"Maisie wake up" Claire gently whispered. Maisie groggily opened her eyes to the sunlight streaming through her bedroom, confusion apparent on her face as to why Claire had woken her up so early.

"I have a surprise for you!" Claire said enthusiastically.

Now Maisie was wide awake, excitement filling her wide eyes, "What is it?!"

"You're gonna have to come downstairs and see." Claire replied as she turned away.

Maisie was quick to change out of her pajamas before she scampered down the stairs of their newly built cabin. Owen, Claire, and her had decided to stick together after the events of the Lockwood manor, and now after almost six months of work their cabin was finished.

As she got to the bottom of the stairs Maisie looked around curiously, realizing Claire and Owen must be in the living room. When Maisie walked in she couldn't believe her eyes. Owen was sitting cross legged on the floor playing with a golden retriever puppy that was no bigger than the size of his hand.

"Oh my gosh is he ours?!" Maisie practically yelled.

"Yep. All yours kiddo." Owen replied.

Maisie bounded across the room immediately playing with the puppy who ferociously started licking her, causing the young girl to dissolve into a fit of laughter. Owen and Claire both stepped back admiring the scene before them. "What's his name?" Maisie asked.

"Well that's up to you, what do you want to name him?" Claire answered.

"How bout Lucky!"

Both Claire and Owen smiled at that but it was Owen who asked why that name.

"Well because he's a reminder of how lucky I am to be with you guys and to have a home."

Owen and Claire both just grinned unable to say anything due to the lumps that had formed in their throats.

"Can I take Lucky outside for a walk?"

Owen chuckled to himself before saying, "Yes but we've got some rules to go over first. Whenever you take Lucky outside he needs to be on a leash. At all times ok?" Maisie nodded furiously in response. "You also need to feed him three times a day, and check up on his water."

"Leash always, food three times a day, and water. I got it!"

Maisie was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement as she grabbed the leash off the counter, her four-legged friend barking with an equal amount of excitement at her feet.

"I've never seen her like that before." Claire commented.

"Me neither, but it was awfully cute" Owen replied as he slung arm around Claire's waist observing the little girl outside.

Lucky was turning out to be a great addition to the odd little family Owen, Claire, and Maisie has created. They developed a sort of rhythm where Claire would take Lucky out first thing in the morning before she went off to work at DPG, which had since been revamped to track down and safely capture the wild dinosaurs. Owen would feed him, and play fetch as he made breakfast, before going off to work outside. He had continued to work on their estate even after finishing the cabin. With dinosaurs all over the state of California he could never be too carful so currently he was installing an electric fence that would alert them if anything bigger than a dog crossed their property lines. Maisie loved the arrangement they had because she got to spend all day exploring with her new friend, and even though she would never admit it, she liked having Owen close by just in case.

Late in that afternoon one day Claire came home early after a long week of tracking down the T-Rex. Her team had spent many hours working on capturing the animal safely, and that morning they had finally done it. As a reward to her team she sent everyone home early. Owen decided to join her on their porch for a beer, but Maisie being the adventurer she was decided to keep roaming around with Lucky. Per Owen and Claire's rules Maisie had to have a walkie talkie on her whenever she wasn't with one of them. Even though they were pretty sure the area was safe, Claire and Owen wanted Maisie to have an easy way to contact one of them in case something happened.

Down by the lake Maisie was lying in the grass next to a dosing Lucky. Both of them were pretty tired after running around all day but Maisie wasn't quite ready to head back yet. She enjoyed having a companion who would listen to her even if he had no idea what she was saying. She rolled over without realizing she had pressed the talk button on her walkie talkie and was therefore unaware that Claire and Owen could hear everything she was saying.

When Claire and Owen first heard the walkie talkie make some rustling noises they didn't know what was happening until they heard Maisie's distinct voice talking in what sounded like a conversation. Both of them were immediately worried at the thought of Maisie talking to a stranger, but they quickly calmed when they realized she was only talking to Lucky. However neither one of them felt much better because they realized they were listening to a conversation they weren't meant to hear. They silently contemplated switching the device off, but the curiosity of getting to know more about Maisie won out so they continued to listen in.

"Lucky I don't know what to do. I love Claire and Owen a lot and I'd love to call them Mom and Dad because I've never had a Mom or a Dad before, but I'm afraid they won't like that. I mean they didn't really ask to have a kid and I overheard Claire and Karen on the phone talking about how Karen couldn't believe Claire had ever agreed to take me in knowing how much she despised kids. I know they love me, but I feel like I ruined their plans. I mean they both loved their work and now they can't both go off chasing the dinosaurs like I know they want because they have to look after me. I just feel like a burden sometimes."

Lucky just barked in response.

"A real help you are buddy."

Meanwhile back on the porch tears were welling in Claire's eyes, as Owen was lost in his own thoughts unsure of what to do.

"Owen, this is my fault. She thinks I don't want her, and that she's a burden!" Claire cried.

Owen whipped around to face Claire, taking her hands in his "Claire that's not true, she even said she knows that we love her, but it is true that she was unexpected and kids weren't really in either of our plans."

"Owen she said she thought she was a burden though." Claire exclaimed getting more upset.

"So lets make sure she knows that she's not. I mean Claire look on the bright side. She wants to call us Mom and Dad. That has to mean we are doing something right." Owen pointed out.

Claire nodded in agreement before quietly saying "I really want her to call me Mom, I'd never thought I say that, but I really want to be a Mom."

"Claire, I think you already are."

Claire smiled at that, wiping away her tears knowing Maisie would be heading back soon.

"What do we say to her Owen?"

"I'm not sure but we are gonna figure it out, like we always do."

A/N: thanks for checking out this story! I'm way more of a reader than I am a writer so please leave a review with any comments/critisms. I plan on writing at least a second chapter but if people like it I might write more!

-N