Passing her hands under the tap, Dearing washed them.
While her nephews had gone to the guest room, she had stayed to help Grady clean the dishes.
He had asked her if she would like to stay there until he leave to help his colleagues after a few hours of rest, suspecting that she still wouldn't like to go back to Burroughs.
Unsurprisingly, her response had been positive and she went to inform her nephews.
But when she opened the door of the guest room a little, she saw that they were lying on the bed, still dressed as they had directly fallen asleep after dinner.
She gently closed the door and went to meet Grady on the patio.
He sat beer in hand in one of the two rocking chairs under the canopy that sheltered this part of the patio.
Seeing her arrive, he uncapped a beer and handed it to her.
"Hey. I thought you might need one."
"Thank you."
She came to sit on the other chair and started to drink her beer while giving a worried glance around.
Two camping lanterns diffused a rather soothing light at their level, but said light gave way to darkness a few meters ahead.
Thus, they barely made out the outlines of the lake they were facing, even if it was really close, and were not able to see the dinosaurs whose calls sounded like a lament.
"Where are they?"
"Beyond the opposite shore of the lake. I think they will only cross if the eruption increases in intensity."
From the patio, they could see the sky raging over the volcano.
"How long do you think it will last?"
"I don't know. It could end tomorrow morning or in three weeks or even in several months."
Grady looked at the way the foliage of the nearby trees moved in the wind.
"The wind is repelling the plume eastward but we have to keep an eye on this. The bungalow must be evacuated if the ash layer on the roof becomes too thick."
He saw that she was holding her ring between her fingers, turning it.
"I never asked you but what is the story behind that ring?"
"It's just an ex's gift, from when I was still in Florida," Dearing replied. "He was a tall man with long hairs, an angelic face, a smooth voice and an unparalleled eloquence. Our relation wasn't long and when we broke up shortly before my job interview at InGen's headquarters, things went simply. He was even very understanding and told me that he was satisfied with what we had and that's when he offered me this ring. May this ring bring you luck in your future endeavours, he had wished to me. He had forged and decorated it himself, the guy being a craftsman. I don't know what he became but until this day, his ring has indeed rather brought me luck."
She turned to him.
"What do you think destiny has planned for you after this," she asked him.
"Even if the board wanted to get rid of me, Hoskins would remind them that they need me for the program's sake. The girls are too precious in the eyes of the company to be abandoned here. The IBRIS program is moved to the mainland. Barry and the guys are preparing the transfer."
He took a sip of beer and remained silent for a few seconds, as if hesitating to say something.
"Social conventions invite me to return you the question. Do you have a backup plan for the rest of your professional life?" He finally asked.
"No. Since my name is now associated with the fall of this park, all the résumés I will sent will be directly thrown in the trash. And don't count on the board to help me. The meeting looked like a Bolsheviks trial. I'm in shit up to the nostrils…"
She finished her beer and Grady got up and went to the kitchen.
When he came back, it was with two glasses and a small bottle of rum in his hands. He offered some to his guest and she accepted.
"I managed to put a lot of money aside during all these years but it had originally another purpose than to help me sort things out in case of a big mishap in my life," she said after taking a sip.
"Which was it then?"
She looked him in the eyes.
"Can I tell you a secret?"
While looking at her in the eyes, he nodded seriously.
"It's about family. My half-sister, other relatives and some colleagues believe that I don't want to have children. That's what I make them believe but actually, it's not totally true," she admitted.
A surprised air appeared on his face.
"Don't start to believe that it's because I have no professional future that I fall back on children, kitchen, church… No, no, not at all, there is no fucking connection!" She clarified nonetheless. "It's more to have someone to bequeath a legacy to or, more down-to-earth, to transmit my blood and genes if you prefer. Thus, the money put aside aimed to fund the studies of my potential kid. But on the other hand, I was hesitating because the world is changing and not for the better, today's events made me well understand that in a certain way. How will it look like in fifteen, thirty, fifty years? Will it still be a place where one can grow and blossom safely and peacefully?"
She noticed that Grady had listened to her very carefully and that his attitude towards her had radically changed along the whole day, less mocking and more benevolent and full of understanding.
As she took another sip, he wanted to move in his chair but he suddenly grunted.
"Ow."
"You're okay?" Dearing worried.
"It's nothing."
She knew that it was the wound at his side that hurt him.
"Did you treat your wound?"
"I just washed it quickly."
Dearing rolled her eyes.
"Oh, you're impossible!"
She got up from her chair and invited him to do the same.
"Let's go in your room. We have to look at it!"
Grady stood up and went to open the French window between the patio and his room.
Once they were both inside, Dearing closed behind them.
"Thinking to treat my wounds is fine but who's gonna treat yours?" She said while he was sitting on his bed. "Come on, take off your shirt!"
Grady put down his drink and complied while she looked for some 90 percent alcohol in the bathroom's medicine chest.
She eventually found a bottle and came back with the necessary to bandage the wound.
She sat next to him and began to apply a cotton wool moistened with alcohol on the cut, making him wince.
Once the wound disinfected, Dearing bandaged it and grabbed her drink.
"I hope it will be fine for now," she said before taking another sip of rum. "Promise me to see a doctor as soon as you can. To say that if I hadn't looked at his, you would have ended up with an infection. You can thank me."
"Thank you," Grady said.
As they took off their shoes, he let out a little laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" She asked him.
"It's just funny. We spent the last five hours saving each other and mutually treating our wounds," he reminded her. "In truth," he added shortly after, "you are a woman full of potential, Mrs Dearing. Definitely not a Willie Scott!"
She smiled to him a little.
"So, am I rather a Marion Ravenwood?"
"You're getting a little closer to one, yes."
He started to count on his fingers.
"What are you doing?" She asked him.
"Counting. I saved you three times and you saved me twice."
Dearing frowned and looked at him sceptically.
"What do you mean you saved me three times? You caught me on the Giant's Fist stairs and got me out of my state of shock in that corridor of the old center, but which was the third?"
"My idea to climb the walls of the cave."
She widened her eyes out of consternation.
"Your idea? The Emperor's New Groove writers' idea first and foremost, you plagiarist!" She retorted, a bit loudly because of the alcohol's influence. "And it doesn't fit into the concept of saving someone from an immediate danger. While awaiting developments, I did the most badass things! I saved you from a voracious pterosaur and heck, I managed to wound the Indominus. This count for two at least! I sliced her tongue like Red Sonja cut off heads! It's something else than catching me in time or pulling my arm," she said mockingly.
They ended up laughing at themselves despite the exhaustion and the hardships they had experienced.
"Easy," Grady calmed her while laughing, "your nephews are sleeping."
"Oops, I forgot about that," she said. "And thinking about it, I didn't looked good back in the cave."
Their eyes met and he thought about that moment back in the Chicxulub, after she had saved him from the Harpactognathus' jaws, when he had been tempted to kiss her.
The events had brought them closer and Dearing's various moments of bravery had generated a great attraction in him for his ex-boss.
Thus, driven by the idea that it was surely the last evening they were going to share and partly because of the drinks he had, he moved closer to her face and kissed her lips.
It was brief, however, because he realized that maybe it was too much and he backed away, ready to apologize.
Dearing had been surprised but she hadn't moved back and judging by her look, she wondered why he had stopped.
Even before he had time to apologize, she moved closed and kissed him lengthily in return.
He responded with passion and she turned to pass a leg over his and sit on his lap.
Noting that he desired her greatly, she unbuttoned her pants and gently pushed him back, lying him on his back.
She straddled him and leaned down to kiss him and he passed his hands under her blouse, fondling first her lower back and then gradually moving them up towards her chest.
