I'm baaaack!
Coming home was always a nervous affair whenever she came back from the mainland. Did the dinosaurs break through the gate? Did Ripper cause mayhem, did Maisie get too close again? God, did Owen and Claire get into trouble again? Maria just didn't know until the boat docked most days. Sometimes Billy and Barry would arrive when she was out, sometimes Kelly would show up. No one ever called, it was like they all collectively decided to just do what they pleased and not bother to pick up the cellphone. Her number hadn't changed, it was the same as it's always been. Do they bother? No, no they do not.
The gates on the island weren't the highest quality, half of it was done by Owen and Barry. A part of her wondered if Eli wasn't going to send her to the island in the first place, but with a house already built and half of the fence done, maybe it wasn't all a complete lie. But regardless, they did their job. Every now and then she'd spy a dinosaur wondering close to her border, always a smaller one. Sometimes it would be Blue, just checking up on her and Owen giving a little show and terrorizing Ripper. Sometimes Delilah, one of the original triceratops from the first park, would wander over choosing a nice spot in the sun to lay out on. It still baffled Maria, how after all these years no carnivore had managed to take her down. Not that she wanted that, mind you. But it was still remarkable, to see the scars and know that this old fossil had a lot of fight left.
She hadn't seen much of the others, save for a brief glance. Sometimes Strawberry and Peaches made a debut, the two always together even now. Rexy was around, always roaring off in the distance to make sure everyone knew she was still kicking. The damn compys, however, proved that the fence was borderline useless. Those little gremlins still managed to get in through the gates, the gaps, however they did it most mornings they awoke with the sounds of Ripper going nuts and a little green screamer in the kitchen.
And, judging from the enraged roars coming from up ahead, it seems like they had gotten through again.
Maria hurried up as the sounds of Owen's hollering and even Barry's came. She hadn't known that Barry would be here, of course she couldn't have since no one ever called. Coming up over the hill, she was greeted with a sadly normal sight.
Ripper ran around his cage, chasing fruitlessly after two compys hitting the barn wall as one took a sharp turn. Owen ran on the front yard, holding a stick as a compy ran off with what looked like food but she never could tell till it was over and dropped. Barry had Maisie on his shoulders as he dodged the enraged man, and in the background stood Claire with a glass of wine in hand.
"Maria!" Claire called as she noticed the woman walking up. Maria quickly came up, using the outskirts to avoid the drama going on in the front yard and joined her friend up on the porch. If there was one thing she was grateful for after the incident that came out of the Lockwood house, it was the fact that Claire had been there by her side through it all. Anytime the FBI cracked down on her, Claire would crack back. She helped with all the legal expenses, even giving her the number to her legal team back from the Jurassic World incident. And at the end of it all, the two formed a friendship she never thought she'd see form all those years ago.
"Ah, did you drink all the wine?" Maria asked as she joined her friend.
"No, there's still some if you need it," Claire said with a smile. "What did the FBI want this time?" She asked as she wrapped an arm around the smaller woman and led her inside. She didn't like it when she was left behind at the island.
Maria grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured a glass as Claire settled at the dining table. Joining her, she sat down with a sigh and took a sip from the wine glass. "Well, apparently Wu is at it again," she said with a heavy sigh. "They got his journal, he apparently implicated me in something that I have no earthly idea about. And now, get this, there's another indoraptor."
Claire stared at her a moment before downing the rest of her glass. "Right, that's a lot to take in," she said as she took a deep breath. "So, Wu is back and he created another indoraptor?"
"He's back, but this indo was already made when they found him," Maria said as she leaned back in her chair. "You know him and his experiments, he probably had two eggs in the beginning. One was Ripper, the other was this poor thing," she took another sip. "God, Claire," she took off her glasses and placed them on the table. She pulled out her envelope that Agent Wilson had given her and placed it on the table. "It's sickening," she said, taking a gulp from her glass.
Claire looked over the photos, horror crossing her face as she took in everything. "These dinosaurs… I, they're not ones I recognize."
"Yeah, he had a whole lab on the side," Maria said as she looked into her glass. "Breeds that weren't approved for the parks but he decided to make them anyway."
"I don't see how he could just do… my god," Claire had gotten to the Indoraptor's pictures. "Maria, I, this is just…"
"Horrific?" Maria supplied, voice dull. "It's been haunting me the entire time I spent coming back here. Two variables, an asset with a handler and an asset without. Who prospers and who fails."
"Are you going to save him?" Claire asked as she looked up at her friend.
"No, he's too dangerous," Maria said softly. "The amount of abuse he'd suffered all these years… He's too dangerous to be around anything. Not even dinosaurs, there's no telling how he'd react. Even Ripper isn't ready to be integrated anywhere on the island." Maria shook her head, heart heavy. As much as she wanted to save these dinosaurs, there was no telling just how much damage they've experienced first hand by the hands of Wu's guards. No one was there to stop them from being hurt like she was there for Ripper. Like any of the trainers back in the park was there for their charges.
"And this, this implication that he put you in?" Claire asked as she threw the pictures down in disgust. "What sort of implication?"
"That I know something," Maria said with a shrug. "Don't know what, we never talked about anything like this," she added with a wave to the pictures and journal. "I had absolutely no idea about this, and believe me I would have done everything I could to stop it."
"I know you would have," Claire said gently as she placed a hand on Maria's. "No one on this island cared about the dinosaurs the way you did. Not even me a few years ago, I'll be honest with you. The FBI didn't accuse you of anything, did they? Because I will call the lawyers again, I promise you."
"No, no, nothing like that. Well, a bit but they realized that I really didn't know," Maria said with a shake to her head. "They want me to help find him, to look for clues in his journal. If that's even possible, the whole thing is gibberish to me. I'm not a geneticist, I don't even understand a portion of the stuff written in there!"
Claire flipped through it with a thoughtful look. "Well, that may be true, but you're smart, one of the smartest people I know. You can figure it out," she said encouragingly.
"I don't know what's going on, but I agree," Owen's voice sounded from behind them. Turning, they say him looking winded as he came over to the fridge to get some water. "Damn thing took my wallet," he added with a mutter.
"Did you get it back?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, after Ripper hit the fence just as the little gremlin tried to run through," Barry said as he entered, lowering Maisie onto the ground. Smiling when Maisie raced over to Maria and wrapped her in a hug.
"Oof" Maria returned the hug with a tight one of her own. "If this is how I get greeted I should go away more often!" She joked as she ran a hand over Maisie's hair before pulling back. "Missed me, huh?"
"Next time, I wanna come with," Maisie said determined.
"Of course," Maria said with a smile. "How was Ripper?"
"He was good!" Maisie said with a bigger smile.
Over the two years they'd been on the island, Maisie had managed to convince Maria to let her help out with Ripper. At first it was just small things, like helping prepare the meat since Maria was too scared to let anyone get close to the hybrid. But then she wormed her way into coming with the older woman to the barn to watch the feeding. Then, somehow, Ripper had gotten comfortable with her presence. Not comfortable enough to let her in the cage, but Maisie could get close to the fence without him attacking. No one else on the island could claim that prize, Ripper would growl at Claire and would flat out launch himself at the fence whenever Owen came near.
"Well, maybe we can walk over to the barn later today," Maria said with a smile as she spotted Claire putting everything back into the folder in the corner of her eye. She let herself relax at the knowledge that Maisie wouldn't see the conditions that the dinosaurs were living under. She had formed a connection with the ones on the island, clones themselves. It would crush her.
"Please do the things, I mean, he's been antsy the past two days you've been gone," Barry said quickly correcting his mistake. It wasn't easy for him when he had found out about Ripper, especially after Owen told him about Charlie being in there too. But he was trying, it was all she could ask for was that they tried to understand how she felt about him.
"I'll head over there shortly," Maria promised. "I just want to get comfortable first. I've been going non stop for the past two days. Traveling, government officials, you know how it is."
"Of course," Owen said as he settled down next to her. His eyes went to the folder and looked at her, a brow raised. At her head shake, he nodded. "Well, the good news is that you're back, and that Ripper won't be tearing down the fence to run away with the grownups on the other side."
Maria closed her eyes at the thought and shook her head. "That wouldn't be good," she said as she stood with a sigh. "I'll go check on him," she said as she pushed her chair back in. "Maisie, you want to come with me?" The young girl gave a quick grin and nodded, coming over and wrapping her hand around the woman's waist as her arm wrapped around the younger's shoulder.
The two walked out into the hot summer sun, eyes squinting as they readjusted. The barn stood at the edge of the yard, large and magnificent. To quote John Hammond, may God rest his soul, Mills really didn't spare any expense when making it. Large enough to hold even Rexy comfortably, it came with a large pen with grass and even a tree for climbing if he wished it. Ripper was comfortable there, far more than he was back in the Manor. And it showed, for there he laid, sunbathing as he recovered from his runnin with the dangerous foot tall green dinosaurs from earlier.
"Rip!" Maria called, gaining his attention. "Mama's back!"
Ripper stood with a caw, coming near as she drew close to the fence with Maisie still pressed to her side. Normally she'd go into the barn when she came back after a trip, but with Maisie here she didn't want to leave her on the other side alone. The five year old stood tall and proud as they came to a stop, chuffing as he drew near to the fence and bumped it with his nose. They had the option to electrify it, to ensure that he wouldn't get out but she chose not to. She trusted that if he had enough space, and if she was close by always, he'd be content enough to live there.
"I threw some beef inside earlier today, he ate it up so fast," Maisie was saying as Ripper looked at the two. His ever intelligent eyes boring into her knowledge-heavy ones. He knew something was amiss, she never came back without saying hello first. She wasn't sure how to go about it, what would she say to him. Should she even say anything at all?
"Maria?" Maisie asked, knocking her out of her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, honey, what did you say?" Maria looked apologetically down at the girl.
"I asked if we could try training him today?" Maisie asked hopefully. "We were making progress with his sign language."
"Maybe later, sweetie," Maria promised. "First, I don't think you finished all of your homework, don't think I didn't see it sitting out on the table," she said with a stern look.
"I was going to finish it," Maisie promised, eyes down.
"Well, go finish it, and later today we'll try some new signs for Ripper," Maria said as she shooed the young girl away, smiling and shaking her head fondly as she watched the thirteen year old run off into the house. She glanced back at Ripper. "Oh, don't give me that look," she chastised as she walked over to the barn doors and slipped inside. Immediately she was wrapped up into a tight hug, and was lifted off of the ground.
With a laugh, she was put back down and held his head gently. "I'm fine, I promise. Some things happened and I… I have a lot of things on my mind. Nothing bad, I promise," she vowed. It wasn't entirely a lie, it wasn't anything bad for him.
She hoped not, at the very least.
Surprise, I'm not dead and uploading after months! Terribly sorry about the long wait in between chapters. My new kitten had chewed the cord for my Chromebook and ruined it so I had to wait to get a new laptop. And then I started college, and well, depression :D
BUT, I'm not exactly back but I'm trying to write more so hopefully I can update this story more often.