Ch 3:

The loud, obnoxious beeping of the familiar alarm clock made Sierra groan and roll over on her bed. She blindly reached down for the floor until her hand found the annoying device. Instead of throwing it across the small room like part of her wanted, she instead reached down and pushed the top button with a finger, silencing the sound.

She rolled back over onto her back, pressing her palms into her eye sockets. She so desperately wanted to go back to sleep, but she knew she should really get up. And when her brain registered why she should get up, she promptly sat up, swinging her feet over the side of the bed. She stretched her arms high above her head for a few moments before relaxing and taking a moment to survey her room.

It was late July now, and she'd called this small bungalow on Isla Nublar home for almost four months. At Owen's insistence, she'd made the room completely hers, decorating it how she wanted. He'd had to help buy her a few things, but he insisted he wanted it to feel like home for her. And it did.

Her bed was covered with a Harry Potter blanket, the Hogwarts crest covering most of it. A blue, stuffed T-Rex sat by her pillow; she'd made the toy her second day on the island when Owen took her to Jurassic Traders Outpost, which had a 'Create Your Own Dino' workshop.

Sierra stood up, pulling her blanket back into place on her bed before taking the small step it took her to reach her closet. There was an Avengers movie poster on the closet door from the latest movie, which Owen had taken her to see last month. Pulling the door open, her eyes quickly surveyed the inside.

She'd hesitantly suggested a change to the interior of the closet after a week of living there, and Owen was quick to complete her request. Since she had drawers under her bed as well as a couple small wardrobes in her bathroom, she figured she didn't need the whole 6 ½ foot long closet for her clothes. So, they'd turned half of the space into a small study area. They turned it into a small desk where she could set her laptop or work on homework, with a small cushioned stool that could slide under the desk, and a shelf for her books and novels above her head. On her desk sat a Starbucks cup, but the logo was one used at the Jurassic World Starbucks, with the image of a T-Rex skeleton in the middle of the circle and 'Isla Nublar' under the Starbucks logo. She was using it as a pencil holder.

Sierra grabbed a tank top from the closest, then a pair of shorts from the drawer under her bed, before stepping into the bathroom. She hadn't done much decorating in there other than putting a few seashells she'd found on the sink. She quickly got dressed and threw her hair up into a bun to keep it off her neck. She already had a small sunburn across her nose and shoulders, but she figured she'd be inside for the most part today.

As it was summer, she didn't have to worry about meeting with her tutor for the most part. She'd left Sierra with a few reading assignments to complete before the end of August, when their lessons would resume, but that was it. It was summer vacation. And of course she lived in the most prestigious vacation location on the planet.

Which had it's moments.

Summer on Isla Nublar was hot and muggy. No worse than what she'd experienced when she was younger, but still. Hot and muggy. Her wardrobe mostly consisted of short sleeves or tank tops, and shorts. The park was also excessively crowded. Owen estimated that during their busy, summer days the park had between 15 and twenty thousand guests a day.

Which was only part of why she was waking up at 6:30 in the morning during summer vacation. She figured she might be able to beat the morning breakfast rush if she got going now.

She hurried out into the main part of the trailer, stepping into her tennis shoes and swinging onto her shoulder her military green canvas shoulder bag Owen got her a few years ago. She hurried outside and got onto her four-wheeler, speeding away to try and get to Main Street as fast as possible. She had the way memorized by now, after driving there almost everyday for her tutoring in a small office in the Innovation Center. She'd even found a few shortcuts since then.

It wasn't nearly as crowded as it would likely be within the hour when Sierra pulled in to Main Street, but there was still a decent-sized crowd already up and getting breakfast before the park opened at 8. She parked her four wheeler in the small side-street between the Innovation Center and Starbucks. She'd laughed when Owen first showed her that there was a Starbucks on Isla Nublar, because of course there was, there was a Starbucks everywhere. But she'd be lying if she said she hadn't visited it a few times in the last few months.

There was a short line already forming in the coffee shop, but it wasn't long before she could order. She bought a large black coffee, a small white mocha, and three breakfast sandwiches to-go. Balancing a drink carrier and to-go bag on her lap while driving a four-wheeler through the jungle was a challenge, but she managed it. Soon, she was pulling up to the now-completed Raptor Paddock and research center.

She parked the four-wheeler and carried the breakfast inside, no longer hesitant to enter the building after doing so dozens of times since first arriving. She walked down the hallway confidently until she came to the familiar lab.

It wasn't Owen's office, but the science lab she'd seen the first time. But instead of a few scientists, the only person in the lab was Owen. She tried not to smirk when she saw him.

He was sitting in a chair with a notebook in his lap, his feet propped up on the round incubator in front of him. His head was bent forward and he was obviously asleep.

Creeping into the lab, Sierra approached him and waved the drink carrier just under his nose. His nose twitched, making her grin, before he snorted and his head jerked up. He blinked blearily and looked around before his eyes landed on her.

"Oh. Hi." he muttered, rubbing his eyes to try and wake up. "What time is it?"

"Almost 7:30." Sierra answered, pulling a chair over to sit by him. She passed him the nasty black coffee and the bag of sandwiches after taking one for herself.

Owen took a huge chug of the coffee before sighing. "You're awesome. Thanks. Can't believe I fell asleep."

"Well, you can only go so long without sleep before you pass out." Sierra pointed out after taking a sip of her own sugary beverage. She glanced into the incubator, noting how all four eggs were now wiggling and occasionally chirping. They were the standard dinosaur eggs that she'd seen previously, with a QR code printed on the side to keep track of which one was which. "They still haven't hatched?"

Owen didn't normally spend the night at the center, but the eggs were due to hatch at any moment. One of them had started chirping and wiggling yesterday, a sign it could hatch soon. But that "soon" could be any time between an hour and a couple days. And since Owen needed to be here when they hatch, he couldn't very well leave in case they decided to hatch when he wasn't there.

"Not yet." Owen sighed. "The last egg started moving about three this morning. So I'm hoping they'll start hatching soon."

"They probably won't be long, now." Sierra tried to reason, but she honestly had no clue. The eggs could all hatch at different times, maybe not even until tomorrow.

They sat and chatted for another a couple hours, during which other scientists came and went, a few stopping to monitor the eggs' vitals. She knew some didn't like her being there, but she'd been given the 'OK' by Simon Masrani himself. He even joked about getting her a summer job eventually, though she wasn't legally old enough. But he was fine with her doing little jobs around the lab to help Owen out. Some people weren't nearly as okay with it, but they wouldn't dare speak against their boss.

Sierra scooped up the garbage from their breakfast and crossed the lab to throw it in a trash can. As she did, the door swung open and a man she'd glimpsed before sauntered in, hands hooked on his belt.

"Bright and early, I see." the man greeted Owen.

"Yes and no. I've been here all night." Owen pointed out, raking a hand through his hair.

"That mean I'll be seeing your latest report soon?" the man guessed, though Sierra could tell from his tone it wasn't a question so much as an order.

Owen threw him an irritable glance. He was tired and obviously a bit grumpy, the coffee only helping a bit. "I haven't gotten around to writing the latest report. Besides, the eggs are due to hatch any time now, so I figured it would be more beneficial to wait until the eggs had hatched so I'd have more vital information for the report."

The man snorted, shooting a glance at the incubator. "So, they haven't hatched yet? I thought that was supposed to have happened by now."

"They're eggs, unborn animals, Vic. They choose when they want to be born, not us. Besides, it's right around the three month mark, so they're on schedule, not late." Owen countered, making a note in his journal. "They should hatch today, if not tomorrow."

Vic snorted again just as Sierra hesitantly made her way back toward her seat. He caught sight of her and narrowed his eyes.

"And who are you?" he asked. "This obviously isn't a tourist attraction, kid. You don't have clearance to be here."

Sierra opened her mouth wordlessly, but couldn't come up with anything to say. This man, Vic, Owen called him, made her nervous. His demeanor reminded her of her father. Sure, he was slightly-overweight and obviously wouldn't have served in any military for several years, but his arrogance and stature reminded her clearly of her father.

"Actually, she does have clearance." Owen countered, looking up and giving Vic a stern look. "Masrani gave her the okay and everything. Don't believe me, give him a call."

"You can't be serious." Vic complained. "She's-what-ten? She can't-"

All speaking was cut off at the quiet sound of cracking. Owen shot to his feet, staring intently down at the wiggling eggs. One of them had a small crack in it.

"I need everyone out of the room." Owen ordered clearly. All the scientists in the room froze before promptly hurrying for the door, probably having been warned about this event ahead of time.

"Why? I'm overseeing this project." Vic argued while Sierra started inching her way out of the room. She knew how important it was that Owen be alone in the room when the eggs hatched, but part of her still wanted to see the egg hatch.

"Because I already explained the importance of them imprinting on me to everyone involved, so I need to be the only person in the room." Owen explained tensely, trying to keep his voice down. He didn't want to agitate the soon-to-be-hatched raptors. "We can't run the risk of one of the raptors imprinting on someone else, because that could be the difference between success and failure for this project."

Sierra didn't hear if anything else was said as she stepped out into the hallway. She joined the couple scientists in front of the small computer monitor against the wall by the large windows. The screen showed a close-up, live video of the inside of the incubator, from just above the eggs so they could have a good view. From there she could see the one cracked egg. As she watched, it happened again. It almost looked like something was trying to punch it's way out of the egg shell, a small spot lurching out before basically falling back into place.

She sensed more than saw Vic join her in the hallway, but she heard him grumbling about her brother sending him from the room. She also heard him calling someone on his cell to inform whoever it was of the egg hatching. Sierra tried to ignore him and focus on the video.

It was almost an hour of nothing really happening. That first egg just kept cracking and getting pecked at. During that time Vic was getting increasingly impatient before he decided to leave. He tried forcing Sierra to leave as well, still insisting she wasn't allowed to be there at all. It was a miracle that Simon Masrani himself arrived with Dr. Henry Wu. Mr. Masrani was quick to tell Vic in no uncertain terms that she was welcome to stay and that he'd given her permission to help Owen with his work. So, he stomped off and thankfully left Sierra to watch the hatching in peace.

By the second hour, two of the eggs had hatched. The last two were still just chirping and shaking. The first egg hatched just before 9:30 in the morning. The second egg had started hatching around nine and practically burst from the egg barely five minutes after the first. Even on the video, Sierra could tell the second raptor was just a tiny bit bigger than her older sister.

During both hatches, Sierra found herself glancing back and forth between the computer screen and through the window at her brother. He was bent over the incubator the whole time, a proud, awed smile permanently etched onto his face as he whispered words only the hatchlings could hear.

After the first two raptors hatched, Owen called them back into the lab on the intercom nearby, explaining the other two eggs didn't show any signs of hatching just yet. There was no point keeping the scientists from their work if the last two weren't going to hatch for an hour or more.

Sierra hesitantly followed the adults back into the lab, hanging back a bit as Dr. Wu approached Owen and ran some tests and vitals on the two raptors. She winced with sympathy when the little hatchlings squeaked at getting their blood drawn for samples.

After about five minutes, Masrani and Dr. Wu left and Sierra felt like she could approach the incubator. By now one of the lab techs had brought over a tray of items that was placed on a table next to the incubator. On it was what looked like a bag of dead insects, some chunks of raw meat, and a milky substance in a bottle.

As she came to stand next to Owen, she saw that he was gently holding one of the raptors in his hands. It was so small he could cradle it in his palms. As she approached, he gently laid the raptor in the straw-covered incubator before picking up the bag of insects. The second, bigger raptor instantly pushed to the edge of the incubator and snatched up the small insect Owen dropped for them. The first raptor hissed at her sister, snapping her tiny jaws.

"Hey, hey, there's plenty." Owen chided gently, tossing an insect to the other raptor. "You wanna try feeding them these while I try the meat?" Owen suggested, passing the bag of insects over to Sierra. "Just watch your fingers. They've already got teeth."

Smiling, Sierra took the bag, watching as the raptors gave her their undivided attention for the moment. At least until Owen picked up some raw meat; then their attention was split as if they didn't know which food they wanted.

Sierra dropped a small bug for the first raptor to catch. This raptor had bluish-gray skin, but the most unique marking was that she had a blue stripe on each of her sides that went from her eyes to the tip of her tail. Both stripes were outlined with white, almost highlighting them. But as she turned her head to glance back at Owen, Sierra noticed that on her right side the blue surrounded her eye, but on the left side the blue stripe didn't quite reach her eye.

She glanced over at the bigger, second raptor as it literally leapt for the piece of meat Owen was dropping. This one looked very different from her sister. She had an almost teal-colored skin with a tan belly, no stripes in sight. Her face also looked a bit different due to the small bumps on her nose, right in front of her eyes.

"What are you going to name them?" she asked Owen as she tossed a bug to the bigger raptor.

"Not sure yet." Owen admitted. "Probably going to wait until they're a bit older, see if more of their personalities come out."

About an hour later, Sierra and everyone else had to clear out as the last two eggs showed signs of hatching.

By noon, the third egg had hatched, revealing a brown raptor with dark blue stripes and dark blue around her eyes. Almost fifteen minutes later, the fourth and final raptor hatched, though she seemed to struggle to make it out of the egg. This one was green with dark, almost black, stripes.

After all four had hatched and imprinted on Owen, Sierra was once again allowed back into the lab, getting the chance to help feed the two new raptors.

She couldn't stop smiling as she fed the raptors, and then watched as they started getting sleepy. The egg shells had been removed from the incubator, leaving just a warm, soft, straw-covered place for them to play and rest. With their bellies full and probably tired from hatching their way into the world, the four little raptors curled up together in the straw to fall asleep.

"You can pet them if you want." Owen whispered as they watched the snoozing infants. Sierra stared at him in shock. "They're just born, they're asleep. This is about the only chance you'll really get to pet them. So, go ahead."

Biting her lip in a failed attempt to smother her grin, Sierra carefully leaned over the warm incubator and reached out her hand. Her fingers gently brushed the head of the one closest, on the edge of the little raptor pile; the green one. She shifted in her sleep and sleepily blinked open one big, amber eye. Sierra pulled away, expecting to get snapped at, but the little raptor just went back to sleep.

She gently petted the other three, hardly disturbing them at all, before leaving them to sleep in peace. Her and Owen needed to get ready to move them into their new little nursery down the hall, designed by Owen and a couple of the other handlers.

She couldn't wait to watch these little raptors grow up.

AN: We finally get to meet the baby raptors! Aren't they so precious! To keep the story moving, they're only going to be little for a couple chapters, so enjoy their baby-cuteness while it lasts!

Please review and let me know what you all think so far! And if there's anything you'd like to see happen in this story, I won't know unless you tell me! Thanks!