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pocket-lad · 6 months

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CH 5- Mouse Trap

“Ian!” Adelaide exclaimed, unable to mask the urgency in her voice. She tapped his chest repeatedly as she spoke. “Ian, I, um, I need to go in your pocket. Please. I can’t- I can’t meet anyone else today, especially not...” she trailed off.

Ian knew what the end of that sentence was. Kids. Adelaide had a horrible fear of them, even if she wouldn’t call it a fear. Ian personally loved kids. They were little chaos machines, which he guessed was the exact reason Adelaide didn’t like them. Without a word, he ferried her to the lip of his pocket, propped it open, and waited for her to hop in. She’d met a lot of new people that day, and he was proud of her for going with it and keeping her cool. She deserved a break.

Adelaide welcomed herself back to the musty chest pocket. Yay. She got settled then peeked her head over the edge to observe. The girl looked to be maybe twelve and the boy around nine. Adelaide watched as they ran full tilt at Hammond, knocking him to the ground with hugs and reaffirming Adelaide’s belief that children were reckless and didn’t know their own strength.

After brief introductions, the kids were the first to run out the door, bursting with energy Adelaide wished she had, and Ian sauntered down the stairs, bouncing her up and down with each step and bringing up the rear.

They approached a set of bright green cars running along a track. The kids exploded with excitement, and even the adults looked intrigued. Hammond explained how they were electric and therefore non-polluting. Adelaide didn’t understand how those things were connected, but she supposed a car that didn’t pollute was a good one. Even if they were gaudy.

The girl ran to the front car and hopped in, and Hammond directed Ellie to the second car. Ian immediately followed. “We’re gonna ride with uh, Dr. Sattler,” he said. Adelaide rolled her eyes at both Ian’s forwardness and the appalled look Alan gave him. Men.

Adelaide wouldn’t admit it, but her heart fluttered when Ian said they’d be riding with Ellie. Out of all the new giants, Adelaide enjoyed her time around Ellie most, even if she was a little condescending. At least she was friendly. And pretty … Adelaide chalked up the fluttery feeling in her chest to relief when Ian chose the car without the little girl.

Instead of getting in though, Ian wedged his way into the open car door that Ellie was trying to shut.

“Mind if we sit up front?” he asked smoothly.

“Oof, sorry,” she winced, looking at the whole empty bench seat before her. “I’m not sure if there’s enough room…Seems like Adelaide can fit, though.” She looked up at Adelaide in the pocket, who was actually above Ellie’s eye level. “If she wants to join.”

“Yeah, we’ll have a party up front. Girls only, though. Sorry, Ian,” she said.

Ian reached up and ruffled her hair with a fingertip. “Be my guest,” he said, calling her bluff. Adelaide batted at the finger overhead, but all that accomplished was making her lose her balance and tumble backward into the pocket.

From inside, Adelaide gave one sharp kick to Ian’s chest, and she felt him laugh. It wouldn’t hurt, but it got the point across. She considered staying down to avoid looking anyone in the eye after that, but that almost seemed worse. That was admitting defeat. So, Adelaide pulled herself back up over the lip of the pocket, messy hair and all. Ellie turned away and covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. If Adelaide hadn’t been red before, she sure was now. Maybe staying in the pocket would have been better.

“Jackass,” was all Adelaide could come up with, which made them both laugh more. Well, so much for dignity.

While all of this happened, it didn’t slip Adelaide’s notice that Alan was weaving in and out of both cars, pursued by the boy. Alan slid into the backseat of the rear car and the boy followed, so Adelaide ducked back into the pocket. They were in the middle of a conversation that Alan clear ly didn’t want to be a part of.

The boy’s muffled voice came through the walls of the pocket. “Because they sure don't look like birds to me. I heard that there was this, um, meteor that hit the earth down in Mexico, and made this big crater-” His voice was high pitched, loud, and annoying. Adelaide didn’t blame Alan for his aversion, but she had to admit it was a little funny watching him attempt to make the kid leave.

From the sound of it, they exited the car on the other side. She heard the kid introduce himself as Tim and announce that he would ride in whatever car Alan chose. Please, for the love of God Dr. Grant, do not sit in this car.

They walked back to the front car, and just as Adelaide started to pop her head back out, the girl approached on Ian’s right. Adelaide fell right back down again, heart beating, hoping the girl didn’t see her.

“What’s taking so long?” she complained, peering over at Alan and the boy.

“Well hello to you, too,” Ian teased. “What’s your name?”

“Sorry,” the girl said sheepishly. “I’m Lex... Who are you?”

“Ha, I’m Dr. Ian Malcolm. And this-”

Adelaide braced herself along his chest and the walls of the pocket. Ian was not going to do this again. Not when he knew about her...'aversion' to kids...right?

“-is Dr. Ellie Sattler.”

Oh, thank God.

Ellie turned around. “Hi, Lex,” she said. Then after a pause, “You know who could answer the question ? You see that man talking to your brother up there? That’s Alan. I think you should ride with him.”

“Why?” Lex asked.

“It’d be good for him.”

“Oh.... okay!” And with that, she ran off. Adelaide cautiously poked her head out of the pocket once more as Ian resigned himself to the back seat, since Ellie showed no signs of budging.

“What was that about?” she asked Adelaide curiously.

“Della has a fear of children,” Ian said matter-of-factly, though his ever-present smirk gave a hint of teasing.

“I do not!” Adelaide shot back defensively. Was Ian determined to embarrass her in front of all these giants? In front of Ellie?

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Ian continued.

“No, they’re just... loud and... smelly.” Adelaide wrinkled her nose. She still felt like she had to defend herself.

“Kids don’t smell! Where are you guys getting this from?” Ellie shook her head. A confused look from Adelaide prompted her further. “Alan was just saying that the other day...You know, you two would get along well, probably.”

As if on cue, Alan got in the car next to Ian and slammed the door closed. Adelaide instinctively ducked down into the pocket but quickly reemerged when she realized he was sans child.

“Why did you do that?” he asked Ellie, exasperated.

“Do what?” Ellie answered innocently.

“You know what I mean,” he said, but he resigned himself to dropping the topic. He leaned back in his chair with a loud sigh, rubbing his hands down his face.

“ I think kids are smelly,” Adelaide ventured shyly.

Alan looked down at her. He honestly forgot she was there and was a little taken aback when she addressed him. He gave her a faint smile. “Thank you!”

Adelaide froze when he made direct eye contact with her, but otherwise showed no signs of fear. The car suddenly took off, and Adelaide was left clinging a little tighter to the lip of the pocket.

“God help us, we’re in the hands of engineers,” Ian’s voice rumbled around her.

It was then that Adelaide noticed it. There was nobody driving the car! Hammond had mentioned something about that earlier, but it didn’t really register until now.

Adelaide didn’t like looking stupid, but her curiosity propelled her to ask the question. “How do they-” her voice barely came out. She cleared her throat and tried again. “How do they do that?”

Ian and Alan both looked down at her. Neither responded for a moment, trying to figure out what she was asking.

Excellent, Adelaide thought. Ask a bunch of scientists a stupid question with an obvious answer. How could she backtrack?

“Oh, the cars!” Ian said aloud for Alan’s benefit once he deciphered the question.

“Oh, then I have no idea. You’re asking the wrong person,” Alan said.

Ian seemed to have an explanation, though. “They’re uh...electric. They run on batteries, as with all cars, or most cars, but for our purposes all cars, but the- the track below the car- did you see that?” Adelaide nodded. “It communicates with the car through uh, through electricity. The track likely has some kind of wire, and that predetermined path, that data, is uh, sent to the car.”

“Oh,” Adelaide said. That mostly made sense.

Say what you want about Ian, but he always treated Adelaide like a person. Sometimes he was a little grabby and a little rough, but he never doubted her intelligence.

That’s how Adelaide found herself learning new things every day. If she asked the question, Ian would give her the answer. He didn’t talk down to her like she was a child or like she was challenged. He assumed she had basic knowledge, and if Adelaide needed further explanation, she could always just ask.

Not that she ever did, though. It was a rare occasion to see Adelaide ask clarifying questions, mostly because she trusted herself to figure it out. She knew herself to be intuitive and maybe a little prideful, and if she truly didn’t understand what Ian was talking about, it was probably never meant for her to know.

***

“I can handle it!” Adelaide protested. “Why would you even offer if you don’t think I can ‘handle it’? What does that even mean?”

Adelaide loosely knew what alcohol did to Human Beans, watching them from afar. It usually made them louder and clumsier, so she kept her distance. Her parents had a strict rule that all alcohol was to be kept for sterilization, especially since it was so hard to come by, so nobody in their small home had ever tried any.

“It means,” Ian said, walking over to the kitchen. “you’re very small. And from what it sounds like, you uh, you’ve never had any alcohol before.” He distractedly rummaged around in the cabinets. When he found what he was looking for, he returned to the coffee table Adelaide stood on. “And it’s fun to get you riled up.” He sat on the couch and produced a bottle cap.

“Whatever,” Adelaide said with a hint of a smile in her voice.

He carefully poured some of his drink into the bottle cap and went to set it down on the table in front of Adelaide. “Don’t-” He paused, looking her in the eye. “-drink this too fast.” And with that, he set it down.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Adelaide didn’t actually know, but she wasn’t going to let him think that. She eyed the drink nervously. She’d be damned if she stood down now. So, she marched right up to the saucepan-sized bottlecap, awkwardly picked it up, and took a big gulp.

GROSS.

Adelaide nearly dropped the cap, but she set it down quickly to avoid spilling it and couldn’t help but scrunch up her face. Everything burned- her mouth, her throat, her stomach. Her eyes watered, but Ian’s laugh brought her focus back. He leaned back against the couch, his arm outstretched along its back, and he took another sip of his drink as he watched her try not to cough.

Adelaide fixed her face real fast. Or at least as best she could. She could not let Ian be right.

“A little strong?” he asked.

“No, not at all,” she said nonchalantly. It was too bad her voice came out scratchy and forced, like someone who’d been smoking cigarettes their whole life.

“Sure,” he said.

She sat on the table, using some books as a back rest. From then on, she took smaller, less frequent sips, but she felt her mind grow foggy in almost no time. Adelaide preferred to stay sharp, but she couldn’t quite remember why she felt that way. This didn’t seem too bad. This was warm. This was nice.

In fact, she even ditched her jacket. That thing never came off. Living at just a couple inches tall, heat left borrowers’ bodies faster than Beans, mostly because their skin was too thin to keep the heat from leaving. But with the fire going and the alcohol warming her insides, Adelaide had to take the coat off.

After watching some TV and talking for a little while, Adelaide grew bored. She flopped back onto the books, staring at the ceiling.

“Am I boring you?” Ian asked, though there was no offense in his voice. If anything, he was amused.

“Yeah, a little,” Adelaide said, feeling bolder than usual, and she sat back up. She looked around. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a big box-like contraption with a bunch of buttons.

“That’s uh, that’s a computer,” Ian said.

“What’s it do?”

“It lets you look up information.”

“Like anything?”

“Pretty much anything.”

“What’s that?” she asked again, pointing to a different object.

“That’s a phone,”

“I know that,” she said, slurring her words a little. She took a second to rephrase her question. “How does it do...why do you talk into it?”

“I use it to talk to other people.”

“But how ?”

“Um, well, energy. My voice makes sound waves, and those waves get converted into- into energy. That energy travels along wires and then gets converted back into sound waves on the other end, that end being, uh, the person I’m talking to,” he explained, unsure why he was explaining how phones worked.

Ian considered what Adelaide just said. She knew that the phone was called a phone and that he talked into it. He couldn’t recall ever using the phone in front of her, which almost confirmed his theory that she watched him from the walls before they officially met.

“What’s that?” she asked for a third time, pointing at another object. Their night went on like this for some time.

At first, Ian was annoyed. He didn’t want to explain every little gadget in his house, so he kept his answers fairly short. After a while though, he realized he kind of enjoyed explaining these things. It made him appreciate stuff he often overlooked – computers, phones, even escalators – when he actually had to think about how they worked. Humans used these things daily, but they served no purpose to people like Adelaide. The perspective shift was jarring, but enlightening.

To see the world through Adelaide’s eyes was so fascinating, and he never got the opportunity. She never asked questions, was always closed off, and rightly so. It was hard to trust anybody in this world, let alone a giant, so Ian understood why she changed the subject every time he asked her a question about being small. Still, he had to admit to curiosity.

And though he wouldn’t admit it, that night made Ian feel good about himself. It made him feel like a proper father.

***

Suddenly, an unfamiliar male voice played out of the car’s speakers. “During your tour, the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you. Simply touch the area of the screen displaying the appropriate icon. Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

The cars approached an enormous wooden gate supported by stone columns. The columns were lined with flaming sconces and at the top, a big red and yellow sign read, Jurassic Park. Adelaide hadn’t seen anything like it before. It was so grand, so expensive looking, and the doors opened all on their own just before the cars reached it! What do they have in there?

“What do they got in there, King Kong?” Ian voiced her thoughts aloud. What could possibly need a gate that large? Nothing Adelaide wanted to get close to, that was for sure.

As they passed under it, the voice continued. Unable to contain herself, Adelaide hoisted her body out of the pocket and scrambled up Ian’s shirt, using the thick fabric to get a secure grip. She stood on his shoulder, facing out the rear window, and watched the gates close behind them, all by themselves. The wonders Human Beans could come up with never ceased to amaze her.

“Wow,” she breathed. Her amazement was abruptly interrupted by one thought.

Trapped.

Adelaide had to physically shake her head to rid herself of that thought. She knew in her head that there were probably plenty of ways to leave if they needed to, but the gates closing reminded her of a cage. A big cage.

But Ian promised her - no more cages. Only he knew about her past and her parents, and even then, Adelaide hadn’t given that information willingly. She blamed her loose tongue that night on the alcohol.

***

“What’s that?” Adelaide continued down her long list of questions about the world around her (Ian’s home) and pointed to a bunch of boxes stacked haphazardly under the TV stand.

“Board games,” Ian said. Curious, he got up to check them out. He hadn’t touched them in ages, not since the last time Kelly was over... He should call her.

“Oooh, I want to play a game,” Adelaide said.

“Well, you’re in luck,” Ian said, wandering back over to the couch and carrying one of the dusty games. “How’s mouse trap sound?”

“Mouse trap?” Adelaide repeated. Her heart rate picked up and a nervous feeling spread across her body. A trap?

“Mouse trap,” he repeated back.

Adelaide stood up to approach the box, wobbling a bit. She thought she was doing okay, but that changed when she got on her feet. She took a second to clear her head, and when she stopped seeing double, she walked forward, only to stumble back again when he lifted the lid off the box too quickly.

“Careful there...you uh, sure you want to play?” Ian chuckled.

“Of course! ..... Um, it’s not actually a – a real mouse trap...is it?”

“No, no it’s not a real mouse trap. Just plastic.” Ian was oblivious to Adelaide’s worry.

“Oh.” Adelaide didn’t know what plastic had to do with anything, and she was still nervous, but she trusted him.

Ian got the game set up with no help from Adelaide. If she wasn’t intoxicated, she may have insisted on helping, but as it was, she could barely walk straight, let alone lift objects much larger than her.

She watched his hands work. Those massive hands, picking up the game pieces and putting them together. She remembered when he picked her up like that, saving her from that stupid bowl of fruit. That had been embarrassing. Though she still tried to avoid going near those hands, she was less afraid of them now. She was less afraid of Ian now. They still had a long way to go, but they were both trying.

“I think you just uh, roll the um, the die,” he said, snapping Adelaide out of her thoughts. Neither of them was about to read the instructions, but Ian was sure he had a general idea of how it went. It was pretty much your standard, run of the mill board game, anyway.

Steadying herself, Adelaide marched up to the die. She hoisted it up. It was much heavier than she anticipated, sending her sideways.

“Woah!” Ian exclaimed. He started to reach out to catch her, but she held her hands up to stop him, signaling that she had it under control. “You need help with that?”

“No,” Adelaide said, her cheeks burning. Whether it was from the alcohol or her ruined pride, she wasn’t sure. She stood up, brushed herself off, and tried again. This time, instead of trying to hold it, once Adelaide had it in her hands, she tossed it as hard as she could. It didn’t go very far at all, but it did roll a little. 4 .

“Okay, now what?”

“You move your mouse,” Ian explained. “Or you could be your own – your own game piece.” He laughed at the thought.

“You're hilarious,” Adelaide said flatly, but she had to admit it would be kinda funny. She looked to her left and found two statues of cartoon mice that stood slightly shorter than her. She saw that the board laid out in front of her had a path printed on it, and that path was divided into squares. She guessed that meant she was supposed to move her mouse four squares.

Picking the green mouse, Adelaide kicked it four spaces. It wasn’t heavy, but it still required some effort.

Ian picked up the die, shook it in his palm, and sent it across the table, making sure to aim it away from Adelaide. Even under normal circumstances, sending it flying her way seemed cruel, and now her senses were completely wiped.

Adelaide’s jaw dropped as she watched the die disappear into his hand, soar into the air, and get flung across the table in a matter of seconds. What took her a full minute and a lot of strength took Ian no time at all, and it was barely even an effort on his part. A pang of jealousy snuck into Adelaide’s mind, but she forced it away when she saw that the die landed on a 2. Ha .

They played like that for a while, figuring out the rules as they went. She would kick her green mouse along while he pushed his blue one with only a finger. They learned that they were actually supposed to build the game as they went along, but it was too late for that. All the while, Adelaide continued to drink, unaware of how it was affecting her.

“Why do you have this if you don’t have people over?” Adelaide asked, then froze. Even drunk, she knew that was a rude question. She looked up at him worriedly, but he wasn’t looking at her. “I’m sorry. That was mean. I didn’t mean to-”

Ian interrupted. “It’s alright. I ah, I have a kid. 3 kids, actually, but this is one of Kelly’s favorites.” He gave Adelaide a weak smile, but his eyes were distant.

“Oh,” she said. Ian had kids? That didn't feel par for the course. She couldn’t recall a time she ever saw kids in his house, but she didn’t push. Sometimes Adelaide forgot that Beans had emotions, and they felt them just as strongly as borrowers. It was hard to imagine something so big and powerful, something who could get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, as anything other than confident. But here Ian was, proving her wrong.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, because it looks like I’ve just- I've just won,” he said triumphantly.

Adelaide was about to claim that he was making up rules, but she was cut short when she watched him turn a weird plastic crank attached to a bunch of other things. She stared in awe as the crank made a long lever spring forward with a loud snap, which made a ball fall down a set of stairs, which knocked into a tall tower, which made another ball fall onto a lever that sprung a figurine onto a platform, which shook the post right next to her.

What the hell was this game?

Adelaide looked up just in time to see a red plastic piece descend toward her. The quick motion of her head allowed dizziness to take over and she fell to the ground, just as the cage fell over top of her and her green, plastic mouse.

A cage.

Panic flooded Adelaide’s mind and she curled in on herself as she was taken her far away from Ian's home. Tears immediately started to fall, and she shook violently. If she was thinking straight, she could have easily lifted the lightweight cage and crawled out, but she might as well have been back in that musty basement, starving and alone, for all she could do.

Ian registered none of this. He leaned down as far as he could, peering into the cage, ready to boast his ass off. Before he could speak, he saw the way she shook.

“Adelaide?” he whispered, confused.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, loud enough to make Ian flinch.

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, hey. Hold on a second,” he said. He reached for the cage, but Adelaide heard the movement and looked up. She could barely see through the tears, her mind stuck in the past.

“Stop! Please stop! Just let us go. Let them go! Please!” she yelled.

Ian hesitated. He had never seen her act like this before, and the change in demeanor happened so fast. The only way out was through though, so he lifted the cage off her as quickly and as gently as he could. He pulled the game pieces out of the board to get them out of the way.

Adelaide barely registered the movement around her, curled in on herself once again, protecting her head and organs. She shook even harder still, muttering phrases to herself that Ian couldn’t hear.

Ian was at a complete loss for what to do. He couldn’t let her suffer, but any time he got close she screamed even harder. He resigned himself to sitting there, resting his hand close to her if she needed him, but not close enough to invade her space. They sat like that for a long time until eventually Adelaide’s shaking subsided, and she worked her way back to the present.

Slowly, she looked up. Ian’s hand was the first thing she saw, which made her jump back. Then, realizing where she was, she took a long, deep breath. Neither of them knew what to say and the silence seemed to stretch out forever. Adelaide refused to look at him.

“What was that?” Ian asked. It sounded harsh, even to him, but somebody had to break the silence, and it clearly wasn’t going to be Adelaide.

“None of your business,” Adelaide shot back coldly. Ian gave her a look that said, really? She took another deep breath. Let’s try that again. “Um...sorry, first of all. That was...a lot...um...I don’t- I don’t like cages,” she said pathetically.

“Yeah, I gathered as much,” Ian said. Very slowly, he lowered himself into the space between the couch and the coffee table so that he was sitting on the floor, maintaining eye contact with Adelaide the whole way. Adelaide scooched back a little, mostly from nerves, but also to avoid craning her neck. She was much too unstable for that. Ian continued to stare, waiting for her to say more.

“I used to live somewhere else, somewhere not here...obviously that’s what ‘somewhere else’ means, but...well, we used to live somewhere else. In a motel, I think it was called. People would come in and out and-”

“Who’s we?” Ian interrupted. He didn’t like how scattered her words were. She never got like this anymore. Something was wrong.

Adelaide hesitated. “My parents,” she said. Her eyes immediately welled up again at the thought of them, but she would not let the tears spill over. She’d already done enough crying for a lifetime.

“What happened?” Ian knew he was prying, but not until the following morning did he realize how he was taking advantage of her inebriated and emotional state. He felt bad about that night for a long time, but in the moment, he was too curious, too caught up in the shocking information.

“We used to, to survive we would-” Thinking was hard. “-well, that doesn’t matter, but there was this one person, he knew I was there. I don’t know how, but he knew. So, then I was bait, and obviously they came, of course they came. They shouldn’t have come, and maybe if they didn’t.... anyway,” She cleared her throat. “They took me, took them. They took us. They stuffed us in cages and sent us to...here, I guess. Texas, right? I was kept separate because I was, uh... breedable and um...they made me, with this one... they didn’t like that I wouldn’t eat their food, wouldn’t obey their orders or whatever, so they...just fuck those guys, man. You know? Nobody owns us.” She let out a little laugh and raised her drink in a ‘cheers’ motion, hoping that last bit was relatable. Not once did she look Ian in the eye, scared that he would see right through her.

Ian was stunned. He knew that this ‘borrower’ lifestyle was hard – they lived in the walls and relied on humans who didn’t know they were there to survive. He didn’t know it went this deep, that there were people actively hunting the smaller species.

“I'm uh...I’m sorry, Adelaide.... Hey, I promise though, no more cages. At least not if - if I have anything to do with it,” he said. He rested his hand a couple inches away and Adelaide perked her head up. He used her full name.

“Well, it’s over, and you don't have to be sorry. There’s nothing I can do now, except maybe go to bed,” she said. “I’m tired.” It was getting late, and her eyelids felt extremely heavy. Emotions were running high, and Adelaide was exhausted. Even though borrowers didn’t really experience day and night the same as Human Beans, Adelaide found her sleep schedule shifting closer and closer to Ian’s the more they interacted. Hmm.

Adelaide set a path for her hook that still dangled from the edge of the coffee table. Though she didn’t make it in a straight, stable line, she still made it. She went to reach for the hook when a giant hand appeared from the void less than an inch in front of her face. It plucked the hook off the table and sailed back into the air.

Adelaide fell back on her butt in shock, then looked up at Ian. “Hey!”

“Oh no, there’s no way you’re climbing anywhere like- like that. You can’t even stand up,” he said.

“I am perfectly capable of getting myself home,” she exclaimed, though when she went to stand up, she fell right back over and let out a small hiccup. Her vision went sideways, and she laughed at her own hiccup.

“How much have you had to drink?” Ian asked. He should have been paying more attention every time Adelaide asked him for more, and he realized belatedly how strong alcohol probably was to someone her size. Adelaide shrugged and let out a noise that sounded vaguely like “I don’t know.” She’d probably be alright come morning, just hungover.

“Come on,” Ian said, holding his palm out. Adelaide was going to protest more, but at least he didn’t grab her. Maybe she should show some kindness back.

“Fine,” she agreed. Taking her time, Adelaide pushed herself to her feet. Focusing on placing one foot in front of the other, she slowly and painfully made her way to his waiting hand. Instead of stepping on, she simply collapsed and rolled onto his palm. “Take it away,” she said, pointing vaguely into the air.

Ian snorted and stood up. He turned to head down the hallway.

All that motion made Adelaide’s head spin and her stomach churn. She was determined not to throw up, and it was all she could do to make sure that didn’t happen. She was so focused on the task at hand that she didn’t realize where they were headed until they were basically there. Ian’s bedroom.

“Wait, wait, wait, hello? You missed the entrance to the walls, dude,” she giggled. “Uhhhh, the one back behind the couch. That’ll be the closest.”

“I’m not setting you loose in the walls like this,” he said. “And I’m uh, certainly not going to be the one to- to cut open the walls when you get yourself um, when you get stuck somewhere. You’re gonna sleep with me tonight.” Ian didn't miss the way she revealed an entrance into the walls that was close to her home, something she'd been determined to keep secret. He wondered if he should bring that up in the morning. She definitely didn't do it on purpose.

“Geez, buy me a drink first,” Adeliade slurred, then continued to giggle at her own joke.

He set Adelaide down on his bedside table and laid out an old, clean T-shirt for her to arrange a bed to her liking.

Ian took off his shirt and pants and hopped into bed. He wasn’t shy about things like that, but it didn’t even matter, because when he turned to tell Adelaide good night, she was conked out in a nest of fabric.

Ian smiled and reached over to turn off the lamp. He would never say this out loud, lest Adelaide crucify him, but Ian thought she was adorable. Her stubborn attempts to act bigger than she really was didn’t read the way she wanted, but he wouldn’t be the one to tell her that. In fact, she almost definitely knew, but he respected her for trying, nonetheless.

Ian was tired, but he didn’t fall asleep for a long time. Adelaide’s story kept him up thinking all night and well into the early hours of the morning. Though the story was neither linear nor clear, Ian was able to piece it together and fill in the blanks. He thought back to their first meeting and how scared she was. Knowing what he knew now, Ian understood the fear response, and he was honestly baffled that she stood up to him. He was baffled that she still chose to interact with him after that day, that she let him carry her. Adelaide was brave, she was unpredictable, she was the embodiment of chaos. And maybe that’s why Ian liked her so much.

Light filtered in through the curtains. The first conscious thought that filtered into Adelaide’s mind was, Ow. My head.

Borrowers rarely got sick and didn’t get headaches often. Looking for the reason, Adelaide thought back to the previous night, but it was all kind of fuzzy.

Even with her eyes closed, she could tell it was lighter than usual and she could feel the heat beating down on her body. Wait... that wasn’t right. Hardly any light reached her small home in the walls and warmth wasn’t a concept she was familiar with. And whatever she was laying on was not her nest. Faint sounds of rushing air filled her ears, and she knew in that moment that she was not in the walls.

Panicked, Adelaide eyes flung open, and she sat up quickly, feeling around for her knife. To her right lay a giant underneath a set of massive blankets, its back turned toward her. She stood up and silently walked backward, assessing her surroundings, but she had to sit back down when her head pounded so hard, she thought it was going to explode.

This forced Adelaide to process what was actually around her. She knew this room. It was Ian’s bedroom. And so, the giant must be Ian. She let out a quick huff, upset with herself for panicking so quickly.

Adelaide had never slept outside the walls before. She’d never let her guard down and had never let herself be that vulnerable before. She trusted Ian to an extent, but she couldn’t believe she let herself fall asleep out in the open with him, all exposed – that was too much trust.

As she sat there, memories from last night slowly started to come back. Drinking alcohol, playing a board game, her mini freak out, opening up about her parents. Ugh. That was embarrassing. Maybe if she pretended not to remember, Ian would let it all go, because she did not want to talk about it further.

Wanting to get a head start on all of that, Adelaide crawled to the edge of the nightstand. She would put off standing up as long as possible. Where was her hook? Oh yeah, Ian took it last night and put it God knew where. There was no climbing down the slick sides of the table, so it looked like Adelaide was stuck there until Ian woke up.

It wasn’t so bad, save for the pounding headache. She was still nervous about how exposed she was, with so much open space around her. She just wanted to crawl under an alcove and hide from the world, but she supposed this makeshift blanket would do for now. No, not a blanket...Ian’s shirt. Huh. A weird feeling filled Adelaide's chest...

Despite the nerves, despite the embarrassment, Adelaide felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Adelaide felt safe.

#jurassic park #ian malcolm #g/t #giant/tiny #jurassic park g/t #gt #in which we drink alcohol and play board games #flashback episode

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