Art of Anarchy Chapter 1: The Favor, a jurassic park fanfic

Art of Anarchy

Chapter 1: The Favor

Lowery Cruthers paced back and forth at the docks of Jurassic World, occasionally sneaking glances at his wristwatch. Fidgeting with his fingers, he gazed beyond the horizon hoping for a glimpse of the ferry.

The ferry is just running a bit late. It's not like it pulled a Titanic and sunk in the middle of the ocean, right? He shook his head at the morbid thought, mentally slapping himself in the process. No, that's crazy. Otherwise Maureen would've killed me for it, although it technically wasn't my fault.

He took one final look at the horizon before he hurried back under the shade of a nearby patio table umbrella. He set down the sign-which had his nieces and nephew's name crudely scribbled down with sharpie-and rested his head in his hands, deciding a quick nap should pass the time. The calming sea breeze did little to pacify his nerves but soon the sound of the rocking waves was enough to lull him to sleep.

One Week Prior

"Lowery, I thought I warned you about having your phone during work hours," scolded Claire Dearing as she pointed out the vibrating phone on his workstation. A picture of his sister lit up his screen and Lowery immediately grabbed and held onto it tightly, afraid his workaholic superior might wrestle it out of his hands.

He began to stammer before putting a sentence together. "It's my sister. Can I be excused for just a minute, otherwise she might be really angry at me for ignoring it."

Claire darted her eyes between her nervous employee and his phone. She groaned at the idea of her being charitable. "Fine, but just a minute. Any more and you'll have me to worry about."

Lowery gave a weak smile and quickly thanked her before jumping out of his seat and hurried out of ear's reach. He redialed the number and as it rang, he silently prayed his sister wouldn't be upset.

"LOWERY!" He had to hold his phone away from his ear as she began to list reasons why he was utterly useless for owning a phone. He hated being right.

"I'm sorry Maureen! I'm really busy at work and you called at the wrong time. My boss is here and she's very adamant about the rules regarding the 'no phones during work hours' policy."

His sister let out a hearty laugh. "Whipped even at work? Just like old times. I'm sorry for you little brother," she teased, earning a roll from Lowery's eyes. "I called you several times yesterday and you never returned them. It's really important and you would be doing Adam and I a huge favor."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" He muttered, bracing himself for the worst. He peeked over his shoulder for any sign of his boss and sighed in relief at her preoccupation with the park's monitor.

"Adam is recovering from food poisoning after eating some buffet sushi the other night and we originally planned a family vacation to visit Jurassic World. The kids have been excited all week and we almost had to cancel but luckily, their favorite uncle works there."

Lowery caught on to her hint and knew where this was going. "I'm their only uncle Maureen and I can't take time off from work to look after them. We're really swamped with the new attraction and not to mention making sure thousands of people don't get killed by dinosaurs."

His sister was unusually quiet and Lowery braced himself for the worst. "Uncle Lowery, you really can't watch over us?" said a young male voice, catching him off guard. Oh no, she didn't.

"Of course not. Uncle Lowery is just saying that cause he's trying to find a girlfriend as 'cool' as he is and doesn't want us to tell her the truth about him being a dork," said the snarky voice of one of his nieces.

"Correction Lexy, I'm not trying to find a girlfriend because I already have one." Lowery interjected, laughing nervously as he snuck a look at his neighbor, Vivian, and gazed longingly at her. The last thing he wanted was for them to recite embarrassing family stories, wrecking any chance, if any, he had with her.

His other niece quickly interrupted his pining by adding her two cents. "Sure you do Uncle Lowery. That's what you said the last time and she turned out to be a catfish."

"Oh Jessa, you and your crazy stories." Before Lowery could continue dissuading his nieces and nephew in from saying more mortifying things, their mother's voice returned and he was partially relieved for it.

"Just please make sure they don't get eaten or something. That's all I'm asking. Otherwise, I can guarantee that you'll never show your face at another family reunion," Maureen warned, hoping her brother understood that she meant it. If there was one thing Lowery was afraid of other than her temper, it was Maureen Sawyer's ability to keep her promises, a lesson he learned the hard way growing up.

Lowery pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to comprehend what she was asking of him. "Adam sure picked a good time to get sick," he muttered, hoping she wouldn't hear him. "Look, I'm not sure I can do it Maureen. Any other time could've been fine, but now really isn't a good time."

"Lowery Cruthers, your job is on the line if you don't get back to your station!" came Claire Dearing's authoritative voice as she marched up to him.

"I gotta go. I'll call you when I'm done I'm sorry!" He hung up before his sister could object, afraid more of losing his job than moment than her wrath. He turned off his phone in front of his boss as she approached him and gave a big smile in hopes of calming her down, which seemed to work as Claire's face returned to her typical disapproving look.

"Get back to work," she snapped, walking back to the control room, "and clean your station while you're at it."

As he followed her back, his thoughts were jumbled with what to do about his sister's request. If he did go through with it, he could only manage a day off during the weekend. One day is better than nothing, right? If he declined, he would risk disappointing his nieces and nephew. It seemed all hope was lost until an idea sparked in his head at the sight of the retreating figure of park operations manager. He recalled a discussion earlier between Claire and Zara, her attractive British assistant, about securing VIP access and suites for her nephews. Maybe it could work to my advantage. "Claire, you mentioned earlier today about having family coming to visit, am I right?"

It seemed to work in his favor because the minute Claire turned around, she wore a forced smile on her face like she had no choice but to respond and nervously fixed her golden, red bob. He observed that whenever the subject of family came up, Claire usually preferred to change the topic or nervously give very little information about them. "Yes Lowery, but I believe my family matters shouldn't be every employee's business, especially to eavesdroppers such as yourself." She narrowed her steel blue eyes, signaling him that she was ending the conversation, but Lowery continued, much to her dismay.

"I'm asking because I might need a little help," he fumbled on the last words, unsure of how to ask her to do him a favor. He awkwardly hooked his thumbs on his belt hoop and tried to play it off, but Claire understood completely.

"You? Need my help?" Claire gave a forced laugh. "You have a lot of nerve considering you're hardly working half the time and busy flirting with Vivian." She crossed her arms, but gave an intrigued smile, eager to gain the upper hand. "Nevertheless, I am interested with what you have in mind."

Lowery took a couple deep breaths to ready himself before breaking the silence. Here goes. "My sister and her husband were supposed to come with their family for the holidays, but they have to cancel because of an unfortunate case of food poisoning. She, however, still wants her children to come and is asking if I can spare some time for them. I know it's difficult to schedule a last minute day off, so-"

"Get to the point Lowery. If you haven't noticed, some of us have work to do," said Claire stiffly, tapping her fingers over her crossed arms.

He mumbled out a quick apology before resuming. "Is it possible for your assistant to add my nieces and nephew to her accompaniment? I don't know how long they are visiting, but I was hoping to use one of my day offs on the weekend so I can spend some time with them."

Claire's eyes widened at Lowery's request and pursed her lips, thinking critically of what to say. Initially, she was about to decline since she wasn't thrilled with the idea of being asked anything last minute. That might've been the Type A personality speaking, but she put it aside for a more rational thought. Although I hate to admit it, Lowery does produce exceptional results as a valuable technician, when he isn't busy being Casanova. Claire gave a hint of a smile, but immediately regretted it once she caught Lowery staring and grinning, eager for her response. I guess I can do him a favor, just this once.

"I will have to ask Zara about it," Claire said, mentally noting to pay Zara extra for the last minute request. Before Lowery could thank her, she added her conditions. "However, you'll have to cover their extra expenses. All I can afford to give you is just her watchful eye. Their suites and VIP access, which includes their dining and other services, are on you."

Lowery was pleased with Claire's attempt to help him, but mentally grieved over his soon-to-be empty bank account. It's for the best. As long as the kids are happy, I guess this can be my Christmas gift to them. "Thanks Claire, you have no idea-"

She held her hand up to stop him. "Please don't think I'll do this again. This is just one favor. I'm giving you your lunch break early in order to secure a suite for them and if the front desk give you any trouble, give Zara a call and she can sort it out. You're still going to pay for it though." She turned to open the door to the control room, but paused at the doorway. "Better hurry. Since it's the holidays, rooms may be scarce." She flashed him one more smile before leaving Lowery to fret over his expenses.

The sounds of a docking ferry woke Lowery up from his nap. He removed his glasses to rub his eyes. As he cleaned his lens with the ends of his shirt, he took a peek at his watch to note the time. Crap, I was asleep for half an hour? He looked up to see the disembarking crowd. He squinted his eyes to find the boat number and realized this the ferry he was waiting for.

He got up to run, but doubled back for his improvised sign. He excused his way through the throng of tourists until he found a decent spot to wait. I hope I didn't miss them. Maureen would have a field day with this.

Several minutes had gone by and Lowery was beginning to worry. He knew exactly who to look for, but the multitude of tourists weren't making it any easier to spot the kids. He kept glancing at the time, hoping to make it back for his shift.

"Uncle Lowery?" called a female voice behind him. He turned around, still holding up the sign, to find three figures: one young boy and two older girls.

One of the older girls was chewing a piece of gum as she spoke, narrowing her electric blue eyes-that reminded Lowery of his sister-to read the sign. "You spelled my name wrong," she pouted, running a hand through her lengthy hair which reminded Lowery of the color of chestnuts. "It's with a 'y' not an 'i'."

"Sorry Lexy, I was rushing to make it this morning before work." He blushed in embarrassment and bent down to the youngest of the trio and ruffled his curly hair. "Is that you Cody? You've grown since I last saw you." The little boy responded with a cheeky smirk and gave him a bear hug.

Lowery looked up to find the other sibling staring off at the trains with her ears plugged with earphones. Her chocolate brown hair was fashioned into a messy high bun. Out of the three, Jessa Sawyer looked like she just got out of bed in comparison to her groomed siblings. She turned around and gave her uncle a quick smile before pushing up her thick framed glasses.

"We have Lexy, Cody and Jessa," he spoke, pointing to the respected individuals. "I managed to snag you kids one of the last suites at the hotel and VIP access, which consist of front of the line passes, dining and other cool perks." He gestured his thumbs up to himself and gave an exaggerated smile. His attempt of being trendy crashed and burned as the trio looked at him with confusion over his antics.

Lowery cleared his throat and motioned them to follow him without another word, dying inside from humiliation. As they walked, Lexy ran up to his side, glancing over her shoulder to make sure her younger sister was occupied. "Jessa isn't feeling like herself because she just got through a really bad breakup. It took me forever to convince her to agree to this trip, so no mentioning of anything that would trigger her. We good?"

He nodded, feeling overwhelmed with what he got himself into. As they approached the train, only one thought ran through his mind which made him appreciate his sister even more: How does Maureen do it?

Author's Note: So after several months of this sitting in my laptop, since I busy with university, I have finally finished the first chapter! I had actually written several drafts but I decided on this particular one because it was my favorite to write! Lowery is such a goofball and I had hope to capture his personality, since we really didn't get much from the movie. Speaking of which, I had to watch it several times in order for me to plan everything out.

This is my first attempt back at writing after being on hiatus due to school. Since I'm on winter break for another week and before the next quarter starts, I am pleased to have finished this before I got swamped with reality. Please go easy on me TT_TT

Also, please let me know what you think so far in the reviews! Any ideas that you would like to see? I'm open to suggestion and willing to put them in! Just please no negative feedback because I can't better myself from them. By the way, the Mitchell siblings will arrive in the next chapter and maybe...we see some potential interaction?

Happy Holidays and advanced Happy New Year (if I can't update by then) :D

Special thanks to the two girls who work at my school's bookstore for their inspiration of Jessa and Lexy with their names and personalities!