#tornado chasing

You eyed him up as he laid it on the heat protection mat on the counter top. “Easy, cowboy. You’ve gotta wait for it to cool.”

Tyler shut the door. “You’re a torturer.”

“Yes, I am.” You agreed with a smile. 

“Want some help?”

Having help in the kitchen whilst you baked was, quite literally, your worst nightmare. 

“No.” Tyler knew you well enough to know you weren’t being rude. “But I wouldn’t mind some company.”

Tyler smiled, having already known your answer, as he slid into one of the kitchen chairs and watched you do your thing. 

He’d met you either by coincidence or fate. Even after three years he didn’t know which it was. 

You’d been passing through town and for the life of him and his team, they couldn’t get a read on the new data their most recent chase had brought them. 

But you did. 

Peaking over from the lonely table just across from their booth, you managed to make eye-contact with one of them. The new model they were using was the same one you’d used at your old job. 

“Hey, do you know how to read this thing?” Boone had asked you. 

After a little back and forth, you’d found yourself sitting in the booth beside one man who – despite your failure to notice – couldn’t take his eyes off you. 

He’d offered you a job there and then. Though, you hadn’t taken it straight away. 

Instead, you debated on it for a month before finally making a decision. For a week beforehand, you’d been debating on whether or not the position was still open. 

Little did you know, Tyler had been answering every unknown number that came through his phone. 

So, for ten months out of the year, you stayed on the road with them. You’d stayed in each one of their family homes – as they had done with yours – and quite possibly every motel up and down tornado alley. 

However, when you met Kate and she offered up her old barn as a permanent residence; yourself and the rest of the Tornado Wranglers had jumped at the offer. 

And, though there were many different reasons to want a permanent residence, Tyler’s most secret one had to be because of this. 

He got to see you in your element during a chase. Well, part of you. Most of the time, you were in the van with Dani and Dexter. But he could hear you over the radio the entire time. 

The way your voice lifted with excitement when you saw the numbers climbing. The freedom each data collection gave you and the team to be able to help Kate’s project. 

And, every once in a while, he’d manage to convince you to ride with him. 

But that was just a part of you. 

The rest of you…he saw you when you were in the barn. Buried behind an old wooden desk, hunched over the numbers with deeper ink stains on the sides of your palms than the dirt on your boots – and that was saying something. 

He saw you in the way you helped Cathy and Kate out on the farm. And the way you knew what each Wrangler needed, before even they did. A hug, a cookie, a pie. 

But mostly, he saw you in the way you created things. The most common visual of that was when you were in the kitchen; baking or cooking. 

Whenever there was a motel room with a small kitchenette, you’d always manage to make it smell like home before the Wrangers even had a place to call home. 

The most heartfelt visual of that was when it came down to a tornado in a small town. Huddled in a shelter, scared adults and kids alike, you’d managed to tell them a story. Of princes and princesses, of knights and horses, of Tornado Wranglers and the All Mighty Tornado. 

Your ability to create was something he admired, far beyond his own knowledge. 

And it would never be an image he would get bored of. 

You practically danced around the kitchen. The cupboard opened and closed, mixtures were made, chocolate was broken into pieces, milk was split and flour was dusted in small piles around the kitchen. 

“Oh, come on,” you grumbled as the chocolate bar you’d left in the fridge wouldn’t break. 

Tyler chuckled quietly before standing from the table and walking over to you. Standing beside you, he held out his hand and in a huff, you handed the bar over to him. 

“I managed to break the others,” you told him. 

Tyler nodded. “I know.”

“I don’t need help.”

He smiled, breaking the chocolate into smaller chunks. “I know.”

You were quiet for a moment. “But thank you.”

He smiled, pouring the last of the chocolate pieces into the bowl. “You’re welcome.”

Folding the package and throwing it into the trash, Tyler stepped away from the kitchen counters once more and sat back down. 

He’d never get bored of watching you create. 

By the time the third tray of cookies were done, it had gotten dark enough for you to turn the under-cabinate lights on. 

“Are we meant to be having a storm?” You asked, looking out of the kitchen window. 

Tyler stood with a small scrape of the wooden chair as he came to your side. “Weather app didn’t say anything…”

Almost on cue, a loud crash of thunder came from overhead. 

“Though what do they know,” Tyler added. 

“Text Dani. Everyone should be on their way back from town by now.”

Tyler nodded before pulling out his phone and texting both Dani and Boone. However, barely five minutes later, the kitchen phone started to ring. 

“Okay, stay safe y’all.”

“What’s happening?” You asked, pulling the final batch out of the oven. 

“They’re hunkering down at a diner for a couple hours. The rain has already hit them and they’ve shut down the roads.” Tyler explained. “So, guess it’s just you and me til the storm passes over?”

“Seems that way,” you replied. “Hope you’re hungry.”

Looking at the counter tops, Tyler chuckled. “I think there’s some pizza in the freezer. You know, before we start on…all of this.”

You nodded. “Sounds good.”

Two hours later, you and Tyler were huddled on the kitchen chairs with the rain and thunder still crackling outside. Pizza crusts were cold and long forgotten about, before being surrounded by crumbs of freshly baked goods. 

“You’re kidding!” You laughed, listening to Tyler tell you old stories of him and Boone back in high school. 

Tyler shook his head. “I wish I was.”

Half way through the story, the kitchen phone rang once more. 

“Hello?” You answered, pulling the yellow 90s phone from the wall. 

It was the rest of the crew. It seemed it would be you and Tyler alone until at least tomorrow afternoon. 

Most of the fields and roads had been flooded and, therefore, blocked off. They were being directed to the nearest motel in the meantime. 

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” You asked, a line of worry settling in your gut. 

Tyler nodded. “We’ve all survived through worse.”

You nodded back. You had all survived through worse. Most teams, at some point or another, lose at least one member. 

The Wranglers were luckier than most when it came to that. 

“Come on, I’ll stick a movie on.” Tyler said as he stood, pulling your chair out for you as you stood, too. 

“I’m gonna make a drink. You want one?”

Tyler nodded. “Extra marshmallows.”

You chuckled. “You’re lucky Boone isn’t here or else you’d be fighting him for them.”

Tyler smiled. “I know.”

However, as you moved towards the top cupboard to bring down the hot chocolate powder, something shuffled against the cupboard door. Both yourself and Tyler reached out for it but very quickly found yourself covered in a bag of flour. 

Coughing in the storm of flour, you laughed and so did Tyler. “Are you okay?”

You nodded as he patted you on the back. “I’m fine. You?”

“I’m half way to being a cookie so…I’m perfect.”

You laughed again before stepping away, only to watch the flour pile fall from your arms and shoulders, towards the floor. 

“Careful.”

“We should probably shake this off outside.”

Tyler agreed, “Good idea.”

So, standing out of the porch, yourself and Tyler shook off whatever flour was left behind after the wind of the storm cut across you. 

“You should go and shower,” Tyler told you. “I can get this cleaned away.”

“I’ll grab the pan, you grab the shovel.”

Tyler nodded to your orders before you started to help him clean everything away. With twice the people, it took half the time. 

A quick hair and body wash later, you were leaving the bathroom wrapped in your towel. Managing to make it to your bedroom before Tyler opened up his door, you took a breath but paused as you found a fresh set of pajamas on your bed. 

They were still warm from the dryer. 

Since Tyler would take half the time as you in the shower, you had told him to go first. He must have picked them out and thrown them in the dryer for you. 

They kinda smelled like him. 

His washing. 

Warm, deep, calming. 

By the time you made it back into the flour-free kitchen, you found Tyler in the dim light of the kitchen. His back to you, you took a quiet minute to study him.

The way he moved around in the kitchen, making two hot chocolates; one with extra marshmallows, one with extra dusting with whipped cream. He was confident. Comfortable. Like he’d always done it. 

It was something to see him in his element; chasing tornados, tracking them down, teaching kids about the way weather changed. “Part science, part religion,” was practically part of his mantra. 

But seeing his calmness? Getting to witness the steady air he breathed when he was alone. 

That was something else entirely. 

“Hey,” you smiled. 

Looking over his shoulder, he smiled back. “Hey. Decided on a movie yet?”

You shrugged. “I’m tired of making decisions today. You pick.”

Tyler chuckled softly as he carried two mugs of hot chocolate over and carefully passed yours over. Standing in the arch way of the kitchen, he remained in front of you as you both took a sip of your own drinks. 

“You’re so much better at making this than I am,” you whispered just loud enough for him to hear. And he heard. Because you heard the breathy chuckle that left him. “How do you do it?”

“Spend most of your days freezing your ass off on a ranch and you’ll find out.”

Both of you made your way over to the sofa. However, as you curled beneath the blanket Tyler had left out for you, he crouched in front of the TV stand. 

“What are you feeling? Rom-com? Action? Horror?”

After a little back and forth, the options were narrowed down and Tyler carefully placed the Jurassic Park DVD into the player. Yet, less than forty minutes into the film, the entire screen went dark. 

Then so did the house. 

“Shit.”

“Water probably flooded the central line again.”

Tyler nodded as he stood by the yellow kitchen phone and hung it back on the wall. “The whole town is probably out.”

As if on cue, both of your phones rang with a loud beep. Then the crew flooded the group chat. 

Power was out all over town. 

“I’ll get the candles,” you said, pulling the blanket from you. 

“I’ll find the matches.”

Finally striking a match, Tyler lit the wick of the candle you were holding. And, behind the flame, something made him stop. 

You didn’t quite know what it was that stopped him, but you were glad it had. Crouching so close, leaning in just enough…

The colour of his eyes seemed a little deeper. 

Against a storm, they seemed like the lightest thing in the world. 

But against the flame of a candle…

There was a deepness you could only assume to know about until you were finally closer to him. 

The only thing, however, that broke you out of your trance was the look in his eyes. The way he was looking at you…

“Like what you see?” You joked, a little half-heartened. 

But he just smiled a soft smile. The kind that always made you weak at the knees without you ever really knowing why. 

“I always like what I see, sweetheart.”

You let a breath into your lungs. 

Tyler Owens was never above using nicknames for most people he met. But there were certain ones he seemed to almost save, as if for a special occasion, a special purpose or a special person. 

Carefully, Tyler took the candle from your hand before the hot wax ran onto your hand and he laid it on a coaster. Then he crawled a little closer. 

“I don’t want to scare you,” he admitted before he took your hands. 

You were thankful you were still sitting on the sofa, or else you would have fallen into it by now. 

“You could never scare me,” you told him. 

Tyler swallowed, letting that information settle into his soul. 

“Y/n, there’s something…there’s something I want to tell you.”

Tyler didn’t know where his bravery came from. He had been chasing tornadoes for as long as he could remember and, somehow, the idea of telling you how he truly felt always seemed like the scariest thing in the world. 

You didn’t know where your bravery came from, either. Because, as Tyler continued to ramble, trying to find the words to talk to you, you kissed him. 

The kiss shocked him, at first. But in what seemed to take forever, when in reality it was probably less than four seconds, he kissed you back. 

Leaning up on his knees, his hand smoothed down the back of your head as his other arm came to your side and he pulled you in by your waist. 

As your fingers ran through his hair, down his neck and down his body, you pulled him up. 

And, for a moment, Tyler hovered his body over your own as you leaned back into the sofa. But at no point did he break your kiss. He wasn’t sure how many he would get after he told you the truth. He was going to make sure it was memorable. 

Somewhere between the breath-stealing kisses, Tyler took his chance to pull you further up the sofa before you felt him lean down. Before you knew it, your head was against the sofa cushion and Tyler had his legs locked between yours leaving you to chase the ache between your legs against his thigh. 

“Easy, honey.” Tyler said, still trying to catch his breath.

“Says the one on top,” you countered in all seriousness before you both fell into soft chuckles. 

“What were you trying to tell me? Before we, uh…”

Tyler nodded, “Right, well…I guess it was something along the same lines…”

Tyler seemed lost for words as he looked at you. He couldn’t ever seem to get enough of you. 

Chasing tornados, catching data. Creating stories and cookies. Holding so close to him that if you were to let him go, the moment might disappear. 

“This can’t be casual for me, Sweetheart.” Tyler admitted. “I care about you too damn much for it to be casual.”

You shook your head, “I don’t want you in a casual way, Tyler. I never have.”

Tyler swallowed, praying, to whatever God was listening, that he wasn’t dreaming. 

“You’re permanent for me, Tyler. In whatever way the universe decides. But I hope it’s like this. Like today.”

Tyler’s expression softened as he felt his heart swell with something other than love. Pride? Hope?

Even the idea that he could maybe have more days like this. With you. It made him want to stop time just so he could keep you both suspended in the moment. No fear, no worry, no pain. 

Just a steady, calm, love. 

“You’re permanent for me, too.”

“Good.”