~~A/N. I do not own any of these characters, the rights to the movie, or the music I choose to reference. I do own the original character Savannah. I hope to get some feedback! Enjoy
It's been 3 years since Dorothy went up into the tornado and recorded some of the most influential scientific data of her time. During the first year after their success, Bill, Jo and their team of storm chasers worked on not only analyzing that data that Dorothy supplied, but they also started making modifications on the instrument, which they called Dorothy 2,that would be heavy enough for the tornados to pick up yet small enough to make it more portable.
Unable to come up with a good design within the year long time frame that they had, Dorothy 2 was put on the back burner. With their data analysis coming to an end, the team decided to take a break, clear their minds, and come back and attack Dorothy 2's design full force.
Jo did not sign the divorce papers, in fact, she and Bill decided that they would instead work on solving their differences. After their near death experience, they realized that they not only make a great team, but they were also perfect for each other and not ready to give up the fight. They eventually had a child, Mathieu, who is now 3 years old.
In the spring of 1999, Jo and Bill decided it was time to get the team back together and see what kind of solutions their loyal friends came up with for Dorothy 2. Their meeting place: Aunt Meg's newly built home in Wakita, complete with tornado shelter.
Bill and Jo were the first to arrive with little Mathieu in tow. Aunt Meg was on the porch, eagerly awaiting their arrival.
"You're late!" Meg exclaimed. "Now hand over that little fella. I haven't seen him since he was born!" she said, taking Mathieu and hugging him tightly.
"Are any of the others here yet?" Jo asked.
"No," Meg responded as she hugged Mathieu tightly. "But Dusty called and put in his order for lunch!" she laughed.
"Speak of the Devil.." Bill said, looking toward the end of the road. They could hear "Highway to Hell" blasting from the vehicle that was barreling down the road.
They all waited on the lawn for Dusty to pull up in the driveway. The beat up old bus barely stopped before he jumped out and almost tackled Bill to the ground with a giant bear hug.
"Duuuuuudes! I can't tell you how excited I was when you called!" Dusty yelled, moving on to give Jo a hug.
"What happened to that Swedish chick, Dust-man?", Bill asked. "She seemed nice."
"Well, it turns out that she just needed someone to marry to stay in the United States. But c'est la vie!" Dusty laughed. "Mother nature has always been my favorite lady. I think I'll stick with her from now on!"
"Oh Dusty, I'm so sorry. I know you really cared about her." Jo said, with a sympathetic look.
Dusty shrugged and smiled, obviously wanting to get away from the subject.
"So. That must be Mathieu." He said, nodding toward the sleeping child who was still in Meg's arms. "And Aunt Meg, fantastic to see you as always sweetheart." He smiled and hugged her gently, as not to wake the sleeping child.
"Oh Dusty, it's been way too long" she smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"So Dusty, there's something we would like to ask you before everyone else gets here." Bill said, as he grabbed some papers out of the blue dodge truck.
"Oh yeah? Go for it, dude."
"We want you to be Mathieu's God father" Jo said quickly, as if ripping off a band-aide.
"You want me to what now?" Dusty said, laughing uncomfortably. "Dusty, we need to you do some research. Dusty, we don't think you should be part of the team anymore. Those would be 'normal' things to say to me at this point. But you want me to what!?"
"We want you to be Mathieu's God father. We couldn't think of anyone else fit for the job, Dusty." Bill said, looking at him hopefully.
Dusty stood there quietly, which was unusual for him, and looked at the ground, trying to make sense of what his two best friends were asking of him.
"We call him Dusty." Jo said, smiling at him.
Dusty looked up at them bewildered. "What?" he asked quietly.
"Mathieu Dustin Harding." Bill said.
They were all silent for a moment.
"I think you broke him, Bill. In all the years we've known him, Dusty has never been speechless." Jo laughed.
"My friends…It would be an honor to be the God father of the son of The Extreme and the most bad-ass woman I know," Dusty said as he dropped down to one knee and bowed before them.
"Dusty, get up. There is no need for theatrics." Bill sighed.
"So who's his God mother? Is she hot?" Dusty asked with a chuckle.
"Wait and see for yourself" Jo said, winking at Dusty. "She's on her way. She's one of the new additions to our team."
"Can't wait." Dusty smiled. "In the meantime...how about some grubbage? Aunt Meg?"
"In the oven. It will be ready shortly." Meg laughed.
The four adults and small child made their way into the house and immediate gravitated toward the kitchen where the smell of roast beef excited their olfactory senses. Dusty immediately grabbed a plate and took the roast out of the oven to dig in.
"Can I grab anyone else a plate" he asked politely, in hopes he wouldn't seem too desperate for a home-cooked meal.
Both Jo and Bill nodded their heads. Dusty put three plates together with roast beef, mashed potatoes, Aunt Meg's famous gravy, and some broccoli and delivered them to the dining room table.
"So about this new contraption. You guys have a prototype already?" Dusty asked with a mouth full of roast beef.
"Yeah, Jo, Savannah, and myself have been working on it for a while. We made her a little smaller for better transportation for us, and quite a bit heavier so the tornado can pick her up without a problem. The smaller size makes us able to carry more, as well, which is pretty neat." Bill explained.
"The devices inside are also quite a bit smaller and more aerodynamic so we should be able to get better readings." Jo added.
"If you called I woulda come out and.."
"I know Dusty. We just wanted to give you guys some time off." Bill interrupted.
"Excuse me. I was knocking on the door, but no one answered so I let myself in. I hope that's alright." a small redheaded young woman said as she made her way into the dining room.
"Savannah! You know better than to knock!" Meg exclaimed "I haven't seen you in years! It's so nice to see your face. I'm very excited to see you working with Jo again!"
"How many times do I have to tell you, Aunt Meg," Savannah sighed. "Call me Storm."
"Yes ma'am." Meg laughed.
Savannah "Storm" Swanson while petite, often controlled a room with her large and often explosive personality which complimented her bright red, shoulder length hair very well.
"Storm, I'm glad you made it! We're still missing quite a few people, but let me introduce you to Dusty."
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Dusty said, taking her hand and kissing it lightly, getting a small bit of gravy on it. Storm quickly snapped her hand away and wiped the gravy off her hand.
"This is who you named your child after?" she asked with a disturbed look on her face.
"Dusty is a little...unusual, yes" Bill explained. "But he knows his tornados and he's been a friend of mine since before college."
"He can be a little..eccentric." Jo added.
"I'm right here guys…" Dusty said.
Storm rolled her eyes as she grabbed a plate of food for herself and took a seat next to Jo, who was trying to get Mathieu to eat some mashed potatoes.
As they ate and chatted about random things, people started to trickle in. Haynes and Beltzer were the next to arrive, freshly married and excited to get to work. Rabbit and Allen were the next to arrive, brand new laminated maps in tow. Finally, Preacher showed up, blaming the Hand of God for his tardiness.
Once everyone made it safely to Meg's house and filled their bellies, the team started work on their plan to send the new and improved Dorothy 2 up into the air.