Dr. Marsh was wearing those big earrings he liked and they sparkled in the corner of his eye. They had just sent out a small group of six scientists to the mesozoic era of the early Cretaceous period, and she was standing closely behind him looking at the monitor from behind his shoulder. She was wearing perfume that made him dizzy when it lingered in the air.

"Dr. Orach, Dr. Orach, can you hear me?" She asked into the microphone to his left. She had her hands folded over her chest and was tapping her foot impatiently. Dr. Seeker watched the screen. "Why isn't he answering?" She asked him, a bit of fear on her face. "We normally hear back from them by now."

Dr. Seeker just shrugged his shoulders and never lost eye contact with the screen. Suddenly, they saw a light, and Helen gasped with surprise. "Finally," she breathed and returned to the microphone. "Dr. Orach, can you hear me?" She asked again. A crackling sound started, but the voice of Dr. Orach came through, "Yes, we had a bit of a bumpy start, but we have traveled through and the time tunnel Is closed."

"Perfect," she whispered excitedly, relaxing her shoulders. The rover had appeared in a lush wetland, and one of the tires sunk into some grass immediately.

"Switching control, standby," Dr. Orach's voice sounded. Dr. Seeker slid the microphone over to be positioned in front of himself.

"Standing by," he said. A light flashed on the right of Seeker's monitor, "Switch complete. Thank you, Dr. Orach."

He was able to start moving the time rover out of the wetland and onto dryer land from the control center. He maneuvered them through some ferns and further up hill. Soon, they were officially parked at their destination site. "Clear to depart," He said.

"It is sweltering, Dr. Orach," One of the interns complained. Dr. Seeker switched to the camera and saw a young man in a lab coat with massive pit stains.

"You are in what is essentially modern South America, it is going to be humid," Dr. Seeker explained. The student groaned. Dr. Seeker and Dr. Marsh watched the group disembark and grab their supplies.

"Remember to stick together," Dr. Marsh spoke into the microphone, leaning over Dr. Seeker. "You can never truly be sure what kinds of creatures are out there." He looked up at her face inches away from his and tried to lean back into his chair, her smell dizzying. "We will be here if anything goes awry," She said before moving away and turning on the large screen on the back wall. Suddenly, all camera angles were displayed on the screen at once as well as the locations of all of the team members blinking on a map.

"When did we start tagging our scientists?" He asked her as she stood in front of the screen. She turned her head to him but not her body, "After your last incident with the lava. I need all eyes and ears on our team to make sure it goes smoothly."

"Does that mean I'll find a tracker on me one of these days?" He asked with a nervous laugh.

"What makes you think there isn't already one on you," she smirked for a moment and then her face became somber.

He rolled his chair and another to be closer to her in the middle of the room. "Would you like to sit down?" He asked. "You're making me nervous with your tenseness."

"Thank you," she said. She sat, poised on the edge of the rolling chair, crossing her stocking covered legs, and tucking her heels under. 'So proper,' he thought and rolled his eyes. He scooted his chair back over to his desk. He was searching through coordinates of previous excursions.

"Dr. Seeker?" He heard the concern in her voice and turned around. "What time period did you say you sent them to again?" She asked.

"Early Cretaceous, why?" He turned towards the screen she was looking at.

"Then why did I think I saw the flash of red scales?"

He checked again the coordinates and realized he had been off by a few numbers, meaning the existence of larger dinosaurs in the time period was greater. Dr. Seeker didn't need to look at the screens longer to realize the risk they were facing. "Oh no," He whispered, "I sent them later than I thought," and Dr. Marsh's face went pale. He pressed the button on the microphone, "Please get back to the time rover immediately. I repeat, please get back to the time rover immediately."

They watched the scramble of white coats quickly try to throw things into their bags, not caring about contamination or damage, just tryingto not leave anything behind. Dr. Marsh watched all of the blinking dots move back to the rover except one.

"Draven, my intern," Dr. Orach's voice came through as he stood in front of the front camera. "He had left to go pee." they heard a loud roar over the speaker and Dr. Orach jumped.

"Into the rover, Dr. Orach, he has five seconds." The man immediately hopped into the rover.

"All buckled in except, Draven, Seeker," Dr. Marsh called, she was holding the arm rest of her chair so hard that her knuckles were white. They made eye contact, silently calculating the risk of leaving him.

"aaaaAAAHHHHHHH," They heard a young man's screams come closer to the direction of the rovers front camera. The intern with the pit stains came running and following behind him was a "Carnotaurus sastrei," the computer identified in a robotic female voice. Sweat was dripping from his forehead, and the Dinosaur was about fifteen feet away from him and quickly getting closer. "Hurry, Draven, hurry," Dr. Orach yelled, some of the other scientists followed suit, cheering him on.

"We have to get them out, now, Seeker," Dr. Marsh yelled, standing up from her seat, heart racing.

"Just a few more seconds," He responded surprisingly calm.

Draven nosedived into the rover and Seeker sent the rover backwards at full speed just as the carnotaurus lunged towards the intern. Draven landed ungracefully into Dr. Orach, and Dr. Orach held him firmly in the rover so he wouldn't fall out as they drove quickly over the rough terrain.

They gained enough distance where Seeker could turn them around, but the carnotaurus was still in pursuit. "Put your seatbelt on, Draven! We can't open the time tunnel until you do."

He was able to make his way into a seat, but they hit a particularly rough bump and he started to fall out. Dr. Orach grabbed him by the back of his coat, and another scientist, Dr. Wheeler helped buckle him in. "All are ready for departure, Seeker," Dr. Marsh said to him.

"We gotta lose the big guy first, or at least get a bit more distance."

He stopped the truck abruptly in front of a fallen tree. "This is not going to be fun," He said over the microphone and started swerving the truck around anything large enough to block the carnotaurus from them. Dr. Wheelers' face turned green, and Draven closed his eyes.

"Prepare for travel!" Dr. Seeker called out to them. They hit full speed, Seeker initiated the time travel sequence to the present, and the screen went black.

Everything was silent for five seconds as Dr. Seeker and Dr. Marsh looked at each other. Then, at last, they heard the familiar sound of the truck abruptly entering the facility. They both breathed out loudly, and Dr. Marsh immediately headed to the door, Dr. Seeker striding along behind her. They sighed in relief as they saw all of the scientists stumble out of the time rover. "Move out of the way," Draven yelled and upchucked into the closest thing he could find, which happened to be a mop bucket one of the students was using to clean up previous tire marks. "C'monn," the student dropped the mop angrily and stormed out of the room.

Dr. Marsh moved towards the scientists, "I need everyone to report to the infirmary for health evaluations." Dr. Orach nodded. Dr. Wheeler was holding her stomach while bending over a trash can. She put a thumbs up.

Dr. Marsh sauntered back over to Dr. Seeker. "That was risky and it was stupid to wait for him," Dr. Marsh said, looking him over. "but I am glad you were able to get everyone home." She put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for not trusting you." He remained quiet, but nodded, and she hesitantly left the room.

~0~

"I just got off the request line from an over imaginative individual named Draven, who was raving on and on about time travel and being chased by a carnotaurus over at the Dinosaur Institute. FYI, a carnotaurus is a big ole dinosaur with cow-like horns. Hence the name 'carno-taurus' which basically means 'meat bull.' Anyway, he described this antagonistic dino as "Bad to the Bone," so, Draven, this one's for you."

Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood & The Destroyers started playing over the courtyard of the Diggs County Dinosaur Institute as Dr. Grant Seeker had just bitten into his sandwich. Having taken most of his lunches in his office since being promoted to the head of operations of the Time Rover Project, he needed fresh air that wasn't 65 million years old. But hearing the announcement from the student radio made his head spin, and when he looked up, he saw Dr. Helen Marsh striding past the fountain and towards him with the click of her heels on the concrete. He put down his sandwich. She, of course, stopped in front of him.

"I assume you're not out here to eat with me," He looked up at her from his place on the bench. He had one leg tucked under himself.

"Did you hear what was just on the radio?" She asked him, upset.

"Yes. You act as if someone killed a puppy. How did you even know where to find me?" as the words left his mouth, he thought back to the trackers on the other scientists. She picked up his lunchbox and plopped down next to him on the bench, the Styracosaurus statue, watching them from the fountain. He opened his mouth to protest, and she just started silently crying.

"Oh, oh no," He gently said to her. "Don't do that." He unwrapped the napkin that was around his sandwich and he handed it to her. "Helen.." He said, not knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry," she said, dabbing her eyes with the napkin to not smudge her makeup. She took a few slow breaths. Whatever appetite he had after the radio announcement was definitely gone.

"Thank you," she said quickly, holding up the hand with the napkin, not making eye contact. "One of the investors for the Time Rover Project called me a few moments ago to let me know they were pulling their funding. The student, Draven, had gone to a major news network. Seems he's trying to tell anyone who will pay him for his story."

"Oh," Dr. Seeker said plainly. "Yeah," Dr. Marsh smoothed her skirt, something he'd come to realize she only did when she was nervous, and he noticed a ring sized tan line on her finger and it made his stomach churn. She cleared her throat and sniffed before looking him in the eyes for the first time since she sat down.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted your lunch. I'll leave you be," she said, getting up. He abruptly stood up with her.

"Would you want to go for a walk?"

They found themselves silently walking in the statue garden. It was a small shaded park area that the founders of the institute wanted for students and staff to go to relax, but it mostly ended up where students would go to hide from class or smoke marijuana.

Dr. Seeker was swinging his lunchbox back and forth, and they didn't have much conversation. Dr. Marsh was walking with her hands clasped in front of her. Seeing her cry had left a bad taste in his mouth, and he didn't really want to leave until he knew she was alright.

"I don't come out this way much often," He admitted. They were taking their time, leisurely walking past the dinosaur statues and making the loop back towards the building. They passed a velociraptor statue and Helen jumped a little when she saw it. "Hm, me neither," Dr. Marsh said, looking at it again. There were a few other statues, some in the foliage and some more out in the open. With the shade from the trees, parts of the garden were more eery than others, and it created the illusion that the statues seemed almost lifelike.

"What made you choose Paleontology?" Dr. Marsh asked him and it took him by surprise. She looked over at him and he met her brown eyes. Dr. Seeker stopped abruptly in front of an ornithomimus statue, the small dinosaur's mouth was open as if to take Dr. Seeker's lunchbox.

"My sister is a Paleontologist," He started. They began to walk again. "There's a ten year age gap between us, so I would help her study for her college classes, reading her notes out loud to her until she memorized them." There was a sadness in his eyes. The weather was nice, not too humid, and the breeze coming through the trees was just nice. "Since she didn't have time to play with nine year old me, she would tell me about the anatomy of dinosaurs and what they potentially looked like. She would try to make it a game."

They entered a small clearing, the student dormitories just on the other side of the trees. They could hear laughter closeby. He tilted his pale face towards the small patch of sunshine.

"Where is she?" Helen found herself asking. Grant opened his eyes.

"New York, for now. Her and her husband leave for Mongolia to go to a digsite this summer." Helen nodded in understanding. They continued walking, saying 'hello' to a student they passed. They pretended not to notice Professor Langford hiding behind a Corythosaurus statue eating lunch.

"And what about you?" He asked. He looked over at her and realized he knew nothing about her. She seemed to be well respected and generally well liked amongst the staff, but he wasn't sure if he could name something she liked other than her job.

"Well, my bachelor's is in business management," Dr. Marsh explained. "I graduated from the University of Chicago. I spent many days wandering the exhibits of the Field Museum and that's where I fell in love with Sue," She gestured towards the replica of the tyrannosaurus rex skeleton across the pathway. "And I knew I wanted to be a Paleontologist." They were almost back at the Styracosaurus fountain in the Institute courtyard. They started walking even slower, not saying a word. This pulled at his heart. He realized he didn't want her to go.

"Thank you for inviting me on this walk," she said while stopping in front of the bench. She put her hand on his arm. "I do feel a lot better."

"I have my moments," he said, and she laughed, pretending not to look at the concerned look in his eyes, his gaze flashing to the tan line on her ring finger once more.

"Yes, yes you do," She squeezed his arm reassuringly and let go.

~0~

"Dr. Seeker," she had knocked on the door to his office, but when he didn't answer in a timely manner, she took it upon herself to enter. He was startled, sitting cross legged on the floor with papers all around him.

Coordinates were written and modern geographical prints were laid out before him with several maps of South American countries. His office was relatively small, cramped and cluttered. Her office wasn't so grandiose either, but she didn't have much of anything from home. His shelves were filled with dinosaur knick knacks and toys. He had one chair on the right of his desk that was peeling in places. She noticed his socks had Scooby-Doo on them and his loafers were by the door. She didn't enter further.

"Yes?" He asked. Her eyes darted back to his face, and he licked his lips nervously. "Meet me in my office in five minutes," she said, and she shut the door behind herself.

In five minutes and thirty seconds, he was standing in her doorway. His shoes were on, she noted as she stood up from her desk. "Come in," she said. "And shut the door behind you."

He did as instructed and stood awkwardly in front of her desk. "Please, sit down. You're not in trouble." He raised an eyebrow and it made her wonder if he ought to be. She sat back down at her desk and he sat in the same seat as the previous time he was in her office.

"First thing," she looked at him quizzically once more. "I'd like you to move your office to the control room." He looked at her confused, but didn't say anything. "No one else but you is using it right now and after losing another investor, we really can't afford to have someone else in there," He nodded In understanding. She was concerned by his silence. There was a time or two she would have paid for this behavior from him, but now, it only unsettled her. "It'll give you more space to spread out."

"Are you sure you just don't just want to come and look at me whenever you want?" He teased her. Dr. Marsh rolled her eyes, despite the blush she felt forming on her cheeks, but ultimately, she felt relief from his response.

"The main reason I asked you in here is because we need a safe point in time locked in and ready to send people to as soon as possible," she continued. "We need revenue, and we need it fast. I need you to find one so we can start sending staff immediately to run safety tests."

"I can do that for you," He said simply.

"Good," She said, impressed by his tenacity. "It'll need to be early Cretaceous, away from anything that might get a little too hungry. We don't want any more incidents like the one last month."

She reached for a ring that wasn't there and made eye contact with Dr. Seeker when she realized her mistake. Instead, she smoothed her skirt. "Thank you again for spending your lunch break with me. You didn't have to, but it was kind of you to do." They hadn't really spent much time together after that day. Him, busy with his research, and her with convincing investors that the Dinosaur Institute was worth the money.

"Of course," He said, resting his arm on her desk. He pondered for a moment before nodding to her hand. "How long were you married?"

"Seventeen years," she answered and they looked each other in the eyes. "We met in graduate school." They didn't break eye contact. Pity crossed his face. "Please, don't look at me that way." He started fiddling with a pen in front of him, "That's a long time, Helen." She looked at the Dinosaur Institute mug on her desk, anywhere but him, "You can tell that to him and the maid he's leaving me for."

"His mistake." They looked at each other again. They didn't say anything for a moment, and Helen could hear her heart beating in her ears. Dr. Seeker continued to play with the pen, moving it between his fingers.

"Have you ever been married, Dr. Seeker?" She asked, recognizing the line they were crossing as colleagues. She had never seen a ring on his finger, and he had never mentioned anyone before. She was simply curious, that was all.

"Oh, no." He said. "I've had a few long term relationships, but marriage didn't come up," He was staring at the pen and she was watching him. "I almost proposed once, but she broke up with me that night. Said I was too in love with dinosaurs," He laughed and looked at her. Dr. Marsh laughed, "I could see how that would be true." He smiled and looked back down, reveling in her amusement. "You could put a veil on an iguanodon," he said and she laughed so hard she snorted and immediately covered her mouth, eyes wide.

"What was that?" He laughed even harder than before, dropping the pen on the desk. "Do it again." She shook her head, but she continued to laugh, still covering her mouth. Out of her control she snorted again, but a knock at the door abruptly ended both of their laughter, and her intern, Courtney, came through the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Marsh, I didn't realize you were in a meeting with Dr. Seeker."

Dr. Marsh quickly put her hands on her desk. "It is alright, what can I do for you?" She left some papers in the room from Dr. Orach's samples from his last trip back in time, and a couple of sedimentary rocks. Courtney left as quickly as she came, but the moment had passed and there was something unspoken in the air. Dr. Marsh shifted awkwardly in her seat. She picked up one of the rocks and looked it over, and Dr. Seeker reached his hand further across her desk and gently touched her hand with his index finger. She opened her palm, confused, before he slowly scooped the rock from her palm, his warm hand starkly contrasted with the cool rock. Dr. Marsh suppressed a shiver, and she watched him lightly toss it in the air. "Doesn't feel much different than a modern rock," he noted. He looked over at her when she didn't say anything.

"I guess you better get to moving your office," she said.

"Sure," he said. There wasn't any malice in his voice, maybe a hint of disappointment. For some reason, Dr. Marsh was frustrated with this, but she let the feeling linger in the air with the silence as he sat down the rock and got up. He pointed to a model of a time rover on the top shelf of her book case.

"Can I have that?"

Bewildered, she got up too. "Sure," she said, getting it off of the shelf. "Chrono-Tech Laboratories sent it to me a few months ago." She traced her fingers over the yellow and black stripes along the bottom of the model, and passed it to him. "As cute as it is, it has no use to me just collecting dust." He thanked her and wished her a goodnight before leaving her office. She sighed deeply as she closed the door behind him, trying to lower her heart rate. When she visited the control room later that week, she found the time rover with plastic parasaurolophus and tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur toys on it and smiled to herself.