Finding a new home had been a grounding experience for the two of them, but in the end, despite all of Blue's fuss over picking the perfect one, the glade was just a place to return to, and they often spent their time wandering the surrounding areas just out of curiosity, sometimes for days on end.

It was quickly becoming apparent to both of them that their lives had gotten remarkably peaceful, considering their respective backgrounds. For her, there weren't any giants that could kill her any time they saw her. For him, there weren't any bipeds to torture him or throw him into a cage. There was nothing out there that was able to harm them.

The Indoraptor was learning about this vast world remarkably quickly, and becoming a potent hunter. He had been able to translate many of his old lessons into real hunting, and soon his skills advanced to the point that he gathered enough meat for the both of them, though she would occasionally hunt for herself.

He had made it his goal to make things as easy as possible for her, and therefore did everything possible to make sure that everything was perfect. The only reason she hunted at all was because of her pride, and the fact that she also wanted to contribute.

It hadn't been easy for him to get the first tries right however, and the first time he tried hunting he learned one of the most important lessons he would ever look back on.

He had chanced upon a group of what he recognized as antlered creatures, just lacking the antlers he was accustomed to, and he decided that he wanted to bring one home with him. So, he camouflaged himself and slowly moved forward.

Just as he was about to rush in, the pressure of the moving air stopped pressing his face, and started pressing his back. The creatures, suddenly startled, ran away from the unfamiliar thing.

He kicked the ground in annoyance. What had gone wrong?

He followed the herd and tried again, but the pressure was on his back from the beginning, and they panicked again.

So he tried again, and this time the pressure was on his face the whole time, and his camouflage worked like a charm. Silently and quickly, he killed the closest one, then roared as he revealed himself to the ones he decided not to target.

Reflecting on his previous failures, he wondered what had made this attempt successful. He thought about it for a good while, before he finally realized what all three of the hunts had as common variables, the pressure of the moving air.

It hadn't occurred to him, having been raised in the realm of air conditioning, that his scent could be pushed away from him by the moving air, thus alerting the antlered creatures to his presence.

From then on he would always keep the direction of the wind in mind when he hunted, and continued to learn more lessons as his successes abounded.

They never lacked food, and hunting became so easy that Blue's prediction had come true, they were set to live off of snacks for the rest of their lives.

The two were also getting better at communicating. It took time, and there were still plenty of hiccups, but after every vocal exchange the Indoraptor did his best to memorize the meanings of the different calls and sounds she made, adding those and his own to his expanding vocabulary.

They had grown accustomed to each other, and had become good friends. Days were spent hunting, drinking, sleeping, and, when both were feeling particularly joyful, playing.

Blue had trouble getting him to play games with her at first. It had been so long since she had been able to do anything fun, there was simply no one left besides him to have fun with.

He perceived her playfulness as challenges the first few tries, and decided to yield immediately in order to not be forced to hurt her.

After that, she attempted a different approach. Blue tried to get him to play other games besides play-fighting and chasing. He was confused at first, but soon he likened the proposed games to training, like what the bipeds had forced him through. Needless to say, he hadn't liked that idea.

He simply had no idea what to make of things like games, he had never needed or experienced them before. Everything had to have purpose, and games had no place in his way of life. He would do what was necessary to live, and then think about whatever happened to come to mind.

She gave up on games for the most part after that, and it wasn't until one of their wandering adventures that their lives had any semblance of fun.

They had gone far, and had spent several nights away from the glade. There were so many interesting things out there, and they loved finding them. After a while, they reached an end to the land, and from there it was nothing but water. Blue was fine with this of course, having grown up on an island, but the Indoraptor was left startled and confused. There was an edge to their vast world.

Curious, he waded into the water, to see if there was an edge to that. Neither of them had ever swam before, him because the water had never been deep enough and her because of the memory of the great water breathing beast that had killed the big white raptor.

He found that he enjoyed swimming, the perception of the weightlessness of his body being oddly stimulating. He called for Blue to join him, and eventually, after some begging, she waded into the water as well.

He felt strangely happy in the water, and that happiness sparked some strange behavior on his part. The thought came to mind that it would be quite humorous to push some water at Blue, and that was exactly what he did. Using his legs to keep his head up, he moved closer to her and splashed her.

She was annoyed, but quickly realized that this was an opportunity to get him to play games with her. She found this game to be weighted in his favor, but it was a small price to pay for a bit of fun.

She barked out a call for play, and did her best to splash him back. He recognized the call from earlier, but he had never figured out its meaning before. Now he understood, it was a call for humorous things, like splashing. He then realized that it wasn't just a call for humorous things, it was also a call for an enjoyable series of actions. It was a call for games and play, for fun.

With this useful example helping him along, he figured out his own meaning for fun. It was something that a group of creatures could do to entertain themselves together. Games were activities, but they were purposeless activities that doubled as fun. It was something to fill the empty time, something other than reflection and contemplation. In a word, it was a new and interesting form of enjoyment.

With this now in mind, they swam and splashed each other, sometimes pausing to rest and nap on the comfortable warm sand. They continued until the sun set, and then the pair went back into the familiar.

When they eventually returned to the glade, the Indoraptor was suddenly discontent with the small pond. She shared his newfound disappointment, so after another few days they went back to the beach for more fun.

Now, every once in awhile, they'd go out of their glade for a little vacation to one of their favorite spots, whether it be a river with a makeshift slide, a waterfall just big enough to jump off without getting hurt, or a grassy plain devoid of trees where they could run and jump to their heart's content. Out of all of those spots though, the beach was still the best.

The two of them played many games, though it was difficult at times for Blue to win against the Indoraptor. Nevertheless, they both enjoyed themselves, taking their enjoyment everywhere they went.

They were careful to always evade any and all of the bipeds' dens that they came across when they went on their adventures, each having their own reasons for avoidance. They had no way of knowing it, but the bipeds were panicked by the discovery of prehistoric beasts and predators wandering their land, and they were trying desperately to figure out what to do.

However, Blue and the Indoraptor never gave them any reason to hunt them down or remove them, they sought to live apart from them.

Despite all of his joy, there was one problem that the Indoraptor had in his new life, paranoia. He was terrified that someday the bipeds would try to take him back to their cages so he could serve whatever purpose they had intended for him all that time ago. He was sure that some of them had escaped, and that they hadn't forgotten the role he had played in their loss. This warped his natural protectiveness into something much more thorough.

Sometimes, while Blue was sleeping, he would leave and circle the area, just in case. More often than not she would rouse and join him, though somewhat unsure of his reasoning. Regardless of her confusion, she found it pleasant that he took their safety so seriously, even if there wasn't an immediate threat. To her it wasn't just paranoia, it was also caring, for both of them. When he was finally certain that things were as they should be, she would be the one to lead him back to their spot to sleep, purring to soothe him and assure him that all was well.

His dreams became less intense and less frequent as time went on, and he was happy at night, curled up around the most similar creature, who turned out to be more similar to him than he had ever thought possible.

From her there was warmth and comfort, physically and emotionally. He loved the thought that there was someone that cared about him, and that there was someone that he could care for.

He couldn't get enough of her, and he knew it. So did she, but she didn't mind. She saw him as a raptor now, not merely a raptor-like creature. She too loved the thought that there was someone that cared about her, and someone that she could care for. Sure he looked odd and acted odd, but like she had with the big white raptor, she knew that he was like her.

In the same way, she was Blue to him now, not merely and simply the 'most similar creature'. There was so much more to her than that. It was strange, but he decided that all companionship was somewhat strange.

Things got stranger for him as time progressed, and during his moments of reflection and contemplation he continually realized how his relationship with Blue was developing and changing.

He sought time and contact with her, more and more, though he didn't really know why. Nothing was ever enough, and that was somewhat annoying because he had no idea what to do about it. He was drawn to her, always more than the day before, and he was pleased that she didn't respond by pushing him away, but when she allowed him to get closer he just ended up wanting more again.

Everything just kept getting more and more strange, and all she seemed to do was encourage him.

He sometimes wished that she wouldn't encourage him so much, then he'd have a boundary that he knew not to cross, a rule he knew not to break. Without an absolute, he was left in a state of perpetual desire, and yet fear of the limit he was sure he'd someday hit.

Regardless of his deeper feelings, he was always content at night, when all he felt was the warmth and safety of Blue snuggled up against him, purring softly until they finally went to sleep.

However small, they were truly a pack, they shared everything, and they were happy.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months into a year. Everything kept getting more and more perfect.

Then one day, something changed.

The Indoraptor didn't know anything was wrong until he realized that he had been up for several hours and Blue hadn't joined him.

He went back to the sleeping area of the glade, and saw that Blue was still laying down where she had decided to sleep the previous night.

He was concerned, but tried not to show it. Perhaps she was simply enjoying her rest?

He walked over to her and rubbed his head against hers to wake her up. She did, and looked at him. He asked a general how are you, and she answered with a statement of ill feeling.

He sighed, and nuzzled her. After that, he barked his hunting call and left.

His ability to camouflage was an uncommon trait, as he had long since figured out. Nothing was ever prepared for him or able to see him until it was too late. So, during times like this, when Blue wasn't feeling well, he'd catch small furry creatures with long bushy tails for her. She loved the taste of them, but she could never catch them, no matter what she tried. But she was content knowing that she'd get them any time she wasn't up to her normal standards.

Eventually, after an hour of searching, he returned with one of those bushy tailed creatures and laid it down next to Blue, softly calling to her as he approached to let her know he had brought her favorite snack.

She replied with a statement of thanks and started eating the creature happily. Soon after swallowing the last piece, she laid back down and went back to sleep.

The Indoraptor growled softly, still concerned. Hopefully this would soon pass, and then they could go to the beach for a few days. Then they could swim, and play hide and seek, and chase each other all across the sand.

He shook his head, he needed to focus on the here and now. So he laid down next to Blue and slept alongside her.

Things went on like that for three weeks, him hunting and providing her with snacks every once in a while, her sometimes going to the pond to drink before sleeping once more, always protected by the presence of the ever watchful Indoraptor.

Then, abruptly, she was active again. He had left to get food, and had gotten sidetracked looking for another snack for her. When he returned, he could immediately tell that she was anxious, but he was too joyous at her simply standing up and not looking tired to care. He rushed forward, dropping the food, and nuzzled her neck with his head, purring softly to show appreciation. She returned his gesture of affection, before walking to the prey he had dropped in his excitement.

He was momentarily surprised by how much she ate, almost the whole thing. He didn't mind, he wasn't actually very hungry, but he didn't think she would eat it all at once. After she was finished, he called out a request, he wanted to go on their vacation to the beach.

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes as best she could.

Suddenly he was struck with an odd feeling of dread. What had he done wrong?

Then her eyes went back to normal, and she barked a command to follow.

Naturally, he did, though he had no idea what she wanted to show him.

When they got to where she had been laying when he had left, he almost fainted. It was then at that moment that he realized that the two of them wouldn't be going on any vacations any time soon.

There were five eggs in a makeshift nest.

He screeched in surprise, then started yelling out every question he could think of, most of them having nothing to do with anything regarding the situation. Then again, what would?

She snapped at him, trying to calm him down.

So many thoughts went rushing through his mind, and he started feeling lightheaded. Eggs, him, Blue, parents, hatchlings, oh dear goodness.

How had this happened? Well, in hindsight, he knew exactly how it happened, though it had mostly been Blue's idea. He had thought of it as a strange game, a very strange game, as he wasn't very intelligent, or experienced, regarding the creation of new life. It wasn't until later that he would figure out, mostly by instinct, what they had done. That of course didn't stop them from playing the strange game again, and a few other times after that, but regardless, he didn't fully comprehend the knowledge of its purpose until this very moment.

Soon he was silent. He sat down, and stared at the small things.

Hatchlings. He had never considered them. He knew that life started small, and that it was very vulnerable while it became big. He knew that fact well, as a predator he had taken advantage of it several times.

But these would be his hatchlings, and in that moment, staring at the eggs, he resolved himself to protecting these fragile things. They would never fear anything, and they would never be forced to live as he once did. The bipeds would not have his offspring.

Seeing his calm, Blue nuzzled him as the two looked down on their eggs.

He continued pondering his own feelings on the matter, still grasping the situation.

This was what he had wanted, in an odd, subconscious way. He had always desired more, and this certainly was more. The strange game was something very important, and it was of extraordinary importance to choose the partner that you cared most for. He had chosen Blue, and Blue had chosen him.

He never cared about anything the way he cared about Blue, and he realized that she had become more to him than he had ever thought possible.

He continued thinking as he looked at the little things, soon turning his head to playfully lick Blue on the snout.

Soon these eggs would hatch, and there would be more than just two raptors running around their glade.

He decided then and there that their first vacation after the hatchlings were born would be to go to the beach.

And, suddenly, he had yet another purpose, and if there was one thing that he could do, and do well, it was fulfill whatever purpose he gave himself. These hatchlings would live, or he would die.

So the pair waited, always with at least one of them watching the eggs. Usually it was Blue, curled up around the precious things.

During this time the Indoraptor went from being cautious to completely paranoid. Nothing that could be a threat was allowed very deep into the glade, and anything that tried met a swift end. He rarely slept, always watching his future offspring to be certain that they'd always be safe.

Their lives became somewhat boring, waiting for the eggs to hatch. They ate, they drank, they patrolled, and they slept, nothing else could be done.

He wondered what they would look like, he and Blue looked very different from each other. Would they be able to camouflage? Change their heat signature? Sense the heat of others? Would they have thumbs? The questions never ended.

Wanting to do something useful while he waited, he spent what free time he had curled around his family, camouflaging them. It wasn't really going to do anything if something went looking for them, he wasn't that big, but it gave him, and Blue, a bit of added comfort.

They waited for what seemed like an eternity, anticipation growing with every hour that passed. Inside the eggs there were things that had never been seen, and the first things of their kind to be born on the mainland.

Despite how long it felt to the parents, they didn't have to wait as long as other raptors, such as the ones on Isla Sorna, would. Neither knew it, but the hatchlings had inherited an accelerated growth rate from the Indominus, among other things. So, after about three and a half months of monotonous day to day waiting, the first egg started to hatch.

The breaking went unheard by the two of them, they were both sleeping. It wasn't until the little raptor started chirping out it's call for sustenance and attention that the Indoraptor woke up, Blue along with him.

They stood up and looked down on the first hatchling. He was black, with a blue stripe going down his sides. His head was shaped like the Indoraptor's, and bodily he matched him more than Blue. On his small hands were thumbs, and he looked curious about his surroundings even as he called attention to himself. As his parents stared at him, his orange eyes stared back.

Neither wanted to miss the birth of their four other hatchlings, but one of them would have to go and get food for them.

The two stared at each other, not saying anything but silently hoping that the other would volunteer.

They stared, but that didn't stop the other eggs from starting to hatch as well.

The two looked down again, and observed a little girl emerging from her egg. She was white, like the distantly related Indominus, though she had a grey stripe on her sides. Bodily she resembled Blue, and had the lips of a normal velociraptor. However, on her hands she had four fingers instead of three, one being a thumb like the Indoraptor's. She was trying to grasp the grass around her, and trying to pick up the dirt, with her green eyes gazing down at her small interests. After a few moments of grabbing, she too started peeping for food.

This only made the tenseness grow, as now another hatchling was calling out to them, but there were still three left.

The Indoraptor had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but their cries did not fall on deaf ears. So he got up and went to get what they needed, bumping Blue's snout with his own before leaving. He hoped desperately that he wouldn't miss anything.

He was gone for about twenty minutes, returning once he had caught one of the antlered creatures.

When he got back, one of them had already hatched, and another was about out of its egg.

He placed the dead creature down next to Blue, and she got to work cutting it into pieces to feed to their children.

While she was doing that, he looked at the third hatchling. She was dark grey in color, sporting a gold stripe like his own. She had a lipped mouth, and resembled a normal velociraptor even better than her older sister. She didn't have thumbs, but her hands twitched in the same way as her siblings. Her orange eyes looking up and around at anything and everything.

As Blue kept cutting the meat, the Indoraptor took to cleaning the little hatchlings, licking the juice of their eggs off of them, soothing them in a way he couldn't comprehend, having never experienced it himself. All he knew was that they were happy, and that he was happy too.

Once he was finished, the Indoraptor turned his attention back to the last two eggs. To his surprise, the egg that hadn't been breaking had brought forth its raptor before the other one.

The hatchling was male, grey in color, but a lighter grey than his also grey sister. He resembled the Indoraptor, thumbs and all, with a white stripe compared to his sister's gold stripe. He was curious about his siblings, and his red eyes moved to look back and forth between each of them before the presence of food drew his attention away.

The last egg was taking a while longer than either parent had expected, but it was still going, so they weren't concerned.

Eventually, a small male raptor emerged. He was slightly different from his siblings, not simply a single color and stripe, instead he was mostly black with several white splotches on him. He also resembled a typical velociraptor, lacking thumbs and possessing the lipped mouth of his mother. He didn't start grabbing anything, nor did he start calling out for food, instead he simply looked around, taking in his surroundings with his sky blue eyes. Only when Blue pressed a bit of meat to his mouth did he start his squeaking.

Five in all, the hatchlings gave the parents a feeling of pride that they had no experience with. These children didn't know it, but they were the luckiest of any raptor, or any other prehistoric animal, to be born in this era. They had been born into a life of peace, with a family powerful and capable enough to preserve that peace as they grew.

After they had all been cleaned off and fed to contentment, the hatchlings fell quietly to sleep, leaning against their parents as they curled up in a circle around them.

Blue fell asleep alongside the children, but the Indoraptor stayed awake for a bit as he thought.

Hatchlings. They'll need help to survive, and they'll need to learn about the world. Someday, they'll need to learn about the bipeds, and why they'll need to avoid them.

He looked at the sleeping raptors, suddenly finding himself smiling. Seven, there are seven raptors now. The Indoraptor, Blue, Black, White, Grey, Gray, and the littlest, who the Indoraptor didn't have a name for yet.

He marveled at the nature of their little circle, parents curled around their children, who leaned on them.

It was an unexpected and incredible feeling for the Indoraptor, to not simply be soaking up the warmth of someone else, but to give his own warmth to others. His hatchlings.

He was a father. The father of five beautiful little raptors.

It was then that he did something that he had only done once before in his life, he cried. These tears were different however, and they were shed for a different reason. He cried because his heart was overflowing with a feeling that he could not name or understand, all he knew was that it was special.

He cried in that strange feeling, and in a soft sadness over what he had never had in his life. He had lived years without anyone, and he had never even known what he lacked.

He had been alone. No pack, no siblings, no family, no comfort.

These little ones would have all of that, and he was determined to give them everything he had been denied, and even, maybe, something more.

His tears faded as quickly as they had come, but the strange feeling didn't leave.

He closed his eyes, content with his life. His smile didn't fade even as he began to doze off.