Chapter 8

"Mr. Masrani," Claire greeted her boss, sitting back in her chair, angled so she could stare out her office window during the call. After making her agreement with Owen, she'd been continuing to try to find more information. She wasn't having much luck. This was her next attempt, to try to appeal directly to Mr. Masrani himself, and see if he would at least let something slip or give her permission or access or something. She didn't like going in circles, and this felt even worse, as she didn't feel like she'd managed to take a single step in any direction.

"Claire." Masrani's response was informal as always. There were days where Claire was tempted to call him Simon, but she had never had the nerve to do so, not yet anyway. It was an area she felt increasingly uncomfortable with, the higher up the corporate ladder she had climbed, watching the easy camaraderie between Masrani and many of the other executives or high level scientists, versus her own interactions. It was hard to explain what it was exactly, without sounding petty. But the dynamic never felt like they were on as equal footing as he appeared to be with others. "To what do I owe this call?"

"I've been dealing with the continued fallout from Cooper Thompson's death along with the euthanization of the Indominus," Claire started. "While I've been able to handle most media inquiries, I have received questions that I've been unable to answer. There are questions about the genetic makeup. About what it was that gave the Indominus the abilities that it had. About why a behaviourist wasn't assigned immediately following the cannibalism incident, if not from the very start."

"It's only been a couple of weeks, Claire," Masrani replied, and Claire could hear the reproach in his tone. "It'll all blow over."

"It does not help our position, our argument about the safety and security of the guests and assets, when I can't even answer simple questions." Claire tried to get Masrani to understand. He wasn't being hammered by interview after interview. He wasn't feeling the brunt of the impact. "I need answers."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Masrani dismissed her concerns again. "The Indominus is no one's concern. It's not being shown. We're not creating another. We've moved on. And it never had any interactions with the guests. We did our due diligence."

"Speaking of due diligence," Claire grabbed onto the opportunity. She hadn't expected Masrani to cave, but maybe she could get him to listen to reason from another angle. "This new asset, the one that Henry is working on, I need details."

"Nothing's been finalized yet," Masrani said. "There are no details until things get finalized."

"He said they were going to start incubating eggs in the next month or so. They must have the main details sorted out. I understand that there's always lots we won't know until it hatches and, even more so, until we watch it grow, but there has to be something I can work with. I need to know how to modify Paddock 11 so it will be ready. We need to sort out any changes that will be needed to our food supply chains. I need to start looking for a behaviourist."

"Oh Claire, you're ten steps ahead of where we are," Masrani chuckled, although the sound grated on Claire. "Plenty of time for all of that."

"But I will get to know, won't I? What this one is being made of?" Claire pressed. "After the Indominus, the questions are going to be tougher. They're going to want more than 'the base genome is a T. rex' or whatever this one is."

"You'll have the information you need," was all Masrani would promise.

"Investors are going to want these details," Claire said. "I've got hopes we can still get Verizon Wireless on board, but they're going to want to know more about what they're getting into this time."

"You didn't need all these details on the Indominus," Masrani reminded her. "But, you'll get access to what you need, once it's finalized."

When Claire got off the phone a few minutes later, she continued staring out her window, although she wasn't really seeing anything. He was right, she hadn't needed that level of detail to sell the Indominus. But, look where that had got them. Didn't he get that? Didn't he see that they needed to do it differently this time?

o-o-o

Owen felt guilty. He had nothing to feel guilty about, or so he kept telling himself. But he still felt guilty. He was also a little drunk. He tripped down the bottom step, catching himself on the railing and barely keeping upright. Okay, make that definitely drunk.

He took a moment to collect himself, making sure he had his balance, before he moved away from the resort bungalow without a backwards glance.

Owen hadn't planned on what happened. It's not like he'd been out on a date. He'd been watching the game and having beers with some of his friends at one of the pubs on Main Street. He may have been dealing with his frustration over the raptors by drinking too much. But still, it wasn't like he had approached her. She'd come on to him. And, well, why should he have said no?

It was a cool evening, Costa Rican cool anyway, and the fresh air and wind biting at his cheeks helped sober him up a bit as he walked. Which was good, because he didn't really want to be stumbling all the way out to his place. And he definitely had drank too much to hop on his motorcycle anytime soon. Hopefully by the time he'd made it around the lagoon, considering that the monorail was closed for the night, he might be in better shape. Otherwise it was going to be a long walk out to his place.

Hmm, if he was remembering correctly, he may still have some beef jerky left in one of the saddle bags, a treat he normally kept around for the raptors. But, with nothing open, it'd be his best chance at finding something to put in his stomach. Did jerky help with being drunk? He was too drunk to think that through, he decided, continuing along the path.

Crossing in front of the main hotel building, he felt blinded by the light spilling out of the lobby, quickly looking away. He looked back after a moment, his gaze travelling up the building which, besides the lobby, was mostly dark. Near the top, he could see a couple of lights on, and he wondered who was still up, considering it was well after 1am now. He knew the top couple of floors were mainly condos for some of the higher-ups at the park. Maybe someone was working late.

Someone like Claire.

The thought sent a chill down his spine, and he suddenly felt a lot less drunk.

And a lot more guilty.

But he hadn't done anything wrong. Right? What were the rules when you were fake dating someone anyway?

o-o-o

I was asked today if we broke up. Owen read the message over a couple of times, before finally hitting send. He wasn't really sure if he should be saying anything. It wasn't like they had actually made a point to confirm they were dating in the first place, having chosen to just not respond to the rumours, knowing that most would take that as confirmation.

In the couple of weeks since they had met at the gondola, they had exchanged occasional texts, but neither had made a point to actually meet up with the other. Claire had told him about her useless conversation with Masrani and that she was still poking around. Owen admitted that he hadn't heard anything else, and really didn't have any clue how to try to move forward. The best he could offer was that the next time Hoskins was around, he'd pay closer attention to what he said. Hoskins liked to brag, he might let something slip.

Oh?

Claire's response didn't really surprise him. He hadn't been sure if he should even say anything. What did it matter, after all? It was all fake.

If we want to keep our cover, we probably need to be seen interacting. The idea of fake dating had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he was wondering if it was even necessary. But, if she wanted to keep it up, they were going to have to actually put in some effort.

What do you recommend?

Can you carve out any free time this week?

There was a long pause, and Owen wondered what the hold up was. Was her schedule really that packed?

I can do Thursday evening after 7. Otherwise, I might be able to free some time on the weekend.

Great. Dinner? Thursday was still a few days away. They could discuss a plan in person. Figure out what they'd need to do to come across as believable.

Sure. Winston's? Nobu?

Neither were restaurants that Owen was going to suggest. He'd been thinking more like a second attempt at Margaritaville. Or maybe Sunrio. Maybe this whole idea wasn't a good one. Maybe they really were just too different. But… he did like steak.

Winston's

I'll make a reservation.

Of course she would. Owen rolled his eyes. She'd probably have a whole agenda for the dinner.

See you then.

o-o-o

He tried to be on time. He had told Barry that he had to be on time, which had been both a smart and stupid decision, considering all the ribbing he'd received over it. The smart part was that their dinner would definitely be making it through the gossip chains, their dating status confirmed. And, to be fair to Barry, he had tried to help Owen leave the paddock on time. It wasn't either of their faults that the raptors were acting up and Owen couldn't get away.

When he'd finally left, he'd rushed home to shower, knowing he couldn't show up looking (and smelling) like he'd just left work. He did remember to text Claire, so that she'd know he was going to be late. He thought he deserved credit for that. Still, he felt bad slinking into the restaurant more than 30 minutes behind schedule. He wasn't known for being on time, but he wasn't usually this late.

"Sorry," Owen apologized as he slid into his chair opposite Claire. "The raptors…"

"It's okay," Claire turned off her phone, setting it face down on the table. "Thanks for giving me a heads up. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, they were just being moody," Owen said, a frown crossing his face. "It's like they're going through a phase, trying to figure out exactly what my limits are and what buttons to push. They were much cuter when they were babies."

They paused their conversation for a moment as a waiter came by and asked if Owen wanted to start off with a drink. He ordered a glass of red wine and they decided to take the opportunity to put in their food orders too, as they were both ready.

"Every baby animal is cute," Claire said, picking up their conversation thread after the waiter left. "The nursery is my favourite part of the park."

"Really?" Owen couldn't help his shocked tone. To be honest, he didn't think she actually really saw the dinosaurs.

"Really," Claire said, sounding a bit defensive. "I don't have a lot of free time to get out and see most of the assets, but the nursery location makes it easy. I try to make a point of seeing them all before they're released into their paddocks."

"They're not assets," Owen groaned. "They're dinosaurs. Living beings, Claire."

"I know that," Claire replied, a grimace crossing her face. "It's easy to get caught up in the business lingo. Besides, they're not all dinosaurs."

"Fine, animals, then," Owen said. "I haven't been to the nursery since the raptors were born," he admitted. "I'm not sure if I'd actually have clearance."

"Yeah, probably not," Claire nodded. "We try to keep visitors to a minimum. While we've improved the survival rates significantly over the years, it's still very touch and go the first few weeks. I could take you by sometime, if you want."

"I may take you up on that," Owen agreed. "I'm lucky I ended up with four raptors in the end. We had a few different groups, another variable for me to study." Owen rolled his eyes at that. "Like there wouldn't have been enough to learn about them if they all had the same genetic makeup. But, not even all the batches produced viable embryos in the end. Delta and Charlie are from the same batch. But Echo and Blue are from two others."

"What is the goal of IBRIS?" Claire asked.

"You don't know?" Owen looked surprised.

"InGen likes to have its secrets," Claire shrugged. "I get reports and stuff, but no real details. More just confirmation that nothing going on there is going to affect anything in the Park. And details about any incidents, since ACU and medical are contracted through the Park."

"You hear about any incidents?" Owen asked, looking sheepish.

"Yeah," Claire nodded, looking intrigued by his reaction. "To be honest, I don't read them very carefully. Why? Should I?"

"Nothing," Owen tried to dismiss it. He quickly moved on. "With IBRIS we're trying to determine the intelligence level of the raptors. What are their capabilities? Can they reason? Strategize? How good is their memory? Can they, or, in my opinion, will they follow orders? Stuff like that."

"What's the end goal? What do they want to use the research for?"

"There's a few goals," Owen admitted. "But the main one is to determine if they can be used outside of the Park."

"Used… What do you mean by used?"

"Search and recovery, security, and military," Owen almost mumbled the last one.

"Military?" Claire sat back in her chair, a thoughtful look settling on her face. "Did you know?"

"They didn't say it when they hired me," Owen said. "But, I suspected. I mean, that is my background. And, my animal behaviourist background is with sea animals, not land, so I figured there had to be something more that they wanted from me."

"And you think Hoskins is tied to what Wu's creating," Claire murmured. "This adds another level to it all."

"We don't know for sure about Hoskins," Owen reminded her. "But, yeah. He's been trying to push me to run a field test the last few months. To take the training up another level. I've been able to hold him off so far. The raptors aren't ready."

"Field test? Where?"

"I don't think he's thought it through completely," Owen shrugged. "I mean, there's no way we could do one here."

"Absolutely not!" Claire was adamant.

"It's not a concern right now, anyway," Owen reached across the table, grabbing Claire's hand. Her gaze jumped to his, startled by the touch, and he made to pull back, feeling a bit embarrassed by the action and her response. He hadn't even thought it through, it had just been instinct. Claire turned her hand in his, grasping his fingers lightly. His gaze darted from their hands to her eyes.

"We're supposed to be dating," Claire shrugged, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Right," Owen agreed. They were interrupted a moment later as their food arrived, and he let go after giving her hand a quick squeeze. Once the waiter moved away and they had taken their first bites, Owen looked over at her. "Actually, we should probably talk about that."

"About what?"

"Our… dating," Owen said, gaze darting around to see if anyone was close by. He didn't want to use the word 'fake.' He knew if they were found out… well, his reputation would take a bit of a beating, probably around him being whipped or something stupid. But Claire… Claire would definitely not come out unscathed.

"What about it?" Claire took a sip of her wine, looking at him curiously.

"Well, if we want to keep it up, we need to make it look like we're dating," Owen said. "If we're never seen together, people will start saying we broke up, like they have been."

"My schedule is really full," Claire reminded him. "I don't actually have a lot of time to date."

"Surely we can squeeze in the odd lunch or dinner," Owen said. "I mean, you gotta eat, right?" Claire looked away at that comment, and Owen frowned, wondering what it was he had said. He put it aside, continuing, "If we find out anything, we'll need to actually talk about it. It'd be easier to do so in person, not just via text or phone calls."

"Yeah," Claire agreed, her gaze focused on her plate for a moment, before she looked up and met his gaze again. "I'll take a look at my calendar, see what I can do."

"Great," Owen smiled at her, before cutting off another piece of his steak.

The two ate in silence for a few minutes, surrounded by the white noise of the other diners, silverware clattering against plates and muffled conversation.

"It's probably a little odd if we only ever meet for meals," Claire commented after a while.

"What else do you want to do?" Owen asked.

"I don't know," Claire shrugged.

"Well, what do you normally do in your free time?"

"Sleep," Claire admitted, with a bit of a laugh. "Read a book. It's not something I think about all that much, since I don't usually have any."

"Well, us sleeping together would definitely support that we're dating," Owen joked, quickly holding his hands up in defense at the half-hearted glare she threw him. "We could just watch a movie or something."

"Isn't that kind of date like?" Claire looked skeptical.

"Well, that is the point," Owen reminded her. "Seriously, though, it doesn't matter what we do. We just need people to know we're spending time together. We could be sitting in the same room doing paperwork for all they know." He caught the glimmer in her eye, and quickly added, "I'm not suggesting we do that. In fact, let's not. Anything but, please."

"Anything, huh?" Claire asked, and Owen couldn't help but enjoy the spark of mischief in her eyes.

"Within reason," he shrugged. "Think of this as an opportunity to finally force some breaks into your schedule. You could even just come out and lie in my hammock."

"I did enjoy the hammock," Claire nodded. "Okay. Let me see what I can do about my schedule. I'll get back to you."

o-o-o

If there was one truth to the business world, it was that nothing was ever done without a stack of paperwork. There was always a paper trail. So where was it?

Claire had spent every spare minute she'd had over the past week trying to track down something. She kept switching between going through old paperwork in hopes of maybe identifying new information about the Indominus, and searching recent requests to see if she could understand what they were making now. Neither seemed to be getting her anywhere. Which didn't make any sense – there had to be something. She was starting to doubt her own abilities. And there was nothing she hated more than doubting herself.

She'd started to collect notes on her phone. Trying to keep track of any tidbits of information that she thought could maybe be something. But, so far, her notes were mainly just a rehash of her and Owen's suspicions. A bullet about the phone call with Hoskins that Owen overheard. Bullets about Wu and the increased security and the area of the lab he was trying to keep her away from. And bullets about what had happened with the Indominus.

Claire had also accessed Cooper Thompson's notes on the Indominus to see if she could learn anything there. But, to her dismay, he hadn't kept much. And what she had gone through, was mainly just him noting general information about the Indominus' behaviour; conclusions that she had already known. She'd mention the lack of detail to Owen, who had just shrugged, and said that not everyone was as interested in writing reports, like she was. He'd offered to take a look through the notes, but they hadn't had a chance for him to do so. Not that Claire expected he'd discover anything new.

A ping from her phone distracted Claire away from her laptop and she picked it up to see a message from Owen. Do you know why the vets are doing an extra checkup?

No. Claire quickly replied. Is something going on?

Not sure. Owen's reply was short. There were three blinking dots that indicated he was typing more and Claire waited him out. She was curious what had him on his phone during the workday. They just showed up today and said that they'd been asked to do an exam. They don't know who requested it. It wasn't us.

Huh, that was odd, Claire thought. There were very few veterinarians trained to work with dinosaurs. In fact, there was only one university in the states that offered such training through a partnership with Jurassic World. The vets on staff were always busy just keeping up with routine checkups and then dealing with any issues that arose. Unscheduled checkups were rare, as they put undue stress on an already stressed system. Are they doing anything abnormal? Claire asked.

I don't think so. But it's not my area of expertise. Unless it was really abnormal, I'm not sure I'd know. Owen's reply came quickly. Do you think I should be concerned?

No. Claire was sure there was a reason. Maybe something was going around and the vets were doing extra checkups. I'll see if I can find out who requested it and why.

"Hey, Claire?"

Claire looked up from her phone to see that Zara had entered her office. "What's up?" Claire asked.

"Well, I know you don't like gossip," Zara started a bit hesitant, but Claire gestured for her to continue. "It's just… There's been a rumour going around about Owen."

"Oh?" Claire hadn't been expecting that. She'd just assumed there was something new about her that Zara wanted to give her a heads up on. She heard her phone ping, likely with a response from Owen, but she ignored it, waiting for Zara to finish.

"I know you're dating, and so it's probably wrong, but people are talking about how he hooked up with a guest the other week," Zara confessed.

Claire wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. She wasn't even sure if it was true, afterall. Should she laugh it off? Or say that she and Owen weren't exclusive? Would that make her look better or worse? "Hm," Claire said, aiming for an air of nonchalance. Like the whole thing wasn't making her stomach churn. She hated to admit it, but she thought it probably was true.

Zara just gave her a pensive look but didn't comment further, which Claire was thankful for. After Zara left, Claire looked down at her phone. There was a single message from Owen.

Thanks. Should we meet up again soon?

o-o-o

It took a couple of days before they could get their schedules to line up. And Claire was happy to point out to Owen that it wasn't just her schedule that was the problem. He had feedings and training sessions he had to keep, and he repeatedly told her that routine was important for the raptors. That they, unlike people, didn't understand calendars and shifting plans.

When they finally did manage to get their schedules to align, they only had time to grab a quick lunch at Yoshinoya on Main Street. They got their orders to go, taking them outside and snagging a free table under a bit of shade.

"So," Claire said, carefully unwrapping her chopsticks.

"So?" Owen asked, already digging into his grilled steak bowl.

Claire had been debating whether to bring up the rumours of his supposed hook up. Part of her was sure she should just ignore it. But, another part of her couldn't really let it go. She'd caught a few people looking at her oddly, and she'd seen a few whispering. It wasn't exactly unusual behaviour, but considering that people had thought she and Owen were dating before they had even agreed to fake date, that news was already old. The only thing she could think it was related to was the more recent rumour about Owen.

She was wishing now that she'd saved the conversation about the vet check up until they had sat down. But, she'd already filled him in on what she had been able to learn. Not that it had taken long. Claire hadn't been able to discover anything that seemed to be of any use. The check up had been requested by Wu, which had raised her interest, briefly, but then she'd seen that there was paperwork about some infection going around that was affecting theropods and Wu had ordered check ups on all of them, not just the raptors, as a preventative measure. Owen had also looked intrigued at the mention of Wu, but he'd agreed with her, that in the end it seemed like they were probably reaching.

"How's your training going?" Claire finally asked, unsure what else to say.

"It's been a good day," Owen said, a grin crossing his face. "They got over the check up faster this time. Last time they were in a bad mood for a week. This morning they were actually mostly following my instructions."

"Mostly? How well do they normally follow?" The idea of being happy that the raptors were mostly following instructions felt odd to Claire. She never expected less than 100% from herself or her employees. A standard on which she got a fair amount of pushback. But, that was because most people assumed that meant she was expecting perfection. She wasn't. Failure and mistakes were always going to be part of the process. What she expected, was that people were always aiming for 100%, and when failure invariably did happen, that they were upfront about it; that they informed others as soon as they knew, so that everyone could adjust their own expectations and schedules ahead of time, instead of last minute.

"It's hit and miss," Owen admitted with a slight shrug. "They don't always want to cooperate."

"They're choosing not to follow?" Claire asked, eyebrow raised in skepticism.

"Sometimes," Owen nodded. He took another bite of his meal, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "They're smart. Really smart. Possibly the second smartest species on Earth right now. Maybe first, considering some humans." Claire rolled her eyes at that, but Owen just grinned. "Some days they're just not into it, maybe feeling off or tired or something. Those days they act out as they try to avoid whatever I'm asking. Other days they're completely on board, and it's smooth sailing. And sometimes they're just plain messing with me." Owen paused for another bite of his lunch. "Like, one week, I started noticing that it wasn't that they just weren't following my commands, but that they were doing the exact opposite. If I asked them to hold, they'd start moving around, but the moment I told them to go, they'd all stand there. Or when I told them to follow me and I'd walk one way, they'd all move the other."

"Sounds frustrating," Claire said. "I don't think I'd have the patience for that."

"Some days it feels like being a preschool teacher," Owen acknowledged. "It's not for everyone. But…"

"But you love it," Claire said with a smile that matched his.

"Yeah," Owen shrugged again. "Animals over people. Every day of the week."

"Thanks," Claire said, mock offended.

Owen laughed, "Hey, you're only using me as a means to an end."

"Speaking of that," Claire decided to use the offered segue. "There's something we should probably discuss."

"Oh? Problems already?"

"No, not really," Claire said. "It's more… there's a new rumour going around."

"What are they talking about now?" Owen groaned.

"You, actually," Claire replied, looking down at her lunch, pushing a piece of fish around her bowl.

"Me?" That got Owen's attention. He wasn't usually part of the gossip chain.

"It's… I'm not saying I believe it," Claire scrambled to figure out how to word it. "And, even if it's true, there's nothing wrong, exactly. It's more just…"

"What is it?" Owen was looking at her intently now, and Claire shifted her gaze just to the side, unable to hold his stare.

"There's a lot of expectations," Claire said after a moment. "On me," she quickly clarified, seeing Owen's confused look. "Because of who I am, the Operations Manager and all that. Everything I do gets looked at and judged. Every decision I make." Claire paused, before adding. "And who I date."

Owen sat back in his chair, a thoughtful look passing over his face. "Me, you mean."

Claire nodded.

"Is it that I'm a raptor trainer?" Owen asked.

Claire couldn't tell what he was thinking, his expression flat. "No, I don't think it's who. I mean, well, of course who has something to do with it, but it's still… Like I said, I'm not judging you, but… the rumour is that you went out… that you were seen with a guest, last week." Claire looked away again, hating that she was stammering her way through this. What was it about Owen that seemed to knock her off balance? "I don't need to know if it's true," Claire added quickly, sensing that Owen was about to confirm or deny. "I didn't want to mention it, really. It's just that…"

"People are judging you," Owen finished and Claire nodded, an embarrassed flush rising up her cheeks. "Oh," he looked a bit sheepish. "I guess I never thought about that."

"I don't have that luxury," Claire said. Owen looked surprised by that admission, and Claire added. "It comes with the territory."

"Of being the boss?" Owen questioned.

"That. But mostly being female," Claire shrugged. "It's just the way it is. 'Boys will be boys' is used to excuse a lot."

Claire looked away, missing Owen's probing look. An uncomfortable silence was settling over the table as she surveyed their surroundings, all the happy guests decked out in Jurassic World swag. Then her eyes landed on them. Two employees, handlers from the Gentle Giants petting zoo if she wasn't mistaken, were sitting a few tables away, staring in their direction. Claire snapped her gaze back to her food, suppressing her instinct to sigh. The constant scrutiny never ended.

At Claire's quick movement, Owen looked over to see what had startled her. His gaze landed on the employees, who immediately looked away when they caught him looking. He turned back to Claire, before taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay, what can I do?"

"I think, for the time being, that we probably need to look… to act exclusive," Claire said with a wince.

"Are you," Owen started, and Claire looked down when she felt his hand grabbing hers, lacing their fingers together. Warily, she raised her eyes to his, to see he was watching her with a teasing smile. "Are you asking me to go steady?"

"Ugh," Claire groaned, yanking her hand back. "Owen."

"Hey, you're the one who brought it up," Owen said, laughing. A quick glance at his watch, and he pushed back his chair, standing up. Claire followed his lead, gathering up their garbage and they headed over to the nearest trash can. After disposing of their garbage, Owen reached out and grabbed Claire's hand again, stopping her as she was about to head off. "Seriously, though," Owen said, "We can do that."

"Are you sure?" Claire asked hesitantly, she felt unsure that Owen actually could, or that he would even want to, pull this off.

"Of course," Owen said with a quick shrug, dismissing her concerns.

Claire was going to push back, but, really, she didn't want to talk about it. She decided to just accept him at his word. "Ok," Claire smiled. "Thanks." Without thinking, she took a half step forward, reaching up and giving him a quick kiss. She'd barely touched her lips to his cheek, when she realized what she was doing and quickly backed away, a blush rising up her face.

Owen looked a little surprised, but he just gave her one of his easy smiles. "I've got to get back to the paddock. See you later?"

"Yeah," Claire nodded, watching as he turned and walked away. Had she really just done that? She could feel the heat of her cheeks. She watched until he was out of sight, before turning to head back to the control room. Her gaze landed on the two employees, who were again staring in her direction. This time, Claire stood taller, rationalizing that at least any possible rumours they started would be in her favour. Regaining her confidence, she headed back to work. She could overthink this later.

I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, I hope you're having a lot of fun reading. There's a long way to go yet, and lots of dinosaur action to come.

Oh, and if you're new to my stuff, please don't forget to also check out The Missing Years that I'm writing jointly with EliseCollier. It covers the gap between JW and FK, and while primarily focuses on Claire and Owen, we do get into Wu and Mills as well. If you're enjoying this, I think you'll enjoy that too.

Also, if you haven't read any of my other stuff, click on my name to see all of my other JW fics. And check out my bookmarks too, for lots of other great JW fics to read. One of the best way to find fics to read is to check out what authors you like have bookmarked.