Claire stood patiently in the wedding reception room. When she had first entered the room a few hours ago, post-wedding ceremony, she had gazed in awe at the how pretty her sister had managed to make the room, despite it having been a rather dull function room the previous evening. Several round tables had been dressed in pristine white tablecloths, with a green and pale pink flower arrangement in the centre of each table. Classical music had been trickling through the speakers in the ceiling of the room, acting as background music while guests made their way to the bar and to their seats. Green balloons floated in the corners of the room, while bunting traced its way all around the edge of the walls. The red-head had been impressed. Considering Karen had only wanted a small celebration, she had managed to make the room look beautiful.

Claire now stood on the edge of the dancefloor, post-wedding meal, post-wedding speeches, while an animated twelve year old girl spoke to her. The girl, one of the groom's niece's, had tracked her down as soon as there had been an opportunity. "I love your dress" the girl said excitably, motioning to the green fabric and Claire smiled politely, "Thank you" she replied, "I love yours too" she motioned to the twelve year old's light blue dress and the girl let out a little excitable squeal, hardly able to believe that she had been complimented by her hero. Claire had been initially surprised by the little tug on her arm by the girl, who had introduced herself as Madison, before telling her that she was a huge fan of Claire's and the work she did at Jurassic World. The woman had been flattered, having forgotten recently just what an influence she had on impressionable young girls.

Claire automatically glanced at the dance floor, looking for her son, always keeping an eye on him whether she was aware of it or not. Her maternal instinct. The three year old was running around in large circles, clutching one of the green helium balloons, while one of his cousins, Grey, chased after him. Even with the sound of the music playing loudly from the DJ in the corner of the room, Nathaniel's infectious laugh could be heard as the little boy enjoyed playing with his cousin. Claire knew Grey's interaction with her three year old was for a reason, and she noticed the fifteen year old glancing over periodically with a grin at a teenage girl who was watching them from her position sat at a table on the edge of the dancefloor with a smile on her face. Claire had to hand it to him, he knew what he was doing. She looked back at Madison who had begun blushing and Claire's smile dropped slightly, curious to know if she'd missed something that would possibly make the twelve year old blush. But she soon had her answer when she felt the familiar touch of her fiancé's hand smooth its way across the small of her back, and she saw Owen out of the corner of her eye. "Er…Hi…" the girl said slightly flustered by the new arrival, but before the tall handsome man could respond, the twelve year old continued, "I have to go…er…bye!" and before the couple could say anything more, the girl dashed away. Claire chuckled at just how easily embarrassed teenagers and pre-teens got.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look?" Claire heard Owen whisper into her right ear. She felt a shiver run through her body from the part of her ear that she had felt his lips touch, and a smile grew on her face as she turned to face him, leaning towards his ear so he could hear her, "Once or twice. But certainly not in the past thirty minutes" she replied in a teasing tone, and her heart skipped a beat as she watched her fiancé throw his head back a let out a loud laugh which could just be heard over the music that was bouncing around the large room. Claire brought her wine glass up to her lips and took a swig of rosé. They had decided that morning that she would be the 'designated parent'.

Claire gently laid out her son's little white tuxedo on the armchair that sat in the corner of the bedroom in their hotel suite. She turned quietly to face the double bed, and a soft smile grew on her face. Owen was tucked up on his side of the bed, his bare chest lay uncovered but the bedsheet was wrapped around him from the waist down, and he was still fast asleep. Even five years on from the Jurassic World disaster of 2015 he still had the occasional nightmare. Sometimes Claire would wake because he would scream, or leap out of bed, and she would need to wake him to get him to stop and calm down. Sometimes he didn't even wake, and somehow calmed down in his sleep. Last night was one of those times. Claire had awoken, tried to shake him awake with no luck, and instead just kept repeating that he was okay until he calmed. Within an instant he had fallen back into a silent slumber, leaving the red-head with no choice but to lay awake staring at the ceiling. An hour later their son had joined them, thinking it was time to get up and get ready when, in fact, it was only 5am. So Claire had read a book to Nathaniel until the three year old had fallen back to sleep.

Claire looked at the bedside clock beside her sleeping fiancé. 7.30am. She turned back to the bed, smiling as she saw her son sprawled out in the bed, taking up most of the room, with his little foot up dangerously against his father's face. There was once a time, when Nathaniel was a baby, that she would wake when Owen went out for his morning run, and whilst he was out she would creep into her son's bedroom, scoop the baby up in her arms, and bring him back to bed with her. She missed those mornings. Laying curled up, watching her baby sleep. His tiny fingers gripping to a lock of her long red hair, his chunky little legs nestling perfectly into her stomach and just below her bosom, his baby cheeks squishing together as he rested his face against her chest. It was a very rare morning now that he came into the bedroom and snoozed with his parents. And it just so happened that this morning was one of those rare mornings. "Typical" Claire thought to herself, "The one morning when we really do have to get up and my boys are asleep."

"You're up early" she heard the groggy voice of her fiancé say to her. She saw him begin to open his eyes before jumping at the sight of their son's foot, which was less than an inch from his face. Claire let out a small chuckle before moving towards her side of the bed and laying on the mattress. She moved their son in the process, perfectly happy with the risk of him waking up. If he woke up, that meant they could begin to get ready. And if he didn't…well that meant they could all lay in bed a little longer. To the mother's delight, her little boy stirred momentarily, before curling himself up into her like he had done when he had been a baby. "Did I have a nightmare?" she heard her fiancé ask in an apologetic tone. Claire merely shrugged with a soft smile, "It's just one of those things" she said quietly, and she glanced down at their son who was still fast asleep, with a grip on a lock of her long red hair. She traced her fingertips lightly across the skin of her little boy's arms and back, loving the feel of his little chest rising and falling as he breathed in his sleep. Suddenly Nathaniel let out a little snore, paused, swallowed loudly, before resuming his sleep, and his parents chuckled quietly. The toddler was a ball of endless energy when he was awake. But when he was asleep, Claire and Owen loved to cherish that time, to watch him sleep and to marvel at how fast he was growing. It was usually about now that a discussion about hopes and wishes of having another baby became a top subject, and Claire looked up at Owen, expecting him to brooch the subject. But he didn't, instead looking up at her and giving her a slightly sadder smile. He'd read her mind. He too knew that now was often the opportunity to begin the conversation that ended in an argument. So instead the couple chose to continue the peaceful moment between them and their son in the early hours of the morning. It was going to be a very busy day.

"What are we going to do today about alcohol?" she heard her fiancé ask, and Claire furrowed her brow slightly, wondering what he meant. It made it sound as though they were raging alcoholics and they really weren't. "I don't mean, let's start drinking now" he said with a chuckle, and the red head smiled, secretly relieved that that wasn't what he'd meant. She thought she knew him well enough by now to know that that wasn't what he'd meant. "I mean…well this little guy is going to be with us all day," Owen said motioning to their son who still lay sleeping in her arms, "So one of us is going to have to be the more responsible parent." Claire furrowed her brow slightly, and looked down at Nathaniel. It hadn't occurred to her that one of them wouldn't be drinking today. Technically it was her sister's wedding so surely she should be the one allowed to drink. But then she was maid-of-honour, so she would need to be the sensible one. "So…like a designated parent?" she asked, then looked back up at Owen who had a soft smile on his face, "Sure. I'm not suggesting neither of us drink at all. I mean, come on, it's a celebration. Just…one of us needs to be the parent who doesn't drink that 'one more drink' that pushes them over the edge into being smashed." Claire's face fell, becoming serious as her fiancé let out a chuckle. Neither of them were getting 'smashed' today. Neither of them. At the end of the day it was her sister's wedding day. Not only were they going to be in the 'public eye' all day, but their son was still their top priority regardless of the celebration.

Owen had clearly noted her change in expression and immediately defended what he was saying, "Not smashed. Smashed was a bad word to use. Neither of us are getting smashed," Claire's expression relaxed into a 'you're right, nobody's getting smashed' type of expression, "I just mean, I think it's good to decide now in case we don't get to see much of each other today." That was the right thing to say and Claire nodded slowly, "Well I don't mind being designated parent" she said, but quickly followed sharply with, "I will be having some wine though." Owen nodded, pulling an 'of course' expression, before whispering, "And I will stick to beer. No shots of tequila."

Claire let out a giggle, the motion of which seemed to disturb their son and the parents froze. The three year old let out a little yawn, letting go of the lock of his mother's hair that he had had in his little hand, and he rubbed his eyes, rubbed his nose, then sat up to look around. "Mommy?" he said groggily, and Claire sat up, reaching out to try to tame the blonde bed-hair her son had at the back of his head, "Yes sweetheart?" she said softly. "Where's my fighter?" the little boy asked, and his parents chuckled at the first thing their son had said the moment he woke up. He wouldn't be without his toy 'fighter'. Owen sat up, reached out to the bedside table beside him, and picked up Nathaniel's small toy X-Wing fighter. The father swung the toy gently in the air, making the best X-Wing fighter noises he could, and he 'flew' the toy towards his son. Nathaniel laughed loudly, launching forward for the toy and grabbing it with both hands.

The couple stood on the edge of the dancefloor. Owen had now brought his hand up to Claire's face, delicately pushing a loose lock of red hair back behind her ear. She stared into his eyes as he smiled softly at her. For the first time in a long time the room around them seemed to disappear. For a moment Claire was unaware of anybody else in the room other than the man stood before her. She could feel her stomach flip as her eyes ran across his features, loving the sight of his chiselled jaw-line. She continued to look at him, glancing from his jaw, across to his chin, and down further. After a moment she realised she had been looking at his chest for a little too long, knowing just how good his body was underneath that white tuxedo which had miraculously avoided any food stains from the meal earlier. The woman looked back up at her fiancé and noticed that his smile had grown on his face. For some reason Claire began to blush, and she could feel her cheeks beginning to go pink. She had no idea how many beers Owen had had. In fact, she wasn't even sure of how many glasses of rosé she had had, but there was a high chance they had been cancelled out by the huge sit-down meal they had had earlier as part of the wedding celebrations. She only felt slightly tipsy. Not so tipsy that she couldn't take care of their son, mind. She glanced back over at Nathaniel, who was now dancing with Grey and the girl that the fifteen year old had been flirting with. They could watch the three year old for a few minutes right?

Claire turned back to Owen and held her empty wine glass out to him. As he took it he furrowed his brow, but Claire merely pursed her lips together into a cheeky grin. She stepped on her tip-toes and whispered into his ear, "Wait here for a moment then follow me to our suite". She delighted in seeing his eyes light up as she stepped away from him, holding her face close to his, pre-empting a kiss that never came. She knew it would drive him crazy, and with that thought in mind she shot him a wink, before slowly walking away from him and towards the door. Her heart was racing with excitement. Perhaps she had had a little more wine then she'd realised. As she reached the door that would lead her out of the room and towards the staircase that would lead her up the floors to her suite, she paused, glancing over her shoulder. Claire let out a giggle as she saw Owen looking over at her, desperately disappointed to have been stopped by one of her cousins who appeared to have not noticed the sexual tension between the couple. He would have to wait a little longer to get to her, she presumed, and she waved at him as she turned to walk out the door.

Claire's stomach dropped in disappointment as she heard her sister calling out to her. She wondered if she could get away with just dashing up the staircase that was almost in view, pretending to have not heard her, but Karen appeared behind her and took her hand, stopping the red-head in her tracks. "Claire I can't thank you enough for everything you've done!" the older sister gushed to the younger, "Oh Karen, really, it was nothing…" Claire said honestly. To her amusement she noticed that her sister had had quite a bit to drink. The older woman brought her hand up to her little sister's shoulder and patted it, "Nonsense. You…you were the mastermind behind it all…" Claire peered behind her sister and to her dismay she noticed that Owen had sprung free from the conversation her cousin had held him in, and he was now making his way towards the door. "…if it wasn't for you I would have never had the…confidence to walk into that ceremony room…and Owen…ugh he's just so perfect for you…" Claire could hear her sister beginning to compliment her fiancé, but she wasn't really listening as she watched Owen slip out of the door behind Karen, throwing the red head a cheeky grin and a wink as he waved at her then sauntered towards the staircase. Claire was too jealous and desperate to get to him for her to be annoyed with him for teasing her. "…I'm just so, so happy for you that you…ugh finally found someone." Claire needed to leave. As nice as it was that Karen was pouring her heart out to her, now really wasn't the time.

"Thanks Karen, but I really should be…" the red-head motioned to the staircase but the bride wasn't picking up on the hints, and instead Karen brought her voice down to a loud whisper as she took Claire by the arms, "I'm not going to lie, for a while I thought you were a lesbian." Normally the younger sister would be outraged, but then normally the older sister would be more reserved, "Right well…Karen thanks for that. I really do need to go though." Karen immediately let go of Claire's arms and gasped, her face falling, "Oh no, you need to go to the bathroom, and I've been over here jabbering away!" Claire shrugged, happy enough to make that the excuse to leave if that was what her sister was suggesting. The older sister lowered her voice to a loud whisper again, "Go! Go!" she hissed, looking up and down the hallway as though Claire was about to go undercover on a secret mission. Once Karen, in her alcohol-induced state felt the coast was clear, she gave her sister an obvious wink, before creeping back into the wedding reception room. Claire couldn't help the grin that was on her face. She had never seen her sister this drunk before. Well, certainly not in their adult lives.

Claire heard a wolf-whistle echo around the hallway, and she turned to see Owen dash back up the staircase behind her. With a small giggle to herself she scuttled away after him. Claire reached the top of the first flight of stairs and was surprised to see Owen stood there waiting for her. There was nobody else around, and the couple knew it. Without any further thought Claire strode towards Owen, who was already closing the gap. Their lips collided as they began kissing passionately. A mix of alcohol and sexual tension had helped release their inhibitions as Claire reached up to wrap her arms around Owen's neck while he wound his arms around her waist. Giggles emanated from their mouths as they heard voices coming up the staircase below and before Claire could gather her thoughts she felt Owen take her hand and pull her towards the next staircase. She gladly followed him, giggling as she went. They paused at the next floor, Claire bringing her free hand up to her mouth, her fingertips delicately tracing her nose, Owen's arm snaking around her waist as the couple glanced down the staircase, hoping the people below would not be walking up the next flight of stairs. But they weren't so lucky, and with another audible giggle, Claire allowed herself to be pulled up the next flight of stairs by Owen before the people on the floor below noticed them.

This time Owen did not wait to see the voices joined them, and Claire delighted in feeling his lips crashing back down on hers, the couple kissing eagerly as their hands traced each other's bodies above their respective clothes. Claire heard Owen growl silently in frustration as he heard a couple of voices coming down the corridor of the floor they were on, and the couple broke their kiss. Claire couldn't help grinning as she slipped her feet out of her precious heels, sinking down so she was far noticeably shorter than her fiancé, and bending down to pick her footwear up with one hand. The other hand she used to take Owen's, and this time she pulled him towards the staircase before the voices of the corridor reached them. The couple dashed up the final two flights of stairs, finally reaching the floor that their suite was on, and they planted kisses sloppily on each other's faces while they bumbled their way down towards their door. Claire reached into Owen's pocket, pulling out the hotel suite key, fumbling to unlock the door. Finally they pushed through the room, slamming the door behind them as they began to hungrily pull each other's clothes off.