It took you a couple of days to get back on your feet again and pull your head out of the clouds. You were only just. Starting to come to terms with what happened. You knew know that it couldn't have been helped, and that gave you at least a little reassurance. Owen had been such a good friend over the time, helping you through it. You felt awful that he'd had to watch you destroy the raptor. You were sitting in your bedroom when you had a profound moment. You were just staring off into space, sitting in front of your mirror with a hairbrush, when you realized it. You had slowly but surely developed feelings for Owen. Strong feelings. The hairbrush fell out of your hand and your mouth opened in surprise. You weren't sure how you hadn't realized it before. You just hoped that now you knew, things wouldn't be awkward around Owen. There was a knock at your door. "Just a minute." You called out, quickly yanking the brush through the rest of your hair. You got up and headed to the door. "Owen? What brings you here so early?" You asked softly. He usually didn't show up for another half an hour. "It's Sophia." He said frantically. Your eyes widened and you hurried after him. You entered the main meeting room and took your seats, there were a few more people here ready, but when you saw the presentation in front of you, you almost threw up. 'Park opening and the new species.' It was titled. You looked around the room to distract yourself and realized Jim was sitting on the other side of the table. You'd been spending so much time with Owen, you hadn't seen Jim since the field missions stopped. "Jim, how nice to see you again!" You greeted him with a smile. Jim as a terrible flirt so he winked at you and said the cheesiest thing ever, "Well, you know, date couldn't keep us apart forever.". You were immune to his 'charms' so you just laughed and shook your head. You hadn't noticed until now, but Owen had a grip on your wrist, and it was tightening. You couldn't work out why exactly he seemed to be clinging to your arm, but you ignored it. His face looked a little sour at the moment. "Owen, are you feeling okay?" You asked him gently. He turned to you and the sour-look left his features. "I'm fine." He said, his hand slipped from your wrist to grasp your hand and give it a squeeze." You tried our best not to blush, but it didn't do much good. You saw a satisfied look on Owen's face from the corner of your eye.
When the meeting started, Sophia strut about in front of the board, gesturing here and there. "The grand reopening will be in five days." She stated plainly. You and Owen exchanged a shocked look. Time had just slipped past, you hadn't even realized! He was still holding your hand and gave it a squeeze. You turned your attention back to Sophia. "So in the run up I want everyone working hard to get the park in tip top condition. I'll be transferring some of you to work on prepping the park. Mr Grady and Miss (y/n), you will both be placed on perimeter checks. I want you both checking the fences in the enclosures for breaks. If another one gets out, it'll be the end of this park and everyone in it." She ordered. You exchanged another look with Owen and his grip on your hand tightened further. The idea worried you both. Sophia moved on through her presentation and then she reached the topic you two had been so worried about, "Now. As for our genetics project, we've been making leaps and bounds in creating stronger, better dinosaurs. I was hoping to continue that work by engineering another new dinosaur. The Indominous Rex was undeniably a catastrophic failure, but I now believe we can contain something like that. We know what it's capable of now. If not an Indominous Rex, I have s number of other projects to test.". She opened a new slide and began to lead us through some designs. "I also have a top secret design, this one I want putting into action immediately. No buts or ifs about it." She said firmly. Everyone started to yell things and the whole room became too loud for you to handle. Your hands clamped over your ears, you were feeling a little woozy.
You bolted out of the room, followed closely by Owen, who was worried about you. You lent against the wall outside and took a few deep breaths. "Are you alright?" Owen asked, standing next to you. "I'm alright. It's just… Too chaotic in there." You huffed, shaking your head. "There's an uproar about this top secret project." Owe sighed, shaking his head. You noticed that not once had he let go of your hand, and he was still gripping it tightly now. You squeezed his hand a little and he gave a half smile. You lent your head against his shoulder and closed your eyes for a moment, "My head hurts." You complained quietly. Owen turned to face you and cupped your face with his hands, sweeping one of his thumbs across your cheek. You smiled at him, he always tried to make you feel better. Never in all your days did you expect what would happen next. Owen's face started to close the distance and for a moment you were certain he was going to kiss you, then you heard a siren go off and you both snapped back away from each other. "What is that?" You gasped. But of course Owen didn't know either. It wasn't until Sophia burst from the office that you both started to really panic. "Laboratory malfunction! Meltdown!" She yelled loudly. You and Owen exchanged looks and then ran to get the raptors. You found they had locked themselves back in their room, so you opened the door with your card and ushered them out. You broke into the fenced outside training area and looked at the building. It was starting to catch on fire. You needed a way out. Owen noticed it first; it was a white box on the outside of the training area. You both approached it and Owen jammed his clearance card into the slot. The cage around you grunted and started to raise out of the ground. Several metal legs lifted it up into the air just enough for you and the raptors to make an escape before it lowered again. That was that. You were stuck outside as the building went into lock-down.