"Peter Evans has been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt. You are sentenced to thirty years, no parole, for the charge of second-degree manslaughter against Olivia Dalona. Thank you, Jury, for your work. This court is adjourned." The judge states as everyone is sitting throughout the court roon to hear the verdict.

After three long years, It's finally over. On March 17, 2021, my father murdered my mother without a second thought. Every waking moment since then, It's been my goal to see him in prison, and now that I've achieved that, I feel even better than I thought I would.

As I'm walking out of the courtroom, I can hear the man I once called my father screaming and yelling. Yelling why would I do this, how could I betray him. To be honest, all I wanted to do was yell back, but as a lawyer myself, I know I could be charged for such.

"Dahlia! You held strong in there, I'm so proud of you!" My friend Kate says as she brings me in for a hug. Before I know it, Javi is brought into the circle too, and it almost feels like it's just the three of us here, no murder trial, no derranged father, no police officers and civillians everywhere. Just us.

"Hey, I know even with how much you say you wanted this, It's still probably super difficult. And 1 have a proposition for you if you'd like." Javi says, Kate smiling at both of us. Just as Javi was about to begin speaking again, I feel someone tap on my shoulder.

I turn around to see a tall man standing with a dark-haired woman. Her eyes are a light colored blue, while the man next to her has a shade of blond hair and blue eyes also, though his are much darker.

"We we're friends of your mother's, Dahlia, and we were so sorry to hear what happened. We meant to come visit when everything first happened, but we just got so busy that it seemed like we'd never get back up here." She finishes with a laugh.

Her husband begins to speak then, "We just wanted to say that it was amazing to see you standing so stong up there, even against your own family. We know this situation must be difficult for you, and we wanted to offer that if you're ever in Oklahoma and need a place to stay, just give us a call." He hands me a piece of paper and shakes my hand while the woman hugs me, and they begin to walk off, saying something about how they wished Scott would have come with them. With no intention of asking who

Scott is, I turn back to Javi and Kate,

"Okay Javi, what were you saying?" I ask, putting the piece of paper in my wallet in hopes of not losing

"We were wondering if maybe you wanted to go to Oklahoma with us?"

"Okay, yeah, sure," I respond flatly, knowing there's a few calls I have to make before I can leave.

"See, now we knew you were going to say that, but I personally think it will be a great break -"

"Javi, she said yes." Kate's voice cuts through his incoming monolouge about how I should go with them.

"Yeah, let me just make some calls real quick, and I'll go home and pack a few things, then drive with you guys." I tell them as I turn around to get into my car.

Once I get home, I grab a backpack, thinking I'm probably not going to be there long, and call my boss; putting it on speaker so I can pack while we talk. I tell him I'm going to use my vacation time to take a trip, and he agrees, giving me five days off.

As soon as I'm finished packing my necessities for the next few days, Javi, Kate, and I take about fifteen minutes or so to plan a route and stops and such for our trip to Oklahoma. I'm internally extremely happy this isn't like a family trip, I don't want to stop every fifteen minutes for a smoke break.

About three hours into the seven hour drive, we end up at the second stop of our road trip. We refueled and decided to stop somewhere for lunch, and as we were looking around the area for a place to eat, Kate spotted a wafflehouse. "

I've never seen a closed Wafflehouse." is all she says before she's practically sprinting to the establishment. Me and Javi follow at a normal pace behind her when my phone begins to ring. I decided against picking it up. It wouldn't be the first time a coworker has tried to contact me after I requested time off.

Kate and I order waffles, mine having fruit on top, hers having chocolate chips. Javi decides he just wants a blueberry pancake, and all three of us order our drink before the waitress leaves us to our own.

"So Dahlia, I gotta admit, there was an ulterior motive to bringing you and Kate back down to Oklahoma, other than just to visit."

"What could that ulterior motive-" My phone rings before I can finish my sentence, and I decide that maybe I should answer it this time.

"Hello, Dahlia Evans?" a feminine voice questions.

"This is her. How may I help you?"

"You're the grandaughter of Winona Evans, correct?" she asks as I get out of my seat and walk outside.

"That would be me. Did something happen?" I ask, starting to feel concerned for my grandmother.

"I would prepare yourself, Ma'am, it may be a bit much." I can tell that whatever is about to come out of her mouth is something she doesn't want to say because before she even begins speaking, I can hear her inhale shakily. "A tomado hit a small town a bit north of Tulsa earlier this morning, and it drifted north and went over your grandmother's home. She wasn't found when seach and rescue crews checked the area, I'm sorry."

I say nothing. What am I even supposed to say in this situation?

"I understand this is very difficult for you, but we were wondering if you have any time to come and settle some final matters. What happens to the house, the property, her belongings, excetera. You're the last known name mentioned in her will that isn't deceased or incarcerated."

What do I do? I just got closure on my mother's death. The only man that's ever been a father figure to me just got basically life in prison, and now my grandmother has passed?

"Miss Evans, are you there?" The woman on the phone aska,

"Yes, I'm sorry, yes, I'm here. I happen to already be on the way to Oklahoma, I can meet you at the property tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for calling me."

I hang up before she gets the chance to fully respond, her voice quickly being cut off. Heading back inside, Kate and Javi quickly notice my distressed state, bombarding me with questions like "Who was that? Are you okay?," and such.

"Granny passed away," is all I manage to get out before I can no longer speak. Though, I quickly attempted to gather myself and steer the three of us into the conversation we were having before it was interrupted.

"What was that ulterior motive you were talking about?"

"I was hoping that you'd maybe want to get back into chasing."

The way he said it was with some sort of remorse, he felt bad for bringing it up after the news I just shared, I could tell.

"I'll be honest, I figured that was the actual reason you guys wanted me to go with y'all," I say in hopes of making him feel better.

"That wasn't original plan, but Javi thought it'd be fun to be in a group again storm chasing, y'know? And, the corporation he works with, they've possibly found a way to help people. We can finally help Dahlia. "

Kate heavily emphasised that last part, and I know exactly why. Kate wants nothing more than to be able to help people after what happened, and I completely agree with her. Losing three of our closest friends all in one day took a toll on the three of us, and I don't really think any of us ever really, truly, dealt with that trauma and guilt. Instead, we all came up with different ways of distracting ourselves. Javi joined the military and put his focus into that, Kate moved just about as far away as she could while still actually being in the county, and I did a complete one-eighty and swtiched my studies to law, tossing myself between school and work.

"I'll help, of course I'll help. I'll go chasing with you guys," I say as i grab their hands from their respective places on the table, holding them tightly in mine. The look shared between the three of us is understood immediately, almost telepathically.

For Addy, Jeb, and Praveen, we'll help.