She meets Tim by chance.
The room that normally held her 1:30 class had a pipe burst, thus rendering it unusable. Their class had been moved to an empty room in one of the science buildings. A place that Kelly usually did her best to ignore even existed, preferring to stay within the safe confines of her law section.
Her class went without a hitch, and as she was packing up her things to leave, she overheard a few of her classmates talking about hanging around to sit in on a lecture happening in the paleontology department. She hurriedly threw her things in her bag, she definitely wanted to be far away when people started arriving for that.
She was all set to rush out when she heard who the guest lecturer would be, newly minted Dr. Tim Murphy. Or rather, just Timmy as her dad affectionately called him whenever he spoke about his first visit to the islands. Kelly had never met the Murphy siblings, although not for lack of trying. Apparently Lex had attempted numerous times to arrange a meet-up, but as she would later learn, her mother had intercepted and denied every request.
She blamed her insatiable curiosity, which hadn't abated in the years since sneaking aboard a ship bound for a secret island, as she slid in a seat in the front row, right next to the door. She'd only stay for a minute or two, she promised herself. She wasn't interested in dinosaurs, hadn't been when she was a kid, and still wasn't now, she just wanted to see what a fellow survivor looked like.
The man that took to the stage was someone that she probably would pass in a crowd and not give him a second thought. Average height, average weight, everything about him seemed average. He certainly didn't seem like the type of guy who survived multiple encounters with dinosaurs and an electric fence when he was only 10 years old. Then again, she was sure she didn't appear like the type of girl who would drop kick a prehistoric creature in order to save her father from being eaten.
As he clicked through his slide presentation she wondered how he was able to continue to study paleontology. She had gotten a taste and wanted no more, instead turning her sights to international law, much to her father's dismay. She wanted to make sure companies like InGen that operated outside of the U.S boundaries were still held accountable for their mistakes.
She tuned back in when she heard her father's voice. There was a clip of Dr. Ian Malcom playing, explaining Chaos Theory. She smiled, it had been a while since she had seen her dad, she opened up her day planner to schedule a time to give him a call to see if he and Sarah wanted to meet up soon.
When she closed her planner she looked up at the stage, only to meet the eyes of Dr. Murphy himself. His head was tilted to the side studying her like she was a specimen that he couldn't quite figure out. He glanced at the screen then back at her, his eyebrows lifted in an unspoken question, she gave him a smile and lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. His face broke out in a wide grin, and he held out a hand silently asking her to stay after. Nodding yes, she was curious as to how he knew who she was, she didn't particularly take after her father in looks, so it must have been something else.
The rest of the lecture went smoothly, the following Q&A after was a bit more rocky. Everyone wanted to know about his experiences at the original theme park. He firmly stuck to 'no comment' to everyone's dismay. Kelly was aghast at the nerve that some people had, it was clear that Tim was growing uncomfortable with the direction of the questions.
The moderator called for one last question, and Kelly felt herself standing up before she even realized it, "What's your favorite dinosaur?" The room fell into absolute silence, and although no one could probably see it, she knew her face was burning in embarrassment. She silently thanked God for her dark complexion.
But Tim. Tim laughed out loud, "The T-Rex of course, what's yours?" He volleyed back.
"I don't have one." She answered honestly, "Can't stand them, truthfully." The rest of the room seemed to take a collective breath. She could almost hear them wondering why she was even in attendance if she hated dinosaurs.
Tim laughed again, "As controversial as your dad, I see." He gestured to the screen where it was paused on Ian's face.
Her smile dropped and she froze in place, she had used her mother's last name when registering, so most of the people had no idea who her father is. Well, not until now, that was. It had been a while since anyone had put 2 and 2 together and figured out who she was, and she wanted to keep it that way.
Tim's eyes widened to the size of saucers when it seemed to sink in what he had done, and quickly ended the lecture. She sat back down and busied herself with making sure she had everything she came with. She tore out a piece of paper from a notebook and wrote her number on it, there was no way she was sticking around after that. She handed it to the moderator and left as fast as she could.
She waited until she got home and changed into her 'at home' clothes before listening to her messages. A few were from her friends who wanted to check in with her, apparently the news had spread faster than even she could have anticipated. But most were from Tim calling to say sorry. She settled in on her couch and called him back.
"I am so sorry." Were his first words once he realized who it was on the other end.
"No need to apologize, you didn't know." Kelly knew he hadn't outed her on purpose.
"Yeah well, I still feel like an asshole. Lex has already called and torn me a new one." He said somberly.
"Well you can tell her that I say it's okay, hopefully that'll get you off the hook." Kelly shifted on the couch, "Matter of fact, you can give her my number and I'll talk to her myself."
"I'll hold you to that." He warned. "But fair warning, she might not even accept that, an in person meeting might be in order. Lex is very adamant about respecting people's privacy." He paused, "Especially since it's you we're talking about."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing! It's just that when you didn't respond to any of her attempts to meet up after, she took it as a sign that you wanted to be left alone." He rushed to explain.
Kelly sighed, "You can thank my mother for that, I had no idea anyone was reaching out. Not until after I turned 18 and was allowed to see my dad without supervision."
"What?"
"Yeah, my mom went in full protection mode. Which I get, but it wasn't even my dad's fault. I was the one that didn't listen and snuck onto the boat." She revealed. "She had custody taken away and only reinstated under strict supervision at her house."
"Damn, that sounds rough." Tim sympathized. "Dr. Malcolm would get so sad whenever we mentioned trying to contact you that we just stopped. He would still go on and on about you though, he's very proud."
"Is that how you knew it was me during the lecture?" Kelly wondered.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, he has about a billion pictures of you and would pull them out at the drop of a hat. I really liked your Halloween costume a few years back, not too many people can pull off a Burt Reynolds mustache."
Kelly groaned and flung her head back, she was going to kill her dad the next time she saw him. She heard Tim laugh over the phone, "Don't be too hard on him, I'm sure he meant well. Your mom, too. Hell, Eric's mom and dad damn near had a tracking device embedded in his arm." He chuckled.
"Eric was the one that was alone for almost two months right?" Kelly couldn't imagine being there alone for that long.
"Yep, we've all formed a sort of survivor's club." His voice sounded a bit bitter at that last part.
"Well, hey, now that I'm in the know, count me in." She said, "Are there shirts or hats, or something?"
"We're thinking about having jackets made, no design set yet, but if you attend the next meeting then you'll get a say." He cajoled.
"Okay, I see, this is all a trick to get me to buy something, I knew it!" Her phone beeped, a quick look told her it was her dad. "Hey, I gotta go, my dad is on the other line."
"So, can I count you in for our next get together?" he asked, "Lex will kill me if I don't at least offer."
"Yeah, just tell me where and when." She agreed before ending the conversation with a promise to meet him for lunch tomorrow.
While she loved her friends and family, and they did try their best, it would be nice to talk to other people her age who had the same experiences that she had. Her dad and Sarah were nice to talk to, but sometimes they just didn't get it.
She wished her mother hadn't been so steadfast in keeping her from the other kids, it would have gone a long way in overcoming some of her trauma. She still had trouble coping with thunderstorms, although regular rain she was fine with. It was when the lightning started and the thunder rolled that she often found herself cowering under her favorite blanket. She wondered if any of the others had any tips on how to make that ant easier. Her father tried his best, but there was only so much comfort he could provide.
Speaking of her father, she flipped through her contacts until she found his name, "I cannot believe you showed my Halloween pictures without my permission!"