By Your Side {Owen Grady/Jurassic World}

Chapter Two

Hadley

"Eyes on us," Owen and I commanded in unison, hands raised. Owen had a clicker in his hand that he used to get the Raptors' attention. They've gotten big. It's been a few years since they hatched and I got my job, and I absolutely loved working with the Raptors and Owen.

"Hey, Charlie, eyes," Owen said in a stern voice, trying to get the Raptor to focus on us. I scanned the three others--Blue, Delta, and Echo--to see who was listening.

"Blue, don't give me that look," I scolded, getting a whining noise from her. She knew better than to act up, but she still got a little antsy at times. I smiled when all of the Velociraptors had their eyes on us.

"Okay, we're moving," Owen said, the two of us sidestepping to another side of the raised walkways that made a large X over the Raptors' enclosure. "Hey, eyes still on me."

Once all four of the raptors had their eyes on us, I picked a dead rat out of the metal bucket on the side and held it up to them.

"Delta," I said, tossing the rat to her. She snapped it up in her mouth and swallowed happily.

"Charlie," Owen said, holding up a rat himself. He tossed it down to the waiting Raptor, then picking up another. "Echo."

I grabbed the last rat and gave Blue a small smile. She and I had the strongest bond out of all of the Raptors. She was hatched first, and I was the first to handle her, along with Owen, which gave us more of a connection. "This one's for you, Blue."

I tossed it down for Blue, who gratefully caught it in her mouth. Once she was done eating, we let them run free around their enclosure.

"They're getting better and better," I said, wiping my hands off on a rag as I smiled up at Owen. He nodded and happily threw an arm around my shoulders, a smile gracing his lips.

"A few years worth of work goes a long way," he said, picking up the bucket.

As we were about to leave, a larger man with grayish hair and a goatee stepped in front of us, acting like he owned the place. I immediately glared at him and leaned into Owen slightly.

*I apologize for this. I don't know the real dialogue involved in this scene, I didn't get the chance to fully memorize it and I couldn't find it anywhere so I'll just wing it and edit it later when I can find it.*

"You know, Grady, you and Miss Braeden are pretty good with those things," Vic Hoskins--the head of InGen security--said, cocking an eyebrow. Owen crossed his arms, squinting at him. Whenever someone didn't acknowledge the Raptors correctly or called them things, Owen and I would get defensive. Why wouldn't we? We raised them ever since they hatched.

"They aren't things, Hoskins," Owen spat, pushing past Vic. "They're animals." He climbed down the stairs and went over to the locked gate, opening it to put the bucket away. I followed him down, Hoskins at my tail.

"Well whatever they are, you two can control them," Hoskins said, trying to get in front of Owen. I scoffed and leaned against the bars of the cage. Control, no. Getting them to listen for a short amount of time is more like it.

"We don't control them," Owen said, hanging the bucket on a peg. "They're wild animals, and wild animals don't like to be controlled. We just get them to listen to short commands."

"They're tame," Hoskins said, still pressing on. I rolled my eyes and listened. I had an idea of what he wanted. "They can listen to commands. You know how useful that could be on the field?"

"No," Owen sighed, leaning back on the bars. "They're nowhere near tame. Putting them on the field wouldn't be good for anybody. They don't know the difference between what to kill and what not to kill."