To The Stars - 15. September, 2018 (C)

"We have to go!" Lance was panicking and hyperventilating as the siren wailed in the distance. "We need to go! Oh my god!"

"We're safer here than we are out there," Ollie reassured him, ducking back outside to make another trip to the barn with Sean.

Diego kept his eyes on the cloud formation, only ever seeing it when lightning ripped the sky apart. Angry and dark, swirling around and getting close to the ground. No rope yet, but that was the most aggressive looking supercell he'd ever seen. Why hasn't there been a warning? Surely someone saw it and thought to report it. Bloody Tennessee.

"Why don't we just get in the car and leave?" Lance asked, now directly behind Diego. "We can go! What's the holdup? Why aren't you listening?"

"No," Diego shot him down, never once letting his eyes wander from the cloud formation. He needed to go out. To help. But he was fixed on the storm. The tornado that was coming. "You think you will be safe out in this?" He pointed to the fierce rain and hail pounding the roof of the house and the ground outside. "No. It's too risky in this weather."

"I know how to drive!" Lance was shaking when Diego finally looked away from the window and at the boy in front of him. He was petrified. Diego saw Julian in him then. The way Julian would run to him when Zoey dropped him off. "We can go and get out of here before the tornado comes! We have to go! I don't want to be here!"

"You need to calm down," Diego told him firmly, but Lance was beginning to hyperventilate.

"I don't want to die! I'm! Going! To! Die!" He wailed between breaths, and Diego grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Shut up and listen to me!" He shouted in the boy's face, loud enough to snap him out of his daze. "Okay? Are you listening?" Lance nodded, his whole body shaking from terror. "We are safe underground, okay? If we drive in the car in wind like that with the hail and the rain, we will probably crash, and we will be sitting ducks. There will be crap on the road. Maybe trees fell. Maybe an accident. Maybe the tornado throws something at us! We get stuck on the road and we are in danger. No. We stay here and we stay calm, and we will get through this. Okay, Lance?"

"I'm so scared," the boy squeaked, and Diego nodded at him.

"We're all scared. But Sean and I know what we're doing, alright? We will not let you get hurt. Can you help Rachel look for the cats and the dogs and take them down into the basement?" Diego asked. Lance sniffed and nodded with a small cry of despair.

"Okay, I'm going to help bring animals inside," Diego put his shoes on. He was glad he wore a jacket tonight. It was going to be hell outside. He opened the door, and it almost came back to bash his face. The wind was so powerful that he stumbled. Oh, this is bad! He shut the door behind him, and the motion light turned on. Good. He knew where the barn was at the end of the driveway. He walked carefully down the slippery, wet stairs, the rain and hail whipping him in the face, thrown at him at seventy miles per hour. The sound of the wind and thunder was deafening as he plodded step by step down the driveway, already soaked and cold. He passed by Sean, who was doing his best to run while holding a chicken in his hands, pinning it to his chest so it wouldn't flap its wings or get caught by the gusts.

"There he is," Gloria shouted over the roar of the water and ice hitting the tin roof of the barn. It smelled like crap in here. Literally. There were three more chickens in their run, Diego could see. It looked like Gloria did an excellent job in locking the chickens in their little house and tying Kevin Bacon, the cow and two sheep to one of the thick wooden beams so they wouldn't freak out and flee into the night. Not that Diego imagined they would. Not even a sheep could be that stupid.

"I told him once, I told him a thousand times," Ollie cursed, wiping his buzzed head with his hand. "Sheep, cows, goats and pigs are not pets!"

"Get a grip," Gloria ordered, untying Kevin Bacon's lead from the beam and handing it over. "You two might need to pull the pig. I don't see you carrying him."

"No, he'll come. He loves it in the house," Ollie decided, taking the lead for himself and pulling the reluctant, squealing pig out into the cold rain.

"We'll each take one of the sheep," Gloria decided, untying its lead and handing it over to Diego. "The cow's going to be a two or three-person job, I think. Do you want Baabara Streisand or Meryl Sheep? Those are their names; I'm not joking."

Diego loved the way Gloria showed no fear. Even in the midst of a storm evacuating these terrified animals she looked as fierce as she always did. Taking charge. Getting her hands dirty. Keeping her sense of humour. Why he never married her was beyond his understanding. It wasn't like he could accidentally get her pregnant.

"Yeah, let's do this," Diego grabbed the lead and pulled, but the sheep did not want to come with him. Neither did Gloria's. "To hell with this!" Diego swung his arm around the animal's waist and hoisted it up in the air. It was heavy. Not a big sheep, but it still must have been a hundred and forty pounds. It squirmed and struggled, but Diego was a strong man. He could lift and carry something more than twice the weight of this stubborn little lamb chop. He took it out and realised how difficult it would be when the wind was fighting him the whole way. It was about thirty feet to the main house, and his muscles ached from the first few steps. The dumbass sheep never stopped begging to be put down, but he didn't relent. Not until he got to the slippery stairs to the deck and decided to put it down rather than trying to carry it further. The sheep immediately tried to bolt, but Diego had his hand on the lead and caught it first. Nice try, he thought grimly.

"Oh, Di!" Sean's voice was a welcome noise. "Don't look behind you!"

Naturally, the first thing Diego did was look behind him, and his blood ran cold. He'd been so focused on carrying the stupid sheep that he didn't notice the wind was stronger and there was a dull roar in the background. The tornado had touched the ground and every time lightning flashed through the sky, the monstrous thing burned itself into Diego's vision. It was a big one. Miles away yet, but even if they wanted to outrun it, it didn't look like they could. It was colossal! Oh my god. Sean, if your basement isn't good enough, I'll kill you myself.

"Help me get this stupid freaking animal inside!" Diego yelled. He'd been full of adrenaline from the beginning, but now it was running on overdrive. That tornado looked like it would flatten the barn and likely the house as well without breaking a sweat! Sean was right from the beginning. The animals had to be in the basement, or they wouldn't stand a chance! Why did I ever doubt him in the first place? Sean took the lead and pulled while Diego grabbed the sheep by the back and forced it up the stairs, across the deck and into the house where presumably Ollie was herding them into the basement. After slamming the door shut, the two began their next journey down the driveway to fetch the remaining animals. Gloria didn't recklessly carry the sheep the way Diego did and was only halfway up the path with her stubborn animal wrestling against her. I better help her. Sean was in the midst of ferrying the chickens, probably for the best. He was little like them, and although he was a strong man, he wasn't in the league of Ollie, Gloria and Diego.

"Diego!" Gloria shouted at him. He stopped to assist her, and Sean ran on ahead. "I'm starting to think maybe camping was a bad idea!"

Diego wished he could have appreciated her joke, but he wanted to get everything and everyone into safety as quickly as he could and ride out the storm. Then he wanted to tell Sean he loved him. He wanted to tell Gloria how much he loved and appreciated her, and he wanted to thank Audrey for everything she's ever done for him. He wanted to find both Luiza and Troy and make them part of his life again. He wanted to kiss and hug his children. All of them. Even Jillian. He even wanted to make Lance smile again. I'm not ready to die here. In Knoxville? Pfft. He renewed his resolve and grabbed the struggling sheep by the rear.

"Go! I've got her!" He shouted, and Gloria lead the way at a nice pace. Diego's muscles were burning. This was more intense than most of the matches he'd ever wrestled. Fighting the rain. The hail. The wind. Everything hurt. Everything stung. The roar of the tornado in the distance chilling every bone in his body. We should have done this together with both stupid animals, he realised. With Gloria leading the front and Diego keeping the back hooves off the mud, they escorted the idiot animal to the house very quickly and locked it inside. Sean shot through with another chicken and the three of them took just a brief moment to catch their breaths.

"Oh my god!" Sean wailed out loud, looking at the tornado tearing through power lines in the distance, creating brilliant flashes and sparks. It was coming towards them, alright. "Quickly! We'll get Moodonna and the last of the chickens."

"Guys! Get inside!" Rachel screamed from the door, which flew wide open while she was holding it and threw her off balance. She was a trained athlete and knew how to fall safely. How to brace herself and minimise danger. But that didn't happen this time. Her feet slipped under the wooden deck and the back of her head cracked against the door frame. Her eyes remained open, and she moaned out loud. That didn't look good. It sounded even worse!

"Rach!" Gloria was on it, kneeling down and dragging her inside the house.

"Are you okay?" Diego shouted, but Sean was already pulling at him.

"Oliver knows what to do and Gloria's with her," he shouted. The wind was picking up and the hair that had escaped from his bun was whipping around his face and even getting in Diego's eyes and mouth. "We have to get the others!" He started off down the driveway, but Diego caught his wrist.

"Sean!" Diego pointed at the wall of cloud roaring close by. When lightning lit the sky, he could see the debris in the air surrounding the vortex. "We don't have time! We need to get inside!"

"I'm not leaving them!" Sean wrenched himself away and sprinted down the driveway. Oh my god. Diego ran after him.

"Get inside! They're not worth dying for!" Diego pleaded when he caught up, and Sean was grabbing the final two chickens out of their run. "Don't be stupid!"

"They're living creatures and they trust me to keep them safe!" Sean furiously yelled back at him, passing one of the chickens over to him. "My life is not more important than theirs!"

"It is to me!" Diego began to dash, holding the stupid chicken he was ready to die for to keep the silly suicidal Cherokee happy. Why couldn't I fall in love with someone else? Then I wouldn't be on this stupid farm with this stupid kid with a stupid death wish! The rain and hail had begun to cease, but the wind was unbelievable. It shoved Diego and beat him up, making every step a struggle. The tornado was getting so close now. He could feel it. Hear it. He could see it even without the lightning illuminating the clouds inside and above. The wind was picking up speed. At least eighty miles per hour. The chicken in his hands squawked and wrestled its way out of his hands, and just like that, it was gone. The wind took it. He looked behind him, and Sean was seriously struggling. No way we're going to make it back for the cow. We shouldn't have made this trip. We should have cut our losses. Now we're both going to die.

"Get my hand!" Diego screamed as loud as he could over the sheer volume of the storm. Sean heard him, at least, and grabbed on to Diego's arm. Diego walked backwards, pulling Sean along with him. Sean lost his chicken too. Whether the wind made him stagger or it squirmed out was a mystery, but it disappeared into the night alongside its sibling. Diego hauled the crying boy up on to the deck and into the house, slamming the door shut behind them.

"No! I need to get Moodonna!" Sean wailed, feebly trying to wrestle his way back outside, but Diego grabbed him and struggled with him to the basement stairs across the dining room, not unlike he'd done with the sheep.

"She'll be fine!" Diego lied. That animal was done for. Moodonna was a fitting name for that dead cow. "Get your ass downstairs!"

"You asshole!" Sean wept and cried, but at that moment, something vast and heavy crashed into the east window of the house, giving both of them one hell of a fright. A log, or part of a tree, Diego wasn't sure, but it was enough for him to grab Sean by the waist and run the rest of the way across the room. With the window broken, the wind tore through the room as well. I've had enough of this. I have a family to live for. Sean yelled and fought him the whole way. Why? He must have known it was suicide to go out there. What the hell was wrong with him? He could always get a new freaking cow and name it after some other washed up celebrity. They slammed the basement door behind them and scaled down the stairs. It was anarchy down here. The animals did not all get along. Sean and Oliver should have seen that coming. You keep chickens and dogs away from each other for a reason, so when Diego arrived, he saw one dead chicken and the sole surviving chicken safely in Ollie's arms.

"No!" Sean squealed when he saw the dead chook on the concrete floor in the dim light overhead. "You dumbass, Oliver!"

"To hell with the freaking chicken!" Diego roared at Sean, who had tears streaming down his face, mixing with the rain from the weather outside. The two of them were completely soaked, and Diego's patience had run out. "Stop this crap and get in the corner!"

Even downstairs in the safety of the basement, the roar of the tornado drowned out most of the sounds. Rachel was sitting up, one hand on the back of her head. Good, so she's okay, but that looked like a bad fall. She might have a concussion. That would have to wait. Gloria was holding her tight, the two small dogs quivering next to her. On her other side, Lance was trembling and weeping in fear, huddled up with his face between his thighs. Sean took his place by Oliver, crying into his chest while the big man cuddled him close. Diego slid down next to Lance. Whatever arguments and problems the two had weren't important anymore. They all needed to bunk down in the corner, and that's what they did. All six of them, packed in tightly. Still, the roof was concrete, as were the walls and the floor. It was safe here.

"That one's gotta be an EF3 at least," Ollie updated everyone. Damn, Ollie. Shut your face. We don't need to know that right now.

"We're gonna die," Lance wailed. Can you shut up too, Lovecraft? That's the last thing we need to think about.

"We're going to be okay," Diego reassured him. "Stop talking."

"What about those vents?" Gloria pointed to the one wall, then another. "Are they going to be a problem?"

"Nah fam, nobody's getting sucked out," Ollie explained. "But expect it to get nasty if the bastard goes over us."

"It's coming right at us," Rachel said gloomily, her voice laced with pain from her fall. "I don't see how it could miss. It's massive."

"We're gonna die," Lance echoed his last words. He was shivering and whiter than Diego had ever seen.

"It might get bad," Diego told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But we'll be okay. Trust me. The tornado cannot suck up the foundation, okay? We are safe down here."

There might not be much of a house after this, Diego thought. A tornado that size with winds that strong could flatten it or even tear it off its foundations, but under the ground, they were safe. As if to test his resolve, the wind began churning through the basement via the vent, and the door started rattling. Everyone started to panic. It was here. Diego gulped. Being the calm one was hard. He was as scared as everyone else. He didn't want to imagine never seeing his children again, but all he could see were their faces. Nina, his daughter, looked so much like him. Julian, the meek little sweetheart with the smile that would melt any girl's heart when he grew up. Jillian, an echo of Zoey, but he loved her. He wanted to see her grow into the woman her mother was not. Troy. Oh, Troy. Diego hoped Troy was happy where he was.

The roar was deafening, and everything loose in the basement began to fly around. Paper and photographs. Cardboard. Towels and packets and plastic and small bits of wood. It became hard to breathe. The animals went ballistic. It did nothing to help the six people huddled in the corner. Sean, Lance and Rachel all cried. Ollie, Gloria and Diego held their respective partners close and protected them.

"You're okay!" Diego yelled to Lance over the roar and crashing of debris and wind. Over a hundred miles per hour, and that was Diego's estimate of what was coming through the vent. Who knew how it was outside? Seeing things flying around the room was terrifying, and out of protective instinct, Diego turned and put his arms around Lance, squeezing him tight and using his own body as a shield in case anything flew at them. "We'll make it, and you'll become the best wrestler in the world. I promise."

"I'm scared!" Lance cried into the man's neck, and Diego grunted in pain as something struck him in the shoulder blade. He hoped everyone else was shielding their head and face. We should have been more ready.

"I've got you," Diego reassured him, and Lance's shaking began to slow, and the younger boy stopped his mewling.

Whether he felt safer with Diego or he'd gone catatonic, the Brazilian didn't know or particularly care. It was less stressful to ride out the storm while Lance wasn't panicking. Feeling the boy calm down did wonders for Diego's nerves as well, and the two huddled together. A few times Diego felt something hit him in the back. Things that might have otherwise hit Lance and hurt him. That didn't matter, though. As long as Lance was safe. It seemed to last forever. The wind seemed to be sucked out of the room and even Diego's lungs. It was so loud and so violent. So scary. But he stayed where he was. Eventually, the wind began to die down, and the roar and rumble lessened. It got easier to breathe. He looked down at Lance, and the boy looked right up at him with those ruby red eyes. As the storm finally moved on, slowly but surely, Lance and Diego never stopped looking at each other.

"Are you okay?" Diego asked him gently when he was sure it was over. When the wind died down, and the noise stopped ringing in his ears.

"Yeah," Lance nodded, not taking his eyes away. "I am." He suddenly wrapped his arms around Diego's body and hugged him close, resting his chin on the bigger man's shoulder. "Thanks to you."

Diego gave an elated chuckle and squeezed him back. Rach was right. I did get attached. Stupid Lance.

"I'm glad you're okay," he whispered in the boy's ear. "You're a pain in my ass, but I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Is everyone alright?" Gloria asked loudly. To Diego's delight, everyone made an affirmative noise. We did it! Wow.

"Moodonna..." Sean continued crying over that dumb animal. Ollie was cuddling him, but he didn't look as concerned.

Diego, now that the crisis was over, felt terrible for him. He was willing to put himself at risk for every single one of his pets, and while Diego still thought that was foolish, he understood now how upsetting it must have been for the younger fellow. One of the chickens, dead and bloody at the hands of Nigel the dog, had blown around the room during the worst of the storm and that was horrible. The two they lost on their last doomed trip to the barn, picked up and taken away by the gale, must also have weighed heavily on Sean. At least we got most of them, he thought. Everyone is safe, and all the animals bar three chickens and a cow made it as well. That was a result Diego was satisfied with.

Ollie was immediately on the phone to 911. He was bleeding on his head - something had struck him when the tornado passed over, and Diego was bleeding on his back from the debris flung at him while he protected Lance by huddling over him. Rachel's head had a big lump on the back of it, too. We could all use some medical attention and a crapload of therapy. He thought he'd book a session with Dr Bandyopadhyay for himself. There was a lot that happened today that he needed to talk about and he couldn't expect to burden Audrey with all of it. Remarkably, aside from a bit of blood from a cut on Kevin Bacon's hind leg, the animals were unharmed.

"Well, good thing we have insurance," Ollie remarked when he heaved the door open against debris to reveal the open night sky.

The roof was completely gone. Snatched up and cast away by the vortex the way Jilly threw her toys when she was in a mood. A few of the walls stood on the west side of the house, but what remained on the east side had been either stolen by the tornado or flattened by it. It was wreckage. Diego's car wasn't in the driveway. He had no idea what happened to it. It didn't seem to be anywhere. Gloria's rental car was inside the house, lying on its side. Sean and Ollie's vehicle was missing, too. The barn seemed to have held up reasonably well, despite Diego's predictions. Some of the roof was missing and the wall was damaged, but that was the worst of it from what he could see. Perhaps it didn't get the nastiest of the twister's winds. Diego looked behind them, and the tornado was still roaring away in the distance, miles away. The wind was still intense, but nothing compared to what it had been earlier. The rain was but a gentle spit from the cloud above them. We're so lucky. Holy crap. The siren wailed over and over. Hopefully, anyone else in its path managed to get to safety.

"This is why we didn't try to drive," Diego said with a dry mouth, pointing at Gloria's totalled car. That could have been Rachel and Lance. Or it could have been even worse than that.

Sean took off towards the barn immediately, and Diego tried to call him back. The tornado was gone, but that didn't mean the storm was over yet. He didn't like the idea of anyone leaving the safety of the basement.

"I don't have my phone," Diego decided to follow him. "Rach, can you call Audrey and tell her that we're alright? I'll be back in a minute."

Rachel agreed, and Ollie remained with the livestock while Diego followed Sean's trail. The yard was a mess. Crap had been left behind everywhere by the winds. He got into the barn and Sean was cuddling that stupid cow Moodonna, who had survived and better yet, barely seemed to have noticed that there was a tornado at all. He had his arms around her neck and he was speaking in a language Diego didn't understand. Cherokee? That's cute.

"I don't believe it," Diego laughed, reaching out and stroking the back of the animal he left for dead. "She's fine!" He couldn't believe how tame and friendly the animals were on this farm. They had no fear of people at all. He wondered what Sean's secret was. Could it be used to tame Jillian?

"She's my girl," Sean spoke of the bloody bovine as though it were one of his children. "I'm so sorry, Moo. I'll never leave you behind in this scary place again."

"I'm sorry about the chickens," Diego reached out and touched Sean on the shoulder. The boy didn't look at him.

"Maybe they're okay," Sean sighed sadly. "Maybe they're alive somewhere. Not like Yolko Ono. Oliver's such an idiot for not watching the dog."

"He did his best," Diego stuck up for the big guy. "We all did."

Even though he and Sean stuck the knife in Ollie's back every time they hooked up, he still considered Oliver one of his best friends. He was surprised at how nasty and rude Sean had been to everybody throughout this whole ordeal. He didn't function well in a crisis, did he? He had animals to worry about, Diego reminded himself. A lot of them. If I were trying to ensure the safety of my children, I wouldn't worry about being nice either.

"I know!" Sean shouted angrily, looking down at his dirty boots. "I'm sorry. I can't bear the thought of losing them. Any of them."

"Maybe we lost one or three," Diego turned the boy around so that he was looking at him. "But Moodonna's here. All of the others are still here. They're all alive because you knew the tornado was coming before anyone else did. You did everything you could."

"You're right," Sean nodded. "I'm just... sad. My house is gone. My... everything. All of it! My chickens!"

"But not you," Diego hugged him. They were both cold and wet, but the hug was warm. "You're still here."

"You can't do that here!" Sean pushed him away and created some distance between them. "If Oliver sees, he'll--"

"Ollie knows," Diego told him happily. "I told him I liked you, and he said it was okay. We don't have to sneak about anymore."

"You can't be serious," Sean muttered, bracing himself on Moodonna so he wouldn't fall. "How could you do that?"

"Back up!" Diego frowned and held up his hand. That wasn't the response he'd expected. He expected Sean to be thrilled with that news the way he had been. He and Sean were now permitted to have sex and kiss and cuddle guilt-free with Ollie's blessing. How was Sean not okay with that? "What did I do wrong, exactly?"

"You know I'm never going to be able to look at him in the eyes again?" Sean pointed out as though it were an obvious conclusion. "I betrayed him and cheated on him for months with you because I have feelings for you. Good for you. Maybe you don't have guilt, but I do! Forgive me for not being happy!"

"You are making zero sense," Diego wiped at his wet brow. "Can we argue another day? I think I've had all I can take for now."

"You don't see the problem, you asshole!" Sean flared, and Diego had to agree with him. He really didn't. "If I were a good person, I would have told him from the start. You're telling me that I've been stabbing him in the back for months for no reason. And that's not all! It's not just sex to me. I love you! And I love Oliver, too! Now he's going to talk about you and I and... you... you just... I... I've had enough of this. I'm tired of feeling like the worst person in the world."

"What are you saying?" Diego asked, wary of the nature of this conversation. He'd been on both ends of it enough times to know where it was going. Sean pushed past him, and Diego walked at his brisk pace. "Sean? What do you mean? Talk to me. Sean!"

"Oliver!" Sean climbed up on the rubble of the house he'd built with the love of his life, getting Ollie's attention and the attention of everyone else around there. Diego felt his stomach drop. Don't do this. "Diego and I have been having an affair."

"Daaamn," Gloria cringed and looked away.

Rachel and Lance looked shocked at the revelation. Ollie looked like he'd just taken a bullet to the heart. Sean looked at Diego with eyes full of sorrow and back at his boyfriend, then he went back downstairs into the basement. Diego, alarmed at being outed as both bisexual and a cheating piece of garbage at the same time, didn't know where to look. Wherever he looked, someone was staring back at him. Rachel's blue eyes. Lance's red. Gloria's brown. Ollie's black and sad. Even that stupid cow was poking her head out of the barn door and looking at him like she was judging him.

"Yo, this is true?" Ollie stepped forward and asked him. "You and my baby?"

"I'm sorry," Diego apologised immediately. "I'm so sorry."

"Come on! You knew how we roll, man!" Ollie stifled a sob in his throat. Diego didn't imagine the big man as someone who would cry in this situation. He was sure Ollie would thump him, but this was worse. So much worse. "You only ever had to ask, son! Damn, why you makin' me look like a fool? Why would you do this? You're supposed to be my friend. And Seano... wow. How could he do that? How could you let him?"

The only sounds came from the wind. Nobody said anything. What was there to say? Ollie wiped his face with the thumb and forefinger of his other hand and pulled something from his pocket.

"I've been keeping this under the floorboards in the closet for a while. I thought camping tonight would be a good time to ask, you know? First thing I did when we made it through the twister was to make sure it was still there," he held up a beautiful silver wedding band, and Diego's heart broke in half. He heard Lance gasp and Rachel cooed sadly. Ollie flicked the ring into the air in Diego's direction, and Diego watched it hit the ground in front of him. Even in the dim light of the moon behind the clouds in the sky, it glittered. "You should get the hell outta here."

Ollie, pride, life and heart all devastated, opened the basement door and shut it behind him. How things change, Diego thought, looking sadly at the ring two feet in front of him. Earlier tonight, Ollie asked everyone why they let themselves be unhappy. Now, he was the one who had lost everything. His house. His boyfriend. His friend. All in one horrible evening.

"Are you okay?" Lance asked Rachel, who only shrugged.

"I'm fine. We haven't really been together for a long time," she replied to him, then she spoke to Diego. "I wish you told me, though. I deserved that, at least, didn't I? Did you have to make me look like an idiot by going behind my back?"

"You're right. I'm sorry," Diego covered his eyes with his hands. "Yeah. I've been having it off with a guy. So I guess I'm a hypocrite too, on top of everything else."

"Oh, starling," Gloria gingerly walked her way over to him and put her arms around him. "Don't think about all this right now. It's not important. We've all been through hell tonight, but we're still here! We have the rest of our lives to fix things. Let's take a minute to calm down, and we'll work through everything one step at a time. We'll get you two checked out by the paramedics, but until they arrive, have you all told everybody you need to tell that you're okay?"

"Did you speak to Audrey?" Diego asked Rachel, knowing she didn't like Audrey at all, and Rachel nodded.

"She knows you're fine. The kids both slept through everything. She's annoyed at you for leaving your phone in your car, you derp," Rachel smirked. "I told you that you'd forget it. Look what happened."

"My parents are going to wake up in the morning to a million spastic texts from me," Lance managed to giggle. "And then one that says 'never mind.' Oh, wow. When we go to England next week, they'll never let me come back to America."

"I'm gonna walk up there and wait for the paramedics," Diego pointed to the long driveway. "I don't think I can be here right now."

"I'm not angry at you," Rachel reassured him before he began his walk. "I'm worried about you. Are you sure you don't want to wait here?"

Old habits die hard, Diego thought grimly. I didn't even think about her. Again. I only thought about Sean and Ollie. They were probably breaking up right now. Ollie was going to propose to him before all this. I ruined it. All of it.

"It's probably best if I don't," Diego moped.

"I understand, starling," Gloria nodded. "I'll hold the fort here. You make sure the road's clear of crap so the paramedics can get down, okay? Rachel seems fine to me, but I want someone to have a look at her."

Diego nodded, turned away and waded through the devastated house. Furniture and broken glass and wood and wind everywhere. It was almost symbolic, wasn't it? As a tornado blitzed its way through the house and destroyed everything, so did Diego in Sean and Ollie's relationship. I'm like cancer, he thought. All I do is ruin everything. Sean. Ollie. Rachel. Lance. Especially Lance. What chance do my kids have?

"Wait!" That voice called out as Diego had walked half a hundred feet up the muddy path, and he didn't even turn around. Oh, this is all I need. Stupid Lance.

"Lovecraft, what are you doing?" Diego asked with a heavy sigh. "Are you here to tell me what a knob I am? Or a twat or a plonker? Or those stupid made up words?"

"No. Will you stop, please?" Lance insisted, and Diego did. He turned around, and Lance was hobbling along on the sides of his bare feet. He didn't put shoes on before the tornado hit, Diego realised. He mustn't have found them after.

"Stop walking!" He told Lance, who did so with a confused look on his face. "You could hurt yourself, walking without any shoes. You have a match tomorrow! What are you thinking?"

"I didn't want you to be alone," Lance looked down at his filthy feet. He'd cut his left foot at some point, Diego saw. His white jeans were muddy and awkward around the ankles. His red hair was wet and stuck to his face, and it looked as though he'd torn his shirt on something. Diego's heart softened. He looked so downtrodden.

"Are you sure you don't want to be with the girls?" Diego asked, approaching him. "I'm not good for you. Remember?"

"But you are," Lance looked up at him with those rubies. What colour were his eyes, anyway? Diego often wondered and even investigated, but he'd never found out. "I've been too busy being angry at you to notice that you've been looking out for me. Please let me come with you."

"Where's this coming from?" Diego asked. He was feeling better already. Maybe I can do something right after all. Perhaps I'm not cancer.

"I thought I was going to die," Lance admitted, resting his head on Diego the moment he got close enough. "But I didn't... because you made sure I was safe. I saw the hits you took when it was passing over us. You protected me. That's what you've been trying to do for a long time... in your way. I'm sorry I didn't see it."

"After you told me what was happening to my son, it's the least I could do," Diego rubbed the boy's back. "I know I'm a screwup, but I hope you can trust me when I say that I do want what's best for you. I'm just bad at showing it."

"You're what's best for me," Lance declared, and Diego could swear his whole body lit up in pride and joy. He hugged Lance, and Lance hugged him back. "Can I come with you to the gate?"

"Yeah, but you're not walking barefoot," Diego told him, picking him up suddenly. Lance piped with surprise and locked his arms around Diego's neck and his legs around his waist. Diego snickered after a short distance and Lance looked directly into his eyes.

"What?" The British man asked with his pink lips smirking. Pink, not cherry red like they usually were. It made Diego laugh again.

"I've never seen you be so..." Diego trailed off. He was about to say ugly, but it was intended as a compliment. Hmm. What word?

"So...?" Lance cocked a red eyebrow, and Diego laughed once more.

"Derelict?" Diego teased, and Lance flicked him on his earlobe as punishment.

"Honey, you forget yourself," Lance grinned good-naturedly. "That is not how you speak to the Queen of England."

"I'm just saying," Diego couldn't help smiling. "I'm used to the red lips," he used one of his hands to poke Lance below his bottom lip. "The powdered cheeks. The red eyeshadow and the raccoon eyeliner." He poked Lance several times more in the areas he was referencing. "And the hair!" He ran his fingers through the shiny, red locks of hair, damp as it was. "And the shoes that make you taller than me! It's weird to see you without all that."

"It's weird to have you see me without all that," Lance agreed, resting his chin on Diego's shoulder as the man carried him up the dirt road. Diego's muscles were sore and tired, but it was worth carrying Lance with him. He was enjoying his company. Genuinely. "I feel so naked."

"You feel naked?" Diego laughed at the irony. "You feel naked when you're dressed, but you have no makeup. You do not feel naked in your outfits that cover nothing on you, as long as you're wearing your makeup? Right?"

"I know that sounds silly," Lance admitted, looking at the direction the storm had gone in. If the tornado was still wreaking havoc, it was out of sight now. The sirens had not yet relented.

"No," Diego shook his head, beginning to sweat and puff during the journey. "It makes all the sense in the world. I understand now."

"Diego..." Lance asked gingerly, and the man grunted in recognition. "Do you want me to ring Michelle tomorrow? To split us up?"

"Isn't that what you want?" Diego replied. There was a long pause before the younger boy replied.

"I thought so," Lance said eventually. "But... I changed my mind. I want it to be you. If anyone's going to train me, I want you to do it. It's been my dream since I was a little kid. I love being ringside for your matches. I love it even more when you're ringside for mine. I want to keep going with this, but... only if you want to as well. If you don't, then I'll do what I can to split us up for good." The boy leaned back to look directly into his eyes again. They were lovely. Like burning embers.

"Wow," Diego had few words for this occasion. "I wish you made this offer a week ago when I knew what answer I'd give you."

"You have to want it too, okay?" Lance cautioned him. "I only want this if you do as well. Otherwise, we're never going to work together."

"You're right," Diego answered honestly and slowed down as they approached the main road. The tornado left debris all over the place, but nothing big enough to worry an ambulance on its way. Even though they made it to the destination, he did not yet put Lance down on the ground. "Okay, Lance. I'm already proud of you, and you're still only learning to crawl. I want to be there to see you learn to walk and then run, and when I retire, I want to tell everyone I know that this diva holding the Heavyweight Championship was my protégé."

"You mean that?" Lance smiled so wide it was a wonder he didn't pull a muscle in his jaw. "Really?"

"I mean it," Diego nodded happily. "We're going all the way to the stars."

The two had kissed a hundred times on television and at smaller shows while they were on stage together. Diego had gotten into that rhythm, as much as he hated it in the beginning. How could he not? From the very moment Lance arrived, one or both of them had been at the other's throat. They had nothing in common. They offended each other. Diego hated Lance, and Lance hated Diego. That worked for them. That was how it was.

That's why it made no sense to either of them when they both realised they just shared a kiss without the promise of a paycheck.

Thanks everyone for reading To The Stars! ❤️ I hope I didn't disappoint anyone with the two recent chapters. A lot of stuff happened.
So, I do have an announcement! To The Stars will end after twenty chapters. This part of the story will end at December, 2018.
But I'm totally not done yet! There will absolutely be a sequel that starts at January, 2019. The main reason for this is because I enjoyed writing this story with a T rating, but I'm now regretting it. The restrictions were fun at first, but I don't enjoy them anymore. The sequel will have an M rating.
Additionally, if anyone wants to see an imagining of our boy Diego entering to an arena with his valet, well... here they are. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrmeSNUs1Aw&feature=youtu.be