Jurassic: The New World

Chapter Five

Claire pulled on her hiking boots and waited for Owen by the door. Even though they'd removed all the bugs from the trailer, Claire still hated talking in there. They had found thirteen bugs in the tiny space. Thirteen! Knowing InGen had listened to every word said in the trailer made Claire's skin crawl. She hoped they listened in on the intimate stuff, too, because at least that would be uncomfortable for them to monitor.

She also wondered how long the bugs had been there. When did InGen install them? She guessed they'd snuck in at some point while she and Owen were with their lawyer fighting for Maisie. That was the only time Claire could think of when InGen would know they were out. Unless they were doing more than listening in.

Claire couldn't stand the thought.

Owen climbed out of the small bathroom and took in Claire's outfit. She put her hands on her hips as his eyes raked her body. When he started to chuckle, she covered herself with her arms. She thought she looked good in the tank top and work-out shorts, but maybe she was wrong?

"Sorry," Owen said. "I'm not laughing at you."

"Really, because it sure feels like you are."

Owen put his hands on Claire's waist. "I was actually just thinking about the moment I fell in love with you."

Claire flushed. "What?" she gasped.

"Do you remember when we got to that cliff on the island and figured out the boys jumped?"

Claire nodded. She couldn't forget anything about Jurassic World, no matter how hard she tried.

"I was set to go on without you, but you insisted on coming along. You tied up your shirt in the front and stood kind of like you were standing before, only in heels."

"Well, when I went in to work that morning, I didn't exactly plan to be chasing a dinosaur across the island."

"True. But you worked with it. You're adaptable. And that was when I realized I loved you."

Claire wasn't sure what to say. They'd shared 'I love you's' a lot over the last month, but she hadn't stopped to consider what it meant. Had Owen really loved her for that long?

"I thought it was when I hit the Pteranodon," she said.

Owen laughed. "That was a close second."

Claire lifted herself up onto the toes of her boots and kissed Owen hard. "For me, it was that day in the van. You remember which one?"

He kissed her lips, then her cheek. "I know exactly what you're talking about."

Owen took Claire's hand and led her to the still unfinished cabin. They hadn't come up with a concrete plan yet, but they knew they had to keep InGen in the loop. The bugs were now placed throughout the cabin. Owen and Claire figured they would go a few times a day to talk about trivial things, and their plans to find Blue, so that InGen didn't know they'd found the bugs. It wasn't exactly a foolproof plan, but it was all they had.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Claire asked.

Owen shrugged. "Cereal is fine."

Cereal is what they brought to the cabin. They poured two bowls of Special K and topped them off with milk.

Owen pushed the freeze-dried strawberries around. "Who puts fruit in cereal?"