The first thing Claire was aware of was how foggy her head felt, followed closely by the pain that seemed to shoot through her leg to the rest of her body. She groaned, trying to open her eyes, but they seemed glued shut. She thought back to what she could last remember. She knew she'd been injured, Maisie had run off with the dinosaur close on her heels, her pleading with Owen to go after them, their kiss, and then trying to follow them before she could move no more. After that it was a total blank.

Finally, her eyes opened and she turned her head slowly, wincing at the pounding headache she now had. Looking around the room, she realised she was laying on a couch, covered with a blanket, a cushion under her injured leg. She sat up slowly, feeling like she was being weighed down by some unknown force. That was when she laid eyes on someone sitting on a chair nearby, watching her.

Owen had not left Claire's side for the better part of the day, which is how long she'd been unconscious after Zia's in-house surgery on her leg. Zia, Franklin and Maisie were all asleep on the floor. Maisie had made temporary beds on the floor for them from the couch cushions. He was exhausted, but he would not be able to sleep anyway, too worried for Claire. He realised now the adrenaline had worn off that he could have lost her. He remembered back on the island, the very real possibility that she had almost drowned alongside Franklin in the gyrosphere. He shuddered to think what could've happened to her had he not decided to join them on their mission to save the dinosaurs. He knew Claire dealt him a cheap shot by bringing Blue up in a desperate attempt to get him to agree. Only he knew, however, that the real reason he ended up tagging along was because of the strong-willed, stubborn woman in front of him. He knew the dangers associated with going back to that island, at least he thought he did before they were betrayed. He knew it didn't matter what he said, she would willingly risk her life for the cause she had been passionate about since learning the volcano could wipe out the dinosaurs for good, again. He promised her they would talk about that, and they would be talking about other matters too.

Owen glanced up just in time to see Claire trying to sit up, much to his surprise. He must have been so deep in thought he had not realised she was awake.

They locked eyes, concerned met pained.

Getting up off the seat, Owen walked over to Claire, kneeling down beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from going anywhere.

'Hey,' he whispered, as to not wake the others. 'How are you feeling?'

She tried to speak, but her mouth felt so dry she could not form words.

Seeing this, Owen took the glass of water on the table beside the couch and handed it to her, along with some tablets.

'Zia found some painkillers and antibiotics. You're going to need them.'

Claire took them without any protest, hoping they'd kick in soon.

'What happened?' Claire's voice came out weaker than she'd like.

'After I left you, you must have tried to follow us and collapsed. We found you and Zia had to clean and stitch your wounds.'

Claire suddenly remembered the excruciating pain of having her wounds stitched up and of Owen trying to distract her.

Claire's eyes went wide and she gasped. 'Maisie, is she ok? What happened to the indoraptor?' Claire tried to get up but winced in pain, her leg buckled underneath her.

'Easy, Claire, easy.' Owen caught her and gently sat her back down on the couch.

'She's fine. Everyone's fine. Blue killed the Indoraptor, we're safe. But we've got bigger problems, Claire. All the other dinosaurs escaped and are now loose.'

Claire was speechless. This was not what she expected and she had no idea how she would be able to fix this.

'I know what you're thinking. This is not your fault, Claire.'

'But it is, Owen.' She whispered, repeating the words she had spoken to him in their cell.

'I got so caught up in my career on the island, that I lost sight of the fact that I was dealing with animals. Not just any animals, de-extinct creatures that science had brought back. We exploited them for greed and money, creating a lethal dinosaur to bring in more people. Who does that? What kind of people does that make us? What kind of person does that make me?' Claire hung her head in shame, letting tears slip down her cheeks. She angrily brushed them away.

'Claire, you listen to me,' Owen said in a calm, stern voice. 'You weren't the one to create that dinosaur, that blame lies with Dr Wu. You may have granted permission for the project, but you had no idea what Wu had put into that thing. You ended up saving us with the T-rex.'

'But If I hadn't stupidly gone on this rescue mission-'

'Claire, you did what you thought was right. You're trying to make up for past mistakes, that has to count for something. You can continue play the what if game and I'd have an answer for every single one of them. The fault does not lie with just one person, but everyone, me included. And if there's one thing I do not regret, it's meeting you and living a life with you off that island. I want that back, Claire, and I know you do too. We'll make it work this time, no more running from each other.' He brought his hand up to her face, softly stroking it before bringing her face closer and gently placing his lips on hers. Unlike the last kiss they shared, this kiss was slow and full of promises of forever.

'I love you.' Owen looked her straight in the eyes, trying to convey how much he meant those words.

'I love you too.' Claire replied with a watery smile.

'Get some more rest. We'll need to make a plan when the others wake up.'

She nodded, already feeling her eyes starting to droop. She laid back down on the couch, vaguely aware of Owen covering her back up with the blanket and kissing her on the forehead before her eyes closed.