A/N: Sorry sorry! I have been busy!

I do sometimes post progress to my twitter. Feel free to follow. Username: RedTailedHero

A very special thanks to my girl, Whiskey, for being my Beta-reader! She deserves a cake! I need to make her one!

Disclaimer: I don't own Jurassic Park, Jurassic World or any of its characters. I only own my own characters.

Chapter Four

2006

Karina stared at her reflection in the mirror before groaning with annoyance. There was no use; she looked ridiculous in dresses, even the plain black one she was currently wearing. Sitting back on her couch she tried to remember why exactly she was going to the party tonight. There would be drinking – but she had to wake early in the morning so there was no way she was drinking.

A knock came upon her door, she didn't rush to it instead she sighed and dragged her feet. Unlocking the dead bolt she opened the door to reveal Lowery. "Hey, you look great!" He greeted her with excitement. "Do I really have to go?" She asked as she crossed her arms and looked at her bare feet.

"Now don't be silly. Of course you have to go. Who else is going to make fun of everyone making fools of themselves. Now go get some heels and we're out."

Karina blinked twice. "I don't have heels."

"You don't have heels? Well you can't wear sneakers with that dress." Lowery looked slightly concerned.

"Will sandals work for you, Mr. Fashion police?" She laughed at his serious face. His facial expression changed to jokingly annoyed. "Give me one minute." Karina laughed and grabbed a pair of black gladiator sandals and put them up real quick, pulling the zipper up to her mid-calf. She met Lowery at the door again. "All set."

Lowery lifted his arm to escort her to the vehicle waiting for them at the road. "So will you save a dance for me?" She asked him as he helped her step into the SUV. "Of course." He stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well I know you'll be hanging around Vivian most of the night."

He turned his attention to the window as the vehicle started to move. "I'm not sure what you mean." He was lying of course. It was no secret to Karina that he has starry eyes for his co-worker. "It's not like that at all." He tried to convince himself.

"Why don't you ask her to dance with you tonight? You know that you want to. Plus she'd be crazy to turn a great guy like you down." She grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before letting it go again.

"Well what about you?" He turned his attention back to her. "Do you have a certain someone you're expecting to see?"

Karina gave him an impassive look. "The only certain someone I want to see tonight isn't even a person, it's my bed."

"You're a killjoy, you know that?" He asked.

"What can I say? I hate being social, I hate social gatherings and my bed is rather comfortable. The only reason I am going is because I know you and the ACU team would have shown up at my place and dragged me out in my pajamas."

"That, my dear, is very true." Lowery agreed as they pulled up to the Samsung building. The music could be heard as soon as the SUV door opened. The lights were flashing through the windows and clearly some employees started the party early as they giggled over their liquor on the front steps.

Karina raised a brow and looked at Lowery, clearly unimpressed with the whole ordeal. "It will be better inside." He tried to convince her, but he didn't sound so sure himself. The two of them made their way up the front steps, passing their tipsy co-workers before entering the heavy doors.

Karina sat at the makeshift bar as she watch Lowery try to dance with Vivian and a few other co-workers. It was a shame it see that Vivian wasn't interested when Lowery was such a nice guy. She turned her attention back to her cocktail. 'So much for not drinking.' She thought to herself. A body slid into the seat next to her. "I'll have a screwdriver."

She turned her attention to the person. "Hey Hamada."

"I'm surprised the unit isn't over here trying to get you wasted."

"Meyers was over here before. I wasn't going to drink tonight but she got me to have a few with her. I already warned everyone else that I have to be up early tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? You're not to be in until noon." Hamada stated, slightly confused.

"I know. I have to stop by the raptor padlock to check on an injury to one of the velociraptors." She didn't sound thrilled in the least bit. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with those 'beasts', as you call them."

She lifted her glass to her lips before throwing her head back to down the rest of her beverage. Placing the glass back on the bar, she licked her lips. "I didn't – but no one else was willing to go." She explained as she looked him in the eye.

"Karina!" Lowery called out her name as he slung his arm around her shoulder. "Come dance with us!" It was official. Lowery was drunk.

"Give me a minute Low." She pushed him back toward the dance floor and laughed. "I should probably get him home soon. This could be a disaster."

Hamada looked over at the dance floor to see the man dancing wildly, arms failing in chaotic motions. "I think he'll be just fine. Everyone needs a night off to relax. You should too."

"Is that your way of telling me to stop moping at the bar and get off my ass?" She asked.

Hamada nodded his head. "You could put it that way." He took a sip of his drink and stood up. "I'm not saying you have to be with the unit, but stop sitting by yourself. It's kinda sad." With that he walked off to rejoin his team.

Karina took a deep breath and then pushed all the air from her lungs with a huff. She slid off her chair with even less enthusiasm before making her way into the crowded dance floor. Getting close to Vivian, she decided to two step, putting just a little sway in her hips to make it look like she was dancing. "Hey lady." Vivian greeted her with a smile. "What took you so long?" She asked, obviously dancing a lot better than Karina.

"I took a good portion of the night deciding if I wanted to go home and crawl into bed with a book instead of coming out." Karina confessed.

'Well I'm happy you decided to stay and have some fun instead."

Karina turned to look at the source of the voice. "Good evening Owen."

He smiled at her. "Want to get a drink?" He asked.

She really didn't but she also didn't want to be dancing. She decided on the lesser of two evils. "Sure. Lead the way."

His hand took hers and he led her back out of the crowd. He continued past the bar and straight back out the front doors. Karina was slightly confused but decided not to complain. "It's a nice night." He spoke softly as his hand slipped from hers.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"You look nice, but you really didn't look like you wanted to be here."

She looked down at the ground. "That's because I didn't. My unit kind of begged me to come, plus Lowery needs a friend nearby."

A firework shot off into the sky and Owen jumped at the sudden noise. Karina glanced at his curiously but once again remained silent. "They remind me of the days in the Navy; like the sound of bombs going off." He stated. "I haven't liked fireworks since."

There was a pregnant pause before she spoke up. "When I younger there was an elderly man who lived alone next to us. He suffered from tormenting memories of the Pearl Harbor attack, where he was stationed. Every major holiday mom and I would go over and sit with him because he would have these attacks like he was back in the harbor, dodging bombs. It was really depressing to see."

He smiled at her again. "You're an amazing person. You know that?" He asked.

She didn't answer; instead she asked her own question. "I can't take you completely away from the fireworks, but how do you feel about ice cream?"

He didn't verbally reply. He grabbed her hand and headed toward the ice cream shop. "You stopping by the padlock tomorrow?" He asked, and immediately he felt her tense.

"Yeah, I'll be there first thing in the morning to check Echo out."

He frowned. "You don't need to do it. Just tell me what to do and I'll take care of it. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

She shrugged it off, or at least tried to. "It's fine. I can handle it. It's not a big deal."

"I wish you wouldn't lie." He answered.

"Owen, when I met you are year ago and you took on the raptors I told you that you were my only hope to make sure those things don't have the same fate as the ones in Jurassic Park. Right now I'm the only hope for you in making sure that they are properly treated for any injury since no one else wants to. Let me be that person."

He stared at her determined eyes and sighed. "Alright, but if it becomes too much you let me know."

"Of course." She agreed, knowing that she wouldn't. She admired his concern for her though.

The remainder of the night was nice; they rejoined the party for a little while after eating their ice cream. Owen helped Karina get Lowery home safe. She placed a glass of water and two Advil on the night stand in her friend's room.

Owen watched her closely as she skittered around the room placing objects in the right spots so Lowery could find them when he woke in the morning. "Looks like you know your way around here."

"Yeah, two months ago my place flooded while I was at work so there was some water damage that needed repairing. I buddied up with Lowery while everything was getting fixed, so I kinda picked up how he thinks." She paused in her walk to the doorway. "Keys, shoes, gum packet, glasses, wristband, Advil and water. I'm sure that is everything."

They locked up the place and then Owen walked with her to her home; which was only 3 housing buildings down from Lowery. "Thank you for seeing me home Owen." She shuffled through her keys for the right one. Finding the right one she turned back to him and smiled. "I had a good time."

"Anytime, seriously." He held his arms open for a hug, which she stepped into immediately. He placed a kiss in her hair and pulled back. "I'll see you in the morning."

She was blushing slightly from the small gesture of his lips on her. "Until then." She let herself into her place and fought the urge to turn around and watch him leave.

A/N: I know it's short and it's been a while since I updated. I apologize. Work got busy and then we hired a new girl who can't do the job properly so we never got out on time. Then another girl quit and now I'm going to be trained for working over nights. I will do my best to update again soon.