"So," said Michelle, "this is what you've been doing?"

Tristan looked at her sheepishly for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. You already asked that."

"Yeah. I did. But that was before you gave me a tour of this place."

The tour of the park had come to an end, so now the duo were at the park's worker barracks. Calling it a barracks wasn't the most accurate description - the buildings were closer to upscale apartments - but that was what the plans had called them, so that was what they had been named. Michelle had found that she had the luck to be assigned to one of the rooms on the top floor, as had her younger brother, with plenty of room to do streaming from. Ostensibly, this was for pragmatic reasons, but Michelle doubted that pragmatism was the only factor at play.

"You have a point…so, what's your decision?"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Do you actually want to work here?"

"…Really? You're asking me that now?"

"Yes, and?"

Michelle stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "You never change, do you?"

A look of offense covered Tristan's face. "Hey, I change. But only where it's important."

Michelle stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "We'll see about that." Then she was serious. "But to answer your question, yes - I accept."

"Had a feeling you would."

Michelle stared flatly at him. "Really? You had a feeling that a girl who loves discovering secrets would refuse to work at a dinosaur park? And be able to help brake the news about it to the whole world?"

"Not really," was his reply. His vision drifted downwards, focusing on his shoes. "I just thought you might refuse because of who was making the offer."

Hearing that caused Michelle's expression to soften. "Look, I may not feel the same way as I did for you before….whatever it is that happened here, but you are still my friend. I'm here if you need help."

"…Thanks."

"You're welcome. But I would like some answers."

Tristan's eyes darted back upwards. "About what?"

"First, how long did you know about this? The park, I mean?"

"Oh. About a year. Found a request for a job as a zookeeper and applied for it. My mom was surprised to see my resume on the list and the rest of the board decided to hire me after hearing her testimony."

"So you got by on nepotism?"

"You wound me - the only reason I was able to get a job here alongside my siblings is that we were deemed competent enough to work here. Which included being able to keep a secret."

"I see. So, anyone else working here one of the big shots' kids?"

"A few, but mostly in non-important roles. The two I can remember are a British boy named Richard and a Japanese girl named Suzume. They're both children of board members, but they got here on merit."

"And what are they doing?"

"Respectively? Helping manage all the gift shops and working as a keeper."

"….Do they know about the accident?"

Seeing his ex's pointed looking, Tristan took a deep breath. "Yes, but only Richard knows the full details. Suzume just knows that it happened."

"Okay. One last thing, then."

The boy was all ears. "I'm listening."

Instead of responding, Michelle pulled out a piece of paper. A quick glance revealed it to be her employment form.

"Something in there that confused you?"

"In a manner of speaking. You said I would be working as part of…you called it 'animal acquisition', but I'm guess that 'rescue team' would also be more appropriate, right!"

"Yeah. Bit misleading there."

"Only a bit?"

Tristan scratched the back of his head nervously. "You saying I lied to you?"

"By omission? Yes - because this form," she noted as she pointed at a very specific part of her employment form, "also specifies me as park security."

"Oh. That part. Yeah, I forgot…no, I didn't," the young man admitted. "I just…wanted to hook you in to this place."

"It is. But I don't want anymore lies going forward."

Tristan nodded. "I can do that. But there are a few things I'm not allowed or not ready to tell you about. At least, no yet."

"I figured as much. If you are open about what is allowed for discussion and what isn't, then I think we can work together just fine."

"Thanks…hey, you mind if I ask you a question not related to work here?"

"Shoot."

"You know how Heather is doing?"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "You're asking me about her?"

"You're still friends with her, aren't you?"

"Kinda. But she's your rebound exe - you dated her the first time we broke up."

"And that turned out so badly that the resident queen bee of high school decided to pair us back up even though she felt betrayed when she learned that we were dating in the first place."

"Well then she should have asked you out sooner!" Huffed Michelle, an indignant looking coloring her face as she put her hands on her hips.

"Aw, you look so cute."

"We you two lovebirds quiet down?" Asked a young boy's voice from further inside the apartment. "I'm getting ready for bed!"

The duo groaned upon hearing that. "Sorry Trevor," apologized Tristan, pointedly ignoring the exact wording of his request. "We'll keep it down."

"I'll hold you to it."

Sighing, the pair returned their sights to each other. "Was Heather ever considered for a position here?"

"Yes, but she specializes in advertising, and we've already got enough people in that department for now."

"I see. Last question for now."

"I'm all ears."

"What's our first target for rescue?"

"A rhino."

"A rhino?"

"Yeah - the one called Indrick's Beast."

"….Wait, you mean Paraceratherium?"

"Yep."

"Which one?"

Tristan smirked. "Both - Nigel's got plans to head to the Bugti Hills and Hsanda Gol formation. Word is that he might even save Juxia as well."

"…Now this is going to be fun."

XxXxX

AN: Alright, the first extra chapter of this fic is written!

So, first off, this chapter doesn't really get too much into details on the overall story - just some focus stuff for Tristan and Michelle. I'm going to admit this now, I suck at setting up relationships in my stories. So I needed to start setting some groundwork for that, and here was as good a place as any to begin. Especially since I didn't feel like this was something that needed to take up a whole chapter in the main fic.

If you read other Prehistoric Park fanfics on , you've probably read either Prehistoric East or Prehistoric Park Retold. I very broadly based Michelle and Tristan's relationship in this story off of Cynthia and Drew's relationship in that series, but that was more because I wanted to have them start at a distance and gradually open back up to each other as the story goes on. Also, I did consider having something like the first chapter of Prehistoric Park Retold's extra chapters be the first chapter of this fic, exploring how the team was assembled, but lack of an actual team at this point prevented that, plus if I had gone that way, it would have spoiled too many things too early.

You'll notice I didn't mention much related to streaming despite Michelle being an influencer. This was partly because it didn't feel natural to mention it here, but also because I've been rewriting a lot of details about her streaming channel in my notes. I'll mention it when I actually have something concrete for it in the story.

Heather might show up later, but she's basically the high school alpha bitch and continued to be this into college. Tristan's mom did not approve of him dating Heather, but that was partially because of who Heather's father was. As for why Heather got angry at Michelle when she learned that the latter was dating Tristan, the duo is missing some details there.

Since it mostly won't be relevant, I can confirm that Michelle's joining into Heather's group of friends was comparable to Cady joining the Plastics in Mean Girls or (more on the nose, given Heather's basis) Veronica joining the Heathers in the film and play of the same name (the less said about the tv series, the better). I blame my sister for introducing me to the Heathers Musical, because I am an absolute sucker for musicals.

Finally, since it was mentioned in the last chapter, I'm clarifying the target list for the next chapter - Paraceratherium (two species) and Juxia, which are the alternate skins and alternate genus for Paraceratherium in Prehistoric Kingdom. I took a long time figuring out the next main chapter in part because I couldn't find any other animals that lived alongside Juxia to rescue, but I think I found one, and should have the next chapter out by week's end.

Until then, enjoy!

Read and Reviewst your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!