Homepage: http://www.sundive.co.uk/
Rating: NC-17 - BE WARNED!
Fandom: JPIII
Pairing: Alan/Billy
Archive: Alan&Billy list, Britslash, others with permission
Classification: slash
Spoilers: some for the start of the film
Warnings: explicit sex!
Summary: The Kirbys' offer comes at a vital point in Alan and Billy's relationship.

Thanks to: Tomy for beta reading after my usual notice!

Disclaimer: characters are beloved creations of and copyright Michael Crichton and Peter Buchanan. I'm just playing with them.

The sun set on another day. Plugging in the spotlights, Billy Brennan let his gaze linger for a moment on Dr Grant where he stood on the top of the incline, just outside the tent that housed the computer equipment, looking over the rest of the site.

For a moment, he thought about calling out to the other man. But over the months they’d worked together, Billy had gotten to know Alan Grant about as well as he knew anyone else. At times like this, he was best left alone.

“Billy….”

He turned, blinking at Cindy. “Hi. You off?”

The young girl nodded, smiling. “I was wondering if you wanted to… come for a drink.”

Billy returned the smile. She was a nice girl, pretty, and with an obvious crush on him. But she wasn’t what he wanted now.

“Sorry, Cinds, but I’m going to stay on for a while.”

She nodded, and if she was disappointed she didn’t show it. “Okay. Don’t work too hard.”

He watched her leave, watched the slight sway of her hips. And smiled to himself. Again, he glanced over at the tent. But Alan had disappeared. Shaking his head, he dropped carefully to the ground and picked up the toothbrush, starting once again on the amazing fossil they’d found of the ‘raptor.

An hour passed before he looked up again. Alan was crouching down across the excavation from him. It was truly dark now, only the spotlights over head and those around and in the tent beyond them illuminated the site.

“She’s right, you know,” the older man said with a smile.

“Who?”

“Cindy.”

Billy shrugged, realising that his left arm had gone to sleep where he’d been leaning on it. “How did you spend your graduate days?”

Alan looked away, a gentle expression on his face. “Doing exactly what you’re doing now. And chasing Ellie.”

Billy sighed, too softly for Alan to hear. Sometimes he felt that there was something happening between them, something more than protégé and mentor. And on other occasions he had to believe he was kidding himself.

Alan was watching him again, that way he had, as if he was staring right through into your soul, and Billy realised that he might have read too much into Alan’s admission about Dr Sattler. “How about a beer? You can show me how to use the new software.”

Billy’s smile spread slowly across his face, and he nodded, pushing himself up to his knees.

They climbed the incline together. It hadn’t escaped Billy’s notice that for a man of his age, Alan was in great shape. Mind you, as he’d taken to reminding the palaeontologist, mid-forties hardly constituted old.

Billy stepped into the tent behind Alan, watching the other man take two cold bottles from the fridge and cracking them open. Usually they fell easily into conversation concerning the dig, and their rapidly depleting funds.

“Something’ll come up,” Billy always told him confidently.

This time, there remained a companionable silence between them until Alan pulled up two plastic chairs in front of the computer and sat down.

Billy grinned as he turned his and straddled it, lifting the bottle to his lips and downing half the liquid in three swallows. With a glance to his left he noted Alan’s eyes on him, but didn’t comment.

Alan managed to turn the computer on and start the imaging program up, but that was as far as he could get. He’d never been great with technology, always burying himself in the past. His time at ‘Jurassic Park’ had only strengthened his resolve that the only type of progress he wanted to make was in his chosen field, and using old fashioned methods.

Several months ago, Billy had joined him and his little team at this site. A graduate studying for a Ph.D. at the local university. Unlike many who had worked with Grant in the past, Billy had made a marked effort to get to know the man.

On his first day at the dig, Alan had come up and introduced himself. They’d stood for a second, hands held in a strong, masculine handshake. And Alan had smiled, and said, “As long as you don’t mention Jurassic Park, you’ll be fine.”

Not once, in the months since, had Billy mentioned the place and it was obviously something that Alan appreciated. They’d become close in many ways. Mentor and protégé, friends. Something else maybe.

“Billy?”

He started, bringing himself back to the here and now. “Sorry. Miles away.” He gave Alan what he hoped was a winning smile and reached over his outstretched arms to hit the F1 key at the top of the keyboard.

The screen cleared and a coloured, wire diagram of a Pteradon was displayed.

Alan smiled. “Okay, so that’s what it looked like.”

Billy smiled. “I hope not. That would be frightening.” He leaned over again, deliberately brushing his palm over the back of Alan’s hands to reach the trackball mouse set in the top centre of the laptop. Using the on-screen icons, he fleshed out the image on the screen. The macros for muscle, flesh and skin had already been written, he just had to apply them. Alan looked suitably impressed, but his expression was easy to read. What he hell was he supposed to do with this pretty picture?

“The idea,” Billy explained patiently, not minding in the least that his choice of software was being questioned, “is that this program can mimic how dinosaurs used to behave. The way they moved, the muscles used when they walked or ate or fought…” he pressed a key, “…or flew.” On screen, the Pteradon took to the air. Using the trackball, Billy moved the angle of view and then took away the skin and flesh. They were left with as accurate a guess current knowledge could take at how the Pteradon actually flew.

“And it’s not just for movement. In a couple of weeks I should be able to model the workings of the ‘raptor brain.”

That was the hook. Alan turned to look at him, his whole face lighting up. “Then we’ll know.”

Billy nodded, returning the glowing smile. “Then we’ll know.”

Their eyes locked, and for a moment neither risked breaking the heated gaze. And then it passed.

Billy finished his beer and got up. “I’ll go secure the site and switch off the lights.”

Alan nodded, pretending to return his attention to the screen. But he listened until the young man’s footsteps on the ground outside faded. And then he rubbed his face with the palm of one sweaty hand. “Stop acting like a kid!” he scolded himself under his breath.

Picking up his bottle with a trembling hand, the same one Billy had brushed over while he’d been operating the trackball, Alan drank down the beer. He needed something stronger.

He’d spent days being chased by dinosaurs that had meant to tear him apart while he was still alive to feel it. After that, all his other fears and phobias had paled and finally vanished into nothing.

He hadn’t been frightened of anything.

Until Billy had come along and wormed his way into Alan’s life and under his skin. Only Ellie had known him better. He smiled when he thought of her. He should go and see her again and he resolved to call her the next day.

He heard sounds outside, and Billy came back into the tent. “All done.”

Alan shut down the program and the computer. Turning the system off was something he excelled at. Even if he didn’t always go about it in the recommended way.

From thoughts of Ellie and thoughts of what they’d been through together, he found the courage which had previously been elusive.

“Want to get something to eat?”

Billy smiled and nodded. “Sure. That’d be great.”

A few minutes later, as Billy followed Alan out to his car, he was thinking to himself, ‘Christ, Brennan, you’re acting like a love-sick teenager!’

*

The one thing not in short supply in the near-by university town was somewhere to get food and drink. The students liked the loud, hip places. The lecturers preferred somewhat quieter spots. Without really thinking about it, Alan and Billy chose the quietest of the bars.

It was a wooden-shack on the edge of the town, almost the last building before the main road became a desert highway.

Alan bought four beers and they ordered a basket of tortilla chips with cheese and chilli, followed by burgers and fries.

They sat opposite one another at a table against the back wall.

“We’ve got about two weeks left,” Alan told his student.

Billy shrugged. “Something’ll come up. It always does, doesn’t it?”

Alan snorted into his glass. “Yes. Last time, it came up in the guise of a nightmare trip to a tropical island on which I was the inhabitant’s idea of lunch.”

Billy found himself holding his breath. In the past, he’d let such throw-away comments go by without stepping onto forbidden ground. Now, he decided to test the borders. “Nothing could get you back there, could it?” he asked carefully.

To Billy’s surprise, Alan didn’t freak, he just shook his head, setting his glass down on the bar, staring into the dark amber liquid. “We look upon dinosaur fossils with… love. We care about them, coax them out of the ground and nurse them once we have them out. Those creatures on Nublar, they’re out of their time. This planet can’t cope with them any longer. Humans and dinosaurs cannot live in harmony.”

“I can’t imagine what it was like.”

“No, you can’t.” He looked straight into his companion’s chocolate brown gaze. “Be glad.”

It was very rare that those stormy eyes were such open windows to the soul. Billy couldn’t resist taking a peek.

“You still have the nightmares?” It was a murmur, softer than Billy might ever have spoken before. Not his usual style of questioning at all.

Alan nodded silently. And the conversation between them was lost.

“I’m sorry,” Billy volunteered after a minute or two. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No.” A shake of his head this time. “It’s okay. I banned you from asking about it, didn’t I?” Billy nodded. “I was wondering the other night why you hadn’t asked me and then I remembered what I said to you when we first met.”

“You didn’t want to talk about it. I can respect that. From what I read in Malcolm’s books it wasn’t joy trip.”

Alan chuckled. “Ian went back. Mad fool. Hammond manipulated him into it.” He shook his head, an ironic smile on his face. “You wouldn’t get me back on that island for all the money in the world.”

Billy grinned. “Really? Even if someone else did come along and make the same offer Hammond made?”

They both sat back as a waitress put the basket and plates down on the table in front of them, bestowing on them both a smile she’d obviously relied on a lot in her life. They barely noticed.

“What good is a large cheque if you’re dinosaur food before you get a chance to spend it?”

Billy had to give him that one.

*

Kirby had barely finished inviting Dr Grant out to dinner with he and his wife when Billy accepted.

“We’d love to.”

Alan raised his eyebrows as the graduate smiled widely at him. He waited until Paul Kirby was out of earshot before saying, “So now it’s ‘we’?”

Billy blushed brightly. He’d known he was taking a liberty, but Alan wasn’t the most personable of people and he’d have never accepted the dinner date of his own accord.

But Alan’s smile was one of genuine teasing.

Billy followed him back inside the tent. “Told you something would come up,” he boasted.

Alan glanced at him, head tilted. “If he so much as mentions the words ‘come to my island’, I’m out of there,” he turned back to his work, “date or no date.”

It was a moment before Billy realised what he’d heard. He stared, mouth open, until Alan looked up deliberately, smiling broadly. “Well?” he asked finally.

“I… I’d… love to.” Billy stammered. He couldn’t believe it. Weeks of deliberately accidental touches, of treasured glances and shared moments, and Alan had just come out with it.

Not that Billy was complaining. Not at all.

The bar that they’d suggested to the Kirbys was slightly busier than the one they’d been frequenting.

They were late on purpose. Whatever Kirby was up to, Alan didn’t want to seem too desperate. And tonight was so much more than a dinner date with two complete strangers. It was Alan’s first date with Billy.

Mrs Amanda Kirby was a good-looking woman, but something about her seemed to Alan to be almost desperate. She didn’t strike him as the relaxed, rich woman in love with her husband. But he seemed genuine enough.

The moment that Isla Sorna was mentioned, Alan sat back. Billy, whose heart had been pounding like a hammer anyway since they’d left the dig site, watched with caught breath.

Alan gave all the right arguments, but Paul’s reassurances seemed to work. Just a tour guide, that was all he would be. They’d fly over the island, see some harmless dinosaurs from the safety of an aircraft, and then come home. And for this small service, they’d be paid… a half a million dollars. It would fund the dig for some considerable time to come.

They arranged to meet the next day at the airport, and then the Kirbys left.

Billy stared at his companion, concerned. “Alan… are you sure?”

Alan nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, eyes lingering on the cheque for a few more seconds before he folded it and tucked it into his shirt pocket. He wrapped his fingers around his glass and lifting it he emptied it, his hand shaking.

“I’m sure.” He stated, putting the glass down carefully. “And at least I’ll have you to keep an eye on me.”

Billy’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sure how many more surprises today could possibly offer him.

“Me?”

“Of course!” Alan turned to look at him, his smile playing on his lips and in his eyes. “You don’t think I’m going all the way out there with those nutcases alone, do you?”

Billy wanted to hug the man at that moment. He was going to see dinosaurs! Real life, honest to God dinosaurs, living in a habitat they’d all but created for themselves.

Alan saw all that, it seemed. “Don’t get too excited,” he warned his companion. “You’re not getting any close-ups.”

Billy grinned and leaned forward, closing the gap between them. “Of the dinosaurs, or of you?”

The world faded to nothing around them. Alan opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. It took him a couple of tries before he managed to talk.

“Are you actually hungry?” he asked, without meeting Billy’s gaze.

“No. Are you?”

“No.”

They moved together, as if finally they’d both suddenly reached the peak of their tolerance levels and could no longer go on teasing one another.

Alan’s place was closest. The room he’d rented out here was at the university while Billy was sharing an apartment with three other students on the other side of town.

The journey was completed in a heated silence. They had so much to talk about, so much to say about the upcoming trip and the funding for the dig…. But at that moment, it wasn’t what was foremost in their minds.

Alan found his door key and let them in. The moment it closed behind them, they caught one another in mutual, awkward embrace. Billy pushed his fingers into the soft hair at the back of Alan’s head and cradled it as he brought their mouths together in contact he’d longed for.

For a time they just kissed, like they’d been starving for one another for years instead of weeks. Billy managed to manoeuvre them inside and somehow found the bed with the backs of his knees. Sitting down, pulling Alan with him, they ended up with the older man on top, mouths sealed together.

Fingers fumbled with clothing, hunting for flesh. Alan pulled Billy’s t-shirt from the back of his pants and spread his fingers over the small of his back. Billy whimpered softly, retaliating by yanking Alan’s shirt up and drawing his fingers over his chest and stomach.

Words were murmured between kisses to lips and flesh.

They somehow rearranged themselves on the bed. Billy pushed Alan’s shirt from his shoulders as Alan tried to pull Billy’s t-shirt over his head. Laughing, they finally sorted themselves out and melted back into a kiss.

They were equal on making first moves now and it was Billy who took the lead. Easing his hand into the back of Alan’s jeans, he stroked his fingers over the man’s tailbone, loving the low groan he was rewarded with.

Alan’s fingers raked into the short, loose curls on the top of Billy’s head and gently pulled it back to give himself better access to his lover’s throat. Billy chuckled in delight, a sound that faded to a long moan as Alan started to kneed his erection through the hard denim of his jeans.

Pulling his head free of the fingers that held it in place, Billy reacquainted himself with Alan’s mouth like it had been days, not seconds since he’d last tasted it. His tongue slid over the other, tracing the edges of Alan’s teeth, mapping the ridges in the bridge of his mouth.

With a barely audible moan, Alan closed his lips over Billy’s tongue, sucking gently. The young man’s fingers stiffened, his nails digging into Alan’s skin for a moment, exacting another wonderfully erotic sound from his lover’s throat.

Having finally divested themselves of all their clothing, they released one another for a moment.

Alan’s eyes raked along Billy’s muscular body, humming appreciatively while at the same time he felt a slight blush rise in his cheeks.

Billy saw it. He smiled, combing his fingers into Alan’s sun-bleached hair. “You’re gorgeous.”

“I’m a fossil.” But his expression belied his words. If there was one thing he wasn’t, it was self-depreciating.

“No,” Billy confirmed, his travelling hand skimming over Alan’s hip to curl fingers around the hard cock, “you’re not.”

Grinning, returning the gesture, Alan leaned in and tongued over Billy’s lips. As he did, he glanced down at the organ he held. Circumcised. His grin grew wider.

Moving closer, lifting one leg over Billy’s thighs, Alan took the other man’s stroking hand from his own cock and with a skill learnt a years ago, but never forgotten, he eased his own foreskin over the crown of Billy’s erection.

The sensation was exquisite. Tip to tip they touched, Alan’s hand wrapped over the join, manipulating them, lighting sparks that burned along Billy’s nerves to explode in his mind. He broke the kiss, burying his face in Alan’s shoulder, lips against his lover’s neck, drawing breaths in small gasps.

Delighted with the effect he was having on the young man, Alan moved his head to one side, allowing Billy’s tongue to lather the sensitive skin behind his ear, and his lips to place tender kisses along the column of his throat.

Spreading his fingers along their joined lengths, Alan pressed the pad of his thumb against the underside of Billy’s cock, rubbing in small circles under the crown. He felt the man tense against him, and without warning, he squeezed his hand tightly.

He yelped when Billy’s teeth sank into the soft flesh between his shoulder and neck as his climax hit him, triggering Alan’s own. It was brutally hard, shaking them both as they clung to one another.

It was a short while before Alan heard a muttered apology and then a lavish tongue was soothing the bruise. He’d obviously taken his young lover by surprise.

“Sorry,” Billy murmured again, a little more coherent this time.

Alan chuckled, disconnecting them both before moving to wrap one arm around Billy’s back and stroke the fingers of the other into his damp hair. “S’okay.”

“No one’s ever done that to me before.”

Alan kissed his lips softly. “Which part?” Billy glanced downwards. Their hips were flush now, Alan’s leg laid across his own. “Oh, that. ‘Docking’, I think they call it. An friend showed me one night.”

Billy snuggled closer, his forehead rested against Alan’s. “Should I be jealous?” He heard his lover chuckle and thought yet again what a wonderful sound it was.

“No. It was a one-off.”

“Pretty intimate for a one-off.”

Sighing, contentedly, Alan murmured, “Was it?” He felt fingertips poke his ribs gently.

“You know it was.”

The older man shrugged slightly. “Maybe. Is that all right?”

Billy let out a long, happy breath. “It’s more than all right.”

Within minutes, they slipped into sleep, still wrapped up in one another. Tomorrow, a different adventure began.

fin

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