man destroys god || i. malcolm

11

Grant and Ellie left with the gun, and it took all of Aria's might not to follow after them.

She paced back and forth, unable to keep still. "I have to find a car. Hammond, you know very well you can't do it on your own. Stay here with Dr. Malcolm and wait. I'll come back in when I have it."

Ian rolled his eyes. "You do realize theres, uh, dinosaurs, running around? What's with this death wish you've got going on?"

Aria glared at him, silencing him immediately. "It's not a death wish, Dr. Malcolm. I hate being locked in here and there's no one else that can do this. John can't run, you can't walk. It's just a Jeep, there's gotta be one right outside."

Hammond nodded slowly. "I'm afraid you're right, Miss Mayfield. Take a radio, tell us when you're back."

Aria nodded, grabbing a gun and a radio. She shook her head at the top of the stairs as if to clear her head. I can do this.

She pushed open the door and sprinted to an emergency exit. She heard a distant crash from somewhere else in the visitor center, but chose to ignore it. She burst through the exit, the bright sun blinding her. As expected, six beige Jeeps were parked in a small lot about 500 feet away. Far. Too far. She looked all around her, near-paralyzed with fear. Nothing was near, but the prospect of a hidden dinosaur was almost worse than seeing one face-to-face.

She dashed as fast as she could to the cars and had the sudden terrifying thought that the didn't have keys. Each step pulled at her back, hurting her more and more.

When she reached one of the cars and scrambled around, she was endlessly glad to have found them in the glove compartment. She started it up and sped back to the emergency exit door. She parked it carelessly and crashed inside, back to the bunker.

"Get him on the stretcher, let's go!"

Hammond was on the phone, calling for a rescue. As soon as he was done, the two were loading Ian back onto the stretcher and hauling him up the stairs. Between the old man and the typically non-athletic woman, it took some work.

They rushed out the door and semi-carefully unloaded Ian into the back. Aria sat next to him, rubbing his shoulder to help distract from the pain.

Hammond drove like a madman around to the front of the visitor center, screeching to a halt just as Alan, Ellie, and the kids burst through the doors.

"Oh, my god. Timmy! Lex!" Aria jumped out of the car and picked them up, one after the other, tossing them into the car as fast as she could. She kissed each of their heads and then jumped back in next to Ian. "I'll never leave you again, hear me?"

Aria was almost crying, the exhaustion catching up with her. Hammond raced them to the helicopter pad.

The helicopter was waiting, the rotors starting up as soon as the Jeeps came into view. Aria helped Ian stand, dragging him to the helicopter. "This feels familiar, hm?" She joked. He only scoffed, letting her push him up into the helicopter.

She boarded after, sitting close next to him. He reached an arm around her shoulders and placed a soft kiss on her temple. Not the type of kiss she'd expected from him, but exactly the type of kiss she needed at the moment.

The others climbed on soon after, and the kids immediately fell asleep in Alan's arms. Aria wasn't too far behind, feeling herself start to drift off and using Ian's chest as a pillow. The last thing she saw before falling asleep was Ellie's knowing smile.

She was shaken awake when they reached the hospital. A paramedic helped her out of the helicopter and into a wheelchair, bringing her swiftly into a hospital room. A doctor came by about half of an hour later to inspect her injuries. It was as expected; don't exert yourself, get rest, change bandages, go to check ups. It wasn't as bad as it had seemed back on Isla Nublar.

Once the last doctor left on the first day, Aria fell asleep immediately. It was still night when she woke again, probably past midnight. She stood carefully, slipping on a pair of slippers the hospital had provided. They'd also given her one of those paper dresses because she was still lacking a real shirt. She padded through the hallway, peeking into rooms.

She finally found who she was looking for and stepped into the room. She knew this wasn't allowed, and she'd probably get in trouble with the doctors later. She approached Dr. Malcolm's bed. He was still awake, sitting up in deep thought.

"Hey." Aria whispered, making Ian jump.

"Aria," He breathed out. "Sorry for that, I, uh, thought you were a dinosaur." He said it as a joke, but both of them knew they wouldn't be getting over this event any time soon. "Nice dress. Suits you." He winked.

"Nice dress, yourself." Aria snorted. They'd replaced his torn jeans with the same paper clothing she was wearing. He beckoned her over to sit on the bed next to him. She pushed a lock of hair off of his forehead, frowning. "You really can't help but look good, can you? You're in a hospital gown with a cast on your entire leg and you're still gorgeous."

Ian grinned, sitting up towards her. He placed one hand on her cheek, pulling her in for a kiss. "Genetics, Mayfield. I'm blessed."

She smiled and leaned down to kiss him again. "I'd better get back before they catch me. Heal your leg fast, we've got a date planned and I don't like waiting." He laughed as she left. No matter how ridiculous she looked in her paper gown and too-big slippers, he would never tire of looking at her.

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jurassic park when it ends