ALONE TOGETHER I OWEN GRADY

No Choices Passing

No Choices Passing

I am going out to see what I can sow

And I don't know where I'll go

And I don't know what I'll see...

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," Cassandra muttered as she slammed down the lid of her suitcase. She had been saying the same thing for the past three days now, her sister having surpassed herself in setting the bar for sneaking behind her back. But this had gone beyond setting her up on dates with unsuitable men, Karen now backing Cassandra into a corner.

"I couldn't tell you because I didn't know whether it was happening or not," Karen said evasively, pushing the hair out of her face with both hands, "and I didn't want to dash the kids' hopes. I've been hounding Claire for months to sort it out – when I could get hold of her that is, which is like never – but I mean, it was her idea in the first place" –

-"Not a very good one, might I add," Cassandra snapped. "What the hell possessed you to agree to it!?"

Karen stared at her, mouth trembling. "Because I want us to be a family," she said with great difficulty, "Claire hasn't seen the boys since forever, Morgan too, and you don't seem to care from one year to another that she's never here."

"I do too!"

"Only if your art is involved!" Karen snapped. "Otherwise, you're quite happy to trundle along like a little tricycle!"

"Whatever," Cassandra retorted. "You still shouldn't have sprung this on me like this."

Karen looked away. "Claire only confirmed the arrangements just there," she then said, twisting her hands in her lap, "and like I said, I didn't want to say anything to raise the kids' hopes. Gray has been begging to go to Jurassic World for months now" –

-"You're a crap liar, Karen," Cassandra cut across her, nostrils flaring. "What's the real reason for this trip?"

Karen bowed her head, her hands finally falling still. "This... this is the last chance saloon for my marriage, Cass," she said quietly. "If I'm honest, it's basically make or break. We need time apart from the boys to sort this out, to see if there's anything worth saving."

Cassandra puffed out her cheeks, trying to hide her shock. "Jeesh," she then said, running her hand down the side of her face. "I knew things were bad, but not that bad."

"Well, they are, Cass," Karen said impatiently, "you'd need to be blind not to see how bad things are between me and Scott. I mean you were there when I poured a plate of spaghetti bolognese over his head the other night. You don't do that sort of thing if you're happily married, do you!?"

"Maybe you have a passionate marriage, I don't know!"

"Cassandra!"

"Well, it doesn't change the fact you should have told me about the trip from the get-go!"

"Because I know you would have shot the idea down from the word go," Karen said, exasperated. "You would have just given Claire an excuse to cancel again. Me and Scott need this break, and I couldn't have you screwing it up."

"Me!?"

"Yeah, you, pouring poison in Claire's pretty little ear!"

"I wouldn't have!" Cassandra protested. "And I couldn't have! She next to never answers my calls just as much as yours!

"You still would have at the first chance you got!"

"Really?"

"C'mon, you know you kick off over anything that doesn't cater to your highbrow cultural tastes!"

Cassandra clamped her mouth shut, caught there. "O-k-a-y," she then admitted reluctantly, "maybe I would have. But why Jurassic World!? Why not Disneyland or somewhere with a distinct lack of teeth at least!?"

"It's a theme park, not the deepest circle of hell, Cass."

"Didn't people actually die at the original theme park?"

"That was over twenty years ago," Karen scoffed. "We were just kids, then. It's different now; it's all health and safety, everything risk-assessed to an inch of its life."

"But still, Jurassic fricking World!"

"It's convenient for Claire."

"Which translates into she shoehorned us into her schedule at the last second."

"It's Christmas, Cass."

"Christmas does not exist in Claire's itinerary."

Karen pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Look, I just needed you to be on this trip, okay," she said, eyes unexpectedly welling up. "I really didn't want to send the boys away on their own. Zach can be so mean to Gray, you know that. You can police his ass and also make sure Gray doesn't try and steal a dinosaur's egg so he can raise a T-Rex under his bed or something."

Cassandra pushed the hair out of her eyes again, knowing she was on the edge of being guilt-tripped into giving in. "I happen to have a huge fear of flying," she reminded Karen, who pulled a pained face. "Did you consider that small fact?"

"It's under control, isn't it?" Karen said dismissively. "You've had hypnotherapy, counselling, the works. Just do your breathing exercises and the visualization stuff and you'll be okay."

"It doesn't get rid of the root of the fear, Karen," Cassandra snapped, "it's always there, always lurking in the background."

"You fly down here nearly all the time, Cass."

"And it takes me like two days to recover from the experience."

"Stop exaggerating."

"I just... I just really wish you were coming with us," Cassandra said in a wild rush, shaking her head, "I really do."

"So do I," Karen said, closing her eyes, "but we'll be together for New Year's and we'll have our own Christmas then."

Cassandra just sat down on the edge of the bed, half closing her eyes, cursing her sisters into the cornfield. When Claire had first told them she had been headhunted to work at Jurassic World as their Operations Director, Cassandra had been surprised that her ambitious sister had agreed to align herself with such a venture, the Jurassic Park franchise struggling to recover its former reputation, the business papers always full of its falling visitor numbers and profit loss. But then again Claire had always liked a challenge, so Cassandra mused she shouldn't have been surprised.

"I mean, if you and Morgan couldn't make the trip, Claire was quite happy for the boys to fly out on their own," Karen was saying, jolting Cassandra out of her thoughts. "She had it all arranged just in case."

"Maybe it's a good thing I'm going in that case," Cassandra frowned, "it is a long way for two kids to travel by themselves."

"Well, like I said, I admit I was a bit... apprehensive about the idea of them going on their own all the way to Costa Rica," Karen said, twisting her hands in her lap again, "but now I don't need to worry. You'll be there to chaperone, the kids can catch up with Claire and you can finish your painting."

"I'm not hauling that big-ass canvas all the way out there," Cassandra said, rolling her eyes. "I can do some sketches, providing Claire is around long enough for me to."

"She will be."

"When is she ever?"

"She promised me."

"And what did Mom say about promises?" Cassandra sing-songed, making Karen smile despite herself.

"A promise tomorrow is worth a lot less than trying today."

"Exactly."