ADAPTATIONS

10 – Cares and Concerns

Pet's mind was still wrapped around the movie she just saw and wore a devious smile that hadn't faltered one bit.

Derek hoped that in the time they had been in the movie, the crowd at the mall would have lessened, but it hadn't. In exchange for the older crowd from earlier, a much younger population now filled the stores. Teenagers giggled, squealed and chatted amongst themselves as the three people wove between them.

Derek wasn't paying attention and walked into Pet who suddenly stopped in the middle of the way. "What the hey, hey Pet?" He looked at the woman, jaw agape and unblinking eyes fixated on a nice evening attire store across from where they stood.

The hybrid bounded through the people passing by to stop inches shy of crashing into the front glass of the store. There, displayed in the window on a mannequin was a beautiful, halter styled, rust colored evening gown with an explosion of like colored, tiny beadwork on the front. Derek jogged up and joined the woman, baffled. He took one look at the dress and to the woman, instantly knowing it to be love at first sight.

He arched a brow. "Really?"

Billy joined the two as well, but was more mindful in the people he passed by politely excusing himself. Pet smiled. "Isn't it pretty?"

Derek shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Yeah and for a pretty big ass price, too, I'm sure."

Pet went into the store and retrieved a slew of disapproving stares from both store shoppers and employees. She didn't care. Her eyes fervently scanned the many dresses lining the walls and hanging on their respective racks until she found the one she was looking for. There were five available and she went through them for the right size. She frowned.

"Damn," she grumbled. "Out of luck." Billy flipped over one of the dress's tags to see its cost and flashed it to the woman for her to see as well. "Holy shi-" Pet grimaced. "Two-hundred and eighty-five dollars?!"

Derek shrugged. "And out of money, too, it seems." He pointed to her shopping bags around her arm. "Unless you take all that stuff back for a refund."

Pet looked at the bags and back the dress. "As much as I would love the dress, I can't think of anywhere to where it. At least with these," she held up the bags, "I could wear to everyday places."

"Sucks to be you," Derek smarted off, patting her on the shoulder. "Well, we need to get back to the dig site. Come on, kids. Your Daddies will be wanting you guys back by curfew!"


The sun had already set by the time the three arrived back to the excavation. Derek hadn't yet put the Jeep into park when Pet got out, head hung a bit low. She was bummed she couldn't get the dress and the other new clothes too, but was still happy about one thing; she had at least been trusted enough to leave the dig site.

She and the two men accompanying her went into Quarantine to find Muldoon and Grant seated at the dining table, talking. Pet set her bags down on the kitchenette bar and looked to the two older men in confusion.

Muldoon noticed the bags and cocked a half smile. "I guess you had a good time?"

The hybrid nodded gleefully. "Yeah. Thanks, by the way." She bit her lips together in a shy smile. "For the money, that is."

The man's smile broadened and he nodded. "What else did you three end up doing?"

Derek entered the trailer, snickering. "Did some shopping...ate some lunch... grabbed a movie."

"Oh?" Muldoon looked to Pet, thoughts going through his head. He knew what young people were prone to doing in movies and only hoped his assumptions of the two's actions were wrong. That was what Derek was there for, anyway. "What movie did you see?"

Another smile painted across Pet's face. "That new space horror movie."

"How was it?"

Derek nudged the hybrid in the side. "I think she liked it."

Pet giggled. "I'd so wreck that lead scientist." She then reached into the fridge and cracked open a beer.

Grant's eyes flickered in a flash of momentary panic. Something told him, he didn't want to know. His gaze settled on the hybrid watching him over the top of her drinking her beer and recoiled a bit. Yeah, he definitely didn't want to know what was on her mind.


Back to work. Monday came much too soon, meaning everyone was back to doing their thing at the sig site. Ellie was finishing her packing and loading up her SUV. She was needed back at the museum upon request and was trying to be quick about leaving.

Pet was standing nearby, as were Grant, Billy and Derek. The paleobotanist gave her best friend a hug in departure and a sympathetic, pressed out smile in regards to his skepticism of being left with the hybrid. Regardless of her and Billy being a sort of somewhat couple, the senior scientist still didn't feel completely at ease.

After Ellie's departure, Derek frowned in watching the dust cloud following the SUV disappear. "Well there goes the eye candy," he blurted, frowning and planting his hands on his hips.

Grant kept his comments to himself regarding the bounty hunter and left, running through different things needing to be done in his head. Without Ellie there to help, there would be a lot more work to do and read outs to review. After all the training he had given Billy, he could only hope his protégé would start helping out.

By Thursday, work was in fact starting to pile up, making Grant further stressed. Billy felt the pressure of everything as well while trying to aid in directing the volunteer workers. Another load of fossils was prepared and situated inside a tent, ready for pick up when the museum's team came around for collection.

Pet desperately wanted to help, but wasn't sure how.


After two weeks, things were starting to balance out. Who knew Derek was so good with computers and able to pick up where Ellie left off? Grant couldn't be more thankful and found a new appreciation for the younger man.


Saturday came and before sunrise, Grant was up and working in the office trailer. He hadn't slept any that night as the coffee pot went off for a fourth time. He was so wound up in his work that he didn't notice the office trailer door open.

Pet quietly stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Off and on since laying down, she had woken up randomly and would peep between her room's blinds to see the office's light still on. It was now five AM and the light hadn't gone off yet. Curious, she decided to see what was going on. That's when she found him sitting over piles of papers she wasn't even going to begin was what. Pet could see the paleontologist's head buried in his hands and tip toed over to the table he sat at.

She gently rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. His head snapped up and his blood shot eyes met the hybrid's warm smile. Pet eased in next to him and gave him a friendly nudge in the shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

He sighed, waving a hand over the papers. "Just trying to finish all this."

"It's five AM, Alan. You need to sleep."

"Yeah," he breathed out tossed the pen he had been holding into the scattered papers. "That's just it, though. I've been procrastinating and now, this has happened."

Pet slimmed her eyes at the papers. "I wouldn't call being over loaded with work procrastinating, but that's just me." She watched the troubled man lean back and stretch out, his joints echoing his exhaustion. "Go to bed. I'm sure whatever this is can wait another day or at least until you wake up."

"No, not really." The people locked gazes and for a moment, the man felt himself lost in the brilliant blue-green eyes of the hybrid. "Before I can proceed onto the other part of the dig site, I have to get clarification from the state of Montana."

Pet was over taken in curiosity. "Other part? What other part?"

A boyish smile teased Grant's weary, stress worn face. "You know that northern section of the dig site I've been trying to keep blocked off?" The hybrid nodded. "There's another skeleton, there. We accidently came across it when getting a radar of the current fossil site. Because there wasn't enough funding at the time, I couldn't begin work on it and still can't unless something gives."

"I see." Pet scanned the many papers strewn across the table top. "And I'm guessing this is...?"

"Read outs of the calculated area." Grant picked up a handful of papers and started flipping through them. "This, here." He handed the hybrid a black and white print out of the mentioned region. "Now, the radar was taken somewhere over here." He pointed to the far lower left corner of the paper. "Because of the radar's radius, it was only able to grab this little section here." He then pointed to a blurry image located close to the center of the printed image. Pet squinted at the image, barely able to make out what looked like a tail tip. "I'm hoping after the latest completed fossil is presented to Montana's Natural History Museum, the generosity will start flowing."

Pet shrugged and studied the seemingly excited man from the corner of her yes. "It's possible." As the scientist remained focused on the print out, she could see all his hope in his cool blue eyes. "If not, I think I can call in a few favors." Grant forced his eyes off the page to look up at the woman. "Just keep me posted, okay?" She smiled, nervously looking away from the man. Despite walking on the egg shells of her and Billy's fragile relationship, the senior paleontologist would always have a soft spot with her. "Until then, you need to get some rest."

Pet began to get up but was stopped by the man grabbing her hand. His lightly pulling at her hand signaled her to sit back down, which she did confused. "Veronica," he began. "Thank you."

She nodded in acceptance and smiled, kissing him on the cheek. "Anytime."


Chocolate brown eyes studied the busy Dr. Grant ping ponging between tents and the office trailer. He had never seen this guy this wound up since arriving at the dig site. Patiently, Derek waited for the right opportunity before approaching the man. Finally, he had the scientist cornered in the tent used to keep fossils still needing to be properly cleaned prior to plastering for transportation.

"So, uh, what's up Doc?" The bounty hunter smiled in self-satisfaction at the scientist. "I'm sorry, it's just I've always wanted to say that."

Grant grumbled and resumed sorting through a bin of cleaned fossils, placing smaller fist sized ones in a separate bin. "Take these to Veronica, will you, and make sure they get cleaned?"

Derek had no choice but to accept the bin more shoved into his chest than passed over. "Sure. Speaking of Veronica, how's things been going between you two?"

The scientist picked up a fossilized tooth and sat it down in the bin following him around. "Does it matter?"

The younger man shrugged. "Was just wondering, is all. You know, things between her and Billy have been bouncing around. One day he seems interested and the next, not so much."

"What do I care?" Grant went around to the other side of the table to examine what was marked by one of the volunteers as clean fossils.

"Although, I think that's partially because of Uncle Rob. I think he's doing everything in his power to chase off your little sidekick." The two men exchanged glances, the senior scientist resuming his analyzing. "Which is probably for the best they don't work out. Pet's been trying hard to keep her Ts crossed and Is dotted around him. I don't think she was quite ready to be exposed around people, never mind a relationship with someone who has no damn clue about what she is."

Grant had to agree with Derek, though he wouldn't admit it. He worried it would only inflate that oversized ego he already carried around with him. "She's a big girl. She can handle herself."

Derek picked up the tooth the older man had just been looking at and was a bit intimidated by its size being almost the full length of his hand. "You know, that fossil presentation is coming up and Pet is pretty excited about it."

Grant gave a brief backwards glance at the out of place bounty hunter. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, there's this really pretty dress she's had her eyes on in a store at the mall. Before I went out and got her this thing as a surprise, I just wanted to make sure she was allowed to attend the unveiling."

A sharp scoff came from the older man as he fingered through the supposedly clean fossils. These were clean? Though some of them were in fact decent enough for plastering, some of them were no were near ready. He began to pick out the ones he approved of while leaving the others in the plastic box.

Derek continued. "Doc?"

Grant looked around to make sure they were alone before speaking the wrong thing around the wrong person or persons. When he spoke, it was in a low voice for only Derek to hear. "First, you and Robert are worried about her being around people that have no idea what she is. Then you decide it's okay for her to go out in a populated public place, after the big spiel you people had to give about her being hunted by InGen. Now, you're asking if I plan to let her come to the unveiling? That will undoubtably be populated, as well? Seeing how it's John Hammond's money funding my dig site, I wouldn't put it past someone from InGen to stop by and see why."

"So, that's a no then?" Grant stopped sifting through the fossils to intently stare down the younger man. "Hey, I'm just asking! I think your Mini Me is even thinking about asking her out to it, too. Before she gets upset by being told she has to stay home, I think you might want to talk to her about the whole issue. Tell her how you think InGen might show up to this thing. That should scare her."

Grant groaned to himself under his breath. If it wasn't one dozen things, it was one persistent pain in his ass in the form of a human-raptor hybrid.