Mia and Nathan hurried through the halls, ducking around employees in suites with papers or phones glued to their face. The Grady kids chuckled as they made a game out of it on the way to their mother's office. A sea of white lab coats emerged from one of the conference rooms and the kids bobbed around them and squeezing through some who paused at the door to talk. "Oh!" Mia giggled as she got caught between three adults in black suites. She collided with one of them and Nathan laughed at her.
"That's ten points, Mia!"
"Sorry, Mr. Thompson." Mia chuckled.
"Quite alright, Miss Grady." He stepped aside and Mia rushed towards her older brother.
"You're it!" Mia yelled and shoved her brother before turning to run away from him. "Oof!" She bounced off someone and stumbled backwards. Strong hands gripped her shoulders before she fell.
"Really, you guys?" Both kids looked up and met their father's eyes. "How many times do we have to tell you this hall is not a human pinball machine."
They both shrugged. Both had shocked looks on their faces since Owen wasn't supposed to be there. He took in the surprised glances and folded his arms against his chest. "I stopped by mom's office to see if you guys wanted to go grab a snack before homework, but you are late and fooling around.
"Ice cream?" Mia asked, batting her green eyes at her father.
"No, I want a popcorn bucket." Nathan shoved her shoulder.
Owen shook his head. "Your mother isn't happy. Get your butts in there and I suggest you get right to work.
"What about our snack?" They both asked at the same time.
"Should have thought about that before," he leaned forward and placed one hand on each of their shoulders to lead them towards Claire's office. "I had a ten minute break and you wasted that time horsing around in the hall. Now I have to go back to work and you get to face your mother." He knocked on Claire's door once and immediately reached for the doorknob. "Found these two playing pinball again with the lab rats." He shoved the kids into Claire's office and she rolled her eyes as she stood up from behind her desk.
"Scientists, Owen," she corrected him and looked down at her kids. "Sit down and get to work." Her eyes met her son's hazel ones and she sighed heavily. "You swore to us that you were going to be responsible if we let you walk from school to my office. This is the third time this month you were caught horsing around. Do I need to start picking you guys up again?"
"No!" Nathan stood up quickly and shook his head. "I swear, we'll be better."
"That's what you said last time." Owen snorted. He glanced down at his watch and kissed Claire's cheek. "I have to get back to the paddock." He informed her and then turned back to the kids. "I'll pick you up in the Innovations center later. If you two don't behave I'll take your butts right home and you'll miss out on Lucy and Ella being introduced to the rest of the herd."
"Oh, come on, Dad!" Both kids complained. Owen glanced at Claire and she nodded. Both kids were looking forward to watching the ceremony of the two Adolescent Triceratops graduating from the petting zoo to the Gyrosphere valley.
"Get to work." Claire instructed and turned to peck her husbands lips. "All of you." She smiled and playfully shoved his shoulders towards her office door. He waved at the kids and kissed Claire once more before leaving.
Knowing she had a few minutes before Mr. Masrani arrived to help prepare for the dinosaurs' transition, she sat beside her daughter and looked through her papers. "Just math today?" She asked Mia.
"Mmhmm…" the eight year old hummed as she concentrated.
"Need help?" Claire already knew the answer. Mia was a hard worker and extremely smart. She shook her head without breaking her concentration.
Claire glanced over Mia to see what Nathan was working on. "What about you?"
He shook his head as he read through his history book before answering the questions at the end of the chapter.
Claire stood up and watched them for a moment before moving back to her desk. She glanced once more at them and smiled to herself as she turned her attention to her emails. She knew they were this quite only because of what Owen had told them, but she decided to take advantage of the moment and get some work done.
There was a knock on Claire's door before it opened slowly. "Mr. Masrani is five minutes out." Zara informed her boss.
"Can we come to the helipad?" Nathan asked, peeking up at his mother from his book.
"I guess," She sighed and smiled as both kids leaped to their feet. "you guys have been quiet enough." Mia immediately took her mother's hand and they followed Nathan to the helipad.
Knowing the rules really mattered here, they both stood at Claire's flank and watched as the pilot shut down the helicopter. "My favorite park rangers!" Mr. Masrani greeted the two kids peeking out from behind Claire.
"Hi, Mr. Masrani!" Mia waved eagerly.
He approached the family and Nathan immediately reached out to shake his hand. "Good afternoon, Sir."
"Oh," Mr. Masrani chuckled and shook his hand before looking at Claire. "what did he do?"
Claire reached out and ran her fingers through her son's dark hair. "Nothing. He's just trying to earn back the ability to attend the ceremony tonight." The kids knew to be on their best behavior when the Owner of the park was roaming around, but Nathan definitely was trying harder than he normally did.
Mr. Masrani pursed his lips and nodded. "I see." He placed his hand on Nathan's shoulder and they started walking into the building. Claire and Mia falling in step behind them. "See, Mr. Grady, I need someone to help me deliver the Triceratops to the valley. It's a big job and I need a well behaved boy to help." He knew all too well the adventurous side the Grady kid's had.
"I can be good!" Nathan bounced beside Mr. Masrani and grabbed his hand, pleading with the owner of Jurassic World. "Please, Mr. Masrani! I want to ride in the truck!"
Mr. Masrani shrugged. "Well, that's in a few hours, so I will leave that up to your parents to make the final decision."
Claire and Owen always had specific jobs while a new adolescent herbivore was introduced to the adults, so both kids were usually looked after by one of the other employees standing on the sideline watching.
Nathan glanced back at Claire and pleaded with his eyes. She shrugged at her son, but winked at him, knowing that was an opportunity she couldn't take away from him.
"What about me?" Mia tugged at Claire's arm. She opened her mouth to answer her daughter, but Mr. Masrani spoke before her.
"You, Miss Grady have an important job, but only if you can behave as well." He told her as the kids eagerly followed him into his office. Claire immediately went to his desk and sorted the more important files for him to look through first.
"What is it?" Mia nibbled on her bottom lip waiting for him to answer her.
He reached into his desk and pulled out a camera. "I need someone low to the ground to get the perfect pictures of our girls. Think you can do it?"
"Yeah!" Mia's eyes lit up and she reached for the camera. "Mama, that means I get to be in the field with dad!"
Claire and Mr. Masrani shook their heads at the same time, but Claire spoke before her boss. "Not by dad. He's got to stay close to the Triceratops and make sure the adults don't pick on them. You'll be able to stand by me. How's that sound?" Claire's job was to follow close to the Triceratops and keep ACU informed of which direction they were headed in order for them to control the other herds.
"Yay!" Mia cheered.
Claire glanced at her watch and took Mia's hand. "I have a conference call you guys, and you need to finish your homework before tonight if you want to participate."
They both waved at Mr. Masrani and followed their mother back to her office. "So can we do our jobs tonight?" Nathan asked as they entered Claire's office.
She pointed towards the couch, "Depends on how quiet you can be while I'm on the phone."
Nathan grabbed his sister's arm and hurried across the room to the leather couch. They both sat down and went back to their homework, keeping their lips in a tight line so no sound would escape.
It was forty-five minutes later when both kids were finished and starring intently at their mother speaking into the phone. Her fingers drummed her keyboard as she had the phone cradled between her right ear and shoulder. They quietly stood up and put their books in their backpack and patiently waited for their mother to get off the phone. She glanced up from her computer screen and held up a finger, letting them know she would be finished soon. While she was finishing up her phone call, she opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out the kids' badges. They immediately reached for them and hooked them to the hem of their shirts.
With a final goodbye, Claire hung up the phone and immediately stood up. "Thank you, guys."
They nodded and glanced at each other before their eyes fell back on their mother. "I'll talk to dad and if he says there were no complaints downstairs, then I don't see why you can't be a part of the initiation tonight."
Mia and Nathan hurried around Claire's desk and they each claimed a side of their mother and squeezed tight. "We'll be good!"
"I'll see you at home in a little while." She said and watched the two talk excitedly as they waited for the elevator. With a final wave, they disappeared and the doors closed. Claire gathered the kids' backpacks and placed them next to her briefcase to grab on her way home.
Before leaving for the night, Claire always did a final round in the control room, which was also her way of keeping an eye on Nathan and Mia. She wondered into the room and was immediately greeted by the humming sound of the monitors.
"Anything new?" She asked Vivian. "No, ACU is down in the valley setting up the perimeter for some of the herds."
She glanced quickly at the screen showing the Innovations center and smiled to herself. Mia wondered over to the hologram and was helping another little girl choose a dinosaur to display. Nathan made himself comfortable at one of the computers. Once she knew they were behaving, Claire checked on ACU in the valley. "What's the wait time for the Gyrospheres?" She wondered.
"Twenty minutes." Lowery answered.
Claire nodded. "Ok, go ahead and shut down the ride for the rest of the afternoon so we can make sure everyone is back before too many dinosaurs are blocked from view."
"You got it," Lowery said and reached for his phone to relay the message to the ride operator.
"How are the girls?" Claire asked and moved to the other side of the room. Her eyes fell on the screen displaying part of the petting zoo. Both Triceratops were separated from the other babies and snacking happily before their transport across the park.
"Feeding now and will be loaded up in an hour." Brian, the zoo's camera operator informed her.
"Owen's here." Vivian called out to Claire. She glanced back at the Innovations center camera and saw Mia rush over to him. Nathan wasn't far behind her and just like every other day the two kids waved at the camera, knowing Claire was on the other side. Even though they couldn't see her, she always waved back before they followed Owen out the door.