Summary:

After Owen offers to buy her a drink and apologizes, Alise proposes a bet over pool. Unfortunately for him, he loses and Alise won't let him forget it. She has a plan involving Lachlan's birthday party and dinosaur costume that Owen's not too fond of.

The next day I went to the raptor enclosure to see how Charlie was doing and to change her bandage. I came in right when they separated the girls into their separate holding areas (I hated to call them 'cells' or 'cages').

Owen was inside the holding area with another set of bars was protecting him from Charlie, who was in the enclosure, currently gnawing on something that looked like a rat.

"Hey Owen," I smiled. Owen looked up from one of the girls, he was putting her head into a metal harness. He smiled at me.

"Hey there," he walked over and opened the gate, letting me in.

"How's Charlie doing?" I asked.

"She's doin' pretty well. She's been scratching at the bandage, but that's about it. We gave her a tranquilizer in the rat, so she should be out soon. It's better for her than being shot. ACU is still comin', though." I could tell he still didn't like the idea of ACU being there, but it was for our protection and I knew he knew that.

One of the raptors started making noises and shaking the cage that her head was in. We both looked over.

"Shhh," Owen tried to calm her, petting her head. It seemed to calm her almost immediately.

"Which one's this?"

"Echo. You can pet her if you'd like."

I smiled and walked over. I was a little nervous, but I didn't let it show. It only upsets the animal more if they know you're nervous. I pet her head and she let out a little growl.

"Echo," Owen scolded, rubbing her head. "She doesn't like that many people, so don't take it personally. She's the rebellious one, always wants attention."

Another one behind me made a chirping noise and I looked over. She had a blue stripe down her back.

"Is this Blue?" I asked, admiring the stripe on her back.

"Yeah," he said as he walked over. "Come pet her." he offered. I didn't know how I felt about it. Echo already seemed to hate me already, why would Blue be different? I pet her anyway, walking over and rubbing her velvety skin. She let out a noise that almost sounded like a purr. "She likes you." I couldn't help but smile.

"Owen, Charlie's asleep," Barry said as he let himself in. A woman was with him, she had a gun and was in a uniform, so I assumed she was from ACU. "This is Erin." I smiled at her and Owen greeted her with a nod. "Dr. Cruthers, how are you doing today?"

"Alise, please. And I'm doing well, thank you."

"You want to go in or should I?" Barry asked Owen.

"I will." Owen offered. I smiled.

"I'll go in first, make sure she's fully sedated." Erin said.

I could tell Owen was reluctant, but he nodded anyway. Owen pressed the button to open the gate and she walked in, gun pointed at Charlie in case she wasn't fully sedated.

Erin gave us the go-ahead and I followed Owen in first, we were walking slowly and carefully. We wouldn't want her to get startled awake.

Owen went behind her and opened her eyelid to see her eyes were heavy.

"She's out." he said. I nodded and knelt down next to her. Thankfully, she had fallen on the opposite side of the wound, so we didn't have to turn her over.

I opened the box of medical supplies I brought and cut off the bandage and cleaned out the wound very carefully, the scar tissue was already starting to grow, showing it was starting to heal. I finished cleaning and wrapped it up, just as Charlie was starting to stir a little bit.

"She's fine," Owen put his hand out when Erin raised her gun at Charlie.

"I'm done." I said, putting my supplies back in the kit and standing up, walking back to where Barry had been watching and keeping Blue, Delta and Echo at ease.

I assumed they didn't like seeing people surrounding their sister and poking at her, so they got a little restless. Erin left right after, getting called somewhere else and Owen started to unstrap Delta.

"So Lachlan wasn't awake this morning, so I couldn't grab the dinosaur costume, but don't think I forgot." I smirked at Owen.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I don't think it's a good idea for me to wear it around the girls." he said. I nodded, understanding. I probably should have thought about that too.

"I understand, but don't think you're off the hook."

"Didn't think I was." Owen smiled. I remembered Lachlan's 26th birthday was in three days, on Friday, and got an idea.

"Oh I got it!" I said happily, Owen looked over, a little startled. "Lachlan's birthday is this Friday and he's celebrating at Three Horns at 9 and all of his ACU buddies are going to be there and he invited Lucy and I. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a party crasher in a dino costume. In fact, he'd love it." I smirked.

Owen made a face and sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"Nope! I'll meet you out front at 9:30 with the costume, just so we can be sure everyone is there. Don't be late," I smirked before out of the gate.

"Wouldn't miss it." Owen said sarcastically. I just grinned as I headed for the car.

I texted Lachlan later that day and asked him if I could borrow the costume and he all he said was:

Niceeee, come get it tonight after 7.

"So why do you need the dino suit?" Lachlan asked me when I came to get it later that night around 7:30 pm. He handed me a bag with it folded inside. He had his friend Trent and a couple of other guys over and they were playing a video game, so the TV was loud and they were yelling at the screen. Typical gamer geeks, reminded me a lot of Lowery when he was a teenager and still sometimes now when he finds a game he likes.

"Just a prank," I wanted to keep it short, as I didn't want to give anything away. I started walking towards the door and he was following.

"I like the sound of that. You better get it on video!" he called after me. Thankfully, he didn't ask any more questions.

"You bet your ass I will!" I laughed.

"Nice, see ya soon!" he closed the door. I smiled and went to my apartment and texted Aspen to tell her I got the costume. She was the only person I could risk telling because she wouldn't say a word. I needed to tell someone. This was going to be awesome.

2 days later, when Friday rolled around, Dr. Collier had me go to the raptor enclosure for Charlie around 3 pm. I had been doing check-ups with the adolescent dinosaurs all morning since 8 am, so it was nice to have a little break from that.

"I'm surprised to see they sent an assistant to do your job the past couple of days." Owen greeted me from outside the cage when I got out of the car.

"I've had the past two days off. I'm sure they didn't do too bad. Who was it?" I asked.

"I forgot his name, but he was nervous and his hands were shaking. I'm glad Charlie wasn't awake or she would have bitten his hands right off."

"That would be Mark. He's really book smart, he just needs to get used to handling the dinosaurs," I explained. "And I'm sure if Charlie was awake she'd bite all of our hands off." I laughed.

"He's gotta learn quick if he wants to stick around." Owen commented.

"I'm sure he will." I said, looking around and through the cage. Blue, Delta, and Echo weren't in holding and I didn't see any of them through the bars.

"Just got to give her a rat and put the girls into holding. Shouldn't be too long." Owen said. I nodded.

"So you ready for tonight?" I smirked.

"About that…"

"You can't chicken out on me, we had a deal!" I said.

"I wasn't going to. I don't chicken out." he was serious now.

"Then I'll see you at 9:30?" I clarified with a smirk.

"Yes you will," he nodded. "Gotta go wrangle up my girls, give me a minute," he said, walking towards the gate. "Barry, you ready?" he called up to Barry, who was on the catwalk.

Barry called back and threw the girls rats and gave a special one to Charlie. While Owen was getting the other girls, I noticed the ACU truck pull up and Lachlan just so happened to be stepping out of the car.

"Hey birthday boy, how's it going?" I asked.

"Pretty good. I'm glad you're here today and not shaky hands." he laughed.

"Poor Mark." I shook my head. The poor kid already had a reputation as 'shaky hands', that was going to be hard to break. I looked back over to Owen, who was strapping in one of the girls, I couldn't tell which one from where I was standing.

"Hey, you're coming to my party tonight right?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" I smiled.

"We're gonna get turnt up!" He exclaimed. I laughed, shaking my head.

"You guys ready? Charlie's out!" Owen caught our attention. We nodded and got to work.

I ended up getting out at 4 pm and home by 4:30. I didn't have anything planned until the bar later, so I called my mom and talked to her for a while and made salmon and quinoa for dinner and rewatched Thor for the millionth time (because Loki). It ended at 8, leaving me enough time to get ready for the party and be there by 9:20 to meet Owen. I'm sure Lachlan wouldn't mind if I was a little late, especially with the surprise I have in store.

When I got outside the bar, I texted Lucy and asked her to come outside and meet me, I didn't tell her why. She came out a few minutes later.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked once she saw me, a look of worry on her face.

"Everything is perfect. Look what I have." I held up the dinosaur costume in the bag.

"Is that a dinosaur suit?" she asked.

I laughed and nodded excitedly, unable to hold my excitement. "Yeah, and Owen's gonna wear it!"

"No way! How did you manage that?"

"He lost a bet. This is going to be amazing!" I said, looking at the time on my phone. 9:29. "He should be here any second."

"I wonder if he's actually going to show up." she wondered.

"Oh, he'll be here. He's a man of his word." I said confidently. No part of me thought he wouldn't come. Then, I saw him walking over towards us. "Hey you, you ready to roar?!" I said. Both Owen and Lucy both gave me a face and my cheeks burned. "Yeah, that was bad. Just come on, it's dino time!"

5 minutes later, Owen, Lucy and I were walking into the bar with Owen in the dinosaur costume. The second people saw him, they cheered and ushered him into the bar. Of course, I was recording the whole entrance.

"At least there's a face cover." Owen called over the music.

"What I couldn't hear you!" I asked, opening it. Owen's eyes widened.

"Oh my god, it's Owen! Dude! I never thought you'd be here… in that costume!" Lachlan exclaimed when he saw him.

"Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, man." Owen played it off as if he weren't being forced to be in the costume.

"Alright, shots with the Rex!" Lachlan called, the group of people cheered as Lachlan pulled Owen along with him.

"He totally hates it, doesn't he?" Lucy laughed.

"Yeah, but he won't hate it so much after a few shots." I laughed.

The party continued until the bar kicked us out at 1 am. Normally, I'm not big on parties at all, but a couple of drinks in I was more relaxed and a tad bit tipsy. Lucy and I stuck together most of the time, as she's not fond of parties either. We both prefer to stay to ourselves, but we had each other's backs as we mingled with other people.

Plus, watching Owen and seeing how he interacted with everyone else was fun in itself. I could tell he was out of his element, but that's because I was good at reading him. Other than that, he played it off really well. I think that he secretly likes the attention, he just doesn't like to admit it.

Lucy and I were outside the bar when one of Lachlan's ACU buddies, Max, who usually went by his last name Lee, brought Lachlan over to us. He was leaning on Max's shoulder, it was evident that he was drunk.

"He said you'd get him home?" Max said. Lucy and I looked at each other, a little amused. Of course Lachlan would say that. Then, Owen caught my eye as he walked towards us.

"I'll take him." Lucy said, noticing Owen as well. Lachlan put his arm around her shoulder to help hold himself up.

I smiled, "Thanks, I'll be right there."

"Go get that dino D!" Lachlan slurred. Lucy hit his chest and he laughed.

"Goodbye Lachlan." I said, shaking my head as Lucy pulled him along.

I walked over to Owen, who was free from the dino suit as of 2 hours ago. It was pretty hot and I only let him out of it on the condition that he stay and hang out with us longer. At first, he stuck around with Lucy and me, but he got pulled away into the group after a while.

"Now that wasn't too bad, was it?" I asked.

"Not as bad as I thought it'd be." He chuckled.

"Night, Owen!" one of Lachlan's friends said.

"Awesome costume!" another one said, patting Owen's back as they left. Owen tensed up, not looking too amused.

"Looks like you made some friends! You sure were the center of attention, even over Lachlan." I laughed.

"Yeah, and I'm not too happy about that." Owen admitted. I understood, he seemed like he'd rather keep to himself and sometimes I feel the same way.

"Well, you had a good time and that's all that matters." I smiled.

Owen nodded, "You gonna get home okay?"

"I was gonna take the shuttle," I looked down at my phone. "That's leaving in 5 minutes. What about you? You have a ride?" I still had no idea where he lived, but obviously knew it was somewhere on the island and I knew it wasn't in the apartment complex.

"Well, I took my bike here, but I texted Barry and asked him to give me one."

"Yeah, you've had quite a bit to drink. I'm surprised you're still standing." I laughed.

"I hold my liquor pretty well." he said. I nodded, it was evident because he wasn't currently slurring or swaying. I was impressed.

"Alright, well, I don't wanna miss the shuttle. See you tomorrow for Charlie?" I asked.

He nodded, "See you tomorrow." he smiled.

"Bye Owen," I smiled back before walking away. It was nice to see him let loose for a change, he was always so uptight. Overall, tonight was a good night and I was happy I could see Owen.

I woke up the next morning to loud pounding on my door. I groaned and looked at the time: 10:03 am. I groaned and sat up. My mouth was extremely dry and tasted like chalk. That's what I get for drinking whiskey last night. My head was pounding, so it didn't help that someone was beating down my door.

I sprung out of bed and quickly headed for the door to make it stop. I raised my brows when I saw it was Lowery.

"You look like shit." was all he said. I just stared at him. What the hell was he doing here? And that was rude. Given, I know I didn't look like the most glamorous person when I was hungover, but he was still being rude.

I wanted to call him an asshole but refrained. Now that would have been rude.

"Okay, you didn't answer your phone and I was worried you didn't make it home last night." He explained, walking inside.

"Why are you worried? So I can't sleep late?" I asked, giving him attitude as I walked away, assuming he'd follow. I needed coffee.

"Well, you said we'd get breakfast at 9 and you never showed up."

"I'm pretty sure I texted you last night saying I got home super late and didn't think I'd be up early enough to get breakfast." I said, starting the coffee. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter.

"No you didn't…" he said in disbelief, looking down at his phone. "Shit, you did."

"Yeah. Worried, overprotective brother that doesn't know how to give his 28-year-old sister some space, I get it." I sighed, putting emphasis on my age as I added some sugar into my coffee before blowing on it and taking a sip.

"We're on an island full of dinosaurs, what do you expect? I don't want to get a call one day that you've been trampled or they found your arm hanging out of a carnivores mouth." he said.

"You worry too much, Low," I took a sip of the coffee, which gave me a little bit of life. "And you forget you're the one that worked here first, you think I wasn't worried that I'd get a call that you'd been eaten?"

He sighed and nodded, "I see where you're coming from."

"Exactly." I took another sip of coffee after blowing on it. It was still super hot and it burned my tongue a little bit, but I needed it.

"So… do you want me to leave? Because I still haven't eaten breakfast and I'm pretty hungry…" he said, I just raised my brows, shooting him a look. "Fine, I'll go." he turned to walk away.

I sighed, giving in. "I'll make some eggs and toast."

"Great! Thanks, Lise!" he said, sitting down at the table with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and rubbed my temple, trying to soothe my pounding head. Today's gonna be a loooong day. At least I get to see Owen later… I mean Charlie. I get to go make sure Charlie's healing up okay…

About a week later, I arrived at the enclosure at 11 am for Charlie's last bandage change, which she would be very happy about. For the past week or so, Owen and I didn't talk much aside from the here and there conversations that happened when I came to change Charlie's bandage.

That was mostly because I quit the job at the bar because I was getting more hours and I'd be on call now, so they just interfered with each other. I tried to do it for a couple of weeks, but it was all too much. Working 8-10 hour days, 5 days a week, then going to the bar from 6-1am some nights after work was not working.

Lucy mentioned that Owen would go to the bar here and there, but seemed to have given up because he hasn't gone in a week. To Lucy, it seemed like he stopped going because I wasn't there… but then I think if that were true, why wouldn't he ask me out so we could talk more? I've been to the enclosure almost every day and I thought that after Lachlan's birthday, there was a small possibility that it might happen, but it didn't.

But then I remembered when Lachlan said Owen used to pick up girls left and right, but hasn't in a while, so I thought that maybe he had a girlfriend? Or was still picking up girls under the radar?

I'm not gonna lie, a part of me was a little hurt that he didn't try anything on me. I mean, I'm not really up to the one night type of thing anyway at this point in my life, but it would be a little flattering. That's why I figured he really didn't like me like that. He enjoyed our conversations, but it seems like that's about as far as it went.

I tried not to think too much about it, especially since I had a job to do and I enjoyed it when we did talk. Plus, it's not like I was mad at him about it, so I just acted the way I normally did around him.

"He's training them," Erin told me when I got out of the car with my kit.

I looked up on the catwalk, where Owen was.

Owen clicked the clicker, "Hey, eyes on me," I saw the raptors through the gate, gathered in the middle of the enclosure. "Hey, hey, eyes on me!" he repeated, clicking the clicker again. Blue was the first one to look up. "Good job Blue. Echo, Charlie, Delta! Eyes on me!" Charlie sounded like he was talking back to him. "Charlie, don't give me that shit!" Charlie looked up and this time Delta was talking back. "Delta, lock it up!" Delta listened and the only one left was Echo. "Echo! What'd I just say?"

Echo was looking anywhere but up. Blue looked at her and made a noise, it sounded as if she were scolding her. Echo snickered back before looking up at Owen.

"Good, good. And we're moving!" Owen kept his hand up and clicked the clicker with the other hand as he walked to the other side of the catwalk.

The girls followed with their eyes up. Echo tried to break from the group and started making noise again, which seemed to be her way of talking back to Owen and rebelling. Blue growled at her and it sounded like she was scolding her again. Echo eventually gave in and walked with the rest of the girls.

"Hold!" Owen said when he was standing in front of a bucket. The Raptors stopped, still looking up at Owen. Echo and Charlie got distracted again, breaking eye contact and looking around. Owen tried to get their attention again with the clicker. It wasn't working until Blue put them in their place, then they looked up again. "Good, thank you, Blue," Owen said, grabbing a rat out of the bucket. "Delta! Eyes up!" she looked up and Owen threw the rat at her, which she ate. "Echo!" Echo looked up, waiting for a rat. Owen threw it and then he grabbed a rat from a different bucket. "Charlie, eyes on me!" he threw hers carefully, making sure she got it. "Blue, this one's for you." he threw it and Blue ate it happily. "And, go!"

The girls spread out immediately and the workers all clapped. I had never actually seen him training them before even though I've been there 11 times so far.

"That was pretty good!" Erin commented as Owen started walking down the stairs with a bucket.

"Still has its kinks," Owen said. "They're getting there though."

"That was amazing from where I'm standing." I said. Owen smiled as he stood in front of us.

"Well, Charlie should be out within the next few minutes. I'll get the girls into holding and we should be good." He said.

"You'll be happy to hear Charlie's getting her bandage off today for good." I said to Owen as he handed the bucket to Barry and he pressed the button for the door.

"Yeah, no more sedation. I'm sure she'll be happy too." he said, walking into the gate. I didn't go in there when he was getting the girls in the harnesses as I didn't want to throw any of them off. Plus, I don't think he wanted anyone in there anyway.

When Charlie was fully sedated and the girls were in holding, Erin and I went in with Owen while Barry kept Blue, Echo and Delta company.

I was just finished unwrapping Charlie's bandage when I heard the sound of metal clanking together and a bang, followed by Barry screaming "Echo!"

We all looked up at Echo, who came charging at us. She stopped a few feet in front of us and snarled. Crouched down, knees bent, getting closer. She seconds away from leaping and attacking us.