AN: Hey guys! Long time, no see. Here's the second part to my Jurassic World story. I don't know how many of you guys are still reading, if any, but to those who are, I hope you like it, and let me know. Enjoy!

Part II

Chapter One

The massive beast jolted almost violently after being stabbed with the needle. It threw its head back and cried out a loud and angry sound.

"Whoa, whoa, Chester!" Mr. Billings yelled as he held the reigns tightly.

Chris smiled lightly to herself as she tossed the spent needle aside. She patted the horse's neck while he continued to fling his head around. He was securely fastened so there was no danger to himself or anyone else, but that didn't mean she wanted his more riled than he had to be.

"Shh, shh." She said, softly patting the spot she'd stabbed only seconds before. "I know it idn't ideal, Chester, but everyone needs medicine."

He snorted and stomped, but Chester calmed about as much as a horse could. They were such frightful animals, spooked at the littlest things, and he was no different. In fact, Chester was worse. Poor thing had been sick lately and stuck with more needles than he'd probably experienced most of his life in the last month.

"I know," she sighed as she pet him gently.

With a few more reassuring pats, Chris back away. She slipped her latex gloves off and tossed them into her open tackle box.

"He might be a bit slow still, at least for the next week." She put the rest of her things away and snapped the lid shut. Gripping it tightly, she stood and faced the elderly man with a smile. "But he should be just fine."

"Thanks again, Doc." He shook her hand and smiled with relief. Chester was an older stallion and clearly meant a lot to Billings. Chris was glad she had good news to report.

"Call me if anything changes, alright?"

He gave her a nod and with a parting wave, Chris loaded up her truck, and left.

For two years now, she'd been a veterinarian. Well, in the most basic of terms, she always was, but her clientele was a great deal more… ordinary than they used to be. She'd gone from tending to ancient goliaths to treating booboos for family pets. Chris still didn't know if it felt right, or not. She liked it, always one to help an animal no matter the species, but it was most definitely a different life now.

Chris wove through the winding roads, deeper into the Rocky Mountains. Tall –unbelievably tall- pine trees scratched the sky as the climbed. Mountains rose higher, still. Her old Ford trudged along like a determined mule, stubborn, but able. It fit the rustic surroundings, and she had no need for a brand new Jeep.

She turned down a narrow dirt road and drove until the end. A bare-bones building met her eye with a trailer off to the side, massive piles of wood set up, and a man standing nearby with a rope. He saw her drive up and smiled immediately. Chris couldn't help but do the same. After throwing the truck into park, she exited.

"Hey," Owen grinned as he approached her.

"Hi, there." She smiled, grabbing her tackle box from the bed. "How's it comin'?"

"It's coming." He said with a sigh. "I need to haul a bunch of those planks onto the roof so I can… build a roof." He replied with a slightly sarcastic shrug. "I mean, unless you want a skylight?"

"One hell of a skylight." She laughed. There wasn't a single board up yet, just the frame. "Great for the stars, not for the winter."

"Riiiiight." He nodded. "It snows here."

"A bit." She said, shaking her head at him.

With a smirk, Owen leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss. "How's Chester?"

"Good." She handed off the box when he reached for it and the two headed for the trailer. "He's on the mend now. I think the infection's gone."

"Chest, wasn't it?"

She nodded. Treating an upper respiratory infection on a horse is taxing, especially one Chester's age. Their lungs are incredible. They'd have to be, actually, in order to support that kind of animal's ability to run.

"So, what's for dinner?" Chris asked in such a way, Owen couldn't help but eye her. "I'm famished."

"As it just so happens, I have an idea." He said. After setting her box on the kitchen table, he sauntered forward smugly. "Pizza, extra cheese, extra meat, with beer –on ice, of course-"

"Of course." She giggled.

"And a fire by the lake."

Chris let out a long, glad groan as a picture of it entered her mind. "Sounds perfect."

"Thought so."

Owner closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, pulling Chris close and kissing her again. He didn't care that she smelled like a barnyard animal, and she was grateful.

Chris and Owen had been together for nearly three years now, ever since the "incident" on Isla Nublar. A little more than a year ago, Owen asked her to move in, surprising Chris with the thousand-acre plot of land he'd purchased in the Rocky Mountain foothills. She wasn't surprised he wanted to move out into the middle of nowhere. He talked about it constantly and their forced proximity with people after returning from the island just reminded the pair how much they preferred isolation. What did surprise her, however, was the vastness of his purchase. He went all in.

Because the two had little to nothing to spend their sizeable paychecks on (no family or external expenses, and the like) they each had a substantial savings. Clearly, Owen had no reservation about throwing down a fair percentage of his for his piece of heaven.

Chris was only too happy to tag along.

!

Without the light pollution of any nearby city, the stars looked like a million lights just out of reach. The bugs and animals of the woods were calling out, chirping and crunching through the brush, and the fire crackled. It was perfect and peaceful, but every once and a while, Chris longed to hear a brachiosaur, that drawn out, haunting wail that traveled for miles.

"Stop it."

Chris jolted back into the moment. She flinched and looked over at Owen. He was staring out at the water with an even, borderline annoyed expression.

"What?" she asked.

He glanced to her briefly out of the corner of his eye. "Stop thinking about it." He said.

Chris tensed her jaw and chewed briefly on the inside of her cheek. "I don't know what you're talking about." She grumbled.

"Yeah, you do." He said in agitation. "Look, I know you miss the island, I miss it too, but it's not our responsibility anymore."

She shook her head, her attention out on the landscape instead of on the man beside her. "It feels wrong." She admitted. "I know it's nothin' more than Mother Nature fixin' what InGen did, but…" she ran her bottom lip through her teeth and shook her head disappointedly again. "They didn't ask to be created and now that they've got all the want out of 'em, they're just gonna let them die. It idn't right."

"I know." He sighed. Owen reached over and wrapped his arm around her, pulling Chris to his side. "I know."

The two fell into another silence, both thinking about everything happening on Isla Nublar. Chris knew Owen missed it, too. She knew he missed Blue. How could he not? He raised her. She was as much a child to him as anyone else who raised something from infancy that wasn't, in fact, a human.

Until word spread that the volcano had turned active, Owen and Chris were content to let sleeping dogs lie. Until then, there was no reason to worry about them because they were being left alone, once more. They could live their lives without interference. Until that fucking volcano woke up, everything was fine, but once word spread, the fear followed.

But what were they supposed to do? Neither of them had the means to save every last dinosaur, and even if they did, where would they put them? It wasn't as though they could bring that many dangerous animals to the mainland. There'd be nothing to stop them once they got here.