Work Text:
Grant dragged himself out of bed that morning. Usually, he was excited for work. Not today. He put on his worst tie, as he always did. He looked at the photo of Lucky on the mantel. Then the one of Chester and Hester.
How he missed those old penny pinchers.
‘You ready?’ Mary asked.
Grant didn’t know how to answer. ‘As I’ll ever be, I suppose.’
They hugged.
Diana walked into the museum, her heels echoing with every step she took. Reverberating around the empty rooms.
The Dino Institute looked empty. And for the first time, it really felt empty to her.
There were still small exhibits still on the walls. On plinths. But everything else was gone. All the dioramas, gone. The carnotaurus skeleton? Gone. Packed up. Sent to another research institute.
Before the day’s tourists arrived, Diana shut herself in her office and cried.
Will was setting up his tours for the day.
‘Been a while,’ a familiar voice said.
‘Yeah,’ Will nodded with a half smile. ‘Hey Marissa.’
‘Good to see you, Will,’ Marissa said. She glanced around. ‘Looked more impressive when we were ten years old.’
Will chuckled. ‘Yeah. Then again, it looked more impressive last week.’
‘How are you feeling?’ Marissa asked.
‘Like I need to put Jimmy Buffett on and drink my problems away.’
‘Disney Springs after work? We can go to the Hangar Bar.’
‘I’ll take you up on that,’ Will nodded. ‘It’ll be nice to catch up.’
‘You know I’m in your tour, right?’ Marissa asked.
‘You are?’
‘I thought we’d hop in a Time Rover and do a little sightseeing in the Cretaceous Period. For old time’s sake.’
Will nodded. ‘For old time’s sake.’
Chandler paced, not knowing what to do. Nobody knew what to do.
The Intern serenaded visitors with his guitar, dancing around the obvious.
Shirley guided visitors. So did Tina. And Dr Woodson.
Eugene got excited about the exhibits that were left and tabled about them to any visitor who would listen.
Bernard looked disapproving at everyone.
The Digger and The Bonehead were the only ones not dancing around what could only be described as “the elephant in the room”, playing songs like Days by The Kinks, In My Life by The Beatles, Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan, Changes by David Bowie… and Bye Bye Bye by N*SYNC.
Helen Marsh walked through the halls. Perhaps nobody was more emotional than her.
It was just yesterday she graduated all the students and interns. One of them hung around today just to play music. Tomorrow, he’d be going home.
With no more students and interns… her promise to stay on as chair of the Dino Institute until the last student earned their degree was fulfilled.
And that was that.
She’d been at the Dino Institute for so long, these people felt like her family. Perhaps more than her own family.
Helen had seen how everyone had bonded. Forged connections. They’d never break, no matter what happened, and she knew this. The Dino Institute staff truly were a family.
It only made the situation harder.
The last tour group got in the Time Rover, Will and Marissa among them.
Tears were shed. Not just by the passengers, but the staff too.
Grant guided them, as he always did.
‘Thanks for everything!’
His usual sign off. It had just slipped out.
He’d had a whole sign off typed up and printed out and he hadn’t even used ChatGPT - it was all from the heart!
But perhaps “thanks for everything’ was the most honest thing he could have said in that moment.
When the guests disembarked the Time Rover more tears were shed.
Bernard escorted the guests out and shut up shop. Diana closed the museum.
Helen gathered everyone in the sub-basement - even the Intern. Mary had to help Grant, but they both made it. Marissa insisted on staying behind.
Though the Time Rovers were vibrating noisily, everyone knew what was happening.
‘It’s been a long time coming, I know,’ Helen said. ‘And I also know it’s been hard for you. I want you to know it’s been just as hard on me.’ She paused before continuing. ‘It’s been amazing watching you all grow as palaeontologists. And knowing none of you have wanted to be anywhere else all these years. I appreciate you could have gone elsewhere and did not. We have spent more than 30 wonderful years together as a result, and I thank you for that.’
She looked at the Time Rover.
‘The times are changing, as we know. This is the last time we all will be gathered here together. I wanted to take this time to say…’ She took a breath to steady herself. ‘I know I’ve been a stern boss. And I know Chrono-Tech wanted to make money off these time tours. They were dubious -‘
‘At least they weren’t Elon Musk,’ The Digger said.
‘Thank you,’ Helen said sarcastically.
‘To be fair though, who among us hasn’t acted dubiously,’ Shirley asked, side eyeing both Helen and Grant.
Helen cleared her throat. ‘Chrono-Tech wanted to make money off these tours -‘
‘Wouldn’t that be you, since you bought out Chrono-Tech?’ The Bonehead asked.
Helen shot a glare at The Bonehead, who seemed to shrink down.
‘What I wanted to say was it’s been an honour working with you. It’s been an honour being your boss. And it’s been an honour knowing you all. Dr Seeker?’
‘Me?’ Grant asked, pointing to himself.
‘Dr Will Seeker,’ Helen corrected.
Will nodded. He turned a key and the Time Rover came to a stop. The first time it had done so since Grant, Shirley, and Mary tested the tech out in 1995.
As everyone hugged and muttered to each other, Eugene poured a beer out.
They made it out of the sub-basement.
Tina turned the lights off for the last time.
Grant locked up for the last time.
And the Dino Institute was no more.