Six Months Later

The sound of the truck out front hit her ears just as Lennie put the last dish in the drying rack. Instead of going to greet Owen like she used to, she picked up a dish towel and started drying off the dishes. Sure, she could just let them drip dry, but this gave her an excuse to not go outside. It was not that she did not want to see him, more that she did not want to think about where he had just come from. Every time he went with Daniel on a call to collect whatever dinosaur was on the loose locally, she was reminded about how she was effectively little more than a housewife these days. Cleaning, cutting and cleaning vegetables, helping Catie with homework, seeing Owen off to work - it was all so domesticated and…not her. Not that she minded helping around the house, but Catie had her own things at school, Owen had his work with Daniel, and she had…housework. And it hurt. She hated being jealous of him, but she could not help it.

And obviously he knew she was upset, knew she was pulling away. Hell, she was hardly subtle. She spent most of her time alone reading or helping Catie with homework. Most nights, she only went to bed after he did and they never fell asleep even facing each other anymore, let alone touching.

When Owen walked through the door, he nodded a greeting and went straight for the bathroom.

"You smell like horse," she muttered.

"Mmm." And the bathroom door closed.

Dropping the dish towel and putting the plate back on the rack, Lennie sighed and blinked back a few tears. This was entirely her fault. She was pulling away instead of just fucking saying something like the grown-ass woman she was. Owen would not fault her for feeling how she was feeling, she knew that. So why the fuck was it so hard for her to just speak up?

When she heard the shower start, she pushed away from the counter and went upstairs to her office. As she looked around, she felt her heart squeeze. Owen had built her this office. Hell, he had built the whole cabin just because he thought she would need a place for her books.

Her eyes lit upon one of the books on the bookshelf and she smiled as she walked over to it. A colouring book filled with dinosaurs. Owen had bought it for her because it had a microraptor on the cover. Catie had an identical one in her room. They had spent far too many nights together colouring, the three of them. Owen was awful at staying between the lines and the pages he had coloured were an absolute mess.

"Fuck," she sighed. None of this was Owen's fault. She was glad he was able to work with dinosaurs again in some capacity, glad he got to do it alongside his friend. She just needed to find something for herself. It was hardly as though she could call Claire and just drive to California to…what? Attend business meetings? Become a vocal part of the Dinosaur Protection Group? That would draw far too much attention to her, to Catie.

What she really wanted to do was get involved. Help ensure the dinosaurs were safe. And realistically, there was no way to do that without putting Catie at risk. Owen had seemingly found the best way to do that, considering he only had to help wrangle the animals. Only Daniel ever brought them directly to whoever had hired them. Come to think of it, who had hired them? She knew for sure it was not Claire. Who else had permission from the UN?

The bathroom door opened and the bedroom door shut below her.

Lennie sighed. Maybe tomorrow she could talk to him. At least that would give her time to collect her thoughts.

When the bedroom door opened again she ran to the stairs and called out, "Owen!"

He paused at the door and turned to look back at her.

"You're going to get Catie?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

She descended the steps fully and joined him. "I'll come with you." The weird look he gave her made her look away. "I mean, if you don't mind."

Without answering, he held the door for her, placing a hand at the small of her back as she walked by.

"Mind if we stop at the gas station?"

"What for?" he asked, opening the SUV door for her.

That was a first, he had never held the car door for her. It took her a moment to shake off her surprise. "I…I wanted to pick up some things. Figured maybe we could roast some marshmallows or something tonight."

"Been a hot minute since we done that," he muttered as she dropped into the seat. He closed the door for her and walked around to the driver's side. As soon as he was buckled in, he started the car and pulled down the forest path back to the main road. "Be nice."

"Huh?"

"Marshmallows."

"Oh." Lennie could not think of anything else to say, so she just watched the trees go by as they drove. She was not sure if she was happy or sad that Owen kept quiet until they reached the gas station. It was a smaller station on the way into town and since the traffic was a lot easier than usual, they stopped before getting Catie. It was a small station, but there was only one rusty old truck at the pumps so she was pretty confident they would be done with plenty of time.

"Might as well fill up while we're here," Owen muttered, hopping out of the SUV.

It was not exactly a thrilling discussion, but at least they were talking. Not to mention him putting his hand on her back earlier. When was the last time he had touched her like that? 4 months ago? 5?

Pushing out a breath, she jumped out of the car. "You want anything?" she asked, turning to offer him a small smile.

When he looked up at her, he wore the first genuine smile she had seen in a while. "I'm okay, baby."

Nodding, she ignored the flush she felt spreading across her cheeks and turned toward the store to get supplies for a campfire night. The only people in the store were the two people behind the counter and some dirty jackass who looked as though he had never heard of a shower. Must be the owner of the truck.

She headed down the nearest aisle in search of marshmallows, hotdogs, and buns. Maybe she could find graham crackers and grab some chocolate for s'mores? In the past they had made them with peanut butter cups instead of plain chocolate bars - Owen's suggestion from his childhood.

As soon as she had gathered all of the ingredients, including swapping out the chocolate bar for peanut butter cups, she walked to the coffee station. She poured the coffee into the largest cup they had and debated putting anything else in it. Sure, it was late in the day, but she was mentally exhausted. Sighing, she dropped a couple of sugar cubes in it to lessen the bitterness and stirred.

"That's a lot of coffee for one little lady."

Lennie pasted on a fake smile and turned to the owner of the slimy voice. It was the greasy asshole. The predatory look he gave her made her want to deck him, but she knew she could not risk it. For Catie's sake. Instead, she said, "I'm sorry, I don't remember asking for your opinion."

"Now, now," he muttered, looking her up and down with a smirk. "No need to be so aggressive. Doesn't suit such a pretty face."

"Still trying to find where the hell I asked you," she muttered as she put the lid on her coffee and grabbed her supplies.

"Len," Owen's voice called her. There was a tightness to his voice she had not heard in a long time. He knew this asshole. "Ready to go?"

"Well, well, if it isn't my government friend."

As soon as she was close enough Owen put an arm around her waist and guided her to the counter to pay, ignoring the asshole. Even through the layers they both wore against the winter cold, she could feel how tense he was. "Let's just pay and go, Owen," she muttered, pulling out her card. "Think of Catie. We need to keep her safe and if we cause a scene -."

"Yeah, I know," he grumbled. The second the transaction was approved, he walked her back to the door.

"Hope I'll be seein' you around, sweetheart," the slimy asshole drawled.

Before Owen could react, she muttered, "Catie."

He pushed out an irritated breath and walked her to the car, helping her into her seat before walking around to his side and slamming the car door before starting the engine. With the bag of supplies put down and her coffee in the cupholder, she turned to watch his face as he pulled out of the gas station. His mouth was tight, his eyes narrow, and every inch of his body was still tense. "You wanna tell me what that was?" When he did not answer, she sighed. "Owen…."

"Took a parasaurolophus we rounded up," he muttered, eyes firmly on the road ahead. "At gunpoint."

"What? When? Are you-?"

"Yesterday. We're fine," he muttered, finally glancing over at her. "Must be a poacher or something."

Lennie shook her head and looked out the window. "Claire mentioned something about black market values for dinosaurs the last time we spoke," she muttered. The idea broke her heart. "We bring dinosaurs back from the dead and people just want profit."

Owen grunted, but did not say anything else as they drove. It startled Lennie when she felt his hand slip into hers and squeeze. Rather than risk ruining the moment, she just squeezed back and watched the scenery as they drove the rest of the way to the school.

Lennie sighed and rubbed her hands together nervously, watching Owen and Catie starting the fire through the kitchen window. The pair were dressed similarly and as soon as Catie got the fire going, Owen showed her how to whittle a piece of wood, presumably to skewer some of the marshmallows. He was so good with her, and she obviously admired him. The kid was turning out to be a mini Owen. A mini Owen with a larger book collection than the university.

Biting down on her smile, she brought the s'mores kit outside just in time to catch Owen showing Catie how to handle a knife.

"I swear, Owen, if we get called into the school for this…," she laughed.

"I'll be careful, Lennie," Catie grumbled, flipping the knife in her hand just as Owen had shown her.

Owen grinned up at her as he reached a hand out to pull her to sit down next to him. "See? Kid's a natural."

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Lennie shoved the marshmallows against Owen's chest. "Just make the s'mores, Raptor Whisperer."

Narrowing his eyes in a mock glare, he reached around her for the graham crackers and chocolate.

"You love me." Lennie blushed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. This was the most affection they had shown each other in months. What if she crossed a line?

Owen grunted and draped an arm around her shoulder, dropping a kiss on her head. "Damn right," he whispered into her hair.

Burying her face in his shoulder, she waited for the burning in her cheeks to calm down, then pulled back and reached for one of the marshmallows and a stick.

"Hey!" Owen said. "Those are for s'mores!"

Catie muttered, "I'm pretty sure there are more marshmallows than we need in that bag, Owen."

"Two against one," Lennie giggled, skewering another marshmallow before holding them both over the fire.

They sat in comfortable silence while the marshmallows roasted and the s'mores melted, Owen keeping his arm around her and Catie smiling as she practiced with the knife. Lennie pulled the toasted marshmallows out of the fire. She picked the top one off the stick and offered it to Owen, grinning as he licked the sticky marshmallow from her fingers. "Not so mad about me taking a couple of them now, are you?"

"Mmm," he said, smiling. "Guess it's an acceptable loss."

Yanking her hand back, she smiled and popped the other marshmallow in her mouth, then leaned back on his shoulder to wait for the s'mores. It was the closest thing she had felt to normal for a while and she intended to bask in it as long as she could.

As soon as the smores were done, Owen handed them out and Catie muttered, "So, since everyone's in a good mood…." She twirled her s'mores in her hand. "There's this thing. With friends."

Lennie sat up. "A thing with friends?" she asked, giving Catie a look that she hoped conveyed 'if one of these friends is Nick, don't even think about it'. Nick was a boy in Catie's class that she had a teenage crush on. A while back Catie had come to her for advice on it and Owen had no idea. And if Nick was going, Lennie might regret keeping that particular secret.

"Yeah," Catie said, forcing casualness into her voice. "Friends. Just…camping. With friends."

"No," Owen said immediately.

At the same time, Lennie asked, "Will there be adult supervision?"

"Oh, come on," Catie sighed, throwing her snack on the table in exasperation. "I'm 14, I'm not a child! It's just a camping trip!"

"I said no, Catie," Owen repeated.

Catie groaned in exasperation, then shifted her gaze. "Come on, Lennie! Back me up!"

Lennie shook her head. "Owen's right, Catie. Not this time. You're not a child, but you're not an adult yet either. And none of those kids can drive. What if something happens?"

"If someone finds you," Owen began. But he did not get the chance to finish his sentence as Catie screamed then stomped off back into the cabin. Even with the front door closed, they heard her bedroom door slam.

"We are gonna have to trust her eventually, Owen," she muttered. "Not saying it wasn't the right call this time, but she's growing up."

Owen tossed his own s'mores and grunted. "If any of them damned black market assholes find her, they're gonna put a chip in her and weaponize her and we'll never see her again. We gotta protect her, it's our job."

"I know," she sighed. "But we also gotta raise her right, raise her to take care of herself. She'll be 18 in a few years, then what? If we don't prepare her to go out on her own…."

"That for her sake or yours?" he huffed. Muttering a few swear words under his breath, he pulled away from her and stomped back into the cabin.

So much for things feeling normal again. Lennie cried into her sleeves until the fire died down, then she put it out and went inside. Owen was already in bed facing away from the door and did not react when she got into bed with him. Curling up on her side, she let a few tears fall quietly into her pillow as she tried to get some sleep.