Chapter Text
Javi could only sob in the hospital. It was five years all over again. He gripped at Boone’s hand as the other man held him close. Why God, why did Kate do this.
Addy just stared out at the room from the other side of Boone. Lily was rubbing her back, but she was giving no response to anything. She couldn’t think at all.
This was horrible. They had to call Miss Lottie and Mama Cathy from the waiting room over the overtly busy lines. It was five years all over again.
Ben watched on, this wasn’t what he thought he’d find researching American storm chasing. He didn’t even feel he could publish this article one day without Kate.
Dani’s leg bounced as she bit her thumb again. Kate was so much, she did so much for Tyler. They still barely knew her. They had so much to learn about her.
Dexter’s hands cradled his face as they were propped up against his knees. He felt sick, everything went wrong. He’d read about this stuff, but never thought it’d be his group.
“She’ll make it, she’s out of the woods” Tyler practically panted as he jogged over to the group. He collapsed into Boone and Lily’s arms, they barely caught him and held him up.
“Really?” Javi’s voice was raw, you could hear how dry and irritated his throat was.
“Really, at least that’s what the doctors said. She outta surgery, Miss Cathy is with her now,” Tyler gasped out between choked sobs, “we can’t see her yet, she’s in the ICU but she’ll be okay.”
Kate spent two weeks in the hospital recovering. She had some minor but worrisome internal injuries. They had to operate to close minor internal bleeding in her stomach. However, doctors didn’t expect much long term damage, other than scars, as long as she stuck to the treatment and didn’t push herself.
In other news, Kate was on unofficial house arrest until fully healed. So, the rest of the storm season was a bust. But, it was made better by Tyler staying with her. Boone and Lily were staying too, at least for a while. Plus, Addy and Javi were also on house arrest, “so they didn’t follow her example”. They were all in the living room, having a casual lunch, about a month after Kate was released from the hospital when the topic was broached.
“Hey, Kate, I’ve been meaning to ask. As you were passing out, why did you say that it was coming out of Javi’s paycheck?” Tyler asked, taking a casual sip of his sweet tea, trying to seem nonchalant.
“Cause I own Storm PAR,” Kate replied simply, “oh, by the way, Lottie is coming to visit next week Javi, Addy.”
Tyler began choking on his sip of sweet tea, pulling the cup away from his mouth as he did so. He got the tea on most of his shirt, cursing as the liquid soaked in. Javi, and Addy had a very different response, they barely reacted to the first bit of news. The second bit of news had them cheering at the thought of Miss Lottie’s visit, she was sweet.
“I’m sorry, go back! You OWN Storm PAR??” Boone asked, his voice raising almost an entire octave.
“Yeah,” Javi cut in, “when I had begun working with Marshall Riggs it was good. We assumed he was like most basic skeeves that funded research like ours, slimy but just wanted to protect his investments. We knew Scott, Marshall’s nephew, back in college and he had seemed decent enough, but when I found out what they were doing I called up Kate.”
Kate smoothly took over at this point, “Javi told me what was up, and I have this stupid trust fund Lottie won’t take back. So, I put it to use, Lottie actually encouraged it a lot when I told her. I named Addy as a co-owner to help protect it, and bought the entire company of Storm PAR out from under Marshall Riggs. I officially own and fund the company, Addy usually helps give advice to Javi with me, but we really let him do his own thing. Just supply the money and give extra legal protections if they do something stupid.”
Addy snorted then, “she also threatens to dock Javi’s pay every time something happens.”
Javi nodded sagely, “yes, the recent sensor blown away in the tornado comes out of my paycheck and not the sensor budget.”
Kate just shrugged, “gotta be a tough boss sometimes.” Everyone started cackling at that.
“Alright, I’m going out to the barn for a bit, I need to work on my new sensor designs,” Javi stood up with a smile as the laughter died off, Boone offered to go out with him, they left out the nearby back door.
“Javi has the right idea, KateKat, I’m heading upstairs to double check on some books and research. I have a project idea I’m working on,” Addy left with Lily soon after.
“Seems like it’s just us now, Sapulpa” Tyler moved to fully sit next to Kate on the couch. He tilted his head down towards Kate, readily meeting her eyes whilst he held a self assured bitten smile close to his lips. She chuckled softly, a smile beginning on her face.
“Guess we do, cowboy,” the corner of her own bottom lip got caught between her canines. She softly jerked forward grabbing Tyler’s collar to pull him into a kiss. It was sloppy and their teeth hit against each other a bit, but it felt good.
“Ads, what are we really doing up here? Last we talked there was no new projects,” Lily was highly confused as Addy led them into her room, and closed the door.
“There isn’t, but I wanna tell you something, and Kate wanted a moment with Tyler,” Addy’s voice got quieter the more words spilled out.
“What’s up, Addy,” Lily’s eyebrows scrubbed semblances of worry overwriting her previous neutral expression.
“Well, um. You see, downstairs Kate is, well,” Addy seemed to stumble over every word, her face brightening with many pinkish hues.
“You doing okay there girly-pop?” Lily interrupted, eyebrows scrunching up more if possible.
“I like you,” Addy spit out, face going fully flushed as she dropped into a squatting position, head in hands.
“What?” Lily’s eyebrows began to und run h as some of her worry was replaced with deep confusion.
“Downstairs, Kate is gonna be confessing to Tyler, that’s what I wanted to do up here,” Addy muttered just loud enough for Lily to understand.
“Confess to Tyler?” Lily’s confusion double, but the barest hints of humor also showed through.
“No,” Addy started to feel trapped and exasperated. She stood up to begin pacing from her nerves.
“Then…” Lily seemed to finally translate their conversation.
“I like you. You, Lily, I like you, a lot,”
“Oh” it was Lily’s turn to mutter. She stood up as Addy continued her fidgety pacing. Lily strides over to her, and caught Addy’s face between her hands.
“I like you a lot too, dork,” Lily gained a soft smile across her face as she spoke. Addy’s face lit up in a glowing smile.
He was bored, Boone had been working on editing the YouTube videos for quite a bit, after Javi led him out of the conference room. Boone watched Javi work at his barn station, “Why’d you decide to leave so suddenly?”
Javi could only glance up, “Kate is confessing to Tyler. Addy might be confessing to Lily, wasn't interested in being there for however it goes.”
“Oh, that…” Boone stared at Javi as the Hispanic man just continued designing. His mind raced through everything that happened, what he had just been told. Well, that’s a surprise.
Javi seemed engrossed in his work as Boone silently watched him. The sun was creeping through the slats, and the open doorway. It seemed to kiss and highlight Javi’s face as he stared at him. Boone wanted to count and kiss each freckle along Javi’s cheeks. Boone could easily trace with his eyes or fingers Javi’s high cheekbones or his jaw.
Boone had held Javi’s hand a few times now, felt the soft skin that was calloused from mechanical work. He wondered if the rest of Javi’s skin was soft, or his lips. Javi had often bitten his lips, and Boone wondered if his lips were chapped from it or not. They looked soft.
Boone moved over to lean against a corner of Javi’s worktable, closest to the working man. Javi’s bottom lip was caught again by his teeth, he seemed to be chewing with it subconsciously as he thought.
“Javi,” Boone called, pushing forward to enter Javi’s space. Javi just hummed and turned his body to slightly face Boone more, however, his eyes still stuck to the papers in front of him. Boone let out a short chuckle, amused by Javi’s actions.
“Javier, darling, can you look at me,” Boone called out again.
“Huh?” This time Javi let out a surprised noise of question at Boone’s words, but he did turn to face him fully. Boone surged forward in a soft, but desperate kiss, holding Javi’s cheeks in his hands. It took Javi a moment to respond, but when he did, Boone felt arms wrap around his waist, and felt how Javi leaned more against him, the kiss continued as Boone pressed Javi against the work table to help hold the other man up a bit better.