Knock…knock…knock…knock…
It was a clear, cool Saturday morning in late September. Claire awoke to the sound of a faint hammering outside. She knew who it was immediately. Owen was still working on the cabin. Claire thought it would be finished by now, but Owen was building it with his own two hands and no one else's help so she cut him a little slack for the amount of time it was taking him to finish it. It had been almost a year since the events on Isla Nublar and at Benjamin Lockwood's estate. Claire had actually gotten a good night's sleep the night before, considering she was slept in Owen's van in a tiny full size bed next to him with Maisie a few feet away from them on the pull out couch. This is where they were spending their weekends for the past several months. During the week the three of them were staying at Claire's apartment in the city so Claire could be close to work and Maisie could be close to school. Once the cabin is finished, it will be their permanent residence. Claire had given much thought to keeping her apartment even after they move into the house because despite how in love she was with the man outside who was already giving her a headache with his hammer banging away at the roof of the cabin, there was still that independent side of her that still liked to have something to call her own. But she soon realized she wouldn't be able to sleep at night without Owen next to her, even if it was only a few nights a week when she was working late at the office and didn't want to drive through the mountains to get home. However, Claire was always sensible when it came to money, and she knew it wouldn't make sense to pay rent when she had a nice house to go home to, even if it meant she would have to make that forty minute drive up the mountain in the dark.
Claire lied in the bed of the van, half awake for a little while still pondering all this the more Owen hammered on outside. Sometimes she feared her eyes would get stuck in the back of her head from rolling them so much at him. Still, she knew in her heart she would not be renewing her lease once it was up in December, and this beautiful home on this gorgeous mountain next to this amazing lake would be hers…theirs. THEIR home…just this thought alone made her feel a sense of warmth inside. This man that still drives her crazy sometimes built this house for her, for them. There is no going back to her apartment once the cabin is finished.
She continued to lie there and listen to the hammering and think about everything that had happened in the past year. The first few months following what happened on the island and Lockwood's home were very rough. Claire and Owen were the only two people still alive that had any involvement in the capturing and transporting of the dinosaurs from the island, and were taken in for questioning about the events that took place. They were both very luckily given immunity from any kind of charges if they both completely answered everything truthfully. They both knew a good lawyer who previously worked for the park when the incident with the Indominus took place, and she became helpful to them as well. Maisie became a blessing during all of this too. Since there was no one left to take care of her and she was old enough to be brought in for questioning as well, the courts granted Claire and Owen full legal custody over Maisie after she made it clear she wanted to remain in their care. They had to provide proof that they could take care of her financially, educationally, etc. under the law. Luckily, Claire was always tight with her money and saved most of everything she ever earned while working at Jurassic World, and Owen was still living off his settlement check from the park event, plus a monthly pension from the military. Aside from paying a not so small fine for everything that happened almost a year ago and tons of lawyer's fees and court fees, they were okay financially and Claire was grateful for that.
There were also the nightmares. Maisie had nightmares almost every night for four months straight until they finally simmered down to a couple of nights a week. This kid had been through so much in the course of two days, Claire and Owen wondered if she would ever sleep through the night again. They lost so much sleep during those months, sitting up with her for hours,they thought they had a newborn baby on their hands. She had nightmares about the Indoraptor coming into her bedroom, which actually happened, but in her dreams it was not the lucky ending she ended up with in real life. She also had nightmares about her mother, who really wasn't her mother. Everything she had known up until that point had been a lie, and she struggled for a long time to make peace with it all. Claire and Owen knew she would never be completely okay after everything that happened, and they vowed to Maisie that they would always be there if she wanted to talk about anything or ask questions.
Owen occasionally had nightmares and would wake up in a light sweat, but he was used to this from his military days and was pretty good at calming himself down and going back to sleep. He would sometimes have nightmares about Blue, however, and would have to get up and go outside for a walk in the middle of the night to clear his head. He still wondered where she was and if she was safe. He missed her like she was his own child, and in a way, she was. He never doubted how strong she was though, especially after she made it through the shooting and the surgery, and he knew deep down, wherever she was, that she was alright.
Claire on the other hand would wake up from her nightmares drenched in sweat and in full panic mode convinced the things she was dreaming about were really happening. She had the same recurring nightmare a few nights a week for about two months after everything that had happened. In her dream she was lying in a hospital bed looking up at these extremely bright lights with a doctor standing over her telling her he was going to have to amputate her leg because it got infected from the wound the Indoraptor caused and they could not control the infection with IV meds. The next thing she heard was the sound of a chainsaw and she would wake up shaking uncontrollably while Owen spent at least an hour calming her down in bed. Finally, the nightmares subsided somewhat for all of them, but occasionally Claire still managed to have that same dream. At least now she knew she was fine when she woke up. The first few times she was convinced something was really wrong with her leg.
Owen's hammering finally stopped for a few minutes. Claire decided to get out of bed and go outside. She pulled off her pajamas and noticed the scar just above her right knee. It would be there for the rest of her life and she had finally come to terms with that. It was a constant reminder of what had happened, but it also reminded her of how strong she was, how hard she fought to save the dinosaurs, how hard she fought to stay alive for Owen and Maisie, and for when and how she realized she never stopped loving Owen. She stilled remembered grabbing him and kissing him after he pulled the giant log off her leg, and vowed to herself that no matter what happened between them from that point on, they would always love each other and be connected on so many levels. Aside from the slight limp she endured for a few months due to the tissue damage and the occasional sharp pains that sill shoot through her leg from the wound, she had no major problems with her leg anymore. She slipped on some loose sweat pants that said Jurassic World down the side of the right pant leg. Part of her felt guilty for wearing them due to everything that happened at the park, but she never wore them in public, plus they were given to her as part of one of the marketing plans one year and on top of everything, they were so damn comfortable. She threw on a tank top and one of Owen's henleys on top of it to keep her warm. She liked wearing his shirts sometimes. They were so soft. She left her socks on and slipped into her navy blue pair of Toms and stepped out onto the small deck Owen had added on to the van on wheels. She always chuckled when she realized what it actually was…a van on wheels! If someone had told Claire only five years ago that instead of living in her somewhat lavish, pristine apartment, she would be living in a van on wheels in the mountains while waiting for a cabin in to be built for her by a handsome, rugged raptor trainer, she would have told them they were crazy and to get back to work. She sat down on one of the two Adirondack chairs on the small porch under the awning that pulled out from the side of the van. Maisie was running around, doing cartwheels in the patch of grass that would soon be their front yard. She saw Claire come out and came running up to her, said good morning, gave her a hug and kiss and ran back off into the yard. For September in California it was already getting pretty chilly in the mornings and Claire wrapped herself in a fleece blanket Owen had draped over one of the chairs and folded her legs up to her waist and wrapped her arms around them.
Claire breathed in the cool mountain air. It was so clean and smelled so good, unlike the smog and polluted air she was unfortunately used to in the city. She looked around and took in everything around her. She turned all the way around and stretched her neck far enough to gaze at the huge lake slightly behind the van and the snow capped mountain peaks in the distance. Aside from Isla Nublar before 2015, she had never seen anything more beautiful. To her left and straight ahead was the patch of gravel that would soon be their new driveway. Three vehicles sat next to each other…her Ford Fiesta, Owen'sChevy pickup truck and the old station wagon he found at an estate sale for what he considered to be a fair price. Once the cabin was finished, the station wagon was going to be his next "fixer upper" and he often talked about how excited he was to start working on it. Claire often marveled at how he was such a jack of all trades. She looked to her right again, this time without having to strain her neck so far and stared at the househe was working so diligently on. It was gorgeous. Owen was hammering shingles down on the roof. He did not hear her come out for all the noise he was making, plus his bad singing that he thought was good was drowning out any noise she might have made coming out of the van anyway. The house was brick, with wooden shudders and a rustic teal double front door, Claire's only request. Her favorite color had always been green, and Owen didn't hesitate to bring home twenty different teal color swatches from the hardware store for her to choose from. Claire was amazed at how different it looked only a year ago when she walked up to it to take Owen to a bar down to road to try and convince him to go back to the island with her. So many things had changed in that short year. Claire left California for the island a single woman and came back with a man and a child. This was her family. She thought about that conversation she had with her sister that day at the park when she got busted for not spending time with her nephews. Karen had always told her "when" she has kids one day she'll see how worth it this really is. Up until the end of that day when everything changed for her at the park, she never thought she would be the motherly type. She thought she would go on to be Claire Dearing…Operations Manager and big boss lady of Jurassic World for the rest of her life. How wrong she was. Claire noticed the change in herself. It scared her for a while. She didn't know if she would be able to handle the messiness that comes with motherhood. She was always such a structured, organized person and didn't know how she would be as a mother. However, when Maisie fell into hers and Owen's lap, she didn't think for a second about anything other than keeping Maisie safe and taking her with them when they left Lockwood's estate. It surprised her a little bit to see how motherly she was towards this child she only just met. But she instantly fell in love with Maisie and knew there was no going back. She would do anything to protect this beautiful, smart little girl, including crawling on top of a glass roof with a laser gun pointed at her the love of her life's chest so he could trick a demon of a dinosaur into running after him, all while barely being able to walk. The thoughts of that night escaped her again as she watched Owen and Maisie outside.
She never thought her life would have turned out this way. In the past, she thought of this kind of life as no life at all. She wanted her independence, her nice clothes, her amazing job andher company car. She still had her independence, her clothes were still pretty nice, but the fancy job and car were gone. The things she thought were important had long been missing from her life. The people and the things she had in her life now were what she never realized she needed and wanted. She was loved. She was loved so unconditionally by a man who told her every day she was beautiful inside and out and who held her hand everywhere they went and kissed her good morning and good night and any chance he could in between the morning and nighttoo. They had come so far since that first date, her with her itinerary and him with his board shorts. Still, he was not afraid to tell her when she was being an ass, and she was not afraid to do the same for him. Yes, Claire and Owen were still both Type A personalities who still sometimes clashed with each other over control, but they learned how to compromise with each other and usually now ended up laughing about whatever they were arguing about to begin with. She was loved by a little girl, a little girl who Claire saw so much of herself in. She grew up loving dinosaurs and being fascinated with the wonders of the world. She and Maisie were both fearless. Claire regretted the fact that she lost her humanity for a few years, but was grateful for the lessons life taught her at Jurassic World that day in 2015. She was her true self again. She was still haunted by the events that shook her life and the lives of so many on Isla Nublar twice now, but she was grateful for the shift it brought into her life. She only hoped Maisie would see her as a good person and mother.
Owen finally came down from the ladder and walked over to Claire. Thankfully to Claire, he had finally stopped singing too. He said good morning and kissed her passionately on the lips and went inside the van for a few minutes. When he came back out, he had a cup of coffee for each of them in his hand. He sat down on the arm of her chair and handed her the cup of coffee. She took a sip. It was fresh, still very hot…and perfect. Not only could Owen fight off monster dinosaurs, bond with Velociraptors and build gorgeous houses, he could also make a damn fine cup of coffee. He wrapped his arm around her, and she felt the warmth of his body on hers. This made her feel safe. This made her feel loved. She looked up and him and noticed how intently he was gazing into her eyes. She told him she loved him. He responded in his classic Owen fashion, "yeah, I know…you always have!" She rolled her eyes again, but smiled at the same time. He always knew how to make her smile. Maisie came running onto the porch and jumped in Claire's lap. Claire took the blanket, unwrapped herself and wrapped Maisiein it with her as Owen kissed Maisie on her forehead. They sat like this for a while listening to the birds and the wind and Claire felt a slight tear try to stream down her face. She didn't want to let it show that she was emotionally overwhelmed, even though it was overwhelming love she was experiencing. After a while, Owen walked with Maisie to that patch of grass that would soon be their front yard and proceeded to let her chase him around to see how long it would take her to catch him. Claire should have known he would be great with a child because he was just like a big kid himself most of the time. "Tag, you're it!" It didn't take long for Maisie to catch Owen. Claire watched in wonder of her family, of her new life, of the love she had surrounding her. Everything she thought she didn't need before she now had right in front of her…her family, her true happiness and unconditional love. She let the tear escape her eye and fall down her cheek. She was where she belonged. She was home.