I had lost my drive to write. I am so sorry, lovely readers. I'm trying desperately to get out of this slump. Enjoy the newest chapter, I'll be onto the next one quickly.

Crazy Girl

For the second time that day, Liz woke. It was like coming out of a tunnel, a steady rise from darkness into the light at the end. Though what coming out of anesthesia lacked in pain, it made up for in nausea. She groaned a little, aggravating her scratchy throat, and tried to blink the blurriness from her vision.

"Well hey there, Wonder Woman."

Owen's voice on her left snapped her mind to attention, and her head felt like it weighed 100 pounds as she turned it to him. He was lounging on a couch against a full glass wall that gave a spectacular view of Isla Nublar.

Isla Nublar. "I'm still on the island." Liz's voice sounded alien in her own ears. Raspy and painful.

"Well, yeah." Owen unfolded himself from the couch and made his way over to her hospital bed. Careful of her bad side, he perched on her left and gave one of his good natured grins. "You think they'd build an island full of Dinosaurs and not have a medical facility?"

"I didn't think it would be this extravagant." The room looked more like a hotel suite than a hospital room. The couch was a pale blue, the same color as the accent wall where a large TV was hung. To her right was an armchair and beyond that she could see she had a private bathroom just before the door that ultimately led to the hall.

Owen made a noise that brought her attention back to him. "How're you doing?" His voice was light, but his eyes were gentle and full of concern.

"Nauseous." Liz said at length. "Exhausted, hungry, thirsty…" She smiled as best she could. "I could keep complaining, but I think I'll just go with 'alive' for now." She must have been doped up good because looking at Owen the way he was looking at her did funny things to her belly. "You kept your promise."

The look slid quietly back under his cocky mask. "Yeah, well couldn't have you going around telling everyone I was a lia-" Owen stopped mid sentence and jumped back like something bit him.

A professional looking redhead walked in, idly tapping a tablet. Not just any redhead, Liz realized when she locked eyes with the woman, but the one Owen had been on the date with at Margaritaville when they had first met.

Shit.

"Claire!" Owen's voice was unusually high. "What're you doing here?"

Claire startled a bit, obviously as surprised to see Owen as Owen was to see her. She looked between Liz and Owen and composed herself quickly. "Mr. Grady." Her tone was crisply professional. "I didn't realize you and Miss Meyers knew each other."

The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife and it hit Liz like a ton of bricks. They obviously still had feelings for each other. Despite what she had seen, Liz was watching it roll off the two of them in waves. How could she have been so stupid to think that Owen had stayed for any other reason than because he felt responsible for her injuries? You're not his type, remember? She probably looked like death warmed over, anyway. Fresh out of surgery, Liz wasn't even sure she wanted to look at herself.

"We don't." She took matters into her own hands when Owen didn't respond. Her tone was deathly calm, making Owen's head snap to her. "Mr. Grady was head trainer in the paddock and was there when I was injured." She turned steel eyes on him, softening. "He saved my life, and for that I'm beyond grateful."

Claire visibly relaxed. "Wonderful. So you don't plan on suing?"

"Suing!?" Liz turned back to Claire, shocked. "Why the hell would you suggest that?"

Owen shifted uncomfortably. "Claire here is Operations Manager for the park." He chewed his bottom lip, avoiding both women's eyes.

Claire waved a hand before sticking it out. "How silly of me. Claire Dearing. Pleasure, Miss Meyers."

Liz looked at the manicured hand that was held out to her before awkwardly taking it in her good left one. "Just call me Liz, please. Miss Meyers sounds like you're here to give me bad news."

"Oh quite the opposite!" Claire began tapping on her tablet again, pulling up some sort of file to work from. "All of your expenses here will be covered per your benefits, as will the cost of getting you home, as well as any extra medical you may need once you get there. Unemployment will hold you over…"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Liz interrupted, derailing Claire into looking up astonished. "You're sending me home? As in back to the states?" Her heart started to pump faster, making her nausea ramp up. Somewhere to her left she could hear Owen sit with all his weight on the couch. Obviously he was just as shocked as she was.

"Well, yes." Claire said as if it was common sense. "You can't work and therefore cannot stay." She began tapping on the tablet again before spinning it to show Liz. "You'll need to go over these forms here and sign off and you'll be on your way!" She sounded ecstatic, like she was telling Liz she had just won the lottery, not that she was being forced away.

"But I don't want to leave." Liz's stomach rolled and she pushed with everything she had to not be sick.

Claire blinked, visibly straining to be professional. "Well you don't have much of a choice."

"Jesus, Claire!" Owen finally managed to get a word in. "She's barely out of surgery This couldn't wait?"

Liz held up a hand to Owen signaling him to stay out of it, taking a minute to compose herself. "So this is how you deal with family here, eh?" Her decibel level began to rise. "Whisk me off before word gets out that someone got hurt." She swallowed back bile, determined to get her point across. "Were you going to offer to pay me off if I said I planned on suing?"

Claire pulled the tablet away, straightening. "That option would have been on the table."

"Well aren't you just a disgusting human being." Liz spat, her words sharp like knives, and she was throwing them faster than she could shove them down. "How dare you? Didn't you think for one second in that pretty little head of yours that this place might mean more than numbers? That maybe this was someone's second chance? Or home? You're too busy up in your perfect little office with your perfect little life to think about anything other than the bottom line." Her stomach lurched and this time she couldn't stop it. "I'm going to be sick." Was all she could manage before it gave another flip. Liz was sure she was going to throw up all over herself, but a bag was thrust under her mouth in the nick of time.

Owen was faster on his feet than she gave him credit for and he held the bag patiently until Liz could only dry heave, making the freshly stitched wound on her head pound. He rubbed her back idly, trying to convey that he was on her side.

Visibly disgusted, Claire began backing up. "I can see that you're under quite a bit of stress. Perhaps this could wait until later." She turned to walk out and slammed straight into someone's chest.

She gasped. "Mr. Masrani!"

The smart dressed Indian man looked between the three people, his eyes full of sympathy when they landed on Liz. She straightened as best she could, fully prepared to give him a piece of her mind as well.

"What in the world is going on here?" He stared Claire down as she visibly wilted.

"I was just explaining to Miss Meyers our policy on unemployment." Claire faltered when Masrani's look darkened and decided that keeping her mouth shut was safer.

"Unemployment?" Masrani slid past Claire to stand next to Owen, who discretely dumped the vomit bag into the garbage. He helped get Liz a drink of water before holding out a hand to the shorter man.

"Simon, how are you?" Both women were surprised when he addressed the sixth richest man in the world by first name, and when he grasped hands with Owen to pull him into a quick embrace.

"I am good, my friend. How are the raptors?" He seemed genuine in a way that made Liz understand why people would follow him. Both he and Owen chatted idly and Liz realized they were giving her a minute to compose herself, a moment that she was grateful for. It was one thing to mouth off to the operations manager, it was another to do so to the owner of the entire company.

Where was that red headed snake, anyway? Liz looked around and saw the tail of a red bob retreating out the door. So she realized she had screwed up and turned tail and ran. Liz sucked her teeth and took another small sip of water. Let her run. She could plead her case with Masrani.

"Mr. Masrani, I-"

"Elizabeth Meyers." Masrani said her name with affection, like he was addressing a family member he hadn't seen in too long, not one of his thousands of employees. His tone derailed her thoughts, making her blink. He wasn't what she had expected. She watched as he gracefully slid into a chair at her side, laying one leg over the other and bridging his hands.

"You are quite a woman." He began when he settled in. "Fought off a raptor."

"Juvenile raptor." She corrected sheepishly, not used to taking praise.

Masrani waved her down making a "bah" sound of indifference. "Raptor, no less. As of right now you are the only one on the island who has gone through such a thing. I intend to keep it that way."

Liz looked down as best she could. So she was being sent away. Damn. This job...no…this place had become home. She thought of Shelby and Lauren and the Margaritaville crew, of Craig and the ACU soldiers who had welcomed her with open arms, of sitting on the porch of her hut and listening to the call of Dinosaurs in the night. All things she would miss.

"Which is why I am putting you in the raptor training program."

Liz's head shot up, making her vision spin. Owen was at her side again, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to say thank you or tell him to quit fussing.

"You mean I can stay?" She tried to keep the vulnerability off her face, out of her voice. She failed miserably. "I don't have to leave?"

Masrani made the same "bah" noise again. "You have first hand experience what these creatures can do. I want you to supervise the safety aspect. How we interact with them." He gave a pointed look at Owen. "No more running into enclosed spaces."

"I was following InGen protocol." Owen bristled, but calmed when Masrani held up a had.

"Understood. Protocols need to be rewritten." He turned back to Liz. "I suggest you listen to your doctors, Miss Meyers. I hope to have you ready to work as soon as possible."