Little reminder for this chapter: I'm not a lawyer, or own a company, so don't judge lol thanks!

I could hear light snoring beside me. Not ready to open my eyes yet, I reached for Owen. Something smaller was in the way. Blinking a few times, I realized Maisie was between us.
I rolled onto my side and pulled up the blanket to cover her. She had an arm draped across Owen's face and she was curled into his side, her face pressed against his shoulder.
This was not the first time we woke up with Maisie in our bed. Though the island had many thunderstorms, Maisie hated every single one of them. Hearing the first rumbles of a nightly storm was always followed by tiny feet pounding the floor as she rushed into our room.
Owen stirred, and twisted his head. He blew at the object on his face and I giggled. He moved his head slowly, opening his eyes to realize it was a hand.
He looked at me and rubbed his eyes. "Hey," he croaked.
"Want some coffee?" I asked, slipping out of bed carefully so I didn't wake Maisie.
"God, yes." Owen followed me out of the bedroom.
"What's wrong?" He asked when he noticed me limping.
"My feet hurt." I could barely walk.
He snorted, "Told you to take those damn shoes off."
"Shut it."
Owen laughed and sat down on Maisie's bed.
I made some coffee and immediately checked the messages on my phone. Zara had left a few messages letting me know times for my press meetings. Luckily the Masrani Corp. Lawyers were taking care of most of the legal aspect.
"How long do you have to stay here?" Owen asked when I placed my phone on the table.
I shrugged, "Few days."
He stood up slowly and walked cautiously over to me. "I was thinking of taking Maisie out of here. She doesn't need to be in the middle of all this."
My eyes narrowed. He wanted to leave me here alone.
He saw the look on my face and looked at a spot on the wall over my head. "Claire," he sighed. "You and I both know this is not the place for a kid."
I nodded slowly. "I agree, but I need you, Owen."
His eyes dropped to look at me again. "Why?"
"Why? Gee," I paced the floor in front of him. "I don't know for moral support? You expect me to do this alone?"
"You made all the decision on your own yesterday! Didn't you kick me out of the control room? Was that you, or maybe it was my other wife."
I blinked away the tears. I was not going to show any signs of weakness, or show how bad he was hurting me. He was right.
I only had one word left for him and I spoke low and slowly. "Go."
He didn't look surprised. He grabbed my phone and started making other arrangements.
I walked into the bathroom to act as if I was going to get ready for my first meeting and let myself cry. Only allowing myself to cry for a moment, I pulled myself together to start getting ready.
Maisie was still sleeping when I walked out of the bathroom. I leaned down and kissed her hair.
Owen was still on the phone, talking to someone about airline tickets. My heart sank and I quickly pulled myself together.
I waited until he hung up the phone to speak. "Take her from me before I get back and I will never speak to you again." I threatened.
His eyes went wide and he stood up slowly. "I'm not taking her from you."
"But you are." I argued.
He clapped his hands to his temples. "Jeez, Claire! You want her in the middle of your press conferences? I don't know what the hell you want me to do. You are the Operations Manager. You made that very clear yesterday. I don't want to be here."
I clenched my hands in fists, "You think I want to be here?"
"You have to, Maisie and I don't."
I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it. Shifting my weight angrily I opened my mouth again and snapped it shut. So many things I wanted to scream at him right now. So many words I knew would hurt him just as much as he was hurting me. Wanting this conversation to be over, I opened the door and slammed it shut behind me.
He didn't follow me down the hallway. I wanted him to tell me everything was going to be ok. I knew his intensions to take Maisie away from all this was in good thought, but he was the one that told me we were going to stick together.
Maisie needs both her parents to get over this trauma. Taking her from me would devastate her just as much as it would me. He wasn't thinking of her mental state. He was using her as an excuse to run.
If there was one thing I know best about him is his need to run from a stressful situation where he knows he can't control it. It's where we have always butted heads. We fight to gain control over any situation. Over the years we've learned to work together, but things seem to be spiraling out of control and neither one of us can gain dominance.
I took a deep breathe before pressing the elevator button.
The security guard smiled at me. "Good morning, Mrs. Grady."
"Please," I said quickly. "It's Claire."
He nodded. "Big day today?"
"You could say that." I sighed heavily.
The elevator doors opened and thankfully inside was empty.
"Good luck!" He called after me.
I did my best to smile as the doors shut.
Cameras flashed as soon as the doors opened to the lobby.
I squinted through the bright lights. Voices blared around me.
"It's her!"
"Mrs. Grady!"
"Claire!"
"Over here!"
I couldn't see the faces to match the voices coming at me.
A hand gripped my arm and I was shoved between two husky men. Part of me hoped Owen had on the TV watching me go through this without him. I wanted him to feel bad at the fact that I apparently needed body guards and he refused to help me.
I was escorted into a small conference room where two more guards stood at the door.
"Zara!" I smiled when I saw her shove through the two men standing shoulder to shoulder in front of me.
I hugged her. "Thank you for everything you did in our room. It helped out a lot."
"You saved so many people, Claire. It's the least I could do. I'm here till the end. You're not alone."
I couldn't hold back the tears. Words that I desperately needed to hear were spoken by my assistant instead of my husband.
She hugged me again, patting my back.
When she pulled away she motioned for me to sit down. I realized we weren't alone in the room. Employees from the park sat, filling in almost every chair. This was a debriefing.
There were a five men in back suites sitting in a row at the front of the room. I recognized three as Masrani's lawyers. The other two must be lawyers for the insurance company.
The five of them stood when Mrs. Masrani motioned for them to follow her. When I realized she was walking towards me, I met her step. Tears silently falling down both our cheeks.
"I'm so sorry!" We both say at the same time.
She pulled me in to a tight hug.
"He adored you, Claire. From the age of nineteen you proved to him you were a strong force to be recon with."
My voice shook as I spoke. "I always looked up to him. Your husband was a wonderful man."
I was only half listening to her informing me of what the company and insurance lawyers settled on for all survivors of the incident. There were also settlements already agreed on for the employees.
Memories flashed through my mind. Mr. Masrani's chopper falling out of control. His last moments spent fighting for control.
Once I was caught up and agreed on all information Mrs. Masrani relayed to me, she took my hands in her as she spoke. "Claire, Honey, this will be completely up to you, but the company would like to release some security footage from the island—"
I cut her off. "Anything that doesn't have my daughter or nephews in it would be fine. Back of their heads is acceptable, but please do not show anything with their faces."
One of the lawyers had a recorder held up as I spoke. Another was quickly jotting down my approval.
We were then instructed that the conference was ready to begin.
"Let's talk to the world." She spoke with a confidence I didn't know a recent widow could have.
I for one had my husband, but couldn't conjure up that amount of confidence.
The press conference was long and seemed to last for days rather than hours. Mrs. Masrani and I took turns answering questions. Most of them were pointed at me, as everyone was interested in the story of how we killed the Indominus.
I surprisingly kept my voice from cracking as I spoke.
Once we were finished Mrs. Masrani and I were escorted back to the conference room.
"How long do I need to be here?" I asked her.
"After tomorrow you're relieved from duty. We have paperwork tomorrow morning. As far as the rest of the afternoon goes," she nodded towards the ceiling, "go be with your family."
I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
Mrs. Masrani continued, "After paperwork if finished you will be free to book whatever interviews you would like. You are not obligated to do any if you don't want to. You gave your statement."
I sighed, relieved. "Thank you, Mrs. Masrani."
I all but raced to the elevator, my suits of armor struggling to keep up with me.
"I'm fine, thanks." I said when they tried to follow me into the elevator.
"As you wish." One of them said and they backed out just as the doors closed.
I opened the door to my room and Maisie was in my arms. She was crying.
"I don't want to go!" She dug her nails into my back.
I looked up at Owen who was sitting on the couch, neatly put back together where Maisie's bed was. "You couldn't wait to explain this to her?"
The joy of my news quickly faded. He wouldn't care that I was free to go in a day. He was leaving now.