Sorry for the delay, I got an Xbox and Jurassic World Evolution has become an obsession..

Also, slight trigger warning. there's some non-descriptive gore in here.

Five years ago

Maria walked through the hatchery room, carefully stepping around the small pile of sleeping raptors. Owen and Barry were on the other side, looking at a smaller pile of raptors, and judging from their looks, they had lost another small clutch of raptors. She felt her heart sink, they'd lost eight already from the thirty six that there was originally.

"Who is it?" She asked softly as she stopped by Owen's shoulder.

"Golf, Hotel, November and Quebec," Owen answered. "Charlie's in there, we think she doesn't want to leave her clutch mates."

Maria felt her heart crack, Charlie was more close with her clutch than she was with the other girls. "You want me to get her?" She asked as she saw her little green baby shift in the pile.

"Yes," Owen confirmed. "She can't get sick as well."

Maria nodded and crouched down by the pile, gently cooing to the young raptor. Charlie poked her head up and rapsed out a greeting to Maria, sniffing the woman's hands as they came near. "You're okay baby girl," Maria said softly as she gently cupped Charlie's body. The baby raptor didn't catch onto what was happening until it was too late, her little body beginning to wriggle as she was lifted from her sisters.

"Charlie, calm down baby," Maria said as she struggled to keep Charlie in her arms. The young raptor let out a hiss as she turned to face Maria, her teeth barred. "Charlie!" Maria said sternly as she noticed the glint in the young raptors eyes.

"Charlie," Owen said as he came close, ready to grab the raptor from her.

Charlie turned and hissed, her sickle claw digging into Maria's arm prompting the woman to cry out in pain. Charlie paused, her anger abandoned as she looked at the blood that trickled down Maria's arm. A whimper escaped the raptor as Owen took her, the young one turning to hid in Owen's jacket.

"Get her to the infirmary," Owen said to Barry, who promptly wrapped an arm around Maria's shoulders.

"I'm good," Maria said in protest as she was lead away. "Really, it's not that deep!"

"She could have nicked something," Barry said as he continued to push her towards the door. They passed by Blue and the other clutches looked up at the two of them as they made their way out. Concerned chirps and growls emitted from them.

She was lucky that nothing was nicked, that it was just a simple scratch that only required bandages and not stitches. She was back in the hatchery by the next day, eager to reconcile with Charlie. Owen met her outside, engulfing her in a hug.

"How's the arm?" He asked as he withdrew.

"Not bad," she answered honestly. She appreciated the concern, but she'd rather not get rushed out of the hatchery like that ever again. "How's the girls?"

Owen frowned. "Charlie… well, she's been a bit withdrawn since you left yesterday."

Maria frowned now. "How bad?"

"Won't let anyone near really, she keeps whining everytime we do," he answered. "Haven't seen her eat yet today, and I'm worried if that continues we'll have one more dead raptor on our hands."

Maria gulped and nodded as she looked at the door. "Let me go at her, one on one," she suggested. "Get the other girls out, and let me try to get Charlie back to her normal self."

Owen thought it over and nodded, "yeah, I think that'll work," he said finally. "I'll go tell Barry, and we can work on moving the girls next door," he said as he opened the door, his boot in the way blocking Delta and Foxtrot from getting out.

The two made their way in, Barry looking up and grinning at Maria. "Welcome back!" He said cheerfully as he made his way over to them. He wrapped her up in a hug, squeezing her as the two rocked slightly. "Your arm okay?"

"Yeah," she said as she pulled away and smiled at him.

"Did Owen tell you about Charlie?"

"I did," Owen confirmed, "she, as always, has a plan."

"If you guys could move the other girls out, I can try to get Charlie out of her shell," Maria explained as Barry looked from Owen then back to her.

"Yeah, of course," Barry said as he nodded. "We got a couple of carriers in here, we can get them in and out fast," he said. Both him and Owen grabbed the containers, Maria grabbing the baby raptors and handed them over. The girls all screeched as they were piled in, but the three of them knew they weren't hurt in anyway. They were just spoiled and hated being in a cage.

Once the lids were shut, the two men bid their farewell to Maria and made their way outside. Once the door clicked shut, she turned to look for Charlie. Finding the small raptor underneath one of the benches, she sat down on the ground a few feet in front of it, facing the door as to not scare the young raptor away.

There was silence for a few moments, save for her and Charlie's breathing. Maria glanced over at the raptor, locking eyes before Charlie turned away with a wail. Maria felt her heart break, was she really punishing herself for hurting her?

"Baby, you don't have to be afraid of me," Maria whispered as she held out her injured arm just shy of the bench. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she added. Charlie let out another cry, her sickle claws tapping against the floor as she shifted on her feet. "You're my sweet baby, I know you'd never hurt me intentionally like that," she said softly.

Charlie whined softly as she inched forward, her muzzle just barely touching her arm. Maria looked at the raptor with soft and patient eyes, silently encouraging her to continue. Cautiously, the green raptor came out of the shadows, her tail almost in between her legs. She looked up at Maria, sniffed her injured arm, and then promptly launched herself into the woman's lap. Maria wrapped her arms around the whining baby, her head bowed as she looked down at her. Charlie wrapped her arms around one of Maria's and looked up at her with a rasp.

"Hey there," she said softly as she rubbed her thumb against Charlie's cheek. "Hey, sweetness," she cooed.

Charlie looked up at Maria like she was the light, the moon and the stars. Her big amber eyes stared into Maria's warm honey brown. She nuzzled into Maria's palm, a purr emanating throughout her entire body, causing her to practically vibrate.

"You're my good girl," Maria said to her. Charlie seemed to smile at that, her tail curling around her wrist, hiding her bandage. Yeah, Charlie was for sure her baby girl, and nothing would change that.

Maria and Kelly both weaved their way through the early christmas crowds, Kelly leading the way while Maria held onto her friends elbow to keep them together. The two had been planning this get together for months now, Kelly's work schedule always conflicted with Maria's training. But through weeks of efforts, the two finally did it. A whole weekend away, no one but the two of them.

And while she did miss Ripper, and worried about his well being during her absence, she also missed her best friend. The last time they had been together was years ago, back when the park was still up and running and before the thought of hybrids ever crossed Masrani's mind. Of course they still kept in touch, and often video chatted, but Maria couldn't hug a screen and feel her friends warmth. It just wasn't the same.

"What store are we looking for again?" Maria asked her friend as they managed to find a break in the crowds.

"Hallmark," Kelly answered. "I like to buy their snow globes for dad."

Maria smiled and nodded, she did remember the small collections of globes that Dr. Malcolm used to collect. He'd always display them proudly in the living room, making sure everyone saw them when they came into his home. Maybe she'd get him a snowglobe too, he was always like a second father to her.

"How is he, by the way?" Maria asked as they began to walk again. "I haven't seen him in ages."

"He's writing a new book," Kelly said. "Shockingly not about dinosaurs and the falling of Jurassic World. It's actually an autobiography."

"It's like his, what, fifth one?"

"Sixth, but we don't count the one he did after our little incident with that bull rex," Kelly said as they slipped into the Hallmark store. The two went to the back, pushing past some of those who were parked in the middle of the isles.

Kelly shot a glance at her friend as they regarded the wall, looking away once Maria caught her staring. "What?"

"I just… have you been doing okay?" Kelly asked her friend sincerely. "I know it's been almost two years since… everything. But you really loved those raptors, and I don't know… I've been worried."

Maria smiled softly as she looked back to the snowglobes. "It's been hard," she admitted. "There's been days where I've just broke down because I'd remember one of them. But it's getting easier, I've been talking to someone about them more and more." What Kelly didn't need to know was that that someone was a ten foot tall dinosaur hybrid.

"Good, that's great," Kelly said with a wide smile. "Both Dad and I had been concerned, especially when you jumped into your Top Secret job." She paused now. "How is that, by the way?"

"Good, top secret," Maria said with a wink. "No, but seriously, it's been good. It pays good, and I get to have pretty much free room and board."

"And your top secret?"

"Good as well," Maria said. She looked at the snowglobes and grabbed one that was from San Diego. "You think I could get a t-rex in this thing?"

"I'm sure we can find some stickers," Kelly said with a snicker.

The two made it back to Kelly's apartment, their shopping bags hanging off of their hands as they filed into the living room. Maria placed her belongings next to her duffle bag and stretched, her arms aching as the blood came rushing back through the veins.

"What time do you have to go back to your job?" Kelly asked as she placed her bags on the kitchen table. She looked over to her friend as she began to pull out some of the food she had bought as well.

"Probably should head back in a few hours," Maria answered as she looked at her phone. She frowned as she noticed a call from Wu. "I'll be right back, someone from work called," she told her friend as she stepped out onto the back patio, shivering in the cold breeze. Dialing, she pressed the phone to her ear and looked out to the forest as she waited for him to pick up.

"Thank god," Wu said as he finally answered. "You need to come back soon, Mills is talking about killing the Indoraptor."

"He's what?" Maria felt her blood go cold. "Why is he, what the hell happened?"

"A light bulb went out in his pen, we tranqed him, two darts and he went down. The tech went in, shut the door, and then the raptor got up and killed him." Wu explained in a hushed tone. "We couldn't do anything but watch and listen. Mills is fed up, he's tired of the Indoraptor attacking his people. You need to get down here soon, I've been placating him for now. But he's wanting to get the remains out, and I know you'll be able to keep him away from the others."

Maria nodded, and swallowed thickly. "Yeah, yeah I'll head out within the hour," she said as she turned back to the door. "Tell Mills that I'll take care of it as soon as I get there," she added before hanging up.

Kelly looked up as she entered, a wary look on her face. "Something happened at work?"

"Yeah, it's an emergency," Maria said as she looked at her friend. "They need me back within the hour."

Kelly nodded and came over, wrapping her friend in a hug. "I'll help you get your things together," she said as she pulled away.

"I'm really sorry," Maria said in apology as she followed Kelly to her spare bedroom. "I wanted to have some more time with you."

"Maria," Kelly looked at her friend, a fond smile on her face. "I understand. You're job is important, I may not know what it is, but I do know that you're in the middle of it all. You've always been the foundation of everything, even back in school. If you're not there to keep things together, they'll fall apart. We spent two days together, that's more than I can ever hope for due to our jobs."

Maria smiled gratefully at her friend. "Maybe one day we can do it again," she said as she began to grab her clothes from the dresser.

"Oh yes, definitely," Kelly said in agreement. "Hopefully for a week. You said in about a year you'd be free, right?"

"If things go the way I think they will," Maria confirmed. "They'll use the information I've given them for their future projects, and I'll be either in the background or retired from the company," she added. "They haven't really discussed that with me yet."

"That's a little weird that they haven't," Kelly said with a furrowed brow as she helped zip up the duffle bag.

"Yeah, but they've been pretty busy," Maria said as she shrugged. She grabbed the strap to the bag and hoisted it over her shoulders, following her friend out to the front where her other bag laid. Kelly took that bag and grabbed Maria's shopping bags before opening the front door.

"I'll help carry these out for you," she said with a smile, one that Maria copied. "I'll also give you dad's address in case you want to ship that snowglobe over," she added as they descended down the stairs.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver," Maria said as she carefully stepped down. "I was just gonna swing it by you and pray for the best." Both girls let out a giggle as they stopped by Maria's car, the woman unlocking it and throwing her bag inside the back seat before turning and taking the bags that Kelly held. "I just wanted to thank you again for letting me stay the weekend here," she said to Kelly. "And I'm sorry for having to leave so soon."

Kelly wrapped her into a hug, squeezing her friend before letting go. "Really, Maria, it's fine. You have a job to do, and I gotta go back to work tomorrow. We should totally do this again soon, though," she added. "Maybe I can get a full week off."

"Oh, now that would be a blast," Maria said with a giggle as she gave her friend one final hug before climbing into her car. The two waved at each other as she backed out of the parking space. With one final wave, Maria turned her focus to the road, and onto the task ahead.

"He's calmed down," Wu said to her as soon as she got inside the warehouse. "Still upset about the whole thing, but he's not talking about killing the Indoraptor any longer."

"Oh, thank god," Maria said as she followed him to the hallway, she could already hear Ripper's growls. "How bad is the asset?"

"Anytime we get close to the cage, he tears off a chunk of the corpse," Wu said grimly. "He didn't even eat the man, he just killed him and is mutilating him."

Maria shuddered, she didn't know what was worse. Being killed and eaten, or being killed and not eaten. She spotted Mills leaving the hallway, and gave him an apologetic look when he noticed her. "Eli, I am so sorry," she said as he came over.

"It's… it's fine," he said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "I mean, the situation isn't, but with you here we can get it back under control."

"Of course, whatever you need me to do," she said as she followed him to the entrance of the hall.

"We need you to be there in the cage with him as we go in to get the body," he said. "I think, if you stay in front of him, he won't go after the other men."

Maria nodded, while she knew that Ripper has never once purposely hurt her, she didn't necessarily feel confident that he wouldn't go livid with the others in his cage. She'd had to keep his focus on her and her only, and even then, that might not work. "Yeah," she said after a minute. "Yeah, let me go in."

"Thank you, Maria! This really does help!" Mills called as she walked down the hallway.

She felt a wave of nausea hit her as the sight of blood splatter and, oh god, that was organs, came into view. She pressed her lips together and quickly went into her home, calling out to Ripper as she walked. She was greeted with his head poking in through the window, blood dripping onto her floor.

"Hey, buddy," she said as lightheartedly as she could. She opened the door and stepped out, wincing as she almost slipped against the unnaturally wet concrete. "I see you've been busy," she added as she looked up at him.

Ripper smiled and nodded, a gleeful look in his eyes. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong in killing the man, and in retrospect, may he hadn't. The cage was his territory that he only shared with her, the technician had trespassed. The ten foot tall dinosaur leaned over and nuzzled her, a purr rumbling out as she hugged him. This was good, she just needed to him to keep his attention on her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two of the men slowly approach the gate. "Hey, bud, why don't we go over here," she suggested as she turned, keeping his head away from the gate, and ushered the two of them into the corner. "Tell me about your day."

Ripper merely rasped into her ear, a little term of endearment that he'd kept from his infant days. One of his arms wrapped around her middle to keep her near, as if he'd notice her uncomfort around all the blood. She couldn't help but smile at that, he might have just killed a man in cold blood, but he was still acting like her perfect guardian angel.

There was a sudden curse, a foot sliding against the wet pavement, and suddenly Ripper became aware of the additions to the cage. His head jerked up with a growl, hatred filling his eyes as the two men looked up, almost dropping the torso they held.

Maria let out a curse and immediately got in front of them, a hand held out as Ripper dropped onto his arms. "Rip, no," she said sternly. He paused, head tilted as he regarded her. The two men didn't waste any time in getting the body parts out, yelping every time Ripper tried to advance on them. "Rip!"

Ripper growled, long and low, as he stared at the two men. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep him in check before he turned onto her, but she didn't think she had much longer. And then, it happened, one of the men reached by her, trying to grab an arm, and slipped. They latched onto her for balance, causing her to stumble backwards with a yelp.

Ripper had had enough. He launched forwards with a roar, arms upright to snag onto the man. The man quickly turned and ran, his buddy slamming the door shut. Ripper, in his blind fury, failed to notice as one of his claws dug into Maria's arm, ripping through like it was nothing. Maria let out a scream of pain, immediately dropping to the ground as Ripper lept backwards.

"Maria!" Wu called as he advanced down the hall, Mills and the guards right behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" She called back as she looked up at Ripper, who immediately flinched away from her gaze with a whimper. "Rip, it's okay," she said softly.

The dinosaur merely shook his head with a moan as he turned around and laid down in the corner, his head tucked under his arms. She staggered to her feet, intent on comforting her baby, when Wu reached in and touched her arm.

"Maria, come out. We have to get that patched up," he said. "You can't do much if you bleed out."

Maria looked from him and back to Ripper. "I'll be back soon," she called softly as she backed to the gate, waiting for one of the guards to open it so she could get out. She watched Ripper, his golden stripe shivering through his turmoil. Her heart felt like it was cracking into pieces, and she didn't know if things could be fixed this time.

What had he done, what had he done?

He'd hurt her, her, his precious one. He could still hear her scream of pain, smell her blood through the air. He whimpered as he looked at his haggard talon, he'd rubbed it against the concrete to rid himself of her blood. It hurt, but he deserved the pain.

He deserved to be alone.

He could hear the guards talking, about her and about him. They said that she'd be okay, that she was fortunate that he didn't take out an artery. That she'd be back tomorrow morning, with stitches and an order not to pick up anything heavy. His trainer, Jeremy, was there as well, making comments that made Ripper wish he had come into the cage instead of that technician. He didn't like that man, he was loud and rude and he always looked at Maria too much.

Ripper whined again as she ran through his mind. He hadn't meant to hurt her. Only the man that touched her. When he had seen her jerk backwards and yelp, he had seen red. Someone touched his precious one, and almost caused to her fall. But that man was fast, and she was caught in the middle.

He sighed as he tucked his head under his tail. He hoped morning came soon. He longed to see his precious one, to be sure that she was okay. Even if it meant seeing hatred in her eyes at the very sight of him.

He awoke to the guards talking, loud and worried. He barely twitched, though his eyes opened in recognition to their words.

"Miss Brennan, are you sure you want to go down there?"

"Please think about your safety!"

"I am safe," his precious one stated annoyed. Her steady footsteps drew near, the lovely scent of vanilla wafted through the air and into his cage. He inhaled that sweet scent, breath shuddering as the thought of never smelling it again came.

He heard her door open and close. Normally, he'd be poking his head into the window to greet her by now, but he couldn't talk himself into getting up. Maybe if he'd laid here long enough, everything would go back to normal? He heard her sigh from inside, and whined, going invisible to keep her from seeing him as she came into the cage.

He felt her pause when she came in, felt her gaze against his scales after a moment.

"You can go invisible, Ripper, I still know where my baby is," she said as she came over to him. He felt her kneel down behind him, a soft hand landing against his scales. "Why don't you let me see you, baby?"

He shook his head and shifted away, hands tucked in as to not touch her with them. He heard her sigh, a heartbroken tone in it. It made him whimper again, he just kept hurting her it seems. "Rip, I know you didn't mean to do it. I was in the way," she said softly. "You don't have to hide away from me."

She came around to his head, her small hands tucking underneath his chin to lift it up. He complied, the fight gone from him since yesterday. She sat down, legs crossed, and laid his head back down. "Oh, baby, what am I going to do with you?" She asked sadly as her hand rubbed his snout. He shuddered and turned visible again, eyes shut tightly.

"Are you not even going to look at me?" She asked. He shook his head, nose burying into her stomach. Her thumb ran across small horns on the top of his head, brushing against the small feathers that resided. "You know, Charlie did the same thing once," she said offhandedly. "I even have a scar to prove it."

He cracked open an eye at that. He liked hearing her talk about her scars, and about Charlie. She caught his eye and smiled lovingly down at him, his heart hurting from the raw emotion he was feeling. She still loved him, she still wanted to be around him! She held out her arm, a long and thin scar ran down from her wrist to the middle of her forearm. He turned his nose to sniff at it, it didn't smell different from the rest of her, though that was true for all of her scars.

"I have a scar from each one of my raptors," she said. "Two from Charlie, however. And now I get to have one from you," she added. She let out a sigh when his eyes dulled at the thought. "Maybe that was the wrong thing to say... " she pursed her lips and looked down at him. "Charlie behaved the same way, you know. When she gave me this. Took me having coax her out from underneath a chair for her to listen to me."

He looked up at her, taking in her eyes. She had honest eyes, the color of honey in the sunlight. A golden brown. He loved her eyes, they were pretty to look at and her emotions shone through them as if she were saying them aloud. And right now, they were saying that she didn't blame him for a single thing.

His arms wrapped around her suddenly, drawing her in as he tucked his head into the crook of her neck. Her arms wrapped around his neck, the bandage on her arm brushing against his scales. Another whimper escaped him, he wasn't scared anymore, but he wanted to get closer to his precious one. Until no one could tell them apart.

"I'm here," she said softly. "I'm not going anywhere. I've already lost so much, baby, please don't make me lose you too."

He shook his head. She had lost so much, he'd heard every story she had to tell it felt like. He knew of her sorrow, her pain. And he'd be damned if he let himself become another loss. He felt himself resolve as he tucked her further against himself, tail coming around to curl around them both. He wasn't going to let her get hurt any longer, not from him. Not from anyone else.

For as long as he lived, she'd be safe.

Again, so sorry for the delay! I hope this makes up for it though! We should be transitioning into the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom portion of the story soon, I believe it's next chapter?