𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 ▸ Lowery Cruthers [1]

007

A week passed, during which Ellis visited the Indominus enclosure only once to advise the construction workers about just how high they should be building up the walls – they finally settled on around forty feet, just to be safe. Whilst there Ellie made no effort to gain entry into the control room, there was something about the Indominus Rex that put her on edge, the way it watched her through the foliage, its eyes cold and calculating, just the thought of seeing it again made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Ellis had been told under strict instruction that she was not to speak of the hybrid to anyone, not even Owen, and though he did not question her, he knew she was keeping something from him. He'd noticed the change in her attitude straight away, the evening when she'd returned from Paddock Eleven, she was quiet whilst she took small sips from her beer bottle and she didn't roll her chocolate orbs once when he teased her about Lowery. Owen was concerned to say the very least, but he knew she'd talk to him when she was ready, and so he didn't ask. For a few days Ellis was distant, heading down to the raptor paddock to feed the girls, then heading straight home, she barely socialised and she did next to no research. It wasn't fear that caused her to act this way, she wasn't scared of the Indominus or any of the other dinosaurs in the park, it was anger. Ellis was angry that everything her father had told her about InGen was true, how they didn't truly care for science or the animals they created. InGen was a corporation, and it was clear to Ellis now that all they cared about was profits. It infuriated her that she had ever believed anything else; that she thought her work at the park was bettering the world and not some business man's bank balance.

A knock on the door of her bungalow was what roused Ellis from her sleep, it was 6am - pretty late for her actually – and when she dragged the door open, her hair still a mess from the humidity of the night before, wearing nothing but her father's old plaid shirt, she was greeted with the grinning face of Owen Grady who leaned lazily against the wooden doorframe. "Gooood morning." He greeted, handing her a coffee as he did so before taking a sip of his own. Ellis couldn't help but smile and stepped aside to allow him into her humble home.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" She breathed out, running a hand through her tousled mane and taking a sip of her coffee, black just how she liked it.

"There's no bespectacled computer nerds in here that I should know about is there?" Owen teased, his cerulean eyes darting around the obviously empty room before settling upon Ellis once again, he smirked when she blushed and laughed when she hurled a cushion in his direction. "Hoskins is coming to the paddock today; wants to see the girls in action. Something about InGen research..."

"I don't trust him" Ellie muttered bitterly holding her coffee close to her face, relishing in the warmth it radiated onto her skin.

"Neither do I." Owen agreed, giving a slight shrug before continuing. "But he signs the paycheques every month so I play along, now when was the last time you showered." He kinked an eyebrow and the corner of his lips curved up in a hint of a smirk that caused his blue eyes to glint mischievously.

"Oh fuck you."

"Well if you're offering."

Ellis scoffed and headed towards the bathroom, "You'd be so lucky Grady, I'll meet you at the paddock in fifteen minutes."

True to her word, fifteen minutes later Ellis pulled up to the raptor paddock in the old jeep wrangler she'd been loaned by the park. It was another of the old vehicles salvaged from the original park, and Ellis had fallen in love with it the moment she'd seen it – having always wanted one of her own since she was a child. She stepped out of her 'baby', as she so affectionately called it, and didn't bother to remove the keys from the ignition, the men who worked at the raptor paddock knew better than to test Ellis Grant. By the time she'd climbed up to the platform that ran over the top of the paddock the rest of her colleagues were already ready and waiting. Walking up behind Barry, Ellis rapped her arms around him and hugged him sleepily, he instinctively slung a muscled arm loosely around her slender shoulders and laughed, wishing her a good morning in his silky French accent which Ellis found to be truly beautiful to listen to.