I'M TOLD I'M VERY CHARMING.

BABY was just listening to the crew as they chattered over breakfast. After getting ready and leaving the motel, they walked down the block to a diner to get some food before getting ready for a day of chasing. Tyler said the weather wouldn't come in until late in the afternoon.

She didn't have much to add to the conversation as they went on about their plans for the day. Lily was hoping to see how Cairo, her drone, would hold up at higher altitudes, so she needed to reinforce the protective plating on it — or something. Baby wasn't really sure about all that mechanic stuff.

She just silently picked at her cut up waffle, it drowned in strawberry syrup, not really eating any of it, as her appetite still hadn't returned after months of it being gone.

And Boone watched her with a frown on his face, knowing he couldn't just force her to get better overnight even though he wanted to so badly.

"Hey, Baby," Boone spoke up, grabbing her attention. "The spot we're heading to is gone be great for pictures. You can bring your camera."

Baby just nodded along. She hadn't brought her nice film camera on the trip, not wanting to fiddle and worry about the film canisters. But she had the digital one her parents bought her as a gift when she graduated high school, and that would suffice.

"Oh, and if they're good, we can put them on the Twitter and Instagram," Dani said, always thinking of marketing tactics for them. "They're probably tired of seeing the ones Dex takes on his iPhone."

"Hey, now," Dexter said, chuckling. "I am basically an artist with a phone camera in my hand. And it's hard enough taking them from miles away in a vehicle."

"Yeah," Lily said, smirking. "Didn't y'all see that picture from last week? The tornado only looked a little bit like a smudge on the screen instead of a lot like usual."

As Dexter rolled his eyes playfully, Boone slung an arm around Baby shoulder. "Well, Baby takes the best pictures."

"Think you could get me a new headshot?" Tyler asked, raising an eyebrow. Baby curled her lips around her teeth, trying not to laugh. But the amusement on her face was incredibly clear. "What?"

"Why the hell do you have a headshot?" she asked, giggling a little bit. And Tyler couldn't help but smile at the sound.

"Um, I'm a celebrity," he said, putting his arms out as if it was obvious.

"You're right. You're right, I guess," she said, composing herself. "But, uh, sure. I can get you a new headshot—"

"Oh, my god!" a young girl suddenly squealed as she walked into the diner with her friend.

Baby had to turn around to see them, noting that they couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen. And their eyes were glued to their table, clearly excited at seeing the Tornado Wranglers out in the wild.

"You're Tyler Owens!" one with blonde hair said, rushing forward.

"And - and Lily!" the other with curly red hair said, going right for the woman. "I just did a project about Cairo in my class."

All at once, the girls began babbling about the YouTubers, who all smiled politely and nodded while Baby just watched in awe. The interaction didn't last long, but each of them ended up signing napkins for the girls, who then requested pictures if they didn't mind.

"I can take a group one," Baby offered, sliding out of her chair.

"No," the blonde said. "We can get the waitress to make one big picture. We gotta get Boone's sister in it. Come on."

"Oh, I'm not one to be in—"

Baby's protesting was cut off by Tyler and Boone rolling their eyes in sync before they pulled her in between them, her grimacing as she realized she was going to have to be in the photo with two strangers. Tyler slid his arm around her waist as Boone kept his over her shoulder.

Seeing the look on her face, Tyler bent down while also pinching her side a bit. "Smile, Baby."

She begrudgingly did so as Tyler straightened up, a charming and natural smile on his own face. Then, when the photographs were over, the young girls began hugging everyone.

"And remember," Tyler said, taking his seat again. "If you feel it—"

"Chase it!" the girls squealed before scurrying to a table of there own where they began fussing over the pictures and autographs.

As the crew sat down, Baby looked around at them all as they fell back into natural conversation. "That happen a lot?"

"All the time," Dexter told her. "Though less frequent when it's not storm season."

"Yeah," Dani agreed. "It'll get worse. We're only a week and a half in."

"But hey," Boone said, grinning at her. "You're gone know all about it. You're a Wrangler now, Baby."

"Not a Wrangler," she insisted. "Just a... guest star."

"Well, nevertheless, all your friends are gonna be jealous," Lily said with a smirk.

Baby just smiled tensely. "Oh, I ain't got no friends," she mumbled.

Anymore, at least. Not ones she wanted in her life anymore.

"Well, what about that, um, Allison?" Boone asked with an uneasy smile. "In your chemistry classes? And Mama said you had yourself a boyfriend a few months ago."

Baby sucked on her teeth, kind of wishing Boone would just shut up. "Jesse slept with Allison because I wouldn't sleep with him," she said flatly before looking back at her breakfast.

Boone cringed and put his head in his hands, realizing he'd screwed up a bit. Tyler sighed and rubbed his back knowing he was just trying to cheer his sister up.

"I'll be back. Going to the bathroom," Baby mumbled before getting up.

And once she was gone, Boone groaned loudly. "Fuckin' Jesus, that couldn't have gone worse, could it?"

"It ain't your fault, man. You just knew about the school stuff," Dani told him.

"Kinda seems like the world's just really coming after her," Lily said, shaking her head. "Want us to try talking to her or let it lie?"

"If you don't think it'll hurt nothin'," Boone said before sighing. "Hate I can't fix her."

"She don't need fixin', Boone," Tyler reminded him. "Just needs time to find herself and figure it all out, is all. And I'm sure we can all help with that."

"Thank you, brother. Means a lot to me," he mumbled. Then he frowned. "Might need to go back to California to kick that Jesse fella's ass."

"I'm sure that'd just make her mad," Dani said.

"Nah, Baby don't never get mad with Boone," Tyler told her.

It may have been years since he'd seen the siblings together, but he knew Boone and Baby were as close as siblings could be — they'd never even halfheartedly bickered before. If Boone wanted to beat up a guy for hurting her heart, Baby would let him and think the world of him for it.

☁︎

The crew drove a good forty minutes before they found a storm some time after lunch. It wasn't finished developing yet, so, they were all spread out over a field, watching the clouds from a hill. As Boone suggested, Baby had her camera out. She was standing away from the others, focusing on the dark clouds rolling in.

Holding a camera in her hand was one of the things that could bring Baby peace — Boone was one of the other things.

And as she watched the clouds through her lens, Tyler watched her, sunglasses perched on his nose and hiding his curious eyes away.

He hated to think it of Boone's little sister, but she looked incredibly cute as she focused on the shots she took, crouching down to get the right angle and sticking her tongue out just the slightest bit as she focused hard. And every time she pulled back to examine the photograph on the little digital screen, the smallest of smiles would make its way onto her face.

"Hey, buddy," Boone said, coming over and nudging Tyler's shoulder with his. He hadn't caught on to Tyler's staring. "Why don't you go give her a storm lesson like you used to with me? You know, before I became an expert like you."

"She's gone think I'm boring if I do that," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Please, if she can sit through all them chemistry classes, she can learn a little bit about what she's gone be driving into for three months."

With a nod, Tyler made his way over to Baby, who'd stood up once more. She was staring intently at the clouds through her lens, not noticing him coming up to her at first.

"See them clouds to the left?" he asked her. Baby pulled back from her camera to look at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. Tyler smiled at her before putting the camera back to her face. Then he turned her shoulders to the left. "Can you see 'em?"

"Yeah. What about 'em?"

"What's happenin' there is diffluence. It's a wind flow pattern where air moves out and away from the general direction of the central flow," he explained. "Opposite of confluence."

"Ty," she said softly, the corners of her lips turning up. "You know that don't make no sense to me."

"I know," he smirked. "Makes me feel smarter when you get that cute little confused look on your face, though."

Baby rolled her dark eyes, ignoring how her face so badly wanted to heat up as he called her cute, knowing it was no different than when she was twelve and running around in a Pink Power Ranger costume and he called her cute then.

"Well, glad me feelin' stupid makes you feel like a genius," she said, shaking her head as she went back to taking pictures.

"Now, you ain't stupid, Baby," he said with a deep frown. "You're one of the smartest people I know. I mean, you got that full ride and—"

"Dropped out," she cut him off softly, still not looking away from the camera.

Needing her to listen to him, Tyler pressed on the top of her camera, moving it away from her face so that she'd look at him. "A degree don't mean anything."

"Says the one with a degree," she said sadly.

"Your brother didn't go to college," he reminded her. "You think less of him for that?"

"Of course, not," she said quickly. "Boone's real smart."

"He is," he agreed with a nod. "And so are you. Smart enough to understand all this storm terminology if you want me to keep teaching you. Can't be a Wrangler without knowing the basics."

Baby just gave him a look. "I ain't a Wrangler."

He smirked at her, bumping into her side. "Yet," he said knowingly. "I'm gone win you over. I'm told I'm very charming."

☁︎

Boone was happy as a clam watching Tyler and Baby interact. Tyler was pointing out different things about the oncoming storm, and every now and then, Baby would smile and nod in semi-understanding. And then, he did the near impossible these days.

He made her throw her head back and laugh hard. Tyler had a mirthful look on his face, looking like he was trying not to laugh along with her, which likely meant she was laughing at him.

Back at the caravan, Lily, Dani, and Dexter were just lounging in their lawn chairs, waiting for the storm to develop. And all three of them were watching Tyler, Baby, and Boone.

"Should I tell Boone about these?" Dani asked, flashing her phone to Lily.

Lily just snickered. "Nah, he'll throw a fit. Just lucky B don't really use social media."

"Our fans just amaze me sometimes," Dexter said, chuckling as he shook his head.

Five minutes ago, while checking on all their different platforms, Dani opened up TikTok. Only to see that their official account had been tagged in two or three videos in particular. She almost didn't see them — they got hundreds of tags every day in photos and edits and clips of them.

One, in particular, was an edit set to cutesy songs, scenes of Tyler reaching for Baby's hand playing on a loop. And another had was a girl deep diving into the body language of all the pictures that the two girls from the diner had taken and already posted from that morning.

Tyler's arm had been around Baby's waist in both, and in one, he was leaning down to whisper in her ear. It didn't matter that he was just telling her to smile.

That, in addition to the hand holding meant that they were in love — obviously.

"Don't let Baby find out, though," Dani said, still smiling. "She's a little too shy for getting media attention already. Much less finding out people are shipping her with a guys just as much her brother as Boone is."

Lily raised a skeptical eyebrow, sipping on her soda as she watched Tyler and Baby. Tyler was bending down a bit, looking through Baby's camera, who hadn't even bothered to take the strap off her neck, meaning they were pressed up close together.

"Yeah," she said skeptically, smirking a bit. "Just like a brother."