Audrey slipped her phone into her pocket and headed to the kitchen. There was no way around it, she would have to go into work to sort things out. Disappearing for a day after the disaster had not helped her workload at all. She slid the door open quietly and pottered around searching for everything she needed to make herself a coffee. She was quiet, but not too quiet - she hoped to say goodbye to the kids before she went. By the time she was seated on a stool at the counter, blowing on her hot drink, the two faces peered around the tree trunk. "Oh good, you're up," she greeted, raising the steaming mug towards them before returning to blow on it. "I was hoping to see you before I leave. Do you want coffee?" She grabbed the pot and two mugs and poured them each one. "There's sugar in the bowl and milk in the fridge."

The two kids climbed, bleary eyed onto their own stools and sniffed the drink in front of them. That piqued Audrey's curiosity. Had they ever tried coffee before? Would they like it?

"So the day you two escaped was a bit of a crazy day for me at work. I have to go back and calm my clients and fill in a lot of paper work…" The death of a client was always a terrible ordeal in every way. "As much as I would like to stay here with you, I really can't." The two kids eyed each other. Clearly not morning people.

The boy then turned his eyes to his mug and took a sip. The look on his face was amazing. His lips puckered into an upright oval as he spat the hot liquid back into the mug, his eyes closed. Pulling his mouth from the ceramic, he started wiping his tongue with his hand making "uhk" noises. When that didn't work, he jumped off his seat and went around to the sink, sticking his head under the tap to wash the taste from his mouth.

"I guess you're not a fan of coffee." He glared at her with his big eyes and shook his head.

"It can't be that bad," Sienna spoke up. She took a sip herself, her face freezing as the liquid touched her tongue, mug halted at her lips. Slowly she lowered the cup and forced herself to swallow. "See. It's fine." Notably, she did not try for another sip.

"Hey, you're awake!" Josh swung into the room. He grabbed the jug and a mug and poured himself some coffee too. "Mum says I can stay home today with you two. I can show you around, make sure you're comfortable. If we can convince Blue to stay behind, we can even check out some of the town. How does that sound?"

Ethan pulled his head from under the tap. "Cool! Can you show us the school?"

"Not today," Josh took a sip and gave Audrey a satisfied look. "Mum has to arrange everything first. But soon. I can show you the observation tower though. Have you ever seen the ocean?" Both kids' eyes bulged at that.

"The ocean?" Sienna asked. "The ocean?"

Josh laughed kindly. "I take it that's a no."

Sienna shook her head slowly, eyes wide.

"Well, since you're in such capable hands, I'm going to head off. Josh has my number if you need me." Audrey took a last sip of her coffee before tipping the dregs in the sink. To her surprise, as she stood up, both kids leapt to hug her.

"Will you be gone long?" Sienna asked.

"I doubt I'll be back tonight, but I'll be back as soon as I can." She didn't add that her sister would never forgive her for dumping a couple of kids in her lap and disappearing.

"Good." Sienna tightened the hug a moment and then released her, backing back to her stool. Ethan let go a second later.

"Bye Blue," she patted the dino-mo-gen on the head as she turned around. She hadn't seen the velociraptor join them but she was not surprised. She glanced back as she headed out the door. Sienna was taking another sip of coffee. The kids would be fine for today at least. Her career on the other hand… Her thoughts returned to the deinonychus and scientists two days earlier.

Needless to say, she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the previous night. Before turning in, she had read all the messages that had been piling up throughout the day. Today was going to be filled with awkward conversations to assign responsibility and explanations to actions. She would have to explain where she disappeared to… since Faren would tell the company she had helped him, she could at least be partially honest… probably shouldn't mention the kids though… what had she promised to keep quiet when she signed the NDA? Her thoughts roiled as she grabbed her pack, climbed down the stairs and headed towards the terminal. It was going to be a looong day.

Once Aunty Audrey left, Josh started making something a little more substantial for breakfast. The two kids prattled on to each other the whole time, often pausing him to ask questions about the color of the ocean or whether the school was in a tree too. They really seemed like good kids. Ordinary kids. He noticed that Sienna kept sipping at the coffee with the tiniest sips, then tried not to pull faces at the bitterness. He remembered his first drinks of coffee weren't pleasant either. Josh even found himself a little jealous. He never had a sibling himself, but these two, as different as they looked, with their clearly different ancestry, eye shape and body parts, were as close as any siblings could be - even when they were fighting over something.

And then there were the quirks - their enthusiasm over having cereal for breakfast - a food they had apparently never tasted before; questions about "normal" kids . or their shared knowledge of obscure facts. Generally though, it was easy to forget that she had dino-legs and he had super-senses. After breakfast, he left them for a while to shower and read while he went to buy some wood. Not many people slept at ground level since traditionally, it was unsafe, but it had been years since a dinosaur had breached the perimeter of the town and these kids had their own bodyguard. He meant to build a shelter for them to sleep in - mostly so they wouldn't have to get Blue across the bridge any more frequently than they had to.

When he returned he found them reading comfortably in the living room, Sienna lying on the couch, Blue, astonishingly stretched on the floor below her so she could scratch her head. Ethan was back in the hammock chair, swinging himsel, though launched himself from it as soon as Josh entered the room.

"You're back!" He landed with a thump. It was possible the room wasn't built with swing launches in mind… "Can we go to the observatory now? I wanna see the ocean."

Josh laughed, "Sure." It wouldn't hurt for them to build the shelter later.

"Great!" Sienna also jumped up, Blue close behind. Apparently she wasn't so focused on her reading as she had made it look.

Glancing down - he'd have to try to stop doing that - he noticed she had on baggy pants and giant boots. She looked a little odd, but no-one would think she was part dinosaur. The fact that she was already shoed made Josh realise how eager they were. "Looks like you're all ready? I guess we can head straight back out then." The smiles the two kids gave him were the widest he had ever seen. He didn't even regret not stopping long enough to look in the fridge for something to eat. Moments later, only after explaining to Blue that they were leaving the trio headed back out, ready to explore.

The kids were just finishing their dinner with Ruth and Josh when Dr. Santos returned that evening. It had been one of the hardest and longest days of their life, but seeing the huge smiles when those kids leapt from their stools at the counter to greet them helped them see the value of it.

"Josh showed us his elasmosaurus! It was in the ocean!" Ethan bubbled with the news of the day. It seemed theirs was quite eventful, full of seeing dinosaurs and sights from the observatory to learning how to hammer with Ruth as they constructed a basic ground level shelter for themselves and Blue to sleep in. Their excited chatter helped Dr. Santos push away the thoughts of their day. The long trip home on the transport had been enough for their thoughts to circle around every conversation and interactions trying to see if they had let slip any clue about the kids being alive and sequestered away by Faren. They had been super careful, but was it careful enough.

"And Ruth says we can't go to school tomorrow, but maybe on Monday." Sienna was equally excited to share as Ethan was. Even now they were both seated back at the counter, their eagerness was effervescing from them. Dr. Santos couldn't remember either child showing this level of enthusiasm ever before. Not even on chocolate and ice cream dinner Fridays.

"Yes. I told the kids that I had a big secret that they couldn't even share with their parents… and one of them brought up the very good point that their teacher always told them that you shouldn't have secrets with adults that your parents don't share… and I can't fault that thinking. But it means we're going to have to let the parents know. Dex and I have been trying to come up with a way… and I think it's best if we invite the parents to meet the kids themselves. It will be hard for them to be scared once they see such sweet faces."

Her pause and lingering gaze made Dr. Santos think that she was looking for approval of this plan. They tried really hard not to shrug. This was so far out of their expertise. Dr. Santos was a geneticist and studied the children's biology. This seemed more like teaching to them, or maybe psychology? Taking time to think, Dr. Santos moved to the kitchen bench and served themself a plate of food. "I think it's going to be tough," Dr. Santos took the only stool left vacant. "When people encounter something foreign to their understanding for the first time, they may say hurtful things. They may mean them or they may just be saying passing thoughts." Dr. Santos looked at Sienna, then beyond her at Ethan, catching their eyes and holding them a moment. "I want you to be prepared that what these people say, adults or children, might be hurtful."

"Just like escaping from captivity in a facility." Josh piped in. He was sitting on a stool at the far end of the bench. "I bet you knew that was going to be hard and dangerous. But you thought that being free was more important than staying safe." Dr. Santos could see where the teen was headed with this. "You need to decide if you think hearing people say unkind things is worth going to school."

"Definitely!" Sienna almost shouted. So excited. They really were going to do this. The rest of the conversation was around what kinds of things people might say or what kinds of questions they might ask. They discussed whether Sienna would be okay with kids touching her legs and what she could say to remind them that it was her body and that leg touching was not appropriate. Once Dr. Santos finished eating, they used their help to get Blue down to the ground and then excitedly took them to check out their new bedroom. They had only spent a few hours on it so it was very simple. Pallets and mattresses for beds, a rudimentary roof in case it rained. They talked more about their plans though - fencing of an area of dense jungle that Blue would be able to enjoy without the neighbours seeing; creating a corridor between that and the bedroom so Blue could move about when she wanted. They had some great ideas. Long term ideas.

"It sounds like they have adopted you and your home," Faren whispered apologetically to Ruth when the kids were marking out the corners of the 'jungle area'.

Ruth turned to them, biting her lip. "I'm not going to rule it out, Faren. It would be something I need to discuss with Josh and Audrey - and you obviously. But it's a possibility."

When Ethan came back he was grinning broadly. He gave Ruth a big snuggly hug. That kid's hearing was phenomenal!

Audrey didn't arrive back until the kids were in their beds. She looked as tired as Faren felt. She spoke softly to each of them before all the adults returned up top. Faren and Audrey spoke long into the night, each sharing their burden of their difficult day.