Let's get this party started right, shall we?

Chapter 2

~ Jo ~

I don't remember my first day of school, but if I did I imagined it probably felt a lot like I did at the moment. Jittery and excited with a side dish of I might puke. The anxiety pumping through my body was increasing exponentially the closer we got to the park, crowds of visitors littering the streets slowing our progress even though we were sticking largely to back roads. It was still hard to believe this place was open to the public. I'd been recovering at home when the official opening ceremony had occurred, but knew for a fact via the text message pictures Owen sent that this was, in fact, a fully functioning theme park now. In fact, the last time I'd run into Claire she'd mentioned our attendance figures were steadily climbing every month with guest satisfaction soaring around 95%.

Un-freaking-believable.

As we drove down a side street towards the employee parking lot adjacent to visitor center I scanned the alleyways, getting a glimpse of Mainstreet. The throngs of guests shuffling from store to store and running towards the exhibits were surreal. Sighing, I let my head fall back against the headrest, I missed the days when the only things we had to worry about were the man-eating dinosaurs. Ah, the good 'ol days.

Owen pulled into a parking spot and we both exited the Jeep, heading towards the visitor center. I took a calming breath, trying to project a sense of composed authority I most certainly did not feel.

"You OK?" Owen asked, coming to walk by my side.

Was I OK?

If being OK meant there was an equal chance I'd either pass out from stress induced anxiety as walk into that building like the bonafide professional I was hired to be, then yeah, I was peachy. Fucking hell, that dive off a cliff had made me soft. I hadn't been nervous to go to work since…ever. The really depressing part was deep down I knew I wasn't feeling soft or even nervous, I was scared. And I'm not talking mildly concerned for my well-being scared either. No sir, I was teetering on the verge of peeing in my big girl panties scared. It wasn't a good look for me. It was the emotional equivalent of trying to accessorize with a fanny pack, never a good idea. Squaring my shoulders I made the decision that today was the day I put the accident behind me.

"I'm fine," I answered, flashing him what I hoped was a convincing smile.

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he accepted my answer with no further inquiry. Truth was he was as nervous as I was about my return to work. Owen had been my rock this past year. Calling him my boyfriend felt so inadequate and juvenile. This wasn't high school and the label didn't begin to address the depths of my feelings for him, but since this wasn't a Telenovela I decided to stick with. My only other options required me to call him my lover or something equally as ridiculous, and that simply wasn't acceptable.

The man walking beside me was responsible for ensuring not only my body recovered, but my soul as well. He'd weathered the never-ending doctor's appointments, physical therapy sessions, and my endless boredom without so much as one complaint (to my face at least). His belief that I'd recover was absolute, and his strength gave me strength.

The months following the accident had been filled with change. Not only was I forced to adjust to the limitations of my injuries I'd immediately moved in with Owen. I remember being terrified he'd wake up one day, come to his senses, and wonder why the fuck he'd ever asked me to live with him. I figuratively held my breath, waiting for him to come to the realization that I wasn't worth the time or the trouble, but that day never came. Days turned into weeks that then morphed into months, and if anything our relationship grew stronger. After a while I realized "that day" would never come, and I could finally relaxed. Don't get me wrong, it was far from easy, but my life with Owen was something I would hold onto with both hands.

It was a daily struggle wrestling with the idea that this man, this honorable, selfless, ridiculously charismatic man had chosen me. On paper (and in real life if I was honest) we made little sense. In truth, I made little sense with anyone, but with Owen we somehow made it work. I never believed I was capable of feeling something so deep for another person. My love for him was unfathomable, and it scared the ever loving shit out of me.

Depending on someone else wasn't really my strong suit, but the mere notion of living without him was laughable. I simply couldn't comprehend a future that didn't have his solid, unyielding presence in it. I would walk through fire to be with him, and I would tear apart heaven and earth to save him. Good luck to anyone who got in my way in the process.

He slipped his hand into mine as we walked towards the building, a silent show of support only he would know I needed. I squeezed his hand in return, letting him know I really was OK. We hadn't taken more than a few steps when my cell phone rang, the theme for the X-Files booming in the parking lot. Owen stopped, shaking his head as if to say I give up.

Smirking at him I answered, "King."

"Jo, I'm literally over the moon that you're back today, and normally I would do everything in my power to make sure your first day back was utterly boring. I was thinking coffee in the cafeteria followed by people watching in the lobby," Lowery prattled on, the fear in his voice making him ramble. By people watching of course he meant he and I passing judgment on every individual who had the misfortune to pass us by. It was our favorite pastime. If it was an Olympic sport we'd be the gold medal favorites hands down.

"But," I encouraged him to continue. I knew it was too much to ask that my first day would consist only of ass kicking recruits followed by mental kung fu.

"We've got a situation over at the Gentle Giant Petting zoo."

That wasn't surprising. I'd told Simon when he'd run the idea by me that it was a disaster waiting to happen, but I'd been overruled by upper management. The concept, which was developed by some suit back at the corporate office, was to give visitors an up close and personnel experience with a baby dinosaur.

Sounds amazing, right?

Yeah, well, most dinosaurs have strong familial bonds which are not to be trifled with. So naturally, a group of certified idiots who have no expertise in anything other than making money decided the best way to limit the trauma to both mother and baby was to have them both be part of the exhibit. They'd constructed an exhibit that allowed visitors access to pet, ride and even handle the infant dinosaurs while cordoning off the mother's in a separate unit. It was essentially a paddock within a paddock. The babies were rotated into the public part of the exhibit for short periods of time before being returned to their mother. Not ideal, but it kept the death toll at a minimum which the marketing department said was a bonus.

I'd strongly lobbied against the idea, citing the numerous scientific examples, and basic common sense, that showed putting anything between a mother and their child was asking for trouble. Any animal or human would become hostile if put into the situation they were proposing. To combat my opposition the solution proposed by upper management was to use herbivores instead of carnivores.

Oh, so since we didn't have a mommy and a baby T-Rex in the petting zoo it was clearly safe.

I'm not saying those guys were stupid; they just had bad luck when it came to thinking.

"What kind of situation?" I asked, coming to an immediate stop. Owen leaned in closer in an attempt to hear Lowery.

"A kid fell into the enclosure," he stated.

"Lowery, it's a petting zoo, that's kinda the point." Owen looked as confused as I felt. Why the five alarm fire because a kid was in the petting zoo?

Lowery cleared his throat, "He's not in the petting zoo. He's in the secondary enclosure."

"Oh my god," I muttered, locking eyes with Owen.

The fear I'd felt only seconds before was replaced with determination. I spun on my heel, sprinting towards the petting zoo, Owen hot on my heels. As soon as I rounded the corner to the exhibit I saw Hamada barking out orders as two ACU units deployed around the perimeter, and a third team began the arduous process of clearing out the patrons. A few feet off to his side, sitting on a bench were two adults, a woman crying hysterical as a man held her in his arms, his face distraught. No doubt they were the child's parents.

Coming to a stop beside Hamada I asked, "What's the situation?"

Hamada removed his hat, wiping the sweat from his forehead before replacing it, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the parents. "Kids name is Bryce. He's four years-old and here with his parents, Sandy and Bill. They were all visiting the petting zoo when the parents lost track of him. Another guest spotting him climbing up the wall on the outside of the secondary paddock. Apparently he used a small tree branch to get him to the upper level where he traversed the steel cabling."

I turned around, looking behind me at the easily twenty foot wall that housed the momma dinosaurs just as Owen mumbled a, "Sweet Jesus."

"He traversed the steel cabling?" I asked in disbelief. Was this kid part of Cirque de Soleil in his spare time? "Is he alive?"

"Yes and miraculously uninjured as far as we can tell. Apparently he wants to be an acrobat when he grows up," Hamada shrugged. "He's huddled behind a few boulders on the far side of the paddock. So far either the animals haven't picked up his scent or they don't see him as an immediate threat. Either way we need to get him out of there as fast as possible."

He was safe for the time being, but there was no telling when his luck would change. My bet was it wouldn't take long, and once it did there would be no way to predict how the animals would react to him being so close to their offspring. He may only be a child, but dinosaurs didn't discriminate when it came to their little ones.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"We've got three bucket trucks on their way. Once they're here we're going to strategically position them around the enclosure, get some guys with non-lethals up there who can clear the way for the person who's going to be lowered down. We can't enter or exit from the doors undetected so this is our best option to get him out unharmed, from there it's a simple extraction for the man on the ground," Hamada explained, making a point to avoid Owen's scathing gaze.

"And the person being lowered down?" Owen phrased it like a question, but all three of us already knew the answer.

"Jo of course," Hamada said simply, shrugging. I smiled brightly, barely resisting the urge to clap my hands and jump around. Totally not appropriate given the circumstances, but this was WAY better than suffering through psych evaluations and teaching hand-to-hand combat to people who had a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time.

"I'm gonna be like Trinity in the Matrix," I squealed.

Hamada's lipped twitched, which for him was the equivalent of peeing your pants from laughing so hard. Owen on the other hand looked like he might stroke out. The vein on his temple was throbbing uncontrollably, and if he had been looking at me the way he was looking at Hamada I would probably pee my pants for an entirely different reason.

"You know, when the helicopter crashes into the side of the building and she shoots that rope…" I started, waving my hands around excitedly.

"I get the reference," Owen cut me off, never taking his eyes off Hamada. I dropped my hands, frowning as both men stared each other down, not even blinking. I swung my head back-and-forth waiting for one of them to move, flinch, breathe. Anything really because the whole scene was starting to freak me out. Clearly I was smack dab in the middle of a dick measuring contest. I didn't want to even consider Hamada in that light (gross), but I knew for a fact Owen was packing some serious heat.

"Listen," Hamada started, finally breaking eye contact as the three huge bucket trucks rumbled into the exhibit. "There's no one else I'd trust with this, and she's the fastest person here even though she's been sitting on her ass popping bonbons for the past year."

"Hey!" I interjected. I'd been out recovering from injuries that had literally killed me, three times! And yeah, I ate a few bonbons to pass the time, sue me. Hamada ignored me, continuing to explain his rationale to the irate raptor trainer standing next to me.

"Besides that, she's a shit shot with those tranquilizer guns so if she doesn't do this she's basically just here for moral support."

That was true.

I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn using the non-lethal tranquilizers. Believe me, I'd tried. A lot. I'd given up trying to figure it out. I was obviously allergic to anything that couldn't seriously maim or outright kill something.

"You've got sniper experience, and you have the most incentive to not miss," Hamada finished, emphasizing the last comment with a pointed look.

Owen's lips compressed in a thin line, his misplaced fear of lowering me into a pit of angry momma dinosaurs at war with Hamada's sound logic. I didn't see the issue. Hamada was right. Even on a heavy bonbon day I was faster than these two, and I trusted both Owen and Hamada to have my back while I was down there doing my Usain Bolt impersonation.

"Fine," Owen conceded, looking away in frustration.

"Super guys, good talk! Everyone put their hands in the middle and let's get out there and win won for the gipper," I said sarcastically, thrusting my hand out and looking to them expectantly. Hamada just shook his head at me, walking away to position the trucks, get the gear situated, and prep the tranquilizers.

Owen stood still beside me, his concern for me radiating off of him in waves. After a few minutes of tense silence he asked, "Do you take anything seriously?"

Cutting my eyes to him I sighed. "I am taking this seriously. I think maybe you're taking it a little too seriously." That comment was like waving a red flag in front of a pissed of bull. Oops. I winced, putting my hands up in apology. "Listen, this is what I do. It's my job. That little boy is trapped in there scared to death, and I'm his best chance of getting out alive. I'm not walking away from that. I've been cleared by the doctors. I'm ready."

He visibly deflated, running his hands through is hair in that adorable manner I'd become so accustomed to. "I'm not questioning your abilities. I just…"

It was that the last time I'd left the house to do my job he'd found me not breathing at the bottom of a cliff. I understood his fear. Hell, I had more than my share of doubt as well, but I wasn't some delicate china doll that could be hide away from the world. I had a dangerous job, we both did, and it was time I dusted myself off and got back on the horse.

I'd never admit this out loud, but I liked how he wanted to protect me. I absolutely did not need it, but it made my stomach do that cliché girl stomach flop that he wanted to. With that being said, it just wasn't in my nature to function that way, and he knew it.

I stepped closer to him, taking his hand in mine. "I get it. I feel it too, but this is different. We're in this one together. I trust you." I swallowed thickly, pulling him to me. "So trust me. Everything will be fine."

"I won't miss," he promised.

"I know."

He closed the distance between us and captured my lips in a brief, but passionate kiss. He held my face in his hands as his eyes moved all over my face, like he was trying to memorize every detail. I gave him a small smile, projecting confidence I didn't feel. You know what they say though, fake it till you make it.

The next thing I knew I was wearing a harness and being lifted over the paddock walls in a bucket truck. The adrenaline was surging through my veins, my heart beating so fast I thought it might explode. Just another day at the office, I kept repeating over and over again.

"Alright everyone this is it." Hamada's voice echoed in my ear comm. "Grady and I will take point to cover King while she retrieves the boy. I want secondary units on standby with the medical team, and for fuck's sake Cummins make sure you're ready on that wench. As soon as she has the boy and is back at the hookup I want them out of there. No delay," he barked.

"Yes sir, I'll be ready," Cummins answered immediately.

Cummins was a fairly recent addition to the ACU response team, and to me looked all of about 12 years-old. I wasn't familiar with the man since he was brought on board during my medical leave, but Hamada trusted him so I had no choice but to put my faith in Doogie Howser as well.

"You good?" I asked him, looking at him as the bucket was positioned over the wall. He was sweating profusely, and while I agreed it was hot I got the impression his excessive perspiration was due more to nerves than the heat.

"I'm fine ma'am," he answered, nodding to me briskly.

Ma'am? What was I, an 80 year-old spinster with 30 cats?

"You can call me Jo," I told him, grabbing the rope and hooking it up to the repelling harness secured around my waist.

His nervous eyes flicked to mine before he shook his head furiously, "I think I'll stick with ma'am if it's all the same to you. Mr. Hamada and Mr. Grady seemed to think it would be the safest option. Plus, if half the stories I've heard about you are true I'd just as soon stay in your good graces."

I heard Owen's laughter burst out over the comm unit, and swung my head towards his bucket truck, flipping him off in the distance. His laughter just increased as he chimed in, "Now ma'am, that's not very professional."

Shaking my head at him I finished securing the rope to the repelling device then climbed out of the bucket, carefully positioning my hands and feet on the railing. I tossed the long, dangling line of rope behind my back into the paddock making sure to keep my right hand tight at the base of my spine so I could control the speed of my decent into the paddock.

Glancing over my shoulders to the other side of the paddock I saw Owen and Hamada positioned in their buckets, non-lethal tranquilizer guns at the ready. They each had another ACU member with them responsible for the three backup tranqs should the need arise. Those things were notorious for jamming, and an issue like that in a situation like this could get real ugly, real fast.

"We ready to get this party started?" I asked the group.

Hamada answered, "You're positioned as close to the boy as we can get given where the animals are currently positioned. Once you're on the ground you won't have long until they pick up your scent."

The animals inside the paddock had stumbled across the boy about five minutes ago. Thankfully they'd left him alone for now, preferring to keep an eye on him as opposed to skewering him, but they were hovering much closer now. My only explanation for their behavior was the uncanny calm the little boy was showing given the circumstances. He was crying and obviously terrified, but he was staying still and keeping his crying relatively quiet. He was a smart little guy, and I was going to get him out of there.

"Got it," I said, letting go of the railing and leaning back off the bucket until I was almost horizontal to the ground below, peering down below one last time.

"Hamada," Owen spoke up quickly, "That's my life going down there."

Shaking slightly I swallowed down the rising panic I felt bubble up in my throat. The rawness of Owen's voice was almost my undoing. Cummins eyes found mine briefly before he looked down, attempting to create the illusion of privacy.

"Not on my watch man," was Hamada's uncompromising answer.

If I had to pick two people to trust with my life these guys would be at the top of the list. Fuck, they WERE the list. If something happened to me today and I didn't make it out I knew it would be because there was physically nothing they could do to stop it. When it's your time, it's your time.

"3, 2," I began the countdown, before launching myself off the bucket backwards when I reached, "1."

The decent into the paddock was short, the rope sliding through my hand quickly as my feet landed with a soft thud on the packed dirt. Immediately I detached my rope from the repelling device, crouching down low behind the cover of a few bushes. I could hear the snorts and heavy footsteps of the animals as they meandered around the paddock, but nothing that indicated the animals had been altered to my presence. The occasional wail of a baby was a clear reminder that I needed out of here five minutes ago.

"Alright Jo, on my mark make your way directly to your left. Take cover behind the rocks Bryce is hiding in," Hamada instructed, pausing until he saw the opening he wanted. "Now!"

Without hesitation I bolted from my hiding spot. My eyes scanned the immediate area as I tried to run as fast as I could while keeping a low profile. When I'd gauged the distance looking from the bucket the boulders hadn't looked very far. Now that I was forced to "sprint" the distance essentially on my hands and knees it felt like a marathon. When I heard a snarl directly behind me I gave up on stealth and ran like my life depended on it, which it probably did.

Sliding to a stop baseball style behind the rocks, I frantically looked for Bryce. At first I thought maybe we'd picked the wrong set of boulders until I spotted the tiny figure tucked in-between two rocks. He had wedged himself into a fissure in the massive rocks in an attempt to hide himself. This kid must destroy his friends when they played hide and seek.

As I took my first step towards him I heard a low pop sound in the distance, followed immediately by an animalistic moan. Twirling around I saw a baby edmontosaurus topple over, a tranquilizer dart lodged at the base of her neck.

"Time to go babe," Owen barked in my ear comm. "Momma won't be far behind."

Making my way to Bryce I smiled at him. His big, brown eyes blinked up at me unsure of my intentions. Squatting down to his level I said, "Hi Bryce, my name's Jo. Are you OK?" His little head nodded up and down, but he stayed firmly tucked in his hiding spot. "That's great buddy. Your mom and dad really miss you, and they asked me to come get you."

At the mention of his parents his eyes widened, and he shifted forward, extricating himself from the rocks. "You know mommy and daddy?" he asked, his voice quivering slightly.

"I sure do," I told him.

He eyed me up and down before asking, "Are you a superhero?"

Smiling, I nodded, "Sort of."

"You look like a superhero. I love superheroes. My favorite is Captain America," he confessed, his voice full of childlike innocence.

"I'm more of an Ironman fan myself, but Captain America is pretty cool." He debated my logic momentarily before shrugging his shoulders in agreement. "What do you say Captain America, are you ready to get out of here?"

"OK, Ironman."

I picked him up, telling him to wrap his arms and legs around me as tight as he could. I tucked his head against my chest, whispering softly to keep his head down and eyes closed no matter what he heard. Once he was attached to me like a barnacle I called out into the comm unit, "Ready to move."

"Hold one," Hamada answered immediately. "We're dumping a load of food into the opposite side of the paddock to create a diversion."

"Can we see mommy and daddy now?" Bryce asked, his head still tucked neatly against mine, his eyes clamped shut.

"Real soon buddy, real soon," I answered, holding him tighter. "Just remember what I told you, keep those eyes closed and hang on tight."

"Alright Jo, go now. Cummins is ready with the automatic wench once you're hooked in."

Sprinting from behind the rocks I made my way to rope line. It took some creative maneuvering to get the rope attached to my harness with Bryce adhered to me like super glue, but I was able to hook into the repel line that would hoist us up. Ten more seconds and this would all be a distance memory.

"Now Cummins," I spoke into the comm unit, looking up towards the bucket. The sound of gears grinding and some pretty impressive cursing was his only reply. The rope remained slack, dangling lazily in the afternoon breeze. "No seriously, now Cummins!"

"I can't get the wench to work." He sounded panicked. Well, that made two of us. "It won't hoist. The levers jammed, it's stripping the gears."

The profanity laced rant that Owen let lose following Cummins' confession made me happy Bryce wasn't wearing an ear comm unit. There were some combinations in there even a few Hail Mary's couldn't undo.

I wasted no time dislodging myself from the rope. There was no way I could climb that distance with Bryce. I wasn't a miracle a worker or the world's strongest man. With no way to secure him to the harness, and only about a 70% chance we'd make it to the top before my muscles gave out that option was officially off the table.

Turning around, I put my back against the paddock wall, desperately scanning the landscape for an alternative escape. Hamada's mid-day food distraction made the two massive doors normally used for workers entrance or exits unreachable. Almost every mother and baby in the paddock was currently lounging by them enjoying their mid-morning tapas.

"Can we get another wench?" Owen called out on the open channel.

"We don't have that kind of time," was Hamada's abrupt answer. "Jo, what do you see?"

"A whole lot of nothing."

I knew now wasn't the time to lose my shit, but the horror of the situation was overwhelming. It wasn't myself I was worried about, it was the scared little boy in my arms. Once the herd found us I'd only be able to protect him for so long, even with Hamada and Owen's help. Once I was gone and they were out of tranqs he'd be defenseless.

Just when I thought we'd have to cancel Christmas I spotted something on the other side of the paddock. There appeared to be a tunnel on the opposite wall. It was a half circle covered by massive steel bars.

"Lowery, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear," he answered.

"The tunnel inside the enclosure, where does it lead?"

"It's a storm drain, for runoff. It empties into the river adjacent to the park."

Just as he finished speaking a massive snort sounded from the front gate. The animals started stomping around, agitated and uncomfortable. The mothers instinctively moved into protective positions around their young as they sniffed the air, assessing the danger.

"Can you open it remotely?" I asked, cataloguing each and every move the herd made. We were down to mere seconds before their attention was focused on us.

"Yes, but it's not exactly a smooth ride. There's a five foot drop once the drain empties into the river not to mention some serious twists and turns," Lowery explained. Well, that was less than ideal, but better than being trampled to death. We'd just have to deal with it.

"We're going to keep it closed until the last possible second. I don't want to risk an uninvited guest following us." I adjusted Bryce, hoisting him up and telling him one more time to hold on like his life depended on it because, it did. "Listen buddy, we're going to take a ride on a water slide. Are you up for it?"

His head pulled away from my chest for the first time since I scooped him up, his eyes full of tears. "I trust you Ironman."

I kissed his forehead, "When I tell you to I want you take a big breathe and hold your nose just like this." I sucked in a huge breath, making a point to exaggerate the action by puffing my cheeks out then squeezed my fingers over my nose. He watched intently, nodding in time with my movements. "Got it?"

He gave me a thumbs up then promptly ducked his head again. Wrapping my arms around him tightly I then said, "OK guys, now is the time to impress me."

"Jo." Owen's voice faltered making me squeeze my eyes closed briefly.

"Me too," I told him then promptly pushed everything out of my mind except for the task at hand.

Saving Bryce was the only thing I could think about right now. Any type of distraction could get us both killed, and the emotions swirling inside me were a serious distraction. A soul searing wail sounded from my left side, and I took off at a dead sprint. I could hear the animal's hoofs pounding on the ground as they pursued us. The noise we created alerted the group by the adjacent door that something was amiss. It didn't take long for a second group to band together, running in a formation directly towards us. Given the angle of their approach there was no way we would reach the gate before we were intercepted.

One of the mothers broke away from the pack, faster than her counterparts. She made a beeline straight towards me, and with nowhere to go but forward and no place to hide I kept sprinting forward, straight at her. No more than five feet before she was set to impale me with her tusks she dropped to the ground in a heap, skidding a few feet before coming to a stop, unconscious. Without missing a beat I hurdled over her, splashing water everywhere as I landed in a shallow puddle of water, my legs buckling under the weight of my burden and the uneven terrain. For the love of all things holy, this was like competing in the steeplechase.

"Hamada, take the ones at 11, 12 and 1 o'clock. I've got the three trailers on her six," Owen barked out, a volley of tranquilizer darts coming from seemingly every direction all at once. In rapid succession three dinosaurs crashed to the ground unconscious in front of me as I heard similar 'thumps' originate behind me.

"Keep going Jo, you're almost there," Owen encouraged as he and Hamada laid waste to any dinosaur that came within striking distance. Well, laid waste was a bit of exaggeration considering we were using non-lethals, but they sure as shit were putting them down for an impromptu nap.

"Lowery, open the grate!" I hollered, my breathing labored with fatigue. I really needed to lay off the bonbons when this was all over. We were rapidly approaching the grate, but the steel bars that cordoned off the drain were still closed.

"What the fuck Lowery!" Owen shouted.

"This isn't exactly something they planned for when they designed the system," he answered, his voice rising in pitch with each syllable.

"I swear on my life if you don't get that door open right fucking now I will tear your spine out and make you eat it," Owen threatened, his voice deadly calm.

Jeez, and people say I have anger management issues.

As a side note, angry Owen was sexy.

When we were less than five feet away from the grate and it remained closed I said I silent goodbye to Lowery. If Owen didn't murder him, Hamada sure would, unfortunately I wouldn't be around to see it.

"Got it!" Lowery shouted triumphantly as the massive steel bars hissed and groaned, but started to slowly rise up. Without slowing down I barreled towards the opening, water and mud splashing all around us. I prayed the bars would open up enough for us to fit without the need for a beheading. Hamada and Owen both fired again taking down a few determined stragglers, and then I was at the entrance.

"OK, Captain America!" I yelled to Bryce, "This is it, hold on tight and remember when I tell you hold your breath and plug your nose!"

Without waiting for a reply I jumped into the tunnel feet first, my back slamming hard into the concrete as I cradled Bryce. We were plunged into complete darkness, the slick, slimy surface of the drain carrying us down towards the river at a breakneck pace. The bends and turns in the tunnel were more water slide than drain pipe, and I was worried Bryce might throw up from all the jostling. Lord knows I wouldn't blame him, those bonbons from earlier felt like lead in my stomach. When I heard him let out an excited squeal as we took a hard turn that caused us to travel halfway up the side of the tunnel I felt myself grin as well.

"Ten feet to the drop," Lowery's voice sounded in my ear.

"OK buddy, here we go. Take a big, deep breath then hold it tight," I instructed, glancing down to see him take a huge gulp of air, his chubby cheeks puffing out as his tiny fingers squeezed his nose closed.

"Five feet, three feet," Lowery counted down. "You should see daylight now."

We came around one last turn and then shot out of the tunnel like a missile launching off an aircraft carrier. The contrast between the pitch black tunnel versus the brilliant sun overhead was blinding, dots and stars dancing in my vision as my eyes attempted to adjust to the drastic change. I felt my body spinning around as we sailed over the river below, my body now positioned for me to hit the water first on my back. I hugged Bryce as tight as I could without hurting him, placing one hand protectively against the back of his head as we plunged down towards the water. The fall wasn't far, but the weightless sensation of plummeting into the unknown can really screw with your senses. Add to the fact I had my back towards the water thus making it impossible to anticipate when we'd hit, and the whole sensation was nauseating.

Just when I thought we might fall forever we crashed into the water, my back lighting up like fire as my entire body throbbed. The height of our fall drug us underwater a fair distance, and I was terrified Bryce wouldn't be able to hold his breath long enough. As soon as our decent slowed I kicked frantically towards the surface, using one hand to pull the water down while the other remained securely wrapped around Bryce. We broke the surface moments later, and I pulled Bryce's face away from my chest only to see him still with his eyes closed, nose pinched, holding his breath. Just like I'd told him to.

"You can open your eyes and breathe again Captain America," I said with a laugh, already starting to paddle towards the river's edge.

He cracked one eye first, looking around hesitantly to make sure he still wasn't rooming with dinosaurs. He opened the other just as I hoisted him onto dry land, pulling myself out next only to collapse beside him in a heap. I needed a vacation.

"That was awesome!" Bryce screeched, clapping his hands in merriment. "Can we do it again?"

An exhausted laugh escaped me, as I wrapped my arm around him, giving him a squeeze. "Maybe later buddy. I think we need to let your parents know you're OK first." He nodded, laughing and jumping up, already re-enacting our dramatic exit from the paddock.

"We're on our way now with the parents. We should be there in 10 minutes," Owen told me through my ear comm.

"That sounds great. I'm gonna just lay here until then."

Maybe take a nap.

My body was aching, my muscles unaccustomed to such use. My hair even hurt. My first day back could be summed up in seven words, well that didn't fucking go as planned.

"Hell of a first day back babe," Owen chuckled.

Turning my head to the side I watched Bryce karate chopped what I assumed was an imaginary edmontosaurus then execute a fairly decent combat roll only to jump up throw his make believe Captain America shield at, something. All things considered I thought the little guy would be all right. He certainly was tough. Maybe he was part superhero. I sighed, closing my eyes and smiling as I listened to Bryce engage in all out combat beside me.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," I replied.

Lioness32: I'm glad they're back too! I'm also glad you decided to come back and not only read, but review...yeah! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the action gets going a little. Let me know what you thought.

DizzyIzzy: You've been busy DizzyIzzy! Not that I'm complaining. Reviews make me happier than day drinking on Friday so thank you for that :) I'm glad you like Jo and the story. What did you think about this chapter? I'm hoping for a happy ending too, but I think these two are going to have to navigate some bumps in the road first. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

jahoney: Welcome back! I was excited to see your review pop up. I'm glad you decided to check out the sequel, it means a lot to see the same people come back time and time again. I appreciate your reviews and insight.

angelicedg: I think so too! They are so much fun to write, and at this point it's almost feels natural to write them interacting together. I'm also loving the dual POV in this story so we get to see both sides as we go through. Is it weird I wish they were a real life couple? If so, don't tell me, just go with it :) Thanks for sticking with me and reading/reviewing so faithfully. I really do appreciate it!