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The sun intruded as it always did in the rising hours of the morning, soaking itself through her blinds to stretch across the bed, warming golden streaks on thin sheets.
Claire sighed, waking with her cheeks warmed by the sun as she rolled towards the body beside her. The man grumbled softly, his arms sliding around her as if to encourage Claire back into sleep. She wanted to do so, willingly drifting off to dreamland in the comfort of his embrace. There was work to be done, she couldn’t go back to sleep. His fingers graced the skin of her stomach causing the woman to freeze. He couldn’t possibly know, her mind panicked; he didn’t know. Owen held a possessive demand for her, a want to touch and hold in the slightest of ways. His hand on her stomach was there because he wanted it to be, because he reached for her and that was where his comfort lay. The fact that his thumb was stroking the slight curve of her stomach softly was mere coincidence and not a sign that he knew what was growing under her skin.
It had been three days since her doctor gave her a positive result. Checked three times over for accuracy before Claire swallowed the information the woman had given her. She was pregnant with Owen Grady’s baby. The news didn’t exactly surprise her. She’d been ill for a few weeks. Claire knew what it was, but instead desperately tried to will her body into her ailments being anything other than what she suspected it was.
Surprisingly, she was calm. There was no worry, or panic other than what she felt towards Owen finding out. That part Claire was still unsure of; she didn’t know what she wanted to do and she wasn’t prepared to discuss it with Owen until she had her bearings - and until the following week was over, the two of them alone again.
‘Your nephews are landing this afternoon.’ Owen whispered into her hair, dropping a kiss on Claire’s shoulder. How many mornings had they spent like this? Curled up in the crack of early morning sun begging not to get out of bed just yet.
Claire groaned, ‘Don’t remind me’. If she could avoid her nephews for the duration of their visit she would. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see them, Claire just didn’t know how to handle them. Ironic that she was debating the ins and outs of carrying a baby to term while trying to avoid her child relatives. Uncertain if she could control them, all while being unsure about her own child.
Owen hummed against her shoulder, remarking that he was looking forward to meeting the boys. Their relationship was no secret, apart from the fact that seldom few knew. It was a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ form of situation and considering so many were terrified of Claire, and Owen had a hot temper when it came to people talking about the woman; no one asked. In that, he was still some form a secret to her family. Claire didn’t want it public, or shouted from the rooftops, she didn’t want her sister meddling about wedding and children. She just wanted it to be them; Owen and Claire sorting the world out - together - one step at a time.
‘Why do you start this early?’ He grumbled, pulling her tighter against him as he peppered kisses along her neck. ‘It’s 6:30 in the morning for crying out loud.’ Claire shrugged, purring at his touch. It was just the way it was, she had investors, Masrani himself and her nephews to squeeze into her usually hectic workday. Today, it was pushed to the max.
‘It’s Friday, though.’ She told him, returning the kiss he pressed to her lips. ‘You know what that means.’ They could sleep in even if it was by the smallest of minutes. Her nephews, no doubt, would be up at the crack of dawn ready to explore the park with their aunt.
Their lives were about to be painted in adolescence for the foreseeable five days.
He clapped her thigh, kissing the woman a final time before shooing her out of bed. ‘I’ll see you at dinner?’ He asked, stretching out across her mattress, hands folded behind his head. Claire nodded, climbing back onto the bed just to peck his lips as she hummed.
‘No earlier, no later.’
Owen gaped at her, arm sliding over her back flowing with the curve of her hips. ‘What? No quickie at lunch?’ He winked, lips curling devilishly as he let her go, Claire shaking her head as she laughed.
***
Her nephews were palmed off to Zara before they already arrived at Jurassic World, Claire having organised the day before that her assistant would meet them at the ferry port. She would meet them within the hour once they settled, in between meetings that had been scheduled for months.
Surprisingly it was Gray she recognised first, not because the boy had any distinct features but rather because he was standing beside Zara, and the shortest of the two boys. Claire wanted to try on this visit, she wanted to be the good aunt, the cool aunt Karen thought she would be when Zach was born, Claire only seventeen. She had beencool for a few years, before completely falling off the map. No one seemed to forgive her for that.
Gray’s grin was near contagious when he spotted her, shouting her name as he barrelled forward, wasting no time in wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing. She was still disposing her phone in the pocket of her black trousers, one arm around his shoulder in an awkward hug.
Claire made small talk like they were aliens, unsure of what to say to the young boy who was hanging off every word, bouncing on the balls of his feet as the older, Zach, watched her cynically. If anything, he was the one she had to make a good impression on. It didn’t work, the boy was sassy and disgruntled the second she opened her mouth. There was no getting through to Zach Mitchell especially after she announced that she wouldn’t see them until dinner.
‘Is, ah seven okay? Or do you eat early?’ She asked, looking from face to face, thankful that her assistant was one to school her features rather than openly criticising Claire for being a horrible human being when it came to children. The whole of Control were going to laugh when they heard she was pregnant, if they ever found out. ‘Oh, and Owen! I want you both to meet Owen.’ Claire grinned, nodding as she mentally praised herself for getting through the awkward conversation before her phone started to ring obnoxiously.
***
Pandemonium broke out just as Claire had managed to get her day under her feet and control. She couldn’t help but feel responsible. Control had never been so alive. They had dinosaurs escape before but it was never this bad, or at least promising to be so. Her heart was sitting in her throat, nudged right under her chin, beating so rapidly she felt lightheaded. Owen was out there. Owen was in the paddock with the beast. She didn’t know if he was okay and there was no way of knowing until they had everything under control.
Claire had been the one to lead him out there. Rushing through her day as Masrani added yet another task to an already loaded schedule. Sending Claire to fetch Owen, who of course wasn’t where he was supposed to be for the day. Simon wanted Owen to observe the paddock, check for holes their trained ACU team might have missed. The whole thing was pointless, she had huffed as Owen pressed a kiss to the bare lines of her throat. He didn’t know anything of the Indominus Rex, certainly not enough to comprehend what kind of enclosure she needed. The lab were getting sneaky, marking their mutations as confidential, leaving handlers guessing. Never had they created something this big, something this threatening. Everything on Jurassic World bar the T-Rex, The Mosasaurus, Petranodon’s and Owen’s raptors were herbivores. Like a hippopotamus in the wild they could pack a mean punch if someone got too close but wouldn’t necessarily eat a guest.
She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, ignoring the flutter in her gut as her hand passed over her stomach without thought. He would be okay. He had to be. Selfishly, she only wanted this baby if Owen was by her side to help every step of the way.
They were in the process of dispatching ACU when the elevator doors slid open, a familiar voice booming angrily. ‘What the hell happened out there?’ Claire’s heart picked up its beat in relief rather than fear. She wanted to run to him, entirely too dramatically and wrap her arms around his neck. It wasn’t the place or the time, she would have to hold it. He was entirely too pissed off with everyone to have a joyous moment. Instead, she let her thumb grace the side of her stomach subtly enough not to be noticed, trying to pull comfort from the bubble of life within her as she feigned smoothing out the waist of her pants.
Claire wouldn’t go anywhere near him while he was buzzed, anger practically sparking from his fingertips. She didn’t think herself stupid enough to play with fire. Owen wouldn’t dream of hurting her, but he had a habit of lashing out whilst in the middle of a hotheaded temper and Claire found herself at the unintentional end of his frustration. Usually, it lead to rough sex - but there were occasional bouts of him snapping at her simply because he couldn’t think of another out.
They had too much of a dinosaur on their hands. Owen was saying it as though no one in Control had realised before. They hadn’t. No one there had a clue what the Indominus Rex was aside from a large dollar sign Claire held over its head. Even Masrani himself had only seen her for the first time that day. Claire had been privy to information but only enough to convince heavy pocketed companies to share the cash.
‘Hold on. We’re talking about an animal.’ Claire sneered as she glared at Owen begging him to cut it out with a sharp stare. There was nothing overtly clever about this creature. Jurassic World had been live for ten years and the T-Rex who had been part of the original park managed to stay firmly within the walls of her paddock since the day they put her in there. Never had she tried to escape. That was impossible, human thought nothing that an animal was capable of. Clearly, in that moment, Claire forgot the dog her neighbours had when she was a little girl. The very same one who escaped the yard once a week until he got hit by a car. Smart enough to escape, not quite quick witted enough to miss a moving vehicle.
‘A highly intelligent animal.’ He fought back, his hands on his hips.
To his left Vivian counted down the metres left until ACU reached the Indominus. The room fell silent as they watched body-cams display the jungle, men in arms ready to fight. They recruited the best of the best, cold-blooded men happy to hunt down prehistoric beasts when they got a little too out of control. Hardly ever did they need ACU for more than a simple relocation, but they had their uses for emergency purposes.
The Indominus overpowered, proving to simple man that she would stop at nothing to deceive them. She was uncovering her place on the food chain, stopping at nothing to come out on top. Fortunately for the beast it was an easy feat. Jurassic World had nothing of the calibre that would get in her way.
‘You need to evacuate the island.’ Owen demanded, voice low as he locked his gaze on Claire ignoring the horrified faces around them. He wouldn’t ask it of anyone else, not even Simon Masrani standing just behind the woman he adored. He turned to Claire because he knew if he told her to do it, she would.
Her voice was quiet, Claire blinking at him for a second. ‘We’ll never reopen.’ She practically whispered, too intimidated to raise her voice to his volume. It would take nothing for the two of them to argue and shamefully so in front of Claire’s employee and co-workers.
She wanted to follow when he stormed off, glowering from the elevator as the doors slowly closed. Claire had an appearance to uphold and if she rushed off after her boyfriend brows would raise. There were far more important things at hand, like catching this beast before it got to her guests. They needed to do so quickly and efficiently before prospects and interest in the park plummeted. All it would take would be one creature on the loose, completely unstoppable, to ruin everything Masrani had built.
Control buzzed as staff called the emergency codes, voices shouting into head pieces, phones ringing. Claire watched the monitor, security footage flashing inside The Innovation Centre. A mother clutched her child tightly, holding the girl into her chest as they shook unsure as to what to make of the chaos. Claire’s stomach rolled, sympathy and fear rolling into one as she saw herself in the woman’s face; trying to protect her child. Her hand ghosted over her stomach. This was a bad idea, they should have evacuated immediately. The Indominus Rex was not going to let things end well.
In her hand, her phone buzzed. A text message from Owen sat amongst a handful of email notifications and tweets. The boys ran off on Zara, it read. Claire’s heart plummeted, her stomach churned again as she felt panic rise along her spine. Karen was going to kill her. Zara wasn’t to blame, the boys would have magically disappeared from Claire’s side too if she had been the one to watch them that day.
‘Claire?’ Vivian called for her attention, finger pointing at the security footage. Gone was the woman and her child unmistakably replaced by Owen arguing with someone Claire didn’t recognise. Someone needed to stop him before he got himself into trouble.
Claire nodded at the woman, acknowledging that she had seen what Vivian was flagging. ‘On it,’ She told her, breaking away from Control, her phone pressed to her ear as she demanded ACU look for her nephews.
***
He was none too pleased that she decided to trail after him. ACU were under the pump chasing after a beast that was determined to destroy them. Owen promised to find her nephews. He was the only one crazy enough to do it. Claire, however, would not let him go alone. They were her nephews - they didn’t even know him - she was just as capable to trudge through the jungle as Owen was, calling out their names in the hope that they found them before it was too late.
She didn’t want to be out there. Under any other circumstance Claire Dearing would have remained in Control where it was safe and where she could keep her command. The last thing she wanted was to fight her way through Isla Nublar, against the elements and a genetically engineered beast out there with them - somewhere.
They were behind the beast, fortunately. Although unfortunately for her nephews, the boys caught on the other side of the creature, or so Owen assumed. The I-Rex had torn through the Brachiosaurus like they were nothing, slaying the animals before moving on, not bothering for a feast. The emotion had gotten to her there, the reality that this was a creature they should not have messed with. Claire would be lucky if she found her nephews at the end of it all, alive and in one piece.
It was on unsteady feet that Claire approached the Brachiosaurus Owen was already knelt beside. He told her to stay in the car but she was never one who was willing to listen. She fell to her knees as remorse and nausea hit her all at once, the creature taking its last breaths in Owen’s gentle hands. The loss felt as though something had pierced her gut, Claire wincing as a hand found her side trying to nurse the slight discomfort.
‘This is really not good,’ Owen told her. He jumped up from the dead animal, his hand finding Claire’s arm as he helped her up before they headed towards the car. Owen was jittery, leg jumping, fingers twitching as the vehicle moved. Their eyes scanned the scene before them desperate for a clue that would lead them to her nephews. Lowery, in Control, had a rough location on gyrosphere 07 - but the connection had died and he wasn’t willing to promise that they would find it in the exact spot. It was something, enough for Owen to go off as he peered through the windscreen.
The second blow came when they found the man controlled sphere, the world’s most innovative technology coming together to give Jurassic World’s guests the best experience they could possibly ask for.
Claire had been promised, when the vehicles were built and distributed to the park for a trial run, that they were made out of the most durable materials man could lay their hands on. The glass was impenetrable, the metal would not bend. That had all been a lie in comparison to the damage that was caused to the gyrosphere her nephews had used. Finding it smashed to smithereens off track in the middle of the jungle left Claire winded.
A hand on her chest she tried to catch her breath as Owen inspected the damage, holding up Zach’s phone for her to see. They were there and footprints leading away from the wreck proved that they had made it out alive.
‘You okay?’ Owen eyed her suspiciously, watching her, bent over the hood of the car as she tried to catch her breath. Claire nodded, hand still on her chest as she winced through discomfort. She thought nothing of the pain, too focused on her breathing than the slight clench in her gut that otherwise - if her attention wasn’t split - would have rung an alarm. She couldn’t tell if her breathing was a struggle due to an anxiety induced quickening of her breath or if it was the desperate need she felt to empty the contents of her stomach in the nearest pile of leaves. Either or, Claire’s attention was otherwise focused on her breathing rather than the slightest twinge of a cramp that was the sole reason why she was feeling nauseous in the first place.
‘I will be once we find them.’ Claire nodded in the direction their tracks had headed, asking Owen if he was ready to push on. When he nodded, hesitantly, Owen asking if Claire wanted to return to Control - the events enough of an ordeal that she was barely retaining her ability to cope; Claire bit back.
Claire redefined her stance, popping a hip to the side as she bent her knee, Owen eyeing off her attire as he made a comment that it was inappropriate for the jungle. She was dressed in a neatly ironed pair black trousers, the hem cut above her ankles to reveal sharp bones and a serious gloss black heel that encased her feet. Claire shrugged off the smart black blazer she wore, throwing it into the car before rolling the sleeves of her not quite lavender, but not entirely white blouse above her elbows.
Owen stared. ‘You’re comin’ with then?’ He asked with a raised eyebrow, sly smile creeping across his face. ‘No matter what I say?’ Claire nodded sharply, taking a steady step forward as she echoed his words. He could express concern for her wellbeing but he could not criticise her for not being prepared for a hike in the jungle that would eventually see her nephews saved. Had she known that morning that they would disappear, and that they would need to be hunted down in order to protect them from a new asset gone wrong; then maybe Claire would have second-guessed her shoes. She, however, had not planned for her day to take this turn.
‘You’re not allowed to save the day on your own.’ She smirked, coming to stand by his side as Owen kissed her cheek mumbling something about Claire never changing her attitude, in a fond tone.
***
Claire knew something was wrong almost a minute after being in the old garage that belonged to the original park. They had followed her nephews this far, Owen spotting Zach’s sweater on the floor. A car had sounded only minutes ago, signalling someone’s departure from the space as Owen remarked on the garage smelling like gasoline. Claire only bit that it was him, his skin still slick with the attempt to mask his scent.
It wasn’t the boys that had stirred worry in her gut this time, or the potential dinosaur in the jungle nearby. It was herself, her body, her baby. What she thought had been nerves, anxiety building in her gut with devastating sights of animals brutalised had turned into a low hum, pulled taunt, across her abdomen. She was feeling lightheaded, her skin clammy to the touch beyond the usual heat that associated itself with Central America.
Something was off.
She had completely forgotten that she was pregnant, presented with a positive test until the thought that it all felt like a subtle period cramp hit her. The baby. Owen completely missed her slight fatigue, the glassy look in her eyes and her warming skin. He was messing with things in the garage, wondering how her nephews had managed an escape in one of the old cars. She cried out when a new cramp hit her, harder that the rest, like a knife was being pushed through her skin from the inside out.
Owen spun, his attention on her in a heartbeat as his brow crinkled in concern. ‘Everything alright?’ He asked, watching her closely as Claire bit her lip and nodded. She couldn’t tell him, not now. If Owen knew she were pregnant he’d have her out of there so fast Claire wouldn’t even be able to process it all. Her nephews would be forgotten in his rush to see her well - and Karen would never speak to her again if her children were swallowed whole by the monster Claire failed to stop.
She played it off as being a spider that had caught her unaware, Owen shaking his head with a small laugh as she forced a smile.
Claire didn’t have time to regain her breath, riding through another cramp that crinkled a line in her brow before the ground shook. Owen wasted no time in rushing to her side, pushing them to the front of the last remaining Jeep, their backs pressed to the grill. He had an arm around her waist, gripping on for dear life as they crouched behind the car waiting on impatient breath for the dinosaur to move on.
She tried to focus on his touch, fingers splayed across her belly almost numbing the pain there with the warmth of his hand. Claire hated that subconsciously he knew to do that, how to make her feel better even when he didn’t know what was wrong. She was being hyper sensitive, paranoid, and yet couldn’t help but notice he had touched her more in the past week than usual. Owen was always touching her, but now it moved to her waist, his fingers on the curve of her stomach almost always. That morning wasn’t the first time she woke with his hand on her belly since she discovered she was pregnant. Claire swore he knew without knowing that he knew, like something had clicked in the universe shifting and changing as clear as the wind switching directions.
Her legs shook as she whimpered in both fear and pain as Owen held a finger to his lips to shush her. Claire squeezed her eyes shut, letting the image of Owen burn into the back of her eyelids. Around them, the Indominus breathed, hot breath filling the space as Claire felt the car shift against her back. She held her breath, her grip on Owen’s hand tightening as they waited it out.
The second Owen sensed they had a spare minute, he pushed her forward, encouraging Claire up onto her feet as they moved for the door breaking free from the garage just as the Indominus broke in.
They ran without stopping for a good distance, Claire almost falling on her face when her ankles threatened to give in, her body slumping against a tree as Owen caught his breath. He was certain they were fine for the moment, okay to stay there and reclaim their thoughts after a near brush with death.
Claire couldn’t move, keeping her legs from collapsing underneath her was a whole different challenge as the pain in her gut increased making her wrap her arms around her middle, spine bending forward.
‘Claire?’ Owen’s voice was quiet, worried, pensive. He had his back turned to her a second ago, allowing Claire the privacy to express her pain where he wouldn’t notice. Evidently, he had turned around. She muffled a quick ‘I’m fine’ before he could say anything else, forcing herself upright to feign normalcy. ‘You’re not.’ He told her, approaching with a calculated step.
She shook her head. ‘Seriously, Owen, I’m okay - it’s just a bad period cramp.’ Claire winced through another as she barely managed to look Owen in the eye. It was time to face the music, she was pregnant this morning and now her body was rebelling, stripping her of her hesitant motherhood.
Owen shook his head. ‘It’s not ever this bad.’ She couldn’t hide from him, Owen didn’t miss the way the colour had slowly drained from her face over the course of a close two hours, or the way a hand kept favouring her stomach, her touch always there. He had caught her wincing and breathing through pain enough times that he was not going to fall for whatever bullshit she tried to feed him.
Claire was stubborn, he knew that much. They’d had an argument when she tried to work her way through a cold simply because she wouldn’t give in to how bad it was. Whatever was wrong with her this time, he wasn’t going to buy the lie. ‘Please, Claire, don’t lie to me.’
She wanted to lie, to keep it from him a little longer but the emotion in his eyes was too much, worry drawn across his face. ‘I’m pregnant.’ She whispered, barely able to look at him as the words tumbled out. ‘But, I think I’m losing it.’ Her voice wobbled a small fraction, Owen in front of her, his hands on her elbows as he bent his knees to look her in the eye.
He didn’t know what to say. Pregnant. That was the last thing he expected. His heart wanted to explode with joy, but something was holding him down. Something wasn’t right. She was miscarrying, no doubt about it as she gripped her stomach and whimpered through another wave of pain.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ She could hear the hurt, insinuation burning on his tongue. Claire could see the hope in his eyes, the happiness that mixed with worry and pain. This was never destined to end well.
Claire’s eyes rolled slightly, lifting as she raised them to meet his worried gaze. ‘Babe,’ she warned through gritted teeth, ‘We’re not going to fight about this’.
He shook his head. ‘We’re not.’ He agreed, ‘But, you should have told me you were in pain’. The last thing Owen enjoyed was Claire in pain. He would go out of his way to make sure she was comfortable and well. This was next level torture for him, not only was she hurting but he was powerless to fix it.
‘I don’t doubt that the second I told you, you would have hauled me out of here.’ She told him through a bare breath.
‘Damn straight.’ Owen confirmed, hand reaching for his back pocket and the phone that rested there. It took him a second to call through to Lowery in Control, asking the man about a potential vehicle getting access to their location. The other man could be heard um-ing and ah-ing as Owen’s voice raised with urgency, his tone sharp, his words demanding.
It took Claire a minute to snap the phone from his hand, telling Lowery to not worry everything was fine and they would walk. ‘You’re not fucking superwoman, Claire. You need medical attention. We need to get you back to the park, immediately.’
She shook her head. ‘I need to find my nephews first.’ Owen opened his mouth, hand on her arm, ready to protest. He just wanted to know that she would be okay. He could find her nephews without her, and honestly he could process the whole thing a lot easier if she weren’t two steps behind him and whimpering every time a cramp sliced through her innards. ‘Please. I’ve done it before, it’s not that bad.’ She lied, but his incessant need to get her medical help was going to get old quickly. Claire Dearing was not going to sit around while he gallivanted through the jungle saving boys who didn’t even know his name. He didn’t get that glory. She could do this, she could stand by his side while her body fell apart and no one was going to stop her - not even Owen Grady himself.
‘You’ve been through this before?!’ He had taken a step back from her, his hands in his hair, fingers pulling on too long strands as Owen pressed his eyes closed, trying to focus on his breathing. They would not argue about this. She scoffed, leave it to the man to be caught on himself, counting his breaths as Claire could barely breathe.
She hummed. ‘It’ll pass in a minute.’
‘In a minute?!’ His voice sounded scandalised, fingers tugging.
‘Are you going to echo everything I say?’ Claire asked, gritting her teeth again as she looked at him through her eyelashes.
He stood there dumbstruck. ‘What am I supposed to say Claire? You’re telling me that you’re pregnant, that you’re having a miscarriage - not the first, might I add - and we’re standing here in the middle of the fuckingjungle being chased by a monster I let out! I don’t even know how to react to potentially losing your nephews let alone not being able to prevent this from happening.’ He gestured to her arms, wrapped around her middle. ‘I just want you safe, I’m sorry that it’s too much for you to handle but my brain is short-wiring here, okay? I don’t know how to react.’ Owen told her slowly, lowering the panic in his voice he didn’t know where the calm tone had come from, he certainly wasn’t feeling it but it was there and it had softened her features if only a fraction.
Claire opened her mouth to argue when the growing thrum of a helicopter passed overhead, drawing their attention immediately. Owen took her hand, squeezing tightly as they watched the craft move. ‘Simon.’ She uttered, knowing instantly that the man behind the stick was her boss, and park CEO.
It fell apart again, in a matter of seconds, Owen pulling her towards a clearing where they could see the path of the helicopter, the I-Rex below it, leading them towards the aviary. Claire squeezed her eyes shut, almost as if she knew what was going to happen, her grip tight on Owen’s as she heard the aviary glass shatter, the helicopter going down.
***
From the moment the Indominus Rex started calling the shots in the race against humankind, Claire blanked. It happened in a quick succession of unpredictable events. Her only concern was getting to her nephews, making it with Owen back to Main Street where they had been told the boys were.
It was the worst there. For a few hours that afternoon Claire forgot there were guests on the island, people she was responsible for, lives she should have evacuated and selfishly did not. They were being pecked apart by the Petranodon’s as they swooped down from the sky.
Her priority was Zach and Gray, finding the boys before hell broke out any further. If the I-Rex had managed to free the creatures from the aviary, there was no telling what she would do to other enclosures. Her nephews were there - somewhere - Zara had confirmed setting her eyes on them again after they had run off. Claire just needed to find them.
Owen gave her a hand up as Claire climbed onto an overturned kiosk hoping it would allow her to peer over the heads of frantic park guests trying to get indoors before they were attacked. She was blind sighted when she heard Owen grunt, head turning to see the man on the ground, flying beast on top of him. She didn’t hesitate in jumping down, finding a discarded weapon and arming herself with it.
Pulling the trigger sent shocks down her spine, tingling in her fingers as her skin pebbled with the chill despite the warmth of the sun on her back. Her heart picked up, adrenaline pumping through her system rapidly as she pressed on the trigger once, twice, three times - four for good measure.
Claire dropped the gun once the animal stopped moving, metal clacking against the asphalt as she extended a hand to the man she loved, trying to catch his breath as he pushed the beast off him. He took her hand, pulling himself up before an arm slung around her waist, lips pressed to Claire’s as Owen said a silent thanks for his life.
She melted into the warmth of his embrace, granting herself twenty seconds of relief as his touch soothed the ache that had built up in the passing hours. ‘Aunt Claire!’ Gray’s voice called out to her, snapping the moment she shared with Owen as Claire broke away, racing towards her nephews.
‘Where did you go? Why didn’t you come back?’ She fussed instantly, her hands on Gray’s face as she inspected the scrape that had appeared on his chin. Claire pulled him into her chest, hugging the young boy tightly as a spare hand reached for Zach. ‘You are in so much trouble, you have no idea.’ She warned, eyeing the eldest boy - knowing it was on his command that Gray disappeared.
‘Whose that?’ Zach asked, ignoring her empty threat as he pointed at the man behind her, the very same one he saw her kissing.
Claire pulled away from Gray, her head over her shoulder to watch Owen for a split second.’We gotta go,’ He told her, watching the space around them as Claire reconnected with her nephews.
‘That’s Owen,’ She shrugged, hoping that Zach would remember she had mentioned his name earlier in their day. Neither boy complained, only nodding as Gray took her hand happy to be lead away from the chaos.
***
It wasn’t until they settled, that chapter over as they huddled in a park issued vehicle, that Claire took stock notice of the pain. Letting her mind wash over every inch of it, calculating it as to determine the damage she really knew very little about. Claire had miscarried once before just after her college graduation. Ironically, her boyfriend broke it off before he knew she was pregnant leaving Claire to retreat to the comfort of her sisters home for the week. Karen rushed her to the E.R. the second she realised something was wrong, not taking Claire’s protests into consideration. Most of it was a traumatised blur, so long ago Claire only faintly remembered it. She had managed to sleep most of the thing off, doctors making sure no tissue was left behind before numbing her pain slightly. There were no doctors this time. It rippled across her abdomen like the rushing tide hitting her all at once before receding for the briefest of seconds only to rush back again. There was no medication, only the option to ride it through.
She sucked in a sharp breath, overwhelmed but desperate to not shout out. Her head rolled back, hitting the rest, Gray’s arm touching her shoulder as he reached for Owen both boys making heroic comments about the man rather than her, the woman who not thirty minutes ago saved his skin.
Beside her, Owen reacted to her hiss, the sound the boys missed as his hand settled on her thigh. The car hummed beneath them as the boys sat back in their seats on Claire’s instruction. He squeezed the flesh under his large hand, his support quiet and worried as his fingers trembled slightly. The hand on the wheel shifted between frustrated drumming fingers to white-knuckle grip.
Claire had focused on trying not to black out. Her vision had blurred with the pain making the passing jungle out her window seem indistinct like a child, their hand covered in green paint, smeared it across the glass. Instead, she drew her energy to the feeling of his hand high on her thigh, his thumb stroking the seam on the inside of her thigh. His connection was where she would stay, so long as he was beside her keeping her in the game.
She pulled her eyes from the window to her lap. The motion was making her feel sick, not like she needed another reason to beg Owen to pull over so she could vomit on the side of Isla Nublar’s dirt roads. No. If she did that the boys would worry and the last thing she needed was to add something else to her nephew’s plates.
It was the same time that Owen had realised something was off and dangerously so. His hand on her thigh turned upwards, the pads of his fingers blood red. Claire cursed under her breath soft and low, the tension rolling off Owen almost in time with the cramps that gripped her. She knew it was bad, nothing hurt that much without a little red. They were too far gone, there was no turning back for a medic, or help of any kind and even if they did - Owen forsaking the protection of his raptors - it was too late. There was nothing anyone could do. The collection of cells she found out were developing under her skin were now ripping its way through her body. It was gone, there would be no Dearing-Grady baby, no odd little miracle, no when, or if, or someday, in her sister’s sing song voice as Karen sang ‘I told you so’.
There was no happy ending this time.
‘Claire?’ Owen’s voice was low, slightly trembling with worry. He had seen the blood on his fingers and was too scared to cause alarm in the backseat of the car.
‘Don’t you dare go back,’ She hissed through gritted teeth, her fingers curling around his hand as her nails dug into his palm with the next wave of cramps. ‘Keep driving. We have to save your girls.’ He wanted to add that she was his girl too, that maybe the life within her would have grown to be their daughter. He wanted to save them as much as his dinosaurs and if she asked he would have turned the car around.
***
Owen was in no mood to deal with Vic Hoskins for several reasons. The man had irked him from the day they were first introduced, rubbing Owen the wrong way with his inability to respect the girls as much as the rest of them did. Hoskins was there with a military goal in mind, one that was not logical or feasible but one the man refused to shake none the less.
With Claire fighting to keep her breath in the passenger seat beside him, feigning normalcy in front of her nephews despite the grip she had on Owen’s hand. The last person he wanted to see was Vic Hoskins. Owen just wanted five minutes to tuck Claire away in his makeshift office, to distract her nephews and to tell Vic to go to hell. In that order. If Owen was lucky he would get his way on all three accounts allowing him to return to Claire and get her to a medic before she bled out.
Unfortunately, life was rarely ever fair and Owen had used up a good majority of his luck before his thirtieth birthday. He didn’t bother shutting the driver’s door as he climbed out of the vehicle stalking towards Vic as the man made a cocky quip. Owen struck him without hesitation, taking his frustration from the day out on the one person he could get away with hitting.
‘Hoskins, you son of a bitch. You wanted this to happen!’ Owen didn’t realise Claire had followed him out of the car until she was beside him, voice trickling from her pale face, her hands shaking at her sides. His hand found the small of her back, Owen stepping closer to her side to hide the fact that he was touching her.
He demanded twenty fucking minutes to sort his head out before they talked game plan leading the last of the ACU and what InGen had to offer in terms of military personnel into the jungle for their possible deaths.
Owen waved Barry over to Claire’s nephews, asking if he’d please keep them occupied for a few minutes. Barry only eyed Claire with worry before nodding and moving towards Zach and Gray while his friend led Claire into their portable offices.
He didn’t know how she was walking. Owen guessed there were a lot of things about the female body he didn’t quite understand, especially when it came to their resilience. Her step was perfectly in time, nothing amiss but the paling colour of her skin and the way she trembled under his touch.
The second the door was shut behind them, Claire changed. Her shoulders hunched as she moved about the space Owen so often occupied. She knew it just as well as she knew his bungalow, moving for cupboards and drawers, pulling things out at every turn. She disappeared into the bathroom with a spare pair of cargo pants, their cleanliness questionable but in comparison to what she was currently bleeding through Owen guessed she wouldn’t complain.
In the minutes she was out of his sight Owen just stood where she left him, staring at the door dumbly as his mind tried to process what was going on. Within the hour, his raptors would be prepped for a field test, there was no getting out of. It ran risks of working, of seeing Hoskins’ push for more militarised beasts. The odds were not in their favour though; his girls were still young, still resilient, they would fight back if they thought they had a chance. There would be no getting them back in their cages once they had tasted freedom.
It was an easy divide between his raptors and Claire. Both could take care of themselves, and yet he knew they were headed for a dangerous path. Owen, especially, wanted to take Claire from this to relocate her and her nephews to the evacuation centre. There was time, if he moved now he could be back before they released the raptors. He could have his cake and eat it too. But, Claire was too stubborn for his begging, she rather drop dead than see a job go unfinished.
This was her fault, or so she thought. She wouldn’t rest until the I-Rex was stopped.
She returned from the bathroom looking a little more put together than what she had been. It was the infamous Claire Dearing pep talk, the woman scolding herself in front of the mirror until she had complete faith that she would woo her investors that day. This time it was determination not to collapse. ‘Can I borrow your knife?’ She asked, crossing the small room slowly her hand outstretched as her fingers shook wildly. Appearances could be deceiving.
‘What do you need it for?’ He asked, not to avoid giving it to her, but to help in some small way. Owen didn’t know how to react, he wanted to protect her but Claire was adamant she could do this without him coddling. He couldn’t detach, she was losing their child right in front of him and it looked like one of the most painful things a living person could experience.
Claire paused to breathe for a second, eyes closed as she inhaled before letting it out. She pulled the belt from the loops of his cargo pants. ‘I need another notch on your belt.’ There was a quip there to be made, and if his world wasn’t currently falling to shit around him, Owen would have made it. Instead, he pulled his knife from the holster and cut a hole exactly where Claire had pointed to.
Bent over the desk Owen worked the knife as Claire fluffed behind him for a second. She appeared at his side with small fingers sliding around his wrist as she lowered herself into the chair beside him.
Something inside her snapped, a sob breaking through her teeth as Claire bit down on her knuckle. Owen dropped the knife, letting it clatter to the desk as he turned to her, half pulling the woman into his arms. The tears on her cheeks were fat and hot, falling from her eyes quickly before she made them stop. An arm wrapped around his neck, fingers scratching his flesh as she cried.
‘Claire,’ He sighed, pity falling from him as his heart broke in two. He loved this fierce and wild woman, her strength knowing no bounds as she pushed the limit on everything. To see her falling apart almost felt unnatural, this was not Claire Dearing, but another life put in her place. Or rather, the life slipping from her. It was enough to destroy him; Owen would have signed over his dinosaurs in that second if Hoskins walked in and demanded it. Claire would have killed him for the action but he wanted to make everything okay. ‘Are you sure about this?’ He asked quietly, kiss dropped to the top of her head. Owen couldn’t stop her from doing anything, he would lose his life if he tried. But, he could continue to ask her, over and over, until she finally admitted it was all too much.
Claire shook her head short and fast, the movement almost a jerk. ‘It hurts,’ Her voice wobbled as a fresh set of tears streaked her face defining the lines between clean skin and that of dirt coated flesh. ‘It just fucking hurts so much.’ Her fingers gripped his bicep, half broken nails sliding into the skin there as she fought through another wave. ‘I have to do this.’
He kissed her temple, lips lingering for a moment too long. ‘You’re going to bleed right through these.’ He plucked at the fabric of the moss green cargo pants she had pulled on. Claire ignored him as she pulled herself up with a slight wince, reaching for the belt and looping it around her waist.
‘What do you want me to do, Owen?’ She sighed, fed up with the day that only seemed to be heading down hill. Owen shrugged, his head in his hand for once he was lost for answers, there was nothing he could tell her to do, nothing he could say, no military tactic that would pull them out of this. ‘Because, in case you haven’t noticed I can’t just go home and sit this one out. That’s not an option for me, not here, not now, not ever. Stop asking if I’m okay, or if I’m sure.’ Her eyes watered as she threw herself down, slamming a pair of boots on the floor before slipping them on. ‘I’m neither but I don’t have any other choice. I can’t just sit here while you save thefucking day on your motorcycle during some god forsaken field test you know won’t work. I’m not going to stop you, but you need to let me do this.’
He didn’t know what she was referring too exactly. Had it been saving the day or miscarrying in relative agony, either way Owen let her be. He was worried, naturally so, but he could only poke at her for so long before she snapped, rarely ever was it a good thing.
‘There’s a medic van,’ Owen offered, with a surrendered sigh. ‘It’s not I-Rex proof, but it’ll keep the boys safe from the raptors. And it’s mobile. This thing Hoskins has planned won’t end well, and when it all goes to shit I want to know you can get out of here.’ She nodded softly, pulling herself back up onto her feet, shaky knees giving her away. She looked ridiculous in his pants, the fabric cut too large for her thin legs. It bunched around her waist where she had tugged and pulled until the belt held it all down. Her shirt remained on, the lavender singlet peeping through. It was some odd mash between corporate Barbie and G.I. Joe. If their lives weren’t falling apart Owen would have kissed her. ‘You are not to wait for me, Claire.’ He warned, staring her down until she nodded.
They both knew she would, hesitating seconds too long just in case he would appear. It would be the end of their lives and he almost hated her for it if he wasn’t bound to do the same.
He reached her in three long strides, Claire’s face downwards as she tapped her shoe against the ruined carpet. Owen kissed her softly with careful dedication, almost the same as the adrenaline filled liplock they shared on Main Street. This was less urgent, the meaning all the same. He whispered his love in her ear before he pulled away, office door open, tropical night air slipping into air-conditioning.
***
Watching the four monitors that displayed night vision Raptor cams was torture. Claire could barely focus on the green of the screens as she saw only what Owen’s girls saw. Direction from InGen buzzed in her ear, leading the team she couldn’t see in the jungle a little left from the research sector.
She had pumped herself with sugar in Owen’s office, shoving his stowed away candy bars in her pockets in a weak attempt to find her strength. Sitting around, Claire was waning the light behind her eyes flickering out as she prayed so desperately for the adrenaline rush she needed. Her heart sunk when all four cams focused on Owen. She knew little about dinosaur behaviour but considering InGen were screaming panic in her ear, Claire knew it wasn’t good.
Havoc broke out forcing Claire to shut off the monitor and shove it aside. She rubbed a hand over her stomach trying to sooth the pain there as she tried to focus her breathing. It was no use, her body was having a complete meltdown and there was nothing Claire could do to stop it. She had to will herself to move, to turn the key in the ignition, to head for the evacuation centre. Owen wouldn’t make it out of the mess she could still hear in her ear.
She promised she wouldn’t stay behind.
What was there to live for anyway? She couldn’t help the morose thought, her body was ripping their baby from the walls of her uterus and Owen was likely being torn apart by the very creatures he raised. So what if she waited to see if he would turn up, or hand the wheel to Zach as she went looking for the man in the jungle. Maybe it was the distress her body was under, but Claire was ready for it all to be over.
‘Is everyone dead?’ Gray’s small voice reached her ear delicately, prodding quietly as her eyes snapped open. What would she tell the boy? What could she tell him? They could hear the gunfire from where they sat, lying in wait at the Raptor Paddock. At least there was still gunfire, right? She tried to calm him as best she knew how, lying straight through her teeth as Zach snapped at her. Karen had called him mean, claiming he lay prey on his kind hearted, genius of a little brother. All Claire saw was Zach protecting him, angry at the situation they found themselves in and determined to never put up with adult bull-crap again. Although it was Zach who caused half the drama in the first place, she and Owen would not have traipsed off into the jungle if the boy had not encouraged his brother to slip away from Zara - worse that they ignored the guest call back issued to their gyrosphere. Gray had confessed it all while they watched Owen prepare for the slaughter, his small hand wrapping around Claire’s fingers as they stood in wait, the woman barely tuned into his words.
Adrenaline hit her with an escaped member of InGen’s military, the man’s bloody hand slapping against her window as he demanded she run. The truck was on in a heartbeat, the engine revving as Claire summoned the strength within her to press down on the gas pedal.
***
Owen gave her strength. Claire hated to admit it. She had never needed anyone and she certainly didn’t need him. But, the strength Owen provided in a simple smile, his presence enough to light the skies, was everything Claire needed to keep moving.
The boys in the back of the truck shouted his name, setting Claire’s racing heart to break a sweat. One look the side mirrors confirmed that he was in fact behind them, engine of his bike rumbling in the air. Relief flooded through her, settling like a cool balm across her worries, the pain in her abdomen relieved only for a second before it stabbed her again.
When they got to Main Street his arm found her waist easily, a relieved and thankful kiss heavily pressed against her cheek. Claire wanted to push his support away, to prove she didn’t need it, but found her legs half jelly as she stepped away from the truck.
Zach watched her with a weary eye, curious as to what was going on but not enough to ask. He knew she was off, the woman slowly starting to lag behind as they pushed through to find the lab had been evacuated.
‘Don’t let me hold you back,’ She hissed at Owen, the boys peering into containers in a separate corner. She would not be the cause of his destruction, she would not see her nephews die because they were waiting for her to pick up the slack. Just as Claire was willing to not step out of the game she also knew when to back down. There was no turning back for safety but they could leave her behind. Owen ignored her comment, his hand on her waist squeezing briefly as they pushed on.
As with everything, since the cramps began all it took was a shot of adrenaline to bring Claire back to her feet, sprinting as her heart pounded in her chest. Vic Hoskins was devoured by one of the creatures he was so determined could fight on his side. There was no choice to be slow there, it was do that or face a fate much like Hoskins. Her body was reaching it’s limits as they were brought to a halt out the front of The Innovation Centre, Blue, Charlie and Delta boxing the four of them in as Claire’s chest heaved in an attempt to regulate her breathing. Zach was the same, small Gray beside her panting just as hard as Owen, in front of them, remained calm facing off with the Velociraptors he raised.
Claire didn’t know what it was that had Owen’s girls change their mind and turn on the Indominus Rex. Whatever it was, be it their bond with Owen or some realisation that the I-Rex was not their friend, they changed their ways, they fought with people, for people. Claire could see Owen’s pride, a slight puff in his chest as the cogs in his thoughts clicked in place. Something in their training worked. The I-Rex became the new alpha but the girls rejected it.
Claire cowered with her nephews in a souvenir booth as Owen, armed with a tranquilliser gun fired useless shots at the ginormous beast. His raptors were only helping in angering the impossible creature, distracting her from Owen as to prevent her from swallowing him whole.
‘Are you okay, Aunt Clare?’ Zach asked her with quiet worry, whispering as to not draw attention to themselves. Claire, her legs shaking on the floor of the booth only squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. Zach didn’t bother her again, only watched with a close eye not commenting on the way she swayed when standing up right or the tremors in her legs that surely wouldn’t see her standing at all, or again.
She snapped a little at Gray’s muttering, ‘We need more teeth’, when he announced himself through a rather unpleasant jab at her side. Her lip curled as she hissed in pain, a hand on her side before she turned to Gray asking the boy what he meant. It was second nature to get them out of there, to do everything in her power to end this nightmare and see them all home safely. She couldn’t call out to Owen to get the job done. Claire had to do it herself. He would ask her in a few days what she didn’t send Zach, the boy old enough and smart enough to pull off her plan. Claire already didn’t have an answer. She just had to do it herself.
Uneasy, she pushed herself up to her feet, reaching for the emergency box in the top right corner of the booth. It was procedure; one installed in every booth, marquee, kiosk, ride and restaurant each equipped with basic first aid, a flare and a walkie-talkie. Most Jurassic World staff had one clipped to their belts individually but the park was prepared for incidences in which an employee might find themselves without one. Claire wasn’t sure if this was such a moment. They had never intended for a blood thirsty beast to escape and wreak havoc upon their park.
‘Stay here.’ She warned her nephews with a flat hand before climbing over the booth and heading for her stupidest plan.
***
Lowery wasn’t convinced that she was in the right frame of mind when Claire made her demands across the line. He could see her on the security cams leaning against the wall with one hand, the other clutching her stomach.
‘I don’t think this is a good idea, Claire.’ He warned, hearing her heavy breath across the walkie before she threatened him again.
Be a man and do something for once in your life.
He had a weak spot for personal jibes, as most people did. But, he wanted to get off this island as much as she did. Lowery wasn’t an idiot, he had access to footage all over the island and had been following them since the research sector. Claire, Owen and her nephews were trapped on Main Street boarded in by the large beast. They needed the I-Rex gone, or distracted to a higher degree before they could attempt to break for Control. There was a chopper due to arrive any minute and Lowery knew they would not want to wait.
‘Please.’ She gritted through the walkie, eyes on the camera. He was doing it anyway, as soon as Paddock Ninefell from her lips, Lowery had the code punched in, the door ready to go. He wanted to tell her she would regret it, or ask if she was sure one more time. He noted the way Owen had been supporting her, the way she slowed, a hand favouring her stomach when they had time to collect themselves.
Instead, Lowery didn’t pry. He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut as he put faith in the woman who did nothing but guide him for too many years to count. Claire was portrayed as cold and often seen that way by many who came across her. She just didn’t know how to be a boss and personable at the same time - in fact, she didn’t care about being both. She had her moments with a few of the Control staff, bringing in sweets and making a laugh. If anything, Lowery would do exactly what she asked and he would do it to a tee.
He only hesitated a little his own fears not doubt in her ability as he hit the final button to unlock the gate.
***
Gray’s plan didn’t work at first. Her heart sank heavily in her chest, plummeting right past her gut as the I-Rex immediately took control, one bite away from ending the life of the old T-Rex she had stirred from her cage.
It would all be over if the I-Rex won, man’s creation destroying God’s and turning on everything. Alone on the island she would eventually starve herself back into scientists’ thoughts, it was just whether or not Claire would live to see it that had become the problem.
There was no escaping his beast that had stalked Claire and Owen through the jungle. If they lead her to Control they were all doomed. It would be a game of who could wait it out the longest but no one was coming to save them.
Claire had rolled to her back on the damp asphalt, mostly rain that had poured at some unknown time but partly blood of those who’d been attacked there. The bodies were sparse, thankfully, but that didn’t stop her stomach churning from the thought. She lay in wait, trying to calm her breathing as her hands sat on her stomach running soothing circles across the skin her child had previously rested under. Her uterus was still cramping, rejecting the cells under her skin violently, her thighs damp with blood again.
She couldn’t hold back the slight sob that broke past her lips, a hand rising to push through her hair as she cried silently. Claire missed the sound of Blue coming to the rescue, revived from a brief unconscious after the Indominus threw her against a wall. She missed Owen shouting for her, his voice hissing as he approached, hands sliding under her shoulders as he pulled her up and urged her to her feet.
For Claire, it was a blur. Owen was beside her the entire time, Gray’s small voice too, she could have sworn she felt Zach’s hand briefly at her elbow before it disappeared.They moved from store to store along Main Street as the T-Rex regained her strength and with it her control. Blue climbed along the spines of creatures more than triple her size, throwing in a good bite where she could, trying to tear the I-Rex down a notch. None of them could have expected the Mosasaurus to rise from her watery enclosure to take down the genetic monster, pulling the I-Rex into a watery grave.
It went black after that, Claire’s legs giving way underneath her as she felt Owen catch her dead weight. The battle was over, or at least she hoped so as her body gave into the pain.
***
Owen stared at white walls for what felt like hours to the point that he started questioning their colour, elbowing Zach and asking if it could be classified a beige-y grey. The teen only shrugged, mumbling incomprehensible words as he returned his eyes to his lap. They were still covered in dirt, the three of them, skin still sticky with sweat. No one had moved from their chairs, not to eat, not to drink, not to pee and certainly not for the opportunity of a shower. It was offered to them, a kind young nurse already having heard the word offered the showers reserved for doctors only. Each one of them shook their heads down the line, neither looking at the other for an answer.
Gray twiddled his thumbs quiet for the first time in his whole existence, Zach beside him too shell shocked to marvel. Their stomachs growled, no one said a word. The same kind nurse bought them sandwiches, and a chocolate bar each. They were devoured without second thought. Owen nodded his thanks but couldn’t find it within himself to smile.
He didn’t stop his withdrawn behaviour until Claire had been given a room, the boys directed towards the correct one. Her doctors had eyed them all with annoyance, insisting that they couldn’t stay the full night until Owen quietly threatened them out in the hall.
They showered in the connecting room, the same kind nurse bringing them a fresh change of clothes at the end of her shift as a spare bed was rolled in for Gray. Owen and Zach took guard in the chairs beside Claire’s bed, neither of them allowing their eyes to close.
‘What happened to Aunt Claire?’ Zach asked quietly, watching as his brother tossed and turned in his sleep. He had been with her almost the whole of their ordeal and had seen nothing come into contact with Claire Dearing. There was a close call in the truck when a velociraptor came hurdling through the window, but she had been acting out long before then.
Zach Mitchell had started his morning in frustration that he had to spend the week at Jurassic World with his overly enthusiastic and childish brother, and his aunt - a woman who had not managed to call or visit for seven years. He didn’t want to be there, he didn’t want to know her, and he didn’t want to bond with his brother. Zach found himself almost at the end of a 24-hour period having done the complete opposite. He and Gray would only move forward in their brotherhood, a bond now created that would never be taken away. He found himself, too, terrified for the wellbeing of a the woman who stopped at nothing to make sure he and Gray got off Isla Nublar.
‘She, ah,’ Owen scrubbed at his face with a rough hand, the stubble on his cheeks already thickening. He squinted, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to figure out how to tell the teen. ‘Your aunt was pregnant.’ It sounded like a question as he grimaced, bile rising in his throat.
Owen barely had time to process. Sure, no one was forcing him to talk there was no pressure to be anywhere or to face their horrors yet again. None the less, Owen hadn’t allowed himself two minutes of straight thought to think about what had happened on that island. His heart ached for the creatures he lost, but that didn’t outweigh the worry he had for Claire.
She was fearless, and feisty and strong. She proved herself to him over and over and over again, despite never needing to since their first date. Claire pushed the boundaries of his existence and hers, making them stronger together than they ever would be apart.
Evidently, she pushed herself too hard. Breaking the limits of a body that only wanted to push her. She lost a child. They lost a child. Owen didn’t even know that there was a possibility of hitching their lives together for eighteen - plus - years. His heart dropped, falling at his feet on the jungle floor when Claire revealed in one breath that she was miscarrying.
He knew nothing could be done once it started, and he tried to remind himself of that. There was no stopping her body from ripping that life away even if he hurried her back to her apartment or the evacuation centre. Getting to the hospital four hours earlier wouldn’t have changed a thing. There would still be tomorrow morning where the sun rose in orange gold, setting its light on their cold hearts. They would be without a job, without a home, with a future but without a child.
It wasn’t something Owen knew he wanted until she was losing it. They weren’t settle down and have kids people, not yet anyway. He was still trying to recover from his tour in the navy, focusing all his attention on dinosaurs barely managing to divide it down the middle for Claire. She was business orientated, focused on her image and career. She wanted the personal success and the pay check, not swollen feet and back aches, and a life inside of her kicking at her bladder every minute of the day.
They could have made it work, though. Owen, in the least, was willing to try. Something in him almost felt complete when he realised she was pregnant only to have it crash back down to Earth again with the nightmare truth that it was just a faint dream. Except it was real. For a time there she was pregnant, until she lost the small, bare life in the jungles of Isla Nublar.
Owen just had to take it. She was pregnant and as she revealed that to him she also suddenly was not. Even though he didn’t get the chance for a happy moment, or promises to stick by her side. Owen couldn’t help thinking about a little boy riding his bike, or a girl streaked in mud happily playing sport. They could have made wonderful parents. He knew it. Claire was kind and attentive when her focus snapped from work, she was warm and loving and fretted a little too much about his wellbeing.
He wanted to hate her for being so selfless, focusing on her nephews rather than herself. In the same breath he wanted to commend her bravery, yell from the rooftops how much pain she must have been in, and pushed past it all to see her family safe. Mostly, he just wanted to know Claire was okay, he wanted her to open her eyes and acknowledge him. Better yet, if they could wake up and start that morning all over again.
‘Do you think she’ll be okay?’ Zach asked. He didn’t know much, but he had seen the way in which she pushed herself throughout the day, and the way her body gave up after the I-Rex was no longer a threat. Claire was limp, heavy weight in Owen’s arms as he carried her to Control. She came too briefly on the helicopter, eyes fluttering open without a sound before softly closing again. The nursing staff in the E.R. let them in immediately, waiting after the news of Jurassic World. The waiting room was already starting to fill with injured stepping off the ferries and into medical attention first aid kits couldn’t handle.
A doctor had removed Claire from Owen’s arms. Simply picked her up and carried her away. They came back a short while later, only to talk to the man and smile softly at the boys. Zach didn’t know how bad it was. The hospital was slowly filling and here was his aunt with her own room, Gray the pleasure of a trundle bed.
Owen hummed, nodding his head softly as his eyes focused on his hands. ‘She’ll be alright.’
‘But she’s not pregnant anymore?’ Zach asked quietly, watching as the man sighed heavily and shook his head. ‘Was it yours?’ Owen nodded, humming again, all he seemed able to announce to the teen. ‘I’m sorry.’ It wasn’t the kid’s fault, and it wasn’t Claire’s who was Owen to accept apologies for something that was already gone before he knew about it. No one was at fault but the universe for punishing them far too cruelly for one day.
‘You should get some sleep.’ Owen told him, nodding towards Gray on the trundle. They were in for a long night despite the threat of danger being far behind them. The nightmares were still to come morphing from reality in front of their eyes to the extents of their imaginations behind them.
Zach only shook his head, affirming that he was fine where he was. He fell asleep there not an hour later leaving Owen the only one awake in a room full of bodies. He scooted himself closer to Claire’s bedside, his hand covering hers content to wait the night out like that.
Claire woke with a sharp gasp as she jolted, body twitching. Owen was on it in a second, trying to calm her before her nephews woke. He wasted no time in climbing onto the bed beside her, fitting Claire to his chest as she cried. ‘It’s over, it’s over, it’s over. You’re okay.’ He repeated on a loop, whispering against her hair as she clutched at his shirt.
Her grip relaxed after a minute, breathing regulating as she sighed heavily. ‘Is everyone okay?’ She asked quietly, voice dry as she took in her surroundings. He didn’t miss the way she grimaced, twisting her body in an odd way as he nodded. Owen shifted his shoulder so Claire could peer over it at sleeping Zach before lying back down and turning her head for Gray on the trundle behind her. As far as park guests went, Owen didn’t know what the verdict was. He didn’t have a phone to keep him updated and the TV in the corner of her room remained off. They weren’t ready to face the real world yet.
‘They’re okay, just worried about you.’ He kissed her cheek, pulling her into him as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the jungle that still lingered in her hair. He wanted to ask how she was feeling, if the pain that had knocked her out had resided, if the doctors did their job. He wanted to know if her heart was aching as his was, the same pang in his chest thrumming in hers. Owen just didn’t know how to use the words.
***
‘What do you mean, Claire Dearing has been admitted?’ Owen could hear Karen Mitchell down the hall, panic and confusion clouded in her voice. He could imagine she had been turned around, sent to the hanger only to find their names not registered there.
He would have reached out, tried to flag her before the Mitchell’s ran across the country in search of their wounded family. Although the hospital would have granted Owen the use of a phone, he found his focus on Claire and her nephews. Those in his intermediate reach rather than those outside of it.
Owen pulled himself from Claire’s bedside, his hand slipping from hers slowly as if she were a child who easily woke. He left her with Gray, the boy tucked against her chest, having curled there in the early hours of the morning, whimpers falling from his lips when Claire appeared, weary bodied from a shower she desperately needed. In the quiet of the room, illuminated by the hallway light that seeped under the door, Claire climbed onto the bed beside Gray, tucking him into the curve of her body. Like an infant, he settled again in an instant, Claire stroking his hair while he dozed.
Owen met Karen’s loud voice at the door, his finger pressed to his lips as the woman recoiled. He could see the words flash across her face ‘who the hell are you?’ but didn’t say them. Instead, she lowered her distress, her husband - soon to be ex - a step behind as Owen pushed the door to Claire’s room open.
Karen moved for her boys first, a hand gracing Gray’s ankles as she felt the warmth of his skin, a kiss pressed to his cheek gently as to not wake him. Zach had stirred the second his mother reached him, her gentle touch on his shoulder as he slept upright in a hospital chair.
‘Are you okay? Is Gray okay?’ She asked the teen, her hands cupping his face as she stood too close, wrapping him in her arms easily. Zach answered, promising that he was okay, that Gray too had made it through the park unscathed minus a few scrapes that graced their skin thanks to evil foliage rather than humongous beast. For the first time in five years, Zach didn’t slink away from the affection his mother peppered him with. He embraced it, letting the woman kiss his brow before she stepped away turning back towards her sister and youngest son.
‘Oh, Claire Bear.’ Karen sighed, dropping into the seat Owen had occupied as she took her sleeping sister’s hand. ‘What happened?’ Karen didn’t want to know if it was dinosaur related, Owen could see that on her face; grimace prepared for the worst. She kneaded her sister’s fingers between her own, spare hand stroking Gray’s hair as Scott and Zach talked in hushed voices.
Owen kept watch from the corner. He caught it the second Claire woke, her eyelashes kissing her cheeks like the butterfly kisses she had childishly taught him. Her gaze locked on Karen and her demeanour slumped. Her cheeks caved, lip wobbling as she tightened her grip on Gray. The sight of her sister made Claire cry, final defences falling as Scott made an excuse to leave the room with Zach, waking a sluggish Gray and peeling him away.
Karen sighed her sister’s pet name a second time, her hand stroking her hair as she moved to perch on the end of the bed. ‘What happened?’ She asked again, Claire tucked into her side. ‘This doesn’t look like something a dinosaur did.’ Karen half joked, unsure of where it came from a small part of her mind relieved that her family had made it out unscathed from the ordeal that transpired at Jurassic World.
When Claire whispered, with a dry throat, that she lost a baby Karen’s eyes shot towards Owen. Shock melted across the eldest sibling’s face as she gripped her sister tighter, half rocking the woman as she tried to soothe her.
Owen moved to leave, half wondering if he could catch up to Scott and the boys, certain that his presence was unnecessary as the sisters spoke. His hand hadn’t touched the handle before Claire quietly asked him not to leave.
Karen took his place on the bed, sitting beside her sister, an arm around Claire’s shoulders. ‘So, you told me a little about Owen,’ The eldest revealed, making Owen watch her face carefully. Karen hadn’t recognised him twenty minutes ago but that didn’t mean she had not heard stories. ‘You didn’t tell me he was hot.’ She teased, Claire protesting that if she was going to embarrass Owen while he was in the room, he could leave. ‘No, seriously.’ Karen sobered. ‘Are you okay?’ Her voice dropped from slightly humoured to concerned. ‘Are you sure?’ She pushed when Claire nodded softly.
She’d witnessed her sister curled in a heap on the bed in the guest room of her home crying her eyes out over the miscarriage of a pregnancy she wanted to keep. It took weeks to pull her sister out of the funk she slipped into, determined to lose her will for life as Karen fought against it. Hearing that she’d lost another baby sent off warning alarms in Karen’s head. There was always more to Claire than what she handed to you at face value.
‘We actually haven’t talked about it.’ Claire sunk into herself a little, looking between her sister and Owen sheepishly. Owen didn’t have a chance to talk about it, they had argued lightly twice the day before but had other things to worry about than the fine details of their feelings over the miscarriage she was in the middle of.
Karen crinkled her brow, confused for a second before it hit her. ‘Oh.’ Claire’s words clicked. ‘In that case, I’m going to catch up with the boys. You two need to talk.’ She squeezed her sister, pressing a kiss to her hair. ‘Thank you for looking after my boys.’ She whispered quietly. ‘I’m glad everyone is okay.’ Claire nodded, letting her go as the room was left with two.
Owen shrugged, watching her with a half smile as Karen left. He sat on the end of her bed, hands in his lap, eyes on the floor. Where were they to begin?
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.’ Claire confessed, guilt building in her chest as she sought out his blue eyes. ‘I’d only found out a few days ago and with the boys coming I just didn’t want too much going on in our lives. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted it.’
‘Did you?’ He asked quietly, looking away from the lines of his fingers to lock eyes with her for a split second. ‘Did you want it?’ Owen knew she was awkward with children and that her goals in life remained on her career and nothing else. Pillow talk hardly contained words of the future in any sense, but he knew kids weren’t exactly on her set list.
Claire bit her lip, shrugging softly. ‘I still don’t know.’ Her lip wobbled, teeth trying to keep it in place as she worried the fragile flesh. ‘I would have if you did.’ This was why she wanted to wait until after her nephews’ trip. Had she not made her mind up within that week they had a mighty strong evening of words headed for them. Either she was deadset on getting an abortion, or they were going to plan their future until they fell asleep. Claire knew, if she offered him the words that had just come from her mouth they would have fought. He wouldn’t want to force her into having a baby if she wasn’t certain it was what she wanted. In the same breath he wouldn’t have wanted her to get rid of it either. Regardless, Owen would have felt like he had backed her into a corner, it all being his fault a year or two down the line when they were childless or drowning with their inability to cope with a child.
‘You know I wouldn’t have forced you into anything,’ Claire had already predicted those words. ‘But, I would have liked to have a baby. It would have been hard though.’ He hummed to himself. Their relationship was still a fledgling, surpassing a total of eleven months. It was no way near the right amount of time to introduce a kid into the mix. A smile curved across his lips, ’You always like a challenge’.
Claire grinned, nodding as her cheeks warmed. ‘Would have pushed us to our limits.’
He hummed, ‘But think of the rewards’. Owen couldn’t help the slight chuckle that escaped him. Claire had called him a neanderthal once and although he rejected the statement he couldn’t help but see a comparison. He was more brawl than brains - although he had smarts in areas she lacked. But, beyond that he focused on animal need, instinct, filling hunger and sexual satisfaction first before anything else. The want to procreate was nestled in there somewhere. Owen would be lying if he said he hadn’t daydreamed about a pregnant version of Claire at least once. There was something entirely too intriguing in the idea of her belly swollen with his child. He fed her too much on more than one occasion just for Claire to stretch out on the couch, feet propped on his coffee table, hands on her bloated stomach. It was all for the image, and her groaning of a food baby thanks to his surprisingly good cooking. His hands joined hers, apologising about his lack of portion control as a primal want flared in his gut.
When he thought about children and Claire, it was mostly visuals provided while they were out. Claire smiled at babies on their mothers hips when she thought no one was looking, even Owen. There was always a slight hand motion to toddlers in shopping carts and side stepping rambunctious children on Main Street. He didn’t know what it was about those moments that had Owen thinking of the possibility of their own child. Claire blowing raspberries to their toddler as they shopped for groceries, reaching out for the tiny hand of their infant on his shoulder, desperately trying not to trip as their son or daughter, with his horrible spacial awareness, ran excitedly towards the ringing door. The thoughts were only fleeting, flashing briefly before slipping back into the walls.
‘Doesn’t matter much now anyway.’ He sobered quickly. ‘Doctor said it’s hard to pin-point why exactly, but you might have lost the baby today regardless of how it worked out. If the I-Rex never escaped we might still have ended up here.’
‘It’s for the best?’ She asked, hand reaching for his as she squeezed her fingers around three of his. Owen hummed, nodding softly reciprocating the contact she had initiated.