The Jurassic Family

Chapter 1: How it all begins

It was a cold night of early December 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Everyone was asleep in a little house, minus a little girl who was coloring a piece of paper lying near the blazing fire.

She has light brown hair and blue sapphire eyes. The little girl's name was Valentina Grady. Valentina wore a pink nightgown and a silver whisttle around her neck. She was waiting for her parents to come home. She was actually very different from other little girls, as she knew how to communicate with animals and plants. But some people wouldn't understand, so her parents kept her homeschooled.

Speaking of whom, they were so to say good people. Her father was named Matt Grady and her mother was named Alma Grady. Matt Grady used to be an airline pilot while Matt's brother Owen was a Fleet Marine Force corpsman. After an excellent service, Matt became a well-liked flight instructor, but would also play with his baby girl while protecting her from frustrated neighbours as well as spoiling his baby daughter. Valentina was indeed very curious, perhaps a little too much, as she often brought in dangerous animals in the neighbourhood which caused her to get into trouble. The little girl's mother Alma was an Italian-born doctor at the infectious disease research center who was very kind to her colleagues. But she chose to marry Matt, as Alma preferred to marry airline pilots rather than a servicemember, like her brother-in-law Owen was, though she didn't hate military service members. Back to Valentina, she loved her parents so much that she followed them everywhere, except when going to the bathroom or to bed.

As Valentina finished her drawing, a teenage girl dressed in a red checkered shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of winter boots came down the stairs. Her name was Abigail Starling, who lived with her brother Josh in the neighbourhood after they moved away from the family book shop to their college studies. Abigail worked as a part-time babysitter for Valentina while Josh worked at the garage to help out with money.

Once near the toddler, Abigail told her smiling, "Hey, Valentina. It's past bed time, you know."

Valentina looked at the teenager pleadingly and said, "But pwease, can I stay up fow a few mowe minutes? Mommy and Daddy pwomised me to wead me a bedtime stowy."

"Alright, but I'm gonna tell your parents about this. And they won't like it" Abigail told jokingly.

"YAY! Thank you, Abigail. You'we the best babysittew evew." Valentina exclaimed happily.

"Ah, you're making me blush." Abigail said before seeing Valentina's drawing. "What are you drawing her, Valentina?"

Valentina showed the picture, representing a long-necked animal eating leaves on the top of a pine tree, to Abigail. "It's a Ba-wo-sau-wus." she said trying to say 'Barosaurus' correctly.

"Tell me if I'm wrong but this is a dinosaur, isn't it?" Abigail asked playfully.

Valentina loves dinosaurs so much that she owns dozens of stuffed toy dinosaurs in her room. She always dreamed of meeting one of these in Jurassic World, where her uncle Owen worked and where her 16-year-old cousin Peyton lived. Although they did visit and her father did talk about them, Valentina was still a baby back then and she therefore barely remembered her cousin and uncle. However, Alma and Matt never understood their niece's taste for the military nor her willingness to enlist after turning 17 or becoming a war correspondant. Actually, Valentina didn't understand either.

"Yes, and they awe pwant eatews and awe weally big." the toddler playfully told.

"I bet they can reach very tall trees." Abigail remarked.

"Yes, but they have to stand on theiw hind legs to eat leaves fwom high twees." Valentina replied.

"Alright, I will make you some hot coco, you will go to sleep while we wait for your parents" Abigail suggested softly.