By Your Side {Owen Grady/Jurassic World}

Chapter One

Hadley

I've always been fascinated with dinosaurs. Ever since my parents took me to a museum when I was four, I've been hooked; especially with Velociraptors. So when I received a letter accepting me as a Raptor trainer, I was overjoyed.

In the letter, it stated that I would be working alongside another trainer, and we would be given four Velociraptors to train as they grew up. I couldn't help the ecstatic feeling I got at the thought of having four of the dinosaurs for myself and the other trainer to work with.

My trip to the island was fully paid for, which made everything a lot easier for me. I've never had a lot of money, but hopefully having this job would change that. I mean, you'd think that training and caring for a few carnivorous dinosaurs would get you paid well.

Before the trip, I visited my parents to say goodbye, as I probably wouldn't see them for a very long time. My mother wasn't very happy that I was going, saying that the whole thing is just an unnatural accident waiting to happen, just like the other parks. My father had reassured her by telling her, 'Everything is safer now and nothing will happen to our little girl'. I knew I'd be okay. The staff there had expert training and knew what to do in case of an emergency. If anything, I'd say they learned from past mistakes and used the knowledge to make everything safer. My parents drove me to the airport and saw me off, my mother with tears in her eyes.
•
When I arrived at the beautiful Isla Nublar, I was immediately in love. The trees and ferns that decorated it were lush and green, the warm wind making them blow from side to side. Several baby herbivores ran around in their pens, chasing after one another playfully. The sounds of more dinosaurs could be heard, even if they themselves couldn't be seen.

I dug the park map out of the back pocket of my shorts and unfolded it, searching it until I found where the lab was located, as the letter told me to do. I made my way to the lab, occasionally stopping to pet the baby triceratops that trotted around inside the pen.

The lab was huge, made of white walls and glass with computers and test tubes everywhere. Several different types of eggs sat in their respective areas, and some sat in incubators, waiting to hatch. As I stood watching a baby Brachiosaurus hatch, someone laid a hand on my shoulder. I immediately turned around, coming face-to-face with a woman. She had short red hair and wore a white skirt and blouse, peach colored heels on her feet.

"Are you Miss Braeden?" She asked, dropping her hand. "I am Claire Dearing." I nodded and smiled slightly, hoping I hadn't done something wrong by being here, even though the letter said to. That would be great, wouldn't it?

"Yes, Hadley Braeden," I said, handing her my papers. "It's very nice to meet you." She took them and looked through them quickly before handing them back to me. She motioned for me to follow her, which I did.

"Your partner, Owen Grady, should be here shortly," she said as she led me to a small part of the lab where four eggs sat in an incubator. "These are your four Velociraptors. I think it'd be best for both you and Mr. Grady to be the first to handle them when they hatch, to hopefully ensure a bond between you. It will more than likely make training them easier if they have imprinted on the two of you."

"When will they hatch?" I asked, watching the pale eggs intently. Claire tapped on the screen of a control panel, scanning it quickly before looking up at the eggs.

"In a matter of minutes," she said, an irritated look crossing her features. "If your partner would hurry up and get here, that'd be great. We can't have him missing this."

As if on cue, a man walked into the lab, a smirk plastered to his face. He was handsome. Tall and muscular with tanned skin, sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and just enough scruff to make him ten times more attractive. I caught myself staring and averted my eyes before he caught me too.

"Am I late?" He asked, crossing his arms defiantly. Claire glared at him, obviously annoyed with him already. Instead of arguing with him, she turned back to the eggs and sighed.

"These are your four Raptors, as I was telling Miss Braeden here," Claire said, then giving him the whole bonding spiel that she had given me minutes before. "I'll leave you two here with them. When they hatch, make sure they know that you are their superiors. When you are done, I'll send some workers to help move them to their enclosure. Be careful with them."

With that, she left the lab, leaving Owen and I to wait for our Raptors to hatch.

"Owen Grady," Owen said, holding his hand out. I took it in my own and shook it, adding a small smile.

"Hadley Braeden," I replied, letting go of his hand. I turned back to the eggs, watching for any sign of the baby Raptors. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Owen look between the eggs and me.

"What got you into Raptors?" He asked after a few minutes of silence. I shrugged keeping my eyes on the eggs. It wasn't really anything special.

"I saw an exhibit on them at a museum when I was four and I've been stuck on them since," I replied. Owen nodded. "What about you?"

"Oh, I don't know," he said, resting his elbows on the incubator. "I was that kid that was obsessed with dinosaurs when I was little, and I wanted to work with them."

I nodded, not being a very talkative person. Owen seemed to pick up on that, smiling and letting out a small chuckle. He was about to say something else, but a cracking sound interrupted him. One of the eggs had a large crack down the middle, and it was getting larger. When a good portion of the shell popped off, I grabbed Owen's arm, a large smile spread across my face. He chuckled and watched as the baby Velociraptor broke all the way out of her shell, stumbling a bit before she stood up. She was tinted a dark blueish color and her eyes were strikingly yellow, with the vertical black slit that was her pupil in the center. The other three eggs began hatching as well.

"I think we should call her Blue," Owen said, gesturing to the first Raptor. I nodded and slowly put my hand out, touching Blue's head gently. She made a little clicking noise and rubbed her head against my hand like a puppy. Owen did the same, running his fingers along her rough skin.

Soon after, the other three Raptors, which we named Delta, Charlie, and Echo, hatched fully, and I was immediately attached.
•
Okay, so if I made any mistakes in my writing/grammar, please help me out and let me know so I can fix it! I'll go through and edit the chapters when I have extra time. Please vote so I know if you like it and if I should continue! Thank you!