Tornadogenesis | Tyler Owens x OC

- T H R E E -

Half-awake, Dana's eyes eased open. The medical monitor's steady beeping was enough to drive her mad. She pressed the call button on a remote.

A nurse hurried into the room. "It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" She took the remote and disabled the pager.

A groan escaped Dana's lips. "As bad as I probably look." As she attempted to sit up straighter, pain surged through her. Her chest felt tight, and when she looked, there were tight bandages wrapped beneath the hospital gown.

"Four broken ribs and a concussion will do that to you."

"That's all?" Pain and all, Dana's sarcasm reigned.

"The doctor will read you the full report." The nurse adjusted the volume on the monitor, much to Dana's relief. "You're one of the luckier ones."

She didn't feel lucky, but Dana knew she was right. The terror on the man's face as he held onto the pipe remained in her mind.

"Got anything for the pain?" Dana asked as she fumbled with the bed's remote, hoping to make herself more comfortable.

"Not much more than what you're already on, I'm afraid. But the doctor may have other recommendations." The nurse straightened the blankets on the bed. "Anything I can do for you before I go?"

Dana shook her head, then soon regretted it as the pain worsened.

The nurse left, leaving Dana alone in her misery. She shut her eyes, hoping to fall asleep again. The quest proved impossible. She spent hours going up and down with the reclining bed, looking to relieve some of the discomfort. Sometimes it only made it worse.

Finally, the doctor came into the room, clipboard in hand. He gave her a breakdown of her injuries, which explained every ache and pain.

"I'd like to see you stay for the next couple of days. We'll follow up with some tests to make sure you're on the right track. Then you can go back home to recover."

Home. If there was anything left of it.

She thanked him, then asked about more pain relief. Hearing a negative response, Dana signed in resignation and prepared for more hours of what she called torture.

After barely swallowing any dinner, Dana took hours to finally fall asleep.

The morning showed no improvement in the pain, but her eyes felt less strained by the sunlight peeking through a window. The doctor told her light sensitivity was normal, along with a comprehensive list of other concussion symptoms.

Just after lunch, a nurse peeked knocked and peeked into her room. "Someone's here to see you."

A visitor? Her family had moved to California. Her only friend from childhood lived two hours away and was on maternity leave. Who would come to see her?

Dana sat up and straightened the blanket. "You can let whoever it is in."

The nurse disappeared. A few moments later, another knock and then a man entered the room. Tall and sporting a plaid shirt, jeans, and a belt buckle. He held his hat in his hands. "Hey. I just wanted to pay you a visit, seems like the least I could do."

Recognition didn't dawn on her for a few moments. Dana recalled blurred and disoriented images that ended with her winding up here.

"And you are...?"

He cleared his throat, his hat turned in his hands out of embarrassment. "Tyler Owens, ma'am."

She was lost until she recalled the red truck.

The man who had saved her life.

"You're the guy that found me, right?"

Tyler nodded.

"I don't know whether to thank you or slap you for taking me to this lousy place."

A brief smile flashed across his face. A handsome one, at that. "Well, I'm sorry-"

Dana waved it off. "I'm only joking. They're doing the best they can." As she sat up straighter, she grunted as pain surged through her ribs. "Even if I'm in constant pain and agony."

He seemed amused, but he stepped forward to explain anyway. "This was the only hospital with immediate available doctors. After the storm, the nearest hospital was filled."

"It's fine, really." Awkwardness lingered in the air long enough for Dana to gesture to a chair by the window. "Come sit down. If you came all this way, you might as well get some hospital jello."

He did as she said. "I'll pass on the jello."

"Well, Tyler. I guess I forgot my manners. I'm Dana-"

"Dana Pierce," he finished for her. He smiled at her confusion before gesturing at the door. "It was written on the whiteboard."

So it was. "Well, now we've got formalities out of the way." Dana leaned back on her pillows, the inclined bed keeping her upright. "How exactly did you find me?"

Tyler sat back in the chair, too, his arms on each armrest. "My team heard crying and screaming coming from that laundromat. When I came closer, I saw you."

Dana's brows furrowed. "How long was I there for? After the tornado passed through?"

"It lifted about fifteen minutes before we found you."

She had clung to that support beam for fifteen minutes?

She blinked back the rising memories. "You said you have a team? You're not exactly a firefighter."

He chuckled this time. "We're storm chasers. Came over from Arkansas to record the tornado activity here."

Her head tilted as a brow raised. "You're a storm chaser? As in, you voluntarily drive into those things?"

"Actually, we prefer the term tornado wranglers." He answered with an emphasis on the name. "But yes, we drive into those things. We've learned how to weaken smaller funnels, and we're learning more about the big ones." He probably could've talked on for hours on the subject, but he noticed her visible discomfort. And it wasn't just because of the physical pain.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Enough about me. Tell me about you."