Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
I mistakenly assumed the fitting portion of this afternoon would be the worst thing I had to endure. Oh boy, was I wrong. After leaving Bilbo's room Zara whisked me to another room down the hall where there were about 50 people rushing around in what appeared to be organized chaos. The room was divided into sections dedicated to various grooming techniques, but I can honestly say I wasn't sure what was happening in about 90% of the room.
Zara wasted no time depositing me in the first of what would be many, many sections. I was buffed, polished, waxed and plucked to the point of insanity. When one of the minions tried to put me in a spray tan booth I dug my gun out of my backpack and threatened physical violence. A woman can only take so much before she snaps. Zara was able to talk me down with a Snickers bar and some Sour Patch Kids. To keep me sedated the rest of the afternoon she kept a steady flow of sugar and alcohol near me at all times. I needed to get her a Thank You card when this was all over.
The last steps in this torture chamber were hair and makeup. Zara took the liberty of explaining my dress to the hair and makeup artists because when they asked me all I could come up with was it looked like really nice lingerie. Zara's description proved to be a more helpful viewpoint. The three of them made the decision to leave my hair down using large rollers to create "old school Hollywood waves". Whatever the hell that meant. The left side was pinned back using an ornate clip that looked to be made completely out of diamonds. I was really hoping they were fake, but I'm pretty sure the Bvlgari box it came in was a dead giveaway I was wrong.
Getting my makeup done was like being dowsed by a water hose. Since when was makeup applied with an airbrush? The makeup guy went on and on about how my smokey eyes, nude lips, fake eyelashes, and contouring would finish out the look. I had to eat a Kit Kat bar to keep from breaking his arm.
Once I was done with makeup I was given the once over by the ring leader of this freak show and deemed acceptable to be seen in public and was escorted back to Bilbo's room wearing nothing but a short, silk robe. As soon as I walked in the Three Stooges led me to the master suite kindly telling me to remove my robe and every other stitch of clothing I was currently wearing. Considering everything I had been through in the last five hours standing there naked in front of three strangers wasn't really registering on my radar. Plus, since this was the third time they'd seen me naked I was pretty sure it made us practically family. I put on the three-inch stilettos handed to me idly wondering what the height requirements were to officially be considered an Amazon Woman. Considering I was clocking in at 6'2''(ish) right now I probably fit the bill.
Next step was the dress. It was right at seven o'clock and I needed to get down to the party so I could scope everything out before committing corporate espionage. The Three Stooges helped put the dress on and it fit like a second skin leaving very little to the imagination.
I turned around to the mirrors taking in my whole appearance for the first time and had to remind myself to breathe. The face looking back at me in the mirror was a stranger. My normally unruly hair had been tamed and fell in large elegant waves that cascaded down my back, my makeup was flawless and made my normally plain brown eyes look far more exotic than they really were, but the crème de la crème was the dress. I had to hand it to Bilbo, I may not be able to move, eat or sit, but this dress was truly amazing.
"Thank you," I said to Bilbo as she stood beside me admiring her work.
She turned to me giving me a hard look, "Don't fuck it up."
Well, what do you know? She could speak in more than one-syllable words.
I joined Zara in the living room where she presented me with what were undoubtedly more priceless, and very real, diamonds in the form of earrings and a bracelet. Simon probably borrowed them from the Queen of England's private collection or something equally as ridiculous. I had learned to pick my battles today, and going toe to toe with Zara over jewelry wasn't something I really thought I could pull off. Especially wearing nothing but five inches of silk and three-inch heels.
"I know I've been a lot to deal with, but I appreciate all this Zara," I told her putting on the last of the jewelry.
"It was my pleasure Jo. You look amazing," she said smiling. I vaguely wondered why Zara wasn't attending the gala, but figured she probably had a world to conquer or something.
As I made my way up to the banquet hall in the elevator I tried to mentally calculate how much money I was wearing. Probably enough to feed a third world country for a few years. It made my stomach hurt just thinking about it so I decided to just ignore for fear I would puke.
I stepped off the elevator into the banquet hall seeing it already awash with activity. I guess I was fashionably late. I scanned the room looking for Owen or Barry, but didn't see them anywhere. If they were still sitting on his porch drinking beer I was going to have a significant emotional event. Not sure what to do I made my way over to the bar. When in doubt drink.
"What can I get for you ma'am?" the bartender asked. I was tempted to order a beer, but saw everyone to my left and right with either wine or some kind of cocktail. Jeez, I was out of my league.
"Um, wine please. Whatever you recommend." My experience with wine was limited to the kind that came out of a box.
The bartender handed me a glass of white wine smiling at me. I sipped the wine turning slightly, running my eyes across the room. There were cocktail tables spread throughout the hall with a band, complete with a singer, playing on stage in the front. A marble dance floor was in the middle of the room, but no one was brave enough to try it out this early in the evening. Groups of people were littered around the room in casual conversation. I recognized all the Masrani and InGen employees by sight. The one's I didn't know I assumed were the high rollers brought in by Simon to pay up.
"Josephine, my dear, I hardly recognized you," Simon said coming up behind me. "You look absolutely stunning."
I turned, smiling at Simon. He looked immaculate in his designer tuxedo. "Thank you. You look pretty good yourself."
"Allow me to introduce Richard Matthews," Simon said gesturing to the man standing beside him. "He's an oil man originally from Texas. I imagine the two of you would have quite a lot to talk about. Jo here is from Houston."
Richard Matthews was a fit, decent looking man in his mid-50s. He had slightly graying hair at his temples, and a powerful presence. He was trying very hard to exude a charming, effortless persona, but his smile reminded me of Doctor Evil. The sight of it made shivers race down my spine. This man gave me the heebie jeebies.
"Pleasure to meet you Jo," Richard said extending his hand out. Internally grimacing, I reached out to shake his hand, but he grabbed just my fingertips bringing them to his lips kissing my knuckles softly. I swallowed my gag reflex plastering a fake, hopefully believable, smile on my face. By the warning look Simon was shooting me from behind Richard's shoulder I needed to try a little harder.
"You too Mr. Matthews," I said sweetly. Hopefully calling him by his last night would firmly convey I was not interested.
Richard stepped forward placing his hand on the small of my back, "Please call me Richard. Can I get a refill for the lady here," he said addressing the bartender.
Simon said his goodbye to Richard shooting me a look that clearly said not to mess up any pending donation this man might be contemplating. I sneered at him in return scanning the room again for Owen or Barry. Hell, I'd take Hoskins at this point. Anything to get away from Roving Hands Richard. If the guy "accidentally" brushed my ass or boobs again I was kneeing him the balls, Simon be dammed.
"So, how long have you worked here?" Richard asked leaning forwarding invading my personal space.
"About eight months, give or take," I responded leaning back towards the bar. "I wouldn't want to keep you from anything." Please go away. Please go away.
"Oh, there isn't anyone in this room I'd rather be talking to Jo." I laughed awkwardly running through my escape options as I sipped my wine. "I'm surprised a woman such as yourself is here alone."
I've always found when confronted with situations such as this it's always best to lie your ass off.
"Oh, I'm not alone. My date is just finishing up some work. He should be here any minute." I tried to sound confident and not like a big, fat liar. I had no idea how I was going to manufacture a date. I defiantly didn't have one hidden in my underwear, especially since I wasn't wearing any.
Richard ran his hand down my arm slowly in what I imagine he thought was a seductive gesture. Probably most woman found Richard Matthews charming and desirable. It had the opposite affect on me making me clench my fists so tight I was probably drawing blood. I needed to maintain a low profile tonight, and curb stomping some oil billionaire wasn't really conducive to that.
"If I was your date I most certainly would not leave such a beautiful woman unattended in a room full of unsavory men," Richard purred at me. Oh gross.
Was this guy for real? I wanted to grab a calendar and show him it was the 21st century. This guy needed an attitude adjustment, and I was officially volunteering to give it to him. I'd apologize to Simon later. I stood up to my full height, stepping back from Richard getting ready to tell him where he could shove his charm when I felt a presence behind me. A calloused hand pressed against my exposed back, and the smell of soap and spice invaded my senses. I let out a sigh of relief sagging back against Owen.
"Sorry I'm late babe," Owen said placing a chaste kiss against my cheek. "Owen Grady, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said to Richard extending his hand in greeting.
Richard seemed to visible deflate shaking Owen's hand, "Richard Matthews, it's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
"I can only take credit for the good stuff," Owen said laughing easily as he guided me past Richard, "If you'll excuse us I need to make amends to my beautiful date for being late. Have a good evening."
Owen took my hand leading me towards the dance floor in the middle of the room. Just as we stepped on the floor the band started playing a beautiful rendition of John Legend's, All of Me. Owen turned slowly pulling me towards him placing his right hand on the small of my back as I put my left arm around his shoulder.
My eyes widened in shock. "Owen, I don't know how to dance," I whispered rapidly.
He threw me his cocky grin, "That's not true. I caught the show at the bonfire, remember?"
I wanted to point out uncoordinated, drunk gyrating was not dancing, but was too freaked out to verbally spar with him. My eyes darted left and right surveying the crowd in the room. It could have been my imagination, but it seemed like all the eyes in the room were trained on us.
"Owen," I said slightly panicked.
"Relax Jo, everyone can dance. Just follow my lead." Following was not exactly my strong suit.
Owen slowly started swaying back and forth. I fell into step with his rhythm relaxing as I got the hang of it. The series of steps that carried us across the floor really weren't that different than fighting. Who knew? Owen pulled me against him tucking our hands against his chest.
"You're kinda late you know," I chastised. I had been through hell and high water getting ready for this thing, and I still beat him here.
"You can't rush perfection." I pulled back giving him my best "I'm not impressed" look.
It was a halfhearted attempt considering Owen looked better than James Bond in his tuxedo. I have no idea where he got it from, but I was considering petitioning Simon to make it the standard uniform at Jurassic World. Gimme a bucket of popcorn, a tuxedo clad Owen, and I'd be set for days.
"Everyone's looking at us," I said self-consciously. I wasn't use to people noticing me, it was disconcerting.
"They're not looking at us. They're looking at you."
Como say what?
"Don't look so surprised," Owen said spinning us around the dance floor effortlessly. "The way you look tonight I would expect nothing less."
I felt like someone had kicked my puppy. I knew the dress was overkill, but for a minute in Bilbo's room all dressed up, I had felt truly special.
"Yeah, it's pretty bad. I asked for plain, boring even, but Bilbo isn't my biggest fan," I said dejectedly. "The hair, the dress, the makeup, it's too much."
Owen stopped moving causing me to look at him in question. Weren't we supposed to be cutting a rug out here?
"Jo, this room is full of some of the most gorgeous woman in the world wearing the most expensive designer dresses money can buy, but when I walked into this room I saw nothing and no one but you. You're without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on," he declared pulling me back towards him resuming our dance, "Every man in this room would chew their own arm off to be me right now, and every woman in this room probably wishes you had stayed home. You're a vision."
Oh. Wow.
"Thank you," I told him softly.
"Although, I'm not a real big fan of the way these men are looking at you," Owen bit out. "This dress can really spark a man's imagination."
"Yeah well, I'm sure it would really kick things into overdrive if they knew what was underneath. Bilbo isn't really one for undergarments," I told him laughing.
Owen groaned, "Jo please, I'm not a saint."
"Sorry." My bad, that one was on me. Time for a subject change. "We need to sneak out of here soon so we're back before dinner is served."
"As soon as the song's over you can leave under the guise of going to the ladies room. I'll follow you a few seconds later and we'll meet outside the server room," Owen said, his voice all business. "Don't go in that room without me."
I looked at him in mock offense, "I would never do something like that. Besides, you have all the gear in your 007 suit."
When the song finished Owen led me off the dance floor. We were stopped by several groups of people who wanted to talk to Owen about the Velociraptor program. After talking for about five minutes I excused myself to the ladies room. I saw Barry on the other side of the room, and he gave me a subtle head nod.
Once out in the hallway I made my way towards the bathroom pretending to go in before turning quickly to the right. I made my way down to the end of the hallway stopping in front of the server room. I heard footsteps rounding the corner and saw Owen making his way towards me. He reached into his pocket handing me a micro ear communication unit as he placed a similar one in his own ear.
Placing mine in my ear I tested it, "Lowery, it's Jo. Do you copy?"
"Loud and clear. Everything's quite here, the server room's been empty since this afternoon," Lowery replied from the control room.
I looked to Owen who was checking in with Barry in the banquet hall. He gave me a slow nod. I bent over hiking the bottom of my dress up.
"What the hell are you doing?" Owen asked his eyes glued to my bare leg.
"I'm getting the access card," I told him pulling my dress up higher exposing a garter belt on my upper thigh. I pulled the access card out letting my dress drop back down. "Where else was I supposed to put it?" I said turning around slowly in a circle showing him the limited options the dress presented.
Owen squeezed his eyes shut taking several deep breaths. "Let's get this over with."
I shrugged swiping the access card and opening the door. The room was stuffed with rows and rows of server cabinets. I quickly made my way past the front desk dropping the access card on it. I scanned the racks before locating the one Lowery had told me held the labs server. I quickly swung the cabinet door open seeing seven servers stacked on the shelves with a small computer screen and keyboard at the top.
"Lowery, I'm here."
"Great, I need eyes," he said. Owen stepped behind me pulling a micro camera out of his pocket pointing it at the computer screen.
"Ok, open up the command prompt," Lowery told me. He took me through a series of commands to find the information we needed. Owen had suggested just setting up a VPN connection so Lowery could access the system remotely, but the security measures in place would record the IP address of such an intrusion. Those same measures also ensured we couldn't copy any files without alerting the IT technicians.
After a few misses we hit the motherload when I found several files on the raptor program. Opening the first file we saw all of Owen and Barry' reports on the raptors, nothing earth shattering so far. I kept looking and saw what looked like correspondence from Hoskins to InGen's corporate office.
"Owen look at this," I said showing him the memo.
"Retrain raptors' instincts to serve human needs," Owen read. "They can't be serious?"
"There's more. Look at Hoskins latest correspondence. It's dated right after your breakthrough with Blue. He's proposing military applications."
Owen's lips pressed into a thin line as he read the memo. I squeezed his hand trying to offer some kind of support. He squeezed my hand back giving me a half smile.
"Come on, we need to find out about the Indominus Rex before someone misses us at the party," I told him closing the raptor files. We had what we needed there.
It took some digging, but I was able to find the Indomiuns Rex files hidden among some T-Rex files. I opened up everything I could find rapidly scanning the information. I needed two weeks with this server not 10 minutes.
The files were full of different lab results, genetic testing information, and growth rates. There was a memo from Simon to Dr. Wu requesting research into something "cooler" and with "more teeth". I was going to strangle Simon with his expensive bow tie when I got my hands on him.
Simon's memo made the Indominus Rex project look largely theoretically. Just research and options, but when I looked further I saw confirmed lab notes from Dr. Wu annotating the successful incubation of the assets. The report stated he had combined the base genome of a T-Rex with multiple other species. Some of species listed were a Carnotaurus, a Rugops, and some unspecified species of tree frogs. There was a footnote from Dr. Wu stating that as requested by InGen the exact genetic composition would remain classified and undisclosed to Masrani Global Corporation.
"Holy shit," I muttered. This was beyond bad. Simon may have wanted research or possibilities into such a creation, but he sure as hell hadn't authorized one be created.
"Jo, you've got incoming. Get out of there. You've got two minutes tops," Lowery said through my ear comm.
I looked frantically at Owen who was still reading the files on the computer screen oblivious to Lowery's warning. I quickly shoved the keyboard under the screen slamming the server door closed.
"Jo, what…" Owen questioned.
"We have one minute before someone walks through that door," I said desperately looking for a way out.
I heard a bing from the access reader on the outside of the door and knew we were out of time. I swung my eyes to Owen in fear just as the door to the server room open.
GayMexicanBatman: Thanks so much for the great review and for reading! Hope you enjoyed the latest.
SilverShadowWolf46: Hope his reaction didn't disappoint :)
sarahmichellegellarfan1: Thanks again!
Malfoy-Whitlock-21: Thanks for reading and the review. The dress is based on an actual wedding dress I saw that I would have totally worn if I was WAY braver, and an overall different person...LOL. Hope you enjoyed this one.
Desert Vulpes Zerda: LOL! Thanks, it made me laugh too.
twifan1987: That was great! I hope you enjoyed Owen's reaction and the mayhem that ensued.
Storylover00: Thanks again! Hope you liked this one and thanks so much for reading!
animagirl: Sorry for the slow update...I was WAY behind the power curve wrapping presents for my kids. Hope it was worth the wait.
angelicedg: I would totally take him as a pillow pet (or anything else) too..thanks for reading and hoped you liked the chapter.