Welcome to Jurassic World

Chapter 57

"Not another damn chopper," Anya whined as they sat on a tarmac receiving medical attention as well as food and water. Beta had also been fed and watered and transferred to a travel cage while they prepared to take off again, each of them going to different places.

"Hey, I am so proud of you," Owen said as he took her hand, a thermos of tea in his other as she was getting a scratch on the back of her shoulder stitched up. "You got out of that plane, and you found a way to keep going when you didn't know if Maisie or I was ok."

She let out a deep sigh as the medic finished up the stitching and placed a gauze patch over the wound before handing Anya a large thick blanket.

"I almost didn't," she admitted, eyes on the ground as she couldn't look at Owen right now. "There was a moment when my parachute crashed, it knocked me out so bad I thought I was dead because... I saw my father."

Owen instantly reached for her hand as she finally lifted up her eyes to meet his. His brown eyes were a colour she could always get lost in.

"I wanted to stay with him, but he said I couldn't. He said that I had to put one foot in front of the other and keep going because I had a daughter that needed to be saved and a family that needed me. I had to keep moving. Not just because of what my father said, but because if I stopped to think about what could've happened to you both, I never would've made it to that outpost," she revealed as she adjusted the blanket around her.

"Shift over," Owen said as he moved to sit on the crate next to her and she opened the blanket for him. It fit around the two of them comfortably as Anya rested her head on his shoulder and held his hand with both of hers. "I've been in love with you, probably since we met, so believe me when I say that nothing could keep me away from you."

Anya couldn't help but laugh into his shoulder as Owen smiled, glad he actually made her feel better about the situation.

"I love you. You know that right?"

"Well, I mean you tattooed me, so I think that gave me some idea," Owen joked as she slapped his chest.

"I'm being serious."

"Hey," he said as he set the thermos next to him and lifted her head to face him more. "I know."

And he lowered his lips to hers.

"Here. Drink some of this," Owen said as he handed her the thermos.

Neither of them were real fans of coffee, so the tea was warm as it slid down her throat.

"You know what I heard Maisie call you today?" she asked him as she took another sip.

Owen sighed at the words as Anya smiled at him.

"Was it beefcake? Did you finally get her onto that one?"

He loved the sound of her laugh.

"No, but thanks for reminding me," she said as she snuggled closer to him. "But, when we were wrangling Beta, I told her I was proud of her, and she said that it was nothing she hadn't seen me and her dad do a million times."

Owen looked out at Maisie who was getting a wound on her wrist cleaned, his hand reaching out for his wife's.

"She really said that?" he asked hopefully, Anya's gaze never leaving his face.

"Every word," she promised before she looked over to Maisie who was looking up at them as they smiled at each other.

"We're going to be a good family," he said before Anya tugged his focus back to her.

"We are a great family," she corrected, and Owen gave her a small smile before he kissed her forehead.

"At least we're family-friendly," he remarked before pointing out where Alan and Ellie were making out and she laughed.

"That's long overdue. They've definitely been in love for like 20 years. Probably since Jurassic Park," she said as Alan and Ellie pulled apart before they were joined by Ian and Ramsey who were giving an interview about the corruption at Biosyn to two reporters.

"History repeats itself, huh?" he said as he nudged her shoulder, and she laughed before resting her head back on his shoulder and taking another sip of tea.

"You've really been in love with me since we met?"

"How could I not? You were gorgeous. Brave, considering you worked with dinosaurs all day. Smart. You didn't stand for my shit and gave it back to me. Don't even get me started on how attractive you were when we started working with the raptors and you just got in there and didn't let them give you shit and got all dominant."

She gave him a confused look.

"So, me doing my job and being alpha of the raptors was attractive to you?"

"Yeah," he answered as if it should've been obvious. "You didn't find it attractive when I did it?"

She smirked as she lifted the thermos to her lips.

"It was cute because they never listened to you."

Owen frowned at her.

"Why am I the romantic one? Come on. What was your first impression of me?"

Anya swallowed the tea as she thought about it.

"Good-looking, obviously. Charming. Kind of full of himself. Muscled arms I'd love to see wrapped around me. Someone who wants to be seen as manly and masculine because he never drank anything other than beer. Someone who –"

"Ok, I'm going to stop you right there. Quit while I'm ahead," he said as he placed a hand on her leg.

She only smirked at him again.

"I was going to say you looked like someone who looked like he had and knew how to use his big –"

Owen covered her mouth with his hand as Maisie came over to them.

"How you feeling kid?" he asked.

"Better. The chopper is ready to go. They're waiting for us," she explained as Owen moved his hand from Anya's mouth.

"Let's go home," she announced as she and Owen stood, and the family smiled at each other.

"Come on, Maisie," Owen said as he opened the blanket for her, and she tucked herself under his arm as they made their way to the helicopter. "Alright, now we got you back, you gotta help me keep your mom calm once we get in the air."

"Easy enough. Just ask her to tell a story about a time when you did something stupid," she replied, and Anya laughed.

"Oh, you are so my daughter."

Owen pulled them even tighter to his body, almost as if they were in headlocks as they approached the chopper and they laughed.

"What am I going to do with you two?" he asked as he let them up and they pulled the blanket tighter around them, a cocoon that could protect their small family from anything.

"You could take us home, dad?" Maisie said and Owen almost stopped walking as he stared at her in disbelief before pressing a kiss to her head.

"That sounds like a great idea, kid."

And with that, they boarded the helicopter that was bound for home.