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The university corridors were teeming with both freshmen and returning students, all eager to start the new year, full of enthusiasm for their chosen subjects and hurrying to get to the best seats for their first lectures. Billy loved the atmosphere of these first weeks with all the jostling and excitement. He managed to dodge one group who were obviously late but as he sidestepped them someone came rushing out from one of the offices and smacked straight into him. Papers went flying in all directions as Billy grabbed the man to stop them both tumbling to the floor, and found himself staring straight into surprised blue eyes on a slightly craggy yet handsome face. The moment lengthened until Billy felt someone trying to push papers back into his hands. He looked around as several students grabbed up the papers before they could be trampled over and he smiled brightly in thanks.
"Well, it looks like you have all this in hand," the mystery blue-eyed man stated gruffly, and Billy smiled again as he realized this was the best he was going to get for an apology.
By the time he thanked the final student for the papers now stacked untidily in his arms and looked back, the man was gone. He sighed but then shook his head, too excited with the start of the new year to remain despondent for even a minute, even though he knew he was about to make a bad first impression. He was not only going to be late but he'd also have to reorder all the papers he was supposed to hand out to the students. Billy shrugged his shoulders, deciding there was nothing he could do except suck it up and smile.
He shouldered his way into a lecture hall large enough to seat 70 students, finding it already almost full with just a few stragglers rushing in behind him. Billy aimed for the desk set just to one side at the front, sliding the papers onto the fortunately cleared surface. When he looked up to apologize for being late he saw the man who had crashed into him staring back, but this time a smile twitched at his lips as he walked over.
"You must be Mr. Brennan."
"Billy... your new TA."
"Well, Mr. Brennan..." His eyes drifted to the papers before he looked back up at Billy, blue eyes seeming to twinkle as his closed-mouth smile widened. "I'll leave you to sort out those papers while I begin."
The memory faded but it left Billy smiling as he clung tight to the tree branch carrying him down river to the sea. His body felt numb and if he wasn't half-slumped over the top of the thick branch then he might easily have slipped away. Fortunately the branch was drifting far enough from the bank each side to avoid any of the smaller predators taking advantage of his weakened state. He knew they could smell his blood, following him along the riverbank until easier prey caught their attention. As their chitters faded he relaxed a little, and let his memories carry him away again.
He was a cliche, falling in love with his professor.
He'd spent most of the past two years studying alongside Alan when he wasn't grading papers and managing the dig in Montana, listening in on Alan's lectures and compiling his own list of questions to ask at a later time, when they were alone. He had loved the dig site most of all, excited to see how every tiny swipe of a toothbrush revealed just that little bit more of something previously believed lost in time, but mostly for the time spent with Alan away from rigid codes of the university. They shared meals and drinks at the only bar within a ten mile radius, laughing, joking and playing pool through the evening before heading back to the site to sleep.
After the recent incident in San Diego everyone knew about Hammond's Jurassic Park. Five years of silence came to an end, and explained why Dr. Sattler had ended her relationship with Alan at that time and moved on with her life. Billy guessed staring a horrible death in the face could make anyone want to re-evaluate their lives and make changes. It also explained the difference in tone between the two books on Paleontology, and dinosaurs in particular, published by Alan. He now recognized them as pre and post Jurassic Park, and it solved the mystery for why Alan looked upon Velociraptors with both awe and fear.
Stupid. He'd been so stupid. He should never have touched the nest. He should never have taken the eggs, leading them all into danger; leading Alan into danger. He tightened his hold on the hat he'd spotted when he first grabbed hold of this branch, entangled in the smaller branches and foliage.
The river was widening as it drew closer to the sea, and Billy knew the danger was growing too but he had no choice. Alan would head for the sea, and any hope of rescue would come from there.
It was a small boat that came across him, and he stifled his cries as they dragged him out of the water, not wanting to alert any larger predators close by.
"Dr. Grant. Did you find Dr. Grant?" he whispered roughly.
"Not yet," the soldier replied just as softly.
***
Three Months later:
Billy hobbled along the corridor, trying not to be bowled over by enthusiastic students on their way to lectures, though most managed to steer a wide berth around him while others nodded at him in awe. He had never expected to become famous but surviving a Pteranodon attack and getting off Isla Sorna alive had captured the attention and imagination of the media and general public. There was even talk of making a movie. His injuries were healing though he would always carry the scars from the attack. As he reached the office a familiar man rushed out, nearly knocking him off his feet, but this time the man made a grab for him as he wobbled on his crutches.
Billy smiled brightly into the blue eyes.
"Dr. Brennan."
"Dr. Grant," he responded, smiling at the quick press of lips against his own before Alan rushed off, late for his first lecture of the new semester... again.
He laughed softly, still ecstatic at the change in his relationship with Alan, and just as awed by the new title in front of his name. Doctor William G. Brennan. He had successfully defended his dissertation before heading to Isla Sorna and had received formal confirmation when he graduated just a week earlier. So much had changed in just one week, and all for the better. He was no longer Alan's TA, having passed that work over to another graduate. Instead he was far more to Alan - a colleague, a friend... and now the rigid code of the university no longer applied to their relationship, he was a partner in all other ways.
He had never been happier.
With his own first class of the semester still a couple of hours away, Billy hobbled into the lecture hall but this time he took a seat at the side, smiling as Alan began his lecture.
END