ADAPTATIONS
15 – The Usual Antics
Wednesday had arrived and with it, what Derek was trying to make as a weekly thing of a poker night between the growing group of friends at the dig site. He leaned back in his chair at the round fold out table and stretched, watching Grant shuffle the cards for a new game.
Derek's gaze then drifted over to the hybrid seated across the table and next to her boy toy. He wickedly smiled. "So Pet, want to play Bets?"
Her attention peeled away from her small collection of gaming chips and over to the bounty hunter. She could tell something was on his mind and she slimmed her blue-green eyes down on him. "I was thinking more of Truth or Dare. Truth; you over compensate the badass attitude because your dick is the size of a tic-tac."
Billy snickered behind a swig of his beer. Derek cocked a brow as the smile smeared further across his face. "I dare you to come over here and find out." He leaned further back in his chair as though inviting the woman to take him up on his offer.
Pet shook her head and lightly laughed. Grant sighed at the two people's continuous jabs at the other and cracked open another beer. Muldoon cut in. "Alright you two, knock it off."
But Derek ignored his uncle and leaned onto the table, locking gazes with Pet. "You're thinking about it, aren't you?"
The hybrid scoffed and shook her head. "No, I have other things to think about than what you're packing."
"Not that. Truth; you're thinking it…your little shower thoughts we were talking about the other day?"
"What?" Her eyes widened in horror and instantly shot them over to Grant before settling them on Derek. She growled, "You're so dead."
Derek erupted in laughter and almost knocked over his beer when dodging a clawed hand swiping at his face from across the round table. "C'mon, Pet! I dare you to kick my ass!" She frustratingly snorted a bark and dug at the tabletop with a clawed hand. Derek kept taunting the annoyed hybrid. "Aren't you going to attempt to mangle me? Disembowel me? Something? At least hit me, sheesh!"
Pet slid off her boots followed by her socks. She tossed them aside and hissed a screech. "I guess Isla Sorna wasn't enough for you?"
Billy tried not to be obvious in getting a peek at her sickle clawed feet. He hadn't seen them, yet, and was curious to know what they looked like. Neither Derek or Pet saw this, but Muldoon did. He hoped, for the young scientist's sake, that his interest in the hybrid was sincere and not to gawk at her like some freak show attraction.
Derek snorted a laugh. "If you're talking about the whole jungle attack, then don't even start with me about that. You're the one who blue balled me and left."
Pet curled her upper lip and smirked. "Well you passed out and in less than two minutes, I might add! Not my fault you couldn't keep up."
Muldoon interjected. "Will you two shut up!? Some of us are here to play poker, not listen to you two go on all night."
Pet snickered out loud. "I don't think Derek can go all night if he barely made two, maybe three minutes tops before."
Billy didn't bother hiding his amusement at the other man's expense. Derek shook his head at Pet. It was then that he noticed Billy nonchalantly looking at the hybrid's feet. "Hey Pet, I think your boy toy wants to see it." Blue-green eyes met nervous hazel ones. "Why don't you just whip it out and show him?"
The young woman sighed and rolled her disapproving scowl over to Derek. "Only you can make something so innocent into something perverted." He wiggled his eyebrows. Pet stood up and slammed a clawed foot down on her chair.
Billy's eyes enlarged at the sight of the sickle claw and gulped. Muldoon's words echoed in his ears when he said how she had the ability to kill and had killed in the past. Who did she kill and for what reason? How did she kill them? Was it in one of the many gruesome ways Grant described a raptor attacking? Or was it worse?
Derek chuckled. "If you ask nicely I'm sure she'll let you touch it, too." A quick thwap against the back of his head courtesy of his uncle silenced the next snarky comment he could make.
Thursday afternoon crept up on Grant faster than he expected. He had been so busy with working on the fossil that he had forgotten to pack for his road trip. Given the Museum of the Rockies' distance from the dig site, it wouldn't be just a quick hop and a skip drive there. It was more like a six and a half hour drive to Bozeman, Montana and that was with favorable weather and traffic conditions. Unable to procrastinate anymore, he trekked off to his trailer.
He took a dark grey suit out of his small closet and hung it up on the back of his bedroom's door to dust it off. He wanted to make sure his choice of clothing was in top notch condition before securing it in a clothing bag. There were other things he was going to need to pack for the road trip, but this was the first thing given its level of importance.
It was then that he remembered how upset Veronica was at being told she couldn't attend. What were the chances of someone from InGen showing up, anyway? They had already come by his dig site, once, only to leave disappointed. Would that be enough to deter them from coming back? To hear how InGen treated her greatly bothered him. But to see how happy she was at the dig site had the opposite effect on him. Other than her fan girl crush she had on him, the hybrid really wasn't that bad of a person. If anything, she was more misunderstood than a danger. He was realizing this the more he spent time around her.
Grant left his trailer and out into the Montana afternoon to find Derek. There weren't too many places he could be other than following around Veronica, annoying Billy or even that rare chance he was doing something useful around the site. Grant checked Quarantine, first, but Derek wasn't there. He did, however, find Muldoon seated at the dining table and cleaning one of his many rifles.
This man was seriously out of his element and going stir crazy, from what Grant could tell. Muldoon didn't visually acknowledge the visitor as he spoke. "If you're looking for Veronica, your counterpart whisked her away to help with plastering."
"Actually, I was looking for your counterpart, Robert."
Muldoon stopped what he was doing and lowered his brow. "What did he do, now?"
"It's what he's going to do I was more interested in." Grey eyes met blue and watched as the senior scientist entered the trailer to talk privately. "He mentioned not too long ago about a dress he was wanting to buy Veronica for the exhibit unveiling."
Muldoon went back to cleaning his rifle. "Yes, I'm aware. Said there was no point in it, now, since she wasn't allowed to go."
"I've been thinking on that. I'd like her to attend."
The air went silent, except for the sound of a cleaning rod and rag being ran through the barrel of the rifle. "What about all that talk of InGen? And people say I'm the paranoid one."
"I did some research since then. My dig site wasn't the only one Mr. Hammond was funding before his passing." Grant removed his hat and tossed it onto the bar top before joining the ex-game warden at the table. He made sure to keep his hands away from the strewn about pieces so as not to mess up the meticulous arrangement they were placed in. "Shortly before Veronica's arrival, here, he started funding Dr. Burke's excavation, as well."
Muldoon was deeply confused by the bit of news. "Why in the bloody dazes would he fund that bloke?"
"Perhaps it has something to do with her meeting him on Site B the same time Dr. Malcolm was there."
Muldoon wasn't convinced. "I doubt that. If Veronica was going to push funding to anyone's excavation it would be to yours."
A scheming smile overcame the senior scientist. "See, I thought the same thing. But!" he held up his forefinger to emphasize his point, "what if Mr. Hammond did that along with funding mine to avoid suspicion? Dr. Burke saw Veronica on the island. I would think his past association with her along with getting funded from Hammond would merit an investigation on InGen's part. For…curiosity's sake."
Muldoon leaned on an elbow and pointed the cleaning rod at the other man. "You're a lot cleverer than you look, my dear sir." Grant wasn't sure if he should be offended or complimented by the statement.
The front door to Quarantine opened wide to reveal Derek covered in bits and chunks of plaster on his person and clothes. His waved a white caked hand at the scientist. "What's up, Doc?" Grant hated when someone asked him that. The younger man's chocolate eyes fell on the hat sitting by itself on the bar top and pointed at it. "Can I borrow this a quick second?"
"No!" was barked in reply, but Derek had it in hand and was putting it on as Pet and Billy's voices neared the trailer.
Derek stood in the doorway and cocked his head in a nod. "So, uh, Pet…wanna role play? I be the hansom paleontologist and you be the fossil I'm 'excavating?"
Pet snarled, "I'm going to fucking murder you, you son of a bitch!"
Muldoon had never seen someone run so fast in their life as Derek did for the bunkroom. Pet was right on his heels. Derek didn't even have time to shut the door all the way before the hybrid body slammed it inwards and knocked him to the ground in a series of attack shrills.
Billy was hesitant on entering the trailer and looked around worriedly. Muldoon never faltered cleaning his rifle's stock as he thought nothing of the two peoples' antics anymore. "Close the door behind you, will you? Don't need the others hearing this."
Billy did and watched Pet stomp out of the bunkroom, raptor eyed and barefoot, with Grant's hat in hand. She slapped it back on its owner's head and snorted. "I advise not leaving that where children can get to it." Grant took it off to see it misshapen after whatever it was it just went through. He carefully returned it to its prior form and placed it on the booth beside him.
Derek stumbled out of the bunkroom wiping his bloody nose with one hand and holding his side with the other. What was most disturbing was that he was smiling humorously. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" he snickered at Pet. He peeled his hand away from his side to point at the streaks of plaster dust along her clothes. "Looks like I got my white stuff all over you. Oops."
Pet hissed a screech. "It's times like this I regret saving you from that tiger."
Grant was back to mentally choking Muldoon's little shit of a nephew in his head. He looked over his shoulder at his protégé and accompanying hybrid. "Billy, can you show Veronica how to catalogue the prepared fossils for transporting?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah, sure." He had a strong feeling his mentor was about to set in on the bounty hunter about touching his hat.
When the two were gone and the door closed, Grant spoke to Derek. "Can you try not being a pain in my ass long enough to make a trip to the city?"
Derek turned on the kitchenette sink's cold water and started washing off his blood streaked face. "Isn't that what Mini Me is for?"
"Mr. Brennan will be distracting Veronica while you take a three-hundred dollar drive to the mall before it closes tonight."
Derek stopped splashing water on his face to stare back at the senior scientist.
