Flicker of Life - Chapter 3

Summary:

As Christmas rolls around, Alise and Owen are lucky to have their family around and their support through everything. Lawyers contact the pair about a lawsuit claim against Masrani Global that they could benefit from a lot. Alise starts to worry about how Owen is handling everything and fears he may have PTSD, but she soon starts to realize that she has it too.

The past couple of months has been a pretty big adjustment for both me and Owen, but mostly Owen. For years he was used to living on the island in his bungalow and he was alone for the most part, up until I moved in. Now we're living with my mom and stepdad and he's not used to that. He said he hasn't lived with his parents since he was 18 and that was a long time ago.

He's been acting different, too. Which is understandable, we had a pretty traumatic experience. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he brushes it off so easily and would prefer never mentioning it again. It was hard because my way of dealing with things is much different than his. I talked about these things more openly and he was the complete opposite.

He's barely been sleeping and I can tell because his eyes have dark circles and he looks tired most of the time, but he tells me he's been sleeping just fine. When he does sleep, he's woken up in a panic on multiple occasions, skin coated with a layer of sweat.

Aspen's husband Lance is a psychiatrist (he moved here from London a few years ago and has his own practice in town) and I've talked to him about it, he says that it sounds like Owen has PTSD. He said he could get him sleeping medication to help, but I highly doubt Owen would accept it. He rarely even takes pain killers.

It was a touchy topic. I worried that if I mentioned it, he'd snap at me. Recently he's been a little more irritable than usual, but it would make sense due to his lack of sleep and night sweats. Lance said it'd take some time to adjust and of course, recommended a therapist or even him, but I doubt Owen would take him up on that offer. Lance tried to coax him into talking to him but Owen was pretty dismissive about it. Understandably so, he just met Lance a couple of months ago, he wasn't about to open up to someone he didn't know well.

Even though I was worried, I tried not to get too worked up over it. He wasn't severely depressed or anything like that, he was still going to work and helping my stepdad renovate the new shop, he'd still join us for our family dinners, even though occasionally he'd end prematurely and went to our room, complaining of a headache. He's been getting a lot of headaches recently too, it was just another symptom of his PTSD and lack of sleep.

Owen wasn't the only one having a tough time dealing with things. Lance said I had PTSD myself, but Owen's was worse, so I was pushing mine to the side and focusing more on him. My anxiety usually manifests in my dreams, like Owen, so I'd woken up on more than one occasion with nightmares. I just woke up more quietly and he didn't notice. I didn't tell Owen about my nightmares because I knew he was having his own too. I wish I could turn to him, but he was dealing with so much in his own head, how could I put that burden onto him?

I woke up one night in the middle of the night after having a nightmare. I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I looked over at Owen, who was peacefully sleeping. My eyes burned and I blinked away tears that came from the fear I had in my dream. I let my breathing relax and I stared at the ceiling. I didn't want to go back to bed. I was too scared.

Instead, I got up and went downstairs to make myself a cup of calming tea. That's when I realized it was 3:45am and I groaned. I had to be up in 4 hours to go to work. I was working at my mom and Carl's first shop in town, for the time being, seeing as I was now 4 months pregnant, I didn't want to get a job in my field and then go out for maternity leave in 4 months. This job wasn't as fulfilling, but I worked here all through high school and helping my parents out was the least I could do for them letting us live with them rent-free.

I was lost in thought, waiting for the water to boil when I heard a gruff, "Hey," come from behind me.

I jumped a little, looking back at Lowery, who was headed for the fridge.

"Hey…" I said quietly.

"Can't sleep?" he asked. I shook my head, leaning against the counter with a sigh. "You have a nightmare?"

"How'd you know?" I asked, a little surprised.

"It's written all over your face, Lise. You used to get them all the time when you were a kid," he said, closing the fridge as he took string cheese and unwrapped it. I sighed. I didn't think I was that easily read. "Wanna tell me about it?"

I sighed again, looking back at the water which was about a minute away from boiling. "It's always different, but this time we were in Owen's bungalow. We were asleep in his bed and I woke up when I heard something moving around outside. Somehow I knew it was the Indominus. It peered through the bedroom window that Owen always keeps open and I was so scared. I knew it was going to kill us, but before it got the chance, I woke up." I said, pouring the hot water into a mug. "Usually it ends with it killing Owen or the baby as I watch, so I'll take this dream over those."

"Jeez, that's scary as hell," Lowery said. I nodded and shivered, just the thought of the dream put me on edge. "I get them too, you know," he said. I looked up at him. "The nightmares, not as bad as that though."

"It's just so hard. I haven't told Owen I've been having nightmares because his are always so much worse. He wakes up screaming and nearly having a panic attack. It's getting harder and harder to sleep, but I'm so exhausted. My anxiety is off the charts and I've been having panic attacks once every other day. It's hard to get out of bed in the morning sometimes because I'm so scared of what might happen during the day." I admitted. It was the first time I was saying any of this out loud to anyone.

"Well, are you depressed again?" he asked.

"Probably. Lance said I have PTSD, too. But it's not like I can take medication for it now that I'm pregnant, I just have to muddle through." I said. I've had an ongoing battle with depression and anxiety since I was a kid and I've been on and off medication for it through the years. It's different now because like I said, I'm pregnant now, so medication was a no-go.

"Maybe therapy will help too. Not that I don't mind when you talk to me about this, you know I'm always here for you when you need me."

"Yes, I know," I sighed, moving the tea bag in and out of the water and swirling it around. "I'll talk to Lance, see if he knows anyone I can talk to."

"Couldn't you just talk to Lance for free?" he chuckled.

"I mean, I could and I do sometimes, but I know way too much about his and Aspen's sex life to take him that seriously."

"I don't wanna hear about that."

"You know anything about voyeurism? He's big on that."

"Like watching other people… doing it?" Lowery said, hesitant on what to call it.

"Sex, yes. Watching other people have sex." I laughed, putting emphasis on 'sex'.

He pulled a face. "That's gross."

"Well, it's only gross to you because you think sex is gross," I said, taking a sip of my tea after blowing on it.

"I don't think it's gross, it's just gross to talk about with you."

"I don't see why. Sex is amazing," I said honestly. "It's a great way to help combat depression, actually. Maybe I should go wake Owen up and have him pump another baby into me."

"What? You're already pregnant, that doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, either way, I'm having sex tonight so you may want to sleep on the couch." I laughed, smirking as I took another sip of my tea.

"Dammit, you guys are really loud, too."

My face fell. "Okay, wow, I didn't actually realize you could hear us…."

"Our rooms are right across from each other!" he exclaimed. "And you say his name a lot," he said, biting into his cheese aggressively.

"I believe the term is moan, I moan his name a lot. And I can't help it, it's what he does to me," I said with a smirk. I just said it to see his reaction, even though it was totally true.

"I'm leaving." he said before walking out of the kitchen. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head and taking a sip of my tea. At least mine and Owen's sex life hasn't been affected by the PTSD or the pregnancy. So, I guess that was something positive to take out of it.

x x x

While I was working later that day, I got a call from a lawyer who wanted to represent me and Owen for a claim against Masrani Global. I was surprised because neither Owen or I contacted anyone about it, we haven't even spoken about the possibility of suing Masrani Global for what happened. The lawyer was very convincing and said that he could get us a lot of money for the damages, emotional distress and for the inconvenience the entire thing was. I told him I'd have to talk to Owen about it and that I'd call him back.

Owen and I talked about it and I was more for it than he was, but I figured that's because he knew all the paperwork that had to be done and we'd probably have to give our statements of the event and what not. The lawyer seemed very convinced he could get us a lot of money, we just had no idea exactly how much and I was curious to find out. Any extra money we could get would be amazing, especially with the baby on the way. It would help a lot.

We did some research on the lawyer, Chase Webster, before agreeing to meet with him. He has a pretty good reputation and seems like the real deal. He was from Colorado Springs and he actually traveled to meet us, which is a 4 and a half hour drive. We met him at a cafe down the street from my parent's house around 11am.

"So, I've been looking over your case and I think we could definitely get a million out of it," he said. My eyes widened, did he really just say a million dollars?

"That's insane. That would be perfect, especially with the baby…" I trailed off, looking at Owen.

Owen nodded, "So that's $500,000 each…"

"Oh, I mean one million each," Chase said. My jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Are you kidding me? Where are you coming up with one million each? You think they'll really go for that much?" I asked. It seemed pretty unbelievable to me.

"Well, with everything you lost and the psychological effects… especially with how close Owen was to it and you're carrying his child, that's traumatic for both of you. It put not only you and Owen at risk, but your baby. One million each is the least they could do."

"What do we have to do?" Owen asked. This probably wasn't going to be an easy process… that's a lot of money and lawsuits can carry on for years.

"We'll have to go to Masrani Global in San Diego and meet with their lawyer. Hopefully, we can come to a settlement so this won't go to court. They probably have people suing them left and right. I'm sure they won't want this to go to court, it's too much exposure. We'll set up a meeting as soon as possible." Chase said, standing up as he adjusted the blazer of his tux.

We said our goodbyes and Owen and I sat there in shock for a few minutes before finishing up our coffee - well, I finished up my hot chocolate. I've cut out caffeine completely, even decaf because that still has some caffeine in it. Needless to say, I've been a little grumpy lately.

x x x

We didn't hear back from the lawyer until a month later and the day before Christmas Eve. He said the earliest the lawyers from Masrani Global could meet was February 20th, so that's when Owen and I would go down to San Diego to meet with them. It was just a waiting game until then.

The next day we had my family's annual Christmas Eve dinner that we had every year (that I would come to before I went to the island), which included my mom, stepdad, obviously Lowery, my grandparents on my moms side, Aspen, her parents (because we've been friends since we were 5, our parents are close too), Lance and Carl's step-daughter Celia (who is a little crazy and weird - not Kira crazy, though. I don't think anyone could ever be that crazy).

Owen disappeared after dinner, when we all moved to the living area to relax, eat dessert and watch Rudolph - which was our Christmas Eve tradition. It didn't take me long to notice the Owen void, so I snuck away to go find him. The only place he couldn't really go to get alone time was our room, so I checked there first.

I opened the door slowly and could have sworn I heard the familiar sound of the chattering baby Velociraptors from the training videos Owen showed me. He was sitting at the desk on the laptop when I opened the door fully.

"How's it going? I miss you downstairs..." I said. The second he heard me, he closed out of the page and turned around.

"I was just skyping with Henry and Arlo…" he said, even though we both knew that wasn't true. I smiled at him and walked over.

"You miss them, don't you?" I asked, rubbing his back.

Owen sighed, "It's the first Christmas without them since they were born…" he said lowly, this was the most I've gotten out of him in a while. I nodded my head, encouraging him to continue as I sat on his lap. He opened his mouth to continue on, but his voice cracked. I could see his eyes glass over with tears and he groaned. "Fuck, I hate this."

"I know…" I said, pulling him into a hug as I stroked the back of his head. "It'll get better, easier… eventually."

"Yeah, eventually," he scoffed, shaking his head as he pulled away. I sighed, a little frustrated that I couldn't get any more out of him and worried that I said something wrong. "Wanna get back down to your family?" he asked, rubbing my back. He was brushing off the conversation, it was the most I've gotten him to open up and I was hoping he'd give me more, but he was getting too vulnerable and that wasn't something Owen was comfortable with.

"Will you come with me?" I asked, giving him a pouty look.

"Yeah," he said, leaning forward to peck my lips. "How's our little girl doing?" he asked, his palm on my stomach.

"She's good. She was super hungry tonight, especially for dessert, so I had to have an extra serving of pie, but whatever this little girl wants, she gets." I smiled, looking down at my belly. He chuckled and rubbed my stomach, right when I felt our little girl move and kick, right where his hand was. "Did you feel that?"

"She kicked," Owen smiled at me. It was the first time she's ever kicked, or they call it the baby's first movement, which is "quickening". "She must have enjoyed that extra dessert." he chuckled.

"I think she just knows her daddy is here," I smiled. He looked up at me and kissed my lips again, whisking me up so he was standing and holding me bridal style. "Pretty soon you won't be able to do this because I'll be blown up like a whale." I laughed.

He scoffed, "You underestimate how strong I am, you do know I do have a six-pack and bulging biceps."

"Mmm, you know what, I think I forgot... I guess you'll have to remind me," I played dumb and smirking at him. Owen smirked down at me and brought me over to the bed. We definitely weren't going down to finish Rudolph. Hope no one misses us.

x x x

The next morning I woke up around 8am, before Owen (whose sleep has been all messed up lately, he rarely wakes up with the sun anymore), and slipped on my reindeer slippers and headed downstairs in my reindeer pajamas. Lowery was already awake and making coffee in the kitchen, wearing his elf pajamas and an elf hat with a little bell on the top of it.

"Morning dork," I said, flicking the bell as I walked by him.

"Morning butt breath," he scoffed back. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a hot chocolate packet from the cabinet.

"You know, you should be nicer to me. I am carrying your little niece or nephew." I reminded him as I took out a mug. Owen and I were the only ones that knew we were having a girl, we just found out a week ago and we're going to tell my family this morning before we opened presents. I already told Aspen yesterday and swore her to secrecy.

"Why does that matter? You have butt breath. Did you even brush your teeth?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I brushed my teeth. You're only smelling butt because you haven't showered in a week." I snapped back, putting the kettle on.

Lowery scoffed, "I showered last night actually."

"Really? Because it doesn't smell like it," I said, a smirk on my lips. He scowled at me, shaking his head before we both broke and started laughing. "Nah, just kidding. Love you, little brother," I said, ruffling his head. "You smell like roses."

"Really? Because I've been using your bar soap."

"Gross! Please tell me you didn't wash your balls with it!"

"Yup. Used your razor too," he smirked.

"You better be joking or I will kill you."

"I'm joking," he said, chuckling. I let out a sigh of relief. "Man, this coffee is really good," he said, taking a long sip like he was savoring it. I glared at him.

I smacked him upside the head, "Dick!" I said as he walked away, right as Owen was walking into the kitchen, giving me an amused look. "Don't look at me like that. It's not fair I can't have coffee. You know, since I can't have coffee, maybe you shouldn't either. You're the one that put a baby in me."

"I wasn't the only one involved in the making of our child," he said, grabbing a mug and pouring coffee into it, clearly not listening to anything I just said.

"Whatever, jerk," I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

"Is that my sweets voice I hear?" my mother's voice came from the hallway as she walked into the kitchen. "Owen! Glad to see you're an early riser on Christmas, too." she stood next to him, putting her hand on his back.

"Hi mom, I am here you know," I said. She's obsessed with Owen. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy she likes him, but she's a little weird sometimes.

"I already knew you'd be up, sweetheart," she said, kissing my cheek.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm starting to sense that you love Owen more than me."

"Oh honey, you know that's not true. I love all of my children equally." she rubbed my back.

"Oh, so he's your child now?" I asked, my brows raised.

"You're lucky I accept him at all. Let's not forget you did get married without me or Carl there. At least he kept the tradition and asked Carl if he could propose to you."

I looked at Owen, a little surprised. "You asked Carl if you could marry me?"

"Well, yeah. Our wedding may have been untraditional, but I stick to traditions as much as I can and seeing as I've never met your actual dad, I figured Carl would be my best option," he said, rubbing my back as he took a sip of his coffee, just as the kettle started whistling.

"Yeah, well, it's hard to pin my father down. He probably would have been like 'yeah, whatever, take my daughter'. When I told him we were engaged he just said 'That's nice baby. I've gotta get back to work' and apparently he wasn't even working at the time." I shook my head as I poured the hot water into the mug.

"I'm really sorry that your dad's such an ass, honey. The only good thing that came out of my relationship with him was you and Lowery." my mom said.

"Yeah," I said, stirring my hot chocolate. My mom just smiled at Owen before walking out of the room. I sighed. "Please promise me you'll never be a deadbeat dad. Don't make our little girl suffer the way I did with an absentee father… no matter what happens to us-" I could feel the emotion pouring through me as my eyes started to water.

"-Nothing's going to happen to us, baby. I'm all in, remember?" he said, embracing me in a hug. "I'll never hurt our baby girl the way your dad hurt you. I hate seeing how much pain you're in because of it. He was an asshole, still is. I'll never be like that. I'll never hurt you or our baby, okay?" he said, grabbing my face in his hands and staring into my eyes.

I nodded, sniffing in, not being able to stop the tears that rolled down my cheeks, that he immediately caught with his thumb and wiped away.

"I love you and the little one, more than anything," he kissed me. I closed my eyes and took in this moment. I believe every word he's said. I never see him hurting me or our little girl.

"I love you too," I pecked his lips once more before pulling away and sniffing in once more.

"What are you two doing in there?! Time to open presents!" Lowery's voice called from the living room.

I rolled my eyes, "Still a child." I grabbed my mug and Owen chuckled, following me into the living room.

"Where's Carl?" I asked as I sat down on the couch next to Lowery and Owen sitting down on my right so I was sitting in between them.

"Making sure Minnie and Dot stay in the sunroom until after we open presents," my mom said. I thought it was odd that she was keeping them in the other room because Minnie has always been out here with us while we open presents, but Dot was a little rambunctious pup, so I figure that was why. "Who's gonna be Santa's little helper this year?" my mom asked, clearly very excited to have both of her children back for Christmas, even though we weren't children anymore.

I laughed. "Maybe Lowery because he's already dressed like an elf," I said, flicking the bell on the end of his hat again. He groaned, but I ignored it as Carl walked in the room. "Okay, since you're all here, Owen and I have something we want to tell everyone," I announced, standing up and putting my mug on the coffee table.

"Before you do, can you open this present?" my mom asked, handing one to me.

"I was kind of hoping to tell you before we started opening presents…" I said. My mom gestured towards me, urging me to open it anyway. "Okay…" I said, a little confused as I took it from her. I opened it and was surprised by what I saw. "A little lamb? Just like the one I had when I was a baby…" I said, looking at the stuffed animal that was pink with purple dots, the same exact color I had. "How did you know…"

"Mother's intuition," my mom smiled at me as I showed Owen the little lamb.

"Wait, does that mean you're having a girl?" Lowery asked. I nodded and he beamed. "I'm gonna have a little niece to spoil!" Owen chuckled and I laughed as I sat down next to Owen.

"Congratulations, sweetheart. I know you two will be amazing parents." Carl smiled at us.

"Thank you," I said, not being able to help the tears in my eyes. "Damn pregnancy hormones are making me seem like a softy," I said, sniffing in and wiping the few stray tears.

"We already knew you were a softy before you got pregnant," Lowery said. I smacked him with a pillow. "Ow!"

"Shut up and go get the presents," I said. Lowery chuckled and knelt to sort through them. There wasn't much to sort through, we've never been a huge present kind of family. Even when we were kids. I noticed Carl come over and whisper something to Owen, who got up. I raised a brow at them.

"I have to get your present…" Owen said. I gave him a confused look as I watched him and Carl walk into the other room. I shrugged it off when Lowery handed me a gift bag.

"I suck at wrapping presents, but I still hope you like it anyway," he said.

I smiled, "You know I don't care…" I said, looking into the bag and pulling out a box. It said 'Mommy Survival Kit' on it and I opened it. There were different lotions, face moisturizers, face masks, sheet masks… it was basically a spa kit. "That's so thoughtful of you! I love it, thanks Low!" I said, giving him a hug.

Owen and Carl both came into the room and I could have sworn I heard a meow. I peered over the couch as saw Owen walking over with a carrying case that had a big red bow on it.

"Is that… oh my god!" I said as he came closer, setting the cat carrier on the ground and I heard all the little quiet meows. "For me?" I asked, my eyes lighting up. Owen nodded as I knelt down on the floor and opened the cage.

"It's a boy," Owen said. The little kitten that couldn't be more than 3 months old meowed as I picked him up and brought him out.

"Oh my god, he's beautiful Owen!" He was all black, apart from his feet, which were white. He had shining green eyes. "I'm gonna name him Loki," I said without hesitation, kissing his little head.

Owen chuckled, "I thought you might. That's why I got the black one with green eyes."

"I always thought he had blue eyes…" Lowery said, confused.

"It changes depending on the scenery," I said and Owen echoed me almost perfectly. I laughed and kissed Owen on the cheek.

"You two are so weird," Lowery said.

"Coming from you!" I scoffed, holding Loki up and looking at his excited face and kissing his little nose before pulling him close to my chest, smiling at how much he was purring. "This is by far the best gift ever," I said, looking at Owen.

"I'm glad you like him,"

"I love him!" I said, petting his little head and kissing it.

x x x

An hour later, after we finished unwrapping gifts and cleaning up, Owen and I were both on the floor playing with Loki. Owen bought a catnip toy and my mom cut off a piece of yarn and he was playing with that, so we were definitely going to need to go to the store tomorrow and get him more toys.

"Smell my finger!" Lowery said abruptly, walking into the room and practically shoving his finger up my nose.

"Ew, no, get that out of here!" I said, grabbing his wrist and trying to push him away, but his finger swiped my cheek. "Why the hell is your finger wet?! Did you just pick your nose?!"

Lowery laughed, "Yep. Now you have a booger on your face."

"Gross, you dick!" I said, rubbing my cheek with the sleeve of my pajamas. "I'm telling mom!" it was like we were falling back into old times. My mom may be sweet as hell, but she really knows how to put her foot down. When mom got involved, it was all over.

"No, don't do that!"

"Too late, fuckhead," I said, just as our mom walked into the room.

"Lowery, apologize to your sister and don't be gross. You're a grown man. Alise, stop calling your brother a dick and a fuckhead, that's now how I raised you," she said simply, sitting down on the loveseat across from us. She's a lot more relaxed than she used to be, but we were a handful when we were children. Hell, we still are.

I rolled my eyes, "If he wasn't such a dick and a fuckhead, then it wouldn't be a problem." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Bitch," Lowery said under his breath.

I gave him a death glare, "What did you just-"

"Alright, both of you knock it off or go to your rooms." my mom said.

"I'm 29, you can't make me go to my room," I said, looking at her.

"Yeah, me either," Lowery said in agreement.

"Wanna bet?" she said, staring at us with an unemotional expression. That's when I got quiet and if I were a dog, my tail would be in between my legs. "Nothing like telling your adult children to behave themselves, 'ey Owen?" my mom laughed, looking at Owen, who just chuckled. "Have enough of us yet?"

"I'll put up with anything to be with Alise," he said honestly, looking at me.

"That's the answer I was looking for. Alise, he's a keeper." my mom smiled.

"I know," I looked at him and leaned in to kiss him.

Owen pulled back, "Not before you wash the booger off."

I dropped my jaw, "Are you kidding me?" I asked. Lowery and my mom both laughed. I shot Lowery a glare. "This is your fault, dick for brains." I smacked him with a pillow. Just then, Minnie ran over and started barking and tried jumping on me. She did that whenever Lowery and I would fight, she's the peacekeeper.

"Who let the dogs out?" My mom asked.

"Who, who, who, who!" Carl sang from the other room.

I raised my brows, trying to hold Minnie off with my arm as she went to start sniffing Loki. "You ready to leave yet?" I asked Owen, who was watching all of this go down with a look of amusement.

"Still not as bad as my family." he chuckled.

"Well…" I trailed off, the memories of what happened with Kira still fresh in my mind. I couldn't even say it wasn't true. "Will Kira be there when we visit?" I asked. We were leaving tomorrow to go stay with his parents in Missouri for a few days.

"She better not be. If she does, I'll run."

"And leave your pregnant wife to deal with her by herself?" I asked, my brows raised.

He shrugged, "When it comes to my family, it's every man for himself." I could tell he was joking by the smirk that he was trying to hide.

"Haha, very funny,"

"You think I'm joking now, but you'll see," he warned. I nodded and hummed, just as Loki jumped into my lap to get the yarn.

Now I was starting to wonder if I should actually be nervous to meet his family…