Isla Sorna

[cerhadivision]

2
For bluebetabitch

When you spend a long time building something with your own two hands, it becomes difficult to wrap your mind around the idea of the work being done. Owen grew up around that kind of mindset, and knows very well how it feels to be in the same grip. But he doesn't mind. That's the thing about having a family: it expands, and the world around it needs to expand with it. Little by little, the house came up around them, and they settled into it, and he's never really stopped working this little world of his over like an ever-evolving project that he loves with his whole heart.

They're settled here. Officially. No one can deny it, and even though Owen still has dreams sometimes about InGen -- or anyone -- hunting them down to rip the girls, or even the boys, out of his hands, those fears evaporate every morning. The girls get along as well as any sisters do, and even the squabbling has died down in recent months; the boys have adapted beautifully, and although Chi and Psi still exhibit behavior that looks odd alongside the girls from time to time, they no longer struggle to meet expectations that were completely alien to them for most of their lives.

And then there's Blue and Omega.

The difference in Blue between her youth on Isla Nublar, and the young womanhood that quite clearly blossomed in the Santa Lucia Mountains of central California, is not only noticeable, but striking. Always the one he could rely on over the others, Blue has managed to develop into a creature that is both an extension of his right arm and yet still a highly independent person who no longer looks to him quite so often for cues; she still values her space and her privacy, but those withdrawals from the pack just to brood and sulk have all but disappeared. And while Blue's temper will always strike fear into the hearts of her siblings -- adopted or otherwise -- she's learned to balance it with patience, a trait that would always thwart her more than any other. Until now. Owen always wanted Blue to learn that balance between animal instinct and human rationality, and he knew she'd get there in her own way sooner or later. Now, it seems she has, and it's a beautiful thing to see.

Then, as if her own transformation wasn't enough, she'd somehow managed to turn her mate into an entirely different person.

If Blue's maturation is impressive, Omega's has been nothing short of miraculous. All right... Owen is a professional behaviorist; he knows there's no such thing as miracles, only hard work and dedication. Only this time it wasn't his. It was Blue's time, effort, and uncharacteristic affection that turned a furious, hateful killing machine into something that could be now what he might have been then, before InGen had their way. Omega lives in the house now. He eats when they do. He joins the family in their gatherings, as long as Blue is with him, and although his temper is still zero to 60 when roused, these days it's much harder to set him off than it used to be, even if that wouldn't be saying much. He prefers his mate and solitude over anything else, but his violently aggressive tendencies have been all but curbed for the sake of keeping Blue happy.

For obvious reasons, Owen has kept a close eye on them both from day one, and even from the very beginning Omega has treated Blue like the center of the universe. Owen himself has salvaged his share of abused, wild animals -- it's literally part of the job -- but he knows without question that no one could have done this but her. And her success is absolutely indisputable.

Case in point: today, Omega's dislike for interacting with unfamiliar people had outweighed his desire to be with Blue as often as possible, and instead of throwing a tantrum he simply hadn't gone with her down the mountain.

For Barry, it was supplies; Echo wanted clothes; Blue was only interested in procuring necessary parts for her nearly-restored 1979 Pontiac Phoenix Firebird, a task built upon very specific requirements and one which she would never entrust to any of her siblings. The day is very nice for a sojourn into the city, considering the length of the drive: blue skies and a mild breeze, not quite so far into spring that the air is anything more than comfortably warm. Psi is helping Delta collect chili peppers and the new experimental plums. Chi fell asleep in the grass up the hill. Charlie is giving Owen a hand with replacing some worn poles along the stone steps leading down to the boys' den, when they hear the familiar sound of the Jeep rolling up the long hill that serves as their driveway.

Only, it sounds like it's coming up fast.

Owen and Charlie look at each other, and immediately drop what they're doing to meet the car just as Barry rolls up, screeching to a stop and diving out of the driver's side to rush around to the passenger door. He looks frantic. And he's helping Echo out of the car. She looks like she's about to pitch right off her feet.

"Owen!" Barry calls out urgently, eyes widening immediately as Owen rushes to them. "Owen!" He has to wrap an arm around Echo's back to keep her standing. And then, to Owen's surprise and dread, Barry yells again. "Omega!"

Owen doesn't actually know where Omega has been this whole time. But suddenly he's there next to him, clearly as alarmed at being summoned as Owen was to hear it, and Owen can practically feel the tension in the male raptor's body triple because they both realized the same thing: that Blue is not with them.

"They took her," Barry says, breathless, and the bottom falls out of Owen's stomach.

Echo tries to rouse herself, flopping a little, mumbling in groggy frustration as she tries to shake off whatever is wrong with her and help explain. But Barry keeps his hold on her and barrels right through it.

"It was InGen. They had an entire strike force, Owen, the streets are chaos now. They used non-lethals. Tranquilizers. Echo took a direct hit, but they left her behind. All of them were focused on Blue." He looks at both of them, Owen and then Omega, panicked and desperate. "They came for her."

The weather was gorgeous a minute ago. Now the entire world is ice. Owen's heart has stopped, his breath is gone. Delta and the boys come running up, but he barely notices them. Beside him is Omega, frozen; then suddenly the raptor whirls to him, eyes wide, and the fury -- the fear -- in them is apocalyptic.

Omega doesn't say a word, but Owen immediately finds his voice. "Go get her."

The male raptor is gone like a bolt of lightning. Owen turns and strides quickly to a hidden cache beneath the porch. He pulls out two assault rifles and a hell of a lot of ammo as Charlie shrieks behind him, "Why aren't we going with him?!"

"Because we're going to follow him." Owen tosses a rifle to Barry, and gestures sharply for everyone to get into the car, including the still-dizzy Echo. "After Isla Nublar, Omega found us in less than a week on nothing but Blue's scent and pure instinct. This time he knows where he's going. We'd only slow him down." The motor is still running. Almost before every door is shut, Owen jerks the Jeep into gear. His last words are almost a growl to himself. "With any luck, all we'll have to do is clean up."

The Jeep screeches in reverse, turns, and roars off down the mountain.

Comments

[myraptors]

This is a far cry from how Blue was when she woke up in the hospital, and for at least the initial part of her time spent with Marie; that's a large part of why Owen is at such a loss. Blue can't fight this the way she fights anything else. They can barely predict it. At first, she seemed to crave every comforting touch she can get, and now even Owen's hands are enough to send her reeling back in horror.

If only Vic Hoskins survived the first bullet to the head, Owen would gladly follow up with a second. Maybe several. Hell, maybe he'd take a few pages out of Omega's playbook...

He rest his arms across his knees again and nods. "He does. A little. I don't like going into details about you girls with outsiders, even family, but he does know that you exist and what you are." Owen isn't certain how much his father actually understands about all that, but ultimately he doesn't think it would matter. He treats everyone pretty much the same.

"I'd have to warn him about a few things. That you're working through something -- I won't give him details -- and a little about the boys too, just to be on the safe side. He's ex-Navy, like me, and not exactly a friendly guy, but he definitely understands wanting to keep to yourself and handle your own business. We'd all go."

[bluebetabitch]

Blue fell to studying her toes as she listened, watching them as they wiggled up and down. This proposed trip sounded--great, really; she just...wasn't sure she could break out of her own head enough to enjoy it. Unfamiliar places were still...threatening, in the back of her mind.

"Is it safe?" It just came out before she could stop it, and when she heard the words in her own voice, Blue ducked her head, long hair hiding her face away. Why was she so afraid?! She'd never been afraid of anything! But in answer, the clink and rattle of thick chains mocked her with its merry-sounding tinkle, and Blue bit her lip, forcing herself to breathe slow, calm down.

She finally regained enough composure to peer at Owen from around the curtain of loose hair, blue eyes a little brighter than they'd been for days. "...all seven of us?" That was probably a given, considering. "Gwen and Barry, too?"

[myraptors]

He smiles a little at her first question, but gives her a minute to catch herself before he answers it. That's not her talking, it's just the fear in her head. But considering that, it's a fair question -- and truthfully, Owen is happy to answer anything, especially when she looks at him with just a touch of familiar fire in her eyes.

"Barry will probably stay here and watch the house," he explains, "but Gwen will come with us. Your sisters and the boys. And yes, it's safe." However, he does cast a fleeting glance toward the doorway. "But everyone will have to be respectful."

[bluebetabitch]

Blue vented a soft snort. "You say that like it'll actually happen." They both knew that Omega regarded all humans as walking nuisances, barely tolerated on the good days. And she knew that Owen would absolutely expect her to keep Omega in line, along with her sisters. That was her job; she was the pack's Beta.

Problem was, Blue wasn't sure she could, anymore.

"...I'd like to go," she finally replied, looking back at her wiggling toes. "...but not if we're gonna be any trouble." Because none of them, least of all Owen, needed any more of that.

[myraptors]

"I'll talk to Omega," Owen informs her firmly, since there's no reason to pretend they don't both know exactly who he's talking about. And the male raptor's improvements don't leave Owen stressing all that much about at least having that discussion. And truthfully, he believes that Omega -- and the boys -- might have some valid reasons of their own to be leery about a trip like this, but it's not about them. "This trip is for your sake, Blue, and I don't think he'll want to make things more difficult for you." That is the important thing.

But he lets her process it, still balled up in the corner of her seat, but at least thinking about something that isn't Isla Sorna for once already. When she finally agrees, Owen's smile widens, visibly pleased. Thank god, now they have a plan.

"You won't be." He shakes his head a little, almost muttering to himself. "Believe me, if we're gonna be any trouble he won't even let us come."

But his expression relaxes again, looking his Beta over for a quiet moment or two. "I think you'll like it there, Blue. Really."

[bluebetabitch]

She listened quietly. Words flowed over her like water now, rippling, fleeting. Blue sighed softly. Owen seemed to really want her to do this, and listening to him speak about it, Blue did, too. She was tired of sitting in this room, doing nothing but get lost in her own head.

"--okay."

It was a bare acquiescence, but acquiescence nonetheless. The idea of meeting Owen's father was a bit...daunting, but maybe he wouldn't be as bad as she anticipated. If her short-tempered mate could behave himself...

"I'll...say something to him, too." What, she wasn't entirely sure, but Omega's sanity was still her responsibility. Even if it felt as if she were trying to hold a lake in her cupped hands, sometimes. She still had to at least try.

[myraptors]

Owen actually wonders a little bit if she'll have to -- not because he'll do the trick on his own, but because there's a pretty good chance Omega has been listening to this whole conversation through the door. Raptor hearing is highly sensitive even when they're not paying attention. So.

Nevertheless, he nods again and smiles at her one more time, and this time it's nothing else but fond. "All right. I'll get things moving. But, Blue, if you start having second thoughts or you change your mind about this, just tell me. All right?"

He genuinely thinks that this will be helpful to her, and he wants to make the effort either way. But it is absolutely not worth risking making things worse if Blue feels like that's what will happen. Owen regards her for another stretch, and then slowly eases away from the window, getting to his feet.

"It'd be nice to have you downstairs for dinner tonight, baby girl. But we'll send something up for you again if you want."

Then he leaves her to her thoughts once again, careful not to trip over Omega on his way out the door.

[bluebetabitch]

Blue gave him a shrug as he headed out, watching her toes still wiggling. The door didn't quite shut behind Owen when he left, and Blue made no move to push it shut again. She did, however, ease out of her window seat and sweep up the mess of beads in the floor, resolving to maybe try again. Later. When her brain wasn't scattered all to oblivion.

She could hear Omega's minute rustling just outside the door; Blue considered calling to him, but couldn't quite get anything out. But she knew he wouldn't go far. Since they'd returned to the mountain, Blue didn't believe he'd ever once been out of earshot. A comforting thing, really, even if sometimes she had to have him out of her sight.

But her mind was currently tranquil, the sun left long bars of golden light streaming across the wooden floor, illuminating the small motes floating gracefully through the room. Blue returned to her window seat, leaning back against her cushion to bask in the warmth of the afternoon, feeling, for once, finally at ease.

[cerhadivision]

Omega rests with his head back against the wall and neither says anything nor moves out of the way when Owen emerges from Blue's bedroom. But he does glance twice when he realizes that the door has remained slightly ajar. His mate is also silent within, and although he's suddenly much more anxious to go back in than he was a minute ago, he doesn't go anywhere just yet.

A moment or two later, she's moving around, and he hears what must be the beads getting swept off the floor. That's a good sign. Once again, he itches to go back in, but decides to wait in case he startles her while she's distracted.

Only when it's quiet again, and has been for a while, does he roll up from his spot and slip like a ghost back through the door, closing it behind him.

His mate is sitting by the window, glowing in the sunlight... and he almost doesn't dare to hope, but she seems... peaceful. At least for now. But that's something -- it's all that matters, really -- and Omega tries not to disturb that as he deftly tumbles a book off the shelf and stretches out on the bed to read.

[bluebetabitch]

Blue heard him come in, naturally, but she didn't bolt upright and run in panic when he did. She didn't even open her eyes, recognizing Omega's scent even before the door closed behind him. Her ears followed him around the room, however; she heard the minute squeak of bed springs when he stretched out atop it.

A few minutes later, Blue finally deigned to turn away from the sun and shift about a little, the better to gaze at her mate, not oblivious to the picture he painted just then--a magnificent predator, lounging in deceptive repose, a book in hand.

Noting the title, Blue's mouth quirked just slightly. She crossed her legs, Indian fashion, tilting her head as she watched him, a small fond smile teasing the corners of her lips.

"That's a really good book, by the way." Long dark hair spilled over one arm as she shifted. "I think you'll like it."

[cerhadivision]

Oh. That's nice... being spoken to without screams or bared teeth. He looks up, not wary but certainly cautious, silently gauging the stability of this mood before he answers her.

"I know. I watched you read it."

Anything that captivated her so thoroughly, he figures is worth at least some cursory attention on his part. She has been broadening his mind to new horizons for a long time now, after all, and Omega is open to the occasional thoroughly human experience from time to time. And yet, he admits over the top of the book, "But I like it better when you read to me."

Everything is better when Blue is involved. Her absence -- and this definitely counts -- over the last month has been excruciating, but Omega will deal with it with every threadbare shred of patience and self control that he has if it means he'll be there when she comes back. Moments like this, when she's herself for even a little while, make it entirely worth it. Omega wants very badly to join her by the window, but he knows better.

[bluebetabitch]

Yes, she remembered him lying with his head in her lap while she read. Happier times, those. Peaceful memories, lying hidden beneath the splintered chaos now infesting her mind. Blue smiled a little smile, tucking a stray lock of hair behind one ear.

Making up her mind--determined this time, damnit--she cleared her throat softly and slipped from her perch in the window, padding on bare feet over to her bed--their bed, it was theirs--gingerly curling one leg beneath her as she gently sat on its edge.

Not too close, but not impossibly away, either. She wanted so much for things to be as they were, where she wasn't afraid to burrow close into a possessive embrace, but instinctual fear still held her aloof. Nevertheless, she did have a responsibility to disclose. Blue fiddled with her fingers a bit, glancing up at her mate through dark lashes.

"Did you hear what Owen said earlier? He wants to take us to visit his dad, up in Montana. A 'change of scenery', or something like it." She stopped fiddling and propped up on one hand, gazing at him speculatively. "Would you want to go?"

[cerhadivision]

He watches her intently as she gets up, and comes closer, and -- not quite joins him, but sits on the bed nearby. Every fiber of his body tenses with the need to go over to her, but he stays where he is, rarely able to anticipate what might trigger her.

"...yeah, I heard."

He closes the book. During better times, Omega would probably have been frank with her about his displeasure over the idea, and not just for the general bratty reasons that he always had about doing things with other people. But he heard everything, and her Alpha wasn't wrong. If there's even the chance that this will help Blue get better, Omega will go along with it, and do his best to avoid kicking up a fuss. "You know I'll go anywhere you do, Blue."

[bluebetabitch]

Her fingernails plucked at the bedspread, still rumpled from the previous night's tossings and turnings. "...I know." He'd illustrated that often enough, hadn't he? More than enough, actually.

"None of us have ever met his dad," Blue heard herself saying, still fiddling almost nervously with the covers. "Owen kinda makes him sound like a ogre or something." Which wasn't all that appealing, really, but the description of the place did much to balance that out.

"I dunno how long he could put up with all of us, though." Because seven raptors all in one unfamiliar place...that was a lot to ask anyone to tolerate for very long. She snorted in soft amusement. "...unless we all sleep in the barn or something."

[cerhadivision]

"Who cares?"

He doesn't exactly mean it to sound nasty, but it's point-blank and flat, unrepentant. The seven of them are a lot to take, and he isn't at all oblivious to the fact that he has the potential to be the worst of it (although he rather thinks that he's significantly less irritating now than, say, Chi and Charlie). He shoves the book aside.

"This is about you, not them. If he's getting sick of our obnoxious siblings, let them go home. You and I are going to stay as long as you need to. Doesn't matter if that's one day or one hundred. And I don't care if we have to sleep on the damn roof."

[bluebetabitch]

Her brows snapped down and her spine straightened, a purely reflexive response. "You don't have to be so mean about it," she snapped right back. "It's not our house. Would you tolerate some fucked up kids just dropping in and making your life miserable? I didn't think so."

Blue jerked back to her feet, stomping back to her window seat and staring unseeing outside. "A trip to some farm in Montana isn't going to fix this," she stated flatly. "No matter what you and Owen might think." Her lip curled with her soft snarl. "There's no way to 'fix me'." She shot Omega a look filled with frustrated hopelessness.

"Don't you think I would have done it by now?"

[cerhadivision]

When she jumps up from the bed, Omega immediately rolls off of it as well, not quite chasing her but refusing to be passive while she's anything but.

"Of course I wouldn't tolerate it." He gestures to the door, through which Owen had left not long ago. "But anyone who knows me at all wouldn't even try. I don't know anything about this guy, but I think your Alpha probably knows him better than you -- and I learned even before I stopped hating Owen that every decision he makes is meant to protect you."

Omega quickly crosses to the window, maintaining distance but only with difficulty. "Blue." He tries instinctively to reach for her, but catches himself halfway. "You don't need 'fixing,' you're not broken. The only way you break is if you give up, and sooner or later you're going to remember that nobody else has this kind of power over you. Nobody."

[bluebetabitch]

Blue recoiled as Omega approached, winding up like a snake preparing to strike. "Really? No one? Are you sure?" She slithered to her knees, back pressed against the window. "Because it didn't take very fucking much for them to put me on my ass, now did it?"

The memory of fire-hot tranquilizers coursing through her blood screamed through her head, making her shudder and fall back against the edge of the window, shaking her head as though to clear it. "I was stupid. Careless. Didn't see it coming. Didn't even think about it happening." The clink of chain echoed in her ears. Blue bit her lip on a whimper.

"...promote loyal bloodlines..." It was muttered, down under her breath. Aloud, she demanded, "What the fuck good is that, when loyalty breeds all this pathetic weakness..." She gnashed her teeth, warring with herself and trembling all over.

[cerhadivision]

He grits his teeth, the line of his jaw turning white; his own frustration boils within him, not because he wants to fight her but because he can't help. It's like she doesn't even hear him anymore. But the irony of that isn't lost on him, so how could it possibly be unclear to her?

Harsh silence stretches out between them until Omega finally moves again. It's likely a terrible idea but this time he's taking the risk; two steps bring him closer to Blue, almost close enough for her to strike him without even leaving her seat, but he drops down to one knee and holds out his hand to her. But not to reach.

He's showing her his wrist, where a thick scar encircles almost the whole thing; the other wrist has one nearly identical. "They thought I'd stop pulling if they made the cuffs tighter." He pulls up his sleeve; faint rows of very old friction burns run all the way up to the elbow. "When they tried binding my arms behind my back. Didn't last long, after I dislocated a shoulder they decided they didn't want to risk that kind of damage."

These scars are all familiar to her. She's learned his entire body a hundred times over... even left a few of her own as souvenirs, the only ones he treasures. But he doesn't talk about them. There's never been a reason. They both knew how cruel InGen could be and Omega has always cared far less about damage to his body than he does about the sheer act of trying to enslave him. There's no way Blue doesn't understand that. She's just forgotten how to fight it.

Omega tilts back his head, where the pale lines across his neck form imperfect rings around it, a few inches apart. "Collars worked for a while." He pulls his shirt down, where another faded burn sits at the base of his throat. "One time, they left the shock on. 'Accidentally.' Not enough to drop me -- just pain."

There are plenty more. Scars he's given himself at InGen's expense, others they'd given him themselves in the effort to keep him from creating more. They never got it exactly right, but they kept improving. She was put on her ass by years of innovation meant specifically to contain the most unruly prisoner they've ever had.

"You were in chains built for me, Blue. It takes half of what they dosed you with to take down my brothers, but all it did up until those last few days was make you sick." He finally sits back heavily, drawing his knees up and resting both arms across them as sharp blue eyes fix on her, unwavering. "You saw what I was when we met. But you didn't tell me I was stupid or careless or broken. You told everyone that it wasn't my fault, and you let me be angry, and the only reason my hatred didn't kill me is because of you."

He swallows, unable to bite his tongue, too desperate to make her listen; but then he sighs heavily and falls back to the floor, letting one knee drop and closing his eyes against the sunlight. Too bright.

"I guess I'm weak, though," he mutters to the ceiling. "Because I'm loyal to you no matter what."

[bluebetabitch]

Before Omega had even finished speaking, Blue was lying next to him on the floor, tears coursing unchecked down her pale cheeks. The demons in her head howled, but this time she ignored them, sobbing uncontrollably onto Omega's shoulder. Her heart hurt; for him, for his brothers, for herself... If this madness was what Omega had been forced to live with each and every day, Blue now fully understood the depths of his furious rage, the utter helplessness lurking behind every uncontainable shriek, each terrifying clink of the goddamned chain.

She put her arms around him and cried, weeping because she had no tangible enemy to fight. And she was so tired. So tired of battling against something she couldn't even see, a threat lurking within her very own mind. She couldn't share this with Owen. Nor with her sisters, or Dr. Gwen. They couldn't know. They had never been forced into unwilling subjugation, been made to suffer man's most animal instinct, had never had their own will so utterly suspended, ignored.

Blue sniffled, her face still muffled in Omega's shirt. "...I just w-want this t-to stop!" she grated between hitched sobs. She lifted her head enough to look at him, blue eyes tear-bright, glassy. "H-How do you m-make it g-go away?"

[cerhadivision]

To Omega's absolute shock, he suddenly finds himself with an armful of his mate in tears, and she isn't trying to rip out chunks of him in the process. It's pure instinct to catch her and hold her, even if she reacts badly to it, but right now she seems to have no choice to do anything but cry.

He strokes her hair down her back, saying nothing else while she lets herself be this vulnerable, having his own idea of how near goddamn impossible that is. It's heart-wrenching, the way nothing else in the world would be. Blue is the only creature on earth who can affect him like this. That's the whole point.

When she looks up at him, absolute misery in her lovely eyes, he shakes his head. "I didn't." He rubs the wetness from her cheeks even if the tears might just roll right over them again. "You did. It didn't happen in a month, and we both know it -- but eventually you just took over everything else."

He rolls his head back, looking up toward the ceiling again, and swallows with difficulty. "If I'm not that thing for you, then, that's -- fine. But whatever it is, I'll help you find it."

[bluebetabitch]

How could she have forgotten this? Why had she ever felt threatened here? Even at the height of his madness, Blue had never felt ill at ease in Omega's arms. Not even when he'd raged up and down the mountainside, slaughtering any living thing unlucky enough to be caught in his path, had he ever turned those claws and teeth towards her.

She'd been the anchor in the very teeth of his storm, but sometimes, even the strongest anchor needed a storm to thrash around it, to reinforce its strength and solidarity.

Blue sighed through her tears, returning her head to his shoulder, clutching close into the shelter of his arms. What he said was true;, not even her most manic episodes could drive those tumultuous memories from her mind. They were a pair. Mates. A bond which went so much deeper than mere human emotion could fathom.

I love you. She nuzzled it into his skin, whispered with breath so light it was a fleeting caress, but aloud she said, "...I think I might eat dinner downstairs tonight. Want to come with me?"

[cerhadivision]

Hope has been a dangerous thing, and fleeting, over the last few weeks. Not hope for the future, but hope in little moments; it's been a long time since Omega dared to touch her and was rewarded for it.

So he hopes now, a little. Maybe a few clouds have begun to drift away from the storm.

He strokes her again when she nuzzles him, turning his head toward her again so that they touch. Does he want to eat dinner downstairs? No, not really. Does he want to come with her?

"Always."

+++++

It happens... more quickly than he expected, but that was his own mistake. Omega doesn't know who in the family wouldn't want to move hell and earth when Blue is in trouble, and a few of them have the capacity to actually do it; if it was at all difficult to convince Owen Grady's father to let seven raptor hybrids crash at his ranch for an indefinite period of time, they have no way of knowing about it.

He would sooner rip out his own tongue than tell anyone -- especially Blue right now -- but Omega is... nervous. Controlling his temper around his brothers and her sisters had been a hell of a chore to learn, and even now he still prefers to avoid the temptation if he can. He's even less comfortable with strangers. And Owen Grady's father is another military man, used to giving orders and having them followed. His old self claws at the new one inside his head.

But Omega chokes it the fuck back because of Blue.

She's determined to go through with it, and he's not going to let her down. Maybe this is it -- this is what will help. This is her fresh start, the way the mountains of California were his, even if he never intended to stay in the first place. Omega would walk on the sun for his mate, so he can suck it up and behave himself on some ranch in Montana. Fortunately, Owen decides to drive with just Blue, Omega, and the luggage, while the others cram themselves into Gwen's gigantic tank of an SUV. When everyone has their shit together and is seated and ready, the pack finally rolls away from the house and down the mountain as the girls wave Barry goodbye.

Blue sits in the front seat, with Owen. Omega stretches out in the back like a big cat, but keeps an eye on her, ready to reach her if she starts to splinter on the long drive there.

[bluebetabitch]

The day before their trip up north, there had been a little surprise waiting for Owen outside. The girls had squealed with delight, both Echo and Charlie demanding to be the first ones to ride in it, but thankfully all of the excitement had been redirected into making sure they had all their belongings packed, because the caravan was moving out at first light.

And just before dawn the next morning, all seven raptors and their human 'parents' loaded up and set off down the mountain, Blue in the front seat of the new truck with Owen, acutely aware of Omega dozing in the spacious backseat. Unusually excited, since she was the first one to ride in Owen's new truck, Blue examined all the knobs and dials with interest, quickly discovering what each one did, activated, and programmed.

"Wow," she observed, scrolling through the media center in the middle of the dashboard, "this thing's loaded." She pressed a few more settings, then smirked. "The doc must really like you, or something, Owen." She was teasing, of course, but there was a bit of a fond light in her eye which hadn't been present in a long time.

[myraptors]

Owen isn't entirely sure what happened -- unless she was a lot more excited about the whole trip idea than she'd seemed at the time -- but the change in Blue that's come about over the last few days has been a victory in itself. It's the resilience he knew she had; it took its time getting here, but better late than never. She's not entirely herself just yet, but Owen feels like it's the first time he's seeing her since... before Isla Sorna.

While Omega remains docile in the backseat, Owen watches Blue in glances with a very affectionate grin on his face and lets her touch whatever she wants, making it highly likely that she'll figure everything out before he does. She's welcome to it, being the only one among her siblings guaranteed not to break something.

"Seems like it, doesn't it?" He's not sure which gives him a better feeling right now: knowing that's true, or hearing Blue say it now. "You think she'll keep me around?"