Chapter Text
Javi drove through the aftermath of the storm in an odd mix of careful avoidance and recklessness. He found Praveen first, his body twisted unnaturally right at his torso. There was no chance he had survived, but Javi hadn’t found the others yet. He would come back for his brother in all but blood as soon as he found the others.
The Tamers’ car was left in the crashed ditch it had been abandoned in, deeply battered. Javi couldn’t tell what damage happened before or after his friends escaped, but there was no obvious blood so they made it away from there. Javi stared around himself now, they couldn’t have made it far from here.
Javi could only shallowly breathe as he tripped and slid down the hill to the underpass scratching his limbs as he tumbled due to hidden debris. The humidity and frantic head motions as he searched for his friends had completely undone his bun left his thick curls sticking and flying into his eyes. Once he reached the road he turned to start racing to the underpass.
It took twenty minutes for a cop car to reach their location, and Javi could only stare at his blood-soaked body as his practical family was taken in for emergency surgery. They hadn’t all survived. Those that had, had to ID the rest of their family a week later in the morgue so their other family could be notified.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“KATE! ADDY!” Javi called as he waved wildly in front of the white Storm PAR truck, his grin and loose curls struck a wild look of madness on the man. The two girls smiled as they slowly walked over to where Javi waited outside the entrance to the small local airport’s doors. Javi ran forward to help with the bags quickly after his initial welcome.
“We are heading to a local gas station to meet up with the rest of my company, but I couldn’t let my biggest investors, and new supervisors without a proper welcome back to their home state,” Javi grinned impishly at his two practical sisters, “Oh! And warning Mama Cathy expects us at the end of the week for dinner!”
“Javier Martinez-Carter! Stop gossiping about me to my own mama!” Kate called with a teasing smile at her little brother.
“OOH! Mamma Cathy’s cooking to end our first week here after so long in DC sounds great!” Addy responded, spine straightening quickly and eyes crinkling behind her foggy glasses.
“Adelaide Jackson! You’re s’posed to take my side here!” Kate called swatting at her partner-in-crime.
“Sorry Katie but I missed some good Barbeque,” Addy called back, “But open the damned car Javi, my leg is killing me and I want it off.”
“Alright! I got it, I got it, in we go everybody - Kate got shotgun!” Javi called jogging to the other side of the car to load in the bags and hop in the driver's seat.
“Wooo! I’m behind Mom" I’m not Mom!” got called from the other side of the car as Javi laughing shut his door and buckled in. Kate and Addy weren't far behind him in settling into the car. Addy quickly detached the prosthetic on her left leg and took Kate’s mobility cane when passed back.
“Y’all doing okay after the plane ride?” Javi asked as he began to exit the idling area.
“Yup! A bit more achy than usual, mainly with Kate, but all good otherwise,” Addy responded and Kate agreed with it.
The rest of the car ride ended up being in comfortable silence as everyone just enjoyed the view and presence. When they reached the gas station Addy quickly began fiddling to strap her prosthetic back onto her knee, and grabbed Kate’s cane to pass once they exited the car.
“Alright, everybody! Meet Kate Carter and Addy Jackson, I told y’all about them, but just a reminder Kate’s got the best instincts you’ll find in storm chasing, and Addy has been editing my research papers since high school.” Javi then introduced his sisters to his team. Once introductions were finished there was a brief moment of peace before the chaos started anew. A bright red pick-up came into the parking lot, music blaring to the high heavens. Addy let out an appreciative whistle, seemingly encouraged as Javi let out an exhausted sigh at the truck and the RV that followed it.
“Who’s that?” Addy called out as the group disembarked from the vehicles and drew in a crowd of the other storm chasers outside their group.
“Tyler Owens, and his crew. Storm Chasers with a big youtube channel,” Javi said before leaning close to the other Tamers, “he does good work for tornado-affected communities but is a total asshole.”
“Sounds fun,” Addy responded, “hey, what happened to all our old storm-chasing videos?” Now Addy turned to look fully at Kate and Javi.
“Mama Cathy has them in the barn with our other stuff, even got the video from before our last trip” Javi answered, his voice almost conspiratorial.
“I know what we are doing this weekend after dinner,” Kate chimed in with a sigh, knowing the younger two.
“You sure you okay with that?” Addy asked, face brightening with a beaming hopeful smile.
“Why not?” Kate let out a soft sigh, at least she had a week to prepare before hearing her dead fiance’s and friend’s voices again for the first time in five years.