Chapter Text
“Charlotte.” The woman called, stretching out the syllables as she bounded up to meet the other girl’s pace.
“Uma,” The brunette replied, imitating her pleading tone.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
Uma’s grin was wider than Charlotte had ever seen from her. “They made one.”
Charlotte blinked, stopping in her tracks. “They…"
“A T. rex. A real one.”
“No way—” she grabbed the sleeve of Uma’s lab coat, “they got it?”
Uma nodded wildly, giggling. “They got it!”
“What— how does it look? Have you seen it?” Charlotte hadn’t felt the urge to twirl around and scream since she was over a decade younger, but she understood the feeling quite well now.
“No, I came to get you. But what I’ve heard… Jesus, Charlotte, will you hurry up?”
Charlotte picked up her pace, though she still restrained herself from falling into a full-on sprint. “I was trying to be an adult about this. We’re scientists, my dad wouldn’t want me to—”
“There’s a T. rex and you’re trying to be…” Uma shook her head, “Charlotte, I’ve met your father. I can promise you that you would not be the only Lockwood to squeal about this.”
Charlotte paused and took a shaky breath in. “…they have a T. rex.”
“We have a T. rex.” Uma grabbed both her hands, and Charlotte let out a shaky laugh.
“What the hell are we waiting for then?” Charlotte took off running, pulling Uma along with her.
The two barely even stopped to push open the door, rushing up to Dr. Bourne, a short, greying man in a lab coat. He looked over and sighed fondly at their expressions. “Lab 108. Be quiet; she’s fragile.”
And with that, they were off again. Sprinting until they suddenly weren’t, stopping and staring at the lab door. “Charlotte.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think they’ll name this one?”
Charlotte smiled and bit her lip. “I think Dr. Wu will have a birth certificate made. He’s probably had one drafted since the first attempt.”
“Who would he list the father as?”
“Himself, obviously.”
“Of course,” Uma snickered, “you think we could name her? Tina, or something?”
“Not Tina,” Charlotte answered automatically.
Uma glanced over. “No?”
“Too… cliché. We’re reinventing here.”
“What then?”
“Mm… I don’t know,” Charlotte paused, mulling it over, “you’re not supposed to know till you see them, right?”
Uma laughed. “Right. My daughter was almost Anita, but, well, she just wasn’t.”
“We should go in then.” Charlotte put her hand around the doorknob. Uma nodded and stepped back so the door could swing out.
“Should we be wearing PPE?” Uma asked, and Charlotte felt no need to remind her that, if they were, it was already too late; not once she heard it. A small sound. Barely more than a squeak, really, but… it almost reminded her of a roar.
In the corner of the lab sat a cage, smaller than you’d associate with anything that… powerful. But in that small cage, a Tyrannosaurus Rex was pushing bedding around with her nose.
“Oh my god.”
“Lucky try… what is it now, 12?” Uma approached the cage, “Hi, buddy.”
Her voice was higher than usual, like talking to a particularly skittish alley cat. She and Charlotte stood, watching the lizard walk around its enclosure like everything in the world was new. To her, Charlotte supposed, it was.
“Hey,” Charlotte whispered, “what do you think about Rexy?”