Glad that this story has caught the attention of you guys! At the risk of sounding pathetic… reviews? They really are the best kind of inspiration!
Chapter 2: Not in the Job Description
As she often had done in the past weeks, Val viewed Claire's schedule as a jigsaw puzzle with multiple options. Of course there were restrictions, some events could not be shifted no matter how much one might like to for the sake of being able to fit everything in, but she juggled what she could. Claire's nephews arrived in two days' time, and among printing off their travel details, Val was in charge of making sure Claire could squeeze in some time with them.
Well, technically Zara was supposed to be in charge of this, but she was happy to let Val work on it while she helped Claire sort through the mountain of work that lead up to the unveiling of an Asset.
In order to give Claire a whole day free to spend with them, Val had shifted several appointments to the day the boys arrived. Claire wouldn't be able to see them till dinner, but it meant that the entire next day was free. Unfortunately, that was the only entirely free day Claire would have. The following day was the meeting with Verizon, and Mr. Misrani was flying in to check on the Indominus. A visit from Mr. Misrani meant that the rest of the day would be taken up by meetings of various kinds, maybe Claire would have time that night for the boys, but Val doubted it. The following days would leave her with sporadic time off, Val had tried to lump events together as best shoe could, but it would still be patchy.
"Perfect." She murmured to herself. "And now, email Claire, attach, and…send!"
Timetable on its way, Val pushed herself back from her desk a bit and stretched out her entire body. God it felt good to do that after several hours spent sitting still. She had been reviewing Park statistics all morning, and was starting to turn numerically dyslexic.
She was at the peak of her wonderful stretch when a ball of scrunched paper hit her right in the face. Her eyes snapped open as she dropped back into her chair with a not-so-muffled curse. Gemma was leaning against the low wall of Val's cubicle, with Ethan beside her. Both had a cheeky glint in their eyes, which led to fun, trouble, or both.
Gemma and Ethan were both twenty four, and among the younger members of staff in the white collar side of Jurassic World workers. They both hailed from Miami, and as such had stuck together since beginning to work at the Park. They could not have looked more different; Gemma tall and dark, while Ethan was short and pale, but they could have been siblings for all the other similarities they shared. Among those similarities was a prevalent love of pranks. Val had learned the value of treading carefully through the staff accommodation because of them. They were also her closest friends in the Park.
Sure there were people more her own age working out in the Park, and she knew quite a few of them, but it was with fellow business staff that she spent most of her time.
"Can I help you both?" she asked in an affected stuffy voice, one eyebrow raised.
"Plans tonight?" Ethan inquired, grinning widely.
Val narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"Ethan's friend on the mainland is throwing a party!" Gemma exclaimed. "C'mon, none of us have had time to skip off to Costa Rica for over a week now, it'll be fun! Booze, pools, cute guys-"
"And cute girls." Ethan interjected.
"What do you say?" Gemma finished, pushing out her lower lip. "Pleeeeaaassseeee?"
"You guys do know that I'm not legal to drink in Costa Rica, right? And we all still have work tomorrow."
Ethan waved her worries away dismissively. "Legal only matters if someone finds out. Besides, it's an adults party, no one will notice the tiny Aussie teenager. As for work, so we'll be dead tomorrow, but don't tell me you don't miss a little freedom?"
"Yeah." Gemma jumped in. "We know you're a workaholic-"
"I am not!" Val protested.
"But even so." Gemma went on as if nothing had happened. "You are still human, despite what you said to me on chat yesterday."
"Fun…" Val bit her lip and mulled the idea over in her head.
"She's considering!" Gemma crowed. "That means she's halfway there."
Before Val could reply either 'yes' or 'no', the door to Claire's office began to swing open. In a flash Ethan and Gemma were back at their desks, Gemma shuffling papers at random, while Ethan typed what was probably nonsense on his keyboard. If Claire noticed their rapid retreat, she gave no sign.
"Valarie, can I see you in my office?"
"Uh, of course!" Val quickly shot up from behind her desk and headed for the door.
"Dun dun dun…" Ethan whispered as she went past his desk, bu she chose to be the bigger person and ignore him.
"Is something wrong?"" She asked as Claire held the door open for her, Zara was sitting at her own desk perpendicular to Claire's.
"Kind of yes, and kind of no." Claire closed the door and made her way back around to her desk. "You already know that my nephews are arriving in two days, I got my schedule from you."
"Does it work for you?" Val asked. "I tried to move as much around as I could to give you all the free time possible, but I'm afraid there's a lot on at the moment that is simply too important."
"God you remind me of me when I was young." Claire smiled. "And me as I am now actually…"
"I know that there isn't much time." Val continued. "But Zara is picking them up, right? And they have the wristbands?"
"That is almost on the track of what we wanted to talk to you about." Claire said, sharing a glance with Zara.
A sinking feeling began in Val's stomach.
"My elder nephew, Zach, is around high school age, and his brother Gray is a few years younger than that. And, well, we were thinking that Zara showing them around might not be the best experience they could have here. I mean, she's not that close to their age, and she's got a lot of work on too as well as wedding planning so she'll have to be on the phone a lot. And I was just wondering is maybe you might like some time off work?"
"To look after them?" Val asked, her voice a mix of dull and shock.
"Not look after them as much as…" Claire searched for the right word. "Be a friend for them, while they are here. It will probably make them more comfortable to have someone near their own age showing them around."
"If you need any help, Claire and I are a phone call away." Zara put in quickly.
"But what about my work? I'm here to learn organisation and management, and to help you. Things are so busy at the moment, surely one of the other teen staff members can handle your nephews?" Val reeled off frantically.
"You're someone I trust." Claire replied. "Please?"
Val's mind swirled a mix of confused thoughts together into an odd cocktail mix of emotions. She was proud that Claire trusted her and was asking her for this, but it had nothing to do with what she had signed up for in her internship. Baby-sitting had not even been mentioned in the contract, no matter who for.
A slight pleading note entered her voice. "Won't you need me here?"
"I think we can manage for a few days." Zara said. "And if it makes you feel any better, there will still be lots of work for you afterwards."
"I know." Val started shuffling and fidgeting. "I just… I'm learning so much here, and I'm enjoying it. I don't want to waste my time."
"We really appreciate the work you are doing here, and you are doing a great job, better than we could have hoped!" Claire assured. "Can I please ask this favour of you? I know that it is highly unprofessional of me, and if you really feel uncomfortable you can say no, but I just want the boys to have a good time here. I haven't seen them in years, I probably won't see them again for more years, and I don't want them to go home wishing they had never left."
Val didn't see how that was possible after a free, V.I.P., visit to the world's most popular and desired theme park.
"So, please? I'll owe you one, I can give you more time off." Claire offered. "Or, even less time off, if that's what you'd prefer. If you want to do this, it will include the V.I.P. wristbands I'm getting the boys, and I'll get you a room next to them at the Hilton for their stay."
Val weighed it up in her mind.
Pros: some down time to relax and explore Isla Nublar, free accommodation in luxury hotel, make new friends?, impress Claire.
Cons: don't get to do work and thus be behind on work, boys might be brats, and…
Damn, there were more potential pros than cons. And Val had to admit, having that accommodation thrown in was veeeery tempting… But all of the work she would be behind on, was it worth it? Then again, she was just the intern, and already doing more than she probably was expected to, so would it be that damaging? And she hadn't had time to do everything in the Park yet.
She began worrying her lip as she thought. What if the boys were horrible though? What if they were rude or mean or even just boring? What if they didn't get along with her and the experience just ended up being shit for all of them?
"Valarie?" Claire prompted.
"Uhm…" Her eyes flickered between Claire and Zara's faces. Zara watching her with her head cocked slightly, Claire with an almost begging cast to her eyes. "Uhhh….. okayi'lldoit." The words rushed out of her.
"What?" Claire had brightened up dramatically.
Val licked her lips and swallowed before repeating. "Okay, I'll do it."
"Thank you!" Claire's relief was palpable in the room, and she even came around her desk to give Val a hug. "Thank you so much!"
"Uh, no problem." Val half-lied, awkwardly hugging Claire back, she wasn't used to open displays of affection from her boss.
"Alright." Claire took a step back, a smile still on her face. "I'll let you get back to work then. Tomorrow you can move however much of your things you need for a few days into your room at the Hilton, I'll give you the key at work. Then the day after you and Zara will go down to pick up the boys, sound good?"
"Yeah, that sounds great." Val replied.
"Perfect! Zara will sort out your room at the Hilton, and we will get the key to you tomorrow."
"Sounds great." Val echoed once again. "Is there anything else?"
"No, you've been great, and I will make this up to you." Claire promised. "I'll see you later."
"Oh, and Valarie?" Zara called out just as Val reached the door. "Could you collate the data on attraction success and start drafting it into a report for us?"
"Sure can. I can work on it during downtime at night and when you are with the boys." She said, making eye contact with Claire too.
"Don't stress, Valarie." Zara smiled. "I just said start it, we don't need it for a while yet."
"If you say so." Val smiled and left the two women to their work.
When she had pulled the door shut behind her, she slumped against it and felt her expression drop. In spite of her helpful pros and cons list, she still had numerous reservations about what she had just agreed to. Her only hope was that whatever happened, Claire would chalk this up to extra good behaviour on Val's part, and be more likely to give her an even better reference.
Taking a steading breath, she pushed herself off the door and walked determinedly towards Ethan and Gemma's desks. They both looked up when she appeared in front of them, and they both jerked back a little in shock.
"You look…" Ethan floundered.
"Scary." Gemma finished. "Veeery scary."
"Take me with you." Val begged.
"What happened in there to make you come out keen for a night on the mainland?" Gemma inquired.
"Claire has asked me if I can chaperone her nephews during their visit when she can't, since I'm close to their age or something."
"Is that so bad?" Gemma arched a single eyebrow, a skill Val envied.
"Well, I get to stay at the Hilton, and I get a V.I.P. band." Val admitted.
"Saweet." Ethan whistled through his teeth. "And your scary look was all about that?"
"Yeah, well what if her nephews are horrible?" Val said softly, just in case someone reported that back to Claire. "And I'm going to be so behind on work!"
Gemma and Ethan both broke out in laughter, and Ethan recovered first.
"I get it now! You are pissed that you won't be able to live up to your normal standard of more-work-than-should-be-humanly-possible-for-someone-who-isn't-even-being-paid." He joked.
"Oh lay off!" Val grumbled amiably. "We all have our own little joys in life."
"I for one am just glad that yours line up with ours tonight." Gemma grinned.
Val smiled in response. "So, what's the plan then?"
Ethan grinned. "Meet us at the dock for the 9 o'clock ferry to Costa Rica, and I'm keeping it a surprise from then on in. And get a nap before then, you're going to need a night of supreme fun before your exile from the office, you'll need all the sleep you can get prior. I'll make sure that you are fully unable to function tomorrow."
"Good luck!" She retorted. "We Australians have one of the worst drinking cultures in the world, you're trying to cripple a girl who has spent the past several years diving in and out of parties with school the next day and parents to fool?"
"Wow." Gemma's eyes widened. "She does have a dark side!"
"See you at nine." Val tipped her friends a wink and headed back to her desk.
A/N: Just curious, would you guys like to see a party chapter? I hadn't planned on one, but am happy to write it if requested and people want to know what would have happened :)