to once in a while.”

“We can’t exactly walk it.” Claire noted politely, watching as the two trainers shared a look. She crossed her arms, not liking that she wasn’t a part of their inside secrets. “Is there a problem?”

Owen put a hand in his pocket. “Animals raised in isolation aren’t always the most functional. All of our raptors learned social skills from each other.”

“Owen even imprinted on them when they were born.” Carter added, her voice making Claire’s gaze shift off of Owen. “They didn’t trust me until they saw how much I hung around him.”

Carter remembered the days when the raptors would instantly snarl at her presence in their cages—she couldn’t even get close to them without risking losing a hand. It wasn’t until a year of Owen reassuring them that Carter meant no harm when she could finally touch Blue—Owen smiled slightly when a small tear fell from Carter’s eye upon the touch.

“So, she needs a friend?” Claire asked mockingly as she walked towards them. “We should schedule playdates, that sort of thing?”

Owen let out a dark chuckle, knowing how aggressive an animal that didn’t have any contact with the outside world could be.

“Probably not a good idea.”

Claire didn’t respond, instead knocking her hand on the glass as if to attract the I-Rex to its lunch. This was odd, she always came out at the sound of the crane’s creaking—even if the asset was asleep, she would always wake up at the smell of food.

“Did you see the asset at all after I left?” Claire asked, turning to Carter before mumbling to herself. “We were just here.”

Carter hadn’t even seen the I-Rex when Claire was here—the beast always hiding behind the foliage, studying the people behind the glass as if they were toys to be played with. Yet, she couldn’t recall even getting a simple glance of the I-Rex after Claire’s departure. Carter shook her head.

“I only saw the trees rustle with her movement when she turned back to go further into the cage.”

While Claire tried to locate the I-Rex through a thermal link, Owen standing over her as she did so, Carter made her way to the side of the glass window, looking out at the small portion of land. The I-Rex wasn’t exactly a dinosaur that could hide, but Carter figured that it didn’t hurt to look at all angles of the enclosure. Although she didn’t find the beast, the sight of white claw marks etched along the brown paddock did catch her eye. Calling back to Owen and Claire, Carter let out a nervous tone.

“Uh…these claw marks weren’t always here, were they?”

Owen didn’t waste a moment, his walk full of haste as he went right next to Carter, his own eyes going directly to the marks along the wall. It didn’t make any sense to Carter, she was here the whole time—she was sure she would have heard a dinosaur as big as a T-Rex scale a wall. They looked out to the enclosure, taking in all angles as Claire walked forward, looking between Carter and Owen.

“You think it…”

Carter turned to Claire, the gesture sealing the fact that that was exactly what she was saying; somehow, the I-Rex had gotten out of her enclosure without Carter, or the guard, realizing. Claire’s eyes went wide before hurriedly making her way towards the door.

“She has an implant in her back, I can track it from the control room.”

The door closed behind Claire, leaving the raptor trainers with a worried security guard. Owen quickly turned to Carter, the woman’s hands to the glass as she tried to look past the foliage for the white body of the I-Rex.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Carter spoke quietly before turning to Owen. “We need to go in there, get a closer look.”

Carter hadn’t seen the paddock from inside, maybe the wall was easier to climb then expect. Owen nodded, agreeing with this plan as he turned to the guard, the overweight man looking slightly frightened by being acknowledged.

“Can you get us in there?”

Chapter Text

The metal door of the enclosure creaked open as Carter and Owen walked out, the security guard trailing nervously behind them as they slowly made their way to the claw marks. Carter couldn’t help but feel like something was off and, from the stone-cold look on Owen’s face, she knew she wasn’t alone in her paranoid thoughts.

A construction worker was already examining the marks when they arrived, the man stepping out of the way to let Carter and Owen get a better look. Carter watched as Owen ran his hand down the white marks before her eyes went up to the top of the wall, the guard following her gaze.

“The wall’s forty-feet high.” The guard noted. “You two really think she climbed out?”

Keeping his eyes on the wall, Owen spoke. “Depends.”

“On what?”

Carter bit her lips. “Whatever they mixed that T-Rex gnome with.” She shook her head, her gaze meeting Owen’s. “How could Claire not know what’s in this animal?”

The whole thing sounded warped to Carter. Even if Claire’s main focus was on the attractions, she still had a right to know what was cooking in that I-Rex’s body. Owen looked ready to add on to Carter’s statement when the guard’s walkie-talkie came to life with static.

“What’s the problem?” The guard asked, unable to understand what was said.

The answer came clear as day. “It’s in the cage! It’s in there with you!”

“Go!” Owen yelled to the small group.

Carter’s blood instantly went cold as she took off behind Owen, the construction worker behind her while the guard made his way towards the back door. The three ran through the enclosure, aiming to go back to the observation room, when the I-Rex came out of the foliage, her form towering over Carter and the two men.

Seeing the dinosaur so close made Carter curse herself for wanting to see it earlier. She was taller than a T-Rex, her snot curved as her sharp teeth gleamed in the sunlight. Her skin that was once pale white was now grey, matching the forest palette around her like a hunter in camouflage.

Unable to move out of pure amazement and fear, Owen grabbed Carter’s hand, pulling her alongside of him as they ran away from the beast. Once she snapped back to reality, the two let go of the other’s hand, trying to ignore the screams of the construction worker behind her that were quickly silenced by a chomp of the I-Rex. They were close to the large door that led to the outside of the enclosure, but soon the door began to slowly slide close.

“Shit, they’re locking us in!” Carter screamed, her heart beating even faster at the prospect of being trapped in the enclosure.

The two instantly increased their speed, the door nicking Carter’s arm as they jumped through it. The metal door never got to close as the I-Rex’s claws came crashing through it, the paddock’s metal crushing from her weight. She was breaking out, and ready to eat.

Catching sight of a wide construction truck, Owen grabbed Carter by the waist, holding her as the two rolled on the pebble covered construction site until they were underneath the truck. Owen stayed on top of Carter, the girl trying to control her breathing while Owen kept his gaze on the I-Rex, the beast still trapped between the door and wall.

“We’re okay, we’re okay.” Owen whispered, though Carter wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure her or himself. He momentarily looked down to her. “You’re okay?”

Carter couldn’t speak, fear crippling her to the state of only being able to nod. That was good enough for Owen as he rolled off of her, the two now laying on their stomachs side by side as they watched the beast’s feet walk out of the doorway and wander around the new location. Rotating their bodies, they followed the I-Rex’s movement as it stopped in front of the truck next to them, the guard hiding not-so-skillfully behind it as he shook with fear.

It was then the I-Rex knocked the truck in the air, making it crash right in front of Carter and Owen’s faces. The two quickly shielded their faces from the flying glass, only looking up when the I-Rex’s footsteps were the only sound in the air. Carter looked through the broken window, the guard staring right back at her as the mouth of the beast swooped down, taking the guard in between its teeth before swallowing him whole.

Carter covered her mouth to stop herself from gasping before quickly getting on her back, Owen doing the same as he whipped his knife out from his belt, using the blade to cut the truck’s fuel pipe above them. She knew what he was doing, it was the first lesson he taught her when they were going over safety precautions in case the raptors turned on them—hide and disguise your scent.

The pipe cut loose, fuel spilling all over Owen before he turned it towards Carter, the woman quickly rubbing the liquid all over herself. Their bodies reeked with the mixed scents of sweet and diesel fuel—Carter hoping the I-Rex would find the smell just as unappealing as she did.

The growls of the beast rung right next to Carter’s ear, the I-Rex’s breath hot as it sniffed, looking for more prey. Carter caught the sun’s glint on its teeth, but she didn’t look at it. She kept her unblinking eyes focused on the bottom of the truck, Owen’s own eyes closed as his head remained angle towards Carter’s—if he was going to die, he didn’t want the last thing he saw to be the mouth of his killer.

Thinking that no one was left for lunch, the I-Rex lifted her head and walked off. Carter picked her head up slightly, watching the tail of the beast swing from side to side as it disappeared in the jungles of the island. Once she figured she was far enough, Carter put her head down back on the pebbles, letting out shallow breaths of relief. By some miracle, Carter was alive—they were going to walk away from this.

“We’re clear.” She said through gasps, “Owen, we’re okay.”

Carter’s hand knocked against his own, the touch making Owen open his eyes and lift his own head to watch the disappearing form of the I-Rex. Letting out a sigh, he laid his head back on the ground. The raptor trainers laid in silence for a while, trying to get their heart rates back to normal when something made Carter’s instantly spike up.

“She’s going towards the Park.”

Owen’s breath hitched in his throat—Jurassic World had a million visitors a day, and the I-Rex was going to devour them all. Quickly, he hustled up.

“We have to get to that control room.”

Carter didn’t say a word, only following Owen as the two rolled out from underneath the truck and scrambled to their feet before taking off to the only vehicle left.

“So, have you guys been here before?”

Nick kept his eyes trained on the window beside him, trying to ignore Joe’s terrible flirting as the monorail roared towards the other side of the vast park. He was shocked, and a bit proud, when Joe didn’t flirt with the woman who sat beside him at the water show, only to be disappointed as he watched his older brother instantly turn around to talk to the group of woman sitting behind them.

Deciding it was time for it to end, Nick turned to face the women, the sudden action making Joe glare at him in confusion.

“It’s so nice of you ladies to talk to my older brother, here.” Nick began as Joe smiled. “Ever since the Chlamydia diagnosis, he’s been so depressed.”

The girls shot Joe a disgusted look as Joe’s smile faded, the young man shaking his head in haste as he pushed a grinning Nick back to his seat.

“That’s not—I don’t…” The girls got up, ignoring Joe’s defenses. “It’s not true!”

Nick covered his laugh with a hand to his mouth, his laughter only becoming louder when Joe landed a punch to his arm.

“Not funny, bro.” Joe complained, crossing his arm as he slumped in his seat. “I almost had triplets.”

Nick kept the smile on his face. “Exactly, I had to save those poor girls.”

“Remind me to throw you in an enclosure later.”

He simply gave Joe a thumbs up, a chuckle still in his throat as he turned back to the window. He wasn’t greeted by the lonely green field below, but instead a pair of two armored vehicles riding down a dirt road. Nick’s smile faded as a feeling of dread entered his gut.

To say Owen Grady was angry was an understatement. His silence on the ride to the park’s control room was deafening, his knuckles white as he tightened his grip around the wheel—tighter each time he thought of what he and Carter just went through.

Carter tried not to think about what the pair just went through—she had never felt fear so intense than the one she had hiding underneath that truck. She was used to close calls, she worked with the raptors for five years, but this was different—two men died because of a marketing ploy.

She was lucky to be alive, they both were.

They exited the elevator that led to the control room, the room bustling with employees as screens blinked with messages and commands. A large screen hung in the front of the room, an electronic map of the park taking up the front wall as a red dot blinked—the I-Rex’s tracking chip. Owen walked towards Claire, Carter following as he loudly talked to her.

“What the hell happened out there?!”

Carter shook her head, glaring at Claire. “There were cameras all over that paddock—she didn’t just disappear.”

The Manager sighed, not having time to get a lecture from the resident ‘Raptor Whispers’. Claire finally turned towards the pair, trying to downplay the situation as if they were park guests who came to her with a concern.

“It must have been some kind of a…technical malfunction.”

Owen walked forward. “Were you not watching? She marked that wall up as a distraction, she wanted us to think she escaped.”

“We are talking about an animal here.” Claire stepped towards them, her voice hushed but dripping with malice.

“A highly intelligent animal, Claire.” Carter spoke up, scoffing. “And an isolated, aggressive one at that.”

“Four-hundred feet to the beacon.” A calm voice announced, diffusing the fight that was brewing.

It was then Carter took a better look at the screen. Four cameras were latched together, showing vehicles riding through the forest while the other side kept tabs on the heartrates of each of the men. It was a member of the Asset Containment Unit—Carter remembering them her first year on the internship when they came to collect Echo after she made a break for the woods.

They got out of their cars, clicking their tranquilizers into place, the noise making Owen stare at the screen in pure disbelief.

“You’re going after her with non-lethals?” Owen asked through clenched teeth.

Masrani gestured to the screen, trying to justify the idiotic choice. “We have twenty-six million dollars invested in that asset, we can’t just kill it.”

“They’re going to die.” Carter whispered, horrified. “All of them.”

Masrani didn’t respond, instead looking back at the screen just in time to see one of the ACU’s picking up a slab of scaly skin, the tracking implant blinking within its’ meaty skin. Carter was going to vomit, she could feel it, when Owen stepped forward, his eyes widened.

“She clawed out her tracking implant.” He was both amazed and disgusted. “She remembered where they put it in.”

“You’re not going to get her.” Carter’s eye twitched as she tried to keep a level-head. “You need to call off this mission.”

“Miss Jonas…” Claire began, shaking her head.

Owen turned to face Claire, his eyes full of rage. “Call it off!”

“You are not in control, here!” Claire exclaimed.

But, it was too late. The I-Rex made her appearance on the video feed, taking out the members of the ACU one by one and only in a few minutes. Carter watched as each of their heartrates flat lined with each growl from the I-Rex, the bloodbath becoming almost too gruesome to watch as she turned away from the screen. Once the rampage was over, Owen turned to face Claire, a short but meaningful sentence leaving his mouth.

“Evacuate the island.”

Claire’s eyes were glazed, clearly shaken by what she had just witnessed. “We’d never reopen.”

“You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity; she is seeing all of this for the first time.” Owen went on as Carter leaned against one of the tables, suddenly feeling dizzy. “She’s learning where she fits in the food chain, and I don’t think you want her to figure that out. Now, ACU can use live ammunition in an emergency, put a gun on a chopper, and smoke this thing!”

“I’m not turning this place into a warzone!” Claire yelled, exasperated with Owen’s presence.

He glared. “You already have.”

At Owen’s words, Carter turned to him in a haste. She was just as mad about the room’s incompetence, but now was not the time to argue. They needed to work together if they had any hope of killing this thing before it reached innocent people—maybe if they cooperated with the management’s plan, Claire and Masrani would actually listen to the idea of killing ‘the asset’. She walked towards Owen, glancing between him and Claire.

“Now is not the time to get into ‘who’s right’ and ‘who’s wrong’, alright?” She practically screamed. “We’re going to need everyone on board if we want the I-Rex detained.”

Owen sharply turned towards Carter, unable to believe that she was slightly taking the management’s side. They just narrowly escaped death from the beast, he watched Carter turn away when the ACU got slaughtered, and yet she wanted to help the people that wanted the ‘asset’ alive?

“Do you not remember what we just went through, Carter?” Owen asked, stepping towards her. “We need to blow this thing away.”

Carter put her hands out. “I get it, I do, but we’re two against one powerful person here. Whatever the company has planned for this, we need to help them out on this one.”

“It can’t be ‘detained’, it needs to be shot. And you know it.”

The room grew silent as Carter and Owen walked closer to one another, glaring and ready to fight for what the other believed in. Sensing a blowout between the trainers, and slightly relieved to have one of them on her side, Claire stepped in.

“Mr. Grady, if you aren’t going to help, there’s no reason for you to be in here.”

Owen simply shook his head before knocking over a toy dinosaur in anger, the owner of the collection frowning at the motion. Carter crossed her arms over her chest, her expression hard as everyone else in the room looked slightly taken back; they all might have been afraid of Owen’s hissy fit, but Carter wasn’t—it was childish to her. With one last look to Carter that was a mix of disappointment and anger, Owen made his way back towards the elevator, the woman watching him as he stopped in front of Masrani.

“I would have a word with your people in the lab,” He said in a hushed whisper. “That thing out there is no dinosaur.”

With that, Owen stepped into the elevator, his eyes locked with Carter’s as the doors closed in front of him. Claire looked down at Carter in worry, noticing the woman’s hard expression fade. She didn’t want to betray Owen, but to Carter, this wasn’t betrayal—it was what needed to be done. One of them had to be an adult and help the corporation. Closing her eyes, she eliminated the sadness on her face before opening them, looking back up to Claire.

“You need to start closing the resort.” Carter said, her tone back to being professional. At Claire’s hesitance, Carter settled for a compromise. “At least by section.”

The Manager seemed to like this idea as she nodded, speaking loudly. “I’m closing everything north of the Resort. This is a Phase One, Real World—bring everyone in.”

Carter turned back to the screens as she listened to one of the woman announce the update into her ear piece, hoping that she chose the right side in this.

Even though Nick and Joe had the perk of not waiting in lines, the pair still stood at the front of the loading dock for the famous Gyosphere; a clear ball with four seats that roamed the fields where the herbivores grazed upon. Nick rolled his eyes as Joe stared over the crowd at yet another woman, giving her his best ‘sexy face’ as Nick simply sighed.

“You can’t just stare at them and expect something to happen.”

Joe rolled his eyes, turning to Nick. “Weren’t you the one who stared at Olivia all throughout college lectures before you got the balls to ask her out?”

“…Touché.”

The older brother smirked as a new Gyosphere came rolling up in front of them, the glass sphere holding four seats and a control stick between the front two seats for the occupants to ‘direct their own adventure’. The ride instructor, who looked much younger than Nick, buckled them into their seats, the boys smiling widely at each other when a small voice cut through the air.

“Mind if we join you?”

Joe and Nick looked back towards the loading dock to see two boys that look significantly younger than them. The younger of the two boys had out of control brown hair as he smiled at the boys in the sphere hopefully while the older one, who couldn’t be more than sixteen, looked to be extremely bored as he fixed his grey jacket. Joe and Nick shared a look, the two smiling and shrugging.

“Not at all,” Joe smirked as they went into the back seats. “But, I’m driving.”

The older one with black hair pretended to consider this as he buckled himself up. “Seems fair.”

“Enjoy the ride.” The instructor said solemnly, allowing the ball to roll away.

With that, Joe took the controls, driving into the grassy unknown. After a few minutes of silence, and no dinosaurs to distract them, Nick turned to face the two younger boys.

“I’m Nick, by the way.” He greeted before pointing to Joe. “This is Joe, my older brother.”

Joe kept his eyes on the road as he offered a peace sign in recognition. The younger boy smiled at the introduction, excited to have a friendly face when his brother hadn’t been the funniest person to be around for the past couple of hours.

“I’m Gray,” Gray introduced before gesturing to his older brother. “Zach’s my older brother, too.”

Zach offered a greeting on the form of a nod before looking back out to the forest, searching for any creatures to emerge from the green. When he grew bored with seeing nothing but trees, he turned back towards the front.

“So, why are you two here?”

Nick and Joe shared a glance. If they were asked that question a week ago, they would say for ‘brother/sister’ time, but seeing as they were getting none, Joe decided to keep it simple.

“Our sister works here as a raptor trainer, so, she got us free tickets.”

Gray’s eyes instantly lit up. “Your sister actually works with dinosaurs?!”

Nick could tell the boy wanted more information, but he sadly had none—he didn’t even know what Carter did to control the rabid beasts. He didn’t elaborate, only nodded before turning to face the boys once again.

“How about you two?”

Zach shrugged, clearly not interested in diving into that topic either. “Our Aunt is a manager here.”

Nick gave an impressed look before turning back to the front, allowing the ball to descend into a comfortable silence. Joe stayed focused on driving, hoping that the path he had put them on would lead them straight into the dinosaurs that they were promised in line. However, they were already in the thing for more than ten minutes and, so far, the only thing to be seen was the vast green fields of the Park. From the back, Zach shook his head, clearly bored with the ride as he leaned back in his chair.

“What a jip.” Zach muttered to himself.

“Wow…” Nick breathed.

The three boys snapped their heads to Nick’s side, looking out to see a small herd of dinosaurs walking beside them. Joe grinned as he cruised between each of the beasts, following their path with a relaxed speed. Nick couldn’t help but smile—wondering what it was like for Carter, who saw these animals every day, there was no way it could get old. Joe just stared in pure amazement, ready to say something to Nick when the screen between their seats began to speak with its’ robotic voice.

“DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, ALL OF OUR EXHIBITS ARE NOW CLOSED. PLEASE DISEMBARK ALL RIDES, AND RETURN TO THE RESORT.”

Sighing, Gray leaned back in his seat. He knew being so close to the dinosaurs wouldn’t last, and though he wanted to stay, rules were rules. Joe was familiar with the look Gray was wearing—he had spent plenty of time in his own childhood cheering Nick up so he wouldn’t have to see that face.

“Let’s stay on for a little longer.” Joe grinned, still in awe over the sights around him.

Nick turned to him. “Joe, I don’t think…”

“Come on, Carter gave us these.” He lifted his wrist to display the blue band around it. “We’re VIP, my man.”

Even though Gray annoyed him to no end, Zach never wanted to see his little brother upset, especially after the way he nearly broke down when talking about their parents’ inevitable divorce. Zach gave a small grin, tapping the armrest that rested between him and his own little brother, making Gray look towards him.

“You said you wanted the full Jurassic World experience, right?” Zach coaxed. “It’ll be fun.”

Gray gave a small grin. “I guess…”

They all looked towards Nick, the only one in the ball that wasn’t entirely convinced. He turned to Joe, taking in his older brother’s excited demeanor—it was the happiest he had seen Joe since Carter had ditched them. If he could make that smile last a little longer, he was sure it wouldn’t hurt.

“Eh, what’s five more minutes going to do?” Nick answered.

With a smirk, Joe pushed the joystick forward, allowing the sphere to ride at its max speed as the group of four sped alongside the titans, putting distance between themselves and civilization.

Chapter Text

Carter stood silently next to Claire, her eyes on the security feeds of the park as she watched the guests file back towards the on-site hotel. Even from the muted feeds, Carter could tell that they were all unhappy with the orders, but with a genetically modified killing machine on the loose, it had to be done.

“Thank you.” Claire spoke suddenly.

Carter removed her gaze from the screens to face the woman, Claire offering a small smile. Since Owen’s exit, the two didn’t speak much and, when they did, it was all about evacuation and safety plans. Carter’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“For..?”

“For sticking by me,” Claire elaborated. “I know it may not feel like it, but you’re doing the right thing.”

Carter only smiled back, giving the woman a nod before going back to watching the screens. In a situation like this, Carter wasn’t sure if there was a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way to completing this task. Either way, it wasn’t about picking sides for her, it was about picking who had the most resources—if anything, she hoped Owen knew that that was the only reason she didn’t follow him out of the room.

At the sound of a yell, her head snapped to one of the cameras that showed a mother reuniting with her daughter in the lobby, the two hugging in the crowded area. Carter gave a small grin, relieved to see family being reunited during such a terrifying time. Her grin then faded, her mouth opening in panic when she remembered something she couldn’t believe she could forget—Nick and Joe were in the park, in the area the I-Rex was heading towards.

A soft gasp escaped her throat as she turned away from the cameras, ignoring Claire’s questioning tone as Carter walked to the other side of the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket in the process. She dialed a number in record time, putting the device up to her ear.

On the fifth ring, he answered.

“Hey, Carter.” Joe’s greeting came out as if it was a question.

Carter let out a relieved sigh. “Joe, thank god. Is Nick with you?”

“Yeah…” Static was heard over Joe’s voice. “I can’t really hear you…we’re in the giant hamster ball, we met two brothers named…”

The call faded into static, Carter unable to hear the last part but she knew enough. They were in the Gyosphere with at least two other people; Carter knew exactly where they were, and it wasn’t a good place for any of them to be. Her voice grew in volume, trying to overpower the static.

“Okay, Joe, you need to listen to me.” She began. “I need you to get out of there and head back to the resort, alright?”

Static passed through the line, the only answer Carter receiving being a confused. “Hello? I can’t—“

The line erupted in static, Carter pulling the phone away from her ear only to see that the call dropped. Her heart thumped against her chest as she ran back to the computers and to the confused expression of Claire. The redhead scanned Carter, taking in her sudden concerned appearance as she leaned down next to the technician who was responsible for the ride count.

“Are there any Gyospheres left in the Valley?” She asked, her tone stern but voice breaking.

He clicked a few buttons. “Uh, yeah. There’s one four-seater left.”

That was all Carter needed as she stood up straight, Claire already looking at her. The Manager knew whatever was bothering her, couldn’t be good, and if it had anything to do with the park, Claire had a right to know.

“Carter, talk to me.”

“Nick and Joe…they’re still out there with two other boys and--.”

Claire suddenly grew panicked, her eyes wide as she remembered that she also had family in the park—her nephews, Zach and Gray, were most likely still roaming around the facilities. With haste, and ignoring Carter’s stare of confusion, Claire pulled out her own phone and dialed a single number.

“Don’t mind me,” Carter spoke sarcastically. “I’m just pouring my worries out over here.”

Claire rolled her eyes as she held a finger up to Carter, the trainer looking ready to burst with either rage or tears.

“Zara, I need you to bring my nephews back to the hotel right away.”

At the call, Carter’s expression of rage towards Claire faded. She had no idea the woman had her own pair of family members in the park—or family members in general—and if they were the same boys Joe was talking about, they were the furthest place from safe. Her suspicions were confirmed as Claire’s own eyes grew wild.

“You can’t find…Oh, God, okay….No, no, you keep looking and I’ll—I’ll do something.”

Claire hung up the phone before staring back at Carter, the two sharing a look of extreme worry before the redhead pointed to another control room tech. “Send in a group of rangers, bring the sphere in.”

Carter paced as she heard the order being repeated into the tech’s headset, feeling even more nervous than she did when the I-Rex was hunting her. Joe and Nick were out there, and completely unaware of what chaos was following them.

“It’s going to be awhile,” A ranger responded through the speakers, making Carter freeze as Claire let out a whine. “We got our hands full out here.”

That was it. Carter stomped over to the tech, pushing a shell-shocked Claire aside before picking up one of the unused headsets and putting the microphone to her mouth, ready to bark out any threats she could that would make them move faster.

“Did you just hear what she said?! There are FOUR guests missing, you need to make this your TOP priority!” She yelled into the mic, not even concerned about their ears.

The Ranger scoffed. “We have a lot of guests missing, lady…”

Not wanting to hear their excuses, Carter threw the headset back down onto the table, Claire watching the unstable woman with eyes full of fear. Carter stood with her hands on her hips, contemplating her next move when it hit her—she was going to save them herself. Nodding to herself, Carter made her way to the elevator, Claire following as fast as her high-heeled covered feet would allow.

“Where are you going?!”

Carter didn’t turn around as she repeatedly pressed the button, waiting for the lift to arrive. “If they aren’t going to get my brothers, or your nephews, I will.”

The doors opened, but before Carter could step in, Claire grabbed her arm. In shock, Carter turned to face her, the redhead keeping her grip tight as she narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to allow Carter to go into the field to look for Zach and Gray without her.

“I’m coming too.”

Carter swallowed, knowing that Claire was far from equipped to go into the wild with her, but also knowing that there was no way she could get her to stay—they were both going through the same feeling of worry and helplessness, feelings that weren’t good to have when facing a genetically modified dinosaur.

Carter pursed her lips as a realization hit her. With her anger and worry, and Claire’s own anxiety levels that surely matched her own, they would be the perfect prey for every beast out there—and not just the I-Rex. Before she could even think to scramble a team for back up, the loud voice of Owen radiated from the feeds, the two woman looking over to see the trainer yelling in the face of an employee.

Keeping her eyes on Owen, Carter nodded. “We just need to pick someone up first.”

With that, she stepped inside the elevator, Claire joining her as the doors sealed off the safety of the control room.

 Joe could admit that he didn’t always have the greatest ideas—though, he did stand by his idea of using the bathtub as a bowl for the World’s Biggest Sundae as being ahead of its time—but spending extra time in the sphere was slowly turning into his best. The occupants within the ride were having a better time than before, Nick pointing out dinosaurs as Gray listed out facts—even that downer Zach was grinning.

It wasn’t until the sound of his phone vibrating when Joe finally overturned the controls to Nick, the man taking over as Joe dug his phone out of his pocket and stared down at the screen. Not expecting that name to come up, Joe hesitantly answered.

“Hey, Carter.”

At his greeting, Nick turned to Joe, the two sharing a questioning glance as Carter let out a sigh on her line. Joe squinted his eyes, trying to focus on the call that was beginning to drip with static—he guessed that the Gyosphere wasn’t known for its fantastic cell phone reception.

“Joe, thank god. Is Nick with you?”

He nodded. “Yeah, hey, I can’t really hear you. We’re in that giant hamster ball, but get this, we met two brothers named Zach and Gray.”

Nick grinned as he heard Gray yell a ‘hi’, and almost died laughing when he heard Zach hush his little brother. Joe put a finger to his open ear, trying to catch Carter’s words but was only met with a scrambled attempt of a reply. When the static went silent, Joe tried again.

“Hello? I can’t hear you, Carter.” Silence. “Carter?”

Joe removed his phone from his ear, looking down at the screen to see that the call had been dropped. He let out a hum before putting his phone back in the pocket, figuring that he would call Carter back after they made it back to the loading area. Nick offered Joe a shrug, not too worried by the miscommunication—if they could survive years without speaking to Carter, she could do so for the next few minutes.

Nick slowed the sphere to a stop as they approached a broken down fence, the metal gate’s door swung wide open and just itching for entry.

“What happened here?” Zach spoke up as he leant forward.

A devious smile came over Joe’s face. “Guys…off road.”

At this idea, Zach let out a noise of agreement. It would be fun to check out what was beyond the walls of containment, sadly, his younger brother didn’t see it that way.

“But, they told us to go back…” Gray’s voice was small as he spoke up, dread filling his body.

Nick had to agree with the youngest occupant. They were already testing their luck by staying out in the field long after being call in, something was bound to go wrong if they drove forward. Nick turned to Joe, his older brother’s hand wrapped around the stick with an eager expression.

“Usually, a broken down gate is a sign to go back.” Nick tried, giving Joe a look.

Just as he predicted, Joe already had his mind made up as he pressed his finger to his lip, smirking at the man next to him.

“Shhh…”

Nick rolled his eyes. “You’re impossible.”

Zach and Joe shared a high five before the driver rolled the sphere into the open gate, and down the path of the unknown.

 Claire trailed behind Carter as the woman pushed her way through the crowded Innovation Center, not bothering to walk around the holograms that illuminated from the ground. She didn’t have time to sidestep, not when Nick and Joe were still out in the valley—completely defenseless, with the responsibility of watching over Claire’s younger nephews. She stopped in the middle of the Center, Claire halting next to her as the two scanned for any sight of Owen.

Carter felt her heart sink when she couldn’t catch a glimpse of his presence, her anxiety rising at the idea of not only doing this alone, but with someone as ill-prepared as Claire Dearing. Carter prided herself on being independent, but even she could admit that there was no way she could do this without Owen by her side. Just as she was being to wonder if this was karma for taking his sworn enemy’s side, a familiar voice rang in her ears.

“Carter, Claire!”

The two women turned to see Owen walking up to them, Carter letting out a sigh of relief despite his cold expression. However, Owen’s plan to rant at the two women faded away at the sight of Carter’s distress. Something was wrong, and he wasn’t about to let a petty argument stop him from helping one of his best friends. Carter made a move to get closer to him, but was instantly pushed out of the way by Claire, the redhead rushing up to the Alpha.

“Owen, we need you.”

He raised a brow in question at the request, his eyes going to Carter before he answered. “Okay…?”

“It’s my brothers and her nephews.” Carter spoke up, doing her best to control the shakiness in her voice. “They’re out in the valley, and if anything happens to them…”

Carter shook her head, not wanting to even think about what could—would—happen if the boys were met with any dinosaur—not just the I-Rex. Her breathing settled when Owen grabbed her hand, pulling Carter to a less crowded area as Claire followed, the woman matching Carter’s appearance of worry as she scanned the crowd for any control room witnesses.

“How old?” He asked, looking between Carter and Claire for the ages of the boys in question.

The two women shared a look, Claire gesturing for Carter to go first to give her more time to think about how old her nephews were. Carter, who obviously wanted that time for herself, reluctantly turned back to Owen, the man waiting.

“Well, uh, Joe’s the oldest out of the two of them and I know he’s been out of college for awhile…” She bit her lip. “Nick just graduated a, uh, year ago…but I think he’s in graduate school?”

“You’re telling me you don’t know how old your brothers are?” Owen shook his head in disbelief as Carter bit her lip. “Carter, you told me the relationship was strained, but this is—“

“Sad.” Claire spoke up, crossing her arms as she scanned the woman trainer with a stink eye. “Really sad.”

Carter didn’t need to be reminded about how awful of an older sister she was—today, alone, was enough to prove that fact—but she didn’t like how Claire appeared all high and mighty when she didn’t even remember her nephews were in the park until Carter brought up her own family. She put a hand on her hip, turning to the Manager.

“How about you tell us how old your nephews are, hm?”

Claire blinked, obviously wishing she took more time in thinking about it before clearing her throat to speak “The older one is, uh, a high school age and the younger one is…middle school age.”

Owen ran a hand down his face, hoping that the two women would at least remember what their family members looked like. Carter put her hands up as she kept her eyes on Claire, a small smirk on her lips.

“Wow, you really showed me.” She sarcastically congratulated.

Claire defended herself. “At least I know my sibling’s age.”

“Which is?”

“Which is…” Claire paused, not able to remember her sister’s age as she pointed at Carter. “…not important!”

Owen looked between Carter and Claire, still unable to move past the fact that neither of them knew the ages of their family members.

“If you two are competing for who the worst family member is, congratulations, you both won.”

Carter stopped arguing with Claire as the Manager looked down in shame. Carter simply looked at Owen with guilt etched on her face, and the hope in her heart that she would be able to ask Joe and Nick herself if—after, she mentally corrected herself—they found them.

 “No, no—bad idea!” Gray exclaimed from his spot in the back.

Joe ignored Gray’s voice, instead focusing on driving through the unkempt jungle, scanning for any sign of dinosaurs while Nick raised his wrist to catch a glimpse of his watch. After counting the minutes, he nodded to himself before addressing Joe.

“Congratulations, Joe.” Nick lowered his wrist. “You got Gray to break in only three minutes.”

Joe merely rolled his eyes as Zach nudged his brother. They may not have seen any dinosaurs since going through the broken fence, but Zach didn’t mind since it gave him a break from listening to Gray’s never ending facts.

“Don’t be a baby, it’s an awesome idea.”             

Gray was not convinced. “No! We’re going to get arrested, they’ll shave our heads, and we’ll have to make root beer in the toilets.”

“…What?” Zach spoke for the three other people in the sphere, none of them knowing what Gray was referring to.

Before Nick could ask the older boy if Gray was always like this, Joe slapped him in the arm, earning his attention as he turned the sphere to face four Ankylosaurs’.

“There!” Joe’s voice was filled with pride as he gestured to the beasts. “See? I told you.”

None of the occupants spoke as they took in the small herd, the animals not holding an interest towards the pod as they busied themselves by making a snack of leaves. Gray’s panic seemed to subside, the dinosaur-fanatic completely taken back by the ‘wild’ beasts in front of them. Joe turned to face the boy, a knowing smile on his face before turning back to the front.

“You’re welcome, by the way. I got you all up close and personal with four…dinosaurouses.”

Gray frowned as he corrected the prideful man. “Ankylosaurs’, and there are five dinosaurs.”

The older boys took their time counting the dinosaurs in front of them, all coming up with the same number—four. Joe shrugged, thinking that Gray’s panic attack must have made him slightly cross eyed, while Zach rolled his eyes in annoyance that his stupidity.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius or something?” He scoffed before gesturing to each beast in front of the pod. “Look—one, two, three, four.”

While Zach obnoxiously taught Gray to count, and Joe tried to tell the older brother to not be so harsh, Nick kept his gaze on the front of the pod, a shadow catching him off guard. He squinted his eyes towards the glass, his brown orbs instantly widening in fear when he realized what he was looking at. A white reflection slowly became known, its form moving slowly as it looked to be studying the pod, and the people inside.

“Um, guys?” Nick said shakily, earning the attention of everyone in the pod as he pointed to the reflection. “Five.”

Joe’s smile faded as the four slowly turned in their seats to get a view of the unfamiliar white dinosaur, the beast standing to its’ full height before letting out an earth-shaking roar. Gray and Zach instantly screamed as Nick and Joe scrambled for the joystick, both losing their attempts to move it as the beast kicked the pod.

The sphere spun wildly, all of the boys screaming as they held onto their brother for dear life, Nick’s grip tightening on Joe as the sphere bashed between the four dinosaurs before it spun to a stop. The group relished in the silence, the only noise being Gray’s gasps while Joe and Nick leaned their heads back on their seats, Joe swallowing the bile that raised in his throat.

“Get us out of here.” Nick spoke through his own panicked breathing. “Now.”

For once, he didn’t need to be told twice, however, before Joe could get back his controls, the white dinosaur let out another roar, the sound making one of the Ankylosaurs’ turn, its’ tail hitting the sphere and sending the boys tumbling backwards until they crashed into a tree. Gray let out a strangled cry as the sphere spun until it was upside down, its’ occupants now dangling from their chairs in an even more helpless position than before.  

“Go, go!” Zach exclaimed towards Joe, feeling the blood begin to rush to his head.

Joe moved the stick back and forth, frustrated by the lack of progress. “What do you think I’m trying to do?!”

“Since you were the one who drove us through that gate, I would say ‘get us killed’.” Zach blamed, his hand on Gray’s shoulder.

Of all the things Joe had patience for, getting yelled at by some teenager wasn’t something on the list. Joe shook his head, his teeth clenched.

“You do not want to play this game with me, kid.”

Zach scoffed. “Oh, I’m so scared—“

“Both of you; Shut. Up.”

Joe glanced over to the owner of the voice, Nick’s eyes closed out of both fear and annoyance of the two boys. Now was not the time for Joe to pick a fight with a teenager, not when death was staring them right in the face. The sound of a sickening crack made Nick open his eyes, his orbs widening at the sight of the white dinosaur standing over the Ankylosaurs, its’ body completely lifeless—the older boys all feared that they were next.

“We’re safe in here, right?” Gray innocently asked, looking between all of the panicked faces.

Zach nodded, his eyes never leaving the white beast. “Yeah, totally safe.”

A buzzing noise made all of them jump, their eyes going down to see Joe’s phone light up with the ID of ‘Carter’ taking up the screen. Joe reached to grab it, Nick doing so as well only for their fingers to simply graze the vibrating phone. Another buzz filled the air as Zach looked down to see ‘Aunt Claire’ on the screen of his own vibrating phone, the boy groaning as he attempted to reach it at its’ resting place at the bottom of the sphere.

“Guys…” Gray let out a whimper.

Nick kept his eyes on Joe’s phone, but made time for a reassuring response. “We almost got it, buddy.”

“Look.” Gray ignored his update.

Their eyes flickered up to see the eye of the white dinosaur peering into their sphere, the sight making Joe grasp Nick’s arm in reassurance, and a low form of protection. The dinosaur stood, turning the sphere over so the occupants faced it before breaking the glass with a single claw. It was Nick’s turn to whimper as the animal pulled them towards it, clamping its jaw around the giant sphere.

None of them even tried to hide how scared they were as all four boys let out screams, their eyes squeezed shut as the white dinosaur attempted to eat them. The beast stopped when it realized the dome was too big to swallow, and settled for smashing it repeatedly on the jungle floor, the motion making the sphere begin to crack.

Zach looked behind him to see the back of the sphere completely shattered, the boy quickly unbuckling his own seatbelt before doing the same for Gray. As he undid the belt, he looked up at Joe and Nick, the two boys gripping the bottom of their own seats in pure fear.

“Unbuckle yourselves!” Zach called over the ruckus.

Luckily, Joe heard as he popped open his seatbelt, repeating the notion with Nick as the group all fell out of their trap and to the jungle floor. Nick didn’t even have time to kiss the ground as they all scrambled up, Nick helping Joe up as Zach practically dragged Gray across the dirt before the young boy could get his bearings. The sphere smashed on the ground once more, Joe taking that as a sign that it was time to go.

“Go, go!” Joe yelled to all of them.

The four brothers took off towards the jungle tree line, the white dinosaur noticing their escape as it dropped the sphere and bounded after them.

Chapter Text

Nick and Joe ran out from the jungle, racing across the open field as Zach and Gray followed close behind, all trying to get as much distance between themselves and the white dinosaur as possible. It was proven unsuccessful when a roar erupted from the trees, the sound making all of them pause to see the dinosaur emerge from the tree line, bounding towards them.

Grabbing Nick’s hand, Joe instantly started moving again, Zach doing the same for Gray before skidding to a stop at the edge of a cliff, a clear blue waterfall next to them as it emptied itself into the lake below. Nick’s breathing became heavy, the realization that he was about to die taking over him. His heart thumped, feeling like it was sinking at the thought of leaving this Earth without repairing ties with Carter—as the sound of the dinosaur’s bounding feet played in his ears, he realized all of the resentment he once held for his big sister didn’t seem worth it in the end.

“We’ve got to jump!” Joe’s voice, and iron grip on his arm, snapped Nick back to reality.

Over the roars, Zach yelled. “Uh, no, we don’t!”

Joe ignored him, instead keeping his hard gaze on Nick. With the dinosaur approaching, this was their only chance of survival—and it was time for all of them to buck up and jump. Nick nodded, leaning over Joe’s body to address Zach, his hand on a shaken Gray’s shoulder.

“If you have another idea, now is the time to share!”

Gray’s eyes were wide with fear as he stuttered. “I-I can’t!”

Another roar shook the Earth, the sound being all the persuasion Zach needed as he held Gray’s hand, the younger boy looking up at him as if he was insane. Nick quickly grabbed onto Joe’s hand, the older brother looking between him and the other two boys.

“You guys ready?” At their nods, Joe stared down at the water. “One…two…NOW!”

With that, the group jumped off the cliff, their bodies just missing the teeth of the beast as its’ jaw snapped shut behind them. They crashed into the cold water, the current of the waterfall shoving all of them down.

Under the water, Zach caught sight of the white beast peering down into the water, waiting for them to resurface. He quickly grabbed Gray’s foot, shoving him back down before doing the same with Joe’s, his hand still holding Nick’s as the younger Jonas was shoved down as well. Zach pointed up to the surface before signaling for them to be quiet.

It was only after they were certain the animal was gone when Joe broke through the surface, taking in air as Nick popped up next to him, Zach and Gray close behind. The younger boys followed Joe and Nick as they swam towards the shore, Joe letting out shallow breaths as he dragged himself across the muddy shore, collapsing next to Nick as they panted. He kept his eyes on his younger brother before looking at the Mitchell boys, a small smirk taking over his lips.

“You guys jumped.”

Nick opened his eyes, greeted by Joe’s grinning demeanor. He smiled back before looking next to him, Zach and Gray grinning as well before Gray let out a small laugh, the sound pure ecstasy from being alive. Zach wrapped his arm around his little brother, pulling him close as he let out his own short chuckle, and soon, they were all letting out laughs of relief as they laid on the muddy rocks.

“Now what?” Gray asked once the laughter subsided.

Nick and Joe shared a look before gazing at the jungle ahead, venturing into the unknown being their only option as the oldest boy stood up.

“We move forward.”

 “Come on. Pick up, Joe.” Carter mumbled, only stopping when the call went straight to voicemail. “Shit.”

Keeping his hands on the wheel, Owen glanced away from the road ahead to take in Carter. The woman groaned as she disconnected the call before going back to cocking one of the two tranquilizer guns they took from security.

Owen had only seen Carter panic a handful of times—all of them having to either do with the raptors escaping or nearly maiming someone—but this was a different side of her, a panic that dripped with caring undertones instead of anger. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as she fumbled with the gun, smirking.

“As a former Navy Officer, I’m required to say that you are in too much of a bad state to be handling one of those.”

Carter’s head snapped over to face him. “Do you want me to shoot you in the eye, Owen?”

“That seems a bit harsh.” Owen struggled to hide his grin.

Carter leaned back in her seat, ignoring Claire’s own words of prayer as she attempted to call Zach’s cell. She shouldn’t be so mean to Owen, not when he was helping her find Nick and Joe. She sighed.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She then grinned. “How about I push you into the lake instead?”

Owen smiled, taking note that Carter’s grin was the first time he saw her at ease since he stole the jeep that they were currently in to go off course to find her brothers and Claire’s nephews. He shrugged, deciding to distract her stress by playing along.

“That’s reasonable.” He then quirked a brow. “Are you going to join me?”

Carter put the safety of her gun on before turning to Owen. “And why would I do that?”

“Well, if I recall, you think I’m cute.”

Carter silently cursed herself for letting that slip at the paddock today. Before she could quip back at him, the frustrated groan from Claire in the back seat made her turn around. The red head pocketed her phone before crossing her arms, Carter frowning at the sight.

“No luck for you either?”

Claire scoffed. “Obviously.” She then sighed, making her tone more pleasant. “Maybe it’s just the reception, they could be hiding somewhere in the jungle…”

Carter listened to Claire’s hypotheticals, wanting nothing more than to believe every single one. Nick and Joe had to be alive, they couldn’t die by the teeth of a dinosaur—they needed to live full lives, lives that Carter wondered if she was a part of earlier, if they would even be in this mess.

The slowing of the jeep made Carter snap out of her thoughts, looking over to see Owen’s eyes widen. She followed his gaze, her jaw unhinging at the sight of an Apatosaurus laying in front of the vehicle.

“Oh no.” She whispered to herself.

Carter kicked open the door, ignoring Owen’s hushed calls for her to come back as she slung the gun’s strap across her body before taking off in a run up the hill and towards the motionless dinosaur. As Carter moved closer, she could see the creature’s stomach rising and falling at a strained rate, raspy breathing leaving her mouth as a result of the scratches on her stomach.

During her time as a Jurassic World employee, Carter had only seen one dinosaur die. It was a raptor, the baby just hatching out of its egg only to not make it within the lab’s walls. While the scientists ignored the dying baby, Carter did her best to make it as comfortable as possible; running a finger down its back, coaxing it as if it was simply falling asleep until it finally did forever. She nearly broke Dr. Wu’s hand when he chuckled at the tears in her eyes.

Carter dropped to her knees by the animal’s head, putting a gentle hand under her chin to stop her from moving. The animal let out a soft whine, frightened of the touch until Carter let out a gentle shush.

“It’s okay,” She whispered, a sad smile taking over her lips. ”It’s over.”

It wasn’t until Owen’s hand began rubbing the top of the animal’s head when Carter realized she was no longer alone. She glanced up at him, the man sitting on the opposite side of the animal as he sent Carter a look of grief before focusing on the beast—she let out another pained moan.

“We know, we know.” Owen whispered, sympathizing with the animal’s pain.

Carter moved her hand over the animal’s jaw, her fingers accidentally bumping into Owen’s. Without saying a word, Owen moved his hand on top of Carter’s, holding it on top of the animal’s cold skin. She took a longer inhale than the previous ones, her eyes closing against the harsh sun.

“Go ahead, girl.” Carter gave a sad nod. “We’re right here.”

The animal never exhaled, the only sound in the air being Carter as she let out a shaky sigh and lowered her head. Death always had a funny way of showing up when Carter least expected it—whether it be in the form of a human, or in an Apatosaurus, death always needed to remind her that it always came; she just hoped it wasn’t still lurking around for her brothers.

Owen squeezing her hand made Carter look up, the man offering her a look of sympathy before releasing his hand from hers as he stood up.

“Carter?”

Carter turned around to see Claire standing behind her, the redhead’s eyes filled to the brim with tears as she looked over the dead dinosaur. Carter wondered if Claire had ever seen a dying ‘asset’ before, or if she had ever been this close to one. She offered the Manager a weak smile before standing up herself.

“She’s not suffering anymore.”

Claire wiped a few stray tears away. “That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Preaching to the choir on that one.” Carter muttered.

When she lost her parents, Carter was told time after time that they were ‘in a better place’, that they were free and in peace. She never listened to those words, Carter needed her parents with her, not in another ‘place’. As the years went by, Carter learned that people sometimes left without a reason—and even if you couldn’t get over it, you learned to live with it.

Owen walked up the hill, Carter and Claire trailing behind them before he halted to a stop. Carter didn’t even need to ask why when she stood next to him, taking in the sight of a herd of Apatosaurus’ lying dead in the field below. Claire let out a gasp of horror, covering her mouth as Carter simply stood shocked, her jaw unhinged. This had to be the work of the Indominous Rex, the beast leaving behind her prey as a way to mock them.

“It didn’t eat them.” Carter spoke aloud, shaking her head in confusion. “Why?”

Owen stared in disbelief. “It’s killing for sport.”

Looking at the dead herbivores, Carter suddenly grew sick. What if they did find the boys, but only their mangled remains? Carter couldn’t stand the idea of seeing Joe and Nick ripped apart—it took everything in her power to not throw up at the thought. As if thinking the same though, Claire spoke up.

“Then we shouldn’t wait around for it to come back.” She began walking back towards the jeep. “Let’s head out.”

Owen and Carter watched her walk away, Carter slightly impressed by her sudden confidence to take the lead. Owen, however, gestured to the woman with the barrel of his gun.

“Do you remember voting for her to be in charge out here?”

Carter simply shook her head before patting him on the back. “Let’s go, you’re driving.”

After they made it back to the jeep, Owen was forced to drive through the dead dinosaur bodies that laid around the tracks of the I-Rex. The drive was quiet as Carter tried to think positive thoughts—maybe Claire was right, that the boys were hiding in a cave somewhere completely unharmed. Those wishes were completely squashed when the car lurched to a stop in front of a demolished Gyosphere, the glass shattered and seats torn apart.

In sync, the adults exited the car, Owen’s gun at the ready as Carter kept hers slung over the shoulder. She took in the destroyed ride, running her hands over the contorted metal and dodging the flying sparks that came off of it.

“Carter…”

Owen’s quiet voice made Carter turn to him, her eyes popping out of her head as he showed off a tooth the size of his hand. The I-Rex had Joe and Nick in her mouth, the realization that they went down into her stomach making Carter heart drop.

“Well, are they here?” Claire asked as she stepped forward.

Carter gestured for Owen to throw the tooth away, knowing full well that Claire’s reaction wouldn’t be as internal as her own. The last thing they needed was a scream through the jungle to attract predators. Claire came closer to them, her eyes widening at the sight of the shattered sphere. Carter sighed, tears prickling her eyes.

“Claire, I—“

“No, no, no.”

Claire rushed to the sphere, dropping to her knees as she picked up a shattered phone, staring at it as if it was her nephews’ limp bodies. Another glint caught Carter’s eyes, and she kneeled down to see another phone. The screen was shattered, but frozen on her name—Joe’s phone. Carter scooped it up, shaking her head in both disbelief and grief.

“Dammit.” She hissed under her breath before throwing the phone down. “God dammit.”

“Hey,” Owen spoke up, making Claire and Carter turn away from the sphere of death. “They made it out.”

Carter followed his gaze to the muddy ground, eight pairs of footprints filling with murky water and leading to the edge of the forest. Carter visibly relaxed as Claire let out a deep exhale, the Manager standing up as Carter and Owen followed the prints, both of their guns at the ready.

The trail led them into a clearing and stopped at the edge of the cliff, a waterfall pouring out from the mountain and into a deep lake. Claire stopped behind Carter and Owen, letting out a gasp.

“Oh my God,” Her voice was airy. “They jumped.”

Owen kept a hard look on his face as he put the gun on his back. “Brave kids.”

“More like incredibly stupid kids.” Carter shook her head but wore a small smile on her face.

She had to give it up for Joe and Nick—she had no idea that they were brave enough to even think about jumping off a cliff and into the unknown. There was a lot she didn’t know about them, and now, it looked like she had a chance to finally learn those things she had refused to so many years ago.

“Zach! Gray! Nick! Jo—“

At Claire’s yells, Carter stomped back towards her and quickly put a hand over her mouth, silencing her idiotic calls. Shocked, the Manager ripped Carter’s hand away from her mouth, the trainer taking the time to wipe lipstick off of her palm and to her pants.

“Hey, I’m not one of your damn animals, Jonas!”

Carter glared, but spoke calmly. “They may be alive, but we won’t be if you continue to scream like a banshee.”

Claire deflated, knowing that she didn’t have a dog in this fight and settled for looking over at Owen, the man just finishing scanning the field to make sure they were still alone after her outburst.

“You can pick up their scent, can’t you?” She asked him, her voice lower to accommodate to Carter’s lesson. “Track their footprints?”

Carter stifled a laugh as Owen stared at Claire as if she was crazy. “I was with the Navy, not the Navajo.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Claire asked, exasperated.

Carter didn’t know where to go from here, but she did know one thing that could be done—and it was something that could possibly save all of their lives. She shook her head.

“There’s no ‘we’ anymore.” Carter told her. “You go back to the Park, Owen and I will find them.”

Claire crossed her arms. “It’s not just your brothers out there, Carter. My nephews are with them!”

Carter was becoming anxious. The more time they wasted up here arguing, the farther away Nick and Joe were getting. Owen was simply becoming annoyed, the man stepping up as he spoke in an angry, yet hushed, tone.

“Carter’s right—you’ll last two minutes out here.” His eyes went to her heels. “Less in those ridiculous shoes.”

Claire’s eyes narrowed in anger as she looked between Carter and Owen. Keeping eye contact with the pair, she started to unbutton her shirt before tying it like Carter’s. Owen looked over to Carter, confused by what was happening while Carter simply smirked, amused by Claire’s antics as the Manager adjusted her skirt. When she was done overhauling her attire, the redhead stood with her hands on her hips.

“I don’t…” Owen squinted his eyes as he took in Claire’s form before turning to Carter. “Do you know what that means?”

Letting out a small laugh, Carter patted Owen’s back. “It means she’s ready to go.”

Carter didn’t approve of Claire coming—she could barely last ten minutes at the raptor paddock—but she also knew that arguing against the woman would only waste the limited time they had. Owen let out a small grunt, thinking the same before looking back over at Claire.

“Fine, but let’s get one thing straight, I’m in charge out here.” Carter cleared her throat, raising her eyebrows as Owen sighed, correcting himself. “We’re in charge out here. You do everything we say, exactly as we say it.”

Claire scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“Just relax.” Owen soothed before taking his gun off his shoulder. “Just like taking a stroll through the woods…sixty-five million years ago.”

Claire merely rolled her eyes as she stomped past the pair and back towards the woods. Carter smiled widely as she watched her go.

“Well, at least she’s taking the initiative.” She shrugged, impressed.

Owen shook his head, “You owe me big time, Carter; you got me trekking through the woods with the Ice Queen.”

“How will I ever make it up to you?” Carter teased as she slung her gun to her hands.

He smirked. “I’ll think of something.”

At his wink, Carter pretended to gag before making her way back to the forest, fighting the blush that was threatening to take over. Owen followed her, but only after his smile disappeared due to looking at the massive footprint that rested next to them.

Chapter Text

The humidity clouded around Nick and Joe as they took the lead, Zach and Gray staying close behind as they trekked deeper through the dense jungle. The group remained quiet, afraid that even a single noise would attract hungry predators—they may have been able to get away from the white dinosaur once, but Joe knew that their luck had to run out eventually. He wasn’t going to test it.

“I’m sure Carter and your Aunt already have people out looking for us.” Nick tried to reassure Gray before looking towards Joe for support. whispered towards Joe. “Right, Joe?”

Joe could tell Nick was slightly unraveling. He was sure if they didn’t have younger boys here, Nick would have completely broken down by now; Nick always operated better in these situations when he had someone else to look after. Joe couldn’t blame him—he was on the verge of screaming as well—but he had a role to play, one that he had been playing his entire life; the big brother.

“Yeah, totally.” Joe reassured as he looked from side to side. “Everything is going to be okay.”

From behind, Zach spoke up. ”What if it finds us again? What’s your plan then, Joe?”

Nick let out an exasperated sigh as Joe simply glared at the teen. Ever since they left the waterfall, Zach made it his job to make Joe feel as guilty as possible, as if he needed any help in that department. Nick noticed how Gray seemed to get even more frightened at Zach’s words, and he took it upon himself to comfort the youngest of the group.

“It won’t as long as we stay together.” Nick offered a reassuring smile to Gray before glaring at Zach. “Stop it—can’t you see you’re scaring him?”

Zach gave a nonchalant shrug. “Well, the truth is scary sometimes.”

“God, would it kill you to say a nice thing at least once?” Joe spoke, his tone exasperated.

Zach crossed his arms. “Oh, I’m sorry, how about we talk about butterflies instead of the dinosaurs that are bound to find us?”

“That’s real mature…”

While the three boys began to have a fight of hushed whispers, Gray walked ahead, wanting to at least get a feel on where they were. His walking was stopped when his foot collided with a construction hat, the boy picking it up curiously as he examined it. The surface was cracked, red streaks stained on the blue service—blood.

It was only after he began hyperventilating when Nick broke away from the group, taking the hat from Gray’s hand as he looked down at it with wide eyes. He turned back to Zach and Joe, the two still quietly arguing. Nick rolled his eyes, realizing how childish it was to fight during a ‘life-or-death’ situation.

“Hey,” He hushed-yelled, earning their attention. “Can we stay focused and not kill each other before something else does?”

He held up the hardhat, using it to prove his point as Joe and Zach moved to get a closer look. The sight made Zach freeze, Gray running up to him for comfort while Nick handed Joe the hat for the oldest to get a better look.

“It’s been broken for a while.” Nick guessed, hoping that meant whatever caused it to break was long gone.

Joe threw it back to the ground. “Either way, I don’t want to wait around to find out just how old it is.”

“Look!” Gray pointed in the distance.

The boys followed his finger to see a wrecked jeep in the distance, sparks flying off its hood. Joe looked over to Nick, the man already gazing at him before nodding—did they just find an escape vehicle? Joe turned to look at Zach and Gray, their eyes never leaving the jeep as he nodded towards them.

“Stay close to us, alright?”

Gray nodded while Zach reluctantly agreed. Joe took up the lead as they made their way to the destroyed jeep, Nick quickly opening the hood to see if they could work with anything in the vehicle. His hope was completely shattered when he saw the rust within the parts.

“Unsalvageable.” He sighed, looking over at Joe. “Not even Kevin could get this thing running.”

Joe offered a sad smile. After their parents’ funeral, and Carter’s departure back to the Island, Kevin employed the boys to help him fix up their dad’s old Mustang—a project their father left behind. It was a bonding experience they all needed after the tragedy, as well as a learning experience for the younger brothers.

“Am I crazy, or is that a door?” Zach broke them out of their nostalgia.

Nick turned away from the engine and followed the teen’s gaze to a set of two tall doors completely covered with vines. If they could get them opened, that building could be a good place to wait for the rescue team—or, if they had to, spend the night in. Joe and Nick made it to the doors first, pushing them open to reveal a vast room populated with overgrown weeds and large bones that could only belong to dinosaurs. Nick and Joe stood still, both amazed and intimidated by the sight before them as Zach walked past them, Gray still clinging to his arm as he looked up at the broken glass ceiling.

“Wow…” Zach let out a breath.

Joe followed Nick inside, the youngest Jonas going to the center of the room while Joe slowly took in the cracked walls around him. Nick stepped over the rubble, his carefulness failing as he nearly tripped over a hard surface. Bending down, he picked up one of the longer bones to examine it.

“That’s a T-Rex rib.” Gray said, disbelief in his voice.

Nick turned to look at the boy, relieved that he was talking about something other than asking if they were ‘safe’. He grinned, deciding to give the kid something to laugh about as he shrugged.

“Well, that explains why it’s almost as big as my torso.”

Gray smiled, letting out a small laugh as Zach and Joe made their way over to the younger siblings. While Zach checked out the bone, something else caught Joe’s eyes. Looking down, he scrapped his foot over the dirt to reveal a banner with the words “Ruled the…” on it. Picking it up, Joe shook the banner as clean as he could before Zach’s voice erupted through the dome.

“What the hell is that?” His tone was judgmental, but did have a hint of curiosity to it.

Joe shot the teen a tired look. “The workings of my genius plan, grump.”

Zach looked to be ready to refute, but the nickname ‘grump’ threw him off as he turned to Nick and Gray, the two already chuckling at Joe’s exasperation. He rolled his eyes as Joe walked forward, gesturing to the bone in Nick’s hand.

“Do you mind?” Nick shook his hand as he turned over the bone to Joe. After tying the banner around the bone, Joe looked between the trio. “I don’t suppose any of you have matches, do you?”

“I do!” Gray responded quickly, obviously excited to be able to contribute.

Nick furrowed his brows as the boy handed Joe a box of matches. “Wait, why do you have…”

“Please, don’t ask.” Zach interrupted, running a tired hand down his face.

With a single match, Joe lit the makeshift torch aflame. Keeping one hand holding the torch, Joe gestured his other in a showman-like fashion, already earning an eye roll from Nick.

“Told you I was a genius.” He then began walking ahead. “Let’s scope this place out.”

Lighting the way, Joe led the three boys through the lonely halls of the building—it would have been exciting if Nick wasn’t thinking about all of the horror movies that started like this. They were passing through a room full of rusted tables when Zach stopped to run his hand over a painting of a velociraptor, Gray staring up at the picture with interest as well.

Nick stopped walking, a sudden sadness taking over him as he stared at the picture of the dinosaur—the species that Carter devoted most of her life to understanding. When he was younger, Nick used to harbor a sort of jealous towards the beast but now, looking at this picture, all Nick felt was the longing hope to see his sister again. The more he looked at it, the more Nick realized he wished Carter was with them.

“Guys, hey!”

Joe’s calls snapped all of their attention away from the picture, the older boy only illuminated by the fire in his hand as he stood in a doorway. Wanting the younger boys to remain safe, Nick pushed them in front of him as they made their way towards Joe. Once they reached him, Joe looked to Nick.

“What were you guys looking at?”

Nick waved a hand. “Just the paintings.”

“Well, what I found, is going to trump that.” He smirked. “Check it out!”

They followed him into a room reminiscent of a garage, the humid air coming in through the large, open door. None of them were focused on the outside, all of their eyes going to the old jeep that sat in the middle of the room, the words ‘Jurassic Park’ faded on the side.

“1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, sand beige.” Gray rattled off as he circled the jeep.

Joe grinned, unable to hide just how impressed he was by the genius boy. Without saying a word, Nick opened the hood, Joe leaning over his shoulder to take in the contents of the vehicle as well. With baited breath, Zach and Gray waited for the diagnosis, both having to stop themselves from gasping when Nick looked up at them.

“It just might work.” He let out an excited laugh. “But, I’m going to need some help.”

Joe looked towards Zach and Gray, a small smile on his face. Although he and Nick could easily fix up the car on their own, having the two boys help would get their minds off their impending deaths—besides, they could use Gray’s brain. The older boy gestured towards the car with his torch.

“Mind giving us a hand?”

Zach smiled, knowing what Joe was doing and using the same tactic on Gray as he turned to his little brother, taking off his grey jacket in the process.

“You remember when we fixed up Grandpa’s old Malibu, right?”

Gray nodded, a grin of excitement taking over. “Yeah!”

With that, the boys went to work. Using the spare parts they found on the shelves, and taking a few from other jeeps, they worked tirelessly to put the engine back together. While Nick stayed in front of the hood, Gray standing next to them as the older boy talked him through the repair, Zach and Joe laid under the jeep, connecting broken fuel pipes. After a few moments of silence, Zach sighed, realizing he may have not been the easiest to deal with during their trek through the jungle.

“I’m, uh, sorry.” At his words, Joe turned to Zach with surprised eyes. “I’ve been kind of a jerk to you ever since we lost that…thing.”

The corner of Joe’s mouth turned up in a grin. Zach’s voice still held a tone of harshness, but he could tell it was a genuine apology—the teen was making the effort, after all. Joe shook his head as he tightened the pipe with a rusted wrench.

“Don’t worry about it,” He reassured. “It was a dumb move to go through that restricted gate.”

The amount of guilt Joe felt for taking the sphere through that gate was already weighing down on him. If he just listened to that announcement—and Nick—and went back when they were told to, they would be back at the Resort by now; safe and sound. Zach sensed his guilt and, instead of making him feel even worse, he sympathized.

“I would have done the same thing.” The teen admitted. “I mean, it was practically calling our names.”

Joe let out a soft laugh, Zach joining in before the older boy turned to him. With the wrench, he gestured towards the teen.

“You’re a good kid, Zach.” Joe supported as he worked. “You just need to be….”

“More open? Nicer?” Zach tried to fill in the blanks.

“…Not a jerk.”

Joe turned to look at him, but only got a glare in response. Joe let out a soft chuckle, putting his hands up in defense before elaborating.

“I think Gray would appreciate it.” Joe added before hitting his knee. “The chicks don’t mind either.”

Zach let out a small laugh, but didn’t take Joe’s words lightly. He hadn’t exactly been the poster child for ‘Good Big Brothers’ when it came to Gray, and it was time to fix that. Once Joe finished the last pipe, the two climbed out from under the jeep, walking over to Nick and Gray with a fulfilled smile on Joe’s face.

“The hoses are as secure as they can be.” He put the wrench on the ground. “How’s the engine?”

Before any of them could say another word, a low roar erupted from the outside followed by the classic noises of the jungle. The group instantly froze as Nick turned to the open garage door, a single question leaving his suddenly dry mouth.

“Do you think it’s out there?”

Zach was going to answer with his own fear, but the sound of Gray’s panicked breathing made him turn to his little brother. The young boy’s eyes were as wide as saucers, his hands clutching onto the fabric of Nick’s shorts. Shaking off his own fright, Zach put a brave face on as he kneeled in front of Gray.

“Well, I know for a fact that it’s definitely not out there.” Zach reassured as Gray stared at him. “We’re safe in here.”

Without another word, Gray ran over to Zach, the young boy attaching himself to Zach’s arm once more. Joe grinned over at Zach, pleased to see that he was taking his advice so quickly. Sensing that he shouldn’t panic for the sake of the kids, Nick cleared his throat and ignored the sweat on the back of his neck.

“Yeah, Zach’s right. It’s long gone.” He let out a nervous chuckle before picking up a car battery. “Alright, Gray—get in position.” The younger boy took off to the driver seat, Zach following as Nick turned to his own brother. “Can you help me out, Joe?”

Joe teared his gaze away from the siblings as he walked to his own, helping him attach the battery to the different cables. Nick looked between Zach and Gray before turning back to Joe, the man focused on his work.

“What did you say to him under there?” Nick asked, clearly impressed. “He doesn’t look so…mopey.”

Joe gave a confident shrug, fixing his shirt as he spoke. “I gave him some ‘Joe Jonas Certified’ advice.”

“Oh, God.” Nick groaned, pretending to be horrified.

He couldn’t keep the front up long as Joe jokingly hit him in the arm. After giving the older brother a smile, he closed the hood, revealing the audience of Gray in the driver’s seat and Zach in the back.

“Alright, turn it over.” Nick stepped back, proud of his work.

Gray turned the key in the ignition, the car letting out a sputter before roaring to life as if it hadn’t been in a garage for more than twenty years. Smiles instantly came to their faces, Joe surprising Nick by pulling him into a hug and giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“It works!” Gray cheered.

“Yeah!” Nick wiped drool off his cheek before turning to Joe. “Never do that again.”

Joe offered a thumbs up. “Got it, boss.” He hit his hand on the hood. “Let’s get out of here!”

Gray moved to the back seat next to Zach as Joe moved to the driver’s seat. However, before he could get in, Nick put a hand on the handle, earning a confused look from Joe. Holding up a finger, Nick elaborated.

“My baby,” He gestured to the car before pointing at himself. “My turn to drive.”

Joe kept his eyes on Nick before finally giving in. The youngest brother did do most of the hard labor on the car, and Joe was sure that if he took over, he would never hear the end of it. Sighing, he climbed into the car and crawled to the passenger seat before rubbing the driver’s side.

“All yours, buddy.” Joe grinned as Nick jumped into the car, an excited smile on his face. “But we’re telling Carter that I drove—she may not know much about us, but she does know you failed your driver’s test three times before you passed.”

Zach’s head popped in between the seats, instantly nervous that a man who failed his driver’s test was going to be taking them through a dinosaur invested jungle.

“Wait, what was that?”

“Just relax and buckle up.” Nick buckled his seatbelt before going further into his reassurances. “Besides, I only failed the driving part.”

Before anyone could state their objections, Nick backed out of the garage and zoomed through the jungle, aiming for Jurassic World and Carter.

 It was the misplaced roar from an engine—and not a dinosaur—that sent Carter, Owen, and Claire running through the jungle. They didn’t have to run far, Carter’s shoes nearly slipping on the mud as she and Owen came to a stop in front of an open garage. Carter sighed, her heart instantly sinking at the empty space as Owen walked into the room, immediately kneeling down to pick up a discarded piece of clothing.

“Is this one of theirs?” He asked as he held up the grey jacket, looking between Carter and Claire.

Carter shook her head, knowing full well that neither of her brothers were small enough to wear such a tiny size, as Claire nodded. The woman let out a relived sigh.

“Oh my God, yes.” Claire said as Owen handed it to her. “It’s damp—that means they didn’t leave too long ago, right?”

Despite Carter’s biting nervousness that none of Joe or Nick’s stuff was left for her to find, she couldn’t help but smile as Claire looked at her for confirmation.

“You’re learning!” Carter congratulated before turning around, noticing the flattened grass that could only be the result of car tires. “That road leads straight back to the Park.”

Owen set his gun against the only jeep left behind before sticking his hand through the open window. When he turned the key, the car responded only with the sounds of sputters and creaking rust. The trainer shook his head in both annoyance and disbelief before turning to Carter.

“How did they even get one of these things started?”

Carter removed the weight of her gun and set it next to Owen’s as she mulled the question over. In their family, Kevin was always known for being the ‘car guy’—the obsession started early when their father had him help fix an old Camaro over the summer. Carter was never one for pulling apart a vehicle only to put it back together; she recalled tanning on the lawn while Kevin and her dad worked. Yet, she wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin passed down his love of cars to her younger brothers.

“I guess my older brother taught them,” She guessed.

Owen began to dig through the different shelves, trying to look for anyway he could jumpstart the engine. He then went back to the jeep, fumbling to raise the hood as he spoke.

“I don’t suppose Kevin passed down any of that knowledge to you.”

Carter shrugged. “I was more of a bike rider, myself.”

“But not a motorbike rider.” Owen prodded, a smirk on his lips.

She looked over at him. “You really want to start this again, Grady…”

Before she could go on, a heavy thump shook the ground under their feet followed by the sound of leaves clashing. Carter and Owen went silent, all joking from their faces replaced with worry as Claire let out a small shriek and grabbed Carter’s arm. To stop the redhead from cutting off her circulation, Carter held onto Claire’s hand before following Owen’s gesture to get behind him and the jeep.

The trio instantly sat on the ground, Carter in between Owen and Claire, with their backs to the front of the jeep and out of the view of the approaching beast. Owen leaned around the car to see both of their guns sitting against the door, his idea to grab at least one instantly fading as a familiar white dinosaur foot came into view from the door. He snapped back behind the car, his eyes locking with Carter’s before giving a shaky nod—a silent confirmation that the I-Rex had found them.

Carter’s eyes widened as she mentally cursed to herself. She had a feeling that they would run into the hybrid again; Carter only wished it wasn’t when they were trapped in a dead end. She turned to Claire, the redhead letting out shaky breaths beside her. Carter pursed her lips, remembering that whatever fear she was feeling, it most likely went double for Claire. She squeezed the woman’s hand, earning her attention before mouthing the only advice that would work in this situation.

“Shh…”

The sound barely left Carter’s mouth, but Claire obviously got the message as she gave a small nod and closed her tearful eyes. Carter was about to do the same when she felt a presence in her hand. She looked over at Owen, the man already gazing at her with a clenched jaw. He was afraid, Carter could tell, and she was sure her expression matched his as she intertwine their hands, both thinking the same thing; if they were going to die, at least they would go together.

The growls were closer now as the I-Rex shoved her snout into the garage, her face unable to fit completely due to the jeep’s spot in the room. Her eye line stopped just before the hood of the jeep, keeping the trio out of her view, but that didn’t stop her search from obvious prey as she used her jaw to nudge the jeep. At the slight shake of the vehicle, Carter grasped onto Owen’s hand even tighter, the fear that this could be the end taking over her.

Air rapidly blew in and out of the I-Rex’s nostrils—her last search for food. When that came up short, the I-Rex huffed out a breath and drew her snout from the garage. Once the sounds of footsteps entered their ears, Owen reluctantly let go of Carter’s hand as he reached to grab one of the guns, keeping the weapon close to his chest as his back pressed up against the front of the jeep once more. Carter and Claire kept their gaze on Owen, the silent question of if the I-Rex was gone written in their eyes as he answered with a single nod.

Claire leaned her head back on the jeep, allowing herself to let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding as Carter ran a hand over her sweaty face. She was about to crawl to get her gun back when the sudden appearance of the I-Rex’s foot came through the roof of the garage, earning a scream from both Carter and Claire as it let out a mighty roar.

They all instantly scrambled up to their feet, taking off through the abandoned building’s hollowed halls and hopping over any debris in their way. Carter resisted another scream as the I-Rex’s snout came through the glass ceiling, instead putting all of her energy towards focusing on the open exit.

Owen came to a stop at the top of the stairs, holding a hand out to help high-heeled clad Claire only to have her ignore him as she jumped down the stairs. He watched her with wide eyes, only looking away when he felt the air from Carter’s own sprint hit him. Turning her head to face the man, Carter called back to him, a grin on her face.

“Come on, Owen! It’s not a race!”

He merely rolled his eyes as he caught up to Carter, the two now running side-by-side as he spoke to her through baited breaths.

“I was trying to be a gentlemen.”

Carter grinned. “Why start now?”

“Almost getting eaten by a dinosaur made me soft, I suppose.”

Owen smirked as Carter shook her head, the two catching up with Claire. Once they figured the I-Rex was no longer following them, they slowed their run to a jog while Claire pulled out her phone, hitting one button before pressing the device to her ear.

“Lowry, we found her—south of the Gyrosphere Valley, between the old park and the aviary. Get ACU out here with real guns this time.”

Over the speaker on Claire’s phone, Carter could hear the response. “ACU is airborne, they took the helicopter!”

Cutting off Carter’s questions, said helicopter flew over their heads as they instantly followed it until they reached a cliff. Standing at the edge, the trio were exposed to a view of the Aviary, the ACU chopper flying right towards it. Carter swallowed, obviously nervous as her eyes caught sight of rustling trees heading for the chopper—the I-Rex was following the Unit with intense interest.

“Do you think they can get her?” Carter asked no one in particular.

As if jinxing the question, the chopper fired a missile that missed the target and went straight into the glass Aviary. Out of the shattered hole, dozens of blurs came out, attacking the chopper until it crashed through the glass with an explosion before the blurs made their way towards them. Carter backed up, knowing that those blurs weren’t birds.

“Trees…” Carter spoke up before shaking her head. “We got to get to the trees!”

Owen pushed Claire in front of him. “Go, go!”

Claire took off next to Carter, Owen following as they made their way back to the tree line. Noticing that one of the pteranodons was flying a bit too low, Owen quickly tackled Carter and Claire to the ground, narrowly missing the sharp beak of the flying beast. Turning on their elbows, the trio watched in horror as thousands of the dinosaurs flew above them.

“Not good.” Carter spoke all of their minds.

Claire shook her head. “They’re heading towards the Park.”

Owen looked over at Carter, adding on to her earlier thought as a sense of dread entered his heart.

“Very not good.”

Chapter Text

Nick kept his foot pressed on the gas pedal as they sped towards a fence, the jeep bursting the metal gate open as the boys in the vehicle all let out excited laughs. They may have been breaking through rusted fences for miles, but even Zach had to admit that crashing through something never got old—especially when Gray let out a ‘hoot’ every time it happened.

Once the laughter died down, Joe let out a relieved sigh as an open field came into view, knowing that the nightmare was finally over. The man grinned.

“Okay, that’s it.” He spoke to the passengers. “We’re safe now.”

Nick grinned, keeping his eyes on the dirt path. “Thanks to my awesome mechanic skills.”

“Dude, how much praise do you need?” Joe turned to his brother, a joking tone in his voice as he smiled.

Nick smiled back as a new adrenaline coursed through his veins. They were so close to safety, so close to leaving this behind them and going back to their lives—but this time, with Carter in tow. He just knew that things were going to be different between the three of them; they may still have years that they needed to catch up on, but now Nick felt more than ready to learn about all he missed with Carter—he just hoped she felt the same.

From the backseat, Gray caught sight of a few strange blurs popping up in the rearview mirror. His eyes widened as he quickly began to hit the back of Nick’s seat, making the older boy jerk forward slightly.

“Gray, are you trying to kill us?!” Nick asked, slightly annoyed.

Gray continued hitting the seat. “Trying to save us, actually.” The screeches became louder. “Go, go!”

Joe and Zach turned around as Nick glanced in the rearview mirror, finally understanding why Gray had the urge to punch the back of his seat. Dozens of pteranodons were heading their way, flying above them but searching for prey to strike from above. Joe swallowed, his sudden confidence disappearing at the sight of their new threat, as Zach simply stared in horror.

“Oh, shit.” The teen whispered.

Keeping his gaze on the flying dinosaurs, Joe spoke up. “Nick—floor it. Now.”

Nick didn’t need to be told twice as he shifted the gears and pressed the gas pedal all the way to the ground of the jeep. Joe’s hands gripped onto the dashboard as Zach and Gray held each other, only looking back when screeches filled the sky. Joe watched the dinosaurs fly—they were getting closer, but luckily, the jeep was faster. They reached the field in record time, and soon, the door to ‘Gate 5’ came into view and Joe could just barely see two guards milling on top of the wall. Grumbling, he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Hey!” Joe yelled as he stood up, his hands gripping onto the windshield’s border. “Open the gate!”

Zach instantly joined in. “Help!”

Nick and Gray yelled as well, the entire jeep rocking with noise and speed until the guards finally lifted the metal gate, allowing the vehicle to drive through without consequence. Nick brought the jeep to a halt, the sudden stop making all of them instantly unbuckle their seatbelts before hopping out of the car. The guards quickly locked the gate before setting off a whirlwind of alarms, alerting the workers about the containment breach.

“We need to find Carter and Claire.” Joe announced over the noise as Zach helped Gray out of the car.

Gray’s eyes went wide. “But, we’re sticking together, right?”

Despite the group’s rocky start, none of them could deny that they did work well together. Without each of the four of them, they would have never made it back to the Park—at least, not so quickly. Zach looked between the two older boys, an easy smile taking over his lips.

“Of course we are.”

Nick and Joe nodded, a smile coming over Joe’s face. “We’re a team now, buddy.”

Gray smiled widely, relieved that he wouldn’t have to say goodbye to his new friends soon. Nick looked like he was about to add something but was cut off when a thick accented voice broke through the silent air.

“Jonas’ and Mitchell’s!”

Turning, the boys all stood wide-eyed as the familiar form of Zara came stalking towards them, her sunglasses over her face and phone clutched in her hand. Zach and Gray let out a groan, not wanting to deal with their once designated babysitter, Joe looking just as unpleased to see his ‘escort’ while Nick took the opportunity to rush up to her; Zara slightly shocked by the man’s speed.

“Where’s Carter? Is she okay?”

Joe’s ear perked up at this while Gray spoke up as well. “And what about our Aunt Claire?”

“They’re on their way back from looking for you.” Zara explained. “They’ll meet us at the Resort.”

Joe’s eyebrows shot up. He expected Carter to simply send people to find them, but instead, she went into the jungle herself. He gave a small grin towards Nick—maybe Carter was more caring than they realized. The warm moment was interrupted as screeches once again filled the air, the pteranodons drawing closer. Nick looked between the younger boys before looking at Joe, all thinking the same thing; they needed to get inside.

Without a word, the boys took off in front of Zara, leaving the woman to silently regret her job as she sprinted to catch up with them.

 By the time Carter, Claire, and Owen arrived back to the Park, Main Street was in complete chaos.

Carter watched in horror as pteranodons and dimorphodons terrorized the tourists, screams erupting in the air as some were plucked from the street by claws and others were impaled by the sharp beaks. They crashed through windows, taking whoever they could out of what was once considered a safe hiding place.

It then hit Carter; Jurassic World was no longer a theme park, it was a warzone. That became even clearer as Owen passed her an extra gun before running off to help the ACU, Carter quickly cocking it as Claire hung up her phone, keeping up with the trainer as they sprinted through the cobblestoned streets.

“Zara has all four of the boys.” She spoke with relief, even though her eyes were full of panic by the sight in front of her.

It was hard for Carter to be relieved over the news. She was pleased that she now knew where Joe and Nick were, but they were in even more danger here than they were outside the bounds of the Park. She had no idea how they would find any of the boys in this mess; Carter just hoped they weren’t in one of the buildings the pteranodons crashed through. Spotting a broken, yet stable, table in the distance, Carter came up with a job that would not only keep Claire busy, but hopefully make finding the four boys much easier.

“Stand on top of that and call their names.” Carter instructed as she pointed at the table. “When you find them, we have to get them out of here.”

Claire sharply looked at Carter, scanning her form. “I thought you didn’t want me to ‘scream like a banshee’.”

“Keep sassing me like that, and I won’t cover you.” Carter joked, earning a small smile from Claire. “Now go; you got this.”

Giving her a light shove on the back, Claire took off running towards the designated ‘watch tower’ while Carter took cautious steps towards the woman, leaving distance between them to get a wider view of the oncoming dinosaurs. With an eye looking through the scope of her gun, Carter fired once they started making a beeline for Claire, listening as she shouted the names of the missing.

“Zach, Gray!” She yelled, scanning the crowd as she clung onto the broken pole that once held an umbrella. “Joe, Nick!”

 “Stop running!”

The boys ignored Zara as they pushed their way through the opening of Main Street, Zach finally allowing Gray to hold his hand while Joe and Nick did the same. Joe and Nick skidded to a stop in the middle of the strip, Zach and Gray doing the same as they took in the horror around them.

“What…what do we do?!” Gray yelled over the chaos, completely panicked.

None of them knew where they were going; to Joe, safety didn’t seem like a word that existed as they skidded to a stop in the middle of the street, looking every which way for a path to go on. Nick looked over at Joe, the man feeling more like a little kid than ever as he gazed at his brother for guidance. Joe’s lip slightly quivered, finally understanding the pressure Kevin was always under as he shook his head.

“I…I don’t…”

He never got the chance to admit his cluelessness as Zara huffed to a stop next to them, her expression one of annoyance as she glared at the group of four.

“Don’t just stand there….!”

Her words never reached Nick’s ears as his eyes landed on a pteranodon making its way towards an unsuspecting Zach and Gray. Without saying a word, he pulled the boys by their shirts towards him, but the beast didn’t leave empty handed as it swooped up Zara, her instructions replaced by screams as she was carried off towards the water.

“Oh my God…” Joe muttered before taking off in a sprint towards the water tank. “Come on!”

Nick pushed Zach and Gray in front of him as they all followed Joe, the older boy holding the false hope that there was a chance to save Zara; she may have been a nuisance, but no one deserved to die—not like this, anyway. They reached the edge of the water just in time to see the Mosasaurs take both the pteranodon and Zara in its’ mouth for a late lunch. Joe and Nick stared as the dinosaur sunk back into the water, a small wave erupting from the water by its’ impact.

Just like that, Zara was gone, the two men only breaking their eye contact away from the tank when Gray’s ragged breathing entered their ears. Zach hugged the boy into his hip, looking at Joe and Nick with a face that just screamed ‘help me’.

“We have to get inside.” Joe spoke, obviously shaken up but taking on the leader role once again. “We need to stay—“

“Aunt Claire?” Gray interrupted, his eyes focused somewhere else before yelling louder. “Zach, its Aunt Claire!”

Wiggling out of Zach’s hold, Gray took off running down the street with Zach on heels, the older boy calling his name as he struggled to catch up with him. Joe put his hands down, a bit disappointed that they didn’t listen to his plan.

“Oh, we can just all run off without any idea on where we’re going.”

Nick rolled his eyes, but grabbed his hand before running off as well. “Come on, Captain!”

Pushing past a few slow people, Joe and Nick were able to catch up to the Mitchell boys—and were relieved to see that Zach once again had a firm grip on Gray’s hand as the youngest led them. As they drew closer to the Innovation Center, Nick caught sight of a redheaded woman on top of a table, her eyes scanning the crowd as she yelled, her words become clearer the closer they got.

“Zach, Gray! Joe, Nick!”

Zach smiled. “Aunt Claire!”

Hearing their own names filled Nick and Joe with confusion and relief; they never met this woman before, but she had to be the ‘Aunt Claire’ Gray was screaming for. It was only when a portion of the crowd parted when Joe saw the familiar form of Carter wielding a gun as she shot down any of the beasts that threatened to get too close to Claire or herself.

It was a strange sight, but a welcomed one. Joe felt his own lips tug up in a smile.

“Carter!”

 The familiar, yet panicked, voice of Joe made Carter look up from her scope, her eyes widening at the distant sight of Joe and Nick’s heads bopping among the crowd in the distance as they allowed two younger boys to run in front of them—they had to be Zach and Gray. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders as they came closer; Joe and Nick were safe, and they were in her eye line.

“Oh my God,” She laughed out of pure ecstasy. “Joe, Nick! I’m over here!”

At the sound of Carter’s voice, Owen stopped shooting, watching as the four boys made their way to them. Unlike Carter and Claire, who were blinded by relief and love for their family members, Owen noticed a pteranodon getting a bit too close to the boys. His eyes went wide before calling out.

“Guys, Don’t…!”

Before he could get his warning out, one of the beasts knocked him down in an attack. Owen grunted as he turned on his back, holding the snapping animal as far away from his face as he could. Carter aimed at the pteranodon that was getting close to them, shooting it down in an instant, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. Her internal celebration was cut off when Owen let out an uncharacteristically panicked tone.

“Carter!?”

She looked over at Owen, “Shit!”

Without a second though, Carter ran towards his crumbled form, Owen only sparing her a small glance as he kept his grip on the animal’s neck. Letting the momentum of her run do all the work, Carter delivered a kick to the dinosaur’s side, making the pteranodon let out a screech before falling next to Owen. With its’ form belly-up, Carter took the opportunity to deliver multiple shots into its’ exposed stomach.

Once the pteranodon stopped moving, Carter lowered her gun as she exhaled and made her way to closer to Owen. He looked shocked, but from what Carter could see, he wasn’t hurt—Owen was safe, and that was all that mattered to her. Helping Owen to his feet, Carter grinned up at him.

“Of all the times to play the role of the ‘Damsel in Distress’, I can’t believe you chose now.”

Moving his gaze from Carter’s eyes to her lips, Owen didn’t say a word as he wrapped an arm around Carter’s waist and pulled her into a kiss. Out of surprise, Carter let out a small gasp against his lips, but quickly realized that there was no other place that she belonged more. Closing her eyes, she moved her hand up to his arm, letting it rest there as the gentle kiss went on. Once they pulled away, they stared at each other in complete silence, Owen suddenly becoming something he hadn’t felt in a long time—self-conscious.

“Weird?” Owen asked, his eyes never leaving hers.

Carter quickly shook her head. “No, no. It’s…right.”

“Oh, thank god.” Owen breathed out, obviously feeling the same.

Carter allowed a smile to take over her features, Owen’s gaze back on her lips as if preparing for a second round when the hysterical voice of Claire interrupted the moment.

“That’s them! Carter, it’s them!” She screamed as she hopped down from the table. “Zach, Gray!”

Carter looked away from Owen, watching as Claire pushed her way to the crowd to get to her nephews, her own gaze widening when she caught sight of Nick and Joe standing a close distance away from them. She bounced in Owen’s arms.

“It’s them!” She repeated before running off. “Joe, Nick!”

Carter ran towards them, a gleeful smile taking over Nick’s face as she jumped into his arms, the two hugging tighter than ever as he spun her around. Nick didn’t care that he just saw his older sister locking lips with a stranger, they were finally reunited; safe. They broke away as Carter turned to Joe, hugging him tight as well. Although Joe was just as relieved to be back with his sister, he couldn’t help but keep a hard gaze on the man he just saw Carter kissing—curious and ready to let his brotherly instinct take over.

“Oh my God,” Carter practically sobbed as she took in their presence, inspecting their faces for bruises or scars. “How did you guys make it back? Are you hurt at all? I was so worried about--”

“Who the hell is that?” Joe interrupted, his gaze on Owen.

Carter followed his eye line to Owen, the man standing a fair distance behind the siblings and next to Claire as he offered a small, awkward wave. Carter sighed, realizing that her brothers had saw the kiss—of all things that they could have caught her doing, it was making out with Owen Grady.

“We, uh, work together.” She answered awkwardly.

Nick smirked. “We noticed.”

Carter closed her eyes and shook her head, but allowed a laugh to escape her throat when she heard Joe slap Nick in the arm. She was prepared to defend herself, but the voice of Owen made them put the conversation on hold.

“Hey,” He spoke up, Claire looking away from Gray. “We gotta go.”

She nodded. “Right, come on.”

Carter pushed her young brothers ahead of her as the group started running towards the employee section. Swiping her ID through one of the doors, Carter gained entrance into the back alleys for workers, the area relatively calm and, surprisingly, not as crowded as the other sections. Carter turned as she walked, her brothers keeping up as they stayed close to Claire’s nephews—she wondered what they went through to look so comfortable with one another.

“Larry, we’re on our way back to you.” Claire spoke into her phone, her professionalism breaking as he face scrunched up in confusion. “What do you mean ‘Use the raptors’?”

The statement made Carter and Owen pause in their walking as they both looked at one another. Carter’s stomach filled with anger; leave it to Hoskins to use a tragedy such as this to perform his long awaited ‘field test’.

Carter clenched her jaw. “That’s it—I’m going to kill him.”

“Take the boys, get them someplace safe.” Owen turned to Claire.

Carter turned to Joe and Nick, the siblings all thinking the same thing; they just reunited, and they had to part once again. However, this time, Carter wouldn’t leave them without making sure that they were away from harm—and by harm, she meant Hoskins’ insane mentality. She opened her mouth, wanting to say words of reassurance, but was cut off when the doors separating the alley from Main Street began to rattle.

The doors threatened to burst open, the sight making Carter quickly run towards a jeep in the middle of the alley for cover. She hopped in the driver’s seat, honking the horn even though the group was already making their way towards her. Owen threw open the passenger door, sliding in as Claire got squished to the opposite window by Nick’s shoulder, Joe next to him while Gray sat in between Zach and the Jonas boy.

“I can’t breathe!” Claire adjusted herself.

Joe grinned. “Want to sit on my lap?”

“Joe, I love you.” Carter spoke as she put the car in reverse. “But stop talking.”

Before Joe could protest, Carter pressed her foot down on the gas, allowing the car to speed backwards through the alley in an attempt to avoid the mob of tourists as well as the pteranodon that was now flying above them.

“Faster, come on!” Nick called up, banging his hand against the seat.

Carter kept her gaze on the rearview mirror. “I’m going as fast as I can here!”

“You got this, you got this.” Owen kept his grip on the dashboard.

Finding a section to park the car, Carter sloppily backed into the farthest corner of the alley. Everyone took in gulps of air as they watched the crowd run past their windshield, looking for cover that would never come. After a beat, Zach spoke up.

“This does not feel safe.”

Carter dropped her hands from the wheel, ignoring Zach’s protest in favor of voicing the only thought she had ever since hearing Claire on the phone.

“We can’t let Hoskins get his hands on the squad.”

Nick and Joe looked over at their sister, taking in her completely shaken appearance. They had just saw her shoot a dinosaur without a problem, and yet, the mere idea of her ‘squad’ being use made her look like she was about to puke. Joe placed a comforting hand on Carter’s shoulder, the touch earning a sad smile from the girl that the brothers reciprocated. Owen was about to say something, but was cut off by Gray’s sudden interruption.

“Can we stay with you?”

Claire reached over to touch her youngest nephew’s cheek. “I’m not leaving you for as long as you live.”

“No, no, no,” Zach and Gray chorused. “Them.”

Gray put his hands on both Owen and Carter’s shoulders, as if Claire needed to know whom they were talking about.

“Definitely them.” Zach added quietly.

Nick put his hand up. “Maybe I’m basis, but I don’t exactly want to be separated from Carter either.”

“Agreed.” Joe cut in.

After years of being separated, there was something about her younger brothers not wanting to be away from her that warmed Carter’s heart. From her spot in the driver’s seat, Carter looked over at Owen, the man already gazing at her—she wondered if he was thinking the same as Nick and Joe. With a small smile, she turned on the jeep once more.

“What can I say?” She directed her statement to Owen and Claire as she shifted the car to ‘drive’. “Kids love me.”

With that, she took off through the empty alley and towards the back roads, taking the familiar route to the raptor paddock.

Chapter Text

Night had fallen by the time the jeep came to a stop in front of the raptor paddock, a light rain decorating the windshield as Carter watched more than a dozen InGen workers bearing their weapons as they walked around the area and the raptor containment cells. She glared at Hoskins as he stared at the jeep; the bastard had no idea what he was getting into by crossing both Carter and Owen, but they were ready to show him.

“Guys, stay in the car.” Carter instructed.

Nick and Joe nodded as Zach and Gray obeyed, knowing full-well that none of them wanted to be in the crossfire between an angry Carter and Owen—especially an angry Claire. They watched as the three Jurassic World employees unbuckled themselves and jumped out of the vehicle. Ducking out of the paddock, Hoskins made his way over to the raptor trainers and Claire, a smirk on his face as he walked to meet them halfway.

“Look at that,” He said smugly, his eyes focused on Carter and Owen. “Mommy and Daddy have finally arrived.”

Not giving him the chance to say anything else, Carter punched Hoskins’ straight in the jaw, the impact causing him to almost fall over as Carter shook her hand to reveal the pain that was cancelled out by her pure adrenaline rush. Claire flinched at the sound, but struggled to hide the grin that came over her face while Owen simply glared; though, internally, he was pleased Carter finally got her aggression for Hoskins out. Once Hoskins’ recovered, he stared at the woman with wide eyes.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that.” Carter commented, her hate for the man burning through her sickening smile.

From the backseat of the car, the boys couldn’t help but let out small cheers at the punch. Zach nudged Joe’s shoulder, an excited grin on his face.

“Dude, your sister is hardcore.”

Joe let out a small laugh as he nodded, not able to think of any quip or line that could beat what they just witnessed. Nick leaned forward, not wanting to miss a word of dialogue between their group and the military-fanatic.

“Get the hell out of here,” Owen’s voice was calm, but low with warning. “And stay away from our animals.”

Claire jutted a finger into his chest, unable to control her anger. “Hoskins, you wanted this to happen, you son of a bitch!”

Hoskins took in the trio before him, both annoyed and disgusted by their lack of ability to see the bigger picture; at least, the picture he had painted for Dr. Wu all those years ago. Moving his jaw one last time to pop it in place, he looked at the group in disgust.

“Aw, jeez.” He brushed them off, looking between Carter and Owen. “How many more people have to die before this mission starts to make sense to you?”

“It’s not a mission,” Barry interjected as he walked up to the group. “It’s a field test.”

Barry was known as one of the quieter raptor trainers in the paddock, but his skill outweighed his shyness. Although he wasn’t considered an Alpha the way Owen and Carter were to the squad, the raptors still held a kinship for him due to his ability to calm them down with sweet nothings. Carter nodded at the man in greeting, Barry returning it before the two went back to the conversation at hand.

“This is an InGen situation now.” Hoskins ignored their voices in favor of his own. “There are going to be cruise ships that show up here at first light. Everybody’s going to watch the news story tomorrow about how you all saved lives—no, better yet, how your animals saved lives.”

Owen’s jaw clenched, an expression of indecision coming over him before turning to Carter, as if waiting for her to tell him what was best for their girls. Carter’s eyes softened, thinking of how the squad has never been out of containment, except when going to a closed course way off site, but even that was considered part of the paddock.

“They’ve never been out of containment,” She spoke directly to Owen. “It’s crazy to put them on a mission when they aren’t even ready to be an attraction for the Park.”

Hoskins wasn’t even pretending to listen as he turned away from the trainers in favor of ordering his team. “Let’s move it out!”

“Hey!” Carter raised her voice, making him turn to her in the slight fear of getting punched again. “We aren’t done talking to you.”

Hoskins scoffed, his voice harsh as he glared between Owen and Carter. “This is happening—with or without you two.”

Owen turned to Carter once again, but this time, he reluctantly nodded at her. The woman let out a defeated sigh, knowing what they had to do. If there was any reason to agree with Hoskins, it was the fact that the pack couldn’t be let out of the paddock without their Alphas.

 Which is how the pair of trainers ended up in an illuminated tent with a map of Jurassic World on a large table in front of them, surrounded by a group of InGen soldiers. Once the entire Unit was inside, Owen pointed at a specific point on the map.

“We know she’s in Sector Five.” He then looked around the group. “This is a game we like to call ‘Hide and Seek’—it’s a drill we’ve done about a thousand times with these animals.”

Carter nodded, uncrossing her arms. “When they get on target—and they will—wait to engage.” She explained as the Unit’s gaze shifted to her. “Velociraptors are pack hunters; they like to herd the animal into a kill zone.”

“That’s when we take our shot.” Owen added, making the Unit turn back to him. “Get a clear shot, wait for my command, and give her everything you got. We got one good target, gentlemen.” For the second time that day, Carter cleared her throat for Owen to correct himself. “Gentlemen and Carter.”

Carter offered a small salute before turning back to face the Unit with a scowl. She didn’t hate these men—if anything, she pitied them for having to take orders from Hoskins’ for a living—but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t hesitate on killing any of them if they hurt her squad.

“And, for the love of everything that is Holy, do not shoot our raptors.” Carter added, earning a nod from Owen. “Please.”

 In another section of the paddock, the four raptors were trapped in place within the wall, muzzles keeping their jaws shut but not stopping them from letting out soft growls. Carter frowned as she looked over at Charlie, the youngest of the raptor siblings letting out soft whine before jerking back and forth, obviously trying to get the camera that was forcibly strapped to her head off.

“Oh, Charlie.” Carter sighed as she placed a gentle hand on the side of Charlie’s jaw, stroking it. “You’re way too young for this bullshit.”

The coo came out as a joke, but Carter meant every word. She hated that her raptors were being dragged into Hoskins’ crazy plan—if there was any bright side, it was that she and Owen would be in the field to look after them. After a few more strokes, Charlie calmed down, a noise similar to a purr leaving her throat. Carter grinned; it was little moments like these that made her love her job.

“Good girl.” She cooed. “It’ll all be over soon.”

As Carter moved on to comfort Echo, she couldn’t help but watch as Owen shared a moment with Blue. The man looked directly into her eyes, the action taking Carter back to her first days working in the paddock; she was amazed by how well Owen connected with the animals. He would always tell people how much he loved his job, but Carter wondered if those people realized that seeing him do it in person was a whole other experience.

“You don’t scare me, girl.”

A small grin came over his face as he spoke to the Beta, his eyes tearing away from hers in favor of looking at Carter. Owen watched with a grin as Carter leaned into Echo’s ear, whispering encouragements that immediately made the raptor calm down. It took Owen a while to remember what it was like working in the paddock without Carter—ever since her first day, she just fit in so well, and not just with the raptors.

Besides the girls, Carter has been the only constant in his life that Owen never wanted to lose. A frown came over his face when he realized that if anything happened to the squad, he wouldn’t be the only one devastated beyond repair; Carter would be just as hurt.

“Are we doing the right thing?” Owen suddenly asked.

Carter looked away from Echo, taking in Owen’s expression of worry as he stared at her. In all of the years Carter had known him, she had never seen Owen Grady look this nervous; yet, she wasn’t surprised that it was his girls that evoked this emotion. Offering a small grin, Carter shrugged.

“I wish I knew.” Her hand slid off of Echo’s skin. “But, I do know we made the right call to go with them. Even if it does mean we have to face years of listening to Hoskins rub it in our faces.”

Owen let out an air of laughter as Carter let an exaggerated shiver go up her spine. Relieved that he could take his mind off the ‘mission’ for a few moments, Owen got up from his crouched position in front of Blue.

“Speaking of that—I thought we agreed that I would be the one to punch him in the face.

Carter shrugged, a smirk playing on her face. “You were too slow for me, Grady.”

“Oh, really?” He teased as he walked forward.

Before Carter could say anything else, as well as before Owen could reach her, the sudden appearance of four boys on the other side of the fence made them freeze. Joe and Nick lifted their eyebrows at the pair—they just interrupted a moment, and for some reason, their brotherly instincts told them to be pleased. Carter walked forward, Owen joining her after giving Blue one last stroke.

“Are they safe?” Gray asked, his interest for the beasts still strong, even after everything they went through just hours before.

Owen looked at the raptors in defeat. “No, they’re not.”

“What are their names?” Nick asked, wanting to know more about the animals Carter dedicated so much of her time to.

Carter grinned, Nick’s interest in her squad’s name feeling somewhat like a small victory; even if it meant Kevin was right in saying that having the younger boys in ‘her world’ would help their relationship. From the inside of the cage, she stood in between Joe and Nick before pointing to the far left, her finger going over each raptor as she introduced them.

“That’s Charlie, she’s the youngest. Echo, she stole my turkey sandwich once with help from Owen.” She smiled when she heard the boys’ chuckle, but slapped Owen in the arm when he gave a guilty grin and shrug. “Delta, who never seems to keep her mouth shut, and that’s Blue—she’s the Beta.”

Zach’s brow furrowed. “Who’s the Alpha?”

Carter once again turned to face them, a knowing grin on her face. This was always her favorite part when introducing the squad, Owen sharing his love for the moment as well as he gestured between Carter and himself.

“You’re looking at them, kid.”

Zach and Gray were obviously impressed as they grinned in awe of the two trainers. Nick couldn’t help but be instantly proud of his sister, only wishing that swallowed his pride earlier to truly see her work with the raptors. Although Joe was impressed, he couldn’t help but feel nervous about the mission; Carter was obviously good at her job, but he doubted ‘go after and slay a genetically-modified dinosaur’ was part of the Jurassic World Handbook.

“Are you scared, Carter?” Joe asked, his voice low.

Everyone in their group heard, Nick looking at Carter as well as he waited for an answer. Carter could tell the boys were worried about her—just like how she was worried about them the entire day—but she felt strangely at ease. If she was going after the I-Rex alone, then that would be a whole other story.

“I think my ‘worry-meter’ got maxed out while looking for you guys,” She grinned, but got serious when Joe and Nick’s gazes didn’t waver. She put her hands on the bars that separated them. “Guys, if I scared easily, I wouldn’t be working here. I’ll be fine, alright?”

Nick narrowed his eyes, wondering why he trusted this statement so easily. “Why do I believe you?”

“Because I’m the oldest sibling, so that makes me always right.”

Zach nodded, pointing at Carter in agreement. “She’s right—I’m always right about everything.”

Joe and Nick simply rolled their eyes, but couldn’t help but be amused as Carter and Zach high-fived through the bars. Gray shook his head, patting his older brother’s back.  

“Keep telling yourself that.”

The moment was interrupted when Claire called for the boys, the woman motioning them to come to her as she stood near an ACU truck. Not wanting to keep their Aunt waiting, Zach and Gray offered one last ‘good luck’ to the trainers before making their way towards the truck. Owen looked between the Jonas siblings, sensing a moment was coming on.

“It was nice meeting you two,” Owen offered before pointing back towards the raptors. “I’ll just, uh, be over here.”

He gave one last wave before disappearing next to Blue, focusing on the Beta once more. Joe and Nick simply grinned at the male trainer, gaining a soft spot for the man. Carter turned back to her brothers, letting a soft exhale leave her mouth. If she was going to die tonight, she wanted to make things right between them.

“I don’t think I ever properly apologized for being so…distant.” Carter tried to be easy on herself as she picked at the hem of her shorts.

Joe shook his head. “It wasn’t all your fault,” He looked at Nick before going back to Carter. “We weren’t exactly begging for closeness, either.”

“Yeah, but as the older sibling, I’m supposed to be the mature one.” Carter let out a small laugh before getting serious again. “But, despite all of that, I hope you two know I always loved you…”

Nick put his hand out. “I’m going to stop you right there because this is starting to sound like a ‘goodbye’ speech.” He lowered his hand. “So, how about instead we talk about this over pizza after you get back.”

Carter’s frown grew into a smile, letting Nick’s optimism enter her mind as Joe nodded in agreement. She had no plans to die tonight, especially not when a real chance to bond with her younger brothers was now on the table. She nodded.

“I’d like that.” It was then Carter noticed Claire’s impatient stance. “You two better go, Claire’s getting that look again.”

They each held hands through the bars, a substitute for a hug, as Joe nodded. “Be careful out there.”

“You too.” Carter squeezed their hands before letting go, allowing them to walk away. “Listen to Claire, okay?”

They each gave a thumbs up in agreement before continuing their walk towards the truck and the group of three. Carter sighed, the breath shaky; everything would work out, the boys would be okay, just like how she and Owen were going to be okay. She turned away from the truck just in time to see Owen walking over to her, her nose scrunching up at the sight of a chunk of scaly skin in his hands—the skin that held the tracker the I-Rex had crawled out.

“For them to get the scent?” She asked, even though she knew the answer.

Owen nodded as he wrapped the skin in cloth. “Yep, I had them smell it while you were talking to Joe and Nick.” His eyes then softened, but a little smirk played on his lips. “You aren’t at least a little bit scared, huh?”

“The only thing I’m scared of is the fact that I have to ride on the back of your motorcycle.” Carter scoffed.

Owen winked. “You can hold onto me as tight as you want.” He then grew serious. “Stay close to me, alright? Unless the I-Rex comes after you, then don’t worry about me, just run really fast.”

Carter may have secretly enjoyed Owen’s protection towards her, but she wasn’t about to let him get off so easily. Raising her brows in mock confusion, Carter placed her hands on her hips.

“Wait…is Owen Grady being caring?” She teased.

Owen looked down in defeat, “Don’t make me regret it.”

Carter let out a giggle before getting on her tiptoes and placing a soft kiss on his scruffy cheek. Lowering herself, she took in Owen’s sideways grin before walking away, turning to speak to him as she did.

“Let’s go this show on the road.”

 By the time Joe and Nick reached Claire and the boys, the redhead had just opened the doors of the ACU truck to reveal a spacious area filled with weapons. The seats were limited to only a bench attached to the wall outside of the driver’s cockpit, a sliding window a fair height above the long bench—Nick wondered if they picked the blacked out window in favor of getting seatbelts.

“See? Totally safe.” Claire grinned as she turned to look at the group of four.

Joe shrugged, trying to reassure both himself and the younger boys. “Well, I guess it is better than hiding out in the jungle.”

“That’s the spirit!” Claire clapped before stepping out of the way. “Alright, get in.”

She helped Gray step into the truck while Zach merely jumped in. Joe kept a steady hand on Nick’s back as he stepped up before following him in, Claire watching as the group took their seats on the bench. Gray sat in the middle, sandwiched between Zach and Nick while Joe took up the other end.

“If you need me, I’ll be right up front.” Claire nodded as she pointed to the window. “Just open that window, okay?” They nodded as she gestured towards them. “Put your seatbelts on.”

While the three boys looked for any sort of safety device, Nick rubbed the back of his neck, thinking of the observation he made upon seeing their quarters for the rest of the evening.

“Um…there are no seatbelts, Claire.” He sheepishly admitted, as if it was his fault.

“Right,” She bit her lip, trying to come up with an alternated. “Just hold hands, then.”

With that, she closed the doors and made her way up to the driver’s seat. The boys all sat in silence as the growls from the raptors outside echoed through the space, making them flinch as Nick wondered why he felt much safer in the paddock than he did in the armored truck. As if reading his mind, Gray’s tiny voice spoke up.

“Nothing’s getting in here…right?”

Joe was ready to give reassurance, but was both surprised—and pleased—when it was Zach who delivered comfort to his little brother.

“Nothing is going to get you while I’m around, okay?” He gave his little brother a soft smile as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Gray swallowed the lump in his throat. “But, you’re not always going to be around.”

Zach was at a loss for words at that statement. It was the first time he realized Gray was truly growing up; and growing up meant you always wanted the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Nick placed an arm around Gray’s shoulder.

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re all here to watch each other’s backs, then.” He smiled down at the boy.

Joe nodded. “Zach is your brother, and Nick is mine—brothers always come back to one another.”

Although he was talking to Gray, Joe looked up at Nick at the end of the statement. This wasn’t just a promise to the youngest of their group, but also a promise to Nick—Joe wasn’t going to let anything happen to Nick as long as he was around. Nick nodded at Joe, sealing the same promise back over to him.

“No matter what?” Gray asked, already feeling a bit better.

Zach nodded. “No matter what.”

Nick removed his arm, allowing Zach to replace it as he pulled his little brother into his chest. Joe smiled at the two before looking over at Nick, both hoping that the same rule applied to older sisters as well.

Chapter Text

After tightening her braid and equipping herself with a gun strapped to her back and a knife in a hostler on her belt loop, Carter Jonas found herself on the back of Owen Grady’s motorcycle, her arms wrapped around his middle and head looking over his shoulder as he maneuvered up to the front of the paddock. She took a deep breath; Carter may have told her brothers that she wasn’t scared, and even joked about the fear to Owen, but staring into the darkness just beyond the jungle’s tree line did make her feel a twinge of doubt in her stomach.

This plan could easily backfire; the I-Rex could eat all of the raptors and still have room for herself, Owen, and the entire InGen team for dessert. Yet, that fear seemed to disappear when Owen angled his head to look at her, nodding at her in a gesture that wasn’t just a question of confirmation, but one of complete faith in both her, and the operation. Without another though, Carter nodded back before looking over at Barry, giving him a nod that he quickly reciprocated.

After the wordless exchange, Owen gave the signal to the worker at the top of the tower, the man instantly pressing the button that released the four raptors—their girls—from their cages and into the jungle. Carter wrapped her grip tighter around Owen as he sped after them, Barry following them on his four-wheeler as the InGen truck trailed behind him.

They sped through the trees, and soon Carter found herself in the middle of the squad, her eyes going to look at Blue. The Beta let out a roar, and Carter was sure she saw her smile towards the two alphas, the exhilaration of tracking almost too much for the young raptor. Carter smirked before looking back ahead, but instead of focusing on the trees ahead, she only noticed how Owen’s own cheeks were turned up in a smile.

 The boys were lucky the window was wide enough to give them all a good view of the action happening on the screen Claire held against the wheel. With the cameras being attached to each of the four raptors’ heads, they were able to get a different point of view from each animal, but Nick and Joe found themselves focusing on Blue’s screen—the one that held the sight of the motorcycle and Carter’s form on it.

Joe grinned, noticing the adrenaline filled smirk on both Carter’s—and even Owen’s—faces. It must have been exhilarating to ride next to the animals they loved so much, Joe only wished it wasn’t into a firefight with something as extreme as the I-Rex. Nick just couldn’t believe it was his older sister he was watching—the one who went away to boarding school because of her attitude, and yet, she was now working side-by-side with ex-military and raptors. He didn’t have any words that could beat what he was watching, but apparently, Zach Mitchell did.

“Carter’s a badass.”

While Claire smiled at this, Joe gave a light punch to Zach’s shoulder, his pride shining through.

“Hell yeah, she is.” He then shrugged. “She must get it from me.”

Gray’s brows furrowed. “If she’s older than you, then doesn’t that mean you get it from her?”

“Yes, it does, Gray.” Nick confirmed, his eyes never leaving the screen as his own lopsided smile emerged. “Yes it does.”

 “They’re slowing down.”

At Barry’s observation, Carter noticed how the squad was now becoming more calculated in their movements instead of simply taking off through the jungle. Whatever they were smelling, it was now upon them. Keeping one arm wrapped firmly around Owen, Carter raised her opposite wrist to her mouth, ready to pass the message along to the Unit inside the truck behind them.

“They’ve got something.” Carter spoke clearly into the communicator before immediately wrapping her arm around Owen once more.

The motorcycle slowed to a stop as the Unit exited the truck, instantly moving into a position on the ground that surrounded the ‘kill zone’. Carter and Owen followed, Carter twisting her gun from her back to her hands as they crouched down behind a log, allowing their guns to point ahead at the unseen thicket of trees.

“I told you so.”

Owen teasingly whispered into Carter’s ear, the sudden sensation against her skin making her slightly jump. She turned away from the squad, whom were all now approaching the thicket of trees, to look at the smirking man in confusion.

“Told me what?” She whispered back.

“That being on the back of my bike wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

Carter couldn’t believe Owen was using this stakeout as a time to gloat—actually, she could slightly believe it since Owen was known to never step down from telling someone he was right all along. Carter simply rolled her eyes, trying her best to be professional as she kept her eyes on the trees ahead.

“Focus up, Grady.”

It was the small blush on her cheeks that betrayed her business demeanor. Owen grinned as he looked straight ahead.

 As Claire watched the men of InGen, and the raptor trainers she had grown to see as friends, move stealthily through the tall grass, she realized she didn’t want to be responsible for even more nightmares within her nephews’ heads.

“You know what? No, no. You guys are not gonna watch this.” Claire covered her screen.

Nick stared at the woman wide-eyed. “Are you serious? Our sister is there!”

“Yeah, and they are here.” She practically spoke through clenched teeth as her eyes glanced at Zach and Gray.

Although Joe wanted nothing more than to watch Carter kick some I-Rex ass, he realized that he needed to be the adult along with Claire. Zach and Gray, and even Nick, had experienced some traumatizing things today—Joe didn’t want to add ‘watched innocent people get eaten on camera’ to that list.

“Fine.” He reluctantly agreed as he began to push the boys away from the window. “Tell us how it ends.”

Claire grinned. “Will do.” She then raised her hand to the shutter. “Window closed.”

Once the window closed, Nick sharply turned to Joe, wanting a proper explanation as to why he thought it was a good idea to close them out from their only source to watch Carter.

“I’m going to push you out of this truck.” Nick narrowed his eyes. “You know that, right?”

Joe put his finger to his lips. “Relax, I got this.”

The younger boys looked at one another in confusion as they watched Joe crouch underneath the window before slowly opening it to just enough space for at least one of their eyes to look through. He motioned for Gray to get on the bench, the boy obeyed as his knees rested on the seat as Zach went next to him. Since Joe and Nick were the tallest, they were able to see clearly without having to stand on anything.

Doing a silent fist bump, Joe and Nick decided that what Claire Dearing didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt her.

 Carter tensed, gripping onto her gun firmly as the sound of branches snapping underneath bounding footsteps reached her ears. Her raptors froze before taking one step back, watching as the I-Rex slowly shed her forest camouflage in favor of her white scales. She glanced over at Owen, knowing that the man would want the target to come out more before telling them to release their fire.

She felt her motherly instinct come out as the raptors all let out growls towards the Indominous, internally screaming as Blue took a confident step towards the beast—she was the Beta, after all. A series of clicks came out of Blue’s snout, and Carter put her eye to the scope of her gun as she waited for the inevitable roar that would signal the start of a war.

It wasn’t a roar that came, but a similar clicking noise—a raptor communication tactic.

Confused, Carter lifted her head from the scope, watching as Blue threw her head back in enthused greeting for the I-Rex, the other raptors slowly inching forward to meet with the beast as well. Carter suddenly felt sweat on the back of her neck, and she knew it wasn’t from the heat.

“I…I think they’re communicating.” She whispered just loud enough for Owen to hear.

Owen forgot how to breathe as he took in the I-Rex’s form. It was the first time he had gotten a proper look at the beast, and he wasn’t liking what he was seeing; her head wasn’t like a T-Rex, nor were her claws that she carried like the raptors before her.

“I know why they wouldn’t tell us what it’s made of,” Owen muttered, making Carter instantly fear the end of the statement. “That thing’s part raptor.”

As if on cue, the I-Rex and four raptors snapped their attention to the crowd of humans, more specifically, Carter and Owen—their alphas. A near-crippling fear entered Carter’s stomach as one of the soldiers called out a single order.

“Engage!”

To distract herself from the thought of getting mulled by her squad, Carter began to unload bullets on the largest dinosaur, her anger at the beast for making her raptors turn against them shining through with each pull of the trigger. Seeing an opportunity, one of the soliders let loose a missile, the weapon knocking the I-Rex off her feet, but she didn’t stay down for long as she got up and bounded away from the bullets.

Carter reloaded as they all stood up, the ACU stepping carefully as they followed the I-Rex. Giving Carter a solemn look, Owen stayed next to her as he spoke.

“Watch your six! Raptors’ got a new alpha.”

As they moved into the jungle, distant screams from the soldiers filled the air. Carter frowned; their numbers were shrinking, but not because of the I-Rex—it was the squad. She didn’t realize that she was alone in another part of the jungle until a soft click made Carter look up from her scope. She froze when she saw Charlie’s head pop out from the grass.

Charlie—the youngest of the bunch, the one Carter just coaxed the fear out of when she was nearly breaking the containment cell; the one who turned on them. Carter knew she needed to shoot, but she just couldn’t do it, instead, she found herself lowering her gun to get a better look at the raptor. Charlie tilted her head to the side, as if registering that it was her trainer in front of her. Carter pursed her lips as she strapped her gun to her back—maybe, just maybe, she had a chance.

“You don’t scare me, baby girl.” Carter coaxed as she held her hand out.

Charlie stared at the palm, a soft click escaping her throat. Carter slowly nodded, telling the raptor that it was okay, that they could go home. Charlie took a small step forward, but was cut off in her steps when a missile flew in from behind her, the impact causing Carter to fly backwards. Once the dust settled, Carter instantly looked back at Charlie’s spot, only to see flames where she once stood. Carter felt a lump in her throat.

Charlie was gone. Just like that.

She didn’t have time to properly grieve when screams filled the air once more. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and took off in the direction of the pleas to see Barry trapped in a log, Blue snapping at him, as the ACU fell back. Carter’s anxiety was at an all-time high—did Owen leave too, was he even alive? She shifted her gun back to her hands, though Carter knew she couldn’t bring herself to shoot Blue even if she wanted to.

“Carter.”

Carter quickly turned around at the hushed voice, relieved when she saw it was Owen sitting on his motorcycle at the nearby tree line. Carter kept her gun raised as she backed up towards him, making sure Barry was still in the log before putting the weapon on her back in favor of hopping on the back of the bike.

“I thought you were…” Carter couldn’t bring herself to finish.

Owen didn’t want her to. “I know…” He swallowed, his eyes softening slightly. “You too.”

With that, he revved his engine, the noise making Blue pause in her attack to look in the direction of the sudden noise. Carter realized what Owen was doing—he wanted to lead Blue away from Barry. She wrapped her arms around Owen’s middle before sealing the distraction with her signature whistle.

That’s all it took for Blue to start running towards them as Owen performed a sharp turn on his bike and rode away, Carter holding on tighter than ever before.

 “Holy shit.”

Joe couldn’t help but voice is reaction as they crowded around the window, watching as the screen displayed fire and debris—at least, on the cameras that weren’t completely destroyed. They had done a good job at remaining quiet, mainly due to their fear of what Claire would do if she caught them, but seeing the raptors turn to Carter and Owen in such a threating way was enough to make Nick want to scream. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the fact that Blue’s camera caught sight of the two trainers getting away.

Claire whipped her head around to see all four boys crowded in front of the window. She should have known better than to trust Joe, but now her nephews looked completely freaked out. Narrowing her eyes, she looked between Joe and Nick—the oldest ones of the group.

“What did I say?!” She chastised as she opened the window all the way.

Nick pointed at Joe. “His idea.”

Joe lowered Nick’s pointing finger, and looked ready to defend himself when Gray’s soft voice made them all instantly shut up.

“Is everyone dead?”

Claire softened as her eyes met Gray’s fearful ones. “No, no, no. Everyone’s fine.”

Everyone was not fine.

Claire assumed everyone in the ACU was dead, and those who weren’t were too cowardly to stick around. Much like Nick and Joe, the only thing keeping her sanity in check was the selfish relief that Carter and Owen were alive. Joe and Nick knew Claire was lying for Gray’s own good, and they kept up the façade by nodding their support to the boy when he angled his head to look up at them. On the other hand, Zach knew his little brother deserved the truth.

“Don’t lie to him!” He yelled, looking between the Jonas boys and Claire.

Joe glared down at Zach, wondering how he had survived being a big brother for thirteen years. “It’s okay to lie when people are scared, Zach!”

“He’s not an idiot, Joe!” Zach yelled back. “In fact, he’s far from it.”

Nick rolled his eyes, looking between Joe and Zach. “Do you really think this is the best time for this?”

Sensing a fight was about to break out, Gray turned back to Claire, looking for some false reassurance.

“I want to go home.”

His tone broke her heart as Claire reached to run her fingers through his brown curls. Looking at Gray, she couldn’t help but think of her sister, Karen—and how mad she would be when she found out what exactly went wrong on their vacation.

“Oh sweetheart, you will, okay?” She forced a smile. “I promise, tomorrow you will be home…and your mother will never let me see you again, but—“

Claire’s submission was cut off by a bloody hand banging on the window, the appearance making her let out an ear-splitting scream as she stared at the bloody window and man. Zach yelled as he pulled Gray away from their own little window, not wanting him to see even more gore as Joe shoved Nick down to the floor of the truck, the youngest Jonas copying Claire’s reaction as Joe sat next to him.

“Get out of here!” The victim’s voice was muffled against the window.

Claire didn’t need to be told twice as she started the engine. The sound of the back door opening made all four boys turn to see one of the soldiers attempting to climb into the truck, only to get attacked by a raptor from behind. They all let out scream, backing up until their backs were to the wall as Joe banged his hand against the window.

“Go, go!” He practically screamed at the driver.

“Hold onto something!” Claire screamed back.

With that, the truck jerked forward as she took off down the dirt road, Nick letting out a small curse as the back of his head lightly hit the wall. The doors flew wildly against the wind, displaying the road behind them as well as giving them a proper view of a raptor chasing after the vehicle, ready to attack as another joined her. Nick nervously swallowed until his eye caught sight of an oxygen tank attached to the wall. Without a word, he began to crawl across the truck bed floor, towards the tank.

“Get back here!” Joe called, holding onto the wall.

Nick ignored him as he shakily stood up, grabbing the heavy tank from the wall before pushing it out the back, watching it roll right into one of the two raptors, knocking the beast out. With a smug expression, Nick turned back to the boys.

Gray grinned. “That was so cool.”

“You were saying?” Nick asked his own older brother.

Joe scoffed, trying to hide his impressed grin. “Oh, shut up.”

The celebration was cut short as the only raptor left drew closer to the opened doors. From his spot, Zach grabbed one of the Tasers lined on the wall and began to fiddle with it, trying to turn the mechanism on.

“Turn it on!” Gray yelled at his brother.

Zach became instantly stressed. “I don’t know how!”

The raptor jumped onto the truck, the impact making Nick fall backwards as Joe pulled him by his shirt back to the wall. The raptor began to snap her jaws at the boys, Nick and Joe instantly becoming ten years younger as they held onto one another, afraid of what was going to come next. Just as the raptor was making headway, Gray pressed a button the device, electrocuting the animal until it lost her grip and fell back to the road. Zach and Gray looked at one another, letting out excited laughs as Joe tried to get his heart beating back to a normal rate. Nick grinned at Gray, amazed by the boy’s ability to collect himself.

“Now that was cool.” He copied his statement from earlier.  

Gray grinned before looking at Zach. “I can’t wait to tell mom!”

“Please, no!” Claire shouted from the front. “Do not tell your mother about that ever!”

Joe held up a finger towards Nick. “That rule applies to Kevin as well.”

Knowing that Kevin was already going to need at least ten trips to the nearest bar to get over what had happened to his family at Carter’s workplace, Nick figured it was a good idea to leave some of the details out when retelling the story. Even if one of those details was about his own cool move.

The sound of a motorcycle engine made the boys turn back towards the door, all instantly excited to see Owen riding towards them with Carter behind him. For Zach and Gray, it was like seeing their favorite action heroes appear at the end of a movie, while for Joe and Nick, it was just a relief to see their older sister alive.

“Owen! Carter!” Zach and Gray yelled as they cheered.

“Carter!” Nick yelled, his excitement taking over. “Yes!”

Joe just closed his eyes as he exhaled. “Thank God.”

Carter exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding when she laid eyes on her brothers. They were still alive, and most likely had something to do with Echo and Delta being passed out on the road. She simply grinned at the passengers as Owen passed the truck, pulling up next to Claire in the driver’s cockpit.

“We need to get indoors.” Carter called over the harsh wind as Owen kept his eyes on the road, scanning for any incoming danger. “Follow us, alright?”

Claire nodded before watching Owen drive ahead of her, using the time to whip her phone out of the passenger seat and dialing the only number she needed before pressing it to her ear. When he answered, Claire got to say the sentence she had been anticipating ever since Jurassic World went rogue.

“Larry, we’re heading your way. Call in a chopper!”

Chapter Text

Main Street was deserted by the time Owen parked his motorcycle in front of the Innovation Center, Carter hopping off the back of the bike just as the truck holding Claire and the boys pulled up next to them. Owen kept his gun at the ready, watching Carter’s back as she pulled the back doors open, stepping out of the way as the boys came out of the back in an almost waterfall-like fashion. While Claire ushered her nephews to be near her, Joe and Nick paused as they took in Carter’s form.

Sweat glistened off her chest and face while dirt was smeared on her legs. Her braid was coming undone, but still in a pattern as it laid in front of her shoulder. Nick froze—this Carter was a complete departure from the one they saw in the Innovation Center earlier this morning; this Carter was a woman who just saw four of her closest animals—friends—turn on her, and men die because of them.

That broke Nick’s heart.

“Jesus, are you okay?” Nick asked in complete concern.

Carter didn’t know how to answer that question, and she also didn’t have time to figure it out. Instead, she put her hands on each of her brothers’ shoulders.

“We’ll talk about mental states and bodily injuries after we get out of here.” She confirmed as they nodded. Carter then pushed them ahead. “Stay in the group, okay?”

Nick and Joe instantly took off into the center, Zach and Gray next to them as Claire followed behind. Carter and Owen took up the back of their jog, their guns at the ready in case anything decided to sneak up on them. The automatic doors opened, allowing them to sprint through the lobby of the Innovation Center, Claire taking the lead as the boys followed her lead.

“Control room’s that way!” She yelled ahead.

Carter and Owen put their guns back on their back as the group sprinted down a dark hallway, the pair coming to a halt when they noticed Claire and the boys staring at the only room with a light still on.

“They evacuated the lab…” Claire’s tone was laced with confusion.

Joe looked over at the concerned Park Manager. “Is that a…bad thing?”

“It is when we didn’t hear about it.” Owen explained, knowing full-well that Larry would have updated them on the evacuation if he had known.

They all walked cautiously into the lab, the sounds of buzzing monitors and bubbling samples only making Carter and the group feel even more suspicious about the situation before them. Gray caught sight of a few tanks that still held active animals, the group following them as they each peered into a tank.

Carter stared at the cage that held a chameleon; the source of the I-Rex’s ability to seemingly disappear by camouflaging. She looked over to the next tank, Nick and Owen appearing to be in a trance as they watched a cuttlefish swim without a care; the source of her ability to change colors. Zach and Gray stared at the tank which held an iguana; the lizard’s DNA was a common substitute for most of the dinosaurs. Joe and Claire found themselves staring at a white snake, Joe trying to hide his shivers due to his fear of the creature while Claire simply looked at the source of the I-Rex’s ability to detect thermal links.

They all jumped at the sound of an airlock being released, Carter turning to see a lab technician loading samples of DNA into the metal box. She blinked, wondering why their main concern was to stash eggs away for a Park that most likely wasn’t going to reopen.

“What are you doing?” Carter questioned, although it came out more in a tone of disbelief and not curiosity.

“I’m afraid that’s above your paygrade, sweetheart.”

It was then Hoskins entered the lab, his presence making Carter instantly angry as she glared. Claire narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms as he moved closer to them.

“You’re just asking to be punched again, aren’t you?” Claire defended. Carter offered Claire a small grin, the Manager returning it before going further into questioning. “Where’s Henry?”

Hoskins put his hands to his hips as he smugly spoke. “Dr. Wu works for us—always has.”

The group stood in an almost huddle-formation, the three employees of Jurassic World standing in front as the boys stood behind them, staring down Hoskins with hatred. From behind Carter’s arm, Gray snuck a peek at a computer displaying the DNA of the Indominous.

“That’s not a real dinosaur.” He spoke up, making everyone follow his gaze to the screen.

Hoskins glanced at the screen. “No it ain’t kid, but somebody’s got to make sure this company has a future. Imagine that one; the size of a raptor—able to hide from the most intelligent military tech.”

Carter couldn’t believe Hoskins was still preaching this idea, and it took everything in her power to not take her gun and shoot him right in the face. Instead, she focused on shielding her brothers and Claire’s nephews from any tricks Hoskins would try to pull—even though Nick and Joe were towering over Carter, she did feel like she was offering protection while Owen held an arm in front of her. The man simply glared, knowing that talking to Hoskins was the equivalent to talking to a brick wall.

“Millions of years of evolution, what did we learn?” Hoskins was pleased to have the floor as he went on. “Nature is the gift—shit!”

Through the open door, Blue came jumping into the room, successfully stealing Hoskins’ spotlight in the process. Owen backed everyone up against the tanks, Carter practically crashing into the body of Joe but wasn’t fazed by the contact as her attention remained on the Beta; she just hoped Blue’s attention never strayed from the man she had clearly always held a hatred for.

“Easy, easy boy.” Carter held back on correcting Hoskins as Blue backed the man into a corner. “Hey, we’re on the same side, right?”

Frightened, Hoskins reached his hand out to the raptor, only to have Blue chomp down on it with a single bite. The agonizing screams of the man snapped Carter out of her daze as Owen practically pushed everyone out of the room, leaving Hoskins to be eaten alive.

The group had only taken two steps out of the hallway when Blue crashed through the glass, turning her body to sprint towards her former alphas and their accomplices. Carter hurriedly pushed Claire in front of her as Nick grabbed his sister’s hand, the two only glances at each other in fear before running through the Center’s lobby. As the siblings ran past the platform, Nick used his free hand to push a button on the console, Carter looking back just in time to see Blue challenging a holographic dinosaur.

“Nice!” Carter praised, clearly impressed with Nick’s quick thinking.

From beside them, Joe grinned. “You should have seen him in the truck—total badass.”

“Aw, shucks.” Nick quipped, despite his fear.

Carter smiled as they joined the rest of the group outside the Innovation Center, everyone ready to run to the truck only to be stopped by Delta roaring in front of them. Echo soon joined from the side, snarling as Blue bounded out of the Innovation Center, the hologram distracting her no longer. The group found themselves surrounded by the three raptors, Owen and Carter looking utterly betrayed as they stood in front of the five members of their group.

“That’s how it is, huh?” Owen sighed as he dropped his gun to the ground.

Carter glanced at Owen before doing the same. “After everything we’ve been through.”

It was then Owen reached a hand out to Blue, the raptor roaring in response. The exchange shocked Carter; Owen always used to call Blue ‘his best girl’, and it broke her heart to see the two on such different sides. Owen’s eyes softened at the threat, but his hand didn’t waver.

“Easy girl, easy.” He coaxed as his hand brushed her skin before settling on the camera strap on top of her head. With a single click, the device fell to the ground. “That’s it…”

A low roar vibrated through the air as giant steps shook the Earth, causing the raptors and humans to turn their heads. The I-Rex stepped into view, her head ducking to take in the forms before her. Carter swallowed as the I-Rex and Blue began conversing, anticipating the inevitable. What she didn’t anticipate was Blue turning around, looking between Carter and Owen with a newfound softness in her golden eyes.

She turned back to the I-Rex, roaring to the beast only to be thrown into a concrete wall. Owen and Carter backed up, the five behind them doing the same as violent roars came from Delta and Echo towards the I-Rex.

“Carter…whistle.” Owen whispered towards her.

Carter blinked, ready to say how awful an idea that was until she noticed Delta and Echo looking at her the way they would at the paddock. They were waiting for a command from one of their alphas, and Carter realized that she wanted to be the one to give it. She smirked.

“With pleasure.”

With her eyes on the I-Rex, Carter let out an ear piercing whistle—the calling card for the two raptors to lunge at the I-Rex. Their teeth sunk into the hybrid’s flesh, distracting it long enough for Owen to pick up his gun and start shooting as Carter grabbed hers before following Claire as she pushed the boys towards a souvenir shack.

Joe and Nick hopped over the counter with ease, Joe holding his hands out as Claire handed him Gray and Nick pulled Zach over the wide desk. Carter then assisted Claire before hopping over the display herself, keeping her back against the counter as she checked her bullets. Nick stared at her, fear creeping into his heart at the idea of Carter leaving them…again.

“Are you going back out there?”

Carter had planned to go back into the fray with Owen and their girls, but the desperation on her brothers’ faces made her freeze. She pursed her lips, reality hitting her; it was time for her to be the big sister she promised she would be at the beginning of this hellish day. Nick and Joe didn’t need Carter Jonas: Raptor Trainer, they needed their older sister. She shook her head before moving to sit in between Joe and Nick.

“Of course not.” Carter spoke quietly, but encouragingly. “I’m never leaving you boys for as long as I live.”

Joe nodded, glancing over at Nick before speaking up. “Good plan.”

Claire turned from her spot by the counter, watching the Jonas’ snuggle together. “Excuse me, I said that first.”

“People say that all the time,” Carter pointed out as Joe put a brotherly arm around her shoulders. “It’s not that unique of a thing to say…”

Carter was cut off by Gray’s hushed words. “We need more.”

“More what?” Claire asked, turning to her nephew in exasperation.

“Teeth.” Gray explained. “We need more teeth.”

An expression of realization took over Carter’s features. The raptors could distract the I-Rex with their gnawing the same Owen’s bullets were merely annoying the animal, but they surely didn’t have enough strength to seriously injure the beast. They needed the King of the dinosaur kingdom or, in this case, Queen.

Carter turned to Claire, giving the manager a pointed look which she responded with a nod of understanding. She quickly rose to her feet and walked towards the First Aid Kit, taking out a flare and radio before turning back to her nephews.

“Wait here, and listen to Carter.” She breathily requested. “It’s going to be fine.”

Zach and Gray nodded, their eyes wide as they watched their Aunt jump over the counter and take off running towards the back exhibits. Carter let out a breath, hoping this plan was just crazy enough to work.

“Where is she going?” Joe demanded to know.

Carter hushed him. “Don’t worry about…gah!”

It was then Owen jumped into the shack, startling the group as he landed right in front of Carter’s face. He placed a hand over her mouth, stopping her from screaming as he signaled for them to remain quiet. Carter pushed his hand off of her face, ready to demand for an update when the growls of the I-Rex made her mouth grow dry, and her eyes wide as she watched the beast’s snout come into view.

Joe gripped tighter onto her shoulder, Nick huddling into the sibling embrace just as the I-Rex broke the stand open, making screams erupt from the boys and Carter. Owen quickly pushed the group up, aiming to get away from the opening.

“That way, come on!” He yelled.

Carter ushered the boys towards the furthest point in the Shack, their backs landing against a clothing display as they sat in a huddled line. Carter stayed in between her brothers, her hands outstretched to protect them as Owen stayed in between Gray and Zach, doing the same as they struggled to keep them as far away from the I-Rex’s claws as possible. The I-Rex continued to claw at the seven until a single claw found a home in Gray’s fanny pack.

Screaming, Gray slipped across as the I-Rex withdrew her hand, taking the young boy with her. Zach screamed, unable to reach him as Carter quickly latched onto the boy, squeezing her arms around his chest, pulling him into her lap.

“No one is getting eaten!” Carter screamed through grunts of effort.

Carter screeched as she began to slide across the floor with Gray, Nick and Joe letting out screams of their own as they grabbed onto their sister, engaging in a tug-of-war with the I-Rex as Owen pushed Carter and Gray towards the group.

“That includes you, dumbass!” Nick yelled over the chaos.

Carter wasn’t sure what was worse; the fear of watching a child get eaten, the fear of herself getting thru chomp, or the fact that her little brother’s possible last words were demeaning as hell. Luckily, none of those fears came true as Zach reached around to Gray’s waist and unclipped the pack from his belt, ending the struggle.

Carter fell backwards into the laps of Owen and Joe, both men letting out an exhale as Carter turned to look down at Gray, the kid’s face stained with tears. She wiped a few off his cheek before speaking through air intakes.

“Invest in a backpack next time.”

Gray wanted to laugh, but couldn’t find the strength as he simply nodded. They quickly sat up straight, Carter taking refuge between Owen and Joe, as they waited for the Indominous to resume her attack; her snout never returned as the ground began to shake with the footsteps of a creature that wasn’t the Indominous Rex.

Owen and Carter crawled to the counter, peeking over just in time to see Claire running back towards the shack with a lit flare in her raised hand and a T-Rex following her.

“Holy shit,” Carter breathed out. “She actually did it.”

Not turning away from the action, Owen spoke up. “Are you serious? This is a plan you guys discussed?”

“Define ‘discussed’.”

She quickly flew the flare to the I-Rex, the loyal T-Rex turning her attention to the beast as it let out a mighty roar. The I-Rex reciprocated, and soon they were engaged in a battle that already held the promise of their victory. From behind a rock, Claire yelled out a command towards the trainers.

“Run!”

Carter and Owen sprang into action, helping the boys over the counter and pointing them towards the flailing Claire. Owen allowed Carter to go next, the woman sliding behind the rock as Owen jumped out of the shack, narrowly avoiding the T-Rex’s massive body crushing the shop. From behind the rock, they watched as the I-Rex stood over their ally, ready to bite into its’ head when familiar clicks radiated through the air.

Carter had to stop herself from giving Blue a standing ovation as the Beta ran back into the fray, jumping onto the I-Rex’s back before latching onto her flesh with her teeth. Zach stared in awe as he nodded towards the trainers.

“I can see why she’s the Beta.”

Carter and Owen shared a grin that was interrupted by the dangerous swoop of a T-Rex’s tail coming towards them. Quickly, they all stood up and took off, leaving their rock to be smashed to bits as they took refuge in the front door of a souvenir shop, their eyes locked on the battle as Owen kept a hand on Carter’s back.

The battle came to a close as Blue and the T-Rex led their shared enemy towards the safety rails of the tank, their second round interrupted as the Mosasaur practically flew out of the ocean, her jaw latching onto the hybrid’s neck as she pulled her into the depths of the water.

Claire let out a shaky sigh, making the rest of the group realize that it was over—the looming threat that was the Indominous Rex was never going to be seen again. The T-Rex left Main Street, off to find food that wasn’t her ally in battle, as Blue turned to the huddled group of humans, her eyes instantly landing on her trainers as she let out a chirp of curiosity; what’s next?

Carter found Owen’s hand, putting it with hers as the two walked ahead of the group and towards Blue. With a single shake of the head, Owen wordlessly toward their Beta that she didn’t belong in a paddock no longer—she needed to live in the wilderness that used to be a theme park. Blue’s eyes went from Owen to Carter, the raptor tilting her head to the side as if making sure that this is what her alphas truly wanted.

More than anything, Carter wanted things to go back to the way they were. She wanted to be able to go to the raptor paddock on Monday morning, to train the squad as if they were all still alive. But, it was time for her to move on—it was time for all of them to move on. Carter gave a small nod.

“You did good, girl.”

Carter didn’t realize how sad she sounded until she felt Owen squeeze her hand. Blue let out one last chirp before turning and running off towards the jungles of Isla Nublar. Keeping her hand in Owen’s, the comforting hand of Joe’s landed on her shoulder as Nick gave her a small grin. Carter’s own mouth turned into a smile as the group assembled on the street, watching as Blue took off running down the street.

It was then Carter realized that she didn’t need her raptors anymore. She had her family, and in the end, that was what kept her going during the madness of the day.

Chapter Text

Carter didn’t realize how exhausted she was until the group reached the Refugee Warehouse, the vast room filled with survivors receiving medical treatment as they waited for their families. Upon entry, Owen was whisked away by Barry to help unload some medical supplies—Carter wondered how long it if Owen’s adrenaline would ever wear off, or if she would be forced to tie him to a bed to get the rest he not only needed, but deserved.

No one needed to force Carter to relax, her eyes instantly finding an empty spot on the floor to sit down; a spot she hasn’t moved from since. Her bones ached and her muscles were sore as she leaned against Joe’s back, the two siblings using the other’s body as a way to lay down without taking up too much room. Through tired eyes, Carter looked down at Nick, the youngest brother using her legs as a pillow while she absent-mindedly ran her fingers through his hair.

“Don’t stop.” Nick tiredly mumbled, his eyes never opening.

Carter made a mock-disgusted noise. “What a weird sentence to hear from my little brother.”

“You know what I mean.” He paused. “Is Joe asleep?”

Carter didn’t want to move with the fear that she would wake up her exhausted brother, but from his shallow breathing and silence for the past five minutes, she assumed he was knocked out.

“Yep, just like you should be.” Carter answered, wishing Nick would get his own much needed rest.

Nick simply scoffed. “If there’s anyone here that deserves a rest, it’s you.”

When Carter didn’t say another word, Nick couldn’t help but softy smile. He could tell Carter didn’t realize how she had saved them today—without her, Nick was sure he and Joe wouldn’t be here right now. He felt Carter’s thumb go over the butterfly bandage on his cheek, the wrap covering a scar he obtained from the I-Rex breaking the Gyosphere.

“Don’t worry about me, alright?” She reassured. “I’ll get my rest.”

Either Nick believed her, or he was too exhausted to argue, because Carter didn’t hear another peep from him. From her spot, she watched silently as families reunited, a smile coming across her face when she caught sight of Claire embracing the parents of her nephews. While Zach and Gray hugged their mother and father, Claire searched the crowd until her eyes met with Carter’s.

Even though the last thing Claire Dearing needed was the approval of Carter and Owen, Carter held a new respect for the woman. She was more than the management puppet that Carter pegged her as, she was a compassionate, independent woman that, at the end of the day, would do anything for her family. There was nothing the other could say that would truly capture all the gratitude they felt for the other woman, so the two simply shared a smile before Claire followed her sister and nephews out of the warehouse and into a new life.

It was when Claire and her family disappeared through the large doors when Carter caught sight of Kevin wandering aimlessly through the aisles of the warehouse, desperately looking for any sign of his family. Dawning a pair of suit pants and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, Carter guessed that he heard about the events at the Park through the news and hopped on a plane right from work. She felt a lump in her throat from the mere sight of him; it had been years since she saw her older brother in the flesh, and yet, she felt the same wave of relief she always would when he saved her from falling off the monkey bars as a child.

Kevin gasped when he saw Carter, and he took off down the aisle to reach his siblings. Carter’s eyes went wide as she focused on her two younger, and sleeping, brothers.

“Guys, wake up, Kevin’s here!” She softly shook Nick before turning to Joe, her voice right in her ear. “It’s Kevin.”

Nick’s head lifted from Carter’s lap before he tiredly scrambled to his feet, instantly looking around for his older brother’s approaching form. Joe, who was asleep much longer, took his time as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes before he let out a small laugh.

“Brace for tears.”

Carter simply let out a small giggle before helping Joe to his feet. It was then Kevin reached the trio, his eyes still glassy with tears as he pulled Nick and Joe into a bone-crushing hug. Carter looked on at the brotherly group hug as she wiped a few stray tears of her own, watching as Kevin cried softly into Nick’s shoulder.

“Are you guys okay?” All Kevin’s mind could come up with was the obvious question.

Joe nodded. “Yeah,” He sniffled. “Yeah, we are.”

“I don’t believe you.” Kevin responded as he hugged them tighter.

Nick softly laughed, knowing that there was no way they could hide their feelings from Kevin—and he didn’t want to. “Good.”

It was no secret that the siblings would have to go through major therapy to get over what they had seen—Carter included. This was her workplace, and to see it get turned into the battlefield it became was enough to make any former-employee need a few sessions.

After a few more wordless kisses and hugs, Kevin finally turned to Carter. The two older siblings stared at one another, and it was only when Kevin went in for an embrace when Carter finally allowed the tears she had been hiding to finally fall freely.

She buried her head into his chest, Kevin kissing the top of her head. Kevin had a lot of questions, but he respected his sister enough to know he wasn’t going to be able to ask them for a while—just like Joe and Nick, Carter needed time to heal.

“I love you so much, little sister.” Kevin spoke softly.

Carter sniffled, those words being the only think she needed as a small grin coming over her features. “You too, big brother.”

They released their iron grip, Kevin looking down at her before they turned back to their younger brothers.

“I was able to book a hotel room before they got completely booked.” Kevin spoke of a plan. “I say we go back and get you guys washed up.”

Joe grinned, wanting nothing more than to get the dirt off his skin. “That may be the best idea ever.” He turned to Carter. “You coming, Carter?”

While Nick looked over at Carter with hopeful eyes, Kevin simply grinned. It may have been in the most dangerous way imaginable, but the older brother got what he wanted—for his younger siblings to be closer. Carter smiled at Joe and Nick, wanting nothing more than to stay as close to them as possible, but she had someone else to see before she could truly call it a day.

“As an employee, I should probably stick around for a bit and see if they need any help.” Carter admitted. “But, I will meet up with you guys later.”

Joe smirked, remembering the last time she said those words. “You promise?”

“With my hand to Blue.” She put her right hand up in the air.

Nick nodded, a small grin on his face. “That’s stronger than a pinky promise.”

Carter smiled before pulling her younger brothers in for one more hug, kissing them both on the cheeks before whispering.

“I love you both so much, you know that, right?”

Joe hugged her tighter. “I think we figured that out.”

“…A long time ago.” Nick added.

With that, Carter watched as her brothers left the warehouse, her heart growing at the idea of seeing them again—in a much shorter time frame. Her eyes then scanned the warehouse, only to see that the man she was looking for was already looking at her, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Carter grinned as she walked towards Owen, the two meeting in the empty center aisle. They were both quiet for a moment, as if they were seeing each other for the first time. It was Carter who broke the silence, letting out an exhale.

“So, I’ve recently been unemployed.”

Owen put on a mocked surprise expression. “What a coincidence, so have I.”

“Really?” Carter copied his tone before squinting her eyes in feigned suspicion. “Is your house most likely too dangerous to go back to?”

Carter didn’t even want to risk going back to her bungalow with a hungry T-Rex, and other dinosaurs, still roaming the area. Since she was neighbors with Owen, she assumed he felt the same.

“Actually, yes.” He deadpanned. “Wow, we have so much in common.”

Carter allowed herself to laugh as Owen simply grinned, realizing he hadn’t heard that sound since the Indominous started her rampage. He hoped it wouldn’t be long until he could hear it again. Carter looked up at him, her tired eyes full of questions.

“What should we do now?”

Owen’s eyes never left hers as he voiced the plan he had been thinking about ever since he kissed her on Main Street.

“Probably stick together,” He nodded to himself. “For survival.”

It was then Carter lifted herself up to plant a soft kiss on his lips, those words meaning more to her than Owen could have ever known. Owen’s hands ended up on her waist, and they stayed there after the kiss broke, Carter grinning up at him as he cocked his head to the side.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

Carter smiled, a soft laugh escaping her lips. “Good.” She then glanced over at the open door. “Shall we?”

Owen grinned as he took her hand in his, the two strolling out of the warehouse and into the light, wishing that they were leaving their traumatic experiences behind. Yet, the cheesy programming within Carter’s brain told her that, as long as they had each other, everything would be alright.

 Three Months Later

There was a lot of things that Carter Jonas learned from her experience at Jurassic World.

She learned that her boss could outrun a T-Rex in heels, and made sure to share that fact with every lawyer that gave Claire Dearing a hard time about the I-Rex situation.

She also learned that love could be found anywhere—even in the middle of a pteranodon attack. Carter made sure not to not tell the lawyers that tidbit of information.

More annoyingly, Carter learned that the press were monsters who didn’t care that they still woke up screaming in the middle of the night, all they wanted were the ‘gruesome’ details of their experience to gain ratings.

Finally, and most importantly, she learned that having her brothers back in her life made everything worth it.

“Carter, they’re here!”

Owen’s excited voice made Carter snap out of her thoughts, the woman unable to hide her own smile as she walked out of their bedroom and into the living room just in time to see her brothers, and two of their girlfriends, taking off their coats.

“About time you guys showed up!” Carter teased as she hugged Kevin. “I thought we agreed that Friday Night Dinner starts at 7pm?”

Joe grinned, rolling his eyes as he embraced his sister. “It’s not our fault you and Owen picked the apartment complex that’s twenty minutes away.”

“But it is Joe’s fault since he was the one who took ten minutes to choose which shirt to wear.” Nick added, giving his brother a look before smiling at Carter’s hug.

Joe gestured to his blue button-down. “I think I made the right choice, thank you.”

Carter stifled a laugh as she greeted Olivia and Danielle, the respected others of Nick and Kevin.

“Are you used to this yet?” Olivia teasingly asked the sister.

Carter scoffed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to catch up.”

The two woman shared a laugh, Carter smiling between the two girlfriends. She had only met them a few ‘Friday Night Dinner’s’ ago, but they were getting along easier than Carter could have anticipated. Olivia was thrilled to finally meet the older, and only, sister of Nick, while Danielle was still relatively new to everyone in the family—she was a sweetheart though, Carter was quick to point out.

“Well, dinner’s just about ready.” Carter announced as she made her way to the kitchenette.

Kevin went wide-eyed with hunger as he took in the food in front of him. Mashed potatoes and green beans sat on the dinner table while Carter and Owen worked together to dish out the assortment of breaded chicken onto a serving plate. For a woman who Kevin knew once lived on take-out and T.V. dinners, he was more than impressed.

“Carter, did you make this?” Kevin asked, a bit suspicious as the siblings took their seats.

Carter paused in her serving. “…Yeah, of course!” When she was met with stares of disbelief, she sighed. “Owen may have contributed…a little.”

“’A little’?” Owen teased, looking over at his girlfriend with a raised brow.

She hid her grin. “I think they get it, honey.”

Owen chuckled as he kissed Carter on the forehead, doing their best to ignore Joe’s fake gags and the hiss of pain that followed thanks to Kevin kicking him from under the table. The two shared a smile before Owen grabbed the plate of chicken and made his way to the kitchen table, the guests all cheering at the sight of food.

Carter grabbed a bottle of wine in the fridge but, before going towards the table, she couldn’t help but stare at the events happening in front of her; she took in Owen’s laughter as he dished out the food, listening to Joe’s story and Nick’s corrections, Kevin shaking his head at his younger brothers’ antics as he wrapped an arm around Danielle.

It was little moments like these that made Carter realize that her life would soon no longer be controlled by the nightmares she had at night, or the lawyers who dictated what she could and couldn't say about her experience on the island.

As she walked towards her family and joined the conversation they were having with ease, Carter Jonas realized that her life would be fulfilling because of the people sitting around the table—and, at the end of the day that made her feel like the luckiest woman in the world.