Chapter 21

Summary:

Things start to fall into place about a month and a half later. Alise has moved in with Owen, she's finally out of "doctor jail", she goes back in the field and works on a sick Charlie, then she goes bowling with Lucy, Lachlan, Lowery, and Owen. Things couldn't be better, but part of her can't help but worry about what comes next because once things start going good, something bad usually happens.

Things finally started to calm down and get back to normal a month and a half later. I moved in with Owen 3 weeks ago and that was going great. It was a little bit of an adjustment that I had to make, considering the bungalow is so much smaller than my apartment. Sometimes I needed alone time after a crazy work day, or Owen would just be getting on my nerves because I felt like we were always on top of each other and I struggled to find somewhere to go sometimes. Owen usually caught on when I was feeling that way and he went outside to work on his bike or something like that.

We weren't at each other's throats by any means, I love living with him. Even though it was small, we both had our system that seemed to work. He'd get up before me (usually with the sun), make breakfast and coffee just in time for me to eat when I was finished getting ready for work. We'd eat breakfast together most mornings, unless if he had to run to the enclosure early or I had to work early. I was thankful that they loaned me a car from the park, so I was able to get to and from work without a problem. The shuttle was definitely not coming anywhere near Owen's bungalow that's for sure.

My black eye was healed completely and my ribs were healed for the most part, there was still some discoloration and a little bit of pain when I laughed too hard or had a coughing fit - or when Owen brought me to pound town, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.

Dr. Collier was being extra cautious about me returning to the field, so he ordered I do some x-rays before giving me the go-ahead for fieldwork. I was so sick of working the desk and being out of the field, I just wanted to be free and out of doctor jail. I was so close to being free. I took the x-rays a couple of days ago and I had the past 2 days off, so I was going to figure out whether or not I could go in the field today.

Today was an exciting day, not only because of potentially returning to the field, but it was September 23rd and also my 28th birthday. I went in that morning when my shift started at 9 am and walked into mine and Dr. Collier's office with coffee in hand, I figured I'd bring him some coffee too… loosen him up a little bit. Maybe it was a bribe but hey, who cares.

"Good morning, Alise," Dr. Collier greeted me when I walked inside and put the coffee on his desk.

"Large, black, two splendas," I smiled. He nodded.

"You got it. Thanks," he said as I walked over to my desk and put my bag down. "So I just got a call a few minutes ago about one of the Velociraptors that's sick. The symptoms are watery diarrhea, vomiting and noticeable weight loss in the past week. Symptoms started about a week ago, they figured it was a bug but they've only gotten worse. It could just be a stomach bug, but I'm thinking it could be intestinal Cryptosporidiosis." he said. Intestinal Cryptosporidiosis, which we call "Crypto" is a parasitic alveolate that can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal illness.

Owen had mentioned something about one of them not feeling well but figured it wasn't anything to worry about. Clearly, he was wrong.

"Sounds like Crypto. I once worked with an elk that was diagnosed with it, he was presenting the same symptoms." I said. Dr. Collier nodded.

"With your experience with it and the Velociraptors, I figured you should take point on this. Go down to the enclosure with the assistants, assess her, get a stool sample and send it to the lab with one of the assistants and see what else needs to be done," he said, I smiled. This was his subtle way of telling me that he was letting me back in the field.

"She might have a fever and dehydration. What should I do if I need an IV?" I asked. I've never been in charge of making a call like that without going through him. The more serious cases Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez would make that call and come in immediately to assist.

"Then we'll make arrangements to do so. I trust your judgment call. Do what needs to be done and keep me posted." he said.

I nodded, "Will do. And thank you."

"No need to thank me. Just be careful. Make sure she's fully sedated before working on her, but I know I shouldn't have to remind you after what happened before." he said, writing something down on a piece of paper.

"I'll triple check this time, believe me," I said, walking towards the door.

"Oh, and Alise," he said, looking up from the papers on his desk. I looked back at him. "Happy birthday," he said, a smile crossed my face.

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be in touch." I went to grab Sofia and Leo, who were excited about working with the Velociraptors for the first time.

I called Owen on the way over and told him I was on my way. Of course, he asked 'Are you sure you're okay to do that' and I told him Dr. Collier gave me the go-ahead and let's not have a repeat of what happened the first time I went to the enclosure because this time I wouldn't let him buy me a drink if he disrespected me again. He laughed and said 'yeah, yeah' before hanging up.

By the time we got to the enclosure, I found out it was Charlie who was sick. (The poor girl with her doctor visits). She fainted right before we got there, so we were quick to check her out. Of course, she was sedated by ACU (something Owen was more cautious about than he had been in the past when she was hurt - I guess he didn't want to risk her waking up when I was working with her).

She looked like she's been through the wringer. Her ribs were sticking out more than usual, her skin elasticity was diminished and her skin was so dry, flaking off in a few spots. She was severely dehydrated and needed an IV, stat.

I talked to Dr. Collier and he said the best way to give her an IV was to bring a large tent and set it up like the infirmary. We couldn't risk transporting her when she was so sick like this. I sent Sofia back to the lab to check the stool sample while we set up the tent and positioned it so that the raptors couldn't see into it.

The girls were already watching on with looks of worry and growling as Barry tried to calm them. Their reactions didn't surprise me or anyone who's worked closely with them before. They're sisters, so of course, when one of them is sick they all wonder what's wrong and it's not like you can tell them what's going on, they're left in wonder and they panic as a result.

We made sure to keep Charlie heavily sedated and muzzled as I hooked up the IV with help from Leo. Owen insisted on being inside the tent with us and Erin, who came from ACU, to make sure everything went smoothly. It was going to take a couple of hours for the IV to filter through her system and all we could do was wait for Sofia to call us back with the results.

Erin excused herself and stepped out of the tent to get something.

"So, with the Velociraptors…" Leo began. I immediately smirked, Leo was curious and his questions can be quite amusing sometimes. "What kind of food do you feed them?"

Owen glanced at me for a moment before answering. We both knew that question was for him and not me. "Mostly meat because they're carnivores. Chicken, pig, turkey, cow. Rats for snacks."

"Do they prefer one over the other?" Leo asked curiously.

"Well, they're animals. Just like you. Do you prefer chicken or turkey?" Owen asked with a brow raised, although I could tell he wasn't looking for an answer. It was more of him making a point.

"I'm more of a turkey guy, but that's just me. Chicken can be super dry sometimes and that just ruins it for me." Leo said thoughtfully.

Owen kind of just nodded and rolled his eyes, so I decided to mess with him a little. He was so worried about Charlie, as was I, but it'd be nice to see him smile. "Owen, are you more of a chicken or turkey guy?" I asked and I actually wanted to know the answer. I've only really seen him eat chicken and he likes roast beef or turkey with his cold cut sandwiches.

Owen rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly. "So how much longer is this going to take?" He was clearly unamused by this conversation, unlike me. I was all for it.

I shrugged, looking at Charlie, who was laying on the large cot. She still looked dehydrated. Much better than before, but it's only been 30 minutes and less than have the IV. I didn't want to flood her either because that could cause further problems. "Could be anywhere from an hour, hour and a half. Depending on how dehydrated she is." I answered.

Owen nodded and looked around. I could tell he was getting impatient. I was about to tell him he didn't need to wait in here, but Leo continued on with his questions.

"So do you notice any different personality traits between them or are they just the same all around?"

Owen gave him a look that could kill. I held back a laugh.

"Hey Leo, could you grab some more gauze from the truck?" I asked, clearly Owen was sick of the questions and his mind was elsewhere and the last thing he needed was Leo and his hilariously absurd questions.

"Yeah, sure," Leo said before leaving.

Owen looked at me, "How do you work with him?" He asked seriously.

I laughed, "Patience," I said simply.

"I have patience," He said pridefully.

I raised my brows, "Really, Owen?"

"Yeah," He nodded, really convinced. I call it being stubborn.

I scoffed, "We both know you're lying."

Owen pulled a face and opened his mouth to say something, but Leo walked into the tent. "Here you go," He said, handing it to me.

I smiled, "Thanks Leo," I said, putting it on the table next to me. I didn't really need gauze, I just needed him out of there to calm Owen down.

Leo sat down in the chair next to me and looked up at Owen, who was standing by the cot and next to me. "So do the girls have favorite colors? Like do they prefer blue, or red, or maybe a periwinkle?"

I bit my lip, trying to hold back a laugh as Owen shot me a look. "You're right," He said abruptly. "I have no patience." Then, he walked out.

I bit my lip harder, turning my head away from Leo so he couldn't see the silent laugh that I couldn't hold back.

"Was it something I said?" Leo asked. I held my composure, pushing away the laugh and looked at him, he looked really concerned.

"Not at all," I said, opening the IV just a little bit more so that it wouldn't take so long. "Charlie's favorite color is turquoise." I could help but play into what he was saying. It's what I tended to do with him, it was hilarious and went right over his head. I might as well have some fun with him.

Leo looked at me, fascinated. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, totally,"

He raised his brows. "How do you know?"

"She told me," I answered, holding back a smirk and a laugh.

"When?" He asked so seriously. I was about to lose it.

"You know, this isn't enough gauze. Mind grabbing me some more?" I asked.

Leo nodded, "On it!"

I bit my lip, holding my laughter, especially since I heard someone else walk into the tent.

"Is he serious?" Owen asked and that's when I lost it. I looked up at Owen, my face no doubt a shade of red and tears streaming down my face. "I'm glad you find him amusing because I find him irritating." He said with his stern, straight face. It only made it even more hilarious to me. I was doubled over in my chair laughing when I heard my phone ring.

"Shit. Dr. Collier," I said as I sniffed in and took a deep breath. "Hello?" I answered, not able to help the small lingering giggle that came out. Owen just smirked at me, of course, he'd find this amusing.

"The lab confirmed it's Crypto. What types of medications do you suggest?" He asked. I could tell he was testing me.

"She needs an anti-parasitic drug to help alleviate diarrhea by attacking the metabolic process of the cryptosporidium organisms. She also needs an anti-mobility agent to help slow the movement in her intestines, so Imodium could work for that. I would recommend continuing the IV treatment, finishing off this bag as well as another because she's severely dehydrated."

"Exactly what I was going to say. I'll send Sofia with nitazoxanide for the anti-parasitic, 500mg tablet every 12 hours for 3 days. I'll give you an oral suspension for the first dose, after that they can crush it into her food. I'll send over some Imodium. Given she's about 300 pounds, we can give her 12mg each dose. Once a day for 3 days. You finish out the IV treatment and wait until she wakes up. Work with Mr. Grady to observe her behavior for an hour or so and see if she's doing better. Tell them they need to give us daily updates for the next week and that they need to call us immediately if she gets worse, especially if she faints again."

"Will do, Dr. Collier."

"Good work. I'll see you later."

"Thank you. See you later. Bye." I said before hanging up and looking at Owen.

I told Owen everything Dr. Collier had said and by the time we finished with Charlie's IV, it was nearing 4 pm. It took so long because we had to wait for them to bring supplies over to set up the tent and to transport her over to the tent took a little bit of time because she's so big and heavy.

We put her back in the enclosure and kept an eye on her by watching from the balcony. They sedated her pretty well so it took another half an hour for her to come to. She was a little loopy in the beginning, to say the least, walking sideways and leaning against the wall of the enclosure. Leo thought it was amusing, but Owen did not. I admit it's always a little funny to see animals acting drunk after the anesthetic wears off, I just didn't let Owen know that.

Charlie ate a little bit of food, but I didn't expect her to eat much. Just the little bit that she ate was a good sign. At one point she started talking to her sisters from where they were in their individual holding areas, so we decided to let them out.

The only reason why we put them in was so that Charlie could adjust without having her sisters crowding her. Blue, Delta, and Echo were all curious about what their sister had been through and they were protective over her. Barry said it was hard to keep them calm while Charlie was in the tent and we heard a lot of growling and chirping coming from outside the tent.

We observed her behavior with the girls for another half an hour and she seemed to adjust well. She was a little tired, but she kept up with the girls when they were playing.

I reminded Owen to talk to either me, Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez about her progress, but he probably wouldn't have a problem with that, seeing as we live together now and it would be hard for him to forget about telling me.

I got back to the office by 5:30 pm after watching Charlie, just in time to talk to Dr. Collier and give him feedback about how it went. He said he was proud of me and that I did a good job. One of the reasons why I loved working with him, not that I have anything against Dr. Sanchez, he just doesn't praise people for their work as much as Dr. Collier does. He gives me hope that this position actually could be mine. I even mentioned that if they were looking for a doctor anytime soon that I'd love to give it a go and he told me that if that were happening, I'd be a top contender, which was awesome.

After this long day, I'd normally wanna go home and binge watch something with a bucket of ice cream, but I was ready to go and do something fun. It was my birthday after all. The original plan was to go to Three Horns and have a drink, but I wanted to do something different. Ever since I've been out of doctor jail and my ribs were completely healed, all I've wanted to do was go out. Go to the movies, go to the beach, go out for lunch or dinner with Owen or my friends. I have yet to go bowling though and I figure what's a better way to end the night on a high note? I just needed to convince Owen to come along and it'd be the perfect way to spend the night.

x x x

Owen agreed to go bowling pretty quickly, seeing as it was my birthday and all I had to do was bat my eyelashes and he was in. We went to Three Horns first with Lowery and Barry and his girlfriend, Anya, who works in the petting zoo. Then Owen, Lowery and I met up with Lachlan and Lucy at the bowling alley around 10 pm. Barry and Anya decided to call it a night, so they didn't join us. Bowling was also free for park employees after 10 and there weren't any tourists around, so it was perfect. They only did it on Wednesday's, too. So we really lucked out.

Lucy and Lachlan were already there by the time we got there and it looked like they had already set up the game.

"Heyo! You fuckers are finally here!" was Lachlan's greeting.

"Hello to you too, dickhead," I said as a term of endearment as I sat down to put on the bowling shoes, Owen and Lowery did the same.

"BIRTHDAY HUG!" Lachlan said out of nowhere, practically jumping on top of me and giving me a hug.

"Birthday hug, more like birthday hump," I said, swatting him away. Of course, then he pretended to air hump me because he was Lachlan.

"Hey, man, back up," Owen said, but we could tell he wasn't really trying to threaten him, it was more of a joke.

"He's just jealous you're a better humper than he is," Lucy said. I dropped my jaw not expecting that from Lucy, but sometimes she had it in her.

"And you would know how exactly?" I asked, that caused Lucy to shut her mouth, her cheeks to burn as she slid down in her chair in the cutest way. I clearly won that.

"Well, now that you are here… Big Daddy's up first!" Lachlan grinned, grabbing a ball and getting ready to bowl.

I laughed, "What?"

"He put in the names for us," Lucy explained, rolling her eyes as she walked over to give me a hug. "Happy birthday, by the way. I have a present for you. It's over on the chair, you don't have to open it now though."

"Thanks Luce, you're the best!" I hugged her back.

"You're up Sweet Cheeks," Lachlan said, slapping Lucy's ass.

"Lachlan!" She scolded, covering her butt with her hands, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. All of us couldn't help but laugh.

"That's Big Daddy to you, Sweet Cheeks." He said as he sat down. Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes and bowled as I scanned the names that Lachlan put in. Right after 'Sweetcheeks' was 'Tequila Sunrise'.

I chuckled, "Please tell me Tequila Sunrise is me or I'm offended."

"You know it, bro!" Lachlan said, putting his hand up for a high-five, which I returned.

"Wait, am I really manchild?!" Lowery asked in shock.

"Nice one Lach! Totally fits too." I said, leaning my elbow on the back of Lachlan's chair.

"Well, what's the last one?" Lowery asked because it was cut off because Lucy was bowling and hers was magnified.

"Doesn't matter. Owen's definitely not manchild, Lowery. Get over it." I smirked, sitting down next to Lachlan.

"'Dino D'," Owen read the last name, clearly amused.

"I am not a manchild…" Lowery mumbled, sliding his shoes under his chair.

"Just be thankful you're not Big Daddy," Owen said lowly to Lowery, patting his back, which jolted his whole body. Owen was pretty strong and Lowery's a wimp.

Lowery immediate grabbed his back where Owen hit. "Ow…" he mumbled.

"There's only one Big Daddy and you're lookin' at him!" Lachlan said, grabbing Lucy by the waist and pulling her into his lap. "Right, Sweet Cheeks?" He asked, looking at her fondly.

"For the last time, I will not call you 'Daddy'..." Lucy said.

I noticed it was my turn and stood up, grabbed a 10-pound ball and stood in my usual position. "All of you better get ready to kiss my ass, because you're all going down!" I said to them, ignoring whatever nonsense insult Lachlan decided to throw at me as I bowled a strike and smirked at him, pointing to my ass with a smirk.

"Oh, it's on," Lachlan said, shaking his head. "Big daddy's gonna getcha, little girl." He smirked.

"Oh god, no," Lucy said, pulling a disgusted face as she got off his lap and sat across from him. We laughed. It did sound really gross, to be honest.

"You're up, manchild," I said, hitting his back right where Owen had patted, causing him to wince again. "Don't hurt yourself. Or cry when you get a gutter ball." I smirked, he's a terrible bowler. I always beat him whenever we play.

"I hate you," He muttered before walking up and grabbing a ball. Owen sat next to me and leaned back, putting his arm over my shoulders.

"You think I can get some of that Dino D later tonight?" I smirked at him.

"Maybe, only if you're good, little girl," He smirked, poking fun at what Lachlan said earlier.

"Gross!" Lucy exclaimed, she was sitting right next to us and overheard every single word.

"You're the one that's friends with us. You can leave whenever you want." I said, not that I wanted her to. I love Lucy.

"No, I can't. I'm locked in forever," Lucy laughed.

"Me too," Owen chuckled.

"Hey!" I said, hitting his chest. "You're here because you wanna be. Not because you're locked in. You could have said no, mind you."

"No, I couldn't have," He said, looking down at me. I raised my brows. "You're too incredible to say no to." He said. It might have been true, but he said it sarcastically.

"Oh, you mush. It's your turn," I took his arm off me.

"Get it Dino D!" Lachlan said with a 'woo woo' attached to it. Never a dull moment with these guys. I really cherish this time with them. I just hope there will be many more to come.