January 3, 1998

The following chapter was inspired by Alone, a Jurassic Park Fanfiction by classicalreader313.

   As soon as Ian walked into his home, he knew that this would end badly. Sarah immediately ran to him, asking how he was. He could barely process her words, he was so drained, so angry. "I can't believe she would do this to me," was all he could manage, and as soon as he had said it, Sarah knew what he was talking about.

   "Oh, Ian, I'm so sorry," she said, sitting down next to him and hugging him tightly. "I didn't think she would do it, Ian, honestly -- "

   Malcolm tried looking into his girlfriend's eyes, but again, he was so irritated that all he could think of was how this was her fault.

   "Why did you do it?"

   She paused at first, confused. "Why did I do what, Ian?"

   He glared at her. "Why did you go to Isla Sorna? I told you that it was a bad idea, a, uh, terrible idea, and you, uh, you still didn't listen. I told you what happened. You read the book. You -- uh, should've known better."

   "Should've known better? Of course I knew. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for what you told me. Besides, I never asked you to come after me." Sarah stood, backing away from him.

   "But you knew," now Ian was standing, his eyes misted over with sorrow. "You knew that I didn't want to go back. I begged you...I begged you to, uh, to forget about it--"

   "And now you're blaming me for loosing your daughter...that's not fair, Ian."

   Still, Ian wasn't thinking straight. He wanted her to leave. He wanted her to leave him alone so that he could think this thing through. He had to see Kelly again. She was just starting to warm up to him, before the whole Isla Sorna incident. He cursed himself, wishing she had never snuck on the trailer.

   "Get out."

   She stared up at him with those beautiful hazel eyes, but for once, it did nothing to curb his anger. "What?" she asked, laughing in disbelief.

   "Get -- get out. Please. Just...go."

   "Are you kicking me out?!"

   "Sarah -- leave me alone. I, uh, need some time...some time to think."

   She turned to the door and put on her jacket swiftly. Ian looked as if he was about to burst from the seams with anger, and yet, she couldn't help herself, "Ian -- I know this has bothered you more than anything you've had to deal with. And...I'm sorry that I went to Isla Sorna. But -- but you can't blame me for loosing your daughter. You did that on your own, Ian. I love you, and I keep thinking that you'll just wake up one day and change, but -- I don't know...but I do know that blaming me for this is unfair. And -- if that's the way you feel...maybe we don't need to be together anymore."

   Sarah wondered if he'd been listening, and was shocked when all he said was, "Fine."

   "Fine?" she paused, her lip quivering. "That's all you're going to say, 'fine'?."

   Ian ran a hand over his face. His other fist clenched beside him, and his brown furrowed in an aggravated expression. On one hand, his mind was screaming at him to stop, yet on the other, all he could hear were Kelly's cries of disbelief at the court's decision.

   He reached for a vase of flowers that was on the table beside him. He gripped it's thin neck in his hand and jerked, throwing them at the guest bathroom door that was behind him.

   "Ian..."

   It hit the door right in it's middle, impacting with a sharp crash and sending petals, glass, and plastic stones all over the carpeted living room floor.

   Sarah bit her lip. There were tears springing from her eyes now. Her body trembled. Sarah Harding, the woman who had stared down the fiercest of beasts (including the prehistoric ones, for that matter), trembled in Ian's presence.

   She said nothing. Sarah only bit her lip and walked out, leaving Ian to deal with his problems alone.

  At first, his gaze was stony. Then he broke, realizing that he'd just lost the two most important people in his life.

   This was worse than anything he'd ever been through. It was more painful than any reprimand from a parent, any failed paper, any job lost. Dr. Malcolm would've taken his worst day at Hammond's Jurassic Park over anything that had happened today.

   It was inevitable that Kelly's mother would find out about her trip to Isla Sorna. How could she not? There were reporters with cameras all over San Diego. The reports were on every news station around the world, broadcasting how Dr. Ian Malcolm was not crazy, and how there really were dinosaurs, and how Hammond's park must have existed.

   Every time Malcolm had imagined this occasion, it had been so much different. Almost perfect. He should've know he was wrong. Life was chaotic, wasn't it? And why should his be any exception?

And yet, never in a million years did he think that it would happen again, at least, not until he met Sarah Harding.

   She had been obsessed with Jurassic Park. The young woman ate up Ian's every word about what had happened with the failed park, but it didn't scare her. Not in the way that Ian was scared. She was, in a word, entertained. Intrigued. She wanted to know more.

   They became close, and despite her questions and her eagerness to one day visit the island. He begged her not to go. He refused to even entertain the idea of going with her. He had been through too much, and he had lost enough.

   But she went anyways. He should've known he couldn't really stop her. He thought he could go in, and get her out, and bring her home so easily...how stupid could he have been? It could never work that way, not when you're making a rescue attempt to a place like that.

   And then there was Kelly. A part of him was still frustrated that he'd been so harsh with her to begin with. Maybe he should've just left it all alone. Should've just spent the weekend with his daughter, like he was supposed to. But how could he, knowing that his girlfriend could be getting crushed by one of Hammond's raging creatures?

   Ian and Kelly both came clean to her mother about the situation, but it hadn't made Jen any less furious. Ian wasn't sure he could blame her, but he wasn't at all prepared for her to go through with the threats.

   Ian rubbed his tired eyes. He knew Kelly wanted to be with him. He had seen the hurt in her eyes when the court told him he could no longer see his daughter. It broke him to see her cry, but Jen would not be swayed. She wouldn't have her daughter running around with some dinosaur-crazed lunatic for a father.

   Malcolm sighed. It wasn't Sarah's fault. She loved Kelly as much as he did. Besides, how could she have known that Malcolm would, as she put it, "ride in on his white horse" to come and rescue her? And more so than that, how could either of them have known that Kelly would hitch a ride on the dinosaur express?

   Kelly was only seven years old, and until she was old enough to decide for herself, the court's ruling would be final. There was nothing he could do.

   He'd have to figure out a way to patch things up with Sarah, if it was possible. She was right; it wasn't fair of him to blame her for loosing Kelly. All he could do now was move on, even if it meant not seeing his daughter for a while.

   He started by cleaning up the shattered vase.