Don't ask me how many times I've seen Twisters in theaters (!8... and counting).

If Jo Harding were being honest, she would tell you that she's a lot more sentimental than she lets on. The ring on her finger is still Bill's class ring, despite the many attempts he's made to give her a new one. The heap of metal in the corner of her classroom is the remnants of their very last Dorothy, damaged beyond repair just over five years ago.

They'd made the decision not to build a new one.

On her desk, there's a picture of her kids when they were small. Two and seven, taken in the lab fifteen years ago… Give or take. They grew up there; she and Bill and their family.

One of Rabbit's maps is pinned to the wall and a Polaroid of their team in front of the Barn Burner clings to the location of their first success with Dorothy. 'Spring of '96' is scribbled across the bottom, written in Dusty's chicken scratch.

Somewhere in a filing cabinet within arm's reach, there's a folder of newspaper clippings. Some good, some bad. Their successes, their failures, and the ones out of anyone's control. There's a headline that reads Muskogee State Tragedy: 3 Killed, 1 Injured in EF-5 Twister.

Jo remembers them fondly.

Addy was one of the youngest she'd ever had in class, even to this day. All bright eyed and bushy tailed, her enthusiasm was infectious and just enough to bring anyone out of their shell — Praveen included. Praveen had been quiet… Until he wasn't. Until someone asked a question that he felt passionate about, until Jeb had questioned the variables in his equation in the middle of the lab. He had been the only one that hadn't been one of her students— Jeb. He wasn't a science major, though he'd taken Bill's class for the credit, and that's how he had ended up in their orbit, after Javi Rivera offered to let him drive the getaway car on a chase.

Three kids had been lost in the storm that day, three not much older than her own were now. But the one that stuck with her the most was the one that survived. The one that felt a tragedy she understood a little too well.

A knock on the door of her classroom has Jo glancing up from the notebook in her hands. She taps a marker on her lip as she studies the diagram in front of her, penning a question for tomorrow morning's first period.

"Just a second," she says without looking. It's probably Bill.

Another woman's voice replies instead, "The barometric pressure is too high. It'll never touch down."

Jo turns then, following the voice that answered her written question. She knows it, knew it instantly, but it's been a long time since that girl has been in one of these seats.

"Kate Carter, as I live and breathe," Jo says in surprise when she comes face to face with her student — former student — whom she still considers a favorite.

Kate smiles. "Dr. Harding."

"No, no," she waves her hand. "None of that."

"Jo," she corrects. The younger woman steps away from the door and crosses the classroom, moving toward her.

She looks different from the last time they'd seen each other, Jo notices. There's still something to it, like it's a shock to her system to be here, but that sadness that she'd seen in Kate as she'd handed over a letter of recommendation for the NOAA five years earlier seems to have dissipated and she seems… Happy. She might even say, Kate looks like she's healing.

As per her last conversation with Kate's mother, she hadn't come home to Oklahoma since moving to New York. Cathy had described it as running, as avoidance. That had only been a few months ago.

She wonders what's changed.

"Kate, what are you—"

"I did it," Kate says firmly.

"What?"

"I did it."

"You did what?"

"I tamed a tornado."

Kate starts from the beginning. She tells Jo about Javi — says that he's doing well, but he got himself mixed up in the business end of chasing and it's been a real mess to unravel. She tells her that he convinced her to come back to Oklahoma for just a week, and she tells her about that first tornado. She tells Jo that she ran from it. She tells her about the next one, and Stillwater. The pool at the hotel, the "we" that slips into the story after that — though she doesn't tell her who that we is made up of. She tells her about testing her theory one more time, and about the PAR data that made them realize the moisture levels had been off. She tells her about El Reno. About the second EF-5 she had seen in her life, and how it had almost taken everything again.

"I stopped it," she concludes, taking a deep breath. It seems like a weight has been lifted off of the other woman's shoulders, like she's been grieving and guilty for so long but now… Now she knows. Now she has closure. "We stopped it."

"Kate, that was you? You drove into that tornado alone?"

She's one to judge.

"I had to try," explains Kate. "And before you say it, it's not… It's not because I wanted to… die too. I just couldn't lose anyone else, not when there might be a chance to stop it."

"And it worked."

"It worked."

Jo nods proudly. "So, what's next?"

If she's anything like her, and Jo knows that she is, that was one of the first thoughts after her success.

Kate tells her about the presentation they have lined up in New York, crafted for this time next week. She explains how she missed her flight because of the weather three days earlier but that delay gave them more time to prepare. To test variables and pick apart footage for the umpteenth time. Again, Jo catches the plural but bites her tongue.

"I was thinking about coming back to restart my PhD."

"Really? Back to Oklahoma? Permanently?"

"Yeah," Kate nods. "I— I want my life back. I miss it."

"And it misses you. Are you asking me because—"

"Because I want you to be my advisor again. That is, if we get this grant and the college will have me."

"Kate, of course," Jo says immediately. "It would be a damn shame for them to turn you down."

They talk for a few minutes more, catching up on each other's lives outside of tornadoes. Kate doesn't have a ton to go on, just her desk job at the NOAA — though Jo can tell that she is holding something else back — and Jo updates her on the kids, her classes, and of course, Bill.

"I can't believe you have one who's about to graduate college already."

"Tell me about it," Jo replies, shaking her head in disbelief. She pulls out her phone and pulls up a more recent picture of herself, Bill, and their kids. "That was the day we moved her into her dorm for the last time. You'd think she'd run off to Europe with the way Bill cried like a baby."

Kate laughs, looking around. "Where is Bill?"

"Around here somewhere. Actually," she checks her watch. "He was supposed to meet me for lunch twenty minutes ago."

Jo leads Kate down the familiar halls of Muskogee State's meteorology department, watching as the younger woman runs her fingers along the grooves in the concrete walls like she's finding her way back home for the first time in years. And truth be told, maybe she is. There's something about this building that has felt a little different since the tragedy that took three — no, four — lives. Having one back might be exactly what they all need.

When they reach the door, Bill isn't in the lab. If he isn't there, he's typically in her office so really… that man could be anywhere in the building right about now.

Just then, a student walks by loudly calling to another down the hall. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah, out front. I can't believe he's here."

"Are the rest of 'em?"

They don't catch the rest of the conversation, but Jo's curiosity has gotten the best of her and she's willing to bet that Bill's has too. He's probably in the front of the building, where a few others seem to be headed.

The doors open to afternoon sunlight, not a single storm cloud in sight. The sky is a deep blue, set perfectly in contrast to the crowd of six currently surrounding a bright red pickup truck sitting next to the curb. It's a little worse for wear with a roll cage and some hail damage, but Jo would be lying if she said didn't recognize that very Dodge Ram 3500.

Her husband and youngest daughter are big fans of the Tornado Wranglers, and well, so is she. Call it a guilty pleasure, or maybe reminiscent of her days as a chaser.

She eyes Bill first, animatedly asking questions to the man on his right, who's sporting a backwards baseball cap. The infamous Tyler Owens. He looks in their direction as if on cue, with a massive grin plastered on his face and a half a second later, Jo realizes his eyes are locked on Kate.

And to her surprise, Kate has a sheepish grin of her own on her lips as she raises an eyebrow at the younger man's antics.

"Hey, Sapulpa," he calls as they get closer. "You didn't tell me that your professors were The Hardings."

"You didn't tell me that you know of The Hardings," Kate counters, a playful bout of sarcasm in her tone.

"Are you kidding? They're legends. Of course I know of 'em."

Jo watches the exchange, feeling reminiscent of something else from her own life. Someone else. She knows that look. She knows that banter.

"Call me Jo," she says after another moment, extending a hand to Tyler.

He extends his own. "It's very nice to meet you, ma'am. My name is Tyler."

"Oh, I know who you are. I see you already met my husband, Bill."

Bill, who looks as giddy as a thirteen year old girl at a Taylor Swift concert right about now. Hell, she'd feel the same if she weren't too busy observing the dynamic between her former student and a storm chaser from YouTube of all places.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm honored to meet both of you."

"Wait," Kate steps in. She moves next to Tyler in order to face Jo. "You watch the channel?"

"Oh yeah," Bill chimes in, suddenly doing the same double take his wife had half an hour earlier. "Wait— Kate? Kate Carter?"

"That's what I said."

"Hi, Dr. Harding," she smiles.

"Katie, hi, how are you?" the older man asks fondly, squeezing her shoulder tightly before giving her a once over. "Few years or a few minutes, you know it's just Bill."

"What? Not The Extreme?" Kate asks jokingly. She and Addy had gotten that story out of them during a visit from Dusty.

"Oh, not that shit again," Bill chuckles. Jo laughs too, the ease of the moment settling between the three of them. They've known Kate for years now, since she was just a kid eagerly walking into the meteorology department for the first time with a notebook full of questions.

And, to this day, she's still their youngest's favorite date night sitter.

Kate takes a few more minutes to catch the other Harding up, summing up the last few weeks in Oklahoma. She tells him about El Reno but keeps it short — knowing that Jo will fill him in on the rest — before excitedly explaining the grant that she and Javi are after. Though, Jo feels that Tyler Owens might have a little to do with that too.

"Glad to hear Javi's rethinking being a corporate sellout."

"Bill."

Bill shrugs. Javi may not know it, but his venture into business has been a touchy subject for the man that once taught him… For the man that once gave him access to their very last Dorothy.

"It's okay," Kate reassures both of them. "I am too. I didn't realize what Storm PAR was up to when he asked me to help…"

Her voice trails, but not because of the subject. Tyler's hand has moved steadily to the small of her back, causing Kate to settle into him. Jo can't help but notice how natural they seem together. How comfortable.

"So," she broaches the subject. "Are you gonna tell me how you two got tangled up together?"

Kate's cheeks flush and Tyler bites the inside of his lip, looking down at her.

"We're not… Well, we are… We…"

There's that 'we' again.

"We ran into each other chasin' the same storm system," Tyler offers, running his hand up her back. "Couple of 'em, actually. Then I, uh, I ended up finding her notes in her Mama's barn. Found out Kate's the OG Wrangler."

Well, now she'd have to ask Cathy Carter how a storm chaser from YouTube ended up in her barn.

Kate rolls her eyes at the nickname. "He helped me figure out what went wrong last time. That was how we stopped the EF-5 in El Reno. I couldn't have done it without Tyler. Or the Wranglers."

He seems to have helped her find a little more than just the right variables, Jo thinks.

Tyler shakes his head. "It was all Kate."

Jo can see something in his eyes though, in the look he's giving Kate, that says it's so much more than that. Again, she's seen that look before and she's given that look before, but seeing it focused on her protege after everything the girl has been through… It reminds her of the time Bill had done the same for her.

Confronted her with the past in the face of losing her to it. Helped her learn to live with it, to let it go.

"And now you're coming home."

Kate's gaze doesn't leave Tyler's. "Tryin' to."

"So, can we expect to see you in any of the Tornado Wranglers' upcoming episodes?" Bill interrupts.

"I'd say there's a pretty good chance of that."

Tyler wraps his arm around Kate's shoulder, holding her even closer with a soft smile on his face. She beams up at him with just the same.

It may be new but it's real, that much she can tell. Maybe they haven't put a name to this, or maybe they aren't ready to put a name to it. But for the first time in a long time, she's looking at Kate. The Kate that sat in her class, the Kate that played around in the lab so many years ago… The Kate that was lost to the enemy Jo spent too much of her own life hurtling after.

She thinks that Kate must have needed someone to see her, to push her, to get her back. The look Bill gives Jo says the same — she had needed that once too.

If Jo Harding were being honest, she would tell you that she's a lot more sentimental than she lets on. There's an article written by an English journalist named Benjamin Shropshire IlI in a frame, hung on the wall in her classroom. The title reads "Taking Weather Science By Storm: How Kate Carter Tamed the Wind" and in it lies the familiar story of the takeback of a life once lost.

Song title from "Clara Bow" by Taylor Swift.

As always, thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated.