Karen, and Zach, and Gray, oh my! :)

Chapter 2

It wasn't that Claire didn't like her sister or her family, it was just that every time they got on the phone it invariably led to questions that Claire didn't know how to answer and topics that just left her feeling like a failure. Here she was, the Operations Manager of a hugely successful theme park that had brought back an entire extinct species and yet all it took was a few words from her sister for her to feel like she was less than an inch tall. What was it about family that gave them that power?

However, she'd been ignoring Karen's emails, text messages, and phone calls for almost two weeks now, and when her phone rang that evening, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. It would be just like her sister to find some way to get a hold of someone she worked for – like Mr. Masrani himself – and pester them to get her to call her. It sucked, sometimes, being the youngest, as it felt like your family never acknowledged that you had grown up, the way they did with the oldest.

"Hi Karen," Claire greeted her sister brightly, trying to put some false cheer into her voice, like she was happy to be answering her phone. "I'm glad we've finally connected."

"I know you've been avoiding me," Karen responded. "I know you too well Claire, don't think I'll just brush it aside."

"Sorry," Claire dropped the fake cheer. "I've been–"

"Busy, yeah, heard that one before."

Claire raised an eye at the bitter tone coming through the phone now. That wasn't expected. "Karen, are you okay?"

"No, not really," Karen sighed.

Claire stayed silent, waiting to see what her sister would say next. There was a long pause, before Karen finally spoke up again.

"Scott and I are talking about separating."

"What?!" This time, Claire wasn't faking anything, her shocked tone completely real. Karen had been with Scott since Claire was a teenager, and he'd been almost like a brother to Claire. She could barely remember life without him in it. Huh, apparently she had managed to cut out her family more successfully then she'd ever thought, as this was definitely unexpected news.

"It's been… we've been fighting for years, Claire. We've tried counselling. It's not getting any better. Zach doesn't like to be at home anymore, Gray's almost a teen…"

"Well, most teens don't like to be at home, what does that have to do with you guys deciding to separate?"

"It's… I don't know how to explain it Claire, you haven't been here."

It was an unexpected jab, and Claire felt it like it was a physical. She hadn't been there. She'd purposefully avoided all family interactions, claiming work and meetings and no time off to back out of them. In fact… in fact she couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen her sister in person. Oops. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just–"

"–Work comes first," Karen finished for her, ending on another long sigh.

"Yeah," Claire shrugged, even though her sister couldn't see. "I am sorry though. I didn't realize it had got that bad."

"Yeah, well, 50% and all that," Karen replied. "But that's not actually why I've been trying to get a hold of you. Or not the main reason."

"Oh?"

"I was hoping, we were hoping, that you might be able to have the boys out for a visit."

Claire froze, not really sure how to respond. Kids? Visiting her? Not alone, right? "You'd come too, right?"

"No," Karen was quick to answer. "We thought that it might be easier on them, if we dealt with some of the separation stuff while they weren't here."

"I don't know how to take care of kids, Karen!" Claire could feel the panic rising in her, and she hadn't even said yes yet. How old were they? Zach was a teen, and what did Karen say, Gray almost was one? What grades would that put them in?

"You'd just have to keep them company, take them around the park, show off the dinosaurs. Gray's nuts about dinosaurs. They don't need a babysitter, they just need an aunt."

"But I…" Claire stammered, unsure how to proceed. How could she get out of this?

"Please Claire." It was Karen's voice begging that did her in. She couldn't say no that, had never been able to.

"Fine," Claire grumbled. "When would they be coming?"

"We're thinking the week after Christmas," Karen said hesitantly. "Would that work?"

No, Claire's mind was screaming, but she answered calmly, "I think so. Let me look into what the hotel availability is like. I don't have space in my place."

"Oh, we can book them a room."

"Don't be crazy Karen. If you figure out their flights and get me the info, I'll sort out everything else." Well, Zara would, but Claire wasn't about to admit that to her sister.

"Thanks Claire, they'll be so excited when we tell them."

"I'm looking forward to it." Claire really hoped that came out sounding sincere.

Karen laughed. "You're not, but you've got time to get excited about it. You haven't seen them in years, Claire."

"I know, I'm just… I'm not good with kids."

"Only because you never allow yourself to be around them," Karen dismissed her concerns. "You're their aunt. These aren't just random kids running around. It'll be different, I promise."

"Right," Claire rolled her eyes and was glad, again, that Karen couldn't see her. "Besides Scott, how are things going?"

"Everything's pretty much the usual here," Karen admitted. "Routine and all that. What about you? Besides being busy, are you managing to take any time for yourself? Maybe go out with some friends?"

"I like my work," Claire stated firmly, trying to stop the conversation. Now this was a topic she'd expected and one she'd been dreading.

"You know what they say about all work and no play…" Karen laughed.

"So I'm dull," Claire sighed. "Trust me, that's not the worst thing being said about me."

There was a pause before Karen asked, "Are you okay?"

"Of course," Claire replied immediately.

"Seriously Claire, are you? Have you got out recently?"

"I went on a date on the weekend," Claire defended herself. "I'm fine."

"A date? Really?" Karen's tone made Claire wince.

"You don't have to sound so shocked about it," she grumbled.

"How did it go?" Karen pried, ignoring Claire's comment.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You're the one who brought it up."

"It just… I don't know," Claire sighed. She hadn't actually talked about the date with anyone, managing to avoid Zara's prying for long enough that she'd eventually given up. Maybe it would help to talk it over with someone? "I thought… I guess maybe I should've believed his reputation."

"Reputation?" The question was asked hesitantly, as if scared of the answer.

"Not a bad one," Claire countered. "Well, it didn't sound bad, not when I asked around. Owen's well liked but known to be a bit of a ladies man–"

"Oh no, really Claire?"

"It's not like that," Claire said. "I asked. No one had anything bad to say about him. It sounded like the reputation was more just the fact that he was comfortable around women and women liked to be around him."

"Still doesn't really sound like the kind of guy you'd go for. What's he do? Sales and marketing? Sounds like a PR type of guy."

"Actually he's an animal behaviourist."

"Really?" Karen's response was drawn out, stretching the word like she was uncovering something from within.

"Yes, really. I don't only date suits."

"You don't date," Karen was matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, well, you try living on an island where pretty much everyone you could date is your employee."

"What happened on the date?" Karen deflected again.

"He showed up in board shorts. And then took me to Margaritaville, where he ordered for me and then acted like I was on a diet when I turned down tequila." Claire couldn't help the disgust that crept into her voice as she recounted it. Almost a week later it didn't sound any better than it had that night.

"Sounds like maybe you guys got some wires crossed on expectations," Karen supplied – unhelpfully in Claire's opinion.

"Right, the ones where I thought he asked me on a date, and the ones where he apparently thought we were just going to 'wing it.'" Claire's tone was bitter.

Karen's laughter was immediate. "Oh, this guy didn't know you at all, did he. I'm sorry Claire. Some dates just aren't great. It's not the end of the world. There will be others."

"Yeah, I know, it's just…" What she hated most of all about the date, was that she still wished it had turned out differently. It wasn't turning out to be as easy to just put it behind her and move on as she had expected. She was thankful everyday that she rarely had any reason to cross paths with Owen, as she wasn't sure how she'd react.

"Sounds like he got under your skin," Karen commented. "That's not a bad thing, you know. Maybe you just need to give it another shot. Try to uncross those wires."

"Yeah, right," Claire scoffed. "That's not going to happen."

"It wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more flexible, you know," Karen said after a moment of silence. "You can be awfully rigid in your way of thinking. It's hard for people to know how to react to that."

"I get it," Claire snapped, unable to help it as her frustration and anger over the date and now Karen's prying came to a boil. "I'm just too hard to deal with. Too high maintenance. Too much of an ice bitch or whatever they're calling me now. Forget it Kar, I shouldn't have even told you about it. I need to go."

"Hey, wait–"

"I've got stuff to work on and it's already getting late."

"C'mon Claire, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, well, when things keep turning out the same, sometimes you've got to realize that the only common denominator in the equation is you. It's fine. I've got more important things to deal with than finding someone to date."

Claire didn't give her sister a chance to respond, ending the call. She waited, expecting it to ring again immediately, expecting Karen wouldn't give up that easily. But it didn't. Instead, a couple minutes later it beeped, announcing a new text message.

I'm sorry Claire. Just don't let one bad date ruin them all. It'll happen.

And then a second, before she could respond.

I'll work out the flights this week with Scott and send you the info asap. Thanks so much for taking them.

Ugh, Claire wanted to throw her phone in frustration. She'd already forgotten she'd agreed to take the boys. This was not turning out to be her week.

o-o-o

Standing on the catwalk, bucket of dead rats at his feet, Owen watched as a pig burst out of the bushes, squealing loudly and heading straight for the small escape hatch. The bushes behind the pig were still rustling, and moments later he watched the four raptors spring out, racing after the pig.

"Hold!" Owen called down, his voice steady, strong, and commanding. But as they had every day that week, the raptors continued forward, racing beneath the catwalk towards the hatch. Owen sighed, turning around watching as they scratched at the now closed door, trying to break through. He knew he should call out to them again; try to get their attention. He just didn't have the energy. Not today, not after this week.

"You giving up?"

Owen looked over to see Barry walking towards him. He waited until his friend was leaning against the railing at his side, looking down at the raptors, who had mostly given up on the hatch now and were milling about. "I think we've hit a wall."

"Just need to break through it," Barry commented.

"Tell that to the raptors," Owen groaned. "I swear they're doing this out of spite."

A round of chirping and chittering from below had the two men refocusing their attention on the raptors. They were now staring up at them, waiting.

"Really?" Owen scoffed, looking down at them. "You think I'm going to reward you for that?"

The volume from the raptors increased as he continued to watch them, Delta and Charlie both starting to screech and Echo pacing around huffing, while Blue just stared at him, holding steady.

"That's not going to work," Owen shook his head. "I'm not that much of a softy." He stood up, turning back around to pick up the bucket of rats from the catwalk. He walked forward for about a dozen steps before he heard Barry laughing behind him. Pausing, Owen turned back to look at Barry with a questioning gaze.

"They may not want to listen to you, but they sure do follow you," Barry commented, nodding over the edge, where he'd been watching as the four raptors had been trailing after Owen, eyes glued to the bucket.

"They're not following me," Owen huffed. "They're following the food."

"Well, you gotta start somewhere," Barry remarked moving to catch up with Owen. The two continued forward, now moving along the catwalk that wrapped around the outer edge of the paddock.

As they got closer to the area where the staircase was, the raptors, who had been trailing pretty silently behind them, started to vocalize again. With each step the two men took, the volume steadily rose.

"Fine!" Owen growled, stomping as he turned around to face them. He reached into the bucket, pulling out a rat, annoyed. One by one, he tossed four rats into the cage, each one aimed at a different raptor. "Satisfied?" he snarled, once they'd all been fed, before turning and stomping down the stairs. Barry tried to muffle his laughter as he followed Owen down.

"You're so whipped."

o-o-o

Claire tried to get to the control room at least three times each day: first thing in the morning, sometime mid-day, and again close to when the main attraction areas of the park were closing for the day. She found that with those check ins it was rare that she missed hearing about any events that happened. It always seemed to be on the days where she had to skip one, that something would go down that she wouldn't be informed of until days (or in one case over a week) later, when it was too late for her to quickly intervene. Now, when she had to miss a check in, she'd start to feel antsy, her mind filling with possibilities of what could be going wrong, and clouding her judgement.

Today, she'd missed her morning check in, having to take a last minute super important investor call. Or so the investor claimed. The call had turned out (no surprise) to be much less important than the investor had implied, and had just started her entire day on the wrong foot. She'd snapped at Zara, and spilled coffee on her blouse, so she was now wearing a blazer to cover up the mark, even though it was really too hot for it. She'd forgotten to replace her spare blouse the last time she'd had to use it.

Claire was finally stepping into the control room just after 1 pm. She headed for her usual spot, behind and between Lowery and Vivian. Everyone in the room was responsible for monitoring various aspects of the park, from keeping on top of garbage collection, to ride maintenance, and animal feedings. But Lowery and Vivian focused on guests and any interruptions that could affect guest satisfaction. If something was going wrong enough that she would need to step in, it was usually because it was directly impacting guests. Her focus on guest satisfaction was why it had remained in the 90s ever since she'd taken over as Operations Manager, a fact she was immensely proud of. Take care of the pennies and the dollars would take care of themselves, was a line she'd heard repeated ad nauseam from her dad growing up, and it was one she had taken to heart. Although, in this case, it was more take care of the guests, and the rest of the park would take care of itself.

As she came to a stop behind them, Lowery turned towards her, giving her a quick look up and down. Unlike most men, she never felt like she was being undressed when Lowery did that. His gaze felt more like an evaluation, like he could sum up her mood and day just from the quick look over. And, to her annoyance, he had been getting pretty good at it.

"What happened?" Lowery asked, causing Vivian to turn in her chair to also look at Claire. "Food or drink?"

"Coffee," Claire sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, both in self defense and also to hide the little bit of the stain that she knew the blazer didn't cover.

"Hmm," Lowery hummed, turning back to his monitor. "We were wondering what kept you today."

"Phone call," Claire muttered, stepping forward to peer at the big display screen. "Anything I should know about?"

"Pretty average," Lowery shrugged. "The heat's been a bit of a killer," he paused to give her blazer a look again, "and so we've got 45 down with heatstroke. Also, the waterpark and pool are extra crowded today, but it's meant that the wait times for the rest of the rides are down."

"Are there enough lifeguards on duty?" Claire question immediately, her mind calculating if additional workers would be needed.

"Yes," Vivian spoke up. "We called in one extra one for the pool and three extras over at the waterpark."

"What about the assets? How are they doing?" Claire shifted her attention.

"So far, so good," Lowery shrugged.

"The handlers have been doling out some frozen treats for them today to help with both the heat and keep them hydrated," Vivian added. "The guests have been quite interested in that, so we've set up a schedule for these special feedings, and they're being broadcast across the park."

"Good," Claire nodded. Now that it was November, it thankfully meant that the rainy season was coming to an end. On one hand, it was a relief to get a break from the sometimes daily non-stop storms, but on the other, it meant that the occasional heat waves that would sweep through took longer to disappear. After the last few days, she'd be happy for a sudden storm, although, maybe at night, when the guests weren't out and about.

She continued to study the digital map, cameras, and information displayed in front of her, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A camera feed caught her eye. "Is something going on at the raptor paddock?"

"Huh?" Lowery looked up, following her gaze. The raptor paddock was home of the IBRIS research project being conducted by InGen, and therefore was something that he and Vivian, and most of those in control, had very little to do with. Generally, they ignored everything going on there, as it was off limits to guests, and those at the paddock would reach out if they needed something.

Now, looking at the camera feed, he realized the open space beside the paddock looked busier than normal, crowded by vehicles. Lowery flipped through a few screens, trying to see if he could dig up any more information. "Quarterly vet check up," he announced a minute later. "Nothing unusual."

Claire hummed in acknowledgement, her gaze still focused on the feed.

"Keeping tabs on him, are you?" Lowery said, not so subtly alluding to Claire and Owen's date. She really wished news about it hadn't got around. She'd heard the gossip that had circled afterwards. She didn't pay much attention herself, but Zara had filled her in, wanting her to know. She was annoyed (but not surprised) that it had all focused on her, with Owen's name never getting mentioned. Unfortunately, there were a few, like Lowery, who seemed to have figured out who she'd gone on the date with. She hadn't asked him how he knew; she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Claire didn't dignify that with a verbal response, just giving him a glare when he looked up at her. Lowery raised his hands in a semi-apology, before turning back to his screen. "Sorry. Just surprised…"

"I have to keep track of what's happening everywhere," Claire stated firmly. "I don't let inconsequential events impact the job."

"Right," Lowery drew out the reply, but was smart enough to say it low enough that Claire wasn't entirely sure she heard it.

Sighing, she stepped back, turning on her heel as she called over her shoulder. "I'll be back in a few hours. Let me know if anything changes."

o-o-o

Nodding, Owen shoved another tortilla chip into his mouth, washing it down with a gulp of beer. Staring at the woman sitting across from him, his main thought was, would she ever shut up? As he sat there, tucked away in a booth in Margaritaville, he was trying to remember what it was that had drawn him to her in the first place. Why had he asked her out? And, more importantly, what was her name?

What he wouldn't give for an emergency to happen at the raptor paddock now, something that would give him an excuse to leave early. Instead, he was stuck nodding along, pretending to be following the conversation and whatever story she was sharing now.

Objectively, he knew that she was attractive. And, like him, she worked directly with the dinosaurs; working with the large herbivores that roamed the gyrosphere area. And she called them dinosaurs, not assets, which was a definite plus in her favour. Not that he was comparing her to anyone else.

Even though they both worked with the animals, they didn't cross paths much. Although, Owen didn't really crossed paths with anyone outside of those working directly at the raptor paddock. This was mostly by choice, as he didn't like to spend too much time in the main Jurassic World area and had specifically chosen his trailer location to be well away from the rest of the employee housing. But, it was also a reality of his work being nearly all-consuming and the hard line of separation that InGen and Jurassic World tried to keep between IBRIS and the rest of the park. As the raptors were a research project and not a tourist attraction, Jurassic World didn't want visitors to even know that they were on the island. To 'prevent unnecessary panic,' or, at least, that was how it was framed.

"What about you?"

Owen tuned back into the conversation to see that the woman was now looking at him expectantly. Crap, he really had no clue what she was asking him. Giving her a smile, he went with, "Yeah, me too." She gave him a bit of a confused look, but didn't ask more, and so he assumed it was a mostly okay answer, if not quite what she had been expecting.

He snuck a glance at his watch, but it was only just after 8:30. Too early to try to pull a "have an early morning" excuse. Also, it was Saturday. While that didn't really mean anything for his work schedule (or possibly hers), it still felt off. He really did need a way to hurry up the evening. He didn't think he could last another couple of hours.

As she launched into another story, thankfully filling the empty silence that was starting to settle over them after his reply, Owen let his thoughts drift again. There was a part of him, a pretty large part actually, that was hoping for the date to end in a hookup. But, as he sat there, unable to pay attention to anything she said, the idea was actually becoming less interesting. And she was becoming less appealing.

Settling back into the booth, he picked up another chip and popped it into his mouth, before finishing his beer and flagging the waitress for another. Maybe he just needed a few more beers and the night wouldn't end up being a total loss. She still seemed interested in him, after all.

o-o-o

Where had the year gone? It seemed like just yesterday she had agreed to host her nephews and yet, somehow, they were already there. She was supposed to have well over a month to prepare for this visit. And she supposed that she'd had, but the time had gone by so quickly, with more incidents at Paddock 11 occupying her attention. It wasn't until she had received a company wide email wishing everyone Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that she'd even realized it was almost the end of December. Thankfully, she'd been smart and had delegated everything around her nephews visit to Zara, and so she hadn't been left scrambling at the last minute.

They had arrived earlier that day, which she had been reminded of by a text from Zara confirming that she'd met them and they were on their way to the hotel. It was followed up not long after with another text mentioning that the food certificates weren't in the hotel room and that Zara must have left them on her desk and could Claire grab them before they met at 1pm.

It was just after one now, and clutching the envelope she had remembered to pick up, Claire found herself finally hurrying down the steps in the innovation center. She was still running a few minutes behind schedule, after being knocked off it first thing in the morning with her visit to the control room. She hated being late, but what she hated most of all, was that it always seemed impossible to catch up once she was behind. She had been three minutes late for her meeting with the investors from Verizon Wireless. Thankfully, they hadn't cared or noticed and it seemed to have gone well. But, answering their questions had pushed her even farther behind.

As she hurried down the staircase, her gaze caught onto Zara and then, darting around her she identified who she thought were her nephews. She was relying on the pictures that Karen periodically sent. She paused on the stairs to call out, "Gray, is that you?"

The preteen she was watching spun around, looking up at her, a grin lighting up his face, calling back, "Aunt Claire!"

She was a little embarrassed at the relief that swept over her, knowing that she'd picked out the right kid. She quickly hurried down the last few steps, moving towards him. To her surprise, he raced towards her, almost bowling her over with a hug. "Whoa!" Claire exclaimed, taking a step back to steady herself, but hugging him back. After a moment Gray pulled back and Claire took the chance to look him over, before her gaze was caught by Zach stepping up beside them. "Oh my gosh, Zach! Last time I saw you, you were like…" Claire used her hand to indicate that he had been much closer to Gray's height. "That must've been what? Three, four years ago?"

"Uh, Seven. Seven years, but, you know, close."

Oh, that definitely stung. Had it really been that long? With the proliferation of pictures that Karen sent, it felt like she had been there watching them grow up. It didn't feel that long. And while Zach looked taller, she had seen recent pictures of him, so he didn't look older. Wow, no wonder Karen had been getting on her case more recently about the lack of visits. It wasn't just about the divorce.

Claire decided to ignore the comment, instead focusing on what she could do. "Great, I see that Zara gave you your wristbands. I hope she told you that you can use them to jump all the lines. And this," she passed over the envelope, "is for food. Zara is going to stay with you guys today, just until I'm done working tonight."

"Oh, you're not coming with us?"

She was surprised to see that Gray's shoulders drooped with the question. She really hadn't expected them to be all that excited to hang out with her. She figured that being told they had VIP access to Jurassic World would be more exciting than anything she could offer.

"I can't today," Claire winced. "I have some meetings that I can't reschedule – my boss is here. But," she brightened her expression, trying to look excited, "I've got most of my day cleared for tomorrow. I thought I could show you the control room? Maybe give you some behind the scenes access? That would be… cool, right?"

Gray nodded, if a bit reluctantly, but Zach just looked away, ignoring her. Well, one out of two was still better than she was expecting. She may just survive their visit.

"I'll see you both tonight at 6," Claire added.

"Wait, don't forget you added that dinner…" Zara interrupted.

"Right. Okay, I'll see you tonight at 8. Although," Claire paused, unsure how to ask her next question. All it was going to do was point out just how ignorant about her nephews she really was. Dammit, she should've asked Karen all these questions. Of course, doing that would've resulted in a lecture. Maybe better to face the embarrassment here. "What time do you guys go to bed? The same time? Or…" She was expecting Zach's eyeroll, but she pressed forward anyway. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It's your vacation. I'll be by around 8 and we can sort out tomorrow."

Claire ignored the smirk on Zara's face, knowing that her assistant was having way too much fun with all of this. She wasn't going to deny her it, afterall she had essentially stuck her on babysitting duties for the day. This was the least she could give her.

Before she could contemplate it any further, her phone rang. She glanced at the number. It was the control room and she needed to answer it. While it wasn't usually a good sign when they phoned, it was also her ticket out of the conversation. She looked over at Zara, "Take good care of them, okay? And have a good time." She directed the last comment to all three, as she answered the call, raising the phone up. Turning on her heel, she headed back towards the staircase. "Yeah, no, I'm here. What's happened?"

Whew, now we're into the events of JW. They take a few chapters to play out, but are not quite the same as the movie. Subtle changes to start, then dramatic. :) After all, the Indominus doesn't escape. Thanks for everyone who commented, kudo'd or followed. I'm excited to have you all along on the journey with me. It's still barely begun.