Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

His front door had a hole in it.

Owen had a feeling that he knew who was responsible, but that didn't change the fact that his door had a dog-sized hole in it. Not to mention the busted window and shredded couch on his porch. You know, this was what happened to your personal property when you became a father-figure to four naughty, misbehaving, and ridiculously intelligent Velociraptors.

Someone wasn't getting a box of sirloin steaks for Christmas, that was for damned sure.

"Okay, my little ladies," drawled Owen, "Who said that it was acceptable to turn my nice, Masrani-funded house into a shack of shredded wood?"

All four raptors chirruped at him.

"No, that's not a good enough explanation. And stop chewing on my tools. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Echo."

The little raptor peeped in response.

"Don't you try that with me. Nope, the cute peeping isn't gonna work anymore."

Owen's girls were now milling about his feet, seemingly apologetic for the destruction that they had wreaked upon his house. They were a little smaller than some medium-sized dog breeds now, firmly stuck in the toddler-stage of dinosaurdom. He still kept them close at all times, every bit the devoted mother-hen and raptor daddy that Barry liked to call him.

"Do you know how embarrassed I was last week," Owen continued. "All I have is one pair of nice pants, and those are the ones you had to nibble on. Claire thinks I'm a caveman now."

Blue huffed.

"No, she wasn't impressed by the board shorts. At all."

Another huff.

"I'm pretty sure that that's the last I'll be seeing of Ms. Claire Dearing, itinerary extraordinaire," Owen grumbled. "And what have I said about chewing on shoelaces, Charlie?"

His youngest raptor peeped in response and darted off, striped tail and legs wiggling around in the nearby ferns. Charlie had spent the last few days hunting any insect or rodent that crossed her path, so Owen had a pretty good idea what she was up to. And then the other three were off too, following their impulsive sibling into the underbrush that surrounded his house.

"I'll have you know that we're not finished with this!" Owen shouted. "You girls are sleeping in the doggy bed tonight!"

With a deep sigh of exasperation, Owen turned to stare at his busted front door, kicking a few rocks before disappearing into the garage to grab his tools and a few planks of wood. His home was located deep in the Restricted Zone and the girls were far too young to wander off, so Owen wasn't concerned about leaving them to the shrubs and fields for a couple minutes. They would start honking and hooting if anything dangerous or unusual was close by, anyways.

"No way is this house gonna survive eight more months," he muttered to himself. "Already ripped apart my couch, killed the microwave, and now my front door looks like an entrance to a cave. Shit, I am a caveman now, aren't I?"

It was halfway through his work on the door when Owen heard the sound of an engine coming down the dirt road that led to his secluded house. He shook his hands and stood up with a whistle, knowing that his girls would be on the porch within a few short moments. They were fast learners and associated good behavior with an extra treat or two, which Owen always reenforced with his clicker and a specific hand gesture. So that was why Owen paused at the sight of only three raptors on his porch steps.

"Where's your sister?"

Echo chirped in return and ran to the left, hopping up and down in front of a giant fern. It only took him a moment to see what the problem was...

"Seriously, Charlie? You just couldn't resist, could you?"

All Owen could see of Charlie was her lashing tail and back legs; the rest of her was stuck in the hole that she'd apparently chased some kind of small animal down. It was a hilarious sight, but Owen couldn't help feeling sorry for the little raptor. She was letting out frightened hoots and peeps, obviously calling for help from her alpha or her sisters.

"Okay, I'm gonna get you out, sweetie," assured Owen, lightly tapping her on the rump while also using the Calm Down whistle that they'd been working on in recent weeks. It took a few tries, but Charlie eventually stopped flailing and tucked in her claws, letting out pitiful whimpers every other second. "That's a good girl. Now just hold still and let alpha dig you out."

It didn't take long, but by the time Owen had Charlie freed and carefully cuddled in his arms, the truck had already came to a stop in front of his porch. He was covered in a fine layer of dirt—and so was Charlie, the little hellion—arms adjusting the frightened and scaly bundle that was attempting to hide in his armpit. All of his girls had been trained to tuck in their claws when he held them, but his fingers automatically reached down to check Charlie's toes and sickle-claw, anyways.

You could never be too careful with raptors.

Owen knew that Barry would lecture him about any new scars on his person, especially so soon after Echo's accidental nipping of his left wrist. And speaking of his best friend...

"What took you so long? I thought you said you'd be done a couple—"

Damn, huh, well, that wasn't Barry.

"Hoskins."

"Grady." The other man smirked at him. "Looking rather messy there."

He didn't rise to the bait and simply said, "Charlie got stuck in a hole. She needed rescuing."

"Uh huh. He hunting already?"

Owen did everything he could to keep his hackles from rising, focusing instead on the rapid heartbeat beneath his fingers. His youngest was shook-up from her little excursion, so remaining calm was vital to keeping Charlie and her sisters under some semblance of control. Especially since Delta was letting out quiet hisses, tail lashing back and forth as she stared down this strange and smelly intruder.

They all knew he wasn't Barry, and they didn't like it. Owen wondered if they could smell Hoskins' ulterior motives, too.

"Small insects and rodents," was Owen's answer. "She's still just a baby, so I haven't started her and her sisters on anything serious yet. Best to keep them close to the nest and away from potential dangers."

"That what you're calling this place now?"

Owen just shrugged in response, walking up to his porch while also allowing Charlie to snuggle further into his Henley and right armpit. He may stink due to the Costa Rican heat, but Charlie must have found the foul odor comforting. Her sisters followed behind him like a clutch of ducklings, Delta still watching Hoskins with a stink-eye to end all stink-eyes.

He'd have to keep a close watch on that particular relationship, or lack thereof.

"As good a name as any," said Owen, pausing in front of the mess that was his front door. "Now, I've got four little stomachs to fill, so can we cut to the chase about why you're out here? Delta's gonna start chewing on you soon and I promise, her teeth are sharp."

"You didn't file your weekly report on the assets."

Owen didn't particularly want Hoskins inside his house, so he flopped down on the nearby glider and shifted Charlie into a more comfortable position. Her sisters were perched on the empty space in less than a second, only Delta staying on the ground. She was still glaring at Hoskins.

"As you can see," said Owen with a grand gesture around him, "I've been a little preoccupied this week."

"We need to know their progress, Owen."

"My reports have been plenty thorough. And Mr. Masrani has been more than pleased with them."

He didn't mention that he and Barry had left specific information out of each report for the girls' safety and well-being. Neither of them trusted Hoskins or his band of merry compatriots as far as they could throw them, so omitting points of progress on clicker training and commands had been necessary in their minds. Owen couldn't prove anything, of course, but Hoskins was too slimy and smug to have only good things in mind for his raptors.

"Simon Masrani underestimates the potential of this park. All he cares about are the rich-ass visitors and their fickle desires."

"If that's the case, then I've gotta say, that formula seems to be working quite well," Owen pointed out. "Ah, no, stop that, Echo. No chewing on my sleeves. You've ruined enough shirts for one month, young lady."

"You haven't tried any discipline-based training?"

Hoskins may have ignored the formal name, but Owen knew exactly what kind of training the man was referring to. For some reason, the Head of Park Security had it in his head that the only way to train Velociraptors was through harsh, physical discipline, including the use of tasers and non-lethal firearms. Meanwhile, Owen hadn't done more than flick his girls' noses when they were being chewy little brats.

"They're learning just fine through other, more positive methods," said Owen, voice clipped and allowing no room for argument. "Don't look at me like that, Vic. These are baby dinosaurs, not machines or volunteers in the military. They need a gentle touch at this age, and they're very smart."

Apparently, this was hilarious to the other man, who guffawed in response to Owen's completely serious statements. Because of this, Hoskins didn't hear the familiar truck coming up the road, or notice that Delta was eying his crotch with a deadly level of attention. Knowing how this was gonna end, Owen reached down with the hand that wasn't cradling Charlie and snatched up his most aggressive raptor, maneuvering Delta onto his right shoulder with little more than a chirp of annoyance and frustration. Even Blue's snapping couldn't calm her down.

By God, did Delta ever hate that man.

"You actually think that these animals won't attack you because of gentle touches and bubble baths," said Hoskins with a snort. "You've gone soft and senile, Grady. Polar opposite of what you once were."

Owen scratched at Delta's head and said, "I'm not in the Navy anymore, Vic. And neither are you."

"You can't just leave that life behind." Hoskins looked about ready to start on his usual rambling spree again. "It follows you everywhere and you know it. Just because you have four chickens under your—"

The man was barely able to move to the side before two raptors darted past his feet, chirping and hooting in excitement at the third truck now parked in Owen's driveway. His girls knew their caretakers well and they definitely knew which ones were kind to them, and Barry's name was right below Owen's at the top of their mental lists.

"Hello, mademoiselles," came Barry's familiar voice. "No, there's no beef in those pockets, Echo. Not today."

Delta snarled at a grimacing Hoskins. The man knew Barry was even less fond of him than Owen, which was really saying something. Whatever Hoskins had wanted to accomplish today, he now knew it was a lost cause. With his best friend present, Owen would be even less likely to cooperate with anything Hoskins requested of him or the girls.

"We're not done with this," said Hoskins with a pointed finger. "And file your weekly reports, got it?"

It took all of Owen's coaxing and cooing to keep Delta from racing off after him, little jaws snapping and snarling at the human that had offended her so. Owen had no doubt that Delta would happily rip a chunk out of Hoskins if given the chance.

"You're really fired up today, aren't you?"

The green raptor just peeped at him, eyes narrow and flinty with the need for bloody vengeance. It'd probably be best if Hoskins never met with the raptors outside of their paddock ever again, Owen thought. Delta might not be so obedient next time, either.

"I see you've had an eventful morning," said Barry as he came to lean against the porch railing. "What'd he want this time?"

"Bitching about the girls' training again."

"When doesn't he?" joked the Frenchman. "Delta and Blue didn't take a chunk out of him?"

"They were perfect ladies. Or Blue was, at least."

Barry chuckled and reached into his coat pocket, flicking a piece of dried pork to each of the girls. He handed Owen a fourth piece for Charlie, who was still hiding in her alpha's armpit. Someone would definitely be getting a bath tonight. Owen might even throw in some bubbles to make up for Hoskins' unpleasant visit, especially since Delta hadn't made a go for Hoskins' fingers or dick.

That was always a plus that needed to be rewarded.

"What happened to cause this?"

Owen glanced down at Charlie and attempted to draw her out with pork. "She decided that chasing something down a puny hole was good hunting technique. The silly-butt got herself stuck and I had to pry her out."

"Worse than her encounter with Rexie?"

All of his girls honked and chirruped at that, none of them wanting to remember the day Owen had taken them for a drive around the park. Sitting safely in a big box, Owen had taken the baby raptors to the edge of each enclosure, allowing them to view their older and larger brethren up close and personal. The girls had been just fine with the Apatosaurus, Triceratops, and Edmontosaurus enclosures, excitedly peeping at the giant herbivores without a trace of fear. They had been a bit quieter at the Pachycephalosaurus and Ankylosaurus exhibits, but Owen chalked that up to those herbivores being more aggressive than their earlier counterparts. Three of the Pachys had even knocked themselves out during their visit.

The large predator enclosures, on the other hand...

"She didn't quite make it down my shirt this time," said Owen, fingers scratching at the raptor's exposed rump. "Not for lack of trying, of course, but I think the Rexie and Suchomimus encounters still take the cake for scaring my girls shitless."

"I don't know," said Barry as he dangled a string-like toy over Echo's head, "I thought the Mosasaurus show was the best one. Delta wanted to take Nellie down from the looks of it."

"And my little Bluebell tried to hide through half of the Cretaceous Cruise. Far too many big, bad Microceratus roaming around, eh?"

Blue huffed, obviously offended by this remark.

"Hey, you were clinging to my boot and whimpering." Owen wagged his finger at her. "Don't give me attitude or sass, little lady. It's unbecoming."

Another huff was what he got in return.

"Ugh, children these days," Owen groaned, "No respect whatsoever."

He slumped further back into the glider, happily accepting a beer from Barry, who'd disappeared into the house to ready some dinner for the girls. They'd spent the last few weeks overseeing construction of the raptor paddock, which would hopefully be completed within the next three months. Owen loved his girls to pieces, but they were healthy and sharp and fast growers, so it was only a matter of time before they'd be too big to live full-time in his fragile and very breakable house. He'd probably cry when that day came, but Owen knew it was inevitable.

Adult raptors had a bad habit of mauling and eating people, so high-security paddocks would be a must by this time next year.

"Hey, what're you doing, Delta?"

The green raptor was still looking at the road, eyes fixed on Hoskins' truck as it disappeared into the surrounding jungle. She turned around and chirped at Owen, unhappy that the park's resident asshole had gotten away with all of his skin intact.

"I already have a hole in my door," Owen chastised, "The last thing I need is a hole in my boss. Those paychecks are where your toys come from, I'll have you know."

And just like that, the mere mention of the word toy resulted in Delta dashing off to retrieve her favorite ball. Owen bought the sturdiest toys that money and the internet could buy, but his girls always destroyed them within a few days. However, for whatever reason, this particular ball had been extra-sturdy, surviving two weeks instead of the usual two days.

"Echo!" came a shout from inside the house. "Get out of the stove!"

Owen chuckled, acutely aware of the head that now rested on his lap. Apparently, Blue had seen fit to cuddle with her alpha instead of harassing Barry for extra scraps before dinner. She was mindful of her sister's tail, scooting around until they were all in a position that wouldn't result in evisceration.

"Hoskins ruin your appetite, baby Blue?"

She chittered in response, giving the road and jungle a disdainful look.

"Or make you hungrier?"

A hoot was what Owen got this time.

"Of course, sorry, I know you don't eat junk food. Too bad the same can't be said about your sister."

Both of them looked at Delta, who was now bumping and chasing her favorite ball in a circle around Owen's motorcycle. Blue was incredibly intelligent, and Owen knew that that intelligence would only increase with time. Dr. Wu had even warned him about it. But for now, she was an obedient little raptor who enjoyed playing with her sisters, cuddling with Owen, eating sirloins from Winston's Steakhouse, and planning Hoskins' eventual demise.

Owen could live with that.

Chapter Text

Owen's baby raptors were staring down a Suchomimus.

Why this was happening, Owen didn't know, but that didn't change the fact that his girls were staring down a massive and hungry-looking Suchomimus. If he'd been a lesser person, Owen Grady would've run away in abject terror, but he was a Velociraptor trainer and needed to grab his four way-too-curious-for-their-own-good baby raptors before making a break for it.

"She just ate seven huge fish, so you can stop pissing your pants, Grady."

"Doesn't make me less nervous."

Lily gave him a thin smile and said, "I saw her eat with my own eyes. And the invisible barrier's firmly in place. I just checked it myself."

That didn't stop Owen from inching forward, fully prepared to grab his girls and run for the truck. Theoretically, he knew that visible parts of the electric fence had an invisible barrier between each section, but the translucent spaces still worried him. His girls were scarcely larger than a beagle, so squeezing between the bars would be all too easy for them.

"You know how I feel about those things."

"Well, we're not gonna get anything better for the twittering masses anytime soon," said Lily as she walked up next to Owen's girls and leaned forward to examine her own charge. "Hey there, Rosie-Rose. Had a big lunch, didn't you? Let's take a look at those teeth."

Owen would've rolled his eyes, but he was just as corny with his raptors. All of the dinosaur keepers liked talking to their assigned animals. Hell, some of the dinosaurs even seemed to respond, like Rosie releasing a loud huff before opening her enormous maw.

"Looks like those back teeth are healing well," said Lily with no small amount of relief. "Won't need anything more than a visual check-up, it seems."

"Did she make one of the new vet interns faint again?"

"Not this time, but it was a close call."

Lily moved back and forth to look over Rosie's whole 35-foot length, jotting stuff down on her clipboard every couple seconds. It was the same form that Owen filled out each week, specially designed for each species in the park. The raptors were chittering about her feet now, warily curious about the huge crocodile-like dinosaur in front of them and hungry for the fish cubes that Lily must've had in her pockets.

"Hey, I gotta question."

"Shoot."

Blue had wandered over to nip at Owen's boots, nuzzling against his knee when he bent down to scratch her muzzle. The oldest raptor was clearly not fond of the much larger carnivore and had sought out her alpha for reassurance. Owen itched to pick her up, but she'd become a little more stubborn about that kinda affection lately. If you asked Owen, he'd say that his baby was growing up entirely too fast.

"Has Hoskins been bugging you lately?"

Owen snorted and said, "Need you even ask. He's always on me and Barry's shit-lists."

"Well, he's on mine now, too."

"Shit, what'd he do this time? Seems like he's been making his rounds over the past few days."

Lily grimaced at this, obviously not liking his answer. She walked over to a nearby platform and threw seven large fish over the barrier as a reward for Rosie's patient cooperation and good behavior. With a nod of consent from Owen, each of his girls received their own fish for acting like perfect little ladies and not nipping. Lily knew what his policy on rewards was, and she wouldn't ignore his authority over the raptors for any reason.

"He wanted to see what level of control I have over Rosie and the Baryonyx."

"Seriously?"

"I suspect that he would've thrown me into the pen if he could," Lily admitted. "I mean, Rosie and my other girls are all mediums on the Aggression Index, but I really don't want to put that score to the test. Violet's the only one I have close physical encounters with and that's because she's still a small juvenile. And I'm planning to stop that within the next four months or so."

"And he actually thought the others would be safe?"

"Oh, I don't think that he thinks they're safe in the slightest," countered Lily. "But I do think that he thinks they can be somewhat controlled by us. I told Vic that if he wanted to test his theories, then he was more than welcome to get into the pen with Daisy and Jasmine, but I'd be staying behind the locked fence."

"The man has delusions of grandeur, no doubt about it."

"Are you sure he wasn't shot or kicked in the head while serving?" asked Lily. She whistled for Rosie to turn around, which the large animal did after a couple moments. "Because he really has no clue what kinda damage these dinosaurs can do. Especially the carnivores."

"Barry says the same thing every time he shows up."

"He's gonna get an earful if he tries to say the same stuff to Jenny and Carl that he said to me. You know how they are when it comes to Rexie."

"I almost hope he does," said Owen with a vindictive smile, "Just to see what happens, you know."

Rosie received another huge fish for her cooperation, attention focused on Lily instead of the tiny raptors milling about in front of the big girl's paddock fence. One loud snort was enough to send his girls packing though, Charlie and Echo both racing over to hide behind Owen's legs. Blue and Delta were a bit more bold, standing several yards in front of their alpha, tails wagging in time with their small hisses.

"He keeps rambling about their possible applications on the battlefield," said Lily with an annoyed sigh. "I just wish he'd stay away. My girls get antsy every time he shows up and then it takes me several hours to calm them down. Rosie actually bumped the barrier yesterday and she never does that."

"Delta wants to rip a chunk out of him."

"Clever girl."

The green raptor chuffed in return, easily picking up on the compliment that Lily had given her. Along with Barry, Lily was one of the few humans that his raptors were willing to tolerate, mostly due to her experience with large predators and ability to predict and respect their boundaries.

"I don't want him anywhere near my girls, Owen." She was picking at her braided crown, which Lily only did when agitated or worried. "My skin crawls every time he looks at them."

Owen snorted. "I just wanna punch him."

"That'd be nice, too." She threw another couple fish to Rosie, who was being surprisingly docile. "But with Clover due to hatch in Dr. Wu's lab any day now, the timing just seems too coincidental. That man needs a kick in the butt, and I'll do it myself if it means keeping my girls safe in their enclosures. They don't deserve to be guinea pigs in some crazy field-testing scheme."

"What've you got planned then?"

Lily watched Blue and Delta creep a little closer to the fence and said, "Juan, Ricardo, and I are writing up a report. It'll detail all of our concerns and suggestions about the girls, and I'm going to give it to Mr. Masrani. He listens to us keepers, unlike Hoskins."

"And how're you gonna get it to him?"

"I'm planning to use my next couple lunch breaks to track down Claire Dearing. Oh, don't give me that face. If Claire's one thing, it's honest and efficient. She'll give the report straight to Masrani himself if I ask it of her."

Blue was now standing a few yards in front of Rosie, peeping and hooting at the large dinosaur who looked completely disinterested in the raptor. She had apparently realized that the Suchomimus couldn't get out of her enclosure and was taking advantage of it.

On the other hand, Charlie was attempting to climb into his boot.

"Just pick her up already," said Lily. She was gathering her tools now. "I know you want to, and it ain't like I'm gonna judge. They're damned cute at this age and you'd better enjoy it while you can."

"Speaking from experience?"

Lily looked wistful for a moment. "Of course. And mine were only little for a few short months. If that..."

Never one to ignore the younger woman's advice, Owen reached down to scoop up Charlie, automatically opening his right armpit for her snout to hide in. She was his most shy and subservient raptor, so it wasn't unusual for Charlie to seek out Owen's protection more often than her sisters. Thankfully, none of them seemed to hold it against her, and Blue even trotted over to check on her youngest packmate.

"Four feet tall is little?"

"Compared to this giant lady," said Lily with a grand gesture to Rosie, "Almost anything is tiny. Well, except for Nellie, that is."

"She'd eat Rexie if given the chance."

"Yeah, I'd prefer to never see a situation like that come to pass. I have a pact with Amanda that says our girls will never, ever some into contact with each other. We've been pretty good at upholding it so far, I think."

"Let's just hope Wu doesn't try cooking up something bigger than the Mosasaur. The day that happens, I quit."

"And your ladies?"

"I've got a contingency plan for them. Well, kinda..."

Their discussion was interrupted by Blue chirping up at her sister, concerned that Charlie had gotten herself into a bad situation again. His youngest avoided holes like the plague now, and could often be found glaring at the various holes underneath Owen's porch. Blue had been taking her role as beta more seriously since Hoskins' appearance last week, so Owen wasn't surprised to see her chittering around his feet.

"So damned smart," Lily muttered. She'd already loaded everything onto her truck. "Makes my girls look like kindergartners. And speaking of girls, I gotta head off and do a visual check-up on my Baryonyx." She checked her watch and cursed, New Jersey accent bleeding through as she jumped into the truck. "Shit! Running a bit late, actually. Take care of your daddy, ladies! See you, Rosie!"

"Let me know how the report goes!"

"Will do!"

They all watched the truck drive off, even the Suchomimus standing up a little taller to watch her keeper disappear into the jungle. After a few moments, Owen turned back to stare at the massive beast in front of him.

"You haven't once tried to eat me," said Owen. "I like you. You're a good girl."

Rosie looked at him and the girls with nothing short of blatant boredom, obviously unimpressed by the human that Lily had left her behind with. There was a sharp intelligence in those crocodilian eyes, one that Owen preferred to never encounter without an electric fence and high-powered rifles between them. Everyone said he was insane for working with Velociraptors, but the Tyrannosaurus, Suchomimus, Baryonyx, and Metriacanthosaurus trainers were a special kind of crazy, too. However, the one thing they all had in common was their respect for these large predators and the wildness inherent in their blood.

Too bad Hoskins didn't listen to a damn word that came out of their mouths.

And then Owen felt a small mouth nipping at his knees, Blue peeping and hooting in that indignant way of hers. Echo and Delta had also gathered around, ignoring the Suchomimus that was retreating back into the depths of her enclosure.

"Okay, okay, no need to shred my legs like you've done to my house," Owen scolded. He leaned down so the girls could smell their sister, Blue nosing at Charlie's butt to get a satisfactory response. "See? Your sister's just fine. Rosie gave her a bit of a fright, that's all."

Delta glared at the now empty fence, clearly offended on behalf of her sister.

"She's probably less of a threat to you than Hoskins is, sweetheart," said Owen as he reached over to scratch Delta's neck. "And I think it's about time for lunch, so let's get going, ladies."

This pulled an excited hoot from Blue and Echo.

"I'm hoping it's some Winston's Steaks, too." He whistled the girls over to his truck. "C'mon, Delta, time to get some grub. Rosie's gone."

He deposited his girls into the truck's backseat, securing two of them into each of the boxes that he'd finagled seatbelts through. Charlie was still being needy and clingy, so Owen put her into the same box as Blue, who took her job as pack beta and oldest sister quite seriously. The striped raptor wasted no time in cuddling up against Blue, peeping in contentment when Owen added a soft blanket and chew toy to the mix. She'd be fast asleep by the time they reached his and Barry's agreed meeting spot just outside of the Aviary.

"And let's hope that Barry picked up some margaritas while he was at it," grumbled Owen as he started down the road. "All this damned Hoskins business is giving me a headache."

Blue peeped in agreement. She was tired of that stupid man, too.

"Fingers crossed that Lily's bitch-report works and Vic'll have to keep his nose outta your training for the next, oh, twenty or thirty years."

To say that Delta's hiss was vindictive would be an understatement.

"No thigh or crotch-ripping, honey." Owen was firm on this subject. "We've talked about this, remember?"

An unhappy chuff was all he got in return.

"Well, I guess that's better than nothing." He turned west towards the Aviary and released a sigh of parental frustration. "Mom always warned that I'd have to pick my battles wisely someday."

The girls seemed to snicker, or at least three of them did. Charlie was asleep.

"And stop chewing on the seatbelt, Echo! Nope, no peeping! I refuse to listen to the peeping. Jerry will have my ears if he has to fix them again."

Oh yes, his girls were definitely laughing at him.

Chapter Text

Owen Grady was a single father.

Not in the human sense, of course, but Barry had been joking about him being a single raptor daddy for months now and had even pinned a Father's Day card to his office door last week. Half of the other trainers had signed it, all of them commiserating on the many issues that came with single parenthood. Lily and Amanda both thought they needed to start a dinosaur support group. Owen was convinced that he needed to get new friends.

Or a love life.

Not that that last one was possible, anyways. And why was that? Oh, yes, four baby raptors. They were more work than any human baby Owen had ever encountered, and he had several nieces and nephews to use for comparison. His mother and sisters thought the whole thing was hilarious, especially since Owen had been undecided on children since joining the U.S. Navy and then entering the SEALS. All Karen Grady had had to say on the subject was that she'd expected her grandbabies to be more furry than scaly, but she'd take what she could get from him.

Hopefully, said scaly grandbabies would behave themselves around Auntie Meredith and Jenny next month. A certain degree of insanity ran strong in the Grady family, as evidenced by his sisters' eagerness to meet the prehistoric killing machines that were his girls. But on the other hand, dragging Owen's little brother to the island was a whole different matter. Patrick claimed that being eaten by giant lizards wasn't something he wanted on his tombstone any time soon.

"Ladies! Please stop fighting over the dead rat! I'm trying to concentrate here."

Honestly, it was like trying to corral a roomful of toddlers some days, except these ones had razor sharp teeth and sickle-claws that could gut any human who got too close to it.

Okay, maybe Patrick had a good point about the whole getting-eaten-by-lizards thing. It had some merit. Maybe...

Then he heard a peep at his feet.

"No, Echo, you're not allowed to chase down the delivery trucks. It scares the workers and makes Claire wanna kill me."

How pitiful could the peeping get? Pretty pitiful.

"There's a big storm coming, sweetheart." Owen leaned back in his desk chair to stare at the two raptors who'd climbed up his bookshelf, beady eyes staring at him like little gremlins. "And we're gonna have to move to the safehouse soon. There's no time for playing outside."

Delta chuffed, not liking his answer.

"Well, I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. Hurricanes don't care about raptor playtime."

He stood up after that, whistling for Blue and Charlie to come out of the kitchen. Owen had already packed a ready bag full of clothes, toys, and any other essentials they would need while riding out the storm, well aware that his girls would be frightened and restless while confined to such a small space. They were used to being able to roam his house and the surrounding fields now that they growing larger in size, so keeping them entertained and busy would be a challenge. Thankfully, Barry had volunteered to handle the food situation ahead of time and was probably finished filling the safehouse freezers by this point.

"Okay, girls, are we ready to go?"

Charlie hooted around the tattered blanket in her mouth. It was her favorite and she took it everywhere with her.

"At least someone listens to me."

It only took a few minutes for Owen to load up the truck and secure his girls in their travel boxes, all of them becoming more cooperative as thunder started to sound in the distance. A Category 3 hurricane would be brushing by the island sometime tonight, so Owen had opted to leave his house and seek shelter in one of the park's many safehouses. They'd weathered a tropical depression last month, but this storm was much larger and Owen didn't want to take any chances with the girls and his house's proximity to the water.

"Everything good, ladies?"

He received four peeps in return, the girls flinching when a streak of lightning twisted across the darkening sky. One look at the radar told Owen that he needed to get a move on, especially since the winds were really picking up now.

"Things are gonna get a little muddy and bumpy, so hang tight, girls. Barry's got everything waiting for us."

Blue looked out the window and chirped at him.

"Yeah, even my bike. No way was I leaving that here with no protection from the elements. Don't trust that garage, either."

A pair of ATVs drove past them when they were halfway to the safehouse, turning left onto a road that Owen himself had never ventured down. It was even deeper in the Restricted Zone than the raptor paddock and his own home, so Owen was more than a little curious about what was going on over there. Only a select few dinos lived in the RZ, namely his Velociraptors, some groups of wild Compys, and a small herd of free-roaming Brachiosaurs from the original park. Everything else, including the dinosaurs, was located in the park itself and kept under tight watch by those at Central Control.

If Masrani had started some new project east of the volcano, then Owen hadn't heard anything about it.

Not that those thoughts mattered much right now. Thick bands of rain had started to come down like a torrential downpour, battering the truck and upsetting his girls in turn. Charlie was peeping nonstop, little more than a whimpering ball at Blue's side. His oldest tried to provide some comfort, but Charlie wouldn't be quiet or happy until she was far away from the rain and cuddled up to Owen. Even Echo and Delta were getting antsy, heads bobbing to and fro as their alpha drove along a bumpy, rarely used jungle road.

"We're almost there, sweethearts. Just another minute or two, I promise."

To say that he was relieved when the concrete safehouse came into view was an understatement. Charlie had been getting louder and louder with every minute that passed and Owen knew she'd be a peeping, jittery wreck the rest of the night. As reliable as ever, Barry was waiting for them at the entrance and opened the door so that Owen could get the truck's side as close as possible.

"How're they doing?" was Barry's first question when he crawled halfway into the truck. "Storm's moving faster than the meteorologists predicted."

"Charlie's a mess," warned Owen as he reached back to unstrap the boxes, "So I'll take her and Blue if you grab Delta and Echo."

"They know what we're doing?"

"Yeah, they've got an idea." He whistled for the girls to stay calm and reached back for the box that had Delta and Echo in it. "Okay, babies, I'm gonna hand you to Barry and he's gonna take you inside where it's safe. I'll be right behind with your sisters."

Both raptors chirped and curled deeper into the box, all but hiding under the blankets Owen had given them.

"Okay, ready, set, go..."

It took less than ten seconds for Barry to grab the box and disappear into the safehouse, his girls chittering all the while like a pair of frightened children. Owen was swift with his own set of charges, giving Blue a quick scratch on the head before he scooted across the bench seat, grabbed the box, and made a mad dash through the pelting rain. The whole thing lasted less than fifteen seconds, but it was more than enough time for Owen to look like a drowned rat.

"Take care of the girls," said Barry. "I'll unload everything else from the truck. Already drenched, anyways."

Owen gave him a grateful smile and reached down to pet his peeping raptors, Echo and Delta having already tumbled out of the carry boxes to investigate their new surroundings. Blue stood just outside of hers, circling the box every couple seconds to chirp encouragement at Charlie, who was still hiding underneath her blanket.

"Awww, my poor lil' Charlie-bell," cooed Owen, fingers tracing up and down the hiding raptor. "We're outta the rain, darling. You can come out now."

With Blue's assistance, he was eventually able to coax Charlie out into the open, or at least onto his blanket-covered lap. She didn't even peep when Owen wrapped her up and walked over to the bed to change, tiny head twisting this way and that as her sisters traipsed around the safehouse. Meanwhile, Barry had returned from unloading the truck, nearly tripping over Delta and Echo when they started begging for food.

"Calm down, calm down," said Barry. "I picked up lots of tasty cold-cuts for you, mademoiselles. Let's head to the freezer, c'mon..."

"Aren't you going?" Owen asked Blue. "It's probably beef."

Blue chirped and hopped over to her sister, nuzzling Charlie until she came out into the open with her favorite chew toy. Rain still pounded down on the roof and loud booms even rattled the concrete walls, but Blue's game of fetch was enough to divert Charlie's attention away from the worst of it. Meanwhile, Owen prepared their queen-sized bed with plenty of blankets and pillows, situating them into an open space for him and a pile-like nest for the girls. Yet again, Barry had planned ahead and made sure to order a bed that was large enough for a full-grown man and four beagle-sized raptors.

"Looks like I'll be picking up a couple six-packs this weekend. And some of those fancy red wines he likes so much."

He blinked when Charlie suddenly ran straight into his leg, the little raptor shaking herself with a surprised peep. With a knowing eye, Owen looked at a nearby table and spotted Blue hiding underneath of it. She had an entirely too-pleased expression on her face, obviously having tossed the toy in a way that would cause Charlie to run right into their alpha.

"I see what you did there, little lady."

Owen's beta scurried under the bed with a mischievous hoot. And then another toy came flying out of the darkness.

"Well, go get it," he said to a puzzled-looking Charlie. "Show your sister those fetching skills we've been working on, sweetheart. Hey, no chewing on the shoelaces."

Yet another toy rolled across the floor and Charlie took after it like a bullet.

"Besides," said Owen as he finished the nest, "Lots of running around will tucker them out. More sleep for me."

"Who's hungry for some beef cubes and pork-chops?"

In less than five seconds, Barry was mobbed by peeping raptors, only Owen's sharp whistle and emergence of the clicker stopping them from going right at his hands.

"Hey, hey! None of that!"

Owen snapped his fingers and pointed at a spot in the room's center, all four raptors scurrying over to stand in a semi-orderly line. He made sure their eyes were on him when Barry handed over each bowl of meat, reenforcing his position as alpha and head of the pack.

"Good girls," praised Owen. "Okay, Charlie, you're first."

He set down the bowl and gave the hand gesture for his youngest to dig into her evening meal.

"You're next Echo. That's it, baby. Good girl. Now Delta..."

As the pack's beta, Owen always made sure to feed Blue last, hoping that this would keep her from attempting any type of power struggle in the future. It showed that Owen was the alpha and controlled the food, reminding Blue and her sisters who was in charge of their little family group. It was working well so far, and Owen never waited more than a few seconds to feed his oldest raptor.

"Here's your share, baby Blue." He gave her a small smile. "Bon appétit."

If Owen snuck her a few extra pieces of beef, well, nobody needed to know about that. Blue wasn't necessarily his favorite—Owen loved all of his babies, bad traits and all—but she was his first-born and held a special place in his heart because of it.

"Your pronunciation is terrible."

"Shut up."

The girls ate like their usual ravenous selves, not even the thunder disturbing their hunger in the slightest. With the raptors sufficiently occupied, Owen and Barry took to organizing the safehouse how they pleased, both of them knowing that they'd be stuck there for at least one or two days. Hurricanes were finicky and anyone who lived along the eastern coastlines of North and Central America learned how to weather through them.

"You boarded up the house, right?"

"Finished this morning," said Owen as he rearranged the girls' favorite toys. "The weathermen said it shouldn't last more than two days, but after last year's Hurricane Cecilia, I'm taking their advice with a grain of salt."

Barry nodded and said, "The girls are calmer than I thought they'd be."

"Just wait until we get more than the outer bands of it. You'll be happy to be locked away and sleeping in that side-room, I can assure you."

"They're becoming more... chewy now."

"Hence, why you're getting locked away behind a door," said Owen. "They won't do anything to me, but I'd rather not take the chance with anyone else. To be honest, I doubt they'd do anything to you... not yet, at least. But better safe than sorry, right?"

"Do not fear," said Barry as he went to ready his own room, "Being a raptor chew toy is at the bottom of my life goals."

"Good to hear, buddy."

They were all in bed by nine o'clock, wind and rain now lashing at anything that stood more than an inch above ground. The damned storm had been upgraded to a Category 4 less than an hour ago and as predicted, Owen was little more than a glorified pillow for his four baby raptors. Blue was curled along the top of his head, Echo beside his left hip with Delta, and Charlie had made a space for herself in his right armpit.

She had a favorite armpit. It was kinda cute, in a stinky way.

"Well," Owen mumbled to himself, "Looks like this'll be a long night."

A quiet peep sounded in his left ear, Blue shifting her small body into a more comfortable position. Her teeth were right next to Owen's vulnerable throat, but he wasn't scared. Blue was a smart and loyal girl who knew what was best for her and her sisters; she was smarter than a lot of humans, as Barry often pointed out. And Owen was, first and foremost, the raptors' primary protector and father-figure. From the first moment Blue had opened her eyes, Owen had been there, a constant presence in a chaotic and strange world.

To Blue, Owen and her sisters were everything.

"Just go to sleep, baby Blue." He cooed and scratched at her neck, smiling when he was nuzzled in return. "Things should be a little calmer in the morning. Or so says the weatherman. Not that I trust him, of course."

Blue's reply was to nibble on Owen's hair. Oh well, at least it wasn't his ear, right?

Chapter Text

Owen was really fucking pissed off.

Actually, scratch that, he was far beyond pissed off. At this point, he was seriously considering bodily harm and allowing his girls to rip something apart. But no, Owen had to remain professional and calm and in control or else somebody really was going to die. And in the next two minutes, at this rate.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Ummm..."

"No, that's not good enough. And what did I say about moving! Stop fucking moving!"

"Okay, okay, just please..."

"Delta? Hey, Delta! I see you over there! Back up!"

A hiss was all that Owen got in return and he hadn't expected much more, either. His raptors had been peacefully playing in a deserted field when four people had stumbled out of the far-off jungle, none of them being nearly as quiet or stealthy as they thought they were. Within less than a second, Owen's girls had taken off like bats out of hell, zooming straight for the morons who'd decided that an afternoon jaunt in the Restricted Zone was a good idea. Only Blue had remained behind to see what Owen's reaction was, and only Owen's sharp whistles and shouts had stopped his babies from turning into man-eaters.

"Yeah, you back up too, Echo! Hey, don't you growl at me!"

Echo hissed again.

"No, I won't be having any of that attitude, young lady. Back up!"

For the past five minutes, Owen's foremost thought has been to thank every deity in the universe for his amazing and beautiful Blue. She'd intercepted her sisters only six feet away from the terrified humans, snapping and barking at them to back up and wait for their sprinting alpha to arrive. Owen hadn't run so fast and hard since BUDS training, covering a quarter mile of field in scarcely one minute, lungs and legs burning from the horrendous strain. But getting to his bloodthirsty girls had been priority number one and Owen had endured far worse during his time in the SEALS.

Except for the whole man-eating baby raptors part. That one was new. Very, very new.

"Good girls," Owen praised. They'd moved about ten feet away from the cowering tourists now. "Yeah, that's it, sweeties. Good girls. Stay there."

"What—"

"And you lot shut the hell up if you don't wanna become raptor chow, hear me?"

The four idiots nodded their heads.

"Don't move or even twitch a finger, either. I can't guarantee my girls won't take a chunk out of you otherwise."

With that said, Owen clicked on his radio and sent a call out for Barry and several ACU personnel, alerting them about the situation and how cautiously they'd need to approach if they wanted to prevent copious amounts of bloodshed. His girls were no bigger than a Siberian husky at this point, but Owen also knew they were more than capable of ripping apart a full-grown man. Thankfully, Blue and her sisters were still firmly in the hatchling mindset, so none of them had attempted to jostle for power yet.

"Now listen here, you bunch of thrill-seeking idiots," said Owen, stance and tone screaming authority as loud as possible. "I don't know how or why you thought it'd be a good idea to sneak—and there's absolutely no way you could've gotten here without planning it—onto this part of the island, but it was easily one of the worst ideas you could've ever come up with. Why?"

Four sets of wide eyes just stared at him.

"Because this particular three mile stretch is purposely fenced off for my Velociraptors. It's high security and runs along the other paddocks, allowing my girls to get a good look at the other dinosaurs our park has to offer. Some of the best socialization I could give them, and I only give my girls the best." Owen watched Delta and Echo, his eyes tracking every twitch of their claws and teeth. "But you guys? Yeah, you aren't supposed to be here. Ever."

"We just—"

"Shut up! I'm talking for a reason and it's to keep my raptors attention off of you and stuck on me," said Owen. "You're damned lucky that Blue intercepted Echo when she did, or else your guts would be painting the grass right now."

Blue chittered behind him.

"And thank you for that, darling. You'll be getting some nice, tasty rats once we're home."

The sound of trees rustling caught Owen's attention, his eyes shifting to look at the massive fence directly behind the tourists. His girls were chittering to each other now, shifting restlessly as a shadow fell across the open field and rocky outcrops.

Ah, there she was.

"You were trying to sneak into the Suchomimus enclosure, weren't you?"

It only took a single look at their guilty faces for Owen to see that he'd guessed right. The park had had issues like this before, although it was usually with the T. rex paddock, not those far out along the Restricted Zone. Some people—really, really stupid people—didn't seem to understand that taking an up-close and personal selfie with Rexie would result in them becoming her afternoon snack. The old girl may have been slow in her dotage, but she'd take off like a bullet if something warm and tasty was placed right in front of her.

Darwinism at its finest.

"Of all the stupid bullshit you four could've pulled," Owen mumbled to himself. "Does the word restricted me nothing to your small, primitive brains?"

"What's that—"

"Don't turn around or move a muscle," he snapped. "You wanted to see a Suchomimus up close? Well, our gal Rosie's right behind you, staring through her fence. No need to worry, she can't get out of there. You're safe here. Well, at least from Rosie, you are. I'm still working on the Velociraptor part."

Owen felt a small breeze near his leg and didn't hesitate to whistle.

"Stop right there, Charlie. Back up!"

His youngest barked in frustration, something that she had only learned how to do last week, tail wiggling back and forth when one of the tourists shuffled in fear. But yet again, Blue came to the rescue and nipped her sister on the butt.

"That's it," cooed Owen. He even reached down to scratch Charlie's head, relieved to hear her purr of delight. "Good girl. You're such a good girl, Charlie-bell."

A deep rumble came from Rosie, her head right up against the fence.

"Don't expect to ever be coming back to this park." Owen knew he was being mean and nasty, but he didn't care in the slightest. "You put not only yourselves in danger, but other parkgoers, employees, and my raptors. These animals are dangerous predators who will gladly tear apart anything that looks like food to them. And you four are nothing more than squishy meatbags in their eyes."

Echo barked in agreement.

"And here comes the cavalry now," said Owen. The sound of Barry's ATV and several trucks could be heard in the distance. "Do not move and whatever you do, do not run. My girls will be on your back before you even make it five feet."

With a sharp whistle and hand gesture, he slowly started to lead his raptors away from the tourists and out into the field, knowing that Barry would come straight to him while ACU handled the four idiots. The Frenchman would know to bring fresh meat with him, and Owen was banking on that meat to keep his girls distracted and satisfied while ACU hauled Morons 1 through 4 back to the park.

"Delta, back up! Hey, hey! Don't give me that shit! I see you, Charlie!"

The next few minutes were nerve-wracking and Owen wondered more than once why he was doing this to himself. Every time the idiots so much as twitched, one of his girls would take a step forward, which Owen then had to combat with his authority as their alpha and father-figure. It was exhausting and he was ecstatic to see Barry's ATV appear over the hilltop.

"I owe that man so much Chardonnay and Villard noir, it's not even funny anymore."

As he got closer, Barry slowed down and finally stopped about twenty or so yards from Owen and the girls. ACU wasn't far behind, approaching the idiotic tourists at a slow and cautious pace just downwind of Barry's current position. Owen was relieved to see Katashi Hamada driving the first vehicle, Jenna Meyers and Austin Lee armed and ready in the truck's bed. All of them were good people who genuinely cared for the animals, especially Katashi and Austin, both of whom had their own pet reptiles that they liked to brag about.

Katashi's blue iguanas, Suzu and Aki, were a frequent topic of conversation and Owen always asked about the Grand Cayman Recovery Program whenever they had a chance to get drinks together. Jenna's African grey parrot just wanted to kill everyone around him, period.

"Please tell me you brought some of the you-know-what?"

Barry smirked and said, "I have a whole trunk of it right here. Mademoiselles already smell it."

"Yeah, Charlie's kinda foaming, I think."

If Owen did a happy dance in the privacy of his mind, then nobody needed to know about it because his girls were no longer looking at the tourists like they were carefully prepared plates of 25 ounce bone-in ribeye from Winston's Steakhouse.

"Okay, my little darlings," said Owen with a sharp whistle. Four heads bobbed to stare at him. "Since you were all such perfect ladies and didn't maul or eat any of the stupid humans, Barry's brought you some extra-tasty..."

"La viande."

Four butts wiggled in anticipation and Owen had to fight down a guffaw at the sight. His girls were as familiar with French as they were English, so any variation of the word for meat—be it pork, beef, goat, chicken, venison, or the occasional goose—was enough to get their tails lashing. With their attention successfully diverted from the tourists, Owen stepped forward with his clicker and started their usual feeding routine, keeping his hand gestures as straightforward and concise as possible.

"Charlie? Yep, that's it, sweetie. Stay, stay... That's a good girl. Okay, go ahead."

His youngest leapt right onto the huge rump steak that Barry pulled out of the ATV's trunk, small jaws ripping and tearing through the tough meat like it was nothing more than softened butter. Owen ignored the horrified gasps from behind him.

Let the morons see what Jurassic World's animals were capable of, what they could do to an arrogant human or defenseless slab of meat. Maybe they'd learn a little respect and caution from this whole debacle.

"You're next, Echo. Stay right there. You're such a good girl. Yep, you can chow down."

Owen tried not to laugh when Echo attempted to do her usual tuck and roll with the thick shoulder roast that Barry had thrown at her. Instead of being graceful and raptor-like, Echo pulled off a truly impressive face-plant into the ground, honking in surprise when she got a mouthful of meat and dirt.

"Not your greatest moment, honey."

If glares could kill, then Owen would be a pile of bones in the afternoon sun. Honestly, that glare was just too cute. He needed to take a picture of it.

"Delta? Oh, just look at you, waiting like a perfect lady. Eat up."

With a snooty look at her dirt-covered sister, Delta hopped over the bloody flank and started to delicately tear into it, purposely giving Echo a superior chitter and snort every other bite. It eventually earned her a tail-whack to the muzzle.

"Ladies, ladies! Behave yourselves, please, we have an au—"

Owen barely dodged the fighting siblings, who were now rolling back and forth across the ground, startling nearly everyone within a half-mile radius. The tourists were sheet-white, and Owen wouldn't have been surprised if the kid standing right outside of the transport van had shit himself. Obviously, his raptors didn't care if Rosie or ACU were watching them, either.

"Someone up there really hates me," grumbled Owen. "Ladies! You're disgracing the uniform! Oh, to hell with it. Go ahead, Blue."

The beta didn't hesitate to kick her sisters to the side and claim the huge strips of sirloin that Barry had brought for her. In her usual elegant manner, Blue picked up her share and took it over to sit alongside Charlie, oldest and youngest eating their meals with some degree of civility and respect. Owen's middle girls, on the other hand...

"Hamada, please tell me that you're about ready to scuttle off," said Owen into the radio. "I've got a sisterly quarrel here, and even though it looks more friendly than nasty, I'd prefer no one besides me be around to witness it."

"Ten-four. Locked and loaded. Will Barry be going with us?"

The trainers shared a look before Owen said, "He'll be returning to the raptor paddock. The girls are pretty wired right now, so I'm gonna have them get some more playtime in before nightfall."

"Make sure to have them in your zone before 1800 hours. No exceptions."

"I know, I know. Good luck with the schmucks."

"...What?"

Owen snickered and said, "Yiddish insult. Just ignore the American slang, Hamada."

"Ten-four."

Just as ACU and Barry were preparing to depart, something must've ticked off or spooked Rosie, who unleashed an enormous roar at the fence. Owen would've jumped if he hadn't seen his girls go rigid beforehand, their attention focused on the larger carnivore mere seconds before she started throwing a raucous fit. Despite knowing that Rosie couldn't escape from her enclosure, ACU still trained their weapons on the 35-foot long dinosaur and observed her strange behavior with a critical eye.

"What is it, Echo? Do you see something?"

Said raptor was staring at the ground a couple yards away from Rosie's position, eyes trained on an overgrown spot on their side of the fence. She released a few chitters, but didn't attempt to approach the fence itself. It wasn't until Rosie calmed down that they heard what it was, and Owen felt like banging his head against a wall.

"Kinda sounds like one of those..." Barry struggled for the English word. "Flicker cameras?"

"Yeah, the fancy, expensive ones."

Knowing exactly who that irritating gadget belonged to, Owen marched over to the fence and grabbed the flashy Nikon camera that had been tossed into a clump of bushes. It was flickering non-stop and Owen solved that little problem by smashing it against a rock, effectively ending the sound that had been irritating poor Rosie and her sensitive eardrums.

"That better, girl?"

Owen expected the deep rumble from Rosie, but not the quiet peep from behind his left foot.

"Come to protect me, Blue?"

She chirped and nipped at his pants in response, determined to physically drag her beloved alpha away from the larger predator. Not that Rosie seemed to care; now that the irritating noise had stopped, she'd become more interested in other things, like the familiar whistles and calls of Lily from another part of her paddock. Obviously, it was Suchomimus dinner time, and fish was on the menu.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Owen assured. "No need to rip apart another pair of pants. Careful!"

Within a few moments, four little raptors were corralling him across the field and well away from Rosie's enclosure. Owen exerted some authority and made sure they picked up the meat chunks as they passed by, but the girls were insistent about getting him back to his motorcycle and far, far away from Rosie and the moronic humans.

"Ah, so now you gals wanna be helpful. Kinda late, if you ask me."

Blue chuffed at him.

"Yeah, I'm proud of my girls," said Owen with a big smile. "You didn't eat any junk food! Ha! Look at that, I've managed to pull off one of the trickiest trials of parenthood."

Even the always clever Blue looked confused by this admission. Charlie hooted around her steak.

"I can't wait to tell my mom about this. She'll be so jealous." Owen paused at his bike. "Well, after I'm done terrifying the tourists. Someone's gotta give a report on them, so why not just do it in person, right?"

His girls chirped in agreement.

"Too bad none of you can fit in my backpack anymore. That'd be an awesome surprise."

Chapter Text

Delta was barely breathing.

After returning from a food run to the main park, it had only taken Owen a few seconds to realize that something was wrong at the raptor paddock. He could hear his girls barking and honking like no tomorrow, practically drowning out the shouts of everyone that worked under Owen and Barry. He'd sprinted straight to the recently completed paddock, coming right up alongside Barry at the front gate.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," said the Frenchman. "They were playing with their newest batch of toys when Delta started acting lethargic and then fell over. Blue won't allow me to get close and the girls will attack anyone else who tries to enter the paddock. I don't want to tranq them, though."

Owen didn't hesitate to hit the entry button. "Dr. Schaefer's already on his way?"

"He's bringing an ambulance with him."

"Good."

With quick but cautious steps, Owen approached the nearest corner where his girls were huddled into a pile of anxious shrieks and cries, tails lashing back and forth as they attempted to help their sickened sister. He made plenty of noise, alerting the jittery raptors to his presence and letting them know that alpha was coming to see what was going on. Echo came racing over to him, chattering and clicking with distress.

"I know, darling, I know," Owen cooed. He scratched at her quivering neck, eyes darting between his other two raptors. "But I need to check on your sister. Let me through, okay?"

She latched onto her alpha's shirt and dragged him over to Delta.

"Okay, everybody, back up, back up. I can't help her without getting a closer look. That's it. Awww, shit..."

A puddle of bloody vomit was laying beneath Delta's head, the smell acrid and strong enough to make Owen consider vomiting himself. Her breathing was shallow and eyes dangerously droopy, which worried Owen to the point where he actually had to fight down two bouts of bile. It took less than ten seconds for him to regroup and slip back into alpha/daddy mode.

"Delta, sweetie, I need you to look at me," Owen said, voice stern around the clicks he was also making with his tongue. "C'mon, look at me, little one. Yeah, that's it. Show me those pretty eyes."

Owen maintained a safe distance until he was sure that Delta recognized him; sick or injured animals often lashed out in fear and he'd received his fair share of scars from handling such animals in the past. It took a few moments, but Delta's eyes eventually focused on Owen and her immediate reaction of quiet chitters was all the confirmation that he needed to more closely assess her.

"Shhhh, it's okay, I'm just gonna move you a little bit. Just focus on my voice, sweetie."

He spoke through the whole process of moving her into the medical room, which was located right next to the ready-cages. Since Delta was now the size of a Golden Labrador, Owen had quite the difficult time finding a comfortable and sturdy position to carry her, but Blue helped by using her muzzle to support and counter the other raptor's heavy tail. The other handlers and paddock crew were watching with baited breath, all of them just waiting for one of the raptors to lash out and spill Owen's guts all over the ground.

"The med doors are open and all locks are secure," said one of the handlers. "Dr. Schaefer's coming down the road now."

"Sedation ready?"

"Everything's laid out on the far left table for you." Jason was responsible for most of the girls' medications and he was damned good at it. "I double-checked all doses and prepared a saline drip to counteract dehydration. The primary med-kit's in the bottom right cabinet."

As Owen neared the med room, he whistled for his girls to hang back. They did so with great reluctance, barking and peeping in distress.

"Close the door."

That triggered a whole new wave of barking, but Owen ignored them in favor of Delta, who was so lethargic that she didn't even respond to her sisters' cries. With a grunt of exertion, Owen carefully laid her on the examination table, rubbing up and down Delta's back in a fruitless effort to reassure her. Or maybe he was just trying to reassure himself.

"Okay, baby girl, let's get you feeling a bit better now."

It only took a few minutes for the sedatives to kick in, allowing Dr. Schaefer to enter and examine the sickened Velociraptor. Despite still being juveniles, Owen's ladies were becoming more aggressive with every month that passed, so all medical treatments that couldn't be performed by Owen or in the ready-cages now had be done while the girls were under sedation. It made Owen feel like a heel every time, but no other method was safe anymore.

"The problem appears to be centered in her stomach cavity," said the elderly vet after several minutes of examination. "We'll need to transport her to the RZ medical facility. It's likely digestive, so I want x-rays and will possibly need to pump her stomach."

"Do you want a sample of her vomit?"

Schaefer shook his head. "I've gotten enough from her mouth. A list of her daily diet would be helpful. And not the official one that I know everyone fudges on. Give me the real one, and I mean absolutely anything that may have entered her stomach. Be it food or a rock."

"I'll come up with one and have Barry add to it."

Everything was a whirlwind after that, especially since Delta's breathing had become more labored with each passing minute. Barry assured him that he'd take care of the girls, so Owen hopped in the back of the med transport with his lady, eyes trained on her vitals and IV drips. He gently rubbed at the back of Delta's head, making a mental list of everything she'd ate in the last week.

Two hours passed before Schaefer emerged from surgery, eyes and face calm enough to make Owen relax just a little bit. He'd been on the phone with Barry for over an hour, hashing out every single thing that Delta may have recently ingested. The girls must have been able to hear his voice because Owen could certainly hear them over the connection.

By God, were his ladies ever loud when they put their minds to it.

"How is she?"

"Well, the good news is that her stomach itself wasn't bleeding," said Dr. Schaefer. "That was my primary concern and reason for performing a gastric lavage. Her liver and kidneys are also functioning and have no long-term damage. Most of what she has now is inflammation, which I've administered and prescribed for, along with an IV drip for acute dehydration. We can return her to the paddock's med room within the hour, but I'd prefer to keep her under observation for the night."

"Here's the list of her food intake."

The doctor looked over it with a deft eye, marking several of the items for reference before saying, "I'm going to examine and test her stomach contents myself. And I've already called in Dr. Mears from the botanical gardens to identify any plant matter that she may have ingested. Some inorganic material is to be expected and I'll be able to see if that caused the issue instead of her primary diet."

Owen nodded, mind racing through his college zoology classes. Toxicology and physiology had never been his strong suits, but he knew enough to expand on a few of his own suspicions. Of course, they were probably wrong, so he decided to just stay silent for now and wait for the experts' opinions first.

"Can I see her?"

"We would prefer to transport her as quickly as possible, for obvious reasons," said the doctor with a knowing smile, "So if you could help my rather twitchy staff, that would be greatly appreciated."

He didn't need to be told twice and raced out of the waiting room.

The drive back to the raptor paddock was nerve-wracking for both Owen and the veterinary staff, although for very different reasons. Owen was the only one willing to stay in the back with a sedated and restrained Delta, whose mere presence was enough to set most of the island's personnel on edge. Not that he could really blame them for being fearful; Owen was well-aware of how dangerous his girls were becoming, especially towards anyone besides himself and maybe Barry.

They're lethal at eight months, Robert Muldoon had written in his journal, And I do mean lethal. They'll kill anyone they can get their teeth on, including their own.

Not quite true, at least in regards to Owen, but his girls had started taking swipes at some of the other handlers. Only Barry had remained immune to their increasingly aggressive temperament, and they knew that would eventually change as well. It was only a matter of time, which was why Owen had already begun the girls' transition from his home to a permanent place at the paddock.

The next few weeks were going to be absolute hell.

"Okay, let's get her moved into the med room and then you guys can wait outside," said Owen when they arrived. "You can... observe from over there. Stick to the usual drill, okay?"

After rearranging Delta on a nest of palm leaves and blankets that Barry had placed in the corner, Owen walked over to the barred paddock door and pulled up both screens that obscured the outside view. And just as he suspected, Echo, Blue, and Charlie were waiting right there, chirping and barking when their alpha finally appeared again.

"Hey there, darlings. I'm sorry for worrying you so much." He gently rubbed at each of their noses. "But look, here's your sister. Yeah, she doesn't look too good right now with that IV, but she's gonna be fine."

Echo shoved at the door, eyes roaming back and forth over Delta's sleeping form.

"I know, I know," Owen whispered. "Had me right worried, too. From the looks of it, your sister's been eating something she shouldn't and it made her sick."

All of his girls chuffed at this, miffed that Delta still wasn't moving for them.

"She should wake up in the next couple minutes," he assured. "And she'll be a little confused and queasy, so keep talking to her, okay?"

Blue seemed to understand and chirped to her sisters. With Charlie and Echo on board, the three raptors curled up in front of the door and started chirping and chittering amongst themselves, occasionally including Owen in their raptor-y discussion. He just nodded along, talking about their new shipment of toys and his mother's insistence on receiving one photo per day of her scaly grandchildren.

"I think Mom's sending you some more soccer balls." Owen scratched at Charlie's head through the bars, eyes trained on Delta's now twitching body. "She just refuses to give up on finding balls that'll survive your teeth and claws. Stubborn old goat."

A quiet groan drew all of their attention, Delta finally starting to move her head and limbs in a discombobulated rendition of her usual wake-up ritual. Owen stayed a safe distance away near the door, knowing that the raptor would be disoriented for at least several minutes. However, he made sure to speak to her, hoping that his voice and her sisters' chirps would be a familiar comfort.

"Well, don't you just look silly," Owen said, voice low and soothing. "Worse than when you fell in the swamp last month."

Delta turned her head to look at him and peeped, right leg awkwardly spinning as she attempted to roll over. The girls didn't peep too much anymore, instead preferring the louder barks and chitters that their most recent growth spurt had afforded them. So for Delta to be peeping like a little hatchling, she had to be feeling frightened and miserable.

"Hey there, pretty girl." Owen moved a little closer now, fingers unraveling the IV drip to remove it. "Just gonna take this off..."

Another peep was what he got in return, Delta nuzzling at his hand with her muzzle in a decidedly drunken manner. By God, Owen had a raptor that was high as a kite on his hands here. She was even trying to lick him now.

"This is a first," he admitted to himself. "And I haven't lost a finger, either."

He could hear the veterinary staff and handlers outside the other door, all of them whispering about how likely Owen was to be torn apart and what Mr. Masrani would do if that happened. Meanwhile, Owen just continued to stroke Delta's head, gently massaging the spot under her chin that always made her purr like a murderous kitten.

And then there was a knock on the staff door.

"Yeah?"

"I believe I've figured out the problem," came Dr. Schaefer's voice. "Are you planning to stay in there?"

"She'll be upset if I stop scratching her head."

"Very well."

Owen waited for the veterinarian to organize his notes, slowly moving up to Delta's eye ridges and then back down to her chin. The poor girl's eyes were still droopy and lethargic, but he took her paddling leg and rumbly purrs as a good sign. Delta was the most vindictive and aggressive of his raptors, so if she was displeased then she'd let him know it.

Just like she did every time Hoskins or the InGen inspectors showed up.

"Although my examination of her primary diet didn't yield much in the way of results, Dr. Mears found something quite troubling in her samples. Have you ever heard of West Indian Lilac?"

"It sounds familiar," Owen admitted. "But I'm not exactly a plant person. Botany wasn't kind to me in college."

"Dr. Ellie Sattler references it several times in her book, specifically about a sick Triceratops from the original park," said Dr. Schaefer. "It's uncommon in the main park now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's all over the place here in the Restricted Zone. The berries are toxic to many animals, including our dinosaurs."

"Last I checked, raptors don't eat plants."

"But they do eat rocks to grind up food in their gizzard." Owen could practically hear the doctor giving Barry orders and a long list. "We'll need to examine the entire paddock and everything around your home. If Delta's been ingesting West Indian Lilac through the stones, then there's a chance the other raptors may have accidentally eaten them, too."

"And I assume you'll be wanting a blood sample from each?"

"I already put in an order with the labs."

Owen scrubbed a hand down his face and said, "Well, this is gonna be fun. Time to try out the ready-cages, I guess."

Delta peeped for attention, which made her sisters claw at the door. Maybe adult Velociraptors were independent and self-reliant, but young juveniles? Nope, they were desperately needy and demanded round-the-clock attention. Owen couldn't imagine how prehistoric raptor parents managed to corral dozens of them.

Four was more than enough for him, thank you very much.

And Hoskins could shove it if InGen wanted any more of the peeping and barking monstrosities. Owen and Barry were the only trainers qualified to work with them, and the girls were already beginning to test their boundaries at every turn. Intelligent and devious didn't even begin to describe some of the shit they'd been getting up to in recent weeks. To say that Owen's house looked like a demilitarized zone would be an understatement.

His poor, poor kitchen...

There was absolutely no need for more than four murder lizards in Jurassic World.

"We might as well get this over with then," Owen sighed. He scratched at Delta's neck, smiling at the chitters she was giving him. "You get to rest for tonight, sweetheart. Your sisters..."

He glanced over at the door, three pairs of eyes watching his every move.

"Yeah, this isn't gonna be pleasant."

Chapter Text

"I want them out of here, Barry."

The Frenchman sighed, hands running over his bald head in frustration. For two hours, he'd been arguing with Owen about their newest batch of handlers and interns that InGen had sent last month. Most of them were fine and used an appropriate level of caution around lethal predators like the Velociraptors, but there were three handlers who Owen thought were dumber than a bag of bricks.

"Hoskins will be breathing down your neck again."

"I don't give a shit if he's dancing on my ass," said Owen. "Aside from their general arrogance and stupidity, the girls have been acting up ever since they were admitted to the program. Even Charlie's snapping at the simplest things now."

"We'll have to file the paperwork with Ms. Dearing and Mr. Masrani."

Owen waved his hand and said, "I don't care if I have to fill out a dozen filing cabinets worth of paperwork, I want these guys outta here."

"Probably for the best," Barry admitted. "If my eyes aren't deceiving me, then Delta has been working on a way to scale the walls and eat one of them. I found three large holes near the southwest wall, just under the palm trees."

"She's probably recruited Charlie. Who would've thought that raptors would like to dig so much."

"Charlie's always been a little special."

"Yeah, she's a devious stinker, isn't she," said Owen with a proud smile. "Too curious for her own good, too. But at least she's not getting stuck in them anymore."

Blue may have been the most... favored of Owen's raptors, but Charlie was hands-down his baby girl. As far as Velociraptors went, Charlie had a pleasant disposition and rarely showed aggression unless directly threatened or while following her oldest sister's lead. She'd hatched several days after her sisters, so Owen had gone the same route as most parents and quickly developed a bad habit of spoiling his youngest girl.

"You just took your good old time, didn't you?" Owen had said when she first hatched. "C'mon, just a few more pushes."

Charlie had struggled for several minutes to emerge, squeaking and peeping with exertion and frustration. In the end, Owen had broken down and helped his final raptor break through the last of her eggshell. And then she'd promptly started to nibble on his finger. It was downright adorable.

"Well, aren't you the feisty one." Owen had scratched at her tiny head, fascinated by the dark stripes that run down Charlie's body. "And you made me lose my bet with Barry. You were supposed to hatch second, little lady."

All he'd gotten in return was a hungry peep, which was followed by a squeaky yawn. Oh yes, Owen had fallen in love right then. The spoiling was inevitable as soon as he saw those bright orange eyes and Charlie's desperate need for closeness, both to Owen and her sisters. She was his most affectionate and least confrontational raptor, so the spoiling had been easy to justify in his mind, too.

Unfortunately, it had resulted in a whiny, cuddly, and puppy-like raptor who had no shame in demanding attention from her alpha. And honestly, if Charlie ate any more meat and ice cream, she'd be the fattest dinosaur in the park.

Too bad Owen was absolute rubbish at telling her "no". One blink of those pretty eyes and he was heading to the freezer, a tub of her favorite foods in each hand. It was a habit that he just couldn't seem to break, especially after moving the girls from his home to the paddock. Charlie threw a screechy fit every time he left at night and Owen couldn't help feeling like a neglectful parent, no matter how necessary he knew the move was.

And that was why a makeshift bed was sitting next to their outdoor nest. An abandoned cot was also in their indoor nest; he'd slept on that for the first two weeks after they'd been moved into the paddock. Owen hadn't slept in his own bed for nearly a month. The girls slept better when he was close and able to touch them.

Owen was okay with that. Alright, maybe he was more than okay with that. Watching them grow up and become aggressive predators was much harder than he'd ever imagined, and if sleeping next to them was the closest he could get to affection, then he'd gladly take it.

Damn, this must've been how his mother felt when Owen and his siblings had entered their teenage years. It sucked.

"How much meat do we got left in the freezer?"

"About three hundred pounds worth," said Barry, whipping out a calculator to draw up some numbers. "We've got about a week before I'll need to send to the warehouses for more. And I ordered several containers of ice cream and chocolate, too. The girls respond better to training when bribery's involved."

The two men shared a sneaky smirk, neither the least bit ashamed of such training methods.

"Strawberry for Echo?"

"Of course. And some Neapolitan for Blue, straight vanilla for Delta, and straight chocolate for Charlie. Who would've ever thought raptors would have a sweet tooth or become chocoholics."

Owen chuckled. "I don't know, maybe Dr. Wu specifically designed them to digest lactose."

"He is quite eccentric."

"Well, so long as he didn't design them to eat truffles, we're good. I doubt InGen or Claire would clear my budget for those expensive ass things."

Barry frowned. "Have the girls eaten any before?"

"Hell no, absolutely not," was Owen's answer. "Charlie and Echo like to dig up mushrooms for the fun of it, but I doubt there's any of those on this tropical hellhole."

"The heat getting to you again?"

"I think my armpit stains have armpit stains."

"Beware of Charlie."

"She loves my nasty man-stink. It's kinda disturbing."

As he said this, a series of loud shrieks came from the paddock, accompanied by equally loud yells from the nearby humans. Like a mother bear, Owen took off towards the front gate and didn't hesitate to enter the ready room, only a single set of bars separating him from the most lethal juveniles on the planet. Barry didn't even try to stop him, especially since the girls were making some truly hellish noises now.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

It took less than a second for Barry to see what was going on and while Owen took to the girls' cage, Barry took to the walkways and went straight for the cause of the problem. The shrieks were coming from Blue, Echo, and Delta, who were snarling and lashing at any weak point they could find in the paddock. Only a few feet away was Charlie, arms clawing at the noose that had broken off from the pole and still hung around her neck like a vice, slightly choking and very much upsetting the youngest raptor.

Scaling the stairs at a sprint, Barry watched Owen enter the main paddock out of the corner of his eye, relaxing only slightly when he saw Charlie toddle over towards her alpha. They all still associated him with safety and warmth, especially Charlie, so Barry wasn't surprised when she allowed Owen to whip out a knife and start working at the noose.

In Charlie's eyes, her father was coming to the rescue, something that was universal across many species. If it had been anybody else on the planet, her big sisters would've disemboweled them already. Owen may not have been a raptor, but he was the only parent the girls had ever known, and no matter what he said, the four Velociraptors did treat Owen like they would their own mother or father.

For now, that is.

Hence, Charlie peeping and crying desperately for help. As far as they knew, raptors only made those sounds when calling for their parents, and Charlie had gone straight for Owen the instant he was through the gate.

Blue, Delta, and Echo were still trying to scale the walls and rip somebody's throat out.

So, since the girls couldn't have their way in protecting Charlie from a bunch of no-good bullies, Bernard Delavergne decided to exact revenge on their behalf and maybe break a nose or two in the process. Owen wasn't the only human who cared for the Velociraptors and Barry wasn't about to let someone torment his ladies.

After flicking the emergency button on his radio for ACU, Barry sprinted the rest of the way and collided with the nearest man like a freight train, easily slamming him onto the floor of the catwalk. He'd practiced judo and Krav Maga for most of his life, so taking down the larger man wasn't too difficult, nor was sweeping the second man's legs out from under him.

From the moment he'd first seen them, Barry had known that Jenkins and Suarez would be nothing but trouble.

"Get off me, you fucker!"

"If you know what's good for you," huffed the Frenchman, "You'll stay down and keep your mouth shut."

"We didn't—"

Barry knocked the first man's head into the catwalk and then spun around to deal with the second man, who'd staggered to his feet and somehow decided that going after the raptor handler was a good idea. This didn't end well for him, either.

"Stay down!" yelled Barry after he'd tackled Suarez to the ground. "Do you want to become raptor food?"

When Suarez's face was pushed into the catwalk, he was greeted by the snarling maws of three very angry Velociraptors, their eyes trained on every movement the handlers made. If Suarez or Jenkins were to fall into the pen, they'd be mauled to death in seconds. Even juvenile raptors could rip a grown man to shreds, and Owen's girls were now big enough to do a whole lot of damage if they put their minds to it.

And damn, were they ever putting their minds to it right now.

"Because poking a raptor with a pole is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen anyone do before," said Barry. "Those girls are escape artists and if they're given enough incentive, they will find a weakness in this brand new and totally untested paddock and they will seek revenge for their sister. And there won't be a damn thing Owen or I will be able to do to stop them."

Suarez was gasping for breath at this point, wide eyes staring at the vengeful raptors beneath him.

"Both of you are fired."

Meanwhile, twenty feet below the struggling handlers, Owen was working hard to remove the noose from around Charlie's neck. Her struggling had caused it to tighten even more and Owen was genuinely worried for her breathing, especially since her peeps were becoming were frantic and quiet with every second that passed.

"I need you to hold still, c'mon, Charlie," said Owen in the most strong and calming voice he could muster. "Just hold still for one—Charlie! Charlie! Hold still! Eyes on me!"

By some amazing stroke of magic or luck, his little lady seemed to understand what he was saying and stopped wriggling for about fifteen seconds. It wasn't long, but Owen was damned good with a knife and the need to free Charlie from the source of her suffering was enough to make him work without mistake or complaint. Nicking his own hand in the process wasn't pleasant and Owen knew that it'd need stitches, but the loud snap of the cord and the sudden sound of Charlie's distinctively high peep was more than worth it.

"That's it, sweetie." Owen held up the broken cord for her to see. "You're such a good girl. It's all gone and not gonna—"

He gasped when a hard head rammed into his stomach, momentarily forgetting that his girls were now tall enough to reach his waistline. Charlie coughed and peeped, rubbing up against Owen like an over-sized murder kitten, seeking comfort from the only parent-figure in her life. Such affection was becoming more and more rare in recent weeks, so Owen didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her neck and soak it up like a sponge.

"Yeah, you're a good girl, darling," he praised, scratching Charlie's eye ridges and under her chin. "No one's gonna hurt you again, I promise."

Peeping and purrs were all he got in response.

"Okay, okay, you can hide in the armpit." Owen lifted up his right arm and Charlie didn't waste any time in burying her nose into the familiar stink. "You're probably the only thing on this island who likes the smell of sweaty, mosquito-bitten man, anyways."

Charlie purred and whuffled from her favorite spot.

"You're such a weirdo," said Owen as he checked the swollen marks around her neck. "A big, scaly, goofy weirdo. No licking!"

He barely noticed Echo and Delta go racing past, jaws open and eyes fixated on something above them. Blue paused for a moment, nuzzling at Charlie's shoulder with a quiet chirrup and click. She received a butt wiggle and peep from the upset raptor, Owen holding tight to Charlie's head throughout the whole process. His beta was in hunting mode right now, so Owen wasn't about to draw unnecessary attention to himself.

Too bad Jenkins and Suarez were too stupid to do the same thing.

"We didn't do anything wrong!" yelled Jenkins as Barry tried to drag him down the catwalk. "The raptors were trying to scale the walls and we had to stop them."

And that was a right out lie, Owen thought.

"It's less than an hour to noon," snarled Barry. "That's the girls' sunbathing time. It's the only time they're quiet and well-behaved during the day. Try another one."

"Let me go, you—"

And just like that, the catwalk creaked and started to give way along its central support, tilting precariously with all three men on it. Barry cursed, throwing Jenkins to the far end as the metal swayed from side to side, causing everyone in the vicinity to hold their breaths. Well, everyone except three Velociraptors, who were waiting right below with sharp claws and razor-like teeth. Barry would likely be safe from their retribution, but the other two?

They'd be goners. Mince meat. Lumps of flesh on the ground. Owen's girls were a mere ten-months-old, waist high, and lethal killers with a habit of holding grudges. Even he was unsettled by the violent glint in Delta's bird-like eyes.

"We have to move," yelled Barry. "Move it! Move it! Delta! You stay right there!"

Owen held his breath for several seconds, watching as the handlers ran along the busted catwalk and barely avoided Blue's snapping jaws. Echo was trying to gain a foothold on the mesh-like metal, eyes fixed on Suarez's and Jenkins' retreating forms. A couple yards away, Delta was scanning her sister's position, gears grinding in that brilliant mind of hers.

And then she leapt forward, using Echo as a makeshift vault to jump up and onto the catwalk. The green raptor paused for a moment, obviously surprised that her plan had even worked. Any other time, Owen would've been damned proud of his little lady's ingenuity and spunk, but the situation was completely out of control and he was terrified of what Delta might do now.

Muldoon had been right; raptors were capable of advanced planning and problem-solving. Holy shit...

"Everyone into the safehouse!" Owen yelled, fingers soothing Charlie's upset chitters. "Get out of here! Containment breach!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine," he said to the other handlers outside the bars, "It's you guys who are in danger! Go! Run for it!"

Everyone made a mad dash for the two safehouses after that, faces white with terror when they heard Delta's triumphant bark from the catwalk. They all knew that Blue and Echo would be right behind her.

The raptors were out for blood and everybody knew it.

"C'mon, Charlie-bell, eyes on me," Owen cooed before taking on a stronger tone. "We're moving, sweetie. And we're moving. Eyes on me. Yeah, that's a good girl."

With sure and even steps, Owen led his youngest raptor out of the pen and towards the unopened front gate, talking to and praising her the entire way for being so well behaved. He thanked every deity he could think of for Charlie's submissive nature, the shook-up raptor never straying more than a few feet from Owen's side. For once, Charlie being needy and clingy was working to Owen's advantage.

"Uh huh, that's it. Wanna go for a run?"

Charlie's head perked up at that, eyes instantly spotting her alpha's Triumph Scrambler only a couple yards away. He had parked it close to the paddock gate this morning, more than a little excited to see his girls and give them another batch of new toys. The hardened basketballs, water balloons, and tubs of finger paint were still strapped to the bike's rear-bags. Charlie started bouncing at the mere sight of it.

"Yeah, I thought so." Owen slid onto the seat and waved for Charlie to come closer. "Wouldn't be right without your sisters though, huh?"

His youngest cawed with excitement, calling for Blue, Delta, and Echo to join them.

"Well, don't look at me like that, sweetheart." He started the engine and revved it before releasing a loud whistle. "They're the ones who're messing around and not behaving themselves."

Charlie ran around Owen's bike, impatiently cawing and barking for her sisters.

"And so they appear..."

He wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Blue's head poke around the paddock's far corner, Echo sliding across the dirt behind her. Neither of them had blood on their snouts, so Owen assumed that everyone had made it into the safehouses in time. At least he wouldn't be filing any death reports tonight.

"C'mon, girls! Let's go for a hunt!"

As Owen revved the engine and sped off, he heard several caws and barks behind him. The girls associated his motorcycle with running through fields and chasing wild chickens, which they hadn't been able to do since being permanently relocated, so Owen was banking on them being curious and loyal enough to follow him into the jungle and away from the paddock.

Thankfully, it worked.

Chapter Text

"I assume that the new paddock is up to your standards?"

Owen walked along the perimeter, eyes scanning over every new piece of metal, mesh, concrete, and support for the slightest of flaws. He could hear Simon Masrani walking a few feet behind him, the man's expensive leather shoes doing little to hide his footsteps from those around him. On the other side of the bars, Echo was pacing right along with them, an ever present shadow that was hoping to scare the shit out of Jurassic World's owner and his entourage of InGen inspectors. None of them had been brave enough to approach the fence yet.

"The support beams are all reinforced?"

"With the strongest metals that money can buy," Masrani assured. "And the catwalks, doors, and stairs are all made from the same materials. Concrete walls go down ten feet and the fences should prove unbreakable. All locks are key-coded and fingerprint sensitive as well."

"No electricity?"

Masrani gave him a thin smile and said, "No electricity. Nothing will be shocking or harming your raptors, Mr. Grady."

"How did you get Hoskins to agree to this?"

"Why would he have any say in this?" Masrani stepped forward to observe Echo through the fence. "You are a retired Navy SEAL who trained dolphins and dogs for eight years, and holds a bachelor's in zoology and a master's in ethology. You've also raised these raptors since infancy, which gives you insight into their minds that no one else can understand or replicate. Your opinion outweighs anybody else's on this matter."

"The ten foot increase on the walls is much appreciated," said Owen. He smiled at Echo. "The girls are becoming quite the escape artists, so anything higher is good news to me."

"I instructed the engineers to follow your requests to the letter."

"Delta's still trying to find ways to scale the walls," he admitted. Echo was now chittering for his attention, completely ignoring Masrani in favor of her favorite human. "She remembers the people who've wronged or pissed her off, too."

"Fascinating. And I presume that Vic is one of these annoyances?"

"She's gunning for him."

Masrani nodded and said, "She has spunk. I like that."

"Oh, you say that for now." Not even forty feet away, Delta was prowling in the undergrowth, stalking a wild chicken or lizard or whatever else was stupid enough to sneak into a Velociraptor enclosure. "But once Delta's got her sights set on you, good luck getting them off."

"Well, at least she's living up to her reputation."

"That's one way of putting it."

Owen continued to walk around the enclosure's exterior, moving this way and that to check on everything he could find that might be questionable. His ladies had been on their best behavior since last month's escape incident, but they were still scheming every way they could to break out of the paddock. Fixing the damned thing had been a migraine, especially since two-thirds of the island's engineers and construction workers were too terrified to come anywhere near the raptor pen.

But it was done now, and that's all that mattered.

"How are you feeling?" Masrani asked after several minutes of silence. "Dr. Hansen said that your were injuries were quite extensive."

That caused Owen to roll his eyes. "Seth loves to exaggerate. It wasn't half as bad as he makes it sound."

"Four large lacerations to the shoulder, a mild concussion, sprained ankle, and two broken fingers sounds quite serious to me. Of course, as a retired SEAL, your definition of injured is probably quite different than the general population's."

"I've had worse. A lot worse."

"That doesn't reassure me in the slightest, Mr. Grady."

Owen sighed. "I've already filed a thorough report about what happened out there. The girls were thrown into hunting mode by those two idiots that your team hired and I needed to distract them somehow. Wild chickens can only hold their attention for so long and this was bound to happen eventually. I'm just glad that I got them away from everyone else and back onto familiar ground."

"So the beta has accepted her position in the pack again?"

"Blue won't be challenging me any time soon," Owen said with a firm nod. "She had her ego and pride knocked down a notch or ten, so I'm not expecting any issues in the near future. Well, aside from the usual bullshit that comes with juvenile and teenaged Velociraptors."

"I was shocked to see bandages still on her snout."

"She keeps scratching the damn stitches out." Owen watched his beta sunbathe on her favorite rock, tail twitching back and forth to keep the flies away. "And it wasn't like I had a choice. Beating up a raptor isn't easy, I can assure you."

"I would imagine not. Your report shocked me quite a bit."

"My own actions shocked me."

"You did what you needed to survive and remain the alpha of your pack."

"No one enjoys stabbing and punching their animals in the face." Owen reached out and ran a gentle hand over Echo's snout. She purred in return. "Blue still hasn't demanded any additional rats or pork strips since then, either. It's a little worrying."

"Having your alpha and father-figure sit on you would be quite embarrassing for any child, regardless of species."

"She brought it on herself."

"As most adolescents and teenagers do." Masrani came a little closer to observe Echo; the man was bolder than Owen's crew of handlers. "But it's probably for the best that she did this at a young age. Your beta is much smaller and inflicted less damage as a result."

"True enough."

Owen climbed up to the catwalk and looked over the paddock, Echo still following them on the ground while Blue lounged in the sun, Delta chased something in the wooded shadows, and Charlie...

"What is she doing?"

Masrani was pointing at his youngest raptor, eyebrows raised with a truly puzzled look upon his face. Once Owen spotted Charlie a couple yards behind them, he understood why the businessman was so confused by her behavior.

"She's taking a mud bath."

"I understand that many animals do that," Masrani said, "But I never knew they could be so... acrobatic while doing it."

Owen laughed. "No, no, that's just Charlie. She's a ditz and total goofball."

It had rained earlier this morning, so the paddock was full of muddy puddles and some fallen debris, perfect for an unruly raptor who needed a good coating of dirt on her skin. However, while her older sisters just rolled in the puddles a few times and were done, Charlie liked to perch on the nearby rocks and do a running leap into the deepest and densest section of mud. She would do this over and over and over again, only stopping when she looked suitably like a swamp monster or Blue told her off.

Owen considered it to be one of the highlights of his week.

"Hey, Charlie-bell!" With a muddy butt wriggle, Owen's youngest turned to face him. "What're you doing, silly girl? You're a filthy mess!"

The raptor barked in response and ran back over to the rock, assuming her trademark launch position before bouncing right back into the puddle. Blue gave her an exasperated look that only a Velociraptor could hope to pull off.

"She's playing."

Masrani sounded genuinely amazed by this revelation, his eyes never once straying from Charlie's bizarre ritual of mud-bathing. She was now rolling around in it like a lunatic, tail flopping all over the place and flinging mud at her sisters. Poor Echo received a whole clump of it to the face and as predicted, Owen heard an indignant shriek about two seconds later.

"Of course, she is. Even lion and bear cubs love to play at this age. Hell, I've seen videos of cassowary chicks and juvenile Komodo dragons playing when the mood strikes them. And to be honest, my girls are a lot more bird-like than reptilian when it comes to their overall behaviors."

Charlie was tackled by Echo before she could pull off another leap, the older raptor literally shoving her little sister into yet another congealed mess several feet away. It only took ten seconds for Charlie to reemerge, tail lashing back and forth as she charged Echo and knocked her into the mud puddle. Blue didn't even deign her sisters with a look, instead scooting over to a new spot that was far removed from such juvenile antics.

"I'm surprised they get along so well," Masrani admitted. "Robert Muldoon's and Dr. Grant's reports on the original raptors were quite... troubling, to say the least."

Echo was now covered in mud and sitting on her sister. It didn't look natural.

"They have their disputes," said Owen, "But nothing to that extent. The original raptors weren't socialized or functional due to their isolated infancy and adolescence. It made them sociopathic and unable to function as an effective and healthy pack, especially The Big One, as Muldoon liked to call her. From what I've heard, the raptors on Isla Sorna have been slowly evolving out of this unnatural behavior."

His girls were bickering now, Echo purposely hopping up and down on Charlie before leaving the mud puddle behind. Unfortunately, Owen's youngest was in a playful mood this morning and didn't hesitate to charge her sister into the damp undergrowth. They must've ran into Delta, because Owen would recognize that indignant shriek anywhere.

A wild chicken flew out of the trees and through a small opening in the fence. Stupid things never learned...

"You have to remember that we know little about how dinosaurs behaved in their prehistoric environments," Owen said, eyes on the rustling trees and bushes where his girls were tackling each other. "And none of Jurassic World's or Isla Sorna's dinosaurs are the real thing, so we'll likely never know what their ancestors were really like. But I can assure you, the behavior of the original raptors? Yeah, that wasn't normal. Pack animals don't behave like that, or destroy their own numbers. To them, such behavior is a death sentence."

"And their ability to be tamed?"

"Just because they're not sociopathic doesn't mean they're not dangerous," said Owen. "Despite what Hoskins may think, Velociraptors will never be tame or under the control of any human. The girls only listen to me because in their eyes, I'm the only parent they've ever known and not even lions like to piss off their mothers. And I have to be careful around them, too. Blue's already challenged my authority like a bratty teenager and all of them can get far too rough during playtime for a fragile human body to handle."

"You seem quite sure about this."

"I literally spend my entire day with these animals, all year long. If I even leave for, say, ten hours to relax in the Bamboo Forest, I'll get a call saying that the girls have tried to take someone's hands off and are in open rebellion. Delta won't acknowledge me for hours after I return, either."

"Not safe for audiences, then."

Masrani winced when Echo suddenly came flying out of the undergrowth, snarling and racing back in after her sisters in less than a minute. They were so damned fast...

"Or perhaps even their own keepers. I've seen some of the other handlers' reports."

Owen just shook his head. "Like Muldoon said, raptors have problem-solving intelligence, and putting them into a situation where they could be provoked by stupid park-goers isn't something I would ever recommend. These raptors aren't like their namesakes at all. My girls are gonna be the size of Utahraptors once they're fully grown. And that's a very dangerous thing, Simon."

"Larger than the originals?"

"Probably by at least a hundred pounds or more, according to Wu. My girls are well-fed, kinda spoiled, and rarely get into serious fights with each other. We'll have to wait and see."

Masrani continued to observe the raptors' playtime and said, "They're magnificent. I only wish we could share their majesty with the rest of the world."

"Not happening."

"At least not for the foreseeable future," Masrani agreed. "And despite Vic's complaints, I will continue to defer to yours and Mr. Delavergne's judgments as well. Hyper intelligent doesn't even begin to do your ladies justice."

Several loud clicks drew their attention downwards, Blue turning in lazy circles beneath the catwalk, tail swaying back and forth as she eyed the bucket to Owen's left. When it came to charming others for food, Blue was the queen of her domain. Even Barry had a difficult time saying no to those bright golden eyes; Owen didn't even try to deny the power they held over him.

"They only love me when there's food involved," Owen joked. He took out a dethawed rat and held it up for Blue to see. "Eyes on me! Yeah, that's a good girl! Here you go, sweetheart."

Blue caught the rat with no problem at all.

"It appears that your other girls have decided to partake, too."

"Food brings all the ladies to my yard," said Owen with a happy chuckle. "Now understand, this routine is fairly new and the girls are still young enough that they have the attention span of gnats."

"Of course, that's to be expected."

Masrani moved to the far side of the catwalk, which allowed Owen to gain the raptors' undivided attention. Or as undivided as he was going to get it. Echo was far too interested in a nearby butterfly to focus solely on her alpha. But Owen was okay with that; his ladies were still dino-toddlers and any half-decent animal trainer knew that training methods had to be adjusted to their charge's age.

"Let's get into formation, ladies! Lock it up!"

The raptors scuttled around for a minute, Blue snapping at her sisters until she was at the front, Delta and Echo were slightly behind to her sides, and Charlie was at the back. Clicker training had proved to be the most effective method of communication at this point, so Owen very carefully went through the usual routine until all of his girls were where they should be.

"Charlie! Hey! Stop smacking your sisters!"

As expected, his youngest spun around and whacked Echo right across the face with her tail. The older raptor hissed and snapped before shoving Charlie to the back, increasingly frustrated by her little sister's inability to control that stupid tail of hers. Okay, so maybe this training routine wasn't going to proceed as smoothly as Owen had hoped, but what else could you expect when baby dinosaurs were involved.

"Ladies! Ladies! Eyes on me!"

By some miracle or stroke of good luck, four sets of eyes turned to regard Owen with a small semblance of focus. Charlie's tail was still flailing about like a fishing pole, Echo was still entirely too interested in that butterfly, and Delta kept bobbing around to sniff for food, but Owen was going to take whatever he could get. Thankfully, Blue was her usual disciplined self and watched Owen with an admirable level of attention.

"That's good! Great job, ladies! Charlie, here's what you get! Echo! Delta!"

His girls jumped up for each rat, catching it without any strain or degree of difficulty. Charlie still looked like a swamp monster, so her eating was particularly hilarious to watch, and Masrani's chuckles just confirmed it. If Velociraptors could be ditzy, then his youngest was the biggest flake of the bunch. And there she went walloping poor Echo in the face again.

Honestly, there was just no training that goofy girl.

"Blue?"

Golden eyes ticked up and watched Owen's hand with a frightening amount of intelligence. Blue knew that as the beta, his expectations were just a little higher for her than the others, so she rose back on her haunches and gave Owen a chirp of acknowledgment.

"Perfect, darling. Here you go!"

Blue devoured the rat in four seconds flat, looking more than a little smug that she'd behaved so much better than her roughhousing sisters. A single whistle sent the raptors off for the morning; Owen didn't like to overwhelm them with training, so they'd have the rest of the day to themselves. Delta was already back to stalking something in the trees while Echo ran after the butterfly and Charlie returned to her mud bath. At this point, Owen was convinced that she was doing this just to annoy her sisters.

"What're you waiting for, Bluebell?"

The blue-striped raptor was circling beneath Owen, scenting the air and chirping in that needy manner of hers. Owen had a feeling that he knew what she wanted, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a mushy wrapper.

"Damn that amazing nose of yours. This what you want?"

Blue chirped.

"Well, since you were such a good girl, I suppose you can have it." He winked at her. "Just don't tell your sisters, okay?"

The small piece of half-melted Hershey's chocolate was devoured in less than a second, Blue licking her chops over and over again as she savored the sweet lump of candy. Masrani was laughing behind Owen, a wide smile spread across his face as he watched one of his park's animals enjoy something as simple as a tiny piece of chocolate.

"Oh, if only John had lived to see such an outstanding sight," crowed Masrani. "They enjoy chocolate! Who would've thought such a thing was possible?"

"I certainly didn't," Owen admitted. "But Delta ate some out of my fridge one morning and I was terrified that she'd react to it like most canines do. Instead, she didn't even get an ounce of indigestion and went back for the whole bag! That much did cause a bit of constipation, though."

"They're more brilliant than I ever imagined. Still terrifying and lethal, of course, but absolutely beautiful and amazing."

"Yeah, they are, aren't they?"

As if she knew they were talking about and praising her, Blue did a short trot around the paddock before laying back down in her favorite sunning spot, purposely showing off to both her siblings and the observing humans.

"They've certainly exceeded expectations."

"Well, you also came on a good day," said Owen. "And if you ask Hoskins, he'll say that they're complete failures so far."

"Rubbish. They're animals, only so much can be expected. Even if you're the only person they ever respond to or respect, that's far more than we ever anticipated from this project to begin with. Muldoon's reports on the original raptors were so disheartening that we figured these animals would never respond to anyone. But look at this! They like chocolate! And play in mud puddles."

"Charlie'll be begging for a hose-down in less than an hour, too."

"That one's special."

Owen laughed. "You have no idea, Simon."

Chapter Text

Owen was picking up a Pandora charm for his mother when he got the call.

It had been eight weeks since Dr. Wu informed him that the new batch of four Velociraptor eggs were progressing well and would likely hatch without any foreseeable problems. A little ball of excitement and anxiety had settled in Owen's stomach after that, the prospect of caring for these tiny, helpless creatures almost more than he could contain. It was both amazing and terrifying, for a wide variety of reasons.

"How long do we got?" asked Owen as he rushed into the lab. "They haven't emerged yet, have they?

"Relax, Mr. Grady." The young geneticist led him through decontamination and then down a narrow set of corridors, her eyes glued to a tablet the entire time. "We've only heard a few noises so far and it's only from the one egg. The other three haven't moved yet."

"That's good, I guess. Only one at a time will be easier to handle, right?"

"A little nervous?"

Owen shrugged and said, "Well, yeah, of course, who wouldn't be? I'm about to become a parent to four of the deadliest creatures that Mother Nature's ever created. Shitting my pants seems kinda understandable at the moment."

"Perhaps even advisable, too."

"Remind me of that when they want to start chewing on people. Or eviscerating them for lunch. That's gonna be so much fun."

And yeah, Owen had kinda updated his will last week, all too aware that he'd probably become raptor chow in the next few years. Going into the Navy SEALS had been crazy enough, but raising Velociraptors? Yep, Owen Grady was about as crazy as humanly possible. If he managed to make it through the first year with all his fingers and legs intact, then Owen would consider that a win. After that, well, he'd always loved a challenge, and this was definitely going to be the biggest challenge of his life.

What the fuck had he been thinking when he took this job again?

"Here we are," she said when they arrived at the hallway's end. "There's not much for me to tell you that hasn't already been covered by Dr. Wu, but just remember to hit the big green button if you need anything. Your bags have also been decontaminated and put into the side room, and I'll be just down the corridor if something goes wrong."

"It's now or never, I guess."

The next seven hours were spent waiting for the eggs to do something, anything, while Owen sat in a ridiculously comfortable La-Z-Boy recliner. He had gotten more than a little bored after the first three hours and had requested to watch a movie on the hatchery's large screen television. His childhood favorite, Raiders of the Lost Ark, seemed like the perfect choice.

"Honestly, if I had someone like Willie following me around, I'd probably just throw myself into the volcanic pit and be done with it."

Shortly after Temple of Doom had started, Owen came to the conclusion that speaking to the eggs was probably a good idea. He'd been doing it anyways over the past couple weeks, mostly with the hopes that it would allow the raptors to grow accustomed to his voice ahead of their hatching, but Owen had taken it to a new level today.

He'd narrated the whole film to his eggs at this point.

"Or let Mola Ram dunk her in as quickly as possible." Owen leaned forward to poke at the only egg—it was a strange blue-gray color—that had moved so far. "But see, with you gals around, I won't have to worry about that kinda stuff now. All it'll take is showing off a few pictures of my babies and the annoying people will go running away like a bunch of pansies."

Seemingly in response to Owen's nonsensical jabbering, the blue-gray egg started to shake from left to right, almost tipping over at one point. Owen was so startled and excited by this that he nearly fell out of his oh-so-comfy chair.

"Oh shit, that's just... wow," Owen said to himself, eyes trained on the little dent at the top. "C'mon, little lady, that's it. Show that egg who's boss. Just give it a few good kicks and pokes."

As if the raptor understood what he was saying, a tiny claw suddenly punched through the side, curling this way and that as a series of peeps filtered through the thinning egg shell. Owen wanted to reach out and help her so much, but he also knew that breaking out from their own egg was a very important process for young birds and reptiles. It allowed them to stretch and strengthen their new muscles for the first time and would prepare them for being outside of a safe, warm environment for the remainder of their lives.

Owen had to restrain himself and let his little lady do the work. Or at least most of it.

A large chunk of shell broke off about fifteen minutes later, a whole hand wiggling around in the open air. The peeps were still kinda muffled, but Owen couldn't hold back any longer and reached out to touch the tiny claw. It curled in response and Owen laughed in return, already mesmerized by this tough little creature that he'd be raising for who knows how many years.

Dr. Wu said that the average lifespan of a Velociraptor was probably twenty years, but animals in captivity always lived longer than their wild counterparts, so they'd just have to wait and see how long Owen's raptors would take to reach maturity and then age from there.

And then the whole top of the shell suddenly popped off.

"Whoa! Wow, that was quite the throw there," Owen praised with a gentle smile. "And aren't you just beautiful. By God, you really, really are. Just look at those pretty gold eyes and shiny scales. You're gonna put the Victoria's Secret models to shame, that's for sure."

Owen knew he was jabbering at this point, but he really didn't give a shit. A baby Velociraptor was staring at him from her busted shell—he was the very first thing she got to see, too!—and he was allowed to keep this magnificent little animal all to himself. How could life get any better than that?

"C'mon, you're almost there. Look at all those little cracks." Owen pointed at the middle and bottom parts of his baby's shell. "I think a couple kicks from those badass little legs of yours will do the trick."

The raptor stared at him like he was insane.

"Hey, my mom says that giving encouragement to children is very important," he reasoned. "And you're pretty much my baby right now, so I'm trying to start things off on a good foot here."

Amber eyes blinked before a quiet cheep and grunt resulted in one leg poking through the egg's bottom half, toes curling open and closed in surprise. The little raptor stayed still for several minutes after that, obviously trying to catch her breath before she gave shell-busting another go. Owen just spent the whole time talking to her, voice set to a tone that was soothing and would hopefully encourage the imprinting process.

He reckoned that it would take several weeks of constant, uninterrupted care for the raptors to fully imprint on him; the more intelligent, higher-order species could take a little more time than canines and birds, who usually had shorter lifespans and thus moved at a faster pace with everything. Considering the sheer amount of avian DNA that Wu apparently used, Owen wouldn't be surprised if their intelligence and behaviors ended up mimicking some of the smartest bird species, like condors, ravens, and parrots.

If that was the case, then Barry would need to reevaluate his enrichment plans.

"Just one more push, sweetheart. I can already see your claws sticking out right there." He ran a gentle finger over the shell where his raptor's other foot was just barely poking out now. "See? There's your claws. Just another go and you'll be free to start driving Daddy insane."

It took about thirty more minutes, but the raptor eventually gave a hard enough kick that the rest of the eggshell broke apart and crumbled into the shredded straw and grass that cushioned the incubator. Owen gave her a congratulatory click with his tongue, carefully suppressing his laughter when the tiny dinosaur tumbled forward with a startled peep. She just laid there for several minutes, tail swaying back and forth as amber eyes and flared nostrils tried to take in and catalog everything around her.

By God, Owen was in love.

"See? What'd I tell you? Good girl! I can already tell that you're gonna be a problem-solver."

Owen leaned forward and stroked her tiny head, mimicking the natural movements of a mother or father Velociraptor. Since Dr. Grant's last excursion on Site B, four small groups of scientists had been permitted to study the dinosaurs in their natural habitat on Isla Sorna. It was only for two week intervals, but dozens of cameras had been set up all over the island, allowing them to remotely observe everything from the wild Brachiosaurs and Diplodocus to the small families of Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors. They'd even caught a couple glimpses of the infamous Carnotaurs, who were perhaps the scariest dinosaurs on the whole site and could camouflage almost perfectly with any type of environment they lived in.

Every second of data had been uploaded to Owen's laptop the same day he'd been informed of the raptor project. He was pretty sure that between Barry and himself, they'd watched every hour-long video at least five or six times and had taken meticulous notes on the raptors' behaviors, debating for hours about the proper training methods they'd need to use and how Owen would play Raptor Dad to four little murder lizards.

It still didn't make Owen feel the slightest bit prepared for the blue raptor in front of him.

"Huh, you're really blue. Just look at that stripe."

The raptor looked up at him and cheeped, shaking from a combination of fright and chill. Suddenly being thrust out of a nice, warm eggshell had to be quite the shock to his little lady's system. Owen had to physically restrain himself from plucking her up for a cuddle session; what worked with canines probably wouldn't work quite so well with raptors.

"I was gonna name you Beta," said Owen, "But you look more like a Blue to me."

Another cheep was what he got in return.

"You like that name? Meets your approval?" Owen stroked all the way down her dark blue stripe. "It's official then, your name is Blue. And since you were the first to hatch, it looks like I've won part of my bet with Barry so far."

Blue tried to stand up and promptly toppled over with an annoyed peep. It was downright adorable and Owen didn't give a shit if Wu and his team of crazy-ass scientists thought he was stupid for cooing at her; Blue was all that mattered right now. And then the hunger-cries started, loud and high-pitched and just like the ones from Dr. Levine's videos.

"Now that's what I was waiting for," said Owen. "Look at all the juicy meat I've got for you, baby girl. Eyes on me..."

The next three days consisted of Owen bonding with his newborn raptor and waiting for the next three to hatch. Owen knew that Dr. Wu and his team had lost a batch last month, so he was more than a little nervous when the third day had passed by them. When Owen had voiced his concerns, all the head geneticist had said was that the other three eggs were from a different genetic mixture than Blue, who was apparently the same as the last batch and had proven to be the only viable one so far.

It had upset Owen quite a bit that they'd played Russian roulette with his oldest raptor like that, but Blue appeared to be very healthy and responsive so far. She was still mostly confined to her nest beside his bed, but Owen was confident that she'd start venturing out to explore once her little legs and arms were developed and ready for that level of exertion.

"Eyes on me," repeated Owen during a feeding on the fourth day. "Yeah, that's a good girl. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it'll be so much easier once your teeth come in. I won't have to mush everything up then."

Blue grunted around her mouthful of ground up pork. It was apparently quite delicious.

"Make sure to chew it up real good," said Owen. He had been pretending to chew up Blue's food like a mother raptor would and Barry was probably laughing like a hyena every time he saw it. "Yeah, there we go, now let's try another one and then—"

A quiet cracking sound interrupted Owen mid-sentence, both his and Blue's head whipping around to stare at the incubator. Two of the eggs were shaking and trembling, a few tiny claws even poking out of the one with a greenish colored shell. With a laugh of excitement, Owen bundled Blue up in a fluffy blanket and ran over to his recliner, amazed that both eggs seemed to be shaking in equal amounts.

"Two at one time, holy shit! See this, Blue," Owen held her up to look at the eggs, "You're about to become a big sister, sweetheart."

Owen knew he'd have to be careful about introducing the girls to each other, but he was confident that their young ages and familiar smells would make the whole process quite a bit easier than if they'd been from completely different batches. He would've been able to work with that too, but one less obstacle was always good in his book.

"Okay, I'll admit," he said a couple hours later, "I've got no idea which of you is older. It's kinda a tie at this point."

The two raptors had busted through their eggshells in different spots at different times, but they'd both fully emerged and tumbled into the straw at almost the exact same moment. It had almost seemed like a competition to see who got the title of older sister first. Of course, there was still the fourth and final egg, but that wasn't an immediate concern right now.

Blue had gotten bored and fell asleep in Owen's pocket about halfway through the hatching process.

"Not that it really matters if you ask me, of course," he said when they started to peep, "You can just be my middle girls. Nothing wrong with that. And since we're sticking with the tags that Barry and I put next to your eggs..."

He reached out and gently booped the green raptor on her snout.

"You're Delta."

Then he turned to tap the sandy yellow raptor on her tail, since she'd seen fit to fall in the other direction.

"And you're Echo."

Just like their oldest sister, his middle girls were releasing some seriously loud hunger-cries within less than a minute of entering the world, both of them totally unashamed of their high-pitched neediness. However, when compared to Blue overall, Delta and Echo were downright bossy and stubborn and didn't seem to realize that they had no teeth yet.

Even so, Owen didn't hesitate to correct them on the biting issue. His girls may have been adorable and cuddly, but that would only last for so long and Owen knew that he needed to start the training process as soon as possible.

"Ladies, ladies, eyes on me! Yeah, that's it, very good!"

And then there was the last egg, which was really starting to worry Owen by the seventh day. While Blue was finally mobile and her sisters were taking their first steps around the nest, the dark green egg was still just sitting there, unmoving and seemingly lifeless. The only reason Owen thought it was still viable was because of the warmth and tiny sounds it occasionally emitted, but it was just so damned quiet compared to the others. Dr. Wu had stated that if the egg didn't hatch by the week's end, then they'd probably have to dispose of it.

The thought almost made Owen physically ill, especially since he'd already started using the egg's name to describe it.

"C'mon, girls," said Owen on the last evening, "Let's talk to your stubborn little sister and tell her that she needs to come out. Being in that egg isn't any good any more. She's gotta break out and face the music. I think Led Zeppelin's a good choice, don't you?"

Blue had nestled down beside the egg, clicking and peeping and purring at it. Delta had poked at it several times, uneasy on her feet and still running into everything. Echo tried to gnaw on it.

When midnight rolled around, Owen was feeling anxious and frustrated and more than a little queasy. He knew that the egg was viable, could feel it every time he touched the warm shell, but the scientists were skeptical and far more impatient than Owen had anticipated. At this point, he was considering the merits of cracking the shell himself. Just to start the process and maybe save his—

And then the egg shook from side to side, startling poor Blue and Delta to the point of tumbling over. Echo decided that chewing on her soon-to-be-sister was an asshole thing to do, so she peeped for Owen to put her back in his pocket. He settled for the blanket to the side; she needed to accept that she was going to have another packmate in the next few hours.

"Finally," Owen groaned to himself. Then he turned to the ceiling cameras. "See, I told you she'd be coming! Just needed to give the little lady a bit more time. Not everyone likes to rush things."

And rush she did not. It was well past six in the morning when the first claw poked through the egg's shell, little arm twisting and turning and whacking poor Echo in the snout. Not even two minutes later, a tail popped out and whacked Echo in the side. By this point, Owen was willing to put the angrily peeping Echo into his shirt pocket.

"You just took your good old time, didn't you?" Owen said once the raptor's head had emerged. "C'mon, just a few more pushes. You're almost free from that awful egg now."

The baby raptor cheeped, obviously struggling to bust another limb out of her imprisonment. Blue stood up as much as she could on her hindlegs, sniffing at the latest addition to their motley pack. All she received was a loud peep in return, nearly falling over from the surprise of it. Chuckling at the silliness that was introducing siblings, Owen scooped up his three girls and moved them away from their frightened sibling.

"It's okay, sweetheart, that was just your big sister. She's kinda nosy sometimes." He stroked Blue's head, her purrs assuring Owen that she wasn't too upset by her sister's unpleasant reception. "Likes to know everything that's going on around this place, right, Blue?"

Blue just snorted at them.

His youngest struggled for nearly an hour after that to emerge, squeaking and peeping with exertion and frustration. In the end, Owen broke down and helped the poor thing break through the last of her eggshell. With a cheep of fright, the dark green raptor had tumbled into his palm, bright eyes looking at Owen like he was the strangest thing in the world. And then she'd promptly started to nibble on his finger. Not that it hurt in the slightest since, yeah, no teeth yet, but it was the principle of the matter.

Babies weren't supposed to nibble on their parents. It just wasn't done, regardless of species. For the most part, at least.

"Well, aren't you the feisty one." Owen scratched at her tiny head, fascinated by the dark stripes that ran down the raptor's body. "And you made me lose my bet with Barry. You were supposed to hatch second, little lady."

She regarded Echo with narrow eyes and then sneezed right in her face.

"You're a goofball, Charlie. And a right pain in the ass. My poor stomach can't handle the stress you're already giving me."

Owen reached into a nearby bucket for some ground pork, easily feeding his youngest raptor without the others fighting for it. He'd been feeding them at close intervals throughout the day, figuring that if he kept them well fed and content, then they'd leave their sister alone for her first meal. Echo didn't seem to want to go anywhere near Charlie, either.

Not even an hour old and she'd already clobbered Echo three times. This had a promising look to it.

With a curious sniff, Blue approached her youngest sister a few minutes later, cautiously inspecting the strange new creature that had entered her home. Owen watched the interaction with bated breath, knowing full well that if Blue didn't accept Charlie, then neither would the middle girls. And that would all but doom the green-striped raptor to a life of solitude and misery. Velociraptors were pack animals, so death would be a preferable fate than isolation.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that and Blue decided that Charlie would make a good pillow, curling around the youngest raptor with a quiet snuffle. It only took a minute for Delta and Echo to join in, although the latter stayed far away from Charlie's tail.

And yeah, Owen was deeply in love with four tiny murder lizards. So, without a hint of shame, he whipped out his camera and starting taking pictures. His mother was gonna flip when she saw what her newest grandkids looked like in a cuddle-pile.

Delta even sneezed for the camera.

That night, Owen slept with four little raptors cuddled into pocket-blankets around him. Blue seemed to prefer sleeping near Owen's head, Echo and Delta along his left hip, and Charlie in his right armpit. They'd be up in less than four hours, begging for food with those high-pitched hunger cries of theirs. Echo especially lived up to her name.

By God, he was a daddy to four of the most dangerous animals that Mother Nature had ever created. Who'd have thought?