#robert muldoon x female oc

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 29

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: ready to have your heart ripped out?

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 28 | Chapter 30

Living After Midnight - Judas Priest

Over the constant hum and buzz of the jungle darkness, never completely silent, Lizzy’s laughter was ringing through the trees, ricocheting around the clearing next to the Rex paddock. 

She had a filthy laugh that Muldoon hadn’t heard before. At hundred per cent volume, totally out of control, with her head thrown all the way back.  It was bloody glorious. 

And he would be attempting to make her do it again, as soon as possible. 

I’ll have more of that please. 

“Christ Almighty-“ Lizzy wiped her streaming eyes. “-that’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. Well done.” She started cackling breathlessly again, clutching her stomach.

“If I wasn’t awake before that, I certainly was afterwards.”

“I’ll bet.” She wriggled uncomfortably, her ribs were seriously aching. “That was a good one. Got any more?”

“More than we’ve likely got time for.”

The campfire was finally dying. They’d been out in the park for hours, it had to be almost midnight. 

He built me a campfire. Lizzy was practically vibrating with contentment. Not that she couldn’t build her own fire, of course she could, but that wasn’t the point. The gesture was the point, and the fact he had agreed to an open flame amongst trees in the first place. 

Just this once. While there’s nobody here. Those were his exact words. 

Breaking the rules. 

Just this once. 

“We’ve got all the time in the world.” She insisted. “You really should write these down, you know.”

“Maybe someday. If I ever manage to retire. In fact-“ he was struck by an idea. “-you’re a decent writer.”

“Planning on keeping me around that long?”

“I’d like to think so. You have your uses.”

“I’ll take that.” Lizzy worked hard to keep her voice even after the compliment. “But you’d need plenty of photos, or drawings. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always preferred books with pictures.”

Her tone had just enough suggestion for Muldoon to wonder if Baker, despite her promises, had let slip about his own artistic capabilities.

He quickly moved the conversation along before she had too long to dwell on the thought. “You must have a few stories of your own by now?”

Lizzy did indeed have a good one she hadn’t yet shared. Through instinct, she looked around the clearing for eavesdroppers, although they had to be the only two humans for miles and miles, a vast stretch of ocean separating them from the nearest civilisation.  

“On the topic of photographs…I never told anyone outside of the research station because I didn’t want to embarrass Simon.” She rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t matter now, and it’s not like you two will ever meet anyway.”

“Go on.” He caught his grimace just in time at the mention of the ex-fiancé’s name. 

“The first time he came to visit me in Namibia, he was a little, uh-…condescending to the locals in our team-“

Muldoon was familiar with what the swift response from said locals would be, rich white clients tended to all behave in a similar way. It was expected. But that was a whole other collection of tales for the fireside. “I’ll bet that was swiftly resolved.”

“They had some fun with him first. Simon was parading his new Polaroid camera around giving it “magic picture” this and that. I was mortified.”

“Christ-“

“He hasn’t travelled much outside the States.” Lizzy explained. “Or, in fact, outside the state of New York. Anyway, one of my team, proceeds to tell Simon, translated by yours truly, that she prefers the resolution on the Nikon 35mm and also that she had the equipment handy to help Simon clean his dirty lens.”

Muldoon smiled grimly. “You laughed too, I imagine?”

He wondered if it had been as good as the ridiculous laugh he had recently become acquainted with. 

Lizzy had indeed tried and miserably failed to keep a straight face at her partners come-uppance. “I couldn’t help it!”

She recalled the memory. Simon’s face had been hot and red, mortally embarrassed, and he’d stormed off by himself into the long grass. 

A terrible, possibly fatal response. 

Once she’d caught up to him with a shotgun slung over her shoulder, she’d had to sweet-talk him into returning to camp before he stumbled across a big cat, buffalo or even a snake who would really give him something to be upset about.

That hadn’t improved his temper at all, but he had been downright foolish of him to just wander off like he was taking a stroll in Central bloody Park!

Why’d you laugh at me? Are all your friends like this? Do we really have to stay out here with them? What’s wrong with Windhoek?

Windhoek, really? They’re just messing with you!  It’s fine! 

Not fine, Liz! They should apologise!

You’re the one who should apologise! Pembe is the best guide we have and you were damn rude-

And so on. One of many disagreements, and they seemed to be increasing in frequency. 

“Yeah, he didn’t see the funny side at all.” She sniffed. “Was never that great at laughing at himself. Bless him.”  “You need to have a fantastic sense of humour-“ Muldoon’s voice was as dry as if he were telling Lizzy her shoelace was untied. “-to work with things that regularly try to make your life insurance policy pay out before time.”

“Good thing you’re so in tune with your emotions then, eh?” The comment earned her nothing more than a derisive glance as he lowered his slouch hat over his face, and she chuckled again. 

Maybe it was the Towel Incident, or the disastrous cooking attempt that had followed, but the ice was well and truly broken. No going back now. Lizzy felt the most like herself since the breakup. It was so easy, talking to him like this. She was happy. 

They were on opposite sides of the campfire, Lizzy scooched a fraction closer on her blanket so she could see him better through the heat haze. 

Muldoon was on the ground too, stretched out on a blanket of his own. Lizzy wasn’t sure how he seemed to look even taller lying down. She shook her head, trying to chase away the thought of how she’d measure up. 

Lizzy watched him for a long time, thinking to herself in comfortable silence, before speaking again. 

“Tell me about her.”

“Who?”

He’d answered instantly. Of course he was awake under the hat, alert. As always.

“Your wife.” She answered quietly. 

Muldoon hmm-ed for a long moment, Lizzy waiting as patiently as she was able, trying her hardest not to fidget. 

Just when she thought there was no way he was ever going to answer her in this lifetime, he did. 

“You’re not unlike her. Your attitude is-“ Damn. Did it again. He corrected. “-was very similar.”

“You can say ‘is’.” Lizzy told him gently. “Nobody here but me.”

“She cooked much better than you can.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Lizzy muttered. “But, in my defence, I didn’t know food could be any other colour than beige until I left school.” Shuffling where she sat, her legs starting to get pins and needles. “She pretty?”

“Knockout.”

“Wow.” She grinned. “Lucky you.”

“A lot taller than you.” Muldoon added. “Honour is likely going to hit six foot once she’s in high school.”

“Honour?”

“Our daughter.”

“Ah.” It occurred to Lizzy he’d never told her the name of his child before. Or ever used the prefix ‘our’. Always mine. Always my responsibility from now on. No more our. 

It felt like he was divulging a massive secret. Honour. Lizzy rolled it around in her brain. Not a name she would ever have imagined him going for, but she liked it. Rather a lot.

He took the hat from his eyes and looked her up and down. “She’s almost your height already, in fact. Although that wouldn’t be difficult.”

“The diet of beige is to blame. Unfortunately, I’m stunted.”  Not where it counts Muldoon thought. There was a reason he liked walking behind along Dr Armstrong where he could get away with it. The view was spectacular.

He tried very hard to get her quite frankly unfair side profile out of his head before he answered. “We’ll pretend the smoking habit had nothing to do with it, then. Honestly, the pair of you would have gotten along.” It was the truth. His wife, too, loved elephants and had a downright filthy laugh.

“Did Jeff know her?” Lizzy asked, hoping the answer was yes. 

“They were lethal together.”

“Dr Blacklaw has quite excellent taste in women, what can I say?” She made a show of tossing her hair back.  Muldoon found himself wondering if their paths had crossed sooner and he had met Armstrong in Africa, how would he have felt about her? How would she have felt about him? 

Life might have been very different. Maybe he would have turned down the offer from InGen, gone to India instead. He wouldn’t have to be so careful about what he said or did all the time. 

At least the other chap was out of the picture now. Matters were a damn sight better than when she first arrived with that rock on her finger, like a shameless beacon, flashing I’m taken every time the sun caught it at the right angle: You haven’t got a hope in Hell. 

Maybe the universe was capable of working things out for itself, even if it had put him through the metaphorical wringer to get to this point. 

“Has there-…” Lizzy was so relaxed she had forgotten herself, who she worked for, and all her manners. As the question was tumbling from her mouth she realised how inappropriate it was. They were good friends, sure, but working friendships always had their limits.

She was about to cross a very dangerous line. 

“What?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Less of that. It clearly does, or you wouldn’t have said it.”

In a rare occasion, she seemed lost for words.

”Nobody here but me.” He quoted her own words back to her.

“I…don’t know if you’ll like it.” She fumbled. “I was just curious. Nosy. I was being nosy, alright? Sorry.”

“Try me.”

Lizzy knew that tone. I dare you. If you’re brave enough. Deep breath.

“Has there been…anyone since?”

I double dare you.

There followed a very long pause during which Lizzy thought don’t ask why, do not ask why. 

“Why?”

Dammit. 

She couldn’t be the only person on the planet who could see the appeal. More-so now that he’d stopped drinking, Lizzy had an even harder time keeping her thoughts in check. He was looking damn fine recently. 

“Eight years is a long time!” Lizzy sighed and wrung her hands. “And I told you that you wouldn’t like it! Don’t answer. No need.”

“It’s alright.”

Muldoon was in fact very interested to see where this particular conversation was headed.

They could have been back in Kenya, with the campfire and animal calls, though of a different era, still familiar in their nature, all around them. 

If there’s a right time, it’s probably now.

“Nobody significant.” He answered. One or two that didn’t work out. Three or four that had just been stress relief. Nobody that he felt deserved any more of his time or his life, or his daughter’s. Until Armstrong had landed on the island with a bang and instantly began rearranging the natural order, and damn her, questioning the where-why-how of everybloodything. 

Lizzy meanwhile, was wishing she had never brought the subject up. 

And she knew the reason. Not because it was awkward to talk about, strangely enough it wasn’t awkward in the slightest. His answer had been as casual as if she had asked him what the time was, or what the weather was likely to do tomorrow. But the answer she had most wanted to hear, been hoping to hear, no, nobody at all, was way too much to wish for. 

She’d been correct. Eight years was a long time.

Or maybe Lizzy was just a little peeved he’d probably done better in the last eight years being out of a relationship than she had done  being in one until very recently. 

She had to admit the first two years with Simon had been a lot of fun. After that it became less about fun, and more about we’re in the same country, so we’d better do something about it. God, I’m so tired. Are you tired? C’mon, we gotta. At least once. I love you. So tired.

“Anything else in this particular line of questioning, while we’re at it?” He actually sounded amused.

“When…-“ Lizzy started then ground to a halt again. Way too inappropriate.

“When…?”

She just wanted to die there and then.

“Doesn’t matter.” She frowned and deliberately looked away. “Forget it.”

“Were you about to ask ‘when was the last time’?” Muldoon smirked. He knew he was on the money. And seeing the normally confident and bolshy ethologist becoming a little flustered was delightful. “Getting rather personal there, Armstrong.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She stammered. “None of my business.”

“I honestly don’t mind.” This could work both ways. “We’re adults. I will if you will.”

Curiosity was burning Lizzy’s insides so much that it was manifesting as stomach ache. She had gotten herself into this mess, may as well keep going. She nodded, ignoring  Kathy’s voice in her head warning you’re gonna get in troooouble…

“Remember when the dilophosaur did a number on you? I was away at the time?”

“Huh. So when you said you had a good trip, you meant you had a good trip. I see.” She played with the belt loops on her jeans, reluctant to deliver her side of the deal. 

Muldoon cleared his throat. “Forgetting something, missus?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t like this game.” Lizzy grumbled, only because she was losing. 

“Then don’t give what you can’t take. I’ll have to make a wild guess if you don’t want to say out loud.”

Lizzy mumbled something that he took as affirmative.

“Let’s see, then.” She was shifty-eyed and squirming. Brilliant. “ Didn’t you stop off in the States with your man before you came over here?”

“Well, yeah-“ Lizzy forced herself to get over her self-consciouness. She still had the Spanish dictionary somewhere in her room in the lodge. Regrettably, the only thing Simon had given her before she boarded her flight to Costa Rica. “But if that’s your guess, you’re dead wrong.”

Muldoon looked at her in disbelief. He had so many questions.  What the Hell had the man been playing at?! It was like he wanted to lose her.

“This year at least?” 

“Yes, if you absolutely must know!” Lizzy knew the exact Pantone shade of scarlet she was turning, far beyond pretending it was from the heat of the campfire. “April was a very good month, okay?”

April?! It’s nearly bloody next year now…

Her short temper now seemed incredibly explainable.

”I can hear you thinking.” Lizzy said grumpily, still not looking directly at him. “Not quite the answer you were expecting from someone like me, eh?”

“If that’s true, I can’t help but feel most of your bad moods have a fairly easy fix.”

“Not so easy on a tiny island, where people talk. Our favourite engineer being the main culprit.” She grinned at him. “Or I could follow your example and finally have a good reason to go back to the mainland.”

He didn’t want her to do that at all, actually, but he grudgingly agreed.

She was lying on her side, propped up on an elbow. The size of her waist in comparison to her hips was unreal. Nothing wrong with her khaki shorts, but those damn jeans were doing her some incredible favours.

Lizzy couldn’t stop, though she was wary of feeling upset from finding out more things she didn’t really want to hear. “So, do you really like this person on the mainland?” 

Muldoon chose his words carefully. ”There is someone I’m keen on, yes.”

What the-

“Oh. Yeah, great. Good for you.” It came out more sarcastic than she intended. 

Muldoon nearly laughed. Armstrong wasn’t following him. 

”You know, it’s alright to be jealous.” He couldn’t resist toying with her.

Lizzy’s reaction was explosive. 

”I’m not-“ She practically back snarled at him. “Hm. I’m not jealous!”

Very convincing thought Muldoon. 

No, not jealous. She was fuming. Someone else?! Why was he telling her that? Lizzy really thought he liked her, and now he was interested in someone else? 

”Armstrong…” Please get there faster. I’m not ready to say it yet. 

Boy, did she feel silly when she realised Muldoon was talking about her.

She was the one he was interested in. 

”This person-“ Lizzy was finally on the same wavelength, much to the relief of both of them . “-I’m not sure she’s good enough for you.” 

“Oh, really?”  “I have some questions. Just to be certain.” The delighted grin was threatening to burst forth. She forced a neutral expression.

Keep it together.

“First question: is she pretty?”

“Very.”

“Intelligent?”

“She’s a clever girl, yes.”

“Meek and feeble?”

“Not even a bit. And you know fine that’s not what I would want.” Muldoon gave her that look she knew oh-so-well. “You’re pushing your luck, by the way.”

Lizzy laughed again, the real, uncontrollable laugh, and he finally smiled.

New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay as she better knew it, had always been more magical than Christmas. No matter how bad things got, the moment the clock struck midnight had the promise of a new beginning, a fresh start. A chance to do better this time around. 

But she knew exactly what would happen this year on Nublar. The spell would break. They would go back to the visitor centre, back to work, and in a few days it would be as if this night had never even happened.

She needed to do something. Before it all ended.

“You alright in there?” He had noticed her smile fading. 

”Fine. Just thinking.”

Muldoon scoffed. 

“I know well enough that fine, very rarely means fine. Especially when it’s coming from you, my girl.” He stared her down. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s just…not fair.” Lizzy became aware she was whining, and hated herself for it.

She didn’t need to elaborate. He knew exactly what she meant. “I agree.”

Why couldn’t we have just met in Africa? 

”I don’t want to go back. Not yet.”

“Neither do I, but we have to, at some point.”

“Why, though?”  Muldoon hesitated, trying to word it as diplomatically as he could, to avoid upsetting her.

“Because there are rules that can’t be broken, and ultimately I’m responsible for your safety.” Damn this whole situation. “That is what it all comes down to.”

“Okay.” She reluctantly agreed. “Let’s go, I suppose.”

It’s not okay, it’s not okay at all.  A part of her had desperately hoped something would happen that night. Conditions were otherwise perfect. They’d likely never have a chance like this again for a long time. 

But it wasn’t meant to be.

Unless…

She had an idea. 

“Fire’s still going.” Lizzy stated flatly. “I’ll sort it out.”   The ground was too hard to kick dirt over it. But she knew Muldoon kept a couple of metal jerry cans in the back of his Jeep. Not InGen protocol, just old habits. 

One was water, one was gas. Labelled of course, but it was pitch black apart from the glowing embers nearby.

Don’t want to get these two mixed up. 

She unscrewed the lid of the first container and got a noseful of fumes. Then checked the second, and bingo, slightly stale water that smelled like the colour green. But it was much heavier than she anticipated, almost full. 

“Ooyah! Son of a bitch!” She’d tried to lift, lost grip, and somehow managed to trap her finger between the two cans with a bang. 

“Everything alright back there?”

“It’s fine, under control!” Lizzy struggled to free herself, cursing under her breath at her own clumsiness. Idiot. “Shitshitshit, come on!”

She eventually succeeded, dousing the remains of the fire with a quiet sizzle and a faint wisp of smoke.

Darkness.

Muldoon hadn’t started the Jeep yet, waiting for her, there wasn’t any light at all in the clearing.  She put the can in its place, then hung back by the tailgate, quiet and still. 

And in three…two…one…

Muldoon didn’t take long to twig that something suspicious was afoot.

”Christ’s sake, Armstrong, don’t do it!” He sounded exasperated. “If you’re planning on playing hide and seek in the dark again, I’m not having it this time.”

She didn’t answer.

If he wasn’t into this, he’d just wait me out.

Lizzy was very quickly proven right.

“I know exactly where you are.” He kept up a stream of expletives in her general direction as he slammed the driver’s door. “I’ve being doing this for years. I’m very good at it.” 

Come get me, then.

Lizzy didn’t even hardly dare breathe, placing her palm over her mouth to stay quiet.  Silence. 

For just a beat too long. 

Hang on, where the Hell is he? 

Lizzy realised she possibly no longer had the upper hand.  A tiny, deliberate, shuffle of gravel under heavy boots right next to her, that made her jump and flatten her body against the taillights with a small thump.

He was close. Much closer than she thought. And she’d just given herself away. 

“Got you.” Muldoon was attempting to sound put out, but he’d enjoyed that, as much was evident in his voice, she could tell. “Too easy.”

”Fair and square, mister. So, what are we going to do next?”

”You’re going to get in the Jeep, and we’re going back to the lodge.”

Lizzy leaned against the rear bumper, making the metal creak underneath her. Just so he knew exactly where she was.

”See, I don’t really feel like getting back in the Jeep right now, isn’t that a kicker?” She hoped the lip-bite was evident in how she coyly spoke. “What are you going to do about that?”

“I will pick you up.” Muldoon threatened. “Employee handbook be damned.” 

“If that’s the case, handbook out the window, then I think you should do more than just ‘pick me up.’” She mimicked. “I’d let you.”

“Lizzy.” Deep, exasperated sigh. “I am using your first name so you know how serious I am. Get in the Jeep.” 

She uttered the two words that she knew ahead of time would be the equivalent of a red rag to the park warden. 

“Make me.”

God, she could feel the annoyance radiating from him. He was bristling. 

But nothing could have prepared her for what happened next. 

Lizzy heard him tapping impatiently on the side panel of the Jeep, it felt like a countdown.

Should I be runni-?

“Right-“ He was fast.

She wasn’t fast enough. 

And really should have ran while she had the chance.

He was making good on his word that he would pick her up, willing or not, employee handbook, workplace code, the unspoken rules all thrown out of the window, never to be seen again. 

Muldoon went straight for her legs, grabbing handfuls of her through her jeans. Damn woman, she would get in the bloody car. 

Lizzy shrieked and flung out her arms, scrabbling for something, anything to grab onto, both hands found and gripped the sides of the Jeep tailgate. 

Muldoon was trying his best to pry her free while she barely clung on for dear life with her fingernails, not unlike a cat that was avoiding being stuffed into a cage and carted off to the veterinary surgery.

She felt the pressure on her legs ease, and thought he’d given up. She started to loosen her fingers on the cool metal. 

Then he found the backs of her knees with both hands, and pulled hard. But Lizzy wasn’t for letting go just yet. She still clung on for dear life like a very determined barnacle. 

“By Christ, you’re strong-“ There was a hint of desperation in Muldoon’s normally measured voice.

That did it.  Lizzy was gone then, she started laughing helplessly at the absurdity of what was happening, what events had led to this moment, and how ridiculous they must look.   She finally lost her grip all at once and slid ungracefully downwards with a thump, accepting defeat, still cackling.

Lizzy just knew Muldoon was shaking his head in exasperation at her in the dark, his accident-prone, walking disaster of an ethologist. 

“Sit up, you bloody lunatic.” But then her entire hand was grasped in his, pulling her upright into a sitting position. “For God’s sake, don’t bang your head. It might knock some sense into you, but I don’t fancy the paperwork.”

”It’s far too late for me.” Lizzy tried to catch her breath. “Would need to be one Hell of a bang.”

Realising the connotations too late, she snorted and muttered sorry as she tried to reason with her hair, patting it back into a more respectable shape.  

She felt two fingers under her chin, tilting her face upwards and she tensed, her breath caught in her throat.  “What am I going to do with you, Lizzy?”

The question was absolutely loaded.

”Anything you like.” She impulsively answered in a low voice.

She was euphoric, riding the high that had been building since the moment she stepped down out of the Jeep into the clearing, and honestly she just didn’t care any longer. 

They would never be alone again after New Year’s Eve. 

This was it. Her only chance for God knew how long. 

She had it bad, so bad for him. And she couldn’t really remember just then why this was such a terrible idea in the first place. Something about those damn rules…

Eh, never been one for the rules anyway.  Lizzy craned her neck upwards, stretching as far as she possibly could, relying on her intuition alone in the dark. 

She found what she was searching for and after a last moment of hesitation, she finally did it. She kissed him.  

He pulled away slightly, unsure. Lizzy felt sick that she’d misjudged horribly, and was starting to seriously panic with how she could possibly play this one off.

I…fell?

But she could have cried with relief when he apparently got over the surprise and began kissing her in return, leaning into her. Responding to her. 

It felt so right, so bizarrely normal, that Lizzy found herself briefly wondering why they hadn’t been doing this the whole damn time they’d known each other. 

Slow and hesitant at first. Then something simultaneously clicked for the both of them, and it turned into an altogether different experience. Urgent, messy, not at all careful, not what Lizzy was used to at all.

Lizzy feared the lamps would click on and flood the clearing with light at any second. Like they had to hurry before they were caught, as if John Hammond himself might pop out of the bushes, brandishing his cane, gotcha!

But it didn’t matter. This was what she’d needed. She hadn’t realised how much she needed it, that she wanted this so badly. For far longer than the past few months of living in Costa Rica.

She realised she didn’t mind so much anymore if she banged her head on the floor of Jeep. Repeatedly. In fact, at this moment in time she’d be glad of it. They might not make it back to the lodge. 

But as quickly as had happened, it was over. Fate had very different ideas for how the night would progress. 

He pushed a little too hard into her hips, and oh God it’s happening, forcing her backwards against the bed of the Jeep as Lizzy let her legs relax and fall further apart. It was evidently far too much for the built-in motion sensor, and the alarm in the vehicle began blaring like a police siren at ear-splitting volume, all lights flashing in unison. The Rex snorted and roared unhappily at the disturbance from the other side of the fence, only adding to the din.  The noise had the same effect as if someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water over them. 

“Shit-“ Lizzy shot upright, pulling away and covered her ears while Muldoon fumbled for the Jeep keys to stop the racket. 

Then silence. Deafening, smothering silence. Even the Rex was quiet. A single hadrosaur trumpeted in the distance.

She waited, unsure what to do next, she couldn’t read his expression in the dark, but he felt off. Something was badly wrong. 

“I’m taking you back now.” Muldoon said tersely. “I would really appreciate it if you just do what I ask this time.”

”Okay.” She knew better than to argue.

“That was out of order.” He continued icily. “That cannot happen again.” 

“Got it. Sorry.” Lizzy felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Goddamn embarrassment, flooding every cell. I can’t believe this. I’ve blown it. “I’m really sorry.” 

He didn’t respond as she shuffled into the passenger side and quietly buckled her seatbelt. He wouldn’t even look at her. She tried again, one last attempt. 

I’m using your first name so you know how serious I am. 

”Robert, I’m really sorry.”

Please believe me.

Please answer me.

She‘d never used his name before, ever. This wasn’t the pleading circumstances she wanted to use it for the first time. Not at all. 

Her efforts didn’t work. 

”Don’t do that.” Muldoon replied flatly, starting the engine while staring straight ahead. “We’ll deal with this in the morning.” 

Lizzy’s heart plummeted, her chest constricting, aching with that too familiar pain all over again.

Her stomach was flipping back and forth in sheer panic for the entire silent-and-not-in-a-good-way journey back to the lodge. 

She didn’t even bother trying for a goodnight as they parted ways to their own rooms. Neither of them did.  I’ve really done it this time.

Months of building a rapport, gone in an instant because of one false judgement. And what if he told Jeff what she’d done? What if anyone on the island, at InGen, found out what she’d done?

The rumours that had been swirling around would finally be true. There were names Lizzy would be called that she couldn’t just brush off anymore. Nobody would take her, or her work, seriously ever again. She’d be an outcast.

All terrible things. But worst of all was Muldoon refusing to acknowledge her. That was the reason she was trying her damnedest not to cry.  Stupid. Stupid, stupid idiot! 

It had turned out to be too much too soon. Maybe too much ever.

Why do I always do this? Why do I always ruin everything? 

***

Thanks for reading!

If a particular anecdote sounds familiar, I mayyyyy have drawn some inspiration from George of the Jungle (this is very important for later 🎶)

The story I envisioned Muldoon telling Lizzy is along the lines of Peter Capstick’s black mamba in the latrine story from Death in the Long Grass. If you want some idea of just how funny it is, I’ve read it multiple times and know what’s coming almost verbatim. I still laugh every time I read it.

And hearing Muldoon calmly recount one of the many times he’s almost checked out early would be, I imagine, quite hilarious.

I can’t believe I finally got to post this chapter. It’s been here since the very first draft, it’s quite special to me as New Year, or Hogmanay as we call it, is a much bigger deal in Scotland. A very important tradition is the first foot, which is supposed to bring you good fortune for the year ahead.

…I guess they did it wrong.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #oc fanfiction #oc fanfic #oc creator #jurassic park ocs #oc community #robert muldoon x female oc #robert muldoon #this is the one #this chapter nearly broke me #its been living in my head for nearly 3 years #long fic #slow burn #mutual pining #idiots to lovers

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 31

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: some swears, graphic injury description, use of guns

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 30 | Chapter 32

Separate Ways - Journey

“Oh my God.” Lizzy’s hand went to her mouth. 

“I’m fairly keen to contain the situation.” Muldoon kept his tone matter-of-fact. “You can imagine.”

Ed Regis had finally noticed something was awry and was shooting agitated glances in their direction. Lizzy chose to ignore him. “How did this happen?”

“Esteves managed to let it out.”

”What?!” It couldn’t possibly be true. “Rico knows better than that!”

”My thoughts exactly. Don’t worry, he’ll get the bollocking of his life once I’ve retrieved the blasted animal.” He turned to see her still following him. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Uh, I think I’m coming with you!” Lizzy made to push past him so she could beat Regis to the door. “That’s my blasted animal!”

”Not a chance. Stay inside.” He blocked her escape. “You certainly aren’t going anywhere dressed like that.” 

“Oh, really? Well, you clearly know best. I’m sure I’ll be just fine, left alone with all these strange, lonely men.” She deliberately adjusted the neckline of her dress. “Uh-huh, perfectly safe.”

Silence. Lizzy could practically see the cogs turning.

“I’ve changed my mind.” He decided. “Keep up, Armstrong.”

***

“Seriously, boss?” Tom despaired. “She can’t even walk in that monstrosity, never mind run if something chases her!”

“Let me just go change!” Lizzy chewed him out. “Oh, wait. We don’t have time!”

Her hair was already doing its damnedest to escape the updo Kathy had painstakingly donated her entire collection of bobby pins towards. Stray curls were popping free all over her head. Tom tossed Lizzy his bone-handled folding knife that he’d kept tucked down the side of one of his leather boots. “At least sort your dress out, would ya? You’re gonna hold us up.”

He had a point.

She fumbled, only just managing not to drop the blade in the dark, and began hacking away at the hem. 

“Sorry, Ed…” The cheap material began to rip nicely, and then stopped after a few millimetres. She was no better off. 

“Christ’s…sake…” Lizzy struggled, grunting. What the Hell was it made from? Her palms were sweating and she couldn’t get any purchase on the material, infuriatingly it kept slipping straight through her fingers. 

“Leave it.” Muldoon took pity on her, bending down.

“But-“

“Don’t read into this too much.” He told her as he took hold of her dress and tore it from mid-thigh to hip as easily as if it were made of paper.

“Steady on.” Lizzy’s heart about near stopped. 

“Just get in the Jeep.”

”Right!” Lizzy hurriedly tore off her heels and flung them in the back of the vehicle, wincing as the gravel dug into her soles. It was a welcome relief, far less painful than the shoes.

“Was that good for you, Liz?” Tom muttered as Muldoon slammed his door shut. “Quick work.”

”Enough, Kennedy.”

Lizzy smacked the back of his headrest in retaliation. “Oops.”

“Hey! Watch it!” Tom protectively reached upwards. 

”They even make cowboy hats large enough for your big big head?” She couldn’t resist giving him back just as hard. “Or is that a custom?”

”Stetson. Stetson. How many times?” Tom clearly took serious offence. “It’s a goddamn stetson!”

***

They were following the raptor on her journey across the island, Arnold giving directions over the comm link, trying to stay parallel to her trail using the roads. They’d been driving for a while, but were drawing ever closer as the animal tired. 

The air was getting heavier, no stars to be seen that night, obscured by the black thunderclouds closing in on Isla Nublar. 

Lizzy was fully invested in the raptor hunt, keeping an eye on the road ahead from the safety of the Jeep, but her mind was unhelpfully wandering to other matters.

Against what Muldoon had warned her about, she was reading into the dress-ripping situation, heavily.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

Her longing wasn’t helped by the man in question shooting her glances in the rearview mirror now and again. Like he knew exactly what was rumbling around in her head. 

“Bring your glasses?” Muldoon finally spoke.

”I refer you to my earlier answer, when you asked about my radio.” Lizzy reminded him. “If you can’t see it, then I don’t have it.”

“Just as well, I only brought two guns.”

“Boys hunting trip, then.”

In fact, looking at the pair of them in the front seats, it could almost be father and son setting out into the woods for a game shoot.

Lizzy nearly opened her mouth to taunt Tom about it, but thought better. She wasn’t that much of a dick, to bring up what was likely a very sore subject for him. Hell, she was one to talk, she had enough family issues of her own.

“She’s stopped.” Arnold announced to the Jeep. “Fifty feet to the south-east.”

“Radio silence then, please. Over and out.” Muldoon confirmed, putting the car in neutral and turning the ignition off.  “Don’t suppose you have a plan?” Tom drawled. “Or are we free-styling this, as per usual?”

“She goes to a marker now.” Lizzy interjected. “I’ll have to get close, but let me try.”

”She does what?!” Lizzy heard Tom mutter incredulously.

“Get close?” Muldoon wasn’t sure if he’d heard her correctly. “I don’t bloody well think so. That’s Sarah Harding levels of stupidity!” Fair enough, if Armstrong could make the raptor behave when there was a fence separating her from danger, and the dinosaur from a possible meal. But her bold proposal confirmed what Muldoon had suspected for a while.

Unless she’d made unbelievable progress in a few short weeks, the ethologist had been coming to study the raptor without him.

“Just-“

“I’m not having you do that.” He thought of the grisly photograph he’d seen of the Ruso woman’s mangled fingers. And the animal was much, much bigger now.

”Uh, guys-“ Tom tried to get their attention.  “It’ll work!” Lizzy persisted.

“Still no, Ar-“

”Guys!” 

“What?!” Muldoon and Lizzy replied at the same time. 

”There.” Tom pointed in a whisper-yell. “Shit, she’s right there.”

Lizzy squinted, then sure enough, she saw the eyes. 

All three of them got out of the vehicle, Lizzy silently passing the men the tranquilliser guns that had been propped up beside her on the back seat. 

The ethologist couldn’t help herself, she was drawn in. She edged closer, marvelling at the way the dinosaur just disappeared amongst the vegetation. Seeing her without an electric fence in the way or other obstacles in the way, she was stunning. The ideal predator.  As Lizzy watched, the raptor’s nostrils flared and she snorted sharply, catching a scent on the wind.

Her head jerked around, with a few irritable snaps of her jaws. Her third eyelid slipped across and then back again in a white film. Then the raptor fixed her stare on Lizzy, and the young dinosaur’s entire body stiffened. 

All three humans heard a faint sound, it took Muldoon a moment to realise it was a low but constant snarl, coming from the raptor.  It invoked memories of Africa deep in his bones, it sounded remarkably similar to the noise that came from the undergrowth when a big cat decided it had an issue with his limbs being firmly attached to his body, and was going to do something to rectify that.

He had no idea why the raptor had suddenly taken issue with her handler, but a more pressing issue was that Armstrong had nothing to defend herself with.

“Get in the car, now.” Muldoon pushed the ethologist behind him, blocking Lizzy from the raptor’s penetrating gaze. “Slowly.”

Thankful for her bare feet, she obeyed. She slipped like a shadow, shifting her body in reverse behind the door, then back into her seat with barely a sound. Lizzy left the door ajar. Impossible to shut it quietly.

The raptor had hunkered down in the bushes. Waiting for the humans to move first. Daring them. 

Just try it. See what happens.

No such thing as a clear shot anymore.

“Damn, if she bolts, we’re back to square one.” Muldoon muttered only just loud enough for Lizzy to hear, the pair of reptilian eyes reflecting amber back at them from the darkness.

“She wants to get to me. You square up to her, draw her attention, then Tom takes the shot from the side.” Lizzy suggested. 

“I know what I’m doing.” 

“Broadside is a bigger target.” She pressed. “Front on, she’s too narrow. And Tom can’t cover you at close range, the Jeep’s in the way.”

“I won’t miss.” Muldoon’s words were clipped, he wasn’t happy with her plan.

“Listen, the three of us have zero experience stalking this animal.” Lizzy pointed out. “Even you. We haven’t seen her hunt in the wild, I don’t have a gun to cover you. So let’s cut down the error margins.”

“Suppose.” He reluctantly agreed. “Kennedy-“

”I got it. Flanking now. Keep her engaged.”

The Texan simply disappeared, his tall form melting into the darkness without a sound, and the two of them just had to assume he was carrying out the plan as agreed. 

The raptor stood like a statue, still rumbling viciously.  Then she fell silent, and that was somehow more chilling. The eye of the storm. Her head cocked to one side. 

Lizzy realised the velociraptor could likely hear Tom’s footsteps, even if they couldn’t. The wind caught her hair and she realised they were upwind, shit- He could be in real danger.

“Close your door.” Muldoon clearly had the same thought.

Lizzy blinked, unsure she’d heard right. ”It’ll make a noise.”

“That’s the idea.” He didn’t take his eyes off the raptor. “Draw the bugger out.”

“If you’re sure.” Her stomach flipped from the thought of the dinosaur rushing at him. 

”Do it.”

Okay, you asked for it.

Lizzy slammed her door shut and the raptor snarled at the disturbance, getting more agitated as she took a few steps forward, unsure now her attention was split two ways.

Muldoon snarled back. ”Come on. Face me, you devil.” 

Lizzy could practically see the crosshairs zeroing in on the side of her body, unobstructed by branches. 

Now, Tom.

The raptor’s shining eyes dropped low to the ground and she was hunkering down to charge-

Take the shot take the shot taketheshot-

Her breath quickened at the incoming attack, then the pop to her side as Tom’s gun went off made Lizzy jump. 

The dinosaur screamed and turned away into the undergrowth, racing off with barely a rustle. 

“Stay there, Armstrong.” Muldoon was already striding forward to check. 

”Honestly.”

”Do I need to lock the damn door?”

No she murmured grudgingly. 

There was a muffled thump from outside the bright pool of the Jeep headlights. The raptor was down.

Tom materialised out of the darkness, grinning  happily. “I got her behind the ear.”

”Good lad.” The park warden clapped him on the shoulder as they went to find where the raptor had fallen. “Risky shot.”

“My favourite kind.”

“Show-off.” Muldoon nudged the dinosaur with his boot, then finally lowered his gun, calling to Lizzy, still in the Jeep. “Suppose you want to give it a once over?”

“Yes!” Lizzy was practically hanging out of the window with desperation. 

“Get out here, then.”

The ethologist piled out of the car and ran over to examine her animal. Muldoon should have been ordering the raptor loaded into the back of the Jeep as soon as possible. But he knew what she wanted. Lizzy appreciated being given a even few moments with the most intriguing creature she’d ever had the pleasure of studying.

She checked the raptor‘s pulse with two fingers under the jaw, watching her sternum rise and fall, marvelling at the animal she admired from afar but was never allowed to touch. She squinted and ran her palm over the crest of the dinosaurs neck. Were those pinfeathers coming through?

“Oh, rad.” She murmured, tempted to pull one out to show Henry Wu over breakfast the next day, but she resisted. 

“We’ve discussed how clever these ones are.” Muldoon stated, standing over her. 

“Many times.” 

“Hm.” He nodded. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if it remembers all that.”

***

“That worked out rather nicely.” Lizzy was relieved. Situation contained.

“Could have gone worse.” Muldoon agreed, pausing. “But we need to have a word, about you coming to visit it without me.”

”Oh, someone’s in trouble…” Tom whispered gleefully.

Lizzy looked extremely guilty, but didn’t have an answer. At least, not a convincing one. 

“I should have known.” Muldoon continued, trying to sound more annoyed than he felt. At this point, he wasn’t even fazed anymore. “Always forging ahead.”

“Sorry, I just-“ Lizzy ducked her head, knowing there was no point. “-I really want to give her the best chance possible. I truly believe she can be managed.”

”Well, that’s alright then.” The sarcasm was laid on thick.

”The breakout wasn’t her fault.”

“Not this time.” It was the same story with every zoo in the world, and there were always repeat offenders. The odd animal that just seemed naturally disposed to break everything. “That won’t be the last.”

Silence hung heavy in the cab of the Jeep.

“You’ve been training the raptor?” Tom asked dubiously. Was Lizzy imagining it or did he sound almost impressed?

She groaned out loud. She knew she couldn’t exactly count on the Lone Ranger to be discrete.

“I suppose it’s not the best-kept secret ever.” She grudgingly admitted. “But, yes, we-…well, I have.” 

Tom started roaring with laughter. “You got a death wish, lady?! That’s insane!”

“Tell me about it.” Muldoon agreed. 

“You let her do this shit?” Tom incredulously asked.

”She does what she bloody well pleases.”

”He doesn’t let me do anything!” Lizzy rolled her eyes. “You don’t own me, Muldoon.”

He glanced back at her again in the mirror. This time Lizzy was ready for him, she was chewing on her knuckle as she stared out of the window, and let slip a full-on grin.

And whose fault is that? 

She could see the smile in his eyes, even in the letterbox sized rectangle of glass. 

Tom was oblivious.

“I’ve heard some crazy stories on this island, but man…you gotta show me that! Sit, stay, lie down!” He started guffawing again. 

“Alright, it’s not that funny.” Lizzy said moodily, quickly tiring of being laughed at. 

“Play- play dead-“ Tom abruptly stopped laughing and sat up straight. “Oh my God, is that what she’s doing right now?”

He hurriedly turned around in his seat to check the raptor was still sound asleep in the back.  

”I like to keep her brain busy, she’s all by herself.” Lizzy explained. “It’s gonna pay off someday…though apparently not today-“

“We are not doing a test run when it’s already up here with stress.” Muldoon tapped the roof of the Jeep. “If you’re going to do that, get your affairs in order first.”

“She’s always stressed, what difference does it make?” Lizzy countered. “Being free range for an hour probably did her a world of good.”

Muldoon scoffed. “Well, I’m certainly glad you’re just as concerned about my stress levels.”

***

“I’m going to walk the fence. Check for damage.” Muldoon nodded at the dinosaur in the back of the Jeep. “You two deal with that.” “Hurry up and help me, Liz.” Tom was already sliding the raptor forward. “Before she wakes up for real.”

“Jesus, she’s big now.” Lizzy’s voice was strained as she lifted. “And solid.”

“Come on then, Miss Raptor Expert.” Tom huffed as they carried the dinosaur with awkward, shuffling steps. “She could have attacked us at any point, why didn’t she? She rushed me, I’da been screwed.”

”She knew she was outnumbered.” Lizzy said simply. “She didn’t have back-up.”

“They ain’t stupid, then?”

“Not at all.” She grunted, adjusting her grip. 

”Which begs the question-“ Tom  “What happens when she gets the friends they’re so desperately trying to breed?”

Lizzy fell silent.  “Better hope these fences are up to spec, that’s all I’m gonna say.” Tom muttered under his breath. 

The gate was still wide open. It was unsettling, difficult not to imagine an animal charging out of the darkness and nailing them both where they stood, though the only occupant of the paddock was unconscious right in front of their eyes.

“Hey, Liz. She’s got into something while she was out.” Tom was staring at the raptor’s jaws. “Look.”

”It’s fresh.” Lizzy frowned, her upper lip curling. “Really fresh.” 

The blood hadn’t yet clotted. The odd fleck of bright red dripped off and spattered on the ground, leaving a gory trail as they moved the dinosaur back into her enclosure. 

”Probably just a rat. Won’t need feeding tomorrow, even with the extra running around.”

”Yes, she will.” Lizzy pointed out something that never ceased to bother her. “Tom, she’s always hungry.”

”Growing still, ain’t she?” He seemed nonplussed. “No big deal.”

”It’s more than that. I know this animal. She would eat until she burst. And then look for more. She’s constantly hunting, it’s like a compulsion.”

”You think they ever starved her, as punishment?” He suggested. “That’s why she’s obsessed with food?” 

The thought honestly hadn’t occurred to Lizzy before. “That’s horrible.”

”They do things differently over on Sorna, don’t they?”

Lizzy recalled what Muldoon had told her. The production line. The mortality rate. Thousands of dead. InGen’s legacy built on the blood of infant creatures. 

“So I’ve heard.” Lizzy felt fiercely protective towards the raptor. Defensive in the same way that Tom had jumped in when she herself was threatened earlier that evening. 

Nobody messes with her but me.

It’s measured in rounds. 

“Shit, I can see her eyes moving.” Tom complained. Sure enough, the raptor was letting out faint croaks as she slowly woke. ”Hurry up, dickmunch.”

”Huh, that’s a new one.” Lizzy grunted. 

Muldoon had reappeared by then.

“Double and triple check that gate, both of you. Then check it again.”

Tom ironically saluted, rattling the gate hard once he and Lizzy were satisfied it was firmly closed. 

“Hop on.” Tom turned around, offering her a piggyback to the Jeep. “Mud’s pretty deep. At least, you’d hope it was mud.”

“What a gentleman.” She hadn’t minded until then, carrying on stoically with no shoes, but her feet were starting to get cold.

”I do have my moments.”

Lizzy winced as she heard the stitching in the dress creak and pop as she clambered on, despite taking a few moments to roll it up over her thighs. She wondered how long she had before it gave up entirely. 

“Shit, no-“ Tom realised his stetson was in the process of toppling off, headed straight for the sludge under his feet. 

Lizzy deftly caught it before it tumbled further downwards and propped it atop her own head.

”Thanks, Liz.” Tom muttered. “Mom got me that hat.”

”Stetson.”

She heard him rumble in humour against her stomach. “Yeah, right, stetson.”

When they got back to the Jeep the park warden seemed to be in a remarkably upbeat mood. Lizzy reminded herself he considered going out and finding things in the dark to be a good time. She knew from her own experience.

“Am I dropping you two off back at the party?” 

“Please, no.” Lizzy couldn’t find her heels in the pool of darkness that was the Jeep bed. She gave up and resigned herself to staying barefoot. “I’m done. Take us home.”

“Don’t you want to give Regis an aneurysm? I’d say this is an improvement.” Muldoon smirked at the state she was in.

Lizzy could imagine what she looked like, covered in mud, make-up smudged. Hair beyond saving. 

“Enough leg for you?” She wasn’t in a terrible mood herself.

”Too much for me, in every single sense.” Tom groaned. “I already regret those oysters but I don’t think it’s them making me feel green. Gimme my stetson back.”

“No, I like it.” Lizzy ducked out of his reach.

“Then get your own. You’re gonna bend mine all out of shape with your stupid big hair.” Muldoon just shook his head, knowing it was pointless to intervene, and reached for his radio.

“Baker, we’re done, over.”

“Great job, guys.” Lizzy picked up that Kathy didn’t sound as relieved as she should have been. “Turning in.” 

“Uh, Muldoon? We do have another problem, over.”

”What now?” He turned to Lizzy and Tom in disbelief. “I’m knackered.”

“Nobody can find Rico.” Kathy replied. “He’s gone.”

***

“What did you say to him?!” Lizzy was furious, she demanded to know as she stormed through the control room door at Muldoon’s heels. “Tell me!”

“I told him to stay out of the way.” He replied calmly. “Esteves, come in-”

Lizzy snatched the radio straight from his hand, taking over the transmission.

”Rico, it’s me. Please let us know you’re okay. I’ll come find you, if…if you want me to.”

”Over.” Muldoon reminded her. 

”…over.” She glared up at him. 

The radio crackled in response. “Shhhh!” Lizzy gasped in relief. “Guys, listen up! Rico, is that you?”

The overhead speaker was giving a constant weather report in light of the storm, it sounded like the shipping forecast, Spanish version. 

“Rico?” Lizzy strained to hear before swinging around to the rest of the room in anger. “Jesus Christ, somebody turn that thing off!”

Isaac dealt with the overhead while everyone waited, collectively holding their breath.  Only barely audible in the silence, the garbled words ”-izzy…help-“ finally came through. 

Then nothing but static. 

“Rico? Rico! Shit!”

”Folks-“ Arnold looked up from the security monitors, his face ashen. “Someone should call for Harding. I think I’ve found him.”

”Ray?” Kathy began to move around to try and see what had spooked him so badly. 

”Nuh-uh, Kit.” The engineer hurriedly covered the screen with his hands. “Trust me honey, don’t look.”

Lizzy turned, searching for Muldoon in the crowd. “We’ve gotta-“

The park warden nodded at her, before turning to Arnold. 

”Where?”

***

They found him quickly.

Gerry Harding took one look at Rico and demanded the helicopter pilot make ready to fly to the mainland. The investors, and Hammond, wouldn’t be leaving soon, anyway. The weather conditions were declining by the minute.

The rain was thrashing down, it looked like the pilot might be navigating through a storm, but there was no other choice.

Lizzy had ridden in the back of the Jeep to the site of the accident with Harding, tight-lipped and silent, clutching his equipment bag to his chest. Muldoon was driving right on the edge of reason, road conditions worsening by the second.

The manhunt began, following Arnold’s garbled directions, and she had been the one to find Rico, slumped face down, unmoving against a tree-trunk. He’s dead. 

That was her first thought. Her breath had hitched, the rest of the world falling away. 

No.

She swallowed down the bile pooling in her mouth and forced herself to move closer. She nearly cried in relief when she saw he was breathing shallowly, still clinging to life. 

Then she and Harding had turned him over carefully, and the veterinarian had sworn loudly, rocking back on his heels in disbelief and denial when he saw what he was up against. 

Lizzy felt like she was detached, watching events unfolding from outside her body. The state of Rico’s front, more outside than in, made her wish he was already dead, that she had never found him. A small, irrational part of her brain wished she had covered him over with a branch and left him, as if he were sleeping.

Anything would have been better than the impossible task ahead of them.

What’s that noise?

Jesus, it’s coming from him…

Sucking chest wound-

It’s flail chest, shit-

Looks like a collapsed lung too-

Internal bleeding-

Where’s the fucking chopper?!

Lizzy reached down, searching for his hands to hold-

His hands.

God, his hands. They’d been sliced to the bone, flesh ragged and chewed at the fingertips. She knew these wounds, she’d seen them before. He’d been slashed at, then grabbed and shaken as he’d tried to keep his arms up to defend himself. 

Lizzy glanced up at Muldoon, he caught her eye as he urgently spoke to someone on a second radio channel.

He had considerably more experience with animal attacks, he would know better than her if the kid could possibly make it out alive.

Muldoon paused talking, and gave a her small shake of his head.

Lizzy’s insides froze solid.

“Gerry-“ She’d started sobbing and panting in desperation.

”Pick a God and start praying, Liz.” The veterinarian interrupted grimly. “Because I can’t do this alone.”

“What do you ne-“

”An operating theatre. This is too big a job for out in the field.” Harding spoke quickly. “Talk to him, keep him awake. Do not let him fall back asleep.”

“Okay.” Lizzy replied shakily.

“There’s a good girl.” “Stretcher! Now!” Kathy was yelling orders. She sounded so far away. “Isaac, help guide the chopper down!”

“Mama, mama…” Rico moaned, reaching out for Lizzy’s face, leaving a smear of fresh blood and foamy raptor saliva on her chin. She nearly retched at the rotten stench, directly under her nose.

“Si, si, niño. Esta bien.” Lizzy regained her wits and reassured him in her weak Spanish, trying to find a part of his arms she could gently rub that wasn’t cut and bloodied. She wished she could hold his hands, she so badly wanted to.

Lizzy did her to best to comfort her friend, though she was trembling from a mixture of cold and shock, having to bury her face in her elbow to stop herself heaving from the stench on him. He smelled of death, of rotting flesh. “Cariño, it’s okay, it’s okay….”

Her eyes burned, tears mixing with the rainwater battering the entire team into the ground. The hot earth was turning into a swamp all around them.

“Ready, kid? This is gonna really hurt him.” Harding warned her. “We can’t wait for the pain meds to kick in.”

”More than he’s already hurting?”

”Good point.” The vet agreed as he took a deep breath and continued.

Lizzy had done her fair share of first responding, but didn’t expect Rico to suddenly shoot upright from the pain, so fast he nearly headbutted her, his eyes flying open like a reanimated corpse, before he groaned in agony and flopped back limply on the stretcher.

She looked to Harding for guidance, whose only instruction through gritted teeth was hold him down.

“Shit-“ She whimpered.

“What do we got- woah!” Ed Regis exclaimed, coming to a standstill at the sight of the youngest animal handler torn to shreds. “Jesus, what happened?”

”Get him out of here!” Lizzy commanded without tearing her eyes away from Rico. She wanted to protect him, shield him from Ed’s prying eyes. 

She knew now, whose fault this was. And it wasn’t the injured boy lying prone beneath her. Regis made it happen.

“Mama!” Rico screeched, beginning to thrash his limbs where he lay. The colour had rapidly leached from his tanned face, now he was grey and sallow. A disgusting mix of snot, blood and saliva was bubbling up with every laboured breath he took.

”I’m here, I’m here!” Lizzy cried frantically, worried she was hurting him more, regretting she hadn’t tried harder to learn his native Portuguese while she had the chance so she could comfort him better.  

Harding was still working as quickly as he could to stabilise the boy. The veterinarian looked harrowed, like he was barely holding back the flood himself as they manoeuvred Rico onto the stretcher.

Lizzy moaned in fear, repeating the same words like a mantra. “…gonna be okay, gonna be okay…I’ll take you to Africa, Rico, I promise, just hang on…”

His eyes were darting around under the lids, like he was lost in a nightmare. His lips were moving. The same words, over and over. She leaned in closer, barely able to hear him over the noise of the rain.

“Velo-ci-raptor…lo-sa-raptor….lo-sa-raptor...”

“Shit, we gotta get him to stop saying that.” Regis had crept closer and was shaking his head, talking partly to himself. “Say it was a construction accident, maybe a backhoe. Yeah, that’ll work…”

“Shut the Hell up, Ed!” Kathy, normally polite even under pressure, was on her last nerve, grappling with the stretcher wobbling dangerously over her shoulder. “Make yourself useful!”

”There’s nothing more I can do.” Harding admitted defeat, slumping backwards. “I don’t have the kit. He needs a doctor.”

”Aren’t you going with him?” It was more of a request than anything. Lizzy hated the thought of Rico abandoned in the cold metal shell of the make-do air ambulance by those who knew him best. 

The veterinarian looked through her, without really seeing her, helpless. “Honestly, it won’t make much difference now.”

Lizzy decided in a split second. “Then I’m going with him.”

”But Lizzy, you’re scared of flying-“ Kathy tried to reason, turning to Muldoon. “Stop her!”

Aviophobia forgotten, Lizzy was about to follow her wounded colleague into the helicopter when Regis laid a hand on her arm. She recoiled at his touch.

“I’ll take it from here, Liz.”

“He wants his mother, it’s the least I can do!” She snapped. “I’m going with him.”

“Not looking like that, you’re not. That’s gonna raise some eyebrows.” He cast a scornful eye over her ruined dress.

“Ed-“ Lizzy set her jaw and scowled at him.

“Liz-“ He mocked her. “-it’s my job to handle any dealings with the mainland. They’re gonna want to know how this happened-“

“And you’re going to lie!” She lost her temper and screamed at him.

“I have to!” Regis reached breaking point, roaring back. “You can’t lie for shit, Armstrong, so stay here!”

“There’s gonna be two casualties in a minute if you don’t let me on that damn chopper-“

“Are you threatening me right now, seriously?!” Regis looked past her to the crew standing on the ground, searching for someone to back him up. “Robert, call off your damn dog!”

“Fuck you, Ed.” Lizzy said with as much venom as she could muster.

Rico cried out weakly from his position on the stretcher.  ”Lizzy get back here, please!” It was Kathy alone who was begging for her to come back. 

“You don’t wanna do this.” Regis reiterated, and then the line that really got to her. “Think of him. You’re wasting precious time.”

Lizzy was still firmly grasping the safety rail of the helicopter. She and Regis, locked in a standoff, glaring at each other as the pilot yelled angrily while the blades sped up again.

For a second Regis believed she might launch herself into the body of the chopper anyway, weight limit be damned. 

With a last, haunted look at wounded Rico lying prone and bloody, Lizzy backed off, stumbling away from the helicopter.

Regis slipped on a pair of headphones and spoke into the mouthpiece to the pilot. “We’re set, let’s roll!”

Seconds later, they were already clear of the tree-line.

Lizzy stomped back to the rest of her colleagues, soaked to the skin, hair slicked down flat against her scalp, and got into Muldoon’s Jeep without a word. 

She sat, shivering and silent for an untold amount of time, fogging the windows up from how drenched she was while the rest of her team regrouped. The driver’s door clicked open, startling her. 

“Here, you’ll catch your bloody death.” Muldoon passed her a blanket, pressing it into her hands before she had even registered it was him. 

“T-thank y-you.” Lizzy’s teeth chattered, her knees knocking together as she took it from him, barely managing to cover herself. Still barefoot, her feet up to her mid-calves were caked in mud an inch thick.

“I’m s-so sorry, I’ve m-made a mess of your c-car.” Lizzy smiled maniacally from frayed nerves, focusing on something trivial to mask the pain.

”Wants hosing down, anyway.” Muldoon brushed her concerns off. “As do you.”

The other door clicked and Kathy slid into the back beside Lizzy, reaching over and tucking the blanket in where she hadn’t managed. 

”I s-should be in that h-heli-he-h-“ She couldn’t manage. “D-Dammit. Up t-there.” Lizzy could barely hear her own voice over the air-con blasting. 

“Lizzy, honey, he didn’t know who you were anymore-“ Kathy gently tried to reassure her. 

”T-That’s not the damn p-point.” Lizzy nearly yelled, then checked herself. “It m-matters to me.”

Kathy didn’t know what else to say that would help, she seemed to be only making her friend more emotional. 

“You did everything you possibly could, Armstrong, short of performing surgery.” Muldoon spoke up quietly from the driver’s seat. “Above and beyond.”

He seemed to get it right. Lizzy sniffed loudly and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, quietening down. “I t-tried. I r-really tried to f-follow.”

“I know. But I don’t want you up in that.” he pointed at the helicopter, then gestured out at grey sheets of rain still hammering down. “They’ll be lucky if they make it to Bahía Anasco in this, never mind over the mountains.”

“Son-of-a-bitch.” Lizzy was numb, freezing cold aside from the hot tears now spilling unchecked down her cheeks. 

“How far is Bahía Anasco from San José?” Kathy asked quietly.

“About a hundred miles.” Muldoon answered her. “There’s a headwind.”

He was telling them in fewer words it may as well be a thousand miles. Rico was running out of time. The choice was between the fishing village with the small, understaffed clinic, or nothing.

“Gosh, this is awful.” Kathy breathed. “We need to call his folks, don’t we?”

“In the morning.” Muldoon replied sullenly. “After Regis gets back. I’ll see to it that he’s the one to tell them, since he wants to be so involved.”

“No.” Lizzy fiercely insisted. “I’ll do it. I owe him that much.”

Kathy nodded. “Hopefully we’ll have an update of how long he’s gonna be in the hospital. God, I hope he’s gonna be alright, he sounded so scared.”

Muldoon glanced at her sharply. His Team Leader could still be so naïve. To him it was obvious.

As they watched the helicopter ascend into the low clouds and finally disappear from view around the far side of the island, Muldoon wondered if Armstrong was prepared to inform the boy’s family their son had been killed. Or if, like Baker, she still believed he had a hope in Hell.

He already knew. There was no way the boy was coming back from the mainland. 

Not alive, at any rate.

***

Thanks for reading!

So. Rico is the poor kid who ended up vomiting blood on Bobbie Carter and Manuel’s table in Bahía Anasco. Aaaand we’re now in line with the events of the beginning of the Jurassic Park novel. Christ, I need a lie down.

Assume that from now on, no-one is safe.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #jurassic park ocs #jurassic park novel #jurassic park fanfic #jurassic park fic #robert muldoon x female oc #robert muldoon #gerry harding #ray arnold #ed regis

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 27

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: alcoholism and consequences thereof, animal abuse in a circus context

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 26 | Chapter 28

The King of Wishful Thinking - Go West

Lizzy still remembered the very first real elephant she ever saw. Tragically, not a majestic wild creature roaming the savannah.  That particular elephant was a heavily scarred, cowering soul with a chain around her neck, from when she and her siblings had gone to visit the Kelvin Hall Circus that had descended upon Glasgow in the early 1970s. 

Lizzy was still a kid, she honestly didn’t know any better, how cruel it was. The poor animal was entertainment. They all were, the lions, zebras and hyenas. And of course, the stars. The Big Attraction. The elephants. 

Halfway through the act Lizzy had gotten the uneasy feeling something was wrong. The old elephant was twisting her trunk up in distress as she moved around the ring, the whites of her eyes showing. And God, the smell seeping through from the pachyderm lodgings at the back of the building was sickening, the heavy scent of ammonia and manure burning in her nostrils.  They definitely hadn’t smelled like healthy animals. 

The ringmaster had ignored the creatures’ discomfort and cracked his whip, the elephant mounting the step to begin her most impressive trick, walking the tightrope. 

Lizzy’s heart had been in her mouth the entire time, the crowd had whooped and cheered, and then the old beast had collapsed, toppled to the sawdust-covered floor while coming off the platform at the other end of the tightrope, crashing limply to the ground and lying motionless. 

The ringmaster had sworn, and struck the animal with his whip, over and over, but the elephant wouldn’t get up. 

The audience had eventually been ushered out early. No money back. 

She remembered covering her youngest brother’s ears as the twin bang-bang of the shotgun had risen over the jaunty pipe organ music, following them out of the door. 

Lizzy lost her appetite for the circus after that.

As it turned out, a collapsing elephant and a collapsing Tyrannosaur made a very similar sound.

Isla Nublar, present day. The Rex had begun to sway drunkenly, worse by the second. Lizzy had gotten as far as pointing while stammering “T-tom…” before the dinosaur disappeared from view behind the fence with a long-drawn out grunt. There was an almighty racket of splintering wood as she crashed straight through a grove of monkey puzzle trees before she hit the deck, then ominous silence. 

“Oh, Hell…I think my radio’s dead!” Lizzy clicked the call button on the side before whacking it with her open palm ineffectually. “Give me yours!”

”Dude, I haven’t got one…”

They stared at each other. The tyrannosaur groaned.

Going to have to run. 

”I’m faster.” Tom took off through the trees like a hare before hounds, hurdling tree trunks and roots while Lizzy ran to the paddock fence.

***

Well, just beat my seven minute mile. Tom thought upon stumbling into the staff lodge. His calves were on fire. He began hammering on doors and yelling for the veterinarian. Someone had to be here, anyone.

Then he heard Muldoon and Baker answering him. Oh thank you Lord. Thank you Father for I have sinned. 

“Really wrong?” Kathy quoted with raised eyebrows once he located the both of them. “What do you mean?”

“I dunno man, she just went down like a Goodyear blimp!” He leaned against the wall for support. “We might need the strong stuff.”

”The ‘strong’ stuff?” Muldoon raised an eyebrow.

Tom nodded. “The more permanent stuff.”

His frame of reference was old farm horses whose legs went out from underneath them, and seldom got up again. Tommy, got get the shotgun-

As far as he was concerned, the Rex was toast. 

Meanwhile, Gerry Harding had emerged from his own room, blinking. “Someone call for a doc?”

“Emergency-“ Tom wheezed like an eighty-year-old asthmatic. 

Gotta quit smoking. 

“Exciting!” Harding instantly became more animated. “Let me go grab my kit!”

“Do you know where Lizzy is?” Kathy asked Tom quietly.

“With the Rex.” 

Muldoon’s head snapped around nearly fast enough to give himself whiplash. She’s where?! “Not in the paddock with her?!” Kathy was alarmed.

”Well…huh-” Tom shrugged. “She wasn’t when I left…”

“Let’s hope that’s still the case.” Muldoon said glumly. 

“What’s all this racket, then?” Richardson added to the chorus of voices in the hall. 

“Mr Richardson, Rexy’s down. C’mon, help us.” Tom beckoned him out of his room. 

“We clocked off at five today.” The animal supervisor didn’t seem enthused. 

“Yeah, so?” He didn’t see the issue.

“Going into the park out of hours, and especially at night is not my business, Thomas.” The shorter man said irately. “It’s not yours either.” 

Tom’s lip curled in irritation. He didn’t have time for this bullshit. An animal was suffering, and his boss didn’t even seem to care.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Hey, screw you, man.” He turned his back to leave.

”Thomas, if you go back out there with that lot tonight, I’m not giving you any more chances.”

Kathy overheard them.

Huh? What does that mean?

But her thought was forgotten quickly, gone in the flurry of activity as doors opened and yet more animal handlers flooded the corridor, all wanting to lend a hand as word spread quickly. She quickly tried to brief them all on a vague plan.

Rexy was a popular girl, it seemed.

“So be it.” Richardson muttered as he shut his door on the ruckus. 

“Meet you guys out front. Hey!” Kathy snatched the car keys straight from Muldoon’s hand. She wasn’t forgetting the state he was in earlier in a hurry. “You can’t drive!”

”It’s a stick shift, neither can you, Baker!”

His voice followed her out into the night as Kathy sprinted for the garage. 

***

“All right, folks. I think…-“ Gerry Harding concluded, removing the stethoscope from his ears and patting the scaly skin of the prone Tyrannosaur. “-she has a heart murmur.”

“Reptiles can have heart murmurs?” Kathy queried, extremely worried about the fate of one of her biggest charges. She’d honestly thought the big girl was a goner. 

”They’re birds though, aren’t they? Dinosaurs.” Isaac nudged her. 

”I presume anything with a heart can.” Harding said casually. “In the meantime, don’t be alarmed if it happens again.”

”So, if she collapses, just let her come around by herself?”

“Yep. I treated a Hyacinth Macaw for a heart murmur back in San Diego Zoo.” Harding recalled. “Sometimes he’d just fall off his perch. The keepers had to modify the enclosure for him.”

“We now have a fainting Tyrannosaur as one of our visitor attractions?” Muldoon couldn't believe it. “Oh, good. Hammond will be so very pleased.”

Harding was still mid-anecdote, undeterred. “Anyway, prescribed him beta blockers and he was still alive when I left the place, so I must have been right. Damn bird made sure to bite me on my last day, in fact.”

Muldoon made an unhappy noise.

”What’s wrong, buddy?”

“Harding, if you put the Rex on beta blockers, I’m going to have to be beyond careful if the damn thing needs tranquillised at short notice ever again.”  “You aren’t beyond careful with that stuff anyway?” Harding sounded amused. 

“I could end up killing it. Quite easily, in fact.”

Better not drink, then Lizzy thought bitterly. If it’s delicate work.

“We’ll weigh up the pros and cons in the morning.” Harding brushed worries aside with a huge yawn. “But, my professional diagnosis? Heart murmur. Needs meds. Got some math to do.” 

“Dosage?” Lizzy asked. 

”Mhhm.” He smiled at her grimly. “They’re usually in pill form, and I’m unsure if blockers come in such a thing as thousand-packs.”’

“That’s InGen’s problem to solve, not yours.”

”Yeah, but I hate having to ask the big bosses for things I might not get.” 

Gerry missed his state-of-the-art veterinary clinic on the California mainland where he could send his staff out to collect obscure medications, and have them waiting on the desk in his office later that same afternoon. San Diego had the Good Drugs.

“You should know she doesn’t always eat every day either.” Lizzy pointed out. “And that, my darling, is yours and Muldoon’s problem to solve, not mine.” Harding countered sarcastically. “Maybe you can hide the pills in some peanut butter.”

And he chuckled at the thought of the small woman lobbing a soccer ball-sized lump of Jif into the Tyrannosaurus enclosure.

The team dispersed, but the vet motioned at Lizzy to help him carry his kit out of the enclosure.

Something was off, about the way she was acting around Muldoon, and she’d looked decidedly shifty when he’d left the responsibility of getting meds into Rexy up to the pair of them. 

The ethologist did a double take when she noticed Harding was watching her intensely as they made their way back up the hill.  

“What?” She demanded. “Why are you staring at me?”

”Did you and the big man have a falling out?” Harding asked matter-of-factly. “You haven’t said a word to him all night.”

”None of your business!” Her voice was an octave higher than usual. 

Harding smiled knowledgeably. “That’s a yes. So, you’re free for dinner tomorrow?”

“I’d sooner contract malaria than be related to your daughter, Mister-Sarah’s-Dad.”

They reached the veterinarian’s Jeep. 

“I am nothing if not persistent.”

”Pestilent, more like.”

“Seriously though, Liz, I’ve been thinking.”

”Well, that’s never good.”

“I did some research. You know how selective breeding for desirable characteristics in dogs can lead to certain health conditions?”

”I didn’t really, but I’ll take your word for it.” Lizzy had never owned a dog, despite desperately wanting one, especially when she’d lived in New York. She’d have been happy with a mongrel. But both Simon and their landlord had denied her. Allergies, Simon had claimed, sniffling for effect.

“Hip dysplasia in German Shepherds, dermatitis in Dalmatians, and blood clotting disorders in Bassett Hounds. Pre-disposal to cancer, leukaemia, brain tumours. Orthopaedic problems and hearing loss.”

”Jesus. Okay.” Lizzy frowned. Maybe her ex had done her a favour by refusing to become a dog owner. “Where are you heading with this?”

There was a faint cheer from the animal handlers. 

“Gerry, she’s up!” Kathy called over from near the fence.

The veterinarian graced her with a nod and a wave. ”I also read that the Mesozoic had much higher concentrations of oxygen in the atmosphere than the present-day. And I got to thinking, these animals were made in the lab, right?”

“They’re poorly suited to live on a Costa Rican island in 1992? They’re all effectively asthmatic?”

“Maybe. If we consider them as birds, that animal is built all wrong. Look at her legs, the way she walks. She’s been selectively bred, like a pedigree dog. She looks like she’s skipped a few generations and gone straight to inbreeding depression. I don’t think real dinosaurs looked like that, at all.”

“Which I’m guessing is a problem, physiologically-speaking?”

”The problem is, this island is severely lacking in ethics.” Harding told her, as if the word tasted bad. “And heart murmurs are usually congenital.”

”You think Rexy has genetically-engineered hip dysplasia?” 

“I think she’s in pain.” Harding said. “She doesn’t know any different, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it hurts her to exist.” 

***

When the cavalry had arrived on the scene at the Tyrannosaur paddock with a screech of brakes, fortunately, Armstrong had not already scaled the fence into the paddock, Muldoon noted with relief. 

Instead, she was hopping foot to foot near the gate, desperate to get inside.  Yes, she was still breathing. No, she hasn’t gotten to her feet yet the ethologist confirmed. It was not more than ten minutes since Kennedy had raised the alarm. The boy was fast.

But of course, Muldoon couldn’t allow neither Armstrong nor Harding to do their jobs until he had done his. 

Insurance shot. Not as dramatic, but it meant the dinosaur wouldn’t be waking up to surprise them all anytime soon. 

Kathy and Lizzy had swapped glances while they were waiting for the gate to be opened, a wordless exchange.  You with me? Team?

I’m with you. Team.

Guilty, tired grins and relief from both sides. Their falling out remedied with a single look. 

They were going to be alright.

But Muldoon wouldn’t have her forgiveness quite so easy, Lizzy had already decided. 

The Rex lay prone, blood slowly oozing out of her jaws from biting her own tongue as she’d fallen.

Flies were still buzzing in a black cloud, despite the temperature dropping and wisps of fog beginning to drift in off the sea as Harding began his examination, wrinkling his nose at the odour that followed the dinosaur around as closely as a shadow.

Now, panic over, the Rex up and on her feet again, Armstrong was still staying far away, helping Harding to pack his kit back into the Jeep, not even glancing up at him in passing.

Muldoon wasn’t a fan of the silent treatment. Not at all. The irony just made it sting more.

Now she stops talking. Of course. 

“Armstrong?” She kept her head down, as if she’d heard nothing. Bloody woman was deliberately ignoring him. “Armstrong. Can we sort this out?”

Oh jeez. Here we go she thought. 

“Sort what out?” Lizzy tried acting nonchalant when she finally spoke. “There’s nothing to sort. Everything’s fine.”

She still wouldn’t look at him, pottering around, mouthing numbers as she pretended to count hypodermic needles. He could tell she was faking it. 

Lizzy soon realised her act wasn’t convincing enough and quickly turned to leave, hoping to slip away. But Muldoon’s arm shot out to stop her, blocking her escape route with his hand firm against the Jeep door.

“What are you doing?” She asked flatly. 

”Five minutes.” He’d had just about enough of the selective muteness. “You’re being immature.”

“I am being professional.” She insisted. “I’m no longer mixing my work and my private life. They stay separate from now on. I should have done that from the start. Maybe Richardson had a point, for once.”

“Well, I don’t like it.”

“What you like is no long-…eh…none of my concern. I only want to talk about the dinosaurs while we’re at work, please.”

Her voice was getting increasingly louder. People were starting to stare. 

Muldoon glanced at Kathy for help, who just shrugged and mouthed you got this.

Well, if Armstrong wasn’t above dirty tactics, neither was he.

Last resort.

“As you wish.” He paused. “Elizabeth.”

The ethologist froze.

Muldoon continued. “If you want to be professional, then it’s alright to use your full name, isn’t it?”

Kathy and Isaac, open-mouthed, began edging slowly backwards away from the epicentre.

“Oh, you-“ When Lizzy finally looked straight at him, her face was screwed up in annoyance. 

Eye contact. At last.

“Five minutes. That’s all. Sort this out.” He dared her. “Come on, let’s have it.” 

“On one condition.” She agreed frostily.

“Which is?”

She took a few deep breaths before she spoke, practically burning a hole in the ground with an intense stare. Most likely counting to ten, he imagined. 

Good. 

“My name is Lizzy. Not Elizabeth. Not Armstrong. Lizzy. Lih-zee.”

”I’m aware of that, yes.”

”Then use it.” She demanded. “Say my name.”

“Oh, snap.” Kathy breathed.

Isaac whispered “What’s going on?”

”I’ll explain later, hun. Just- shhh.”

“Alright. Lizzy-“ It’s fine. Got to compromise. It’s fine. “Can we please  go somewhere else to discuss this?”

“Hm. Better.” One corner of her mouth turned up. “Okay, you’ve got five minutes.”

“Oh…my…God…” Kathy was beside herself. 

”What just happened?” Isaac was stumped. “What’s the big deal?”

”Muldoon has used her actual first name, that I know of, exactly once before.” She checked side-to-side to see if anyone else had picked up on the significance. “That was the second time. Do you know how many times he’s called me Kathy?”

”Uh…never?” He hazarded. 

”Correct!” Kathy pointed at the heavens triumphantly. ”Certainly never in front of the other guys. Ugh, I wish I’d snuck into the back seat. This is huge. Mega, even.”

“If you say so.” Isaac shrugged. He clearly didn’t care as much about behavioural nuances. “She kind of made him do it.”

”Mega!” Kathy announced again.

“Hey, want to go get a popsicle before we turn in?” Tom cheerfully appeared over her left shoulder. “Got a hankering for something cold.”

“I-…” Kathy nearly refused, given their shared history, but since truces seemed to be the theme of the night she decided to go along with it. And she never said no to ice cream. “Sure?”

***

“Well, I’m listening.” Lizzy stared straight ahead through the recently-mended Jeep windscreen.

“I am painfully aware of that.” Muldoon sounded anything but enthusiastic. “Makes a nice change.”

“Yeah, right. You lasted, what, four hours? Clearly missed me talking to you.”

“At me.” He corrected. 

“At you.” She agreed. “Your turn.”  

Just silence. Nothing happened.

Lizzy had just about had enough of him closing himself off at a time like this. 

“Talk.” She prompted. “For once. Just talk. It’s me, for Christ’s sake.”

Muldoon honestly wanted to tell her everything, but where to begin? The words weren’t coming liked he’d assumed, hoped, they would, now they were alone. 

Lizzy sighed, realising she was being a tad callous. 

She saw how much he was struggling, and she felt bad for him. She’d been there herself. A long time ago. A mixture of too shy and too stubborn to say what was wrong.

She picked at the stitching on the Jeep’s seat covers under her legs.

God, she really didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to do this. It was so awkward. But she figured it was time. There was no point in him trying to explain his story if she wasn’t willing to share hers. She wanted him to understand why it hurt so much.

More than that, Lizzy did want to move on.  She wanted him back.

She needed him. 

Their relationship, professional or otherwise, could never be the same as before. But maybe it had potential to still work, somehow.

She’d have to put the effort in. They both would. 

And now she had to swallow her pride and lead the way. Jeff would be so disappointed in her if she didn’t at least try.

Lizzy had been given so many second chances in life, she knew it absolutely made her a hypocrite to be unwilling to pay it forward. 

“Would it help-“ she offered. “-if I went first?”

“First?” He seemed surprised at her offer. “Only if you’re sure.”

”I think I need to. I’ve been putting it off for a long time, you may have noticed.” She fidgeted in the seat, bouncing her leg. “Don’t say anything until I’m done. If I stop talking, just…give me a minute.”

Breathe. Just breathe.

Lizzy started in Govan. Not long after that fateful visit to the circus.  This time around, every moment she felt the wall threatening to come up, she fought it back down, almost running out of air with how desperate she was to keep her momentum going. 

As promised, Muldoon just listened. 

She explained why she wanted; no, rather needed to be called Lizzy so badly. It was the name her dad had chosen for her. My wee Busy-Lizzy. All that she had left of him now except memories. Not even a photograph. 

How every time she was called Elizabeth, as she elaborated with a sly glance sideways, it felt like someone was sticking a pin in her ribs.

Elizabeth, like her mother had insisted on calling her. Or the school writing home when she was in trouble. The hospital admission band on her wrist when she found out she wasn’t pregnant anymore.

She left that last part out, thinking it might have been a bit much for the park warden.

”Well?” She finished abruptly. “What’s the verdict?”

He nodded slowly. “A lot of things make sense now.”

Massive understatement. Why she had been cagey and stand-offish around her birthday. Why she shot from her right, instead of her dominant side. Why she had quite rightly wanted nothing to do with him anymore outside of work.

He understood. 

She’d be well within her rights to be on a ferry bound for the mainland the following evening and never want to see him again. 

Lizzy’s leg stopped bouncing, the flight or fight ebbing away with each breath. But the emotion need to go somewhere and was threatening to manifest in the form of tears.

Don’t cry. Do not cry. We’re not done yet. 

Her shoulder ached. 

“Now you.” Lizzy’s voice wobbled. “Come on, you were the one who wanted to sort this out.” 

“I know.”

Muldoon was far from happy.

This sort of talk warranted a few measures of Scotch beforehand.

But that’s what got us in this sorry mess in the first place. 

He started more than four thousand miles South-East from Govan, and not quite as many years ago. He finished with the offer that he couldn’t refuse from InGen that felt like a lifeline, and the decision to leave his daughter in Kenya with her maternal grandparents until things had settled down.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this long.” He admitted. “But I thought she might be better off without me, for a while.”

“No!” Lizzy insisted. “A girl needs her dad. I could have told you that twenty years ago.”

“I have considered bringing her out here.”

As long as it’s safe. 

“You’ve got to!” Lizzy nodded excitedly. “Come on, it takes a village.”

”It’s her schoolwork that’s the issue…I’ll think about it. Maybe next summer.”

“I’d love to meet her.” She offered sincerely. “María can teach her French, Rico can teach her Spanish. I’ve got Biology covered.”

“We’ll see.” It was a nice thought, but Muldoon didn’t want to get too optimistic just yet. “So, how do we move forward from here?”

“You’re still on your own with the, uh…drinking, I’m afraid.” She smiled sadly. “That is the one thing I can’t get involved with. Just can’t. Sorry.”

Lizzy genuinely was sorry. She would have done her best to be supportive, but for the sake of her own well-being, it was beyond her. 

“Not true.” Muldoon insisted. “Not on my own.”

”Oh?”

“Baker tells me she’ll help.” He paused. “Not quite sure how she’s going to manage that.”

“Oh...”

That made a rather large difference to Lizzy. Her own mother hadn’t felt the need to change. Tom’s dad didn’t either. But this was different, though foreign to her. Muldoon clearly wanted to turn matters around.

It felt a little early for hope, but still…

“If Kathy says she will, then she’ll find a way.” Lizzy agreed. “She’s the best. I’m going to miss her, if she gets that job. ”

“Makes two of us. I got very lucky with my team here, that they do as I say.” She smirked when he turned to look at her. “Most of the time.”

“It’s showing initiative!” Lizzy exclaimed. “Thinking outside the box!”

”The box is there for a reason.” He replied, completely deadpan. 

She laughed, even though she was torn two ways. Instinctively wanting to trust him, but knowing there was a very good reason she couldn’t just yet. 

“I appreciate how difficult this is.”

”Haven’t even started.” Muldoon grimly wondered what ideas Baker had up her sleeve. 

“Not that.” She elaborated. “I meant talking about things that obviously make you very uncomfortable.”

“It’s better with you.” Lizzy noticed he seemed surprised with himself at being so forthcoming. “You’re easier to talk to.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

There was a long pause. Fifteen seconds, or five minutes. It could have been either. Lizzy didn’t feel the need to break it. 

“I like having you around.” Muldoon eventually said gruffly.

“I like being around- ” She started before she could stop herself.

You. I like being around you. Or at least I did.

”What do you mean by that?”

“I mean-“ Lizzy hesitated. “Eh…I don’t know what I mean, actually.” 

She deliberated, playing with the end of her braid before she answered him. “ The closest I can put into words is that…the silences are comfortable. Or maybe I’m just comfortable with the silence. That doesn’t happen very often.”

“Hm. I agree.”

“It’s loud up here, sometimes.” She tapped just above where the metal arm of her glasses sat against her temple. “I have shout to hear myself.”

Muldoon was suddenly struck with a horrible thought. 

“You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?”

“Kathy did try to talk me into it.” Lizzy admitted. 

“And?”

“Already booked my flight out of here.” She winked. “Nah, I’m not going anywhere. But don’t you be giving me reasons to start looking.”

“Would you go back to Africa?”

”Probably.”

“Namibia?” Would she consider Kenya? 

“I…don’t know, I haven’t really thought that far-…Hey, what’s with the questions? I already told you, I’m not leaving!”

“Hm. Good.”

Baker’s words echoed. It’s just a job. You’ll get another one. 

“Unless you call me the E-word again.” She said sternly. “That really is unforgivable.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it…Lizzy.”

If Kathy had been present she would have lost her shit. The third time. Twice in one night. “Uh…shoot, it’s been longer than five minutes. Way longer.” Lizzy pointed out, glancing at her watch. “Not long until we’re back at work again, actually. We should go home.”  That wasn’t what Muldoon wanted. He felt like driving further into the park, into a more isolated corner where it really felt like The Wild. Staying up until the sun rose over the East side of the island. Finding out more about her. There had to be more to her story than a miserable childhood. 

Why had Blacklaw decided to take her under his wing? Given this scrawny little city-slicker the benefit of the doubt in a place like Africa, that should have, quite literally, eaten her alive? 

Why was she still standing, after no less than ten years of living in the wild? 

She’d overcome the tremendously bad hand she’d been dealt in life. But Muldoon felt she hadn’t quite told him everything yet.

“Better get you back to the lodge.” Was what he mumbled instead.

”Yeah.” Could have been wishful thinking, but she sounded disappointed too.

When they pulled up he saw the curtains in Baker’s room twitch. Still awake. Checking they were both back safe. 

Muldoon was about to let her go without another word. But he needed to know.

“Armstrong?”

“Yes?” She was already jumping down from the passenger side. 

”We’re alright now? You and I?”

Back to Armstrong. Back to some kind of normality. Lizzy was honestly glad of it.  Haven’t even started the difficult part yet. Her conscience reminded her.

”We’re alright. But…”

“But?” He was expecting bad news. 

”We could be better than alright again.” She grinned as she slammed the door, leaning back through the open window on her forearms. “That depends on how badly you want it. Good luck!”

The she tapped the Jeep door twice, and was gone without looking back.

Muldoon leaned back in the driver’s seat, thinking for a moment.

”That bloody woman.” 

***

Thanks for reading!

Yay, a Princess Bride reference!

But Muldoon saying “as you wish” to Lizzy has me wanting to skip ahead several chapters O.o

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #gerry harding #kathy

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 32

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: some swears, this chapter is definitely M, 18+ due to one particualar line of dialogue. Minors dni.

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 31 | Chapter 33

"Heroes" - David Bowie

“For Christ’s sake, girl!” Kathy practically ripped what remained of Lizzy’s dress off, yanked the shower door open and all but threw her inside. “You’re a darn icicle!”

The water was as baltic as the run-off from a glacier, heat yet to kick in and Lizzy’s teeth were still chattering violently.

“And don’t come out until you’re wrinkly!” Kathy snapped and left her to it, running a towel over her own head, as steam started to fill the room.

Lizzy scrubbed and scrubbed. She just couldn’t get rid of the smell of death. She imagined she still felt the raptor saliva clinging to her body, each faint hint of the stench making her want to gag. Lizzy kept trying to purge in vain until her skin was raw and angry, but the water continued to run dark red with a mixture of blood and dirt. 

She gave up and simply stood under the water for a long time, as her limbs slowly defrosted. But her insides stayed cold and numb, and she started to cry, her sobs covered by the echo of the jets hitting tile. 

***

Tom found Kathy by herself, sitting alone in the tiny kitchen in the staff lodge and staring at the wall.  

“Everyone else has gone to bed, Kit.” He opened the fridge, half-heartedly scanning the contents before letting it fall shut again and leaning against it. “How’re you holding up?”

“I could be better.” Kathy told him. “That was pretty gruesome. I’ve never actually seen the aftermath before.” 

Tom whistled. “Pretty rough one for your first time.”

”He’ll be back before we know it.”

Tom opened and shut his mouth in astonishment. Jeez, either her sense of humour was dark as night, or she had no clue. 

”Uh…I don’t think he will be.”

“Huh?” Goddamn. She was serious.

“I mean, miracles are possible.” He slid into the chair beside her. “But I don’t know if we’re getting one this time.”

Kathy put her head in her hands, he didn’t notice she had broken until her shoulders started shaking silently.

“Hey, now.” He tried to put an arm around her but stopped when she leaned away from his touch. He hovered his hand above her and settled on an awkward back pat instead. “You’ve…er, you’ve got this.”

“Ughh…no, I don’t…” Kathy sniffed loudly. “I can’t wait it out until August-“

”You gotta-“ Tom’s heart dropped. 

“But why? I could just go home to Minnesota now. I’d be flat broke-“

”We need you, and stuff. To lead. Lead the team.” He hurriedly tried to change her mind. 

”Not much of a team to lead anymore.” She shrugged. “My jobs open, I guess you could fight Lizzy for it.”

”No, I need you-“ Tom realised he’d made a mistake. “-aw, Hell.”

“You…need me?” She blinked up at him. “Since when?”

”I, uh-“ He couldn’t meet her gaze. “Shit.” 

“Talk.” Now she was looking at him all accusing, like, and Tom wished he was the one currently being zipped into a bodybag.

“Okay, here goes.” He sighed. “I kinda…couldn’t stop thinking about you over Christmas.” 

“Huh?” This had to be a joke. Some ploy to get inside her head.

“It was the goddamn scarf you made. Something clicked…-“ He faltered. “That, and when Liz talked you into singing in front of everyone at the Christmas party.”

Kathy blushed and hid her face. After Lizzy had slaughtered a rendition of 9 to 5 which was very blatantly directed at Richardson, Kathy had followed her lead, with some convincing, and belted I Wanna Dance With Somebody at the top of her lungs.   

”I’ve never heard anyone sing as pretty as you, lady.” Tom was still in awe, weeks later. “You could sing the anthem at the Superbowl.” “Oh, that’s very…kind of you.” She responded warily. 

Kathy had her own series of might-have-beens. She likely could have made a career in the arts, but she’d always loved cats more than performing. And anyway, she had crippling stage fright. No exaggeration, she’d have to drink more than Muldoon to stand in front of the microphone on a regular basis.

“You’re the kind one. You’re far too good for this place.” He gave her a sideways glance. ”Even if you do cheer for the Vikings.”

”There’s always next year.” Kathy muttered angrily. Minnesota had been knocked out in the first round of playoffs, much to her chagrin. “‘94 is gonna be the one.”

”Cowboys will win on Sunday.” Tom said confidently.

”We’ll see.” Kathy raised an eyebrow. “Looks like I’ll be cheering for Buffalo, in that case.”

He chuckled. “Could be worse, you could be into baseball.” His comment reminded them both of Regis, in his Trenton Thunder cap.

Let’s roll.

Their smiles faded and they sat in solemn silence for several minutes. 

“Tom, this has kind of come out of nowhere.” Kathy admitted, trying to process what was happening. He wasn’t bad looking, quite the opposite in fact, in a rough-around-the-edges way, if you liked that sort of thing.

But it was always his manners she’d found off-putting. And she genuinely had no idea he felt that way about her when everything he’d ever done indicated he positively loathed her entire existence.

She tugged on one of her braids, studying his expression carefully. “Why’d you tell me now? I’d made my peace with us never communicating outside of work.” 

”I know, I know.” Tom looked guilty. “I wasn’t going to bring it up, but with Rico-“

Every word that came into his head was too permanent, too final for Kathy’s state of mind, so he changed tack mid-sentence. 

”If something happened to me, I’d like to think I’d have no regrets.” He shrugged. “So there ya go.”

He nudged her shoulder with his, and this time, she didn’t recoil. 

”I like you, lady.”

That should do it.

They usually just fell into his arms. And then his bed. It was easy.  But Kathy didn’t move a muscle. Or even say anything. She was just smiling at him politely like she wasn’t quite sure what to do. 

“So, uh, how about it?” He prompted her. “You seeing anyone?”

“No.” 

He grinned. “Awesome.”

”Sure, I’m single.” She and her high-school sweetheart had called it quits the previous winter. “But the no was my answer to your first question.” 

“Grea- wait, what do you mean, no?”

Tom couldn’t remember a girl ever telling him no before. 

”There’s been some undertones.” Kathy started off demurely, then exploded at him. “Hang on, screw that. You’ve been an absolute dweeb-“

Tom’s eyes widened at the verbal attack.

“-no, a complete and utter dick to me! You expect me just to drop everything and do what you want?! Now that you’re being civil?!”

“Okay, you can stop, I get it-“

“Talk about regrets?” There was no stopping it now, the emotion was just pouring out of Kathy. She was formidable. And she didn’t even raise her voice, not once. Her softness was all the more jarring. “You’ve made me feel like crap! You’ve embarrassed me, undermined my authority in front of pretty much everyone. Don’t you regret that?”

”I do, actually. I’ve realised why I was giving you such a hard time.”

”Well, please enlighten me.”

”It’s pretty complicated.” 

”I’m pretty smart.” She said sharply. “I’m sure I can keep up.”

“Wow, we’re really getting into it tonight, huh?” He lamented even going into the kitchen at all. 

“I’m waiting.”

“Jeez, you’re feisty when you feel like it-” Tom huffed. Where to begin?

“Okay, if it means so little to you, then I guess I’m leaving-“ 

“Wait, fine!” He groaned, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. “…Richardson got to me early on, took me under his wing. I thought he was the mentor I’d always been looking for. That him and me were simpatico. The same.”

”You aren’t the only one.” Kathy could see why he’d targeted the southerner. Playing into a certain stereotype, Tom was the obvious choice.

“Well, he made promises he didn’t keep. Told me every chance he got that you, Liz, Muldoon, none of you were the right fit for the place.” Tom confessed. “That he had someone else in mind before Muldoon put Liz forward for her job. Someone better.” 

“That’s why he doesn’t like her?” Kathy didn’t know why she sounded so shocked. Everything Tom had told her thus far had made perfect sense. “Because Elizabeth wasn’t his first choice?”

”She wasn’t his choice at all. He despises her. Richardson likes his women submissive. Seen and not heard.” Tom continued. “He thought he could easily make her leave, but she’s thriving here. Rattled some cages. Trust me, it’s only because Liz and Muldoon are so goddamn stubborn that this place hasn’t turned into a boys club.”

“Oh, screw that.”

“Be glad of those two. If they weren’t here, you and Isaac, maybe Julian too, would have been outta town within the first month.” Tom nodded meaningfully. “He’d have made it impossible for you to stay.”

He paused, chewing the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. He would have likely been part of that ousting process. But things were different now. A certain ethologist had fought for and won his respect. Rattled his cage, indeed. 

“Jeez…I’m so glad I was put on Carnivores.” Kathy murmured. 

“Me too. I was originally supposed to report back to Richardson with anything…untoward.” Tom shook his head. “He was absolutely convinced Liz was sleeping with someone higher up.”

”What, he thought she’d do the same for him?” Kathy snorted, only half-joking. 

”Evidently. He ain’t got it as bad for her as he does for María, I’ve heard him say some damn awful things. Like, make you lose your lunch, sick.”

Kathy shook her head, she didn’t want to think about that. “What happened?”

“I realised that Richardson was wrong about plenty. Especially Liz.” Tom thought back to that fateful day Muldoon locked them both in the cupboard to work things out. “Everything he told me about her was a lie. That she was a spoiled, dumb, little wh-…uh…” 

“Say it.” Kathy insisted. “You need to.”

“He called her a whore.” Tom looked thoroughly ashamed. “I believed him.” 

“Past tense?” She pointed out. “So you definitely aren’t his right-hand-man anymore?”

“Eh, I’ve pissed him off one too many times, I reckon. Liz has done nothing wrong, God forbid she’s actually good at her job, and he didn’t like it when I told him so.” Tom smirked. “She’s alright. Though I do miss really winding her up.”

“You still do that.” Kathy pointed out. 

“Yeah. Even if anything…happened-“ Tom cleared his throat. “I’d probably stay quiet about it now.”

“Well, aren’t you a saint.” She remarked. 

“Muldoon’s a good man. He’s fair. Which means a lot around here.” He looked downtrodden. “But I’m still not sure he does anything other than tolerate me.”

”No, he likes you.” Kathy told him, her voice rising in pitch.  He snorted at her obvious lie. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Well, he doesn’t hate you!” She exclaimed. “That’s an achievement.”

”He told you?” His expression brightened. 

”Something like that.” Kathy nodded. “He tells me most things, verbally or otherwise, I can usually figure him out.”

“You’re lucky.” Tom sounded genuinely envious. “I can’t read the guy at all. I just-…nah…”

”Go on.” 

“Promise not to make fun?” 

“Cross my heart.”

”I don’t care what Richardson thinks of me anymore.” Tom hesitated. “I kind of care, a lot, about what Muldoon thinks.”

Dare he even think it, let alone utter the words, he wanted the guy to be proud of him. Something he’d never, ever, get. Pathetic. Goddamn, what a loser.

”I think you’re doing okay.” Kathy told him quietly. He’d made wrong choices, sure, but Tom could still turn it all around. “Recently you’ve been almost bearable.”

“I’ll take that.” 

“So, what’s next for Richardson’s white supremacy vision?” Kathy leaned back and stared at the ceiling, blinking hard. She’d thought of Rico again, and the tears were threatening to make  another appearance.

“Well, it’s not good. Travis says he never goes out in the park with them. His own team is getting pissed off with him. They want what we have. They want a Muldoon.”

”Mutiny?”

”Maybe.” Tom agreed. “It’s not gonna be pretty.”

“I might not be here to see it.” Kathy sighed. “Shame.”

“You’re dead set on heading back to the States, huh?”

“I’m going to my new job at the Smithsonian.” She said fiercely. “Nothing’s gonna change that. It’s really important to me. The interview was terrifying.”

”I get it.” He glanced at her sideways. “I still got a couple months with you, right?” “With me?” She raised an eyebrow. “Why, you planning on doing better?”

“Well, yeah.” Self-improvement was a relatively new concept. “Even if nothing…-I’d like to think we could hang out more. Just us, maybe. I could be your acc-…accom-…accomp-…the fella who plays guitar.”

”Can you even play guitar?”  “Well, not yet. But I’d learn how if you would sing for me.”

“Very good.” Kathy smiled, in spite of herself. “Here’s what I want-“

”You want it, you got it.”

“Listen up. Prove you’re on my side.” She deliberately tapped the countertop between each word. “It’s that simple. Just don’t be a dick anymore, Tom.”

“Can I still be a little bit of a dick? Only not to you.”

”As long as you’re not a huge dick.” 

“I’ll be your dick.” He thought he’d blown it, wincing. “Wait, no-“

Fortunately, she laughed. “There are far too many length descriptors in this conversation for my liking.”

“Sorry.”  ”’S’okay. By all means, be a useful dick when appropriate to do so. Be our dick.” Kathy finally got up to leave, even if she couldn’t sleep, she still needed to crash out on her bed. “And boy, you better start learning guitar.”

***

Lizzy gave a final look to her dress, crumpled like a dead bird in the sink, no longer red, no longer a one-piece, balled it up and threw it in the trash. 

If Regis was really that pressed about it, he could take it out of her salary. She didn’t care. She would be happy to never see that man again. 

Call off your dog.

Bastard. She whispered at her own reflection in the mirror. Makeup washed away, she still didn’t recognise herself. The haunted look in her eyes, and gritty blood trapped under her fingernails kept pulling her back to the moment she had rolled Rico‘s body over and seen what resembled a dissection diagram laid out on the muddy ground at her feet. 

But she had finally pulled herself back into enough recognisable pieces to face the world. She reminded herself it wasn’t over yet. She was acting like Rico was already dead. Everyone else was too. 

He may as well be. 

She wondered if the helicopter had made it to Bahía Anasco. If they had found a doctor. If he had still been alive at that point. So many what-if’s and no answers.

Lizzy padded up to the kitchen in her bare feet and the clothes she usually slept in, hair still in damp ringlets after towel-drying.

She heard Kathy and Tom’s voices, talking low and hushed. It sounded like an important conversation. Suspiciously resembling a heart-to-heart.

Lizzy was about to push her way in to join them, but changed her mind. 

She would be kidding herself, and them, by third-wheeling. She didn’t want to think anymore. She didn’t want to chat. 

She knew exactly what she wanted. And who she wanted it from. Lizzy about-turned and marched back down the corridor, arriving outside a door that wasn’t hers, but one she knew well. 

Screw the goddamn rules.

Knock knock. And because she was in a spectacularly bad mood, still seething at Regis, she kicked the door for good measure. 

He didn’t answer fast enough for her liking. 

She wondered if Muldoon also wasn’t in the mood for talking.  That was alright, because talking wasn’t what she had in mind.  Knock knock kick again. 

Chances were, he already knew it was her, and for whatever reason, was keeping her waiting. Lizzy jogged from foot to foot impatiently, he needed to hurry up, before anyone saw what she was up to. 

There would be questions.  The park warden regarded her suspiciously as he finally opened his door.

“Well, you look a damn sight better.”

”I don’t feel any better.” She answered bluntly. 

“Likewise.”

Lizzy sidled closer, hoping he’d take the hint. She waited expectantly for him to let her in, but he just stood, unmoving in the doorway.

“Why are you here, Armstrong?”

“I don’t want to be alone.”

“What’s wrong with Baker’s company?”

“She and Tom are having a moment.”

“Really?” He looked genuinely interested. “Strange.”

“I know, right?” Lizzy shook her head, ready to elaborate, then realised she was being misdirected. ”That’s not the point!” 

“Then get to it.” His expression didn’t change. “Quickly.”

“I don’t want Kathy. I want you.” 

She wanted to feel safe. With Kathy, she was the protector, always the protector, always looking out for everybody, with her siblings, co-workers, even bloody Simon. She wanted to be protected, for a change. Just for one day. 

Muldoon looked exasperated. “We’ve already been through this, we can’t-“

“Please.”

“This isn’t a good time.” 

“Look, here. I have had quite possibly the worst day of my adult life, and-…why? What are you doing?” Her gaze flicked past him to the table. “Oh, you better not be-“

He defensively moved to block her view. “So what if I am? Rough night and all that.”

“You are!” She cried in dismay. “Seriously? Are you trying to kick me when I’m down?”

“Then leave, if you don’t want to see it. Go back to your own room, and stay there.”

She became apoplectic with him. How dare he? They were all struggling, and he’d chosen to suffer alone, again. Turning to drink, instead of company. Instead of the rest of the team. Instead of her.

But this time, she wasn’t running away. Not without a fight. 

“Absolutely not.”

Lizzy ducked under his arm in a flash and headed straight for the table.

She knew she had to get through to him somehow, and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be pretty.

Lizzy snatched the bottle off the table and looked him dead in the eyes as she started necking down the contents.

“For Christ’s sake, Armstrong-“

“It’s not nice, is it?” Lizzy stopped for breath, head already swimming, throat on fire, dodged him and continued downing gulps of whiskey as she tried to evade, keeping the table between them. “Watching me do this to myself?”

No, it wasn’t nice. It was bloody awful.

Lizzy nearly tripped, swallowed the wrong way and started a coughing fit. Christ, it burned. But she recovered quickly, from years of practice as a teenager in the darkest alleys of Glasgow.

“Serves you right.”

“God ‘sake, this is awful stuff.” She peered at the label on the bottle, struggling without her glasses. “Eighteen-year? I don’t bloody think so! You really drink this?”

“Not tonight, apparently.”

“Then I may as well just pour the rest of it away?” She stepped backwards and hovered the bottle tauntingly through the open window, threatening to upend it. “Remove temptation.”

“Alright, that’s enough, Lizzy.”

“First name?” She smirked, but set the bottle back down on solid ground. “Oh, I am in trouble.”

It felt all wrong. She hadn’t dared confront anyone about a possible alcohol problem since she’d ended up with a broken arm in her teens. Her shoulder was aching that very moment, from the cold and rain, and she rolled it unconsciously, a nervous habit, stretching it out with an audible creak. 

Muldoon watched her do it, the way her mouth tightened involuntarily from the pain she was used to dealing with every single day. Not all of it physical. 

He couldn’t do this to her. She was trying to help him. Trying to fix something, since she had failed to fix Esteves, in the jungle. 

Her eyes were a little out of focus as she glared at him. He waved a hand slowly back and forth, and as her gaze followed, it was definitely lagging.

“Are you wrecked? Already?” He sank down on the bed, looking incredibly weary. “I thought your sort knew how to handle your drink.”

“You would assume so.” Lizzy hiccuped. “Funnily enough, I can’t stand whisky anymore. How’s that for ironic?”

“You’re a ridiculous woman.” Then partly to himself. “Who in their right mind would-“

”If I drink it all, there’s none for you.” She was beginning to sway back and forth with a thousand-yard stare. “Actually, mate, I don’t feel very good.”

Lizzy barely drank anymore, for personal and obvious reasons. When she did, she could hardly keep up with Kathy, and she didn’t even want to. 

“Ridiculous.” He repeated. “Go, get into bed, now.”

Lizzy only blinked at him, stunned.

“To sleep, you lunatic. You’re half-cut.”

She raised a finger and whispered very deliberately. “That may be true.”

Even in her bleary state, she’d spotted a loophole. 

He’d made no mention of Lizzy getting in her own bed. And he wasn’t sending her away that easily.

She started undressing, right in front of him. She’d made up her mind she was staying the night. Hell nor high water was getting her out of that room. He was not drinking on her watch. This was a stakeout. 

“What are you-“

“Maybe you should try the thirty-four-year-old instead.” Lizzy interrupted loudly as she slid her shorts down over her hips, kicking them off across the room. “Just saying.”

“The thirty-four-year-old is really testing my patience.”

“But will make you feel so much better.” She sidled over, standing in front of him with bare legs. “No hangover.”

“Just a permanent headache.” He replied cynically.

“Tastes better, too.” Her eyebrow twitched suggestively, and the mood changed in an instant. 

His gaze was now dragging over her body in an entirely different way. “Does she, now?”

She murmured affirmation as she bent forward and took both his hands in hers, placing them around her middle. Lizzy lifted the hem of her baggy t-shirt, getting ready to pull it over her head.

“Lizzy-“ He warned. This was going too far. 

“Have you had enough of me?” She asked in a low voice.

Never. But he didn’t want her like this. Not at his best, for lack of a better phrase. He’d already made it a fair way through the bottle before she’d rudely interrupted. 

He told her as much, but it didn’t seem to put her off at all.

Lizzy smiled coyly. “Who says you have to do anything?“ She was looking at him from under her eyelashes as she elaborated. “I like being in charge too, y’know?”

She had very nice legs, strong legs. It was difficult to push away the thought of those on either side of his, straddling him, if she took the lead, as she was implying.

She felt good, as he was running his fingers up and down her thighs. Watching her shiver and arch her back slightly, battling whether to reach up and squeeze that lovely rear of hers before thinking better of it and letting his hands drop down, away from her body. Lizzy’s smile faded and she folded her arms over her chest.

“I know, Lizzy. But you’ve been drinking.”

“So have you.” She quite rightly pointed out.

“Makes it double the mistake then, I’m afraid-“ he held her gaze, “-fucking you.”

The sound of Lizzy’s sharp intake of breath filled the whole room. She’d never heard him say that word before, it was always damn this, bloody that. And it honestly shocked her. The switch was flipped between them, and she wasn’t sure what to do with herself.

He did that on purpose.

“Very chivalrous.” She stammered awkwardly, recovering her ability to speak after a flustered moment and sat down beside him, spell broken. “You must hate always being right.”

“Now more than ever.”

She stretched and flopped back on his bed. God, she was exhausted. The chill from the wind and rain had cut down to her bones. Though the taste was lingering on her tongue in a way she wasn’t a fan of, the burning scotch was starting to warm her up pleasantly from the inside, her lids were so heavy. She felt herself sinking downwards, gradually  relaxing muscles that she didn’t even know she’d been tensing.

Felt like home. Not Glasgow, not New York, but exactly the way her bunk smelled in her favourite place in the world at the end of a long, hot day. Of the outdoors, and sun-warmed leather. 

Going to rest my eyes, just for a second. Got to stay awake-

He was talking to her again, but she was too tired to process what he was saying.

“Uh-huh, yeah…I’m still here…” She mumbled. 

Then oblivion.

“Armstrong?” No answer. “…Lizzy?”

When he looked around she was fast asleep with her mouth open, sprawled out and limbs pointing in all directions.

He didn’t have the heart to wake her. 

“Suppose you are staying, then.”

***

By Christ, she snored.

Rhinoceroses were quieter. The damn tyrannosaur was quieter.

But it was oddly reassuring, instead of the usual dead silence, alone with too many of his own thoughts. Like heavy rain on tent canvas, or cicadas.

If it were a biblical plague of cicadas Muldoon thought to himself.

She hadn’t stirred when he’d picked up her legs to move her underneath the covers. If anything, she’d snored even louder in protest.

He’d swithered for a long while about actually getting into bed with her. It almost felt wrong it was that easy, after months of thinking about this exact situation, and she wasn’t even awake.

It was her idea in the first place. Where else could he go, sleep in his damn Jeep?

He couldn’t do that to her, just leave her to wake up alone. She needed him, come looking for him for a reason, though slightly misguided. 

But this is not a reward. She won’t stay next time. She’ll leave and not come back.

Muldoon vowed to do his best to make sure there wouldn’t be a next time. This was his last chance.

Armstrong’s ridiculous, half-baked, hastily-constructed plan had paid off. 

Ridiculous, indeed. She was the most ridiculous woman he’d ever met. 

And brave. Damn brave, to face him in this state.  With that thought, Muldoon felt incredibly guilty. She shouldn’t have had to do all that in an attempt to get through to him. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about what he would have done if it had been Armstrong attacked, instead of Esteves. If she were the one lying cold and motionless, headed to the mainland for the last time.

But she was alive, only sleeping, and she was right there. 

He watched her chest rise and fall for a few minutes, just to reassure himself she was unharmed. Her ribcage wasn’t caved in, her skin wasn’t leaching colour from exsanguination. 

She was warm and soft and kept on fidgeting endlessly, limbs pointing in every direction, shuffling closer to him in her sleep, until he was pressed against the wall and couldn’t possibly move any further away from her.

When she flung a hand out restlessly, reaching for something he couldn’t see, Muldoon gave up and put an arm around her middle, letting her in. 

Can’t say I didn’t try.  She sighed softly, resumed snoring at quite frankly worrying decibels and stopped twitching every half a second. 

The whiskey glass, still in its place on the table caught his eye, glinting in the moonlight.

For the first time in a very long while, he didn’t want it.

No, this would do instead.

***

Thanks for reading!

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #my fanfiction #jurassic park fic #robert muldoon x ofc

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 28

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster? A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs. But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: few mentions of the ol alcoholism

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 27 | Chapter 29

Since You Been Gone - Rainbow

Several weeks later

Although the island would be virtually uninhabited over Christmas, InGen had shipped in an impressive Douglas Fir that was already shrivelling up and disintegrating in the tropical heat. It was dropping enough needles to make Marìa implore the Almighty for help every time she swept the floor, which was now a daily task. Someone had used the cherry picker to fling tinsel over the model skeletons in the atrium of the visitor centre. The Alamosaurus had a shiny blue party hat perched jauntily on top of its skull.

About as festive as you could wish for in a near-Equatorial country.  Muldoon wanted to meet with Lizzy beneath the skeletons before he began the long journey back to Kenya.

“I’ve done the best I can with staffing, but there will be two days at Christmas and again at New Year when you’re by yourself. I’ll be back on the third.” 

Lizzy nodded solemnly.

“You do not go out in the park by yourself on those four days you’re alone, do you understand me?”

”O-kay?”

”I don’t care what you see on those video monitors in the control room. I don’t care what alarms go off. It’s not your problem to fix. You make a note of it and tell someone later, but whatever happens you stay indoors.”

”Richardson said-“ She started.

“I don’t care. You do what I say.” He fixed her with an icy blue stare. “Screw Richardson and his half-baked ideas.”

”No, thanks.” She wrinkled her nose.

Muldoon didn’t smile. “Armstrong, are we clear?”

Lizzy sighed. “Yes, we are perfectly clear.”

He remained unconvinced. “The weather looks alright too, no storms forecast-“

”Seriously! I’ll be fine!” She reassured. “Go home, see the kid. Don’t worry about me.”

Satisfied his point had been made, Muldoon became apologetic. ”Sorry about all this.” 

Among the offers of come back to Oz, come back to Baton Rouge, come back to Lisbon, there would have been the offer of Kenya too, and not just out of politeness.

“You know I hate flying, it makes me feel very green. I’m the logical choice, anyway. No ties. No commitments.” She wiggled her fingers, conscious for the first time in a while that the weight of her engagement ring was no longer there. 

If it had to be anyone, it may as well be me.

Everyone else had parents, kids, significant others, siblings. Jeff was back in Newcastle for the festive period, with his own blood relatives. 

Lizzy had nobody.

“You can give me a bell me if you need to. Don’t care if its the middle of the night.” The park warden handed her a piece of paper with a Kenyan dialling code on it. “Doesn’t have to be work-related, either.”

Lizzy cleared her throat, unsure what he meant. “Got it. Thanks.”

”One last thing.” He reminded her. “Do not go near that raptor.”

“Aw, but I was planning to take her on a day trip to climb Sibo!”

”Not funny. If you remember one thing from this conversation, let that be it. No raptor.”

Kathy’s silhouette appeared in the double-doorway, dragging her chunky duffel bag, the contents threatening to burst forth from the zips all over the marble tiles. It looked like it weighed more than she did. 

“Travelling light, are we?” Muldoon looked her up and down. 

She waved him away, pushing her glasses back up her nose. “Hey, Minnesota is cold. You really think I’m walking over a snowy runway in my flip-flops?”

The park warden was still fixated on her luggage. He pointed to it with his boot. ”You’re going to make me carry that to the airport, aren’t you?” 

”No, no way!” Kathy made a show of exclaiming, before quietly muttering out of the side of her mouth to Lizzy. “I absolutely am.”

“Keep commenting on how heavy it is, how small you are, until he feels bad.” The ethologist suggested, but she knew her deceptively strong friend was able to lift and carry two straw bales at once.

“Oh, I plan to.” Kathy abandoned the bag on the floor and pulled her in for a hug. “Next year, I don’t care how far apart we are, you are coming for Christmas with my family. There‘s always gonna be a place set for you at our house.”

Lizzy managed to blurt out her thanks awkwardly. 

Promised I wouldn’t cry. Jeez.

“And this year-“ Kathy continued. “-if you feel ill at all then you just up and leave the island, okay? It’s not worth it. Call the mainland at Puntarenas…or my mom. I’ve set her as speed-dial two at Ray’s desk.”

“Nice surprise for him next time he tries to call Palo Alto and gets Momma Baker instead.” Lizzy grinned at her friend’s ranking system of who to contact in an emergency. “Just think of me when you’re raising a toast, okay?”

”I will not be cheersing anything this year-” Kathy denied. “-unless it’s with a juice box.”

Lizzy scoffed. “Like he’d know.”

”He’d know.” She insisted, sweeping her braids over one shoulder. “Muldoon said I could if I wanted, but we made a pact. The pact holds firm even if we’re not in the same place anymore.”

The Team Leader was in her mid-twenties, and fond of a beer with the guys, especially on Friday evenings after work. But she had decided to lead by example. 

“How’s it going? You helping him…stop?” Lizzy dared to ask. She’d been avoiding finding out for the past few weeks, in case the answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear. 

“Really good. You’ll be pleased to know he remains firmly on the wagon.”  Despite Kathy’s insistence he didn’t have to go all or nothing straight away, Muldoon had quit the booze cold turkey. The following weeks the island’s coffee usage had increased dramatically. He’d been shorter than usual with almost everyone. Kathy had taken the worst of it more than once, like a trooper. But so far, so sober. 

“That is really good.” Lizzy’s eyes darted past Kathy to see the man in question picking up and hoisting her friend’s ridiculously overpacked luggage over his shoulder without changing expression, as if it were nothing. 

“Yup. Really good.” She caught herself biting her lip. 

Tom swaggered in, minus any bags of his own. “Hey, I thought we already had the Christmas party? What’s with the gathering?”

“And I thought you were leaving on today’s ferry too? Where’s your stuff?” Lizzy wondered aloud. 

“Nah. Tomorrow.” Then louder, for Muldoon’s benefit. “Gotta reduce the amount of time this one has to single-handedly destroy the island. Right, boss?” “Christ. Don’t remind me.”

Tom’s gaze rested on Kathy, who looked very uncomfortable at the sudden attention. 

”I’m actually gonna miss you, four-eyes. Who’d have seen that one coming?” 

”Uh-huh…”

“Well-“ He ironically saluted before turning to leave. “Until next year, loser.”

“Now or never.” Lizzy elbowed her friend in the ribs. “I’m not doing it for you.”

Kathy gave her the dirtiest look possible before jogging after Tom. 

“Baker, we have to get going-“ Muldoon sounded exasperated, still holding her bag.

“Give her a minute.” Lizzy told him. “It’s important.”

”Kennedy of all people, is missing-her-flight levels of important? That’s new…”

”Wait, Tom!” Kathy called as she ran. 

The Texan turned and stared at her hurrying closer, confused.

”I, um-…I made you this.” She pulled a parcel out of her shoulder bag, it too was straining at the seams. “But I dunno how cold it gets in Texas, it’s probably useless…You know what, never mind, you don’t have to take it. It’s stupid.”

She hugged the gift close to her chest, wishing she could rewind the last thirty seconds. Why had Lizzy encouraged her to do this?! It was so dumb. He clearly still hated her. 

“You give that here, missy. I’ll be the judge of whether it’s stupid or not.” Tom held out his hands. ”Can I open it now?”

”Uhm…okay. Why wait, I guess?” She chuckled nervously then hiccuped. 

Tom tore the paper, making a performance out of doing it as slowly as possible while Kathy carefully awaited his reaction.

Muldoon huffed and looked at his watch. 

”Woah…is that-”

She’d knitted him a slightly lumpy scarf in the colours of the Texas state flag. Everyone had received a woollen item from Kathy as a gift, in the colours of their place of origin. 

”Dude, you made this? For me?” Tom couldn’t hold back a massive grin, and immediately threw the paper aside and tied the scarf in a loose knot around his neck. “Shit, that’s sick, man! It’s soft as all Hell! Sorry, Heck. Soft as Heck.”

Kathy let out a sigh of relief. She’d been half-expecting to be ripped to shreds for her handmade gift. 

“But I don’t have anything for you, Kit…”

”It’s okay.” She knew he’d been saving up to really spoil his little sister this year. Lizzy had told her as much. “I wasn’t expecting anything in return. But I made them for everyone else, and you actually work really hard, and-“

Next thing she knew, her face was pressed close to his denim jacket as he scooped her up in a bear hug.  

She couldn’t recall having physical contact with Tom before, doing her best to stay away from him unless she had no choice. As far as she knew, he didn’t do hugs. Not with anyone.

Kathy tensed, stiff as a corpse until she heard him rumble against the side of her head ”Thank you, darlin’.”

He sounded so genuine, and she buried her face in the fabric of his jacket, squeezing her eyes tight shut to hide how they were welling up. 

She relaxed into the hug. ”Happy Christmas, Tom.”

***

The two weeks that followed turned out to be uneventful, if very lonely, for Lizzy. On the big day itself she’d opened a few small gifts her friends had left for her, including a brand new knitted bobble hat. In the colours of Namibia, not Scotland. She had called Jeff in Newcastle at InGen’s expense, had a lengthy catch-up and a good laugh, then nuked some leftover macaroni cheese, the Christmas dinner of champions, before focusing on writing up her behavioural research she was in serious danger of falling behind with. Lizzy wondered if she’d ever get clearance from InGen to publish a paper on the behaviour of juvenile Velociraptor mongoliensis. Unlikely, but she had to write the damn thing first. 

She missed her elephants. 

Don’t go out into the park. She wasn’t an idiot, and Lizzy had to admit it was asking for trouble. If anything happened, nobody would find her for a very long time, that much was certain. God forbid she came to a sticky end because she fell and broke her ankle, or something equally stupid. 

But watching the dinosaurs on a video screen just wasn’t the same as being out there among them. Hearing the sauropods trumpet in the far distance was nothing like feeling the ground shake when they walked by. Seeing the dilophosaurs flare their crests near the river, smelling the Rex on the breeze and knowing in your gut she was nearby even if you couldn’t see her. You could just feel her. Lizzy missed the smallest things she’d started to take for granted in her job. 

She may not have her elephants, but she didn’t have her dinosaurs either. Neither did she have her new favourite, the little raptor who was her biggest challenge yet.  Lizzy wondered if there was a fellow lonely soul on Isla Sorna who had been given a similar task to her. If they had family they missed, or if they too had friends but were alone in the world.

Some local InGen employees came and went between Christmas and New Year, but she was soon left to her own devices for the second two-day stint of solitude.

It was far worse than the first time around. Lizzy thought constantly about using the Kenyan dialling code, or hitting speed dial two. But she always talked herself out of it. 

They don't need me bothering them. They see me every single day, they see their families hardly ever. God, give them some space. Stop being so bloody needy.

She kept trying to persuade herself of the passing of time, trying to think of things to do while she was effectively trapped indoors, all while debating if cabin fever was a legitimate medical condition and how long it normally took to develop. She wondered whether she could find Gerry Harding’s San Diego number and really piss Sarah off by calling him at home to ask. 

New Year's Eve, however, more than compensated for how tedious Lizzy's Christmas break had been. 

She was leaving the showers that night, minding her own business, and rounded the corner wrapped in her towel, humming, totally unprepared for who was waiting for her when she finally glanced up at close range through half-misted glasses.

“Shitting Heaven!” Lizzy shrieked, flattening herself against the wall in shock.

Muldoon was just there in the corridor, looking surprised, in the process of unlocking his door.

”You nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!” She accosted him when she recovered her wits, red-faced and angry now the fear had retreated. “Christ alive! Thanks for the warning!”

“Sorry, Armstrong.”

”Don’t give me Armstrong! Why the Hell didn’t you say anything?” She moaned, rubbing her forehead, heart still thumping with the force of a war cannon against her sternum. “You must have heard me coming!”

“Again, sorry.”

Lizzy’s eyes widened. She’d been enjoying singing loudly in the shower. Horribly out of tune, and she knew it. A one-woman rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. 

There was no way in Hell he wouldn’t have heard. She’d been performing the entirety of the song as a solo for the last five minutes.

The absurdity of the situation hit her, and she covered her mouth to stifle a nervous laugh. Now was not the time. She was still very much ticked off at him for ambushing her, and she wanted him to know.

“Why are you here?” Lizzy demanded, doing her best to regain control. The park warden was back a full four days before schedule. Not that she was counting down, or anything.

“Baker phoned me.” As if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation. 

“So?”

”She had a feeling. She was worried about you.”

”You came back because of a feeling? Someone else’s feeling?” It didn’t make sense to Lizzy at all. He didn't normally go in for superstitions, or anything of the sort. 

Muldoon recalled the previous night, and the fateful phonecall that led to cutting his trip home short. His daughter had answered and come to get him, tapping with her small hands covered by new wool mittens that she point-blank refused to take off, even when she was eating dinner, or sleeping.

“Baba, phone. Cat lady from…Min-ah-so-tah.” She’d pronounced carefully. 

Muldoon was then wide awake. Why in God’s name was Baker calling him at this ungodly hour? Who had died?

By the time he’d made it to the phone, she had been sobbing down the line, borderline hysterical. When he’d finally gotten some sense out of her, if you could call it sense, she told him she’d had the most terrifying nightmare. That the dinosaurs had all escaped and were roaming free, Lizzy was in danger, she was sure of it.

At first, he was sceptical. Just a dream, nothing to it.

Then she had uttered the magic word raptor, and Muldoon knew that made two of them that wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon. 

What had he been thinking? What had InGen been playing at? Leaving Armstrong alone to man the island, all for the sake of someone keeping an eye on the place.

Were they really that paranoid that a rival would try and steal from them? With all the security systems they had in place? It was virtually impossible. 

Although he wouldn’t put it past the ethologist to send intruders packing, to be honest. Sub-par depth perception aside, she was still pretty handy with a shotgun. 

”Please.” Baker’s voice had steadied, suddenly clear and direct. “I need to know Lizzy’s okay. I can’t bear to call her, in case…But if you won’t do it either, I’m leaving for that island tonight-“

”I’ll phone her now. You do realise she’s probably fine?” Muldoon became aware he was trying to convince himself of that fact as much as he was Baker.

”And what will you do if she doesn’t pick up, hm? What will you do if she’s fine now, but you arrive back in a few days and something has happened?” Her voice rose in pitch. “Why did we leave her? On a dinosaur island?”

And then Muldoon did something very out of character. He hung up, waited a few minutes, and called Baker back to tell her Armstrong was fine, not to worry, have a Happy New Year. 

Then he quietly made his way to the airport in Nairobi. Only when he was on the first of several flights had it started to sink in, exactly what he was doing. What it all came down to.

He needed to see her. It’s for safety. This automation business is nonsense. Shouldn’t have left her. 

He reflected that his Team Leader and partner in sobriety wasn’t exactly making life easy for him. 

How it had taken every ounce of willpower he had not to answer Scotch, please when the heavily made-up air hostess had come around with the drinks trolley. 

And then came the worst, and most time-consuming part, finding someone on the Costa Rican mainland who fit the Venn diagram intersection of having a boat and being willing to sail to Isla Nublar at short notice.  Turned out not many of the locals fit both criteria. Not for cheap, anyway.

“Baker made a very strong case.”

”Right…” Lizzy was still baffled, and a little put out that the reason for him standing in front of her in her towel wasn't for anything other than safety. 

It was only because Kathy’d had another of her stupid dreams, that she was always convinced meant something more. Lizzy had lost track of the number of times she had reassured her that they were not. She wasn’t a prophet. She was just a worrier with an active imagination. 

After the ferry, Muldoon hadn’t stopped to drop off his backpack. He couldn’t find Armstrong at first, anywhere in the staff quarters. She wasn’t answering his calls to her radio, and for a second he had feared Baker was right. 

Maybe something had happened. 

Then he’d heard the God-awful “singing” coming from the women’s showers and it was the most beautiful sound Muldoon had ever heard because it meant Armstrong was alive and well.

Now, it wasn’t gratifying at all, it was just awkward, she was angry at him. And explaining he was back on Nublar ahead of schedule because of a dream, and not even his own, just sounded more and more absurd.

“Well…I’m okay. You can stop worrying.” Lizzy looked down at herself. “If I were dressed I would probably be okay-er.”

She became conscious Muldoon was looking past her, instead of at her, avoiding eye contact. As if he was nervous to look anywhere else.

She was still dripping all over the floor, hair in wet ringlets slicked to her forehead. 

By then, Lizzy just wanted to get back to her room and dry off. She smiled sweetly. ”Gonna make me walk past you like this, huh?”

“Er, no-“ He went back to opening his door, as he had been before she had rounded the corridor and nearly expired from fright. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Oh, thanks so much!” She replied sarcastically as he made himself scarce.

***

A couple of hours later, Muldoon reluctantly pushed open the door of the staff kitchen to a sight he never thought he’d witness: Armstrong standing over a stove, cooking.

“Hi!” She turned and waved at him.  Instead of her company-issued shorts and polo shirt that she usually lived in, she’d opted for jeans and a loose sweater. Her hair was still wet. She looked very different. Not in a bad way, either. 

“Sorry about earlier. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. Ran into far more people wearing far less.” She brushed it off.

“Excuse me?”

”Joking!” She claimed hastily. “I was joking!”

So awkward.

Lizzy’s heart dropped.

Oh no, was this when she found out they only got on so well because they were both mad at the world? Because they liked complaining about the same things? Take that away and what did they have to talk about?

"Got your note."

"I can see, else you wouldn’t be here, would you?” She said bluntly. This was going nowhere. Lizzy couldn't take it. "Look, it’s fine. It’s honestly fine. I don’t care and you shouldn’t either. Thank you for coming back to check on me.”

She turned her attention away from the stove and cocked an eyebrow. “Though a phone call would have sufficed.”

”I realise that.”

“It’s a good thing.” She pointed the spoon at him. “You’re staying. I've been so bored without anyone around. Don't make me spend another evening talking to myself."

“Hm.” He agreed. “Can you even get a word in edgeways?"

"Nice to have an intelligent conversation around here, actually." Lizzy hid a smile. And we’re back.

“What’s that you’re making?”

“Stew?” She continued stirring. 

”Why does that sound like a question?”

“I think.”

”You…think?” He seemed to finally be  relaxing. “It either is or it isn't."

“I was making bolognese, but…something went wrong.” Lizzy explained, sounding deflated. She looked him dead in the eyes and admitted: “I actually haven’t cooked dinner in a very long time.”

"In that case, I’m pleased I went to so much trouble to get back here.”

”Give it a minute. It’s getting there.” Lizzy clamped the lid on the pot. Out of sight, out of might. If it burns, just call it Cajun. Gonna be great. So good. 

“Getting where, exactly?  Why are you going to all this bother anyway?”

“I thought-… you’ve had a really long journey?” 

“And you’re trying to finish me off in my weakened state, is that what you’re saying?” Muldoon deadpanned. “You want my job that badly?”

She threw her wooden spoon down on the worktop in a huff and folded her arms. “Please. I wouldn’t stoop to poisoning. Pitfall trap, maybe. Alright?”

The park warden peered over her shoulder at the wisps of black smoke starting to rise from the stove. “Armstrong, I think your-…whatever it is, is burning.”

“Completely intentional.” She wrinkled her nose. “I can manage.”

“Try it.” He dared her.

“It’s too hot-“

”Try it now.”

She caved, but couldn’t stop her face from screwing up like she’d just taken a hefty bite from a lemon. Lizzy knew there was no way it would be her best cooking effort, but it was bad. 

“Oh, Christ!”  She passed him the spoon, admitting defeat. “I give up. All yours.”

“Take a seat. I can salvage it.”

Quietly, from the battered cassette player in the corner Jimmy Page’s guitar riffs chugged along, Robert Plant wailing something about a flaming heart, every now and then the high notes swelling over the noise of the pots bubbling on the stove as they swapped places. Led Zeppelin IV. Lizzy had found a tape in Gennaro’s office while she was poking around. Didn’t know old Donald got the Led out, she’d thought. But imagining the lawyer with long hair and flared jeans, in the front row at Madison Square Garden was a thought that now frequently made her smile when she was bored.

“Ugh. Salvage.” She groaned, resting her head on a propped up arm. “That’s such an unfortunate word. I’m so sorry.” 

“S’alright. Like a challenge.” 

”I’m better at breakfast.” She defended herself. “I can do a decent fry-up.”

“And how does a man get you to sort out breakfast for them?”

She shrugged. “Be the one to wake me up in the morning.”

Muldoon almost dropped a knife but caught it before it could make a noise on the worktop. 

“I mean-“ Lizzy realised what she’d said without thinking. “Uhhh…”

He’d caught her succumbing to nostalgia, remembering grey dawns in New York, when Simon had offered to go out in the rain for bagels, and instead of leaving the apartment, she’d whacked some eggs on the stove. 

Looking back, there had been happy times. But perhaps it had only seemed happy because it was everything she’d never had before. 

Although she’d kill for a hot chocolate and a doughnut that always smelled better than it tasted from the cart they went looking for every winter in Times Square. That was one of their traditions.

Simon had been one of the people she'd considered calling over Christmas. He’d be spending a few days at his parent’s house upstate, no doubt. Same as always. But she’d ultimately decided no good could come from contacting him, even though she still knew the number off by heart. No scrap of paper or speed dial required.   It had ended for a reason. She had to remember that. Even though he’d never been brave enough to insult her attempts at cooking. 

Unlike some.

Her gaze fell on Muldoon again. 

”I’ll be conveniently absent then. State of it.” He grumbled. “Won’t be risking it even if we’re still alive tomorrow.”

”You’re so rude.”

“Could have tortured prisoners at Alcatraz with whatever that was.”

Lizzy cackled.

“Hey-…I‘m really glad you came back, you know?” She told him honestly. “My sense of humour isn’t wasted.”

Oh, who was she kidding? She’d missed him. Really missed him. 

“You didn’t phone.” It sounded accusatory when he said it. “Two weeks is a very long time to not hear from someone like you.”

I thought about it.

”I wanted to.” She answered quietly. 

I thought about you. 

Muldoon had an idea. 

Now he was back she could go out into the park again. They could both go out into the park, in fact. And with nobody else around, who would question them going out at night? 

Was it a daft thing to suggest? Probably. 

Armstrong had been distant the past few weeks before winter break. Giving herself space. Giving him space. 

But he had been trying. Succeeding so far thanks to Baker’s efforts. That girl really was something else, putting up with him in his worst moods.  And Armstrong was the one who’d asked him to spend time with her that evening. They could have quite easily existed without running into each other again for days. The place was big enough. But they were in this tiny kitchen together, her struggling to find enough space to set out plates and cutlery without bumping into him. 

The other staff would be arriving back in the next few days. 

Who knew when he’d have her all to himself again?

Didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous as Hell. It might not have been enough time for her to feel safe around him out in the jungle. She might still say no.

But it was worth a try. 

“Armstrong, would you-“

She dropped a bowl on the worktop with a clank at the critical moment. “Sorry, what?”

“Would you like to come for a drive with me later?”

“Why?” The frown lines appeared between her eyebrows. “Is something wrong, out in the park?”

“No-“

”I wrote everything up while you were gone. All the errors.”

”I know-“

”And I haven’t been near the baby raptor!” She added, a little too insistently.  “Armstrong-“. A touch sharply, to get her to stop talking so damn fast. Ask me properly. ”Lizzy. Would you like to see in the New Year with me? Somewhere more scenic?”

”Ohh…” Realisation dawned on her face, then a revolving door of emotions. Excitement, then uncertainty, then indecision. “If it’s a no, then-“

”I didn’t say no.” Lizzy interrupted. 

She wasn't sure if she was ready. Finding that bottle at the back of the staff lodge had knocked her sideways, upended her world. 

But she wanted to go with him, she wanted to so badly.

Really good. That was what Kathy had said. 

That was enough for her to smile and nod.

”Yes, please. I’d love that.”

***

Thanks for reading!

Is this going to count as a date? I think it’s going to count as a date! (Finally…) At the museum I used to work in the sauropod skeleton did indeed wear a party hat at Christmas. Also in Glasgow they put a traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington’s statue on the regular…so it may or may not have been Lizzy.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #kathy #jurassic park fanfiction #jurassic park fanfic #long fic #slow burn #ray arnold #gerry harding #oc: lizzy armstrong #oc creator

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 26

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: alcoholism and consequences thereof

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 25 | Chapter 27

Love Is A Battlefield - Pat Benatar

Lizzy sensed something was distinctly off when she spied Kathy making a beeline for her on returning to the visitor centre.

On the defensive, in a rigid stance, walking with purpose.

As she got closer and Lizzy's glasses brought her into focus she saw her friend looked angry, appearing to be muttering under her breath at breakneck speed. 

Oh, this was going to be good. 

"Hey, lose-“ Lizzy started before Kathy cut her off sharply.

“What are you up to with Muldoon?”

”Up to? What do you mean?” Lizzy was surprised by her tone. She sounded cold.

”I mean, you keep hanging around with our boss near the raptor pen. Just the two of you. Laughing and stuff. I saw the tape.” Kathy folded her arms and raised her eyebrows. “What’s that about, huh?”

Lizzy didn’t have an answer. What could she possibly say that wouldn’t set off Gennaro’s Impending Lawsuit alarm if he somehow got wind of this?

”What’s the matter, Lizzy? You can’t tell me?”

Right now, Kathy was reminding her all too well of the girls in high school she wouldn’t have hesitated to knock to the ground and give a bloody nose for daring.

She found herself wondering if Kathy had ever been one of those mean girls, that picked on kids like Lizzy for dressing in hand-me-downs. For dressing poor. 

Her fists clenched instinctively, but she stayed frozen in place. The urge was passing. Kathy was so gentle, she could never. Even if this afternoon, she was getting on every single one of her very frayed nerves.

”Then I guess, after all this time, you aren’t really my friend, huh?” Kathy turned to leave, after a sidelong look at Lizzy, full of betrayal.

“Wait-“

“Friends don’t lie. I’m glad I got that interview at the Smithsonian now.”

”You…got-“ 

”Yeah, I got an interview!” Kathy yelled over her shoulder as she stalked off. “Guess I just forgot to tell you!”

”Well, then congratulations, I suppose!” Lizzy shouted at her retreating figure.

She felt as if the earth beneath her feet had given way, her stomach turning over like she was plummeting downwards.  Hurt, sadness and regret all at once. 

She’s leaving me. 

***

Lizzy had stewed for a long while in the hot sun, finally accepting that yes, she was the one in the wrong after much arguing back and forth with herself.

Now she was running lines in her head, over and over, working on an apology of sorts. She needed to make this right. She had to find Kathy, make her listen, and explain what was going on in a way that wouldn't make her feel even worse about being left out. And all without giving too much away. 

That would be difficult. Maybe impossible.

But she had another problem. There was now a tape, which meant there was a camera. What camera? Where camera? Who else knew? About The Plan?

Uneasy thoughts swirled through her head. Her whole body was burning up in guilt and frustration.

Why didn’t I tell her? I should have. It's Kathy. She would have had my back.

How could she fix it? How badly did she want to fix it? Kathy was leaving her anyway. Just like everybody else. They always left.

This was no good. 

Lizzy desperately needed some space. She just needed to think. A few laps around the visitor centre would help. Stare out over the lake for a bit. Watch the birds. Hope Ed Regis didn't show up and start talking at her about how the baseball league was going back in New Jersey.

Good. Perfect. Gonna solve this, somehow.

The sun was thoroughly beating down on the top of her head. It looked like it might be cooler behind the staff lodge, under the trees. She knew there was a narrow alley lined on one side with high wire fencing. Beyond, the land dropped away steeply to the shallow stream that ran from the lake, eventually out to sea. It was scarcely more than a trickle unless there was a thunderstorm. 

She’d never been back there before, never had a reason to be, until now. The ground was surprisingly uneven, and there were abundant weeds. Isla Nublar’s grounds maintenance crew clearly didn’t frequent this particular area.

Set-dressing. Lizzy thought. The parts people don’t see are where the mask slips down. 

She picked her way over stones and furrows of desiccated mud, long since dried out and rock-solid, careful not to twist her ankle. Three-toed tracks led the way in front, from some unknown animal or bird. Lizzy kept going, through the ferns and horsetails, under the bedroom windows of her colleagues, until there was a dink! as one of her steel toe-caps came into contact with a solid object.

“What the-“ Lizzy squinted as she stooped down, searching with her hands until she found the culprit. She held it up to the light, the stray sunbeams reflecting through the surface. 

An empty whisky bottle.

Her foot slipped and she heard more clinking in amongst the greenery below her. There were lots of them, all empty, moving against each other.

Shit.

Somebody on the island had a serious problem.

“Whose room is this?” She asked aloud.

Lizzy mapped the floorplan of the staff lodge in her mind. If the vent for the showers was there on the corner, and this was five down the corridor…and then to the right…

She frowned, shook her head, counted again.

Nope, she’d been right the first time.  Then she noticed what was on the windowsill, and all doubt vanished in a sickening instant. 

A small carved elephant. She knew then, because it was an in-joke amongst safari workers in Namibia, and more than likely Kenya too. All the tourists bought them, convinced they were authentic local art instead of mass produced and ridiculously overpriced.

She knew, because Jeff was exactly the sort to dole them out as gag gifts to his friends. She knew, because she had the exact same carved elephant on the windowsill in her room. Only her room was on the opposite side of the building. 

What was it Tom had said on movie night? About The Shakes?

Everything suddenly clicked into place in one devastating moment and Lizzy could see what she had missed before, or perhaps had an inkling of deep down, but pushed down, refused, simply not wanted to believe.

Now there was proof. Solid evidence. 

”No…” Lizzy's knees buckled at the shock when she realised, and she flung out a hand to grab the fence beside her. “No. He wouldn’t. He can’t.”

***

“-uldoon, where are you?”

“In a meeting.”

A few seconds pause.  “-‘m coming.” 

Thank Christ for Armstrong and her distractions. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d conjured up something urgent to get him out of this room. 

“It honestly feels like she plans it, Robert. This better be important. Missing limbs important. Natural disaster, biblical or otherwise.” Richardson complained. 

The ethologist didn’t bother knocking. She just about took the door off its hinges from the force at with which she swung it open. 

The doorknob left a very visible dent in the plasterboard as it bounced off the wall behind. 

“Oi, settle down young lady, that’s company pro-“ Richardson didn't hesitate to reprimand her. 

Lizzy completely ignored him and instead zeroed in on Muldoon, who had stood up, already preparing to leave.

”You!” She pointed straight at him. “A word. Now.”

In her experience, game wardens were somewhat predisposed to high-functioning alcoholism. She knew a few of them that were fond of a sundowner or three.

But hiding it was what had alarmed her. Shocked her to her core. That was what her mother used to do, before the amount of money going missing from the chipped Toby jug on the mantelpiece every single week became too much to talk her way out of. It wasn't long before she made no attempt to hide it anymore. When she started taking it out on her kids, most of all on Lizzy.   

Tom's drawling words on movie night came back to haunt her yet again. So much for kidding around.

The island now felt like a prison. The dark clouds of her childhood were creeping in around the edges of her sun-drenched paradise. A storm on the horizon. 

Idiot. I’m such an idiot. I let this happen. I had to go and have feelings. 

Muldoon had twigged by then Lizzy wasn't there to provide a distraction.

The look on her face spoke volumes. She’d gone an alarming shade of red. The forehead vein was developing its own sentience. 

“Barging in here, may I remind you, you’re still on incredibly thin ice, Elizabe-“

"Don’t you want to go somewhere else?" Muldoon asked hesitantly, hoping he sounded braver than he felt. The prospect of being on the receiving end of her wrath wasn't very appealing this time. It felt different. 

Lizzy didn't falter, even if she was about to be in big, huge trouble if she turned out to be wrong.

“I don’t care.”

Richardson, temporarily hushed, glanced back and forth between them quizzically, wondering what exactly was about to happen. 

God, she was so beyond angry. She hadn’t been this full of unbridled rage in forever. Because it wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t right either, to make working alongside dangerous animals your business and end up dying on the job from a careless mistake because you were drunk.

Or even worse, bring about some illness that meant you died weak and feeble in a hospital bed in some smog-filled city, miles away from the birdcalls and dawn colours that had been your whole reason for being.

Lizzy was furious. 

Muldoon realised what she had in her hand. Something made of glass in a shape he was all too familiar with.

Fucking Hellfire. 

"Armstrong-"

“No.” Her voice was flat. “I don’t want excuses.”

“I wasn’t-“

"Here was me thinking you were too good to be true.” She wasn't done with him yet. “You are not the man I’ve read about.”

This woman and her goddamn inability to just leave things be!

“Then what do you want?" He sat back down, worn out. "What do you want me to say?"

Denying it was no good, and she'd see through the lie in an instant. 

”I don’t know! I don’t…know-“

Lizzy seemed to lose her momentum, defeat written all over her, but compared to her quite frankly terrifying displeasure, Muldoon didn't like that either. It might have been a shock, Christ knew how on Earth she found out, who had told her. But her reaction did seem a bit extreme. It was his problem, and his alone. Nobody asked her to get involved.

“No, wait." She held up a hand. "I do know. I don’t want to help you with the rapt-, with stuff anymore.” She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. “You clearly don’t trust me as much as I trusted you.” 

And Lizzy stormed out of the door as quickly as she'd arrived, leaving it wide open in her wake. They both heard her crashing and banging down the corridor as she left the building.

“Is the honeymoon over?” Richardson wasted no time, looking positively gleeful. "Do you need a minute? Shall we continue this later?"

“Everything’s fine.” Wasn’t at all, far from it. But what else could he do? Muldoon got the distinct impression she didn’t want to be followed this time. “I’ll deal with her later.”

He got a condescending nod in response. 

“I’m sure you will. Women, eh? Nothing like a bit of hysteria every few weeks. You’ll learn.”

***

Lizzy went to The Tree. Her Tree. Her safe place. Only now it wasn’t. Two of her best memories there were ruined. Had Muldoon been drunk when he came to find her after Simon dumped her sorry ass? When she’d been alone and nobody knew where she was except him? Had she even been safe then, driving back along the jungle road in the dark? She was still carrying the empty whisky bottle. Lizzy had no memory of her route to the clearing, or for what reason she’d brought the evidence along with her. But at least she was alone now. Or so she thought.

“Finally figure it out for yourself, huh?” Tom popped his head around a branch, startling her enough to drop the bottle with a sharp clink against a rock. “Told you so.”

”Where in the Hell did you come from?” Lizzy spluttered. “Are you following me now?!”

***

"Hey! Muldoon!" Kathy shouted.

He had eventually left Richardson's office after an age, feeling numb as all Hell. At least Baker would be a friendly face, but she looked just as pissed off as Armstrong had been.

That was odd.

“I don’t appreciate being kept in the dark. I thought you trusted me!” She accosted him. “But no, Lizzy’s better. Lizzy’s number one. Same as always. I’ll never be as good.”

Surely not both of them in one day?

Muldoon sighed wearily. ”Baker, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

”The raptor?” Kathy hissed. 

”Ah.”

That made sense. 

Bloody animal’s already more trouble than it’s worth.

”You’re not even going to deny it, huh?” She looked surprised.

”Is there any point? You’ve clearly worked it all out.”

Muldoon wasn’t too worried just yet. Mad as she was, Baker was far less intimidating than Armstrong.

She pushed her glasses back up her nose, slipping dangerously low from how much she was perspiring after losing her rag at two of her closest colleagues in such a short timeframe. Kathy hated conflict. But it had to be done. 

“Yeah, well…I gotta bombshell of my own! I’m leaving Jurassic Park. I’m going back to the Smithsonian!”

“You what?!” Now Muldoon was rattled. 

“That’s right!” Kathy drew herself up. “I have an interview, but it’s just a formality! I’ve practically been offered the job!” It felt plain wrong turning her back on him and walking away, after everything he'd done for her, but still, she went and did it. 

”Wait, Baker-“

She heard heavy boots following closely behind, catching up, but she didn't stop to look.

”I’m not Lizzy, don’t you dare come after me!”

Muldoon stopped and watched her go, trying to make sense of the day's events.  

Indeed, he seemed to have lost both of them in one day. Two of his best.

Within the same hour, in fact.

”Shit.” 

***

”So this is where you keep running off to, huh?” Tom gazed up into the canopy, nodding appreciatively. “It’s a good spot.”

“It’s much better when it’s quiet.” Lizzy muttered, snapping a twig into tiny pieces to keep her hands busy. 

”Does she normally just…stare at you like that?” Tom pointed at the bulky head of the tyrannosaur, regarding them suspiciously through a gap in the tall trees and grumbling with every slow breath outwards.

”No. Must be your stench, since you followed me here.” Lizzy was in the middle of taking a closer look at the dinosaur’s breathing when Tom cut off her thoughts mid-flow.

”Jesus, I wasn’t following you!” He nearly yelled in frustration. The Hell does he have the patience for her? “Just wondering if you had finally connected the dots, is all.”

”Spying on me, then.”

“Oh, come on, Liz!”

She grabbed a new twig from the ground and began methodically turning it into pencil shavings. “Why were you being so damn cryptic about it? How did you find out?”

”It really wasn’t that hard.” Tom shrugged. “Surprised you didn’t notice sooner, what with your mom and all.”

”He hides it well.”

”Yeah, because he hides, full stop.” Tom shook his head at her missing the blatantly obvious. “You ever notice we never see him after they switch the lights on in the park at night? How he may as well be on the mainland on his days off? He hides!”

“Okay, enough.” Lizzy bit hard on the inside of her cheek. “You can stop trying to hurt me now. I get it. You win. Oooohhh, Lizzy’s an idiot for not spotting it sooner. Ha ha. Hilarious.” 

Tom looked offended. ”Ain’t trying to hurt you…” He fumbled, then recovered. “He was never going to tell you! Aren’t you glad you found out now before you did something stupid and gave Gennaro a nervous breakdown drawing up a new clause for our contracts?” 

”The Hell are you talking about?” She quickly became defensive, dropping the remains of the twig and folding her arms.  Tom scoffed. ”It’s pretty obvious.” And he repeated the perverse hand signal he had made with his thumb and forefinger towards her on their very first day.

”Oh, please. You’re a child. I’m not like that.”

Not for a long while, at least. 

“Whatever.” He sniffed. “We all got needs.”

There was a long pause, after which Tom spoke again first. 

“Your mentor dude and Muldoon, they know each other, right?”

”What’s your point?” She was getting snippy with him.

”I dunno. Call him, I guess?” Tom offered. “Might make you feel better.”

“Not exactly easy to get hold of Jeff.”

“Quit bullshitting. Try. Call him. That’s a start. I ain’t so good at the comforting thing, so don’t you ask me for a hug.”

Lizzy smirked. “Me neither.”

“Pfft. I’ll say!” He leaned back and stretched his arms. “Man, when I first met you I thought you were a dick and a half. But…”

Tom waited expectantly for the likewise from her that never came. 

”Jury’s still out.” Lizzy said dryly.

He shrugged, pulling a cigarette from behind his ear and reaching for his lighter. “Yeah, I guess, that’s fair.” 

“Give me that.” The stress was getting to her, and sticks from the jungle floor weren’t keeping her hands and her mind busy enough.

“Nuh-uh! Keep your grubby paws off.” He pulled his lighter from his pocket and flicked it open in one smooth movement. “We gotta figure out what to do about this little situation.”

”Do we really have to?” As far as Lizzy was concerned, she was already done. She and Muldoon could still be colleagues, but not friends anymore. Kathy was right. Friends didn’t lie. Or at least, they trusted you enough to admit when there was something wrong. When they were struggling. When it could potentially hurt you to be around them. 

“Are you kidding me?” Tom said through a mouthful of smoke, then coughed loudly. “This island will be unbearable otherwise. It could take years if I leave you to it. You’re both front-runners for the two most stubborn people I have ever met.”

”Who says I want to make up?” Lizzy bunched her hands up in her hair. “This hurts. This hurts more than Simon.” 

”Wait. You’re serious?” He scratched his head. “Well, damn. Got me there.”

”We can’t survive this. It can’t be fixed. Not for me.”

”Liz…” Tom understood though. He knew. His own father had made sure he’d known, time and time again. “Shit, what happened to you, man?”

***

She was guilty. Guilty as Hell.  And she had been pacing the halls of the staff lodge for a long time.

Kathy had already marched along the corridor in the direction of the former game warden’s room three separate times before changing her mind and scurrying back to her own. She was leaving it a bit late in the day, but she just felt terrible. She’d rather make things right privately than face an awkward situation at morning briefing the next day in front of everyone, the thought of which brought her out in a cold sweat. 

After confronting Muldoon earlier, she ran straight to Ray Arnold, who had lost his damn mind at the drama of it all. Then she collapsed into tears, sobbing while the engineer consoled her and tried to offer her half of a peanut butter sandwich.

She couldn't be this person who held grudges, it wasn't her. It was exhausting.

And Lizzy was nowhere to be found, yet again. So Muldoon was first. 

Lucky me. Lucky him.  “I’m too good to them. They should be the ones apologising.” She muttered as she roamed the corridor for a fourth time.

Every footfall in the lodge sent her heartbeat racing, petrified in case Lizzy had gathered her senses and returned, on the hunt for her. But she braced herself and finally knocked on Muldoon's door, trying not to flee.

He took a long time to answer. Kathy choked back a gasp when he finally did. He looked terrible. She suddenly had a vivid memory of looking at pictures in the newspaper of US Army veterans, comparing ID photos from when they enlisted to when they returned home from the war. The difference in Muldoon from when she'd spoken to him earlier was nearly as drastic and shocking. 

”Hello, Baker.” He sounded rough. 

”I, uh-“

Shoot.

“Uhhhhhh-“ She faltered, full on rabbit-in-headlights. ”Oh, balls…”

“If it’s not important, can it wait-“ he started closing the door, not waiting for a response.

“No!” She panicked and rammed her foot into the gap between the door and the frame.  “Then say something. This is painful.”

“I…I came to apologise.” Kathy conceded in measured tones. “You’ve been a great boss and mentor, the past few months. I regret what I said…yelled at you, earlier and I��d like you to come with me so we can discuss it, please.”

Gosh, she sounded so formal. She had never despised her telephone voice more than in that moment. 

“This actually isn’t a very good time.” He shook his head. “You’ve not caught me at my best.”

“Actually, I think it’s the perfect time.” Kathy countered. “We’re not at work right now. We never hang out. You know I consider you a friend as well as my boss?”

“You’ll probably come to regret that.”

“Whatever. I know when my friends need help. And if you won’t come out, then I’m coming in!” Kathy threw her weight forward to barge past him, and succeeded, then stopped dead in her tracks.

The sight that greeted her was not what she was expecting. Her normally extremely put-together boss' room rivalled Lizzy's. It was a mess, stuff everywhere. 

Kathy knew then. Something was very wrong. 

“Woah.” She slowly turned around to face him. “Are you okay?”

His first instinct was to tell her off for looking at him with blasted pity, for God’s sake. He was sick to death of that question. But something about those familiar soft eyes stopped him from booting her swiftly back out into the corridor. Only just. 

How does she do that?  She deserved an answer, at the very least. 

“Not really.” Muldoon finally admitted. “But I’ll survive.”

And so it goes. Always have done. Always will. Just surviving. Nothing more. 

“Is this-“ she gestured vaguely around the room. “-because of me?”

“No. It’s nothing you should have to worry about, Baker.” He carefully shut the door behind her. “Not if you’re leaving us.”

“Then what happened?” Kathy still sounded horrified. “Extremely localised tornado?”

“In a manner of speaking…”

Baker was just staring at him, her forehead creased with worry and fear.

Muldoon sighed, she was here now. She may as well know. 

“Liz- Dr Armstrong found out, somehow. About my, hm…problem. I suspect Kennedy is at least partly to blame.” He sounded resigned. “So, I suppose everyone in the Southern hemisphere is aware of it by now.”

“Hey!” Kathy pointed her finger angrily. “Gerry’s a gossip. Ray is the worst gossip I’ve met in my whole darn life. But Lizzy would never blab. Ever. She’s a good- hm…” 

”A good friend?”

”Yeah…” She sighed. “Yeah, my best friend. I, uh...I fell out with her earlier too. Over the same thing."

"You what?"

Kathy shook her head sadly. “Yeah. Damn, I really blew up. But I was just so mad! With both of you! I’m Team Leader! Does that count for nothing around here anymore?”

“I should have kept you in the loop. But I want what’s best for these animals, I know how close you are with Arnold, and if Hammond found out-“

”Yeah, you should have told me.” Kathy interrupted. “So tell me now.”

She looked for a place to sit, then gave up, before delicately perching on the end of the bedframe.

Those eyes again. Damn you, Baker. 

”Alright. Why do you think an ethologist is working as a glorified janitor?”

She pondered for a moment. She hadn’t really considered it before. Only known that Hammond wanted the best of the best, for as low a price as he could get away with. That part wasn't a secret. 

“You’re worried about the dinosaurs.” Kathy nodded finally. “About that raptor.”

”I’m very worried about that particular raptor.” He corrected her. And Muldoon told her why. 

“If the wrong people find out how intelligent it is, what InGen have created, what they could create-" He shook his head. “I probably can't guarantee that animal’s safety.”

”Keep doing what you’re doing, you can’t guarantee Lizzy’s safety either! Or your own! Intelligence of that degree and you really think she won’t bust out of her cage at some point?” 

“I think it’s more when than if-“

Kathy tutted. “Only difference is, InGen don’t care about Lizzy. Or you. Or any of us.”

”True.” Whether Dr Armstrong was fired, or worse. The company’s priority was and always would be the asset. The money machine.

“And I know you do.” Kathy added slyly. 

“What?” He sharply looked down at her. 

”Care about her.” She said softly. “Far more than your obligation towards good ol’ Jeff, back in Africa.”

“Hm. Not true. Can’t afford to, really.” Muldoon denied.

”And why is that?” She pushed him, braver than usual. 

He regarded her for a long moment before simply saying no with finality.

No.

Kathy wasn’t an idiot. His daughter must have had a mother once, somehow. And she suspected there must be some morbid reason Muldoon never spoke about her. How he seemed to pretend she had never even existed.

“You- Huh. You don’t have to tell me, but if you ever wanna tell me-“ Kathy realised she was way out of her depth and didn’t have an easy solution to hand, apart from the very obvious and probably infuriating just stop drinking. “Look, whatever you’re dealing with, I’m sorry. Really sorry.”

”Don’t give me sorry. It was a long time ago.” He grumbled. “And I’d like to leave it at that, if you don’t mind.”

”Sure thing.”

Kathy knew better than to push. No further discussion. But damn, she’d been close then, to breaking through The Wall. She’d felt it.

”Congratulations on your new job.” He was keen to wrap things up now. 

“It’s just an interview, for now.” Kathy muttered sheepishly. “I might not even get it. Probably won’t.”

“Stop that. Of course they'll pick you, if they have any sense at all.”

Kathy glowed, now self conscious. She been caught up in emotions, and finally realised the gravity of being spotted leaving someone else’s room, much less her boss, after hours.

“Do you need a reference?” Muldoon asked briskly. 

Kathy’s jaw went slack. She knew him well enough to figure out that it was his way of saying thank you to her. “Uh, yes please!” 

”If you clear off right now, I’ll write you one tomorrow. If you’re still here in five seconds time, you’re cleaning the toilets for a month.”  “That’s great. So grea-“ She beamed up at him. 

“One…-“

”Got it, got it! I’m going!”

”Go faster. Two-“

“Byethanksseeyoutomorr-woah….”

Something on his desk caught her eye.

Kathy told herself not to look, to just go. But it was too late. She couldn’t help it.

She looked.

She stared.

Then she stopped walking and pointed. “What’s that?”

“None of your damn business. Leave.”

“But-“ She pointed more insistently. “Thing!”

She heard Muldoon shifting uncomfortably behind her, but she lost control of her arms and legs, driven by curiosity. Her hands were gravitating towards a scrap of paper on the table.

Was that-

“Christ 'sake. It’s too ask you to avert your eyes, isn’t it?” 

“Guess so.” Kathy was reeling. He didn't sound that angry. “I mean, wow-“

For once, she didn’t wait for permission. She ever-so-carefully picked it up by the edges. There were only a few lines and some shading but the resemblance was uncanny. 

“This is Lizzy.” Kathy stated, not a question.

“I suppose so, yes.” He was mortally embarrassed.

“It’s really good!” Her hair, her slightly wonky smile, the wicked spark in her eyes. “I didn’t know you could draw, never mind drawing people. You can sketch.”

He brushed it off. “Can’t, really.”

“Uh, yes you can. You definitely can.”

“I’m out of practice.”

“Oh, shut up.” She'd had just about had enough of Muldoon putting himself down. “Then practice by drawing Lizzy some elephants. She’d love that.”

“I’m not sure.” Something in his voice made Kathy drag her eyes away from the drawing. “Armstrong is not speaking to me at the moment.”

”You know what Lizzy’s like; she’ll be stomping around flaming mad for half a day and then she’ll be fine again. All will be forgiven.” Kathy tried to reassure him. "It's okay."

“I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me for this. It was clearly very upsetting for her.”

The moment he’d been trying to drown without effect for the past several hours flashed up painfully through the haze. 

I trusted you. Past tense.

“You really like her, huh?” She asked in a small voice.

”Baker, I tried very hard not to.” He shrugged. “I know better.”

No he did not!

Kathy nearly punched the air and whooped. She eyed the empties under the table, trembling, trying to quell the fizzy feeling in her stomach when Muldoon finally admitted what she had known all along. “I thought so.”

“Damn you, girl. Are you happy now?”

“Well…no.”

”Good, don’t get your hopes up. No point anyway.”

“You’re just giving up? That easily? After one little bump in the road?” Kathy couldn't believe it.

“Didn’t say that.” He muttered. “But it appears the road’s been washed away.”

“Then build a bridge or find a frickin’ boat!” She just wanted to shake him. “You can still fix this. Pack. It. In. For good.”

“I have a daughter back home, you think I haven’t tried?”

She was done with accepting his excuses this time. 

“You didn’t have me the last time you tried.” Kathy announced. “You believed in me when nobody else here did. It’s my turn.”

“Baker, I can’t ask you to get involved.”

She nodded earnestly. “But I’m really good at getting involved! You watch.”

“That’s a grand idea. But it’s not as easy.” Muldoon tried to drive home the point he was making. “Nothing can happen.”

“Oh, please. This thing you have with Lizzy is just plain weird." Kathy grinned at him. “But it’s only a job, after all. You'll get another one."

He nodded, and Kathy could have sworn he was fighting back the tiniest smile.

“Well played, Baker.” He conceded. “If you breathe a word of…this to anyone, I’ll-“

“Make me clean the toilets for a month, I know, I know.” She chuckled. “I’m learning.”

“Now bugger off, girl." He opened the door for her. “Maybe we’ll all feel better after we’ve slept on-...whatever in God’s name this is."

"I agree. Goodn-"

They both heard the bang! of a door slamming elsewhere in the lodge and a panicked Texan accent calling for help.

“Anyone in?” The voice rose in pitch when no-one answered. “Hello? Hello?!”

“What the-“ Kathy whispered, not sure how to react.

“We got a problem, guys!" Tom was banging on doors as he made his way closer towards them. "Has anyone seen Gerry Harding!?”

”Kennedy? What’s happening?” Muldoon gave Kathy a sharp glance as he shouted back. “Staff or animal?” 

”It’s- it's Rexy!” Tom panted, clutching his ribs as he finally came into view around the corner. “Something’s really wrong with her!”

***

Thanks for reading!

I realised it was taking me stupidly long to write this chapter because I hated, COULDN’T STAND the idea of them falling out over something. And like idiots, they could solve it just by talking about it BUT THEY DON’T. BECAUSE THEY’RE IDIOTS! So. Yeah. Hurt to write this one. That’s the good stuff though. Love it. Love. It.

I recently found out Bob was a very talented artist. Like, insanely good, could-have-made-a-living-from-it good. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and HAD to include a nod in the story somehow. The man continues to impress me.

#new chapter people! #finally! #jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park #oc: lizzy armstrong #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #robert muldoon x female oc #robert muldoon #kathy #donald gennaro #ray arnold

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 25

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: alcoholism mentions, technically a small amount of blood and guts (animal feeding scene)

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3 (hopefully)

Chapter 24 | Chapter 26

I Love It Loud - KISS

As the mayor of Amity Island argued with Police Chief Brody on the wrinkled projection screen in front of her, Lizzy couldn’t help but feel like she’d already watched this particular scene a thousand times.

Of course she hadn’t. She normally didn’t have the patience to sit still for long enough, and going to the movies of an evening, or “the pictures” as they were known when she was a little girl growing up in Glasgow, was an experience she hadn’t partaken in since her New York days. And she'd certainly never seen Jaws before.

Word had somehow gotten back to Hammond about the current state of staff morale. The magical fix-it suggested by management: a one-off movie night. Popcorn not provided, attendance mandatory. Shortly after, the film reel had arrived on the next supplies shipment with the mail, and later that day, they were all crammed into the same stiflingly hot room where the animal handlers had received their orientation.

Lizzy was only mildly interested in the premise of the horror film. However, the behaviour of the colossal Great White was what drew her in, and she was unable to watch casually without an ethologist's viewpoint. Wild animals didn’t hold vendettas, and she wondered what had caused the fictional giant to repeatedly go out of its way to consume humans. Pollution? Over-fishing? Pregnancy hormones? Whatever reason the shark was terrorising the quaint New England town, it had evidently learned somehow that humans were easy to kill.

God, she was so tired.

Tom was sitting in the row behind her, and she was thrown backwards through time to the morning of Day One when he just would not stop kicking the back of her chair at the orientation. He was doing it again. But it wasn’t a hard kick on impulse, it was a quiet but deliberate tap-tap every time her head nodded downwards to her chest, without fail. Just enough to keep her from snoring and ruining the movie's dialogue.

Lizzy was definitely wide awake after she jumped out of her skin with fright at the decomposing fisherman’s head falling out of the sunken boat. Motherf- Ray Arnold had yelled. Tom made the shock worse by grabbing her shoulder and jolting her forwards at the same time.

“Christ, you tit!” She whispered out of the corner of her mouth once she managed to convince her heart to get back inside her body.

“On your left. Don’t fall asleep.” He muttered in her ear. “I’ll switch seats with you at the intermission.”

Lizzy fought a shudder threatening to run through her whole body. Richardson was sitting on her left.

”There’s an intermission?”

”Sshhhhh…” Kathy half-heartedly scolded them, enthralled by what was playing out in the depths of the ocean while clinging tightly to Isaac’s arm.

Tom chuckled, then she heard him flick the lid of his lighter open with a metallic chink.

”Hey! No open flames near the projector!” Gennaro’s voice instantly rang out.

“I need a smoke, man!”

”Amen to that!” Arnold echoed shakily. “Damn shark, don’t know when to quit…”

“Fine. Ten minutes.” Gennaro agreed sternly, turning the lights on. “If you aren’t back, we’re starting again anyway.”

“You smoke, Liz?” Tom was already standing up to leave.

”I do tonight.”

”Good answer. Come get some fresh air."

She followed him outside with relief. Heavy mist was draped over the island, she felt the drops sizzling they landed on her flushed face.

“What happened there?” She dreaded the answer.

”He was gettin’...twitchy.” Tom lit up and puffed smoke into the darkness.

"Oh, God. Ew, I thought he was just stretching."

"Nope. Gettin’ a little too close to your rear, and nobody wants to see that.”

”So it wasn’t just for your benefit? Thought we weren’t friends.”

”Knock that shit off. You ain’t so bad, those were my exact words.”

”I’m perfectly capable of handling him myself, you know.” Lizzy took the cigarette when he offered and inhaled deeply. “I’d raise Hell.”

”And end up getting a disciplinary? You know he’d blame you for sitting on his poor defenceless hand!” Tom blew a cloud of smoke out of his mouth and breathed it back in through his nose. “Weird, he was picking on you for a change. Hammond’s servant girl is normally his target.”

That was no surprise. "She’s his housekeeper.”

“Well, that makes all the difference.” He drawled.

We aren't around to stop him. We're out in the park all day.

”Enjoying the movie?” Tom continued, briskly changed the subject.

”It’s okay.” She agreed.

“You like Quint though, huh?”

“Who? The scientist?”

Tom knocked on top of her head. “No, that’s Hooper, dumbass. Pay attention. Quint’s the…heh-“ He paused and she could see his lips curling up in amusement. “The Great White hunter.”

”Oh.” She delicately took the cigarette from his mouth and stole another drag before replacing it where it belonged, under his moustache. Last one. No more. She had quit for a reason. “I guess I do. Better than the mayor, anyway.”

“Figures. You got a real problem with authority, miss.”

”Correction; I have a problem with the wrong people being in positions of authority.”

”So you’d rather Quint was the mayor, that’s what you’re saying? Or Brody?”

”Maybe.” Lizzy shrugged. “But Quint wouldn’t want to be the mayor in the first place.”

”Guess you’re right.” Tom ground out his cigarette with his boot heel. “Say, where’s Muldoon?”

His blatantly obvious segue didn’t escape her attention. They hadn't been talking about the inhabitants of Amity Island for quite some time. “How should I know?”

“It’s a movie about hunting!” Tom was fast becoming exasperated. “Literally the only thing he’s interested in!”

"It's not the only thing!”

“You're right, I can actually think of a couple more interests of his.” Tom leaned forward for a moment and stared meaningfully at her chest. “At least two.”

Lizzy hoped he couldn’t see her face turning scarlet as she failed to come up with anything better than a half-hearted bullshit.

It was almost a Jurassic Park in-joke by then, all her colleagues had already noticed the blatantly obvious and Lizzy was the last person on the island to finally realise there was something more between her and Muldoon.

She had always brushed the vulgar comments off, assuming they were unfounded. No more than banter. As far as she was concerned, the two of them spoke to each other the exact same as they always had since the day they met, she as his employee, him as her boss. Completely professional. Their relationship hadn't changed at all, even after her engagement had come to an end.

Except, maybe it had. She couldn't ignore it any longer. Because now, where before there was no risk, there was a possibility, there was danger. And Lizzy couldn’t deny she had always liked living dangerously.

But she was well aware she had to tread very carefully if she didn't want her future with InGen to be questioned.

Nothing could happen, ever. Even if the feeling was mutual. Which to be honest, Lizzy didn't know how to find out without risking a working relationship that was just fine as it was. They were a good team, a great team. Even if Muldoon claimed she annoyed him endlessly.

“Just be on your guard, huh?” Tom echoed her concerns. “Don’t give Richardson, or anyone else for that matter, more reasons to make your life harder. Not everyone’s gonna keep an eye out for you when those damn sharks smell the blood in the water.”

He was the last person she would have expected to be taking on the role of big brother, giving her Hell as well as advice on the regular. But she appreciated his bluntness all the same. "I know."

“Kennedy! Armstrong!” Donald Gennaro’s voice yelled from indoors. “We’re starting!”

"C’mon, remember: the whole reason we came out here was to switch seats, okay? I don’t think Richardson’s brave enough to grope my ass, though I’m willing to risk it.” Tom grabbed both of her shoulders and propelled her back into the furnace.

***

Smile you son of a-

The room erupted into whooping and cheering as Brody and Hooper paddled back to the shore. Arnold clapped wearily with relief, looking like his nerves were thoroughly shot.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Tom, now in front of her as promised, turned to grin lopsidedly at Lizzy. "Muldoon for sure missed out on movie night. Bet he'd have a go at taking out that big ol’ fish."

Lizzy had counted the gunshots off automatically. Chief Brody was on his last bullet, last chance when he finally hit home.

“Maybe, but he wouldn’t need six shots to do the job.” She'd enjoyed the second half of the movie far more, sitting at a safe distance from Richardson, getting a better view of Kathy’s adorable reactions to every little thing.

"Depends how bad he has The Shakes."

Lizzy's stomach dropped lower than when listening to Quint's USS Indianapolis speech had filled her with icy dread, and she felt the rest of the room falling away.

The shakes from fear of missing his mark when death was surely coming, that had to be what he meant. Had to be.

"What did you say, Tom?" Lizzy refused to believe what she’d just heard.

Her voice was so serious that his smirk faded instantly. “Nothin'. Don’t worry about it. I'm just messin'." He got up to leave before Lizzy could catch him, flicking the lid of his lighter again.

"Oh my gosh, I might never go in the pool again, never mind the ocean..." Kathy exclaimed. "Hey, you okay, hun? The shark’s dead, promise!"

Lizzy just nodded mutely, feeling cold and pale.

***

”When am I getting more raptors, Wu?” Muldoon got straight to the point.

“I’m expecting a small hatch in the next forty-eight hours. Sorna has-“

Henry Wu fell silent when he spotted Kathy’s figure lingering behind Muldoon.

”She knows, Wu.”

”You told her about Sorna?”

”I tell Baker everything.”

Kathy glowed with pride. She was trusted. He tells me everything. She had no reason to think otherwise.

”Ah...okay. Sorna has a large batch of three hundred expected next week.” Wu continued earnestly. “So I’m hoping for at least one hatchling.”

Kathy started to laugh in disbelief, he had to be exaggerating. “Surely you’ll get more than just one out of that bunch?”

Wu instantly turned sombre, and she realised nobody else seemed to find it funny. She looked up at Muldoon for confirmation, who only shook his head.

“Oh.” She took her seat without another word.

“Why are you here, Robert? This is a Herbivore meeting.” Richardson demanded to know. ”And why is she here?”

Kathy shrank down in her chair. To be honest, she didn’t fully understand why Muldoon wanted her there in person. Travis wasn’t even invited, and he was the Herbivore Team Leader, for God’s sake.

Yet again she felt like she was tagging along to an adult gathering only to be dumped at the kid’s table, since she rarely mustered the courage to offer any meaningful input. Kathy almost wished somebody really would send her out to get coffee this time. No, she reminded herself with an effort. You have a right to be present, same as them.

“Your hopping mad Triceratops almost wrote off my Jeep, and our park veterinarian.” Muldoon argued calmly. “It's no longer just your problem.”

If you had only done your job properly.

Kathy could feel the words hanging over the table between all of them.

“There’s an easy solution. Henry can just do some tinkering with the genes, make them less aggressive!” Richardson waved his hand dismissively. “Problem solved.”

“Easy? Do you have any idea how long that would take? How much money that would cost InGen?” Wu was quickly losing his temper. “They won’t be ready for September next year! Do you people just block it out when I keep mentioning how pitifully low our yield is in the lab environment?"

“Then what do you suggest, keep the herd as it is? Leave them hands-off forever?” Richardson was getting redder by the second. "We'll need to go in with them eventually, and I value my limbs!"

”Can’t I just-“

“Robert, please. No more talk of retiring.”

”Then I have nothing more to offer. Unless-“ Muldoon gestured at Kathy “-there's a more intellectual solution?"

There was something, but…

Kathy clamped her mouth shut. Nuh-uh. Speaking in front of the other handlers was one thing, not in front of an entire group of people on a much higher pay grade than her. No way José.

”You’re allowed to talk, you know?" Muldoon encouraged her. “Can’t be much worse than anything we’ve already heard.”

She’d just tell him later, and he could pass it on.

“I…uh-...I actually-“

“Louder for us in the back.” Richardson interrupted. He wasn’t even looking at her. Asshole.

That did it.

Prove him wrong.

“Give me a minute!” She huffed. “You know Isaac is a world-class aviculture expert? Not just a tropical bird keeper, or a pretty face. Turns out we were all darn good at our jobs before we came to Isla Nublar.” Kathy scanned around the table, lingering on Richardson in particular. “I know. Hard to believe, huh?”

You could have asked Isaac yourself, he’s on your own damn team, didn’t you even look at our files when you hired us?

“If the dinosaurs are related to birds-“ she looked over at Wu for confirmation.

“Most of the DNA-“

”Yes or no, Dr Wu.”

”Sorry, yes.”

“Then they aren’t half-blind like their modern-day mammalian counterpart: rhinos, like we thought initially.”

“Go on.” Muldoon at least was listening.

“They can actually see more of the visible spectrum than we can, and they interpret the colour red as a sign of aggression or danger.” Kathy looked around at each of the men in turn before concluding. “You don’t need to alter the genes. Give the Jeeps a damn paint job and save yourself a couple of million dollars.”

“You’re willing to stand by that idea?” Richardson questioned. “You might get landed with a hefty amount of blame if it doesn't work out."

Kathy didn't need to exchange glances with Muldoon to know it was really code for: I'll make sure you get landed with the blame.

”It will work. I trust Isaac.” She said simply. “A big red stripe ought to do it, break up the Jeep’s silhouette. Oh, and also he said eight’s too many. Split the group up.”

“I suppose we can make that happen.” Richardson reluctantly accepted. “If it’s cheaper, we have to try.”

“I’ll be bringing Baker along to all future meetings, unless anyone has a problem with that?” Muldoon was keen to wrap things up.

The silence was uncomfortable. Wu looked relieved that at least his workload hadn’t increased.

***

”Why is it growing so bloody fast?” Muldoon pondered aloud, flinging scraps of meat over the paddock fence, the little raptor darting to and fro in front of his boots to catch her breakfast.

"She." Lizzy was safely perched nearby in the Jeep bed, at a respectable distance from the infant’s pen.

“Damn thing’s always starving-“

”She.”

“It would have all your limbs off in a flash-“

”She!”

”Makes no bloody difference. It’ll still tear you to shreds, woman, whatever you call it.”

But he had a point, the raptor seemed to be doubling in size by the week, which was most unusual.

”You should really be wearing gloves.” Lizzy called over, head still buried in her notebook. The source of meat was unknown. It just arrived on the island in refrigerated crates with lots of warning labels on the side in different languages, none of which were English.

”And you should really come with an off switch, Armstrong, but we don’t always get what we want."

Lizzy tutted and focused on her notebook, in which she was furiously scribbling. She’d forgotten her camera, and more importantly her coffee. Not her fault, since the park warden had practically dragged her out of bed without warning at dawn. She was trying, but her sketches just weren’t turning out how she’d hoped. She couldn’t get the finer details of the raptor’s face right, and it was making her irate.

”I can't draw today." She complained. "Can you draw?"

"No." Muldoon answered quickly and firmly. "What's the verdict?"

Lizzy huffed and tucked her pencil behind her ear. “She’s still extremely stressed. That much is obvious.”

”Something you can work with?”

“Since you aren’t allowed to-“ she stage-whispered behind her hand. “R-E-T-I-R-“

”-she can’t spell, Armstrong.”

”I could try some training?"

He spoke sharply. “Don’t you even think about going near that fence. I mean it.”

”I’m talking about making her work for her dinner. Instead of just giving it to her. Make her hunt.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Encouraging violence?"

“She can learn to stand on a platform. Target an object in exchange for food.”

Muldoon didn’t say a word, and she could sense he wasn't completely sold on the idea.

”It’s natural behaviours, not like it’s circus tricks! No different than they would teach in a zoo. Imagine if she held completely still for you to tranquilize her!"

"I suppose. Would take the fun out of it though." He grumbled.

"It’ll make life easy for you. Surely your eyesight must be starting to go by now-" Lizzy was feeling exceptionally brave. "-old man."

"Excuse me?" He looked at her so sternly her ribs ached from the effort of holding in her cackle. "I'll remind you which one of us needs glasses."

"You're no fun.” Lizzy sighed. “What that raptor would benefit from is some company. Of her own kind.”

"I understand Wu is hard at work on that very thing." Muldoon looked at her darkly. “Suppose you’ll want to bloody name it too?”

”Nah, VM2308 has a nice ring to it. It’s catchy, rolls off the tongue.”

"Hmm." There was a long pause. "Armstrong, my eyesight is not going."

Lizzy finally lost it, laughing so hard she snorted and overbalanced in the back of the Jeep, which only made her laugh harder.

”You reminded me a lot of your old man just then.” Muldoon had waited for her to settle down.

“My…?” Not my dad. “Oh, right. Jeff. The Nuisance from Newcastle.”

"Yes. Very quick. And I'd have given a lot worse back to him.”

"Really?" Lizzy sat upright again, her glasses at a jaunty angle. "Now that I'd love to see."

"I can't. You'd have grounds to log a grievance against me, I'm afraid. I'll have to be more creative." He beckoned her to step down from the back of the Jeep. "Teach her something now."

”What?” She abruptly stopped chortling. "Right now?”

”Right this second. Seems as good a time as any to start. You're the behaviour expert, after all."

Lizzy strode forward and held out her hands for the meat bucket.

”You should really be wearing gloves.” Muldoon pointed out smugly.

“Oh, you were just dying to say that.” She didn’t break eye contact as she delved her hand into the squidgy red mess without hesitation, ignoring the buzzing cloud of flies, and approached the fence.

"Care-"

"I know, I know! I won't get too close, jeez, my name's not Ed!” She rolled her eyes and stood in front of the raptor. "Though it wouldn't kill you to call me Lizzy now and again."

"It would be favouritism, because I can't remember anyone's first name."

"Your memory's going as well as your eyesight?" Lizzy grinned over her shoulder. "Must be awful."

"That sounded a lot like you want to walk home instead of getting a lift?"

"Nope!" Then much quieter, to the baby raptor: "His hearing too, dear oh dear."

Lizzy waited.

The infant seemed to be hesitating with her head cocked and nostrils flared, shifting her pupils from side to side, clearly expecting some form of nasty surprise if she didn’t perform as desired.

Lizzy wasn't waiting for anything in particular. Just a movement that she could positively reinforce, get her to repeat again and again on cue. Something the raptor would do naturally, and then build it from there.

“What did they do to you on Sorna, my girl?” She asked softly. "Who hurt you?"

The raptor tapped one of her claws on the ground.

"Yes!" Lizzy threw a shred of meat.

The raptor shrank back in fear, then dashed forward for the scrap, gulping it down in a hurry.

"Oops, sorry." Lizzy made a mental note to avoid sudden loud noises, including her own voice. Well, she could try.

The raptor blinked slowly, then tapped again.

“Yes.”

Another tap.

”Yes!” Again, marker word and reward. Ripping off tiny chucks of meat to throw until her hands were covered in blood up to her wrists.

This was too easy.

The next time, Lizzy didn't reward the raptor straight away when she tapped her claw.

"Go on." She whispered. "Twice now. You've got it."

The raptor tried again, assuming Lizzy hadn't seen her do it, then snapped the air in frustration when the meat didn't come as expected.

"Don't push it, Armstrong."

"She's working it out." Lizzy still waited, determined not to cave before the raptor gave up and ran off.

She heard a low rumble, and realised it was coming from the infant, who was now growling, staring at her intensely.

Neither of them were backing down anytime soon.

It's like a switch flicked in the damn thing's head. Muldoon started to worry the raptor might rush the fence to get at his employee, further cementing his belief that the animal couldn't be redeemed. His hand twitched on an imaginary shotgun stock.

"Armstrong-"

"Just a bit longer."

"You're asking too much."

"She can do it."

Finally, the raptor moved her claw how Lizzy wanted.

It was more of an impatient, ticked-off tap-tap. But still, she did it twice. Lizzy threw the meat and the raptor was instantly pacified.

"See? She can do it." The ethologist was triumphant.

"Hmm." Not without fighting back.

Within minutes the raptor was double-tapping on cue and waiting expectantly, like it was too easy and she was already bored of the game.

“We’re done now.” Lizzy announced and threw the dinosaur the remainder of the meat in the bucket, showing her empty hands as proof. “Clever girl.”

“You’ve taught her to count.” Muldoon shook his head. “That can’t be good. What's next, Morse code?"

“If we get to double digits, that's when I’ll be concerned.” But it shouldn't have been that easy. It should have taken days, weeks even to get to this point. This was unheard of for a reptile, for a bird, even.

Suddenly furious that there was no more food to be had, the raptor unleashed a blood-curdling scream that rattled Lizzy down to her bones.

It was a sound neither of them had heard before. But it had the same effect as a big cat rumbling at close range, or the tyrannosaur roaring. Instinctively made the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

"Wha-" The raptor shrieked again, at ear-rending levels, and Lizzy winced. “God, that’s an awful noise!”

“Oh, Hell. We’re not having that. Teach her to be quiet next.” Muldoon complained.

Now it’s 'her', is it?

“Maybe it’s your turn to do the training. Hope you were paying attention.” She reached for her water bottle to wash the blood off her hands.

“And maybe if it’s that easy, I don’t need an off switch for you after all. Just some positive reinforcement.”

Lizzy inhaled a mouthful of water in surprise and had a violent coughing fit until her eyes were streaming. The raptor bolted into the undergrowth at the sound.

Muldoon just watched her emotionlessly while she hacked her lungs up for a minute or two, only offering an "Are you alright?" when she had finally got her breath back.

”Fine. Thanks.” She choked out. "Are you?"

Then cursed herself. Idiot.

She didn’t miss this. The hot flashes, unable to slow her heart rate, her tongue constantly tied. Making an arse of herself on a regular basis. Though Muldoon did seem to have timed it perfectly as she was taking a drink on purpose.

It had been such a long time. She’d gotten too comfortable in her relationship that was going nowhere. It wasn’t fulfilling her anymore, but was easy. She didn’t have to think about it. It just ticked along. It would probably still be ticking along, if she hadn’t called it.

But it didn't matter. Nothing was going to happen. She just had to be professional and get over her feelings. Stomp them down, fogeddaboutit.

She must have looked very uneasy, Muldoon frowned as he asked her: “Something you want to tell me?”

Tom's earlier words floated into her head.

Be careful.

Lizzy chewed her lip and looked away. “No. I'm good."

***

"Did you get that?"

Kathy's lip wobbled. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, yet it was impossible to tear her eyes away from the video feed. “Uh-huh. I got it."

She’d never heard Lizzy laugh so hard in the whole time she’d known her.

It wasn’t fair.

“Looks like your orders are being disobeyed. I thought you were Team Leader.”

The tears were rolling down her cheeks, nothing she could do to stop them. “So did I.”

And I thought friends didn’t keep secrets from each other.

***

Thanks for reading!

Is putting a Spielberg film in a Spielberg film too meta? I may have outdone myself in terms of corniness here.

Jaws is still the scariest film I’ve ever seen, I bloody love that shark.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park #oc: lizzy armstrong #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #gerry harding #ray arnold #ed regis #kathy

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 24

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Wordcount: I’m not keeping track anymore, its a novel at this point and I’m only 1/3 of the way there

Warnings: the usual swears and men being misogynistic aholes

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @arrthurpendragon @howlingmadlady @wordspin-shares @starryeyes2000 @themaradaniels (lmk if you would enjoy my sporadic updates, any and all welcome)

Read on Ao3 (ha. Hahaha. Good luck)

Chapter 23 | Chapter 25

Bad Reputation - Joan Jett

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dennis Nedry was getting pretty goddamn desperate.

The habitually ignored stack of envelopes by his apartment door, no doubt overdue bills, was mounting higher by the day. He could just barely cover his rent, and was working nearly every waking second, taking on extra contracts at Integrated to scrape by.

He wouldn’t make the mistake of bidding low ever again, that was for damn sure.

Nedry cursed John Hammond and InGen as he tapped away at his keyboard in the darkness. Lamenting how only a year ago, his clothes had fitted him much better. He’d enjoyed getting some fresh air, a welcome break from his computer screens. He’d go jogging around Harvard Square on Sundays and play tennis with his friends. He'd had a life. He’d had a girlfriend.

Had. She was long gone.

Sure, maybe he'd been a bit frivolous with his spending, placed a couple of hefty bets on ball games he probably shouldn't have. These days, he was paranoid about leaving his apartment at all, just in case the debt collectors would show up and start liberating his furniture. He was worried they’d even take Unix away from him, an orange goldfish that was now his constant and only companion.

Nedry glanced up and noticed with shame that the glass of Unix’s tank was starting to get a little too green.

“Sorry, buddy. Clean you tomorrow. I promise.” He muttered.

His recent anxiety was made worse by the looming threat he’d actually have to venture out to Costa Rica to take a look at InGen’s system in person. The Arnold guy he'd been talking to was getting more and more pissed-off and sarcastic with each long-distance phone call. Hell, he'd probably have to pay out for his own flights. Hammond was cheap.

Humidity. Heat. Socialising. Urgh.

Things were bad. Real bad. He was in need of a miracle.

Nedry was considering calling it a night to step away from his console and microwave some leftover noodles when there was a quiet tap-tap on his door.

Strange. He hadn’t heard anyone ring the buzzer. How had they gotten in the building? A chill ran through him.

Please not the landlord.

As a rule, Nedry didn’t answer his door unless he was expecting someone, which was almost never. He didn't have guests over anymore. The apartment was too messy.

A creak of the floorboards outside, then he watched, holding his breath, as a single sheet of paper was pushed under his door. He waited for a long time as footsteps retreated down the hall, and he fought the urge to peer through the permanently drawn curtains to the street outside.

Nedry eventually heaved himself up from his desk chair with an effort, sending a stack of floppy discs tumbling like a Jenga tower. Grunting, he bent to pick up the slip.

Scrawled on it was the address of an all-night diner on the corner of his apartment block, and a single question:

Are you ready to get what you’re owed, Dennis?

***

“Uh, hi?” Armstrong’s smiling face swam into view, trying to make Muldoon acknowledge the cup of coffee she had pushed in his direction. “Welcome back. You were miles away.”

Baker glanced over, buttered toast halfway to her mouth.

Muldoon hesitated for a long moment, struggling for something, anything to reply with, before she had the chance to pry further.

”You’ve no idea.”

Oh, the usual. Just re-living Hell.

”Hey Lizzy, don’t let Ed see you bringing people drinks or you’ll never hear the end of it.” Kathy warned loudly.

Across the canteen, the red-haired Regis ducked his head, hiding his face under his baseball cap.

Lizzy shot Muldoon a worried look while everyone else turned to stare at the PR manager.

Are you okay?

He shrugged in return.

Been much worse.

The worst had nearly happened, for the second time in his life.

Before Armstrong had brought him back to the present day, he'd been dredging up old memories of the first time. He'd done his best to forget, drown it out, but it still got the better of him. Kenya, eight years ago, nearly to the day. The day he'd found a lioness crouched, snarling, over the motionless body of his wife.

The unthinkable had almost repeated again more recently when the ethologist had found herself at the business end of Triceratops horns, that day in the paddock. That had been his fault too, for dragging her into something so dangerous.

Muldoon was struggling to stop over-thinking the last few moments before the crash, when time had stood still. It hadn’t been the impact of the dinosaur smashing into the side of the Jeep that had propelled Armstrong into the drivers seat, practically on top of him.

No, that had happened before the collision.

In the milliseconds before the trike swung her head, Muldoon had wrenched the wheel away with one hand and virtually scruffed Armstrong by her shirt collar with the other, pulling her across the vehicle, likely saving her legs from being crushed in a jagged mess of metal and dinosaur horn.

She obviously didn’t remember any of that. Which was fine, he didn't want her gratitude. It had been a reflex, he’d have done it for any one of his staff. At least, the animal handlers. Even Kennedy, contrary to what Richardson seemed to believe. Who, by the way, was becoming unbearable in his accusations that Armstrong was spending a lot of time down on her knees, doing her utmost to get a promotion.

Not long ago, Muldoon had been taken aside by him for a “chat” that began with a warning.

“Careful.”

“Always careful.” Muldoon grumbled.

”Not what I meant. You and her…you two are up to something, and I don’t like it, not one bit. You’re far too involved. You know what’ll happen if you get caught messing around with someone…” Richardson sniffed in disdain. “-beneath you.”

“I’m fully aware. Are you?”

It was incredibly obvious Richardson had a thing for Hammond’s Haitian girl, which wasn’t mutual no matter how imaginative you were. Not to mention ironic, given the way he spoke about Baker. Or, in fact, any of the young women on the island.

Richardson bristled, refusing to let him have the last word. ”I hope I’m the one to catch you at it. She doesn’t belong here. Neither does the black one. Mucking around in the dirt is no place for a woman. Not even one as feral as Elizabeth.”

Muldoon had only shook his head and walked away before he did something he regretted. There was just no getting through to some people. He’d like to see how Richardson would cope if he were suddenly air-dropped into the middle of the Kenyan wilderness after darkness had fallen, ghostly eyes reflecting back at him in the torchlight and ungodly noises echoing from all around.

He’d even bet money on indoor-dwelling Arnold lasting far longer than the so-called Animal Supervisor, who seemed to be doing less and less of his job now the new recruits were trained up to standard. He barely went out in the park anymore.

Sooner or later, something important was bound to be missed.

Which would no doubt be my fault too.

***

Lizzy and Rico were on their way to the next task of the morning, Rico trying to teach her a few more words of Spanish en route when the voice she dreaded hearing the most on the island rang out from behind her. And, horror of horrors, it was trying to get her attention.

“Ah, Elizabeth!”

She already had been practicing mierda, idiota and carajo, all of which would have served her well at that moment.

“Adios amiga!” Rico nodded at her and zipped off, leaving her all alone.

”Shit, Rico! Get back here!” Lizzy hissed and picked up her pace, no intention of being left alone with the man she couldn't stand at the best of times.

She snuck a quick look behind and shit, he was following her. Fasterfasterfaster.

Richardson, puffing hard, gave up the chase and reached for his radio.

”Elizabeth, I can see you. Turn around.”

Lizzy. It’s Lizzy. LIZZY.

She stopped but refused to walk back to him, no, he could come to her. “What do you want?”

”A helper. For a special task.”

His choice of words made her skin crawl.

“Go on.” She was highly suspicious.

“Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, and well-“ he stopped to make room for a booming laugh. “-we can’t leave the island entirely unstaffed, now can we?”

”Can’t we? I thought that was the whole idea? Hammond’s vision? Full automation? Minimal workers?”

Richardson continued brazenly, still out of breath from catching up to her. “Not really possible, in case of any emergencies with the livestock. Welfare issue, or some jargon like that. And I thought you would be an ideal candidate, in spite of your, eh, unfortunate luck. Recently single, no children, no commitments at all. No problem agreeing to it.”

The matter wasn’t up for discussion. He was just framing it so it would seem like a privilege. An honour to be alone. Not at all a punishment.

And it stung like a bitch.

He wasn’t done. “If you can agree to anything Robert says, you can do as I ask just this once. Don’t be difficult.”

Double ouch.

Lizzy swallowed her instinctive colourful answer and tried to keep her blood pressure down, though she was brimming with rage. “Any reason you can’t stay here?”

”Of course not, I have a life.”

“I’m sure.”

“You needn’t worry. The park can function by itself for a full two days. But I have to ensure at least one animal handler will be around. To push a few buttons to keep things ticking over. Feeding routines and suchlike. Pull the meat out of the freezer. You have a doctorate, I’m sure you can figure it out. Do it for the dinosaurs."

”Great.” Lizzy replied flatly. “I guess.”

Just downright insulting at this point.

“Wonderful. Then consider yourself marooned.” Richardson laughed again, swanning off, while Lizzy was left stony-faced and trying to figure out which deity she may have caused offence to recently.

She heard a faint mechanical buzzing and looked up to locate the surveillance camera mounted in the palm trees, slowly zooming in on her.

Ray.

Well, at least one other person saw what happened.

”Can you believe this shit?” She spoke to the lens.

The faint red light on the camera blinked sympathetically in response.

***

Dr. Ruso's infamous infant raptor was finally making the journey to Isla Nublar after a small paddock had been hastily built. It was only temporary, as soon as more raptors were hatched and grown, the whole cohort could move into a bigger enclosure, which was still currently under construction.

Word had gotten around by the time the raptor was due to arrive on the transport, and the entire animal handler team had turned up to watch her being offloaded, curious to catch a glimpse of the fearsome beast who had relieved an embryologist of her digits.

Most were underwhelmed when they saw the size of the kennel she had travelled in.

"That's it?" Tom was incredulous. "That's the aggressive animal they can't handle on Sorna? It's not much bigger than a damn chicken!"

”Pretty cute.” Ed Regis muttered, not put off at all by the high-pitched snarling coming from the infant as she feinted charges towards the fence, tapping her curved claws on the soil between attacks. “Especially if it stays this small. Kids’ll love it.”

“The genomics programme estimates an adult height of ten feet tall.” Kathy deadpanned, quickly bringing him back to down from his PR buzz.

“Ten…feet…” Regis faltered.

”Roughly Ostrich size." Muldoon nodded. "I’ll be interested to see how fast it is full-grown. If it makes it that far.”

”I'm always blown away by your positive outlook.” Lizzy muttered.

“What do you mean by ‘makes it that far’?” Regis was naïve as ever.

"It's on thin ice. Any trouble and I wouldn't hesitate to retire it."

"You mean...?" Regis was horrified.

”Steady, Robert. We already talked about this. You can’t be so graphic when we’re open to the public-“ Richardson warned. "Someone will hear."

"I'm clearly joking. Isn't it obvious?" Muldoon's tone was so dry Lizzy had to turn away to hide her smirk.

The group turned to stroll back to the Jeeps, though Regis lingered behind, wishing he had brought his camera.

"Don't put your hand through, Ed." Kathy called over her shoulder as an afterthought. "I need to get some Danger, I bite signs made up to hang on the fence."

"Make extra. To stick on Elizabeth.” Richardson suggested.

"Oh no. My sides. They have split." Lizzy answered in monotone. Her superior had been strangely benevolent the past few days, trying his utmost to be her best friend since he'd asked her to stay on the island over Christmas, and she didn't like it at all. She found it far creepier than when he was trying to undermine and put her down constantly. "Please. Send help."

Lizzy reached one hand out to Muldoon dramatically, the other closing around her neck as she made an admirable act of pretending to choke. ”Get…Gerry…tell him…I love him…”

He just muttered something like I’ll get you a boot up the arse which turned Lizzy's appeasing smile into a genuine one.

She was about to answer back with a rude remark when there was a sharp yell from the fence behind them and she spun around to see Regis trying to wrestle something out of the raptor’s jaws.

"Seriously?!” Kathy was the first to start racing back to help him.

Regis gave a final tug and fell backwards into the dirt, scrambling away from the fence. He was white as a sheet, but seemingly unhurt.

“Jesus, Ed!” Kathy exploded, tucking the sawn-off wooden shovel handle she had taken to carrying around with her as an improvised breakstick back into her belt loop. “What are you playing at? I literally just told you! Don’t put your goddamn hand through!”

”I d-didn’t!” He denied, stammering.

”Then have some common sense and don't turn your back either!” Kathy added angrily. “The budget didn’t stretch to double fencing! Are you hurt?”

“No, no, sorry, I guess-aw, man!” Regis had looked down to assess the damage. A chunk was missing from his Trenton Thunder polo, now inside the pen and being toyed with by the baby raptor, who was stalking and pouncing on the scrap of grey fabric. “My lucky shirt!”

“Lucky?” Tom asked in disbelief. "Man, Trenton suck."

Regis went very red. "Take that back."

"Guys, please." Kathy tried, then put her head in her hands as the two men continued flinging sports-related jabs at each other. All Hell erupted when Regis brought Tom’s mother into the argument, and the other handlers had to pile on to hold him back, even diminutive Lizzy was hanging off his arm, digging her heels into the ground.

Muldoon found himself wishing that cleaning cupboards occurred naturally in the Costa Rican rainforest, to give him the means to knock all their heads together. This was ridiculous. He noticed with disgust Richardson was just standing there watching with amusement at the group turning on each other, like he was enjoying it.

"Help me." Baker turned to him. "Please. You gotta."

"You're more than capable."

"I can't, they won't listen."

"Then make them listen. You've got to make a noise."

"I..." She pointed then let her hand fall limply to her side.

"Prove him wrong about you, at the very least." Muldoon nodded towards Richardson.

That did the trick. Her face hardened and she nodded, planting her feet wide apart.

"Just...just s-shut up, all of you, or you'll be cleaning the toilets for the next month!" She nearly screamed the last part. Baker looked the most shocked of all of them at the volume she'd just produced.

Silence instantly fell.

"Woah." Tom whispered. "Go Kathy."

Well done, Baker.

She hesitated, amazed, then continued, voice trembling. “Nobody goes near this enclosure except myself and Muldoon. Us two alone will deal with the damn thing. No exceptions." She sounded braver now, looking each of them dead in the eye in turn. "Understood?"

A chorus of yes Kathy resounded from the handlers gathered nearby.

She was exhausted, but pleased. She'd done it.

Lizzy slyly peered into the enclosure, trying to see how the raptor had reacted to Kathy's yelling, before Muldoon caught her eye and gave a sharp look.

That includes you. Be patient.

She rolled her eyes in answer.

"I did it!" Baker murmured to him happily. "It was good, right?"

"Much better."

"Okay, coming from you, that's high praise. I'll take it!" She flashed her Hollywood smile and started back to the Jeeps with a definite spring in her step, most of the handlers following her lead.

Except for Armstrong. She remained near him, just the two of them lingering by the fence, still watching the raptor savaging the “lucky” shirt.

It was certainly a bit of a leap, but Muldoon liked to think the raptor had picked up on his instant dislike of city-slicker Regis, and given him a good scare on his behalf. It clearly didn’t like the way the PR manager smelled overpoweringly of cologne, judging from how it was growling and snapping at the shirt scrap. Armstrong’s legs were avenged, until the next time.

At least that was one small point in the animal’s favour. Maybe it wasn't entirely a waste of time, keeping it alive.

“Oh my God.” Armstrong muttered, in the middle of an epiphany.

“What?”

She glanced side to side, looking out for over-curious eavesdroppers before leaning in towards him, whispering knowledgeably. “You like her.”

”I don’t like it. It’s a damn animal.”

“Of course you do! She’s smart, fiesty, and she has a bite history! What’s not to like?” The ethologist was smirking up at him.

Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Hm. Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do.” Lizzy guessed it would pain Muldoon more than anyone to have to put the raptor down if she was involved in any more gory accidents. Vicious or not, it was still a waste of life. The dinosaur had no purpose except entertainment. “She’s dangerous.”

“You’re talking rubbish, woman.”

“Mm-hm. Careful, kid. He has good aim.” Lizzy turned back to the fence and spoke directly to the raptor, who cocked her head at the sound of her voice. “Better run.”

Her smile quickly faded when the young dinosaur chirped and turned tail, scuttling off into the undergrowth.

The game warden and the ethologist stared at the empty space where the raptor had been seconds before, then exchanged glances, having exactly the same thought.

How dangerous?

Lizzy spoke first, slowly shaking her head. “I’m very much hoping that was a coincidence.”

***

Kathy quietly took Lizzy to one side as everyone filed out of the canteen after dinner that night.

"Can we talk?"

Oh no.

That sentence never means good things.

"Sure." Lizzy replied hoarsely as she hopped up to sit on one of the tables, Kathy pulling up a vacant chair to sit in front of her. She tried to keep her expression calmly neutral, when all she could think was oh my God, she knows about the raptor behavioural plan, she’s mad I kept it from her for this long, shit-

"Nothing's decided yet, so don't panic, but I wanted you to be the first to know..." Kathy shifted nervously, then sighed deeply and dropped the bombshell. "I'm thinking about leaving InGen.”

Oh.

Well.

Lizzy gawped back at her dumbly before her system rebooted and she could speak again. "Don't you dare! Why? What happened? Tell me, who did it? I'll make them wish they were never born!”

Kathy chuckled and took her hand. "It's not just one person, or even one thing, hun. It's kinda…all of it. It's too difficult, not being taken seriously, like, ever. You can deal with it. But me, I can't. And besides, I don't want to anymore."

"You did it today!"

"Yeah, and now I'm exhausted!"

"It'll get easier-"

"I miss my mama." Kathy rubbed Lizzy's fingers as she spoke. "My buddy at the Smithsonian called. The Mammal Curator is retiring next year and I'm thinking about applying.”

A position like that came up about once a decade if you were incredibly lucky.

“The Thanksgiving announcement kind of sealed the deal.” Kathy shrugged. "I mean, we don't exactly work nine to five, but they’re taking advantage of us.”

Because of rising pressure to meet deadlines, time off requests for Thanksgiving had been denied. A management decision which was met with all five stages of grief from the American animal handlers. Kathy in particular had been very upset that she wasn't allowed to go home to see her folks, and morale was dropping lower by the day.

"Kathy, I don't think I can hold the fort without you. The gender ratio is downright appalling as it is!"

"Get real, Lizzy! How many times have we, well...you in particular, for some reason, gotten seriously hurt since we arrived here? Zoological institutions are supposed to take accidents involving the animals pretty damn seriously! We don’t even have any guests yet and it already feels like Gennaro gets paid commission!"

"I see your point, but this is the first time anyone's ever tried containing a dinosaur-"

”Lizzy, I’m scared.” Kathy's eyes were huge and pleading. “We’re just numbers. We're replaceable. It’s only a matter of time before something really bad happens.”

The Team Leader’s gaze dropped down to one side. She couldn’t shake the ominous feelings, and her bad dreams continued to plague her. She ran through contingency plans and emergency procedures over and over in her head, still worrying they weren't good enough. Her worst fear was the next time there was an accident, help would arrive too late.

Lizzy tried to lift the mood. "You can't leave me here with Marìa, she doesn’t ever bloody speak! Shit, imagine if they brought in Sarah Harding to replace you?"

"Then come with me?" Kathy offered. "For the low, low price of a flight to Washington DC, you too could be taken seriously by your peers!"

"Washington's a bit cold for my liking..." Lizzy fooled.

"They have elephants at the Smithsonian?" Kathy dangled motivation in front of her. "Pretty sure they'd leap at the chance to score you, Dr Armstrong."

"Hm. Same shit. Different day. Different part of the world."

"Yeah, but at least the piles of shit would be smaller!" Kathy scoffed. "You have a PhD, what the Hell are you even doing here, working as a glorified cleaner?"

Lizzy played the last card in her hand, changing the subject. "You realise if you walk, then Ray isn't hanging around either? You’re pretty much responsible for the last ounce of his sanity.”

Hell, she'd could probably wave goodbye to Isaac too. He adored Kathy nearly as much as the engineer did.

Her friend smiled sadly. "Good for him. It’s just a job.”

"Huh.” Lizzy didn’t agree. It was more than a job. She ate, slept and breathed the island. It was her life, and she’d already given up a career in Africa and a long-term relationship to get this far. But she didn’t like the sound of sacrificing her friends either, or getting attached to people if they weren’t going to be sticking around.

"Relax, the old curator hasn’t officially announced his retirement yet.” Kathy reassured her. “I’m just super prepared. I wouldn't be leaving until next summer, June or July at the earliest, if I got the job.”

"Of course you'll get the job. You're bloody brilliant." Lizzy moped.

”I can stick it out for the full year.”

”Work for InGen for a year, and you can work anywhere you want.” Both women said at the same time.

“I’d make history, I’d be the first female Mammal Curator at the Smithsonian, ever. Think Muldoon will give me a glowing reference?” Kathy quirked an eyebrow.

“Eh…I wouldn’t ask until after you’ve got an interview secured.” Lizzy replied warily. “And more like a mildly positive reference, if you catch him on a good day.”

“When does that man ever have a good day? Maybe I should ask Richardson instead?” Kathy asked solemnly.

Lizzy must have looked doubtful, because Kathy burst out laughing. “I’m kidding, jeez! But at least I wouldn’t have to sleep with Muldoon.”

Kathy rolled her eyes and Lizzy could almost see the animated lightbulb appear over her head when she realised the deep freezers were left unattended. “C’mon, let’s get some ice cream while nobody’s around.”

***

Thanks for reading!

One of the rare glimpses into Muldoon’s past provided by Michael Crichton in the novel, forgive me (or not) for h/c-ing one of the animal attack scenes he witnessed was the demise of someone close to him. I will be writing this in more detail later on, even though it physically pains me to hurt him this way. This fictional character who my life revolves around.

Also: Oh God. Now I’m consumed with guilt at the thought that Nedry never came back for Unix :( (spoiler alert?)

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park #oc: lizzy armstrong #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #dennis nedry #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #ed regis #ray arnold #gerry harding

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 23

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Wordcount: 70.7k (23 Chapters) [incomplete]

Warnings: dinosaur attack/car crash, brief mention of parental abuse, alcoholism, f-bombs and other bad language

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @arrthurpendragon @howlingmadlady @wordspin-shares @starryeyes2000 ( @themaradaniels are you interested? Totally fine if not!)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 22 | Chapter 24

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes." A blatant lie. How could she be? Her heart was broken. Lizzy blinked wearily, her eyes were puffy and sore from crying most of the night. She was running on empty. "Are you? When was the last time you had a day off?"

"I honestly don't remember." Muldoon answered after thinking for a moment. "Every time I have a day off something bad happens. Usually involving you. Now, Sorna."

He explained the situation to her, in full. Site B was experiencing behavioural problems with a new species, someone had gotten an involuntary dactylectomy, could the resident ethologist arrange a visit to work it out?

”Did they take?” Lizzy asked.

”Take what?”

”Dr Ruso’s fingers, did they take? Is she alright?”

“The raptor ate them.”

”Oh, bugger.” Lizzy went faintly green, not helped by her excessive caffeine intake that morning. “Down in one or did she chew them first? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“The wording in the report is ‘consumed’, I believe.”

“Outstanding. This wee troublemaker does sound interesting." Lizzy admitted. "Even though I much prefer herbivores. Why can't the baby come here? You know I hate flying?”

"Like I told Baker, the paddock isn't ready."

"So she doesn't go in the paddock, right?"

“I draw the line at you keeping a dinosaur in your room, Armstrong.”

”Not my room!” She scoffed. “…Kathy’s room.”

”They won’t send the damn thing here without an action plan. And I want you prepared if and when you fly over. So, any ideas?”

"I'm a bit stumped." Lizzy admitted. She was so tired and scrambled she just couldn't think. "But I know someone who might be helpful. Someone who thinks outside the box. You won't like it.”

”Why not?”

”Because you already know her too.”

***

“You ring h-“

“No, you ring her.” Muldoon frowned at Lizzy. They were both sitting on couches in front of the phone in Hammond's bungalow. John-dear-call-me-John was back on the mainland, so they’d commandeered somewhere more private for the top-secret matter, where they wouldn’t be interrupted.

Lizzy wrinkled her nose. “She doesn’t like me.”

“And she likes me even less. The feeling’s mutual. Do it.”

“Gerry could-“

“This isn’t a family reunion. Go on, pretend she’s your best mate."

"Oh, no bother! While I'm at it I'll see if I can fake a Scottish accent too!” Lizzy pulled a face at him but sighed in resignation and dialled the number of Dr Sarah Harding’s last known whereabouts.

“Put her on speaker.” Muldoon insisted.

“Why?”

“I want to know if she's being uncooperative.”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. Bullshit, you just want to know if she calls you names.

It took so long for Sarah's team member in Kenya to track her down that they started to wonder if she was keeping Lizzy waiting on purpose as a power move.

“Well, well, well. Lizzy Armstrong.” Dr Harding the Younger did not sound at all pleased, when she eventually deigned to answer the phone. “What has it been, three years we’ve managed to avoid each other?”

Lizzy laughed, trying to sound brave and not at all like she was going through a break-up. “Hey, Sarah-“

“What’s Costa Rica like? Loud, I imagine.”

“Oh-“ The insult wasn’t lost on her. “It’s great. Just great.”

“How’s Dad?” Sarah asked in her West Coast drawl.

“A flirtatious nightmare.”

“Sounds about right.” She replied dryly. "Hey, don’t fall for it, okay? I’ve already had one stepmom. Though I should let you know, he prefers blondes."

Get to the point Muldoon mouthed at Lizzy.

"Listen, I need a favour."

“You need a favour?” Sarah mimicked her voice. “You want my advice? Why is that?”

“Got a Carnivore problem. I’m Herbivores. Always have been."

“Not everyone on that island is." She said accusingly. "Are you telling me that Robert Muldoon is clueless too?”

“I will go back to Kenya-“ Muldoon said quietly. “And I will throttle her.”

“I heard that.” Sarah crowed triumphantly. “He’s there, isn’t he? Hi, Robert!"

"Just answer her questions, Harding."

"Aw, you're getting mad at me already, this is like old times!”

“What happened between you two?” Lizzy whispered, how had she ended up in the middle of an international argument?

“Hurry up, this is costing money.” Muldoon dodged the question. “Get it out of her somehow, threats, blackmail, talk her to death-"

"Right. Sarah, someone had their fingers bitten off."

"Then just euthanise the damn thing and be done. You're working with zoo animals now, Lizzy, get used to it. At least if you’re chomped, you already have a lawyer.”

The sharp ache in her chest took her by surprise. Not anymore she didn’t.

"No, listen-” Lizzy felt she was about to snap any moment, which her fellow ethologist would simply revel in.

“Sarah…” Muldoon warned.

“First name? Shit! You are annoyed.” She chortled. “Okay, fine, I’ll cut the bull. Shoot.”

“The woman who lost her fingers, she maintains the animal tricked her. It's showing unprecedented intelligence. More than they anticipated. They-“ Lizzy hummed, then decided to trust Sarah with more information, even if it made InGen look bad. She had to give if she wanted to get. “They can’t manage it. And we can’t euthanise either. Not an option-“

“Right, I’m going to stop you there.” Sarah interrupted. “I don’t even want to know what kind of science experiment Dad’s fallen into over there, God knows John Hammond's a tricky devil, but you gotta nip that in the bud.”

“Why, what is it?”

“It’s dominance hierarchy.” Sarah Harding announced, as if it were obvious. “Dominance gone way too far.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, this is a female.” Lizzy countered. Females normally didn't have the hormone levels which led to aggression of this scale.

“Female raptors-“ Sarah started.

“Raptors?!” Lizzy squeaked. How did she know?!

“-as in a bird of prey; what did you think I meant, doofus?” She could hear the disapproval positively dripping from her tone, all the way from Kenya. "Female raptors are the most dominant sex. And usually bigger than the males. Ha, lucky for some.”

”But it can’t be, she hasn’t anyone to be dominant over!”

”Except her handlers. And there aren’t any males at all, so…” Muldoon shrugged. “I suppose Harding might be correct.”

“Do you think-“ Lizzy started, then stopped, shaking her head. It seemed pretty far-fetched.

It was known that reptile embryos could change sex while still in the egg, depending on the temperature of the outside environment on the other side of the shell. The difference between male and female was less than a few degrees Celsius. Furthermore, Lizzy had a fact niggling at the edge of her thoughts, just out of grasp. Something about adult females of certain species being able to change sex in the absence of males. Was it fish? Or maybe amphibians?

Could dinosaurs change their sex in response to either temperature or an uneven breeding ratio?

Increased testosterone would explain some of the baby raptor’s aggression.

Were the embryologists, was Dr Wu really positive beyond doubt that the infant was female? Had anyone actually checked? But these animals were custom-designed in a lab, with all their genes carefully selected, so realistically, what were the chances?

Sarah spoke again, distracting Lizzy, and the thought was simply gone from her foggy brain, messed up from lack of sleep and heartache.

“Uhhh, still here, losers. But your reaction when I said raptor made me guess this is a bird species you’re talking about. Maybe a super-rare one. I’ll get it out of Dad somehow, even if you won’t tell me.”

Close, but no cigar, Sarah.

”Let me guess, captive-bred? Single infant to survive past hatching? Spoiled only child syndrome?” Sarah kept questioning.

”Correct on all counts.” Lizzy confirmed.

“Hmm. Has it imprinted?”

"Huh?"

"Im-print-ed." Sarah spelled it out. "It’s a bird. Don’t make me spell it out here, Lizzy."

"Hang up." Muldoon told Lizzy. "No more details."

"No, no, no, c'mon-"

Lizzy panicked and slammed the phone down with a quick bye Sarah, thanks!

"Interesting input. Even for her.”

“Oh, she is very good. It’s infuriating.” Lizzy wondered if her fourth cup of coffee in two hours was overkill. So tired.

"Your first idea paid off, so what's the next one?"

“I need to talk to Isaac.” Lizzy decided. “About this raptor behaviour, and imprinting. He's our resident bird guy.”

”Too many people know about this already. We probably should have gotten Harding to agree to an NDA.”

”Take too long. I’ll tell Isaac as little as possible. Casually drop it into the conversation. Oh-“ Lizzy snapped her fingers. “Larry worked with herps. Back in Oz. I could speak to him, too.”

He was such a fountain of knowledge on reptiles, Lizzy hadn’t been able to resist calling him Crocodile O’Reilly.

“Harris first. One at a time. I’ll leave it with you.” Armstrong looked better now, he thought. She'd started in Hammond's bungalow paler than usual and subdued, but arguing with Harding about behaviour had brought a bit of colour back into her cheeks.

Good.

Their radios crackled, echoing through the empty rooms.

“Robert, are you around, over?” Richardson sounded anxious. "That depends." Was the answer.

“Got a slight issue in the Triceratops paddock that requires your…considerable expertise.”

“What now?”

“Trikes charged Harding’s Jeep. He and Julian are stranded in the paddock, no radios. Could you, eh- could you go in there and rescue them?”

"Oh, right enough, look." Lizzy stared and pointed at one of the video monitors in Hammond's living room, displaying an overturned Jeep in the middle distance.

“Do it yourself, bloody prat.” Muldoon muttered under his breath, before replying to Richardson with something much less insulting, then to Lizzy. "Why is it my job to fix everything?"

"Maybe stop being so good at it?" Lizzy shrugged as she grabbed her water bottle, assuming she'd be tagging along to lend a hand.

"Well, congratulations, Armstrong. For once, it’s not you causing mayhem.”

Lizzy groaned as she followed him out of the bungalow. “They better be okay. I really, really don’t want to phone Sarah twice in one day, 'specially not to tell her that Gerry’s been gored by a Triceratops!”

***

Tom cornered them as they were quickly loading the tranquiliser guns into the Jeep before heading out on the rescue mission.

“Where have you two been?” He looked them up and down suspiciously. "Kathy put me with Liz again today, but I haven't been able to find her for ages."

“Obviously weren't trying hard enough.” Muldoon looked less than thrilled. "You're coming too, then?"

“We’re the only others that can fire these dang things, since your Team Leader refuses to learn how to use one.”

“Not for lack of trying.” Lizzy muttered. She’d done her best to persuade Kathy to take a few practice shots as a bare minimum, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Guns were dangerous. And that was that, as far as the pacifist from Minnesota was concerned. "Oi, get in the back, you."

Tom narrowed his eyes but didn't argue. Time was wasting.

"Got any guesses why the Triceratops have taken such an intense dislike to our park transport?" Muldoon asked as they gunned it down the maintenance road to the paddock. “They’ve been fine until now.”

Tom yelled up front to them. ”Travis said they mixed in two juveniles a few days ago. There’s eight in the group now. Told me they got protective of the kids. Made a ring around them pointing outwards.”

”Like-" Lizzy started.

"Elephants." Muldoon finished for her. "Fan-bloody-tastic."

"How fast do these go?" Lizzy asked, tapping the Jeep door beside her.

"Probably not fast enough. Fast costs extra around here." Muldoon reminded her of Hammond's rather ironic go-to phrase.

"Oh." She replied with little humour. "Oh, wonderful."

***

"This way seems really stupid." Lizzy protested.

"Oh, I agree. But this is the way I've been told to go about it, since I'm not in charge of this species, he is. You two can still leave if you want to." Muldoon said dully as Richardson opened the paddock gates for them.

Lizzy and Tom looked at each other, but neither of them moved a muscle. They knew the risk but neither of them were willing to let Muldoon go it alone. It was madness but they had no other choice if they wanted Gerry and Julian out of the paddock any time soon. Help was a long way away.  

"Seatbelts off, then."

"Why?" Tom asked.

"Just have a feeling. If they attempt to flip us..."

Better if you're able to get out of the way sharpish. Lizzy knew the end of that sentence. There was a reason you never bothered with a seatbelt in safari vehicles.

Kathy's quiet voice addressed them over the radio as they proceeded through the gates.

"Muldoon, I don't suppose-"

"Yes, she's with me."

"Oh, balls. Of course she is!" Kathy very nearly swore. "Bring her back in one piece, or don't bother coming home, over."

"What about me?" Tom grumbled.

Some distance downhill, the trikes had gathered around their watering hole towards the rear of their enclosure. Destroying InGen property was apparently thirsty work. Lizzy grabbed the binoculars out of the glovebox and counted. Sure enough, six adults, one significantly larger than the others, and two little ones in the middle. All accounted for.

"We still haven't had any radio contact from Yamada and Harding, either their handsets are smashed, thrown on the ground, or still in the Jeep I suppose, but I'm fairly optimistic-"

"Ha!" Lizzy's laugh escaped before she could stop it.

Muldoon gave her a sharp look. "-fairly hopeful, they've made for those trees over to the right. Bit cramped for the adults to get in amongst them. Kennedy-"

"Way ahead of you, boss." Tom was loading up, checking the sights, ready to discourage any dinosaurs from approaching them.

"How's your aim?" Lizzy asked. She'd heard 'pretty darn good' but not seen for herself so far.

“Listen here. I can hit a playing card side-on from fifty feet."

"Fortunately, trikes are quite a lot bigger than playing cards." She couldn't help teasing him.

"Shut up."

"Quiet, you two." Muldoon drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Let's get closer to the trees, it's our best bet. Harding and Yamada can run to join us, before the herd gets suspicious.”

”And then we make our way out slow and steady so as not to piss them off again?”

”That’s the idea.”

They trundled closer, but their destination was still a good half kilometer away. As she got a better look into the dip of the land where the water was situated, Lizzy spotted the wreck of the other Jeep.

"Oh, shit." She whispered. "They've really gone to town on that."

"See anything else?" Muldoon asked. Any bodies? was what he meant.

"Nope. No sign. I'll keep an eye on the herd until we reach the trees." Lizzy confirmed.

They were halfway there when through the lens she noticed the larger trike raise her head at the sound of the Jeep rumbling closer. The dinosaur’s frame visibly stiffened, and Lizzy swore she saw the nostrils flare as the frilled head sway slightly back and forth. They were upwind from the herd, the dinosaur could smell them and her body language meant only one outcome. Lizzy had spent enough time in Africa to know what was about to happen.

"She's going to charge." She warned.

Muldoon instantly hit the brakes and cut the engine in one movement. "Are you sure?"

The next few seconds were critical.

Lizzy didn't dare blink, holding her breath. Nothing else happened, and for a moment, she thought they might have gotten away with it.

Then the big trike tossed her head and snorted angrily, moving forwards in their direction. First at a slow amble, then quickly switching to the deliberate trot of a bull elephant who was going to teach you a lesson for daring to trespass on his land.

"Definitely charging!" Lizzy threw the binoculars on the floor and looked for something to hold on to. "Move!"

She was thrown back against her seat by how quickly Muldoon got the Jeep going again, bouncing over the uneven ground.

Have to get the trees between us and her. Circling back to the gate will take too long.

"I can take her down." Tom matter-of-factly said and got ready to stand up in the back of the moving Jeep.

"Too late for that." Lizzy yelled back at him. "She's mad. It'll make things worse."

If Triceratops were anything like their modern-day counterpart, the rhinoceros, attempting to tranquillise could just fuel them with more rage before they finally collapsed. And it was unlikely the dose Tom was using would be big enough to drop her. The trike was simply too angry. But she could do a lot of damage with a few extra seconds of berserker-mode. Shooting at her now could cost lives.

God, she moves quick. Lizzy felt her stomach rising into her throat when she realised they might not make it to the trees in time. It occurred to her that nobody on the island had seen the trikes at full speed before. It was just assumed they weren't fast enough to be that dangerous. Then again, hippos didn't look like they were built for speed either, they were soft wobbly herbivores. But they were one of the most deadly animals on the African continent.

"Uh, you might want to step on it, boss." Tom was rapidly losing his cool.

"Good, because I've been watching my speed until you said something!"

The trike disappeared from view as she pursued them up the hill, and in a way that was worse, not knowing where she had gone. Wondering if she had given up or would suddenly appear ahead of them, cutting them off.

Then the head frill, followed by the rest of the dinosaur appeared, now at an angle, side-on to the Jeep instead of behind them. The hill hadn’t slowed her down at all.

Muldoon knew it was far too late to change direction, he'd end up wrapping the Jeep around a tree trunk. But she was headed straight for intercepting the passenger side, where Lizzy was sitting.

"Guys, guys, guys, watch out-" Arnold's voice reached them over the radio, for once sounding alarmed, along with him was Kathy's desperate cry of do something, Ray!

The Jeep was trapped between the dinosaur and the trees, but the trunks were too close together, too sharp an angle for the vehicle to fit through to safety. And slowing down was not an option.

They could only hope to outrun her, but she was close now, alarmingly close.

Time ground to a standstill in the few moments before the crash. Lizzy saw the lumbering shoulder of the Triceratops in slow-motion headed straight for a collision course with the flimsy metal door beside her. She could see every detail of the dinosaur's skin, dusted with red river-mud, before-

“Liz, move!” Tom yelled at her.

“Oh, shi-“ She leaned away, scrabbling at her seat, but it was too late. The Triceratops tossed it’s head and-

BANG

A hellish screech of dinosaur horn on metal and the whole Jeep rocked, the horizon skewed sickeningly and vertigo rushed in as their ears popped from the impact.

…

Lizzy blinked and shook her head, registering there was broken glass everywhere, all over the Jeep floor and the dashboard, in her hair. The windscreen was completely gone. She wasn’t on the passenger seat anymore, and the space where her thigh had been, moments ago, was now occupied by the crumpled-in door. She hadn't hit her head and blacked out, but she appeared to have teleported two feet to the right.

Her legs were still hanging over the central console, miraculously unharmed. And the rest of her body was wedged between the steering wheel and Muldoon. They'd been spun around by the impact and were facing into the trees, low branches poking through the non-existent windshield.

“Come in guys, come in, aw jeez, aw shit-“ Arnold’s voice jolted them back to reality. Still alive. Still on Nublar.

"Are you two alright?"

Tom managed a shaky Jesus H. Christ from behind them. He’d scooted to the driver’s side in the nick of time, grabbing hold of a seatbelt and pulling himself.

Good thing we didn’t have our seatbelts on.

Lizzy quickly took stock, she could thankfully move all her limbs. Everything important was where it was meant to be. "Think so." She pointed at the branches in front of them. " Hey look, we made it.”

“Get back with Kennedy, can’t bloody move.”

Tom reached over, grabbing Lizzy around her waist and yanking her into the back seat. They huddled together, the rear passenger side had also taken a thrashing and was practically concave, half as long as it was before.

“Just a scrape, I think. As long as the wheel arch isn't knackered…” Muldoon was muttering.

“Just a scrape?” Lizzy was incredulous. “You call that a scrape?!”

"Sshh, quit yelling." Tom elbowed her. Her ears hadn't popped back yet. "Goddamn, where'd she go, anyway"

All three of them searched, looking around the paddock frantically for the dinosaur.

But the big trike seemed satisfied by their lack of movement, deeming the Jeep no longer posed a threat. She was trotting off jauntily back to her herd, grunting as she went.

"So how do we get out of here now, hm?" Lizzy asked. "Two Jeeps and five people down. Think Richardson will give it a try next?”

”Not bloody likely.”

“You folks okay down there?” Came a faint yell from somewhere above them. The West Coast drawl of Gerry Harding, thankfully alive.

"Armstrong?" Muldoon turned around.  "Do me a favour and put that ridiculously loud voice of yours to good use."

Lizzy yelled for Gerry and Julian to come and join them. Now.

After a moment there was rustling and thumping from a short distance away and both men dropped to the ground from where they’d been perching in the trees waiting for rescue.

“Hold on, make sure I can turn the damn thing first, or it might be a sprint back to the gate after all.”

Lizzy recalled the mistake she’d made of walking through a field of cows on a school trip. Most of them had calves, she and her friends had feared for their lives and ended up throwing themselves over the gate at the other side. But getting out of the trike paddock could be so much worse.

The Jeep reversed and then limped around in a large circle, making an ominous crunching noise every few seconds.

Lizzy leaned over. “Are you sure we shouldn’t walk? They clearly don’t like the Jeeps anymore.”

”Oh, undoubtedly. But it’s not you that gets a bollocking for losing two Jeeps in one day. Richardson will find a way to blame me for the other one, somehow."

"But - he's the one that told you..." Lizzy pointed out.

"Yes, I know. Everybody in."

“In where?” Harding complained. “You’re missing half your seats, Muldoon.” “Hang off the back.” Tom said, helping Julian up and keeping hold of his arm. “Hitch a ride, boys."

"For Christ's sake..." Harding muttered.

"C'mon Gerry, hurry up!" Lizzy tried to move things along.

"She's heard us." Tom stared into the distance. "Incoming."

"Guys, you gotta make a move-" Arnold warned at the same time.

Sure enough, there was the faint sound of thundering feet, and it was all systems go.

Muldoon started to move off while Gerry was still reaching for Lizzy’s hand, trying to climb her side of the Jeep.

She grabbed for him before he was left behind and attempted to haul him onto the vehicle, but he weighed significantly more than she did, and missed his footing on the way up. Lizzy was pulled clean out of her seat.

“Fuck!” Lizzy shrieked as her feet were suddenly waving in the air. She tried to hook her knee on something, anything for traction but she was slipping anyway while Gerry continued to overbalance, the material of the seats leaving scorch marks on her legs.

“I got you-“ Tom fumbled and grabbed at her belt with his free hand before she slid out of reach, roaring at the effort of having to keep three bodies from flying to the ground.

Lizzy’s bad shoulder was screaming as they raced along. She could hear the trike bellowing from dangerously close by, feeling rather than hearing her feet pounding the Earth beneath them through the Jeep tyres.

She couldn't bear it, the pain was so bad that she just closed her eyes and hoped. Prayed she and Gerry would make it out alive.

Can’t let go, can’t let go. Can't let him fall.

Gerry mistook her pain for fear and started telling her over and over: it's okay, it's fine honey, we're almost there- while wondering himself if he was about to feel a trike horn in his undercarriage.

And then, safety. The reassuring rattle of one set of paddock gates closing behind them, and then the second. Kathy and Ray cheering over the radio. Richardson yelling something about them all being stupid bloody idiots, and Muldoon replying with a few choice words that silenced him quickly.

They had made it. Somehow.

Lizzy just hung limply over the back of the seat even after Gerry had let go of her hands, willing some life back into her frozen arms.

"Oh, boy-" He dismounted the Jeep bed with an effort and doubled over once he was back on solid ground, hands on his knees. "Ol’ pacemaker’s getting a workout today. I haven’t climbed a tree in years.”

"Everything alright? Still four of you back there?" Muldoon asked, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"Oh Christ!" Lizzy finally got out of the Jeep herself, thinking she might topple over, her knees were shaking so much. "Let's never do that again."

”Agreed.”

“Still in one piece, Liz?” Tom patted her shoulder, and she nearly threw up. Lizzy winced before she could hide it, hoping nobody had seen.

“Just about.” She fibbed through clenched teeth, trying not to think about how she would be in agony the next morning if she didn’t get hold of some ice soon. Her joint was complaining mightily after the effort of stopping fifty-something Gerry from stumbling to his doom.

She leaned on the un-wrecked side of the Jeep, trying to make the world stop spinning.

“What’s wrong with that shoulder?” Muldoon had noticed and confronted her.

Tears pricked in the corners of her vision and she hastily blinked them away. “It’s fine. Just playing up again.”

He wasn’t convinced. ”You aren’t living up to your family name.”

“Ha-ha! Have you tried to lift Gerry recently?”

“Hey!” Came a yell from nearby. “Have you tried María's ice cream?"

They squared up to each other, but Lizzy was the first to look down.

“Leave it.” She warned in a low voice, tired of keeping up the fight today, of all days. “Please. It doesn’t matter. Leave it.”

"I'm serious, Armstrong. You're not alright, are you?"

She yielded. "I need a bit of ice. Maybe a lot of ice."

"Let’s get you back then. Won’t find any out here.”

***

They’d abandoned everyone, still arguing over who was going in which Jeep back to base and whether to bother retrieving the smashed vehicle or leave it in the paddock as a sort of Triceratops stress toy, 'enrichment' they would call it.

Muldoon had given up on trying to find ice cubes in the kitchen, since they would melt too quickly anyway, and was trying to chip a small glacier out of the upright freezer with a knife while Lizzy waited perched on the countertop, cradling her arm.

“That’s the shoulder you injured when you were in school, and you wouldn’t tell me how.” “Uh-huh.”

“Do you want Harding to check it? I’d dare say he owes you.”

“No. I’m fine. What’s next, inside leg measurement?” She grumbled.

“I have the same problem. Mine is from years and years of shooting. Go on, why does yours ache when it rains?”

Lizzy was exhausted. She wanted to take her ice, and go find a nice bit of floor to lie down on for a while. It didn't even have to be clean. Talking to Sarah and the trike incident had distracted her temporarily, but now she had time to think, her heart was hurting again.

But maybe this was as good a time as any to tell someone other than S-...her now-ex, as much as she hated reliving it. How much more traumatised could she possibly become in one day?

“My mother did it. Dislocated it.”

“Your own mother?”

“Yep. Popped it right out of the joint. Made a horrible noise.” Lizzy was terse, clipping her syllables. “She was drunk at the time. I’d like to say it was an accident, but...-“

Well, that complicates things. Muldoon realised.

Lizzy kept talking. “-I didn’t look after it properly once it was popped back in, cue me shooting from the wrong side for the rest of my life.”

“Bloody Hell, Armstrong…”

”Happy? That you finally got it out of me?”

”Not sure.” That was true enough. Maybe he preferred the not-knowing.

”Don’t worry, now we can both pretend it didn’t happen.” She smiled tersely as she held out a clean tea towel for her own personal iceberg.

“Will that last you?”

”Maybe half an hour.” Lizzy nodded.

“Anything else I can do?” To him at least, the sentiment fell a bit flat. Muldoon wasn’t sure he’d be up for telling anyone about an experience like hers either.

“Forget I ever told you that. Thanks for the ice.” Lizzy hopped down from the counter and hurriedly made her escape, in search of a flat surface to collapse on.

***

Thanks for reading!

Remember that seatbelt safety is very important if you *aren’t* on a dinosaur island. Please buckle up 

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction #gerry harding #ray arnold #robert muldoon x female oc #robert muldoon #sarah harding

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 20

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park Novel/Jurassic Park Film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: minor descriptions of surgery, bad language

Word Count: ~62.2k (21 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @ocappreciation I never got around to posting this one at the time so you get 2 chapters today!

Read on Ao3

Chapter 19 | Chapter 21

St. Elmo’s Fire - John Parr

Muldoon was pleased. The experimental dilophosaur surgery was going ahead. Hammond had been convinced, eventually.

Not without a little blackmail from Armstrong, who he’d brought along to make his case. She’d played the part very convincingly, squinting hard through her glasses at Isla Nublar’s legal team sitting directly across from her.

Regis and Gennaro had started visibly trembling when she laid it on thick about suing InGen for damages, using all the right jargon to really make them sweat.

While she was doing what she did best, talking at great length and speed, Muldoon noticed Regis’ eyes darting everywhere around the room but at Armstrong. He didn’t dare look at her now. At least, not when he was there.

Good.

Now, they just had to capture a dilophosaur without getting too close. There was still no telling how far those animals could actually spit, and he didn’t have any staff willing to find out the hard way.

For certain, he’d need at least one other person who was a decent shot.

Too bad he wasn’t allowing Armstrong anywhere near that paddock.

Muldoon recalled when he’d broke the news she wouldn’t be getting revenge on the dinosaur who wronged her.

Armstrong had come crashing into his office, looking surprisingly cheerful after being in close quarters with Kennedy amongst the cleaning supplies.

“First of all-“ she started.

”You were acting like children.”

”He was! I-“

”Hurry up with the point you came here to make.”

“We’ve had a breakthrough.” Lizzy gently placed her hands down flat on the desk. “I found out why he’s been such a dick to me!” She sounded pleased with herself.

Muldoon just sighed, waiting for her to notice.

Lizzy corrected herself. “Right, sorry. Why he’s…a bit of a prat in general?” She was bouncing in the balls of her feet in excitement.

“Please calm down.”

“Can’t. We have an understanding now…” She trailed off, realising she was in danger.

She thought fast to keep to the bare minimum of detail. Outing Tom meant she would be outing herself too. And Lizzy just wasn’t ready to come clean with what a pathetic start in life she’d had before she started to fight back against the odds. Not to Kathy, not to anyone.

“His dad is awful. Really awful. He’s had it rough looking after the rest of his family.” She fumbled.

Muldoon just stared back at her for what felt like an age while Lizzy’s palms went clammy.

Shit shit shit. He’s figured me out.

“He told you that much?”

Lizzy nodded earnestly. Please move on.

“That’s a shame. But not really an excuse for how he treats you. Or Baker for that matter.”

Phew.

Too close.

“He needs help, without it looking like you’re trying. He’s close to Richardson, but-“ Lizzy screwed up her face “-Mike’s not a great person. And he wouldn’t listen to me anyway. So, I was thinking-“

Muldoon saw where this was headed. “No, I already have a child. Who I see far less often than my employees.”

Lizzy was exasperated. “Come on! Maybe some positive reinforcement could go a long way with him…”

“Positive reinforcement? You are an animal ethologist, not a psychologist.”

”Both ‘ologist’, aren’t they? Potato, tomato.”

”That’s not- never mind. Say what you mean.”

“I think you need to mentor him.”

Muldoon shook his head. “Honestly, Armstrong. That’s asking far too much.”

”It just might make life bearable for everyone. Please?”

“No.”

”You could let him tranq the dilo for Gerry?” Lizzy suggested confidently. “I’ve heard him bragging he’s a good shot. Maybe put that to the test?”

That wasn’t a terrible idea, come to think of it…

It was incredibly hard to say no outright.

Damn her, he couldn’t do it.

“I’ll think about it. I need to have a word with him anyway about exactly what happened when the dilophosaur attacked you.”

He had been putting it off so far. The prospect of having a chat with the lad alone made him distinctly uncomfortable.

”Oh, right, yeah-“ She adjusted her glasses. “Perfect.”

She was impossible. Who else would try so damn hard to help someone that had made their life Hell?

“While we’re on the subject, you aren’t helping fetch the animal in.”

“What?” She didn’t sound surprised, just disappointed.

“Until we get them all neutralised, you’re only allowed near one if it’s unconscious.” Muldoon shrugged. “You can take notes, write the surgery up as a report to give to Hammond. You’ll enjoy that.”

“Oh, will I now?”

“I know you will. You’d better.”

“Then you’ll talk to Tom for me?” Lizzy finished hopefully as she headed for the door. “Please?”

She just wasn’t going to let it go.

Muldoon nodded resignedly. ”I’ll talk to him.”

***

“Kennedy, a word.”

“I didn’t do it!” The Texan blurted out automatically as he turned around, then looked annoyed at himself. “I mean, uh-“

She really owes me for this one.

“When Armstrong was attacked by the dilophosaur…if I find out you got her back to Harding at anything less than the speed of light-“

“I had my foot to the floor boss, I swear it.” Kennedy insisted. “I couldn’t have gone any faster on that road without totalling the Jeep.”

“Rather admirable, considering the way you two behave?”

”She winds me up but, y’know…” Kennedy tried hard to say what he felt. He too, seemed painfully uncomfortable. “She gives it back. She gets so mad, her face goes all red. It’s…funny, I guess.”

“I thought it was more serious than that. You understand why I’m questioning the speed you drove at?”

“Dude, c’mon. I don’t actually want to hurt her, that’s messed up.” He muttered, clearly embarrassed. “But she’s way too bossy, and someone around here has to keep her on her toes.”

To even his own surprise, Muldoon chuckled. “I suppose that’s true enough.” The lad did have a point.

“Can I go now?”

“In a moment. One more thing.”

Damn Armstrong. Damn her and her big hopeful eyes, damn her to Hell, all her fault-

“Good work, acting so quickly.”

Kennedy looked startled. His mouth stopped its progress of curling up into a sneer and instead fell open. He grumbled quietly before turning on a dime and marching away.

”Thanks, boss.”

***

What is one supposed to do on their days off when living on an island, without a cinema, library or bowling alley? When none of your friends even have the same day off as you do?

Lizzy liked to observe. She’d sometimes tag along with her team anyway just for the Hell of it, or go to the beach with her notebook and camera.

She wasn’t the best at sketching in her coffee-stained book, but she liked it, to wind down. It was important to her, for all the good memories she’d eventually take away from the island.

And that day, observing was exactly what she was going to do. Observe a dinosaur being cut wide open.

Alone with Gerry Harding while everyone else played Whack-A-Dilo, scrubbing up for the surgery, a question she’d been dying to ask him was fizzing in the back of her brain. She felt like it would just explode out of her if she didn’t say it right that second.

“Gerry?” Lizzy knocked the faucet off with her elbow. “You’ve been divorced twice, now, right?”

The veterinarian hesitated, in the middle of tearing up great handfuls of cotton wool. “I’m not sure I like where this is going-“

“Serious question, do you regret getting married in the first place?“

Gerry answered instantly. “Not at all.”

“Huh.” Not the answer she was expecting, or hoping for.

“The only thing I regret is how badly it tore up Sarah, and Jess, both times it ended.” Harding looked the most pained she had ever seen him, even under the surgical mask she could tell it hurt still, years later. “Sarah wouldn’t speak to me for a long time.”

“I’m sorry.” She meant it, as much as she disliked her fellow ethologist. No kid deserved a fractured family.

“Why do you ask?”

”No reason.” She avoided looking at him.

“Hey!” Harding clicked his tongue and eyeballed her. “I need you sharp as a tack for this procedure. The first of its kind in the world. Whatever’s bothering you, get it off your chest before they turn up with the dinosaur. I mean it.”

”It’s nothing.”

Harding mock-gasped. “Let me guess. You got the hots for someone else! Is it me?”

“Oh, trust me, I’m just barely holding myself back from jumping your bones.” She shook her head. “No, I wish Simon would either move to Costa Rica or stop giving me a hard time about planning the wedding.”

Harding stared at her. ”Jesus. You don’t really want to get married, do you?”

“I just don’t think I’m ready yet. I’ve told him before. But I don’t think he’ll take postponing again very well.” Lizzy snorted. “He might actually break up with me this time.”

“Okay?”

”But if I have to go and pick out napkins and silverware, I might break up with him.”

She couldn’t think of anything more tedious and pointless. All that for one day’s use, for only a few hours? What a waste.

“This sounds very much-“ Harding snapped on a fresh pair of gloves. “-like you two need to sit down on the same continent and talk without worrying about the phone bill.”

“Urgh…”

”Instead of running off to yet another time zone. Or, maybe call it quits. If you’re already thinking about it, you probably need to just rip the Band-Aid off. Thank me later.” Harding was much more matter-of-fact than she would have preferred.

Lizzy started getting irate.

“He’s been in my life for ten years, Gerry! It feels like such a waste at this point, having to start over.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I hate waste.”

Harding had noticed, she always cleared her plate completely at dinner, even when she began to look a bit green. Always pushed back the washing of her uniform a day too long so it would last longer. Old habits died hard.

“Sure, if you call it quits you have to start from scratch at thirty-four, but would you rather that or another ten years of whatever you’re doing now?”

Ten more years of limbo? Where are we living? Who’s going to sacrifice their career for the other? ‘Liz, dawhl, when are you going to give my son a baby?’

“And getting married won’t fix something that’s already broken. Ha!” Harding rolled his eyes. “Took me two attempts to figure that one out!”

”I love him.” Lizzy insisted. “I still do.”

”But are you in love with him?” Harding pressed. “That’s the difference.”

“I…hm…” She didn’t have an answer for that one.

“Ah, ignore this old man. You do what you think is best.” Harding winked at her. “I may be a little biased since you’re still in the running to be wife number three. I’d have you, no questions asked.”

“Keep hoping, Gerry.” Lizzy joked, but she had an uneasy feeling clawing it’s way into her stomach, making her nauseous. His words were echoing around in her head, over and over.

…Am I still in love with him?

“Doubt you’d be by yourself for long anyway…” Harding muttered under his breath, not intending Lizzy to hear him.

“Yeah, right!” She called back. “Who’d want this?”

Christ, guess it’s true that if you lose your vision, your hearing improves Harding thought.

The vet shook his head, covering his slip-up quickly. “Doesn’t matter.” But he had to wonder. Armstrong was pulling his leg, she had to be. Couldn’t she see it?

“What do you-“ Lizzy was abruptly cut off by the radio on her belt crackling.

”Ready when you are, over.” Muldoon’s voice filled the small room.

A few seconds of silence. The vet and the ethologist waited, holding their breath.

Then Kathy’s voice. “She’s down and out. Great shot, Tom.”

Lizzy grinned to herself. So her advice had been taken.

Interesting.

Harding made a noise of approval and continued prepping.

”Oh, Lizzy- Remind me to chase Wu for the analysis on the saliva, can’t believe I even have to ask-“ The vet grumbled.

“Harding, so you know - Hammond’s en route, over.” Muldoon spoke up again.

The veterinarian swore loudly and set down his instrument tray with a clatter.

“And under no circumstances is that man allowed to scrub up! I do not want him in here peering over my shoulder.”

”Got it.” Lizzy nodded.

***

A peculiar sight indeed, Muldoon thought. The surgical drape covered the jaws and tucked-up head frill, with four scaly legs sticking straight up in the air at each corner of the operating table.

The animal handlers were all jostling for space outside at the tiny window, eager to get a better look at the live dissection.

Harding was poking around inside the creature with Kennedy passing him instruments and Armstrong keeping track of his progress in her notebook.

Muldoon could tell her tongue was sticking out with concentration under the mask as she sketched and annotated while Harding dictated his thoughts aloud to her.

She had been correct. Kennedy was an excellent shot, cool as ice when he calmly lined up his target. Even better than she was, though Muldoon had no intention of telling Armstrong that.

As Harding sliced through yet more layers of skin and muscle, Muldoon thought back to her own shooting practice with him, and how her stumble off the Jeep hadn’t been the end of the awkwardness.

***

Lizzy was still trying and failing to get her bearings on the bumpy trip back to base. It wasn’t her swollen tongue that made it difficult for her to talk. Her brain still felt a bit scrambled and she didn’t understand why.

At least the lisp had worn off.

“I thought you said no weapons were allowed on the island?”

“Weapons. Plural. This one is mine, anyway. Singular.”

Armstrong did seem to be in a better mood after their exploits out in the park. The woman was so peculiar, never a dull moment.

Although there was a burning question, a detail that he needed explaining.

“You’re left-handed but you shoot from your right, why?”

“I have to, my shoulder can’t take it. Aches for days afterwards.”

“Something happen?” He pressed.

“Dislocated it when I was in high school, never healed properly.” Lizzy answered in a clipped tone.

Don’t ask anything else.

Please.

“How did you manage that?” No such luck.

I fell out of a tree. I was playing hockey at school. I slipped down the stairs. Or some other casually delivered sentence that would stop his line of questioning in its tracks.

But she couldn’t lie for shit, and she froze up.

“Can’t say.” Lizzy shook her head and stared out of the window, refusing to continue.

Muldoon wasn’t having it. “That’s the second time you’ve gone mute when your past is brought up.”

Still nothing. Her refusal to talk was disconcerting. She’d even stopped blinking.

“Three times and I have to give the you can talk to me about anything spiel, except you seem to do that anyway whether I want it or not.”

Nothing.

Trying to provoke her into saying something smart back hadn’t worked.

He tried again.

“Your shoulder injury and the Day of Which We Do Not Speak, are they connected?”

Lizzy managed a small yes.

Thank Christ for that.

“Well, it’s a start.”

“Sorry-“

“Leave it. Talk about something else now.”

”Talk more?” That brought her back around as she couldn’t resist smirking. “I thought I was annoying?”

“Better annoying than upset.”

It was true. Left to her own devices, she would chatter near-constantly but without expecting anyone to fill in the gaps. If you said nothing, it didn’t matter to her. She’d keep going regardless, without the very rare silences being uncomfortable. Then something else would catch her attention and she’d start seamlessly on the next anecdote.

Life had been quiet for far too long. She was sometimes - often - not a bad distraction. And seeing her struggle this much to get her words out was deeply concerning for him.

She looked offended. “Am not upset.” But Lizzy’s hand went to her shoulder unconsciously.

“Come on, woman. Do better.”

“Alright, fine! I actually need help tracking something down.”

“Tracking is something I’m good at.”

“I gave Call-Me-John-Dear a copy of my thesis when I got here. I asked María and she hasn’t seen it. I need my reference list-“

“I know where it is.”

Her face lit up. “Great! Where?”

“I may have borrowed it.”

”Oh…why?” The Lizzy of ten years prior would have freaked out at internationally renowned wildlife consultant Robert Muldoon reading her work someday.

”To prop up one side of my desk.” He responded dryly. “Elephants are my area of expertise too, you know.”

”Yeah, but…you had trouble sleeping, or-?” She couldn’t believe it. Lizzy was convinced not even her examiners had read her thesis front to back. It had taken Simon three days to get through it, and he practically read for a living.

Muldoon did have trouble sleeping, but her thesis wasn’t the solution for that particular problem.

”Your comments on trophy hunting were surprising. I imagine they caused a stir when you had to defend yourself.”

That section was near the end. He really had read it. Actually read it.

She shook her head in wonder. “Yeah, you’re right. I got in trouble in my viva. Did you like it?”

“It had its moments. But I don’t think much of that Blacklaw fellow you kept referencing-“

“Oh, give over.” Lizzy was beaming again, past life forgotten.

She wasn’t upset.

Not anymore.

***

Harding sighed and put his scalpel back down with finality on the surgical tray. It had taken two whole hours to get this far. Kathy had been required to gown up and join them in the operating theatre halfway through, her only task being to dab at the vet’s forehead with a square of gauze every few moments.

“Gerry...?” Tom eventually asked. “You okay, man?”

“I can’t find it...can’t find where the venom is located, not without turning this into a necropsy. I give up.” Harding grunted in frustration and reached for his suture kit.

Even under his mask Lizzy could see him smile grimly without a shred of his usual humour.

”Anybody volunteering to tell Hammond this was a waste of time?”

***

”Oh, Raymond.” Kathy pushed a chair towards the console the technician was parked solidly in front of. “What. A. Day.”

The dilophosaur was on its way back to the paddock on the back of a Jeep. Meanwhile, Lizzy and Tom had drawn the short straws. She’d left them still gowned up, clearing the room after the surgery, throwing bloody gauze into a biohazard bag and collecting strewn-about instruments to be sterilised. They seemed to be working pretty well together for a change, with only the occasional insult ringing through the air.

But Kathy didn’t want to hang around as the argument between Harding and Hammond kicked off, so she’d headed for the sanctuary of the control room to update the technician on current events.

“How you doing, Kitty-Kat?”

”Surgery was a failure. Hammond threw a fit.” Kathy scratched her head, still itching from the elastic on the surgical mask. “And Lizzy…-“

”What about her?”

”I don’t know, Ray!” Kathy threw her hands up. “She’s…distracted! She’s just being weird around Muldoon! Weirder than usual!”

”You finally noticed that, huh?”

When Kathy spoke again her tone was dry. “What do you mean finally? You already did and you didn’t tell me?”

“I ain’t stupid.” Arnold gestured at the wall of video monitors. “Or blind. I got a three-sixty. I see a lot of things.”

“So what happened? She get struck by lightning or something?”

“Negative. But how long do ya wanna bet before they finally get together?” Arnold asked her casually. “It’s gotta happen. If that woman wants something she usually gets it.”

Kathy snorted. “There’s still no way. Lizzy’s taken.” She pointed out the obvious, sighing.

“Shame, I think it would do both of them a world of good.” Arnold chuckled. “Finally break some of the tension around here.”

Kathy secretly agreed. She may as well scribble ‘Catnip for Game Wardens’ in big letters on Lizzy’s forehead, set her loose in the park and arm Muldoon with a giant butterfly net. Sporting event of the century.

“Never say never, I guess…” She murmured, thinking aloud. “It’s happened before.”

She was playing with the beads on her braids, zoning out looking at the weather systems working their way across the screens, and only realised she’d made a terrible mistake when out of the corner of her eye she saw Arnold turn, painfully slowly, to stare at her.

Oh, balls…

“What did you just say? Now hang on a second missy-“

“I mean- not Lizzy, like, it wouldn’t be the first time colleagues , y’know-“ She was floundering, and Arnold wasn’t fooled.

“Nuh-uh. Don’t give me that. You weren’t being vague.”

”Forget about it, Ray.” Gotta keep Lizzy’s secret. I promised. “It doesn’t matter.”

”Maybe it wouldn’t if it was unrequited.” Arnold muttered.

That got her attention.

“Oi! Has Muldoon said something?” Kathy asked suspiciously. “So he does like her? Like her, like her? I was right all along? What do you know?”

“That depends. What do you know?” Arnold fired back.

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”

“Well-“ Arnold folded his arms across the back of his head “-neither can I.”

They glanced sidelong at each other for a few agonising moments.

“Damn you, Ray!” Kathy eventually groaned. “Tell me.”

“Nuh-uh. Can’t have you backing out on me now, Miss Baker. You go first.”

Kathy weighed up the matter, rocking back and forth in her seat. “Between you and me, okay? I’m trusting you.”

“Sure. Cross my heart.” Arnold picked up his mug to take a sip.

“A few years ago, Lizzy had an affair.”

Coffee sprayed everywhere.

“Jesus!” Arnold stood up hurriedly and dabbed the nearest monitor with his tie. “Shit-“

”Sshhhh! You can’t tell anyone! Especially not Muldoon!”

Arnold barely spared her a glance as he answered, still desperately trying to mop up the spillage threatening InGen’s expensive technology.

“I’m serious!” Kathy went quiet, struck with an awful thought. “Wait, what if they already have, y’know…”

Arnold scoffed. “Yeah, like Liz is that good of an actress! The girl can’t lie to save herself.”

“Huh. I guess.” She saw his point. The ethologist was many things, but at least she was honest, usually involuntarily. “Alright, your turn!”

“Well, shit. Hoped you’d forgotten.”

“Not a chance. Please, share.” Kathy mimicked Arnold earlier, folding her arms behind her head.

“Watch it, girl. You remember Ed Regis’ first day?”

”That God-awful meeting? Sure.” Kathy groaned at the memory of being mistaken for a barista.

“Before you arrived Regis was looking at Liz like he wanted to eat her.”

”Oh, Hell.” Kathy shook her head. “Big mistake.” To do such a thing in front of the likes of Harding, even Gennaro was a no-no, but Regis had effectively signed a death warrant with that move.

“He hasn’t said a word to Regis since. Won’t even look at him. If our so-called PR expert fell into the T-rex paddock, I don’t think he’d hurry to save him.”

“Wow…like Ed would have a chance, Lizzy still really does love Simon.” Kathy insisted.

“Yeah, I know.” Arnold patted his pockets for his cigarettes. “But she ain’t happy with that New York lawyer, if she was desperate enough to see him again then she’d just leave. And she hates flying.”

“You’re right.” Kathy huffed. “I’ve heard them talking. Well, arguing. He makes her sound-“

“Different.” Arnold nodded. He’d noticed it too, Lizzy was always quiet for a long time after those phonecalls. “I get it.”

They listened to the warm hum of the machines around them before Kathy spoke again. “What was the boss like before Lizzy got here?”

“I dunno…He’s been through some shit of his own. Liz told me she made him laugh the other day. Yeah, right! Like I’d believe that, I ain’t coughing up ten dollars with no proof…”

“What is it about her?” Kathy wondered.

“She ain’t the one to be a neat little housewife. He’s into that, I guess.” Arnold snorted. “She’s way too much for me.”

“Too much for most. Especially Ed Regis, sports fan!” Kathy smiled. “World of good, huh?”

“Mark my words-“ Ray looked at her over the rim of his glasses. “As sure as Sibo’s gonna spew lava again one day. I can tell.”

“You willing to bet money on that one, Ray?”

”Stake my life. And-“ He pointed a finger at her. “- it’s gonna happen without either of us meddling. So no messing around. She needs to realise on her own. They both do.”

Kathy wondered if her Grandma would see ‘the gift’ in Ray too, or if he was just doing an awfully good job of bullshitting her.

“They both do? Uh, pretty sure Muldoon’s past the realising stage-“

”Not him. The kid who’s still expecting her to settle down and be his neat little housewife. Ten years, no luck, You think he’d get the hint by now-“

The phone next to him began to ring, and Arnold’s attention was immediately diverted to the flashing red light on his console.

“Huh…call from Sorna.” He muttered before picking up. “Y’allo, Isla Nublar control, go ahead?”

Crackling. Bad line. Or…someone breathing hard. A woman it sounded like, possibly in distress. Then a barely audible murmur. What in the Hell-?

”Ray? What’s wrong?” Kathy’s forehead was creased at the expression on his face.

He shook his head and motioned her to be quiet.

”Ma’am, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to speak up.” Arnold said firmly. “Is there a problem over on Sorna?”

Clutching her own handset, eighty-seven miles away, Lori Ruso blanked on what she was supposed to be saying. She had it all planned out, but nerves had overcome her at the sound of Arnold’s voice.

All she managed to croak out was:

”Please help me.”

***

Thanks for reading!

I guess this chapter and the last are more soap-opera-ish than even *I* expected. Very…people-y. I’ve loved it, Ray and Kathy together are just too much fun and I absolutely needed to put in that particular book reference with the dilo surgery but I’m keen to get back to the dinos after this, since baby raptors are causing yet more issues over on Sorna…those rascals.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #jurassic park fanfic #ray arnold #john hammond #gerry harding #ed regis

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 21

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park Novel/Jurassic Park Film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: light swears, alcoholism, mention of severed fingers

Wordcount: ~62.2k (21 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @ocappreciation

Read on Ao3

Chapter 20 | Chapter 22

Wild Women Do - Natalie Cole

Please help me.

Lori Ruso got three words out and then promptly burst into tears. It was such a relief to finally tell someone.

The night before, she’d woken up in the small hours, and decided she was going to do it. She couldn’t let the infant live any longer. It was too dangerous.

Lori had entered the hatching facility, lit only by moonlight, and drawn up a syringe with enough toxic chemical to euthanise the raptor a thousand times over.

Shit, this much would probably take down an Apato. A full-grown one.

The infant had chirped sleepily as Lori fumbled with the lock on the kennel door. She had to be quick. In, stab, out. Job done. And then act surprised when it was found dead in the morning. Oh, no. How dreadful. A tragedy.

Lori wasn’t afraid of it now, this time she was armed. She could defend herself.

“Quiet.” She snapped as the raptor continued to chirp at her, hopeful that it might be fed, even though it was dark outside. “This is for your own good.”

The embryologist prepared to corner the creature, but as she looked in the raptor’s eyes, trying to suss her next move, Lori caught a flicker reflected in the light of the moon.

There was something other about the way the raptor was looking at her. Did it understand the reason Lori had come to her in the dead of night? Why she was carrying a sharp object that dripped funny-smelling liquid?

That damn intelligence again. Not unlike what Lori remembered seeing when she was a kid, glued to the television set watching grainy footage of Jane Goodall interacting with her chimpanzees in Tanzania, her mouth open in wonder.

Not just intelligence. Comprehension.

The embryologist hesitated.

Does she know?

“I can’t do it if you’re gonna look at me like that.” Lori muttered.

The raptor started purring, a low guttural sound but one that definitely wasn’t a growl.

She definitely knows. She worked it out.

Lori’s good hand clutching the syringe faltered and fell limply to her side.

Shit.

Wrong time to develop a conscience towards you, little one.

What the Hell am I doing?

Lori was so driven, she hadn’t thought beyond what to do after she depressed the plunger on the needle, how on Earth she’d cover her tracks. She’d acted on instinct. And the contents of the syringe weren’t even good old anaesthetic, it was a teratogenic agent InGen used in artificial cell production. A horrible, violent death by poisoning. At least it would be quick.

But the baby didn’t deserve that.

This wasn’t her, Lori wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer. The raptor had taken her fingers, but one could argue it might have been in self-defence.

She didn’t need to eat them though…

Lori started sweating as she realised she could go to jail for destruction of InGen property. She’d certainly never work in embryology again, not after Hammond and his cronies were done with her.

But nobody on Sorna would help! They either ignored her, as if losing fingers by dinosaur bite was somehow contagious, or spied on her to make sure she wasn’t up to exactly what she was in the middle of doing now: Marching to the raptor’s kennel armed with a syringe full of sleep-forever.

Lori left in a hurry, flinging the needle over the compound fence into the jungle as she ran back to her room.

And less than twenty-four hours later, she was bawling down the phone line to Nublar, with some nice man who sounded like he had no idea what to do with her, which only made her cry harder.

"Ma'am, I, uh- what's your emergency?" Arnold asked before tugging at the collar of his shirt and holding the phone at an arm's length. Loud, heaving sobs were coming from the earpiece.

"Give me!” Kathy sprang from her chair at the noise of the woman in distress, holding out both hands for the receiver, which Arnold gladly passed to her. "Listen up, we've got you, okay? My name is Kathy-"

After a few minutes, it became clear there was a big problem on Sorna.

***

Meanwhile, Lizzy wandered into the staff canteen, now deserted after the dinner rush. She spotted the figures of the park warden and veterinarian at a nearby table and zeroed in.

"Found you! Sorry it didn't work out, Gerry. I’ll have your report done soon.”

"Next time." The vet winked, in better spirits already. But it was clear he was itching to have another go at the beast. “Though it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if we, uh…suddenly lost one. If you're a bit heavy-handed with the MORO I promise I'll mark the cause of death down as accidental."

Lizzy tutted, and then broke into an enormous grin.

"Oh! Good news! Guess who's coming to visit, finally?"

She looked expectantly at both of them.

Muldoon’s heart sank. He didn’t need to guess, he already knew.

“It’s…Simon!” Lizzy theatrically announced, then looked downcast when neither of them responded. “Don’t get too excited, jeez.”

“Wow. Uh, great.” That was truly not the outcome Harding expected from their earlier conversation. In fact, the exact reverse. He assumed he’d be consoling a weeping newly-single Lizzy in the near future. “That’s really great, sweetheart. Proud of you.”

"We talked after the surgery, and yeah- he agreed we need to meet in person. Problem solved!”

“You’re happy, then?” Harding asked lamely after an awkward silence to cover for Muldoon’s lack of enthusiasm.

”Hm? Oh yes! Very. I don’t even have to fly anywhere this time!”

”Awesome.” Harding, for once, had ran out of things to say.

Lizzy turned to Muldoon. "Can we use one of the Jeeps? Go for a few drives? Oh, and I'll need some time off, of course.”

“Hm.”

Lizzy took the single syllable as affirmative. “Great! Catch you both later!” And she vanished the way she had came with an excited squeak.

As soon as she was out of view Harding glanced sideways at Muldoon, whose glass was now mysteriously empty.

"You okay, man?" The vet asked carefully.

"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Either I'm imagining things, or your drink just evaporated." Harding downed the remains of his own glass in one. “Touchy subject?”

”Just leave it.”

“It’s not the end of the world, buddy.” The vet offered condolences.

"Indeed. We’re near the end of the rainy season, but maybe we'll be lucky with a particularly violent storm."

Harding shook his head and chose not to push the matter further, merely refilling both their glasses.

***

”Raptors?”

Muldoon had been cornered after the morning briefing by his Team Leader, with bad news.

Kathy nodded and ticked off details on her fingers that she’d collated from talking with Dr Ruso. “Bipedal carnivore. Theropod. Fast, very fast. Smart.”

Muldoon nodded. ”Sounds exciting. You do realise that’s all most likely confidential and you aren’t supposed to know yet?”

”It’s just me and Ray!” Kathy wheedled. “And now you. I haven’t even told Lizzy. I’m not stupid.”

“Keep it that way.” Although Arnold was definitely the bigger gossip.

Christ, he felt like he’d been hit by a bus.

Good thing Baker had a soft, hypnotic voice. His head was thumping mightily from drinking with Harding the night before, and continuing for a while afterwards without the vet present.

“Anyway, how did you find out before I did?” He asked.

“Anonymous tip from Sorna.” She answered cryptically.

Muldoon had heard rumours of a dismemberment on Site B, but nobody seemed clear on what animal was to blame. Even Wu was shady on details. This explained why, it was a species new to the facility. “Was it that Ruso woman? With the fingers? Sorry, lack of?”

“Yeah, it was her…please don’t tell anyone else I took the call last night. I just promised her we’d help-“

”That was a big promise.” Muldoon said sternly.

“She was crying.” Kathy said simply. “She sounded desperate.”

”So what do you suggest we do, Baker? Since you apparently don’t need my input before you make decisions on my behalf now?”

Kathy quaked in her boots at his tone, but he didn’t sound like he was that mad with her.

She realised she’d finally shown him the one thing he told her she was lacking when she got the Team Leader job: authority.

He’s pleased with me. I haven’t messed up. Yet.

She tried to channel her best friend’s confidence and moved on.

“Bring the raptor here. See what we can do until we can integrate her with her own species, assuming they breed more on Site B. She might settle down in a pack.”

”Paddock’s not ready.” Muldoon shook his head, forever the pessimist. “And if Wu’s breeding them to be so intelligent, they probably won’t end up spending much time inside it. I’ll talk to construction about increasing security measures.”

“Or send someone over to Sorna to help? How about Tom?” Kathy wasn’t at all subtle. “I’m sure they’ll love him over there.”

”Maybe.”

“God, how’re we gonna tell Hammond about this? Heck, how’re we gonna tell Richardson?”

”Let me worry about that.”

”Phew!” Kathy wiped her brow and adjusted her glasses, glad she was off the hook.

Muldoon was having an idea. There was a very obvious solution.

And it dealt with two problems at once.

Only, Baker really wouldn’t like it.

“Armstrong can go. Transfer her to Sorna.”

It meant he wouldn’t have to put up with the sight of her swanning around the island with the New York lawyer. Muldoon already knew he wouldn’t like him. Or rather, he had decided he wasn’t going to like him.

”Huh?” Kathy blinked. “Transfer her? Are you serious?”

“Why not? Right up her street, behavioural problems. She’ll be fine.”

Kathy couldn’t believe it. Lizzy? Leave? When she and Muldoon got along so well? One would think that would be the last thing he’d do-

“Oh…” She quietened down. “Okay. I get it.”

Simon.

Ray’s voice came to her. No meddling.

This isn’t meddling, Ray-Ray!

“You get what?”

“It’s a mistake. Sending her over there. You’d miss her too much.” She insisted.

“Say that again?” Muldoon’s voice was measured, but Kathy knew, now, now she had messed up.

”We’d miss her. Too much.” She corrected, staring at the ground.

There was a painful, agonisingly long pause during which Kathy didn’t dare look up.

“I don’t know what you think is going on, Baker. But remember Armstrong is an employee, same as you. And I treat her as such.”

“Okay.” She murmured guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

Damn, she resembled his daughter even more after a telling-off, avoiding eye contact, scuffing her shoes, fidgeting with her hair. Muldoon started to feel sorry for her. When he spoke again he wasn’t quite so harsh.

”I know it might seem…that way, to you. But we both have lives in Africa, we know the same people, and I can’t very well ignore her. Have you tried?” He attempted to make light of it. “Damn near impossible. She won’t let me.”

“I could go too?” Kathy offered. Please don’t leave me alone with Tom. Please.

”You will not. I need you here. I trust her to sort it out, and quickly. Agreed?”

Kathy nodded, still unhappy. What else could she do?

“She’ll be back before you know it. Now buzz off, let me think about how we go about this.”

”You’re still making a mistake.” Kathy whispered as she left the room. “For the both of you.”

She was devastated. Her best friend was being sent away, and it was because of her. Why had she taken that damn phone call?

***

”Why are you sitting here in the dark?” Lizzy slammed the switch with her palm as she walked in.

”Christ Almighty, woman.”

The fluorescent lights had gotten the better of Muldoon a long time ago. But Lizzy barely noticed, since she was on the hunt.

“I remembered you said you had my thesis in here, can I just-?” Lizzy had spotted it and was already reaching for the stack of papers on his desk.

“Would you make sense of something for me?”

”Sure, anything.” Lizzy straightened up, expecting a question about her research.

Muldoon should have stopped himself. Said literally anything else. But it happened. ”Why are you settling?”

He was either more foolhardy, or irritable than usual. Blame the drink.

”Settling?” Lizzy frowned. “I don’t understand?”

”Your little chat with Harding yesterday evening.”

”I-“ She was surprised. “You mean with Simon coming here? I’m not settling! It’s called a compromise.”

“Don’t give me that.”

”You’re different today.” Worry was creeping into her voice, and she actually took a step back. “Are you alright?”

”Are you trying to be infuriating on purpose?”

”God, no. I don’t-“ She stopped, huffed, and started again. “Please just tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand…whatever this is.”

“And I am failing to understand, Armstrong, why on Earth you’d humour someone who keeps trying to rein you in?” Muldoon had raised his voice as much as he could, considering how badly his head was pounding. “He should know by now, it bloody well can’t be done!”

”Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think my boss is supposed to be giving me relationship advice unless I ask for it.” She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, abruptly frosty towards him. “Pretty sure that’s against protocol.”

He’d assumed that when she finally lost the plot with him, as she had done with everyone and everything else on the island at least once, it would leave him feeling like he’d personally brought about Armageddon on all mankind. Completely bloody awful.

But it did the opposite. Angry Armstrong was even more captivating than usual. Why hadn’t he tried to piss her off on purpose before now? He couldn’t think of a good reason right at that second. His judgement was a little clouded.

It was awfully tempting to push her a bit further. Too tempting. So he did.

“Just accept I know what’s best for you, girl.”

That remark got him both eyebrows raised.

”Less of the girl, if you don’t mind.” She was downright haughty now. “What makes you think you know me at all?”

“I know you well enough.” Better than most. Better than he does, I’d bet.

”Oh, really?!” Lizzy almost laughed. “Just how well?”

“I know you need to be challenged. Even if that means you aren’t based on Site A anymore.”

“What are you saying?” Panic flashed across her face. “Are you firing me? For this?!”

Keeping her around for his benefit when she had the chance to carry out groundbreaking research was selfish. It wasn’t incorrect, what he said to Baker, behavioural study was Armstrong’s reason for being.

Not to mention he was in serious danger of emptying every bottle left on Nublar before her fiancé was on the helicopter back to the mainland. Someone was bound to notice. He just couldn’t do it.

It was for the best. Baker would be chilly towards him for a long time, but the alternative was much more difficult to deal with.

“You’re going to Site B, Armstrong. Indefinitely. Pack your bags.”

***

Thanks for reading!

Their first fight :(

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park fanfiction #jurassic park #my writing #my fanfiction #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #eventual smut #eventual romance

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 19

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: the usual swears

Wordcount: ~55.3k (19 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @howlingmadlady @arthurpendragonns (let me know if you want added!)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 18 | Chapter 20

Get The Funk Out - Extreme

Something was coming.

She was alone, walking down a lesser-travelled path through the rainforest. She could smell salt. The shore wasn’t far and the waves crashed unsteadily on the rocks. It was darker than it should be for the middle of the day. A storm was headed for the island.

Those details weren’t what made her palms sweat. She was being followed, watched, stalked, as she tried to remember how she got there. Or how to find her way back out. The trees all looked the same. No landmarks except the ocean nearby. She was lost.

There was rustling in the undergrowth dead ahead. The flapping wings of birds taking flight overhead made her start.

He- Hello?

Rustle rustle.

It’s just another bird. A really…really big bird.

More movement ahead of her. A low growl and twigs snapping. A flash of scales.

Scales?

Oh crap. Not a bird.

On her left, a branch moved. Her head whipped around and she was eyeball to eyeball, hazel to viridian with her second attacker. The real danger. Only this one had come from the side. She’d been ambushed.

Then the jaws snapped for her.

Run.

Kathy woke up with a sharp gasp to her alarm beeping angrily, her pillow gripped tight in clenched fists.

That same dream again. What was it, the third time now? This was getting ridiculous.

She reached for her glasses and stared at the mirror as her eyes focused, still sitting in bed. Blu-Tacked around the edges surrounding Kathy’s reflection, among the Polaroids of herself with Lizzy, Isaac and Ray were the family photos she’d brought with her from Minnesota. All her brothers. Mama and Papa. Grandma.

Since she was a little girl, her grandmother had confided in her that out of all the Baker siblings, she was sure that Katherine alone had ‘the gift’, whatever that was. Then again, Grandma was becoming increasingly wacky in her old age.

Yet Kathy couldn’t explain the overwhelming feeling she got sometimes, the prickle on her skin that told her don’t go there, don’t do that. It usually turned out to be correct, but she chalked it up to good luck and coincidences.

Never came through for her with the lottery numbers though, did it?

But the dreams, they were new. And they made Kathy uneasy. The feeling that something was coming for her.

She was on an island, and there was only so far she could run.

Enough was enough. Kathy decided to ask her best friend at breakfast if she believed that dreams could influence the waking world.

“No.” Lizzy replied bluntly, as Kathy had predicted she would. “I’m a scientist. We generally don’t. Sure, there’s instinct, or reflex, I guess-“ a sharp metallic tink tink as Lizzy tapped the scrambled egg ladle on the edge of her plate “-but that’s your reptilian brain talking. The primitive thing that tells you to duck and roll when the sabre-tooth cat stops finally stalking after you and charges. You want some eggs?”

“Primitive thing? If you’re talking about Kennedy again, Armstrong-“

Kathy hadn’t even realised Muldoon had joined the line behind them.

She huffed quietly, caught between them and suddenly invisible. Lizzy had been weird around their boss lately. She hadn’t said as much, but something had clearly happened out in the park when everyone else was told to clear the area for ‘shooting practice’. Kathy was considering getting Ray Arnold to pull the security tapes for her. Just to see what really went down.

All she knew was Lizzy had rocked up back at the staff lodge sounding like she had a fat lip and muttering something about falling off the Jeep. I fell. Sure. Heard that one before.

“I only engage with Tom after I’m caffeinated. You know this. Shame we don’t have sabre-tooth cats. Right up your street, Kathy. And maybe a herd of woolly mammoth for me.”

“M-hmm.” Bored. We were supposed to be helping me.

“Hammond had a-“ Muldoon started before thinking better of it. “On second thought, doesn’t matter.”

“He had a what? Not the flea circus again?” Lizzy had heard that story more than once already. They all had.

“Forget it. It’s not important.”

“You know I’ll find out anyway, right? I’ll annoy Donald until he tells me.”

”That won’t take long.” Muldoon muttered as he turned away to field a question from Rico.

Kathy cleared her throat impatiently. She was starving, and Lizzy was still hovering distractedly with the ladle, yet to fill up her plate.

The ethologist finally noticed. “What’s up?”

Kathy was staring meaningfully at Lizzy’s left ring finger as she answered. “Oh, nothing. I’m having creepy-ass dreams on the regular, but whatever.”

“No, I’m sorry, you’re right. This is important.” Lizzy smiled apologetically and finally loaded up Kathy’s plate for her. “Are you stressed?”

Kathy looked at her tray bashfully. “A little.”

Being Team Leader was hard, getting people to listen to her was practically Sisyphean. For all of Hammond’s spare no expense mentality, it was usually a struggle to get what she actually needed on the island, to do her job properly. But it was worth it in the end. The dinosaurs were extremely well cared for, perhaps even happy, because of her efforts.

But that wasn’t the worst part by miles. Tom was a thorn in her side. She had to psych herself up for a good few minutes before asking him to do anything. Playing her lines out over and over in her head before she said them. Scared he would downright refuse her. Then what? She’d have to go calling for help like a little girl.

Lizzy shrugged, satisfied that an answer was found. “Then that’s what it is! Seriously, I had this re-occurring dream around the time my thesis was due, that my examination panel was all hyenas, and every time I answered a question they would just laugh at me.”

“But-“ Kathy wasn’t sure. It’s more than stress. It’s got to be. It’s so real.

“Sorry, love.” Lizzy interrupted. “Dreams don’t mean jack shit.”

***

Word got around at breakfast that a new member of staff had arrived, and Gennaro was calling a meeting before the animal handlers dispersed to the four corners of the island on their morning rounds.

Apparently this person required a formal introduction, but for what, he wouldn’t say ahead of time.

“Morning, morning.” Lizzy surprised everyone by being the first handler to appear, sipping from an enormous mug of coffee.

She nodded at the red-haired man sitting quietly in the corner and smiled in greeting. As soon as he looked back down at his stack of notes she pointed at him and mouthed who the Hell is that? to Muldoon.

Be patient.

Lizzy tutted. “’Scuse me, need to crack a window. It’s bloody muggy in here already.”

As soon as her back was turned, the man cocked his head and let his gaze drift up her legs to the hem of her khaki shorts, daydreaming. Well, at least the island views are nice.

It was obvious he was caught staring too much when Muldoon cleared his throat.

“Sorry.” Edward Regis whispered quietly so the curly-haired woman couldn’t hear him. Damn. Not a good start on his first day.

Jesus, he was tired. He’d assured Hammond it was no problem to proceed with his new job the very same morning he flew in from the mainland at 3am. He was regretting that now. He hadn’t slept at all.

The breeze from the open window brought the smell of coffee wafting over to him from the curly-haired woman’s cup. That had to be genuine Costa Rican. He glanced around but couldn’t see a coffee pot anywhere in the room.

Now a group of young men were wandering in one by one, chattering away. They must be the animal handlers. His audience was here. Time to begin. But he could really use some caffeine.

Regis snapped his fingers at a pretty girl with braids as she walked into the room, bringing up the rear of the group. He failed to notice she was wearing the same uniform as the rest of them.

“Hey, sweetheart. Can I get a coffee? Cappucino?”

Kathy was already tense from her restless night and she just stared him down in disgust. “Around here, we get our own damn coffee. And don’t you dare call me sweetheart again, unless you’re the one bringing the drinks.”

Regis looked mortified while Lizzy and Isaac tittered to each other. Kathy sounded more and more like Ray Arnold with each passing day.

Muldoon intervened. “Baker is the Leader of our Carnivores Team. And she’s quite right. If you really don’t know how get a drink for yourself, ask Hammond’s assistant, not my staff.”

“My apologies. I just thought-“

“Yes, and Armstrong over there is the office cleaner, she just sits in on meetings for the Hell of it.” Was the scathing reply. Lizzy quietly let out an ohhhh until a look from Muldoon silenced her.

“Boy, tough crowd.” The newest recruit fidgeted with the collar of his polo shirt. This is not going well. “I’ll get started. My name is Ed Regis and I’m the guy for all your PR needs!”

Nothing. Not even a flicker.

Well, that wasn’t good.

By the end of his introduction the small crowd in the room seemed thoroughly bored. One of the older men, the veterinarian from the looks of it, was blatantly constructing a paper airplane right in front of him.

“Any questions?” Regis sighed with relief when it was over. He needed something stronger than coffee now, for sure. Wonder if there’s a bar here yet?

Lizzy immediately raised her hand, and as he pointed at her Regis noticed the stony-faced game warden smirk and stifle a laugh.

“Yes, you?”

”We don’t open until next year. We don’t have any public to relate to. Why are you here so early?”

Regis waited patiently for the sorry for asking that never came before awkwardly clearing his throat to answer.

“I may be mainly over on Isla Sorna until we open, filling more of a HR role. I understand they’ve got a couple of issues-“

Movement caught his eye. Gennaro was slowly shaking his head in the corner of the room. Shut your mouth.

“Uh, never mind. Not your concern.” Regis was starting to sweat. What had he gotten himself into? Hammond had been friendly, made the job seem so cosy, and these people sitting in front of him now were incredibly hostile. He checked his notes, fingers shaking. “‘Scuse me, just a sec-“

“But you just said you were in PR…and isn’t HR more for the companies benefit than the employees anyway?” Lizzy pushed for answers, she had the legal insight. “Why do we suddenly need it now? What’s happened on Sorna? Talk to me, Ed.”

Jeez, her confidence was sure as Hell grating. Nice legs, but too persistent.

Gennaro had clearly had enough, and took charge, leaving Lizzy hanging.

“Alright, I think we’re done here. Hammond wanted you all to know Regis’ face. That’s all. Don’t hesitate to bother him with any problems.” He continued under his breath as he motioned Regis to follow him from the room. “Now you can stop bothering me.”

Tom made a rude gesture at the retreating red head and a few of the other men chuckled.

Regis’ shoulders drooped as he realised they were heckling him from the room he had just left. He fought with himself to turn around and say something, a witty retort that would shut them up. But he wasn’t brave enough. Goddamn jocks.

“Hey, quit it!” Lizzy snapped.

Tom’s attention turned to her. “Yeah, guess you’re right. Better not scare him off. We’re gonna need carrot top to reassure the guests when you kill off yet another Hadrosaur.”

“Tom!” Kathy called out sharply, her forehead creasing in shock. “That’s enough!”

“Come on, Baker. Quit acting big. We all know you’re scared of me. Some Team Leader.” He snorted.

Lizzy practically breathed fire when Kathy’s name was brought up. “Leave her out of this. Your problem is with me. And I’m not scared of you.”

”Alright-“ This was escalating far too quickly. Muldoon got ready to step in, exchanging a look with Isaac. Hopefully the lad would have the sense to grab her if she launched.

They were both already on incredibly thin ice. Kennedy with him, Armstrong with Richardson. Maybe it was time for more drastic measures, short of knocking their heads together.

Lizzy grabbed two great clumps of her hair in frustration. “You have got to stop this. I thought things had changed.”

I can still see because of you. She didn’t care who heard. Their colleagues were all swapping worried glances. It wasn’t their usual back-and-forth anymore, that ended when Kathy was brought into it.

”Whatever gave you that idea?” Tom’s cheeks tinged red. Oh, he remembered all right. He was daring her to bring up the times he’d let his guard down before.

Muldoon was fed up of their drama. “That’s enough. You two, come with me.” They both hesitated. “Now!”

The scrape of chairs as they scrambled to their feet and left the room in a hurry.

“Never a dull moment around here.” Harding skilfully landed his airplane in the trash. “You want sedatives Muldoon, let me know.”

The Scot and the Texan elbowed each other in the ribs as they walked along the corridor, jostling to be first.

Lizzy prepared to stop as they passed the office doors. Park Warden…Animal Supervisor…Veterinarian. They were running out of options. Where were they going? ‘Out for a drive’ again?

Muldoon stopped dead and swung an apparently random cupboard door open. It was a cleaning cubby. Full of mops and brushes. And soon, two animal handlers.

“Get in.”

“Hey, look, I was just kidding around!” Tom insisted, but he wasn’t stupid enough to refuse.

“No way, he’s getting a time out?” Lizzy asked gleefully.

“You as well, Armstrong.”

“Huh?” No way she heard that right.

“Ha!” Tom couldn’t resist.

”I’m not asking.” Muldoon pointed. “In.”

“We literally just got a HR guy. This is definitely breaking some rules.” Lizzy moaned as she tried to squeeze in around Tom. “Get out of the way, loser. Christ Almighty.”

Kathy jogged up and stared in disbelief at her colleagues crammed in amongst the cleaning supplies before it was slammed shut. Muldoon frowned at her as he locked it.

“Not a word, Baker. This has to happen.”

“What if he hurts her?” Kathy asked nervously.

“If he wants to live to see another day, he won’t bother.”

“What if she hurts him?”

Muldoon seemed to genuinely consider the possibility. “Not enough space for her to wind up properly. It’s alright.”

“What if…something else happens?”

Kathy remembered what Lizzy had told her before. About that research student she initially hated. There’s no way the same thing would happen twice though, would it? Lizzy wouldn’t dare. Not again.

“What do you mean?”

Kathy chewed the inside of her cheek as she tried to figure out how to tell her boss it was a genuine concern of hers that his plan might work a little too well. “I, uh-“

“Baker, there’s an air supply. They’ll be fine. If this doesn’t make them work it out, then nothing will. One will have to go. I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

I hope it’s not Armstrong who goes. I might lose Baker too.

Forcing them to work the same jobs still hadn’t solved their personality clash like he’d hoped. This was a dangerous move that might raise some eyebrows, but there was nothing left to do except simply set them loose on each other and see what was left when the dust cleared.

They paused when María silently appeared behind them as if she had teleported through the wall. Hammond’s assistant blankly stared at the cupboard door while muffled shouting and cursing came from inside.

“It’s, uhm-…” Kathy glanced worriedly at Muldoon.

He waved a hand in front of María’s face to break her out of her trance.

“You have a key. Watch them until they calm down. They don’t come out, nobody goes in, alright?

María nodded. “Oui, monsieur.” And then, startling them both with a rare show of enthusiasm, she actually grinned happily. “Très bon!”

“You have got to be joking.” Kathy shook her head. Most unconventional. Nothing like this ever happened at the Smithsonian. “This is insane.”

“Come on. We’ve got work to do. If Richardson asks they locked themselves in by accident. Got it?” Muldoon motioned her to follow him.

“But it locks from the outside!” Kathy hissed as she strode after him.

***

The light in the cupboard flickered erratically. Tom was still thumping on the door while Lizzy yelled at him. “You couldn’t just shut your big mouth, could you!?”

“Big mouth? Big mouth!” Tom slammed his hand flat against the wall right by her head, looming over her. “You’re one to talk, Miss-Know-It-All!”

It was a proverbial red rag. Lizzy got right in his face and squared up to him. “Better a know-it-all than an insufferable prick!”

“You’re full of shit!” Tom roared back, wagging his finger at her. “Y’all just waltz in here, you with your goddamn ‘I’m a doctor’ and your fake accent, you really think you’re so much better than everyone else-“

“What on Earth are you on about?” What fake accent?

“That big-ass ring on your finger, showing off how rich you are all the time-“

“Hold it right there. I’m not rich.” Lizzy clicked her fingers in front of his nose, interrupting him.

“Holier-than-thou, spolit-“

“I’m not rich, asshole.” She repeated.

“Wait, what?” Tom quietened down. He looked taken aback, but not convinced.

“My fiancé’s family is. I’m not.”

“That’s bullshit! You don’t even know what poor is!”

That’s what this is all about? This is why he’s been such an ass to me?

“Look, ah-“ Lizzy plonked her butt down on an upside-down mop bucket. “Okay, here we go…I shared a bedroom with four brothers and sisters until I left home at fifteen. Our toilet was in a shed outside with no light switch. I kid you not, your arse would stick to the seat in the winter.”

“No shit.” Tom stared down at her in amazement. “We-uh, we got food stamps.”

“Absent father.”

“Abusive father.”

“Abusive mother. Checkmate.”

“Underage drinking.”

“Pfft, join the club. Teen pregnancy.”

“Dang, Liz-“ Tom was staring at her in shock. “Now, that is rough.”

“Mh-hm.” That one still really stung.

The atmosphere in the cupboard cooled down. Tom seemed like he couldn’t quite believe what she’d admitted to. That she’d just been so vulnerable in front of him.

“How’d you leave?” He asked her, almost shyly, after an awkward silence.

“I had this one teacher who wouldn’t take my shit any longer. She saw something in me, I guess. Everyone else confused bad behaviour with stupidity.”

Her guardian angel, Jennifer Crawford had stopped writing to her a few years back, and Lizzy couldn’t bear to go searching for the reason why. “You?”

“Something similar.” Tom scuffed his boots on the floor. “I was put forward for a sports scholarship. Still don’t know for certain who did it, but I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

“Teachers, man.”

”Yeah.” Tom found a box of paper towels to perch on, his knees squashed up close to his body since he was far too tall for their prison. “I don’t…I don’t really know why I told you all that.”

I do. Because we’re the same.

They both visibly relaxed as they sat there, hackles lowering.

Who knew they had some common ground. Poverty stricken childhoods. Then wrenched from the gutter of life by a single kind soul.

“Why do you talk like that then?” Tom wasn’t done interrogating her.

“Like what?”

“That’s not a Scottish accent.” He pointed out. “I mean, it is, but I can tell you’re covering it up. You make yourself easier to listen to. More propah. Ain’t that exhausting?”

“Just used to it by now, I guess.”

“My great-uncle Ned is Scottish and I can’t understand a damn word he says…” Tom muttered. “Why do you do it?”

“Think you just answered your own question.”

“You’re a hypocrite.” He shook his head after considering for a moment. “I know I sound like a backwoods hick, but at least I don’t pretend any different. Did you change the way you sound so your man’s family would like you?”

Lizzy opened and closed her mouth, thinking about the first time she met Simon’s veritable battalion of aunts and uncles, and how tired she’d grown of repeating herself again and again. She’d felt the rage swiftly boiling up at all of the whispered ‘does she even speak English?’ and ‘I can’t understand a darn word she says, can you?’ The term ‘poor education’ had been floating around a lot that day.

They just weren’t listening to her.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Tom gave her that infuriating smirk he was so good at.

“Possibly.” She growled at him.

“And there it is. That’s why you’re so damn loud all the time. You just want to make sure you’re heard.”

Lizzy scoffed. “Okay, point made. We’ve done me, now why are you such an asshole?”

Tom laughed and folded his arms.

“Just protective of what’s mine. I’m the oldest kid-“ another similarity they shared. “-I’ve always had to look after the rest.”

“How many have you got?”

“Twin sisters and a baby brother. He’s five now.”

Lizzy would have bet good money that like herself, Tom didn’t share a father with the rest of his siblings.

“I’ve- huh- never left Texas before. It was real hard quitting my job at San Antonio Zoo-“ Tom looked vacant, he was somewhere else, maybe back home. “-I worry about Mom, she always ends up with these shitty guys.”

“And you aren’t there to protect her anymore.”

“I got- I had my own place in San Antonio, but I still went home most days. Y’know. In case he came back. I’m bigger than him now.”

Lizzy went still, then clumsily tried to change the subject. She did know. “Least the money’s good here.”

“It’s great. Mom still gets pretty much all of my paycheck anyway. She needs it more than me.”

“Mine would just buy gear, or more drink with my salary.” She couldn’t relate. To have a parent who was present, and cared? Too much to ask for her.

“Yeah, okay Liz, I get it.” Tom’s moustache twitched as he smiled. He had a charming smile, when there wasn’t a sneer lurking behind it. “Your childhood sucked. So did mine. We ain’t competing right at this second.”

“Are we not?” Lizzy asked wryly. “I was kind of enjoying it.”

“Well, I guess we could keep going a little longer. For the sake of the others. I know how invested they are in our feud. Beats those awful telenovelas.”

“Fine, I’ll let you save face. For now.” Lizzy braced against the wall to stand up. “But maybe we should think about joining forces.”

I could use him on my side. He’s white. He’s male. He’s assertive. People will listen to him.

“Now that would really give them something to talk about.” Tom regarded her for the first time with something other than disdain. “Maybe you ain’t so bad, Liz.”

“Maybe likewise.”

“And…thanks for the uh- the uhm…the stuff.” Tom pointed at his eye.

“Arnica. You’re welcome.”

“It actually worked.” He snorted. “An eye for an eye. Two in your case. We’re even.”

Lizzy just nodded, unsure. She didn’t know whether she wanted to yell at him in joy or exasperation for being so contrary all the time. But maybe there was some decency there after all. Maybe, just maybe, they could work it out.

Muldoon was right. As-per-frickin’-usual.

She decided to go for the jugular. She just couldn’t quit, she might not get another chance for a while.

“Tom, who gave you that black eye?”

The corner of his mouth twitched downwards, like he was weighing up whether or not he trusted Lizzy. He really looked like he wanted to tell her.

But instead he turned away and thumped on the door twice.

“Hey! We’re good now, let us out!”

Lizzy slumped and shook her head. So, so close.

***

Thanks for reading!

This Lizzy/Tom thing has been in my head for AGES. I think of him as Season 1 Steve Harrington/Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso.

But he looks like Dacre Montgomery as Billy. How’s that for a visual.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction #jurassic park fic #jurassic park fanfic #ed regis #robert muldoon #john hammond #gerry harding #ray arnold #kathy #robert muldoon x female oc

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 33

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster? A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs. But would they die for it?

Jurassc Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: some swears, nothing explicit in this chapter, though heavily implied in the first half

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates. Thanks for bearing with me on this one folks, the first half of this year has not been a good one mentally)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 32 | Chapter 34

Magic Man - Heart

Daylight streamed brazenly into the room the next morning, the clear blue sky holding no memory of the previous night’s storm.

Lizzy awoke abruptly. As the solar rays blasted her directly in the retinas, she dimly registered it was coming from a different angle than usual.

Odd.

She quickly sat up - ouch!

No, she didn’t.

With a soft groan, she sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. Christ, her head was thumping.

The fuzzy outline of her glasses, folded on the bedside table next to what was presumably a glass of water, and two aspirin.

Very odd. Not something even sober Lizzy would do.

Her surroundings came into focus, including a digital clock that definitely wasn’t hers, and with it, a jumble of untidy memories. She squinted to read the first set of numbers on the LCD display.

One-zero.

Ten.

As in ten in the morning? That ten?!

Motherfu-

“Oh no, oh nonono-“ she quietly panicked, scrabbling around at her own body under the covers, checking. Still dressed, barely.

Well, that was something.

But she wasn’t alone in the bed. Lizzy already knew whose presence was beside her, she’d know him anywhere. In the depths of the jungle with not even a sliver of moonlight, she’d know him. She’d always known him.

Robert Muldoon.

I’m in Muldoon’s bed.

She couldn’t remember falling asleep. She couldn’t even remember how she got there. Nothing. Shitting nothing!

Lizzy quickly tried to work out how she felt about the situation, and how she was going to get out of it.

Was she embarrassed? Ashamed?

No, surprisingly neither of those.

Maybe a little disappointed that she still had her underwear on…?

Stop that, right now.

Lizzy certainly wasn’t pleased either. The blanks in her memory were worrying. She didn’t do that sort of thing anymore. And she certainly never slept past ten in the morning.

Enough stewing, she had to leave. She had to leave immediately.

She put her glasses on, downed the water and aspirin, and made to scramble off for a hasty exit.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” That very familiar deep voice with the East African twang confronted her.

She didn’t dare turn around to face him, who knew what kind of trouble she was in?

“Hello!” Lizzy hated how frantic she sounded. “What do you mean, going? I just got here! Haha, ha…haaaa-“

She could feel the intense stare on the back of her head.

A beat pause.

“Want to try that again?” Dry as ever.

Lizzy finally looked over her shoulder, offering a far less panicky “Morning.”

“That’ll do.” He grumbled. “Just got here…unbelievable.”

And then he appeared to fall right back to sleep.

Lizzy blinked in disbelief. That didn’t feel like a goodbye. Was she supposed to leave? Not leave? Had she done something? Were there expectations now?

Kathy would have a field day dissecting this one.

“Just a sec, er…what happened last night?” She ventured nervously. “What exactly did I do?”

“Hmm.” He languidly opened one eye to regard the worried set of her mouth. “What do you think you did?”

“No, don’t do that!” She moaned, rubbing her forehead. “I have concerns.”

“Concerns, eh? Oh, dear.” If she didn’t know any better, he was toying with her. And enjoying it far too much. “You really don’t remember?”

She shook her head, wincing, expecting the worst.

“You got extremely plastered and passed out on my bed.” He finally put her out of her misery. “The absolute state of you.”

“Is that all I did?” She asked warily with heavily implied meaning.

“That’s all.” He answered after drawing out the suspense a few moments longer. “ You have my word.”

“Oh, thank God.” Hand on her chest, her heart was pounding. Disaster averted. “Sorry.”

Not relieved that she hadn’t. But because that was something she’d definitely want to remember doing.

“S’fine. We both needed the rest.”

Something about his tone made Lizzy freeze. Now she recalled. She had intervened. Offered a distraction.

Oh, Christ…

She might not have done anything…indecent, but she couldn’t have been far off.

“Eh-heh…you sleep okay?” Lizzy enquired nervously, covering for her awkwardness. “I’m sorry if I snored.”

“…if?”

“My bad.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and started to scan the room for her clothes. “Simon needed earplugs. Sorry, again. That you saw me at my worst.”

”That wasn’t your worst.” Fire-breathing and sloshed wasn’t her worst by a long shot. He would take that any day, that he could handle. The mention of her ex-fiancé reminded Muldoon what her worst could be. How the New York lawyer had made her voice sound after their fraught phone calls. Meek, bargaining, unassertive. Thanks very much, but no.

Lizzy didn’t hear, too busy scouring the room for the rest of her clothes. She registered with dismay that her shorts were hanging off the door handle, where they’d landed when she kicked them off. She’d have to stand up to get them.

“Where are you going?” Distaste in his voice, no doubt at the mention of my almost-husband, Lizzy thought.

“Uh, where do you think?” She wasn’t in the mood anymore. Just let me leave. “Back to my room to unmake my bed so I can pretend I’ve been in it all night.”

“As if you ever make your bed.” When she started finger-combing her hair out instead of getting back under the covers, Muldoon figured he was being too subtle. “You…hm-…don’t have to go…just yet.”

“Come again?”

I don’t want you to leave.

“You could stay. For a bit longer. If you liked.” Too many words. He was nervous. That the answer would be a Hell no.

Lizzy was silent, mulling the idea over.

“If you’re not too angry at me.” He added.

”Nah.” She waved a hand. Not quite at peace with what he’d done, but close enough. Her primary emotion was still plain mortified at her own actions. “Think I made my point. It’s just-“

“There’s no rush.” He reassured her. “You’re- we’re already very late. I’m not even expecting anyone to turn up today. You’re off the hook.”

“So sleeping with the boss does pay off?” Lizzy wondered aloud. “Does last night count as overtime?”

“Careful.”

She gave him a lopsided smile.

“Actually…I do want to stay.” I never want to leave. “Rather a lot.”

“Then stay.”

Lizzy pointed at her shorts, festooning the doorhandle, like an extremely inappropriate Christmas garland. “Let me just-“

”You don’t need to do that, either. Fine as you are.”

Fine as you are.

“Outstanding-“ As she was swinging her legs up from the floor, Lizzy’s gaze fell on the near-empty bottle on the table and her smart comment died on her lips.

Everything came screaming back, the snub from Hammond, the strange man groping her, her screaming match with Ed Regis, the raptor attack on Rico-

Rico…

Oh my God, Rico.

Lizzy felt her breath catching in her throat, forcing air in, in, in, into her lungs in short gasps until she was certain her chest would burst.

Muldoon frowned, stopping mid-sentence. “Remember to breathe, Armstrong.”

She glanced at him, wide-eyed, hand outstretched, searching for something to lean on. She was losing control, failing to do as he instructed.

”You aren’t listening to me, woman. Breathe.”

“Trying-“ She managed to choke out. “Can’t.”

“Right-“ Muldoon wasted no more time. “Come on. You’ve been doing it since the day you were born, one should hope you’d be reasonably good at it by now.”

She didn’t know how or what he had done to move her, because she wasn’t in the room anymore, and her feet no longer felt stuck solidly to the floor as if she was ankle-deep in quicksand.

She was gone, somewhere else; out in the park, and back in time.

Lizzy had a brief flashback to the stinging burn of leather on the back of her knees as she was pulled across the front seats of a Jeep while the door crumpled inwards and the windscreen frosted, the heat and dust in her nostrils and throat, the faint bellow of a charging Triceratops, recalled and forgotten again in an instant.

It only added to her fear, the feeling the world was crashing down, imploding around them.

“Now-“ Muldoon clasped both her icy, clammy hands in his. “Breathe.”

I. Can’t.

“In through your nose when I squeeze, out through your mouth when I let go.” He directed. “You’ve got to slow down, Lizzy.”

Mercifully from Muldoon’s point of view, she wasn’t compos mentis enough to ask how, why, he had known exactly what to do to stop her hurting herself further. It wasn’t a happy tale, one he didn’t have the energy to recount there and then.

Eventually, each breath slower than the last, Lizzy returned, shaky and pale.

She realised she was once again horizontal in his bed, only this time propped up against him.

Safest place on the island! Her brain offered unprompted, wildly cheerful.

Jeez, I really am losing it.

It pained Muldoon terribly to see her gasping for air like that, clutching at her heart. His stoicism paused, he knew normally she found it reassuring, but right then she needed a lot more from him.

He rested his chin against the top of her still-damp hair and murmured “You’re not alright, are you, love?”

Her sharp inhale nearly triggered a second panic attack. The second word he’d said that had made her gasp, for completely different reasons.

Any other time, Lizzy would have melted. But she didn’t have the energy to feel, to do anything other than lean back, still holding hands, and try and match her too-quick breathing to his. Though her heart was thrumming twice as fast, as if she were a prey animal, caught.

Lizzy was trying her hardest to keep the tears in. Fearful that if she started, she wouldn’t stop. Just sob endlessly until she was too exhausted to continue. She’d held it together long enough for Rico’s sake, and now she was falling apart.

“No, I’m not.” She gulped. To admit it, to be vulnerable, to ask for help, was always difficult for her. Lizzy Armstrong was indestructible, indomitable, independent. Or perhaps she’d only managed to pretend she was for an awfully long time. “What gave it away?”

“Not so sure I am, either.” Muldoon confessed quietly. “But we have to carry on, for the rest of them. You and I are the ones they look for to lead.”

He was right. This was the life they’d willingly chosen. They were no strangers to animal attacks. They could both handle it.

In a lapse in judgement, Muldoon added. “Besides, we don’t know for sure that the worst has happened.”

Blast, why’d I have to go and say that?! I know, she knows, he couldn’t have survived the night. If he has it won’t be long…

He cursed himself. It was damn hard to concentrate properly with the object of his desire curled up in bed with him.

“Hang on-“ Lizzy had hissed in pain when he absent-mindedly shifted his hold further down her wrist. “What happened to your arm?”

“Oh-“ She hurriedly tried to hide under the covers, too late. She’d bruised vicious purple. Adrenaline pumping, she hadn’t realised at the time how intent the rich businessman had been on acquiring her. “It’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing.” Finger marks. “Who do I need to have words with?” The rush of anger, blinding rage was quite something. Whoever has done this had better start running.

Lizzy didn’t mind the distraction, at least her thoughts had stopped racing and she was feeling something other than anguish. Neither did she mind the excuse for him to hold her hands a little longer.

She explained. “Tom dealt with it. Quite diplomatically.”

“Maybe I’m too hard on the lad. I wouldn’t have been so tactful.”

”Didn’t have you down as the jealous type…” she muttered.

Not jealous. Not like when Armstrong’s face had turned terribly pink as she insisted fiercely she wasn’t jealous of other woman he’d been seeing.

He didn’t feel threatened of losing Lizzy to someone else.

What Muldoon felt was envy. That someone who didn’t deserve her, who hadn’t appreciated how good he’d had it, how lucky that New York lawyer was that he had met her first-

But they weren’t talking about him. The Ex. Only a stranger. An entitled businessman who had gotten too handsy and who was already, if he knew what was good for him, far away on the mainland, for daring to touch her.

No, not jealousy.

Envy.

And that manifested as-

”I’m not. Just protective-“ He continued. “-of what’s mine.”

“Yours?” She became incredulous. “After falling off the wagon last night, you’re under some sort of impression I belong to you?”

She’d really better be going.

“I meant more in the sense of-“ Lizzy stood up and his jaw dropped. “Christ, Armstrong!”

“What?” She twisted back to face him, panicking, that there was a gruesome injury on her body from scrambling around in the undergrowth she must have missed the night before.

“You know fine bloody well!” Eye contact was a lost concept. “Turn back around…”

Oh, she knew that tone.

”No!” Not normally self-conscious Lizzy felt very exposed. “Stop that!”

”Stop what?” She saw a flicker of what he must have been like as a young man in Kenya. Before life had happened to him. The side that only she knew existed, and was incredibly elusive.

It only made her fall a little harder.

“Looking at me like that!” Lizzy wondered if she could make it out of the door in time, before she was pushed up against it. “That look’s going to get us in a lot of trouble.”

Why, how hadn’t he noticed last night? He couldn’t have been hammered enough not to notice that. Could he? Unacceptable.

”Hear me out- I’ve suddenly found the willpower to never drink again.” He looked up at her accusingly, as if it was her fault for not thinking of it sooner. “Maybe if you’d started with this angle-“

“I…now who’s unbelievable?!”

“That particular…angle…” With an effort, he met her gaze. “Yes, maybe you’d better leave now, or you won’t be leaving at all.”

Lizzy’s eyes widened.

That nearly did it for Muldoon. “Go, please.”

Lizzy had an epiphany as she carefully backed away, reaching out blindly for her sleep shorts.

Avoiding him because of her own demons when he needed her most wasn’t going to work long-term. She had to stop selfishly disappearing because it was easier. She had to choose to be brave. They were going to get through this together.

“If you’re…struggling, with…wanting a drink-“ Lizzy huffed as she hoiked her shorts up over her hips “-promise you’ll come and find me first. Please.”

“For what?”

“To be a distraction.” She smirked wickedly. “I seem to have an effect on you.”

“…already very distracting...” He managed drag his gaze up to meet her eyes. “What’s that smile for?”

Now dressed, with her hand on the door handle, Lizzy felt safer. He was fast, but not that fast.

“Because I’m not even trying-“ Still, she didn’t feel brave enough to test that theory. “-yet.”

A parting shot as she quickly slipped away.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Armstrong-“ Muldoon groaned and lay back, speaking to the now empty-room. ”But I think I’m alright with that.”

***

Lizzy emerged corridor-side as Tom rounded the corner in just his boxer shorts, almost flattening her. He clumsily halted before the collision, took in the sight of her bare legs with sleepy eyes, nodded appreciatively, then did a double-take as he noticed which room she was escaping from.

The door swung shut with a click as the realisation dawned on both their faces.

Dammit.

Caught.

“Haha ha, ha-“ Tom broke into an enormous foamy grin around the toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. “Hey, alright, alright, alright! Was it like a sneeze, but better?”

“Jesus, keep it down.” Lizzy complained. “Nothing happened.”

“Boring!” He smirked. ”I guess I believe you. Your hair doesn’t look any worse than usual.”

“Well, if you’re feeling brave-“ She jerked her head back at the door. “-ask the man himself.”

”I could...” His face fell. “But then again, I value my life.”

“Seriously.” Her headache had tripled its efforts, the aspirin wasn’t doing its job. “Please don’t tell anyone. I have enough to worry about.”

Tom basked in her imploring expression, making an Oscar-worthy show of weighing up his options, before nodding.

“Obviously I won’t tell.” He reassured. “My snitching days are over, since I actually kind of like you and that Baker chick. You can relax.”

“With you around?” Lizzy tutted. “Never fully relaxed. But thanks.”

“Pretty mega though.” He could still tease her as much as he liked. Not a thing she could do. “Awfully tempting.”

”You want my dinner money? Fine.” Lizzy groaned. “Just keep your trap shut.”

Tom pondered for a moment. Not her money. Perhaps something far more valuable. Maybe a favour involving the ethologist’s Minnesotan best friend.

“I might want something.” He mused aloud, waggling his toothbrush at her for emphasis. “But it can wait. All in good time.”

“I’m far too tired to even attempt to figure out what that means.” She sighed, holding up her hand to silence the inevitable because you weren’t doing much sleeping? comment. “Have you heard anything from the mainland?”

“About Rico?” Tom turned sombre in an instant. “Not yet. But the chopper came in to land hours ago.”

“Huh.” Lizzy ran a hand through her hair, deep in thought.

“I assume, one way or another, you didn’t hear it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I did not. Heavy rain and all.”

”Doncha mean, ‘we did not’?” The infuriating grin returned. “What base you get to?”

Lizzy just stared.

“Jesus.” Tom was disappointed at her refusal to take the bait this time. “Loud and clear. No bases. Not even a game.”

”Speaking of which..” Lizzy tailed off as she spotted a familiar red-haired head bobbing past the window at the end of the corridor, a freckled face belonging to the island’s resident baseball fan.

”Oh, hey.” Tom pointed. “Ed’s back.”

”Wait right here.” Lizzy told him vacantly. “There’s something I need to do.”

***

2 weeks later

Ray Arnold was dying. Or, at least, he felt like he wasn’t far off. Kathy Baker had dragged him out of his inner sanctum to march across the island on a hike; which, in this humidity, was going to kill him a lot faster than his smoking habit.

“How ‘bout that game, huh?” He wheezed.

“It was fine.” Kathy answered tersely.

Sure enough, the Cowboys had won the Superbowl. And the die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan had lost herself a bet from siding with the Bills. Tom had been insufferable.

”Oh, shit, sorry.” Ray cursed himself. “Yeesh.”

“Just over this next rise…” Kathy promised as the path rose upwards out of the treeline. In the next few seconds they’d have a fantastic view of- ”Oh.”

Nothing.

Dense fog in every single direction.

”Now, how about that-“ Arnold mustered the last of his energy to swagger up behind her.

”Shut up.” Kathy grumbled.

“Look, I know you mean well, honey-“ He couldn’t have cared less about the vistas. He could see them in HD, from any angle, at any time, with a lot less effort. “-but you’re killing me over here!”

“Ray Arnold. You have got to get out of that room.” She insisted. “Get some damn Vitamin D. Enjoy the tropical paradise.”

”I enjoy it just fine from behind a monitor. Anyway, it looks like goddamn Alcatraz from above.” He wiped his brow. “This goddamn never-ending fog.”

“Mia’s gonna whoop both our butts if we don’t start getting into shape…” Kathy dangled a threat in front of him.

The engineer paled at the mention of his wife.

“That’s what I thought.” She nodded, satisfied, and inhaled deeply. “Smell that?”

“Smell what?”

”Fresh. Air.” Her enthusiasm wasn’t catching. “I’m not surprised your senses are dulled. And your lungs must be, like, ninety-per-cent ash at this point.”

“I prefer the term well-done. Lightly cremated. Cajun.” Arnold’s eyes darted anxiously around. “Wasn’t it around here that Rico kid got, er…”

“Might be, I dunno…” Kathy quickly brushed it off, but she knew exactly where they were, and what had happened in the bushes thirty feet downhill to the right of the path. She could still remember the smell of the blood, and the raptor saliva, mixed with sodden earth and moss-covered branches. The whir of the helicopter blades. Rico’s awful rattling and groaning as he fought for his life.

She tried to think of something else. Dwelling on that rainy winter night for too long felt like tempting the fates. Bad luck.

Improving Arnold’s life expectancy wasn’t the sole purpose of the hike, but it was a good enough distraction from other problems.

Earlier, Lizzy and Muldoon had vanished, yet again. The pair giving the same, vacant, I’m a bit busy, over replies to radio messages. Liz, girl, puh-lease. I can hear you in the background when he answers! They were clearly on another super-important, totally-work-related task, no doubt. Those seemed to be increasing in frequency of late.

Even when they were around the rest of the team, the silent communication thing was getting real old. How with a glance Muldoon could make Lizzy beam at some inside joke only they shared, seeing nothing but each other in a room full of people.

Ugh, sickening.

Kathy had given up asking what’s so funny. All Lizzy would do was grin even wider and shake her head. You wouldn’t get it. Kathy was lonely. At least Ray was consistent, his sarcasm predictable and comforting.

Smithsonian job offer aside, it filled her with dread to think she might actually be losing Lizzy ahead of time. Who promised her otherwise, that ‘us girls’ would still hang together whenever possible, but since New Years kept on ditching her for a certain park warden at every opportunity.

Maybe that was why she’d agreed to Tom’s high-risk low-reward Halftime Show bet.

“Hey man, can I ask you something?” Kathy piped up.

The engineer gave an affirmative wheeze.

“Tom said if the Bills lost I had to go on a date with him-“

“Oh, shit!” Arnold yelled, sounding horrified, shocked, scared?

Kathy bristled. ”Jeez, it’s not that big of a-“

”No, girl!” He was by her side in a flash, future emphysema be damned. “Dino just ran across the path behind us! It’s outside the fences!”

“Why were you-“ She turned, about to finish with looking behind us? only to see a sheepish Arnold, with a fresh cigarette poking from his mouth. “Darn it, Ray!”

“Sorry, honey.” Arnold paused, his lighter already on its way upwards from his pocket. “It’s on account of my nerves.”

”Yeah, well…” She gestured at him in exasperation. “What’d it look like? The dino?”

“I dunno.” The engineer spoke around his cigarette. “Kinda…pointy?”

Kathy raised an eyebrow. ”Pointy? That the best you can do?”

“Give me a break! Like…if a greyhound were a reptile, I guess?”

“O-kay…” She muttered. “Narrows it down, I guess…”

Not a herbivore.

“‘bout yea big?” Arnold held his hands apart, measuring.

”Probably just a compy.” Kathy deduced, her alarm ebbing. “They’re everywhere. Can’t keep ‘em in.”

“Dangerous?” Arnold looked edgy.

Kinda big for a compy though…

”Not when you’re with me.” Kathy patted his arm reassuringly. “Scavengers. You’ll be fine, just don’t keel over right here from sucking on those cancer sticks.”

“Can’t promise anything, sweetie.”

Kit was the expert after all. Probably just a compy or whatever, like she said. For watching them all day long, Arnold only knew them as names on a graph, numbered dots on the tracking system. He couldn’t actually pick species out of a line-up.

Now his girl was looking at him expectantly.

”What now?”

”Ya gonna put that out?” She suggested dryly. “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires!”

”Nuh-uh. Need my fix. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it my way.”

Kathy heaved an incredibly loud drawn-out sigh and about-turned to lead the way back to base.

Arnold cheerfully exhaled a cloud of smoke, visibly more relaxed as they moved off. “Now, spill. About this date-“

***

“Teething problems, dear boy!” Hammond spun his cane hypnotically as he sat in the living room of his bungalow. “Every zoo in the world has had teething problems at some point in its development.”

”Is Gennaro-?” Ed Regis pointed his thumb back towards the door.

He reflected that he felt not unlike the prehistoric insect frozen in time atop the old man’s walking stick. Encased in amber. Trapped. Doomed.

He’d never been in Hammond’s abode before. The only place on the island not covered by a single security camera or monitoring device.

”Donald couldn’t make it.” The creator of InGen sharply cut him off. “We don’t need him today. What was I saying...”

Thank you Regis muttered as María placed a laden tea tray in front of him.

”-Ah, yes! And besides, it isn’t a mere zoo!” Hammond continued pontificating. “Jurassic Park is an experience.”

“I understand that-“

”And they will experience it. The children will experience it.” Hammond seemed almost giddy that his creation had indeed proved to be lethal. “I’m not at all concerned.”

“Mr Muldoon wants to put it down.” Ed offered. “The raptor. Has for a while. He’s been quite vocal about it.”

“That man? Vocal? About anything?” Hammond raised both eyebrows, his already furrowed brow wrinkling deeper. “No. You’re mistaken.”

“And he seems to have quit drinking recently…”

“Has he now? Hm. We’ll see.” Now that actually seemed to concern the older man. “It’s a very stressful job he has.”

“He’s sweet on Mis-…uh, Dr Armstrong.” Regis added. “Who is vocally against euthanasia of the raptor.”

Ed wasn’t quite sure why. That animal was vicious. And the raptor too he internally chuckled to himself.

“Then maybe everything will work out by itself.” Hammond nodded. “But it wouldn’t do any harm to fan the flames of that particular domestic, if you can.”

“You don’t think maybe its the, er-…” Ed gulped before proceeding. “-right thing to do?”

To say the young sports fan was having a crisis of faith after the accident was putting it mildly.

”Euthanasia? Out of the question.” Hammond turned stony-faced and Regis immediately regretted speaking out of turn. “You do realise, that animal, once fully-grown, is of greater monetary value than a court settlement for wrongful death?”

”I, uh-“

”More valuable than a dozen court settlements?”

Regis nodded his head mutely.

“No. I simply won’t have it!” Hammond continued, tapping his cane sharply on the tiled floor to drive his words home. “The boy was just a construction worker.”

Just?

Regis scratched his head, terribly hot under the rim of his hat. ”Mr Hammond, sir, it was actually one of the animal handlers.”

He had left out the part where it had been his idea in the first place, to put the raptor out on display. How Liz Armstrong had goddamn barked at him from the doorway of the staff lodge, the first time she’d laid eyes on him the morning after the accident, standing there with her arms crossed, in her PJs.

Hell, that would probably come back to bite him, calling her a dog. She might eventually forgive him, but she sure as Hell wouldn’t forget it.

But that was a problem for another day. As far as Armstrong was concerned, Esteves was still in a critical condition, deep in the clutches of a coma, lying prone in a San José hospital bed.

She didn’t yet know the boy was dead. None of them did. The other animal handlers were starting to ask when they could visit Rico on the mainland, if he was well enough to come home yet, and Ed was fast running out of excuses.

”You’re misremembering, son. It was only a construction worker.” Hammond’s voice turned appeasing, child-like, terribly persuasive. It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it. “And it was a construction accident. These things happen. With a, er…backhoe, I believe? An awful tragedy.”

Regis’ shoulders drooped. “Yes, sir.”

“It’s quite alright, my boy. The local families never push for lawsuits, they can’t afford it.” He tittered. “And if they did, they certainly wouldn’t win.”

“He was-“ Ed Regis stopped and tried to remember. Esteves was-, had been Spanish, or was it Portuguese? He couldn’t recall. In any case, not local.

“Yes?”

Regis saw then that he couldn’t win either. Like the bereaved family with their compensation money, he’d have to take his helping of guilt and run, since he wasn’t getting any sympathy from his employer.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds.

He sighed in resignation. “Careless, sir. He was careless.”

Hammond looked at him reproachfully. “How many times, dear boy?”

Ed Regis adjusted his baseball cap again with a strained smile. “Sorry, John. You’re right, of course. The boy was careless. And look where it got him.”

***

“Not that this isn’t, y’know, stunningly beautiful-…“ Lizzy pointed oceanward, to the all-consuming fog wrapped around the shore. “But why are we here?”

Muldoon took his time answering her. ”So you didn’t want me to take you to the beach today?”

The ethologist cast her arm around at the waterfront. What beach? No sand, just boulders, as far as the eye could see. Which currently, was only a few metres. Cracking.

A boat horn sounded in the distance.

“We’re here, because as much as I care for you, Armstrong-“

Lizzy feigned an itchy nose to cover her smile.

“-we need to have a chat about your animal.”

“Which animal?” She stopped itching. Her heart sank.

“I’ve given you long enough. The way that raptor acts with you now-“ He shook his head.

The ethologist had been trying her hardest to regain the raptor’s trust after the cage break, but she now clearly associated Lizzy with danger, fear and pain. The dinosaur snarled every time she made eye contact. Lizzy was afraid there was no return, and each failed training session made her heart ache a little more. Their bond was ruined.

I’m trying to help you, clever girl. Why can’t you figure that one out?

”Mm-hmm.” She answered unhappily, staring out into the pale void. The worst part was, as much as she hated to admit it, now she was attached to the damn animal.

You have to let me help, or bad things are going to happen to you.

“We’re at an impasse.” Muldoon was ever-practical. “You know it.”

“Is that why we’re here? If I continue to disagree with you then you’ll…maroon me?” Lizzy was still searching for the reason why Muldoon had driven her to the East dock that afternoon, of all places. “Send me out to sea on a raft with a single bullet?”

“It’s occurred to me I’m not longer capable of looking at this objectively, since your safety, or lack of, is all I can think about.” Muldoon checked his watch. “And I would quite like to keep you alive and in one piece, mostly for my own selfish reasons.”

“It’s a wonder you get anything else done.” She couldn’t resist a dig of her own. You’re not the only one who survived Africa. “What with worrying about me taking up so much of your day.”

“It’s exhausting.” The park warden agreed, deadpan. “Look here, I made a call to Sorna. To someone who knows that animal nearly as well as you do. I thought you should meet her. Maybe then you’ll see sense.”

Now that pissed her off. Nobody knows that animal anywhere near like I do.

The rumble of a small boat engine rounding into the dock echoed through the fog.

Lizzy ignored it.

”Her? You’re speaking to other women on the phone without telling me now?” She was making a poor attempt at hiding her discomfort with humour. She felt blindsided.

“I really don’t want to fall out with you over this, Lizzy.” Muldoon reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Her bad shoulder.

“Me neither.” She moved away from him and stared at the ground. “But I’m afraid that’s inevitable now.”

”I’ll do what I have to.” He answered firmly. “Even if this doesn’t go your way, we need to make the decision.”

“Then stop talking like you’ve already made it for me!” Lizzy hissed, beginning to lose her temper.

The boat engine suddenly cut out.

“Doctor Armstrong, I presume?” A female voice called from beyond view.

The wind picked up, clearing the shoreline, and Lizzy’s stomach turned over when she saw that the woman stepping gingerly onto the dock was missing exactly one-and-a-half fingers from her right hand as she raised it to the both of them in greeting.

Lori Ruso gave a tight-lipped smile and cast a critical eye over the skyline of Isla Nublar as she shielded her face from the weak glare of a sun determined to burn its way through the low clouds.

“So, tell me-“ She asked coolly. “What’s become of my raptor?”

***

Thanks for reading!

As mentioned, a tough time mentally recently where I have doubted myself and my writing ability A LOT. Lots of oh God I’m Shit moments. Normal service resuming.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #my writing #my fanfiction #jurassic park fanfic #jurassic park ocs #jurassic park fanfiction #jurassic park 1993 #robert muldoon x ofc #robert muldoon #ray arnold #kathy baker #kathy #longfic #slowburn #lizisshortforlizard

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 18

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: the usual swears, use of firearms

Wordcount: ~51.2k (18 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @howlingmadlady @arthurpendragonns (let me know if you want added!)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 17 | Chapter 19

**this chapter is pretty much all Muldoon, and especially x ofc (Lizzy) finally!! Y’anno…the whole reason I even started writing this. Just fyi that its more romance than sci-fi, still totally PG just that they are idiots flirting without even realising. Also Rexy is there**

New Sensation - INXS

“Baker…? Baker!”

“Huh?” Kathy jumped and accidentally honked the Jeep’s horn. “Shoot, sorry-“

“I said, did anyone die while I was away?” Muldoon asked again. “Livestock or otherwise.”

She laughed nervously, her eyes darting side to side. “Yeah, no. All good.”

Muldoon reckoned his deputy was on edge. He knew exactly how to get her to talk, but she wouldn’t like it.

“Katherine?”

Oh shit. Her eye twitched and she shrunk backwards, trying to become one with the driver’s seat. Why did he have to pull the dad voice on me?

“Ughh…yeah?” Kathy enquired in a tiny, resigned murmur. She could feel herself being stared down.

“Tell me.“

“It’s fine!” She answered far too quickly.

“You’ve stalled the Jeep three times since you picked me up. Things are not fine. Has somebody been saying things about you?”

“No- Don’t be mad.” Kathy pleaded.

“I won’t be if you start talking.“

She hummed several times before blurting out “There was an accident!”

“Armstrong?” His heart leapt into his mouth.

“Yeah, how did you-“

“Of course it was her. What happened?”

“Lizzy got spit at by a dilophosaur a few days ago. It went in her eyes. Turns out they’re venomous.” Kathy shrugged. “Did you know that?”

Venomous? Spit at her?

“Of course not. Is she alright?” He dreaded the reply. Blacklaw might currently be en route to Costa Rica to skin him alive.

“She can see. Pretty well, considering.”

“As well as before?”

Kathy sighed unhappily. “No, she has to wear glasses now. I loaned her a pair of mine.”

“And has Richardson done anything about it?”

“Take a wild guess.” She’d been hanging around Arnold for long enough that the engineer’s sarcastic drawl could be heard in her voice, her disapproval clear.

Muldoon went dead silent.

“Are you-“ Kathy ventured.

“Drop me off at the lab. I need to speak to Dr Wu.”

***

Baker had folded and told him the finer details long before they reached the visitor centre. It turned out Armstrong hadn’t been trying to make friends with the damn thing, she’d been on the other side of the fence, thirty feet away. Thirty!

Now, he was going to ruin Henry Wu’s day. Muldoon didn’t much like being in the lab, he didn’t see how people could stand working indoors all day. He made a conscious effort to stay out of his own office. Meanwhile, Richardson seemed to have the opposite problem. He would deal with him in good time.

“Afternoon, Dr Wu.”

“Muldoon.” Wu was standing with his clipboard beside one of the sequencing machines. “This isn’t your usual haunt.”

“I did have a good trip, thank you for asking. You can probably guess why I’m here, since I’m still on leave until tomorrow.”

Wu nodded, frowning as he tapped a few buttons on the sequencer, which had started to beep every few seconds. “Lizzy Armstrong got too close to the dilophosaurs, correct?”

Damn. Gennaro or Hammond had already cornered him, and told him to spin it like it was her fault.

“No, that’s not correct. Have you been hiding in here, instead of asking Dr Armstrong what really happened?”

Wu finally began to look guilty, and sank down into a chair wearily. “Is she alright?”

“Could be worse, so I’m told.” Haven’t you even been to check for yourself?

“That’s good.” Wu nodded encouragingly.

“Not really. Her career might have ended, because of your animals. I don’t think you can imagine how ticked off I am.”

“Oh, I’ve an inkling.” Wu replied unhappily. It was no secret that Armstrong and Muldoon had something. There were plenty of rumours floating around the island, despite her being engaged to someone else. Either way, the big man standing in front of him definitely wasn’t happy that his…whatever-she-was had been injured, and that was a very bad thing.

The game warden wasn’t finished. “Armstrong’s more than aware of the risks, working out here. In spite of all her quirks, she’s careful. But it might have been a guest.”

Wu held up his hands. “What happened was a very unfortunate accident, nothing more. But, like you said, in a way it’s better we find out now, yes? Before the park opens?”

“That is not what I said.”

Muldoon had been in a much better mood after the trip back to Africa, too bad that was all rapidly fading away, the old stresses returning. Hope Arnold has restocked his ‘filing cabinet’…

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of what’s happened, Wu. If she wanted, and I’m strongly urging her, believe me, Armstrong has rights to sue the company and be set for the rest of her life. Which would reflect very badly on you.”

“Are you threatening me, Muldoon?”

“Not quite. If I were doing that I’d have brought a shock prod. I’m saying that you need to come up with some answers before Armstrong decides to visit you herself. I won’t stop her.” As if I could. “So, got any bright ideas?”

Wu cocked his head, thinking hard of a way to redeem himself. “I can have a look at the DNA sequence and see if any venom-coding genes can be removed while still producing viable embryos in the next batch.”

The next batch. Hammond’s definitely talked to him. He won’t allow us to halt breeding or destroy them. They’re even more interesting now we know they’re venomous. More profitable. More marketable.

Muldoon shook his head. “That doesn’t solve my problem that there are animals out in the park now that can maim from thirty feet, maybe more, and my staff are going to have to get closer than that at some point!”

“There is another solution-“ Wu said carefully, so as not to anger him further.

“I’m listening.”

“It won’t be well received, but you could put the dilophosaurs under. Remove the venom glands via surgery. Problem solved.”

That was better. “I’m sure Harding would be up for hacking away at them.”

Wu paled at his word choice. “Maybe so. But good luck getting the go-ahead from Hammond.”

“It’s happening.” He wasn’t worried about Hammond. There were other safety matters he could bring up as bargaining chips. “Check the rest of the species for hidden talents. Then do yourself a favour and visit Armstrong to apologize.”

“I didn’t do-“

Muldoon couldn’t listen to him anymore. “Too bloody right you didn’t. But you should have.”

***

Harding was easy to get on board, Hell he had practically rubbed his hands together with glee at the prospect of slicing open a dinosaur so he could have a rummage around inside. The man needed a damn raise. He wasn’t a doctor, but he seemed to be attending as many human patients as prehistoric ones lately. Half the time it seemed to be Isla Nublar’s accident-prone ethologist.

Muldoon now had to find the woman in question. Chaos on two legs. He eventually tracked her down in her room, her face lighting up as she opened the door for him.

“Hey, you’re back!” She sounded excited, grinning. “Good trip?

“I leave you alone and look what happens.”

“Right? You’re never leaving me again.” She leaned against the doorframe, casually blocking the pile of laundry on the chair behind her. “Too dangerous.”

Her hair was running wild, she hadn’t bothered to tie it back. At that moment the sun reappeared from behind a cloud and the glow coming through the window backlit her curls in a halo around her head.

Oh come on, really?

“I have to wear these now.” She said, pointing at the thick frames taking up half of her face. “Kathy had a spare pair. Pain in the arse switching between sunglasses all day long, but my depth perception’s pretty screwed.”

“I’m sorry.” He thought she actually suited glasses, looking even more deserving of her PhD status, the lenses magnified her hazel eyes, making them huge compared to the rest of her features.

Lizzy shrugged. “It’s about time, really. I’ve been lucky so far. Did I ever tell you about when I was camping and a male lion fell asleep on top of my tent?”

“That doesn’t sound very lucky?”

“Maybe not, but there wasn’t permanent damage that time.” Her tone stayed level, but he could tell she was pissed off, and rightfully so.

Bugger.

She looked tired. Fed up with everyone making a fuss of her. Probably hadn’t gotten much sleep either. Her eyes were still raw and bloodshot, like she’d been rubbing at them, the discomfort and dryness would be keeping her awake. Fortunately Muldoon had an idea of how to improve her mood.

Technically he wasn’t back until tomorrow, what could it hurt?

“Come on Armstrong. I’m taking you for a drive.”

***

“Anyone around the West side of the rex paddock, clear off. Shooting practice underway.” Muldoon set the radio back on the dash.

“Shooting?” Lizzy swung her legs put of the door to hop down. God, she was relieved. The niggling feeling of unease at the back of her mind had finally gone away.

“I need to know if you’re of any use to me at all now.”

“I’m of plenty use. I’m your undercover ethologist.”

“And more trouble than you’re worth. Go on then, let’s check how lousy your aim is.” Muldoon passed her the gun.

Not what Lizzy had expected from the day when she’d gotten out of bed that morning, to be set loose blasting Hell out of a rotten tree with a shotgun.

“My aim is not lousy.”

“Prove it.”

No problem. Nothing she hadn’t done countless times. Even so, her palms were sweating. Lizzy was worried she wasn’t up to standard anymore. Never mind the added pressure of having to try and impress someone with far more experience than her.

She squeezed off and frowned when the shot went wide, whining through the ferns just above her target.

“You were shaking. Too heavy for you?” Muldoon was quick to find fault.

Lizzy blew the hair out of her eyes. True, it was a little on the big side for a vertically-challenged woman, but she would never say so. “It’s obviously broken.”

“It’s broken?” He almost sounded amused as he took the gun to check it. “There is a very slim chance that you’re right and the heat’s warped it-“

Lizzy watched a little enviously. While she was still a little clunky when getting ready to fire, it was clearly second nature to him. Muldoon made it look so easy. She stuck her fingers in her ears just in time.

“-but it hasn’t.”

“Oh.” Lizzy exclaimed in awe. “Bloody Hell.” A tiny branch that had been sticking out of the trunk was no longer there anymore, shot clean off.

“It’s not broken, Armstrong.”

She reluctantly accepted the gun back and lined up again, but the same thing happened as before.

“Shit!” Lizzy cursed. She was getting very hot and bothered. I am a good shot. Then why can’t I do it even with the damn glasses?

“Try something for me.”

“I’ll try bloody anything at this point.” Lizzy dug the toe of her boot into the dirt angrily.

“You know To Kill A Mockingbird?”

“I saw the film once.” She had the book in the depths of her room too, so far untouched. A gift from Simon, it was his favourite movie.

“Well?”

“What has that got to do with -oh.” Of course. That immortal scene with the rabid dog. Lizzy flipped her glasses up on to her forehead à la Atticus Finch and took aim again. “You could have just said.”

“I enjoyed watching the cogs turn. Both eyes open.” He just reminded her.

“You’re terrible.” Lizzy whispered. But she felt a little better about being visually impaired. Atticus was cool, even if the character she related to more was Scout.

Okay. Breathe in. Out. In. Hold. Squeeze.

Bang.

No whizz of air through the ferns this time. Just a splintering noise and an indent in the trunk that wasn’t there before.

She looked around for confirmation, but was met with a head shake from her boss.

“Again.”

Not good enough?

“But I did it-“

“Again. Check it wasn’t luck.”

“So demanding.” She muttered, but hid her smile behind the stock and repeated her actions, more confidently, her hands steady.

Whack as the bullet hit the tree, throwing off shards of wood not more than two inches from where her first shot had landed.

“Close enough.” Lizzy knew that was his way of saying well done. “Think you could do that if the tree was barrelling towards you at thirty-miles-an-hour?”

“I’d make it think twice.” Lizzy beamed, pleased she was indeed still ‘of use’, as he put it. “Thank you.“

She knew how privileged she was. Before becoming a consultant for zoos around the globe, Muldoon was an experienced big game hunter. He’d just given her a shooting lesson for free, and been more patient and less insulting than she expected.

“You just need to get used to things not being as far away as you think. It’ll get easier.”

“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Lizzy reeled off the words from the sticker on the bottom of the Jeep wing mirrors. “Do we have to go back now?”

She was enjoying herself, feeling at peace in this lesser-visited corner of the island. She wondered if one of the many cameras dotted around the park was trained on them both at that very second, but chose to believe and act as if there wasn’t.

“I wouldn’t mind staying longer. It’s-“ Muldoon glanced sideways at her. “-relatively quiet out here.”

The rex was nearby, rumbling around on the other side of the paddock fence. Lizzy could feel her vibrations through the earth as she climbed onto the back of the Jeep, each footfall sounding like far-off thunder. She didn’t seem too bothered by the gunshots, if anything the dinosaur was curious and had wandered closer to investigate.

Lizzy pushed a half-full gas can out of her way and leaned back against a rolled up tarpaulin, picking bits of moss off her socks. She’d assumed they were done talking for the moment but surprisingly Muldoon kept the conversation going, unprompted.

“I have to ask, are you planning on a lawsuit?”

Lizzy grimaced. “Why? Have you been told to try and talk me out of suing?”

“No, that’s Gennaro’s job. I think you should do it, personally. But it’s your decision, I’ll support you either way.”

“Kathy said I should, too.”

Muldoon walked back around the vehicle to face her. “Get your man’s advice first.”

“Right…he’s the expert, I guess…”

He looked at her for a long moment. “You haven’t told him yet, have you?”

Lizzy sheepishly shook her head. “I know exactly what he’ll say. It’s too dangerous. I told you it was a bad idea. Come home.”

“You need to tell him, Armstrong. He’d want to know.” The words were an effort, but it was the right thing to do, as much as he hated overhearing the phonecalls to New York.

“What are you going to do with the dilophosaurs?” Lizzy changed the subject, miming pointing a gun at her head. “Ka-blammo?”

“Not quite that drastic. They’re far too expensive. Wu says that Harding could operate to try and remove whatever the venom came from.”

Lizzy raised her eyebrows. “Wow, Hammond said yes?” Muldoon grumbled under his breath, she didn’t catch it. “What was that?”

“I’ve not asked him yet. I was hoping the threat of you suing the company might persuade him.”

“Oh, and you’re one to talk about not telling people things!” Lizzy tutted. “You want me to back you up?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. I’m not happy about those animals being out in the park in their current state.”

“Say no more.” Lizzy agreed. “On the condition I’m the one that gets to assist with the surgery.”

“Seems fair. Just don’t wreak bloody vengeance with a scalpel while Harding’s not looking.”

“As if.” Lizzy smirked. “That was easy. Thought you’d be harder to convince.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I won’t.” She started fumbling around with the laces on her boots. “I prefer having to work for it, anyway. You know that.”

Christ. Is now a good time? Probably. His earlier warning on the radio of bullets flying around meant they weren’t likely to be disturbed. Time to let his guard down, just a little.

“My daughter had something for you.”

Lizzy head snapped up. “She did?”

“Only because she forgot to send it over here two bloody months ago.”

“She’s nine! Give her a break!”

“Inexcusable.”

He handed her a Polaroid picture, already creased around the edges. She recognised it instantly, from what little she could remember of the night when it was taken. Jeff’s fiftieth birthday, earlier that year in the spring. She’d had to pull some strings to get to Nairobi in time, but she wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

There Lizzy was in the photograph, with her arm around Jeff’s shoulder and his around her waist. He had a massive pair of comedy spectacles and a bright red fez perched atop his head. She was sporting a faux handlebar moustache. Both of them caught in the middle of laughing so hard their eyes were almost shut.

She flipped it over. Scribbled on the back in her mentor’s chicken-scratch handwriting was This Is Lizzy (moustache). You Are Welcome.

Muldoon was watching her reaction. “I like that he felt the need to clarify which one is you.”

Lizzy was grinning ear-to-ear. “A moustache is a good look for me. I guess Jeff tried to warn you the female version of him was on the way?”

“If only I’d known.”

“Doesn’t exactly scream ‘esteemed ethologist’, does it?”

Muldoon had to agree. But his daughter apparently liked the look of Armstrong and had asked if Uncle Jeff’s Lizzy was the same woman who had signed her birthday present. She’s pretty. Does she like elephants? Is she nice? Does she have a boyfriend? So many questions. Yes to all. Sorry kid, she won’t be coming to visit.

“Thank you, again. I needed this.” Lizzy ran the risk of tearing up. She missed Jeff so much. “I really appreciate it.”

“S’alright.” Muldoon checked his watch. “We better make tracks. Get in, Armstrong.” Back to business. Time to put the guard up again.

Lizzy made to hop down from the Jeep. But still unused to her new depth perception, of lack thereof, Lizzy didn’t brace her knees properly for the distance. She caught the edge of her boot on a rock, and stumbled over with a gasp. She would have faceplanted the ground if Muldoon hadn’t turned and caught her in time.

She bit her tongue hard and tasted the faint tang of blood, but it was sure as Hell better than having to return to Gerry Harding with a split lip.

Lizzy was propped back upright as if she weighed nothing at all, but he couldn’t let go of her fast enough.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Catching Armstrong was a reflex, as was the apology. He had to be careful. They were alone, and as much as she seemed to trust him, he didn’t want her feeling threatened. She had enough of that from certain others on the team.

But something had changed for Lizzy.

Simon hadn’t rang on her birthday. Doing his well-rehearsed duty of completely ignoring her on that day. That was fine. But secretly she had hoped he might surprise her by finally visiting the island. It had been such a long time since she’d been touched like that. No amount of hugs or head strokes from Kathy could change the fact that she needed a lot more. She needed the intent. Lizzy wasn’t alone here, but she was lonely.

Shit.

It was absolutely, one-hundred-percent not in her plan to feel something for a whole different person than the man she was supposed to marry. Where on Earth did that come from?

Her glasses were wonky from the fall, and when Lizzy pushed the frames back up her nose Muldoon couldn’t fail to notice how much her pupils had dilated when she looked up at him apologetically. They were massive. And for once, she had nothing to say.

What’s wrong with her? Why does she have that look on her face? Is she having a funny turn?

“Are you alright?”

She shook her head to clear it and blinked hard a few times, making excuses.

“Yeah, justh a hot fluss. Musth be getting my period or thsomething.” Lizzy immediately scrunched her face up in horror at what she’d said aloud.

She looked so comical in her self-disgust, and the temporary lisp just made it even better. Muldoon couldn’t help but chuckle at her.

“Are you laffing at me?” She sounded indignant, and that made it funnier still.

“Well, I’m not laughing with you.”

“Two monsth! Two bloody monsth and thisth isth what makesth you laugh! I don’t believe thisth!” Lizzy’s tongue started a dull throb. “Owwww.”

“Armstrong, you’re very strange. I never know what you’ll come out with next.”

“Thanksth?” She snorted and started giggling at her own voice, trying to ignore her pounding heart. She did sound ridiculous. But goddamn it, was she triumphant. Finally, she’d made him laugh. Ray owed her ten dollars. Nobody will ever believe me.

Her stomach was still fluttering but she pushed the feeling down and away, trying to ignore it. No. Not this time.

“We have an audience.” Muldoon nodded over the top of Lizzy’s head. “Thought it smelled bad around here, I didn’t want to say anything.”

She slowly turned, trying to stifle her laughing, squinting through her lenses. “Where?” She whispered. Her lisp was thankfully wearing off.

Then, the wind stirred the branches and Lizzy saw the mottled scales of the rex through the thick wire coils of the fence. One reptilian eye was roving back and forth, searching for movement. The dinosaur could smell them, too.

Rad. It was rare to see the rex active in the daytime, she preferred the cooler dawns and dusks when the island was covered in fog. Sometimes she would just stand out in the rain with her head pointing upwards to the heavens. Lizzy had a theory that Costa Rica was actually too hot for a tyrannosaurus, and had been scouring her Dinosaur Detectives book for an answer. The guests likely wouldn’t see much of their star attraction in the heat of the day.

“You’ve been fed, big girl!” Lizzy called out, and the rex’s head jerked around with a snort. “Stop looking so hopeful!”

Isla Nublar’s largest predator moved even closer to them but stopped when she noticed the electric clicking of the fence. She grumbled again before moving off with a huff, leaving her stench behind on the breeze, the two of them watching her go in silence.

What about her? Could I shoot her if she was ‘barrelling towards me at thirty-miles-an- hour’? Could Muldoon?

Lizzy hoped she’d never learn the answer to that question.

***

Thanks for reading!

Canon re: weapons on the island will be addressed later but this situation just had to be written.

Also I need to say I’m not exactly pro gun but given their background and current situation, being able to defend yourself is important. I did feel uncomfortable writing it given recent horrible events ngl but that’s probably not a bad thing. This is definitely a case of the views of the writer not matching those of the characters.

Lion falling asleep on the tent is a real anecdote I heard from a female scientist at a lecture a few years ago. Obviously, like Lizzy, she lived to tell the tale!

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park female oc #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction #oc community #robert muldoon x female oc #robert muldoon #henry wu #kathy

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 15

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: one c-bomb, one mention of pregnancy and one mention of physical abuse by a parent

Word count: ~38.7k (15 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @howlingmadlady @heresthefanfiction @ocfairygodmother

Read on Ao3

Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

Kickstart My Heart - Mötley Crüe

Govan, Scotland

1974

Her right palm was stinging. Govan High School, still stuck in the Dark Ages, showed no sign of moving with the times and giving up corporal punishment for its students. Lizzy had been issued with the doom-laden words wait behind after class, and then given ten of the best for talking back.

Her Biology teacher, Miss Crawford, placed the wooden ruler back in the chipped mug full of chalk fragments on her desk and sat down.

At least it wasn’t the tawse this time. That leather strap stung like a mother-

“What’s going on with you, Lizzy?”

Lizzy just shrugged and kept her head down, rubbing the burn out of her skin.

“I spoke with your sister. She told me you hadn’t been home recently?”

“No’ fer a while. Ah live wi’ Granny and Granda’ noo.”

“And your father?”

Straight to the heart. Lizzy tried her utmost not to snap when she answered, she didn’t want her other hand to receive the same treatment.

“I heard Da lost his job at the shipyard, and then-“ She swallowed hard. “-ah’ve no seen him.”

I miss him so much.

“I see.”

“Can ah go noo?”

“Not just yet.”

Jings, whit’s she got planned fer me?

Miss Crawford hesitated, tapping her heel, trying to decide what to say next. “You’re a clever girl, Lizzy. It’s upsetting to watch you give up.”

“Ah’ve no’ given up.” Lizzy was indignant. “Ahm still comin’ tae school.”

“You’ve given up on yourself.” Eyebrows raised high over the top of wire frames.

Life hadn’t been the same since that fateful birthday the year before. Lizzy had started smoking, and drinking more. A lot more: Granda was stunningly oblivious that his whiskey bottles were getting weaker and paler almost by the day. She hated herself for it.

She’d stumble through the school gates, late; clothes unironed and hair blowing wild in the wind. Maisie wouldn’t be seen dead with her now, Connor had dumped her after the pregnancy scare. Her shoulder still ached when it rained, which was often. It hadn’t healed well, and every dull pain reminded her of what her own mother had done.

Lizzy had resigned herself that this was how life was going to be from now on. Sad and grey. Forever.

“However, your last homework task was excellent.” Miss Crawford said quietly.

“Wis it?” Lizzy tugged uncomfortably at the hem of her green tartan skirt, suddenly too tight. “Ah wis…takin’ the piss.”

She’d gotten bored and frustrated with the questions, and instead scribbled over the top of the worksheet. She’d ended up writing an Attenborough-esque blurb for the Loch Ness Monster that wouldn’t have been out of place on Zoo Quest, complete with diagram.

Miss Crawford rummaged in her desk and pulled out the homework task with Nessie proudly front and centre. “Maybe so, but you’ve no idea how dull it is reading the exact same answer thirty times over. I gave you full marks.”

“But ah didnae dae it right?” Lizzy was scowling, expression dark as the clouds outside. “Miss, are ye makin’ fun o’ me?”

“No- forget the homework for the moment.” The teacher took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes, sighing. “Let’s try something else, alright? If you could go anywhere in the world, be anything you wanted to be, what would you do?”

Lizzy decided to humour her teacher. The red-haired, headscarf-wearing young woman stuck out like a sore thumb among the other faculty members. She was almost glamorous, and you didn’t often see female science teachers, not in the depths of Govan at least. Lizzy actually liked her rather a lot. Even if she was on the quick side with dishing out ruler-related punishments.

“Ah dunno. Just awa’. Somewhere else.” She looked around the classroom walls, faded posters with torn edges and graffiti in the corners (Cuddy waz ere, Heather F. smells) boasting titles such as The Wonder of Frogs, The Mesozoic Era and Wild Cats of The World. She picked one that had always caught her eye, a grainy black-and-white silhouette of giraffes walking past a big tree with a wide base and spindly branches high up. “Where’s that?”

Her teacher turned to look, trying not to grin, just internally bursting that her lost student was finally responding to something. “Africa I think, maybe Tanzania or Kenya. Would you like to go there?”

“Uh-huh.” Lizzy nodded and stared out of the window, growing uncomfortable now that she had opened up.

The teacher sensed she was losing her. “You know the University of Glasgow has an excellent Zoology school?”

Lizzy shook her head firmly, getting a whiff of stale cigarette smoke as her curls bounced. “Lassies like me dinna go tae university, Miss Crawford. Ah thought it wis fer posh fowk. Fowk wi’ money. Rich families.”

“Not necessarily. If you get a little part-time job you could just about survive.”

“If ah git a wee job…whit are ye’ sayin’, Miss?”

“I can’t sit your exams for you, Lizzy. But if you pull yourself together and get the marks you need for a place, I’ll help you apply. It’s not too late.” Miss Crawford pushed her glasses back up her nose. “You’re more than capable.”

Lizzy slumped back in disbelief. “Why wid ye’ dae a daft thing like help me? Ah’ve been such a cunt tae ye’ this year! Aw, sorry-“

Her teacher just blinked and muttered out of the side of her mouth. “Well at least you’re aware you’ve been an…ah, cunt.”

“Miss!” Lizzy was startled, afraid to giggle in case she got the ruler again. But she did like Biology, liked her tough but fair teacher. Really liked the idea of seeing a real-life giraffe one day. Maybe a lion. Maybe even an elephant.

She felt something she hadn’t in a very long time. A spark of excitement, that maybe her life didn’t have to end in the same place it began, down by the grim, dreary shipyards of the River Clyde.

“Lizzy, let me help you. That-“ Miss Crawford pointed at the poster again. “That’s within your grasp. You’ve got more fight in you than this. Don’t you dare give up.”

***

Sitting in Richardson’s office, covered in drying dinosaur blood, Lizzy rubbed the palm of her hand anxiously, itching with some old memory.

All her boss had done so far was shuffle around, making a big show of pulling her personnel folder out of his filing cabinet and laying the leaves of paper flat on his desk. Lizzy could see her own face blankly staring back from her passport photo.

One of her professors that she’d had a less than favourable opinion of had done exactly the same routine before her PhD viva, trying to rattle her. It hadn’t worked. And it wasn’t going to work this time either.

Lizzy knew what she had to do. Make the first move and take control, assert herself, even if all she wanted was to flee out into the jungle and never return. She cleared her throat.

“I would like to apologize-“ gritting her teeth, not sincere in the slightest, but it would have to do. “-for the part I played with the Maiasa-“

Richardson slammed his fist on the desk with a bang, right down on top of her photograph, making her jump and grip the seat beneath her to keep from toppling over.

“Oh, we’ll get to that. We’ve got an altogether different problem, you and I, Miss Armstrong.”

Don’t bloody well cut me off!

Lizzy clenched her fingers so hard on the base of her chair that it started to creak, her mouth forming into a snarl. “Doctor Armstrong, please, if you don’t mind.”

***

Kathy was reliving the past quarter hour over and over again. Dropping Lizzy off with the goats, waving her goodbye, and making abrupt but pleasant conversation with Muldoon on the way back to base. She’d been waiting in line beside him in the canteen when every radio had screamed in unison with the mayday call from the paddock.

They had stared at each other then bolted for the door at the same moment, Kathy throwing herself headfirst into the passenger seat of the Jeep and yelling “Drive, drive, drive!”

There was no mistake that they had heard Lizzy shouting in the background of the garbled message. As they bounced along the track Kathy knew, she just knew somehow that her girl would be there, elbow deep in the mess of it all. Lizzy couldn’t help herself. God, she hated being right sometimes.

They arrived too late, and witnessed the way Richardson had spoken to her. Suspended. It didn’t seem fair at all, it had all happened so quickly. One moment everything fine, and the next just…not. She had better not be thrown off the island.

I am not wrangling the rest of these boys without her, never mind the dinosaurs. It would be like herding goddamn cats.

Kathy could feel herself being gently buffeted by the waves of annoyance radiating from Muldoon. He had been standing rigid beside the prep room door, but then sprung into action. “To Hell with this. They can manage without us. Baker, come with me.”

Kathy scurried after him back to the Jeep.

“I need you to do me a favour. You’re a fast runner.” The Jeep engine turned over for a good few seconds before finally starting.

“Okay?”

“Go to the control room and talk to Arnold. Get him to pull up the video footage of the paddock from just before the stampede.”

“Gotcha.” Kathy clung onto the door handle as they tore along after the other Jeep. “You don’t think Lizzy did it.”

“I don’t think the damn woman started it, but she did her best to fix it and the rest of them saw someone who could take all the blame.”

“Because she’s a troublemaker.”

“Of sorts, and she’s too proud to ask for help.”

Kathy nodded in agreement. “You like her.”

In an instant Muldoon was transported back in Kenya, years ago, with his daughter in the passenger seat instead of Baker, clutching her schoolbag and swinging her legs. Grinning ear to ear because of an encounter they’d had driving home from school through a market.

Baba, that pretty lady smiled at you! She had yelled in Kiswahili through the open window, which had made the woman in question beam even more.

But he’d ignored both the woman and his daughter.

No, still too soon.

“She’s alright.”

Kathy tutted. Lizzy was obviously so much more than alright to him, but she wasn’t going to argue when he was this fired up. “Yeah, okay. I’m totally down for mission Save Her Ass. But if I’m going to the control room, where are you going?”

“To find out what Richardson’s up to. I don’t like him dragging Li- Armstrong off like that with no explanation. If it’s a formal disciplinary both of us need to be there.”

“He didn’t even yell at any of the guys, he went straight for her.” Kathy was still seething at the injustice of it all.

“Indeed. Just hope she hasn’t ran her damn mouth off at him before I catch up or there’s not much I can do.”

***

Matters were quickly escalating in Richardson’s office and Lizzy was beginning to see the red mist when a worrying noise cut through her senses. The office door handle moved repeatedly but the door itself wouldn’t budge. Lizzy’s head shot around. Someone was trying to get in and couldn’t.

She was locked in. “Why is-“

Lizzy had already formed an exit route in her head before Richardson could answer.

Plant pot on the desk. I can crack that over his head. Window. Chair. Throw chair through window. Throw self through window. Escape. He wasn’t that much taller than her, she could take him if necessary. Easily. She was from Glasgow, she’d certainly taken bigger.

Three very angry-sounding thumps were visited upon the office door.

Her boss was quick to recover himself. “Oh, silly me. Just a reflex. You can’t be too careful with people going where they shouldn’t.”

Lizzy didn’t return his smile. “You’d better get that. It might be important.” She leaned as far away as she could when Richardson hurried past to answer.

She swivelled around to look when she heard the familiar voice.

“Everything all right?” Muldoon wasn’t looking at Richardson, instead looking past him.

Lizzy widened her eyes and shook her head minutely, grimacing. Get me out of here.

“Just having a chat about Elizabeth’s attitude problem.” Richardson moved to block Muldoon’s view to Lizzy.

“I see…does that usually require a closed and locked office door?

“Just a reflex.” Richardson muttered again.

“In your hurry to tell her off, did you forget that for a suspension at least two of us need to agree to it? And Armstrong can have a witness, if she wants?”

Lizzy stiffened. Oh, really?

“It was more about the way she spoke-“

“And I’ll remind you she’s still due a break. Can’t have her suing InGen for unfair treatment, can we? Her man’s a lawyer, she’d win.”

“Fine. Maybe we do all need some time to calm down. We’ll resolve this later today.” Richardson knew he was beaten. “You can go for now, Elizabeth.”

Didn’t have to tell her twice. Lizzy practically hurdled the chair in her hurry to leave and let the office door slam behind her, near-jogging down the corridor.

“Everything alright, Carrie?” Realising she still resembled a burgundy-toned Jackson Pollock of blood and dirt, Lizzy managed a tiny laugh. It didn’t sound like Muldoon was that angry with her. Or at least he was doing a bloody good job of hiding it.

“Thanks for-“

“Save it. For future reference-“ and Lizzy shrank back. “-wait for my permission before you go into the paddocks. And certainly don’t ever do anything Kennedy tells you to again. Yes, I know it was him.”

“I’m sorry.” This time Lizzy was nothing but sincere, she really meant it.

“It’s done now. But noted.”

“It just happened so fast-“

“It usually does. I am, of course, very disappointed in you. That’s what I’m supposed to say, anyway. Let’s go to my office and you’ll tell me what really happened.”

“Our office?” Lizzy said hopefully.

“You’ve got some nerve to ask at a time like this.”

“I prefer to call it tenacity.”

In that moment, her bravado was all a front. The adrenaline had caught up and she was exhausted. Lizzy forgot what she was covered in and leaned against the pristine magnolia wall while she waited for the door to be unlocked.

“Don’t-“ Muldoon started. “Never mind.”

Lizzy sighed, couldn’t anything go right today? “Apologies. Add it to my list of offences: destruction of company property.”

“Bit ominous.”

“Yes…” She’d left various smudges on the wall, including two faint red handprints. “A warning to those who dare approach. Could have been worse, could have been an arse print.” Lizzy mumbled, then snorted at the mental image.

“Not sure what kind of thing that would be a warning against.” Muldoon, drier than a desert wind as usual.

Just laugh, once. I’m really trying.

“No, but the comedy value would be terrific. Hurry up and let me in.”

The mix of fatigue and frustration meant that there was something she really had to do to settle herself, something she hadn’t needed for a very long time.

“Please excuse me.” Lizzy dropped to the middle of the floor and lay on her back looking up at the ceiling, parallel to the desk. Unlike the walls, the carpet tiles were a fetching dark blue and wouldn’t show up any blood.

“Do I want to know?” Muldoon stepped over her legs to get to his desk.

“I just- it’s a trick I do. It makes the angry fall out.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah. Lotta angry up here right now.” Lizzy tapped the side of her head. “How much trouble am I in?”

“Depends on how Baker’s getting on in the control room.”

“Oh!” Lizzy realized. “Ray! The cameras!“

Of course, why the Hell hadn’t that been Richardson’s first port of call before he blew up at me?

Muldoon glanced at the pair of boots sticking out from the other side of his desk and shook his head. Christ, but she’s strange. “You know, in spite of the inevitable mountain of paperwork from this I should probably be thanking you.”

“I can’t wait to hear this.” The voice from the floor said.

“You’ve proved that once again, I was right and operations in the park aren’t quite up to scratch.”

At that precise second Kathy knocked and leaned around the doorframe. “Hey, girl! He rescued you?”

“Not a moment too soon.” Lizzy scrambled to her feet. “What’s up?”

“Ray’s found it. Come and see. Why were you on the floor?”

***

“Jee-hee-heez…” Ray’s cigarette nearly fell from his mouth when Lizzy walked in. “You weren’t kidding, honey!”

“Little early for Halloween, huh Ray-Ray? Check it out, you two.” Kathy pointed.

Playing over and over again on the screen behind Arnold from multiple camera views was a loop of the Maiasaurs stampeding, Julian and Travis running outdoors, then Lizzy sprinting up to the prep room door as the timestamp ticked forward.

The engineer grinned widely at her. “How’s that for candid camera? Ray Arnold, Eye in the Sky, what’d I tell ya?”

Lizzy practically pounced on him but stopped herself just in time. “Thank you, so much.”

“No big, I’m on your side. There’s more, babygirl.”

“Oh yeah?”

Ray tapped some keys and twirled a dial, switching to a different camera view and zooming in on Lizzy hiding behind a tree.

Kathy burst out laughing. “Hot damn, look at your face!”

“Yeah, okay, okay. What would you do if you heard Rexy roar from someplace she wasn’t meant to be?” Lizzy groaned and gently tapped Kathy’s arm.

Ray zoomed in even further so Lizzy’s grainy features filled the screen. “That’s some good shit. I’m putting that one on the wall for when I’m having a bad day.”

“Except every day is a bad day for you.” Lizzy murmured.

“Don’t. What else can you do when the List of Doom is neverending?” Ray span his chair around to face them. “I had to call Cambridge about all these bugs. They’re talking about sending one of their computer guys down here to do some work on site.”

“Please be a hot guy, please be a hot guy…” Kathy crossed her fingers and prayed.

“Talking of things sent to the island, Liz, parcel for you in the mail.” Arnold handed her a chunky parcel wrapped in brown paper.

“Oooh!” Lizzy started tearing it open.

Early birthday gift from her darling fiancé? As much as she’d rather not be reminded that day was fast approaching.

Thankfully not, but it was something she’d ordered and then promptly forgotten about. Two new books: Dinosaur Detectives and Planting the Past.

Muldoon picked up on the fact that Lizzy was probably used to reading a much smaller font. “Little below your level, aren’t they? How did you find out about them?”

“Never you mind.” Lizzy started thumbing her way through Detectives. Fully illustrated. That was a good sign. “Actually, I got it out of Gennaro during one of our many stimulating conversations that these guys are already on our radar. They’re in Montana, Snake- oh, look! This is one of ours!”

Already distracted, Lizzy flipped the book around and showed everyone the Apatosaur skeleton on the page.

“Hey, can I read the plant one too?” Kathy leaned over Lizzy’s shoulder. “Need to brush up on my herbivores. Just in case.”

“Not necessary.” Muldoon contradicted.

“Hey, I’ll read it if I want to!” The realization dawned on Kathy’s face. “Wait, you mean- you’re putting me on Carnivores? Permanently? For real?!” Her expression turned into unconfined glee and she looked like she might start crying any second.

“Keep it to yourself. Both of you. It’s not official, yet.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Liz, hold me.”

“I’m still covered in-“

“I don’t care.”

Lizzy obliged. “See, I told you you’d get it.” Kathy’s success made her beam with pride, the best she had felt all day, even with the possibility they still might be split up, sorted into different teams. It was brilliant news for her friend, who’d had her heart set on working with the meat-eaters since day one.

The control room was calm again apart from the hum of the computers and the breathless sounds of Kathy quietly losing her mind, still crushed against Lizzy’s side in a bear hug.

I still have to go back and talk to Richardson later.

Lizzy pushed the unwelcome thought away and tried to keep her smile in place.

Things will work out. I’m needed here. And I have people who are on my side.

“Gosh, I daren’t ask what you’re planning on doing with me, where I’ll end up after the incident in the paddock. So what happens now?” Lizzy queried Muldoon.

“You need to get yourself cleaned up before your next bollocking and I need to go and have a few words with young Master Kennedy.”

***

Gennaro had to admit he may have panicked a little in summoning Hammond back to Isla Nublar at short notice. The tycoon was not happy about having his plans nixed for something so apparently trivial as one-and-a-half missing fingers.

“For Heaven’s sake, Donald! What was the bloody creature even doing out of the kennel? Was she taking it for a walk? A little stroll around the compound?”

“Lori- ah, Dr Ruso has made it very clear that the animal opened the cage by itself. She has some concerns about the relative intelligence at such a young age-“

“Poppycock!” Hammond waved his arms. “Someone didn’t shut the door properly, a mistake they won’t be making twice, let me tell you!”

“Dr Ruso wants the animal moved over here.” Gennaro said quietly. She had demanded, actually. Get that [redacted] thing out of my facility had been yelled down the phone at considerable volume.

Hammond spun around, quite nimbly for his age. “That’s her problem to fix. Tell her to take it up with Wu and Richardson, if she isn’t up to the job anymore.”

Gennaro trembled at the thought of having to talk to Ruso again so soon. “And about her injury, Mr Hammond-“

“Just deal with it, Donald. Pay Ruso what she wants and get her to sign whatever we have to for her to keep mum.”

Gennaro’s shoulders drooped. He didn’t like when Hammond was in this sort of dismissive mood, quoting his trademark spare no expense here, there and everywhere. “I’ll get right on it, sir.”

“Good. Can’t have her going to the press. At least it was her and not a paying visitor. Now where’s María got to with that tea? This isn’t good for my blood pressure, you know-“

Gennaro supposed Hammond had a point. Staff injuries were to be expected, unavoidable really, even with the best intentions, but if something happened to a guest once the park finally opened…

Well, it was better to troubleshoot these sorts of problems and deal with them early on. Just in case.

Gennaro glanced down at the daily American newspapers on Hammond’s coffee table, the front page catching his attention.

“CHILEAN FARMERS RABIES VACCINE TRIAL ONGOING”

That damned Biosyn was at it again, always lurking just a few corners behind InGen. Must have a Hell of a good team over there. Nothing sticks to them, that Dodgson fellow especially. He was notorious.

Would it hurt to take some inspiration from them?

The headline combined with Hammond’s words gave him an idea. What Jurassic Park needed was a public relations manager, and fast.

Just in case.

***

Thanks for reading!

A bit more lighthearted than the last chapter, but still a storm is coming!

I am having A TIME but writing my stupid wee story and living the lives of these characters helps a lot.

#jurassic park female oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park oc #ocfairygodmother #oc community #my ocs #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #my writing #my fanfiction #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #john hammond #donald gennaro #ray arnold

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 16

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: mentions of blood and minor injury, some bad(ish) language

Word count: ~42.2k (16 Chapters) [incomplete]

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @howlingmadlady @ocfairygodmother (if you want tagged let me know!)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 15 | Chapter 17

Panama - Van Halen

Lizzy was standing in the shower, staring at the water whirl-pooling down the plughole between her feet.

It really is like Carrie…Jesus Christ.

She’d been under the jet for nearly all of her allotted clean-yourself-up time, and the water had only just started to run clear. Enough red had come out of her hair to make even a seasoned butcher feel squeamish. Lizzy found herself disproportionately upset that it wasn’t even wash day, and now she was out of sync.

She knew what she was doing, searching for yet more problems to be mad about. To give some reason to her rage. Stop it now.

The wave of despair at losing an animal on her watch had hit as soon as she was alone, her tears mixing with the warm water running down her face. Lizzy wasn’t a stranger to that kind of grief, but it felt like a bad case of déjà vu, whisking her straight back to when she saw her first elephant’s carcass, a poaching victim. Ironically, it was you that could never forget something so awful. A special brand of horror.

Unfortunately, her team weren’t the first to find the body and various scavenging creatures had already taken a damn good bash at it. She’d rushed off to vomit behind a termite hill and been inconsolable for the rest of the day. But for the inevitable repeat, the next elephant taken too soon, she was prepared, stronger.

She would give herself five minutes to wallow, but that was all. She didn’t have time for more. No matter how soothing and insular the shower cubicle was and how much effort it would take to leave and face the world again.

Lizzy turned her face upwards into the jet and held her breath for as long as she could, cheeks puffed out, before finally turning off the nozzle. When she opened the door she stopped dead, still dripping.

Beside the sink, a small plate with two empanadas sitting on a napkin. Lizzy approached and tapped one carefully: still hot. She’d learned the hard way not to just bite into them with reckless abandon anymore after searing the roof of her mouth far too many times.

Someone had been in here.

María.

Her blood-stained uniform had been scooped up from the floor and no doubt whisked off to the laundry, leaving only her ID card and underwear behind.

She picked up and chewed on an empanada thoughtfully. They were pineapple and made her mouth tingle. Lizzy realised how hungry she was after a few bites and scarfed both of them down quickly, the sugar rush already making her feel better, steadying her shaking hands.

She only wished they had magically appeared before the shower, because now she was sticky again. So tasty but impossible to not make a mess when you ate them.

Lizzy carefully wiped the last traces of blood and pineapple goo from her engagement ring. A hug from Simon really wouldn’t go amiss right now, never mind that his advice was usually second-to-none. She’d sat in on one or two of his trials, watching him do his thing. He was good at making obviously upset people feel at ease.

Her heart sank as she realised she’d been putting off picking up the phone and calling him these past few weeks. Why, she wasn’t exactly sure.

Lizzy wrapped a towel around her body, simultaneously praising and cursing María for the Shuffle of Indecency she was going to have to perform back to her room.

A soft tap-tap came on her bedroom door and Kathy’s muffled voice called her as Lizzy was pulling her clothes back on.

“Our glorious leader asked me to come get you. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Lizzy finished buttoning a clean shirt and shook her hair out, still dripping wet. “Let’s do this.”

***

“I have to say, Dr Ruso, I was surprised to read your report.” Lori couldn’t entirely decipher Dr Wu’s tone, but it sounded like disappointment, and a hell of a lot of condescension. Small wonder.

She flexed her heavily bandaged hand around the telephone cable and tried not to bang the receiver against the desk with the other.

“Cut the crap, Henry. I called you. Answer my question.”

She could hear him fumbling with something as he prepared to answer, playing for time.

Wu knew he couldn’t keep her in the dark any longer about what he had failed to tell her several weeks ago. Ruso had gotten wise after her accident and kept insisting there was something wrong with the raptor infant.

“I mean…I suppose it’s entirely possible that the accelerated growth genes we were forced to insert to meet deadlines could also code for increased aggression, or it might be a side effect thereof.”

Lori pursed her lips. That explained it then. The raptor was always on the hunt for food to fuel it’s rapidly growing body. It was desperate. The laboratory staff couldn’t defrost the vacuum-packed bags of chicks, a special order from the mainland, fast enough.

Why in God’s name had nobody told her?

“It’s always hungry, Henry. Hungry and grumpy. It lunges at the bars whenever I go near, someone else has to feed it now. With tongs.” Lori thought back to her cute little hatchling of six weeks prior, the many sleepless nights watching every rise and fall of its tiny ribcage, desperately hoping it would survive. Now she wished it would die. The raptor clearly wanted another shot at Lori’s remaining fingers. She had half a mind to take the laboratory chemicals down there and, well…accidents happen, don’t they?

Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr Hammond, she didn’t make it after all. Too bad.

The problem was, Lori had figured out she was under observation. She’d heard the murmurs that stopped as soon as she walked into the room, caught the sideways glances from people she thought were her friends. InGen was making sure she didn’t blab, her every move was being watched.

Wu heaved a long, drawn-out sigh. Dr Ruso’s voice was flat and emotionless, she sounded close to breaking. “We’ll sort something out, Lori. Hang tight a little longer. And I am sorry about your hand.”

You’re just being polite. The flowers Hammond had sent Lori, care of Gennaro, obviously, were already wilting on her desk in the heat. As pathetic, sad and meaningless as Wu’s apology.

Lori hung up, disgusted, while Dr Wu was still talking, but it was a while before he noticed she was gone, already distracted by new ideas.

This was what Hammond wanted, wasn’t it? The lions, tigers and bears were what everyone came to see at the zoo. Zebras, antelope, all the various herbivores that ambled around and grazed all day just weren’t as interesting. Hammond wanted meat-eaters, big ones. Something to make the kids jump and squeal.

The raptor was perfect. If they could figure out a way to handle her, she’d be a global star overnight once the park opened. Maybe even more popular than the rex.

Wasn’t there an ethologist among the new recruits? Wu had overheard Richardson and Muldoon talking in the canteen. She might be of some use in managing the juvenile. He could approach her about it, maybe she could pick up where Lori left off once the infant was relocated to Nublar?

It was probably for the best VM2308 left Sorna as soon as possible. She’d have a bigger enclosure, for one thing. But perhaps her problems were due to being raised as an only child. She was a spoiled brat. She had no stimulation from members of her own species. She needed companionship.

Yes, yes, that could be it.

They needed more raptors.

***

“Was that you?” Kathy pointed in passing at the bloody handprints on the wall outside Muldoon’s office.

“Regretfully, yes.”

“Listen up, before you go in there-“ Kathy took Lizzy’s arm and looked back and forth down the corridor before she continued in a low voice. “-advice from old blue-eyes, Richardson will almost certainly try to make you lash out at him again so he can write you up, don’t take the bait.”

Lizzy shuffled foot to foot. That would be difficult. But she nodded and smiled at Kathy. “I’ll try. For you, of course.”

“Good, don’t you even think about leaving me here on this island. With all these boys.” Kathy pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her back. “You did your best, baby.”

“Wish you were coming with me. Muldoon said something about being allowed a witness.”

Kathy just smiled knowingly. “I got stuff to do.”

“What stuff?” Lizzy frowned.

“No offence girl, but that’s for me to know-“ Kathy knocked twice on the door and swung it open, bundling Lizzy inside. “-and you to find out. Remember what I said!”

Lizzy scrabbled at the door as it closed behind her, then froze, Muldoon and Richardson were sitting behind the desk, waiting for her. And in a chair with his back to her, was Tom.

What’s he doing here?

I thought it was just me?

“Oh, Hel- hello. Hi. Hello.” Lizzy dragged her feet over to the empty chair beside her nemesis and sat down, the pair of them uncomfortably close together.

“Good afternoon, Elizabeth. You look much more presentable now.” Richardson checked his watch and noted something down on the paper in front of him, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like tsk two minutes late.

Oh, shove that up your-

“Thank you.” She muttered passively, trying to keep her heart rate under control and not daring to crack wise.

Lizzy heard Kathy’s voice in her mind, her guardian angel. Don’t take the bait.

She snuck a glance up to Tom and recoiled when she saw he now had a black eye, an ugly purple welt under his bottom lid. “What-“

He shook his head imperceptibly, not returning her stare. Lizzy started to panic.

Did I do that? In the paddock? I don’t remember hitting him, but…did I-

Richardson cleared his throat and pressed the red record button on the dictaphone set up on his desk, the reels on the cassette tape inside starting to turn slowly.

“Shall we begin?”

***

By the end of the meeting, Muldoon had noticed with some amusement that Armstrong’s forehead vein was popping with the effort of keeping her emotions in check.

The tiny but furious Scotswoman had gotten off lightly, in his opinion. She’d grudgingly apologised to Richardson for her behaviour, her left eye twitching as she did so. Kennedy had taken his turn next and apologised to Armstrong for misleading her. Clearly neither of them meant a word of it. But for appearances sake, it worked.

“I think we have everything we need. Thank you, both. You’re free to go.” Richardson motioned at his office door.

“No, thank you.” Lizzy ground out dryly, spinning her ring around her finger. Even she couldn’t tell anymore whether her tone was overly polite or just plain sarcastic. Tom grunted and pushed his seat away from the desk barging ahead of her to the door, so much for chivalry. Or even basic manners. She was just dying to ask what happened to his eye. Who had done it?

Lizzy dared to look back as they were leaving, hoping for a clue, a sign that her repentance had been enough.

God she wanted to stay. She really, really wanted to stay on the island.

Richardson was busy rewinding the dictaphone and jotting down more notes, distracted. Muldoon on the other hand, was very much watching Lizzy make her way to the exit. His gaze shot upwards to meet her eyes when she was suddenly no longer facing away from him.

Their non-verbal didn’t kick in. Not this time. She wasn’t able to read anything. Apart from, unless she was imagining things, he looked slightly guilty. Lizzy ventured a half smile as she turned to close the door. Weird. But the meeting could have gone worse, much worse.

Speaking of which…

Lizzy hurried after Tom and tapped him on the shoulder. “What’s with the black eye?”

He rounded on her. “Hell, will you just shut up? For two dang seconds?!”

Unperturbed, Lizzy carried on with the next question on her never-ending list. “Too soon? I was meaning to ask, why did you help me?”

“Huh?” Tom looked lost. Helped her, when?

“In the paddock earlier, you just appeared out of the blue and helped me keep pressure on the Maiasaur’s wound. Feeling guilty, were we?” She cocked an eyebrow.

He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “Like I said, your grubby paws weren’t doing shit. Figured we should at least try. Not that it mattered anyway.”

“I don’t get you.” They started to walk again, Lizzy watching him carefully, pretending to fiddle with her watch strap. “You’re hot and cold with me, and I don’t know what I’ve done to offend you so badly. What’s the deal?”

“We’re not doing this now.” Tom doubled his pace and left her behind, standing in the middle of the corridor.

“Doing what, Tom?” She called after him, confused. “What?!”

***

“Just a minute, Robert.” Richardson called Muldoon back as he stood up to make his escape.

What is it this time? His heart sank into his boots.

“While I’ve got you here, why don’t we decide who ends up on which Team?”

“They still have three days-“

“Oh, I’ve already made up my mind. I know you have too. Why wait?”

Muldoon wanted to catch up with Armstrong. Richardson had finally agreed at the last minute not to send a memo to the top brass provided he had a quiet word with her about her “attitude problem”. She was on Strike One and Two, apparently.

“If it were up to me we wouldn’t bloody even have Leaders-“ Muldoon was aware his own temper was dangerously frayed. “I told you, that’s exactly how to pit them against each other instead of working together. Now Armstrong and Kennedy are at each other’s throats and everyone else is taking sides!”

Richardson was shaking his head. “You need a second in command, as do I. You can’t be here all the time.” He paused and smirked. “Aren’t you going back to visit Kenya soon, anyway?”

That was a whole other problem. He had to see his daughter, but he was already uneasy about leaving the park for any length of time. Who knew how much chaos Armstrong alone would create without someone to keep an eye on her?

“That’s correct.”

Richardson waited for him to elaborate, when it became apparent there was nothing further to say he picked up a pen from the stationary pot on his desk and irritatingly clicked it rapid-fire.

“Right then, let’s get the big one out of the way. Leader for Carnivores?”

“Baker.” Muldoon said without hesitation.

Richardson almost dropped his pen in surprise. “Really? Katherine? The black girl?”

Muldoon gestured at the sheet of paper. “Write her down.”

“Not Kennedy?” Richardson hovered the pen hopefully, willing for a last minute about-turn. “I don’t particularly want her on my Team, so it makes no difference to me. But Leader, are you sure? She’s not much of an authority.”

“Because she’s never been given the chance. She can do it. With Kennedy it’s become very clear he’s only looking out for number one.”

“But, a girl-“ Richardson wheedled.

“I know you would have done your best to ignore her while she was training with you-“ Richardson began to look very uncomfortable. “But she’s more than capable. The rest will do what she asks. And if they don’t she can send them straight to me.”

“Alright, I see your point. Even if she is a female. Time will tell.”

“I’ll take Kennedy too. I want to keep an eye on him after his mishap today.”

Richardson seemed taken aback but nodded. “Fair enough. At least he’s on Carnivores. No doubt I’d be getting a phonecall from his old haunt in San Antonio if he wasn’t.”

“For the last time, that’s not the basis we should be making these decisions on-“

They worked through the rest of the names with minimal dissension until there were only two remaining. One person each.

Richardson paused, clicking his pen again. “What about the elephant girl in the room, Elizabeth?”

***

“Good day to you, animal handlers, it is a be-a-u-tiful evening on Isla Nublar-“ Ray Arnold’s dulcet, slightly bored tones rang out over their radios. “-ing can’t do this shit, getting to the point, the list of who feeds who is on the corkboard in the canteen, next to the wonderful crayon drawing by my baby girl which I’m sure you’ve all been admiring-“

Lizzy, Kathy and Isaac stopped chattering and listened intently.

“-if you want to get your asses over there and find out if you’re a salad bar attendant or king of the grill before the gossip train leaves the station, now’s the time. Over and out.”

“Wait, already?” Kathy sprang to attention. “I thought that wasn’t happening ‘til next week!”

Her sham-acting was admirable, at least she already knew which group she was in. For the other handlers, their bosses may as well have flipped a coin, it was anyone’s guess.

Lizzy didn’t know what she’d been expecting. That they would all be sat down and told at the same time, similar to the gravitas of their orientation day? Lined up on the stage and paraded out one by one, like a graduation? No, a piece of paper on the staff noticeboard was deemed enough fanfare. Honestly, she was relieved.

Kathy was already dragging her and Isaac to their feet and pulling them along to the canteen. “Hurry, c’mon, we gotta check!”

They were the first ones there. Kathy tipped her glasses down from her forehead and squinted at the list with her tongue out.

Herbivores

*Travis Palmer

Julian Yamada

Isaac Harris

Rico Esteves

Carnivores

*Katherine Baker

Tom Kennedy

Larry O’Reilly

Elizabeth Armstrong

“Lizzy, what does that mean? That star beside my name?” Kathy pointed. “Why am I at the top of the list?”

“I think it means you’re Team Leader.” Lizzy blindly grabbed for her friend’s hand and squeezed. “Along with Travis. Well bloody done woman!”

“Shit!” Kathy squeaked. “I didn’t- I don’t-“

“You did and you do and you will!” Lizzy said firmly. At least that was one good thing to come of losing the Maiasaur, Tom had been knocked out of the running for first prize.

“Aw man.” Isaac sounded disappointed. “I thought I was getting to keep Liz, at least. I’m by myself!”

“Sorry, big guy.” Lizzy patted the highest point of his arm that she could reach. “I guess the paddock incident earlier meant I didn’t get what I wanted.“

But I did get what I wanted. I’m staying.

“I did it…” Kathy whispered, she still couldn’t believe her eyes. “Holy crap, Mama’s gonna be so proud of me! I gotta call her!”

The trio moved to the side and watched as the rest of the handlers filed in one by one and read their names off the paper. High-fives and back slaps for Travis, and sympathetic one-arm hugs for Tom. Good game, good game.

Larry, her new teammate, waved at Lizzy across the canteen and gave her finger guns. The Australian wasn’t so bad, she could have a laugh with him easily enough. But Tom wouldn’t even acknowledge her now. Lizzy almost missed his constant heckling. She made up her mind to find out what was really going on with the Texan. Something was very wrong, and she had a feeling it wasn’t just the job.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kathy put a comforting arm around her waist. “I mean, I’m obviously thrilled we’re staying together, but you didn’t get Leader, you didn’t even get Herbivores, I thought you really wanted that? C’mon, surely there’s been some sort of mistake? I’ll go with you to talk to Muldoon, if you want?”

Kathy assumed that even with the paddock incident, Lizzy would still get her way, she was the big herbivore expert after all! It was silly not to put her on that Team with all her knowledge. But this was a complete one-eighty. Previously her friend hadn’t seemed even a little bit interested in the meat-eaters.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Lizzy grinned, completely truthful.

Why would she be upset? She was still working on a tropical island, with dinosaurs, for God’s sake!

Not Herbivore Leader like she originally wanted, no, but at least she was getting to stay. She had the promise of some undercover ethology studies on the side. She was going to be working with Kathy. And after the way she’d been treated that afternoon she had decided to set her sights a fraction higher, take Muldoon’s advice, and aim for Richardson’s job instead.

It might take a while, but she’d get hers.

Lizzy had survived the first six weeks, and things were looking up.

***

Training done, and we’re onto the next “part” of the story! Thank you for sticking with it thus far!

I did not mean for updating this to take so long, just believe me when I say March and the start of April have been CRAP.

April 4th marked 23 years since Bob Peck (Muldoon) passed away. I left a little note at the top of this chapter on Ao3. You are remembered Bob, thank you ❤️

#jurassic park oc #jurassic park #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #jurassic park female oc #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction #robert muldoon x female oc