Disclaimer: I do not own the Jurassic Park/World franchise or any of it's characters; I only own the characters and plots of my own mind.

12. Lecturing: Grant Style

"You're gonna do fine, sweetheart." Alan's reassuring voice wafted from the receiver of Gwyn's phone, which sat precariously on the edge of her sink. Gwyn sighed and dropped her eyeliner back into the makeup bag, letting it clatter amongst the rest of the supplies within. It was the day of the paleontology talk, and she was starting to panic just a bit. Alan, knowing that his daughter was likely to delve into such a state, called her up to talk Gwyn off her nervous high. "You've done this before and you can do it again."

"Well, I'm doing it again on an island where my profession is largely considered archaic. For all I know, I'll be talking to rows of empty audience seats plus the lighting guy at the back of the conference hall––and he'd likely be on his phone. People come here to see live dinosaurs… not listen to a woman prattle on about the practice that made live dinosaurs in this day and age possible," Gwyn said, leaning in towards the mirror. Her thumb rubbed stray bits of mascara from the skin beneath her eye; she was doing everything she could to ignore the nervous roiling in her stomach. There had been once or twice where she legitimately thought she may throw up. She had, as her father said, given talks and lectures before, but it was typically always for an audience that wanted to be there. Or was required to be.

"You don't prattle. You've never prattled. I'm sure that at least your friends will be there––the, uh, guy from IT and the… raptor handler," Alan said, clearly having struggled for names. She could practically see him waggling a hand through the air as though trying to conjure their birth-given names and not their jobs. Gwyn smirked fondly and grabbed her phone off the sink's edge.

"Lowery doesn't work in IT––he's a technician in the control room. He monitors the park and makes sure everything's running smoothly and nothing is escaping. Unfortunately, he has to work tonight, so he won't be there. Owen, however, said he wouldn't miss it for the world."

Alan grumbled on the other end of the line and muttered, "Well, he seems friendly." Gwyn rolled her eyes and seated herself on the edge of her bed; she slipped her feet into a pair of heels and started to work on doing up the infuriatingly small buckles.

"He is," Gwyn stressed. There was some more unintelligible muttering from her father's end.

"Not too much so, I hope."

"Owen is very well-aware of the fact he's working with highly dangerous creatures and he never forgets that. He's very accommodating what with knowing what I've gone through, and has helped me face my fears," Gwyn commended. She stood and returned to the bathroom, fluffing out her hair and checking over her makeup for the last time. There was a pause on the other end of the line, one which was difficult to interpret without seeing Alan's expression.

"You aren't dating this guy, are you?" Alan asked in a deadpan. Gwyn's eyes went wide and she gave a surprised little gasp; she whirled around, as though Alan were standing behind her and not talking to her on the phone. A laugh bubbled out of her mouth, caught somewhere between embarrassed and disbelieving.

"No! No, we're just… we're just friends." The back of her neck was then rubbed with her fingers, her stomach turning with something other than nervousness. The suggestion that they were dating made her feel… strange. Gwyn felt a slight warmth in her stomach, and realized that she was smiling just a little bit. Her hand flew up to her mouth, covering the look, while her brows pinched together in slow contemplation.

"Are you sure? 'Cause you've got that tone of voice it gets when you like someone––remember Tony?"

Tony had been an anthropology student Gwyn had met while in college. He was handsome and kind, and had been her boyfriend for two years; Tony had also been her first experience with heartbreak. It was nothing terribly dramatic––but she had felt heartbroken nonetheless. Alan had claimed Gwyn had a certain tone of voice whenever she had talked about Tony. A tone of voice that made her sound impossibly happy and bathed the subject of her affection in a very positive, optimistic light.

"Oh, god, why did you have to bring him up? Why do you always bring him up?"

"Because he broke my little girl's heart––and because I'm making a point. I'm your father, and I probably know you just as well as you know yourself. I… worry about you, over on that island. You're… vulnerable and, despite what you always try to deny, you are a sensitive woman––"

"Dad!" Gwyn exclaimed, hand thrown upwards in a manner she had often done when she was a teenager. "Please."

"I just want you to be happy. I don't want you to get hurt, especially at a time in your life when you're sorting through some deep seated problems. You've had a life that has tried you at many turns… you deserve to be happy…" There was a pause. "I wish I could come see you."

"I think we both know it wouldn't be the best idea for you to come back to the island. You've got more of a history with InGen and their bullshit mistakes than I do; besides, I've only been gone a month…" Gwyn trailed off as she mashed her lips together. She did miss her father quite a bit; their relationship had always been peculiar in some sense. From the unorthodox parenting methods Alan had utilized when she was a child, to the fact they worked together in the same field and, on occasion, worked together. That peculiarity was something Gwyn had always cherished. "Maybe I'll get some vacation time and I can come back to Montana for a bit. I miss the sunsets. I miss you, dad."

"I miss you too, Gwyn. You'll do great tonight, honey, I promise. Go stick the importance of paleontology straight in the face of those ungrateful InGen bastards for me."

OOOO

The auditorium in the Samsung Building had been three-quarters full of audience members, much to Gwyn's surprise. She had shown up with a stomach full of nerves, which had slowly waned as she talked. It became easier when she realized that everyone was there because they had opted to be there that evening. Gwyn didn't need to utilize her emergency notes, which lay forgotten on the podium on the side of the stage. In fact, she started to legitimately have fun as she enthusiastically explained paleontology and its continuing relevance. Of course, Gwyn also discussed how it was utilized at Jurassic World, and why it was living dinosaurs were only possible thanks to paleontology. She was, of course, not permitted to speak about the incident of nineteen-ninety-three; Claire informed her that if she were to speak of it, there would be consequences. Those consequences would likely result in the termination of her job. Gwyn assured her that she wanted to avoid the topic as much as Claire did, but promised to steer clear of said topic anyway. Everything had been going surprisingly well. That is, until the end of the question and answer portion of the talk.

"Why do you even work here?" asked a man in a white Polo shirt. Gwyn gaped at him wide-eyed, hands tightly clasped around each other in front of her stomach. An uncomfortable silence followed his inquiry, and a couple of murmurs started to ripple through the crowd. Taking a moment to gather her suddenly scattered thoughts and clear her throat, Gwyn forced a quick smile and laughed breathily. She hoped that she didn't look too put off by the question.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"You're a paleontologist, you work with bones. With dead things. Here, they work with living creatures. You aren't a… biologist or a scientist, you're just… you belong out in a field somewhere, digging up fossils."
Gwyn felt something inside her resolve fracture and her smile faltered. "First of all I am a scientist––I did mention earlier that paleontology is a branch of science. Secondly––"

"But you don't work with living creatures on the regular! You are a factor that doesn't belong!" the man insisted vehemently. Gwyn felt the fracture start to break more, spidering outwards as it threatened to snap. The more the man protested, the more memories started to flash to mind. Whipping foliage biting at her legs and arms, flashes of teeth, snippets of beastly roars. For a handful of seconds, she wasn't in the auditorium any more; she had been flung back into the past again, thrust at fears head-long. Gwyn could feel her fingers begin to tremble, despite the fact they were tightly interwoven in front of her stomach. Bowing her head forward with a tense jaw, she continued speaking.

"––secondly," her voice shook as she fought to push against the memories away, "I have had exceptionally close encounters with certain creatures on this island. Encounters that I am not permitted to discuss with the public at this time. Nevertheless, that allows me to understand them in a way that those who work in the labs do not. I am perfectly qualified for the job I have been given," Gwyn managed to finish. The man in the audience, who had been standing the whole time, cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now if we could please move on––"

"I think you were hired as a publicity stunt: 'come to Jurassic World, where we don't only have dinosaurs, we have a survivor of the nineteen-ninety-three Isla Nublar incident.' You're just another selling point to them; another attraction."

The break finally snapped. Gwyn's face went completely deadpan, no trace of emotion apparent in any feature. The room was absolutely silent, not a single murmur daring to ripple through. Her mind flashed images of the terrifying night running through the jungle and hiding in kitchens at her. She recalled people like Wu telling her that her job was archaic and that she had no place in the modern world. That it was time she step down and let 'real professionals' do the work. The muscles in her body had gone tense. It felt––and appeared––as though she wasn't even breathing. Gwyn must have looked like a mannequin: unmoving, unblinking, expressionless. Everyone was waiting for her response with baited breath. The end of the lecture had suddenly become both cringe-worthy and exciting. How was it Gwyn was going to respond? Was security going to come kick the guy out? Was she just going to… walk off stage and ignore the confrontation? On the flipside, would she call him out? Anything seemed possible. Then, suddenly, Gwyn smiled. It was almost a disconcerting look, having been born from a perfectly impassive expression.

"Sir, why don't you come up to the stage? I find myself enthralled by this conversation, but would prefer to have it face-to-face instead of across a room." Gwyn gestured to the right side of the stage, her smile becoming sickly sweet and inviting. "There are stairs just there." The man looked hesitant, shifting his weight from foot-to-foot. She clucked her tongue, laughed, and waved a hand dismissively. "I promise that's it's okay to do this, you won't get in trouble." Me, on the other hand… a voice at the back of her head muttered. Claire would probably have her head.

It took a minute, but the man managed to shuffle out of his row of seating and make his way to the stage. Up in the lighting booth, Gwyn had seen Claire lurch forward in a manner so incredulous that it almost seemed scripted. She half expected the redhead to launch through the booth door to put a stop to the fiasco unfolding before her. But Gwyn knew she was holding herself with such a confidence, now, that the operations director would wait to see how the consulting paleontologist handled it. When the fellow from the audience mounted the stage, Gwyn turned to him, still smiling, and proffered a friendly hand. "What's your name?"

"Jack," he replied, shaking her hand with a considerably suspicious look on his face. She allowed herself to pump his hand up-and-down twice before retracting her own; she then placed it between his shoulderblades and gave him a little push.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jack. Now, if you could just stand… here…" Gwyn led him to the center of the stage and stood just beside him. After giving both his shoulders a good, solid pat, she beamed at him. "I want to play pretend with you for a moment. Are you okay with that?"

"Uh… what?" Jack laughed in confusion, fixing her with a look that read as 'this woman is clearly insane.'

"There's a point pertaining to our conversation that I would like to get across. I think the best way to do that is to play pretend for a couple of moments." Gwyn arched her brows expectantly, her wide smile waning in order to form a more neutral look. "It's completely professional, I assure you; it's a method my father and I use all of the time." He shrugged and sighed, looking deeply regretful for the fact he had agreed to appear on stage.

"Yeah, sure. Why not."

"Alright, then. Close your eyes." When he gave her another incredulous look, she laughed, smiled, and splayed her hands out. "C'mon, Jack! It's all for a bit of fun! Don't you want to say that you had some quality interacting time with a survivor of the nineteen-ninety-three Isla Nublar incident?" Gwyn had used his description of herself word-for-word, putting a little bit of force behind it. Her smile had fallen into the faintest of condescending smirks. They stared at each other for a long moment. Gwyn's gaze was challenging and, if she could read his personality as well as she thought she could, he wouldn't back down from a challenge. After a moment, Jack scoffed and begrudgingly shut his eyes.

Gwyn's expression fell into the neutral look that everyone in the Grant family had mastered. One that many paleontologists had learned to fear––if it was directed their way––or covet if it was directed at someone else. Because it usually meant a little lecture was about to ensue, a vivid, graphic, unrelenting lecture that would be remembered for years to come. "Fantastic. Now imagine that, for whatever reason––you built a time machine, or you simply took a fall and hit your head on a toilet seat––you find yourself in the Cretaceous Period." She started to pace a half-circle around him, walking from one side to the other, utilizing the space behind him. Her heart was beating harshly against the inside of her chest and the thrum of pulsing blood in her ears nearly drowned out the sound of her own voice. Surely she was talking loud enough that she no longer needed the tiny microphone clipped to the neckline of her blouse.

"You're alone. You stand in the middle of a jungle-like forest, surrounded by plants you don't recognize and couldn't put a name to even if you tried. The air smells of rain and humidity and dirt and something that's… not quite right. Something… tangy. Something metallic. Something… bloody. But, you ignore it because you're so completely confused. The heat is oppressive and you're suddenly sweating something awful. You decide that you need to start moving, try and see if there's any sort of way to get out of the dense foliage. So you wander for a while and find yourself hopelessly lost and utterly exhausted. Your hair and clothes are soaked with sweat, you're parched, and your stomach is starting to growl." Gwyn stopped just behind Jack and watched as his hands twitched uncomfortably. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. Perfect. "You stop to rest. When you do… you hear something… something…" she leaned forward so her chin hovered just over his shoulder, "just to your right." Jack's head instinctively turned towards the sound of her voice, an instinctive frown pulling at his lips. Gwyn felt her brows pull together as she painted the picture, pulling details from memories that were becoming progressively more raw. "It must have just been the wind, though. After another couple of moments, you hear the sound again, this time coming from directly in front of you." She held a hand directly in front of his face and snapped, which caused him to jump. "You can open your eyes, Jack." Just as he did, though, Gwyn threw out a hand, fingers outstretched; her eyes were wide and focused on something unseen in the distance. "You see something creep through the foliage… a five-foot tall, leathery skinned creature. Its watching you with intense amber colored eyes that hold narrowed pupils that are intently trained on you. Its small clawed hands are held just in front of it in a manner that reminds you of a t-rex… but this is no tyrannosaur. This is a velociraptor. What do you do?"

"I…" Jack trailed off, a barely perceptible tremble in his voice. He cleared his throat, eyes still focused forward on the imaginary creature. "I don't move." Gwyn's hand dropped and she ducked into a partial bow, nodding as she did so.

"Right," she stressed, beginning to walk the semi-circle behind Jack; she smiled as she did so, a condescending look that rarely ever crossed her face. "Because you assume that its visual acuity is like that of a t-rex, correct?" Jack bobbed his head ever-so-slightly, almost as though he was, indeed trying to keep perfectly still. "Right, then. You stand perfectly still, even going so far as to stop breathing. The raptor cocks its head, making a sort of tittering sound in the back of its throat. It takes one step forward. Two. Three." Gwyn paused just behind him. "But then…" She snapped her fingers beside both of Jack's ears simultaneously, causing him to jump for the third time. "Two more velociraptors emerge from the jungle. You didn't know that raptors are pack hunters––three or four being a perfect pack. You're effectively surrounded and, in your panic, you dart into the trees in hopes of escaping." Gwyn started to jog in place, bouncing from the toes of one foot to the toes of the other. "Run with me, Jack!" When he gave her an incredulous look, she gestured behind them with a look of disbelief. "We're running from velociraptors, if you stay still they'll get you! Run!" With less hesitance than before, Jack began to jog in place as well. Gwyn was becoming well-aware that what she was doing was not kind; it was blunt and disregarding. She was revealing a side to herself she had yet to show to her group of peers on Isla Nublar; there was no going back, so she might as well go all-out. "You hear this… this sound, this cry in the distance. It almost sounds like coughing, but it's louder and more animalistic. Behind you, you can hear foliage bending and snapping and being rudely brushed aside as three creatures push through it, intent on their quarry."

"You keep running and running and running, thinking that you're going to lose them… but, then, your toe catches on a root. It's protruding out of the ground just enough to trip you, and you find yourself plummeting towards the ground. You can stop jogging now, you've fallen. Your chest hits the ground first and you feel a shock of pain. But that pain is the least of your worries, because all three velociraptors have caught up to you; and as you roll onto your side to see just how close… a wide, toothy maw darts in towards your face and sinks your world into darkness and pain. Congratulations, Jack. You're dead," Gwyn stated in an almost cheerful tone. She smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and met his wide-eyed gaze. His expression was unreadable, but sweat beaded his forehead and he was breathing hard.

"You see, Jack, in the incident of nineteen-ninety-three, I was chased by a pack of velociraptors. And I understand how dangerous they are; I understand that not moving does not trick them. It, instead, gives them the perfect opportunity to kill you. So, despite the fact that I work with dusty old bones for a living, I know exactly what I'm doing here. I'm documenting dinosaur behavior so that we can better understand and cohabitate with these beautiful but deadly creatures. So, Jack, I have every right to be here… publicity stunt or not. You can take your seat," Gwyn gestured to the stairs at the side of the stage.

Without a word, Jack turned on his heel and left the stage, shoulders hunched. Applause started, slow at first, but then became something close to thunderous, accompanied by whoops and hollers. At the very back of the auditorium, Gwyn spotted Owen, who had shot to his feet and was clapping vigorously. He then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted 'yeah, Gwyn!' With a fraction of a smile, Gwyn bowed to the audience and made her way off stage, exhaling long and slow. Once she was out of audience view, she walked straight up to a wall and dropped her head against it, eyes falling shut. The wall was cold and soothing against her sweaty forehead. Her heart was pounding and she was caught between feeling mortified and proud. Mortified for the fact she had lost hold of her control and allowed herself to go on a Grant Style Lecture. It was something her father was known for doing––talking in such a blunt and often brutal manner that was not deemed appropriate. It was something that, try as she might to avoid it, was simply part of her way of speaking. Especially when it came to dinosaurs. People had to understand what it was they were talking about when they were discussing the dangerous creatures.

Proud for the fact that she had stood up for herself and not allowed someone to lessen her work or experiences. It was something that happened to her too often, and not once had she allowed it to slide; it just so happened that, this time, she was willing to go to extremes to ensure that she was going to be respected. If Alan had been there, he would have been uproarious, laughing and applauding, and grinning with pride. A small smile appeared on Gwyn's face and a sigh escaped her lips. The beating of her heart––which had been pounding since the minute Jack had started speaking––started to calm. Gwyn turned till her back was pressed to the wall, then slid downwards into a crouch. Oh, it would be a miracle if Claire didn't have her head for what she had done.

OOOO

Gwyn sat on the edge of the children's paleontology activity in the Samsung Building lobby, sweeping a brush gently over the vertebrae of the faux raptor skeleton. Sand was scattered this way and that as the bristles of her brush skimmed across it with strokes that had been perfected over the years. The building was closed for the evening, but the paleontologist had taken the quiet moment for herself. The audience of her lecture had left, and after a brisk talking-to from Claire––and a harsh promise they would speak in the morning––Gwyn took the chance to relax. Her pouch of tools, which had been utilized in her talk, sat at her feet, unfurled and at the ready. The brush in her hands, however, was thick-bristled, plastic, and part of the activity exhibit. Her head was tilted to the side and her gaze was focused gently on the work at hand, easily slipping into the quiet trance she got into while working.

"And here we see the paleontologist in her natural habitat," teased a familiar voice. Looking up, Gwyn spotted Owen striding towards her. He had dressed up a bit for her lecture, having donned a dark maroon button down and a pair of jeans; it suited him well, Gwyn observed. She smiled and looked back down at the exposed spine, using the nail on her pinky to pick out pesky grains of sand in between two vertebrae. Owen sat down at the base of the fake rock the skeleton was embedded in, staring up at Gwyn, who was perched on a convenient 'rock' outcropping. Her heeled shoes sat on the floor, and her toes were pressed flush against the faux stone. He watched as she swept the bristles over the spine again in a few quick dashes before she leaned forward and gently blew, her breath carrying away the remaining dust and sand. "You miss it, don't you? This––the digging, the discovery."

"Of course I do," she agreed, sitting up straight. She twirled the brush around in her hand. "Paleontology… it's… my life, my livelihood. Don't get me wrong, the job I've got here is… amazing, and something I couldn't have asked for… on so many different levels…" The laugh that left her mouth was suggestive of her uncomfortableness being on the island. But Gwyn gestured to their surroundings, at the quiet visitor's center that hummed with life during operation hours, and smiled. "But… there's something timeless about digging, about taking a brush and sifting through the sand and the dirt till you find something."

Owen chuckled and picked up a brush that had been resting by his hand. He twirled it around between his fingers; he then pointed it at her, offering up a smile that quirked his lips up subtly but in a very charming manner.

"The love you have for your job is admirable," Owen told her. Grinning and looking down at her hands, she nudged his leg with a bare toe. She then reached down and brushed the streak of dust that it had left behind off his denim-clad thigh.

"The same could be said about you, Owen."

"Thanks, Gwyn." The two shared a quiet moment where they just smiled at each other, a moment broken when Owen cleared his throat and went about picking at dirt that had stuck to the brush in his hand. "Your talk was great, by the way. Never realized how much really went into digging up these guys." He patted the piece of exposed raptor rib in front of him. Gwyn chuckled and pushed hair out of her face, gesturing to the expanse of vertebrae that had been re-covered in sand and dirt for the next day of children.

"Thanks," she laughed, running her thumb over the head of the brush. A small cloud of dust was thrown into the air, quickly dissipating and disappearing seconds later. The dirt and sand didn't even smell like it was supposed to; it wasn't earthy and potent, like the real stuff in the Badlands. Instead, it was… artificial and stale, almost non-existent.

"And the way you shot that guy down was amazing!" Owen laughed, rocking backwards as he did so. "I didn't know you could be that…" Gwyn cocked an eyebrow and let her face convey the deadpan that would soon be evident in her voice.

"Cruel?"

"I was going to say creative."

"Well, I'll be lucky if I've still got this job by tomorrow morning. Claire was not too happy with me. Apparently what I did was… insensitive, intrusive, and a complete disregard of patron-employee interaction code, whatever that is. I don't think I read that part of the handbook," Gwyn stated wryly, out of the corner of her mouth. She arched an eyebrow and looked at Owen in that near-perfect facial imitation of her father. "We're going to have a meeting tomorrow morning about 'professionalism in the workplace' and 'what it means to respect park patrons.'"

Owen grinned and tapped the brush in his hand against the ridge of fake rock. "If you drive Claire to drink tequila again, I will personally pay for every single bar tab you ever have while living on this island." Gwyn threw her head back and laughed, very nearly teetering off of the faux rock; she curled her bare toes against an outcropping of fake rock to hold her balance. He then reached out and put a hand on her knee. It gave off a comforting warmth that bled through the fabric of her army green pants. Owen's grin waned into a charming little smile and his thumb moved back-and-forth a few times. It was a comforting gesture, if not a little distracting. Gwyn, lips still turned upwards from her laughter, met Owen's gaze with a slightly arched brow. "Look, I don't think you're going to get fired. Claire is the director of park operations, meaning that she organizes lectures and events and listens to how the public receives them. And from what I heard, everyone loved the lecture, especially the end. Some people even thought it was staged, or a form of audience participation. Not only that, but the information you're collecting is proving to be invaluable. Claire will let you off with a warning, and probably won't let you lecture for a while, if ever again… but you won't get fired. I promise."

Gwyn tried not to acknowledge the fact that she felt a blush rise to her cheek, or that her heartbeat accelerated at his kind tone. Tried not to acknowledge the fact she didn't mind that his hand was still sitting on her knee. Alan's words from earlier, regarding Owen, came to mind, and her cheeks swelled with heat again. It wasn't exactly the most opportune time to be thinking about that sort of thing. Dropping her gaze, but not her smile, Gwyn stared at the fake velociraptor vertebrae. Her fingers swept over one of the exposed pieces, picking at little granules of sand that still remained lodged between the curves and crevices of the plastic. She made the decision to change the subject dramatically, looking up with a growing smile.

"Why don't you give it a try?"

"Give what a try?"

Gwyn gestured to the plastic skeleton that was partially excavated. "Paleontology."

"Really?" Owen asked with a laugh.

"Yeah! It's a shitty kid's play exhibit, but it's the closest to the real thing we'll get here. Let's see how the great Owen Grady would fare in my domain," Gwyn chuckled with a grin. Owen nodded and stood up on his knees, holding his brush at the ready. His eyes narrowed playfully, creating a challenging gaze.

"Alright, alright."

Owen leaned forward and began to brush at the dirt, rock, and sand. Gwyn bit at her thumbnail as she watched him make progress; most of what he was doing way passable and he wasn't breaking many rules, if any at all… but he was putting a bit too much pressure on the brush, which he was holding a bit too far up on the handle. Biting the inside of her cheek, she refrained from reaching out to correct him by rubbing at the back of her neck. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye with a smirk.

"How am I doing so far, Doc?" he asked, teasingly pinning on a new nickname. Gwyn laughed and made a face, which, in turn, made him laugh and stop. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You're actually doing pretty okay––but you are being a bit too heavy handed. No one likes a heavy handed fellow in a situation requiring intimate knowledge," Gwyn told him. Owen snorted and pointed up at her with his dusty brush, leaning one forearm against the rock.

"Am I actually hearing innuendo or am I just making that up?" Owen inquired cheekily, a smirk present on his lips. Gwyn simply shrugged and returned the cheeky look.

"Paleontology's a dirty business what can I say? I meant intimate knowledge in the sense of needing to know the ins-and-outs of brush use; but make of it what you will. But, uh, you don't need to be heavy handed at this stage in the dig. All of the stuff that would require that comes earlier on, when you'd be using trowels and rock picks and chisels and the like. You're also not gripping the brush in the right spot." Gwyn reached out and took hold of his wrist in one hand. She pulled the brush from his grip with the other hand and then adjusted his grasp so his fingers were closer down to the brush bristles. "There. Now you have a more controlled movement. Before, as you were sort of going a bit too gung-ho. You were spraying dust everywhere, which, on a real dig, would mean you're probably accidentally covering up something else."

"Control the brush, don't let it control you."

"I might have to use that sometime," Gwyn laughed before guiding his hand back up to the rock. She shifted her position so she was leaning forward a bit more, placing her hand around his. It was then that she started to help move his hand, showing him the proper amount of pressure that needed to be applied. "See? Much easier."

"Mm…" Owen hummed, staring more at their hands than what work he was doing. Once her hand disappeared though, he focused on the progress he was making. Eventually, after a few quiet, focused minutes, he uncovered two pieces of vertebrae. He smiled broadly. Gwyn reached down and pulled up her tool pouch, removing a thin length of silver metal. Holding it up, she revealed that it was, in fact, a needle. The pointed end a tad blunted and scratched up, clearly having been used against real stone and bone.

"This is a dissection needle," she explained, handing it to him. "It's really useful to chip softer stones, muds, or dirts away from bones; it's small enough to maneuver easily. Give it a try." Owen held it gingerly, suddenly aware he was holding something that had actually been used on real dig-sites, and not just a child's exhibit. He tentatively scraped the needle along the side of the bone, which made Gwyn wince and hiss.

"Did I do it wrong?" Owen asked, holding up his hands as though he were guilty. Gwyn laughed and nodded, taking the needle back from him.

"If you'd done that on one of my dig-sites, you'd be gone for destroying the integrity of the bone. You scraped against it too hard and you left a mark, see?" She leaned in close and pointed to a thin indentation that had not been present before. Owen's face swooped forward to observe the scratch that he had inflicted the plastic with.

"A bit too heavy handed?" he murmured. Gwyn turned her head towards his, and found that they were startlingly close. A mere inch, if that. Noses nearly brushing, breath easily felt on the other's skin. Gwyn's gaze flickered between both of Owen's eyes, aware of the faint crinkle between both of his brows. They had never been so close to each other before; but it didn't feel awkward. It didn't feel like an intrusion of space.

"Just a bit… but that can be worked on," Gwyn replied. Her hand slipped along the ridge of fake rock and the tips of her fingers just barely overlapped Owen's. Said man's fingers twitched under her touch. Owen wetted his lips with a quick flick of the tongue, an action that was far too distracting for Gwyn's liking. It was then she realized that her lips felt dry; that her entire mouth felt dry.

"Then, uh, I guess it's a good thing I've got Dr. Gwyn Grant on my side to help me."

"Lucky you."

Owen grinned at her self-endorsing comment and slowly sat back on his heels. With that movement, the soft smell of cologne and sweat drifted away with him. It was a scent that Gwyn had become accustomed to, as she had found the interior of his jeep smelled the same. Smelled like him after a long day working in the sun. With the dissecting needle still clutched in his hand, he pointed it towards the lobby doors. Gwyn's eyes followed the direction he was pointing in and her gaze danced over the holographic image of a dilophosaurus that skulked in the middle of the room. As was typical of Owen's grins, it waned into a charming smirk, eyes twinkling. "Would you like to get a drink? Celebrate a lecture well given?"

Gwyn reached out, plucked the dissection needle from his hands and twiddled it between her fingers. She returned his smirk with a smile equally as charming, accented by an arched brow and the lift of her chin. "I would like that very much."

Afterword: Well that took far too long to write. I wanted to go so many ways with this chapter but couldn't make a definitive decision on what to actually do. So, this is the finished product. The lecture was tricky to write, and I'm not fully happy with it, but I don't think I'll ever be. Such is the plague of a writer. But I cannot thank all of you enough for being patient!

Review Replies!

chibichibi98: I have plans with the IR; I've had some interesting stuff planned for a bit, and we'll be getting into that within the next chapter or two. And I like building up the tension between Wu and Gwyn, as he really is her biggest (human) opposer on the island. It makes for interesting conflict. Thank you for waiting patiently! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

SabakuNoGaara426: I planned interactions with the Indominus with the accelerated growth in mind, and with the sibling in mind, too. It shall all become apparent soon… I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks again!

lilnightmare17: Thank you! Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoyed the new chapter regardless!

SnowGirl95: I'm really happy you have enjoyed the story thus far. I take so long with these chapters because I really want everything to seem realistic; and I worry that the quality in the writing is decreasing as the chapters wear on. But I love writing the story nonetheless, putting in the little details and forming a relationship that seems realistic. And I'm very, very happy that you're enjoying it all! Thanks again!

RHatchet89: Thank you! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter!

The Redshirt who Lived: Gwyn and Echo will definitely have a peculiar relationship, as they already do. We'll get more into that soon. Also, Gwyn punching Wu is definitely more of a realistic possibility as time goes on. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again!

katy1986: In the next chapter we'll see the starts of Gwyn's involvement on the Indominus project. It's going to be interesting/difficult, as she'll have to be working with Wu, who isn't her biggest fan. I hope that you enjoyed the newest chapter, despite the wait! Thanks again!

NicoleR85: We'll get to see that reaction next time! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

heroherondaletotherescue: I had been waiting to introduce Gwyn to Hoskins for such a long time. They will never get along, no matter how hard it is he tries to get a positive reaction out of her. Also, banter is one of my favorite things to write, and banter between Gwyn and Owen is even more fun. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

The girl with no life: Yeah, as things in Gwyn's personal life start to go well, things in her professional life are gonna start to suck. The set up for the movie is, indeed, starting, though there is much still to happen before the movie begins. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

Saint-Brooke-Lynn: Thank you for pointing out my mistake––I thought I did enough research to confirm it wasn't a real dinosaur, but I apparently did a terrible job, ahaha! I'll go back and fix it. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks again!

Guest 1: Thank you! Sorry for making you wait for the new chapter!

crazykenz: Gwyn's gonna be getting all of the interactions with the dinosaurs, ahahaha! For someone who really distances herself from the most predatory of dinosaurs, she's sure getting pushed into some pretty close interactions. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

MoxxieRusso: I'm sorry about the terrible updates! I was just… so blocked regarding this story. Too many ideas and no clue with how I was going to organize them. But, luckily, I'm back on track! I'm very happy you enjoy Gwyn as an OC; I consistently try to keep her realistic and properly integrated in the story. And I figure that what we saw of Owen in the movie was just his serious side––and that, regularly, he is more charming and flirty and stuff. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Again, sorry for the lack of updates!

veilfire: Thank you for all your lovely compliments! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter, despite my lack of updating in the past few months. Thanks again!

Whitwhit1893: Thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

supboyyyyy93: I am incredibly flattered to hear your opinion on the story! I hope that you stick around to read more! Thanks again!

DoctorGigglestheMouse: I'm glad that Gwyn and Owen's relationship seems natural and not infuriatingly dragged out or anything; I'm also flattered that you enjoy my writing style! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again!

IsYourH3artTaken: Super happy that the natural development of Owen/Gwyn's relationship is working nicely! I'm also glad that you like the goofy side of Gwyn along with her strong, self-sufficient side; I adore writing her because of her little goofy moments. (also, isn't Hayley Atwell the legit best?) I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again!

Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967: I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again!

GoddessOfShadows: Next time Gwyn starts the new bit of her career on Isla Nublar; we'll get to see her and Wu (attempting) to work together. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks you for your lovely review!

Guest 2: Here's the next installment! I hope you enjoyed it!

ArtemisLuna85: Here is the update! Hope you enjoyed reading it, and sorry for the long wait!

SARAHBABE215: Glad you've been enjoying the story so far! I hope that you enjoyed reading the newest chapter despite the wait!

Terry: Here you are! The next portion of the story! Thanks again!

And thank you to those who added this story to their follows/favorites! It means a lot!

So, I'm going to ask you, my lovely readers, a question: if anyone (i.e., Alan, Ellie, Ian, Tim etc.) were to show back up, who would you like to see? It's not a promise that it will happen, but I'm just curious. There's a bit of story potential for one of them to show up on the island. I'll put up a poll on my profile for all of y'all to vote in.

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope to not be crappy about updates, but life is life, unfortunately. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

~Mary