YOU DON'T WANT TO GET ME STARTED ON EMBARRASSING STORIES.

Though her room was untouched and ready for her, Dakota was hanging out in Kate's room, watching as Kathy moved some boxes around. They'd both gotten well-deserved showers and changes of clothes. Dakota was warm in a University of Alabama sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants, perching on the edge of Kate's bed.

"I am sorry there's so much junk in here," Kathy was saying as Kate looked at some pictures on her wall that just made her sad. "I'll clear it out for you tomorrow. And your friend, Javi, stopped by a few weeks back. Almost didn't recognize him with the haircut."

"Yeah, he looks wild," Dakota mumbled.

Kathy eyed both the timid girls. "You two chasing again?"

"No," Kate said softly, sitting on the bed too. And as she did, her shorts rode up, exposing the long scar on her thigh. She quickly pulled it down, knowing how it bothered her mother.

"Do you girls need anything?"

"No, ma'am," Dakota said, getting up and ready to go to the guest room that was still considered hers.

"Nah. I'm fine."

"Okay. Good night, girls."

"Good night."

✵︎

Dakota hadn't slept well, her mind full of horrible dreams. Ones of losing Kate and Javi in storms. Ones of losing Tyler, who she didn't even realize she was beginning to care about so much so quickly — that it was more than lust. But when she woke, she didn't even recall what had her waking up in a cold sweat.

After a morning of helping out with the cows, both Kate and Dakota braved going into the barn. As soon as they opened the door, they were flooded with happy memories of hours spent in there.

As Kate began uncovering her old supplies, Dakota went up to the loft overhead. She'd moved a cheap couch they found on the side of the road up there so that she'd have somewhere to rest on long nights spent working.

"How you doing?" Kathy asked, coming into the barn. Dakota took a seat, her legs hanging over the side.

"Just the way I left it," Kate mumbled.

"I've been wondering what you wanted to do with all this stuff," her mother said.

"Oh, you can just throw it out."

"You done?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Clearly, Kathy wasn't impressed. "It's funny. I keep seeing more and more tornados, and floods and droughts and the price of wheat and seed going up and up and up. But I'm still here."

Kate looked at her mother apologetically. "I'm sorry, Mom. I haven't been good about calling."

"I'm just saying, even Kota goes home. And Mrs. Abernathy ain't exactly parent of the year," Kathy shrugged. Then her phone rang. "I gotta get this."

But before she left, she scoffed and shook her head. "Throw it away." As if she'd ever do that. As she left, she added a, "I'm still waiting for you to save the world."

It left the girls in silence, and Dakota finally came down from the loft, seeing how Kate was eying the little town she'd built so long ago. "Figure it still works?"

"Might need new batteries," Kate said, picking up the controller. But it fired up just fine, both watching as a tunnel of dust rose, the small wind current knocking over the miniature houses from Hobby Lobby.

"You built your own tornado." At hearing Tyler, both girls turned, surprised to see him in the barn. "Look at that."

"Middle school science fair project," Kate explained, turning it off.

"You must've won," he said, earning a nod from her. Then he met Dakota's gaze. "What about you? Got any blue ribbons?"

Dakota rolled her eyes, making Kate chuckle. "Don't get her started."

"It was unfair for the other high schoolers to have to compete against a thirteen-year-old," she grumbled.

"Something tells me you're not exactly a demure winner," he said, grinning.

"Ooh, that's a big word for you," she joked.

Then silence fell over them, and Kate broke it. "How'd you find us?"

"Eh, Dexter pieced it together. He remembered your names from the news a few years back — not a lot of articles with a Kate and Dakota involved... I'm sorry about your friends."

Dakota just smiled sadly before looking at the ground, not ready to talk about it with him yet. Thankfully, Kathy came to save them. Or, well, make things worse.

"I'm fixing some food. You three okay eating outside?"

Always down for Kathy's cooking, Dakota just said, "Yes, ma'am." But the other two weren't convinced.

"Oh, I'm not—"

"He's not staying—"

"He's staying," she said, not wavering in her decision. "You can call me Kathy. Kate, why don't you set up the table? Dakota Mae, we're having your favorite. Barbecue."

"In the smoker?" she asked, perking up.

"Been in there thirteen hours. Had no clue you were coming," she chuckled before heading back out.

A few minutes later, they were all sitting at the picnic table outside, Kate by her mother while Tyler was beside Dakota, who just poured him a glass of sweet tea. And Tyler was having the time of his life explaining his work to Kathy. He got just as excited as Kate, which put a smile on Dakota's face.

"Data only gets you so far—"

"Don't knock data!" Dakota interrupted, making him chuckle.

"But every chaser has to make a guess. And the good ones have an instinct for it."

"Oh, she had that early on," Kathy told him, nodding to her daughter. "Always knew when weather was coming. Even better than the cows."

Tyler smirked smugly at Kate. "Oh, you hear that? You're better than the cows."

"Moo," Dakota said under her breath, making him and Kate laugh.

"That's a compliment," Kathy said. "They have a feel for it."

"She always had a feel for it?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. One time, I was giving her a bath—"

As Dakota snickered, loving this story, Kate cut her off, her face burning. "Mom, can we not?"

Kathy pinched her fingers together. "Maybe just a little. And we heard thunder, and she shot up out of the tub, and ran out the house naked as the day she was born—"

"Oh, my god," Kate groaned.

"And I had no idea where she was — I was terrified. And when I finally caught up with her, she was standing in the middle of the wheat field, staring at the sky."

"I gotta try that," Tyler joked.

"Will you stop encouraging her?" Kate asked him.

"Keep your clothes on, Kate. Let your mom finish," he said, making Dakota laugh hard. And he loved the sound of her laugh.

"All I'm saying is she always loved weather," she said, smiling at Kate. "Worse the weather, the happier the girl."

"Tell the story about when she slept in the chicken coop that night of the February tornado—"

"Now, hold on!" Kate said. "You don't want to get me started on embarrassing stories."

"Ooh," Tyler said, leaning in. "Let's hear 'em."

Dakota crossed her arms stubbornly. "There are none."

"You went to college as an awkward fifteen year old, honey," Kathy said. "There are plenty. Like in the boy in the loft—"

"The boy in the loft!" Kate exclaimed, sitting up. "I forgot that one."

"Who's the boy in the loft?" Tyler asked like it was a gossiping session.

"No one," Dakota stressed.

"What was his name?" Kathy asked. "Martin?"

"Marcus," Kate remembered. "He was just like she likes 'em."

"How's she like 'em?" Tyler asked, wanting to know for his own personal reasons.

"Hot and stupid, Praveen would always say," Kathy chuckled.

"Can we not?" Dakota begged.

But she was just ignored as Kathy and Kate took turns telling the story. "Well, Kate was always working in the barn. And Kota was with her, of course. She just about lived on the couch in the hayloft."

"So, picture a seventeen-year-old virgin—"

"Was that part necessary?" Dakota laughed, her face heating up as Tyler smirked at her.

"Yes," Kate said flatly. "Anyway, I'm working down at my desk on the new plans she came up with Javi. I had no clue she had a boy up there until I heard panting. So I peek over the guard rail—"

"Don't say it," Dakota said, covering her face.

"What? They were having sex?" Tyler asked, chuckling. "That ain't nothing."

"He was having sex. Next thing you know, in the middle of him going, well, down there," Kate said, smirking, "she pushes him off and jumps up. 'Katy! I've got it! I figured it out!' She runs down the stairs, pushing her dress down, going off about some derivative that she'd solved in her head. That's our little physics nerd."

Tyler looked at her in amused disbelief. "He was doing that and that's what you were thinkin' about?"

"Well, he whatn't any good at it," she mumbled, pushing her barbecue around her plate. "I'm convinced no guy is good at it in my limited experience."

He raised an eyebrow and leaned in flirtily. "I wouldn't say every guy—"

"Yeah," Kate said, cutting him off. "Cause this is the kind of conversation I want to have in front of my mother and the Tornado Wrangler."

"I think she's right. Probably not the most appropriate of stories for me to bring up," Kathy said, snickering. But now she was watching Tyler and Dakota much more closely. "What about you? Tyler, how'd you come to do this work?"

"Well, when you love something, you'll spend your whole life trying to understand it," he said, not taking his eyes off Dakota.

Kathy broke the heavy silence, always good at keeping things from staying awkward. "Katy was studying for her PhD."

"Wow," he hummed.

"I keep telling her to come back and finish it. And Kota needs that degree. Can't be a mechanic forever."

"Okay, Mom," Kate groaned.

"They was heading up a big study with their friends. Disrupting tornado dynamics—"

Suddenly very uncomfortable, Kate stood up abruptly. "Um, does anybody need anything?"

"Uh, naw, I'm good. Thank you," Tyler told her softly.

"Okay," she mumbled before taking her plate inside.

Dakota sighed and got up to follow after her. "Sorry about that."

Once she caught up to Kate, neither said anything. Neither had to as Kate set her plate in the sink. The weather station was on, talking about all the recent tornados, which upset Kate even more. So, Dakota grabbed the remote and turned the TV off.

"I invited Tyler to stay the night in the guest room," Kathy said, coming back into the house.

Dakota turned on her heel and looked at her in disbelief. "The guest room is my room. Kate don't have a queen sized bed for me to share."

Kathy just smirked at her. "Then maybe you and Tyler can share. Don't think he'd mind after that talk y'all were doing."

"Mama, don't encourage her," Kate groaned.

"Just sayin' I've got condoms in the nightstand—"

"Mama!" Kate hissed as Dakota snickered. "She is not having sex with that man!"

"I might," she admitted shamelessly now that Tyler wasn't around. When Kate cut her eyes to her, she just grinned sheepishly. "If you fear it, ride it or whatever. Well, I must be terrified of that boy."

Kate put her hand to her forehead in exasperation. "Jesus Christ, Dakota Mae. I know you like 'em dumb, but come on."

Dakota just snickered and turned on the sink, starting to wash up the dishes Kathy brought in. "He ain't dumb," she said under her breath as the others continued to laugh.

"What are we laughing about?" Tyler asked, coming in with an armful of plates. "I hope it's Dakota."

"Laugh all you want. I'll get some embarrassing stories out of Lily and Dani before I head back to California," she told him as he came to help her with the dishes.

She didn't notice how his smile dimmed a bit. "When you going back?"

"Not sure," she admitted. "Was just supposed to be for a week. Told Javi I might could be convinced to stay on the team, but that was before, you know, Riggs turned out to be a huge dick."

"Well, could anything else convince you to stay?" he asked softly, hoping Kate and Kathy couldn't hear over the running water.

Dakota eyed him in her peripheral vision, taking in the vulnerable look on his face. "We'll see, Cowboy."

✵︎

Later that night, when Kate and Dakota couldn't find Tyler, they went looking for him. Kathy informed them that he helped get the cows ready to go in for the night before heading to the barn. And when they found him, he was flipping through the notebook that Kate shared with Dakota. It was filled with theories and calculations from over the years.

"You thought you could disrupt a tornado?" he asked, chuckling.

"Hey, don't look at that," Kate said defensively while Dakota hung back, a little less territorial since it wasn't her original idea.

"You're the OG wrangler," he joked.

"Tyler, give that to me—"

She tried to reach for it, but he just turned away and kept reading. "Using super absorbent polymers to reduce moisture in the updraft—"

"Tyler."

"I mean, you'd have to drop a silo of it in the funnel for any real effect."

Dakota sighed and finally tried to help Kate out while speaking. "That's why we were trying to use reagents to enhance it—"

But Tyler just kept holding the notebook at arms length from the girls, continuing to read aloud. Dakota huffed and crossed her arms, getting a little annoyed by his cute behavior.

He stopped and smiled at them. "What? You really think I'm an idiot, don't you?"

"No, I don't think you're an idiot," Kate sighed.

"Hey, my link up is so much better. I can upload this to my laptop, link up to a super computer. I'm telling you, we get a new model running," he said, getting excited. And Dakota froze, thinking it over. "This is a great idea. How did you not tell me about this before—"

"Because, I got it wrong!" Kate shouted, cutting him off. And it was finally enough to shut him up as she cried.

"In the field, in the moment, when it mattered, I got it wrong. Okay, I underestimated what we were up against, and I pushed it too far. And for what? Some childish dream I had that I could make a difference. It was never gonna work. And I - I have to live with that forever," Kate said, hanging her head.

After a moment of silence, Tyler came closer to her. "You know, uh, an EF 1 or EF 5 tornado rating, it's not based on size and wind speed. The power we assign to it, it's based on damage. That's only after the fact, we can really define it. What it destroys. What it takes from us. I'm sorry for what happened. How much more are you gonna let this thing take from you?"

Dakota's eyes softened, her heart reaching for Tyler as he handed the notebook back to Kate. Him just showing that he cared about her best friend made her care about him all the more. He was showing that he wasn't just some influencer in the wild.

But Kate couldn't stand to consider his words yet. "You know, you should - you should get some sleep. Don't wanna miss any storms tomorrow," she said, sniffing. "Dakota can show you your room."

Clearly upset that he hadn't made her feel better, Tyler nodded and headed out of the barn, casting a sad look at Dakota. Before following him, she moved to hug Kate, who was trembling.

"He didn't mean any harm by it," she whispered.

"I know," she replied. Then she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Are you sharing my room with me tonight?"

Dakota rolled her eyes playfully. "All jokes aside, I'm not gonna have sex in your house."

A barely there smile made its way onto Kate's face. "Yeah, you save that for the loft."