Who are you, Owen Grady?

by Ghostly Presence

Owen and Claire are sent to Masrani Global's headquarters in Manhattan to deal with press after the Indominus rex disaster. In the midst of all the interviews and meetings, Claire and Owen find the time to get to know each other better little by little. There's laughter, tears, joy and pain; will they overcome it all? *edited version in AO3*

17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

I run through the parking lot, Isabella right behind me. I burst through the ER doors and stop at the front desk, where a young man sits.

"Please, I need to know about a car crash victim. Her name is Claire Dearing."

"Let me check the system, please."

He starts typing on the keyboard. "Yes. She was brought here about 40 minutes ago. What's your relationship to the patient?"

"I'm her boyfriend."

He looks up at me. "Oh. I'm sorry, sir. The hospital can only give updates to direct family members, unless otherwise stated."

Are you fucking kidding me?! "I am her boyfriend! Her sister is just getting on a plane! Am I supposed to wait hours before somebody tells me anything about my girlfriend?!"

I am seeing red right now! I swear to God if somebody doesn't tell me anything, I'll…

"It's okay, Greg. I'll take it from here." A woman pads him on the shoulder. He stands up and leaves. "What's your name, sir?"

"Owen Grady. Please, I just want to know how she is." I say a little more defeated.

She nods. "I just hung up the phone with Ms. Dearing's sister, Karen. She has authorized the hospital to give you updates on her health. I already let Dr. Fukunaga know you're here. He'll come out shortly."

I sigh. "Thank you. Thank you."

She nods again. "Dr. Fukunaga was there when it happened. Just a few cars behind the taxi she was in. He was the one to pull her out of the car before it caught fire."

I put my hands behind my head and exhale shakily. "Oh my God. Um, the driver, did he make it out?"

"Yes. He was luckier. He already went home."

I can't help but feel like it should've been the other way around. It just makes me feel worse to think like that.

I feel Isabella grab my hand. "Everything is going to be okay, Owen."

I nod. Everything has to be okay. If something happens to Claire, I don't know what I'll do.

I see a doctor in scrubs approaching us. "Claire Dearing's family?"

"Yes. How is she?"

The doctor looks sombre. "Her condition is critical. She's still in surgery. Unfortunately, the car was hit on the passenger's side, where she was sat. She fractured two of her ribs. The impact was strong enough for her broken ribs to puncture her right lung. She has a broken right arm, she dislocated her pelvis, which I put back in place in the scene and she has a third degree burn in her left arm."

This is not happening. "I-I was told you pulled her out of the car before it caught fire?"

"Yes. But as I was pulling her out, I didn't realise that her arm was soaked in gasoline. When the car caught fire so did part of her arm. I suffocated the fire as fast as I could, but she burnt the outer part of her left arm. From the wrist to half her forearm."

I nod. That's the only thing I can do. I am beyond words at this point. Isabella seems to notice.

"Thank you, doctor. For helping her."

"Of course. I'm going to head back to surgery. If you have any questions just have someone call me."

"Okay. Thanks again, Dr. Fukunaga."

He nods and leaves.

"Owen?"

"Why do these things keep happening to us?"

She looks at me sadly. "I don't know. But what I do know is that you both always manage to get out of difficult situations. I'm sure this is another situation where she'll pull through."

I say nothing. We sit in the ER waiting room, waiting for Dr. Fukunaga to come out and tell us how the surgery went.

The waiting room is empty. The only noise is coming from the TV. I don't know if it makes me feel better or worse. About half an hour later, Isabella tells me she's going to go buy some water. She asks me if I want a bottle and I shake my head no. I watch her leave and before she rounds the corner, I see her put her cell phone to her ear. Must be mum or dad.

I see two policemen walk in the ER and stop at the front desk. They ask about someone and the same nurse who talked to Isabella and I, points them somewhere. They thank her and walk the way she told them to.

I'm left alone again, to my own thoughts. Not too long after, I hear someone talking fast and desperately.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Are they okay? She was bleeding so much and breathing funny. I didn't mean to do that! Please!"

"Stop talking! She is in surgery right now! You stink of alcohol. Your irresponsibility just put someone's life on the line!"

I stand up and start walking in the direction of the voices. I see a man, with a bloody t-shirt and stitches on his forehead, being handcuffed by the two policemen I saw a moment ago. They half drag him through the corridor.

When they walk past me, I ask.

"Were you the one who hit the taxi?"

The man turns his neck and the policemen stop walking. "I didn't mean to do that! I got distracted." He's slurring his words.

Everything around me grows silent. I don't even realise I'm moving forward until my fist connects with his jaw.

The man falls face first. The policemen, surprised, lose his grip on him. I'm on top of him punching him in the same place over and over.

I hear Isabella screaming my name. I feel the two policemen gripping me by both arms and pulling me off of him.

I get a sense of déjà vu.

"You son of a bitch! If something happens to her, I'll kill you! I promise you I will kill you!"

I don't think I've ever heard so much hate in my own voice before. But I mean every single word I say to him.

"Owen! Stop!" Isabella says.

Nurses rush to the man. He is screaming in pain; probably fear also. He knows his about to spend a long time in jail for what he did to Claire.

The left side of his face is already starting to bruise and swell up. I know I broke his jaw. I felt it break.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Isabella asks.

"He was the one who caused the car crash! I hope you rot in jail, you worthless piece of shit!"

"Sir, I'm going to ask you to please calm down! Don't make me arrest you."

Isabella moves and stands in front of me. "Calm. Down. You're not helping anyone right now, Owen. If you get yourself arrested, you won't be anywhere near Claire. He's going to pay for what he did. You should focus your energy on Claire, not him."

I look at her. She's right. I just had to do something; blame someone.

Waiting for someone to tell me Claire's fate is driving me crazy.

I nod.

The policeman on my left grabs my shoulder. "Okay?"

I nod again. He releases his hold on me and escorts the son of a bitch back to a room.

The second policeman lets go of me and looks at my right hand. "You should get that looked at."

"I'll take care of it." The nurse says.

The policeman nods at her and follows the others.

Isabella leads me to one of the chairs and we sit. "Mum called. She said she was going to send the chauffeur to pick up Karen from the airport and bring her here. Dad was picking mum up and then they were coming."

I say nothing.

A drunk driver. We managed to survive being chased by a dinosaur, but a drunk driver is what sends her to the hospital? What level of fucked up is that?

The nurse approaches me with a tray of supplies. "May I?"

I nod at her.

She sits to my right and places the tray on the chair next to her. She picks up my right hand and looks at it for a minute. She starts dubbing the cuts I have on my knuckles with alcohol.

I jump a little at the sharp pain.

"Sorry." she says.

"It's okay." I say. I think of how dubbing some alcohol in small cuts on my knuckles hurts. How much pain is Claire under right now?

"Dr. Fukunaga is an excellent doctor. Claire is in good hands, Mr. Grady."

I nod. "How often does this happen?"

"People being punched or accidents caused by drunk drivers?"

I smile a little. "Both, I guess."

"Quite often, unfortunately. People don't seem to learn or understand how valuable life is. The worst thing a person can lose is their life. People, like the man you punched, are so lost they don't even realise they're jeopardizing the one thing you can never get back if you lose it."

She puts gauze on my knuckles and starts wrapping them up.

"Have they made it? The victims?"

"Some have. Some haven't. Even if I had the statistics, it wouldn't help you. Each and every case is different." She looks up. "Do you believe in God?"

"No."

"Then I guess telling you to pray won't help."

I shake my head no.

"Well, let me ask you this. Do you believe in her? Do you trust her?"

I raise my head at that and look at her. There's that word again: trust.

"Yes, I do. More than I believe or trust myself."

"Then trust her. Trust that she's going to fight for her life. Don't doubt that." She puts some tape on the gauze. "All done."

She picks up her tray and starts walking back to her desk.

"Hey."

She stops and turns. "Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"Yolanda."

"Thank you, Yolanda."

"You're very welcome."

I lean forward and put my hands on my forehead. I feel Isabella's hand start to rub my back. She doesn't say anything.

I remember my dream. That's why I got a sense of déjà vu. I guess I wasn't punching something, but someone.

I don't even try to attempt to understand how is it that I had that dream. It doesn't make sense. Whatever. I don't care right now.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Grady?", Yolanda says.

I raise my head. "Yes?"

"I think you should see this." She nods to the TV.

I stand up and walk to her desk to see what she's talking about. Isabella follows me.

"In today's news, a car crash caused by a drunk driver was registered this morning. It has now been confirmed by witnesses at the scene, that the victim is Claire Dearing, Jurassic World's Senior Operations Manager. You may remember her as the 'High-heeled badass', as the people named her."

"We have been told she is in Yale-New Haven Hospital. Her condition is still unknown. Our thoughts are with her and her friends and family, wishing her a speedy recovery. More on this later today."

Yolanda turns the TV off.

"You've got to be kidding me." The last thing I need is for everyone's eyes to be on us right now!

"We'll figure it out, Owen. You don't have to worry about that, okay?" Isabella says.

"Owen?"

I turn around and see my mum and dad coming through the door. I walk towards them and hug my mum.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Do you know anything yet?"

I pull back from the hug. "The doctor came out to tell us the extent of her injuries and then went back in to continue with her surgery. It's not good, mum."

"We don't know that yet, Owen." Isabella says.

My dad grabs my left shoulder. "Owen, don't draw any conclusions yet. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now, but try to stay positive. Yes?"

"It's kind of hard to do that, dad."

"I know. But try."

I nod.

"Unfortunately, we have another problem right now. We just saw the news. They know it was Claire in the car. It won't be long before the whole hospital is surrounded by cameras."

"Actually, cucciola. They already are, and they definitely noticed us coming through those doors. It won't be long before they connect the points and realise who Owen is."

"Shit. Come on. I can't…" I start walking back to where I was sat before. I cover my mouth with my hand and start pacing back and forth.

"Son, don't worry about that. Right now, I'll contact the police to manage this. I'll hire private security if that's what's needed. You don't have to worry about anything, but Claire. Okay?"

I nod. "Thanks, dad."

"Of course."

We sit and much like before, we wait.

An hour passes by and still no one has come out to tell us anything about Claire. It's kind of hard to follow my dad's advice the longer I sit here knowing nothing. My mum's phone rings and she answers.

"Yes. Thank you, Peter. Please tell her there are still no updates." She hangs up. "Peter says Karen's flight already landed. They should be arriving in 45 minutes, an hour tops."

"Okay."

We keep waiting. What the hell are they doing that is taking them so long?!

Claire, please fight. Please.

Some time later, I hear the fast approaching sounds of the click-clack of heels. I stand up.

"Karen?"

She turns around. Her eyes are red. "Owen." She walks towards me and hugs me. I hug her back.

"How is she?"

"I don't know. The doctor came out to tell us about her injuries and then went back to surgery. That was 2 hours ago."

"Is it too bad?"

I look down for a minute and then back up at her. "She has a broken right arm, a third degree burn in the outer part of her left arm, she dislocated her pelvis, 2 broken ribs and a punctured right lung."

As I list Claire's injuries her eyes start to widen. I can see the fear creeping into her features. She starts to cry. "Oh my God! How could this happen to her?"

I hug her again. "I don't know. I don't know."

I turn my head and see the doctor coming in. "Karen, that's him. The doctor."

We both start walking towards him. "Doctor, this is Claire's sister, Karen."

"Dr. Fukunaga." He stretches his hand and Karen shakes is.

"How's my sister?"

He exhales. "There was a great amount of pressure in her chest caused by all the air that was escaping from her lung into it, but once we released all the air, we were able to suture her lung. The process of debriding her arm, took some time too, she w-"

I interrupt. "I'm sorry. Debriding?"

He nods. "That is the process of removing the dead skin and tissue from the burnt area of her left arm. She's going to need a skin graft to close the wound. Her right arm is in a cast and the CT Scans show her pelvis is intact and so are the veins and arteries that provide blood to her legs."

"What about her head? Did she injure it at all?" Karen asks.

"Other than superficial lacerations and hematomas, no. The scans are clean. There are no obvious brain injuries. Of course all of that will be confirmed once she wakes up. Further testing will be done then."

"Can we see her?" I ask.

"No. I'm sorry. Right now she's in post-op. She will be staying there for the next 3 to 4 hours. Then she will be moved to the ICU. You will be able to see her for a short amount of time once she's there. But not today."

I nod. "What are we watching for? What should we expect?"

"Right now, the next 24 hours are critical. We have to see how her heart responds. Again, there was a large amount of pressure in her chest, so we have to look out for that. Also, her lung. There's still the possibility that it might collapse again. We're going to monitor her for the rest of the day and all through the night." He looks at us both. "Now, for you two. I know you're filled with worry, but I'm going to ask you to please don't disregard your own well-being. Make sure you eat and rest well. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen family members get sick because they refused to leave the hospital at all. There's no point in staying here all day and especially all nightlong. Go home, get some rest and come back tomorrow morning. You think you can do that?"

I don't know if I can. "What if something happens, we-"

Dr. Fukunaga cuts my train of thought. "If something happens, we'll call you immediately. But let's maintain a positive out look here. The surgery went well. Right now, it's up to Claire. She's going to need her family to be strong with her. You won't be able to do that unless you take care of yourselves."

"Okay." I say. I would rather stay here. But I guess he's right. I can't be there for Claire, if I'm not taking care of myself.

"Karen, I'm going to need you to sign some papers. Yolanda here, will explain everything to you. Okay?"

"Okay." She walks to the front desk again.

I turn back to my family.

"See? The surgery went well. That's good, Owen. That's really good." Isabella says.

"Yeah, yeah that's good." Since I received Karen's call, this is the first time I feel some hope.

Claire is going to be okay. There's no other choice.

I hear Karen thank Yolanda. I turn and walk a few steps in her direction.

"Karen, come. Let me introduce you to my family." She comes closer and stands next to me. "This is my mum, Emilia. My dad, Benjamin and my sister Isabella."

"I wish we could've met under less unfortunate circumstances, Karen. But it's still very nice to meet you." mum says.

Karen gives my mum a sad smile. "Yeah, I wish that too. It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Vernelli."

My mum shakes her head. "Please, call me Emilia. I hope you don't mind, Karen; but I told Peter to take all your things to our house. There's plenty of space and you're more than welcome to stay as long as it is needed."

"Thank you, Emilia. I'll accept your offer. That's very nice of you."

"Please, it's the least we can do." mum says.

My dad speaks up. "Well, we're heading home. I'm sure you saw the reporters outside, Karen. We'll take care of that immediately."

Her eyes widen. "Oh my God! Those are for Claire?!"

"Yes." He adds. "Unfortunately she was recognised, but don't worry. We'll handle it."

She nods, disbelief on her face.

"Please listen to the doctor's advice. You can come home whenever you both feel like it, but please at least come spend the night. Yes?"

I feel like a kid again. "Yes, mum."

Karen nods. "Thanks again. To all of you."

"Of course."

My parents start heading out. Isabella tells them she's coming with them.

"Here. Take my keys. See you guys later. Nice to meet you, Karen."

"Nice to meet you too, Isabella."

She walks out of the hospital with my parents. I'm left alone with Karen. We sit down in the still empty ER room.

"Where are the kids?" I ask.

"I left them with Scott. They wanted to come. I didn't think it was appropriate for them to be here. Not yet, anyway."

"Yeah, probably for the best. They too have been through a lot."

"Yeah."

We stay silent. There's something that's been gnawing at the back of my mind. I hope Karen can give me an answer.

"Why was she here, Karen?"

She looks at me and frowns. "It's not my place to say, Owen."

My face falls.

"No, no. It's nothing like that. I promise. It's good."

"Good? As in, 'she's going to forgive me' good?" I start getting excited.

"That's it. Nope. I'm not saying anything else! You want her to murder me? I already said too much!"

We laugh a little. "Okay, okay. Fine. I'll wait for her to tell me."

We stay there talking. I tell her about my family, about myself. What Claire and I have been doing in New York other than the interviews. I tell her Claire got an amazing opportunity to choose the job she wanted and how I had made the decision to go with her wherever she chose to go.

"You love her, don't you?"

Without batting an eyelash, I say. "I love her."

She smiles. "Yeah, it was pretty obvious. Had to ask, though."

We decide to call it a night at around 9pm. Nothing's happened in all the time we were here, hopefully nothing will happen when we go home.

I wake up the next day at 7am. I want to be at the hospital as early as possible. I take a shower and while I'm in there, I think of what Karen said to me last night. Claire came to New Haven for something 'good'. Maybe she did figure out her feelings.

I step out of the shower. I change, grab my wallet and cell phone and head to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. I step off the stairs and see Karen having breakfast in the dining room.

"Good morning, Karen."

"Owen. Good morning."

"No calls, right?" I ask.

"No calls at all."

"Great!" There's already food laid down on the table. So, I have some fruit, a bagel and a cup of coffee. I finish my breakfast at the same time as Karen.

"Ready to go, Karen?"

"Ready. Let's go."

The drive to the hospital is relatively silent. We're both anxious. We want to actually see her, confirm with our own eyes that she's still here. But, at the same time, I'm nervous. Somewhat scared, really. I know her injuries. I know what the damage was. But one thing is to hear about her injuries and another completely different is to see the damage on her body.

I park the car and we start walking towards the hospital's main entrance. I feel my phone vibrate. I pull it from my jeans' pocket and see my mum's face on the screen.

"Hey, mum."

"Owen. You left before I could tell you. Something happened…"

Karen and I stop in our tracks. The whole entrance to the hospital is flooded with reporters, paparazzis, curious onlookers, you name it!

"Yeah. I'm seeing it. Just tell me one thing. Have they figured out who I am?"

"Yes, they have. I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"It was bound to happen. Call you later, mum."

I turn to look at Karen. Her jaw is basically on the floor. "Oh my dear God! How the hell are we supposed to get through?"

I look back at the sea of people. "Uh. I guess we'll figure it out."

I put my hand on Karen's back and guide her forward. We start getting closer to the group of people and I brace myself.

"The moment they see us, they're going to bombard us with questions. Just look down, ignore them and move forward. Okay?"

She nods.

"Excuse me. Sorry." I start pushing people lightly out of our way. The moment I make eye contact with a man for half a second, I start hearing whispers. Those whispers turn into shouts and then, the eruption of the crowd.

And it starts.

"Owen, why did you hide who your family was? Are you ashamed of them?"

"Owen, how's Claire?"

"Is it true you broke the drunk driver's jaw?"

"Who is she? Is she related to Claire?"

"You're a redhead, just like her! Tell us your name!"

"Have you seen the CCTV footage of the crush?"

"Are you and Claire dating? The leaked footage showed you kissing her!"

I look up to see how Karen is handling this. She looks completely overwhelmed by it all. Obviously, any normal person would. I see video cameras, cameras, cell phones and I even see those long mics they use in studios.

I'm annoyed, all right. I'm about to get legitimately pissed, because really, how insensitive can you be? I didn't even know there was CCTV footage. I don't ever want to see it, but if you have seen it, why are you here creating even more chaos? I will never understand these people.

When I think I'm in serious risk of punching someone again, I start hearing the shouts of policemen telling people to back off.

"Move back! Let them through!"

"Rick, bring the barriers! Hey, I told you to move back!"

A policeman approaches us and escorts us into the hospital. They close the doors.

"What the hell?! These people are unbelievable!" Karen says exhaling loudly and putting a hand on her forehead.

"Sorry about that, ma'am. We received a call from your father I believe, Mr Grady?"

"Yes. He told he was going to talk to you guys."

"He did. We made the rounds and saw barely any people, so we had to dismiss his complaints. About 15 minutes ago, we were doing another round just in case and we saw all these people. We called for backup and we're going to do some crowd control. We apologize again for the inconvenience."

"No, I get it. These people pop out like annoying zits." I say.

"We'll take it from here. We'll call your father again and discuss a game plan. Well, I'll let you go. Have a good day, sir. Ma'am."

"Thank you." Karen and I say.

"Well, let's go to the ICU, Karen."

"Yes, let's."

We take the elevator to the 12th floor where the ICU is. We step off the elevator and walk to the front desk. Apparently this whole area is completely off limits to your everyday visitors. We only see staff walking around.

"Good morning. We're here to visit a patient. Her name is Claire Dearing. My name is Owen Grady and hers is Karen Mitchell."

"Okay. Give me a moment, please." She starts typing on her keyboard, then she picks up the telephone. "Yo, I have two visitors here for Dearing, Claire. Uh huh. Okay." She hangs up the phone.

"Okay. I'm going to buzz you in. Only two visitors per patient are allowed in the general area of the ICU, which is behind those doors and you're only allowed to visit the patient one at a time and for no more than 10 minutes, please. Dr. Fukunaga is waiting for you to update you on Ms. Dearing's health."

"Understood. Thank you." We start walking towards the door. We hear it unlocking and walk through them into the ICU. There's a small waiting area with a nursing station. I recognise Yolanda, the nurse who wrapped my hand yesterday.

"Good morning, Yolanda."

"Good morning, Mr. Grady. Mrs. Mitchell. Dr. Fukunaga will be here shortly. Please sit."

"Thank you."

We sit a little impatiently. We both want to see Claire now.

Karen turns and looks at me. "You should go in first."

"Are you sure? You're her sister."

"Yeah, but she came here to see you. I think you're the first person she should see."

"If you're completely sure…"

"I am."

"Okay. Thanks"

"Of course."

We wait a short time before we hear Dr. Fukunaga greet us. "Good morning."

"Doctor. Good morning. How's my sister?"

He opens a chart and reads quickly through them. "Her oxygenation levels are good, her brain activity is perfect, so far she hasn't showed any signs that she's not responding to treatment. We sho-"

His pager starts beeping and interrupts him. He apologizes and looks down at it. He raises his head slowly and I swear he is paler than he was 10 seconds ago.

"Please stay here. Yolanda, come now!"

He starts running somewhere and Yolanda runs after him.

I look at Karen. Something's not right. I can feel it. She can too.

I turn and start walking down the same small corridor they did. I feel like I'm a magnet, like an invisible force is pulling me to something. I turn right and what I see makes my heart drop to my stomach.

I see Dr. Fukunaga and several other people around this one body. They all move furiously, attaching cables and passing instruments to one another. It isn't until someone says 'clear' and they all take a step back, that I see whom they are trying to revive. When I hear Karen's gasp, I know this isn't a bad dream.

I see Claire's body jolt upwards from the shock of electricity. I see the flat line on the heart monitor and that's when everything really hits me. Tears start pouring out my eyes and I start shaking. I put a hand on the window that separates me from Claire and I ask to whatever higher power, to please not take her away from me.

I hear Karen's cries far away, even though she's standing right next to me. I see the nurse operating the defibrillator turn up the voltage at least 3 times. I close my eyes. Please, don't leave me.

"Claire, please open your eyes. Please, open your eyes."

An hour later, Karen and I sit outside the general area of the ICU. Tears still streaming out of our eyes. I feel tired, but I don't want to sleep. I don't want to leave the hospital, because everything outside would just make what happened real. I don't think I'm ready to feel the avalanche of emotions just yet.

She's alive. It took them 10 minutes to restart her heart. But she's alive. We were practically dragged from the ICU's general area. We didn't want to have Claire out of our sight. But they told us the doctor and nurses had to make sure everything was working the way it was supposed to be. We've been here waiting since.

During this last 24 hours, I've realised how much I hate waiting.

The doors from the ICU open and Dr. Fukunaga comes out. Karen and I stand up.

"She's awake."