Hi all! I am SO SORRY! On incredibly short notice I had to pick up and move an entire household including my husband, my two year old, and my mother-in-law. The entire first week we were here I had no way of uploading and barely any time at all to write. Stress leads to quite the writer's block. It took so much to get this out, I hope you guys like it. As always, thank you to everyone who liked, followed, and reviewed.

I'm Gone

A people person, Liz was not. However, she was pleasantly surprised with the company of the small group that had formed. It was made up of Shelby, her girlfriend Lauren, two guys from maintenance, (for the life of her, Liz couldn't remember their names) Vivian from control and Matt, a vet tech who worked mostly with the younger herbivores in the petting zoo.

"So where did Shelby pick you up?" Lauren asked, making Liz shoot her a questioning look. They had moved up to the top floor and were happily nestled in a corner, away from prying ears of guests so that they could trade horror stories of working with the public in peace. Lauren ran a hand across Shelby's shoulders, making the brunette lean in. "She's got a knack for bringing people together."

"Ah," Liz was slightly uncomfortable as all eyes turned to her, but explained how Shelby had been her angel in a green apron by making her the strongest coffee possible that morning. "I'm still on that caffeine high." She laughed before motioning between the two women. "So how long has this been a thing?"

Shelby scrunched her button nose in thought and looked at Lauren. "Oh, I think we've been dating what, eight months?"

"Nine." Lauren corrected. "But we've only really been public about 5 of those."

"She was a greeter on the docks the day I came in." Shelby explained, gushing like any good romantic. "She was just so beautiful. Instant crush. Then she started coming into the Starbuck's for coffee and we hit it off." She tilted her head up and Lauren leaned down to land a quick kiss. "She's been stuck with me ever since."

Liz was just a bit more fuzzy than normal about love at the moment, having downed the Zombie she ordered with Owen and now milking a "Tyrannosaurus-Tini" that everyone had insisted she get. After sipping, she realized that it was basically an overpriced, renamed Appletini. "That's so amazing. It's like destiny brought you guys together or something."

The group fell comfortably silent after that. Content to enjoy the cool night air, the breeze, and the occasional dinosaur call that came in on it. Liz checked her phone discreetly, trying not to get disappointed when she had no new messages.

"Okay, today looked absolutely wild in control." Vivian leaned forward, unable to stay quiet for long, both hands cupping her glass of hard cider. "Who had boots on the ground? Was it really that bad?"

Matt made a noise of frustration into his beer before answering. "Yes. Some asshat decided to taunt one of the triceratops at the petting zoo. Dude kept throwing bits of that Dino food at her. Poor little girl didn't know what to think. So she panicked. Next thing you know kid goes flying out of the saddle, she panics, runs right through a ranger, into the fence." By now everyone was hanging onto Matt's every word with mixed expressions. Some horror, some disgust, some mirth. Matt continued, exaggerating his movements with the story. "So the kid's laying on the ground and the triceratops slams into the fence. BAM! Scares the rest of them, so they all start freaking out. Now there's a bunch of screaming kids on top of it. The rangers are hollering for ACU and vets over the radios. Security had to get involved." He sat back and took a sip of his beer. "Whole thing was a shitshow."

"But was the triceratops okay?" Poor Vivian, bless her soul, looked genuinely worried.

Matt waved her down. "Oh yeah, she'll be fine. Fence knocked her out before she could really do any damage to herself. The kid ended up with a broken arm, I think."

"One of the Stegosaurus' on the Cretaceous Cruise line had explosive diarrhea." One of the guys from maintenance said quietly, making everyone howl with laughter.

"Seriously!" He continued when they calmed down. "Most disgusting thing I've seen in awhile." He shuddered. "I took two showers and I still feel gross."

Liz checked her phone again, this time looking at how late it had gotten. "I've gotta get to bed." She declared, getting a rowdy bunch of complaints in return. "No, really guys. They want me at the range tomorrow. I've never really played much with these weapons they want me carrying."

"Ooohhhh that's right." Shelby teased. "Miss Big Security over here."

Liz just grumbled and slammed the rest of her drink as she stood. "This was actually really fun."

"We're here every Friday." Lauren said. "You know where to find us."

"I'm working tomorrow morning, too!" Shelby added. "I'm sure I'll see you for coffee."

"Definitely." Liz grabbed her little crossbody and slid around the table to make her way toward the stairs. "Thanks again guys, have a good night!"

Shelby did see Liz the next morning for coffee. And for a second round after the range to get her through the rest of her errands. She slid her ID through the reader that gave her trouble the day before, giving it the same wiggle Lowery had and was rewarded when it dinged and popped the gate open with her thumbprint. There's one thing down that was giving her trouble. Once through the gate, she punched the passcode into her phone and brought up the backlot map. During orientation all the newbies had been given access to an employee only app that gave them things like the backlot map as well as monorail times for their section of the island.

She checked the map again and turned left, looking to get to the closest station. Most of the island was devoted to the park and its guests. However, the northern section was completely closed off and designed with the needs of employees in mind. Things included housing, transportation, and a commissary. It made sense to Liz that they had one. It's not like you could just drive downtown to grocery shop. She jogged a bit as the station came into sight, noticing that the monorail was already there and preparing to leave. With a second to spare, she hopped on board and even managed to find a seat. She pulled her list out and checked it over again.

Groceries

Uniform

Beer

Simple enough. Much like commissaries on military bases, the one here on Isla Nublar had just about everything you could need. It was more like a mall than a single store. It had a small food court, a section for groceries, a laundromat and tailor, a clothing department, and section for recreational items that held everything from small boats to TVs. Obviously they assumed whoever took a job on the island would be here awhile.

The monorail ride was short, and dropped Liz off directly in front of the commissary door. It was far less tacky than anything on the guest side of the island, though it was just as massive. Three floors that were at least 4 football fields long each. Liz wandered through the groceries first, picking things here and there and trying desperately to be healthy. She had plenty of options. The produce section was filled with fresh fruits, veggies, and greens. There was even a butcher's counter where you could pick your own steak from a glass counter.

Spare no expense is right. Liz thought as she threw a bag of apples into her cart. She didn't want to imagine the cost of importing some of this stuff. By the time she reached check out, Liz had just over $100 worth of groceries, excluding the 24 pack of beer she dubbed an absolute necessity. She handed her employee ID over with her debit card and leaned on the cart lazily while the clerk finished her order. It took a minute to register that no groceries had been added to her cart. Liz opened her mouth to ask about it, but the young man answered before she could get the question out.

"All of your items will be waiting for you at home, Miss Meyers."

Liz was stumped. "Excuse me?"

He continued on in a practiced manner. "We offer free delivery to our employees in the Northeast corner. Just unpack the coolers and leave them out front for our truck to come by and pick them up later." He flipped the screen infront of him to show Liz that all of her information had been pulled up with her employee ID, including her picture and the number of her hut. "Have a great day, Miss Meyers!"

Liz pulled a face and nodded a bit. "Well alright then. That's awfully convenient, thanks!" She scooted off to drop the carriage in the return and check groceries and beer off her list.

Last thing on her list was to pick up her uniforms from the tailors. They had been sent out to have name tapes put on them. Liz half wondered if they delivered too as she scooted up an escalator onto the second floor. She took the hard left and her heart sank when she saw the large OUT TO LUNCH sign on the door. She gave an angry grunt and tried the door, just for shits and giggles, and rolled her eyes when it wouldn't budge. In small print under OUT TO LUNCH it said "be back at 1:30." Liz checked the time on her phone. 12:45. So she had roughly a half hour to kill.

A stand of fishing gear that stood just outside the recreational sales department caught her eye to the left and she turned to look at it. Liz had loved to fish with her father as a girl, but it was something she hadn't done much of lately. She shrugged to herself and made her way over to pick up a massive salt water rod. Guess this was one way to pass the time. She gave it a test flick to see the rigidity and looked down it to see if there were any curves in the pole that would affect the cast. She put it down and noticed even more poles just inside and gave a happy little hum. Liz had just picked up a brightly colored lure when her phone buzzed once, signaling she had a text message. She juggled the lure to reach into her back pocket and see it was from an unknown number.

I see you.

Liz bit her bottom lip and flared her nostrils. She counted to three with her eyes closed to keep from yelling out something rude to whoever was watching her. Lazily, she turned her head to the left, then to the right and noticed a dirty blonde head shrink back behind an aisle.

She sighed and realized it was the guy from the bar last night. "Owen?"

The man in question poked his head back out with a shit eating grin plastered on his face. "You got me!" He rounded the aisle and picked up a bag of plastic worms. "Going fishing?"

"I was considering it." Liz turned her attention back to the lures and tried not to look Owen up and down like a creep. Outside of the dimly lit bar, she could better see his features, and just how built he actually was. She sucked in her tummy a bit and brushed a wayward curl back into her bun. Lord she looked a mess. She hadn't really bothered to change after shooting this morning and she was clad in an oversized GoArmy T-shirt, black jeans and work boots. The stretched out sports bra and baggy pants did absolutely nothing for her figure, she thought. Not a lick of make-up on, Liz was instantly self-conscious of some of the light acne scarring she had from her bout of it as a teenager.

When she shot a look out of the corner of her eye, Liz cold see Owen taking her in. It wasn't a look of disgust or displeasure, though. It was...amusement? She couldn't tell.

"I did it a lot with my dad." She supplied, pulling Owen out of whatever he was thinking. He stared at her dumbly, obviously having not caught what she had said. Liz held up a lure and shook it. "Fishing. I fished a lot with my dad."

"Oh...OH! Yeah, same." Owen picked up another bag of rubber worms, this time in a vibrant yellow. "Never used any of this shit though."

Liz let out a laugh and put back the lure she was holding. "Me neither. Mostly worms and bobbers. We didn't catch much, but it was fun."

"You look like the kind of girl who would've dug for the worms herself." Owen said. If it was said in jest, it went right over Liz's head. Her hackles instantly went up, displaying her short temper for all to see.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" She shot back hotly.

Sensing the danger, Owen tried to backpedal. "I'm just saying you look like the kind of girl who can handle herself. You know, all rough and tumble kind of thing."

"Yeesh." Liz replied. "No wonder the redhead left you at the bar."

Now it was Owen's turn to get heated. "And that means what exactly?"

Liz rolled her head up and to the side to shoot him a seething look. "I'm just saying you seem like the kind of guy who thinks insuting people is flirting."

Owen furrowed his brows and dropped the rubber worms back onto there hooks. "You think I was flirting with you?"

Liz's barking laugh was short. "Oh you weren't? So sending creepy 'I see you' texts is just something you do to everyone?"

Owen floundered a bit looking for a comeback, but Liz beat him to it.

"Ya know what, muscle head? Just lose my number. I really shouldn't have given it to you in the first place."

"Fine." Owen sucked his teeth. "You're not my type anyway."

"Oh? And what about me isn't your type?" Liz knew she should breathe, that she should quit before her mouth yet again got her in trouble, but there was something about this big doofus that kept her fighting.

"Well you're taking shit awful personal, for one." Owen started in, "and you're well….." he made to motion to her body, but stopped short when he saw the anger in her eyes flash to hurt.

"Fat." She supplied, deadpan. She scrunched up her face and put everything she had into shutting down her emotions. If she had learned anything from the Army, it was how to lock it down.

Owen waved his arms wildly. "Ah, no! No, I didn't….that's not…." he stuttered and ran a hand through his short cropped hair. "Fuck. This is all wrong."

"You bet your ass it is." Liz was never one to let the last word go to someone else. "Seriously, muscle head. Lose my number. And good luck finding a sweet little stick." She whirled and walked off with as much dignity as she could muster, throwing him the middle finger over her shoulder as she went.