I'm alive! Yay! Sorry for the wait, school and mental health have been kicking my butt. But, I'm back, hopefully better than ever. Enjoy! Leave a review if you like it!

(Also, you can catch me on Tumblr heresthefanfiction where I'll probably be more active than I will here)

Isla Nublar was a tiny speck on the horizon that just got closer and closer. And with it, Emily got more and more nervous. Unlike last time, when she'd had roughly twenty years to process the trauma, she only got three this time. And yet, she felt like she'd done a better job this time.

There was less, bottling up and ignoring, and more, talking. No, acknowledging was the better word for it.

Emily sighed, tearing her gaze away from the window to look at Sam. He smiled at her, reaching across to take her hand.

"Nervous?"

Emily shrugged, "Not as much as I was five years ago. But yeah, it's impossible not to be."

"Well—" He squeezes her hand gently, "—This time you've got me. That counts for something."

"Of course, it does Sam. But it also adds another thing for me to worry about."

"But it also means that you've got someone watching your back. And this is a test of our love."

Emily groaned and leaned back in her seat. "Do you have any idea how cheesy that sounds Sam?"

"Every idea."

She looked up to find him smirking at her.

"You're officially the worst."

"Oh, I know. But really, I've got your back. If you want to go charging out into the jungle, I'll be right behind you."

Emily smiled softly, "Thanks Sam. But I think I'm going to try and stay out of most of this. Take it easy. Less chance of giving Dad a heart attack when he inevitably makes me tell him what happened."

"Him and me both."

They settled into a comfortable silence, watching the island draw closer and closer. Eventually, the small plane flew over the island. The volcanic smoke cloud covered part of the island in shadow, and Emily could see it growing as more and more smoke billowed out.

"We really don't have much time to work with…" Emily murmured, mostly to herself.

"We'll do the best we can." Sam rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand. "Think of it like a dig site. And that it's the end of the dig season and there's a snowstorm coming. You've just gotta get what you can out before the storm hits."

Emily looked away from the window, smiling slightly, "You really are a lifesaver."

"I know."

The plane began its descent and Emily reached for her bag, "This time, let's be gone before the storm hits."

Emily's booted feet hit the mud at the bottom of the rickety steps. Sam followed her down, as she pulled off her sunglasses and set them on her hat.

This was not what she'd been expecting.

Instead of maybe some holding pens, and some equipment, maybe a trailer or two, there was a full-on military camp. Armored trucks, military tents, the whole works. She couldn't see a single dinosaur, though she could hear a Ceratopsian bellowing nearby.

The volcano looked even worse up close as well. The camp wasn't under its shadow, though Emily suspected that it would be sometime tomorrow. If the volcano even went that long without erupting.

Her attention was swiftly pulled away however by Sam nudging her side. Emily pulled her gaze away from the volcano, smashing down her apprehension as well. A man was walking toward them, several other men, all of them with guns, behind him.

"Ken Wheatley." The man held out a hand. "Operations Facilitator."

Emily shook his hand firmly. "Dr. Emily Grant, paleontologist."

"Dr. Samuel Ruiz, paleoveterinarian." Sam reached past her and shook Wheatley's hand as well.

"This is quite the set up." Emily glanced past Wheatley at the camp and the men behind him. If Emily had to guess, these men had never worked with dinosaurs a day in their life. Probably why they'd wanted her to come so desperately.

"Mr. Lockwood takes his humanitarian efforts very seriously."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "I can see that."

"Do I even want to know how they convinced you to come back?" A familiar voice came from Emily's right.

Emily turned, and found herself facing Briana Rogers, who was slinging a gun over her shoulder.

"Dig site funding."

Sam looped an arm around Emily's shoulders. "And sentimental value."

"How did they get you back?" Emily rolled her eyes at her fiancé.

"A legal contract and five million dollars."

And from Briana's expression, Emily knew she was serious.

Wheatley cleared his throat from behind them. "If you're all done talking, we are on a schedule."

Emily turned and adjusted her satchel, "The volcano isn't."

Emily followed Briana into one of the armored trucks. They'd spent the morning going over the defenses of the camp, and while Emily had to agree that they were good compared to Jurassic World, Wheatley certainly could've done better. Briana had spent most of the time critiquing the security and improving it.

Briana sat down on the opposite side of the aisle from Sam, leaving a seat open next to Sam. Emily took it, and her fiancé smiled.

"Defenses good?"

Emily shrugged as the truck lurched to a start, "Not too bad. I'd rather have looked over the dinosaurs with you."

"It was a mess. All the cages are too small, though I suppose that can't be helped."

Emily smiled as he continued. Sam had that look in his eyes, the one he got when he was happy. She'd seen plenty of it since they'd moved in together, but not like this. Not when he was talking about doing his dream job. She felt kind of bad sometimes, that she got to fall back on paleontology after Jurassic World, and he had nothing to fall back on.

"Em? You there? Or are you gonna keep staring at me?"

Emily blinked a couple times, "Sorry Sam."

He reached for her hand, "It's alright. Just don't space off when we're in the jungle."

"I'm not that dumb." She deadpanned back.

He smirked and squeezed her hand, "Just checking."

"You two lovebirds done staring into each other's eyes?" Briana dryly asked, "Or are we going to get to work?"

Emily squeezed Sam's hand back, "I can multi-task."

Sam laughed, still holding her hand, as the truck lurched to a stop.

Briana just rolled her eyes and shouldered her gun. Emily did the same with her satchel and gave Sam a quick kiss on the cheek before following Briana out of the truck. Sam and Wheatley's men followed her out into the jungle.

Sam quickly loaded a tranquilizer dart as they paused to let Wheatley's men do one last weapons check. Briana just tapped her foot up and down, looking bored. Emily made sure her hat was snuggly on her head, and that her phone was inside her satchel before letting her eyes rove over the jungle.

They were on the west side of the island, where the herbivores were known to migrate this time of year. Where they were specifically, that was something that Wheatley had said he didn't know. Emily however, had a rough idea.

Hence why Emily had been put mostly in charge.

"Sam, take those four and Briana and go that West. The rest of you are with me." Emily checked that the gun she had was loaded, the safety still clicked on. She'd had Sam help her practice since he'd moved in. She still wasn't great, or very fast, but it was better than nothing. "If you find any sign they've been in the area, contact us."

Briana nodded and Sam ducked over to kiss Emily's cheek. She smiled briefly, and watched him vanish into the jungle with Briana, who was rolling her eyes.

She turned to Wheatley's men, who were as stone faced as usual.

"Follow me."

"Em, we found them." Sam's voice echoed out of the walkie talkie clipped on Emily's short's pocket.

She grabbed it, "Got it. We'll head your way."

"We're about three miles West of the trucks."

"Copy that."

Emily fastened the walkie talkie back to her belt and motioned for Wheatley's men to follow her. They headed West, passing the armored trucks, and then further West, trying to find Sam, Briana and the men with them.

It took them around twenty minutes to get relatively close to where Sam said he was. Emily stopped on the edge of a meadow, lifting her walkie talkie, "Sam, we're close, but I don't see you guys."

"You by a meadow?"

"On the edge of one."

"Step out, I might be able to see you."

Emily motioned for Wheatley's men to stay put, and slowly stepped out into the meadow. Now that she was out in the open, she could see a herd of Apatosaurs grazing toward the right end of the meadow. But there was still no sign of Sam.

"I see you, work your way along the tree line to the right of you. Toward the apatosaurs."

Emily flashed a thumbs up and motioned for Wheatley's men to follow her.

They skirted the tree line, staying outside the trees, as it made for faster and easier walking. After a few minutes, Emily could see Sam and Briana just inside the trees ahead of them and could hear the men that were with them talking. Apparently, they were much more social than the bunch following her.

After Emily arrived, they discussed what they were going to do, and set off. This time, Sam walked with Emily. She had a scratch down her thigh, likely from some stick or plant, but didn't seem to care or notice. Instead, she focused on the massive dinosaurs they were growing ever closer to.

Sam checked his rifle for what must have been the fourth time as they stopped. This time, he clicked the safety off.

Emily turned around, a determined glint in her eye, "We'll fan out along the trees, Sam will take his shot, as will Briana. Then, when the Apatosaurs spook, the rest of us will step out. Make as much noise as you can and wave your arms around. That way, they'll stay in the meadow, and run away from us. Everyone understand?"

Sam flashed her a smile, "Yes ma'am."

She rolled her eyes at him as one of Wheatley's men asked, "Are we sure that'll work?"

"Yes, it's a technique we used at Jurassic World. It's been used on these dinosaurs before."

The man nodded, the rest of his companions following suit.

At a radio signal from Briana, Sam raised his gun, took aim at the nearest Apatosaur, and fired.

Almost immediately, Briana followed suit. At the sight of two of their companions falling to the ground, the herd bellowed, and began to stampede. Emily signaled to Wheatley's men, and they all stepped out, shouting and waving their arms.

Sam held his breath, watching the herd wheel about. For a moment, it looked like Emily's plan would work. Until one Apatosaur broke free of the herd, and charged right for the line. And the rest of the herd followed suit.

He watched Emily swear, though he couldn't hear her over the thundering of the Apatosaurs. She motioned wildly for the line to break up, and Sam could see her mouth forming the word,

"Scatter!"

He slung his gun over his shoulder and ran. When he glanced behind him, he could see Emily and some of Wheatley's men following them. They ran for what felt like forever, but had probably only been a few minutes, before they stopped.

Sam bent over, bracing his hands on his knees to help steady his breathing. God, he was out of shape.

One of Wheatley's men asked, "Now what?"

"We let Wheatley know that we've downed two of them, and make for the trucks. Right Em?" Sam answered.

And he was greeted with silence. And no sign of his fiancée.

"Emily?!"