My very first story where there are no pairings and focuses on a family. The trend won't last long.

As Kassidy rode in the back of her dad's truck with him and his fiancée, Melissa, she just wished that the entire situation she had been forced into was completely different.

Kassidy was angry with both of parents and had been ever since they decided to split up when she was in middle school. Now seventeen years old, she was still angry with both of them. Her father for taking her with him when he knew she wanted to stay with her mom, and her mother for not doing something about it.

"Um, honey, are you sure she's gonna be here?" Melissa asked Bill.

"If I know Jo, she's already dragged her entire department into the field. A day like today, it's to be expected. She forgets everything except her work."

"You're nervous about seeing her, aren't you?"

"Nervous? No. Why, do I look nervous?"

"No. Well, yeah you do, a little."

"I just want to get it over with."

You and me both, Kassidy thought with disdain.

"But she said she signed the papers, right?" Melissa asked.

"That's what she said."

"You don't think so?"

"No, I think so. Give me a kiss." He leaned over and kissed Melissa tenderly. Kassidy wanted to vomit. It's not that she hated Melissa, she just hated the fact that she was engaged to her father. Only one person belonged with him, and it certainly wasn't her.

"Kassidy, you're awful quiet back there," Bill threw back to his daughter.

Like you care, Kassidy thought to herself. "Because I don't have anything to say," she said instead.

"Excited to see Mom?"

"Whatever."

Bill passed off her shortness to typical teenage behavior, but he had no idea just what kind of feelings she was harboring inside.

They pulled up, and Kassidy did feel a bit of nostalgia as she saw the old team together.

"What do you know? Storm chasers," Bill said with a hint of sarcasm in his words. He got out of the truck and everyone got really excited seeing their friend. Dusty, one of her favorites, came over and hugged him.

Kassidy climbed out of the back and stood by the truck.

"I don't believe it!" Dusty exclaimed. "Kassie?!"

"Hey, Dusty," Kassidy said with a small laugh as the man came over and hugged her tightly.

"You've gotten so big! And your hair's gotten so darn long!"

Kassidy tossed some of her golden tresses over her shoulder. "Time flies!"

Melissa walked over to them with a shy smile.

"Dusty, I'd like you to meet Melissa," Bill introduced. "Melissa, this is Dusty. Dustman's been chasing with us ever since we started. Listen, man, where's Jo?"

"She's over by the Doppler," Dusty pointed. "Broke down again, running out of grant money."

"Honey, why don't you hang out here for a little while, I'll—I'll be right back."

"Okay," Melissa answered.

"Dusty, why don't you and Kassidy explain to Melissa…why you are the way you are?"

Dusty took Melissa's hand and went over to the chairs. "Come on. Man. Jo's gonna wig when she sees he's back."

Dusty took a seat and Melissa awkwardly sat in the chair next to him.

"So, Kassie, I wanna know everything!" Dusty said excitedly. "What have you been up to?"

"Not much. I'm heading off to college this coming school year."

"Any idea what you wanna major in?"

"I've got some plans, but nothing's set in stone yet."

"That's awesome! We've really missed you around here."

"I've missed being here," Kassidy said softly as she took a look around her. What she wouldn't give to have been able to stay with her mother and help all these guys chase storms.

Dusty looked at her sadly and decided to change the subject. He began talking to Melissa about the tornados and what they studied and everything.

Melissa was looking at him very unhappily, as if this was the worst situation she had ever been forced into in her whole life.

While he did that, all of the other members of the team came over to Kassidy and hugged her, glad they could see her for the first time in years. She still remembered all of them and most of them looked the same. Rabbit, Laurence, Joey, Sanders, Beltzer, Haynes, and Preacher. Most kids grew up with other kids, she grew up with storm chasers.

Eventually, the team went back to their jobs. That was when Jo walked over. "Kassidy," she said to her daughter.

"Mom."

Dusty and Melissa looked between the two women awkwardly as the tension in the group became very, very thick.

"Uh, hi," Jo said looking over at Melissa. "I'm Jo Harding."

Melissa stood up to shake her hand. "Oh, hello, nice to meet you."

"Bill just told me the happy news."

"Which?"

"Us, marriage," Bill said.

Kassidy smiled a bit. It was every man's worst nightmare when past wife and current girlfriend met.

"Jo, Melissa," Bill introduced.

"It's happy news," Jo smiled.

Kassidy knew that smile right off the bat as a fake one. She used that smile nearly every day since the split. Was her mom still in love with her dad?

"I guess, uh, it probably seems kind of sudden," Melissa said to Jo.

"Seems sudden?" Jo said in surprise.

"Dude, you taking the vows?" Dusty asked with a smile. "That's sweet!"

"Well, we—we just wanted to get it done before Billy started his new job," Melissa continued.

"That's right!" Jo said. "That's right, I remember. Weatherman!"

"What?" Bill asked with annoyance in his tone.

"What?" Jo asked innocently.

"Say it."

"I said weatherman, I think it's great."

"How come you had that tone?"

"There was no tone if you have a problem being a weatherman."

"I don't have a problem being a weatherman."

Kassidy rolled her eyes. Her parents just couldn't help but argue with each other, specifically her father. That was one thing she hadn't missed: all the bickering.

Melissa's phone rang, so she fished through her purse and answered it. "Dr. Melissa Reeves here. Uh-huh."

"Just wanted to say hello," Jo whispered before shaking her hand again. "Very nice to meet you." She turned to her daughter and put her arm around her shoulders. "Kass, come here." The two women walked away from the couple. "How's life with Dad been, kiddo?" Jo asked.

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, I guess."

"Just fine?"

"Isn't that what you want to hear? That your daughter's happy?"

"Of course that's what I want to hear. But I also don't want you to lie to me."

Kassidy was about to say more, but Bill walked over to them.

"New truck?" Jo asked Bill, looking at his bright red vehicle.

"That's right," Bill answered.

"Boy, oh boy. New job, new truck, new wife. It's like a whole new you!"

"Jo…"

"This is very awkward."

"I know, tell me about it."

"I thought you'd be coming out here alone."

"I wasn't expecting on coming out here at all. You said you'd meet me—"

"It's about Dorothy," Jo interrupted.

"Dorothy? What about her?"

"She's here."

"Show me."

Jo went over to her truck and unveiled her and Bill's creation from their time together. Kassidy knew it was basically a lifelong project for both of them, and despite it all, she was rather excited that they had finally gotten it up and going.

"I can't believe you did it," Bill said in awe.

"We built four of them," Jo told him.

"She work?"

Jo opened the truck bed to allow Bill to climb in and look at it for himself. He scoured every part of it, thrilled his idea had finally taken form.

"Thought you'd want to be here for her first time out," Jo smiled. "It wouldn't be right if you weren't here."

The rest of the team came over to where the three of them were.

"This is gonna be good!" Joey laughed.

"How sweet is that?" Dusty said to Melissa. "Bill's concept, man. Boom! The Extreme. Man, it came from his brain."

"I had a hand in it," Bill said modestly.

"Wow, it is great," Melissa said. After a pause, she added, "What is it?"

"It's an instrument pack for studying tornadoes. First one in history."

"It's very exciting," Jo explained. "Scientists have been studying tornadoes forever, but still, nobody knows how a tornado works. We have no idea what's going on inside because no one's ever been able to take scientific measurements from inside the funnel. That's what she's gonna do."

"How?" Melissa asked.

"We put her up inside a tornado." Jo opened up the device and showed her what was inside. "She opens up, and releases hundreds of these sensors that measure all parts of the tornado simultaneously."

"You see, Melissa, it's like this," Bill said to her. "These sensors go up the funnel, and radio back information about the internal structure, wind velocities, flow, asymmetry. We could learn more in 30 seconds than we have in the past 30 years. Get a profile of a tornado for the first time."

"And what will that do?"

"If we knew how a tornado really worked, we could design an advance warning system."

"Aren't there already tornado warnings?"

"Well the—"

"They're not good enough," Jo interrupted again. "They're nowhere near good enough. Right now, it's three minutes. If we can get this new information, we can increase warning time to fifteen minutes."

"Give people a chance to get to safety," Bill added. "At least that's what these guys are trying to do!"

The team started cheering as Jo and Bill hopped down from the truck.

"I can't believe you actually did it," Bill said to Jo.

"Well, we did it," Jo answered.

"How do you get it in the tornado?" Melissa asked.

"Well, you got to get in front of the tornado and put it in the damage path," Bill answered. "And then get out again before it picks you up too."

"It's the suck zone," Dusty said in her ear.

"Oh," Melissa said, looking like she wanted to get away from Dusty at any costs.

"Jo!" Haynes called, running up to the group as she hung up the phone. "We got major action! The NSSL says the caps are breaking, the tower's going up to 30 miles up the dryline!"