A/N

Hey guys! How's life?

We have another piece of artwork from blackdragon21! 'Elise vs Lily' Go check out the link in my profile! Many thanks blackdragon21!

Nightmare Moon, all is well, I still read your reviews; there weren't too many, and typos are fine. It's me who gets the flack if I make typos.

SmurfTurf, thanks for the link.

Kim K's butt, I missed you. I'm sorry to hear your snake isn't feeling so well. What's his/her name? Snakes are beautiful creatures, no? I'll forgive you; Morivanja sounds like the right person to hide behind.

I'm really sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was stumped on this chapter, and I really had to do some research. Thank you Makokam, DONOVAN94, and Duesal Bladesinger for your help.

Lastly, thank you much and mighty for your reviews! I read all of them even if I don't respond to all of them. Much love to you guys, especially the those of us going back to college and school. We'll support each other in spirit come Monday. Be brave...

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"We're All Sick."

"You may have all these records when you give the green light to take Sobek."

Claire internally groaned; she knew Bridges would be possessive of the Manella folder. Elise's records just mere inches from her grasp. A childish side of Claire wanted to tell Owen to pin Bridges while she quickly read the files over. She would give them back, and Bridges could keep Sobek.

But that was not how it was going to work.

And Sobek had not given Claire a legitimate reason for her to reject him. He reminded Claire of Rexy just the slightest. An old ruler who was fine with going about his own schedule. Claire knew she could handle Sobek. Madre hadn't been that calm when Claire had seen her, but Masrani had been convinced a large space would mellow out the Spinosaurus.

It had only given Madre more room to get into a full out run before smashing through the fence.

But Sobek did look like a fisher, and Isla Nublar did have a river running through it. She had an idea of where she could put Sobek if she wanted to. She knew she didn't want him to be in the paddock. Madre had always paced around, but Sobek just looked...like an old man.

And he was castrated.

Claire sighed before she nodded, and said, "I will see what I can do about convincing my board, Mr. Bridges, but the space I was thinking won't work for him. I will have to build a new paddock. How long can you house him here for?"

Bridges gave a quick, nervous glance at the barred wall, and Owen knew the answer to that question.

Until Sobek said he was ready to go. That could be a few weeks, a couple days, maybe an hour or so. Owen hoped the Construction Team were miracle workers like the Repair Team. Claire followed the gaze before quietly saying, "I'll just make it a priority. We aren't building anything else at the moment."

Bridges gave a grateful smile as he said, "I would appreciate that, Miss Dearing. Thank you for coming to see him."

"I can give you an answer by noon; I'm sure."

The blonde gave a nod as he led the way back to the helicopter; it wasn't a long visit, but it was more than enough. Bridges was very glad the old dinosaur had been willing to give a warning before getting snappish.

He paused at seeing Owen help Claire in; there was something a little too informal about the hand touching, and Bridges was stunned at the idea of Claire actually getting romantic with anyone.

Let alone one of her own workers.

Bridges made a note of that as he watched Owen hop into the chopper. The man who tamed the Indominus would certainly be the only one brave enough to try and date Claire.

The redhead gave a final wave before Bridges took a step back as the chopper began to lift. He exhaled a tired sigh as he felt the coffee dwindling; it was time for a nap. It wasn't good when he missed too much sleep.

It was very bad actually; bad enough that Bridges had cancelled his morning meetings in favor of catching up on sleep.

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Claire readjusted herself in the chair before startling when Owen suddenly grabbed her hand. She glanced up in confusion, but the man said, "Claire, don't even think about making Sobek an attraction."

"But-"

"No. It will be very bad. Sobek cannot see people because he is way too comfortable around them."

Claire raised an eyebrow, and Owen pressed his lips nervously when he saw that look on her face. The one where she would hear him but not listen because it wasn't what she wanted to hear. He gestured a hand to the trees moving past them as he said, "You heard Bridges, Sobek takes down planes for the love of God. Planes. He should shy away from something that loud. Can you imagine what he would do to a viewing log? He knows how to break through fences, it won't take much for him to figure out ramming that log will get him to guests."

Owen felt a bit better when Claire glanced down quietly. She rubbed her finger along his hand in thought before saying, "I want those records, Owen. I won't have Elise die of some disease we could have prevented."

"I want those just as badly as you do, Claire, but we have to be really careful about bringing something as big as Sobek onto the island. He's bigger than Rexy and Elise. Rexy is old and experienced, and Elise is not fighting Sobek."

Claire nodded in agreement as she thought about it. Owen grimaced when the chopper made an unsavory tilt, but startled when Claire suddenly said, "Bark."

Owen was confused when Claire looked at him excitedly, and he slowly said, "Meow...?"

"What? No, you butt head. Bark is our Suchomimus."

"The what?"

Claire sighed in exasperation before she pulled out her phone. Owen let out a startled chuckle as he said, "That's a mini Ipad! Look at that! That is no pocket phone."

Owen laughed again when Claire gave a firm smack on his shoulder before snapping, "Be cooperative or I'll go get Rexy."

A little part of Owen could actually picture Claire marching through the jungle in her high heels looking for Rexy. It was a cartoony image where Claire would point in Owen's general direction to an angry looking, but attentive Rexy slowly grew angrier.

Owen didn't want an angry Rexy showing up at his bungalow to tell him to treat her adopted child better.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Claire snorted at finally finding a threat that would work on Owen. All she had to do was let Rexy chase him once.

She leaned onto him as she brought their website up. Owen watched navigate through all of the tabs with ease before she brought up a picture of a navy blue creature with stripes of yellow decorating the dinosaur.

"...She's got a face like Sobek..."

Claire nodded as she pulled up more websites; Owen would kill for that kind of internet, and she said, "The Suchomimus is a close relative to the Spinosaurus; they're in the same Family. Spinosauridae."

Owen blinked as he read it over. Spinosaurus and Suchomimus were both from Africa. Both fished. The difference was the time; Suchomimus was from the early Cretaceous while the Spinosaurus was from the late Cretaceous.

And this particular Spinosaurus was still unafraid of humans, never set foot in Africa, and liked to down planes.

"Okay..."

Claire gave Owen a look before saying, "Mr. Expert, why don't we go talk to Bark's handler?"

"Because Bark isn't Sobek?"

"Bark is part of the Cretaceous Cruise; she sees people all the time."

"So does Sobek; he even hunts sharks apparently. That'd be a great addition to that ride considering the sharks he hunts are probably the same shape and size as the kayaks."

Owen had meant that sarcastically, but the image was a little funny to him. He had seen a T-Shirt Jurassic World sold. It had a picture of a kayak splashing through the waters with the caption, 'I survived the Cretaceous Cruise'. It was more of a joke as it was a very calm ride, but Owen could just picture adding Sobek to that ride.

Make the guests really earn the shirt; they'd get it for free if they made it. Owen was sure the river wasn't that deep, but he could just see Sobek bursting from the calm waters like a cheap horror movie. Maybe they could put some kind of tracker in the Spinosaurus, and speakers along the waters. They would play the Jaws theme when they sensed Sobek nearby; the closer the Spino, the faster the music.

Owen would ride that ride. He thought it actually sounded fun; he just knew it was a bad idea.

The little voice in his head, dubbed Common Sense, agreed.

Claire rolled her eyes before saying, "Bark looks a lot like Sobek; maybe her handler can tell a few things about what she does to keep Bark happy. Maybe we can learn the do's and don't with her before we incorporate Sobek into this."

Owen immediately snorted, "We do not bring Sobek in as an attraction, Claire. If you really want him here, put him on the other side of the island; like, really far into the Restricted Area."

"And how am I going to justify that to the board? Yes, I just brought in a Spinosaurus with the potential to be an attraction, but he gets to be lazy all day while no one is even aware he exists."

"Okay, two things. I know he exists, and he doesn't have the potential to be an attraction. I know Elise fluked out into being the greatest thing since toilet paper, but I don't think Sobek will be a kiddie attraction."

Claire threw her hands up in exasperation before exclaiming, "Cooperate with me, Owen!"

Owen sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck before saying, "I'm just being realistic. I'm concerned about Elise, and we're training her for ACU. It makes me nervous why Bridges even wanted to train her, and I just don't want the threat of Sobek breathing down my neck. If he gets loose, you know ACU won't be able to do anything; it's Elise who is going to have to do the fighting. You know the fight will rile Rexy up, then the girls are going to jump the fence. I don't worry about them doing that now because the paintballers are long gone."

Claire sagged slightly, and Owen squeezed her hand as he gently said, "I just don't want to bite off more than what we can chew..."

The redhead was quiet for a few minutes as she thought it over, and Owen was staring out the window. He wondered how they were going to do today's training session. Maybe they would try to muddle their scents, like a real guest who didn't take well to the wilderness.

"I'm going to talk to Bark's handler."

"Huh?"

Claire sat back with a determined look on her face, and Owen gaped. He blinked a few times before saying, "Claire, Bark is not Sobek. You saw how huge he was; there's no way he can be part of an attraction. I don't care how powerful his shock tracker will be."

"I'm going to try, Owen. I will not roll over and give up just because Sobek is a little big."

"He's bigger than Rexy!"

"I'm going."

"But-"

"I'm. Going."

Owen looked over the determined expression. He was looking at a human Blue; Claire might have well puffed air through her nose.

Claire let out a breath through her nose.

By all things heavenly and smothered in Oreo fillings; Owen was really looking at a human Blue. Claire had made up her mind, she was going with or without him, and that was that.

He relaxed into his chair while mulling over this startling revelation. Was that why Blue had gotten along with Claire? Because they were kindred spirits? Owen paled slightly; what was he supposed to do with two Blues? His mother would have to light a lot more candles for his sorry soul now.

Two. Blues.

Owen was already getting prepared to go pray the rosary. He had actually never done that; he just pretended to so his mother would stop harping on him. Owen was actually amazed lightning never struck him or his father during church for the shit they pulled.

Sarcastic commentating during the priest's teachings, picking out all the sick old people so they could get ahead of them during Communion; they didn't want to share the cup with them, and even singing very different words during the songs. Making bets on which old person would outlive the other, purposely scaring the babies in front of them just for fun, and Owen's father had even once done the unthinkable.

Making sure he was one of the first in the line for Communion before ripping the most unholy of noxious fumes silently; forcing everyone behind him to slowly walk through the almost visible cloud. Owen had almost died trying not to laugh as the priest's eyebrows curled, and he was pretty sure that had been the final straw in his parents' marriage.

Owen wasn't very religious, but that was his favorite memory of church.

He felt a squeeze on his hand, and Owen couldn't stop his smile. He was head over heels for this stubborn woman right next to him. She was going to drive him up a wall, mash down all his buttons, give him grey hair, and the best feelings in the world. He wasn't going to let her have all the fun alone.

"I'll tag along."

Claire smiled as she squeezed his hand again; she knew he wouldn't be left behind. He was stubborn like that.

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Bridges heaved a tired sigh as he shut the door behind him. He knew it had been a really bad idea to lose as much sleep as he had. He needed to take a nap right now, but he just had to check his phone for any messages, and then remind Jack not to allow any disturbances.

He let out a quiet curse when he stumbled a little; it had been a very bad idea to drink that much coffee. Now the crash would be twice as worse. He didn't care much for the breeze swaying the trees; it was still early enough in the morning for their shadows to stretch into his office.

The movement of a particular shadow caused Bridges to glance at it. He narrowed his eyes; it was a lot taller than usual, and he refused to convince himself of the longer than normal arms hanging limply.

Was his shadow robed? Of course not; Bridges was just tired.

And it wasn't his shadow.

It stayed in the corner of the room when he sat down; it was just the lack of sleep. It was always the lack of sleep when the shadows played tricks on his eyes. He snorted; it was obviously one of the tree's shadows.

The Devil hides in the corners of the house...

Bridges rolled his eyes; the Devil had much better places to be than his quiet office. He honestly had no idea why his mother's voice would randomly pop into his head. It wasn't like it was useful.

When it rained on a sunny day, the witches were getting married; that was one he never understood, but it was stuck in his head.

He ignored the shadow slowly rocking back and forth like a cryptic metronome. He made a mental note to get rid of the tree with a shadow that disturbing, and Bridges was glad to see he didn't have any messages yet. But it was only seven forty five; they had spent longer with Sobek than Bridges had realized. He bit his lip when a sneering voice drifted in from the open, glass door behind him.

"Some presentation that was, Daemon. Why would you tell Dearing that Sobek can down a plane? You should have tried to appeal to her sense of family; convince her that Elise needs a Papa Spinosaurus to look up to."

Today was going to be a very bad day if he didn't get to sleep right now.

"Can't ignore me, Daemon, and you know it. I'm just gonna keep talking until you say something...Daemon..."

Bridges sighed again; he ignored the rocking shadows in the room before walking onto the balcony. Iudex Carnifex was standing right there; judgmental as could be, and a disapproving glare in his eyes. The blonde leaned on the railing tiredly, and Iudex snorted before saying, "What a mess you've become. Can't even go two days without sleep anymore. What happened to going almost a week, hmm? You're losing your touch, Daemon."

Bridges was very tempted to walk back inside, but Iudex rolled his eyes before growling, "You either talk to me or the shadow in the corner, and we both know who is just a little kinder. My insults or his questions? I know you don't want to talk about all the dirty little things Mama never knew about with Mr. Growls over there."

Bridges frowned before giving a small glance over his shoulder. Now he really did intend to cut down the tree making that shadow; the damned leaves had managed to give a swaying shadow narrowed eyes.

Damned shadows.

Iudex's eyes seemed to glint with a sadistic malice before he purred, "I don't know about that, Daemon. We wanna talk about what happened last time you told yourself that? Mama came home to a giant pile of ashes and you holding the matches. Why do you gotta burn everything?"

Bridges rolled his eyes before snapping, "I'm fine."

Iudex let out a short laugh, cruel and harsh, before scoffing, "Oh, yeah, of course you are. I'm obviously the crazy one. What would my mother think of this? Me talking to a human; preposterous."

Bridges stiffened at the word as he growled, "We don't use that word, Iudex..."

Iudex rolled his emerald eyes again before retorting, "Is that all you learned from that therapist? Don't use the word crazy? Money well spent; kind of like creating the Indominus. At least Elise is kind enough to cover for you. Hey, since she's so good at figuring you out, do you think she's...a little off like you are?"

Bridges could feel the shivers from his crash coming on; he was not in the mood to deal with Iudex right now. The judgmental prick always knew how to mash his buttons. Iudex wasn't much of a talker; only when Bridges became very stressed or tired.

It didn't happen often; he loved his job. It wasn't as stressful to him as people thought; it calmed him down. The paperwork, the meetings, everything about his job was good for him because his mind was put to use elsewhere. It had been easy to climb the corporate ladder in a failing company. He slept better at night out here. Life was such an easy game to play.

The Spinosaurus gave a tilt of his head before serenading, "We were born sick, and we love it, Daemon. We're all sick, and you know it."

Iudex suddenly paused to ask, "Hey, want to know who I'm curious about since he's an important little chess piece?"

Bridges blinked; he still had no idea how Iudex got these details. Damned shadows probably told him. The shadows shifted over the Spinosaurus' face in such a way that Bridges swore he saw Cheshire-like grin.

But that was even more ridiculous than a talking, smart ass Iudex.

Bridges gave a tired sigh as he felt the pounding headache coming on, but the Spinosaurus soothingly purred, "Mr. ACU Commander; he's going to be fun. You saw him, remember? He's gonna snap soon if someone doesn't do something... What do you think he's sick with? Shame? Guilt? I'm thinking survivor's guilt; thank God that can actually be helped. Not much hope for you though, huh, Buddy?"

A low growl made the hair on Bridges' neck stand straight, but Iudex gave a snap of his jaws before saying, "Knock it off, Mr. Growls; he's mine today!"

Bridges glanced behind him again to see the tree's shadow had shifted a little closer, but Bridges had no idea why the Spinosaurus had named the air conditioning system Mr. Growls of all things. There was nothing else here that could make that sound.

The blonde turned his gaze back to the fire colored dinosaur when Iudex asked, "When you gonna introduce me to the pretty lady anyways? Miss Elise is a real looker."

Bridges stiffened before snapping, "Bite your tongue; you are not meeting her. That has no part in any of my plans."

Iudex seemed to darken under a shadow before he paused to sniff around the disturbed earth. Bridges pinched his nose, and Iudex slyly said, "But I can make my own plans too. Come on, scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. We already have a nice system here where I send the pests over to Carnifex, and you get off scot-free. I even purposely paused last night just to scare Wu a little more. Hey, Carnifex can eat Wu when you're done with him, right?"

Bridges was getting irritated, and he snapped, "I have no romantic interests. Go away; I want to go to sleep."

The Spinosaurus gave a little turn as he continued to search the ground; Bridges had no idea what for, but Iudex took a step back with lidded eyes cruelly shimmering as he taunted, "Of course; that's why you never brought home a pretty girl to Mama. All your dates are just for show because we both know whose backside you've been staring at since day one."

Bridges looked over the seemingly smiling dinosaur; a little tiny voice said this wasn't normal, but Bridges hardly ever heard that voice. Instead Bridges shoved a hand in his pocket to fumble with the comforting lighter as he dangerously said, "That has no place in my plans; go away, Iudex. I am tired of talking."

Iudex rolled his eyes again though the smile seemed to shrink back to what was normal. The Spinosaurus gave a final sniff on the ground before he regained that glint in the emerald eyes. Bridges narrowed his eyes when Iudex coyly said, "It's not going to change the fact that a certain Italian has caught your eye. Oh, what would poor Mama think? I bet she'd roll all the way over in her grave. Must be pretty dark where she is; six feet under cold, dark earth."

Bridges refused to say anything, and the Spinosaurus finally scoffed, "Fine, fine. I get the hint. Yeesh, Daemon; you're no fun anymore. I'm going because I don't want the other dinosaurs to see me talking to a human; that's not normal. Grady can talk all he wants to Miss Elise, but the world is gonna turn upside down the moment she talks back."

Bridges glared at the dinosaur who had turned back to the thick jungle. Iudex melted into it as he hauntingly sang; mournful voice echoing through the empty jungle.

"We were born sick, and we love it. We're all sick, and you know it. We were born sick, and we love it..."