I'm so happy you guys are still enjoying this. Thanks to everyone who has left a review or kudos. Here we go - off to Nublar!

Chapter 4

The sun was just edging up over the horizon when Claire parked in the lot adjacent to the small airport. She was still yawning as she climbed out of the car and pulled out her bags from the back seat. She wasn't taking much - just a backpack and a small duffel. The plan was to get into the control room, get things activated, and then get the hell off the island. She knew the longer they stayed, the more likely it was that things could go south.

As she approached the plane, Zia and Lowery were already there and busy arguing away. She knew Zia had offered to drive Lowery to the airport, so she imagined they'd been arguing for well over thirty minutes. Did they never get tired of it?

As she added her duffel to the small stack of bags being loaded into the cargo hold, she listened to Zia trying to convince Lowery that the plane was safe.

"Relax. You're more likely to die riding on a horse than in a plane," Zia argued.

"No, I'm not, because I wouldn't get on a horse. My chances are zero," Lowery was shaking his head in disagreement.

"Planes are the safest way to travel."

"You call this a plane? My cousin has a drone bigger than this," Lowery gestured toward the plane beside them, and Claire took a moment to take a better look herself.

It wasn't a very large plane, but it also wasn't the smallest she'd ever been in. It would comfortably seat 6 passengers. She knew, since she'd been the one to arrange the plane, that they were going to fly to San Diego first to refuel, before flying from there straight to the island. She was really hoping that the small runway on Nublar was going to be in relatively okay condition.

Listening to Lowery, she also knew, that even if it was in good condition (and she wasn't hoping for that much – it had been abandoned for going on three years now) he was not going to be okay with the landing. Oh well, it was better he didn't know what was coming.

Claire was too busy listening to Zia "encourage" Lowery to get on the plane ("Lowery, you wiener, get on the plane") that she didn't even notice Owen until he was standing right beside her.

"What's with Lowery? Nervous flyer?" Owen asked, pulling off his sunglasses and tucking them into his shirt, his words startling Claire.

"Owen!" Claire's exclamation caught the attention of both Zia and Lowery, who turned from the door of the plane to look over at her.

"Owen?" Zia was the first to respond, a knowing grin crossing her face as she hurried over to them. "Hey, glad you're here. Claire didn't say you were coming."

"That's because I didn't ask him to," Claire muttered angrily, not impressed by her friend's enthusiastic welcoming.

"If Owen's coming, does that mean I don't have to go?" Lowery asked, a hopeful look on his face. "I mean, the plan was for only three people to go, right?"

"Suck it up, dude," Zia laughed, clapping Lowery on the back, almost causing him to double over. "You're getting on that plane. Would you really want to put Owen in charge of fixing any technological problems that might arise?"

"Are we about ready to go?" Owen interrupted, just as Lowery was getting ready to protest.

"We?" Claire questioned. "You aren't going anywhere, except back to your cabin."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Owen shrugged. "Might as well let me tag along."

"You're not on the manifest. Besides, how did you even know where to go?"

"Well…" Owen barely even started to glance in Zia's direction before Claire had already whirled around to face her friend.

"I can't believe you," Claire growled. "Why?!"

"Oh, give it up," Zia laughed at her friend. "Like you didn't think he was going to come after you went to tell him."

"I… you… what?" Claire sputtered, before stating firmly, "I most certainly didn't expect him to come." She looked angrily over at him for a moment, where he was standing calmly watching the two, before she lowered her voice and said to Zia, "I only went and told him I was going because you made me."

Owen, being Owen, didn't even pretend like he hadn't heard that. "Seriously, Claire? You were going to go without telling me?" He was looking at her with a combined look of disbelief and hurt. "I can't believe you'd even think about going back to Nublar without saying something."

"Why does it even matter?" Claire turned on him, taking a step forward, finger pointing at his chest. "What's it to you if I go or not?"

"What's it… Are you serious?" A stormy look started to take over his face, as he took a step towards her, his height and build allowing his presence to overshadow her.

The two were too busy caught up in a staring contest, that they didn't even hear Zia tug Lowery away.

"Of course I'm serious," Claire rolled her eyes. She wanted to back up to try exert her own play of strength but his gaze had locked her into place.

He stared at her intently for a few more seconds before he took a step back, his shoulders slumping. "What's happening with us?" Owen asked softly.

Claire deflated just as quickly, her anger leaving as swiftly as it had developed. "I don't know." She shrugged, before giving him a wan smile. "It's been going on for months now, whatever it is. I don't know what happened. One minute, I thought things were great and the next? The next you'd moved out. You tell me what happened."

"I didn't move out," Owen protested, appearing startled and confused. "You told me to leave."

"That's not…" Claire sighed and looked at her feet. "You'd moved out long before that conversation."

"Hey guys?" Zia's voice interrupted them, and they both turned towards the plane where she was leaning out the door. "The pilot says we need to get going to stay on our flight schedule."

"Be right there," Claire called back, before turning back to Owen. "Just go home Owen. You don't need to be here. And I know you don't want to be." Without waiting for an answer, she picked up her backpack and headed towards the plane. There was only a brief pause before she could hear him following her.

"I'm not letting you go back to that island–" Owen started.

"You can't stop me," Claire spun around mid step, hand out to push against his chest. "I'm going."

"I wasn't going to stop you," Owen groaned. "You didn't let me finish. I'm not letting you go back to that island without me."

"I don't need you to protect me," Claire straightened her shoulders. "I can do this on my own."

"Maybe you can," Owen nodded, sliding past her towards the door. "But I can't."

The comment stunned her for a moment, and by the time she started moving again he'd already climbed aboard. "But you're not on the manifest," Claire tried to argue again, as she boarded behind him.

"Add me," Owen snapped, not even glancing her way as he fiddled with his seatbelt in the seat facing Lowery.

"I…" Claire was hunched over slightly in the aisle, as it was too small for her to stand, just staring at him in frustration and unable to feel imposing.

"It's not a problem," Zia interrupted. "He's already on it."

"He's what? I didn't authorize that," Claire turned toward Zia now, her anger shifting targets.

"Of course you did," Zia just smiled up at her friend, ignoring her anger, as she handed over the piece of paper.

Claire looked down at the manifest, where under passengers there were four names listed. Then, she shifted her gaze down to the bottom of the page, eyes resting on her own signature. "How did you…?"

"It's not my fault you don't always read what I ask you to sign," Zia shrugged, laughing at her friend.

Sputtering, Claire dropped into the seat facing Zia that was also, unfortunately, across the aisle from Owen. She did her best to ignore his own chuckling as she shoved her backpack under her seat and put on her seatbelt.

Turning her focus out the side window, she listened as Zia confirmed with the pilot that they were good to go, and then as Owen started chatting with Lowery.

"What's up with you? Don't like planes?" Claire heard him ask.

"Would you ride a thousand-pound horse that's been abused all its life?" Lowery replied, his voice shaky.

"You watched me ride my motorcycle through the jungle with a pack of raptors, what do you think?" Owen replied.

"Right, 'Super Owen,' how could I forget?" Lowery rolled his eyes, causing both Owen and Zia to laugh.

Claire had to turn her head even more, so that no one would catch the smile that briefly flitted across her face, before she settled back on a frown. She was already nervous enough about this trip, and now she was going to have to deal with Owen, too. She was trying hard to not ask the question of whether the trip could get any worse. She knew where they were going. And she knew the answer was quite possibly, quite probably, "yes."

x x x

As the plane came to a stop on Nublar, Lowery pushed past the others to be the first off. Not that anyone was trying to stop him. He had turned so green during the descent, especially once he realized that they were essentially going to land on a field. His hands had a death grip on the armrests, while the other three tried to offer reassurances. Well, two tried to offer reassurances; Zia had just held out an airsickness bag.

Zia was the next off the plane, her eyes searching for dinosaurs, although they hadn't seen any on their descent. Owen had trailed after her, going immediately to the back of the plane to unload their gear. Claire had stopped at the front to talk with the pilot. He was leaving them on the island and heading over to Costa Rica to refuel. He was going to wait there for their call to come pick them up. They weren't sure what the communication situation was going to be like on the island and had prepared with the expectation that nothing would work. So they had a couple of satellite phones between them, as well as their regular cell phones and some radios.

As Claire stepped off the plane, she pulled her phone out, powering it up to see if it could get a signal. After Jurassic World, there had been a few quick trips back to the island. One to try to retrieve any personal belongings for guests and employees. A second to try to retrieve as much data as possible, including data about what went down that day. And a third trip to try to close down as many systems as possible. The third trip had happened after it became clear that the park was not going to reopen. While the island used geothermal power, that didn't mean that lights should just be left on "because." As the long term fate of the island was still up for debate, a fire breaking out because of a gas line that was still pumping and taking down the island was in no one's best interest.

To her disappointment, but not to her surprise, her phone didn't work, continuing to search for a signal for a couple of minutes before giving up and announcing "no signal." She powered it back off, not wanting to waste the battery. It was no use to her unless they managed to get some systems turned back on.

Moving over to Zia and Owen, she helped them quickly unload their few bags of gear, moving them away from the plane. Lowery had collapsed on the ground a few feet away from the plane, and the rest were willing to give him a few moments to compose himself while they sorted everything out.

Once everything was unloaded, she spoke briefly again with the pilot, before they closed the door to the plane and backed away. The pilot carefully turned the plane around, before heading back down the field the way they arrived, taking off into the sky.

Their early start that morning from outside San Francisco had meant that they arrived on the island early in the afternoon. And, after watching the plane disappear, Owen was eager to get everyone moving.

"Come on, come on," he urged them all, strapping his backpack on and picking up another bag. "Let's get moving people."

"What's the rush?" Lowery asked, finally moving over to the rest of the group. He had shed his jacket and had at least lost the green tinge to his expression.

"Do you want to spend the night here?" Owen questioned, to which Lowery immediately shook his head 'no.' "Then we need to get moving. The plane can't land out here in the dark. And we have a ways to go to get to the control building." He paused, turning a curious (and wary) eye on Claire and Zia. "I mean, that is all we're doing, right? Going to the control room and trying to get some systems back online?"

The entire plane ride, both plane rides, Owen had been not so subtly trying to figure out what their plan was, while Claire and Zia had both been rather vague in their answers. "Hoping to see if we can get the system back online," Claire had brushed his concerns aside. "Just interested in the tracking system," Zia had nodded along. He didn't buy their excuses for a second. He didn't believe that Claire would put together an illegal trip all the way to the island just to see if they could turn a computer system back on. And yes, he knew it was illegal. He knew Claire had been trying to get permission for over a year. If she had it, she would have mentioned it, and he was sure the team would be bigger.

Instead, Owen's plan was to just push them to keep moving. He didn't want to be on the island any longer than necessary. And since his way on (and off) the island was with the others, the only way to speed up his own exit was to help them get through whatever it was they were really trying to do as fast as possible.

"You're not in control here," Claire hissed at him, sidling up beside him.

Owen rolled his eyes at the comment, mind transporting him back to the last day they'd been on this island when she'd said the very same thing. "Be my guest, take the lead," he gestured for her to start walking.

Claire huffed, before turning back to the others. "You guys ready?" she asked, and when she received three nods, she started walk. "Okay, our best hope is that we can get to one of the outposts near here. There's one that I think shouldn't be too far. Assuming we can get in, it connects into the tunnel system which will enable us to get to the main control room. The tunnels should be safer to travel than staying out here." At that comment, all four of them swung their heads around, carefully taking in their surroundings.

Owen had a rifle slung over his shoulder and his knife safely sheathed at his back. Zia had also pulled out a rifle when they were unloading bags, and was carrying one herself, but both Claire and Lowery were unarmed.

It was Owen's turn to hiss at Claire, as he turned to her. "Seriously? The three of you planned to come to this island and only Zia is armed? Do you have a deathwish?"

"I asked you to teach me how to shoot," Claire shot back. "You wouldn't."

"Because you don't need to know how to shoot," Owen replied. "You shudder every time I mention going hunting. Besides, I–" He cuts himself off, gaze immediately looking away from her.

"Besides what?" Claire mocked him. "Let me guess, besides you'll always be there so I don't need to know how? Well, look at how well that turned out." She increased her pace, trying to get in front of him.

"Turned out pretty accurately, I'd say," Owen replied from behind her, raising his voice so she could hear. "I'm here, aren't I?"

As he was walking behind her, it was only the slight falter in her step that let him know the words had landed. He grinned to himself, but let it go, gaze continuing to travel the landscape. Knowing that many of the fences had been damaged during the incident and knowing the damage that weather and loose dinosaurs could do on their own, he knew that he had to be ready for anything.

Claire continued to lead them silently, but behind them Lowery and Zia were having their own discussion.

"You've got your bingo card, right?" Lowery asked.

"Right here," Zia pulled it out of her pocket, waving her folded up piece of paper at him. The two of them had made a bet to see who was going to see (and recognize) the most species on the trip. Although they still hadn't decided on what the outcome of the wager would be, besides owing the other something.

"I've been thinking about what I want when I win..." Lowery replied.

Owen was annoyed that he was back on this island (and he would disagree strongly with anyone who said he only had himself to blame), but he couldn't deny that there was a part of him that was hoping to see Blue. He had one of his vests' pockets already packed full of her favourite treat. And, if he was going to be back here, he'd rather be coming on his terms (or what was, at least, close to that) than being dragged back here because he found out that Claire had gone missing or something else bad had gone down here. This way, he has some semblance of control, no matter what Claire said.

Thanks so much for reading. I'd love to hear what you think - drop me a quick message in the box below. :)