So What Do We Do Now?

[Chapter 3 - Part 1]

        For a few hours it was very quiet in the apartment. But Claire was tossing and turning in her bed. She was having a dream. Or better, a nightmare. She was very restless. Owen, laying on the couch, was in a very deep, peaceful sleep. But a scream suddenly woke him up. Claire was sitting right up in her bed. She was panting and tears rolled over her cheeks. She clicked a nightlight on. The clock on her nightstand said it was two forty four a.m. She wiped of her tears and tried to control her breath again. She sighed a couple of times. "Claire?" The door of her bedroom opened and a soft light fell into the room. She had woken Owen up. "Yeah?", she answered. He opened the door a bit more. "Are you alright?", he asked with a sleepy voice. She nodded, but suddenly started crying. "No, you're not," he said. He entered her room and walked up to her. She hid her face in her hands. He climbed on the bed and sat next to her. He placed a hand on her back and rubbed it. "Sssht, it's alright," he said. Claire let her fell into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and just hugged her. She cried into his shoulder. He didn't say anything, but rubbed his hand over her back and whispered things like "It's alright," and "It was just a dream."

Claire's breathing was almost normal again and her crying was over.  She looked at Owen. "The Indominus was chasing me," she said with a sigh. "She was saying things. She said it was all my fault, that I hadn't had to raise her in captivity and that I just had to pay for it." Some lost tears rolled over her cheeks. "It was just a dream, a bad dream," Owen tried to comfort her. "I don't know, Owen. I think I'm kind of responsible. I feel responsible," she said. "A lot of things went wrong yesterday and yes, some were your fault, but the most weren't. We all made mistakes," Owen answered. He took her in his arms again. "You're not responsible for a dinosaur that escaped on its own," he then said. She was sure that everything could have been different if she just had called the control room from the Indominus' cage. She closed her eyes and enjoyed Owen's embrace. "Owen?", she asked with a soft voice. "Uhu." "Can you please stay here?" "Of course," he answered. Still in their embrace, Owen laid them down on the bed. Claire laid her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. "Owen, what are we actually?", she asked a little nervous. He placed his hand on her waist. "What do you want us to be?", he asked. He wasn't sure what to answer. She lifted up her head and looked at him. She smiled. "I want us to be... us," she answered. He looked confused. She crushed her lips on his. He kissed her back, with a lot of passion. Claire gripped her hands on Owen's T-shirt, while his hands slid over her back. She enjoyed it and let out a little moan. Claire broke their kiss after a moment. "Together," she whispered. A smile appeared around Owen's lips. She kissed it. "I've always known that you're an amazing kisser," Owen said between some kisses. She looked at him. "Always?", she asked. "I have had a crush on you since the first moment I saw you," he confessed. A big smile appeared on her face. Now he was the one to kiss it. After a gentle kiss, they broke apart. With a smile, Claire placed her head on his chest, next to her hand that hadn't left its place. "I guess we should go back to sleep," Owen said. "Probably," Claire answered with a yawn. She was the nightmare already forgotten. She closed her eyes and let out a little sigh. Owen started playing with a lock of her reddish hair and closed his eyes as well. With their legs tangled, they both drifted off to sleep.

Sun rays sought their way inside of the room when Owen suddenly woke up. His breathing was faster than normal and sweat dripped of his face. He had had a nightmare. A terrible nightmare. It felt so real. He looked at Claire who was still sounding asleep. She laid on her own pillow with her hands beneath her head. She looked very cute, Owen thought. He smiled and stared a bit at her, but then he turned his head so he could look at the clock. It was seven past ten. He decided to go to the bathroom and to wash the sweat from his face.

He turned the tap on and let his hands fill with water. He then sprinkled it on his face. He repeated it a few times. He turned the tap off and dried his face. In the mirror, he saw behind him his clothes laying on a laundry-basket. He thought it would be nice if he could wash them and left the bathroom, looking for a washing machine. Because he would love to buy some new clothes, but he definitely wasn't going to leave the apartment in the outfit he was wearing at the moment. There was a room in front of the bathroom. He opened the door, but it appeared to be an office. So, there was only one room left he hadn't been in, the one next to the bathroom. He opened the door and found exactly what he was looking for. The room seemed to be a laundry-room. There were some cleaning supplies, a washing machine, a dryer and also the fuse box. He went back to the bathroom, took his clothes and went back to the room beside it. He threw his grey shirt in the machine, looked in every pocket of his jacket and threw it in as well. Then he took his trousers, took his belt out and looked in every pocket again. In the front he only found some coins, but in the back he found his wallet and Claire's phone. He was forgotten he was keeping it. He threw his trousers in as well and closed the machine. He took some fabric softener, opened the bottle and smelled it. "Smells good," he said to himself. He poured a bit in the detergent drawer and then closed the little drawer. He turned the machine on and went to the bedroom again. Claire was still asleep. He then went to the kitchen. When he passed the couch, he took his phone from where he had laid it yesterday before he fell asleep. While walking further to the kitchen, he saw he had a message. He opened it.