The main bulk scene of this chapter was too long to add to last chapter. And didn't want it in the next chapter. So... it got its own chapter. 8D And then I started playing with a few other characters... and I really like this.
Raptor
Chapter 22: Differences
Yesterday was good. Yesterday was a success. That's how she was going to think about it. A success. Although... the only time she'd spent with Zach was at dinner. And then he left early. Owen had never shown up. Mr. Masrani demanded Owen's opinion. And she spent half her day off still working. But Gray had fun. That was the most important thing. And her meeting with Mr. Masrani had went well, despite him wanting Owen's involvement. And she had spent the day before with both brothers. So yes. Everything was going well. That's how she was going to think of this.
Today, she'd have to track Owen down and drag him by force if need be to check out the new asset's paddock, to satisfy Simon. But the day after that, maybe she could clear half a day and try to spend more time with her nephews. She needed to find something that would interest Zach. The sullen teenager wasn't as easy as Gray.
She checked her reflection in the mirror. Flawless, as always. She smiled to herself and turned. She picked up her phone and sent a quick text to her assistant Zara confirming their lunch date. Then she sent a text to Zach next, asking if he was feeling better and if they'd be okay on their own for the day. She figured it was too early to call them. She had no clue what time they normally got up. It was summer break. And they were on vacation. But Zach did tell Gray last night that he was going to bed early. So he could be up. But she wasn't sure. So instead of calling and chancing waking either of them up, she opted for the impersonal text. Owen, on the other hand, she didn't care if she woke up. She dialed his number and pressed the phone to her ear. Almost immediately, she got his voicemail. She hung up without leaving a message. She tried the direct line to his office. Still no answer. She frowned as she pulled the phone away from her ear. She was just going to have to find him herself.
With a sigh, she headed for the front door. Suddenly, it swung opened and Zara stood, framing it. She was holding a cup in each hand and a bag tucked under her arm and she was smiling brightly.
"Oh!" Claire squeaked, surprised. "I thought you left."
Zara smiled again and shook her head. "Sorry. Ran to get coffee. Got a little sidetracked." She stepped forward and pressed a quick kiss to Claire's cheek. "My plan was to sneak out and be back before you were out of the shower." She crossed the room and stopped at the kitchen table. She set the coffees and bag on the top. "I got you a soy mocha latte with a shot of espresso and double whipped cream. And one of those apple cinnamon things you like."
Claire let out a sigh and smiled. She followed a few steps. "Thank you, but I don't have the time." She said, shaking her head. "I have to track down Owen and talk him into helping me with the new asset. If that goes well, I have to meet with Mr. Masrani again. And I need to check on my nephews..."
"Owen is at the raptor paddock." Zara said, interrupting.
Claire's eyes widened. "You found him?"
Zara smiled and tilted her head. "He's always at the raptor paddock."
"Oh..." Claire frowned for a moment, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her. Because it hadn't. But Zara was right, of course. Whenever she needed to find Owen, he was always at the paddock.
"But yes." Zara said with a nod. "I confirmed through video surveillance that he's there. He arrived around twenty minutes ago and went straight inside the cage."
Claire sighed and shook her head. "Of course he did."
Zara continued talking. "I already spoke with Mr. Masrani's assistant. We scheduled a meeting for two. That gives you and Owen plenty of time to check the asset and paddock thoroughly." She said. "Your nephews will be fine for the day. All goes well with Simon and you should be able to meet them for dinner. So..." She pulled out one of the chairs and pointed to it. "You are ahead of schedule. Sit down, eat your apple thing, and drink your coffee."
Claire wanted to argue more. But she knew she couldn't. Or at least, she knew she shouldn't. Not with the glare Zara was giving her. So she smiled, nodded, and sat down at the table. She grabbed the cup and pulled it towards her. The heat and aroma were nice. She breathed in deeply for a moment and smiled. "Five minutes." She said, glancing up at Zara.
"Ten." Zara countered, taking a seat beside her. "Claire..." She started softly.
"My sister was right." Claire breathed out suddenly, her eyes on the lid of the coffee.
Zara leaned forward a bit and grabbed the other cup of coffee. She pulled it towards her. "About what?"
"I don't know them." Claire said. "They've been here for five days. I barely spent any time with Zach. I hardly did any better with Gray. The whole time yesterday, he kept talking about Owen and the raptors." She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "If I gave them the choice, I know they'd pick Owen over me."
Zara tilted her head. "Family or not, they're teenagers. Stuffy office or crazy guy with raptors? Owen's practically a teenager himself."
Claire smiled and let out a laugh.
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think." Zara said after a sip of her coffee. "Sounded like Gray had fun yesterday."
Claire nodded her head. "I think he did. He said he did. And Simon seemed to enjoy him, too."
Zara smiled. "See? You've got Gray down. Just got to work on Zach."
Claire breathed out and leaned back. "How?" She asked. "He's at that bratty teenager age, where they hate everything and everyone."
Zara tilted her head for a moment, thinking as she took another sip of her coffee. "You'll just have to... get down and dirty with them. Go on some of the rides with them like Owen did."
Claire shook her head. "I tried that."
Zara smiled and wrinkled her nose. "No you didn't. You gave them the Claire Tour." She lifted her hands to do air quotations around the words.
Claire frowned. "What's that mean?"
Zara rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Come on, Princess Sunflower." She said, lapsing into a nickname she used to bug her girlfriend. "I know you. I've been on your Claire Tour. You've perfected it for investors. Lots of facts and numbers and an extremely detailed schedule." Claire opened her mouth to protest and Zara held up her hand. "It's great." She continued. "For investors. And... maybe for Gray." She added with a smile. "But he's the exception. Bratty teenagers aren't going to respond to that."
Claire breathed out for a moment and thought about Zara's words. Maybe she was right. Claire had tried her hardest during that tour. But yes, she could agree. She did tend to rest on her facts. She smiled. "I'll sneak into the T-Rexy pen like Owen. Then they'll want to hang with their stuffy aunt." Zara smiled and Claire reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "You should come with me tonight." She said suddenly. "To dinner. I want you to meet them."
Zara looked away for a moment. "Are you sure?"
Claire nodded. "It's time my nephews got to know me, too."
Zara smiled again. "So lunch?"
Claire nodded. "Pick and text me. Somewhere... different."
Zara smiled. "The little hot dog cart by the gift shop?"
Claire wrinkled her nose. "Not that different."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
"What do you think, Blue?" He leaned his head back against the fence and threw his arm around her. He stifled a yawn. It was still early in the morning. Maybe 8, he thought. Okay, so it wasn't that early, not by his standards. But he hadn't slept well when he returned to his trailer last night after dropping Zach off. Dreams of running through the jungle with Zach kept waking him up. Because it felt so nice. It felt so real. And then he woke up, covered in sweat, and screamed his frustration. And he tried to sleep again. And it hadn't worked. So he gave up, got out of bed, shifted, and ran around the jungle close to his bungalow. He lost track of time but eventually returned. Then he went straight to the raptor paddock and told the girls he needed a moment alone to talk to Blue. She was the most level headed of the four.
Blue tilted her head slightly, in an almost shrugging manner. Then she dipped her head forward and bumped against his chest.
Owen sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Then he leaned his head back against the fence and breathed out. "I don't know how to describe it." He said softly. "This... weird pull I feel towards him."
[Mate.] Blue said evenly.
Owen rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No." He said loudly, looking down at her. "Just... no. And don't ever say that in front of Echo!"
Blue huffed, looking pleased with herself. She bumped her nose against him again and then pulled away.
"Shut up!" He snapped. Then sighed and leaned back again, pulling her with him. Then settled back against the fence. "Okay, look... you understand mates. Dating and mating."
She bobbed her head.
Owen paused for a moment. "And gender differences. Male and females. And how I've dated... mated with both."
She bobbed her head again.
Okay. This was going to be the hard one. "I don't think you understand age differences though."
She tilted her head to the side and blinked at him.
Owen paused again and looked away for a moment. "I know you basically understand age. Like..." He looked back at her. "I'm older than you. But... there's more to it..." He sighed and shook his head. He needed a way to explain this. "You remember when you were tiny." He held up his hand. "Little baby Blue who fit in my hand. Baby."
Blue snorted loudly and nodded her head. [Cracked.]
Owen smiled and nodded. "Yeah, when you hatched. And then... when you were like... too big to sleep on me anymore."
[Squishy!] Blue said, pulling her lips back in a weird, toothy smile.
He rolled his eyes. "That's a kid. Me..." He put his hand on his chest. "I'm an adult. I'm bigger than you... older than you. You guys... you're like... teenagers." He said slowly. "So..." He held up his hands and ticked them off on his fingers in order. "Baby, kid, teen, adult. Very important."
She bobbed her head. She understood. He was pretty sure she did anyways. But it was nice to know she understood the distinction between them. And that she accepted she wasn't an adult yet. And she didn't try to argue. She turned her head away for a moment, thinking. [Kid Squirrel?] She asked, looking back at him.
Owen nodded. "Yes. Gray is a kid still." In reality, kid probably wasn't the best term to use. Kid could really mean any age under 18. But Owen didn't want to go into too many age range details. And his mind needed to process a clear distinction between Gray and Zach's ages.
[Trip like us?] She asked, still thinking.
He nodded again, feeling relieved. She understood. "See?" He leaned back against the fence again. "That there. That is the problem. He's too young."
She dipped her head and shook it, snorting loudly.
"It does, too, matter." He snapped. "Adults don't date teenagers."
She tilted her head again, thinking. [Trip grow.]
Owen let out a sigh and looked at the ground. "Yeah, he'll grow." He breathed out. That fact was true. "But I'm always going to be so much older than him!" He whined.
Blue snorted again. [Squishy mate for squishy Alpha.]
He rolled his eyes and pushed her away hard. She toppled over with a surprised squeak. Then quickly leapt up and jumped at him. He let out a growl and bared his teeth. And then suddenly they were rolling around on the ground, pretending to wrestle. There was no real effort in any of their moves. Just rolling around in the dirt, having fun. And it felt good. Blue was on the ground with Owen on her back and he was shoving her head in the dirt with a laugh when a voice broke their play.
"Mr. Grady!"
Both stopped moving. "Oh shit..." Owen let go and looked up. Blue snorted and shook the dirt from her nose and looked up as well. "Miss Dearing." Owen said as sweetly at he could. "How wonderful of you to join us."
Her face was completely white. She was leaning on the rail, gripping it tightly. "What the hell are you doing?"
Blue snorted and jumped up, pushing Owen to the ground. Claire let out a gasp and Owen growled under his breath. "Not helping." He snapped at the laughing raptor. "Shut up."
Blue snorted again. [Can't talk.]
Owen bit his tongue and fought the urge to yell at her. Or slap her. Both in this instant would be very bad ideas. Instead, he focused on Claire. He held up his hands and smiled. "Everything's under control. Just a... uh... harmless drill. I have everything under control. She's... uh... half sedated." Blue shook her head and snorted again. Then slowly sunk down to the ground to play the part. "A sudden spike in adrenalin when you surprised us."
Claire's gaze remained glued to the raptor. But her grip eased up and she let out a breath. "That doesn't look harmless."
He glanced down at the long, red line on his arm. "Goddamnit, Blue!" He hissed under his breath.
[Squishy!] Blue laughed.
"Barely bleeding." Owen said, waving it off and looking back up at Claire. "Little disinfectant and it'll be fine. Doesn't hurt."
Claire let out a loud sigh. "Mr. Grady, we've discussed your lack of regard for your own safety."
Owen shook his head and threw up his arms. "I'm always safe!"
Her eyebrows raised and she stared at him blankly for a moment.
Owen shrugged. "Safe enough. Really."
Claire breathed out and shook her head again. "I don't care how safe you think they are..."
"They aren't." He interrupted quickly. "Only with me."
"I don't care how safe you think you are, then." She corrected. "This goes against all of our protocols. You need to stay out of the cage."
Owen sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I promise I'll try." He said after a moment. "Good enough?"
She crossed her arms. "Somehow, I don't believe you."
He smiled. "I don't blame you."
She sighed and stood up straighter. "Will you please come out of there? I have... a favor... to ask."
"Oh. A faaaaaavor." He strung out the word in a mocking tone. "Like the last one?"
"No." She turned and disappeared from view.
"Hey! Wait!" He glanced down at Blue. "Later. Stay out of trouble and don't say anything to your sisters." Then turned and sprinted for the door. "Claire!" He called out as he stepped outside. "What'd you need?"
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
He tossed and turned all night, plagued by weird dreams he forgot the moment he woke up. All he remembered was a pit of emptiness. There was more to the dreams than just that, he knew. There had to have been, to keep him tossing all night. Maybe it was best he didn't remember them. Because he could guess who and what they were about. And he didn't want to think about that. Not now. He took a dose of his pain meds and grabbed his phone. He shoved it in his pocket and followed Gray out into the hall silently.
"You couldn't have let me sleep in even a little bit?" Zach said with a yawn as the elevator stopped on the lobby floor. He pushed away from the wall of the elevator and ambled off after Gray. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned a second time. Actually, it was probably the third or fourth or twenty-third time.
"You promised." Gray said, looking up at him. "All day. Whatever I wanted."
"Yeah, well... all day." Zach mumbled. "Normal hours." He said, stretching his arms over his head as they walked.
"It's not that early!" Gray said. "Owen made us get up way earlier." He pointed out as they headed to the dining room.
"Yeah, that sucked." Zach said as they grabbed breakfast from the buffet and then headed for one of the empty tables in the corner. "Even the dinosaurs were still asleep." He said as he sat down.
Gray smiled as he set his bowl of cereal down on the table. He sat down and pulled it towards him. "It was awesome." He said, taking a bite.
Zach could fell the smile tugging on his lips. It had been awesome. And he'd been having fun, despite the maybe fight with Owen and their boring tour with their aunt. But he pushed the smile away. "It was alright." He said with a bored shrug.
Gray frowned and dropped his spoon in his bowl. It clanked against the porcelain, sounding more loud than it should. But the room was mostly empty and no one seemed to really notice. Gray shook his head. "Why do you do that?" He asked softly.
Zach blinked and looked at him. "Do what?" He asked.
"Act like that." Gray said.
Zach tilted his head, still not following. "Like what?"
"Like you're not having fun." Gray said. "I know you are. You like hanging out with Owen and stuff. You just won't admit it. You act like you hate everything!"
Zach looked down at his bowl of oatmeal and didn't answer right away. He picked up his spoon and started picking at it. For a couple minutes, the brothers ate in silence. Zach finished his and got up. He grabbed a couple pieces of fruit and headed back to the table. He held them out to Gray and the kid picked the orange. Then Zach sunk back down in his seat and took a bite of his apple. "I don't hate everything." Zach mumbled between chewing as he stared down at the table.
Gray started peeling the orange. "Then stop acting like you do." He said.
Zach swallowed the apple and opened his mouth. Then shut it and looked away. Maybe he did. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry." He said, leaning back in his seat. "You're right. Hasn't been too bad."
Gray popped a slice of orange into his mouth. "Still doing it." He said.
Zach rolled his eyes as he dropped the apple on the table. "Well... I did get pushed into a dinosaur cage and almost got eaten."
Gray tilted his head for a moment, peeling off another orange slice. "Okay. I'll give you that. But everything else?"
Zach smiled and nodded. "Fine. Everything else has been awesome."
They finished quickly, cleaned up, and headed out into the lobby. Gray was back to his smiling and bouncing self. "Where do you want to start?" He asked, looking up at Zach.
Zach shrugged. "You decide. Whatever you want. That's what I promised."
"Gray!"
The brothers turned at the voice. A man Zach had never seen before was walking towards them. He was smiling brightly and waving.
"Gray's brother." The man said as he came closer.
Zach glanced at Gray. "You know him?" He asked softly.
"Sorry." The man said, looking at Zach. "I don't remember your name."
"Zach." Gray said, turning to Zach. "This is Mr. Masrani. He's the one who owns the park. We went to see the new dinosaur yesterday."
Simon smiled at Gray and winked. "Secret dinosaur." He whispered, moving closer for a moment.
Gray smiled and nodded. "Very cool secret dinosaur."
He nodded. "Very." He turned to Zach and smiled. "Simon Masrani." He said, holding out his hand.
Zach took it and shook it only with a tiny bit of hesitation. It was weird, wasn't it? For a virtual stranger to just approach them in such a friendly manner in the middle of a hotel lobby? Or maybe it wasn't so weird. What did he know anymore?
"Call me Simon." The island owner said. "Now..." He clapped his hands together. "I have a request. Mr. Grady is currently occupied doing exactly what I asked. But this leaves me without an escort to the raptor paddock. And I need an introduction."
"Introduction." Zach repeated, trying to follow.
Simon nodded. "To the raptors."
"You want us to take you to see the raptors?" Zach asked.
Simon nodded. "I have it on good authority that they respond well to the two of you, despite your mishap when you first met."
"That... uh..." Zach started to mumble.
"Yeah!" Gray turned to Zach, excited. "Can we go?"
Zach glanced at Simon for a moment and then back at Gray. "I don't know, Gray..."
"You said whatever I wanted!" Gray reminded him.
Zach still hesitated. "Really? This is what you want to do?"
Gray nodded.
Zach let out a sigh and looked at Simon. "Okay, yeah. Sure."
"Great! I have a driver outside." Simon turned and Gray immediately fell in step with him.
"Can we go see your new dinosaur too?" Gray asked. "When Owen's finished with his inspection? Zach wants to see her, too."
Simon smiled and clapped Gray on the back. "Yes, my boy. We will do that."
Zach followed a step behind them. Were all adults on Jurassic World crazy?
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Author's Notes: *rubs hands together* Let's get deeper into the movie now. What's gonna happen when Owen meets the new dinosaur? Is she still gonna escape and try to eat Zach and Gray and Zara and EVERYTHING? Is Owen gonna save EVERYONE? Are the raptors gonna be brainwashed by giant hybrid raptor? IS DELTA FINALLY GONNA GET TO EAT SOMEONE? Tune in the for next exciting episode of... RAPTOR! (Which I wish had a better name. 8D I should have spent longer trying to think of a name. And I should have waited to start posting it until I had a better name.)
