Chapter 5
Standing outside Grape and Olive's temporary paddock, Owen watched as the two raptors played. Watching Grape, It was hard to believe that it was only yesterday that they had been in such a complete panic, ready to whisk her over to Nublar. Looking at her now, you couldn't tell that anything was wrong, or could be wrong, or may be wrong.
That was the other thing. No one could definitively answer the question of whether there was anything to be concerned about. There was no explanation for what had happened, and since it was (so far) a one time thing, no one wanted to panic too much, especially since she seemed completely fine now. The only thing everyone agreed on was that it was abnormal. Owen wanted to run more tests. In fact, he'd been the one arguing that they should still take Grape over to Nublar for tests even after she'd woken up.
She'd woken when he was still on the call with Claire to ask for the helicopter. Moving her head from side to side a bit, before blearily opening her eyes. It had taken her a few minutes to completely come to, but then she'd been back on her feet and acting as if nothing had happened, begging for treats and playing with Olive.
He'd still been asking for the helicopter, but it had been Zia who had cancelled it. Saying that they didn't need it, since Grape was up and seemingly absolutely fine. Owen had tried arguing back, insisting that they did and that they still didn't know what was wrong. However, Zia had made a good argument — in order to transport Grape on a helicopter, they would have to anesthetize her, now that she was awake. And since they didn't know what had happened, and it had just happened, Zia didn't want to do that. She didn't know if she would potentially make things worse. That it would be better to at least wait a couple of days and see if happened again.
And so, Owen found himself now feeling like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to come running, again, to let him know that Grape had collapsed once more. Or, possibly even worse, that Olive had collapsed now. While he didn't want there to be something wrong with Grape, thinking that it could be something wrong with both just doubled his worries.
Which was why Owen was standing by the fence. He was in between training sessions and should probably be in his office, working on the pile of paperwork he needed to fill out, but he didn't like being away from them. He wanted to know what was happening. To know for sure that Grape was okay. And, if she collapsed again, to be there immediately for her. Not that he'd be able to do anything.
The two raptors were ignoring him. They'd looked over when he'd first arrived, waiting to see if he was going to come in and join them, but when he hadn't, he'd quickly lost their attention. Which was fine with him. He'd rather they just did their own thing.
Reaching up, he rubbed at his forearm absentmindedly, the bandage that was wrapped around it causing it to itch. The one potential positive thing about having not gone over yesterday, was that Claire still didn't know about his own injury. The little puncture wounds from Olive weren't deep (thankfully), and Zia and Jamal (who was responsible for basic medical) had been able to clean it and wrap it without any issues.
"How's your arm?"
Startled, Owen looked around wildly, only to find that Zia was now standing next to him.
"Whoops, didn't mean to scare you," she apologized, before repeating. "How's your arm?"
"It's fine," he said, looking down at it. "The bandaid's a bit itchy, but that's it. Doesn't hurt or anything."
"And Grape?"
"She's been fine, normal," he said. "I keep waiting… Actually, I don't know what I'm waiting for."
"Yeah," Zia agreed. "Me too. I've been trying to stop by as frequently as I can. I don't want to miss something."
"Maybe we should take her over anyway? Run those tests you were thinking about," he suggested.
"I've been thinking about that," she said. "If it happens again, we'll go for sure. For now, well, let's just take it a day at a time."
o-o-o
Sitting at her desk, Claire stared at her calendar, before pausing to rub at her eyes. The calendar remained unchanged, her day was packed from start to end. Owen was coming over tomorrow, and she was hoping to clear some time between now and then so she could see him.
She couldn't believe how quickly time was going by. And maybe that was a good thing. Except so much had happened in the past week and a bit, and it didn't feel like any of it was good. First, there had been Owen's panicked call about Grape, although at least she had seemed to recover from that. Well, she had seemed to, except a couple of days ago she'd had a second incident, which was actually the reason for Owen's upcoming visit. He and Zia had decided that they needed to run extra tests on Grape.
(Originally, they had asked Claire about the helicopter again, until they ended up deciding that they wanted to bring both raptors—Grape and Olive—so they could run the tests on both. While whatever was going on had only seemed to affect Grape so far, the two raptors had similar DNA and so they wanted to be careful and double check at the same time. With the plan to bring both raptors, they had opted to instead bring them over by boat, since they wouldn't have to put them under, as they would have space for a larger cage.)
Normally, everything going on with Grape would be the biggest event for the past week. Claire wished she could say that it was. Instead, really, the stuff with Grape felt like it paled in comparison to everything else, not that she could admit that to Owen. So far, she'd been brushing it all aside when he'd ask, as she knew he was really worried about the raptors and she didn't want to add to his concerns.
But, the past week had also been the launch of the Edmontosaurus project. Which had meant that Claire was supposed to have gone over to Sorna. She was supposed to have been a big part of the launch. It was her idea, after all. She was going to be the one who introduced it and cut the ribbon (not that there was an actual ribbon). It was supposed to be her big thing.
In the end, she hadn't gone. It hadn't even been her choice. The protestors, the ones she'd known weren't going to give up, had shown up again. And they'd made it all the way over to the island. It was only a few people this time, but that was how they'd got past everybody. No one had noticed anything, and they'd seemed like a regular group of friends heading over for a visit. They hadn't done anything until they'd shown up, at which point they'd unleashed their new protests at the Gentle Giants enclosure. This time, their signs had been not just pointed, but graphic. Decorated with bullet holes, and images of dinosaurs attacking people (none of it real, of course). But their location of choice had meant that it was all seen by young kids and their parents, horrifying both groups.
While security had acted fast, and had managed to take it down, it had still started up a whole new round of questions and comments and discussion. There were more reporters clamoring for interviews. More guests cancelling upcoming visits. More questionable reviews. And, of course, a whole slew of angry guests who had witnessed it all.
That shouldn't have been enough to get her off the project. And it wouldn't have, except there'd been one sign. One sign that called her out by name. One sign that placed a lot of the blame squarely on her. That she was the one responsible for all the coverup that was happening. That she was the one lying to everybody.
And so, even though the Edmontosaurus project was hers, the PR department had pushed to have her removed, saying it was just going to hurt the project to have her there. That it was better she remained behind the scenes, while all of this played out. That they didn't need her in front of the cameras, and especially in front of reporters.
She'd scoffed at that excuse, because if that was true, then they wouldn't be planning the press conference for the weekend, where the whole point was to stick her in front of reporters.
Claire did get why they were doing it, though. And she knew that if it wasn't about her, she'd agree with their actions. That she'd probably be the one pushing it and saying that whoever had been named couldn't be involved. That they'd have to "lay low." It just hurt knowing that it was her. She hadn't done anything wrong. After all, it had been her who had pushed for transparency during those incidents. And it had been her who had argued during the lead up to all of it that things weren't okay, that things were going to end badly. She'd done her best to try and prevent it all, and hell, she'd put herself in the line of fire to do so, as well. Surely all of that should count for something.
The worst part of all, was that even though the sign had named her, it hadn't said why. It hadn't given any details about what she'd know that others wouldn't. Which meant she still didn't know if someone had to be involved and leaking to this group, or if they had just looked at a staff directory and at previous articles and decided that with her position, they could easily point a finger at her. That they could use her as an easy scapegoat. She'd been continuing to try to investigate the group as much as she could, but so far she hadn't made any more progress than before. And so she was no more the wiser as to what was the main point of all of this. What did they want? What was their end game?
"Hey, Claire?"
Claire looked up to see that Zara had entered her office.
"Yeah?" Claire asked. "What's up?"
"You've got another meeting request for tomorrow."
Another one?" Claire let out a groan. "I'm trying to remove meetings from tomorrow. Not add new ones."
"I know," Zara sympathized. "This one, at least, is in the morning."
"Can you take it?" she asked hopefully, before shaking her head. "Who's it with? And what is it bumping?"
"It's actually a request from Sir Lockwood. That's why I accepted it. I assumed you'd want to take his call."
Claire sat up straight, intrigued.
"Ben? Really? Interesting. Yeah, I definitely want to talk with him. I wonder what he wants," she agreed. "But we really do need to bump something. More than one something, really. I need to clear some time."
"I've been working on it," Zara said. "So far, I've been able to cancel your 1pm. And I think I can take your 1:30, if you're okay with that, so that should give you an hour there. The one at 2 is a phone call, so you could take it from wherever. And same with your 2:15. After that, you've got your afternoon check in at Control."
"Okay, let's leave the check in, but I'll probably skip it," Claire said, focusing her attention back on her calendar as she followed along with Zara's comments. "And I'm definitely good with you taking the 1:30. Oh, and my 3pm, can you take that as well?"
"Really? Me?" Zara asked, sounding surprised.
"Why not you?"
"Well, it's just… that's a bigger one. They'll be expecting you."
"And they'll get you," Claire just said. "You're more than capable of taking it. Zara, you've been covering a bunch of these now. This one is no different."
"If you're sure."
"I am."
"Okay, I'll let them know," Zara agreed. "I think that just leaves your 4 o'clock."
"Ugh, right, Robin," Claire said, frowning as she looked at the calendar event. With the upcoming press conference, she had found herself getting booked in for extra media training. Something she didn't think she needed and that it was mostly a waste of time. Robin had been insisting, though. "I'll contact her about that."
"Is there any news about Grape?" Zara asked. "Any more incidents?"
"No, not since the one two days ago," Claire said. "Let's hope there's not another one before they can get here."
"And still no idea why it's happening?"
"Nope. They're really hoping the tests will show something. Although what, I have no idea. And I don't think Owen does, either. But if this keeps happening, we need to know why. We can't put them on display and have Grape just suddenly collapsing in front of guests. As if we don't have enough issues already."
"Well, I hope they figure it out," Zara said.
"Same. He's really worried. I think–" Claire stopped when her phone let out a series of beeps as a string of messages arrived. They were quickly cut off when it started ringing. Frowning, she glanced down at it, surprised to see her sister's name on the screen. She picked it up, answering. "Karen?"
"Oh my god, Claire! How do they know?"
"How do who know? And know what?" Claire asked, not following. "What's going on, Kar?"
"Did you see the news alert?" Karen answered, although it wasn't much of an answer to Claire, since she hadn't seen it. "Oh my god!"
"What news alert?" Claire asked, still confused. She turned to her computer, meaning to search and see if she could find what Karen was referring to.
"Holy…" Zara's comment reminded Claire that her assistant was still in the room, and she looked back to see Zara staring at her phone, her eyes wide. Zara quickly crossed the room over to her, showing her the screen.
On it, there was a news alert from MSNBC: DPG Group Reveals Jurassic World's COO Claire Dearing's Own Nephews Were Involved in Incident.
"Shit."
o-o-o
Owen liked Claire's nephews. He even liked her sister (not that he'd actually talked to her all that much). And he'd been dating Claire for coming up on two years now (more, if you include the whole fake but not fake dating period), so he probably shouldn't be all that surprised when her family would reach out to him. But he always was.
They didn't reach out often. And the one he heard from the most was Zach, who seemed to have decided that Owen was someone he could come to about school woes. So when Zach had texted him the previous day, Owen hadn't thought much of it at first. He'd been still spending most of his days outside, alternating between the two raptor paddocks, so he hadn't even seen it right away. And when he had noticed that there was a notification, he hadn't bothered to open it up. Nothing Zach ever texted about was urgent, and he knew that Zach got that he was busy.
It was only later that day, as he had been sitting down for dinner, that he'd finally pulled out his phone to see what Zach had said. This time, though, the notification about Zach's message wasn't alone. No, there was a whole string of missed notifications, and they were coming from all members of Claire's family—Karen, Zach, and Gray—as well as from Claire herself. Frowning, he opened the phone, choosing to look at Claire's first.
Call me.
He'd ended up taking his dinner back to his office so he could do just that, Claire answering his call on the first ring. It was then that he'd learned about the latest news alert. As they had been talking, he'd skimmed through all the messages from the rest. They were mostly just alerting him to the situation. He was glad they didn't seem to be asking for advice, because he had none to give. That was not at all his area.
His call with Claire had lasted a long time, Claire frustrated and upset and just needing someone to vent to, and he'd been a willing ear. He'd wished he could've been there in person, knowing that it would've been a lot better if he had been. The only good thing about the whole situation was that he'd already planned to go to Nublar the next day.
So that morning, when he'd been getting ready to head over, he'd had a quick conversation with Barry first, to let his friend know there was a chance he wouldn't be coming back that night. That he wanted to see how things were with Claire. Barry, forever the most patient person Owen had ever met, had told him no problem, that he could deal with the girls. And Zia, who had arrived during the conversation, added that it might be better to come back the following day anyway, as it would give them more time to run tests.
Now that they were on the boat, and halfway to Nublar, Owen was thinking there was another reason for them to stay overnight.
"Oh no, she's going to puke again," Cam called out.
Owen swung around, turning just in time to see Olive let out a couple of heaves, before once more, throwing up.
"How does she have anything left in her?" Cam asked, a disgusted look on his face from where he stood on the other side of her cage.
"No idea," Owen agreed. "And who knew that raptors could get seasick."
"At least it's only one of them," Zia commented. "Although I'm wishing we'd put them in separate cages."
"Grape is, too," Owen said, looking at the poor raptor who was stuck with her puking sister. Grape had been trying to stay as far away from Olive as possible, but there wasn't a lot of space in their cage. And added to that, the more Olive puked, the more there was no "safe" space left. "We're going to need to hose them down."
"At least they generally like water," Zia said. "We're going to need to hose not just them but their whole cage down. Actually, I wonder if we can get ACU to meet us with another cage, so we don't have to transport them in this one." She turned her attention to Cam. Cam had volunteered for escort duty of the raptors, and had been coordinating things with the ACU on both ends.
"Yeah, that might be best," Cam agreed. "I'll get them to phone ahead and ask."
A whimper drew Owen's attention back to the cage, where Olive was now sagging against the side, her energy sapped. When she saw him looking at her, she let out another whimper.
"I know, Olive, I know," he said, squatting down close to her. He reached a couple of fingers through the bars, running them down the back of her neck. "I'm sorry. We'll be there soon."
Grape let out a couple of squawks, and Owen looked over to see that she was backed into a corner, unable to really move without having to step into a puddle of vomit. She was watching him and Olive.
"I'm sorry, Grape. I know this isn't fun for you either." She let out another squawk, trying to shift about, but having no room to do so. "Let me see if we can't clean it up a bit for you." He turned his attention to Zia and Cam, who had returned from relaying their message. "Do you think we could maybe fill a few buckets of water and pour it in? Do something to try to clean it up a bit?"
"Possibly," Zia said, looking at the situation critically. "Although, I'm not sure how good it will be for them to be around salt water. If they try to drink it…" she left the comment trail, but Owen got her point.
"Right, yeah, last thing we need is more of, well, this." He wrinkled his nose. At least the cage wasn't inside, and so the constant sea breeze meant that they weren't all that bothered by the smell. Small benefit, but a good one, he knew. "Maybe we should knock them out for the trip back," he said, just as Olive let out another heave. He had paused in his stroking, so he quickly started up again, trying to calm her down. She didn't seem to have the energy to fully stand up anymore, exhausted by it all.
"We'll do something," Zia promised. "I really wish I could get some fluids in her right now. I guess it's a good thing we're going straight to the labs. We may need to hook her up to an IV for a bit. Although, if you can keep her calm, and we can keep whatever's left in her, well, in her… Keep doing whatever it is you're doing, it does seem to be helping."
Owen returned his attention to Olive, who was more slumped against the side bars than before, although she wasn't looking as upset, just tired now. His continual strokes did seem to be calming her. He looked around, spying a bucket.
"Think you can hand me that bucket?" he asked. Cam quickly grabbed it and handed it over. "Thanks," Owen said, as he shifted so he could use it as a seat. There was no way he'd be able to maintain his prior position for the rest of the ride. And if he wasn't going to be able to move away, a seat would at least help. "Zia, do you think you could give Grape a treat?" he asked, looking across the cage at Grape, who was still stuck in her corner, although she perked up at the words. Olive, however, didn't even budge.
"Sure," Zia agreed, turning and digging into one of the many bags they had brought along. She pulled out a couple and went around the cage until she was closest to Grape. "You want this?" she asked the raptor, who immediately snapped her jaws, trying to grab it through the bars.
Zia, much more careful of her own fingers than Owen was of his, dropped the treat in, making sure there was no way for Grape to accidentally nip her. Grape quickly gobbled it down, before looking up for another. Zia gave her a couple more.
"Looks like Olive might fall asleep," Cam commented.
Of course, the moment he said that, Olive immediately lurched upright, letting out a giant heave, before puking, again.
"Or, maybe not," Cam said.
o-o-o
There was exactly one benefit to the DPG's announcement, and that was that it had made it much easier for Claire to fully clear her schedule. Of course, Claire wasn't entirely sure that really was a benefit, because the clearing of her schedule had mostly been because Masrani, Robin and the board had decided that she needed to spend even more time preparing for the upcoming press conference.
The only item she hadn't had to shift was her call with Lockwood, which hadn't turned out to be anything special. He'd just wanted to check in on the Research Institute. If he'd heard the latest news, he hadn't acknowledged it, which Claire was grateful for, because at least for those 30 minutes, she'd been able to focus on something positive.
From there, she'd spent the rest of her morning meeting with Robin in preparation. Robin had wanted to spend the whole afternoon together, too, but Claire had insisted that she needed at least a couple of hours break, so that she could go check in on things. Which was the only reason that she was finally getting a chance to go down to the vets to see how everything was going.
Walking into the clinic, Claire wasn't all that surprised when everyone glanced her way, some of the conversation that was going on suddenly stopping. It had been like that ever since the news alert. She knew she was back at the top of the gossip chain, but she just didn't have it in her to care right now.
"Where are they?" she just asked, not even bothering to specify. She knew that everyone would know who she was there to see.
"They're all in room 4," one of the women spoke up, gesturing down a side hall. Claire nodded her thanks, before heading that way.
Finding the door, she pushed it open, edging her way into the room. While the room was actually quite spacious, it felt crowded, as there were two large cages sitting on the two main examining tables, and a bunch of people in the room. Owen was standing off to the side, and he waved her over.
"Hey," she said as she came to a stop beside him, only for her nose to wrinkle. "Wait, what's that smell?"
"What?" Owen asked, before grimacing. "Um, let's just say we had an eventful ride over." He looked down at his shoes, and Claire followed his gaze. "I did try to rinse them off, but… I may just have to throw these out."
"Better wait until we at least get them back," Cam commented from where he was standing on Owen's other side. Claire looked over at him, her question clear. "Olive doesn't like boats."
"She got a little seasick," Owen added.
"A little?" Cam scoffed.
"Fine, a lot," Owen amended. He looked over at the raptor in question, and Clarie followed his gaze. She hadn't paid much attention to the raptors originally, but now she could see that Olive was lying down, and had what appeared to be an IV line. Grape, on the other hand, the one they were actually all there because they were worried about, was moving about in her cage.
"Oh no," Claire said. "Poor Olive."
"Poor all of us," Owen countered. "Three hours of a raptor getting sick, over and over and over again."
"What are you going to do about going back? Do you want to try the helicopter?" Claire asked.
"Zia said we can probably just give her something. Maybe knock her out for it. It'd be more pleasant for everyone," Owen said. "But, we're all going to stay until tomorrow, anyway, so we don't have to deal with it today. Again."
"Oh," Claire hadn't known that. "Those shoes aren't allowed inside," she said quickly, pointing at his feet and causing Cam to chuckle.
"How's your day going?" Owen asked, redirecting the conversation. "I thought you might make it down here earlier."
"I had hoped to," Claire said, letting out a long sigh. "They've had me meeting with Robin all morning. I only finally managed to get a break. And as it is, I have to go back and meet with her again in an hour."
"Better you than me," Owen just said, giving her a cheeky smile.
"Really wish it was no one," she grumbled. "Although," she brightened a little, "it has meant I haven't had to talk to Karen so far today."
"Small mercies," Owen agreed. "She's still not letting up?"
"No, although I can't really blame her. She's getting hassled. They all are, really, and it's been barely 24 hours. I don't even want to imagine what the next few days will bring." Claire let out a sigh, glancing around the room, before turning back to Owen. "You know, back during all of that? The Indominus, the Indoraptors, everything? I remember thinking one day that there was a benefit to living here—at least we can keep the reporters away. Karen and the boys don't have that."
A squawk from Grape interrupted them, and Claire paused as they both looked over to see what was going on. Zia and Dr. Holloway were gathered around her cage, talking animatedly as they looked between some readout they had and Grape. Even though they weren't directly interacting with her, Grape appeared annoyed. Possibly from the lack of attention.
"C'mon, Grape, you're fine," Owen soothed as he took the few steps across the room until he was beside the cage. Claire followed after him. "What are you squawking about?"
Grape turned to Owen, letting out a long string of chitters, sounding almost as if she was scolding him. "I know you probably don't like this interruption to your routine, but nothing's wrong," Owen just said. "Do you want another treat?" At the word, Grape perked up a little.
"Wait, you can't," Zia interrupted. "We were just discussing the next tests. We want to run an MRI and we'll need to anesthetize her. I don't want to put anything else in her stomach."
"Oh," Owen said, looking between Grape and Zia. "Sorry, Grape, you heard Zia. No snacks." Grape let out a snarl, turning her attention to Zia, and Claire would've sworn that she clearly understood what Owen was saying, and who was to blame. "Wait, how are you going to tranq her?"
"We'll give her some gas," Zia said, pointing over to Dr. Holloway who was pulling out a contraption that had what looked sort of like a gas mask on the end, although clearly modified to be able to go over the snout of a dinosaur. "Actually, you could help us out. We'll need someone to hold her."
Claire watched as Zia turned around, finding some protective gear to hand over to Owen. It wasn't until Owen started to put it on, that she suddenly saw them. "Wait!" she exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing his forearm and pulling it closer, her brow creasing. "Owen, you want to explain what I'm looking at?"
"What? Those? Those are nothing," he tried to dismiss her concern, quickly pulling on the gloves and other gear, pulling his shirt sleeve down to cover his arm.
"That doesn't look like nothing," she countered. "In fact, I'd say it looked a lot like a bite mark." When Owen just looked away, Claire turned to Zia. "Want to fill me in?" she asked.
"Um, not really?" Zia admitted, also busying herself around the cage. "Just know he's fine."
"Owen," Claire said, drawing out his name.
"Like Zia said, I'm fine," Owen repeated. He'd gone around the cage to the side with the door, and was waiting for an okay to open it. "Happened the first time Grape collapsed. We were scrambling and I was trying to keep Olive back so Zia could look at Grape. It's almost all healed now, anyway."
"And you didn't tell me because–" Claire cut herself off. "Nevermind, I know why. Seriously, Owen, they make protective gear for a reason."
"And I normally wear it," he said, waving at his current outfit. "That was an exception because everything happened so fast." He looked over at Zia and Dr. Holloway "You ready?"
"Yep, all ready," Dr. Holloway confirmed. "Go ahead."
Falling silent, Claire watched as Zia opened the cage door so Owen could keep his hands free. While Grape had been looking for attention before, now she seemed nervous, scrambling as far away from the opening as possible, and Owen had to reach all the way in to grab her. Once he did, he pulled her out, turning her, so she was cradled snugly against him, not giving her legs room to flail about. Immediately, Dr. Holloway put the mask over her snout. Grape tried to move away from it, but Holloway was faster, keeping it held against her. It didn't take long before Grape started to lose consciousness, and she stopped trying to move, before falling completely under.
The moment they were all sure she was completely out, everyone started moving quickly. Owen carried Grape over to a cart to lay her down, so she could be taken to the MRI while Claire stayed out of everyone's way. She knew that Owen would need to go with Grape, to be ready on the off chance that the raptor woke up. To her surprise, Cam, however, didn't follow the group as they left.
"You're not going?" she asked the security man, returning to his side.
"No, Wilson went," Cam said, pointing at the door. "I'm sticking with Olive, since she's the one still awake."
Claire had already forgotten about Olive's presence, the other raptor having been so quiet. She crept over to the cage and looked in, but Olive appeared to be asleep. "Not sure she's really awake."
"Well, she's not medically put under," Cam corrected. "So she has a better chance of waking up. Although I'd be surprised if she has any energy to do anything after that trip. Never thought I'd feel so bad for a raptor."
"They're still pretty cute," Claire said. "But I have to admit I'm glad I wasn't there with you. I can't deal with bodily fluids of any kind. People or animals." She shuddered causing Cam to laugh.
"Then it's a really good thing you weren't. It was not pretty," Cam said. "I can't say I enjoyed it at all myself."
"What can you tell me about Grape's collapses?" Claire asked. "Owen's mentioned you've been one of their main daytime guards."
"Yeah, they don't seem to mind me," Cam said. "It was really odd. Both times. They weren't doing anything abnormal. Just playing about. I didn't even see Grape collapse. It was only because Olive immediately started shrieking that I looked. It was a different sound from what I usually heard from them. And there was Grape, laying on the ground. I had my radio out a second later, calling for help. I wasn't even sure she was breathing at first, but there was nothing I could do until others came. They were fast, but it felt like a long time. And even after the first couple showed up to help, we weren't quite sure what to do. Owen though, Owen just went straight in." Cam paused, suddenly seemingly to realize he may be stepping into something. "Zia was there, too," he added. "Owen wasn't alone. But he needed to get Olive away from Grape so Zia could take a look. And at first, Olive was okay with it, because I think she was in shock, too. Wasn't until he pulled her farther back that she started squirming and bit him. By that point, Barry had been able to get their gear and was able to take Olive."
"You don't have to defend his moves to me," Claire said glumly. "I know how he is and that's the exact type of situation where I know he just doesn't think. I'm glad it worked out. And I'm glad that, so far, Grape seems to be fine."
"Yeah, it's the craziest thing," Cam said, nodding. "One moment, completely normal, and then bam, on the ground. Happened the same way the second time. And both times, maybe 10 minutes later, she just comes too again. Seems a bit off at first, shaking and all that, but then a couple of minutes later is just wanting to play as if nothing happened. Olive is struggling more from the boat ride than Grape did from either incidents. It's so weird."
The two of them had moved on from discussing the raptors by the time Owen, Zia, Dr. Holloway and Grape reappeared. Owen lifted Grape up, placing her back in her cage, before closing it behind her.
"How long for the results?" Claire asked.
"I've sent them off to a specialist to help take a look," Dr. Holloway answered. "I didn't see anything noticeably unusual, but that doesn't mean there isn't. We'll see if they find anything, but we probably won't hear for a couple of hours."
Claire looked down at her watch, noting the time. Dammit, she needed to go meet with Robin again.
"Go," Owen said, seemingly reading her mind. "Like I said, we're going to stay tonight. Message me when you're done, and I'll let you know where I am."
"Where are you going to put them for the night?" she asked, looking between Grape and Olive. "They're not going to be stuck in here, are they?"
"No," Zia answered. "We're going to use one of the temporary paddocks. Give them a chance to get up and move about with some more space. We'll take them out there in a little bit."
"Need a car?" she asked. She knew the temporary paddocks were out in the restricted area.
"We'll use one of the vet vehicles," Dr. Holloway said.
"Actually, if you don't need it," Owen said, "I'll take it out when we go. That way we don't all have to come back at the same time. Or tie up another of the vet vehicles."
"Sure," Claire said, fishing in her pocket for her keys, before tossing them to him. "I'm, unfortunately, not going anywhere."
"Sooner you meet her, sooner it'll be over," Owen reminded her. "I mean, isn't that what you always tell me?"
"Normally, but you've never met her," Claire grumbled. "But I better get back. I'll talk to you later."
o-o-o
In hindsight, Claire wondered if she should've done more to prepare for the press conference. Except, for all her grumbling about it, she really had taken her sessions with Robin seriously. She'd listened to the advice and had tried to act on it.
The biggest thing, Robin had told her, was that she'd need to maintain her cool. That it was likely there would be questions that would get under her skin, that would make her want to lash out. It was her job to not react. To just move on to the next question.
Claire had tried her hardest. She'd focused on the questions she could answer. She'd done her best to be as honest as possible. To not spin. To just answer what was being asked. And, for the most part, it hadn't been too bad. Most of the questions, after all, had been reporters just wanting to confirm facts. To get a simple yes or no as to whether something they'd heard or been told was true or not. Those had been easy to deal with.
But there had been people there whose only goal was to get a soundbite. They were looking to get clicks and not focused on the facts. Those ones were the ones she'd known she was supposed to ignore. She'd try not to flinch when she'd hear her nephews' names being shouted at her. She'd promised Karen she wouldn't comment on that. That she'd do her best to keep them out of it.
Claire had been so close to making it through the whole thing unscathed. But then a reporter had shouted: "My sources said you were too busy with a workplace affair. That you weren't focused on your job and had let things slide."
The words had made her see red. Well, honestly, she'd already been seeing red, but that question was the final straw. For someone to doubt her dedication to her job, her dedication to the park. To imply she'd throw it all away on an affair.
That was when she'd snapped: "You think I wanted people to die? That I take pleasure from this? We're talking about my coworkers. My nephews. My friends. My–" She'd managed to stop herself before she'd blurted out anything about Owen, although only barely. "I've dedicated my life working for this park. I want nothing more than for it to succeed. But safety has always been my number one concern. When I see red flags, I raise them. I don't ignore them. But I'm not the only one who makes decisions here. I–"
The rest of what she had meant to say had never been heard, as everyone had immediately jumped on her previous words.
"What red flags did you see?"
"Who overrode you?"
"Was it Masrani?"
"Who are you covering for?"
Dun dun dun... poor Claire. And poor Olive. I get seasick so I feel her pain. I also feel bad for Grape. Not so bad for Owen, he's the one who stuck them on the boat. :P As always, if you're enjoying this, please take a moment to drop me a review. I'd love to hear from you.