Life Finds A Way
Summary: Dan and Phil in the Jurassic Park world! With a genderswap twist. Daisy and Penelope are sent to Isla Nublar to check out the upcoming Jurassic World amusement park. Daisy wanted a nice trip, wanted to see some dinosaurs, and hang out with co-workers. Nothing more, and nothing less. Unfortunately, a dinosaur breaks out of containment and all hell breaks loose.
Triggers Warnings: dinosaurs, violence, injury, blood, swearing
Word Count: 3,162
Artist: @phanomeheart [will link later]
Beta: @et-in-cinerem-reverteris [thank you so much for being an amazing beta!]
[READ ON AO3]
A/N: I’m so excited to post my fic for the @phandomreversebang! I’m so happy with how it turned out and hope that everyone loves it. Yes, this is my third Jurassic Park crossover. I just really love Jurassic Park. This is also my first Gender Swap fic to match with the theme of how all dinosaurs are female. So, please let me know how I did for my first Gender Swap :]
“I should have never agreed to this. I should have just stayed home when I had the chance.”
Annoyed, Daisy rolls her eyes as Penelope complains for the millionth time. They’ve only been stuck alone together for thirty minutes, but with the amount of whining Penelope has done, to Daisy, it feels like they’ve been trapped in this jungle for an eternity.
“Penelope... If you complain one more time, I swear, it won’t be the dinosaurs you have to worry about!” Daisy warns, glaring at Penelope, who responds with a frown.
“Are you threatening me, Ms. Howell?”
Daisy sighs. “Seriously? You’re still calling me by my last name? We’ve known each other for ten years,”
“Well, considering you’re practically my arch nemesis in this job, yeah,” Penelope nods.
“Arch nemesis? I think you’re taking it a bit too far now,” Daisy scoffs in response, shaking her head.
“Ask anyone who knows us. They’ll tell you the same thing."
“Oh, whatever. Just be quiet. We’re trying to hide from dinosaurs. Specifically, a t-rex,” Daisy seethes. “Unless you want your head chewed off, then by all means, keep talking.”
“You’re in a mood today,” Penelope mutters.
“Well, you’re not the only one suddenly wishing they had stayed home!” Daisy cries.
Suddenly, the ground begins to rumble. Leaves shake and nearby animals scatter as the all-too-familiar sound of loud footsteps and roaring echoes throughout the forest. Adrenaline shoots through Daisy’s body. She looks over at Penelope, who stands frozen in shock, having the exact same realisation as she.
“Fuck. Penelope, we have got to get out of here.”
Poking her head out from the bush they’ve been hiding behind, Daisy gasps when she sees a Tyrannosaurus Rex heading directly towards them.
“Now! Let’s go!”
“Go where?” Penelope shrieks with panic when Daisy grabs a hold of her wrist tightly.
“Look, Penelope, I don’t know! We’ll figure it out along the way!” the brunette exclaims, yanking the frightened woman in the opposite direction of the T-Rex. Frankly, she has absolutely no idea how they’re going to get away from this terrifying situation, but one thing she’s certain of is she’s not giving up without a fight. She’s too young to die, and she still has so many hopes and dreams she wants to conquer.
All Daisy wanted was a nice trip to Isla Nublar, with a group of co-workers, Penelope being included, and check out Jurassic World that was meant to be opening next year. They were here for an advisory trip. Nothing more, and nothing less. And yet somehow dinosaurs escaped from containment, and now Daisy is running for her life with someone she considers to be an enemy.
She and Penelope Lester have never gotten along - always one-upping each other whenever they got the chance to, calling each other silly and childish names whenever they were near one another. And now, somehow, Daisy finds herself running for her life from a posse of escaped dinosaurs with no one else but Penelope fucking Lester; her number one competition, little miss goody two-shoes, the face of an absolute angel…wait a minute- what?
Daisy quickly shakes her head, pushing those thoughts away. Now isn’t the time for that.
“We’ve been trying to get back to the park for like thirty minutes!” Penelope whines.
“I know that, genius, but we have to keep trying, alright?” Daisy groans in response. “I mean, we can’t be the only ones out here in the middle of the jungle running for our bloody lives!”
“Well no, of course not. The other girls must be out here somewhere as well. Honestly, whoever thought that it was a good idea to have our group split up is an idiot.”
Daisy snorts. “I’m telling Louise you called her an idiot.”
“Howell!” Penelope shouts, glaring back at her enemy. As she does so, her eyes widen as they land on something much, much worse than Daisy Howell; a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Chasing after the two women. She screams, and starts running even faster.
Daisy is unable to stop herself from bursting into laughter at Penelope’s reaction. “What the hell, Lester? Did you forget we were being chased by a bloody dinosaur?”
“No, shut up! I just haven't looked at her yet!” Penelope cries.
“Keep running!”
After a few minutes of constant sprinting, Daisy and Penelope find themselves standing on the edge of a waterfall. The T-Rex is right behind them. They can both hear the rumbling of the ground.
“Now what the hell are we supposed to do here?” Penelope asks with panic, glancing back.
“Obviously we’re supposed to jump if we want to outrun the dinosaur,” Daisy replies, trying to catch her breath from all the exercise. She looks over and rolls her eyes when she sees Penelope’s eyes widen for the second time. “Oh, come on. Don’t give me that look. It’s the only way. The T-Rex isn’t going to jump into the water after us! I’m pretty sure they don’t even swim.”
“And, how exactly do you know that?” Penelope asks, frowning.
Daisy sighs with annoyance, and then harshly grabs Penelope’s arm, shoving her forward.
Penelope lets out a scream as she falls into the huge mass of water. Daisy looks back and squeaks when she sees the T-Rex quickly catching up with them. She doesn’t need another second to think before jumping in after Penelope, who’s already swimming out of the pool and back onto dry land.
Daisy pops back out of the water, gasping for air and looking around with panic before making her way over towards Penelope, gripping onto the grass as she hauls herself up from the mini-lake. “I’m never saying yes to one of Louise’s trips again,”
“At least not to Isla Nublar,” Penelope mutters, groaning and flopping onto her back.
“Hey, don’t get too comfortable,” Daisy says as she pushes herself onto the land, looking over at Penelope. “We’re not safe yet. There’s still other dinosaurs out there we have to be careful of.”
Penelope rolls her eyes in frustration. “I honestly hate you so much,”
The brunette doesn’t reply, only feeling a pang of sadness as she pushes herself back onto her feet.
Penelope looks at Daisy and gasps when she sees a bloody wound near her ankle.
“Hey, your leg!” she quickly pushes herself up to crawl over to Daisy, who glances down and frowns when she sees that her leg is in fact injured, only she didn’t feel the pain until Penelope pointed it out.
“Oh,” she mumbles, bending down to touch the gash. “I must have hit my leg on something jumping into the water. I’m sure it’ll be fine. There’s nothing we can do about it at the moment, can we?”
Penelope looks up at Daisy and frowns. “Will you be able to run with an injured leg?”
“I’ll be fine,” Daisy snaps, glaring at Penelope, startling the older woman with the harsh tone in her voice. “Besides, why do you care? I’m sure seeing me suffer will bring you joy,” she scoffs angrily before taking a step forward and wincing when pain shoots through her leg.
Penelope watches with concern as Daisy starts limping away, before jumping up and following her.
“You’re honestly the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met in my life,” Penelope grumbles.
“Anything else you wanna get off your chest while you’re at it?” comes Daisy’s angry reply.
“Erm, maybe now isn’t the time for this. We’re running away from bloody dinosaurs and are supposed to be figuring out how to get back to the island.” She pauses. “Do you think the group will leave without us?”
“They better not, or I’ll sue every single one of them once we get off the island.”
Penelope lets out a sigh. “Daisy, I just don’t understand why you like... totally hate my guts,” she says, catching her co-worker off guard. “I mean, I don’t remember doing anything super horrible to you.” They’ve never had a conversation about why their relationship is so tense, or how they actually became enemies in the first place. It's never something Daisy wanted to discuss with the older woman.
Daisy hesitates as she thinks about what she’s going to say.
Is she really about to confess her love to someone who’s supposed to be her arch nemesis? She never planned for any of this to happen. She never planned on telling Penelope even after ten whole years of knowing this woman and secretly being in love with her, because they were supposed to hate each other, not fall in love.
“Look,” Daisy begins, stopping to glance over at Penelope and forgetting that they were currently running for their lives. “I never… I never actually hated you, okay?”
“Really?’ Penelope asks, raising her eyebrows. “Because it sure seemed like you did.”
“Well, because I thought that you hated me, and that… hurt me. I never hated you, not from the start. Actually, in fact, it started when we first met. I- I tried to be your friend, but you gave me the cold shoulder. I thought you hated me, and that hurt me, because I…” she mumbles, shaking her head in disbelief. “Fuck. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but-”
“Daisy? You’re starting to worry me...” Penelope frowns.
“Penelope, ugh, shut up, okay? I’m trying to tell you that I- I l- love you. Is that what you wanted to hear?” she cries, taking a deep breath. “I love you, and... I’ve practically been in love with you ever since the very first time we worked together on a project, but you obviously never felt the same way that I felt. You always had to be better than me at everything we did!”
Penelope’s eyes widen with shock at Daisy’s confession. “I-” She begins, stunned.
Daisy yelps when the two suddenly hear a distant roaring, alerting them that a dinosaur is nearby. “Fuck!”
“We have to go!” Penelope cries, grabbing Daisy’s hand and leading the way.
“Penelope, my leg!” Daisy is trying her best to keep up, but the pain is starting to become too much for her to handle, and they’re nowhere near close to being safe.
Penelope stops running and looks at Daisy. “Are you heavy?”
“Excuse me?” Daisy snaps, finding the question slightly offensive.
Penelope rolls her eyes. “That sounded rude. I’m sorry. I mean, do you think I’d be able to lift you?”
“Oh, uh… I don’t know. I don’t think I’m that heavy. I work out a lot?”
“Of course you do,” Penelope mumbles, shaking her head. “I have no other choice, so-”
Daisy yelps as she’s suddenly being lifted off her feet, and being carried in the arms of Penelope. She had no idea that her co-worker was so strong! If Penelope Lester can actually manage this without getting either of them killed, then Daisy will be incredibly impressed - not to mention grateful for saving her life.
“What can I say? You’re not the only one who works out,” Penelope replies with a grin, earning a laugh from Daisy. “As much as I’d like to continue this little conversation, there’s a dinosaur chasing us…”
Penelope somehow manages to carry Daisy as she finds her way out of the jungle, eventually coming across an abandoned old building with two broken down Jeeps inside of it. “Oh, yes! Perfect! This is exactly what we needed to get out of here!” Penelope exclaims when she spots the cars.
“Perfect? What are you going on about? They’re broken. They’re useless!”
Penelope rolls her eyes and leads Daisy over to one of the Jeeps, opening the door with a free hand and carefully helping Daisy to sit down in the passenger seat.
“Good. Okay, sit there while I work on getting this thing up and running again,” she orders while walking around to the front of the car, ignoring the annoyed look Daisy is giving her.
“Honestly, do you even know how to get one of these started? This thing is probably ancient.”
“I fixed cars with one of my old friends as a summer job. So, yes, I should be able to get it started. If not, then I’m afraid I’ve failed my friend, and that simply cannot happen,” Penelope replies with sass as she pops open the hood of the car, looking around at what she has to work with. “Okay. We’ve got minimal time left here. Please let this work so we can get the hell out of here.”
Just like that, Penelope actually manages to get the vehicle running again after about fifteen minutes of cursing and frustration, surprising Daisy once again with her hidden skill. But Penelope certainly wasn’t going to give up when they were so close to the island, and Daisy still needed help with her injury.
Daisy glances back and peaks through the window of the jeep as Penelope celebrates fixing the car. Suddenly, she notices the shape of a T-Rex on the edge of the jungle, and lets out a gasp.
“Penelope! We’ve got a problem!”
“Wha-?” She looks up and gasps when her eyes land on the T-Rex. “Shit!”
“Come on! We’ve got to go!” Daisy yells, flailing her arms in panic.
Penelope slams the hood of the car shut and runs over to the driver's seat, jumping into the car and fumbling around with the wheel, trying to get the car started as fast as possible. “We’re almost there. Fuck! I’m not gonna lose this for us,” she says, feeling confident for the first time since being stranded and being chased in the jungle by a bloody dinosaur. After starting the car she looks over at Daisy to make sure that she’s alright, but frowns when she sees how the other woman is staring at her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Penelope questions curiously.
“No reason. You just... look really hot right now,” Daisy admits, smirking slightly.
Penelope blushes instantly, never thinking Daisy Howell would ever call her hot, but here she is. “Fuck. Now’s not the time for that, Daisy,” then backs the car out of the building. As soon as they’re outside, the T-Rex has nearly caught up to them, which they both realize simultaneously with a scream as Penelope speeds off towards the island, which is thankfully now in view, and Penelope is suddenly grateful for the summer she spent fixing cars, otherwise they’d still be stuck in the jungle.
“Thank God the park isn’t officially opened. Otherwise, everyone would be dead!”
“Something tells me that the park is never going to open after today’s events,” Daisy mutters. “Now speed!”
“So demanding,” Penelope teases, before she puts pedal to the metal and floors it.
Finally.
Finally the girls make it back to the island. They find their group. Not everyone is there. Some of the girls haven’t returned from their duties yet, which worries the group as there’s still four girls missing.
“Don’t worry. We’re not leaving the island until we find the others,” Louise tries to reassure Daisy. “Now, what the hell happened to your leg, and… why are you both wet?”
“We had to jump into a waterfall to get away from the T-Rex,” Penelope explains, before frowning slightly. “Wow. That’s a sentence I neer thought I’d say. Anyways, she was still following us when we were coming back to the island. I hope there’s someone to take care of that when she finally reaches us.”
“Don’t worry, it’s being sorted. We’re safe,” Louise replies. “Come on. You need medical attention.”
Louise starts to help Daisy, but Penelope suddenly rushes to take her place, surprising them both.
“Wait! Let me,” she interjects, carefully wrapping her arms around Daisy’s waist, helping her stand up. She looks up at Louise and smiles innocently. “Lead the way?” She holds onto Daisy protectively, and Daisy instantly melts into the hold, grabbing onto Penelope for balance.
Louise looks at them back and forth. “What happened while you were in that jungle?”
Daisy blushes and looks up at Penelope. “A lot can happen while you’re running for your life,” she says, maintaining eye-contact with the woman next to her. “By the way, you smell awful.” She laughs when Penelope lightly punches her on the shoulder.
“Come on you two. You need medical attention, immediately,” Louise pushes again. “Weirdos.”
“I do feel a bit lightheaded,” Daisy mumbles, groaning in pain as Penelope starts walking towards a medical tent set up for the girls who were also injured.
As Daisy is being looked after by a nurse, Louise and Penelope stand aside chatting together.
“So, have you two finally kissed and made up with each other or what?” Louise asks.
Penelope rolls her eyes as she looks over at Louise. “Kind of. Turns out Daisy is in love with me.”
“Well, yeah… even a monkey could have told you that,” Louise snorts.
“What?” Penelope asks, frowning. “Has everyone known about this except for me?”
“Yup. Kinda sad that it took you ten years to realize this, but… I guess life always, uh, finds a way, right?”
“Yeah. I guess so,” Penelope replies with a soft sigh. She shakes her head before walking over to Daisy, who the nurse has left alone for a second to grab more medical supplies to help with Daisy’s injury. “Hey, by the way... I don’t know if I made this clear or not, but I don’t hate you either.”
Daisy blinks a few times as she looks up at Penelope with shock. “Wh- What?”
“Do you wanna go on a date when we get home?” Penelope bursts out, glaring when she hears Louise laughing at her. “Oh, shove off, Louise! Mind your own business!” She looks back over at Daisy. “Look, I’m not really good at this whole dating thing. My longest relationship lasted two months...”
“That’s okay,” Daisy giggles. “Neither am I. I would love to go on a date with you when we get home. But, it better be more than just a boring old movie. I’m an adventurous kind of girl, y’know?”
Penelope lets out a sigh of relief when Daisy speaks those words, “yeah, I can tell,” and then she quickly leans down and presses her lips against Daisy’s, bringing the younger woman into a sweet and soft kiss. When she pulls away, the girls from their group are cheering loudly for the two. Everyone has known about the Howell vs. Lester feud for years, Penelope imagines everyone is relieved that they’ll no longer have to put up with the constant fighting from the two. Penelope coughs, blushing. “What a day, huh?”
Daisy laughs. “Yeah… I guess you could say that,”
“Now, hold on a minute. You’re telling me that it took a bloody dinosaur chasing you through the jungle and running for your lives to get you two together?” Zoe asks, who’s also being looked over by a nurse, speaks up, throwing her arms up, Daisy and Penelope both bursting into laughter. “Honestly.”












