⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 ASKING FOR IT ╱ Taming The Storm.𖥔˚
chapter THIRTEEN

           Once it was clear what needed to happen, the three of them set out to get on the road sooner rather than later. Most likely, it was because there was a buzz under all of their skin that they weren't going to be able to calm down until they finished what they'd started.

Tyler and Carmen had spent the night in the guest room again, and the latter tried not to feel too bad about being in Sapulpa for a second night in a row without going to see her at any point. Thankfully, Tyler had been more than a nice distraction, and the three agreed to leave early in the morning. Early enough that she knew there was no point stopping in to see her mother.

Which is why they were all huddled around Tyler's truck, getting ready to head out onto the road for the little over two-hour trip back to Tornado Alley.

"Hey, Lily," Tyler says into the phone on the other side of the red Ford, voice carrying to the ears of the women on the other side. "Yeah, I couldn't get Boone." The truck door slams shut, and he rounds the front.

Smiling at him as he comes closer, she listens to the one side of the conversation that she can hear. "No, we're gonna need you guys for something. No, no, no. We'll come to you. All right."

Pulling the phone away from his ear, he slips it back into his pocket and clasps both hands around whatever it is he's holding. Stepping forward, she tries to take it from him and steal a glance, but he snatches it away. His eyes are fond as he shakes his head at her, leaning down to peck her lips quickly━━━as if he couldn't not. It's successful in distracting her.

"Is this it?" A voice asks, pulling her attention to Cathy and Kate. The mother and daughter are sharing farewells, and the cowgirl can't help but think that if nothing else—she's glad that this trip has brought the two of them together again. "Or you gonna come back before you go home?"

"You know I will." Wrapping her arms around her mom, Kate doesn't let go until the touch of her skin burns against her mom's in the best way. "Love you."

"Love you."

Unable to help herself, the brunette steps up and takes Cathy into her arms next, curling her body around the older woman's like she used to when she was young and wanted her to be her mom instead. "It was good to see you, Cat."

"Oh," Cathy chuckles, sounding soft as her arms take in the girl. "You too, Carm. Love you."

Emotion swells in her throat, threatening to choke her up completely, but she swallows it down and nods. "Love you too."

Cathy doesn't rush her out of her arms, and she only pulls away when the silence around them is still enough that her heart feels the same. Smiling at the woman who helped raise her, she memorizes how the sun brightens her eyes alongside the love she shares so freely. It takes a moment to add the image of it to the part of her heart that houses the knowledge of how lucky she is to be one of the people to receive it.

Taking her place beside Kate, the two watch as Tyler approaches Cathy and extends the item in his possession to her. "This is for you."

Unwrapping the cloth bundle she's been handed, the mother nods her head at the two girls hanging off to the side. "You have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" There's no use mincing her words or pretending she's saying what she's not, and Carmen chuckles.

"She was talking about you, you know?" She teases, narrowly avoiding the slap to her arm. Feigning offense, the tamer shakes her head. "Next to you? No way."

Watching the interaction between the two, Tyler laughs something warm. "I'm beginning to," he answers, making her smile something indulgent before knocking her shoulder into Kate's playfully.

Opened up in her hands, Cathy holds what is now identified as a t-shirt in front of her. The brunette's never seen one up close and personal, but she's spent enough time online and unwillingly in the hub of Tyler's fans to know what it looks like.

"Huh." Hiding a laugh behind her fist, she applauds Cathy for keeping a straight face on. Not only that, but she was smiling in a way that felt sincere. Oh, how Carmen loved her. "Thanks."

"Okay." The cowboy nods, smiling happily if not a bit self-consciously. It was clear he was proud to give something to her in return for her hospitality, even if it was something as stupid as a t-shirt with his face on it. She wanted to kiss him stupid. "Thank you."

The three waited until he circled the truck again, making his way into the front seat before they all turned to each other. Cathy's face took on something along the lines of, Seriously? as she held the shirt up and put it on display for the girls. Shaking their heads, Carmen coughed out a laugh at the sight it made. Tyler's face was plastered on a cowboy, and the words Not My First Tornadeo were printed in bold letters. It was one of the best things she'd ever seen.

Getting in the passenger seat, she leans over the dash and smiles at Tyler teasingly. His eyes, on her from the second the door opened, were bright with mirth.

"I want one too," she murmurs to him, smile twisting her words up into something fond.

"Better yet," he argues, grabbing his hat from the dash and slipping it on his head, "I'll make you one with your own face. How does that sound?"

She seals the deal with a kiss.

           The drive back into town was filled with mindless chatter; ranging between their favorite snacks when on the road to the toll of chasing. At one point, Tyler had kept his eyes on the road and admitted that there had been a time when he had almost thought of quitting, just like he had with bull riding. Not because he didn't love it anymore, or because he was scared of the risks, but because he was scared for his team.

"It had been, he had said to them, "right after Lily got cut up pretty badly by some flying debris in the middle of a twister we were chasing. It had resulted in over twenty stitches and a concussion in the end, and it took us almost two hours to get her to a hospital because we'd been in the middle of nowhere.

"In the waiting room," he told them, eyes unmoving and clouded over with the fog of the past, "I just couldn't stop thinking about the worst-case scenario. Kept imagining being there not to take her home afterward, but to meet her family and tell them what had happened. Explain what it was I had led Lily to, and what the end result was.

"Of course," he chuckled, but it sounded almost choked. "When she woke up and the rest of us made our way into her room, it was written clear as day on my face. All of them knew because they knew me better than anyone, and Dani looked me straight in the face and said, 'Don't go quitting on us now.'"

It was at that point, that he had reached over and grabbed Carmen's hand. Ran his thumb along her knuckles leaving a strip of fire behind, but was still unable to look at her.

"I couldn't find it in me to be surprised how they knew, so all I asked was, 'Why not?' After a good thirty seconds of looking at me like I was stupid, Lily rolled her eyes. If she was close enough, I'm sure she would've smacked me. Alas, she just told me, 'Because it'd be pretty damn selfish. This is what we want to do too.'

"They made me think about the fact that I wasn't dragging them out against their will and that they knew the risks they were taking just as much as I was. And at the time, I needed it."

The woman in the passenger seat hadn't known what to say and had only been able to squeeze the hand in hers a little harder. She didn't know if it helped, could only hope it did. Trying not to dwell on the way the cab of the car encased them in silence that felt more like amber.

She knew what it was like to get hurt in the field, and knew what it was like to see the people she cared about get hurt. But to hear Tyler talk about it with such acceptance━━━to recognize that he also felt that, and to know that there was nothing she could do━━━made her feel more helpless than she was used to.

Thankfully, it hadn't been much more of a drive before they were pulled into the trailer lot they had agreed to meet the rest of the crew. And when they did, she was able to look over and see past the haze of memory into the green of Tyler's eyes that she was coming to adore.

"You okay?" She finally asks. Behind them, Kate climbs out of the truck without a word, clearly able to read that a moment was needed. "I'm sorry I...I didn't know what to say."

It's not often that she's left speechless, or anything along those lines, but it seems that Tyler's story was able to pull it out of her. Most likely, it was because she knew how to comfort herself. She knew how to comfort Kate or even Javi. Knew how they operated and what she needed to do for them. With Tyler, it was all uncharted waters━━━and she was more worried about saying the wrong thing than saying nothing at all. Even if that was just as stupid.

Laying his head on the seat behind him, he looks at her for a moment that stretches. Then, he nods. "Yeah. I mean, it's not my favorite thing to talk about but," he shrugs, "I wanted to tell you."

It almost felt like the world under her seat had opened, and she was falling through it. There was no other way to describe the swoop in her stomach at Tyler's words━━━at the understanding that; here was this memory, this thing that was wrapped in vines and thorns in his deepest core, and he was okay with ripping it open again and dealing with the hurt of it just to tell her.

"Tyler..." she breathes, once again utterly speechless.

Shaking his head, he brings her lips to his lips and presses a kiss there before letting go. Then, like he hasn't just ripped something in her into something raw, he gets out of the truck━━━leaving her behind with her thoughts and hammering heart.

What the fuck.

Shaking herself, she forces her limbs into working muscles and pulls the door handle a little too harshly. It opens easily, swinging on its hinges and letting the outside humidity in. Like the wake-up call she needed, she lets it glide her out of her safety and to the crew around her.

"You finally made it," Dani greets, straw cowboy hat as crooked on her head as the smirk on her face, and Carmen chuckles. Knocking her knuckles against the offered ones from Boone, she makes her way back to Kate's side.

"Ben," Tyler calls, "you stuck around."

Nodding and gazing upon all of them, the journalist admits, "Turns out, there's more to this story than I thought." More than any of them could have thought.

"We got a new ending for you," she agrees, slinging her arm over Kate's shoulder and smiling. Maybe it came off too smug for someone who witnessed the failure she had yesterday, but she couldn't help it. There was still too much faith in her chest that she couldn't shake.

"Look who it is." Dexter smiles at them, and it takes the mockery out of his words and lands them directly in the area of teasing he was reaching for. "Cowgirl, City girl."

Coming to stand between the two, Lily swings her arms over the two's shoulders━━━despite being the shortest. "What's up, y'all?"

"Finally decided to ditch all those squares, huh?" The older man asks, nodding in approval. "Right on."

Lily chuckles, accepting their appearance in their crew like it's nothing but correct. Carmen feels warm.

"Y'all missed a big one." Pulling back, Lily brings her hands in front of her. As she does, the cowgirl takes stock of the tablet she's holding. That must've been resting on Kate's shoulder because she had no idea Lily had it. "Look."

With a few taps, she brings up footage of a healthy-looking cell right before formation, and the four all crowd around to watch the action of it. It's clear the footage was taken from Lily's drone. "Did y'all go out in the field for this one?" She asks, unsure how far away Cairo's reach was.

"Nah," she shakes her head. When she doesn't follow it up with anything, Kate hums.

"Hey, can you, um... Can you rig that drone to collect data?" Eyes still on the tablet, it was clear she was thinking of everything that the drone could see in the air that they were unable to on the ground.

Looking up at the scientist, Lily nods in confirmation. "I can do that."

"Yeah, she can do that," Dexter echoes, his confidence for his teammate dripping from his words and clear in his body language. It's the same way Kate used to talk about Kate━━━and still does, no matter if she thinks she deserves it or not. "Easy. Easy."

It's also how she used to talk about people like Addy, Praveen, and Jeb. Part of her aches to have that kind of team back. Looking around the lot again, she tries to ignore the similarities she feels between this crew and them that are popping up between the cracks.

"'Easy, easy,'" she repeats, shaking her head playfully. "Listen, not all of us are science wizs. Let's act a little humble, why don't we?"

Her best friend scoffs. "You know so much, Carm. You just like to pretend you don't," she argues, always the first to come to the brunette's defense━━━even if it's against the woman herself.

"Yeah, whatever," she waves her off, the effect of annoyance lost with the smile encroaching on her face. To make it worse, her cheeks felt warm with what she was sure was an embarrassed and pleased flush. Compliments about superficial things she'd learned to take long ago, but sometimes, she still turned the same color as a lobster when she was complimented.

"Hey," Dani━━━Carmen's current savior━━━calls, breaking through the moment and saving her from coming up with something to say. Turning on her heel, she and the rest of the group finally register the salesman standing with Dani; ready to do his job and held up by their antics. "Y'all ready?"

"Yeah," they all chorus, falling into line behind the two like properly chasted ducklings.

Successfully making their way through the lot, footsteps echoing around them, and securing their identity as a group moving forward toward a common goal, Dani takes charge in the front. "We need a 40-foot trailer that's light enough for a pickup but heavy enough to anchor barrels in 100-mile-an-hour winds."

Slowly, the salesman comes to a stop in front of them, and the rest follow in a similar fashion. Turning to look at them, he tilts his head just slightly. "Why the hell would you want that?"

Everyone stops, letting the words turn in their heads. Suddenly, they seemed to have lost the ability to explain what it was they were trying to do━━━all too used to it in past years, months, or weeks. All of their heads swiveled, looking for the answer, before finally zeroing in on Kate. "Why the hell do we want that?" Dani echoes.

"Well." Despite looking just as confused as everyone else, the blonde powers through with her hands on her hips and her hands doing half the talking. "'Cause when we drive into a tornado, we want whatever's on the trailer to get sucked into it, but not us." Smiling politely, she nods once in conclusion.

For a few moments, no one says anything, and then, "You're gonna want aluminum."

            After figuring out what exactly it was they were going to need, the group was able to make it out of the trailer lot without much hassle. Tyler had hooked the new, aluminum, trailer to the back of his pick-up truck and led the crew to the next location in their journey.

They had decided on getting the last of their pieces together in a field east of the trailer lot, where a nice-looking cell for a projected EF2 was due to form a little due north. The idea was that they'd have a good vantage point of the cell in order to catch it and that they'd be able to get the last of their bearings together while doing so.

Once there, no one wasted any time before getting out and getting started on their respective tasks. All of them were all too familiar with the way that Mother Nature waited for no one.

Inside the cab of the truck, Tyler pushed the gearshift into park, and Carmen smiled at Kate in the backseat before she jumped out. Through the front windshield, she watched the blonde make her way to the edge of the hill, eyes on the horizon line.

"So," she starts, smirking devilishly as her eyes snag on something. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she reaches forward until her fingers circle around the brim of a white Stetson that is becoming increasingly familiar. Batting her eyelashes and pretending she has no idea what she's doing, she places the hat on her head and looks at Tyler. "Why don't you give me a real tour of this truck?" Her fingers dance over the buttons in the control panel. "My luck, I'll go to shoot the rockets later and that'll be the one time I can't find the button."

At first, the man next to her doesn't say anything, eyes still on her and the hat on her head. It was becoming harder to hold a smirk in, and part of her didn't want to. Knew what he was thinking, and that's exactly why she did what she did.

Clearing his throat, he groans before rolling his neck. "Alright, woman, play that game if you so please." She chuckles, hiding it behind her hand as he continues on, pointing out different buttons. Some had labels, others didn't. "This is for the auger system, to drive them into the ground and anchor us. This is for the rockets, and this is for the barrels."

Despite the joking mood and slight tension, she made sure to pay close attention to his words and the visuals attached to them. She wanted to know the truck like the back of her hand, or as close as she could get on short notice before the next time she was in it in the middle of a tornado.

"Okay." She nods, securing the images to memory before looking back up at Tyler. To no one's surprise, he's looking at her again. Or, more specifically, looking at the hat on her head. Opening her mouth to say either a tease or a promise, she's cut off by the slamming of a hand on top of the truck.

"Come on out lovebirds!" One of their friends interrupts, sounding too cheerful even from outside and out of view.

It makes Carmen chuckle, and she shakes her head. Knowing it was only a matter of time before one of them decided to bother them next by getting in the truck, she bit the bullet and swung her door open, climbing out. Still, she never took the hat off her head.

"There she is," Dani crows from above, earning a wave from the cowgirl. "Nice hat."

"Thanks," she smirks. "What're you doing?"

"Taming the storm, of course." Tipping her own hat to her, Carmen repeats the motion back with the brim of Tyler's. Walking around the truck and toward Kate, who's still observing the storm, she waves briefly at the camera Boone holds but doesn't say anything more. She's almost positive that it'll end up on YouTube at some point when this is all done, and that there will be a frenzy when Tyler's all too infamous cowboy hat is recognized sitting on her head, but she couldn't care less.

Right now, she was focused on checking on Kate.

"Hey," she greets softly once close enough. "How are you feeling?" Coming to stand next to the girl she's known longer than she's really known herself, she knocks their shoulders together just to remind herself that they have each other now. Solid, dependable.

"Good," she hums, turning away from the sky and lowering her camera before scanning Carmen up and down. Her eyes linger on the hat, mouth ticking at the edges but holding back from something full-fledged right away. "You?"

"Good," the brunette agrees, hooking their arms together because the simple touch of their shoulders wasn't quite enough. "I think it's a good team. I know...we had our biases before, but..."

"Yeah," Kate breathes, not needing to hear the rest to know she believes the same. "I think so, too."

Something in Carm's chest loosens, and she nods. "Good, I'm glad."

"I'd think so." With those words, her tone twists into something teasing and mirthful. Turning just so, she flicks at the brim of Tyler's hat carefully. "Considering the attachment you seemed to have formed, Miss Gossett."

Quickly, but not enough to hurt, she swats Kate's hand away. Still, she's unable to hide the smile on her face and painted on her heart. "Shut up and be happy for me."

"I am happy for you," she insists. "But I get to rub it in your face all the same. Best friend privileges, or something like that."

"Or something like that." There isn't more to say, because she knows Kate is right. She'd do the same if their positions were flipped, and she'd probably feel weird if Kate didn't. Really, deep down, a part of her was just happy to be able to have this even at the time. A moment where she can laugh and joke with her best friend and get teased about the boy she likes.

And boy, does she like.

Not, that that's a matter for right now, she reminds herself as the voices behind them bleed back into her attention with Kate's silence.

"Well," she shakes her shoulders lightly, smiling at Kate and taking a step back so she can roll her shoulders. "You promise you're good?"

"I promise." Looking toward the sky one more time, she nods. "I'll be even better when this is over," she admits, before turning and tilting her head toward the group. "I'm gonna go make sure they're all set. You coming?"

"Yup," she agrees, eyes stuck out on the swirl of dark clouds in the distance that Kate had been looking at. "I'll be right there."

And she would be; wouldn't be able to leave the group now that she's found herself so ingrained and fond of them, but she also couldn't seem to peel her eyes away just yet. Even as Kate left her side, she let the sight all those miles away capture her attention for a moment.

For just one moment, she let herself think about everything and nothing. About what could happen on this third attempt, and about what might not.

She didn't pay attention to the man behind her as she did, with his eyes glued to her and requesting the photo she didn't even know was being taken, and she didn't pay attention to the hammering of her own heart.

Instead, after a moment more, she took a breath and focused on the one thing she knew. Whatever it was Mother Nature had in store for them, it was right there in the distance.

And there was no backing out now.

▬▬ mads speaks     ╱    1. my love language being
physical touch really bleeds into my stories if you
can't tell and I have no excuse for that
2. I need to have ao3 tags for this so I can say
'no beta we die like men' because I never feel like
proof-reading/editing anything
& 3. This ending SUCKS but I rewrote it
ten times and it's not getting better so fuck me ig
don't forget to tell me your thoughts!! <3