Prologue

Naval Base San Diego, June 2012

"I think your books are in this box." Owen told Barry when he left the building and headed over to the car to put the box in the backseat. The damn box was heavy as fuck. It felt like Barry had packed bricks in it. "There are still three boxes upstairs."
"It is never going to fit." Barry scratched his head. He stood beside the open door of the car trying to figure out how to pack the last boxes in the backseat to make everything fit in.

"Nah!" Owen made a dismissive gesture and almost lost grip of the box. Barry had wanted to rent a van, but Owen insisted that all their stuff would fit in his car. The barracks at the Naval Base were furnished and both men didn't own many decorative items. They had one or two things, which were presents from their sisters. Like photo frames or the snow globe Owen got a few years ago for Christmas. His younger sister had been in her unicorn phase back then. That was the reason why Owen was the proud owner of a unicorn snow globe with bright pink glitter. He had put it in his wardrobe and had forgotten about it until they began to pack their things.

"I was better at Tetris than you." Owen reminded Barry and put the heavy box in the backseat. He would never admit that he was wrong about something, but maybe Barry had been right that it could get cramped with all their boxes in the trunk and the backseat. Where did all the stuff come from? He didn't remember buying any of it, except for the LEGO Millenium Falcon.
"I have three older sisters, who used to borrow my things. I barely had the chance to play Tetris on my Gameboy." Barry answered. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. "But I doubt playing Tetris qualifies you for packing a car."

"I managed to get the rocket" Owen pretended to be offended. "Do you doubt me?"
"No, but I know you." Owen raised his eyebrows. Barry and him had been friends since ever, but sometimes he knew him too well and he was way too honest.

"Mr. Grady." Owen, who recognized the female voice, turned around.
"Lieutenant Commander Holden." He greeted her with a smile on his face. Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Holden was Lima's new trainer. It was a shame that Owen overlooked her until she introduced herself to him as the one who would take care of his dog in the future. She was a woman, who even looked sexy in her uniform.

"I'm in a hurry, but I hoped I would see you before you left."
"I'm glad you came." Owen answered. He had been flirting with her the last time they met and he had left a note for her at Lima's kennel with his phone number. He had hoped to see her again before he would leave. "Did you get my message?"
"I did." She said smiling. She tilted her head playing with her braid.
"I mean it. You can call me anytime if you need help with Lima's training." He offered and smiled back. Of course he was having more in mind than just talking about Lima's training.

"And if I don't need help with Lima?" She asked raising a smirk from Owen. She took the hint and she wasn't dismissive about it.
"You can call whenever you like." He replied. His glance traveled to her lips and back to her blue eyes.
"I will." She promised. "I'm sorry I have to go. Have a safe journey, Mr. Grady."
"Please, call me Owen."
"If you call me Jennifer." She beamed at him. "Have a safe journey, Owen."

"Who is that?" Barry asked in a suspicious voice. He had that strict expression on his face, which told Owen that Barry didn't approve Owen's interest in Jennifer.
"Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Holden." Owen answered as casual as possible.
"I figured it out myself. I mean who is she and what did you do with her?" Why did Barry always think he had something in mind? As if he was just nice to a woman, when he wanted to get in her pants.
"Do you really wanna know?" Owen thought he wouldn't.
"Depends on what you did." It was funny that Barry immediately thought that Owen had done something. "I can't believe you accepted Fabienne's challenge to fuck every single redhead on the Naval Base."

"It sounds horrible when you say it." Owen shrugged his shoulders.
"It is horrible, Owen. One day you're gonna get STDs." Barry rolled his eyes, but Owen didn't care. He knew that his best friend didn't approve his behaviour, but it was his decision and he didn't want a girlfriend. He wanted to have fun without all those responsibilities, which came hand in hand with a true relationship.
"That's what condoms are made for and I would like to make clear that a) I just had sex with Shirley. Jolene is married and I don't mess with married women. And b) it was a New Year's Resolution not a challenge." He had been drunk, when he wrote down his New Year's Resolutions. It was meant as a joke until he had met Shirley in February. They met in a bar near the Naval Base and he had offered to walk with her back to the barracks.

"I really wanted to go home that evening when I had met Shirley." Owen defended himself. "She asked me if I wanted to stay. It wasn't my fault."
"You deserve STDs." Barry shook his head. He never believed that Owen was innocent.
"I'm working on Jennifer." Owen confessed. He couldn't help it, but Jennifer was hot and he had a lot of time now.
"You must be kidding." Barry sighed rubbing his bald head.
"I gave her my phone number. She promised me to keep me updated on Lima. I have a few weeks left before I go to that island. Do you want me to spend this time alone?"

"Spending the remaining time alone isn't a bad idea. Remember she is the one who trains your Lima now. You'd better be nice to her." Barry reminded him that his actions could get him in trouble. He was more traditional than his parents sometimes.
"That is what I intend to be. I want to be very nice to her." Owen clarified with a smug smirk on his face.
"Not too nice." Barry said sharply. "You better don't mess with a Lieutenant Commander."
"Nah, why would I mess with her? I plan to have fun with her. She is hot." He couldn't see the sense in rejecting what he wanted, when she wanted it, too.

"Good heavens, Owen! What is special about redheads?" Barry asked. It was one of those questions Barry didn't want him to answer. Owen knew that.
"I like the freckles. They are everywhere on their bodies." He answered grinning from ear to ear.
"Do you want a woman or a Dalmatian Dog?"
"Stop being a grinch, Barry. Why don't you begrudge me some fun? She'd be the only redhead there is for me in a while. I bet there aren't many redheads in Costa Rica."
"Thank God!"

"You'll be fine." Owen promised Lima. The dog tilted her head as if she understood every word he said and wagged her tail.
He was sitting cross-legged in Lima's kennel. She was a three years old Belgian Malinois. He had worked with her since she came to the Naval Base as a puppy. Lima had been the most stubborn little puppy he had ever seen during his career as dog trainer at the Navy. She was quite intelligent and had an unusual fiery temper for her breed. She stole Owen's heart from the start and he put a lot of effort into her training.

"Don't give me that look, Puddles." Lima tilted her head to the other side. Owen nicknamed her Puddles because he thought her fur looked like mud. She looked at him prick-eared. Her big brown eyes were as observant as they were faithful.

Owen sighed. He scratched Lima between her ears. He had worked with a lot of dogs throughout the years. It had always been his calling and now he was going to leave this part of his life behind. He had packed. The apartment he had shared with Barry for the last years was empty. The boxes and bags were already in the car. There was just one thing left to do. He had to bid Lima farewell. He had known before that this would be the hardest part of leaving.

Owen loved animals ever since he was a boy. His dad had an animal clinic back home in Huntington Beach. He had always helped his dad taking care of animals and nursing kittens and puppies. Owen had brought home every injured animal he found, no matter if it was a seagull or a squirrel. There was nothing more rewarding than to watch those animals getting better day by day and release them into the wild again.

Owen had wanted to serve in the Navy like his grandfather as much as he wanted to work with animals and he was given the opportunity to do both. When he finished school he became a dog trainer at the Navy. He became outstanding in his field. Other dog trainers had consulted with him in difficult cases. He never had given up on a dog if he didn't try his best to train it.

It had been his life for more than ten years, but he grew tired of training dogs for military use. He had trained Lima to be an explosive detection dog. He had trained her to act against her natural instincts and to put her life in danger. Dogs trusted their owners without questioning and without hesitation. How many dogs did he train to obey life threatening orders? How many had been killed serving their country?

InGen contacted Owen two months ago. He wasn't surprised when visitors came to watch him train Lima, but it was a surprise to learn who they were. They were working for InGen. One of them was the personnel manager. They had shown interest in his work.
Owen knew InGen. There was nobody in the world who didn't know InGen since InGen was the company, which had brought back dinosaurs.

When Ian Malcolm published his book after the Jurassic Park incident everybody thought it was just fiction, but in 1997 when a T-Rex had roamed the streets of San Diego, there was no way to deny anymore that InGen successfully created dinosaurs. Owen remembered the time when the public found out about Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna. The news had been hard to apprehend, but it was true. Dinosaurs weren't extinct anymore.

InGen offered him a job and Owen gave it a shot. He was told they were looking for someone to lead a research program on carnivore behaviour and intelligence. He thought about Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, who did research on primates. He wanted to do something like that. Owen loved the idea of working with animals without exploiting them and training them for a particular use.

The Navy man didn't have to think about the job offer twice. The salary was good and living on an island in Central America seemed to be quite appealing to him. The only things he demanded were that he would be allowed to live close to the paddock instead of living in the staff quarters and he wanted Barry as the second in command. He needed someone whom he trusted. InGen agreed to every condition Owen set and so he had signed his contract four weeks ago.

"I wish I could take you with me, Puddles." Owen said to Lima. She raised a laugh from him when she attempted to lick his face. He tried to fend her off, but he was inconsequent and cuddled her. Training Lima wasn't his job anymore. Now he could be as inconsequent as he wanted to be.

"I promise I'll come back for you when you retire. Stay safe until then. I know you will be in good hands." Owen told her cuddling her. He had a good sense of people and he knew he could trust Lieutenant Commander Holden, but it didn't make it easier to bid Lima farewell. He raised her and he spent many years with her.

"I have to go, Puddles. Barry is waiting for me." Owen sighed pretending not to be sad. He didn't want to admit that he was, but he felt like he abandoned Lima. She trusted him with all her heart and he was minutes apart from walking away and starting a new life.

Lima turned around and barked at the newcomer, who stood outside the kennel. Owen lifted his head. Barry was their visitor.
"I thought you just wanted to say goodbye." Barry said watching him closely.
"That's what I'm doing." Owen answered and cuddled Lima one last time. He lowered his voice so that Barry couldn't hear him. "You can't tell anyone, but I'm going to miss you, girl."

"Come on, Owen. You're going to train dinosaurs. You should make a happy face." Barry told him when they walked away from the kennels. They could hear the dogs barking behind them. Owen would never admit, but it took all of Owen's self-control to not turn around. "I saw you breaking hearts along the way, but I never saw you that hesitant to bid someone farewell."
"It is because I like animals better than people." Owen answered. It was true. He thought humans were an overrated species.

"Costa Rica will be fun, Owen. White sand beaches, palm trees, deep blue sea, nice weather, great food and beautiful Latinas." Barry repeated what Owen had told his best friend to convince him to go with him to Costa Rica. "One of them might comfort you." Barry patted him on the shoulder.
"Who are you and what did you do to Barry?" Owen teased him. Barry never approved his affairs.
"I said one of them Owen." Barry emphasized the word one, but Owen decided to ignore it.
"What if there are twins and I can't tell them apart and both of them use me?" He asked with a grin on his face.

"How likely is that?" Barry asked laughing at him.
"Pretty much likely since I'm handsome Mr. Heavens." Owen smirked. The girl, who became the first notch on his bedpost had called him that. He had been 18 years old. His first love had broken up with him and he had been looking for distraction. He had been sleeping around and dedicated himself to be handsome Mr. Heavens for a number of girls. He had used his little sister as wingman. There was no easier way to charm a woman than going for a walk with a newborn in a stroller. All women had found it irresistible that he spent time with his baby sister.

"Did you ever heard of monogamous relationships?"
"Monoga - what?" Owen asked. "It's not my fault that they always want me."
"It's not like you want to say no." Barry had a point there, but which man would say no? Except for the Pope maybe. Owen wasn't a saint.
"Why would I? They would be sad if I did." He claimed. The women he had been having affairs with wanted it, too.
"I hope I will live long enough to witness that you changed your mind." Barry said, but Owen laughed.
"That's not going to happen."

Note: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the prologue :)
I promise this is going to be a Clawen fic, but since I'm writing from Owen's POV it will take a few chapters until Claire appears for the first time.
A few weeks ago I wasn't sure about publishing a fic myself, but then I got to know another very talented writer, who offered to be my beta. She encouraged me a lot. I'm writing fics since I was a child, but it's the first time I write a fic in a foreign language. I'm German. I learned English in school years ago. That's why I'm nervous about it. If you find any grammar mistakes feel free to let me know. I'm still learning and I hope to improve.