Hello everyone! I know it has been forever since I last updated and I am really sorry! I've been crazy busy with life in general and hope this chapter can make up for it. Please let me know what you think! Can't wait to post the next chapter!

When Claire set her mind to something, it was nearly impossible to stop her. We had had a serious talk a couple of nights ago about "life after the island" and how we wouldn't want to raise a family here, but also this island was our home. We had met here and it was this island where my endless flirting somehow worked on Claire and we started our relationship together. All of our firsts were here and it would be hard to see it go, but it's what needed to be done and we both knew it.

Claire asked Masrani to make an appearance on the island so he could have a meeting with the two of us to discuss future endeavors. When the eighth richest man in the world knocked on the door of our apartment and Claire so easily hugged him and called him "Simon", I knew I shouldn't have been as nervous as I was. Claire showed no fear as she laid out the facts for him. We were getting married and didn't want it to happen on the island. Then, we were going to build a house that we would live in together and we didn't want it to happen on the island. Then eventually, we were going to have children and we didn't want that to happen on the island either. Simon was quiet for a majority of the meeting and let Claire get everything out that she wanted while I stood next to her and supported her decisions. In the end, somehow, Simon understood and as sad as he was to see us go, he would let us both walk away, regardless of what our contracts said. He did try to talk us into staying, but nothing seemed as important as our impending future together and Simon told us he knew exactly what we were feeling.

It wasn't until after he left the apartment that Claire broke down. Her tears were inevitable, but what I mistook as financial insecurity was actually what she compared to as the loss of a loved one. She told me about how this island, this gorgeous, dinosaur infested island, had been the only home she knew since she was nineteen. Still in college and having the whole world at her fingertips was the last thing she remembered before the internship that she had explained to me in full detail one night when neither of us could sleep. She told me of the unbelievable things she had seen and the lovely people she had met during the internship, as well as that night. The night that flipped her world upside down, but she told me it was for the better. As sad and horrified as she was, it had been a learning experience and she wouldn't be where she is today if she had doubted herself as much as she used to.

The regret was the hardest part for her. Claire had missed so much and couldn't even talk to her own mother. Karen had to deliver the message of her father's bad heart and sadly, when he died, Claire bottled up all of her emotions and used the pain she felt to work harder. That was how her mother had seen it anyways. She accused her of not caring at all and abandoning their family when they needed her most. Karen understood, but her toxic husband tried to keep the boys away from her as much as he could. It took years to get the boys to visit Claire, not like she had tried very hard to get them on the island. Claire tries not to think about "life before Owen" as she so lovingly calls it. Karen always tells me I brought Claire back from the emotional dead, but I think she was just too scared she was going to get hurt again if she put herself out there.

When our alarm blared at the early hours of the morning, our bedroom was filled with a harmonious groan before Claire reached over me to turn the alarm off. She dropped her dead weight onto my chest and exhaled, opening one eye to make sure the time was correct. I played with her hair lovingly before stretching my arms above my head. When I looked back down at Claire, I chuckled to myself when I saw she had her nose buried in her phone and was quickly skimming through the emails she had received since coming home from work yesterday. She looked up and me and smirked, leaning up to kiss my lips before I got out of bed to shower. I turned around at the door frame and smiled when I saw she had repositioned herself into my side of the bed, taking in my smell and warmth.

The water heated up quickly which I was grateful for every morning, but the second I stood in the stream of water, I heard Claire gasp from our bed. I curiously stuck my head out of the glass door and listened in, just in case Claire called my name. When she didn't, I continued my shower, but finished quicker than I normally would have. The moment I had my towel wrapped around my waist, Claire's arms had flown around my neck.

"We are free!" Claire sang into the air, leaning her head back and away from my chest so I'd have no trouble understanding her.

"And by free, you mean what?" I asked, confused.

"Masrani sent our a park wide email this morning. You probably would have already known if you checked your email," she teased me, "But it is officially official! This is both of our last weeks at Jurassic World!" My eyes widened and I wrapped Claire in a bearhug before picking her up and spinning her around. It isn't that we hated our jobs at all, but we were just ready for a new chapter to begin. When I set Claire back on her feet, the smile that was spread across her face was more contagious than ever.

"So this is happening?!" I asked in disbelief. She simply nodded her head at me and placed both of her hands on my cheeks, bringing me in for a searing kiss, holding me as close to her as humanly possible. When we pulled away, we sort of just stared at each other for a moment. "Wow… you're no longer my boss." I teased, chuckling when I heard Claire snort before playfully smacking my chest. "Don't know if I'm as attracted to you now." The look on her face was priceless. A singular, perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised high as her head tilted slightly to the side.

"No? That's just too bad for you then. I was going to wear that little red thing you love so much tonight as a celebration, but if you don't even find me attractive anymore, what's the point?" The second the words left her mouth, I had scooped her up off of the ground again and placed her gently on the bathroom sink. She inhaled a dramatic breath as her bare bottom made contact with the freezing cold countertop so I brought my hands down and rubbed loving circles on the sides of her thighs to try and warm her up. Claire's arms lazily rested on my shoulders and her hands played with the freshly cut hair at the back of my neck.

"Have I told you yet how happy I am that you finally got your haircut." Claire teased me, leaning in to gently kiss the side of my mouth, muffing my response to her.

"Yeah, you brought it up once or twice last night." Her only response was a satisfied hum while her lips started their delightful journey down to my neck.

"Can't believe this is finally happening." I muttered to myself. Claire and I had dreamed of the day we could actually leave this island and I was over the moon that she could finally relax for once in her life. I was lost in my own daydream; thinking of the life we can start together and all of the new memories we have yet to make. The vision of Claire running around outside with our children and maybe a dog or two. The cabin I built for us standing tall and strong in the back of my mind, my hands itching to begin construction on it. Claire must have noticed my absence to the events in front of me because I was snapped out of my fairytale when her lips stopped their movement on my neck and I felt her sit back so she could look at me.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She knew exactly what I had been thinking about and it made my heart jump when she spoke about it. I didn't know how to respond, so I simply just buried my face in her neck and inhaled her scent. This was my happy place and that was never going to change.

We were broken out of our embrace when Claire's phone started to go off like crazy. She sighed as she pulled away and saw that Zara was calling her… again. We must have missed the first one during our celebration and Claire picked it up rather quickly.

"Dearing." Claire stated, never one for long winded conversations over the phone with someone other than me. We were close enough in proximity where I could hear everything Zara was saying.

"Tell me it isn't true." Zara all but begged Claire.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that, Zara."

"Cut the shit, Claire. Are you actually leaving the island?" Claire was silent for a beat, looking up at me with suddenly sad eyes.

"It is true. We need our own life away from this island."

"Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have been mad. I'm more upset now that I had to find out from a bloody chain email." Again, Zara was meet with a silent Claire who, for once in her life, was at a loss for words. She looked up at me and her eyes had tears welling in them. I lovingly rubbed her thighs again to try and calm her down as she swallow the lump that was forming in her throat.

"I just… knew it would've been too hard." It was Zara's turn to be silent. A quiet sniffle could be heard on the other end of the phone. "Please don't cry, Zara! This is exactly what I didn't want to happen." Next came a throaty laugh before she responded.

"Well, I guess we have to make this your best last week ever. I'll see you in the office...boss." It was Claire's turn to laugh which brought my happy mood back as the sassy, sarcastic assistant hung up and we were able to resume our morning.

After a quite frisky shower together, we made our way to our respective cars and said our goodbyes for the day before heading off to work. Barry was more than happy for me, but seeing my raptor pack was harder than I thought it was going to be. I had raised these animals as my own; I was their alpha and it was going to take a lot of training and work to have them take all of their orders from Barry alone now. We had been bringing Barry in on every training session recently because I knew this was in the cards for me. My day began like any other, I made my way into my office to put all of my belongings in there before heading out to begin feeding the girls. Much to my dismay, Barry had already began the feeding process which hurt me more than I thought it would. He was simply doing his job and in a weeks time this would literally be what he is in charge of, but witnessing someone else bonding so well with my girls was way harder than I ever could have imagined. I turned on my heels and made my way back to my office to cool off. I dropped myself into my plush office chair before pulling my phone out and calling Claire. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, baby. Hold on one second, I'm just finishing up today's debriefing with Zara." I waited patiently for a moment before she began again. "Okay, hi, sorry. What's up? Miss me already?" She teased, making my mood change instantly.

"I always miss you, Claire, you know that." I was silent after that though, not sure where to begin.

"Owen? What's wrong?" I exhaled.

"Just having a bit of trouble letting Barry take over. Like, I know he is just as qualified as me and I'm the one choosing to leave, but it just sucks." I heard her hum to let me know she heard me as I continued to rant. "Like, Claire, I am so excited to get off this island and just be normal people again, ya know?"

"I know, honey, but it's hard. Harder than I thought it was going to be and I don't even work with any cute dinosaurs I raised by hand." This made both of us laugh.

"See? This is why I called you. You always know what to say. Okay, sorry I bothered you, you can go back to work now."

"Never a bother, Owen, but my next meeting starts in 15 minutes so I have to race there now. Sorry to end so abruptly."

"No problem! I'll have dinner ready when you get home tonight, just text me what you're craving and when you think you're going to be home."

"God, this is why you're the love of my life." Claire moaned over the line, "But I do have to go now. Love you, Owen." I chuckled to myself.

"I love you too, Claire. Good luck at your meeting."

I took a deep breath before getting up and heading out to the enclosure to supervise as Barry fed and did the training run through with the girls for the day. The heat and mugginess seemed to be at an all time high and by the end of the day we were both dripping in sweat. My sweat rag itself was too saturated to even make a difference, so I headed right home to take a shower and begin dinner.

Claire had said she wanted spaghetti which was easy enough for me, so I had enough time to shower before starting the pasta. As if like clockwork, Claire waltzed into our apartment the exact moment I was plating the food, kicking her ballet flats off delicately in the foyer before prancing happily into the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around my neck and smacked her lips against mine in the most loving way before grabbing a bowl and a fork and sitting down at the table.

"Looks like someone's in a good mood." I grabbed my own bowl and fork and followed her lead to the table, watching carefully as her hips swayed as she walked. Dinner was as eventful as it could have been and soon enough we were in bed, prepping for another day of dinosaurs and meetings.

The rest of the week went by relatively quickly, but the closer and closer we got to the end, the more reluctant Claire seemed. The mystery of our new situation was stressing her out more than she thought it would. The constant reminders that this early retirement was Claire's idea and that she isn't regretting any of our decisions were appreciated. She had called Karen on Wednesday and told her the good news, which made Claire practically go deaf by the volume of her excited scream on the other end of the phone. We were going to be moving in with Karen and the boys while we looked for a plot of land large enough for what we had envisioned. Everything was slowly, but surely being boxed up and labelled with one of Claire's many colored markers. She had some sort of system, but to me, they were simply different colors.

The boxes of our belongings were stacking up in our hallways and slowly making their way out into the foyer waiting to be piled into the back of my truck. I had to take them to the post office to get them shipped out to Karen's house and that alone was stressing Claire out because she had no control over when the boxes would arrive. Masrani paid for us to ship all of our belongings out as a going away gift, but that didn't stop him from piling Claire with other presents as well. We knew he had a special place in his heart for Claire and seeing her leave the island was hard for him, but he was also very happy for the two of us and even begged us to invite him to our wedding.

Emotional goodbyes to all of our colleagues were inevitable and the last thing Claire wanted to do on our final day. With endless nagging from me, we addressed all of the people that had surrounded us for all of these years. They had become family and as much as we complained about them after a long stressful day of work, we would miss them.

The car ride to the dock was silent as I drove and Claire stared at all of the memories this island held as we drove by them. Her hand was locked in mine over the middle console, but she wouldn't make eye contact with me. I was stroking my thumb gently over the delicate skin on the back of her hand while I hummed along to the country song playing on the radio. A deep sigh from she side of the car grabbed my attention and stopped my humming immediately.

"What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" I asked her, needing to know what she was thinking. Claire tucked her feet under her body and repositioned her body to face me. I smirked at her before sending a smile her way that made me close my eyes and show all of my teeth. In turn, she released a wild giggle and disconnected our hands to swat at my chest playfully.

"I'm going to miss this place is all. It's been my home for such a long time and I didn't think it was going to be this hard to say goodbye." Before I could say anything in response, a stray tear slid down her face, but the smile remained. I brought my hand up to wipe it from her cheek gently with my thumb right as we were pulling into the loading area. I pulled my truck into the designated area and Claire got out to figure out where we needed to put the truck with all of our belongings before we ventured back to the mainland.

"Ready to start fresh?" I asked her when we finally got settled on the ferry. Claire of course had gotten us one of those nice private rooms for the trip back so we could be comfortable and have a significant amount of privacy.

"Fresh?" She laughed. "We are moving in with my older sister and her children." Claire all but snorted making me laugh as well.

"But soon," I started, moving in closer and nuzzling into her neck. "We will be building our dream house and getting married." I left a delicate kiss on her throat and watched as goosebumps arose rapidly on her pristine skin. Claire released a shaky sigh as she ran her hands through my hair.

"As much as I nag you about getting your hair cut, I'm always so sad when it's all gone. I like shaggy Owen." Her head lolled back as my lips slowly made their way up her neck. When I finally made it up to her lips, she basically pounced on my lap, straddling me and wiggling to get herself more comfortable. I groaned at the sensation and nipped at her bottom lip, moving my hands down to rest on her upper legs and rubbing in a gentle circular pattern.

"Are we really about to do this?" Claire mumbled against my lips, opening her eyes and taking my breath away. I smiled up at her and nodded my head subtly before responding.

"Don't act like this is the strangest place we've ever had sex…" I teased her, pinching her lovingly on the hip. She scrunched her nose in the cutest way humanly possible and touched her forehead against mine, rubbing our noses together.

"I really love you, Grady."

"The feelings mutual, almost Mrs Grady."

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