Chapter 6

"So," Zia said, the sound of her tray landing on the table catching Owen and Barry's attention.

"So?" Owen asked back. "What's up?"

"I got the results back on Olive and Grape," Zia said, before picking up her sandwich and taking a bite.

"And?" Owen asked after a moment passed and she hadn't continued. "At least say if they're good or bad."

Zia just shrugged in response, causing Owen's brow to furrow. He looked across at Barry, who also looked confused.

"What does that mean?" Barry asked. "Is Grape okay?"

"Yes," Zia said, having swallowed her bite. "I mean, mostly. Sort of. Well…"

"Okay, that's not reassuring at all," Owen said when she trailed off. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's not that something's wrong," Zia started. "I mean, there's something wrong. She's collapsing, and we don't know why. Or we didn't. But it's not wrong, in the sense that–"

"You're not making any sense," Owen said. "How about we start with, what's causing her to collapse?"

"And can we stop it?" Barry asked, Owen nodding in agreement.

"And why has it taken so long?" Owen added, just as Zia was about to respond. She glared at him, and he quickly held up his hands. "Sorry."

"Okay, they've found a genetic issue–"

"A genetic issue?" Barry exclaimed, causing Zia to glare again.

"Yes, a genetic issue. You know that their DNA is, well…" Zia waved her hands about, trying to explain, and both Owen and Barry nodded. "Seems like there's an issue. She's not creating some protein she needs. Or not enough of it. Without it, she suddenly gets really weak, causing her to collapse."

"So, do we just need to give her that protein?" Owen asked. "What's the solution? Change her diet?"

"Not exactly," Zia said carefully. "I mean, we'll probably look at her diet, and see if we can help there, but that's not really a long term solution."

"Well, then what is a long term solution?"

"If you'd let me actually answer," Zia replied, exasperated, "I'd actually tell you what I know." Both men fell quiet. "Okay, so, like I said, they've found a fault in her genetic code. That's also why it took so long. They had to rule a lot of stuff out. But they were comparing their DNA—Grape and Olive's—when they discovered a difference in one gene. Then they had to try to isolate what it does. Anyway, the good thing is that they know what's wrong. That we all know what's wrong. The not so great thing is that it's not easy to fix. We will monitor her diet, of course. And they think that we can probably rouse her more quickly after an episode now, but we'll have to try that when it happens again to know for sure." Zia paused, picking up her sandwich for another bite.

Owen tried to wait her out, but he couldn't. "Okay, what's the likelihood that this defect is going to kill her?"

Zia just shook her head.

"Does that mean no it won't kill her or not good?" Owen asked.

"It won't kill her," Zia replied. "I mean, not immediately, at least. We don't know enough yet. A good sign is that it took a long time to show up. But, a not great sign, is that now that it has, she's already had two episodes within a week. We'll need to watch and chart the frequency. The more frequent they are…" She trailed off, but both men got her point.

"Does this affect the ability for them to be moved to Nublar?" Barry asked.

It was a question that hadn't even crossed Owen's mind. But, would it? They were supposed to move over in another few months or so, if all went well.

"Hard to say," Zia said. "I mean, it depends how controllable it is. I don't know that they'll want to show Grape if she's collapsing once a week and they can't predict it. That won't look good."

"They're already having enough issues with people claiming they don't care about safety and all that," Owen agreed, thinking over all of his most recent calls with Claire since her disastrous press conference. "While this won't endanger guests, it wouldn't be good. Dammit."

"The scientists are still looking into it," Zia said. "They're hoping they can find a solution. A way to re-activate the gene or something."

"Is that possible?"

"Honestly, it's not my area. I couldn't quite follow everything they were telling me. But I do know they're trying."

"And Olive?" Barry asked.

"Olive's fine. They didn't find anything abnormal with her."

"Well, at least there's that," Owen said. "But Grape…"

"Yeah," Zia agreed. "The scientists are good, though. I mean, they brought all these species back, remember? This seems like a small problem, in comparison."

"They did," Owen agreed outwardly. Inwardly, he was questioning that. The scientists who worked at Jurassic World were top-notch. He knew that. But he also knew that the person who had led all the development, the one who had been there from the start, the one who really knew everything they'd done, well, that person was no longer there.

Owen hadn't thought about Henry Wu in a long time. He hadn't needed to. Not once Grape and Olive had been born and everything had seemed okay, and when they had been able to put aside their concerns that maybe Henry had messed with them. Of course, it did appear that Henry had done something. Or had messed something up.

"They've got all his research from Lockwood," Zia said, pulling Owen from his thoughts (and apparently reading them, too). "So it's not like they're starting from scratch. But, I'm not even sure it's because of something Dr. Wu may have done. Sometimes errors happen when genes are getting copied." She shrugged. "The good thing is they couldn't find any negative effects from the collapses. So it's not like she's suffering or anything. They aren't hurting her."

"Yeah," Owen said. "That's good. Still…"

"What do we do for now?" Barry asked. "How do we help?"

"Do? Nothing, really," Zia admitted. "I mean, I'm waiting for some advice on diet changes. But I expect that may be more that we give her a supplement than anything else. So, for now, just continue as normal."

"And when she collapses again?" Owen asked. "Because you're making it sound like she definitely will."

"She will," Zia agreed. "But, like I said, they don't seem to be harmful. So, just wait it out. Probably it'll be Olive who needs more support during it all, since Grape isn't as aware. But," she looked at Owen specifically now, "that doesn't mean you need to go running in there without gear. Both of them can wait."

"Claire get to you?" Owen asked.

"She did," Zia admitted. "I probably should've stopped you from going in without it that day."

"You wouldn't have been able to," Owen said. "Besides, it's all healed now. At least she didn't get me with a toe claw."

"Let's make sure she doesn't get that chance," Zia just said. "I don't want to have to face Claire if she does."

o-o-o

Entering the clearing by the trailer, Claire pulled her car over to the side and quickly put it into park and turned it off. She got out and opened the back door, reaching in and pulling out the meal she'd picked up from Main Street for dinner, before heading down to the small dock.

She settled into one of the chairs on the dock, but instead of opening up the bag to pull out her food, she just set it down beside her, not actually all that interested in eating.

For the third day in a row, she was done early. Normally, that would be something to celebrate. That she actually had some time to herself. But, she wasn't feeling all that celebratory about it at all. It would be one thing if she was done because she was on top of all her projects. But, no, the reason she was finishing early was because it felt like all her projects were being taken away from her.

It had been bad enough when she'd been pulled off the Edmontosaurus project. But she'd understood that, because it was such a visible one that was specifically designed to get lots of media attention. But now it seemed like no one wanted her anywhere near any project that may ever get even a whiff of attention from the media.

Although, she knew she wasn't being entirely fair. Masrani had been defending her. Which she was lucky for, considering she had somewhat thrown her boss under the bus with her comments. But that hadn't been what she'd meant to do. And if they'd only given her a chance to explain…

Ugh. She needed to stop dwelling on that day. It wasn't like she could change what she'd said. If she could, she would've done so a million times over by now. Instead, she'd been pushed out of sight, told to avoid all press, and to let the "professionals handle it."

Claire wasn't used to not being considered one of the professionals. And she definitely didn't like it.

Grumbling to herself, she reached down for her dinner, deciding she should eat it while it was still warm, or soon she'd be complaining about that as well. Pulling out her take out, she fished around for the chopsticks in the bag, before slouching down in the chair as she ate.

When her phone rang, she ignored it. There rarely seemed to be any calls these days that she actually did want to answer. Couldn't she just ignore the world for a couple of hours and be left alone? But when it immediately started ringing again after it stopped, she sighed, putting down her food and pulling out her phone instead.

She wasn't surprised to see it was from Karen, although it did make her more tempted not to answer. She could just claim she was busy. Like she always did.

However, even as she thought that, Claire found herself reaching for the answer button. "Hey, Kar," she greeted her sister, resting her phone on the arm of her chair as she reached for her food again. No reason she couldn't eat while she talked.

"Hey, Claire," Karen replied.

"What's up?" Claire said when Karen didn't say anything else. "Why are you calling?"

"I can't call just to talk?" Karen asked.

"You can," Claire agreed, "But you don't. So…"

"Hey, I do more than you do," Karen countered. "And, I actually am calling just to talk."

"Really?" Claire asked, doubtful. "You sure it's not about some other news thing or something else that's been said?"

"Why? Should I be? What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I mean, nothing more than what's been happening for the past week."

"Sounds like you're having as much fun as I am," Karen sympathized

"You saw my press conference, remember? What you're going through sounds like fun in comparison."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Well, I'm glad you think so. But so far, no one else agrees. I can barely do my job at this point, since they don't want me involved with anything that may result in me being in front of the press again."

"Ouch. Well, I'm sure it'll die down. The media always moves on. I remember you telling me that, many times, before."

Claire sighed. "I keep trying to remind myself of that. Just wish it would move on faster. And unless this DPG group can be shut up, not sure they will."

"What are you guys doing about that group?" Karen asked.

"Doing? What do you mean?"

"Like, is there a way to get them to stop?"

"Not really," Claire admitted. "Nothing they're doing right now is illegal. So until they cross a line, there's really nothing we can do. What I don't get is why they're doing this? What is the point? What are they hoping to get out of it?"

"Shut you down?" Karen suggested.

Claire shook her head, despite Karen not actually able to see her. The idea had crossed her mind but she wasn't convinced yet.

"Maybe, but not sure how this tactic would work. Do they think they're going to get enough people too scared to visit? Half the reason people come in the first place is because dinosaurs are big and scary."

"Don't remind me," Karen said, although Claire was glad to hear her sister let out a bit of a laugh. "But, let's talk about something else. Something positive. I could use a distraction."

"Positive?" Claire had to think about that. What was positive about everything going on? "What about Zach or Gray? Anything to share about them?"

"Why do you think I want a distraction?"

"Oh no, what's going on now?"

It was Karen's turn to sigh. "Nothing, not really. I mean, they're frustrated by the attention and everything. But it's just normal teen stuff with Gray. Zach's just complaining about his courses."

"He should've come here this summer," Claire said. "Instead of taking those extra classes."

"Honestly I was surprised when he wanted to stay," Karen replied. "I thought he'd be back there for sure. But he said something about wanting to catch up, since he switched his degree. Although… I kind of think it has to do with a girl."

Claire couldn't help smiling at that. "Ooh?"

"He hasn't admitted it to me," Karen went on. "But, I've heard a female voice in the background on a couple of calls with him, and when I've asked he just brushes me aside."

"If it's anything real, he'll introduce you," Claire reminded her. "Think of how many of our own boyfriends we never introduced to mom and dad."

"That was more you, than me. But then again, I didn't have many."

"Only because you met Scott in high school. Took you less time to find someone."

"Didn't last, though."

"But you've got Jake now. How are things with him?"

"We're talking about moving in together," Karen admitted.

"Really? Finally."

"It's different with kids. Gray's still home, you know."

"But he likes him."

"He does. They both do, thankfully. What about Owen? How are things with him?"

"Good. Really good. I've even managed to see him a few times since he's been back. I had thought I'd get to see him a lot more, with the Edmontosaurus project being based there, but since I've been pulled from that…"

"I bet you'll be back on that before you know it," Karen said sympathetically. "This all blew in really fast. Usually those type of things disappear just as quickly."

"Let's hope so."

o-o-o

Normally Claire would be happy to have had an excuse to be back on Sorna, especially since all her regular ones had been taken away. But, as she sat there—in the dining hall of all places, since there was no meeting space big enough for the group on Sorna—listening to Kathy and Owen and others debate the merits of Kathy's expansion plans, she found her thoughts drifting.

She should care. She knew she should care. But, it was just hard to. She didn't feel like anyone there cared for or even wanted her opinion. And she felt like she had been mostly sent there just to give her something to do. It was hard to reconcile all of that together and to keep her focus.

While they had gathered a bunch of the tables together in the middle and set up chairs around them, just as if this was a boardroom, the lunch smells that were wafting out of the kitchen (along with the continual clangs of pots and pans) kept everyone well aware it wasn't. And because they weren't in a boardroom (where it'd be easier to keep everyone's focus on the main topic, as there really wasn't anything else to pay attention to) as Claire looked around the room, she wasn't surprised to see that she wasn't the only one struggling to stay focused.

The main attendees of the meeting were the heads of the departments—Dr. Barnes for the labs, Austin for security, Kathy, Owen for the raptors and the research institute, Zia as the vet, Claire representing Jurassic World. But they weren't the only ones who had been invited. As the expansion impacted everyone, many of those who were one or two levels below had also chosen to come (although considering all the bored looks about the room, Claire thought many were regretting that choice).

Returning her focus to the conversation, Claire had to work hard to suppress a resigned sigh, as she heard Owen express the same argument she'd already heard what felt like 100 times (and since she'd been listening to these same arguments over the phone for the last week, it probably was).

"We're expanding too quickly," Owen said. "I get that you want to make your mark here, but you're not listening."

"No, what's going on is that you think you should get to decide how this whole area is used. And that everything needs to be centered around the needs of your raptors," Kathy shot back.

"They aren't his raptors," Claire couldn't help but insert. It was just her natural reaction to hearing that phrase now. When everyone looked at her over it, she just shrugged. She did catch Owen's slight grin at her comment.

"We have to take the girls' needs into consideration," Owen pushed, regaining everyone's attention. "This is their home. And IBRIS is still a fully functioning research project. Many of the changes you're proposing will have a direct impact on our ability to continue that. And not just that, it will negatively affect their quality of life."

"They are just one aspect of this whole area," Kathy pushed again. "And not even the biggest one. We have all the new species development happening. We have the Edmontosaurus project to support. We have other research projects that are being proposed right now. We even have your wild raptors project."

"Which only requires some office space," Owen said. "That's not much."

"And personnel space," Kathy pointed out. "Every person we bring over here requires a place to stay. They need to be able to eat. It's not just their work space that it affects. And from what I've seen, you've been one of the loudest voices in pushing for needing more recreational space here. More people means more needs. I get that you have strong opinions, Owen, but there's a lot of pieces you're not taking into consideration. There's a lot more to balance here."

"I get that," Owen said. "But I'm still going to push back. We can't use the space by the raptors paddock. It needs to be empty. We already have buildings closer than I would like. More people, more buildings near them, it's just going to increase all the noise. It's going to affect everything. If we have to keep expanding—And I would like to point out AGAIN that I'm against this—Then we need to look at expanding out the perimeter the other way. We can't keep encroaching on them."

"It's not that simple."

"I never said it was simple."

"Do you know what it takes–"

Owen interrupted her, "Unlike you, I've been here since the start. So yes, I do know what it takes."

As the two went back and forth, the rhetoric got more and more heated with every comment. Everyone else in the meeting just watched, no one jumping in or bothering to try to bring some balance. Finally, having had enough, Claire took it on herself to be that person.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she said forcefully and loudly, finally causing both Owen and Kathy to fall silent. "Okay, we need to stop and back up here. Because this is not productive. And is honestly a waste of all our time."

"It's not a waste to–" Owen started, but Claire cut him off.

"Stop," she commanded. "I get that you both feel strongly about your positions. And I get that you are both trying to figure out how to work together, and how to redivide out control after the past bit. But that doesn't mean that this," she waved her arms, motioning to the whole area, "is okay. And all this is doing is extending the meeting for the rest of us. Who also have better things to do with our time then listen to all of this."

This time, when she paused, no one spoke, although she could tell that Owen was itching to.

"Okay, now let's back up. The goal of this meeting is to go over the plans as proposed. It's not to make decisions today as to what we will be doing four years from now. It's to make sure that everyone–" Claire paused, focusing her attention on Owen on that word. "That everyone gets a chance to ask any questions they have. Then, the plan will get revised. We are not here to revise it as a committee." She looked around the room as various members nodded their understanding. "Good. So, what questions do people have about the plans as proposed? Not comments, questions."

Owen opened his mouth, but Claire quickly shot a glare in his direction. "No, Owen, you've had a chance. Let's hear from the others first." He snapped his jaw shut, sending her a bit of a glare, but she didn't care. He may feel like she was taking sides, but honestly, she'd had it. She wasn't willing to just sit and listen to people scream at each other. That was not why she was there.

Of course, when Owen got shot down, no one else seemed all that eager to ask a question, everyone looking nervously at each other.

"Oh, come on," Claire grumbled. "If someone doesn't ask, I'll start calling on people."

There were some nervous looks at that, and a few people uncomfortably clearing their throats, before Dr. Barnes finally took the lead and spoke up.

"Thanks, Claire," he started. "I have a few questions, really, but I think I'll start with this one. I know we've started up new species development. And we've got the Edmontosaurus project going. And that we're also looking at some other species we want to increase the population of. However, I'm still unclear what the long term goal of this place is. Everything we're doing here, in the lab, we could be doing on Nublar. It doesn't seem like we're actually saving any costs or anything by having it over here. In fact, some days, it seems like this location is actually just complicating everything even more."

Claire looked to Kathy, expecting her to take the question and respond, but she was looking back at her.

"You're right, a lot of what we're doing here we could do on Nublar," Claire said after a moment. "However, we moved the lab research over here so that we could decrease our liability around development of new species. Specifically after everything with the Indominus and Indoraptor."

"But we're not creating any new species like those, are we?"

Claire didn't catch who asked the question. But it didn't matter. "We're not. Not now, anyway."

"Wait, are you saying we're going to start on hybrids again?" It was Austin who asked that time. "I thought those were permanently banned."

"There are no plans right now," she started.

"But there might be?" Owen couldn't contain himself, blurting out the question. "Really, Claire? After everything?"

"I don't think there ever will be," she said, gritting her teeth. "I'm explaining why we moved the lab over here in the first place."

"It was Dr. Wu's idea, wasn't it?" Owen said, and she could already predict where his thoughts were going, as hers were suddenly going down that path, too. "That was his argument, wasn't it? That it would be better for liability and everything? But that wasn't the real reason, was it? He wanted it to be here so he could do his whole plan with Hoskins."

"We don't know that for sure," Claire said, although she knew that was a weak excuse. It was a thought that she had had too. That his real reason for moving the lab was for his benefit, not for Jurassic World's.

"Is there a reason we need to keep the development here?" Owen pushed. "If there's no plan for hybrids, why not just keep it over on Nublar? Everything is still there."

"We're getting a bit off track here," Claire said.

"Not really," Owen countered, and she couldn't help glaring at him a bit. "Whether or not the lab remains here would greatly affect the expansion plans. If we didn't have it here, we wouldn't necessarily need much or any expansion. We'd free up a lot of the housing space, so we would be able to accommodate the wild raptors research team without new construction. We'd even have meeting space."

"The goal is not to talk about how to shrink the presence here," Claire said. "We're supposed to be focused on the expansion plans that Kathy has put forward."

"But why not?"

"Why not what?"

"Why not consider shrinking it?" Owen pressed. "It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"No, not really," Claire said. "Do you know how much it costs to uproot the lab and move it? Most of, if not all of, the space back on Nublar has already been claimed for other projects and teams. We don't necessarily have the housing space there, either. And, remember, we were running out of space on Nublar to start with. It was partly why we moved there, too. There is more space, so the dinosaurs can have larger paddocks here while they're small."

"Maybe," Owen said, although he didn't look convinced.

"What about the rest of you?" Claire asked, turning her attention back to the rest of the room. "Does anyone else have any questions or thoughts?"

"Um," one person hesitantly spoke up. Claire didn't recognize them, but they didn't offer their name, and she didn't want to admit she didn't know it. "If we're going to grow, we really need more personal space here. Like, lounge space. It's, well, it's boring to be stationed over here. At least on Nublar, there's all the restaurants and everything. Here, there's, well, almost nothing."

Claire barely managed to suppress her groan at the comment. It was not that she didn't think it was a fair concern—Owen, Barry, Zia and others had brought it up before—but it was getting into details she didn't really want this discussion to focus on. However, that person's comment seemed to be what was needed, and suddenly people all around the room were calling out suggestions.

She was trying to pay attention to it all, making notes of their comments, when she noticed Austin pulling out his radio before getting up and moving to a corner so he could focus on his radio. Distracted, she watched him, his face looking increasingly concerned. Moments later, he stepped back over to the table, interrupting the conversation.

"Owen, Zia, Barry—It's Grape, again."

What. A. Week. Ugh. I hope you all had a much better one that I did. Work has just been... Sigh. Also why I'm posting later than normal (and haven't responded to reviews yet - will do so tomorrow). In the meantime, hope this update brightens your day/week a bit and wish me luck that the coming week goes much better.