Claire leaned back in her chair, her stomach growling as she tried to hurry along her conference call. She glanced at the clock and stifled a groan. Her lunch break was almost over and knowing she had a meeting in half an hour, there would be no time for lunch today. "Yes, Mr. Osterly, the eggs have hatched and both dinosaurs are thriving. I look forward to our meeting in six months when we are ready to reveal the new assets to the public."
There was a knock on her door and Owen stepped quietly inside. Claire's eyes immediately fell on her favorite salad balancing in one hand, a fresh cup of coffee in the other. Thank you, Claire mouthed as Owen sat the container on her desk.
He checked his watch and tapped the face of it, signaling to Claire that she was behind schedule. She rolled her eyes and pointed at the phone cradled against her shoulder. Owen waved and started to turn towards the door. She quickly held up her finger, "I will be in touch within a few weeks to give you an update of their progression. Thank you again, Mr. Osterly." She paused as he said his goodbyes on his end and hung up the phone with a loud huff. "I didn't think that was ever going to end."
Owen lifted his leg and partially sat on Claire's desk, flipping open the lid to her salad and pushing it towards her. "I was going to grab a sandwich for lunch and Tony said you never came by to pick up your order."
Claire nodded with her mouth full. "I had Zara order it for me before she went on her break, but the conference call went a lot longer than I expected. Thanks for bringing it."
"You get cranky when you're hungry, so I figured I'd save the crew you have to do your presentation to. Now they can have happy Claire." He laughed and caught the tomato she chucked at him.
"Why didn't you bring your sandwich up?" She asked, noticing he didn't bring his lunch with him.
"It's out on my bike. Going to bring it back to the paddock with me. I don't have time to sit and have lunch today." He stood up and leaned over the desk to kiss Claire's pout.
"Sorry, Babe, tomorrow?"
She shook her head, "I have to be down in the lab all morning."
"Ok, I'll see you later. I may be a little late grabbing the kids from downstairs, so tell them not to worry if I'm not here on time."
Claire nodded. "I'll let them know."
He kissed her again before leaving the office.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. Her presentation coming off without a single hitch, she was almost skipping back to her office. She swung open her office door expecting to be greeting by Nathan and Mia. "Hey guys…" her voice trailed off when the office was empty. She walked over to Zara's desk, "Were my kids here?" She asked, glancing down at her watch. "They should have been here ten minutes ago."
Zara nodded. "Mia came by looking for Nathan. She said she didn't have homework and went down to the innovations center."
"And Nathan?"
Zara shook her head.
Clare groaned and turned towards the elevator. "Hold my calls. I'll be right back."
She hurried into the innovations center and quickly found Mia, sitting in with a small group of kids listening to a presentation. Her arm was raised, her hand waving desperately for Angelica to call on her to answer her question. Claire carefully stepped through the sea of kids on the floor and tapped Mia's shoulder. "Cretaceous!" She called out and then realized it was Claire tapping her. "Oh," she giggled.
"Yes, Mia," Angelica laughed. "That was the correct answer."
"Sorry," Claire apologized for interrupting and motioned for Mia to follow her away from the crowd. She bent down so her eyes were level with Mia and asked, "Where's your brother?"
Mia looked down at her feet.
Claire placed a hand on Mia's shoulder and when she realized that she wasn't going to look at her, she stood up and took her hand. "Where are we going?" Mia asked.
"Back up to my office until you can tell me where Nathan is."
"I can't!" She moaned.
Claire stopped walking and turned to face her daughter, folding her arms against her chest. "Why not?"
"He said if I tell on him I don't get to go next time."
"He better not be where I think he is!" She growled and took Mia's hand once more, this time leading her to the control room.
"I didn't tell! Please tell him I didn't tell on him!" She pleaded as she half ran to keep up with Claire.
"He knows the rules!" Claire, mostly speaking to herself grumbled.
They barged into the control room, and Claire dropped Mia's hand. Knowing how mad her mother was, she stuck close to her side, not wanting to aggravate her anymore. "Lowery, show me footage on the perimeter fences."
"Sure," he drummed his fingers across the keyboard. "What time?"
"Half hour ago."
Lowery brought up the recorded feed and Claire stepped closer to the monitors to study them. "Damn it, Nathan." She hissed and reached for the radio on Lowery's station. "Paddock 11 this is control." Starring at the screen displaying the cameras to the paddock she searched for Owen.
"Paddock 11 to control, we read you." Barry answered.
"Is that Claire?" Owen called out, hearing her voice over the radio. Barry nodded and Owen jogged over towards him.
Trying to keep professional she kept her voice calm. "Owen is needed in the control room."
Knowing Owen didn't have his phone on him while working with the raptors, she hated that this was the only way to get a hold of him. Using the open airways for a personal matter was something Claire hated to do and only did it for emergency situations. This was not the first time Nathan had her paging Owen. Knowing this, Owen's heart was in his throat as he reached for the radio. "Copy that, control. On my way."
Claire turned towards Mia with her arms tight against her chest. "One more time, Where is he."
Mia swallowed hard and shrugged. "Really? Gonna stay silent?"
"He made me swear!"
"Mia if he's outside the park's permitter it can be very dangerous! This is for his safety."
Torn by what she should do, she shrugged and looked down at her hands. Nathan's promise to her echoed in her head. She would be able to go exploring with him next time.
Fuming, Claire pointed towards the control room door, "Go sit in my office until I'm done here. I'm disappointed, Mia."
She silently turned towards the door. With her head hung low she walked out and towards Claire's office.
"Mia?" Owen called out when he saw her step off the elevator.
Her eyes went wide and she ran towards Claire's office. He took a step in her direction, but paused when he realized she was coming from the control room without Claire. Stepping into the elevator he slammed his hand on the button to close the doors.
When he walked into the control room, Claire's back was to him. She was studying the monitors as Lowery rewound the tapes of the permitter fences. "Oh Nathan," he groaned and stepped beside Claire. "Did he go over the fence?"
Claire shrugged. Not taking her eyes off the monitor she answered, "I can't see him on the tapes. Either he found a blind spot, or he's somewhere else."
"Security?" Owen questioned.
She shook her head. "They saw him leave the innovations center." She pointed to the monitor frozen with the image of their son exiting the building.
"I'm guessing by the running away from me, Mia knows?"
This got Claire's attention. She turned to face Owen. "You talk to her?"
"Nope. I called her name when I saw her get off the elevator and she ran towards your office."
Claire sighed, defeated. "She's not talking."
"I'll take my bike out and check the old buildings." He patted her back and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "I'll bring him back."
"Just bring him home. I'll bring my laptop home and just finish my work there."
"See you at home."
"Be careful." She quickly kissed him and watched him rush out of the room.
Claire hurried into her office and silently gathered up her laptop. When she spoke, her voice was flat. "Let's go."
"Where?" Mia asked as she followed Claire out of the office.
"Home."
"Where's daddy?"
"Went to go find your brother."
"You mad?"
Claire spun around, thankful that they were alone in the elevator. "I'm furious, Mia! At both of you!"
Mia sunk into the corner of the elevator, trying to hide her tears.
As soon as they walked into the house, Claire spoke without looking at Mia. "To your room until your father gets home."
"He's at the abandoned buildings." She whispered.
"We already figured it out, but I appreciate you telling me."
"Am I still grounded?"
Claire nodded. "Oh yes, Mia, to your room. Now."
She wondered around the house impatiently. Glancing at her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last two hours, she slumped down on the couch. The sun was setting and she was starting to get nervous.
She heard Owen's bike coming down the street before she saw the headlights flash through the windows as he pulled into the driveway. Standing up with her arms against her chest, she stood just behind the front door.
Nathan got off the bike and dragged his feet towards the front door. Owen placed a hand on his shoulder to guide him forward a little faster. They both walked through the front door and Nathan jumped, startled by Claire standing silently in front of him.
"Was he there?" Claire asked Owen.
He nodded and stepped around Nathan to stand at Claire's side.
"Not only did you break the rules, but you have your sister keeping your secret?" Claire paused as Nathan glanced quickly towards the stairs. "She's now grounded along with you." Her hands flying to her hips as her voice grew higher and higher until she was yelling. "You're ten years old, Nathan! You're old enough to know right from wrong. How many times do we have to tell you the abandoned buildings are off limits! They are unstable! You aren't even allowed out of the park on your own, what makes you think you can cross the permitter fence?"
"It's not dangerous out there. There's nothing there!"
"What happens when the building collapses with you inside? What happens if you fall and we have no idea where you are?"
"That's not going to happen."
"You don't know that!" Claire yelled. "You get caught sneaking over there again and your freedom is gone until you're off to college."
Claire fell silent as the fire burned in her eyes. This was the third time Nathan was found trying to explore around the old buildings of the first park. Since the family stumbled upon the site while they were hiking away from all the hustle and bustle of the park, Nathan had grown curious about the area.
Owen broke the silence when he knew Claire said what she had to say. Already giving Nathan an earful of his own on their way home, he dismissed his son. "Go shower and to your room."
Nathan started walking away and Owen called him back. "Don't you have something to say?"
He paused on the first step of the stairs. "Sorry," he grumbled and continued his climb.
"You think it'll be frowned upon if we implant a tracking chip in him?" Claire wondered, receiving a chuckle from Owen.
"Not a bad idea."
Claire slipped her arms around his waist, her body relaxing now that Nathan was safe under her roof. "Thanks for finding him."
"I get his need to explore. I'm itching to tear that place apart. So much was left behind. Imagine the items still inside." Owen trailed off as his thoughts ran away from him.
Claire shoved his shoulder. "Don't go giving him ideas. I'll put tracking chips in both of you."
Owen laughed and leaned down to kiss her. "Off limits, got it, mom." His face falling serious as he glanced towards the stairs. "She in her room?"
Claire nodded. "She confessed to me where he was when we got home. But after I told her she was grounded."
"I supposed it's my turn." He sighed.
Claire reached up on her toes and kissed him. "Tag, you're it. I'll start dinner."
