Chapter Text
Sherlock took another drag of his fag. He resisted the urge to rub his temples again. The only thing that was going to fix his headache was a bottle full of aspirin or three more packs of cigarettes. Naturally this is the day that the hurricane hits and I didn't bring any extra packs.
There had been a strong weather advisory but he hadn't listened to it. When were they ever right anyway? He had a better chance at predicting the weather than those bloody idiots who spent years away at Uni learning how to 'track' it.
He had been so lost in his research that he had waved away the last coworker trying to tell him that it was time to leave for the evening. Lestrade had huffed a sigh and thrown his hands up in resignation. Sherlock had been pleased at the time, but now he wished he had actually paid attention to the other man for once.
Now he was stuck for the night on an island full of dinosaurs. Sherlock smiled wicked at the thought that he had helped create them; he was like their father in a twisted sort of way. And Mummy said I would never have children. Sherlock took a final puff of his fag before grounding it out on the ashtray. He promptly lit another one.
When he had been approached by Mycroft to work on a new cloning experiment he had never believed it. Clone dinosaurs? It was the most ludicrous thing he had ever heard. Yet when his brother had given him the paperwork and he had looked it over, he couldn't board the helicopter fast enough.
And there he was five years later, chest deep in the cloning of DNA for species that had been extinct for thousands of years. Well, until he had brought them back to the land of the living.
The thrill of the first egg hatching was a memory he would never forget it was planted firmly in his mind, never to be erased. Even though it was sentiment at its finest, Sherlock could never forget the sight had brought hot tears to sting his eyes. The freshly hatched velociraptor had been so incredibly tiny...to think of the size it would have grown too. The velociraptor had died a few weeks later and although many other clones had died later on, none had affected him the way the first one still did.
Sherlock was so lost in thought that he jumped when the door behind him opened. The fag dropped from his mouth and he batted it away with a curse before it could burn a hole in his shirt.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I didn't think anyone else would be here." A small compact blonde man was standing at the open door. He was wearing one of the khaki doctor uniforms. His hair was wet and he ran a hand through it, sticking it up at odd angles.
Sherlock had seen him around the park but he had never spoken to him. The scientist and the doctors on the island had little cause to speak to one another, unless there was an emergency. Thankfully, there had been few of them.
Sherlock grunted and lit his last fag. The man sat down in the chair opposite to him. "I take it you missed the last ferry out too?"
"Obviously." Sherlock made no effort to keep the sarcasm from dripping in his voice.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance too." The man laughed and Sherlock was shocked to see how his eyes lit up. It wasn't the spite filled laugh he was used to either. The man laughed with genuine humor. "I'm Doctor John Watson. I'm the herbivore specialist." He extended a hand and Sherlock took it out of reflex.
"Sherlock Holmes. Cloning specialist." John gave his hand one firm squeeze before letting go. As an after thought he added, "Pleasure."
They sat in relatively companionable silence for a few minutes. Thunder roared overhead and Sherlock knew that the rain must be coming down in sheets outside. The tropical storm was going to just as bad as the weatherman had predicted. Sherlock sighed and snuffed out his fag.
"I was out with the triceratops. They got into the berries again. I keep telling the rangers, even if they spray the leaves with repellent the infant triceratops are still going to want to eat them." John licked at his lower lip. "I'm going to go grab some coffee. What any?"
"Black. Two sugars." Once again remembering his manners, Sherlock tacked on, "Please."
John gave him a smile as he put his hands on his thighs and stood up.
Watching John's departing back, Sherlock was tempted to leave. If he got up and used the other exit he won't even pass John in the hallway. Sherlock couldn't believe he was even conflicted. Normally he won't give a second thought to leaving one of his coworkers midway through a conversation. He had no time for 'small talk'.
However John had smiled. The other man had smiled at him; it had been open and even friendly. There had been no deceit or contempt in it. Sherlock couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him like that. He couldn't believe he was letting his emotions make a decision. I'm growing soft in my old age. Sherlock wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought.
The door opened back up and Sherlock took the cup of coffee from John's outstretched hand. "I remember I had some issues with the cloning process. The scientist who had been here from the beginning found it...difficult to take my advice." More than 'difficult' they had outright refused to listen to the man who came in and called their entire operation a disgrace.
John laughed. "I've heard about you. It's good though. How are changes to be made if you don't voice your concerns?" He took a sip of coffee.
Sherlock took a sip of his own cup. Normally the coffee was stale and less than satisfying. Sherlock refused to admit that for once the coffee was actually tolerable. But John had added just the right amount of sugar.
"You were a vet before coming to the park." John's eyes widened in surprise at Sherlock's sudden outburst.
"Yeah, I was. How'd you know? Asking around?" John smiled and wiggled his eyebrow.
Sherlock pursed his lips. What's with this man? "No, I didn't ask. I saw."
"Really? Not a lucky guess?" John placed his styrofoam coffee cup on the table and leaned forward on his elbows.
"I don't guess. I observe. It's not my fault everyone else is always so preoccupied with the insignificant to pay attention to what really matters." Sherlock tilted his chin back in defiance, ready for the barrage of curses that was sure to follow from John.
Instead he titled his head to the side. "Alright. Tell me what you deduce."
The words had barely left John's mouth before Sherlock's was opened and rattling off everything he had already gathered from their short acquaintance. "You've always wanted to work with animals; mostly with reptiles. You've always had an interest in dinosaurs although it was more of a hobby. You were approached by the company, six maybe seven years ago. Since most of your knowledge was from books they gave you ample training and you have excelled in your position. You were made head of the herbivore section about a year ago."
John blinked a few times as if he was trying to clear his head. "That was..."
"Well, get on with it." Sherlock knew he was only inviting the harsh treatment on himself but he found little reason to care. Why avoid the inevitable?
"That was incredible." John stared in open mouthed wonder. "No, I mean it. That was extraordinary. Brilliant."
"Do you really think so?" Sherlock asked unable to believe that John was surprising him yet again. He had only known the man for half an hour and Sherlock still wasn't bored with him. It was a new record.
"If the people I worked with were half as observant as you then I bet I could actually get some work done instead of fixing other people's blunders." John wiped a hand over his abruptly tired looking face. "I mean, I know that we're dealing with creatures that have never been cared for before but if they could just apply logic..."
Sherlock nodded his head in agreement. There was a crack of thunder and John turned his face up to look at the ceiling. "It's getting nasty out there. I hope everything holds up."
"I won't be concerned. My brother spared no expense building this park." There was pride in Sherlock's voice. Although Mycroft was an impossible git, Jurassic Park was a marvel. When it finally opened in the Fall, it would be the talk of the whole world. There won't be one person on the planet who hadn't heard of it when it was unveiled. And Sherlock nearly preened at the mere thought. Just wait until those idiots at the University see what I've done. If the world was going to watch, Sherlock was going to make sure they got a show they would never forget.
"It truly is an impressive place. I never thought in a million years that I could put 'worked with dinosaurs' on my resume." John smirked.
"Yes, I had always thought my work with cloning to be a bit of hobby until Mycroft decided it should be more of a full time position. Dinosaurs might not have been my first choice but-" Sherlock shrugged his shoulders.
"What? You mean to tell me you didn't want to own a dinosaur as a kid? I don't believe it. Every little boy wants to own a T-Rex, let alone be its doctor. Or the one that created it." John gestured with his hands at Sherlock.
"Suffice it to say, I was not an average little boy." The most he had ever wished for was to be a pirate but there was no way that John was ever going to know that.
John smirked. "I find that hard to believe. I'm sure you wanted to met a dinosaur or be a superhero."
Before Sherlock could answer the lights flickered. John frowned and stared up at the fluorescent lights. "That's never happened before." Another crack of thunder ripped across the sky.
An answering boom erupted overhead and the lights flickered again. "Should I be worried?" John tried to say it lightly but the concern was obvious in his tightly knit eyebrows.
"Honestly, John, I'm quite sure the park's electrical systems can stand up to a small tropical storm. There's no reason for-" With another flicker the lights turned off.
"I'm not panicking, but do you have an torches?"
"I believe there are some near the last row of computers." Sherlock stood up. "I'm sure they'll have the systems back online in a moment." The emergency lights blinked on and the room was bathed in an eerie yellow glow. Sherlock blinked his eyes trying to readjust to the harsh light.
The emergency sirens started to sound. Sherlock found the torches and threw one to John. "I'm going to call the main breaker room and see what the hell is going on."
Sherlock picked the receiver up only to hear a dial tone. There's no reason to panic. Sherlock turned around to face John who was standing from up from his chair. John was gripping the turned on torch tightly. "Dial tone." It wasn't a question.
"I'm sure everything is fine."
John let out a humorless laugh and drank the rest of his coffee. "You don't sound like you believe it at all. You don't need to coddle me. Besides, disconnected phone lines doesn't signal the end of the world."
Sherlock let out a long breath hissed through his teeth. How is it I'm the one that's stressing out and he's calm. When did I start to fall apart at the littlest sign of something going wrong? Suddenly it was harder to talk.
"Why don't we head down to the main compound. I won't mind surrounding myself in some more friendly faces, yeah?" John's smile was strained. Still for some reason Sherlock appreciated the other man trying to make his tone soothing.
They nodded to each other and made their way down the hallway and towards the main entrance. "Wait, I want to get one of the rifles. I have a feeling you may want one too."
Sherlock stopped and eyed the man through the yellowish light. The alarms were still sounding and Sherlock wondered if he had heard the other man correctly. "John, why would we need to arm ourselves? The electrical fences are still all online. There's no conceivable way that the dinosaurs can escape."
"Just humour me. Please." John didn't wait for an answer and instead broke the glass to the emergency weapons. While they weren't prevalent in the parts of the park that the tourist would visit, there were plenty of them dispersed around the compound for employees to access.
As if on cue, another roar of lightning broken between the screeching of sirens- excepted it sounded less like lightning and more like an angry Tyrannosaurus-rex. John handed Sherlock an automatic rifle.
"Just because we can hear the Tyrannosaurus-rex doesn't mean anything is wrong. I've heard them in the laboratory before too." Sherlock clamped his mouth shut. Why am I rambling? I detest rambling. What has gotten into me? We're not in any real danger...
"Let's just get to the main compound, okay? We can argue about who was right when we get there." John prompted before continuing down the hallway.
They threw on raincoats before going out into the storm that was in full force outside. It would have been smarter to stay in the building they were already in but something made it impossible to sit still. No matter how much he didn't want to admit to it, Sherlock, for once, felt the same need to be surrounded by as many people as possible. There was strength in numbers after all.
John open the door, only to have it swing out of his hand. The wind was practically howling and Sherlock could already feel the bitting rain on his face. He pulled the raincoat closer around him before following John outside.
It was a blessed relief to not have the alarms ringing in his ears. However the bellowing wind was quickly grating on Sherlock's nerves. What the hell was I thinking? I should be on my third cup of stale coffee cursing my lack of cigarettes, not trancing around in this god forsaken weather.
They steadily made their way to the other building. Sherlock kept his torch straight ahead of him and refused to survey the jungle. There was nothing there and therefore no need to do anything other than focus on their goal.
Despite what they were doing being completely insane, John was leading the way and for once Sherlock was happy to follow.