Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Did anyone else notice City Girl lookin’ all shaky and pale with that tornado?” Boone mused, watching back some of the footage from earlier in the day. “She’s not lookin’ so hot when Javi missed ‘is mark.” 

“Maybe it’s too rough for her,” Dani shrugged.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Dexter shook his head. “She’s—she’s strangely familiar. I feel like I’ve seen her before— and she knew what she was doing picking that cell. She was using the dandelion to check for windshear—that’s old school.” 

“She knows her storms,” Tyler agreed, thinking back over the day. 

“Would have to, to be brought onto a team with those rat bastards,” Lilly muttered.

“Look, T,” Boone held the iPad up. “‘S he got ‘imself a rookie he’s draggin’ head first into this shit?” 

“Maybe Javi’s driving made her carsick?” Dani laughed, nudging Dexter’s arm.

Tyler took the tablet and frowned, looking at the pale face of the girl sitting shakily in the driver’s seat as he teased Javi. A rather frustrated Javi, it looked like. 

Well, missing a tornado would do that—especially when you were employed by Riggs.

“Maybe she’s just upset that she messed up at the end there,” he offered. “Pissing off her new boss on the first day.” 

“I dunno, she’s not lookin’ too hot now either,” Lilly pointed out, directing all of their attention to the blond slowly making her way across the parking lot towards the staircase. 

“Let’s feel her out,” Tyler directed softly before painting a smirk on his face, turning back to what he was adjusting. “Take the storm to the east she says—ones in the west will fight over resources and take each other out—One to the east will put on a show—”

She smiled a little. “Well, it didn’t throw you off the scent—” 

“That’s what makes Tyler famous,” Boone grinned.

“On Youtube?” 

“Yeah, we’re on the youtube,” he confirmed. “We got like—what? Almost a million subscribers?”

“Yeah!” the other wranglers chorused.

“Kate what—”

“I’m sorry?” she turned towards Ben, who stood with a notebook.

“Your surname, in case I include you in my piece—” the Brit explained.

“Oh—uh—just Kate is fine,” she fidgeted with her shirt.

“She’s a tricky one,” Tyler teased.

“Hey ‘just Kate’,” Boone grinned. “Didya see my fireworks?” 

She cracked a small smile. “I did—what was that about, anyway? Why do it?”

The wranglers all looked at each other before the grinned, reciting in unison. “Because we can!”

“Oh—”

“You made a good call on the east cell though,” Boone continued. “CAP was never gonna break.”

“Cap?” Ben asked.

Kate listened on in amusement and intrigue as the rag tag team explained to Ben what the various meteorological conditions meant and how they contributed to storms. She felt something clench in her chest.

They were a lot like her team had been—just seemingly enjoying the chase and the atmosphere.

“How did you guys all meet? Did you study meteorology at U of A or—”

Boone and some of the others laughed good naturedly.  

“Nah, I ain’t one for all that schoolin’. I just float with the wind—” Boone chuckled. “Tyler though—Ty studied meteorology.” 

“He did? Him?” 

“Yeah! He’s a regular Cowboy Scientist—taught me all I know—” 

“Boone—” Tyler protested.

“What? S’true!” 

“See, our crew’s not like your crew Kate. We  don't need all the fancy PhDs and tech to do what we do,” the blond continued. “You know I guarantee you that these guys have seen more tornadoes than anyone else in this lot combined.”

She ducked away from his gaze, jaw clenching as she thought about what her team would have seen by now. If they’d had another five years under their belts. “That right?”

“Do you think there’s a chance that we see one tomorrow?” Ben asked a bit hesitantly.

“Oh yeah!” Dani tossed something at him as Boone yipped and Lilly nodded enthusiastically. 

“Outbreak, baby,” Boone beamed. 

“You know,” Tyler goaded, watching her with a bit of interest. Just what was she thinking about? “If you can keep up, we’ll think about putting you in the episode.” 

She snorted lightly, the corners of her mouth tilting up a bit in a way he hadn’t seen. “Oh yeah?” 

“Hey, where are you chasing tomorrow, Kate?” Lilly asked suddenly, offering an olive branch.

And to Tyler’s surprise, she actually looked like she might answer her.

“Oh no no no,” he interrupted. “Not fallin’ for that again. We can’t trust anything she says. Kate’s from New York—”

“Well—” she offered him a hint of a smirk and something in his chest jumped. “You can always trust a guy who puts his face on a tshirt.”

His crew erupted into guffaws and good natured teasing as he stared after the blonde, fully intrigued.

“Ty, baby, you know that girl ain’t really from New York, right? ‘Least not originally,” Lilly asked, leaning on the hood of the truck. 

“Hmm?” He started working on the truck once more. 

“She’s got some sorta drawl up under all of that professional speaking,” the tattooed woman nodded to herself.

“I still think I know her from somewhere,” Dexter agreed. “Maybe she has chased before—” 

“Guess we’ll see what City Girl chooses tomorrow, huh?” the wrangler offered. “See if today was just beginner’s luck. 

**************************************************************************************

Early the next morning, Kate splashed water on her face and neck for what felt like the dozenth time. 

It didn’t help; she was just as tired and dazed as she’d been for what felt like ever. 

She had hardly slept, hearing the roar of the wind over and over again, the scene of the missed tornado blending seamlessly into the monstrosity that had torn her world apart. Over and over again she heard the wind, the screams of her friends, the sudden silence as it ended.

What was she even doing here?

She stumbled back into her room, snagging her backpack and sliding on her sunglasses before she headed out into the early morning light. 

She could do this. She had to do this—she couldn’t let Javi down. Not after everything else. 

Kate made her way down the stairs, stifling a yawn as she came to the bottom. 

“Oof,” she gasped as she bumped into someone, stumbling backwards slightly. “I am so sorry!”

“No problem,” Lilly grinned. “Mornin’ Kate—ready for today?” 

“Why not?” Kate gave the other woman half a smile, missing the concerned look she received in return. She looked back at the parking lot, frowning when she noted most of the cars were gone— including Javi’s truck.

“They’re just next door.” 

“Hmm?” she turned back towards Lilly, eyes a bit wide. 

“The chasers all grab breakfast at the diner next door, hon,” Lilly directed, pointing to a rather busy lot a few blocks over. “Storm Par is probably already over there. They didn’t talk about plans at dinner?”

“Oh I— I was pretty tired last night,” Kate shrugged. “I didn’t—I just cleaned up and went to sleep. Javi probably just forgot.” 

“Course,” the wrangler agreed, not pushing the issue. “Well I was gonna walk over. Meet Dani and the boys before we head out. Wanna head over together?” 

“Sure,” Kate nodded, following the other towards the parking lot. “So—I think I heard that you fly a drone?” 

“Absolutely! That’s my thing, ya know? T’s got the whole storm sensing thing and he and Dex nerd out on all the data—Dani is our navigator extraordinaire and then Booney—well he’s just lookin’ for somethin’ to blow up, ya know? It’s—we’re not your normal storm chasers I guess. But we’re family,” Lilly shrugged. 

“That’s—” Kate cleared her throat, caught up again in remembering her storm family. What they’d had. “That’s really cool, Lilly.” 

“It is,” she agreed. “Kinda makes it more special, ya know? Even the little things like waiting around all day for somethin’ to happen—or yellin’ at Boone to put pants on!”

Kate laughed sharply at that. “Oh God, I used to have to beg Javi to wear pants—”

“Javi? Really? Mr. Church clothes and polo?”

“Oh yeah,” she nodded. “He was always losing his pants somewhere—” 

“No way!” Lilly looked over at the Storm Par vehicles as she grinned. “I call bullshit—”

“No, it’s true! I mean it’s been a few years since I—well since I’ve seen him, but yeah he—-” Kate cut herself off with a bit of a self conscious shrug. 

Lilly let the silence settle for a moment before she snorted. “Dani is gonna lose her mind. Always talkin’ ‘bout how cute they look all dressed for church with crisp creases and shit—-” 

Kate offered another smile as they walked into the parking lot. She spotted Javi’s truck on one end of the lot and the other wranglers camped out in front of the red truck the other direction. “Well I guess I’d better go put my stuff in the truck.”

“Okay,” Lilly agreed. “I’m gonna check on my crew, but you’re welcome to join us if you want. This place makes some awesome burritos and T always grabs like twenty—” 

“Yeah, thanks,” she nodded. “I—I might do that.”

Lilly watched the blonde head a bit stiffly towards the white truck before she headed to her rag tag team. 

“Well—-about time you showed up,” Tyler drawled.

“I was getting some intel, cowboy, hold your horses—”

“Oh yeah? Did New York give you some secret insight to where those idiots are chasin’ today?”

“No, but get this—Dani, you’ll love it— she claims Javi has the same pants problem Boone has!”

“No way—khakis man?” Dani crooned.

“Yep, said it’d been a few years but there’d been a time where she had to beg him to wear pants,” Lilly revealed, hopping up to sit on the tailgate. 

“So what gives? She’s been with Storm Par this whole time?” 

“I don’t think so,” Dexter shook his head. “We’ve seen them for just about a year, right? I’ve never seen her with them.”

“She’s not really in the know,” Lilly agreed. “Bastards just left her at the motel. Didn’t tell her they were grabbing breakfast and I don’t think they included her in dinner plans either. She ain’t one of them.” 

“T? What’s up, man?” Boone asked, looking up at his friend, frowning at the concerned look on his face. 

“You really think she’s known Javi awhile?” 

“That’s what she said,” Lilly shrugged. “Why?” 

Kate was suddenly crossing the far end of the parking lot, gaze set on the sky. Tyler hopped off of the truck without any further comment, making his way towards the blonde.

“What’s got his tongue?”

“A jealous cat?” Dani joked.

“She has him rather captivated, doesn’t she?” Ben agreed.

Dexter hummed thoughtfully. “I think I know what he was thinking. Javi— I’m fairly certain I’ve heard from some of the other chasers that Javi used to chase. Several years ago—” 

“What happened?” 

“From what I heard? He lost his whole crew—-” 

********************************************************************************

Tyler wasn’t really sure what to think anymore. Kate from New York was completely captivating in the most maddening way ever. 

She had incredible storm instincts, catching tiny details and borderline flirting with him as he tried again to trick him into not following. She was reserved in many ways, hiding parts of herself that he could only begin to imagine. But what he could see, he finds himself completely enthralled by. 

She was charming and witty and not at all interested in his social media persona. He was fairly certain she thought he was just an idiot hick driving into tornados for fun. And you know what? He found he sort of enjoyed being underestimated.

But that didn’t mean he appreciated her picking the right twin. 

“We should’ve followed her,” Dani teased as the team leaned on their various vehicles watching the other twin continue to rage on.

He shook his head good naturedly and after a moment of observing they climbed back into their cars.

/It looks like it’s heading for a small town just east of here, Tyler,” Dani radioed. “We should head that way./

“Let’s go,” he agreed. “I’ll be right behind you. Gotta snag Lil’s drone on the way back.” 

/Oh shit —/ 

The wranglers inside the red truck tensed as Dani’s voice came over the radio.

“What’s going on? You okay?” Tyler radioed back.

/Looks like one of the Storm Par truck got stuck in this thing./

“Do they need help?” 

/They seem to have just caught the edge of it/ Dexter called back, taking a farm road to get them closer.

/We’ll check it out, T/ Dani confirmed. /Go get the drone./ 

It was a tense few minutes as they retraced their path to where Lilly had landed her drone, the woman hopping out quickly to secure her craft.

They had just started back in the direction of the unfortunate town in the path of destruction when the radio crackled back to life. 

/Was Javi and Kate—both seem a little shaken but good. All headed into town and you know what that means./ 

“Rat bastards,” Lilly muttered.

***********************************************************************************

“Are you gonna go check on blondie?” Dani broke the silence as the rest of the wranglers looked up from where they were all sprawled around their vehicles in the motel parking lot.

“Hmm?” Tyler wondered idly if he could feign ignorance. 

“Ya know—City Girl who’s way in over ‘er head with the Stormies?” 

“The one who got caught in a tornado—”

“Who probably hasn’t eaten anythin’---” 

“Who looked hella messed up seein’ that destruction—” 

“Who you yelled at—”

“Jesus, if you are all that concerned about her, why don’t you go check on her?” Tyler scrubbed his hands over his face.

“I mean sure,” Lilly nodded. “‘Cept you’ve been fidgeting since we got here and keep looking over your shoulder.”

“Same direction as the motel Javi’s crew claims they heard honey bun talk ‘bout in the next town over,” Boone agreed. 

“Fine— fine ,” he stood. “I’ll be back in a bit.” 

The rest of the wranglers laughed as they watched the blond climb into his truck, muttering to himself as he did.

“That boy is so gone,” Lilly laughed. 

“Oh good lord,” Ben suddenly gasped, leaning closer to his laptop screen.

“What?” 

“What’s goin’ on Benny boy?”

“I—I hope this isn’t accurate. I was growing admittedly curious so I input a few searches to see if I could garner any information about Kate—” 

“What did you find?” 

“If she is indeed from the south as you have suggested, I am afraid she may have indeed been a chaser with Javi before. About 5 years ago—”

The other wranglers all crowded around the Brit, peering at his laptop. 

“Oh good God, that’s how I know her,” Dexter breathed out. “She’s Kate Carter—-” 

“Kate Carter? What does that—?” 

“What does that mean, Dex?” 

“She was—Kate was a part of a team with Javi. The team who were all killed. All except for Javi, and, I suppose Kate. There were dozens of articles about her at the time, probably 4 or 5 years ago?”

“Five, according to this,” Ben offered. 

“Her team was studying tornadic thermodynamics and they got caught out in the middle of nowhere farmland—no building in sight—in the direct path of an EF5,” Dexter explained. 

“Javi was in a data collecting capacity several hundred meters away,” Ben read. “He recalls seeing a dark, ominous wall of black, but was unable to see anything specific. This says—this says she was found wandering the wreckage all by herself.” 

“That poor kid,” Dani frowned. 

“No wonder she’s lookin’ so gunshy—”

“Think we need to tell T?” 

“We’ll tell him when he gets back,” Dexter suggested. “Who knows? She may tell him herself.” 

*************************************************************************************

“Tyler, hang on!” Kate screamed, though the wind ripped it away. She clung to his arm, pulling as hard as she could until suddenly he was clambering to cover her, the horse trailer slamming into the pool edge above them. 

Tyler clung tightly to the pipes as the tornado roared overhead, the roar louder than anything he’d ever experienced. He pressed close to Kate as well, doing his best to keep her pinned beneath him as the storm ripped through the world above them.

It felt like it went on forever, but then it was suddenly startlingly silent. The only sound were the gasping breaths of the four individuals that clung to the pipes.

“Holy shit,” Tyler breathed out, muscles spasming as he consciously worked to relax his grip on the pipes.

Next to him, the mom was crying, hugging her daughter tightly. “Are you okay, sweetie? Oh God—is it over?” 

He nodded stiffly, still shaking as he tried to process the shitshow that had just happened. They’d just been in a tornado. Had Kate not found the pool, they’d all be dead—they—

“Ty—” there was a sudden half sob as a cold wet hand grabbed him, drawing his attention. 

He realized with a start that Kate was still huddled against the wall, tears tracing  through the dirt and scrapes on her face.

“Kate? Kate—we’re okay,” he promised, reaching out to squeeze her shoulders.

She flinched in his grip, new tears cascading down her face as she suddenly turned to face him. “T-t-t-tyler—-” 

“Hey Sapulpa,” he smiled softly. “We’re okay—you saved us, Kate—hell, you saved me holding on like that—”

“You’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” he confirmed. “Wet, bruised, shaky as hell but we’re okay. How’re you feelin’ darlin’?”

“I’m f-fine–”

She let him pull her to her feet, holding onto his arm a bit when her legs threatened to give out.

“Adrenaline?” he guessed, pulling her into his side. “Okay, that’s okay—let’s get out of this pool, huh?” 

“I can’t believe we—God that was so close,” Kate felt herself trembling all over.

“We’re okay,” Tyler repeated.

“I’m—I’m freaking out a little,” she realized, not fully aware she was speaking out loud.

“I’m freaking out a lot—” 

“Shit , that was just like—-just like—-” she spun suddenly, cold hands grasping either side of his face. “But you’re okay? You’re still here—”

“I’m still here, I’m okay,” Tyler said firmly, frowning at the manic sort of look she had. “And you’re still here—you’re okay, Kate.” 

“Right,” she nodded tightly.

He smiled as he saw her steel herself a little, letting go of his face. “There we go, Sapulpa.” 

He led her the rest of the way out of the pool just as several vehicles pulled up, the wrangler team piling out into the chaos as emergency response arrived. 

“Tyler!” 

“T!” 

“Kate!” 

“Oh my God, you’re okay—” 

“We’re okay,” Tyler confirmed as his crew surrounded them, each of them concerned.

“We saw it on the radar and then we had to seek shelter but it looked like it was headed—” Dexter started.

“Headin’ right for you,” Boone interjected.

“That—Kate— I mean the whole motel is just gone —” 

“Thank God you’re both alright,” Ben added. 

Lilly suddenly pulled Kate into a hug as they all gathered a bit closer. 

“That was too freakin’ close,” Lilly muttered. 

Kate’s hands spasmed a bit on the other woman’s back as she nodded shakily. 

“S’okay, you’re okay,” Lilly soothed, exchanging concerned looks with the others.

There were slamming doors as more vehicles pulled up, some of the wranglers cursing as they realized the Storm Par team descending on the chaos. 

“Kate!” Javi called, rushing towards her. 

Kate stiffened before she hobbled towards him, letting him pull her into a hug. “I’m okay—”

“God when I saw the size of it growing on the radar and then— saw where it was headed and I—” he reached haphazardly for the hair on her shoulder, brushing it back.

“I’m alright,” she repeated, trying to convince both of them.

Distantly, she heard Ben asking Tyler where they’d sheltered and she shuddered as she thought about the pool. About the overpass . About the wind roaring past her—-clawing and scraping—-

Javi noticed her looking back at the wranglers and frowned. “You’ve been with Owens this whole time?”

“Yeah—why?” she tucked her arms closer to herself in a semblance of a hug. 

Scott came up with a rather dismissive sneer, directing Javi’s attention to him as he relayed the motel’s ownership and numbers. 

Something clicked in Kate’s brain.

Riggs, all of the ‘family’ members selling quickly, the wranglers’ distaste of their actions—

“Javi, what does your data—what does Riggs get out of your data?” 

She prayed she was wrong. That Tyler and the others misunderstood. 

But one look at her friend’s face and she knew.

“What? What’s the matter?’

“Is profiting off of all of this destruction part of your business model?” she shot back. “Why are you doing this?” 

“Hold on—Riggs is offering these people a fresh start—-” he countered, getting defensive.

“No. you’re swooping in and taking advantage of these people, who just lost everything ! Y-y-y-you have no idea what that’s like!” 

He opened his mouth, staring at her incredulously before his face curled into a slight sneer. “Oh, I don’t know what that’s like? How ‘bout losin’ three of my best friends because you were tryin’ to land a big fat grant for your little science project? How ‘bout that, Kate?” 

They each froze, staring at each other as the words hung heavy between them. 

Kate was suddenly back in the tornado, the wind rushing past her, the blood roaring in her ears, watching in horror as Praveen, Addy, and Jeb were each torn away from her, her breath caught in her throat. She stumbled back half a step, her scar flaring with a fiery pain.

Realization suddenly crossed Javi’s face and he started back pedaling. “Kate—wait—” 

She took another uncoordinated step backwards, her left leg half buckling. 

“K-K-Kate—”

She staggered a way, breathing coming in sharp gasps as she struggled to see anything other than the black swirling wall of death plaguing her mind’s eye. 

“ Kate,” Javi pleaded, reaching towards her as she stumbled backwards, tripping over debris.

Chapter Text

“ Kate ,” Javi pleaded, reaching towards her as she stumbled backwards, tripping over debris. 

The wranglers nearby looked up when they heard the raised voice, frowning as they watched Kate shakily back away from Javi, almost falling as she staggered backwards.

“Tyler,” Lilly said sharply, but it was enough to send him into motion, moving to intercept Kate as she fell backwards.

He snagged her under her arms, lifting her over the pile of trash and then standing her up again. He held her a bit more upright as he felt her legs buckle again.

Concern started building in his gut. God, he should have dragged her to get checked out—what if it wasn’t just adrenaline? 

“Hey hey hey, Sapulpa,” he soothed, holding her against him as she shook. “What’s goin’ on?” 

“Ty—” she was trembling worse than she had when he led her out of the pool.

“I’ve gotcha,” he promised, looking up at a guilt ridden Javi. “What did you do?” 

“I—I said somethin’ I shouldn’t. I blamed her for—I–I fuckin’ blamed her,” he seemed to shrink in on himself. “I—Kate, I’m sorry— I don’t—I didn’t mean it—” 

“I can’t breathe—” she gasped suddenly. “I—I—”

“You can,” Tyler countered. 

She shook her head, grabbing his arm as it slid around her waist, holding her a little more upright. 

“You can,” he repeated, holding her back against his chest. “Copy me, Kate—in—-out—-in—-” 

It took a painfully long moment for her breathing to start slowing down and when it did, Kate slumped a little against him, feeling completely spent.

“You’re okay,” Tyler said into her hair, pressing a distracted kiss to it as he relaxed slightly. “Storm’s gone, Sapulpa—we’re okay—-” 

“She—were you guys—were you in it?” Javi asked.

“Yeah, direct hit. We clung to pipes in the bottom of an empty pool—” Tyler explained sharply, nodding in the direction of the pool. Kate tensed with a sharp inhale, settling slightly as he squeezed the arm he had around her waist gently. “Was scary as hell. After the twins earlier—I took her to the rodeo to try an’ get ‘er mind off of the destruction but—”

“S-s-storm found us anyway,” Kate said softly. She tangled her hand in the sleeve of his shirt subconsciously, holding it tightly. “A-a-a-always finds me—”

Tyler frowned at it before meeting Javi’s gaze once more. 

The other storm chaser looked devastated , and the wrangler felt a bit of concern until he remembered that something Javi had said had led Kate to whatever the hell this was. 

“She needs to get checked out, T,” Lilly said softly, joining them. “EMTs are over there—you both should be looked at after— what happened —why don’t I take her?” 

He nodded tightly. “You good to go with Lils, Kate?” 

Kate nodded a bit sluggishly. She was fine— right? She could go with Lilly—she— everything seemed far away suddenly. Something was roaring in her ears—-was that wind ? Oh God, it was back, wasn’t it? It was going to get her and even worse , it was going to get the Wranglers —

“No—shit, shit, shit, it’s—-” she pulled against Tyler’s hold suddenly, looking around frantically.

“ Kate— ” Lilly said firmly, standing in front of her and framing her face with her hands. “Hey—stay with me, babe, there we go—- that’s it City Girl—”

Kate grabbed Lilly’s wrist with her free hand. “S’it—-s’it gone?” 

“It’s gone,” Lilly promised, turning to look at the wranglers standing a bit awkwardly nearby. “Boonie— go grab the computer! Come show Katie there’s nothin’ we gotta worry ‘bout right now, huh?” 

Boone nodded sharply, jogging to the nearby van and snagging a laptop before hurrying back. He pulled up the radar as he balanced the computer, picking his way quickly through the debris.

“Take a look, Kate,” he turned the screen towards her, a bit more muted than he typically was. “Nothin’ building in ‘bout 100 miles of us now—-little straight line cell to the south but she’s not gonna last—-” 

She frowned, squinting a bit at the screen as the edges got a little fuzzy, but then she felt the mounting anxiety start to die down. 

Boone was right. 

Nothing else looked anything remotely storm ready—they were safe . 

“What’s the call, Sapulpa,” Tyler prompted. 

“We’re clear,” she decided, earning a smile from Boone and Lilly. 

“We are,” the other woman agreed. “So let’s see about getting you checked out, okay? Don’t need to worry ‘bout anythin’ else.” 

“Okay,” the blonde agreed. 

Tyler gently pried her hand off of his sleeve, letting Lilly slip under her arm. 

As her legs seemed to half buckle again, Boone took her other elbow. “Come ‘long Honey Buns— let’s getcha seen to—” 

Tyler watched his team help her over towards the emergency personnel for a moment before turning back towards Javi, arms crossed. “What the fuck did you do, Rivera? What could you have possibly blamed her for in all of this? That she didn’t already have your boss’ business cards handed out? That your truck got damaged?” 

“You—-you don’t know who Kate is, do you?” 

“What?”

“Kate—look, I fucked up okay? I know that—and I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to make it better. But we—we used to chase together. We were part of a team for our university—workin’ on projects to get—to get grant money. Kate and the other three—they drove into what we thought was an EF1, maybe 2.”

“But it wasn’t,” Tyler realized. “S’why she’s so shaken after tonight, and after you two got caught up earlier—-”

“It was an EF5, Owens. Kate was in an EF5.” 

“Holy shit—-”

“She’s—she’s the only one of the four that made it out,” there was a notable catch in Javi’s throat as he explained. “She was apparently clinging to the bars of an overpass. All three of our friends got ripped away, ‘cluding her boyfriend. Sucked up I guess. Don’t really know—never got Kate to talk ‘bout it. She didn’t—she didn’t fuckin’ talk for the first week or so, and left school soon after—moved to New York. I brought her back this week to try and get her to help me—-”

“You brought her back—you flung her straight into the path of a tornado yesterday , Javi—do you even know how scared she was? How pale and shaky she looked in the front seat of that truck? We thought it was ‘cause she was seein’ her first or ‘cause she fucked up the call for your bastard of a boss but it was because she was scared and you put her there!!” 

“I know— I fucked up, okay? It wasn’t—I didn’t think it would be that hard. I didn’t realize how it’d look from her angle ‘cause I just—I was on the outside. I was watchin’ the storm from up the road. I was there but I wasn’t fuckin’ there—”

Tyler’s mind raced and his gut churned as he replayed the last hour—Kate had just been in a tornado again. That’s what she’d been talking about when she desperately tried to make sure he was still there. Because last time, no one had been— God, no wonder—

The blonde froze suddenly, frame ramrod straight as realization hit him like a freight train, anger quickly building in its wake. “What the fuck do you mean you blamed her ?!”

Javi didn’t fight back when Tyler suddenly had both hands fisted in the front of his shirt. “I fucked up, okay? I fucked up—more than I—I fucked everything up—”

“Tyler—” Dani interjected, Dexter grabbing his shoulder. “C’mon, man—let him go. Kate doesn’t need this right now—” 

He let his crew pull him back slightly, shoving Javi away from him as he grit his teeth. “You—you’re her friend —- you were there with her—-” 

“I know!” Javi yelled back. “I know . I should never have said it— But I did . I opened my mouth and I fucked up, so—please just—look, she’s not gonna talk to me again, not for a while so you need to—I need to know that someone’s gonna keep an eye on her—” 

“You don’t have a damn thing to worry about in that regard,” Tyler shook his head. “She’ll be looked after.” 

He turned away, feeling like a wet rag that had been rung out too tight. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he walked a bit stiffly towards the ambulance. 

“There’s been a lot of emotions today. Lot of crazy shit—” Dani offered softly, holding a piece of paper out to Javi. “Here are some of our numbers—We’ll keep an eye on Kate. We’ll let you know how she’s doin’ and maybe we can meet up in a few days? Once everythin’ has settled down a bit?” 

Javi took it, nodding a bit stiffly and clearing his throat. “Yeah–that— I’d appreciate that.” 

“Stay safe, Javi,” Dexter added.

“You guys too.” 

Dani and Dexter then started moving back towards the rest of their crew, looking sadly at the destruction all around them. 

Tyler, meanwhile, felt the weight of absolutely everything pulling on him as he made his way towards the rest of his crew. 

How the hell had Kate survived the physical storms , not to mention the emotions of the whole fuckin’ thing? He felt like curling up and cryin’ like a damn kid after all of this and there she was, sitting on the back of the ambulance with an IV in her arm crackin’ a smile at one of Boone’s damn jokes.

God damn . 

“Hey, T,” Lilly greeted warmly, intercepting him before he got too close. “Our girl’s gonna be alright. Low blood sugar, dehydrated, and a whole multitude of bruises and scrapes but she’s doin’ alright. They said she’s good to go once the fluids run.” 

“What about her legs?” he asked softly, recalling all of the times they seemed to not hold her weight. 

“Exhaustion and shock, mostly. EMTs didn’t seem to find anything too concerning—” the tattooed woman shrugged, lowering her voice a little. “But she does—she’s got some sort of injury from a few years ago we think—-” 

“From the EF5,” he realized. “You know about that?”

“Down boy—We were gonna talk to you about it when you got back, but Ben and Dex, they found articles about what happened to her. Mentioned some sort of trauma to her leg—might just be that today was too much. I mean you saw how stuck she got back there—-” 

“He told her he blamed her for losin’ the team—”

“Where the hell is he—-” Lilly spun suddenly, looking for the Storm Par khakis. 

Tyler snagged her arm. “ Down Lilly—he’s—he’s screwed up too, I think. And gonna beat the hell out of himself. For now, that’s enough. Kate’s comin’ with us for a bit.” 

“Damn straight,” the woman muttered, relaxing slightly. She let out a measure breath before turning back towards the ambulance. “C’mon. Let’s go see our newest Wrangler.”

Kate turned as they approached, a bit of tension slipping from her frame as her brown eyes found his. She stretched out one of her arms, asking for a hug, needing to feel that he was real . “Tyler—” 

“Hey there, Sapulpa,” he greeted, bending slightly to hug her. He  pressed his lips to her temple for a long moment, ignoring the sting in the corner of his eyes. 

It felt like he’d lost her, hearing that she’d been in such a monstrosity of nature years before he even met her. Hell , he’d known her for 48 hours—

“You okay?” she asked softly. 

He leaned back, offering her a weak smirk. “Me? ‘Course. Little wet, little tired but I’m the Tornado Wrangler, baby—” 

“Got the tshirts and everythin’,” Boone chirped, earning a soft laugh from Kate.

“How could I forget?” 

“That, I do not know, I’m rather unforgettable,” Tyler teased half heartedly.

“Nah—Boone’s the unforgettable one,” Kate offered, earning loud laughs from the other wranglers as both Boone and Tyler stared at her. 

Boone then whooped excitedly, fanning himself in an over the top way. “Miss Kate—-“

Tyler stood upright once more, pulling out of her hug with a furrowed brow, though his eyes were bright. “What exactly do you mean by that , Sapulpa?”

“I mean I’ve only seen two of your chases, but seems to me like you do a lot of yellin’ and erratic drivin’ and Boone does the cool stuff. He shot fireworks into a tornado—“

“Yeah, I did! Damn straight! You wanna do that sometime, Katie girl? I’ll show you—shoot I’ll let ya pick the next colors—we can—-“

“Boone—- Boone— “ Tyler interrupted, waving for his friend to settle down even as he smiled gratefully at him. Knowing the idiot knew exactly what he was doing distracting Kate. 

*********************************************************************************

A little while later found the ragtag group of Wranglers climbing out of the vehicles in the parking lot of the motel they’d secured a few hours earlier. Kate followed the rest of them to the front of the cars, scrubbing a bit sleepily at her eyes to try and wake up a bit.

“Alrighty here we go,” Lilly directed, holding three key cards. “Boonie boy, here’s your key for you and Ben—Dex, last chance to join the boys—?”

“I’m more than happy in the RV,” the man shook his head. “I’ve seen enough of Boone’s pants aversion, thank you—-” 

“Pants aversion?” Ben’s eyes widened. 

“C’mon, Benny boy,” Boone crowed, slapping him good naturedly on the shoulder. “We’ll see ya beautiful people in the mornin’!” 

“I told you,” Lilly grinned at Kate. “Pants, man—- Now! Dani and I are taking a room and T bone is in the other. Kate, you are welcome to take whichever room you want. Dan and I can double up and you can have your own bed. We can have a girls’ night? Or if you wanna risk this guy’s snoring, I suppose you can go with him.” 

Kate felt her face flush. She hadn’t really thought about this part. She’d lost all of her things in the motel that had been destroyed—the place she’d thought she’d be staying in. She hadn’t really thought about what coming along with the Wranglers would mean. “Oh, uh—-” 

“No wrong answers,” Lilly soothed. “Just want you to feel comfortable. Can steal some clothes too if you want, and boy scout here always has extra toothbrushes. Somethin’ about his smile —” 

Kate offered a small snort at that before she sombered. It would be fairly easy to follow the girls up to their room and have some strange semblance of a girls’ night. Like they were in college and gossiping about boys or something. But that, she realized with a sudden, sharp pang, was painfully similar to the nights she and Addy used to spend together. To the nights they joked about needing moments of civilization and peace from the boys and caravanning. She wasn’t sure she could do that—to feel that way tonight. Not after everything that had happened. Not when every few minutes part of her was still jerking to make sure she was alive to make sure Tyler was—

Realization hit her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be somewhere she couldn’t see him. Couldn’t count his breaths—see he was alive —

“Can I have a raincheck on the—on the girls’ night?” she asked softly, earning indulgent smiles from both Dani and Lilly. 

“Absolutely—”

“Course, Kate—”

Lilly handed her the key for their room and looped her arm with Dani’s, heading towards the stairs. 

Kate turned towards Tyler, blushing a little. She ducked her head, looking steadily at a button in the middle of his shirt. “I—uh—I guess I should have asked you what you thought but I— I just—I don’t think I can be alone right now. I keep—I know it’s stupid but I keep thinkin’ maybe this isn’t real, maybe you’re not here—maybe I was really sucked up this time and I—-” 

“Hey,” he interrupted softly, fingers under her chin as he tilted her face up to meet his gaze. “You have nothing to apologize for, Sapulpa. I have no problem sharing a room with you—and you’re not the only one who can’t believe we’re both standing here right now. Okay?” 

“Okay,” she agreed, feeling a little bit more at ease. 

“C’mon,” he directed gently, keeping a hand on the small of her back as he led her towards their room.

Kate followed easily, starting to feel every ache and bruise forming along her tired frame. She was exhausted , she realized distantly. She felt as though she could fall asleep if she stopped moving long enough, and it was becoming more and more evident that her weaker leg was feeling the effects of the day. She rubbed her knuckles along the scar as they climbed the stairs, grimacing when it flared angrily under her touch. 

That would be a pain tomorrow. 

“You okay?”

“Tired,” she offered as Tyler unlocked their door, ushering her into the motel room. 

“You and me both.” 

“Mhmm,” she yawned, sitting heavily on the end of one of the beds. 

“Nope—nuh uh,” he said firmly, taking her by the elbow and gently pulling her back up to standing. “Shower first, and then sleep. You’ll fall over if you sit there too long and everyone feels better going to bed fresh and clean—”

“‘M so tired—”

“I know, just a quick one, but you’ve got mud and all sorts of things in your hair, darlin’---” he led her to the bathroom, pulling a towel down for her and starting the water. “I’ll grab you some clothes.” 

Kate went through the motions of stripping out of her clothes and showering automatically, the last few dredges of adrenaline that had been keeping her upright and moving fleeing her as the suds slipped down the drain. By the time she stepped onto the cool tile, a towel wrapped tightly around her, she was blinking longer each time her eyes slipped shut. 

“Hey—just another few minutes,” Tyler reminded softly, holding out a tshirt and sweatpants for her. “Gotta get these on you and then you can crash, okay? Think you can—- damn , Kate—-” 

Her eyes flew open at this soft curse and she frowned when she saw his brow furrowed. He was looking at her—she moved a hand to cover what part of her scar she knew stretched beneath the towel, inwardly cursing.

“No—hey, don’t do that, Kate,” Tyler caught her wrist gently. “We’ve gotta clean that up—” 

“What?” she let him sit her on the closed toilet.

“Gotta clean the cut,” he reiterated, moving back to his bag to grab his first aid kit. “Must’ve been hit by something when we were running—-”

Her gaze shot to her leg, mouth opening in surprise when she saw the gash that had formed along the bottom few inches of her scar. “Oh—” 

“Not too bad,” Tyler soothed, kneeling in front of her and tearing open an alcohol wipe. “This is gonna sting though, sorry—” 

She hissed as he carefully cleaned up the cut, noting with mild interest that it was much smaller and shallower than her original injury. He didn’t say anything else, working quietly to apply ointment and bandages. 

Kate marveled at the fact that he was so close; that she was close to another person, touching them, being touched by them. Little snippets of the barest of intimacy that she’d denied herself for so many years. It felt like something deep inside of her was thawing. It felt odd, like someone had started to slowly turn up the music until suddenly she realized she could hear again. 

***************************************************************************

It had to mean something—

“Kate? You okay?” Tyler scrubbed the towel haphazardly through his hair as he reentered the room. He’d fully expected the woman to be sound asleep in one of the beds when he came out of his shower. 

Instead, she was sitting curled in a tight ball at the head of one of the beds, a tear slowly slipping down her cheek.

“I got hit by debris—-” she said softly. His shoulders sank as he sat the towel on the dresser, moving to sit next to her. “Goes—goes all the way up my thigh—I—five years ago, I was chasin’ here in Oklahoma. Javi was on my team.” 

She paused to wipe the tear with the heel of her palm, shifting a bit closer to his side, seeking the warmth. “We were chasing a tornado, trying to drop my experiment in the path. Needed it to get sucked up into the storm—-but when we dropped the barrels, when we started drivin’ away—suddenly it was all wrong—”

Tyler wrapped an arm around her frame as more tears streamed down her face, staying silent as she seemed to try and keep herself together. 

“It was supposed to be an EF1—maybe a 2,” she grit her teeth. “But I—I got it wrong — in the field, in the moment, when it mattered, I got it wrong . We were right in the path of a—of an EF 5 —-and there was nothing we could do. The car went off the road, there were no buildings, no shelters—the four of us ran to an overpass but— none of it mattered. Praveen was gone before we even made it to the overpass. Never—never even saw him—Addy— Addy was reaching out for help—she was reaching for my hand—” 

She was borderline sobbing now, her hand outstretched in front of her as if she could see it—

“But then she got—she got hit by debris and she was gone —Jeb pulled me up with him, pushing me into the bars—-the blocks of cement under the road and he laid on top of me. Kept—kept sayin’ that it was okay, it would be okay, just hold on— but then the tornado—it just ripped him away and I was just—I was left there. I was left behind— why , Tyler? Why—?!” 

She descended into sobs then, hands tangling in her own hair. 

“Don’t do that, darlin’---” Tyler directed softly, untangling her hands and pulling her to sob against his chest. He held her tight, running his hand through her hair. He clenched his jaw, staring up at the ceiling as tears burned his eyes. “Oh Kate —” 

She cried hard for several minutes before she tired herself out, sniffing lightly as she relaxed in his hold. “I’m—I’m sorry—I just—I guess I wanted someone to know —” 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Kate Carter,” he said firmly. “Not a damn thing. I—I’m glad you told me, glad you got to let go of it, at least a little—” 

“I—I’m tired, Ty,” she said after a moment. “I’m tired of being so afraid—tired of waiting to die—I’m so tired —” 

“I know, I know you are—but you’re—you have more to do on this earth, Kate—” he said quietly. “What happened was—it was terrible, and I am so sorry. I’m so sorry about your friends, I really am—but you’re still here. There’s a reason—” 

Kate was quiet for so long, he was pretty sure she had fallen asleep. He was torn between kicking himself for saying it and trying to figure out how to move her into a more comfortable position when she suddenly spoke again, her hand gripping his shirt.

“You—you really think that?” 

“I do—you know, we don’t assign EF ratings to tornadoes based on wind speed or visual appearance or anything like that. It’s assigned after the fact based on the destruction and devastation it delivers. What you went through, what you lost , was unthinkable—it was a horrendous tragedy. But it shouldn’t cost you the rest of your life, Kate. You’re alive, you’re here —and I think there’s a reason for that.” 

She seemed to think about that for a long moment before she sat up from his embrace, meeting his gaze. “We—we were trying to disrupt a tornado, that day— I called it taming tornados. We had this theory we were trying to test; a way to stop them before the devastated towns.” 

“Oh, so you were the OG wrangler, huh?” he offered with a soft smile, brushing her hair behind her ear. 

“We—we were a lot like your crew, actually—” she bit her lip, sniffing a bit. “We spent weeks on the road, traveling all over tornado alley chasing and gathering data— I—I think I miss it. But it also terrifies me.”

“That’s understandable, Kate—” 

“Do you—-do you maybe want to see what we were working on? Maybe you can—maybe you can see what I did wrong or tell me it’s stupid or just— something — maybe help me figure out what to do next?” 

“I’d be honored,” he said softly, and he really meant it.

“Do—do you think that maybe the crew would wanna take a side trip tomorrow?”

“Kate, they’d go anywhere you wanna go,” he smiled warmly. “You’re one of us now, darlin’. They’re likely to overthrow me and follow you if you so much as hint about wanting them to.” 

“Then—I think I want to go home, Ty.” 

He nodded. “We’ll head to Sapulpa then, Sapulpa —”

She found herself laughing softly when he winked, feeling in many ways like she’d lost 50lbs of something she’d been holding onto for the last few years. She was starting to feel alive again. 

A sudden yawn tore its way through her, her jaw cracking as she was hit once more with the exhaustion she’d been plagued with before.

“Bedtime,” Tyler directed gently. “You claimin’ this bed?” 

“S’big enough to share?” she offered, a bit hesitant but not wanting to be alone just yet, not after the emotional rollercoaster she’d just embarked on.

Tyler seemed to gauge her for a moment before nodding tightly. “That it is.” 

They each slipped under the covers, migrating back towards the middle of the bed once the lights were off. 

Kate wrestled with herself for a moment before she tucked herself close to Tyler’s chest, the rest of the tension finally ebbing from her body as she heard the steady thump thump beneath her. 

“I’m—I’m glad you’re here, Ty. Glad you’re okay.” 

“Ya know what, Sapulpa? ‘M pretty sure I’m learnin’ that there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Chapter Text

The nightmares still came, just like Kate knew they would, but for the first time in a long time, someone was there . Someone was gently tracing patterns along her skin, talking softly, giving her something to focus on. Something other than the incessant roaring of the storm—other than the feeling of being ripped away from everything. 

“You’re ‘kay, baby,” Tyler murmured half asleep, running a hand over her hair as she settled back against him.

“You’re here,” she whispered, tightening her hold on his shirt as if he was still in danger of being ripped away from her.

“M here,” he repeated, blinking his eyes open. “M not goin’ ‘nywhere—”

“Okay,” she nodded, somewhat to herself, listening to her heart slowly start to slow to more normal rates.

Tyler seemed to take a deeper breath, rubbing a hand over his face as he squinted at the bedside clock. “S’only 4:15, Sapulpa—we gettin’ up or tryin’ to sleep some more?” 

“You wouldn’t have to—”

“M not leavin’ ya to stay awake all by your lonesome, Kate. ‘m not that big of an asshole—”

“Not really an asshole—”

He chuckled softly. “Nah, I can be—but your call. What are we doin’?”

She was going to give it consideration, she really was, but then she suddenly yawned and found herself unconsciously snuggling closer to his warmth.

He let out another soft snort and held her close. “Alright, sleep it is—” 

**********************************************************************************

“Good mornin’ sleepyheads,” Dani greeted warmly, holding out two styrofoam cups. “T, we got you your usual—KitKat we didn’t know what you’d like so this is black but Boonie’s got sugar and creamer packets and shit that he’s smuggled over there. And Ben’s got some tea that apparently is not up to standards but if you’d rather have that —-” 

“Coffee is great,” she smiled, taking the cup from the wrangler. “Thank you—”

“Course!”

“There’s no way you take it black,” Tyler teased, nudging her. “Go see Boone for somethin’.” 

“I’m a coldhearted City Girl from New York,” she shot back. “Why wouldn’t I take it black?” 

“Nah—no hiding now, Sapulpa . You’re a southern country girl. Definitely don’t drink coffee like this black.” 

Kate stuck her tongue out at him before she headed towards Boone and Dexter. Tyler watched her go, frowning a bit when he saw the slight limp she had. She looked a bit funny, wearing his too big sweatpants and one of Lilly’s bright tie dye tees—but she looked—

“She seems better,” Dani read his mind.

“Yeah, I think she is,” he agreed. “Talked a lot about—well, what happened to her with the other storm. Talked about wanting to try and get back in the saddle so to speak.” 

“Alright!” Lilly grinned, joining them. “So are we takin’ her chasin’ or what?” 

“Actually, she wanted to take us somewhere today,” he moved towards his truck, tossing his bag in the back seat. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Hey Kate—where are we goin’?”

“We’re goin’ somewhere?” Boone grinned. “What’re we doin’ City Girl? Wanna shoot those fireworks? Or chase some of these western cells? Dex thought they might be lookin’ promising this afternoon—-” 

“Boone?” she interrupted with a small smile. “Didya know I’m not really a city girl? ‘M from Sapulpa—s’just a little town a few hours from here but—thought maybe you guys wouldn’t mind us stopping by. I’ve got a—I’ve got a project an’ I think—I think I need some fresh eyes lookin’ at it.” 

“Shoot we’d love to, wouldn’t we? Dex’s been talkin’ up a storm ‘bout how damn smartcha are—” 

Kate flushed as the man in question shrugged. “You know your storms.” 

“Kate here thinks she may be the OG wrangler,” Tyler goaded playfully. 

“Ohhhhhhhh!”

“No way!” 

“Katie’s comin’ for your title, T man!” 

“Well now we have to see this so called project!” 

Tyler grinned as the blonde offered a genuine smile in the wake of the crew’s excitement. This was the girl he kept getting glimpses of as she stared at the Oklahoma sky. 

There was something wild about Kate Carter.

**************************************************************************************

/Are you sure we can just show up at your mom’s place like this?/ Lilly radioed. 

/We’re sort of a lot/ Dexter agreed. 

“She’ll love you,” Kate promised. 

/Maybe we should grab some pizza or somethin’?/ Dani suggested.

/Not show up empty handed, I like the play/ Boone agreed. /So what? Send our blondies to meet Kate’s mama and we bring the grub when the coast is clear?/

/Sounds good to us/ Dexter shot back.

Tyler exchanged an amused look with Kate before he grabbed the radio. “So, do we get a say in any of this or—-”

/No/

/Nah/

/S’already decided, brotha—/

/Text us when we’re good to go/

Kate laughed softly, fidgeting with the hem of the tshirt. “You—you were serious when you said they might decide to just not follow you, huh? Not that much of a leader , are you Cowboy?”

He shook his head with a grin. “Nah, they’re—I mean you’ve met them, right? Who the hell do you think is really tellin’ Lilly what to do? Or Dani? And Boonie—I mean the guy’s my best friend but he is the definition of ‘goes wherever the wind blows’. Dex is smarter than all of us, and Ben—well Ben seems to be rather intrigued by the story he’s chasin’. Most of the time we’re a happy go lucky sorta crew, just following the weather and helpin’ where we can. But when they want to? They turn on me, sure. Usually when they think I should eat somethin’ or get my head checked or when they wanna visit some roadside attraction—but—” 

Kate smiled as she turned to look out the window at the familiar streets. “That’s—that’s pretty great, Ty. You’re lucky, ya know? To have that?”

“I know,” he agrees softly. “We’re family. Absolutely batshit crazy at times and loud and a bit over the top but—” 

He trails off with a shrug as she directs him to turn on the road that will lead them to his mom’s place. 

They ride in contented silence for the final few minutes, Tyler watching out of the corner of his eye as Kate seemed to tense the closer they got to the farm.

“You okay?” 

“Yeah I just—I haven’t really been back since everything—I mean—I still had stitches when I left. S’been a long time, that’s all—-” 

He put the truck in park in front of the farmhouse, nodding. “Well—we’ve got two options here. A) We get outta the truck and you keep moving forward or B) We drive like hell and try this again when you’re ready….” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yep—but you might wanna make that choice, darlin’ ‘cause I’m pretty sure that is your mama makin’ her way over here and I think she may think I’ve abducted you—” 

Kate looked out the window suddenly, her shoulders slumping as she spotted her mom walking towards them with a shovel. She climbed out of the truck, distantly hearing Tyler climb out as well. “Hi Mama—” 

“Kate?” her mom tossed the shovel aside and pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh Katie—are you okay?” 

Tyler leaned on the hood of his truck, watching as she sank into her mom’s embrace with a small smile. 

“I’m alright—-”

“What’re you doing here?” her mom pulled back from the  hug, holding her daughter by the shoulders. “What are you wearing? What happened?” 

“It’s—it’s sort of a long story, mama—” 

Cathy Carter looked up then, meeting Tyler’s gaze over her daughter’s shoulder. “Are you sticking around, son?”

“If that’s acceptable, yes ma’am.” 

“And if I say it’s not?”

“I’ll be in town in case Kate decides she needs anything,” Tyler offered with a shrug.

“Hmm, good answer—” her mom decided with a nod. “Do you know how to feed cows Mr. Stickin’ Around?” 

“Yes ma’am.” 

“Think you can go finish up for me then while I talk to my daughter?”

“I can do that,” Tyler conceded, moving to pick up the shovel and heading in the direction Kate pointed. 

“Mama—-” Kate sighed.

“Don’t ‘mama’ me, Kathryn— you show up after 5 years in a truck rigged for chasin’ wearin’ what I hope to be that man’s clothes without so much as a word?” she framed her daughter’s face as she looked over her with concern.  “I mean God, baby— look at you —When was the last time you slept?”

“Last night, believe it or not,” Kate shrugged. “Better than I have in a long time—I—I know I haven’t been good ‘bout callin’ mama and I’m—I’m sorry. I just—I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to— how to face everythin’ I guess. I was lost.” 

Cathy seemed to sigh before she brushed some of Kate’s hair back, leading her towards the porch. “So what happened? When did you get back?”

“Javi brought me back a few days ago,” she sat on the swing with her mom. “I was supposed to—I was supposed to be helping him intercept tornados for this new data collection project he had.” 

“Right—” Cathy nodded sharply. “That seems like a normal thing to do.” 

“I—it wasn’t easy. I don’t know if I was really ready to be back out there, to be facing storms like that again. Part of me wanted to be. I’d see the wind move through the wheat and I’d feel this zap of excitement like I used to, but then I’d see the swirling debris and hear the winds and I was back clinging to that overpass.” 

Her mom froze, looking closely at her daughter. She’d never really talked to her about what all had happened five years ago. She knew details from the articles and the reports, but not from Kate. She’d clammed up almost as soon as she’d been found. She grabbed Kate’s hand.

Kate smiled a bit wetly. “I—we saw a town get some major damage yesterday. Wasn’t good—we were trying to help out, help people find their belongings, that sort of thing. Tyler and his crew were there too. They—they’re the most hilarious sort of team, but they’re—they’re so similar to us—to Addy and Praveen and it just—- it’s like seeing them woke me up. There’s this one guy, Boone—you’re gonna love him, mama—and he shot fireworks up into the tornado!”

“What?”

“He did! And you know what? That—that moment, standing there, seeing this storm that I had been so terrified of just minutes before—seeing it lit up like that? Made me sort of remember what it used to be like. What I used to feel when we chased.”

“And—and Tyler is—?” she gestured towards the barn. 

“Yeah, that’s him. Tyler Owens—calls himself the ‘Tornado Wrangler’,” Kate snickered. “He’s got a sort of following on youtube and he and his team make videos of the chases they do. Sell tshirts and crap too, you’d find it hilarious!”

“Tshirts?”

“Yeah—he—he seems like a real jackass but it’s all a front. I thought—I thought he was selling his crap to make money for him, ya know? I even yelled at him because I thought he was selling it at a destruction site but he—he and his team they use all of the money from that to provide free food and waters and stuff to the survivors.” 

“Well that sounds pretty nice of them,” Cathy agreed, looking in the direction of the barn. “So, uh, are those Tyler’s clothes you’re wearin’?” 

Kate flushed. “I mean, sort of? They’re his pants but this is Lilly’s shirt— it’s not what you think, mama! I–we— he took me to a rodeo last night. We were having a nice time, actually, but then this storm hit .” 

Cathy frowned, grasping Kate’s hand gently. “Are you both—are you guys okay?”

“We almost weren’t,” the blonde shrugged. “We—it was chaos. There were horses and cows and people runnin’ everywhere and the tornado was right there mama—it was huge! We ended up—we ended up sheltering from it at the bottom of a dried up pool. He—he had me pinned against the pipes we were holding onto. Seemed like it lasted forever, like I was back in that overpass—” 

“Oh, Katie, baby—-” 

“I’m okay. He is too—but the motel I was stayin’ at was gone. All of my stuff too—so the team lent me some clothes.” 

Cathy’s brow furrowed as she watched Kate start to clam up again. “You’re really okay?” 

Kate nodded sharply, squeezing her mom’s hand before she met her gaze once more. “You know what? I think I’m actually starting to be, mama—” 

“Well—alright then. Guess that’s all I’ve ever wanted, really. So, what now? Still chasin’ with Javi? Or are we all in with the Youtube man now?” 

“ Tyler and maybe his team were going to help me take a look at—at the project if that’s okay,” she shrugged. “I–I realized last night that I don’t want to live like this anymore. I want to try to move forward.” 

Her mom pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I’m proud of you, lovebug. You know that? This is—-this is good , Kate. A good step—” 

“Would it be okay if the crew came to crash here while we work on it? They didn’t want to overwhelm you so they went into town. Said they were going to pick up pizza for everyone if you’re interested?” 

“How big of a crew are we talkin’ about?” 

“Well there’s Tyler—”

“Obviously.”

“And Dani and Lilly, then Dex and Boone—oh and Ben. He’s this British journalist who’s writing an article about the team and storm chasing in America.” 

“Hmm, I mean there’s your room, the guest room, the couch— and then we still have those air mattresses the boys used to use in the barn?” 

“They have an RV too,” Kate explained. “We should be alright—”

“But no Javi?” 

Kate stiffened. “No. No Javi.” 

“Alright, baby,” Cathy lightly adjusted the blonde hair again. “You can tell your new friends they’re welcome to come on—but then you’d better go check on that cowboy. He’s either being ridiculously unsubtle in his attempts to give us space or he’s overfeedin’ my cows.”

“Mama, he’s not subtle about anything .” 

**************************************************************************************

Several hours later found Kate slipping down the stairs as quietly as she could, doing her best to not wake the Wranglers who were scattered around the living room.

She made her way quickly across the yard, slipping into the barn with a frown when she noticed the lights on. 

“Hello?”

“Can’t sleep?”  Tyler spoke softly, flipping through her notebooks.

“Keep—keep thinking ‘bout it. Think I dreamed about it, but wasn’t really asleep long enough to know,” she shrugged. “Figured I’d come out here and take another look at all of this. See if I could figure out where I went wrong.” 

“I’m not sure you did, Miss OG—” 

“Ty, obviously I did I mean—”

“You were facing something much larger than you ever thought you’d see,” he countered. “But this—this looks like it has merit, in theory. We should run some models in the morning. Probably have some newer data than you had back then but—” 

“You think—you think it might be worth trying?” she said softly. 

“I think it’s definitely a try,” he confirmed, setting the notebook to the side. “But I bet I can think of something that might make it work a little better?” 

“Yeah? What’s that?” 

“Well you know how your mom was telling us that you used to storm hunt without clothes?”

She gasped, smacking him on the chest. “I did not storm hunt without clothes! I was—I was a kid and I ran out to see a storm—it’s totally different!”

Tyler laughed, moving out of the chair and moving backwards as she chased after him. “I dunno, you saw a storm right? Seems like results to me!” 

Kate picked up one of her model houses, tossing it in his direction. She laughed as he dodged the small building. “That is not what I was talking about—” 

“Come on, Kate, we heard all about your success… and I mean, think about it, Boone doesn’t like pants already—seems like the team’s on board!” 

“ Tyler !” she ran after him.

He laughed loudly, zigzagging through the barn as she followed closely. “I’m just sayin’ no wonder you’re the OG wrangler, I mean— oomph !” 

He let out a small noise as she launched herself onto his back in a makeshift piggyback ride. Tyler quickly descended into laughter, slipping a hand beneath her knee and hiking her up into a proper hold. 

“Oh so now you’re wrangling me, huh?” 

“What?” Kate felt her ears warm. “No—I just—I was just—” 

“We were havin’ fun, darlin’. No harm done,” he interrupted, starting to carry her back towards the house. “Think you’re gonna be able to get some sleep now?” 

A sudden yawn answered him, earning a chuckle from the cowboy that seemed to rumble beneath her. “Uh–yeah, I guess I will—” 

“Then let’s get you some sleep. Big day tomorrow—I hear we’re gonna try ‘nd tame a tornado!”

************************************************************************************

It ended up taking a few days of going over the science and equipment before Tyler was able to make good on his promise to take her to find a tornado. But they had a trailer with several barrels of her polymer hooked up to his truck and they set out to try and find a cell that would suit their purpose. 

The rest of the wranglers were gonna head east to try and get footage and data of a bigger group of cells building, but Tyler had figured Kate may not be quite ready for something that involved yet. Not to mention the experiment they were carting was definitely not sized to a scale that would match more than an EF1.

It amused him to see the slight changes that had started to take place in the blonde riding shotgun. Over the last few days, she’d really started opening up around the others; smiling more, teasing with those dark, playful eyes. She’d worn shorts the other morning, almost like she was testing the others for a reaction, wondering if anyone would make a big deal about the scar on her thigh. And then today, she’d climbed into shotgun with a huge grin, a camera, and a little gold necklace that looked suspiciously like the very twisters they were chasing. 

This looked like the girl that he imagined when he heard her mom talk about all of her young storm chasing. This Kate was seemingly excited to be heading out to search for weather formations. She was bent forward in her seat, staring out the windshield eagerly, watching the horizon as he directed the truck towards the cell they’d selected. 

Hilariously, about half an hour into their journey, Kate appeared to get anxious and tried channeling that energy by seemingly exploring his truck. 

“What’s all of this back here?” she asked, leaning partially in the back seat, grabbing his hat and digging around in their bags of flares. 

“Hey—be careful, what are you doin’ back there?” he reached back to intercept her arm as she moved past him, opening the glove compartment. 

“What are— oh — wow —” she snickered slightly at the autographed photos before slamming them back in the compartment. 

“Hey! Jesus— Kate— ” he laughed as she flipped the visor down next. “That’s a mirror—-what? Have you never been in a car before?” 

“What’re these? Oh are these like the fireworks or—”

“ Don’t —those have guards for a reason!-- Kate—- ” he cut himself off with a sigh as she sent the flares flying up into the air with loud squeals. 

“Oh. Sorry—-” she said sheepishly, folding her hands in her lap and trying to make herself smaller. 

He let out a breath between his teeth before he quickly glanced at her. “You okay, Sapulpa?”

“Um—yeah, I think I might be a little nervous. I’m sorry—-” 

“It’s all good,” Tyler dismissed. “Take a look at the doppler, Kate. See where we should go—” 

It took only a few minutes for Kate to direct them to a field where they could see the storm forming what looked like it could be a decent tornado. Tyler put the truck in park and stepped out of the truck just as the system put down an absolutely beautiful funnel. He felt the same primal sort of excitement and awe that he did every time he saw a storm and he crowed in excitement, pumping his fist as he moved closer to it. 

“Look at that! She’s perfect!” he spun back to check on Kate, worried she might not share his enthusiasm. 

But he didn’t have a damn thing to worry about.

Kate was standing just behind him, camera pressed to her face as she snapped photos, a grin splitting her face. She pulled the camera back a moment later, meeting his gaze. “She’s gorgeous!” 

Tyler couldn’t contain the grin he sent back at her. At this gorgeous, incredible woman who looked every bit as enthralled and invigorated by the storm as he was. In this moment, Kate Carter looked just as in love with it as he was—and something in his chest clicked. 

“Are you ready, Kate?” 

“Let’s tame a tornado!” 

“C’mon,” he beamed, climbing back in the truck. Kate followed him eagerly, buckling her seat belt and watching the funnel out the window. 

“Alrighty, Sapulpa, harness up—this is gonna get a little bumpy,” he directed, pulling on his own harness as he guided the truck closer to the tornado. 

“What? Aren’t we just dropping it in the path?” her voice was a little squeaky and Tyler hoped he was making the right call.

“Best way to make sure the tornado sucks it up is to get it into the tornado,” he argued. “Relax, I do this all the time—I’m an expert—”

“You’re an asshole,” she bit back, earning a laugh from him.

“Sometimes—do you trust me, Kate?”

“Yes—” 

“Then just hang on. This thing is fully rated for EF1s. Extra weight on the chassis, augers, frame support—we’re gonna be just fine—” 

“Tyler—-”

“We’re okay—”

“This is—no, no, no—”

“We’re good,” he soothed as he slowed the truck, the wind starting to roar around them as the storm drew closer. He grabbed the trigger and thumbed the switch, sending the augers deep into the ground, holding the truck low as the wind picked up. 

“Ty—” 

“We’re good, Kate—ready for the barrels?” 

She turned her head to look out the window, suddenly realizing they were in the storm. “Ready—” 

Tyler pressed the button they’d rigged for deploying the barrels, grinning when they got sucked skyward just as they’d planned. He turned to look at Kate to see her reaction and watched in awe as the blonde stared directly up into the storm, completely enthralled. She was grinning, watching the storm for the entire minute they were inside the funnel, seemingly excited .

“Mission accomplished—” he muttered to himself. 

“That—that was incredible! ” she yelled, turning towards him with a huge grin.

“It was! Now—did it work?” Tyler reminded her gently. 

“Oh!” 

He watched in amusement as she struggled to unfasten all of her various buckles, muttering about the belts in frustration. 

But then she was out of the truck, staring back at the tornado as it trailed behind them. He followed her, just as curious. 

“Hmm— it’s not working,” she frowned, almost pouting. 

“Well—guess we go back to the drawing board.” 

**************************************************************************************

It took the crew another week to arrange everything. 

They’d rerun the models thanks to some data they’d begrudgingly received from Javi and armed with their new hypothesis, they’d gotten to work. A new trailer was purchased, new mixtures of barrels were made, and Boone was eagerly helping them to create new rockets to increase the moisture content of the storm they hoped to tame.

Just like that, they were on the road again, all three vehicles equipped with new ways to try and tame the monstrosities they hunted.

But that was where their good fortune ended. 

“We’re not leavin’ them but we can’t stay here—-” Tyler yelled, turned to look behind them as he frantically started reversing back down the road, trailer and all. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kate’s pale face as she watched the fiery horror of a tornado barrelling towards them. He could see behind him his crew scrambling to drive backwards in their own vehicles, the horrible seriousness of the situation sinking in.

“Tyler!” Kate suddenly yelled, pointing to a road they’d just pulled past. He turned to see Javi’s beat up truck roaring down it and quickly changed gears. 

“Hold on, hold on, hold on,” he urged as he drove the truck hurtling down the road after the ‘Lion’. 

Adrenaline was pulsing through his veins as they started pulling into what could be remotely referred to as clear. He shakily grabbed the radio. “Everyone okay?”

/We’re alright/

/All good—/

“Chase is over,” he announced as Kate pointed to a town in the distance. “Get into town and see who you can help get to cover.” 

/Where am I goin’ Dani?/ Boone asked.

/Kids’ park off  of main—we need to get everyone to shelter. Indoors, low or underground, away from windows—/

/Everyone stay safe/ Lilly directed.

Tyler set the radio back on the dash and reached for Kate’s hand, intertwining the shaking fingers in his. “You okay, Sapulpa?” 

“Mhmm,” she said tightly, though she felt the familiar sensation of blood rushing in her ears. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” he promised. 

He really hoped he wasn’t lying.

********************************************************************************

“Where’s Kate?” Javi roared over the swirling winds as the theater started to quite literally fall apart around them.

But Tyler heard him. 

“Kate!”

The second he heard the words ice flooded his veins and he turned towards where he’d last seen her—where they’d stood facing the swirling debris of the oncoming storms. And suddenly, he knew . 

“Kate!”

Tyler rushed back to the doorway, ignoring the throb of his leg as the bruising and aching made itself known. It didn’t matter; none of it mattered if he was right—if Kate had really—

He stood in the doorway getting pelted by rain as it swirled closer with the impending tornado, watching in disbelief as he saw his red truck barreling towards the funnel, straight towards it.

“No, no, no, no—” he muttered, terror filling him. “Kate!” 

What the hell was she thinking? This would never—She was going to get sucked up —she—-

“Where is she?!” Javi yelled, he and Boone joining Tyler in the door. 

“Awww shit— no, no, no Katie—” Boone cursed as he spotted the truck, just as it was encapsulated in the swirling dark, covering it entirely. 

“KATE!!” Tyler roared, something in his chest viscerally aching as he lunged forward, wishing more than anything he was in that truck. That he’d stopped her—”KATE!!!”

“T—”

“Tyler c’mon—” 

“ KATE!! ” he cried, not even realizing Boone or Javi were dragging him forcibly into the theater.

He found himself propped up against a shelf and he gasped hoarsely, tears burning his eyes as he tried to process the face that that had just happened. That Kate was—-

No . 

She wasn’t—she couldn’t be gone—-she—

“T! C’mon we’ve gotta get these people moved back,” Boone urged, grabbing his shoulders. “C’mon, T!” 

**********************************************************************************

Kate didn’t understand.

She hurt . 

All over her body, she could feel sharp aches and pains lighting up as she slowly shifted and moved. But that didn’t make sense.

Pain meant that she was alive —

She was alive!

She sluggishly blinked her eyes open, groaning as light assaulted her vision, making the already blurry edges grey as she tried to focus. She was still in the truck, she realized, but she appeared to be upside down, hanging in the harness. Maybe that was what was hurting her chest? If she just unclasped—

With trembling fingers she worked to get the harness to release, only realizing after she was slumping into the roof of the truck that she’d forgotten about gravity .

“ Shit —” she gasped, coughing hoarsely as her inhale caught . 

Still coughing, she reached up above her head to the broken window, reaching the mud. She dug her fingers into the mud, clawing part of the way out of the truck. Turning to slump facedown on the ground, coughing and breathing heavily as her chest burned and her head rang.

“ Kate !”

**********************************************************************************

Tyler’s arms burned and his leg ached as the wind finally died down, Lilly slamming none too gently onto the theater floor as he finally let her wrists go. 

“Thank you, Tyler,” Lilly gasped.

He nodded distractedly, his brain realizing the tornado hadn’t moved past them. It had stopped . As quickly as he could with the throb in his thigh, he clambered to his feet, hopping up onto the theater stage and looking out onto the field of destruction.

There, in the middle of the chaos, upside down and crumpled , was his truck. Was Kate —

He started running before he even realized he was moving. Adrenaline was flooding his system, numbing the throb in his thigh, numbing the ache in his shoulders, fueling his feet as he pumped his arms, running faster. 

His heart clenched as he saw all of the debris and shattered glass around the truck, but then there was a hand, a pale, beautiful hand clawing its way out of the truck. Kate was dragging herself out of the truck.

“ Kate! ”

He fell to his knees next to her as Javi came up to her other side. 

“Kate— shit —easy—be careful—” Tyler kept a hand on her back and another on her arm as he and Javi supported her. They gently pulled her the rest of the way out of the truck and lifted her to lean against the truck. 

“Is everyone–okay?” She coughed harshly, gasping a little as she rasped. “Did it help?

Tyler used one hand to brace the back of her neck, brushing her bangs out of the laceration on her temple the best he could. “You did it, Kate—it worked—you did it–” 

Javi grinned, repeating the message. “Kate—you did it!” 

“Are you okay?” Tyler asked with a pinched sort of look on his face. “Kate?”

She looked over at him with a bit of a goofy grin on her bloody face, swirling her fingers in his signature salute.

Before he could check her out further, the other Wranglers ran up to join them, all of them yelling over one another as they all seemed to celebrate being alive . They were celebrating and recounting the events that happened in a loud, colorful sort of blur in front of her. She couldn’t really seem to focus on any one of them, but it felt nice. It felt like she had a team again. 

Kate smiled a bit sluggishly, blood dripping from a split in her lip as she did. She met Tyler’s gaze and frowned when she saw his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed. He didn’t usually look so upset. Dread started to pool in her gut—

“Kate?” Tyler frowned as he noted her mood change. 

“I—I’m sorry ‘bout your truck—”

“My truck —I don’t give a damn about my truck, Kate—-”

“But you—you l’k upset—” she tried to explain, squeezing one eye shut as a stab of pain rocketed through her head.

A wave of dizziness overcame her and she groaned a little as the noise of the wranglers became too much. She brought one shaky hand up to her head, pressing it against her ear.

“Kate?” Tyler said sharply before he turned towards the others. “ Hey —that’s enough, give us some space— someone get something dry we can wrap her up in. Think she’s going into shock—-” 

The others quickly jumped into action, quietly organizing themselves.

“I’ll check the other side of the truck,” Boone offered. 

“We’ll go grab some water and the first aid kit from the van—see it the other vehicles made it out—”

“I’ll see if there are any medical personnel inbound or maybe we can get her in one of the vehicles if they survived—” Javi jumped to his feet. “Maybe I can get one of my guys if I can find my truck—” 

One by one the wranglers scattered, some to look for supplies to help Kate, others to try and help the other people in town. 

“Kate? Darlin’ I’m gonna need you to talk to me, okay?” Tyler ordered softly, bracing her head with both of his hands. “You with me?” 

“Mhmm—” she agreed. She forced her eye back open, wincing as pain lanced through her head once more. 

Tyler started systematically feeling along her frame, starting with her head and neck, talking through it as he went. “Got a cut on your head here, probable concussion, split lip—how’s your head feelin’?”

“Hurts—”  

“I bet,” he agreed, running his hands over her shoulders and down both arms, noting dark bruising from what he could only guess was the harness she’d been strapped in. “What else hurts, baby?” 

Kate tried to think about that, now that the adrenaline was fading away, but honestly thinking was proving to be pretty difficult. “—th’nk somethin’ in my chest—” 

The wrangler cursed as he moved to be a bit more in front of her, running careful hands over her torso. He hissed sympathetically as something on her left side gave under his touch, earning a gasping yelp from Kate. 

“I’m sorry— shit —I’m sorry, baby, hold on—” he muttered, lifting up the bottom of her shirt until he got to the ribs he’d felt. 

“T?” Boone said softly, more serious than Tyler had ever heard him. 

“She broke ribs,” he explained, gently feeling along the rest of her torso, looking for bruising. “Don’t see signs of internal bleeding but gonna have to keep checking….Kate? Does breathing hurt?” 

“N-n-not really,” she shook her head. 

“If that changes, let me know, okay?” 

“I found this jacket,” Boone offered, holding out a thick green something from the truck debris.

Tyler took it and wrapped it carefully around her shoulders, tucking her arms into it as she shivered. “Easy, Kate—there we go—-” 

“Ty?” 

“Mhmm?” 

“M sl’py—” 

“I’m sure, but we can’t have you sleepin’ on us, okay? Gotta stay awake darlin’---” he coached, bending to lift her up into his arms. 

He winced as she gasped, grabbing onto his shirt with a tight fist as her ribs shifted. Boone helped tuck the jacket around her and kept a steadying hand on Tyler’s back as he let Kate adjust. 

“I’m sorry—’m sorry, baby,” Tyler swore, starting to pick his way across the debris-covered field. “Still breathin’ okay?”

“Mhmm—” she said tightly, tucking her face into his neck. 

“Good,” he nodded sharply. “Boone? We’re gonna need to get her outta here—” 

“I’m on it, T,” the wrangler squeezed his shoulder before he took off across the field.

“Ty?” 

“What’s wrong, Kate?”

“Why–why d’ya look so upset? ‘S it ‘cause I crashed the truck or—or are you mad at me or—you don’t—-you don’t usually look like this —”

He laughed a bit at that but it was too sharp, too hollow. “I’m not upset with you, Kate, not really. And I truly do not give a damn about my truck. I’m upset because this crazy woman that I know drove herself into the largest tornado I’ve ever seen and I’m freaking out a little bit about how hurt she is.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, oh —see I really care about this crazy girl and I hate that I know how she’s feelin’ right now. You look a bit like how I did after I got jumped on by this bear of a bull named parcheesi of all things—” 

Kate, the batshit girl, giggled at that. “That poor cow—-” 

“S’bull, darlin’.”

“But b’lls are cows?”

Tyler chuckled, pressing a kiss to her hair and then keeping his cheek pressed against her. “You’re not ready for this sort of conversation, Kate—” 

“Ty?” 

“Mhmm—”

“D’n’t leave me?” 

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. “Someone’s gonna have to look after you, crazy girl— you drive into tornados—” 

She snorted, wincing as it jarred her ribs. “Ow— shit— don’t m’ke me laugh—” 

“I’m sorry,” he smiled. “I’ll be more careful—”

“G’nna look after me?” 

“I’m gonna look after you,” he swore. “S’long as you let me.”

In the distance, he could see his crew working to move debris out of the way of Javi’s pickup. With a little luck, they’d be driving towards a hospital soon. 

“Oh yeah? You g’nna chase me, cowboy?” 

“Well you know what they say, baby—-if you feel it—-” 

**************************************************************************************

Kate sat up in bed gasping, a keening whine tearing from her throat as her side pulled. 

“Oh shit —Kate—” Tyler was suddenly leaning over her, one hand on her side and the other bracing the side of her face as he gently eased her back down onto the bed. “Take it easy there, Sapulpa—-are you okay?”

“What—what happened?” she squinted up at him, her hand covering his where it was still bracing her side. 

“You’re in a hospital in Oklahoma City. Everything’s okay—you’ve got a decent concussion, some stitches in your head, and broke 3 ribs on your left side. That’s why you pulled when you jack knifed up like that—-luckily, they hadn’t shifted too much, so they’re just wrapped but you’re gonna have to be careful, darlin’. I was tryin’ to make sure you didn’t do that but I must’ve dozed off, sorry—” 

She took a second to look at him, noticing that he was wearing the jacket she’d been wrapped in earlier and a pair of what looked like scrub pants. He looked tired and his hair was sticking up oddly like he’d been running his hands through it. “Are you okay, Ty?”

“Am I okay?” he laughed a bit bitterly, dragging the chair closer and settling down in it with a grimace.

Kate tried to remember what had happened. She remembered him carrying her out of the field, crawling out of the truck, driving the truck into the tornado, Tyler being—she startled again, struggling back upright. “Ty!”

“Damnit, Kate, stop —” he grabbed her again, laying her back onto the pillows. “Baby, stop doing that—-you’re gonna hurt yourself—what’s wrong?”

“Ty, your leg —you were— are you okay? What happened?” 

He sighed as he realized she wasn’t upset because she was in pain. “ I am okay, I promise. Bull rider, remember?” 

“But you were—you had that structure and—wait, you carried me?”

He rolled his eyes, settling back in his chair and leaning closer. He brushed her hair out of her face, offering her a soft smile. “Yes, I carried you. Wasn’t like I was gonna leave you there, Crazy Girl—and my leg is sore as hell but gonna be fine. Bone bruising, got a few stitches here and there, nothing big. Not gettin’ rid of me that easily.”

“Everybody else is okay?” 

“They’re alright. Little sore, little shaken—they’re helping out in town and trying to see what was salvageable of our gear and vehicles. Javi went to get your mom to bring her here. They shouldn’t be too much longer.” 

“You’re gonna stay, right?” 

“I’m not going anywhere, Kate. Not until you tell me to go, and even then I’ll probably stick around a bit—” 

“If you feel it—” she teased lightly, sitting up a little. 

“ Kate —” he warned. 

“Then c’mere, Cowboy—” she directed, reaching out to fist her hand in the collar of his shirt.

“Yes ma’am,” he smirked before he let her tug him close. 

He followed her lead, finally leaning in to kiss her as she hummed happily beneath his touch. She kissed back eagerly for a moment before the need for air became too great and she pulled back slowly. 

Dark brown eyes slowly met green as he gently ran his thumb over her cheek.

“Worth the chase?” 

“Kate Carter, you are undoubtedly the only storm truly worth chasing.”

She grinned up at him before she tugged him back into another kiss. 

When they separated this time, Tyler turned slightly to the side as he stifled a yawn. 

“You need a nap,” Kate said softly, running her hand through his hair. 

“‘M okay—-not my first rodeo either. Besides, the l’st time I dozed off, you tried to split yourself in half again so—”

“Well—the bed’s big enough to share?” she offered, echoing her offer of that night that now felt like a lifetime ago. “And that way you could keep an eye on me—” 

“Kate—” 

“C’mon,” She decided, slowly working on scooting herself further to the left side of the bed.

“Hey, be careful—” he sighed, reaching out to help her shift since she was clearly moving anyway. 

“See? Now there’s plenty of room, c’mon, Ty—” she pat the bed next to her until the wrangler begrudgingly toed his boots off, and sat himself on the edge of the bed. 

Kate tugged him fully onto the bed, arranging them until he was lying against the pillows and she was lying against his chest listening to his heartbeat softly thump beneath her ear. Tyler seemed to relax all at once, one of his arms coming up to softly run his hand through her hair. 

“See? This is much better,” Kate argued.

“‘M learnin’ not to argue with you, darlin’,” he conceded, pressing a kiss to her head as his breathing started evening out. 

“‘M gonna remind you of that,” she teased.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he offered sleepily. “You c’n remind me not to argue with you ‘s much as you like—b’t you c’n never drive into a t’rnado without me ‘gain. Deal?” 

“Deal cowboy. I’m only ever gonna chase storms with you anyway,” Kate promised easily, tracing slow patterns on his chest as she felt him relax further. 

“Not chasin’, baby—we’re tamin ’ tornados now—-” 

She offered a halfhearted attempt at his wrangling salute, flicking her wrist with two fingers and giggling as she felt his laughter rumble beneath her. 

“S’right,” Tyler mimicked the motion. 

“Sleep time, Cowboy,” she pat his chest lightly before settling into his embrace.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am.”