"I Understand"

"So that's how it's going to be then?"

Owen tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice as his three girls surrounded him while he stood protectively in front of Claire and her nephews. He knew the raptors would focus on killing him first since it seemed that was what the Indominus had ordered.

Blue curled her lip before giving a low hiss, and Owen refused to break eye contact with her. He could see that internal struggle in her. He knew it had irritated her beyond everything to do those repetitive exercises day in and day out. He knew that, as a Beta, it was her job to question every decision he made when it came to the pack. He also knew she was upset with how things had turned out after the Indominus had taken over.

She was not happy with baby Charlie being blown to bits by that missile, and neither was Owen. If he had the time, he would have probably cried over her body, or at least what was left of it.

What Owen really wanted to do was point out to Blue that if she hadn't ordered the pack to follow the Indominus' orders, Charlie would have been fine. His cheeto snatching baby would still be alive. But now wasn't the time to be blaming others for what could never be undone; he had to keep this pack together. He could already see the warning signs of stress wearing on his girls. Delta looked dangerously irritated, despite already mauling Vic, and Echo seemed cranky with missing her dinner. They were all hurt and confused as to why their baby sister wasn't with them; they feared the worst when Charlie wouldn't respond to Blue's barking commands to come home.

He could still prove himself to his girls.

Owen kept his eye contact as he slowly lowered his silver gun to the ground. He knew Blue was fully aware of what he was doing, but she continued to watch him carefully. She knew she had defied him by acknowledging another as the Alpha.

The gun gently clattered on the floor, and Owen heard Claire give a small gasp. He slowly extended his hand towards Blue; not flinching when she gave a bluffing nip.

"Easy, Blue...shhh, it's okay."

Despite the firm, loud orders he barked at them during their training, Owen had never used a firm hand when touching them. Barry had always used gentle, light touches to calm them, and Owen did the same.

He knew how begrudging raptors could be; they would never tolerate mishandling. Hell, Vic had only looked at Delta wrong, and she had gone out of her way to give the lab's walls a fresh coat of paint with his internals.

Blue remained still as the calloused hand lightly ran across her cheek. Owen always loved how warm, and smooth the scales felt. His fingers bumped over scarred indents in the skin before he softly grabbed the release mechanism of the camera on her head. He gave it a small twist, and gently pulled it off before tossing it to the ground. Blue's golden eyes briefly flickered to the camera as she was finally freed, and Owen smiled as he murmured, "That's my best girl."

He respectfully took a step back to give the raptor her space. Blue had always had a larger bubble than her siblings. Even when she had burst from her egg in a screeching, sopping mess, Blue did not appreciate Owen's 'imprinting cuddles'. She had given him fierce bites for his touchiness, and had retained that trait all her life.

Unless she really wanted Owen's Oreos, then she would allow Barry to kiss her nose.

The golden eyes flickered back up to him, and Owen decided he wouldn't be angry with Blue about her decisions. He knew they had that trust there, and he knew it wouldn't fail him. If nothing else, he hoped Blue would take the pack elsewhere while he tried to get Claire and the boys to safety.

He swore he saw a glimmer of warmth mellowing Blue's eyes, and he felt her respect for him increase. There had always been a physical barrier between them. He had always either been out of her reach, bars between them, or her solid muzzle on. Never had he approached her, defenseless, while she was free.

Owen proved that he completely trusted her as an intelligent pack member, and she seemed grateful for it.

The tension had dissipated incredibly, and he felt like he could breathe again. Even Echo and Delta seemed to relax slightly. Owen was about to shoo his girls off to go find safety, when the telltale thuds of the massive monster shook the ground.

He felt that heavy ball of fear in his stomach as those white scales skulked past the confining buildings, and those smoldering, crimson eyes did a double take at the small group.

Owen swore he saw surprise flash across those eyes, and he grew uncomfortable again. Those thumbs practically screamed how irresponsible her creators had been. He didn't like how human she acted; it frightened him.

Granted, it scared him a little more when the Indominus grew irritated as she prowled over while chittering with Blue. Owen's gaze would flicker between his best girl and the white monster towering over her as the duo seemed to be arguing. Just the way she would use her massive, bloodied snout to gesture to him screamed human. He knew no other creature who would use that kind of body language.

Blue puffed a small amount of air through her nose, and Owen knew she had made her final decision. She was the most stubborn, and bull-headed creature on the face of this planet. When she puffed the air through her nose, Owen had learned to simply give up, and walk away for sake of his blood pressure. No amount of yelling, hollow threats, or begging, would sway the blue raptor from her final decision.

His best girl turned her head to him, and gave a quiet, almost gentle chitter as if to say, 'You with me on this one?'

Owen could have fallen over dead; he was sure it would have taken all the saints in heaven to come down before Blue would even think about consulting with him. He could feel a small, crooked grin pulling at his lips when he gave a single nod; come hell or high water, he was right next to his best girl.

Blue seemed to snort slightly before she turned back to the Indominus, and gave a defiant snarl with all her ivory daggers showing. The other two seemed to bring their small circle closer together as they stood unwaveringly behind their Alpha and Beta.

The Indominus seemed confused by this, Owen could see it clouding the anger that had burned in her eyes since he first saw her. She wasn't sure what to make of something so little compared to her, defying her. The crimson eyes flickered over to him, and Owen stood taller; he had approved his Beta's decision.

The white rex seemed to ponder the blue raptor for a second more before suddenly curling her lip in a confused rage. She let out a livid roar that hurt Owen's ears before pulling her massive hand back. Owen felt his heart stop, and, before he knew what he was doing, he had slid in front of Blue. He held his palm up before barking, "STOP!"

Owen also wasn't aware he had shut his eyes until he heard a slow, rumbling exhale in front of him. He cracked open to see the thumbed hand raised, and claws splayed to swipe at them. Blue shifted nervously, and Owen refused to let out the breath he was holding.

The Indominus was capable of obeying orders.

Or she was so confused with him barking at her that she had startled into pausing. Owen was leaning more towards the latter, but he had her attention. He could do something with this; she had raptor in her, she could be trained. All she needed was positive reinforcement, it was something she had lacked her entire life. He could see the crimson eyes emptying of anger as they filled with innocent curiosity, and her long tail gave a slight flick, like a cat who had just discovered a mouse who fought back.

He stood a little taller, though he kept his splayed hand up, and maintained eye contact with her. How much eye contact had she been given in her life? Had anyone tried to train her? Owen could see the intimidating, literal daggers poking from her gums, and he was sure the answer was no.

She was so intelligent, and she had lived alone her entire life. That paddock wasn't large enough for her to run around, and it was so far away from any other dinosaurs that there was no way she knew they existed until she saw them. She was made of raptor and human DNA; both were highly social creatures.

How could the Indominus not turn bitter, and cruel considering how she grew up?

No one taught her it was wrong to kill for sport, she had never been taught boundaries, and no one had bothered to communicate with her.

So, how did she know the meaning of stop?

Owen didn't risk glancing behind him, but he could hear Claire breathing. She was close enough to hear him whisper, "Is there any way she could hear you talking through that glass in her paddock?"

The Indominus shifted slightly, and Owen quickly glanced down to see her bleeding foot. She was heavily injured with bruises, cuts, slashes, and even burns. She had to be in a lot of pain, and he could see some sedative darts deep in her thick, white scales.

How the hell was she even functioning?

The crimson eyes flickered over to the redhead, and Owen swore he saw that anger creeping back in. She didn't like Claire.

"I-I don't know..."

Owen bet his last, cold beer the Indominus could hear through that glass. She knew Claire, and Owen knew the two had only seen each other through the thick glass. Owen just wasn't sure how much human DNA was in her, but there seemed to be more than enough for his forming theory.

It made him so much more uncomfortable than the two thumbs, and emotions.

Owen used his other hand to reach behind him, never breaking eye contact, as he whispered, "Hey, Gray, you got anything good in that little bag of yours?"

He could hear the young boy rummaging through his bag as the Indominus continued to shift on her feet. That burning curiosity was their saving grace. It seemed she had the curious gene from both her human, and raptor coding.

She literally could not resist her need to know.

Gray was such a quiet kid, and Owen strained to hear the kid mumble, "I...I got some double stuffed Oreos."

A small bag was pushed into his hand before the sentence was finished, and Owen immediately yanked his hand from Blue's snapping jaws. If there was anything Blue would never resist, it was the gift from God above himself in the form of blessed, double stuffed Oreos. Owen was pretty sure that was the first phrase she had gone out of her way to memorize. 'Double-stuffed Oreos.' It was when he learned how shameless a beggar she was, and how mushy Barry could be for her. Blue knew the difference between double-stuffed and regular; God help any soul stupid enough to try and pass the regular as double-stuffed to her.

They had ended up needing a new caretaker after that incident; the 'Oreo Incident' as Barry had taken to calling it.

Owen could feel a smile pulling at his lips as the blue raptor completely tuned out the rest of the world, and she began to cutely beg for even a whiff of those irresistible cookies. This was good, this was very good. Blue's sudden change in behavior was only interesting the Indominus even more. He could see the crimson eyes searching for the cause, and Owen changed his splayed palm to holding his index finger up as he firmly said, "Wait."

The crimson eyes flickered to him, and she took a small step back to acknowledge she had heard him. Blue was wriggling her haunches as she stepped about eagerly. The bottom of her jaw almost shivered as the small, adorable clicks were made, and Owen couldn't help dryly saying, "You know I am not Barry, Blue."

A shrill whine told Owen that she was more than fully aware of that very inconvenient detail. She wanted the Oreos now, and Owen knew better than to tease her. He pulled out one that hadn't been crushed to powder before firmly saying, "Eyes up, Blue."

If the Indominus wasn't watching, Owen would have given Blue the entire bag of Oreos for proving herself loyal to him. After all they had been through, his girls deserved a couple days of nothing but being babied.

But the Indominus had to see how things worked with him, he had to establish some kind of communication system with her.

Blue immediately stood taller as she half pulled her eager, golden eyes from the delectable treat. Owen resisted the urge to snort as he said, "That is very good, Blue. Here."

The Oreo was tossed, and Blue immediately caught it between her teeth. She was such a slow eater with her cookies that it sometimes irritated Owen. She had to lick it to mush, slowly and evenly, before even more slowly savoring the creamy filling in the center.

Owen had given up on trying to understand that; it wasn't like Blue was starved for Oreos.

Owen turned back to the patiently waiting, snow scaled dinosaur. She was carefully watching the raptor with crimson eyes narrowed in thought. The Indominus was all but ignoring them now. He glanced down to her fore limbs, and saw they were pressed close to her chest in an almost protective way. Her index claw seemed to be carefully tapping against her dirtied chest, and Owen felt his eyes widen.

The Indominus had a nervous tic. She had a nervous tic.

She wasn't quite understanding the purpose of this process, and it frustrated her. She was a frustrated creature who had no way of finding relief except through violence.

Owen wasn't sure an Oreo would comfort her; she seemed far too intelligent for a simple 'eyes up' order. She would want to know why, not the immediate reward of obeying.

Owen risked glancing behind him, and wasn't surprised to see Claire and her nephews looking terrified. They had no idea what this creature was going to do; one wrong move, and she would snap.

Owen turned back to the Indominus as he carefully watched those crimson eyes, and the tapping finger. She was pondering, and reasoning Blue's obsession with the cookies; too bad she'd never understand it.

He had to try something else, he had to give her a way to communicate back to him in a way that would be satisfying to her. He glanced back at the curled hand before staring at the frustrated crimson orbs. He finally squared his shoulders; he was just standing around like an idiot, and he needed to make a move before she did.

"Hey, eyes on me."

Owen spoke a little more gently than he would while training his raptors. It was still an order, but it didn't have a sharp bite to it. The Indominus paused from her nervous tic to glare at him for interrupting her thoughts. He briefly paused as he chewed the inside of his cheek before slowly saying, "I think...you understand a lot of what we are saying, don't you?"

She made no indication of whether or not she did, but Owen could feel Claire glaring into his back for talking to the white scaled monster like a tree hugging idiot. He took a small step forward as he added, "I think you have enough of my species in you to know what we are saying, and I think I can help you talk with us."

Owen really didn't want to believe her tail swishing to the side was because of her growing interest. He really hoped she was just thinking of all the different ways she would use his body to pick her teeth.

"It's called Sign Language, we have mute and deaf people learn it so they can talk with us."

Owen looked her up and down once before raising his hand. He firmly said, "I want to know if you understand me."

He held his loosely closed fist near his face, palm facing him, before flicking his index finger up; like when an idea hit you. She watched him intently, and Owen was sure she had the digits to do the same if she understood him.

If.

"That little motion of my hand means, 'I understand', in sign language."

Owen really didn't want her to be that human. He knew primates were capable of learning sign; Koko the gorilla communicated with her keepers. Was the Indominus that intelligent?

"Do you understand what I'm telling you? Can you understand what I am saying?"

The Indominus stared at him for a few, very long seconds, and Owen was starting to feel nervous. Was she waiting for him to do something else? He really couldn't read anything on her at the moment; she was simply observing for the moment. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Claire hiss, "You have lost your mind! Get us out of here right now!"

Owen didn't blame her, but he wasn't sure how to do that without setting the Indominus off. He didn't want to give the Indominus a reason to go into hunt mode. She truly seemed to be a curious creature, and he risked turning his head to whisper back, "Wait a minute, okay? If she starts attacking then I'll make sure to give you an openi-"

"Look."

Gray had suddenly pointed, and Owen turned back around just in time to see the Indominus raise her left hand. She turned her hand towards herself effortlessly though she didn't raise it as high as Owen had. He could feel his own heart stop when the gently closed hand gave a brief pause before her index finger flicked up.

Like an idea had hit her.

'I understand.'