Though Owen was surprised at all that had happened in the last few hours and that he was blown away, more than once, his first thought was how was it possible that Blue had an egg, followed by concern for her safety. Somewhere back in his mind that most reptiles do not lay only unfertilized eggs. It is possible for there to be unfertilized eggs in a clutch of fertilized ones. He knew that the dinosaur DNA was crossed with that of frogs, but Blue had been created as a weapon of war. What was her entire genetic makeup?
Blue heard the helicopter before he did. Not only naturally were her eyesight, hearing and sense of smell greater than Owen's, but her sense of touch, especially on her snout was extremely sensitive. She had turned her head, looked to the sky above the trees and Owen instinctively turned to look where she was looking. A black dot just above the horizon. In Owen's good natured optimism he figured it was carrying a water bucket to help put out his house fire, but his own sense of urgency knew that Blue had to get out of sight.
"Run Blue!" He shouted at her pointing back to the trees that she must've been hiding in before his rescue. He offered the egg back to her, but she didn't take it, only turning and running at full speed towards the tree line. Owen looked down at the egg in his hands. Why had she left it? He had to get the egg to safety, away from him. Since Jurassic World, his circle of friends was small, and those he trusted was smaller.
Blessedly, Owen's truck was parked near the barn. It was a late model Chevy, and Owen hoped the keys were in his pocket and not laying on the counter. With egg in one hand, he patted his pockets with the other, and sighed feeling a comforting metal lump. He dug the keys out and sprinted to the truck. He gave one last glance at the burning ruins of his cabin and sped down the dirt road from his farm, passing the fire trucks that were too late.
The door opened and the redhead of his dreams stood there until he opened his mouth and she slammed it in his face. Owen hadn't remembered her being that mad at him when she left. He knocked again, the door didn't open. He knocked a 3rd time. Owen wasn't about to apologize through the door. The door opened and Claire once again stood there, dressed in jeans and Owen recognized one of his old tee shirts. She was barefoot, long hair loose around her shoulders.
"What do you want?" She snapped at him. Her eyes were what he had loved the most, such a beautiful hazel, and depending on what she wore, they looked green or gold or both.
"What? No hello? Long time no see?" He asked playfully. He'd never admit that he had gotten butterflies just seeing her again.
"Owen!" She snapped at him. He shrugged a backpack from his shoulder and held it out to her.
"You need to see this," he said to her, offering the backpack to her. She hesitated looking from the backpack to him, seeing his playful demeanor was dead serious. Claire took the backpack and went to unzip in. He placed his hand over hers. "Not in the hall." Claire looked again at him and then backed into her apartment so he could enter.
"Where's Maisie?" Owen asked once the door closed behind him and Claire had carried the backpack to a small kitchen table.
"She's at school," Claire replied unzipping the backpack and looking within. It contained a pale brown egg, wrapped protectively in what looked like Owen's gym clothes. It certainly smelled like his gym clothes. "What is this?" She asked him, lifting the egg carefully from the clothes.
"The Russian Mafia paid me a visit, they burned my house with me inside it," He was pleased to see the shock and concern on Claire's face but added before she could speak, "Blue dragged me from the house and gave me that before running off into the woods."
"She left her egg with you?" Claire asked incredulously, turning it over in her hands, already having forgotten Owen's peril. It was slightly warm, the surface rough, covered in small bumps. Owen shrugged.
"Maybe she thought it was safer with me?" He guessed out loud.
"How does she even have an egg? She's the only velociraptor in existence."
"Beats the hell out of me," he replied to her. "Figured Zia actually might be able to explain it."
"I'll call her," Claire said and a moment later returned with her cell phone, hanging up from a call, "Zia's on her way."
"We've got time," Owen stated playfully, "Care to catch up on old times?" He grabbed her wrist and spun her towards him, leaning down for a kiss when she immediately slipped away from his grasp.
"I'm with someone, Owen," she said quickly. Owen looked around her apartment, he saw zero masculine touches, but then Claire liked being in control. She had decorated his cabin, there had been a slight argument over the leather couches and chairs, Claire had wanted one of those couches from IKEA that you can rearrange the shape of by changing the way the pieces went together. Owen had put his foot down on that one. "He doesn't live with me," Claire said reading Owen's mind or just his expression.
"What's his name?" Owen asked trying not to sound as jealous as he was.
"Gordon Sellers, he's a penetration tester," she said and after Owen snorted trying to contact a chuckle, and finally just laughing. God he was so immature. "He's an ethical hacker." She said angrily at him.
"If I saw that on a business card I would totally think he was in a different line of work," Owen had to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, that was entirely too funny. It was the perfect comic relief he needed for the crappy Thursday he was having.
"It's not a raptor egg," was the first thing Zia Rodriguez said after examining the egg with various instruments.
"What?" Owen and Claire both said at once. Zia had come over immediately with a duffel full of tools to examine the egg, and to keep it incubated so as not to lose it before it hatched.
"It is: Struthio camelus," Zia explained, saw the blank expressions on her friends faces and sighed, "Common ostrich," she stated.
"So Blue saves my life and brings me breakfast?" Owen asked, seeing their expressions, and continued, "Why would she give me this egg?"
"It could have been for a number of reasons, maybe she knows that the dinosaurs at the park all came from unfertilized ostrich eggs. This could be her way of telling you she wants either a mate or offspring or both. Or she just brought you breakfast." Zia replied. Owen's jaw worked. Blue was alone, and he felt sorry for her, but it was safer for the humans if she remained alone. Like the T. Rex, yes it was the last of it's kind too, but for the sake of humanity, it would be better when they died out.
"You aren't planning to make a male raptor are you?" Claire asked watching the wheels in Owen's mind turn.
"Come on, you guys know I wouldn't do that, besides I don't have access to that kind of facilities or money," Owen brushed off the idea. That was when the door opened and a slender blond man entered that Owen had never seen before. He looked shyly at them all, adjusted small wire frame glasses on his nose and smiled.
"I didn't know you had company," he said to Claire. Claire's face turned as red as her hair. In his hand was a bouquet of roses.
"Uh, Gordon, Zia you know and this is Owen," Claire introduced and Gordon seemed to flinch slightly.
"This is Owen?" Gordon asked and suddenly put on a spine and an attempt at bravado by marching straight to Owen and shaking his hand. Owen made sure his grip was extra firm. Gordon was well dressed, gray suit, pink tie, hair neatly trimmed, but in Owen's opinion was a limp noodle.
"So you're the pene-" Claire kicked him in the shin and Owen's smile faltered in pain. Ow! He mouthed at her as Gordon leaned down for a kiss, that Claire returned awkwardly. After a moment of more awkward silence of Gordon giving Claire the flowers, seemed to spot the egg that Zia was holding.
"Ostrich egg, that makes a big omelette," Gordon said walking to the kitch and removing a large bowl, a whisk and opening the fridge like he was extremely familiar with the kitchen. "What do you like in your omelette?" He asked getting onions and green peppers from the fridge. He suddenly stopped staring at the three who stared back at him incredulously. "What?" He finally asked.
"We don't have the egg to eat it," Claire finally explained after they all exchanged glances.
"Then why do you have an ostrich egg?" He asked as Claire took down a vase from the cabinet and filled it with water for the roses.
"A friend gave it to Owen, who was just leaving," Claire continued.
"I was?" Owen asked and side stepped another shin kick. "Apparently I am. I'll take my egg, thank you." He turned to Gordon, "Oh and dumbass, she hates roses, prefers tulips." Claire swatted at him. "Glad you didn't tell him about Blue."
"I did," she replied, "He made the software that tracks the dinosaurs." She smiled shyly, "That's how I met him." Claire pushed Owen out the door and closed it behind him.