"Hey," Andrew greeted Owen as he walked into the lab's nursery, clapping Owen on the shoulder. "How's she doing?"
Turning his head to glance quickly at Andrew before letting his gaze fall back on Blue, Owen smiled wide. "She's doing really well." He reached out and rolled her onto her stomach and turned back towards Andrew. "She's already trying to lift her head."
Both men watched Blue squeak a few times as she struggled to lift her head. She kicked out her left leg, flipping herself back onto her back and let out a long squeak.
"Tenacious." Andrew chuckled. "She's trying to stand up. Should only be another week before she will have enough strength in her neck and legs to start moving around."
Owen nodded as he listened, his eyes staying locked on Blue. "How are the other eggs? I haven't been over there yet this morning."
"Just came from there actually. Small crack on one of the eggs, but no active hatching yet." Andrew informed him.
"Great, I don't even have a schedule down for one and now the others are starting to hatch."
Andrew reached out and patted Owen on the back. "You have Barry. Besides you've only got one out of four the first round…" Andrew sighed heavily, leaning over the glass barrier to reach in and pat Blue's head.
"You think it'll be the same turnout?" Owen wondered. "You can't have a pack with just two raptors."
"Na," Andrew shook his head. "All four of these eggs seem pretty strong. I'm confident at least half with survive. Three or four raptors would be a good size pack for you to handle."
Owen nodded in agreement, both men falling silent as they watched Blue do her best to move around her nest. Unable to fight the urge anymore, Owen scooped her up and she immediately curled up in his hands.
"She likes you." Andrew smiled, leaning forward to watch her relax in Owen's hands.
"Guess that's a good thing. When should I expect her to attempt to bite a finger off or something?"
Andrew laughed as he stood up straight to answer Owen. "You've got another few weeks. You should put in a request for protective gear. Claire usually approves stuff like that pretty quickly."
"Oh, Its got to go through her?" Owen asked, doing his best to try and keep his voice normal and hide the excitement that he may have an excuse to see her.
"Yeah, I can run it up to her if you'd like. I have to hand in Rexy's stats later on anyway." Andrew offered.
"No, I can do it, but thanks." Owen said quickly, hesitating on the second part of what Andrew said. "Rexy? As in the infamous T-rex?"
Andrew nodded.
"You have to give her checkups?"
"Well," Andrew laughed at Owen's wide-eyed stare. "She's asleep when I do it, but yes, I have to make sure the queen of the island is healthy."
"Mind if I tag along?" Owen asked, placing Blue back in her nest for the rest of her morning nap.
"Yeah, sure." Andrew answered and gestured back towards the door. "I just have to finish my rounds in here and I'll be heading over. Normally doesn't take that long. Claire gets pissed when Rexy's not fully awake for her first showing." He couldn't help but sound bitter at the end of his sentence.
Owen wanted to say something. He wanted to defend her, but Andrew was not the first employee to comment on Claire's fierce temper. The woman he hung out with before sunrise that morning was not anything like anyone has explained. Sure he's seen her in action during the meeting yesterday morning, but he didn't see any reason to pin her as bitchy.
"Be back in a bit." Andrew said, pulling Owen from his thoughts.
Owen pulled up a chair and settled in on watching Blue sleep while he waited for Andrew to come back.
"Hey… Owen…" Andrew shoved Owen's arm, causing him to jolt upright from his slumped over position. He had fallen asleep while watching Blue nap.
"Damn," Owen stretched and stood up, the muscles in his legs finally punishing him from his run this morning. "Son of a bitch." He groaned as he forced his muscles to stretch out.
"Rough night?" Andrew laughed as he led the way out of the nursery.
"No, rough morning. I pushed myself a little too hard during my run."
Andrew glanced quickly in Owen's direction. "You're a morning runner?"
Owen snorted and shook his head. "Not normally, but I didn't think it would be too smart to go back to sleep for two hours, so I went for a run instead. It's only 8am and I'm already regretting that decision."
"Oh," Andrew nodded slowly. He immediately thought back to when Claire used to force him out of bed to run with her. He wanted to ask Owen if he happened to see her out there. Did she still run? Many mornings after they broke up he tried to get himself to wake up to meet her for her morning run, but he had to admit, he just wasn't a morning person. Besides the one time he actually dragged himself out of bed she was no where to be found.
Owen paused outside the T-Rex's paddock, he couldn't help feeling like he was nine again. "I've been here a week and I haven't been around the park yet. Sort of wish I had." He admitted as he looked around at the setup.
"No worries, you'll be here for a while. It's surprising, but you get used to them." Andrew explained. He scanned his badge and Owen followed him into the holding pen. An ACU team was already set up, ready with the tranquilizer guns.
Andrew placed his bag on the ground and sifted through, pulling out everything he would need. "Ready?" He asked, looking up at Owen.
He nodded, eyes wide with excitement.
"Ok, guys, I want one shot each." Andrew stepped behind the ACU team with Owen practically bouncing beside him.
Once Rexy was asleep, one of the ACU men checked her over, waving for Andrew to approach. Owen stood silent as he watched Andrew
XXX
Settling into her chair, Claire let out a long whine when she noticed the pile of paperwork. She immediately started shuffling through, sorting out the most urgent first. She was just settling into a steady pace through the paperwork when her intercom went off. "Claire, Andrew is ready for the T-Rex." Zara's voice rang through.
Glancing at her watched, she groaned heavily before pressing the button to answer her. "On my way." Claire said and made her way to the control room.
Most of the time Claire liked to oversee the examinations on the larger dinosaurs. She liked being an extra set of eyes in the control room, making sure both dinosaur and humans stay safe. Plus is was always her way of making sure Andrew stayed safe. After they broke up she still found herself anxious whenever he was face to face with one of the carnivores. It was a hard habit to break.
"Anything new?" Claire wondered as she took her normal spot between Vivian and Lowery.
"Nope." Lowery answered, leaning back in his chair. "Everyone is on schedule for opening for the day."
Claire nodded her approval. "Paddock nine. Dr. Carter is giving the T-Rex it's examination." She said, pointing at the larger screen in the center of the wall. Vivian immediately brought up the feed from the paddock and Claire gasped, immediately trying to hide it with a cough. Was that Owen with Andrew?
Studying the screen, Vivian squinted her eyes. "Who's with Dr. Carter?"
"I think that's the new raptor trainer." Lowery answered her.
"Animal Behaviorist." Claire corrected.
"Yeah," Lowery agreed. "What's his name? Owen."
"Oh, Owen Grady! He's got quite a few fans." Vivian leaned forward to try and see Owen better.
"Fans?" Claire repeated.
"Yeah, Cassandra asked him to go to Margaritaville tomorrow night. Becky gave him free breakfast this morning. Anna…" Vivian trailed off at the wave of Claire's hand.
"Ok, I get it." She took a deep breath, trying to force away the tinge of jealousy she felt.
"Look girls," Lowery grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "It's a new shiny toy!"
"With muscles." Vivian added.
"You guys need to get new topics to talk about." Claire said with a shake of her head.
Glancing down at her watch, she tapped her foot impatiently as she glared at the live feed. Andrew had taken his time, allowing Owen to step up beside the T-Rex. Claire couldn't help the panic that gripped at her heart. Narrowing her eyes as she watched Andrew motion for Owen to touch the sleeping carnivore. Her hands balled into tight fists, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest as Owen's hand touched the T-Rex. Unable to contain her anxiety she reached over Vivian's shoulder and grabbed her phone, her focus on the radio clipped to Andrew's pants. "Dr. Carter," she didn't bother to hide the aggravation in her voice. "This is not show and tell, please finish your examination. Park is opening in fifteen minutes. I want that asset ready for it's first showing."
At the sound of Claire's voice through the radio, Andrew fumbled for a moment as he tried to unhook it from his belt. The corner of Claire's lips twitched as she kept from smiling. He was caught and he knew she was pissed.
"Finishing up now." Andrew said quickly.
Owen's eyebrow raised as he listened to Claire's voice over the radio. She even sounded sexy though the static of the airways.
"Shit." Andrew grumbled as he cleaned up. "Sorry, Owen. If she calls you into her office just blame it on me."
"Blame what on you? Why would I get called to her office?" Owen wondered.
"The Ice Queen doesn't like anything off schedule." One of the ACU officers said, pointing at the camera and laughing when Andrew jumped to his feet, glaring at him.
Owen opened his mouth to defend Claire, surprised at how angry actually hearing someone call her that made him, but Andrew beat him to it.
"Hey, Dean, enough." Andrew shook his head, sending him a warning glare.
As if on cue Andrew's cell phone rang. With a heavy sigh he answered it, turning away from Dean and the other officers laughter. "Hey." Andrew said, answering the phone.
"We need to talk." Claire said, immediately hanging up the phone.
"Shit." Andrew swore under his breath.
Dean laughed at the look on Andrew's face. Clapping his hand down on his shoulder, "Been a while since you've been summoned for punishment."
"Shouldn't you be back at your post by now?" Andrew snapped and turned towards Owen.
"Guess I'm up first. Why don't you head back to the lab and I'll meet up with you later."
Owen started walking with Andrew back out of the paddock leaving the T-Rex to wake up on her own.
"Is she really that mad?" Owen asked as they crossed the park now sparkled with the first few guests of the day.
"She'll get over it. I'll talk to her."
The two separated as Owen entered the lab and Andrew went right for the elevators.
Owen reached for his phone immediately searching for Claire's name. He sent her a quick text. You're mad?
He was relieved that she responded almost immediately. Andrew must not have made it to her office yet. You shouldn't have been in there. These dinosaurs are dangerous.
Owen smiled as he typed his response. Worried about me? Trust me, I can take care of myself. Look I'm sorry if I got Andrew in trouble. I asked to go with him. I'll make it up to you. Anything you want.
Owen began to wonder if he crossed a line when her response wasn't immediate like before. He starting to type another apology, but before he could send it, she replied. Trying to bribe me, Mr. Grady?
Owen's eyes grew wide, immediate butterflies flocked through his stomach. Was she flirting with him? He could definitely play that game. Just say the word, Dearing, I can fulfill any desire you may have.
Claire's eyes grew wide, her phone gripped tightly in her hands as she reread Owen's last text. She often hated texting because she could never decipher the tone of the other person's words very well, but this was definitely flirting. Her stomach fluttered as she scrambled to think of a response. She was never very good at flirting, but she didn't want this conversation to end.
The intercom beeped on Claire's desk, causing her to jump in surprise, her phone clattering to the floor. "Dr. Carter is here." Zara informed her.
Clearing her throat, Claire pressed her finger down on the call button to respond. "Send him in." She said and quickly dropped to her knees to search for her phone that slid under her desk.
"Claire?" Andrew said softly as he looked around the empty office.
"Here!" Claire called out, jumping to her feet. She waved her phone in the air. "Dropped it." She explained and sat back down in her chair. She let out a deep breath, doing her best to cool the heat in her cheeks from Owen's text.
"Look," Andrew started, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite Claire. "I'm sorry I allowed him to come with me. The first showing is not for another twenty minutes. She'll be nice and angry from being tranqued. Should be a good show." Andrew did his best to come up with anything that would ease her anger.
Glancing down at her phone she couldn't hide her smile. "You know what," Claire sighed and leaned back in her chair. "It's fine. You're right. Just stop through the control room to make sure she's up and ready. Call me if she isn't. I have a meeting or I'd go check myself."
Andrew stuttered for a moment, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips as he focused on her smile. It's been a while since he brought out a smile like that on her. She looked relaxed and happy. "Sure, I'll head over there now." He stood up and paused at the door, turning slightly to see Claire looking down at her phone, her smile still in place. "That looks good on you. I've missed that look." Andrew said, motioning towards her smile when she looked up at him.
Claire nodded and waved at Andrew as he slipped out of her office. Focusing back on her phone she nibbled her bottom lip before sending Owen her response. Is that a promise?