BEAUTIFUL CRAZY

fourteen. damn stitches

"You're writing it down?" Kate raised an eyebrow as Wren scribbled in an old notebook.

"Yeah, seein' it on paper helps me remember," she hummed, not looking up at the blonde. "Hey, baby, I got that one right, right?" she looked over her shoulder at Tyler and he leaned forwards, his palms against the table on either side of her. He just smiled, leaning down to press a kiss to her lips, "I'll take that as yes."

Kate rolled her eyes a little, but couldn't stop her smile from growing. It had been thirty minutes – if not longer – of her and Tyler explaining the terminology to the girl. Followed up by a quick quiz, and when she got one right, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"Better than a carrot," Tyler mused and she laughed, going back to her notes.

"Get back to that, you can check my notes later." She told him, motioning to his laptop, which looked just as good as – if not better than Javi's. Tyler simply hummed, kissing the top of her head before hitting a few buttons on the laptop, and Kate watched with wide, excited eyes.

"So this is an EF1, perfect conditions," he explained, his left hand moving to Wren's hip as he poked at a few buttons with his right. "Run your experiment, see if it works."

He pulled back, his other hand resting against the girl as she leaned back into his chest, then Kate leaned down, "okay, so fifteen hundred kilos of polymer absorbing three hundred times its weight."

"So, it's, uh, four hundred and fifty kilos..." he mumbled, doing the math. "-of precipitation loaded onto our water-filled polymer load the updraft. Let's see how the model responds."

Even Wren watched as the simulation started, she even held her breath. She really wanted this for Kate.

"Buoyancy of the rising air is reducing," Kate noted, reading the stats.

"It's reducing – slowing the updraft," Tyler added.

"It's slowing down," Wren mumbled, watching in awe as the model vanished.

"Kate. Kate, in theory, this should've worked." Tyler, himself, was in awe. He'd never seen anything like it.

"In theory," she nodded, deflating a little. "But it wasn't an EF1 that day. I mean, we never had a chance."

Wren reached over and squeezed Kate's hand, giving her a small comforting smile. Which Tyler noticed. His eyes bounced between the two for a moment, an idea forming in that big brain of his, "you want one?"

"She does," Wren nodded, answering for the girl.

>>>>> • <<<<<

Wren laughed, watching as Kate acted as if she had never been in a truck before – granted, his truck was modified to the brim, but still. She reached up from the back seat, her hand on the console to steady herself as she turned a knob.

"Yeah, that's my radio," Tyler sighed as she turned the music up.

"What's all this for?" She asked, looking at some stuff in the back and Wren turned around in her seat to watch her.

"Wait, what are you touching back there?" He whipped his head around, "Stop."

"You gotta a lot of stuff in here," she muttered as she reached forward and opened the visor.

"That's a mirror," he remarked, rolling his eyes a little.

Then she reached past Wren and opened the glovebox, only for signed photos of Tyler to fall out, "oh, God."

"Oohh!" Wren laughed in pure delight, picking up a photo as she smiled at him.

Embarrassed, he reached over and tried to snatch the photo but she moved it out of his reach, so he huffed as he closed the glovebox.

"Aw, baby, you're so cute." Wren mused, smiling at the picture on him in his sunglasses.

"You ever been in a car before?" He huffed, ignoring the teasing look he was getting from Wren as she shook the photo a little.

"You got a lot of gadgets," Kate mused, messing with the switches by the gearshift.

"Yeah, yeah, don't touch – there's-there's guards there for a reason," he swatted at her hand. "Baby, a little help please."

"Okay," she reached over and hit a button, sending the rockets into the air, making them all jump a little as Kate tucked her hands under her thighs. Her eyes went wide as he slowly turned to look at her, but she couldn't stop her smile from forming and he shook his head as he let out a breathy laugh.

"That's a rocket," he hummed.

"If Boone asks, Kate did it." She mumbled, making the cowboy laugh as he shook his head. And she just looked at him – he wore a backwards baseball cap. And she wasn't sure which was sexier, the ball cap or the cowboy hat. "Sorry, baby," she leaned over the console, careful not to hit any more buttons, then she kissed his cheek.

"Sit down," he chuckled, nodding his head towards the seat and she grinned as she settled back into her seat and buckled up. "What about these two little ones? Just west of Enid?" He asked, pointing at the doppler on the dash.

"Yeah," Kate leaned forward and pointed at the bigger one, "but this one to the east has the sky all to herself."

Wren giggled as he narrowed his eyes at the blonde in the rearview mirror. "Yeah, not falling for that one again." Then after a moment, "You serious?"

"I'll tell ya later."

When they got close to the bigger storm, they all jumped out of the truck. Wren laughed as Tyler and Kate were geeking out, using words she'd only just begun to understand. And they kind of reminded her of the way Tyler's fans acted when they saw him. But as she looked up at the forming storm, the twisting clouds, the darkening sky, she couldn't help but run ahead of them. It was almost like it was pulling her towards it... and a smile pulled at her lips.

Maybe she was a chaser... just maybe.

"Aw, she's perfect!" Tyler shouted.

"She's gorgeous!" Wren shouted, a giddy feeling working its way through her veins as she turned back towards them, and all Tyler could do was smile at her – no longer focused on the storm as he watched her fight against the wind to keep her hair out of her face.

And she was sure that he was the only thing – the only person – in the world that made her feel the same way chasing did. She made her way towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stood on her toes, pressing her lips against his.

Kate smiled, quickly snapping a picture of them – the only picture she had taken that wasn't the beautiful storm brewing before them.

"Okay, guys! Come on!" She shouted, making the two pull apart, both wearing side smiles. "She gonna give us something! Let's go! Shotgun!" She turned and rushed towards the truck.

"What? No!" Wren ran after her. "It's my boyfriend's truck! I ride shotgun!"

"Just get in the truck!" Tyler laughed, but he didn't miss that she had called him her boyfriend. His cheeks had even flushed.

"Yeah, Madeline, get in the truck."

"Fine," Wren huffed, climbing into the back seat. "And stop calling me that."

Kate just laughed, and the sound made Wren smile. She was sure she had never actually heard her laugh before and it made her think that maybe, just maybe all of this was helping Kate heal.

And if Kate could heal, then maybe she could, too.

"All right, let's harness up," Tyler told the two, pulling his own harness on as a funnel formed before them. "You got it, baby?" he glanced back to see her tightening her straps.

"Yep, all good." He nodded, her eyes on the storm ahead of them.

"Uh, we're just gonna drop the trailer in is path, right?" Kate asked a bit hesitantly.

Tyler smirked, "I'll tell ya later."

"Shit," the blonde muttered, quickly putting her harness on and making Wren laugh.

The closer they got to the storm, the more excited Wren got, she was nearly shaking in anticipation. A wide smile was plastered on her face as she watched out the window and her excitement only grew as he pressed harder on the gas... there was only one thing missing.

She slipped out of her harness and leaned up between the seats, "Wha-baby, sit down!" She ignored him as she turned the knob on the radio, filling the cab of the truck with entirely too loud music. And as she sunk back into her seat, she kissed his cheek.

Then she was pulling her harness back on, smiling at the way Tyler merely laughed – he really looked like he was having the time of his life as he pulled out of the road and into the field.

"Well, you don't have to drive into it." Kate rushed out. "It's really dangerous!"

"Oh, that's why we have to drive into it." He told her simply. "Can't miss from in there."

"Oh, shit," Kate muttered, her hands shaking a little as he sped up, hitting a rather large bump, the front wheels leaving the ground for a second.

"I believe the words you are looking for are yee and haw," Wren grinned, reaching up to pat Kate's shoulder a little as they got closer to the storm.

"Now, look, this thing's-"

"Oh, shit."

"-rated for EF1s, okay?" he continued. "We got extra wright on the chassis. We got anchoring down two feet. Don't worry. I'm a professional."

"You're an asshole!" Kate snapped, shifting in her seat as they got closer and closer. "How are you okay with this?"

"Always wanted to know what it would be like inside a tornado," Wren pretty much had her face pressed against the window, a wide smile on her face.

"Hold on," he turned a little, just reaching the storm. "Hold on, baby!"

"Oh, Tyler, this is dumb. This is really dumb. This is really dumb."

"This is fucking awesome," Wren mumbled, awe swimming in her eyes and Tyler grinned, merely glancing at her in the rearview.

"Alright, we got this. Here comes the kick."

The truck shook as they finally drove right into the tornado, and Wren was in awe as she watched the storm swirl around them.

"Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god!" Kate shouted, her voice just barely heard over the rush of the wind and the excited giggle that left Wren as she all but shook in her seat.

"Alright, slowing down," Tyler told them, slowly coming to a stop. Then he hit the red button, "anchoring." Wren watched him for a moment, her smile as wide as ever as the truck was pulled down just a little as the anchor dug into the ground.

Then she was staring at the window again, watching as it spun around her. And the voice of ten-year-old Wren simply muttered open the door. Her hand moved for the handle but stopped, she wasn't that ten-year-old anymore. She wasn't stuck in that house with that awful man. She wasn't looking for a way out.

She liked her life... mostly. Even more now.

"Wren?" She could hear the unease in his voice, turning to meet his eyes. But his eyes flickered between her eyes and her hand that still linger by the handle.

He was worried. What she had told him just the other night replayed in his head, even if she said she no longer wanted to go up in a tornado. It was almost like he couldn't unhear it.

"All good, green eyes." She grinned and he smiled, nodding his head.

"Okay, barrels." He turned, pulling the new switch labeled Kate's barrels. "Oh!" it left him in a laugh. "Here she comes." The truck shook a little harder and while Kate squeezed her eyes closed and pressed back into her seat, Wren bounced a little in her seat. "Now!"

He hit the button and Wren whipped around to watch as the lids flew off the barrels, the polymer getting swept up the funnel. Then her eyes were on the sky, her cheek pressed against the glass, trying to see everything.

And in just seconds, though it felt longer, the tornado moved past them. Laughter filled the cab of the truck, all a little giddy from the rush.

"Did you see that?" Kate turned on her seat, looking back at Wren.

"I saw it," she nodded, nearly in a fit of giggled.

"Did it work?" Tyler asked, looking over at the blonde.

"Oh, right," she mumbled, unbuckling, but she struggled a little with the harness. "So many belts." She huffed, before nearly falling out of the truck. Wren followed after her, watching as the tornado persisted.

Kate's shoulders deflated a little, and Wren patted her shoulder as Tyler walked up behind them.

"It's not working."

"Hungry?" He asked.

"Always," Wren nodded, though her smile was still intact as she turned towards him. She was upset for Kate, but the rush of it all still had her on cloud9.

It took no time at all for the three to dig into the lunch Kathy had all but insisted they take, and Wren happily danced as she bit into her pb and j, with strawberry jelly – her favorite. They were perched on the top of the truck, just over the windshield.

Tyler smiled over at her, chewing on his own sandwich, but he had to ask. He had to know, "hey, baby, when we were in there, were you gonna..." he couldn't say it. Could barley even think it.

"What?" Kate asked, her brows pinched and her cheeks full. She had no idea what they were talking about, her eyes had been closed for most of it.

Wren swallowed then took a breath, "I thought about it. But it wasn't really me, ya know. Well, it was, but little me. I guess, sometimes I still feel like that little kid that just wants... out. But I don't want that, not anymore. It was just a momentary lapse in judgment. Promise."

"Still confused," Kate mumbled.

"Another day," Wren patted her knee, to which Kate nodded. "That was pretty great though," she added, looking up at Tyler. "Thank you." she leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close as he kissed the top of her head.

They fell into silence for a moment, Wren smiled as she played with Tyler's fingers – having finished her sandwich.

"What if the model's the problem?" Kate asked, suddenly.

Tyler's brows creased, looking at her over Wren's head, "how do we create a better one?"

"Better data," Wren hummed, still mostly focused on his hand as she brought it up and softly brushed her lips over his knuckles. "And we all know who has that data."

"Javi," Kate sighed. She didn't want to call him, still unable to believe that he had said such awful things to her.

"I can punch if you want?" Wren offered, looking over at the blonde. "Austin made sure I knew how to hit when I started workin' at Stubby's."

Kate sent her a smile, "no, but thank you."

"Just let me know if that changes." 

"Will do." 

Tyler chuckled and she pulled back to look up at him, "what?" 

"Every time I learn something new about you, I like you all the more." 

"Well, that's good. 'Cause I like you, too." She leaned up, pressing her lips against his and he hummed into the kiss. Only for her to groan a little as she pulled back, her hand on her side. "Damn stitches."