The Grant Files: Stranded on Isla Sorna

Prologue

Two plastic dinosaurs were battling.

They were accompanied by a child's ferocious sounds, "RRRRROW! GRRRRRR!" Charlie, a three-year old boy, played in a sandbox with his favorite toy dinosaurs. Dr. Alan Grant was squatting next to him and watched with great delight with his daughter, Jami, standing beside him with a wide grin. Ellie Sattler stood over them, an infant in her arms -- a picture of the perfect family.

"You know Charlie, those two are herbivores. They wouldn't be interested in fighting each other. But these....," picking up two other dinosaur toys, "see, these are carnivores. And this one here -- see its claws -- this one here uses its claws to gouge at the throat of its opponent..." as Grant demonstrated with some grunts and groans of his own, he only succeeded in boring the boy.

"Uh, Daddy," Jami eyed her father, "a little too scary."

"Uh, Alan," Ellie caught his attention.

"Hmm?" Grant replied.

"He's three," she said, "why don't you wait til' he's a little older? How about five?"

"Good idea, Aunt Ellie," Jami laughed softly, making sure Charlie wasn't masking fear.

"Oh, right, of course," Grant said with a smile, "happy dinosaurs," he bounced them along the sandbox edge.

Then, the sound of a car engine turning off and a door slamming was heard. "That must be Mark," Ellie said, "Mark, we're back here!" Ellie and Grant turned to see -- Mark Degler coming through the gate carrying a briefcase. He was their age, handsome but not annoyingly so, with a friendly, balanced demeanor. He and Ellie kissed tenderly on the lips as Jami looked up from the boy. "Good day?" Ellie asked.

"Keeping the world safe," Mark gestured for the infant in her arms, "here, let me take her."

Ellie handed off the baby, "Mark, this is Alan and his daughter Jami."

Grant and Jami stood and stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you, Alan. I've heard a lot about you," Mark said with a smile as the two men shook hands, "it's nice to meet you too, Jami," he moved to shake her hand as well as she smiled shyly as he was a new person to her.

Little Charlie ran to his father, showing his dinosaur, "Daddy, this is a herbabore," a pause to gesture toward Grant and Jami, "and they are the Dinosaur Man and Dinosaur Girl."

"Dinosaur Man," Grant laughed lightly.

"Dinosaur Girl?" Jami sighed softly, "aww, you're so cute."

There was a parrot in a large cage. Grant was teasing the bird with a cookie, holding it just out of reach, "what's my name? Come on, Jack, say it. Is my name Alan? Is my name Alan? Say my name," the bird didn't respond, "he used to know me," Grant said with a soft huff, Ellie and Jami were laughing softly.

"Sorry, Alan, it's been six years," the older woman said as Grant shrugged, gave Jack the cookie, and headed toward the table. The four of them are finishing their dessert and coffee, even the sixteen-year-old Jami was given special permission to have coffee with the dessert and she wasn't complaining. Being an old soul like her father, she enjoyed coffee as well as tea. The children had been out to bed.

An awkward moment of silence.

Uncomfortable smiles.

Then -- "More coffee?" Mark asked.

"Yes, great," Ellie seemed relieved as Mark stood and collected their cups, "so, Mark's been working at the State Department now."

"What do you do Mark?" Grant asked.

With mock bravado, "I could tell you about it but then I'd have to kill you," Mark said with a laugh.

"Indeed," Grant replied.

Mark smiled, nodding. Then he went into the kitchen. Another uncomfortable silence.

"So, what are you working on now?" Ellie asked.

"We have a new site in Montana. At least until the money runs out," Grant replied.

"Anything good?" Ellie asked again.

"Raptors, mostly," Grant said enthusiastically.

"My favorite," Ellie said sarcastically.

"They're everyone's favorite," Jami was just as sarcastic.

Grant leaned forward, realizing Ellie's one of the few other people he could talk to about Raptor, "you remember the sounds they made?"

"I try not to," Ellie said truthfully.

"We've done cranial scans, and raptors had quite sophisticated resonating chambers. I have a theory that their ability to vocalize is the key to their social intelligence. The way they can work together as a team," Grant said.

"You think they could talk to each other?" Ellie asked.

"To a degree we never imagined," Grant replied and from the cage in the corner of the room, 'bullshit!' It was the parrot and all three of them looked at the bird.

"Oh, my goodness," Jami exclaimed.

Ellie smiled, "you taught him that."

Ellie and the Grants headed toward the rental car parked in the driveway. "Good luck with the fund raising," Ellie said.

"It was never easy but before Jurassic Park, you could find money. Somewhere. Now fossils are out. Everyone wants to see a real live dinosaur," Grant said glumly.

"Times change Alan but you're still the best. I mean that," Ellie smiled.

"The last of my breed," Grant regarded his daughter standing beside him, "well, my daughter is the last, unless she decides to give me grandchildren," he laughed.

Ellie and Jami joined him in laughter. "Well, maybe when I'm a little older and find someone who will stay with me," Jami explained, "but for now, we're the last of our breed."

A long moment passed between them all as both adults considered where they had ended up in their time. "I'd better get going," Grant said, "we've got a phone call to make."

Jami nodded her head, "yeah, we call Jasmine every night."

Ellie nodded her head in return, "I remember her, hope she's doing alright now," a pause, "well, let me know if I can ever help, Alan. You're bad about asking for help but please ask me. Anything, anytime."

"Okay," he knew deep down that he never would.

"I'll remind him," Jami said, hoping she would remember.

"Goodnight, Ellie," Grant said.

"Goodnight, Alan," a beat, "goodnight, Jami."

"Goodnight, Aunt Ellie," Jami quickly moved to embrace the older woman, who embraced her back and pressed a chaste kiss to her head. Then, the two pulled away and, not sure what the right thing to do, Ellie and Grant finally ended up with a friendly hug and they kept it short.

Grant got in his car with his daughter following, a beat later and he was starting the engine. He was about to pull off when Ellie knocked on the window and he rolled it down, "when I met you, I thought that one day millions of years ago, all the dinosaurs became extinct, wiped out but you told me otherwise. When conditions changed, dinosaurs changed. They became other things. They evolved," she said.

"A well-accepted theory," Grant replied, the real meaning behind her words going right over his head.

"Alan," a beat, "don't be afraid to evolve," Ellie continued simply.

Grant heard her but Ellie knew it didn't really get through.

"I'll always be his interpreter," Jami said with a shrug.

A forced half-smile, then Grant waved goodbye. Ellie watched as he drove off, waving at a smiling Jami, who was frantically and happily waving at her.