For two weeks every year the park was closed for a routine cleaning and maintenance. One week during the winter month and one mid-July. It was a necessary inconvenience for visitors to the park, in which the whole place was given routine safety check and a fresh coat of paint.
During these periods most of the staff, excluding the dino-carers and the security staff were given paid vacation days. A sort of thank you from the higher-ups for dealing with the crowds during the peak-season holidays.
Usually Missy would have jumped at the chance of taking a holiday somewhere, but her sister who worked in London had cancelled on her last week. Her friends had urged her to go with them to Miami for a few days when they heard about her cancelled plans but Missy had merely shaken her head and told them to go enjoy themselves.
Instead she was going to spend the entire week relaxing in her bungalow. Perhaps giving the place a clean out while she had the time.
Missy had worked at Jurassic World for two years.
She had the very 'un-coveted' job of administering inoculations to the various dinosaurs of the park. Being genetically bred meant that there was always something new that could cause the animals to become sick. The labs regularly sent herself and a couple of others out with a new vaccine and often gave her special drugs to give to certain species, that she was told would aid them in the growth process and give them upgraded features and traits.
It was noon when Missy finally finished her work in the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo and was now on her way over to the Velociraptor paddock.
She had spent the morning chasing around the juvenile herbivores, giving them each a sharp jab to the right leg. She had been almost done when one of the baby stegosaurus had spewed up all over her blouse the moment she had given it its inoculation.
Missy grimaced as the putrid smell of the vomit rose from her shirt as she drove up towards the looming pen.
On her first day at Jurassic World she had been told with, what she always felt was a hint of glee from her manager, that she would be working with the raptors. And more importantly than that- Owen Grady.
Owen Grady had a bit of a reputation amongst the staff at Jurassic Park to say the least, but all Missy had heard about him when they first met was that he was ex-U.S. Navy and that he had trained with his raptors since they were born.
When she first entered into the velociraptor enclosure at the end of her first couple of weeks at the park, she had immediately felt eyes on the back of her head. Silhouetted against the bright sun had been Owen, stood watching her from the walkway above her head.
For months he ignored her, the most she got out of him was a curt nod as she passed him. Then one day… it happened.
She had been on her seventh month working at the park and that morning a new vaccine needed to be introduced to one of the raptors, Echo, who kept falling sick. They had tranquilised her and Missy was led into the raptor pen to give the unconscious dinosaur the jab.
Normally the raptors were leashed in holding cells while she administered the medicine but this was the first time she had been next to one in its entirety.
Barry had smiled and reassured her that Echo had been given a good enough dose and would be knocked out for hours. The same as every time, she had felt Owen Grady's gaze on the back of her head as she was led over.
But the dose had obviously not been correct, as the moment Missy knelt down beside the raptor, it had opened his eyes and leapt to its feet, knocking Barry to the ground.
Missy had let out a muffled scream and dragged herself away from the beast as she heard pounding feet and yells and shouts coming from behind her.
Echo had swayed on the spot before suddenly his head turned towards Missy.
It had leaned in towards her and given a deep sniff before a tranq dart hit it directly on its neck.
It had given the most ear piercing screech right in Missy's face before collapsing once again onto the floor.
Missy had turned to look behind her, to see Owen Grady standing there, tranquiliser gun in hand.
He gave her a look as if he was about to say something but Missy hadn't lingered long enough to find out. She had merely run past him and out of the paddock taking her supply bag with her.
Outside, up against a wall, far enough away so that no one would see her, Missy had broken down in tears. She had lifted a hand to her mouth to muffle the sobs but her whole body was shaking and tears poured down her cheeks. She had been genuinely frightened for her life.
That is whenhe had appeared…
Owen.
At first he didn't say anything, he merely came to stand next to her, leaning up against the wall, arms folded, his eyes at the floor.
"That was a pretty scary thing to go through," he had muttered eventually, glancing up at her.
Missy had desperately tried to wipe away tear tracks but the sobs seemed to be coming thick and fast.
"It's happened to me a couple of times. They've caught me off guard and I wasn't mentally prepared," he had uttered.
"What did you do?" Missy asked.
Owen shrugged. "I didn't cry but I came close to it a couple of times."
Missy gazed up at him, all biceps and rumpled clothes and had been shocked at this response. This big, ex-navy guy was showing her his vulnerable side. Was showing her that she shouldn't be emabrssed to cry.
"I've seen you working, I like your style," he had said with a bit of a smile.
Missy had given a sniff. "Thanks," she had mumbled.
"I'm Owen, by the way," he had said holding out his hand.
"Missy," she had replied, wiping tears from her eyes and taking his hand in hers.
And that had how they had become friends. Each and every time Missy had entered the raptor enclosure from then on Owen had come up and talked to her. Most of their conversations at first were fairly formal. Then one evening, when Missy was out at a bar with some girlfriends, Owen had caught her eye at the other end of the bar. Most of her friends had nudged her in the ribs and swooned about how handsome he was but Missy had just rolled her eyes at them. She had chatted with him for a while and he had introduced her to some of his friends. But that night Missy had had way more than she had intended to drink that night and Owen had revelled in speaking really loudly to her when she had turned up at the raptor paddock the next morning.
She hated him but at the same time loved being around him. He was a great guy to be friends with.
Just friends…. that's all they were.
It was 1pm by the time Missy pulled up outside the raptor paddock. Her blouse reeked of stegosaurus spew. She gave a sigh and began to unbutton it. She had a spare, clean shirt next to her on the seat, her bra would only be visible for ten seconds, she thought.
But the moment she peeled her dirty shirt from her skin a loud knocking filled the truck.
She turned to see Owen standing beside the driver's door with a grin plastered across his face.
"I know you just want to get naked when you come near me, but we're at work, you need to control yourself," he said cockily.
Missy rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said, pulling on a fresh, cotton shirt. "I got Stego vomit me."
He pulled open the door and Missy hopped out and eyed him irritably. "What are you so cheery about?" she asked.
Owen continued to grin and gave a shrug. "It's the day before shut down week. An entire week of vacation, why wouldn't I be cheery about that?"
"Hmm… I guess," uttered Missy, shielding her eyes from the mid-day sun.
Owen glanced at her. "I thought you were going to Europe to visit your sister?" he said narrowing his eyes at her.
Missy gave a sigh as they walked towards the paddock. "She cancelled on me, she's got emergency meetings planned at the bank she works at in London. So I'm gonna hang around here for the week instead. How about you? Have you decided on any plans. The last time I spoke to you, you were still making up your mind."
Owen ran a hand across his stubbly chin. "I'm sticking around here too, as it happens. The fencing around the pens needs some work so I volunteered to fix it."
Missy smiled. "You know that the park can just hire in someone to do that for you," she muttered, shooting him a look.
Owen smiled, his eyes falling to the ground. "I know, but its quicker and easier if I just get it done myself."
The pair of them reached the raptor enclosure where swift shadows could just been seen between the slats of concrete barriers.
"How are they doing today?" asked Missy, nodding towards the pen.
"Pretty good," said Owen folding his arms across himself. "Work with the clicker is improving…. ISNT IT, BLUE?" he yelled loudly.
Suddenly all movement inside the paddock stopped at the sound of his voice. Owen chuckled.
"So what have those geeks in the labs got for us today?" he said turning back to Missy and eyeing the metal case at her side.
Missy quickly opened the case the reveal four heavy duty syringes, all filled with a yellow liquid.
"It's apparently a serum that works to improve the raptors' velocity and power," she said matter-of-factly, gazing up at Owen. But the raptor trainer immediately frowned.
"Those girls are strong enough already, they don't need anything to make them more powerful than they already are. They're animals- not monsters," he said exasperatedly.
"Owen, I'm just doing my job," uttered Missy, staring up at him guiltily.
"I know that," he said softening, touching her gently on the arm. "It just kills me how they're trying to breed them to be weapons, when they're dangerous enough already."
Owen looked down at Missy, a frown at his brow and gazed into her eyes.
She bit her lip as her grey orbs met his green ones.
A long moment passed before she suddenly growled in frustration.
"Fine!" she said, rolling her eyes and reaching down into the bag. "But don't say I don't ever do anything for you."
Glancing this way and that, she pulled out the four syringes and emptied each one out into the bushes beside them.
When she was done she slipped the empty vials into a separate compartment of her bag.
"Happy?" she asked, through gritted teeth.
Owen beamed at her and before even saying a word he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
Missy's stomach suddenly lurched.
"You owe me one," she uttered when he pulled away, a blush creeping over her face.
"Definitely," he said grinning. "Anything you want." And with that Owen escorted Missy back over towards her beat-up truck.
What neither of them seemed to notice was that Vic Hoskins, Head of InGen security division, watching them from a walkway high above the raptor pen
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