Thanks to everyone who faved, followed, liked, etc on Murphy & His Law Can Go To Hell! If you haven't read that one, it may be worth a quick read to get your footing here.

This is unbeta'd, so if anyone is available to help out, please let me know :)

Promise, the action picks up soon. The dinos will be showing up starting Chapter 8...and every chapter after that.

Not mine, posted for funsies, not making any money on this.

As always, this is crossposted with the same name to AO3.

By the time they arrived back at Michael and Jo's place it was already noon on Sunday. It seemed increasingly likely that Jess would end up teaching tomorrow by themselves and that was not a conversation Lennie was looking forward to having. But there was no way she could go back without knowing the animals from Isla Nublar were safe. Not that they even knew what had happened. The odds the island had been raided by multiple people or by another random company were slim to none, but Mantah Corp had only just acquired InGen. If they had gone in early, would there be any recourse available? Given Mantah Corp owned InGen now, would anyone even be willing to take on the case?

Pushing out a frustrated breath, she splashed some water on her face and looked at her dripping wet features in the bathroom mirror. Her gaze shifted to the walls behind her - an ornate red wallpaper, embellished with gold detailing - and marble columns up the side of the door. God, rich people were pretentious.

She bowed her head and tried to focus through the dripping water. What next? Was it all computers and hacking and crossed fingers?

"You okay?" Owen called through the door.

Lennie stood up straight, patted herself dry, then opened the door to find Owen standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. "Fine," she breathed, sliding into his arms and resting her head on his shoulder. "Just been a long weekend and it feels like we've done…fuck all…."

The vibrations from his laughter made her smile. "We flew to Costa Rica, baby, wouldn't exactly call that fuck all."

"You know what I mean," she chuckled.

"Mmm," he sighed.

"Owen?"

"Mmm?"

Lennie pulled back a little to look up at him, chewing on her lip.

"What?" he asked, reaching up to cup her jaw and run his thumb across her cheek.

"What…," she began. She shifted her gaze over his shoulder to collect her thoughts. "What do you think is going to happen? Even if we find the animals, we…." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "If we can save them, would we…."

Owen smiled softly at her. "You wanna work with them again, don't you?"

Of course he had seen through her. "They need someone who knows them, not another billionaire looking for profit or another Hoskins. I don't want to leave our home, but -."

When his hand slipped behind her neck to pull her up to his lips, she sighed into his mouth. Judging by the way his hand dug into her hips as he pulled her closer, she had a sneaking suspicion he was holding back in case anyone came around the corner. It would not be the first time Owen damned near got them caught in public, but the last time she had asked him to at least try to behave. Seemed he might actually be listening.

Pulling back a little bit, she reached up to run her fingers through his beard while she licked her lips. "You taste like coffee still," she muttered.

"You taste like Captain Crunch," he shot back, smirking. "Can't believe Michael had that on the plane."

"Kid's got good taste in cereal," she murmured, pushing back up to kiss him again quickly. "We should go back."

"In a minute," he muttered, walking her back up against the door and bending to capture her lips again. Lennie giggled when she felt him open the door and back her inside. So much for behaving in public.

Claire re-read the same paragraph for what felt like the hundredth time. Normally she could chew through the public records of a company of interest in a heartbeat, but knowing what was at stake had her distracted. She had become really invested in the Dinosaur Protection Group and the welfare of the animals from Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna. Glancing around the room she saw everyone on their laptops, researching, except Owen and Lennie. Lowery was set up at a desk with too many monitors doing who knew what.

At least now they knew that partial patch of cloth she had found was from a Mantah Corp employee. Lowery had compared the patch to their company logo, recognizing the partial blue streak almost the second he saw it. Claire blamed the lack of sleep for not recognizing the partial logo after three years of fighting them in court.

Now they were looking for any publicly available records that might show a facility where they could be keeping dozens of dinosaurs. Or some sign they may have filed paperwork for related patents. Anything that could be helpful in locating and saving the animals.

Her eyes dropped back down to the page on her screen and she tried to focus again. The paragraph still was not sticking in her brain.

"Pretty dry, isn't it?" Michael asked, grinning at her over his laptop. "You haven't touched the trackpad or keyboard in…what ten minutes? Fifteen?"

Busted. "It's just…the more time we spend on this, the longer the animals could be at risk," she sighed. "It would go a lot quicker if Owen and Lennie were helping."

Barry snorted a laugh. "You think Owen would be helpful sifting through legal documents? Owen struggles with books on tape, let alone this much reading."

He had a point. "I suppose not, but Lennie -."

"- reads paleontology, history, and sci-fi books," Jo cut her off. "Are you really surprised she's not into reading this stuff?"

The door opened, cutting off her response, and in walked Owen and Lennie. They both looked a little dishevelled. Lennie's cheeks were a little pink and Owen was grinning widely as he walked over to the nearest chair and dropped into it.

Claire arched her eyebrow at Lennie and bit down on a laugh when her friend's cheeks got brighter. "Fair enough," she muttered as Lennie sat down next to her on the couch and picked up her laptop again.

"Blame Owen," Lennie said quietly, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone else in the room.

"Worth it?" Claire asked quietly.

Lennie grinned at her laptop screen, her cheeks still red. "Yup."

"Don't forget to leave a tip for the cleaning staff," Claire mumbled, grinning at her friend's reflection on the laptop screen.

Before Lennie could reply, Lowery shouted something incoherent, causing everyone to look up at him. "Sorry," he muttered. "Found something, though."

Everyone was on their feet in an instant, running over to surround Lowery. On one screen he had a purchase contract for a sizable piece of land, on another he had a map with a pinpoint on the other side of Sacramento, past Mather airport.

"Mantah Corp bought this place back in 2015," Lowery said. "The main building you see on the map was completed the same year, but after the park closed they filed to expand underground. Based on the court filings and what little isn't redacted, it looks…massive."

Pursing her lips, Claire asked, "Can you find more?"

"Give me time and yeah," Lowery said. "Of course I can."

"Legally?"

Lowery opened and closed his mouth a few times. "I mean, technically…."

In other words, no.

"How much time?" Owen asked.

Lowery gaped again. "Uh, hard to say, really, I mean it depends on…."

"We could just pay them a visit," Owen said, looking at Barry, then Michael and Claire. Meanwhile, Lowery was still babbling to himself about the legality of his plan.

"That sounds even less legal," Claire grumbled.

Lennie grinned. "I mean, it's only illegal if we get caught."

Owen arched an eyebrow at her and she returned the look.

"You think you're going without me?"

Not wanting to get in the middle of the impending argument, Claire turned back to Lowery. "Could you get the unredacted information by tomorrow?"

"I mean, maybe," he muttered, unfazed by being cut off mid-rant. It spoke to the work they had done together over the last three years; they were used to each other's idiosyncrasies.

Owen and Lennie stopped bickering at Lowery's reply. "We can get out there and back tonight," Owen put in.

Claire sighed and turned back to Michael and Jo. Honestly, neither option was great, but every second wasted was another chance the animals could be at risk. "What do you think?"

Jo pushed up on her toes and whispered something into Michael's ear. He looked down at her, then his lips pressed into a thin and he gave Claire a hard look.

Owen watched Len loading supplies into the secondhand SUV they had bought, cash, earlier that day. The damned SUV was old enough that it still had wooden panelling on the side. Honestly, he half expected it to break down on the way to the warehouse. While he was not thrilled about her going with them, he knew that even if she agreed to stay behind, she would probably follow them anyway. It was not as though he was worried she could not take care of herself - he knew she could; hell, he had taught her most of the self-defense she knew - it was more that he was worried about what would happen if they got caught. She had a good job, friends. All of that would go down the shitter if she got caught.

He turned back to the table where he and Barry were checking the weapons. They had decided to go non-lethal, instead equipping themselves with tasers and tranquilizer guns and darts. Leaning across the table they had laid out in the garage, he reached for one of the utility belts to equip it. A light thunk hit his ears and he looked down to see the ring in its box had fallen out of his pocket. Before he could repocket it and zip it in, Barry grabbed it and flipped open the box.

"Merde," he whispered. "Are you…?"

"Think so," he muttered, grabbing the ring back and putting it in the one vest pocket he had that zipped securely shut. Probably should have put it there in the first place, he thought to himself.

"You're not sure?"

"I mean, if I was gonna marry anyone, it'd be her, I just…." He sighed and started packing the belt. "Man, I never thought…who needs all that shit, right? Paperwork and expensive clothes and fancy parties."

"Does Lennie want to get married?"

"Hell if I know," he grumbled, stuffing a box of tranquilizer darts into one of the belt's pockets.

"What do you mean you don't know? You didn't talk to her?"

Owen grimaced, but did not answer.

"Imbécile," Barry muttered. "Talk to the woman, Owen!" He continued under his breath in French and Owen only managed to catch a few words about his stupidity and a couple of curse words.

"You think she'll say no?"

"Imbécile," he muttered again. "Non. But you went out and bought a ring, despite not really wanting to get married and without talking to her!"

Owen stopped stuffing the belt and blinked at Barry.

"How is it you're the one in a long term relationship?" Barry grumbled.

That made him grin. "I'm adorable."

"You mean lucky."

"Incredibly," he agreed, looking back over his shoulder at Len. She finished whatever she was doing in the back of the SUV and closed the back, then smiled at him and started toward them. Barry was right, he needed to talk to her. "I'll talk to her tomorrow, when all this shit's done."

Barry grumbled something under his breath again.

"Ready to go?" Len asked as she approached.

Owen picked up the belt he had been working on and fixed it around her waist. "Ready as ever," he said, pulling her close by the belt for a quick kiss. "Let's get going."