Chapter Two
Nights out in the remote Badlands were usually pretty quiet, but due to their marvelous find the members of his team were howling at the moon. Grant slammed the folder shut, but couldn't muster up any resentment. His students and colleagues deserved their moment of praising their triumph.
Grant tossed the data into the one filing cabinet in the room that was already bursting with documents and small samples in plastic sandwich bags. He trudged out of the trailer and was immediately cheered to by a dozen and a half men and women. He waved them off with a smile; knowing it disappointed them. Unable to leave them in dampened spirits he declared, "Great job, gentlemen…" he bowed his head silently toward the group of women "…and ladies. You can all write home and say that we'll be here for at least another year. With this find, InGen has agreed to continue to finance our archeological investigation into the mysteries of the perplexing extinct natural world that which we strive to survive."
"Is that what you put in your report, Dr. Grant?" Mary Wise shouted out from the middle of the group.
"Indeed."
Applause erupted throughout the crowd and a few hooted with merriment and encouragement. A gangly man in the back shouted, "Go Grant! For he's a jolly good fellow! For he's…" the rest of the crew joined in: laughing, cheering, and whooping.
Grant scanned the crowd and was thwarted to realize that Ellie was not among the partiers. He left the others to their carousing and strolled over to his trailer. A light was on indicating that Ellie was inside. He entered the trailer with a rugged smile. "Here you are. Why aren't you out celebrating with everyone else?"
Ellie shrugged, dipping her spoon into the tub of chocolate mint ice cream. "Because the one person I wanted to spend time with just walked in the door."
Grant glanced behind him towards the living room. "Can I meet him?"
Ellie sighed, the urge to roll her eyes weighing on her. "Quit teasing, Alan." She patted the stool beside her. "Want to help me finish this off?"
Grant hesitated a moment before throwing sensibility out the window and settled in. He took her hand that was the holding the spoon and brought it to his lips. He covered his mouth over the metal utensil and dragged it against his tongue so the ice cream would fall off. He released his hold and nodded. "Mm, good." He unclipped his belt. On it was a pouch for holding a hunting knife and another smaller pouch for which he kept his raptor claw in. He tossed the item across the kitchen and through the bedroom door where it landed on his bed.
"You know," he stated casually, "I didn't forget."
Ellie eyed him quizzically. "Forget what?"
He gave her a small knowing smile and she smiled back.