The Chaos Theory || Camp Cretaceous ||

15. Home At Last

Summary: Lose ends are tied up and Serenity has never been happier. 

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Serenity was nervous. She'd never been this nervous in her entire life. She fiddled with her shirt and Ben sighed so loudly she thought his lungs would stop working from the amount of air he was exhaling. Behind her, Chaos and Limbo quietly rested in the shade of a tree, the sun just barely touching their tails as they napped. The sun was bright that day, and Dino Island was quiet and peaceful.

Brooklynn and Kenji were on the mainland, speaking with their sponsors and business partners. Kenji's business was growing and he was doing well. The past few months had been good to him. And to Brooklynn as well. Kenji had tried to sponsor her, but Brooklynn had refused, insisting she wanted to grow her channel on her own and become the next Esther Stone. Kenji had been supportive yet disappointed he wasn't allowed to help his girlfriend.

On the other hand, there were Sammy and Yasmina, who were spending a lot of time together touring schools across the country. Yasmina had told Serenity a little about what the two of them did. Sammy mostly taught kids what it meant to run a farm that supplied meat to an island full of Dinosaurs and Yasmina ran for sponsorships and to earn funds for children's hospitals. Serenity was incredibly proud of them.

Darius was doing Ted Talks about their survival on Isla Nublar, now also including Serenity's story, along with new information about Sanctuary. He regularly went there with Mae to scope out the situation and research the repopulation of the island. He was very popular among archeologists and paleontologists. Especially Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Alan Grant. Even Dr. Ian Malcom had approached him about something.

Dr. Wu apologized to them multiple times and helped fund research to keep the Dinosaurs safe and healthy. Serenity was thankful for his change. It was good for all of them. Serenity had been to Sanctuary multiple times, too, as she had promised Ripper, and spent lots of time with Roberta and other Dinosaurs she had befriended. It was a way for her to still connect to her wild side. She knew she couldn't do it forever, but it gave her some sense of peace.

Ben had been staying on Dino Island for most of his vacation time, and since Serenity all but lived on the island, they spent a lot of time together as well. They got closer over time and were perhaps more than best friends, but neither spoke up about it, too afraid to break what they had right now. It wasn't that they minded, they just didn't know what to do. Which was fine, they could figure it out later.

"Why are you sighing?" Serenity eventually asked, biting her lip as she looked at Ben.

He was leaning against another tree, his shoulder-length hair tied into a ponytail to keep it out of his face. His blue eyes pierced hers and Serenity knew the question had been stupid, but she didn't much care. She was nervous, afraid, and seriously jumpy. She had no idea what was about to happen and she was about to run away, the instinct to flee all-consuming.

"You need to relax, it's not like the world is gonna explode," Ben smiled. "You're just meeting your mom."

Serenity groaned lowly. Yeah, it was true. The world was not exploding, but that didn't mean that this wasn't a scary situation. Serenity barely knew anything about her mother except for the fact that she had been beautiful and kind, and that she had been forced to leave her child behind for some unknown reason. Serenity didn't want to know the reason. She only wanted to see if this woman was truly her mother, and if she could connect with a person she hadn't known for 13 years.

"I know... It's just- I'm scared, okay?" Serenity admitted.

Ben was silent. He moved toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him. Their eyes met and he smiled gently. He placed his other hand on hers and squeezed. Serenity smiled in return and took a deep breath, centering herself.