She couldn't bring herself to sit, or do anything but pace around her room, as she waited for her editor to pick up the phone. Lex held the phone to her ear, and stared out the window at the darkened sky, not wanting to let it out of her sight, as if by watching it, she ensured that it wouldn't get any worse.
The ring tone stopped, and she heard Richard's voice on the other end. "How's it going down there, Lex?" Rich's voice was too jovial for her liking. It made her feel like vomiting.
"You could have mentioned that I was coming here to endorse a whack job and his idea for military strategy. You could have mentioned that I'd be face to face with fucking velociraptors, Rich!"
"Calm down, Lex," Richard said on the other end, with a chuckle. "No one's asking you to endorse anything."
"Aren't you though?"
"Lex, you're a journalist. All I'm asking you to do, is do journalism. You have to separate your personal feelings form the piece. Write the facts, Lex. No one is asking you to say that raptors are anything that they're not. Write what you see."
"Do you know what an unbiased article and the Easter bunny have in common? Neither of them fucking exist!"
"Watch it. Lex, I sent you there to do a job. If you refuse, you'll be cleaning out your desk when you get back."
Lex stopped in her tracks. She looked back at Owen, who was leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes fixed on the floor. Owen looked up when he didn't hear Lex speak for some time. She held his gaze.
"I see," she said flatly.
"Finish the interviews. Wait before you make your final judgment. Don't throw away eight years at the Times so easily, Lex. The Times needs this article. We can't afford to let a paper like Huffington or Washington pick this up before we do. And god forbid a television network picks up on it. We've been given a golden opportunity, Lex. Writing this article, it… it may mean nothing, and the military might strike it down anyway. But—"
"—this is what I signed up for when I became a journalist, I know."
Richard concluded the conversation. "Do the interviews. Come home. Write the article or don't. but do the interviews." The phone went silent, and the call was ended.
"How bad is it?" Owen asked, crossing his arms, still leaning against the doorframe.
Lex paused. "I have to do the interviews and write the article or I lose my job," she said plainly.
"What are you gonna do, Lex?" Owen asked, feeling selfish for wanting her to do her job if only it meant he didn't himself get fired. On the other hand, if she did write the article, what could it mean for the raptors? What was to be their fate?
"It just doesn't make sense," Lex sat at the foot of her bed, curling her leg and sitting on one of her feet.
"How?" Owen approached the bed, and sat down on it again. He suddenly realized how awkward this might have been if it weren't for the gravity of the situation at hand.
"My editor, he's… He's never made me write an article before. If there was anything I ever turned down he'd just give it to someone else."
"And what do you think that means?"
"He has a vested interest in the article being published. He might be getting a kick-back. I can't be sure of it… but the way Hoskins talked to me…" Lex traced her fingers along her bottom lip, looking at Owen. "To answer your question… I don't know what I'm going to do."
"You know my stake in this."
"If I write this 'neutral' article, it appeases Hoskins. My boss as well," Lex started. "It also may open the door for the military to agree to start testing with the raptors. If I don't write it at all, we both lose our jobs, and you can't stop whatever scheme he has planned."
"You're damned if you do," Owen said, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.
"Can I possibly do this in a way that accomplishes the first task, but gets people to disapprove of it? I can't send my editor an article blatantly trying to sabotage their efforts."
"I dunno, Lex."
Lex sighed, and began absentmindedly spinning the amber ring on her pointer finger. Her grandfather had given it to her the year he died. She had worn it every day since then. "I don't know what's right."
Owen tentatively reached out his hand, and took one of Lex's. "Lex, if I don't stay with these animals, they'll fall into the wrong hands."
Lex felt Owen's thumb again brush against her palm. Her heart jumped at the intimate gesture. "I know," she said. "I'll do what I can."
Lex's other hand unconsciously found its way back to her bottom lip. She spoke so quietly she wasn't sure he heard her. "I'm actually glad you didn't tell me what you did here at the park… last night…"
Owen gave a half smile. "Why?"
"Because otherwise, I'd probably have no problem telling my editor to go fuck himself. You just had to be so charming…" She blushed, saying it in a joking tone, trying (poorly) to hide the truth behind it.
"Weren't you telling me last night that batting your eyes doesn't get you what you want?" Owen asked.
Lex laughed, and nodded. "I guess I was wrong, yeah…"
Just as Owen was deliberating on whether or not he should close the distance between the two of them, the corded phone in the main living area began to ring. The moment was lost, and Lex reluctantly pulled her hand from Owen's as she walked back into the living room. She pressed the speaker button on the phone, and answered.
"Hello?"
"Miss Murphy, I'm glad I caught you," it was Claire Dearing's voice on the other end. "I heard about the incident at the raptor paddock. I would come and apologize in person, but the park has issued a no-travel warning. They're going to alert guests soon. I hope that you'll stay, and we can continue our round of interviews once the tropical storm has passed through."
"Miss Dearing, you needn't worry. I was just caught off guard is all."
"Wonderful, Miss Murphy." Lex could hear the relief in Claire's voice, and felt some kind of odd sympathy for the woman who was just trying to do her job. "Well, as you'll find out soon enough, the park is shutting down all attractions for the next 24 hours, and all transportation between attractions, and to the mainland, will cease. Should the storm prove worse than we are being told, we will move all guests to safe places. For the time being, if you stay where you are, you'll be perfectly safe."
"Wonderful," Lex added, in a falsely positive tone.
"I will be in contact after the storm is through, and we can recommence our itinerary."
"Thanks." Lex couldn't stand to be on the phone any longer, and pressed the speaker button again, ending their conversation.
Lex stood in the living room, staring out the bay window that overlooked the rolling hills. Rain began to fall, and made ticking sounds on the windows. Lex tried not to let her mind wander to years past, but she couldn't help it. She felt like she was in that Ford Explorer all over again. Waiting for something to happen. She was jolted from her trance as Owen touched her elbow.
"Lex, I've got to go before the storm really hits. I've got to take care of something back at my place."
"Oh," Lex said, bewildered, "ok, yeah. I'll be fine here."
On Owen's face was a rather mischievous grin, being passed off as completely innocent. "You could always tag along. I hate to leave you in this place, alone during a tropical storm."
Lex smiled reluctantly. "Yeah, I guess that would probably be better. I don't want to be an imposition—"
"You're not imposing," Owen corrected. He nodded his head towards the door. "We better run if we're going to make it there before the rain really hits."
And at that, they both set off for Owen's own bungalow, running through the rain.
