A/N: So it looks like Owen might have some damage control to do... Here's to hoping to that the restaurant won't blow up.

This is the first chapter I posted in the New Year, so I just wanted to say now that I hope you are all having at least a mediocre New Year. :)

Also, attention, I now have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"

Disclaimer: I do not own Jurassic World or anything about it. I do love dinosaurs though.

"What's going on with you, Owen?" Zara asked with concern.

Owen had gone pale. If he were any paler, people would actually think that he was Frost's and Gale's biological father if they were to go just by color. Speaking of… He glanced down again just to make sure. Yup. Frost was still happily rubbing up against his leg. Perfect.

"Owen?" Zara asked again. She started to get up in concern to check on him.

"I'm fine!" Owen blurted out. He winced a bit, realizing that he had been a bit too loud that time. This time, he wasn't oblivious to the stares that were coming his way. He tried to ignore them though. He angled his leg carefully to block people's view of Frost. He was lucky that they were sitting near the corner of the restaurant. It made it a bit easier on him to block people's view of Frost.

"Maybe we should start eating first," Zara suggested tentatively as she sat back down. As much as she would have loved to ask Owen her question, it seemed as though he had other things going on in his mind. Not to mention he looked like he could faint any second. She didn't want to have to call an ambulance or something if that was the case. Her question could wait a bit longer. "I already know what I'm going to order. Do you know what you want, Owen?"

"Uhm," Owen opened the menu in front of his face, using it to cover the fact that he was looking down to keep an eye on Frost. "I'm not really sure. Do you have any suggestions?" He slowly angled his foot in order to keep Frost from walking over to Zara, just in case. His eyes flicked around the restaurant, making sure that no one was coming over. Of course, this kept him from being able to actually look at the menu.

"Well, if you want my opinion…" Zara said, looking over the menu carefully for something Owen may like. She didn't think he really cared that much, he was the kind of guy who would eat just about anything. Well, so long as he knew how to pronounce it. This had been proven when he had ordered a pizza at the restaurant Claire had suggested the two of them to go to on their disaster date. Speaking of, she would have to be sure to not bring that up at all in case Owen was still sensitive about it. "You can never go wrong with the sushi here."

"The sushi?" Owen glanced over at the sushi menu. It seemed all right. A few of the names jumped out at him. "The Rexy Roll? They didn't actually put T-Rex meat in there, did they?"

"No," Zara rolled her eyes at his idiocy. She turned over her own menu and pointed out the Rexy Roll. "See here? Like right under it? It is the list of ingredients. Do you see how there's absolutely no T-Rex meat listed? That's because there isn't any. It's only called that because it's huge. That's all."

"Well don't you think that's kind of misleading?" Owen mumbled. He looked back over the menu. There were quite a few sushi rolls named after the different types of dinosaurs at the park. After looking over the whole list, he noticed that something missing. "Hey, why isn't there a Velociraptor Roll or something?"

"Owen… Are you serious?" Zara glared at him. Even with a simple thing, Owen just had to be difficult. "Just pick a damn sushi roll and be done with it." She whispered out the damn part in that sentence, just in case to make sure Shun didn't hear her. Shun tended to have bat-like hearing.

"But…" Owen looked back down at the menu and back at Zara. Under the table, his legs were slowly moving in order to keep Frost preoccupied. He did not want her following her sister into the kitchen. He also needed to go and get Gale back at some point. He was not going to be looking forward to that. On the plus side, there was no screaming or panicking going on in the kitchen. Well, not more than usual at NOBU's; that meant that Gale hadn't been caught yet.

"Not many people know when the Velociraptors are coming," Zara whispered, since it was still technically supposed to be a secret. Well, the world knew that they were coming; it was something that critics and fans were all talking about ever since it was announced. Still, the exact release date was still unknown. It could be extremely soon, depending on how well Owen did with the pack. And that was a disheartening thought to some of the other team leaders around the park. "I bet you that Shun will make a Velociraptor Roll once they official release date for them is announced."

"Now why do you have to make it sound like they're a movie or something?" Owen asked seriously. That was something of a pet peeve for him when it came to how other people working at the park referred to the dinosaurs. Well, all of them except for Simon, it seemed. "They're smart, cunning animals that have a social structure. Now granted, it's pretty primitive. But they have families, and remember things, and they don't appreciate insults."

The last thing he said was a bit of a personal observation. But he swore that Blue could now somehow recognize swear words. It didn't matter what tone of voice it was said in. She would growl lowly anytime anyone, even him, would swear within ear shot of her. It was more than a bit disconcerting after he had found out. He tested it a few times, and each time he would use a bad word that she knew of, she would growl. He decided not to put that on the report just yet. It needed further looking into.

"What?" Zara ask blankly. That hadn't made much sense at all, if any. Then again, Owen was known for being weird.

"It's nothing," Owen said quickly. He didn't want anyone else to know that the velociraptors could understand swearwords lest he gets blamed for swearing in their presence. "I just don't understand why the management here treats them like they only exist to make money."

"That is sort of the point of an amusement park," Zara said dryly. She sighed and put down her menu before looking back at Owen sympathetically. "You have to remember, you were hired for a specific purpose. And this park exists for one reason, despite what some others may think or want to believe."

"A regular amusement park doesn't offer several dozen attractions that can kill and/or eat you though," Owen shot back. He didn't want to argue with Zara, but he felt the need to defend the dinosaurs. Most were seen as entertainment, but that was wrong. They hadn't asked to be created, and they didn't deserve to live a life in captivity just because of what they were and what they represented. "Just think, does this place really have good intentions?"

"I'll be back," Zara said, suddenly standing up. She didn't want to get into this argument again right now. "I need to go to the bathroom to freshen up. When the waiter stops by, order the sesame chicken with soba noodles for me."

"Sesame chicken with soba noodles; got it." Owen said, saluting her mockingly as she walked away. He would have pushed for an answer from her, but he also didn't want to argue about anything with her today.

Zara couldn't help but flick his forehead irritably as she passed him, much to his dismay.

As soon as she was out of eyesight, he bent down under the table and picked up Frost, carefully petting her as he smoothly pushed her back towards and into his backpack. As soon as she was inside, he pulled it up and into his lap, careful to make sure that others wouldn't be able to see her. He continued petting her, hoping to keep her docile. Luckily, it seemed to be worked. He was pretty sure that it wouldn't have had it been Gale who had stayed with him. He thanked his lucky stars that it hadn't been the other way around.

Knowing Zara, it would be a while until she returned. That was fine, she didn't want to continue with the conversation and, to be honest, neither did Owen. He didn't like thinking about the real reason why he had been hired. So he swiftly got up, carefully zipping up his backpack and putting it back on before making his way towards the kitchen doors, or as the staff liked to call it, The Gates to Seafood Hell. No one paid him any mind as he casually walked towards the doors. As soon as a waiter opened to doors to come out of the kitchen, Owen nonchalantly slipped inside.

Immediately, Owen's nose was assaulted by the smell of raw fish as rice. All of the chefs were busy with their work, focusing all of their attention to the ingredients in front of them. There was some yelling going on, mostly from Shun. Fortunately, Shun was working on a pot full of something facing the far wall. Owen moved a bit to the side, just to be safe. Luckily, no one was really paying any mind to him. A few of the younger workers glanced over, but he just pulled his badge out of his pocket to show them, which was enough for them to just nod and look away. Owen had to love the newbies; they either didn't want to risk getting into trouble or just didn't care.

As he moved deeper into the kitchen, he glanced around at the ground uneasily. There wasn't any obvious sign of Gale. It was hard to tell if that was good or bad. He would go with good, just because it would make him feel better. After a few minutes of looking, he couldn't see any clues. That was somewhat worrisome. There weren't any open windows or doors leading outside. Well, there was the area towards the bathrooms and the fridge. But he was sure that Gale wouldn't go there. The smell and temperature would keep Gale away, hopefully.

"Hello, Grady-san." A dark and foreboding voice said.

'Oh crap baskets...' Owen thought glumly before slowly turning around with a stressed smile on his face.

Shun was glaring at Owen with an unnecessarily large kitchen knife in his hand. Owen would have normally commented on it, but based on the look on Shun's face, he decided it would be wise to keep his mouth shut this time.

"You must, of course, realize that this area is for employees only…" Shun said, glaring at Owen. "Right?"

"W-well of course." Owen stammered, taking a step back cautiously. He eyed Shun's knife wearily, recalling Zara mentioning that he had been sharpening it earlier. It certainly looked sharper than a normal knife. He decided to look back at Shun's face instead.

'Geez, it's hard to tell what would have been better to look at.' Owen thought sullenly at the thunderous expression on Shun's face.

"So why are you here, Grady-san?" Shun asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"I just… Came to tell you what Zara and I would like to order?" Owen said slowly, trailing off into a questioning tone of voice when he couldn't think of a good enough answer.

"There are waiters for that." Shun said, gesturing towards one who had just walked in through the door.

As soon as the waiter saw Owen and Shun, he smoothly turned and avoided them to move towards the other side of the kitchen. It was a very wise choice on his part; Owen wished he could have done the same. It probably wouldn't have mattered though, since Shun was like a ninja, and the knife in his hand was like a kunai.

"That's true," Owen nodded in agreement. "But I didn't see any around, so I thought I'd just come and tell you directly."

Shun glared at him before sighing. Almost regretfully, Shun placed the knife down on the counter next to him. "Fine, what are you and Zara-san having today?"

"Right," Owen breathed a sigh of relief seeing the dangerous knife now out of Shun's hand. "Zara wants the sesame chicken with soba noodles."

"Ok, and you?" Shun asked patiently.

"Sushi." Owen said dumbly.

"Ok…" Shun said, some threat was seeping into his voice again. "What kind of sushi, Grady-san?"

"Oh right," Owen wanted to hit himself. He refrained though, and thought back to the menu. Only one thing came to mind. "Uh, the Rexy Roll."

A movement from his backpack caught his attention, and he nervously laughed and started moving towards the door. He made sure to keep a few steps away from Shun as he walked by him. "Well, great. I guess I'll leave you to cook now. See ya." With that, Owen stepped back out of the kitchen and all but ran back to his seat.

Zara looked up as Owen hastily sat down, quirking an eyebrow at his pale expression, although she smirked slightly at seeing the swinging kitchen doors.

"Owen, did you really just…?" Zara trailed off, not bothering to finish her question since it had such an obvious answer.

"I was just telling Shun what we wanted," Owen said distractedly, not bothering to look up at Zara. Instead, he put his backpack carefully in his lap and opened it a bit to check on Frost. Frost's gaze met his immediately, and he reached in to pet her gently. Frost leaned into his touch without making a sound. He pushed the backpack down so it couldn't be seen by Zara and kept his hand inside to leisurely pet Frost in order to keep her calm. After a moment, he looked back at Zara. "Shun said it'll be out shortly."

"That's good," Zara said, staring at him suspiciously. "And you couldn't just tell a waiter what we wanted because…?" She gestured to one who was passing them by.

If Owen could have, he would have glared. Every excuse he came up with today was easily being torn apart by logic. It shouldn't be this hard to lie, but somehow it was. It really just wasn't fair at all.

As if she could sense his agitation, Frost started to squirm restlessly under his hand. Owen responded by petting her harder, making sure to trailed his fingers on the underside of her jaw. It seemed to do the trick. Frost calmed down almost immediately and moved to lie down. Owen took this chance to scoot forward a bit to make sure that Zara didn't see his arm moving. If he moved his whole arm to pet her, Zara would probably get suspicious. At the very least, he could move his fingers in place over Frost to keep her calm.

Zara's eyes widened imperceptivity as Owen moved closer towards her. That was an unexpected move on his part. Then again, he could have done it to get a bit further away from the kitchen after whatever had happened in there. Either or could be the case with him. She decided to not look too much into it. Knowing Owen, he probably did it just because.

Owen sighed a bit at the feel of Frost lying down in his backpack. It was reassuring to have one of the Indominus Rex be docile. The only one he would ever need to worry about it seemed was Gale. Speaking of her, he was wondering where she could have gotten to. It was surprising that she hadn't been caught yet. Then again, she seemed to be pretty cunning. If he was lucky, she would be back at his home before he got there. But he kind of doubted it though. He could not be that lucky.

"Owen?" Zara questioned since Owen had been staring off into space blankly.

"Hm," Owen looked back at Zara. After a second, he realized that she had asked him a question. He thought back. ""Oh, I just didn't see a waiter at the time. That's all. Its fine, I told Shun in there. Our food will be out shortly."

"Really?" Zara took a sip of her drink while staring back at Owen. "And you're still alive?"

"Is it really that hard to believe me?" Owen complained. He fought the urge to pout, but it was pretty hard with Zara staring at him. "I'm like the most honest guy here."

"The only other person most people can compare you to when it comes to their station is Vic," Zara said casually, although the look in her eyes was somewhat playful. "So compared to him… Yeah, I guess you're an honest guy."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Owen replied dryly. "Now then, before our food arrives, could you tell me what's going on? I could have sworn that you had a question for me."

Zara blinked at him uncomprehendingly. After a moment, she opened her mouth as if she was about to say something before closing it abruptly. She sighed and shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Owen asked. "There's nothing at all? It had to have been something important, I figured."

"Well I'm glad that you had high hopes," Zara said with a smile. "I noticed you sneaking into the lab a few nights ago."

"Oh." Owen's heart stopped. Out of all of the things that Zara could have said to him, that was something he never would have expected. He breathed in deeply, trying to think of something to say. Nothing was coming to mind though. Zara stared at him with a small smile while he just stared back dumbly.

"It's ok, Owen," Zara said, chuckling at the shocked look on his face. "I already figured that you were just meeting with your Raptor Pack. It would certainly explain how you bonded to them so quickly. I won't tell anyone. But really, I doubt that you'll get into trouble for doing it. If anything, Simon would applaud your dedication."

"Oh," Owen's heart started to beat again. That was unexpected. On the plus side, that was definitely a good excuse that he would have to use in the future in case he ever got caught trying to visit Frost and Gale. Of course, that was banking on the assumption that Frost and Gale would return to that room. At this point, he wasn't sure if he would prefer for that to happen. "Yeah, that's what I was doing."

Zara eyed him weirdly. She opened her mouth to say more, but they were interrupted by yelling coming from the kitchen. Both she and Owen turned to stare at the doors along with the other patrons.

"WHERE IS ALL OF THE SUSHI THAT I PLACED HERE?!"

"Gale." Owen muttered, wincing at the anger in Shun's voice.

"What?" Zara asked.

"Nothing," Owen replied quickly. "He sure sounds mad."

"ALL OF IT! GONE!"

The yelling quieted down, but strained talking could be heard coming from the kitchen.

"I'll be right back." Owen said. He got up and rushed towards the kitchen doors before Zara could reply.

As soon as he opened the doors, the strained talking became more apparent. Owen couldn't really understand what was being said, since it appeared to be Japanese. It was probably for the best though considering the look on Shun's face as he paced around the kitchen. All of the other chefs and waiters were giving him a wide berth. Owen could empathize with them. None of them noticed him as he walked in, and he stayed by the door in order to keep it that way.

A quick glance showed him the plates where the missing sushi was likely placed. They wasn't even a trace of them left, not even a grain of rice. There didn't seem to be any evidence of whom or what could have taken them. Owen was thankful for that. It was only a matter of time before Gale got caught though. His eyes darted around the room, trying to see if he could find the pale little beast. There was no sign of her though.

"Why are you back here, Owen?" Shun asked, finally noticing Owen standing idly by the door.

"I thought that you could use some help," Owen said, unsure if that would be a good enough excuse. Luckily, Shun seemed to madder about the missing sushi than Owen being in the kitchen again. When Shun didn't say anymore, Owen decided to keep talking. "I was wondering if you needed some help or something."

"Its fine," Shun replied angrily. He kept pacing around the kitchen. "I already know what happened."

"Y-you do?" Owen stammered, wondering if Shun had managed to see Gale.

"Something came inside and ate the sushi." Shun bit out, glaring at the chefs who hadn't stopped the food from being stolen.

Owen sighed, thankful that Gale hadn't been caught.

"And then it, whatever it was, left through the back door because some idiot left it open." Shun said, glaring at the chefs again.

They all winced.

Owen froze. That wasn't what he had wanted to hear.

"I'll get to the bottom of it," Shun promised Owen. He walked up to Owen and started to push him out of the kitchen. "Now go, I need to remake some dishes. Just sit and wait. I'll be sending appetizers out to all of the tables that have to wait now. Takato, you go out and let the other customers know."

"Yes, sir." Takato bowed quickly before rushing out.

"A-are you sure that I can't help?" Owen said, trying to stall. "I'm pretty good and finding things. Hell, just yesterday, I tracked down a Metriacanthosaurus."

"I heard," Shun said flatly, continuing to push Owen out. "Good for you. Still, this is my duty. I'll take care of it. Now go, sit down, and eat." With that, he gave a stronger push, pushing Owen back into the dining area.

"Shit." Owen muttered quietly, mindful of all the kids sitting around. Spotting Zara blatant look of disapproval, he waved slightly before slowly walking over. Once he sat down, he told her what Shun had said.

"Hm, I wonder what it could have been." Zara mused out loud.

"Same here." Owen murmured glumly. He was absentmindedly stabbing an oyster that they had gotten as their free appetizer. It was a blue point oyster, to be specific, which did make a difference according to Zara. That was beside the point though. His mind was wondering about how he would go about finding Gale.

"Anyway, I just wanted you to know you shouldn't sneak into the lab area," Zara said, seeing that Owen was starting to not pay attention again. "Do you understand, Owen?"

Owen looked up at the topic changer. He grinned at her tone. It was a good thing she didn't know of the real reason why he was sneaking in. Still, it would be best to just let her keep thinking that. "Yeah, I'm sure. And don't worry; I plan on talking to the boss soon."

"Good," Zara nodded, satisfied with Owen's response. She would be keeping an eye on him though. She wouldn't tell him, just in case he decided to be even sneakier if he knew she was watching him. She glanced up, seeing a bunch of waiters walking out with plates. "It looks like the food is ready. That's great, I'm famished."

"Yeah, me too," Owen agreed. He decided to lean down to grab his wallet from his backpack as well as to check on Frost. As soon as he pulled his backpack open, he saw Frost and Gale sleeping next to each other. He stared for a moment before robotically sitting back up. "Hey, Zara?"

"Yeah, Owen?" Zara said worriedly at the blank look on Owen's face.

"This place serves alcohol, right?" Owen asked.

"Yes." Zara replied slowly while pointing towards the drink menu between them.

"Perfect," Owen picked it up. "I'm going to need something strong."

EXTRA

"Shit!" Owen yelled at he narrowly escaped the jaws of death again. Literally.

Behind him, Rexy was chasing him. After she and Blue had defeated the Indominus Rex, they had both gone their own ways. That was all well and good, especially since they didn't immediately turn on the humans like Owen had been expecting. Unfortunately, after everything was said and done, they still needed to be put back into their cages. As such, Owen was once again corralled into helping out with that effort. Needless to say, that had lead to everyone else dying and Owen running for his life. Again.

"Barry! Claire! Lowery! Blue?!" Owen yelled into his walkie-talkie. He wasn't sure why he had yelled out that last name, but it was worth a shot. "Someone help me out here damnit!"

There was no response on the radio.

Owen kept running, making sure to take sharp turns and duck under the random logs.

Rexy continued to run after him, breaking through the logs as if they were twigs.

Finally, Owen was forced into a corner. Owen panted as he leaned against the wall and sat down, awaiting his gruesome end.

Rexy leaned down to take a bite out of him, only to smack her head against the wall. She backed up a few steps from the pain only to step back forward and lean down to try again. Once more, her head hit the wall. She pushed forward, reaching out towards Owen with her claws. They didn't reach anywhere near him. Releasing a sound that sounded oddly like an angry huff, she took a step back and glared at Owen.

"Talk about lucky." Lowery's voice came on through the walkie-talkie.

Owen stared at walkie-talkie in confusion.

"Rexy has a big head and little arms. Your plan was well thought out. She can't eat you if you're standing there." Lowery complimented him.

"Just shut up and get me away from her." Owen said, finally replying while keeping his back pressed firmly against the wall as Rexy started leaning down to try again.

A/N: So it looks like the next chapter will have Owen doing more park stuff.

Owen will be going around the park from time to time doing, well, whatever needs to be done. I'm debating if he should bring Frost and Gale with him or not. What do you think?

Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.