Owen could feel his left hip going numb as he lay beside the little bed on the laminate flooring of Nathaniel's bedroom. The only light in the room came from the dinosaur night-light that Owen had stuffed under his right arm so it would light up the paperback book he had in his hands as he read it softly, "The wild things roared their terrible roars, and gnashed their terrible teeth, and rolled their terrible eyes, and showed their terrible claws, but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye, and sailed back over a year, and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him…and it was still hot." Owen read the final line of the book and paused letting out an inaudible yawn. He couldn't count how many times he had read it before but Where the Wild Things Are was his three year old son's favourite book, just as it had been his when he'd been a child. Owen looked down to his left and smiled. Nathaniel was finally fast asleep, curled up, squeezing his favourite cuddly toy in his arms. The little boy had had quite an eventful day. In fact, they all had.
Owen brought his hand up to his face and pulled his sunglasses off the bridge of his nose, sliding them down the front of his t-shirt so they hung from the neck of the fabric. He felt Claire squeeze his hand nervously and he looked down to his right at her. She had chosen to wear her favourite dark blue dress and had her hair tied back in a loose bun. He could barely take his eyes off her as she pushed her sunglasses from her face up onto the top of her head. She looked stunning. He could understand her nervous demeanour, as the couple entered the front doors of the busy ice-cream parlour. The most popular on the island and Nathaniel's favourite. Speaking of Nathaniel, Owen glanced to his left, at his son who he carried on his left hip. The little boy's eyes were wide in wonder and excitement as he stared at the massive menu above the long counter, his senses heightening with each second that passed. Owen realised that not only was this the first time they had been into this very ice-cream parlour all together it was the first time they'd been into the main heart of the park on a Saturday all together. Claire had started going here every Friday lunchtime back when Nathaniel had only been a year old and was looked after by Cassie. Since having to tell Cassie that they no longer required her services, Claire had still intended on taking her son down to the parlour as a way of clinging to some form of normality that they had always known. But over the past couple of weeks it had been impossible to maintain the tradition. Now they stood inside, by the doors, looking around in awe at the amount of people in the building. The Park was always busy but it was at its busiest on a Saturday.
In front of them was a massive queue at the counter for ice-cream, and the parlour itself was heaving. Owen had this sinking feeling they wouldn't get a seat like they had first hoped. And as though his mind had been read, an overly-smiley young woman bound up to them. She wore a bright blue apron, and a name badge that read 'Bethany'. "Ms Dearing!" the young woman exclaimed in shock at the presence of the park manager, looking from Claire, then to Owen and Nathaniel somewhat confused, "What brings you here on a Saturday?" Owen chuckled to himself at how nervous the woman before them seemed. They weren't that intimidating, surely!
"We're looking for a table for the three of us, if you have one?" Owen noticed his girlfriend look around hopefully as she asked politely, though her tone of voice was far more authoritative than it normally was when they were together as a family and Owen knew that was so she could try to maintain an air of professionalism even on her day off. The moment Claire had shown Owen the magazines that featured their 'breakup' on the front cover the couple immediately decided that the best way to extinguish any rumours would be to take part in a very public family outing, over-selling their affection so that the press and public really had no reason to presume they were having problems.
Remembering this Owen let go of Claire's hand and snaked his right arm around her shoulder while the employee who stood before them looked around the parlour nervously. The place really was packed, but luckily there appeared to be a table leaving at the back. 'Bethany' asked them to wait a moment while she readied it for them, and the little family stood patiently together. Owen felt certain he could feel Claire trembling and he pulled her closer to him for support. He was nervous too. Nervous about what people would think of them together. Nervous about how people may react. Would the people around them start asking lots of questions? Would they take photos? So long as they were together they could get through anything. They'd been through worse than this, though it had been a long time ago. Claire looked up at him with a smile and he looked into her green eyes, the same eyes their son had inherited from her. "What are you thinking?" she asked him, and Owen felt his smile broaden as he leant towards her, saying in a low voice "Just how much I love you". It seemed to be enough to get his girlfriend to let out a small giggle, muttering about how soppy he was, before she stepped up on her tip-toes and kissed him briefly on the lips. It was brief because no sooner had their lips touched their son let out a large gasp that forced his parents to part their faces in curiosity. "Balloons!" the three year old exclaimed excitably, as though the building they were in couldn't get any more exciting. Nathaniel turned to his parents, looking specifically at Claire who was smiling, "Mommy can I have a balloon?"
Owen's heart warmed as he watched his girlfriend, who he still had his arm around, bring her right hand up and across his chest, over to their son's cheek and cup it affectionately, "After we've had some ice-cream sweetheart" which was enough for the little boy to grin and look back over at the balloons by the counter longingly.
Ten minutes later and the little family were sat at a small table towards the back of the parlour having just ordered their respective ice-cream sundaes. Owen sat opposite Claire and Nathaniel, smiling as he watched his girlfriend delicately instruct their son on how to tuck a napkin into the top of his t-shirt so he didn't get any ice-cream down it. The couple let out a giggle as their son pulled a funny face having mastered the napkin-tuck. Out of the corner of his eye Owen could see two figures slowly approaching the table, but he didn't immediately turn. It wasn't until he heard a young girl clear her throat beside them that he decided to see who it was.
There, at the end of the table beside himself and Claire, stood two girls. Both in what Owen could only presume was their early teens, both wearing braces across their teeth that they showed off as they smiled. They were dressed in Jurassic World T-Shirts and denim shorts, and in their nail-varnished fingers they each held what looked like the Park brochures that came as part of the ticket-price of the park, and a Sharpie. Owen felt nervous. What did they want? Fortunately his girlfriend seemed a little less shocked, said hello and asked if they were okay. And for some reason this made the girls squeal a little. They looked at each other, then back at Claire, then Owen, then Claire again, then down to Nate, then up to Claire, "Are you Claire Dearing?" one of them asked nervously, and Owen looked over at Claire. She revealed a small curious smile as she confirmed that she was. This confirmation seemed to have been what the girls were hoping for and they squealed again, "Oh we knew it was you we just knew it! And this is Owen? And Nate?" Owen was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable as he looked from the excitable teens over to his girlfriend who now seemed just as uncomfortable at the invasion of privacy. It was unnerving to know that two strangers knew who they and their son were but they had never met. The two girls didn't wait for an answer and they began gushing information very quickly, "We're such big fans of yours Claire, we have been for years. We always knew it wasn't your fault, that disaster in 2015, we knew it. Even though Suzi in my class said only the other day that she was so sure it was your fault but I stuck up for you. I said there's no way it was your fault!" said one, "She did. I saw it myself!" agreed the other. Owen blinked slightly, trying to process what was being said, and he watched as Claire's cheeks began to flush with embarrassment. The girls continued, "We read your interview in the magazine. It was so good. You're so cool!" said one, "And such an inspiration," chimed the other, "when I'm older I want to be the boss of a big park just like you! Do you have any advice on how I can do that? On how I can be as successful as you?"
Owen watched Claire look over at him with an embarrassed smile on her face, before she looked back at the teens who were beaming at her expectantly as though all their Christmases had come at once. Claire spoke kindly, and slowly, as though she was aware that everything she was saying was very important, "Well girls, being successful comes with a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice." The two girls nodded in agreement, lapping up everything the red-head said. Claire opened her mouth to continue but she was cut-off by one of the teens, "Sacrifice like not having a boyfriend until Owen?" Owen saw Claire close her mouth, taken aback a bit by the teen's odd comment, "Well…I…" but the other teen jumped straight back into the conversation, "You're just our favourites! That's the main reason why we made our parents bring us to Jurassic World, to hopefully see you and Owen and Nate in the Raptor Ranch performance, but…you cancelled the performance yesterday…" Owen felt a bit guilty as the girl stopped, her face dropping slightly. They weren't starting the Raptor performances for another week, until the performance had been perfected, and it almost had. The other teen chimed in "We were so upset when we read that you two had broken up and that was the reason why the performances had been cancelled. We felt so bad for you both. And for poor Nate too." Owen looked over at Nathaniel who was happily tearing pieces off his paper napkin unaware of the two girls that referred to him. Claire hadn't seemed to notice, looking apologetically at the two teens who looked like they were about to cry. Rather out of character, the red head brought a hand up and placed it on the arm of one of the girls. This action made the girl freeze, looking down at Claire's hand in shock. Claire spoke kindly again, and Owen had to admire how open she appeared to the two girls who had clearly been rather upset by what they presumed was a difficult time for the couple, "Well you have nothing to worry about. What the press say about us isn't always true."
"So…you haven't broken up?" The girl asked hopefully, and Claire shook her head slightly with a smile. The teenagers' faces opened into huge smiles as they squealed excitably. It was such an odd sound that even Nathaniel was now staring at them in surprise as they spoke, "Yay, you guys make such a great couple!", "And Nate is so cute!" Well Owen couldn't deny that. His son was staring up at the girls with his big green eyes and they smiled at him. The three year old became shy and pulled his napkin off as he clambered up off his seat and straight onto his mother's lap. Claire let out a small giggle, pushing her chair back slightly to give Nathaniel more room before rocking the little boy from side to side reassuringly, "Sweetheart it's okay. You don't need to be shy." But the three year old hid his face in his mother's neck, twiddling a rogue lock of hair in his fingers that had escaped from the bun at the back of her head.
"Would you…sign our brochures for us…please?" One of the girls asked Claire suddenly, holding the Sharpie and brochure out to the red-head. Owen could tell by the look on his girlfriend's face that she was surprised by the question. Were they really asking for her autograph? Claire simply shrugged before agreeing then cautiously taking the pen and small booklet from the girl's hand. "What's your name?" Claire asked as she autographed the surface of the brochure, almost struggling to reach it due to her son who still sat curled up on her lap but was now watching his mother's writing curiously. "Abby" the girl replied enthusiastically, and her eyes grew in excitement as she saw Claire write 'To Abby' at the top of the brochure, just above her autograph. The other girl, 'Phoebe', asked for the same and Claire obliged. Owen was surprised that his girlfriend was relatively open to signing something for two strangers, and more-so that she seemed to have come up with an 'autograph' so quickly. He looked at the two girls who were now looking at him expectantly. Before he knew it he was also signing his name beside Claire's. It was the oddest moment he had ever had to experience in his whole life. He was a nobody. He and Claire. They were nobody's. Just a couple that happened to live and work at Jurassic World and had done a magazine interview. That was it. For some reason though, these two girls seemed to think the world of them.
"Can we have a photo with you too?" One of the girls asked eagerly and Claire looked at Owen nervously. They had agreed that if they saw anybody taking photos of themselves or their son and that person was within hearing distance they would tell them off. But they hadn't decided what to do if someone actually asked for their photo. Owen shrugged. He didn't have a problem with it. The girls seemed nice enough, and Claire seemed to like them. What harm would one photo do? He looked at his son who, while still being curled up on his mother's lap, was no longer hiding his face in her neck and was sitting normally, facing the girls. He noticed Claire follow his gaze before looking back up at the teens. "Sure. But we're not letting people take photos of Nate if that's okay?" the red-head said. It wasn't a question, it was more of a rule. The girls didn't seem to mind and immediately squealed, looking over their shoulder and motioning to a woman who was watching them from across the room.
Before long the woman, Phoebe's mother, had taken the photo of the teens with Claire & Owen, then a photo of each girl with Claire, had gushed about how grateful she was to the couple for being so kind to the girls, and even spoke about what an inspiration Claire was to working mothers everywhere. Soon the strangers had disappeared and the little family were given the opportunity to return to their seats and begin eating their ice cream sundaes that had just arrived. Owen watched Claire as she grabbed a napkin and wiped some ice cream from their son's chin as he continued to demolish a rather large portion of ice cream himself. "You've done that before, haven't you?" Owen asked suspiciously, a curious grin on his face, and he watched his girlfriend blush with a smile. She didn't say anything, instead raising her eyebrows with a small sigh, and nibbling the corner of a wafer. Owen saw her look up at him, rolling her eyes with a defeated tone, "Alright maybe a couple of times" he laughed, "What? Owen they just…come up to me…they're always so complimentary that before I know it I've signed a brochure or magazine, had a photo with them, and then they leave." Owen continued to laugh. So that's how they were getting their 'celebrity status' as Karen had begun to call it.
Celebrity status was about right. Somehow word had spread of Owen, Claire & Nathaniel's whereabouts, to the point that by the time the family had finished their ice-cream sundaes they had been interrupted four further times by different people wanting their autographs or photos with the couple or both autographs and photos. When 'Bethany' came over to clear their table Owen asked her if there was any way of leaving through the back door of the building to escape the new additions to the building which appeared to be a tour-group, some with cameras around their necks, some with Vogue Magazines in their hands, all frantically looking around the parlour eagerly. Within minutes the couple had dashed out of the back exit of the building with their three-year old son, as the tour-group had spotted them and begun taking photos from their position by the front door, yelling out to them and waving. Owen dragged Claire by the hand as they sprinted along the 'delivery-unloading zone' out the back of the stretch of restaurants that the ice-cream parlour lay on. He could hear Claire on her cell, breathlessly calling for a car to help get them away from The Hub and back home as soon as possible. Nathaniel was clinging to his father's body, sat on his left hip, complaining that he never got a balloon. But Owen didn't care about that right now. He just wanted to get them away from here and back to the house where he knew they'd be safe.
Owen closed the book quietly, and gently placed the night-light on the floor to his right. He stared down at his son for another moment, a soft smile on his face. For all the tiring days with the little tyke running around, for all the mentally draining days working at the paddock with or without him there, and for all the sleepless nights he refused to reveal to Claire that he had because he worried that the Raptor performances weren't going to go well in a weeks' time – it was all worth it. Just to see his little boy smiling and laughing during the day, and this rare moment where the three year old was sleeping peacefully at night. He looked over to his right and saw his girlfriend leaning against the door-frame of the bedroom with a content smile on her face. Seeing her smile was always an added bonus. If she was happy then he was happy. But he knew her well enough to know that the smile she wore wasn't that of complete happiness. It was content, yes. But not complete happiness. Something was troubling her, he could tell. So he stood up, planting a kiss delicately on his son's head. He heard his girlfriend walk into the room and he stepped away from the bed as she leant over to their son and also placed a kiss on the little boy's head, affectionately whispering "Night-night".
Owen wandered out of their son's bedroom and made his way over to their bedroom, closely followed by Claire, who was dressed in a pair of her pyjama shorts and a light strap-top, with her nightgown on over her shoulders. She had taken her make-up off already and he noticed the dark shadows under her eyes. He knew it was probably a culmination of their son's sleepless nights and the stress of trying to catch up on the goings-on at work during the two days that she was in the office for. But she had this look on her face, as though thoughts were whirring around in her head, and he desperately wanted to pluck them out of her mind and help her with them. He pulled his clothes off and threw on some light pyjama bottoms before clambering into bed. The couple had recently taken to not wasting time unwinding downstairs with a beer or glass of wine once their son had fallen asleep as they knew it wouldn't be long until he was up again. Instead they normally went straight to bed and chatted, or read for a while before falling asleep. Owen actually liked that routine. He felt it cleared his head a little better that way.
He watched Claire delicately crawl into bed on her side, and just lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. He propped his head up with his right arm, staring at her, "Are you okay?" he asked her quietly. She responded rather quickly "I'm fine" with a small sigh, but he knew she wasn't. Having been in a relationship with her for almost five years he knew better than to press the matter, so instead he just continued to look at her. After a few moments she sighed, a small tear falling from her eye as she turned to face her body towards him, her left hand now propping her head up. "I guess I'm just stressed about this whole privacy thing. I mean, I can't go anywhere on this island without being recognised. And I know it's selfish of me to say that it's all about me being recognised because it's not, you're getting recognised too, I know." Owen didn't have the heart to tell her that he rarely got recognised and that today really had been the first time he had ever been spotted so to speak. Nor did he have the guts to tell her that it was probably due to her hair that she was so easy to spot in a crowd of visitors.
"Cameras are everywhere. People are everywhere…" Claire was beginning to flay her right hand about a bit the more she got stressed."Can't you control that in some way? I mean, you are the Chief Park Manager" he tried to suggest helpfully but it in no way calmed the red-head who looked almost as stressed as she had done before he spoke, "How would I even go about that Owen? I can't make a new policy that visitors are not allowed cameras or technology into The Park, because as helpful as that would be to our privacy it wouldn't help the promotion of The Park. There's no way I could control it!" Owen hushed softly and reached out with his left hand to take her right hand that had been flaying about as she had stressfully spoken. He had half expected her to snatch her hand back defensively but she didn't and instead saw her let out a big sigh before leaning into him. He felt her curl her left arm up under her body, her right palm resting against his chest and he pulled her into a tight hug, her head under his chin. He had had no idea this was what the source of her stress had been about recently. "I just want our son to have as normal a childhood as possible. I just have no idea how that's going to happen while we're on this island" he heard her confess quietly. This was the first time he had heard her mention something negative about living on the island. As though she was now beginning to consider wanting to move. "We'll figure something out. We always do" he said reassuringly. They would, he knew they would.
Owen brought his left hand up and began glazing it across her back, his fingertips tracing over that deep scar she still had diagonally across the skin, a forever reminder of the terror they went through five years ago. He looked down as his hand moved across to her right shoulder, his fingertips tracing over the skin that boasted thousands of tiny orange freckles and he noticed the skin on her arm go goosy. Owen then brought his hand up to her head, tucking her long red hair behind her right ear, and as he did so he kissed the top of her head affectionately. He heard Claire sigh into his chest then he saw her bring her head up to look at him. She brought her left hand up, sandwiching it between the pillow and his right cheek which she delicately cupped, glazing her thumb across his stubble as she looked into his eyes. Owen could've stayed in this moment forever, laying with her as he stared into her green eyes. The longer they stayed in that position, the more he realised that he no longer needed to be on this island to be happy. He didn't need to have a job, or money. He just needed her. He didn't even need a house. Claire and Nate was his home. No matter where they were in the world, so long as they were together he would be home.
Owen felt his stomach lurch as he realised how perfect this moment felt. He wanted to do it. He wanted to ask her to marry him. He wanted to get her to stand up so that he could get down on one knee, tell her everything he loved about her and more, then ask her to marry him. They could get married here on the island. Or not. It was up to her. It was her big day. And from the sounds of things her love for the island was slowly depleting. So chances were they'd get married back in New York. Or California where his parents were at. And Nate could be his best man, dressed in matching suits.
Owen opened his eyes, having not realised he'd closed them, and he saw that Claire had drifted off to sleep. She looked beautiful. Her face covered in freckles after another long afternoon in the sun, this time down by the cove doodling in a small sketchbook while Owen and Nate fished. He loved to watch her sleep. She looked peaceful and relaxed when she slept. And he always had to pinch himself as he struggled to believe that this beauty was his other half. The mother of his child. And she would soon be his fiancée. When the time was right.