Chapter 16: Wild World - Cat Stevens

Barry liked having Peter around, except for the one seemingly panic attack Rachel said he had in the lab, the man was laid back. Was he certifiably insane? Of course, but what more could really be said about Americans really?

Despite this, there was something quietly reliable about him and the dinosaurs seemed to just accept him as one of their own. Or most of them anyway. There was an incident with a packodermis that ended with a broken pen and a sprained wrist for Peter. Honestly, Barry was surprised the incident didn't end far worse. Packoderms were known for their bad tempers at the best of times, and they were like raging bulls when angered.

Then there were the raptors. The chicks had taken to Owen Grady like nothing the predator expert had ever seen. He'd seen imprinting before, but whatever it was that Grady was doing was well beyond that. The raptor pack had imprinted on him too and while they didn't actively growl or snap at him. They also didn't follow him around like ducklings.

Barry rubbed a hand down his freshly shaven face. To be honest he was a little jealous. He guessed at the heart of it he was a little crazy too. You'd have to be to decide to work with the biggest predators' nature ever made.

He waved at the secretary and scanned his id badge as he walked towards the lab. Today was the big day after all. He'd been gone for most of the last week to ensure that the Raptor Training Facility was prepared for the transfer. He'd left Peter to keep an eye on the newest additions to the park.

Barry smiled and felt the heat radiating off of one of the café's piping hot cups of coffee. He'd had his own coffee on the drive over here and figured that Peter probably needed a cup too after pulling all of these late-night shifts watching the chicks.

He pushed the automatic open button on the metal door and stepped into the lab-turned-nursery expecting to greet Peter with a hot coffee and a joke. Instead, he found Peter lounging in one of the armchairs in the lab, snoring. Four two-foot-long evolutionary killing machines curled around him like stuffed animals.

The one Peter named Blue was curled around his neck like a scarf. She lazily blinked her amber eyes open at the sound of the door closing. The slits of her irises thinned as they grew accustomed to the light and focused on Barry. She didn't move a muscle as she stared him down.

He stared back, his fist clenched around the paper coffee cup. It crumpled under the force in his hand, the steaming brown liquid spilled out running down his hand. He yelped and dropped the burning drink, cursing.

"Dios Mio!" He said, shaking his hand, but keeping his eyes on the uncaged dinosaurs as he crept over to the sink. He faced the chicks and didn't dare turn his back to them as he flipped the facet on and sighed in relief as cool water poured over his rapidly reddening hand.

Blue made a keening noise and the other three raptor chicks raised their heads. Blue cocked her head to the side and then swished her tail and rose. She slid down Grady's vest and stood on the armrest of the chair, warbling at Barry. Her sisters followed suit. Delta scrabbling her was out of the crevice of Grady's arm she'd been sleeping under. Soon all of them were perched on the armrest staring curiously at him.

What was he supposed to do in this situation? This was so far beyond normal protocol violations he wasn't sure where this even fell.

He pressed his eyes closed. He should have stayed in the raptor paddock. He should have known it was only a matter of time until Grady brought him more trouble and the stupid man probably wasn't even conscious of what he was doing! The fool!

He opened his eyes slowly, praying that this was all a dream. Nope, he wasn't dreaming the dinosaurs really were out of containment and staring curiously at him.

Barry gulped and stepped towards the cage with rats in it on the far wall. Hopefully, he could use the food to round the pack up and latch them back in their pen before he gave Grady an ear full.

From his place on the armchair, Grady stirred, seemingly finally feeling the absence of the growing reptiles around him. He hissed and then mumbled something garbled in a language Barry didn't understand. His eyes flickered open and he squinted around him, seeming to be searching for something before his eyes landed on the four raptors. Then he settled and mumbled something too low for Barry to hear. One of the raptors squeaked and Grady sat up and blinked, looking around the lab for the first time. His brown eyes widened as he caught sight of Barry.

"Oh shit," Peter said.

Oh, shit indeed, Barry thought before replying as mild as milk, "Mr. Grady? Would you care to explain what is going on?"

"Uhm," Grady started so elegantly. Barry sighed and raised his non-burned hand to massage his forehead. He carefully shut the water off.

"My friend, do you have any idea how many InGen lab policies you are currently violating?"

Grady looked down at the four genetically engineered predators crouched on the armchair. The one they'd taken to calling Charlie, warbled something before jumping down to the floor and stalking towards Barry. The three other raptors followed with Blue quickly pushing Charlie to the side and taking her position at the head of the pack.

"From your expression, I'm guessing a lot."

"Grady," Barry groaned, "You cannot continue going off and doing as you please. Safety is our top priority. One mistake is all it takes for us to end up with a Jurassic Park scenario on our hands. This is not a game."

He eyed the four raptors as they nosed closer to him.

"And I'm not treating it like a game. I know damn well what's at stake!" Grady rolled himself forward and stood up straight, yawning, before he curved his back towards the wall, stretching. His back made an ugly popping noise and Grady grimaced.

Barry scoffed from the back of his throat, "What if someone walked in and was injured because predators with unknown dispositions were not in proper containment?"

Grady rolled his eyes, "Please, the girls were never going to hurt anyone; they're barely up to my knees."

"You can't guarantee that Grady. They're animals, their instincts lead them to take certain actions that you can't control. Do you have any idea how many people have died on this island because of people like you claiming dinosaurs were harmless? I thought you knew better."

Peter shifted his weight and stepped forward, "I'm not claiming that they're-" Grady let loose a flurry of unrecognizable syllables. He took a slow breath and seemed to reign himself in, "I know they aren't fuckin' harmless okay? You don't live as long as I have and not be able to pick up on danger. But they aren't fucking animals either!" Grady was up close to his face now, he was taking carefully measured breaths. The raptors stilled at his feet, looking between Grady and himself.

Barry took an involuntary step back.

"And before you go blaming the dinosaurs for everything maybe you should blame idiots like Wu with their damn god complexes!" A light growl came from Blue as the other three chick's tails lashing angrily as they picked up Grady's raised voice.

"Grady!" He said, sharply. "Control yourself. You're aggravating the chicks."

Peter broke eye contact with him to glance down and the chicks. He chirped something low at them and they immediately stopped growling, but didn't back down, though they trotted over to stand behind his legs.

That was another thing. Barry didn't fully understand Grady's ability to pick up various dinosaur calls so easily. He might not have understood it, but clearly it factored into the other man's confidence and actions with the raptor pack. Barry sighed letting some of the tension ease out of him. He didn't want to remain angry; he considered Peter a friend. The man was naturally jovial and fun to be around. But Barry didn't want another Steve Irwin on his hands.

"As well as you think you can communicate with them. There will come a day when you'll lose to instinct."

Peter grimaced, "Look, I get it you probably think I'm just a new guy to all this," He gestured around them, "And yeah, this is pretty new to me, including all these," he frowned, "regulations. But, look, you also have some things wrong about what all this is. Let me show you."

Peter crouched down and waved his hand, gesturing for Barry to do the same. Barry hesitated a moment before he squatted down his knees cracking as he sunk his weight down onto him. From his new angle, the chicks were around eye level. It would only take one snap of their developing jaws on his neck and they'd do real damage.

"Now this is Uncle Barry no nibbling on him, I'm looking at you Delta," Peter said, his voice was warm with affection and then he rattled clicks and hisses off and the girls crept closer. "Stick your hand out and let them smell you." Barry tentatively reached out expecting some hisses, instead Echo warbled at him and moved to push her head against his hand. Her scales were smooth to his touch and she was warm. The rest of the pack wasted no time crowding around Barry and nuzzling their snouts against his open palm.

Charlie's green form tried to push against her sisters to get closer, but they shoved her out of the way in trying to claim his attention. Charlie snapped lightly at them before she stepped around them and curled her long body into his bent leg. She let out a low purr and blinked rapidly at him.

"Ah, yes hello there. Good morning to you too." Barry babbled, taken aback as he ran his hand across their small muscled bodies.

The raptors loved Peter to be certain and they occasionally would tolerate Rachel, but they were standoffish about most of the other staff that came through the door. Usually, Barry felt more like furniture than something of interest when he was around the pack. They were so preoccupied with Grady and their imprint on him that while Barry was present, they usually gave him a chirped greeting and then continued whatever the reptiles were doing.

"This is astounding. I've never seen pack predators react like this to a human before."

Peter grinned crookedly at him, "Told you they weren't like the others. Now trust me. They aren't going to be a threat to anyone unless they try something stupid."

Dear god, Barry prayed: Lord give him the strength to not strangle this man, "What if someone other than me walked in here? You would be out of a job faster than you could blink. Masarani can't afford not to. This can't happen again, Peter. It can't." Barry gently pushed the pack away from him and stood up, his injured hand was no longer stinging. It seemed like the cool water curbed any serious damage from the burn.

"Now have you fed the pack yet? Today is going to be a big day for them."

Peter already promised the girls a surprise and he intended to keep his promise. But at the same time, his argument with Barry was fresh in his mind. Barry had made some good points, rule-following wasn't particularly Peter's strong suit, but avoiding consequences was and the last thing Peter wanted was to be kicked out and separated from the pack. So he'd let Barry follow the procedure to the letter in packing up the girls and bringing them to their new 'home'.

He hadn't been happy when the girls had been put in cages and put in the back of a dark truck. He'd spent most of the time calming them down and reassuring them they'd be safe. Rachel had suggested knocking them out for the move, but Peter had shot that down. He didn't want them sticking his girls with who knows what.

Still, Peter was on edge until he saw the girls playfully skittering through the green yard of their shared pen. They were ecstatic about all the greenery and he'd already had to pull various plants out of their jaws from the girls snapping at anything leafy that moved in the wind.

Barry was watching it all with interest and jotting various notes down in a journal. He couldn't tell if he liked this nerdy side of Barry or not yet. He could certainly do without his rule-following streak. The man was like a damn Nova Corp officer.

Peter had promised though and he might lie to other people regularly, but he had standards dammit, he didn't lie to his friends much.

One thing he could say about this place and it's fifteen feet tall walls was that it was more simultaneously more secure and less secure than the lab. Much like his initial thoughts, the place was like a prison. Heavy concrete and steel meant the place was built to keep things in and not keep things out. Much like all the other secure places on the island, there were cameras protecting the outer entrances and marking who came and went along with a timestamp.

Barry eyed him warily, "I won't find the girls out of containment sleeping somewhere they shouldn't be when I come in tomorrow will I?"

"No," Peter said. He hoped he hadn't said that too quickly, "Scouts honor," He crossed his heart with a quick swish of his finger, "They won't be sleeping anywhere they shouldn't be." He couldn't say the same would be true for him though.

Maybe Peter hadn't thought this through. There was no way he was going to be able to drive his motorcycle with one squirming dinosaur shoved in his coat. Cat was pressed in close to his chest shoved in his zipped up leather jacket. He had one arm wrapped around her to make sure she didn't wriggle out of the bottom and his other arm steering.

"Come on Cat!" He muttered, desperately, "I can tell you're tired of my trailer you can only terrorize my sheets so many times. You'll like this new place, it's bigger and there's some dinosaurs you need to meet. Trust me they'll be a way better pack than that gang of scavenging losers from before."

Cat didn't choose to settle down and instead butted her skull against his chin. He cursed softly under his breath and slowed his motorcycle down. Ow. Okay, that one was going to bruise.

"You know you better be grateful when all this is over," He muttered to the dinosaur and rubbed his chin. Well, there was always one thing that always seemed to get Cat to settle.

"Oh baby, baby it's a wild world. It's hard to get by just upon a smile." He started singing loudly, Cat didn't settle immediately but she did perk her nose up and seem to be listening. "Baby if you wanna leave, take good care. Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there. But just remember there's a lot of bad and bewareeeeeeee."

Cat curled her tail closer to her and began to chirp.

Peter grinned, "I knew you knew this song by heart. Damn you really are the biggest Cat Stevens fan I know. Come on sing it with me now! Ohh baby, baby, it's a wild world!"

Cat let out a half chortle half chirp that was slightly off rhythm but Peter could tell her heart was in it and that's all that mattered in music.

The rest of the ride was pure joy. With Cat more or less settled Peter sped up bellowing out song after song and praying to Asgard he didn't get bugs squashed in his teeth. It felt like he was back in his ship for the first time since he landed on this planet. The freedom was the same. With one more turn, he pulled into the empty gravel of the raptor compound parking lot. It was more or less empty. A couple of park vehicles were empty and there were a handful of personal vehicles Peter knew were either lab techs or security guards.

He never would have gotten Cat inside the lab while the girls were still there, not with the 24-hour traffic of employees that tramped through there. Well, he probably could have, but still, it wouldn't have been simple. But out here? There was one entrance and one exit and even with the added security it was all technology-based and that was primitive on this planet.

Peter pressed Cat's head back under the collar of his jacket. She hissed at him and rearranged herself sticking her head under his armpit.

Besides, they'd built this place with one main entrance and they'd focused all the cameras there, which might have been a problem if Peter planned to go through the door. But one thing being a damn good thief taught him was that: doors were for uncreative people.

Instead, Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out Rocket's thingie. He rolled the sphere-maybe-bomb over in his hand. Since he knocked out half the island's power grid last time he'd used it. He'd been playing around with it. That probably wouldn't happen again. Probably. He was pretty sure he could get the result he wanted this time.

He walked away from the front entrance and angled himself in the shadows still holding Cat and humming to himself. Then he pulled out Rocket's invention and threw it at the security camera on the side fence. It clunked solidly against the camera making it swivel from the force before a burst of electricity sparked across the technology. The sphere bounced over the fence and into the raptor enclosure.

Peter double-checked the entrance to make sure no one was exiting then he ran out into the newly created blind spot and began to climb. He passed the warning signs that screamed high voltage in bold red letters. Normally the fence would be alight with electricity, but Rachel had been concerned that even minor electrical shocks would kill the babies if they wandered too close. Thank Asgard for Rachel, Peter wasn't sure he would have thought about that and his girls were the most curious kids he'd ever seen.

Peter swung a leg over the thick wire cables to the other side and then hung his legs down and dropped into the greenery below. Cat let out a hiss at the impact and Peter winced as she accidentally ran one of her claws down his stomach. Great there went another shirt.

"Easy Cat," Peter let out and Cat growled lightly and began to try to squirm to freedom again.

"Girls!" Peter called, he wasn't sure where they may have been exploring since he slipped out earlier. He waited a few minutes before he called again. It was pretty late. Maybe they were passed out? Then he heard something soft rustle in the jungle. He paused looking around and he could feel Cat freeze under his jacket.

"Mama!" Echo croaked out sleepily, sticking her head out from behind the ferns and then stumbling towards him. She was followed by her sisters in various states of awakeness. Blue looked calm as always while Charlie looked like she was about to do a nose plant into the forest floor. Delta's tail was twitching excitedly.

Cat chose that moment to move and finally managed to force her head out of the top of Peter's jacket. The instant she stuck her nose out of Peter's jacket Echo froze. Cat peered curiously at the four raptor chicks. Then she let out a low peeping noise Peter had never heard from her. He knelt and carefully unzipped his coat letting the squirming Coelophysis free. She dropped to the ground with a thud and instantly had her nose up in the air, her nostrils flickering as she scented.

Peter slipped his hand to the small of his back where he had his elemental blaster holstered. He flipped it to stun just in case. He wasn't sure how any of this would play out but still no risk no reward right?

Blue stepped forward protectively, resting slightly in front of her sisters. Her tail was stretched long and taut. She was ready to spring into action and usher the rest of the pack back. Delta was sniffing the air and twitching her toes up and down. Her big claw tapping against the ground. Both Echo and Charlie were frozen in place watching with open curiosity as Cat stared at them.

"What this ?" Charlie asked, cocking her head to the side as she sized up the other dinosaur.

Cat peeped again and stepped closer.

"This is your Auntie Cat! "

"Auntie?" Echo repeated and scented again. "Smells like Mama."

Peter chuckled and hoped that was a good sign.

Cat crept closer but she didn't hiss, she merely let out another series of high pitched peeps. It was Blue that stepped up to meet her. The little raptor had her head raised high, her eyes thin slits as she assessed the other dinosaur. Her sisters watched cautiously.

"Who you?" Blue demanded. Cat chirped and Blue cocked her head to the side in confusion. That was when Cat moved. She stretched out in one fluid motion and-

Peter had his blaster out not sure what was happening.

Cat had Blue tucked forcibly against her larger body and-

Peter aimed.

-was nuzzling her? No, he takes it back. Cat was grooming her. Her long pink tongue was running down Blue's scales. He lowered his weapon.

Blue at first was squirming in alarm as her sisters watched on in alarm. Slowly her growls died down and she stopped moving, letting out a little purr she usually reserved for when Peter rubbed her head just right.

In a few minutes Cat let the chick up and Blue slowly rose, stretching out peacefully like she usually did after a good nap.

"Auntie." Blue chirped as she turned her snout and nuzzled against the other dinosaur. Cat peeped happily and then her neck turned her eyes locking onto Charlie's as she dove, gently catching the green raptor and beginning another impromptu bath.

"Mama help! She gotted me Mama!" Charlie squeaked.

Blue flicked her sister with her tail simply saying, " Auntie pack like Mama. " Charlie's protests died shortly after turning into her own set of purrs. Echo was next, stepping forward without complaint as she snuggled her body next to the slightly larger dinosaur and happily accepted being groomed.

Delta put up more of a fight darting off into the underbrush as soon as Cat looked up from Echo. Cat let out an unhappy hiss and dove after her. Peter looked on in amusement as Delta played high stakes keep away. Dashing off, sometimes just inches in front of Cat, and then she would snap her smaller body to the right or the left and dive back into the forest. Cat let out excited clicks every time she got close.

Cat finally caught Delta by taking the high ground and pouncing on her from above. Then she nosed the muddy brown and blue dinosaur to the ground and began her bath. Delta never let up on her angry protests to be released.

When Delta was finally clean to Cat's satisfaction she let the chick up. Delta promptly hissed at her and turned to stalk back the clearing where she glared angrily at Peter, "Why didn't Mama rescue me?"

Peter couldn't help it, he laughed. Delta's eyes widened in angry outrage and she let out a bellow and turned to stalk away to a stump where she turned her back on them and sulked. Peter smiled, he knew Delta had the attention span of a gnat she'd be over this in no time.

Cat padded back into the clearing and nudged Peter. He wrinkled his nose, "No way Cat. Sorry I don't need to be groomed." This was something she tried in the trailer too, granted usually while Peter was asleep. Sometimes he would wake up his hair plastered to his head from dinosaur spit and Cat's teeth inches away from his face. He may have freaked out and overreacted the first couple of times he woke up like that. Like full on falling off the bed and grabbing for the nearest weapon before his brain kicked in.

She nudged his knee more persistently.

"Mama we got baths," Blue said, evenly. "Even Delta. You have to let Auntie clean you. " Damn Blue and her fast-thinking brain. Peter saw Delta cock her head from her stump and he knew she was listening too.

"Well I would but, we only have so much time tonight and I thought you guys would rather play a game!"

"Play!" Charlie and Echo demanded at once circling Peter and Cat. Even Delta turned around to look at them again.

Peter nodded clapping his hands together to get the chicks' attention, "Okay I have a game. Let's play find it fast! Rocket gave me something about this big, round like an egg." Peter moved his hands to show the sphere's size and shape, "It's somewhere in the forest whoever finds it fits wins! "

"Aunty on my team!" Echo yelled at once and began pushing Cat towards the forest before the other dinosaur could blink. Peter didn't have the heart to tell Echo that Cat probably didn't really understand what was going on so much as she was happy to get to tag along.

"No fair! " Charlie growled. Blue merely let out a chirped laugh before she went over to Delta and they let out a low series of clicks and ran off in the woods together.

"Mama!" Charlie cried unhappily, her tail lowering, "They left me!"

Peter squatted down next to her, "Well I'm gonna let you in on a little secret the other's won't get to hear. But you have to keep it quiet." Peter held a finger up to his lips. Charlie's eyes widened as she bobbed her head in understanding. "The item is that way." He pointed to his right, towards the fence.

Charlie let out a rushed "Thanks Mama!" and then darted into the woods.

Peter let out a sigh and stretched out his arms. This whole evening had gone way better than expected. He waited another fifteen minutes before he headed off in the way Charlie went. It took him about five minutes of walking until he saw his girls. When he did he just about had a heart attack.

They were rolling all over the ground bating Rocket's invention between them like a ball. Even Cat was playing as she took it in her jaws and gave it a shake.

Peter dove into the fray, " No spit that out !" He reached out and tried to tug it out of Cat's mouth. Cat let out an unhappy growl but after a few seconds of tug-a-war released it with a pop. He stared horrified at the scratched up silver sphere.

"This is not a toy!" Peter scolded as he pushed his herd of little reptiles away from his very expensive and very dangerous alien bomb tech, "Jeez this is like Groot all over again." He muttered to himself. He forgot just how terrible young sentients could be.

"I said find it fast, not this. You guys didn't even know what this was and you put it in your mouth. What if you choked on it? What if it exploded? You can't just do that, especially not with stuff Rocket makes!"

The pack lowered their head, even Cat looked more chastized than she normally did when Peter went off.

Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I'm not mad. You guys just scared me. You have to be careful. And you have to watch out for Cat too. You know we became friends when she was stealing from me so she doesn't always make good decisions."

The girls looked curiously up at him from the comment but they didn't ask. Peter began to herd them away from the fence, "Okay we're going back to the nest now. Then I've gotta take Auntie Cat home. I'll be back right after for darkness stories."

"Stay," Echo whined, her tail drooping. "Mama and Aunty Cat stay and sleep."

Peter sighed. This whole thing had gone better than he could even dream of, even with the whole accidentally letting the girls play with a bomb thing, but that didn't erase Barry's warning about what would happen if he was caught breaking rules. It would raise all sorts of questions he didn't want to answer if Cat was found here in the morning. No, but he had a plan, something he knew Barry and the white coats wouldn't be able to resist once he showed them. Until then he had to be careful.

"If all goes well Auntie Cat will be living with us real soon. Now if you guys are good while I take Cat home and I'll come back and tell you about how we first met." Peter was met with less than enthusiastic nods of agreements as the girls slowly trudged back to their nest. Peter pocketed Rocket's invention and grabbed Cat by the torso as she tried to follow the rest of the pack.

"Sorry, girl ." He said as he wrestled her back into his jacket. "But you'll be back here before you know it."

Author's Note: Did I hear someone say they needed cute dinosaur fluff to see them through the quarantine? I'm blown away by everyone's support and comments. I know I've been more than a bit behind in responding but seriously when I get a comment notification it makes my day! Also, I can't believe how long it's been since I updated this fic but fear not I haven't abandoned it I just had some writers block that got away from me. Initially, this was supposed to be the last chapter of part 1 and then I was going to time skip and get on with the plot, but well Peter decided to have a plot with Cat and I couldn't stop him so here we are. You are now getting at least one more chapter with cute little dinosaurs and Cat. Also, I now have a Tumblr, find me at soulessrobot. I'm rather new to Tumblr as a platform but I'm going to be posting fic updates, headcanons and some art for this story and others. So if you want to come geek out with me or ask me questions about fic come join me! Anyways as always comments and con crit are welcome and appreciated!