BEAUTIFUL CRAZY

eleven. pop a stitch

It took no time at all for them to sit around the table, Kathy at the head of the table, Wren to her right with Tyler right next to her, and Kate sat across from the two. Wren poked at her food a little, smiling over at him as he explained his work – it was clear that he loved it.

"Data only gets you so far, and 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 towards her daughter. "Always knew when weather was coming. Even better than the cows."

Tyler smirked teasingly, "oh, you hear that? You're better than the cows."

Wren giggled, "mooo!"

Kate narrowed her eyes at the girl, "Madaline." Wren's smile fell instantly.

"I hate you,"

"Madaline?" Tyler raised an eyebrow, a smile on his lips as he looked over at Wren.

"Who's that?" She shrugged, stuffing cornbread into her mouth, which made him and Kate laugh.

"That's a compliment," Kathy continued. "Gotta have a feel for it."

"She always have a feel for it?" He asked, but it made a mental note to ask Wren about Madaline later.

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

"Can we not?" Kate cut her off.

Kathy raised her finger, a small space between her index finger and thumb, "maybe just a little."

"Yes, please." Wren nodded.

"And we heard thunder, and she shot up out of the tub, and ran out of the house naked as the day she was born–"

"Oh, my God," the blonde groaned, her face red.

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

"I gotta try that," Tyler joked.

"Do it." Wren hummed, a smirk on her lips as she looked up at him.

"Will you stop encouraging her?"

"Keep your clothes on, Kate. Let you mom finish," he scolded her playful and Wren laughed, her eyes closed, her nose scrunched, her head thrown back. And for a second, all he could look at was her.

Then she groaned, "Oh, stop making me laugh," she huffed a little, punching his stomach, which just made him chuckle.

"All I'm saying is, she always loved weather. Worse the weather, the happier the girl." Kathy smiled at her daughter, before looking over at Wren, which had just taken a sip of her tea. "This one though..."

"Nothing." Wren cut in.

"No, I wanna hear this," Tyler chuckled.

"There's nothing to hear, Kathy didn't even know me when I was little."

"Oh, honey, it's cute that you think you haven't done anything embarrassing in the last five years." Kathy mused, a smile on her face as she patted the girl's arm lovingly as Tyler and Kate laughed.

"Please, no."

"Please, yes."

"Last Christmas..."

"Kathy," Wren groaned, dropping her head on the table. And Tyler chuckled as he rested his hand on her thigh, his finger just under the hem of her shorts.

"Hush you," she waved the girl off. "She was singing at the bar just down the road. Four songs in, the crowd... they loved her. And as she finished Run Run Rudolph, she fell head first right off the stage."

"What?"

"I tripped," she mumbled, her cheeks red and her eyes locked on her hand as she toys with his fingers.

Kathy nodded, "she fell right into this guy's lap. They're heads smack, the chair brakes, his beer goes flying onto the guys next to him. He stumbles into a woman, who's boyfriend didn't like that. Next thing I know, it's all out brawl."

Tyler chuckled, "you started a bar fight?"

"Accidently," she huffed.

"And when she finally gets to her feet, she's drenched in whisky."

"Then I was kindly asked to leave and never return." She added and he laughed.

"Wow," Kate mused, a smile on her lips.

"Yep, I just attract chaos," she hummed.

"Memorable Christmas, though." Kathy mused.

"Well, you're welcome." Wren grinned, her cheeks still pink. She leaned towards Tyler, and he smiled at her, his eyes bright as he wrapped his arm around her – careful not to hit her side.

Kathy smiled at the two, out of all the boys Wren had brought over – even if it was just two – she could see that he truly cared for the girl. And that she cared for him. "What about you?" she asked, drawing his attention away from Wren. "Tyler, how'd you come to do this work?"

He thought for a moment before he spoke, "well, when you love something, you'll spend your whole life trying to understand it." His eyes flickered to Wren, who was tearing off pieces of her cornbread and a small smile tugged at his lips – which Kathy noticed.

Wren, though, was oblivious as she shifted in her seat, wincing a little as she leaned back into her chair. She looked up when it grew quiet, her cheeks full as she looked from Kathy to Kate, both of which wore almost teasing smiles. Then she looked over at Tyler, who chuckled a little at the look on her face.

"What? Did I miss somethin'?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kate chided, and Wren narrowed her eyes at her just a little, but she continued chewing her food.

"Katie was studying for a PhD." Kathy bragged when they fell into silence again.

"Wow,"

"I keep telling her to come back and finish it. That's where these two are alike, don't listen to a thing I say."

"Okay, mom," Kate groaned a little.

"And I listen just fine," Wren mumbled.

"She was headed up a dig study with her friends; disrupting tornado dynamics-"

"Uh, does anybody need anything?" Kate asked as she pushed herself up, clearly uncomfortable.

"Nah, I'm... I'm good. Thank you," Tyler told her, shaking his head a little.

"Okay," she grabbed her plate and her glass before making her way towards the house.

"I'm just gonna go check on her," Wren managed a small smile as she pushed herself up, grabbing her own plate before she followed after the blonde. "She didn't mean nothin' by it," Wren mumbled as she caught up to her, her voice soft.

Kate just hummed as they made their way inside and to the kitchen, where Kate sat her plate in the skin – Wren doing the same. The tv in the other room was on, the weather man talking about the outbreak and the tornado from the night before, which Wren noticed put Kate even more on edge.

"I'll turn it off," she mumbled softly before she grabbed the remote and shut it off. They shared a look as silence descended around them, then the creak of the door sounded through the house.

"I invited Tyler to stay the night in the guest room," Kathy told them, making her way towards the kitchen.

"That's where I'm staying," Wren's brows pinched a little. "This you kicking me out finally?"

Kathy merely laughed, "don't play dumb with me. I saw the way he was looking at you."

"And how would that be?"

"Oh, please, you two have been attached to each other since he got here," Kate mused.

"She can't do nothing anyway, might pop a stitch," Kathy added.

"Hell of a way to pop a stitch," Wren hummed, mostly to herself.

"Wren, no-"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. I ain't have sex in your mom's house."

"Yep, heard that one before." Kathy leaned against the door frame, "that lasted all of three hours."

"You didn't?"

Wren cheeks flamed as she drug her hands down her face, "I was one time."

"Who?"

"Jimmy? Joey? The-the biker," Kathy rattled off names.

"The biker Javi mentioned?"

"What biker?" Tyler asked, making his way into the house.

"Forget-"

"Johnny! That was his name!" Kathy grinned. "She showed up on the back of his bike two summers ago."

"Look at that," Wren muttered looking at her wrist as if she was wearing a watch. "Time to clean my stitches." She quickly made her way up stairs and into the bathroom where she tugged her shirt over her head so she could change the dressing and clean her side.

>>>>> • <<<<<

Wren hummed to herself as she made her way around the house, checking the guest room, the living room, and the kitchen before making her way up the stairs. She made her way down the hall, headed right for Kate's room.

"Hey," she peaked her head in, making the blonde jump a little. "Have you seen Tyler?"

"Nope," she shook her head, her eyes moving to a picture on the wall and Wren stepped into the room, her eyes on the picture. She remembered the little blonde with glasses, her image was ingrained in her brain. And she laughed a little as she pointed at Javi – he had his hand pulled back in a bun and a pair of sunglasses rested on his nose.

"He looks hungover."

"He was," Kate mused, a soft smile on her lips as she looked up at the girl. "You know, Addy would've liked you. Jeb, too. Praveen, though, you'd've scared that boy." It fell quiet over them for a minute and Wren just scanned the picture, a smile tugging at her lips because Kate's smile was so wide – wider then he had ever seen it. "Have you checked the barn?"

"No, not yet," she shook her head. "Come on, let's get some air and find this cowboy."

Kate just nodded, following her through the house, passing Kathy, "if you're looking for him, he's out in the barn. Helped me get the cows ready for the night, he's a good one, Wren."

"I know," she smiled at the woman, then she and the blonde made their way out towards the barn. And they found him next to Kate's workstation, looking over her notebook but he looked up when the door opened.

"You thought you could disrupt a tornado?" he chuckled a little, though it was clear he was impressed.

"Hey, don't look at that," Kate said defensively as she quickly made her way towards him.

"You're the OG wrangler," he mused jokingly.

"Tyler, give that to me." She reached for it, but he turned.

"Using superabsorbent polymers to reduce moisture in the updraft-"

"Tyler."

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

"Well, yeah, that's why were were trying to use different reagents to enhance it," she explained, trying to get the notebook but he kept it out of her reach. "It's a dumb idea..."

"Yeah, some of your reactants are off. A few of these solubility rules skew..." He told her, his eyes still scanning the notebook.

"Tyler, please." Wren stepped towards him once she was how frustrated Kate was getting.

"What?" he smiled at the two. "You really think I'm an idiot, don't you?"

"Right now, yes." Wren nodded.

"No, I don't think you're an idiot." Kate shook her head as her hands shook.

"Hey, modeling's gotten so much better," he continued. "I can upload this to my laptop, link up with a supercomputer." It was clear that he was getting excited about the prospect, but Wren could see just how much it was affecting Kate.

"Tyler..." Wren tried again, only to be ignored.

"I'm telling you, we can get a new model running-"

"Can you stop..."

"This is a great idea. How did you not tell me about this before-"

"Because I got it wrong!" Kate shouted, finally shutting him up. "In the field, in the moment, when it mattered, I got it wrong. Okay, I underestimated what we were up against, and I pushed too far. And for what? Some childish dream that I could make a difference. It was never gonna work. So, no Wren it wasn't your fault. It never was. And I-I have to live with that forever."

"Kate," Wren sighed softly, moving to hug the girl. Kate wrapped her arms around the girl, her nose tucked into her shoulder. She never once thought that Kate blamed herself.

Tyler took careful steps towards them, "You know, uh, and EF1 or an EF5 tornado rating, it's not based on size and wind speed. The power we ascribe to it, it's based on damage. It'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?"

Kate slowly pulled back from Wren, wiping her nose as Tyler handed her the notebook. And while Wren was looking up at him with stars on her teary eyes, Kate just wanted to be done with the conversation.

"You know, you should... you get some sleep. Don't wanna miss any storms tomorrow." She sniffled.

"Come on, cowboy." Wren mumbled, her voice soft as she tugged on his hand. "I'll show you to your room."