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Chapter Text

Growing up, Lucy was more known as the adventurous child. Living in Oklahoma will do that to you, especially in tornado alley. Since she can remember, Lucy has always been fascinated by tornadoes. There was just something about them that was mesmerizing to her. Her friends thought she was crazy when she said she wanted to crash tornadoes as a career but she didn’t care. Her mom Zoe supported her when it came to this. She didn’t want her daughter to not follow her dreams

To make that happen, She pushed herself through high school to get the grades she needed and got accepted into Oklahoma State University for their meteorology program. Within that program, she met her friend Jackson. Since they met, they’ve been attached to the hip. Throughout college, they added a few more people into their friend group. Nell Forester, a fellow meteorology major, Rachel Hall, who is majoring in Chemistry and Emmett Lang, who is getting a degree in Physics. The five of them spent all four years together as a tight group. So when their professor assigned them a weather project, they teamed up. The task was to come up with some research that could help a natural weather event. This got Lucy excited, she knew exactly which disaster she wanted to do, all she had to do was get everyone on board.

Early April 2018

Lucy got up bright and early as usual. It was one of the first days of tornado season and Lucy wanted to make sure that they got a good one to study. She decided to let everyone else sleep in since they got to the site late the night before. After she got set and ready, she made her way out of the camper and ran off to the field. Detecting a tornado took some time and Lucy knew that but she would wait out there all day if she had to. To pass the time while she waited, she took out her camera and started taking pictures of the cloud, just waiting to see if a tornado would hit.

It wasn’t until 9:30 when she finally found a tornado that they could possibly analyze. It was coming in with some winds from the southwest and the air moisture felt good. As quickly as she could, Lucy ran back over to the camper to get everyone up. 

“Guys, It’s time to go”

With no one responding, Lucy went up to the driver's seat and honked the horn. Everyone rolled out of bed after that. Jackson was the unhappiest out of all of them, he stayed up late talking to Sterling the night before. As soon as everyone was up, Lucy got down to business.

“Let’s get this show on the road”

“Can I take a shower first before we start any of this” Emmett questioned

“Fine” Lucy commented “But make it quick, the tornado isn’t going to wait for us”

Lucy let everyone get dressed and have breakfast before they had to get settled for the day. Jackson got put on radar duty, while Nell, Rachel and Emmett had to get the ingredients for the mixture ready before they put it in the barrels. Lucy overlooked everyone to make sure everything was going well, it is worth their grade after all. Once they were getting close to finishing, Lucy pulled Jackson aside.

“Do you really think this is going to work” Lucy asked concerningly 

“I hope so” Jackson comments “I’m just worried though that we are doing this too soon”

“I know I am too” Lucy shrugs “I wish we could have waited a little bit more into the season but Lambert isn’t giving us that chance so we have to work with what we got”

“That dirtbag”

Lucy playfully slaps him “Hey, that dirtbag is one of the best teachers we can ask for. Besides, he’s the only teacher who let’s us have food in class”

They talk for a little bit longer before heading back over to the group. The mixture was all set and ready to go, all they had to do was go into the field to test. Lucy went back over to the camper and grabbed her camera. She took pictures of the barrels that they had set with the mixture and the little orbs that can track the data. After that, she put the camera back in the camper and met back with her team.

“Ok, Are we already to go” Lucy asked 

The team responds back enthusiastically

“Good to know” Lucy responds “Ok, Do we all know what we are doing, Nell……..”

“I’m with you in the car to help bring the mixture in the field”

“Rachel”

“Same thing as Nell”

Lucy looks over at Emmett

“I’m driving the car to location where we have to unload the barrels”

“And Jackson, you know what you’re doing”

“Yeah”

“Great” Lucy clasps her hand “Let’s hit the road then”

Lucy, Emmett, Rachel and Nell ran over to the car and got in. Jackson went over to the van and got inside. After testing to see if the radios were working and a few other things. The team set off to chase the tornado.

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The further they got down the road, the more the storm started to form. Nell and Rachel kept looking at the numbers and they were turning out good. They would radio back to Jackson a few times to see if everything was still working, which it was. Lucy kept taking pictures while the clouds were forming perfectly. After a while, Lucy determined that it’s the perfect time.

“We should get the mixture ready”

Everyone in the car looks at her “Ah, Isn’t it supposed to rain first” Nell commented

“Yeah, and it’s about to do that now” With a snap of Lucy’s fingers, the rain started to pour

Emmett pulled over the car while Jackson stopped the van. Lucy helped Nell and Rachel with putting the mixture into the barrels while Jackson and Emmett dealt with the orbs. Lucy hadn’t  realized that so much sodium polyacrate went into this experiment, now she just really hoped it worked. Jackson and Emmett got the orbs all set but they couldn’t get the doppler to work. 

“It was working fine yesterday” Jackson comments

“Did you bump it on the road or something” Emmett adds 

“I don’t think so, Here…” Jackson passes Emmett the tablet while trying to get the doppler to work

“If it’s that much trouble, we can just forget about the doppler for now and just deal with the mixture” Lucy questioned

“No, No, No……. That’s not happening” Jackson comments “Cause if you can stop that tornado with the chemicals but you don’t have the data, no one will believe it actually happened”

“Fine, Just try and finish up quick. That tornado isn’t going to wait all day for us” 

Jackson was able to get the doppler working again. He looked on his tablet to see if everything was reading correctly and it was. He gave Lucy and the team the go ahead to head off while she stayed there to get the data. Before they left, Lucy ran over to Jackson and wrapped him in a big hug.

“Stay safe, Please” Lucy asks

“Right back at you” Jackson adds

Lucy lets go of her grasp and heads off to the car. Once she is buckled in, she gives Emmett the signal to head on the road. Rachel handed Lucy the radar so she could see where the tornado was heading. She told Emmett the path he had to follow to get them to the right spot. During the time, Lucy would look out the window and just look at everything around her. Everything just looked so peaceful before a tornado. A little ways down the road, the rain and wind started to pick up. The further down they got, the harder it was to see out of the car. 

“Jackson, how are we looking” Lucy said into the walkie

“Everything looks good so far”

Lucy puts her walkie down and tries to help Emmett navigate through the wind. Soon after, a loud bang suddenly hit the car. After a second, Lucy realized that they were in front of the tornado. Emmett pulled off to the side of the road and everyone got out to release the trailer and the barrels along with the orbs. Once that’s down, they quickly run back inside the car and head off. After they made it down a little ways, they get Jackson on the radio

“How does it look Jackson” Lucy asked

“Nothing yet” 

After a few seconds, the mixture and the orbs shot up into the air like a firecracker

“Oww……. Hang on to that thought, orbs just shot up 10,000 feet”

Everyone in the car cheered, the experiment was working, or so they thought. Once the excitement settled, Lucy noticed that something wasn’t looking right. The tornado should have been descending by now and it wasn’t. Worst of all, the tornado was getting closer by the second. They didn’t know what was going on until Jackson came back over the radio.

“It’s rising 35,000 feet”

“Shouldn’t it have done something by now” Rachel asked

“Yeah, the polyacrylate should be taking affect”

“Then why isn’t it” Nell added

“I don’t know” Lucy grabs the walkie “Jackson, is the wind settling down”

“The doppler can’t tell you that, all it can do is tell you when a sensor is moving and can’t measure what the wind speed is but……” Jackson looks back down at the computer “Oh yeah, sensors are at 50,000 feet, the tornado isn’t doing anything you guys” Jackson takes one more look at the computer and realizes what is happening “Holy crap, this isn’t happening”

Rachel grabs the walkie from Lucy and tries to get Jackson to answer back to them but no luck. A few seconds felt like forever, just when they thought it was done, Jackson came back on.

“Guys, sensors are at 80,000 feet and climbing”

“Doesn’t that mean the NEXRAD velocity is 220 miles per hour”

“That’s not possible” Emmett comments 

“Unless……” Lucy turns back in her seat to see the storm behind her “Unless it’s an EF5”

Rachel and Nell turn behind and Lucy could see the fear in their eyes. This wasn’t the tornado they were expecting, any of them. Lucy had some fear in her too but didn’t want to scare anyone. After realizing what was happening, Lucy grabs back the radio.

“Jackson, What happening now”

“Whatever is out there is huge and it’s coming fast”

“What should we do”

“Just one word, Drive, get the hell out of there”

Lucy put the walkie down and started yelling at Emmett to drive faster along with Nell and Rachel. The wind kept blowing them back and forth, it was too strong to do anything that could help them escape the storm. The tornado was getting closer and closer no matter how fast they drove. As the wind got stronger and stronger, a broken off road sign hit the windshield causing them to run into a fence. The car started spinning out of control and they couldn’t stop. 

“Is everyone OK” Emmett asked

The girls shake their heads to signal that they were fine

“We won’t be safe in here” said Rachel “We have to find somewhere else to go

Everyone looked around but couldn’t find anything that could work. That was until Emmett found an overpass

“That’s the worst place to go in a tornado” Lucy comments

“You got a better idea” Emmett asks

Lucy looks around the car and sees Rachel and Nell scared out of their minds. Then Lucy sees it, the tornado getting closer to them. Within a split second, All of them are getting out of the car. They left the walkie behind while Jackson continued to yell into it saying to get out of there. As the wind blew, All four of them made a run for the overpass. The car getting sucked into the tornado behind them. They were running as hard as they could but it didn’t help. The wind picked up more and with the blink of an eye, Rachel got pulled into the tornado screaming and yelling. Lucy, Nell and Emmett made it to the overpass and started climbing up the wall. While looking back Lucy noticed something.

“Where’s Rachel” Lucy yelled

Nell and Emmett looked behind them and didn’t see Rachel anywhere. Lucy wanted to go help her but she knew it was too late. They continued to make their way up the wall but Lucy ended up getting hit by a piece of metal, cutting into her leg. She screams out in pain while trying to keep herself from slipping. Along the way, Nell was having a tough time getting up the wall. Lucy reached out her hand to give Nell some help but Lucy wasn’t quick enough. A big brush of branches flew and hit Nell dead on, sending her into the tornado.

“Nell” Lucy yells again

At this point, Emmett has made it to the top of the overpass. He’s able to grab onto Lucy’s hand and pull her up to safety. She got herself huddled around a rail and she grabbed on tightly. Emmett climbed on top of her and made himself a shield for her.

“You’re going to be ok, Lucy. I got you”

Lucy gripped on so tight that her knuckles started to turn white. But she knew she had to keep holding on if she wanted to survive this. Emmett kept her safe as long as he could but he finally met his match, a big gust of wind hit Emmett just right and sent him flying into the tornado. Lucy screamed for dear life afterwards. She just saw all of her best friends get sucked into a tornado and thought she could be next. The winds were getting stronger and stronger and Lucy just kept holding on just waiting for the storm to pass.

()()()()()()()

She didn’t know how long she had been there but it felt like forever. Lucy still held onto the rail for dear life cause she didn’t know if the storm was over. After a while, Lucy wasn’t feeling the rush of wind across her face. She looked around her and saw nothing blowing away. With some courage, she let go of the rail and slid down the overpass. Lucy tried to walk a little bit but forgot she got a cut on her leg from some metal. The pain was unbearable but Lucy knew she needed to find some help. So, she started walking down the highway. Lucy tried to ignore the pain but it was shooting up her leg like fire. She took a few breaks but kept on walking trying to find some help. What felt like ages, Lucy finally spotted a highway patrol car approaching her. 

Before she could say anything, Lucy collapses from the pain. The patrol called over his radio and got an ambulance sent over to the scene. They loaded her up and got her sent to the nearest hospital. She regained consciousness while on the way to the hospital. She pleaded to them to call her mom and tell her where she is. They handed Lucy a phone and she dialed the number. The paramedic talked for her since Lucy was able to fall asleep again.

After a while, they finally get to the hospital. She gets wheeled into the emergency room and gets treated right away. It was determined that the cut on her leg got infected so they had to take her to surgery. Lucy fought it at first since she wanted to wait for her mom but they informed her that the injury was severe and they had to do it now. She gave in and was wheeled to surgery.

Lucy thought it was all a dream when she woke up. But when she saw the wrapping on her leg, she knew it was real. The tears started to fall. Rachel, Nell, Emmett are dead and she doesn’t know if Jackson is OK or not. It was too much for her to handle. Suddenly, she saw a figure  in the door. She took a closer look and saw her mom standing in the door

“Mom” Lucy cried out

Zoe ran over to Lucy and gave her the biggest hug of her life. Lucy cried into her mom’s shoulder. Zoe was able to calm Lucy down and got her talking.

“Everything was working fine then we realized that the tornado wasn’t slowing down. The wind kept getting stronger and stronger, we didn’t know what to do. Next thing we knew, we were running out of the car to the overpass. I held on as tight as I could, I didn’t move until the wind stopped”

Zoe rubs Lucy’s shoulder “You couldn’t have known it would have gotten this bad”

“But if I would had……”

“Hey, don’t play the blame game with yourself right now, you couldn’t have known what was going to happen”

Lucy takes a breather 

“Ok, you feel better now” Zoe asks

“Yeah”

“Good” Zoe smiles “How about I go get you something to eat from the cafeteria”

“That sounds nice” 

“Ok, then. I’ll be back into bit”

Once Zoe left the room, Lucy collapsed back onto the bed. The events of today have taken a toll on her and she doesn’t know if she can fix it. What she does know is that she can never storm chaser again ever. She doesn’t want to lose any more friends.

Chapter Text

May 2023

“So Lucy, How have you been since our last session” The woman asks Lucy from across the table

Lucy sighs “I’m been good”

“Could you go a little deeper for me” 

“Umm Sure……. Noah and I just celebrated our anniversary last month, he decided to take me to Catalina Island as a surprise. Work has been surprisingly good, don’t have any trouble there. I’ve called my mom more often since the last appointment, and I asked how she’s doing at work herself. She mentioned she’s ready for retirement” Lucy slightly chuckles “Besides that, I’m good”

The therapist writes some stuff down “And did any of this help up with what happened 5 years ago”

Lucy thinks back to that day all the time. That day changed her life forever, 3 of her closest friends were gone in the blink of an eye. She tries not to remember it especially around the anniversary of their deaths. Her mom and Jackson tried to help her but nothing really seemed to help until she left Oklahoma.

“A little bit” Lucy gulps “I’ve tried to cope with it but it’s harder than it seems”

“PTSD can do that Lucy, you’re not the only one who suffers”

“I know” Lucy clasps her hands together “I just sucks sometimes”

“I get it” The therapist nods “Everyone’s story is different but to get around, you got to be able to learn to cope with what happened”

Lucy sighs “And how do I do that”

“That’s up to you to decided”

They went on for the rest of the session getting off of the touchy subject. After it was all done with, Lucy schedules another appointment and heads off to her car. She quickly texts Noah that she is heading back to the station and drives off. On the way, she decides to stop for something to snack on since she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After she gets some chips and coffee, she drives straight to work. When she is about 10 minutes away, she hears her phone go off. She looks down at the ID and sees her mom on the screen.

“Hey Mom”

“Hey Luce, how was your session”

“It was good actually. Opened up to her about the normal stuff that is going on”

“Like how your mom has been begging you to come and visit her”

Lucy chuckles “Yes, we did talk about it and I’ll tell you what I told her, I will think about it”

“Figures” Zoe sighs “So, besides me badgering you, what else did you talk about”

Lucy continued to talk to her mom all the way back to work. She finally hung up the phone when her mom kept talking about her retirement plans for when she finally does it. As Lucy walked into the building, she was met with her boss Chris. He just wanted to go over the plans for the day. Lucy works with the aviation team at her weather station and figures out flight routes for airlines. After she dealt with Chris, she headed to her wing. When she walked in, She was greeted by Tamara asking for help. Once she helped Tamara figure out her problem, she went to work at her desk. Halfway through the day, Lucy gets a message.

Hey Luce, I didn’t see you after your session today. Just wanted to see how you were doing

Lucy sighs but responds back 

I’m doing well. I just went right to my desk when I got here

She sets her phone down and goes right back to work. Lucy could tell that Tamara was staring at her wondering what was happening.

“Tamara, I can feel you looking at me. What did you want?”

“Umm…..” Tamara asks a little sketish “Sorry to intervene but I just noticed that Noah texted you and you didn’t seems that thriller about it”

“It’s noticeable”

“Yeah”

Lucy turns to face Tamara “If I’m being truthful. He’s been too much lately”

“Meaning”

“Texting me the moment I wake up, go to bed, and every hour in the day because he hasn’t seen me. Getting jealous too much like the other day, I was talking to Chris about what I had to do that day and Noah flipped out thinking that I was stepping out on him. He’s just becoming a different person than when we first met”

“Do you think something is going on with him”

Lucy nods “I don’t know. It’s just the thought of him doing this is making question our relationship”

“In a good or bad way”

“What do you think” Lucy said sarcastically 

“Kind of figured” Tamara slightly smiles “But honestly Lucy, if you think something is going on with the two of you, you should just talk to him”

“You think I should”

“Absolutely” Tamara nods “It’s better to find out what is happening than doing nothing at all”

“You’re right, I’ll talking to him later”

After the heartfelt talk, Lucy and Tamara went back to work. They coordinated the weather stats and talked with the airlines to confirm flight paths. Around 2, they had their regular coffee break. As they were heading back to their desks, Lucy got stopped in the hallway. Someone was here to visit her. Lucy was a little shocked since no one comes to see her at work. She told Tamara that she met up with her later and walked to the conference room. When she walked in, it wasn’t who she was expecting.

“Hi, I’m Lucy. I heard you were looking for me”

The guy turns around with a smile on his face “Hey Luce”

“Jackson” Lucy walks up and hugs him “What are you doing here”

“I wanted to come and see you”

Lucy smiles “How have you been, I haven’t seen you since…….”

“I left for Dallas and you came out her”

“Yeah” Lucy crosses her arms “So, how’s that been going”

“Great, Actually. That’s actually why I’m here. Do you have time to talk”

“Umm….” Lucy looks at the time “Not right now, I have to get back to work”

“I assumed that. I’m saying after work, can you do that”

Lucy contemplates saying anything. She was going to talk to Noah tonight but she assumes if Jackson is here, it’s urgent. She sighs but responds back to Jackson.

“Yeah I can”

“Good” Jackson gets excited “Is there a certain place you want to go or……”

“I’ll texted you a place to go to”

“Sounds good, I’ll talk to you later”

Jackson gives Lucy another hug before he walks out the door. After he leaves, Lucy goes back to her desk and tells Tamara everything. After talking about it, They got back to work. Lucy asked Tamara for suggestions about where to go and Tamara gave her a few good places. She contacts Jackson for a place to meet and goes back to work as normal. After the clock hit 6 o’clock, Lucy decided to clock out for the day. She quickly grabbed her stuff, shot off a text to Noah to not wait up for her and walked to her car. Before she drove off, she texted Jackson saying she was on her way. 

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Lucy takes her seat at the bar shortly after arriving. Jackson hadn’t gotten there yet so she ordered her drink while she waited. As she sips on her Lemon Margarita, She gets a text from him saying he’s almost there. After reading that text, she gets another message, from Noah. All she wanted to do is ignore it but her head got the best of her and she read the text.

Overheard Tamara saying you were meeting someone after work. Thought I would surprise you at your place, when will you be back?

Lucy doesn’t want to reply to the message. She just wants some time to herself and be alone tonight. She was going to message back saying she just wanted to go solo tonight but that would just make him upset. So, she just messaged him saying she wasn’t sure when, She didn’t want to drag it along. After responding to Noah, she heard the door open near the bar. She turned her head and spotted Jackson walking in. He saw her right away and made his way over to her. Lucy pats the seat next to her and he hops up. After Jackson orders his drink, he starts to talk

“How was the rest of work” Jackson asked

“Exhausting, I had to talk to 3 different airlines to talk to them about their flight safety since they are going to hit bad weather and only 2 of them understood what I was saying”

Jackson chuckles “That does sound exhausting”

“Tell me about it” Lucy takes another sip of her drink “Anyways, enough about me. How’s work been for you”

Jackson sighs “It’s been good”

“Aww…… I’m guessing it’s only been good since Sterling left you for Miami”

Jackson gives a look “How do you know that”

“My mom likes to gossip, remember. Also, she talked to your mom”

“Unbelievable, I swear I can’t tell my mom anything” Jackson exclaims

Lucy chuckles as she takes another sip of her margarita. They chat for a little longer before deciding to order some food. Lucy called the bartender over and got their order placed. Once that’s down, Lucy gets to business.

“Alright” Lucy clasps her hands together “You came to my job wanting to talk to me about”

Jackson adjusts in this seat “Yes”

“Is it about an idea you had”

“Yes” Jackson nods “It’s actually something I ran by my boss”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders “Tell me about it”

Jackson takes a breath “My job in Dallas requires me to operate something called a Phased Array Radar, it's a scan program that helps the military spot missiles” Jackson takes out his phone to show Lucy a picture “This thing is so powerful that we can see a bird flying 5 miles away. I just kept thinking to myself if I can aim that scanner towards a tornado"

Lucy gives Jackson his phone back “It's the size of a building. There’s no way that you can get it even close enough to get a tornado”

“I know that but my boss just told me about some portable units and they aren’t that big and they want to test out. I got selected to handle the prototypes”

Jackson can see that Lucy still isn’t understanding what he is saying. He quickly picks up a straw and swirls it around his drink. 

“Ok, say this is the tornado. The team would pull up to the back of it and would place one of the portable scanners there. At this point, we are already getting good images but it’s not enough so the team set up two more radars until we can get…..”

“A three dimensional scan”

“It would be a perfect scan of a tornado that anyone has ever seen” Jackson said happily

Lucy smiles back “And why do you think I would be interested”

“Since this experiment is taking place back in Oklahoma” Jackson see the look on Lucy’s face fade away “And before you say anything, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we were the last time we did this”

Lucy sighs “This sounds unbelievable”

“I know it does but…..”

“The only way that you can do this is if I can get you close enough to a tornado”

Jackson shrugs his shoulders “Yeah, exactly”

Lucy sighs once more “So, you are asking me if I can come back home and help your team stop a tornado”

“Yes” said Jackson “And I know this is sudden and that you don’t chase anymore but you were the only person I could think of to help me with this” 

Lucy leans back a bit in her chair “I’m just not sure about this Jackson. I came to San Diego for a fresh start and I don’t know if I’m ready to go back yet”

“I understand that Luce but this can be a perfect opportunity for the both of us to make some history. I don’t think I can do this without you”

Lucy takes a second to herself to think. What Jackson is presenting to her sounds really amazing and too good to be true. Could they actually find a way to prevent tornadoes and save millions of people. Can this radar system actually give them the data they need? Lucy really liked Jackson’s plan and wants to help but she has to think of all the factors that go into it. Would she be able to get the time off and if she can, how much time? Who would help Tamara out while she’s away? The biggest thing would be how would she be able to explain this to Noah when he already doesn’t let her out of his sight. She looks back at Jackson and sees the look on his face.

“You don’t want to do it, do you”

“No, No, No” Lucy shakes her head “I do want to help, it’s just…….. I don’t know how I feel about going back there. Plus, Noah wouldn’t like me if I just jumped on a plane to help fight off tornadoes”

“Ok, that’s understandable” Jackson sighs “Can you just think about”

Lucy smiles back “I can do that but don’t get your hopes up”

The rest of the night was spent eating their food and talking about how life has been. They switched to water early since they both had to drive afterwards. Jackson didn’t press any further on the idea and Lucy was thankful for that. She brought up the vacation Noah took her on and she could just tell that Jackson doesn’t like him by the look on his face. She couldn’t blame him for that. Once they finished their food and drinks, Lucy paid for the bill and she walked out of the bar with Jackson right behind her. She gave a quick hug before heading to her car and heading home.

()()()()()()()()() 

After Lucy arrived and walked through the door, she texted Noah saying she was home. Within 30 minutes, he was walking in her door. She told him he didn’t have to come but he insisted since they haven’t seen each other all day. Lucy was too tired to put up a fight so she just let him stay. After Lucy gets dressed into her pajamas, she climbs into bed with Noah settling right behind her.

At around 1am, Lucy still hasn’t been able to fall asleep. Noah fell asleep hours ago but she was still wide awake. Anything she tried to do didn’t help. After a while, she was able to get some sleep. Once she was sleeping, something started to happen. The same feeling that she’s had before started riling up again. She could feel herself start to tremble when the images of Rachel, Nell and Emmett getting sucked away got into her head. Lucy could feel her heart beating out of her chest. She couldn’t take it anymore. She sprung awake, filled with anxiety. Noah got up the moment it happened.

“Lucy, are you Ok”

Lucy didn’t answer him, she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Her heart was beating out of her chest that she thought it was going to burst. She could tell that Noah was trying to help but she didn’t want his help. Without warning, she grabbed her phone and walked out of the bedroom. Noah tried to follow her but Lucy told him she didn’t want him at the moment. With Noah feeling hurt, Lucy walked over to her screen door and went on to her balcony. The moment the air hit Lucy’s face, she felt better. 

She stood out there for a long time. Telling herself that she’s ok and she made it out that day. Even though she was safe, some people aren’t so lucky. Her mind drifted to earlier in the night, talking to Jackson in the bar about his idea. The more she thought about it, It didn’t sound so bad to her now. The past does haunt her but she’ll never be able to face it if she doesn’t take that leap to help. With a slight worry on her face, she takes out her phone and calls Jackson.

“Luce, it’s almost 2am in the morning”

“I know it is but….. I wanted to ask you something” Lucy hears Jackson adjusting before she continued “Is this idea really going to help people”

“Yes, I believe it will”

That’s all that Lucy needed to hear. With a quick breath in, Lucy tells Jackson her answer.

“When do I leave”

Chapter Text

After the phone call with Jackson, Lucy got everything in order. She broke the news to Noah and he was less than a happy camper. She was able to request the time off of work, much to Noah’s hate. She got someone to cover her station while she was away which brought her relief. She got to coordinate with Jackson and his team to get final preparations underway. With everything falling into place, Lucy was ready for Oklahoma.

Except for one thing, Noah still isn’t on board with her going. At first she thought he was joking with her about it but soon realized he was serious about it. Noah brought it up everytime they talked together stating his feelings about the whole thing. He kept trying to find reasons for her not to go and promised a compromise but Lucy wasn’t going to take it. Despite knowing how Noah felt about this, Lucy was going to Oklahoma one way or another. 

The night before she was set to leave, Noah decided to come over to see her. She thought it would be a relaxing night before she had to leave but it was anything but that. Noah kept going on and on about what she would be missing if she left but Lucy was sticking to her gut about this decision. After realizing that Noah wasn’t going to leave anytime soon, Lucy decided she would just go to bed so she could get up early for her flight. Noah tried pleading with her to stay up but Lucy knew it was just a way for him to keep her up so she’d miss her plane.

Lucy’s plane was set to leave in 5 hours and she still has a ton of packing to do. She sorted out everything that she needed last night but knew she needed to pack essentials in the morning. As she woke up, she noticed that the bag wasn’t in the place she had left it last night. When rose out of bed, she saw Noah holding her bag and putting her clothes back in the drawer.

“You gotta be kidding” Lucy comments “Are you really going this low”

Noah looked back at her with a shocked look on his face. He thought Lucy would sleep through him putting all of her stuff but, clearly he didn’t think it through. As Noah stayed somewhat frozen, Lucy got out of bed and walked over to the drawer. She opened it up and grabbed clothes to throw on the bed 

“Sorry, I was trying………”

“Save it, I’m not in the mood to hear what you have to say. I have a flight to get on”

Lucy grabs the bag from Noah’s grasp and starts packing up her clothes again. As she was packing, Noah wrapped his arms around her trying to get her back in bed. Lucy knew what he was trying to do and she just shrugged him out and ignored his motives. When he noticed that nothing was working, he went into the kitchen and grabbed her a cup of coffee. As he hands her the coffee cup, he tries to snag the bag from her but she blocks him from getting it. She chugs down the coffee and hands the mug back to Noah. After that, She ran to the bathroom to grab her essentials off the sink. When she returned to her room, Noah was going through her bag once again trying to put stuff away.

“Ok, now this is getting ridiculous” Lucy walks back over to the bed and grabs her bag “You can’t keep doing this”

Noah scoffs “Why, if I continue to this then you won’t leave”

“And why would you think that”

“Cause it would piss you off too much that you would just give up”

“The only thing that is pissing me off right now is you trying to avoiding me from packing”

Noah realized the foul in his plan when the words came out of Lucy’s mouth. She left Noah with his thoughts and finished packing up. As Lucy was making sure she had everything, she received a message from Tamara.

Have fun back home. Make sure to text when you get there

She smiled at the message and responded back quickly. After the text is sent, Lucy zips up her bag and walks into the living room where Noah is sulking on the couch. Much to her dismay, she sets her bag down on the counter and walks over to Noah. 

“Why are you so mad at me” Lucy asks

“I’m not mad at you”

“Seriously” Lucy questions “For the last four day you’ve been going around work telling people how much you don’t want me to go on this trip”

“Who told you about that” 

“That doesn’t matter” Lucy questions again “I just want to know why you are acting like this”

Noah sighs “When we first started dating, you told me that you would never want to go back Oklahoma for any reason, that you had too many tragic memories of that place and I get that but now you are going back there for a silly science project”

Lucy looks at him in disbelief “This silly science project is a way for us to determine how a tornado works and how we can stop it from destroying everything surrounding it”

“Oh come on, you really think Jackson’s experiment is going to work”

“Honestly, No”

“Then why are you helping him” Noah said angrily

“Cause it’s the first step to making a change. This way we can find out what works and what doesn’t”

Noah scoffs “Lucy, Why are you actually doing this. Is this you just trying to make you life meaningful again”

Lucy looks at him more in disbelief. She can’t believe him right now, the words that he just said to her hurt. She wants to be the bigger person in this so she takes a deep breath so her anger doesn’t go out of control.

“I’m doing this so no one else has to go through the hell I went through. If you can’t see that then…………” Lucy questions what she’s going to say next and decides against it “You know what, I’m just going to call a taxi to the airport, I just can’t deal with you right now” Lucy walks back over to grab her bag off the counter. She grabs her phone and keys to her apartment. As she opens the door and is about to walk out, she gives Noah another look.

“Make sure your stuff is gone before I get back”

And with that, Lucy makes her way down the hallway down to the lobby. She waits inside until she sees her taxi pulling up to the front of the building. With quick motion, Lucy throws her bag into the trunk and she gets inside. She tells the driver where to go and they drive off to the airport. While in the car, she receives multiple texts from Noah, ignoring all of them. When she gets to LAX, the line doesn’t look too long to check in. Once her suitcase was checked in, Lucy heads through security and goes to wait at her gate. An hour later, the announcement came over the speaker saying her flight was boarding. Happily, she gets out of her seat and walks onto the plane. As she took her seat, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

“Here goes nothing”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After a long flight later, Lucy arrived in Oklahoma. It looks like how it was before she left, everything looked the same to her even from inside the airport. She knows it’s been a few years but she didn’t realize it would have this type of effect on her, it’s like deja vu. After reminiscing for a minute, she followed everyone over to baggage claim. As she made her way down, she quickly messaged Jackson to tell her where to pick her up. After texting Jackson, she realized that she had another message on her phone, it was from Noah. 

Please Talk to Me

She looked at the message and was going to respond but since she didn’t really want to talk to him right now, she silenced her phone and put it in her pocket. Once her luggage was secure, she made her way over to the entrance and waited for Jackson to show up. She waited awhile for him to show up, did he get lost or something is what went through her head. Before she could pull out her phone to message him, she saw him pulling up in a souped up fancy truck. Looked impressive in her thoughts, Jackson’s company must really be serious about this. With a slight smile on her face, she walks over to Jackson’s truck and gives Jackson a hug.

“I’m so happy your here” Jackson comments

“At least that makes two of us” 

“Guessing Noah still isn’t on board with this”

“Don’t even get me started”

“Yikes, that bad”

“You have no idea”

Lucy tells Jackson about Noah’s actions from the night before and when she woke up. Jackson’s reaction didn’t surprise her for a moment. After telling him what happened, Lucy grabbed her suitcase and threw it into the back of the truck. She hops into the front seat of the truck as Jackson makes it over to his side. After everything was in order, Jackson pulled away from the airport. 

()()()()()()()()()

The drive to meet Jackson’s team felt long. It could have just been the nerves Lucy had been feeling since she got off the plane. Coming back home is bringing back some memories for her, some good, some bad. She kept looking out the window of the truck to distract herself from the thought of what was going to happen. As they were getting close to their destination, Jackson decided to fill the silence.

“To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t back out at the last minute”

Lucy looks away from the window “Honestly, Me too”

“Does it feel good to be back”

“A little” Lucy answers “It’s coming back to me all at once. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been gone for a few years”

“You can say that” Jackson smiles “So, did you want to tell me your agenda for while your here”

“Yeah” Lucy adjusted her seat  “So, the way that this has to go is that I'm able to stay here for one week since that’s all that work is giving me. You and your team will test the theory and I’ll see what changes have to be made. After my week here is done, I will go back to work and show them the results that were made here. Does that sound good enough for you”

“Yeah, that’s good”

They continued to talk about the plan as they closed in on the site. Lots of trucks and people invaded the parking lot of this place. Lucy could tell that most of them looked like amateurs since they didn’t have the proper equipment with them. Everyone was taking group pictures trying to look like they know what they are doing. As the truck came to a stop, she gave Jackson a quick glance before stepping out and closing the door. She quickly made her way over to Jackson and he walked her over to his team.

“This place looks……..” Lucy questions

“I know but it gives us the best advantage for spotting a tornado”

“If you say so” Lucy says underneath her breath 

As they approached the group, Lucy got all the eyes on her. The men were giving Lucy some strange looks, basically questioning what she’s doing here.

“Ok, everybody listen up” Jackson yells out to this team “All of you have heard me talk my ear off about Lucy. How she has the best instincts of anybody I know. She is one of the best in the field” Jackson takes a quick glance at Lucy “And you will never find a team as good as this one” 

Jackson goes around the group introducing all the guys to Lucy. She found it good to hear that Jackson has gotten a good group of people together. He didn’t get some low level people to help on this project, he got the best in the field type of people. It really impressed her, it meant he was really serious about this. After Jackson finished, he turned his attention back to Lucy.

“How about you introduce yourself”

“I can do that” Lucy nods her head “Hello, My name is Lucy Chen. From what you guys have possibly been told, I work for the San Diego weather station specifically working in Aviation so planes can have a good flight trajectory. I was born here in Oklahoma and I’ve been fascinated with tornadoes ever since I could walk. I hope you guys can give me the chance to help you out”

Lucy and Jackson see the guys nod their heads 

“Alright, so this is how it’s going to work. Lucy will be coordinating with me to figure out the best plan of action. When we find the right tornado, we will ride out and put the radars in place. We have to make sure that they are within 300 feet of the tornado or the van can’t get an accurate reading. Sound good to everyone” Everyone nods their heads “Ok then, all of you get in your last breaks before we head out”

The men dispersed from the huddle and walked over to the gas station. Lucy stayed back with Jackson since she wanted to go over some stuff when it comes to the radars. Once Lucy felt comfortable with it, she let Jackson go inside and grab some snacks for the truck. As Lucy saw Jackson make his way inside, she started to hear commotion from the other end of the parking lot. She looked over and saw a group of people huddled around a red truck. She questioned what was going on since she didn’t really think people were over there just for fun. One thing that was clearly seen was someone holding a video camera so it mostly likely had to be someone well known. As she was about to walk over, Jackson came out of the gas station. 

“Hey, I hope you like sour patch kids cause I got a ton of them”

Lucy shakes her head “You and your sour candy”

“I can’t help it”

Lucy tried to keep her eyes on Jackson but the commotion from the other side of the parking lot got a little louder. 

As she was about to look away, A very tall, good looking guy wearing a cowboy hat emerged from the truck. Lucy could see why everyone was over there, he was a pretty good looking guy if she said so herself. 

“Lucy, did you hear a word I just said”

“What” Lucy questions “No, sorry. What were you saying”

“I was saying that we should probably ride in the same truck so you can direct me on where to go”

“Yeah, that sounds fine” Lucy looks back over to the group of people still surrounding the truck “What’s happening over there”

Jackson turns to face Lucy’s direction “Ugh…… Not him”

“Who’s that”

Jackson sighs “That’s Tim Bradford, he’s a tornado wrangler out of Austin”

“Tornado Wrangler, is that even a thing”

“Nope” Jackson comments 

Lucy could see the look on Jackson’s face. He really didn’t like that this guy was here. Was he a threat to him or is it just a small grudge thing. Lucy wanted to question it more but Jackson had already made it back over to his team to go over the plan one more time. She kept her distance since she didn’t want to engage and it looked like she wasn’t needed at the moment. 

To pass the time, Lucy looked over in the direction of the guy she saw. Tim Bradford, now she knows him by name. She couldn’t tell what it was, the cowboy hat or the button up he was wearing but he looked very good looking to her. As she was looking in that direction, she seemed to have caught Tim’s eye for a bit. He gave her a wink and went back to what he was doing. A little flutter appeared in her stomach as she looked at him. The feeling felt familiar to her, it’s the feeling she got when she met Noah for the first time. She didn’t know why this was happening but also didn’t care. It was a good feeling to have even if it was for a moment. Before Jackson had to ruin it.

“Ok Lucy, Time to do your thing”

“Huh” Lucy questions “Oh right….Um, what do you need me to do”

“Just find just a storm and we’ll be good to go”

Jackson hands Lucy the IPad before darting off to the van. Too stunned to say anything, Lucy looked down at the screen and got down to business. She shot off one more look at Tim and he was looking her way again with a smile. Lucy might just enjoy this trip after all.

Chapter Text

As if the last few minutes didn’t mess with her head. Lucy headed off into the field and got to work looking for a tornado to chase. A few of them looked pretty good but didn’t know which one would have the best opportunity. It started to get a little overwhelming for Lucy. It’s been awhile since she has done anything like this and the last time she did this, her friends were killed. After some of the bad scenarios went in her head, Lucy walked back over to the van to go find Jackson.

“So, which storm are were going after”

Lucy looks at him a little anxious “Jackson, I don’t think I should go out on this first one”

“What, Why”

“I just don’t feel comfortable going out there today”

“Come on Luce, that’s just the fear talking”

“I don’t think it’s that” Lucy pleads “I don’t want to go out there when I’m not feeling 100% to do this”

Jackson sighs loudly and wraps his arm around Lucy “You are going to be fine. Trust me on this”

Lucy looks at him with worry “I hope your right”

“I know I am. Now…….” Jackson turns to face Lucy “Go back out there and find us a good one”

Lucy takes a deep breath in and heads back over to the field. As she walks back, She thinks about what Jackson just said and thinks that he really isn’t listening to her or her concerns. Lucy knows he probably doesn’t mean to be like this but it still hurts her in a way. Once she approached the field again, the storms that she was looking at earlier are looking even better now. She figures out the numbers and tries to determine which of the tornadoes the team should chase. As she was about to close in on a storm, she heard some footsteps behind her. 

“You know I used to do that too” A male voice spoke

Lucy turned around to meet the man behind “Comparing the wind direction to cloud movement”

“Yeah, I like it better than the new age of figure it out”

“Me too” Lucy smiles 

Lucy noticed him smiling back causing her to blush a little bit. She knew she had to hold herself together but how could she with how good looking he is. Lucy couldn’t stop looking at his eyes, a beautiful shade of blue that you could get lost in. This brought the argument with Noah right out of her head. This guy would be a good distraction for her.

“Sorry, where are my manners” Tim extends his hand “Tim Bradford”

“Lucy Chen” Lucy accepts the handshake

Tim smiles back “So Lucy, you from around here”

Lucy sighs “Used to be, I’m not anymore”

“What caused the change”

“That is something I don’t want to talk about, Too personal”

“Bad Breakup” Tim questions

“We can go with that”

The conversation continued with the basic get to know you questions. Lucy liked how the conversation just flowed. It didn’t feel forced or that she had to get away somehow. She genuinely enjoyed it. Jackson watched from afar this whole thing going down. All he could do is question Tim’s motive, why is Tim taking a sudden interest in Lucy. Jackson knows Lucy is a catch to get along with but why is now that he’s waltzed over to her. Is he trying to get in her head or is it something entirely different. As Jackson’s team was getting ready to go, He decided that he was going to ‘save’ his friend from Tim. Before he could make his way over, he saw another person heading up to Tim and Lucy.

“Hey Tim, when are we heading out” A woman spoke “Oh Sorry, did I interrupt something”

“No, you're fine” Tim looks between the woman and Lucy “Lucy, this is Celina. She’s part of my storm crew”

“Nice to meet you Celina” Lucy acknowledges

“Nice to meet you too Lucy” Celina turns back towards Tim “Now, which tornado are we going after”

“Umm……. I don’t know” Tim glances over to Lucy “Lucy and I are still determining that”

“Yeah……. I have a few in mind but don’t know which one would be best”

“Which ones” Tim asks

Lucy shows Tim the radar “There are two to the west that have really good chances of forming but the one to the east is showing better numbers and has the sky to itself”

“Go with your gut” 

Lucy looks back at the radar and makes a decision “I’m taking my chances with the west. It doubles the chances of getting a good formation”

“Alright then, We’ll see you out there Lucy” Tim tilts his cowboy hat and heads back over with Celina

After the butterflies in her stomach faded, Lucy headed back over to Jackson. He questions what Tim was doing talking to her and she told him not to worry about it. She goes over the radar telling them to go West to get the data. After some of the team debated since the east side looked better, Lucy and Jackson hopped into their truck and started heading West. As they were driving away, Lucy saw Tim and his team jump in behind their truck. Her anxiety was going through the roof at this point. All she wanted was to not be in this truck after explaining to Jackson her thoughts about this. But, she was here now and had to get through it. 

()()()()()()()()()()

The further down the road they went, the more Lucy got anxious. It wasn’t as bad as before but there are still some nerves poking through. She kept looking up at the sky, seeing the tornado form in front of her. The old rush came back to her but it didn’t have a good feeling. When she tried to calm herself down, she would get asked about which direction they should be heading in to get the radars in place. As Lucy was trying to give directions, Jackson gave his team the signal to split up.

“What’s the plan” Lucy asked

“We want to get a perfect 3D scan of the entire area around the tornado’s vortex. Meaning, we have to put the three radars and surround it” Jackson directs Lucy to the radar “One truck will get behind the tornado and plant a radar to the right of it. The other truck will also get behind it and put a radar up on the left side. All of that data will be sent to the van”

“What about us”

Jackson looks over at Lucy “The triangle has to be completed so we have to get in front of it”

Lucy’s eyes shoot out of her head “In front of it. You didn’t tell me we were going to be in front of the tornado”

“If I would have told you then you wouldn’t have gotten in the truck”

“Ugh…… Jackson”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but there’s nothing we can do about it now”

Lucy sighs loudly as Jackson continues to drive. She knew she couldn’t do anything about the situation so she decided to stay silent until she needed to talk. Lucy looked over and could see the look on Jackson’s face, he was getting really hopeful about the experiment. Once the tornado was in their sights, Jackson started cheering loudly. Lucy looked back at the radar to figure out which road would be the best to get closer for the radar. It was looking promising until a big red truck came rushing out of nowhere. Lucy immediately knew who was inside.

“What the hell” Jackson shouted 

Jackson had to swerve the truck off the road so it wouldn’t cause an accident. They were able to get back on the road but the red truck in front of them wouldn’t let them pass.

“What is this guy’s problem” Jackson spoke before he set off the horn “Move out of the way”

“You know they can’t hear you right?”

Jackson just rolled his eyes and continued to drive. His team coordinated back on how the tornado was moving and told them to keep clear of the hail. Lucy kept looking at the truck ahead of them, she knew it was Tim’s team so she kept an eye out to see what they would do. She couldn’t do that for very long since Jackson started asking her where to drive. As they were approaching the radar spot, Lucy noticed all the trucks and vans from the parking lot were stationed closer to where they needed to go.

“It’s the Tim Bradford effect. He has a following any time he is out in the field”

Jackson radioed back to the van to stay back and collect the data that came through. Lucy saw the van slow down behind her and pull over to the side of the road.

“The path is shifting, take the next left coming up”

Jackson followed Lucy’s direction and made the turn down the dirt road. As they were getting close, one of the trucks radioed back saying their radar was in place. After that, the second truck radioed saying they were in position and setting up their radar. All they needed to do was set up the last one and they were all set. The tornado kept getting closer and closer and Jackson didn’t know where to go. He looked over at Lucy and she was eyes deep into the screen.

“Where are we heading Lucy” Jackson yelled “We have to get within 400 meters to be activated”

“Umm…….” Lucy quickly looks back at the screen “Just up there at the clearing”

Jackson sped up and got them over to the location. He handed Lucy some goggles so the debri doesn’t get in her eyes. Both of them rush out of the truck and go towards the back. Lucy looked at the storm in front of her and it caused her to freeze. One word could describe how she was feeling in the moment, Terrified. She didn’t know what to do. Jackson kept calling her name for help but she wasn’t responding. Without a seconds notice, Lucy started running back to the truck, yelling at Jackson to get in. She gets into the driver’s seat and starts racing down the road. The fear was taking over her, she had to get them as far away from the storm as possible. Jackson called back to his team saying they were trying to find another spot but he knew they were getting further away. As soon as the truck came to a stop, Jackson jumped out seeing if there was a possibility that they could get the radar going. 

“We’re too far” Jackson slams the tailbed of the truck angrily

As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough, Tim’s team decided to drive by at the exact same moment

“Jackson, what’s going on? The tornado is going the other way” Tim takes a quick look into the truck and sees Lucy inside “Hey Lucy”

And with that, Tim and his team head off in the path of the tornado. Tim looked around his truck and saw all the looks on his crew’s faces. Every single one of them had excitement shooting out of their face. As they got close to the tornado, Tim warned everyone to get their harnesses on so they don’t get thrown from the truck. Once they entered the tornado, Tim hit the special bottom that shot up fireworks into the storm.

From afar, Lucy and Jackson are watching what is in front of them. With no warning, they heard fireworks being set off.

“Did he just shoot up what I think he shot” Lucy slightly chuckled

“Yep” Jackson said annoyingly

They watched as the tornado went past Tim’s truck and all of the team got out cheering away. She did see one of them run back into the truck to grab a video camera. From what Lucy could tell, They all looked like a little family. It made her a little jealous, she couldn’t lie about that. 

“Why did that actually look really fun”

Jackson looked at her concerningly “Really, that’s fun. It was completely reckless”

“You do realized they are basically us but with less equipment”

Jackson just grunts knowing Lucy was right. He walked back over to the truck and got into his seat. Lucy stayed out there for another minute just to see how the dynamics of Tim’s crew really worked. It made her smile on the inside seeing that everyone was included on the task. Being lost in her daze, she didn’t hear Jackson calling her back to the truck. It wasn’t until he slightly honked the horn that got her attention. She took one more look at the field before getting into the truck to head away. 

()()()()()()()()()()()()

After the debrief with the team was done, Lucy and Jackson decided to go to the motel to get checked in for the night. The car ride stayed silent on the ride over. Lucy didn’t want to bring up what happened out in the field but she knew that had to set some boundaries when it came to the experiment. Before she could get a word in, they pulled into the parking lot. Jackson got out and went to grab their bags from the back seat. As they were heading to the clerk desk, Lucy hears Jackson clear his throat.

“I’m sorry for what happened out there”

“Jackson…..” Lucy tries to interrupt 

“No….. you were right, I should have told you the specifics of the plan before we went out into the field. I just didn’t think it would affect you this much”

“It’s Ok” Lucy pleads “But thank you for apologizing”

“No worries” Jackson smiles back “How about you wait out here while I get us checked in”

“Sounds good”

Lucy waited outside while Jackson got himself and her check in. She looked around the lot seeing all the people from earlier just hanging out and having fun without a care in the world. It made her smile, seeing people enjoying themselves. She wished she could live that life but with the lifestyle she had, it couldn’t happen.

“Hey” Lucy heard Jackson speak “Here’s your key”

“Thanks” Lucy nods her head “Now I can get the day washed off of me”

“You could say that again” Jackson smiles “See you later Lucy”

“See you later”

Lucy started making her way over to her room while she saw Jackson making his way over to the stairs. As she was making her way over, she seemed to have noticed a familiar truck sitting in the parking lot. What made it better was that Tim was sitting in the tailgate. The smile on her face was bigger than she expected. How could a guy like this have this much effect on her, could it be the way he treated her when they were talking? Yeah, that’s most likely the reason. Before she got ahead of herself, she saw Tim looking her way. She took a quick breath before she made her way over.

“Lucy, nice to see you again” Tim smiled 

“Nice to see you too” Lucy smiled back “How was rest of your day”

“Great, thanks to you we were able to catch a good one”

“Glad to hear that”

Lucy looked around the truck and saw the other members of Tim’s crew. She knew Celina but she didn’t know the other people that were a part of it.

“Umm…… I’m sorry I don’t think I’ve met everyone here”

“Ohh, yeah” Tim exclaimed “Well……. You already know Celina, she’s our drone expert” Tim looks over to the other lady nearby “This is Katie Barnes, she’s our designated mechanic”

“Mechanic, impressive” Lucy voiced out

“Thanks” Katie announces

Tim leads Lucy over to the two men that are sitting in the lawn chairs “And this is Wade and Aaron. Wade is our official old timer of the group, he’s been chasing storms for longer than we’ve been alive. And Aaron is our videographer, he edits all of our videos before we put them online”

“Nice to meet you all”

All of them greeted her back and went back to what they were doing. 

“They seem like a fun group” Lucy comments 

“Yeah, they really are. I don’t know what I do without them”

“I wish my friend’s team was like this. All of them seem closed off from me”

“Why’s that”

“Beats me” Lucy shrugs “Alright, I’ll let you guys enjoy the rest of your night”

“You don’t have to leave” Tim pleads “You can hang out with us if you like”

Lucy sighs “I would love to but I feel like I need to take a shower after what went down today”

Tim nods “Say no more, have a good night Lucy”

Lucy made her way over to her room and got inside. She immediately set her bag on the bed and fell on top of it. All the events that happened today took a lot out of her. The only thing she wanted to do right now was get in the shower and go to bed.

After she gets out of the shower, she puts on her pajamas and makes her way over to the bed. Grabbing the remote off the dresser, she flipped through some channels that looked interesting but a majority of them were about the tornadoes that were coming in the next few days. After settling on a channel, Lucy throws the remote onto the bed while she finishes her night routine. As she was brushing her teeth, a noise came through her phone. She looked over and saw that Tamara had sent her a message.

Hope you’re not having too much fun without me

Lucy smiled and sent off a response. Before she set her phone down, it went off again. This time it was Noah. He was trying to call her but she didn’t want to pick. After the third time it went off, Lucy grabbed her phone and answered.

“Can you take a hint? I don’t want to talk to you”

“Lucy, can you just let me talk”

“No, I can’t Noah. I can’t take any of your criticism right now. I’ve had a long day and I want to go to bed. Goodbye”

Lucy hung up before Noah could get another word in. She threw her phone onto the bed so she didn’t have to look at it for the rest of the night. She wanted to take her mind off of this, even though it was minor she just didn’t want to think about Noah. Commotion came from outside so Lucy went to investigate. When she got to the window, she could see Tim’s team having a fun time. Without missing a beat, Lucy grabs her key card and walks outside to Tim’s truck.

“Hey” Lucy sees Tim turn his head “You got room for one more”

Tim smiles before grabbing a bottle out of the cooler. Lucy takes the bottle from Tim and opens it immediately. Taking a seat next to Tim, the rest of the night was spent talking about the days ahead and what to expect from the storms. Lucy loved the way that they just took her in. It made her feel happy inside. As the clock hit midnight, Tim and his team decided to call it a night. Lucy wished all of them goodnight before heading back to her room. Not getting very far, she doubled back and walked over towards Tim.

“Hey” Lucy’s nudged Tim’s shoulder “Thank you for letting crash your night”

“No worries, you’re welcome anytime” Tim smiles “Besides, it looked like you needed the distraction from something”

“You got that right” Lucy smiled back “My boyfriend or……. Should I say soon to be ex-boyfriend, called me tonight wanting to talk”

“And you didn’t”

“Not really. I won’t bore you with the details” Lucy sighed “I better get to bed, Jackson wants to get up early”

“Then I won’t keep you long, Goodnight Lucy”

“Night Tim”

As she walked away, she got stopped

“Wait” Tim came rushing over “I wanted to give you something” Lucy sees Tim pull out a piece of paper “It’s my number, call it whenever you need to talk”

Lucy takes the paper from Tim happily before heading back over to her room. As she walked inside, she noticed her phone still on the bed. She reaches over and sees 10 more text messages from Noah. She didn’t want to read any of them. For now, she will ignore them. Anyways, she put her phone on the charger and crawled under the blanket. Laying her head down on the pillow, Lucy let her mind wander. To her, it felt like a good day, meeting Tim was an added plus. Even though she freaked out halfway through, she knew tomorrow would be better and she couldn’t wait for it.

Chapter Text

After the sun started to come up, Lucy decides to start her day, even if she dreads it. She takes a quick look at her phone and sees more messages from Noah asking to talk. Rolling her eyes in disgust, Lucy scrolls over to his contact and mutes all of his messages. Now she won’t have to hear her phone going off every 10 minutes. Afterward, Lucy rummages through her suitcase to try and find something to wear. She was hoping it could be a day she could wear some sweatpants but it’s supposed to be 70 degrees so leggings and graphic tee it was. 

After settling into her clothes and brushing her hair into a bun, Lucy walks out of her room and makes her way to the gas station diner across the parking lot. When she walked inside, she made her way over to the coffee station because she is still a little tired from yesterday. As she’s pouring herself a cup, the door opens. With a quick glance, she sees Tim entering the gas station with his team. Knowing they are probably going to the diner, Lucy turns back and continues to pour her coffee. But, she was wrong.

“Lucy” She turns her head to find Tim approaching her “Hey, how’s your morning going”

Lucy sighs “It’s going good, how about you”

“Ok, I guess. I still very tired from last night”

“Me too. That’s why I’m getting the biggest coffee they have to keep me awake”

“I might just have to join you on that”

Lucy scoots herself out of the way so Tim could get to the coffee station. He proceeds to grab a big cup just like Lucy and fill it all the way to the top. Lucy watched him as she took a sip of her coffee, just wishing how it could be like this every morning. Her mind may have wondered a little bit cause Tim was trying to get her attention.

“Sorry, what did you say”

Tim chuckled “I asked if you want anything else, I’ll pay for it”

“You don’t have to do that”

“Yes I do, you got us a pretty good storm yesterday. I want to do this as a thank you”

Lucy smiles slightly “Fine” Lucy walks over to the bakery section and grabs two donuts “Is this good enough”

“Yeah, That’s good”

They walk over to the checkout and Tim pays for their stuff. They walk outside and find Tim’s team sitting back over by their truck with their snacks. 

“Did you want to come join us” Tim asked

Lucy thinks about it for a second. It would be nice hanging out with them again but knowing Jackson, He wouldn't like to see her sitting with his so-called enemy.

“I would love to but I better go find Jackson and figure out our plan for the day”

“No worries” Tim comments “See you later”

Lucy watched as Tim rejoined his team and sat down with them to eat. It was killing her that she couldn’t go over there. After hanging out with them last night, they seem like fun people who just live their lives. Lucy wished she could be like them. Without trying a second thought, Lucy drags herself with her food back over to the diner. As she walked in, she could see members of Jackson’s team eating breakfast. While she was looking, she spotted Jackson sitting at one of the booths. What surprised her though was that he wasn’t by himself. She made her way over and she could see the look in his eyes when she approached.

“Hey Jackson”

“Lucy” Jackson exclaimed “What are you doing here”

“Grabbing Coffee and some food” Lucy looks over to the gentleman across from Jackson “Who are you”

The man extends his hand “Nick Armstrong, Jackson’s Boss”

Lucy nods her head “Lucy Chen”

“Aww…… The Lucy Chen, the one Jackson wouldn’t shut up about”

“I guess that’s me”

Before Lucy could start asking more questions, Jackson interrupts

“Listen, Can you give us a couple more minutes to talk. I’ll meet you outside”

“Umm…… Sure. See you in a bit”

Lucy takes another quick look at Nick before making her way out of the diner with her coffee and donuts. She found a picnic table not far from the entrance of the diner. Lucy took a seat and immediately grabbed her donut and ate it. Guess she was really hungry after all. After she was done with everything, she got up and threw her trash away then headed off towards the truck.

()()()()()()()

As the crew got settled into their stations, Lucy got to work. She grabbed the radar from the truck and went back out to the empty field to see if she could find them a good tornado. There was one that she liked but it looked like it wouldn’t fully develop. She tried looking at the radar again but nothing seemed as promising as the one from yesterday. She stood there for a long time and nothing was showing off. Around noon she decided to go report back to Jackson and figure out a different strategy for the day. But something stopped her in her tracks, loud footsteps. She’d recognized that sound from anywhere.

“Find anything good yet”

Lucy looks over her shoulder and shakes her head “Nope, there’s one on the radar in the south but it doesn’t have the right amount of moisture for it to form correctly”

“Especially with no-level CAPE”

Lucy looked over at Tim, she was very impressed that he knew what that mean’t. He did study meteorology though so she shouldn’t be too surprised. She went back to looking at the radar to see if there was any possibility of another one coming in, it didn’t look promising.

“Doesn’t look like any are going to be forming in the west either anytime today”

“What about the east side” Tim questioned 

Lucy shakes her head once again “It looks like there could be one but the air doesn’t look heavy enough to hold it, it would probably die off too quickly”

Tim sighs “Guessing our chances of a tornado today are very slim”

“Looks like that”

“That’s a bummer”

“You’re right about that”

Tim sighs once again “So, if it looks like we won’t be doing anything soon, did you want to come and join me for lunch”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders “I don’t know”

“Come on, it won’t be too bad”

“I know that. It’s just my friend wouldn’t like if I wandered off”

“You wouldn't be wandering off. We’ll just be at the diner next door”

“Ugh…. Ok, we can go eat”

Tim smiled as they started to make their way back to the diner. They made a quick pit stop to drop off Lucy’s radar before going inside. Tim decided to open the door for Lucy like the gentleman he is. They get brought to a booth and order their drinks. As they waited to order their food, Tim opened up the conversation.

“So, how did you feel about the tornado yesterday”

Lucy sighs “Honestly, I wasn’t too happy at first. Jackson wouldn’t let me sit the first one out”

“Why did you want to sit out”

“Too many memories came flashing back”

“Huh……” Tim implies “Is it the actually reason why you don’t come home as much”

“You could say that”

The waitress came back with their drinks and they ordered their food. The conversation continued but Tim moved to a lighter subject since it looked like Lucy didn’t want to talk about tornadoes anymore. Tim decided to bring up a story of him at his first rodeo when he fell off a pig he was riding. Lucy laughed so hard that she spittaked her water. After that the conversation flowed nicely. Talking to Tim felt easy to her for some reason. He seemed very caring and considerate when it came to her turn to speak. He didn’t interrupt her, not even once. Noah never treated her like this. This really made her think about how she would have the official talk with him when she decides to break up with him. 

Their food came and they continued to talk. After they were both done eating, Tim paid for their food and they walked out of the diner. Lucy walked back over to Jackson while Tim went to join his team. When Lucy got back to the truck, Jackson looked frantic.

“Jackson” Lucy said as she approached “What’s going on”

Without warning, Jackson runs up to Lucy and wraps her in a big hug.

“Ok, what is this for”

“We couldn’t find” Jackson spoke “The team looked everywhere for you”

“Did you guys think to look in the diner cause that’s where I was the whole time”

Jackson looked at her confusingly. He sent someone in there but they said they didn’t see her. He decided to walk over to the team member that went inside and confront him about it. After a minute, Lucy sees Jackson walking back over to her.

“Sorry about that, they were really adamant that they didn’t see you. They said they saw a girl in there but they were eating with Bradford so they thought it was one of his team members”

“Yeah, it wasn’t a team member with him” Lucy explained “That was me”

“What” Jackson questioned “Why were you eating with him”

“He offered. There wasn’t a storm anytime soon so we decided to grab some lunch together”

“Lucy……. You know I don’t trust that guy”

“Why not”

Jackson shakes his head “I don’t want to talk about it”

“You’re impossible”

Jackson rolls his eyes “Are there any storms coming in now since you ate”

“I don’t know, I have to look at the radar”

Lucy quickly grabs the radar from the truck and looks to see what’s happening. Once she looked at it, she could tell that a good one was coming. How was this not on the radar before, it must have happened when she was eating. With quick sensation, she tells Jackson and his team to get ready to go. As she was hopping into the truck, she took a quick look over at Tim. He was looking right at her with a smile on his face. Even though he was supposed to be the enemy, she pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message off to Tim

Winds forming in the Northwest, moisture looks good. I think it’s a winner

Lucy knew immediately that Tim read the message because his team got into action. They were so fast, they bet Jackson’s team out of the parking lot.

“Damn, How does Bradford know about it”

“I don’t know” Lucy said with a smirk

Soon after, Jackson’s team headed off to follow the storm

()()()()()()()

The second time around, Lucy left a little bit more comfortable riding with Jackson. He stayed a little quiet while Lucy was trying to give him direction. Guessing that hanging out with Tim is making his blood boil so Jackson doesn’t want to talk as much. As Lucy was leading the way, She could see Tim’s truck in the distance. Jackson looked a little upset that he was in front of them. She doesn’t want to tell him that she texted Tim about the tornado since she doesn’t want him in a worse mood.

“Ok Lucy, what are you seeing”

“Umm……..Ok, It already has a nice structure, the moisture levels are just right and lots of CAPE”

“What else is there”

“The flow is staying clean, Tons of warm air is coming in through the north”

Lucy went on explaining more of what she is seeing and Jackson likes what he is hearing. He smiles back at Lucy with pride. Lucy sees this a questions the little look she’s getting

“Why are you giving me that look”

“You’re starting to sound like you again”

Lucy sighs “Yeah, Don’t get used to it. I won’t be staying for long”

They continued on driving as the storm clouds started coming down. All they could pray for was that the tornado would actually touch down. The wait felt like torture, it was happening so slowly. At the moment they didn’t know if it would stay put. All Lucy could hear was Jackson mumbling something that she wasn’t sure about. Sooner or later, the tornado finally touched down. Jackson cheered in excitement as he radioed his team the good news. Lucy liked that Jackson was happy, all she could think about was when it was going to be all over.

But something caught her eye in the sky. She didn’t know if she was seeing this correctly but she could swear that a second tornado was forming right next to the other.

“Are you seeing that right now” Lucy points out to Jackson

“Holy crap, is that…….” Jackson sees Lucy nod “We got our work cut out for us”

Lucy and Jackson continued driving towards the tornadoes. They end up colliding with each other and quickly separated again. Knowing one of them was going to die out, Lucy had to figure out which one was going to be the best one to follow. She tries telling Jackson to go around Tim’s truck but he was so caught up in the tornadoes that he wasn’t listening to her. She shrugged it off. After a minute, Jackson talks with the team and says to cut off Tim's team. Once they got ahead of them, Lucy focused back on the radar.

“Which way am I going Lucy, left or right”

“Go Left, there’s a road coming up that we can take”

Jackson gets the message and starts making his way to the left. As they were approaching the road, Lucy sensed something off. She looked over into the field and noticed that they needed to go another way.

“Go right” Lucy shouts

“What”

“Go to the right”

With no hesitation, Jackson turns the truck and starts heading off in the other direction. His team members radioed in saying the other tornado had better numbers but he just ignored it. If Lucy noticed something then he would follow it. In the side mirror, Lucy saw Tim’s truck heading left instead of right along with them. Did he see something different then she did, are they going the wrong way? She couldn’t think about that right now, she needed to do her job.

“That was awesome Lucy”

“Thanks, I just noticed that the wheat moving more towards the north, just what this little one needed”

Soon after, everyone was radioing in saying their radars are up. All that needed to happen now was getting the last radar into place. As soon as they are within range, Jackson parks the truck and they rush outside. They grab the radar from the tailgate and set down in the path. After they lock it into place, they run back inside the vehicle and try to drive off. The tornado was moving faster than they anticipated.

“It’s coming in fast” Lucy yells

Jackson grabs his radio and calls his team “How’s it looking out there”

They heard back that they lost the signal and they still needed eyes on the tornado. Still with fear in their eyes, Lucy and Jackson did the best they could trying to get out of there and keeping eyes on the tornado. All around them, houses were being torn apart and power lines came crashing down but it didn’t stop them. Without even realizing it, a chicken coop flew into the truck and feathers went everywhere.

“Did you just hit some chickens” Lucy asks

“I think I did”

With quick thinking, Jackson was able to get the truck into a ditch for shelter. Lucy held her breath while the storm passed over them. It felt like it was taking forever but in reality it was 20 seconds later when the tornado finally left them alone. After she looked up and saw that it was gone. She let out the breath she was holding.

“Thank god for that” Jackson cheered out

After that, Jackson was able to get back in contact with the team. Overhearing on the radio they were able to get great data but they needed to find the third radar to download the results from it. Lucy looked back at the radar and saw something she didn’t want to see, the tornado was heading for a small town. He tried pleading with her saying that the alert had already been sent out and they couldn’t do anything about it. Besides that, they had to find their radar before it died. With pleading eyes, Lucy told them that the people there need help and they can provide it for them. Jackson eventually gave in to the demands and started driving off to help.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

After they arrived there were already a ton of people coming in to help out. Lucy got out of the truck before Jackson could even park it. She looked around seeing what damage had been done. It was not looking good at all. She immediately spots an older lady coming out of her house with some blood dripping down her arm. She rushed over and got the lady some assistance at the medical tent. 

After helping out some families, Lucy and Jackson felt like they did the best they could do. They still walked around to see if someone else needed something.

“You know you were right. It’s good that we came over to help”

Lucy nods “Yep, but I wish we could do something more”

Lucy continues to look around at what damage was still there and there was so much of it. She kept looking around at all the people, they looked devastated. She remembered looking like that when she used to live here. It’s what made her vow to help prevent stuff like this from happening.

“Jackson” Lucy sighs “Do you think that the data can approximately tell us when and how the tornado dissipated”

“Absolutely, Why”

“I just……. Maybe it can be used to make sure this never happens again”

“Now, that’s the Lucy I know and love”

As they were making the final walk through. Lucy and Jackson saw his team pulling up and along with them was Nick. Jackson stopped in his tracks with Lucy stopping with him. She wanted to question it but he didn’t give her a chance. He just told her to stay there until he came back. Knowing she didn’t want to just stand there, Lucy started to wander a little bit. One thing did catch her eyes, Tim’s team yelling out someone’s name. She walked over to see what was going on.

“Tim” Lucy yelled as she approached “What’s happening over here”

“A family over there is looking for their dog, we’re just checking to see if it’s under any of the rumble”

“That seems nice of you” Lucy smiles “Did you need anymore help with that”

“Umm…. Yeah Actually. Wade is searching the back of the house if you want to join him”

Lucy nods her head in agreement and walks over to the backyard. She finds Wade and starts searching with him. After about 15 minutes of looking, Lucy and Wade hear yelling from the front of the house. Once they rushed over, Tim, Aaron and Katie were pulling some rumble away. Lucy could hear the whining of the dog. She kept her distance and watched as Aaron was able to get the dog out and give it back to the finally. Everyone around them cheered at him as he went back to his team. 

“So, anything else you need help with”

Before Tim could answer, Lucy started to hear her name

“Lucy” She turned behind her and saw Jackson walking up to her “I told you to stay put”

“I wasn’t going to just stand there when people need help”

Jackson just rolled his eyes and continued on “It looks like I’m going to be stuck here for awhile but you can head back to the hotel and relax for the rest of the night”

Lucy nods as Jackson hands her the keys to the truck. Jackson walks away soon after that.

“I’m guessing he doesn’t like me very much”

“You could say that”

Both of them watch as Jackson meets up with his team again. Lucy sees that he’s talking to the Nick guy again and it seemed pretty serious. She wanted to know what was going on but she had to respect Jackson.

“I didn’t know you guys were working with Nick Armstrong”

“Yeah, I didn’t know either”

Tim sighs “I hope he’s in it for the right reasons this time”

Lucy wanted to ask what he meant by that but he got called away before she could ask. It left her confused, what did he mean by ‘The right reasons’. Is there something Jackson doesn’t want her to know about this guy? Is he not in the business of helping people? Either way, Lucy was going to find out. As quickly as she could, she got into the truck and drove off to the hotel.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take Lucy too long to get back to the hotel. Her mind raced the whole way back. What did Tim mean by ‘doing it for the right reasons this time’. She couldn’t shake that comment out of her head. After parking the truck, Lucy went into her hotel room. She switched into some sweats and sat down on her bed. She turned the tv on so there was noise in the room. Pulling her laptop out of her bag, she types in the name Nick Armstrong.

“Ok, Nick. Let’s see what your about”

As soon as Lucy hit search, his name popped up everywhere. Apparently, what Jackson didn’t tell her is that the company he works for also works with real estate investors and they buy people out of their land. 

“You gotta be kidding me”

So, this is why Jackson has been so reluctant to tell her anything. The company is basically scamming people out of their family homes and for what, just to sell the land to the highest bidder and build a fancy building on top of it. The news made Lucy very upset. The question that now was stuck in Lucy’s head was why Jackson didn’t want her to know any of this. Lucy knew she had to talk to him about this but Jackson won’t be back for a while so she’ll just have to wait.

Lucy stayed curled up on her bed and watched some tv to pass the time. It was pretty much the same thing running over and over again, weird cartoons that she didn’t know even existed. After a little bit, Lucy got hungry and pulled out her phone to order something in. As she was scrolling, a call came in. And it’s from someone she is despising. Reluctantly, Lucy decided to answer since there is nothing else to do.

“Hello”

“Lucy………. You actually answered this time” Noah mentions

“Because if I didn’t then you would be calling me for the rest of the night”

“No I wouldn’t have”

“I beg to differ” Lucy sighs “Anyways, why do you keep calling”

“I wanted to talk to you”

“About Oklahoma or something else”

“A mix of both actually” Noah admits “So, are you getting on a plane anytime soon”

“No, I’m not. There’s more work that has to be done around here”

“Seriously” Noah said with annoyance “Lucy, you said that you were only to be out there for a week”

“No……. I told you work only gave me a week off. That’s completely different”

“Well, that’s not how I interpreted it” Noah said upset 

“Huh……. And how did you interpret it when I said that I wanted your stuff out of my apartment when I got back” Lucy hears silence on the other end of the phone “Mmm……. I guessing by you being quiet means that you haven’t taken anything out of there yet”

“Umm…….”

“That’s what I thought”

“I didn’t think you were actually serious about that”

“I was” Lucy interrupts “Now, don’t call me back until all of your things are out of my apartment”

Lucy hangs up the phone before Noah has time to respond. Afterwards, she collapses on her bed. Does she really only date jerks? I mean, the guy before Noah was bad but not as bad as this. She let her mind go around that thought but not for too long. After pulling herself off the bed, she grabs her phone again to look for something to eat. A moment later, a knock appeared at her door. She knows it’s not Jackson cause he would have messaged her that he was coming. For a moment she thought it was Tim but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She gets off the bed and walks over to the door. To her surprise, it actually was Tim.

“Hey, what are you doing here”

“Well……..” Tim started “I figured that you hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch so I decided to bring you some food”

Tim holds out the bag with what looks like chinese food inside. She smiled at the nice gesture.

Lucy grabs the bag from Tim’s hand “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this”

“I know but I wanted to do something nice for you” Tim shrugs his shoulder “Since you have been helping find some of the best storms I’ve ever chased”

Lucy chuckles “I don’t know I would say the best but I’ll take the compliment” Lucy smiles back

It felt like her brain froze in the moment. Tim just did a nice thing for her without having to be asked. She felt warm inside. In that moment, all she wanted to do was to talk to him some more. But, she didn’t know a clever way to ask.

“Umm… Did you want to come in and split the food”

Tim shakes his head “No, I don't want to impose”

“But you wouldn’t be. I’m offering”

Lucy can see Tim think about it for a moment before he steps inside to Lucy’s room. She smiles as she closes the door and sets the food on the small end table. After pulling out all the food, Lucy grabbed what she wanted and Tim grabbed what he wanted. Taking a seat on the floor, They each take a bite of their food and begin to talk.

“So…….” Tim takes a bit of his food “You said you used to live here”

“And I would say that you are correct”

Tim chuckles “Where did you used to live exactly”

Lucy wipes her face “I used to live in a town called Bristow, It’s just south of Tulsa”

“Mmm, So not a city girl”

“Nope, Farm girl. Sorry if that disappoints you” Lucy sees Tim chuckle slightly again “What about you, I heard you’re from Austin”

“Born and raised” Tim answered 

“That has to feel nice”

“It does but I will say, it gets a little boring after a while. Seeing the same people everyday and not being able to explore any new opportunities” Tim went on “I wish I was like you, being able to go and live your life”

“Really, you would want my life”

“Umm…. maybe only the part where you were able to leave and not come back”

“Huh” Lucy questions “And where would go if you could leave”

“Ohh…. That’s hard” Tim thinks for a minute “I would probably say somewhere around here”

Lucy chuckles “Seriously, you would want to live here, in Oklahoma, Why” 

“Because” Tim sets his food down “It’s where I got to meet you”

Lucy sat there in pure shock, he would move here cause this is where they met.  She could see the look on his face after he said it. He looked like he didn’t mean to say it out loud. But it’s out there now, nothing could be taken back. Lucy didn’t know how she was supposed to react to this. She knew what she wanted to do but it wouldn’t be the right thing.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said……….”

Lucy didn’t let Tim udder another word. Before she knew it, she was pulling herself towards him and planting a kiss on his lips. All of her emotions are coming at her all at once. She knows she probably shouldn’t be doing this when she is still fighting with Noah. But at that moment, She didn’t care. And from what it looked like, Tim didn’t care either. His hand ended up in her hair as he was pulling her closer to him. He seemed as comfortable as she did with this. It made her feel happy knowing that neither of them wanted it to end. Having Tim kiss her felt incredible and she didn’t want to stop but her phone had other ideas.

Lucy unhappily pulls out of the kiss to grab her phone. She looks at the screen and sees a text from Jackson. Basically telling her he won’t be back at the hotel until midnight so she’s on her own. After seeing the message, she looks back over towards Tim.

“It was just Jackson”

“I could guess that much”

Lucy smiles slightly before joining Tim back on the floor. Lucy doesn’t know what to say. What to say to someone who you just kissed unexpectedly. Likely, Tim beat her to it.

“So, that happened”

“Yeah, I guess it did” Lucy said quietly “Were you Ok with that”

“I was actually” Tim mentions “But I know you’re dealing with your ex or something so I don’t want to push you into something that could hurt you”

“I don’t care about that but I get it. We can talk about it later but for right now would it be fine if we watched a movie together”

Tim chuckles “That I don’t mind doing”

Lucy grabs the remote from the bed and quickly finds a movie for the two of them to watch

()()()()()()()()()()()

After relaxing in front of the tv for a while, Lucy was in the mood for something to eat

“I’m heading to the vending machine, you want anything”

Tim nods his head “Nope, I’m good for now”

Lucy grabs her key card and wallet and walks out of the room. The vending machine isn’t that far from her room so the journey isn’t long. As she was looking through her options, a big gust of wind ripped through the air. It was strange, it didn’t feel normal. She quickly made it back to her room to grab Tim.

“Hey, can you come outside for a minute”

“Sure” 

Tim boosts himself off the ground and walks over to Lucy. After he gets out there, he feels the same thing Lucy did.

“Air feels too heavy, This doesn’t feel right” Lucy comments

“You’re right about that”

“Were you tracking cells out this way”

Tim shakes his head “No, I wasn’t”

And that’s when they hear it, the weather alert. They look down at their phones and see that a tornado has touched down closeby. They race back into Lucy’s room to see if it was true, that’s when Lucy started to panic. The news confirmed that a tornado was coming towards them and fast. Tim immediately grabbed Lucy’s arm and dragged her out of the room. They ran to the hotel lobby to see if they could find a storm shelter. The sirens were blowing in their ears non stop. As they made it to the lobby door, Lucy heard a scream. She looked over and saw a little kid standing alone. 

“Tim” Lucy yells out

Tim looks over and sees the little girl. He signals Lucy to go and get her. As Lucy made her way over, she could see the little girl was crying. Without a moment more, Lucy wrapped up the little girl and ran with her over to Tim. All three of them make it over to the lobby and see a worker behind the desk. Tim raced up the counter first.

“Hey, do you have a storm shelter anywhere”

“No, we don’t” The receptionist spoke 

“What about a basement” Lucy spoke as she made it to the counter

“I’m sorry, No”

Tim sighs with frustration “We need to get somewhere safe”

Lucy looks around the lobby and finds a door, which looks like it leads outside. She runs over to it and looks to see if there is somewhere they could go. She didn’t see anything at first, she saw her’s and Tim’s truck but nothing else. That’s when she saw it, the abandoned pool. It gave her an idea. Quickly, she runs back over to the lobby to grab everyone.

“Follow me” 

“You heard her, lets go”

Everyone in the lobby started following behind her. They ran as fast as they could over to the pool. Lucy’s heart was racing out of her chest but she didn’t want to stop, technically she couldn’t. As they make it over to the pool, Lucy ushers all of them in. The receptionist went down first with the little girl following afterwards. As Lucy closed the gate, she saw a couple running out to their truck and driving away. She tried to yell at them to stop but it was no use. Before they even made it out of the parking lot, the tornado sucked them right up into the sky. 

“We got to go, We got to go” Tim started yelling out

Lucy climbed down into the pool. After she gets in, Lucy escorts the hotel worker and the little girl over to a secluded area of the pool to shield themselves.

“Stay low, cover her eyes, hold on tight”

The worker complied and shielded the girl. Lucy looked back and saw Tim jumping down into the pool. Out of nowhere, a trailer came crashing down into the pool, almost hitting Tim. He tried climbing back over to Lucy but the wind was picking. Lucy reached out to him to grab his hand but he couldn’t grab it. The trailer was slowly moving behind him. With some last efforts, Lucy reached out to Tim and was able to grab onto his hand. She pulled him back to the shelter just as the trailer closed in on them.

She didn’t know how long they were down there for, it felt like forever. The wind started to die down and before they knew it, the tornado was gone. They waited a few seconds to make sure that it wasn’t still there. When they felt safe enough, All of them emerged from their place in the pool. 

Lucy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Vehicles scattered around the place, buildings blown down to nothing, and debris that covered the whole vicinity. 

She looked over at Tim and he had the same reaction as she did.

After they started hearing police sirens approaching, Tim helped everyone get out of the pool. 

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Police and Paramedics arrived soon after. Lucy brought the receptionist and the little girl over to get checked out for injuries. Lucy got checked out herself and was deemed to not be in danger. She spots Tim still over by the pool. She makes her way over to him to keep him company.

“So, you sure you still want to move”

Tim chuckles slightly “Weirdly enough, Yeah”

Lucy started to chuckle along with him. As she was able to speak again, Lucy and Tim heard commotion coming from the ambulance. They looked over and there was a frightened woman looking for her daughter. It had to be the little girl’s mother. Lucy and Tim saw the scene unfold as the mother found the little girl sitting in the ambulance and hugged her tightly. It warmed Lucy’s heart knowing that the little girl was going to be fine. 

“At least their a happy ending to all of this” Tim mentions

Lucy smiles “Yeah, I guess there is”

Tim sighs “Lucy…… About Earlier”

Tim couldn’t finish his sentence, mainly because Lucy had seen Tim’s crew coming over to join them. Wade and Aaron embraced Tim in a hug and to her surprise, Celina and Katie ran up to her first. She hasn’t known them for long but it felt nice knowing they cared about her. All of them started asking questions about what happened and they were more than happy to explain.

Soon after, Jackson and his team pulled up. He ran out of the car when he spotted Lucy

“Lucy” Jackson yells 

Lucy excuses herself and walks over to Jackson. He grabs onto tightly in a huge hug.

“I saw the size on the radar and I tried to rush but……..”

“Jackson, I’m Fine” Lucy interrupts “Nothing to worry about”

Jackson nods his head, satisfied with her answer

She glances over to see Tim telling Aaron and Katie where he took shelter. She sees them looking back to her, giving her a nod and thanking her for the good hiding spot. Jackson looks over and sees Tim looking at Lucy. A realization hit him in the head.

“You’ve been hanging with Bradford the whole time”

Lucy nods “Yeah, Why”

Before he responds, a team member comes over. He informed Jackson that the hotel was family owned and some numbers were starting to be worked out. Apparently Armstrong wanted them first thing in the morning. Jackson told him he would catch up later and turned his attention back to Lucy. He saw the look on her face and it didn’t look kind.

“Jackson” Lucy starts off “What is Nick getting out of all the data you’ve been collecting”

“Does that matter right now” Jackson crosses his arms

“Is it part of your business plan to be profiting off of people’s misery” She could see the look on Jackson’s face and it didn’t make her happy “Why are you doing this”

“First of all, Armstrong is in the business to help people move past their tragedies”

“No, what he is doing is taking advantage of hard working people who had just lost everything that they had. Do you realize that” Lucy sees Jackson process what he wants to say “You have no idea what it’s like for them in a time like this”

And that makes Jackson boil over 

“I have no idea what that’s like” Jackson almost yells “I lost three of my best friends to your dumb science project just hoping to get a big grant”

Lucy starts to tear up at his words. She couldn’t believe it, Jackson just admitted that it was her fault for their friends dying. No words could be expressed for how betrayed she felt in that moment. Jackson tried to take it back but the deed had been done. Wiping her tears away, Lucy walked away from Jackson. He yelled for to stop but she kept on walking. She sneaked a glance over at Tim and he immediately saw the look on her face. Without breaking stride, Lucy pulled out the keys to Jackson’s truck and hopped inside. Jackson was still trying to follow her but she didn’t stop. She pulled out of the parking and started to make her way down the road. Not knowing where to go, she pulled over to think of a plan. Not even a minute later, she pulled out her phone and pulled up a contact.

“Mom” Lucy started off

“Lucy” Zoe replied “Are you Ok”

“No, I’m not” Lucy sniffs back a tear “Is there anyway I can come home”

“Absolutely, You’re welcomed home anytime”

“Is it Ok if I show up within the next hour”

“The next hour, What do you…….” Zoe asked confusingly

“I’m just outside of Tulsa”

Zoe acted surprised “Alright then, I’ll see you in an hour”

Lucy hangs up the phone and starts heading on the road again. She was officially going home

Chapter Text

The drive back home didn’t feel like it took that long. Maybe all the excitement that has happened over the last few days has occupied her mind.

Driving down a familiar road that she has driven multiple times before, Lucy sees her mom’s house in the distance. From what she can tell, it really hasn’t changed since she left all that time ago. Her mom said she was going to renovate the place but it looks like she hasn’t had the time to get around to it. The good thing everything looked the same to her, it’s like she never left.

Pulling into her mom’s driveway, the memories come flooding back to her. Playing with the horses in the barn, jumping the mud puddles her mom told her not to jump in, they were some of her best memories. As she puts the truck in park, she hops out and walks over to the porch where her mom is waiting for her. Zoe greeted her with the biggest hug she’s ever received.

“It’s good to have you home, Luce”

Lucy sighs “It feels good to be home”

“Come inside, I have some lavender tea waiting in the kitchen”

Lucy proceeds to walk inside and head towards the kitchen. On the counter was the tea that her mom had mentioned was for her. She grabs the cup and takes a big sip, trying to forget about what she just experienced.

“So, What’s the reason you felt like you had to come home”

Lucy sighs “It’s just…….. Jackson and I got into an argument tonight”

“About what”

“About what his company is really doing here”

“Ripping off people’s misery”

Lucy looks at her mom shocked “How did you know that”

“Jackson stopped by a few weeks ago and I noticed the logo on his jacket” Zoe notices Lucy about to start talking “And before you ask, he was here asking if I still had some of your notes from your chasing days. I told him no but I know there’s probably a few hanging around”

Lucy nods “Thanks”

“No Problem” Zoe smiles back “How about you finish your tea while I get your room ready for you. I got most of it set up but……”

“That’s ok, just take your time”

Zoe left the kitchen and headed down the hallway down to Lucy’s room. Lucy stayed at the counter sipping her tea as she thought about the day. How could she know it was going to end like this. Well, except for the part where she and Tim kissed, that she wasn’t expecting from today. They still need to talk about it but for now, she can wait until she sees him again. A little bit later, Zoe comes back to the kitchen to tell Lucy her room is ready. 

As she made her way down the hallway, she looked at all the pictures her mom had put up years ago. It looks like her mom hasn’t replaced those either. Even after all this time, her mom still chooses to keep the house the same. Probably just in case she ever came home again. Her mom knows she doesn’t like change.

Once she made it to her room, she grabbed the pajamas her mom had left out for her and put them on. She wishes her mom goodnight before closing the door and turning off the lights. Lying down in bed, Lucy stares at the ceiling thinking about what Tomorrow would bring for her. Soon after, Lucy closes her eyes and falls asleep for the night.

()()()()()()()()()()()

As soon as the clock hit 9, Lucy crawled out of bed. After what happened last night, she was happy to get a little bit of extra sleep. She really needed it. Once she got dressed in some clothes she found in her closet, she headed to the kitchen where her mom had left her a note.

Coffee has been made and breakfast is on the stove. I’ll see you around lunch

Lucy walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. The first sip of coffee always felt like the best thing ever to her. Seeing that her mom had made her french toast with eggs, Lucy inhaled the food instantly. After getting her second cup of coffee, she decided to take a walk outside. Thinking it would help clear her mind about everything happening around her. Upon her walk, she spotted her mom over by the chicken.

“Hey honey, I didn’t think you’d be up until later”

“Yeah well……” Lucy shrugged her shoulders “I figured I had to get out of bed sometime today”

“I feel you, there are some days I don’t want to get out of bed but the animals need to eat”

“I can believe it” Lucy chuckles “So, do you have any plans for the day”

“Besides dealing with the animals, I have nothing. Why do you ask”

Lucy shakes her head “No reason”

They continued to talk for a little longer before Zoe had to answer a call on her phone. Lucy bids her mom goodbye and goes on about her walk. Breathing in the air felt nice to her, it’s nothing like the air in San Diego. The hustle of downtown and all the people around but back here, it’s nice and peaceful. She can see why her mom wants her to come back. Lucy would say after this experience, it might be a possibility but doesn’t want to go too far yet. 

As she made it to the end of her walk, she arrived at the place where her dreams started, the old barn. Her mom had used it for the animals but renovated it for Lucy when she built a new one. Lucy loved it because she had a place where she could just be herself and no one could judge her. Upon walking in, she saw that nothing had changed. The creaky old stairs, the rafters where she would take power naps, all of the above. What stood out to her the most was her old desk, the one she used to make her experiments come to life. She loved that desk, it’s where her dreams came to life.

As she was exploring her desk, she found a very memorable item. She took it in her hand and read what was written

Lucy’s notebook on Cloud Microphysics

She opened up the book and was amazed by what she saw. All of her equations and configurations on how she was going to tame a tornado. Her mom was right, she might have been a little obsessed with this. After taking another walk around the barn, Lucy kept finding stuff from all her other experiments, the ones that were successful and the ones that crashed and burned. Lucy laughed at herself with all the memories flooding back to her. Her best times were truly in the barn. Sooner or later, Zoe entered the barn.

“I guess you found your way back here”

“Yeah, I did” Lucy smiles “I see that you haven’t changed it”

“Why would I change it”

“Don’t you need it for all your stuff”

“Pfft…. Please, I have plenty of room in the other barn for my equipment. Besides, what would I do with everything in here”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders “I don’t know, just throw it out”

Zoe looks over at Lucy shock “Wow, thought I never hear those words come out of your mouth”

“Yeah, me neither” Lucy sighs “But, I don’t really do any of this anymore so……..”

“I get it but I thought it was your mission to save the world”

“And it still is”

“So what’s stopping you from doing that”

“I would think it would be my PTSD”

“Ok, I’ll give you that but is there anything else stopping you” Zoe could see the wheels in Lucy’s head spinning. Knowing she might have pushed too far, Zoe decided to leave Lucy to her herself “I’m going to head into town for a little bit, did you need me to grab you anything”

“Would a Onion Burger count as anything”

Zoe chuckles before kissing Lucy on the head and walking out of the barn. Now that she is to herself, Lucy continued to go down memory lane. She went over to a little table she had tucked in the corner. On it was her science fair project for high school. It mimicked what destruction from tornadoes could cause at different stages. Seeing that the remote was right next to it, Lucy instantly grabbed and turned it on. As she was fiddling around with it, footsteps dragged behind her. 

“I see you built your own tornado”

Lucy looked over shoulder and smirked as Tim starting walking towards her “Science fair project”

“I’m assuming you won”

Lucy nods her head as she leans against the wall, Tim doing the same

“How did you know where to find me”

“Um…… Wade pieced it together. He remembered your name from a news story about five years back”

Lucy sighs “So you know that…….”

“Your friends were killed in a massive F5 tornado. Yah, I do” Tim against his stance and sighs “Sorry you lost your friends, I can’t imagine going through that”

Lucy chuckles slightly “I’m just as surprised about that myself”

“And I’m guessing this is the event that lead you to leaving”

Lucy nods “Yeah, it was. I couldn’t here anymore knowing that my friends weren’t alive so I thought a fresh start would be best for me”

“And let me ask, was it the best”

Lucy shrugs “I want to think it was but……” Lucy slightly looks around the barn “After coming back here, it’s made me think that leaving wasn’t the right choice”

“You know your mom wouldn’t mind if you came back right”

“I know but I still don’t know what the right choice is for me at the moment”

Tim nods his head “Well, the only person who can make that choice is you”

“Don’t remind me”

Tim chuckled as the conversation continued to flow. Lucy thought it felt nice talking to someone who wouldn’t push her buttons about her past, she really liked that about Tim. As they finished their talk, Lucy decided to give Tim a mini tour of the barn. Tim was really invested in how Lucy used the space to create whatever her imagination desired. Lucy showed him everything it had to offer, even her hidden stash where she kept all her snacks. A little bit later, Zoe comes back to the barn.

“Oh, I see you find your way here Tim” Zoe asked

Lucy looks at her mom confused “What do you mean by that”

“The call I got earlier, It was him asking if you were here”

Lucy looks over at Tim “How did you get her number”

“Jackson left his phone open for your mom’s contact. I just took a screenshot of it”

Lucy sighs and nods her head turning her attention back to her mom “I’m guessing you're in here to tell me about lunch”

“Yes, it’s in the kitchen waiting for you and I even got some for your friend too”

“Ohh, I don’t want to impose” Tim comments

“It’s no worry. I’m fine if you stay” Lucy replies “Besides, how can you say no to an onion burger”

Tim smiles “Ok, now I can’t rejected that offer”

Lucy, Tim and Zoe walked out of the barn and headed inside for some lunch. Along the way talking about what else they would do for the day.

()()()()()()()()()

After lunch Zoe went back to working around the farm while Tim and Lucy stayed inside. Deciding on cleaning up the house so Zoe had one less thing to worry about. A little while later, Zoe came back to start dinner. Since Lucy was home she wanted to make BBQ Pulled Pork because it’s one of her favorites. Once Zoe was done with the food, she asked Lucy and Tim to set the table. They decided to eat outside at the picnic table since it was still nice outside. After they started eating, the three of them started talking.

“This one used to tell people everything” Zoe spoke out

“Really” Tim smirked

“Yes, when she was 4, we were at a rodeo and she got the nerve to stand up in her seat and yelled Don’t attack the clowns, they are nice people”

Tim chuckled slightly while Lucy just rolled her eyes

“Got any more stories you can tell me”

Zoe nods “One time I was giving her a bath…….”

“Can we not tell that story”

“Shh……” Zoe notions “We had heard thunder and out of nowhere, she shot out of the tub and ran out of the house, as naked as a baby. When I finally got up to her, she was in the middle of the wheat field just staring at the sky”

“Mmm…… That seems like something I need to try out”

“Don’t encourage yourself”

“Keep your clothes on, Luce. Your mom has to finish her story”

“I just got to say from that, she has always loved weather. The worse the weather was the happier she was”

Zoe looked over at Lucy and she had a smile on her face. She knew a small comment like that would make her smile.

“So, what about you Tim? what got you interested in this line of work”

Tim sighs “Well, along the same line as Lucy, I’ve been fascinated with weather since I was young. I basically spent my whole childhood trying to understand it”

Zoe smiles “Lucy was going to go for her Masters”

“Impressive” Tim said while looking over at Lucy

“Thanks” Lucy said shyly 

“I’ve been trying to tell her that she should do it”

“Mom”

Zoe interrupts “She was part of this group that studied tornado dynamics”

As her mom was talking, Lucy started to get a little bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. That day was flooding back into her head and she didn’t like it. To get away from the situation, Lucy got up from the table and brought the plates inside. The walk back to the house seemed to help her calm down. She knows her mom means well and she didn’t mean to make her feel bad in the process. Once Lucy was back inside, she dropped the plates into the sink. After walking past the living room, Lucy saw the weather channel broadcasting about a tornado that touched down on the other side of the state. She didn’t want to hear any of it so she grabbed the remote and turned the Tv off. As soon as she does that, Zoe comes in with the rest of the stuff.

“By the way, I invited Tim to stay in the guest room tonight” Zoe spoke with a smile

Lucy just rolled her eyes and smiled along with her. Once Zoe said no to Lucy doing the dishes, she decided to go find Tim. He wasn’t at the picnic table so the other place he could be is in the barn. Making her way over, she opened up the door to find Tim over at her desk. He was reading something but Lucy didn’t know what she had over there. The only thing she could think of was……… shit, her notebook. Before she could fully react, Tim spotted her walking towards him.

“Your team thought you could disrupt a tornado”

“Don’t look at that” 

“You are the OG wrangler aren’t you” 

Lucy approaches her desk “Give it to me”

Tim pulled the notebook away “Using superabsorbent polymer to reduce moisture in updraft, trying to collapse it”

“Tim”

“For that to happen you would need to drop a silo of it in a funnel for anything to take effect”

“You were using that to different reagents for enhancement” Lucy tries to grab the notebook again

“Some of these reactants are off, a few solubility rules skew……” Tim looks over at Lucy and she doesn’t look thrilled “What…… You think I’m an actual idiot don’t you”

“No, it’s not that, I don’t think you are……”

“Modeling has gotten much better over the years. In fact, I can put this into my laptop, linked up with a supercomputer. I’m telling you we can get a new model running”

“No, No, No…….”

“It’s a great idea. How did you not tell me……..”

Tim looked up from the notebook at just the right moment. He could see the expression Lucy had on her face. She looked like she was upset about what was in the notebook. But, what could that be, all he was doing was reading what was written in there. That’s when it hit him, this wasn’t just any notebook.

“This is the experiment you were doing when your friends were killed”

“Yeah, it was”

Tim sighed and put the notebook down. He walked over to Lucy and wrapped her in a hug. He felt like she needed it at that moment. Gently kissing her on the head, he comforts Lucy until she felt better.

“Thank you”

“No worries”

Lucy wipes a tear away “It’s just….. I think back to that day all the time and wonder if I had just done one thing differently, my friends would still be here. I pushed it too far”

“You couldn’t have known it at the time”

“I know but looking at it now, I can see that it was never going to work”

“That’s not true” Tim sees the look on Lucy’s face “EF1 or EF5 rating aren’t based on wind speed or size. The power we ascribe on it is based on damage. It’s not until after the fact that people can define it. I’m truly sorry for what happened” Tim sighed loudly “But what are you willing to let that tornado still take from you”

Lucy sniffs back a tear “Your right, I can’t let this tornado continue to take anything else from me”

“That’s the spirit” Tim said happily “What are you going to do about it”

Lucy sighs “I think I’m going to try this experiment again with some modifications and I’m going to need some help”

Tim smiles “Is this you asking me to help you”

Lucy smiles back “That’s exactly what I’m asking”

“Yeah, I’ll help you”

“Great” Lucy cheers “But, let’s start tomorrow. It’s getting late”

“That I can agree with”

They make their way out of the barn and walk over to the house. Zoe had already set up the guest room so it was ready for Tim when he went in. Lucy settled into bed and just wondered what tomorrow would bring.

()()()()()()()()()

After waking up the next morning, Lucy and Tim got to work. First, they had to eat breakfast since Zoe had already made it for them. Once they were done, Tim ran out to his truck to pull out his computer and brought it over to the barn.

“Ready to get this started” Lucy asked 

“Yes Ma’am”

They got the computer loaded up and got started

“Alright, this is an EF1 with perfect conditions” Tim scooches the computer over “Run your experiment to see if it works”

Lucy grabs the computer and starts putting her data in. She double checked to see if she entered it correctly before running it through the system. After that, Tim entered what he needed into the model before they activated it. It took a second to load before the model flooded the screen. For what it looked like the buoyancy of the air was coming down dramatically and the updraft was slowing down. Everything was running like it was supposed to.

“Lucy, in theory this should have worked”

Lucy smiles and nods her head “Right, in theory” Lucy pauses “But that day it wasn’t an EF1……. It never stood a chance”

“You want one?”

Lucy looks up at Tim and sees the expression on his face. She smiled back at him and nodded in agreement. The next moment, Lucy was looking up in the rafters and spotted her polymer barrels just sitting there waiting to be used. She motioned them to Tim and he looked up and saw them as well. Within minutes both of them are loading the barrels onto Zoe’s trailer and heading out on the road.

Lucy didn’t expect Tim’s truck to be so equipped. He had stuff everywhere

“What do you have in here” Lucy leans back and digs through his back seat

“What are you doing, Stop” Tim sees Lucy opening the sun visor “And that a mirror”

The next second Lucy opened with the glove compartment and some pictures slipped out of it

“Oh god” Lucy’s eyes popped

“Ok, I have to ask, have you ever been in a car before”

Lucy just rolls her eyes while she starts playing with the middle console

“There’s a ton of gadgets in here”

“Yeah, Yeah, Please don’t touch that. There’s guards on there for a reason”

Lucy finds one button that looks interesting “What does this one do”

“That’s a……..” Tim gets interrupted by the sound of a blast “A rocket”

Once Lucy was done playing, they focused their attention on the screen. There were a few promising tornadoes but none of them seemed good enough. Tim suggested a tornado just outside of Jennings but Lucy found one that had a more promising outcome. Tim doubted her at first but decided to follow Lucy’s lead. They ended up getting there earlier than expected. As they pulled up, the tornado was just what they were looking for.

“Steady dew point and good wind shear” Lucy yelled running out of the truck “Holy Shit!”

She meet up with Tim who had the same expression she does

“The whole updraft is rotating. Holy Cow”

“Look at those striations, It’s low precip! You can see everything” Tim yelled “Oh, she’s perfect”

Lucy takes out her camera and captures the moment “She’s gorgeous”

Tim looked back at Lucy once she said it. He stopped in his tracks, Lucy looked mesmerizing to him at that moment. It made him start liking her a little bit more than he already did. Lucy had to get Tim out of his trance.

“She’s going to give us something, come on”

Both of them darted to the truck and started making their way closer to the tornado

“Ok, Harness up” Tim commanded

Lucy looked at him a little bit confused “Um…… I thought we were just going to stop it in its path”

Tim looks over and smirks “I’ll tell you later”

Immediately, Lucy starts to grab the harness and suits herself up. They were getting closer by the second. It didn’t scare Lucy but she didn’t like the fact that Tim was enjoying himself while they were driving up. 

“You know you don’t have to drive into it right. I thought that it was dangerous”

“And that’s why we have to do it” Tim smiles “You can’t miss it if your inside it”

“Oh Shit”

They drove a little bit further while Lucy continued to freak out

“Don’t worry, this truck is built to withstand EF1s. We got extra weight on the chassis and we got anchored up to two feet. You don’t have to worry, I’ve done this a bunch of times”

“Have I told you your an asshole”

Tim just chuckled before he drove a little closer to the action. Lucy kept gripping onto the door while telling Tim he’s dumb for driving them this close. He kept saying they got this but Lucy kept panicking, guessing she is more scarce then she thought. Finally, the truck came to a park. He anchored the truck and flipped off the guard for the barrels. Once they were in the eye of the storm, Tim hit the button and the polymer shot up into the sky. Lucy looked out the passenger window as the tornado flew past them, it looked pretty awesome if she said so herself.

Laughter filled the truck as the tornado passed by. Being a part of that was so cool, Lucy couldn’t believe the rush she was feeling.

“Did you see that”

“Oh I saw it” Tim exclaimed “Did it work?”

“Oh, right”

Lucy started unbuckling all of her seatbelts and got out of the truck. From what she saw, there wasn’t anything happening. Tim saw the same thing and just stood there along with her. He suggests they take a break and have something to eat. They went back over to his truck and grabbed the sandwiches that Zoe had packed for them. As they were sitting, Lucy started to think.

“What’s going through your head” Tim asked

“I’m just thinking……. What if the model is the problem”

Tim shrugs his shoulders “Possibly” Tim takes a bite of his sandwich “How do we make a better one”

Lucy shakes her head “Not sure just yet”

They finish eating and head back over to the barn. Zoe was waiting for them when they got back and handed them some water since it looked like they needed it. Lucy and Tim made their way to the barn with Zoe behind them and started looking at the scans.

“The scan look impressive”

“Yeah, it’s showing us a whole map of it’s chaos” That’s when Lucy realizes it “Tim, It’s our moisture numbers that are off”

“How can you tell” Zoe interrupts 

“The polymer is only currently absorbing the raindrops that exist. It’s not incorporating the moisture from the humidity”

“It needs to precipitate out more”

“Exactly but how do we do that” Lucy questions

Tim smirks “We make it rain”

An idea pops in Zoe’s head “You know there was some cloud seeding out in Avery a few years ago for the farmers out there”

“Yeah, wasn’t it silver iodide”

Lucy sees Zoe nod her head and turns back to Tim as Zoe leaves

“We could put that in the rockets” Tim mentions “The moisture in the air will get converted by the iodide and turn it into rain and then the sodium polyacrylate, we would need a ton of it, could pull the water from the storm, increasing the cold pool” 

“The fastest way to choke an unexpected tornado”

With that in play, Lucy and Tim put the finishing touches onto the experiment before calling it for the day. They met with Zoe inside, who had dinner on the table, and they ended the night with coming up with a game plan for the days ahead.

Chapter Text

Lucy knew going to sleep was going to be a little difficult, knowing what she’s going to be doing. Her experiment, with a few adjustments, is going to stop a tornado. She never thought she would see the day it would happen. She really has Tim to thank for this, he’s the one who didn’t push her out of her comfort zone and help her figure out the problem with her experiment. Unlike Jackson, Tim actually listened to what she needed to say. Lucy doesn’t know how she could ever repay Tim. Well……. One thing comes to mind but she’ll think about that later.

Lucy was able to fall asleep at 1am, so the phone call she got at 7, she wasn’t happy about it. She quickly looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Jackson. Not wanting to answer him, she let the phone go to voicemail. About an hour later, Jackson called back and Lucy answered this time.

“Hey Luce, didn’t think you would answer”

“Yeah, well…….. It’s time for me to get out of bed anyways. So, why did you need to talk”

Jackson sighed “It’s about what I mentioned a few nights ago”

“And……”

“I shouldn’t have said any of that. I feel terrible about it”

“Terrible enough that you didn’t call me for a few days”

“Yeah, um…….. I just figured we both needed a cooling off period”

“Good call on your front” Lucy replied “Thank you for it though, because of this I was able to think about my priorities right now”

“What does that mean”

Lucy sighs happily “I’m going to finish what I started here”

“That sounds great” Jackson said with excitement “When can I expect you back here”

Lucy shakes her head “What do you mean by expecting me back”

“I thought it meant you were going to continue helping my team out”

“Um……. No, I’m not. I decided to go in another direction”

“What are you talking about”

“I was able to make some adjustments to the old barrels and I’m going to test them out”

“By yourself”

“No, that’s the other thing. Tim is actually going me with this”

“How does Tim know about this”

“I called him” Lucy lied not wanting Jackson to know that Tim found her “He told me about his new system and with it, we were able to create a better model”

“Oh, well…….. That sounds good Lucy” Jackson said with disappointment 

“I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear but if I want to change the world, I have to figure it out my own way. I can’t do that when my friend is taking advantage of people who just lost everything”

“I understand” Jackson spoke “I hope everything goes well for you guys”

“Thank you” Lucy quickly looked at the time “Well, I better get dressed and eat some breakfast before I go out for the day”

“Yeah, I should too. Bye, Lucy”

Lucy hangs up the phone and gets dressed for the day. When she walks over to the kitchen, she notices Tim over by the coffee maker. Lucy made her way over to the cupboard and grabbed some cereal to eat. When she sat down at the counter, Tim passed her a coffee cup. It made her smile a little inside. Tim quickly joined her and they ate breakfast together. After they were done eating, Tim loaded up his truck with his stuff. Lucy packed up what she bought with her and brought it over to Tim. As they were loading their things, Tim quickly calls his team to tell them the game plan. Lucy headed back over to the porch where Zoe was waiting for her.

“So, I hope you’ll come home again soon”

“You know I will, It’s just a matter of when”

Zoe chuckled slightly before pulling Lucy in for a quick hug. Lucy knows it won’t be forever before she comes back. She doesn’t want to break her mom’s heart again like she did the last time. 

“Love you, Honey”

“Love you too Mom”

Lucy walks over to the truck and gets inside. She sees Tim quickly thanking Zoe for letting him stay and hugging her as well. She sees Zoe whisper something into Tim’s ear and she looks serious but not so serious at the same time. After that, Tim gets into the driver’s seat and they take off. In the rearview mirror, Lucy could see her mom waiting until they left the driveway before walking back inside.

A little ways down the road, Lucy decided to ignore the silence

“Where are we meeting the team”

“Collinsville, they found a shop with everything we need for this to work”

“Wow, that’s impressive” Lucy exclaimed “How did they do that so fast”

Tim shrugs “They’re miracle workers. Sometimes I don’t even know how they do it”

Lucy chuckles “Good to know. You seem to have the perfect team”

“You could say that” Tim smiles back “You’ll make a good addition”

Lucy smiles slightly “Thanks”

The truck went back to silence for a minute. Lucy didn’t know if she should bring up the kiss they had or not. She knew Tim wanted to talk to her after the tornado at the hotel but his team and Jackson had other plans. She figured it was now or never.

“Tim” Lucy said firmly “I think we need to talk about what happened in the hotel”

Tim sees the look in her eyes “Yeah, Alright” Tim pulls the truck over “Where did you want to start”

Lucy sighs “Mainly, it looked like you wanted to talk after the whole tornado fiasco but we never got a chance to have it. I just want to know what you wanted to ask”

“Ok” Tim takes a deep breath “Back at the hotel, I just wanted to ask you if what we did in your room was a one time thing”

“Why”

“It’s just…… I know you have a boyfriend and you aren’t on the best speaking terms with each other but I don’t want to be that guy that causes a relationship to fall apart”

“But you wouldn’t be” Lucy grabs his hand “Noah and I have been having problems even before I came out here. I even asked him to move his stuff out of my apartment when I was leaving”

“So, It wasn’t a spur of the moment type of thing we did” Tim smiles slightly

“No……. It was not. No offense, you are one of the better looking guys I’ve met in years”

“Oh, good to know”

Lucy chuckles “Anyways, It wasn’t a mistake that I kissed you. Honestly, I’ve been wanting to do this since I met you” Lucy sighs “What I’m try to say is that I like you and I’m hoping that’s what you wanted to tell me”

Tim smiles more brightly “That is exactly what I wanted to ask you”

Lucy smiles back at him. She couldn’t believe she wasn’t dreaming, Tim really likes as much as she likes him. Without a second thought, Lucy leaned over the console and planted a quick kiss on his lips. She was about to pull away but Tim had other ideas. He decided to pull her face closer and kiss her for a little longer. Fireworks exploded in her head. Kissing Tim felt like nothing she’s experienced before. It was safe to say, she didn’t want it to end. But, Tim did eventually pull away.

“Can that hold you over until this is done”

Lucy smiles “I think that will be fine”

With that, Tim put the truck back into drive and continued to make their way back to his team

()()()()()() 

A while later, Lucy and Tim arrive at the shop. It wasn’t a big one but it must get the job done. As they exited the truck, Tim’s team railed around the two of them.

“You’re finally here” Aaron announced “We’ve missed you bud”

“And he brought friend back with him” Wade interrupted “Lucy”

“What’s Up” Katie interjected

“I’m guessing you decided to ditch those smart bees, Huh” Wade jumped in

Lucy chuckles “Yeah, You could say that”

Celina comes walking up with the radar and shows Lucy “You and Tim missed a big one” 

Lucy looks at the screen and sees what she missed. It was a big one, Celina wasn’t kidding. The one she saw yesterday wasn’t as big as this.

“How did you get all of this” Lucy asked

“My drone” Celina answered “I have it rigged up so we can get a closer view of the action we need”

“Impressive” Lucy thinks for a minute “Can this drone be rigged up to collect data”

“Yeah, It wouldn’t be that hard”

As Lucy, Celina and Wade worked out the drone situation. Tim noticed that Aaron seemed a little bit bummed. He knows Aaron likes being included but he guesses him leaving for a few days was not so fun. He decided to go over and talk to him.

“Hey” Tim approaches Aaron “Sorry for leaving you for a couple of days”

“It’s alright, you did what you had to do”

Tim puts his arm around Aaron “How about I make it up to you by launching some new rockets”

“That sounds very promising”

Their conversation was interrupted when Katie came over and said the owner was ready to go. Everyone followed behind her as she explained what they needed for the trailer. Nothing too much, they just needed a 40 foot trailer that could be light enough for Tim’s pickup. But, it also had to be heavy enough to anchor Lucy’s barrels in high degree winds. The owner questioned why they needed that but Katie didn’t have an answer for them. Luckily, Lucy did.

“It’s for when we drive into a tornado and we don’t want to get sucked in but want what’s on the trailer to get sucked up”

The owner looked at her in shock but told her what they would need. They walked around the lot and found some promising trailers but Tim found one that was just perfect. After talking about a price with the owner, They hooked up the trailer to Tim’s truck and headed out of there. Tim coordinated with Aaron a designated place where they could set up everything. It wasn’t too far away from where they were. After they arrived, they got to work.

Wade, Katie and Lucy got started on forming the mixture for them to use. Celina stationed herself away from them to get the drone set up for the data they needed to collect. In the meantime, Aaron got ahold of a camera and started video taping everything going on.

“Ok, Wade. What do we have going on here”

“We are testing the goldilocks principle of the tornado and measuring the variables to modify it, hopefully by doing that we can disrupt the process”

Aaron got a little bit confused by what Wade said so he turned to Katie

“What did he mean by that”

“We’re taming a storm”

Katie continued to pass the mixture over to Lucy so she could put it in the rockets. Aaron went over to Tim with the camera and had him explain what was going on. As that was happening, Lucy decided to take a break from what she was doing. She looked around to see everyone engaged in what they were doing. Katie and Wade concentrating on making the mixture exactly how it needs to be, Celina testing off the modifications to her drone and Tim explaining to Aaron's camera what is going on with their progress. 

Once she accessed the area, Lucy decided to take a walk. She saw a little landing when they got here that looked nice enough. She stared out into the sky, just checking out the view. A tornado was forming right in front of her. It looked so calming to her. She didn’t know what it was about it but it helped her out. She was relaxed enough that she didn’t hear the footsteps behind for the millionth time since she's been here.

“So…….” Celina comes up  “You ready City Girl” 

Lucy smiles “As I’ll ever be”

Celina makes her way back over to the truck but not before snapping a picture of Lucy staring up at the storm cloud. Tim witnessed Celina taking the picture. He agreed with her, it was a good shot.

“Hey Celina” Tim waits until she turns her head “Can you send me that”

Celina smiles “Absolutely Lover Boy”

Tim scoffs “I’m not lover boy”

“Then stop staring at her like that”

Just then, Tim sees Lucy making her way back over to the truck. Tim talks to his team one last time before they head out for the trill. Once everyone was clear on the plan, they loaded into the truck and van and peeled off towards the tornado.

“You ready to do this” Lucy asked from the passenger seat

“Is that even a question”

Lucy chuckled slightly before letting Tim pay attention to the road

()()()()()()()()()()()

The drive over took longer than Lucy anticipated. It’s not her nerves showing, she just thought that the tornado was closer from where they were. As they were riding the road, Lucy thought she spotted a familiar logo on a car in front of them. It was Jackson in one of the trucks. They're going after the same tornado they are. Lucy didn’t want to dwell on it, she made her choice and she was happy with it. Soon after, Lucy saw something good on the radar.

“Grounds speed is at 25, Intercept is Southeast, Look for Holland Road”

As Tim made it to the intersection, More of Jackson’s company vehicles stormed right in front of them. Tim had to laugh at that, he knew this would probably happen. He could see the vehicles swerving in and out of his buddy's van.

“Hey, These buttheads are trying to cut us off” Aaron said over the walkie

“Let’s not let them distract us. Let’s get these babies into the air”

They continued behind the truck that had cut in front of them. They were going the same way anyways so it didn’t matter. The closer they were getting, the harder the rain started to pour. It made it a little hard to see the road but Tim was able to manage it since Lucy was able to tell him directions.

“Damn it” Lucy yelled “The doppler just went dark”

“Most likely a dead cell zone”

Lucy grabs the walkie to talk “Celina, Are you above us”

“Yeah, I am. But I’m getting completely rain wrapped. I can’t see anything” Seconds later, it happened “I just lost my drone”

Aaron immediately grabs the walkie “Hey, Celina lost the visual”

That’s when it all came clear to Lucy. This wasn’t going to be good. She quickly glanced over at Tim and she saw the look in his eyes. The wind howled as it grew stronger. The rain grew denser, now it was hard to see anything. Lucy tried to keep an eye on Jackson’s truck in front of them, it wasn’t looking good at all. She saw the truck suddenly stop, that’s when she knew it. The tornado was right in front of them. Jackson’s truck flipped on its side without a seconds warning.

“Jackson”

Tim stopped the truck quickly and saw what was happening

“Tim, we have to do something”

“Hey” Katie shouted over the radio “To your left, It’s hitting something big”

Lucy and Tim looked over and saw the tornado coming towards them. It hit the power plant next to them and now the tornado was in a ball of fire. Tim put the truck in reverse and drove out of there.

“Wait, we can’t leave them there”

“We’re not leaving them but we have to move, now” Tim yelled

Tim continued to move back while Lucy stared at Jackson’s truck which was still on its side. The fireball got worse and worse the more they drove away. Lucy had never seen this before. A tornado being this violent. It didn’t look like it would slow down from there. A few seconds later, a big piece of metal hit Jackson’s truck and flipped them right back up. Lucy continued to look to see what would happen. Just then, a big explosion erupted from the power plant. Big enough for all of them to see.

Without a second thought, Tim put the truck back in drive and took off. Jackson had the same idea since he got right in front of them.

“Hold on, Hold on, Hold on” Tim gripped at the wheel

They rounded the corner and took off. The tornado behind them in the background. It was out of the plant but was headed right to them.

“Is everyone ok” Tim spoke into the walkie

“Yeah, we’re all good” Wade answered

“Are you seeing this” Celina comments “This was bigger than we thought”

Before Tim answer Lucy got his attention “And it’s getting worse” Lucy looks back at the tornado “It’s shifting”

Tim knows Lucy is right. This plan is not a good idea with this type of storm. Especially when they know there’s a town nearby about to get hit hard. He grabbed the walkie and made an announcement.

“Guys, there’s nothing we can do right now. But, when we get into town we have to make sure everyone gets to a safe location”

“Alright” Aaron answered “Where are we heading”

Lucy grabbed the radio “Kids park on Howard, get people to basements, bigger building with no windows and make sure no one gets in their car”

Everyone responded back and got the game plan ready. What they were about to do could be life or death but all that mattered was that people were going to be safe.

Chapter Text

Arriving into town was chaos. The sirens are blaring, people running for safety, everyone is panicking. Without a beat though, they got to work. Celina, Katie and Aaron were directing people into the shelters while Wade stayed back to help someone injured. Tim and Lucy were able to get further into town to get a closer look. Immediately, getting out of the truck and rushing to go help. There had been a fair going on in town and the owners were trying to save their things.

“You gotta go. It’s coming” Lucy had yelled out to a few people

“You have to leave” Tim yelled as well

After bringing some people to safety, Lucy and Tim head out again. As they were heading out, a tent rushed out of nowhere, almost hitting both of them in the head. Tim had to push Lucy out of the way and Tim ended up falling with her. Tim made sure Lucy was fine before going over to help one of the vendors. As they were coming back, Wade found them and told them the news.

“All the shelters are full” Wade yelled

“Seriously” Lucy mentioned

“Everyone has to get to the theater, it’s the only place left” Wade continued on

Lucy and Tim nodded along and went on to help more people. They spotted the other three members yelling and helping people over to the theater. There were still some stragglers at their booths who were refusing to leave. Tim was able to get a few of them to leave willingly but some had to be forced. Lucy was able to do the same with a little bit of help.

Crowds of people were hustling over to the theater. All of them are scared and terrified about what could be happening next. Lucy and Tim didn’t let it slow them down. They were getting the last of the people inside when hell broke loose. A man approaching the theater got caught in a tarp. Tim witnessed it and went over to help. He was able to get the man free but it came at a cost. Apparently, the little town had a cable car that ran through the main street and it had gotten off the rails. It was heading straight towards Tim. Without warning, Tim started to make a run for it but it wouldn’t have helped anyways.

“Oww” Lucy heard it from behind her

She quickly looked around and saw Tim laying on the road with the cable car ruble on his leg

“Tim” Lucy shouted 

Lucy rushed over to Tim to assess the situation. Tim’s leg was being crushed by debris and he was trying to get himself free. Lucy, without skipping a beat, leaped over and tried to help Tim get the stuff off his leg. Whatever was on top of him was heavy and it wasn't making a budge. Tim was truly trapped underneath the car and there was nothing she could do. But, she just didn’t want to leave him there so she kept trying.

“Come on” Lucy yelled as she tried lifting debris 

The wind was picking up around. Everything was being blown around in the sky. It was getting a little crazy out there but Lucy wasn’t going to give up. Even when she saw a dumpster fly into the city’s water tower. It hit it just right to where the water tower was losing balance. It was going to come crashing down.

“Watch out” Tim yelled for Lucy to take cover

Lucy looked up and saw a piece of the tower landing too close to them. Still, it wouldn’t cause her to leave. Lucy kept trying to get the debris off of Tim but it wasn’t looking good with the water tower about to crash.

“You got to get inside” 

“I’m not leaving you here”

“Lucy” Tim tries to reason with her

Lucy wouldn’t move, she stayed with Tim cause she didn’t want him to be alone. As she was trying to lift the debris, she felt it get lighter. She looked over and saw Jackson on the other side of Tim creating a wedge for them to get Tim out. Lucy was shocked to say the least, she wasn’t expecting this from him.

“Come on, Lucy! Lift” Jackson shouted

Lucy nodded over to Jackson as she lifted up the debris. Finally, Tim was able to get his leg out with some help from Lucy and Jackson to pull him out after he got out far enough. They tried to lift Tim up to his feet but he wasn’t on them for too long. The water tower decided to make its appearance and crashed down into a building before hitting the street. The impact was so forceful Jackson, Lucy and Tim went flying back when water came through. They got sprawled out onto the street. Afterwards, they were able to get back on their feet. Lucy and Jackson assisted Tim into the theater and locked the door.

As they entered, people were crowded everywhere. The movie was playing, the roof was starting to cave, it wasn’t looking good in there. People were screaming as they were trying to seek cover.

“See if there’s a basement in this place” Tim spoke loudly

Jackson ran off to one side of the theater while Lucy and Tim went to the other side. They pushed past people trying to make their way over to the hallway. Quickly upon looking, there was no basement insight. This caused Lucy to start panicking. It was happening all over again. A huge tornado was coming and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Tim realized quickly and brought Lucy out of it.

“Hey, Hey Lucy, stay with me. Everything is going to fine, we are making it out of here”

Lucy calmed herself down a little bit but the panic was still there. After they looked everywhere, there was one more door to look at. Lucy raced over and pulled the door open to see what was behind it. She was immensely met with the forceful winds from the outside.

“Oh my god” Lucy gasped out

Tim came over to join her and had the same reaction. The tornado was here and it was coming in stronger than ever. Seeing what was in front of them shocked them to the core, this wasn’t going to end pretty. Not long after, Jackson came to join them.

“Hey, there’s no basement on the other side” Jackson yelled

“There’s nothing here either” Lucy yelled along

“The building isn’t strong enough to withstand this”

Behind them in the theater, panic was creeping in more and more as it looked like the ceiling was going to fall on top of them. All three of them could hear the commotion coming from inside. Everyone was yelling at the top of the lungs, scared out of their minds. All of them started to run back to go and help but Lucy stopped in her tracks. She stared back at the tornado. Lucy didn’t want this to scare her anymore. After a split second decision, Lucy darted out of the movie theater. She was able to find Tim’s truck and ran straight for it. She had a little bit hard opening the driver’s side door with the winds but she was able to get it open just enough for her to slide inside. After she buckled in and found the keys, she turned on the engine.

“Here goes nothing”

Lucy put her foot on the gas and headed straight for the storm

()()()()()()()()()

After getting back into the theater, Jackson and Tim did their best of getting people to a safe spot in the back of the theater. Everyone was worried but they were able to help them stay calm, it was the only thing that they could do at this point. A little bit later as Jackson was helping people move along, he realized something. He looked around the theater and saw something missing.

“Tim”

Tim looks over and finds Jackson

“Where’s Lucy"

Tim’s eyes pop out of his head. He looks around and can’t find Lucy anywhere. Where could she be? There’s not a ton of places to hide in here. As he was rambling through his head on where she could be, a bad idea came into his head.

“She wouldn’t” 

Tim raced back over to the hallway and found the back door. Lucy wasn’t there so that had to mean something bad. He opened it up and found the unsettling scene. Out in the distance, his red truck was driving towards the tornado. Lucy was inside, setting her plan into motion.

“Where is she” Jackson came up behind him

Tim didn’t answer him, he just looked out into the field. Jackson followed his eye line and saw what Tim was staring at. He didn’t like what he was seeing. His best friend was risking herself to save other people. Both of them watched the scene unfold as Lucy got closer and closer to the tornado. They couldn’t believe this was happening. Seconds later, Aaron comes rushing in.

“Guys, we have to get in there”

“No, I’m not leaving Lucy behind” Tim shouted

“Tim”

“No”

“Tim” Jackson yelled clearly “There’s nothing we can do for her right now. All we can do is help these people”

Tim didn’t want to agree with him but he did anyway. Tim and Jackson closed the door to the outside and ran back into the theater and took cover.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Getting out of the town was the easy part, no one on the street could get in her way to stop her. All she needed to do now was get close enough to the tornado that she could drop the barrels in its path. It was getting crazy. The wind was whistling, debris flying everywhere, rain and hail crashing down on top of her. She wasn’t letting it scare for a minute. Lucy needed to do this, not for herself but for everyone.

Trying to find a road or field to approach the tornado was seeming impossible. The closer she was getting, it was harder to find a spot. She wasn’t giving up though, she will find a way to get to that tornado.

“Come on, I need something good” Lucy spoke to herself

She was coming up closer to the tornado when she finally found an access point. Without hesitating, Lucy turned the wheel harshly and went straight into action. She stared down the tornado like it was her worst enemy. At that point, it really was her worst enemy. She’s not slowing down anything soon. As she got close, the wind and rain was getting worse than before but what should she expect from a frantic tornado.

Now, everything was becoming unclear. Stuff was flying everywhere in the sky mixing in with the hail crashing. The windshield was impossible to see out of. Debris was coming left and right and making it hard to maneuver the truck. Lucy was relying on herself to find the little sucker of a tornado. At this point, Lucy has gone as far as she could go. She slammed on the brake and got set up. She pressed the button to anchor herself into the ground and flipped all the guards off the switches. Beforehand, she set off the rockets with the silver iodine inside, aiming at the storm.

Lucy watches as the exploded in the distance right in the tornado's path. It seemed to be working, bringing a small sense of relief to Lucy. All she had to do now was wait for the tornado to be on top of her to unleash the barrels.

It seemed like slow motion. The tornado making its perfect way over to her. She knew it was time when the barrels were starting to come off of the ground. Without thinking, Lucy pressed the button. Lucy looked back and saw that the barrels weren’t doing anything. She kept pressing the button but nothing was engaging.

“Come on, You have to give me something” Lucy continues to frantically hit the button 

The truck started to shift with the strong wind. She knew that wasn’t good. She hit the button more and more trying to get it to work. Finally, after slamming her hand on the button, the barrels started to break open. One by one, the mixture was flowing into the air. Lucy looked up at the sky to try and see if it was actually working. From what she could see, she couldn’t tell

Soon after, A big piece of some farming equipment came by and hit the trailer dead on, knocking it off of the truck. The truck started to shift again moving a little faster than before. Lucy looked around her and knew she couldn’t do anything else. The only thing she could do was take her hands off the steering wheel and place them in her lap. A second later, the truck started to rattle as the truck anchor had popped out of the ground. Quickly after, the wind hit the truck just right and knocked the truck over sending it rolling through the field.

()()()()()()()()()

Just like before, the tornado felt like it took forever to go away. And being in that movie theater was helping. Tim tried his best to get people to the back of the theater but wasn’t able to get himself back there in time. With a moment's notice, the walls of the theater ripped open, sending Tim to the ground and grasping onto the chair. Jackson and the others were able to get down and find a place to hide.

Tim gripped on tightly as the winds started to pick up. Sooner or later, the rows of chairs were starting to get whisked away by the raging wind. The place where his team was hit hard and all of them were grabbing on for dear life.

A little bit later, Celina was losing her grip. She tried to readjust but wasn’t quick enough

“Celina, No” Aaron yelled from his spot

Tim looked over and saw Celina sliding across the floor. With no hesitation, Tim got his foot anchored and reached out and was able to catch Celina. The wind was pulling on her hard and Tim wasn’t sure if he would be able to grab on to her for much longer. 

“Tim, don’t let me go” Celina cried

“I’m not letting go” Tim reassured her

He wasn’t going to give up, he was not letting one of his friends die.

After what felt like ages, The wind started to loosen up a ton. It wasn’t pulling on Celina as hard as it was before. It was dying down, it means they are in the clear. Once it was over, Celina got settled on the ground and was trying to catch her breath

“Thank you for saving me” Celina spoke calmly 

Tim sighed in relief that it was over. He looked around the theater and saw everyone getting out from where they were hiding. All of them looked relieved and unhurt. It helps Tim breathe a little easier. But, there was one thought still in his head. Lucy, she was still out there, saving everyone. He didn’t want to wait another minute. With some swift action, Tim walked over to the opening in the wall and tried to find Lucy.

()()()()()()()()()

Lucy doesn’t know what happened after. One minute she was flipping around in the truck and the next she’s upside down laying on the top of the truck. She must have gotten knocked out a little bit. That didn’t worry her as much. All she cared about was if the experiment worked. 

From what she could hear, the wind wasn’t gushing anymore and from what she could see, the tornado was no longer there.

She did it, the plan worked. 

She didn’t celebrate too long since she was still in an upside down vehicle and every bone in her body was hurting. With that in mind, she crawled over towards the broken window in front of her and tried to get out.

After coughing and gasping as she got out, Lucy was able to get enough energy to squeeze half of her out of the vehicle. She tried pushing herself out more but her muscles were giving out.

As she tried to move a little bit more, a figure came into her sight. It was one she recognized.

“Lucy” Tim yelled as he got closer

He came over and helped her get out of the truck and propped her up against it. Watching to make sure he doesn’t hurt her in the process

“Is everyone Ok” Lucy coughed out “Did it really work”

“You did it, Lucy” Tim smirked out a smile

Lucy sighs in relief. She saved everyone, she trusted her gut and she did it. 

“You Alright” Tim asked 

“I am now” Lucy smiled out

Tim chuckled at her and kissed her on the forehead

Soon after, Jackson and Tim’s team came over. They showered Lucy with love, spreading their gratitude.

“This was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen” Katie shouted

“That was amazing, Luce” Jackson followed behind

“I thought you were a goner” Wade added

Lucy was taking in all the compliments as they were given to her. She couldn’t take all of the credit though. If it wasn’t for Jackson dragging her out here and starting her partnership with Tim, she wouldn’t have been able to do any of this. All she could do now was to continue to take it all in and more importantly wait for the ambulance to show up cause she is 99.9% sure she had a concussion.

Chapter Text

After the whirlwind of everything, the paramedics finally arrived. They assessed Lucy out in the field before loading her onto the gurney and bringing her over to the ambulance. Tim, who has been glued to her side, followed them over.

“Which hospital are you taking her too” Jackson asked from behind

“St. Francis” the paramedics spoke 

Jackson turned his attention to Lucy “We’ll meet you there”

Lucy nodded back as she was loaded into the ambulance. The only thing that was good about the ambulance was that Tim had hopped in before the doors closed. After she was put in the back, the ambulance took off for the hospital. 

The ride over wasn’t so bad. A little bumpy at times, Tim made it better though by holding her hand the whole time. After they arrived at the hospital, Lucy was rushed into the ER. Tim was told to stay behind in the waiting room but was able to talk to the doctors to let him back there. She got poked and prodded by a lot of doctors just to see if she had any extensive damage. She wasn’t a fan of it, it felt like 5 years ago all over again. But, she knows it’s their job to do this. A little while later, Lucy got brought down to get a CT scan since she complained about her head then had an x-ray to follow. Once she came back, Tim came back and took a seat

“So…… How are you really feeling” Tim asked

“Honestly, like I got hit by a horse”

Tim chuckles “I bet, what you did would have me hurting for weeks”

“I can believe it”’

Tim sighs “You know what you did was really reckless”

“I know…… It’s just, I felt like I had to do something. Even if it meant losing my life”

Tim sighs and grabs her hand “I know that but next time give someone a little warning”

“Deal” Lucy smiles 

A little bit later, the doctor came back. They did inform her that besides the cuts and bruises, she did have a concussion along with some whiplash and a fractured arm. She was shocked since she thought there would be more damage with what she went through. But with her injuries, the doctor got her a room in the hospital for the night. Once the doctor had left, Lucy told Tim to go get himself something to eat. Not wanting to leave, Tim refused. It wasn’t until then that Jackson came through the ER door.

“Hey” Jackson rushes over and gives Lucy a hug “So….. What are the damages” 

“Concussion, Whiplash and an arm fracture” Tim spoke

“So, nothing serious”

“Nope” Lucy answered “But I do have to stay the night for observation”

“Oh, that’s relieving to hear” Jackson sighs “Well, now that I’m here, how about Tim and I spoil you with some food”

Lucy smiled  “That would be wonderful. I was just telling Tim he should go to the cafeteria”

“Ok then, Is that alright with you Tim” Jackson asked politely

Tim sighed “Are you sure you’ll be Ok when were gone”

“I’ll be fine just go eat. It’s not like I’m going anywhere”

Tim smiled and got up from his seat “We’ll be right back and if you do move while we’re away” Tim reaches into his back pocket “Just text us”

Lucy grabs her phone from Tim “I can do that”

Lucy watched as Tim and Jackson walked out the ER doors. She could tell Tim was sulking and it made her laugh. After Tim and Jackson were out of her view, Lucy got to thinking. Being back at home has been a blessing and a curse, more of a blessing. Tim has been the big factor in all of it. He has made her feel something that she’s never had before. Butterflies form in her stomach everytime she sees him. She was falling in love with him and she wasn’t going to deny it. But, before she could ask him something, she had to do another thing first. She immediately went to her contacts and scrolled down to a certain someone’s number. What she was doing was something she needed to do a long time ago.

“Hello” 

“Hey Noah, It’s me”

“Lucy, why are you calling me? I thought you didn’t want to talk”

“I didn’t but there is something I need to tell you”

“Ok” Noah gets stern “What is it”

Lucy sighed, this was her moment “I need you to give me your playbook”

“What……. I’m a little confused”

“We need to not see each other anymore”

“Are you breaking up with me” Lucy could hear the distraught in his voice

“Yeah, I am”

“But, I thought everything was fine between us. What we had before you left was a little snafu”

“Noah, It was more than that and you know it. Nothing has been fine between us for awhile”

“But, we were working on getting better”

“Were we really”

Noah sighs and admits defeat “I guess not”

“I’m sorry Noah but it’s better off like this. I really hope you find someone who can love you more than I did”

“I hope that for you two Lucy”

She wishes Noah goodbye and hangs up the phone. She couldn’t believe it, she actually did it. Noah was out of her life. It felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She breathes freely now. But now with Noah out of the way, there was room for someone else now. Maybe a certain tornado wrangler. After half an hour had passed Tim and Jackson came back with some food.

“Ok, we have a turkey sandwich, some peanut butter pudding and a Dr. Pepper” Jackson announced

Lucy chuckled “You know you guys aren’t helping me with my Dr. Pepper addiction right”

“We know but you need if after the few days we’ve had” Tim added

Lucy chuckled once more before digging into her food. Once she had enough food and Dr. Pepper, the doctor came back to move her into a room. After she was settled, Jackson sat next to Lucy while Tim went to the lobby to notify his team. Now with Tim out of the room, Jackson was able to talk to Lucy in private.

“Now that it’s just us, I can formally give you an apology”

“No Jackson, you don’t have to do that” Lucy grabs Jackson’s hand “I know you meant well with me coming out here and I know you didn’t mean to act the way you did. I don’t blame you for anything”

“You for sure about that”

“I am” Lucy smiled and adjusted in her seat “Now, We can just sit here and talk about anything else”

“Does that mean I get to talk to you about your little crush on Tim when you are still with Noah”

“Umm……. About that. I may have broken up with him while Tim and you were get food”

“You didn’t” Jackson sees Lucy nodding her head “Wow, I guess that crush Bradford is stronger than I thought”

“Does this mean you won’t hate him anymore”

“We’ll see about that”

Lucy chuckled as she and Jackson continued to talk. It wasn’t for too long since they heard a knock at the door.

“Hey, I found someone wondering the halls for you” Tim said from the door

Lucy looked over at the door to spot her mom in the doorway. Zoe came walking over to Lucy and gave her the biggest hug she’s ever gotten in her life. She knows her mom is probably a little pissed at her for what she did but she knew they needed to talk about it. 

“I’ll leave you guys to talk” Jackson got up and left the room with Tim right behind him

“I heard what you did out there today. I will say it was a little reckless of you but I know why you did it”

“So, you aren’t bad at me”

“How could I be, my daughter just saved people from a catastrophic event. I couldn’t be more prouder”

“Thank you mom”

“Anytime” Zoe smiled 

After that, Lucy and Zoe fall into a more easy conversation. Lucy dosed off for a good majority of it. Zoe just talked about a lot of the farm animals so she wasn’t missing much. As she sat in the hospital bed, she got to thinking. Never in a million years did she think she’d ever come back here. Bad memories were the only thing that she had of this place. She thought San Diego would become a new home for her. But the truth is, nothing could replace her roots. Oklahoma is where she is meant to be.

“Mom, Can I ask you something crazy”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After recovering for a few days at her mom’s and having Tim and Jackson wait on her hand and foot, Lucy was heading back to San Diego. Just like he promised, Jackson offered to drive her to the airport. The drive over was a little sad. Lucy had grown to love Oklahoma once again and now she is leaving again. She didn’t worry too much, she knew she’d be back soon.

After what seemed like forever, Lucy arrived at the airport

“Just like I promised, door to door service”

“Yeah, and you brought me back in almost one piece”

Lucy chuckles as she gets out of the truck and while Jackson grabs her bag. It was on his side of the truck that he had finally gotten back.

“Ok, do I need to tell you what to tell the review board for when you get back to San Diego”

“Mmm…… Probably not but I know you are going to tell me anyways”

Jackson chuckles “You know me so well……… So, when you get back”

Jackson continues on with his little pitch that he thought about. Lucy could clearly tell that he has thought this out well. He wasn’t skipping a beat. All she got from it was that Jackson might want to give the speech himself. She even asked him that.

“Jackson, are you sure you don’t want to come with me and do the pitch yourself”

“Nah…….. You need to be the one to do it. Plus, it will give me and Tim sometime to figure out everything”

During Lucy’s recovery, Tim and Jackson got to talking. They both listened to each other and found out they have a lot in common. So instead of being rivals, they have decided to join forces. With Tim’s team and Jackson instincts, they were going to make a really good team.

“So, I’m guessing Armstrong is out of the picture”

“100%, I’m making a fresh start”

As they finished talking, Lucy and Jackson heard some commotion at the end of the airport entrance. They turned to face it and they were not surprised to see Tim talking with security about leaving his truck in the dropoff zone. They could tell Tim had spotted them since it looked like he told the security guard to wait a minute before he walked over.

“Bradford” Jackson yelled

“West, Nice to see you again”

“Really, you just saw me this morning”

“I know, it’s a joke” Tim chuckles 

“You guys had another talk this morning” Lucy asked

“Yeah, we did. Mainly, we were trying to figure out where we were going to set up this little partnership” Jackson mentions

“We want to do it in Tulsa but we known it would be cheap to rent out a space”

“Uh Huh” Lucy got to thinking “You know, if I asked my mom, she probably wouldn’t mind if you guys used the barn”

“That exactly sounds perfect, why didn’t we think of that” Tim asked

“Honestly, didn’t even think of that” Jackson brought up

Lucy chuckled at the boy’s cluelessness. Of course they forgot about the barn or maybe they just wanted her to bring it up. Anyways, she didn’t have much time left to talk.

Lucy sighs “Alright boys, it’s time for me to check in”

Jackson walked closer and gave Lucy a big hug. She could tell that Jackson didn’t want her to leave

“Call me when you land”

“I promise I will”

Lucy turns away from Jackson and makes her way over to Tim

“You know, you still haven’t told me were you’re coming back”

“Yeah, only because I don’t know when that will be”

Tim smiles “Well, when you do figure it out, I better be the first person to know”

Lucy chuckles “I will make sure of that”

Tim makes the first move and wraps Lucy in a tight hug. Just from that alone, Lucy could tell that Tim also didn’t want her to leave. She didn’t want to either but she has a life in San Diego that she had to get back to and figure out..

After she said her final goodbyes to the boys, Lucy grabbed her suitcase and walked into the airport. She looked back slightly and saw Tim and Jackson both waving back at her. A small tear shed from her eye as she was checking in her bag. This is truly a trip she would never forget and she couldn’t wait to come back.

Outside of the airport, Tim and Jackson waited until Lucy was out of their sights before deciding to head out of there. Before Tim got too far, Jackson pulled him aside.

“So, you really like her don’t you”

Tim chuckles “Is it that noticeable”

“And I’m guessing she knows how you feel”

“Yeah, she does”

“So….. what’s stopping you from going after her”

Tim looks at Jackson in shock “What do you mean going after her”

“You know what I mean” Jackson said with a smirk

Tim saw the look on Jackson’s and could tell he wasn't kidding around. As Jackson was making his way back over to his truck, the security guard was calling to have Tim’s truck towed. With him not wanting that to happen, he reluctantly went back to his truck. As he got inside, there was something telling him to not leave. He knew what it was for but didn’t know if he should act on it. Just then, the security guard came over to his window demanding he move the truck. Without hesitation, Tim clicked a button in his truck and the anchor came rushing down. With the guard distracted, Tim jumped out of his truck and made his way into the airport.

Jackson watched the whole scene unfold from his truck

“Atta Boy”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After going through security, Lucy made her way over to get some food before she got on her flight. Once she had her food, she made her way over to the gate. As she was about to sit down, her phone went off. Unsurprisingly, it was from Tim. She looked at the message and was a little bit confused.

Stop

Not really knowing what he meant by that, Lucy was about to respond. That was until she looked up from her phone. 

“Tim” Lucy mentioned as he was walking up to her “What are you……”

Lucy wasn’t able to finish her sentence. Only because Tim didn’t let her get another word in. As soon as he was close enough to her, Tim crashed his lip onto Lucy. She was completely taken by surprise. This is not what she was expecting from him. But, she didn’t want to ruin the moment since it made her really happy. It wasn’t until a while later that Tim let Lucy catch her breath.

“Well, that was a fancy way of saying goodbye” Lucy said jokingly “What are you doing here”

Tim sighs “I just wanted to see you one last time. Since I don’t know when I’m going to see you again” Tim sees the smirk forming on Lucy’s face “Why are you making that face”

Lucy smiles “I was going to wait to tell you this but it’s not going to be long before I come back”

“What do you mean”

“Well…..” Lucy wraps her arms around Tim “I had been thinking about something since I came back here and I think I’m going to act on it real soon” Lucy sees the little bit of a confused look in Tim’s eyes “I’m saying that I asked my mom how she would feel if I was thinking of moving back home since it’s what I’ll be doing”

Tim’s eyes pop “Are you saying you are moving back to Oklahoma”

“That is exactly what I’m saying”

Tim, with a smile on his face, picks Lucy off the ground and spins her around in a circle. Lucy happily giggles while Tim was doing this. He seemed more excited then she was at the moment. It took him a minute to finally let her down.

“Ok, I can tell you are happy about this but before I can do anything, I have to get back to San Diego and tie up my loose ends there”

“And how long would that take”

“Most likely a month. I still have to give my notice at work, end my lease, find a place out here to live and find a job”

“Huh, sounds like fun”

“Don’t tell me about it” Lucy smiles “But the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can come back”

“Well…..” Tim smiled “I shouldn’t keep you waiting then”

“No, you shouldn’t” Lucy leans up to give Tim one more kiss before heading off “I’ll see you soon Cowboy”

Tim chuckles as Lucy makes her way down the hall over to her gate. Tim couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, Lucy isn’t going anywhere and that brought him joy. But, he just had to wait and see if he could wait the whole month without seeing her.

As Lucy made it onto the plane, she quickly took her seat and waited for her plane to take off. Knowing it wouldn’t be long until she came back, she never let the smile fall off her face. Once her plane took off, Lucy was able to think back about this whole experience.

Coming back home was never on her bucket list. All of the bad memories she had here make it difficult. But after everything that she did this past week, she is happy that she followed her heart. If she didn’t and had listened to Noah, she wouldn’t have done this groundbreaking experiment that actually saved hundreds of lives. Now with where her life is heading, she is happy it is in a nice direction.

Chapter Text

Once Lucy made her decision to come back home, everything got kicked into high gear.

After going back to work, Lucy notified her boss that she would be leaving the station. To her surprise, he wasn’t totally upset about it. Telling Tamara was the harder part, Lucy knew that Tamara would be the most upset about it. Lucy contemplated telling Tamara right away or waiting until later in the day while they were eating lunch. Ultimately, Lucy just ripped the bandage off. Tamara was upset as expected but happy for Lucy to be heading and promised to come and visit.

Ending her lease was the least of her worries. Her landlord was very understanding and told Lucy to take as much time as she needed. 

The hardest thing she would have to do is find a job. Finding a meteorology job is a little hard to come by, she knew it was not going to be easy. She browsed around trying to find something that was as decent as the job she has now. Nothing was really sticking out at her. When it finally came down to it, she decided to apply for the aviation position at the local station. But to her surprise, she ended up getting a call from 2 News Oklahoma, the top news station in Tulsa. Apparently, they were in need of an Assistant Broadcast Meteorologist and her boss had put in a good word for her. She went in for the online interview and knocked it out of the park. About a week later, she was offered the position.

When it came to finding someplace to live, it was easier than she expected. Not wanting to fight with the real estate market, Lucy decided that renting was better than buying. A few places piqued her interest but none of them seemed like her. Until her realtor sent her pictures of a place right down the road from her Mom’s house. She absolutely loved it and it was in her price range. With no hesitation, Lucy got in contact with the landlord and set up a rental agreement.  

May 2024

After being in Tulsa for a year, Lucy has adjusted pretty well.

She is totally in love with her job at the news station. Everyone seems to like her there, especially John Nolan, who is the head meteorologist. He has taken her under his wing and has been showing her the ropes around a news station. He has even let her go on the air a few times. Being the second in command meteorologist has its perks and she definitely loved that.

Her relationship with her mom has gotten better. Since she lives down the road from her, Lucy visits all the time. Zoe appreciates it since Lucy usually will do the cooking when she comes over. Lucy loves that she can have these moments with her mom again. If you had to ask her, this is what she missed when she moved to California.

Lucy and Tim have been stronger than ever. After Lucy had officially moved back home, Tim  took the risk and officially asked Lucy on a date, she said yes. After a few dates, Tim asked Lucy to be his girlfriend and she was more than happy. Every week since has consisted of fun date nights, dinner and movies at Lucy’s house and so much more. On their six month anniversary, Tim decided to take Lucy away for the weekend and headed down to Austin so Lucy could meet Tim’s sister and mother. His family was more than thrilled to meet her. Now after being together for over a year, they have never gotten sick of each other and that's saying something with Lucy’s past relationships. Tim has been treating her like no one else has done before.

Just like most nights, Tim stayed the night over at Lucy after they had a movie night. They stayed cuddled together until Lucy’s alarm went off at 6:30. She got out of bed and went to take a quick shower. After she returned, Tim was no longer in bed. She heard some movement in the kitchen and went to find Tim making breakfast.

“Whatcha making” Lucy asks while entering the kitchen

“Some bacon, eggs and pancakes”

“Well, I’m I being spoiled”

Tim chuckled as he continued to make the meal. Once it was done, Lucy got the first plate. She must have been hungry since she ate her whole plate in under 2 minutes. Not much to Tim’s shock, he’s used to this by now. He knows that’s what happens when she chooses to not have a big dinner the night before. After they were done, Lucy went back to her room and got changed for work. 

“How does this look for today” Lucy asked Tim as she walked back into the living room

“That looks beautiful”

Lucy sighs “Good, I needed that today” 

“Are you really that nervous”

“Is it noticeable"

Tim slightly chuckles “Luce, you have gone on Tv before”

“Yeah, while John was there. Now, he’s gone for a week so I’m flying solo”

“And…….”

“And I’m just incredibly nervous about it”

Tim walks over to Lucy and pulls her in for a hug

“You have nothing to be nervous about. You have trained for this for so long. You deserve this”

Lucy smiles and looks up at Tim

“Thank you”

“No worries” Tim leans down and kisses Lucy chastely “Now, get to work. I’ll talk to you later”

“Looking forward to it”

And with that, Lucy grabs her keys and her coffee and walks out the door. She connected her podcast to her car and headed off to work. Lucy has always loved her drive to work, it’s the one point of the day where she can just let loose and shake out the nerves. With being on TV for the whole week, Lucy had a lot of nerves to get out. Once she arrived at work, she immediately went over to her station. The morning broadcast had just ended so no one would be bothering her for a while. So, she plugged in her music and got to work

After looking over at the monitors for over two hours, Lucy decided it was time for her coffee break. She made her way over to the breakroom and filled up her coffee cup all the way to the top. She’s been trying to cut back on it but knew this week was the exception. As she was about to head back, she ran into a station worker.

“Hey Lucy, how’s your morning been” Angela asks

“It’s been good”

“Great, you going to be ready by 4:30”

“Yes ma”

“Good to hear” Angela smiles “Actually, I’m happy I ran into you. Since this is your first week going solo, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch with me and Wesley”

“Really”

“Yeah. We see how well you do behind the scenes with Nolan and we want to show our appreciation”

“Ok then. Sounds like a plan”

“Good, how does 12 o’clock sound for you”

“That’s good”

“Alright, see you then”

Once Angela left, Lucy headed back over to her station. She went over her notes and logged in the forecast for the new broadcast. She had everything covered throughout the next two days. She only did that since she wouldn’t be getting in until later the next day. It was subjected to change within that time frame but at least she had it logged for now.

A little bit after 11, Lucy started to feel a little pukey. Most likely, from eating her breakfast too fast or the reason she’s having the appointment tomorrow. As quickly as she could, she ran over to the bathroom just in case she had to puke. About 5 minutes went by and Lucy did end up throwing up a little bit but nothing too bad. She returned back to her station and kept herself busy until lunch.

As the clock hit 12, Wesley and Angela scooped up Lucy and brought her over to an amazing BBQ place. Lucy had never been there before so she was excited to try it out. 

After ordering, the conversation stayed light with no mention of work. Mainly, talking about life outside of work and wanting to know more about Lucy. When Angela mentioned Lucy’s love life, she was more than thrilled to talk about Tim. Wesley and Angela might have gotten sick of her a little bit. They weren’t, they knew that kind of happiness. After their food was brought over, the conversation switched over to the upcoming broadcast. Since Welsey works in the control room, he was able to tell Lucy some points that she might need for the day. She really liked that.

Once they were done eating, Wesley got up from the table and went to pay the bill. Leaving Angela and Lucy at the table.

“So….. This boyfriend of yours seems be a real gentleman”

Lucy smiles brightly “Yeah, he really is”

“And I’m guessing he’s not the only reason you’ve been so happy lately”

“What do you mean”

“Please, I know a pregnant woman when I see it”

Lucy shakes her head “I…. I……. How did you figure that out”

“Well, in the past few weeks I have seen you be very smiley and giddy lately. You’ve been eating a ton of food and it’s stuff you usually don’t eat. And finally, your skin is really glowing. Also, I was the same way when I was pregnant with both my kids”

Lucy sighs quietly “You’re right but please don’t tell anyone about this. I’m waiting until after John comes back to tell the station”

“Your secret is safe with me”

Lucy released a chuckle and continued on talking. After Wesley came back, the three of them headed back to the station. It was getting closer to 1:30 so Lucy went in to get her hair and makeup done after she arrived. She wanted to get it done early so she could continue to go over her game plan for the broadcast. She settled on some loose curly hair and some neutral makeup. The outfit that Tim approved was deemed perfect for TV. Once she was deemed ready, she went over to her station and did the final touches.

Once the clock got close to 4:30, Lucy was more ready than ever. She studied her notes and made sure everything was in place. She met up with the team for a brief meeting with Angela before getting into position. After she returned to her station, she got a notification. She pulled her phone out quickly to read the message.

I know you won’t see this until later but I am so proud of you. You are going to knock it out of the park. Also, your mom has it recording so you can see it later

Lucy smiled upon looking at it. Tim was a good man and this message really showed it. She thought it was even more funny that her mom was going to be recording it. 

After setting her phone down, she walked over to her green screen and got herself ready. As the cameras started to roll, Lucy was ready to go.

()()()()()()()

After Lucy rocked her segment and completed the show, she was definitely ready to go home. Her makeup was cleaned off and she threw her hair into a messy bun then walked out the door. Her ride home consisted of congrats text messages coming from everyone she knew, even John. Before going home, she made a pit stop at the gas station to pick up some jelly beans for herself since she had a big craving for them. After paying for the jelly beans and leaving the gas station, Lucy arrived back home.

She wasn't expecting much when she walked in, not even the food that she found on her kitchen table.

“Hey, you’re back” Tim mentions as he brings food to the table

“Yeah………” Lucy didn’t know what to say, she was mesmerized by all the food “What is this”

“This is for you” Tim said with a smile “I knew today was stressful for you and I know when you came home you probably wouldn’t want to cook anything so I decided to make dinner for you”

Lucy walks over by Tim “That’s really sweet of you”

“What are boyfriends for”

Lucy smiled cheerfully before reaching up and giving Tim the biggest kiss she’s ever given. He had made her one of her favorite things in the world, fajitas. He got her all her favorite toppings, even mushrooms which Tim is known to hate. She couldn’t believe he put this all together. But, she didn’t want to think too long since she was hungry and she wanted to eat. 

She quickly grabbed herself two fajitas and filled it with everything on the table. Knowing Tim, he chuckled at her when she did that. After they got their food, Lucy and Tim sat down at the table and got to eating.

“Alright” Lucy wipes her face “How did you get all of this ready. Weren’t you with Jackson today”

“Yeah, I was” Tim nods “We didn’t have much to do. There wasn’t anything big on the radar”

“And I’m guessing from the weather this week, there isn’t going to be a ton”

“Not really, but we were able to go over what we recorded this season and see which ones the strongest and the weakest”

“Oh…… So it wasn’t a boring day” Lucy asked

“No and with the extra time left over, I was able to leave early and get all the stuff for dinner tonight”

“Which I really love you for” Lucy said with her mouth full

“Figures” Tim chuckled “Oh, I forgot to mention. I think Jackson knows what's going on”

Lucy looks confused “Why would you think that”

“He noticed that everytime you come over, you’ve seemed more peppy and he’s also mentioned that you’ve looked more tired than normal”

“That could mean anything”

“I know but today he saw that you have an appointment tomorrow and asked me what it was for”

“Oh, what did you tell him”

“The first thing that came to my head……….  A Mammogram”

“Seriously” Lucy chuckled “That’s the best you could think of”

“Well, I didn’t want to tell him the truth but now I’ve made him more suspicious”

Lucy chuckled even more “Yeah, I think you did. You could have just told him about the baby, he wouldn’t have said anything”

Tim just shakes his head and continues on with dinner. Once they were all done, Tim brought the plates over to the kitchen while Lucy went to go find a movie to watch. After Tim joined her on the couch with some popcorn, Lucy cuddled up next to him and started the movie. 

After they were done, Tim brought the bowl back over to the kitchen while Lucy stayed on the couch. When he came back, he saw the look on Lucy’s face.

“Whatcha thinking about”

“Mmm…… just thinking about earlier when you mentioned Jackson might be on to us. It just reminded me that someone at work might have figured out the same thing”

“Oh, How would they know”

“Mainly with me eating tons of food and having a glow to my skin”

“Let me guess, Angela”

“Yeah” Lucy comments “I can’t blame her for figuring it out. She’s been like that before so she would know. Anyways, It’s just making me think we might have to tell people sooner than later”

“I was thinking the same thing” Tim agrees “We’ve been able to keep it a secret for almost 10 weeks now so I say that’s impressive”

Lucy chuckles “I would have to agree on that. I’m more surprised that you didn’t tell anybody, you were really excited afterwards”

“Believe me, I was surprised too”

“How about this, we can tell people after I’m done with my appointment tomorrow morning”

“I can live with that” 

Lucy smiled before giving Tim a quick kiss on the cheek and playing the next movie

()()()()()()()()

Riding over to the doctor’s office, Lucy was feeling ecstatic. She gets to find out the gender today. At 13 weeks it might be a little early but Lucy opted for the early blood test to find out the gender. Tim really wanted to be here for the appointment but they decided that Lucy should go alone so no one got suspicious. After she pulled into the parking lot, Lucy takes a deep breath and heads inside

She had to wait about 20 minutes before being seen so in the meantime she grabbed a magazine nearby and just started reading. After getting halfway through, Lucy was called into the back room.

Sitting patiently for the doctor, Lucy let her mind wander a little. She just imagined a little pair of feet running around the house with her and Tim chasing after them. Pushing the little one on the swing set that they made outside. Playing with the animals on her mom’s farm. That little one is going to be grandma’s favorite.

About 5 minutes later, The doctor walked in

“Hello Lucy, Are you ready to get started” 

“Yes, I am”

The doctor smiles “Great, Now….” The doctor pats down on the bed “ Get up here and we can get started”

Lucy hopped up onto the bed and the doctor started to put the gel on her belly. From what she could see, the baby was moving around a little bit. Still very sleepy, but wiggling a little bit. Lucy still couldn’t take her eyes off of the screen, even after many appointments later. With it being a little blob with tiny arms and legs, Lucy thought it looked adorable.

“Ok, it looks like your baby is growing right on schedule”

“That’s good right”

“Absolutely” The doctor spoke “At this point I would say that you are going to have a very strong baby”

Lucy sighs “That’s good to hear”

The doctor chuckles slightly before taking the scanner off her belly “Alright, let’s get you cleaned up and send you over to the phlebotomist to get your test done”

Lucy grabbed her bag and followed the doctor over to the lab. She took a seat and watched as the nurse came over. Lucy was a little squeamish about the needles but she did the blood draw like a champ. After she was all done, She was sent back to her room to watch for the test results. 

She was really wishing that she had taken the magazine back with her to keep her company. Lucy had been waiting in the room for almost 45 minutes at this point. She wasn’t due at work until 1 but she still wanted to get something to eat before she headed in. After sulking for a little longer, the doctor came back in.

“Sorry that took so long” The doctor quickly takes a seat “We went over your blood work and everything is looking good, nothing to worry about” The doctor sees Lucy sigh “But, your iron level was a little low so just make sure to watch it” Lucy nods in response and watches the doctor pull out an envelope “In here is the gender of your baby. Do whatever you want with it but I suggest you open outside of the office”

Lucy smiles happily “Ok, anything else”

“Nope, you are good to go”

Lucy gets up from her seat and walks out of the room. She makes it out to her car and gets inside. Without hesitation, Lucy grabbed her phone to facetime Tim.

“Hey, how was your appointment”

“Great, everything is looking good. Me and the little one are doing just fine”

“Good to hear” Tim smiles “Did you find out the gender”

“Not yet” Lucy pulls out the envelope “They put it in here for us to open. They suggested I wait until I get in the car to open it”

“Did you want to open it”

“Why do you think I facetimed you. I wanted to find out together”

Tim chuckles “What are you waiting for then, open it up”

Lucy set her phone on her dashboard and pointed it towards her. She took in a big breath before ripping the envelope open. Inside was a small card with blue and pink on it. Lucy took a quick glance over to Tim and opened up the card. Lucy’s eyes popped out of her head.

“Oh my god” Lucy gasped as she turned the card over to Tim 

“No way” Tim spoke “A boy”

Lucy smiles brightly “We’re having a boy”

“Wow” Tim sighed “I can’t believe”

“Me either” Lucy said “I guess with this now, you really want to tell your team about it”

“A little but I don’t want to do without your permission”

“Tim, remember what I said last night, we can start telling people after the appointment”

“I know but…… It would make it more special if you were here with me”

Lucy chuckles “Ok, how about I come over to the barn after work and we can tell Jackson and the crew” 

“Deal, just make sure it’s the barbeque from Oscar’s. Celina and Aaron really love that place”

Lucy chuckles as she hangs up the phone and drives over to get some food. Afterwards, she arrived at work. As soon as she gets there, she is bumbarred by Angela. Lucy tells her how the appointment went and Angela was thrilled to find out the gender. Once she was done with Angela, she quickly made it over to her station and got to work before the broadcast.

()()()()()()()()

After the show was over, Lucy rushed out work and drove over to Oscar’s. Lucy didn’t know what to get so she got ribs and pulled pork sandwiches. After she gets the food and heads over to her car, she heads off towards her mom’s house.

Pulling into her mom’s driveway, she noticed that everyone was waiting for her to get out. Tim must have told them that she was picking up dinner. After she parked the car and grabbed the food from the backseat, she walked over to the picnic table and set the food. Everyone, except Tim and her mom, took a seat at the table and started eating the food. As everyone was eating, Lucy and Tim pulled Zoe aside.

“Why are you guys acting secretive”

Tim sighs “Well, we’ve actually been keeping something from you”

Zoe crosses her arms “Ok, what is it”

Lucy doesn’t say anything, she just pulls out the picture from her dress pocket and hands it over to her mom. Zoe didn’t know what to make of it, it wasn’t until she unfold the picture that she figured out what was going on. She wanted to scream excitedly but figured that no one else knew about this.

“Are you serious” Zoe smiled

“You’re going to be a grandma”

“Correction” Zoe spoke “I’m going to be a mamaw”

Lucy and Tim chuckled as they continued to answer Zoe’s question. She did have a ton but Lucy couldn’t blame her. After Zoe was done, Lucy and Tim decided it was time to tell everyone else. They all calmly walked over to the table to meet up with everyone. All of them looked up at them when they got closeby.

“So………” Lucy started “I’ve been keeping something from you guys”

Everyone at the table looked concerned 

“It’s nothing bad but it was something I could only tell Tim”

Silence awaited the table as Lucy pulled out the same picture she’d just shown her mom. As she was unfolding it, gasps came from the table. Once the picture was revealed, all of them were ecstatic. The girls were so excited that they jumped up from the table and gave Lucy the biggest hug she has ever received. The guys stayed at the table and smiled at the lovebirds.

“I knew it. You guys have been acting different for weeks” Jackson exclaimed 

Lucy chuckles as she makes her way over to Tim where he grasps her in a side hug. Lucy looked at the scene around her. This baby was going to be loved by everyone around them. For sure this little boy is going to have a ton of aunt and uncle who are going to spoil him with love. She quickly looks up at Tim and sees a huge smile on his face.

“So……. You ready to spoil this kid rotten”

“Like I haven’t been doing that already”

Lucy smiles and leans her head onto Tim’s shoulder. She was ready for what was going to hit them and she surely had the best backup around to help her out.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

In the months that have passed, Lucy and Tim had their baby boy on Halloween night. Brooks Bradford made his appearance after 22 hours of labor. Since that day, everybody has spoiled the three of them rotten. Zoe went and bought out an entire section of baby clothes since she couldn’t decide on what to get him. Tim’s crew made Brooks an honorary member of their team so he hangs out with them all the time.

Lucy has been hanging out with them too since she is on maternity leave. Most of her time is spent talking to her mom so everyone can see Brooks. She loves this time mainly since she can spend time with the people she loves 

With Christmas coming around the corner, things have been getting a little more hectic. Brooks would be celebrating his first Christmas with them. Lucy really wanted it to be perfect for him. Tim could tell Lucy was stressing out because of this because of the way the presents were being wrapped.

“Lucy, everything is going to be fine” Tim pleaded 

“I know, I know, It’s just………. I want everything to be smooth sailing”

“You do realize that he is only 2 months old, he’s not going to remember it”

“But I will” Lucy sighs “It’s my baby’s first Christmas and I want it to go well”

Tim walks over and wraps Lucy in a hug “It will go fine, there’s nothing to worry about. The only thing to worry about is what big nonsense present your mom getting him”

Lucy chuckles “Yeah, I would be worried with that”

“Do you even know what it is”

“Absolutely no idea”

Tim just rolls his eyes and walks away. Feeling a little less stressed, Lucy went back and finished up wrapping the rest of the presents, mainly all for Brooks. With that done, Lucy settled on the couch and grabbed the remote to find some ridiculous Christmas movie on tv. 

The next morning wasn’t so chaotic. Christmas Eve was being spent at Zoe’s house and they were going to open presents there. Brooks wasn’t too fussy when he got put in the car, he probably knew that he was going to Grandma’s house. The drive over wasn’t bad, Lucy sang to Christmas music while Tim shot her some looks. Brooks was giggling along as Lucy was singing, bringing a smile to Tim and Lucy’s face. After they arrived and unbuckled Brooks from the car, The three of them headed inside. Zoe's immediate reaction was to take Brooks and just spoil him with kisses.

“I guess we’re chopped liver” Tim comments and Lucy nods along

After a minute, all of them gathered around the dining table and enjoyed a christmas breakfast that Zoe prepared. After engaging in conversation and getting full from all the food, everyone retreated to the living room to start opening gifts.

Zoe went overboard much to Lucy and Tim’s expectations. The only big thing she did end up getting him was a remote control car that Brooks could ride in when he was older. Lucy and Tim ended up getting a certificate from Zoe offering to take Brooks for a weekend when needed. Lucy greatly appreciated that. 

After Lucy thought they were done, she started to clean up around them until…….

“Lucy…… I actually have one more gift for you and I left it over in the barn”

Lucy looked at Tim a little confused but followed him out outside to the barn. When she entered, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Looking around, nothing was out of place. That was until she saw Tim walking over to the desk. He was grabbing a big envelope off the desk.

“Open it” Tim asked

Hesitantly, Lucy opened the envelope to look inside. She got more confused when all she saw was a picture of some property lines.

“Lucy, what is this”

“Remember when you mentioned that in the future you would like to build your own house on some land near your mom”

“Yeah”

“Well…… I may have went out and found a piece that piece of land”

Lucy looks at Tim in shock “Are you serious” Lucy shows the biggest smile on her face “I could kiss you right now”

“Then why haven’t you”

Lucy laughs before leaning up and throwing her lips onto Tim. She enjoyed the moment and didn’t want to end so quickly but Brooks had some other plans when he started crying

“Duty calls” Tim spoke

“You can say that again”

Both chuckled as they exited the barn and walked back over to the house

Looking back on it now, This is not what Lucy had expected for her life. After that tornado, she thought her life was over. But with her family by her side, she was unstoppable.