UNDER MY SKIN

twenty-two. tornado of fire

The crew was in a field, getting everything ready for the upcoming storm and Kate's experiment. Kate was on the roof of the truck with Dani, putting the new rockets – that Dexter was putting together – into the launchers. Lily was modifying Cairo as she needed so they could collect some real data with the drone, and not just amazing footage.

Sam had the dogs occupied so they were out of the way while everyone worked, it also gave her the best opportunity to watch Tyler – she loved to watch him do just about anything.

That is, until Boone aimed his camera at her, "say hi to the folks, Sam."

"Howdy, folks." She waved, her smile wide.

"You and T are official now, how's that goin'?" He asked, knowing that the fans wanted more, especially since neither had said anything on the subject since the pictures from the other day.

"It's goin' great," she nodded. "And I'd love to tell y'all all about it, but, Boone, I think maybe you should focusin' on the storm stuff."

"Right," he nodded as he turned and the blonde laughed and he rushed towards the truck, stopping in front of Dexter. "Dexter, talk to me. What's going on?"

"We're testing the Goldilocks principle of a tornado by modifying the variables, hopefully disrupting the process."

Boone paused for a moment before he moved the camera towards Dani, who had grabbed the rocket Dexter handed to her, "Dani, what does that mean?"

"Taming the storm," she simplified and Kate smiled. Even Sam smiled, it was so similar to what Kate used to say.

But her attention was quickly pulled to Buck as the dog laid next to her in the tall grass, his head on her thigh. Grizzly soon joined them, laying next to Buck.

"T," Boone moved towards them and he turned, briefly looking over at Sam and she smiled at him before he looked at the camera, his sunglasses covering his eyes, "-tell us what's going on."

"Alright, we're gonna shoot the clouds with rockets of silver iodide." He explained before turning and making his way towards the trailer.

Yeah, makes 'em rain, right?" he asked to clarify for the viewers.

"Yep, rain is what we need in the updraft. And then we're gonna take the sodium polyacrylate and we're gonna deliver it in the vortex – don't touch that –" he stopped Ben as he messed with the clasp on one of the barrels. The reporter pulled his hand back quickly, his eyes wide and Boone got the whole thing on camera. And Tyler just continued with a smile on his face, "–increasing the cold pool."

"And that does what to the tornado?" Ben asked curiously.

"It cuts the fuel." Sam stated as she walked over, both dogs in tow, and Tyler smiled as he wrapped his arm around her. He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers and the others all oohed like they were in middle school.

Boone grinned, having gotten the moment on camera before he moved towards Lily. "Lily! Oh, look at Cairo looking all cute and whatnot. Hey, buddy," he patted the drone.

Sam chuckled at him, her smile wide as ever then she took the sunglasses off of Tyler's face before pushing them up her nose. And before he could protest, not that he was going to, she turned and made her what towards Kate.

The youngest Carter girl was standing a few feet away, her camera raised towards the sky as a storm formed in the distance.

"You good, Katie?"

She smiled, looking over at Sam, "yeah. Just feels kinda surreal."

Sam simply nodded, stopping at Kate's side before she wrapped her arm around her, "they'd be real proud of you. All of 'em. Especially Jeb."

A sad smile tugged at Kate's lips, but she nodded her head. Sam squeezed her a little and rested her against her shoulder, then Kate let her head rest against Sam's.

"I know they would be. Especially if it works."

"It's gonna work, you and Ty are, like, the smartest people I know. If anyone can figure it out, it's you two."

Kate only hummed, her eyes still on the sky as she leaned against her sister. She was letting it all sink in, it was actually happening. She was getting a second chance and with what they now knew, it seemed to have a pretty good shot at working out.

Back at the truck, Tyler smiled as watched them. He couldn't believe it had taken him so long to figure out that they were sisters, it was so obvious. And that moment that they shared right before his eyes, he knew it was important even if he couldn't hear a word they were saying.

Tyler peeled his eyes off of them, looking over at Ben who was taking pictures of the two girls, "Kate's your story, Ben." Then his eyes were on them again. His eyes lighting up as Sam laughed, still holding onto Kate as if to keep herself up right. And Kate's smile was nearly as big, "get me a copy of that."

If he knew anything about Sam, it was that she cared so deeply for her sister that a picture of them having a beautiful moment would mean so much to her.

He also loved the way her smile lit up her entire face, it was beautiful. And to have a candid photo of that smile, well, that was something he just couldn't pass up.

His smile grew wide as he watched Sam kiss Kate's cheek before she turned and made her way towards him. He turned a little, his back against the truck and she stretched onto her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned against him.

She still wore his sunglasses.

"Hey, baby."

"Hey, cowboy," she grinned, brushing her nose against his. "You gotta remind me to thank you later."

His eyebrows pinched, "for what?"

She shrugged a little, her chest pressed against his and his back against the truck, "Kate, she's... I haven't seen this Kate in five years. And I don't think she would'a got there if it weren't for you."

He shook his head a little, "it wasn't just me."

"I know, but I can't exactly do that thing you like by myself, now can I?"

His eyes went wide, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, "baby, you can't just say stuff like that." He tugged her closer to him, leaning in to brush his nose against hers. "Not when I'm about to drive into a tornado, I gotta stay focused. Now all I'm gonna be thinkin' about is you on–"

"Aww," Boone gushed as he made his way towards the two, luckily he hadn't heard what they were talking about and the camera didn't pick it up either. "Look at the love birds. It's about damn time, really, T. Been long-"

"Boone." Tyler huffed, and Sam giggled, still holding onto the cowboy. Boone just grinned, then wiggled his fingers before turning away from them.

"Hell of a way to hard launch our relationship," she mused and he chuckled before leaning down to brush his lips against hers.

"You better be prepared to do that thing I like tonight," he whispered, brushing his nose along her jaw and towards her ear. "'Cause we're gonna be celebratin'."

She nodded, "can't wait." She pecked his lips then pulled back and he took a breath, watching her as she made her way towards the camper to help Dani get the two dogs inside.

"Alright," he took a breath. "Let's head out."

"Um, no offense," Ben mumbled as he neared the cowboy, "but I'm gonna get a ride with someone else."

Sam laughed as she made her way back towards Tyler, passing the reporter on the way, "told you you scared him."

He rolled his eyes, his hands on her hips, "who you ridin' with, baby?"

"You, always." She hummed, kissing his jaw quickly before she opened the back door but before she could climb up, Tyler grabbed her waist and lifted her into the truck.

"Harness up, baby." He sent her a wink and she laughed before he shut the door. He climbed in behind the wheel and Kate opened the passenger door, giving her sister a confused look.

"You ain't sittin' up here?"

"It's your experiment, figured it's only fair you get the front seat." She nodded, and Kate smiled and climbed in. "But don't get too comfortable, that's still my seat."

Kate laughed and Tyler smiled as he met Sam's eyes in the rearview, she smiled back and blew a kiss.

Then he started the truck and they were on the road and in what felt like no time at all they were all watching as a funnel formed, reaching towards the ground.

"Okay, ground speeds at twenty two, intercept it north east. Look for Asylum Road," Kate told Tyler, her eyes on the screen before her.

"Asylum Road," he repeated, nodding his head and he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel.

Suddenly, a familiar white truck pulled out in front of them. It had StormPAR printed on the tailgate along with the word Lion.

Javi.

Tyler merely chuckled, clearly amused Javi had tried to pull his stunt. But the cowboy was unaffected.

"Hey, these Storm buttheads are cutting us off, man," Boone shouted over the radio.

"Alright, let's not get distracted. Let's get these babies in the air," Tyler spoke into the radio, knowing they needed to keep a level head if they were gonna have a chance at this working.

And not long after, it started raining, heavy droplets hitting the truck along with debris making it a bit hard to see the road. But Tyler stayed calm, he was always good – calm even – in dangerous situations, Sam assumed that's why he was a damn good bull rider.

Then the screen cut off, much to Kate's annoyance."Doppler went dark."

"It's probably a dead cell zone," Tyler guessed, but still he was calm as ever.

Kate grabbed the radio. "Lily, are you above us?"

"It's getting completely rain-wrapped. I can't see a thing," she told them, before groaning. "Yeah, I just lost my drone."

"Hey, we lost visual," Boone informed them.

Sam looked out the window, squinting through the heavy rain. She watched as a stop sign wobbled against the hard wind, and a deep feeling of dread filled her gut, replacing the pure happiness she had felt moments ago.

"Ty-"

"Put your harness on, baby," was Tyler's only response. "You too," he glanced over at Kate and both did as told.

The rain was so heavy and the sky was so dark that they couldn't make out the refinery they had passed.

But all three could see the taillights of Javi's truck, then they all watched as they shined a brighter red as he slammed on brakes and the truck swerved a little.

Then they saw the reason he had hit his brakes, the tornado was right in front of them.

"Javi!" Both girls shouted, watching in horror as the truck flipped, landing on its side.

"Shit," Sam mumbled, her eyes wide as fear settled in her chest. She and Javi weren't on the best of terms, but he was still the boy she had befriended so easily years ago. He was still the boy that had taken her to a couple campus parties when she was looking for a way to let off some steam.

He was still Javi.

"Tyler, we gotta do something!" Kate shouted, panic in her voice.

"Hey, on your left!" Boone shouted over the radio, watching them from behind. "Guys, it's hitting something big!"

They all watched as the tornado hit the refinery, tearing it to pieces as flames rose up and spun with the tornado.

"Fuck," it left Sam on a mere breath.

This wasn't anything like the last time they had driven towards a storm, no, this was terrifying. It felt nothing at all like riding a bronc.

And that was when the panic set in.

She sucked in a breath, only for her chest to ache. Her eyes watered and her fingers gripped the back of Tyler's seat, her hands shaking. She sucked in another breath, but it seemed that her lungs could only push air out, even though she had no air in her lungs at all.

Her gut twisted with a wave of nausea and the back of her throat burned, she felt as if she had swallowed a tornado of fire and now it was wreaking havoc on her from the inside out.

But the real tornado of fire was in front of them, spinning fast and out of control tearing up what remained of the refinery, which only fed the storm making it bigger.

"Oh, my God." Tyler mumbled, his voice sounded muffled to Sam's ears. "Oh, my God!" He quickly put the truck in reverse and started backing up, though he couldn't move very fast with the long ass trailer attached to the truck.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Kate shouted, her voice seemingly snapping Sam out of her panic. "We can just leave them!"

"We're not gonna leave them, but we gotta move," Tyler told her, still slowly backing up and the others behind him did the same.

Then a thought crossed Sam's mind, and that has her panicking all over again. "Ty, the dogs!" She nearly cried. She couldn't survive it if she lost Buck and Grizzly, especially like this. It was too similar, yet entirely different.

"They're fine, baby." He told her, glancing back to make sure he didn't run into Lily's van. But he wasn't sure.

Then he met her eyes in the rearview, and the tears that rested there broke his heart. But it was the panic he saw that had him wanting nothing more than to hold her in his arms.

"Look!" Kate shouted, and both Sam and Tyler looked out the windshield to see Javi's truck back on its wheel and flying towards them. Then Javi turned down a road right in front of them. And Tyler was quick to follow.

"Hold on!" He made a wide turn, the trailer keeping him from going much faster and both girls braced themselves.

Sam couldn't take it anymore, she undid her harness and leaned forward, grabbing the talkie part of the radio, "is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Dexter answered with a sigh.

"We're okay," Ben breathed out.

"Yeah, we're good. We're movin'." Boone responded, the girl let out a breath before speaking into the radio again.

"Dani?" Her voice shook. "The dogs?"

"Yeah, they're good. Just a little scared."

"Oh, thank God." She breathed out, her eyes closed as her head hung forward in relief. She stayed like that for a moment, letting it sink in that they were okay.

Logically, she knew they had to be. They were in the camper with Dani and Dexter, so they had to be safe. But she knew better than anyone that dogs can be unpredictable, especially when scared.

Tyler moved his hand and rested it on the back of her head comfortingly, then he quickly leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair.

"Everyone's okay, baby." He told her softly, his eyes back on the road.

In the moment, Kate realized that Sam was just as traumatized by the day as she was. And she hated that she had never once considered that to be a possibility.

"We're okay, baby." Tyler repeated and Sam merely nodded, the position she was in, soon becoming uncomfortable so she put the walkie back and settled into her seat.

"Are you seeing this?" Lily asked, a bit in awe, but her voice shook. Sam turned, looking out the window at the huge, almost black – the fire having died – tornado.

Tyler glanced at the rearview mirror, his eyes landing on Sam as she wiped her cheeks. He hated that he couldn't hold her, that he couldn't comfort her.

Suddenly, sirens blared, they could barely be heard, but they shook Tyler out of his thoughts.

Then the radio buzzed a little before Dani's voice cut in, "it turned! It's headed for El Reno!"

"Hey, guys," Kate said over the radio, "there's nothing we can do to stop it. But when you get there, make sure people get to a safe place."

"Alright, Dani. Where am I headed?" Boone asked.

"There's a - there's a kid's park on Main," Dani said, looking at the map on the screen. "Try to get people to basements, uh, big buildings. No windows. Stay away from windows. No cars, alright?"

"Alright, careful y'all," Lily instructed. "Stay safe out there. Copy."

"Copy." Kate responded, then she looked back at Sam. She wasn't sure she had ever seen her so shaken up, so she reached her hand back and Sam took it, squeezing her fingers as she closed her eyes and took a breath.

Tyler hit the gas and pulled into the other lane, passing Javi. Kate looked over at the boy, a disappointed smile crossing her face and his hand gripped the steering wheel. Then his eyes moved to Sam in the backseat, she had her eyes closed as she took calculated breaths, but he could see that she had been crying.

Guilt settled deep in his gut and his chest, and he just watched as the red truck continued past them and behind it the blue van and the camper.

And he instantly knew what they were doing.