Love How It Hurts
I've been trying since you left
Trying to fix all the bits that you wrecked
I'm just waiting
Till it mends...
Cassandra peered through her trembling fingers as Claire paced the floorboards, Owen watching her sister with hooded eyes. Somehow through the shock, his name had registered, Owen, Owen Grady, no longer the nameless flyboy who had fathered her child, but Owen. Time had barely touched him, only that he was taller than she'd remembered, and more tanned. But he was still as cocksure as he had been back at the dive bar all these years ago, sporting the same mocking grin that set her teeth on edge.
With the place in uproar, Claire crying hysterically and Cassandra still out of it, Owen had swiftly taken charge of the situation. Whilst he'd gone toe to toe with a non-repentant Hoskins over his irresponsible actions, a doctor had been swiftly summoned to check Cassandra over, Claire beside herself, convinced there was internal bleeding and that her sister was dying in front of her. Despite Claire's dire predictions, the doctor had swiftly reached the conclusion Cassandra was only suffering from shock and bad bruising, the thick foliage she'd fallen into literally saving her neck.
With Hoskins then leaving in high dudgeon, Owen had then issued various orders to his men before driving the sisters to his bungalow. He had forced Claire to calm down whilst forcefeeding Cassandra several coffees laced with brandy for the shock, the pair eventually getting a grip of themselves, much to Owen's relief, not having much experience with hysterical women. Now here they all were, Cassandra feeling like a character in a bad telenovela, who had just found the long lost father of her daughter after he saves her from a bunch of dinosaurs, only to discover he had dated her sister who happened to be his boss to boot.
"Admit it Claire, you were having kittens."
"I was having a whole fucking litter, Owen!"
"Oh, I love it when you talk dirty."
"This is no laughing matter, Owen. I'll have to fill out a significant incident report or whatever the hell they call it. There will probably be an investigation, maybe even an inquest" –
-"Whoa, hold your horses, honey; we're getting ahead of ourselves here" –
-"But it's not like it's the first time something's like this has happened either" –
-"And yet you always wonder why there's such a high turnover of staff" -
-"And the raptors, God the raptors, years and years of research nearly down the pan" –
-"Yeah, my goddamn research" –
-"You know, you can be mad at me, Owen, you don't need to be a gentleman about it" –
-"Hoskins is more to blame for this than anyone, Claire," Owen said tiredly, holding up his worn palms in surrender, making Claire finally slow to a stop, "I always knew he would overstep the mark one day, and today was unfortunately that day." As he spoke, his grey gaze fell upon Cassandra, expression inscrutable.
Cassandra swallowed hard, before looking away, suddenly unable to meet his eyes, still finding it hard to believe he was here after all these years, opening the floodgates to a past she'd thought she'd put behind her.
Owen looked at her averted face for a long moment, his own still unreadable. "Uh, I'll be outside, if you need me," he then said gruffly, "just holler."
The sisters watched him leave, an awkward silence falling in his wake, Cassandra then dropping her gaze to the floorboards, hair falling across her face, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She could still feel the impression of his strong arms around her, Owen having carried her to and from the car, resurrecting unwelcome memories of when he'd done the same six years ago on the night they'd met, Owen carrying her to his bed as they kissed, inadvertently showing a romantic side to him she hadn't thought somebody like him could possess.
"I didn't tell the kids," Claire said abruptly, making Cassandra look up, startled, "I don't think they need to know you nearly became dinosaur bait."
"Did you tell Karen!?"
"Hell no!" Claire snorted. "She's already left me several vitriolic voicemails after you tattle-tailed on me about not meeting you guys off the boat. What do you think she'd do if she knew about this!?"
"I need to text Zach though," Cassandra said, starting to panic again, "just to check in" –
-"Your phone is long gone, Cass," Claire said wearily, "and you lost that weird scrunchie thing as well, thank God."
"I still need to" –
-"I'm on it," Claire said impatiently, "they're okay, they're having fun, chill the hell out – well, as much as you can after nearly becoming dino kibble."
Cassandra winced, her aching head starting to swim with the coffee and brandy she'd imbibed, the aftertaste bitter on her tongue.
Claire looked at her for a long moment, face guilty. "Stupid question, but how are you feeling anyways?" she then said quietly. "That was quite a spill you took."
"Like the worst hangover ever."
"Hmmm."
"Thank you," Cassandra said suddenly, making Claire glance sharply at her, "thank you for getting me out of there."
Claire swallowed hard, tears filling her eyes. She had kicked off her heels before creeping into the training enclosure whilst Owen had distracted the raptors, dragging Cassandra out with great difficulty, sheer adrenalin giving her the strength to go on. "I had to," she said, voice cracking, "you're my baby sister, Cass. I would go to hell and back for you."
"Back atcha," Cassandra tried to smile, only to find herself wiping her eyes with the back of her hand instead, arms aching.
"It was Owen really who saved your neck though," Claire said, drying her own eyes, "he went into that training enclosure without a second thought even though he must have been cacking his pants."
Cassandra bit her lip, remembering Owen standing between her and the raptors, how he'd somehow miraculously managed to keep them at bay.
"How do you know Owen anyways?" Claire then asked, confused. "I had no idea you'd met him before."
"What did he say?" Cassandra said with great difficulty, wondering what story Owen had spun her sister.
"He just said he'd run into you a few years back," Claire frowned. "But that was it. What was with that weird Miss. Jones stuff though?"
Cassandra closed her eyes, knowing she couldn't run from the past anymore. "Claire, did... did you sleep with Owen?" she asked, sudden jealousy seizing hold of her, hating her sister having what had been hers albeit briefly. "You know, on your erstwhile one-time date?"
Claire shook her head, as though trying to clear it. "Wait, what?" she asked, baffled. "You know, I think you've hit your head harder than we first thought" -
-"Did you or didn't you!?"
"I didn't even kiss him," Claire exploded, looking at Cassandra as if she were mad, "the most we did was hold hands and that was an experience I'd rather forget. His fingernails were filthy – do you know he actually turned up to the restaurant wearing board shorts?" Claire flinched at the memory, words failing her, only for her head to suddenly snap up, blue eyes boring into Cassandra. "Oh my God, you're her, aren't you?" she said in disbelief, startling Cassandra. "You're that woman he was ranting about all the way through our date!"
Cassandra stared at her before it clicked. "The crazy and neurotic chick who flung him over?" she said, her voice becoming almost comically high. "That was me!?"
"Well, that's how he put it."
"I didn't fling him over though," Cassandra said, bewildered, "it – it was just a one night stand, hardly the romance of the century. I didn't even know his name."
Claire gaped at her. "What, you and OWEN!?" she squawked. "YOU did WHAT!?"
"Um... yes?"
"And you really didn't even know his name?"
"N-o-o-o," Cassandra said, wincing. "Not till now."
"Cassandra!"
"It was only once!" Cassandra retorted. "With him, Owen, whatever his bloody name is! Nobody else! Ever! And what does it matter anyways? It's the twenty-first century. We're two consenting adults and I bet you've got your own sordid past."
"I don't drop my drawers for just anyone, Cassandra," Claire said primly, drawing herself to her full height, tossing her hair back for good measure, "my men have to work for it."
"Well, whatever, just don't tell Karen about any of this," Cassandra snapped, "she'd freak out."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Claire said, startling Cassandra again, "she was spreading it around for years before she met Scott and became Housewife of the Year."
"Okay, I didn't need to know that," Cassandra said, wringing her hands, eyes darting wildly around the room. "But Owen, he's – he's," she began, shooting a panicked glance over her shoulder at the front door, making sure it was shut, "Owen – he's – he's Morgan's father."
Claire looked at her as if she were insane. "Excuse me?" she said, doing a double-take. "Owen is what?"
"He's Morgan's dad, Claire!"
Claire stared at Cassandra as it sunk in, face paling. "Oh my God, he is, isn't he?" she gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "His eyes – Morgan's got his eyes. When we first met – his eyes, they reminded me of somebody, but I could never remember – oh my God, Cass, does he know? Did he bail on you? Oh, Lord, I swear he's fired, right here and now, and then I'm going to make him marry you even if I have to drag him to the altar" –
-"He didn't know," Cassandra hissed, frantically flapping her hands, worried Claire's voice would carry outside, "and he doesn't know. He – he can't know!"
Claire froze, shocked. "But you have to tell him," she said in disbelief, stooping down so she was eye-level with her sister, forcing Cassandra to face her, "don't start prevaricating on that score."
"Don't start flinging fucking fancy words at my head!"
"Well, don't drop bloody bombshells on mine!" Claire snapped, straightening up. "I just... I just can't believe that you and Owen of all people, Owen freaking Grady – and Morgan – God, Cass, this is a shock to the system, it really is." She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, looking as unlike Claire as she could be, her hair in wild disarray and white linen skirt suit stained and rumpled.
"Look, I – I know he has to know," Cassandra choked out, "when I found out I was pregnant, I tried to find him, I swear I did. I went to the trailer park where he lived, but it was burned down, and the company had gone bust. I went to the bar where we met – I tried everything but I didn't know his name or anything except that he'd been in the Navy and they couldn't help either or they wouldn't, I don't know, some stupid confidentiality policy or some crap like that. So – so I just left it. I never told anyone, not you or Karen, nobody at all, and nobody asked me any questions. I just got on with it."
Claire closed her eyes. "I know, Cass," she then said tiredly, sitting down beside her sister, all her ire fading into the ether, "I was there, for once. That was a bad time; it was one thing after another, what with the divorce and losing your job. But you were so closed off; neither of us could reach you. All we could do was try and be there the best we could."
"What does it matter now anyways?" Cassandra said bitterly, wiping her wet eyes with the back of her hand. "It's in the past."
"The past is another country or so they say," Claire said, exhaling sharply, "or maybe I'm misquoting, I don't know."
"Well, they've obviously never been to Jurassic World, have they?"