For once, Maisie woke up rested and without a nightmare. She sat in the bed, squeezed between Owen's side and Claire's arms. Both adults were still sleeping and Maisie smiled and watched them for a while. They seemed so peaceful like that. They reminded her of Iris and her grandfather, always trying to remain calm and responsible.

Maisie had of course seen them angry, just like the time Claire had yelled at Owen for hitting every single bump in the road, or that time Owen lost it at Claire when she almost worked herself to exhaustion. But this wasn't the kind of angry that scared her, it was the kind of angry that didn't stay angry for long, the kind of angry that was the only way to make the other person realize that whatever they were doing was wrong, the kind of angry that showed how much they cared.

Maisie knew that adults sometimes had to get angry, because not everyone did good things and not everyone thought like them. Sometimes, people didn't understand other people. Sometimes, they didn't understand themselves. And Maisie knew that adults had to be the responsible ones, they had to think about everything, and they had a lot of pressure on their shoulders all the time.

Just like Owen had explained to her that driving a car was no joke and that it required a lot of patience and coordination. Just like Claire was organizing their grocery shopping lists and making sure they didn't forget anything. Owen had told Maisie that, even if he made fun of Claire's obsession with organization, he was glad she was the most organized of them all, because someone had to do it and she was really good at it. Just like Claire had told Maisie that she admired Owen for his self control and how unfazed he sometimes was when she was scared out of her mind.

She liked Owen's smile and Claire's laugh. It made her feel safe, it made her believe that nothing could go wrong. Owen smelled like gasoline whenever he worked on the car, but mostly he smelled like wood and fresh pasta (he was the best cook out of the three of them, although Maisie had been taught by Iris how to make a few simple things). Claire smelled like vanilla and mint, and sometimes she even smelled like freshly made coffee.

Owen was strong and protective, always on high alert but somehow making it look like he was perfectly calm and confident. Whenever Maisie was alone with him, he always taught her something interesting, something practical without even trying. Maisie had picked up a lot of things just by watching him, like how to hold a hammer and not hurt your fingers when you nailed a plank, how to gut a fish (Claire frowned at that one), how to check the level of clean water in the van, how to lace her shoelaces in a simpler way than what Iris taught her, how to tell if the next day would be windy just looking at the evening sky.

But with Claire, things were the same and different all together. When Claire taught her things, it was always with the purpose of teaching, like math, or how to pronounce certain words, how to count or how to read a map. She taught her about History and other subjects that children learned at school. But there was an entire array of things that Maisie had learned also just by looking at Claire. Like how standing straighter made her seem more confident and authoritative. How to walk with conviction, how to talk a certain way to certain people. She had seen the way Claire handled situations like a queen and how protective she could also be, especially with her. They were both strong and protective in their own way, which was why Maisie thought they worked so well together.

It was nice to see them relaxed like this, not trying to fix the world. Owen's arm was gently nestled on Claire's hip, while Claire's hand was gently brushing Owen's head. She may have known them only for a few weeks, she didn't want to leave them. They had briefly mentioned adoption and finding Iris to make it all official. Maisie wanted to see the old lady again, she missed her. She knew she could trust Owen and Claire, had seen how protective they could get of her and knew they would love her and treat her right. Just like her grandpa and Iris had. And they knew what she really was and had accepted her regardless.

Deciding to let them sleep for another hour or two, she gently got out of bed, making sure she didn't disturb them and that they remained in that position, reaching out for each other. She put on her shoes, grabbed a box of cereal from the table and walked out of the van.

The cabin was coming nicely and most of the wood beams holding the whole structure together were already in place. Maisie made her way to the architectural table, letting the morning sun erase all trace of sleep from her face as she breathed in the fresh air. It was a nice change from the mansion. She looked at the smaller cabin Owen had designed, all finished and perfect, like the house of a doll, while munching on cereals. She let her fingers wonder around the house, pretending she was a little person visiting. But as soon as she climbed onto the roof, she took a step back, remembering what had happened on the glass roof of the expositions' gallery.

A noise behind her startled her and she looked at the forest. Soon enough, there was some rustling in the bushes nearby until a grey squirrel came out. It stood on its back legs and sniffed the air, looking around as if it was lost. Maisie tried to approach it quietly, moving slowly one foot after the other just like she had seen Owen do with Blue. The squirrel skittered back into the bushes and on a tree when she got too close and Maisie sighed in disappointment.

She was about to sit on the porch of the unfinished house, when three other things came out of the bushes and stopped right in front of her. They seemed excited and one of them was jumping around and tilting its head from side to side. A sign of curiosity, Maisie remembered Owen say in one of his videos. She couldn't quite see them because of the sun that was blinding her, so she moved a few feet to the side. They moved with her and Maisie realized they were miniature dinosaurs.

As soon as the realization hit her, she fell back and dropped the cereal box. The Compys squealed and jumped on it, latching at the cereal so fast, Maisie turned and ran. One of the Compys barely touched her shin but it was enough to scare her and she lost her footing. As she scrambled back towards the van, she couldn't help but scream.

It took Owen and Claire approximately seven seconds to wake up, realize Maisie was gone, bolt for the door of the van and notice what was going on. Owen was the first one out and placed himself between Maisie and the Compy that was about to jump on her, effectively catching it by the tail and throwing it as far as he could. It only landed gracefully on the ground and came back, squealing even more.

Claire grabbed a piece of wood lying around and yelled at Owen and Maisie "Cover your ears!" before she slammed the piece of wood against the side of the van. A loud metal-like noise resonated and even Owen grimaced despite his ears being covered. The Compys looked at Claire startled and she ran towards them, yelling like a madwoman and waving the piece of wood in the air before trying to club one of them. Owen was sure she'd have hit it if the Compys didn't run for the woods back where they came from.

"That should keep them away," Claire said as she looked at the forest to make sure they weren't coming back or something bigger wasn't paying them a visit. The next moment, Maisie was throwing her arms around her waist, just like Grey had done all those years ago.

Since that day, Claire received the nickname of "Compy clubber", much to her dismay and Owen made sure to always keep some kind of staff or bat in the car, just in case Claire wanted to give it another go. And when the summer ended, they said goodbye to the cabin and headed back to the city where Claire's apartment was, with the idea in mind that they would find Iris and meet with Karen in the next weeks.

And for a while, despite the nightmares, triggers and fears, they were okay.