(Chapter 2 of my rewrite of my Jurassic World fanfic. I hope you like it! I own nothing but my OCs.)
...
"All right! Good!...That's it girls. Eyes on me." Owen coached, using the clicker in his left hand to signal the next command while keeping the pack's attention with his right.
Nearby Barry, a couple of assistants and Vic Hoskins stood watching at several points on the catwalk on top of the walls of the Raptor Paddock.
"Good. Aaand...we're moving!" Owen squeezed the clicker again and started to take a step to the right. A sudden breeze cooled the air then and Charlie turned, screeching at a set of bushes when it rustled. Delta and Echo heard her and turned away from Owen to follow her gaze.
"Hey! Hey!...Eyes up here! Charlie!..Delta!" Owen raised his voice slightly to get the pack's attention. Blue growled and clawed the ground, snapping at her pack mates until they started snapping back at her.
"Hey hey hey! Knock it off! Blue? Charlie! Hey!" Owen hit a furious combination with the clicker and raised his arm a little higher. Barry started to eye the Alpha worriedly when the raptors didn't move back into formation.
"Delta, Echo...don't give me that!" Owen barked when two of the raptors snapped at him rebelliously. "I mean it! Back in position! You all know better than that!" He reprimanded.
Blue let out a growl and tapped one of her claws on the ground. In an almost disgruntled way, Charlie, Echo then Delta reassumed their former positions around their Beta.
"Okay. Let's try this again." Owen approved, sucking in a breath as he tentatively lowered his arm. "Eyes on me...and let's move." He used the clicker again and took a step to the right.
This time the girls obediently followed, keeping formation while screeching in anticipation, Blue in the lead. "That's it...Not so hard right?" Owen nodded smiling as they took a few more steps.
Then Owen closed his extended hand into a fist signalling for the pack to halt. "Good!...All right now hold!..Hold!" He slowly began raising his arm again.
The Raptors followed, arching their heads up in unison.
"All eyes on me aaand..." Owen sucked in a deep breath. To his relief, Blue, Echo and Charlie kept their focus. Delta too, albeit two seconds later than her sisters.
Finally Owen dropped his hand and let out a whistle. "Go!" He ordered just as one of the assistants released a small ground level gate at the bottom of the paddock, letting out a live pig into the arena.
Blue growled and took off after the little animal with the rest of the pack, quickly forming a hunting formation as they got closer to the target.
Owen ran along with them from the catwalk high above, his eyes trained on the action as the pig's squeals got shriller and louder.
Soon the girls were nearly upon the poor creature and Owen hesitated for the briefest moment before giving the final command via another sharp whistle.
The pack dove onto the pig. The squeals died down and Owen slowly exhaled, satisfied with the girls' performance as a slow soft applause began to trickle around the paddock.
"Bravo!...Great work today!" Hoskins slowly made his way towards Owen's position. Owen shrugged. "Still working out a few kinks." He muttered, raising his arm to check his watch as the Raptors finished the pig.
"Yeah well, I'm seeing great progress from my last visit. Just a little more work and I think we'll be ready for an official field test." Hoskins enthused leaning over the railing to look down at the pack.
Owen grimaced at the last words. "It might be awhile longer than you think. These are still wild animals with wild instincts." He turned to fix Hoskins with a hard stare. "As you saw, they're still inclined to follow those instincts sometimes no matter who's calling the shots."
Owen started to leave, putting his clicker back into his pocket and using his other arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
"I'm willing to bet they'll be all ready in the next couple months...with the level of work I witnessed today." Hoskins was still grinning though Owen did not pause or slow down.
"Just think on it! A true responsive and loyal team, ready to face the line of fire and take down the enemy on command!...Just like they did today with that pig." Owen pressed his lips together.
"We'll see about that." He muttered, checking his watch again as he hurried down the stairs to get out of the paddock. Barry moved in the opposite direction, eyeing Hoskins briefly before motioning to the hired assistants to help him get the Raptors pack into their stalls.
"Hey hold on there, Chief! We still need to go over the specs on today's evaluation! Make some adjustments before the next test run!" Hoskins called after the Raptor Trainer. Owen turned, but made no move to climb back up the stairs.
"Just leave them with my main man. He'll know what to do and get me the information I need to see when I get back. Right now though, I got a date to not be late to." He smirked, saluting Hoskins before taking off towards his bike.
A barely audible yet resounding screech sounded from the arena then and Hoskins turned back towards the Raptors.
...
"Can I get you started on anything to drink, Sir?" The waitress returned to Owen's table for what seemed like the seventh or eighth time since Owen sat down to wait for Charlotte to show up.
Owen gave her a half smile. "I think I'll give her a few more minutes. Thanks though." He told her politely. The girl nodded understandingly and rushed off with her coffee pot.
When she was gone, Owen sighed and checked his watch again before looking back at the clock on the opposite wall in the diner.
The time read 10:25, ten minutes past when they had agreed to meet for breakfast and still he saw no sign of his wife's car pulling up out the window.
He had mentally debated with himself on calling her to make sure everything was okay, but the nagging voice in the back of his mind kept telling him that he was over-worrying and that Charlotte was probably just running late with her lesson as she often did when she taught one of her younger students.
But still...The other voice retorted. Charlotte would have at least texted if she was going to be late.
Owen groaned and ran a hand through his hair. If she doesn't show in five more minutes I'll call her. He decided, tapping his fingertips on the table as various servers passed by him serving and cleaning up other tables.
About two minutes before he was about to pick up his phone again, his waitress returned to his side. "Are you doing all right Sir?" She asked, tapping the tip of her pen in her notebook.
Owen started to nod when he saw the time and realized that the Cretaceous Cafe would be ending their breakfast soon.
"Uh actually..." He trailed off, glancing out the window again and still seeing no sign of his wife's approach.
"I think I'll go ahead and order for both of us while I wait. Banana nut pancakes for the lady and a Jalapeno Bacon Omlette for me. Iced teas for both of us." Owen ordered, smiling a bit as the waitress wrote everything down.
"All right. That will be right out, Mr. Grady. Will that be sweet or unsweet on the iced tea?"
"Sweet please. It's the Mrs' favorite." Owen responded with a grin.
"You're darn right it is." Charlotte suddenly appeared behind him, dropping a kiss on Owen's head before moving to take the seat across the booth from him. Owen lit up.
"All right. I'll have those right out for you!" The waitress promised still smiling as she hurried off to deliver the order.
Owen nodded gratefully after her then quickly returned his attention to his wife. "I was about to call you. Everything go all right with the piano lesson today?" He asked casually in an attempt to hide the fact that he had been worrying a little.
Charlotte nodded her head. "Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry I ran a little late. Elliot's playing Minuet in G for his school's talent show and he really wanted to get it perfect." She said smiling as she leaned forward to grab her husband's hand on the table.
Owen chuckled and turned his hand so that he could interlock his fingers with hers. "And you say sometimes I get obsessive with the pack." He joked, stroking the top of her hand with his thumb.
Charlotte blushed and rolled her eyes.
"I meant that in an affectionate way Owen." She tried to defend herself. "Besides I prefer to think of my students as being dedicated not obsessive." Charlotte continued, looking down at their hands.
Owen nodded and squeezed her hand.
"I know Baby. I'm just being a pill. I'm glad you here now and that we still get to have breakfast." He looked down at their hands too as if suddenly finding them fascinating.
"Yeah, we haven't done anything like this in awhile. What with getting settled in in the bungalow, my weekly piano and voice lessons, and InGen constantly wanting to accelerate your Raptor Training program. I miss having time like this with you to tell the truth." Charlotte shrugged as a sentimental expression came over her face.
Owen raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? What about that amazing...amazing night we had two weeks ago?" He asked with a smirk.
Charlotte lightly kicked him under the table. "Owen there are children sitting two tables away." She responded in a low voice, though she was still smiling.
"Well it still counts." Owen shrugged as the waitress returned with their meals and drinks.
"Two sweet iced teas, a jalapeno omlette and banana nut pancakes. Is there anything else I can get for you two today?" The girl asked as she set the plates down on the table.
Charlotte shook her head. "No thank you. This looks delicious." She smiled sweetly at the teenager before picking up her fork and knife to dig into her plate.
The waitress smiled back and tucked her tray under her arm. "Well let me know if there's anything else I can get for you." She nodded once then turned to go back into the kitchen.
Owen and Charlotte exchanged another smile before bending over their respective meals. "Mmm! I'm starving! You want to have a bite of this, Honey?" Owen asked cutting out a little piece of his omlette to share with his wife.
When he looked up to offer the bit of egg and peppers, he found Charlotte had laid her utensils back down and she was wearing a strange expression on her face like she was nauseated by something.
"Charlotte?...Baby you okay?" Owen asked, lowering his fork. Charlotte looked up at him after a moment and nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just I think there's something wrong with these bananas. Maybe they're not fresh anymore since we got them kinda late." She picked up her fork and scraped the fruit aside off her pancakes before cutting into them.
Owen nodded his head. "Yeah maybe. You want to try some of my omlette instead? It smells fine." He offered, picking up his fork again and holding out its contents in front of Charlotte's nose.
Charlotte hesitated for a moment, then she opened her mouth and let Owen feed her. "Mmm!...You want to try some of the pancakes?" Charlotte offered after swallowing her bite of omlette.
Owen shrugged. "Sure!" He leaned forward, shut his eyes and opened his mouth as Charlotte quickly cut a small piece of her syrupy pancakes.
"Mmm! Yum!" He smiled when he felt the sweet taste of the pancake hit the top of his tongue. He opened his eyes again to see Charlotte smiling at him.
"So, how did today's evaluation go? Did Hoskins seem impressed?" She asked while cutting into her food again.
Owen nodded and swallowed before responding. "More or less. Charlie got distracted for a minute and she threw Echo and Delta off with her, but I managed to get things back in control before things got too out of hand. Blue was a big help too as usual." He grinned at the last bit and served himself another bite of his omlette.
Charlotte smiled warmly. "I bet she was. I've never seen a Raptor much less a carnivorous dinosaur of any kind display the level of loyalty and even affection that she does." She commented as she ate another bite of pancakes.
Owen nodded in agreement. "Yeah except for that time she bit you." He reminded her causing Charlotte to roll her eyes.
"That was once. She hasn't bitten me since."
"True, but she's taken a few snaps." Owen retorted playfully, with a hint of seriousness in his eyes.
Charlotte laughed with him until she caught another whiff of the bananas and her stomach turned.
"Charlotte? You sure you're okay?" Owen asked, reaching forward across the table as Charlotte ducked her head and grabbed for a napkin from the napkin holder.
After a minute, she finally straightened flushing a bit with embarrassment. "Yeah I'm fine. I think I'd better just get rid of these bananas so I don't smell them again." Charlotte tried to laugh it off, but Owen was still worried.
"You've never had problems with bananas before. In fact you always loved them. Are you sure you're okay?" Owen tried to suggest, but Charlotte shook her head.
"Yeah, I think it's just that these bananas aren't good anymore. Really. I'm fine. The pancakes don't make me want to urp." Charlotte grinned, wadding the banana slices up into a napkin and shoving them under her plate. With some reluctance Owen nodded in compliance.
"Okay, but if you feel sick again I'm taking you to the doctor. No ifs or buts." He pointed at his wife with his fork. Charlotte slowly nodded her head.
"All right. You're the Alpha." She said in a half teasing manner, making a dinosaur noise and coaxing a laugh from her husband.
"Oh very funny." He rolled his eyes and cut into his omlette again. Charlotte followed his example and served herself another piece of her pancakes.
"I try." She shrugged with a grin.
...
"So basically he wants to accelerate the training program after another evaluation scheduled exactly three months after today. He needs you to sign off on that by tomorrow." Barry reported as he Owen looked over the papers which documented the progress and evaluation score for the Raptors' performance today for InGen.
It was both a plus and a minus that InGen saw fit to level up the Raptors' training program.
A plus since it meant that Owen still had a job and the pack would be allowed to remain under his (and Charlotte's) care. However it also meant that they were another step closer to having to eventually relinquish Blue and her sisters to a military operation.
"Sounds good I guess." Owen sighed before quickly scribbling his name in the appropriate places on the forms. "At least he didn't say anything about a field test this time."
Barry nodded in agreement.
"You got that right. Is Charlotte coming tonight?" Barry asked, glancing over his shoulder towards the parking lot as Owen quickly shuffled all the papers into a folder.
Owen chuckled, a smile on his lips though it didn't reach all the way to his eyes. "I don't know. She said she was feeling tired today after dinner so I told her she could stay home and rest if she needed to." He scratched his head.
"Oh." Barry nodded then turned to walk with Owen out of the office to the paddock to get the girls stalled up for the night.
"Is she okay?"
Owen shrugged. "Yeah I think so or...at least she says she is. I don't know." He muttered the last phrase under his breath.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Barry asked, his brows furrowing a bit in concern for his friend and his friend's spouse.
Owen pressed his lips together and thought for a minute before responding. "Well...we had breakfast at the Cretaceous today and Charlotte almost threw up because of the bananas on her banana nut pancakes. She usually loves them."
"Hmm." Barry nodded considering this information. "Well, it could just be that the bananas were not fresh. Anna got a little sick once after eating a bit of anchovy pizza at the Paleo Pizza Shack." He continued, referencing to his own wife.
Owen nodded his head.
"Yeah that's what we think too, but..." He started and trailed off when he saw a familiar car pull into the gravel lot next to the Raptor Paddock.
"Well, well well! Mama Raptor decided to show up after all!" Barry cheered as Charlotte hopped out of the driver's side of the car after parking next to Owen's bike.
Charlotte winked at him response, hands moving to fix the hem of her shirt as she walked across the parking lot to join the two men.
"Of course! Mama always comes to see the kids." She chuckled meeting Owen's still concerned gaze.
"Are you sure you're not too tired?" Owen asked, lovingly stroking his wife's cheek with the back of his hand as he watched her stifle a yawn.
"I'm fine." Charlotte smiled reassuringly. "Anyway nothing could stop me from coming to tuck in our girls." She started to walk past him closer towards the paddock. Owen turned to follow.
"All right, but if you start feeling bad again let me know. I'll drive us home and pick up my bike tomorrow." He offered, wrapping his arm supportively around his wife's waist as they walked together to where the Raptors were already being harnessed in for the night.
Charlotte nodded her head. "I will." She turned to smile reassuringly at her husband as they entered the Raptor Stalls.
Delta as usual was the last yet to be stalled since she was the youngest and usually the feistiest when it came time to go down for the night.
Watching briefly as Barry and the two night shift workers worked to get Delta into her harness, the Gradys first approached Blue who was harnessed into the first stall.
"Hey Blue. Look who came back all the way back down here to say goodnight." Owen smiled as he reached a hand to pat his Beta's nose gently in greeting.
"Like she'd ever skip bedtime, right Girl?" Owen continued.
Blue growled softly in response to him, blinking her eyes slowly as she turned in Charlotte's direction. Charlotte smiled indulgently at her.
"Good Night Blue. You keep being a good girl all right?" She gently laid her hand over the Raptor's right cheek, feeling the warmth of her flesh under her palm.
Blue chirped in response while the Raptor next to her clawed the ground suddenly as if suddenly getting angry or impatient. Owen turned to give her a warning look.
"Charlie, cool it. You know nobody gets special treatment around here." He reprimanded softly before going over to check on the other Raptor.
"Especially not from Mama Raptor." Charlotte added with a soft laugh.
Keeping eye contact with her, Owen gently placed his hand over the harness straps on Charlie's right cheek not flinching when she let out a screech.
"Easy. Easy girl. That's it." Owen soothed as Charlotte stooped to give Charlie a smile just as warm and exuberant as the one she gave to Blue.
As Charlie began to slowly calm down and relax under Owen's touch, Charlotte relaxed with her.
"Good Girl Charlie. Sleep tight now okay?" She soothed, straightening her posture as Owen backed away to return to Charlotte's side.
Charlie growled a response causing both Charlotte and Owen to exchange grins before moving on to see Echo.
"Echo!" This time Charlotte greeted the Raptor first earning a screeching sound as a response. Charlotte laughed a little as the raptor clawed the air a little. Owen and Charlotte laughed with her.
"And how were you today? Did you make your Alpha proud?" She asked. Owen grinned and nodded his head.
"She certainly did. Other than getting distracted for a bit during our evaluation run, she was wonderful. They all were, weren't you Girl?" Owen praised, smiling proudly at the Raptor who seemed to relish the praise.
"Aww that's my girl." Charlotte added, clapping her hands in a way a parent might to praise a toddler. Echo snipped her jaws together in response.
Finally they got to Delta's stall. "Hi there Delta." Charlotte started to greet her as Barry started to walk away. Delta made a low snarling sound then took an aggressive snap and growled at the couple. Startled, Charlotte drew away.
"Hey! What's gotten into you Delta?" Owen reprimanded, pulling Charlotte back a bit protectively. When Delta continued to growl, Charlotte gently took Owen's hand to get his attention.
"She's probably just worn out. I wouldn't blame her." She tried to pull Owen away. Owen sighed, but finally allowed Charlotte to lead him away from the Raptor stalls.
"But she hasn't snarled at you like that since her earliest days living back at the house." He muttered as they walked away from the paddock back to the parking lot.
Charlotte shrugged. "Well..in the end it's like you and Barry are always saying. Our girls?" She motioned back toward the Raptor Paddock. "They've got millions of years worth of wild instincts in them. No amount of training is going to completely change that." She stroked his arm, hoping to soothe him as they got near to the car.
Owen sighed. "Boy I wish I could get Hoskins and the other InGen higher ups to understand that as well as you do." He turned as they reached the front passenger door and ran his hands gently down Charlotte's arms stopping when he got to her wrists.
"It would sure make things so much easier around here if you were in charge instead of Hoskins." He finally smiled a bit and Charlotte chuckled.
"I don't know about that. I'm sure you'll find a way to get the message across to him soon." She took a step closer to her husband and laid her hands on his shoulders.
"After all you are the Alpha."
Owen chuckled at that. "Thanks Honey." He leaned in to kiss her only to be interrupted by the blasting of a car horn.
"Hey Owen! Remember there's a senior staff meeting tomorrow morning at HQ!" Barry shouted from the cab of his truck, waving as he drove off from the parking lot.
Owen sighed and nodded, waving back at him. "Yeah, thanks a lot Barr!" He called back, a little annoyed that the moment was over, but he forgot his annoyance when Charlotte looped her arm through his.
"Come on, we should head on home too. Don't want to be still out here when they start turning out the lights." Owen sighed and nodded his head, looking from the car to his bike then back again.
"Should I drive us home tonight or...shall we make our usual wager?" He asked, raising an eyebrow enticingly as he glanced back at his motorcycle.
Charlotte chuckled and stifled a yawn. "As much as I'd love to whoop you again, I'm too tired to race tonight. Why don't we hitch up your bike and just drive home together?" She suggested, already moving to the trunk to get out the chain.
Owen laughed and followed her. "Your wish is my command." He grinned, going to go get his motorbike so they could hitch it to the back of the truck.
"And for the record, I'm pretty sure I have more wins." He added in a whisper, sneaking a quick kiss on the top of Charlotte's cheek as he moved around her to help her get the chain secured.
Charlotte giggled and turned to kiss his cheek in return before stepping over the now taut chain to get into the passenger side of the truck.
"Keep telling yourself that, Honey."
