"Right, radio silence and I'll call you when she's napping." Muldoon ordered slinging the rifle over his shoulder.

"Sure you're fine on your own? I've shot a grizzly before."

Muldoon smiled.

"She's a bit bigger than that," he started going down the ladder "And she hasn't eaten me yet so I'll be fine."

"Well, I ain't gonna pick up pieces of you. Gerry can do that." she called after him jokingly.

Damn it was hot. She wanted to complain, but she did not want to prove Muldoon's prediction right. She flipped her wrist to check the time on her watch. Quarter after 7. Really?

"God damn, this place is like an oven." she grumbled as she annoyingly flapped the collar of her white cotton undershirt.

"Here," Harding said handing her some water. "I should have reminded you to always carry some with you at all times."

"Thanks," she said taking a long sip. Mathematics was by no means her strong point, but she easily spotted a problem with the Rex's enclosure.

"It's too small. Her pen." she said.

"I've had this discussion with the engineers before and was told not to worry because they all went to Cal Tech and MIT."

"Friggen' yuppies. Whatever. Maybe we can convince Hammond and he'll get their asses moving but we got a lot of time before she's full grown."

"Not exactly." Harding mentioned.

"What? What do you mean?"

"She's pretty much at size already."

Booth cocked her head.

"Impossible. Paleontologists figured it would take at least 15 years."

"She's not a regular Rex."

"How old is she? Like, how long has Hammond kept this under raps?"

"She's two, I think."

"Two?"

"Yeah, one of the engineers let it slip. I had no idea how old she was. Turns out Wu pumped her full of growth hormones," he paused. "Her and pretty much anything that looks impressive big."

"Uh, I have serious ethical questions."

"We all do, Lauren. This is why we have to frequently check them for tumors."

"It'll shorten their lives."

"I'm aware," he sighed deeply. "You need to understand something right quick. The men who run this place, the men who made her, they don't see her they way we do. You know what they see? Dollar signs. That's it. They barely recognize that she's alive."

"Then what the fuck are we doing, Gerry? I didn't become a vet to let animals suffer."

"What we're doing here is making sure that they don't — to the best of our abilities and to the best of what we have available to us. No one really cares about them but us."

"I thought this was a long term thing. I gave up everything for this."

Harding clutched both of her shoulder.

"Lauren, listen to me. I know. I feel torn too. So does Sue. So does Rob. We all asked ourselves the same thing you are now. It's not easy. EnGen doesn't really like us because we cost money. The scientists here really don't respect us. It doesn't matter that you have doctor at the front of your name; they'd rather wipe their ass with our degrees than listen to what we have to say."

"I don't—" she began.

"Don't think you can stay? Lauren, I need you here. They need you here," he smiled "And it's pretty damn obvious Rob really likes having you around too, if you don't mind me saying so."

Booth stared sadly at the ground.

"Most of them get sick often, especially the herbivores. I don't know what's wrong with them and Wu keeps his secrets," he sighed. "But I try for their sake. Those animals didn't ask to come back from the dead."

"You're good to go, Ger. To the left and then straight." Muldoon called over the radio.

"Ok. We'll find you." he replied.

Gerry gestured with his head.

"Wanna meet her?"

Booth gave a weak smile.

"It's not every day you get to see a t-rex."

"Sleeping like a big, bad baby." Harding chuckled.

Booth was shocked by her size.

"Lot bigger than a bear." she mumbled.

"This normally keeps her under for about half an hour." Muldoon mentioned.

Booth stood next to the Rex's jaw. Her eyes were closed; her massive body raised and fell with each deep inhale and exhale. Booth was accustomed to life and death; sickness and health, long before she became a vet. That was the way of the ranch. She would sleep in the barn with the sick and dying of the herd. She always argued that just being there was often enough comfort to them. Her father insisted that cattle were too simple minded to understand the concept, but she knew that in the end, they were happy not to be alone. Booth gently stroked the side of her massive neck. She did not know how long this Rex would have but however short or long the time would be, she would be under her care. She was powerful, beautiful, majestic, but in a way, no different then a small calf fighting to keep itself out of Death's shadow.

"Lauren?" Harding called.

"Yeah, I just — I just," she sighed. "Nothin'. Ok, Ger. Show me how to do a 12 point inspection on this huge truck."

For the rest of the day, Booth avoid everyone else. Her mind roared with a million cascading thoughts. It was overwhelming and exhausting. She sought peace in the only manner that ever gave her comfort — to be amongst her animals. She long regarded them as the most sentient of beings, capable of thinking and feeling on levels that were far beyond the limited abilities of humans. All too often, she envied them. For hours, she sat quietly at the raptor pen, feeling deeply saddened for the brilliant hunters that were basically being spoon fed. Their natural talents as predators were going to waste. If only she could do something to help. Scarlett easily sensed that the new one from the Other Pride was struggling. She did not have the same energy emitting from her as she did before. Normally, when Scarlett sensed this from one of her sisters, a gentle nudge usually did the trick. Yet, there was that separation between them, one she was ready to admit would unfortunately remain. She did not look like them, she did not talk like them, but if she could ever join them, Scarlett would welcome her as her own. Scarlett was perplexed and confused. She could not explain why she saw her this way. It made no sense to her. She tossed her head slightly in an attempt to shake out her unknowns. She settled down on the ground as close as possible to the barrier, propping herself up on her left hip and forearms. Booth gave a weak smile.

"Come to hang out, huh?," she paused for quite some time. "You know, I gotta say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we think your kind is ravenous and we think you to almost be like a monster out of our worst nightmares."

Scarlett didn't understand her sounds, but she could feel it. A brilliant blue butterfly fluttered next to Scarlett. She felt a nice and easy feeling when she saw them. She could not explain it. She understood what hungry and tired were. She liked this feeling. She watched it intently, giving soft twills as it gracefully flew into the sky and out of site.

"You thought that was pretty, didn't you? You understand that there are things beyond yourself, don't you?"

Strange thing, Scarlett thought as she looked at Booth. Her cheeks were wet even though there was no rain.

Booth didn't particularly care for baseball. She found it boring and slow paced compared to hockey or football. In addition, neither of the teams were ones she could say she even remotely liked. It gave her something else to focus on. She was watching it so intently, that when the phone rang, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Dr. Lauren Booth." she said tiredly.

"Hey. How are you?" he asked. Muldoon's voice reminded her soft, supple leather; rugged but comforting.

"Fine." she lied.

"You just took off."

"Yeah, I was with the raptors."

There was a pause.

"You know I don't approve you being alone with them."

"That's nice, Robert. I'll take it into consideration."

Muldoon dismissed her little bit of attitude. Harding told him briefly of their conversation at the Rex's pen in the morning.

"You busy?"

"Just watchin' baseball and bored out of my damn tree," she bit her lower lip. "Do you want to see me or something?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

How endearing and charming was that?

"I'll meet you. I gotta ask you something."

The evening air was still hot and heavy. Booth hated the way the humidity clung to her skin. She doubted if she would ever get accustomed to it. She was actually pining for winter.

"Hey," she called to Muldoon "First of all, your buddy Ray has got a bit of a mouth."

"He said what?" Muldoon was a bit concerned.

"So, yeah, I guess you told him that I'm off the market."

He tisked loudly.

"I didn't say it like that."

She sat as close to him as she possibly could.

"Being your girlfriend is all news to me."

"Well, uh," he took off his trademark hat momentarily and put it back on again "I'm bad at this."

"I'm sure you make up for it in other areas." she uttered quietly.

"I think so." Muldoon confidently boasted.

"I'm just gonna get right to the point," she exhaled "Rob, we'll need to spend the night together."

He gave a side grin and raised one eyebrow.
"You have my utmost attention."

She smiled.

"Yeah, I have a behavioural enrichment experiment in mind."

"I'm all for enrichment, yes." he nodded slowly.

"We need to be up really early," she patted his knee "We're going hunting," she paused "More like catching, actually. Sue tells me there's lots of wild hogs."

"Lots."

"And who doesn't like bacon for breakfast?"