Chapter 4:

"What?"

"Your parents are coming. Next week. They're staying for a few days. They told me they were going to have dinner at the restaurant"

I sigh and rub my face "You chose to tell me this now? I was having such a good time, Phillip"

He opens his arms wide "What do you expect me to do, man? You barely talk to them and they want to know about you. I don't know what to tell them. Especially after what happened on the island. They can't find out everything from Isabella, you know. Does she even know you're here?"

Isabella. My baby sister. Well, not so much a baby, she's 22 years old. She's my favorite person in the world. My parents and I had disagreements about my future. I wanted to work with animals and they wanted me to study something that would help the family business grow. In other words, not what I wanted.

I graduated school a year younger than everyone else. They said I was advanced. Whatever the hell that means. I graduated school when I had just turned 17 years old. I immediately went to university and got my degree by age 21. I worked for a year and right before I turned 23, I enlisted in the navy and remained there for 9 years, until InGen picked me up.

I got accepted into 5 universities, I chose to study in Ithaca because it wasn't too close to home, but not far enough that I wouldn't be able to visit Isabella from time to time. When I enlisted in the navy, Isabella and I would call and write to each other all the time. Once I was on Isla Nublar, we would Skype at least once a week. But then she started university and she was extremely busy and we would talk to each other once a month, if we were lucky. My girls were also very time consuming.

She's twice as smart as I am. She's very determined. Once she sets her mind about something, she's going to stay with it until she accomplishes it. She's like Claire, like that. Isabella would really like her.

"No, she doesn't know. The last time I talked to her she told me she was doing a semester in England. I don't even know if she's back home"

"Your mum told me she's coming back in 2 weeks. She participated in a competition about problem solving in a specific workplace. The winner would get exonerated from having to take finals. As you might imagine, she won. That's why she's coming back early"

I laugh "Of course she won. Well Phil, this is me. Hey, thanks again for helping me out with the date. I really appreciate it"

"What are friends for, huh? See you in 2 weeks, man."

We hug and he stops a cab. I turn around to go into the hotel but his voice stops me.

"Hey Owen. It's awesome that you're opening up with Claire. Maybe try with your parents? They miss you, man"

"I'll think about it. I promise"

"That's all I ask" He gets into the cab and raises his hand to say goodbye and I walk into the hotel.

As I am riding the elevator to the 20th floor, I decide on floor 10 to climb the stairs instead. I need a moment to think. I haven't talked directly to my parents since right before I was deployed to Kabul. So, 11 years. Is that right? God, it's been too long. But even if I tried, wouldn't it be awkward? What if we don't even know how to talk to each other anymore? But I guess Phillip is right, I can't keep using Isabella as a messenger. She's too nice of a person to tell me to stop but I know she wants us to be the family we once were. Besides at this point, it's not like my parents can keep telling me to rethink my career path. It's too late for that.

I could try. I should try, for Isabella and for me. Before I know it, I'm standing in front of Claire's door. I push my parents out of my mind and I knock. Claire opens the door. She's holding a folder on her hands. I can see she's written furiously on it.

"Owen, come in. Did you catch up with your friend?" She closes the door behind me.

"Yeah, I did. It was great seeing him. Here's your coffee. Sorry if it's not too hot"

She puts the folder on her bed and I hand her the coffee.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I don't like it scorching hot either way, so. Mmm, this is really good. Thank you, Owen"

"You're welcome. So, hit me with those questions"

"Okay, grab the chair and put it right in front of the bed. I want to see your posture and everything. You might be saying something, but your body might be saying something else. Just being cautious"

"When are you not cautious, Claire? I mean professionally, because the last time in a real life situation, you just started yelling for people in the middle of the jungle with a man made dinosaur on the loose"

"Would you rather have me drink this coffee or would you prefer wearing it?" She says arching her eyebrow.

"I'm just saying, merely stating facts"

"May I start or is there something else you want to 'merely state'?"

"Please, proceed" I say with my most classy voice.

She picks up the folder and sits on the bed in front of me.

"Okay. First question. Were you aware of the existence of the Indominus Rex?"

"No, I wasn't aware. My job was to train the Velociraptors, that's it"

"The park was functioning impeccably, its popularity was over the roof. Why do you think they decided to create a new dinosaur?"

"I guess a Spinosaurus wasn't impressing anyone anymore. They wanted to show something new to the public. Keep them interested. As a company, they have to innovate, if they don't then people lose interest" Jesus, not even I bought that one.

"Owen, that was terrible. You frowned, you kept looking down at your hands and you looked like you were about to spit from disgust"

"Well, what do you want me to do, Claire? Tell the truth? 'They created a brand new dinosaur because they were playing God. Their thirst for more money was stronger than their need to evaluate risk' How did that sound?" I stand up and start pacing the length of the bedroom.

Claire puts her coffee down and looks at me. "I know how you feel, Owen. I don't want you to lie, cause that's not the angle I want you to take and I'm sure that's not what you want. So, let's figure out a way for you to answer the questions truthfully without you looking like you're about to throw up. Yes?"

I stop and sit down on the chair again. "Okay. Sorry, the wound its still open. Let's give it another go. Ask again"

She smiles a soft smile. "Okay. Why do you think they decided to create a new dinosaur?"

I think about it for a few seconds, then answer. "I can't tell you for sure. Again, as I mentioned before, my only job was to train the raptors. I had no knowledge of administrative plans. But what I can tell you, is that power is a dangerous thing. Simon Masrani had that. Power, that is. It can be blinding, you know? Sometimes the greed for more power can corrupt even the nicest person. Maybe they lost sight of why they even built the park in the first place"

"Why did they build the park?"

"To remind us how small and how new we are"

Claire nods and smiles at me. "That was excellent, Owen. You never said that Simon Masrani was innocent, but you didn't out right blame him, either. It allows people to put themselves in his position, makes them think what they would do with so much power. That was perfect. How do you feel about that answer?"

"Better. I'm still pissed, mainly at freaking Wu, but I feel better answering the question that way"

"Good, good. Want to keep going?" She says opening the file again.

"Sure, why not?" I respond, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You'll like this next question, I promise. How does one manage to control velociraptors to do your bidding?" She looks at me, still smiling. She's remembering when she went looking for me at my bungalow.

"It's not about control. It's a relationship…"

She kept asking me questions and I gladly kept answering them. She didn't have to call me out much on my posture or whatever. After the second question, I pretty much mastered the poker face.

The next time I looked at my watch, it was 11:30pm.

"Holy shit, Claire. Look at the time! We've been doing this for 5 hours!"

"Really? Oh, God. We should probably go to bed. They're picking us up tomorrow at 8am"

"We should go to bed. Do you prefer the right side or the left side of the bed?" I wiggle my eyebrows. She does not look impressed.

"We should go to our own beds, in our respective rooms" She closes the file and puts it on the desk.

"You could've been a little more gentle with me. Wait, what about you? You haven't practiced your answers"

"I did. I went through them while you were out"

Okay, what? "Are you telling me that what I did in 5 hours, you did in one?!"

"Yes"

Incredible! and not in the good way.

"Oh, come on! How could you possibly be so sure of yourself? I mean, I admire that, it is one of the things I love most about you, but there's no way and I mean no way, that you went through 45 questions in one h…"

I am abruptly stopped by Claire planting a kiss right on my lips. Like, in the mouth.

"Goodnight, Owen"

"Okay, yep. Goodnight, Claire"

I float back to my room and I sleep all through the night like a baby.