Chapter Text
You inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of the ocean from your position on the bow of the cruise ship. Following your conversation with the man in the suit, you’d run back to your parents and told them of your plan to get a job at Jurassic World after college. Your mother had been skeptical. Your father had encouraged you. It had taken a lot of hard work, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights. You graduated high school with exceptional grades, then studied biology and paleontology at a prestigious university. You’d worked with predators such as wolves, lions, and sharks, studying their behavior. After several years, you had felt confident enough to apply for a job at Jurassic World.
You’d worked your ass off on your resume and your application, triple-checking everything and making sure all of your information was in order. You’d endured several Skype interviews, including one with Simon Masrani himself. You were pleased to discover that he was the suited man you’d spoken to at Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. Much to your surprise, he remembered you as well and greeted you warmly. Eventually, you had found yourself here on this cruise ship, making your way back to Isla Nublar after so many years.
You were met by someone’s errand boy upon disembarking and were led to where you were would be living. It was pretty far away from the main street of the park. Your living quarters ended up being a small trailer parked on the outskirts of the island. You could hear the ocean nearby. Supposedly, there were other Jurassic World employees living all around you, also in trailers. You impatiently rushed through the inspection and just dumped your luggage on your bed before swiping the keys out of the assistant’s hand, locking the door, and demanding to be taken back to the park. The poor man could only sigh as he got back in the company car and indulged you.
There were several modifications you’d requested to be made to Rexy’s paddock before you arrived and you were pleased to see that they’d been made. The first was a speaker built into the wall so you could talk to the tyrannosaur safely. Next, you’d asked that a portion of the wall be cut out and replaced by bars made of the strongest steel possible, so you could safely interact with her. Jurassic World had some of the best structural engineers and architects at its disposal, so you were relatively confident that she wouldn’t be able to get to you.
You reached into your satchel and pulled out your old notebook. You’d kept it all this time, though you’d backed your notes and sketches up on your computer. You were in a restricted part of the exhibit, across the paddock from the viewing area. For now, you decided you’d head over to the viewing area and observe the rest of the day’s feedings.
Rexy was noticeably older, which made sense, considering she was approximately 25 years old. Her skin was paler and she moved a lot more slowly than before. You hated to see her like this, but predators often had very short life spans. If she had been living in the wild, millions and millions of years ago, she likely wouldn’t have reached this age.
Your real work began when the exhibit closed for the night. Nighttime was the only chance you had to work with Rexy as you couldn’t disrupt the feedings during the day and you didn’t think it was safe to interact with her in the morning when she was hungry. Unfortunately, that made giving her treats at night not as effective since she’d been eating goats all day. You returned to your cage, a prepared treat bucket in hand, and pressed the intercom button.
“Rexy!” You called. There was some thumping, and the dinosaur appeared to investigate.
“Good girl.” You crooned. That would be the phrase you’d use to mark the behavior you wanted. From where you were standing behind the bars, you were face to face with her. So far, she seemed curious, cocking her head to the side to eyeball you. You smiled and decided to teach her her name.
“Rexy!” You called again. Her head swung around and she opened her jaws to growl at you. You took the opportunity to throw a chunk of meat into her mouth through the bars. It was a small piece from her perspective, but a rather large steak from yours. Her head tilted back as she swallowed.
“Good girl.” Immediately after, you called her name again. Her head dipped back toward you and her mouth opened slightly. You rewarded her again. After several more repetitions, you decided to stop for the night, not wanting to bore her.
“Good girl. Very good girl. I knew you were smart.” She was, actually. Scientists had concluded that tyrannosaurs actually had about the same level of intelligence as the common crow. Crows were capable of basic problem solving and tool usage. Many had been trained to perform specific actions and respond to commands. There was no reason you couldn’t do the same with Rexy. Whether or not she would cooperate was another story. The only thing you had to motivate her with was food. If she didn’t feel like listening, there wasn’t much you could do. Still you felt pretty optimistic and you couldn’t wait to see her the next day.
“Rexy, open.” You spread your arms in a vertical motion, indicating for the dinosaur in front of you to open her jaws. She complied and you threw a slab of meat into her mouth and praised her. After she swallowed, you formed your arms and hands into an imitation of hers and said, “Rexy, rawr!” The tyrannosaur roared in your face. It would have been deafening if you hadn’t had ear plugs in.
“Good girl!” You gave her a treat.
“Rexy, down.” She crouched, lowering herself to the ground and you stepped up beside her head and scratched her jaw line, then moved on to her neck, paying extra attention to her scars. She rumbled happily deep in her throat and the vibrations caused you to stagger a bit.
“Good girl.” You lifted a slab of meat up to her and she gingerly plucked it from your hand with her tongue. You couldn’t hear them, but you could see the crowd in the viewing area gasping out of fear for you. You smirked. Okay. It was time to wrap the show up.
“Rexy, you can go now.” She rumbled at you once more, then turned and headed deeper into her paddock. The crowd erupted into applause as you bowed and told them through your microphone that was the end of the show. You were delighted with yourself. It had taken you months to get here (and you had worked with her every day for as many hours as you could), but you were finally able to get Rexy to follow some basic commands. You could also enter her enclosure and interact with her with relative safety. You’d recently started putting on little shows once a day and attendance kept growing until people were packed into the viewing area like sardines. You moved to meet them and accept questions and congratulations.
Eventually, people began to leave and you started to pack up so you could go get lunch. A man approached you then and you knew who he was before he introduced himself. It was Owen Grady. Ex-navy, currently the man working on training the velociraptors, and totally gorgeous in a rugged sort of way. You’d never seen him or his raptors in action, but you’d heard stories, especially from your female co-workers. More than one of them had spent a night with him. He was supposedly a great lay, but you weren’t interested in being another of his one-night stands. Your heart skipped traitorously when he began speaking.
“Wow. You are a total badass.” The compliment took you a little by surprise. You’d expected him to congratulate you, sure, but add “for a girl” to the end of his sentence. However, you saw genuine respect in his eyes and you couldn’t help smiling.
“Thank you, Mr. Grady.”
“Owen.” He corrected you gently.
“Owen.” You repeated, liking the way calling him by his first name felt. “I’m Y/N.”
“I know.” Wait, what? He does? “You’re pretty famous.” You couldn’t help but blush as he directed a smoldering smile at you.
“You are too,” you replied. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked a little.
“All good things, I hope?” You found some courage deep inside you and smiled widely at him.
“Mostly good things.” Your voice took on a teasing lilt. Both of his eyebrows went up and he feigned being shocked at your answer.
“Well, you’ll have to tell me what you’ve heard so I can make sure you know what’s true or not. Maybe over dinner tonight?” You bit your lip. God, yes, you wanted to go out with him. But his proposal was extremely short notice and you weren’t sure if you wanted to go home with him and then never hear from him again. But he was so hot…
“You're a pretty smooth talker, Mr. Grady.” You resumed your flirty tone. “But I’ve got to train Rexy tonight and I’m not sure I want to be another one of your conquests.”
He held his hands up defensively. “My intentions were pure. I just thought we could grab some food, have a few drinks, and talk about work.”
“I’m sure,” you said sarcastically, but your smile remained on your face, egging him on.
He ignored your comment. “I can pick you up when you’re done training. Or is the queen going to monopolize your entire night?”
You bit your lip again. He wasn’t going to let you out of this. Not that you wanted him to. It was just so short notice and you wouldn’t have any time to dress up and make yourself look cute. You were suddenly very aware of your appearance at that moment. You were wearing denim shorts and a tank top. It was too hot in Costa Rica to wear anything that wasn’t kind of revealing. Your hair was pulled up in a ponytail. You were wearing only the bare essentials, make-up-wise. Owen cleared his throat, bringing your attention back to him.
“If you want,” you began nervously, “you can watch me train and then we can go somewhere after? I should be done by 8:00.”
You tried training, but your heart wasn’t really in it. You were too nervous about Owen watching you from up in the viewing area. It didn’t help that there were spotlights on you. Rexy sensed your inner turmoil and it seemed to make her antsy, but she still followed your commands. You decided to cut the session short and ordered her to crouch down like earlier. When her big head was close enough that you could touch it, you pressed your face into her neck. This was something you liked to do at the end of every training session. You’d scratch her scars and press your face into her leathery skin and tell her about anything that was bothering you. It was only really safe to do at the end of the day when she wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Oh man, Rexy. There’s this guy watching us up there and he wants to take me out tonight, but I don’t look cute and I’m not wearing make-up and I can’t shower before-hand and he’s so hot.” Everything you were worried about came out in a rush as you scratched at Rexy’s scars. The dinosaur didn’t understand what you were saying, but she rumbled at you anyway.
“I’m scared to go up there. Can I stay with you tonight, Girl?” You were only half-joking. You knew you’d have to face the music eventually, and it might as well be now. You kissed Rexy on her snout and gave her the release command you always used at the end of your nightly training sessions.
“Good night, Rexy. Sweet dreams.” She lumbered off into her paddock and you watched, smiling warmly, until she was gone. Then you took a deep breath and exited the enclosure.