its the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine) // ian malcolm

with the Furies breathing down your neck

"Look at 'im," Ronnie murmured. The little creature rolled and pattered around in her hands. It's tiny claws drew patterns on her skin.

"He's gorgeous," Alan said over her shoulder.

Ronnie looked up and met his eyes, sparkling with excitement. "Here, you hold 'im."

She handed him the dinosaur and he fumbled it and gathered it up in his arms. "Gee, thanks," he said, teeth flashing in his disbelieving stare.

Malcolm crossed his arms and regarded the baby with hard eyes. "So uh, Hammond- you say you've been been present for the birth of every dinosaur on this island?"

Hammond chuckled jovially. He did that a lot. Ronnie was starting to get the urge to strangle him over it. He danced his hands over the unhatched eggs, sending them wobbling. Wu glanced up at them briefly and rolled his eyes, diving straight back into his paper. "Why yes, I have!" Hammond answered. "Not a single one of them doesn't know me, no siree!" One of the eggs shook and cracked. Hammond's face lit up with such childlike delight Ronnie was surprised he didn't wet himself. "I'm like a proud..." He peeled away the section of the shell and got down eye level with it. A giant amber eye blinked from inside it's egg. Hammond grinned. "...papa."

Malcolm licked his lips and furrowed his brow. "What about the ones that were, uh- bred in the wild?"

"Oh, please." Wu looked up, pencil hovering over his sheet, with a knowing light in his eyes. "This environment is completely controlled. There is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic park."

Ronnie brushed a curl out of her face and crossed her arms. "How d'ya know?"

"Yeah, does someone go around and um- uh, lift up all the dinosaur's skirts?" Malcolm grinned but more confusion and nerves and fear were in it than genuine laughter.

Hammond smiled. "Of course not, Dr. Malcolm. That would be most improper of you, all of our dinosaurs are girls!" He absently picked the shell off the cracking dinosaur egg. "One of my finer thoughts, if I do say so myself."

Wu's right eye twitched but he otherwise made no move to correct his boss. "Yes. All of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are female." He looked over on everyone- Alan still holding the baby dinosaur, Ellie looking troubled, Malcolm's watchful stare , and his eyes settled on Ronnie. "We've engineered them that way."

"Engineered?" Ellie asked. Her eyes shone with something like concern.

"Or course," Wu said. His gaze tore away from Ronnie and fell on Ellie instead. "It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway, it takes a specific hormone at the right developmental stage to create a male. We simply deny them that."

Alan's hand stopped and hung, frozen, over the claw of the baby dinosaur.

Wu talked like he was discussing how to properly set a dinner table or solve a trig equation.

Alan, Ellie, Ronnie and Ian were all staring at him with varying levels of disbelief. Only Hammond and Gennaro seemed fine.