Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

Chapter 2

It had been nearly eight months since Chris was assigned as the girls' new vet. She was a welcomed change to the people InGen usually sent as far as Owen was concerned. Chris liked him and Barry too. They were a good people who seemed to care about animals as much as she did.

At the moment, Chris was making her way through the main administration building to her meeting. She had her files in hand and was about as clean as one could be when they spent all day outdoors tending to animals. She hated meetings. They were boring and tedious and did nothing but suck up chunks of time, but they were necessary if she wanted to keep her job.

The elevator she was waiting on finally reached her floor. When the doors dinged and opened, they presented Chris with a face she'd grown accustomed to, but didn't like.

A fake, emotionless smile stretched across Claire's lips with practiced motion. Chris felt herself do the same as she stepped into the elevator.

"Ms. Dearing," Chris greeted as warmly as she could manage. "Good afternoon."

"And you," she said before a hesitation. Chris noticed the ginger glance down at her nametag before speaking again, "Doctor Pratt."

Chris' forced smile turned more so as she fought the urge to comment. She'd been working at the park now for over a year, had multiple run-ins with Claire Dearing, and yet she still couldn't be bothered to remember Chris' name. Rude, just plain rude.

They rode the rest of the short distance in silence. Neither felt like continuing a conversation when it was clear they didn't really want to speak to one another. Instead, the silently judged the other.

Chris couldn't stand how uptight Claire was, from her perfectly sculpted hair to her disturbingly pale wardrobe. She never understood the desire to wear garments that matched one's skin tone or to plan every day of your life down to the minute. She liked structure, sure, but Chris worked with animals for a living. Animals worked to their own plans which meant she had to be a bit adaptable. Something told her Claire would lose her shit if she lost control.

Claire felt herself bathe in superiority as she stood beside Chris and even straightened her back just a bit to let the young woman at her side subconsciously know it. Claire didn't much like people like Chris. They never planned, they never kept to schedules and judging by the smell of musty dirt coming from Chris, they never bathed either. Claire gently touched her nose to try and dislodge the smell of the outdoors from her senses. Chris caught the action out of the corner of her eye. Again, she had to fight the urge to speak.

The elevator came to a smooth halt at the top floor. Together, the pair exited. They walked along the wide, winding halls to the office at the end. Claire's steps were a bit quicker putting her a couple of feet ahead, which Chris gladly gave her. She didn't want to be to close, like the pretention would rub off. Claire just didn't want the dirt to fly from Chris and stain her white shirt.

The doors to the conference room were open. As they stepped inside, each was greeted with the sight of the heads of other departments scattered around the table. Claire took a spot at the end where she felt she deserved to sit and everyone else slowly began to take seats everywhere else.

Barry and Owen had taken the spot adjacent Chris. They looked about as 'made up' as she did for the meeting. Truth was, the three of them and only two others were wearing civilian clothes. Everyone else worked in a building of some kind letting them dress in nice, clean clothes. The rest didn't have that opportunity. Spotting Chris across the way, Owen offered her a smile and a nod of acknowledgement. She returned the sentiment.

These meetings only happened once a fiscal quarter which was more than enough for most of them. Those who were in the field had things to do.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Claire beamed. She tried to come off as welcoming, but in truth it never seemed genuine. "Now, we have a lot to discuss, so let's get down to it.

The meeting was meant to be a relatively quick overview of everyone's job and how things were going. There were so many people there, the meeting had to move briskly which was what at least half of them were counting on. The problem was, Claire tended to linger. At the moment, however, she was gliding easily through the employees.

"And Doctor Pratt," Claire's voice snapped Chris out of her delirium. She turned to the judging redhead. "How are the assets doing?"

"Well," she replied. Chris gave her file a hefty shove so it could make the journey easily enough at the end of the table. Claire caught it and opened it. "Everyone seems to be doing well."

"And how many assets do you have beneath your care?" she asked. "I can't seem to remember."

She didn't seem to be even remotely interested.

"Seventy-eight." She said. The number seemed to surprise most, but it was simply her patient list. "Between the herbivores in the petting zoo, the pack of Parasaurolophus and the Raptors, seventy-eight was the last count."

"Fine," Claire replied in a clipped tone. It made it even clearer she couldn't really careless, so long as they animals kept breathing.

The Aussie rolled her eyes and sank once more in her seat. How Chris hated the meetings…

Chris was in charge of a large amount of animals, but the truth was, she also wasn't. The list of people trained to handle creatures like the dinosaurs was a small one and because there were so many different species on the island –and many more individuals- each were divided up amongst the veterinarians qualified. The largest took all of the vets working together, but the smaller ones were all divided. Most of the doctors were given a small family from a variety of species to help with diversity of knowledge. Chris didn't know how they planned to keep doing so when they created new animals in the lab every other day, but for the moment that was the layout.

The meeting continued on and soon it came back to Claire. There was an inaudible sigh amongst most of those gathered. Claire always went on a hint longer than anyone cared to listen, even when it was something trivial. It wasn't her fault, per say, but the woman loved the sound of her own voice and showing people just how efficient she could be.

No one knew why she felt the need to elaborate after each person spoke. She even went so far as to tell everyone how they could better do their jobs. No one listened.

Chris had taken to leaning back in her seat and slumping to the side. She was bored and annoyed. Her eyes drifted to the men sitting across from her. She smiled when she noticed them acting the same as her. Owen spotted her looking at them and mouthed an exasperated kill me.

She snorted back a laugh that Claire heard. Her eyes darted to Chris just as they dark-haired young woman reached for her cell phone. Claire was immediately put on end.

"Excuse me," she snapped in an agitated tone. Chris' eyes slowly traveled up and to the ginger. "Can you put your phone away?"

"Uh," Chris was temporarily at a loss before thinking of something. "So sorry," she said as she quickly stood, "But I have to go."

"And why's that?" Claire demanded. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to one leg. Chris wondered if she thought that made her look intimidating.

"Seems another child's managed to stick a toy in a tric's nose again." She replied. The lie came quickly and would have seemed odd if that same event hadn't actually happened two weeks prior in the petting zoo.

"Well get someone else to do it." She snapped.

Chris cocked a warning brow at the redhead that she didn't seem to notice. After the way Claire had acted in the elevator, Chris didn't hold back. In truth, she just couldn't.

"Well, I'm sorry that this interrupts what I'm certain is an exceptionally well rehearsed speech, Ms. Dearing," the sarcasm was thick enough everyone heard it, "But some of us hand to tend to those assets that bring this park so much money. Now," she even bowed to the irate redhead, "Good afternoon to you."

With a sideways glance to Claire, Chris happily turned to leave the conference room. She almost dared the other woman to say something, but knew she wouldn't. Claire wasn't willing to risk something actually being wrong with one of the triceratops in the petting zoo. It wasn't that she cared really; more that she didn't want to go through the paperwork needed to dispose of and replace the baby animal.

When she gripped the cold metal handle to pull the door closed behind her, Chris caught sight of Barry and Owen. Their eyes wide and expecting. Owen was mouthing something with a tight jaw that she took to mean as some kind of half-hearted threat or possible plea to save them too. She smirked, winked and closed the door behind her.

Owen groaned and sank into his leather covered seat. Propping an elbow on the arm, he buried his mouth in his fingers.

"She just left us here." He mumbled softly so only Barry could hear him.

"M-hm," he replied in the same lackluster tone.

"Remind me to throw her to the girls later."

"M-hm." He said again.

Owen growled his agitation. Claire was still droning on about influx of revenue or something else he didn't care about when Barry's phone chirped loudly. Owen perked and looked to his assistant along with everyone else in the room.

"Seriously?" Claire snapped as he read the text message. "I thought no phones was just common courtesy?"

"I apologize," Barry said quickly and nervously as he began to push himself up. "We have to go. Blue is trying to escape the paddock again."

Everyone in the room was understandably uncomfortable with the thought and silently willed the pair to leave just so they wouldn't have Raptors racing through the streets.

"Shit," Owen sighed as he stood. He looked to Claire and offered a half-hearted shrug.

She immediately glared at him as he and Barry fled the conference room in a quick pace. Neither wanted to risk Claire calling them into the swirling vortex of boring shit they'd just left.

Their pace hadn't slowed until they made it to the elevator. Barry quickly stabbed the button.

"How bad is it?" Owen asked. He didn't have a cell phone and knew important messages had to be sent to his right-hand man.

"What?" Barry asked. It took him a moment to remember. "Oh, it's not." He admitted.

Owen's brows came together. He was confused.

The elevator made it back to their floor and the doors opened with a familiar ding. To their surprise, Chris was leaning against the back of the glass cubicle with a smile on her face when she looked up from her phone.

"Afternoon, gents." She smiled.

"You?" Owen asked as he and Barry stepped inside. Barry was grinning as he pushed the button for the main floor.

"Me," she beamed with pride. "Thought you'd appreciate the reprieve."

Owen let out a relieved sigh and took to leaning against the wall beside Chris. His head fell back. Not only was Blue not trying to escape again –which had happened multiple times before- but he didn't have to spend the rest of the day listening to Claire go on and on about stuff that didn't involve him.

"God knows that woman doesn't know when enough's enough." Chris said with a gentle sigh.

"Tell me about it." Owen mumbled.

Still grinning, Barry glanced at his boss over his shoulder and shook his head.

"You're the one who asked her out." Barry said.

The elevator came to a stop and dinged again the instant Chris let out a loud laugh. Owen eyed her skeptically, a bit surprised by the outburst, as she walked ahead of him. She wanted to control herself, but the thought of someone like Claire and someone like Owen out on a date was too ridiculous.

Owen closed the gap between them with wide, drawn out steps. It was an easy feat considering his long legs- and stared down at Chris with what could only be described as insult. She noticed the expression and quickly bit down on her bottom lip to stifle the giggling fit she was having. It barely had affect at first, but the longer he eyed her, the quieter the laughter became.

"Sorry," she mumbled under her breath. "It's just… really?"

Instead of replying verbally, Owen let out a heavy sigh, shook his head in disbelief and walked faster just to put distance between him and the pair he'd ridden the elevator with. Barry was still smirking.

"I think I've upset him." She admitted with a hint of guilt.

"No worries." Barry replied. "He's only angry because she had the same reaction."

Chris' brows climbed high on her forehead. Her eyes drifted back to the towering man who was weaving through the crowd and towards the door. Now she felt bad –surprised- but bad too. Hysterical laughter from the woman you're asking on a date isn't exactly how you want the question to be received. And she didn't understand why Claire would laugh. Any straight woman –and likely a fair amount of gay men- would be flattered to have someone like Owen ask them on a date.

"Are you coming to the paddock today?' Barry asked as they reached the front doors.

"Yeah," Chris nodded when she snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I'll be there later this afternoon. I've got to stop by my offices first, and I'll be by."

Barry gave her a nod and parted ways with her to return to the other side of the island. Chris galloped lightly down the front steps and headed towards her Jeep, still thinking about what she was told.

Why would someone like Owen wish to date a harpy like Claire? It didn't make sense to her. Then again, perhaps she was biased? After all, Chris never got along with the redhead, not really. They'd just never got off on the right foot. But that didn't truly make sense either. Maybe she was…

Chris paused in the middle of turning the key in her ignition.

Holy shit. She was jealous.

The realization hit Chris like a punch in the face. She was jealous of Claire. What the fuck?! Why… why was she jealous? She pressed her brain to find any reason. Surely it had to be a good one for her to be jealous of someone like… Owen. God damn it, Chris was jealous of Claire because she was going on a date with Owen.

"Son of a bitch," she mumbled to herself within her Jeep.

At some point, somehow, Chris had developed a crush on Owen and she wasn't even aware of it. How could you be unaware you fancied someone? Was that even possible?

Evidently…

Chris groaned and let her head fall against her steering wheel. This didn't bode well for the future. It was unlikely anyone else would be brought in to care for the Raptors since most didn't want the job, and that meant plenty of time around Owen.

"Shit," she sighed. Chris started her car and backed out of the parking lot.

~!~

When she'd arrived later that day, Owen was in the middle of training the girls. Chris joined Barry and a few of the other workers off to the side of the observation area of the paddock and watched him work. The smile never left her lips. How could it? Less than fifteen yards away were actual, real, tangible dinosaurs.

Yeah, it was totally the dinosaurs.

Chris' eyes drifted to the man standing front and center. Owen held a clicker in one hand that civilians used to train dogs and cats while the other was held high as a marker for what he wanted his girls to do. She didn't want her stare to fixate on him or to glance over everything she shouldn't notice.

She shouldn't notice –for example- the fact that his pants were tight enough she could see his thigh muscles and how they moved when he did. She shouldn't notice that without his vest, Chris could see the muscles in his back straining against the thin cotton fabric of his shirt or the way the sleeves struggled to encompass his biceps. She also shouldn't notice his forearms looked nearly as thick as her calves, but twice as toned, or that with his intense stare and the way the sweat glistened on his brow, her heart was pattering away.

Chris felt herself actually sigh a longing breath and immediately cleared her throat to cover it up. Her eyes darted around. Thankfully, everyone was too focused on Owen to see her fawning over him. Instead, she turned her attention to the dinosaurs below.

"Good!" Owen chimed loudly. He reached into a bucket and fished out treats for each of the girls below.

When he'd finished and sent them on their way, Owen turned and spotted Chris among the group.

"Hey," he greeted with less enthusiasm than normal. He was obviously still a bit annoyed with their earlier exchange.

"Hey," she replied as she stepped forward. She moved a little apprehensively and shoved her hands into her pockets as a result. She didn't know if she was embarrassed for ogling, or because she'd laughed in his face only a couple of hours ago.

When she made it to the center of the catwalk and stood beside Owen, her eyes went to the Raptors below who were lingering and watching her too. She could tell they knew why she was there and felt a bit guilty about it. Seeing her put them on edge almost immediately now. But still, she marveled at them.

"They're gorgeous." She said with a light sigh.

And they were. Each of them was so different. Blue, obviously, had the most incredible markings. Honestly, who could ignore the deep, royal blue markings from her eyes to her tail?

Charlie was pretty too. She was striped like a tiger from head to tail with strips of army green and other variations of the muted color. Echo had a more stereotypical camo pattern, but with golden hues that almost glowed in the bright, South American sun. Delta was the 'dullest' of them all, but her markings were no less impressive. Her markings were more like a combination of stripes and the blocky camo pattern, and a beautiful muted green and gray. Each of them was amazing.

"Yeah," Owen agreed as he watched the girls dart around the paddock in search of the pig that had scurried through. "I've almost got them where I need them."

"What you tryin' to do, then?"

"Just focus and listen." He replied. "They do alright, but their focus doesn't last all that long right now. I'm hoping to make it better."

"Establish dominance." She said in a teasing voice that caused him to smile.

"Pretty much, yeah." He nodded. Owen looked to his team in the background. "Get a couple of the girls ready for their check up!" he called over.

He stepped around her and towards the other side of the decking to go downstairs when Chris finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry," she said so quickly it caused Owen to pause and turn to face her, "'Bout earlier." She elaborated. Owen breathed deep, sighed and rested his hands on his hips as he looked away. It was his version of manly discomfort with the subject. "I didn't mean to poke fun."

He looked back at her. His eyes danced up and down as though he was sizing up whether her apology was genuine. When he spotted her concerned expression, he relaxed.

"It's fine." He replied. "Come on."

He waved for her to follow and she did. Chris felt a bit better. In light of the recent epiphany of her crush, she didn't want him to be mad at her for something stupid.

Like every other time before, she went through the motions of ensuring each of the girls was healthy. Echo weighed a few pounds less than she should, but that didn't surprise Chris in the least. After having trouble with her teeth and hesitant to eat, the Raptor was bound to lose a few pounds.

With the tip of her leather-clad knife pulling up Echo's lip again, Chris was able to examine the gap her extraction left behind. It was promising and caused her to smile.

"How's she look?" Owen asked when he noticed Chris' grin.

"Good," she said as she let Echo's lip return to normal. "It's lookin' good. The tooth is nearly filled in completely. Is she eatin' alright?"

"It's getting better." He said as he continued to pat the Raptor's neck. "Smaller bites helped."

"Good," Chris nodded again and made a note of it. "She's a few pounds light, but that should bounce back when she's eatin' normally again."

Owen nodded absently as his eyes went back to Echo. He continued to console her while Chris put her things away. Keeping her calm wasn't completely needed, but he knew they didn't like being stuck with needles and were a little high-strung when Chris came by.

"Can uh," Chris' words drew Owen's eye. She was still kneeling by her tools when she shifted to look up at him. "Can I ask you a favor?"

He nodded apprehensively. Owen wasn't sure what that may entail and her nervous behavior didn't help.

Chris stood and scratched the back of her head as she reluctantly met his stare.

"Can I give the girls their treat?"

Owen's brows climbed. That hadn't been the question he expected her to ask. She instantly took his silent response as a possible no and tried to cover her tracks.

"I mean, I know it's somethin' for the Alpha to do," she began to speak quickly, "and I don't wish to overstep, but I don't want them to associate me with being stuck and locked in these pins all the time."

He listened to her hurried explanation and found himself agreeing with it. While it may run the risk of undermining his superiority, the fact that she would only feed them once a month helped. And she was right. At the moment, the Raptors –being as intelligent as they were- only associated Chris with unpleasant things. Knowing they'd be fed afterwards would go a long way in wrangling them. He wouldn't ever tell her so, but the girls were getting trickier to handle whenever they saw Chris appear.

"Sure," he said much to her surprise.

"Yeah?" she asked with a smirk.

Her child-like smile and how much her face lit up when he agreed made Owen laugh before he could stop it.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Come on, we'll get you some mice."

Chris eagerly followed after him like a kid rushing to see Santa. When they reached the catwalk yet again, someone brought them another four mice, no rats. Owen gave the word for the girls to be released. A moment later, Echo and Delta joined Blue and Charlie. They gathered beneath their Alpha and awaited the treats he gave after each appointment.

"Okay," Owen said as he handed one of the unfrozen, dead rodents to her. "Just toss it to them, but nice and high. Make sure they see you've got it."

Chris nodded. She grabbed the mouse without a grimace –which honestly impressed Owen a bit- and held it above her head. She made a clicking noise just loud enough to get their attention. The Raptors looked from Owen to Chris and back again. They weren't really sure what to think and it was obvious.

"Echo!" Chris called.

To their combined surprise, the Raptor actually jerked her head to look at Chris. Without hesitation, she tossed in the mouse. Happily, Echo leapt up and ate it. Chris didn't want to risk losing the Raptor's focus when she had it for that split second and capitalized on it immediately. It was the right thing to do. Once Echo gulped down her rodent, her sisters focused on Chris with laser precision and awaited their treats. Chris couldn't fight the childish giggle.

Smirking to himself, Owen handed her the other three. As she had with the first, Chris called the name of the respective Raptor before tossing in the mouse, leaving Blue for last like Owen said.

"Good!" Owen chimed loudly, drawing their lingering attention to his high-raised hand. "And… go!" when he waved his hand, they knew they were dismissed and bounded off like they were meant to. Owen turned to Chris. "Not bad."

Chris couldn't remove the ear-to-ear grin she had plastered on her face.

"That was awesome!" she giggled.

Owen began to laugh. He couldn't help it. He'd never seen her so… giddy. The only way to describe Chris now was giddy. She was smiling so wide it seemed painful and nearly vibrating in her spot. It had been awhile since someone had been so excited to see the Raptors without fear lingering within.

Her phone began to ring and without hesitation Chris answered it. Her face immediately fell.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'll be there soon."

Hanging up, she slid the phone into her pocket and grumbled under her breath.

"This is what I get for lyin'." She replied dejectedly.

"Something wrong?" he teased lightly as they headed to the ground floor.

Chris turned to him with an exasperated expression.

"A five year old just stuck a baby triceratops –in the nose- with a toy brachiosaur." She told him without the slightest hint of amusement. "I've got to go."

Owen didn't want to laugh, but he did smile. It figured her lie would come true, but he also pitied the poor animal that was assaulted. This was why people shouldn't be allowed to take anything into the pins.

Chris knew the toy was immediately removed the moment the poor baby was jabbed with it, but she had to go and check if anything was wrong. She had to make sure the toy didn't rupture something, or cut up the animal's nasal cavity.

Owen mused lightly that she was going to have to –most likely- stick her finger up a dinosaur's nose.