The night of 22nd June 2018.
The air was still flowing, but there was an uncomfortable silence. All the dinosaurs had been let free, Eli Mills had died a brutal death at the hands (rather teeth, the arms are of rather miniscule size) of the greatest dinosaur that ever walked, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a much-less illustrious Carnotaurus. Velociraptor Blue had also left the scene.
Claire, Owen, Maisie, Zia and Franklin were the only people left at the scene.
They had no clue what to do, let them be frank as in Frank Anthony. With dinosaurs now free to trot the globe like a seagull on filling-his-stomach duty, or some avid traveller bent on getting his or her name in the Guiness Book of Records, the world thus in chaos, and a girl whose origins had shocked them to the core (and with no knowledge of the whereabouts of Mills or her caretaker Iris), the 4 adults (well, mostly Claire & Owen, being the ones who found out said origins in the first place, bummer) were juggling many balls in the air.
"I think we should get outta here before the cops show up," Owen said, breaking the silence, and breaking the embrace he, Claire and Maisie were in. She was a little startled, but resumed a normal face faster than you could expect.
"Mr. Mills had a car at the back of the mansion," Maisie said, taking the 4 by surprise. "We could use that to get outta here."
Owen smiled. She was a smart one. "You know what? That's actually not a bad idea. You're a smart one kid. The keys must be inside. I'll just go get them."
As Owen walked inside, Claire could see Maisie's smile. Her life had been so dark, that the smile on her face when Owen smiled and approved of her smartness, melted Claire though she had known this child for less than a day.
Soon, some minutes passed in silence, with the crickets buzzing, before Owen's footsteps were the loudest thing on the scene.
"Hey, I managed to find a bunch. I think they match."
"They are the keys," Maisie replied. She knew the place better than any of the 5. That was her home after all.
"Perfect," he said.
Claire and Owen were ready to hop in. Zia and Franklin had found another car (yeah, there were 2 of them) and drove back to the DPG HQ, as far away from the mansion as they could.
They were about to go in, when Claire gasped and fell in pain. Owen rushed to her side, trying to let panic not show on his face.
"Hey, you.." Owen started, when he decided that maybe asking her if she was okay, having been stabbed by a hybrid carnivore dinosaur, wasn't a smart thing after all. "Just, put your weight on me, okay?"
"I can walk," Claire shrugged.
"No, you can't."
"Owen, please."
"That's a wound caused by a hybrid creature which tried to eat all of us for dinner, and about whose DNA we don't know a thing. It could infect you in a bad way."
Claire realised that she had forgotten the protective side of this badass. Surviving a volcanic eruption, thwarting the plan of a hideous man, stopping an equally, if not more, hideous hybrid dinosaur, and.. well, the release of the dinosaurs into the wild, obviously drained out that memory for a while.
After staring at the ground for a while, she sighed and said, "Okay." Maisie walked over to the car, while Owen gently guided Claire step by step.
And as he shouldered her weight on himself, and gently held her hand, Claire Dearing fell in love with Owen Grady all over again.