"There's a baby triceratops." Claire's voice interrupts the silence that had settled over the car.
"Hmm?" Owen gives a quick sideways glance in her direction, before his gaze does a quick check on Maisie in the rear view mirror before returning to the road out front.
"There's a baby triceratops." Claire repeats herself, before following up with: "There shouldn't *be* a baby triceratops."
"Why not?" Maisie's voice comes from the backseat, the girl sitting up and looking interested and alert.
"All the dinosaurs at Jurassic World were female. And after the breeding disaster during Jurassic Park, a lot more research and effort went in to make sure it couldn't happen again." Claire turned her head, looking between Owen and Maisie. "A *lot* of money was spent on this. Part of the failure of Jurassic Park (and subsequent failures) can be directly tied to the fact the animals were able to breed. We didn't want that to happen again."
"Then where did the baby triceratops come from?" Maisie asked.
Owen and Claire looked at each other. Where indeed. It was Owen who spoke first. "Well, as Ian Malcolm has always said, 'Life finds a way'."
"No," Claire shook her head. "Seriously, I was involved in the discussions and research and work that went into this. There's no way the triceratops just started breeding on their own."
"You do know that means there's only one other option, right?" Owen raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Claire again. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I know," Claire gave a loud sigh, slumping back into her seat. "I wish I wasn't sure, but I am. You know what this means, right?"
"What *what* means?" Maisie leaned forward, she didn't know what they were talking about.
"It means someone has been breeding more dinosaurs, and not just in your basement," Claire breathed out with a wince.
"And things are going to get a whole lot worse," Owen added, with a shake of his head. "He's so fu-," he cuts himself off, a quick look back at a Maisie, before starting again and going simply with, "He's crazy."
"Who?"
"Dr. Wu." Claire and Owen replied in sync.
Silence settled over the car again.
After a quick stop at a gas station for gas, snacks and the use of a bathroom, the three continued on, Maisie happily munching her way through a bag of Twizzlers, her gaze focused out her window, watching the scenery fly by, forehead crinkling in deep thought.
"So I'm a clone." It comes out as both a statement and a question. And Claire and Owen's eyes meet quickly, both not looking forward to this conversation.
"Um, yeah, well..." Claire trails off. She gathers her thoughts before continuing, "We only know what Eli said. I'm not sure we should trust him."
"I saw a picture of my mom," Maisie whispered. "Or who I thought was my mom. I look just like her."
"That doesn't mean you're a clone," Owen shook his head, wishing he could face the girl for this conversation. But also knowing that it might be easier this way.
"Besides," Claire added lightly, trying to relieve some of the tension that was settling over the car, and the worry that was crossing Maisie's face. "A clone is really just like an identical twin." Seeing the disbelief cross Maisie's face, she added. "If it's true, and we don't know that it is, it doesn't make you someone else. It doesn't make you *less you*."
Maisie just turned her gaze back out her window, chewing absentmindedly on the Twizzler she was still grasping in her hand.
Owen reached his arm back between the front seats, and was able to lightly grasp Maisie's knee. He gave it a quick squeeze. "Don't worry about it kiddo. Clone or not, we're not leaving you. And everyone's going to have some much *bigger* problems to worry about."
There's a short moment of silence in the car, before Claire snorts, trying to hide her laughter. Owen let's go of Maisie's knee, pulling his hand back to the steering wheel, while giving Claire a confused glance. "What?"
Claire tries to answer, but instead a large peel of laughter escapes. Her hand goes to her chest, as she tries to calm herself down. "It's just..." another burst interrupts her. "Bigger..." She laughs again. She takes a deep breath, trying desperately to get a hold of herself, and manages to say "like T-Rex sized," before she dissolves back into her laughter.
Owen has always found her laughter contagious, and before he knows it, he's laughing along side her. He takes a quick glance in the rear-view mirror again, to check on Maisie. He's happy to note that she's fighting a smile and laughter of her own.
Maybe, just maybe, things are going to be okay, he thinks. He reaches across the center console, and threads his fingers through Claire's, squeezing lightly, everyone still laughing lightly.
Claire gives him a quick glance, before squeezing his hand back. There may be a lot of unknowns ahead of them, but at least they're going to face it together.