I thoroughly enjoyed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom when I first saw it, however there were a few points that didn't make sense, so I went back and watched it a second time, more analytically and two particular scenes stood out to me: the close up shot of Maisie's eyes, and the shot of her watching Owen's videos of Blue. It's deliberately out of focus, but look closely and you'll see that she tilts her head in time with Owen and Blue
This got me seriously intrigued. I know there were some complaints about the foreshadowing not being followed through, but I think these two scenes are very important in setting up the third movie, and I am very interested to see what they do storywise.
Anyways, this story was inspired by those two scenes - along with the fact that I really wanted to write something about Owen, Claire and Maisie all living together, because dang they're adorable!
Enjoy.
It was such an innocent question.
"Owen?"
Owen Grady looked up from nailing the latest beam in his cabin at Maisie's hesitant, probing voice.
Instead of answering immediately, he took a moment just to look at her, evaluating her.
She'd recovered well from the incident at Lockwood's estate, or at least so he thought. She'd slotted in perfectly to the life they'd escaped to, living out of his RV by the lakeside – far away from snapping jaws and horrific wails and they're alive, like me.
When he'd agreed to go with Claire on the trip back to Isla Nublar, he'd had a hunch that everything was inevitably going to go to shit, but he never could have imagined just how much. The first time three years previously had been bad enough, but now he was lucky if he was able to sleep through a night without being assaulted by the searing heat of lava, the T-Rex's mighty roar vibrating through his chest and worst of all: the haunting sound of the homing tone as he stood face to face with the embodiment of death itself.
Having Claire back in his life helped, but the two of them were barely scraping by on their own. If one didn't wake up screaming, the other did. It was for that reason that he was incredibly grateful the young girl in front of him had chosen to stay with them.
She centred them, gave them both something to focus on other than the nightmares. She had been incredibly quiet at first, barely saying a word, but as time passed and scars healed, she'd started coming out of her shell, and she was now a happy and boisterous, yet worldly centred young girl. Her bright smile and earthly giggles bought a comfort to both he and Claire, a promise of hope and recovery.
Faced with an entire world that she had been kept hidden from, Maisie had rebounded from the attack in the way only a child's resilience could. She had boundless energy, always intent on exploring every corner of her new home, finding every hiding place and examining every object.
She was insatiably curious and hyper alert. Her head would snap around at the slightest of sounds, her eyes darting back and forth rapidly. At first he'd thought it a side effect of what had happened at the mansion, but he very quickly realised that she wasn't exhibiting signs of fear, only curiosity, an innate need to know everything that was going on around her.
In a way, she reminded him of how Blue had been as a hatchling.
His heart warmed at those memories as he refocussed on the girl in front of him.
"What is it kiddo?"
"Are- are you and Claire a family?" she asked hesitantly.
Owen paused. He'd answered many of her questions, but of this particular topic he had no idea himself, much less how to explain it to a nine year old. He could tell from the tone of her voice that it had taken her a long time to gather enough courage to even ask.
Averting his eyes, he cocked his head in thought.
He could understand why she would have asked. Her concept of a family would have been much different than his – and the idea of one would no doubt be something she would latch onto like a Raptor would its prey. Some way… just some way that she could fit in. Be normal…
An answer on his lips, he looked back down, only for his reply to immediately stall out.
Maisie still sat in front of him, her reserved posture unchanged but for one thing: her head was tilted to the side – an exact mimic of himself.
Owen froze.
He couldn't for the life of him make out why she would copy him so. She didn't look as if she even knew she was doing it.
It was at that moment though that the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and glinted in her brown eyes and he saw that they weren't actually brown.
They were orange.
He felt his every muscle grow rigid. He'd never seen her eyes properly until now – only in the dark or in the shade, which was why he'd just assumed they were identical to those of the woman she was cloned from, in her grandfather's book. Now though, now he saw their true colour, and it horrified him.
They were the exact same colour as-
No! Don't even think about it… don't even go there Grady...
He went there.
His traitorous mind was already connecting the dots between her eyes, her behaviour and her personality. Years of studying animals – one very toothy, blue striped reptile in particular – came to a truly awful conclusion.
Hyper-intelligence… curiosity… cognitive bonding…
She wasn't just similar to Blue, she was exactly like her.
Jesus Christ… they didn't…
His mind screamed at him that it had to be a coincidence. The biggest goddamn coincidence in history. It was simply too preposterous to even think about. It wasn't right, it wasn't natural. It didn't even seem possible. If what he was thinking was true, it transcended every single boundary of what was naturally, ethically and morally acceptable.
As much as he wanted to throw up, he forced himself to remain calm, for her sake if nothing else. He had to be sure…
Without answering her question, he slowly moved titled his head to the other side.
When she unthinkingly copied him, he felt his blood turn to ice.