Chapter Three

 

Mark Degler sighed with relief that his busy day had come to an end and also sighed with contentment that he was returning to a home where his family, that he loved, would be waiting for his return. He dropped the briefcase onto the floor by the door and walked further into the room. He was a little surprised that Ellie and Charlie hadn't greeted him. 'Maybe they're in the garden...' he thought.

 

He turned to his left to start making his way there and nearly jumped out of his skin to find Ellie seated on the couch, nursing a drink. He frowned. She looked awful. Her forehead was scrunched into tramlines with her thoughts, and by the dip of her mouth, Mark guessed that they were far from pleasant thoughts. He silently moved forward, and when he reached Ellie, he bent at the waist and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Hi honey..." he whispered, as he straightened.

 

Ellie suddenly blinked and then jumped with surprise. Forgetting her drink, she sloshed the contents over the both of them. She suddenly stood and started to jig her legs free of the liquor. She started to giggle then. She looked into Mark's eyes and said, in a breathy gasp of surprise, "You frightened at least ten years from me, Mark Degler... Sheesh!..."

 

Mark chuckled, then gently placed a hand upon her brow and started to smooth out the lines of worry that were there. "Well," he said, "you were somewhere away from me, honey, and I didn't like that..." He then leant a little forward and tenderly kissed her on the lips.

 

Ellie started to respond to his tenderness, but then she realised what she had been thinking about and pulled away from him, holding her hands protectively against his chest. It wouldn't be fair... When she looked up, she saw his frown and immediately responded to it. "Oh Mark, I love you, please don't look at me like that..."

 

Though he relaxed a little at her admission, Mark still felt the tendrils of tension start to ache his muscles. Ellie was acting strangely towards him and he wanted to know why. "Sorry, Ellie, s'just that I give you a hot, smoldering kiss and you reject me..." He paused a moment, before adding, "Care to tell me why...?"

 

Ellie turned away from him and started to twist her fingers in her hands. "Umm," she started uncertainly, "Alan called by today..."

 

Mark nodded, but inwardly sighed. He had no misgivings about Alan Grant. He was a good guy, maybe a little lonely, but he was a good guy. His misgivings concerned Ellie and how she responded to Alan Grant. There was a spark there, even he could see it, but Alan had the decency born of his generation. He might love Ellie in return but he kept a distance because she was married and had children from that marriage; and because she loved someone else.

 

Mark then noticed that Ellie hadn't added anything else to her statement, so he looked up at her and said, "So, Alan called by... And...?"

 

Ellie tried not to wince, but she couldn't help it. This was about the hardest thing she'd ever done, and that included leaving Alan. "Umm," she began, "Alan called by to tell me that one of his student's, Billy, and another kid have gone AWOL..."

 

Okay now Mark was getting frustrated. "And...?" he added a little tersely, "C'mon Ellie, hell's gonna be frozen over by the time you tell me..."

 

"He needs a jet to take him back to Isla Nublar..."

 

Mark sighed with relief, "That's it...?"

 

Ellie shook her head, "No..." she whispered.

 

"Well... What's the rest...?"

 

"I'm going with him..."

 

Mark took a step back as though he'd just been hit between the eyes. He furiously blinked at what she had said, trying hard to force it back to reality; because he can't have heard right... He can't have... Could he...? "You're-you're going with him...?" he finally managed to splutter, "I heard you right, Ellie, didn't I...? You said that you were going with him...?"

 

Ellie nodded.

 

Mark then vigorously shook his head in denial. "No you're not... Over my dead body..." He then turned away from her, trying to control his temper. He couldn't believe it. He then turned back to her and through gritted teeth he said, "Look, honey, I know that there's still something between you and Grant, I saw it, but-but you have me now, and Charlie and Susie."

 

Ellie stepped towards him and embraced him, "And I love you, and Charlie and Susie, with all my heart, but I can't do what I did before..." She kissed him on the cheek, then muttered, "I can't let Alan go on his own, with me back here wondering, waiting for the possible news that he's never coming back..." She then placed her head on his shoulder and rested it there, as the first tears came to her and fell without restraint. "Please, Mark," she whispered, hoarsely, "Please, I couldn't bear it..."

 

Mark pulled her away from him and held her at arm's length, his heart constricting at the sight of her weeping her distress, but he had to stand firm. "I can't let you go, Ellie... I can't..." He released her shoulders and moved away from her. He started to pace.

 

Ellie watched him for a while, knowing that what she asked was a lot, maybe too much, but she couldn't do anything about it. Eventually she said, "I *have* to go, Mark, because the alternative will be too hard to take..." She paused briefly before adding with a whisper, "I *do* love you, Mark, and I love Alan for completely different reasons. And if you had to go to Jurassic, I'd be demanding the same as I am now, because I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again..."

 

Mark felt her hand gently touch his shoulder. He shrugged it off. He needed time to think; to sort out in his head what Ellie was asking of him. He moved to the cabinet and poured himself a hefty scotch and then moved out into the garden. There he sat on Charlie's swing and, as he slowly rocked it back and forward, he thought about what Ellie had said to him.

 

******

 

Ellie looked out of the kitchen window and watched Mark gently swinging to and fro on Charlie's swing. She knew that what she had asked of him was a lot, but she couldn't take it back.

 

She had even surprised herself at how strongly she had asked him; how adamant she had been that he should agree for her to go with Alan... But, the more she had thought upon going with Alan, the more she knew she had to go. She did not want to receive the news that he was never coming back and spend the rest of her life thinking that if she *had* gone, then she might have been able to have done something that would have helped.

 

And that was what she truly could not bear the thought of. That there might have been something she could have done. She knew that it would be something that she would never be able to live with. And it was something that she would never be able to forgive Mark for, if he were to say that she couldn't go and something were to happen to Alan.

 

A flurry of movement caught her eye, and she looked up to see Mark walking back towards the house. He looked stormy and she was sorry that she had been the cause of this storm, but not so sorry that she took back what she'd asked. She went back to the living room and sat down, waiting for Mark to come in.

 

She didn't have to wait for long... She opened her mouth to say something, but the raised forefinger from Mark stopped her.

 

He poured himself another drink and then turned to Ellie. "Hear me out, Ellie, and then if you still think you should go, then go... Okay...?"

 

Ellie slowly nodded.

 

"Don't stay for me, Ellie..." Mark whispered, "Stay for the children. They need you... They love you... They'd miss you..."

 

Ellie's heart had jumped a beat with excitement, when Mark had asked her not to stay for him, but it had burst, painfully, the moment he had mentioned the children. As if she hadn't thought of them...? But they were resilient... Yes, she knew they'd miss her, but it wouldn't be for long... They would get used to her not being there, knowing that she would be back soon... Kids were like that... They were amazing when it came to re-adapting to change... Much more so than Adults...

 

Eventually she looked back up at Mark and said, "I would do anything for the kids, Mark, you know that, but I can't *not* go..." She shrugged, "I don't know why I *have* to go, only that I *do* *have* to go..."

 

"Do you miss your life at the digs that much, Ellie...? So much so that you're okay with risking everything to go back there...?"

 

The question threw her for a loop. She didn't understand. She frowned up at Mark and shrugged, "Am I risking everything...?"

 

He nodded.

 

She looked down at the hands in her lap, captivated with how they squirmed with her indecision. Tears automatically sprang to her eyes. She hadn't really thought that Mark would use this against her. She then looked up as he said,

 

"You can't have it both ways, honey..." He briefly took a swig of his scotch, then added, "You say that you couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Alan and you not being there to try and help in some way...? Well that goes for me too, with you..."

 

He paused to see if she had anything to say about what he'd just said, but when nothing was forthcoming he added, "You expect me to wait here, like a good little husband, *not* thinking that I could never see you again, *not* wondering if today is the day that I get the news that you're never coming back... You know how that is, you've already had to do it..."

 

Ellie looked up at him at that point and whispered, "And I just don't want to do that again, Mark... If you tell me that I can't go, then that's exactly what I'll be doing anyway... I might be here in body, tending to yours, Charlie's and Susie's needs, but my mind will be back on Isla Nublar with Alan, wondering and worrying..."

 

Mark sighed. He knew this, she'd told him often enough in the last hour. He looked Ellie deep in the eyes, loving the way they twinkled, even when they were full to the brim with tears; as they were now; loving the upturn of her mouth whenever she smiled and the afterglow of love that lit her face up whenever she looked at him. 'Okay,' he thought, 'Ellie is going, but then, why couldn't he...?' He smiled.

 

He then moved toward the couch and sat next to the woman he loved with out condition. He put an arm around her and pulled her to him. He then whispered into her hair, "Okay, Ellie, you win... You go..."

 

Ellie grasped him to her and sobbed her relief into his chest.

 

"On one condition..." Mark then added.

 

Wiping the tears from her face, Ellie sat up and looked at him, "Anything..." she whispered.

 

Mark chuckled at that and replied with, "I'm so glad you said that, because the condition is, that I go with you..."

 

"No" Ellie gasped at him, "No, you can't..."

 

"Yes I can, and I am..." He adamantly stated, "Now you get on the phone and tell Alan that unless I come along, then he doesn't get the plane that he needs..."

 

Ellie winced. "I... umm... I sorta already bribed him with that one... And he wasn't happy about it... I think he's gonna be even more so now..."

 

Mark laughed out loud at her, then said, "Well, at least he's heard it before..." He then leant forward and kissed Ellie fully on the mouth. When he moved away, he ran a hand through the strands of her hair and added, "I don't think I would have survived whatever time it would have been, without knowing for sure that you were okay, and that's why I understand why you need to go... Still, having said that, you understand why I need to go...?"

 

Ellie nodded, already playing the conversation she was about to have with Alan, through her head. Maybe she should give him the courtesy of shouting at her, face to face; one on one; instead of over the phone... She sighed. She knew Alan was not going to like this... Not one bit...

 

She then turned slightly away from Mark and said, "Oh God, Mark, what about Charlie and Susie...? I thought that it'd be okay with just me going, but with you too coming along...? What about the kids...?"

 

He smiled, his heart instantly warming with her concern. He hadn't thought for one moment that Charlie and Susie hadn't been on her mind, but it had filled him to the core with love for her, when she had actually voiced her concern for the kids. "It's alright, honey," he whispered his assurance, "they can stay with Mom... She'd love to have them..."

 

Ellie silently nodded again, then stood and started for the phone... 'He's not going to like this...' she thought again...

 

'Not one bit...'

 

*******

 

Alan was pacing to and fro, from one end of the trailer to the other. He'd wanted to go back to the site of the dig, but he knew his anxiety and tension would have been distracting to the diggers, so he'd decided to return to the trailer and wait things out.

 

He hadn't stayed seated for long. The thought of Ellie coming with him had his body strung as tight as a guitar string and as nervous as a boy on his first date. He hated the conflicting emotions that seemed adamant to run rampant around his body. Nothing had ever been as complicated as he felt things were now between him and Ellie. What had he done...? Could he have done anything differently...? Maybe he should have kept his big mouth shut about how he felt about Ellie...? He nodded in agreement with that thought... Yeah, he should have...

 

The shrill of his phone then rudely interrupted his thoughts. He took a step towards it, stopped, licked his suddenly dry lips, then continued on and picked up the receiver; the shrill dying an instant death. "Alan Grant..." he murmured.

 

"Alan, its Ellie..."

 

'Straight to the point, Alan...' he thought, and aloud, he asked, "And the verdict is...?" He cringed as he asked, cos either way he was going to lose.

 

"You get the plane... You get me coming along too..."

 

'What...?!' Alan thought incredulously, 'Are you mad, Mark Degler...? How could you let her come along...?'

 

"Alan...?"

 

"Hmm...?"

 

"Umm, you... you get me coming along..."

 

"Yeah, you said..."

 

"I know," Ellie whispered her admittance, then added, "And... And Mark's coming along too..."

 

"What...???! No way, Ellie... No way..." He started to pace again, stretching the telephone line so far that the curls straightened. "Ellie, he can't..." he protested, "It's bad enough that you're coming, but at least you know what it's like..."

 

"I know what you're saying, Alan, and I agree, but it's either that or we don't go at all..."

 

"Will you quit that...!!!" He shouted down the receiver at her. "Just stop that right there... This isn't a game, Ellie, and it isn't funny... For the Love of Christ, why...? Why does he want to come along...? He can trust me Ellie... I won't do anything to jeopardize what he has and I'll look after you..."

 

"I know you would, Alan..." Mark replied to him.

 

That stopped his pacing. He stood stock still in the middle of the trailer and blinked at the phone. "Then why...?" he eventually managed to ask.

 

"Much the same as why Ellie has to go... She didn't want to be left hanging on, wondering, and it's the same for me... You really expect me to let her leave, not knowing whether it would be the last time I saw her...?"

 

Alan shook his head at that, "No I didn't..." then angrily added, "What I *did* expect was you to give me the plane but with the condition that Ellie doesn't come along..."

 

Mark shrugged at that, "There was that option, but I didn't like the idea of losing all that I have, by denying Ellie something that obviously meant so much to her..."

 

Even though he was so very against Mark Degler coming along for the ride, he felt his heart relax a little at the thought. It simplified things in ways that he would never be able to express, but it also meant that he had another to look out for. He frowned, but managed to say, "I'm not happy about this, Mark... You and Ellie have so much more to lose than me... I wanna say no and forget it, but I can't... And you both know that I can't..."

 

"Believe it or not, Alan, I understand, and I am truly sorry that it's come down to this, but I simply couldn't let Ellie go without me..." Mark waited a moment, then added, "I'll be briefed by Ellie about what to expect, you know she'll do her best with that, and then I'll get a jet organized..." When Alan made no response to that, Mark finished with, "I'll call you with the details..."

 

When Alan heard the drone of the dial tone, he replaced the receiver back onto its cradle. Then, for the second time in that day, the phone took another flying lesson, until it hit the far wall with a thud and fell to the ground, smashing into too many pieces to be rebuilt.

 

******

 

End of Chapter Three