Chapter Two:
Cracks
a/n: I just woke up covered in fried rice, but I had an idea for the chapter. Props to the guys who figured out what was going on and followed this story. I hope you enjoy it. (In other news, you better appreciate this tame stuff while it's here, there's gonna be excessive Murphy sibling coddling in the near future.)
Doctor Alan Grant was a man of science, not a man of theme park entertainment.
He hadn't been enthralled by John Hammond's proposal, not even with the generous endowment staked to it. The idea of an entire park centered on the species he so loved was wrong, almost insidious. Aside from their dignified presence in museums, Alan felt there was no place for dinosaurs in the public world. People, collectively, failed to show respect for them. They were far too inclined to mold them out of cheap plastic and stick them into cereal boxes. Hammond's park would doubtlessly be the same.
The fact he was sacrificing valuable time did not improve his sullen outlook on the damn thing. Alan had never abandoned his colleagues in the midst of a discovery before and was not especially keen to leave that precious Velociraptor skeleton in the green hands of his less-experienced students. Hammond had insisted though and Alan, with hundreds of thousands of equally precious dollars hanging over him, was in no position to quarrel.
Hammond was just one of the many passengers occupying the immaculate, but cramped, interior of the helicopter en route to Isla Nublar. Seated across from him was Ian Malcolm, a bespectacled man clad entirely in black. Alan had known him for all of forty-five minutes and disliked him immensely. Men like Malcolm were all too predictable: lewd, arrogant, bodacious. The bold manner in which he flirted with Ellie was enough to make his skin crawl.
The other man on the bench was the lawyer, Gennaro. Alan remembered Hammond expressing his contempt towards lawyers- - Gennaro in particular- - and could not help but agree. Gennaro was glancing around as if he would rather off himself than spend another minute with the lot of them.
Ellie gave his callused hand a squeeze and smiled sweetly once he had shaken himself out of his reverie. Just a glimpse of her gentle visage dispelled his irritation. She tended to have such an effect on him. "Almost there," she whispered, her enthusiasm youthful and unfeigned.
"You seem excited."
"Because I'm not dreading it like you, sweetie." Her thumb rubbed the tough skin of his knuckle; the sensation made his nerves do the jitterbug. "It can't be that bad."
"No place out in the middle of the ocean in need of a paleontologist and a paleobotanist can be that good, either," he replied. She shook her head, still grinning, and unfolded her stunning legs; Malcolm noticed and began to study said legs with the observant eye of a professional sexual predator. Alan's disdain toward the man escalated.
The island came into view suddenly, as if it had materialized from the ocean void while they had their backs turned. Its lushness was overwhelming. Alan stared in simultaneous awe and curiosity: the most plant life he had seen in the past year was the smattering of wilting scrub out in the badlands. This place was a veritable paradise.
As they drew nearer, Alan's scorn started to dissipate like a passing thunderhead. There was something strangely soothing about the island, a sense of ethereal calm intimated by its misty peaks and luxuriant vegetation. He had been expecting something much different. A Disney World perhaps, complete with a cartoonish dinosaur mascot greeting guests at the gate.
Maybe Ellie was right. Maybe the trip wasn't that bad.
"Bad wind shears, so we're going to have to drop a little fast," Hammond announced, tapping his amber-tipped cane along with each word. His expression conveyed a childish delight Alan had never witnessed on a man his age.
As if on cue, the copter jerked down and back up like a hooked fish. Alan reached for his seatbelt and came up with two latches- - no buckles. The dragonfly bounced again, more violently, forcing Alan to knot the two around his waist in a slapdash excuse for a safety belt. He caught Ellie's eye and gestured to his work; she laughed out loud.
The helicopter descended into a picturesque site: sprawling trees, verdant grasses, even a miniature waterfall. Two Jeeps were awaiting their arrival at the helipad, which was connected to a narrow road that extended into the island's leafy depths.
The copter landed without a single bounce or skid. They were in Jurassic Park.
"Come on now, come on! Let's go!" Hammond chirped. A deeply tanned man came to the door and opened it for the group. His salmon Polo shirt had "Jurassic Park" embroidered onto the breast pocket in black thread. "Thank you David- - come on, let's go!"
Alan looked to Ellie for wisdom. "You heard him- - let's go!" She snatched his hand and all but dragged him out of the passenger compartment and onto the concrete helipad. He removed his khaki hat before it could be cast into the greenery by the copter's blades and clutched it to his chest. Ellie had expressed her hatred of said hat on several occasions, often by comparing it to a cheap facsimile of Indiana Jones's, but Alan refused to part with it. The hat had been his only protection from sunburn when he crashed his Jeep in the badlands two years ago and became stranded in the arid desert with four of his ribs badly crushed. It was a lucky charm and even Ellie couldn't coax him out of abandoning a charm.
They were approaching the parked Jeeps when Alan spotted a tall figure out of the tail of his eye- - a girl. She was slumped against the copter's cockpit, observing them behind a pair of copper-rimmed eyeglasses. Alan paused and was about to mention her to Ellie when Ian Malcolm nearly mowed him. In an instant, the man was upon her and had her by the collar of her denim button-down.
"What in the...?" Hammond limped forward, evidently irritated by the delay. He had been anticipating this moment for weeks now and wasn't about to let Ian Malcolm of all men blight it for him. "Doctor Malcolm, I insist that we- -"
"And I insist that we hang on a second," Malcolm snapped. Gone was his smarmy smirk, replaced by something dark that reminded Alan of a cloud eclipsing the sun on a summer afternoon. It was an odd thing to see. "Come on Misty, you're getting on the helicopter."
"Wait! Wait, Dad- - please! Let go of me!" Her sandy voice sawed through the tranquility of the day and provided a window of opportunity for her to shake herself free of her father's grasp. The two glared at each other, father and daughter, daring one another to act.
Alan entertained a single thought: Ian Malcolm has a child? Someone allowed this man to have a child?
"Dad. I was reasonable last night and I'm being reasonable now. I respect you and your decisions, but I can't take this. You know how much I'd love it here- - and I do! It's amazing! I've done nothing but work my whole life. Who takes care of the house while you're out on the weekends? Who watches the kids and puts them to bed?" The mature facade she was valiantly struggling to maintain began to slip; her lower lip trembled and her voice cracked. "I'm sorry, Dad. I really am. But I feel like I deserved this."
Ian couldn't help but gawk at his child as her throat hitched around a suppressed sob. She had never been so passionate about anything before, not her textbooks or her classes: This was the Real Deal for her. He had to admit he had been a mite unfair as well, even if it was crucial to his role as a father to be unfair, and that Misty had always assumed the position of Mommy Dearest when it needed to be filled. The damn kid only wanted this one thing...
He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Damn, was he a sell-out. "Okay, Misty. I can't say I'm overjoyed about this or the fact you snuck onto a helicopter, but if you really want to stay... I guess you can."
Misty thrust her brawny arms around her significantly less brawny father, burying her face into his chest. "Thank you, Dad! Thank you, thank you! I promise- - I'll never ask for anything ever again! No more Christmas or-or birthdays, nothing! Thank you!"
"Okay, okay..." Ian chuckled and smoothed his hand down the arc of her back. He had a fatal soft spot for the kid: she was his first, after all. In spite of her lip-biting anxiety and perennially short temper, she was the most responsible member of their abnormal and chronically irresponsible family. Vacationing with her wouldn't be a chore- - it would be a reprieve.
Of course, it would probably make flirting with Doctor Sattler a touch awkward.
"Why, who's this young lady?" Hammond inquired. He quite liked the idea of receiving feedback from a teenager.
Misty felt herself redden. No one had ever called her a young lady before: her muscular build and unsocial demeanor were not what one would call "ladylike". "Um, I'm Misty. And-and you must be Mister Hammond."
"John Hammond, please." The man limped forward and shook her hand briskly. "Oh, quite a grip! Now, Miss Malcolm, I'm sure that you're excited to see the park. I'm sure anyone who would get on a helicopter by themselves would be excited, right?" He chuckled at his own wit before giving her hand a gentle tug. "Come along! Come along, we don't have any time to waste!"
Misty shot her father a quizzical glance; he rolled his eyes in reply. Ian wasn't so easily fooled by Hammond's "kindly old grandfather" performance. The bastard extraordinaire was still a bastard, with or without the quirky little cane.
Alan watched Hammond lead the two along, still a tad befuddled by the whole spectacle. He was still shocked Ian had a child- - more than one too, if the girl's speech was any clue- - and that said child would climb aboard a helicopter against her father's wishes to visit John Hammond's park. Hell, he didn't even know kids still liked dinosaurs that much these days.
"You sure you don't want a kid, sweetie? We could have one like that," Ellie said as she climbed into the passenger seat. He settled in the back and buckled in. This seatbelt, to his relief, worked.
"A kid who'd risk their life to break the rules? No thank you." Alan was not particularly fond of children. Even teenagers aggravated him.
"I think it's sweet. I can imagine someone else pulling a stunt like that to see a dinosaur park," she sang. He attempted to scowl, but his mouth rebelled and curled into an amused grin. If Ellie ever did persuade him into rearing a child, Alan hoped he or she inherited her unique personality and sunny disposition.
Ian slid into the backseat, still gnawing away on his gum. Alan had quickly grown to despise his incessant chewing (among several other things he hadn't the time to list). "Hope you enjoyed that little family feud," he said cheerfully to Alan, smirking that hateful, arrogant smirk.
"Dad, it wasn't a feud." Misty wedged herself into the sliver of space remaining in the Jeep's overcrowded rear and removed her eyeglasses to polish them with the tail of her shirt. Once she had replaced them, she quickly evaluated her two new traveling companions: a gorgeous, bespectacled blonde woman and a flagrantly irritated, suntanned man. She was attempting to organize impressions when it dawned on her- - she recognized the man.
"You're staring, honey," Ian chastised.
"I know him," Misty whispered back.
"Doctor Grant, my daughter appears to know you," Ian announced in the hopes he would mortify his child. As predicted, a dull blush crept up her neck and colored her freckled cheeks an unattractive shade of scarlet. Teenaged girls were quite easy to embarrass.
"Doctor Grant..." Misty's heart started cantering along in her chest like a spooked racehorse. She read his book as often as possible and was a fierce supporter of his theories. The mere notion of sharing a room with him, let alone a Jeep, was enough to reduce her to a quivering mess. Misty despised people who affected her in such a manner. "Uh, it-it's wonderful to meet you. Your book is one of the most, um, fascinating accounts of V-Velociraptor breeding I've ever read."
I really hope he thinks I'm smart and that I'm not the kind of girl who laughs so hard at her own jokes that she falls down and hits her head on the stove, she thought desperately.
"Well… thank you."
Misty twisted away from him and gazed out the window as the Jeep began to navigate the sinuous road. Nothing irked her more than feeling embarrassed. Embarrassment was weak, pathetic. She had no patience for it.
"Honey, I was just overcome with a single, horrible thought: Did you leave Kelly and Roger with anyone? Any food? Or are they just locked in their rooms?" Ian asked, not bothering to mask the note of concern in his voice. Roger was just a toddler after all and Kelly, just four years his senior, was no more experienced.
"Yes, Dad. I left my dear brother and sister in the cold, empty house without a crumb in the cabinet," Misty deadpanned. She was quickly set back on the straight and narrow by a single icy glance. "I left them with Michael Wright, ya know, the boy who used to sit for us. They're fine."
"I don't appreciate sarcasm, Misty. Only when it's coming from me."
"Yes, sir."
.
.
Alan Grant was becoming impatient. The Jeeps had been trundling along for almost twenty minutes now, traversing gravelly roads and venturing past the perimeter fence, the latter studded with signs that proclaimed "Ten-Thousand Volts". He had seen plenty of foliage- - which Ellie was ardently studying- - and distant structures, but none of the attractions Hammond had raved about. In fact, Isla Nublar appeared to be nothing more than an island, a heavily guarded island at that.
To make matters worse, Ian Malcolm absolutely refused to shut up. Alan liked to think of himself as a patient man, but if he heard that man open his goddamn mouth again, he was leaping out of the Jeep. He almost pitied the kid for having to tolerate a garrulous, bullshit-spouting man.
The kid was an odd specimen as well. Alan was not surprised by her reference to his book: nearly every damn Dino Kid (Ellie's affectionate name for paleontology-obsessed youth) had gotten their hands on it. Most Dino Kids, however, were much younger and… well, gawky. Misty looked more like his male colleagues, who were perpetually flexing their muscles and volunteering to lift bulky equipment so the girls would notice them. If one subtracted her eyeglasses and the childish space in her front teeth, she could probably pass for a hopeful Olympian.
The Jeeps suddenly ground to a halt in an unsuspecting meadow. Alan was almost jolted out of his seat. As he started to rearrange himself, he became aware of a nebulous presence, as massive and unformulated as a galaxy. He twisted to his left and saw it.
"This species has been extinct since the Cretaceous period, I can't believe- -" Ellie felt a hand come down on her blonde bun and coerce her head to turn. "What? What, Alan- -?" She saw it.
Misty bent down to scoop up her backpack when it struck her: something was nearby. She could sense the other occupants in the vehicle drawn to the object, like moons around some vast planet. Shaking, she glanced up and saw it.
A Brachiosaur was roaming the emerald plain, as idle and docile as a common milk cow. Instead of grazing, it was exploring the canopies of nearby trees for tender leaves. It was not an illustration or rendering or skeleton: the Brachiosaur was here and real. Dinosaurs had returned from the dead.
"This… This is a dinosaur," Alan stammered. He had practically tossed himself out of the vehicle and was observing the long-necked beast with an awed grin. Though Brachiosaurs were gentle herbivores that would no sooner burst into song than chow down on humans, Alan maintained a safe distance. Clandestinely, he felt as though the dinosaur would vanish like an apparition if he attempted to touch its scaly hide or peer into its flat-toothed jaw.
"Dad! Dad, lookit! Dad, it-it's…" Misty grabbed her father's hand and was squeezing his palm with each exclamation. Her grey eyes had taken on a jubilant glint that Ian hadn't witnessed since she unwrapped her first dinosaur figurine. He wondered if she would weep with joy.
"He did it. That crazy son-of-a-bitch did it," he marveled. Ian watched his daughter spill out of the Jeep and trot toward the doctors, stupefied. She loved the damn beasts.
He just had the strangest sensation that her affection wouldn't last much longer.
a/n: I guess this is a decent-ish place to cut shit off. I didn't mean for this chapter to get so fucking boring, but wHATEVER, I'll have plenty of time to work on the rest of the story over the summer. The future chapters are going to get longer and more whatever. (In other news, my life has been fucking eviscerated by Joseph Mazzello's filmography.) Have a good one.